Defiance

by R. S. Broadhead

  “Yes, I agree,” Grim said. He waved his hand to the side, and a large chair rose from the ground. It was immaculate. The back was divided into three parts. On the left, the face of a Demon, this turned to face us, blowing fire from its nostrils. The right was an Angel, while the middle was a large set of wings. They flapped before stretching wide to join the two beings. They were Grim’s wings. Ones he never used anymore because others did his work for him now.

  Directly to the side of Grim’s chair was another, smaller one. This one was much more ordinary. A loud commotion behind me piqued my curiosity, so I turned. The room was full of Demorals. Fifty if not more sat with stone faces. This had to be all of them. I swallowed hard as if trying to push a large lump down my throat.

  “Everyone please quiet down as we get this trial underway,” Grim said as he took a seat in the large chair directly in front of me. After the room was silent, he continued. “Today we are being graced with a remarkable guest. As many of you know this type of crime has never been committed, so naturally it has sparked many of your interest. With that being said, please help me welcome Shelar Fate.” The crowd behind me cried out with sudden gasps of breath followed by chatter. This was the first time Fate had ever come to a trial. Most crimes were Reapers fighting with other Reapers, in a few instances killing each other, but never had one fought against the process of reaping a soul. No wonder she was interested. I went against the death she had marked.

  The side door they led me through burst open. She strolled into the room, her back perfectly straight. She wore a light blue velvet dress with a slit practically running up to the crotch. The neck was accented with wild feathers that brushed against her chin. Her makeup was dark blues, and a design was drawn out from her right eye, running down to her ear lobe. Her multi-colored hair was teased in all directions. She cast a malicious glare over the crowd behind me, silencing them, and set her eyes on me. Chills ran down my spine. I had only seen her in pictures and once on a crowded street as her guards shuffled her into a car. My eyes fell to the floor to avoid her gaze—that I could still feel burning into me—as she passed. She stood beside Grim’s chair on the left.

  “I would like to call the first witness, Cornelius Reaper. Please, come forward,” Grim said as he smiled up at Fate. She didn’t notice. She hadn’t taken her eyes off me.

  Cornelius stumbled over the guy in front of him. The guy mumbled something, and from the look Cornelius gave him, it wasn’t nice. He slowly walked to the front with his hands buried into his pant’s pockets. He stood in between Grim and me.

  “Take a seat in this chair beside me,” Grim said. He patted the smaller chair beside him, willing him to come forward.

  After a few seconds, Cornelius went forward and sat. He shifted a little before settling away from Grim.

  “Is it true that you were with Cadeus Reaper on the day of questioning?”

  Cornelius’s face paled as he locked eyes with me. I wish I wouldn’t have put him in this situation. There was no way I expected anything but the truth from him.

  He slowly nodded, looking down at his locked fingers. “Yes, I was with him all day that day until they took him away.”

  “How was he acting? Was it out of the ordinary for a Reaper in training?”

  “He was nervous. Even vomited a few times. I didn’t ever think I was going to get him out of the bathroom of this dump gas station we stopped in. I guess you could say that isn’t very common. Most Reapers are so stoked to learn they don’t let their emotions take over like that.”

  Grim wrote something down and cleared his throat before continuing. “Tell us what happened.”

  Cornelius launched into telling everyone the details of that horrible day. The food I ate earlier fought to come back up as he started into the part of the man and the mother. I knew what was coming next. I didn’t want to hear it. I had lived it, and it was enough for me. I tried to focus on something else, anything but his words. I found comfort in staring at the wings behind Grim. I wasn’t sure why. They were beautiful. So shiny, they looked like black silk reflecting against the light.

  “Why do you think he acted in such a manor?” Grim’s voice broke into my trance.

  Cornelius shrugged. “Ummm, not real sure, sir. Maybe because he told me he had been watching the family. He was probably emotionally attached.” That answer got a gasp from the crowd.

  “Was he unaware that this is against our laws for a reason?”

  “He knew that, but he did it anyway.” Cornelius’s head hung low.

  “I see. Thank you very much for your honesty. You may take your seat with the others now.”

