Death has a Daughter (DHAD Series) (7 page)

“
Please help us!” the soul shouted.  “You, there, I know you’re there, help me!” she yelled as she continued to get closer to where I was hiding.  “Help us!”  They would be past me in a second, to whoever she was speaking to, but instead of running past me, like I expected, she latched onto me.

“
Please help us!  I’m not supposed to die yet,” she pleaded as she gripped my arms so tightly that I swear they were bleeding.  “PLEASE!” Her scream made me jump.  She was now shaking me hard enough to make my head spin, and was verging on madness.

“
I…I...”  I began to stutter, as I looked past her to the Demons that were now running our way, and were merely feet away from mauling her.  She was latched onto me, they would think. Shit.  My arm latched around her, she grabbed the Guardian’s hand, and I teleported us out of there.  As we began to port, a shrill scream pierced my eardrums and nearly broke my concentration.

When we landed my ears were ringing and my head was pounding
.  I had taken us to my and Dave’s secret spot in the tall redwood forests of northern California.  Where we’d ported when we discovered that just because the law said you couldn’t teleport to earth until you finished training, didn’t mean that you actually couldn’t do it.  We’d come here whenever we wanted to get away from everyone else.  Our realm just got so boring at times, and this place took my breath away, no matter how many times we came.  The cinnamon-colored bark of the huge redwoods was such a unique and fascinating thing to look at.  They made anything that was going on in my life seem so small, as I would arch my neck up to try and see the tip-tops of the trees.  Dave and I would sit there for hours, when we were younger, and make up stories of giant lumberjacks that must have been created to chop down these trees.  We would debate on how hard it would be to take the soul of someone who was fifty times the size of you.  A rage started to boil inside me, for now our spot would be tainted.

“
How the hell…”  I began to say, but she interrupted me when we both stood up from the base of the redwood we’d landed on.  Normally I would land on my feet after a port, but the scream threw me off.

“
Thank you so much!” she said as she threw her arms around me in a big, warm bear hug.  I just looked down at her with my mouth wide open.  She was such a tiny little thing, but she had a strong squeeze.

“
How can you see me?”  I asked, and she released me from her hug.

“
I...um,” her cheeks blushed, and she took a step back and went silent.

“
Oh no.  Because of you, those Demons will probably come after me too. You at least owe me an explanation!”  As soon as I took one step towards her, I was immediately tackled to the ground.  My eyes blinked and when I opened them, there was the blonde Guardian straddling me.  His thick, all-muscle thighs had me locked in place as he held his spear to my heart. Looking up into his light-blue—almost violet—eyes, my mouth opened but nothing came out. In my midst of confusion, I had forgotten that I’d also teleported this Guardian with us.  I’d been focusing on the girl too much to remember him, and now I was under him, with his spear to my heart, but for some reason, I wasn’t afraid.  My heart began to race, not in fear but excitement, as I felt my skin tingle and took a deep breath, completely taking his essence in.  He smelled so good, like the first day of spring, when everything was being reborn. He had light-blonde hair that hung just at his ears in a loose, wavy mess.  Under his baby blues were strong, prominent cheekbones and full lips. He looked like he was in his early-twenties.  My silence seemed to agitate him, because I felt the blade break through my uniform and knick my skin.  This only made me chuckle uncontrollably—I couldn’t help it, I was losing it.

“
Stop it, TREVOR!” the soul shouted, snapping me out of it.

“
He’s here for your soul!” he snapped at her.

“
Yeah, I know, but I’m no longer in a near-death situation, so the Reaper is no threat to me, so get off of her!” the soul yelled at him.

“
Her—you mean him,” the Guardian tried to correct the soul.

“
No, her, like I said. If you don’t believe me, unmask her,” she said confidently.  He took his spear away from my heart and cut open my mask with it.

“
No Way…A chic Reaper?  It’s not possible!” he said as he still straddled me.

“
Get off of me,” came out as I finally woke up and addressed the situation.

“
Do as she says; we owe her our lives,” the soul told him and he quickly got up and took several steps away from me.  Carefully, I stood up and pulled the remainder of the mask off of my head, letting my hair fall to my shoulders. My eyes glanced one more time at the Guardian, who had to be at least a head taller than me, making him about 6’5”, and then I made them focus solely on the soul.

“
How can you see me?  Are you not a human soul?” I asked her.

“
No, I am 100% human; I just can see all of you.”  She laughed.  “It’s my ‘gift,’ but to be honest, it’s been more of a pain in the ass than anything.”

“
So you’ve seen me the whole time?”  Her immediate smile gave the answer away.

“
She’s been around and you haven’t told us, Lacie?”  The Guardian said in an extremely disapproving tone.

“
I didn’t know it was must-know information,” she said, not taking that smart-ass smile off her face.

“
She wants you dead so she can collect your soul...how is that not-need-to-know information?” he said, now raising his tone.

“
Yeah, but she can’t kill me unless I’m in a vulnerable state,” Lacie said, and I wondered how she knew that. 

“
But those Demons that came from her realm can!”

“
I had nothing to do with that,” I said honestly.

“
Bullshit, they weren’t supposed to come yet; you surely had to be some part of it. There would have been more Guardians if we would have known, and hell, we could have even gotten some Angels if we’d known there were going to be so many coming after her.  You did this!” he accused again.

“
Everyone knows that Reapers don’t work with Demons, so just shut it,” the soul I now knew to be Lacie snapped at him.

“
Well, this just doesn’t make any sense,” he said with a frown.

“
None of this makes sense,” I mumbled.

“
Well, thank you, Reaper,” Lacie said once again, and I didn’t say anything back.  What was I thinking? I was going to be in some deep shit for this.  “My name is Lacie Raupp, what’s your name?” she asked.

