“We’re the first wave,” Soul said, stepping forward.

  Ahead, Laramis looked like the most normal of Visio towns. Aeternae men and women were walking around, shopping at the local store for vials of fresh blood and fragranced linens, taking letters to and from the small post office, and generally doing what one would expect innocent and peaceful people to do. But we knew what evil lurked beneath the surface. We’d have to reveal ourselves in order to uncover the Darklings and avoid civilian casualties.

  “They will break ranks,” Soul said, and Phantom and Widow nodded their agreement.

  “And they’ll try to use the innocents,” Night added.

  The First Tenners stood in line with Rudolph, Kelara, and me. For a second, I felt small and insignificant compared to these titans Death had created first. But they didn’t see me as a creature beneath them. Hell, they treated Rudolph with the same respect they offered to Kelara and me, and to each other. In the First Tenners’ eyes, no matter our strength and capabilities, we were comrades.

  “Once the civilians understand what’s happening, they’ll try to distance themselves from their oppressors,” I said. Or so I hoped.

  “Then get the ball rolling, Seeley,” Kelara replied.

  I stepped forward, gripping my scythe. The rest of the Reaper blades came out, as well, and we revealed ourselves to the living. It got some attention, the Aeternae stopping in their tracks to stare at us.

  “People of Laramis!” I said, loud enough for everyone to hear me. “We are Reapers, agents of Death. We are here to save you, if you’ll let us. The Darklings have kept you in terror for too long. If you want freedom, now would be a good time for all of you to walk away and seek shelter.”

  “We’re about to purge this town of Darklings,” Kelara added. “And you don’t want to be here when that happens.”

  Silence followed for a few seconds, as the Aeternae stole glances at each other. As expected, the civilians seized this opportunity to flee, pulling away from their Darkling overlords, no longer willing to participate in the pretense of a happily occupied town.

  “There we go,” Soul muttered, watching the innocents run.

  Only the Darklings were left, looking outraged and befuddled. But their astonishment didn’t last long, as their survival instincts kicked in and they produced their stolen Reaper blades, eager to take us on.

  Night stretched out his arms, and the sky blackened. Darkness enveloped the entire town. The stars vanished. Only the shapes of buildings and roofs could be distinguished. I heard doors opening. Ghouls growling and chains rattling. Claws scratching the hard ground. The Darklings’ ghouls were coming, but so were ours.

  “Let there be light,” Morning said, her palms glowing white. Flashes of light erupted from the tips of her fingers and stretched across the road. There was texture to the luminosity, a peculiar effect that made each flash look like a stroke of incandescent paint. Morning wasn’t looking to increase the Darklings’ visibility, but ours, and we could see the Darklings reacting—some were terrified, backing away, but many were trying for attack angles.

  The fiends flooded the main street, pouring in from side alleys and nearby houses. “Surrender now, and you won’t suffer,” one of them had the audacity to declare, even as his hand shook on the scythe he’d taken from a fallen Reaper.

  The Widow Maker dashed forward and ran his blade through the Darkling’s torso, effortlessly slicing flesh and bone. I heard a woman scream. A gasp. And we were only just beginning. Widow continued his carnage, mercilessly cutting Darklings down. The spirits evaporated from their bodies and turned to weightless ashes.

  “What’s happening?” I asked Phantom, who was about to take on a dozen Darklings herself. She gave me a cold grin.

  “What do you think happens when a First Tenner kills a living creature?” she replied. “May the universe forgive us for what we’re doing, but there is no other way.”

  “Their souls are destroyed,” Kelara clarified. “Whenever a First Tenner’s blade cuts to kill, it doesn’t just terminate the body. It terminates the soul, as well. Death gave this gift to the First Tenners, but she did not share it with the rest of us, since she didn’t want to disrupt the balance between the living and the dead. When the First Tenners go for the soul’s death, it’s considered the ultimate punishment. It’s not something the rest of us are supposed to be able to do. She didn’t trust the whole Reaperhood not to abuse such an ability.”

