by J. E. Taylor
“Nick, don’t...”
I swiveled my gaze to my mother and she stopped. “Tell her who my father is.”
My mother didn’t answer fast enough and I turned back to Julia. “My father is Death in the flesh.” The absence of noise that followed reminded me of how the air stilled before a big thunderstorm and the room even flashed that funky green hue for a moment in my mind’s eye.
Julia’s mouth hung open and she just stared in silence, her gaze jumping from me to my mother and back. My mother studied the floor, unable to meet her fluttering gaze and she turned, leaving Julia and I alone in the room to work this out.
My aggravation melted away with the purge of the truth and I sighed. “Are you going to say something?”
“Your father’s responsible for my parents’ death?”
I should have guessed that’s where her mind would land and I shook my head. “No. My father’s been kidnapped.”
Surprise layered over the grief and a crease appeared between her eyes. With a cock of her head she repeated the word like she tasted something sour. “Kidnapped?”
“Yes. And a few rogue reapers have waged war. That’s why your parents died.”
“Why? What does that have to do with the explosion on the highway?”
“Because my father was trying to fix a mistake I made and the reapers didn’t want him to. So if you want to go and get technical on me, all those people died because I ordered the reaper taking my grandmother to stop. That’s what started this and now I’ve got to figure out how to stop them before they destroy our world.”
Don’t Fear the Reaper
Chapter 20
I lay in bed and stared into the darkness, my head pounding in time with my heartbeat and I wondered how Julia was sleeping. She cut me off after my disastrous explanation this afternoon and I didn’t broach the subject again. Dinner was excruciating, with only the scraping of silverware against the dishes as conversation, and Julia headed to the guest room right after we ate.
Isabel hadn’t returned from wherever she disappeared to, so I was left channel surfing while my mother consoled Julia. And now I couldn’t sleep.
“Nick, are you awake?” Julia’s voice penetrated the dark and the creak of my door followed.
“Yeah.”
“I can’t sleep.” The door clicked closed and I heard her shuffling in the dark toward the bed.
“Neither can I,” I said and waited. When the bed creaked with her weight, I sat up and reached in the dark. My hand landed on her arm and I pulled her closer. I knew if my mother caught us together, we’d get in trouble, but at the moment, I really didn’t care.
Julia scooted next to me and snuggled into my shoulder as we leaned against the headboard. “I’m sorry I freaked out on you earlier.
“Don’t worry about it.” I planted a kiss on her forehead. “You’ve had a bad day.”
She chuckled. “Ya think?”
I could almost see her sarcastic smile in the dark. This was one of the reasons I loved Julia, her sense of humor was epic. Twisted, but epic.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen to me now.”
“You can stay with us,” I said, not knowing if that really was the case, but at least she could stay until they figured out what to do. Her only relative lived far enough away to make me not want to even consider the alternative.
“I’m not sure I can. It depends on whether my aunt will want me with her in Florida or not.”
I didn’t acknowledge her statement but my stomach plunged at the thought and I tightened my grip around her.
“I don’t want to leave either.”
Silence settled between us and I couldn’t help thinking about Fate. Was this part of her game? Smashing my future just because I made a mistake? If it was, I’d have a word or two to say to that fickle bitch.
“And what would those words be?”
My muscles contracted and Julia stiffened in my arms. I reached and flipped on my light, the sight before us pulled a gasp from both our lips.
A woman, more beautiful than any supermodel I’ve ever seen, stood at the end of the bed dressed in a blood red gown that seemed to be flowing in a perpetual breeze. Her eyes looked like golden saucers, sparkling with a humorless glow.
Julia pushed into me trying to get as close as possible. If she could have jumped in to my skin, I think she would have. “Who is that?” she whispered.
“That is Fate,” I answered and received a nod from the apparition.
“And you called me a bitch.”
I allowed a smile and a shrug. In the context of my thoughts, it was entirely appropriate.
“I don’t like being called a bitch for no reason, especially from the brat that started this mess.
“I didn’t know this would happen.” A lame excuse if I’ve ever heard one, but true nonetheless.
“Where is your father?”
I stared at her and clamped down on my thoughts on instinct. “You don’t know?”
“Don’t toy with me, where is he?”
She didn’t know and that realization gave me the unwelcomed sensation of being skinned alive. I swallowed and weighed my options. Julia still clung to me, shifting to use me as a buffer between her and the crazy lady at the end of my bed, I didn’t know what the truth would spawn, but maybe it would put Fate on our side.
“The reapers that caused the highway explosion kidnapped my father.”
The perpetual wind calmed and Fate raised her eyebrows. “So, you’re telling me he isn’t behind this slight?”
“No, he’s not.”
Fate moved closer and took a seat on the end of my bed. Instinctively, both Julia and I pulled our legs up. I peered over my knees at the confusion on Fate’s face, her scrunched eyebrows smoothed and the muscles in her jaw tensed, she swung her blazing gaze in my direction. “There’s nothing I hate more than reapers gone rogue.”
I couldn’t disagree with her, but her tone held me accountable and I shifted, wondering if testing her with a glib response was a smart thing. I clamped my lips closed against any retort and glanced at Julia. “They killed her parents.”
