Death has a Daughter (DHAD Series) (16 page)

My eyes
opened to see hard, grey cement rocks.  What the hell?  I’d just been with Dave in Pennsylvania.  It only took a second longer to see the ‘how.’  Drake looked over me, with horror flashed across his face.

“
What the hell are you doing?” I screamed at Drake, because I’d realized he was the reason why I landed on my ass, back in my realm.  He’d transported me there.

“
How could you kiss Dave?” he accused.

“
Because I wanted to,” and because he asked me nicely, because we were best friends.  We had wanted to practice, but I left that part out.  What business was it of his?  I stood up and walked towards him.  If he wanted a screaming match, he would get one.

“
Don’t you have other things to be worrying about?  Like, how about the souls on your scroll?  But oh no, instead of focusing on that, you’re becoming the town skank.”

“
I’m almost done with my list, Drake!”

“
That’s still an incomplete!” he rebutted.

“
Oh fuck off, Drake.  I’m on my own schedule, not yours.  Don’t try and tell me how to run my route.  As far as kissing Dave, that’s also none of your freaking business.  Why were you even following me in the first place?”  My screaming had now brought me inches from him, with my finger in his face.  I wasn’t one to get all crazy, but he always brought out the worst in me.

“
I will not let my future wife try out the whole town before I even get the chance!”  Without warning, he grabbed me and suddenly our lips were crushed together in a heated kiss.  My mouth tried to close in protest, but my tongue wasn’t on the same page, since it broke through my lips and started to viciously stroke his.  I took a deep breath as I felt his anger seep through the kiss, but it seemed to only excite my body more.  It was a rush, dark, passionate, and violent.  My arms wrapped around his neck.  He felt so strong, powerful, and demanding.  His lips were wet, juicy, and sweet, with a twist of saltiness. My mind lulled into an anger-driven lust as I tried desperately to recall what had set this into motion.  He’d said something about his future… Oh hell no! I shoved him off of me, breaking a kiss that had gone way too far. Anger still burned inside of me, but it was overshadowed by a morbid curiosity.  I took a little pride in the fact that he looked as flustered as I felt.  At least I wasn’t the only one still fighting to get myself back under control.

“
Future what?” I asked when I caught my breath and was able to get my body somewhat under-control.  My heart raced and my chest heaved as my traitorous body screamed at me to be back in his grasp.  His face shot red.

“
Oh fuck,” he said and began to walk away.

“
Drake, don’t you dare leave without an explanation!  Why did you just kiss me?”

“
I um…” and he paused, seemingly unsure of himself for probably the first time in his entire life. “I’ve got to go.”

“
NO!  You’ve been nothing but an asshole since the day we started training.  You’ve been my mortal enemy and biggest competitor for ten years.  Drake, until this moment I thought you despised me.  Then you say something about future wife and kiss me.  Explain yourself, now,” I demanded.

“
I can’t.”

“
That’s bullshit, Drake!” 

“
You’re not supposed to know,” he said in a deflated voice.

“
What? So you’re telling me that, what, your secret is out?  That instead of hating me you’ve actually liked me?  That you haven’t been able to show it until today, in some twisted, messed up way?  This is the first time I’ve had someone tell me they think I’m their future wife,” I said with a laugh, trying to make light of the situation.

“
No, I haven’t liked you at all actually.  I’ve despised you since I was six,” he said, and it only dumbfounded me more.

“
Then what the hell?”

“
Ask me why I’ve hated you so much, Cendall,” he said.

“
I always thought it was because I’m a girl, and you were just some man who thought I shouldn’t be here and whatnot.”

“
I wish that was the reason,” he said, and I watched him take a deep breath as I got a twist in my gut.  Whatever came next out of his mouth I had a feeling I wouldn’t take well.  “I wasn’t lying when I belted out future wife, Cendall.  I’ve hated you since we were six, because that’s when I learned we were bound in contract to be married at eighteen.”

“
This is not a funny joke, Drake,” came off my lips with a tremble as my stomach twisted.

“
This is no joke,” he said plainly, and I let out a frustrated scream so loud that surely everyone had to have heard it.  His hands covered his ears as his eyes went wide in horror.  The sight of him covering his ears calmed me down a bit.

