Touch If You Dare

by Stephanie Rowe

  Natalie made a gagging sound.

  “And um… your tenth grade chemistry teacher?” What was his name? “Mr. Porcheesy? With the huge gut? Remember when we accidentally walked in on him in the men’s bathroom?”

  Another gagging sound, and Natalie’s blue eyes rolled back into sight. They were still glazed but visible. Making progress.

  “And—” God, she couldn’t think of anything else disgusting enough.

  “My New Year’s Eve date last year.” Trinity skidded to her knees beside them, her face red from exertion. “The one with a dozen tentacles where his boy toy was supposed to be. Remember how he gave us all a show?”

  Reina hugged her friend. “You made it!”

  “I’d never let you down.” Trinity set a bag of ice between Natalie’s legs. “Didn’t know if this would help, you know? Sort of the cold shower theory. Where’s Augustus? Is he here yet?”

  Reina scanned the stage, but there was no sign of the stinky assassin. “He said he’d be here in five minutes.” She pulled out her phone and dialed. “No answer. He needs to get here soon!”

  Trinity glanced over at Death. “It might be time to sleep with him to get the promotion, girlfriend.”

  Reina’s stomach churned as she looked over at the handsome, wealthy bachelor clad in his designer clothes. “Sleep with him? That’s just gross.”

  “There are times for morals in the workplace, and there are times to engage in every subversive and manipulative and illegal tactic to get what you want. Now is one of those times.”

  “No. Augustus will be here. He has to be—”

  Gina ran up, sank down by Natalie’s head, and pulled her onto her lap. “Hang on, girl, we’re almost there.” She looked at Reina. “We have to make the switch. She’s dying right now!”

  “I know, dammit! I know!”

  Trinity patted her shoulder. “Just close your eyes and imagine Death is actually Jarvis. Then you’ll be able to sleep with him.”

  Reina’s chest ached at the mention of Jarvis, and she knew she would never be able to sleep with someone else, not even to save her sister. “No. I’ll just ask him to do it. I’ll trade something else.”

  “Something else? All he values is sex and money, and you don’t have any of the latter—”

  “I have to try.” Reina turned toward the battle that was still ensuing. “Death!” She started to run toward him, and Cupid leapt in her path. His eyes were blazing with fury, his skin was flushed with rage, and he was wielding a golden sickle with double hearts imprinted on the blade like he knew how to use it.

  The all-powerful Guardian of Love was pissed, and he was going to take it out on her. Screw love. This Guardian had death in his eyes. Hers.

  ***

  “Get the rest of the rocks. Hurry up.”

  The sound of Nigel’s calm voice was like the angels shining down on Jarvis. He wrenched open his eyes to see Nigel leaning over him, his hands glowing like a couple of neon fireflies.

  Nigel was wearing a bandana decorated with pink flowers, and blood was streaked down his face. “Welcome back, buddy.”

  “We need to get inside. I need to get to Reina.” Jarvis started to sit up, and Nigel pushed him down.

  “Not done yet. Healing takes longer when you’re not juicing me.”

  Blaine sprinted up to them, his hand full of purple rocks. He was on fire, flames licking away at his body. “The minute I turn the flames off, I hate the world.” He dropped his load on Jarvis’s gut, and Jarvis winced at the pain. “You’re one bad shit, man. I keep setting everyone on fire to clean them up. The place is an unholy mess.”

  Jarvis sat up, gingerly this time. He had arms, a chest, and a lumpy torso but his legs were still a pile of purple pebbles. Around them was total chaos. People were shouting at each other. Fistfights. A taxicab in the window of a bar. Shit. What had his explosion done to Reina? “I gotta go.”

  “Give me a sec, pretty boy.” Nigel moved his hands over Jarvis’s leg, and heat began to pulse. The rocks began to melt together, turning back into limbs. “This isn’t like regrowing an arm. This takes finesse, expertise, and phenomenal talent, so give the master room to work a miracle.”

  Blaine squatted. “The boys have the last of the stones. That’s all we can find.”

  “The boys?”

  Rocco and Sylvan came running up, holding more rocks.

