VERMON
"Dear diary,
Talk about irony.
I just found out that this place used to give protection to people like me until Byron took over. I knew something was shady about him. He didn't want us here to keep us safe. He just wanted to torture us for being different. 5133 asks me why I didn't kill him yet. What she didn't know that listening to Byron gets you insane, not listening to him gets you killed. I know how to pick my battles. That doesn't stop her from shit-talking about him all the time though. It's entertaining, really. I have learned quite a few curse spells.
Esti am mi ekius murvulas.
Ei mi yam makuru herium.
She also talks about Mikhail...
The last time I saw him, my whole body wanted to rip him to shreds. But I also wanted to sit on his lap and kiss him.
Great, I must be off my meds.
Unlikely but still.
Speaking of that, today a vomited a soul. Mikhail thought I was a soul junky and that's not even the worse part. When I feed, I don't have the same pleasure I usually get. It's almost like eating a boring meal you don't even care about. 5133 thinks it's because I've been closer to Mikhail that the urge to take souls is going away.
So, Mikhail, if it's your fault that I can't enjoy my meal? Go suck a cactus on my behalf."
"Esti am mi-"
I paused, cursing at the way my voice shook. It was a literal clusterfuck trying to find the right words to enchant.
"Esti am mi ekius murvulas." I started again, gazing hard at the diary in front of me. "Ei mi yam makuru herium. You have got to be kidding me."
It definitely was not a curse spell.
"Actually it's spelled yami makuru herium."
I flinched, finding Aaron not far away. He was supposed to be out on a hunt when Ivy invited him to a branch. It worked for me, really. He would be out of the house for a few more hours and I could figure things out myself. In the back of my mind, I wondered if this was Ivy's way of punishing me. Not telling me they were back so I get caught by Aaron. Low blow, sister, low blow.
Trying to laugh the uneasiness away, I shrugged. "Yeah, they don't make sense either way."
"It does to me. Curse spell, was it?"
Shit.
"Aaron. I get that you are reading the diary without telling me but I'd appreciate it if you did. We could both laugh at it together."
"There's nothing to laugh about, partner." His words felt slurred like he was drunk but I've never known Aaron to be drunk on a job. He just wouldn't. "You brought this body here, knowing what's waiting for you. You never cared about anything, do you, boy?"
Immediately my instinct was to harm him but it was Aaron or someone else in Aaron's body. I couldn't hurt him without hurting the host's body. Dammit.
"Who are you?" I formed a fist, ready to attack if he did.
"A well-wisher of yours. The spirits talk, boy. What you have done is an atrocity to their legacy." Trust a spirit to be a dick too. "You've brought shame to the clan-"
"A clan I'm not even a part of nor do I believe in their practice." I reminded him, even managing a smile. "Now tell me what are you really doing here?"
He sneered, advancing toward me with anger in his eyes. "The door was supposed to be shut closed forever. You've let him in once, he'll want to come back again."
"I'll love to see him try." The words left a bitter taste.
"You're not even afraid? There's an army of him that will despise you, use you-" He paused, his eyes widening. "Um, what am I doing here?"
Just to be sure, I touched his shoulder. No magic. "Aaron?"
"Yeah. I was just sitting with your sister at that shitty cafe..."
I was smart to recognize the fear in his eyes so I quickly blurted out. "Ivy said you wanted to see the bars here so you two kind of hopped from one bar to another. Getting shitfaced drunk. Come on, man, let me take you to your room."
"I don't forget, I'm not that type of drunk." He frowned, breathing air into his palm. Shit. "I don't smell any alcohol. Hernandez, are you lying to me?"
My jaw clenched, ready to defend myself. "No! Of course, not-"
"I don't feel that good. We'll talk later. Don't run back to Memphis."
Suffice to say, Aaron freaked out enough to shut himself in the room.
Fuck, I should have put on a ward around him. Or warn Ivy about it. Do anything other than hiding the truth. But I didn't and now Aaron was suffering for it.
"Everything alright?" Mom asked at night, noticing the way I kept my eyes on the closed door. He hadn't left once to eat or talk. I was terrified of just what kind of conclusion Aaron would draw from whatever happened.
"He wouldn't do anything stupid, would he?"
Mom was fidgeting. Not good. "I hope not. But son, if he remembers something or asks you a question-"
"I'll deal with it." I inhaled sharply. I had something else to worry about. Like, stop him from getting possessed again. "Have you warned the clan?"
