17. Ashe

The punching bag swings around just as my fist connects, the force from the blow rocking it back and rattling the chains it hung on. Brushing wild strands of hair from my eyes, I throw another flurry of punches.

It has been two weeks since Dani moved in with me. All things considered she was, surprisingly, a decent roommate. She rarely ever questioned what I was up to and the barista had even taken it upon herself to tidy up the place a bit, although work kept me busy and away from the apartment most of the time. And after our brief interaction that first night, keeping my distance was probably for the best. There was no sense in further complicating our situation by falling victim to bouts of arousal, especially on nights when Catalina made her usual dinner calls.

Which, lately, seemed to be just about every night.

The vampire has taken every liberty to make her disapproval alarmingly clear with each visit and made a point to reiterate what dire straits I was in for allowing this to happen. I was beginning to think that she wanted the soul ring off of Dani's finger even more than I did. She may lose her influence on the Tribunal's council if they discovered that a human was in possession of a forbidden artifact while under her watch, but I could very well lose my life over it. The sooner I figure out a way to remove it the better it would be for everyone.

With a grunt, I unleash a combination of jabs and crosses on the bag as my mind wanders. I was not able to glean much information without inciting questions from upper management, but with Catalina's help I did learn enough about their investigation into the mystery of the backdoor to quell any growing concerns I had.

As I predicted, Public Affairs had followed the trail and searched Dani's apartment for clues. Thankfully, Marco had helped her clear the place out by the time the investigators arrived. They had left nothing incriminating behind and, after the unfortunate break-in at the building's main office that destroyed their tenant records and left them without their computers, the assumption was that the guilty witch had covered their tracks and fled Trinity Valley.

Even though she had packed up her things and scrubbed her apartment clean of any trace of who she is, Dani still insisted on working at the café. And I still cannot believe that I agreed to let her go. I hated her being out in the open, the ring on her hand flashing like a shining silver beacon to anyone who had any inkling of what it was, but I hated that it made sense even more. If Dani was to shed any suspicion then she would have to keep up her own routines. Public Affairs would connect the dots if their mystery target seemingly fled and Dani was reported missing only days later.

But if she asks me how to unbind the magic of the soul ring one more time I was going to explode. Death was not on the table and Nadia was still out of reach. I was not even sure if she could help, but she knew more about the ring than I did. Our only option at this point was to wait it out and stay off the radar—both the Tribunal's and each other's.

Good luck with that. The bag teeters toward me and I kick it again.

“Releasing some pent-up frustration?”

I inwardly groan at the familiar voice, a clipped tone with a slight nasal inflection, and turn around. Selene was perched casually against the glass railing that encased the second floor of the Liquidation Department, her dark hair pulled back into a tight ponytail and almond eyes brimming with intrigue. The dark tank top and matching leggings she wore, a stark contrast to the florescent white tile that surrounded us, hugged her lithe frame and accentuated her curves as the Reaper's mark wove across the exposed sun-kissed canvas of her skin like calligraphy.

I probably would have considered her attractive in another life, if she was not such a bitch in this one.

“You're up early.” Reapers typically hunted under the cover of night and, because they were still human and required sleep to recuperate their energy, rarely did I ever have to deal with one of the twins during daylight hours. “What do you want?”

“Well someone's got their bragas in a twist.” The Reaper smirks as she pushes herself off the balustrade and steps forward. “Or are you always this pleasant in the morning?”

“If you wanted to see my panties, Selene,” I sneer, leveling my gaze with hers, “all you had to do was ask.”

“Don't flatter yourself, half-breed. You're not even close to my type.”

“I thought anything with two legs was your type. Or are you into bestiality now?”

Selene scoffs as she places both hands on either side of the punching bag, halting it mid-swing. “And I definitely didn't miss that smart mouth of yours.”

I could not contain myself. “Were you thinking of my mouth while I was gone? Or of all the things it could do to you?”

Her jaw tightens and it takes everything in me not to laugh. She really did make it too easy to get under her skin. “I heard you were a little rusty,” she says, swift to change the topic as she narrows her eyes. “I'd like to see for myself what six months of slacking off does to a Reaper.”

I unwind the boxing tape and flex my hand. “Are you that desperate for an ass kicking, Selene, or are you just that stupid?” She may be a capable fighter, but sparring one-on-one with a demon was bordering on suicide. They were stronger and faster than any creature, let alone a mortal. Even against a half-blood like me she would not stand a chance. One well-placed fist to the face and I could snap her neck like a twig.

