Hellfire and Brimstone

by Angela Roquet

  “There’s a bar in Jamaica where the locals like to go cliff diving,” she said. “They close up shop around ten, so no accidental deaths or reapers should show after that. Want to meet me there around eleven tonight?”

  “Sure.” I nodded, mentally working out a plan to show up an hour early and case out the spot. I didn’t want any surprise deaths mucking up our rendezvous.

  “Also…” Tasha dug her hand down in one of her front pockets. “Since you were nice enough to return my gun, I guess I should give this back.”

  She pulled out the skeleton coin that Naledi had slipped me before my hearing with the council last spring. I’d thought Naledi intended for me to use it to escape, in the event that the council ordered my termination. But when they decided to let me live, I’d used it to help Tasha escape her cell at the Nephilim Guard Station. Her verdict hadn’t been so nice, and while we were far from besties, I didn’t think she deserved to die for her crimes.

  I took the coin and held it up in the sun to get a better look. “Thanks.”

  “Even?” Tasha asked. She was grinning, but I could tell she wanted us to be square, that it was important to her.

  “Even Steven.”

  I took down the Jamaican bar information, and then Saul and I didn’t waste any more time heading to the harbor in Limbo City. I imagined Kevin and Ellen both were cursing my name. Not to mention Bub.

  I grimaced as I thought about the earful I’d be getting later for smashing his minion. But to be fair, no one had ever accused me of being the kind of person who wouldn’t harm a fly.

  Chapter 13

  “Jupiter from on high smiles at the perjuries of lovers.”

  —Ovid

  As soon as I made it back to Limbo, my phone began to ring. Bub left two very heated messages, and then Ellen called from home, explaining that she needed a fresh change of clothes due to a lagoon incident on the mortal side. She also tearfully reiterated how much she missed her desk. When I finally let her go, Kevin was waiting to tell me off, threatening to burn the ship down before taking Ellen with him on another harvest.

  I promised never again, and then tried to put Tasha and our Jamaica date out of my mind so I could focus on the day’s harvests. I let Bub wait until my lunch break, when I managed to steal five minutes of privacy in the bowels of the ship, before calling him back. Groveling was bad enough without an audience.

  “Don’t you understand?” he fumed in my ear. “They’re not just my underlings. They’re a part of me. You smashed me.”

  I rolled my eyes. He made it sound like I was murdering babies or something. “You don’t sound smashed,” I muttered under my breath.

  “What was that?”

  “You’re absolutely right.” I recovered quickly. “I’m so sorry. It was a reflex. I don’t know what I was thinking—maybe I wasn’t thinking at all.”

  “You’re humoring me now.” Bub grumbled on the other end of the line. “And you’re not doing a very convincing job of hiding it.”

  “What can I do to make it up to you?” I asked in a more heartfelt tone.

  “I could use a hand with the bleeding fungus.” The mischievous note in his reply told me I was already forgiven, though I was glad he couldn’t see the face I made.

  “Can it wait until tomorrow? I’ve made plans with Ellen tonight, and they might run a bit late,” I added, remembering my eleven o’clock with Tasha.

  Bub huffed. “Fine, but I expect to have you all to myself tomorrow evening.”

  “Deal.”

  I wasn’t looking forward to playing in the mud with all the creepy crawlies, but the promise of another bubble bath would get me through it. Bub and I said our goodbyes and I made my way upstairs to the main deck.

  Ellen and Kevin were eating street tacos at opposite ends of the ship. They weren’t talking to one another. The details of the morning harvest I had missed were a little fuzzy, though it should have been an easy enough job. The two souls they’d collected were in crappy moods too. I’d peeked in on them earlier, before sneaking off to call Bub, and caught them glaring at each other as they paced amongst the rest of the souls in the cargo hold.

  I grabbed the taco Kevin had brought back for me and found a neutral spot in the center of the deck, atop the closed hatch platform, where I could eat without having my loyalties questioned. A horn echoed across the sea from the Three Fates Factory, signaling the end of their lunch hour. It made me eat faster, even though I didn’t have to punch a time card. These souls weren’t going to reap themselves.

