Page 30

Audrey

“W hat the hell did you do to my sister?” Wren hisses at Wraith, stabbing her finger at me like he doesn’t know I’m her sister.

Wraith rakes a hand through his hair, eyes moving to me. “Audrey is fine.”

“Like hell she is.” Wren might think she’s being quiet, but I can hear every word she says.

“I’m right here, Wren. I’m ready to go. I’m not really sure what you’re talking about.”

She stalks over to me, grasping my arms and shaking me. “This isn’t you, Ree. What the hell happened in the two days since I saw you last?”

“Nothing much,” I say with a shrug. “Brenden and I had sex with Nex. It was nice…until we woke up in the morning to find him gone. That was unfortunate, but it doesn’t affect what’s happening today. I’m going to kill Michael, and you’re going to reap his soul.”

“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Wren throws her hands in the air. “We can’t take her like this. There’s something wrong with her.”

I sigh, ready to move on and get this over with. I don’t know why she’s so hung up on this. “Wraith thinks I have rejected mate syndrome—whatever that is.”

He curses. “You heard that?”

“I heard everything the three of you said. It’s not like you were being quiet.”

“Yeah, we were, trouble.” Wraith shakes his head. “It looks like you accessed some new abilities. We’ll have to deal with that later if we want to get to Michael before he heads into work.”

I shrug. “That’s fine. I told you I was ready. Wren, are you ready?”

She shakes her head as if she doesn’t recognize me, so I decide my time is probably better spent finding the others. We should’ve left already. I don’t know what’s taking so long.

I head up the stairs as Wren demands answers from Wraith—answers he doesn’t seem to have. I find Brenden sitting on the bed, where I’d left him after we both finished dressing. He’s staring at the wall, completely unmoving. It doesn’t even look like he’s breathing, but his head turns to me when I step inside.

“Why are you still up here?” I ask.

He stands quickly. “Is it time to go, then?”

I tilt my head to the side, frowning as I run my eyes over him. Is this how my sister sees me? Because it’s clear something is wrong with Brenden. I don’t like it.

“As soon as I find Donovan and Cassian. They weren’t downstairs yet. We need to go or we’re going to miss our chance.”

Brenden nods. “I’ll check Donovan’s up here. You check downstairs and outside. They can’t have gotten far.”

We both head for the door, and I make my way back outside. I double-check to see if they made it to the living room while I was upstairs, but it’s completely empty.

Great. Now I have to find four people instead of two.

I don’t find them downstairs, but when I near the front door, I can hear voices outside.

“Damn it, Wren. We’re just as worried as you are, but no one has been able to tell me how to fix them yet. All we can do right now is to be there for them.” Wraith’s frustration with my sister, and maybe even the entire situation, is clear.

“We can’t take them when they’re like this,” she argues with him. “We need to wait until they’re better. They could be a liability when they’re like this.”

“They weren’t upstairs,” Brenden tells me as he joins me. “What are you doing?”

I nod toward the door. “Listening to Wren and Wraith argue about what’s wrong with us and if we should do this today or not.”

“We’re doing this today. If they want to argue, I say we leave them to it and go on our own.”

There’s merit to Brenden’s idea, but something stops me from agreeing with him. “No. Wren should be there.”

He nods. “Okay.”

I swing open the front door, four heads swinging our way. No one speaks as we walk down the stairs and join them.

“No more arguing. Wren, you should be there when I kill Michael, but if you can’t stop arguing, then I’ll leave you behind. That goes for all of you. I don’t need you there, but I want you there.” I look around at them, and I can tell they all want to argue with me, but they keep their mouths shut. “Brenden and I are fine. And now that we have that settled, let’s go. Michael will head to work any time now.”

I don’t bother waiting to hear what they have to say as I snag my sister’s arm and Brenden’s hand, stepping forward and landing us in the middle of Michael’s new home. I release both of them as Wraith, Donovan, and Cassian appear.

Calling on my reaper magic, I will my scythe into existence. “Oh, Michael. Where are you?”

There’s a thump from upstairs before someone thunders down the stairs toward us. Michael is smirking when he steps into the living room with us.

“Well, what do we have here?” he asks, eyes roving on the group before settling back on Wren. “Hello, wife. I do have to say, death looks good on you.”

Wren grinds her teeth. “Why, Michael? Why marry me? Kill my sister and then me? None of it makes sense.”

“Oh, darling. Don’t hurt yourself trying to figure out what’s going on. It’ll all be a little over your head.” Michael chuckles. “Why are you in my home?”

I smile. “I’m here to kill you.”

I don’t expect him to laugh, but that’s exactly what he does.

That should annoy me, shouldn’t it? Honestly, it’s probably better that it doesn’t.

The one part of the plan we never discussed was how I was actually going to kill him. I’m not sure if that was purposefully ignored or how I missed that, but now that I’m here, I know exactly how to kill him in the most painful way possible.

I’m unsure where I learned this, but I know I can use my scythe to rip the soul straight out of his body. It’ll be torture for him.

