Page 3 of Guarded By the Reaper

Minutes ago, I’d walked out of the conference room, my heart heavy in my chest. I hadn’t realized just how much hope I’d placed on this meeting, on the possibility that this creature, this Grim Reaper, might actually be able to help me. And then I saw him storming out of his handler’s office, slamming the door shut, his cloak billowing behind him. A second after, Norman walked out and studied his door for damage, then saw me and gave me this helpless shrug, his face a mixture of pityand something that looked suspiciously like relief. And I just... snapped.

Without thinking, I ran after the reaper. Followed him down the hallway, ignoring the startled gasps and whispered comments. The elevator seemed to take forever, so I took the stairs. They led to the roof access door. I didn’t even hesitate. I just pushed through the door and there he was, standing at the edge of the building, his back to me, the wind whipping at his cloak. Without thinking, I grabbed him.

I let go of his cloak the second I realized what I’d done. It slipped from my grasp, he pulled it back over him and whirled around. Our eyes met. And really, that was what stopped the scream from escaping my throat. It was the flicker of something startled – human – in those endless depths that made me realize he wasn’t just a monster.

He was something else. Something far more ancient and terrible than anything I could’ve imagined.

“Who are you?” His voice was a dry rasp. And there was steel underneath, a cold fury that sent a shiver through me. “What do you want?”

I took a step back, my hand flying to my mouth. “I… I’m Camellia Aster,” I stammered. “You… you need to help me.”

“Help you?” He laughed, a humorless sound that echoed across the rooftop. “You lied to my handler, Ms. Aster. You hid things from him, which means you hid things from me.”

“I… I didn’t mean to lie,” I said, my voice barely a whisper. I clutched my purse tighter, suddenly feeling the need to pull my phone out.

For some reason, having my phone in my hand always made me feel better. Why? Maybe because if I found myself in a difficult situation and I felt threatened, I could film everything. It was a stupid thought, especially given the circumstances. It would’ve been a bad idea to start digging for my phone now. Butthen again, this whole day had just been one bad decision after another.

His gaze pinned me in place. “Why are you really here, Ms. Aster? Why did you follow me?”

I took a deep breath. There was no point in holding back now.

“I… I made a deal with Ma-Vasha,” I confessed. The words felt wrong, dirty, even though I’d said them a million times in my head, practiced them until they’d lost all meaning. But saying them out loud, to this… this terrifying creature… It changed everything.

His jaw tightened. “Don’t speak the name of that wretched soul-eating creature.”

“But…”

“Don’t,” he growled, and the shadows around him seemed to deepen.

My pulse quickened.

“Okay. Okay, I’m sorry.” I pressed my lips together, trying to still the trembling in my hands. “It’s just that… She promised to… to save my sister.”

My sister. My sweet Elysia. Her laugh was the only thing that had kept me tethered to this world after our parents died in a car crash. And this creature – this Ma-Vasha… She’d promised to keep Elysia safe. And she had. My sister’s leukemia, which had been in remission, had come back with a vengeance a few months after our parents were gone. And the doctors just kept shaking their heads, uttering platitudes about “quality of life” and “making her comfortable.” As if comfort was a worthy substitute for a life barely lived.

“Stop.” The word was a low growl, barely audible above the howling wind. “Don’t say her name, either.”

He was closer now, his presence radiating a bone-chilling cold that seemed to seep into my clothes, my skin, my very bones. Iwanted to pull away, to run back to the safe, sterile silence of the MSA halls below, but my feet were glued to the spot.

“Elysia,” I stammered. “She’s all I have left.”

He turned away then, stalked across the rooftop, his movements stiff and jerky. The scythe dragged behind him, making a scraping noise against the gravel. Its silver blade glowed and pulsed with a faint, inner light. My fingers itched for my phone again. What wouldn’t I give for a picture of this monster. To show people he wasn’t just a child’s fairy tale, a figment of our collective imagination. He was real.

Even with that hideous cloak hiding most of him, he was terrifying. More inhuman than any monster I’d seen in the city, on the streets, going about their business in cafés and supermarkets. Humans and monsters had always lived side by side, and my kind wasn’t scared of them, but sometimes... Sometimes you just came upon a monster like no other, and your perception of what the world was got flipped on its head a bit.

The Grim Reaper was everything I’d ever feared and yet, my only hope right now.

“You’re already dead, Ms. Aster,” he said, his voice devoid of emotion. “She should’ve told you that. You make a deal with that thing. There’s no going back. No negotiating.”

“But the creatures–”

“Poppets,” he interrupted, resuming his pacing. “They’re called Poppets.”

The name sent a shiver down my spine. Poppets. It sounded so innocent. Almost childlike. Not at all fitting for the creatures that had been haunting my every move. I’d tried to draw them, sketching their grotesque forms in the sketchbook I always carried with me, while I hid in a café bathroom, my hand shaking so badly I could barely hold the pencil. I’d shown the drawing to Norman, hoping he might recognize the creatures. He hadn’t said a word, just stared at the paper with a mixture ofhorror and pity, like I’d drawn a portrait of his worst nightmare. I let him keep the drawing so he could show it to the bodyguard he chose for me.

Because I hadn’t chosen the Grim Reaper. His handler had, based on the information about my case.

“The Poppets are everywhere. Watching me. Leaving things. Dead things.” A shudder ripped through me, and I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to hold myself together. “They haven’t entered my house yet, but I see them lurking outside, at the windows, no matter if it’s light or dark.” Because that was the thing – they weren’t creatures of darkness. They showed up everywhere, all the time. Even in my dreams. “I just need you to keep them away for fourteen days. That’s all. Fourteen days and then…”

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