  “He blew a total land mine,” Rocco said. “Found these three blocks away.” The youth’s face was flushed (well, it was off-white, which was ruddy as hell for a vamp). His chest was healed, and he was wearing a headband made of flowers. And he had a knife at his hip. The kid was alive and fighting.

  And Jarvis had done it. Jarvis had really saved his life with hate, just as Reina had predicted. “Holy crap.” He needed to tell her that she’d been right. That he was the man she’d thought he was. “Heal me now, Nigel!”

  “Patience, big guy,” Nigel muttered. “A little help from you would be nice. Either that, or shut up.”

  Sylvan dropped the rocks near where Jarvis’s knee was starting to take shape. “Welcome back, Lord Hate. It’s great to see you again.”

  “I’m not Lord Hate—” But even as he said the words, Jarvis felt the heaviness of his body, of his heart, and he knew he was truly back. Magnificent didn’t even begin to describe how good it was to feel the weight of the end of the world pulsing through his veins.

  Sylvan held up Jarvis’s sword. “Would you like this?”

  “Hell, yeah.” He took his sword and began whipping it over his head. He sucked in all the heat energy in the area, absorbed all the hate, the anger, the fury. Drew it in from people, from cars, from plants, from the four men surrounding him. Channeled it until his sword was pulsing with it.

  Then he jammed it into Nigel’s shoulder.

  “Now that’s what I’m talking about.” Nigel crowed. The healer’s skin turned black, smoke rose from his hands, and black light exploded all around them.

  When it faded, Jarvis was healed. Legs, feet, torso, and his family jewels. He was back. Black palms at all.

  “Reina! I’m coming!” He was on the move before anyone had recovered enough to blink.

  This was one second chance he wasn’t going to blow.

  ***

  Cameron’s eyes were blazing with fury, and his body was shaking with rage. He slammed his palm into Reina’s chest, knocking her to the ground. “You ruined my matchmaking between your sister and the orgasm king!”

  She scrambled backwards. “Cameron! You can’t murder. It will destroy love—”

  “You destroyed it already. They were in love, and you killed him.” He reached into his quiver and pulled out an arrow. “Screw the paid victims. You’re my first death. You don’t deserve to live.”

  Reina threw dust at him, and he unleashed his own powder at the same time. Their particles collided and dissolved in midair, and he jammed an arrow into her thigh. She yanked it out, but even as she threw it away, a sense of peace came over her. Of love.

  Somewhere in the depths of her mind, she was vaguely aware of someone screaming, of the feeling that this serenity was wrong. But as she stared up into Cameron’s face, she couldn’t make herself care.

  For the first time in her life, there was no ache in her heart.

  “Reina!”

  She saw her sister writhing on the stage. Trinity and Gina struggling to contain her. Behind them, one tanned hand reached over the edge of the stage. Then another one. And then the Godfather’s bloody head appeared. Inching his way back. Through blood. Through carnage. To her sister.

  “I’m going to lose her,” she whispered. “I’m going to be alone.” But the thought didn’t cause pain. She just felt love for her sister, for the times they had shared. Her mind drifted to Jarvis, and she smiled. What a lovely man.

  “Feels good, doesn’t it?” Cameron squatted beside her, his long hair brushing his knees. “Tell me how wonderful I am. Tell me that I’m a god.” He put the microphone
in front of her. It squealed. “Tell me how you feel right now.”

  She marveled at the way his golden highlights glistened in the stadium lights. She brushed her fingers through his hair. “I feel good.”

  He brought the microphone to his own mouth. “I feel good,” he repeated. “And now I’m going to kill you. How do you feel about that?”

  Something tweaked deep in her mind, something shouted at her to fight, but she couldn’t break the hold he had on her body, on her mind. The feeling of peace and love was too all-consuming, as if she’d been searching for it her whole life.

  But she knew she didn’t want this kind of peace. It wasn’t the answer. This love was disempowering, robbing her of her ability to truly care about and fight for those she loved. She’d take the pain of loving and losing over this artificial void all day long! I don’t want it!

