by LeAnn Mason
She could say that again.
I unfolded the paper and read the few words jotted down:
New assignment coming soon from the director. Thanks for being my first. (Banshee, that is). Good luck, Screamer.
“Swell,” I said darkly, unable to appreciate my wave pun.
No way in hell was I staying with the Water Unit, but I wanted to decide that. Constant rejection was really getting old. And so was being in various hospital wards.
If, as Stone said, I was such a precious commodity, I’d think the director would encourage teams to be a tad more careful with the cargo. Didn’t Seke say I was highly desired by all the units who’d been lacking my coveted skills?
Then again, it was becoming crystal clear that screaming wasn’t always useful. Underwater was like putting a cork in my powers. No-go as far as self-preservation.
On the other hand, if I could grow gills, I might consider moving underwater to keep from screaming again. That would at least cut out the need to hunt down some elusive Druid who may or may not be able to “bind” my banshee abilities again. If Raven had known about that trick, she’d probably have held my head in our cell toilet instead of asphyxiating me with a pillow.
My next assignment had better treat me with even just a smidgen of respect and let me keep two feet on solid ground, or so help me…
I floundered there, at a loss of what ultimatum I could possibly use as a threat. Perhaps walking away? Quitting?
Seke had done all he could to discourage me from leaving. For Seke, I gave it a chance.
My jaw clenched when I thought of the god while emotions roiled as unsteadily as the churning sea on which that boat had rocked. My stomach reacted in a similar way as it had on that ship, threatening to expel more of whatever swirled within… probably briny water.
Fuck this.
This mysterious “director” could shove it. He — or she — wasn’t here and seemed fine with bouncing me around the world. So maybe I’d just bounce. I’d get to pick my next destination, my length of stay, even who I associated with.
Man, that sounds like heaven right about now.
It was ironic since, before meeting the HDPU, I’d wanted nothing less than to keep wandering aimlessly alone. Now, I’d take that freedom — without baggage — like a drowning man reaching for oxygen.
Okay, bad metaphor.
Now, where was that nurse? It was time to check myself out. No way I’d wait around for the next mystery assignment that would toss me, unprepared, to the wolves.
Huh. Are werewolves real too? That could be hot… Unless they’re like hellhounds.
“Nope. No. Doesn’t matter. I’m out.” Each word strained my throat, but I was too pissed to care.
Done. Over. Crumpling the paper, I chucked it toward a trash can, missing by a mile. Bitter didn’t even begin to describe my current feeling.
New mission. My mission. Not one assigned to the Harbingers of Death.
The target? That elusive supe who gave me this tat. I’d find her and get her to put a cap on this screaming thing, stat. That’s all that mattered. Normal human life was sounding pretty good right about now.
“Screw the Harbingers,” I asserted aloud, my voice crackling horribly.
“That’s unfair.”
“You haven’t even met us yet.”
I nearly peed the bed when my eyes alighted on a tall figure in a dark cloak in the room, a glint from his very sharp scythe catching my attention. He hadn’t been there a second ago, and the door had definitely not opened.
“Oh, good. Is it my turn to go?” I asked the grim reaper sardonically, not as fearful of demise as I should be. After facing down my own death twice within the last week, I was sitting at an unhealthy level on the jaded scale. If he was here to take me to Hell, that could wrap up my elemental tour nicely by providing the fire.
A cackle pulled my eye past the ominous figure to a pair of ghostly twins in traditional Japanese attire with many layers of silk wrapped around them, secured with thick belts, their clawed feet bare and floating just above the ground. Their smiles were eerily wide, their appearance somewhat goblin-like. Shinigami. Mom had described them to me in bedtime stories that I’d confirmed in the bunker’s library.
“We hope not,” said one.
“You just got here,” finished the other.
“Right. I’ll assume the director sent you?”
“Correct.”
“You are to join us.”
