Death has a Daughter (DHAD Series) (19 page)

“
No!” shouted Trevor. He dived for me, willing to take the blow, but he wasn’t fast enough. The curse hit me with crushing force. I stumbled on impact, but it hadn’t hurt like I’d expected. The Demon smiled at me, but I felt fine.

“
Is that all you’ve got?” I mocked.

“Oh definitely not,” he said threw his teeth. “Why don’t you try porting, you little bitch.”  My eyes widened in horror.  He’d hit me with some sort of spell that disabled my porting.

“
Ah ha, yes, you’ve realized now,” he said, and Trevor went for him.

“
Come on, really?” the Demon said as he shot out his arm and put his palm up.  Trevor froze mid-step, lifting from the ground. With a chilling smile and simple flick of his wrist, the Demon threw Trevor across the room, into the wooden pole that was holding the American flag.  It pierced him threw his back and went out his chest.

“
NOOO,” pierced through my lips as I watched Trevor’s body go limp.  The fire that had been growing in my stomach was now in my throat.

“
HAHAHA. Hey, I really have to thank you, though.  You see, we could have just taken the prophecy that one day, but that would have been rather boring. You’ve made this somewhat of a challenge and I like challenges, but everything must come to an end.  It is now your turn.  But first, let’s take your protection.” With another motion of his arms, my scythe went flying into the wall, then landed beneath Trevor’s body.  I looked away from Trevor and my scythe to the Demon who was muttering something with a smile on his lips.  He spit out his curse and it came flying in my direction.  As it came near me, I held up my hands on instinct, and it flew back at the Demon.  The curse missed him, barely, and instead flung up against the wall of wards.  On impact, the wards came crashing down.  Tons of Guardians and Angels began rushing in, and I heard the Demon scream out.

“
Not possible!  This means…Oh you will pay, Reaper!”  And he was gone.

The Angels and G
uardians, in seconds, defeated the rest of the Demons that remained.  I ran over to Trevor.  I slid him off the wooden pole and softly put him on the ground.  I knelt over him and felt for a pulse—there was nothing.  Tears started to fall from my eyes and my chest felt heavy, making it difficult to breathe.  This couldn’t be happening. He was trying to protect me.  Trevor was too tough….

“
NOOO.” My scream was at a pitch that had my ears ringing.  All at once, I felt Guardian arms grab my shoulders, pulling me off of him. “NOOO,” came out as a deep growl.  My back was shocked by whatever electric light they’d hit me with, trying to make me let go.  The light pulsated up my back and through my shoulders.  It felt like a million pin needles piercing through my skin at the same time.  The pain subdued quickly and, to my surprise, no one was pulling me any longer, so I rushed back to Trevor’s lifeless body.  My hand found his chest, where his heart lay, and I began to sway back fourth, hyperventilating, as if, by the force of my will, I could bring him back to life.  This couldn’t happen; no...no…no…no…. not now.  My lids closed in defeat and a hum started to leave my chest. 

My hands started to burn and I opened
my eyes, expecting to see some Guardians striking me with their light.  Instead, I saw a dim, orange light shining beneath my hands and spreading all over Trevor’s chest.  My eyes blinked rapidly, trying to clear the optical illusion that I was seeing, but, to my surprise, the image stayed, along with my hands, as I couldn’t seem to move them.  After a few more seconds, the light disappeared and I flipped my hands over to stare at my palms.  Nothing was there.  It was just, once again, my plain old hands.  The light had disappeared as quickly as it had come. 

Pain shot to my head
, causing me to wince. My hands rubbed my temples slowly, making the ache fade, as my eyes blinked to clear my vision.  When it finally cleared, my eyes opened and they were met by Trevor’s.

I reached down and touched his cheek, just to make sure he was real.  His face nuzzled into my palm, and a smile broke through my sobbing lips.  He was really alive.

“You’re alive!!!!” I screamed hysterically, as I gripped him up in a hug.

“
But how?” he asked.

“
I don’t know. One second, you were dead, and then...I don’t know.” I said, as I felt embarrassed that I was still hugging him. I let him go and stood up.

