The time for talking was over. Tobias didn't hesitate to sink the tweezers into the wound in search of the errant bullet. For a moment, things were fine. Better than fine, in fact. At least for Tobias. Leon clearly wasn't enjoying himself. As the implement sank deeper, I heard a faint metallic scrape. I could read the relief in Tobias' eyes as he came upon his prize, but it turned to panic when Leon roared in agony. Darkness splintered across his skin as though it was about to shatter under the influence of the dark magic.

Determined, Tobias dug deeper. Leon cried out again, his voice echoing throughout the room as his back arched upward from the couch. Tobias maintained his course for only a few more seconds until he swore under his breath and withdrew from the wound. Leon sagged down into the cushions and released a long breath.

"Well... That's new," Tobias said.

"Does that not usually happen?" I asked.

"No. Hence my observation. It's like it was repelled by the silver."

"So, use something that isn't silver," I said. "You can't just leave it in there."

"All my tools are silver," Tobias shot back. "If I'd thought the Hell Hounds were going to change up their runes to make them totally worthless, I'd have made my collection a little more varied. As it is, I don't have anything I could use instead."

"Well, we need to think of something," I implored. "You can't just let him die! I've barely had time to piss him off! Can't you just, I don't know, pull it out with your fingers?"

Both men stared at me like I'd just kicked a puppy or something monstrous like that. As if the very idea of Tobias digging around inside Leon's body with his unwashed fingers was somehow shocking.

Okay, fair enough.

"Hex bullets don't just hurt when they're on the inside," Tobias said. "Those runes are agony against a Reaper's skin. It'd blister my fingers before I could get it out, and I wouldn't be able to treat the wound."

"What if I got it out?" I asked.

"You keep your fingers out of my body!" Leon ordered.

Tobias wasn't so quick to dismiss the idea. "If you're fast enough to find it, I can finish up and treat your hand after I'm done with him."

"Absolutely not!" Leon reiterated.

I ignored him. "I can be quick. Straight down through the wound, right?"

"It pushed down pretty far, and he's going to try to move. I'll do what I can to keep him still. You ready?"

"Do I get a say in this?" Leon asked. "A vote?"

"It'll be two against one if we waste time voting," Tobias pointed out. "Don't move. It'll make this faster."

Clearly, Tobias didn't trust Leon to do as he was told. Once I was in position, Tobias loomed over me with one hand on Leon's pelvis and the other high on his torso. My tongue was so dry it stuck to the roof of my mouth. I couldn't believe what I'd volunteered to do. I mean, I didn't even like touching raw chicken when Mum asked me to help with dinner, and here I was about to stick my hand into a gaping wound.

Death sure was weird.

"I'm ready," I lied.

"Straight down," Tobias reminded me. "Press your thumb and finger tight together until you feel the bullet, pinch, then pull. It's still in the soft tissue so you shouldn't have too much resistance. Don't worry about any damage you cause. I can patch that up when you're done."

I took a deep breath and, with an apologetic glance at Leon, pushed my fingers into the wound. Leon reacted immediately. To his credit, he did everything in his power to keep himself from arching too far from the cushions. Instead, he dug his nails into the leather and clenched his jaw so hard I thought he might break it.

Bile rose in my throat as my fingers pushed through Leon's flesh. It defied my every instinct to keep going. The wrongness of invading another person's body was undeniable. It was the heat. The wetness. The way that his organs continued to pulse, and blood pooled around my fingers. I swallowed down the urge to vomit. Throwing up all over him wasn't going to make the task any easier. Either it was deeper than I thought, or I wasn't moving as quickly as I should have. It seemed like forever before my nails scraped against something that wasn't flesh or bone.

"I've got it," I announced. "I'm gonna try to pull it out."

