AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Shit,” she hissed, flipping the alarm switch above the bed that would alert the other nurses on shift to the emergency before beginning CPR. She was counting out her fifth compression when a shadow in the doorway made her look up.
“No,” she sighed, continuing her task. “Not Sophia. She’s one of the good ones.”
Death smiled at her sadly. “I’m sorry,” he said, with a slight shake of his head.
For a brief moment, Bunny considered ignoring him and carrying on with her CPR. Was it possible to cheat death? She could try to find out. But her conscience won over in the end and she stopped. She stepped away from the patient, breathing hard.
“You’d better hurry up before the other nurses get here.”
He nodded. Bunny busied herself with tidying Sophia’s nightstand, so she wouldn’t have to watch Death performing his duty. A shift in the air told her that it was done. When she looked back, both of them were gone and only Sophia’s body remained.
She wrote up the notes of the death later that night, working diligently to take her mind off the heartbreaking phone call she’d had to make to Sophia’s family. As a nurse, Bunny had learned a long time ago that death was part of her job. In her role as a celestial, she’d come to know that it was part of the universal balance.
“How are you?”
Bunny looked up to see Death standing in front of the counter of the nurses’ station. He always looked exactly the same; long black peacoat framing his broad shoulders, dark hair slicked back, impossibly dark eyes that seemed like endless pools of ink she wanted to lose herself in.
“I’m okay.”
He cocked his head to the side, eyes narrowing as he focused on her. “Just okay?”
“It is what it is,” she shrugged, adding her signature to the bottom of her notes. She slid the office chair away from the desk and stood, meeting him outside of the station.
“I’m sorry.” His voice was softer than usual. Tender, even.
It was her turn to frown. “For what?”
He pressed his lips together briefly, that muscle in his jaw ticking to give away the awkwardness he felt even if he didn’t look it. “Everything.”
“Don’t be.”
“Why not?”
It was an excellent question, and one she hadn’t thought about overmuch until now. But the answer came to her with ease like a well-trained dog; a faithful companion that promised to stay by her side through thick and thin, and everything that might come between.
On a whim, she took a step closer to him, then another.
“Because I’m not,” she murmured, closing the gap between them. She looked up into his eyes, before her gaze dared to drift down to his lips. “This is who I am. I’d always felt lost somehow, like I never quite belonged anywhere.”
“And you don’t feel lost now?” he asked, his voice suddenly sounding husky. She met his gaze once more.
“No,” she declared, edging closer.
“Good,” he murmured back.
Their lips met, connecting in a way that she would have felt the zing in this dimension or any other. She curled her right hand around the back of his cool neck, tangling her fingers in his glossy black hair as he snaked an arm around her waist to pull her body flush to his. Her breath escaped the kiss in a hot puff of air before she dove back in, determined to explore him while she had the chance, after wanting to know for so long just what it would be like to kiss Death. And though he didn’t need to come up for air, eventually she did.
“Wow,” she breathed, smiling with her nose alongside his.
“Wow,” he echoed.
There was something off about his voice that gave her pause for thought, and she pulled away to look up at him again, one brow quirked as she set herself up for another smartass reply, no doubt.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
He frowned lightly as he studied her face, then looked at their surroundings as his grip around her waist eased up. When he looked back at her again, it was through the eyes of a stranger, like he was seeing her for the very first time.
“Sorry,” he said, his expression backsliding to his trademark stoicism. “Who are you?”
* * *
