Death has a Daughter (DHAD Series) (18 page)

“
You’re welcome, but don’t mention it.  Like seriously, I mean that.  Don’t mention me.  Just say you guys fell and you pulled your sister out and swam to shore.  I don’t want any attention,” I said with an ice-cold stare into her eyes.  She had to know I was serious.

“
But...you...don’t you...and how did you...” she said, finally asking the question I knew would come out but didn’t want to hear.

“
Please, don’t worry about it, and don’t mention it.  Just do me one favor since I saved your life?” I asked.

“
Yes?”

“
Tell Dave you met me, and tell him you were on my list.”

“
How do you?”

“
No more questions. Your body is going into shock.  All of this will seem like a dream. But don’t worry; you won’t die from hypothermia today. Just remember to tell Dave.”

“
I will,” she said, and I could see her lips turning blue.  Hopefully she would lose consciousness from the hypothermia so that she would be foggy when she came out of it.  I could tell that her and her sister wouldn’t die from it. The ambulance was too close; they would be fine. 

But I was screwed
.  Two out of four souls; that’s a 50%—AKA, a big fat E.  I was falling apart.  Everything I had been teased about was coming true.  I was becoming soft.  Could a female handle the job of a Reaper?  I’d already broken so many laws I’d lost count, but I had to think that not every Reaper had to face what I had in their first scroll.  Who meets a soul that can see you without you revealing yourself?  Whose best friend’s future spouse is on their list?  I would be in so much trouble when all of this came to light.

“
You look rough, Lacie.”  I needed to talk to someone about what had just happened. Surely, she would be the one.

“
So do you.  And you’re soaking wet.” She laughed, but it seemed to be halfhearted.  “Don’t tell me you’ve been tricked into amazing kisses again.”

“
No…I wish...this was much worse.  But you go first. What’s eating you?” I asked, and she rose up and gave me one of her famous bear hugs. 

“
What is that for?” I said, hugging her back.

“
I’m healed now.  I can go back and warn the others,” Trevor said as he came up to where Lacie and I were hugging.

“
How do you know?” I asked, as I released Lacie and laughed, as I watched her try to wipe off the water mark I’d just given her.

“
I found out yesterday when I came back from getting food.  As soon as you had left, I could hear the call again.”

“
Oh.”  That meant he could hear his fellow Guardians; meaning, he would be able to access his realm again, go there to fully heal, and call upon other Guardians to protect Lacie.  “Well, it was fun while it lasted,” I said as I tried to let out a laugh to make light of the situation, but I could feel my eyes tearing up.

“
Does this mean I have to go back to pretending I can’t see you, as you hide from the Guardians who surround me?” she whispered in my ear with a sob.

“
Yes.”

“
Don’t take my soul too early, okay?” she asked casually as she stepped toward Trevor.

“
Okay…I won’t,” I said.

“
Cendall,” Trevor said as he stuck out his hand to give me a parting handshake.

“
Trevor.  Back to enemies, it is.”  As soon as our hands embraced, the heat of his touch sent tiny sparks up my arm.  He let go quickly and my hand shot back to its normal temperature.

“
We have to call them now, so you should probably go, Cendall.  They’ve already been waiting too long,” he said.

I waved
and teleported out of there.  No way did I want to be there when he called—probably—a million Guardians to tell them about what had happened.  Hopefully leaving me out, as he had promised.

I ported to my room and
laid on my bed, staring at the red and black walls.  At ten years old, my father had let me paint my own room.  I’d wanted red and black.  He had tried to argue that it would make everything look smaller, but there was no reasoning with me, and he let me get what I wanted.  He even let me paint it myself.  After I’d finished painting the walls red, I was ready to do the black trim.  I kept trying to get it so perfect, but no matter what I did, the black dripped onto the red.

Eventually
, I got so frustrated that I threw the paintbrush, and instead of it landing on the floor like I’d wanted, it hit one of my other red walls, making a huge black splatter on the red.  Furious, I threw my hands into the black paint and started throwing it against the walls.  When my father walked in, instead of yelling, he only laughed, and we agreed to leave it that way—calling it a work of art or expression.  Usually the memory brought out a smile, but now it was just reminding me of the chaos I’d created in my life.  I’d tried to be so perfect—in training, then in the field trying to be the first to finish my scroll.  Like the paint job, I couldn’t make it perfect, and once I had one setback, I let the rest spiral out-of-control. 

