Angel of Death: (Reaper Series Book 1), Page 22

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  A short time later, the boat touched land. Darius quickly leaped onto the shore, still being careful not to touch Tartarus, and dragged the boat farther inland, then helped Peyton out onto the rocky ground. They turned their backs on Tartarus to survey the land they now found themselves in. They had landed on an island, seemingly tropical in nature. Except that it was cold to the point of freezing. Peyton hugged herself and shivered, wishing that Eve had also grabbed her a jacket. Darius, unaffected by the cold, looked out across the land. Where they had come ashore was entirely stone, cracked and broken in countless places, with steam rising out of most cracks. Farther inland, the stone gave way to a jungle. Wild trees and plant life that appeared harmless, but gave the distinct feeling of danger when looked upon, simply because they grew so wild and untamed that they were reaching out towards Tartarus as though they were trying to reach the souls trapped within his depths. Furthermore, the trees and vines and plants all seemed to be trying to strangle one another, wrapping around everything they could reach. Towards the middle, several hours walk away, there was a volcano rising into the sky, smoke rising from the top. Peyton tried to comfort herself by saying that it must not erupt because of all the plant life around, but her rationalization was quickly chased away by pessimism, thinking that just because it hasn’t erupted, doesn’t mean it can’t.

  “There,” Darius said, pointing. Peyton looked where he was pointing and saw a gap in the trees. There was a pathway there. Not a very comforting path, more like a stretch of land where nothing happened to grow, but it was still covered, all the trees around providing a nice ceiling, where anything could be hiding above them as they walked.

  “Is it safe?” Peyton asked.

  “No,” Darius replied. “Not at all. But we have to try. And I’ll protect you. Nothing will harm you while I am with you.”

  Feeling only slightly better, Peyton walked with Darius onto the path. They walked side by side as they progressed, remaining alert, not speaking. Darius listened intently to everything around them, his hand twitching toward his blade with every rustle of leaves and twig snap underfoot. They walked for half an hour, but it felt like an eternity. They were now so deep into this foreboding jungle, this Chthonic Island, that they felt like they had been swallowed whole by it.

  “Help me!” a voice suddenly cried out nearby. “Please, somebody, help me!”

  “Darius,” Peyton hissed, grabbing his elbow. “There’s someone else here.”

  Darius shook his head. “It’s a trick, Peyton. There’s no one here but us and monsters. We need to keep moving.”

  Uncertain, Peyton continued to walk with Darius, but was now looking around for the source of the voice. It hadn’t sounded like a monster. They rounded a bend in the path and Peyton heard the cry again, much closer.

  “Please, won’t anybody help? My baby! My baby!”

  “Ignore it, Peyton,” Darius whispered. “It’s not a friend to us.”

  As they walked, Peyton saw the source of the helpless pleas. A young Asian woman was standing just off the path to their right, crying, holding something in her arms and staring down at it. She looked up and saw Peyton and Darius coming, her eyes going wide. She began to shy away from them, shielding the bundle in her arms from them with her own body.

  “Don’t hurt us!” the woman cried. She spoke with an accent, Peyton guessed Japanese. The young woman’s eyes were full of tears and terror. Peyton and Darius stopped in their tracks and watched the young woman. She was a mess, her clothes filthy and torn, her hair wild and caked with dirt and grime. The bundle in her arms looked no better. The woman was standing behind a waist-high bush of prickly, vicious red, thorns. The woman herself looked harmless and terrified.

  “We aren’t going to hurt you,” Peyton said to her. Darius stiffened beside her. Peyton could see that his hand was already on the handle of his curved blade. “What’s wrong?”

  The woman looked at Peyton, tears still streaming, leaving tracks on her cheeks as they cleared their way through the dirt on her face. She suddenly seemed to decide she could trust Peyton, because she turned and faced her full on, holding out the bundle in her arms.

  “My baby,” she sniffed. “My baby needs help.”

  “Okay, okay, it’s alright,” Peyton soothed, stepping closer.

  “Peyton, no,” Darius whispered.

  Peyton looked over her shoulder at him. “She’s just a woman. She’s alone and scared.”

  “She’s no woman and she is certainly not alone,” Darius replied, not taking his eyes off the crying mother. “That’s a Joro-Gumo.”

  Peyton was stepping closer, dangerously near to the edge of the path, reaching out to take the baby, her instincts as a nurse having taken over. The woman was leaning toward her, holding out the bundle in her arms, weeping openly. Peyton’s fingers were nearly touching the bundle now, inching closer and closer.

  Darius leaped forward and, with one arm, swept Peyton behind him and stood himself between her and the crying mother, his hooked blade in his hand and pointing at the woman.

  “Hey!” Peyton protested, but her shout was drowned out by the sudden high-pitched shriek that washed over her and Darius, making the two of them press their hands down over their ears. Darius’ sudden movement seemed to have surprised the woman and, in her shock, she had dropped the bundle she had been handing over to Peyton.

  Peyton watched the bundle, hands still clamped down on her ears, as it tumbled to the jungle floor. When the bound rag hit the dirt, it suddenly burst open and dozens of spiders the size of large rats burst out, legs scuttling and pincers clicking as they ran this way and that, looking for their prey.

