Angel of Death: (Reaper Series Book 1) Page 11

  BEYOND THE VOID

  Peyton didn't know how long she was out. She was only dimly aware of all the things that had transpired, almost certain that she was waking up from a vivid and freakish nightmare, that she was in her own bed, wrapped in her blankets, and that she would soon be enjoying a fresh cup of coffee from her own kitchen.

  Except she then realized that the surface she was lying on was too hard. That she could hear water running, like from a stream. Then she heard voices. Two men, but one of them... one sounded strange. Like his voice was echoing up from a deep well, and that the voice belonged to many speaking in unison.

  "This is far from what we discussed, Darius."

  "I had little choice. The rogue is far stronger than we imagined. He closed your void with barely an effort. Overpowered me with ease. He came so close to taking her soul, I thought for sure I had failed."

  "Do you call this a success?"

  "I call it improvising."

  A deep sigh resonated from the one with the strange voice. "Azrael will not be pleased with this. To be honest, Darius, I am not very happy, either."

  "What would you have had me do, Charon?" Darius snapped, sounding as though he was losing patience. "Leave her to the rogue? Let him have her? Hand her over to a fate that was never meant to be written for her, or anyone? You know me. You know I would never have done that."

  "Yes, but why bring her here? No living mortal has ever set foot here. Ever!"

  "This is the only place I could think of where the rogue wouldn't chase her. He was afraid of the void, Charon, he closed it as soon as he was able. I think that as much power as he has gained, you may still be able to overpower him."

  "But I cannot leave the River. I am bound to it."

  "Which is why we are safe here."

  Peyton slowly opened her eyes and looked around, blinking rapidly as she shook off the grogginess of having just awoken from her unconscious state. She was immediately wide awake, however, when she saw her surroundings. She was in a huge cave, full of light and color and a gigantic, gorgeous river flowing so far in each direction that she couldn't see where it ended. As she looked around, she uneasily climbed to her feet, beginning to turn in a circle to take it all in, but when she saw the two men she had heard speaking, she froze and stared in horror at the taller of the pair, the one that stood in the river, bandages over his eyes and claws at the end of each finger. Both men were looking at her.

  Before either Darius or Charon had time to react, Peyton had screamed and stumbled backwards, tripping over her feet and falling onto her rear end with a thump. She scrambled backwards, not taking her eyes off of the giant monster that stood mere feet from her.

  "Miss Paradisa, please stay calm," Darius said, holding out his hands in a non-threatening way. Peyton was in no mood to listen to him, though. She climbed quickly to her feet, turned and ran, ignoring the fact that she was barefoot. She had only gone a few steps, though, when Darius was suddenly in front of her again, appearing out of thin air.

  "Please, we're not going to hurt you," Darius said as Peyton skidded to a stop in front of him. Peyton stared at him, close to hyperventilating.

  "You..." she began, trying to regain some control. "You're the one. From my house. The invisible man?"

  Darius inclined his head respectfully. "Darius, Miss Paradisa."

  "Call me Peyton," she said automatically, still sounding uncertain. She glanced over her shoulder at the man in the river. "And, um... what is that?" She pointed her thumb over her shoulder, lowering her voice as she spoke so as to not be overheard by the creature.

  "That is Charon," Darius informed her. "The River-Man."

  "A pleasure to speak with you at last, Peyton," Charon smiled. Peyton noticed that his teeth were rotten and pointed. Charon seemed to notice what she was looking at, despite the bandages, and grinned wider. "Don't let my appearance alarm you. I am harmless to you."

  "Charon only has power over the deceased who come here," Darius explained. "Not that he harms any of them. He is surprisingly gentle."

  "Darius, you embarrass me in front of the lady."

  "Wait, wait!" Peyton cried, holding up both hands in a gesture to stop. She looked at Darius with an expression of disbelief and incredulity, as though she was speaking to a crazy person.

  "This is nuts,” she said plainly, almost laughing as she spoke. "I don't know who you people are, but I want to go home. Right now."

  Darius sighed with sympathy. "Peyton, I'm afraid that can't happen right now. The creature that attacked you may still be there. And if not, he is still hunting you."

  Peyton remembered the cloaked figure, the skeletal hand and the shortness of breath as something inside her was being torn loose.

  "What was that?" Peyton asked in a whisper, unconsciously holding a hand to her chest where the creature had passed its hand through.

