1 Graveyard Shift

by Angela Roquet

  “Kevin Kraus,” Grim announced. “At the top of your class, you will be honored with the privilege of working under an excellent second generation reaper, Coreen Bendura!”

  Coreen stood and more applause sounded as Kevin left the stage to take his seat next to her. His adoring eyes never left his new mentor as Grim announced and appointed the remaining reapers before moving on with the ceremony.

  “Now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for. The five council representatives at the end of their hundred year terms will announce our newest members.” Grim bowed and took a seat in one of the black marble chairs behind him.

  The council consisted of ten members, including Grim. It began with only five in the year 659. In 709, five more members were added. Every fifty years, roughly half of the council is replaced with new members. The available positions on the council are intended to represent the faiths with the most followers, but as it goes with most politics, that’s not always the case.

  The council representatives are essentially chosen by the secondary councils they belong to and eventually answer to during their term. The Board of Heavenly Hosts reign over the heavens of the Abrahamic faiths: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Their counterpart, the Hell Committee, as I’m sure you can guess, rule the Abrahamic hells.

  The two Abrahamic councils used to function as one, the Abrahamic Elite. But their conflicting interests worried the rest of the gods, so they demanded the council be split up as a precaution. The two still work together on occasion, and even share their votes. For the past term, Heaven has had three members and Hell, only one. Three is the maximum number of representatives a secondary council is allowed to have on the Afterlife Council.

  The Zen Senate has three seats on the council as well. Two thirds of the senate is made up of deities from the Hindu faith, allowing them two of the positions on the main council. Their other seat is shared by the Buddhists and a handful of traditional Chinese faiths.

  The remaining secondary councils, the Summerland Society and the Sphinx Congress, only have one seat a piece on the council. Summerland Society is the more diverse of the two, consisting of deities from dozens of ancient religions that are seldom practiced anymore. While the Sphinx Congress is the most exclusive secondary council, allowing Egyptian deities only.

  Isis, the current representative for the Egyptian faith, came to the podium first. She wore a simple white gown, with her ebony hair pulled up in a cluster of braids. The traditional Egyptian makeup decorated her eyes, and a thick, silver ankh hung from a cord around her neck.

  “What a joy it has been, working with the Afterlife Council to ensure peace among our communities. I will miss it greatly, and I hope that the man taking my place will find it as equally enlightening. Please welcome my brother, Seth.”

  The Egyptian god stood up from the table in front of us and walked on stage. The whole crowd seemed to gasp as he turned around. His eyes burned like hot coals, a fiery red that seemed out of place on his aged and graying face. The only thing giving him a respectable air was the freshly pressed black suit he wore with an annoyed sense of dignity.

  Isis shook his hand and gave him a soft smile before taking her place next to her husband, Osiris, and their sister, Nephthys, Seth’s wife. The fact that they were all brothers and sisters didn’t seem to bother them, or stop them from marrying each other. Whatever floats your boat, I guess. As long as it doesn’t sink mine.

  The Egyptian council position was a joke. The only traces left of the faith were mashed into the compost heap of new age paganism. The Egyptians were the last of the ancient faiths failing to accept their decline and merge their sliver of territory with Summerland before they lost it altogether. Why they were still in the voting ring was beyond me.

  “What an honor.” Seth bent over the podium to speak into the microphone. “I hope to do many great things for Eternity.” It sounded more like a threat. The sinister smile he directed at Grim only confirmed my opinion.

  Yama, one of the Hindu council representatives, stood next. He looked perfectly groomed in his red suit, even if it did clash with his green skin. Yami, his wife, sat at one of the closer tables with tears in her eyes, glad that he would be going back to Naraka, the Hindu hell, with her.

  “Thank you for the wonderful experience I’ve had this past century. Please welcome, Meng Po,” he said with less enthusiasm than Isis had.

