Death Wish

by Brooks, Harper A.

  “I know you miss your friends,” Simon began, walking around the desk, down the few steps, and over to me. He still wore his long black frock that billowed behind him whenever he moved. “I’ve been keeping a close eye on the Medium girl and her progress in her pregnancy.”

  Staying away from Kay had been the hardest thing I’d ever had to do. Of course, I hadn’t strayed too far, keeping a watchful eye from a distance where she couldn’t see me just to check in and make sure she was okay. But I hadn’t talked to her since the solstice to keep myself in Simon’s good graces.

  From what I’d observed, everything seemed to be going fine. But now, I was worried.

  I commanded my heartbeat to stay steady, but it jump-started on its own. After all this time and even while in spirit form, it still mimicked such living habits. “Is she okay?”

  Simon held up a hand to calm me. “She’s fine. Actually, better than fine.” There it was again—that touch of a smile that curled the corners of his mouth ever so slightly. If I’d blinked, I would have missed it. “She had her baby.”

  My heart started pounding for a different reason. Excitement filled me, followed by complete and utter fear. “Is the baby…?”

  “Completely normal. Yes.”

  Tears prickled my eyes. I sucked in a deep breath and held it for a few seconds to keep the tears from spilling over.

  We’d done it. The ritual had worked. Everything I had done had worked. Kay was saved. More than that, such a terrible, traumatic event had turned into something beautiful for both her and Laurence. They had brought life into this world. Completely demon free.

  “I think you should pay them a visit,” Simon went on.

  I froze. Had I heard him right?

  “What was that now?” I laughed in disbelief. “You want me to cross over not on assignment and interact with the living? Is this a test or something? Who are you and what have you done with Simon?”

  “No, this isn’t a test, and it’s me.” He reached out and touched my arm gently. To my even greater surprise, his palm was baby smooth and warm against my bare skin. “I’m not a callous monster. Even if you think I am sometimes.”

  I wouldn’t say callous monster… Maybe a tight-ass or a stick in the mud, but not a monster.

  “After everything you’ve been through, and with everything you’ve done for this woman, I think you deserve a little vacation time.” He paused, then added, “That is, if you don’t interfere with anyone else over there or reveal any more of our secrets. I’m still working on reactivating the censorship to prevent it from happening, but until then, no funny business. Visit your friend and come back. Do you understand?”

  I nodded, but my mind was already in what lay beyond the spirit door. Being able to talk to Kay again and meet her new little bundle of joy. I couldn’t believe Simon was giving me this chance. It was so…unlike him. Dare I say, rebellious?

  “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, Simon, but I like it.” I turned around, ready to speed walk back into the elevator and out of Styx Corp.

  “One more thing.” Simon’s words stopped me cold.

  I spun back around to face him. “Yes?”

  He held out something for me to take. It was small enough to fit in his hand with a shiny, flat face and two straps coming out of it. When I strolled over to him, I noticed that it was a watch. A fancy one with the Styx Corp. emblem glowing silver in the center.

  “We’ve upgraded from tablets,” he said as he passed it to me. “I always thought they were too bulky to carry around. These are lightweight and durable. It has all the functions on the tablet so your assignments can be viewed through here, and you and I can communicate if needed.”

  I hesitated, remembering how I had shattered Azrael’s tablet after learning my location was being monitored through it. “Can I be tracked through it?”

  “Only if you put out a distress signal,” he said. “That’s a new feature I had added in case a reaping assignment goes wrong, which seems to happen a little more than it should in your case.”

  Got that right.

  “Only then can I or another reaper come and find you. To help.”

  I strapped the flashy new watch onto my wrist. Just the small size of it had me liking it better than the bulky tablets Azrael had given us.

  “This is great. Thanks,” I said. “But does it tell the time?”

  Simon nodded. “I had to pay extra for that feature.”

  Was that…a joke? Holy crap. It was like Simon was a new man. Maybe he had gotten laid recently or something. But knowing him, he probably had just reorganized his closet at home to fit the feng shui. To him, it was practically the same thing.

  “Death assignments will show up in green, like before, and new assignments will pop up in red.”

  “Wait, new assignments?” I asked. “What do you mean?”

  “With the chaos of the veil thinning, especially during the solstice, many spirits were able to wander into the living world as haunts.”

  I’d witnessed this myself in the cemetery the evening we preformed the demon cure. Hundreds of spirits had stood around to watch us. I had questioned it then, too.

