Reaper's Novice (Soul Collector #1)

by Cecilia Robert

  “Hello.”

  I blink and shift on my seat to face a Chimera two seats from Zig. I’m not sure which of the heads spoke to me. One is flirting with a Vampire opposite me, and two are focused on me.

  “Oh, hi. Are y—” The two heads have already lost interest in me. So much for mingling.

  There’s throat clearing on my left. I turn to face the Djinn beside me, his smile so bright it’s blinding.

  “Hello, I’m Adis.” He extends his hand. “Your escort for the evening.”

  Yep. Date number three hundred I think.

  I’ve heard of him: a celebrity in the Afterworld, known for his unstable moods. A trickster prince from the North African desert rumoured to have exiled himself from his home to save his butt from his deadly siblings.

  “Hi.” I shake his hand. He holds on to me a little longer than necessary. “Enjoying your dinner so far?” I tug at my hand. He drops it.

  “It just got better.” He winks, trailing a long finger down my arm.

  I lunge for my glass of water on the table and gulp down half of it.

  Wailing, or what would pass for music, fills the hall. It’s going to be a long dinner.

  Two hours later, I flee the dining hall. Adis is a menace at flirting. Besides, I’m too anxious about tomorrow’s collection.

  D-DAY PLUS ZERO. That is what I’m calling it. My last day as a Novice. I wipe my hands down my skirt, praying under my breath that my final test isn’t anyone I know.

  Leaning on the lamppost opposite Vienna Opera House, I glance at the time on my mobile. 7:50 a.m.

  Yesterday evening in the library, Grim informed me where the collection will take place. When I asked him why I was getting prior information instead of the usual instructions, he told me this collection was a ‘live one’. After his cryptic answer, he left the library leaving me to stew in my own thoughts.

  I check the time on my mobile again. 8:00. The exact time Grim asked me to wait here. I push away from the lamppost and straighten my knee-length skirt. After making sure the dagger is snuggled in its ankle holster on my right leg, I scan the area, which is flooded by tourists. No pulsating soul. I stand on my toes as a throng of people sweeps past. Pedestrians gather at the corners, waiting at the intersection for the lights to change. The masses of people make their way across the street. Still no soul. I pull out my cell to call Grim, then pause, watching a young man step off the curb with headphones covering his ears. His raven black hair bobs to a beat only he can hear.

  Is he my client? His red soul colour indicates no sign of soul collection. He’s… alive. Grim’s words about a ‘live one’ slam into my brain. Am I supposed to kill him to collect his soul?

  My final test. My guarantee to having my family’s souls back.

  I yank the dagger from the sheath at my ankle and wait. I might be aiming for the wrong client.

  Instructions flash in my head at the same time screeching tires slice the air. A rusty Nissan jumps the light on the opposite side of the street, swerving drunkenly and bearing straight for the boy. But he’s lost in his music and doesn’t even see it. I look at the car, which seems to have gained speed. This is wrong. The soul isn’t ready.

  My heart jolts wildly as I read the instructions and watch the car.

  Soul colour: Red

  Age: 19

  Collection site: Vienna Opera House, Opernring

  This confirms the collection.

  I break into a sprint, which in my high heels is like walking on thorns. The closer I get to the boy, the harder my heart pounds in my chest. I push my feet forwards, ignoring the pain pulling at the back of my legs. I am not sure what I’m doing, but my legs urge me forwards, dagger gripped in my hand.

  Twenty feet and the car will make contact. I shake my heels off in the running process. I wince and bite my tongue as tiny pebbles dig into my feet. I leap forwards with all my strength, the dagger high in the air. Right before our bodies connect, I edge the sharp tip of the knife away from him, and knock him down before the Nissan can reach him. The minute I touch him, he’s covered by the concealment, and the car charges through us. With my hands still around him, I roll us away from the street. We come to an abrupt stop at the base of a lamppost. I groan as pain shoots from my spine.

  Gasping for air, I blink up at him. His eyes are unfocused, his headphones dangling on his chest.

  I whisper thanks for the small amount of invincibility Grim injected into my system. “Are you all right?” He moans. I shake his shoulders. His head rocks back and forth. “Look at me.” My heart is shrinking by the second and I don’t know why.