  The idea made my skin crawl, but I agreed with Phantom. These people had fed souls to ghouls for too long, messing with the cosmic balance. Death would’ve been the easy way out for them. Nothingness was the most terrible fate a soul could encounter.

  We spread out and cut through the swelling crowd of Darklings. I mercilessly slashed at them with my scythe, allowing Rudolph to feed on their souls. That was a slightly different kind of nothingness, but a void nonetheless awaiting those wretched, corrupted spirits.

  Kelara pierced through one flank, and when the Darklings’ gargoyles began their bloody offensive, Phantom and Soul brought their scythes down and broke their rune chains, freeing the creatures.

  “You have an option,” Soul said to the ghouls. “You’re either with us or against us. And you know what you get if you’re against us!”

  The Darklings’ mood seemed to shift from determination to panic as they realized the ghouls’ allegiance was about to change. It turned into a bloodbath mere seconds later, as the creatures finally had the opportunity to avenge their own spiritual demise. These were all Reapers who’d been forced to transform into ghouls. They’d been torn from their noble existence and degraded into soul- and flesh-eating monsters. Naturally, they had a bone to pick with their makers.

  Morning splashed more strokes of light across the buildings as we advanced through the main street. We left dozens of corpses behind us, drawing our own ghouls from the side alleys. I could only hope the civilians had found shelter by now, because they definitely didn’t want to cross paths with ghouls that had just caught the scent of corpses.

  Our ghouls spilled into the main street and mingled with the others. Some went past us and dove right into the pile of corpses, causing bloodied entrails and limbs to fly around as they feasted. Most, however, joined the ghouls we’d just released from their masters and ran down the street, chasing after the fleeing Darklings.

  No matter how hard they fought or what death magic tricks they had up their sleeves, the Darklings simply didn’t have enough time to resist in any way. We’d organized one hell of an offensive, and the First Tenners were going all out. I sure as hell never wanted to find myself fighting any of Death’s first creations. They were fast and cruel. They didn’t hesitate to kill. And their consciences were minimal, at best. They were Death’s perfect soldiers.

  Morning and Night worked together, confusing the Darklings they targeted. Night blinded them with pure darkness, while Morning cut them down, her scythe leaving liquid light pouring from their deadly wounds.

  Soul opened small interdimensional pockets along the way, and Widow pushed incoming Darklings in. With a single snap of his fingers, Soul closed each of the pockets, crushing the Darklings inside and leaving their souls to linger between dimensions. I imagined that fate was just as bad as getting eaten by a ghoul.

  Phantom only had to touch the Darklings’ foreheads. She was too fast, moving like a shadow so they couldn’t protect themselves against her. As soon as their bodies hit the ground, she stomped her foot, and the dirt rippled outward. The wave hit the fallen Darklings, and their souls were virtually tossed out—food for the incoming ghouls.

  We worked incredibly well together, and I knew the Darklings’ reckoning was finally upon them. Some of the more experienced lieutenants tried casting death magic spells, but Widow had little patience for such artifices. Leading some of our ghouls, he tore through the enemy’s ranks before the spells could even leave their scythes.

  I cut down one of the Darklings, and he fell on the town hall steps, blood spreading like crimson glaze. His soul emerged from the lifeless flesh, and Rudolph looked at me, waiting for my permission. I could see the hunger in his big black eyes, and I couldn’t bring myself to deny him. What were a few more souls not going into the afterlife, when the Darklings had deprived millions of Rimians and Naloreans and even their own Aeternae of a decent ending?

  Nodding, I watched Rudolph chase the terrified spirit up the stairs. In death, the Darkling was weak, terrified, and defenseless. “Now, you know how your victims felt,” I muttered. A moment later, his soul was devoured.

  The town hall doors swung open, and out came Timotheus. I’d seen him leave the guesthouse earlier, and I was glad to face him here. “Kinda late to the party, don’t you think?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

  He looked around, horror imprinted on his face. Oh, he definitely hadn’t seen any of this coming.

  “You’re making a huge mistake,” he managed, something caught in his throat. “When the Master of Darkness hears about this, you’re done for. You’re all done for!”

