Reaper's Word

Chapter 3: Something Wicked This Way Comes

Isaiah had taken stock of those that had come into the house. This group didn't seem so bad. It lookedlike there might be a few that could be fun. He'd pegged four that would do whatever it took to survive.Including killing the others. He could see it in their minds. Six more were easily killed and one wasalready dead. He didn't put much stock in the other five for much entertainment, just substance.

There were two others who were wildcards. He couldn't read their minds so he wasn't sure how easilythey could be killed off. Or what they would do to survive. One was a male close to thirty, and the otherwas a female in her mid-twenties. She'd been the one standing near the door when he'd appeared. Soclose to grab but just out of reach. He liked the ones that were a bit of a mystery. He got really fuckingbored stuck in here. Had to find something to kill the time.

‘They are scattered and hiding. Fun.’ Alpha spoke mentally coming down a hall toward him. Thehellhounds didn't need to feed all that often. They just liked to play with the others, but the full moonwas coming. During the week before, they became very lethargic and spent their time in the caves.During the full moon they were hell bent on killing anything they could get their teeth on. Mainlybecause he was. Magic, he hated it.

Isaiah was also affected during that time. His senses spiking along with every human and inhumanneed that he had. It was during this time that they normally killed off most of the humans. It was all partof the magic and what he was. Seeing as he really shouldn't even be on this plane of existence. Thatwas a moot point now wasn't it?

"Try not to kill them off too fast. I'd like to have some entertainment for the next month." Alpha turnedand left the room. Well, it would be a minimum of a month. He doubted they'd show sooner with moreto keep him alive.

Isaiah looked up at the huge library that he stood in. The books here had been collected over time.Either from things he'd requested or things that those who came here left. He was feeling sporting at

the moment, not interested in reading. More in the mood for a game. So instead of indulging in reading,which he'd pretty much read all the books in here twice, he left the room.

He'd find one of the humans to play with. Hopefully they wouldn't be too terrified or too numb to givegood entertainment. He moved from the room with quick and easy strides. They really were all over thehouse. Normally there were a few groups. The humans liked sticking together.

Above him he heard running and judging by the weight and speed, he guessed that it was Beta movingdown that hall. He went past the main staircase and then to the first door on the left. He went down thelong narrow staircase and at the bottom reached up to the light fixture and turned the little knob there.This place was a maze, and he was very familiar with it. Yet time and again a new passage would showor one would disappear. Not very often, but it did. Magic did the unthinkable.

A panel slid aside and he went into the wall. Even after all this time he was still finding a few newplaces here and there. Mainly when the humans stumbled upon them. He had to give them credit. Theywere very good at finding places to get into and hide.

He came out in a room that had chairs around the walls and one wall had several different types offencing equipment on it. Another wall had swords there as well. He'd been hit a few times by thoseweapons. Never a pleasant sensation, tended to just piss him off really. Did anyone like gettingstabbed? No, obviously.

It looked like it was his lucky day. In here he found three humans. The male that was with the twofemales reached up to take a weapon and Isaiah lifted a hand. With a simple flick of it the three of themhit the floor. It was always more draining to move living things than inanimate objects. However he hada lot of practice and barely felt the drain anymore. Well, as long as he was full. Which he was.

Still, he noted that the one female didn't quite hit the floor as hard as the other. Not surprising therewere those that were resistant. However he didn't sense anything more from her, and that really

disappointed him. Michael was always careful. Didn't want to make a mistake did he?

They moved standing up, he recognized the brown haired female. Which was the resistant one. Hermind silent, the blonde with her was a fighter and would also do whatever it took to survive. He'dremember that later when he caught her. He looked at the male though.

"Stealing isn't very kind." He spoke moving farther into the room. The three of them inched toward thedoor but it slammed shut as did the others around the room.

"Neither is killing, but since you don't care about that. Can't say we should care much about yourobjects." This was from the brown haired woman. So she had a spine, told him she was a fighter. Sheand the blonde were both attractive women. Just an added bonus.

