The Envoy of Death Ch. 03

"That's tough."

"It is what it is. They still love me, and it's not like they've disowned me. Some people in our community have it much worse. There's also my little brother. He's still in high school, but he's a lot more understanding. We've gossiped about girls more than once."

"And then," she continued, "there's Grandma. She's special to me. She's the one who helped me sort out my feelings when I was going through puberty. Helped me realize that even though I wasn't into boys, that was okay." Sophie had a look on her face as if she was in a faraway place.

"She sounds special."

"She is. I haven't seen her in a while, though. Never seems like I have the time. What about you?"

"I am an only child. My parents moved to Washington from the east coast before I was born. I've met my extended family, but having a whole continent between us doesn't really facilitate a close relationship." This was true. Most of Tammi's family lived on the east coast, which was quite convenient. No one around to notice the changes in her. "My parents were nothing but supportive of my sexual status."

"Were?"

"They are no longer with us." That was also true.

"I'm sorry," Sophie sympathized with me.

"It's not a big deal. I came to terms with it a long time ago. I do miss them, though, and wish I had spent more time with them when they were with us." That was the lie. I had never known Tammi's parents and had no idea about how Tammi had felt about them. It felt bad lying to Sophie, but it was a white lie. It was meant to get Sophie thinking about her relationship with her grandmother she had been neglecting.

After dinner, I took Sophie to a local putt-putt course.

"That's a birdie," Sophie said as she sank her ball on the fifth hole.

"How are you so good at this? I would need a miracle to catch up at this point!"

"I used to play a lot as a kid. It's all about the grip. You need your thumbs to-" Sophie got cut off by her cellphone ringing. "It's my mom. I'm sorry, but I have to take this."

"Of course," I said.

Sophie walked a bit away as she talked on the phone. While she was away, I finally sank my ball, several strokes over par. She came back visibly upset.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing. Let's just continue playing."

On the next hole, she gave her ball a much harder putt than she had on previous holes, sending it careening over the rail and onto the green for hole seven.

"Sophie, seriously, what's wrong?"

"My mom was calling from the hospital. My grandma had a sudden cardiac arrest."

"Oh my God! Is she alright?"

"She's fine for now. She was near a defibrillator when she collapsed. She's in the hospital now, they're keeping her for recovery and monitoring. It's fine, we can continue our date. I'll go see her tomorrow."

"Alright, let's go."

"Go? But we're only on the sixth hole. Where are we going?"

"To the hospital."

"But I said I'd see her tomorrow."

"Dates are supposed to be fun. You're not going to be having fun worrying about your grandma. So let's go. We can always have another date. Spend what time you can with your grandma, who knows when she could be gone from this world. And once she's gone, she's gone. I wish I had the chance to see my parents one last time before..."

"You're right," she sobbed as I escorted her back to the car. "I'm a terrible person. She's lying there on a hospital bed while I'm out on a date. This isn't fair to her."

I handed Sophie a tissue box I kept in the car. "You're not a terrible person. I've never met your grandma, but from what you've said, I doubt she'd want you living your life stuck inside just waiting for bad news. But that still doesn't mean you can't be there for her when she needs it."

***

Sophie's parents were in the room when we arrived. They looked quite surprised the see Sophie there, along with a girl they'd never met.

"Hi Grandma," Sophie said, "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing fine, just afflicted with the malady of age. I keep telling these doctors they are wasting their time, but they seem intent on keeping me alive as long as they can. More importantly, who's that with you?"

"Oh, this is Tammi. She's, umm..." Sophie seemed to be struggling to find a way to describe our relationship.

"We were on a date when she got the news. It's nice to meet you, Ms. Watts."

"Call me Laura, please. Ms. Watts makes me sound old," she laughed at her own joke. "Are you two together?"

"No," Sophie replied, "this was our first date? Or was it our second?"

"You don't even know what date it is?" The grandma raised an eyebrow.

"It's a long story, Grandma."

"I've got nothing but time, dear."

"This is clearly a family affair," I said. "I assume you can make sure Sophie gets home safely?" I asked turning to her parents. Sophie's dad nodded, both their expressions unreadable. "I'll visit you tomorrow," I told Sophie before I left.

***

"You did it," Adrienne stated as I entered, "Death can no longer sense regret coming from her. She'll die in the morning, but filled with happiness that she got to reconnect to her granddaughter."

"Good. Not that she will die, but that I was able to help."

"I'll have a new assignment for you in two days. You have tomorrow off."

"No, I don't."

Adrienne looked at me quizzically.

"Laura's story might have concluded, but Sophie's story is just getting started," I explained. "If I leave now without a word, she'll wonder what happened to me. She might start thinking she did something wrong. I can't do that to her. I at least owe her a conclusion to our relationship."

"Okay, but whatever you do, you can't tell her anything about Death or your missions."

"I wasn't planning on it. But why?"