And I never pulled my punches.

“While you've been away on your little spiritual quest of self-discovery, I've been practicing.”

“The last Reaper I sparred against had practiced, too.” Granted that was well before her time, but she needed to know the type of danger she was inviting upon herself. “He left the training mat in a body bag.”

A wicked grin spreads over the Reaper's lips as a dark look glints in her eyes. “I might just surprise you.”

Excitement radiates in the air around us, a lethal hunger I have not felt before swirling off of her, and my curiosity piques. “Is that so?”

“Humor me.” Selene holds up her fists as she adopts a fighting stance. “Unless you're scared, that is?”

At that I laugh. “You think that you frighten me?” I shake my head. “You really must be stupid.”

Her dark look is unwavering. “So prove me wrong.”

“Oh, this should be entertaining.”

I glance over my shoulder to see Damen leaning against the balcony behind me, his broad arms folded over his chest and a crooked smile plastered on his face. That same dark look hovers in his brown eyes.

When did he—?

A fist connects with the back of my head, knocking me off-balance, and I curse. That fucking hurt!

Damen chuckles and I cut him a glare. “Are you going to stop your twin before I kill her?” I can feel my demon blood boiling as my anger rises, begging to unleash its fury, and I grit my teeth. Does she really have a death wish?

“You know she's stubborn, Ashe.”

A blur of motion flashes in my peripheral and I bring up my arms, blocking the precision kick a moment before it could make contact with my body. The force sends me stumbling backward. “Damen!” I bark, and it was the last warning I was going to give.

“I'd like to see how far this goes.” The Reaper shrugs indifferently and I knew then that he had no intentions of talking his partner down.

Movement draws my attention again and I roll my shoulders back. “No more cheap shots,” I snap as I turn to face my overzealous opponent. She wants a fight? Fine. I'll give her a fight. And when I was done beating her to a bloody pulp, maybe I would turn on Damen next. “It's your fucking funeral.”

Selene draws her hands up, bouncing on the balls of her feet, and her excitement intensifies. “Let's see just how good you really are.”

I reply with a lunge and a series of quick jabs aimed for her chest. Fast enough that she would not see them coming. Deadly enough to stop her heart.

She blocks them—though barely. One of my fists manages to break through her defenses and sends her stumbling backward with a gasp. Judging by her ragged breathing, I'm pretty sure the blow collapsed a lung, but she does not hesitate. With a grunt she shakes it off and answers in kind, her succession of punches not quite as fast as mine but fast enough to catch me off guard. A snap kick grazes my side as I twist out of harm's way, but she was on me again with alarming speed.

Impossible!

Gnashing my teeth, I deflect her next attack. Her fist sails past my head as I use the momentum to spin around and throw an elbow into the middle of her back. The blow lurches her forward but it does not shatter her spine upon impact. No doubt it'll leave a nasty bruise, though.

“Practice doesn't make you this fast, Selene,” I observe as she pivots to face me again. Humans were slow, weak. Her body should be lying broken on the mat after those attacks. She should not be able to withstand this caliber of an assault!

Selene grimaces and her own anger spikes. I can practically taste it in the air between us. “Not fast enough, apparently.” She flicks her wrist and the Reaper's mark responds, the ink dancing across her skin as it materializes into a thin silver rapier. “So let's change the tempo.”

My skin tingles as a blade emerges from my own forearm. She was pushing the boundaries of my limits. “Let's dance, then.”

I charge forward, closing the distance before she can blink and slashing at her side. Selene parries and swings her unarmed fist around, the jab seeking my chin. The sharp sound of ringing metal whistles in my ear as a pair of curved blades jut out from her arm in an attempt to hook me. One of them manages to scratch my cheek as I jump back.

There is a reason that the Reapers are feared by the supernatural: our entire bodies were living weapons, imbued with pure silver and conditioned to adapt at a moment's notice, fully capable of dispatching with fatal efficiency those the Tribunal wished to punish—or any who stood in their way.

Death by design.

“Six months of slacking has slowed you down, Ashe,” Selene chides. “Or is your age finally catching up to you?”

I hear Damen chortle as I wipe away the blood with the back of a hand. The cut was superficial and was already healing, but the thread that held back my anger was close to snapping.

“Alright, you surprised me,” I grunt as the chain link tattoo crawls up my body and down my arm, coiling like a silver cobra ready to strike. “But now you've just pissed me off!”

