Don't Fear the Reaper (17 page)

Daniel’s voice carried in the dark. “Cooper’s been causing problems with earthbounds as well as mortals during his vacation in purgatory.”

“How did he get out of hell, anyway?” I asked.

“Sometimes, they come back,” Banning said. “Daniel can fill you in on how that happens.”

Daniel shook his head at the dig. “Sometimes the guards at Hell’s gates turn the other way.”

“Figures,” I muttered. “So how did you find him?” I wanted to know.

“He got a bit cocky,” Daniel said. “Ravens found him. In the daylight, it’s hard to escape those freakin’ things.”

I now understood why the birds creeped some people out. Ravens had an odd look to their eyes—black and unreadable. The way they stared at you, like they were scheming or busy contemplating death, was so eerie. I never minded birds when I was alive. Good thing I didn’t know Ravens had ties to the netherworld back then or I might have been creeped out, too.

“So, with all the trouble Cooper’s been causing certain earthbounds, plus a few mortals, he’s been on the most wanted list,” Daniel said.

“How bad?” I asked. “What happened to his afterlife victims?”

Banning frowned. “Thankfully, he’s new and hasn’t had a lot of time to get stronger. Things could have been worse.”

I gave them both an inquisitive glance. “What happened to the mortals?”

“Some accidents, a job loss,” Banning said all too quickly.

“And one person with serious, short-term depression,” Daniel added with a nervous cough. The gesture caught my attention, probably because I could relate to the depression bit.

“He’d already done enough things to put him on the hit list,” Daniel continued. “But, when he contributed to the death, he made it to the top of the list. Though, Lucifer insisted Cooper wasn’t entirely at fault, that he merely assisted.”

“Not his fault? How could it not be his fault?” I asked.

Neither Banning nor Daniel offered an explanation. Not that I needed one. Things were just as corrupt as when I was alive.

We’d come across an old, rundown house just off the road, with a condemned sign nailed to the front door. The light of the moon illuminated a place that had all the elements of a true haunted house. The front porch pillars had rotted and come loose from the roof, which had since partially collapsed. Black mold had bubbled up behind the wood siding. Most of the porch boards had rotted through and the door hung precariously on rusted hinges. The windows had long since been smashed, probably by vandals, crack heads, or kids trying their pitching arm.

Welcome, if you dare,
the house seemed to say.
Come, stay awhile...

Banning reached behind his head where his scythe materialized from a wisp of smoke.

Until recently, I hadn’t given it a lot of thought—how reapers mastered the closest thing to magic by producing a weapon from thin air. Scary, but freaking cool. I wasn’t sure if I was in awe or envious. Banning strode away from us and pulled the hood over his head. Other than the skeleton part, he looked eerily like every reaper I’d ever seen in books or movies. Except Banning wasn’t here to take the average soul.

I watched as he walked across dying thistle and tall grass. He resembled a Ringwraith from Tolkien’s works going off to war. The house stood silent, as though it held its breath, watching, waiting for Banning to enter. My imagination swore more black mold had begun to bubble up from behind the boards on the shutters.

Do come in! I’ve been waiting...

“He’ll be okay, right?” I asked Daniel. “I mean, nothing can happen to a reaper, can it?”

“They’re safer than anyone else in purgatory.”

His answer wasn’t the one I wanted to hear. “Which means what, exactly?”

Daniel shrugged. “Just that. Nothing and no one is perfectly safe while walking purgatory. Not even angels.”

My mind screamed for Banning to come back. I didn’t like him going into that house. It gave me the creeps, big time. I’d come to trust Banning in this realm. He and Daniel were all I had, and ever since my death Banning had always been there for me. He knew the right things to say and do.

If there were going to be demons who quite possibly—no—most likely didn’t want Cooper’s escapades on earth to end, Banning would be outnumbered. Inside, there could be all kinds of—
things
, much less hiding places. Since the fight outside the morgue, I had begun to think of Banning as my personal guardian. I didn’t want anything to happen to him.

I must have moved forward to go after him, not daring to call out and give away his location to the demons inside or to reveal that we were here with him.

Daniel pulled me back.

