Death's Dilemma (DHAD #2)

by Candice Burnett

  “So they starting to like me yet?” I asked Trevor when he cleared the last plate from the table after everyone was gone.

  “Not at all. They don’t know why I even deal with you.” He laughed

  “And what do you say?”

  “Just that there is more to you than you let off. And I remind them that we have higher orders that must be followed. “

  “Aw they don’t want to be friends like us?”

  “Not in the least bit.”

  Well, since dinner is done and she’s still on her date, what do friends do while waiting for their other friend to finish playing tonsil hockey?”

  “Tonsil hockey?” He raised his brow

  “New word I learned this week.”

  “What does it mean?”

  “I’ll leave it to your imagination. And, what are we going to do as friends tonight, while Lacie is on her date.”

  “Well, the rest of the Guardians went upstairs for poker, but I think I’ve exposed them to enough Cendall for one night. We could actually watch a movie up here, like they’re supposed to be doing downstairs, while we wait for her date to be over. The living room is the closest to the basement anyway.”

  “Okay.” We moved to the living room and sat on opposite ends of the couch. The living room, like every room in this house, was huge. It had a dark brown, oversized sectional couch that could sit at least fifteen with a large upholstered ottoman footrest that could also act as table. The eighty-inch HD TV stood about 20 feet from the couch. If this room were any smaller, the TV would have swallowed us whole. Trevor grabbed the remote and started searching for movies as I clung to the arm rest on my side of the couch. He sprawled out and put his feet up on the footrest in front of him. Glad he felt so comfortable. I, on the other hand, felt awkward. I shouldn’t, but I couldn’t really control the nerves as they shot up and down my arms.

  “What kind of movies do you like?” he asked.

  “Do you really have to ask?” I laughed.

  “Horror…that’s lame. I want to laugh. How about a comedy?”

  “That’s fine.”

  “Don’t get any ideas.”

  “Ideas about what?”

  “Look at the movie title,” he said with smirk. “I’ll go get popcorn.” I looked up at the screen, and it clued in when the title popped up on the screen: “Friends with Benefits”. So from friends to flirting in one night. I couldn’t control my lips as they turned up into a smile. I tried to cover them with my hand when I heard Lacie laugh from behind me. Guess their movie was over.

  Chapter Eleven

  Fun Fair

  “One more day till we’re back in that prison,” I said to Lacie as we went down the stairs to grab something from the fridge for breakfast.

  “School’s not that bad.”

  “This week’s going to be with this stupid spirit thing you have me doing.”

  “It won’t be that bad. I already have stuff for us to wear each day next week, so we’ll be fine. After this week, I promise I won’t volunteer to do anything. We’ll just sit at home and rot on the couch, watching movies with Trevor.”

  “Sounds perfect,” I let slip from my mouth before my brain registered the tail end of her comment.

  She smirked in victory. “So… I’ll take it that you guys are friends again?”

  “Again? I didn’t think we ever were, but yes, we’ve agreed, for your sake, to be amicable towards one another. So, friends? Yes, not yet, but eventually. It makes sense to try as friends, since a connection beyond the mission will lead us to work better together.”

  “Is that how he spun it? And yes, you guys were friends before, even though neither of you would admit it. Then, you had to go and make out, and since then, things have been awkward.”

  “It wasn’t a make out. I called him chicken, and he called the bluff. That’s it.”

  “Keep telling yourself that, but I’m glad you’re going to try and be friends. Either way, it will make my life easier. Speaking back to the topic of my life, since we agreed that I don’t have to be boring me till next week, I did promise Myah I’d go to the county fair with her today. We only have to go for a few hours, and she’d be heartbroken if we didn’t. She thinks Devon, her latest ‘crush’, is going to be there. So, I have to be there for moral support.”

  “Let me guess, you’ve already informed Trevor.”

  “Last week. Maybe if you guys had decided to be friends last week, he would have told you then.”

  “Why am I the last to know? First the dance, now this?!”