  The Night Bringer climbed the stairs, calmly headed straight for Timotheus. “We are entities beyond your mortal comprehension,” he said. “Older than any form of time you know. And it’s time you were put back into your places, because there is no amount of trickery that will save you from what comes next.”

  “Stand back!” Timotheus yelped, taking out his scythe. His lips moved as he uttered a death magic spell.

  Night was practically amused. “Did you really think there were no consequences to your meddling in the natural order of life and death? Was the acquisition of power so appealing that you couldn’t resist getting on Death’s bad side?”

  A pulse erupted from Timotheus’s scythe. It hit Night in the shoulder, and for a moment the physical matter that made up Night’s body rippled all over, like ink shaking inside a glass jar. Night grunted uncomfortably but shook off the sensation. He waved a hand, and Timotheus’s eyes turned white. He was blind, forever wrapped in darkness.

  “You idiots keep forgetting that the death magic you learned comes from one of us,” Night said as Timotheus screamed and covered his eyes, tears streaming down his cheeks. “I may not know all of Spirit’s magic, but it all comes from the same place. And after what he put me through, I have developed a sort of… immunity.”

  By the time he reached Timotheus, the Darkling was on his knees, weeping. Without a second thought, Night gripped him by the throat and drove his scythe through Timotheus’s chest. The blade emerged on the other side, and the crunching of bones sent shivers down my spine. Ashes flew from his body, his soul destroyed.

  Dumping Timotheus, Night turned to look at me. “Perhaps it’s not okay, but I admit I feel much better now. There’s nothing like a dollop of vengeance to oil my gears.”

  “Death will be so pissed,” I said, slightly amused.

  Night shrugged. The street behind me was almost quiet now, though more Darklings were pouring in from the south side of town. They were no match for us, but I knew this whole scene had made enough noise to possibly warn those inside the guesthouse, as well.

  “Come on, let’s go save your girlfriend,” Night said. I wanted to correct him regarding Nethissis, but I did like the sound of it.

  We rejoined the main line of attack, cutting down every Darkling in our path without hesitation. Night’s plan was working so far. He’d posited that taking down the Darklings in Laramis would leave the guesthouse exposed. The Visentis boys and Atlas would then be woefully outnumbered, with only Nethissis’s spirit as leverage—a spirit Petra had demanded be kept safe.

  I wasn’t sure her safety was still a guarantee at this point, regardless of how the Visentis boys cared to proceed, but I knew this had been the best and perhaps only way to stop the terror in Laramis. Our time was now, and the Darklings needed to learn they had no authority—and certainly not enough power—to do this to innocent people.

  As blood splashed my suit, I felt at peace with this decision. Though violent, it was righteous. Though merciless, it was a natural reaction to their unnatural actions.

  Nethissis

  We could all hear the chaos outside.

  The screaming. The wailing. The sound of bodies falling to the ground, of ghouls growling, of Darklings struggling to keep up with the violence. Something was happening, and it was putting the fear of all the gods into the Visentis brothers.

  “What do we do?” Moore asked, quaking in his boots. For all his earlier self-confidence, he looked more like a scared six-year-old than ever before.

  “You two stay with Atlas and the witch,” Aganon ordered him and Tudyk. “Simmon and I will go outside and see what’s going on.”

  “I’m not sure that’s your brightest idea ever.” I chuckled. My snark quickly subsided as Atlas growled and grabbed me by the throat, possessively pulling me closer to him. He was going into defensive mode, I realized, as he cautiously moved back into a corner, his enormous fangs showing.

  Blood splattered across one of the windows. We all saw a Darkling fall and a shadow land somewhere on top of him. My breath was short, and only partially because of Atlas’s grip on my throat. Whatever was happening outside had to do with Seeley and the others. They were coming for me. Suddenly, I didn’t feel so lonely anymore.

  Moore frowned. “You should stay here,” he said to Aganon and Simmon. “Mother told us to keep the witch here, away from the Reapers.”

  “She also said Atlas can eat her if they try to come for her,” Simmon replied dryly. “We still have leverage here, no matter what’s going on out there.”

  “But if you leave the witch’s vicinity, you’ll be vulnerable!” Moore insisted.

