So long as I had her as a battery, I’d be able to keep going. I just hoped that I didn’t pull too much. I couldn’t let her die on my watch again. There would be no one to sacrifice their life for her this time…
Unless…
All four paws hit the ground as I shook off the thought. I wouldn’t fail her. The portal tore open, and I lunged through it.
Normally, it was quiet. The leap happened in an instant. However, this time there were voices all around me. They shouted at me, commanding me to help. They pointed me in the right direction.
There was a burst of light ahead, hundreds of souls rushing towards the mortal plane again. I charged ahead and crashed through the portal. My claws scraped against asphalt as I came to a halt.
The smell of burnt rubber and motor oil hit me first. A chilly hand touched my cheek and shoved my head to the side. The spirit smelled so familiar, but there was no time to process it when my gaze landed on Bastien’s car in the ditch.
Racing into the ditch, I went for the passenger side. The door hung open. There was no one in the car anymore. My beast snarled in frustration. I thought that I’d been on time. It seemed I’d been wrong.
A rabbit thumped my flank. I growled at the dumb little animal until I realized it didn’t fear me in the least. This wasn’t a living animal. Much like Addie’s oddly fearless cat, this rabbit was very dead already.
And it knew where Addie and Bastien had gone.
The rabbit spun and raced away. I gave chase. The small creature nimbly navigated the woods until Bastien’s scent grew unbearable. Now I caught the hint of rot in it. My stomach turned warily. Whatever awaited ahead of us wasn’t going to be good.
The rabbit skidded to a stop a few feet from the clearing ahead. Between the trees, I saw a low stone fence and a leaning, wrought iron gate. The family name that hung at the top of the gate belonged to none other than Bastien.
We’d found the hidden cemetery that he’d used to raise his zombie hoard.
Addie’s scream split the silence. The rabbit shuddered and whined. I jumped over it and the low stone fence, right into the cemetery.
ADDIE
“You said you have a family plot on your property?” I asked, as if I was trying to keep the conversation going.
However, I was sure that Bastien knew by now that I was suspicious of him. That first wave of zombies, the ones that tried to throw me out of Cerri’s third-floor window, had come in mass. Maddox and I had discussed where they could have come from, and I’d reasoned that they might have been raised from a family cemetery.
Bastien gave me a look that could have been described asknowing. We both knew where this was headed, but as he pressed on the gas pedal and the speedometer needle rose, neither of us wanted to bring up the truth of the moment.
“Did you know that Reapers die young?” He passed a car going the speed limit.
I gripped the edge of my seat. His information registered, but panic kept me from being able to respond. Once again, he flicked the signal light and merged into the left lane. A car appeared ahead. It honked at us.
Mouth open, I tried to shout, but nothing came out. All I could do was point.
Bastien laughed and merged back into the right lane at the last second.
“I want you to know that I had nothing to do with the scaffolding. That was nature trying to run its course. It’s been after me for a long while now, but I can protect myself better now.” Bastien smiled, so self-assured.
“You call this protecting yourself?” I shouted at him because I couldn’t control my volume.
While we were moving, I couldn’t use my arcana either. While I could have used it to suck the life out of Bastien, that would leave a lifeless man behind the wheel while we were going seventy miles an hour on a back road. It would be suicide.
He did say that Reapers often die young. Fate had yet again put me in a predicament where my chances of survival were slim.
“I’m not ready to die yet,” Bastien informed me. “I have a lot of years left ahead of me that I’m just not willing to give up. Unfortunately, that means I have to steal them from other Reapers. You’re not going to miss much, though. It seems like you don’t have much time left anyway.”
No. I refused. My thoughts turned back to Maddox. He would have a fated mate waiting for him, and a part of me wanted to be that person. I wasn’t going to give up on this life until I knew if I could be that person for him or not.
I straightened in my seat as my defiance bolstered me. While I had Bastien here, the least I could do was ask more questions. I hadn’t been able to access Luca’s library, but it seemed that Bastien had the information that I wanted.
“What is a Reaper, then? If I’m going to die, I might as well know what to expect. Give me that much, at least.” I instinctively reached up to grip the ceiling handle.
While I implied that I was ready for my end, I wasn’t going to give up that easily. I wanted Bastien to believe he’d won, so he’d let his guard down. I had no idea what I’d do once that happened, but I had to work towards the opening while I could.