“
There are no arranged marriages here.  We get to pick once we’re eighteen.  We go down to the human realm and find someone to reveal ourselves to, then convince them to come down here.  You’re lying; this has to be some sick joke.” My eyes started to water. This couldn’t be true.  Married to Drake? No freaking way.

“
No, it’s not.  Everyone else, but us, gets to go to the human realm and pick, but we don’t.  On the bright side of things, though, that kiss was amazing.  It strangely makes me despise you less than usual.” He smiled and I could feel the air thicken around me.  “My dad said that if I, perhaps, tried kissing you, it might make me attracted to you, and I wouldn’t be so miserable about the arrangement.”

The acid in my stomach started
to churn.  “This makes no sense. Why would they arrange a marriage for us, if it’s never happened in the past?” I asked.

“
Because you’re the first female Reaper.  It was one of the conditions to let you into training.  I mean, yes, your dad was a record-breaking Reaper, which had some influence on their decision, but the council needed more than that to let you in.  They denied the case until someone came up with a genius idea:  Since you were the first female, and had such a strong family name, they figured you’d have some kind of super Grim Reaper child if you were mated with another strong name.  My dad volunteered me to be your match since we were the same age, and he and your dad were close.  It seemed like the perfect match: You got to stay close to your father, we got to grow up together, and our parents could always keep an eye on us. It would have been a good plan, had they not told me. My father told me in order to give me time to accept the idea, but all it did was make me resent you. I hated you and what your birth trapped me into. But duty is duty, and when I saw you kissing Dave… I dunno, something in me just snapped.  I was angry, and that kiss… I never thought it would be like that….” He lowered his voice and stepped in closer. He was blushing ever-so-slightly. It was a sight I had never seen before. “Can we do it again?”

“Fuck no,” I said as calmly as I could.  My head started spinning as it fought with my body on whether or not to take a step closer to him.

“
But I felt you respond. You liked it too,” he said, taking another step.  My body throbbed in anticipation.

“
Please just shut up.” To my surprise, he listened.  “I need to speak with my father.”

Needing time to think
, I ran home, leaving Drake standing there like an idiot.  An arranged marriage to him? Are you kidding me?  It was wrong for me to be arranged to anyone, especially to Drake.  What the hell had my father been thinking?  Drake has been my arch rival for years.  I’ve hated him since I can remember, because he’d always been so mean to me.  What was my reaction to that kiss about?  My own body had betrayed me there.  How could I have not known that I was attracted to Drake?  I mean, I had to be, or why would my body respond like that?  He couldn’t be the person I was supposed to marry.  Drake had known this for so long.  Would we have been enemies if I’d known? Or would I have responded the way he did?  Shit...the air started to thicken and smother my lungs as the walls to an invisible cage entrapped me.  How could my father have agreed to this?

Once I reached the
front door, I stood for a few seconds to try and calm my breathing.  I shoved open the door to see my father sitting at the table.

“
Arranged marriage,” left my lips at the sight of him.

“
Yes,” he said with a sigh.

“
How could you, Dad?  And to DRAKE…DRAKE, Dad. I’ve hated him for as long as I can remember!”

“
I told Scott not to tell Drake until he was older, like I would have done with you.  If Scott would have held his tongue, all this resentment Drake has towards you might have never been there.  Hell, you might have connected on your own before knowing, if we would have been lucky enough.” 

T
he anger now boiled in my stomach. He wasn’t apologizing like I’d expected; instead, he was placing the blame elsewhere.

“
The point is not when he should have told DRAKE!” I screamed. I couldn’t hold in this much anger anymore.  “Why, Dad, why!!??” came out in a sob, in between screams.

“
Crap, I wanted to tell you myself, so I could explain, but once I heard that scream, I knew you knew,” he said, still sitting calmly at the table.  He must have heard my scream of shock when Drake had told me this ridiculous news.

“
I won’t do it!” 
“Yes, you will. You must, Cendall. It’s an agreement that cannot be broken by anything but death.”

“
NO!  I want to pick the person I want to be with. Why would you do this to me?”

“
I had no other choice, Cendall.  You are the only female to ever be born a Reaper.  They would never have let you become what you are today if I hadn’t agreed to this.”

“
No.” My legs buckled to take a seat at the table.

“
Yes.  There were even talks about them not letting you stay in the realm at all, Cendall, when you were first born.  I could never have just let you go.”

“
It’s not fair!” I said, with a slam of my fist into the table, smashing it into two pieces.

