Grim Love - A Novella

by Grae Lily

  “It’s not their job. I’ll talk to you later. I hope he does pull through this because she's going to fall apart if he doesn’t.”

  “You might be wrong about that. She’s strong, even stronger than you, and we both know what that means.” Gabriel warned.

  “She’s not going to take my position.”

  “No one can, but she might be able to work alongside you if she's the person I think she is and that will take some of the weight off your shoulders. You need someone there after all this time of doing it alone. I’ve told you before, you need to learn to delegate.”

  As Lucius laughed, he shook his head. “There hasn’t been anyone I trusted enough to delegate to. Every single one of them has been here to do the job for a while before moving on. They weren't born into this like the others. I’ll keep what you said in mind. Maybe she's the one I’ve been waiting for.”

  He left Gabriel in his office. The most important thing would be to get to Evangeline before she did something silly. Lucky for him, he got there at the same time she did. She glared at him. She had to have known that he'd follow her when she went to help Jasper. Again, her mortal feelings were clouding her afterlife judgment.

  “Yes, I know. I shouldn’t be here, but how can I not, Lucius?” Evangeline stared at Jasper, trying to decide what she should do, but with Lucius there her options were limited because she knew he wouldn’t let her help Jasper if something did happen to him. “If he does die, he’s going to want to see a friendly face.”

  “Evangeline…”

  “With you here, I can’t help him. You’ll lock me up in that cell of yours and I don’t want that because, if he pulls through, I want to be there for him.”

  “Let me finish. Gabriel told me if Jasper did survive you'd be assigned as his guardian, which gives you different powers, but he has to survive it without your help. Help him and the offer is taken away. Even though you'll be his guardian, you'll still have your reaper duties to fulfill.”

  “I thought, if I became a guardian, I wouldn’t have to be a reaper anymore.”

  “That's the normal way of doing things, but you aren’t normal. You're both a guardian and a reaper. Although they're rare, they've existed before, so it’s good to know it can still happen.” Lucius smiled at her. “Had you not made certain choices you might not be in this position, so always remember that making mistakes isn’t always a bad thing.”

  “Had I not made the mistake that led to my death I wouldn’t be here now, driving you nuts.”

  It wasn’t much of a surprise when he took her hand again. “You’re a breath of fresh air. This isn’t what I expected to happen when I chose you, but I’m not going to complain. Good things have happened thanks to you.” He squeezed the hand he held. “It’s a reminder that I need a life as well, even though I'm in charge of all the reapers. I’m going to try to have one. As Gabriel said, I can delegate and you're stronger than I thought you were.”

  “Maybe.” Evangeline watched as Jasper walked down the street and she knew he couldn’t see her - not with Lucius by her side. Her emotions didn’t agree. They were screaming at her to shout something across the street so he’d know he wasn't alone, but she wouldn’t. Staying silent might give him the strength to survive whatever would happen next. “Being here is harder than I thought it would be.”

  “When you left my office, I don’t think you were expecting me to follow. You should have known better. Then, you might have been able to help him. You would have lost the chance of being his guardian without knowing it existed.”

  She brushed a hand through her hair. “What does being a guardian entail?”

  Lucius laughed. “Saving his life. This time, if he does pull through, it would be his fourth near death experience and I think he deserves to have someone who loves him by his side. It isn’t all that unusual for a guardian to fall in love with their charge, but it’s often unrequited. Falling in love with the girl who’s come to take your soul is much stranger.”

  “He didn’t know that to begin with. He thought I'd saved him from himself. Maybe, I did, but it didn't make him happy at first.” She shook her head. “I wanted to do my job, but he wouldn't let go. He kept clinging to life. I know what that feels like. You never think that, in the end, some part of you will try to hold on. I didn't. My soul wasn't strong enough. When I went to you after that day, you just said he should have died. You didn't explain how he could have seen me or explain why things had gone wrong. Why did you lie to me?”

