Ary

"Come in," His voice was deep as he unlocked the door with the number twelve on it and walked inside, he paused mid step realizing that I wasn't following and looked back at me expectantly. I swallowed hard, putting a single foot over the threshold. My entire body was jittery, and my senses were all on high alert as my actions scared me. I felt as though what I was doing was wrong, I should not have allowed this man to drag me from the battlefield and bring me here. However, in the same breath, I was thankful, feeling as though my body had been led here for a reason that I had jet to understand.

The man's chocolate eyes never left me, his face holding patience as he simply watched me as I took yet another small step into the apartment. Once I was inside the man stopped observing me and pointed down a darkened hallway that was to my right.

"Down the hallway, last door on the left is where the bathroom is. Go ahead and take a shower. Leave your clothing in the connecting room and I'll wash them for you." My feet back peddled back out of the apartment faster than I'd ever moved, holding my thick, blood and mud soaked, cloak tighter around my shoulders as if it were a life line and seeing as I'd lost just about everything else I owned, it was.

"Maybe… Maybe, I should just head home," I spoke spoftly looking around the empty hallway as I decided on the best possible way to get out of this situation in the quickest way. The man was not holding me against my will, however knowing the space that one was in was never something that should be dismissed.

"Hey," The single word from his deep voice had my attention snapping to him without another thought. He looked at me as he ran his hands through his dark brown hair that was almost the same color has his eyes and closely trimmed beard. "I'm not going to peek on you if that's what your worried about." I squirmed under his gaze, twitching nervously as I tried to pull my long sleeve shirt further down my hands to hide the markings that were already covered by my gloves. When I didn't respond he seemed to lose a little of his ongoing patience that he'd been showing me. "You are covered in blood, mud, and whatever else was on the ground when you feel. You need a shower."

My mouth popped open to protest, to say that blood wasn't something that bothered me. After all of the years of me following my grandmother and other members of our clan around to cart souls. I'd seen more than enough blood to stop caring. However, before I could open my mouth he continued.

"At least come inside before the neighbors start getting nosey." He crossed his arms, a stern look taking over the patient one that had been there since I'd met him. I took one more look up and down the hallway before I let out a small breath and crossed the threshold. As if passing through a sheet of water, my skin prickled to the barrier that I crossed and felt it solidify as it allowed me access. It confused me, yes, this man was a supernatural, however, I wasn't familiar enough with their species to know if having a barrier around their living quarters was something that was normal or not.

With a soft click, he reached behind me and closed the door. Then turned to me, looking down from his impressive height, onto my much, much smaller frame, crossed his arms and let one long breath out and his face relaxed.

"Now, go clean up. You don't have to shower but at least let me wash your clothing. I will find something for you to wear until the wash is done." I shook my head.

"That is unnecessary. I don't want to wear someone else's clothing." I huffed giving him a look, not understanding why he wanted to wash my clothing so bad.

"But gods know what you're covered with." He said with a look that seemed to match mine only in the exact opposite. He didn't seem to understand what the issue was and could not understand why someone would rather keep their dirty items on instead of wearing something else. I realized this and took a deep calming breath to clear not only my mind but also my restless soul that felt like I'd injected caffeine directly into it as it buzzed and jittered in my chest.

"Blood on my clothing isn't something that bother's me," I started but then paused. He wasn't wrong when he said that there had been blood, mud, and probably a lot of other items that I wasn't alright with having them on my skin. As I stood there, I also realized that there were clumps of mud in my hair and there was a very odd smell coming from me which made me deflate. "I will accept your offer for a shower; however, I do not wish for you to wash my clothing. I will put it back on afterwards." He observed me once more, his arms uncrossing and then crossed the other way as if he were trying to formulate words.

"Wouldn't that be a little gross? Putting those things back on your clean body?" He said finally as if he were trying to come up with logical ways to convince me. Which had my thumb nail going to my mouth as I bit down on my nail. He was correct, bathing and then putting back on the old clothing would just end up being a waist because I would be covered in the battlefield once more. Although, if he were to see my marks that would end up being a compete different problem, one that would be even worse than putting back on my dirty clothing.

However, before I could continue to argue with him, he took me gently by the shoulders, turning my body down the hallway and walking me down to the door. It only took him a second to turn the lights on and push me into the previously mentioned door.

"Bathe before the other's return. I'll leave things that you can wear in the room that's on the other side of that door." He pointed to another door to which I could only assume lead to a different room. Then, as I opened my mouth to argue, he closed the door softly in my face and I was left staring at the towel was on a hook.

"I will bathe; however, I will use my own clothing." I half shouted in slight panic at the door. Something told me that he was on the other side of the door, holding his breath. Though, he chooses not to respond as I heard his heavy footfalls walking away from me.

