Grim Life: A reaper's tale (Reaper Files Book 2)

by Nicky Graves

  “It’s the most used one,” he said.

  “Can’t someone replace it?”

  “If you are offering, go ahead. No one else cares.”

  I gave a shrug right before he pulled me through. The transition had been easier than shifting. Just by walking through a doorway, one moment we were in the dead zone and the next we ended up in an alleyway.

  “Where are we?” I asked.

  “An alley.”

  “I meant, what city are we in?”

  “Chicago.”

  “Oh, the portal goes to Chicago?”

  “That one happens to tie to Chicago. Other doors in the dead zone go to different places on Earth.”

  “It’s daytime,” I noticed, looking at Vance to see how his skin would react. I had heard vampires didn’t burn to ash like on some TV shows, but it didn’t seem like anything happened to him at all.

  “So?” he said.

  “Vampires don’t like the sun.”

  “I’m not in the sun. I’m in the shadow.”

  “So are you okay to walk into the sun?”

  “I’d rather not, especially since there is a door here.”

  “What door?”

  Looking around the alley, all I could see were garbage cans, an old crate, a lot of trash, and a warped board that leaned up against the side of a brick building.

  He walked over to the board and shoved it aside. And there was a door.

  “Oh. That door,” I said.

  Vance gave another sigh and opened the door. Once we were inside, he put the wood back in place and closed the door.

  “I can’t see anything.” I said, hugging to his side.

  “Get off me,” he said. “You’re clinging to me like a koala bear.”

  “But I can’t see.”

  “If you get off of me for a second, I’ll turn on the lights.”

  After a moment of shuffling, a light clicked on.

  “Better?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “No.”

  Weren’t there any nice places in Chicago? It looked as though the cramped space had been kept by a hoarder. Boxes were stacked along the wall. A trail of debris littered the remaining sliver of floor. Old furniture lay in heaps. A single path wound its way through the labyrinth of junk.

  “Why does it smell like a sewer?” I asked

  Vance paused. “It’s better not to know.”

  He tugged me through the garbage maze. By the time we reached the other side, I had my face buried in my shirt. The stench intensified the farther we went.

  Vance opened another door, and I saw a staircase that led down into a basement.

  “Are there vampires down there?” I asked, stalling.

  “Yes.”

  “How many?”

  Vance was thoughtful for a moment before saying, “Maybe a dozen.”

  “And how hungry are they?” I asked.

  “I wouldn’t worry about it. Like I said before, you don’t smell appetizing.”

  “You also said that if you were desperate enough, you’d sink your fanged teeth into me.”

  “Good thing I’m not desperate, little bite.”

  “Your friends might be.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “I’ll just tell them you’re my after-dinner snack.”

  While I knew he was teasing, and it slightly put my mind at ease, I was oddly outraged that I would only be a mere snack and not a main entrée.

  He proceeded down the stairs while I plastered myself against him.

  “You’re going to make us fall,” he said.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to just break my wrist to get off the cuffs?”

  If it was possible, the smell downstairs was worse. Not so much like the smell of sewer, but of death. Like standing downwind of a slaughterhouse.

  “I can’t go down there,” I said.

  “Why not?”

  “It smells like death.”

  “There are vampires down there. You get enough of them together, it smells.”

  “You don’t smell like that.”

  “I also don’t kill my food.”

  “That doesn’t make me feel better. That means they kill their food.”

  “I wasn’t trying to make you feel better. I just want to get these damn cuffs off. Move it.”

  “If I die down here, I’m going to turn into a poltergeist and haunt you forever.”

  He shook his head, tickling my forehead with his hair. He muttered something about dramatic females.

  As we reached the bottom of the stairs, the pathway opened into a main room filled with beat-up couches, chairs, and a TV. The floor was bare concrete, and the lighting was fluorescent and flickering.

  “Mac,” Vance called. “Mac, you here?”

  A door on the far side opened, and a man walked out, scratching his head. He looked sleepy. And possibly hungry.