  “There are certain things a reaper has to learn by themselves, otherwise you'd all come to rely on me much more than you should, and I don’t want that to happen. Learning by doing is the most sensible way to do it. As you learn how each of the spirits you come in contact with feels, you’ll know what's supposed to happen to them. You'll figure it out in time. If I tell you who’s strong, who will become a poltergeist, who might need to be cleansed before they go in to be judged, and everything else that I already know, then you’ll never learn it for yourself. You'll always come to me.”

  “Do you know what’s going to happen to Jasper?”

  “No. All we find out is that someone's going to die, unless they’re stubborn, and when we find that out, we come to where they are. There have been times when I wished I'd known in advance because some deaths…” He shuddered. “You’re still a young reaper, Evangeline, so you have no idea what it’s like to come across a murder victim or someone who’s been involved in a three car pile-up. There are those that are easy to deal with, like your second professional reap, and then there are those you wish you could have done something about, but part of the problem is not knowing what’s going to happen.” He sighed. “I also have to take into consideration that I’m not permitted to change too much. My job is to reap the souls of the dead, not change things, no matter how much I want to. You'll be able to change things when you become a guardian.”

  “If he dies, Lucius, I’m not going to become a guardian. I will work out my contract and join him in the world of the dead when the term's over. The only reason I want to be a guardian is so I can look after him.”

  “You'll be assigned other people, as well. Every guardian is assigned three spirits to watch over. One of yours will be Jasper. I think another will be Sam and the third's still a mystery at this point.”

  “Why Sam?” He stared at her. “I changed his destiny.”

  “Right, and that's the job of a guardian.”

  Nodding, she looked over at where Jasper sat. The coffee shop on the corner is one they'd been to before and they both loved sitting outside. In part, because he could talk to her without looking like a fool. The other part had nothing to do with coffee or ambience. The right company made every situation seem better. Seconds later, a car came screeching out of nowhere. The driver pressed on the brake before flying into the side of the coffee shop. Jasper didn't have time to move. As tears streamed down Evangeline’s cheeks, she pulled her hand free of Lucius’ and ran over, unable to stop herself even though she knew there wasn’t anything she could to do help Jasper. He'd been thrown under the car.

  “Jasper…” She knelt down beside him, unable to touch any part of him, she felt Lucius put a hand on her shoulder. “There's nothing I could have done.”

  “Sometimes it happens that way. He’s fighting, Evangeline, I can feel it. Go with him to the hospital, because there's a chance he could pull through and if he doesn’t you’re going to need to bring his soul to me.”

  “I…” Panting, she wiped the tears off her cheeks. “Is he going to know I’m there?”

  “Not any time soon. He’s very close to the edge, but if someone…” The sound of sirens cut into his voice. “I think, they got here fast enough. Let them do their job. Don't intervene.”

  The reassuring hand disappeared. She had to make her own decisions. Pushing aside the anger and the hurt she felt, Evangeline knew she needed to step away so the emergency personnel could work. “Oh, Jasper.” One of the paramedics shook
his head. “Oh, man, it's going to alright.” He looked at his colleague. “We know this one. It's the Muldoon kid.” Looking down at Jasper, assessing his injuries, “We're going to do everything we can to help you, man.”

  “Driver’s out and walking. I have no idea how, but there doesn’t appear to be a scratch on him. Looks like this one took the whole brunt of the car.”

  Evangeline glared at the driver. “The brakes are bad.” Tears streamed down his cheeks. “I couldn’t do anything. I only passed my test last week and didn’t know what to do. I'm so sorry. Is he going to be okay? Oh, man. I just panicked and… I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “Get out of the way. Sit down over there.” Calling out to bystanders, “We need help over here. We have to get this car off of him. Somebody help us lift!”

