The Deathtaker

by S. L. Baum

  “I told you, I wanted you to finish your classes.”

  Sam went to her side. “I finished today.”

  “I know.” Krista placed her hand on her flat tummy. “And, well, she was conceived here. This little house is special.”

  “The house isn’t going to disappear,” Sam stated the obvious. He placed his hand over hers. “How do you know it is a girl for sure?”

  “Males won’t grow in a Vita womb. Grandma made that quite clear,” she explained. “I will give birth to a girl, who will one day be just like me. Another Vita woman to take Death and restore life.”

  “Kristanta Jessmina Vita,” Sam slowly said her name. “What does it all mean? I know Vita means life.”

  “Kritanta, is a male name from India. It is the God of Death. My mother liked to focus more on the death side of being a Deathtaker, rather than the life side. She added the ‘s’ in there to make it seem more feminine, and named me Kristanta. As far as my mother was concerned, she’d given birth to a Goddess of Death, just like herself. Of course this is all coming from my grandmother, because that’s all I have to go on since she took off before I could talk.”

  “And Jessmina?”

  Krista smiled. “That one is easy and sweet. It is a version of Jasmine, the flower. Samuel George Webber… know any of those meanings?”

  Sam laughed and shook his head. “Not a one. It’s just a good family name. Samuel for my great-great grandfather and George for my grandfather.”

  “It is a good name,” Krista agreed. “Can we stay here until after Christmas?” she asked. “And then we can move all my stuff into the main house.”

  “Of course we can,” he said and kissed the top of her head. “I think we should put some ornaments on this lonely little tree.”

  “I’ve got something better than ornaments,” Krista told him and then disappeared into the bedroom. When she came back, she had a shoebox in hand. It was filled with little paper swans of various shapes and sizes. “I want to put these on the tree. Because they are precious to me.”

  “You are precious to me. You and the baby,” Sam said. He tilted her face up to his and kissed her softly on the lips. “I want you to know that this might not be how either of us planned for this relationship to go, but I am happy with everything exactly how it has happened. I am right side up when I’m with you. You make everything fall into place.”

  “I feel the same way. I was floating through life until I met you,” Krista told him. “I’ve found my anchor.”

  “I’ve found my home,” Sam said, kissing her again. “I won’t be doing any more shifts at the diner. I talked to Abe today. He’s bringing me in as a partner. I’ll be working at the hardware store and I’ll be devising a plan to get Uncle Abe and Eli to expand into Internet sales. They are doubtful, but willing to try. They even let me make some suggestions about the various plots of land they each own, both in and surrounding Cedar Creek.”

  Krista felt a pang of guilt. When Sam moved in with his uncle, it was supposed to be a temporary situation. “Are you sure that staying in Cedar Creek is something you want to do?”

  “I am. Ever since I got here, I’ve had no idea what to do once I finished school. That was for my mom, she really wanted me to have a college education. So, I did that. I accomplished that for her, and for me,” Sam said. “But, I also know that living here is something that’s been in the back of my head since I was a little boy. This is a great town. I always had the best time here, and I know that it is definitely where I want a child of mine to grow up. Can you see yourself living here?”

  Krista hugged him tight and nodded her head against his chest. “I can.” Flurries of movement, seen out of the corner of her eye, caught her attention. She looked out the window. “It’s snowing! It’s my first white Christmas!” Krista exclaimed. “Do you think it’ll stick around until then?”

  “Abe’s been feeding me the forecast all week. That man loves following the weather. He says we will definitely have snow on the ground for Christmas.”

  “That makes me so happy!”

  Sam picked the biggest swan out of the shoebox and placed it on the top of the little tree. “We have a lot to be happy about.”

  “We do,” Krista agreed.

  By the morning of Christmas Eve there was a thick white blanket of snow, several inches thick, covering all of Cedar Creek. Sam woke early and headed out, leaving Krista in bed with a promise that he’d hurry back, and a new little swan next to her head on the pillow. He was on his way to pick up a book he had seen in the book store, one with all these cool pictures of babies inside the womb. Sam thought Krista would enjoy seeing what their baby girl would look like at all the different stages. But the book at the store was slightly damaged, so a new one was ordered for him.

