Raven's Breath (The Women of Purgatory) (6 page)

10

I hammered on Garrett's door, regretting that I'd sent him home last night.

"Open up. I have to talk to you."

I didn't care it was only six a.m. on Sunday morning. It was imperative that I told Garrett what I'd seen.

"Garrett! Come on, man. Wake up!"

"I am awake, Raven."

I spun around to see Garrett strolling up behind me with fresh coffee and donuts in hand.

"Oh my God, I love you."

"I know."

I followed him in and grabbed a cinnamon twist and the caramel spice latté he'd bought just for me.

"I figured you'd be banging down my door this morning, so I got up early and ran out for some grub."

"You're a life saver. Did I mention that I love you?"

He laughed. "Yes, yes you did, and I love you, too. Now tell me what you got."

I sunk into his oversized chair and crossed my legs. "Okay. So I thought about what you said and I don't think this has anything to do with Death's gazing pool, but I do think he's behind the increase in runaways."

He squinted at me over the rim of his styrofoam cup while I laid it all out for him. By the time I finished it was, well...seconds later because I was talking a mile a minute.

"Basically, I think he's found a way to snip the souls before the Reapers have a chance to retrieve them. I just don't know why he'd do that. It goes against everything the Reapers stand for."

Reapers were bound by free will. The souls had to choose to come with us in order to move on. Even running was a choice. Only I, and apparently Holli, were exceptions to the rule since we
could gather and bring them to Purgatory against their will.

The slight change in Garrett's demeanor would have gone unnoticed by anyone other than me.
I scooted to the edge of my chair and leaned forward, setting my coffee down and steepling my fingers.

"You know something. What is it?"

Garrett sighed and set his cup on the table. "I can't tell you."

"Excuse me?"

"I think I might know something but I'll have to do a little digging to confirm my suspicions."

"Garrett! Tell me what you know right now!"

He pushed up off the couch and started pacing. "I can't, Raven! If I'm wrong we'll be in trouble, and if I'm right...we'll be in
big
trouble."

Oh shit.
"That bad?"

"Potentially."

Damn!
As curious as I was, maybe I didn't want to know after all.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked. I didn't want Garrett getting into a mess just because I had another
potentially
prophetic dream.

"Nah. Let me poke around a bit and see what I can find. Just keep doing what you do, but don't let on that there's anything wrong."

Easier said than done
.

I rounded out my weekend with two more gathering missions, both of which Holli accompanied me on at Death's
request
. We'd established a system that seemed to be working pretty well. I would head straight for the largest cloud of phenoms, while she would pick a centralized position between the smaller groups and suck them in all at once with her sword. She ended up with a higher number of souls, but I was almost to the point of not caring. Almost.

"Do you want me to get the last group, or can you snag them on our way back?" she asked.

Don't be prideful, don't be prideful.
"No, you go ahead and grab them, I've already got a hundred or so here."

She didn't even stop as we flew by, but simply held The Devourer in the air and made a bee-line for the portal. The phenoms trailed behind her like black contrails streaking through the sky.

I exited the mausoleum and paused, taking time to watch as the phenoms were added to the thickening black atmosphere. If this kept up, the souls would choke out any remaining gray, casting Purgatory into eternal darkness.

11

The next day was All Hallows Eve, the day of Death's favorite holiday and the party where he would introduce Holli to the rest of the Reapers. I was anxious to see how they would react. I had a pretty good idea but was trying to hope for the best and prayed that Krev wouldn't scare her off with his usual meathead behavior.

I looked into the mirror and checked my reflection once more. Waves of
my hair fell across my chest, cascading in all the right places, accentuating my cleavage. The black strapless gown I'd ordered from Drey arrived last night and I was very pleased with its cut. The bodice wrapped around my torso in sort of a twisting motion which carried through to the sleek skirt. It wasn't skin tight, but hugged my curves enough to make any man's mouth water, or so I hoped. I wanted to look good if I was about to be upstaged.

A knock at my front door kicked my evening into gear. I grabbed my purse from the dresser and headed to greet Garrett.

"What the hell?" I exclaimed.

He stood there in jeans and a T-shirt, and with a five o'clock shadow.

"I thought this was a formal affair?"