I tried to take another calming breath however it seemed as though my soul was going to be vibrating in my chest for the moment as it reverberated into my limbs making them bunch. Looking around the small space, I found an extremely clean bathroom that shined at me. My reflection caught in the mirror and I couldn't help but turn my attention towards it and looked at the stranger that was looking back at me. This was nothing new to me, however, the sight of it always made my skin crawl as my brain tried to connect the dots that the person in the mirror was actually myself. Today, I'd made my hair black, falling straight down my back with light brown eyes. My skin was smooth and the color of buttercream, I'd given myself a small nose that turned up slightly at the end. The small mouth I'd pared with this face was a peachy rose color that contrasted the skin color nicely.

My real face was hidden under the layers of the thick foundation that covered not only my features, but also the marks that indicated what I really was. The magic that changed my hair and eye color made it so that I looked like a normal human and could not be picked out in a crowd of people as I mixed among the living. It was something that all reapers had to learn and accept, because our true features would cause unrest to the souls that we walked among causing unneeded distress as they wondered if they were the ones that I was there for today.

Turning away from the strangers in the mirror I unclasped the brooch on my cloak as I pulled the material away from my body and grimaced at how much heavier it was than normal. Taking a closer look at it I saw that it was indeed soaked in an unknown mixed substance. Not only had I been shoved over by that man when I'd originally been dropped like a sack of potatoes out of the beyond, but I'd also fallen two additional times, causing the liquids of the dead to coat my clothing and being. I pulled the cloak to my nose and took a small whiff, smelling just how bad it actually was before I pulled the towel from the hook, and replaced it with my cloak. Hoping that maybe drying it a little would make it so it smelled just slightly less. Without even looking down at myself, I knew that everything else was just as bad, if not worse than my cloak. The cloth sticking to my skin at every angle. I sighed as I stripped the clothing from my body wishing I hadn't dropped my bag so that I could have a change of clothing, but that would have to wait until I could return to get it and my staff.

I took the moment to fold the clothing and place them in a neat pile on the floor before I turned and took one more look at the reflection seeing the dark black marks that covered my body like an intricate tattoo that a master artist had spent years on creating. However, it was nothing further from a tattoo than marks on the skin could be. These parks had been placed on this vessel in order to keep the soul inside this body.

Reapers were, in all essence, were half living mage, and half dead. It was our souls that were dead, as there had to be apart of our begin that was in some type of transitional phase in order to cart the remaining souls into the soul stream. However, part of us had to be living so that we did not fall into the soul stream ourselves when we dropped them off. It was a struggle regardless and the fate of many reapers as they ended their task of carting the souls themselves. A simple work hazard.

I didn't waste time as I jumped into the shower and watched as black rolled off of me and went down the drain. My mind wandered back to what had exactly happened, it was so fresh in my mind that it was almost blinding. Death and blood were simply part of the job. However, that battlefield, was a completely different story, there had been so much death, so much suffering that it hung like a cloud around the entire area. Never in my life had I have experienced something so terrifying in a single place, a single moment frozen in time that would remain in my memories until I gave myself to the soul stream and went to the next life.

Less than a day ago, because there was no way it had been more, I was out with my Grand Mama, walking along the beyond on a normal day of work. I'd been walking behind her, my attention drawn to one of the many creatures that exist in the in between, when the ground that I'd been walking on had simply opened and swallowed me whole. The last thing that I remember seeing was my Grand Mama's violet eyes open wide, her mouth opened in a shout before the beyond closed once more, and she was gone.

Then there had only been a moment of darkness before I had been unceremoniously dropped out onto my ass because of course I'd lost my footing after the unexpected drop. Topping to my hands and knees as they sunk deep into the pool of blood that I had been in. When I'd looked up, I found the owner of this puddle a few feet away. His white glazed over eyes simply staring up at the sky, unseeing, as his neck continued to pour more blood out. The kill had been fresh and as I took in a shocked breath, smelling the rotting decay that flesh gives off after it had started decomposing, the coper tang in the air that spoke of mass amounts of blood, the electric bite of the overuse of magic in a single area. Stale piss and ripe shit surrounded me on all sides, and slowly I started understanding what this graveyard of gore actually was. I'd shot back to my feet in a flash, my eyes wide as I'd looked around the area, my senses alert as trued to gather my barring as to what exactly I'd just been dumped into and my mouth fell open at the site that reached me.

Vampires, shifters, magic users, and fae were all around me, on all sides as they threw themselves at each other with the force of a semi-truck running headfirst into another going the opposite way on the highway. The battled, yells of exertion screaming as they gave their all into their attacks. Only it was just a vicious cycle of death after death as one would kill another just to be killed by someone else as their focus was elsewhere. I tried to distinguish sides, who was fighting who, and a possible why to the ongoing battle. However, not a single one wore anything that would say that they were on the same or a different side. Everyone was just in daily clothing.

