Read Online Reaper of Souls: A fantasy short story by Holly Copella - Free Book Online

“Don’t worry about me.  Just go.”
    She slowly
stood while studying Kahn’s mocking smile then looked back at Helsing.
    Helsing glared
at her and sharply raised his brows.  “Take the dagger back now .”
    She turned and
ran in the opposite direction for the antidote.  Helsing appeared horrified
while weakly attempting to stand.
    “Reggie, no!”
    Kahn laughed
and vanished.  Dylan-creature slid beneath Helsing’s hand and helped steady him
as he stood.  He leaned heavily on the creature and stumbled along the beach. 
It was nearly an hour later.  Reggie ran along the beach with a fistful of
purple flowers.  Helsing lie motionless on the sand while Dylan-creature lie
sadly at his side.  Reggie fell to her knees near him and extended the flowers.
    “I got them,
Helsing,” she gasped while out of breath.  “You have to eat them--please.”
    He weakly took
a flower and ate it.  A bright light approached them on the beach.  Helsing
stared with surprise, weakly lifted his head, and watched the light get
closer.  Reggie clutched the dagger and appeared concerned.  Dylan-creature
scurried behind Reggie and hid.  The light appeared in the form of a woman with
only light as her features.
    “Mother?”
Helsing gasped.
    “Yes, my son,”
his mother, Leola, replied.  “You’ve made your father and me very proud today. 
You took the final step toward securing your future as a Light Force by
willingly sacrificing your own life for another.  You will be joining us for
eternity.”
    Helsing slowly
sat up with Reggie’s assistance and stared at the female light before them. 
“I’m honored, mother, but I can’t.”  He weakly pulled himself to his knees.  “I
have to deal with Kahn in the only way he’ll understand, which means I’ll have
to forfeit my rights to become a Light Force.  I’ll see him dead before I ever
allow him to harm Reggie.”
    Leola suddenly
groaned.  “What did your brother do this time?”
    †
    K ahn was casually seated in
an elegant chair in the hallway while watching the grandfather clock only
seconds away from noon.  Begley anxiously stood near the kitchen doorway and
stared at the front door with anticipation.  Chrissy peered over the second
floor railing near the stairs while wrenching her fingers together with her
attention on the door.  Kahn grinned while waiting for the minute hand to move
to its final position.  The front door suddenly opened to reveal Reggie with
the dagger in her hand.  Kahn stared at her with shock and bolted up from his
chair.  Begley and Chrissy appeared stunned while making their way closer then
abruptly stopped.
    “That’s not
possible.  You couldn’t have made it back in time,” Kahn announced then turned
angry.  “You cheated!”
    Reggie stood
calmly within the foyer and showed no emotion.  “There were no rules.  How
could I cheat?”
    “Helsing
transported you here,” Kahn announced.  “He brought you back.  You needed to
come back on your own.”
    “Helsing didn’t
transport me here,” she informed him while playing with the dagger.  “I came
back on my own.”
    “That’s not
possible!  How could you have gotten here so fast?”
    “If you must
know, I ran,” she replied while grinning.
    “You let
Helsing die?” Kahn suddenly asked with surprise.
    “No, he’ll be
along shortly.”
    Kahn shook his
head with hostility.  Begley and Chrissy slowly closed in from both the hall
and the stairs to witness the scene.
    “You couldn’t
have run that fast,” Kahn informed her.  “You cheated.  You lose!”
    “I didn’t.  I
win,” she calmly announced.  “You’re the one who cheats.  Dylan told me about
his deal with you.  He pledged his life to you if you’d spare me from the fire
that killed our parents.  I wasn’t even aware I’d been home when it happened. 
Some sort of memory trick you used on me.  You saved me from the blaze when he
couldn’t reach me.”  Her eyes suddenly narrowed as