Chapter 27: Vincent

The castle feels ominous today. Dark. Moody. I mean, it's a castle in hell so I guess I should lower my expectations.

The long hallway seems longer, and I can't help but feel anxious. Something is wrong.

I hear a throat clear behind me and I turn around to find my father smirking at me. He watches me with quiet eyes as I turn around and walk back over to him. He clearly wants to talk to me. My father never seeks me out on his own, always sending guards or servants to collect me instead.

"Yes, father?"

His smile widens, "Good morning, son. How are you?"

I roll my eyes. "Cut the pleasantries, father. What is it?"

He shrugs, looking me over and I immediately know he's checking my energy fields. Over the years, I've gotten better at reading him. Getting better at reading him also means I've gotten better at feeling when he's probing.

"Get what you needed?"

"I did. "

"And?"

"And I'm surprised you don't keep a closer eye on your mates is all."

The hairs on the back of my neck immediately rise up. "What do you mean?"

He shrugs. Not saying another word as he turns and walks the opposite way down the hallway. I call for him, but he doesn't turn around.

The anxiety that was simmering in my stomach comes rushing up to my chest, burning me alive and making me taste it. Fear. I've never felt fear, but I know that's what this is. Fear controls humans, makes them do stupid and reckless things, but Reaper's aren't usually slave to that emotion.

What does Death fear?

Losing his mates.

I take off, running toward my room to get to the mirror where I can look at my mates and make sure they're okay. Portaling to them is out of the question. Since my father can read energy, he can tell when I portal out. I don't want him knowing he got to me, not unless something is really wrong.

I'm almost to my room when I feel the pull. Someone's soul needs collecting. Fuck! Now is not the time! I try to resist the urge, but it's impossible.

Collecting souls is different than portaling on my own. When a soul is calling you to collect it, a portal automatically opens up and pulls you through it. It's not a portal of your own making. Collection portals have their own magic – and the magic behind this one is strong. His soul has been longing for death for a while now.

I try to run away from the portal following behind me, trying to at least get to my mirror quick enough to lay eyes on my mates, but it's useless. I get sucked into the portal, my body morphing into my Reaper form as soon as I enter it. By the time I get spit out on the other side, my face is a full skull, a scythe is in my hand, and I'm staring down at an old man in a hospital bed.

The old man doesn't even flinch when he lays eyes on me. He just sighs a deep sigh that I hear rattling his chest. I know I should be worrying about my mates, but the life fading right before my eyes currently has my full attention.

Humans think Reaper's revel in, well, death, but that isn't true. Reapers revel in life. Reapers are obsessed with the concept of life and living because rarely ever do we get to deal with anything other than death and decay. The life of a Reaper can be so miserable if we let it be.

"Hello, Death. Does my elevator go up or down?"

He's not the first one who's asked me that question, and unfortunately, I can't give him a real answer. This time, though, I realize I wish I could. He looks so frail, so ready for death, so eager to see me and be free of this life. And I can't even give him an answer.

I walk over to the man's bed, taking a glance at his wristband to see his name. "I don't know, Tarrence. I'm only here as the elevator, not the guide."

He chuckles, sending his chest rattling again. "So then where are you taking me?"

"Limbo. It's the place all souls go to find out where their final destination is, up or down."

A look of worry crosses his face.

"Do you think you'll be sent to hell?"

Internally, I flinch at the harshness in my tone, but I know it comes with the territory. Reapers aren't supposed to be soft. That was drilled into my head from a very young age.

"I don't know. I've done some…bad things, in my lifetime. But I turned my life around. I tried to do better. I still wasn't…I'm sorry. I don't know why you're even still listening to the ramble of an old man."

"Don't apologize. You can say anything you want right now, and I won't judge, but we do have to leave."

He nods. "Do I have to do anything?"

"No."

"Then I'm ready."

I nod and reach down, taking his hand in mine. Immediately, another collection portal opens up beside us. I watch as the man's soul exits his body, a bright light in the shape of a man keeping a grasp on my hand. The machine hooked up to his body flatlines, causing a beep to echo in the room around us. I take one last look at his body. With his eyes closed it almost looks like he's sleeping. Peaceful. I hope he finds peace in his ever-after, too.

We come out on the other side of the portal in the middle of the forest. Tall trees, taller than the red woods in California, surround us on all sides, with a single path directly in front of us. No birds chirp, no critters rustle around in the bushes, it's dead silent.

I look over to the light beside me. "Follow that path, it'll split a little of the way down. A guide will be there to help you onward."

I feel hesitation in the light next to me, but after a few moments, my hand is released, and I watch the light shine over the leaves and bushes as he starts his walk down the path.

I sigh, my un-beating heart heavy as he disappears in the forest.

My mates. I need to get back to my mates.

I immediately portal back to the castle, my form morphing with me as I go, and I grunt as I land in the hallway I was in earlier. Portaling into the castle took more effort than I realized, more effort than usual. I try to portal back out of the castle and to Melford, but no portal shows.

