Loving the Reaper

by Alexis Michaud

  Chapter 7

  Valerie finally managed to talk herself out of bed and got dressed she knew without a doubt Alistar would be waiting outside for her. She hurried up and got a cup of coffee yelled goodbye to her mother and ran out the door. Alistar was nowhere to be found but there was a note waiting for her on the porch. She quickly opened it up and began to read.

  Valerie, I must attend to some business out of town… Things are now set in place and I have some loose ends to tie up. I will be back to you as soon as I can.

  -Alistar

  Valerie found herself a bit disappointed that she didn’t know when Alistar would be back. She missed him as much as she didn’t want to admit it she really did. She walked to school her mood was sour. As she arrived she noticed Alistar’s parking space empty and that made her mood even more sour. She pouted all the way to her locker. As she opened the locker she noticed another letter which she quickly grabbed.

  Valerie, Eudora would like you to come by after school there are some things you yourself need to attend to. She will tell you everything you need to know about being a match. Also I miss you already. Funny how these feelings just came up out of nowhere… But now you know. I will see you soon.

  -Alistar

  Valerie couldn’t help but perk up at the last few sentences. So he missed her too! she was glad to know she wasn’t the only one suddenly feeling all of these deep emotions and feelings. She was also glad to have Eudora as her mentor. Eudora had a sweet motherly nature and her graceful demeanor was something Valerie looked up to. Valerie tucked the note back into her locker and made her way to class. Each class seemed to drone on forever. She had to admit she was downright bored. She noticed some of the students looked at her confused when they noticed Alistar was not sat at the table next to her but she paid them no mind. Lunch came and it was just as dreadful as class she made her way to her usual table and sat down. She fiddled with her food and finally decided to just pull out a book. Suddenly a girl’s voice was next her asking her questions. Valerie looked up realizing it was Amanda a sweet girl that was in her first period. They had never chatted much but that was more Valerie’s fault than anyone else's because she was the shy one. Valerie looked up at the girl and asked her to repeat herself. “I know you and Alistar are probably a pair since you two are always together but if by chance you're not a couple could you tell me where I can find him?” Valerie was a little dumbfounded she wasn’t sure how to answer that. Then she remembered the plan. Boyfriend and girlfriend graduate and become husband and wife. Valerie smiled sweetly while blushing. “Well he’s currently out of town to see his grandparents but yes we are a couple.” Valerie waited. Amanda was clearly embarrassed. “It’s ok Amanda you didn’t know!” Amanda looked at the floor and whispered an apology before she practically ran back to her table. Valerie went back to silently reading her book until the lunch period was over. The rest of the day went on normally. And when the last bell of the day rang Valerie couldn’t be out of there soon enough. She was excited to see Eudora especially since Alistar was not around. As she walked down the steps of the school she noticed a white Aston Martin and of course she knew it had to be Eudora, her ‘family’ was the only family in town that owned those kind of cars. She hurriedly walked to it and climbed in. She was greeted by Eudora’s warm smile. “Hello again! How was your day?” Valerie smiled back she didn’t want to tell Eudora just how boring her day was without Alistar. “It was okay same old same.” Eudora gave a knowing grin it was as if she could read Valerie’s mind. “Well I’m sure Alistar will be overly pleased that you missed him! He’s been driving me crazy all day!” Eudora couldn’t help but laugh at the thought and her laughing was contagious the two women began laughing together and they just couldn’t stop.

  Moments later they were back at the beautiful Victorian house. Valerie was happy to be here this time instead of being nervous like the first time. Eudora climbed out of the car and waved Valerie to the front door inviting her in. Valerie followed behind her and they both sat in the living room. She noticed Lucius was nowhere to be seen. “Is Lucius off today as well?” Valerie figured starting with small talk would be best. Eudora fiddled with her long hair as she spoke. “Yes he has gone with Alistar they had some loose ends to tie up, reaper business is all. Now I asked you here today because we need to go over your duties as a match and of course if you have any questions feel free to ask me.” she looked at Valerie expectantly. “Okay sounds great and thank you for helping me understand and learn all of this.” Eudora waved her hand as if to say no problem. “Well I won’t be able to tell you the history because I do not go as far back as Lucius does but I can tell you what is going to be expected of you. Now as a match your main role is to always stand beside the reaper. You will be his wife eventually and you will make him less suspicious to the humans. You must always follow out on his requests. And in turn he will protect you. You will now be seen as the queen of the underworld and you must act as so. You are royalty now. Lucius and I will be stepping down very soon. And it will be up to you two to rule underworld. We of course will help you but we will not be able to interfere with either of your duties.” Eudora took a moment of silence to think and let Valerie soak up the information. Valerie thought for a moment and decided she did have a few questions. “Will you teach me how to be royalty?” Eudora smiled. “Yes of course dear. We will have plenty of time to teach you how to help Alistar rule the underworld. We will you teach you how to be graceful and what is expected of you as queen. And of course being royal has its perks.” Eudora’s eyes glimmered as she looked past Valerie out the window at her car. For the first time Valerie noticed the jewels Eudora wore. They were beautiful. Blood red diamonds set in a gothic style chain hung from her neck. How fitting for the reaper’s match.

