Reaper

by Laura Greenwood

  There weren’t any flames, which surprised me. Somehow, I’d expected the human visions of Hell to be fairly accurate, though I had no idea why. It wasn’t like anyone who ever visited managed to return. I parked that concerning thought for later. First, I needed to find my way around. Second, I needed to work out where Than was. Third, I needed to save him. Fourth, I needed to get Chesca off my back. And fifth, I needed to find a way to get me and Than out of Hell.

  Easy enough, right?

  Eleven

  I wiped sweat off my brow, already hating the heat down here. Least I knew where the term hot as Hell came from now. Tuned out the humans got something right after all. Though how they discovered that fact was beyond me. Maybe that Greek myth about saving a dead soul from Hell was true after all? Who knew, as far as I could tell, the Greeks were a shady lot to say the least. Not as shady as the Romans mind. Part of me always wished that I’d been born early enough to see the ancient civilisations. It must have been pretty cool after all. About thirty seconds later I remembered they didn’t have chocolate or hot showers, and liked to sacrifice people to gain favour from something that didn’t even exist. Yep. The belief in Gods and Goddesses kind of baffled me. Angels, Demons, and Reapers. That was the lot that didn’t interact with the people of earth. Of course, the shifters, vampires and other paranormals had always been about, no one knew where they even came from, but they didn’t count. They could talk to humans, form friendships, even have relationships with them if they really wanted. Unlike us. We were just stuck observing.

  Well, apart from me. Being in Hell is hardly observing. Not actively participating either, not without any humans around to interact with. I did wonder if there’d be any though. Surely they weren’t just floating around like the black sticky soul, that would just be kind of pointless if they were sent here to suffer.

  “You made it then?”

  I spun around, palming my daggers and holding them out towards the voice, only relaxing when I realised it was Lindsay stood in front of me. “No thanks to you,” I muttered.

  “I’m not allowed to tell you how to get here, Anima.”

  “A hint would have been nice.” I pouted. Then stopped. What was I doing pouting in the middle of Hell? That was weird even for me. Lindsay sighed, and I just noticed that she had wings. That was…odd. I’d never seen those before. She caught me staring and folded them back inwards, the black feathers resting neatly against her back, not unlike the wings Elijah had whenever I saw him.

  “It’s not nice to stare,” she snapped.

  “Sorry,” I replied instantly, more habit than anything else. I might be on the sarcastic side, but I didn’t want anyone saying I didn’t have any manners. “It’s just you’ve never had them before.” Well, there went that. Stupid Anima. I wouldn’t like it if someone pointed out my bare arms, but here I was pointing out bits of someone else’s body. Talk about double standards.

  “I can’t hide them here. Apparently lesser Demons need to know I’m one of the Fallen.”

  Oh. Well that was interesting. I’d always been under the impression that Lindsay was a normal Demon, but to find out she was a Fallen Angel? That changed things. It certainly changed how I saw her and Elijah. There was clearly something between the two of them, and if it was what I thought, then maybe it predated Lindsay’s fall.

  But seriously, why was I thinking about this? I had more pressing things to do. Like rescue kidnapped Reapers and defeat the Demon who appeared to be after me.

  “Sorry,” I muttered again, already having been silent for too long. Add awkward to the list of words to describe me then. Along with rude. Eurgh, Hell really didn’t help paint me in a good light.

  “It’s fine, I get it. But rather than focusing on my wings, maybe you should be focusing on the fact your arms are glowing.” She glanced down at my arms that are bare as a result of me pushing up my sleeves in the heat. Damn. Hadn’t even realised I’d done that, it normally wasn’t my style at all.

  More shocking still was the fact she was right. My arms did in fact seem to be glowing. Not just that, but they seemed to have faint lines, almost like… “Tattoos,” I whispered, causing Lindsay to laugh.

  “You are a Reaper, there’s no need to sound so surprised.”

  “A tattoo-less one,” I reminded her.

