Reaper Unleashed

Her head snapped up. “You know?”

“I’ve always known. I chose to let you pretend. You have much to answer for Lilith, but first you’ll pay the Gateman and bring back your son.”

“Keon’s my brother?” Azazel sounded stunned.

Lilith reached out to touch Keon’s cheek with trembling fingers, and the veil of confidence and granite that encased her melted. The lines on her face softened, and her mouth quivered.

Her shoulders heaved in shuddering sob. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”

She pressed her palm to his cheek and closed her eyes.

Keon

The man leans up against his bike and studies his nails. The purple bus idles at the curb by the bus stop.

“Who are you again?” I ask the man.

“A friend.” He says. “It’s not often we get the likes of you come this way. The last one was a few centuries ago. You look a lot like him.”

“Who am I?”

“My friend,” the man says.

This doesn’t feel right, but my mind is confused, and I can’t simply sit at this bus stop all day.

“So…” The man jerks his head toward the bike. “You want to come for a ride?”

I take a step toward him.

“Stop!”

A woman appears out of the darkness. Alabaster skin and dark hair. She’s beautiful, and my heart stirs for her.

The man groans but then gets a look at the woman and straightens. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the queen of the damned herself. And to what do I owe this… Wait a second.” He looks at me then back at the woman. “This one’s yours, isn’t he?”

Hers?

“I want him back,” she says. “I need him back.”

The man sucks on his teeth. “You’re willing to pay the price? Are you sure he’s worth it?”

She looks at me and there’s warmth in her eyes… Love and regret.

“He was always worth it,” she says. “It’s I that must prove my worth.” She takes a deep breath and turns to the man. “Leave me enough time to make amends.”

The man seems to consider this then nods and holds out his hands. The woman takes them and then my world is filled with light.

Fee

Lilith’s eyes remained closed for long seconds, and the air began to vibrate with a strange hum. Something was happening. Gray streaks appeared in Lilith’s hair and fresh lines materialized on her elfin face.

She was aging.

Whatever she was doing was aging her.

I looked at Samael. He watched her with a strange dispassion that was almost cold. I got the impression he’d forgive her a lot but trying to kill his daughter wasn’t one of those things.

Lilith pulled back her palm with a ragged sigh and swayed. Conah caught her, but I didn’t care about her.

I cared about Keon.

Why wasn’t he waking up?

I slipped out of Azazel’s arms and onto the ground beside the daemon. “Come on.” I stroked his face. “Please come back to me.”

A fresh cough wracked my body, and I covered my mouth to stem the spray of blood.

“Fee.” Azazel cupped my shoulders, his tone ragged. “Oh god.”

I was tired, so tired, and I needed to sleep, but first I needed to look into Keon’s gorgeous cat eyes and know he was safe.

Like the answer to a a prayer he opened them and focused on me.

He was alive. He was…

Darkness claimed me.

“Come on, wake up. Dammit. Fee!” Mal’s words were cut off by a sob.

“Try again,” Azazel said.

“It won’t work. I can’t heal her.” Uri’s voice was thick with emotion.

“The Tribus bond is weakening,” Grayson said. “I can feel her slipping away.”

“I can’t channel power to her,” Hunter added.

I was dying.

My body was shutting down. I could feel it. The righteous power was silent, gone now that it wouldn’t be able to use my body. Fuck. This sucked.

I surfaced to find the people I loved around me. Azazel, Mal, Grayson, Hunter, Uri, Keon and Cora. Her face was tear-streaked, but her mouth was a determined line.

“Fee, you have to fight it, please,” she said. “You need to—” She sucked in a sharp breath and pressed a hand to a chest. “Oh god. Fee, please don’t leave me.”

I felt it then, just like at the Keep when I’d sensed her. I felt our unique connection. The one that had been there for so long we’d both taken it for granted. I felt it fracture and begin to unravel, and I sensed the dark waters lapping at me, eager to drag me under.

“Fee, please.” Cora gripped my hand and squeezed.

I wanted to squeeze back but my fingers refused to work.

Cora shook her head, dislodging tears from her lashes.

“Hey…” My voice was dry and weak. “It’s going to be okay. You’re going to be okay.”

“Not without you.” She broke into soft sobs, and Mal put his arm around her, his eyes bright with tears of his own.