  Peyton watched in horror as the young woman who had been crying for help now shrieked in rage, her high-pitched wailing threatening to split the heads of Darius and Peyton wide open, but her shrieking suddenly tapered off, and was replaced by a cat-like hiss. Darius pointed his blade at the woman again, yelling at her to “Leave now!” But the woman continued to hiss and then swiped at the air in front of Darius, the fingers on her hand having suddenly become long and hooked, with sharp claws at the end of each. As Peyton watched, the woman’s skin began to turn gray and her once almond-shaped eyes grew large and blackened. The woman began to grow taller, rising up higher and higher, now towering over Darius as he stood between Peyton and the woman who was changing her shape in front of them. The woman, who was previously hidden from the waist down behind the bushes, now stood high above, glaring furiously down at Darius as he flashed his blade at her. When Peyton saw what was once hidden behind the bushes, she opened her mouth to scream, but no sound could come out.

  From the waist down, the woman was a giant dark spider. She was like a monstrous centaur, the upper body of a woman, but the lower half that of a tarantula. What should have been her hips were the beginning of a large, black and hairy abdomen, as long as a man and with a sharp stinger on the end. Her long legs stepped easily over the bushes and onto the path, the woman slashing her sharp claws at Darius as she moved. Darius stepped deftly backwards out of reach, keeping her attention on him and not on Peyton. The Joro-Gumo opened her mouth and hissed again, but this time, her jaw split far along her cheeks, her head almost cracking open like an egg. As her mouth opened wider, a pair of sharp mandibles slowly reached out, clicking together viciously, beckoning to Darius as though daring him to come closer. She loomed over Darius, her full height now at ten-feet tall, clicking like mad, stepping closer and closer, occasionally swiping a claw at him, her mandibles now dripping a clear liquid that Peyton suspected might be poisonous.

  Suddenly, Peyton saw the smaller spiders had regrouped and were now scurrying towards her at an alarming speed. She cried out and began to step back in a hurry, but the spiders were quickly upon her and started climbing her legs, clicking madly. Peyton screamed and began to swat at the spiders, but each one was as big as her fist, so her flailing failed to accomplish anything but evoke more vicious clic
king. They were all over her legs now, moving farther up. Peyton began to panic, crying out in fear.

  Darius ducked as the spider-woman advanced and swung a clawed hand at his face, hissing angrily. The Joro-Gumo kept coming, moving faster now, fed up with the game of cat and mouse it had been playing. It leaped at Darius, who ducked and rolled aside, but as he climbed back to his feet, the Joro-Gumo kicked him in the chest with one of its long tarantula legs, sending him sprawling backwards. He fell on his back and the Joro-Gumo was instantly upon him, screeching in his face as it towered over him, savoring the moment before the kill. Darius acted quickly and slashed at it with his blade. The sharp edge caught the Joro-Gumo’s belly and the monster threw back its head and screeched its pain, allowing Darius time to roll aside. Before he could get up, the Joro-Gumo was after him again, this time attempting to stomp on him with one of its powerful legs. Darius continued to roll, the first stomp thumping loudly into the dirt, but the next came soon after, barely missing Darius’ head by an inch, He actually felt the scratch of the course hairs against his cheek as he rolled away. Stomp after stomp, faster and faster, the Joro-Gumo was determined to crush Darius beneath her feet.

  Peyton was flailing about, trying to throw the spiders off her body with a combination of slaps and kicks, but they managed to hold on. They hadn’t advanced any farther up her body, as they had been heading towards her exposed throat, Peyton’s wild movements forcing them to cling on, lest they be thrown away. Peyton fell against a tree that stood beside the path and began batting at the spiders on her thighs. She thrashed about on the trunk of the tree, trying desperately to remove the determined arachnids, then felt something break on the tree under her weight. Glancing behind her, she saw that she had snapped off a low-hanging branch and it now hung limply in the air, barely clinging to the tree by its bark. Quickly, Peyton snatched the branch off the tree and started using it as a bat on the spiders. It worked much more effectively than her fists had, because as she swung the branch like a golf club, the first spider she hit from her leg went sailing through the air, screeching. Peyton began to beat at the other spiders, using the branch to knock them as far away as possible.

  Darius rolled aside once more as the Joro-Gumo tried to crush him, this time rolling to his feet. Diving through the air, Darius rolled beneath the monstrous spider and looked up at the underside of its abdomen, clenching his blade in his hand, ready to slice open the beast’s gut, but the Joro-Gumo bent at the waist and Darius saw the face of the woman-half glaring at him furiously through her spider-legs. The woman screeched at him, then reached out and grabbed him by the throat. She dragged him out from under her body and flung him through the air. Darius sailed several feet, then slammed into the trunk of a tree, sliding back down to the jungle floor. Before he could get his bearings, the Joro-Gumo sent a stream of transparent string-like substance flying toward him from her abdomen. The string splattered against Darius’ wrist and slammed his hand that held the blade against the side of the tree. The string was strong and stuck like glue. Darius couldn’t pull his hand free.

