Reapers - Master of Souls (Reapers Chronicles Book III)

5 - Death's Bane (2 of 3)

NP: Killer by The Ready Set

"What?" Vincent smirked. "Daddy came to rescue his favorite sons?"

Pilgrim looked paler since I last saw him. He must have lost some weight. There were dark circles around his eyes, made prominent by the hollow of his cheeks. None of these made him any less daunting though. His mere presence was still enough to make anyone cower in fear. If anything, it made him more... deathly.

Pilgrim sighed, waving a hand at Cairo who obediently handed him the Master Scythe. For a second, Pilgrim tested the scythe's weight on his hand, seemingly unmindful of the distraught faces moving on the surface of the blade.

I could almost hear their pleas, their mournful lament, the grinding of their teeth.

"Vincent, Vincent," Pilgrim hushed, his voice frail. "Always the black sheep of the family. Always seeking for attention."

Vincent tilted his head, blinking as if to agree. "That so? Then let's see if this gets your attention, Dad."

He drove his lance just below Cyrus's shoulder bone. As the boy began moaning in pain, he twisted and thrust it deeper.

"What about now, Dad?" he scoffed. "This is exactly what you made them do to me. Aren't you proud of me now?"

Before his father could answer, he pulled the lance out of his brother's body, the curves of the spines tearing flesh as they came out.

Cyrus croaked and passed out. Darius quietly cried beside him.

As I watched those young boys plead for their lives, I somehow pitied them. They were just boys. They were Vincent's brothers.

"Go ahead," Pilgrim said unblinkingly. "Kill them. See if that makes you sleep at night for the next... let's say-eternity."

That seemed to hit a major angry nerve in Vincent. With a furious yell, he swung his lance down.

"No!" I shouted at him.

Vincent hesitated, stopping himself with the tip of his lance a hair's breadth shy of Darius' eyeball.

"They're your brothers, Vincent!" I begged him, wiping the tears from my face. "No matter how cruel and twisted they are, it doesn't change that fact. You start killing family; you wouldn't walk out of here the same."

Pilgrim laughed a laugh that made my knees tremble. "You can't do it, Vincent. You're weak; that's what you are."

Vincent's gaze shifted from me to his father. His eyes told me how confused he was, how this was messing him in the head.

"Damn you!" Vincent glared at Pilgrim, running a hand through his hair as he did.

"Don't listen to him, Vincent!" Warily, I approached my master, shaking my head gently. "You're many things. But I know weak isn't one of them. You're strong. That's why you won't do it."

"Go on," Pilgrim cut in. "Listen to a lowly familiar. Be the spineless, sniveling coward you really are."

Closing his eyes, Vincent shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Shut. Up!"

Vincent stomped on Darius's hand. The boy's scream made me wince. Without even blinking, Vincent aimed the lance onto his brother's heart.

"No, Vincent!" My voice cracked in all the wrong places. "It's not who you are!"

Hesitance flashed on his eyes. "I... don't know who I am anymore."

"I-I hate them too. You know I do. B-but you're better than them."