Deadly Kisses (16 page)

“Sure.” Reina stopped at a table. There was a sign labeled ‘contracts.’ Next to it was a line of metal filing boxes. One side said ‘Heaven,’ the other ‘Hell.’

“Is this what I think it is?” I wanted to puke up my cream soda.

“Yup, if you signed a contract with another Grim Reaper, it goes to the appropriate place. The archives are the business department of the Reaper world.”

“Why are there so many Reapers lined up outside that door?” I eyed the line of black that trailed into an aisle.

“Those are Death Dealers. They mediate between us. So if you want a vacation day, transfer, or new apartment, you go to them and make a deal. They draw up the paperwork and submit it for you.”

“They don’t look too happy.”

“They’re not because Ivar owns most of them and they do his dirty work in Hell with the demons.” She pulled down a thin book from the reference shelf. “This is the book I told you about, but it has missing pages.” She flipped open to a page and handed it to me.

Reina worried me. She was nice and helpful, but uneasiness swirled in her. There was a dark streak that mirrored mine. The Ancients tainted our good natures.

I scanned through the pages of the book to see if Reina missed anything. “I’m pretty sure you’re right, and Bee can use my scythe.”

“I know I’m right. Lie to her and make her touch it.” Reina snorted.

“That’s not a good idea. I’ll have to convince her. Even if it’s true, how would I know how to get her soul back into her body?” I asked.

“In the academy we learn that souls are their own life force. Using our scythes, we can take them within us to protect them, and they understand that. So, in theory, if you both hold your scythe at the same time, they should go back to their correct bodies.”

“Theory?”

“You don’t have any better ideas and seeing you never bothered to learn anything, I wouldn’t downplay my theory. I’m probably right with this too.” Reina held her head high.

“I believe you,” I closed the book and placed it back on the shelf. “Where’s Ivar’s book? I want to see how many Reaperling’s he has.”

“You mean books. Many, many, many books.”

Reina waved her hand at me and I followed. We moved to another section. I looked at his name as it spanned the whole length of the shelf. Ivar had done many reapings and had hundreds of Reaperlings. “How am I going to find out what I need? This is ridiculous.”

She shrugged. “It’s like he’s building an army.”

I followed the names with my eyes. “Is he?”

“Your contract.” She shook it in front of me, changing the subject.

I had never seen her so serious as when she scanned through it, making small grunts. Her eyebrows scrunched together and small noises came from her throat. I couldn’t take her silence. I paced in short steps before I snapped. “What? Tell me something.”

“Well, it’s pretty in depth and complicated. You should have had a Death Dealer to act on your behalf, because if I’m reading this right you gave up everything for the girl and her family. This contract can only be broken if you or Ivar dies, and we can’t die. What were you thinking?”

“At least Bee’s family will be safe.”

“It’s the worst deal you could’ve made.” Reina was angry. “He owns you.”

“It was worth it.” I was doomed inevitably.

“Come on, let’s get out of here. Leif is coming. I can feel it through our bond.” Reina’s eyes shifted around the room.

A part of me didn’t want to unravel our souls. A part of me wanted to keep Bee’s soul inside of me where it belonged, safe and protected. It felt right, but I wouldn’t tell Bee because that would mean she would have to choose—between life and death.

I looked at the bird Bee had rescued. It only had a small limp now and its wing looked healed. “Tell me if my scythe is on full power.”

“Oh, it’s on. Full power. I could hear that buzz a mile away.”

I lowered the power. “And now?”

“All clear,” she winked.

Reina materialized behind us. Bee scowled. Reina waved, smiling, with her green striped hair.

“I asked Reina here to make sure everything goes as planned. We’re confident the theory will be correct.”

“I guess I have no choice but to touch the darn thing. So, what’s the plan? Should I just go and pick it up?” she asked.

I amped the scythe’s power just a hair. “Yup, but we’ll do it in small doses. Anytime you’re ready.”

Bee went up to my scythe, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Slowly she brought her hand out and made contact with my scythe, releasing it as fast as she touched it.

We continued like that until it was at full power. Reina relaxed, doing her nails. If Bee didn’t get a jolt by now, she wouldn’t get one no matter how high the scythe was turned up.

With one more deep breath, Bee touched my scythe. Instead of releasing it right away, she picked it up. Her mouth was open and her hair was wild.

She brought it to me, placing it in my hand. “What does this mean?”

I was relieved it was over, and it was true. “It means you technically can use my scythe even though you’re not dead.”

She couldn’t breathe, bent over, and clutched her chest. “I can use a garden tool?”

I nodded and her soul became fuzzy, then gray, and went black. Bee fainted, falling to the ground. I didn’t get a chance to tell her we could try to unravel our souls if we both touched it together.

“Stop fixing your nails and help me, Reina.” I ran to her, feeling for a pulse. It thudded steadily under my fingertips.

Reina grabbed one of Bee’s arms and I took the other. “Easy, don’t yank her arm.” I didn’t think telling her would make her faint, seeing she already knew she could touch it.

“Calm down, I won’t hurt your girlfriend. I’ll be here when she’s still a mortal and maybe you’ll let me make you happy instead. You need me more than you know.” We lifted Bee onto the bed.

