Chase Grim

by V. B. Marlowe

  I turned to the people and raised my right fist to the arm. They did the same. “Long live Death,” they chanted. “Long live Death. Long live Death.”

  With that, they were dismissed. Everyone was to go home or to the home of their friends to have a celebration feast. There was to be a great celebration back at the estate for all the people of the Upper Estates. Naomi, Keira and Bram would be there too.

  I was herded back to the car with Naomi and we drove back to the Estate. It had been decorated the night before for the great event.

  I headed to my bedroom for some privacy and a chance to breathe. Naomi joined me. I loosened my tie and plopped down on the bed. She sat on the edge of it, watching me from the corner of her eye.

  “It’s officially, official now. How does it feel?”

  “Not real still. It probably won’t feel real until I host my first council meeting tomorrow, I guess.”

  Naomi bit her bottom lip.

  I sat up and inched my way beside her. “What is it?”

  “I—I know you’re going to do a great job as the new Death Lord, but I’m just worried that this older Grims will take advantage of you.”

  I frowned. “What you think I’m stupid, or naïve, or gullible or something?”

  She shook her head. “No, no, not at all. But they have much more experience with politics and the way things run behind the scenes. You don’t really have that.”

  She had a point there. “I know. But I have Doyle to help me and I’ll just learn as I go along.”

  Nay took my hand and squeezed it. “Okay, but promise me that you’ll run any big decisions by us first. Not that you need our permission or anything, but just for a second or third opinion.”

  “Sure.” I had planned on doing that anyways.

  The noise coming from downstairs had made its way up to the bedroom. Obviously, the house was filling up with people. The last thing I wanted to do was entertain the snooty Grims of Nowhere but that was a part of my job now.

  I stood and Naomi fixed my tie back the way it should be. I offered her my arm. “Shall we?”

  She looped her arm around mine and nodded. “We shall.”

  Doyle was waiting for us at the top of the staircase. Once again, he announced me to the people before I ascended into the crowd of fake smiles and too-firm handshakes.

  One Grim was especially aggressive. I lost Naomi in the crowd as he gripped my shoulder and led me away. He shook my hand, almost crushing it. “My Lord, may I first say that it is a prestigious honor to be under your rule. My name is Uriah. I was always a very close confidant of Mr. Dunningham.”

  Uriah, if I had to guess was probably in his mid-sixties in Grim years. His hair was still perfectly black with no signs of graying anywhere. He had plenty of years to him. He was a good-looking guy even though his smile was kind of stiff and creepy.

  That wasn’t exactly going to win him any brownie points from me. “Oh, yeah?”

  He chuckled. “Now, that doesn’t always mean that I agreed with everything he did. I mean, what he did to your poor parents and the others, we were all against that. But you know how it is. He was the Lord, so he had the final say.”

  The last thing I wanted to do was talk about the assassination of my parents with this total stranger. “What can I do for your, Uriah?”

  He cleared his throat. I sensed the others around me, circling like sharks just waiting to get my ear. He probably sensed the same and realized that he had better talk fast.

  “As I had I worked very closely with Mr. Dunningham on several matters. He even came to me about the colony’s financial matters. That’s my specialty. So, since you are the new ruling Lord, I was wondering if there was any place for me on your council.”

  “Oh, all the ten spots are already full.”

  Uriah nodded. “Yes, yes, but as the Lord of Death, the council members are your decision. You can remove and replace anyone you want.”

  Yeah, I could, but seeing as though I really didn’t know any of them, or Uriah, I wasn’t about to make a change like that. “Let me feel everyone out and if I decide to make a change I’ll definitely keep you in mind,” I reassured him.

  After separating myself from Uriah, I found myself trapped in several more conversations that were eerily similar. Was this what my life was going to be like? People kissing my ass on a constant basis so I could raise their status in society. I guessed it was how Dunningham’s life had been. That reminded me that I had to go ahead and make a decision about the old buzzard.

  Doyle finally got a hold of me. “My Lord, I have been looking for you everywhere. There are some important people I need to introduce you to and some people you need to stay away from.”

  Almost in a trance, I was introduced to person after person. They went on and on about how happy they were to have me as their ruler even though they didn’t know me at all. What were they so happy about? For all they knew I could have been worse than Dunningham.

  One man named Frederick finally got my attention. “So, where is Mr. Dunningham?”

  I swallowed hard. He was the first one who had asked me that question and I wasn’t sure how to answer. “Mr. Dunningham is taking some time to himself. He’s served as the Lord of Death for several lifetimes and he needed a little vacation.”

  Doyle took a sip of his dark brown drink and Frederick raised his eyebrows. “Fair enough. I’m more concerned about his brother anyway. He’s a traitor. Worse than a traitor, actually. He procreated with a Human. Then after he was banished as he should have been, he raised an entire tribe of people to steal from us. Foragers are a direct product of him. How many lives have the taken from us? How many more lifestones could we have if it wasn’t for him? So why is it that he’s walking around Nowhere as if everything is okay? Your father would not have had any of this.”

  It took a few seconds for the fact that “your father” meant Dunningham. “Well, I’m not Dunningham, am I? Dunstan will be handled the way I see fit.”