  “I think we disturbed him from his sleep,” I said, pulling Vance back toward the stairs. “Let’s come back later.”

  Vance didn’t budge. “I have a favor, man.” He yanked up my arm with his, flashing the handcuffs at Mac. “Can you help?”

  “Just break them,” Mac said with a yawn.

  “I’m trying to avoid breaking her wrist.”

  “Human?” Mac looked at me with more interest. “You brought me breakfast.” Mac smiled. “Yeah, I’ll help you with this one.”

  “She’s not breakfast. Can’t you smell her?”

  Mac walked close to me, took a whiff of my neck, then frowned. “You brought a reaper here?”

  “Just get the cuffs off.”

  “Nah, man. Break her wrist. I don’t help reapers.”

  “You’re going to help this one.”

  “What’s in it for me?” Mac asked.

  “Enough blood bags for a week,” Vance said.

  “Two weeks.”

  “Two weeks?” Vance questioned. “That’s robbery.”

  “That’s my going rate.”

  Vance eyed me as if wondering whether I was worth two weeks of blood. I had a feeling he would decline, but he surprised me when he said, “Deal.”

  Mac grinned. “I’ll grab my tools.”

  Vance muttered something under his breath again. I didn’t press my luck by asking what he’d said. It was probably a curse directed at me.

  Mac returned with a small case. When he opened it, I noticed there were several small, thin tools in it. I watched as he slid out one and then another. He grabbed the cuffs and dug the tool into the key slot. Within seconds, both Vance and I were free of the cuffs. I rubbed my chafed wrist.

  “Can I have these?” Mac asked.

  “Go ahead,” Vance said.

  Giving Mac handcuffs didn’t seem like a good idea.

  When Mac was out of earshot as he returned his tools to their spot, I whispered to Vance, “Do you think he’ll use those on victims?”

  “Don’t know. Not my problem.”

  “Tell him I want the cuffs.”

  “You tell him.”

  “He’ll bite me.”

  “I’m very close to biting you myself,” Vance said with a hint of growl.

  “I don’t want him to have the cuffs.”

  Vance sighed. “You know he can buy cuffs, right?”

  “Yes, but I don’t want him using those on mortal humans.”

  Vance rolled his eyes. “Mac, I’m gonna need those cuffs.”

  “Why did you change your mind?” Mac asked.

  “This one is giving me trouble.” Vance jammed his thumb in my direction.

  “I can help you with that,” Mac said, eyeing me like a meal.

  “No, she’s my problem.” Vance took the handcuffs. “I’ll get you that blood in a day or two.”

  Mac gave a nod. Just as Vance turned to leave, there was a noise from the staircase. Vance glanced at Mac. “You expecting someone?”

  “No.”

  Vance inhaled deeply and then snarled. “You sold me out,” he accused Mac
.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mac said, backing up a step.

  Vance whipped back to face the stairs.

  While Vance didn’t look afraid, he did look uneasy. Whoever was coming down the stairs was not a friend. I inched my way closer to Vance.

  A woman appeared at the bottom of the stairs. Because she had clothes on, I almost didn’t recognize the woman. But her flame-red hair gave her identity away. It was Juliette Villes. But why would Vance not want to see her? Last time I saw them together, they seemed quite happy with each other.

  “Ah, the traitor,” she said, eyeing Vance with distaste. “I knew you were dirty, but a human?”

  “A reaper,” he corrected.

  “That’s worse.” There was a feral gleam in her eyes when she glared at me. “I want my crystal.”

  Four large and muscular male vampires walked down the stairs and flanked her.

  “You can’t get the crystal back no matter how much you want it,” Vance said.

  “Why not?” she questioned.

  “Because it bonded with Riley,” he said. “It’s not in crystal form anymore.”

  “Then what form is it?” she asked.

  “It’s in her blood.”

  “Then I’ll drain her.” Juliette eyed me as though she wanted to start right away. “Give her to me.”

  “You can’t get the stone back by draining her,” Vance said. “It doesn't work that way.”