"In that case I should just do away with you now. Saves me the trouble of putting it back later." He saidmoving forward and they moved as well. Taking cautious steps back. Where were they really going torun? The cat had trapped the mice. Those doors were not going to open.

"What are your names?" Silent for a moment. He let out a slight irritated sound. "I asked a question, it'srude not to answer."

"James." The male said deciding it was better to answer than anger him. Isaiah moved his gaze to thebrown hair woman. She didn't say anything but the blonde did.

"Laura. Clair." She supplied pointing to the dark brown haired woman.

"I'll tell you what. I'll give you my word to let you leave this room alive if you play a game with me." Hesaid with a very slight smile.

"What's this game? How do we know your word is good?"

"I'm bound by my word. Once given I have to follow it." It wasn't like he was giving them much. He wasjust promising to let them leave the room alive. Once they got into the hall... He didn't explain though,because he didn't have to. They would misinterpret what they wanted.

"Play a game? What the hell are you?" James asked. Isaiah gave a shrug. It was pretty damn obviousthat he was not what he appeared.

"Doesn't really matter. Do you want to play or not?" He asked, their questions weren't relevant.

"Like we have a choice." James mumbled.

"Good. You two will sit down." Isaiah told the two women. His eyes were solid black and he clearlymeant what he said or else. The two sat down. Laura more slowly. Claire on the edge of her chairclosest the door. Smart girl, he liked smart humans. She was a pretty human, added to her too for adifferent game.

However his game was with James at the moment. They could watch. James looked terribly nervous.He also had a smell of fear to him, that didn't have any effect on Isaiah, as it used to. He was so usedto it. Or rather the house was full of it at the moment.

"Since you seemed so inclined to take what isn't yours, I'll give you a chance to earn it."

"What do I have to do?" James asked. He was concerned for himself. They always were. There were arare few that cared for the others around them. But still rarely. He knew that all of them would throw therest under the bus.

"Show me you can use that, and you can leave. You two are just going to watch. An audience is alwaysfun to have." He held up his hand and two of the fencing blades came to him. Catching one in his rightthen left.

"You can have your choice of course if you win." He told James

"If I don't?"

"You won't have much to worry about then." He held out the end of the one to James, he took it.James, as Isaiah knew, did have a bit of skill in fencing. He was glad to have picked him. Or ratherfound him in this room. It had been a very long time since there had been one with any skill. So thismight be fun, something different. He had nothing else to do here. Toying with them in a simple gamewas good to pass the time.

Isaiah made the customary movement. Graceful and fluid touching his blade. James was a bit moreunbalanced but that wasn't unexpected. They touched blades one more time, and began. He wasn'tcompletely disappointed at James's skill. But he was no match for him. To be fair he did know how touse the blade. Hence he was bound to let the man have his choice. He was really just feeling thesehumans out. He didn't hunger at the moment. Just interested in messing with them.

They moved across the room. Isaiah was fluid and parried all the blows or attempts from James.James hissed as the edge of Isaiah's blade got his arm. He jumped back, almost getting hit again byIsaiah who raised an eyebrow at him.novelbin

"You're not very graceful, not your sport I'm afraid."

"Fuck you." He backed up his footwork not what it should be. Isaiah obviously could move faster thanthe man could. He was dulling himself down to human level for fun. Still kind of disappointed, he shouldhave said if he could use the blade well. The end of Isaiah's blade hit James in the upper shoulder for afinal time.

"You are lucky you can use it. Even if it is not well." He yanked the tip of the blade back out of hisshoulder. James was looking up at him holding is bleeding shoulder. The doors to the rooms opened.

"I'll give you five minutes." The women were up and out of the room. James grabbed the one blade andran as well. From the far door he saw Beta lope in

"You may follow if you wish. They aren't spared your wrath for five minutes." Isaiah turned and movedfrom the room using a different door as Beta ran out into the hall. He'd never told them they were freeof the hell hounds. That had been mildly entertaining. Now he was going to find something a bit morestimulating.

