Death's Curses

by Becca Fox

  “Restraints!” someone in my headset cried. Then a boom, like a canon firing.

  “We’ve got you,” Vanessa said with satisfaction. “It’s over.”

  The officer acting as my human shield moved out of the way so I could see. The Velazquezes were on the ground, struggling with thick rope netting. Vanessa and four other officers were coming down on them, shooting tasers to try to keep the immortal couple from wriggling free of the netting. Finally, they were both cuffed, hands and feet and chest.

  It really was over.

  “Charlie?”

  I blinked down at the phone I still clutched in my hand. My knuckles ached. I slowly loosened my grip.

  “Yeah?” I croaked.

  “What’s going on? Are you all right?” Angela asked.

  “They got them.” I choked on a laugh.

  Angela wept freely while Jerald murmured reassurances in the background.

  I could only savor the victory for a moment because I got this slimy, gross feeling in my stomach. I gagged.

  “Whoa, you okay, Charlie?” my former human shield asked.

  I had just enough time to shake my head before I slumped forward and was catapulted into a vision.

  Jasmine stood in the middle of her glass birdhouse on the roof of the precinct. She was wearing one of my old hoodie sweaters and a jean miniskirt with those faithful, clunky swampers. She had a hollow look on her face. A painful little smile made it seem like she had indigestion. Looking up at her birds, she said, “This is where I say goodbye, friends.”

  Then she took a knife out of her bucket of birdseed.

  “Jazz,” I said, my heart jumping around, “what are you doing?”

  “Goodbye, little brother,” she whispered, pressing the blade to her arm.

  “Don’t!” I leapt forward. I knew it wouldn’t do any good, but I couldn’t just stand there and watch her hurt herself.

  I stumbled through her and spun around to see what happened next. The cut was long, starting at her wrist and ending at the crook of her elbow. Blood surged up and poured out, dripping onto the floor. The sight made me dry heave. Jasmine hissed, curling in on herself. After peeling her eyes open, she frantically searched the birdhouse. Maybe she was waiting for Death to appear. I knew I was. From the look of that cut, she’d bleed out in a few minutes unless someone intervened. And where was I? An hour away.

  My breaths came out in short, quick gasps. Where was Death? Why wasn’t she coming?

  A look of panic crossed Jasmine’s face before she steeled herself and pressed the bloody tip of the knife against her other arm.

  “Will you desist?” Death snarled, appearing out of thin air with a faint popping sound. She was just like Jasmine had described; young, pale, thin, with impossibly long, dark hair and violet eyes. She might’ve appeared human but her ghost-like aura proved she most definitely wasn’t.

  “I’ve come to make a trade,” Jasmine said defiantly, “and I’m going to keep trying to kill myself until you agree.”

  “You presume that I will allow you to manipulate me this way?” Death practically snarled.

  “You need me.” Jasmine blinked hard, swaying a little. She pointed her knife at Death and gave her best intimidating glare. “I know you need me.”

  I looked from one crazy girl to the next, like I was watching the most intense tennis match of my life. The silent minutes stretched on. Not even the birds dared to make a sound. My chest hurt because my heart was smashing against it so hard.

  “Will you just save her already?” I screamed, gesturing wildly at the ever-growing pool of blood at my sister’s feet.

  As if she heard me, Death sighed heavily and scraped the edge of one hand against the palm of the other. The cut along my sister’s arm closed up like a zipper. Jasmine staggered back and landed on the floor on her butt. Then the vision ended.

  I lurched upright, saying, “I have to go.”

  “What? Why?” the officer asked.

  “It’s Jasmine.”

  “What about Jasmine?” Angela asked, suddenly nervous.

  I brought the phone closer. “She’s being stupid. I have to go stop her before she does something she regrets. Can you get to the precinct? I’m about an hour away.”

  “Yes, but I doubt they’ll let us in,” Angela said.

  “She’s on the roof. Tell the front desk you were sent by me and Vanessa; I’ll have her call the precinct to give the order to let you up. I’m gonna find a car I can take back.”

  “All right. Be careful.”

  I hung up and yanked the headset off before turning to the officer. “I have to go. Now.”

  “It’s not safe.”

  Ducking around his outstretched arm, I jumped out of the van and raced toward Vanessa.

  “Jasmine’s in trouble,” I blurted out.

  She tossed her keys to a nearby officer. “Take him to the precinct. Drive fast but don’t you dare put a scratch on my car.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Vanessa,” I said, heart racing, mind reeling, stomach frothing.

  “Go.” She nodded solemnly. “I’ve got this.”

  “Can you...call the precinct? Tell them to let the Smiths in?” I managed.

  “Of course.”

  Backing away, I whispered, “Thank you.”

  * * *

  Chapter 42

  Jasmine

  “Well?” Death grumbled impatiently. “I am here. What do you want? What is this trade you speak of?”

  I was shaking. That was way too close.

  I’d never felt so horrible in my whole life. Dizzy. Nauseous. Weak. Like I could collapse at any second. My strength had literally been draining away from me with every beat of my heart. I felt like I’d been on the verge of disappearing when the cut sealed itself. And my arm! It hurt so much; I almost passed out. It still pulsed with the memory of that sharp, agonizing sting.

