Death has a Daughter (DHAD Series) (2 page)

The lost souls typically
kept to themselves and just wandered aimlessly in their ramblings.  Most had little to no pigment and black, hollow eyes.  The distinctive features they had as humans were still present, minus the physical body, leaving them as floating spirits of what they used to look like.  The ones that were closer to our castle walls were a bit livelier.  Well, as lively as they could be as a soul sentenced to just wander about, going from meadow to meadow, never being able to figure out why they were there. 

We were forbidden to go
very far outside of the castle walls, because it would cause too much confusion amongst the souls that were the most troubled.  I learned that the hard way at age five, when I brought back one of the more talkative lost souls with me.  From what I remember, she wasn’t confused at all.  The conversation I remember had been a great one: it was about this guy, named Santa, who gave people presents.  She told me that she was his wife, and she needed to get back to the North Pole. I thought by bringing her back home, Dad could help her get there.  This resulted in me getting my first lesson in human’s mental health, and I ended up not able to leave the house alone again until the age of eleven.  My house felt like a cage back then, but lately, I had been feeling the same about the entire realm—just one big bird cage with a little red robin trapped inside.

Soon enough, I would be free to venture into any realm of hell or earth.  I
’m sure my dad had enough time to explain all of this to my mother while I was in her tummy. It all sounded like home to me, so I still wonder why she couldn’t be convinced to come.  It had to be his job description that bothered her. It was hard to sell yourself when you had an occupation that involved collecting human souls for a living.

“
Cendall Todeslandwirt!” Herald yelled my full name, taking me out of my daydreaming.  “Did you hear the schedule for tomorrow?”

“
Yes,” I lied, as I flashed a look at my buddy Dave, who appeared to be paying attention.  I would have to ask him later. 

“
Be on your way, Reapers, we have a big day tomorrow!”  Herald said, and everyone started walking home.  Quickening my pace to pass the other Reapers, I caught up to Dave.  We had been neighbors forever and best friends since childhood.  Dave was the only Reaper in my class that I trusted, probably due to the fact that he never picked on me when we were young.  He had actually been in too many fights to count for sticking up for me.  Along with being the only male to not pick on me, he also didn’t try to hit on me.  We had talked about it before—I wasn’t his type.  He liked short brunettes with green eyes.  Considering my height of 5’8”, strawberry-blonde hair, and dark-blue eyes, I was the opposite of his type.  If personality had been the only factor in attraction, he would have been my guy.  But it wasn’t.  Not that he was ugly or anything; he just wasn’t my type either.  He was about 5’6” and had hazel eyes, soft pale skin, and a boxer build.  The girl who would win his heart one day would be the luckiest girl ever.  Unless she hurt him, then I would take her soul to the Demons.  I considered him my brother from another mother.

“
Hey Dave,” I said as I reached his side.

“
Class is at four tomorrow,” he said with a smirk.  He knew me all too well.  “One day, all that dreaming you do is going to get you in trouble.”

“
Yeah, I know, but Herald has the most monotone voice ever.  I can’t pay attention to him for more than thirty seconds,” I complained.

“
Yeah, but hey, we only have the test and tournament left in training, then we’re all grown up,” Dave said with a smile as his fingers made air quotations.

“
Yeah, I can’t wait, and then I won’t have to deal with those assholes anymore.  I can’t believe Eddie did that to me today.  Did you see everyone look at me when I said it, too?  My face had to be red.”

“
Like a tomato.” He laughed.  “You have to watch it, Cendall,” he added in a more serious tone, “you know they’re all
‘so concerned’
with that top spot.  They’ll do anything for it.  If I hadn’t gotten tied up by that last pretend Guardian, I would have at least been able to warn you.  How’d you get past it so fast anyway?” he asked.

“
Just like everyone else,” I lied, but he would probably call me out on it soon.

“
No way. It’s that weird thing you can do, isn’t it?  Because, I mean, Drake had a really hard time, and Eddie only flew by it because the thing was too busy with Drake.  If Eddie wasn’t so fast he wouldn’t have had a chance in hell,” Dave said, and I agreed.

“
Yeah, I know, I just…I don’t know…like I told you before, I just have this ‘sense’ thing of where they’re going to strike next...must have gotten it from my mama,” I laughed, as I still hadn’t figured out why I could usually sense what their next moves would be.  Occasionally, I would get it wrong, but 90% of the time, I could read other pretend Guardians really well.  Who knows if it would carry out to the field when I had to deal with
real
Guardians. Hopefully, it would.

“
Yeah, well, whatever it is, use it to your advantage to get number one.  If Drake gets it, we’ll never hear the end of it.  We’ll be on our death beds, and he’ll still be talking about it.”