Yes, that sounds like the perfect way for him to pay for his crimes against my family.

“Gods damn it, Michael! Why the hell are you laughing when Audrey just threatened to kill you?” Wren takes a step toward her husband—I guess he’s her ex now that she’s dead—before stopping. “Tell me why, Michael. It’s the least you owe me.”

“It’s nothing personal, babe. You were a means to an end.” He continues smirking as his eyes find me. “The two of you don’t know a damn thing about your family, do you? If you did, you wouldn’t be asking me why. If you knew what I do, then you’d completely understand. Okay, maybe not completely.”

Donovan growls, lunging toward Michael, but Cassian and Wraith hold him back. “Stop talking in circles.”

Michael rolls his eyes. “You’re really taking the fun out of my revelation, you know that? But fine. You don’t know who or what you are, do you?”

“I know I’m not a witch,” I tell him as hellfire runs along my scythe.

“While a cool trick, I’m not as scared as you want me to be.” He laughs again. “I really hate to be the one to ruin the surprise, but no, neither of you are witches. Because neither of your parents are witches.”

Huh. So Mom has been lying to us. It makes sense—that she was lying to us, not why. If she’s not a witch, then what the hell is she?

Wren shakes her head. “Mom wouldn’t lie to us about that. You’re lying.”

“I’m not sure he is,” I admit. “But if she’s not a witch, then what is she?”

“You can’t believe anything he says, little mate,” Cassian says, stepping up beside me. “He’s a known liar.”

I nod in agreement. “He is, but look at him. He’s getting entirely too much enjoyment out of this. I don’t think he’s lying now.”

Michael tilts his head as he considers me. “You’re different, Audrey. I think I like this version of you better. If you’d been more like this when you were alive, I would’ve chosen you over your weak ass sister.”

More growls sound behind me, and I sigh. Look at my mates overreacting again. What a surprise.

“That never would’ve happened, Michael. Look, if you don’t want to tell us what our mom is, that’s fine. I can ask her after I rip your soul from your body.” I shrug because it really isn’t a big deal to me at all.

Michael whistles. “Oh, yes, I do like this version of you. It’s sexy as hell. As for your mom, she’s an angel.”

“Is that possible?” I ask Cassian, and he shrugs.

“Anything is possible. The powers you’re gaining aren’t from an angel, though. They’re too strong.”

“Mmmm,” Michael hums. “You’re one of the fallen—the judges.”

Cassian bristles but nods.

“The two of you are keeping very interesting company in your deaths. Death himself, a hellhound, a fallen angel, and a vampire…who’s also a reaper. Interesting indeed.”

“I’m over this—whatever it is,” I announce, taking a step toward Michael.

He might claim not to be afraid of me, but he takes a step back for every step I take forward.

“What’s wrong, Michael?” I ask. “I thought you weren’t scared.”

“I’m not scared of you, bitch,” he snarls, stopping his retreat. “I’m just not done playing with you. The fallen is correct. That power doesn’t come from your mom.”

I sigh. Is what he has to say really worth keeping him alive any longer? I’m not sure it is.

“Your dad was definitely the more powerful one of the two. Not that either of them knew who or what they were getting involved with. Did Mommy Dearest tell you that the two of you were a result of a drunken one-night stand?”

He says it like we should be ashamed of it. “Actually, yes. Once we were old enough to understand, she told us she met our dad at a bar and they slept together. She never saw him again. He doesn’t even know we exist.”

“Huh. I didn’t expect her to be that honest with you when she was lying to you about so much more.” Michael shrugs. “And you don’t have a clue about who he is.”

“Clearly,” I say once more, all of my patience gone as I step toward him once more.

I smirk when he starts to take another step back, just barely stopping himself in time.

Then he laughs, surprising me. He’s not acting rationally at all. It makes him harder to predict. It’s probably best if I just kill him now.

What he doesn’t seem to realize is I don’t need to touch him to rip out his soul. I point the scythe at him, still smirking. “Take.”

Nothing happens at first, which seems to make him laugh harder—until it cuts off completely.

His eyes shoot to mine, wide and scared as he pales. “What are you doing? You shouldn’t be able to do this.”

“And yet, here we are.” My smirk only grows as I watch the first strand of his soul slip out of his body, heading straight for the scythe.

“No. You can’t do this.” Michael is panicking now. “I know who your father is. If you kill me, you’ll never know.”

I shrug. “I’m not sure I really care.”

“Audrey! Stop!” Wren rushes up and grabs my arm. “You might not care, but I do.”

I sigh, rolling my eyes. I don’t release my hold on his soul, but I stop pulling on it. “Fine. Tell us who he is.”

“Only if you promise to not rip out my soul.”

“Done.” That’s easy to agree to. Not that I have any intention of keeping that promise. I don’t even feel bad about lying to him—not that I feel bad about anything currently, but that’s neither here nor there.

Michael considers me for a moment, trying to figure out if I’m lying to him, probably. “You might want to sit down for this one. Your father is…”

To be continued in the final book of the Shadow of Death series, Kiss of Death.