  Most of the stores in Cedar Creek were closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. If anyone wanted to do some last minute holiday shopping, they usually headed out to Greenville. But the owner of the store had called the night before to let him know that it had finally come in, and said to come down in the morning.

  After a quick stop, the book was secured in two brown paper bags, one facing each way, tucked inside the other, so Krista couldn’t catch a peek and see what he’d bought before he had a chance to wrap it. He tossed the book in the passenger seat and headed toward the diner. He knew Opal and Jim were planning on breakfast and lunch service only that day, and Sam wanted to get a cheesy omelet, crispy hashbrowns, sourdough toast, and some fresh fruit to take back home for Krista. He could almost taste it as he neared the diner.

  With the snow, most of the businesses being closed, and school on break for the holidays, Main Street was nearly empty. He glanced down at the passenger seat. The images in that book were so strange at the beginning. He tried to remember what the one-month image looked like. He couldn’t remember if Krista was considered four weeks or six weeks along. That part confused him. Either way, there was not much more than a little bean growing inside of her. His little bean. He hoped she would look a little bit like his mother, and a lot like Krista.

  It was crazy, trying to imagine what a new little human being would look like.

  The driver racing down Main Street, having just exited the freeway, had blasted through the stop sign. He was drinking, had been driving all night, and after he saw the billboard on the freeway for the diner and motel, he’d decided it was time to stop. Food and a bed, that sounded good, he thought as he took another swig from the bottle of whiskey he’d nestled between his legs.

  Neither of the men was paying attention to the road ahead. One was operating with blurred vision while the other was daydreaming of the future. By the time Sam noticed that there was a car coming toward him – one that was going too fast, one that had crossed lanes and was heading straight at him – it was too late to avoid the collision. The brake pedal was jammed down to the floor, the steering wheel was turned sharply, but the roads were icy, and his vehicle wouldn’t react the way he wanted it to.

  Krista’s cell phone was buzzing on the bedside table as she came out of the bathroom. Adeline’s number was on the screen.

  It’s Sam. It’s pretty bad. You’d better get down here. Doc’s on his way. Those were the words that repeated themselves in Krista’s head as she pulled boots up over her pajama pants, threw a coat on, and raced outside toward her truck. She was opening the garage doors when Abe arrived. He asked for her keys and said he would drive. Adeline had called him too. Krista gladly handed them over.

  “It’ll be okay,” Abe told her as they headed toward the unknown.

  “It has to be.” Krista closed her eyes and covered her face with her hands. It has to be okay. Sam has to be okay. She chanted to herself, over and over again.

  “Lord, help him,” Abe whispered.

  Krista looked up. She saw a mass of crunched metal, and the mist of Death as it carried away its prize. Sheriff Tucker covered a lump in the snowy street, a hand poked out from underneath the covering. “It can’t
be.”

  “It’s not,” Abe said as he stopped her truck. “It’s too big to be our Sam.”

  Doc was kneeling in the snow, on the other side of the wreck, while Jim was crouched down a few feet away. Opal and Adeline were standing near. “We’re moving him inside, out of the cold,” Adeline told Krista as she came around to meet her. The older woman put her arms around the younger one. “Doc said it would be better inside.”

  Doctor Baker and Jim stood up together, their arms holding onto a cot, which held Sam. His eyes were closed and a blanket covered his body. His face was cut, swollen, and bleeding, and as the two men started to walk, the amount of blood tinting the snow and ice told Krista all she needed to know. “How bad do you think he is, Doc?” Krista asked.

  “You and I are going to figure that out,” he told her.

  “My boy,” Abe croaked.

  Krista reached for Abe’s hand and held it tightly as they walked across the parking lot. Adeline ran ahead and opened up the nearest room while Opal trailed behind. Sheriff Tucker stayed outside to deal with the body that was lying in the street. It was a rare moment that a stranger died in Cedar Creek.