“
I really don’t want to hear that forever, since I don’t plan on dying.  He’s not going to get it; I won’t let him have it, I swear.  I need to get home though; Dad is going to want an explanation of why I didn’t jump to first today.”

“
Don’t sweat it, Cendall,” Dave said. He stared at my eyes as they sank down.  “He just wants you to be the best—he’ll understand.”

“
I know, I just want to be number one. He fought so hard to get me into this. I’ve heard the stories.  I know no one else wanted to even let me train because I was a female.  I still hear the whispers as I walk past, that a female is too emotional and weak to handle the responsibilities of being a Grim Reaper.  Dad argued for me though and was somehow able to persuade them.  I have to be ranked number one at the end, or it’s like his efforts were wasted.  Not to mention that when Dad trained, he became the best at everything.  Even in the field, he still holds almost every record.  I don’t want to be an embarrassment to the Todeslandwirt bloodline.”

“
I’m sure he doesn’t feel that way,” Dave said.

“
Well, I’ll see you tomorrow. Two more days to get that top spot.”  I gave him a hug and went home.

The morning arrived quicker than I
had expected.  I awoke with a startle and looked at my clock: fifteen minutes to get ready and go.  On my dresser, neatly folded on top of my uniform and mask, was a note.

“
I know you’ll do great and take that top spot.  Just follow your instincts and you’ll succeed.  Love, Dad”

My lips
formed a smirk that lasted until I looked at the clock again. 

When I busted through the door, everyone had already taken their seat
s.  Herald gave me the stink eye as soon as I entered the classroom.  Sometimes, I swore he had it out for me.  I brought it up to Dad once and he said that Herald hated all kids equally.  Ever since his son had been killed by an Angel, in a battle long ago, he had become bitter.  It made me feel sorry for him at first, but one can only take so many comments and snickers before the pity fades.

One seat to Dave
’s left remained open, so I took it and eyed the clock.  I still had sixty seconds, so Herald could shut his stink eye; I wasn’t late.  Maybe I could even use my sixty seconds to study one of the five hundred books that were on the bookshelves against the wall to my left.  Thank Lucifer, we didn’t have to read through those things again.  Humans had so much history that we were forced to learn about.  Herald would say it would be to our benefit to know what we hunt—inside and out—so nothing would be a surprise, blah, blah….I shuddered at the memory of all the studying I used to have to do as we finished each of those books, one by one, with an exam at the end of each.  An exam that was pass or fail, with no in-between.  A failing grade meant you didn’t get to move forward.  Today would finally be my last exam.

“
As you all know,” Herald began in his monotone, “today is your last day of training.  So many of you have long awaited this day.  The first part of your final exam will be a written test, which I am about to hand to you.  The last part will be the Reaping.  As you are all aware, the Reaping is a tournament style match where you will pretend your opponent is a Guardian and you will attempt to take their soul.  You will each be given a chest armor that will have a fake blue heart in the center of it.  Once you have placed your scythe into the other’s “heart,” and hence, taken their soul, you win and move onto the next round.  The two final contestants will battle for first and second, and then you will all have graduated.  Lucky for you all, your scores, up until this point, had assured that no matter how you place, you will all pass.  Do not let that deter you from doing your best.  Remember that scrolls are handed out according to rank, so try to get to that top spot.  How you place on this test will determine where you are placed in the Reaping!” he shouted.  “I will now give you your test.”  The papers appeared in his hand, and he slowly moved to each student and handed them an exam.

“
Always have to cut it close, huh, Cendall?” he said when he came to my desk and placed the test in front of me.

“
I had sixty seconds,” I said and looked down to start; I didn’t feel like bickering with Herald today.  After this test and the Reaping, I wouldn’t have to deal with his ‘old school, no breaking any rules’ attitude.

**

The test was a lot easier than expected. I figured there would be way more definitions about every role in our under-realm. Hopefully they hadn’t expected me to add those myself. 

As soon as my arm rose in the air, Herald came and collected my test.  It didn
’t matter how I scored anyways, because I would still graduate.  But it would be nice if my answers were mostly correct.  A detail here or there may have been left out. But who cared about details?  The Reaping would determine everything.

Tomorrow
’s Reaping would be long, and I would have to face at least three before I met Drake at the end.  No way could anyone else defeat him, unless I got lucky.  This wasn’t something I wanted luck in though.  No, I wanted to face him and finally show him that I deserved to be there.

If he wasn
’t in my class, I probably wouldn’t have even cared how I ranked, because the true test came when you were out in the field.  Drake had been giving me grief since we started training at age six.  He always was the ringleader in the teasing.  Tomorrow I would silence him. 

As I rose to leave, I glanced in
Drake’s direction.  He looked up, and I flashed him a quick single-finger salute before walking out of the classroom to start my walk home.

