Chapter Thirty Six: Hundred Million Dollar Soul

"Could you instead just send me back?" I pushed myself to my feet and crossed my arms over my chest. "I mean, I'm pretty damn sure of what I want this time around."

"Oh there is no doubt about that." he nodded. "But unfortunately, I cannot do that, not yet that is."

"What?" My eyes widened, my heart nearly stopping completely. "What do you mean you can't send me back?"

"I added not yet, you keenly forgot to mention." He shook his head, that damn smirk of his plastered across his face. "You always seem to twist my words."

"Oh just shut up and tell me what the hell is going on." I snapped at him. This wasn't supposed to go like this. I was supposed to wake up here only to be sent back home in a matter of minutes. I mean, I knew within my heart exactly what I wanted. There was no confusion this time around. I wanted to live. I mean damnit, I wanted to wake up and just kill those bastards already. And it was a bit hard to do when I was here, unable to do a damn thing.

And Eric. I wanted to see Eric again. I wanted to feel his arms around me, to kiss him, to be able to be given the chance to actually forgive him and have mind blowing sex already.

I certainly couldn't do that while I was here.

"Do you ever think of anything besides sex with your Viking?" Reaper snorted.

"Tell me what the hell is going on." I growled, my anger growing. "You're supposed to send me back. You can't keep me here. You can't send me off to the other side. So send me back already!"

"See, now if I do that, then you're only going to find yourself back here again. And while your face is just a ray of sunshine, I'd rather not see it again anytime soon." The humour had left his voice as he stood before me, his hands shuffling out of his pockets and were waved around until the grey nothingness transformed into what appeared to be the basement of Fangtasia.

My eyes went immediately to the middle of the room where I found my lifeless body lying in a pool of my own blood. I knew I had lost a lot of blood, but to see just how much I really had lost, it was both horrifying and sickening. I bit down hard on my bottom lip to keep the tears at bay as my attention was directed to the top of the basement stairs as Victor and Bill came waltzing back into the basement. I wasn't sure how much time had passed, as the time in the In-Between felt to be slower than in the real world. It couldn't have been too long though, or at least I hoped not. I knew Eric must have been worried. He would have realized I had been taken and I knew he would be a nervous wreck. I hated myself for breaking our bond. Maybe this wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been such an idiot.

"This was meant to be your fate, Phoenix, even if you hadn't been an idiot." The Reaper mused from beside me.

"Oh just stay out of my head." I snapped at him. "Why are we here? I don't want to see this."

"We're here because of them." Reaper nodded at the two vampires as they strode over to my lifeless body, now standing in the pool of my blood as Bill nudged my body with his foot, as if expecting me to just wake up. "Please tell me I don't look that ridiculous in a suit."

"So not the time." I was glaring daggers at him now. "Just tell me why we're here and why you can't send me back."

"Yet, I can't send you back yet." Reaper pointed out with an eye roll. "You're just so impatient. I remember why I was glad to get rid of you. If you only kept yourself out of trouble. You should have gone on a nice long vacation with your Viking. Then we could have both avoided this."

"I swear to god, if you don't start answering my questions soon, I'll..."

"You'll what?" he looked amused. "Remember, in this world, I'm stronger than you. And this is honestly no way to treat the person who saved your ass the last time."

"You're not a person." I pointed out with a grumble. "Just hurry this along please."

"As you wish your highness." The reaper snickered and mocked me as he bowed. "I cannot send you back, yet, because should I do so, these vampires will only kill you again and again. Of course, not before using you completely to the point that you'll choose death over life, even if that does mean a lifetime of torture by Death himself."

"I don't understand."

"Of course you don't." Reaper shook his head. "What I'm trying to tell you, Phoenix, is that this was all just some test, to find out the extent of your powers."

"And how do you know this?" I raised an eyebrow, trying to keep my attention solely on the Reaper as Victor and Bill rolled my body over, revealing the gaping wounds in my chest and abdomen. "I thought you weren't supposed to meddle in the human world?"

"I'm not, and should Death find out, I'll be even more cursed than I already am. But I didn't work so damn hard to get you home the last time just for it all to be for nothing."

"Okay, so you're not sending me back because if you do, then they'll pretty much continue to torture and kill me and make me do whatever they might like." I tried to understand his reasoning. "What happens if I don't wake up then? What will they do?"

He nodded at the scene around us silently and I turned my attention back to the vampires as they made their way to the stairs.

"What if the rumours aren't true, Victor." Bill glanced over his shoulder at my motionless bleeding form. "What if she doesn't wake up, what if she truly has died."

"Then we shall rejoice that we've killed Northman's greatest weapon against us." That stupid smug grin crossed his face. "If she doesn't wake up soon, I think we'll send her along to her precious Viking. Her blood is practically drained; she's useless to keep around."

