The Reaping

by M. Leighton

  Could it be that Dad had been right all along? I’d scoffed at Pastor Mike’s sermons for the last year and a half, and dozens of other preachers before that. Where would I be now if I’d believed?

  It was that troublesome thought that ushered me into a fitful sleep. The up side was that when I finally relaxed enough to dream, I dreamed of Derek.

  I was on a huge flat rock that was anchored in the side of a cliff and stretched way out over a slow-moving river. The sun was shining brightly straight over head and I was in a bikini working on my tan. I could smell the sweetness of coconut oil mingling with the crisp freshness of running water. The heat of the rock at my back and the sun on my face was like a tranquilizer, lulling me into a semi-comatose state of relaxation.

  A cool fingertip on my stomach forced me to crack my eyelids the tiniest bit. It was Derek, leaning over me, a beatific smile on his face. Immediately, my insides warmed faster and hotter than my outside.

  “You’re here,” I said breathlessly.

  “I’m here,” he said softly, his fingertip drawing lazy circles on my belly.

  “I’ve missed you.”

  “And I’ve missed you.”

  “Can you stay?”

  “Not very long. Your dreams aren’t safe. A part of you already belongs to him.”

  “But I haven’t done anything yet.”

  “No, but you made the deal. That’s all that matters. There’s no backing out now,” he said sadly.

  “But I did it for you.”

  “I know. And I wish you hadn’t. I did what I did to set you free. But now…”

  “Why? Why did you do it? We’d have been fine if—”

  “No. I led him to you, Carson. I-I was so selfish and I had so much guilt and he used that. He knows every weakness, every single one.”

  “But if you hadn’t, I would never have met you. And I wouldn’t trade that for…well for anything.” I paused, love spilling out of my heart and trembling on the tip of my tongue. Then I realized that I had nothing to lose; it was only a dream. “I love you.”

  A tender expression came over Derek’s handsome features and my heart melted. “I know.” He dipped his head a few inches further toward me until our lips met. His were cool and firm and he tasted just like I remembered. Then he pulled away. “The only thing I would have traded meeting you for is your soul. I’d give anything to know that it’s safe, that you are safe.”

  His silvery eyes were like warm, shimmering pools, swirling and hypnotic. I could’ve stared into them forever, gladly drowning in the depths. But then they hardened and he said, “He’s coming. I have to be quick.”

  “Who’s coming?”

  “Fahl. This is where the undecided souls separate from their bodies. You picked a bad spot to sunbathe,” he mentioned wryly. “Listen, Carson,” he began, leaning up and pulling me into a sitting position. “There are some things I want you to know, things that will help you. He’s going to use you as a reaper, like Grey. You’ll be able to see them right before their time is up. If you can find them, you can warn them, maybe save them.”

  “But how do I find them?”

  “Now that you’ve made the deal, there’s a house you can use. I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard others talking. Some black house that has a bunch of doors. They’ll take you to the marked. Just be careful. Watch out for her. And watch out for the others.” He stood to leave, looking out across the water, scanning the shoreline.

  When he mentioned “the others”, it reminded me of something that I had wondered about, something that had bothered me. “Wait!” I said, grabbing his arm. “Last night, why did you hit me?”

  Derek turned his attention to me, a pained expression on his face. “I had to do it. That’s something else I found out over here. When your skin is broken, what’s underneath is like…it’s like…” I watched him struggle for the words. Rather than the disgust I would have expected him to feel over my creepy white layer, he features showed nothing but wonder. “light or something. It’s powerful. I don’t know what else it can do, but I know it makes the dead vulnerable to you.”

  Oh, great. So I could literally repel people with my freak-show skin. Just what I always wanted. All I had to do was slice off my epidermis and, presto bingo! Fan-frickin’-tastic.

  Hurriedly, Derek bent over and pressed a quick kiss to my forehead. “He’s coming. He can’t know I can find you in your dreams,” he whispered. And then he was gone, disappearing into a cleft in the rocks.

  I looked back across the water and I saw a young girl appear at the shoreline. There was something familiar about the curly copper hair that shone in the sun. Then I looked at her clothes. She wore a beige A-line dress with a green sash decorated with patches. It was the girl selling cookies at Leah’s house.

  Just then, she looked up at me, smiling and waving as if I were her favorite aunt. A chill spread over my skin as I watched her. She picked up rocks from the water’s edge and threw them toward the middle of the river. I thought at first she was trying to skip stones and I snickered internally. She’d never manage that in moving water.

  Then I saw the white belly of a fish break the surface. It bobbed lifelessly in the current. I looked back at the little girl. She was giggling gleefully, clapping her hands. I watched as she picked up another rock, a bigger one this time, and hefted it over her head. She scanned the water briefly then lobbed the rock. Seconds later, another white belly floated to the surface. Again, she giggled and clapped, thrilled with either her aim or the result, I didn’t know which. Either one was bothersome.

