1 Grim Tidings (17 page)

The wraith howled – a sound that reminded me of an animal dying more than a human being – and then staggered back.

I didn’t have the strength to pull the letter opener back out and try again. Instead, the handle slipped from my grasp.

The wraith reached for the letter opener, trying to dislodge it from its chest. Something weird was happening, though. The wraith’s body seemed to be disintegrating. It started in its fingertips and then traveled up its arms, the edges turning to dust as the phenomenon traveled.

Within seconds the wraith crumbled and completely disintegrated, leaving a pile of black d
ust where it had stood.

“Holy crap.”

“You can say that again,” Aidan gasped, dropping to his knees.

“What the hell?”

I swiveled to the door to see who had joined us, trying to think of an appropriate lie. As bad as I thought our guest would be, I couldn’t really fathom the truth.

“Griffin,” I groaned.

“Oh, well, this really sucks.”

I rolled my neck as I fixed my gaze on Aidan. “You think?” Despite my anger, I dropped to my knees and wrapped my arm around his waist, placing my other hand on his heart to find the faithful beat that always gave me strength. “Are you okay?”

“I feel a little … flustered,” Aidan admitted.

“Like you’re wearing-the-same-shirt-as-another-guy-at-a-gay-bar flustered or your-heart-might-fall-out-of-your-chest flustered?”

Aidan smirked. “Neither.”

Well, that was something at least.

Griffin strode into the room, his face a mask of disbelief and fear, and let the door swing shut behind him. “What was that?”

I ignored him and kept my focus on Aidan. “Can you stand?”

“Help me.”

I wrapped my arm around Aidan’s waist, letting him put his weight on my shoulders, and helped pull him to his feet. I ran my hand over his neck and the red welts that were starting to appear on his skin, and frowned. “You’re going to look like you’re into some freaky bondage stuff for a couple weeks.”

“That should improve my love life.”

“Are you two deaf? What just happened here?”

Griffin’s face was now as red as Aidan’s welts. He was shifting his toe into the pile of dust –
as though worried the wraith would suddenly materialize out of it again – but his eyes busily traveled from the floor to us. My stomach roiled at the accusation – and betrayal – reflected in the dark depths of his eyes.

Aidan plastered a bright smile on his face – although I had no idea where he found the energy. “We’re doing
community theater. What do you think about our special effects?”

Crap.

“Community theater?” Griffin was one snide comment away from exploding. “That’s your story?”

Aidan shifted his head, grimacing when the movement reached his neck. “Not buying that? Good for you. I don’t blame you.”

“Aidan,” I warned.

Griffin managed to regain some form of control
, but it was minimal. “I am not joking with the two of you.”

I glanced at Aidan, but I knew we were at a crossroads that only I could traverse. “Why don’t we go outside?”

“Outside? What about the dead … thing?”

“We need to clean that up,” I admitted. “Aidan can do it.”

“Oh, Aidan can do it,” Aidan muttered. “It’s not like Aidan didn’t just almost die.”

“You were nowhere near close to dying,” I retorted. “I was in a lot more danger when it tried to kill me than you were just now.”

“You were in a lot more danger?” Griffin looked momentarily confused. “Is this what threw you through the window at the hospital?”

“Maybe,” I said.
“Probably.”

“We have no idea,” Aidan admitted. “It could be, though.”

“There are several in the area,” I said, trying to explain. “They all look alike, though. We have no way of being able to tell whether it’s the same one.”

Griffin ran a hand through his hair and then placed his hands on his hips. “I want an explanation.”

“What are you even doing here?” Aidan asked.

Griffin was flabbergasted. “What?”

“Why are you here?”

“Why are the two of you here?”

“We have a reason,” Aidan replied.

“Aidan likes pie and my dad thinks I’m incompetent,” I griped.

Yeah, now Griffin looked furious. That comment pretty much tipped him over into outright rage. “You have three seconds … .”

“We’re reapers,” Aidan supplied.

That wasn’t enough of an explanation for Griffin. “Reapers? What does that even mean? Are you monsters?”

I took a step forward, causing Griffin to take a step back. I tried to pretend his reaction wasn’t a knife to my heart – but it was hard. “We’re grim reapers,” I clarified.

“Like angels of death?”

“Kind of,” Aidan said. “We’re better – and much better looking, though.”

I pinched Aidan’s ribs. “That’s not helping.”

Griffin’s hands tightened into fists. “Someone better start some explaining.”

Next to us, still in her bed, Addie’s breath started rattling in her chest. I glanced over at Aidan, asking for silent permission, and he nodded. “Show him.”

I pulled the scepter
from my pocket, glancing at Griffin to try to reassure him, but since overt fear was the only emotion I could feel rolling off of him I focused on Addie.

When she ceased breathing, I held up the scepter and waited. The second I saw her soul detaching I sucked it into the scepter and then turned back to Griffin. Unfortunately, since he was human, he had no idea what had just transpired.

“She’s dead?”

“She’s gone,” I agreed.

“Did you kill her with that stick?”

“No.”

“What did you do with the stick?”

“I absorbed her soul,” I said, rubbing the bridge of my nose to ward off the headache that was building in my temples. “That’s what we do.”

“You’re soul thieves?”

“No,” I said. “We’re … couriers.”

Griffin remained silent, his face immovable.

“We’re like UPS for souls,” Aidan supplied.

“You’re not helping,” I growled. “Find a dustpan and broom or something.”

