The Reaper's Wicked Obsession-Chapter 78: The True Nature Of The Hunt

Vanya fended them off with her ice fang, wounding two, but they remained relentless, charging at her again.

They seized the opportunity to restrain her, snapping her wrists to stop her weaves before beating her to a pulp.

"STOP!" Isadora struggled but the Fae holding her hands secured behind her was too big and strong.

"You still don’t get this do you?" Dain said. "If you did, you wouldn’t be worried about weeds."

"What are you talking about? You’re bullying an innocent person!"

He slapped her. She didn’t have the right to speak to him that way.

Isadora licked her broken lip before turning her head back to Dain and pinned him with a savage look.

Dain gripped her hair, forcing her head on an uncomfortable angle. "The true nature of the hunt," he began. "Is to find the spies from the five Courts."

"And she..." he turned her head to face Vanya on the ground, covered in blood. "Is one of them."

Tears slid down Isadora’s eyes. "No!"

"The Raven Court shouldn’t exist but our great Lord Raven made it possible. Rumours won’t be treated as such because the other Courts point their blade at anything they deem a threat."

Isadora glared at him. "She’s not a spy, you’re wrong!"

He laughed. "You don’t know anything about her and yet you defend? You’re so naive. She has no background in the Raven court," he leaned to her ears. "She wasn’t chosen for the glorious purpose, she’s a stray just like you..."

"What should we do with her?" one of the others standing next to Vanya’s unconscious body asked.

"Should we kill her? Or let the hunt decide her fate?"

"Killing her would be too easy, the latter is better," Dain said.

He turned his head back to the struggling mannfae who didn’t know when to give up.

"Tell me mannfae, do you want to live? If you do then join us, we can all forget about this and that I tried to kill you."

"Over my dead body!"

"So be it. It’s an achievement of killing a cheater twice."

~♧~

Darkness crept in as the sun began to set.

Excruciating pain shot through Isadora’s body. Her hands were bound with a rope against a tree.

"Vanya!" She desperately called again but there was still no response.

Her head bled, she was losing too much blood and Isadora feared she’d die before the Bone Eaters got to them.

Isadora kept struggling to break from her binds but they were too tight, she couldn’t reach for her dagger or anything she could use.

Her ragged breaths filled the air. She had been left here to die, but she wouldn’t yield so easily—there had to be a way, there had to be.

Then, the wind howled, carrying a familiar presence with it. Her body dangled uncomfortably by the pressure.

"Oh no!" she gasped, hurrying her movements to set free, but it was pointless.

The ropes bit into her wrists, squeezing them uncomfortably, while her fingers crushed together. The constriction got tighter and the biting pain was enough to make her cry out.

Her hands will be ruined.

Blood slid down her arms but she kept tugging and tugging until...

The wind stilled, another presence filling the air and the aura warding off the coming Bone Eaters into hiding.

Suddenly her binds loosened and a supernatural force pulled her body down on broad shoulders, a large hand at the back of her thighs to hold her in place.

"Just a few days without me and here you are tied up to a tree like an offering..." His gravel voice caused her heartbeat to speed up.

Isadora never thought in her entire life she would be relieved he was here and break down in tears.

She no longer cared if he viewed her as vulnerable, she was too emotionally shattered and in pain to think of anything else.

Kraven set her down on the grass and crouched in front of her. Silence from him as he watched her quiver and sobbed, her hands shaking.

He licked his lips and said. "Stop crying and start talking..."

Isadora raised her gaze and met his silver ones before moving them behind him, Vanya was still tied to the tree.

"Please... save her," she begged, her voice rough and broken.

Kraven threw a look over his shoulder and turned back to her. "Here’s the thing, love."

She turned her gaze back to him.

"I only interfere in the hunt because of you... leave the girl to her fate."

"W-What?" she said, shaking.

There was no amusement in his gaze so she knew without question. He had no intention of saving a dying girl.

"But—"

He suddenly gripped her chin before she could finish, her face contouring in pain. "Tell me what happened, love. And this time you better remember their faces."

Rage burned in her chest, she couldn’t believe how cruel this man was. Yes, for selfish reasons he came for only her, but to vividly ignore a dying girl caused anger to fuel her blood.

Ignoring his demand, she yanked her chin away from his hold which was suddenly cold. "Does it matter?"

"I’ll make you scream in pain if you give me that attitude right now." he seethed, aggravated, and the pressure in the air made it worse.

"It was the Bone eaters!" she exploded. "They tied us up to increase their appetite!"

Dain was her business, not his. There was no point bleeding her heart to him when he couldn’t even save someone in need because of his selfishness.

Kraven studied her gaze for any hint of lie but it was hard to tell because of the intense anger and hate blooming in them.

It was no strange news the Bone eaters toyed with their prey. So she could be telling the truth.

"Why won’t you save her?"

"You know why."

"Because I’m your prey and seeing me being tortured by someone else is unsatisfying for you?"

His lips curled in a smile, a glint in his eyes. "You’re getting to know me better," and then paused when he noticed her braid was gone. "What happened to your braid?"

She scoffed, overwhelmed and angry.

"You’re impossible!" She forced herself to her feet, grabbed her dagger from where the rest of her things were, and limped to the tree.

Isadora stared at the obstacle she was about to climb despite her wounded hands. Yet, there was no way she would leave Vanya to die.