  "That was a Reaper," Darius replied, gravely.

  Peyton didn't react right away. She continued to stare at Darius, now with renewed conviction that he was a lunatic. "The Grim Reaper?" she asked.

  "Not quite," Charon said. Peyton turned to look up at him. "The notion of The Grim Reaper is a mortal invention made up of centuries of mistranslations of text and inaccurate interpretations. The Grim Reaper is a fairy tale. But, there are still Reapers. One of which is standing beside you now."

  Peyton turned her head and looked at Darius, instinctively taking a step away from him. "You kill people?"

  Darius frowned slightly. "I'm sorry, Peyton, but you have many years of inaccurate information, so this is clearly disturbing for you. But no, I do not kill people. People live and people die, I only show them where to go when they do. I have no involvement in causing death."

  "What about Voss?" Peyton questioned.

  Darius suddenly looked visibly upset, the guilt filling his face in an instant. He turned away from Peyton and stared at the River, his arms folded over his chest.

  "I... I had never done that to anyone before. It felt... wrong. Like I had soiled my soul. But I couldn't let him kill you, Peyton. I believed that it wasn't your time, that you were not supposed to die. So I intervened. I will undoubtedly face punishment for my actions, but first we must make sure you are protected from this rogue Reaper."

  "Why does it want me?" Peyton asked, almost pleading. "I'm not anything special. I didn't even know any of this stuff was real! Why me?"

  Charon spread his hands wide. "We do not know. But we believe it has something to do with your lack of fate.”

  “Lack of… what?” Peyton asked, her confusion only growing stronger.

  Darius stepped closer and held up his wrist for Peyton to see. She saw he was pointing at a blank, faceless watch on his wrist.

  “This watch,” Darius began, “is supposed to tell me, and all Reaper’s who wear it, exactly how long is left in a mortal’s lifespan. Precisely how long, down to the second.”

  “There’s nothing there,” Peyton pointed out.

  Darius passed a hand over the watch and Peyton was surprised to see several hands appear, all glowing a bright pearly white. Darius pointed at them and continued to explain.

  “As you can see, there are seven hands. Each one counting down a particular aspect of time. Years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds. When the hands all reach the upwards position and turn black…”

  “Someone dies?” Peyton asked. “So is that thing… counting down my life right now?”

  “Not exactly,” Darius said. “If you look, you can see that the hands are not moving. They are not counting down at all. This is why I initially took an interest in you, Peyton. You have no fate, which is impossible for mortals. You need a fate. All life has a beginning and an end, it’s the way the universe functions.”

  “Are you saying I’m immortal or something?” Peyton asked, smirking hesitantly at how ridiculous the words sounded coming out of her mouth. Darius didn’t seem to notice and lowered his arm, shaking his head.

/>   “Far from it. I believe the rogue has caused some disturbance in the design, which has resulted in your fate no longer being visible to us.”

  “It is a strange occurrence,” Charon said. Peyton had almost forgotten he was there and his ethereal voice made her jump. “As far as I know, it has never happened before, so why this rogue would be stealing souls and changing the design is beyond my understanding.”

  "But he must have a plan in mind," Darius said. "Something far bigger than any one of us. He has changed too much, taken too many souls, ruined the design. He can't be allowed to continue. For whatever reason, he has decided you are his next target, Peyton. And whatever reason that is, he cannot be allowed to get you."

  "Wait," Peyton said. "You said 'taken too many souls'. What do you mean? What..." Her voice trailed off as she thought of the skeletal hand inside her chest once more. The sensation of something being moved around, of being pulled, of being forcibly removed from her body. "When it had me... it was stealing my soul?"

  Darius nodded. "Yes. That is what I did to Doctor Voss when he was about to murder you. The difference is, I sent his soul here for Charon to guide wherever it must go. The rogue, however, seems to be keeping them."

  Peyton suddenly felt a tremendous urge to sit down. Failing the presence of any chairs, she simply sat heavily down on the ground. She drew her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly.

  "I'm dreaming," she said aloud to herself. "This is only a dream. This can't be real. It has to be a dream."

  Charon bent low and gently placed an enormous hand on her shoulder, his fingers so long that they were able to reach her opposite shoulder with ease. Peyton stiffened, but otherwise did not react.

  "It will be okay, child," Charon said softly, his ethereal voice suddenly sounding soothing to Peyton. She found her body relaxing and her racing heart began to slow. "You are safe with Darius. He will protect you."

