Free jinn 03 - vestige by Liz Schulte

angel. I won’t fool myself into thinking I’ll make a good reaper. Maybe the only thing I’m good at being is human.”
    One side of his mouth curled up. “When you’re done feeling sorry for yourself, let me know.” He turned and went back inside leaving me in the rain.
    My fist clenched, wanting to punch him in his smug face. I went inside, drenched. Everyone was there: Femi, Quintus, Maggie, Corbin, Phoenix, and the little girl. Femi and Quintus jumped up and came toward me, firing a flurry of questions.
    I imagined myself dry, and for the first time in two weeks my power actually worked. Light covered me then faded away and I looked like I always did.
    “So you’re better,” Femi said. She pulled me in to a tight hug. “I’m not going to lie, you were starting to worry me. I don’t think I could take losing both you and Baker. We should celebrate.” She tipped her head to the side. “Wanna go kill some demons? Get a little payback?”
    I laughed and hugged her back just as tight, emotion tightening my throat.
    When Femi let go, Quintus gave me a softer hug. “What would we do without you, firefly?”
    Holden caught my eye over Quintus’s shoulder, raised an eyebrow and then glanced around the room. Every person in this room will suffer needlessly if you choose to leave, he said.
    Not every one, I replied. Not the vampire, not . . . I was going to say “not you,” but I was transparent enough. It wasn’t that Holden’s words didn’t resonate with me because they did. But it wasn’t as simple as just becoming a reaper. It never was. There were always catches.
    Give him time, Holden thought-spoke, ignoring the second part of my comment, which was just as well. There really was nothing left for him to say.
    I fielded Femi and Quintus’s questions with the most vague answers possible. It made sense why Death took me away from Femi and Holden. The thought of disappointing them, any of them, was enough to sway my decision.
    Are you going to tell them or should I? Holden’s voice rang through my head again.
    This is my decision. Butt out.
    Like hell it is. Do you have any idea what they all went through to bring you back? “She isn’t healed,” he said loud enough for everyone to hear.
    Femi stopped midsentence, Quintus’s face fell, Maggie accidentally broke the little girl’s doll, and even Corbin looked back at me with interest.
    “Is that true?” Maggie asked.
    I clenched my jaw and nodded.
    “What does that mean?” Quintus asked. “How can you not be healed?”
    I rubbed my temple. “I don’t feel like talking about this.”
    “Too fucking bad,” Femi said. “Sit your boney ass down and tell us exactly what happened.”
    When I didn’t say anything, Holden did. “He offered to renew the angel’s powers to her and save her life.”
    Why was he doing this to me?
    “Then why aren’t you better?” Femi asked.
    Support came from an unlikely corner. “There’s always a catch,” Corbin said. “There’s a catch.”
    “What is it?” Quintus asked.
    “I have to reap for him.” Everyone went quiet.
    “That’s not so bad,” Corbin said. “It would take Mammon out of the fight before it even began.”
    Holden had the self-satisfied smirk of someone who obviously felt he won.
    “What else?” Quintus asked.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Will you be able to stay here? With us? How will it change your way of life? Will you get time off? As far as I know the Angel of Death has never done a lot of mingling. He works all the time. So many people die, and someone has to be there. . . . I don’t actually know how he manages it.”
    I closed my eyes. I’d been so appalled by the idea of taking lives, I hadn’t thought to ask those questions. “I didn’t ask,” I said.
    Holden wasn’t smiling now.
    Femi stalked around the room. “Well, that’s something we need to know. We also need to find other options.”
    “I can look in the archives,” Quintus volunteered.
    “I’ll talk to