Grim Life: A reaper's tale (Reaper Files Book 2)

by Nicky Graves

  “Treble, I need your help.”

  I glanced up the stairs.

  “Treble, I’m serious!”

  Grumbling a curse, I took one step up, followed by another. Eventually I could see some of the attic while still being able to cower on the stairs.

  The man stood in the middle of the dusty floor. He just stood there. Like a creepy mannequin.

  “Sir, it’s time to go,” I said in my most feeble voice.

  He didn’t look at me. It was almost as if he was in a trance.

  Maybe I could grab him while he was distracted.

  I hurried over, but as soon as I touched him, his soul disintegrated into nothing. I was pretty sure that wasn’t normal.

  Where did he go?

  The walls began to close in. I tried to shift, but I couldn’t. Somehow the house was stopping me from leaving.

  “Treble, you’re not doing this, right?”

  I raced down the stairs to the second floor. But when I reached the next set of stairs, I couldn’t proceed. The walls had shoved in, gobbling up the stairs in the process.

  Scanning the second-floor landing, I saw my only exit options were windows. I ran into a bedroom and unlocked the window. I yanked up on it, but the window wouldn’t budge. Maybe it was painted shut. I ran to the next window and had the same problem. None of the windows would open.

  Looking around me, I searched for something to break the windows. But the walls were already moving in, swallowing the floor and everything around me.

  I’d have to use my elbow.

  Just as I swung at the glass, the inky black wrapped around me, sucking me into the wall. Once I was in its grip, I couldn’t fight the pull. All that was left was black.

  8

  I was pulled through the inky black wall into a realm I had never been to before. Not that I had been to many, but this one I would have remembered. Just like the house walls, the sky was black and moving. Were the walls a portal to this realm?

  But where was I? And how did I get back?

  I searched around me for any clues, but the inky land spread out before me. I couldn’t see anything that could help me. No people. No dwellings. No noises. The pure silence made my eardrums throb as they tried in vain to hear anything.

  “Treble, I could really use your help.”

  He didn’t answer, but I had expected that he wouldn’t.

  “Hello?” I called.

  I wasn’t sure if I really wanted a response to my call, but I had no idea what else to do.

  When I didn’t get an answer, I tried to remember my training. It wasn’t much, but if Boomer was here, he’d tell me to shift. I attempted to, thinking of my bedroom at home, but something kept me from leaving.

  And where was the soul that I had been chasing?

  “Treble, this isn’t funny. I need your help or we’ll be stuck here forever.”

  I had no doubt that someone would eventually look for me. But would they ever find me here?

  “Treble, we need to work together.”

  Nothing.

  As far as I could see, there was nothing on this land, nothing in the sky except the inky black portal, and nothing anywhere around me. The black was never-ending.

  “Help!” I yelled in desperation, knowing there was no one to hear me.

  “Hello?” The voice came from the sky. I looked up to find the ink swirling, but no one was visible.

  “Hello, can you hear me?” I called.

  “Yes. Who are you?”

  “My name is Riley,” I yelled. “I’m stuck in this world. Can you help?”

  “How are you stuck?”

  “I was sucked into a wall and ended up here.”

  “Where is ‘here’?”

  “I don’t know. That’s why I need help. Where are you?”

  “The dead zone.”

  “Go get Lawson. Tell him I need help.”

  “No can do.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he said if he ever saw me again, he’d stake me in the heart.”

  “Vance, is that you?”

  “Yeah. How did you know? Who are you again?”

  I wanted to cry with happiness. He could help me. Finally, something was going my way.

  “It’s Riley. You bit me, remember?”

  “I bite a lot of people. You’ll have to be more specific.”

  “The only girl reaper. The blue energy. You helped me find the library.”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  “So go get Lawson.”

  “Still not going to happen.”

  “But I’m stuck.”

  “Then get unstuck.”

  “I would if I knew how.”

  “How did you get there?”

