Death has a Daughter (DHAD Series) (10 page)

“
Hmm, I have no idea then, Cendall; but I’ve got to go—I can feel that a soul is ready.”

“
Me too.” I grabbed his hand, because I knew we would be porting to the same place on earth. 

There were s
mall puffs of smoke in the air, and I could hear the horn from the train that was about a mile back.  Any minute now it would be coming out of the mountains and onto the bridge, to pass over the lake that was a hundred feet below us. Drake was here too, along with Eddie and a few others who had graduated from the class ahead of us.  We all seemed to be floating on one side of the track while several Guardians stood on the opposite side.  We were all waiting on the same thing it seemed, and each of us were going to be fighting soon, for the souls aboard the train that were about to cross this bridge that was hundreds of feet in the air between two mountains.

This was what we referred to in training as the UDM
(Ultimate Death Match).  These matches happened about once every couple of years in the human realm, where Guardians and Reapers would have multiple, sometimes hundreds of, mini fights going on, because some catastrophic event was going on in the human realm.  It would be an event that their news stations would play over and over and would make their history books.

Over the past few years
, these events have been happening more frequently. It was our time to win this one.  The Guardians had won the last one, and that wasn’t going to happen this time, not on my watch.  If my gut was right, my soul was in the first cart, I wouldn’t be here long, and, like so many times before, I probably wouldn’t face one of the Guardians that were across from us. 

I opened my eyes and turned my head towards Dave
, who was taking a deep breath and inhaling the air around him, like I’d just done, to get a feel for where his soul was located.

“
Which cart is yours?” I whispered to him.

“
Last.”  He opened his eyes. “At least, now you get to see Guardians while obtaining a soul.”

“
Yeah, but I doubt any will be protecting a soul in the first cart of passengers.  That’s the one that’ll catch fire first.”

“
What do you guys have?” Drake asked as he glided towards us.

“
I got one and Dave got last.”  My eyes rolled as I responded.  Why had he even bothered to ask us like he cared?

“
I got caboose too,” he said to Dave.  “Don’t get in my way.” He then glided away from us to take his ready position. My eyes wandered to Drake before the match began.  He mouthed ‘caboose’ with a smile on his face, which was no surprise, because he lived for the thrill of a fight.

As soon as the carts of the train came
into sight and started crossing the bridge, an explosion erupted in the engine compartment of the train.  Quickly, the carts started catching fire one by one.  The fire was moving fast; it wouldn’t be long until it burned through the cargo and reached the first passenger cart. Only a few more seconds before the match would start.  My scythe began to glow, and I ported inside.  The fire burst the door open at the front of the cart, and all the passengers attempted to head towards the back, but that wouldn’t help much.  My soul passed out and I inserted my scythe into her heart.  Not the right time for a person to pass out, but it sure made my job a lot easier.

Porting
out of the train, I stood and watched as some of the Guardians and Reapers were battling in the other carts.  A loud shatter caught my attention and I watched as Dave got thrown out the side of the train.  He was just about to hit the side of the mountain when he braced himself. He took a second to dust himself off, then ported right back inside. That was one thing Dave really had going for him—his persistence. I wanted to go and help him so bad, but it wasn’t my soul to obtain, and if it got out I’d helped, well, that wouldn’t look good for Dave either.

Before leaving
, I tried to get a look at some of the other Guardians fighting.  They were all pretty large in size, but they mostly appeared to be first-level Guardians. None of them seemed to have the size or rank that Trevor had, only confirming my suspicions that it was probably a huge mistake that Lacie was on my list. If I’d run into any Guardians, they should have been like the ones here. 

My eyes caught Dave being thrown again from another window of the
caboose.  He looked my way and shook his head, probably knowing I wanted to help.  He pointed to himself, like he was saying ‘this is my responsibility,’ and then ported inside once again.  I was about to leave when I saw Dave, for the third time, being thrown from the cart, but this time, his body was just falling, his eyes were closed, and he was falling fast.

My body ported to the ground
below and I caught him before he hit bottom.  The impact of his body crashing into mine brought us both to the ground.  He was still unconscious, but I could tell he was alive.  His scythe was on the ground next to him, so I grabbed it and ported back up to the rear end of the train.