“
I know. I’m sorry.” He got up from the broken table. “There is nothing else that can be done.  I’m sorry, Cendall. It was my only option and it stands,” he said as he turned his back and went into his room.

Yeah
, I’m sorry too, Dad
, I wanted to call out to him, but he would have asked me why I was sorry, and I couldn’t tell him.  While watching him close his door, I sat in the chair and came to a realization.  One year left before I’d turn eighteen.  Never would I become the GRAND Reaper I wanted to be, because it required something I would never do—an arranged marriage.  The day before I turned eighteen would be the last day I spent in this realm.  That gave me only a year to get all my hiding arrangements together.  Hopefully that would be enough time.

“
Ugh...!”  I screamed, hoping my dad would again hear the pain in my voice.  I did the only thing that would get my mind off of this: I went searching for souls to knock off my list.

“What took you so long?” Trevor asked, as I walked up to where they stood.

“
OMG!” Lacie gasped when she looked in my direction.  “What has happened to you?  You look like hell.”

“
That is where she came from,” Trevor chimed in, while Lacie came over to me, reaching for my hands.

“
OMG, your hands!” she gasped again.  “What happened?”  The second gasp got Trevor to actually look at me, and his face looked grim.

“
Found out some bad news yesterday.”  Could I tell them?  Why not?  It didn’t matter if they knew anyways. I wouldn’t be a Reaper soon.

“
So you decided to hurt yourself by punching stuff?  Typical of a Reaper.  Did it solve your problem?” Trevor asked, and I glanced down at my hands. I’d forgotten about breaking the table yesterday.  My hands had cuts all over them.  Since I’d come right from dropping seven souls off to the researchers, I hadn’t had time to get them fixed.

“
Oh shut it, Trevor,” Lacie snapped at him.  “What’s going on, Cendall?”

“
Just found out from Drake that I’m going to have to be in an arranged marriage with him when I turn eighteen.”

“
Oh crap, that’s the hot one you don’t like, right?” Lacie asked.

“
Yup, that’s the one.”

“
So what are you going to do?” she asked, and I wasn’t really sure how to answer her.

“
I don’t know.  Probably wait it out until a month before my birthday and then leave.”  That was the only thing I’d thought of so far.

“
But that’s like a year away.”

“
Yeah, I know.  What other choice do I have?” I asked, wanting to hear any suggestions she could offer.  I really didn’t want to leave my realm.

“
You could just try it out.  We humans do it all the time.  If it doesn’t work out, then you guys can just get a divorce,” she said simply.

“
No,” Trevor and I said together, and I looked at him. His face flushed pink.

“
What I, ugh, mean is...”  Trevor said and cleared his throat, “it isn’t that simple, Lacie.  In our realms, a marriage bond is linked forever.  There is no falling out of love.  Only death breaks the agreement usually,” he told her.

“
That sucks,” she said, and her face fell.

“
Yes it does, or I would do that in a second.”  The human realm did have some things going for it.

“
You would?” Trevor asked as a look of disgust washed over his face.

“
Well, yes, if I knew going into it that I could leave it after a period of time.”

“
That’s disturbing.  You know to consummate a marriage you have to...” and the pink in his cheeks turned red.

“
Screw,” Lacie said out loud with a giggle.

“
Yes, but how bad could it be if it meant I could leave? But it doesn’t matter anyway, because it’s not possible.”  Could I really screw someone if I planned on leaving them?  Humans did it all the time, so could it really be that bad?

“
How did this even come up?” Lacie asked. “Maybe he does really care for you if he let you know this, since it appears everyone else kept it a secret.”

“
No, we’ve been enemies since I was six.  He’s always been mean to me.”

“
Maybe it was his way of showing he liked you,” Lacie countered.

“
No, I don’t really think so...”  I said and just wanted the conversation to end before it went into other details of how I found out.

“
Well, then why would he let you know now, if he didn’t have these built-up feelings for you?” she asked.

“Well, he sort of blurt it out as we were arguing.”  Surely this would be the end of the conversation.  What could I say to change the subject?

“
About?” she asked, and I gave her a dirty look.  She would definitely grow up to be some kind of counselor.

“
Maybe he’s lying,” Trevor said.

“
I wish, but he’s not.  I confirmed it with my dad, who’s just upset at the fact that Drake had blurted it out and he wasn’t able to tell me himself.”

