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 looked like 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 was already 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 easily they could be killed off. Or what they would do to survive. One was a male close to thirty, and the other was a female in her mid-twenties. She'd been the one standing near the door when he'd appeared. So close to grab but just out of reach. He liked the ones that were a bit of a mystery. He got really fucking bored 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. The hellhounds didn't need to feed all that often. They just liked to play with the others, but the full moon was 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. Mainly because he was. Magic, he hated it.

Isaiah was also affected during that time. His senses spiking along with every human and inhuman need that he had. It was during this time that they normally killed off most of the humans. It was all part of the magic and what he was. Seeing as he really shouldn't even be on this plane of existence. That was 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 turned and left the room. Well, it would be a minimum of a month. He doubted they'd show sooner with more to 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 give good entertainment. He moved from the room with quick and easy strides. They really were all over the house. 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 moving down that hall. He went past the main staircase and then to the first door on the left. He went down the long 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 show or 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 new places here and there. Mainly when the humans stumbled upon them. He had to give them credit. They were 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 of fencing equipment on it. Another wall had swords there as well. He'd been hit a few times by those weapons. Never a pleasant sensation, tended to just piss him off really. Did anyone like getting stabbed? No, obviously.

It looked like it was his lucky day. In here he found three humans. The male that was with the two females reached up to take a weapon and Isaiah lifted a hand. With a simple flick of it the three of them hit the floor. It was always more draining to move living things than inanimate objects. However he had a 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 there were 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. Her mind silent, the blonde with her was a fighter and would also do whatever it took to survive. He'd remember 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 the door 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 your objects." This was from the brown haired woman. So she had a spine, told him she was a fighter. She and 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 said moving forward and they moved as well. Taking cautious steps back. Where were they really going to run? 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's rude not to answer."

"James." The male said deciding it was better to answer than anger him. Isaiah moved his gaze to the brown 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." He said 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 was just 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 obvious that 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 clearly meant what he said or else. The two sat down. Laura more slowly. Claire on the edge of her chair closest the door. Smart girl, he liked smart humans. She was a pretty human, added to her too for a different 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 used to 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 a rare few that cared for the others around them. But still rarely. He knew that all of them would throw the rest under the bus.

"Show me you can use that, and you can leave. You two are just going to watch. An audience is always fun to have." He held up his hand and two of the fencing blades came to him. Catching one in his right then 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 rather found him in this room. It had been a very long time since there had been one with any skill. So this might be fun, something different. He had nothing else to do here. Toying with them in a simple game was good to pass the time.

Isaiah made the customary movement. Graceful and fluid touching his blade. James was a bit more unbalanced but that wasn't unexpected. They touched blades one more time, and began. He wasn't completely disappointed at James's skill. But he was no match for him. To be fair he did know how to use the blade. Hence he was bound to let the man have his choice. He was really just feeling these humans 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 by Isaiah who raised an eyebrow at him.

"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 than the man could. He was dulling himself down to human level for fun. Still kind of disappointed, he should have said if he could use the blade well. The end of Isaiah's blade hit James in the upper shoulder for a final time.

"You are lucky you can use it. Even if it is not well." He yanked the tip of the blade back out of his shoulder. 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 and ran 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 moved from the room using a different door as Beta ran out into the hall. He'd never told them they were free of the hell hounds. That had been mildly entertaining. Now he was going to find something a bit more stimulating.

Clair rounded the corner behind Laura. They were running to get away fast as they just got out of that room. 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 toying with them.

"One of those things is coming!" James shouted and sprinted past them down a different hall. He did not follow them and clearly didn't think safety in numbers. The man that had forced them to watch was something else. He looked stoic most of the time but there was amusement there as well. He could have 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 the doors were all locked here. They needed to get out of view before that creature showed. Laura was ahead by several feet and found one that was open. She shoved it open but slammed it close on Clair nearly 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 fight with the door. She hoped that she never met that bitch again. She'd stab her for locking her out in the hall. 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 an incinerator or something. At this point nothing would surprise her. The sound of that thing running down the hall toward her made her move faster. She could hear its claws as it came around the corner but she didn't look. She grabbed the edge of what she hoped was a huge laundry chute. Swung herself into 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 either side of the metal as were her feet. Which hurt and pulled skin from her hands as she went down. The sound of skin squeaking on metal was audible. Her shoes slipped quite a bit, but she strained her muscles so she didn't go sailing down the chute and free fall to god knew where. At this point she wouldn'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 but she was too far down to reach. It pulled out of the chute but she could still feel it there waiting. She couldn't hang here forever and either A she went down, or B she went up. The thing knew it too, and so she 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 of some kind. She also hoped that it ended as well there, hard to tell it wasn't far. She pressed her back to the wall because she needed a better hold. She kicked her shoes off which was hard but she managed to jiggle them off. She slipped a little but her bare feet gave her more traction than shoes on the metal wall. 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 forgotten back in the dining room. She wasn't going back there for it. It was the last thing on her mind. With a rough breath she started her way down the chute. She was just above a large grate and used her mind to open it. For once she was glad to be a freak, but she was careful too. She kept it small in case something could feel it. It hurt her head a bit, since she was so used to hiding and pretending like she didn't have talents.

