Death has a Daughter (DHAD Series) (15 page)

“
Okay, well you said that not all of you guys live forever.  Humans go to heaven or hell....When one of you dies, where do you go?” she asked and shocked me with the question; she was getting deep here.

“
I’m not positive.  Like God and Lucifer do with humans, there are several options.  Once someone has served several terms, they can retire and stay in the realm, live as a human, be reborn as a Reaper—there are many different options, depending on what our service is, but you never know until your day has come. I’ve also heard that if a Demon or an Angel dies, they are stripped of their powers and basically have to start over.  But for us Reapers, it’s not really certain, since we don’t typically die.  We age only to a certain point, and then just stay that way,” I said honestly, not being completely sure myself on where we went if we died.  It wasn’t something people talked about much.

“
We, depending on our service, go to our final resting or version of heaven, or are stripped and retrained; it all depends on the big man,” Trevor said with a smile.  “I think that’s enough with questions.  Lacie, you should rest now.”

“
Fine, but I have one more for Cendall that I’ve been thinking about.  Why don’t you just port the body to another place and kill it?  Wouldn’t that be easier than fighting against a Guardian?” Lacie asked.

“
Yes it would.  But that would raise millions of questions in the human realm if people just started disappearing and then their dead bodies re-appeared somewhere else.”

“
You could hide the bodies,” she suggested.

“
Yeah, but again, more questions being raised by the human realm.”

“
Yeah, I guess I see your point.  I guess I’ll go to bed now.  Don’t think I’m obeying you or anything, Trevor,” she said with a yawn as she made her way back up the stairs.

“
I’m going to go check out the perimeter,” I said as I got up to go. When I got back to the living room, Trevor was sleeping.  I found a blanket and placed it over him.  He looked so peaceful when he slept.  This was the second time he’d left me alone on night shift to guard Lacie. Maybe he really was beginning to trust me.  When I hit the ‘on’ button of the remote, I turned to channel two, and wished I had a credit card as I watched a ton of infomercials.  The things they were selling were hilarious. How humans believed they would work was crazy. 

Sunlight
beamed into my eyes, making them blink, as it peeked through the shades of the windows.  It was already morning; time just flew by when watching infomercials.  As soon as the sunlight hit Trevor’s face, he sprung up like we were about to get ambushed.

“
Chill out!” I said with a laugh, and he looked around, confused.  “Bad dream?” 

“
No, I just...I didn’t mean to fall asleep. Is it really morning already?” he asked.

“
Yes, and I’ve got to go; you’re good with Lacie today, right?”

“
I should be fine.  Thanks for staying up last night,” he said.

“
See you in a few hours,” I said, feeling awkward that he’d just thanked me.

“
Before you leave, can I ask you something?” Trevor said.

“
Sure.”

“
Why didn’t you take Lacie’s soul in the diner?  She was at a vulnerable moment.  It, if any, was the best possible chance you would have to ever obtain her soul.”

“
To be honest, I didn’t really think about it.  I don’t know if that’s because of the deal I’ve made with you, or if I’m just so used to protecting her.  Maybe that instinct just kicked in first.”  I probably should have lied, but I was a horrible liar, and couldn’t think of anything else to say.  The truth was always the easiest.

“
Okay,” he said, seemingly shocked by my answer.  Maybe I shouldn’t have been that honest with him.  Surely he would use it to his advantage in the future if I ever did attempt to collect Lacie’s soul again.  This had to happen, because he would eventually heal and then all deals were off, right?

“Where have you been lately?” Dave yelled at me as he sat at the kitchen table in my house.  I’d had a long day and hoped to chill at my house after being shot, but I didn’t mind because he was my best friend.

“You know, you’re still at the top of the soul collecting list right now.  You don’t have to go soul searching every minute of your life!”  He laughed. “I have big news, and this is the first time I’ve caught you around in weeks.  Come to think of it, all you’ve said to me is ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ lately.  I haven’t really talked to you since you told me you were having difficulties with a soul on your list.  What’s been going on, lady?

“
I’ve got to…”  I tried to protest.

