Reapers, Inc. - Brigit's Cross (18 page)

“Are you sure you closed it this morning?”
Lorena was heard to ask.

“I didn’t even go into it,” Maggie replied.
The pause that followed the reply told Brigit that Maggie had
noticed the lid to the box she kept there being removed. Brigit
could feel the energy of the uneasiness at the sight make its way
down the hall as Maggie closed the door.

“Maybe it’s a loose bolt,” Lorena
suggested.

“Maybe. Let me change real quick and I’ll be
ready for dinner,”

Maggie appeared at the bedroom door a few
seconds later. Brigit watched as her partner stopped, immediately
scanning the room for anything amiss. As if by instinct, she
watched as Maggie’s eyes settled on the small photograph Brigit had
replaced to her bedside table. The audible gasp that escaped Maggie
brought Lorena rushing to the room.

“What’s the matter?” Lorena demanded.

“I, um,” Maggie was having trouble finding
the exact words to explain what she had found. “I thought I saw a
mouse,” she finally said.

“What?” Lorena asked. “Where?” She stepped
further into the bedroom.

“Over there, by the bureau,” Maggie pointed.
Brigit watched as Lorena walked to Maggie’s side of the room and
began to search for the non-existent mouse. To Brigit’s delight,
the search led the other woman to the wastebasket – and to the
jewelry box resting lightly on top of the rubbish Maggie had been
accumulating there for months.

“What is this? You threw the earrings away?”
Lorena asked, lifting the box out of the small bin.

“What? No, they were on the bureau…I must
have accidentally knocked them into the bin,” Maggie offered as an
excuse. Brigit bit her bottom lip to keep from chuckling at the
sudden discomfort of the situation.

“If you didn’t like them, you should have
just returned them to me. You have no idea how much I paid for
these,” Lorena snapped at Maggie.

“Lorena, I didn’t throw them away,” Maggie
argued.

“You have no appreciation for how much I care
for you, that much is obvious, Margaret,” Lorena snapped. Brigit
stiffened at the use of Maggie’s given name. No one called Maggie
by her birth name. To Maggie, it was an insult – as much of one as
the idea that Lorena had been trying to buy her love with the
diamonds.

“Don’t call me ‘Margaret’,” Maggie said
through clenched teeth.

“I’ll call you whatever I want. I can’t
believe you would be so reckless,” Lorena spat. “You know, I don’t
think we should go to dinner tonight. I think we need some time
apart.”

“I agree,” Brigit grumbled as Lorena forced
the discarded jewelry box into her coat pocket and made to exit the
room. On a whim, Brigit stuck her foot out and caught the departing
woman at the ankle. The fall that ensued caused Brigit to finally
giggle as Maggie jumped out of the way.

“Are you okay? What happened?” Maggie asked
as she knelt to Lorena’s side. Lorena pushed the woman away
forcefully.

“Get off me,” she snarled.

By now, Brigit was on her feet. She had felt
the force Lorena had used to push Maggie away. The spark of anger
she had been trying so hard to ignore for the last week suddenly
roared to life as a full on bonfire.

“
Don’t ever touch her again
,” Brigit
growled as she reached out. She yanked Lorena Rubens to her feet by
the lapels of her suit coat. The sudden fear she saw in the fallen
woman’s eyes fueled her rage. She could tell Lorena Rubens was
scared. Maggie was still sitting on the floor where Lorena had
pushed her. Brigit could see the questions dance through Lorena’s
eyes as to who -- or what -- had a hold of her.

“What the fuck is going on?” Lorena
stammered, trying to sound furious. Her sudden fear, though,
prevailed.

“I don’t know,” Maggie answered meekly. She
had watched Lorena spring from the floor as if she had been yanked
up. She had felt the rush of the air around her and she thought she
had heard the faint command to Lorena to never touch her again. She
shook her head. She had been hearing things, that was all. She was
sure the sudden stress of the scene was causing her to imagine
voices that were not there.

“
Leave
,” Brigit snarled as she pushed
Lorena toward the door. From the corner of her eye, she saw Maggie
stand behind her. She had no intention of letting Lorena come near
Maggie though. Lorena stumbled as she felt the force of the shove
Brigit delivered. Her fear disappeared and was replaced again by
the anger she had been searching for.

