Reapers - Master of Souls (Reapers Chronicles Book III)

40 - Scarlet Woman (2 of 2)

We can fight the dark

This is who we are

There's a new light coming

Finally had enough, finally waking up

To who we are becoming

40 - Scarlet Woman

With what remaining strength I had, I dug my fingers into the dirt one hand after the other to drag myself to Adrianna's direction.

"Adrianna," I kept calling. "Wake up."

I didn't dare look back when I heard the screams and the moans, the cries and the sound of bodies breaking, the roars, the growls and the sound of teeth snapping. My eyes were too blurry to see through the tears. It felt like the sound of suffering wouldn't stop.

The moment I was able to grab my sister's hand, I tried to shake her. "Please... I need you to wake up now or everyone will die!"

Just then, Adrianna's mouth opened, a long loud gasp that sounded like rusty hinges scraping out of her throat. Her back arched before she shot up to a sitting position. Her eyes flew open in terror before she screamed to the skies.

All of a sudden, it was silent. All there was to be heard was Adrianna's labored breathing. Even the Beast had stopped tormenting my friends to turn his full attention to her.

"A-adrianna?" Lifting my head, I tightened my fingers around her arm. "Adrianna, is that you?"

For a while, she stared at her trembling hands. Then she turned her brown eyes on me. And I knew right away that it was, indeed, my sister.

"Yes," she cried.

She crawled next to me and pulled me up from the ground. Sobbing, she gathered me close to her chest.

"It's you," I said. "I can't believe it's really you!"

She pulled away, wiping away the tears on her cheeks. Her brows knitted. Catching her head between her arms, groaning as if she were in pain.

"No! No!" she kept hissing."Nooooo!!!"

"Adrianna? What is it?"

Again, she fell quiet. And as if nothing happened, she raised her head. Then, corners of her lips twitched into a smile.

"Adrianna?"

"Yes, it is... us. Not." A shrill cackle escaped from her throat.

"No!"

Once Legion was done laughing her evil heart out, I felt her hand slink behind my neck. She grabbed a large clump of my hair and yanked backwards.

"Adrianna! Come back!"

"Pity," Legion scoffed, yanking harder. "Your scaredy-cat for a sister thought she could defeat us. But guess what? Weak little Addie's back in her room, hiding from us. Curled in a corner, blubbering her pretty brown eyes out."

"Take control, Adrianna! You're stronger than them!"

The back of her hand collided with my face. I tumbled on the ground. Seconds passed before I could blink out the white patches that danced around my eyes.

Casually, Legion got up, patting the dirt from her skirt. With a sigh, she walked up to me and kicked me in the stomach.

"And goal!" she shouted. "Legion: one! Aramis: zero."

That knocked the wind out of me. Coughing uncontrollably, I curled into a ball. I ground my teeth, telling myself to endure the pain until my mouth tasted of rust.