  Lucius sat with Gabriel, watching Evangeline as she watched over Jasper. His spirit fought for two weeks after the crash. Lucius lost all hope that Jasper would survive. Gabriel kept telling him to wait and see. Considering the circumstances, waiting wasn't going to be easy for anyone. They couldn't go to the hospital and force Jasper to wake up no matter how tempting the thought may have been. With Evangeline's focus on Jasper, that meant Lucius had to send Kane and Brick to jobs meant for her. Lucius sighed. “I want it to be over.”

  “So does she, and I think it will be soon.” Gabriel smiled. “I'm beginning to think the same thing you were – that he wasn’t going to make it, but today’s the day. He’ll wake up in about an hour.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “You have powers that I don’t and I have powers that you don’t. One of those is knowing when someone like him is going to wake up. He’s another special one, Lucius. I might just have to give him a contract when he dies, although that isn’t going to happen any time soon. Send Evangeline to my office when she comes back. She needs to sign my contract and, then, she’ll be in charge of making sure he survives whatever it is that tries to kill him next.” Gabriel stood, shaking his head. “That boy hasn’t had much luck, but that should all change now that he has her there to look out for him.”

  As Lucius continued to watch, he came to realize how long an hour could be when you were waiting for something to happen. He brushed a hand through his hair, keeping his eye on the clock in Jasper’s room, telling the hour to hurry up and finish. It did, but not soon enough. It felt like forever, and Lucius should know since he’d been in the afterlife forever. Jasper’s eyes opened and he found himself staring at the girl he loved.

  “Evie?”

  “Two weeks, I’ve been waiting for you to wake up.” Tears streamed down her cheeks as she took hold of his hand. She didn't dare to do anything more in case she dislodged one of the many tubes that were attached to him. “Do you have any idea how long two weeks is?”

  “You’re not supposed to be here.”

  “Jasper, I’m your guardian.” She bit her lip. “Well, I'll be when I’ve signed a contract with Gabriel because you survived. Your spirit's strong enough to pull you through and now I’m going to be looking out for you for the rest of your life.”

  “Okay, love, do me a favor and start at the beginning. Last time I saw you, Lucius told me I'd die if you didn't leave, and now you’re here sitting next to my hospital bed, telling me that you’re my guardian. I’m a mess. I'm tired. I hurt like hell, so you’re going to have to go slow for me, please. As wonderful as seeing you is right now, I’d come to terms with it never happening again until I died. I'm confused an...” His voice trailed off as he fell back asleep.

  Chapter 8

  Being a guardian turned out to be very different from being a reaper and Evangeline found herself much happier than she thought she could be as she balanced the two jobs along with her relationship with Jasper. Lucius sent her to simple reapings as a reaper while working with Gabriel on some of the more difficult ones to see whether anyone might pull through. If they did, they'd find themselves with a guardian. Evangeline would be the only guardian in a relationship with the person she protected, but seeing her made the others wonder if it might be possible. She exuded happiness. It wasn’t as easy as they imagined, though.

  Not long after she'd been assigned to Sam, she went with him to his son’s house, knowing chances were that their meeting would go wrong, and it did. After seeing his father drowning his sorrows in a bottle for well over a decade, he wasn’t willing to forgive. His father hadn't been there when he needed someone to be there for him because his mother died. Sam dealt with it better than Evangeline thought he would. It would have been easy enough for him to try to rid himself of the pain by drinking again, but he didn’t. Instead, he accepted the decision, certain he’d have done the same thing in his son’s position, and moved on, knowing it remained his only option.

  Soon, the time would come when his son would go to him, ready to let the past go, and they'd have the chance to enjoy some time together before, to no one’s surprise, Sam found himself dealing with liver failure, thanks to all the drinking he’d done.

  Evangeline stood next to his son at the funeral. No one knew she'd been the one to thank for Sam sobering up, and they didn’t know that she'd taken him to the world of the dead. Saying goodbye then, Lucius had to pull her away, telling her to go to Jasper. She cried herself out on his shirt.