  The man faltered, but then bowed slightly. “Yes, my Lord. You are correct. I’m sorry for overstepping my boundaries.” Then he scurried away as if he were afraid I was going to punish him. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

  I waited for Doyle to correct me, but instead he patted me on the back. “That was good. Even though Frederick had a point, you kept him in his place. Never let them see you sweat.”

  Just then, a pale-faced, stumbling Bram made his way over to me with Keira close on his heels. Bram nearly knocked me over as he stumbled but Doyle grabbed his shoulder breaking his fall. “Dude, this party sucks. We are so out of here.”

  Keira grabbed Bram’s arm and gave me a nervous smile. “Someone had a little too much fun at the open bar so we’re just going to go.”

  Doyle looked Bram up and down. “That would probably be best. He shouldn’t be here in this state embarrassing Chase.”

  That was the last thing I was worried about. I had never seen Bram drunk before. He jutted a finger at Doyle. “Kiss my ass crack man. I’m outta here.” He pulled away from Keira and pushed his way through the crowd.

  Keira shook her head. “I’m sorry, but he’s having a really hard time dealing with the loss of his parents and Dorian. He’s never been like this before,” she added before turning to follow him.

  After that dinner was called. I sat at the head of the main table surrounded my Doyle and the council members. I had no idea where Naomi had disappeared to. Maybe she had left with Keira and Bram but she should have at least said good-bye.

  The meal was probably one of the best I had ever tasted—smothered pork chops with boiled baby potatoes, and a lovely salad. Everything had been cooked to perfection. One of the best things about being the Lord of Death so far was probably the food.

  After dinner I found Doyle. “I’m going upstairs. I’m exhausted so I’m going to head to bed early.” That was no lie.

  “You can’t do that. This is your chance to mingle with the people. That’s what they’re h
ere for.”

  “Doyle, I’m done. I’m turning in.”

  He looked like he was going to say something else, but bit his tongue. “Yes, My Lord. I’ll tell the people you weren’t feeling well. Have a good rest.”

  Upstairs I took a long hot shower before hopping into bed. I spent hours wondering if I could actually handle this being my new life.

  6

  The next morning, after a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, light, fluffy waffles, and bacon, I geared myself up to lead my very first council meeting. I started at myself in the mirror, making eye contact with my reflection. “This is it Chase. The first impression is the most important impression.” I couldn’t be shy or nervous—even if I was, I had to fake it. I had to let everyone know that I wasn’t Dunningham and that there were going to be changes in Nowhere.

  Doyle knocked on my door one minute before the meeting was set to begin.

  “Come on.”

  He opened the door and poked his head inside. “The men are gathered in the meeting room. You can come down wherever you’re ready.”

  I gave myself one last look over in the mirror and silently reassured myself for the final time. “I’m ready.”

  I let Doyle lead me down to the council room where the men were already gathered and waiting for me. There was plenty of chatter going on outside the door but as soon as I opened it, everyone fell silent and rose to their feet. It was done in such perfect unison as if they practiced the action everyone. “Good morning, My Lord.”

  “Morning.” I strode across the plush rug to my seat at the head of the table. I settled in my seat as the men stared at me waiting. It took me a few moments to realize what they were waiting for. “Oh, you may be seated.”

  The men did as they were told as Doyle took his seat beside me. “The first council meeting of Chase Grim is now called to order. My Lord, the floor is yours.”

  “Thank you, Doyle. Gentleman, I know this is going to come as a shock to you, but I’m going to begin my reign in making some changes. I have plenty in mind, but to keep some sort of balance, I’m going to start with a few at a time. I know it may seem soon for some, but Nowhere needs a change now. We can’t afford to wait and sit around talking about things when Grim are in need and our colony is on the brink of revolt.”

  Most of the Grims held pens over legal pads ready to scribble down notes. The apprehension on their faces told me they had been apprehensive about me making changes. Of course, they would have been. The way things were currently was perfect for them but it wasn’t working for

  anyone else.

  My first change was inspired by Keira and Mr. Dunningham. I thought it was the one they would probably care about the least so I wanted to lead in with that. “My first change is dealing with marriage. I am abolishing the rules that Grims must be married once they turn eighteen. Also, parents will no longer be in charged in picking their children’s betrothed. From this day forth, every Grim shall get married when they want as long as they are of legal age, whether it be at eighteen or one hundred. Every Grim shall marry the Grim of their choice.”

  There was silence for a moment, then the man at the very end of the table raised his hand to speak.

  “Remind me of your name,” I told him.

  “Yes, my Lord, my name is Perry.”

  “Perry, what would you like to say.”

  “While I understand you would like to give Grims the freedom of choice in marriage, the rules are the way they are for a very good reason. If we change the rules as you state, there will be many more single Grims and not enough houses for them. That’s one of the main reasons for the pairings at a young age. If we do as you say, we will run out of housing in no time. We do have the Single House, where the leftover maidens live and that it about full.”

  There were more males than females in Nowhere so naturally someone was going to get left out. All the women who had no one to marry, lived together in a huge house in Farrington.

