Shane cursed under his breath as he realized what had happened. Someone had seen him take away the soul of someone. And he had been careless enough to not be able to follow the person.
He had broken the first rule of his parents- never let yourself be seen when you kill for a soul. Even though Shane barely cared about what his parents thought about him, he couldn't help but feel a bit of fear in imagining his parent's reaction. They already hated him and now they would be even more disappointed in him.
He hated it.
Back at his new apartment, he kept pacing the room wondering what to do to get rid of the person. He calculated the odds. One person out of so many people in Seoul alone. He didn't even know whether the person was even in Seoul or not.
'Argh!' Shane ran a hand through his hair.
After some more pacing, Shane decided the best person to talk to would be his sister Loralie.
Climbing out of bed, Shane padded his way down the hall toward his sister's room. The shower ran in the master bathroom. Steam sat heavy in the air, so thick it almost choked him. It lit a panic that he calmed with deep breaths. Even as a child of death, he had always been afraid of water. His parents despised any weakness in their son, so Shane tried his best to keep it buried.
The water was turned off and Loralie stepped out of the shower. Shane waited for her to change.
Loralie, child of Time and Fate, was Shane's elder sister. Tall and willowy, with long chestnut hair and green eyes resembling her brother, the only thing that marred her beauty were a few scars that had crisscrossed over her face.
Shane once asked about them, and Loralie told him that it had been the work of humans. Done when she was a reaper in training, too young and too weak to heal fully.
Shane sometimes wondered if they'd scarred more than her skin.
Everyone who knew them in hell said they looked so similar they could almost be considered as twins.
Shane always said thank you with a ninety-degree bow. After all, Loralie was once the epitome of beauty. Her perfection made men regret the time they spent blinking.
"Oshane, what are you doing?" Shane rolled his eyes at the use of his full name.
"I needed to talk to you." Shane tried to think of how to explain in a way that wouldn't reveal his mistake.
"Is it about Monday?"
Shane blinked, not quite understanding. "Monday?"
Then he remembered. His new school. His new target- Park Jihoon.
"I'm okay. It'll be like every other school. I'm used to it." It was true. Shane changed schools more often than people changed clothes. The perpetual transfer student. Never somewhere long enough to lose the label.
"It's a good school." the fact that Loralie had no expression while saying this, made Shane purse his lips.
As much as he hated to move, they were often always to relocate because Shane's targets changed every time and Loralie was also forced to go with him. Loralie's behavior each time reminded Shane that his work was a burden on her. Perhaps it was not smart to reveal his mistake yet.
"How have you screwed up this time?"
Shane clenched his jaw. He remembered how he had killed a human in broad daylight to take away his soul just because he had given in to his instincts instead of working like Loralie had taught him to.
"It wasn't my fault."
Excuses, excuses, just useless excuses.
"But you still almost exposed us by losing control with a human. And in broad daylight."
"I was just trying to get her away from me! She wouldn't stop
pushing me, so I pushed back—" Shane's cut off with the sinking realization that her words echoed the old man in the forest. 'It was her fault . . . She should have kept quiet. I only tried to make her stop screaming.'
The fact that he shared the same evil as so many people he killed scared him to the core.
"I don't need your excuses," Loralie's rough voice said, breaking into Shane's Thoughts. "Just do what I say and everything will be fine."
"Actually, there's something I need to tell you."
"I know what you're so worked up about and it's fine." Loralie waved away Shane's concern. Not the reaction he was expecting. Considering how strict Loralie's training had been.
"It's fine?" Miyoung couldn't stop the gallop of her heart. Was it not that bad, having been seen by a human while he was doing his job?
"I didn't mean to—" Shane began.
"Don't lie to me, brother. I know how you killed the last death in the book. I am grateful to you for that, even though I must say I am disappointed. You are the child of time and death. That is?"
"Smart."
"And-"
"Strong."
"And-"
"Handsome."
Shane almost let out a sigh of relief. Loralie was unaware that he had almost been exposed and that was good for him.
Loralie, however, was too smart for Shane's good.
"What is it?"She asked, her eyes shrewd.
"I'm just feeling off," Shane tried to play it off with a smile, "I just don't take other people's souls while being on the hunt for only one."
There was a change in Loralie's eyes but then she completely covered it up before Shane could notice.
"I'm sorry, I was sick and thought it would be best to do this since your book was about to end as well. Jihoon is the last name in your book, as far as I remember. And I have said this before, you don't have to do my work again.."
"I know."
"Also Oshane, I may return to hell in a few days when I am well enough again. You can take care of yourself, right?"
Shane was shocked. Never had he heard Loralie express care for him before. Even if they had the same father, Shane knew Loralie somehow hated him for being the child of Death.
"Yes, I can," he replied.
"Good night then, Oshane."
"Good night, Loralie"
Shane quietly walked out of Loralie's room, still wondering whether he had made the correct decision in not telling Loralie or not. His mind had already been muddled up ever since he had arrived in this stinking city and he was still unaware of how he was going to find his target, Park Jihoon. But as always, the prince of hell, he's got to suck it all up and do it as his duty. It didn't matter what Shane thought or did, it was always to gain the approval of his parents.
Shane sighed audibly, however careful not to be heard by Loralie.
How he wished he was a normal kid.