"It will send them a strong message." Bill agreed.

The blood drained from my face as the basement quickly transformed back into the grey nothingness that had once nearly driven me insane. "They're going to send my body to Eric."

"Exactly." The reaper nodded. "Now do you see why I'm keeping you here? It's all for your best interest. Once your body is safe and sound with your little vampire, then I'll return you to your home."

"But...Eric left in the first place because he didn't want to lose me again. And now my dead body is going to what, appear on his doorstep and he's going to think the worse." I began hyperventilating. "This is going to send him running for the hills all over again!"

"Oh you're too dramatic." The reaper rolled his eyes.

"Oh shut up." I slapped his arm, earning a smirk from the reaper. "You're no help whatsoever."

"Aren't I already doing enough." He replied cheekily. "Anyways, this gives us a chance to have a little chat."

"About what exactly?" I looked around, though I knew there wasn't anything of interest here. It was like we were standing in a room with grey walls, a grey floor, and a grey ceiling. Two chairs appeared out of nowhere suddenly, and I knew that had been the reaper's doing. Unlike before, I gladly accepted one of the chairs, sighing as I sat down in one and ran a hand down my face. "This was so not what I had planned."

"It never is, is it?" he snorted. "And I think you know what we need to talk about."

"I really have no idea. Would you like to know about the weather?" I rolled my eyes, not understanding what there could possibly be to talk about between us. Everything had been said the last time I had been here, and he already explained why we had to wait until I was returned home. So what else was there?"

"Oh I think you know." He settled into the chair across from me, leaning forward with his hands clasped in front of him. "I was wondering when you would find out about it."

"What are you talking about?" I frowned at the reaper.

"Are you really that clueless?" he raised an eyebrow. When I didn't answer, he sighed and shook his head. "I'm talking about the fact that it's possible to resurrect your Phoenix friend."

My eyes grew wide. How did he know about that?

"I know everything, remember." He tapped the side of his head. "And I know that you've recently found out about it. Now, what are you going to do about it?"

"What do you mean what am I going to do?"

"Don't tell me you don't plan on doing a damn thing about it. I know you a little too well to buy that." he leaned even closer. "You and I both know you're going to do it, you're going to try everything you can to resurrect Red."

"Seriously, stay out of my head." I pushed the chair back a few inched to put distance between us. "And yeah, maybe I'd like to. But as Godric pointed out to me, there was no detailed description of how to do it, and it's not like a whole lot of people know all that much about Phoenixes in the first place."

"Very true, except you have an expert on souls right before you." He smirked widely as he settled back in his chair.

"I don't understand?"

"You really are a dense one, aren't you?"

"Shut up and stop playing mind games. Just tell me whatever it is you're trying to say." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"What I'm trying to tell that very dense head of yours, is that everything you need to know about souls, I just happen to know."

"And how exactly does that help me?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Honestly, Phoenix. Use your head for once. The only reason Kyra can be resurrected in the first place is because her soul was ripped from her body and happened to fall into yours." He reminded me.

"It didn't fall into mine, and that was 1400 years ago."

"Yes, but it still pertains to how she can be resurrected." Reaper explained. "Everyone has a soul at least at some point in their lives, even vampires. When one dies, we send their soul on their merry way either to the wonderful vacation spot of Heaven, or the big house downstairs."

"Okay..." I waved him on.

"Wherever one may end up, their soul is completely intact. We make sure of it. We get nasty letters and notices if we happen to break a few before arrival." He snorted to himself, as if it was some sort of inside joke that I could never understand. "Only a vampire's soul is broken, for obvious reasons. And it's nearly impossible to take their souls from their bodies. Humans and other supernatural beings, such as you, keep their souls in their afterlife."

"And what does this have to do with anything?" I questioned.

"Phoenixes were all born as humans. You all were born with human souls. Some, if born to a Phoenix, has the gene transferred through the blood, and that attaches onto the human soul when the time is right and that human transitions into a Phoenix completely." The Reaper continued on explaining as if I had never asked him a question. "When a Phoenix dies, only that Phoenix gene is transferred to the next. Their soul however, remains nearly perfectly intact. In fact, the soul is even greater than it was when that Phoenix was first born as a human."

"How?" my eyebrows furrowed together.

"You can live for centuries, for millenniums even. Somewhere along the way, and don't even begin to ask me how, but that Phoenix gene soaks into that soul and even when it is transferred, it still leaves remnants behind."

A thought struck me. "That's how they can still use their powers once they're dead."

"Exactly, now you're starting to catch on."

"So even though another Phoenix is created they still have the tiniest bit of that gene inside of their soul, and that's why it's possible they can use their power, even though it's minimal." I nodded, beginning to understand what he was telling me. "It's how Kyra has pulled me into that realm a dozen times. It's how she can still foresee the future, how every single one of them can use their powers in some way."