  “I told you. I got sucked into a wall and ended up here.”

  “Then go through the wall again.”

  “There isn’t a wall.”

  “The portal that you went through will still be there. You just have to find it and walk through it again. You can probably hear my voice through it.”

  “I think the portal is the sky. I can’t walk through it.”

  “Then jump.”

  “I don’t think you understand. I’m on the ground and it’s up in the sky.”

  “Jump.”

  “But it’s like thousands of feet above my head.”

  “Yeah, so jump.”

  With a sigh, I figured I’d try just so I could tell him his suggestion was rubbish.

  I jumped, thinking I’d only move a couple feet in the air, but the portal snatched me, lifting me into the inky swirl.

  I fell out on the other side, into the dead zone, and straight into Vance. We fell down together with an oomph.

  He groaned. “I enjoy a girl on top, but not like this.”

  I scrambled off of him. “Sorry.”

  I glanced around me, noticing I came out of a doorway that had the same black inky substance of the walls.

  “How did the portal bring me here? I started in a house on Earth.”

  Vance stood with a shrug. He dusted off his black leather jacket. “Most of them work as a direct portal. But there are a few that don’t. If you need any more information, ask someone who cares. I have a date.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Sucking blood out of an innocent girl doesn’t qualify as a date.”

  “Nothing innocent about this girl,” he said with a smirk. “She’s a succubus. She works at Charlie’s.”

  “Charlie’s?” My attention focused solely on Vance. “Tell me about Charlie’s.”

  He grinned deviously. His eyes glittered red instead of their normal shade of brown. “A Charlie’s virgin? Why don’t you come and see for yourself? Maybe you’ll like it.”

  While I wanted to, his grin told me he was up to no good. Plus, Lawson had warned me not to go there. But that only made me want to go more.

  However, I needed to speak to Lawson about the soul I wasn’t able to transition.

  “You’re not afraid, are you?” Vance taunted.

  “I’m not afraid, but I don’t have time. And I don’t trust you.”

  He leaned in closer as if to impart a secret. “Never trust a vampire.”

  “Yeah, I figured that out when you tried to bite me.”

  “You’re safe with me, though. At least in terms of biting. Your blood used to smell like honey. Now you have the stench of reaper blood.”

  “Lucky me.”

  “You could be lucky,” he said, his suggestion making his voice practically drip.

  “I thought you had a date.”

  “Raven loves when I bring a playmate with me.”

  Here I wasn’t able to kiss one guy without Treble going nuclear, and Vance was lining up playmates for a succubus.

  “I don’t want to know,” I said, walking away.

  “Girls say that, but then I find out what naughty thoughts are lurking behind their innocent smiles.”

  “Vance, what you do is your own business. But I don’t want to hear about it.
”

  “But you’re interested in Charlie’s, right?”

  “Not anymore.”

  “Wrong answer, little bite.”

  Before I could shift, he grabbed me, pulling me past pods and stopping at one that had a “C” etched into the side of it. He walked through, taking me with him.

  After my conversation with Vance, I was expecting a seedy place filled with succubi and vampires. What I found was an ordinary-looking corner street bar with a few men sitting at barstools.

  This was Charlie’s?

  I swatted away Vance’s grasp and scanned the interior. The wooden bar was old and worn, as were the barstools. The mirror behind the bar hadn’t been cleaned in decades, nor had the liquor bottles that perched on the high shelf. A pool table sat off to the side, the felt ripped in several spots. And a dartboard hung on the back wall. Only one crooked dart dangled from the board.

  Vance walked to the bar and sat down. “Raven,” he said to the bartender who had long, dark hair and tight clothes. Her boobs were pressed up to create cleavage galore, which Vance gazed at with appreciation. “We have a Charlie’s virgin in our midst. How would you like to welcome her?”

  Raven eyed me with a genuine smile. “You’re the new reaper. I’ve heard about you.”

