Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ A Touch of Death ❯ Chapter 7

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

WARNINGS AND DISCLAIMERS: These are all fictional characters and any similarities to anyone living or dead is completely incidental. And anyway, I'm not making any money off of this.
 
This is my NanoWriMo piece, which I managed to turn out in half the time allotted. If you don't know what Nano is, check out www.nanowrimo.org for information and a chance at a really good time.
 
“So then, so then,” Amber laughed. “She was like `you just like, punched that kid in the face' and I was like `And?' and then we were like, all fighting!”
Mitch leaned against the bar and shook his head as he smiled grimly.
“That true?” he asked.
“Without all the `likes',” Kathryn admitted warily.
“See?” Mitch said as he stood back up and turned to pour them a couple more drinks. “You say that way too much.”
“Like, what?” Amber asked sweetly.
“This is going on your tab,” Mitch answered as he firmly tapped down two tall glasses of something foamy and strong.
“Where's my freebie?” Amber asked.
“No cursing at the bar,” Mitch said and disappeared to talk to a few shadows lounging at the other end of the bar.
Amber sighed and lightly spun her glass a little to make the liquid shift and spin.
“Stubborn ass,” she muttered.
“Uh-huh,” Kathryn said and sniffed at her liquor.
It smelled like gin.
She took a cautious sip and practically gagged as it burned down her throat. Tears sprang up in her eyes and she coughed loudly as she set the drink back down and couldn't resist the urge to lick her own palm to get rid of the taste.
It didn't taste like gin at all.
“What?” Amber asked around another big swig.
“What is this?” Kathryn asked with disgust. “It's like drinking burning radioactive waste.”
Amber frowned and leaned over to look into Kathryn's cup.
“It's just the usual,” she said. “Like, the taste buds all kind of go, like, when you die, so it's just liquor with more of a liquor taste.”
Amber sighed and stared at Kathryn a little.
“I guess you'll like, get used to it.”
Kathryn wrinkled her nose and pushed the glass away.
“That's okay,” she said. “I'll go without.”
“Suit yourself,” Amber said merrily and raised her glass for a moment. “Cheers.”
Kathryn watched with a little awe and a little morbid fascination as Amber quickly drained the glass in two long undulating chugs. It clunked down on the bar with a satisfying sound and she released a long pleased sigh.
“That was great,” she said happily. “Just what I needed.”
Kathryn pushed her drink towards the other woman and watched as Amber's eyes lit up.
“Thanks,” the tooth fairy said. “So, you're not a drinker. What like, vices are you missing?”
Kathryn took a deep breath and shook her head.
“None, I guess,” she said. “I didn't really have anything like that.”
“Nothing?” Amber said with a laugh. “That's a lie. You just haven't realized what it is yet. There's always something to miss about being alive.”
“Really?” Kathryn asked as the giant list she'd been compiling for the last two days flashed through her mind. “What do you miss?”
Amber's face scrunched with concentration and the blonde shrugged a little.
“I don't know,” she said and then forced out a laugh. “Everything, I guess.”
They sat in silence for a moment and then Amber shook her head.
“That was a dumb direction to like, point this conversation.”
“Yeah,” Kathryn agreed.
Amber brightened.
“Let's order another round.”
 
***
 
“Dammit,” Erec hissed.
That was the problem with After world, there were too many damned placed to go. He ground his teeth together and pushed open another door. Most of the buildings had no signs to explain what they were, and so far he'd walked in on two bars, a clothing store, and a place that offered him a red light special that he didn't want to think about.
“This is turning into a bad joke,” Erec muttered dejectedly as he walked along.
Sometimes, he got the feeling that the whole thing was just one long continuous attempt at filling the pages of his life with something interesting.
“Dammit,” he grunted again.
He'd kill for a nice dull chapter.
 
