Deadly Kisses

Twenty





Bee’s energy surged with an overprotective need to heal me. I forgot about my deal with the Ancients when she looked me in the eyes and slid her hand under my shirt. Her warm fingers slowly made their way to my wound. Her emotions were a tangled mess of uncertainty.

Her dark eyes bore into mine, willing me to forgive myself and accept that it was our time to expire. It felt so right to have her with me for eternity. I half smiled at the thought of her wearing a black cloak.

I sucked in a breath that froze my stomach. With careful scrutiny she unfolded her fingers and placed them over the open wound. I could still see the branch through the windshield going into me, the webbed cracks, and the shattered glass.

I closed my eyes when Bee wrapped her arms around my waist and melded into me. Her energy was pure and flowed gently. It tingled, her power was stronger and she knew how to focus it now. Skin filled in over the large hole on my chest.

“What were you going to give me?” I opened my eyes to see her dark onyx ones. Our souls knew each other and they responded with familiar fluttering. I wanted her this close forever.

“I have your necklace with the key on it. I don’t ever remember you without it.”

I half smiled. “It was a reminder of what I wanted in life. I didn’t want the life my mother had. I wanted the dog and beautiful girl. I wanted to make it on the Billboard Chart, I wanted it all, Bee.”

“Your band would’ve made it. Do you ever visit your family?”

“My mother, the drunk, and my estranged father? No way. People pegged me as a loner or weird, but I didn’t want to be seen as the poor kid with the drunken mother. So, I didn’t let anyone in. I think that was my biggest mistake in life.”

Tendrils of white energy flowed through Bee and into me. My cheeks were flushed. I couldn’t tell if it was her or her power that made my blood run hot. “Why are you letting me in, even though I only get bits and pieces?” Bee asked.

“What, and let you bug me until I tell you anyways?”

She squeezed my waist and I laughed. “Because, you’re not the only one who has nothing to lose.”

“I’m glad I’ll be missed when you take my soul.” I was anxious to tell her about how I saved her, but I needed to tell Jaleb first. It wouldn’t take any convincing for him to stay a Grim Reaper and help me.

“There’s something different about you. It’s there in the background just on the edge of your soul. I feel it too. Are you okay?” She scrunched her eyebrows together.

“Nah, I’m fine because you’re with me.” I pulled her into me until there was no space between us. Bee snuggled into my chest and closed her eyes, content and relaxed.

“I don’t want to reap your soul, and I’ll try my hardest to do right by you.” I smoothed her hair down to her shoulders and more heat seared through her fingertips to me. “Sheesh, I’m the worst Grim Reaper of all time.”

The skin under her hand bubbled up. Bee pulled it away, but I caught it, catching her hand in mine. I rubbed it on my face before I brought it to my lips. I kissed, gentle at first then harder until I took my lips off her hand and brought my eyes to hers.

Her feet lifted off the ground until she reached my chin and leaned into me. Desire rocketed into my veins. The smell of flowers seeped into my nose. I kissed the top of her black, silky hair. She looked up at me and my brain went numb.

I wanted her lips on me and I wanted to taste them. I moved in closer. Her soul egged her on and mine did the same. When we were mere inches apart, black licorice overtook my mouth. I winced and pulled away. “No, Bee. Back up now.” The dark was in me because of Ivar and it wanted souls more than anything. I wasn’t sure I could suppress it.

Her eyes were bright and she cleared her throat. “Look at your wound. Wow, am I handy with the healing or what. This gift, I could live with. Think how many people I could help.” She touched where my fatal wound once was and smiled. Smooth skin was left with a jagged scar, but I was healed.

“You’re amazing with your healing, but we better go before I kill you with my kiss.” Now that I had saved her, I had to be extra careful not to kiss her.

“Yes, we better get going. Are you ready?” she asked.

“As long it’s not to a concert, large crowds, or having to watch you dance with anyone.” I shuddered thinking about the club and our altercation with the Ancient Grim Reapers. I didn’t want to be bonded to them any more than a dog wanted to eat vegetables.

“Are you jealous, Aiden? Because it’s not a secret I want you.”

“Having the kiss of death doesn’t go over well with mortal girls.”

She pulled my hand. We went through the back door into the still night.

“Do you know I would have gone out with you in a heartbeat?” Bee slung a backpack over her shoulder.

“I know, but your brother needed me more. I had to make him better. The reason he started using was because of my awful mother.”

“She’s mother of the year material.”

“Oh, definitely. She didn’t even want me. If she knew about her pregnancy, she would have aborted me. She told me every time I was in her way.”

She squeezed my hand. “That sucks.”

“I’m over it.” I shrugged. I didn’t care how my mother was doing. She had made my life terrible. I was glad to have my friends or life would have been worse.

We walked to the edge of Bee’s yard and I looked over my shoulder, afraid her parents would catch us. She’d snuck out before, but not this late at night. I hurried her to the edge of the woods before she put the flashlight on. The light of the moon was blocked by heavy clouds. The ground was wet from dew and would become crunchy frost by morning.

Bee zipped her coat. “This way.”

“I guess we’re not taking a car. Are we going camping? Because the thought of us cramped in a small space alone would be putting your life at risk.”

“Now who’s being annoying trying to pry information from me?” She looked out of the corner of her eye and could see me smiling. I thought of how it could be if I were still alive. I missed her every day, but I bottled my emotions not to upset her.

“I could never be as annoying as you. I bet you could sell a penny for a dollar.”

She smacked me on the arm. “That’s just an exaggeration. Please!”

“I don’t know,” I teased.