  The two women talked for a while longer and by the time they were done Valerie felt much better about her role as the queen of the underworld. As the sun fell Valerie decided it was time for her to go home and although Eudora offered to drive her she thought it best that she walk so she had some alone time to process all the information. She waved to Eudora as she left the house and began walking home. The thing that was front and center on her mind was how Eudora had told her about all the so called perks. How in the world was she going to explain the perks to her mother? Oh this really expensive car and the jewels are a gift from Alistar yea that would put her mom on freak out level. Valerie knew that when Alistar and Lucius came back it would be time for Alistar and herself to step up and take their reign over the underworld. She was still quite a bit nervous she knew that being a queen meant having to win over your people. She was in no way shape or form sure how to win over spirits. She wondered if she could do this and succeed or if she would fail. In the deepest part of her mind a part she wasn’t even aware of she knew that she somehow loved Alistar already and that he would not let her fail. Wow that was a scary thought… She already loved him.

  That night was like any other normal night well as normal as her nights have been lately. She and her mother shared a nice quiet dinner together. She could tell her mother had something on her mind but she was a little scared to ask. Her mother was overly observant. Finally, after a few more moments of silence her mother cleared her throat. “A package came to you today… Not thinking I opened it. It contains a very large very expensive looking diamond necklace. The name on the package was Alistar… Care to explain?” Valerie almost choked on her food what the hell was she supposed to say? “Alistar is the boy I have been seeing mother and his family hail great riches. I’m sure it was meant to be a nice gesture. And I’m sure that he being used to receiving expensive gifts and watching his father give his mother very expensive gifts didn’t think about it being over the top…” Valerie didn’t know what else to say. She just hoped her mother would believe her. “Well you should take a look at it but I must urge you to give it back to him its very early to be accepting gifts like that…” Valerie shook her head in agreement and her mother inst
antly softened back to her normal self. Her mother handed her the package. “By the way there is a note but I did not read it. It’s none of my business.” Valerie was thankful her mother didn’t cross the privacy line any further there was no telling what the note said. Valerie put the box beside her not paying it any mind the whole rest of dinner. When dinner was finished she helped her mother clean up and politely excused herself to her room. She felt like she couldn’t get there fast enough. She all but flew up the stairs and into her room. Once there she closed the door and sat at her desk. She stared at the box for a moment almost not being able to bring herself to look inside. Finally, she opened the box. There in a clear case was a blood red diamond necklace that looked almost exactly like Eudora’s. Why in the world did he think she needed this? She picked it up and set it aside picking up the note under it. The note read:

  My dearest Valerie,

  As Eudora said there are perks to being a match. This is your first perk. You may have noticed it resembles Eudora’s however yours is very different. Each match must have one. It signifies your royal ties as does the mark you now carry on your hands. To humans it is seen merely as a red diamond however to the spirits it shows the reaper’s crest and blood. You must always wear this it will keep you safe so that no one from the underworld can harm you. It will also keep you tied to me. I will be able to find you no matter where you may be just as long as you have it on. Please put it on immediately.

  -Alistar

  This was her first true test she must always follow the demands of the reaper. Well at least she could hide this perk under her shirt she thought. Doing as she was asked she clasped it around her neck. She sighed the weight was already annoying her why did the damn thing have to be so big? She decided to try and take her mind off of it by doing some work. The hours passed before she realized she had gone well past where she was supposed to stop. She checked the time and it was almost midnight. She had done all homework in all subjects and then finished her lessons for tomorrow in all the subjects without even realizing it. She sighed she knew everything was beginning to take its toll on her mind. She had to sleep but she felt wired once again. She turned the television on and stared at it without seeing. She had no idea how long she sat like that because the next thing she knew it was morning. She headed off to the bathroom still super groggy. She realized she hadn’t bothered looking in the mirror since her transformation. She slowly looked up and behold she was more beautiful than she had ever been as a mortal human. She wondered why only the spirits and people from the underworld could see her like this. Then she remembered her hands. She looked down…Her hands looked normal except for the blood red symbol. The red symbol was two red scythes crossed over an hourglass. She couldn’t help but giggle a little thinking of how she had always thought the scythe of the reaper was just an old wives tail. How very wrong she was. She couldn’t help but wonder what other tall tales of beasts and gods were true. She would have to ask Eudora next time they spoke. She hoped she wouldn’t forget she was very intrigued to see if more of the old wives’ tales were true. She got dressed as she thought about the possibilities of the hidden truths behind stories and by the time she was done getting dressed it was time for her to head out the door. She flew down the stairs grabbing a cup of coffee to go and yelled farewell to her mother.