“Keep your hands off me!”

“I didn’t touch you, Lorena,” Maggie pointed
out. She was well outside arms reach of the other woman. “You need
to leave now,” Maggie said.

“I’ll leave when I damn well feel like it,”
Lorena snapped, taking a step toward Maggie in the attempt to show
who was the more dominant. Brigit dug deep into the bonfire of her
anger and pushed Lorena again. This time, the force sent her flying
across the room. Lorena landed on her back and lay still for a
second, the wind having been knocked out of her. When she finally
scrambled to her feet, she made a rush for Maggie. Again, she was
blocked by the invisible wall that Brigit had become.

By now, Maggie was crying audibly. She
couldn’t see the force that was keeping Lorena from reaching her.
All she could see was the fury in her new lover’s eyes and the harm
that lay within that fury. It scared the hell out of her; yet,
something invisible was preventing her from suffering Lorena’s
wrath. Maggie had the fleeting idea as to what it was, but she was
not ready to wrap her mind around that idea – that Brigit was still
around to watch over her. Right now, all Maggie wanted was for
Lorena Rubens to leave.

Maggie watched as Lorena was pushed from the
room by the invisible force again. She heard the scuffle as it
progressed down the hall. Slowly, Maggie followed the sound,
watching as Lorena fell and picked herself up only to hit the floor
again. Whatever was propelling Lorena out was determined to carry
out that wish. Maggie slowly turned and looked at the photograph
that had reappeared on her bedside table. It was Brigit. It had to
be.

Brigit slammed the door and quickly turned
the bolts once Lorena had been tossed out of the apartment. She
felt her heart racing with the energy the scuffle had fed. She was
about to go to the window to watch the other woman make her escape
when she heard the sniffle come from the bedroom. Maggie was crying
– a sound that had been rare during their time together. It was a
sound that always broke Brigit’s heart. When she returned to the
bedroom, she found Maggie sitting on the bed holding her
picture.

“What was I thinking?” Maggie sniffled as she
held the small picture frame in her hands. “I should have known it
was too soon.”

Brigit only watched as Maggie stared at the
photograph. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t think Maggie
would have heard her anyway. Instead, she leaned against the
doorframe and watched as Maggie lay down, pressing the photograph
to her cheek and letting her tears flow.

Brigit returned to the office the next
morning just as the sun was beginning to rise. Maggie had cried
herself to sleep and had slept fitfully through the night. Brigit
had kept a watchful eye on her, leaving the room only once when she
heard a quiet knock at the front door. Wary that it might have been
a repenting Lorena Rubens, Brigit had left her partner’s side to
peer through the peep hole at Mama Dee. The little old woman
knocked lightly once more, but shook her head and crossed the hall
to her own apartment when it became apparent that Maggie was either
not home or just being anti-social. Brigit felt bad for her old
friend. She could only imagine the loneliness Mama Dee was
experiencing now that Maggie was exploring beyond the boundaries of
her life without Brigit.

“You’re here,” John greeted as Brigit
appeared in the doorway to his office. She looked to the corner
where Seamus had been seated the evening before and noted that he
was absent for the time being.

“Did you think I wouldn’t be?” Brigit asked
as she approached his desk and reached for the pile she assumed was
her work load for the day. John waved his hand at it and passed her
a portfolio he had been reading through.

“I knew you would be in, just not so early. I
take it that you’ve made a definitive decision regarding Maggie?”
Brigit nodded silently. “Good. Here, I need you to take this and
assist Mr. Flannery in its execution,” John said as Brigit received
the extended portfolio. “He’s out on a few minor assignments at
present. However, I believe he will need your assistance on this
particular one. Reap the souls by any means necessary.”

“Why not assist him yourself?” Brigit asked
as she briefly glanced at the names embossed across the cover.

“Because, darling,” John sighed as he picked
up a handful of portfolios to the right and waved them as proof
that he had better things to do, “I have found potential recruits
that may allow me to reopen one of the European offices. If I can
manage to convince them of the benefits of joining the firm, I can
return a good portion of our present waiting workload to their
responsibility.”