  The crowd hesitated in shock before applauding Lady Meng as she made her way on stage. The Hindu deities almost never shared their council seats. Grim’s face hardened as the old woman reached the podium. She gave a small bow and took her chair without giving a speech. Everyone at the first row of tables collectively sighed, like they had been anticipating a reenactment of the punch bowl scene on a larger scale.

  Munkar and Nakir, the two Islamic angels on the council, flew the short distance to the podium, sprinkling the first row of tables with a feathery shower and earning them a stern look from their prophet.

  “Thank you,” began Munkar. “It has been a true pleasure working with the council. And it is a true pleasure to introduce the two taking our places, Ridwan and Maalik.”

  My jaw dropped. Maalik would be living in Limbo for the next hundred years. Guess a vacation wouldn’t spare me from him after all. The angels stood up from our table and walked to the stage. I frowned, wondering how long they had known, and clapped with everyone else. Gabriel grabbed my hand as Maalik took to the podium.

  “Thank you. I believe there is much we can do to benefit Eternity,” he said. His eyes rolled over the crowd and paused on me for a brief moment before he took his seat with the council.

  Vishnu, the second Hindu representative, stood at the podium last. He adjusted the microphone with all four hands and smiled. As old as he was, it amazed me that he still enjoyed showing off his extra limbs so much.

  “It’s been a magnificent century here in Limbo City. Please welcome to the council my good friend Shiva’s wife, Parvati,” his excited voice boomed over the crowd.

  Grim had been wise to let Vishnu finish the ceremony. Parvati drew everyone’s attention. She was as beautiful as the next goddess, but that’s not what mesmerized the older deities in the crowd.

  Before the war had ended, Parvati’s popularity among her human followers had become entwined with that of several other goddesses, merging them all into one deity before the soul matter could be controlled. Depending on what the occasion called for, she would become the appropriate goddess. During the war, the appropriate goddess had been the bloodthirsty Kali, wearing a necklace of human skulls. Not the kind of goddess you forget. As Parvati, she was calm, collected, and a gentler image to behold, but not so gentle that her peers forgot what she could become.

  “Thank you. I am looking forward to serving my people and working with the council,” she cooed into the microphone before sitting down next to the Green Man. His green cheeks flushed pink as he gave her a timid smile.

  Holly Spirit, Heaven’s current representative, and Cindy Morningstar each had another fifty years left on the council. The Green Man, representing the faiths of Summerland, and Kwan Yin, of the Buddhists, were halfway through their terms as well.

  Grim cleared his throat at the podium to address everyone one last time. “A toast.” He lifted his champagne flute. “To a superb Afterlife Council, and all the great works they will accomplish in the following century!” Everyone lifted their glasses and cheered.

  My night was getting worse and worse. Grim had invited me to the council dinner, and now Maalik would be there too. In three hundred years, I’d never had such a strange evening. Call me crazy, but something told me it was only going to get stranger.

  Chapter 9

  “Of all bad men,

  religious bad men are the worst.”

  -C.S. Lewis

  “Ms. Harvey, Ms. Galla, please follow me.” Coreen found us the second Grim finished the ceremony. Kevin Kraus followed her like a good little apprentice.

  Jo
sie pecked Apollo on the cheek as she excused herself, and I gave Gabriel a weak smile. We rose from the table and followed the senior reaper. Josie gave me a puzzled look as we entered the elevator off the roof, but I just shrugged.

  Grim hadn’t said anything about inviting other reapers to the dinner, but I should have guessed Coreen would be coming too. If there was any honor to be had as a reaper, she would have a part of it. I didn’t want to think about what she might have done if she hadn’t been included. Grim probably didn’t want to think about it either.

  Why Josie and Kevin were with us was a mystery to me. Josie was as good as any reaper, but still an underpaid peon like myself and not even half a millennium old. And a brand-spanking-new apprentice like Kevin couldn’t have any business dining with the council.

  Coreen leaned against the elevator wall and frowned as we descended.

  “I’m sorry, where are we going?” Josie finally gathered enough nerve to ask.

