His Soul to Take (8 page)

Robert burst into laughter.

"Did I say something funny?” Simon blinked with surprise, enjoying the sound of his laughter.

"If you weren't so serious, it'd be hilarious."

Simon pulled away. His thoughts kept turning to Robert's request.

"What's wrong?” Concern filled Robert's face and blue eyes sparkled with worry.

Simon winced. Time. There was just so little of it left. He didn't think he could bear to lose Robert now. Not now. Gods, why so soon? If he could keep him here without the curse, he'd do it in a heartbeat.

"You have to take it back,” Simon said.

"Take what back?"

"Your request."

Robert shook his head. “Just forget I asked."

"That's not the same thing."

Robert wrapped his arms around him and kissed his lips and neck. For a moment Simon let himself forget the conversation. The sweet tingle that swept through him battled against the need to put things to rest.

Simon pulled away after a moment and took a deep breath. “I'm serious. We need to talk about this."

Robert sighed heavily and leaned across the kitchen counter. “No one wants to die, Simon."

"That's not true."

"Oh, yeah, and as Death, you go around asking people, ‘Hey, you ready to die today?’”

Simon shot him a dark look. “Their time is already up. I can't stop that from happening. I just sever the ties between body and soul and show them the way. I don't make people cross over. It's their choice."

"Then why are you so hung up on this request?” Robert asked. “There's a loop hole, isn't there?"

Simon pulled away from his embrace. “I'm trying to protect you."

"From what?"

"From becoming me!” Simon snapped, putting some distance between them.

He felt Robert's eyes on him, burning into the back of his neck. He ignored him and paced the small kitchen. Memories of the past that he'd long tried to forget hit him with a rush.

A Death stared down at his broken body as he bled over the dark battlefield. The insane fear in his chest that he would go to some torturous realm of Hades's making. He had begged to live on, and Death had no choice but to grant his request and remake him.

Not dead, not alive, but Death.

He had seen kingdoms fall and armies crumble. He had walked through illness and despair. So much death, and never once allowed to see beyond the portal. The portal he had feared and now wished would open for him.

"Robert, please take it back. You have no idea what you're asking. Fear makes you do stupid things. Don't make the same mistake I did."

"I won't take it back! What's wrong with wanting to stay with you? Don't you want to stay with me?"

"Of course! How could you think I wouldn't? But this is a curse—"

"How can it be a curse if we can stay together?"

"But we can't! It's not called a curse for no reason."

"Do you know it wouldn't work?"

Simon hesitated. “No, but—"

"Then you don't know it wouldn't work."

He let out a growl of frustration. “But if it didn't, you risk being here forever. You don't seem to grasp what that's like. No one sees you, Robert. No one hears you, no one to speak to but the dead. Not a century, not two centuries, but until the end of time itself."

Robert stared at him a long moment. “How long has it been for you?"

Simon blinked at the sudden softening of Robert's tone as his blue eyes lost their glow of anger. “Centuries. No, more than that. I was a Byzantine solider, once upon a time. That was a very long time ago. I've watched deaths in such horrible manners you can't even imagine. The tortures people are capable of, the suffering of plagues, and cries of children. Please, Robert. Please, don't do this. I beg you. Not for me."

Robert said nothing and turned away.

Simon cursed softly as a soul began to call. “I have to go again. Just please think about what I've said."

He moved to close the gap between them and watched the tension seep from Robert's shoulders. Simon reached out to touch his shoulder and brushed his lips to Robert's cheek.

"I'll be back as soon as I can."

Robert nodded.

Turning away, Simon grabbed his coat and left. Back to work.

Robert sat in the kitchen sipping coffee. His mind kept turning to his impending doom. Simon hadn't said as much, but his actions spoke louder than words. He was going to die soon, and his personal Death was just waiting for his number to be called.

The thought sent a chill down his spine.

That was unfair. Simon was the type of guy he had always wanted. Strong, quiet, great in bed—had a job.

