Page 35 of Payne's Envy

I wheezed. I had no energy to hold my head up. When Harvest removed his hand, I drooped forward.

“So, disappointing. If her powers vanished right now, she’d die from fatigue,” Harvest muttered. “You Reapers aren’t so capable, after all.”

Despite the fatigue, if given the chance, I could attack. Or fade from there at least. But, as it was, there were no opportunities. Harvest was too prepared to hold a Reaper. My helplessness sucked.They revived me at least a hundred times after my capture.Harvest was right about my powers. If they disappeared, I’d likely die. My immortality was the only thing keeping my body going. I still needed food, water, and sleep.

“Oh, well.” Harvest said, but I didn’t raise my head. “There’s still pleasure in seeing one of you suffer. Your family is searching so hard for you. Imagine what it will do to them when you die? I can’t wait.”

I gasped as sadness engulfed me. Picturing my family searching, picturing them sad for my sake.Thathurt more than anything he’d done to me. Would Payne be sad, too?

“We haven’t burned her to death yet, have we?”

My body shook. Burn me to death? That didn’t sound pleasant. Nothing did. Hades, I wanted to sleep…

Softer footsteps approached. “Here.”Nadine.

I wondered if Nova was still there, too? Maybe I’d have time to help August before I died. Heaven knew he would need all the help he could get.

The hiss of a canister popped my ears. I raised my head at the wrong time. Flames barreled toward me. I hunkered into a ball and closed my eyes. Warmth cocooned me. I stiffened as the heat flickered all around me.Am I dead?Why did it feel good? I opened my eyes and sighed. My clothes burned, but the fire wasn’t hurting me. It bounced and slid across my body like a lover’s caress.

“Well, well,” Harvest began. “What is this?” The whistling stopped, and Harvest placed the blowtorch on the ground. “Reapers can’t stand in fire. That’s something I would have known about. So, what have you done to yourself?” A black device materialized in his hand. When he waved a flashlight in my eyes, I jerked my head. “Stop. Moving.”

I glared under his inspection.

“What is this?” Harvest asked. “You’re something different. Tell me, what are you?”

“I have no clue what you mean.” If I did, I wouldn’t have told him.

“Like me, Reapers are immune to vampirism, lycanthropy, and any form of sickness and disease. What was powerful enough to change you, and where do I find it?” The gleam in his eyes rattled me.

Changed? Did that have something to do with the heat? And why I didn’t burn to death? Iwasdifferent.

A thin object appeared in Harvest’s palm as he said, “Hold still.”

I didn’t listen, especially when I saw the needle in his hand. He backhanded me. My headed hit the cave wall and blackness spotted my vision. A sharp pinch made me lift my head. Harvest stepped back, holding a vial of my blood.

“What are you doing?” I asked with a slur.

“I don’t need you to tell me,” Harvest stated. “I can find out what you are myself with a trip to my lab.” As he turned, he uttered, “Kill her.”

______

I woke to shouting. I hadn’t realized so many people were in the cave until the screams echoed all around. How big was that hideout? Even as weak as I was, I perked up at the sound of fighting. Did my family find me? Hope soared through my stomach until someone yelled, “Dragon!”

The ground shook beneath me as the creature roared in the distance. Every hair on my head stood on end at the sound. That roar didn’t belong to a dragon from Grim’s woods. I feared being buried under the rubble as the rocks and walls rattled.The buckling of the surrounding walls matched the loudthud, thud, thud. Was the creature moving?

Harvest, Nadine, and Nova were gone. Whoever they left to safeguard me was screaming, but I couldn’t make out the words. Worst, I couldn’t see what they fought. Did one of Harvest’s creations go haywire?

I yanked at the chains holding me. Unless I got them off my wrists, I still couldn’t fade out of there. Maybe the creature would bring the cave down, giving me a chance to break free.

When the dragon roared again, there was one final squawk from a demon, followed by a loudthwack,then silence. A tingle built in my lower stomach, spilling out between my legs. I gasped as I squeezed my thighs together. The dormant heat came flooding back.

What a ridiculous time to return!

“Joy.”

My nipples pebbled at the inhuman voice. Who was that?Whatwas that?

I eyed the entrance and the room where Harvest kept me. No way something thatsoundedso big could fit through—

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