How long I laid out on the balcony curled into the fetal position I had no clue. Long enough that my body ached from the sobs and my breath came in violent hiccups was all that registered with me. If I wasn't already dead I would have begged someone to end me, to stop the emptiness that was weighing me down. There was a bright flash of light and a rumble of thunder following seconds later, cuing the approach of a storm.
As if I wasn't suffering enough a gentle rain pelted my skin and I was chilled from the cool storm breeze that caressed me. Soon the rain and wind started to become harsher, I couldn't even summon the energy to move so, instead, I just squeezed my eyes shut, curled tighter into a ball and silently begged for this nightmare to end. As the rains picked up there came a knock at the door. Hoping they would go away I stayed silent and just let the rain wash away my grief and misery.
The sound of the door creaking open made me realize my blatant lack of self preservation skills. Great Callie, could you make it any easier for the demon spawn to turn you into a midnight snack? Why not present yourself on a friggin' silver platter! Maybe that was what lead me to this place. If I had been more observant or had more street smarts I may not have ended up where I now was and Brian's life would not be bound to my ability to follow orders and go on murderous killing sprees, or however they reaped their souls, with strange creatures of the night.
"What are you doing out here? It is freezing and you're soaking wet, why didn't you...Are you insane?" Strong arms curled beneath my shoulders and legs scooping me from the cold, wet balcony ground, cuddling me into a hard chest, and carrying me into the warm interior of my new prison. Upon placing me gently on the soft leather sofa I was instantly swaddled in a warm fuzzy blanket.
I looked up and two pairs of eyes stared back at me with concern. One set were those wonderfully meadow like green eyes of the brown haired man and the other, a deep chocolate brown, belonging to his bronze skinned partner. I watched them curiously wondering why they chose to come back when they were obviously not comfortable having done so.
"Hello. I'm Lincoln, but you can call me Link, and this is Ripley." Was all the bronzed skinned man with buzzed cut hair said as I laid there wrapped up like a soggy burrito in the warm confines of the fuzzy blanket.
Ripley? Hm, I like it. "I'm C..C.al..lie." I gritted out between chattering teeth.
The man called Ripley wandered into the tiny kitchenette of the apartment, where I soon heard a cupboard open and close followed by running water. Link eyed me curiously for a moment, then set his gaze in the direction of the kitchenette where Ripley was and finally back to me. He released a sigh as he mumbled to himself, "I am going to regret this I just know it."
"Why did you...I mean, why are you being nice to me?"
"We weren't trying to be mean to you Callie. Its just that, well we aren't really supposed to have contact with you until your exchange, uh...the being you choose to become. It is the way it is done down here. But Rip...he, well I think he relates most with what you have gone through tonight and feels a little protective of you."
I glanced in Ripley's direction, "Why aren't you allowed to have contact?"
"They don't want to taint the newbie's choice." He replied while he diligently focused on the task he had set upon himself in the kitchen.
"Taint? How is having contact tainting?" Now that I had someone in this place talking I wanted to know more, I needed to understand.
Link ran a hand over his face and sucked his teeth, drawing my attention back to him. "Well, your choice of being to become at the exchange, it should be an instinctive reaction, you know? Like you should feel in your gut if you can trust someone or not."
Ripley sidled up to the couch carrying a steaming cup of tea and handed it to me as he settled himself onto the coffee table. "Drink up, it will help with the chills."
"Like how I felt comforted by whoever dragged me away from Brian's body and held me, I felt safe, and like how I felt that I could trust Ripley?"
They both shared a curious look and an almost imperceptible smile formed on Ripley's lips. Link glanced at me with indecision in his eyes, as if he wanted to tell me more, but rule breaking wasn't in his nature. Finally he sighed and rubbed his temples, as he took in my vacant stare, and continued on.
"You and Ripley are the only humans in the last fifty years to be chosen. We used to get more, but times have changed and corruption runs rampant in the human world. A person must be pure of heart in order to join the ranks in D.E.M.I.S.E. Because we gather souls and sort them. Containing the ones that became lost, and if your soul had been tainted it would be easier to turn it...hm...evil for lack of a better description."
"Wait, souls turn evil in humans?"
"Souls, for the most part, in humans don't turn evil. If evil gets ahold of a soul then once the human carrier of the soul dies and the soul moves forward it can be targeted and turned evil. That is why you were given specific choices with outlying consequences for each choice. A person that was tainted would've been less willing to make the choice you did, but even if they chose the same fate..."
Ripley jumped into the discussion at that moment talking hurriedly over Link. "They could prove a liability because, even choosing a new life here you are susceptible to turning, at least more so at the beginning, which is why fewer and fewer are predetermined to be eligible for a choice, like you and I."
The way they tied their train of thoughts together smoothly lead me to believe they had been partners for quite a while.
