Reapers, Inc. - Brigit's Cross

by B. L. Newport

  By now, Maggie was crying audibly. She couldn’t see the force that was keeping Lorena from reaching her. All she could see was the fury in her new lover’s eyes and the harm that lay within that fury. It scared the hell out of her; yet, something invisible was preventing her from suffering Lorena’s wrath. Maggie had the fleeting idea as to what it was, but she was not ready to wrap her mind around that idea – that Brigit was still around to watch over her. Right now, all Maggie wanted was for Lorena Rubens to leave.

  Maggie watched as Lorena was pushed from the room by the invisible force again. She heard the scuffle as it progressed down the hall. Slowly, Maggie followed the sound, watching as Lorena fell and picked herself up only to hit the floor again. Whatever was propelling Lorena out was determined to carry out that wish. Maggie slowly turned and looked at the photograph that had reappeared on her bedside table. It was Brigit. It had to be.

  Brigit slammed the door and quickly turned the bolts once Lorena had been tossed out of the apartment. She felt her heart racing with the energy the scuffle had fed. She was about to go to the window to watch the other woman make her escape when she heard the sniffle come from the bedroom. Maggie was crying – a sound that had been rare during their time together. It was a sound that always broke Brigit’s heart. When she returned to the bedroom, she found Maggie sitting on the bed holding her picture.

  “What was I thinking?” Maggie sniffled as she held the small picture frame in her hands. “I should have known it was too soon.”

  Brigit only watched as Maggie stared at the photograph. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t think Maggie would have heard her anyway. Instead, she leaned against the doorframe and watched as Maggie lay down, pressing the photograph to her cheek and letting her tears flow.

  17: Assigned with Seamus

  Brigit returned to the office the next morning just as the sun was beginning to rise. Maggie had cried herself to sleep and had slept fitfully through the night. Brigit had kept a watchful eye on her, leaving the room only once when she heard a quiet knock at the front door. Wary that it might have been a repenting Lorena Rubens, Brigit had left her partner’s side to peer through the peep hole at Mama Dee. The little old woman knocked lightly once more, but shook her head and crossed the hall to her own apartment when it became apparent that Maggie was either not home or just being anti-social. Brigit felt bad for her old friend. She could only imagine the loneliness Mama Dee was experiencing now that Maggie was exploring beyond the boundaries of her life without Brigit.

  “You’re here,” John greeted as Brigit appeared in the doorway to his office. She looked to the corner where Seamus had been seated the evening before and noted that he was absent for the time being.

  “Did you think I wouldn’t be?” Brigit asked as she approached his desk and reached for the pile she assumed was her work load for the day. John waved his hand at it and passed her a portfolio he had been reading through.

  “I knew you would be in, just not so early. I take it that you’ve made a definitive decision regarding Maggie?” Brigit nodded silently. “Good. Here, I need you to take this and assist Mr. Flannery in its execution,” John said as Brigit received the extended portfolio. “He’s out on a few minor assignments at present. However, I believe he will need your assistance on this particular one. Reap the souls by any means necessary.”

  “Why not assist him yourself?” Brigit asked as she briefly glanced at the names embossed across the cover.

  “Because, darling,” John sighed as he picked up a handful of portfolios to the right and waved them as proof that he had better things to do, “I have found potential recruits that may allow me to reopen one of the European offices. If I can manage to convince them of the benefits of joining the firm, I can return a good portion of our present waiting workload to their responsibility.”

  “I see. How long will this take you?” Brigit asked.

  “I’m hoping to only be gone a couple of days. I don’t know. My Italian is somewhat rusty, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to communicate effectively enough to accomplish what I have in mind,” John explained as he reached for his suit coat and began to shrug it on. “In the mean time, you are in charge. If you need me, just call out.”