  “We’re stronger together!” Tudyk added, drawing his scythe.

  Simmon scoffed. “Gah, you two are phenomenal cowards.”

  “They’re children,” Aganon chastised him. “Cut them some slack.”

  “They’re Darklings. It’s time for them to act like Darklings! I’m going to—” Simmon was interrupted by the front door splintering inward. Something heavy and powerful had torn it down in the blink of an eye. Fragments flew all over the room, and the Visentis boys all froze on the spot.

  I felt Atlas’s claws gradually digging into my spirit, the feeling of skin being pierced a little too familiar, even when I no longer had a physical body. He wasn’t going to let go of me. He was going to eat me if it looked like my rescuers might succeed.

  The Soul Crusher and the Widow Maker came in first. I’d not seen them since our Hermessi kerfuffle, but they were a sight for sore eyes! Both wore cold and deadly smiles, their galaxy eyes glimmering with recognition when they found me. Dark fury filled their gazes when they looked at the Visentis boys.

  “This is ridiculous,” Soul said. “And a terrible thing your ancestors did. Look at poor Atlas.” He waved at the ghoul. “Hey there, buddy. Long time no see.”

  “You were prettier in your Reaper days, though,” Widow grumbled, staring at the ghoul.

  Atlas didn’t react except for a low growl that slipped from his throat. He held on to me tightly enough to make me wonder about my odds of survival.

  “You made a big mistake coming here,” Aganon spat and proceeded to whisper a death magic spell. Simmon, too, was channeling the forces into his own scythe.

  Unfortunately for them, two shadows swooped around Soul and Widow. I caught the glimmer of scythes as they slashed outward and the shadows bolted past Aganon and Simmon. The two Visentis men stilled, their eyes wide and glistening with pure shock. The color in their irises faded into a milky white as huge gaping cuts opened on their stomachs. Blood spurted out, covering the wooden floor in a steady stream.

  A Reaper didn’t need to cut off an Aeternae’s head to kill them. Reapers’ scythes carried traces of purified death, far beyond the physical realm’s limitations. The shadows stopped behind Simmon and Aganon, and only then did their figures become visible.

  I sucked in a harsh breath, recognizing Kelara and… Seeley! He had come for me!

  They kicked the Visentis men down. The bodies landed in puddles of their own blood with slick thuds as their souls drifted from within and got instantly reaped.

  “Mommy!” Tudyk screamed, his eyes red and glassy with tears as he huddled in a corner with Moore. They’d both transformed, deprived of the security the Visentis name had once offered them. In the face of so many powerful Reapers, they were just helpless boys who tossed their scythes away with pitiful clangs and begged for mercy.

  “We’re just children,” Moore said, his voice shaking. “Don’t kill us, please!”

  Kelara scowled at them, her eyes reduced to ink-black slits. “You’re more than children but worry not. We’re not going to kill you. There is still hope for you.”

  “Is there, though?” Soul asked, pursing his lips. He clearly wasn’t impressed with the boys’ pleading, not that I could blame him. I wasn’t a fan, either. Not after the hours I’d spent in their miserable company.

  “We don’t kill younglings whose minds can still be reformed,” Kelara reiterated. “Now focus on the big prize!”

  Suddenly reminded of our presence, Soul and Widow turned slowly to look at Atlas and me. Seeley was already watching us, his brow furrowed and his scythe still dripping with Visentis blood. Despite my circumstances, hope dared to blossom inside me as our eyes met, and he gave me a soft and brief yet reassuring smile.

  “You need to let her go, Atlas,” Soul said. “You’re outnumbered.”

  Atlas hissed, tightening his grip on my throat. Panic set in, rushing through me like ice water. Seeley moved closer. Kelara stayed with the remaining Visentis boys, keeping an eye on them. Soul and Phantom, however, were determined to get me out of here alive—well, sort of.

  “Don’t be foolish. Whatever the Visentis Aeternae did to you, Atlas, you didn’t deserve it. They’re no longer around to keep you submissive. We’re giving you a chance at freedom,” Phantom added, but it didn’t seem to sway the ghoul.