  Death and the Reap were still fighting, and there were pools of blood on the stage. She looked over at her sister, who was fighting off Trinity and Gina as they tried to pull her away from the approaching Godfather. Behind them, pulling himself along like a snake shedding his skin, was Augustus. He’d made it! But wow… he was not having a good day. No arms, no legs, just a body, slithering, but his gaze was fixed determinedly on Natalie. He was going to save her? He was going to save her!

  Then Natalie flung up her arm in ecstasy, clipped Augustus, and sent his disintegrating body flying off the stage and out of sight.

  The one time you want a hit man to be up and running, he has to go and have his body fall apart. What was up with that? There was no one to help her break free of Cameron’s hold. No one except herself. Not good odds—

  Cameron stood up, and she jerked her attention back to the naked murderer. “She smiled! I, the Guardian of Love, can take the fear of death away! I rule!” He lifted his hands in a grand flourish. “Applaud!”

  The place erupted into cheers.

  “It is time!” Cameron said, pulling out his sickle. “Behold, the transformation of love into a killing machine.” Dust drifted down over Reina’s face, and a milky white mist appeared above her hair. Her soul. Coming out to play. Drawn by the powder.

  He raised the sickle over his head to resounding cheers. He was going to cleave her soul while she was still conscious.

  Fight, Reina, fight! She tried to move her hands. To scream. But her body didn’t respond. She just gazed up with him with an inane smile.

  And then the blade came down.

  ***

  Jarvis broke through the crowds of cheering women just as Reina rolled to the side, barely dodging his brother’s sickle as it crashed to the stage beside her head. Cameron slammed his foot on her throat, pinned her down, and reared back to deliver the killing blow.

  Jarvis hurled his sword with unerring aim. It plunged right through the heart of the man he’d sacrificed his whole life to protect.

  Cameron looked up, his face stunned. “Jarvis?”

  “What are you doing?” Nigel shouted. “Are you crazy? Killing love?”

  Jarvis vaulted onto the stage. He grabbed the handle of his sword but didn’t remove it. He paused to think of Reina, to open his heart to her, to allow his feelings for her to sweep through his body. When his chest got so full he could barely breathe, he reached for the heat energy in his brother’s body. The love that was the other side of hate. He tugged gently and it came willingly.

  Jesus. It was working. He focused on his sword and began to harvest energy with full force, until he’d sucked every last bit out the man who’d been entrusted with it. His sword flashed red, then white, then pink, then became a fiery red caked with blackened ash.

  “Dude. You blow.” Cameron still looked shocked. “You’re supposed to protect me, not kill me.”

  Jarvis slid his sword out of his brother. “You betrayed those who gave you Guardianship.”

  “Me? You’re the one who stabbed me!”

  Jarvis looked at his palms. The black stains were mixed with pink now. Holy crap. He’d done it. He held up his hand to show his brother. “I didn’t kill you. I took love from you.” And it had survived. It was alive inside his blackened, poisonous body. Because Reina had changed him. Her faith had changed him forever.

  “You took my love?” Cameron leapt to his feet. “It’s mine! You can’t take it! I own love—”

  Blaine knocked Cameron out with a light tap to the temple. “Shut up.”

  “Jarvis?” Reina was on her knees, staring at him in disbelief. “But you’re dead.”

  “Hey, babe.” He crouched beside her and his whole body came alive at her nearness. “I came back. Told you I’m hard to kill.”

  She touched his face, and his soul vibrated in response. “You’re really alive? And you’re the Guardian of Love now?”

  “Hell, yeah, sweetheart. I’m the whole shebang now.” He laid his hand over hers. “Yeah, I came back for you, and you showed me how to—”

  “Reina!” Trinity screamed. “Help!”

  They turned to see Natalie and the Godfather going at it. Full-on naked tango. Natalie was screaming and her body was on fire.

  “Oh, God. I’m too late,” Reina gasped. “I can’t switch them—”

  “Death can,” Jarvis interrupted.

  But the most powerful being in creation was on his back, trying desperately to hold the Reap’s blade off his throat. And it was clear he was losing the battle.

  “Make the Reap love.” Reina gripped his forearm desperately. “You can do it.”

