Deadly Kisses (10 page)

Reina slouched down and clasped my shoulder. “I left to find Abe. He was our best chance to help them.”

“Ivar put you in an uncomfortable situation, Ad. On All Hallows Eve the veil drops between our planes. Ivar has made a deal with the Dark Lord to skip through the List of Death, choosing three souls to reap. He will reap the brother and you will reap the girl, so he can get them both.” Abe said.

“Ad, bring her back. She is really weak and out of it.” Reina’s voice shook.

Abe frowned and clasped my shoulder. I looked up to him with a desperate plea, but he only shook his head. “You can’t keep holding all your feelings inside of you or you’re going to explode. Don’t invite the dark, boy. Ivar wants you to go dark.”

“I’ll manage, Top Hat, don’t you worry.” I didn’t want to concern Abe, but I didn’t know how I was going to save them now.

“The brother will get a death fever and it will continue to get worse the closer we get to All Hallows Eve. Take care of him.” He sighed and left me by myself with the two marked souls. What was I going to say to Bee?

I put my arm around Bee’s neck, easing her into a sitting position.

“Ad—”

“Do not tell him who I really am. That would just upset him. Please.”

Jaleb tried helping her down from the table, but his knees buckled. He caught himself from falling to the dirty checkered floor.

“What’s wrong with my brother?” Bee moved herself to the edge until her legs dangled over the side.

“Take my hand.” I helped her down from the pool table, looking her over. She held herself steady, pulling down the leather skirt. I was glad she wore black tights.

“I’m still breathing, Jaleb, but you look like a logging truck ran you down.” Bee saw Reina, hiding in a dark corner. She stiffened.

Jaleb snorted up a wad, spit it on his wrist, and rubbed at it with the bottom of his t-shirt.

“What’s that?” she cried, her voice rising. “Tell me! Was it the Ancients? Did they mark him? Ad?”

I turned away, not wanting to see her disappointment that I had failed to protect them. She could meddle, blab, and say what she wanted, but I knew the truth. Bee had already accepted it was her time to die. I couldn’t tell her that her brother was now going to be reaped too— and worse, by the Ancients.

The ashy X mark on the inside of Jaleb’s wrist was blazing red from his fierce rubbing.

“Tell me or I’ll find out myself,” she demanded.

“Reina summoned Abe, and he came and enforced the rules. They tried to take you away from me. Abe stopped them, but I couldn’t protect Jaleb. The Ancient marked him. I’m sorry. I thought choosing to be a Reaper would be easy. I had no idea all the politics involved. It’s seriously worse than being in school and running for class president.”

“What are you saying?” Bee’s bottom lip quivered.

Reina came next to me and spoke. I was almost relieved. “Abe stepped in, reminding Ivar of the oath he had taken. But the Ancients went around the oath and code, marking your brother. They are going to reap him on Halloween.”

“We’re both going to die?”

I looked down and nodded.

“And they’re going to feed off his aura?”

I nodded again.

Jaleb started to shake. “Tell me you’re not serious? Am I going to die? What about the twins?”

“Get them out of here, Ad,” Reina said.

“What do we do? I can’t die and neither can you.” Jaleb’s eyes were wide with pure fear.

Bee pointed to his wrist. “You’re marked. I’m sorry, Jaleb, I didn’t mean for this to happen. It was supposed to be me, not you. It’s my fault I bribed you to take me here. I just wanted to have fun, see Mad Dogs, and feel close to Sabrina again.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Jaleb said.

I walked behind Bee and Jaleb as they made their way out of the building into the parking lot of Dirty Phil’s. The Ancients were gone.

“I’m not feeling so good. You can drive.” Jaleb clutched his stomach, and Bee fished the keys out of his jacket pocket to unlock the door. She helped him into the backseat. He lay cramped up, and paler than usual.

“I’m not sitting on top of death boy in the backseat. I already feel like I’m going to keel over at any moment. Since you like him so much, let him sit next to you.” He pointed to where he thought I was. “No funny stuff. The day is not over yet.”

“No funny stuff,” I said.

“Is it safe to put the garden tool in the back of the pickup again?” Bee asked.

“It’s too big to fit in the truck with us.” I placed it into the back of the rusted truck bed next to several cement blocks.

I opened the truck door for Bee, helping her climb in.

She asked, “You know this isn’t your fault, right?”

It wasn’t true. Everything I’d done since the morning of my death was my fault. I closed her door and walked around the truck to the passenger seat. She started the truck, the engine puttering to life. Jaleb shook from the death fever that had set in.

The highway was deserted. Jaleb whimpered and Bee drove fast. I took out my phone to read the Manual of Death on the book reader app. Bee swerved.

My body jerked and my face hit the window. I moved toward Bee before settling back to my original position. Jaleb moaned.

“Is he okay?” she cried. “There was a crazy Grim Reaper who almost hit us.”

Lights disappeared over a hill.

“Just keep driving. They always go around you. Don’t forget, they’re invisible to everyone but you.” The words on my phone blurred together the more I read.

“I know. They just scared me, sorry. Why do you travel the river instead of driving? I mean, you used to have a car and now you resort to a boat.”

“It’s a gondola, not a boat.” How could she not realize my car killed her cousin? I would never drive a car again.

“But why do you use a gondola?”

“And why do you wear black undies?”

She raised an eyebrow.

“I do prefer the red ones.”

“Stay out of my drawers.” She smacked my arm.

“I wasn’t in your drawers. They’re lying in a pile on the floor near your closet.”

Bee blushed. “Hang in there, Jaleb.”

Jaleb panted in short breaths.

“I really need to read this if we’re going to help your brother.” I skimmed through each page, trying to pick out the important information.

“You’re avoiding my questions. Fine, be that way.” Bee tapped her fingers on the steering wheel.