“
Can you stand?” I asked him, as he was laying there dazed.

“
Yeah, I feel fine actually,” he said as he rose up, and he surely looked fine.

“
Last I remember I was going after that Demon and then he flew me into that pole,” Trevor said, as he pointed to the pole and flag that were still covered in his blood.

“
I know…” I said, now laughing, probably from the insanity my mind was facing.  Was I dreaming?

“
Ugh, mm...” said someone, who was clearing their throat, taking my focus off of Trevor.

The
culprit was Dave.  He did a quick dart—with his eyes—around the room, making me look.  Surrounding Trevor and me were at least thirty Guardians, with their mouths dropped open and their eyes wide.  One broke away from where they all stood and looked straight up to me.

“
What are you?” he asked.

“
I’m a Reaper.”  Everyone would know now, there was no denying it—they’d all seen me teleport those kids.

“
No,” said another that took a step towards me.  “No Reaper of your age has that kind of power!” he shouted.

“
Power?!” said one of the Guardians, who I think was an Angel by her smell.  I’d heard in training that they had a sweet, almost lemon, smell to them and this one smelled like fresh melon lemonade.  “How about the fact that she was able to heal the Guardian?  Not even Guardians can heal. It’s a power known only to some Angels.”

“
Excuse me?” I asked, completely confused.  “I’m not sure what you guys are talking about. I am a Grim Reaper.”

“
Then how did you defend the curse that was thrown at you, and send it to the wards, causing them to fall?” another asked.

“
I didn’t. I just threw up my hands and it went the other way…”  I said, trying to remember what I had done.

“
No, Cendall, you threw it back at the Demon,” Dave said, “and then you went to that Guardian, who was inches from death on the pole.  You took him off of it and began to sob.  Which was strange enough for me, but when they tried to pull you off him, you shocked them all with electric bolts that sent them flying feet away.  Then you threw your arms onto his chest and began doing something.  You were like hyperventilating and humming.  Then these weird orange lights were leaving your fingertips, and now he’s alive.  I’ve known you my whole life, Cendall, and in my heart, I’ve always known you were going to be more than a Reaper, but I was aiming for maybe U Judge.” Dave laughed.

“
This is not funny,” Herald said, stepping through the crowd. “She has betrayed us all by saving these souls tonight.  We are soul takers, not savers.  She needs to be arrested and put to trial!”

“
Over my dead body!” Trevor yelled.

“
You want to die twice tonight?!” Drake shouted back to him.

“
This ends now!” shouted a voice from the crowd and all were hushed in silence.

“
I am of the highest level here.  She speaks the truth she knows, but of the whole truth, she is not yet quite aware,” said a voice that emerged out of the crowd. “This is something I’m not even fully aware of yet.  She has the markings of a Reaper but possesses powers that are from my realm; this makes one wonder.  Walk with me, Cendall; we have many things to discuss.”  The voice, who now stood before me, said.  She had light-brown hair and skin, with caramel-colored eyes.  She smelled like hot tea with a splash of lemon and honey.

“
You have no right to take her anywhere.  She is from my realm and she shall go back to it to be judged properly!”  Herald stepped forward and confronted the woman.

“
Say another word and I will strike you down in the very spot you stand.  Do not forget your place, Reaper.  You are only correct on one thing and that is that she is not from my realm, but you’re forgetting that, with the things that have been exposed here have revealed, she’s clearly not just from your realm either, making neither of us with the jurisdiction to determine her fate!  Although, considering the fact that our Guardians and fellow Angels here outrank and outnumber your Reapers, you have no choice but to let me talk with the girl.  While I’m gone, feel free to bring back, from your realm, whoever makes a decision on a case like this, and I will also call mine, and then we’ll determine her fate in court.  It’s the only way.  There are many souls laying around that need collecting anyways. I believe this was why you were here in the first place, so why don’t you get to doing your job?” And with that, the lady grabbed my hand and we ported out of there.

