The remaining conversations over dinner were mild as far as I could tell. Politics is just a nasty fungus in my book. Why should I care? It’s not like I’ll ever have know any of this crap. I had enough on my mind anyway, like the new search team I had just become aware I was part of. What kind of soul was going to stop Caim? And how had I become one of the four chosen reapers to find that soul?
When the nephilim reappeared to take away our empty plates, Coreen stood. “I would like to thank the council for our invitation. As humble servants of Eternity, we are honored to dine with you, and pleased to assist in any way possible. We will take our leave early and let you finish your more private business dealings,” she announced, struggling to keep her gaze from falling on Seth, who seemed appalled that she was even speaking.
“Of course. Enjoy the rest of the ball, and thank you for coming,” Grim said with a nod.
Hearing the cue, I stood with Josie and Kevin and followed Coreen back through the double doors. She hurried us down the hall and into the elevator, where she finally sighed and relaxed against the steel walls.
“Tomorrow morning, report to the conference room off Grim’s main office. Don’t be late,” she instructed us.
“You’re not going to tell us anything until then?” Josie blurted. The shock had worn off, but panic still managed to wedge its foot in the door.
“Don’t get your panties in a twist,” Coreen snapped. “We’re just working as a team so there are no interferences. It will be just like any other job. We’re picking up a soul.”
“Right. We’re picking up a soul. A soul that Grim seems to think will be able to control Caim.” I laughed.
“Grim said nothing about controlling Caim. Don’t draw such obscure conclusions on what your tiny little brain thinks it can comprehend.”
The elevator doors opened and she stormed out.
“Well, isn’t this nice.” Josie sighed. “We’ve both been promoted.” She straightened her corset and smoothed her hands down her skirt.
“Grim can lie down in a grave if he thinks I’m going to work with that woman.”
“Lana, let’s just enjoy the rest of the evening. We can worry about all this tomorrow.” Her pained expression melted away as Apollo came to greet us.
“Gabriel told me you were dinning with the council. How was it?” he asked.
Josie wrapped her arms around his waist and tugged him towards the dance floor where Gabriel was doing the Rumba with a Hindu goddess. Her four roaming hands had him more than distracted, but the grin told me he didn’t mind.
The rooftop just didn’t seem as inviting as it had before. There was too much on my mind to enjoy the rest of the ball. I sighed and pressed the elevator button. No one would notice if I slipped out early. Gabriel had crashed on my couch enough times. I knew he could find his way to my apartment blind if he had to. I just wanted a hot bath, maybe some wine, and the sure voice of John Wayne.
“Going down?” Maalik gave me a sheepish smile. He stood alone in the elevator, so I assumed the dinner wasn’t quite over.
“Are you following me?” I groaned.
“Uh, well, sort of. I guess.” He tilted his head to one side and blushed. “Come on. I’ll walk you home. I don’t feel much like a party right now either.”
I sucked in a breath of air, ready to bark something nasty at him, but nothing came to mind. My held breath slipped out in surrender. “Fine.”
I stepped into the elevator and the doors closed behind me. Strange didn’t even begin to cover the night I was having.
Chapter 10
“There is a reward for kindness
to every living animal or human.”
-Muhammad
“Why do you dislike me so much?”
Maalik finally asked the dreaded question as we stepped out on the empty sidewalks of Limbo. I crossed my arms and shivered. The lanterns had kept the rooftop warm, but now I was freezing. Maalik reached into his sleeve, pulled out a shawl, and draped it over my shoulders.
“Thanks,” I grumbled.
“So, are you going to answer my question?”
He kept his eyes glued to me as we walked towards my apartment. Four blocks to go. I wondered how much more uncomfortable he could make me before we got there.
“I don’t dislike you.”
“You had me fooled,” he laughed.
“Why do you like me?” I stopped at the curb and turned to face him.
“I don’t know. I guess because you’re always going against Grim’s orders, and you try so hard to save any soul that has even the tiniest shred of goodness. I admire that.” He smiled and we crossed the street together.
“You were the one who convinced Grim to promote me, weren’t you?” If he was going ask a bunch of nosy questions, so was I.
“I was,” he answered without pause, making me stop again.
“Why?”
“For the same reason I like you so much. You see in souls what most reapers can’t.”
“Oh.”
That couldn’t be all there was to it, but I let it go. If he wanted to keep the details from me like Grim, I’d let him. At least his weapon of choice was flattery and not blatant rudeness.
“So, if you don’t dislike me, does that mean you’ll let me buy you a coffee?”
“I don’t know if Gabriel would approve.” I still wasn’t ready to trust him.
“Please, I know you two aren’t a couple. You’re a smart girl. Do you really think I wouldn’t do my homework before pursuing you?”
“Your homework?” I stopped again. He had to be the most disgustingly confident angel I knew. “Is that how you pick up women? You do a background check and play detective so you can corner them and force them into dating you?”
“I would never force you to do anything.” His brow twisted in frustration as he struggled to find his next words. “Forgive me. I’ve only been in Limbo City for a few days. I’ve approached you like I have everything else in my life, with research. You are more than welcome to research me before accepting my coffee invitation.”
