A Shade of Vampire 79 A Game of Death - Bella Forrest Page 0,53

others took their scythes out, but the ghoul was incredibly fast. Much faster than they were, and that scared me beyond belief.

“Take it out!” Bert shouted.

Lisl tried, but the ghoul tore into her, then moved on to Dina. Others tried to cut him, but the fiend kept vanishing and reappearing in and around the Reaper cluster. It clawed and bit its way through. I screamed, as did Dina when she fell.

“What the hell?!” one of the Reapers managed. A moment later, the ghoul appeared behind him and rammed its fangs into the back of his neck, and I heard his spine crack under the ferocious pressure.

Backing away, I covered my mouth, overcome with uncontrollable tremors, as the ghoul took the Reapers down, one by one. They couldn’t move fast enough. They missed it with their scythes, which eventually ended up on the cold, wet floor, along with their bodies.

None were dead; I knew they would turn to silvery dust when they died. Besides, a ghoul couldn’t kill a Reaper. But it could obviously cripple eight of them in the blink of an eye, leaving me defenseless and overcome with a paralyzing mixture of horror and dismay. They were my only chance at getting Seeley out of the cell.

Once the last of the Reapers fell, the ghoul roared with such pathos that it echoed through the entire maze. Soon, black guards rumbled in, all of them carrying scythes. I hadn’t noticed it before, but it did make sense for these bastards to have Reaper blades, since they were frequently dealing with ghouls.

“Take their weapons!” One of them barked the order, and the other six collected the scythes and put rune-cuffs on the Reapers’ wrists.

“Attaboy, Lucius.” Another black guard chuckled as he sneered at the ghoul.

But the creature didn’t care much for compliments. Its big, black, beady eyes were set on me, now. The black guards couldn’t see me, but it could. Drool strings hung from its loose jaw as it bared its fangs, showing me how hungry it was, how badly it wanted to gobble me up.

Without a moment left to even think about a way out of this, I bolted down the hallway.

“Hey, where’s Lucius going?” the first guard asked, his voice fading behind me.

“He must’ve spotted that witch’s spirit,” another replied, nonchalantly.

As if I were a house mouse they had all looked forward to getting rid of—thank the stars for the ghoul hound, right? The bastards…

I ran as fast as I could, with the ghoul galloping on all fours and snarling after me. Lights flashed past, and I decided that I would not go down like this. I’d escaped a ghoul’s clutches before, and I could do it again.

Whatever was going on here, it was swelling and festering and swallowing more Reapers as they came along. How many more would this underground maze take before Death sent a whole army down here to put these wretched fiends out of their misery? I’d have to survive in order to find out.

So I ran. I kept running.

Maybe I’d survive another ghoul attack. Maybe I wouldn’t forever-die in here.

Maybe not today.

Lumi

Taeral and I went into one of the secret chambers of the Fire Star’s palace, leaving Eira to finish the letters. Once we got in, Taeral locked the door and took out Thieron, which he’d learned to conceal by using a little bit of death magic, as far as I could tell. It was a big weapon and not easy to keep hidden, and yet that was exactly what Taeral had accomplished.

Taking it out and revealing it looked like a sleight-of-hand trick. I couldn’t help but smile. “I see you’ve picked up more than a couple of Reaper tricks.”

Taeral chuckled. “I’ve had time to practice. To eavesdrop on the right people,” he replied. “They all do this, otherwise the scythes would poke out of wherever they’re holding them. It’s a sort of synergy between one’s body, regardless of its form, and the scythe. It can vanish and yet stay on me, at all times. It took me a while to figure it out and lots of practice. Hell, I nearly stabbed myself a couple of times.”

“It’s as beautiful as I remembered it,” I whispered, admiring the long handle made of stone-dragon bone, with its carved runes; the long and arched blade that seemed to whisper in contact with the air around it; and the black iridescent sphere mounted on it, slowly revolving as it held Death’s purest power. Eirexis, the handle and