When she unexpectedly dies, Mackenzie Bowen lacks the paperwork she needs to pass into The Beyond. To avoid sitting in a waiting room for centuries, Mack is paired with Leon, a miserable Reaper, and hopes to either undo her death or earn her spot be...
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I might have worried that the above was an inordinately long chapter title had I not staggered through a portal with a badly wounded Reaper leaning almost his entire weight onto my much smaller body, which really threw that sort of thing into perspective.
I lowered Leon carefully onto the floor. The scythe clanked onto the stone slabs, but I didn't have time to worry about that. I was more concerned that the Hell Hound would chase us through. I'd pulled the door closed behind me, but I didn't know if that was enough. Leon wasn't in great shape, and I wasn't going to bother him for a lesson. Instead, I put myself between him and the cascading portal and held my breath. When Alistair didn't appear, I assumed we were safe. Even if we weren't, he was more than outnumbered in The Beyond, and the other Reapers wandering around would send him back before he could do any actual harm.
Stubbornly, Leon tried to get to his feet without my help. He folded and holstered his scythe, made it to his feet, and then swayed dangerously. I raced to his side and wrapped my arms around Leon's waist to steady him. It was beyond awkward, especially because he was so covered in blood that I couldn't easily make out where exactly he'd been wounded. From the way he grunted when we collided, I assumed that I'd just made it worse. To his credit, he didn't shout at me. Instead, Leon dropped his arm over my shoulders, and we staggered onward.
With each step, Leon placed more weight across my shoulders. I didn't consider myself weak, but Leon was heavy, and I simply couldn't support him. We were almost to the lift when he stumbled over his feet and upset us both. As we dropped to the floor, I placed myself beneath him and took the brunt of the impact. If Reapers could bleed then they could bruise, and I imagined I'd have a large one on my backside by morning. Or evening. I mean, it was always evening there.
At last, we caught the attention of a passing Reaper. Apparently seeing two of their comrades on the floor, one of whom was covered in blood, was par for the course for most. Thank God someone had snapped out of their personal bubble of consciousness and noticed that I didn't have the strength or inclination to drag Leon the rest of the way to Death's office. The white-haired woman was within two feet of us when Leon stirred.
"Call Tobias," he ordered the woman in as firm a voice as he was able. "Urgently."
"Yes, Sir!" The woman complied without question and raced away.
I didn't know who Tobias was but as long as he could deal with Leon, I was happy to meet him. I'd be happy to meet anyone who could get the bleeding Reaper off me. Leon didn't seem particularly happy about our respective positions, either. The moment he realised that he was lying atop me, he pushed himself to the side and dropped onto his back on the floor. It was precisely what I'd been trying to avoid. The moment he collided with the tile he let out a groan of pain and glared at me like it was my fault.
Well, it was my fault.
If I hadn't wandered off alone, I wouldn't have bumped into Alistair, and Leon wouldn't have needed to rush in to save me. I appeared to be making a habit of doing such things. He'd probably put me on one of those leads that parents had for their toddlers so they didn't escape so he could keep an eye on me. I hoped not. That wouldn't be a good look. It'd also interfere with our work. Not that I expected to still have a job after all this. I mean, on my first assignment I'd almost killed us both.
