reverberating through our arm. A grunt followed the crunch, and she dropped to her knees. Grey blood gushed from her nose, filling her mouth as she gasped for air.
Then her gaze clashed with mine, and she said something, but I couldn’t hear it over the noise produced by the angry Reapers, the growling Demon, and the brutal Grim. The words didn’t matter, though, because I knew the intentions behind the fatalistic shine in her eyes. They would fight until one group or the other lay dead on the floor of this house of horrors.
Our arm lashed out, and our palm smacked against her forehead. She struggled to stand, but I’d already begun to rip holes through her brain. Memories impaled me, but I disconnected from them, funneling them directly into a hastily made box created specifically for these Reapers. The monster in my mind took over the watch, using my eyes to scan the room.
Axton and Trace must have realized the same thing that I had because they weren’t fighting to disable. The Demon simply tore his enemies apart, and the monster lusted, warming me in the most inappropriate places. We were killing someone, and it wanted to throw itself on Trace’s Demon form and ride him like a fire rides a hellhound.
When we looked to Axton, though, that need dampened. Pockets of strange worlds—Axton’s illusionary powers—dotted the area, disappearing and appearing as the controller did. Axton kept switching forms, making it look as if he teleported around the room. He’d picked up a weapon from somewhere and used it before anyone noticed him, stabbing them through the gut. It was disorienting to look at, and the monster turned our head away.
When I slapped my free hand on a second Reaper that ran at me, I was forced to pull two sets of memories into me, both of my victims fighting against my intrusion. The monster’s warning about the front door opening and spewing new Reapers didn’t even register in the midst of the battle of minds and the lifetimes I was living.
Then, as if I’d been ripped from a dream, the memories cut off, and my monster screamed inside our shared brain. Burning pain sliced through me, while waves of agony pulsed in time with my slowing heart rate.
“What is this?” echoed inside my skull, the grating voice of my monster filled with confusion.
Had it ever felt pain before? Real, physical pain that signaled something was so very wrong?
I didn’t answer the monster or indulge my curiosity. Our chin dropped to view the cause of the wrongness. The sword that poked out of my front commanded all of my attention, and I couldn’t answer. My cloak clung to me as it became saturated with my blood, and I closed my hands around the odd metal sticking out of me.
I tried to draw my soul forward, to save myself, but I couldn’t feel it any longer. It was as if it hid from me, afraid to show itself.
I’ve seen one of these before. Where, though? I knew it was important, but my mind wouldn’t pull up the answer. Everything seemed so fuzzy, so far away.
Heat pressed against my back, contrasting with the increasing coldness of my insides. Even the warm breath blowing across my cheeks caused my skin to prickle.
“Finally got you,” an unknown voice said. “I hope I get to consume your soul. I deserve it, don’t you think? After all, I’m the one who caught you.”
I was growing sleepy, but I forced my eyes open, so I could count the Reapers. The same ones remained before me, standing there watching with greedy gazes as I slowly died. They looked like scratchers at their most desperate, licking their lips and scratching an invisible itch as they waited for another tab. Except these Reapers didn’t want tabs—they would fight over my soul.
The one that stabbed me must have snuck up behind us using its Grim form. I’d depended on the monster to watch out for me and alert me if anyone approached, but it couldn’t use my Sight to see, apparently. That allowed one of them to float close enough to do damage.
The Reaper said something else, but things were becoming dim, and I couldn’t be bothered with their taunts, anyway. My knees were weakening, and I sagged, already lost. Only one thing kept me from giving in right there, and I struggled to remain upright.
It took an incredible amount of concentration to simply turn my head so I could