Page 90 of Right Hand Of The Reaper
His hand slammed into my chest, winding me. I stepped back and tripped over something. I landed on my ass and then pain exploded in my shoulder. I looked down and saw a Hellfire blade sticking out.
“Motherfucker!” I yelled at the beast before yanking the thing back out. The blade clattered to the floor and shit, my arm felt heavy. I needed to find a way to beat this guy and fast.
I looked at the beast again, taking in the way it was constructed. There were metal panels slotted together to make a rigid shell, but I could see the glow beneath. Maybe I could get my scythe in one of the gaps. The very thin, tiny, seemingly difficult to see gaps. Yeah. That would work. Surely?
The beast charged again and as he swung his sword high I ducked and struck at the gap where his rib cage would be.
The blow glanced off him and sparked. Well, shit. That definitely wasn’t going to work.
Was there a bigger gap? Or…
Wait. I was an idiot.
I was a fucking Reaper! If it had life, I could kill it. If I weren’t dodging that bloody sword, I’d face palm myself.
I pulled my Reaper form from the shadows and reached out with my magic. I could sense the guys above me, the twins and Magnus giving off more vibrant auras than Thane and Atticus. The beast in front of me felt strange. He wasn’t dead, but he wasn’t alive in the normal sense of the word. His life felt manufactured. Powered by something, but I couldn’t put my finger on what.
His sword came down again and oops, I was doing too much thinking. That was a bit too close for comfort.
I sent my magic out, reaching for the mechanical spark that I could sense in his chest. The runes on my scythe grew brighter as my power intensified. Fuck it. I didn't have time to play around. I threw everything I had at the beast, searching out the spark of life in his chest. It was there, a bright white ember glowing behind his solar plexus. I wrapped my magic around it and froze.
A cold chill crept along my arms. Well, that was weird. That didn’t usually happen.
The chill travelled deep into my bones, up my arms before settling in my chest and heading for my toes.
Panic started to set in. This didn’t normally happen when I threw this much power at a soul. Normally I’d just be able to touch the soul and retrieve it. This was something else.
It fought back.
The beast snorted and huffed a breath. Was that a laugh?
Fuck. I don’t think my magic was having any effect other than making me cold.
I dug deep inside, throwing more power into the retrieval until I’d nearly depleted my magic.
“Why won’t you just die?!” I shouted.
It snorted again and took a step forwards, almost like he was battling against a severe windstorm.
I was running out of time. I’d manage to make the spark in the beast dim, but that was it. I was running out of power but still the beast kept coming forwards.
I yelled as I dug into the depths of my core for anything that would help.
Something dark answered.
Something I’d never felt before.
It unfurled slowly, thick and gloopy like oil, but it was power like I’d never felt before. I didn’t know what it was, but I was sure going to use it. It blasted out of me, slamming into the beast and knocking him backwards. An awful groan of metal rent the air and the beast shuddered but still wouldn’t go down.
The dark power within me grew as I tapped into more of it. I could feel it seeping from me, overflowing now that it had been unleashed.
Oh, Gods. I couldn’t control it.
It slipped through my fingers, and I couldn’t reel it back in.
Shit. I tried to claw it back. Tried to pull it back in but it just poured out of me.
The beast sank to his knees, yelling and groaning. At least I was taking him down.