“
So what were you arguing about again?” Lacie asked. “I know you said his personality sucks, but looks can sometimes make up for things.”

“
No,” I said quickly as I forced my eyes to look only at Lacie.  I didn’t want to look at Trevor at the moment.

“
Maybe you should try kissing him to see if you like it.  Who knows?  You’re both Reapers, so the arrangement might work.”  Lacie was being way too simplistic about this.  She just didn’t understand, but it was expected. Humans got to do whatever they wanted.

“
No, it won’t,” I said.

“
How do you know?”  Ugh, this girl would never drop it.

“
I just do,” I said, and I knew my face was as red as a lobster.

“
Have you?” she asked.

“
NO,” I lied.

“
HA, yes you have. Spill the beans, now,” she said.  Why did she have to ask me this stuff in front of Trevor?  Why I even cared was the bigger question. She read me like an open book.

“
You just don’t quit do you?” I asked her.

“
Nope, now spill.” She smiled.

“
Ugh, okay.  Well, yes, I did kiss him...actually, he kissed me.”

“
And it sucked?” she asked.

“
No.”

“
Okay, now I’m confused.” That made two of us.

“
The kiss wasn’t bad; it was the circumstances,” I said honestly.

“
Which were?” she asked, and I paused.  I’d already leaked out half the info, so I might as well finish the rest.

“
Okay, well, it all started with Dave.”

“
Wait—who’s Dave?  Your best friend Dave?” Lacie asked.

“
If you stop interrupting, she might be able to spit it out,” Trevor said to her, apparently still invested in the conversation.  I’d hoped his silence until now meant he’d stopped listening.

“
Okay, well, like I said, it started with Dave.  For the past few days, he’s been crazy-excited about something.  But because I’ve been here, we weren’t able to talk about it until yesterday.  So we were in our favorite spot.  But anyway....” I took a deep breath.  “Okay, so there was Dave and I, just catching up, and he then tells me he has
‘big news’
—that he’s met ‘the one’.”

“
The one?” Lacie asked, and Trevor shot her a look.

“
Yeah, ‘the one’ is that human we find that we feel is going to be our future mate.  We reveal ourselves to them, and try to convince them to come to our realm,” I began.

“
What if they say no?” she asked.

“
Their memory is wiped,” I said plainly, and she looked shocked.  “But anyway, he’s going on and on about all this rush of emotions he got when he saw her.  To make a long story short, he was nervous about their first kiss.  He’d overheard her talking to her friends about how her boyfriend wasn’t marriage material, but he was a good kisser.  He then learned all about how important this kissing thing is, from a magazine called Cosmos that humans read.  The article said how a kiss can make or break a relationship, and tell you if you’re compatible or not.  So he freaked out and came to the conclusion that, before he kissed her, he would practice.  Since I’m the only single female in our realm, and his best friend, he decided that I should be the one to practice on.  After some protesting on my part and begging on his, I agreed—only because he was seriously worried about it.  So we began to kiss and as it went on, as I felt Dave put his hands on my face, and then I was all of a sudden being thrown to the floor back in my realm, on one of the high towers.  After I took a second to realize where I was, I looked up and saw Drake.  He looked furious. I yelled at him and then he like went on a tangent about me kissing another guy, blah, blah.  Then he said something about ‘future wife’ and kissed me.  Being thrown off by the whole thing, it took my mind about thirty seconds to really access the situation, and when it finally did, I pushed him away.  Then I asked him about the future wife comment.  After some arguing, he finally spilled the beans that we were bound by a contract to be married at the age of eighteen.  He said it’s the only reason why I was allowed to train.  So I left, got the confirmation from Dad, and went out collecting some souls to calm down, and now I’m here.”

“
You’ve had a busy day,” Lacie said.

“
You could say that.”

“
But you still didn’t answer my question.  How do you know you won’t like Drake?  You said the kiss wasn’t bad—how was it with Dave in comparison?” she asked.

“
They were both fine, I guess. It just...I don’t know.  It just didn’t feel right.”

“
Well, you didn’t have anything to compare it to before, so maybe they’re just bad kissers,” she said.

“
No, I don’t think that was it.  I could feel my body getting excited with each of them, but it was like, purely a physical thing.  Something was missing.  It was nothing compared to what Dave had been talking about with his
‘one.’
He had those feelings and hadn’t even kissed her yet.”

