Page 76 of This Ravenous Fate
Layla’s expression hardened. “That’s how I know you don’t understand. You’re asking us to wait for options and to consider alternatives, but we have none. Reapers have never had a choice. To ask me—me, of all people—to wait and examine my other options is bullshit. And you know it.” Layla pressed closer to Elise now and that familiar rage glazed over her eyes. “I have never had a choice.Ever.”
A cold silence seeped between them. Layla’s eyes settled back to their usual color and she backed off, though Elise remained tense. “I just ask that you be more cautious. My father is involved in this, too, and I know you hate him. You would be eating out of the palm of his hand if you took the cure from him and Mr. Wayne,” she said quietly.
Layla was quiet for a moment. Her expression softened while she thought, fingers tapping on her forearms, which were still firmlycrossed over her chest. “He knows better than to offer his hand to a reaper. But if you’re so concerned, why won’t you tell me what changed your mind?”
Elise hesitated. Then she whispered, “Come with me.”
***
“I must say, Elise, I am surprised to see you approach me without your father. And, my apologies, but Dr. Harding is too busy to join us today. I hope you understand.” Stephen Wayne’s cool voice swept over the empty hallway while he led them through the lab. Layla watched Elise pull her coat tighter around her, as if blocking out an invisible breeze. Discomfort looked rather odd on the Saint heiress.
“He prefers it when I take on more independence,” Elise said softly.
Mr. Wayne stopped in front of a door, his hand resting on the lock while he glanced at Layla. “And Miss Quinn. You are quite far from your territory.”
Layla laughed dryly. “Not far enough.”
Elise nodded toward the door. “Is that where you keep reapers you’re running experiments on?” she asked.
Something dark flashed over his eyes. “No reapers are kept on this floor since we have patients frequenting the clinic.” He pushed the door open. A large room opened up before them, with gleaming white walls and examination tables. The white-coated staff tended to patients, taking blood and recording observations. All of the patients, Layla noticed, were Black.
She and Elise watched the doctors and nurses with both hope and apprehension. Hundreds of years ago, Black and brown people had been studied under microscopes. They were prodded, drugged, bled, and tortured until they became the very monsters that Stephen Wayne claimed he now wanted to rid the world of.
Layla turned to Stephen Wayne. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Purity tests.” He led them to a cot where a young Black girl sat having her arm examined by a nurse. “This is Clara. She used to dance at the Cotton Club. As I’m sure you are aware, there were reapers there. She was sick from what my scientists determined to be reaper venom, spread through close proximity to other reapers. But now she is better. Isn’t that right, Clara?” Stephen Wayne asked.
Clara gave the girls a shy smile and nodded. “I thought I would turn, but Dr. Harding was able to reverse the effects. I’m very lucky.”
Elise let out a slow breath. “Wow.”
A sharp whip of envy tore through Layla. Biting her lip, she looked away.
“It would have been nice to have such a resource when you were younger, Quinn, I’m sure. But now you have the opportunity to help others,” Stephen Wayne said.
Layla shook her head. “My clan are already all turned. How would an antidote help them? They’re too far gone.” She felt Elise’s stare boring into her as they talked. The Saint heiress, for once, was silent.
Stephen Wayne nodded. “Follow me.”
They followed him down another hallway, then up a flight of stairs. The scent of rot and ruin began to penetrate the air, and Layla wrinkled her nose. Neither Elise nor Stephen Wayne seemed to comprehend that they might have been walking straight toward death.
“As we were working on the cure, we developed something essential.” Mr. Wayne gestured to a lab technician standing by an observation window, and the man began to pull the blinds back, revealing a dark examination room. For a moment, there was only silence. Then a low growl sounded from the room, and every cell in Layla’s body froze.
Elise gasped, “Oh my God.”
What looked like an ancient reaper lay strapped to the examination table. Their skin sagged in gray and purple creases against their body, their hands stretching into long talons that were black under the low lighting. Even the eyes looked empty, though an intense yellow burned around the pupils each time the reaper blinked and peeled back their lids.
“Horrifying, isn’t it?” Stephen Wayne muttered. “I know it’s hard to believe, but this gentleman was a normal human once just like you and me, Elise. He was turned only twenty years ago, but could not stomach the thought of killing and draining humans, so he didn’t. And here he is now. Decrepit, demonic, diseased.”
The breath stalled in Layla’s chest. She could not believe what she saw. She had only seen this type of reaper in pictures. They might as well have been legends, because no reaper would deny human blood for long enough to become this.
“Hell,” Layla whispered.
“Indeed,” Mr. Wayne said. “Your own clan leader forbids you from killing humans now, so what is there to stop you from becomingthis?” He pointed to the reaper once more, and again, Layla’s heart stopped. “Dr. Harding has already cured humans from reaper venom, and he’s developed an antidote to keep you closer to your humanity and prevent you from becoming this demon.” Stephen Wayne tapped on the window. The reaper looked up and growled again, spit flying from his mouth. His eyes shifted from the pale yellow to an enraged red. “Poor thing has lost every part of his human past. He doesn’t even remember his own name,” Stephen Wayne said.
Everything hit Layla at once. The white lights hovering above them glowed so bright, a haze covered her surroundings and it took effort just to keep her eyes focused on the people in front of her. Elise spoke, but the words did not reach Layla’s ears. All she heard was roaring as blood rushed into her head and panic ensued. She stumbled back, and things shifted into perspective just long enough for her to hear Elise.
“Layla?”
