Page 13 of Death and Divination
“I think he’s a reaper,” Lonnie replied.
I blinked. “A what? You mean the specter of death? So you believe he reallywasserious when he said he was Death?”
“No, not exactlyDeath. A reaper. They come to collect the souls of the dead.”
“So how is that not Death?”
Lonnie gave me the look. It was the look she gave any of us when she felt we were being particularly dense.
“Reapers don’t kill. They just show up when someone’s going to die and help free their soul. It’s not the same thing. Trust me.”
Sounded like the same thing to me. “And you’ve seen these things?”
Lonnie shivered. “Occasionally. Usually when I’m doing my magic, the reaper has been long gone. I have run across a few though. It’s best to stand back and let them do their thing before you go trying to raise the dead. Actually, it’s best to come back when someone’s been dead a few days and you’re sure. They’re scary mofos, Ophelia. Scary.”
“I don’t think it’s a reaper, Lonnie.”
She arched an eyebrow. “He appears at the calls where someone dies? When you lose the patient?”
I thought back. “I haven’t lost a patient in the last month, but it was definitely a possibility at those calls where he shows up.”
“Dude wears a cape?”
“A cape?” I snorted. “Do you seriously think I’d ask a man in a freakingcapeto dinner? I told you, it was robes at first, but now it’s a suit.” I felt my cheeks heat up. “He’s good looking. Really good looking. Not the sort of guy Cassie or Wynnie would go for, but definitely my type.”
“Thin but muscled. Elegant and poised. Cool and confident.” Lonnie grinned, clearly knowing my type.
“Yep.”
“I think it’s a reaper who is waiting in the wings to see if he’s needed or not.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Seriously? You think they’d know that. Whether someone’s going to die or not, I mean.”
She shrugged. “I can’t imagine it’s all that easy with modern medical technology. We can pretty much bring people back from the brink of death, save people who would have been considered dead just fifty years ago. I doubt reapers can see the future, that they’re oracles like you are. Maybe they appear, thinking someone’s going to die, only to go back empty handed sometimes.”
“Well, that’s a shitty kind of job,” I told her. “Having to race all over the place for near-death experiences where you might not be needed after all. That sucks. It would be more efficient if they waited and got the callaftersomeone had actually died. It can’t be all that horrible to have a newly dead spirit hanging around their body for ten minutes or so while a reaper arrives. Would save a lot of time if they were sure dead was dead first.”
Lonnie snorted. “I’ll pass along your efficiency suggestions the next time I see a reaper. Which hopefully will be never.”
I frowned in thought. “If he’s a reaper, he’s not reaping a lot of souls. At least not on my watch in the last few months. Maybe he’s not a reaper, but a kind of guardian angel, sent to protect these people who are near death?”
Lonnie laughed. “Okay, now I’m envisioning some epic smack down between a reaper and an angel, both duking it out over whether someone dies or not.”
“Seriously,” I urged. “We’ve got two demons living in Accident. Who’s to say there isn’t an angel lurking around?”
My sister pursed her lips. “Maybe. Some people think reapers actuallyareangels—angels of death. I’ve never met an angel, so I don’t know.”
“An angel of death or a guardian angel?” I mused. “Let me tell you, the odds are really against some of these patients, especially that goblin this afternoon. That goblin should never have survived outside of some kind of divine intervention. Yep. He’s a guardian angel. A gorgeous, hot, guardian angel that I’d love to get naked.”
“You’re so going to get zapped by a bolt of lightning,” Lonnie teased.
“So says the woman who animates dead things,” I shot back with a grin.
She shook her head and sipped her coffee. Then she shrugged. “Okay. Let’s say heisa guardian angel. If so, he seems to be selective about who he’s saving because I’ve seen plenty of obituaries in the county this past month. Maybe he’s only saving your patients as a sort of gift. Like when a cat brings you a dead mouse or something.”
I thought about that a moment, feeling rather flustered at the direction my ideas were heading.
“Maybe he’s got a crush on you,” Lonnie added, her thinking clearly running parallel with mine. “Maybe this angel thinks you’re hot and he’s trying to get in your pants by saving your patients.”
Wow. Visual, there. Although the idea of me naked and sweaty, riding an angel for all he was worth seemed a bit sacrilegious.
“Or maybe he’s a reaper with a crush on me who is trying to get in my pants by holding off on collecting souls.” I watched my sister carefully and grinned to see her shudder.
“Ewww. Screwing a reaper. That’s disgusting, Ophelia. Better hope it’s an angel, because the thought of you doing a reaper is freaking me out here.”
I laughed and finished my coffee. Reaper or angel. Either way, I needed to somehow try to have an actual conversation with this guy the next time he showed up. I’d gotten his name, but I never did get a reply to my dinner invitation. Yes, the next time I saw him, I was definitely going to repeat my date invitation, as weird as that sounded.
How I was going to accomplish thatwasa bit of a puzzle. I could hardly abandon a critical patient to go chat up a hot reaper. He tended to vanish as soon as the patient was stable and I had a minute free, though. There had to be a way I could get in a word before he poofed off. There had to be some way I could make him stay so I could figure out who he was and what his intentions were.
But first, I probably had to decide whatmyintentions were. Could I date a reaper? Have a reaper boyfriend? What about my incredible fears of mortality? Those fears seemed a bit incompatible with the idea of dating Death, but crazy as I was, I was willing to give it a shot.