  After a few solid shakes, he blinks several times. His midnight-blue eyes fringed with long spiky lashes refocus.

  Midnight-blue eyes. Raven messy hair. The upper-front-tooth-chipped smile he’s so famous for. Lip ring on his lower lip.

  “Kimdane?”

  His lips widen into a smile. Did he injure his head? I examine his pupils. Normal. My concern evaporates, replaced by rising anger. I push him off and groan as I stagger to my feet. “What’s wrong with you? You were nearly killed!”

  Kimdane’s smile vanishes. His eyes shift from my tattered skirt to my quickly healing scraped knees and elbows to his skinned knuckles. He touches his bleeding cheek and stares at his fingers before looking at me.

  Crap! What have I done? My family. God, what a mess!

  “What just happened?” Kimdane asks. “Who are you?”

  “Some idiot who made a foolish mistake.” I have to go. Leave before he starts asking questions. I snatch my hand from his, hurrying away.

  The air buzzes with murmurs. People stare at us. Well, at Kimdane. The moment I broke skin contact, he was no longer concealed. People dash forwards, squealing and shrieking. Kimdane’s eyes grow wide, looking helpless before he’s devoured by the crowd. I groan and shift through the bodies, grab his hand, and once again, the concealment cloaks him. Everyone looks around, confused.

  I brought this on him so I better get him out of it. I’ll drop him off at a less populated area.

  I drag him away from the shocked pedestrians and down Kärtner Ring, my eyes searching for a deserted alley. “Thank you,” he murmurs.

  I clench my jaw to stop wincing as pebbles dig into my feet.

  I stop abruptly, poking at his broken headphones. “Would it hurt to watch out for cars while you’re crossing the street?”

  Kimdane frowns, eyes on my hand holding the dagger. “Why do you have a knife in your hand?” I curse under my breath, lean down, and tuck it back in the sheath without letting go of his hand. Straightening. I scan the streets, teeming with people, and catch a glimpse of a woman with gold flowing hair, glowering in our direction. Her cobalt-blue dress billows in a non-existent breeze. Even with the distance between us, the sheer force of her familiar blue eyes cuts the air circulating in my lungs.

  The last time I saw that face was during the Unveiling dinner. I can’t remember which one of the three Fates she is. What’s she doing here? She’s never been present at any of my collections before. Did Grim send her to evaluate my test?

  The Fate glides forwards, her icy stare unwavering. Crows circle above her, flying lower.

  “Little Novice,” she says, hands on her hips. “Didn’t anyone ever warn you that tangling with us is not fun? We weave futures, pasts, and presents. You collect souls. Stick to what you know. Otherwise…” She raises one hand and snaps her fingers. The crows burst into a show of feathers, settling into human forms with beaks and red glowing eyes. They throw their feathered heads back, cawing until the air splinters in shreds. They crouch, then launch themselves in the air, their focus on us.

  Heart pounding in my ears, I yank Kimdane, who still looks disgruntled, and dash down the crowded Parkring. He yells something, but the wind snatches it before I can make out what he said. We turn another corner, spilling into a street flooded with people. I peek over my shoulder, to see the flock of crows round the corner, wings flapping. I halt in fron
t of a terracotta building. The crow people are gaining on us. Why aren’t they flying?

  I turn to Kimdane. “Don’t panic, okay?” Wrong choice of words.

  His eyes pop wide. “What do you m—?”

  I shift us through one building to the next without pause. After shifting through several houses, we appear outside the Academy of Fine Arts. People are scattered all over the place. I can’t leave him here. Did it have to be him? A bloody celebrity for God’s sake! The whole police force will be looking for him.

  The thought of the four souls sends a shudder all over my body, and I want to kick something. Why did my test have to be a living, breathing, and healthy human?

  I bite my lip instead and turn to Kimdane. “Where did you drop your shadow?”

  “Huh?”

  “Your bodyguard. Thought you weren’t supposed to walk around on your own.”

  “You know me?”

  “Are you serious? Your picture is all over the place.”

  He smiles and a dimple deep enough to hold a litre of water appears on his right cheek. Oh for crying out loud! A dimple, too? Turning away from him, I glance around. No sign of the crow people. I pause and lean forwards to take deep breaths.

