“I want you to leave,” Steele told her. “Now.”
“It is of no consequence, Dream Drakon. I will get what I came for.”
Steele turned quickly, opening his mouth to spew that vicious fire in the direction of the person or thing standing ten feet behind it.
That person or thing that had arms shaped like guns and wore metal shoulder pads, a dark hood and shitkickers on his feet.
“You know your powers are useless on me,” the man said.
But realization hit Ravyn like a smack to the face. This was no man; it was the Reaper. And she was in Steele’s dream, the dream where the Reaper had to collect the name on his list.
She stepped around Steele then, so the Reaper could see her.
He shook his hooded head. “No, not you this time. He betrayed me by leading me to another soul instead of yours and then he let you take that dagger, which now protects you. For that, I will take him.”
“Go Ravyn! Now!” Steele yelled.
Was he serious? Did he really think she was going to leave him here...to die?
Obviously, that’s what was about to go down, because the Reaper lifted one of his gun-arms and bolts of lightning extended, reaching out like a hook to wrap around Steele’s body and pull him forward.
“No!” she screamed and reached for him but something like a force field blocked her.
The energy surge pushed her back on her ass and then shot her several blocks away, until all she could see were the flashes of light coming from the Reaper. White hot pain seared through her chest and she gasped for air, rolling over on the ground as the pain wracked her whole body. Her screams came so loud her eardrums were about to burst and every one of her bones felt as if they were cracking and caving in around her heart.
“Leave!” Steele yelled to her. “Just leave!”
She was shaking her head even though the word no would fall from her lips. Ravyn rolled over again, cursing the pain and vowing to break through. Coming up on her knees, she took a deep breath, crying out as even that caused pain. She didn’t have to turn around to see that those lightning bolts were wrapped tight around Steele, squeezing the life out of him, because she felt every single tug and pull of them as if they were on her too.
But she managed to reach her hand down to the dagger at her side, pulling it free and holding it until the warmth from the hilt began to slowly fill her body. It was like a glass of water being filled, from the bottom to the rim power surged through her, bringing her head up first and then easing her into a standing position, turning her around until she could see clearly the Reaper killing the man she loved.
Running came next, her legs moving so fast she barely felt them beneath her, then jumping, high up into the sky until she landed behind the Reaper.
“No!” Steele yelled the second her feet touched the ground. “Ravyn, no! I wanted you to live, I needed you to live.”
His head tilted back, veins bulging in his neck as the Reaper continued his torture.
“I loved...you too much...to let you...die.”
“What makes you think it would be any different for me,” she whispered and let his words wash over her, drawing even more power from them as she raised her arms, both hands wrapped around the hilt of the dagger and brought it down to stab the Reaper in his back.
The dagger went straight through him and she tumbled forward.
“You can’t kill me either,” the Reaper said with an amused laugh.
He circled his arms and pulled those lightning bolts tighter, until Steele’s sunglasses fell to the ground and his Drakon’s eyes glowed straight up to the sky. His feet were lifted up at that moment, the bolts twisting and turning him in the air, the life slipping out of him as he gasped for air.
“Then I’ll buy you,” she said and took tortuously slow steps until she was standing where the Reaper could see her.
“Take it,” she said and extended her arm to him. The dagger was in her hand and she turned it over, palm up so that he could see what she was offering. “If you can take life, wouldn’t you want the power to make it remain dead? With this you can stop anyone from raising any lives you’ve taken.”
In the past couple of days, she’d learned a lot about the dagger that had come to her and her grandmother Bahati, the witch whose skills were incomparable and who’d lived in the Congo Rainforest. She now knew of its great powers over the dead and the cursed. Steele had told her the dagger held her power, but he was wrong, it only enhanced what she was. Giving it up would take away some of the energy that made it possible for her to fight Temptra and probably to get here into Steele’s dream, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered to her more than his life, and so she was offering it to the Reaper.
“You cannot trick me, witch!” His retort was strong and stung a little.
Ravyn had been called a bitch a time or two in her life, but never had she been called a witch, and with such disdain. She was immediately offended.
“Look, you can kill him and most likely bring forth the rage of every other Dream Drakon across the realms. At which time I’m certain they’ll exact their revenge by taking names off your list right and left. Or you can let him go and take this dagger to do with as you will.”
Steele was making a sound, like he was trying to say something. No doubt attempting to tell her to leave again, which was futile, but so like him to think he was still in control.
But just in case he wasn’t trying to talk but
