The Reaper's Curse #1 - Complete

The Same Mistakes

"Third time's the charm, right?" Alicia asks, standing close to Oliver's side as her stomach knots.

They haven't spoken of the kiss, nor does she expect them to until this mess is done. But it still lingers in the back of her mind, a whisper of what she wants and she can't look at those wants too closely. Not yet.

"You two lead the way," Sam grumbles from beside them. Only the three of them. They can't risk more lives if this goes horribly wrong and the confidence the others have in this plan doesn't help her nerves at all.

Alicia sighs and treads forward, the map in one hand and a lantern in the other. Oliver already has his gun drawn as they slip through the hole in the wall and into the pitch black tunnels within.

Cocooned in the smell of old stone and the cold darkness, Alicia tries not to note the familiarity of it all. She doesn't want this place to be familiar. Their footsteps echo around them, bouncing against the dark stone. The further they walk, the stronger the stench of decay becomes. The back of Alicia's neck itches but she forces herself to press onwards, focusing on the map that shakes in her grip.

They walk for hours in absolute silence, each of them terrified of disturbing the dead. But they encounter no Ghuls, and Alicia doesn't know whether that makes her feel better or worse. If they're not here, then that means they're out there. Alicia doesn't even want to toy with that idea.

"Here," Alicia finally murmurs, her feet sore and her eyes straining in the flicking light as she takes them down a familiar passage.

Too soon they're entering the wide chamber of stone coffins and an endless ceiling. Alicia's pulse throbs in her throat as she stares at the place she discovered Ghuls, where Oliver was bitten, where she promised herself never to tread again.

She shoves the map into her satchel, reaches out, and grips Oliver's forearm, unable to take her gaze off the yawning space before them. The belly of Muovea where every child's nightmares linger in the dark.

"What now?" she manages to get past her dry lips.

"Now we find the one that'll listen," Sam says, moving past them and further into the huge space. Alicia hesitates before she follows, gaze darting to the coffins around them, some with their lids closed, some partly crumbled and empty.

They follow Sam until she stops before a coffin, upright and different from the others. Sam brushes her fingers along the coffin, the metal black. She reaches forward before Alicia can argue and yanks the coffin open.

She nearly runs. Every muscle in her body stiffens and prepares her to bolt right back out of that chamber as the metal screams from the build-up of rust before swinging open. Her grip on Oliver's arm tightens to the point where she knows it's painful, but he doesn't pry her fingers away.

Stepping back, Sam observes what she reveals with her hands fisted at her sides.

It doesn't matter how many times Alicia sees them, how often she meets those cold, icy gazes, the shiver that rakes down her spine will never go away.

The Ghul is awake, those eyes piercing into them. Its mouth is muzzled by iron and its grey, muscular skin is criss-crossed by chains rusted from time.

Whoever put this creature here didn't want it escaping.

Alicia watches Samantha suck in a deep breath and wipe her hands on her pants. "Let's get this over with then," Samantha says, steel arching into her spine as she lifts her chin as though she balances something upon it.

Oliver clicks back the hammer of his gun and Alicia holds her breath. The weight of Muovea's future seems to settle in the room and take the air from it.