Blurred - Kissed by Death Page 0,1

to see Heaven or the second life they sought.

“Why didn’t you allow me to take him?” My voice trembled. “He earned the peace that waited for him. I…I just stole that from him.”

“Because he has a purpose. You cannot comprehend how valuable he is,” Balthazar said, turning to me. “That human…that soul has been a thousand years in the making, Anaya. I did what was necessary.”

His cold eyes raked over me once before settling on my face with the weight of a decision. “And now I’m going to ask you to do what is necessary. One last task.”

Hope flared to life inside me. I’d been waiting a thousand years to hear those words. “Last task?”

“I need your help securing that soul. If he is who I think he is, I can’t risk him falling into the hands of our enemies.” Balthazar’s jaw clenched and a breeze ruffled the edge of his robe. “You guard him, deliver him to me when the time comes, and I’ll give you what I promised.”

I attempted to organize my thoughts enough to reply. This was unheard of. Souls bound for Hell were sometimes intercepted to be recruited as reapers, yes, but a Heaven-bound? Never. “Deliver him to you? Not the Almighty? Not to the place of peace that he has worked lifetimes to earn?” My insides burned with the force of how wrong this felt. After shoving that vibrant soul back into its wilting body, I wasn’t sure anything would ever feel right again. “You are asking me to deny his eternal happiness in exchange for my own?”

In response, Balthazar swept his hand through the air, clearing the mist around us. An image rippled out in front of me. The sea lapped up onto the sand, pulling layers of it back out with the tide. The sky was so bright and blue that the image burned my eyes. My head rested in Tarik’s lap. He took one of my braids, dipped it in the surf, and tickled my nose with the tip. I laughed and he leaned down to capture the sound with his lips. His dark hair was wet from our swim and dripped onto my closed eyelids.

I gasped, overwhelmed by the pain and longing that swept through me. Even now, a thousand years later, I could taste him. Feel the water, cool and perfect against my skin. Balthazar had chosen the memory well. It had been the day I’d fallen in love. The day that altered the course of my existence forever. Old wounds fractured inside my chest and the loss scorched my throat, fresh and fiery. I reached out to touch the image, but it swirled away like smoke.

“I am offering you salvation, Anaya,” he said. “A chance to cross over. All I ask in return is that you succeed in the task I have provided for you. You wouldn’t throw away the chance to be with the ones you love again, would you?”

I shut my eyes, trying to cling to the image of Tarik. In that moment, I would have done anything. Even if it was as awful as denying a soul as beautiful as Cash’s the eternal home he deserved. If the path led me back to my family, back into Tarik’s arms and away from the call of the dead, I would take it.

Balthazar touched my shoulder and cold seeped through my pores, warring with the warmth inside me. I opened my eyes, clutching the scythe at my hip to calm it.

“Tell me what I have to do.”

Chapter 1

Cash

There isn’t a handbook for cheating death.

It would have been nice if there was one. Anything would have been more helpful than these fluffy stories about white tunnels of light, angels, and perfect peace. I didn’t get any of that. What I got was this. Not life. Not death. A freaking nightmare.

“Smile!” The flash popped and flames sparked behind my eyes. I was back in that house again, being swallowed by smoke and heat and panic. Sunset-gold eyes blinked down at me. I’m so sorry. Crap.

I rubbed my eyes and refocused on the big black shadow dripping from the gym rafters. There was only one for now, but it wouldn’t stay that way. More would come. They always did. They’d creep in through the cracks and corners until darkness consumed every square inch of this gym. Until all I could feel was cold filling up my insides and fear throbbing behind my ribs. The shadow above me hissed and I watched