  “Apparently not.” She nodded down at my arms again, drawing my attention back to them. A soft pale-ish gold light traced the lines that didn’t look dissimilar to Than’s markings, except not black. This wasn’t making any sense in the slightest, and I hated it. Things should always make sense.

  “But-”

  “I can’t answer questions.”

  “Why not?” I demanded, instantly regretting it. Making myself sound like a sullen teenager was never going to get me anywhere really.

  “Because I can’t. There are some things I’m banned from speaking of. It’s how the fall works. What I did in Heaven is off limits. This falls under that.” She folded her arms, pushing her wings up.

  This just seemed to be getting odder and odder by the second. For a start without Gods and Goddesses, I’d have thought that falling from Heaven wasn’t actually possible, though I’d heard enough rumours, and now I’d seen a member of Fallen, so I couldn’t really dispute that it happened. The main question I had was why, but the thunderous look on Lindsay’s face told me not to push it. She was never going to tell me.

  “Okay,” I replied slowly. “What can you tell me?” I added, hoping she’d let something slip about my suddenly glowing arms. She must know something, or she wouldn’t be telling me that she couldn’t say anything, right?

  “Not much. I can say that what’s happening now is to do with why Chesca wants you.”

  “Great.”

  “And that Chesca is like me,” she said softly, almost as if she didn’t really want me to hear. But I do, and I snap my head up so that I’m looking straight into her eyes.

  “What?”

  “Chesca is like me,” she repeated.

  “One of the Fallen?” I needed to hear her say it, or I was never going to truly believe it.

  “Yes, Chesca is one of the Fallen.”

  “Fuck.” Eloquent, I know, but if there’d been a chair behind me, I’d have fallen into it from shock. And probably broken it, knowing my luck.

  Chesca was one of the Fallen. I repeated it round my head a few times. If Chesca had been an angel once, what did that mean for me?

  More than a small part of me dreaded finding out.

  Twelve

  “Nim, Nim!” Than’s voice called out as I entered yet another dark room. Well, space. I’d hardly call them rooms, they weren’t exactly contained. But so far, all they’d been was dark. With no one about. No sounds. Nothing. Hell sure was a creepy place. I’d have to remember not to come back again. If I got out. Nope. Not going to follow that train of thought, it really wasn’t worth it.

  “Nim, Nim!” His voice called out through the room again and I pivoted on the spot, trying to work out where exactly it came from. Unfortunately, the room was particularly echo-y, which wasn’t making things easy for me. Stupid Hell. Stupid Anima for getting stuck in Hell. No, wait, stupid Than for getting himself kidnapped. Yes, I was going to blame Than. That was probably the best option.

  Deciding that the left-hand side of the room was probably my best option, I skirted that way, trying to be as sneaky as possible, even though there wasn’t anyone else in here as far as I could tell. Though there was the very eerie sense of being watched. That’d been here since I’d arrived though, so I decided it was best to just ignore it. The other option was worrying about what was following me, and that was an even less pleasant idea than thinking about what Chesca was possibly doing to Than.

  I almost jumped out of my skin as a scream pierced the silence around me. Probably shouldn’t think things like that in Hell, I probably could lose my skin here just by thinking the wrong thing. Cheery thought. Maybe that was how Hell worked, it impregnated pe
ople’s minds with things that scared them, then fed off it. Or some shit like that. Knowing Demons like I did, that was probably accurate.

  A bright light had me shielding my eyes for a few seconds, and when I removed my arm, the whole wall in front of me alight with...something. It wasn’t natural light that was for sure, and it was kind of a little bit glowy. Like those glow worms in the James and the Giant Peach film that human kids seem to like. Basically, it was eerie as fuck, and not at all like I’d expected Hell to be.

  I studied the wall, shocked to find it was kind of translucent, and there was something behind it, but I couldn’t quite work out what it was. I reached out a hand and touched the wall, pulling it back instantly when I felt a slight stickiness. What was it with Hell and sticky? First souls, now walls? Eurgh, I’d be glad to be back on earth and able to have a hot shower so I could get rid of all the ickiness that was covering me. But despite that, something else had happened when I’d touched the wall...it had almost cleared.