  “Great,” I muttered under my breath as the few men that had been content to stare into their drinks looked over at me. I felt the weight of their stares.

  “You get a drink on the house,” she said, setting out a glass. When I placed my hands on the rail, she reached over and touched them. A low vibration ricocheted through me. It was sensuous, new, exciting, and . . . I loved her.

  When she let go of my hands, the sensation was gone.

  That was . . . weird.

  As Raven busily went about grabbing liquor bottles, Vance grinned. “Turned on?”

  “No,” I said.

  “Liar. People can’t get enough of her, including your Lawson.”

  “He’s not my Lawson. And he doesn’t report to me on who he sees.” Wait. Did that mean he was seeing Raven? But Vance was going on a date with her. He brought her playmates. I was confused.

  I was also curious. Lawson had cautioned about dating mortal humans, but what about him and a pretty succubus bartender? And he had warned me not to come here, yet it seemed rather safe. Maybe he didn’t want me to meet Raven. But why?

  “I thought you said you had a date with Raven,” I said.

  “He wishes,” a man in a jean jacket said as he walked around the bar to stand next to me. “You’re the new reaper?”

  I nodded.

  He studied me, his thick eyebrows clamping together as if he found something about me lacking.

  “Name’s MacLean,” he said. “You’re training with Boomer?”

  I nodded. “I don’t suppose you’d rather train me instead?” I asked, knowing anyone would be better than Boomer.

  He barked a laugh and leaned against the bar. “Raven, line them up. We got a rookie to break in. Consider this my training.”

  Break in? I sent Vance a concerned glance.

  “Time for the little bite to grow some fangs,” Vance said with a grin.

  Raven, who I now realized had been in the process of making me a drink, set the pink, fizzy drink in front of me and then lined up five shot glasses in front of each of us.

  “Did I mention I’m a minor?” I said.

  “You’re immortal,” Vance said, pushing the drink closer to me. “Rules no longer apply.” His smile was anything but innocent.

  I had wanted to see Charlie’s, but I was wary how this initiation would end.

  9

  I glanced at the pink drink that seemed to sparkle and swirl in the glass. “What is it?”

  “Your drink,” Raven said.

  “Raven creates a drink for each customer,” Vance said. “Besides her succubus skills, she has a knack for knowing everyone’s perfect drink.”

  “I’m not much for pink,” I said, wondering if her skills only applied to the male population.

  “Try it and see for yourself,” she said as she poured black liquid into the first shot glass of the five in front of me.

  I picked up the pink concoction and lifted it to my lips. At first sip, I could taste the sweet candy liquor with a hint of pineapple. There was something else, but I couldn’t place it. It was delicious, and my toes curled in happiness. The pink drink was liquid happiness.

  “It’s so good,” I said.

  She smiled. “What would you like to call it?”

  “Call it?”

  “It’s your drink. You can name it anything you want.”

  I thought about it, and all I could come up with was happy.

  “Happy juice,” I said.

  “You got it,” she said as she finished filling the shot glasses.

  I took another sip, feeling blissful. The warmth of it spread throughout me, and I felt a flush blooming on my cheeks. I never wanted to leave this happy place ever again. Maybe this was why Lawson came here and didn’t want me to know about it. Everything was happy here.

  And, if it was possible, I think Treble was happy as well. He stirred in me as if basking in the pink river running through my body.

  When Raven finished filling the shot glasses, MacLean picked up his first one, indicating I should as well. Once I had the black shot in my hand, Vance picked up his as well, glaring at the liquid.

  “From the land of the demons,” MacLean said. “Black death.”

  MacLean tossed it down his throat and growled as he shook off the taste. He then looked expectantly at me.

  I really didn’t want to drink something called black death. It probably tasted just as horrible as its name sounded.

  “Come on,” Vance said. “You’re learning.”

  “I’m not sure what I’m learning,” I said.

  “What the other species think is good,” Vance said. “If the demons love this swamp water, just imagine their temperament.”