Without warning I fling my arm outward and the silver dagger flies toward her, guided by the chain that linked it to my arm. Swords may be the weapon Selene was most familiar with, but chains were my specialty. Willing the Reaper's mark and learning to control its movements while outside of my body may have taken decades for me to master, but applying it out in the field only took seconds to cut my opponents down.

Selene sidesteps as the bladed tip barrels for her head, but I anticipate her move and the chain changes course, curving through the air and piercing deep into her shoulder. A hiss of pain barely leaves her lips before I recall the chain and spin around, using the momentum to whip it in her direction again and ensnaring her arm. It was time to end this madness before one of us ended up dead.

More ink bubbles to the surface of my skin and hardens as I quickly summon another chain and flick it in her direction, crossing over the first one and coiling it around her other wrist. With both of her arms now bound, she had nowhere to go.

“Give it up, Selene.” The chains slowly tighten around her, slithering up her arms and pulling them flush with her side. “It's over.”

The Reaper scoffs and rolls her injured shoulder, testing its usability as she tugs against the metal bindings. “Oh, we haven't even gotten started yet.”

Suddenly she throws her arms back, yanking me forward with surprising strength as she kicks off and propels herself at me like a slingshot. Her knee smacks into my chest, forcing the wind from my lungs and breaking my concentration. The chains slip off her arms and rattle to the ground as she kicks off my body, knocking me on my back and sending me sliding across the floor. With a grunt, I thrust my hips up and roll back just as Selene lands, her sword piercing the mat inches from where my head had been moments before.

There was only one person I knew who was reckless enough to charge into their opponent while shackled like that. I lift my head up to meet her glare. “Did Nessa teach you that move?”

Fury flashes in Selene's eyes, her anger thrashing into me like a tempest as her veins thrum a fiery red beneath her skin, and for the first time in a fight I falter. What the hell?

“Don't you dare say her name!”

I recall the chains, letting them dissolve back into my skin as I stumble to my feet. She was glowing. She was glowing like a goddamn demon!

On the sidelines I can hear Damen shout, “Selene, that's enough!” But she was beyond reason now.

Twin daggers sprout from my wrists as the Reaper attacks in a blinding flurry of silver and red, her movements so fast that all I can do is block her strikes as she advances.

“She looked up to you!”

Slash.

“She trusted you!”

Thrust.

“And you just left us!”

Jab, slice, stab.

I skirt her final blow and she buries her sword deep into the punching bag. She never did mind her surroundings.

“What the hell is this, Selene?” My eyes roam over the swirling lava under her skin. This raw strength, fueled by her growing anger, was not her own. She was not a witch, she could not distort blood magic to siphon the energy of another like an apostate would. And she sure as shit was no demon. She should not have this kind of power!

“You think you're the only one allowed to be angry?” I watch her twist and pull at the stuck blade, her seething rage boiling over as she snaps her head in my direction. “Nessa was like a sister to me and you killed her!”

My own ire surges in my chest as the thread holding it back finally breaks. “I wasn't the one who let her go up against a demon!”

“She needed you and you turned your back on her, on all of us!”

My eyes spark with blue fire as I rush at Selene, one arm drawn back as I prepare to plunge my Reaper blade straight through her heart. “Where were you when she was out there alone?”

“Where were you!”

Before I can personally deliver her to death's doorstep, Damen leaps between us. “This has gone too far,” he growls, deflecting my attack with his own curved blade. The metal sings as my daggers ricochet off the steel and he glances behind him. “Dammit, Selene, you just couldn't resist showing off!”

“Damen, what the hell is going on?” I could see it now, how the erratic flames of their wrath burned so brightly within them—although Selene's aura burned a little hotter. I've only ever seen emotions this intense, this uncontrollable, come from demons as it consumed them and drove them to madness. I've only ever seen this level of fury come from a wraith.

“It doesn't matter, Ashe. We're through here.”

“The fuck we are!” Not after those insults. Not after her desire to rip my head from my shoulders was made all too clear!

I glare past Damen as Selene finally jerks her sword free, the demon fire in my eyes turning the Reaper twin's silhouette a dangerous red amidst a gray haze. I wonder how her rage tastes . . .

Dammit!

I needed to de-escalate this and quickly, before we all succumbed to our impulses. Inhaling sharply, I hold the breath in as I gather the loose threads and slowly roll them back up within my chest. But, despite centuries of practice, it was never as simple as letting it go. So I just shove it down. Bottle the anger, keep the demon contained.

Stay in control.

