At Death’s Door
Rebekah Paulsen
Published by:
Light Switch Press
PO Box 272847
Fort Collins, CO 80527
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Copyright © 2017
Printed in the United States of America
NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRODUCED, STORED IN A RETRIEVAL SYSTEM, OR TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS – ELECTRONIC, MECHANICAL, DIGITAL PHOTOCOPY, RECORDING, OR ANY OTHER WITHOUT THE PRIOR PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED SOLELY BY THE AUTHOR. THE AUTHOR GUARANTEES ALL CONTENTS ARE ORIGINAL AND DO NOT INFRINGE UPON THE LEGAL RIGHTS OF ANY OTHER PERSON OR WORK. THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS BOOK ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE PUBLISHER.
“The only way to truly hurt a man is to take away everything that he valued and degrade it and remind him of it every day of his life. But by doing this, you also create a monster and you will regret ever hurting that man because he will be your greatest horror.”
-unknown
Chapter 1
“This is the fifth door I’ve knocked on. Please! Oh, please be the right one.” I was at Redwood Parkway looking for a man by the name of Mr. Grimm. I was sent to find him and bring him back with me. Of course, send the trainee out to find this guy. I knocked on the big oak door attached to a huge marble house.
“How rich is he?” I whispered, not wanting to draw attention to myself. “Hello? Mr. Grimm…helloo?” I hate doing this. Having to practically yell just so you can find them. I lifted my hand to knock again when the door suddenly swung open.
“Well that’s perfectly normal,” I whispered, my voice dripping with sarcasm. I pushed a loose strand of my hair out of my face and stepped inside, slowly shutting the door behind me. Bad idea. As soon as that door closed behind me, the entire room became darker than the night itself. I closed my eyes and whispered the spell that Lily taught me when I first started training. When I opened my eyes again I could see through the dark and was able to see a man sitting in a chair by the unlit fireplace.
“Is...is it finally that time?” he asked, his voice weak and worn out. I nodded my head slowly a bit surprised he could see me and didn’t try to run as I pulled my white cloak around myself and took a good long look at him. His hair was as gray as the ash in the fireplace, his skin was wrinkled and looked as though it wanted to let gravity take it. Yeah...it was definitely his time.
I held out my hand so I could help him up.
“Is it going to hurt?” He was just so quiet. I shook my head slowly and took out my small key. Lily, the Keymaster and my older sister, gave it to me two years ago back in Arou. It was a small silver key with an eccentric heart design on the end. I inserted it into the lock on the man’s front door. He stopped me before I could twist the key.
“Where are we going, young reaper?” His question caught me off guard, and I had to regain my train of thought before I could answer.
“Home,” I replied softly.
“Will anyone know?” I turned the key slowly and smiled when I heard the soft click.
“In the morning, when your niece comes to wake you, all she will find is your still body peacefully lying in wait to be found,” I said as I opened the door, “Come on. Let’s get you to where you belong.” We walked through the door and down a white tunnel. His hand never left mine until his soul was gone.
~~~/~~~/~~~
“Nice job with Mr. Grimm - that entire family isn’t very willing when it comes to death,” Lily said as she took a sip of her coffee, “although you could have been faster with finding the guy.” I rolled my eyes and sighed.
“You try finding a guy who isn’t even listed in a freaking address book let alone our books!” I rubbed the brim of my nose and shook my head, “why must you be such a pain…” She just laughed and took another sip of her coffee.
“Hey Lil,” Creed Spinster said as he kissed her head and grabbed a cup of coffee from the counter.
“Hi Creed,” Lily said with the cutest smile. Lily was the prettiest girl I knew. She had short ebony hair that was as soft as silk, eyes so dark the pupils were very hard to make out. She was also one of the tallest in her profession. She was just so confident but had her mean moments. Everyone loved her.
I was almost an exact opposite. I had long, white hair that was rare for someone living in Arou. My eyes were an unnatural silver. I was one of the toughest reapers alive since I was the only one at the time. Not many people knew me.
“How was the ‘tough assignment’ there Cerise?” Creed asked as he sat down by Lily.
“Eh, about as good as it can be while working with a Grimm,” I muttered. I really did not like Creed. Tall, dark, and mysterious, how more cliché can you get. Besides this dude has been dating my sister since forever, and I still think he’s freaking cheating on her with Saph who shares a room with him. Lily doesn’t believe me though and just thinks I’m being silly.
“I’m a bit tired from all that walking, I think I’m gonna call it a night,” I said stretching. In reality, I just really wanted out of that room.
“‘K Cece, just don’t sleep in too late,” Lily replied as I got up and left the room.
I walked through the hallway and headed to my room. Ever since I left school and became a reaper the others have been acting really weird. No one even wants to share a room with me, not that it’s a big deal or anything it’s just not normal. I reached my door, which was black as to show what work I am doing. I opened the door and saw someone looking at my stuff!
“Hey!” I called a bit too loudly. The culprit turned around, and I just stood there stunned. He looked only a little taller than me, his hair was short and a light brown with long bangs parted in the middle, his eyes were a soft violet, and he wore a purple cloak that signified the thing I feared most.
