A Reaper Made (6 page)

“It makes no matter if someone takes Reapers.”

“It does if souls are in danger,” I argued. “Besides, what if the demon or whatever is trying to kill us off?”
 

Alistair’s frown deepened. “We are immortal.”
 

“Sure, but can we die?” I asked.
 

“We are entities,” he said as though it were obvious.
 

My shoulders sagged in relief. At least we had that going for us. Tully spoke up to get the attention off me. “Then demons could be coercing us in other ways. Grace concluded that the Made Reapers have living family; they could be forced to help the demons in some way.”
 

“Did she now?” Alistair hadn’t moved from his standing position behind his desk, but he cocked his head back to me. “That leaves the obvious choice standing here in front of me, does it not? Humanity is all over you; perhaps
you
would do anything to save your loved ones. Let us hang you out as bait and capture this demon.”
 

I froze, unsure of how to respond to his anger. Never mind the bait plan, I risked spilling the secret of our plan to save my family and then we were all screwed. Alistair would definitely be pissed if he knew I was breaking protocol. Tully jumped in again.
 

“That will not be necessary,” he said, blue eyes flicking to me and back on Alistair. “We trust your judgment on this matter.”
 

“Is there any sort of magic that can give someone control over Reapers?” I blurted out.
 

Alistair stiffened. “There is magic for many things. We cannot rule it out.”
 

“Then maybe that’s why demons are taking them,” Tully said. “They can puppeteer and have as many souls to feast on as they like.”
 

My nose wrinkled at the image I conjured; at Tully’s warning glance, I quickly made my face blank again.

“We will look into it,” Alistair said, enunciating the
we
. “The elders thank you for bringing it to our attention. As I warned, do not share this information with anyone. I trust you are intelligent enough to drop the discussion and continue your Reaper duties. Including working on your progeny’s attitude.”
 

My jaw clamped shut at the dig. Tully nodded at him, evidently accepting the answer. It also doubled as a goodbye, because he turned on his heel and ushered me out.
 

“By the way, Grace,” Alistair called as we prepared to leave. His voice filled the room, rang in my ears. “If you ever speak to me like that again, I will reap your soul to its original destination. Respect your elders.”
 

CHAPTER SEVEN

“‘
Respect your elders
,’” I mocked in a deep voice to Tully as we re-entered the makeshift lobby. “Is he always like that?”
 

“Quiet, child.”
 

Giving one last glance to the beautiful statues, I managed to keep my mouth shut until we were out of the building. The moment we stepped outside, Tully touched my arm and teleported. He moved so fast I was thrown off, stumbling a bit when we arrived back in Tessa’s apartment.
 

I backed away from Tully with a scowl. “What was that about?”
 

“Do you realize what you’ve done?” he barked at me. “You angered an elder, put yourself on his watch list!”
 

“He won’t kill me.” I heard the doubt in my voice. Movement caught my eye and I saw Tessa in the doorway, keen to hear about the meeting. She looked as surprised as I felt about Tully’s raised voice. Then his arms raised, his hands slapping by his sides, and I knew I was in trouble.
 

“He will
reap you
, child. Send your soul away, force you to take the path you never wanted.”
 

I paid no attention to Tessa’s jaw drop. “Can he really do that?”
 

“Alistair does not say anything he does not mean,” Tully said darkly.
 

My hesitation was enough for Tessa to jump in. “What happened?”
 

“You tell her, I need to go see about a few things,” Tully said. He’d lowered his voice, but still scowled at me. Without another word, he disappeared.
 

Tessa’s focus came back on me, eyes wide as marbles. She made a frantic gesture with her hands, encouraging me to share. She’d threaten me with magic in another ten seconds if I didn’t start talking.
 

“Grandpa doesn’t like me.” I summed it up with a shrug.
 

Her well-tweezed eyebrows came together in confusion. I started at the beginning and by the time I’d finished, her mouth hung open in shock.
 