***
 
The lights flicked and then flared brighter for an instant and Kathryn's eyes curiously wandered around. They widened a little when they settled on Slate, the big gremlin now dropping unceremoniously into a chair and waving a waitress over.
“Hey,” she said. “That's Slate.”
“Yeah,” Amber said. “He's a gremlin…”
The blonde's eyes swung back to Kathryn and somehow managed to focus through the five drinks that the tooth fairy had slung back in the last hour.
“Wait, is he the gremlin you were working with?”
Kathryn nodded and Amber snorted with disbelief.
“Unbelievable,” she said. “That's like, the jackpot.”
“What do you mean?” Kathryn asked with a frown.
“He's like, famous,” Amber said. “The guy has like the best known reputation in After world. He has the worst luck ever.”
“That's something to be famous for?” Kathryn asked and then her frown darkened. “Wait, how is he even here? I thought this place was for dead people.”
“There are things that don't count as people,” Amber said. “Gremlins, banshees, Weres, all of them can cross the borders. Like, we're all one big happy family.”
Her speech had taken on that weird determination that slips around the words of the drunken when they're struggling not to let anyone know that they've had too much. She was clearly enunciating every word that left her, and popped loudly as she rolled over her p's.
“And I have always wanted to like, meet him,” Amber said and lolled her head around to stare at Kathryn. “Introduce me?”
Kathryn glanced over at Slate and watched as the big man hunkered down at his table and stared at the stiff liquor sitting in front of him. The server had left the bottle and it looked to Kathryn like the gremlin was settling in for the long haul. Kathryn winced; Slate did not look happy, and somehow she was pretty sure that was a bad thing.
“Please?” Amber begged, slumping over to rest her head on Kathryn's shoulder.
Kathryn scowled. Why did drunk people always think that leaning on a person was the best way to get what they wanted?
“Kathryn,” Amber sang. “Like, please?”
Kathryn groaned and rolled her eyes.
“Fine,” she said. “Let's just make it quick. I don't think he wants company tonight.”
Amber made a little sound of excitement and somehow managed to stand up in her giant platform shoes without twisting her ankle. She glided across the room, Kathryn sulkily following and then paused shakily in front of Slate. His eyes stumbled up to meet her and she grinned at him.
“Hi,” Kathryn said apologetically.
Slate's eyes twitched and he grunted a little as he stared at her.
“You again,” Slate muttered. “You seem to be everywhere.”
“Yeah,” Kathryn said, that bashful uncertainty still in her voice. “My second job didn't really go any better than my first.”
The joke stuttered and died on the floor between them. Slate's whole body rolled into the sigh that escaped him and he stared up at them.
“Well,” Kathryn said. “This is Amber, she's my new…boss, a tooth fairy, and we just wanted to stop by and say hi.”
“Hi,” Amber blurted happily and grinned at Slate. “I'm a big fan.”
Slate's lips tightened a little and his fingers itched across the table.
“Yeah,” he grunted.
The silence that slid between them was an alive thing that moved with a pulse of its own and set out to strangle them all. Kathryn nervously swallowed and forced a smile into place.
“So, anyway, it was nice to see you and thanks again for everything you did for me. Come on, Amber.”
“Wait, wait,” Amber said, both hands now resting on Slate's table as she leaned in close. “Is it true that you've like, never missed an unlucky streak?”
Kathryn actually felt the silence tighten around her neck and wished that it would throttle Amber into submission. Slate stared blankly up and shook his head.
“No.”
Confusion pierced the pleasant stupor that Amber had been nursing and she plopped down in the chair across from Slate. Kathryn actually saw Slate's whole body twitch before he stilled and just stared at Amber again.
“But I always thought…”
Her voice faded and suddenly her eyes rolled up to look at Kathryn, her mouth dropping open now.
“Oh my god,” Amber said. “You. You said that your plane didn't crash. You broke his streak.”
Her voice had gotten louder and a few of the other patrons were glancing curiously over. Kathryn winced and shook her head.
“I didn't do anything,” she said lowly. “Now keep your voice down.”
“Slate?”
The voice was tinged with enough derisive excitement that Kathryn just knew that Slate's bad luck was still alive and well. All three of them turned to look up at the tall man now standing over the table, a feral grin in place as he stared down at them.
“I'm so glad you're here.”
 
***
 
Lathe hated that he hesitated a moment before he knelt down and examined the street. She'd been hit right here. The car had careened around the corner and she'd simply stepped in front of it. If there had been any sense in the world, she would have simply stepped back out of the way and wouldn't be in the mess she was in now.
Lathe sighed and spread his gloved hands over the ground. A faint wisp of something insubstantial and dark twanged over his senses and he closed his eyes to focus on it. Erec had gotten there soon enough and had managed to keep the phantoms from grabbing hold of her life time, but he hadn't been able to learn anything else about them.
Lathe sighed and rocked back to sit down on the cold road, a car running through him as he absently rested his head in one hand. There should be something here. It just wasn't possible that the phantoms could completely cease to exist like that. Even ghosts left traces of themselves behind, even if they were taken by the scythe.
Lathe shook his head and tilted his head back to stare up at the sky. It was a flat sheet of murky black; the city lights too bright for any of the stars to be visible. His eyes fell sadly away and he pushed himself back to his feet. He should be used to staring into unbroken darkness by now, but for some reason, it always burned a little.
 