  Brigit nodded and watched as John pocketed the portfolios and strode out of the office. She glanced again at the names on the portfolio he had given her. They were unfamiliar to her; but then, most names were unfamiliar to her until she read the contents of their lives. In the mean time, she had to find Seamus in order to give him the new assignment. Since she had not been present when he took his current assignments, she was unsure where to begin in looking for him. Instinctively, she retrieved the Reaper’s Field Guide from her coat pocket and flipped to the last page.

  “Where is Seamus Flannery?” she grumbled as she gazed at the blank page. It took only a second for the words to appear across the blank page: Pier 13, San Francisco.

  Brigit closed the book and returned it to its place in her coat pocket. She picked her umbrella out of the umbrella stand and walked down the long hall. It was inevitable, she thought to herself as she approached the main door. Eventually, she knew, she was going to be partnered with the red-headed Irishman whose comments and insights seemed to find all the right buttons to push under her skin.

  Pier 13 was bustling with mortal life when Brigit arrived. As she moved through the throng of workers going about their business with ease, her eyes scanned the area for the flaming red hair that crowned Seamus Flannery. She had learned during the past couple of months to note the difference between a mortal and a spirit. The energy vibrations were different. A mortal’s vibration was strong. It created waves of outward-emanating energy as the mortal moved about. A spirit’s vibration was more subdued. There were no waves surrounding a spirit as it moved. The vibration seemed to remain contained to the immediate space where the spirit happened to be.

  Seamus was scuffling in the furthest corner of the warehouse with the soul he had been sent to pass over. Brigit stood quietly watching them tussle. She noted the look of fear on the assigned soul’s face as he tried to fend off Seamus’ blows. However mean this soul had thought he could be, Brigit mused, he had met his master in Seamus Flannery. With that thought, Brigit noted the look of delight on Seamus’ face as he took another swing at the soul he had been sent to cross over. John had been right. Seamus Flannery was perhaps the perfect person for the job of the harder assignments. Brigit could tell the Irishman really got into his work.

  When Seamus finally wrestled the man toward the opened doorway, he easily pushed the soul through it and slammed it with a force that made her flinch. Even the mortals in the closest vicinity seemed to hear the slam and reacted by stopping their work to quickly glance around them before shaking off their sudden fear and returning to work despite their new uneasiness. Brigit remained still as she continued to watch him. He casually walked to the wall and stooped to pick something up. As he straightened, the item dangled from his fingers as he appraised it. It was a gold locket. Brigit watched her colleague open it to look at the pictures glued inside before stashing it in his coat pocket. When he turned, Seamus finally noticed her.

  “Oh, hello, lass,” he greeted, forcing a charming smile to his face. “What brings you to this neck of the woods?”

  “John sent me,” Brigit replied evenly. “What was that you put in your pocket?”

  “Just a token,” Seamus answered. “It fell off him during the fight. He won’t miss it,” the Irishman decided out loud. “Besides, t’was a fair fight. Conqueror takes all, ye know what I mean?”

  “Hm,” Brigit grunted. She eyed the other Reaper for a moment, wondering how many other ‘tokens’ he had snicked as a reward for his accomplishments.

  “So, what does our fearless leader need of me today?” Seamus inquired as he reached into his coat and withdrew the crumpled pack of cigarettes from their resting place. Brigit noted it was the same pack he had been pulling from the night they had recruit
ed him. It was never empty, only crumpled.

  “He assigned you this and he’s asked me to assist you with it,” Brigit explained as she withdrew the file John had given her before his departure. “He’s left for Italy for a few days to do some recruiting.”

  “I see,” Seamus said as he exhaled the smoke through his nostrils and reached for the file Brigit held out for him to see. “Why would he think I need back up?” he asked as he scanned the contents.

  “It contains multiple souls. I suppose he thought back up might even the playing field for you,” Brigit explained. “Are you finished here?”

