Reapers by Kim Richardson

some women
like that.”
    Kara looked at him, irritated. “What
women? Women with very low expectations.”
    “ More like dead,” muttered
Jenny. She and Kara smiled.
    Peter walked away from the group. He
halted and held up a globe in the palm of his hand. The globe shone
bright yellow, like a little sun.
    “ I’m getting really strong
energy readings. Something really big, big enough to cause a huge
gap in the electromagnetic field.”
    He looked up from his contraption.
“It’s off the charts. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
    Kara looked behind her. She had a
sudden sense that something was missing. “Guys? Where are Ashley
and her team? I thought they were coming with us?”
    “ They’re in Chicago,”
answered Jenny, scanning the street. “There was another threat
there as well, so Ariel sent them there to check it out. What? Did
you want her to tag along with us?” she added with a
laugh.
    “ I’d rather swallow my own
tongue,” said Kara sarcastically, thankful not to have to deal with
sour looks and spiteful remarks from Ashley.
    But something else now was bothering
her. She felt uneasy, restless. A darkness was engulfing the city.
It was as if all the life were being snuffed out in a wave that
spread out and just kept on spreading.
    She measured the lifeless
street one last time and said, “Will someone tell me what this
new threat is,
before I explode? I could tell Ariel was unnerved by it. She said
it was something the legion never hoped to confront… What did I
miss here?”
    Jenny lowered her bow, her green eyes
darkened in the fading sunlight. “Reapers.”
    Kara narrowed her eyes.
“Reapers? You mean like The Grim Reaper ? The angel
of death? That mythical creature that wears a black hooded cloak?
The one that uses a scythe and—”
    She broke off. She had the strangest
feeling she’d seen one. Was it in a forest? But that was
impossible. She’d only just got back. What was wrong with her? Was
she was beginning to feel the repercussions of being a wraith
herself? Her mind was failing.
    “ Yup, that’s the one,”
said David, watching Kara carefully. “They exist. Yes, they , we know of seven,
maybe more. And they’re no angels. Reapers are death demons from
the lower planes of the Netherworld. They use the Scythe of Death to sever the ties between the
soul and the body. They kill the mortals and take their
souls .”
    “ Take?” repeated
Kara.
    “ Exactly, they steal them.
And it’s always been a bit of a mystery what really happens to the
souls.”
    “ Why’s that?”
    “ We think the souls are dead,” added
Jenny. “But it’s not proven, so we can’t be sure. But we do know
that the reapers take the mortals’ souls just before they die and
leave their bodies behind.”
    The hairs on the back of Kara’s neck
stood up. A soul’s true death was the worst thing that could
happen. It could never be born again. It was a horrible prospect.
She gripped her weapon firmly.
    “ Why do they do
this?”
    David shook his head. “We don’t know.
Maybe they feed on the souls, like other demons, but there’s really
not much the legion knows about reapers. They’re like super rare. I
think that’s why the legion’s making so much noise about them.
They’re not sure how to handle them.”
    “ Have you ever seen one?”
asked Kara. “A reaper?”
    “ No,” Peter answered.
“None of us have. In fact, I doubt any guardian at the legion has
either. Reapers are demons from the first age, before the creation
of man. They’re mysterious creatures. The legion really doesn’t
know much about them—”
    “ Except that they’re
killers,” interrupted David, “ soul -sucking killers, like giant
bloodsucking leeches.”
    Kara quivered at the image. “And you
think reapers did this?”
    She inspected the deserted city and
wondered why soul-suckers would take the time to destroy the city
and set fire to buildings. If it was the souls they wanted, why the
mayhem?
    “ If reapers