“She’s not my girlfriend, and neither are you. Sorry, it’s not you, it’s me. I thought we had an understanding?”

“Oh, lame one. Real lame. Whatever. Maybe I should just leave you to it then to screw up even more. You’re going down in the Grim Reaper history books for this. The Grim Reaper community is small and word has already spread about your girlfriend’s gift. They will come and take her away from you. Can you fight them off? No. Why? Oh, because you don’t train with us at Grim City. You had a crash course on using your scythe and now you’re an expert. I’ve been doing this for over twenty years, and there are powers I can’t even begin to use, but hey, do your thing. I’m outie here. You need me, then leave me a message telling me how right I was, and I’ll try to come and save you.”

She vanished and black shadows turned like a small tornado before disappearing. I sat next to Bee smoothing her hair. I picked up her hand, kissing it, pulling away when the ice started to spread over her skin.

Her hand twitched, her shoulders moved, then her head. She whispered something. I bent my head low to hear. She was barely audible. “I love you, Aiden.” She went still again.

My heart skipped a beat. This couldn’t be happening. She had to be saying those words to keep me from killing her. How could a girl love someone like me? I was nothing but a loner, a person who had loved his guitar more than people. Now I was just a dead sack of bones.

“Bee, wake up. I need you to wake up.” I shook her gently. Her eyes opened darker than usual.

She sat up quick, curling into herself, holding her knees. “I thought seeing Grim Reapers was bad and now I can use a scythe. How can this be?”

“I don’t understand it either.” I took her in my arms, holding her to my chest, and wiped her tears away.

She rubbed her face with the sleeve of her shirt and pulled away from me. “I know why my mother told me she needed a break from death. I need a break. I need a couple of hours to be alone. Please leave.”

“We can talk about this more. I can show you how to use the scythe,” I pleaded.

“I need to come to grips with this on my own. Just a couple of hours.” Bee reached under her pillow, taking out her mp3 player. She shoved the buds into her ears and lay back, closing her eyes.

I sulked, feeling the sadness that came from her soul while walking out the door.

Lost in the music she drifted to another place, and she pulled her energy out of me like a warm ocean breeze to a stinging blizzard wind. I felt my skin retracting. Ligaments pulled away and decayed on sight. Cold air stiffened my bones to the tips of my bony fingers. I tucked them in the cloak. Her soul sat dormant inside me. Fresh pain seared to my chest. I fell to my knees and a new flashback began. It was an impression of what life would be like without Bee.

We reached the cemetery. I leaned against an eroded statue at the bottom steps of the crypt.

“Boy, you have bargained with your soul, and unless you want the Ancients to torture you to do their bidding for eternity, I advise you to ascend. You’re out of options, and even I can’t help you now.

“Did you come just to tell me this?” I pulled away from him and brushed off my cloak.

“No, I came to sever our bond. I can’t help you anymore, and I can’t risk having Ivar find me when I am a rebel to his cause. His soul is in you now also, so I need to take my soul back. I used it to keep track of you, like all bosses do with their Reaperlings. It’s important that Ivar doesn’t know I’ve done this.”

“You mean, I’m on my own? You won’t be my boss?”

“Yes.” He smoothed his beard and it ran between bony fingers. “But you’re technically not alone, are you?”

“Well, no. You know Bee’s soul is partly in me.”

“You see what the Flynts are. If they succeed in destroying Ivar, do you understand what one of them would become?”

“Does this have to do with the blood stone and breaking the curse on Bee’s property?”

Abe smiled and took my hand. “Bee or Jaleb Flynt would bring order to this plane.” I winced and tried to pull away when he brought his scythe across my palm. It sliced through ligaments that hung free without skin to hold them in place. No blood drained from the wound. I didn’t sense Abe anymore. Our bond was severed. I was no longer his Reaperling; he was no longer my boss. “It’s done. You’re now your own boss.”

“Easy as can be, Top Hat,” I lied.

“You will be responsible for your own assignments now.” Abe’s lips went into a frown.

“I’ll miss you as a boss, Abe.”

“I wish you well, boy. Whatever you do don’t let the darkness overtake you. It’s what Ivar wants. It will put you at your weakest and make you easy to control.”

I rubbed my hands together, trying to make the sting fade. “Why do you stay as a Grim Reaper?”

“Someone has to stay and fight for the cause. I have to stop the Ancients from making families off-balanced. We need true Grim Reapers and a way to get rid of the evil ones.”

“I can help you, Abe, just give me a chance. I won’t ever ascend unless Bee comes with me. That place is not for me. Please.”

I ran after him into the crypt. “Abe, where are you going?”

He waved his scythe twice to me before tapping it, disappearing into a plume of black smoke.

Abe was gone and I no longer felt him or Reina. I started to walk back to Bee’s house. The maple trees that lined the stone wall to the forest had lost almost all of its leaves, and the weather was changing. It was just another sign that time went on.

I entered the yard. Sabrina’s house looked just as old as Bee’s except there was no new addition attached to it. Old stone steps led up to a porch where carved pumpkins were lined up in a straight row. I looked through each of the four windows until I found Bee. She sat on the floor with a child in her lap. They cut fabric and glued while her aunt sewed. Jaleb held the other child. He was pale, but he hid his pain.