With one blink, we were walking in what had to be a part of her realm, because it was a place I didn’t recognize.  It didn’t feel like anywhere I’d ever been on earth, and it wasn’t somewhere from my hometown.  There were familiar things, like the mountains that were surrounding us, as we walked on a dirt path, but the air was different.  It was misty, and when you breathed it in, it was thick and full of menthol—like you’d just walked into a steamed room.  The fifth soul I’d collected was in one of these places, and it took all I had not to throw up as I looked around at the naked old men sitting with their bare butts on the benches.

“
Where are we?” I asked her.

“
We are in Purgatory.”  She took a deep breath. “This is usually a spot for souls to cleanse.  This is a place of confession, Cendall, and I need you to do just that.  Please tell me your journey from start to finish.”

“
Do I have to?” I asked. I mean, was it really any of her business?  How could I trust her? She seemed genuine, but I’d heard of Angels’ tricks.

“
Your realm is not very forgivable.  If they have their way, they will imprison you, Cendall.  I know it’s hard to trust me, since, well, we do fight on different sides, but I plan on defending you, and to do that, I need to know everything.  My name is Alicia, by the way.”  I looked into her eyes.  She was right—my side wasn’t forgivable.  They only knew how to persecute, not defend.  It was what they were trained to do; I couldn’t expect any less.  She would be my only chance.

“
There’s really not that much to tell.”  How far back in my life did she want me to go?

“
I find that hard to believe.  How about you start with the fact that you’re the only female Reaper I’ve ever met.”

“
Alright…well, yeah, I’m the first and only one to ever be born to a Reaper,” I told her.

“
Have they figured out how that came about?” she asked.

“
No, not yet.  Some townspeople said it had to be because of my mother.  They would say that surely someone of my father’s bloodline couldn’t possibly be the reason.”

“
Why would they say that?  Who is your father?” she asked.

“
Lucas Todeslandwirt.”  I watched her eyes widen.  “But everyone just calls him LT.  That’s probably not going to help me, is it?” I asked, when I saw her reaction.

“
No, probably not.  A lot of people have lost many battles to your father.  I, personally, haven’t met him, but I’ve heard the stories.  He’s in retirement now, isn’t he?” she asked.

“
Yeah, he had to, so he could raise me,” I answered, and saw her body relax in what I took as relief.

“
First of all, you said they blamed your mother…Why?  And why would your father have to retire if your mother was there? Was she ill?”

“
No, she was nonexistent.  She died during childbirth,” I said as my eyes darted toward the ground.

“
Hmm…so they blamed her, because they didn’t know her?”

“
Correct.”

“
Do you know what she was like?” she asked, and I wondered why there were so many questions about this part.

“
Nope, Father just says I looked like her.  Anyways…I was the only female Reaper to get into training.  I’d just completed it a little over six months ago.  I was first in my class.  Things were great, until I met Lacie.”

“
Okay, we’re moving quickly now, though. Tell me more about being first in your class.  Is this where you discovered you had other abilities that other Reapers didn’t have? Like the electric current from your hands?”

“
Nope, I actually had no idea I had that ability.  And I’m just not sure that you guys actually saw that.  I’ve never done anything like that before.  I was just good in training.”

“
Just good?  Don’t take that the wrong way; I’m not saying that you weren’t.  I’m just trying to figure out if that’s where your extra gifts started.  You’ve never had anything, we’ll say, unexplainable happen?”

I stayed silent for a moment
. I mean, I was able to predict my striker’s next move in training pretty flawlessly, but that was just instinct, right? 

“
I can tell you’re pondering something. Let it out, and let me decide.”

“
Okay, well, I am just really good at anticipating a Reaper’s next move.  To come to think of it, Guardians too...”  That really had my mind thinking.  “To be completely honest with you, Trevor, until today, of course, was the only Guardian I’d run into that was protecting a soul on my list.  I was at a train battle with a lot of other Reapers battling Guardians, but, still, the soul on my list didn’t even have one.  I’ve collected 197 souls, and none of them had a Guardian present.  I found it a bit odd but hadn’t looked into the reason why.”

