The Last Great Reaper

by Billi Bell

  “What are you doing?” he asked her. “Once they’re gone, you have no right to them.”

  “Cain’s soul was not reaped, and that is my domain,” replied Death. “It wasn’t on the mountain, and I can’t find him anywhere, so where is it?”

  The antelope walked closer to her before resting on all four legs. “I didn’t take it,” he said. “I thought you or one of your kind had reaped him and placed him in an orb. He didn’t make it to me, that I do know.”

  “Hades, again?” Death speculated aloud. She didn’t understand why he had gone through so much for Abel and Cain’s souls. Something about them was special to him, but precautions could still be made. “I need to read Cain’s body, but he has to be above ground. He’s one of yours, so I need permission to unearth his body.”

  The buck turned his head to Cain’s grave and back to Death. He eyed her for a brief moment before nodding his head. With a snap of her finger, the dirt on top of Cain’s grave shot into the air, landing yards away. She jumped down into the grave and opened the wooden box he’d been buried in. “Well, Eve did not exaggerate, he deserved better than this.”

  His corpse had been wrapped in linen from head to toe, but she could smell the decay. His fragile coffin had been easy work for bugs to break into and feast upon his remains. She didn’t bother to unwrap him and placing a hand on either side of his head, she entered a trance. The search for his soul didn’t take long, it was still inside him. “What the hell is going on?”

  She looked up to the antelope and exclaimed, “He’s still in there, but he’s dead. Souls don’t stay in dead bodies.”

  “Can you take it out?” asked the antelope.

  “I’ll try, but I don’t know.” Death placed both hands on his chest and searched within him. Once she was able to grip his soul, she pulled as hard as she could. She was surprised to find that his soul was dormant, it showed almost no sign of activity. She continued to pull it outward when something started to pull it back. She struggled harder to get it out until something pushed her so hard, she was thrown out of the grave and onto the hard ground above.

  She quickly recovered and looked back at Cain’s body in shock. She looked up to the antelope, “Your turn.”

  Another ray of light came down from the sky and onto the corpse. The energy it gave off nearly suffocated Death, so she put some distance between it and her. After a while, it was apparent his soul was not going to make an appearance. “I...can't get it, it’s quite persistent.”

  “What kind of magic can withstand both of our powers?” Death asked. “It can’t be Poru, he was nowhere near powerful enough.”

  “There is someone out there that is not only able to hide from both of us but can bind a soul,” he said. “We must find this person and hide these two.”

  “You’re right,” said Death. She’d figured there was only one reason to keep a soul in its body and ensure it’s not reaped, to reserve it. “His soul is being saved, and I don’t think I want to discover why.”

  “Wouldn’t it be cruel to leave him inside forever?” asked antelope. “Morally can we leave a man in the ground, tied to a rotting corpse.”

  “No, but he’s not awake,” she said. “Let's just let him sleep for eternity in The Garden.”

  “No!” screamed the antelope. “That land is sacred and will remain untouched until Adam and Eve are dead and again after that.”

  “I’m taking them there, whether you like it or not,” said Death. “He’s both of our, and it’s the safest place on this oversized rock. I will make it secure and give him a proper burial. Precautions will be made, and only my most loyal will be allowed to enter as a last resort.”

  He raised from the ground and headed back towards the plains. “So be it, but if something goes wrong…”

  The ray of light that shined on him returned back into the sky, and the antelope briefly glanced back at Death before running away.

  CHAPTER 30

  Death slowly entered the foyer with the rest of the group behind her and scythe in hand, ready to swing. It didn’t take long for her to see the same symbols on Percival’s body all over the walls. She realized she’d probably never actually saw what was happening inside these walls for some time.

  “Shit, who knows for how long he’s been planning this?” said Ling.

  “I have to get rid of this,” said Death. “If he rises, Victor and the reapers outside will never see them coming.”

  Death floated high above the ground and Dominic could feel the floor beneath him begin to tremble. The walls started to shake violently, and he desperately searched for something to hold onto. Ling and Samir had steadied themselves on the fireplace as large cracks formed in the wall, slicing through the symbols and rendering them useless.

  She slowly descended back to the floor. “Samir, check with Victor and make sure he can actually see inside, come back in and search your area. Ling proceeds to the second floor and Dominic, you follow me. Don’t engage if you find him, call for the rest of us first. We meet back here in an hour.”

  Samir and Death lingered for a brief moment before she turned in the direction of the long hall with Dominic. She handed him a small scythe, “Don’t hesitate to use it.”

  As they check each room, Dominic begins to experience flashes of his life as Cain. The emotional and physical abuse he’d suffered became more intense the closer they got the cellar. They were only a few feet away when he collapsed in pain.

  Death helped him up and peered into his head. Someone was deliberately casting the memories into his brain. She had no doubt who it was, but she had a solution. She would build a barrier and block off his mind for good and even though it meant she could never reread him, he wouldn’t be in any more pain. She felt slightly guilty for not doing it in the bar, but if his destiny were to be here, she wouldn’t need to search his memories again.

