A Shadow in the Reaping (The Shadow Realm, #1)

by Brynne Weaver

Vlad was adept at balancing horror with desire. But one thing Vlad was shit at was flying undercover. The ego. Holy fuck. The ego on that man.

Vlad was dead. He was beheaded and burned. Spreading his ashes here, there, and everywhere was unnecessary. And they didn't even leave something for me to keep. Me, his maker.

I felt his finger trace a line down the column of my throat, past my collarbones, down the center of my chest. I wanted to tear that finger right off and stick it up his butthole.

When Jessie's head tilts to the side and his pace slows, I start putting words to my tune. It's not so much what I sing, it's how I sing it. And I don't like the crusty old tunes of my people, songs about the sea and ancient ships and Odysseus, that crafty fucker. I like a challenge. I start singing some of the lyrics from WAP by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion. It's a modern masterpiece and I will fight you if you say otherwise.

This is it. This is how I die. Five thousand fucking years I've been alive, and I'm gonna die behind Cheese Louise. They've found me. After all this time. They found me in fucking Sanford, of all places. ...fuck.

😆

“Attraction yields distraction. Distraction yields destruction,” she says into the Reaper's ear. Well that's fucking ridiculous.

“I fought the werewolves with him. They tried to kill him with an obsidian blade laced with Angelwing and I didn't feel right leaving him to die behind Cheese Louise.” “Couldn't you have dragged him behind the Hair's To Ya salon? That's a more honorable place to die.”

Ashen has been in my life for a week and I've already thought through at least fifty different ways to kill him.

It's my sparkling personality, I write. I give him a dazzling smile as I hold up my note. “...No.” My face falls into a frown and I think I see the Reaper's lips twitch. “It is one hundred percent not that.”

Sometimes having just one person left to stand for you reminds you how many you've lost.

“Libbu isriq, ekimmu,” he whispers into my skin. You have stolen my heart, vampire.

This should feel really fucking weird, waking up in a Reaper's bed on his slick, silky sheets in the Shadow Realm. But it doesn't. It feels like pieces have fit together in a puzzle I couldn't solve until now.

“Have fun. Don't hiss too loud,” he says. He gives me a wicked smile as he turns away. And fuck me if I don't realize that very instant that I've fallen head over heels in love.

You’ve already declared your love, why note now that you’ve fallen head over heels in love? 🤷🏼‍♀️

“Whoever it is, whatever their motivation, they will have to come through me. And I will not let anyone get close to you, Lu. I will not let anyone harm you. I promise you.” I shake my head. “You can't make promises like that,” I whisper. “No vows spoken by an immortal can be kept forever, you must know that by now.

An arc of fire twists through the air. A crack splits the silence of the room. A scream fills the office as a severed hand falls free of its bonds and smacks the floor. Ashen leans toward Jessie as he thrashes in anguish and cries to the stump he holds to his chest, his blood pulsing like a clogged fountain that spills into his lap. “That is for touching what does not belong to you.”

Okay I’m pro this 🙂‍↕️ lol

My fangs slide from their sheathes

Sheathes? wtf is up with that wording?!

“Gaining Leucosia's trust, luring her here... bringing her to the enemy... using her to uncover their secrets.” My lungs burn in the absence of breath.

🙄 yea because this is believable

Ashen takes a heavy step from the dais. He looks at me. For a moment I see every truth behind his eyes. That life is time and loss. It's choices and failures. It's holding on and letting go. And I don't think I fit in any of it. Not anymore.

Without regular blood to feed on, the injuries from my super fun daily sessions with Gallus, torturer extraordinaire of the Shadow Realm, are no longer healing.

This moment would have better emotional impact if Lu wasn’t joking about it 🫤

“ALL BY MYSELFFFFFF, DON’T WANNA BE, ALL BY MYSELFFFF, ANYMOOOOORE.”

Oh ffs