“This doesn’t feel right,” I said. “It seems like a setup or something.”

Daniel’s hot breath whispered in my ear, “He’ll be fine.”

“I don’t want to lose...” I stopped myself. Although I liked Daniel, he wasn’t the kind of person I wanted to bare my soul to. Not something like this. I wasn’t sure if he’d make fun of me or what. I didn’t want to let on how much I needed someone on this side of life without my sister. What would happen if Banning was severely injured and the demons and Cooper came looking for us? Angels wouldn’t help us. Daniel was a demon. And besides, they wouldn’t be safe, either. That’s probably why they didn’t come here often, and I couldn’t blame them. Purgatory was a pretty nasty place. Until now, Banning had a way of making it feel safer.

It’s not safer. It’s just more familiar.

Daniel smiled knowingly. So much for not letting the cat out of the bag. “Banning is good at what he does. He’s one of the best. On this, you
can
trust me.”

“But something could go wrong.” I hated to sound so insecure.

“Well, yeah. That’s a possibility. But it’s not...” Daniel licked his lips and glanced at the house. “Honest, he’s one of the best.”

Daniel was a pretty good guy disguised as a first class jerk. Right now, he seemed to be thinking about the right thing to say and he was clearly uncomfortable lying. Imagine that—a demon uncomfortable with a simple lie.

“Does Cooper know we’re here?” I whispered in the dark.

“Yes,” he said, as he let go of my arm. I wasn’t resisting anymore. What was the point? I couldn’t go running into the house blindly, calling out to Banning. I’d mess everything up and I’d messed up enough lately. I wasn’t sure it was a setup, anyway. It could just be me and a bad case of nerves.

“Now what?” I asked.

“Banning goes after Cooper.”

Daniel pulled me with him into an open patch of moonlight. We had a clear line of sight to the front of the house.

Now, all I could do was wait and hope Daniel was right about Banning. The house was old and dark with plenty of places to hide. It was hard to fight your enemies when they could be right around the corner.

I stared at the house, and I envisioned it staring back. I envisioned Cooper staring back. Would he recognize me? “I really don’t like this,” I whispered.

“Don’t worry about Cooper. He’s no match for me. He’s too new. Escaped hell before learning the basics. Ignore him if he calls out to you.”

I suddenly understood why I was here—to help draw Cooper out. To distract him. “I’m bait,” I said quietly.

“But bait from a distance. You’re just the edge Banning needs. Speaking of which, Banning isn’t alone.” Daniel motioned toward a massive oak on the far side of the house.

From the look of it, the tree had to be at least a hundred years old. Its gnarled trunk could have hidden a car behind it. Like the house, the tree appeared dilapidated, dead. But
not
dead. Dormant. I stared into the darkest part of the shadows before I caught a glimpse of a hooded figure. Until now, Banning had been the only one I’d ever seen. And, hold on—yet a second reaper stood next to that one. The patch of darkness the two new reapers gathered in made it hard to see many details. What I could see were their scythes glistening like slivers of moonlight as they made their way up the steps and into the house just as Banning had done moments earlier.

Three reapers. One dead lunatic with a ticket back to hell. Or so I hoped.

“The demons,” I said suddenly. “You said there would be demons. How many?”

Daniel tensed behind me. “In the house with Cooper? Or out here, with us?”

The stench of sulfur filled the air.

“Smell that?” Daniel asked.

I wrinkled my nose. “Is that a rhetorical question?”

“Materializing demons,” Daniel said.

“Why can’t you have birds like everyone else?” I muttered, hoping my joke masked my rising panic. If demons had birds, I’d bet they’d use vultures. Really nasty, ugly ones. I backed up a couple steps, hoping Daniel would take my cue—run, hide. I wasn’t ready for an encounter with other demons. Not now, not ever.

“On the bright side,” Daniel said. “You wanted to see what demons prefer to look like? Well, here’s your chance.” He reached for me. “Stand behind me, okay?”

I stared at the ramshackle house, as if that alone might bring Banning and the other reapers back outside.

What if the house keeps him? What if it doesn’t let him go?

It was a house. Nothing more. Just a dilapidated relic belonging to the world of the living, not some living, breathing monster in this world—my new world.