He was Gabriel Lassi with a dumbass smile plastered on his face, and he was a reaper too.
“Oh Cerise, is this your room? I was told to come to this room and that I’d be staying here for now.” His voice was soft and deep. He was unnaturally calm and smug for a reaper, and it was starting to get on my nerves, but I had to be polite nonetheless. Too bad I wasn’t.
“What are you doing here!?” I asked. Gabriel was an old classmate of mine from when I was in school. I graduated long before he did, so after awhile I forgot about him. I’d be happy to see him if it wasn’t for the fact that we both hated each other.
“I’m your new roomie,” he laughed “and since we’re gonna be ‘living’ together for a while, would you mind helping me get situated?” he asked nodding over to a couple of boxes by the door. Why the freak didn’t I see those when I came in?
“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it,” he assured me as he unpacked his stuff. I backed away a bit. I still don’t know how he seemed to know exactly what I was thinking. I watched as he unpacked a blue fuzzy pillow, some clothes, and a few pairs of shoes.
“Girly much?” I said nodding towards the pillow.
“Hm? Oh no, not at all, Puff-puff,” he replied as the blue pillow turned into the fluffiest dragon I had ever seen.
“What the hell is that!” I asked jumping onto my bed, “Why the hell is it so furry?”
“It’s a Shimmer,” he shrugged as he continued to unpack.
“Why do you have a shapeshifter?”
“Gift from my mom before I moved here.”
“Where have you been?” I asked as I watched the Shimmer turn into an adorable little puppy and climb onto my bed.
“Not Arou that’s for sure,” he said as the Shimmer climbed onto my lap and rolled on its back wanting me to rub its belly.
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“Where then?” I asked rubbing the Shimmer’s belly. It was just too cute.
“Um...so uh, where do I go to get my key?” he asked avoiding my question.
“Hm? Oh, you just go down the hall, take a right, and ask for Lily. She’ll get your key for you,” I replied a bit irritated at him already. He comes here, after five years of not seeing each other, claims half of the room as his and refuses to answer a simple question.
“Thanks, I’ll check her out when I have the time.” I was about to ask him again as to where he had been when my watch buzzed.
“Oh great,” I said as I checked the bronze pocket watch my sister had given to me, “A new mission.”
“Yeah, me too,” Gabriel replied as he got up and brushed himself off, “And you won’t believe who I’m doing it with.” I quickly looked back down at my watch and sure enough, there was his name in bright purple letters.
“....shit,” I muttered under my breath. I already didn’t like him as it is but now I would have to spend however long it took to find the dead girl’s soul and bring it back? Shit. “Fine, but let’s make this quick.”
“Um, don’t I need a key first?” he asked as he picked up the Shimmer.
“No, we can just use mine. I mean it’s one soul, so it won’t be that hard finding it…right?” Okay, so it may have only been my third time out on a soul search but that didn’t mean that I don’t know what I was doing. I think.
“Whatever you say, Snowdrop,” he replied with a shrug as he put the Shimmer to bed.
“It’s Cerise,” I said through clenched teeth. I hated it when he called me that. “Let’s get going before things turn bad.” I stalked out the door and down the hall, heading for the only door that will take you anywhere and everywhere you need to go.
“Where are we going?” he asked trying to keep up.
“Where else, dingy? To catch that soul before someone else does.”
“Wait, I thought you were the only other reaper in this area, so who else would take it?” I put my key into the lock and opened the door.
“You really don’t get out much, do you?” I asked grabbing his hand and stepping through the door.
“No, now answer the question,” I stopped and sighed
“If we don’t hurry up then someone else will get there first: the Vie.”
Chapter 2
“Wait, what? I thought they were just a myth passed through the regimen,” he said running to catch up to me. The bright, white light that filled the tunnel made me seem paler than I already was.
“Who do you think breathes life into the souls we can’t take? Who do you think brings them back to life after a ‘near death’ experience?” I asked with air quotes around near death. I was a bit ticked that a guy like him could be so naive.
“I just thought it was you screwing up multiple times,” he shrugged.
“You’re a freaking idiot,” I opened another door that lead to the world beyond ours. Thankfully it was still daylight in this part of the mortal world, so we wouldn’t have too hard of a time seeing. I left the tunnel, quickly wrapping my cloak around myself.
“Oh and you’re the smart one, right?” he asked as he followed me.
“No, I’m just the girl who graduated at the top of her class with the highest score since the grim reaper,” I replied walking towards the small two story house closest to us. It was a quaint house set back a bit from the road with tall pine trees surrounding the yard.
“Sorry, I forgot that you were miss know-it-all,” he said with that dumbass smile. It was all I had to keep myself from hitting him.
“Either you shut up or I’m gonna make you,” I replied angrily. He threw his hands up in mock surrender, so I knew he wasn’t entirely done with his tirade. I went to knock on the door when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I spun around to see that nothing had changed. I shrugged, figuring it was just one of the trees swaying in the wind, knocking on the door. Gabriel was leaning against the wall next to me when he made his first remark.
