by ID Johnson
Frustrated at her lack of answers, Ru turned the water off and grabbed a towel. She dried her hair and stepped out onto the bath mat, drying off before the water seeped into the plush, green fabric. As she toweled off her back, she happened to catch a glimpse of her scars in the foggy mirror. Through the dampness, they looked even more distorted than normal. She used her fist to wipe away the water droplets from the mirror and then looked at them again as best she could, craning her head to look in the mirror and scooping her long, blonde, drippy hair out of the way.
They looked the same as she remembered, although the raised area wasn’t as pink as it had been when she was little. Now, it was just a jagged line down the inside of each of her shoulder blades. They didn’t look exactly the same, and they didn’t run smoothly, meandering here and there, forming disconnected trails for about six inches on either side. They were thin, perhaps the width of a long knife’s blade. Ru had no idea how they’d gotten there; she had no recollection of her birth mom, Seraphina, cutting her—or anyone else doing so. Liddy said she had, that her birth mom had tried to kill her. Now, Ru wasn’t so sure. What if this was a product of the “bad people” Liddy had mentioned on the phone a few nights ago?
With a loud exhale, she finished drying off and wrapped the towel around herself, heading toward the closet. Even though she was all alone in her own home, something about walking around with no clothes on didn’t seem right. More and more lately, she’d felt like she wasn’t alone, and having your coworker practically materialize in a dream was reason enough not to put everything on display.
She dressed in a pair of comfortable jeans and a lightweight, pink sweater. It was supposed to be a little chillier that day than it had been lately, so she thought if she ended up going out, she’d probably also grab a jacket.
Once she was dressed, she went back into the bathroom and put on some makeup, nothing too fancy—it was the weekend after all—and brushed her hair. Recently, she’d been letting it air dry so she didn’t have to mess with the stupid hairdryer.
After a breakfast of cold cereal and a few minutes spent making up with Piper, who still wasn’t happy about her abrupt wake-up call in the middle of the night, Ru went back into the bedroom and grabbed her cell phone. Deciding she didn’t want to be in the bedroom—the scene of the crime—when she made the call, she took it out to the living room and sat down in a comfy recliner she’d found on the side of the road a few years ago. Most of her furniture was acquired by similar means, but this one was a particularly cozy find.
With a deep breath, she opened her contacts and clicked on Cutter’s name. Part of her hoped he didn’t answer, although she had no idea what kind of a message one leaves on voicemail for something like this. After two rings, she heard his familiar voice. “Hey, Ru. How are you?”
He sounded mostly calm, though there was a tinge to his voice that she hadn’t noticed before, except for when he’d been trying to convince her that she had a secret life back at his house a few weeks ago. He wasn’t nearly as wound up now, though, as he had been that night. “Hi,” she said, tentatively. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
“No, not at all,” he replied. “Just hanging out. Is everything okay?”
The question seemed a little out of place, but she couldn’t blame him for wondering why she might be calling him. She hadn’t exactly been on the best terms with him lately, and she had been more than a little rough when she’d spoken to him in the hallway a couple of days ago at lunch. Had that just been the day before yesterday? Somehow, it seemed like ages ago. She’d wanted to mention her phone call from her mom the day before but couldn’t find a way to bring it up after she’d been so rude to him in the hallway Thursday. “Well, uh, I talked to my mom the other night, Liddy, that is, and she said a few more things about how she got me. And then… I had a weird dream last night. I was wondering, if you had a few minutes, if I could talk to you. I mean, some of what Liddy said related to what you were telling me. And… I guess I’m a little lost. Trying to sort all of this out.”
“Sure,” he said, his voice sounding friendly and not at all pushy the way she thought it might. “Do you want to meet somewhere? Coffee shop or something?”
Ru glanced at the clock. It was just past 11:00. The coffee shop downtown wouldn’t be too crowded this time of day, even though it was Saturday. “Yeah, sure. That sounds good. Maybe at 11:30?”
“All right. See you in a bit.”
She hung up, glad that he wasn’t as freaked out as she thought he might be and that he hadn’t insisted on coming over or taking her back to his house. There was something about that place…. Maybe it was the fact that it was hundreds of years old, or that it was in the middle of a creepy forest, but she just didn’t feel comfortable there. The coffee shop was a much better option.
Ru did a few chores and then checked herself in the mirror before slipping on some boots and grabbing her jacket and purse, heading for the door. Hopefully, Cutter would have some answers for her, although that might be tough since she wasn’t even quite sure what the questions were.
Cutter found a table toward the front of the coffee shop. He’d left a few minutes after he’d gotten off the phone with Ru. Having stayed up most of the night after leaving her, he was exhausted, so the coffee house didn’t come as a suggestion just as a neutral place to meet but also as a place where he might find a reboot. He sipped the strong java and felt a little more alive as he stared out the window, waiting for her to arrive.
He’d been hoping she’d call all morning. Surely, a situation like the one the night before would give her a little bit more of a clue that his story wasn’t fictional. She’d have to have some idea that it wasn’t just an ordinary dream. He wondered what information Liddy had shared with her about Seraphina, and if it was also helping her see the truth in his claims.. Still, finding Seraphina would be even more of a challenge than finding Ru.
