Page 15 of Reaper's Ruin
I considered not answering, but those eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes seemed to pull the truth from my mouth. “I’m a Reaper.”
Her face froze. “A Reaper? LikeGrimReaper?”
I scrunched my brow. “I don’t know anyone named Grim Reaper, but I’m not him. I’m a Reaper, and it’s my job to deal with souls who refuse to move on. To ensure they don’t linger and poison the living world by haunting them.”
She let out a breath. “Damn. Okay. Well, you definitelylookmore like a Reaper than an angel, so that explains that. I always thought Reapers like showed up to pull the soul from the body. Like you killed us.”
I shook my head. “No. Reapers don’t kill the living. In fact, we can’t harm the living. We only deal with the souls who don’t move on.”
“Okay. So that’s more of our lore we got wrong. Fairies don’t have wings or fly. Reapers don’t kill us. So, Reapers help us find our door? That’s your job?”
I struggled to say the next words, and the moment I did, I wanted to shove them back inside my mouth. “No. Our job is to extinguish the souls who refuse to move on. Erase them from existence.”
“You mean... help them move on? Right? That’s what you meant by extinguish?” she said, her words slowing this time as realization started dawning on her that I wasn’t here as some friendly soul shepherd meant to be her helping hand to the afterlife awaiting her.
My jaw clenched as I shook my head slowly, a strange flicker of something erupting in my gut.
Guilt? Was that what that feeling was? It had been so long since I’d felt it, I couldn’t quite place the strange sensation.
Her breath trapped in her lungs as her eyes widened in fear. “What?What? No. What the fuck! You’re here toerase me?Like for good? Like no Heaven? Is that what you’re saying?”
“I’m sorry. It’s my duty to keep the balance. If a soul won’t move on, I must eradicate it from existence.”
She pushed back away from, scrambling backward on her hands. “No! Oh, God. Please no. Please don’t erase me!”
That thing, that... emotion, I believed it was, twinged inside me again as I looked into those terrified eyes. “I’m sorry. I can’t leave you lingering here with the living. Souls who don’t go through their door must be erased.”
“But... I haven’t had time to find my door! One of those things, a Reaper, I guess, came for me almost immediately!” she continued, her words spilling out faster. “How am I supposed to find peace when I’m running for my life? Or, afterlife? Whatever! I mean, what the fuck? I literally just found out I was dead liketwo secondsago and you’re already going to erase me? That’s... bullshit! You know what? Total bullshit! I... I want to speak to your manager! Do you have a manager?” She slammed her eyes shut. “Oh, God. I’m a Karen in the afterlife, but damn it! This is not fair! Please! Iwantmy door! I swear I’m not going to like haunt people or some weird shit like that. Just give me time. I need time! I want to find my door and get to my mother more than anything!Please!”
Something cold settled in my gut as she begged, hot tears spilling faster by the second.
She’d just died? Just realized her human life had ended?
Reapers were never sent for souls so new to death. It was the fundamental law of Reaping—souls were given time to find their peace, to seek their door. Only those who lingered too long and refused to move on, at least a couple of weeks, were to be reaped.
It made no sense. Unless...
No. I pushed the thought aside. The Veil Lords’ commands were not to be questioned. My duty was clear.
“I’m sorry. It’s the way things have to be.”
She launched to her feet and bolted, racing through the market, slicing through the living as she fled into a dark alley. I followed her, slowly, finding her cowering in a corner, her eyes closed tightly as she whispered, “Jump. Please jump. Jump, jump, jump,” over and over again.
I realized then she was trying to jump away again, in whatever way she’d accomplished that before. My duty was clear, and at any moment, she could disappear again. Now that she was in the shadows, I could fulfill my mission and reap the unreapable soul before I lost her again.
I stood, towering over her, knees pressed to her chest, her arms wrapped tightly around them as if she could protect herself from me.
She couldn’t.
My scythe pulsed beneath my skin, it’s desire to slice through her palpable as it almost seemed to beg to fulfill its duty. The way I usually felt when I was this close to reaping. But this time, I felt no joy in what was to come next.
I felt... sadness.
Another strange emotion I’d long since forgotten.
One pull and she’d be in the Shadowveil with me.
One swipe and this would be over.