“Why are you knocking? Why not just walk right in?” Gabriel asked a bit irritated.
“Well, because the living can’t hear nor see us, but those souls can because of our cloaks and I don’t want to go inside and find out she’s not there,” I sighed, “you would know this if you had paid attention during class.” I walked to the next little house and knocked on the door. Nothing. This went on for six more houses. Gabriel accidentally woke up one of the dogs, so we left that house quickly. I walked to the last house and knocked only to be met with nothing. I turned to leave but noticed swift movement inside the house in the front window. I motioned Gabriel to follow me as I slowly pushed the door open.
“What are we-” I put my hand over his mouth and motioned him to be quiet. I headed up the stairs and looked around. I saw only one door with a soft glow of light coming from it. I walked towards it and looked through the crack on the side of the door. I could barely make out the small girl whose soul we were to take, but she seemed to be talking to someone. Well hell. I reached into my cloak and wrapped my hand around the bow that had materialized there as I pushed opened the door. I looked around the door and saw what I had feared. The smooth white feathers of her wings and the slight wave to her blond hair could fool anyone that she meant no harm, but I knew better because she still had those pure white eyes. She was still part of the Vie.
The Vie looked up and smiled, showing all of her teeth. The thing about the Vie is that their teeth are pointed and sharp. Kinda creepy. She stood up and threw the small girl’s soul into the wardrobe and pulled out two wicked-looking blades. I pulled back my bow and watched the arrow materialized in its place.
“Leave now and no one will get hurt,” I said calmly. She laughed and shook her head.
“It’s not her time. She is too young for you right now,” her voice was like maple syrup. I looked back over at Gabriel who had a sword in his hand waiting.
“Don’t just stand there! Protect the girl!” I demanded as I turned back and looked at the Vie. “She has terminal cancer. If we don’t take her now then she will suffer more than she already has.”
“That’s not my problem,” she shrugged still smiling, “I’m just here to make sure she lives long enough for her to possibly kill someone else.”
“That’s horrible!” I heard Gabriel say as he tried to pry the wardrobe open.
“Last chance. Leave now or get hurt,” I sighed aiming my arrow.
“How about you get screwed,” she said as she threw one of the blades at me. I rolled away as it barely missed me and let arrow after arrow fly. She wrapped her wings around herself as the arrows planted themselves inside of the feathers. She began to laugh as she extended her wings out quickly, the arrows flying in every direction. I tripped as I tried to get out of the way of the oncoming arrow and cried out as the arrow embedded itself into my side.
“Cerise!” I watched as Gabriel grabbed the soul and ran over to me.
“Get her out of here now!” I barked at him as I struggled to stand up. He nodded his head and ushered the soul out of the room.
“Awww, where you going? The party’s just getting started,” she said as she walked towards me. She stopped in front of me and smiled wickedly.
“Awww, poor little death servant, are you the last one?” she asked. I looked up and spat on her shoes.
“Poor thing.” she put her foot on the arrow still in my side.
“Poor,” she pushed her foot against the arrow, “poor,” she pressed on it further, “thing.” she shoved the arrow as far as it would go into my side, causing me to cry out.
“Go to hell,” I managed to say after she took her foot off of the arrow. She laughed and clicked her tongue.
“Your father would be very disappointed in you,” she purred, circling me, “such a bad little reaper.” My vision began to blur due to loss of blood.
“H-how do you know my father? He’s dead,” I grimaced. She crouched down in front of me an
d slowly pulled out the arrow from my side, causing the blood to flow faster.
“If that’s the case then you might see him soon enough,” She laughed as she stood up, “now to go finish off your little friend and the Arou reapers will be finished.” She walked out the door leaving me laying in a pool of my own blood. The world started getting dark around the edges, white spots appeared before my eyes, and I remember the cold feeling wash over me. So this is what it’s like to die? Lovely. I only wish for one last fight…
My eyes started playing tricks on me when I saw a small figure crouched down in front of me. I thought it was the one Vie coming to finish me off, so I did the only thing I could do with so much blood already gone. I curled up in a weak ball and waited. I passed out before it ever came.
Chapter 3
I woke up in a room filled with books, bottles, Mason jars and a raging headache. I sat up and saw my now bloody clothes across the room, which made me look down only to find that I was naked besides the bandage around my chest and midsection and panties that I know weren’t mine. I shuddered hoping that they weren’t used as I swung my legs over the side of the little cot I was on. First time trying to stand up I fell back down on the cot, so I tried again but this time someone pushed me back down.
“You don’t have the energy to be up and runnin’ around, now lay back down little missy,” I looked up to see white, pointed teeth smirking back at me. My first instinct was Vie, but then I looked at the rest of her and was surprised to see that this girl didn’t match the rest of what the Vie is. Her eyes were black, there were no whites, no color, just black. Her hair was long, really curly, dark chocolate in color. Her skin was a soft shade of milk chocolate. Freckles peppered her face making her look younger than she was. But what got me the most was not the fact that she had no real eyes or that she looked like a human, but the fact that she had wings as black as her eyes.
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