Death's Dilemma (DHAD #2)

by Candice Burnett

  “No, I don’t think so. You see, every boy I’ve ever kissed told me I was the best. How many people have told you that?” she bantered, and wanted I, so badly, to give her a high five. I seriously know why humans carry around those damn cell phones all the time. At this moment, I wanted one just to record this was actually happening. Drake, the ultimate Reaper, was just put in his place. Life was made for these moments.

  “Well… I...”

  “That’s what I thought.” She rolled her eyes and smiled. “It’s hard being right all the…” And before she could finish, Drake kissed her again. Her eyes went wide but quickly closed as their bodies melted into one. While their mouths stayed in motion, Drake’s hand tangled in her hair as Lacie wrapped her arms around him. He pulled away after a few moments more, and Lacie looked like she’d just stepped off her favorite roller coaster. Her grin spread from ear to ear, and her eyes were lit with excitement. Drake glowed in acknowledgement of her obvious approval.

  “Looks like we’re both lucky now.” Drake smiled again as Lacie nodded her head. “No need to tell me I was the best. Your face says it all.” Lacie picked up her pillow and threw it at him, but he moved to the left before it hit his chest.

  “Why is she protecting you?” he asked, taking their light, flirty conversation to another place.

  “That’s something you’ll have to ask her.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I don’t know exactly why she is. I know some of the reasons, but that’s for us to know.”

  “I should know. Her family should know. It doesn’t make sense that she’d give up her life to protect a soul that was on her list of all things. And I’ve asked her but she won’t tell me a thing, so that’s why I came here tonight. Is she in love with you? I’ve heard of human girls liking… uhhhh… other girls,” he said, immediately halted by Lacie’s outburst of laughter..

  “After you just kissed me like that, you’re going to accuse me of being a lesbian?!”

  “No, I... it just doesn’t make sense.”

  “You’re right. It doesn’t, yet she still watches over me. She went from my destroyer to protector and then best friend in a matter of six months. Trust me, it’s been one hell of a ride, and we’re still trying to figure it out ourselves.”

  “Well, if you told me what happened, I might be able to help.”

  “Help?” She laughed. “Drake, who grew up ridiculing my best friend is going to help me?”

  “How do you know my name?”

  “Because she’s told me about you.”

  “Well it’s only fair that, if she’s told you about me, I learn more about you.”

  “Maybe another night. It’s late, and I need to be getting to bed. Cendall is due any moment now to check on me, so you should probably get going.”

  “No, I demand you.”

  “You demand…” She smiled wickedly

  “CENDALL!” she yelled, and Drake ported out. I waited a few seconds and then stepped through the closet.

  “What?” I asked innocently.

  “Nothing. False alarm. Just thought I saw a mouse.”

  So she wasn’t going to tell me about that. Interesting.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Hide and Seek

  “I can feel you there, Drake,” I said, and he stepped out from the behind the vending machine at school on Tuesday. “You like her, don’t you? That’s why you’re around again today. It might have started as trying to find out the “truth,” but you’re here now because of her.”

  “No.”

  “Fate sure has a twisted way of making my life entertaining,” I said, rolling my eyes.

  “I don’t like her. I was here for a soul, then I got curious, that’s all. None of this makes sense to me still, so I thought I’d ask her myself.” Oh, so that’s why you made out with her last night, I wanted to call out but held back

  “Okay buddy, keep telling yourself that. Let me know how it works out. Just tell me if she’s on your list or not.”

  “I’m not supposed to speak with you. I got enough shit for the last time I didn’t kill you, even though I’d never accepted the assignment.”

  “And I’m not supposed to let any Reaper get within 500 feet of her. Now, tell me if she’s on your list or not.”

  “She’s not.”

  “Then why are you here again? Answer me honestly. I let you get off easy last time.”

