Chapter 4
1849 Words
4
Jack walked down the hall with his ward in tow. Her eyes flickered to the left and right as she took in her sterile surroundings. They reached the elevator and stepped inside where Jack pressed the lowest floor on the pad of elevator buttons. The doors shut and the floor shifted as the elevator took off.
Nena took a spot at the back of the elevator. Jack stepped back and joined her by her side as he leaned against the rear wall.
His eyes flickered to his companion. Her arms were wrapped around herself and she shivered. “You cold?” She nodded without looking up. He slipped off his overcoat and gently laid it over her shoulders. “Not the best smelling, but it’s all I’ve got.”
Nena grasped the front of the coat and drew it closer around herself. “I appreciate it.” She lifted her eyes to the stranger and studied his handsome visage. “Um, Doc said your name was Kent?”
“O’Kent, but you can call me Jack,” he told her.
“I’m Nena.”
He smiled and held out his hand to her. “A pleasure to meet you, Nena.”
A ghost of a smile appeared at the corners of her lips as she shook his hand. His gloved touch was cold. “Um, thanks,” Nena returned as she drew her hand away. She looked at the floor and bit her lower lip. “Could. . .could you tell me who I’m going to see again?”
Jack’s face fell and he folded his arms across his chest as he stared hard at the elevator doors in front of them. “He calls himself Scratch, and he’s the leader of the Agency.”
Nena lifted her eyes to his tense face and frowned. “But why does he want to see me? I don’t know anything.”
He pursed his lips. “I wish I could tell you, but I don’t know, either. I can tell you to watch your step around him. He’s not somebody you should make a deal with.” Nena shrank into herself and stared at the floor. Jack sighed and set his hand on her shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry. I may not look like much, but I’ll have your back.”
Nena bit her lower lip. “After I see Scratch, can I go home?”
His face fell. “It’s not that easy. Death-” The doors to the elevator opened. Jack stepped out and turned to Nena. “Come on. We’re almost there.”
Nena swallowed the lump in her throat and followed Jack forward down a carpeted hall. The floor was crisscrossed by two halls in the shape of a lowercase ‘t’ that cut the entire area into four neat squares. The walls were still white, but paintings broke the monotony. The scenes were a tapestry of nightmares. There was fire and destruction. People screamed and writhed in pain. Nena shrank from the horrible imagery and stuck close to Jack’s back.
Jack stopped at the end of the hall where stood a pair of tall, wide wooden doors. He stepped to one side and held his hand out to her. “I’m going to need my coat back.”
She blinked at him. “Wha-oh.” She slid the coat off her shoulders and handed it to him.
“Don’t take it personally. We’ll just say I wouldn’t want him to have one up on me,” he replied as he draped the coat over one of his arms.
He rapped the back of his knuckles on the entrance. Each knock sounded hollow, like the other side was an endless cavern.
The door on the other side opened. Nena distinctly missed the quick beating of her heart as she leaned to one side to catch a glimpse of the interior. Much of the room lay in darkness, but she could make out a small office. A filing cabinet and half of a wooden desk with a tall black leather chair behind it stood in her view. In the opposite wall was a large window that looked out on a dark night and lit office buildings.
“Come in,” a melodious male voice called to her.
Nena glanced up at Jack. He pursed his lips, but nodded. She took a deep breath and stepped into the room. The door slammed shut behind her, causing her to jump and spin around to face the closed entrance.
“You needn’t be so nervous.”
Nena whipped her head to her left and her eyes widened as a tall figure stepped out of the darkness of the far corner. He was a man of forty with coal-black hair and a tanned complexion. The stranger wore a white business suit with a red tie, and his shoes were as dark as his hair. A wide smile parted his face, but she felt no warmth from it.
He gestured to a small chair that stood in front of the desk. “Please take a seat, Miss Tacita.”
She frowned. “How do you know my name?”
He smile broadened. “The Agency is very good at gathering information, and your fingerprints and purse helped us a great deal.”
Nena slipped into the seat and grasped the ends of the arms as he walked behind her. She had the distinct feeling of being hunted. “You’re Mr. Scratch?”
He set one hand on the back of her chair and chuckled. “You needn’t be so formal with me, Miss Tacita-or may I call you Nena?” She shrank from his hand. He arched an eyebrow and removed his hand before he moved to stand by her side. “I’m sure you’re wondering why you’re here at my Agency of Celestial Episodes.”
“And the name. . .” she murmured.
“The name is unusual, but so is our mission. You see, my agency ensures balance between the three major forces of the world: Death, the Devil, and God.”