  Kevin finished his lunch first and made the mistake of dropping his last taco wrapper to the deck floor. The helljacks appeared out of nowhere, snatching it up and tearing it to shreds in a matter of seconds. I would have complained about the mess, but there wasn’t one. They didn’t just lap up the cheese and sour cream residue. They ate the wrapper.

  “I’m outta here,” Kevin said, pulling on his work robe again. Tacos were messy, and the laundromat was not his most favorite place to hang out after work.

  I held my half-eaten taco up. “Thanks for lunch.”

  “Your turn tomorrow,” he reminded me. Then he pointed his hounds over to where Coreen was chewing on a charred hellcat bone. It was one of the few treats she could enjoy without having to share with her brood. The helljacks’ diets were atrocious, and they’d devour almost anything. Anything. But for some reason, they couldn’t stand the taste of hellcat. They plopped down on the deck a safe distance from the offending treat and watched as Kevin disappeared down the ramp. The smaller of the two dogs let out a soft, mournful howl.

  Ellen waited until Kevin had blipped out of sight before joining me on the hatch platform. The glamorous, retro curls she usually sported were missing. Instead, her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail with bits of frizz poking out here and there. I had a feeling the new look had something to do with the botched morning harvest, so I refrained from asking about it.

  “That apprentice of yours has quite the mouth on him,” she said, wadding up her taco wrapper and stuffing it down inside the empty box on the platform behind us.

  “You have no idea.” I wiped my hands off on my jeans, having shed my robe like Kevin, and then closed up the box of taco trash. The helljacks watched me eagerly.

  “Are you still up for Athena’s after work?” Ellen asked as we gathered up our things and headed for the dock pier. Saul napped near the ramp, but he looked up when he heard us approaching.

  “Manto,” I said to him and bent to scratch his ears before replying to Ellen. “Yeah, definitely.”

  My bank account would have disagreed, but I could tell Ellen and I both needed this. The sausage fest poker party had made me painfully aware of my lack of girlfriends, and as sorry as I felt for myself over my work situation, Ellen’s was much worse.

  “So, who else are we shuffling off the mortal coil today?” she asked, tossing our trash in a bin as we reached the dock.

  I dug our dockets out of my bag and glanced over them, scratching my head. “Lots of shitty drivers and a handful of earthquake leftovers.”

  Ellen’s nose crinkled. “I thought the Recovery Unit was supposed to take care of all those.”

  “Yeah, well, sometimes a few slip by. They’re easier to collect after the humans send in their emergency responders.” I liked it when the mortals made my job easier.

  A few storks from the factory hopped along the pier, throwing their heads back and clattering their bills as they enjoyed the cool breeze coming in off the sea. Ellen gave them a longing look as she pulled her coin from her pocket.

  “I should check on Duster again before we head to Athena’s later,” she said.

  I gave her a strained smile, hoping she wouldn’t invite me along for that particular errand, and fetched my own coin. Birds weren’t my favorite anyway, and Duster was the worst.

  The rest of the workday was boring. Too boring. My mind skipped back and forth between Saul’s death and Vince’s current motives. I had to know
if they were related, even if no one else seemed to think it mattered. Also, I wanted to find the rest of the missing souls, and then I wanted to rub them in Ridwan’s face for shutting down my fledgling unit prematurely.

  The self-gratifying fantasy was playing on a loop in my mind when Ellen and I made our pit stop at her apartment. Ellen pushed her front door open wide and waved her arm at me as she stepped inside.

  “Make yourself at home,” she said, ignoring Duster’s squawking protests from his cage in the corner of her living room. His colorful wings fanned out behind him as his chest bumped against the bars in a threatening show of dominance.

  “Yeesh. Chillax, Tweety,” I said, venturing a few feet inside the room.

  The apartments at Reapers Tower were nice. Not Holly House nice, but definitely the next best thing when it came to living in Limbo. A faux stone fireplace with a glossy walnut mantel stretched across one wall, and matching woodwork lined the bay window in the dining room. The theme continued in the kitchen with stone patterned linoleum and walnut cabinets.