  “You mean you didn’t even tell your own sailing partner?” Coreen sneered at me.

  “Tell me what?” Josie turned to me now.

  I stiffened. Hadn’t I just lectured her on keeping information from me? Crap. Coreen crossed her arms and quietly waited for me to explain.

  “Grim invited me to the council dinner.”

  “What?” Josie shrieked. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Her face twisted in anger, but instead of lecturing me, she turned back to Coreen. “If Grim invited her, why am I here?”

  “It was a last minute decision.” The elevator pinged and the doors slid open, ending our conversation. Coreen strode out with Kevin. Josie and I followed.

  The dinner was being held on the seventy-third floor, two below Grim’s main office. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I had never been on the seventy-third floor before.

  Josie’s hand found mine and squeezed. I couldn’t tell if the expression on her face was more from excitement or fear. Coreen looked straight ahead, as if bored with the scenery. This was my first visit to the seventy-third floor, and probably my last. I was going to take it all in. Josie slowed her pace with me, and together we twisted every which direction we could.

  Dark crown molding lined the hall, anchored above fancy blue and black wallpaper with designs complicated enough to bring on a headache. I tried to focus on something else, like the narrow black tables set against the walls, holding candelabra and pieces of decaying old world art. The rug running down the center of the hall seemed to go on forever, until we came to a set of double doors.

  “Before we go in, let me tell you the only rule your little brains must remember. Do not speak. It’s that simple. No matter what is said, remember that rule. Understand?” Coreen glowered at us as if she were a human mother, threatening her children into submission during a holiday dinner.

  I resisted the urge to giggle and smiled at her. “Of course.”

  Her frown deepened. Josie nodded, still in shock, much like I had been when Grim first invited me. Coreen took a deep breath and opened the doors.

  I bit my lip to keep from gasping. The back wall was all glass. It was just as beautiful as the view from the rooftop. The other three walls were a deep blue, tastefully coordinating with the wild paper in the hall, without the optical illusion effect.

  An obnoxiously oversized table filled most of the room. I’d only seen a larger one during my apprenticeship in the seventeen hundreds, when a servant had stabbed an English nobleman. I didn’t get to collect the nobleman’s soul. I wasn’t even a century old. Saul had that honor. I got to collect the soul of the servant after he was beaten and hung. We had to chain them up in the hold of Saul’s ship to keep them from tearing each other to pieces. I missed Saul and wondered what he would think about me dining with the council.

  Vases of violets and orchids were arranged down the table runner, in between polished silver goblets set before dove-shaped napkins. Around the table sat twenty heavily engraved chairs topped with plush cushions in softer shades of blue and silver. A larger chair sat at the end of the table, obviously reserved for Grim. Even though he didn’t have a vote on the council, he still fancied himself the king of Eternity.

  “Well, come on. Let’s get seated before the other guests arrive.” Coreen led us around the left side of the table to the four chairs next to Grim’s. She took the first one and pulled Kevin down to sit beside her. Josie slumped onto the third chair and I took the fourth just as Grim entered the room, escorting the rest of the council members and guests.

  Clearly, Josie and I weren’t the only ones surprised by our invitation. We received plenty of curious looks and one very sour expression from Seth. Maalik pretended not to notice us. I shifted uncomfortably in my chair. Everyone else had looked surprised. Maalik knew we would be here. He had to be the one who suggested my promotion, and I was desperately struggling to figure out why. It wasn’t like I had done him any special favors. Hell, I wasn’t even nice to him.

  Soon, everyone had found their seats and quieted their polite chatter so Grim could address us.

  “I’m sure some of you are curious as to why there are four reapers at our dinner table this year.”

  Coreen’s face reddened. Being nine hundred years old gave her quite an ego. I didn’t think Grim explaining her presence in such an apologetic fashion set well with her.

  “And I’m sure you are all aware of our problem out in the Sea of Eternity.” Grim sighed.

  I could guess who he was talking about. If I had Caim’s address, I would have sent him my dry cleaning bill. It took five washings to get all the demon guts off my leather pants.