"Yeah, she wasn't so happy about it but also, kind of expected it. Look, Sullivan and I, we both knew one of these days we'll crash. I'm surprised she didn't order you to take his memories away yet."
Yeah, that's definitely odd.
I rubbed my few days' stubble with a frown on my face. "You sure we don't need Zedkiel's help?"
"I don't think that's a good idea." I picking up the nervousness coming from her, forcing me to look at the far end of the kitchen.
"Fine. I'll go to Ivy then." I could see mom starting to protest so I grabbed her shoulder, trying to calm her down. "Look, it's only to help Aaron. It may be a good way for her to release her energy. We'll be fine. I promise."
With a new determination, I marched toward her room, pausing right before I could enter. After Valentine's betrayal, her room was always left dark. She wouldn't talk to anyone or even face anyone. Not even me. Taking a deep breath, I got into the room, noticing the telltale sound of scrapping papers and pencils.
"What is it this time?" I asked her but there was no answer. Hovering over her, I swallowed the uneasiness as her speed increased, the shadows going more disturbing, darker as she kept putting all her sight on paper.
"Eli ès inyat arrivola! Darkian tis è! Nes sloino ci uò salouare! Il futuro, cme acquas ek in troe la! Ti bas yoi. Erà Seaker seak, Reaper scari inirà !"
Suddenly she jumped from her chair making me fall to the ground. She was screaming so loud that the windows rattled and the door started to shake. Red painted my vision right when she started puking ants from her lips. Those tiny insects looked dead.
And so would be my sister if I didn't do anything about it.
***
5132
ONE WEEK AGO
Fredah was missing.
Like completely puffed out of existence.
One of her sisters was still in the tunnel while another just kept about her day like nothing happened. And if I wasn't dosed up on more drugs, I'd care more about that. But lately, I hardly cared about anything. Not about myself, not about my past or my future.
I was just existing.
"He sent you flowers again." I heard 5133 murmur, her eyes on me to notice how I reacted. I didn't move a muscle. "He thinks you're avoiding him."
"I'm avoiding a lot of people." It wasn't a complete lie. I was avoiding Byron and Zach at the same time. In a way, I guess I was avoiding Mikhail too even if he was hell-bent on knowing how I was doing.
I heard a sigh. "It hurts him, you know? Not knowing what you want. Not that I'm pressuring you to think about that now but in the future, would you?"
"Can he accept me as I am?" I dished out, watching her wince. I might not have good coordination or the ability to think anymore but I didn't forget what he said to me that day. He didn't want a beloved who was like me. Well, I didn't want a moral police as a beloved either.
"H-He didn't have the best life growing up. He's a Seeker, different than any of us. He likes to calculate, psychoanalyze anything and anyone. He just can't figure you out and it's driving him mad. In a way he didn't expect you, I guess. But he wants you. Trust me, he does. Or he wouldn't still be waiting for you, sending you flowers. Byron is already starting to suspect something."
Of course, he did.
Now that he knew those sisters were cooking up something big, he became even more unpredictable and volatile. There were random searches at random times. The dining room was closed so not many people could socialize and our drugs were at a stage where we could only function but not think clearly.
It was starting to fuck with my mind even more.
"Stop talking about him, 5133. You're boring me." I pretended to yawn, making myself comfortable in my bed. Ever since that hellhound scenario happened, we lost the privilege to have a door. So, I winked at the girl standing outside of our room and turned to look at 5133. They were listening, they always were. "Tell me something that makes me eager to live the next day."
"Fine, I heard they found another Reaper." The one-eighty change in her topic made me jump but in a good way. Sandy's told me a few bits of being a Reaper but it wasn't enough. I wanted to know everything. Wanted to know where I could find my family. Wanted to know why my mother gave me up.
If she even loved me.
No. Love was for normal Lana. I showed affection in bloody pacts and lies.
"What about it?"
5133 lowered her voice, revealing what I already knew. "Reapers are hard to find nowadays, like a needle in the hay."
"Yeah." I squeezed my eyes shut, remembering how Byron used to brag about that. "My kind is almost extinct."
I heard a teasing laugh. "You're not dying anytime soon. You already have too many friends who won't let you."
Friends or foes. Some days it was hard to distinguish. "Yeah, yeah."
"That's not even it. There are actually two types of clans you have to worry about, one who wants more Reapers on this earth and the one who wants to get rid of them. The Reaper they found...he found himself in the wrong clan and didn't survive. He wanted to settle in, trying to expand his bloodline but now he's gone. If they know about you, they are going to take you out too."
I forced myself to not care even if I could feel the shock of knowing another like me. "How did you exactly know about that?"
