“How can you know that quickly? I could have been a real fucking peach in life.” His voice is panicky and high pitched as he argues with the men who have already dismissed him entirely. They don’t even react to his outburst.
“Come on, buddy. You clearly know where you’re bound. Let’s go,” I say softly, leading him away from the platform. He doesn’t fight me, which surprises me immensely. Liam is at the first gate but I force myself not even to glance his way as I head for the far gate. Instead of bright lights and buildings behind the gate it looks like the slums. Broken buildings, trash in the street, and broken streetlights barely illuminating the sidewalks.
“Are you Sam?” I ask the tall, imposing man in front of the gate, remembering the name Zoey had given me during one of her ramblings. He’s a beast of a man, significantly taller than me. Dark copper hair stands out starkly against his vivid green eyes. Freckles dust over every inch of his skin and it only enhances the rest of his features. His stature and stance almost makes me think of a professional wrestler.
Damn, clearly they chose the best of the best for this job. Both Master Reapers I’ve met are panty melting hot and built like fucking tanks. Even if Liam was smaller, his muscles were no joke.
Sam narrows his piercing green eyes on me, not saying a word. With an eye roll I mimic his stance. Master Reaper or not, I don’t care for dominance shows. I always tried to please everyone in life and look what happened. Fuck that. Now I refuse to take anyone’s shit.Even if I want to climb said man like a fucking tree.
When he doesn’t say anything I cock my head to the side and raise an eyebrow. The soul behind me snarls and tugs on his chains as if to remind us of his existence. I whip my head around and glare at him before turning back to Sam.
“Fine, don’t talk. It doesn’t matter to me. I was told to bring this slimy bastard to you. Here he is,” I say pointedly, pulling the soul’s chain forward so he has no choice but to walk toward Sam. As the soul passes me he leans in and sniffs me.What the hell?
“Thanks for the nice view on the way here, though I would have preferred to bend you over and f-.” His words are cut off as Sam raises him by his throat so he’s dangling in the air. His form solidifies at the Master Reaper’s touch. I’m stunned into silence at the show of power, my mouth hanging open in shock. It fades to fury when I realize what the bastard was going to say to me. Apparently even in the afterlife some men are pigs.
My feet move forward before I process and I lightly lay a hand on Sam’s arm. He turns to look and I pull my fist back, quickly bringing it forward to smash into the soul’s nose. The pathetic man starts to wail in pain, but before long he stops and his nose seems to pop back into place.
“That’s a shame,” I sigh. Sam lets out a quiet chuckle.
“Nice try.” He levels me with an amused smirk. His voice is deep, the sexy tone alone sending a shiver down my spine.
I’m almost grateful when his intense stare moves from me and back to the man. A rune glows on Sam’s forearm, a bright violent red.
I guess I’m not the only one with special runes.
As soon as it flares to life the soul begins to wail and writhe in pain. His cries of agony make me cringe, and after a moment I can’t take it anymore.Do something. You aren’t a bystander, you are someone who stands up for what’s right.
“Sam, please stop,” I beg him and he turns back to me. His eyes are glowing the same red as his rune but after a few seconds it fades back to his normal green. When he drops the soul back to the ground in a heap I let out a sigh of relief. I appreciate his need to protect me but that went a bit too far for my liking.
“Let’s go,” Sam barks at the soul, a yellow rune lighting up on his arm this time. The man seems to obey without question and my chain unwinds and returns to the dull silver it usually is and the scythe fades. I wrap the chain back in place around my arm and watch on as he marches the soul through the hate to the Hollows.
Damn, he may be a sexy reaper, but he is also a terrifying one. I shudder as I think about the screams the soul was letting out a few minutes ago. This place would take some getting used to. I’d have to harden myself some to survive here. Some souls, as I learned here, are not worth my kindness.
A blindingly hot pain on my left bicep flares to life and I let out a small gasp. My fingers tremble as I pull my jacket down to see a depiction of blazing guns crossing each other. Smoke curls from the ends and around my arm, red splatters of blood covering the handles and adding color to the mix.
With one job done I force myself to check the next assignment out and call a new portal. Sam steps back into view as it flares to life. He must not think I see him because he openly runs his eyes over my body. I hide a smile before stepping through.
My next assignment is at the scene of a car accident. My stomach turns at the sight of crumpled metal and billowing smoke before me. The front end of a man’s pickup truck is crushed, the car he hit is a mangled, burning wreck and barely recognizable. The man is shaking his head and sobbing into his hands as he tries to tell an officer what happened. But I don’t want the details to haunt me. I have a soul to find.
I don’t need to see inside of the car to know that the other driver didn’t make it out of this alive. I can sense a soul on the other side of the accident site and I walk around the crumpled car slowly, scythe already at the ready thanks to the last soul.
A woman is wailing uncontrollably and as I walk around the end of the smashed car I see her. She’s on her knees trying to pull herself back into her broken body that is lying next to her. But her chest is no longer rising and falling, her skin pale and eyes staring lifelessly at the sky above.
“No! I have a family, I have to take care of my son! Who will tuck him in at night? Who will teach him to be a good man? Who will send him off to college? Who will love him likeIdo?” she sobs. Her words have my heart clenching then shattering in my chest. This is what Arianna meant by some days being hard to handle. This is worse than the souls meant for The Hollows. She has something to live for yet can’t stay to see her baby grow into a man. Fate was cruel.
“Ma’am, I can take you where you need to go,” I say softly, taking careful steps toward her. Her eyes widen as she sees me and she starts to frantically yell for me to help. Knowing there is no way to control her grief I gently tap her with the end of the scythe handle. The chain glows and gently wraps around her wrist as if it doesn’t want to add to her pain.
“No, you don’t understand. I can’t leave them, I belong here,” she begs and I feel a tear coursing down my cheek. I brush it away and harden my features. This will be the real death of me if I don’t separate myself from the emotions. There are no words I can offer her so I simply pull her through the portal and to the gatekeepers waiting on the other side.
The gatekeepers don’t have to speak for me to know exactly where she’s going. Yet even as they call out for me to take her to the Sorrows I feel my eyes sting with tears again. This time there’s no snark or annoyance as I lead her to her destination.
A tall, lean man is guarding the gate in question. I’m taken aback by his handsome features. He’s beyond handsome really, he could almost be categorized as pretty. His pale skin is flawless and he has deep, dramatic cheekbones and cupid’s bow lips. Unlike other reapers his tattoos are on display under a dark tank top, covering his arms and rising over his neck.
Black hair falls into his eyes. It’s shaved on the sides, but longer and styled on top in a punk rock vibe. The midnight shade of his hair has his bright blue eyes and angled features standing out even more.
We just met and I’m practically drooling. Even as I try not to stare, I find it almost impossible. But even more enticing is that he seems like a genuine, modest person, despite his job position.
Apparently when you die and become a reaper, you get an afterlife of gorgeous man candy to stare at every day.I can handle that. Perks of the job, I guess.