Chapter Two

Ididn’t jump at the sudden voice over my shoulder. Instead, I took in the smell of cinder and ash and listened to the purr in their throat.

“Lilith, have you killed another nanny this morning? My reapers have already taken two to the pool of souls. Who is watching you now?” I asked.

Ember slumped back in the cushion of her seat and rubbed her eyes. “My child is going to give me grey hairs.”

Lilith giggled. “That can’t happen, mommy. You are a goddess.”

Lilith came around the couch and sat between us. Lilith’s pale skin contrasted with her long, black curls that cascaded down her back. Her sharp, pointed fangs glistened in the light as she tore into the sandwich, leaving behind a trail of crumbs and torn pieces of bread. Her movements were graceful yet predatory as she perched on the couch between the two of us.

She was still young, but like most gods, she looked and acted older than she truly was.

“How many has she killed today?” Ember sighs.

“Two, just this morning. They will revive by this evening,” I replied. “They are taking some convincing to come back to life.”

Lilith shrugged her shoulders. “Can’t imagine why.”

“Because they don’t want to take care of you anymore.” Ember pinched the bridge of her nose. “I don’t understand it. I was never like this as a child. Neither was Lucifer. He was completely harmless and did what he was told until he went through puberty. You and Loki are downright savages.”

Lilith grinned. “I told you I would stop killing the nannies if you would give me a male one.” Lilith pointed at her. “I need someone more fun.”

Ember’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Why would I bring a male demon in here to watch you? What’s wrong with a female?”

“Like I said, they are boring and predictable, and I’d rather have a male.”

“Rhea, save me!” Ember wailed.

“Loki got female nannies. I want a male one.” Lilith folded her arms. “It’s rather sexist.” She took another bite of the sandwich and leaned back onto the couch.

I stared down at the child, not sure what to make of her. She was different and had a good argument.

“Can males not be nannies?” I asked.

Ember darted her head at me and shook her head. “T-they can, but her father wouldn’t allow it.”

Lilith rolled her eyes.

I directed my tone to her daughter. “Lilith?”

She growled at her mother and jerked her head toward me and stared straight up into my hood. She backed away suddenly when she looked for too long, when she finally saw deep within the void, the emptiness and sadness inside.

“If it be your mother’s will, I will give you one of my reapers.”

Ember’s body stiffened. “Pardon?”

“I will give you one of my reapers. They are male, made of nothing but bone and spirit, and already dead. Your daughter cannot kill them. Thus, you will never be without a nanny.”

Lilith narrowed her eyes. “They can’t be killed?”

“No.”

“Challenge accepted.” Lilith rubbed her hands together.

Ember rubbed her temples. “Okay, we will try it, only because I can’t keep relying on Uriel. She has had to watch Lilith every day for the past two weeks, and Lucifer is getting grouchy about it.”

“There you are!” A high-pitched squeal came from the entrance of the greenhouse. I didn’t turn my body. I could feel the brightness of her soul coming towards me. It was blinding, and I wanted to find a mountain to hide from its radiance.

“It’s exhausting, isn’t it?” Lilith nudged me. “She’s as bright as the damn sun. I don’t know how Lucifer stands it all the time.”

I knew Lucifer had his own darkness. He was a damn destroyer.

“Oh Thanatos, I’m glad I caught you!” Uriel pranced in front of the table and set down a bag of cookies. “Did you bring Fluffy? I brought him his favorites!”

I couldn’t stand the taste of anything with sugar, so anything Uriel makes, the wallow that has invaded my home instead of the Elysium Fields where the beast was supposed to reside. The wallow eats everything the little goddess makes.

“No, he isn’t here today, Uriel,” I said. “But I shall take them with me. He will be sad he missed you.”

“Bummer. Maybe I will come visit later. I haven’t given him any pets lately.”

“No, you won’t.” The thunderous voice boomed from the entryway.

Lilith groans. “Surprise, surprise, Luci’s here!” Lilith threw up her hands.

I pulled on my hood to hide my face further. The place was crowded, and I had completed my reporting. I stood from the couch and turned my back on Ember.

“We aren’t done!” Ember stood and tugged on my robe.

I gripped it to my chest to make sure my hood didn’t fall and turned to face her. ”Your Eminence, rest assured that we will take care of the women. Just let my reapers and I complete the investigation.”

Ember tsked and put her hand on her hip. “You will rescue a woman there first, tonight.” She waved a finger at me. “The one I said that needs to be saved.” She pulled on my robe once more and grabbed her sphere, tucking it up under her arm and pulling me to her workspace to get us away from her children.