  After they brought Sam in and placed him on the bed, and before she went into the room, Krista glanced back to where the sheriff stood. Death might have caught that one, she thought. It can’t have Sam.

  After Jim helped Doc place Sam on the bed, he said he was going to see if Sheriff Tucker needed anything. Doc thanked Jim for his help and went to Krista’s side. He held her hand and brought her closer to Sam. She was afraid to touch him; her strong man suddenly looked so pale. “What do you sense, Krista?” he asked.

  Adeline looked at the two with confusion. “Doc, you’re the doc. Don’t you think we should be calling Greenville General to send an airlift?”

  “Quiet, Addy,” Doc ordered. Adeline stepped back in shock, and Doc turned to Krista. “Concentrate, Krista.”

  Krista knelt down next to the bed and held Sam’s hand.

  Doc put his hand on her shoulder. “I’ll tell you what I know. His left leg is broken, crushed is more like it, and he smashed his head against the side window. But if you can tell me what’s going on inside of his body, we’d have a better picture.”

  “He’s got a lot of internal bleeding,” she whispered. “And there is swelling around his brain,” she added a little louder. Krista closed her eyes and concentrated on Sam… only Sam. “His left lung is collapsed and one of the several broken bones in his leg has torn into his femoral artery. He’s losing too much blood.”

  “You’re taking her word for that?” Adeline questioned Doc. “He’d need x-rays, or a CAT scan, or an MRI or something before you could tell that, wouldn’t he?

  Doctor Baker ignored her. “Can you save him?” he asked Krista. “Because I don’t know if there is time for conventional medicine to help.”

  Krista stroked the back of Sam’s hand “I can. I can force the connection. I can take his death away.”

  Abraham Webber had been silently absorbing everything from the moment they’d arrived at the scene. The old man had lost his parents and his brother and sister-in-law. He’d lost his niece, and it looked like he was about to lose his great-nephew as well. He sat down on the chair next to the bed, and tears slid down his face.

  Adeline went to his side. “Abe, we need to call for a helicopter.”

  “We really do! I’m on it.” Opal picked up the phone.

  “Put the phone down, Opal,” Doc ordered. “They wouldn’t be able to get him to surgery in time to save his life. There is no way to explain this right now, but Krista can do it. She fixed Marlene, that’s why they left town so fast, and she can fix Sam.”

  Opal put the phone back in its holster, while Adeline threw her hands up in the air. “She can fix him? With what, her magical powers?”

  Doc gave her a single nod. “That’s exactly what she is going to use.”

  Adeline balled her hands into fists and firmly placed them on her hips. “Yer off yer rocker, Doc.”

  “She can do it,” came a whisper from the bed. Sam had his right eye open; the left was swollen shut. His voice was labored, and his face winced in pain. “But the baby?”

  Krista’s breath caught in her throat. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream, but she needed to be strong. “But this has to be done, Sam.”

  “Will it hurt our girl?” Sam asked her.

  Doctor Baker looked at her in disbelief. “You’re pregnant?”

  “I am,” she told him, a sad smile on her face.

  Doc tried to quickly process the new information. “When you die, or fall asleep, or whatever you want to call it... When you take Sam’s Death, will it affect the baby?”

  Krista closed her eyes and nodded her head.

  “Will it survive?” Doc asked.

  Krista slowly shook her head from side to side. The baby she didn’t know, or the man she did. She loved them both. How was she supposed to choose? “I’ve got to save him.”

  “I want you to have the baby. What’s the point of saving me if we can never be together again?” Sam breathed the words and then passed out, too weak to remain conscious any longer.

  “He’s right, Krista. You’d never be able to touch him, let alone be in the same room with him, ever again,” Doc reminded her.

  Abe, who’d been quiet the whole time, finally spoke. “Isn’t there any way to save them both?”

  The door to the room had been left open, and a silent figure leaned against the doorframe, listening to everything that was said. Everyone was so focused on Sam, and the unbelievable conversation Doc was having with Krista, they hadn’t noticed the strange woman in the doorway.