  “I’ve been working with the Egyptian gods,” Grim continued, “and we have discovered a way to insure this problem gets the attention it deserves. I have put together a team of diverse reapers. They will be searching through the next few weeks’ inventory of souls to find one we hope can help solve our problem. Horus has been quite a help. He and Wosyet will be organizing the search. I’m pleased to begin our dinner with this good news.”

  I saw Josie blush out of the corner of my eye. Horus had taken the seat on my other side, and I felt like I would suffocate at any moment from all the tension.

  Most of Horus’s tension didn’t have to do with Josie, but rather the look his uncle was giving him from across the table. Clearly, Seth was still bitter about the ancient fight he had lost to his nephew. The fight had cost Horus an eye, and even though Thoth restored the eye, the physical and emotional scars were still overwhelmingly apparent.

  Seth’s jaw tightened as he caught my stare. He opened his mouth to speak, but Grim beat him to it.

  “Seth, would you like to be the first to share your ambitions for the council?” he asked.

  “I would prefer to share my ambitions with the council exclusively. When I accepted this position, I was under the impression that it meant something. I believed that as the nine chosen leaders, it was our duty to discuss and solve Eternity’s problems, not everyone’s and certainly not a handful of your creations,” he spat and shot a poisonous look at Coreen.

  “And so it is. It just so happens that this problem was settled and agreed upon by the council before you were appointed. There will be a great deal of conferences in the future where you will have the opportunity to share your ambitions exclusively. I simply invited the chosen team of reapers as a courtesy, to make sure all the new members were aware of our current operations.”

  Grim quickly turned his attentions away from Seth. “Would you like to share your thoughts, Parvati?”

  “Certainly,” the goddess said and gave me a gentle smile, letting me know I wasn’t a threat to her. “I am interested in increasing the price per soul of a certain sect of followers. They are very special to us, and we would like an extra guarantee that they will arrive comfortably. The recent problems over the Sea of Eternity have us… concerned.”

  Her husband, Shiva, nodded in agreement, provoking soft hisses from the snake beads around his neck. His third eye wandered ar
ound the room, taking in each individual with an eerie skepticism.

  “I’m sure that can be arranged. Let’s schedule a meeting next week, and we can go over the details before presenting them at the first official conference.”

  “Perfect,” Parvati cooed.

  The clinking of trays sounded as dinner arrived. A dozen nephilim maids fluttered in, carrying silver platters and bottles of wine. They set the dishes before us and filled our goblets. Several baskets of braided bread were placed between the flowers on the table, and then the winged servers were gone.

  The meal was almost too pretty to eat. A bowl of dark broth sat on one side of the plate, and on the other side, thin strips of grilled lamb fanned out under a mound of wild rice and potatoes adorned with a sprig of rosemary.

  “I have honorable ambitions for council.” Meng Po’s raspy voice demanded attention. I was just glad her English had improved. She took a sip of her wine and cleared her throat, casting a disgusted look at the goblet before continuing. “I would like to work with Fates to perfect soul purification methods.”

  “How gracious of you, Lady Meng,” Grim mumbled. “I will set up a meeting with them next week as well. How about you, Ridwan?” he quickly asked before Meng had a chance to elaborate.

  Ridwan looked up in surprise. “I’m just here to serve Allah and make sure Eternity runs as smoothly as possible.”

  “Yes, aren’t we all, aren’t we all.” Grim picked up a fork and started in on his meal.

  Everyone followed his lead, pretending not to notice that he hadn’t given Maalik the opportunity to speak. I got the feeling that Grim had heard enough from him for one night.

  The meal tasted as good as it looked, but I kept finding myself distracted. Parvati and Shiva used all of their hands to eat with. Parvati held her broth with her lower left hand and stirred with her upper left while breaking a piece bread in half with her right hands. When I forced myself to stop staring, I noticed Maalik had decided it was safe to look at me again, and now watched me with intense concern.