***
 
The chair cracked over Slate's back and one arm swung around in a fluidly lumberous arc to slam into the head of the dark haired man who had met them earlier. Kathryn winced at the sharp crack of fist hitting skull and hunkered down further behind the bar. Amber was boredly sprawled next to her, the tooth fairy picking at the bottles and occasionally stealing a drink before she pulled herself up again to peer out at the chaos the dirty little bar had erupted into.
“He really is like, famously unlucky,” Amber said. “What are the chances that a Were would actually be drinking here tonight? Like, fifty to one at least.”
“More like a hundred,” Mitch grunted as he ducked a glass that was suddenly flung at the wall behind the bar. “You know the rules. Just stay put until the fighting stops.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Amber said. “Get back out there.”
Mitch gave her a half smile and then practically vaulted over the bar. Kathryn squeaked and lunged back under cover as a stool shattered nearby. All this over a plane that didn't crash. Were these people insane?
“What in the Hell is a Were anyway?” Kathryn asked, her voice loud against the angry rumbling that filled the bar.
“You know,” Amber said as she tugged herself back to Kathryn's side and peered up over the padded edge of the bar. “Shape shifters, like, a werewolf or something.”
“That guy's a werewolf?” Kathryn hissed.
“Or something,” Amber answered with a shrug. “You can't tell until they like, transform or whatever.”
“Jesus,” Kathryn whispered.
A bottle exploded next to them and both squealed before they ducked back behind the bar.
“Why are we sitting this out?” Kathryn asked. “I've seen you throw a punch.”
“I'm not allowed,” Amber said and sighed. “No fighting for tooth fairies. We're too good at taking hits and giving them out, kind of like, our specialty. So like, no fighting.”
“So what was that thing with me?”
“On the job training,” Amber answered with a shrug.
Kathryn stared at her and then slowly shook her head.
“I hate this place and everyone in it.”
“Yeah,” Amber agreed. “You like, get used to it though.”
 
***
 
Erec grunted irritably and pushed a hand back through his hair. He was getting nowhere and seemed to be getting there damned fast. He should just give up. They'd wander back into his office eventually and then he and Amber would have a little talk about just what kind of job he'd given her. His lips thinned darkly; it definitely didn't include little jaunts to After world with the new hires.
“Three more places,” he muttered to himself. “After that, I'm going home.”
The cane was getting awkward to lug around and more than once he'd considered just leaving it laying on the side of the road somewhere. Maybe that was why Rose Marie had asked him to take it. Another dark cloud gathered over his head. That was the problem with prescients; they knew what was supposed to happen and prepared for it, but neglected to mention the little details. Maybe he'd already missed the cane's purpose. Maybe he was thinking too hard about it.
“Two more places,” he amended. “They don't even deserve that much.”
The instant the door shattered open in front of him and a large troll staggered out over him, Erec knew he'd found the right spot.
 