  I looked back to the fish and discovered that it wasn’t a fish’s white belly at all. It was a person’s. A woman’s to be precise. I could see where the water lapped at her naked breasts. I looked at her face, but I couldn’t make out any detail. Where it was covered with water, the glare of the sun obscured her features. I could, however, make out a tangle of dark hair floating out around her head. And there was something familiar…

  A warm breeze ruffled my hair just then. That’s when I caught the scent, the stench of death and decay. The stench of Fahl.

  Just then, the girl looked up at me, meeting my eyes from across the river, and she smiled again. I felt a hand at my bare thigh, gently stroking the inside, rubbing the pulse that beat there. I looked down, but no one was there. I looked back at the girl and she smiled wider.

  With a start, I awoke on the couch, the nauseating smell of Fahl still in my nostrils. I was relieved to see the familiar ceiling of my living room hanging over my head. I sat up and looked down at my legs. The covers were pushed up to my waist and my bare legs were sprawled out in front of me.

  The smallest disturbance of the air alerted me to her presence. It was almost like a sigh drifting across my skin. I turned my head and there, sitting crossed-legged on the floor next to where my head had been, was Leah.

  My leg tingled again, right where I’d dreamed that someone was touching me. “Leah, what are you doing?” I pushed the covers back down to my toes. “You scared me half to death.”

  “I could hear your heart beating all the way in the bedroom, like drums pounding inside my head,” she said absently, her eyes fixated on my throat. She seemed dazed, dreamy almost, like she wasn’t quite awake. “It got faster and louder and then I could smell…” She paused, her brow wrinkling delicately. “Fear.”

  I couldn’t imagine that babysitting a shark would’ve felt any different. Perilous. “I, uh, I had a bad dream. Sorry I woke you,” I said, swinging my legs around to put my feet on the floor. I felt too vulnerable lounging on the couch. I had to be able to move. Quickly.

  “It’s ok. I need to be getting home anyway. It’s Christmas. Mom and Dad will be opening presents soon.” Her lips curved into the faintest of smiles. She was like a talking doll or something, robotic and distant, her voice very childlike.

  “Do you, um, do you think it’s a good idea to go home when you’re…you’re…like this?”

  “Like what?”
She still had that dazed, faraway look in her eyes.

  “Leah, you’re obviously going through some, uh, changes and it might not be the best time, the safest time for you to be around your family. You think?”

  “I’ll be fine. Look,” she said, holding her spread hands up in surrender. “Am I trying to hurt you?”

  No, she wasn’t. Not now, anyway. But what if I hadn’t awakened when I did? I shuddered at the thought.

  I looked into her oh-so-innocent eyes, but I was not deceived. I had the distinct impression that Leah was unstable—in a big way. And I was no help. I had no idea what to expect, what she was capable of or how her “condition” would progress. I mean, I didn’t think that having seen a few old 80’s vampire movies and Twilight made me any kind of an expert on bloodthirsty creatures.

  “No, but—”

  “I’ll be fine,” she reassured me mechanically.

  I didn’t know how I could keep her here if she really didn’t want to stay, so I decided to take another tack. “Hey, maybe I could come with you. I mean, this is my first Christmas without Dad and I really don’t want to be alone.”

  She looked at me blankly for several seconds before she said agreeably, “Alright.”

  “And then maybe we could come back here together so I don’t have to stay by myself,” I added, hoping I wasn’t laying it on too thick.

  “Alright,” she assented once more in her sing song voice.

  “Good,” I said rising to a standing position and backing a safe distance away from her mouth. “Do you want to shower here or wait until you get home?”

  “I’ll wait.”

  “Ok. I’ll be quick and then we’ll go,” I said, hoping she’d be alright while I bathed. “Why don’t you make us some coffee?”

  Almost as if she were unaware of doing it, Leah made a face that said coffee didn’t appeal to her in the least. Yet, she agreed. “Alright.”

  I left the bathroom and bedroom doors cracked hoping I’d be able to hear anything amiss. I was somewhat relieved when the smell of coffee wafted into the shower.

  As I was hurriedly smearing lotion on my skin, I caught sight of my shoulder in the mirror. It looked like the “tattoo” had spread. A lot.

  I took a small handheld mirror and turned my back to the sink so I could see my entire posterior. I was right. The markings had exploded since my tryst with Fahl in the woods last night and the configuration had changed as well.

  A single flame started at my tailbone. It spread upward in a v-shape, widening as it went, licking its way toward my head in shades of pale orange, red and blue. As it neared my armpits, it spread from left to right all the way across my back. But then the flame tips twisted into twirling translucent vines with tiny green leaves and delicate purple flowers. That pattern decorated the upper half of my back and my shoulders then tapered to a point at my neck, disappearing into my hairline at the base of my skull.

  They were lighter than before, like a soft stain on my skin, beautifully colored and shimmering. Some spots were so pale they were almost undetectable. But as I watched, they appeared to move, like living, breathing flames and flowers. The colors swirled and faded and shifted. It was like watching a Chia Pet grow.

