Page 107 of Finders Reapers

Rome adjusted his glass and licked his bottom lip. “Many of the contracted souls are dead. Death certificates are easy to find, but the HQ files are incomplete. Many of the files from the office don’t have any information about the death or what happened to the soul afterward.”

“The files usually have that information?” I asked as I looked at him over the rim of my cocktail glass.

Rome nodded sternly. “You saw your file. You should know these things.”

“I only say the first page. “I bristled. “Besides, how accurate can the Quietus files be if it doesn’t mention that my mother might have been possessed by a Drude?” I took another sip of my drink.

Rome nodded. “Drudes are prized.” He said his attention elsewhere.

“Why?” I scoffed. “They’re basically ghosts.”

Rome’s head snapped to mine, and his dark eyes narrowed. “Hell has a very long and tumultuous history.”

“It’s like learning about a country that I never knew existed,” I agreed. “I mean, demons speak Cyclian. There are territories and kings and queens and everything. I thought the devil rules hell, and that was it.”

“The devil is gone,” Rome replied simply and tilted his chin with a sniff.

“Oh, come in,” I groaned. “I feel like your edging me. Tell me how he died.”

“Devil is not dead. Devil is just gone.” His Russian accent grew thicker.

“Right,” I exhaled, peeved. I turned back to the bar just in time for the bartender to lean over the drag his finger across Ollie’s jaw. I blinked and looked away as if I was spying on something intimate.

“Drudes are shadows. They are nightmare demons. They are the children of the goddess of death. Before there were demons, as you know them, there were Drudes. Bottom feeders. Wisps. Smoke.”

I quirked a brow. That hardly sounded prized.

“The goddess of death created hell as time began.” Rome continued. “Many years ago, before we can even comprehend. It was her world. Her demons were her children. Something happened. God sent monsters to destroy Hell and to take the territory.” His voice was flat, almost disinterested. “Did not go well for God, but hell was destroyed. Round one of demons, gone. Only Drudes remain.”

“But, there are plenty of demons around. You guys were naming them like pokemon,” I replied, confused.

“Hell is place, but also, how do you say? Person? Sentient? It has mind.” Rome shrugged. “Hell made more demons.”

“Maddox said that Drudes used to collect souls,” I said.

“Drudes are death. Shadow. Smoke.”

“Yeah,” I mumbled. “I got that,” I placed my hand against my stomach, unable to comprehend the cryptic and powerful world where God and demons battled monsters for territory.

“All the Drudes died when the devil disappeared.” Rome went on to explain, draining the last of his vodka.

“When was that?” I asked. “Because Maddox said that Richard had been around since the middle ages. That’s old. If the Drudes used to be Reapers, then the timelines don’t match.”

“No one remembers when Drudes collected souls. We know they can.” Rome countered, tapping his bottom lip. “Did you notice anything strange with the Drudes that you saw when we went to target?”

“Strange? You mean, apart from not having faces?” I shivered.

“Eh.” He shrugged as he pushed himself to stand. “Another drink?”

“Sure.”

Rome stood up and sauntered to the bar, and I couldn’t help but watch as he went. Rome was tall and less muscular than Maddox but lean and dangerous. He looked in complete control of himself and at ease with who he was and where he was going.

I didn’t think that I had ever been at peace with myself or confident enough to hold myself like Rome did. Rome looked at the world like it bored him, and he was daring it to make things more interesting.

Someone passed the table, but my attention was fixed on Rome; I didn’t notice who it was until they gasped.

I recognized the face, but it took a moment to place it. Lobby Todd.