Saving Death

Chapter 26

Sam

Her body crumbles to the floor. Pain punches me in the chest. It isn't physical pain—but something human. I hear myself shout at the top of my lungs and feel it reverberate through my chest. Blake's hand drops to his side.

"The job is done. No harm done, Samael."

Anger surges through me. Ben's lucky I'm in these chains and weakened by this damned humanity coursing in my blood. Franco appears in front of me. Of all the people. I stare at him, betrayed. He's holding a shadowed blade; the same one he struck me with earlier. What the hell? What is this thing? Nothing should be able to injure me like this. What kind of magic is this? I can still feel searing pain in my abdomen like I've never felt before.

"It would never have worked out, Sam. Your path is set..." Blake says. I look at him and my blood boils. I've never wanted to destroy another reaper more than I do right now. The only girl I've ever loved in this Gods-damned existence is lifeless on the concrete.

I start trembling from anger, from fear, from the gaping hole left inside me. Power floods into me from a deep, forgotten place inside me, and I tear the chains from the concrete, releasing my arms once more. I lunge at Blake's throat before he can react, but physical pain sears into my abdomen again and I buckle. I gasp as my knees thud to the floor, and I retch as the blade crunches against my ribs. The pain is agonizing, and I can taste iron in my mouth. When I look into Franco's eyes, choking on my own blood, he simply stares down at me – hard. Then I fall forwards as my friend pulls the blade from me. Spitting metallic blood onto the floor, I curse violently.

Black blood.

I'm bleeding black, metallic blood.

Reapers don't bleed black blood, unless—

Fire burns in my throat and I open my mouth to gasp, but nothing happens. My eyes flick wide to see a blaze of red, and I slip through the air. I am falling. My heart catches in my mouth. I hit the ragged ground with a thud, but no pain comes. I don't know where I am. I squeeze my eyes shut and open them again, but I'm blind. I strain hard into the sheet of nothing in front of me. Nothing. Where am I? I don't recognise this place. I look down to see if I'm still bleeding, but I find that I have no body. What the—?

I can feel myself, though. Is this the same place I bring the damned souls? Is this how it ends? Is this limbo? It must be. There's nothing. Nothing at all. I don't even feel tired. I'm just a thing in this desert of nothingness. All there is, is an endless horizon of red... there's not a thing to see. Nobody. Am I to be lost here for eternity? Maybe eternity has already passed. How much time has passed? Is time even a currency here? I need to block this blinding, endless vision out.

I focus hard to block it out. I focus so hard, but... nothing. My vision doesn't blur. I have no eyes. My heart doesn't thrum. I have no heart. I'm not even sure I have a soul. If I do, it must be ugly and dark—like me. I am a demon of death. I was a demon of death. What am I now? Maybe I'm not that cursed thing anymore. I don't know what I am. Time passes, and all I can see and all I am is endless red. Red blending eternally into red.

Something black glints in the distance and I fix on it as if it's magnetic. It's the first thing I've seen in... days? Maybe my time in Limbo is up. Maybe it's my soul, come to collect me. It flickers and glints on my horizon and I stare hard at it. I will it closer. I have no body. I have no legs, but as I think about it, I am closer to it. I think about it again and I find myself wishing I had arms. I want to grab it, but it moves out of my reach. It's taunting me. I stare down at where my body should be, but there is just infuriating, blinding red.