"Agents and envoys being revealed in the past have never ended well. They've been committed, burned at the stake for witchcraft, and worshipped as gods. I'm not sure which is worse."

"Understood. I'll make sure to guard that secret heavily."

"Please do."

***

I knocked on Sophie's door slightly after noon. I assumed she had a long night and didn't want to disturb her too early. Sophie answered the door with a flushed face and red eyes wearing a bathrobe. She had obviously been crying moments ago, but she smiled just a bit as she saw me.

"Hi, Tammi."

"Hi, Sophie. Is this a bad time?"

"Yes. No. I don't know."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She nodded and led me in and to a couch. We sat down together. I noticed the flowers I had brought yesterday were now in a vase on the windowsill.

"Is this about your grandmother?"

"Yes," she replied, barely audible.

"I'm sorry."

She looked at me quizzically, "You know?"

"I know it can't be good."

"She passed away this morning. In her sleep, according to the doctors. Didn't feel a thing."

I didn't know what to say to that as I stroked her hair. We just sat there in silence for a bit.

"Thank you, Tammi."

"For what?"

"For insisting I see her last night. For being here now. For everything. Now then, I need a distraction, and luckily I have one right next to me." Sophie gave me a mischievous grin.

"Listen, Sophie, before we do anything, I have to tell you something."

"Spoilsport."

"I feel this needs to be said before we proceed, though I do definitely want to proceed."

"Fine," she said, giving me a bit of a pout.

"So you know the friend I mentioned that was supposed to go to the concert with me?" Sophie nodded. "She's actually my girlfriend. It's not like we're exclusive, but I don't want there to be any misunderstandings if we do what I think we were about to do. I like you Sophie, and we can be friends. We can even be fuck buddies if that's what you want. But I don't want you thinking this will develop into a romantic relationship."

Sophie looked thoughtful for a moment. "Okay. I understand. Thank you for telling me. I still want this though." She kissed me on the lips deeply.

Our tongues danced around each other. Sophie started to take my top off. "What about your roommate?" I asked.

"She's away for the weekend. She wanted to give me privacy in case my date went 'really well.'"

"Okay."

I slipped her bathrobe down. She had been wearing panties, but no bra. I pushed her back on the couch as I left a trail of kisses down her neck, feeling the goosebumps that formed every time my lips touched her skin.

This was different from when I'd had sex with Adrienne. She had taken the lead, and I had just reaped the benefits. I had taken the lead before when I was a male, but this was different. There were all sorts of emotions that were surfacing that I hadn't felt while having sex as a guy.

As my lips approached Sophie's boobs, I was planning on moving on, but something inside me told me it wasn't the time yet. My kisses got close to her mounds, I turned them away and went down the side of them instead as I made my way to her belly. I felt Sophie squirm underneath me.

I picked up her right foot and started massaging it, working my way up her beautiful leg. It was odd. I hadn't so much as touched an erogenous zone on Sophie, let alone had any of my own played with, yet my pussy felt like a leaking faucet. Judging by the state of Sophie's panties, she wasn't fairing much better. My hands danced up her inner thigh, but just before I reached the seam of her panties, I let go and started on her left leg.

This time, as I came near her treasure, I heard Sophie plead. "Please, Tammi. Stop teasing me. I'm gonna go crazy here."

"Your wish is my command," I stated. I slipped my fingers under her panties and slid them down her legs and off. I spread her pink lips a bit with my hands and started to devour her. She didn't taste as good as Death had, but I definitely wasn't complaining.

Soon I felt Sophie tremble beneath me as an orgasm overtook her. Servicing such a cute creature as Sophie had left me in a terrible state. I felt hornier than I remembered being since becoming Tammi. "I need some help here, as well," I told Tammi as I removed my own panties and repositioned my legs on either side of her head. I felt Sophie give my clit a lick before she started licking my pussy. She was clearly inexperienced, but what she lacked in experience, she more than made up for with her enthusiasm. With my needs being taken care of, I dived back into her pussy.

After we were done having fun, Sophie put some rom-com on the TV while I made us a nice lunch. We had fun laughing at the ridiculous premise of the movie. We then moved on to Mario Kart, in which I totally kicked her ass.

"Look at the time," I said as I noticed it was nearly 11 pm, "I should probably head home."

"Do you have to?" Sophie asked. "I know we're not in a relationship, but I was hoping you could spend the night. Not for more sex or anything... I just don't want to be alone right now."

"Oh!" I exclaimed, "How insensitive of me. Of course I can stay. And I wouldn't say no to more sex," I said as I sent a quick text to Adrienne saying I wouldn't be home tonight.

"Well, I am. I'm still satisfied from earlier. And exhausted. Let's just sleep for now. We'll see what the morning brings."

"Lead the way," I stated, and she did. As we lay in her bed spooning, I whispered "Goodnight Sophie," in her ear.

"Goodnight Tammi," she mumbled as sleep overtook her. I followed her to dreamland not long after.