Page 82 of Our Vicious Descent
The Saint girl sat curled in on herself while Dr. Gray bent over her younger sister. She whimpered, keeping her gaze down even as Layla, Jamie, and Sterling approached. Arendale stood over them, his eyes wide with astonishment. “You all…lived,” he breathed.
Elise blinked through her tears as she surveyed Layla and her other friends. “You’re okay.”
But Layla was not okay. She had become a monster again and, in the end, remained a reaper. Even in her aim to take down only the evolved reapers to protect the innocent people caught in the crowd and ensure Elise would be safe, Layla had created immeasurable collateral damage.
“Elise…” Sterling said softly. His voice was so gentle, it almost sounded broken.
As Elise turned to face him, she found him kneeling by her father’s dead body. Layla sensed the tensing of her muscles and the rush of her blood as her heart rate spiked. Elise buried her face in her hands, her body shaking with violent breaths taken to calm herself. When Elise looked up, Layla was surprised to see that her face had dried from tears. Red lined her eyes, but she did not cry. And when she spoke, her voice was an empty declaration that rang through Layla’s hollow bones. “It’s over.”
“No.” Dr. Gray placed two fingers on Josi’s neck, feeling for her pulse. “You were smart to give Josi your blood earlier. She’s bound to you for now, though the severing of her bond with Sena was violent enough to send her into shock. Now we must prepare. When night falls, all hell will break loose.”
41
Hours later, Layla still smelled blood. Despite scrubbing herself raw in her bathroom at the cathedral and throwing her clothes away, she could not shake the veil of death that had been hanging over her since she emerged from her evolved reaper state. She checked on a sleeping Elise in the spare bedroom across from hers. The Saint girl had curled around her younger sister in the middle of the bed. Jamie had brought Hendricks to keep Josi company and Layla desperately hoped the grumpy cat, pressed into her side, would bring the little girl comfort through her dreams. Even in sleep, the Saints looked too fragile to be in such a place. Layla had been tempted to draw closer and stroke the unmarred skin beneath the fresh bruises covering her body, but she knew an important meeting awaited her arrival in the crypt.
The scent of old bones and stale blood hit her immediately. While many of the bodies had been cleared out over time, theirpresence remained like a haunting.
“What a disaster,” Jamie said. He leaned against the wall with Sterling and Nicoletta flanking his sides. The rain outside had plastered their hair to their temples. Even their clothes looked soaked, though none of it seemed to bother them. The older gangster lounged in the one seat with her shoulders back and her elbows on the dusty tabletop like she owned the place. The rain had settled to a nearly soundless drizzle outside, but Nicoletta still seemed to carry the worst of it in her damp clothes and wet, glittering lashes.
“So, this is how you lived. Sharing blood,” Layla said, glancing between the three of them. “How long has this been going on?”
Sterling’s cheeks bloomed red with embarrassed heat. He looked toward Dr. Gray, who’d made a quiet entrance into the underground space. The turn only made the bite scar in his neck more visible, and Layla felt a sharp annoyance tugging at her for all the judgment Sterling had put her through only to end up in the same position as her. “It was Dr. Gray’s idea.”
Dr. Gray’s face was ashen, and her dark eyes were shadowed with concern. “Josephine is stable now. Still unconscious, but breathing. Introducing Elise’s blood to her seems to have forced her body to let go of the bond she had with Sena. Speaking of…” She glanced at the recently buried tomb where the ancient reaper had been laid to rest. “It was not only Sena’s blood waking the dead but also Karine’s. While most of her army affected by Sena’s blood should be down now, we have to worry about those raised by Karine’s blood. We should focus our efforts on stopping her to prevent the assault. Itwill be difficult to kill her, so polluting her blood with antivenom to keep it from being useful is our best bet. We’ll only need one shot.”
A shaky pain flared in Layla’s arm. It rippled down to her hand, and as she turned her wrist over, her breath hitched. Black veins rolled beneath her skin. They looked especially large in the glow of the moonlight, their constricting movements mimicking the hunger pulsing in Layla’s stomach. She tried to force back her own shock but could only manage a wet cough. Blood dripped from her mouth and sprayed her hands.