"You're not as dense as I originally thought." His smirk widened.

"Shut up." I rolled my eyes at him. "So then, how exactly does this work for Kyra then? How can we resurrect her?"

"It's a bit different when a Phoenix offers their soul willingly. In that instance, the gene is not transferred through blood, and is instead, ripped from the soul itself."

"That sounds...painful." my nose scrunched up as I thought about my soul just ripping apart.

"It's not, I assure you."

"So then, what happens when it's ripped from the soul?" I wondered.

"It's not a clean break, as you can imagine. The Phoenix gene latches onto a soul, no matter how a Phoenix may be born. But when it rips apart from the soul, instead of transferring through the blood stream, it creates a nasty effect."

"What kind of effect?"

"Bits and pieces of the Phoenix gene remain with the Phoenix, with Kyra, even after that portion of her soul is ripped from her. She may be left with remnants of that gene, but part of her human soul, that too is ripped from her." The Reaper sighed. "Essentially, there's a hole in her soul."

"A hole?"

"Why did you think you look so much like her? It's not simply because you were the recipient of that gene. It's because you have bits and pieces of her soul. Because of that, you share the same eye colour, though slightly different shades. You share the same bone structure, minus a few differences, and you even have the same stubborn and extremely annoying personality." The Phoenix gazed over my form. "The only visible difference is the hair."

"So when she offered her soul, the part of it that the Phoenix gene was latched onto, when it was ripped from her, it brought along some of her human soul, while also leaving parts of the Phoenix gene behind?" I ran a hand through my hair, trying to take everything in. I was learning more and more of how Kyra had died, how I had even become a Phoenix to begin with. But it was a lot to take in, to absorb.

"Exactly." The Reaper nodded. "And because of this, because her soul is not complete, not like the other Phoenixes, there's still a possibility for it to become whole again."

"Because the human soul should have been whole to begin with when she died. So because part of her soul still resides in me, in some way, part of her isn't really dead." I sat forward. "So that's where I come in then. Her soul, part of it is in me. Which means that..."

"We'll look at who's the smart one." He stood with a smirk. "You're on the right track. The only one who can resurrect a Phoenix with pieces of their soul missing is the one who still has that soul. Of course, it gets messier if that Phoenix doesn't happen to be alive, but that's not a problem in this case."

"Why has Kyra never told me this before? I mean, could I have resurrected her long before now."

"You had to transition first of all. And I assume she never knew of the truth herself. If she did, I doubt she would tell you, not like I am." He stuffed his hands into his pockets as he began leisurely walking around, what appeared to be a study appearing around us. I didn't bother to look around however, and just kept my gaze on him.

"Why not?" I questioned. "Why wouldn't she tell me?"

"Because it's dangerous, playing with souls. Why do you think Reapers are very hard to come across." He glanced at me over his shoulder as he peered at a bookshelf, more out of amusement than anything. "Souls are very delicate, but they can also be the most dangerous."

"I don't understand." I shook m head.

"In order to resurrect her, her soul has to become complete. And the only way to do that is for the soul she had lost to return to her."

My face paled. "So I...I would have to die then?"

"Oh of course not. Once again, you're being too dramatic."

"So what then?" I stood, unable to sit as I tried to process this. "What would have to be done?"

"You may have only been a Phoenix for two years, but you're stronger than most others. I assume it's because of the vampire blood you've ingested. You may not have any inside of you any longer, but it seemed to have...sped up the process." he explained, turning around while flipping through a book. "Your soul and the Phoenix gene, which held the components of Kyra's soul, it's become one. It's awfully bright, and half the time the damn thing is blinding me when I look at you. But it's complete, it's whole. It was like you never had gained another soul to begin with."

"I'm not understanding this at all." I rubbed my temples, feeling a headache coming along.

"You see, Phoenix, Kyra needs her soul to be complete, and you hold that part of her soul within your own." he tossed the book to the ground, only it disappeared before it could touch the carpet we were now standing on. "And in order for that to happen, part of your soul must...how would you silly humans put it? Oh yes, your soul must, fill in the hole that's there."

"wait..." I needed to sit back down. "So you're saying that part of my soul is needed to bring her back."

"And the winner goes to..." he rolled his eyes and strolled back over to me. "That's exactly it. She needs your soul. Or at least part of it. A fraction really."

"But...then I wouldn't have a complete soul." I pointed out. "So then that would...wouldn't that leave me screwed?"

"No. You have a larger soul than necessary. A soul was added to your own, you have more than an average human or Phoenix could ever possibly need." The Reaper settled back in his chair.

"But the Phoenix gene..."

"It has yet to latch onto your entire soul. The vampire blood may have sped up the process of the souls becoming one, but with the Phoenix gene, you're still a young Phoenix; it will take centuries to take over your entire soul to the point that you wouldn't be able to resurrect her at all."