Drake
was still there, fighting with three Guardians for a woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties.  He caught me looking his way and gave me a little wink before he sent two of the three Guardians flying out the windows of the cart. He then easily defeated the other Guardian that was left, and placed his scythe gently into the woman’s heart; she came quickly into his light.  I hadn’t meant to watch the whole thing, but whoever Dave had been fighting was long gone, probably figuring he’d won when Dave fell.  Drake walked over to me.

“
What are you doing here?” he asked.

“
Nothing, I was just…”

“
Going to try and help Dave like always? Let him grow up on his own or he’ll never get any better, Cendall.  If he doesn’t learn now, when he’s given higher-level souls, it could cost him his life against stronger Guardians,” Drake said, making a good point that I didn’t want to hear.

“
Whatever. I wasn’t doing that. I was just checking everything out, that’s all,” I lied.

“
Then why do you have his scythe in your hand?” Drake asked. I was caught in my own lie, and tried to counter with anything, but no words came out.

“
I’ll take your silence as meaning that I was correct.  His soul that he was supposed to collect, is no longer at a vulnerable moment.  She’s old though, so he will get her by the end of the year.  As long as he doesn’t mess it up again, that is.  Goodbye, Cendall.”

Three months later.

“
You can go to sleep if you want.  I’m still not used to this realm’s time zone, so I won’t be able to pass out for hours,” I said, as I ported next to Trevor at the campsite that he and Lacie must have set up. They weren’t too far away from where I’d left them.

“
I’m fine,” he said, and I sat across the fire from him. Silence.
How awkward
.

“
This fire feels nice.” I laughed. “I don’t know how people survive in this realm with how cold it gets sometimes.”  He said nothing. 
Alright, more silence.
I started to hum—silence drove me nuts.  I still couldn’t believe how natural my schedule felt to me now.  At the start of each week, I would teleport us to a new location, so that the Demons wouldn’t be able to track us, usually somewhere that was surrounded by little human population, as we didn’t want to run into any Demons by chance.  So that meant we mostly stayed in the woods in a little tent—I’d stolen from a store—that was decorated by dead animals.

Humans were so scared of death, but
they didn’t seem to mind displaying it in the masses, especially of the creatures that were lower than them in the food chain.  The empty eyes of the animals’ carcasses reminded me of the souls that wandered outside the castle walls back home.  When I came out of the store with the stolen tent, Lacie had teased me.  According to her, I’d broken one of the cardinal rules. But those were rules not created by my father.  When I gave her the alternative of sleeping on the ground, with bugs crawling all over her skin, she didn’t mind the sin so much. 

After
porting us to a new location each week, I would then go and collect a soul—or two, if I was lucky.  Once that was complete, I’d take them to the researchers and come back to Trevor and Lacie.  Then Trevor would train with me for an hour or so, avoiding any wrestling of course.  Once nightfall came, Trevor and I would guard outside Lacie’s tent and have limited—to no—conversation.

“
Do you have to hum?” he asked.

“
Well, it’s either hum, or—if you responded to my questions—I could speak instead.”

“
What do you want me to say?  I’m not one for meaningless conversations.  The fire does feel nice, it is colder here than it is in my realm as well, and my realm smells much sweeter.  Are you happy now?  Can the humming stop?” Trevor asked.

“
Maybe,” I said as I hummed louder.

“
You’re impossible,” he said.

“
Well, thanks, but I have to tell you, you’re not very original with that comment, Trevor.  I’ve heard it countless times.”

“
I wonder why?  Couldn’t possibly have something to do with your aggravating personality,” he said with an exaggerated eye roll.

“
Sometimes it does, but not always.  In my realm, if you looked up ‘impossible’ in the dictionary, my picture would be there,” I laughed. My dad used that joke on me once.

“
Why’s that?” he asked, looking honestly intrigued.

“
Because I’m a female Reaper.”

“
Oh yeah, I have to admit, I have been wondering about that. I didn’t think they let females train to be Grim Reapers in your realm.”

