how the Setnakhts had managed to kill a soul reaper.
The Setnakhts hadn’t; a soul reaper had.
Everything clicked.
“You’re here to cover your own ass,” Dagan said,
soft voiced in his rage. “You’re here to find that kid because she saw you. She knows your face. You fucking
killed Lokan, you bastard. You fucking killed my
brother.”
He surged forward. The other two soul reapers fell
on Roxy and Calliope.
Instinct warred with hate.Protect Roxy. Annihilate
Gahiji.
Could she hold off the other soul reapers while he
killed Gahiji?
Dagan couldn’t be sure.
The decision twisted him in knots.
Gahiji moved. Dagan surged after him. From the
corner of his eye, he saw one of the other soul reapers
go for Calliope. She was fast, hitting low and hard. She
could handle things for the moment.
The soul reaper on Roxy went for the kill strike.
Dagan saw his arm cock back, his fingers claw. With
a cry, Roxy brought her knife up and forward, cutting
him from gut to breastbone. It didn’t stop him.
Dagan thought his own heart would rip out of his
chest as everything seemed to move at a snail’s pace,
the reaper’s arm coming forward, Roxy arcing back
away from the strike as she pulled her knife free.
The soul reaper’s blood spattered in a wide arc.
Instinct won.Protect Roxy. Keep her safe.
372