Leon said nothing. His cheeks burned with the effort it took to remain in control of himself. Tobias, too, remained silent. The only indication that I should act was a curt nod and a grimace. Grasping a bullet between the tips of my fingers would've been difficult under any circumstance, but when it was slick with blood and I was groping in the dark, it was even worse. I pressed my lips into a thin line and felt a thrill when I caught the lip of the shell with my nails. There was no time to celebrate. The bullet was still spreading its poison through Leon and Tobias had said that it would hurt me if I held on too long.

Once I was sure I had a strong enough grasp, I pulled back my hand and tore the projectile from Leon's body. I clutched it in my hand. Swathed in blood and hot to the touch, it sat small and otherwise harmless in my curled fingers. There was no time to lose, and my job was over. I was just in the way. I moved aside and let Tobias take my place. He was soon cleaning the wound site and much too focused on his task to care about what I was doing.

I backed up until my rear collided with the table in the centre of the room. With nowhere else to go, I perched on the edge and watched the doctor do his work. I hadn't let the shock of what'd happened register. I mean, I'd had a very close encounter with a Hell Hound. Close enough that he'd managed to kiss me. Leon had almost died, and I'd had my fingers in his body. And not even in a fun sexy way. It was in a gross body-horror way.

I imagined most Reapers had better first days than I had.

It felt like forever before Tobias finally finished. He gathered his dirtied tools and took them to a small side room. I heard running water and assumed it was a bathroom of sorts. Or, at the very least, a space for us to freshen up. Leon had made it seem that we had no need of such things as we were dead, but we were still going to get dirty, I supposed. I mean, he was still covered in blood. That didn't just disappear with willpower alone. In fact, it wasn't long before Tobias returned with a damp cloth which he passed off to Leon who'd moved until he was propped up against the couch's arm. Not a single utterance of gratitude passed his lips as he began to clean the mess, not for the cloth or the medical assistance.

Tobias turned his attention to me and said, "Let me take a look at your hand."

"Why?" I asked. "I didn't get hurt."

Tobias paused. Deciding that I was confused, he elaborated, "The burns from the bullet. I need to take care of those before you can head back out to work."

It was my turn to be confused. Remembering for the first time that I even had the bullet in my possession since I'd removed it from Leon, I unfurled my fingers and held it out to Tobias. He took a hurried step towards me, no doubt expecting to find hideous injuries thanks to my prolonged contact with the shattered casing, and instead found it rolling harmlessly against my skin. It was sticky with the blood but, aside from that, there was no indication that it was anything but an ordinary bullet. No burns, no blisters, no dark magic spreading across my hand. Just a simple metal casing and nothing more.

Tobias extended a finger and touched it for himself. His reaction was immediate and he withdrew as though he'd been burned. He took a handkerchief from his pocket and used it to relieve me of the offending object, turning it over and checking the runes.

"Odd..."

"What?"

Even if Tobias told me what made this so unusual, it would've meant very little to me. As far as I was concerned, everything that'd happened since I'd died was odd. He seemed to be of a similar mind because he folded the handkerchief neatly around the bullet and put it into his pocket.

"Nothing." Tobias turned back to Leon. "Consider yourself lucky. Most other Reapers would've been long-dead by now. Well, again. Anyway, I'll start the paperwork with the boss. You'll have to write up an incident report."

"Yeah, yeah," Leon brushed him off. "He can wait until I'm done bleeding."

"You're just going to leave him there?" I asked. "What if he gets an infection or something?"

"He's a Reaper. Disease can't kill him. No infections, no viruses, just Hell Hounds and hex bullets. Trust me, he'll be fine. Or as close to fine as he's capable of. A little rest and he'll be the same, miserable Reaper he was before."

"Can he rest?"

"He can sleep if he allows himself. It's not required, but we're capable." Tobias shook my hand. They were both slick with blood and it wasn't a pleasant experience. He didn't seem disturbed by it. "Pleasure to meet you, Mackenzie. I'll introduce you to my Belle sometime."

"I'd like that."

Leon grumbled from the sofa, "Could you two stop with the pleasantries and let me rest?"

"See? On the mend already. I'll show myself out."