  A week later, she had someone else to look after. She never forgot Sam, though, or the other people that she'd been assigned to because it wasn’t unusual for her to get the difficult cases - the ones who were in the same position as Jasper had been and she knew she couldn’t save them all.

  Sapphire Rose had been the hardest one to deal with because she reminded Evangeline so much of herself at that age. For a while, she thought she’d even managed to convince Sapphire that she had a chance to be something, but in the end, another hit took her life and Evangeline had to guide her to the afterlife. They’d gone in silence, neither of them knowing what to say to the other, yet that hadn’t stopped Evangeline from sending a blessing her way, wishing she could have done more to help.

  “There's always a possibility she will be blessed in the afterlife.” Gabriel gripped Evangeline's shoulder. “You never ask for the easy jobs and I’ve always liked that about you.”

  “Lucius wanted you to talk to me, didn’t he?”

  “You know what’s coming.”

  Jasper's getting old. Evangeline knew that would happen. It wouldn’t be long until it was his turn to be guided to the world of the dead, but at least this time, it would be from his own body aging not from something tragic. She blinked away tears she wasn’t going to let fall. “Of course, I do.” As she turned to look at Gabriel, she managed to push aside her feelings. “We always knew it would happen. It’s been fifty years, so I’m not going to complain.”

  “From the beginning, I knew I wanted to offer Jasper a job when his time came and that's something I still want to do, if you’re willing to teach him how to be a guardian?” Evangeline couldn't speak. “Evie?”

  “I…” She shook her head. “You want Jasper to be a guardian? My Jasper? He won’t be going to the world of the dead without me?”

  “Yes, I want your Jasper to be a guardian, so he won’t be going to the world of the dead without you. Since you’ve been doing so well, we wanted to extend your contract. Lucius likes having a guardian reaper to work with because you can see so much more than he can, and I like that you take on the jobs that remind you of the person you once were. I know, it’s not an easy thing to do. I know that from experience.”

  Although Evangeline had worked with Gabriel for almost fifty years she’d never asked him about his life or how he became the leader of the guardians. That's something she would change in the future, but right at that moment, it seemed hard enough to find the words she needed to thank him for everything. She’d be able to continue her relationship with Jasper. She hadn’t been expecting that to come true. The two men she worked for liked her so much they wanted her to be with them for longer.
Evangeline didn't know what to make of all that had happened. In death, she'd been given so much more. That realization humbled her.

  “Thank you.”

  Gabriel shook his head. “You don’t need to thank us. We need to thank you. There's always a chance this wouldn’t have happened and I’m so glad it did because having you by our sides means that we’re doing much more than we ever could before to help people. I have more guardians working for me. Lucius has more reapers. There are fewer poltergeists. Eternity has changed for the better. Being able to imagine something like this didn't seem possible, but we did all hope it could happen, and it has. So, when you’re ready, let’s get those contracts signed.”

  Lucius asked Evangeline for the job of taking Jasper’s spirit to the world of the dead and she’d said yes only because she knew what would come next. She didn’t want to spoil the surprise.

  A younger, vibrant looking Jasper stepped out of his old, weary body. Their eyes met so Lucius could see his confusion at finding him there and not Evangeline as he’d been expecting to be for his transition. Thanks to all of the practice Lucius had dealing with the new reapers, he could wear his grimace with confidence, knowing what would happen next. None of them wanted Jasper to know yet.

  “Sorry. We have a four car pile up on the highway and we need her there. You can wait in my office for her, if you’d like, because none of us want you to miss being able to say goodbye.”

  After spending hours talking to Jasper, Lucius had come to like him. They’d be able to continue their friendship since it wasn’t often Lucius came across someone who could match him story for story, especially as he had a couple of interesting new stories to tell everyday. None of them were available in the world of the living, but as the grim reaper, that meant he got certain gifts no one else ever did. With one hand on Jasper’s arm, Lucius stepped between the world of the living and the world of the dead.