“I’m sorry.” I sighed, hating how sincere he sounded. I was so awful to him. I couldn’t understand why he was still trying. “There’s a coffee shop a block past my apartment, if you still want to go.”
“Are you sure?” He frowned.
“Yes.” I forced a smile at him.
He smiled back and looped his arm under mine to escort me over the next crosswalk. Wasn’t this just cute? Here we were, in our matching ball attire, going out for coffee.
The Phantom Café was open twenty-four hours. It had been open for over sixty years now. One of the souls who worked at the factory had owned a café in the human realm. His girlfriend was one of the nephilim, and he helped her establish the new business in Limbo.
Maggie was one of the wealthiest and most ambitious nephilim I had ever met. Even after her soul boyfriend went back to the human realm, Maggie kept the café open. She was one of the few nephilim who owned a legitimate business in Limbo. Most of her kind just wandered around like hobos, and if they couldn’t find a part-time job, they usually ended up getting into some kind of trouble.
When we arrived, there were two soul couples inside, along with one nephilim waitress. Her small wings twitched at the sight of us.
Nephilim either love or hate full-blooded angels. Some are jealous of the respect and rights angels receive, but others admire them and are thrilled to be so closely related. It didn’t take long to figure out how our waitress felt.
“Hello, I’m Daisy. I’ll be your waitress this evening. Here are some menus. I’ll be back in a moment to take your orders.” She gave Maalik a shy smile and batted her lashes.
“Thank you,” he replied, picking up a menu. His brow scrunched up as he examined all the choices.
I flipped through my menu and found something that sounded tasty. Zombie Chocolate Latte, so good you just might come back from the dead. It was probably a big hit with the soul customers. Our wait
ress reappeared earlier than expected.
“Have you decided yet?” She clicked her pen open.
“The Zombie Chocolate Latte,” I answered.
Maalik frowned at the menu, then closed it and handed it back to Daisy. “I’ll have the same.”
Daisy hurried away to prepare our beverages. I was surprised that Maalik ordered the same as me, especially after he looked over the menu so carefully. Then I remembered he was Arabian.
“You couldn’t read the menu, could you?”
“I could read some of it.” He looked down at his hands and blushed.
“You know, they have menus in different languages. We could ask for one and you could pick out something else,” I offered.
“No, that’s okay. What you ordered sounded good anyway.”
“You could read some of it. Does that mean you’re learning English?”
“In my spare time. I’ll be here a hundred years, so I guess I better learn how to get by. Too bad I didn’t get the gift of reading along with the gift of tongues,” he laughed.
“I guess so.” I propped an elbow on the table and rested my chin in my palm. Maalik played with the hem of his sleeve and smiled nervously at me.
“Are you excited about working with the council?” he asked.
“Ha! It won’t last long. Coreen is a nightmare. She’ll find some way to convince Grim to kick me off her little team, and that’s fine by me.”
“She won’t kick you off.” He stated it like a fact, and then glanced away from the questioning look I gave him. “This is a nice place here. I like it.”
I wasn’t going to let him change the subject that easily.
“And how do you know she won’t kick me off her team?”
“Because only Grim has that authority, and I know he won’t.” He sighed, probably wishing he had kept his mouth shut.
“Here we go.” Daisy set our drinks on the table. “Can I get you anything else?”
“No, thank you.” Maalik smiled and picked up his mug. A flash of uncertainty crossed his eyes, but he tilted the mug up anyway and took a swallow. “Wow! What is this called again?”
“Zombie Chocolate Latte.” I laughed and took a sip of my own. “This is your first time in a café, isn’t it?”
“Uh, yeah.” He blushed again. I was starting to like how easily I could make him do that.
“Why did you invite me out for coffee if you’ve never had any before?”
“I watched a few American movies when I first got here. I was actually planning on asking you to go see one with me when we ran into each other at Athena’s Boutique. The movies made me think coffee was a better idea though.”
“Well, what do you think of your first coffee?”
“It’s divine,” he breathed. “I think I’ll have another. What about you?”
“No, thanks. I still have half of mine left.” I couldn’t stop smiling at him. It felt strange now that I had found him so intimidating before.
We drank our coffees and made the typical small talk about soul levels in the sea and major human deaths in the past century. I was enjoying myself entirely too much. I couldn’t remember the last time I had gone out on a real date.
I guess dating lost most of its appeal after I turned a hundred. I mean, what was the point? Reapers didn’t have the human fantasy of a big house with a herd of youngsters. Reapers couldn’t even have children. It was part of the agreement when Grim convinced the council to let him create us. That alone stirred up enough chaos.
The treaty specifically stated that the excess soul matter would not be used to create anymore deities. Reapers weren’t deities though. At least, that was Grim’s winning argument. We were just servants, his payment for running Eternity.
Technically, souls are the lowest class citizens in Limbo, even though they constitute the majority of Eternity’s population. Not to mention, Eternity wouldn’t exist without them. But they ruled the human realm, and most of their belief structures rendered them helpless in the spirit world. Their lack of control in Eternity forced the gods to take action. Most souls believed the gods were in charge of the afterlife anyway, so there was little resistance when they started changing the rules.