"What do you mean? You said as long as I wasn't dead, then I could." I reminded him.

"Yes, however, Kyra cannot come back as a Phoenix. It's impossible. The soul she has now, it's human, and while there's remnants of her Phoenix gene, and hell, she may even have some of those powers if she were to be resurrected, she could never be a true Phoenix. You're the one and only." He informed. "Only part of your human soul would replace the hole in hers. And as your souls have become one, it would be as if she had never been missing it in the first place."

I nodded as I leaned back in the chair, letting everything the Reaper had told me to sink in. I hadn't been expecting when I had died and woken up in the In Between to be told this, to be informed of how exactly I could resurrect Kyra. This was almost a bit too much to take in all at once. But I knew the reaper was right, he was the expert of souls, and really the only person I could possibly find to tell me what I needed to know. I didn't know why he was telling me this, but he was. And I did want to resurrect Kyra; I wanted to bring back the former Phoenix who I felt connected to more so than I ever had with my own family, my own blood. Because In a way, we were one and the same. I had parts of her soul inside of my own, and if I went through with this, she would have my own in hers.

"Why is it dangerous?" I asked, looking up from my lap to stare into those eyes just boring into mine. "Why wouldn't she tell me this herself if she knew."

"It may not have been painful for Kyra when her Phoenix gene left her. She was already dying, and by the time it had left her completely, with parts of her soul, she had been dead. With you however, if you were to do this, it would be the most painful thing you've ever experienced.

"I don't know about that." I shuddered as I remembered the torture Victor had put me through.

"Oh, it's much worse than that, Phoenix." The reaper leaned forward. "You're ripping part of your soul from your own and into another being. While being perfectly alive and aware of what's going on. That is a very dangerous, and most would say, a stupid thing to do."

"Then why are you telling me this if it's so dangerous?"

"Because there's a lot more that you don't know, Phoenix, so much more that I cannot tell you." The reaper looked away for a moment. "If you should go through with this, you will need a spell and a witch. I'm already aware that you know of a witch, so that will be helpful. That deceased Queen of yours, she had another book that holds all that I've told you, only this book she locked away safely. I'm aware that she informed Godric of the location of where this book may be, so I would suggest prying that information from him."

"I don't..."

"You don't understand, I know." He rolled his eyes. "I don't have much time, the vampires, they're moving your body. If you want to know the rest, you better listen closely."

"Okay..." I nodded, urging him on.

"This spell, it will cause the opening of the portals closing the realm of phoenixes off from the human world. Once that door is open, then another spell you will find with the first, it will cause part of your human soul to rip from the rest. After that, your soul will be thrust into the other realm, and it will search Kyra out for as long as need be, as long as the door is open, until it fills in that hole of hers, and she's pulled back through that portal and returns to the human world." He explained, standing once again.

"Is that it?"

"Yes, that's it." he nodded. "But you must realize that this is very dangerous. Because if the spell is cast wrong, your entire soul could be lost forever. If the spell is cast incorrectly, you may lose a part of your soul forever, and without Kyra returning, it would seem quite pointless to lose a part of yourself."

"So then we'll just have to be careful." I joined him standing.

"Very careful. And you must understand the risk. This will be painful. This will be the worst experience of your life."

"It'll be worth it though." I shrugged. "It might be painful, and I might regret doing it, but afterwards, when she's back, when she's alive, it'll be so worth it."

"Yes, I suppose it will."

"So why exactly are you telling me all of this?" I glanced up at him curiously. "You're meddling in a whole lot more shit then you're supposed to."

"Maybe I just have a soft spot for Phoenixes."

"I somehow doubt that." I planted my hands firmly on my hips. "So why are you doing this? Why are you telling me all of this? What's the point?"

"Let's just say, little Phoenix, there's a whole lot more shit to it." his entire body grew rigid suddenly, his eyes closing briefly before his orbs opened and stared down at me. "It's time."

"Oh finally, I've had enough of you." I perked up, knowing that I would be returning to my own world, that I would find myself in the arms of the vampire that I loved. And at the end of the day, I've realized that's all that I desired. I just wanted to wake up in his arms and fall asleep with him at my side. Nothing else seemed to matter. Everything else would just work itself out in time.

And it seemed like I was going to have a lot of it.

"Let's not meet again, Phoenix." He grasped a hand onto my shoulder. "I'm really getting tired of saving your ass."

"And I'm tired of your face." I rolled my eyes. "Believe me when I say I hope to god this is the last time we meet."

"I'll hold you to that." he chuckled before a warmth began spreading through his hand and into my body. "Keep yourself out of trouble, Phoenix. And don't forget what I've told you."

I nodded, but didn't get a chance to utter goodbye as suddenly, a bright light began to envelop my body, blinding me completely.