“Grace, you can’t just mouth off to them,” she hissed.
 

“I’m still here, aren’t I?”
 

Tessa huffed, threw me that look that said I’d hear a speech later. For now, it seemed, she wanted to focus on the important stuff. Fine by me.
 

Tully popped back into the apartment, his expression still more than annoyed.
 

“Where’d you go?” I asked, only half caring about the answer.
 

“To check on my souls, and yours too,” Tully snapped.
 

I started at his answer. I hadn’t even thought about my souls at the retirement home since the recent events. “Are they okay?”
 

At my fearful tone, Tully relaxed a bit. “Yes, everyone is fine. They are in no danger.”
 

My bravado slipped; I couldn’t keep it up any more. “Would he really reap me?”
 

“Aye, without hesitation. I told you to be quiet,” Tully said.
 

“That was my plan until he started picking on me. The guy’s an asshat.” My arms crossed over my chest. My eyes dropped to the floor and I stood there as though being reprimanded by my father. Like he’d done that one time I tried to sneak in past curfew.
 

“He is my maker and one of the eldest Reapers of all time,” Tully scolded. “You have no right to speak to him in that fashion.”
 

I stared at the wooden floor, traced the marks from years of scrapes and foot traffic. Tessa shifted, clearly uncomfortable. I could feel the questions bubbling up in her, desperate for more details. She cleared her throat.
 

“Guys, this doesn’t really answer anything about the demons or what’s happening to the Reapers. He didn’t get real descriptive of their plan, huh?”
 

I dropped the sullen attitude, my head snapping up at her words. “Yeah, Tully, what do you think? What will the elders do to stop this before someone else is taken?”
 

“I am not privy to their plans.” Even he sounded annoyed about it. His posture straightened, our argument forgotten. “Now we are supposed to wait for it to be fixed.”
 

“But what if they don’t venture out of their little museum? Then what?”
 

Tully’s expression didn’t inspire confidence. Tessa raised her hand to speak.
 

“I have what might be a stupid question.”
 

Tully nodded at her to continue.
 

“I’ve never met one, but if there’s you guys and demons, then there are angels, right? Why don’t we talk to one of them about this and see if they can help?”
 

I winced, wishing I’d been able to stop her from asking. It wasn’t a stupid question, but rather one that always put Tully on edge. I knew because I’d asked my first week in. He’d swerved the topic by reminding me of how Trues and Mades came into being. I’d learned to drop it. Sure enough, Tully’s eyes closed as he counted to three before responding.
 

“Reapers are neutral; we do not have relationships with demons or angels.”
 

When he left it at that, Tessa’s eyebrow raised in question. My maker stayed silent and she prodded him. “I’m not telling you to ask one to dinner. We explain about the souls and fate being in danger. Surely they’d see it as a problem.”
 

“Angels will not help us with this matter. They abide by the old ways as we do; even if we wanted to ask, they would not help us.”
 

She turned to me, wide-eyed in frustration, and I shrugged. “There are only so many walking around on earth anyway. We’d spend too much time trying to find one.”
 

“I don’t understand.” Tessa’s eyes flashed purple with annoyance. She directed her question at me. “Why aren’t you pushing for more information on this?”

I motioned to Tully. “You think he’s going to talk about anything he doesn’t want to talk about?
I
don’t even know what the deal is there.”
 

Tully heaved a sigh. “It is not something we discuss.”
 

“If it’s the reason they won’t help us save souls and my family, then I have the right to know,” I said.
 

That remark must’ve made an impact, because his shoulders sagged in defeat. After a long moment, he spoke.
 

“You know that Death created Reapers.” He eyed us and we nodded. “The first ones were called the Originals. When the human population grew, the Originals realized more Reapers would be needed. Death allowed them to create Mades, which is how we came into existence. The Originals created the Trues, the first wave of humans into Reapers. They are direct descendants of Originals, therefore having more power than those of us Made afterwards. Once the Trues were established, the Originals disappeared, leaving Trues to create Mades.”
 

