Chapter 5 · The Death Collector - Chapter 5: Dead by Sunrise

I'd died again.

"Listen to me," she said, her face inches from mine. "You scream, it hears you. You move too fast, it finds you. Breathe through your nose and don't say a word."

I shoved her hand off and sat up. "What the hell—"

"Cade." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I'm serious. Something followed you back."

"From where? I was dead. You watched me die."

"Yeah, and now you're not." She crouched beside the bed, eyes locked on the door. "That's the problem."

My chest didn't hurt. No hole. No blood. I looked down at my hands, half expecting them to catch fire again, or freeze, or do whatever the hell the curse decided to give me this time.

Nothing.

"What's the power?" I said.

"I don't know yet." Iris didn't look at me. Her shoulders were tight. "You've been back for forty seconds. Usually it shows up in the first two minutes."

"Great. So I get to sit here and wait for my own body to attack me."

"Better than the alternative."

"Which is?"

"You figure it out the hard way and I have to clean up the mess."

I swung my legs off the bed. My boots hit the floor, and the sound felt too loud. The apartment was dead quiet. No traffic hum. No distant voices. Just us and the static hum of something I couldn't name.

"Why'd you say something followed me?" I said.

"Because I heard it."

"Heard what?"

"A voice." She finally looked at me. "Calling your name."

My pulse kicked. "When?"

"Right before you woke up. I was standing by the door and I heard it from the other side. Low. Dry. Like someone dragged it up from a grave."

"Maybe it was the neighbor."

"Your neighbor's been dead for three years, Cade. The unit's empty."

I stared at her. "How do you know that?"

"Because I checked. Last loop, after you died the second time. I went through this whole building. You're the only living person here."

The static hum got louder. Or maybe I was just noticing it more. It crawled up the back of my skull, thin and insistent.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I did. You didn't listen. You said I was paranoid."

"I don't remember that."

"Because I told you in a loop you didn't survive long enough to remember." Her jaw tightened. "This is the fifth time we've had this conversation, and every time, you argue with me instead of listening."

I stood up. The floor creaked under my weight. Iris flinched.

"Stay still," she hissed.

"I'm not sitting here waiting for something to crawl through the door."

"Then what? You're going to fight it?"

"If I have to."

"With what?" She gestured at me. "You don't even know what you can do yet. You could touch me and turn me to ash. You could blink and teleport into a wall. Last loop, you tried to punch me and your arm phased through my chest. You want to try that on something that already knows you're here?"

The static hum sharpened. It wasn't in my head anymore. It was coming from the hallway.

Iris heard it too. Her hand went to her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper covered in symbols I didn't recognize.

"What's that?" I said.

"Insurance. Now shut up and let me work."

She unfolded the paper and pressed it flat against the door. The symbols lit up, faint red, then faded. The hum quieted. Didn't stop, but it pulled back like something testing the edge of a fence.

"That won't hold long," she said.

"How long?"

"Five minutes. Maybe less."

"Then we leave."

"And go where? It's not tied to the apartment, Cade. It's tied to you."

I wanted to argue. Wanted to tell her she was wrong. But the hum was inside me now, threaded through my ribs, and I knew she was right.

"What does it want?" I said.

"I don't know. But it started after the last job. After you died the fourth time."

"The debtor."

"Yeah." Iris looked at me, and for the first time since I woke up, I saw something close to worry. "He said a name before you went down. You remember?"

I did. It was burned into me, sharp and cold.

"Merrick."

"Right. Your name."

"So?"

"So he shouldn't have known it. I didn't tell him. You didn't tell him. No one on the job knew who you were except me." She stepped closer. "Which means someone else told him. Someone who wanted him to say it before you died."

The hum spiked. The symbols on the door flickered.

Iris grabbed my arm. Her fingers were ice.

"Don't," she said.

"Don't what?"

"Don't say it again. The name. Not until we know what's listening."

I pulled free. "You're the one who cursed me. You're the one who stuck me in this loop. So tell me what the hell is going on, or I walk out that door right now and let whatever's out there find me."

"You do that, you'll die before you hit the stairs."

"Good. Then I wake up and try again without you."

Her hand shot out and caught my wrist. Not hard. Not violent. But the cold burned, and I froze.

"You don't get it," she said, and her voice was quiet now, stripped down to something raw. "Every time you die, the curse gets stronger. The powers get worse. You think the fire was bad? You think phasing through walls was hard to control?" She leaned in, and I could feel the heat of her breath against my neck. "Next time, it might be something that kills everyone in a three-block radius. Including me. Including anyone you care about. So no, Cade, you don't get to walk out that door and die just because you're pissed off."

I looked down at her hand on my wrist. Her fingers were shaking.

"Let go," I said.

She didn't.

"Iris."

"Promise me you'll listen."

"I'm listening right now."

"No, you're looking for an exit. I can see it. You want to run, or fight, or die your way out of this. But that's not how it works." Her grip loosened, just a fraction. "You owe me seven jobs. That's the deal. You finish them, I break the curse. You don't, and you're stuck in this loop until the powers burn you out from the inside."

The hum was back. Louder this time. The symbols on the door sparked and went dark.

Iris let go of my wrist and turned toward the door.

"It's coming," she said.

I heard it then. Footsteps. Slow. Dragging. Like something heavy being pulled across carpet.

"What do we do?" I said.

She didn't answer. She stepped in front of me, one hand raised, and I realized she was putting herself between me and the door.

"Iris."

"Shut up."

The footsteps stopped.

Silence.

Then a voice, low and cracked, came through the door.

"Cade Merrick."

Iris's hand shot back and covered my mouth before I could respond. Her palm pressed hard, her fingers curling around the back of my head. She was close enough now that I could feel her heartbeat against my chest, fast and uneven.

The voice spoke again.

"Cade Merrick. I have your next collection."

Iris's eyes went wide. I felt her breath hitch.

"No," she whispered.

The voice continued, flat and hollow.

"Debtor name: Voss. Location: Collections office, sublevel three. Payment due: immediately."

Iris pulled her hand away from my mouth. She stepped back, and I saw the color drain from her face.

"That's your boss," she said.

"Yeah."

"The one who doesn't know you're stuck in a loop."

"Yeah."

She looked at the door, then back at me.

"Then we're both dead," she said.

The voice spoke one more time.

"Collection begins at sunrise. Non-compliance will result in immediate