Free The Reaper's Apprentices #1: Awakened by CS Patra Page B

with my teeth. Option three sounds the most exciting to me.”
     
    “Master, please…” Kaska begged. “You don’t need to.”
     
    “Quiet, Kaska! This is between us!” he reminded her. The turning back to the squirming demon slayer he said “Now what would you like me to do? It’s your lucky day, slayer. You get to pick how you die.”
     
    “God, don’t eat my face! Please!” the demon slayer pleaded. Kaska cringed and closed her eyes, sinking into a corner. Master Fabian’s method of stealing faces still made her want to throw up. Even though he had shown her how it was done, she couldn’t agree to it. She waited until he was finished. There was no way she was going to watch this.
     
    “Don’t worry,” she heard him say, and she could feel her stomach sinking lower. This was how it always started — he’d assure his victim, then go in for the kill, taking the face. Curling up in a ball, she waited for it to start. The only thing she wanted right now was a door to escape. She didn’t want to see this.
     
    “I don’t want to kill you,” he said almost gently
     
    Now this was new. He never said this to anyone. She finally opened her eyes and saw him just standing in front of the demon slayer with his arms crossed. He didn’t bare either his teeth or claws, but looked at the human with pity. Pity! Slowly Kaska pulled out of the corner and looked straight at him. He didn’t look like he wanted to attack.
     
    “The only reason I’m letting any of you live is because you don’t deserve to be punished. Not for their stupid actions,” Fabian growled. “Go! If you want to live, get out of here now!”
     
    “Go and forget you saw anything,” Adair added, using his compelling powers. “You will not tell anyone what happened. If they ask, tell them you thought you saw a burglar, but it was just a false alarm.”
     
    “And whatever you do, don’t look back,” Gideon finished off. “There is nothing here for you to see. Nothing else for you to do.”
     
    “Nothing here for me to see. Nothing for me to do. I won’t look back. Nothing happened,” the demon slayers repeated, turning around and heading back to their room. It was so surreal to see them back down and leave like nothing had happened. The girls tried to step forward, but found themselves glued to the floor. Their masters were powerful enough to get those demon slayers to retreat without lifting a finger.
     
    “Master, I--” Kaska started.
     
    “Stay back!” he warned. “They’re retreating.”
     
    She did as she was told and waited until all the demon slayers were gone. It was the worst moment of her life. She was surprised that they were all still standing.
     
    The room had cleared out. Now it was just the eight of them.
     
    Yet how scared they were before was nothing compared to how frightened they were now.

 
    Chapter 8
     
    The fight lasted only ten minutes even though it seemed like time had stopped. The girls kept looking around and thinking back to what they had heard. Up until now, they only knew about demon slayers from word of mouth. People talked about them, and once in a while, they’d get stories from other demons. Tonight not only proved that they did exist, but also that demons had every reason to fear them. They were ready to kill four young girls for nothing
     
    But even the demon slayers did not compare to how frightening their masters could be. Right now, the four of them were talking to each other while the girls watched. They couldn’t understand what was being said, but knew it couldn’t be good. They decided to keep quiet. Yuka kept picking at the ground and rubbing the dirt between her fingers. She didn’t look up until Sebastian’s shadow was looming over her. Wincing, she finally faced him, feeling several inches smaller. His lessons were starting to make more sense as she prepared for the worst.
     
    “Are you all right?” Sebastian asked them, though the concern was subtle behind his