The flames that clouded my vision start to simmer as I lock my gaze with hers once more and say, cautiously, “You aren't the only one who experienced loss. I cared about her, too, Selene.”

“Bullshit!”

Her fury spikes, assaulting my senses and intensifying my craving, and my grip on the threads slip. This was not going well at all.

I keep my eyes trained on Selene as I step forward, testing Damen's resolve. He struggled to hold us at bay, one arm pushing Selene back as the point of his curved sword took aim at my chest, but I knew that if given the choice he would not think twice about running his Reaper blade through me.

He could certainly try.

“She was my partner. You think her death doesn't affect me?”

“Like you've ever been capable of feeling anything, cambion.”

Her words send me reeling.

I bare my teeth and rear my arm back, silver blade poised to skewer both Reapers clean through, when a flash of pain explodes throughout my body.

The tattoo quivers to life, the magic within the ink burning my skin as it seeps from every pore and solidifies into chains. They wrap around my bodice of their own accord and bring me to my knees, smothering my anger as the cold metal fans out and cocoons me. The chains constrict around my chest and neck and I topple over from the weight of it.

Before my vision goes black, I catch a glimpse of Chandler standing at the top of the stairs, his arm outstretched and his palm radiating with a blinding white light.

***

When I come to, I find myself laid out on a cot in a dark room.

Every inch of my skin still tingled, like I had fallen asleep and cut off the circulation to my limbs, but it was tolerable. The incessant pounding in my head, however, was like a war drum banging in my ears.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” I mutter as I slowly sit up. That was almost as bad as being pulled through a backdoor. Almost.

“I told you to avoid them like the plague.”

The lights flicker to life and I look up to see Chandler standing a few feet away. A bandage was wrapped around his hand, the same one I saw glowing shortly before losing consciousness, and I let a small smile slip. Good. I hope his magic burned him as much as it burned me.

“They came after me. What was I supposed to do?”

“Yes, Selene was out of line. She'll be reprimanded for her actions.”

“How reassuring.” My eyes flick to his hand and I quirk a brow. “Hurt yourself, there?”

He wiggles his fingers and glances down. “You left me no choice, Ashe. You were out of control. I had to restrain you.”

Of course he did. I grimace and crack my neck, working out any lingering stiffness from the magic.

Reapers may wield the Tribunal's metaphorical sickle, but handlers controlled their Reapers. They were given a tattoo of their own, a rune imbued with enchanted ink and the blood of their charge, that allowed them to control the Reaper's mark and subdue their Reaper should they ever get unruly. I had the pleasure of being leashed on more than one occasion, although this was Chandler's first time handling me. Depending on how badly the rune seared his palm, he either enjoyed exerting that power or he would think twice before using it again.

I hope it was the latter.

“And did Selene's handler restrain her, too?” I ask, drawing his attention. “Or did I get special treatment?”

“After you went down, her rage subsided and she passed out.”

“She was glowing, Chandler.” I've seen the effects before; I've experienced the rush, myself. Feeding on emotions was dangerous, even more so when they were your own. “How is that possible?”

He peers over the rim of his glasses, dismissing my query as he looks past me. “We're still working out the right dosage, but as you can see we're getting closer.”

I turn around to see Catalina leaning up against the doorframe, her lithe figure clad in a dark gray pencil dress and a blood-red scowl painted on her lips. “These aren't exactly the results you promised, Chandler, and we almost lost one of them during that little display of arrogance.”

“They know it's not ready yet and will be punished accordingly. But you saw how close Selene came to matching Ashe's speed and raw strength. She was fighting like a cambion, Catalina. Even you have to admit that these results are more than adequate for—”

“Cut the shit, you two!” I snap, interrupting their conversation. “What the hell is going on?”

The vampire meets my glare with a shrug. “It's demon blood, love. They're harvesting the essence of demons and injecting it into our Reapers.”

My throat tightens at her words. Christ, have they gone insane?

“The mark only does so much,” Chandler spoke up before I could say anything. “But at the end of the day our Reapers are still human. The program needs to evolve if we're to keep the balance.”

“They've been using humans as the conduit for their weapons for the last two hundred years, Chandler. The program's been fine. It works.” My nostrils flare as I level my gaze with his. He may not have been alive when the last remaining cambions turned, but he has surely heard the stories. “You can't seriously think that this is a good idea!”