I nodded vaguely, but it was impossible to keep my focus on the Japanese spirits of death with the reaper looming ominously over me. “Dude,” I said to him, “if you’re not here for my soul, can you give a girl some space?”
I blinked, and he was gone.
Scanning the room, I felt very uneasy. It was just me and the eerie twins of death, who were translucent yet different than the souls I’d seen Seke escort. “Did he just… disappear?” My gaze flitted around the shadows of the small room as my fingers worried at my lip ring, a habit I was glad to have the jewelry back to perform.
“He visits elsewhere,” said the first twin.
“He will return,” said the second.
I nodded. At least, he wasn’t just invisible. I was not cool with the dude staring at me without my knowledge. “Right… Well, I’ll just be going.”
Flinging off the bedsheet, I gaped at my non-attire. Crap. My clothes were at the bottom of the ocean. What I was in now could only be described as “open-air”. I hunted the call button and prodded it several times.
The nurse opened the door, not once looking at the twins, who didn’t disappear. They just watched silently. I eyed them askance, fingers still nervously caressing my various accouterments again as I asked to borrow some scrubs or something. The nurse left to gather what I needed.
“So… you’re invisible?” I asked the twins. “But I can see you.”
The first held up a finger. “We are seen by those who need to see us.”
The second nodded enthusiastically. “And those who do not see us do not need us.”
It felt like I’d fallen down a rabbit hole. “I’ll assume Mister Disappearing Act is the captain of your team? Where does your unit cover anyway?” Please, don’t say fire. Don’t say fire. Don’t say…
“Here,” said the first. “Harbingers of Death Hospital Unit.”
I blinked. “That’s gotta be busy.” There was no way one unit did all that. “Do you focus on one ward?”
They nodded in unison.
If it’s the burn unit, I’m going to—
“We specialize in children.”
Shiit…
“Come.” The second beckoned. “Meet the Captain.”
They walked right through the door itself while I gaped after them. Not only could I not follow in that manner, being corporeal and all, but I was still waiting on non-ass-bearing attire. Stone would love it.
Wait… “That wasn’t the captain?”
Doesn’t matter, I reminded myself. I had a new mission. I am a team of one now.
Once the nurse provided me with regulation scrubs in a nasty yellow that reminded me of the bile I’d decorated Stone with, I signed a release form and headed into the hall, waving off the wheelchair escort.
I saw no sign of any creepy death omens. Ditching them would be easy when they vanished through walls and popped out of existence. My march for the exit was faster than a casual walk, and I had a small hope that I would be home-free.
But as soon as I stepped into the elevator and reached out to hit the button for the lobby, the twins floated through the thick steel doors to occupy the space with me. I let out a peep of a scream, my sore throat preventing a louder display of my vocal range.
Somehow, the spirits were solid enough to push a different call button. Could they turn it on and off? Or was it like a manifestation of their will?
“Come,” said the first, breaking me from my contemplation.
“The children need you.”
I
ground my teeth. When they phrased it like that, it made me feel like a real asshole to stomp off. Maybe I could give this one a chance? Hospitals were low-key, unlikely to have high-intensity danger that might also bring about my own expiration. Though, screaming in a children’s ward didn’t sound like the best plan either… I’d have to really work on the be-quiet part of Seke’s lessons.
And perish the thought that I was referring to sexy times. Never happened. Never would.
We stepped off the elevator into a pediatric ward as evidenced by the bright colors, drawings taped on the walls, and animal-printed scrubs worn by the staff. Some folks looked at me twice; never at my companions.
A chill hit the nape of my neck, and I looked over my shoulder, feeling followed, and nearly screamed. “Shit,” I gasped then apologized to the nurse who glared at me as she passed. The reaper was creeping along steadily and solemnly behind us.
“He follows.”
“Come,” the twins assured me.
“So, how does this work?” I whispered as we paused outside a playroom scattered with toys, games, and stuffed animals. Several sickly children colored with crayons at mini tables. Others stacked blocks or played with dolls. “Your unit, I mean.”
