The Reaper (S E Rise's The Fade series Book 1)

by S E Rise

  “I have told you and warned you repeatedly. I am not your savior; I am not your father. I told you to forget that you ever saw me. Did you listen?”

  His wrinkled his nose in contempt and tried to spit out the gag. His hands were still tied and the binding around his feet had come undone. He kicked out at me. He was big for his age; nearly the size of a full grown man. I had no doubt that Ms.Henry had used that to her advantage as well. It hadn’t been so long that I had forgotten those days.

  “No, you didn’t. So, maybe you will understand this. If I have to, I will make it so you can never see me again.” I stepped forward, grabbed him by his hair, yanked him about and flipped him over onto his stomach. I wasn’t about to do this to him and not give him a fighting chance. I wanted him to have no doubt that he had lost to me. I untied the rope binding his wrists and stepped back and away from him. He rolled on to his back as quick as a snake and pulled himself up to his feet. His hand shot up to his mouth and he pulled the gag out and tossed it to the ground.

  I pulled the eight inch blade from the side of my boot, flipped it around and with a casual toss stuck it into the ground between us. “This is your chance. You better take it. Because after this you will understand why.”

  “That was a mistake.” He said and rattled off a series of words, the blast of enchantment hit me like a truck. It sent me flying backwards into the dirt; I struck my head on a rock and for a moment saw stars.

  That’s what you get for being cocky.

  How many people has he killed so far? Five?...Six? And those are only the ones I had to show up for. I needed to remember that. It also probably meant he was a fighter. It was time to stop messing around with him and show him just what he had gotten himself into.

  He had started his charge as soon as I landed, scooped up the blade and was quickly barreling down upon me. I rolled length wise, pushed up to my feet and deployed the first Black Trap. The small black spots on the inside of my right and left wrist; the size of quarters they look like tattoos. The first sailed through the air, expanded as it neared its target and opened fully at his advancing feet. He had no idea what was about to happen to him. He simply fell into the blackness. I do not have a large repertoire of powers or weapons but the ones I do have are pretty damn cool. They aren’t actually weapons though I am using them as such, they are more like portals. Or doorways, doorway to be exact. They are one single doorway, captured at the point in time in which it is used as an entrance and then captured again as it is used as an exit. The doorway leads directly to the black; the barrier between the Real and the Fade. You never want to go into the black unless you have to. The Black is where the nightmares live.

  It had been long enough. I threw the second black disc and watched as it expanded approximately fifteen feet or so in the air. I reached out and drew the first one back to me and tossed it on to the ground directly below its match. A bare foot appeared that extended to a leg and another leg with a shoe on it followed. A long spiny tentacle clung to his back and left holes in his shirt and red welts along his flesh. Tiny mouths along its length screamed out in pain at being taken from its domain and withdrew once again into the darkness. He fell and tried to right himself for the fall and vanished into the round inky blackness that awaited him. Round and round he went in an infinite loop. Each time the denizens of the Black took their toll upon his flesh.

  My blade lay on the ground where he had dropped it and I scooped it up. It was my favorite blade, it was reported to be made from the feather of a fallen angel. Not the fallen angel, as in Lucifer, but one of his lesser minions. In hindsight I’m glad he actually dropped it before falling through the black trap.

  As I said before, it technically isn’t a weapon. It is a means of transportation that I rarely use. And, as you can see there is a reason why I rarely use them. Nothing is impervious to those in the Black.

  I let him fall through one more time; as he fell from above I reached out and grabbed him by his throat. His hands latched onto my wrists and I noted for the first time the red line running vertical on his forehead. It was a deeper shade than the reddening of his face and I made the connection.

  His jaw was clinched tight and I could feel his teeth grinding against each other from the strain.

  “I want to make sure I have your full attention, do I have it. Is there a comprehending mind behind those eyes?” I asked and waited for him to respond. When he didn’t I felt obligated to prompt him. So much hate within those eyes. “A yes or a no will suffice.”

