“I can’t wake up Kitty!” Prudence came down the stairs carrying Kitty in her arms. It threw us all into a confusion and shock. It was one thing after another.
“What’s wrong with her?” August rushed over, and the rest of us was quick to follow.
Prudence shook her head. “I don’t know. I went upstairs to see her and found her passed out in the halls.”
August pressed his fingers to her neck. “She’s fine, but touch her skin…”
I did and met his eyes. “It’s the remnants of some sort of powerful magic.”
“But who could have…” Maureen trailed off.
“Hand her to me.” Mom rushed into the room and took Kitty from Prudence.
“It’d be better if you got her out of here.” Payne strode back into the room with Dad. We were all here now. “Take her to my parents’ house.”
“Stay with her. Ryan and Molly will be there to help if they show up for her there.” Dad said to Mom agreeing with Payne.
Mom nodded. “I expect this to end tonight so that we can go back to our normal Reaper lives.” Dad smiled at her remark, then with a silent nod to us all, she faded with Kitty.
“Well, you want to save your girl,” Barron said dryly. “Time to show us what you’re made of.” He tilted his head behind me. I turned around to see the storm that was Izzie hovering several feet before us.
Twenty-Six
Melinda Thymes
Icould feel fate’s wheels churning.
Around and around, they moved and flowed to a mad-demon’s lust to overthrow his very creator. Little did Harvest know, everyone was a pawn to fate. Including me. Every action had a consequence. Every demon held greed for power. Not all of them had the ability to claim it like Harvest had though.
At this point, there was no stopping the inevitable.
Well, there was a way. But I knew Sebastian Reaper would never let that happen. That didn’t disappoint me. I expected no less from the Grim Reaper’s son. The disappointment was in the future. The choices that had to be made weren’t fair, yet they had to be done.
Scooping up my long tan dress, I entered his domain without any trouble, which meant he waslettingme come to him. Coming here was a risky move. One could never be too cautious with the man who delivered sins onto the human world like the plague. There was no safe way to approach the man that seduced countless people into sins right here in his darkened domain. He was whoever you wanted him to be, which made him hard to resist for humans. Sinners belonged to him, but I never wanted to see the look on their faces the day they discovered the Devil wasreal and every bad choice had a price. And he made sure that price was paid after death.
Sins were just some of his creations. Harvest was proving to be his worst one.
As I rounded the empty cells, careful not to peek in them to see what lay there, I couldn’t help but wonder what the Devil was going to do. And that was the reason for my frown and the very reason I was here.
I paused at the steps, slipped my frail arms into my jacket, and started down the circular stairway. This place, these steps,everythinghere was just as eerie as its owner. The sound of rattling chains echoed around me. Glancing about the stairwell, I saw no one, but I knew I found him.
“You know I won’t be fooled by your mind games, so don’t even bother.” I gathered up my nerves and glanced down at my feet which were hidden beneath the edge of my dress.
Suddenly, candles lit one by one up the walls. Decay and the taste of rank flesh filled the room. The once empty space held a small table to the right of a large window. Standing in front of it, peering out into the abyss, was the horned Devil I sought.
For a moment, panic gripped me. I couldn’t remember ever seeing him in this form. Every time I’d encountered him in the past, he always wore the face of another, someone I held dear just to annoy me. It always worked.
Well, he had a true face of his own, but I doubted he’d worn it for a very, very long time. At least not since he was an angel.
“What do I owe the pleasure?” I wasn’t even accustomed to his voice this way. I found myself taking a step back. How did one get so acquainted with evil and the dead to sound like death personified? Grim was considered death but I knew hearing the Devil speak that was a lie. Decay rolled off his tongue with amenacing crackle. It was disturbing. “Why are you so afraid? Aren’t you the one that came to me?” He had yet to turn around, but he knew everything that happened beneath the dirt. This was his domain, and those small steps I took backward, were easily seen by him.
I stopped and straightened myself. “You know why I’m here.”
He chuckled deeply. “Yeah, I do.”
“And you’re not going to stop him?” I asked him.
“Why would I?”