  “To find out what really happened. Like I told you, none of this makes sense”

  “And…”

  “Well, I tried to find out by touching her last night, and I can’t read her. When I touch her, my mind goes blank, and I’m speechless, like she’s doing some type of Guardian magic on me. But she didn’t feel or smell like a Guardian, and she can see me. Did you know she can see us all the time?” he asked, and I nodded. “That has something to do with all of this, doesn’t it? She’s always been able to see you.”

  “I wouldn’t wander down this trail of thinking. You don’t want to join the light side, do you?” I asked, and he looked like he considered it for a moment.

  “No, I, just want to find out why this all happened. I thought, if I got close enough to her, I’d figure it out quickly, but since I couldn’t see a damn thing, it made figuring it all out difficult as shit. Can you see her life when you come in contact with her?”

  “No.” When I came in contact with Lacie, unlike other humans, her entire history didn’t flash before my eyes. I’d assumed it had to do with the same reason she could see all of us.

  “Can’t you just tell me what happened?”

  “No.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t need anyone else wrapped in my mess. Now, you seriously need to leave. I won’t stop a Guardian from fighting you if you’re caught stalking your crush.”

  “I don’t have a crush on her.”

  “Keep telling yourself that.” I laughed “Before you go, though, take these for me,” I said as I brought out my scythe.

  “What? Who’s in there?”

  “I don’t know his name. We were at a fair and the ride was broken. No Reapers there to clean up the mess afterwards.”

  “So you haven’t completely forgotten your training then?”

  “Not yet. Now take these and leave.” He aligned the stone on his scythe with the ruby on mine, and I watched as the soul left my scythe and transported over to his.

  “I really don’t like her. I just need to know,” he said, shaking his head as he ported out. Maybe he thought, by saying it over and over again, he would convince himself. This was good news, not to Trevor if I told him, but for Lacie. If I ever needed help from another Reaper, Drake would probably help me now.

  ***

  I awoke with a startle and walked over to Lacie’s room. She was nowhere in sight. I took a deep breath, to try and sense where she was, but I didn’t pick anything up. I ported into the basement thinking that, maybe, I was having an off day, but she wasn’t there either. I ran through a checklist in my head. Was she supposed to go somewhere today with someone? No, on the way back from school, she complained about how exhausted she was and how she was glad she didn’t have to do anything, as she wanted to take a nap. I thought that was a great idea and went to take one myself. Trevor was going to be pissed. Just as I was about to scream for him, she walked down the stairs.

  “Where the hell did you go?”

  “I was with Abram. Chill out. He’s teaching me how to defend myself. He’s already been doing it for me for a while now, but you can’t tell the other Guardians. They’ll get mad.

  “Let me know when you go, and I’ll come with you next time. I woke up and couldn’t find you, and it freaked me out.”

  “He won’t teach me if you’re there. You know he hates you.”

  “I’ll teach you.”

  “I don’t want to bother you while you have your only break at home. He takes me to purgatory to do it so there’s no Demons. We’re completely safe.”


  Something about this didn’t make sense. “Are you lying to me?”

  “No, go ahead and ask him yourself if you don’t believe me.” If he’d talk to me, I would, but maybe she’d bite at the thought that I might ask him.

  “We used to train once a week, but with what happened last week, we’re training every night now after school. I did it during your nap time because I knew you’d react like this.”

  “I’m going to ask him.” I turned, and she didn’t say a thing. If she was lying, she was good. Abram wouldn’t say two freaking words to me. It wasn’t a bad thing if she was learning to fight anyway.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Wacky Wednesday

  I peeled off my wacky Wednesday clothes and got into my normal attire. I still couldn’t believe she’d gotten me to wear that many un-matching bright colors. The looks on the Guardians’ faces as we walked down the stairs to head to school that day were classic. The expressions ranged from confused to crazy. Abram even let out a small smirk.

  Wacky Wednesday turned out to my favorite of the spirit days so far. Everyone looked seriously ridiculous. Only four more days and this week I’d promised Lacie would be over. I hadn’t seen Trevor all day, which I hoped meant he had some information on our new location. I ported to him to find out.