Dr. Gray regarded her with genuine sorrow. The rain continued to hum in the background as Layla swallowed her own rotten blood. “The poison has been idle, but it’s reemerging now. The good news is humans and reapers can use blood to bond and protect one another from potential attacks. Despite being poisoned and attacked by the dead’s lethal bites, you all turned back to your regular states because of the blood you shared with another. We can use that to our advantage if we have to fight. I have seen in recent observations that overuse of the poison can cause lethal withdrawal symptoms. This should only be a one-time thing.”
Sterling crossed his arms. “What if the poison never leaves us?”
Dr. Gray pursed her lips. “I’ll work hard to keep you lucid for as long as I can.”
***
The following hours were full of long announcements and attemptsat assuring the clan. Reminding everyone that they could be stronger than evolved reapers together, even if it seemed impossible. That Layla had somehow miraculously survived an attack that should have killed her was a sign in itself. But even she was unconvinced. After she walked away from her clan mates shaking their heads and murmuring their doubts, Layla nearly collapsed in her bathroom. She retched until her stomach hurt and blood dripped from her eyes. While the bulbous veins from last night had gone away, there was a choking pit of discomfort in Layla’s system that had failed to disperse. She felt it in her chest, her head, and her stomach—a slight burning like the beginnings of a muscle ache. But it never went away. Throughout the afternoon, she became restless, sometimes coughing up blood. Turning the radio on to listen to the news as a distraction helped for only so long.
Static filled the room at first as she tuned it to a station. Then a broadcaster’s voice rang out, loudly breaking the static silence: “This just in, Mayor Arendale has announced his plans to put Harlem on a lockdown and curfew. He has deemed the area unsafe and volatile after the major explosion at the Saint estate that killed Tobias Saint and several other citizens. With the recent explosions and poisonous attacks led by ancient reaper Karine, Harlem is a truly lawless place. Hopefully Mayor Arendale can get everything under control…”
Eventually, her door creaked open and Elise came in. Her hair was messy from sleep, her eyes puffy with past tears. But she pulled Layla into the bathroom without a word and took a rag from the shelf before kneeling to wipe the blood from Layla’s face. “I can feel yourpain. It’s like a burning in my chest. Are you starved?” Elise asked.
“Not at all. Dr. Gray said the poison makes a bigger home in you each time you’re exposed to it. I think it’s just my time.” Layla swallowed past the rise of bloody bile in her throat. She passed a hand over her face and winced as the pain grew strong enough to send black spots over her vision. “Maybe it would be best if I died. I could relieve you of this pain.”
“No, Layla. There would only be worse pain if you died. I’ve already lost everyone. We will not add you to that list.” Elise wiped a hand over her forehead, and Layla noticed the sweat beading on her brow. Through all her own suffering, she had failed to notice the feverish heat raging through Elise.
“You’re sick too,” Layla said. She tried to sit up, but her stomach lurched, and she had to grit her teeth to keep from passing out.
Elise shrugged. “I think it’s just our blood bond. Being close to you is helping. And honestly, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could sit around, begging Josi to wake up. We’ll be okay. We have to be.” A shiver passed through her, and Layla’s heart dropped.
“I have an idea,” she whispered.
***
Layla watched the ripples of Elise’s reflection in the shallow pool of holy water. The two sat side by side in the cathedral’s sanctuary, water glistening on their skin in the low light. The brief dip had cooled them enough to settle their minds and nerves. Though onlya few moments into their holy water escape, Elise was pulling Layla into her and begging for a new distraction.
It had been a while since she’d last coughed up blood or had an episode from the poison. Still, exhaust shadowed her eyes. Her veins were turning purple, and even her movements were much slower than usual. Elise raised a palm to her cheek, wincing at the unnatural warmth of her skin. Every other time, Layla had been cool to the touch, as all reapers were. Now she felt closer to a furnace. Burning with a malignant force tearing her up inside.
Layla threaded her fingers through Elise’s and let out a shaky breath. “Thank you for staying with me.”