“
Yes, that is odd, and that was what I was looking for.  Okay, so sensing when guardians are not around, could be a potential gift.” I really hoped this wasn’t going to nip me in the butt later. But what choice did I have?  “Okay, so let’s go back to when you met Lacie....What happened?”

“
I, well, stalked her for a while, and the first day I met her, she was almost hit by a truck.  That was when I noticed she had a lot of protection.  So from that day on, I just followed her around, waiting to get my, um, opportunity...for the take.  It was on one of those days that I witnessed the fight between the Demons and the Guardians.  All of them were killed, except Lacie and Trevor.  They came running my way, and Lacie shouted ‘help.’  I thought she was talking to someone else, but then she latched onto me.  I was completely thrown off, but I didn’t want to die, because the Demons were a few feet away, so I teleported us.  That was when I learned that Lacie could see me, and my world turned upside-down.  Trevor almost killed me,” I laughed, “until Lacie told him he couldn’t, that is.  He unmasked me, and my secret was completely blown.  So there I was, thinking of how my life was over, when Lacie came up with a perfect solution: Since Trevor was hit by a spell that kept him from being in contact with his realm, and Lacie would need to be guarded from the Demon that was after her, we made a mutual agreement that they wouldn’t tell anyone about me saving them if I would help guard her until he healed.  So things went on like that for a while, until one day Trevor was healed, then him and Lacie left.”

“
How long did it take for him to heal?” she asked.

“
A couple of months,” I answered.

“
Explain the exact moment, please.”

“
I, well, had come to tell him and Lacie about how I’d just found out about my arranged marriage.  Once I told them that story, Trevor left to go collect food.  I had some souls to collect, so I left to do that.  When I came back, he said he could hear them again,” I said, and I felt my face flush.

“
Hmm, okay…so did you have any type of contact with Trevor before you left?”

“
You could say that,” I said, and I felt my cheeks burn.

“
Please explain…”

“
But it’s going to sound so stupid.”  And I looked directly into her eyes, which told me she wasn’t going to stop pressing....ugh.

“
Well, Lacie and I were teasing Trevor about him claiming that I didn’t want to marry Drake because he was a bad kisser, because Reapers sucked at everything, including kissing.  Lacie called him out on it, saying he should prove to us that he was a better kisser...” I paused. This was so embarrassing.

“
And…”

“
And, well, after we teased him I thought he had stormed off, but he actually snuck up behind me and, well, we kissed.”

“
And it was after this that he went into the woods and you went to seek souls, and when you saw him again, he was healed of the curse the demon put on him?”

“
Well, yeah, but I don’t think…”  No way had I stripped the curse from him....Could I have done that?

“
Okay, so after all of this happened, you went back to your realm, until you were called by your head trainer to go to the site that the Demons were at, correct?”

“
Yes, and I just...something came over me.  I couldn’t watch them take all those souls.  They weren’t on any of our lists, so it just didn’t seem right.  They were going to die because that crazy Demon wanted Lacie’s soul for some type of prophecy-shit, he was saying.”

“
Yes, he was, wasn’t he….Well, I think I have everything I need to piece together a conclusion.  We will go back now so that you can have your judgment.”

“
Okay...but what is your conclusion?”  She was being so vague.

“
I’m still collecting it, but I do have one more question before we go.”

“
Yes?”

“
You said you have collected 197 souls that were on your list.  I know your list consists of 200, and with your skills, you would have been able to complete them all by now.  I know one of them was Lacie, but who were the other two that you failed to collect?”

“
My friends’ ‘
one’
and her sister.  They somehow were on my list and I couldn’t do that to Dave.”  Thanks for the reminder of another broken rule, lady.  My realm’s judges were going to jail me forever.

“
There is so much more to learn from you, Cendall. One day, I promise we’ll look into it more, because, trust me, I am extremely interested in finding out how you came about.  Due to the severity of the charges your being accused of, you won’t have any time to go back home.  We must go now; my fellow judges are calling.”  She grabbed my hand again, and I closed my eyes. Who knew where she was taking me now?