Nena raised her head and blinked at him. “You’re joking, right? I mean, the Devil? God?”
He chuckled. “I know it’s difficult to believe, but you can trust me when I say I have intimate knowledge of the deal they made. The Devil and God would try to win the hearts of man while Death would be the referee, as it were, who would bring the souls into the void of eternity and to whomever had won them.”
Nena gave him a side glance with a raised eyebrow and she stood. “I think I need to-” He slammed his hands on the arm of the chair and stuck his face in hers. She gasped and dropped back into the seat.
His unwavering gaze met hers, and the smile never slipped from his ruby-red lips. Her eyes widened as his own took on a red hue like hot coals. “You could even say I was present when the balance was arranged.”
A shiver ran down her spine. She shrank away from the man who was something else. “W-what are you?” she whispered.
He chuckled as he drew back and walked to the side of the desk. His back faced her as he clasped his hands behind him. “Unfortunately, Death is no longer the referee, but an active player. He is seeking souls to collect for himself, to what end we have yet to figure out.”
“What does any of this have to do with me?” she asked him.
His fingers on one hand danced across the knuckles of his other one. “You are a prime example of his breaking the balance. You, Miss Tacita, were supposed to die in that alley, and yet here you are among the living. Not a ghost nor a vampire, but something quite different.” He turned to face her. She gasped when she noticed the red stubs of horns that protruded from either side of his forehead. “You are Death Touched.”
Nena scrambled out of the chair and rushed over to the doors. They opened and she stumbled into another person who grabbed her upper arms. She thrashed in their hold. “Let me go! He’s not human!”
“That’d be an insult to humans.” The familiar voice made her look up. It was Jack who held her and now smiled down at her. “The Devil doesn’t scare you, does he?”
Her eyes widened as she slowly looked over her shoulder. “The Devil?”
Scratch stood beside his desk with the horns still protruding from his forehead and a sly grin on his lips. Sharp teeth poked out from his upper lip. “I hope you’re not too religious, otherwise your employment with my agency will be rather awkward.”
“Employment?” she repeated.
He nodded. “Yes. You see, as a Death Touched we can’t just let you walk back into the normal world. Your very existence upsets the balance of the world, but fortunately there is a place for you here at the Agency as one of my agents.” His grin widened as he gestured to Jack. “Much like Jack here, a willing and able member of my organization.” Jack’s eyebrows crashed down, but he remained silent.
Nena turned around and pressed her back against Jack’s chest as she shook her head. “I don’t want to be your employee or any part of whatever’s going on. I’m just a normal human. I’m not Death Touched. I’m-”
“Dead,” Scratch interrupted. The devil walked around the desk and took a seat in the chair. He crossed his legs and clasped his fingers together as he studied the pair before him. “Perhaps you need some time to think over my proposal. Jack, would you please show our new employee around the agency?”
Jack’s frown deepened, but his expression softened when he looked down at Nena. “Come on, Nena.”
Her face fell and she shook her head. “But-”
“Trust me,” he insisted.
She balled her hands into fists at her sides and glared at him. Tears sprang to her eyes and her body trembled. “Trust you? I don’t know you! I don’t know any of you and I don’t want to!” She pushed past Jack and rushed down the hall.
“What a charming girl,” Scratch commented as he turned his seat around so he faced the night. His glowing eyes lit up his shadowed face and wide grin.
Jack watched Nena disappear around a corner before he turned back to Scratch. “Why are you keeping this one and not the others?”
Scratch stiffened and his smile faltered. He half-turned so he glanced at Jack. “What I do is none of your concern except to jump at my commands. Do I make myself clear?”
Jack’s shoulders slumped. “Perfectly.” He turned away and grabbed the handle of the door.
“Oh, and Jack.” Jack paused in the doorway and glanced over his shoulder at the chair. “See that she goes on your next outing.”
Jack frowned and his normally brown eyes flashed a bright shade of blue. “So you’re using her as bait, is that it?”
Scratch chuckled. “You always were a difficult man to fool, but yes. You and I both know he’s never far from his children.”
Jack took a step toward him. “She doesn’t even know what’s going on.”
“Does that matter to me? Now do as you’re told and this will be as painless as possible for everyone.” His eyes flickered to the door and a sly smile slipped across his pale lips. “Well, except for our new little friend.”
Jack clenched his teeth, but turned away and slammed the door shut behind him. Scratch leaned back in his chair and smiled at the dark night. “Soon, old friend. Soon.”
- Writer