He saw her walk in and his heart skipped a beat. Even with her hair pulled up and in a sweater and jeans, she looked amazing. Perhaps the most endearing quality about Ru was that she had no idea how gorgeous she was. She saw him and her face flickered in recognition, though she didn’t exactly smile. He knew she wasn’t happy with him at the moment, which he hated, but he thought she’d come around soon enough. So long as they were able to keep Nat at bay. Now that the Reaper knew his lair might be compromised, he’d have to be more cautious, wouldn’t he? Rider had recounted his near-discovery and was still kicking himself for not keeping up with Raven.
Ru signaled that she’d be over in a moment and approached the barista. There were only a few other people in the shop, and she pointed out to the teenager behind the counter where she’d be sitting as she paid and dropped a few dollars in the tip jar.
Taking her jacket off as she approached the chair across from him, Ru said, “Hi. Sorry I’m late.”
“You’re not,” he replied, smiling at her. “I was early.”
She slung her purse over the back of the chair on top of her jacket and tugged at her sleeves, pulling them up to her elbows as if she was hot or otherwise uncomfortable. “I hope I didn’t ruin any plans you had for today.”
There was that word—ruin. She just assumed everything she did ruined something for someone else. “Not at all,” he replied. “Rider is taking down that tacky wallpaper in the parlor, so you got me out of helping.”
Ru looked a little confused, as if she wasn’t sure what the wallpaper had looked like, but she didn’t ask. “Well, then, you’re welcome,” she joked.
“So what’s up?” he asked. He wasn’t sure whether or not he should tell her what he already knew. After all, telling her he was fully aware of what she’d dreamt the night before might scare the bejesus out of her, but it would also prove he was telling the truth. But then… producing fire out of the palms of his hands didn’t seem to make much difference to her, so why would revealing information there was no way he could possibly know?
Ru looked hesitan
t, like she didn’t quite know what to say. She bit her bottom lip, and he tried not to stare, absently wondering what that would feel like, what it would taste like. She cleared her voice and his eyes lifted back to meet hers. “Liddy said… she said she remembered my mother’s name was Seraphina or something, and that’s why she chose Sara for my middle name. She said she had told her my last name was something that started with an R, but she wasn’t sure what it was, so she chose Roberts.”
Cutter raised his eyebrows but didn’t say anything, taking a sip of his coffee instead, letting her go on.
“She said my mom mentioned there were some bad people she was mixed up with, and that if any of them ever came looking for me, to hide me and not let them have me. Liddy agreed, apparently, even though when I started asking her questions, she was afraid I might put her or my sisters in danger.”
Having never met Liddy Brown, it seemed a bit extreme to hate her, and yet Cutter didn’t think it was much of a stretch to say that’s how he felt about Ru’s adoptive mother. Clearly, the woman had done some serious damage to Ru’s self-esteem. Thank God she hadn’t done anything worse, though if Ru wasn’t such a strong person, things could’ve turned out disastrous under the circumstances. “Did she tell you anything else?”
Ru shook her head and shifted in her chair, as if there was more but she didn’t want to say. He wondered if it had to do with her mother or the vision she’d seen last night. Before he could ask, the girl from the counter arrived with Ru’s order. She took the cup and thanked the barista, waiting for her to walk away before she caught Cutter’s eyes again and then shifted to look out the window.
He cleared his throat, absently spinning his coffee cup for a moment before realizing what he was doing and stopping. “Ru, if you don’t want to tell me about your dream, the one you had of Nat last night, it’s okay. You don’t have to.”
Her eyes widened as they bore into him. “What did you say?” she asked, quietly, her hands beginning to shake as they surrounded the coffee cup.
“I said, you don’t have to tell me about it. I already know.”
She continued to stare at him, silent as stone. For a moment, he thought she might get up and bolt out the door, terrified of his revelation again. But she didn’t. After a lengthy pause, she said, “You were there.” It was more of a statement than a question, but there was a lilt of doubt at the end.
Cutter nodded. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to be. I mean… I don’t want you to think I purposely invaded your privacy, but I had to make sure he didn’t get to you—convince you to go with him.”
Finally, Ru blinked and looked away, settling her eyes back out the window. A car passed by slowly out front, then another, before she said, “How is that possible?” It was almost a whisper, and Cutter didn’t think it was directed at him, so he waited for her to turn her head back to face him before he answered.
“It wasn’t a dream. Not exactly, anyway. Reapers can slip through realms—different strands of reality—and they can pull another soul in with them. Keepers can do it, too, though we rarely do. There would be no reason for us to do it. Reapers definitely have a purpose, however.”
“Is that how they kill?” Ru asked, her forehead crinkling.
Cutter slowly nodded. “They can take people who are fully awake and functioning in this world, as well. In fact, that’s how they’re meant to do it. But it’s easier to trick people who are unmarked to come along with them when the person assumes they are just having a dream.”
“And… Thanatos sucked me into one of those realms somehow, when I was asleep? Like Freddie Krueger or The Matrix or some shit?”