“
NO, this is urgent, huge news.  You can tell me all about your adventures later,” he said as he grabbed my hand and ported us to a spot we used to go to all the time.  It was a spot in Pennsylvania, right in the middle of the mountains in a town with a population of zero.  We used to love going there just to get away from our realm, and the mountains were just beautiful and calming.

“
Okay, so what’s the big news?” I asked Dave, who had a smile plastered on his face the entire way there.

“
I’ve got huge news, Cendall.” He was smiling so huge, if it got any bigger, surely it would wrap around his head.

“
Spit it out!”  I laughed, not wanting to wait anymore.  I really needed to get going.

“I found her!” he shouted.

“
Found who?” I asked puzzled.

“
Her, the one.”

“
The one?” I asked, still unsure of what he meant.

“
The one, like the one I want to reveal myself to, Cendall.”

“
Holy shit,” fell out of my gaping mouth.  “You’re sure? The one?”

“
Yes, I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.  She’s perfect.  She’s a few years older than me, but that’s based on human-realm years.  If she’d been raised in our realm, I’d be older than her.  It’s perfect.  She’s five foot one, dark-brown, almost black, hair.  I think she’s some kind of Middle-Eastern decent.  Her skin is a light-brown color that only complements her forest-green eyes.  She’s amazing.” He was so excited.

“
How’d you come across her?”  I could tell he wanted to go on.  Who wouldn’t when you had met the one? You wanted to tell the world.  Well, that’s at least what I’ve been told.

“
It was on my second day out.  I’m actually collecting her Grandmothers’ soul,” he said.  “That might create a little bump in the road for us, but her grandmother is like eighty-five, and definitely ready to go.  Her Guardian left her about a week ago.  Any day now, she’ll be ready to go.”

“
That’s going to be hard to explain,” I said.

“
I think it always is though, to say, ‘so yeah, I collect souls for a living.’  With the special kicker of living in hell.  But it’s not like what you see in stories; this level isn’t bad.  Oh shit, what if Chloe will never come?” he said, and his smile started to fade.

“
If she’s the one, she’ll come.  I like her name too; it’s pretty,” I told him, with a reassuring pat on his back.

“
You really think so?” he asked, and his eyes lit back up.

“
Yes I do, and you’ll have two years to plan how to reveal yourself to her.  That’s plenty of time to think about how to break the news to her.  You’ll have to date a while before you do that, and I’m sure you’ll have it perfect by then,” I told him, hoping it would make him feel better.  But I watched as his eyes immediately went to the floor; there was something he wasn’t telling me.

“
Spit it out.  Now I know you’re hiding something.”

“
Well, you see, I’ve already revealed myself to her—kind of.  We’re
‘best friends.’
I even gave her my family ring,” he said, and I looked at his hand.  Sure enough, he was missing the silver emerald ring.

“
You’ve done what?  Dave, WTF?” I said, slightly raising my voice.

“
Yeah, I just...I don’t know.  Not on purpose.  I just saw her and me...shit, it just happened.  She bumped into me on the street when I was watching her.  I must have instinctively just let my guard down.  Honestly, she had me breathless, Cendall; the feeling was amazing.  You’ll know when it happens to you.  I want to scream and tell the whole world.  When she bumped into me, I couldn’t even speak for a few seconds.  I was blown away and speechless. Probably looked like a babbling idiot.” He laughed.  “Sounds so ‘fairy tale,’ but it’s true.  Took me a second to clear my head and then all that came out was ‘hi.’  I can’t wait until it happens to you. To imagine you speechless....” He laughed again.

Y
eah, imagine me speechless.  It had happened once, but that was when I saw Trevor, and that had been because I’d just saved him and Lacie. I was confused about all of that, not because of Trevor, oh hell no. I couldn’t even fathom the thought.

“
That’s awesome, Dave. But I would hide the fact that you’ve already revealed yourself to her.  Just hide it for two years and you’ll be good.”

“
I will.  I’ve heard of this happening before, and people tell everyone once they’re already mated and stuff.  So it doesn’t matter, then.  I’ll just—instead of stalking her for two years, until I turn eighteen—be one step ahead.  We get a head-start, so to say,” he said with a smile.

