Chapter 4 - Amri

"You son of a bitch!" I grab him by the shoulders and slam him down against the ground. It doesn't look like it does anything to him, but it sure as hell makes me feel better. "All this time you've been in my dreams, acting like the good guy and come to find out you're the asshole that saved me! I ranted about you to you!"

"Now, now, love. I never said I was the good guy." Now that I hear his voice again without there being months in between, the familiarity is jarring. He also has a slight accent that I can't place, it sounds to be a mix of British and, maybe, Scottish.

"Why did you save me?" Somehow, I keep the angry tears at bay, but boy do they want to spring free. I'm still straddling him, and my hands are bunched into the shoulders of his coat. I dig my nails into him and press him further into the dirt. "Tell me, you piece of shit."

"You've got a lovely vocabulary – have I ever told you that?" He smirks up at me, his dark eyes somehow glinting in the sunlight and his pale skin looking almost luminescent .

"You haven't told me much, Reaper. And I don't give a fuck what you think of my vocabulary. Why did you save me? You do realize I was doing that to be with you, don't you? Why would you stop me? Why would you invade my dreams for months – kiss me, only to stop me from doing the one thing that would allow me to be with you?"

His hands come up to run his fingers through my hair which falls around and frames my face. When he gets to the ends, he fists them and tugs, causing me to grunt and squeeze my eyes shut. His soft chuckle echoes in my ears and I open my eyes to find him staring at me.

"I'm going to ask one more time, Reaper. Why?" My voice trembles at the intensity of his stare. I understand why people are so scared of death. It's not the thought of the afterlife or lack thereof, that scares them. It's him.

He stays silent. I scream in frustration – right in his face.

Then, the tears do fall free. They drip down onto his cheek, and I watch with morbid fascination as his tongue flicks out to collect them. For some reason, that makes me cry even more.

Maybe it's aggravation at the fact that he won't answer my questions. The more likely scenario, and the one I don't want to admit to myself, is that it feels like his saving me was his rejection. Like he offered me a spot beside him in my dreams, and then took it all away when he pulled me from the water. And him licking up my tears…. taking into his body the literal product of my sadness and anger, that just feels like acceptance all over again.

"What does that even mean? What," I hiccup and cover my mouth, "what do you want from me?"

He removes my hand from my mouth and brings it down to his, leaving a kiss on my palm before placing it on his chest.

"That's for me to know, and you to find out, my little siren." His whisper is a sweet caress, a balm to my damaged soul, and it makes more tears fall from my eyes.

"Why do you keep calling me that?"

"Because that's what you are. The moment I felt your soul, the first moment you thought of death all those months ago, I knew I would have you. I knew you were meant to be mine."

"You're not making any sense! If you know that, then why save me?" I'm yelling again, my emotions spiraling out of control no matter how hard I try to rein them in.

He sighs, sitting up and taking me with him. "There's something you need to do here before you're ready to be with me. I only have your best interests at heart, siren."

His hands pick me up around my thighs and place me on the ground in front of him. I watch as he stands, his dark form blocking out the sun and looking as menacing as death should. He lifts a hand and reaches behind him, and I see the infamous scythe appear out of – well out of nowhere. He pulled it from himself. Death indeed.

"Just so you know, if I had a heart, you would own it. I do have a soul, though, and it's already all yours. Every dark, black shard of it. It takes strength, though, to own a Reaper's soul. Find your strength, siren, and I'll be there to collect what is owed to me."

I tilt my head to the side, confusion marring my features.

He smiles, his face slowly morphing from the handsome man in my dreams to the face of the Grim Reaper. Cream-colored bones slide over his face from both sides, connecting in the middle and I watch as a line of glowing darkness radiates from the center and outward toward his eyes. When it reaches them, he blinks, and eyes red as rubies stare back at me.

"You." His voice comes out as a whisper on the wind, flowing around my body and making gooseflesh rise to the surface.

He begins to walk backward staring at me the whole time. I realize what he's about to do, that he's about to leave me, and I go after him. It doesn't matter, though. By the time I take my second step toward him, a sliver of black opens behind him. I only have enough time to make out the outline of a castle before he steps through, and it closes shut behind him.

Hands grab at my shoulders, pulling me up and into a hard body behind me.

"Amri, Amri, are you okay?" I hear Damion behind me, his voice frantic with worry and I swear I feel something drip onto my back.

I must have blacked out. It's dark outside now. When Reaper left, the sun with still on its way below the horizon.