“
Well, it’s kind of hard for that to happen, considering the only females in my realm are already too old when they get there, since training starts at age six.”

“
Then how did you get to?” he asked, clearly not getting it.

“
Because I was born with the right to. Each child of a man who is or was a Reaper, has the right to be one if they pass the training course.”

“
So you’re the first female to pass then?” he asked.

“
Yes, and the only one to ever train.”  This answer only seemed to confuse him more.

“
But that doesn’t make sense.  You said that most females are too old to train when they come into your realm, but you’ve also said that it is a child of a Reaper’s right to train.  So that means...”

“
That I am the only female child to ever be created by a Reaper.  The other females are wives when they come to our realm,” I explained.

“
Seriously?  We always thought you guys just hadn’t caught up with the times and were just not allowing your females to train.  So how did it happen then? Something to do with your mother, maybe?” Trevor asked, actually seeming to care.

“
I don’t know; I’ve never met her.  She died because she wasn’t in my realm when she had me.  It’s hard to have a Grim Reaper’s child if you’re human, unless you’re in our realm with our healers.”

“
Yeah, it’s the same with Guardians. That sucks. Sorry,” he said as his eyes went to the ground.  We were actually having a normal conversation.  This was different.

“
Eh, don’t be; I didn’t know her. My dad said I look like her though.”

“
Now I definitely get the ‘impossible’ comment.  So you had to train in a class full of men? That had to be fun.” He laughed.

“
Not as much as you’d think.” I laughed awkwardly as I felt my cheeks blush.  “I think I liked it better before puberty hit.  They used to all just pick on me.  Now, instead of picking on me, they try and pick me up. It’s these damn things.” My hands went to my chest to emphasize my point, which, in retrospect, may have been a bad idea. I glanced up to meet Trevor’s gaze, only to find that it had followed my hands. His eyes lingered on my chest for a moment before he caught himself. His cheeks flamed red as he quickly averted his gaze.

“Are you always this honest and open with people—well, with enemies you don’t know?” he asked, taking our light conversation to a darker level.  The type of conversations we usually had.

“
Not usually. I just don’t really give a shit what you think about me, so I don’t feel the need to hide anything.”

“
I think you should go back to humming.  I’ve had enough meaningless conversation for one night,” he said, returning to the Trevor I’d come to know.

“
Just go to bed then.  I can guard it by myself. We can call it a small favor.”

“
I don’t need any favors from you, Cendall. Just be ready to start training again tomorrow,” Trevor said with a yawn.

“
Yeah, okay, I’ll pretend like I didn’t see that yawn.  You’re extremely stubborn.  Are all Guardians that way?  You’re the first I’ve had a conversation with.”

“
You’ve never battled another Guardian before?” 

“
No.  Like I said, I’ve just gotten out of training.  Most of my souls don’t have Guardians because they don’t give first-level Reapers high-risk cases.  Lacie was the youngest soul on my list.  I figured she would be the most difficult, so I decided to track her first.  None of the other souls I’ve collected have had any Guardians.  Unless they did and I just got their souls while they were away on break or something.  You are the first and only Guardian I’ve spoken with that was guarding a soul on my list.  I’d seen Guardians before, but they were busy battling other Reapers.  So I’ve never had to fight one over a soul.  I’m guessing I’m not the first Reaper you’ve spoken to?” I asked

“
No, definitely not.  You must just be lucky for a Reaper—or, have you not collected many souls yet?” Trevor asked.

“
No, I’ve collected at least 100.”

“
And there was never a Guardian protecting a soul you were there to collect?  That seems odd…” he said, his brow furrowed in thought. I needed to change the subject. The fact that I hadn’t battled a Guardian yet was always on my mind. Part of me had started to suspect that maybe my gift had something to do with it. Maybe I could just sense when a Guardian wasn’t around and would naturally gravitate towards those opportunities.

“
Well, I don’t know; I just haven’t.  Like I said, I must just come when they’re not around.  How many of us have you battled against?” I asked.

“
I advanced pretty quickly in my ranks, so I’ve battled quite a few of you.”

