Page 14 of Death Trap

I found Kyle in a suburb of California. According to his profile, he had committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning, and that’s exactly how I found his body, sitting in a running car in a closed garage. A scribbled note lay on the passenger seat addressed to his adoptive parents. A teenager of merely seventeen, he looked to be taking a peaceful nap behind the wheel instead of the gruesome reality that he had ended his own life.

His spirit, though, wasn’t in the garage when I arrived, and for a moment, there was a small flicker of panic on my part. Assignments like these where I didn’t arrive on time to deliver the death touch were always harder. The spirit could wander anywhere, and since they hadn’t crossed over yet, they hadn’t acquired the tracking feature, like Stephanie had. So, finding Kyle would solely be up to me. And I wasn’t a were-komodo dragon with crazy hunting skills. I was just me.

Walking around the car, I glanced back where Kyle’s body sat slumped in the seat, and my chest pinched with sorrow. His parents were going to be heartbroken when they got home and found him, and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for them. And Kyle, too. How much anguish had the teen been in to decide to finally end it all?

No judgement here, of course. Everyone had their reasons for everything, and in this line of work, suicide was a common thing I faced. But that didn’t dilute the sadness that came along with it.

Passing through the door into the laundry room, I entered the modest-sized ranch house and was greeted by silence.

Uh-oh. Had he left the house? I really didn’t want to search all of the state to find a rogue haunt right now. Especially when I was itching to get back and visit Wyatt and Marla.

“Kyle? Yoo-hoo!” I called to the empty house as I made my way through the kitchen. When I looked up, a shadow darkened the corner of the living room—a person sitting on the edge of the sectional sofa staring at his open hands. “Kyle?”

The stranger looked up, his brown eyes, dark hair, and boyish face matching the picture in the profile. Yep, this was Kyle all right. His ghostly form shimmered.

I approached slowly. Cautiously. Even though he was only seventeen, he was still a half demon, after all. The closer I got, the clearer the object he was staring at became. It was a tiny dancing flame. No bigger than a match’s strike, and it hovered there above his skin.

“Have you come to take me to Hell?” he asked, gaze never leaving the fire.

“What? No.” That took me off guard. “Iamhere to help you cross over into the afterlife though. Name’s Jade.”

Still, he didn’t look at me. “But don’t you know what I am? I’m a half demon. I belong in Hell.”

“Not necessarily,” I replied.

Finally, he peered up at me and closed his fists, snuffing out the fire. “Wait…really?”

“Yep. I mean, unless you’ve killed someone or something like that. Then, I can’t guarantee anything.”

“But I’m—”

“I heard you the first time,” I said. “What you are doesn’t matter. You’ll be placed by your character. Your actions. Along those lines.”

Kyle stood. “Even though I took my own life? Isn’t that…a sin or whatever?”

I shrugged. “It’s not going to influence much. I promise you. Now, if you come with me, everything will be explained to you.”

“Who are you? An angel or something?”

I laughed out loud at that one, hard enough for a snort to escape, too. “Uh, no. I’m a reaper. I help souls—like you—cross over into their afterlife once they die.”

His eyes widened with excitement. “A reaper, huh? Like the Grim Reaper? Where’s your hood and the big…” He made hand motions.

“Scythe?”

“Yeah, that’s it. Where’s yours?”

“Don’t believe everything you see in the movies, kid,” I said, pulling out my chalk. I started drawing the spirit door on the kitchen tile. “I’m just a normal person doing my job. That’s all.”

His face scrunched at that.

“Sorry to disappoint,” I added.

When I finished drawing the circle and symbols, the door glowed orange, and Kyle stepped back. Newly ignited flames licked around his fingers.

Not sure what he was doing, I waited, my body tense. If this was going to be a “drag him through” type of situation, I was going to have to be ready. My gun was close by, too, if it came to it. Hopefully, it didn’t.

But Kyle just stared at his hands again, like he had when I found him sitting on the couch, seeming like he was in slight disbelief.

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