The Reaping

by M. Leighton

  “How about the short version?” He interrupted. When he began to speak, his voice rose in wonder and his face shone with admiration. “You made the ultimate sacrifice, Carson. You actually laid down your life for someone else. That set us free. And since you gave your life, the only thing Fahl could’ve taken was your soul. But, even though you made a deal with him, he can’t take the soul of a believer. That’s what set you free,” Derek concluded with a smile. “And as humbled as I am by what you did, we really need to get out of here so,” he said, throwing his arm around my shoulders and guiding me away from the clearing. “Let’s go home. We can talk more later.”

  Home? “Wait,” I said, pulling him to a stop. “So I can- I can stay? Here? With you?” I was almost afraid to consider the possibility. You know the whole if-it-seems-too-good-to-be-true-it-usually-is thing. I held my breath until he answered.

  With a smile that took my breath away, Derek brushed his lips over mine and whispered, “Yes,” then took my hand and pulled me along behind him.

  In a dreamlike state, I walked beside Derek through the snow-crusted woods as we made our way slowly to my car. It was hard not to dawdle. I felt almost captivated by everything, even the small, mundane things. The snow was more amazing than I’d ever noticed. The air was fresher than any I’d ever smelled. The touch of Derek’s skin on mine was more exciting than anything I’d ever felt. It seemed that everything was just…more.

  On the way home, I saw that the streets were scraped clean, but huge mounds of snow were piled up along the shoulders, burying cars and mailboxes alike. All the houses looked sleepy and picturesque with their white-covered roofs and smoking chimneys. Evidently, the families were taking advantage of a wintry, post-holiday morning. They were all inside, enjoying their lives. It was so idyllic it made what I’d been through feel surreal in comparison.

  When we passed Leah’s house, I remembered her part in my mother’s predicament. I’d all but forgotten about it; it seemed that it took place a lifetime ago. Seeing her house, though, made me remember the friend she’d been to me all this time. And that brought a pang of regret to my heart.

  “Do you know what happened to Leah?”

  He shook his head. “Only what I could see from the shadows over there, which wasn’t much. I was preoccupied with you, as you can imagine.”

  “I doubt she’d be there,” I said, indicating her house. Then I considered that possibility. “I hope not anyway.” I shook off the disturbing thoughts of my friend. “I’ll call them later, see how they’re doing.”

  As Derek slowed, approaching my driveway, I asked yet another question that I wasn’t certain I really wanted the answer to. “So what will happen to me now?”

  Derek didn’t answer right away. He pulled into the driveway, put the car in park and turned toward me. “If I understand correctly, not a lot has changed. But,” he said quickly when he saw my head fall back against the headrest. My heart had dropped into my shoes and he knew it. “But,” he said again. “You are going to have a chance to save people, or help save them anyway.” His pleased smile set me at ease a little. Obviously this was a good thing, especially if you considered what I’d originally thought I’d be doing.

  Trying to see the positive side of the situation, I looked out the window and turned my attention to the house. I never thought I’d be here again. That was positive.

  I looked at its simple lines and modest yard. I let the pleasure of just seeing it again, the house that my father and I had occupied together, pour over me like warm sunshine. Finally, after a couple of minutes, I felt a smile tug at my lips.

  The backs of Derek’s fingers brushed my cheek. “What’s the smile for?”

  I turned to look at him, to enjoy the gorgeous face I loved so much, and let it warm me on the inside. “Just a lot of good memories here, that’s all.”

  “Don’t worry,” he said, reaching out to squeeze my hand. “There’ll be more.”

  Derek got out and came around to my side, opening the door and grabbing my hand to help me out. “But what about—”

  Derek put his finger to my lips and shushed me. “Let’s just be glad that we’re together, out here. Can we not think about the future, just for a little while? I don’t want anything to ruin this. Not yet, at least.”

  I sighed. “I know. I’m sorry,” I confessed. I leaned my head against his chest and ran my hands around his trim waist.

  I thought about my life now and how much it had changed in a few short months. I had always wanted to be normal, but I’d also always wanted to be significant somehow, too. What I never realized is that the two can’t peacefully coexist. Obviously, I will never be normal. But I could be significant, my life (or death as it were) could be significant.

  For the first time, I thought of the future and the man in my arms with hope. I would focus on the good I could do, on the unique opportunity I had been given to help save people’s souls by keeping them from Grey. I mean, how much more significant could life get than that?

  So, with a smile back on my lips, I determined right then that the world and all its troubles could wait, for a few days anyway. I was going to take time to enjoy the nearest thing I’d ever have to normal—love.

  EPILOGUE

  Once we were inside, I opted for a shower before our talk. As crazy as it sounds, I was more anxious to scrub away the last twenty-four hours than I was to be in Derek’s arms. And that was pretty darn anxious.

  After I’d wet my hair, I closed my eyes and turned my face toward the spray. All at once, a barrage of imagery flashed behind my lids—blood and teeth, black eyes and pale faces, unimaginable pain—followed by a series of screams that sounded strikingly similar to my own.

  Startled, I turned my head and opened my eyes. I was relieved to find that I was still in my shower (alone), but a nagging sense of dread and urgency plagued me after that. It pretty much ruined my languorous shower experience so I set to work scrubbing and then got out to towel off.

  Steam had fogged the mirror so I took my towel, as I’d done a thousand times in the past, and wiped it clean. When I lowered my arm, I froze, confused by what I saw. My reflection moved when I did, wrinkled its brow when I did, but it didn’t look like I’d expected it to.

  The hair was jet black and the eyes were darker, black even, as if the pupils were dilated. The skin was chalky white and the lips ruby red. I leaned closer, as did my reflection. I reached up to touch my hair. My reflection did the same. I pulled a lock around in front of my face. What I saw was my hair, my blonde hair. Though it was nearly a white blonde, I still recognized it as my own.

