My feet moved before I could think about it, before I could figure out my plan. I just knew I had to do something. I couldn’t sit there and watch them get slaughtered in front of me.
When I reached the line of rocks, I paused. Heat came from it, like a warning. I turned to spot Lucifer, and the look on his face was pure expectation.
He’d pushed me here, to do this. Even though a fear struck me, a sense that crossing that line wasn’t a good idea, I knew damn well Lucifer wasn’t going to kill me.
He wanted me to do this, and while I didn’t know what or exactly why, it didn’t stop that I needed to. I remembered Grant’s words, when he’d told me that asking if something was possible was pointless if it was my only choice.
I drew my hands into fists and forced myself across the line of rocks.
Heat seared me, but I pushed through it. It felt like trying to walk through a waterfall of lava.
At the other side I collapsed forward, into the dirt. Even though the barrier had only been perhaps a foot wide of space, it had felt like crossing miles.
“You have nothing?” Kase asked, voice less controlled than it usually was. “What good are you?”
“Well, I’m sorry, but fighting a reaper wasn’t ever one of the things we considered,” Grant shouted back.
I shoved myself to my feet to find the men moving, all faster than I could, and the reaper following the line of the barrier, looking for an escape.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Troy snapped from farther away, and that tone said he’d seen me. It was his strictly for me annoyed voice.
Smoke surrounded me for a moment before it took form as Hunter—naked, but I was used to that—stood just in front of me. “You need to take a few steps backward, shadow-girl.” He set his hands on my shoulders to shove me backward, through the barrier.
When my back hit that line, however, a searing pain than before overcame me. It forced a scream from my lips, and even with his quick shove, the wall held like a one-way path that wouldn’t allow me out.
Hunter yanked me away from the barrier, a curse on his lips. “She’s trapped in here,” he called out.
“We will talk about this as soon as we are out of it,” Kase all but snarled in my direction, his finger pointed at me like that was scarier than what we currently faced.
Grant came over, breathing hard, then grabbed my hand. He flipped it over, and I wasn’t even startled when a sharp pain spread through my palm. I’d gotten used to Grant slicing my hand at his whim.
He did the same to himself, whispered quick words before grasping hands with me. The blood mixed, and I ignored the risk of bloodborne illnesses because, again, that was a worry for another day.
If we got one.
He released my hand, then pressed his bloodied palm against my forehead along with a sharp word in a language I didn’t recognize. “You are an idiot,” he said with no sense of affection.
“Is she protected?” Troy asked from across the arena.
“Best I can do. No idea if it’ll work against that, though. They don’t teach reaper defense in the guild.” Grant turned away, but I caught his wrist.
“Lucifer wants me here.”
“What?”
I tugged at his hand, trying to get him to pay attention to me. “I don’t know why, but he planned this. He pushed me to be here now, to come into the arena. He wants me here.”
“Lucifer is a sadist who enjoys watching people tear each other apart for fun. I think you’re giving him way too much credit.”
I released Grant’s hand, frustration eating at me. I tried to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. What was the plan?
The scream of the reaper increased again, a driving pain through my temples. I clutched my head before lifting my gaze to find the reaper still and staring at me.
It did it the way the last one had, when I’d first gotten into hell. It still ignored the others, but it saw me.
Grant set a hand out as though to push me back, to keep me behind him. The chivalrous movement was sweet but stupid. The reality was that the reaper could go through him if it wanted.
It seemed to bore its gaze into me even though I couldn’t spot any eyes because of how the hood hid its face. If it had a face… The sound increased again, as if it were trying to speak to me.
It came forward, and Grant tossed his hand up. A rush left his palm like a spark of black lightning. It arced across the space and struck the reaper, throwing it back against the barrier.
Everyone froze.
“I thought you couldn’t hurt it?” I asked.
“I wasn’t sure that would work,” he panted, looking exhausted. “I haven’t exactly faced off against a lot of reapers to test, and that took a pretty big chunk of my power.”
I opened my mouth to answer but that pain was back, driving me to my knees, forcing me to cover my ears to try and block it out. It didn’t work, though, the sound still bleeding through.
Across the space, the reaper was up again and almost vibrating. What was it waiting for?
Kase, Troy and Hunter came closer, placing themselves between the reaper and me. Seeing them—or at least their backs—created an odd feeling.
How many times had people given a damn about me? My whole childhood had been a matter of not being important, of people walking away because I was too