"He just doesn't send flowers. He tells me things too."
I had no right to be jealous but I couldn't help but quip up with a nasty grin. "Really? What else does he tell you that he doesn't tell me?"
"5132, don't be like that. I also wanted to tell you something I heard from Byron. I don't know if it's true or not. I heard that your mother killed your dad. In cold blood, might I add. You know how Byron just buys coffins from cemeteries? He might accidentally just bought your dad's."
There went my curiosity about my sperm donor and my shitty mother.
"Please tell me that jackass put my dad to rest like a decent being."
I wasn't expecting much from him but to my relief, she nodded quickly. "Yes, of course. His name's Jonathan Bazin if you want to visit sometimes. He's in the French Quarter cemetery."
"If I ever get out-"
"Visitor for 5132!" I was interrupted by the girl outside. To my surprise, Zach was also standing beside her with an anxious look. I wasn't due to any social visit from my current or ex but seemed like it was something important by the way he didn't even wait for her to clear me before he was grabbing my wrist, tugging me somewhere near the reception.
"Look, if it's about me avoiding you-"
"Oh, trust me, I'm pissed about that but that's not it. Byron's planning something today and I don't think you're going to like it."
Ok, I didn't expect that. If I was right in my mind, I'd take a minute to answer but what was the fun in that? "So, killing him then. What's the plan?"
He frowned, shaking his head. "We're not killing him but we can keep an eye on him. There are some rumors down below that he's making some kind of deal with Fredah. He wants the shield broken."
Fuck.
"Why now?" It didn't make any sense. Breaking the shield meant freedom from this place. He could go as he pleased already so why did he need to make a deal for it? Hell, the master gave him everything he needed to run this place.
"I don't know. But I thought you should know." He wanted to say more but wanting to know them meant feeling and I had enough of that. So, with a nod, I turned to leave when he once again stopped me with a literal arrow.
"So, he gives you flowers now. Anything else?"
"I am not talking about that with you-"
"You think I don't see it? Oh, come on, Lana! It's like even fate knows you have a type. Blond hair, bad attitude, terrible at communication? That fucker is the exact copy of me. Admit it, you're attracted to him."
Just to fuck with him, I smiled. "Yes, Zach. I'm attracted to assholes who have a fetish to kill me. There. I admitted it."
I heard something between a choke and cough, making me turn around with a surprise in my eyes. I wasn't someone who could be surprised that easily but I really didn't expect to find Mikhail of all people.
"Oh, great. Just what I needed." Zach scoffed behind me.
"Needed to see you."
"Hi," I murmured, raising my eyebrows when he looked behind me, no wonder at Zach. They weren't going to say something so I did. "We have to stop meeting like this."
Something like color flashed over his cheeks and his mouth straightened into a hard line. "I agree. I just wanted to know how you are doing. She said it's getting worse."
One of these days I was going to kill 5133.
"Yeah. A typical day for us really-" I paused, noticing someone outside waving her hands like she was having an argument with someone. Squinting my eyes, I saw the white hair and the clothes that looked like from 80's grandma, and instantly I was smiling. I didn't realize how much I missed Sandy until I finally saw her again.
"Sandy!" I called out but it looked like she didn't hear me. "Who is she talking to-No!"
I wanted to scream louder than that, show the shock I was truly feeling. But I wasn't fast enough to run to her who was getting over her own shock to find her throat wide open. I didn't cry. I didn't feel any tears. I didn't even wince when she fell on the floor and at the same time a calm Fredah appeared in front of her, a dagger in her hands.
"Shield's finally down." I could feel the change in the atmosphere. The air felt easier to breathe but I couldn't take in enough. Fuck, fuckkk. I was losing it.
"Lana. Step back." I heard Mikhail whisper where Zach's yell broke out. "Now!"
I didn't want to step back, I wanted to move forward. I wanted her head in a spike. "Sorry. Can't help it."
I wasn't sorry when I went for that knife, plunging it in her own stomach. She let out a howl but it wasn't enough. It didn't make her hurt much, not like mine when she started chanting. "Hies ek keisamvo la kes holak!"
Zach and Mikhail both raised their hands to stop the whispers from getting into their ears but I knew it wasn't working. Dammit. Sandy was dead. My head felt like ripping itself apart. She was winning. It was like that night all over again.
"I met your mother once." Fredah sounded smug. "She couldn't keep her end of the deal either. Like mother, like daughter."