  Bracing myself, I reached forward again, this time I managed to hold on longer, and a small window of space completely cleared, allowing me to see within and instantly making me wish I hadn’t.

  Than was in there, strapped to something, and it looked like he was screaming, though I couldn’t hear it any longer. It was probably a case of me hearing when they wanted me to, but otherwise they wanted to keep me in suspense. The bastards. Hadn’t they heard of a bit of compassion? No, of course not. Why would they? They were Demons, and while there were a few good ones who were just a little tricksy, like Lindsay, there were a lot of truly evil ones. And when I said evil, it made the worst human, Reaper, or paranormal, ever look like a good person. And some of them had been pretty shitty towards their fellow beings.

  I pushed against the wall, hoping it would break and let me through. Maybe then I could get to Than and make him stop screaming. I had no idea how, but I would. And anyone who tried to stop me would find themselves in big, big trouble. Not to mention dead. Very, very dead. Though I had no idea if Demons could even die in Hell. Angels couldn’t in Heaven, so it made sense they were safe in their own home. Shame the rest of us weren’t. Unfortunately, nothing happened. Except that my hand got a bit stickier. Great.

  “Oh, tut, tut, Anima, you don’t think you can get through here, do you?” a handsome man asked, walking away from where Than was strapped down, to the wall on the other side of where I was stood. He was tall, and broad, with a shaved head and arms that looked like they could lift a tank. A.k.a. not someone I wanted to get into a fight with. Not at all. I couldn’t even tell what kind of Demon he was. Probably not one of the Fallen, he didn’t have the feathery wings for that. But something bad, clearly.

  “Let me in?” I asked as sweetly as I could, kind of proud of myself for actually pulling it off. It wasn’t exactly easy pretending to be cute when, really, you wanted to chop someone’s head off. The man chuckled deeply, shaking his head. As if I needed that to know he wasn’t going to let me.

  “I can’t let you in, Anima. Have you not considered that we may not be here?”

  “What?” I demanded, my head already scrabbling to make sense of what he was saying. I could see the man. I could see Than, how could they not be there?

  “Maybe we’re just a figment of your imagination, something conjured because you fear it. Which makes me wonder...” He tapped his finger to his cheek as if deep in thought. “Is it me you’re scared of, or him you’re scared for?” He glanced over at Than and I tried not to do the same. I couldn’t let on just how much he meant to me, or I’d just make things worse for him. And by the look of things, Than was having it pretty bad already.

  “You must be somewhere, take me there,” I growled, surprising myself with my own ferocity.

  “Tut, tut, Anima, losing it already?” He laughed again, a hollow sound that definitely held no real amount of mirth. Who was this guy? And why the fuck was he messing with me?

  “Where are you?”

  “I can’t tell you that.” He smiled widely, showing off a row of scarily pointed teeth. Ick, I did not want to think about what he did with those.

  “Who are you?”

  “I can’t tell you that either.”

  “Why?”

  “Not happening, Anima.” He looked so amused, all I wanted to do was claw the stupid smirk off his face.

  “Nim, Nim!” Than screaming my name, broke through the staring match I seemed to accidentally be in. I looked over towards him, shocked to see that he was writhing around in pain.

  “Let him go,” I ground out through gritted teeth.

  “No.”

  “You don’t even want him, you want me, so let him go.”

  “Well that’s not true is it? I don’t want you. I just want you to suffer.” He stepped away from the wall, still grinning like a fool. Before I could do anything else, darkness fell again, hiding the man from me. Hiding Than from me. Damn, how I missed his over protectiveness right now.

  Except there still seemed to be a soft glow about. Glancing down, I noticed my arms were glowing again, the soft gold light glowing through my sleeves. I’d forgotten about that. I should probably figure out what it meant.

  Thirteen

  I prowled forward, checking each and every direction as I walked. Maybe I was being a little paranoid, but given all the shit that seemed to have happened while I was in Hell already, I wanted to be careful. Basically, the moral of the story, was: ‘don’t visit Hell’. It fucking sucked. It was sticky and sweaty and hot, and caused weird glowing marks on my arm that I had no explanation for.