“
Yeah, I guess.  Gosh, that’s freaking awesome though; I’m jealous.”

“
Yeah…on that note, though, there’s one more cramp in my amazing news,” he said.

“
What do you mean?”  What other curve ball was my best friend going to throw at me?

“
She’s got a boyfriend right now.  He’s such a tool, though.  He’s so immature, but she says he’s the best kisser.  Well, that’s what she says to her friends.  And I quote, “Hell no, I’m not going to marry him, but he’s here now, and damn, he’s a good kisser.”  I don’t understand it, but they don’t think like we do when it comes to these things.  At first I was devastated when she said it, but observing other human girls, it seems a lot of them do this.  But if I do get a chance with her and I suck at kissing, then what will I do?  The first kiss is huge, they say.”

“
Who says?” I asked.

“
Cosmo Man.  It’s this human magazine.  It tells you all about human females.”

“
Oh jeez.” Dave was reading human magazines. I wanted to laugh in his face but held it in; he must really be into this girl.

“
Yeah, I know; don’t give me shit.  I never thought I would get this head over heels, but I swear, I’d do anything for this girl.  She has such a positive outlook on life.  She has a stubborn but proud attitude, like you.  You’d probably get along with her very well.” He laughed.  “A lot of the things I love about her are traits that you have.  That’s probably why I’ve fallen so hard.  She’s a ‘you’ I’m attracted to; it’s perfect.”

“
Well, thanks.” 

“
No, not like that. You know what I mean.” He chuckled.

“
Yes, I do.” And I did.  If I could find a man who had half the heart that Dave did, and my body wanted to jump his bones, it would be perfect.  Maybe if Dave had found that, I could too.

“
Okay, back to the problem, though,” Dave said, and got a serious look to his eyes.  “I think I’ll need to like, practice, before I attempt to kiss her.  Since the first kiss is huge, it’s got to be perfect, and practice makes perfect, right?” he said quickly.  I could tell this was leading to something, but what that was, I didn’t know.

“
Yeah, it’s supposed to, but what’s your point?  Are you going to reveal yourself to another human and practice with them?” I asked.

“
No, of course not,” he said. “That would break another law and I’ve already broken one.  So I was hoping I could practice with someone else,” he said, with a seductive smile as he narrowed his eyes.

“
Oh, no, no, no, no,” I said, finally figuring out what he was getting at.

“
Aw, come on.  We’re best friends, we hug all the time; it’ll be just like that,” he pleaded.

“
I don’t know, that seems a little too close for friends, Dave.”

“
The humans have something similar to it.  They call it ‘friends with benefits.’  But this will be more like friends that will benefit with practice before they try it on their mates.”

“
That’s a long excuse,” I said.

“
Please.  I really don’t want to ruin what I could have with her.  I swear she’s the one, Cendall.” Dave was now begging.

“
You’re one-hundred percent sure?”

“
Yes,” he said, and I believed him.  His eyes told me he truly believed she was the one.

“
Fine, but kissing is it; were not practicing anything else.”  He was my best friend and if it really meant this much to him, I would do it.

“
Yes, just kissing.  I’ll master the rest on my own,” he said with a grin, knowing he would get his way.  He was lucky I called him my best friend.  We slowly approached each other. 

We each took a deep breath
and were now close enough that I could feel his cool breath on my lips. He pressed his soft lips to mine.  It started slow, with a peck.  Then I felt his tongue break through the slit of my lips.  I held it back at first, but when he found my tongue, it slowly caressed his.  I inhaled, taking his essence in completely.  He tasted so sweet, genuine, and pure.  Just as I thought he would have tasted.  The kiss began to intensify and I felt his hands drop to my hips and pull me into his body, making it the closest we’d ever been.  A small chill ran up my spine as he gently traced one of his hands up my arm and onto my face.  This whole kissing thing was a lot of fun.  My lips started to pull away, and I opened my eyes.  This was getting to be a little much, but he just leaned in closer.  Okay, so I guess we were going to practice a little longer than I’d expected.  My lids shut again, just as I felt something tackle me to the ground.