  “Jesus! What’s your problem?” I asked Trevor because he jumped back and his eyes went wide as I appeared in front of him. I’d surprised him. That was a first.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked in a whisper.

  “What do you mean? I thought, since you weren’t at school, that we got our new location?” He blinked his eyes over and over again.

  “Hellloooo?” I said as I waved my hand in front of his face. He reached his hand out slowly and poked me in the shoulder. His mouth dropped after he poked me, and his eyes rapidly kept blinking. I slapped him on his forehead, finally making his eyes stop their twitching motion. “Where are we anyway, it smells funny here, really sweet like. What air freshener are you using? I’ve been telling Lacie we need candles for the house, to rid my room of the pug farts, but she insisted the dog doesn’t fart. ”

  “No,” he said as he poked my shoulder again. “Wake up, Trevor,” he said to himself.

  “What is with you? I’m real. Jeez. Did you just wake up from a nap or something? Aww… wait, don’t tell me you dream about me, Trevor,” I said as a joke, but his cheeks flushed the lightest color of pink, making mine do the same.

  “This is real isn’t it?” he asked

  “What is wrong with you? Of course it’s real. You’re making me worried. You didn’t get hit with a spell again, did you?”

  “Cendall, we’re at my house.”

  “No we’re not. I just left the house, unless they gave your another one, but that would be silly. Even if they did, then why wouldn’t I get one? Probably because I’m the evil step child.”

  “No, Cendall, like my home in Heaven.” I looked around and out a window, finally catching on.

  “What the HELL?!” I yelled loudly.

  “Shhh,” he said as he put his finger on my lips, closing them. My lips tingled at his touch. My mouth started to open, asking for his finger to slide in so my tongue get a taste. His index finger traced slowly down the side of my face as his thumb came up to slide against my bottom lip.

  “Trevor, what are you doing in there? Is that Catherine in there? Good, I told her that you’d be happy she came and talked to us so we could talk some sense into you,” a voice said from beyond the door, breaking me out of whatever spell I’d just been in and causing him to pull away. Why the hell would I want his finger in my mouth?

  “No. My headphones came unplugged. I’m listening to a movie.”

  “Oh okay.” And they stepped away from the door. He took his finger off my lips.

  “Listening to a movie?”

  “Yes, we do it to pick up new acronyms and vocabulary so we know what our assignments are talking about.”

  “How am I here?” I asked him. I’d been to purgatory before, but Alicia had taken me there. That was the only level Reapers were able to get on, and that was only to collect a soul that didn’t cleanse in time. Reapers weren’t supposed to be able to port to any place in Heaven, just as Guardians couldn’t port to Hell.

  “I have no idea. Reapers aren’t supposed to be able to come here. Hell only. Angels and Guardians are supposed to be able to come to this area of Heaven. Not even the humans who get into Heaven are able to be here. Cendall, this isn’t good”

  “Well no shit, Sherlock.”

  “We can’t tell anyone. If Guardians knew Reapers could access our sanctum, well… I don’t see how that would ever be a good thing.”

  “They’d want me dead, which isn’t too much of a stretch seeing as they already do, but shit.”

  “You’ve got to go.”

  “Okay.” Would he tell on me when I left?

  “Well, what are you going to do? You know if I tell them, they’ll want me killed.” I took two steps back from him.

  “Cendall, I wouldn’t, not now. Not after what’s happened in the past year. You saved my life. Don’t you dare give me that untrusting look again. Do you really have such little faith in me?”

  “I don’t know.” And then my mind reminded me of something his parents had said a few seconds ago.

  “What did they mean that Catherine came and talked with them about talking sense into you? Is she trying to get you off the assignment?”

  “No, just you off of it. She’s jealous. She must have thought something about us coming out of the closet. She freaked and came up here to tell my parents you were brainwashing me with your Demon magic.”

  “I didn’t know I’d been promoted.”

  “Being a Demon is not a promotion up here.”

  “Up here? How am I even up here, Trevor?”