  To her surprise Alistar was there waiting. She had the sudden urge to just run to him and embrace him. She blushed at the thought and instead walked up to him and gave him a peck on the cheek before she climbed into his car. She seemed to have caught him by surprise with her gesture which made her giggle a little. He smiled at her as he climbed into the car and he backed out of her driveway and headed to the school. After a few moments he spoke. “I hear you really enjoyed your chat with Eudora. She is very knowledgeable. Any questions you have she can answer. By the way I really missed you. Errr ummm… Where is your necklace?” He seemed to be a bit out of his element and she could tell he was nervous. Valerie smiled. “I missed you too very much. And yes I did enjoy speaking with her she has taught me a lot already. As for the necklace I have it on as you asked but I had to hide it my mother said it was too much and she did not want me to accept it. “As Valerie finished speaking she pulled the heavy diamond out from under her shirt. The square cut diamond hung from the chain catching the rays of sunlight it truly was beautiful. They pulled into the school a few minutes later and Valerie realized that people were really going to notice her with this huge diamond around her neck. Before she climbed out of the car she went to tuck it back into her shirt, but before she could Alistar stopped her. “You are now queen of the underworld you will have to get used to people looking at you no better place to start than here.” she sighed realizing Alistar was right. People were going to scrutinize her here and in the spirit world. She had to learn how to deal. Sure enough as they walked up the front steps of the school people turned and stared. All eyes were on her and as if the necklace wasn’t drawing enough attention on its own Alistar grabbed her hand. Valerie blushed slightly but smiled at Alistar she was glad to know he was by her side through all of this. They walked hand in hand until they arrived at her locker she gave him a quick peck on the cheek and told him she would see him in first period. She quickly turned to her locker to get out her supplies and to drop her bag.

  As she walked down the hallway to her first class she blushed the whole time feeling eyes all over her. She tried her best to just give a smile and keep walking but all of the staring made her so uncomfortable. Finally, she made it to the classroom door and all but threw herself inside. Go figure she was greeted with more stares. She quickly found her seat next to Alistar who gave her a warm apologetic smile. She rolled her eyes and smiled at him as she sat down. Before she knew it Amanda tapped her on the shoulder. Amanda’s words came out in a rush. “I’m so sorry about the other day I had no idea you guys were THAT serious!” Valerie smiled she knew Amanda was meaning because of the diamond. “It’s okay really no big deal you had no idea!” Valerie gave her a warm smile and turned back to the front of the class. Of course everyone was staring at her neck. They all hurried to turn around like they had just been caught stealing from a grocery store. The day went on like this, people would stare and she would just smile and try to ignore it. She hoped that after today it wouldn’t be so bad. She was glad it was finally lunch time she figured by now people would be way to worried about eating to bother staring at her. She made her way to her usual table but Alistar was not there to her surprise. She sat down hoping he was just stuck in the crowd or got held up in a class but after a few moments everyone was sitting down and he was still nowhere to be found. She was just starting to worry when Eudora strode into the cafe and of course all eyes were on her. She was after all stunning. She smiled when she saw Valerie and came to her table. She sat long enough to say hello and to hand Valerie a package. Valerie smiled and waved goodbye as Eudora left just as quickly as she had come in. God she wished she had the ability to be that fearless and graceful when walking into a room with all eyes on her. She snapped out of her thoughts and grabbed the package. Once again all eyes on her. She was starting to wonder why Alistar loved leaving packages so much. She opened it slowly not knowing what to expect. A letter and a black box were the contents. She decided to read the letter first.

  My dearest Valerie,

  I must go and handle one last thing with Lucius I will stop by tonight. Enjoy the perk!

  -Alistar

  Valerie was even more worried what perk could he possibly need to give her now? She dreaded the little black box already. She opened it with her eyes closed. When she finally opened her eyes she felt sick. Car keys… And not just any car keys but Aston Martin car keys. Great how was she going to explain a car to her mother?! The whole rest of the day she tried and tried to figure out a way to tell her mother. She knew no matter what she told her she would still flip out. She could picture it now. Her mother was already unsettled enough about the diamond necklace. The last bell rang a
nd Valerie made her way out the front doors and there in the spot next to Alistar’s sat a black and red Aston Martin with a huge red bow on it. Great… Way to keep it low key she thought. She walked to the car and got in. People were stopping to stare at her with their mouths practically on the ground. Carefully she backed out of the space and headed home dreading the storm she knew her mother would bring. She slowed and pulled into the driveway. She sat there for a moment with the car on. God this was going to end so badly.