  “Because it’s just easier to spring things on you the day of. The probability of you saying yes is higher, and it doesn’t give you too much time to think about it.”

  “What is there to think about? I think you leaving this house at all is stupid, but you have free will, and I’m just here to guard you, not make your agenda.”

  “Someone needs coffee.”

  “What?”

  “You’re snappy. The fair will help that.”

  “Ok.” We had Demons, and Reapers after us, but sure, let’s go to a fair full of convict carneys. Might as well add them to the list of people I’d need to protect this girl from.

  “You still have that look on your face.”

  “Did you forget about the gym the other day?”

  “No, I didn’t, but that wasn’t about me, remember? They were there for YOU. Plus, Trevor and the other Guardians already went out this morning to put up Demon wards, so we’re good.”

  “Those don’t keep Reapers out.”

  “That’s what I have you for.” She poked me in shoulder

  ***

  “Now remember, the ward extends fifty feet outside of the fair grounds. Anything more than that, and it’s gone. So don’t take her outside of that. Just take her behind one of the rides and port her if you must,” Trevor repeated.

  “I got it the first three times you said it.”

  “Remember what we agreed to the other night?”

  “Ah yes, friends…sorry, I temporarily forgot.” And I wasn’t sure what was wrong with me today, but something just didn’t feel right. I couldn’t sense any Demons or Reapers when we pulled up to the fair, but I couldn’t help feeling on edge. Maybe it was the new found “friendship” that had me so tense. When we watched the movie last night, it took everything I had to just stare at the screen, but even though my eyes were glued to the screen, I had no clue what they were saying. The fact that I was watching a movie in the dark with Trevor, even though he was on the opposite end, had butterflies doing backflips in my stomach. As soon as it was over, I said goodnight and raced up stairs, catching his faint chuckle as I left.

  Chapter Twelve

  Convict Carneys

  We’d been walking around for three hours, and I was already starting to feel like I’d just stepped out of the shower. I hated the humidity here sometimes. The bright neon bracelet we had to purchase to get on the rides suctioned to my wrist. The only time I found some relief was when we went into the house of mirrors that had air conditioning. That place, of all the rides we’d been on so far, was the only one that held my interest. Mirror tricks were so interesting. One moment they could make you fat, and then thin, short to tall in one step to your right.

  After the house of mirrors, Lacie insisted I try out every single food stand they had. The corndogs weren’t bad, but seriously, fried butter? They should have just called this place the heart attack haven. The worst ride we went on was one that she said was supposed to resemble an alien ship. It spun around and around while you laid your back against a bench that slid up and down.

  “Try and get up! It’s impossible,” Lacie said next to me. It took some effort, but in about fifteen seconds, I was standing up on two feet against the bench while people looked at me like I’d gone insane.

  “What are we doing here again?” I asked Lacie.

  “It’s fun.”

  “Oh I must have missed that the first three hours.”

>   “Oh look! They have a Viking ship. I haven’t been on one of those since I was a kid. And there’s not even a line! Let’s GO!” she said as she grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the swinging ship. It had a dragon’s head and looked like it had seen better days. No way would this thing float if it was put into water. There were dents and holes scattered along the hull.

  “You girls ready for the ride of your lives?” the guy working the line asked with a smile that, like the ship, was missing pieces. His hair, pulled back in its shaggy grey ponytail, looked wet, but I’d bet on that being natural grease from a few missed showers. He had long, skinny, shabby arms and wore a bright blue t-shirt that read “40th Annual County Fair”.

  “Shouldn’t we wait for Myah?” She had already been ditched by her date, but I still wasn’t sure if it was a ditch because he wasn’t guaranteed to be there. Either way, both girls seemed upset by it. She even threw up after the alien ride.

  “She was in a super long line for lemonade. If she wants to go, we’ll just go again when she gets here.”