“Where did the Originals go?” I asked.
 

Tully shrugged. “Some say they found a way back into paradise. Others believe they wander the Earth, helping souls as requested by Death. It is not certain.”
 

Tessa leaned forward in her seat with rapt attention. I, however, wasn’t sure where this was headed.
 

“Tully, what’s the big deal?”
 

Tully hesitated, shifting uncomfortably before answering. “The ones we call Originals, Death’s very first wave of Reapers, were made from angels.”

My jaw dropped. Even Tessa paled at the bomb drop.
 

“They were the only ones who could bear the responsibility - it was the logical choice. When the Creator made Death, he was allowed to choose a small group of angels to help on Earth. But for a few of them, it was hardly a gift. Angels did not want to be ripped from their paradise only to help human souls cross over for the rest of their existence. Even centuries later, there is still bad blood.”
 

Tessa and I exchanged flabbergasted looks. Why had Tully never explained this story? It was the very definition of who we were. He read the question on my face.
 

“Few people know this story. We have told the same lie for so long that everyone has forgotten the truth. Elders lead the way, but they are actually the first wave of human souls that were made by the Originals.”
 

“Wait a minute, they’re human?” I asked, my voice going up a couple of octaves. “Alistair is technically a Made like us? Why are they such jerks about Mades then, if we’re the same thing?”
 

“I suppose they feel they are more powerful because they are direct descendants of the angels. They have been around the longest,” Tully said. “We are tarnished, more human than they ever were as they have been detached from humanity for so long.”
 

I opened my mouth to reply in anger, but Tessa waved to get our attention. “How did Death choose which angels would be turned into Reapers?”
 

Tully shook his head. “I do not know. Angels are jealous creatures. Most angels want nothing to do with humans. If Death did not select them at random, perhaps certain angels were being punished in some way.”
 

“Wouldn’t the new Reapers take out their anger on the human souls?” I asked.
 

Tully shook his head. “Obviously Death would not condone that behavior. Rumor had it if they all complied and helped Death, they would be rewarded in the future. Once Death encouraged them to make their own progenies, they realized their new existence and gave up hope of ever returning to paradise.”
 

Tessa’s face softened. “I guess asking a bunch of angels to help Reapers save souls isn’t really the polite thing to do.”
 

“They would undoubtedly remind us that it is
our
duty,” Tully said, shifting his weight from side to side.
 

“Do any of the first angels hang out in the museum with Alistair?” I asked.
 

His eyes hardened. “They are Reapers now, and no, they do not ‘hang out’ with Alistair and the elders. No one knows where they reside.”

“The statues,” I said. Tessa looked baffled at my outburst, but Tully nodded.
 

“Yes, those were depictions of the Original Reapers.”
 

Tully looked so uncomfortable I let go of the subject. Time for another matter. “That takes us back to square one. We need to do something.”
 

Tully’s jaw tightened; I had to give him credit for keeping his cool during this testy conversation. He couldn’t hide the frustration in his voice, though. “Alistair said they would handle it.”
 

“Tully, it doesn’t sound like they’re going to do much of anything. My family is in danger!” My voice rose to a near shout, catching on the word “family.” I knew I shouldn’t let my emotions show this way, but I didn’t know what else to do.
 

“Child, the elders will monitor and solve this situation.” Tully’s Irish voice remained steady and calm but doubt lay behind his words.
 

 
My resolve strengthened and I stood taller. I reminded myself of the old Reaper ways, how he’d still treated Alistair with a sort of awe.
 

“You are my maker and you have my loyalty. However, these special circumstances require a different sort of plan. Souls,
destinies
, are in danger and I can’t let my family die at the hands of demons. I’d rather have you by my side, but I’ll do this with or without you. I’m willing to risk the consequences.”