Over and over again, I try to make a portal to get me to my mates, but nothing ever happens. No sparks, no movement. Nothing. I even fall back on my initial training, moving my hands in a circle and pushing my essence into the space, but still nothing.

"Fuck!" My scream echoes in the hall around me as I take off toward my bedroom once again. The hallway seems even longer than it was this morning, but now I know the reason why. My mates are in trouble.

As I run, I connect the dots in my mind. My father is the one who said I needed to check on my mates. My father controls portaling in and out of the castle.

I throw open my bedroom door. My father is standing in my bedroom, surrounded by guards with a smirk on his face.

"Hello, son. Have a good collection?"

"What the hell have you done!" I lunge toward him, but guards grab me any way they can in order to stop me. My father laughs, throwing up a shield around him.

"I want to see my mates!" I struggle against the guards, but there's too many of them.

"Let him see his mates." My father waves his hand at the guards, and they immediately let me past. I surge toward my mirror and think of my mates.

All of them show up in the mirror gathered in the courtyard together. Damion is bent down beside Amri, helping her sit up. Zain is pacing, yelling at either himself or Callyx and waving his hands around in the air.

At first glance, it looks like they just got done training, but as the mirror zooms in, I can tell something is wrong. Amri is crying, her hands up around her neck as Damion rubs her back. I watch with morbid fascination as Amri's hands move, showing the deep bruises and strangulation marks on her neck.

Melford guards rush out of the building, heading directly toward Zain. He looks over, yelling something and shaking his head, but he holds his hands out to them, surrendering himself.

Zain…Zain hurt Amri like that? Did he…?

"He tried to kill her but failed. Stupid, human boy."

I turn toward my father, shaking my head. "He would never."

My father chuckles. "Actually, he would. It's unfortunate that he failed but, that's what backup plans are for."

I feel my body shaking, thrumming, and before I know it, change has taken over my body and I am once again in Reaper form.

My father laughs, motioning for the guards to grab me again.

I struggle against their hold, biting, kicking and clawing at anyone close enough. "WHAT DID YOU DO?"

Balthazar shrugs, "A simple compulsion potion slipped into his drink. It took effect rather quickly for him to be such a big man. Not to mention, he seemed to completely forget he had another soul inside him."

Callyx. Oh God, Callyx.

He continues. "Unfortunately, it seems like that little ‘ siren' of yours has some magic in her after all, just like I suspected." My father approaches me once he sees I've stopped fighting as much. His words making their way through me and panic filling my body in response.

He knows.

"Tell me, son. Did you always know your mate was a witch, or did you figure out after you took her to bed?"

I keep quiet, not giving him the satisfaction I know he's seeking.

"See, what I think, is that you knew she was a witch. Maybe not right when you met her, since I couldn't even tell until when she broke my spell, but you figured it out pretty quick. It may even be the reason why you chose her as a mate. Because you know, witches are not allowed in our circle of the Underworld. Their magic is too powerful, too wild and uncontrollable for me to properly keep an eye on it. You knew this, and decided to mate her anyways, just so you could overthrow me. Now tell me, Vincent, am I on the right track here?"

My body sags in the guard's hold. He's right. And I've done nothing but hate myself ever since I realized the danger I put her in. I started watching Amri because something felt…different inside her. There was a spark of magic that I'd never seen before.

Overtime, though, my feelings for her grew. By the time she threw herself into that river all those months ago, it was too late. I had placed her in a position so deep that there was no way to get out of it. She would kill herself to find me, and I would risk mine to save her.

That's why it was imperative that she trained, that he built up her strength mentally, emotionally and physically. Witches are not as common as they used to be, and overtime, their magic has dimmed into only a sliver of what it once was. We learned about them in school, but only the basics. What I do remember, though, from a Basics of Magic course, is that if a witch undergoes a traumatic event, or gets cut off from her community, then sometimes their magic won't develop. The only way they can ever get it back is to get so strong, in every way possible, that they push back that invisible barrier and tap into their magic.

It's a complicated science that I'm not even coming close to understanding, despite my months and months of research, although I thought I was onto something with Amri…

Wait.

My father said she broke the spell he put on Zain. A potion spell at that. For her to break a spell of my father's, let alone a potion spell…she's gotten her magic back. And my mate is strong as hell.

My father, who has been staring at me, waiting for me to admit my wrongdoings, finally speaks up.

"Answer me, boy, or you'll face a punishment fit for the seventh circle of Hell."

I hold my head up high, knowing my mates will survive. They'll come for me. They'll save me. I refuse to admit anything, to give my father any satisfaction, to lead him toward Amri any more than I already have. The only thing that worries me is this ‘backup plan' my father mentioned.

He scoffs. "Have it your way. Vincent Tobias Grim, you are found guilty of treason against the crown. Guards, take him to the pits."