The grate dropped into the room and she went down falling out and into the room on her back as she shimmied down to it. Why hadn't she thought of that with the doors? She should have mentally opened them. 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 might give her an edge, and something she'd keep secret. It was freakish to the rest of the world right? In here it might now put a different price on her head. It might just give her the edge to survive, and this wasn’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 was in decent shape, he eyed her. His brown eyes harsh and clearly not all that friendly. She held her hands up 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 room were two others, besides the man with the gun. The one was coated in drying blood. The other was the wild 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 the moment. 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 some freaky shit and those things.... They listen to him, do as he says. I know that he can't die. I've seen him get hit by all sorts of things. It just pisses him off so I'd save that gun if I were you. " Gregori warned the other man.

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

"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 once with one bringing my group. He's stuck here in the house, can't leave. Can't go into the caves, at least I think. 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, far enough to run down anyone that gets out. And I ain't running faster than them." Gregori took a drink from his water bottle.

"There's a way out?" Clair asked feeling hope. Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

"There must be, but I don't know where. Only one person got out and they were torn apart by those things. It was the worst thing I've ever seen. I happened to see him round the north side of the house by the driveway. Came from out back somewhere. Barely made it ten feet." He pulled some bread from his 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 sitting around waiting to die.

"Night is the worst time to move around. Daytime is much better, though I'm not sure that he sleeps but those 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 chutes go, 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 with the next blow to it. What held the door closed exploded into the room as one of the hell hounds came in, Isaiah right behind it. There was panic to those here. Clair paused only for a moment as her ear rang at the loud boom.

The man with the gun fired. It hit Isaiah in the chest, bright red blood soaking the white shirt that he wore. He jerked slightly stepping back with the blow, and looked down touching the wound. Then looked up, his eyes were solid black. So black they looked like wet obsidian glass. Deep red blood coated Isaiah's fingers. He just looked extremely annoyed and pissed instead of in pain or dying. That was 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 happy she was not a large woman.

Clair turned a corner, and caught a glimpse as she did so of a silhouette. Isaiah must have followed them 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. However she didn't know which way he went as she could barely see and she turned a sharp corner in the passage. 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 she realized her mistake too late, and the floor dropped out from below her. She fell straight down into a bedroom 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 the place. Trap doors, chutes, and hidden passages around every corner. She rolled off the bed and ran for the 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 with much more grace than she had. Her heart started to slam against her ribs knowing it was not a survivor.

Not waiting to see who or what it was, she ran down the hall. Her bare feet slapping the ground. She slowed trying to not make noise and went up a flight of stairs. She went into a room with a balcony and opened the doors. She closed her eyes and stepped outside, nothing threw her back. Okay, she only had a minute to think. She was trapped her otherwise. He would catch her and force some twisted game 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. The house would not let her jump to the ground. She closed the balcony doors quietly and looked up. There was a second balcony there and she hopped up on the edge. She'd never excelled in gym and climbing the rope, but she was going to do it now. Now her life depended on catching the next rail of the slightly higher balcony.

Clair jumped up and caught the edge of the balcony swinging a leg up and pulling herself over the edge. 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 and then thought instead of panicking. She blinked and there was a click as the doors unlocked and she went 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 the windows. She crouched low and didn't breathe. If she opened the door inside light would spill in from the hall and give her away.

She was sure he would see it, and so she crouched and held her breath like the scared mouse she was. She stayed there and prayed harder than she ever had in her life. The shadow out there shifted slightly 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 a moment 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 just between them. Though he decided instead to follow her as she'd crashed through the hidden panel in the ceiling of the gold room. There was something off about this Clair. Something about the lack of sense around her. Once she was separated from the group he noted that there seemed to be a void around 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 she would be a good one to play a more complicated game with. Please let her be a smart human, one willing to play. He was so bored of these other humans. He'd followed her up the stairs at a slower pace to see what she would do. To see how her mind worked and how clever she really was. Apparently more 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 feel them even if he couldn't hear their minds. It was like she'd disappeared, had he missed a turn? Was she still back down in that other room? He didn't get a psychic signature from her. Otherwise he'd have taken 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 up at the next and last balcony. It was higher and she didn't look like one that was physically that strong to pull herself up from a dead hang. This second balcony he could see as it wasn't as high as this next one. 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. He jumped up and landed crouching slightly and then stood up looking at the blood stain on his shirt that leaked a bit but was healing. He needed to feed from that wound. So he moved forward looking at the open 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 had disappeared down below on the first balcony. Also interesting, a puzzle that intrigued him. He looked back down at the second one. He didn't think that she came here. He trusted his instincts, but physical evidence seemed to support it. He smiled, yes this one was going to be fun. He felt a smile, that was okay. He didn't want to kill her yet anyways, he'd find another to feed him to help heal his wound. Then he'd toy with this one later.