  “I want it back! She stole from me, and she will pay for it.”

  “You seriously want to incur the wrath of the reapers?” he asked.

  “She stole my crystal!”

  “Find another one.”

  “It’s one of a kind. If she doesn’t give it back, I’ll summon Bornor.”

  Vance tensed. “You’d get Bornor involved? Think of what you’re threatening.”

  “I know exactly what I’m threatening.”

  “Who is Bornor?” I asked. The name sounded familiar to me, but I wasn’t sure why.

  “Bornor is a demon,” Vance said. “He can destroy an immortal body to the point it can’t regenerate.”

  Ah. Now I remembered. I must have suppressed the name out of sheer terror.

  “Even if you summon Bornor, you’ll never get the stone back,” he said to Juliette. “You know that, right?”

  Juliette cursed. “She will suffer for taking something that belongs to me.”

  I took Vance’s hand, ready to shift us somewhere else.

  He shook his hand away. “No, we have to end this. Now. I had a feeling she would track you down. If we don’t settle this, she will call Bornor. Once she does, no one can protect you. Not me, and not your guard dog.”

  Vance was doing a pretty good job of protecting me right now. But why? I would have thought I’d be the last one he’d want to help. Why didn’t he just let Juliette take her revenge on me?

  “What do you want instead?” Vance asked Juliette.

  “Her head on a stake!”

  “Something else,” he said. “There has to be something you want.”

  “Nothing. That crystal gave me exactly what I wanted.”

  “Pleasure,” I whispered, thinking to myself.

  Her gaze flashed to me with pure hatred.

  “What you desire is pleasure,” I said. “Can’t you . . . get that without the stone?”

  Her glare deepened. “I’m going to have fun destroying you. When Bornor gets his hands on you, you’ll be nothing but scraps.”

  Juliette made a move toward me, and Vance snarled, his eyes turning shimmery red and his teeth turning into fangs. “Don’t touch her.”

  Juliette hesitated for a second as she studied Vance. “What is she to you?”

  He didn’t say anything, just tucked me behind him.

  “Do you claim her?” Juliette gasped the question.

  He didn’t say anything. But his stance was rigid.

  “Say it, Vance,” she demanded. “Or get the hell out of my way. Because if I have to take you down to get to her, I will.”

  I peeked around Vance to find Juliette and her muscled guards moving closer. We would be surrounded soon.

  As soon as the closest vampire lunged, Vance growled, “I claim her!”

  Juliette snarled a curse. She gave a signal with her hand, and the vampires backed away.

  “Say the claim completely,” she ordered.

  “I claim Riley Graves with my life,” Vance said. His voice was as hard as granite. “Forever.”

  23

  “You’re going to regret this,” Juliette said to Vance after his declaration. “You’ll be cast out. Do you really think the clans will approve of you claiming a reaper?”

  “I don’t give a damn,” he said. “I claimed her. It’s done.”

  I wasn’t sure about this whole claiming thing. Seemed very caveman, but it did put Juliette and her guards on retreat.

  As soon as they were gone, I shifted us to my pod.

  “I have to find Wiltone and Treble,” I said, heading to retrieve my backpack. “And then I have to find Lawson and Ranger.”

  “No. We need to talk,” Vance said.

  “We don’t have time to talk. The longer we stay here, the worse the situation will be for Lawson and Ranger.” I stuffed an outfit from Wiltone’s scary closet into my backpack. I then headed to the kitchen, happy there were still muffins. I put those in the backpack as well, careful to keep them on top. I then shoved a muffin into my mouth as I hitched on the backpack.

  “Riley, this is serious.”

  “Yeah, I know,” I said, trying not to choke on the muffin. I held up a finger for him to wait a moment while I gulped down the rest of the muffin. “People’s lives are at stake. I get that.”

  “No, you idiot. I claimed you. What do you think that means?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess maybe you’re my protector. Or maybe it’s some old-school caveman-type thing. Either way, it doesn’t matter. What matters is getting Lawson out of the demon realm alive.”

