Reapers - Master of Souls (Reapers Chronicles Book III)

41 - Command

Go ahead and laugh even if it hurts

Go ahead and pull the pin

What if we could risk everything we have

And let the our walls cave in

41 - Command

In one blink, my injuries began to heal at a rapid rate I hadn't seen before even in my better days. Euphoria washed over me, drowning the worst nine minutes of my life.

Which was the last nine minutes that had just passed.

My whole body thrummed with energy. It was so overwhelming that at first, I was hesitant to move. I was scared I would accidentally shoot lasers from my fingers.

For the first time in a long time, I felt like there was nothing I couldn't do. Like no one could hurt me. Like I could conquer the world. If I really wanted to.

So this was how it felt to be the Scarlet Woman.

The power itself was alive, not quite evil, but capricious. And I was only beginning to understand the way it works. It wasn't my ally. I was just its temporary host. For the weak of mind and heart, there was no controlling the power. The power controls you.

But I was not alone. Not anymore.

Adrianna and I were together on this.

It wasn't easy to tune out the millions of voices in my head, but Adrianna's voice drowned all of them as she continuously hummed the ancient lullabye our mother used to sing to us. I couldn't directly talk to her, but I could sense her presence, her protection.

As the light from the soul reaping slowly died, I carefully stood up. Blinking away the wooziness, I flexed my hands. My limbs felt numb and swollen even as they looked perfectly normal to me. Maybe, it was too much energy.

In contrary to what Alex theorized, I think souls don't shatter. For me, it felt like my soul was a big balloon filled with water. It would adjust and stretch to accommodate excess life force, or energy for this matter. It would do so until it has reached its limit, during such time it would burst. And mine was just a hair's breadth shy of doing that.

I quickened my steps as I took in my surroundings.

The Beast made this confused whining sound, its eyes on me. It was waiting. Unsure of what to do next.

Bodies lay scattered all over the yard. To my eyes, to Legion's eyes, their faces were blank, unfamiliar. It was hard to put names to faces as if they didn't matter, as if no one else mattered but me. And it was so wrong it felt good.

No, Aramis, I castigated myself. Focus!

With every second that ticked, this power that was supposed to make me stronger eventually felt like a noose around my neck. The more I tried to fight it, the more the noose got tighter.

Blinking rapidly, I gave my unconscious friends a second look.

The first face I recognized was Vladimir's.

He pushed himself off the dirt and struggled to get up, only to fall again. His Nysmic suit was now in tatters. The side of his head looked like it had been bashed in.

"V-vlad!"

I slid to his side, without a clue on what to do.

The moment I held his hand, though, I felt some of my energy leave my body and transfer to him without me even knowing how I did it. In awe, I watched his injuries heal at an alarmingly fast rate. Which would explain why he had been screaming his head off for the last fifteen seconds. I couldn't even begin to imagine how painful it would be to have my skull heal from a fracture in so little time.