Graveyard Shift (18 page)

“Now wait just one minute. Amy would never give you my address if she thought you meant me harm.” Warren stood and backed away from the couch.

“We don’t.” I frowned at Josie. She put the vial back in the trunk and shrugged.

“You’re not the only one who bends the rules, Wa
rren.” I gave him a gentle smile. “Sell me the axe. I’ll give you enough coin to pay for six month’s rent at the Holly House.”

The Holly House was home to Limbo’s most Chri
stian and most paranoid citizens. The tenants were a mixture of angels, nephilim, and even a few senior souls from the factory who had saved up for a decade or two. The place was owned by and named after Holly Spirit, but she didn’t have time to run it. That job was left to her feathered assistants. They made sure their guests were provided with the utmost security. The council even agreed to let them construct an eight foot fountain coursing with holy water for the front lobby, provided they framed and posted their license on the gate outside.

“The Holly House,” Warren sighed. “That would be lovely, but where will I go after six months?”

“Like I said, I bend the rules too. Give me the demon’s name.”

He paused and licked his lips. I could almost see the visions of Holly House dancing behind his eyes. He looked around his apartment one more time, disgust leaking through his e
xpression. “His name is Varren. He told my mother it was Warren. She thought she had named me after him. My human grandmother took care of me after my mother died delivering me, but when my wings began to develop, she prayed for the Virgin to come and take me away. And the Virgin did.”

“Is that all you can tell me about him?”

“When he was in Hell, he served under Azazel. I hear not even Azazel knows where he is now. I think I’m ready for the Holly House.”

“Good.” I reached for the axe, and he didn’t stop me this time.

It was lighter than it looked, probably from one of the Latin spells. The double blade sparkled, even in the dim light. Warren watched me from behind the couch with awe and worry twisting up his eyebrows. Clearly, the weapon had never been used. Part of me couldn’t help but hope for another demon attack so I could try it out. Stupid? Yes. But the chances of us running into demons again were high enough, it felt like divination instead.

Chapter 22

“A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing,

and suffers nothing, is worth nothing.”

-Martin Luther

“Grim’s gonna be pissed when he finds out you didn’t get a receipt from Warren.” Josie sat cross-legged on my new faux leather sofa. At least the fake leather smelled nice. After buying the axe, I couldn’t afford the real thing. But I did have enough coin left to buy a good pair of boots.

I sat on the edge of my coffee t
able and laced the charcoal duds up my calves. They were shorter than my last pair, but a whole lot tougher. The heels and toes were reinforced with steel. A cluster of braided leather cords fell over the boot tongues, dangling black barbs around my ankles.

“He’ll get over it,” I sighed. “You can tell him I bought the axe at the market. That it was too good a deal to pass up, and that the vendor had hooves and couldn’t write out a r
eceipt.”

Kevin frowned. “Everyone knows hoofed vendors employ sprites to help with that sort of thing. And why does Josie have to tell him?” He sat on the sofa next to Josie, flipping through a pamphlet for the Coexist Complex. The only apartment available happened to be on the same floor as Josie’s.

“Because Lana’s a terrible liar,” she answered for me. “I’ll tell him the pixies were away for lunch.” She folded her arms over her lap, flashing her new charm bracelet, the only luxury item she had bought with her bonus money. Silver holy symbols looped around the leather band tightly fastened to her wrist. She had used most of her coin to sign up for advanced classes and scolded me more than once for not doing the same. Why bother? Hadn’t Grim said he would cover the tuition for my mentoring course? That was enough school for me, thank you.

“We should go to the memorial se
rvice early.” Kevin sighed and tossed the pamphlet on the coffee table.

“What for?” I scrunched up my face.

“Because Coreen died working with us.” He folded his arms. “Maybe you didn’t like her, but she still deserves your respect. And she was Saul’s first apprentice. You were his last. You should feel compelled more than anyone to attend.”

“You’re right,” I groaned and slumped down on the edge of the coffee table. “But you have to remember, there are dozens of reapers far more exper
ienced than the three of us who weren’t picked for Grim’s special little assignment. We’ll be dealing with more resentment than sympathy today. You’ll see. Wear comfortable shoes. You’ll wanna get out of there just as fast as I do before it’s over.” I patted his shoulder and went to dig my nicest robe out of the closet.  