Cutter couldn’t help but chuckle, not at the questions themselves but at the way she said it with some conviction. “Boy, you really do have a pop culture reference for everything, don’t you?” he muttered under his breath before actually attempting to answer her question. “Essentially, it is sort of like both of those things. In order to intercept Nat last night, I had to leave my body and travel over several plains to reach you. He had to do the same.”
Ru’s eyebrows shot up. “Leave your body?” She leaned back in her chair like she was trying to get away from him.
“I know it sounds crazy,” Cutter explained, hoping he wasn’t going down the wrong path again. He’d already learned he had to be cautious with her. “But it is true. You don’t really need to worry about all of that right now. The important thing for you to know is that I was really there, I do know that Nat is dangerous, and I am glad you didn’t decide to go with him. Because… that would’ve been really bad.”
“But he said he wouldn’t kill me,” Ru countered, finally taking a sip of her beverage.
“No, he doesn’t intend to. Not at this juncture, anyway,” Cutter agreed. “You’re too valuable to his cause.”
“How’s that?” Ru asked, setting her cup back down.
“Like I told you before, I think you’re the first of your kind. I don’t think a Keeper and a Reaper have ever had a child before. Likely, Azrael, Thanatos’s father, wants you, wants to see how powerful you may become. He certainly wants you to help him find Seraphina.”
“Why does he want my mother?” she asked, her voice wavering on the last word, as if she couldn’t quite bring herself to associate Sera with that title.
“Because in Azrael’s mind, Sera is responsible for having Larkin banished to Hell, and he wants her to pay for that.”
“Is Larkin really as powerful as Thanatos said?” Ru asked, placing her arms on the table and leaning forward over them.
Cutter nodded. “He was. Now, he’s essentially banished to Hell for eternity. When Raphael found out what had happened between Sera and Larkin, he came down from Heaven, something the Archangels haven’t done in thousands of years, and took Larkin to Hell himself.”
Ru raised her eyebrows. “That sounds both incredible and impossible at the same time.”
Chuckling, Cutter said, “Yeah, I bet it does. And nevertheless, it’s true.”
“What about Larkin’s ancestor. Ronobe? Where is he?”
“Same place as Larkin,” Cutter replied. “Although he has managed to escape many times, which is how Larkin came to be.”
“And Thanatos mentioned his father. Azrael?”
Once again, Cutter nodded. “He was sent to Hell a long time ago, but like Ronobe, he occasionally escapes, and one of us has to catch him. Azrael is one of the few original Archangels who have fallen that continues to operate on this side of eternal damnation from time to time.”
“Why is that?”
“Because, originally, he was sanctioned by God with the duty of collecting names and recording them in the book. But once we realized he was allowing Reapers to collect unmarked souls without ramifications, he too was damned.”
Ru took another sip and then puzzled over his comment for a moment before asking, “So he wasn’t one of the original fallen angels.”
“No. There was good in Azrael for a long time. No one knows what changed him.”
“And Thanatos is his actual son?”
“Yes. Like I said, Azrael is clever. Much like Nat, he can come and go wherever he pleases via portals to Hell.”
“Like the one in Reaper’s Hollow—the one Washington Irving was alluding to?”
“Precisely. Azrael doesn’t come out often. He chooses to stay below and record the names, letting the Reapers do the collecting. But from time to time, he does surface. And in the case of Nat, he left something behind as a remembrance.”
Ru shook her head, and he wasn’t sure if it was in disbelief or if she felt sorry for Nat or his mother. “She was a human?”
“Is. Yes. She’s still alive.”
Her eyes widened momentarily again, but she said nothing about his remark. “Nat… is a tricky dude. He doesn’t look like a demon.”
“No, he doesn’t. That’s one of the reasons why he’s so powerful,” Cutter agreed. He took another drink and realized his cup was almost empty. He con
templated a refill but already felt a little jittery, though some of that might’ve had to do with the beautiful woman across from him and the conversation they were having.
Once more, Ru grew contemplative for quite some time. She ran her hand through the top of her hair, straightened her ponytail, stared out the window, focused on her own folded hands. “So… if… if I wanted to, would I actually be able to do all that. I mean, the vision stuff you were talking about. Leaping through other realms?”
Not exactly sure how to answer her without scaring her, Cutter held her gaze and slowly nodded.
Ru scoffed, her shoulders vibrating in disbelief. “I can’t imagine.”
“I know,” he assured her. “I wouldn’t be able to either. But it’s true. Look, Ru, you’ve got to remember, this is different for all of us. We were all raised by parents who trained us from when we were little in how to do all of this; how to utilize our power, how to leave this realm, enter visions, whatever we needed to do to find Reapers, chase them down, and capture or destroy them. You haven’t had that benefit, obviously. So, how could you possibly just accept all of it? It’s going to take you some time to let it all in. And that’s fine. Take all the time you need. Just keep in mind that Nat sees you as an acquisition. He will do his best to convince you that he’s the good guy here, and if he should get his hands on you, it wouldn’t be pretty.”
“So take my time, but remember a crazy half-demon is trying to manipulate me and take me to the center of Hell. Awesome.”
Cutter laughed, more an attempt to calm her than anything else. “That’s not exactly what I said, but, yeah, something like that.”