Grim Love - A Novella by Grae Lily Page A

out. She'd do everything she could to
make sure he didn’t know and that Jasper didn’t see her. As she
wandered through the city, she wished things were different. She
wished she hadn’t died at nineteen because then they might have met
in real life.
    Remembering how careless she'd been in life,
she couldn’t help thinking if they had met, she wouldn’t have been
able to help him. Instead, they would have ended up damaging each
other more. It'd be wishful thinking to believe their story would
have led them to change their lives together while she'd still been
alive. For what felt like the hundredth time, she blinked away
tears, knowing she needed to stop thinking about how things might
have been different. Stopping would be harder to do than she
thought.
    Evangeline had known her position wasn’t going to be easy.
She’d never considered how complicated it would be. There still
hadn't been any explanation as to why she and Jasper had been drawn
to one another. It wasn’t fair, but maybe there existed a reason
for it have happened. How could something that had caused so much pain
be meant to happen?
    Jasper had just begun to get his life back
into some sort of order only to find that he's going to die? Lucius
could be wrong. She still didn't understand how everything worked.
If Lucius did turn out to be wrong, maybe Jasper could live a long
happy life.
    Their
relationship caused the change in him because it made Jasper feel
complete. Were they soul mates? Maybe, that's why they were drawn
together. Who
knows how the universe works?
    “I hate this!” Screaming in the middle of the
city wasn’t something she would have done on any other day, but
everything had changed so much since Lucius asked her to help him.
“I have too many questions I can’t answer and I don’t know what to
do. Finding the answers in Lucius’ library is almost impossible,
even though I’ve tried, but there are so many books in there. Some
of them hold stories that might have a grain of truth and the rest,
they are like wading through treacle. They’re all written in old
English and it would be hard for anyone to understand, so I’ve been
translating as best I can, but I still feel like I’m getting
nowhere.”
    “Maybe you're not supposed to be getting
anywhere.” Before Evangeline turned, she thought she recognized the
voice. She found herself staring into the eyes of the drunk man
she’d saved. “Do you want to talk about it?”
    “With you?”
    “Yes, with me. I may have been an old drunk
when you saved my life, but I’m getting straightened out now and I
want to help you because it’s quite obvious something has happened
to cause the anger you feel the need to scream in the streets.” He
shrugged. “I heard you scream. I recognized your voice and since
you saved my life…”
    “Saving your life,” Evangeline paused, “I
made a mistake. I shouldn’t have done it, but I didn’t know whether
you were supposed to die or not, so I made a decision and it turned
out to be the wrong one.” She closed her eyes before continuing, “I
don’t regret it, though.”
    He smiled. “You wouldn’t.” He held his hand
out. “I’m Sam.”
    After a moment she took it. “Evangeline.”
    “Evangeline, the reaper. You’re much too
pretty to be a gatherer of souls. I would have thought whoever did
these things would have made you a guardian angel instead. Who knew
reapers could look like you?” Sam looked at her as if the red cloak
hid nothing of her features.
    “Like I said…”
    “You made a mistake. I know. Yet, here I am,
still walking through the city so I can’t help thinking that, if
you didn't make a mistake, I'd be dead by now. Since I'm alive, I’m
willing to help you with whatever difficulties you've found
yourself in.”
    “They aren’t something I think you can help
with.” Evangeline brushed her hand through her hair. “I fell in
love and we can’t be together.”
    “Because you’re a reaper.”
    “Well,