Page 26 of Death Wish

Trying to offer him a small smile, I said, “I’m glad to see you’re still here though.”

Seeing him meant two things. One, he hadn’t been Released. Yet—I reminded myself. After this catastrophe, who knew.

And two, Azrael must have sent him to fetch me. So, my boss must have had some idea of what was going on around here.

His expression turned grave, and with Simon’s sharp angular features, it wasn’t a comforting sight at all. He looked more like one of those Renaissance statues in museums, the ones that always look like they’re staring directly into your soul. Judging you. “I’ve come to find you because something’s happening at Styx Corp. Something not good.”

Uh-oh.

“The building is empty. Completely deserted,” he said. “Azrael is gone.”

My stomach dropped. “Gone? Just poof? Vanished?”

He nodded slowly. “I tried looking for him.”

Tracking him, he meant. Simon’s most useful talent. And if he couldn’t find him, then Azrael was really gone.

“He’s a little more difficult to get a read on, though, being a celestial being.”

“Do you think something’s happened? Like he’s been kidnapped or something?” I asked, although I couldn’t imagine that the Angel of Death could ever be forced to do anything he didn’t want to do. But I didn’t understand that part of the spiritual world, and now, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

“I don’t know,” Simon replied. “All the dimensions are locked down. No one is around to give the reapers any instructions. We are all still getting assignments pinged to our tablets from somewhere, but there’s no contact with anyone at Styx. I ran into Constance and Victor in the lobby, and they’re just going to keep to their work until Azrael notifies them.”

Constance and Victor were reapers in charge of human spirits across the seas. They’ve been doing this gig for way longer than me and were known for not pushing any buttons. So, I wasn’t surprised they were just going to keep their noses buried in work until things calmed down.

Me? I wanted to know what the heck was going on. From the look on Simon’s face, he was dying to know, too.

I hadn’t gotten any more notifications on my tablet. I wondered why that was.

“Maybe Azrael got some kind of special orders from the man upstairs? Or team, or whatever it is above him calling the shots?” I suggested, trying to offer myself some kind of reassurance that everything wasn’t actually going to shit. Maybe there was a logical explanation to it all.

Simon didn’t seem convinced, though. “An empty Styx Corp. and missing Angel of Death, and now the living can see you? Does that sound like a coincidence to you?”

“Only Cole can, as far as I know,” I said.

“Cole…” He pondered his name for a moment. “You’ve been interacting with him.” It was more a statement than a question.

“I didn’t really have a choice. He was my last assignment, and…it didn’t really go as planned.”

“Jade…” His voice took on a more scolding tone.

I held my hands up for him to let me explain. “I found him downtown passed out. As I went to touch him, he leapt up and attacked me. He wasn’t even close to dead. Not at all.”

Surprise captured Simon’s face. “What? That’s impossible. Maybe he was meant to have a sudden death, like an aneurysm?”

“His bio said a fight, death by a blunt object. Nothing about a sudden death. I figured someone at Styx had made a mistake.”

“They never make mistakes.” Simon shook his head frantically. “Never.”

“Well, maybe there’s a first time for everything. Besides, I didn’t really have time to think hard on it because he started firing his gun at me. He could see me, and I have no idea why.” I touched my shoulder where Cole’s special bullet had hit. The hole was gone, but the skin was still puckered and pink. “And his bullets actually made contact. They hurt like a bitch.”

Simon’s stunned silence said it all. During our training sessions, he was always the calm and collected one. Even through all my stupid mistakes and panicky moments, nothing seemed to surprise him. But now, the horror and fear in his face was unnerving.

If he didn’t know what was going on, then we were in trouble. We all were—both the living and the dead.

Simon gripped my shoulders. Tight. And looked me right in the eyes. I swallowed hard.

“Jade, you need to listen to me. Whatever is going on, you need to stay out of it and stick to your work. Keep your nose clean. Azrael must be fixing whatever is going on behind the scenes, and that means when he comes back, he needs to see that we were able to function without him. You need to lose this Cole guy and keep to your reaping assignments. Don’t go wandering. It can be dangerous for everyone, not just you. Especially if he can see you and hurt you. If things get worse, he may try to come after us all.” He paused. “Maybe that’s why Azrael wanted you to kill him. Maybe you should—”

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