The engine idled between them. Greg stared through the windshield, his eyes too bright behind his glasses.
“The cases I found were all similar,” he said at last. “Someone makes a deal with a demon to protect someone they love. The system detects the interference, identifies the person who made the deal, and then sends a reaper to collect them.”
No.
That couldn’t be true.
“The system calls it obstruction clearance,” Greg continued. His voice shook with barely contained anger now. “You need authorization for it. I didn’t even know that. I kept looking for a different ending. One case where they broke the contract, or negotiated, or found another way.” He pressed his palms against his eyes. “I didn’t find one.”
Dustin couldn’t breathe.
All he could think of was his mother, drinking coffee like she hadn’t just confessed to selling her soul in a cemetery.
Saying she’d do it again.
“No,” Dustin said.
Greg lowered his hands.
“No,” Dustin repeated. He didn’tknow where he was getting the certainty from, but he needed it. “I’m not letting your system kill my mom.”
“I don’t accept it either.” Greg’s voice broke on the words. “But I don’t know what to do.”
“Then we figure it out.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.” Dustin tightened his hands around the steering wheel. “But we’ll think of something. If you still want to help.”
Something in Greg’s face shifted and settled into determination.
“I do.”
Simple words.
Too simple, maybe, for what they meant.
This reaper was willing to betray his entire existence for Dustin’s sake.
Dustin cleared his throat and looked away before that thought could do anything embarrassing to his chest.
“We should head back.”
Greg nodded. “Yes. Okay.”
The drive back was silent.
When Dustin parked in front of the house, Cathy was visible through the front window, moving around the kitchen.
“Greg,” Dustin said, unbuckling his seat belt.
“Yes?”
“How long do we have?”
Greg was quiet for a moment. “I don’t know. But Oversight is involved now, so… not long.”
Dustin stepped out of the truck.