  He nodded and walked briskly away, sending me an apology through eye contact as he passed by.

  Grim then interviewed Paradan and the other two Demorals that came to the house. It was the first time I heard their names. Theo Reaper was a boney, pale guy who was much shorter than me. His black hair, which swooped to the side, continuously fell in his eyes as he talked. He was the one who threw the blade into the hole after the little one. Anger surged through me as he said it without a care. Brink Reaper was larger than the other. He had a decent belly on him, which caused his shirt to be extra tight. A scar ran down his cheek, and he talked with a slight stutter.

  Paradan’s testimony sickened me. Of course, he sugarcoated the beating the three of them gave me, whereas the other two left it out all together. His lies were so rehearsed I almost believed them. Surely, Grim could look at me and tell it wasn’t as innocent as he was making it sound. My face was mush. Not to mention the pain in my sides and bruises that ran over my entire body. Cornelius was still unconscious, so he wasn’t a witness to that part. I sighed heavily and tried to slouch in the chair, but couldn’t. It still had its invisible grip on me.

  “I would like to thank everyone who was gracious enough to come forward today to shed some light on the crime at hand. Like I said earlier, in all my years of reaping, never has a crime been committed of this nature. We go through day-to-day, doing our jobs with no emotion at all it seems. As a reaping society, we’ve lost sight to that. But still, everyone has a job that must be done, and there are rules in place to make sure the world as we know it doesn’t crumble around us. Cadeus, do you see the error of your ways?” His purple eyes found mine.

  I didn’t know what to say. I saw nothing wrong with what I did, and no one, not even Grim, could make me see different.

  “If you had to do it over again would things still go the way they had?” he asked in another way.

  “Grim, if I had to do it over again…I’d do the same fucking thing, only faster.”

  Fate’s mouth dropped. Chaos broke out. No one spoke to Grim that way. Someone threw something at my head, which barely missed. Out of everything happening around me, out of the corner of my eye, Grim smiled.

  “Everyone calm down!” Grim’s voice was so harsh and loud it practically vibrated the floors. Silence fell over the crowd, but the intensity was still there. I could feel every eye on the back of my head. Everyone wanted me dead. I was ready for it. I did what I thought was right, and I would take the punishment for it if others thought it was wrong. “Cadeus Reaper, for your crime…you will serve eternity in a darkened cell, never getting to see the light of day. No one is allowed to visit you—”

  “Grim, please, do us all a favor, and rid this place of him. He isn’t worth wasting the space in the cells,” Fate interrupted. Her voice was smooth, and she spoke her words like a highly educated woman. But Grim didn’t look at her. He only held up a hand to silence her. Her decorated face twisted in anger.

  “As I was saying, no one will be allowed to visit you. Your Reaper tattoo will be drained, leaving you an ordinary Reaper, voided of all Demoral abilities you were destined to have.” He paused. “You interrupted something that was set to happen. And in doing so, you will not serve this punishment alone. The children you fought to save will suffer along with you.” My heart sank, and my mouth went dry. “Their souls will n
ot rest as they would have if their death was carried out the way that was planned. I have spoken with the Angel who claimed the oldest girl, and he has granted that her soul be released to visit you in your cell, sporadically, unannounced, for you to endure her death. Once the soul of the younger one is located, the same will happen with her. When she went through the portal, her soul was lost.”

  “You can’t do this to me, Grim! Please, just kill me!” Something burned at my back, and I was suddenly shoved from the chair by an invisible force. Smoke curled around a spot in the left corner, and when it cleared, my face was there. It was twisted as it screamed, my eyes wide.

  “You’ve been judged, Cadeus Reaper. Your face will forever remain in the judgment chair to serve others as a reminder of what hell my punishments can bring. Pain and anguish can destroy a man. Use your time in the cell on something other than dwelling on things that have happened.”

  I dropped to my knees and covered my face with my hands. “Please…don’t punish them for something I did…” Theo and Brink grabbed my arms and dragged me through the room.

  I was heading to a dark room full of pain.

  Never ending pain.