  Shit. He probably could. Jarvis grabbed the bow from his brother and loaded it. “You love Death,” he whispered. Then he shot it.

  The arrow hit cleanly in the Reap’s ass, and he leapt off Death. “Young buck! I almost killed you! I apologize profusely!”

  Jarvis was stunned. He’d just created love? Not hate. He’d just created love. His heart began to lift, and lift, and lift—

  Death scrambled to his feet, his face ashen with the realization of how close he’d just come to death. “Nice work, Swain—”

  “Switch their souls!” Reina commanded as she ran toward Death. “Switch my sister and Gina! Now!”

  Death looked sharply across the stage, and Jarvis saw him analyze everything that was going on. He glanced at the Reap, who was now on his knees using his cloak to polish Death’s shoes. He looked Jarvis in the eye, then he flicked his hand toward the women.

  Natalie shrieked again, and then she was dead.

  Chapter 25

  Reina’s soul shriveled when her sister convulsed and went still. “Natalie!” She started to run toward her, but Jarvis caught her around the waist.

  “Look.” He pointed at Gina, who was now slumped in a pile on the ground, her back toward them. All Reina could see were her hunched shoulders and rounded back.

  She gripped Jarvis’s hand, hanging for support as she looked between the two women. “Nat?”

  Gina’s shoulder moved.

  “Natalie?” Hope seized her heart, but she didn’t dare move. Didn’t dare jinx it.

  “I did it again!” The Godfather let out a horrific bellow and scrambled backwards. “I am a demon! I killed her!”

  “Hey, big guy.” Nigel caught his arm as he tried to throw himself on Cameron’s sickle. “Suicide’s a little extreme, don’t you think? Chill out. Borrow my sketch pad.”

  Gina rolled onto her side and opened her eyes. They were Natalie’s vibrant blue ones. Natalie’s face. Natalie’s hair. Gina’s clothes, but Natalie’s face.

  Reina gaped at her, then looked back at the woman beneath the Godfather. Gina’s dark curly hair. Gina’s paler complexion. “But—”

  “Our souls define us,” Jarvis said quietly. “Natalie’s soul was switched with Gina’s, and their external appearance is changing to align with the soul within.”

  “So, they got switched? Nat?” Reina inched nearer, afraid to hope, afraid to believe.

  “It’s her.” Jarvis gave her a light push. “Go to your sister, sweetheart. It’s over.”


  Natalie grinned, her tears sliding down her cheeks. “It’s me, sweetie. You did it. You really did it!”

  Reina knelt beside her and searched those familiar blue eyes in a body that was still wearing Gina’s clothes. “How do you feel? Did you take the poison with you?”

  Natalie shook her head. “There’s this great silence inside me, like this other being that’s been in my body all these years is gone. It’s just me.”

  “Oh, Nat!” Reina threw her arms around her sister and hugged her. Unable to let go. Unable to stop the flood of tears. “I love you,” she said.

  And she really did, in a way she’d never before allowed herself to love. Her whole body was vibrating in a way she’d never felt, not even when Cam had shot her with the arrow. She’d thought she loved in the past, but she’d been holding back, hamstrung by the fear of loss. But right now, in this moment, she was letting herself truly love her sister. She’d proclaimed love all this time and she’d been a fraud.

  But not anymore.

  Trinity crawled over to them, sweat pouring down her face. She said nothing. She simply wrapped them both in a hug and held them.

  It was over.

  ***

  “You’re shitting me. You’re the Guardian of both now?” Nigel studied Jarvis’s sword, which was still pink and black. “How come you’re not destroying yourself?”

  “Because love is stronger than hate. I’ll keep myself under control now. No more explosions.” Jarvis’s throat was thick with emotion as he watched the three women embrace. He could feel their love, and he’d never felt it before. Nothing like this. He was used to feeling hate. Not love.

  It was unsettling as hell, and there was a gaping emptiness cleaving his chest in half.

  Because he’d blown it.

  He’d had the chance with the girl, but he’d been a stupid bastard and rejected her faith in him. He’d died on her instead. He’d betrayed her, failed her, and abandoned her. She’d recovered and moved on, put her love into those who hadn’t let her down.