I was curious how I could be of help here. This did not seem like a unit that could benefit from a banshee. Screaming in the middle of a hospital seemed like a grade-A way to get me moved quickly into the psych ward. And as far as I could tell, I was the only visible member of the HDHU.
“We patrol the rooms.”
“We check the patients.” They traded off lines.
“Gal watches over the child—”
“—that we believe is next.” Both twins pointed a hand that slid right through the viewing window, and I followed their trajectory toward a black cat curled in a corner next to a quiet girl braiding the hair of a doll. It appeared quiet, but its tail was swishing, and yellow eyes judged me.
Gal? Like… “Galinthias?” The servant girl turned into a cat by Hera, the Greek goddess?”
The twins nodded.
Man, the crazy myths I’d been taught as a kid were actually becoming useful. I never would have thought that.
“And then tall, dark, and creepy ushers the souls to Valhalla or whatever?” I asked, purposely not looking behind me at the reaper. They couldn’t have assigned a less… horrifying harbinger to assist these young, innocent souls? “What do you need me for? Sounds like you’ve got it covered.” My shoulders relaxed; I could leave without a heavy conscience.
“Sometimes, death surprises us,” one said with sadness, both turning to me.
“A different child succumbs,” the other added.
“So, I’m here to scream my head off when a child is going to die suddenly instead of fading away while you watch?” My gaze swept the room of children, and I slammed my eyelids shut as that unwelcome feeling rose in my gut. The scream clamored to announce to the entire hospital ward that one of their little ones was about to have their life cut short.
Yeah... nope. Not happening.
“Best of luck,” I gasped out, slapping a palm across my lips, preventing what could either be bile at the horror of my impending proclamation or the physical shriek I was withholding. Maybe both. Then, I booked it out of there.
Look at that. I’m listening to my gut like you told me to, Seke.
A flash of Seke’s handsome beard-clad face appeared in my mind. I shook it loose. I’d leave it all behind. The Harbingers of Death was not for me. It was time to return to human normalcy.
10
Cole dove for the target, but of course, its insubstantial form provided no resistance, and he sailed right through the befuddled soul. “Captain,” he called slowly, his deep voice full of warning.
Bounding back toward their target, he covered the space in a moment. Cloaking himself and leaping through the air, he shifted just enough to close hellhound teeth around the soul’s arm, preventing it from sucking back into the identical, unmoving corpse beneath.
He’d almost been too late.
Seke had been unfocused and distant since the banshee left. Being his subservient, Cole had said nothing, but now it was interfering in their mission. Seke hadn’t escorted the soul quickly enough, and now prison officials were arriving, distracting the god further.
Mouth full, playing tug of war with the errant soul in an attempt to keep a vampiric monster from forming, all Cole could do was flash his red eyes at Raven.
In her bird form, she was pecking at a nearby corrections officer in order to confuse and distract him. They needed the body to stay where it was just a bit longer.
The man’s gun swung dangerously around the room as he tried to get the bird off his head, the barrel pointing fleetingly at Ember.
Cole couldn’t warn her in this form, especially while cloaked. Their phoenix was both canny and able to revive, but they needed all able bodies. He couldn’t watch another of his girls fall.
An inmate rushed the scene with a gun he’d taken off a CO behind him who’d been knocked unconscious, presumably by Raven.
The hellhound cast his gaze across to Seke engaged with two other inmates who were trying to flee out the now-unlocked dorm room. Cole had them both blinded, but they were fighting like animals, scratching with limp claws and biting with dull teeth.
He tried to extend his blinding capabilities to the rest of the room to help Raven and Ember too, overexerting himself and loosening his grip on the soul. Clamping his jaws tighter around the slipping form, Cole growled in frustration as the inmate with the gun threw Raven off and strode purposefully toward Seke, who wore a prisoner’s uniform.