  Perry made some good points I hadn’t thought of. I looked at Doyle who was already scribbling something on a sheet of paper. THINK ABOUT IT.

  “Perry, I will take what you’ve said into consideration before I make my final decision. Thank you. Now moving on to the next thing—distribution of assignments and lifestones. It’s not fair the way it is now. We all know there is plenty of Death to go around for all of us. I want the Grims of Litropolis to be sent on more jobs and the people of Farrington will go on less. Most of you have thousands of years as it is—more than enough to last you a lifetime while the others are going old and dying. That is not okay. They’re Grims too. Why should they have to suffer when they don’t need to?”

  Several of the men fidgeted in their seats and I could sense their agitation. This was the one that was going to piss them off.

  A man called Korpin sighed, and pushed back from the table. “That all sounds really nice, My Lord, but again it’s a matter of space. As grim as this sounds, no pun intended, there is just not enough room on this colony. Some Grims must perish every now and then to ensure there is enough space and resources for all of us. That’s just the way it is.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “That’s just the way it is? Our people have to die for the sake of making space? Really? If space is an issue I will figure it out, but as of now, jobs will be distributed more equally. Grims are not dying so the rest of us can stay comfortable.”

  There was a low murmur as the men grumbled amongst themselves and Doyle sat up straight in his seat. “Hey!” I shouted. “If you have something to say, say it to me.”

  The group quieted and Lincoln spoke. “My Lord, with all due respect, let’s say we go through with what you’ve said—what would be do about the housing issue. That will still be a problem.”

  The room was completely silent as I spoke. “Simple. Unmarried Grims will live at home with their parents. They will only receive a house when they marry.”

  From the corner of my eye, I spotted Doyle nodding so I knew he approved of my choice. It wasn’t perfect, but with space and housing being an issue, it would have to do.

  I took a deep breath because I knew this final change was going to go over the heaviest. I had been up thinking about it most of the night but it was a change I’ve wanted to see even when I was a kid. “Here’s is my third change for right now. This council. I would like to thank you all for serving so loyally under Mr. Dunningham but I think some things need to be shaken up. Right now, this council is made up of only men from Farrington. After some long consideration and talking to Doyle, I am going to vacate some of these seats and replace them with men from Farrington and Litropolis.”

  Just as I expected the room exploded into conflict.

  “Are you serious?”

  “Do you know how long we’ve served on this council?”

  “Countless tireless hours. Countless—being at Dunningham’s beck and call!”

  “So, you’re just going to toss us to the side like that!”

  I rapped my knuckles on the table. It took much longer to quiet them this time than it had before. “I know this is a shock to you and I get it, but having Grims from all three sections will make it possible for everyone to have a say. Right now, there’s no one in this room looking out for the interest of Farrington and Litropolis and that’s not right.”

  That didn’t seem to help their moods. They couldn’t have cared less about anyone who wasn’t from the Upper Estates. I sat back in my seat as Doyle stood. “Gentlemen, this has been a lot for the day. I think we should dismiss so you all can—digest all this.” He looked at me. “Is that okay with you, my Lord.”

  “Yes. Meeting adjourned. We’ll meet again in two days. I do want you to know that I’m taking everything you had to say into consideration.”

  The men left as if they couldn’t get out of the room fast enough and I knew then that if they hadn’t hated me before, they hated me then. I didn’t care. This wasn’t about them. Nowhere was so much bigger than the ten men sitting on
the council and I couldn’t put our colony in jeopardy just to please them.

  Once the room was empty, I turned to Doyle who had remained in his seat, stroking his beard. “Well?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “That was—a lot. In the future, I wish you would run things by me before dropping bombs like that on those men. They may be assholes, but they are some of the most powerful, respected men in Nowhere and they have the power to turn people against you.”

  “About that—I need your help in choosing which ones to keep. You know them better than I do. The council will now consist of twelve men. Four from the Upper Estates, four from Litropolis, and four from Farrington.”

  “All right, my Lord. While I admire your decisiveness, you might want to ease your way in. Make these changes little by little, and compromise some. I promise you that if you take everything from the Grim of the Upper Estates that they hold dear, like controlling the council and having countless lifestones, there will be problems. They will cause bigger problems for you than those disgruntled Litropolites.”

  “Yeah, I’ll remember that.” But I wasn’t too worried. What could they possibly do to me? After all I was the Lord of Death and what I said, went, whether they liked it or not.

  That evening I had Keira and Naomi over for dinner. I had invited Bram too, but he had declined stating that he was busy doing something else.

  “Are we going to go on assignment soon?” Keira asked. “Dunningham had us on a freeze when we came back.”

  I had forgotten about that. I would soon need to take over the dispatcher from Doyle. “Yeah. I’ll lift your ban as soon as I get a chance.”

  I told them about the changes I’d made with the marriage laws and how assignments were being dispatched.

  “That’s awesome, Chase,” Naomi said. “You’re not wasting any time, are you?”

  “No, we don’t have time to waste. I’ll also be making changes to the council. Right now, it’s made up of men from the Upper Estates only. I’m going to shake it up so that it includes Grims from Farrington and the Upper Estates also.”