Clair rounded the corner behind Laura. They were running to get away fast as they just got out of thatroom. Clair couldn't believe that she just sat there and watched them fence. Isaiah moved smoothly,and everything about him said predator. She didn't trust that what he said was fact. He was just toyingwith them.

"One of those things is coming!" James shouted and sprinted past them down a different hall. He didnot follow them and clearly didn't think safety in numbers. The man that had forced them to watch wassomething else. He looked stoic most of the time but there was amusement there as well. He couldhave just killed them, but he hadn't. That was the scarier thing. Death was not the worst punishment,torture was in her opinion.

Laura and her were moving down the hall they had chosen. Trying to be quiet, the problem was thedoors were all locked here. They needed to get out of view before that creature showed. Laura wasahead by several feet and found one that was open. She shoved it open but slammed it close on Clairnearly hitting her in the face.

Clair hit the door with the palm of her hand but knew it was foolish to stop. She was not going to fightwith the door. She hoped that she never met that bitch again. She'd stab her for locking her out in thehall. She was locking her out here like a sacrifice.

Clair was looking around as she jogged and saw a chute not far ahead. She hoped to god it wasn't anincinerator or something. At this point nothing would surprise her. The sound of that thing running downthe hall toward her made her move faster. She could hear its claws as it came around the corner butshe didn't look. She grabbed the edge of what she hoped was a huge laundry chute. Swung herselfinto it and started to slide down.

She used her hands and her feet to stop her from going all the way down. Her hands were on eitherside of the metal as were her feet. Which hurt and pulled skin from her hands as she went down. Thesound of skin squeaking on metal was audible. Her shoes slipped quite a bit, but she strained hermuscles so she didn't go sailing down the chute and free fall to god knew where. At this point shewouldn't be surprised if there was a pit of spikes below.

There was a loud growl above her and she looked up. The thing had managed to shove its head in butshe was too far down to reach. It pulled out of the chute but she could still feel it there waiting. Shecouldn't hang here forever and either A she went down, or B she went up. The thing knew it too, and soshe knew up was not an option.

Clair looked down and could see a bit of light not far below. She figured that it had to be an opening ofsome kind. She also hoped that it ended as well there, hard to tell it wasn't far. She pressed her back tothe wall because she needed a better hold. She kicked her shoes off which was hard but she managedto jiggle them off. She slipped a little but her bare feet gave her more traction than shoes on the metalwall. Plus she was in a house now. No outside running.

She carefully repositioned the pack she had on. It was just a small bag. Her art case was long forgottenback in the dining room. She wasn't going back there for it. It was the last thing on her mind. With arough breath she started her way down the chute. She was just above a large grate and used her mindto open it. For once she was glad to be a freak, but she was careful too. She kept it small in casesomething could feel it. It hurt her head a bit, since she was so used to hiding and pretending like shedidn't have talents.

The grate dropped into the room and she went down falling out and into the room on her back as sheshimmied down to it. Why hadn't she thought of that with the doors? She should have mentally openedthem. However she didn't practice and she’d ignored this skill. Seemed like a bad decision now.Second she was so panicked and not thinking clearly. It was clear she was going to need it. It mightgive her an edge, and something she'd keep secret. It was freakish to the rest of the world right? Inhere it might now put a different price on her head. It might just give her the edge to survive, and thiswasn’t her only talent.

Clair lay on the floor as a gun came in her face. She froze looking up at the middle aged man who wasin decent shape, he eyed her. His brown eyes harsh and clearly not all that friendly. She held her handsup looking up from the floor.

"Where the hell did you come from?"

"The chute, what does it look like asshole?" Clair snapped shoving the gun out of her face. In this roomwere two others, besides the man with the gun. The one was coated in drying blood. The other was thewild eyed man from earlier, Gregori was his name right?

"What are these things, what's going on here?" Clair asked him in a rush. Clearly he knew something,he'd warned them. This fun house of horrors was something she wanted to get out of. He looked at her,the doors were barricaded at the moment into the room so those in here seemed to feel safe for themoment. Gregori gave a shrug clearly not caring about her attitude at the moment.