  His pain decreased as the wall grew until finally, he opened his eyes to find Death staring at him with concern. “Are you okay?” she asked, continuing to hold his head in her hands.

  “Yes, thank you,” he said. Death lowered her hands, and they continued on until reaching the door. She made quick work of the lock and used her scythe the destroy the symbols that marked it. They slowly made their way down the darkened staircase before facing a large wooden door.

  Death turned to Dominic and asked, “What do you see?”

  He described the door and the ancient texts that had been carved into the wood. “Some of them look fresh, I can still see the wood chipping on the floor,” he said. “Why?”

  “I don’t see anything but a pit of blackness,” she answered. “Whatever those words are, they’re powerful. He has to be behind this door, I can feel it.”

  Death attempted to destroy the door with her scythe but when she swung into the darkness it became stuck, and something began to pull from the other side. With full strength, she was able to pull it back out.

  “Can I try?” Dominic asked. “Maybe it was made only to keep you out?”

  She stepped aside, and Dominic gripped his scythe tightly before rapidly swinging at the door with all his might. When it made contact with the hardwood, Death was relieved to see an entry slowly form before her. He continued to jam the blade into the door until she stopped him.

  “That’s enough, Dominic,” she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s go inside.”

  When she entered the small dimly lit room, seeing the overturned chairs and dried black blood on the floor enraged her. She approached the unlit fireplace, and the flames instantly ignited before her.

  “I am not entertained by all of this bullshit, and I cannot wait for the day I thrust my blade into your spineless back.”

  The flames extinguished, and the room darkened again. Death turned to search the cellar, “This room is too small, there has to be something else here.”

  She walked over to the other side of the cellar’s brick wall and searched for another entrance. Dominic took her place at the f
ireplace and gazed into the hearth. A small flash of light was the last thing he saw before being catapulted across the room and against the wall. Death rushed over to check on him when she noticed a light coming from a crevice.

  After helping Dominic off the ground, she turned to the wall and began to quickly remove the bricks. He joined in, and it wasn’t long before a hidden hallway was revealed. Death led the way as they advanced through the candlelit passage until they came to another door. The word “HOME” had been etched into the wood.

  She gripped her scythe tightly with her right hand and looked back to Dominic, “I can’t see what’s behind this door, be ready.”

  Dominic firmly held his weapon as Death kicked the door open. It took only one kick, and the door flew open. What they found on the other side of the door rendered them both speechless. They were now outside, in the plains that were overlooked by the mountainside they were struck from thousands of years ago. The door stood unattached in the middle of the grassy field. Death circled the door, unable to explain how Robert was able to create such vastness in his home.

  Death was so enthralled at the scene before her, minutes had passed before she’d noticed Dominic running toward a small home in the distance. She tried to create a portal to intercept him, but it failed to appear. She attempted calling for Ling and Samir, but the results were the same. This meant only one thing, they were in the underworld. She started running toward him and quickly caught up. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  “That’s my home,” he said with tears in his eyes. “That is where I grew up, it’s what I been seeking for hundreds of years. I want to know why he cares about me this much?”

  “Listen, this is not your home, so stay behind me, and we’ll both figure this out,” she said. Dominic stood back, and she took the lead. “Now, let’s go get some answers.”

  They headed toward the house and was nearly there when the door opened. Dominic froze when Adam stepped outside.

  “He can’t be real, I reaped his soul myself,” said Death, she was just as stunned as Dominic. She read Adam’s soul and found it was the same one she escorted to the afterlife, secretly hoping he was rejected.

  As Adam descended the stairs, Death noticed his heavy boots were too modern for him to have owned in life and the same for his clothes. Someone was taking care of him. He’d have been at least six-foot-five and over two hundred pounds. His tan complexion had been darkened by the hot sun.

  He stood at the bottom of the stairs staring at his son. “I was told you’d be here soon, but I didn’t believe it,” he said, looking at Dominic in disgust. “My little runt has returned. Oh yes, you might have a new shell, but I can see the puny little rat hiding inside.”

  Dominic found himself unable to speak and dropped his head to the ground. His fear was immobilizing him, and his legs had gone numb. Death approached Adam, stopping only a few yards away.

  “What the fuck are you doing here and who told you we were coming?” she asked. “You should be in the underworld. There’s no way you made it to the top.”

  “I didn’t answer to women in life and I sure as hell won’t start now, you filthy bitch,” he said smugly. He started walking toward Dominic but was stopped when Death placed her scythe at his neck.

  “Lay one finger on him, and I will cut your balls off and shove them down your throat, bitch.”

  Dominic raised his head and saw his father cowering under the blade. His heart swelled as he watched Death defend him. Not even his mother would have been so bold.

  Adam backed up to the bottom of the stairs and looked toward the door. “Eve, your boy is here, and he brought a guard dog.”

  The tears in Dominic’s eyes began to flow when his mother walked out the front door of the cottage. Her brown eyes started to water as she approached her son for the first time in thousands of years. She’d gotten only inches past Adam when he placed a hand on her shoulder.

  “Let her go,” said Death, but Adam didn’t move. She walked closer and said, “I don’t do well with men who think they own women, so don’t make me come and get her.”