It started with saving Lacie, but it
’s gone so much farther.  I’d protected her, befriended her, and even made a deal with a Guardian to ensure her safety. If that wasn’t bad enough, just today I’d saved two lives just because I couldn’t stand to see Dave feeling hurt.  I felt tears roll down my cheeks.  Like my paint job so many years ago, when it was said and done, I knew it wasn’t perfect, but it was the choice that fit me.  I knew that if I was somehow given the opportunity to reverse time, I would have done everything exactly the same.

I had to give myself credit, as I doubted anyone in my class had an experience similar to mine, and if they had
, I’d like to think some of them would have made the same choices.  Who would have been given the list I was their first go-around anyway?  It was like I’d been set up for failure. But what did it matter now?  It was over, and I’d be gone, wandering alone, soon anyway.

It had been three weeks now
—not that I was counting on a calendar or anything—since I’d last seen Lacie and Trevor.  Little had changed in my realm.  Reapers went on finishing their lists, while I pretended to finish mine.  Really I was looking for where I was going to hide out on earth before my next birthday.  I’d narrowed it down to one spot that should be able to hide me pretty well when I left my realm. 

I
’d already transported most of my stuff there, and even had a nice ID that should be able to get me by, in the human realm, for at least a year.  As long as I kept the use of my Reaper powers to a minimum, no one in my realm should be able to track me while I was on earth.  Hell, I didn’t even think they would want to.  After all, leaving the realm was a big betrayal in most eyes.  Some Reapers had done it in the past, and I’d never heard of a search party going out to find them.  No, when a Reaper would venture to earth, they were never spoken of again. 

I would have
left already, but seeing Dad every day was not helping, especially when I had to come up with lies on why my list wasn’t finished yet.  While I was out one night, I’d foolishly left my scroll at home and he had noticed I only had three souls left.

“
You’ll be done in no time!  That top spot is yours, Cendall….”  Blah, and so on.  One more week, and then I’d be gone.  I’d already half-finished the notes I would leave for my father and Dave.  They were the only ones who I felt compelled to tell why I had to do this.  Of course, I wouldn’t give the full truth, but I would say what I could.  If luck was on my side, Dave’s crush still hadn’t regained her memories from the crash.  It took all the strength I had to pretend I was shocked at the news from Dave that she was in the hospital.  If only the underworld had Emmys.  Soon she would remember, though, which would make Dave ask questions, so I’d better be gone by then. 

The letters and burning my scroll were the last th
ings that were on my agenda.  To think of what the town will say…ha.  Did I really care, though?  I felt a tear leave my eye. I guess I did a little bit.  The tear was more for the thought of leaving my father and Dave, and, hell, I hated to admit it but the tear was for Lacie and Trevor as well. 

Along with not being in contact with
anyone in my realm anymore, I couldn’t hang around with Lacie and Trevor either, because our worlds just didn’t fit.  Reaper and soul BFFs—I don’t think so.  Even so, I would burn my scroll for her. 

I pulled out some matches from the kitche
n drawer and watched my scroll burn to ashes in seconds.  Hopefully, then, no one would know she was on my list and wouldn’t bother trying to collect her soul.  I’d already broken about a million Reaper rules, what was one more?  I laughed out loud, but it was stopped by an immediate pain in my gut.  Following the pain, a loud, ringing siren started going off, meaning that all the Reapers in my class were to meet by the main gate.  Something big was going on.

“
Dear first-level Reapers, we are needed at an event that is about to go down.  I don’t have time for questions, just prepare yourselves; this will be your first large battle with Guardians.  I know some of you have had them as opponents already, but this is different, unlike anything we’ve trained you for, so you’re in for a treat.  Follow instructions carefully, and it will be worth your while.  Circle up now, and grab hands.  We will port as one,” Herald said, and then we circled up.  I made sure to be next to Dave before we grabbed hands.

“
What’s wrong with you?” Dave asked, as everyone assembled into the circle and joined hands.  Drake stood across from me, and I saw his face flush red when our eyes met. 