"I have no idea, mostly. All I know is that man, Isaiah is his name, he's not human. He can do somefreaky shit and those things.... They listen to him, do as he says. I know that he can't die. I've seen himget hit by all sorts of things. It just pisses him off so I'd save that gun if I were you. " Gregori warned theother man.

"Nothing? A bullet to the head will kill anything." The man with the gun grumbled but didn't seem surenow.

"Not that I've seen. From what I get is that those people that brought us here, they've got some deal.As long as they keep him supplied with what he needs, they get immortality. I heard him get into it oncewith one bringing my group. He's stuck here in the house, can't leave. Can't go into the caves, at least Ithink. He cures his boredom by playing with us." Clair rubbed her forehead.

"Then let's go there. The caves" The woman said.

"I said I think. Those hell hounds can, and they can go out to the grounds too. Not extremely far, farenough to run down anyone that gets out. And I ain't running faster than them." Gregori took a drinkfrom his water bottle.

"There's a way out?" Clair asked feeling hope.

"There must be, but I don't know where. Only one person got out and they were torn apart by thosethings. It was the worst thing I've ever seen. I happened to see him round the north side of the houseby the driveway. Came from out back somewhere. Barely made it ten feet." He pulled some bread fromhis pack and took a bite this time. Gregori seemed to revert inward for a moment at the memory.

"Well I'm not sitting here." Clair said moving to the chute. Maybe there was another way from there.She was going to find a way out if it killed her, and it probably would. Whatever, better than sittingaround waiting to die.

"Night is the worst time to move around. Daytime is much better, though I'm not sure that he sleeps butthose things do. Mostly during the day."

"Thanks for the tip." Clair was thankful for any info that might get her through.

"Here's an out." He hit the wall next to him. An opening was there. "Not really sure where those chutesgo, but handy in a pinch.

"Thanks." She said and went to it. Yeah she wasn't excited about climbing into the chute again.

"Better to stay put most times. Noise draws them."

"I don't feel this time I should stay put." She said, and jumped when something slammed into the door.Gregori didn't hesitate. He shoved past her and ran down the small corridor. The door jam broke withthe next blow to it. What held the door closed exploded into the room as one of the hell hounds camein, Isaiah right behind it. There was panic to those here. Clair paused only for a moment as her earrang at the loud boom.

The man with the gun fired. It hit Isaiah in the chest, bright red blood soaking the white shirt that hewore. He jerked slightly stepping back with the blow, and looked down touching the wound. Thenlooked up, his eyes were solid black. So black they looked like wet obsidian glass. Deep red bloodcoated Isaiah's fingers. He just looked extremely annoyed and pissed instead of in pain or dying. Thatwas enough to make Clair a believer that he couldn't die.

"Shit." The man said. He moved for the chute and Clair didn't stay to find out what happened next.Though the screams told her what must have happened. She went the way that Gregori did to the right,the woman ran the other way. The space in the wall was only a shoulder width wide. She was happyshe was not a large woman.

Clair turned a corner, and caught a glimpse as she did so of a silhouette. Isaiah must have followedthem into the wall. The faint crunching made her think the hell hound was eating the man with the gun.

She could feel Isaiah's anger coming from behind her. She could feel his need to cause harm. Howevershe didn't know which way he went as she could barely see and she turned a sharp corner in thepassage. She sent up a silent prayer that he chose the other woman to follow. She did see Gregori who

jumped over something and kept going. Clair ran after him. When she got to where he'd jumped sherealized her mistake too late, and the floor dropped out from below her. She fell straight down into abedroom of sorts. She fell right on the bed, at least that was lucky.

"God damn it!" She cursed. She was stuck in a fucking fun house with killer creatures all over theplace. Trap doors, chutes, and hidden passages around every corner. She rolled off the bed and ran forthe door not missing a beat nor staying put. The ceiling above her closed, the spring having shut it.However as she fled the room, from the corner of her eye she saw it open again. Someone fell withmuch more grace than she had. Her heart started to slam against her ribs knowing it was not asurvivor.

