Page 80 of Death Trap

There was no off button with her.

“It’s something I used to be able to contact my coworkers on,” I explained through clenched teeth. “But it’s obviously not working.”

“Stop it. Every time you look at it, you get my hopes up.”

I stopped pacing and dropped my arm. “I don’t see you contributing to our predicament at all.”

She pursed her lips.

“That’s what I thought.”

There were a few moments of silence. I was about to start my pacing again, when Tamara said, “If I had my magic…” But then she shook her head, seeming aggravated. “I’m not used to this.”

“Well, you don’t have it anymore, so you have to figure out how to function without it. Like the rest of us.”

“Like you? What about that white light emitting from your hands before?”

“That’s…new,” I muttered.

When I glanced at her again, sorrow weighed on her shoulders. Instantly, I was hit with regret. I hadn’t even considered how losing such a vital part of herself might feel.

“I’m sorry,” I began. “I shouldn’t have been so brash about it.”

“No, no. Don’t apologize. This is all still new to me, too. It’ll take me some time to get used to it, but I’ll figure it out. I always do.” The last part was said with a sigh, as if there were other kinds of demons lurking in her past.

I didn’t push. She wouldn’t tell me even if I did.

Maybe it would be wiser to get back to the task at hand.

“Let’s work together. Thinking about this separately isn’t working too well, and two heads are better than one. Or so the saying goes,” I said.

Tamara jumped up from the couch. “All right. I was trying to think back the spells in one of my black books.”

“Black…books…” Didn’t women used to have little black books for hot guys’ numbers or something pre cell phone? Wasn’t that a thing? But a black book of spells? That was new to me.

She waved at me to disregard that part so she could continue. “There are a few spells I’m thinking of that open a doorway from the living world to Hell. All require a blood sacrifice.”

“I know that. I had to use my blood to summon a full-blooded demon before,” I replied.

Her eyes widened. “And you didn’t pass out or die? Which demon?”

“Xaver.”

She rocked back in surprise. “He’s no little demon either. And you’re not even a living donor. You’re a reaper, you said. How—”

“The whole living thing is a long, complex story.”

“Light hands and you can switch from alive and dead? Did you kill him, too?” Eyeing me up and down, she harrumphed out loud. “I’m starting to see why Azrael sees you as a threat and needs you out of the way.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. All this power and accountability was still new to me. It seemed like just yesterday I was struggling to do my job reaping souls and crossing them over. I certainly never felt special in any way—lost and out of place, sure, but never special.

I was still taking it all in.

“Well, similar to that summoning spell you used to summon Xaver to the living world, most spells that open doors to Hell use the same basic steps. Maybe we can use that in a way to open something to the living world… Inverting some of the symbols or something…”

Doors… I knew something about doors that crossed from the living and afterlife dimensions.

“I’ve drawn my share of spirit doors during my job, too. If we mix those elements in, could that work?” I asked.

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