Just a house. Just a house…
I repeated to myself.

“Can’t we warn Banning they’re coming?” I asked, trying to sound brave.

Daniel drew himself up, tensing. “Those demons aren’t here for him, Keely. They’re here for us.”

There he went with the Keely instead of Sunshine thing again. I’d come to distrust Daniel’s use of my name. It always meant he was deadly serious. Worse, he confirmed my fears. “Us
?
This isn’t good.”

Daniel gently pulled me closer and whispered into my ear, “I’m on your side, just go along with me, okay?”

Reluctantly, I nodded. Sure, I trusted Daniel to a certain extent, but not like I trusted Banning. Daniel had already told me a scorpion was always a scorpion. I just didn’t want to be the frog crossing the stream. Demons hung with other demons.

“How many?” I asked. I figured I should at least know what we were up against—not that it’d do me a lot of good. I squinted, trying to get a better look, but the darkness made it nearly impossible. They could be anywhere. I shivered involuntarily.

“Two.” He positioned himself between me and a couple of hulking shapes emerging from the dark. In the cool night, their breaths were easy to see—they blew heavy puffs of steam into the air like the hellish half-human, half-beasts I’d imagined they’d be. The earth vibrated slightly with each thunderous step they took toward us.

I told myself not to panic and worked through my options. By my calculations, I had three.

Option one: Stay and fight, which didn’t seem like the smartest of choices after what I’d seen Daniel do to Metal Chick’s buddies outside the morgue. Option two: Run. Get inside the house and find Banning and the other reapers. Option two required outrunning demons, which I was sure I couldn’t do. They’d probably hurl balls of fire at me even if I got lucky enough to stay ahead of them. Flashbacks of the kid Daniel set on fire flooded my mind along with an even worse thought—what other powers did they have? Besides, they could probably just dematerialize here, and then materialize inside the house where there would be
more
demons. So, getting inside wouldn’t do me a lot of good since I was more likely to come across
them
than a reaper. Just as bad was coming across Cooper. Again, not good.

That left option number three. Wing it. Trust Daniel had a better plan—one that wouldn’t hurt much. Any delusional hope I’d had that we would all walk away from this without a scratch had ended when Banning and the two other reapers went inside the house.

“This is why Banning told me to stick with you,” Daniel said. “He knew this might happen.”

“So why should he trust you?” I hoped he didn’t take this to mean why should
I
trust him. In my experience, it was never good to piss off the only person capable of helping you. Right now, I needed all the help I could get. Besides, Daniel seemed sincere.

“Banning
doesn’t
trust me. Not completely. He does have a good idea that when it comes to you, I’ll do it, though.”

My gaze was momentarily diverted from the advancing ogres to Daniel. “You’d do it for me?”

Daniel sighed in impatience. “Yeah. I like you. And Banning is pretty cool, too. Just don’t tell him I said so. Crap like that goes to a reaper’s head and all. Anyway, stay close and keep quiet, okay?” Daniel added, sounding a bit more serious than he probably intended.

True, Banning
hadn’t
asked Daniel to join him and the other reapers. He’d asked him to stick close to me, and from the size of the two goons walking our way, I understood the need for protection. But he had to have suspected Daniel would be outnumbered, and from the looks of these two, out
sized
. When did demons ever play fair?

I swallowed hard and tried to comfort myself with the fact that at least they couldn’t kill me. Unfortunately, knowing what I did about the afterlife, this only freaked me out more. When facing angry demons, it’d be better if I
could
die. At least instant death wouldn’t hurt. I had a bad feeling this was going to hurt a lot.

Both demons were over six feet and built like a cross between the hundred-year-old oak and chiseled stone. Vapor that reeked of sulfur rose from their sweat-glistened bodies.

We were so screwed.

I stole another anxious glance at the house, hoping Banning might reconsider leaving me here with just Daniel. As the demons came closer I made out rings of red glowing in their eyes. I looked at Daniel, not caring if he saw the sheer terror on my face or not. I was far past pretending I had an ounce of tough in me.

“Please get us out of here,” I whispered.

“Stay calm and act normal, okay?”