  I did not want to cut myself again. What I did want was to throw that damn knife across the birdhouse and never so much as look at it again. Instead, I clutched it tighter. I couldn’t let Death know how scared I was. She needed to believe I was willing to do what I said or she’d never cooperate.

  I rose unsteadily. Met her annoyed gaze. Willed my knees to stop knocking together. “I need to know a little more about you first.”

  “Oh? Like what?” she asked, curling her lip in disgust.

  “Why didn’t you meet with the immortals after you cursed them? You had to have known the Smiths—I mean…” I struggled to remember their true names. “Ashki and Dymeka were looking for you, but you didn’t even show yourself to them once. Why?”

  Death crossed her arms and looked away—an immortal, powerful, mysterious being acting like a haughty teenager. “I was not keen on visiting with the results of a failed experiment.”

  “So you had a purpose for cursing them, for cursing all of us,” I pressed. “You weren’t just testing the limits of your abilities. You wanted companionship, didn’t you?”

  “I have existed since the beginning of time,” she snapped, whipping her head in my direction. “I challenge you not to be tired of only having the company of the dead after you have walked The Three Planes for that long!”

  “The Three Planes,” I repeated, testing the strange new phrase. “You mean earth, heaven, and hell?”

  “Yes, those are just some of the many names you humans have for them.”

  I scowled. “I’m trying to understand you. You don’t have to be a bitch about it.”

  “Was there something else you wanted to know or are you ready to present me with your trade?” Her hair flicked angrily around her, a flame affected by a violent wind.

  “You wanted companionship, but after the first curse went so badly, you retreated, kept to yourself,” I said after calming my annoyance. “Then Charlie and I came along, and you thought it was worth another try.”

  Death watched me with a bored expression, like, “Yes, and your point is?”

 
“You forced me to visit you, gave Charlie the ability to sense your presence and watch you work. But Charlie couldn’t really communicate with you.” I shook my head. “Not like I could. Despite that, I hated you. So you kept your distance from me. We rarely spoke and when we did it was in anger.”

  Like two sisters, I realized, we were bound together by familial obligation, hanging out because we had to, stuck in a resentful, jealous phase because I had what she wanted and she had the freedom I wanted.

  “But you couldn’t make me love you,” I went on, my voice considerably softer now. “You were too proud to try. So you continued to be unhappy.”

  Death’s rigid stance grew more lax until she was practically leaning over with the weight of her sadness and fatigue. She watched the birds roosting in their nests, sitting side by side on branches, bathing happily in the fountains. There was such a human longing on her face; for a second, I almost forgot she wasn’t from this world.

  “You had exhausted yourself twice already and had come up with disappointing results, so you abandoned your hopes for friendship and family.” I swallowed my pity and forged ahead because I wasn’t too sure about this last part. “Or maybe you just changed your strategy.”

  At this she looked up, one eyebrow quirked suspiciously.

  “Maybe you started sharing more of yourself, teaching me about your job, to gain my sympathy. Maybe you thought it would change my mind about you. Make us friends.”

  She scoffed and looked away. But didn’t contradict me.

  “Or maybe you were grooming me.” I licked my chapped lips. “To take your place.”

  Death slowly swiveled around to face me, her mouth open. There was shock, then hope, then resignation. “It is impossible.”

  “You admitted that you have the power to change the body and soul, but you have no idea what the limits of your abilities are.”

  Shaking her head, she backed away from me. “It could kill me, kill us both.”

  “But what if it didn’t?” I insisted, stepping toward her. “What if it ended up saving us?”

  “You know not what you ask,” she shrieked.

  I scrambled back with a curse. The birds leapt away from their resting places and crowded the air, crying out to each other in a frenzy.

  Power radiated from this otherworldly creature. It made her dress and hair crackle as if with electricity. It made her skin glow brighter, her eyes sharpen into purple diamonds. Yet she made fists at her sides and spoke through gritted teeth. Such human displays of emotion.

  “You would be bound to your duty, dictated by your instincts, imprisoned by your power, accosted and scorned by the selfish, ungrateful souls you collect!” The surge of power weakened as her anger waned. She gulped back tears before whispering, “Only able to watch the world evolve as you stay the same, and separate. Forever.”

  Tears dribbled down my face. I rubbed the cuff of my sleeve against my nose before it could start dripping. “But I would have a purpose. I would have a reason for existing, and the power to help the people I love. Those are things I’ve never had before.”

  Death threw an incredulous look my way. “You are so naive.”

  “Maybe.” I kept talking before she could. “Look, you’re afraid of trying it because you don’t know what’s going to happen. Me? I’m not afraid. Because I know exactly what’s waiting for me on the other side. And I’ve accepted it. You want to know what’s waiting for you if you become human?” I counted them off on my fingers. “Sickness, pain, sorrow, heartbreak, joy, love, friendship, education, travel…The potential to do something good for someone else. The ability to make this world a better place. And yes, eventually death, but you know better than anyone that death comes with permanent, peaceful rest.”

  There it was. A wistful longing that was so painfully familiar. I knew she was about to say “yes.” But then suspicion swept in, rearranging the lines of her face.

