Snippet #2278006

The giant fell. Viola felt its life draining into the soil and the viscous liquids carried with it a rattling hatred that reached the patch of concrete she lay on. She shifted forwards and glanced through the legs of the other Reapers. Black steam erupted around the corpse and congealed into thick puddles. Her disease was going to work, eradicating all that was the monstrous foe before it suddenly disappeared from the world. Neither blood nor sweat shed that permeate the ground shall remain to grasp at the life force on this plane. Despite the black virulence, her solutions effectively cleansed the area.

Someone emerged from the warehouse, claiming territory. Another stood in defiance. It was a quarrel between those of other planes, and looked to have no care for any human's part in it. Not that any would intervene. No, the warehouse was too dangerous; a battleground for higher beings. As of yet, none of the Reapers in the vicinity could hope to breach. Maybe together... but awkward pondering of her ability to be able to work with another Reaper for the first time had to be suspended. Retreat was in order, the fact being Viola was lying vulnerable. Though the commotion would most definitely draw those authorities of non-supernatural affinity, it could not be helped if they had to fend for themselves. It was their own curiosity that should be put to blame.

Echoes of something reached the front of her mind. It got stronger, this calling. Like the discarded blade of a razor scraping across all of her nerves at once. The term for it, the "tolling of the bell", was hardly adequate to describe her own reactions. It was chilling, but a mere nuisance compared to its meaning.

A sudden wrenching in her gut made Viola black out. It was but a moment, and she came to almost immediately. However, the grip in her abdomen twisted and turned her insides in the most horrible way. It was a hunger that pulled at her, like imploding. Humans were never meant to be able to feel such a thing. And this hunger was not even hers.

Viola scrambled further away from anyone, pulling herself behind a wall and into a tight corner. Her breaths came in gasps and a coldness was misting her skin. It was minutes before she could bring herself to speak. "Ugh... come." She called out blindly into the night air. A million insect legs scuttled closer. She willed her eyes to focus on the squirming blurry figures on the ground. "...eat."

Then she lay drained on the freezing cold pavement as her insects ravaged the night's crawlers. Soon, strength came back to her, all the energy she had used to jump the distances with her swarm that night. Viola sat up and watched tiredly as the locusts descended on another of humanoid Lost. As usual, the group divided into two and dove straight into the belly and face. Her swarm loved the taste of face meat and intestines.

Still trembling slightly, Viola picked herself off the hard ground and brushed off the dirt from her skirt. She rummaged around in her bag for a little black notebook which she consulted briefly. Her own handwritten notes dictated she pull out several of her most potent vials and a rather violent catalyst. Viola emptied the vials into an empty canister. And her catalyst element was brought over by a hovering pack of her insects; a small chunk of human flesh, about the size of a thumb, no doubt gathered from one of the surrounding bodies. Her swarm knew her well. Viola plucked it up gratefully.

As she added it to her concoction, the insidiousness of the fumes caused her to choke. The person that the flesh had previously belonged to had to be some sort of compulsive liar and a massive creep, treacherous, deceiving, and venomous when slighted even unintentionally. It was just that sort of flavour of flesh.

Viola capped the container. There was no more time for any further preparation. The presence of Lost attracted by the bell's toll rose like a wave of acid in her throat. She hissed, "Let's Go! Find it!"

She took a step forward, another, and then sped up. At full sprint, she slipped into the storm cloud of locusts that had gathered on her command. This time they were searching for the one giving off the insatiable call to feast. The distance was much longer this time, as the locusts had not yet determined a destination. Space worked much differently at the heart of the swarm, and the impossible physics was beginning to wear on her body. Why is it taking this long? Viola wondered anxiously.

And just as she was about to surface, the reason hit her. The sheer amount of Lost making their way to whoever the unfortunate sod was, the smell of them burnt at her nose and eyes. Viola worked with the smell of rot all her life, but nothing ever compares to her perception of the Lost. It was pulling at her swarm, trying to divert in all ways at once, trying to feed. The instinct of her sentient psyche was hard to ignore, but with grim determination she directed them towards the centre of it all.

Viola and her insects burst from a building facade. She tumbled onto the street pavement behind a small group of people. They were preoccupied by two others, Reapers from the recent tangle. Viola had little understanding of what Reapers were taught at whatever Reaper headquarters or offices or academies for strange people who see weird things. She caught the ends of their statements amidst the angry buzzing of her swarm. They seemed to be trying to keep the civilians calm. Don't they feel it? God, the smell... Viola frantically thought. There was no use in staying calm. She spoke, quietly, but with the greatest intensity behind her words. "They are coming now. Do you understand, Reaper? Your little group and I will not likely suffice in the face of what is to come. We need to take this one and find somewhere safe. Well, safer."

Viola advanced on the group. It was the girl in the middle, the one that as she got closer to, Viola felt more intensely that invisible razor blade dragging itself all over her and scraping her frayed nerves raw. It took effort to not look down and see if she was pouring blood out of every pore. She pulled her gently away from her friends. The target in herself was as much a handicap as the signals she gave off attracting all the Lost; Viola was dealt a crushing headache upon contact and she dropped her hand almost immediately. It was always so much more intense the closer she got to the target, or Viola was more susceptible to it from her own experience of the night that the Lost came for her.

The target seemed shaken. It may have been the words Viola said. But fear is always what kept her alert, kept her running. It would not do to have the ward lulled into a sense of security. Not with what felt like half the population of Lost bearing down on the tiny section of street.

"I'm sorry, but you are going to have to leave your friends. They will be fine, if they run right now; it's you they're after. If you want to live, please, come with me. Or..." Viola looked questioningly at the two other Reapers. "us?"

A ripple went through her swarm. Hunger and excitement transferred to each individual locust in turn. The impending storm riled up the insects in anticipation. Ever closer they came. Viola waved them into a portal-like mass again and turned to the group.

"I need a destination, anywhere in this city should be within my limit." Said Viola to the Reapers. It was a lie. But she would get them as close as she could. "If you follow me, don't stop running. I'm sorry, it's going to be really rough on your body. I don't know whether we'll be going forwards, up, down, or even inside out. But we must run now."