"Yeah, they had to make sure you hadn't been tainted prior to your retrieval, look Callie, it isn't so bad here. It can be pretty nice if you accept your fate and give life here a chance. I was not born human, so I'm not completely familiar with your loss, but I can tell you I have spent time in your world and it isn't much different here. You are not a prisoner, although I assume you see that differently, but you are not. I am sorry for your loss and what you went through today, but you will have to make the exchange and fulfill your duties." Link reached out tentatively as if to pat me on the head but seemed to think better of it and quickly withdrew his hand.
"Well, I think I am going to call it a night. You take care Callie and I will see you at the exchange in the morning. You coming Rip?"
"I'll be along shortly. If it's ok with Callie I'd like to stay here for a bit." He looked at me with such compassion that I couldn't help but agree.
"Sure."
"Ok, have a goodnight you two." He paused at the door before turning to address Ripley once more, "And Ripley? The choice must be hers."
We sat there, for a while after Link left, an awkward silence building between us, for what felt like ages. Simultaneously we both began to speak.
"How are..."
"Can I..."
He chuckled and nodded his head at me to continue. "Go ahead."
"I was going to ask what I would be expected to do is all."
"Well our general goal here at D.E.M.I.S.E. is to claim and sort souls. To help keep the souls on their right paths. Some souls can be reborn into a new human shell while most others move on to a peaceful resting place. It is important for us to claim them as soon as the human shell dies, if we fail the soul will become lost and any demon could claim it and taint it. Then when it is reborn it could be easily corrupted by demons who wish to force the human world into chaos."
Trying not to seem overly eager for the information he was willingly giving I took a deep sip of my tea mulling over his statement.
"How does one take a soul exactly?"
He paused and I could almost see the wheels turning in his mind. It was as if he was weighing the information and picking out what he could safely pass on to me.
"Every division of beings does it differently. Some, the Demons and Vampires, seem more malicious in their ways, to an outsider at least, but those are the ones who deal with collecting the lost souls that have been tainted and reborn wreaking havoc in the world. Trying to balance the scale I guess you could say."
"The Ghosts and Necromancers, are the ones sent out to search for the souls that become lost."
"Finally you have the Reapers, which are the main group sent out to claim souls as their human shells die. Timing is everything for Reapers, we always get a notification someone is about to pass and the soul needs to be claimed. Most notices are sent days and weeks in advance, those are what humans refer to as natural deaths. Then there are the urgent notices, where we may have minutes to reach the soul before the shell dies or it can become lost. The urgent cases are usually accident victims or murder victims."
We talked for what felt like hours about D.E.M.I.S.E. and I found out that the name was an acronym of sorts, referring to the different steps the human recruits would go through as they became agents in the soul collecting world. Step one: Death; Step two: Exchange, of one life form to another; Step three: Master; Step four: Initiation; Step five: Solace and finally Step six: Eternally.
"So, how are you holding up? I mean, to me, you seem a lot calmer, almost too calm."
"I honestly just feel numb. Like everything inside of me was sucked out and a void was left behind that will never be filled, but, having company helps to keep my mind occupied. You know?"
He nodded as he watched me sip my tea, "Its a lot to deal with all at once. I should know, as I was in your shoes once upon a time."
"Who did you have to make the choice for? I mean, if you don't mind me asking. You don't have to tell me."
"Nah, its okay. It helps to talk about it. Just so you know." He said with a wink as he bumped my shoulder with his as he settled back into the cushions of the sofa and placing his feet casually on the coffee table. "It was about five years ago that I landed here and had to make the choice. The person I had to choose for, was my wife."
"Your wife? I am so sorry." My heart broke for him and suddenly a piece of a puzzle clicked in my head. "Wait...You? You were the one that was holding me back in that room. Trying to comfort or reassure me. I couldn't understand why someone was being so nice." He only nodded in response and looked quickly towards the balcony doors and watched the rain streak down the glass.
"Well, like I said, I was once in your shoes. I kind of lost it when I had to make my decision. I went a little crazy, and punched Link in the face." He chuckled a little as he remembered that moment. "Truth be told, I think he let me hit him. I know it is phrased as a choice, but folks like you and me? We never stood a chance at getting our mortal lives back. Link was right though, it isn't too bad here."
His eyes bore into mine as he spoke and suddenly I didn't feel completely alone in this new world. Exhaustion started to creep into me causing my eyes to droop and a large yawn to escape my mouth.
"I should probably head out and let you try to get some rest as you have a long day ahead."
As Ripley stood and stretched and started to make his way to the door, I hurriedly peeled myself out of my cocoon and tried to rise up off the couch but my legs buckled under the weight of my grief fueled exhaustion. Ripley reached out swiftly and steadied me.
"You going to be alright?" I mulled over in my head if I would ever truly be alright and I nodded as something deep within my core told me I was where I should be even though my heart was shattered.
"Well, then goodnight Callie."
"Goodnight Ripley and thank you."
A look flashed across his face and suddenly Ripley leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on my forehead. "Sleep Well Callie. I will see you in a few hours."
Before he made it to the door I thought of one final question. "Hey, Ripley? What are you?"
He smiled a boyishly handsome smile and replied with only one word.
"Reaper."