My Soul to Reap (Archived)

Prey

"Nevermind," I said, blowing it off. She narrowed her eyes a me.

"Cammie," she warned, and I sighed.

"How did you know what to do yesterday? You knew exactly what I needed. But I'm just going to assume it's a reaper thing," it all came out in a hurried rush, and I half hoped she hadn't heard it. But she had. I could see it in the hard glint in her eyes and the way her mouth straightened. And then, very slowly, she shook her head.

"How long have you been seeing them?" she asked, answering me with a question. I gulped.

"About as long as I've known you," I said sheepishly. "When they broke the mirror." She nodded slowly, closing her eyes. I could see where the makeup was smudged, and I realized I probably looked like hell too.

"They're nice at first, aren't they?" she asked slowly, and she sounded so young that my heart broke. "They're so sweet, they tell you you're special and that they can help you. That they can save you and give you anything you want." She took a deep breath, and for a split second I thought she might actually cry. But her words became tinged with bitterness, and then increasingly anger.

"And then they turn on you. Their honeyed words go sour and you're left with these psychotic twins who will tear you apart for fun." At this point she was angry, really and truly angry. And I was captivated by her words.

"That's how I knew. Because I've heard the screaming before, except it lasted longer than your ten minutes. It was a whole damn week. And that's what broke me." I wanted to hug her, just wrap my arms around her and tell her it was okay. Because that was unfair, that was plain cruel and that could have been me. But I just swallowed thickly instead. Her eyes snapped open and she took a steadying breath.

"And to answer your previous question, the mission to fuck shit up continues today. Get you ass out of bed." The moment was gone so fast it was easy to forget it had happened. Which, frankly, was probably the point. I sighed and ejected myself from between the blankets, finally looking around the room. It wasn't infected with all the things from the rest of Kayin's house, but that didn't stop there from being plants and bottles all the same. No bones, though, which was an improvement.

"Do we worry about my current appearance or do I just leave it?" I asked, catching sight of myself in a mirror buried somewhere in the shelves and wincing. Wow, that was bad.

"Nah. We're going straight to my place." I nodded, threading my fingers through my hair in an attempt to at least fix that. "Which is your cue to get moving," she said pointedly, striding out of the room. I sighed, pressed the heels of my palms into my eyes before following her. It as strange, having her open up and then completely return to the devil-may-care attitude. But, hey, this was probably what Brie was always like.

When I walked into the entrance room, the first thing that happened was Rina wrapped her arms around me in a hug.

"Glad you're back," she whispered into my hair, and I squeezed back gently before pulling away.

"Yeah, I am too," I smiled back. She seemed to be unaffected by the general state of disarray Brie and I were in, and I was beginning to think both her dress and hair had magical properties. She bounced backwards, being sure not to bump into anything.

"I know I'm going to regret this," Kayin sighed, tossing a set of keys at Brie who held them up triumphantly. "Now I know you drank the potion, but just keep an eye out." He said, and Rina pulled him into a quick hug too.

"Thank you," she said sincerely,and he smiled.

"Yeah, yeah," he laughed. "Don't crash the car." Brie mock saluted, and even I knew that wasn't a good indicator of trust. He just shook his head. "I do want it back at some point." Rina grabbed Brie's arm and raced out the door.

"If we don't leave soon I'm gonna cry!" She wailed. "I hate goodbyes!" I laughed, shaking my head at her. I turned awkwardly to thank Kayin, but he pulled me into a hug. I smiled a little, but he suddenly jerked me to the side and I yelped quietly in surprise.

"I have no idea who you are or how you got involved in this, but you need to leave," he hissed. I tried to pull away, confused and suddenly very scared. This wasn't the kind but socially awkward guy who was being cold because he didn't know better. This was the first impression I had of him, the force of nature walking down the street.

"I don't know either," I admitted. "Listen, I have no idea why me or why any of this involves me. I really, really don't." It sounded more like a plea than I wanted it to. He stayed quiet, and I held my breath, too afraid I'd start hyperventilating. The room was silent, and I was hyper-aware that every single thing cluttered into this house would make it easier for him to kill me. And then his grip on me softened.

"Then may whatever gods you pray to have mercy on your soul," he said, tone grave and filled with an old power. I shivered, pulling away the first chance I got. When I looked at his face, the fear died down. He wasn't angry. If anything he was sad, and I wanted to ask him why. I wanted to know what was going to happen to my soul. I wanted to sit him down and ask him everything, but a car horn honked outside and I could hear one of the girls calling for me. I nodded once and turned, walking just a little too slowly out of the house.

I turned around once I reached the steps, even though that probably wasn't the best idea. I was suddenly worried I wouldn't leave. Kayin had followed, silent, and it was obvious that he was thinking. He slipped something into my hand, a small piece of paper, and waved at the girls like nothing had happened. I stole a glance at it as I climbed into the car, a fairly average brown thing. There was a phone number scrawled across the paper, and when I looked up for an explanation he nodded, a reassuring smile on his face. There was a sudden rush of relief when I realized what it meant. Kayin would help me, and all I had to do was call. I waved back, smiling. I tried to hold his gaze as long as I could, and I still wanted to think I could see green after we'd driven away.