  The Joro-Gumo spat another stream of webbing at Darius, this time catching his legs. Darius was immobile. He tried to free himself from the webs, tugging furiously with his only free hand, but was unable to do anything but watch the Joro-Gumo slowly approach, ready to make its kill.

  Peyton knocked the last of the spiders from her body, panting heavily from the exertion. She held the branch like it was a Louisville Slugger, ready to knock one out of the park. Then she saw one of the spiders running toward her again, screeching its high-pitched screech. Peyton scowled at it and, when it was close enough, raised her foot and crunched it loudly beneath her sneaker.

  The Joro-Gumo, inches away from Darius’ face, heard the crunch and whirled around to look at Peyton, clicking questioningly. It saw Peyton lift her shoe and look at the black and green mess that was now splattered against the sole of her shoe and all over the ground. “Ugh!” Peyton said, feeling like she might throw up. Then she looked up and saw Darius pinned to the tree and the Joro-Gumo staring at her. The spider-woman screeched loudly, angrier than it had been so far. It pushed away from Darius and began to run toward Peyton, moving faster and faster. Peyton was frozen with terror as the giant half-spider, half-woman, bore down on her, claws extended, mandibles dripping poison, screeching wildly.

  Darius quickly tried to pry the blade from his imprisoned hand, tugging and pulling as hard as he could. He pulled desperately, the knife moving slowly, so slowly! He wouldn’t get it free in time! As the Joro-Gumo sped at Peyton, she raised her branch and planted the base of it against the tree from which it had broken, the sharp tip now pointing directly at the fast approaching monster. As the Joro-Gumo grew close, inches away and ready to crush Peyton under her weight, Peyton leaped aside and let the monster slam into the tree, and the branch Peyton had positioned there. The monster slashed at her as she dove aside, catching Peyton’s arm with its wicked claws. Peyton cried out, but was safe from being crushed and killed at that moment. She heard the Joro-Gumo screeching loudly, sounding like it was in pain. Looking back over her shoulder, clutching her bleeding arm, Peyton saw the Joro-Gumo stagger away from the tree, a long branch now implanted in its stomach. The monster screeched wildly in pain and rage. It suddenly spotted Peyton and hissed at her. Then it wrapped its long fingers around the part of the branch that still stuck out and, with a sharp tug and a brief screech, yanked the wood from its belly. It threw the branch aside and began to approach Peyton once more, clicking dangerously. Suddenly, the clicking stopped, it stopped moving closer. It began to teeter on its eight legs. Then it went limp and collapsed, falling sideways and sprawling all over the pathway, legs splaying out in all directions.

  Breathing heavily, Peyton rose to her feet, still holding her wounded arm. She edged closer, unsure of what happened, expecting the creature to rise up and attack, but as she drew closer, she realized that it was dead. The giveaway being the familiar handle of a blade embedded in the base of the creature’s skull.

  Peyton looked over at Darius, who was still stuck to the tree by the creature’s web, twenty feet away. He had thrown the blade with all the force he could manage. He was taking a deep, calming breath, watching the monster as its legs began to twitch in death. Then he looked at Peyton.

  “A little help, please?” he called out.

  Peyton stared for a moment, in shock, then blinked herself back to reality. “Oh, right. Right. Yeah. Hang on.” She looked around for something she could use to cut Darius free, but found nothing. Then her eyes landed on the handle of the blade in the Joro-Gumo’s brain. Peyton took a deep breath, then reached down and took hold of the handle. With a sickening sound of metal scraping against bone, Peyton pulled the blade free. Thick greenish-black blood began to ooze from the wound. Suddenly, Peyton heard the screeches of the smaller spiders from behind her and she spun around to face them, holding Darius’ blade ready, but the small spiders ignored her. They ran around her and crawled over their dead mother. Peyton watched them for a moment, but then realized what they were doing. They were devouring their mother’s corpse.

  Rushing to the edge of the path, Peyton leaned into the bushes and vomited. When she was done, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and took a deep breath. Then, without looking back at the spiders, she hurried over to Darius. Darius was looking at her with concern. A look she was beginning to know from him all too well.

  “Are you okay?” Darius asked. “Your arm. You’re hurt.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Peyton said as she began to saw at the webs that bound Darius’ wrist. She cut his hand free, then moved on to his ankles. When he was loose, she stood back up and handed his blade back.

  “Thank you,” Darius said.

  Peyton suddenly threw her arms around Darius and hugged him tight. She began to shake, all the nerves and fear finally catching up with her. Darius held her close, remaining silent while she quivered in his arms.

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sp; “Okay,” Peyton said into Darius’ shoulder. “Okay. Next time, I’ll listen to you. No more talking to strangers.”

  Darius smiled. “It’s okay. We’re fine. But we should move. The Joro-Gumo’s blood might attract other creatures.”

  The embrace was over and Peyton began to regain some control, her quivering no longer so severe. Darius sheathed his blade once more and they carried on, walking around the corpse of the Joro-Gumo, making sure to give it and her hungry children a wide berth.