"That son of a bitch." I say, my voice as hard as steel. I stand up, shaking Damion off me as I look at where Reaper disappeared into a…portal, I think.

"Who?" I hear Damion ask behind me.

I turn to look at him and see a group of guards and nurses standing in a semi-circle around me. I can see some in the edge of my vision trying to creep around me – to make sure I can't get away, I'm sure .

"The man I ran after. He's about 6'3, black hair – well I guess you wouldn't have been able to see his hair since he was wearing a coat."

"A coat."

"Yes, one of those long ones that goes down to your knees, but it also had a hood so you couldn't have seen his hair. Oh, I said that already…." I let my voice trail off when I see the looks I'm getting from the guards and nurses surrounding me. Even Damion, who has been nothing but a trusting friend since I got here, is looking at me like I grew horns.

Wait. I reach up to the top of my head and let out a breath when I don't feel anything. Who knows what kind of side effects a claim by the Grim Reaper brings on.

"Why don't we get you inside, Amri?" Damion reaches for me again and I step out of his reach, stumbling into a guard that managed to get behind me without me noticing.

"No! He was here! I know what I saw!" I look around, trying to find anyone that looks like they believe me, that they saw him, too; but no one does.

A guard to my right has one hand on his taser, and the other on his baton. A nurse in front me has a radio up to her mouth, most likely ready to call for backup if needed.

"Damion…. you believe me – don't you?" My voice comes out as a whimper.

"Of course, I do, Amri."

He says that, but I hear the hesitation in his voice. I know he doesn't really believe me.

I turn around in a circle, looking at everyone gathered around me and search for the weakest link.

There. Between the two female nurses. One has a hand on the radio and the other looks scared shitless, she must be new.

I wait until the one with the radio looks down before I decide to make my move, but my legs are already on their way. I break through the two nurses and take off in the direction of the trees. I'm not stupid, I know they won't discharge me after tonight. They think I ran after no one. They think I'm hysterical because of my brain. No matter how many times I explained I wasn't imagining things, that he was here, and he was real.

I run like my life depends on it, and it probably does. Tree branches whip at my face, no doubt leaving welts in their wake. Small stumps, roots and vines trip me and cause me to catch myself on anything within reach. My hands burn from the scratches and my feet ache from the hard ground beneath the small institution shoes I was given when I was admitted.

I can hear the group running after me, but they still sound a good way away. Damion is yelling my name, begging for me to stop and to come back. Some friend he is. He doesn't believe me and he's currently chasing me only to imprison me once again.

I don't stop, I keep running until I can see headlights breaking through the trees from the highway up ahead. The sight of cars so close makes me pick up speed, chasing the opportunity of escape as fast as I can.

I hear a radio close behind me and turn my head to see Damion running a half step behind me. His arm reaches out right as I break through the trees. I'm not watching where I'm going, I just know I have to get away from him, away from Melford.

A horn blares and tires screech. The smell of rubber fills my nostrils and Damion screams from behind me, "Amri, watch out."

I turn in time to see a dark colored semi-truck barreling toward me, lights blinding my eyes. I throw my hand up to cover myself from seeing my own demise, but I smile knowing that my Reaper can't save me from the instant death this truck is going to give me.

Except…it never comes.

I slowly open my eyes and lower my hand to find the semi-truck stopped in front of me. The smell of rubber still lingers, and the lights are still blinding, but the truck is stopped.

"You can't be stupid enough to think I'll let you die that easy, now do you, little siren?" His dark voice is filled with laughter as I turn around to find Reaper standing behind me, his hand up and palm facing the truck.

"I wanted to leave Melford. I didn't mean to die."

"You won't."

"To which one?" I ask, but his free hand is already waving toward me.

My body goes flying backward and into the ditch beside the road as I watch Reaper lower his hand to the oncoming truck.

"NO!" I scream, my worry and terror for him somehow overriding the facts in my head – that he is death, and death can't die.

His body dissipates into thin air as the truck passes by, horn still blowing.

Damion is standing beside me, looking at the road in confusion and horror as he comes to different conclusions about what could have possibly happened to my body.

"I guess he meant I won't to both." I mutter to myself.

My voice makes Damion jump near out of his damn skin, and when he realizes I'm sitting beside him he falls to the ground and brings me into his arms.

"Holy shit, Amri. What happened? I could have sworn you were about to get flattened by that semi." His hands smooth over my hair that's strewn all around my head and he catches me off guard by leaning down and pressing a kiss to my forehead.

My voice shakes as I ask him, "Would you believe me if I told you the Grim Reaper saved me?"