“I need to know why you met with the decayed Ancient Reapers, Aiden.”

“Not now.” I reached out and clasped her hand in mine. “I’ll tell you what. Relax and enjoy the night. I promise to tell you when Jaleb wakes up. I promise the Ancients are not near here.”

“How do you know?” She arched her eyebrow.

“Believe me, I would know.” Technically, I had two bosses now. Since Ivar sucked out part of my soul, we were bonded. The cold pricks of ice from him were subtle and not piercing pain, which meant he was far away.

Bee put her hand out in front of me. Dangling from a silver chain was a shiny silver key—it should have been my future.

I took it from her. “How did you get this?” I always had this on and had been wearing it the night I died.

“I inherited some of your stuff. Your lovely mother gave it to Sabrina’s mother. I kind of asked for it. I hope that was okay?”

Bee was the only person I wanted to have my things. “At least someone remembered I was dead. Can’t believe she got rid of my stuff like a stranger’s trash. Bet she was out of it.” I looked at the necklace and tilted my head when the dim moonlight shined off it. “It’s missing something. Here, kiss it for good luck.”

Bee took it and kissed the silver key and handed it back to me. “Consider it now lucky. Maybe you’ll win the lottery.”

“I wouldn’t want to win money.” I turned and slowed down. Bee stumbled but I caught her. It took will power to let her go.

“What would you want to win?”

“I have to have some secrets that you won’t haggle out of me.” Actually, it wasn’t a big secret. I wanted her and my life back before I gave it to the Ancients.

“It’s not your fault about Sabrina. You know you can’t bargain with death. I knew it was a matter of time when I first saw the Grim Reaper that they would take her anyway.”

“Let me have my skeletons in the closet.” I slipped the necklace over my head.

“Fine. I won’t pry.”

“Finally, she’s making sense.” I swung my hands in the air.

“For now,” she added.

Crows cawed from a tree then filled the night sky and flew in the opposite direction. Bee jumped and backed up, bumping into me. I held her two arms, afraid she would make sudden noises to alert the crows of my presence.

“Shh. It’s okay. Scavenger animals like crows and ravens sense us. They smell death, seek it out, and eat it. Be careful when they are around. They are used as spies for other Grim Reapers.”

“They have always creeped me out. I’m glad we’re almost there.”

We walked further down the path that led east away from her house. She led me down a dusty stone path to the front of the lush, vine-ridden stones.

“This was the Kells Haven church, right?”

“Yeah, isn’t it amazing? The upper part of the building is in rubble, but parts of the church bell from the tower lay mostly in the ground, or in thick brush. Sabrina and I would pretend to be explorers and found a way in when we were eight. The walls below are solid.”

“Below?”

She walked along the building with her hand outstretched, brushing the vines along the stone. When her hand dipped into a moon crevice, she stopped.

“Yup, that’s where I’m taking you. I love old stuff. It intrigues me.” She went down to her knees and brushed off the heavy wooden door, feeling for the metal ring.

“Here let me.” I pulled up the door. “Now what?” I wasn’t keen on the decaying place.

“We’re going down.”

“Are you crazy? This place could cave in.”

She sat down, her feet dangling over the edge into the dark hole.

“It won’t cave in. I have it memorized. The top crumpled to nothing but underground was sophisticated for its time. Stone and heavy beams hold it up, and I swear the rooms are bulletproof. Don’t look at me like that, because we’re going down there. I trusted you, now you trust me.”

Bee took off the backpack and unzipped it, pulling out a flashlight and handing it to me. “Be careful. Once you jump down, stand still and turn the flashlight on before you move. There is a solid wall on three sides.”

Bee inched forward more, but I grasped her shoulder. “Wait! Let me go first.”

“If you insist, Superman.” She waved her hand in an invitation.

“Bottoms up.” I didn’t hesitate to jump. Bee gasped and looked over to see me dusting off my jeans and pushing my hair out of my face. I smiled up to her and held out my arms, waiting. “I’m going to catch you because there are spiders everywhere.”

“I used to do this all the time, and I happen to like spiders. They eat all the nasty bugs. Just move so I don’t flatten you.”

“You girls complain chivalry is dead, and here I am trying to bring it back to life. Girls are so confusing. One minute they tell you they can do everything themselves, the next smacking you for not helping them, then complaining they can’t open a jar. Just jump.”

“Fine. If I squash you, remind me to laugh.” Bee moved until she sat on the edge, her feet dangling into the hole.

“Let me be your Reaper in shining armor, my lady. Just think, you can’t kill me because I’m already dead as can be.”

“That’s such a pathetic joke. All right, count and I’ll jump on three.”

“One . . . two . . . three.”

Bee jumped and I caught her. Her chest was practically in my face and my hands under her backside. She slid down, our bodies rubbing together. I only smiled.

“Kudos for not dropping me. I will spread the word that chivalry is in fact alive.”

“Lead the way, my lady.” As I walked down the short hall, the dampness and cold of the wet earth seeped into my skin and deeper into my bones.

“This room on the left was for storage and the one on the right is empty. See that door straight ahead? That’s the jackpot room.”

“Does anyone else know of this place?” I swatted my hair, pulled a cobweb off, and flung it to the ground. This place looked older than Abe.

“I doubt it. Gosh, I haven’t been here in two years. When Sabrina died, I came here to be alone and escape the Grim Reapers who were sniffing around town.” Her nose scrunched at the damp smell of must in the hallway.

She stopped in front of the door and held her hand on the handle.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I’m afraid to know the truth about why I can see Grim Reapers.”