“Go ahead. You’ll never see those bodies or that pretty pink soul again.” It was a direct challenge. A skittering of fear actually moved down my back. I didn’t want to be Recalled. Only now it wasn’t for the same reasons as when I took those bodies.
Before, I just wanted to win, to prove I was the best Escort there was. To get the best of G.R.
But now, now it was because of Frankie.
I wanted to be with her. In any way she would have me (hopefully whatever that way was included sex).
He lifted his hand and once again, my soul began to pull out of my body. “We have a deal,” I reminded him. “My job isn’t over. You can’t Recall me unless I fail.”
Like a rubber band, my soul snapped back into my body.
“I don’t go back on my word.”
It was something I’d counted on, something that throughout the years I knew to be true. The Grim Reaper always kept his word. He never went back on a deal. I was beginning to think he was going to prove me wrong this time, but thankfully, it appeared he wasn’t.
“However, I never said I couldn’t make the job impossible. I never said I couldn’t make your life a living hell.”
He lunged across the room and grabbed my arm, his hand wrapping around my arm.
The pain was severe, an instant searing sensation that started where he touched me and worked its way up my arm, like a spreading infection, a growing disease. My veins began to turn black and they showed through my skin, which was now completely white.
I couldn’t say anything. I just stood there, caught between life and death, as the pain spread throughout my entire body. I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. The pain was so intense that it robbed me completely of sound.
And then my eyesight began to go. Dark spots started swimming in my vision until there were so many everything went completely dark and I could see nothing.
Is this what it was like to be touched by the Grim Reaper? I thought death by him was instantaneous, that it was swift and final. Where was this pain coming from? Why did it hurt so incredibly bad?
When my insides were completely obliterated, I slid to the floor, dead. Only I wasn’t dead. Just the body I’d been using for the past twenty years. I was hovering above my body, staring down at what a mess it was. The pain of what happened still vibrated in my soul. It almost looked like I’d been electrocuted to death. Kind of felt that way too.
And just like that, I no longer had a body. Not one that I could actually live in.
“I hope that didn’t hurt too bad,” G.R. said, sounding rather thrilled with himself.
“I thought when you touched someone, they died instantly.”
“Humans, yes. For them it is pain free and blissfully quick. But for Escorts, it’s entirely different. My bodies are different. To truly destroy one of my creations, it’s much harder.”
One of his creations? Did he think he was Frankenstein? The guy collected bodies, bodies he stole from other people. He didn’t create them.
“And what a waste this one was.” He frowned. “It was a good one.” He looked at me. “But you certainly didn’t deserve it.”
“That body was more mine that yours,” I spat.
He looked at me and lifted an eyebrow that seemed to reach halfway up his wide forehead. “That body was never yours. It was on loan to you. I am the one who collected it. I am the one who prepared it for a soul that was not its own, and I am the one who made it possible it didn’t rot like a body is supposed to. The reason that body served you so well is because I was the one who made it possible.”
You know, it kind of pissed me off that he was standing there trying to take away my claim to the body I wore for twenty years.
It also occurred to me that since my body was completely unlivable, I was now in a very tough position with the Target. Basically, I was going to have to start over.
Score for the Reaper.
“Tell me, do souls need air to breathe?”
“No.”
“Oh well, that’s good, because I forgot to poke holes in the lid of the jar I stuffed your soul in.”
“You did what?”