Robert snorted and stared down into his coffee.

One day his job would be to take his soul too. Everything dies. How could eternity be so bad with Simon there? What was wrong with wanting to stay with him? Curse be damned.

Getting to his feet, he paced the kitchen, but nervous energy drove him outside. Doors didn't lock against Death. Simon opened them as if locks didn't exist. Sitting in the kitchen wouldn't prevent Simon or any other Death from coming to visit.

When Simon was with him all these thoughts faded. He didn't think of anything but him. The taste of his lips, the strength in his arms, the subtle scratch of his chin. When he was gone all he thought about were the bad things. The dark things that seemed to disappear in Simon's presence. Robert felt safe when they were together. He could let go and never even think harm would come. As soon as he was gone, strange, or maybe not-so-strange, notions clouded his mind. Death was his lover. Things couldn't get much stranger than that.

He stepped outside, heading in no particular direction. He just needed to be out.

Lost in thought, he didn't see the Reaper creep up beside him until he was walking at his elbow.

Robert jumped and took a step back, staring at him. Everything about him was very much like Simon. Simple, average, easy to miss. His eyes though... Simon's eyes were dark and haunted. This Death's held an almost malicious gleam that sent an icy ripple through his bones.

"And so we meet again,” he said.

"Who are you?"

A dark smile pulled at his lips, showing a perfect set of white teeth. “Death, Grim, Thanatos, Angel of Death, Reaper, whichever you prefer."

"What do you want?"

"I like you. What's not to like? Not often you people look at us. Though I was hounded once for three days by a gypsy woman while I waited for her time to come. Annoying woman. She's found me twice, always begging to leave. So annoying.” Reaper leaned closer. “What drew you to the other? What did you call him?"

"His name is Simon."

"I doubt that, but that doesn't matter. What drew you to see him? You're much too... normal in every other way. I wonder what he will do when you leave this realm.” Reaper reached out to touch him and Robert jerked away.

"Don't."

Reaper chuckled. “Afraid I'll mark you and steal your soul? One day your Death's touch will bring death. He will fuck you and watch you die. That is his job. More than that, it is our existence."

Robert swallowed hard and found himself backed against a parking meter.

"Do you want to know when?"

"Simon said he didn't know."

"He didn't look hard enough. I can tell you."

"I don't want a damn thing from—"

"Three days,” Reaper said, cutting him off.

"Liar."

Reaper chuckled and started to walk away. “Why lie, when the truth is so much more interesting to watch?"

Robert moved around the parking meter, giving Reaper a wide berth. A chill oozed down his spine. The way he walked, his very presence seemed to sap the life right out everything around them. This Death was nothing at all like Simon.

"Until we meet again, Robert."

He said nothing and watched until the Reaper disappeared around the corner. He let out an explosive breath he hadn't realized he was holding and wiped the sweat from his palms on his pants.

His stomach twisted with the impact of Reaper's words. Three days.

Sick to his stomach, he headed back to his apartment. What does someone do when they find out they're dying in a few days?

His rubbed his chest, finding it hard to breathe as he walked. He pulled his hand away from his chest and stared at it a moment. Heart attack?

He shook his head. He was only twenty-six. Besides, he still had time.

Yeah, in this case ignorance was bliss.

Finding his way back home, he flopped back on the couch and waited for Simon, hoping everything the Reaper had told him was wrong.

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He heard Simon's soft steps as they slipped into the room several hours later. After hours of waiting and rehearsing the carefully thought out lines he'd prepared, his mind went blank when Simon stepped into the room.

Robert sat up and peered over the back of the couch at him.

"Three days?"

The light smile on Simon's lips evaporated and dark eyes turned somber. Nothing said the truth more than that.

Bile churned in the pit of his stomach and he closed his eyes, willing back the ache in his chest. He gulped for air to help keep nausea at bay.

"I was hoping he lied."

The words hung in the air and Simon moved to sit on the opposite side of the couch.