  Kimdane peers at me. “Are you all right?”

  I nod. I messed things up really bad.

  Something flits at the corner of my eye. I lift my head a notch and gasp.

  Sinteler stands about thirty feet away with Rolf at his side, clad in long black cloaks swirling at their feet. Rolf’s face is set in an unrecognizable expression: cold, determined. I barely recognize the eyes focused our way.

  “We meet again.” Sinteler’s voice travels the space between us. I jerk back.

  Beside me Kimdane inhales sharply, his eyes focused on Sinteler. “Holy shit! Who’s the goon?”

  “You can see him?”

  Kimdane darts me a look. “Of course. I have to say they need a wardrobe makeover.”

  “Let’s go.” I pull his hand, and we start to move.

  Kimdane stumbles after me, then tries to pull his hand back, unsuccessfully. “What’s going on? First you attack me—”

  “I didn’t attack you! I saved your ass.” I push my legs faster.

  “—then we’re racing down streets, with creepy people who look like crows—which I thought was my imagination.” I halt so suddenly he slams into me, sending me stumbling back. He yanks me with a tug of his wrist, and my head hits his chest.

  “You saw the crow people?” This is getting weirder by the minute. “Who are you?”

  “I can ask you the same question.” He pants the words out.

  “No time for details. We have to keep moving.”

  “I don’t think so, Ana.” I spin around to find Rolf swaggering towards us. A black cloud of Tarnished shaped like a lasso swirls around his hands. “Play nice now and hand him over.”

  “Hand who over?” Kimdane asks. “Who’s the funny guy?”

  “You’ll have to trust me, okay?” I say in a low voice, my eyes still on Rolf. There’s nothing in those grey eyes that I recognize.

  “Trust you? Are you crazy? Who are you?”

  “Crazy? Maybe. Who am I?” The one who could snatch your soul in one slice of my soul dagger. “The one who saved your butt a few moments ago, and now I’m trying to extend your life by a few more hours, at least. Right now, trust is the only thing you’ve got.”

  Sinteler shoulders past Rolf and stalks towards us, arms raised. “I see you’re in good health after our last encounter, Ana.” Basketball size balls of smoke appear on his hands. They move and twist, snaking around his hands. Tarnished. I shudder at the memory of Sinteler inserting one of those through my neck. “I’m not about to let you ruin my hard work. You failed to collect his soul. Now, you can either hand him over or have it the hard way.”

  Sinteler and Rolf’s appearance for this collection could only mean one thing, and that was what Schulz, Schuster, and Zaynab kept telling me. Follow my heart. Which means Kim… no. It can’t be. I peek up at him, studying this normal-looking guy chewing the side of his lip where the ring is, confusion and fear pouring out of him.

  Kimdane can only be one person. Elias’s son. Sweat pops up all over my body.

  He looks at me nervously. “If we survive this, I need an explanation, Ana. That’s your name, right?”

  I nod and turn to face Sinteler. “Not on your life, Sinteler.” I hardly recognize my own voice. Sinteler’s eyes widen. His lips tighten, and his face turns red. A sudden gust of wind sweeps the streets as the Fate and her crow people appear from thin air.

  Time to go. I tighten my hand around Kimdane’s at the same time Sinteler hurls the ball on his right hand towards us. Heart racing, I push Kimdane to the side and, before it hits its mark, I duck to my left, pulling the dagger in the process. From the corner of my eye, Kimdane pulls himself to his feet, his breath pumping in and out of his lips fast, his eyes on Sinteler. The air around us buzzes with murmurs and yelling. Fingers and fluttering hands point towards Kimdane. Crap! I dart to his side and grab his hand, but he pushes me aside.

  “Remember the trust thing we spoke about just moments ago?” I say, angling my body to block his from any Tarnished being thrown at us, dagger in the ready. I clasp his hand tighter and shift. We appear on a flatland somewhere.

  “HAVE WE LOST THEM?” Kimdane asks. His hand trembles for just a second before tightening in mine.

  “Not sure.”

  As if hearing our voices, or sensing us Sinteler, Rolf, and the Fate, with her minions, appear. Before they can settle, Rolf swings his lasso-shaped Tarnished towards us with precision.

