CHAPTER 36

Two weeks later

Levi's POV

In the two and a half months I had been in Reaper's world I still hadn't met her father. Sure, she had gotten an oboe and a dulcimer from him via the post, but I had never actually seen him. I wasn't even sure he even knew of my existence, much less that I lived with his former wife and his daughter; and from Mrs. Durmango's description of him that was probably a good thing.

However, that changed when he came to pick her up from school one day.

I stood outside the school's main entrance and waited for Reaper. When she showed up she shoved her hands in her pockets, smiled, and said she was ready to go. Suddenly a sleek black car pulled up beside us. The window rolled down and-

"Dad?" Reaper asked incredulously when she saw the man in the driver's seat.

"Hey, Zora!" he exclaimed, getting out of the car in an effort to give her a hug. She reluctantly submitted herself to his embrace, awkwardly patting his back and looking around his chest to mouth "help me."

"What are you doing here?" Reaper asked unsteadily, unconsciously glancing from her father to me.

I came to take you home," he said. "I figured you could use some time with your old man."

"With all due respect, sir," she said, "My friend was going to walk me home."

That was when he noticed me.

I felt his gaze it was so rough. I had to consciously keep myself from shivering under his eyes. His smile fell from happy to something forced and slightly sinister.

"And who might this young man be?" Reaper's father asked her.

Reaper pulled away from his hug and crossed her arms over her stomach, obviously uncomfortable, before coming to stand beside me.

"This is my friend Levi," she introduced me. "Levi, this is my father, Gaylord Durmango."

I offered him my hand to shake. He looked at it distastefully before looking back to his daughter. I dropped my hand, thoroughly rejected and uncharacteristically nervous.

"Who exactly is he?" he asked.

"He had the same kidnapper, sir," she said, looking at the pavement. "He was kidnapped for twenty-five years."

She winced, having given my age away.

Gaylord stiffened markedly.

"How old is this 'young man,' Zora?"

"I'm thirty, sir," I said.

"I wasn't talking to you," he said harshly. "Zora?"

"He's thirty, sir."

"And what exactly is he doing walking you home? He's a thirty-year-old man!"

Reaper and I shared a nearly terrified glance.

"He… He lives with Mom and me," she said.

Mr. Durmango was silent for several moments before plastering an even brighter smile onto his face.

"Well, since you two live together I suppose you wouldn't mind if I drove you two home!" he said cheerily, all malice behind his grin.

"Not at all, sir," I said.

"Well then get in the car."

We drove in silence, Reaper and I in the back seat sitting as far apart from each other as possible. When we reached Reaper's house Mr. Durmango got out to open the gate.

Reaper turned to me.

"Let me do the talking," she said hurriedly. "He loves me."

"Agreed."

When he returned he drove us down the long driveway and stopped in front of the house. We all got out of the car and Mr. Durmango approached the door. He knocked.

When Mrs. Durmango opened the door her look of confusion dropped off her face, replaced with fear.

"Gaylord," she said slowly, "What are you doing here?"

"I just came to drop Zora off at home when I met her friend," he said.

"He is a good man who has brought us no trouble, Gaylord," Mrs. Durmango said.

"I'm sure he is."

"He's a good friend to Zora-"

"I'm sure he is."

"What do you want, Gaylord?" she asked finally.

"I want to have a talk with the man and I'd like to do it in your dining room."

With a voice as forceful as that she was unable to refuse. I soon found myself sitting at the dining room table across from Mr. Durmango. All traces of friendliness were gone from his face as he stared me down.

"How long have you been living with my family?" he asked,

I resisted the urge to tell him that they weren't his family anymore.

"For two and a half months, sir," I said instead.

"And what are your intentions towards my ex-wife?"

"I have no romantic or physical attraction towards your ex-wife, sir. I have not, am not, and will not be making any advances towards her."

"That's good. Now, regarding my daughter-"

Just then Reaper came into the kitchen for some water.

The way the house was laid out, the kitchen was completely visible from the dining room. Mr. Durmango could see Reaper in full detail – her hands, her feet, her face, the base of her neck which was marked by a…. a hickey.

Two days earlier, when Reaper and I had gone out to the back forest to train with the gear, we had gotten into some petting so heavy it took everything we had not to rip each other's clothes off. There were still several bruises along my chest, but Reaper was the one with visible markings, namely the one at the base of her neck. I saw Mr. Durmango tense before looking at me in rage.