  A strangled word that sounded more like yes than no issued from him.

  “Good, this path that you and I have found ourselves upon was never meant to happen. You were never meant to see me. I do not belong to the mortal realm. After repeated attempts to dissuade you from making contact with me; you have blatantly refused. This has drawn unwanted attention to you. You have been deemed dangerous to the mortal realm. I have been sanctioned to get rid of you.”

  The crazy light in his eyes dimmed and his struggle within my grasp lessened. I think he was finally realizing how much trouble he was in.

  “You are a mortal, you do not use magic.”

  His eyes were deadpan; he did not like the sound of this. Good, then he really wasn’t going to like this next part.

  “You have slaughtered innocents in your quest to see me. Is that really what it was about? Did you really do it just to see me?”

  “No.” He said and it rang crystal clear.

  “Then why do it? Why kill them?”

  He didn’t hesitate to respond and I believe it was the most truthful words I have ever heard spoken.

  “Because I liked it.” He said and a shiver of cold went down my back. There it was. The truth. It made what I was about to do next justified. He was not going to stop without drastic intervention. I did not respond to his answer. I simply brought the blade up to the corner of his left eye and tore the organ from its socket. He tried to scream out and fight against my grasp but the more he fought the tighter I squeezed. The destroyed organ slid off the end of the blade and fell into the waiting Black Trap. It did not exit from the one above.

  The tip of the blade hovered over his remaining eye and he became deathly still. It was time to give him his ultimatum.

  “If you ever summon me again…I will take your other eye.”

  His remaining eye did not blink as the blade hovered above it.

  “If you ever use words of enchantment on me again…I will take your other eye.”

  There was no doubt that he understood exactly what I was saying. But I wanted to put the icing on the cake.

  “If you thought your trip into the Black was bad…Imagine what it will be like if you are blind.” I said and I felt his hands tighten their grip on my wrist.

  “Do you understand what I am saying to you?” I asked and finished with “Say you understand.”

  His remaining eye was dead to me. He had gone somewhere inside himself that I wasn’t going to be allowed to see. I was fine with that as long as he understood the conditions I had just delivered to him.

  “I understand.” He said and I tossed him to the ground and called the two Black Traps back into place. I noticed his gaze watching them settle into place and didn’t hear the sound behind me until it was nearly on top of me.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Gentlemen, is there a problem here?” The voice said and I felt the sliver of threat that it carried with it. That voice belonged to the one man you never wanted to find yourself against within the Fade. I didn’t need to look back to know that there were two long barreled revolvers at his sides, runes of enchantment would be etched in the steel and each bullet would be marked as well. I had known the man for a very long time and though one of the most honorable and just men to ever live, I had no doubt that if I deserved to be shot and killed he would do it. I wasn’t sure we could be considered friends but we were a long way from being enemies. The man behind me had at his hips the means to kill anything that existe
d in the Fade or otherwise.

  “Marshal Earp, we were just finishing up and headed to your office.” I said and I meant it. I was not going to lie to the man. He would not take being lied to lightly. And if I had come across a scene similar to the one he had I might have some questions as well. His electric blue cybernetic eye glowed as it took in the situation. His robotic cybernetic right arm rested easy at his side.

  Marley’s head shot up at the name and did not waste a second before he was trying to turn this in his favor.

  “Please help me.” Marley said and the Marshal took a good look at the boy as he said it.

  “Want to tell me what’s going here Reaper?” He said and gave me the same look. He was on the job as they say.

  “This is a sanctioned entry, Marshal, I have been directed to remove him from the mortal realm. I have not decided on a destination to remove him to as of yet. I was coming to you to have you decide that.”

  “Seems to me Reaper that you thought to deliver, with your own hands, a bit of justice or retribution.” The Marshal replied and I felt an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach. Is that what I was doing? I don’t think it was. He continued before I could respond. “Since when has that become a Reaper’s job.”

  Marley heard the words and used them; tears ran down from his one remaining eye, sobs poured from the youth’s mouth. I had to tell him exactly the truth or this could go badly for me.