  “Aye,” Seamus smiled. “Just let me fetch me walking stick,” he said. Brigit nodded and stepped back as the other Reaper went to retrieve the shelaighley he had set aside so that he might use his fists instead. Once it was in hand, he turned and smiled the charming smile again. “Ready when ye are, lass…”

  18: Reaping the Chupacabras

  Brigit and Seamus left the pier in San Francisco in silence. She had nothing really to say to her co-worker. The idea that he was stealing mementos from his assignments irked her. She wondered if John would have anything to say about it once he found out. As they had passed through the portal, however, Brigit’s thoughts returned to the task at hand. She had scanned the file briefly – enough to know that they were definitely entering a situation that would need their full attentions.

  The Chupacabra Gang had been notorious in their day. Their evilness rivaled the other well known motorcycle gangs of the time. They had often made headlines for having robbed unwitting vacationers on the side of a highway. They were known for raping the wives, beating the husbands for sport and torturing the children for laughs. They were outlaws of the highest sort. Their ‘Wanted’ posters still hang on every Post Office wall through out the southwest.

  Brigit had only been eight years old at the time. She had been unable to fathom then what she could wrap her mind around now. Her mother had simply told her that the Chupacabras were pure evil in black leather and chains riding a two-wheeled death chariot. As Brigit had scanned their file, she realized without doubt that her mother had been right for once.

  The Chupacabra hideout had been in an old airfield hangar in the middle of the New Mexico desert. The portal had delivered Brigit and Seamus to the main door, which hang open from the years of disuse. Whomever had entered and destroyed the chiefs of the gang had neglected to lock up on their way out.

  “Keep quiet,” Brigit warned in a whisper. Seamus nodded in agreement. They returned their attention to inside the hangar. It was filled with boxes and crates, creating a maze of passages that could prove dangerous to anyone moving between them. The windows high up the walls had been spray painted black, allowing no light to filter through.

  Together, they entered the hangar and began to slowly walk down the corridor of crates. Involuntarily, Brigit’s grip tightened on the handle of her umbrella. She wished she had something a little more substantial to fight with, something a little more dangerous. John’s instructions had been to reap them all by ‘any means necessary’. As she listened to that instruction in her mind again, she realized this would not be an easy assignment by any stretch of the imagination.

  “Why did ye become a Reaper?”

  The question, though in a whisper, broke the silence like a roaring wind. Brigit had instructed him to keep quiet for a reason. Somehow, she had known, Seamus Flannery would not be able to follow such a simple instruction.

  “I have a promise to keep,” she replied in a whisper as well. She was hoping the answer was short enough to suffice, that it would give him the hint to maintain the silence they needed to aide them in their hunt for the Chupacabra Gang.

  “To yer Maggie, I presume?” Seamus sounded amused. “That’s sweet, lass. How long have ye been dead?” he continued.

  “Long enough,”

  “No, seriously, how long?” he asked again. He was beginning to raise the volume to his voice.

  “Since Halloween. Now, will you please lower your voice?” she snapped. She glared at him over her shoulder. It was a look she would never have guessed she was capable of. It was a look she knew she had received from her mother plenty of times throughout her childhood. Brigit knew it was the look because it had affected Seamus the same way it had always affected her. There was a sudden shock registering on the Irishman’s face followed by a hard swallow and, then, silence that told her she had achieved her goal.

  A loud clatter followed by a loud curse and then laughter brought the Reapers to a halt. They exchanged glances again and came to the same conclusion that their task was directly in front of them. Brigit wondered if the element of surprise was going to be in their favor; but, it was too late to change their game plan now.

  “Who are these guys again?” Seamus asked, his voice was notably lower in its whisper this time.

  “The Chupacabra Gang,” Brigit answered.

  “What the hell kind of name is that?”

  “I’ll explain later,” Brigit promised.

  “How many of them are there?”

  “Six, I think,”

  “No matter,” Seamus shrugged as he hoisted the shelaighley to rest on his shoulder. “I’ll take the bigger ones.”

  Brigit ignored the cocky remark as they continued the remaining length of the corridor. From the sounds of the ruckus before them, all six of the gang members were in the same space. That was good for the Reapers. It would save them the time of hunting further. As they stepped into the clearing, Brigit and Seamus took a second to observe. The Chupacabras were amusing themselves. Empty beer bottles were strewn on the floor around them as they sat at a small table playing cards. By the pile of cash and jewelry in the middle of the table, Brigit guessed they had been interrupted during a serious game of poker. It was suddenly no wonder that they had been taken by the surprise that led to their mortal demise.