Souls who sign contracts with the Fates are the only souls allowed to reside in Limbo City. They’re given a temporary visa and enough coin to live on. Picking their future parents is the final bonus when their contracts expire. That’s what ultimately sways them to sign in the first place.
Nephilim and reapers aren’t treated much better. We’re considered second class citizens. While the half-breed angels dubbed Limbo their unofficial home because of its neutral position, reapers are anchored to the city by duty, not that we have a say in the matter. We can work for Grim or be terminated. By giving us a bit of coin and a few basic rights, Grim could fool most of us into believing we were citizens instead of slaves, but a few of us still know better.
“Well, I better get you home. You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow.” Maalik handed Daisy a shiny coin when she brought our bill. There were twelve marks left on the coin. Our bill was only eight.
“Keep the change,” he said.
Daisy fluttered her wings and smiled. “Thank you. Please come again.”
Maalik stood and held out his hand for me. I rolled my eyes and placed my hand in his. We left the café and walked back towards my apartment.
“Well, this is it,” I said.
The silver plaque on the door read Coexist Complex. What it really meant was cheap rent, if you’re willing to put up with everyone Eternity has to offer. On my floor alone resided a demon, two nephilim, a Greek deity couple, and three other reapers.
Limbo had an apartment complex just for reapers, Reapers Tower, but only the better paid and older generations lived there.
“Do you want me to walk you to your door?” Maalik asked. He had been so anxious to take me out for coffee, and now he looked nervous.
“No, maybe next time.”
“You mean I can take you out for coffee again?”
“Why don’t you come over Thursday? I’ll make you dinner and we can watch a movie.”
“That sounds nice,” he said and lifted my hand to brush an innocent kiss over my knuckles.
I smiled and ducked inside the building. I almost felt guilty. He seemed so innocent, even if he was a thousand years older than me. Age didn’t mean too much in Eternity, especially since most of those who lived in Eternity couldn’t remember exactly how old they were in the first place.
I entered my apartment to find Gabriel snoring on my couch and breathed a sigh of relief. Not inviting Maalik up had been a good move after all. This was going to be fun explaining in the morning.
Chapter 11
“I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle.
I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much.”
-Mother Teresa
“Run that by me one more time,” Gabriel grumbled over his cup of coffee. His crumpled dress robe lay over the back of his chair. He had slept in it, but now wore his usual cotton pants and stared at me like I had just mutated into a league of demons.
“Maalik and I got some coffee, and he walked me home,” I muttered as I wiped the table down for the third time.
“You brought him here? While I was sleeping on the couch?” He made it sound as if we had snuck in and stood over him to plot his demise.
“Noooo. He walked me to the front door. He didn’t even come upstairs.”
“So, did you blow our cover, or does he think he’s one up on me now, sneaking around with my girl behind my back? The prick.”
“He already knew we weren’t a couple. He did his homework.” I laughed at Maalik’s own choice of words.
“Great, now Peter will have something else to torture me over.”
“I don’t think you have to worry about Maalik saying anything to Peter. He’s really not so bad, once you get to know him.”
“Yeah, I hear dying in your sleep is
n’t so bad either,” he said and dumped another spoonful of sugar in his coffee.
“Five minutes!” Josie bolted through the door. “You’ve got five minutes to finish getting ready or I’m leaving without you.” She had managed to enjoy the ball, but now she was back in reaper mode. Full blown Josie reaper mode.
“I’m ready,” I groaned.
I hadn’t slept well, so I was up on time for a change. After Maalik walked me home, my mind had been sucked back into a pit of despair. I did not want to work with Coreen. The woman was unbearable. There’s only so many times a person can call you a pea-brain before you just snap and slap the shit out of them. I was guessing it would take two days, three tops.
“Wow.” Josie gave me a surprised smile. “You’re really taking this promotion seriously, aren’t you?”
“No, she was just up all night with Maalik,” Gabriel snapped before I had a chance to answer.
Josie’s jaw dropped.
“How would you know what time I got home? You were already passed out drunk on my couch when I got here!”
“I thought you didn’t like Maalik.” Josie grinned at me. “Did you change your mind since he’s on the council now?”
“No! Of course not. He asked to walk me home and we got some coffee on the way. That’s all.”
She shrugged. “Whatever you say. Let’s get going.”
I grabbed my work robe and turned back to Gabriel. He picked up the sugar bowl and scowled at his spoon.
“You wanna meet us at Purgatory tonight and hear all the details of our first day on Coreen’s team?” Maybe he would forgive me for the sake of curiosity.
He looked up and frowned. “Sure.”
“Great. I’ll see you around eight?”
“Yeah.”
I turned to follow Josie out the door, but Gabriel caught my arm. “Hey, be careful out there today. This whole assignment doesn’t feel right. Even though I’m mad at you for going out with that birdbrain, it doesn’t mean I want anything to happen to you.” He gave me a small smile.
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