  “We are SOOO ready for the ride of our lives,” Lacie said to the carney, and I followed behind her on the steel ramp. She picked the last row all the way to the right near the back of the ship where the dragon’s tail stood high in the air. We slid into the wooden bench and pulled down the black metal bar. It locked in place, and I started to pick black paint chips off of it as we waited for more people to get on. When the ship was about halfway full, I heard a click, and it started to sway back and forth.

  “So, what is the point of this ride?” I asked and was seriously confused. All I’d gotten out of it so far was a breeze that tangled my hair as it made it rise and fall.

  “It swings back and forth going higher and higher. It’s supposed to instill fear the higher you go up, and it causes butterflies, at least it use to when I was little.” She smiled.

  By the second swing, I was ready to get off. This was how people got motion sickness

  “Still makes my stomach do flips,” Lacie laughed as the ship swung back in our direction. On the way down, she let out a thrilled scream, and I was about to do the same as I felt the bar, that had been restraining our thighs begin to loosen and lift.

  I gave Lacie a puzzled look as I put both hands on the bar.

  “What is this?” I began to ask.

  “It does that a little bit sometimes. You’re not scared, are you?” she mocked.

  “No.”

  “Oh you just wait till it starts to swing higher,” she laughed.

  By the fourth swing, as we came down in the other direction, I began to feel a stir in my lower belly as the bar rose to graze against it. I felt my eyes widen but didn’t want to panic just yet. Maybe this was how it was supposed to go. Lacie did say it loosened a little, but it didn’t seem to make a lot of sense to me, that the bar would loosen more the higher up the ship swung. I wouldn’t be the first to complain though. The ship swung back up in the other direction, and I secretly thanked gravity as the bar fell back down.

  As the ship started to tip back in our direction again, I grabbed the side bar, preparing myself if the bar decided to lift again. As we began to fall, the bar again rose, but this time, it went above my belly button. No way was this supposed to do this. If I’d been any skinnier, I would have floated out already. One look at Lacie’s strained arm that was also holding onto her side bar as we came down told me I was right.

  “So, I’m guessing by your same reaction this isn’t supposed to do this?” I said as we only had a few seconds before the ship would again tip in our direction.

  “NO!” She said in a panic “The bar is supposed to stay down. I’ve had it raise and loosen a little before but never past my belly button.”

  “Slam your feet on the ground and try to focus on keeping your weight against the floor as you hold the side bar. I won’t let you fall, but for obvious reasons, I can’t port you out. We must have gotten in a dysfunctional seat.”

  “STOP THE RIDE!” We both tried to scream to the attendant, but he just chuckled and waved. He’d probably dealt with this many times, people getting scared and wanting off, but we were not crying wolf here.

  “SERISOULSY! WE’RE NOT KIDDING! STOP THE RIDE!” I screamed as we swung back past him and the other side of the ship tipped up. The looks on the other passengers’ faces told me we weren’t the only ones with dysfunctional seats. They started to scream, but none fell out as the ship swung back our way.

  “IT’S FUCKING BROKEN!” I tried yelling one more time. This time, it finally seemed to register with the attendant. I wasn’t sure if it was my comment or all the people screaming bloody murder at the same time, but he frantically began pushing buttons, trying to get the thing to stop. He started slamming his fist onto the machine, and I took it as a bad sign.

  “Hold onto my hand. I’ll take the impact, you just have to be on top of me when we fall. I’ll be fine.” The ship swung back down to swing the other way but we didn’t follow. We floated in the air above the ride for a few seconds as time seemed to stop. I glanced around at the other passengers who had been on our side as they floated alongside us, screaming at the top of their lungs. I grabbed onto Lacie and hugged her tight as she clung to my chest. We had floated slightly higher than the rest, so we got the added benefit of hearing the loud clunks as the other passengers fell into nearby rides. I watched the light leave a boy’s eyes as he was impaled by a unicorn’s horn from the merry go round. I closed my eyes.

  “Brace yourself,” I said right before we hit. The impact from the ground rippled through my shoulders as I felt the ground break below us. I opened my mouth as I tried to take a deep breath, but nothing happened. Lacie got off of me and stared down at me, screaming.