Ember, dressed as a medic, made a noise and tried to escape the battle she was having and reach their captain. But they were a teammate short — or two.
At the last second, shadows swirled up the gunman, winding up his body like a coiling snake. He shrieked when his head vanished in a swirl of darkness. The panicked human made the worst choice when blinded: he fired his ill-gotten weapon.
The quick explosion of noise stopped Cole’s heart.
After a tense moment in which no one fell, the Egyptian god strode unharmed toward the hellhound, jaw tense and shadows hugging his frame like an inky shield. In his wake, the bodies of the two inmates he’d been struggling with lay slumped, unmoving.
“Apparently, we have two targets,” Seke said. His words indicated that one of those bodies was unconscious and the other dead. Most likely from the bullet intended for Seke when his shadows discombobulated the gun-toting human.
It was the term “apparently” that concerned the hellhound. Though they didn’t know the identities of their targets or the timing of their deaths, the director would certainly have informed their captain of the number of souls they were intended to escort across the veil.
That meant the second wasn’t predestined. They’d caused it with their piss-poor pick-up efforts. Cole couldn’t recall that ever happening to them before. It couldn’t be good. Maybe having a wildcard banshee in the ranks wasn’t such a horrible idea after all.
Halfway across the room, the god transformed into his falcon. Cole waited until the massive beak opened and the oversized raptor swooped toward the soul he held in his teeth before he released his hold, ensuring a quick trade-off. The flash of red vanished both Seke and soul. Luckily, Cole had still had enough energy to cloak the area so no one just blinked out of existence after transforming into a bird.
“About time. Is it just me, or is he getting slow in his old age?” Raven stepped around the man bleeding from several marks on his head where he’d been pecked and scratched, again in her human form.
“I don’t think gods age,” Ember retorted, throwing out a solid jab, knocking out the shooter recovering from his shadowy incapacitation.
Cole breathed a sigh of relief to see his girls safe and whole. Reverting to his human depiction, he joined them, standing protectively behind in case any of the nearby parties awoke or another wave of guards d
ecided to investigate this overactive cell.
“This one’s detaching,” Ember said of the second corpse, the one Seke had been forced to add to their mission.
The trio stared at the space from which Seke had vanished in silence, willing him to come back quickly.
“It’s weird, not hearing Jess making slurping noises, isn’t it?”
Cole chilled at Raven’s comment, and he noticed Ember bow her head. Before they could wallow in grief too long, Seke reappeared, restored from his bird form.
“Seke, do you—”
He held up a hand. “I will handle it.”
Cole pulled the girls back, wrapping a solid arm around each of their shoulders to give the terse captain space to work. Before the soul had even recognized its conundrum and exclaimed in a fuzzy voice, Seke had grabbed him around the throat. “You’re coming with me.”
Cole’s hands tightened on the girls’ arms. He’d never seen his captain so brusque, and he wanted to intervene. In a flash of red, Seke became the hawk again and consumed the fallen inmate.
“Guess we’re not doing the moment of silence thing. Shit,” Raven breathed the moment he was gone. “Cap needs a vacation. Or a massage.”
“Or to get his head in the game,” Ember opined. “He knows what our charge is. He’s forgetting himself.”
“He’s distracted,” their guard dog disagreed.
His girls sounded worried. No one had been hurt this time, but they were down to four. They couldn’t afford distractions. Cole was going to have to confront his captain because he had a suspicion about who Seke would want a massage from. And it was time he stopped pinning after his former subsidiary.
The hellhound took his time with clean-up duty after dinner that night, waving off the girls when they asked if he wanted to join them around the bonfire. He had plans with Seke — not that his captain was as yet aware of their evening plans.
Tossing the dishcloth on the counter and strolling out of the kitchen, Cole peeked his head into several empty rooms until he finally located the quiet god. He correctly assumed that Seke wouldn’t be in the gym, given that the god never worked out. He only entered the gym to oversee their training sessions since he largely stayed out of the action during missions.