“I’m aware of who died today,” she snapped. “But this was not planned and you need to stop it. Now. Before I lose my patience.”
“I’m trying.”
“Try harder because if any more unplanned deaths occur, I’m holding you responsible.” With that, she stood and dissolved in a swirl of red steam.
“Fate’s a real person?”
Julia’s question pushed a button deep in my soul and I started to chuckle. I couldn’t help it, the lunacy of the entire situation struck me and the chortle transitioned into a full out belly laugh.
“Nick, shush, your mother is going to hear you.”
She was right of course, but I couldn’t stop, even when the muscles in my belly protested. I clamped my hands over my mouth to muffle the noise and through tear-blurred eyes, I met Julia’s gaze. At least she was smiling, but underneath the dimples, I saw the sorrow filling her. It was sobering and my laughter wound down. “I’m sorry, I just couldn’t help it,” I whispered when I had control of all my faculties. “Looks like Fate is as real as Death.”
Julia sighed and nodded. She dropped her gaze to her hands and started picking at a hangnail. “So, someday you’ll be Death?”
“Yeah, that seems to be the plan unless the world ends.”
“What if I don’t want you to?”
I thought about my father and the choice that was made for him. “It doesn’t matter what you want or what I want. It’s just the way it has to be.”
“Why?”
“Because if I choose not to take the job, everything we know and love will be destroyed.” That was the only way I knew how to get her to understand. There was no choice for me. There only was a choice for her. “So the choice really is yours. I know we’re only thirteen and who knows if we’ll even be together when I turn twenty-five, but right now, I can’t see me trusting anyone
else with this. And as I said earlier, you deserve to know what you’re getting into if you stay.” I held my breath, praying she wouldn’t opt out, but if I was in her shoes, I’d be running as far away as I could from this freaky situation.
But Julia wasn’t me, and she straightened her back and her chin jutted out in that stubborn resolve. “I’m not going anywhere. I want to see those reapers that killed my parents destroyed.”
Don’t Fear the Reaper
Chapter 21
I woke spooning Julia and I gasped at the sight of sunlight streaming through the window. “Jules,” I whispered and shook her. She rolled toward me and then her eyes shot to the window and the bright blue sky.
She moved quickly, jumping out of bed in an all out sprint, and before I could say anything else, she was out in the hallway and out of sight.
I flopped back on the bed and glanced at the clock. Thank God it was Sunday and not a weekday, because my mother slept in on Sundays. If it had been during the week, we would have been so busted.
I had another hour before I expected my mother to pop into my room and wake me for church. As much as I grumbled at getting up at seven-thirty, my religious duties were over by ten and I had the rest of the day to do whatever I wanted.
I rolled toward the window and stared at the cloud-free sky, and the deception of a calm spring day, when I knew the storm of the century was just around the bend. A scraping noise filled the room and I sat up, my eyes darting from corner to corner and then they fell to the floor and my eyes widened.
A reaper half crawled, half dragged itself toward me and I scrambled to the headboard, unable to make a sound. The thing was missing a leg and one arm was bent at an unnatural angle, held together by splinters of bone. Its good arm reached for me and I heard the familiar voice in my head.
“Nicholas...”
I moved on instinct, reaching for Isabel’s skeletal hand and the moment my flesh touched her, the information flowed in a flurry of facts and visions, none of which settled my unease. “What happened?” I asked because I didn’t trust what I saw in my head.
“Leviathan,” she gasped.
“You went to Purgatory?” I already knew the answer, but I just couldn’t believe she’d do something so stupid.
“Had to try, but I couldn’t get to your father.”
Once I had her settled on the bed, I sat next to her and rested my hand on her shoulder. The chill I felt from her yesterday was gone, it was replaced by a dull sense of pain aching in my chest and I couldn’t place why. “So, did he have the knife?”
“No, he doesn’t have it,” she said, her voice getting weaker with every word and I knew.
Sadness filled me and I knew Isabel was dying.
“I thought only the knife could kill reapers,” I said trying to make sense of this.
“Leviathan. Can kill. Us,” Isabel said, and each word captured the pain and desperation filling both of us.
“I’m sorry, Izzy.” Tears stung my eyes and burned my throat and I pressed my lips together in protest against the devastation welling in my throat.
She reached her bony hand to my cheek, wiping the tear away before her arm fell to the bed. “Your. Father. Hid. The...” The last word came as an exhale and then nothing else.
“Isabel!” I yelled.
Nothing but a hiss of wind against my window broke the silence and I stared at the form on my bed, watching helplessly as her bones turned to a fine powder that swirled away in the turbulent dust tornado.
I turned toward the door in time to see both Julia and my mother slide to a stop in the entrance.
“What’s wrong?” they asked in unison.
“Isabel is dead.”
Both of them blinked in confusion, trading a glance before looking back at me.
“She’s a reaper,” my mother started.
“-Yes, and she got really hurt going after my father. She came back,” I stopped and swallowed, trying to figure out the right words to articulate the shape she was in. “Broken,” I added.