Lucifer stood tall with his arms crossed over his chest, his expression stern and unyielding toward his younger sister. Uriel’s wings rustled impatiently behind him as he spoke, and he gestured towards Lilith to stop killing her nannies. Lilith’s wild hair thrashed about as they dragged her towards the glass door, her hands flailing as she tried to break free from Lucifer’s grasp.

“Grey hair. They are all going to give me grey hair. I don’t know what is going to happen when Uriel pops out a baby.” Ember paused. “Oh, sweet Uriel, I hope they don’t have any babies anytime soon. She’s still such a child herself.”

Lucifer pops his head back into the glass dome. “Don’t worry, mother, not for a long time.”

“But babies are so cuuuuute!” Uriel whined from the other side of the door. She stomped her foot on the ground, her dress fluttering in the wind.

“We have to keep practicing making them, bunny. We must be really good at it first,” Lucifer pacified her.

She pouted. “But we do it allllll the time.”

Lilith gagged, and Ember”s face twisted in disgust as she put her hands over her ears.

My shadows engulfed a circle around us. They were like whispers, like wind rustling through leaves. The shadows seemed to hum and sway as they wrapped around, creating a barrier from the chaotic noise of Uriel’s whine and Lucifer’s attempts to pacify her. It was almost as if the shadows had a mind of their own, moving in a hypnotic dance.

“Thanks, that was just awful. Anyway.” Ember waved her hand over the sphere and brought up a scene of a back alley, one I recognized instantly. It was the back of the club my reapers had scouted, Fuzzy Bunnies. “This is where you will find the next soul that will be on the brink of death right outside the club, the one you want to let die for the greater good.” Ember raised an eyebrow.

I nodded and her fingers wrapped around the sphere tightly. “Don’t let her die. She is someone’s mate, Thanatos. If she dies, he will die too, and the ripple effect will be irreparable. Besides, she may be of some help to you in finding you more information about the club. She’s been there quite a while.”

I tilted my head in curiosity. “Really? How do you know?”

“A feeling,” she sighed. “I can’t give you anymore answers. It wouldn’t be fair and really, I’ve given you too much.” She waved her hand in front of the sphere and it disappeared entirely. “Promise me you won’t let her die, Thanatos.”

My fingers curled around the shaft of my scythe like a steel vine, my knuckles standing out like jagged mountains against the sharp edges of bone. The sound of my bones rubbing together echoed through the air like a warning. It was the only way you could read my emotions. You do not bargain, promise, or ask the word of Death to save a soul. Death has the final word. Death makes the final decision.

Mortals can pray to the gods, beg for mercy for a soul to spend a few more miserable years in pain for their selfish desires. Only on the rare occasion will the gods intervene and heal a mortal where a reaper cannot take their soul.

Ember doesn’t hold the power to heal. She lives in the Underworld with the king of those who have passed. Now she asks me to let this woman to live?

To let someone live, when their body was battered and broken, their blood spilt onto the floor in pain. Isn’t that cruel enough? This female, this human, had been through enough in her life, in a strip club, and to prolong her life was insanely cruel.

I was about to let her live. And then what? Who would come for her? Help her? Where was this mate that Ember spoke of? Why isn’t he or she there to help her?

My jawbone cracked in annoyance. It was like the rusted gears of an ancient clock tower, and the shadows that encircled us danced like restless spirits that whispered secrets and tempting fate.

“Sorry.” Ember snapped. “I shouldn’t have asked that. I get it. Just–” She rubbed her chest. “Think very long and hard about this.”

“You must understand,” my voice grew cold. “I do not wish to take souls and bring them here. I do not delight or find joy—I believe is the term that one might use—when doing one’s duty. You, being mated to the King of the Underworld, would understand this.”

Ember nodded, her fingers fiddling with the sash of her dress.

“My decision to bring a soul to its last resting place is for either its peace or its judgment. And this female, depending on how I find her, may need more peace than the fight that you want her to have.”

Ember parted her lips to argue, but I held out my boned hand to silence her.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”

I took my hand and wrapped it just above my other, and had it tighten around the scythe. The shadows that encapsulated Ember and me from the noise and others disturbing us fade away. It circled me in a thick smoke and engulfed me whole. I bowed my head, and it pushed downward on me until I felt my body disappear from the fake garden, and I reappeared right outside my home.

I took the ivory bones that was my hand and rubbed my forehead. This was why I stayed in the darkest part of the Underworld. No one to come running to the God of Death to ask for a favor for their favorite mortal, no one to ask for favors to help the dying here.

Even in the Underworld, gods were afraid of the dark.