“I see. How long will this take you?” Brigit
asked.

“I’m hoping to only be gone a couple of days.
I don’t know. My Italian is somewhat rusty, so I’m hoping I’ll be
able to communicate effectively enough to accomplish what I have in
mind,” John explained as he reached for his suit coat and began to
shrug it on. “In the mean time, you are in charge. If you need me,
just call out.”

Brigit nodded and watched as John pocketed
the portfolios and strode out of the office. She glanced again at
the names on the portfolio he had given her. They were unfamiliar
to her; but then, most names were unfamiliar to her until she read
the contents of their lives. In the mean time, she had to find
Seamus in order to give him the new assignment. Since she had not
been present when he took his current assignments, she was unsure
where to begin in looking for him. Instinctively, she retrieved the
Reaper’s Field Guide from her coat pocket and flipped to the last
page.

“Where is Seamus Flannery?” she grumbled as
she gazed at the blank page. It took only a second for the words to
appear across the blank page:
Pier 13, San Francisco
.

Brigit closed the book and returned it to its
place in her coat pocket. She picked her umbrella out of the
umbrella stand and walked down the long hall. It was inevitable,
she thought to herself as she approached the main door. Eventually,
she knew, she was going to be partnered with the red-headed
Irishman whose comments and insights seemed to find all the right
buttons to push under her skin.

Pier 13 was bustling with mortal life when
Brigit arrived. As she moved through the throng of workers going
about their business with ease, her eyes scanned the area for the
flaming red hair that crowned Seamus Flannery. She had learned
during the past couple of months to note the difference between a
mortal and a spirit. The energy vibrations were different. A
mortal’s vibration was strong. It created waves of
outward-emanating energy as the mortal moved about. A spirit’s
vibration was more subdued. There were no waves surrounding a
spirit as it moved. The vibration seemed to remain contained to the
immediate space where the spirit happened to be.

Seamus was scuffling in the furthest corner
of the warehouse with the soul he had been sent to pass over.
Brigit stood quietly watching them tussle. She noted the look of
fear on the assigned soul’s face as he tried to fend off Seamus’
blows. However mean this soul had thought he could be, Brigit
mused, he had met his master in Seamus Flannery. With that thought,
Brigit noted the look of delight on Seamus’ face as he took another
swing at the soul he had been sent to cross over. John had been
right. Seamus Flannery was perhaps the perfect person for the job
of the harder assignments. Brigit could tell the Irishman really
got into his work.

When Seamus finally wrestled the man toward
the opened doorway, he easily pushed the soul through it and
slammed it with a force that made her flinch. Even the mortals in
the closest vicinity seemed to hear the slam and reacted by
stopping their work to quickly glance around them before shaking
off their sudden fear and returning to work despite their new
uneasiness. Brigit remained still as she continued to watch him. He
casually walked to the wall and stooped to pick something up. As he
straightened, the item dangled from his fingers as he appraised it.
It was a gold locket. Brigit watched her colleague open it to look
at the pictures glued inside before stashing it in his coat pocket.
When he turned, Seamus finally noticed her.

“Oh, hello, lass,” he greeted, forcing a
charming smile to his face. “What brings you to this neck of the
woods?”

“John sent me,” Brigit replied evenly. “What
was that you put in your pocket?”

“Just a token,” Seamus answered. “It fell off
him during the fight. He won’t miss it,” the Irishman decided out
loud. “Besides, t’was a fair fight. Conqueror takes all, ye know
what I mean?”

“Hm,” Brigit grunted. She eyed the other
Reaper for a moment, wondering how many other ‘tokens’ he had
snicked as a reward for his accomplishments.

“So, what does our fearless leader need of me
today?” Seamus inquired as he reached into his coat and withdrew
the crumpled pack of cigarettes from their resting place. Brigit
noted it was the same pack he had been pulling from the night they
had recruited him. It was never empty, only crumpled.

“He assigned you this and he’s asked me to
assist you with it,” Brigit explained as she withdrew the file John
had given her before his departure. “He’s left for Italy for a few
days to do some recruiting.”