  The next room I entered was dark, much like the last one, though it was also filled with an odd hissing noise I didn’t want to think about. Maybe it was just a broken pipe, or some weird kind of immersion heater or something, not the one thing that truly terrified me. How the fuck would the Demons know about that? Or maybe it wasn’t the Demons. Maybe there was something hardwired into Hell itself that brought my worst fears to life.

  I really hoped not. Something touched my foot, and annoyingly, I screeched in response, jumping backwards and letting out a highly unladylike string of curses. Eh. People probably gave up on me being a lady a long time ago. Not that I blamed them. I cursed a lot, and didn’t really give a damn.

  Lights flickered, like lightning striking over and over again, and I tried not to look around the room I was in. I really did try. But it was kind of impossible not to, the curiosity would have killed me otherwise.

  Though of course, I regretted looking around the moment I did. It was like the floor moved. Like a living creature writhing about. I really didn’t want to recognise the fact it wasn’t a living creature, it was multiple living creatures. And ones I truly hated. And they were touching me. And I wanted it to be over.

  Actually, what I really wanted, was to run out of the room and never look back. That way I wouldn’t have to face one of my worst nightmares. Something hissed louder, and I really started to wonder if I’d be able to do this. What was I even thinking? I mean, I knew Hell would involve facing horrors...it was Hell, after all. But my personal horrors? That kind of surprised me. I wasn’t dead, or at least, I didn’t think I was, so why was the place responding as if I was?

  Or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe this was just what happened when you were an intruder somewhere you really shouldn’t be.

  The lights flickered again, seemingly longer this time. Eurgh, that was not helping. Not with the greens and browns I’d seen. Fucking snakes. Why was it always snakes? Creepy things, with their slick scales and beady eyes. They always made me feel like they were watching me, waiting for me to make a mistake and take advantage of that. It was silly, I knew that. Especially considering I lived in a country that barely had any snakes. Like literally two species, and even the poisonous one wouldn’t kill a human if they bit. Never mind a Reaper. So yes, a completely stupid fear, yet there was very little I could do about it.

  I backed away, trying to find where I’d entered the room. I
f I could get through the doorway again, then maybe I could find another way around. After all, this place was a maze, I was sure there was another way to get where ever I wanted to go. There must be, I refused to accept it otherwise. I didn’t even know where I was going so what did it matter how I got there?

  But then, knowing my luck, the whole place would cover itself in snakes just to spite me. I shivered. Couldn’t it have been spiders? Most people are scared of them. They’d have been fine.

  My back hit the wall, and I let out a soft grunt. Huh, I kind of expected the door to be here. And if it wasn’t, then where the fuck had it gone? Doors didn’t just disappear there? Or did they here? That’d be just my luck.

  A rattled joined the hiss. Oh, holy freaking fuck. That did not sound good. The lights flickered again, but this time, they stayed on. Well that was just peachy. Now I could see the writhing mass of reptiles that carpeted the floor in front of me. And the ceiling above me. And the walls.

  I jumped away from the wall, really wanting to wipe myself down and get rid of the slime I was sure covered me. Yes, alright, I knew snakes weren’t really slimy, but it was hard to remember that when I was looking at so many of them slithering around me.

  I couldn’t find anywhere to step that wasn’t covered in the things. So gingerly, I put my foot down, hoping to avoid touching as many as possible. I should probably just give up, I realised that, but some fears are illogical.

  Glancing up, I found myself taking a step back again, hitting the wall, but not being repulsed this time. No. This time, I had bigger things to deal with, like the massive snake the size of an airplane that was looking at me with its creepy black pits of eyes. Okay, saying it was the size of an airplane was a little of an exaggeration. But it was easily big enough to you know, crush me to death if it tried. Or snap me in two with its jaw. You know, normal snake stuff. Maybe if I stayed really still, it wouldn’t actually notice me, and I’d get away without it attacking. Pfft because that seemed likely.