“Thanks, I will. I need to learn this stuff before we get into more trouble.” I felt guilty because Bee needed comfort. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and never let her go. It would be too tempting to take a kiss, and she would kiss me back.

Jaleb wailed. “I feel like dirt.”

I read faster.

“Just keep driving, Bee. We need to take care of Jaleb. The death fever will only get worse the closer we get to Halloween.” I glanced at Jaleb who was sleeping.

“Are they still there?” She squinted into her mirror, but the fog reduced her sight. Not that there were many cars on the road at this hour of the night. Country living for you. The streets were dark and fields empty of animals that were tucked into barns. “Is it the Reapers who marked my brother?”

“It’s the Ancient Grim Reapers. They want to stay close to you and your brother. Your energy is addictive.”

“But why?

“We’re dead and cold. Being able to walk the earth and be warm would be like feeling alive again. We stay Grim Reapers because it is the closest thing to being mortal.” I never wanted to die. I wanted to do just that, walk the earth.

“Is that why you stayed? I don’t like you being a Grim Reaper. You deserve better. Sabrina would tell you the same thing. If you ascend you could be with her again, right?” Bee whispered, looking at me with pure pity, and I hated it. I was the one to choose this and I didn’t want her to feel bad for me.

“I don’t know anything about Heaven, but I don’t deserve to be there. My regret is holding me firm in this plane. Please don’t try to convince me to leave. I got over having to reap souls. It’s not as bad as it looks. I help people cross over. I’m good at it and I have purpose.” I stared at my phone to put distance between us. I knew she waited for me to look up so she could continue the conversation. I gave in when my eyes blurred from reading.

“I know you, Aiden. Something else is keeping you here. You love my cousin and I know you want to see her again.” She picked up my hand. It tingled and thawed with her touch.

“I can’t face Sabrina, but you’re right, something else is keeping me here.” I let out a deep exhale. The more I was around her it was as if we were still in middle school, hanging out, and playing truth or dare. With her, everything felt right in the world, even being dead.

“You’ll never change. Why do I always have to beg you to tell me things? I’ve missed you, and we don’t have much more time together.”

I couldn’t give her a fun night, but I wanted to make her happy. “It’s because of you, Bee that I’m staying here. Do you know that after I became a Grim Reaper, I came to see you? I walked in on your mom telling you how Sabrina and I had died.”

I heard her sharp intake of air. She lifted my hand and brought them to her lips in a quick kiss. “I didn’t know that. I never saw you. The months following the accident were a blur. I knew Sabrina was going to die. I spent the week doing every little thing she wanted and we stayed up all night talking. I grieved in a different way. But
you
. I didn’t know it was your time and I was mad at myself. I should have been paying closer attention to the people around me.”

Bee shouldn’t have to bear that burden. It wasn’t normal, and I needed to know why she could see Death. “I don’t blame you, but I think we need to dig into your family history.” Ugh, that word again. If only I could Google Bee’s name and have a full comprehensive history pop up.

Her forehead creased. “What does my family history have to do with anything?”

“We need to find out if anyone else in your family could heal. I think there was a deal made because something isn’t right with your family. But who made the deal and when?”

“I really did heal you then? Maybe we should investigate our land. I was there when my grandmother died. Even on medication, she was aware of everything until the very end. She insisted something was wrong with our property.”

“There’s got to be a way to stop it. I won’t let your family be hurt anymore. I promise.” I wouldn’t allow anything to harm them. I would do anything to protect her and the twins.

“I know you’ll do everything you can.” She squeezed my hand and then we interlocked our fingers together. It was a dream come true to be with her like this.

“Where are we?” I asked. Street signs were hidden by fog and darkness. I knew just the thing to help Jaleb. Marlin’s tonics would give him the strength he needed.

“Almost in Peterborough. Why?”

“Perfect. You’re going to make a stop to get something for your brother. After the red light, there is an old barn; take a right and go down the street. Stop at the house with the blue light at the end of the driveway.”

“Are you making me do something illegal, because I won’t do it. I need my record spotless if I’m going to get into Tufts.”

“You can’t evade death, Bee, and yes I’m a Grim Reaper, but that doesn’t mean I do anything bad.”

“What are we getting?” she asked. I didn’t want to have to explain Marlin. She was weird if you didn’t know about her psychic abilities.

“Turn there.” I pointed.

Bee turned down the lonely dirt road.

She stopped the truck in the driveway. White light from the TV came through the window, and brown tasseled hair hung over the couch.

Bee said, “If I’m picking up pot, I’m going to kill you.”

I laughed and tucked a chunk of her hair over her ear. “Sweet Bee, I wouldn’t do anything you don’t want me to do except for two things: kiss you and reap your soul. Those are not negotiable. Now knock on the door and tell Marlin that you are a Bee like the insect and give her a twenty. You have a twenty, right?”

She opened the truck door and slammed it shut. I followed her. The wooden stairs creaked, and Bee banged on the door. I wondered if she knew about Jaleb’s past.

The door opened. Marlin wore skinny jeans with a low cut top and black boots. Her green eyes stared at Bee. She smoothed down her hair.

“Hi . . . um . . . ah, I’m Bee, like the insect.”

Marlin laughed and flung her head back making her silver hoop earrings swing. She was crazy as ever.

“Was that the wrong code word?” Bee asked, peering inside to the thick white smoke that clung to the air.

Marlin took out a cigarette from behind her ear and lit it. White smoke went into her mouth then out into my face. Bee coughed. The cigarette dangled in Marlin’s fingertips as she leaned on the doorjamb. “So you’re Aiden Grant’s girl. Well you’re a sweet little thing, I can see why he likes you. Hold on, I’ll get you the goods. It’s my standard stuff.”