  “I didn’t take his eye for retribution or justice. It is an ultimatum. If he breaks the conditions of the ultimatum I will take his other eye.” I said and watched as the Marshal listened to the words that I had spoken.

  “Are the Reapers words true?” He knelt next to the boy, offered me a look of leeway and turned his eyes back on to Marley. The boy surprised me by answering truthfully.

  “Yes, Marshal.” And the boy dropped the gaze of his remaining eye downward and into the dirt. The Marshal looked down and I lost sight of his eyes beneath the brim of his hat. A distance away the Marshal’s horse stamped at the ground and I wondered how much the Marshal had actually witnessed of the previous events.

  The steel blue of his human eye met mine and an understanding passed between us. He left the boy where he was and turned his back to him. His eyes found where the tome of the Necronomicon had fallen and turned the angle of his body to give him a better sight on Marley.

  “Is that what I think it is?”

  “Yes.”

  Without batting an eyelid, his hand was like lightning. The end of the revolver was smoking and the concussive roar startled me. Holy shit he shot him. The end of the barrel had been aimed at the dirt in front of Marley’s face. The impact of the bullet pulverized the ground and Marley flung himself backwards in surprise and landed on his back. I could barely make out the remains of the spell he had etched into the sand.

  “You are new here boy, so I am going to enlighten you a bit. The bullets in this gun I hold will not just kill you. The will end you. They are meant to destroy everything about you. Your body and your soul cease to exist. Many have tried their hand with me and as you can see I am still here. From this moment forward you are in my custody. I do not recommend trying that again. I can see you understand me so I will not waste my breath.”

  Marley lay where he was, still in his resignation at the situation he was in.

  “I’ll take custody of both from here on, Jack. Anything else I should know.” he said and I felt the level of interaction between the two of us change at the use of my name instead of my title. It put me at ease and allowed me a certain level of comfort that I was no longer under suspicion.

  “He is dangerous and the book has made him even more so.”

  “Noted.”

  He whistled for his horse and it responded with a slow trot down the slope. After a moment, the Marshal scooped up the book and secured it in a worn leather side bag.

  “Stand up.” He said and Marley rose to his feet. He was nearly as tall as the Marshal but was dwarfed by the man’s presence. The Marshal mouthed a few hushed words and Marley’s wrists were suddenly bound together.

  “Where’s your other shoe?”

  “Gone.”

  The Marshal snapped his finger’s and from seemingly out of nowhere he caught the missing shoe in his hand. He dropped it onto the ground for the boy and ran a tether from the wrist binding to a ring on his saddle.

  “You staying for awhile?” he said to me and I thought maybe I would. I nodded my head in affirmation.

  “Need a ride?” he asked and I told him I was going to walk instead.

  “Think I will enjoy the walk thank you.”

  “Your choice.”

  Marley paid me one last glance, his ragged eye socket looking savage as he gave me a departing message.

  “See you next time Jack.” He said with a smirk that only a smart ass teenager could pull off. How he managed to do it and deal with the pain of his eye was beyond me?

  “Then it will be your last.”

  “We’ll see.” And that was the last thing Marley said to me. The Marshal pulled me aside.

  “You know where I am going to take him right?” he said and didn’t bother to mention the book.

  “I figured as much since the book was involved.”

  He nodded his head to me and that was the end of our exchange. Did it bother me that Marley would more than likely never be seen again. No, It didn’t. The kid was dangerous. Did it bother me that he was going to be imprisoned with Aleister Crowley. Not at all.

  Ok maybe it bothered me a little bit.

  Chapter Twenty

  I reaped her grandfather’s soul and he eyed me suspiciously. I stood amongst his family and his protectiveness continued over into death. I wanted to say something but there was nothing to be said and no way of saying it without Brin hearing me.

  “You stay away from my family.” His spirit said and all I could afford the noble man was a nod of understanding. How she hadn’t heard me out in the hall talking with Jillian was just blind luck. Pun not intended.