“
Ever lost?” I asked, and his eyes went wide. Guess that question hit a sore spot.

“
Yes, I have.  It was a rookie mistake, but, yes…the girl I was trying to protect was only twenty-three!”

“
Oh.” The Reaper probably advanced with obtaining that soul.

“‘
Oh,’ is all you have to say?  You guys took the life of a 23-year-old girl!  She didn’t even get to graduate college, or marry her sweetheart.  You took away everything she had, and ruined her family’s lives, because they’ll never get over it.  They blamed each other, and all you have to say is ‘oh’!  Is this just some kind of game to you?  Do you not realize what you do to these people?” he said, near hysteria.

“
First, it was not me who took the soul, so stop taking it out on me.  Second, it is not a game; it’s a job that I’m actively employed in doing.  Death is just a part of life that humans cannot control.  They have to die eventually.  And not everyone gets to live as long as others.  With death comes more life, and so on.  It’s a part of their existence.  It’s just the ugly part that they stick us with, because you guys can’t accept that death is a part of life.  Without death there would be no life, and without life there wouldn’t be death.  The two go hand in hand. You guys just get to handle what you consider to be good.  Lives have to be ended, and we have to take them.  I swear, at times, you guys forget that God did create Lucifer for a purpose, and we are a part of that purpose,” I explained.

“
Lucifer betrayed God, which was why he ended up where he is!” he argued back.

“
And what would have happened if he hadn’t?  Where would all the murderers and evil souls go?  Would you have enough room for all of them up there?” I asked, while pointing towards the sky.

“
There wouldn’t be any evil if it wasn’t for Lucifer.”  With that comment I started to crack up.

“
Are you serious?  Come on now.  As long as humans are given freewill, there will always be evil.  The whole idea of good and evil is why we even exist and are in the roles we’re in today.” I’d seen plenty of evil while I’d collected souls.  Evil that wasn’t brought on by Demons either; they had done it themselves.

“
You’re making this a general argument.  I was just talking about how it is not right to take an innocent soul, especially at the age of twenty-three, just so you can check her off your checklist.”

“
Maybe not, but who are we to make the decision?  All we do is take the souls to their judgment; we are not the ones who decide where their fate lies.  That’s all on them.”

“
Whatever!  We will never agree on this, which is why I will fight against Reapers like you all my life!” he said and stormed away—hopefully to sleep.  He was right—we would never agree on it.  We were on different spectrums of the game of life.  I ended it, while he maintained it; there was no getting over our differences.

“
Everything okay out here?” asked Lacie as she approached the fire.  She must have heard us arguing.

“
Yes, it’s just...” I froze as I felt my scythe vibrate and my insides bubble.  I put my hand on my scroll and my heart started to throb. Something was calling to me. As I opened the list, my eyes darted to number 123:  Kris Mackletonz.

“
I have to go.”  I looked up from my list to Lacie, who was staring at me.

“
What is it?” she asked.

“
Someone is ugh…” How could I put this? “Ready for me,” I said, and felt Trevor approach.

“
Why do you look so intense? It wasn’t
that
big of an argument,” he said with an eye roll.  “Are you telling Lacie what we talked about?  Let’s see whose side she’s on...”

“
No, I have to go, Trevor.”

“
No, you don’t. We have an agreement.  Night falls and you’re here; that is when we are the most vulnerable.  You’re not leaving.”

“
I have to go. I’m being called; I can feel it,” I said as I stared at him. This was my real job.

“
No, we have an agreement, Cendall.”

“
This is my job!  There is no one here; I would be able to feel them.  I’ll only be gone for a short time,” I pleaded

“
No.”

“
But if I don’t, I could miss out.”  I stopped myself.  The more I said, the worse it would seem.  He protected life; he’d never understand.

“
Oh, and what a shame that would be; someone could live another day. You’ll have another chance,” he said sarcastically, and I balled up my fist.

“
I am going; I have to.  Sometimes a soul only gives you one opportunity, and I’m not missing it.  I’m helping you with your job; let me do mine!”  My legs took a step closer to him and our eyes deadlocked.