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A theory began to stew in his brain as he counted down from ten, barely flinching as two ballast stones plummeted from far above, mere specks in the dark to begin with, spinning into view, then smashing into the sidewalk with savage cracks.
One, two.
Concrete and shards of stone flew like shrapnel, striking several bystanders as they fled from the falling debris. There was, to his delight, the requisite screams of fear, some of the unholy chaos he appreciated, but what he didn’t have in his possession was a soul.
Goddamn it all.
Mistakes did not happen in his line of work. Ever. Not once since the dawn of time had he taken a soul which didn’t require reaping, but then, he’d never had one not turn up for its scheduled departure.
Well, there were no coincidences, he told himself as he wound through the rush of panicked pedestrians toward the woman who appeared to be frozen in place. She was staring in horror at the stones, the deep dent and crack in the sidewalk.
As though she sensed him coming, she turned and bolted in the opposite direction, legs pumping dangerously with only those thin boot heels for support, merging in with the rest of the humans before she split off and tried to vanish.
Rolling his eyes at her attempt to flee, Seth snapped his fingers. His next step carried him straight into the summoned portal. When he strode out of the other side, he smirked as he stopped, folding his arms over his chest, tapping his fingers on his biceps, and waited for his target to pass through him as she searched frantically over her shoulder.
She smacked into him with a harsh oomph, bouncing off him.
“Ms. Townsend?” he queried, completely baffled with this mortal. His job was to be not seen, not heard, but she was breaking all the laws set between life and death.
“Fuck,” she mumbled under her breath. “She told me this would happen. She told me, but did I listen? No, I did not, and now look! Stones raining down from the sky! An asshole in a goddamn suit looking like Keanu goddamn Reeves in The Devil’s Advocate—only hotter—who can materialize from nothing! Why did I not listen to the crazy old bitch?”
Amused, Seth lifted his eyebrow. “Perhaps because you believed she was crazy?”
“I wasn’t asking you.”
Oh, she had some claws on her, didn’t she? While she muttered to herself some more, Seth walked around her in a slow circle, admiring the curves she wasn’t trying to hide. It had been a considerable amount of time since he’d dallied with a female of any species, but he couldn’t recall being attracted to a human before.
Although, there had been that pretty French queen in 1793…
Finally, the human stopped mumbling to herself.
“Are you done?” Seth asked. “Or do you need a few more minutes to berate yourself?”
She huffed softly.
“Good. I have some questions for you—I’d like some honest answers.” Because he liked looking at her, he circled again. “Are you Lara Townsend?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know who I am?”
She bit her full bottom lip. “I can hazard a guess.”
Seth chuckled. “Would that guess be correct?”
“Well, you’re dressed like a funeral director, and when those stones hit the ground, you looked as though you were disappointed not to be hauling away a body.” Lara gripped her fingers together. “If the psychic was right, you’re a Grim Reaper. Death incarnate.”
Psychic, huh? Seth scowled. That explained a few small details, but left gaping questions to be answered. “Not a Grim Reaper. The Grim Reaper. But I will accept Death incarnate as a right answer. Now, is this the first time you’ve seen me?”
She sighed. “No, but it is the first time I’ve seen you and known who you are. When my grandmother died in the care home when I was a kid, you were standing near her. I always believed you were just visiting another resident, until you were waiting beside my mother’s bed in the hospital as she died from ovarian cancer, then my father’s chair when he passed in his sleep on Thanksgiving night three years ago.”
How unusual. Some did say that children were more susceptible to bearing witness to the paranormal and supernatural realms, although the theory was that they grew out of it as they got older. Perhaps Lara had somehow failed to develop the mortal adult’s ability to distance themselves from the truth of the world around them.
“And you’re sure it was me you believe you saw?”
Eyes burning hotter than molten green glass gave him a puh-lease kind of stare. “Have you seen you?” She lifted her hand, one slender finger jabbing in the direction of his face before it gestured down the length of his body, and back up again. “I was five the first time I saw you, buddy, and you haven’t aged a day in the past seventeen years. Pretty sure I’m gonna remember eyes that blue,” she told him, then licked her lips as her own eyes glazed slightly, “and a mouth that…lush.”
Seth stopped the laugh before it could escape, feeling his ‘lush’ mouth curving at the corners. He waited a moment for her to comprehend what she was saying, but it took a few seconds longer than anticipated before she shook herself from whatever daydream she’d tumbled into. When her eyes cleared from cloudy moss to bright bottle green, he inclined his head. “So, you know who I am, and I think it’s obvious I know who you are. You understand what this means, don’t you?”