Annoyed at her tone, I gritted out. "I take insult in that. I'm nothing like her. She had my father killed, I didn't kill..." I trailed off, noticing two pairs of eyes on me at once. There was hope in them that I didn't want to crush. "Anyone."
"Whatever. Come, sisters." I heard the eagerness in her voice and I really should have been expecting this when Sigyn and Era both started walking toward us, chanting something under their breath. They must have taken Era out of the tunnel when no one was here, a fact that didn't escape my mind. I kept my attention on her most, watching, waiting for some kind of a breakdown but it didn't happen. When the three of them were standing in a triangle, Fredah finally let out a sigh. "Byron. Come forward now. It's done."
Bloody Byron.
I watched with a glare in my eyes as he crawled his ass out of a room, little lines of blood dripping from his mouth. For a second my gaze met Mikhail's, finding his breath rasp with the way he was trying to fight Fredah's hold.
"We brought the shield down and we have the Reaper. Our deal here is done."
"Indeed it is." Byron smiled and before I could even blink, he sank his teeth into Era's neck, making the three of them scream.
Several things happened at once.
Byron snapped Era's neck. Zach pulled a knife on Sigyn and Mikhail pulled something out from his pocket, throwing it around in an urgency. I had half the mind to ask if it was glitter but it would have broken his concentration and I didn't want to be responsible for whatever was going to happen. Not when Byron let out an uncontrollable laugher at Sandy who was sprawled over the floor, unmoving.
"That old hag is finally dead. I still don't understand why Valentine wanted her to be the one to shield this place." His gaze met mine and his grin went wider. "She wanted to make a deal with him to release you. Can you believe it?"
Sandy wasn't the type to make stupid deals for a girl like me. She couldn't be...
"Yes." Maybe he could see the fear in my eyes. Or maybe Fredah was holding me too tightly. Fuck, who knew? "It's totally your fault, you know? If she didn't, I didn't have to make Fredah kill her. Now sit on your guilt while I let Valentine know that these sisters killed a witch from the coven."
Sigyn's eyes widened when he ran toward his room, vanishing right before our eyes. He was right, it was totally my fault. I was pissed at myself at how I didn't page Byron to be a problem anymore and he took that as a chance to throw me off.
"Let her go." Fredah's voice felt like a harsh blow on my back.
"Let Lana go first," Zach spoke calmly, the knife hovering a little too close for anyone's benefit. I could hear his pulse quicken along with Mikhail's. I wanted to cry, fuck, I wanted that ugly cry people have at their grandma's funeral when no one's watching but my body was stone against Fredah.
"Zachery-" Mikhail took a step but Zach shook his head, forcing him to stop.
"No. We both know if I slit Sigyn's throat here, Fredah would die. You connected them both, didn't you?" So that's what the pouring things over them meant. "I'm not letting her go until she gives us Lana."
"Do it then." My mind was terrified at what would happen but I was nonchalant. "Kill her."
"Don't you dare!" Fredah spat, almost crushing my windpipe.
Mikhail cursed, looking at both of us. If I wasn't literally hanging between life and death, I'd felt sorry for him. The guy looked lost, his hands were still full of the stuff he had. As if he knew what I was thinking of, he looked down and then at me.
I didn't like that look.
"Zachery, you need to kill her." He ordered, his voice rising over Fredah's gasps. "If you don't...I'll do something she'll hate me for."
I didn't know why Zach was hesitating so much until Mikhail laughed, pointing one finger at Zach. "She's controlling you, isn't it? I still smell her on you. You can't kill her."
All the look of fear and anguish disappeared from Sigyn's face. I tilted my head, staring at Fredah to see the same look of joy in her eyes. These bitches were playing us and we all fell for it. Dammit.
"Zach-"
"I can't!" He looked ashamed of the fact. "I'm trying but I can't."
"I'm sorry then but she comes first." Mikhail took one look at me and then poised himself in a way I've only seen Sandy once or twice. He was preparing himself for something but what? I didn't get to wonder for too long because I heard a long screech came out of nowhere. Now if it sounded any lower, I might have chalked it up as the banshee down the hall but the sound was too high to be hers. In fact, everything sounded like a horror-filled movie when I saw the literal sky open up and the screech of a raven nearby.
What the fuck. Just what the fuck.
"Hilam del uknes wek finam." Mikhail's voice raised higher, the whispers not even sounding human anymore. "Erculu hell diya kire ekium."
"No..." The scene in front of me caught me so off guard that I forgot to take a breath, only watching as Zach and Sigyn screamed together before the thick fog ripped them both out of existence.
Just like that.
Fucking gone.