  Ellen cooed at Duster as she filled a small dish with seeds and berries. I cringed when she cracked open the cage door to slip the dish inside. If that thing got loose, I was making a run for it. Duster made one last squawk before turning his attention away from me and attacking a blueberry. A red feather drifted between the bars of the cage and landed atop a pile of newspapers spread out on the carpet below.

  Ellen picked it up and added it to a collection of filled vases next to a stack of library books about coin travel on her dining room table. When she caught my quizzical expression, she laughed. “The crones at the market buy the feathers from me—but only after Duster reaches adulthood,” she said as she stripped out of her work robe. “They can’t pass them off as authentic phoenix feathers, since he’s a toy breed hybrid, but they can use them in some of their crafts.”

  “Making him earn his keep, eh?” I set my messenger bag down on a small table near the front door so I could peel off my own robe. I wadded it up and tucked it down inside my bag, which was lighter now without the weight of Tasha’s brimstone pistol.

  I stole a quick glance at the grandfather clock in the corner opposite Duster’s cage before we left the apartment. I was supposed to be in Jamaica in five hours, where I’d hopefully learn something useful.

  “I’m thinking leggings,” Ellen said as we headed for the elevator at the end of the hall.

  “Hmm?” I said, my mind elsewhere.

  “Leggings?” Ellen repeated. “You know, stretchy pants?”

  “Right! Right.” I forced a smile. “Perfect for fall weather. Comfy too.”

  She pursed her lips and frowned as we stepped into a vacant elevator. “Is everything all right, sweetie? You’ve been awfully distracted today.”

  I sighed and wrapped my hands around the strap of my messenger bag where it lay at an angle over my chest. “Bub and I are fighting,” I said dejectedly.

  It wasn’t an outright lie, but I knew it would be enough to evoke some sympathy from Ellen. Her sudden gasp was right on cue.

  “What happened?”

  “I smashed one of his flies—totally on accident.” Okay. That one was stretching the truth a bit more.

  Ellen made a gagging face and shuddered as the elevator doors slid open in the lobby. She was still doing her heebie-jeebies dance after we’d left the building and walked around the block to the travel booth on the corner of Council Street and Tombstone Drive.

  I had almost suggested we walk, but reaping required a lot more physical activity than Ellen’s former desk job, and she was still getting used to it. Also, Athena’s was located in the heart of the historic district, so no matter where the booths spit us out, we had another two blocks ahead of us.

  Athena didn’t spend much time at her boutique these days, not since taking Horus’s spot on the Afterlife Council. Instead of being waist-deep in fashion, she was now neck-deep in politics. What a trade-off. Her enchanted wooden dummies were on duty though, along with Arachne, who somehow had even less personality than a dummy. The girl didn’t even look up from her magazine as Ellen and I entered the dress shop.

  “Welcome to Athena’s,” she said dryly, not even bothering to recite the seasonal greeting I was sure Athena had made her memorize.

  A pair of dummies in posh business suits stood on one of the circular display platforms. They each held a clipboard, and as Ellen and I approached them, they handed us a sheet of coupons for the fall sale.

  “Ha!” Ellen slapped the back of her hand against the page and turned it to me. “See? Leggings.” Her eyes lit up as she wandered over to a rack of colorful tights. I reluctantly followed.

  My wardrobe had been rather mute lately. Blood and guts were easier to wash out of black. But I hadn’t seen much bloodshed since the ghost market had been shut down and the rest of the demon rebels finally slunk off to the shadows. Maybe I could benefit from a little bedazzling?

  I fingered through a row of silk blouses while Ellen went to try on a pair of cheetah print tights. An emerald green number with a plunging neckline caught my attention, but after checking the price tag, I changed my mind.

  I huffed out a gloomy sigh and made my way over to a rack of clearance scarves. A dummy with a dozen draped over each of her wooden arms danced excitedly as I neared, and I humored her by selecting a blue scarf dotted with dragonflies from her collection.