"I keep trying to imagine what will happen when I die. Who will care? What did I do? Was I important? I can't think of much. I didn't do anything really. I only have one real friend here. My family is dead, or wished I was... I'm not important. I never harmed anyone. I was nice, I think. I'm a pretty nice person, aren't I?"

"You're a very nice person."

Robert huffed. “Yeah. Write that on my epitaph."

"And you're important to me."

He winced and looked away. “Don't say that."

"It's true."

Emotions warred inside him. The urge to lash out took hold as he turned to Simon. “How can you say that? I'm dying in three days and you hover around me like a vulture waiting to pick my bones."

Simon winced visibly, but Robert didn't care. He struggled to keep his emotions under control. The anger, the grief. He couldn't think, couldn't breathe.

"Get out of here! Go. I don't want to see you. Get the hell out of my house!” Robert grabbed the lamp from the end table and threw it in Simon's direction.

Glass exploded as the ceramic base struck the table beside Simon, showering him in debris. A fresh cut marred Simon's cheek and beaded with blood.

"Robert, please—” Simon got to his feet and wiped the blood from his cheek. The cut was gone.

"Out!” His voice cracked and buried his head in his hands. “Just get the fuck out."

Silence filled the room and when he looked up, Simon was gone.

Simon closed his eyes and leaned against the wall outside Robert's apartment, his chest tight, his throat dry and burning. He took a ragged breath, trying to ease some of the pressure. He'd been greedy to ever get involved with him in the first place. No matter that it was always going to be a temporary thing. Robert was always going to die and Simon was always going to live. His curse locked him in between forever. There was no end for him.

He pushed off the wall and started away from the apartment. He picked a direction at random, just needing to walk. His mind wandered, but the ache persisted. He was alone again. He was so very tired of being alone.

He felt Reaper before he saw him and spun to face him. Grabbing him by his jacket, Simon slammed him into a nearby wall.

Reaper smirked back at him and tried to straighten his jacket. “A little upset, are we?"

"I told you to leave him alone,” Simon hissed.

"You think what you've done is any better? So I gave him the answer he wanted. I wasn't the one fucking him just to remove a curse."

"What are you talking about?” He gasped, shaking his head. “It doesn't work like that. They don't replace you. With all these people in the world, we'd be hard pressed to keep up if we were just replaced. The curse is permanent. There is no way out."

"If you say so,” Reaper said with a shrug.

"I said stay away from him. I won't have him cursed. He needs to go through.” He shoved Reaper back into the wall. “Why are you scaring him into staying? Do you think he'll replace you? Is that what you're hoping for? That's not possible, and even if it was, I wouldn't let you use him."

"And you aren't using him?” Reaper jerked out of his grip and stepped out of reach. “Get over yourself. You are no better than me."

Simon's eyes narrowed dangerously. “Go near him again, and immortality will give me plenty of time to find ways to cause you pain."

Reaper said nothing and turned his attention down the street. “I have work to do."

Simon watched him leave and looked back in the direction of Robert's apartment. He wanted to race back and tell him not to do anything Reaper said. To stand guard and protect him from making the biggest mistake he could ever make, but he could already feel the call of another soul.

He tried to resist, but the call grew louder and more persistent until the vibration in his bones began. Soon the pain would follow.

Sighing heavily, he turned and began walking toward the call, letting himself be led to his next assignment. The vibration in his bones eased as he started on his way. No, he couldn't let Robert become him. Not if he could prevent it. He had grown used to the fact that he would never leave this realm, accepted his fate. Reaper would have to do the same. Now all he had to do was figure out a way to keep Reaper distracted while he sent Robert on his way.

Far easier said than done.

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Robert stared across the living room at the phone sitting on the end table. Getting to his feet, he picked it up and sat back down on the couch.

For a long moment he stared at the keypad. He still knew the number by heart. The sing-song digits were still etched in his memory from youth. Taking a deep breath, he ran his fingers over the keys debating if he should call or not.