Chapter 9: Reaper Code

an excerpt from the original supernatural suspense novel, "Billy the Grim", by Annette Sharp

Chapter 9

Reaper Code

Billy pauses at the foot of her bed – the one he audaciously thinks of as his woman. Her head lolls in the cradle of the pillow in a fitful sleep. He moves closer to better appreciate her features, and she stills as though aware of his presence. Her eyes remain closed, lips slightly parted. Dark lashes flutter for an instant above creamy cheekbones. Bad dreams, maybe. A small dot of moisture appears in the corner of her eye. Billy wants to wipe it away, stroke her arm, soothe her fears, smooth the silken strands from her face, kiss her cheek, and whisper gentle words into her ear. This is why he comes to her.

To remember something human. To feel alive.

If he were to do any of these things, she would not survive. His touch would mean her death, and Billy’s exile to suffer the black storms of oblivion for all eternity. A fate he may already face thanks to his impulsive intervention with the vampire man’s attack on the dying woman. A break in reaper code, which is forbidden. His assumption. If a reaper has ever gone rogue against the code, he is unaware. No reaper breakroom abounding with gossip exists.

Even if he could touch this woman without harming her or committing himself to a fate condemned to eternal hell, things would go bad for her. Terror in all its forms, working through any scenario he considers, would destroy her mentally by mere awareness of his existence – let alone the sight of his face.

He turns away, hand brushing over the coverlet as he goes to the window. Something tumbles from bed to floor. Billy sweeps back to see the item. A white puffy curl. He stoops, taking it in between his fingers. A word comes to him.

Popcorn.

His throat works over the syllables like gravel in a grinder. A sequence of images flash. Memories. Snuggled beneath a loft of soft blankets. A giant bowl resting on top. White puffs overflowing. Laughter. Pleasant tingling from fine granules, melting on tongues. Tongues seeking each other…

Billy grunts, pushing the visions away. At the window, his bony fists settle on the windowsill, wishing for eyelids to shut away his foolishness and the shock of unexpected memory. Though he expects these occurrences, this was more specific than usual. His duties as a reaper keep him numb. He enjoys the nothingness of it, which punctuates the absurdity of his intentional and irrational obsession to come here.

An oathed harbinger of death with the sole duty to extract the life force from expended shells – an uncomplicated duty. Yet one rife with the delegated responsibility of a divine being. The Great One. Azrael. For this reason, he submits to a margin of compassion for those in the throes of dying – while conversely being the nightmare of the living. He keeps his distance until the final moment. Considerate in that way, though he suspects other reapers may not be so inclined.

His incessant need to come here, to somehow keep himself bound to the living, is a mysterious self-gratification, or distorted self-flagellation, and makes no sense.

Something inside him remembers this woman – because she matters or once did. Whoever they were to each other, Billy wants some part of her to stay with him. He needs the reassurance she continues to be safe, alive, and well. She is sweet torture that will lead to the damnation of his soul, and he cannot resist. He will continue to cling to her, like the woman he watched clinging to river rocks – until his strength is gone.

Something pushes against the barrier of his existence. An uncomfortable sensation inside the cage of his chest. He places his hand where the source of life once existed, wondering at it. Knowing, but not understanding how it is possible for him to feel…regret.

A stealth movement to his right, a shadow jumping. Something brushes against his sleeve. Billy turns to a source of deep rumbling. Bold golden eyes stare up, fearless – oblivious to the horror of his countenance. He lifts his hand, tempted to stroke the cat – but stops. His gnarled hand hovers in the space above the cat – realizing the harm such an action can cause. She has no reservations, pushing her head into Billy’s skeletal hand. He snatches back – waiting for the cat to collapse, writhing in agony. She doesn’t. Shyamalan continues purring and walking the literal catwalk of the windowsill. She presses her slinky body against him as she passes, flipping her tail with sassy acceptance across his gruesome face.

“You remember me.”

The words roll from his throat, three stones dropping into a room that should only receive the good intentions of the living. Billy crooks his head a notch when the cat stops to look up at him.

Pluurpp!

Billy puts up a warning finger.

“Shh. Our secret.” He glances over his shoulder to look at Sharma… Her name is Sharma! He spins around, staring at her with amazement. The name materializes out of nowhere. He goes to her side again. Four soft pads hit the floor, and the cat pounces onto the bed, purring loudly. Billy recedes into the cover of shadows, should she be awakened.

As he lurks, observing her fragile beauty, pure and unaware of the monster standing so near, a power grips him. Something unnatural, binding and bending him to its will. Not like the old woman who had persisted with a demand for his presence, which he had been compelled to answer without clear understanding.

He shifts his attention into the spectrum of his domain - the life forces flickering within the immediate vicinity. One beacon burns brightly beneath Sharma’s apartment. Though its ambience does not indicate an immediate event…

Billy’s form jerks against a strange power, an alien force stronger than his delegated sub-divinity, and compounding. Despite his attempts to fight it, break its hold, he is overcome. His energy wanes, and unable to summon the strength to resist any longer, Billy is yanked straight through the floorboards.

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Thank you for reading/listening to Chapter 9: Reaper Code, an excerpt from the original supernatural suspense novel, “Billy the Grim” now available in paperback on Amazon.com