  “I’m fine,” I finally got out, and she grabbed my hand, helping me up. My scythe called to me as I looked around to the reasons why. One of the passengers was currently hanging from the Ferris wheel for dear life, waiting for the damn thing to get closer to the ground. I held my breath and was pleasantly surprised when he was able to jump off. That was until I heard a shrill scream that made my eyes dart to the left where a crowd was gathering. The Ring of Fire was smoking, and legs were sticking from half a corpse that was wedged on its track. I rushed toward the back of the ride and found the upper torso. Other humans were gathered around the body, but I, hoping they all thought I knew who he was, gripped it up in a hug, screaming bloody murder, “STEVEN!”

  “GIVE THEM SPACE!” Lacie screamed, and it was all the distraction I needed. As they began to back up, I released him and put my scythe into his chest as I set him back down. No idea what I was going to do with his soul, but it didn’t seem fair to leave him just sitting there. The boy’s soul who had been impaled by the unicorn’s horn was already gone.

  “Why is this happening? Did someone do this on purpose?” she asked.

  “Not that I saw, or felt.” During the entire thing, I hadn’t felt a Reaper or Demon presence. Death just seemed to follow this girl around.

  I was about to port Lacie out when in the distance I saw Myah being dragged by her feet up the ramp of a carney’s trailer.

  “Trevor, drive her home. I have to leave,” I said and ported before he could protest.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Funny Meeting You Here

  “Release her now!” I shouted as I got a whiff of what was really before me. It was a Demon. I did a quick scout of our location; we were outside of the wards lines, in an area I assumed the carnival workers lived.

  “Quite the little commotion going on at the fair. I knew something was up when I couldn’t get into my day job today. But, lucky for me, this one ran right outside the wards when it started going down. She practically ran right into me, asking for my help. I had just been standing there, minding my own business, waiting for the wards to weaken. I’d originally planned on dumping this vessel today,” he said as he motioned his hands up and down and the human he possessed. “I’d planned on getting another ca
rney to consume, but considering how pure her soul is, I couldn’t resist. So, I drug her back here to dump the vessel and consume her. Let me guess, she’s on your list, Reaper? You know you can’t get her soul from me. You Reapers and your lists. Just give it up. She’ll disappear off it soon enough. The humans I possess last a week at most, and by the screams I heard earlier, I’m sure you have many souls to collect at the fair.”

  He had no idea who I was and just thought I wanted her for myself. Luck might be on my side. “But she’s the last on my list.”

  “Too bad. She’s mine now. Leave before you piss me off. You know I’ve worked with your kind before, and you’re not so bad, really just a stepping stone to what I am, and for that, I’ll let go the fact that you have your scythe out still.”

  “There are many more pure souls in the fair. I can go get one for you and bring them back. Then we both win.”

  “No way. Some Guardians have some heavy duty wards up there, and for all I know, you could bring back the one they’re protecting, and I don’t have anyone to assist me if that’s the case.”

  “Their wards don’t hold back Reapers. Just let me go get on and we can exchange. I’ll make sure the new soul is more pure. It’s a win-win.”

  “No, and you are starting to wear my patience. Leave now.”

  “CENDALL! HELP ME!” Myah screamed as she woke up and tried to get up. His eyes widened, and he grabbed her by the neck, holding her to his side as he stared back at me.

  “You’re the one they’re all looking for.” He smiled wickedly as my hands began to sting. “Ms. Cendall Todeslandwirt, number one on the Demon list. Quite an achievement, my lady.” He laughed. “So, this must be the little soul that’s supposed to tip the scale? I’m going to be awarded so heavily for this. I can see the legions now. Your mine, Reaper, but first—” He hit Myah on the back of the skull, knocking her unconscious again. The order must have been to bring Lacie back alive, but considering he brought out his blades, mine apparently wasn’t the same. “Mobrolantis will be so happy when I bring her back to him.”