  “I know a demon,” I said. “He seems okay.”

  “You know Ranger. He’s half demon. And, really, how well do you actually know him?”

  “Not really well,” I admitted. “But Lawson trusts him.”

  “And Lawson is always right,” Vance muttered, and then he slammed the shot, letting out the same growl MacLean did.

  While swampy death water didn’t sound appetizing, I was curious about it. Did Ranger like this stuff?

  I picked up the shot and hurried to drink it before my taste buds revolted.

  Too late.

  Nasty! Nasty stuff!

  Treble burst from me in a plume of blue smoke. “Nasty! It burns. It burns! Drink the pink stuff. Hurry. Hurry, I say!”

  I took a sip of it, and he calmed down.

  It was then that I realized the few patrons in the bar were staring at Treble and me. Well, more Treble than me.

  “Ignore him,” I said.

  “Uh, kind of hard to,” Vance said, eyeing the blue old man who perched on top of the bar, gazing longingly at the happy juice. “Who is he?”

  “Treble the Blue. Long story. Don’t ask.”

  “Treble the Blue?” MacLean questioned. “The blue crystal is why we fought Azrael. How did you get him?”

  “Originally, I was told the stone would help me train. But then the Supreme Elder was afraid of Azrael trying to steal the stone again, so he wanted me to bond with Treble. Had I known what a pain Treble is, I might have refused.” Well, not that I had had a choice.

  MacLean studied me again. “Why would they give him to you? You’re a rookie. How could you protect the stone?”

  “How indeed?” Vance echoed, looking at me as though he was putting puzzle pieces together. “First female reaper bonds with a stone that not even Azrael bonded with. You are becoming more interesting by the second.”

  I might have said too much.

  “I’m not interesting,” I said. “I can’t do anything or eat anything that Treble considers nasty.”


  “Nasty, huh?” Vance questioned. His tone was filled with suggestiveness that made me think of making out. Not with him. Just in general. Not that Vance wasn’t . . . I mean, he was cute. Like ridiculously cute.

  And the way his dark hair curled over the collar of his jacket made my fingers itch to run through his locks. But it was Vance. He bit me. He could have killed me. That wasn’t sexy. That wasn’t someone who I wanted to kiss.

  “No nasty kissing,” Treble announced as he eyed the glass. “More pink stuff.”

  “Kissing?” Vance questioned. “He thinks kissing is nasty? Sounds like he hasn’t found the right person yet.”

  “Treble thinks all kissing is nasty. If you were to try to kiss me, he’d make me punch you.”

  “Might be worth it,” he said, eyeing me. “Or it might not.”

  MacLean cleared his throat. “Second shot is the drink of the elves. I can’t pronounce it, but it sounds like Hivenstein.”

  “There are elves?” I asked.

  “You’ll probably never see one,” Vance said. “They hate your kind and can smell your dead blood a mile away.”

  “Good riddance,” MacLean said. “All I want is their liquor.” He tossed the clear liquid back and gave a hearty sigh.

  Vance drank his and said, “It’s not bad.”

  I tried it and was relieved that Vance was right. “Tastes like the sun.”

  Vance snorted. “What does that mean? You can’t taste the sun.”

  I shrugged. “I know. But it’s the first thing I thought of when I drank it.”

  “Drink the pink stuff,” Treble said.

  I took another sip and smiled. “Hey, Treble, we actually like the same thing for once.”

  “Now if you could only get him to like kissing,” Vance said with a grin. “So, who was the guy that Treble beat up?”

  “Just someone from school.”

  “I thought it might have been Lawson.”

  “Like he would kiss me,” I said. “The alcohol is affecting your judgment.”

  Speaking of alcohol, I was beginning to notice the effects. I felt a lightheadedness that I normally experienced when I stood too fast.

  “The third drink is called Golden Fire,” MacLean said. “It’s from the Guardians of Life.”