Page 71 of Our Vicious Descent
“Why here?” Elise asked. She stepped around a broken piece of human skull, noticing as she walked past that the jaw contained fangs, rather than a set of true human teeth. Washington Square Park rose around her and Josi like a proper graveyard. What had once been a beautiful park full of fresh greenery and colorful flowers had faded into a gray wasteland since becoming home to Karine’s and Sena’s most brutal desires. A thick fog rolled in across the land, swallowing all the pitiful sunlight the winter had to offer. Various headstones erected in the ground leaned so heavily to the side, it was a wonder they had not collapsed already. The terrors of Harlem had disturbed the beds where souls had been laid to rest for an eternity. Even the dead were not safe here.
Josi wrapped her arms around her middle and frowned. Her shoulders had caved in with each step that brought them farther into the park. The wind stirred the white bows Elise had carefully tiedonto the ends of her braids, and whenever the white satin poked out amid the soft brown of her curls, Elise could not help but think of the mountains of bones scattered across the dark earth they stood atop now. “Karine told me the people here are forgotten. That it’s been so long since they died, no one would care if we used them.” She swallowed hard and sniffed. “This is where my friends are.”
Elise blinked, her stomach twisting. “What?”
“When she freed me from the dark to let me go to the clubs, I wanted to make friends, but they kept dying. She never told me my venom was bad. I only wanted to have more girls like me. I hated being alone. But they all died. She used me to get rid of humans.” Josi pointed to the various piles of dirt that indicated recently dug graves. “We buried them here. On top of the rest of the dead.”
Harlem was made of death.
Elise shuddered. “When you say Karine wants to use these bodies…what do you mean by that?”
Josi shrugged. Her eyes darkened, and when she spoke again, her voice shook. “She uses Sena’s blood and her own blood to wake them up. She said she wants reapers to have their own freedoms and not live under humans.”
“And she intends to take their liberation by force,” Elise breathed. She looked out over the graveyard. “Whether the dead want it or not.”
***
If anyone had seen the gathering of rogue reapers and humans in the Harlem reaper lair, they might have believed they were seeing something out of another reality. There was still an apparent divide between the groups. Most Harlem reapers kept to the middle of the room while gangsters stood on one side and rogue reapers took up the opposite side. But what mattered and relieved Elise was that they had all shown up despite their differences. If this was indicative of anything, then perhaps they all did have something better than death to look forward to.
Elise stood on the dais in front of the pews making up the main floor of the cathedral. Layla stood by her side with Jamie, Josi, and Sterling taking up the back. Looking out over the crowd of rogues, Harlem reapers, and gangsters filled her with anticipatory pride. The struggle of the past few weeks had brought them to this moment, and Elise was determined to make things last for the better.
“Tonight we survived a new evil that has been terrorizing all of us for the past few weeks. I believe our continued survival depends on working together, rather than against one another. No more secrets, no more bloodshed. I ask you, not as a Saint but as a human being who longs for a better future, to meet me on this promise,” Elise said. Her voice was steadier than she felt internally, but she was grateful for it. To face a suspicious group with any ounce of uncertainty would have been disastrous at best. “I propose we lead an offense against Sena and Karine. With Sena still available to Karine, she will have a chance to raise an army of the dead and destroy Harlem as we know it. There is no telling when she will stop if she succeeds in hermission. We have to neutralize Sena before Karine can execute the rest of her plans. We do have an advantage with most reapers on our side now that Nicoletta is no longer working with Karine to abduct them. But I need to make sure we are all in this together. We must swear loyalty to one another.”
Several voices chimed in from the crowd. Most Harlem reapers seemed to agree with Elise, and a few gangsters and rogues nodded along with them. It was a decent start—much better than she had been anticipating and astounding considering where they had all been just a few weeks ago.
Nicoletta spoke up once Elise went quiet. “Sena is immune to the Saint steel. How will we kill her?”
Elise shared a look with Josi, whose face had been a mask of discomfort throughout the whole speech. “We cannot kill her. Not until we figure out a way to end the bond between her and my sister. We just need to incapacitate her for now. Josi seems to think the antivenom will work. I know you have plenty at the compound from your previous work with Karine.”
The gangster gave her a wicked smile. “How much will you pay me for it?”
35
Days of continuous planning between groups and tense night watches to ensure Sena and Karine did not arrive unannounced had everyone on edge. Even Hendricks had been brought in to keep the littlest Saint occupied while everyone else readied defenses and offenses against Karine.
“Oh, come on. I’ve already apologized twice for giving you to her. Three times if you count this,” Nicoletta grumbled, while pointing to the massive scar on her throat from Sena’s attack. “You’re the only one in here who still has a problem with me.”
Josi pouted and continued to scratch Hendricks’s ears. Even the cat turned his nose up at the gangster.
Sterling scoffed. “You threw her to Sena. She’s allowed to be upset.”
“We’re allies now. All past strife is forgotten.” Nicoletta’s face lit up at the sound of Jamie explaining one of her explosives to a groupof rogues nearby. “I’ll finally teach you how to use my explosives?” She plucked the weapon from Jamie, who blinked in confusion.
“She’s ten years old,” Sterling said sternly. He tried to take the weapon from her, but Nicoletta ducked away.
“It’s better for her. Right, tiny one?” Nicoletta asked.
Josi nodded eagerly. She released the cat and moved closer to the gangster. “I’m scared of my venom.”
Jamie glanced between them. “We could use more of those.”
Nicoletta eyed the sleek metal of the explosive while nodding. “Karine initially wanted to blow the graves out of the ground with poison-tainted grenades so it was easier to get to the dead, but the blast was too strong and destroyed many of the bodies. So, instead, she had me create an emergency detonation system for her island. We can find the rest of them there or scavenge the bombs left scattered around the city.”
“What is she hiding on that island…?” Jamie’s voice trailed off.
“Layla? Are you paying attention?” Celie’s voice brought Layla back. She stared down at the vials of venom she had taken from her dresser at Celie’s command. “Elise had the idea to roll Saint bullets in her tainted blood to create a sedative. We combined it with the antivenom, and we’re sure it will slow Sena down enough for us to capture her.”
Layla nodded, but her mind stuck on only one thing. “Where is Elise now?”