Seeing Seth at Coreen’s memorial service was like catching Hitler lighting Hanukah candles. Hypocrisy at its finest. Three days ago, he had verbally slapped her and belittled Grim for allowing reapers at the council dinner. Now he stood solemnly at the head of the crowd, patting a hand here and there and nodding in sympathy like the good little snake that he was. His eyes locked on me as I entered the park, breaking the façade of sincerity. His pupils darkened and his brow furrowed, but his mouth twisted into a self-assured smirk. I looked away. I didn’t want his attention. The more insignificant he found me, the better.

Coreen’s memorial statue stood ten feet from Saul’s, done perfectly to scale in a gritty bronze. Grim had the sculptor pose her with one arm erected over her head. Light seeped from between the fingers of her raised hand, symbo
lizing the keen battle tactic she had used to help us defeat the demons before they took her.

Beyond the new statue, Craig Hogan pushed his way through the growing crowd and towards me. My chest tigh
tened as I sucked in a surprised breath.

There were six reapers in my ge
neration. According to most, Craig was the best of us. He still held the highest score ever seen on an L&L exam. After his apprenticeship, he became the youngest member to join the Lost Souls Unit. They’re responsible for collecting CNH souls that mysteriously leave their bodies before harvesting.

Craig’s squared jaw and buzzed head could terrify any soul into submission, but his tough guy look lost most of its effect once the constellation of gray freckles splattered across his nose and cheeks came into view. When he smiled at me, I almost forgot how much I r
esented his success.

There was a time when Craig could do no wrong. As long as he smiled the way he did, I was defenseless. We dated for a short while during our training. After he was a
ssigned his apprenticeship under Coreen, he delivered to me a brief and mechanical speech explaining how there was no room for me in his ambitious future plans.  I’m still convinced he was promised the position on the Lost Souls Unit under the condition that he ditch me.

Luckily, the heartache only lasted half as long as the relationship had, which wasn’t long. Two pairs of shoes and a latte later, I was over him. But that
didn’t mean I felt like doing somersaults whenever I happened to bump into him.

“So are the rumors true?” He smiled, baring his pe
rfectly straight, white teeth. I used to consider his smile his best asset. Now, knowing how insincere it was, I just wanted to smash his face in and watch him choke on all those pretty teeth. He moved closer, penetrating my personal space. I fought the urge to step back and held my ground, returning his fake smile with one of my own.

“Hello Craig.”

“I missed you at the ball,” he said.

“That’s funny. I didn’t miss you.”

Craig’s brow pinched, but his phony smile never faltered. “The word out on the street is that you were invited to the council dinner. Is that true?” He was still predictable as ever, never giving anyone the time of day unless they could somehow be useful to him. Helping him study for the exams was the last bit of help he would be getting from me.

“Craig, I’m here for Coreen’s memorial service, not an interview.” I turned my back to him and picked up a glass of club soda from the refreshments table.

I could still feel him standing behind me. His desperate annoyance crashed in waves against my back. When he spoke again, his breath hissed along my neck, tickling my ear. “Yes, Coreen,” he whispered, tilting his head over my shoulder. “How exactly did she die? You were with her, weren’t you?”

My insides shivered, remembering the sof
tness of his voice in a more intimate setting. The jerk thought he still had me.

I turned around slowly, pacing m
yself so he wouldn’t see the disgust in my expression. His eyes rolled over me with some new wonder I hadn’t noticed before. He loomed in front of me and crept subtly closer until I snatched an abandoned program off the table and smacked it in the middle of his chest.

“Read for yourself.” I smiled and walked away from him and the growing crowd.

The ceremony wouldn’t begin for another twenty minutes, and I needed a break already. Now that the word was getting around about my new placement, I doubted Craig would be the last skeleton creeping out of my closet. I pulled the hood of my robe up to keep anyone else from recognizing me and found a quiet place to rest near a fountain on the other side of the park. The quiet didn’t last long.

“Congratulations on your promotion.” Jenni Fang spotted me as she entered the park.

I looked up and sighed. “Yeah, thanks.”

Jenni was Josie’s roommate. Rumors about her d
eveloping an underground association of reapers had been circulating for a while now, but in the few times I had been around her, she never mentioned anything about it. I assumed they were just rumors.

