Everything had happened too quickly. Raiden's mind was still racing, still trying to piece together what had just happened.
He had wanted to help her, to keep her safe, but he had been held in place. Luiza had forgotten all notions of making him hear her scream. All she wanted now was to tame the reaper. That Maya had somehow found him, risked her life to retrieve him, provided Luiza the perfect starting place to begin her destruction. Him. A tear leaked from his eye. He was meant to protect her, not be the tool of her destruction.
He tried to comfort her, to mentally bridge the distance between them. He wanted to tell her it would be okay, that even in death he would never really leave her. He felt it the moment it happened. As the talon punctured the skin on his throat, the world aroun
