Can't Fight Time Ch. 07

Dropping her hands, he relaxed back onto the stone bench, arms loosely crossed once again. "We can make a temporary contract, where in three days you will come back to the human world and die. It's the perfect amount of time to live and raise a little hell without lasting consequences."

Nina sat back and puzzled over everything Uri had told her. And it was a lot of information, a lot of things that she had never known and never tried to look at differently.Mad scientist created the world? Human women used to bargain their bodies and lives off for a few years of luxury? Grim had been breaking rules?

The last one perhaps bothered her the most. The entire time they'd been talking she'd been thinking that he was only doing it because she was going to die, and that way there'd be no blame or repercussions for him.I mean what can a dead girl say?But it was deeper than that. From what Uri had said, even talking with a living, breathing female was breaking some rule, and kissing? How did that equate in punishment?

"You'll make a temporary contract with me just because I'm unique and you pity me?" Nina asked quietly, no anger in her voice. She just wanted to know his reasoning.

"Well," Uri shrugged nonchalantly, like he made this sort of bargain often. "You're going to die soon anyway. Plus from the looks of it, you're not going back home, and it just so happens we got an extra room in the house."

But from what's he's told me, he doesn't."What's in it for you?" Nina watched his reaction.

Uri gave her a shit-eating grin and patted her hand comfortingly. Heat spread through her hand where he touched, contrasting sharply with the freezing cold that, at every other instance, came with his touch. "Since we'll be under contract, no other reaper can touch you. And if they try than I have every right to beat the crap out of them."

Of course!Nina rolled her eyes.Sibling rivalry. Something like: 'I got your toy! Nana nana boo boo, stick your head in doo doo.'But for extra time to have some semblance of a life, Nina would take sibling bullshit any day. But one question still remained. "How much time will I have on this temporary contract?"

Nina watched as Uri scratched his arm and rolled his head, thinking about how he would answer.

"Give or take three months in the Underworld. Something like the equivalent of three human days. It's plenty of time to finish a bucket list, but not enough time to get pregnant or cause a lot of suspicion in the human world. It's like forty-eight hours until a missing person report is filed, right? So one more day shouldn't have the dogs out sniffing for you," Uri noded, scratching at his neck.

Three months. That's how much time I get. It wasn't really a bad bargain.But Nina could read between the lines and surmise that Uri would still get in trouble if they went through with it.

Yet the selfish side of Nina acknowledged that she didn't care if Uri got a little banged up if she got to live for three more months. A quote from what seemed a lifetime ago, popped up in her head: The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.

Would I be able to die after this bargain? Accept the inevitable after living on borrowed time?Nina wasn't afraid of death; she'd met him, and he'd been nice. No, her biggest fear was the way she would die. Maybe she could have accepted getting hit by a car or even shot during a mugging-gone-bad. But death by serial killer father? Even Mark Twain would sympathize with her.

"I'll do it," Nina said, with a sharp nod. At the moment the option seemed like her best shot and, ever the pragmatic woman, Nina could accept that she was out of viable options.

Uri nodded solemnly. "Your hand," he said, turning her hand over so that her palm faced down.

Nina gave him her hand, and a burn of ice and fire raced over the top of her hand, up her arm and into her heart. The whole world seemed to stand still as her heart gave a few heavy beats before settling into the slowest rhythm Nina had ever heard. Like her heart was on the cusp of death, just waiting for that last push.

Surprisingly, the cold Nina had felt around Uri was gone, replaced by just the slightest chill, like it was from a fan set on low in the summertime. She looked down at herself to make sure she didn't have gray skin, or anything weird like that. But, all in all, she was absolutely fine.

Staring at the mark, only about the size of a quarter just below her thumb on the top of her hand, Nina was amazed at how painful the small mark had been. On closer inspection, the little seal was very intricate, twisting and curving around strange lettering in the center.

"What does it say?" Nina asked curiously, poking at it.

"In the middle is my name and around it is the contract." Uri said.

"Can it be removed?" Nina asked curiously, staring up into his myrtle green eyes.

Uri smiled and reached for her hand, placing a kiss on the mark. "Trying to run away from me already?"

Nina raised an incredulous brow at him, her look saying that she wasn't interested in the least. Uri snickered and lowered her hand. "It can only be removed by me or someone more powerful, and only with your permission. The minute you feel unsafe the mark will trigger, and it won't be able to be removed."

Nina nodded somberly and placed her hand at her side, resisting the urge to scratch at it. It wasn't that it was itchy, but it was strange to suddenly have a tattoo looking mark on her hand. The closest that she'd gotten to a permanent mark on her skin was the slight scar on her ankle from when she'd broken it as a kid.

"You ready to go?" Uri asked her pleasantly, like they were talking about grabbing a bite to eat instead of going to the Underworld.

"Um? I guess so," Nina said after a pause, getting up and watching Uri move with her. "Is there like a bus or something?"

Uri laughed out loud, tears springing to the corners of his eyes. "Nah," Uri said around a laugh, wiping at his eyes. "We're going to use this. But next time we'll take the d-death bus!" Uri said, bursting out laughing and clutching his sides.

Nina glared at him with her hands on her hips. "I was being serious! I mean, you're wearing an Ed-Hardy T-shirt for goodness sake! A bus doesn't seem so improbable if you look at it that way."

She watched Uri look down at his shirt and laugh again as he swung his arm and a portal suddenly appeared. "Yeah," Uri said around his last fit of giggles, "I guess you're right. But seriously, not everything you read or watch is true. Only some of it," Uri said with a waggle of his brows, making him look like he was a high school prankster.

Nina smirked as she grabbed his extended hand and walked through the portal as if she was walking through someone's front door.