Maybe except Uriel, because she was too na?ve.

I just wished that many understood I did not wish to be the evil one. Not all of us could live forever. Bodies became weak, the souls must rest, and I must judge when those souls have had enough in those mortal bodies.

I let the shadows clear and as I moved, I heard my feathers rubbing against the stone and echoing through the darkness. The sound was soft yet distinct, like a gentle whisper carried by the wind. The pebbles on the path shifted and scattered as I walked, creating a low rustling noise that followed me home.

When I drew closer to my cave, I heard the clicking of talons on the rock. The flame coming from the cave only lit for my companion, that refused to leave my side. A tongue lolled to the side, the wolfish grin, but the sly body of a feline, a panther-like body with black stripes trailing down its body, is unmistakable.

I believed his death hurt me the most when a reaper reached out to me. He begged for this creature’s life. Fluffy was loved, and I could still hear the cries of his masters from the battle of the Dark War in the Bergarian realm for this soul to live.

I kneeled, cradling the gigantic creature’s head. He purred loudly, and I chuckled, scratching just above his ear. Fluffy was given the highest of honors, a hero”s death to play in the Elysium fields, but he refused to leave my side. I wasn’t sure why, but he filled this lonely home with more company than I deserved.

“Ah, Fluffy, Uriel sends her best wishes.” I pulled the cookies from under my cloak. “And her sweets.” Fluffy reared his head back and pulled my cloak by his teeth to enter our home.

My choice to change my appearance to look like a boned figure of a Grim Reaper to match a more modern take that society has its approach upon death in the last few hundred years suited me and my personality. Fluffy had never been fearful of me or my appearance, and that is all I wanted for company besides my brother.

I’d often wondered if he had a special gift, an ability to look inside one’s soul and know if they held good intentions or not.

I untied the package as I entered the cave. The entrance to the cave was shrouded in darkness, but as I moved further in, light from several blazing torches lining the walls revealed a surprisingly cozy and warm interior. The small flames flickered and danced, casting eerie shadows and illuminating the rugged stone walls of the cave. In the center of the room, a large fireplace crackled with heat and light, its glowing embers providing a soft orange glow that spread across the space. The only other source of light came from a single candle placed on a mantle above the fireplace, its flame dancing with a gentle warmth.

The crackling of the fireplace and occasional hiss of burning wood provided a calm background noise. The occasional pop or crackle added a subtle liveliness to the otherwise quiet cave. There might also be the faint sound of dripping water that indicated that there was a source of water nearby.

I took cookies from the wrapping and sat them on the table. Immediately, Fluffy ate them all in several licks. He whined disappointedly.

I hummed a little tune and sat in the old rocker in the corner of the main room. The fire was lit to keep Fluffy warm, and only him. He circled several times before he made himself comfortable and laid at my feet.

I continued to tap the scythe with my finger as I pondered Ember’s words. Instead of sending a reaper to pull the soul tonight, I felt it was best that I go instead. It wasn’t often I went to earth anymore. Rather, I let my reapers do my bidding, and I stayed home and helped from afar.

Maybe I would get a better idea of how this female’s body and mind truly were. She may be worth saving, but I would not put her soul at risk for further damage.

The female, however, was someone’s mate.

I”d witnessed how souls undergo a transformation once they bond with each other. It changes them. Usually for the better. I had spent little time with a bonded pair, but it helped Hades.

What if this female didn’t meet her destined soulmate, and I took her and let her rest? What happened to the other soul? Would they die instantly or live out their life? Would I have to reap another soul when their body was perfectly healthy? Seemed to be a waste of life.

I gripped my scythe one more time, my blue fire in my sockets coming a blaze in frustration. Why was I being so foolish as to let emotions impede my duty? I should know better, after all these centuries of being a reaper. But this human girl, this one soul, was making me think far too much.

So much trouble, this bonding, this mating…thing.

I couldn’t let Ember’s request deter my decision. I had a duty to reap, to bring a soul to rest if I must, whether she was to be bonded. If she had lived a good life, they could reincarnate her, as well as the soul that needed to bond with her.

I growled and balled my hand into a fist, slamming it on the rocker. Fluffy lifted his head and tilted it to the side. He was confused, as am I. Why did I feel such anger and indecisiveness over this?

But it didn’t matter now. My duty was clear—I must go to Earth and take the soul of this girl if it was to be so. No matter what Ember requested.

I stood from the rocking chair and walked towards Fluffy, who looked up at me with his far too eager and pleasing personality. “Come, Fluffy,” I said as I patted his head gently. “We have work to do.”