  With a gasp I looked back into the mirror. My reflection was smiling. And I was not.

  I squeezed my eyes shut, counted to ten and then opened them again. My reflection hadn’t changed. She was still raven-haired and smiling at me, only wider now. She looked on the verge of laughter.

  And then she spoke.

  “What’s the matter, Sis? Cat got your tongue?”

  “What the—”

  “Didn’t you think there would be consequences?”

  “Consequences? For what?”

  “For playing Fahl. That’s a big no-no. It’s something that’s just not done.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, and I genuinely didn’t. But whatever it was, it didn’t sound good.

  “Well, you can play dumb if you want, but it won’t change anything. What’s done is done.”

  “What’s done? What are you talking about?”

  Grey’s smile turned cruel and cold. “For one, thanks to you, we’re stuck with each other, linked through mirrors. You know, opposites and all that. We’re kind of like the fair and balanced way to reap. Each of us has a chance, neither of us gets a head start.” She sneered and leaned in closer to the mirror. “Now you can never escape me. Never outrun me. You can’t hide inside your pathetic little life anymore.” Her bark of laughter was harsh and without humor. “You can try to stop me, Sis.�
� She hurled the term like an obscenity. “But you never will.”

  With that, she threw something over the other side of the mirror so that all I could see was my own reflection, replete with blonde hair, staring back at me.

  Dressing quickly, I found Derek in the kitchen, cooking of all things. The smell of bacon and eggs teased my nose just as the toaster popped its payload up.

  “Smells good,” I said appreciatively. It didn’t hurt that Derek was the chef either. He tossed a sexy little smile over his shoulder, one that did funny things to my belly, not to mention what seeing him barefoot and bare-chested did to the rest of my organs. But now was not the time to explore those kinds of feelings. We had much of a serious nature to discuss. “So, I just had a visitor,” I said, pausing for dramatic effect. “In my mirror.”

  Derek turned completely around, spoon in hand, his expression sober. “Really?”

  “Yep. My dear, sweet sister.”

  Derek eyed me suspiciously. “What did she want?”

  “She tells me that we’re linked somehow through mirrors. I guess things will go on like they have been. Grey out wreaking havoc and me trying to stop her.” Even as the words left my tongue, I was already correcting them in my head. I wasn’t going to try to stop her. I would stop her. I’d stop her from taking souls before they had a second chance. I’d stop her from turning people into bloodthirsty monsters. I’d stop her from ruining even one more life.

  “That looks serious,” Derek said, frowning.

  “What? Oh,” I said, realizing that I was frowning more than he was if the ache between my eyebrows was any indication. “Sorry. I was just thinking.”

  “Weren’t we going to leave all this alone for just a little while?”

  Shaking off the troubling thoughts, I slid my hands down Derek’s chest to his belly then around his trim waist, reveling in the glide of his silky smooth skin beneath my palms.

  “Yes, we were. And I can think of many other things I’d rather be focusing my attention on right now,” I said, rising onto my tiptoes and nipping at his lower lip.

  ********

  Later that night, we were watching a DVD when I was suddenly and inexplicably overcome with the urge to call Leah’s parents.

  “Can you pause that? I should call the Kirbys, see if they’ve heard from Leah.”

  “Alright,” he said, raising his arm to let me up.

  I pushed myself off Derek’s chest and rose to my feet, walking casually to the kitchen. I heard the sound of the television change when Derek switched to the local news. As I punched in the Kirbys’ number, a reporter’s words caught my attention. I listened to it with half an ear as the phone rang on the other end.

  Official reports claim the cause of death was a wild animal attack, though police are uncertain how the animal gained entrance into the couple’s home. Police are still searching for the couple’s only child, Leah Kirby, a seventeen year old senior at…

  Right then, deep down, I just knew that Leah had killed her parents. She was not just lost to the police now, she was lost to me, too. Whether or not a soul could ever recover from such horrific deeds I didn’t know, but for Leah I was pretty sure there was no coming back. Not for her. It would be too hard, too much of a fight. And Leah wasn’t strong, she wasn’t a fighter. She was just gone—long gone.

  Another thing I was certain of was that my role in her life was over. She was playing for the other team now and we were all playing for keeps. I couldn’t afford to let my guard down around her again.

  As I stood there in the kitchen, phone in hand, considering the implications of what I’d heard, I was startled when I saw an image of Derek appear in the middle of the floor. His hair was a little shorter, but his handsome face was unmistakable, even with eyes the same dark, hollow black as Grey’s. He hovered like a transparent, malevolent spirit over a young girl who was sleeping peacefully beneath a frilly, pink canopy.

  I put my hand over my mouth to stifle a gasp when I saw his face and body transform into some kind of creature, some demonic looking thing. My mind struggled to grasp what was going on when I saw Leah enter the picture. She walked to the side of the girl’s bed and leaned over her, trailing her fingers down the girl’s neck. It was then that I knew what was going to happen.

  The urge to look away was nearly as powerful as my fixation on the couple as they descended on the young girl. At first they seemed to be almost playing with her, nipping at her with their teeth, tearing at her skin with their claws. She screamed and fought, to no avail.

  When her struggles had lessened and puddles of her blood were shed, however, playtime was over. That’s when they began to cut deep into her flesh, tearing out large chunks. They chewed and ravaged her, licking up trickles of blood as it spilled.

  My heart broke as I stood helplessly by and watched them do unspeakable things to her, things she had no hope of surviving.

  When the image disappeared and I was once more alone in my kitchen, something inside me reminded me that there was always hope. I just had to find her first.