"You… You slept with my daughter!"

The moment Reaper heard this she raced to the kitchen, putting a hand on her father's shoulder in an effort to keep him sitting down.

"Dad-"

"Don't you 'dad' me," he growled, backhanding her across the face and sending her stumbling into an armoire. He stood towering over me.

Reaper looked at him in shock. He had obviously never hit her before.

"How dare you hit her," I growled in return, standing up to my full height.

He suddenly reached behind him and pulled out a pistol. He must have hidden it in the back of his pants waistband.

"Get outside, fucker," he commanded me.

I was cornered. I had a gun aimed squarely between my eyes, Mrs. Durmango couldn't fight, Reaper was in shock; so I did as he said and left through the front door, Gaylord Durmango following me.

"Wait!" Reaper yelled, racing out after us. I noticed her mother calling after her, begging her not to go outside, but it was no use. In the end Mrs. Durmango ended up running out after Reaper, standing beside her as she stood beside me.

"Don't you dare hurt him, Dad," Reaper warned.

"And what are you going to do, skank? Try to fuck me to death?"

I clenched my fists.

"Don't talk to her like that," I spat.

"And what are you going to do, shrimp?" He flipped off the gun's safety.

"He's not going to go anything," Reaper growled.

"Zora-" he mother warned, trying to hold her back. Reaper broke through her arms, her eyes flashing dangerously. I thought they turned red for a moment.

"It's Reaper," she said. "My name is Reaper."

"Well then, Reaper," her father mocked. "What are you going to do?"

This time I was sure of it. Her eyes turned a blazing, burning red. An evil smile (one I swore was slightly fanged) crept onto her face.

"This."

"Reaper, no!" I yelled.

A gunshot. I was sure I was dead, but-

The bullet hovered directly in front of my nose, not two inches away from my face. Looking to my left I saw that Reaper had her hand out.

She had stopped the bullet. She had fucking stopped a speeding bullet.

"What-" her father stammered. Her mother could only stare in shock. Reaper was on him in an instant, using her abilities to fling the gun from his grasp before slamming her fist into his face.

Her hair whirled wildly around her as if a stormy wind had blown in. Her eyes burned red, her teeth were sharp, and she was grinning wickedly. She wasn't Reaper right then. She was something else.

Her father tried to punch her back, but she was too quick, blocking and ducking and kicking and punching and things I had never seen before, like pushing him back with her powers and slamming him into a tree. She whipped her leg up to kick him in the face when he grabbed her ankle and twisted, sending her twirling in the air. She landed in a crouch and hissed like a wild animal.

I was terrified. What was going on?

She suddenly pounced, knocking her father to the ground and delivering a final hard punch to his eye. His head made an indent in the ground.

He looked up at her, pure terror radiating from his eyes as he saw the red in his daughter's. The red slowly dissipated, leaving nothing but her usual blue. The smile fell into a threatening scowl. She held him by the throat and growled.

"Don't you dare hurt him," she warned. "And don't you ever come back."

He nodded fearfully and she shakily stood. She used her abilities to help him up before pushing him in the direction of his car.

We were all completely silent as we watched him drive away.

When he was out of sight Reaper almost fell to the ground, exhausted.

"Zora?" her mother asked incredulously.

"Not now, Mom," she cut her off immediately. "I'm tired."

"O-Okay."

Reaper tried to walk but ended up falling to her knees. She stood again and, this time, shakily strode back into the house, slamming the door.

Mrs. Durmango turned to me, her eyes wide.

"Did you know she could do that?" she asked. I nodded.

"That's the second time she's saved my life like that," I said.

"What was the first time?"

"When she took down titans for me."

Her eyes almost popped out of her skull.

"You-"

"Your daughter wasn't lying when she said she visited another world, ma'am," I said before following Reaper into the house.

I found her in her bed, her frame shaking with silent sobs. I closed her bedroom door and took off my shoes, crawling into bed behind her and holding her close. She turned in my grip and buried her face in my shirt.

"I almost killed my dad," she whimpered. "I'm a monster."

"That man is not your dad," I murmured, running my hand shakily down the small of her back. "He may have given you life, but he is not your dad."

She nodded into my shoulder.

"What did I do? I wasn't myself. I felt my eyes-"

"They were red," I said, almost shaking at the memory. "I don't know what you did, but you saved my life."

"And that's what matters," she said.

I nodded into her hair and kissed the top of her head.