“Fucking rotten ash-kissing shitbags, gods, I hate moths.”I crawl out of bed, my head swimming with images of all the people that need reaping.I’m so exhausted I can’t even be arsed to play my usual game of guessing what deal they made.
I no longer care.
Too weary.
That makes me stop.Lex and Bastien’s words drifting back into my thoughts.Nah.They’re wrong.I’m just wrecked levels of tired.
I head out of the apartment and House Inferos as quietly as I can, find my bike and head into the city.I make it to the centre, ready to reap an old man when I clock a familiar face walking down the street.
My spine goes rigid, cold slithers through my insides.The bike wobbles.I have to readjust, skidding to a halt besides the man.
I flick my visor up.“Thaddeus?”I breathe.
I reaped him.He’s dead.What the fuck is going on?
He looks at me strangely; his mouth opens but no sound escapes.It makes the hairs on my arms rise.
His face collapses, his features crumpling in an agonised expression.I swear he mouths the word help.
And then, he’s gone.
Gone.
I blink.
Flick my visor up and down.
Up and down.
One more time.
But he doesn’t reappear.
I glance around me, but it’s the middle of the night.A homeless woman sleeps on a bench a few feet away.But no one else is there to validate the fact I’m not hallucinating.
I’m not.
Right?
Who the hell am I even asking?Demonsake, I am losing the plot.Maybe Lex and Bastien had a point.
I don’t have time for this.I need to reap the souls and get back to bed so I can figure a way to get Lucy out.Whether she wants anything to do with me or not, I have to get her out of that dungeon.It was never my intention to do that to her, no matter how pissed I am at her.
Ignatius is not going to have control of her.I have to make amends, even if that means she never speaks to me again.
But first, reap, sleep, eat.Otherwise I’m going to end up in the medical wing on campus.
I twist the throttle and the bike kicks out, fighting me a little tonight—bit like my body.The bike is clearly as tetchy as I am.
The old man’s house is only a short ride away.As I park, an uneasy feeling slinks into my belly.
In fact, this whole night is off.I’m still not sure if I saw Thaddeus or if I’m just so tired the old reaper guilt is plaguing me.Most of us are able to ignore it, after all we’re just doing a job—and every mortal has a choice whether they take the deal or not.That’s on them.Just like my deal is on me.
And yet, the quakes, the way I reaped that lady and no soul shreds were left on the scythe, the tear straight through into the Celestial Realm.
It makes me think Interitus might be closer to her goal than any of us realised.It’s like magic itself is breaking.
I shake myself off, place my helmet on my bike and grip my scythe.“Focus, Midnight.”We have shit to do, a Lucy to save, and a devil to dispose of.I am never getting out of the deal I made with him, so this is the only solution.