***
 
“Maybe you should stop drinking,” Kathryn suggested through gritted teeth.
“Why?” Amber asked. “We came here to drink, so why should a little brawl like, slow us down?”
“This isn't a little brawl,” Kathryn hissed. “The whole bar is in on it.”
“Good one, isn't it?”
Both looked up as Erec leaned over the bar, a wide grin on his face masking the fury that was boiling in his eyes.
“Good evening, ladies,” he said stiffly.
“Hi,” Amber purred and held up the bottle in her hand. “Drink?”
“No, thank you,” he answered. “What are the two of you doing here? Don't you have a job you're supposed to be doing?”
“Well,” Amber said slowly as she collected the thoughts that were randomly darting in and out of her head. “Turns out Slate had her pinned right all along, she's like, a total jinx. We got nothing done tonight.”
“Slate?” Erec said with a frown.
“He's holding his own in that corner,” Kathryn said as she pointed over Erec's left shoulder. “We ran into him and then a couple of guys--”
“Weres,” Amber corrected.
“A couple of Weres picked a fight with him,” Kathryn said.
“Kathryn tried to help him out,” Amber laughed. “She told them that it was her fault that the plane didn't crash and they just turned on him like vultures. Made fun of him for like, not even being strong enough to counter one little spirit.”
Kathryn closed her eyes and Amber giggled.
“Unlucky son of a bitch,” the tooth fairy said.
“Apparently so,” Erec said. “Let's go.”
“No way,” Amber said. “We're like, hanging around for the after fight drinking.”
“I'm ready to go,” Kathryn said.
“Good,” Erec said and his eyes narrowed as they swung back around to Amber. “I'm terminating her employment with you.”
“What? Why?” Amber said as she scrambled to her feet.
“Don't,” Erec warned. “Just be glad that's the only contract that I'm voiding. Kathryn, let's go.”
A sudden howl rented through the air, and in an impossibly fast breath of a second, the entire bar grew still and quiet. Kathryn shuddered and her eyes felt heavy now as something cold and dark slithered through the air.
“Phantoms,” someone whispered.
Another scream tore apart the night and Erec's lips thinned into a pale line.
“We're going,” he said lowly. “Now.”
The whole bar was moving again, but now they were quick cautious movements made for stealth and disappearance. The place was emptying out, everyone darting into the street and scurrying for hidden places and open doors. Amber's hand snaked into Kathryn's and gave a little squeeze, the tooth fairy's face now startling sober as they carefully climbed around the bar. Every sound of glass crunching under their shoes made Kathryn wince and look around.
“Phantoms,” Slate said, the big man somehow managing to fill what little space the shadows in the bar allowed around them. “You'll need to get going.”
Erec nodded a little and a long sigh escaped him.
“And you?” Erec asked.
“I won't stay with you,” Slate said and shrugged a little as he headed for the door. “Goodbye.”
“What?” Kathryn said. “Wait…”
“No,” Erec said as the door shut behind the gremlin. “He'd only bring us bad luck. Let's go.”
 
***
 
It had flared across his consciousness like a star burst in a too dark night. Lathe pushed deeper into the darkness and felt the chill of it try and pierce his veins. He was already frozen solid and it couldn't do anything to his undead heart. Gloved fingers flexed around the scythe he held and he could feel something inside begin to speed a little with excitement. He knew what it was, all good Cerberus had it; the thrill of the hunt.
 
***
 
“Go, go,” Erec said lowly as he ushered them down the deserted street.
Their footsteps were still too loud in Kathryn's ears, but she kept her mouth shut and moved as quickly as she could. Erec kept pushing them on, faster and faster, the building blurring together in her mind as they moved. It hadn't taken them this long to get to Amber's little bar, had it? Shouldn't Elixir Design be just around the corner?
“Erec,” she whispered. “Where is it?”
“It moves,” he answered in the same volume. “Things on this side shift around when you're not looking. That's how After world can stay netted over the real world without breaking apart.”
“What?”
“Just accept that things work differently here and keep moving. It's another three blocks up,” he said.
Kathryn swallowed back on all the questions that wanted to escape her and instead forced herself to focus. There had been only one more of the weird wavering cries and then absolute silence. For some reason, that was worse. She couldn't shake the feeling that they were being followed, and for a woman who had spent the night watching gremlins, Weres, and other occult beings fight it out, she was sure that it was something from a nightmare she couldn't believe was real chasing them down.
Something flickered in the shadows and Kathryn's head whipped around to stare at it. Another shudder worked through her body as the phantom dislodged itself from seeming nothingness and glided forward.
“Shit,” Erec whispered.
“Not here,” Amber breathed. “Oh, I should have known better.”
“Yes,” Erec snapped. “You should have. Get behind me.”
His arm hooked around them to pull them behind him and he shook his head.
“One cane again a flock of phantoms,” he muttered.
It shouldn't be possible to be confused and terrified out of your mind at the same time, but with the days that Kathryn had been having, she was willing to accept that things didn't always work how they should. She felt Erec's spine tense under her hand and he shook his head.
“They're different in After world,” he said as if reading her thoughts. “Something about their form doesn't react to this place like it does in the living world. They don't die here.”
The cane arched gracefully through the air as one of the shadows jerked forward in a powerful run. It cracked against the thing and slammed it down into the ground. The phantom shuddered a little and limped in a circle back to the others, their bodies brushing together with a wet scraping that made Kathryn want to dig her fingernails down into her palms.
“Only things from the living world have any kind of effect on them here,” Erec said and glanced down at the cane. “It's not going to hold out long enough to get through them.”
Kathryn peered at the blackened wood and she could see something sizzling over it. It looked like acid was attacking the wood and slowly eating away at it. She could smell it now, and she watched as Erec's knuckles whitened with his hold. Erec shook his head and glanced over his shoulder at them.
“Any ideas, ladies?”
 
