Passion of the Vampire King (Blood Fire Saga Book 5) Bella Klaus (the red fox clan TXT) 📖

intimidate me, I could defend myself with some of the most powerful fire magic in existence.

At the end of the hallway, we stepped into a regular elevator with a stainless steel cab. Corporal Penumbra pressed a button that said B52S.

“Are we going to the underground parking lot?” I asked.

“The special project is beneath the Supernatural Council building, so we’re traveling down and then across.”

“Right.” I’d almost forgotten that the elevators here went in all dimensions. We had no such devices in Striga and I preferred to avoid everyone and take the stairs at the Academy.

Corporal Penumbra reached into the pocket of her black jacket and extracted a disposable mask, which she placed over her mouth and nose. She pulled out another, dangling it in front of me by the straps. “Do you have a sensitive nose?”

My eyes narrowed. “That depends. Are we going inside the sewers?”

“The floor above.” She gave the mask another shake. “Captain Zella said she didn’t want anyone passing out.”

“Alright.” I pulled down my hood and slipped the mask over my mouth and nose. Its fabric tightened around the contours of my face, forming a second skin. “Thanks.”

After about a minute and a half, the elevator doors opened, letting in the scent of rotting meat. I clutched a hand to my nose and gagged. “What the hell is this?”

“Preternaturals.” She raised the collar of her jacket over her nose and pointed out through the doors. “Captain Zella is out there.”

I pulled up the hood of my cloak, which immediately blocked the stench, and turned my gaze out into the dark, finding specks of lights floating about fifty feet away.

“That’s her and the reapers,” she said, her voice straining with trying not to retch. “Step out, please.”

Guilt twanged across my already tight nerves. I’d caused her to work overtime, and now she had to inhale the scent of corpses on my account. The last thing I wanted to do was force the poor young woman to accompany me across the dark because I found the stench of rotting preternaturals creepy.

“Thanks for taking me this far.” I stepped out into the dark hallway. “And sorry for not waking sooner.”

Corporal Penumbra nodded, staring out at me through streaming eyes. Her fingers slammed on the elevator’s control panel, and she retreated to the back of its cab. As the doors closed, she doubled over, looking like she would expel the contents of her stomach into her mask.

Turning away, I headed for the lights. The closer I got to them, the more my eyes adjusted to the dark. A dozen reapers stood among half as many enforcers, each wearing protective clothing.

“Captain Zella?” I asked.

“Miss Griffin?” said the voice of someone clad in hooded black overalls.

I glanced around as though there might be someone else standing around with that name. Every eye turned in my direction, making me cringe. “That’s me.”

“Now can we start?” asked an impatient male voice. “If left to fester any longer, these souls will burrow their way to Hell.”

I turned to the speaker, a reaper about my size with pale and stern features. Strangely, I could see every feature of his face even though he wore a hood. Perhaps the magic that protected them also allowed wearers of the uniform to see each other.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the same kind of mini scythe as mine and flicked his wrist. With a pop of magic, the weapon expanded to six feet in height with a wicked blade that curved over the man’s head. The reapers and enforcers surrounding us parted, revealing a six-by-six-foot hole in the floor.

“Whoever created these preternaturals did a shoddy job, or a brilliant one depending on their intention.”

“I don’t understand.” My gaze dropped to the floor, catching glimpses of people below in the overhead lights.

“You can’t see the writhing mass of green?” He slapped his head. “Of course you can’t since you haven’t spent a day at Reaper Academy even though you feel entitled to wear our uniform.”

I bristled. “It’s not like I wore the cloak to get people to honor me for something I didn’t earn. You try spending time in enemy territory with your back exposed and see if you don’t take advantage of an item of protection.”

The man ignored my explanation and continued as though I’d never spoken. “Seventy-five percent of these unfortunates were changed before their souls got a chance to depart, and now those spirits are tethered to the corpses.”

“Why?” I asked.

“The souls don’t know that the bodies are dead.” He pointed the blade of his scythe into the opening. “Considering that most of these people were Hell-bound, their spiritual pressure will most likely wear down the fabric of this world and create a gaping hole into the Sixth Faction of Hell.”

“Because human Hell is divided by geographic region?” I asked.

“That’s one way of putting it.” The reaper puffed out his chest, rocking forward on his heels. “Let’s say you have a fellow from Asia, whose family settled in the Americas two generations ago. If he’s unfortunate enough to be Hell-bound upon his death, his soul will automatically travel to the Second Faction to join his ancestors.”

I nodded. Nobody had explained the concept to me in any kind of detail at the Academy. “But supernaturals go to the Fifth regardless of their location?”

“Are we going to reap these putrefying souls or wait until they burrow a tunnel into Hell?” Captain Zella drawled.

The reaper bristled. “You told me nothing could start without the presence of Miss Griffin. Since she’s such a VIP, it’s only courteous for me to explain what we’re about to do.”

“We can save the explanations for later,” I said in a small voice, hoping to diffuse any arguments.

“Fine then.” The reaper turned to Captain Zella. “May we start doing our job, pretty please with a sprinkle of funeral ashes on top?”

“I said you could,” the captain muttered.

The sound of tearing filled the air, and light flooded from behind us. Brimstone