Death's Apprentice

23

It was midday when two people in suits and ties walked through revolving doors. Death and I stood in a large lobby. White walls, white floors, people in white lab coats, there wasn't much color aside from the hanging baskets filled with flowers. They were the only thing that distracted from the harsh lighting from the fluorescents and that from the large windows. Those very same flowers wilted as Death passed under them. The sweet, subtle scent, that of impatients bought for Mother's Day, switched with the heavy, depressing scent of decay.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" I asked, looking around. The reception counter was metal, probably stainless steel. Railings on the second floor were metal and glass. Automatic doors opened and closed as people scanned their access cards. The place was modern. Nowhere near as old as the place where we found Harper.

"Are you saying I don't know how to track an immortal?"

"Hey, you're the one who said they like older places. This place was built in the eighties." A shiny metal plaque was bolted into a wall. Etched into it in big block letters, Est. 1982 AD stood out along with the name of the institute.

"How do you know that?"

I gestured to the shiny metal plaque with Est. 1982 AD etched into it. "It says it on that."

"Oh." Death smiled and chuckled at himself; he shook his head.  "Well, we're not exactly in a new country, there was probably something a lot older here before. I'm still picking up a lot of energy." He looked around the room. I followed his example and saw a scientist wheeling a lab cart from one door to another. White lab mice scurried around in their sawdust beds, before the cart and the person disappeared from view.

"Are you sure it's not from the mice and rats and whatever else they test on?"

"I don't kill animals, kid. They don't really have souls. Sure, they end up in heaven, but anything they do can't be held to moral standards. Or mortal standards for that matter."

"Yeah, yeah. I know," I said with a sigh. "Good and evil are inventions, black and white, and all of that stuff. Now are we going to go find this guy or are we going to stand here until they call security?"

"I think we're a bit late for that." Death tilted his head towards the uniformed guard walking towards us.

"Great, I've always wanted to be thrown out of a research institute."

"Really?" Death asked, looking at me.

"Yeah, it was on my bucket list. Just after diving into shark infested water and getting kidnapped." I messed with my sleeve. My suit was crumpled and wrinkled and way too big for me. The tie looked like something out of my dad's closet, just as serious and no nonsense, though it probably looked ridiculous on me.

Death's suit fit him well. Mainly because it was his suit and not one pulled from the back of someone else's closet. He fixed his tie. He looked at his silver cufflinks and adjusted them, before looking at me.

"I feel like those are on very different levels, kid."

"Can I help you?" The security guard asked. He was barrel chested, clean shaven. He peered down his nose at me, like a parrot down its beak. My eyes automatically looked at his belt, noting the handcuffs, gun, and taser. Could I be tased? That was not a question I wanted answered.

Despite the obvious tension, Death smiled at him. "Do you know if Kai Hudson is in today? We were planning on surprising him with lunch."

I glanced at him with an eyebrow raised. The hard glint usually in his eyes when doing anything regarding the immortals wasn't there. He could've been there to take the guy out on a lunch date. I probably would've thought that, if I couldn't see Death's hand tightening around the scythe and if I didn't know beforehand that we were here to murder Kai.