  Vance muttered a curse. “It’s always about Lawson. Even after five hundred years, nothing ever changes. Fine. If you don’t give a damn about the claiming, then I don’t give a damn either.”

  Vance stormed out of the pod and into the dead zone. Well, obviously I had done something to upset him. I didn’t mean to, but I could talk to him later.

  The last time I had seen Wiltone and Treble, they were at Charlie’s. I hesitated to go back there because Raven might be there. I wasn’t sure if she knew we had escaped.

  Could I enter Charlie’s without her seeing me?

  I had never tried to shield myself in the dead zone, but it was worth a shot. The reapers would see me either way, but maybe Raven wouldn’t.

  As I neared Charlie’s, I shielded myself and walked through the wall. As I passed through, I noticed Charlie’s was eerily quiet. Not that Charlie’s was a busy place to begin with, but not even Raven was at the bar.

  And that’s when I felt it. The pull of death.

  I wanted to cry. I had no time for this. And yet, my body told me otherwise. I hurried into the back room, hoping to find Wiltone and Treble. But they weren’t there. Did Raven hide them somewhere? Or were they roaming the universe in a mindless fog?

  Not being able to withstand the pull any longer, I let it take me.

  I ended up at the edge of an ocean. There was no one anywhere around me. Was someone drowning in the water? The pull grew stronger. Was I not in the right spot? Not knowing what to do, I closed my eyes and tried to locate the source of the pull.

  It was far out, farther than the coast. Something was happening beyond my sight.

  I shifted again, hoping it would bring me to wherever I was needed. I fell into a turbulent ocean. Angry waves crashed into me, tossing me back and forth.

  The backpack I was wearing was burdensome, so I shrugged it off and attempted to swim down to see if anyone was below me.

  After minutes of struggling,
someone grabbed my shoulder. “Got you. Time to go.”

  I glanced over, and for the first time, I was relieved to find Boomer. He did not share my relief.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked, letting go of me.

  “I got the death call,” I said.

  “A large passenger ship went down.”

  “Didn’t they have emergency rafts?”

  Boomer frowned. “I don’t know. The captain is probably still down there. Why don’t you find him and play twenty questions with him?”

  “How do you get down there?”

  “You truly are a moron.” He shook his head. “You shift down there.”

  “But how do we breathe?”

  “You don’t have to breathe; you’re immortal.”

  Oxygen always seemed like a requirement, whether dead or not.

  “It’ll get uncomfortable,” he said. “You just have to ride out the burning in your lungs. Eventually you get used to it.”

  “Get used to it? Does this happen often?”

  “More times than you would expect,” he said. “We still got a few hundred down there. Time to work.”

  “Wait! I need you to help me when we’re done here.”

  “I’m busy.”

  “This is about Lawson and Ranger. They went to the demon realm to find a life stone. I need to get them, but I have to find Treble and Wiltone first.”

  “What do you mean ‘find Treble and Wiltone’? How did you lose Treble? And who’s Wiltone?”

  “I’ll fill you in later. Long story short, Lawson set me up so I wouldn’t follow him.”

  “Then maybe you should take a hint and leave him alone.”

  “But this is my problem. If I can’t get through the demon realm, how am I ever going to survive Azrael? If he gets the black crystal, everyone is screwed.”

  “Lawson and Ranger have a better shot at stopping Azrael than you do. How do you think you would help them? You can’t even function as a reaper.”

  I didn’t have an answer to that. All I knew is that I had to go to the demon realm. If anything happened to Lawson and Ranger, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.

  Boomer grabbed my arm and shifted us down below the water where reapers popped in and out, taking the souls that were trapped in the gigantic metal ship. He let go of me and swam over to a man who was standing on the bow, staring off into the distance as if the boat had never sunk. I had no idea what he thought he was seeing. But at this depth, there was nothing but the darkest shade of blue. The crush of the water pushed against my body, threatening to snap bones.