The dragon turned its deep blue, angry eyes on Mina and changed directions to chase after her. Mina screamed in fright when she reached the doors and pushed them closed as soon as she exited. Turning, she could see the dragon bearing down upon her through the glass slits. Clenching her teeth, she thrust the crowbar through the metal handles of the door just as the dragon tried to bust through the doors. Mina fell onto her backside in fear and watched as the large metal doors held firm. Smoke billowed out beneath the door every time she pushed against the crowbar, but they didn’t budge. A large blue eye pressed against the door pane and looked at her angrily.
She swallowed back her fear, dusted herself off, and ran back upstairs toward Nan. Praying that the doors would hold until Nan was safe. Once she was back on the fourth floor, she walked quickly down the hallway, noticing the red and blue lights flashing on the wall when she passed a window. Someone had finally called the police. And now with police on the premises, all she had to do was get Nan out of the hospital and somewhere safe. She could try and track down the Reaper again and get the Grimoire back on a different day. She knew that the Reaper wouldn’t give up; she would eventually try and kill Mina. But by then, Mina would have found a way to kill a dragon.
Mina came to room 413 and quietly opened the door slipping inside. The room was dark and the drapes closed with just a flicker of red and blue lights dancing on the ceiling. She couldn’t hear any music, which meant the impromptu concert was officially over. Walking over to the bed, Mina stumbled over something on the floor. She reached around in the near darkness to move the object, and her hand came in contact with a warm leg, and it was attached to a body. Mina pulled her hand away quickly and looked up to see that Nan was still asleep and her heart monitor was still quietly beeping.
Slowly, she moved around the bed and reached for the light switch next to the hospital bed. Her hand shook with fear. Quickly, like pulling off a Band-aid, she flicked on the light and looked at the body on the floor. It was Dr. Martin. There was a large lump on the side of his head and blood on his forehead.
Mina reached down to touch Dr. Martin’s neck to feel for a pulse, and he moaned softly. He was still alive! A soft beeping sound came from across the room, and Mina looked to the corner to see a man sitting silently in a chair watching her.
He was dressed from head to toe in black with a long leather jacket that reached the floor. The man reached over and touched the alarm on his expensive watch, shutting it off. She looked at the clock in the room and back to the man in the chair. It was midnight. He slowly stood up and walked toward her, his hand reaching for a long wooden object leaning against the wall.
She shook her head in confusion. Not understanding and not believing who she saw. She recognized him. It didn’t make sense.
He clicked a button on the side of the wooden staff and a sword shot out. “You are just in time,” Karl spoke gruffly. “For the reaping!” He swung the sword at Mina’s head.
Chapter 24
Mina fell backward, tripping once again over the prone form of Dr. Martin. Karl smiled cruelly and easily pushed the hospital bed with Nan on it out of the way, exposing a direct path to Mina. What could she do? He could, kill any of them at any moment. She could only do one thing. Stall.
“Why now? Why didn’t you kill me earlier when you had the chance? I mean, come on now, you had me and let me go. That doesn’t sound like you are a very good Reaper,” Mina taunted, forcing herself to sound braver than she was.
Karl stopped and bared his teeth angrily, and then he did something unexpected. He laughed. A deep menacing chuckle that only got louder and louder.
He stopped laughing and smiled at her. “It has been quite a few years since I killed my last Grimm, and truthfully, I wasn’t expecting to almost run one over.”