  For a moment I was enthralled. Then it occurred to me that the designs were a result of my dealings with Fahl, that they served as a constant, physical reminder that my time and my life were limited. That’s when my anxiety rose.

  To my amazement, as my distress increased, so did the vividness of the colors and shapes. It was like they raged as I did, thriving on my anger, becoming darker and darker, pulsing with color

  I lowered the mirror and closed my eyes, trying to calm my tumultuous feelings. I used Dad’s old trick and counted to ten. When I felt a little less agitated, I picked up the mirror and opened my eyes to look at my back again. The markings were already fading back to the translucent hints of color on my skin.

  I lowered the mirror again. I couldn’t stop the squeal that erupted when I saw Leah standing in the bathroom door staring at me. She’d moved so quietly I hadn’t even heard her push the doors open wider or come into the bathroom. That or I was just that preoccupied. Either way, not good.

  “Leah, you scared me,” I said, breathless all of a sudden. I pulled my towel up to cover myself. Then irritation set in. “Don’t you knock?”

  “I heard your heartbeat speed up again. I came to see if you were alright,” she said matter-of-factly.

  On the one hand, I was relieved to hear her sounding more like Leah than a talking baby doll. On the other hand…

  “I’m fine. Sorry to have worried you,” I said sharply.

  “When did you get that?” She was looking behind me, at the mirror over the sink, at my tattoo.

  “A few months ago,” I answered casually.

  “Lucky for you tattoos are in,” she snorted then turned and walked out of the bathroom.

  I turned toward the sink and put the handheld mirror away, saying to no one in particular, “I don’t know if my nerves can make it through the holidays.”

  Less than an hour later, Leah and I were walking through her front door. We hadn’t called ahead. Leah wanted to surprise her parents.

  When we rounded the corner into the living room, it was empty, but I could hear Mr. and Mrs. Kirby talking quietly in the kitchen just beyond. Leah stopped suddenly, her arm striking out, lightening fast, to grab my wrist as I continued on in front of her. The grip of her hand was like silk-covered steel as she pulled me back to her side.

  “What is it?” I asked as I turned to Leah.

  She was sweating and panting, saliva pouring down her chin in thick rivulets. Her eyes were wide and they darted around the room nervously. Her nostrils twitched as she smelled something and I could see the tips of several teeth, extremely pointy teeth, peeking out from below her upper lip.

  “Carson, they smell so good,” she said, closing her eyes in ecstasy. Her fingers squeezed even tighter around my wrist. She moaned and threw her head back, lifting her nose into the air and inhaling deeply. “Ahh,” she breathed, her chest heaving.

  When she opened her eyes again, she looked right at me, but I could see that the person looking out from Leah’s face was not Leah at all. Something else had taken over, something wild and dangerous, something deadly and thirsty.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Panic began to rise inside me. I couldn’t let Leah kill her parents. The one thing I knew for sure was that I had to get Leah out of there before something terrible happened.

  I had the element of surprise on my side when I bent and rammed my shoulder into Leah’s stomach. Reflexively, she let go of my arm and doubled-over on a grunt. When she did, I wrapped one arm around her legs and lifted, pitching her over my shoulder. I took her right hand in my left and had her fairly subdued in a fireman’s carry. Luckily, Leah was a lot smaller than me, so I was able to get her out of the house before she started to struggle too much.

  Moving as quickly as I could, I rounded the garage and set Leah on her feet, pushing her up against the siding. “Leah! Get a hold of yourself. Those are your parents!”

  Leah wasn’t even looking at me. She had turned her head toward the front of the house and her nose was wiggling again like she was sniffing.

  I pulled my hand back and slapped her as hard as I could. “Stop that!”

  Leah’s eyes met mine and, for an instant, there was murder in their depths. At least it wasn’t that animalistic hungry look, though. I considered that progress.

  “Leah, please! Snap out of it,” I pled.

  She closed her eyes as if she was concentrating, though she huffed and panted a little more. When she opened them again, I could see my Leah surfacing in the chocolate depths.

  “Come on, let’s get you back to my house,” I said, putting my arm across her shoulders, a very pal-like gesture, but one meant to ensure that I had some control over her if she decided to bolt.

  Leah said nothing. And, though she nodded
in agreement, my anxiety was only marginally eased.

  I decided that we’d have less chance of being seen if we traveled to my house using back yards instead of the sidewalk so Leah and I took off around the back of the house.

  We darted behind fire pits and barbecues, decks and trees, anything that we could hide behind as we went. I’d never thought to be pleased that none of our neighbors had fences or pools, but today I was.

  When we were two houses away, in Mr. Vanderpool’s yard, his dog, Bodie, leapt out of his doghouse and started barking. I started shushing him, trying to calm him, my concentration on his noise level rather than on Leah. That few-second lapse was a huge mistake.