“
Hmm...” she pondered.

“
They’re Reapers.  Would you expect them to be experts?  You guys are spawn from Satan. I doubt you even had Sex Ed,” Trevor said, and I wasn’t shocked.  Leave it to him to make a smart-ass comment about my life.

“
Someone sounds jealous,” Lacie replied.

“
Hahaha, that’s a joke. Why would I be jealous of her rookie Reapers who can’t kiss?”  He laughed.

“
I’m sure they kissed just fine!” I yelled at him. It was my best friend he was making fun of.  “I’m just not the one they’re supposed to be kissing.”

“
Or they just suck.” He laughed.

“
Oh, and you’re some kind of pro?”  He smirked at my rebuttal.

“
I guarantee I know more than a Reaper,” Trevor said.  It always had to be a competition with this Guardian.  No matter what the task, he always did it better than a Reaper.

“
Prove it!” Lacie said, and I broke out in laughter.

“
That’s why I like you,” I chuckled with her.  “Always calling his BS!”

“
It’s not BS,” he said.

“
Then prove it, Trevor!” 

“
I will one day.  You’ll see me breaking hearts with these lips,” he said as he slowly rubbed his thumb against them.

“
Nope, right here, RIGHT NOW,” Lacie said with a devious smile, and my mouth dropped.  She was going to have him kiss her.

“
I can’t kiss you; I’m your protector,” he said, and she laughed.

“
I wasn’t talking about me.  I’ve never kissed anyone, so I wouldn’t have any comparison.  Kiss Cendall.”  And with that I burst out laughing again.  I swear sometimes that this girl came from my realm.

“
Funny joke, Lacie.  Can we now get back to more important matters, like how I’m going to be on my own in less than a year?” I said to change the subject.

“
No,” she said.  “I call bullshit on you, Trevor.  I trust Cendall’s judgment, and now she has some experience.  So prove to us that you’re not all bullshit.”  Trevor stared at her and stood silent.  I was amused.  I never thought I would see the day when Trevor, the ultimate warrior Guardian, had no comeback.  I had to jump on this opportunity.

“
Aw, he’s chicken.  The
warrior
is chicken.  All he does is say how he’s so good at everything, with no proof, and we give him the opportunity to prove it to us, and he chicken’s out.”  Lacie laughed at this.  He sent us an evil smirk and began to walk away into the woods.  I looked at Lacie, who was enjoying this as much as I was.  We started flapping our arms like they were wings, and clucked at him between laughs.  My eyes glanced to where he had just been walking, but he wasn’t there.  We had scared him off; this was great.

“I guess we got…”  I froze as I felt a tap on my back.  My body turned around and there he was, with the most ‘you’re going to regret this’ evil smile.  He pulled my face to his and pressed his thick lips onto mine.  Frozen in place, my lips drew into a thin line at the touch of his.  Shock gave way to something I didn’t want to think too much about and my body gave into him.  Our lips moved—hot, hungry, and bruising with the heated force. My lips parted as his tongue probed them—searching, yet forceful.  My own snaked out to meet his. The tangle was vicious, fueled by both of our curiosity.  My arms snaked around his neck and the kiss deepened as our bodies pressed together. His lips were forceful, full, and surprisingly soft.  His hands then cupped my bottom and pulled me in even closer to his body.  I let out a slight moan as my knees weakened, and I took a deep breath to fully take his essence in.  He smelled strong but sweet, like a freshly made cedar chest.  His tongue had a lingering hint of sweetness and grace to it that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but I wanted to taste more.  My hands began to move on their own, as they were now tangled in his hair.  This seemed to only intensify it somehow, and I could feel the heat of our bodies rise as our hands continued to grope each other as our mouths stayed in motion. As our hands wandered, it felt like our minds were molding into one. My right hand grabbed his luscious butt, while the other was now sliding around to feel for something on his front side.  I heard him let out a moan when my hand found it.  His hand quickly left my face and went searching for my center.  A noise I was unfamiliar with came out of my mouth as he gently began to caress my center threw my pants.  His mouth then left mine and I could hear myself panting as his soft mouth began sucking on my neck.  Kissing it gently as he was making his way down to my breast.  My body tingled in anticipation until my eyes found Lacie staring at us with an opened mouth and wide eyes.