Grim Love - A Novella by Grae Lily Page B

yes. I don’t think Lucius would have
had much of a problem with the two of us being together, which
still surprises me, but the problem is Jasper's supposed to die and
Lucius thinks it will shatter me.” She sighed. “When I agreed to
become a reaper I signed a hundred year contract, not knowing that
I'd end up falling in love with someone or I'd be so desperate to
help him live a normal life. You were my second job, Sam, and
Jasper, well, he should have been my third job. I keep messing
things up.” Recalling what he said, “You can see me? I mean, I look
normal to you? Not dead?”
    “Sure can. You don't look like any Grim
Reaper I've ever seen in movies. Anyway, why are you so desperate
for him to live a normal life?”
    “I died young and I regret the choices I
made. I had a normal life. I didn't see it, but I did. Jasper
didn’t. He went through so much as a boy. Before we met, he wanted
to die. His spirit turned out to be too strong to let him die. I'd
been sent to gather his soul, but I couldn't. I don't know why. So
I helped him to sort himself out because, I guess, I cared about
him. I knew I shouldn’t have let things go that far. I couldn’t
bring myself to walk away from someone who needed my help the way
he did. I fell in love with him.” She smiled, remembering. “I’d
never been in love before, Sam. There had been people, dates,
flings or what have you, but nothing that mattered. Falling in love
now has been a surprise. Leaving him like this, feeling the way I
feel, is impossible. I've seen him. His life is moving on – without
me.”
    Of course, there's a reason Evangeline saved the drunk
man, Lucius thought as
watched the two of them, hoping Sam could talk some sense into her
before she did something stupid. Lucius knew she'd been keeping a
close eye on Jasper. It didn’t surprise him.
    Walking away had been the hardest thing she’d
ever had to do, so he could understand why she'd been making such
terrible choices, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to have to
do as he threatened if she tried to save Jasper’s life. It'd been a
long time since Lucius needed to make use of that cell. He smiled.
The last time had been when he dealt with another compassionate
reaper who'd been doing her best to save the lives of people she
thought deserved a second chance. Those who were in charge of that
sort of thing made her into a guardian instead. He believed
Evangeline should be a guardian, too.
    Being a reaper meant Lucius saw more of the
dead than anyone else, so he knew who'd be capable of being a
guardian. Guardians weren’t angels because angels had a different
job altogether. They were spirits who did the same job that
Evangeline had done with Sam except they had more knowledge of the
ins and outs of such things. Very few reapers were ever lucky
enough to become guardians and that's why he hadn’t said anything.
That didn’t mean he wasn’t trying to convince the leader of the
guardians to assign her. Most reapers were simple. They did the
job. A few, like Evangeline, were much more difficult because they
were more compassionate or have this belief that they know who
should be dead. He’d often found that those are the very ones who
go around killing the type of people who should be in prison for
certain crimes.
    He knew of one who went around killing wife
beaters because she’d been in that unfortunate position during life
and she wanted them all dead. Lucius had done his best to convince
her that it wasn’t her choice who lived and died. It seemed obvious
she held a grudge against one specific type of person. Although
understandable, but she couldn’t keep doing it. Some people who
were meant to be reapers just weren’t ready for the job no matter
what he did or said. That forced him to make difficult choices. A
contract had been signed, though. So, he’d sent it off to someone
who could make changes to them, which meant that instead of killing
wife beaters, she'd be better suited