  “There’s a way,” she said. “For a price.”

  Krista whipped her head toward the voice.

  Adeline walked toward the door. “Room one-ten, what are you doing here? You need to leave, this is a private matter.”

  The woman ignored Adeline and continued talking. “And since you’re family, I’ll even give you a discount. Ten grand ought to do it. I should charge you more for making me a grandmother in the process.”

  Krista stared at her, and saw the resemblance then. The woman looked like a younger version of her grandmother, and an older version of herself… and exactly like the pictures in her grandmother’s house. “You gave birth to me.”

  “I guess that makes me your mother,” the woman replied.

  “I wouldn’t go that far. You left me and never came back.”

  “It turned out that kids weren’t my thing,” she shrugged. “But I’ve always kept track of your movements. You’re approaching this whole thing wrong, you know? You should be finding the dying rich, not helping the poor without payment. When I saw that you’d moved here and were staying on the old man’s property, I thought maybe you’d finally wised up. I figured I’d sneak into town and smell the guy out for myself, but there’s nothing wrong with him. This guy, though,” she pointed to Sam. “He’s got a lot wrong with him.”

  Krista let her words sink in. Her biological mother charged people for her services, and she only helped the rich. Krista couldn’t believe that this was the woman whose blood flowed in her veins. “You’re a Deathtaker for hire?”

  “We’re losing time here,” Doc interrupted. “Will you save him or not?”

  Chai Vita, Krista’s birth mother, sat down on the bed next to the one Sam was on and looked at her daughter. She held her hand out and rubbed her fingers together, making a gesture that Krista was well acquainted with.

  “I don’t have ten grand,” Krista told her mother.

  “I do,” Abe told the woman. “It’s yours if you can save my boy and spare the child.”

  “Now we’re getting somewhere.” Chai swung her legs up onto the bed and rested her head against the pillows. “Everybody out.”

  “I want to stay with my boy,” Abe told her.

  Doctor Baker stood firm. “I’m the town’s doctor. I’m staying too.”


  Krista clung to Sam’s hand. “I can’t leave him.”

  Chai turned her head to stare at Krista. “I assume my mother told you everything about this power of ours. If you are too close, yours might just try to compete with mine. If you get him first, then that baby everybody wants to protect might not make it. Out you go, baby girl.”

  “I’m not your baby girl,” Krista whispered.

  “But you are,” Chai told her. “Now go.”

  “Krista, get out of here. Adeline, Opal, you too,” Doc ordered.

  Krista took Adeline’s hand and then Opal’s. “We’re going. Keep him safe, Doc.”

  “I’ll watch over him,” Doctor Baker promised her.

  “You like to watch, huh, Doc?” Krista heard Chai laugh as the door closed behind them.

  “I know you guys are thinking this is some crazy, messed-up thing going on here, but you will see. I promise you that in less than half an hour, Sam is going to walk out of that room. His outsides are still going to look banged up, but inside he will be nearly perfect. Don’t say anything to your brother, Addy. Just wait. Give it some time.”

  Adeline set her mouth in a straight line. She was a practical woman. Magic was just a trick, a sleight of hand, and therefore it wasn’t real. There was no way a woman could die for someone else. “Let’s pretend for a moment that I could believe in all that mumbo jumbo you and Doc were spewing in there. That woman just extorted ten thousand dollars from Abe.”

  “He’s paying her for services rendered. That’s not extortion, but I also don’t think it’s ethical. Great mother I’ve got, huh?”

  Opal swooped Krista up in a hug; she grabbed her friend and squeezed her tight. “It’ll work. I know it will. Sam will be fine, and you still get to be a mommy. I can’t believe you’re pregnant.”

  “Precious Opal Stone, you’re buying this?”

  Opal released Krista from the tight hug, but kept her arm around her friend. “Adeline, there is magic in this world. The unexplained happens all the time. Yes. I am buying this, hook, line, and sinker,” she told Addy. “You saved Marlene?” she asked Krista. The awe in her voice was unmistakable.