  Peyton suddenly felt calmer, more in control. She loosened her hold on her knees and looked up at Charon. While his face was horrific, she suddenly felt ashamed at her initial response to his visage. She had seen worse in burn victims and patients with various diseases. She began to climb to her feet. Charon offered his hand to help her and she took it.

  "Thank you," she said to him. "I'm sorry about the way I acted when I saw you. I hope I didn't offend you."

  Charon grinned widely. "Nonsense. Others have reacted far worse than you. A musician named John Lennon once started throwing rocks from the riverbed at me, telling me to 'go back to hell.' You were far more rational."

  Still dumbfounded, and surprised by the name-drop, Peyton smiled at Charon. The smile was still uncertain, but it came easily.

  "So, um..." she began, turning to Darius. "What now? Do I just hide out here or something?"

  Darius looked at Charon, who shook his head. "I cannot watch over you, I'm afraid. The rogue may be afraid to face me, but I have crucial work to do that I have neglected long enough. Eventually the rogue will come here searching for you and there is no guarantee that I will be able to reach you in time to stop him. Darius, Peyton must stay with you at all times."

  "Of course," Darius replied. "But I certainly can't fight off the rogue. He has already proven himself to be stronger. I'm not even sure if Azrael could stop him now."

  "Who's Azrael?" Peyton asked.

  "Azrael is the father of all Reapers," Darius told her. "An Angel from Heaven who watches over all the souls of Earth."

  Peyton only stared. "An Angel? Okay then.” She shook her head a little to break out of her daze. "Okay, so, if he created all of the... the Reapers..." The word sounded strange to her, like she was trying to speak a different language before knowing what the words meant. "Then shouldn't he be strong enough to take one out?"

  "Perhaps," Darius said, "but the rogue has been consuming souls. They have made him stronger. I will need to speak with Azrael about all that we have learned. I only hope he can help."

  "The sooner you ask, the more likely he can help, Darius," Charon said. "You should go now. I will return to my duty. Farewell, Miss Peyton. It was an honor to meet you."

  "The pleasure was mine, Charon," Peyton replied, smiling once more. Peyton's smile seemed to make Charon's face several shades more colorful and his grin was as wide as Darius had ever seen. Charon looked directly at Darius, who could feel the non-existent eyes upon him.

  "You take care of her, Darius," he said. "Ah, before you go, Peyton." Charon lowered his head and looked Peyton directly in the eyes. "You were wrong before. There is indeed something special about you. You will come to see it in time. For me, though... it is as plain as day."

  And with that, he slowly sunk back into the River, waving as he descended beneath the surface. Peyton stared at the spot where Charon had disappeared, feeling more and more confused by the second.

  Well, this is definitely messed up, she thought.

  In the course of a few hours, she had gone from a completely normal day at work, disregarding Voss’ dramatic departure from the hospital, and now found herself in a fantasy world that no one knew existed. Still staring at the River, she wondered just how Charon ended up there. What was he to actually become a part of a river? But stranger than that, she was told that a supernatural creature of untold power and strength had singled her out and was planning on stealing her soul and doing God-only-knew what with it. And to protect her from this Reaper, was another Reaper.

  Peyton turned to Darius. She looked up at him, looked into his stern brown eyes. It was only then, in the seriousness of the moment, that she realized just how much sadness was in those eyes. There was pride, yes. Plenty of that, but there was definitely sadness there, the kind that comes with only great regret. Peyton saw that look in the eyes of patients everyday. The patients that knew they were dying, and were spending their final days wishing they had done things differently. Peyton couldn't help but wonder what parts of this Reaper's past he wished he could change.

  "So," Peyton began, realizing that she had been staring at Darius in silence for too long. She shifted on her feet, embarrassed, once again aware that she was still in her damn pajama pants! "What do we do now?"

  "Now we speak to Azrael," Darius replied. "Right now, he may be our only hope."

  Darius stepped closer to Peyton and held out his hand for her to take. Slowly, hesitantly, Peyton reached out and held his hand. She had expected his touch to be cold, but was surprised to find he was quite warm.

  "Hold tight," he told her.

  With a wave of his hand, a black void appeared in the world beside them. Peyton shrank away from it, but Darius kept his firm, but gentle, grip on her hand, watching her, telling her with his eyes that it was okay. Walking beside Darius, hand in hand, they stepped into the void and vanished.