“
Cendall, and I have to go,” I said, and prepared myself for the port.

“
Oh no, you don’t,” the Guardian said as he grabbed my arm. “You have to help us now.”  My mind went blank for a second.  His touch sent shivers nuzzling up my arm, causing goose-bumps to rise. He must be doing some kind of Guardian magic on me.  We learned in class that—along with their blue light—they could also yield magic.  My mouth opened, but nothing came out—for the second time today. 
What kind of magic made you speechless?

“
The...hell…I...DO…” finally came out, after multiple attempts. “Do you know how much trouble I’m going to get in for revealing myself to a human, who actually was able to see me this whole time?!  What only makes this worse is the fact that I saved her—saved her soul instead of collecting it…oh shit...” I said, finally realizing just how much trouble I was really in. “They’re going to kick me out.  I have to go.”  I’d just ruined my life.

“
Reaper!  Wait!  I have an idea, and I’m sure Trevor will agree so that you don’t have to be exposed. Being that we are the only ones who know about this, if we all keep quiet, no one else will know it even happened,” Lacie said.

“
Oh No,” the Guardian said immediately. “Guardians
must
know about this.”

“
Shut up, Trevor!  I haven’t even told you my solution.  I didn’t want to expose you, but you’re making this difficult.  You’re hurt and unable to protect me by yourself,” she said, and I watched his eyes fall to the floor.  “He won’t admit it, Cendall, but in the fight he was hexed protecting me. He can’t return to his realm to heal or bring others. The hex cuts him off from most of his powers. He can’t port, or yield any magic, right now.  The hex will fade eventually, but until then, we are vulnerable. Help him protect me and no one has to know you saved a soul instead of taking it. Sound fair?” she asked.

“
I don’t like the idea.”  But, hell, who was I kidding? If this information was exposed, my life was ruined anyway.  “How do I know he’ll keep his word?” I asked her, and he stared at me in disgust.

“
He will, because I’ll order him too. He’s my Guardian, he has to listen.”  She smiled.

“
Is this true?” I asked him.

“
Yes, unless it is a matter of life or death, I have to obey her,” he mumbled, and I couldn’t help but smile.  “That’s not typical, since they usually can’t see us, but lucky for her, she can,” he grumbled.

“
Okay, I agree then, but I can’t stay here at all times, you know.”

“
Of course. Why, do you have a curfew or something?”  He mocked me.

“
Perhaps I do. I just got out of training, Guardian.  Who are you to judge? You don’t look much older than I,” I snapped back at him.

“
If you just got out of training, that makes you sixteen, correct?”

“
Just turned seventeen.” 

“
Well, know that I am older than you, and far more advanced as well.  This is an embarrassment to have you here to help, but it is a necessity.  Too bad we didn’t get a Reaper who was at least of legal drinking age in this realm.  Or maybe even a guy who would be able to fight.  All you’ll be able to do is teleport us.”  He laughed.  Hmm, a guy picking on me...this was nothing new.

“
That is not all I can do…but I have nothing to prove to you…and it’s too bad Guardians aren’t gifted with teleporting souls or we wouldn’t even be in this mess.” I learned at an early age that words got you nowhere.  You could argue all day with someone about how good you were at something, but it meant nothing until you proved it to them.  “I really would love to listen to your bullshit all day, but I do have to go back to my realm.  I’ll return after I’ve seen the right people, so that my absence won’t be missed.  The Demons shouldn’t be able to track you here yet.  We should have a couple days before they even pick up on the fact that you were here, and by then I’ll have moved us somewhere else.”

“
As long as I pick the next place, that sounds fine,” he said.

“
Goodbye, Lacie. It was nice...ugh...meeting you, I guess.”  It felt awkward just leaving her there with this jerk, but he was her Guardian.

“
Don’t bother to be nice to her. We both know that the minute this situation is resolved, you will be on the hunt for her soul again,” he spit out at me.

“
You’re probably correct.”  There was no reason that once he was healed and was able to get more Guardians that I couldn’t fight for her soul when it came into compromises.

“
You go back on your end of our agreement, and I will go back on mine!” he threatened.

“
Our agreement was that, until you were healed and able to get more Guardians, I helped you and that you guys wouldn’t tell about me, ever.  So I would not be breaking the agreement once you were healed, would I?”

“
Freaking under-realm.  That’s why you can never trust them,” he muttered under his breath, and I’d had enough of him.  This conversation was over. I ported out of there and back to my realm.

How was I going to get away with this? I sat down on my bed and pulled out my scroll
.  There were so many names here.  There wasn’t any time to help guard a soul for half of the day.  The scroll was only about halfway through and I’d already knocked out the easiest ones when I wasn’t stalking Lacie.  How could I possibly keep my end of the bargain? But if I didn’t, and they exposed me, I would be finished.  The second any of the underworld council heard I had helped save a soul, from a Demon of all things, they would never let me continue to be a Reaper.  They’d probably even kick me out of the realm, knowing that I’d saved a Guardian as well.  I was in too deep now.  The only solution would be to go along with this. 

Once that G
uardian was healed, I could go back to stalking, or just wait for the Demons to get her soul.  That would be the easiest way out, as they would get it eventually.  Hopefully, it would be after our deal was over. My hand grabbed a pencil and started mapping out my scroll.  According to my calculations, I was still ahead of everyone else.  To remain the top, I would be required to take at least five souls a week.  That would be perfect timing and would mean no screw-ups.  I put my head in my hands and started rubbing my temples to try and focus.  This had to be possible, I could do it, for, if I didn’t, I would fail and could possibly be exposed as a traitor to our realm.