Page 61 of Death Wish

As a reaper, I knew death, and Marla was most certainly dead.

Walking around her unmoving body, I took in the pool of blood underneath her chest, her blouse that I had thought as PTA mom-ish only hours ago now shredded into strips and stained red. Three deep slash marks raked from her stomach to her sternum—claw marks, like from an animal.

Shit, was that a part of her intestine peeking out from one of them?

Fear gripped me.

I swallowed the bile creeping up my throat. I’d seen many deaths in my year as a reaper. Some more gruesome than this. But for some reason, knowing I had just interacted with Marla only hours ago and now she had been gutted from chest to belly button made uneasiness stir inside me.

What animal could have done something like that?

Maybe it wasn’t an animal but some kind of creature.

A supernatural creature.

My thoughts shot back to the horrifying Halflings crawling out of the Hell hole on Wyatt’s property. Their gray scaly skin, black, soulless eyes, and pointed teeth were things of nightmares. They had claws, too, didn’t they? But why attack Marla?

My stomach dropped at the idea of possibly leading those hellions straight into Marla’s shop and causing her death. This could be my fault.

Cole came to my side and let out a deep breath. “You’re thinking it, too, aren’t you? Halflings. This looks like their work.”

He pointed to a smear of blood that left a trail out of the back room, toward the main shop. “She wasn’t killed here, though. She was dragged here afterwards.”

I nodded slowly, my mind not really grasping what he was saying.

“Marla’s a tough cookie. She wouldn’t go down without a fight,” he said.

“But if she was ambushed…”

“That’s the big question, now isn’t it?”

A loud crash sounded in the main shop, followed by a guttural, unnatural snarl.

Cole held up his gun, aiming it at the beaded curtain separating the two rooms.

Shadows jumped on the other side. Not just one either. Many.

Dread crawled up my spine. “I think we’re going to find the answer sooner rather than later.”

Cole gripped his gun tighter, although his face was smooth of any fear. I tried to imitate his composure, but my insides were trembling. I stepped behind him and held out my hands, hoping whatever I had done back at Wyatt’s trailer would work again here.

More crashing and glass shattering.

Slowly, a shadow elongated in the corner near the door until it formed into a skinny, stick-like leg, reminding me of some kind of mutant spider’s. Then the shadow stretched to form another. Then another. Until one of those hideous Halflings stepped into the back room, his head swiveling our way instantly.

I held my breath.

When its eyeless gaze rolled over us, unseeing, I didn’t move. The magic concealing the back room seemed to be confusing it enough to conceal us, too. Every muscle tensed, and beside me, Cole was just as rigid.

The creature lifted its head, and its slit for nostrils flared open slightly as it sniffed.

Its head whipping our way, it let out a piercing screech and charged.

“Get ready!” Cole shouted, shooting at the Halfling. It scurried up the shelf to avoid the bullet. Cole shot again and nailed it in the shoulder. The skin sizzled, and it fell to the floor screaming.

But the victory was short-lived, because in the next second, more of the shadowy creatures were sliding through the beaded doorway, their transparent forms appearing like drifting smoke at first before gaining depth and revealing their truly horrifying features.

Oh shit. We were in deep trouble here.

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