  “You would do this for free, asking nothing in return?”

  I mimicked her scoff, one full of superiority. “Of course not. There’s still the matter of the curses.”

  “I cannot undo them,” she said flatly.

  “I think you can.”

  “Oh, you do, do you?” Death snarled, stalking toward me. She stopped when we were nose to nose. “Then tell me how. You, who knows all. Enlighten me.”

  I shoved her back to give myself some breathing room. The bloody side of the knife left a spot on her dress which slowly faded away until it was gone. Like a drop of food coloring in a tub of water.

  “How were you able to curse us?” I asked instead. “You were supposed to take me and Charlie when we were babies, but you didn’t. How?”

  “I ignored the silent but pressing command to collect your souls, which was terribly painful,” she said, as if expecting an apology or something. “Instead, I focused on what I desired to do and extended some of my power toward you.”

  “Easy enough.” I used the knife to draw a circle in the air at chest level. “Pretend the immortals, along with Charlie, are standing here with us.”

  Death laughed as if that was the stupidest thing she’d ever heard.

  I raised my voice to be heard over her cackling. “Then take back the power you gave us, call it to yourself as well as the abilities you gave me and Charlie.”

  “That will never work. It is far too simple.”

  “You’re just saying that because you didn’t think of it first,” I said in true baby sister fashion. I even stuck my tongue out at her.

  Death’s hair started crackling again. The look she gave me...I had to focus all of my energy on not whimpering.

  “Will you just try it?” My voice came out a pitch or so higher. I cleared my throat and crossed my arms like I couldn’t care either way.

  Death harrumphed, her lips forming a small, satisfied smile. “Fine.” She closed her eyes and lifted her chin slightly as she took a breath.

  I didn’t know what to do, so I just stood there and watched her. After a minute or two, she exhaled and opened her eyes.

  “It did not work. As I said.”

  I scrunched my lips to the side and thought about it some more. Maybe she needed to be in the presence of the people she was cursing or, in this case, freeing. But that wouldn’t work. The Wards and the Velazquezes would never agree to come here. And if Charlie were here, he wouldn’t let me go through with this.

  “Maybe you need a clearer picture,” I said instead. “Close your eyes again.”

  Death let me know exactly how she felt about this by making an exasperated sound at the back of her throat, but she did eventually obey.

  “Dig into your memory bank, to the night you appeared before the immortals.” Using some of the details from Angela’s journal entries, I painted the picture for Death. “They were just humans then, six young adults, high on their love for life and each other, gathered around the fire, sharing a meal, maybe telling jokes and stories. Laughing. Cuddling.” I felt a pang of sadness, realizing that’s probably what had drawn Death to them. They were the perfect example of what she wanted. I sighed and kept going. “They all secretly wished they could stop time, preserve those feelings forever. So you came onto the scene, appearing like a benevolent minor goddess—”

  “Minor?” she asked, cracking an eye open to glare at me.

  “Yes, minor,” I repeated. “You’re not all-powerful. Now, keep quiet and focus.”

  Grumbling, she closed her eye.

  “As I was saying, you appeared to them, out of one plane and into the other. You could see them more clearly then. They all had beautiful golden skin, black hair and dark eyes, but unique features started jumping out at you.”

  Here I had to stop and think about the special features I could remember from each face. I started with Jerald and Angela because I was most familiar with them. “One of the young men had really bushy eyebrows and a stern mouth set in a hard line. There was a small mole on his chin too. The woman he protected had the most delica
te little nose and ear combination, and the longest, wavy hair.”

  The Wards came next. I’d only met with them once, but I’d seen enough campaign posters to remember their faces well. “Another man had a square-ish face and a very handsome jaw line. His were the broadest shoulders of all. The woman he had his arms around was slender, but with a large chest. There were three freckles on her right ear.”

  The Velazquezes were the hardest. I’d only seen one wanted picture of them. But I did my best to remember what I’d seen. “The last pair kept to the shadows so you didn’t see as much of them as you did of the others. The man was shorter and leaner than his brothers, with pointed ears and a round nose. The woman with him was of the same height but with the plumpest lips you’d ever seen. Her hips were glorious.” I stopped before I could continue gushing about Mrs. Velazquez’s curves. I’d always envied girls with curves.

  “Can you picture them all?” I asked.

  Death nodded slowly.

  “Good. Now, try taking your power back. Imagine draining it out of their bodies in a way that won’t hurt them. Leave them looking exactly the same,” I quickly added, because it would’ve been horrible if time caught up with the immortals as soon as they became…well, mortal again. They would age into withered old people and then crumble into dust like something out of a horror movie. I shuddered before continuing. “Imagine pressing play and letting the movie of their lives continue naturally.”

  Death grasped at some invisible something with her hands still at her sides. Her aura pulsed. For a moment she almost became invisible, but quickly returned to her pearly glow.

  I wanted to ask what was happening or if she felt anything different, but I didn’t want to interrupt her. I bit my tongue and waited, bouncing on the balls of my feet. At long last, she gasped and opened her eyes. She spent a second or two catching her breath. Then she looked up at me, a bit dazed.