Aidan looked nonplussed. “We’re just going to sweep it up and put it in the garbage?”

“Do you have a better idea?”

Aidan shifted his gaze to Griffin. “What about him?”

“I’m going to talk to him.”

“What if
… ?”

“He’s not going to hurt me,” I said. “You know that.”

“Are you sure? Because I’m not sure. He looks … broken.”

One look at Griffin’s face caused a river of doubt to rush through me, but I nodded
. “I’ll be fine.”

Aidan was doubtful, but he slipped around Griffin and exited the room.

Once we were alone, Griffin finally started moving again. “This? This is what you’ve been hiding? You’re some sort of magical … I don’t know … mailman?”

“I’m a woman.”

Griffin’s face reddened further, something I didn’t think possible. “So, you’re a dead mailwoman?”

“I’m not dead,” I replied. “I’m alive.”

“But you collect souls?”

“Yes.”

“Then what do you do with them?”

“We help them move on,” I said, tamping down the irritation starting to encompass me.

“Move on where?”

I considered how to answer him. The whole story would take too long. I had to simplify this.
“Wherever they’re supposed to go.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

I hated how helpless he looked. “It depends on what they believe,” I said. “If they’re Catholic, they follow Catholic rules. If they’re Muslim, they follow Islamic law. If they’re Jewish, well, Jewish law applies.”

“So they go to Heaven?” Griffin still looked confused.

“It depends,” I said, choosing my words carefully. “How you live your life depends on how you spend your afterlife.”

Griffin didn’t look convinced. “For all I know, you just waved a stick around and pretended it was magic.”

He had a point, which brought up another question.

“You saw the wraith, though.”

“What?”

“You shouldn’t have been able to see it,” I said. “You’re human. To you, it should have looked like Aidan and I were fighting air. How is that possible?”

“You’re asking me?” Griffin’s voice was bordering on shrill now.

“What did you see?”

“I saw a seven-foot-tall freak in a cloak,” Griffin exploded. “He had his hands around your brother’s neck until you stabbed him with a knife and then he turned into a big pile of dust.”

“It was a letter opener,” I corrected.

“What was?”

“It wasn’t a knife, it was a letter opener.”

“Do you think that’s a salient point?” Griffin was not getting any less angry.

I guess not. “I don’t understand how you could see the wraith and not the soul transfer,” I
said. “I guess it wasn’t cloaked, but that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Why would it come into a retirement community uncloaked? If it was cloaked, though, you shouldn’t have been able to see it. I’m confused.”

“What?” I don’t think I was the only one confused.

“That shouldn’t be possible,” I said, trying again.

“What shouldn’t be possible?” Griffin asked through gritted teeth.

“Well, if you’re human, you shouldn’t be able to see either,” I explained. “If you’re something … other … you should be able to see both.”

“That’s an explanation?”

I sighed. There was no way I was going to convince him without the whole story. I motioned to one of the chairs. “You might want to sit down.”

“Why? Are you going to suck me into that thing, too?”

My heart clenched. I tried to keep my face impassive, though. “Do you think I want to hurt you?”

Griffin’s eyes met mine, searching. Finally, he moved to the chair and sat down. “Go ahead. Wow me.”

So I did.

I told him a story. It was a long story. It was a story about my family. It was a story about faith. It was a story about religion and the beginnings of humanity. It was a story about love, forgiveness and forever. It was a story about
paranormals living in a human world. It was a story about moving on, moving up and, sadly, moving down. It was a story about evil sucking souls to survive. I told him the history of the reapers – at least as much as I dared. The whole story would take longer than either of us had to spare right now. As it was, the story took a long time – and a lot of fought-off tears.

When I was done, Griffin’s face crumbled as he dropped it into his hands. I wanted to move toward him, run a hand through his hair, and offer him whatever limited comfort I
could. I didn’t, though.

“I can’t believe this,” he said.

“I’m sorry.” I meant it. My heart ached at his pain. “I’m so sorry.”

“I thought … I always thought that God was real. I have seen horrible things.
Terrible things. Rape. Murders. Hate. I still thought God was real.”

I dropped to my knees, shuffling toward him, only stopping when he flinched at my movements when I got too close. I swallowed the knot in my throat. “God is real,” I said. “He’s real to you, and he’s real to your faith.”

Griffin lifted his head, hope streaking across his face. “So, if I die, I’m going to Heaven?”

I didn’t have his file. I couldn’t be sure. My heart told me the answer, though. “Yes.”

“And you? Do you go to Heaven?” Griffin asked.

“We go wherever our beliefs lie when we die,” I said, swallowing hard to keep the tears at bay.

“And what are your beliefs?”

I shrugged. “We’re Catholic.” The truth was
, I wasn’t sure what I believed. Now certainly wasn’t the time for that admission, though.

Griffin reached a hand toward me,
as though he wanted to capture my chin in it. He stopped himself, though. He cleared his throat and got to his feet instead. “I’ll handle this.”

I was surprised, but I followed suit. When I was on my feet, I searched his face for clues
, but there was nothing there for me to find. “We can handle this. It’s our responsibility.”

“I think you’ve done enough.” His voice had gone cold.

“Griffin … .”

“Detective Taylor,” he corrected me. “I’ll handle this from here.”

Tears were threatening to spill from my eyes. If he could be cold, though, so could I. Did I really think this would end any other way? “Thank you.”

Griffin didn’t bother to meet my eyes. “Have a nice day.”

I had been dismissed. I took the hint.