  “I know you struggle with separating yourself from the emotion that can come with reaping, so I’ve put you in charge of rounding these spirits up and bringing them back into the afterlife. Of course, you must still perform some reaper duties, but it won’t be as much as before. Edward has agreed to pick up whatever is left of the supernatural deaths to help out.”

  I couldn’t help myself. I leapt forward and wrapped Simon up in a hug.

  “Thank you,” I blurted out, unable to contain my happiness. To have him change so much just to accommodate me was a wonderful feeling. Especially after everything I had done to disobey him and almost cause him to get Released.

  He stood there, his body tense, unsure what to do, but after a few seconds, he softened and patted my back. When I pulled away, he was smiling. This time, it was an actual one, full of pride and admiration. Like a father might give his daughter.

  “Go on now. Go visit your friends,” he said, waving me off.

  Wasting no more time, I turned around and hurried to the elevator.

  Stepping inside, we met eyes once again.

  “Don’t make me regret this, Jade,” he said as the elevator chimed and the doors slowly began to close.

  I grinned and cupped one of my ears like I was struggling to make out his words. “What was that? I can’t hear you over this terrible jazz music.”

  “Jade, I’m serious,” he said, a little louder this time, his concern growing on his face.

  “You really need to change this music selections,” I shouted back.

  “Jade, don’t do anything I wouldn’t. Jade. Jade!”

  The doors sealed shut, cutting off his warnings.

  While the elevator descended, I laughed. As expected, the look on his face had been priceless. I didn’t know why I enjoyed teasing the man so much, but it sure was fun.

  When I reached the ground floor and the elevator let me out, I marched out to the lobby, passing Maryanne’s desk. The little troll of a woman popped her head up.

  “Blackwell,” she snipped, the way she always did.

  This time, I wasn’t in the mood for one of our usual tit for tats. I had somewhere important to be; I had to see Kay and Laurence while I could.

  “Can’t really chat today, Maryanne. I’m needed somewhere,” I said, still strolling toward the front doors.

  She slammed something on the desk so hard, it made me skid to a stop.

  “There’s a package here for you,” she said. “Come get it.”

  Curious, I walked over and snatched the yellow envelope, surprised at how much it weighed.

  As I marched away, I threw a quick “thanks” over my shoulder.

  “You’ve gotten fatter, haven’t you?” she shouted to my turned back.

  I held up a middle finger as I walked through the swinging doors and stepped outs
ide.

  As I went down the steps, my interest in the mystery package began to get the better of me. No one had ever sent me anything before.

  Making my way to the transporting portal, I ripped the top open and stuck my hand inside. Every muscle in my body tensed at what I felt. Something smooth, cold, and metallic to the touch.

  What I pulled out confirmed my assumptions. It was a gun. And it was loaded.

  The only other thing in the envelope was a sheet of paper with someone’s scribbly handwriting on it, which I had to squint to read.

  From what I could make out, it read: You were right. Sometimes it helps to have some backup.

  What was even more amazing was who had signed the bottom.

  Cole.

  How the heck—

  Weapons weren’t allowed in the afterlife for obvious reasons. Who needed a gun when everyone here was already dead? So how had he managed to get this to me? My only guess was Sean. Maybe it was something they’d discovered in one of the old texts? A way to get objects to cross over, too?

  I chuckled. Took him this long, but he finally let me get one of his guns.

  I played with it in my hand for a bit, testing its weight and fit. Knowing Cole, it was packed with some of his magic bullets, the ones made from iron and dipped in Holy Water, which could stun any spirit or demon. Now, if I ran into any more troublesome characters, like Tristen or Xaver, on my assignments, I had a way to defend myself.

  Simon would have a fit if he ever found out, I was sure, but like I always said, what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. Right?

  Making sure the safety was on, I tucked the gun in the waistband of my jeans. I stepped onto the platform and spoke the street name for my apartment on the other side of Fairport’s downtown area. As the portal swooped me up and carried me away, for once, my thoughts drifted to the future instead of the emptiness that dwelled in my past.

  I felt more like myself than I had in a long time.

  Harper A. Brooks lives in a small town on the New Jersey shore. Even though classic authors have always filled her bookshelves, she finds her writing muse drawn to the dark, magical, and romantic. But when she isn’t creating entire worlds with sexy shifters or legendary love stories, you can find her either with a good cup of coffee in hand or at home snuggling with her furry, four-legged son, Sammy.

  She writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance.

  Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

  Or visit her website at

  www.harperabrooks.com