***
 
Stepping into After world always left Lathe closing his eyes and pushing aside the sudden rush of death that washed through him. It was only here that he felt his age, and it made him stay as far away from the land of spirits that he could. He took a deep breath and tried to calm the nausea that threatened to spill up through his throat and tightened his hold on the scythe. He could feel them, they were close.
Behind thick goggles, dark eyes shifted, their pupils seeming to implode as Lathe's eyes adjusted to see shadows darker. All of After world seemed to fade and hum in the background as his head twisted back and forth. Something dull and dead ran down his spine and he took off at a silent run. He'd found them.
 
***
 
“Didn't you bring like, anything else?” Amber asked as Erec swung the cane through the air and pushed them further back.
The phantoms dully shifted around them, occasionally darting forward but seemingly content to just keep them circled. The things knew that the can wouldn't last much longer, and deep in the pit of her stomach, Kathryn knew that the things would have no problem with waiting for them to be defenseless.
“I wasn't even planning on bringing this,” Erec snapped. “I shouldn't have had to come and get you. You should have known better!”
“How could I like, know that we were going to run into phantoms?” Amber yelled back.
“Look who you're with,” Erec hissed.
Kathryn's eyes moved in a slow blink and she looked between the two of them as both stared back at her. Erec's eyes fell angrily away first and he shook his head.
“Never mind,” he muttered. “Forget it.”
“What did you--”
“Shit!” Erec yelled and swung the cane around to connect with another phantom.
They all heard the wood scream and crack and the way Erec's face paled made it clear that the cane didn't have much fight left in it. His teeth gritted together and he glanced back at Amber.
“Put on the glove,” he said.
“What?”
“It was made in the living world,” Erec said. “You might be able to get a couple of hits out of it.”
Amber's eyes widened and she stared up at him with terrified disbelief.
“You want me to like, punch a phantom?”
“Try and think of them as sleeping kids,” Erec said. “Now do it.”
Amber's lips thinned and her throat worked around a long swallow as she pulled the glove from her bag. He was right, it might work, but the thought of touching the things, even with the fabric between her hand and them, was enough to make her want to throw up. She glanced at Kathryn and forced a little smile into place.
“This is why tooth fairies aren't allowed to fight,” Amber said.
She turned and pulled back her fist and in the aftermath, Kathryn knew she'd been lucky that the blonde had in fact been pulling her punches earlier. The phantom spun through the air and slammed into a nearby building, the stone crunching and the thing twitching as it lay there. Amber flexed her fist and shook a loose strand of hair out of the way.
“Like, try it,” she said shakily.
Another phantom sprang forward and Amber's fist was there to meet it, her eyes narrowed and dark as she felt the thing slam into her. Something sizzled across her hand, but she ignored it, the phantom now stumbling back over the empty street as she pulled back another fist and slammed it into the thing.
It happened in that moment. The glove's seams split, whatever the phantoms were now breaking apart the tight fabric and exposing Amber's hand to the shadow swelling in front of her. She froze, her mouth opening with a wide scream as something beyond death ran up through her veins. Sound caught in her throat and she was crying now as the strike ended. The thing was laying in a heap in front of her, but Amber couldn't even see it.
“Amber!”
Kathryn tugged the girl back and locked both hands on the blonde's cheeks, her face like ice against Kathryn's palms. It had happened in the blink of an eye, something going wrong as the punch slammed into the phantom. Suddenly, Amber had paled, but not just her skin. It was like her entire being had suddenly faded away a little. And now mindless screaming was ripping apart the night.
“It's okay,” Kathryn breathed and rubbed at cold cheeks. “You're okay.”
Amber ground her teeth together to bite off the end of another scream and shook her head.
“I can't hit them anymore,” she whispered. “I can't. I felt it. I felt the break.”
Erec's face was a mask of careful nothingness and his fingers tightened around the cane. They didn't have much time left. He couldn't resist glancing back at Kathryn once more as he wondered if maybe he hadn't managed to remove all of the gremlin bad luck from her. What else could explain a night like this?
“Erec!” Amber screamed.