My eyes stared at each of the identical two-story homes as I walked past them.  All the houses in
limbo looked the same.  Each having two stories and all painted in a sliding scale of browns. The only real difference was that some were slightly smaller than others.  Only when you stepped inside could you really tell the difference. 

One foot inside my house and you could tell it was absent of a mother
’s presence.  The only room that had any color was mine, which had been an experience in independence gone wrong.  The experiment left my room a ruby red with random black splashes of paint, as I couldn’t get the border just right, so paint just started to fly.  Other than my room, the only color in our home came from the TV when Dad would watch movies or read one of his magazines.  Everything else in our home was white or black.  White being the walls, and black all the furniture. 

We had an orange rug in the kitchen once that got ruined when Dad cut himself while making dinner.
“See, this is why I have all black furniture,” he said with a laugh.  “I can’t imagine having any other color in the house with the condition I used to come home in.  None of the furniture would have survived.  Black is the only thing that hides stains, you see.”  Which made sense and was why my wardrobe came in only that color as well. 

There
was a drastic change when you walked from my house to Dave’s next door.  His house had color everywhere—you practically drowned in it.  In her human life, his mother had been a pretty prominent artist in New York.  She would always joke that she was convinced half of that city must be possessed by Demons with all the craziness that went on there.  Whenever she came to pick up Dave when we were younger, she would playfully scold my father.

“
No wonder this child only wears black; look at this place! There’s no color anywhere.  You ever need any styling tips, I’m only a couple feet away, you know,” Dave’s mom said, kindly. Libby was my favorite of the Reaper mothers.  I opened my door and headed up the stairs toward my room.

“
Hey, Cendall, wait a sec,” my father called from his room to the left of mine.  “I know you need rest before tomorrow’s Reaping, but would you come here for a second?” he asked.

“
Sure.” I pushed the door open to see him sitting on the satin, black bed, with his scythe lying next to him.  I smiled to match his.  It’s the one thing I’d gotten from him, he always said.  Only someone of his line had that charming smile, he’d say.  If my father would have had a boy, I probably would have been a beast like my father.  He had dark-blue, almost black, eyes and pitch black hair to match.  He stood about seven feet tall and was nothing but solid muscle. 

Even at his age, Dad could take on our best Reapers.  He had retired way too early.  I heard it was a day that had all Guardians celebrating
, as they would no longer have to face my father.  I had heard so many stories about his escapades, but he never would confirm or deny any.  If rumors were true, he was a lethal killing machine.  He never let me see that side of him though.  To me, he was just my smart, caring dad, who currently had his hand on his scythe.  A scythe I had not seen since the age of six, after he had just retired. 

“
Why do you have your…”

“
You mean yours.” He paused and took a deep breath. “It has always been family tradition to pass down this scythe to the eldest child who has completed training, so it’s yours now,” he said, and handed it to me.  With both hands, I took ahold of the scythe.  I let out a sigh as my hands started to tingle from its touch.  This thing was as beautiful as I remembered.  The hilt was a polished, gunmetal grey.  About halfway up, there was a huge, blood-red ruby that was orbited by smaller, dime-sized rubies. The center ruby had the power to extract the soul from the human’s heart when I placed the tip of the scythe into it.  This center ruby not only had the power to extract the soul, it would also hold onto the soul until I brought it to the extractors to face judgment.

“
I thought...” I stuttered, and became astounded by how right it felt in my hands.  It made the fact that I would really be out on my own soon sink in.

“
Thought what?  Cendall, you are my eldest and only Reaper child.  After the tourney tomorrow, you will graduate.  It’s yours,” he said with a pronounced, proud voice.

“
But…I thought that since... “

“
Oh, stop now!  You know that being female has never hindered you from anything!  You deserve it.  Now open it,” he said, as I pushed that magic, small indent that made the scythe elongate from both ends to its full, four-foot potential.  Even in its extended form, it took my breath away.  My fingertips felt the scythe’s smooth, perfect blade.  A gasp escaped my lips when I reached the tip and watched in awe the result of my fingers touching it:  Blood began dripping down my hand.

“
Thank you,” I smiled.

“
How does it feel?” he asked as his eyes lit up.  “I just sharpened it, as you can see.”

“
It’s amazing. It fits perfectly in my grasp.”

“
I knew it would.  Now, go rest, you will need it tomorrow when you take that top spot from Drake.  I won’t be home tonight. I have some errands that I need to attend to, so don’t wait up,” Dad said as he walked past me, and I stood there, dumbfounded.  This scythe had been passed down for hundreds of years. A ton of top Reapers bearing our family name had collected souls with this, and it was now mine.  A grin spread across my face.  Victory would be mine at the Reaping with this in my hands.  I pushed the indent, making it go back to its original form, and wiped my bloody hand on my pants.