Brooks already forgotten, Gus walked past the man with a confidence that came from the utter certainty of knowing she was the biggest, baddest thing in the room.She reached up, lowering her hood to expose her hair and face.She wanted them to know the features of the person who killed them.To carry that knowledge into the next world and hopefully use it to make better choices there.
There were jeers from the humans as she walked to the center of the room with a calm expression.
A portly, middle-aged human propped his chin on his fist as he regarded her from where he sat at a table.“Death, I presume.”
Gus stared, cataloging the human and finding him lacking.
This was who Cleo and Mars had entrusted her organization to?An idiot who didn’t recognize the danger he was in despite it staring him in the face?
Gus was insulted.No, she was furious.
The man’s smile faded around the edges, his eyes hardening into chips of ice.“Best answer me, girl.Else I’ll teach you the meaning of pain.”
“Someone already beat you to the punch,” Gus said with a bitter smile.
No matter what he did, the man before her couldn’t hope to approach the level of depravity and the ability to inflict agony that Esara had been capable of.
“What does Death want today?”one of the pirate’s subordinates joked.
“You.”Gus trailed her gaze over those assembled.“I’m here for you.”
Every last one of them.
The poison that she usually kept tightly contained under the layer of her skin unfurled, wafting into the air to be carried by her soul’s breath into every corner of Belladonna’s stronghold.
“I’m bored with this.Someone show her what happens to trespassers,” the leader ordered, flicking his hand impatiently.
The man and woman who approached to carry out his directions stopped short when the sound of choking came from the direction of the blast door.The guard who’d let Gus in toppled over.
“Spencer?”the woman called uncertainly.
Choking came from another direction.A second pirate fell.
Chairs were shoved back from the table as the pirates scrambled to put distance between themselves and the afflicted.
One by one pirates began to drop.All except their leader—Gus saved him for last—who watched with increasingly fearful eyes as his people expired.
“Afraid?”Gus waited until he looked at her before smiling.“Good.”
She was sure Anandra had felt a similar terror while watching his enclave fall.It was fitting this man experience that level of despair before his end.
“What are you?”The man’s voice was reedy.His chest showing the effort it was taking to simply draw breath as Gus finally let the poison infect him.
“I told you.I’m Death.”
The man gasped.His chair tipped over, dumping him to the ground.In a last bid for survival, he flipped onto his stomach, attempted to crawl away.
When he finally had no more strength and could only roll onto his back to await his end, Gus squatted beside him.“When you attacked that enclave and murdered all those people, did you ever think this would be your end?”
“Please—I…have…infor...ma…tion.”
This should be good.
He pointed a shaking finger at the table.Gus rose, walking over to find a scroll sitting in plain view.
She lifted it for him to see.“Is this what you were talking about?”
“Pass…word...for…anti…dote.”