Not waiting to see who or what it was, she ran down the hall. Her bare feet slapping the ground. Sheslowed trying to not make noise and went up a flight of stairs. She went into a room with a balcony andopened the doors. She closed her eyes and stepped outside, nothing threw her back. Okay, she onlyhad a minute to think. She was trapped her otherwise. He would catch her and force some twistedgame on her or just kill her out right. She wasn't ready to die yet.

She looked down over the side, but felt something shove her back that time, not hard just enough. Thehouse would not let her jump to the ground. She closed the balcony doors quietly and looked up. Therewas a second balcony there and she hopped up on the edge. She'd never excelled in gym andclimbing the rope, but she was going to do it now. Now her life depended on catching the next rail ofthe slightly higher balcony.

Clair jumped up and caught the edge of the balcony swinging a leg up and pulling herself over theedge. Her adrenaline giving her extra power. She fell onto the balcony floor. Scampered to her feet,and went to the doors. They were locked. She almost screamed in frustration but just in her head andthen thought instead of panicking. She blinked and there was a click as the doors unlocked and shewent in re-locking them. She ran to the door of the room intending to go out but stopped dead.

It was dark in here. No light was on, and the low light outside from the night didn't help her see in here.However she saw a silhouette out there. A tall man's shadow against the lace curtains that covered thewindows. She crouched low and didn't breathe. If she opened the door inside light would spill in fromthe hall and give her away.

She was sure he would see it, and so she crouched and held her breath like the scared mouse shewas. She stayed there and prayed harder than she ever had in her life. The shadow out there shiftedslightly like it was trying to decide something and moved to the right a bit.

__Isaiah__

Isaiah was highly interested in this female named Clair. He'd seen her in the room with the others amoment ago. Fast little thing to have moved down here. She was just upstairs a few minutes ago.Hopefully she saw what happened when you didn't place nice.

The one who shot him was dead, throat torn out. Isaiah initially been going after Gregori, this Clair justbetween them. Though he decided instead to follow her as she'd crashed through the hidden panel inthe ceiling of the gold room. There was something off about this Clair. Something about the lack ofsense around her. Once she was separated from the group he noted that there seemed to be a voidaround her. Couldn't hear her mind, naturally protected and that peaked his interest.

She was quick on her feet this one. Fast to learn to be quiet, he wanted to figure her out because shewould be a good one to play a more complicated game with. Please let her be a smart human, onewilling to play. He was so bored of these other humans. He'd followed her up the stairs at a slower paceto see what she would do. To see how her mind worked and how clever she really was. Apparentlymore clever than he gave her credit for. He was not sure where she went and he inhaled but nothing.No scent, curious.

Now he stood on this balcony looking at the doors there. He couldn't feel her. He could always feelthem even if he couldn't hear their minds. It was like she'd disappeared, had he missed a turn? Wasshe still back down in that other room? He didn't get a psychic signature from her. Otherwise he'd havetaken note of her immediately. So why did it seem like she disappeared?

He knew the doors here were locked and there was no sign that it had been forced open. He looked upat the next and last balcony. It was higher and she didn't look like one that was physically that strong topull herself up from a dead hang. This second balcony he could see as it wasn't as high as this nextone. This one she only had to jump half the distance.

He moved to the edge, perhaps he'd been wrong. Maybe she was stronger and she had made it. Hejumped up and landed crouching slightly and then stood up looking at the blood stain on his shirt thatleaked a bit but was healing. He needed to feed from that wound. So he moved forward looking at theopen door of this balcony. Where was the little dove hiding huh?

He didn't think that this had been open before, so maybe she had come here. Her scent haddisappeared down below on the first balcony. Also interesting, a puzzle that intrigued him. He lookedback down at the second one. He didn't think that she came here. He trusted his instincts, but physicalevidence seemed to support it. He smiled, yes this one was going to be fun. He felt a smile, that wasokay. He didn't want to kill her yet anyways, he'd find another to feed him to help heal his wound. Thenhe'd toy with this one later.