"It was, before it got cancelled." Garrett pushed pas
t me and headed straight for the kitchen where he raided my fridge, grabbing an ice cold beer. "Nice outfit by the way, you trying to give the rest of the Reapers a heart attack?"

I shook my head. "Thanks. No. Wait. What? What do you mean cancelled?"

"You heard me. Death cancelled the celebration. I just spent the last hour trying to talk him out of it, but he said he didn't want to introduce Holli to the Reapers and plans to keep her shrouded indefinitely."

I racked my brain
, quickly searching for an explanation, and remembered the image of them together from my dream. I didn't think Death could fall prey to a human emotion such as jealousy, but then again, if he was lonely and Holli was the first girl he'd made his own, then yeah...I could see the green-eyed monster having its way with the master of us all.

"Do you think he's just jealous and doesn't want her around other guys or do you think it has something to do with this whole, secret...snipping the souls, thing?"

"I'm not sure, but I'm definitely going to keep digging. I've known Death for a
very
long time, and he's not acting like himself. I need to find out why."

12

Soft sunlight bathed the nursing home as the woman before me took her last breath; a woman I'd recently seen in my dreams.

Her last thoughts filtered through my mind, and her spirit lifted from her corpse.

She smiled. "I knew you'd be coming soon."

You'd think it would be easier when they were expecting you, but sometimes it only made it harder.

I smiled gently. "Are you ready?"

"Yes." She closed her eyes and reached for my hand.

My inner light reached its peak and we arrived in Heaven seconds later.

I
wasn't surprised.

I'd been visiting Heaven a lot more often than Hell lately, and I knew when I'd seen this kind woman that I'd be taking her to find peace there as well.

Her spirit was greeted by St. Peter and after another blinding light, I was back on the earthly plane, ready to return to Purgatory and meet with Garrett.

We'd both spent the rest of week doing our jobs and "acting normal," but behind the scenes he'd been spending every waking minute investigating and digging into Death's secret.

As I stepped out of the portal I noticed the thick swath of phenoms that filled the sky just above my head. My chest tightened.
I sure hope Garrett has some news
. I flared my wings and flew straight home, gliding gently through my window and rushing to change clothes.

I poured two glasses of wine and set out the pizza I'd picked up for us to nibble on while we got down to business. I'd let my mind wander throughout the week, imagining all kinds of possibilities as to the reason behind the growing number of phenoms. But regardless of all my contemplating, I still couldn't meld two ideas into one cohesive solution.

I popped a piece of pepperoni into my mouth and glanced at the clock––7p.m. Garrett was late. I knew I should sit tight and wait until he arrived, but I couldn't. My body tingled and my nerves buzzed. I walked into my bedroom, intent on diving out the window, when a knock echoed through the living room. I breathed a sigh of relief and crossed back to the door.

"It's about time. What took you so long?"

I gasped, my field of vision filled with white.

Holli
.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Death sent me. There's been another outbreak."

Shit
!
Could this girl's timing be any worse? Garrett should be here any minute, which couldn't happen a moment too soon. We had to get to the bottom of this because things were spiraling out of control.

"How about you get this one on your own?"

"Really? You believe I'm ready?"

"Yes, Holli. You've been doing great. I see no reason why you can't just go and hold up that sword of yours and do your thing."

Her giggle amused me. Did she really think I cared about her training or the success of her missions?
Whatever...

"All right. I'll go by myself, but I'm coming straight back here to let you know how it goes," she said, her excitement bubbling to the surface.

I reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "Okey dokey."

After a flurry of ivory feathers and maybe even a hint of fairy dust, Holli was off. I rolled my eyes and headed back to my bedroom.

I dove out the window and flew straight to Garrett's. It wasn't like him to be late.

I landed outside his apartment and banged on the door.

"Garrett, are you in there?"

No response.

I knocked again...
Bang, bang, bang.

"Garrett...are you okay?"

No response.
Dammit!

I looked around and took a deep breath. I needed to process the scene before I went ballistic. The night drop was there in the door, which told me he'd finished his day as usual. If he hadn't gone straight to my apartment, where else would he be? I tried to remember if I'd told him that I would pick up food or not; maybe he stopped for takeout.