Mortal Wounds

Chapter Twenty-Four

Davian's POV

A reaper just like me sits behind the table before Narcissus and me, dishevelled and pale with half a picture of Mother Mary behind him. My fists are tight as I envision my mother working with him. The universe is unfair in giving people like him power over the resting places of souls. They both took bribes to use souls, trap them, abandon them and I can only imagine how much wrong he has done. We interrupted him in the middle of running a story on Alexa with a smile on his face, as though her downfall brings him joy. For all the secrets and scandals he's behind, I feel ashamed to be related to him. He's an arbiter of death who gambles with souls.

The CEO of BBB newspaper stares up at him from his office chair, and I face a man who lied about Henley's death. From what Invidian told me, this man is pure scum.

"Foolish reaper, you have some nerve to enrage the Lilith family," Vanitas tells the BBB CEO with a monotonous tone that chills me to the core.

His eyes glow like rubies, matching the veins showing through his skin.

"Shit. Getting stabbed by that brat wasn't enough? What do you want?"

"Why the hurry? We only want to talk."

"I would truly enjoy conversation if I wasn't busy documenting the Alexa scandal."

"Alexa scandal?"

"The she-wolf got exposed for her dodgy business practices. We're guessing the people who leaked info are the same bastard who burnt down her house and landed her in hospital. Got severe burns all over herself but sadly, she's still breathing," he explains with a smug smile, before noticing Vanitas' staring like a dead-eyed psychopath.

"Candy's kid only has about a week to live," I remind them both, "Tell us where he is."

The CEO taps his pen against his desk and scans me head to toe.

"You're Caius' kid, aren't you?"

I dreaded the idea of him bringing up my father. I know who this CEO is. Mother worked for him, and I saw the emails she sent this man. Her computer revealed an affair behind my father's back. Her love for him, for me, for our family was fake, and her heart was dark. She would take lives so this man would have interesting stories to report on.

"You know who I am, just as I know you're a money hungry pig."

He shrugs leaning back in his chair, swinging his leg up across his knees.

"I might be a pig, but better to be an animal than be unwanted. Sorry for all the news coverage over your murders. How cruel were you to hurt a resident of GoldVine, then kill a prostitute. What a waste of potential."

"Whatever gets you ratings, huh?" I say, sickened by the rumours he spread.

"Well, you're a lot less sociable than Kellin. Just like your mother, he takes up offers from me."

"To do what?" I ask stiffly.

He smirks as if he knows what I'm thinking.

"Reapers are only meant to take souls to the other side. They are not meant to save lives. You save someone meant to die, it causes a shift in the cosmic scale that instantly needs to be restored."

I look at Vanitas, silently asking what the hell he's going on about. Vanitas notices my confusion and runs a hand down his face in exasperation.

"What does Vidi see in you? Honestly, he could have picked a god, a demigod, hell even a satyr could have cut it. Instead, he chose a soul janitor. And what's worse than a soul janitor is a clueless one," Vanitas hisses with enough venom to kill me, "There's a delicate balance of yin and yang on a comic scale. If you save a life that's meant to perish, it tips the scale. It makes one part on the scale heavier than the other. When Yin and Yang fall out of balance, disaster follows. Because you're a reaper you have the agency to change history."