  Three

  I was launched across a small room into a metal chair, leather straps dangling from the armrests. Tubes ran out of the chair and connected to a machine in the corner. A man with a white jacket turned in my direction, saying something I couldn’t make out because of his facemask. Before I could regain my balance, Theo and Brink picked me up, the tips of my toes skimming the floor, and strapped me to the chair. My vision started to spot. My head felt as though it were swimming, making it difficult to concentrate. My injuries hurt, but this was something different. It was the fear of not knowing. What were they going to do to me? I pulled at my arms, trying to free them, but they were firmly locked into place. The abrasive texture cut deep into my skin as I continued to struggle against it.

  “Is he ready?” the guy said, coming over to look down at me. He pulled a light over, twisting it so it practically blinded me.

  “Looks like he’s on the verge of passing out,” Theo said.

  Brink started to laugh, coming closer to my face. Something pierced my arm. I fought through the blackness trying to hinder my sight. Cold liquid raced up my arm, sending chilled spasms over my midsection. Brink’s face morphed, his skin growing pus-filled boils. I jerked back as one exploded. He smiled, his teeth turning to black maggots.

  “Oh, he’s totally tripping. I think he’s ready.” “What’s happening to me?” The pounding of my heart was so hard it vibrated every inch of my body. My back was soaked with sweat, making me stick to the metal. The chair started to lean back. There was a hissing sound from below. Steamed poured in around me, burning my flesh.

  “Aaaaggghhhh,” I screamed. It felt as if my skin were melting off the bones. I tried to push past it, to block it out, but it surrounded me. The three above me stared down with morbid curiosity. Simultaneously, on both the left and right, something stabbed me in the neck, ribs, and lower thigh. It sucked, draining me. A sickening drip, which soon turned into a steady stream, enveloped me. Everything hurt. Please just let it stop. How much longer could I handle this? I wanted to pass out, anything to go somewhere else mentally to avoid this. I wasn’t sure how long it took, but it felt like an eternity. The hum of a machine started, hoisting me back into a sitting position. My head rolled back and forth, too weak to hold it steady.

  “I thought there was an easier way to drain Grim’s blood from the Demoral tattoo,” Theo said. His voice sounded far away, but I was desperate to hold on.

  “There is. All we needed to do was make an incision to the tattoo and drain it. You do the same to absorb it. However, doing it that way doesn’t ensure you’ve gotten it all. Grim’s blood might have made it to other areas of the body. Highly unlikely, but still, I wanted to be sure. Besides, he deserves the torture.” He was right. I deserved what I got and much more. My reasons for thinking the punishment was suitable were much different from his.

  After the procedure was over, they unstrapped me from the chair, grabbed my ankles, and pulled me downward. My back and head slammed against the floor, knocking the breath from me. I left the room and was dragged farther down into the cellblocks until we reached the lowest level. They picked me up, swinging a few times, before tossing me in. After hitting the floor, I waited for the dust to settle before my eyes adjusted to the darkness. I thought Grim said all my abilities would be gone…but some how, some way, I was able to still see in the dark. Oh well, I wasn’t about to say anything. A dirty toilet was in the corner of the back. A sink was next to it with water dripping from it. In front of the toilet was the familiar metal frame bed, like in the other cell. Up above me were beams running back and forth. I suppose in case I wanted to kill myself. When I worked down here, there were quite a few suicides. Instead of a barred door, this cell was closed by a stone wall that slid open when needed. The only access to the outside was the small slit at the bottom for the Grudger to send food through.

  My body felt different. Odd. I was missing something, a part of who I was. I rolled over to my side, cradling my midsection as if nursing the hurt. I wasn’t entirely human, I could never be. I wouldn’t age, and I was still stronger than a normal person, but I couldn’t transport through the portal anymore. Things would hurt me more than before, and I wouldn’t heal as fast as I normally would.

  As if on queue, my wounds seemed to confirm that. My teeth ground together as my lips tightened at the pain. I managed to push up to my feet. They were as heavy as concrete. I dragged them across the floor and sat on the edge of the bed. I cast a wary look at my arm. My Reaper symbol was still there, only an ordinary tattoo now. I thought I was stronger than this, but I was weak without Grim’s blood.