Two of the phantoms were lunging forward now in their strange shambling pace, long arm like vines extended towards them and something like a face turned in their direction. Kathryn felt the world slow down, every heartbeat now having time to pound in her ears and completely deafen her. She could see each detail of the things' broken bodies, and all she wanted was for them to look enough like something that they didn't look like everything. She felt her fingers dig down into palms and realized that she was clenching her hands into fists so hard that if she had still been alive, she'd probably be bleeding. Something warm rubbed over her skin and she dully wondered if maybe she had broken skin. Did ghosts bleed?
The cane snapped in half as it struck the first phantom, Amber's scream now tangled with a loud grunt from Erec as the force of the blow sent him spinning back into them. His arms flung around them and Kathryn watched as he closed his eyes, his body tensing as he waited for the second phantom to slam into them. They were falling, Kathryn staring up at the sky now and waiting to feel the street slam into her back. The phantom loomed up in the air and she sighed quietly.
A long dark scythe sliced through the air.
The phantoms screamed now, their voices tangling together and winding up into the air. A collective grunt followed as Kathryn, Amber, and Erec all collapsed on the ground. Erec scrambled back to his feet and spun around, the broken piece of the can still clutched in one hand.
Lathe glanced over at him and then turned back to the phantoms as the shadowy forms surged together and shifted like angry cats. A low hum filled the air now and Lathe spun the scythe with casual ease.
“I'll cut you down,” he whispered, too low for even the phantoms to hear. “I'll cut everything down.”
His eyes tightened with the darkness and the long pieces of it that always clung to him blew out in ragged banners as he shot forward. The scythe moved as if it was a part of him, a fluid natural movement that always arced perfectly and struck with absolute accuracy. The phantoms were screaming again, their bodies pinned to the street and then abandoned as Lathe moved through them.
“Get to the door,” he called over his shoulder.
His hidden eyes locked a moment with Erec's and the blonde man felt the thought run down his spine.
The phantoms won't die here.
“Let's go,” Erec said lowly. “Now.”
Amber's fingers latched around Kathryn's and they sprinted into the night, something like a strange sob escaping the tooth fairy as they continued to run.
“They almost got us,” she panted. “Oh god, oh god, we almost…”
“Just run,” Erec ordered angrily.
They could hear the sound of the fighting behind them and then Elixir Design was looming just ahead. Kathryn actually felt a smile of relief pull around her thudding breath and she tightened her hand around Amber's. Erec wrenched the door open and barreled inside, lunging through the waiting room into a garish farce of his own office. Kathryn and Amber staggered after him and he slammed the door shut, sharply twisting the door handle to the left and yanking it open again.
His own office was now on the other side of the door and he shoved them both through before he followed. The echo of the door closing seemed to run down Kathryn's spine as she leaned against his desk and struggled to catch her breathe.
Erec collapsed against the door, leaning hard against it as he stared at them both through narrowed eyes.
“That was the stupidest thing you could have done,” he said. “What were you doing in After world?”
“We were just…I just…” Amber shook her head and the little lacy bits all shivered and trembled with the nervous fear that was still running through her system. “I didn't know. I didn't know.”
“What did I tell you?” Erec asked, his voice deathly calm now. “What did I say?”
“She needed to be watched,” Amber whispered. “You said to watch her.”
“And what made you think you could do that in After world?” Erec snapped.
Amber's eyes clenched shut and she shook her head.
“You didn't tell me,” she said. “You didn't say anything about phantoms. They were there for her. You didn't tell me. They could have gotten us. I'd be dead right now!”
“No,” Erec said and the world was like a knife slashing the throat of all of Amber's righteous anger.
The tooth fairy slumped to the floor and stared at him through shaking eyes. He was standing up now, towering in the room as he stared down at her.
“You're already dead,” he murmured. “What the phantoms do isn't death. It's far worse.”
His eyes slid to Kathryn and all the fear and confusion that was buzzing around in her head and her spine seemed to wither and huddle down inside of her as a new terror sparked over her skin.
“You should know,” Erec said quietly. “The phantoms aren't as lenient as I am. They don't make deals and they don't keep promises. If they get their hands on you, it's more than an ending. It's a never was.”
 
***
 
It was easy when no one was looking, when no one whispered the voices that ran between them into the ears of a hell hound. The rope shifted and swung with the dead weight on the bottom of it, and the phantoms lapped at the life slowly snuffing itself out.