  “Hello, boys,”

  The sound of Seamus’ announcement before striding into the space was like a slice of lightning through a blackened sky. In surprise, Brigit cast an annoyed glare that fell unnoticed on the Irishman’s back as he walked away. Before she could return her attention to the startled gang members, the fight had already begun. Seamus broke into a full tilt charge at them with his shelaighley held high over his head, a war cry escaping from him as he ran.

  He was trying to prove something, she thought as she watched him start swinging the Blackthorn stick wildly at the gang members that had now jumped to their feet with knives and broken beer bottles held by the neck in their hands. He was trying to prove that he needed no help, she mused as she watched the melee. One of the Chupacabra had Seamus in a headlock as another was punching him repeatedly across the jaw. Seamus, though, was laughing and delivering a sharp elbow to the ribs of the one holding him captive. The remaining three Chupacabra were vying for their turn to punch the intruder. Brigit remained where she stood. She was waiting for the moment that Seamus would indicate a need for her assistance.

  As Brigit continued watching, she suddenly realized that all six were not in the room. One was missing. Where was the sixth gang member?

  Just as the question came to mind, she heard the screeching cry of a woman from behind her. Brigit turned in time to see the attacking woman running at her, a steel pipe raised high above her head. The female Reaper only had a second to raise her umbrella to fend off the blow. The Chupacabra woman stumbled as Brigit’s defense propelled her out into the open. Brigit calmly followed the woman, coming within arm’s length of her so that the door to her fate would appear. The woman swung the pipe again, but Brigit ducked it effortlessly as she reached to open the door. Twice more, the pipe was swung at her head. Brigit deflected the blows with the black umbrella, all the while keeping her eyes locked on the deep black orbs that betrayed the other woman’s every thought. As they began to circle each other, Brigit maintained an even breath as she read the woman’s frantic search for the Reaper’s weak spot. Raising the pipe above her hea
d, the Chupacabra woman decided a full frontal attack was her best option. She did not realize her back was to the door that Brigit had so casually opened.

  As the woman charged, Brigit lowered her umbrella and waited. The look of surprise on the Chupacabra woman’s face fully explained the unexpected force of Brigit’s front kick to her abdomen. The force of the kick propelled the woman through the air and through the door. Still maintaining her calm, Brigit stepped forward and swung the door shut before returning her attention to Seamus.

  The sight she found, however, made her cringe. Seamus was beaten badly. He had managed to pass three of the gang members through their doors; but two remained unscathed. From where Brigit stood, they appeared to be the fiercest of the bunch and they were going to town on Seamus with the intention to kill. While she was aware that they could do no such thing, she could see that Seamus was losing the battle. He had been sufficiently mauled by the group to be reduced to a huddle of swinging yet target-less fists. His shelaighley had been lost somewhere during the fight.

  She had stayed out of the fight too long and now Seamus was hurt because of it. She had the brief thought that there was going to be hell to pay for her decision to let Seamus prove himself wrong. Their doors were opened. Brigit noted how intent they were on Seamus and saw the opportunity she needed to end the assignment once and for all. This had gone on long enough.

  Quietly, she approached the nearest gang member. For all their cursing and yelling, he didn’t hear her approach. Swiftly, she flipped her umbrella and hooked the crook of the handle about his throat. She only had a second to register the look of surprise on his face as she hurled him through the open door to her right.

  As she slammed the door, she felt the force of the blow against her jaw. The remaining gang member had tossed Seamus aside and was now focusing his wrath on her. Brigit shook off the blow and locked eyes with the remaining soul as he took another swing at her. Like the female Chupacabra, his eyes betrayed his thoughts of attack. Her mind remained focused on reading his thoughts as the sounds of Seamus’ moaning reached her ears.