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Bianca sucked her cheek as she glared at me. I’d wanted to run at first sight of her because I knew I couldn’t measure up to someone as pretty as her. Side by side, I was dull and boring while she glowed with sexual allure.
Now, I put my hands on my hips and stared her down with more gumption than I’d felt in years. I gestured to Maddox’s arm and said:
“Do something.”
“Adeline…” Maddox said under his breath.
I shook my head. “No. We’re not going to deal with this. You knew what it was. Tell us more. Tell us everything you know. Earn that paycheck.”
The corners of Bianca’s mouth lifted. At first, I thought she was impressed with my stance. Then I felt my skin prickle. It was like bugs crawling across my skin. I shuddered and rolled my shoulders to shrug it off. The bug-feeling sank its teeth into me.
My jaw dropped, but no sound came out. A thousand tiny pinpricks set fire to my skin. The feeling slowly dug deeper, reaching for my bones. My muscles clenched to ward off Bianca’s magic, but it was no use.
Bianca stepped close until we were nose to nose. “Want to try telling me what to do again?”
My breath shuddered out of me, but it turned into a laugh when my arcana swelled. The cool touch of death chilled the burning sensation trying to take ahold of me. I breathed deep and rolled my shoulders back.
Bianca blinked in surprise. She took a half-step back.
This pissing contest could go a lot further. I was tired of being timid. It wasn’t doing anything for me. I’d done nothing but get my friends hurt with my meek behavior. Hel’s blood ran in my veins, and I was going to use it.
Bianca made a huge mistake when she came here. She’d decided to wear a pair of bone earrings. It took almost nothing to take ahold of them with my arcana. I poured my own life force into the bone to stretch it out. Bianca jerked in surprise, but I wound the bone around her throat before she could escape.
With a flick of my hand, the bone tightened threateningly. I wasn’t going to cut off her air, but I did want her to feel a flicker of fear before she left.
“Don’t play games you can’t win,” I warned her.
Vi popped her head in at that moment. “What’s going—oh, I’ll see myself out again.”
Bianca’s pretty pout flattened into a flat line. She glared at me like looks could kill. In her case, that might be true. However, she wasn’t in a position to try me right now. I was a Reaper, and I would have paid good money to bet that she had no idea what that meant. She didn’t know what I was capable of.
“He’s not part of the Pack,” Bianca said. “I’m not getting in the way of the witch casting that kind of magic for someone who isn’t even Pack. Try calling someone with more power than me.”
I nearly laughed. “You’re admitting that you’re outclassed here?”
“Witches who dabble in soul sorcery are dangerous,” a new voice said.
I yelped and jumped away from Hel when she walked into view. This time, the world didn’t stop moving. Everyone looked up at the massive goddess with awe and a bit of fear. Everyone except for Maddox. He looked Hel up and down with shrewd attention to detail.
Hel ignored his presence, too.
She bent and addressed Bianca. “You are smart to avoid sorceresses dabbling in horrid magics. However, you could be more helpful. There is much in that head of yours that would prove useful should you set aside your greed and fear.”
What was Hel doing here? I hadn’t called upon her. She hadn’t called upon me. Did Vi had problems with angels and demons just walking into her life? Or was this new?
I watched, with abject horror, as Hel took a seat on my couch. She picked at my embroidered pillow with a skeletal finger. I opened my mouth to tell her to stop, then remembered who I was about to scold.
A goddess. On my couch.
What had my life become?
When she finally looked up, she locked eyes with Maddox, acknowledging him for the first time. She huffed, apparently unimpressed.
Her blazing blue-light eyes rolled towards me. “Even if he is not the one responsible for the severed threads, that does not make him any less of a threat. The abomination should not be.”
No one moved. They didn’t even look to me for my response, which made me think that they couldn’t hear Hel when she addressed me. While she spoke in a private channel, I didn’t think I’d get the same treatment if I responded.
So, I kept my mouth shut as I stared her down. I wasn’t going to give voice to her argument. If she wanted me to dig my own hole, she should have known better. My graves were always dug for me.