“What do you mean broken?” Julia asked, stepping inside the room, her eyes darting around expecting to see the glamour Isabel wore for her benefit. The empty room greeted her every glance.
“Her leg was torn off, her arm was broken and it looked like a few ribs were crushed. She said Leviathan did it.”
My mom reached for the desk chair and sat down hard. “Did she say anything about your father?”
“Dad’s alive,” I said to her devastated face. “Well, as alive as Death can be.”
“Did Isabel find what she was looking for?” Julia asked, trying to keep our conversation regarding the magical knife under wraps, but needing some answer that would revive her hope.
“She found my dad, but she couldn’t get him away from the Leviathan,” I said, conveying the no in so many words and her shoulders slumped.
My mother glanced between us and cocked her head. “What exactly was Isabel looking for?” I swear, the woman could read minds as easily as I would be able to when I stepped into my father’s job.
“She was looking for my father,” I answered and looked at the floorboards. I hated lying to my mother, and like a search and rescue dog – she ferreted out the lie.
“Dylan Nicholas Ramsay,” she started and I met her gaze.
“Mom, leave it alone.”
“I will do no such thing,” she said and stood, putting her hands on her hips in that exasperated manner that always made me want to laugh.
I crossed my arms and stared her down, unwilling to share this little tidbit of information.
“You’re not leaving this room until you tell me what Isabel was looking for.”
“She was looking for Death’s dagger,” Julia said and my jaw dropped.
“It’s not a dagger,” I corrected and sent a just shut up now look in her direction.
“Why?”
“Because Isabel told Nick it can kill the reapers,” Julia answered.
My mother’s eyebrows rose and she glanced at Julia for a moment before returning her eagle eyed glare in my direction. “And you thought if you found this weapon, you could stop this?”
I nodded. “I have to stop them, Mom.”
“Don’t be stupid, Nick, you’re not equipped to take on a reaper, never mind two, hell bent on killing all of us.”
“If that knife gets into the wrong hands, it won’t matter,” I said.
My mother’s arms slowly lowered and she sat in the chair again.
“Isabel said my father hid it somewhere. I have to find it before they do.” I studied her reaction, or lack of one and my intuition prickled. “Did you ever see my father with a knife?”
She glanced out the window and nodded.
“When?”
Her gaze met mine and I shivered. He had it the last time he was here.
“You know where it is?”
Her gaze was the tell, and I felt both cold and hot flush over me. I slid off the bed and stuck my hands between the mattresses, sliding it along the length of my bed.
“Nick, don’t,” my mother pleaded, but I ignored her.
When my fingers hit cool leather, I felt along the sheath until the smooth hilt caressed my fingertips. Carefully, I wrapped my hand around the handle and pulled. The minute the knife hit the air of my room, a cold wind filled the space and I glanced at my mother’s wide eyes.
Power radiated through the sheath, producing a glow that flowed out over the handle. I unsnapped the clasps holding the knife in place, freeing the blade from the leather holder. The room lit up as if I was holding Excalibur instead of a fifteen inch spiked bowie knife. It pulsed in my hand, sending warm radiating waves up my arms and filling me with a sense of invincibility.
I yanked my gaze from the blade and met Julia’s. Her mouth formed a perfect O and I smiled. I’m sure I must look like an idiot holding the knife like a revered object, but I didn’t care. With this, I could do anything. Even defeat the rogue reapers.
I sli
d the knife back in the sheath and clipped it onto my pajama bottoms. It pulled at the fabric, lowering the flannel below my belly button and I clutched the waistband with a shrug. “I guess pajama bottoms aren’t the best thing to clip this on. Do you mind giving me a minute so I can get dressed?”
They both nodded and slipped out of the room. On instinct, I didn’t put the sheath down, instead, I slipped it between my teeth and once I had a clean pair of jeans on, I clipped the sheath to my belt. Warmth radiated through the leather and into my hip, creating a dull ache, like it wanted to be freed from its bondage to wield justice. I patted the holder, calming the instinctual need for vengeance.
A flannel shirt took the chill from my skin, even though I left it unbuttoned, and I made my way downstairs into the kitchen. When I stepped across the threshold, Julia slid into a seat at the kitchen table with two bowls and the box of Captain Crunch from the cupboard.
“Want to grab the milk and some spoons?”
“Sure, where’s my mom?”
“She said she needed to get ready for church.”
“Did you want to come to church with us?”
Julia shook her head, and I couldn’t blame her.
“Do you want me to stay here with you?” I asked and she hesitated with the cereal box half tilted and without saying a word, she nodded and continued to fill both our bowls. I sat down next to her and handed her one of the spoons before drowning both bowls in milk.
We ate in silence, but I picked up more than a hint of her thoughts and I wondered if the knife had something to do with my heightened senses. She waffled on whether to check her house or not. The police might have left a message or some sort of notice to contact them assuming they had some way to identify bodies this quickly, or at least identify license plates in the charred wreckage.
With the onset of those morbid thoughts, my appetite vanished. I pushed the bowl away half-eaten and wiped my face with my hands before glancing sideways at her. It didn’t seem to spoil her appetite and she even went for more. I stood, clearing my dish and dumping and stashing it in the dishwasher before I turned.