  Before I can move the hand holding the dagger, Kim yelps. The lasso grazed him on the left hand, leaving a black slimy substance. Another attack follows. I swing my arm in time and duck to the side, pulling Kimdane with me. The Fate she snaps her fingers and the crow people descend on us. Another lasso misses us by an inch. Quickly I tug at Kimdane’s hand, shift, and appear inside line U3 at Stubentor U-Bahn Station. I shift us out again and appear next to the United Nations on the twenty-second district. After continuously shifting several times, I hand Kim the dagger to free up one hand to call Zig, making sure I have skin contact with Kim the whole time.

  During the past months, I mastered the art of Mental Conversation, but I prefer my head clear of any voices. Zig answers on the first ring as though he’s been waiting for the call. “Ana? What the hell’s going on?”

  I let out a shaky breath. “I messed up, Zig. Sinteler and Rolf are on my trail.” I proceed to give him a short version of what happened.

  “Where are you?”

  “Not sure. They keep finding me every time we shift.”

  “Shift back to Vienna. Head over to World’s Edge building. The Ley lines and the energy surrounding them will block you by dissolving any shifting traces.” He blows out a breath. “I’ll meet you there.”

  “No!” I say quickly and tilt sideways to peek at Kimdane. His dark eyes are trained on me like a hawk. It’s unnerving. Would he freak out if he saw Zig bearing down on us like a truck, blue eyes shining? Despite his good looks and charm, Zig can be quite frightening. I’ve seen how people part to let him pass when he’s unconcealed. Unable to hold the gaze any longer, I stare at Kimdane’s booted feet. “Not a good idea. One more thing, though. Do you remember Schulz’s story? Would you think of any other reason Sinteler and Rolf would be at the collection site?”

  “Do you think he’s the one?”

  “Without a doubt.”

  Zig whistles under his breath. “Be careful, lovely.”

  “I have to go.”

  “Until later, then.”

  I hang up and take the dagger from Kimdane. If he is shaken by what’s happening, I can’t tell. His pulse beats fast and hard against mine where our skin touches. “Come on. Let’s go.”

  “Where?”

  “Some place safe,” I say, then shift. Seconds later we walk inside World’s Edge
tower. Not sure if I should go to Bastian, I lead Kimdane through the lobby area and to the east side of the room where it’s quieter. I slide to the floor, and he joins me, stretching his long legs in front of him. I take his hand in mine to examine it.

  “I’ll try to make this as painless as possible.” The skin around his hand is already tinged with the black substance from the Tarnished seeping into his skin. “If I don’t do this, you’ll get very sick.” I remember what Bastian said when he helped remove the Tarnished. Later on, he explained other ways to heal the skin grazed by them. For a burn this small, the dagger would do.

  “At this point, I’m not sure I can say no to anything you tell me.” As soon as the dagger’s sharp edge touches his skin, he tenses. He doesn’t move away. I cut three tiny slashes with the tip of the dagger and press the flat surface on the skin. Black ooze seeps out of the cuts. When I look up, his eyes are squeezed tight, veins popping on his neck.

  “You didn’t tell me who you are,” Kimdane says, opening his eyes. He catches my gaze then turns to study the Euphoria Club’s interior. I can only imagine what this feels like for him. His eyes widen as he scrutinizes the Draangel bouncer. “I’m imagining things,” he mutters under his breath.

  “I assure you you’re not.”

  “Which means you won’t tell me who you are, as well. Not your name. You, you.”

  I nod, scanning the lobby.

  Kimdane grunts in frustration. “So, what can you tell me? One minute I’m normal and the next I can see things?”

  “Sorry. I can’t. Really. I’m so sorry.”

  About twenty minutes later, I release his hand. He rubs it, twisting his lips as his fingers touch some of the ooze. He wipes it on his jeans. His eyes move from my hair back to my legs, lingering on the dagger holster, then back to my face. Abruptly, he leans over and begins to unlace his ankle length boots.

  I frown. “What are you doing?”

  He doesn’t answer me. After slipping his feet out—pale feet with slender cute toes—he yanks the socks from them and slips the boots back on. “Here. Put these on.” He eyes my grimy feet. With everything going on, I forgot I was barefoot. I stare at the socks for a long time, until he pushes them into my hands. “Take them.”