  Marley had departed and left this floor of the hospital in chaos. He had killed all of these people just to insure that I would show up. He had to have. He couldn’t have killed just one, the odds were way to high that I would be summoned. I left the McGuilicutty’s to their personal grief. I was not welcome here and rightly so. I am death.

  Reapers spend enough of their time in hospitals as it is and if on cue the other’s made their exit. I walked to the end of the hall where Marley had been and confirmed to myself that he was no longer there.

  I felt her presence behind me. Jillian was much more on point than your average Reaper. It was one of the reasons I liked her.

  “There was nothing natural or random about that. That was a well choreographed show.” She said and I nodded my head in agreement. “And I take it mister slick with the eyepatch is a friend of yours?” She stated rhetorically and she wasn’t asking.

  “Yep.” I confirmed her assessment.

  “Well Jack, you sure do know how to make friends.” She said and I turned and looked at her. She was almost smiling. “One of the reasons I like you. You sure as hell aren’t boring like the rest of these dead heads.”

  I gave her an appreciative half grin.

  “You still have my number. Call me when things get exciting. “

  “Thanks Jillian…will do.”

  “Later jack” she turned and walked away. I appreciated the view as she headed towards the elevator. A confident sway in the most feminine way. Unexpectedly she glanced back to see if I was watching. I was of course and she undoubtedly wanted me too.

  Well maybe I was equipped to handle her after all. The look she gave me was confirmation that just maybe Jillian played for both teams.

  What is it they say feast or famine?

  Chapter Twenty One

  For the next week I found myself in an awkward position. Knowing her grandfather had died and having to play dumb about it. It felt fake and it felt like I was lying.
But what was I supposed to do; tell her yes I am aware that your grandfather passed away because I was the one that reaped his soul? That is definitely a relationship killer. I watched her from afar when I wasn’t hunting for Marley Jenkins. To be honest though part of me didn’t want to find him.

  Part of me was in denial. She called me on the second day after her grandfather’s passing. Her priority understandably, was the welfare of her father. He was not taking it well at all. I let her know that I was there if she needed anything. There was an awkward moment when I thought she was going to ask me to attend the funeral with her.

  Contrary to popular belief the cemetery is not a place that we Reapers like to hangout at or even visit.

  Why would we?

  Everyone in the ground is there because we put them there.

  But of course, I decided to watch the funeral from the edges of the hallowed ground. Across the way, just at the edge of the wood line I watched as Marley Jenkins stepped into view and offered me a wave.

  Not here…of all places not here. He began walking towards the funeral party and I stepped forward in a B-line to stop him. But, then I was made to reconsidered when he held up a hand and waved a finger at me in warning. He opened his mouth to say something and I stopped dead in my tracks. All he had to do was say my name and everyone would hear him. More specifically Brin would hear him. I felt helpless as he strolled to the back of the gathering and touched an old woman on the back and I instantly felt the compulsion to reap her soul kick into place.

  Son of a bitch.

  Blood shot out of the woman’s mouth and onto the unsuspecting gentleman in front of her. Her name had been Kimberly Mabel Long, she was 75 years old. Marley touched the older gentleman beside her and he began screaming hysterically, pulling at what was left of his hair and then began biting the man that Kimberly had vomited blood upon. Brin’s father had scooped her into a protective shield and ushered her to just behind the minister who had been conducting the service. The fellow who had been vomited upon, who was now being eaten, collapsed to the ground in fright with the fellow continuing to bite at him. Fortunately for him, the fellow biting had dentures and was unable to puncture his skin but that didn’t mean he wasn’t trying nor did it mean that people weren’t extremely freaked out. Marley skipped and danced among the crowd and I tried not to pay attention to his antics. He was doing this to antagonize me and I wasn’t going to let him know it was bothering me. That of course was easier said than done. Marley stepped towards where Brin and her father huddled and he knew he had me. I absently reaped Kimberly Mabel Long’s soul.