“
My stomach—something is about to go down, I can feel it,” I said, and then Herald ported us all.  The rush of air whipped around my hair, and in a few seconds my fellow Reapers and I were in an oval-shaped cafeteria.

The whole place looked like it had been puked on by the glitter fairy
, if such a thing did exist.  You couldn’t escape the silver, blue, and purple star confetti.  It was all over the tables that lined the first-level perimeter.  It covered the dance floor that was located in the lower level.  The glitter even made an appearance on the posters covering the walls that read
“A night amongst the stars – Homecoming 2013.” 
The only thing that seemed to have escaped the glitter fairy was the American flag.  It hung from a wooden pole above doors that must have led to a kitchen.  The windows next to the doors had metal blinds that were currently down.  They had to of slid up during lunch, to act as an ordering window for the teens to tell them if they wanted pizza or pasta.

I
’d seen this place before but from a distance.  In fact, I’d seen it quite frequently, when I was stalking…

We were at Lacie
’s school.  There were Demons and Guardians everywhere.  The Demons were aligned on the left, and the Guardians and students were on the right.  I scanned the bodies of the teens to the right. 

The girls were all dressed in long gowns that
varied in color and decor, though most seemed to be blue.  Each had a small flower arrangement tied to their wrist.  To the sides of most of them were their male dates, who were in black or white suits.  They also had a flower arrangement—on their chest—to match the one on their date’s wrist.  Everyone looked really done up, like they’d taken time to get ready for this occasion.  The females were wearing lots of colorful makeup to match their dresses, and their hair was pulled up into some kind of curly ponytail.  I’d guess, in a normal situation, they’d all have smiles to match their fine outfits, but their frozen faces held bleeding mascara and red, bloodshot eyes, which told me the Demons had let them get a peek of them before deciding to freeze them.  Many of the female’s mouths were wide-open, like they’d been frozen mid-scream.  This made no sense.  What was about to go down?

One face
, not frozen, was the one I’d been searching the crowd to find.  Lacie had her blonde hair half up and half down in loose, wavy curls.  She didn’t have her makeup caked on like several others.  She had just a small amount of mascara to bring out her eyes, and a touch of red lipstick.  The dress she had on had a black heart-shaped halter top and long, flowing skirt.  It was covered in small diamonds that were plentiful at the top but the farther you got down, the fewer the diamonds were, like shooting stars falling from the sky and cascading down to earth.  Her eyes were red, but I could tell by her tight facial expression that she was trying to keep her composure.  Frozen next to her, stood her date, who regretfully chose to wear a white suite that was stained yellow at the waist.  It must have been his first Demon sighting, so no one could blame him.

“
Come with us, now, and no one else has to die.  Their memories will be wiped of this moment, I’ll unfreeze them, and all will go on as normal,” a large, familiar Demon said from the left with a laugh.  This was the one who had come from the sky when I’d rescued Lacie.  I would know those black eyes and horns anywhere.  “Well, except you, of course,” it said as it pointed to Lacie.  She looked terrified as she moved to stand behind Trevor and several other Guardians.

“
Your soul will belong to us in our realm, but don’t make the others lose their lives because of your foolishness.”  Oh, so that was why the Demons had revealed themselves to the crowd; they were using it as blackmail for Lacie to go with them.  They knew that the screams of the other children would put more pressure on her to surrender herself to them. 

Nothing had started yet, but it would soon
.  Some of my classmates laughed along with the Demon, and I could see excitement reach their faces.  Not all of them; of course, some of my classmates had the same look of fear and disgust as I did.  What surprised me was that Drake was one of them who looked disgusted by it.

“
Don’t join in the battle against the Guardians,” Herald told us clearly.  “We are here merely to observe and collect the souls that the Demons don’t bother with.  Wait against the wall, and do not reveal yourself until all the souls are rested.” By ‘rested’ he meant when everyone in the room was dead.  You had to be joking me.  We were called here to collect the dozens of souls that were going to be killed in this battle to retrieve Lacie’s soul.  But she’s the only one they wanted.  These other teens had nothing to do with it; they were just bystanders in the Demon’s quest to acquire Lacie’s soul to the underworld because of some “prophecy.”  This was ridiculous.  Why we had to be here I had no idea; I hadn’t heard of a thing like this before.

