He turned, his coat flaring around him with the movement and his hand stil clenching the soul. The witches rushed forward, checking on the dead man. The col ector stepped around them, dragging the soul with him. A soul that was staring at his own dead body.
I’d met several ghosts over the years, witnessed Death col ect a handful of souls, and was even present once when a soul resisted col ection, but I’d never before witnessed the very moment when someone was forced to confront the fact that his life had ended. The shock and confusion lasted only an instant and then the skimmer’s mouth fel open, his features twisting in a mix of agony and rage. He thrashed in the col ector’s grasp and screamed. But there were no human lungs or living vocal cords involved in this scream. It human lungs or living vocal cords involved in this scream. It was the scream of a soul and it made me want to reel back and clutch my ears. Several of the people in the press of bodies around me flinched—they might not have been able to hear the scream with their ears, but I think everyone present felt it.
The col ector ignored the soul’s pitiable distress.
“Why doesn’t he send him on?” I muttered the question to no one in particular.
The man in front of me must have heard because he turned, and then he startled.
“Holy Mother—” He backed up and into the person beside him. “Your eyes,” he whispered. Then he pushed people aside as he retreated farther from me.
I barely noticed him, but his passage disturbed several other people, who turned. More exclamations sounded, more movement, and soon a ring of empty space opened around me. I was too intent on the events unfolding on the other side of the fence to care.
The col ector had moved to the next skimmer. She held her arms above her head as if reaching for the Aetheric energy helped her draw more of the excess magic that was poisoning her body. Despite the fact that she’d exceeded her overload point, the only expression on her face was pure and unadulterated ecstasy. I don’t think she even noticed when the col ector thrust his hand through her sternum and jerked her soul free.
No, she isn’t dying. Not yet anyway. I marched forward—
my bubble of empty space had opened a path al the way to the fence—without ever looking away from the col ector, who now gripped a soul in each fist. Who is he? I’d never seen a col ector strike before the cause of death guaranteed an end to life.
A hand wrapped around my arm, jerking me back. “This is what you consider keeping your head down?” Falin asked in a voice that had turned gravel y with anger. “Do you want to be dragged off to Faerie? Because if that’s you want to be dragged off to Faerie? Because if that’s your goal, I can take you there myself.”
I blinked at him and then my gaze snapped back to the scene beyond the fence. “She wasn’t supposed to die.” Or at least it hadn’t looked like she was supposed to die.
“What? What are you talking about? Jeez, Alex, your eyes are glowing like lanterns.” Falin lifted his hand as if blocking a glare and green light reflected off his pale skin.
Light from my eyes.
I didn’t have time to worry about that.
“He took her and she wasn’t dead yet.” I pointed at the knot of skimmers, but no one except me realized the woman was dead—apparently not even her own body noticed it was now unoccupied.
The col ector—or reaper, as Roy had cal ed him and maybe that was a more appropriate name—looked down at the souls he clutched. He stil hadn’t vanished the man, whose screams had given way to begging. The woman’s soul just looked confused, as if she stil didn’t understand.
Then the reaper vanished, taking the souls with him.
The woman’s body final y col apsed, hitting the ground without her ever making a sound.
A frenzy had already stirred the crowd outside the gate, but now it lifted to a new pitch, bordering on chaos. With two bodies on the ground, the police didn’t have to wait for warrants. They stormed the lot, pul ing the skimmers away from the rift by force, dragging them when they wouldn’t cooperate.
The skimmers might have been blissed out of their minds from contact with the Aetheric, but they noticed being dragged from the source. They struggled, screaming, fighting, and cursing. Fil ed with raw magic, their curses and their very anger, took shape. As an officer attempted to restrain one woman, a black and red cloud of unfocused rage lifted out of her and engulfed him. The officer jumped back, beating at his arms and chest as if swatting dozens of stinging insects. Another officer fel to his knees, of stinging insects. Another officer fel to his knees, grasping his throat as a sludgelike bubble of magic encased his head.
The anti??black magic unit officers were better prepared. Their personal wards and charms helped them shrug off the unfocused spel s, and now that the skimmers were using magic against them, they retaliated in kind. The first skimmer went down, unconscious under a spel . Then another. A third one got caught in a circle.