Pain ripped through me, followed by a cold numbness. I wanted to say goodbye properly but there was no time.

I needed to know they were safe. “Cain…Where is he?”

“The Seraphim have him,” Uri said, his tone thick with emotion “He can’t get away, and Mammon is locked up. The Underealm is safe, Fee.” He touched my cheek lightly. “Oh, Fee…”

They were safe. I wanted to close my eyes and revel in his touch, but I was afraid if I did that they’d never open again. I kept them open and drank in the faces of my lovers, my best friend, my family.

They were safe.

I could go in peace. My heart ached with the knowledge that I could do nothing else.

“Fee…” Keon’s cat eyes brimmed with tears.

I focused on him now, blinking to push away the darkness that was eating away at my vision.

He was whole and alive.

It was time to let go. “I’m okay. I just need to know you guys will be okay.”

Cora covered her mouth to catch the tears that spilled down her cheeks.

Azazel made a sound that was pure pain. “Oh god. I feel it,” he said. “Fee, please don’t go.”

Mal leaned in and pressed his lips to my temple, and his warm tears kissed my icy skin.

I didn’t want to go. I wanted to stay. I wanted to stay so bad it hurt, but it was time.

The waters began to slide over my limbs, icy and eager.

“She’s not going anywhere.” Samael said.

The guys parted to let him through. He crouched and took my hand in his. I caught sight of Conah behind him, and there was someone else too…

Cain?

Hunter growled and Azazel clutched me tighter to him.

“It’s okay,” Conah said. “We have a plan.”

“Fee.” Samael stroked my cheek. “There’s a way to save you.” He looked at Azazel. “Do you remember our conversation in the library about the mark?”

Azazel sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh god. Yes.”

Samael’s smile was beatific. “Conah reminded me there was a way to give Cain what he wanted and save your life in the process. You can live. You can live forever if you chose to.”

Samael moved aside as Cain took his place. His gray eyes roved over me. “Will you take this burden, sister? Will you set me free?” He exposed his mark and held it up to me like an offering.

“You can take the mark,” Azazel said. “Fee, take it. Please.”

Cain wanted to die because he’d lost all the people he loved. But me? I was surrounded by love. By my people.

Fuck you, death. You’re gonna have to wait. “Yes. Yes, I’ll take it.” I covered the mark with my palm.

I had a shit load of living to do.

Epilogue

One week later

Fee

I stood on my balcony, looking out at the Keep grounds. Demons dotted the landscape below, working on restoring the ruined earth. Tractors and rubble-shifting vehicles worked alongside them, but it would be months before Imperium was put to rights. We’d decided to stay awhile to help restore the peace and calm the citizens, but for me it was more than that. I wanted to be close to Samael, to spend time with him and…Keon.

After Lilith brought him back from the dead and everyone discovered his true heritage, Keon vanished.

I had no idea where he was, and every day that went by without his return opened up an emptiness in my heart.

“What are you thinking?” Mal wrapped his arms around me from behind and pulled me against his chest. “Keon?”

“I just need to know he’s okay.”

“I’m sorry,” Mal said. “I should have been kinder to him. His actions weren’t his own. They weren’t his choice but loving you… That was.”

My chest ached. “It’s not your fault. It’s Lilith’s.” I sighed. “And she’s paying the price.”

Bringing Keon back cost Lilith her immortality. She was aging, and she would die. She had amends to make, but with Keon gone she wasn’t able to do that.

“Maybe we should head back to the human world once Azazel gets back from his hunting trip,” Mal said softly. “I’ve sent scouts out to look for Keon, and if they find him, we can come back for him.”

He was right. We couldn’t stay here forever. We still had reaper duties in Necro. There were still dead to be delivered to the Beyond.”

I nodded, suddenly exhausted. “Yes. We can leave when Azazel gets back.”

Keon

The tavern is a shit hole, but the ale is good, and they don’t have a problem serving daemons. A female with silvery blonde hair and a curvaceous figure walks past and my heart leaps into my throat.

Fee?

But she turns her head to the side, and I catch her profile.

Not Fee.

What the fuck is my problem?

I left to get away from her, from everything. From the pitying eyes and the knowledge that my prior actions will never allow me to be with the woman I love.