  Suddenly, the feeling of belonging to something was gone, and that left a gapping, empty hole. What if what I did was wrong? Instantly I felt guilty for questioning my actions. No. I had done the right thing. I propped on my elbows and pinched my eyes closed. If I had done the right thing then why do I feel like this? There was no one to confide in. Cornelius was on the outside. I would never see him again. Forever. Alone forever. No matter how many times I repeated it, my mind still couldn’t wrap around the concept. These walls were my only friend now. All these years I had been on the outside, looking in. Now here I was, on the inside. It didn’t feel good. I could see how someone would go crazy here. Something warm burned at my eyes. With a shaking hand, I rubbed my eye to wipe away a tear. This was the second time I had cried.

  What’s wrong with me? Once the one fell, many others followed. I couldn’t stop them. I didn’t want to.

  “Aaaggggghhhhhh,” I screamed. How was I going to stand this? I was going to set the record for going crazy in here. I shifted back and cradled a pillow lying on the bed. It smelled like someone’s sweaty armpit, but I didn’t care. Before I realized it, I fell asleep.

  Whimpers woke me sometime later. I don’t know how long I was out. I wiped the sleep from my eyes and blinked a few times. Someone sniffled near me. I jerked and looked around the room. My heart sank when I saw her. I thought that day was the last time I would be near her. Sophia sat huddled in the corner with her knees pulled to her chest. She looked the exact same as the first day I saw her other than being a transparent blue now. She was dead. This was her soul, sent to torture me.

  Not wanting to frighten her, I sat up and slowly eased off the bed. What if she didn’t remember anything or me? Should I try to talk to her? I really didn’t know what to do.

  “Hey,” I said as gently as I could. My heart hammered. She continued to cry without looking up at me. “Hey,” I said a little louder this time. Her head shot up, and I saw her hollowed eyes. There was nothing there but black, gapping holes. The tears running down were streams of blood. She huddled tighter against the wall, trying to get as far from my voice as she could. “You don’t have to be afraid of me.” I wanted to reach out and touch her, to comfo
rt her, but I knew this wasn’t the time. For a moment, the sobs got quiet, but her bottom lip still shook uncontrollably. I squatted before her, letting my silence and distance reassure a safe trust. Before I could say anything else, she jerked to the right and she started to scream. I turned around, but saw nothing. Light suddenly burst through her body, and she vanished.

  I dropped to my knees and sank back onto my heels. I ran a hand through my hair and shook my head. Why did her eyes look that way? She was with the Angels. They weren’t supposed to do something like that to their souls. The souls that went to them were good people, deserving a nice eternity. The ones who went to the Demons were supposed to be treated horribly. Heat pulsed through my veins the more I thought about it. Were we told wrong this entire time? Sophia didn’t deserve that. She did nothing wrong.

  A noise distracted my thoughts. A tray of food slid in front of me. A Grudger was at my door. “You’re famous, you know?” came a raspy voice from the other side.

  “You’re not supposed to be talking to me. They’d throw you in here if they knew.”

  “Aw, I’m not worried about them. They can suck a dick or something.” He paused, coughing a few time. “You’ve been out for a while.”

  “How long?”

  “Around three days.” He smacked on something a few times before continuing. “There are several people on your side. You stood against something you didn’t think was right. Plenty of us want to do that, but we don’t have the spine. Anything you need…anything at all, you just let me know, and I’ll see what I can do.” His words shocked me. I had never heard another Reaper admitting to thinking what we did was wrong. Maybe I wasn’t alone. Reapers could have emotions.

  “Thanks, but I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

  He laughed. “You just let me worry about that.” There was a banging noise off in the distance. “Gotta go. I’ll talk with you later.” Silence hung in the air. I looked down at the tray of food. Nothing on it looked appetizing. They fed slop to everyone in here. I took it over to my bed and sat down. I picked up a piece of cold, stale bread, rolling it in my hand, before throwing it against the wall. Why would people be behind what I did? Obviously, they didn’t know the consequences. I thought about Sophia’s scared face, the hollowed eye sockets, and the blood running from them. No one would want to be in my position right now. I jumped to my feet and paced.