She stopped on the sidewalk and glanced towards the crowd, and then back to me, struggling to make a decision of some kind.

I laughed. “If you’re looking for gossip, you can count me out.”

“I’m not.” She frowned and then dashed behind the cover of the fountain before anyone noticed her. She sat down next to me on the concrete ledge and held her hand out to catch the spray coming off the copper angels behind us.

Jenni was a rarity among the reapers. If anyone could pass for human, it was her. Though her almond eyes were solid black, the Asian influence on her features complemented the ghastly flesh that marked her as a reaper. She was born less than a century before the Japanese invasion of Korea, proving the strength of Grim’s ties with the Fates. The Fates rarely made prophecies anymore, and if they did, it came with a hefty price. Grim was keeping them in business in more ways than one. It wasn’t mere coincidence that he knew the exact number of new reapers needed each century.

Jenni crossed her legs and wiped her hand off on the sleeve of her robe. She hadn’t spoke
n since joining me on the fountain, but that was no surprise. Harvesting mass quantities of souls in a war zone paid off. She found a way to apply every battle tactic she witnessed to her daily life, something Grim hadn’t counted on. But it made promotions easier for her to obtain. She was waiting for me to start the conversation, so I couldn’t accuse her of badgering me. Some might call it polite. I called it trickery, but it works.

“How’s the Mother Goose Unit wor
king out for you?” I decided if I kept the focus on her, I might be safe.

“Awful,” she groaned and shot me a bothered frown. “I’ve harvested too many soldiers. I’ve taken every class offered, but I still can’t seem to find my footing with chi
ldren. I’m thinking about transferring to the Recovery Unit next year.”

The Mother Goose Unit specialized in harvesting child souls. Every now and then, if there’s an epidemic in the human realm, a few child souls find their way onto a freelance harvester’s docket, but not often. Child souls ranged from infants to fifteen-year-olds. Although the h
uman realm rose the age of adulthood in most countries, Eternity’s independence gave the council the option of voting, and they chose to keep the adult age at fifteen. After fifteen, souls don’t listen as well, so they have to be moved individually. Child souls can be moved in classes of five to twenty, depending on a reaper’s experience and the ages of the children.

The Recovery Unit is the best of the best reapers. If a soul doesn’t escape its body but is somehow ove
rlooked and buried before harvesting, or if a body ends up at the bottom of a lake, the Recovery Unit is a soul’s only hope. A reaper has to make contact with a body to harvest the soul. There’s numerous ways to recover a body, and lots of required classes and exams to get a license to do so.

“How many classes do you need?” I hooked the heels of my boots on the fountain edge and folded my arms over my knees.

“Six, but I’ve already read the text books. The only one that looks difficult is the Animator course. They just added it. They’re bringing in Professor Zombi from Vodun City, Summerland. There’s rumors that he’s one of the most likely candidates for the Summerland council spot after the Green Man, but it’s really too soon to tell.”

“Hmmm.” I nodded.

“I hear you’ll be returning to the academy next semester.” Her cheeks flushed, but she smiled, pleased that she had found a way to shift the focus to me. “You really lucked out, you know. My first apprentice was a handful, but Kevin, now there’s a true pupil. Coreen didn’t deserve him.”

“He deserves better than me.” I frowned and pulled at the hem of my robe.

“I don’t know,” she said, casting me a sideways glance before sliding the hood of her robe up over her long hair. “I always thought you had more to offer than low-risk harvests. Stop by the apartment sometime. I’ll give you my notes for the mentor’s course.” She stood and gave me a quick nod before taking off towards the crowd.

“Lana?” Josie rounded the fountain on the opposite side just as Jenni left. “They’re getting ready to start. Grim looks like he’s about to bring on the apocalypse. We better get up there.” She looped her arm under mine and we made our way to the seats reserved for us in front of Coreen’s m
emorial.

“What did Jenni want?” Josie didn’t sound happy.

“She offered me her school notes for the academy.”

“Oh.” Her shoulders relaxed.

“Why? What’s wrong?” I pulled her arm back, forcing her to slow her pace. Grim saw us coming now and his temper deflated, leaving red blotches along his brow.

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it.” She sighed and we took our seats next to Kevin.