“It's not my place to question the will of the Tribunal, only to ensure that these threats are properly dealt with and that we are well-equipped to deal with them. And it's not just our Ward that's affected, here. Coordinated attacks are happening all over and the risks are getting bigger. Nothing that our Reapers can't handle for now, but at some point the blade of our sickle will dull. How do you think we'll keep order then?”

I pinch the bridge of my nose, squeezing my eyes shut as the pounding in my head worsens. “Did you know about this, Cat?”

“Why else do you think I'm here?” She frowns as her gaze cuts to my handler. “I'm supervising the Tribunal's newest pet project. To be clear, I voted against this lunacy.”

Chandler clears his throat. “It was only speculation at first, but your encounter with that chimera at Goss Hollow proved our theory. These zealots are getting more organized and organization, if left unchecked, eventually leads to insurgency.”

“You mean people are unhappy with the way the Tribunal's been running things?” I hear Catalina snort and a smirk tugs at the corner of my mouth. “Can't imagine why.”

Chandler grunts, unamused. “They call themselves the Enlightened.”

“They sound like a joke.”

“They're a credible threat and their latest experiment is a testament to that. It wasn't just a puppet, Ashe. It was a patchwork skin, a vessel made of corpses designed to entrap a demon, though something clearly went wrong with that one. Since the Tribunal destroyed the secret to creating soul rings, the Enlightened are trying to find a new way to control demons and if they succeed then there will be no stopping them. Can you imagine the level of destruction they can cause with a weapon like that at their disposal?”

“What is it with you witches and your desire for control?”

For the most part, the few demons that I've met over the centuries have not been half bad—though some enjoyed toying with the lives of mortals more than others. Since being trapped in this realm they mostly kept to themselves, living under the Tribunal's radar as they sought to evade detection. It was only when the emotions they fed on twisted them into wraiths that they posed a real threat.

“Demons are dangerous, Ashe, you of all people know that. Our Reapers aren't as effective as they once were, but if we can figure out the right dosage then we can succeed where our predecessors failed.”

“You're playing with forces that none of us understand.”

“Funny,” Catalina hums behind me. “That's precisely what I told the High Court when they approved of this Genesis Project.”

Chandler shrugs. “We're merely adapting to the situation.”

I bristle at his audacity. “This isn't a fucking arms race, Chandler!”

“If we don't find a way to stop them then everything we've fought so hard to achieve will be lost. I told you the dangers have changed.”

“In six months?”

“This project has been in development for years. But when you left, Ashe, we realized something. No matter how hard we train our Reapers they will always be one step behind the very forces that threaten our survival, limited by their own mortality. They were the safest option back when we needed something we could handle but now we need something more. We need half-breeds, like you.”

“The Tribunal already tried conscripting cambions to serve as their soldiers,” I scoff. “That didn't end well. Why would this be any different?” They were the reason they decided to use humans in the first place!

After the alliance was formed the Tribunal needed a neutral party to enforce their laws and cambions desired clemency from millennia of prosecution. But one by one their control over their demon half slipped, their emotions eventually consuming them until they were driven mad, becoming a wraith and turning on everyone around them. No handler could restrain them then and the only solution was to put them down.

After all this time, I never thought they would be stupid enough to try again.

Chandler sighs. “I'm talking about engineering them, not recruiting them. If we can harness a demon's power from the essence in their blood and keep our Reapers from feeding on their own emotions, then we'll finally have enforcers that can fight at your level without the risk of them turning on us. Maybe then accidents like Nessa's won't happen.”

“So, what, you get this project working and you'll just expect me to train them? Is that it?”

My handler smirks and the hairs on the back of my neck prickle. “If we get this to work, Ashe, then you'll finally get what you've always wanted. You'll finally get to retire.”

In this world, that meant only one thing.

My fingers grip the edge of the cot until my knuckles turn white. “You don't save a forest by fighting fire with fire, Chandler.”

“We're looking to the bigger picture, here, and if we succeed then we'll be one step closer to making our world a little safer for everyone.” He readjusts his glasses as he levels his gaze with mine. “We're not going to make the same mistakes our ancestors did.”

Right. Because no one has ever said that before.

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A/N: Things just keep looking up for Ashe, don't they? Injecting demon blood just doesn't sound like a good idea!

This one was kind of a long chapter (this discovery writing method just keeps surprising me!) but Selene and Ashe's tiff was just too much fun to write! I do realize that I'm throwing a lot of terms and ideas out here, and if something isn't explained clearly please let me know in the comments! And as always, don't forget to vote if you're enjoying the story so far! :)