  Adam smiled and lowered his hand. Eve ran to Dominic, and they held each other tightly. She looked into his eyes, and despite not watching the same as the boy she raised, she saw her son inside.

  “I missed you so much,” they both said simultaneously, causing them to laugh. Eve held is head in her hands and looked him over.

  “My baby has returned, but you must run,” she said quietly. “Run far away, before he comes for you.”

  “Adam is not going to do anything,” said Death, who’d been listening in. “Are you Adam?” She returned the smug smiled he wore.

  Adam ascended the stairs and stood beside the door, “It’s not me she’s talking about. Abel!”

  The skies suddenly darkened and the silence around them was deafening. Death and Dominic stared in disbelief as Robert Waterford appeared in the doorway.

  “Hello, brother.”

  CHAPTER 31

  Ling was relieved, she was finally down to the final room on the second floor. It stood at the end of the hall and was a different color than the rest. “How many damn rooms does he need?”

  She opened the door with one hand and her scythe in the other. What she saw on the other side of the door took her breath away. The sight of the home she once shared with her family nearly brought her to her knees, but it was seeing her children playing outside that brought tears to her eyes.

  Ling screamed their names, but they were too far away to hear. She should have known it was a trick, but she didn’t care. They had been dead for over a thousand years but were the same age as the last time she saw them. She wanted to hold her babies.

  She started to run toward them but stopped when she saw Pei exit the home and call them inside. When he turned his head and looked directly at her, she gripped her scythe tightly and charged.

  Pei didn’t move an inch and waited for her to reach him. “My dear wife, how are you?”

  “What are you doing here?” Ling asked. She heard the laughter of children and looked toward the door. Pei took this opportunity and kicked her in the chest. She landed hard on the ground but quickly recovered. When she got on her feet, he was now holding a small sword.

  They squared off, waiting for the other to make the first move. “Do you ever wonder what happened to your precious whore, Zhang?”

  “Don’t call her that,” said Ling. “And she satisfied me more than you ever did.”

  Pei charged at her, but she quickly moved out of his way, managing to stab him with her blade. He screamed, and Ling watched as bright red blood began flowing down his arm.

  He looked down at his wound and back to Ling. “Ha, looks like we’re even.”

  Ling looked down to see the black liquid seeping out of her abdomen and soaking her shirt. He charged her again, but this time she was ready and dropped to the ground, extending her leg and tripping him. Now on his back, she repeatedly kicked his chest, crushing his ribs.

  She stood over him as he struggled to breathe, enjoying the sight before her. “What did you do to her?”

  Pei’s breathing was ragged, but he managed to respond. “I sent her…away until…you were…dead, and then…I married her.”

  Ling was horrified to think of what he put Zhang through. When she heard the door open behind her, she assumed it was one of the children. Her maternal instinct was still intact, and she placed her blade behind her back as she turned. When she came face to face with Zhang, she started to run back to the door. “You’re not real!” she screamed.

  Zhang called her name, causing Ling to stop dead in her tracks. She turned to her and begged, “Please don’t do this. It took me forever to love again after you.”

  “I didn’t want to be here,” said Zhang. “We were all resting peacefully in the afterlife until this morning. A man brought us here and told us this was how it would be, forever.”

  “War.”

  Ling walked bac
k to Zhang and hugged her tightly, keeping an eye on the still immobilized Pei. “I will figure out a way to free you, I promise.”

  “I thought I was free of him. He forced me to marry him, you know? I died giving birth to his child.”

  “I’m so sorry, I thought we were careful. I should have hidden that letter in a safer place, it was all my fault.”

  “I never blamed you, ever!” Zhang kissed Ling softly. “Now, leave and free us.”

  Ling nodded her head slowly, but before she left, she walked over to Pei. He was still struggling to breathe. She stood over him and jammed her scythe into his chest. “I’ve never hoped that hell existed more than ever.”

  When he’d stopped moving, she took his head and separated it from his body. She gave his sword to Zhang. “Just in case he doesn’t stay dead this time.”

  Ling opened the door and turned back to Zhang one last time. She blew kisses to her children, who were now standing in the doorway and left. As she walked down the hallway, she tried not to wonder why they were still the same age as when she last saw them.

  When Ling descended the stairs, she found Samir at the bottom. The third floor was much smaller and had fewer rooms to search. He’d been waiting for some time for one of the other Horsemen to come back.

  “Ling, did you find anything?”

  She hesitated before telling him everything. “I have to help them, even if it’s the last thing I do.”

  “I understand, and I’m with you,” he said. “I think we should check on Death.”

  Samir had confirmed the foyer was visible to reapers outside and was now starting worry. He tried calling for Death but she didn’t answer, and it had now been over an hour. Ling agreed they should look for her. They reached the cellar and other than the door being damaged, they saw nothing else that would have caused alarm.

  “Where the hell are they?” Ling said.

  Samir stood silently in the room he was held, hostage. Nothing was as he and Victor left it. The chairs were gone and the fireplace dark. He walked over to it and bent down. It was still warm, and he could see a kindling fire in the back. He watched as it grew larger and flames began to rise.