  “These are amazing,” Ellen said, holding up a second and third pair of tights when she caught up with me. “I need a pair in every color. Ooh, heels!” She gasped and snatched up a pair of glittery red stilettos. “Do you think these go with the cheetah?” she asked, holding the two items against each other.

  “Under a black robe, everything matches.” My laughter cut off when Ellen’s smile wavered. “But for a night out, sure. It looks great,” I said, giving her a pained smile.

  “Who am I kidding,” Ellen moaned. “I’ll never be seen in anything cute again.” She dropped the heels on the rack she’d found them on, discarding the tights along with them, and a dummy appeared to put everything in its rightful place.

  “Come on now,” I said, summoning a cheerful voice. I grabbed the tights and fought off the dummy as it tried to take them from me. “I bet you’ll have lots of opportunities to wear these. Coffee dates and poker games. Hey, you could be wearing them right now even.”

  “Yeah?” Ellen said, raising an eyebrow hopefully.

  “Definitely.” I tucked the tights over her arm. “Come check out the scarves. They’re on sale.”

  Ellen’s mood perked again as we continued our shopping, and I did a better job of keeping my foot out of my mouth. Just because I was broke and depressed about my job dilemma didn’t mean I needed to bring her down in the dumps with me.

  When we paid for our items and headed outside, I spotted a tiny fly buzzing around the ivy that climbed up the face of the building. Bub was at it again, but at least he was being more subtle this time and not having his minion buzz around in my face. I suspected that would start back up once he realized I intended to visit Naledi.

  I’d just have to lose him before then.

  Chapter 14

  “Only the dead have seen the end of war.”

  —George Santayana

  Ellen and I took our time heading back to her apartment, ducking inside several more stores in the historic district as daylight faded and the city lights slowly flickered to life. We also paused at the Phantom Café and grabbed some hot chocolate, but we stepped out onto the sidewalk to enjoy it, where a factory soul with a battered violin busked near a travel booth.

  The girl looked familiar, and I wondered if I had harvested her at some point. Her shapeless, green dress and white go-go boots looked like they’d come straight from the sixties. Watching her made me think of Ruth, and I wondered if they’d known each other, if the sad melody she played was in memory of a lost friend. I tossed a coin in her case before Ellen and I rode the booths across town.


  Bub’s fly managed to slip in with us, though it lingered outside Reapers Tower, buzzing around a pot of mums, when I entered the building with Ellen. I guess he figured I was at least entitled to some private girl talk.

  I went upstairs with Ellen and said goodbye at her front door, turning down her offer to stay for dinner. Duster was in the throes of a second tantrum, and I had somewhere to be. The skeleton coin Tasha had given back that morning was burning a hole in my pocket.

  I waited until I was inside the elevator again, and then as the car descended toward the lobby, I dug the coin out and flipped it in the air, heading straight for the throne realm.

  I wondered how long it would take for Bub to call and check up on me, but the thought quickly died as I took in Naledi’s slice of Eternity. It felt strangely foreign under the pale light of dusk, though the sky was still brighter than Limbo City’s.

  The earth contact homes built into the knolls surrounding Naledi’s cottage were quaint. They looked like something straight out of a fairytale book, with thatched roofs and heavy wooden doors. Gardens, which dotted the landscape, stretched out before me, overflowing with flowers and produce. Now that the original believers and the throne realm were no longer a secret, a more natural light schedule had been implemented, opening up all kinds of possibilities. There was even a small orchard in a clearing between two of the houses.

  I didn’t have a formal invitation, and since I hadn’t used the travel booths, I instead appeared in the open meadow that expanded to the outer edges of the small realm. A few startled faces gawked at me from oval windows in the hobbit-ish homes, and I began to question if I’d made a mistake showing up this way. The skeleton coin had helped me dodge Bub’s detail, and I was also more than happy to save the extra coin the standard route would have cost, but none of that mattered if I couldn’t secure a private audience with Naledi.