Chapter Thirty-Five

Melinda Thymes

I stood in one of the many cities burning in the human world. Demons attacked everything and everyone. Since the Reapers had stopped intervening, the situation worsened. The Reapers made the right call. The last battle was the most important, and they needed to stay alive to face the end. Although that was true, I closed my eyes as screams pierced the night sky. A vision of a mom and a teenage girl hiding in a closet overwhelmed me. On the other side of the door, two demons ransacked their house, searching for them. All I could hear were things being thrown around in the home. I couldn’t know what kind of demon they dealt with. I prayed it wasn’t one with a heightened sense of smell.

The mom shushed her trembling daughter.

“Are they coming to save us?” asked the girl, tugging at her mom’s blouse.

“Who?” the mother asked.

“The ones on the news. Those heroes. They will come, won’t they?”

“That wasn’t real, sweety. People don’t have those kinds of power.”

A large bang made them clutch at each other tightly.

The girl whimpered. “Yes, they are. They saved those people in Paris and Kansas. Cameras have caught them all over the world, and they always show up when monsters appear!”

As the girl’s voice pitched with panic, her mother quickly murmured, “Okay, okay. You’re right. A dog-like creature is in our home. Maybe people with power exist. Let’s pray. They might come if we do.”

The daughter nodded, and they bowed their heads.

Suddenly, the closet door yanked open. They screamed as the wolf demon appeared. There was a hard wrench at my chest and the vision ended abruptly. I collapsed to the ground, gasping for air, as I tried to steady my trembling fist and control the rising panic. A memory? No, a future outcome . A probability out of thousands. Even if they tried, the Reapers couldn’t save them all.

Another vision hit me. I stood in the room with the Reapers and my stomach sank. It had already happened. Grim dissolved like petals blowing in the wind. It was the most soul-crushing thing to witness. I’d watched over Grim as long as I could remember. And the family felt devastated.

When I was wrenched out of the image, I saw the ashy ground below me and recalled the immortal’s life. “A long time ago, a skeletal creature came to be. Humans required a balance between good and bad to prevent the Devil from entering their world. If that occurred, Grim and his family would be unnecessary in the world”

Scooping up the soot on the ground, I opened my palm and watched it blow away. My heart cracked.

“It’s as if the world is saying, ‘Go on, Grim, and take your family with you. Leave. We don’t need you anymore. We don’t even know you exist.’”

Looking at the sky, I knew the angels, my kind, listened to every word.

“Are you okay with that? Don’t you think it’s time to intervene?” I said to anyone in Heaven who listened. Angels were fickle creatures. They had peace in their world and had no such desires like humans. Maybe I talked to myself, and no one heard me.

What are the Reapers going to say back to the fate they’ve been given? I wondered.

With Grim gone, the Devil would come for Kara, and I had no clue what he’d do.