  “It has to lead back to your mother. She had to be Guardian, and not some half-human half-Guardian who hadn’t developed their powers. Only Guardians who have their gifts can make it up here. And since we know you’re only half of something from my realm, I’d bet since you’re able to come here, you’re related to one of those Angels that Alicia told me about. I don’t think someone who was half guardian could make it up here.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Are you Ready for some football?

  “You look Grumpy,” Myah pouted. “You guys should be happy to see me.”

  “Hi.”

  “Come on, if anyone should be grumpy, it’s me. Due to me being a klutz, I had to miss the entire spirit week. I couldn’t walk without it hurting ‘til yesterday.” If she knew the truth, she’d be much more than grumpy. She was right though; I was on edge. Trevor completely avoided me all day yesterday, or it could have been me as I went straight to my room when we got home from school on Thursday. Every time I did have to get up and wander about the house though, I’d watch my back in case he changed his mind about telling other people about our little run in. Which, then, started the paranoid cycle that wasn’t helped by the continuous news feed about what happened at the fair over the weekend. Too many coincidences seemed to be lining up. First, Reapers come after me, then, a random Demon shows up at the fair. Were they setups?

  “Let’s all whip those frowns off of our faces and enjoy this football game!” Myah complained.

  “Before we head up to our seats though, let’s go under the bleachers so we can see what they were able to get done on the float without us.” She started to laugh. Lacie called her on Monday and said we dropped out of the float because it wasn’t the same without her. Lacie and I followed her under the bleachers where four, cloaked floats sat.

  “Why are they here?” I asked, and she looked at me like I was stupid.

  “They judge them at half time. DUH. They’ll bring them out onto the field and announce a winner. Now, are you ready?” she asked, and we nodded.

  “Ba Ba Bum!” Myah called as she took off the tarp and revealed the seniors’ float. It loo
ked like a giant, golden turd. No way were we winning this one. I was so glad we had been on home and school only restrictions; I wanted no credit for this thing. “I know, right,” Myah laughed along with me. “They thought, because the dance was masquerade themed, that a lot of movies have masks, and from there, they came up with a giant Oscar.” She rolled her eyes. “It looks terrible, but who cares. At least we have something to burn at your house after the football game.”

  “Our house?” I asked.

  “Yes, didn’t Lacie tell you? She volunteered your house to burn the float at. ”

  “Must have slipped her mind,” I said, knowing it was a lie.

  I walked up the bleachers and looked around at the entire student body. Many of the female students, like Lacie and I, were wearing a player’s jersey. Myah guided us to our seats. Lacie took the seat next to her, and I plopped down on Lacie’s other side.

  “Isn’t this exciting?” Myah exclaimed. “Last game of the year, and we each have a jersey. If you told me this last year, I would have thought you were crazy. But New Year, new friends, new experiences right?!”

  “Yeah, super exciting,” I tried to say without sounding sarcastic, but Myah’s eye roll told me I’d failed.

  “Who’s are you wearing anyways, Cendall. I know Lacie’s, hell everyone knows Lacie’s— Mr. QB. With only being at the school a few months, that’s impressive.” She winked at Lacie.

  “I’m wearing Cameron’s.”

  “Oh really.”

  “Yes, do you have an issue with that?”

  “No, he’s cute but so socially awkward. At least he’ll make a good photograph if you go to the dance with him.”

  “He’s not going to the dance. In the morning, he and his family are leaving for vacation.”

  “So who are you going to bring?”

  “No one.”

  “Oh,” was all she said before abandoning the topic and questioning Lacie all about Mr. QB.

  The game started with a long speech that had most of the bleachers in tears. It was a memorial for Chad and get well wishes for those students who were still recovering in the hospital. Unlike the others in the stands, hearing it just angered me more. If they only knew the truth of what happened. Why he had died? It was my fault, as they were after me. If the crowd knew that, would they allow me to be here? Lacie wrapped her arm around me, and I watched a tear leave her check.