Page 116 of Death Wish

When the golden elevator doors of Styx Corp. opened, I stepped inside the enormous office space that once belonged to my boss, the Angel of Death himself, Azrael. It was hard to believe that only months ago, I had been afraid to even be summoned to this place. But now, all that fear was gone, replaced with new ones.

Coming to Azrael’s office no longer scared me because the angel was still MIA. In his place, my old mentor, Simon, sat behind his desk, having been appointed the position in Azrael’s absence.

As expected, in the days of his promotion, he had done a hell of a job sorting out the mess Azrael had left behind. Death assignments were back on track. Everything was organized and working like a well-oiled machine.

Honestly, I never doubted Simon. Everything about him was fine-tuned and orderly. He was made for being the reaper in charge. I had said it since the day I met him—the guy oozed responsibility.

“Jade.” Simon greeted me as I walked into his huge office by rising out of his seat. “Thanks for coming.”

“Well, you summoned me, and I don’t want to get on my new boss’s bad side,” I said with a chuckle. “I hear he’s a real tough ass.”

Simon’s usual hardened expression cracked slightly and revealed a whisper of a smile.

“So, why do you need me?” I asked. “I’ve been following the rules this time. Haven’t gotten into any trouble. That I know of, at least.”

“No, no trouble, which I’m thankful for. But I did want to talk to you about something else.”

That set my nerves on edge. After returning back to the afterlife, I hadn’t known what to expect. Azrael could have been waiting for me on the other side of the spirit door for all I knew. But to my surprise, the afterlife was just how I’d left it. The only difference was that Simon had taken Azrael’s place and the chaos behind the veil was trying to be tamed by my other reaper coworkers.

My first trip back to Styx Corp was when I told Simon everything about my adventures with the living. Even about my new gifts and Azrael’s strange plot to have a trained assassin watch my every move. I had gone as far as to spill the beans about Xaver and the death cure, and when I finished my long spiel, Simon hadn’t looked the slightest bit surprised.

The man was a rock. Always had been.

“I always knew there was something special about you,” he’d said when I stopped my story, which had been the last thing I expected him to say.

“By special, you mean…weird? Peculiar?”

“Sometimes those are good traits to have. In your case, it seemed it saved lives.”

“You aren’t mad at me?”

“For not listening to me when I told you to stay out of living affairs?” He faked a laugh. “Oh, Jade. I know you better than that. When it comes to your heart, you’ll do whatever it takes. I just wish I had more answers for you. An angel’s mark… I’ll have to ask around about that one. That’s new to me.”

Unfortunately, with all of Simon’s knowledge and with how long he’d been in the game, he still couldn’t clarify any of my questions. The only bit of advice he could offer me was to dive back into my job, and if Azrael returned, we would face him together and demand answers.

It wasn’t much, but for some reason, knowing Simon was by my side in this did help some to calm my nerves. So now, when he’d called me into his office this morning, the same worry that usually clung to me didn’t this time. Even with his ominous words, “We need to talk.”

“I know you miss your friends,” Simon began, walking around the desk, down the few steps, and over to me. He still wore his long black frock that billowed behind him whenever he moved. “I’ve been keeping a close eye on the Medium girl and her progress in her pregnancy.”

Staying away from Kay had been the hardest thing I’d ever had to do. Of course, I hadn’t strayed too far, keeping a watchful eye from a distance where she couldn’t see me just to check in and make sure she was okay. But I hadn’t talked to her since the solstice to keep myself in Simon’s good graces.

From what I’d observed, everything seemed to be going fine. But now, I was worried.

I commanded my heartbeat to stay steady, but it jump-started on its own. After all this time and even while in spirit form, it still mimicked such living habits. “Is she okay?”

Simon held up a hand to calm me. “She’s fine. Actually, better than fine.” There it was again—that touch of a smile that curled the corners of his mouth ever so slightly. If I’d blinked, I would have missed it. “She had her baby.”

My heart started pounding for a different reason. Excitement filled me, followed by complete and utter fear. “Is the baby…?”

“Completely normal. Yes.”

Tears prickled my eyes. I sucked in a deep breath and held it for a few seconds to keep the tears from spilling over.

We’d done it. The ritual had worked. Everything I had done had worked. Kay was saved. More than that, such a terrible, traumatic event had turned into something beautiful for both her and Laurence. They had brought life into this world. Completely demon free.

“I think you should pay them a visit,” Simon went on.

I froze. Had I heard him right?

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