Page 32 of Payne's Envy

My vision was distorted as I came to. I couldn’t make out the figures before me. Even the heat within me had died out, unable to bear the relentless assaults. Sometimes, Harvest let Nova kill me. I preferred her deaths over his. She was quick. Harvest wasn’t.

He found a new way to kill me every time I awakened. Shoving liquids down my throat. Cutting off my limbs. Stabbing me repeatedly and letting me heal. Harvest tortured me just enough that my body endured an endless cycle of healing. That pain was so much worse than dying. Why?

Because right before dying came the overwhelming terror of my powers vanishing. The constant, looming fear of the idea that any of those attacks could be my last was a sickening pleasure for Harvest. And as much as I tried to prepare myself to die in that place, it never calmed me.

I’d see Payne lying on the ground with that odd stuff growing over him, pleading with me to leave him. I didn’t want to die in the cave. If I did, he’d blame himself.

I’m still thinking of him even now.

Harvest sighed, and I couldn’t flinch or respond. Not that it mattered when I could barely see.

“It seems the warlock grabbed the wrong sister,” he said.

Wrong sister?

“What did I say, Joy? I said you’d be no use to me if you didn’t give me the reaction I wanted from him.”

“Who?”I croaked.

God, I was so tired.

“Ah, no matter. Your finality will surely be a tremendous blow for the Reapers.”

Harvest wasn’t wrong. I lifted my head to face him. All I saw was his silhouette of him.

“What must it feel like to be you?” I laughed. “When the Devil created you, you must have been the worst part. The thing he didn’t want inside himself.”

It was difficult to fathom that Fear, who once desired power like Harvest, was formed in the same manner as Harvest and Jackal. The era of Fear's malevolence had passed long before I was born, thankfully.Jackal, who once plagued the human world with diseases, worked daily with my sister to save humans. Fear and Jackal might have found light, but I didn’t think such a feeling would reach the likes of Harvest. He was evil incarnate.

Darkness filled my vision. When pressure closed around my windpipe, I realized why.I felt Harvest's breath close to my cheek.

“It’s a shame I won’t be here to see your end. I have more pressing matters to attend to, you know, getting ready to kill the rest of your family. But don’t worry, I have several demons here to take my place. All of them want a turn at killing you. Especially delivering that final blow. The one where your power finally vanishes for good.” He squeezed harder.

My eyes felt like they would bulge right out of their sockets as I coughed.

“Does that scare you? True death? What must that feel like, Reaper? To know I’m winning, and you all are dying.”

Spots dotted my vision. The pain dulled, and the sweet oblivion I was so acquainted with swept over me.

Chapter Sixteen

Payne

I was running. Always running from Joy.

But that time, I rantowardher. My boots splattered through the water. Each splash echoed in the darkness. Blackness surrounded me. It was everywhere. No matter how far I went, my heart wouldn’t stop racing. Fear kept the organ’s beats rushing through my ears. The terror felt like it might burst out of my limbs.Joy.I had to get to her, but…

I’d been wrapped in the cocoon. What was that darkness?

What did it matter when the one I cared about was in danger and I was fucking stuck? It didn’t! I had to get out of there. That was all that mattered. Then I’d find Joy and kill Derrick.

And anyone who hurt her. The one that dared to steal her.

“What right do you have to care?”

I stopped and gawked at the figure suddenly in front of me. It was me, but somehow different. My eyes looked strange, and orange-red lines covered my skin.

“I love her so much. How could I hurt her?”

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