“
We need your answer, Lacie,” the head Demon hissed.

“
NO!” Trevor screamed.  “We do not fear you; you are outmatched.  We have hundreds of Guardians and Angels on these grounds.”

“
Ah, that you are correct.  But you see, there are many of my minions here right now in this cafeteria, and by the time they get the wards down that we’ve placed around this specific area, most in this room will be dead.”

“
Our Angels can destroy your wards,” Trevor said, so confidently.

“
Yes, but it’s too bad you don’t have one in here at the moment.  All you have in here are Guardians; trust me, I’ve been waiting.  It’ll take your Angels a while to get in, and by then it will be too...” the Demon smiled, and I watched Trevor and his fellow Guardians look frantically around.  The
‘oh shit’
look quickly appeared on their faces.

“
My patience has worn thin, and I’m getting bored; let’s just get on with this.  Remember, Lacie, this is your fault,” he said and began to signal to the other Demons.  I started to hear screams, meaning, he’d unfrozen the human crowd.

“
No, just take me,” she said, stepping away from Trevor.

“
Nope, you had your chance. Kill all of them minions,” he said, and the surrounding Demons began to attack whoever was close to them.  Half of the Guardians leapt to Lacie’s side while the others went out to meet the Demons head-on.  The first Demon I watched, grabbed a boy who couldn’t be older than fifteen.  They came to—what had to be for most—their first homecoming, probably excited about getting to slow-dance with their first crush.  They were probably nervous about their dancing skills, which I’m sure seemed so insignificant now.  The Demon grabbed his head and decapitated him with an easy tug, like he was playing with a dandelion.  Blood sprayed from the boy’s neck, and the Demon began to drink from it as the head fell to the floor.  I stared at the boy’s cold, lifeless eyes, as chaos ensued around me.  It took one shrill scream from Dave, who was standing next to me, to snap me out of it.

“
What the fuck is going on?  I can’t watch this; it’s not right!” he shouted to Herald.

“
It is not our business; like I said, we are here to collect souls—obey or be discharged,” he said sternly to Dave.  A fire started growing inside me, as my fingers started to go numb.  The screams of everyone around me was ringing in my ears.

“
NO,” left my lips, and I broke from the rest of them—revealing myself—and went towards the first Demon who came in my path.  He had a young girl by the leg and was dragging her away, to probably consume her under a table.  I threw my scythe into his neck and he dropped his grip on the girl.  I used the second he was pulling the scythe out of his neck to bring my blade out and decapitate him. Quickly, I grabbed the young girl, who had blood and scratches all over her pretty face.

“
To your home,” I said as I bent over and placed my hand on her heart, teleporting her to wherever her home was.  I felt blades slice my back, and I let out a scream in pain as I turned to see what had just struck me.  There was a fat—had to be 300 pounds—eight foot, black and red spotted Demon standing there.  In one hand, he had the sword he’d just struck me with, and in the other, he was holding a boy’s throat above him, like he was ready to throw him like a baseball at me.

“
Move and he dies, Guardian,” he said with a chuckle, exposing his large, yellow, pointed teeth.

“
Jokes on you, buddy; I am no Guardian,” I said, confusing him and giving Trevor, who was coming up behind him, the second he needed to jump and slice off the Demon’s head.  I sprinted to where they were and got there just in time to catch the boy.

“
To your home, now.” He disappeared.  Trevor smiled at me, but it was too short-lived as we looked around at our surroundings.  There were dead bodies everywhere.  I searched for Lacie; she was still surrounded by a few Guardians who were battling Demons.  There were just way too many Demons.  Loud bangs were coming from the closed kitchen doors that I assumed was Guardians trying to break in, and since no more help had arrived yet, they must not have been able to break the wards.

“
Ah, there’s the little Reaper who’s been causing me so much grief these past months.  I’m glad we have finally got the chance to meet face to face.”  I knew that voice just as well as the face that went with it.  It was the Demon who was after Lacie.  No sooner had I turned to face him, I knew I was in trouble. His lips moved and the curse came flying my way before I even had a chance to focus on the demon.