I took yet another deep breath as I realized that they were fighting on more dead, the bodies simply piling up and decomposing as they become this sludge that consisted of every fluid from a body. No one had been allowed to bury their dead in this place, and I could see the sea of souls that waited over their body. Some where angry as they shouted and tried to fight anyone who came close. Other's simply watched with an impassiveness that spoke volumes of how long they'd been sitting in that exact spot. Then even more, sat weeping, begging for the fighting to stop as they tried to grab person after person, their body simply going through the living one.

My soul physically shuttered as it became overwhelmed by how much death simply existed in the space around me. I couldn't even count how many souls were in this area. How many of them were restless and just seconds away from being dark and started eating the souls of the other's trapped. How many had already started to consume them and were now not something that anyone would recognize.

Then, the single thought passed through my mind as I realized that I would never have enough power to cart all of these souls at once. There were simply to many. I could work in small groups, however it seemed that no matter how many I would take, they would simply be replaced before I could return to take more. Doubting that I'd even be able to make a dent in the soul count even if I'd carted souls after souls, every day for years. There wouldn't be a single difference. There were simply far too many of them at this point to be able to do anything.

Two more bodies slapped into the substance with a wet slosh and my attention turned to them as I watched the light leave the eyes of the one closest to me before they trailed to the vampire who was responsible for it. His dark eyes bore into mine as if I were his new target. However, as I continued to look at him impassively, he turned to block a swing from yet another opponent, and they vanished into the mist the hung over this entire place in a thick cloud. My magic making it so that I hid in plane sight from people who weren't specially looking for a reaper.

Without waiting another second, I shoved my hand into the bag at my hip and pulled the long staff from its fold. I only glanced at the white oak that it had been carved out of, the owl that my Grand Mama had carved into it over a thousand years ago when she'd made it as her fist staff. My eyes caught on the black obsidian that made out the eyes that my mother had put onto the staff when she'd made it her own. I fingered the circular grove that ran the entire length of the staff that I'd carved into it when it had been passed down to me as it calmed me. A familiar weight in my hands that would help me with my task.

Raising my hands, I quickly redrew the runes in the air that would hide me from view, just to make double sure that no supernaturals were going to spring from that mist and decide that I was their next target. It appeared in front of my face as my fingers drew it in the air, making the electric violet lines shimmer into life, before I finished it and it spoke apart into a mist that quickly clung to my body. Turning, I started yet another rune, a more complex one that require my focus. However, if I could draw it correctly it would show me where the highest number of souls were clumped together. Then, depending on the number, I'd figure out exactly where I'd be starting on this task.

Right as my finger drug down the final line, a hard body slammed into me, throwing my small frame sideways as the person tripped over me, shoving me deeper into the muck. I took the second to glare at the man. He hadn't paused, didn't look back, or even really notice that he'd just climbed over another person, running as if his life depending on it, and in truth it probably did.

"Are you okay?" My head turned at the sound of a deep voice that reminder me of what dark chocolate would be if it had been turned into a sound. When my eyes connected to the owner, I was surprised to see the that he did in fact have dark chocolate eyes that matched his velvet voice. I felt my voice stick in my throat as I took in the dark brown hair that was cut close to his scalp and the neatly trimmed beard that made the angles of his face look sharper. My eyes widened as I took in the large gash that was splitting his chest open from his shoulder to the opposing hip as it leaked blood slowly. Magic had been cast over it, as the skin reached for the other side and physically started to stitch itself back together. The thought crossed my mind that I should be worried about this person, with all the death around. He shouldn't be here.

"This is no place for a human. You shouldn't be here." He spoke when I didn't respond to his original question and that made me pull my eyes from the reconstructing flesh of his chest and back up to his face. I quickly opened my mouth to firmly inform him that I was indeed not a human when he bent, picking me from the ground, before turning and sprinting in the opposite direction. His strength and speed told me alone that he had to be a shifter. The only race that was faster than shifters were vampires, and he didn't have that kind of speed. He moved and dodged the other supernaturals that took notice of him and tried to launch themselves at him, but he just avoided them all.

"Wait, I need to get my staff and… my bag." I shouted in a half panic as I realized that they'd been left behind when I'd been knocked over. I squirmed as I tried to get free of this freakishly huge man.

"We can't go back there. Your items are as good as lost. A human can't be here and the longer you are the closer to death you'll be. You're just too young." He shook his head.

"I am not human." I growled, "If you are insisting on leaving that is on you, however, I need to get my stuff."

"Not happening." He said his voice final as his eyes focused on something up ahead. "Justin, get the gate ready!" he shouted the last words and I growled at the implications of that he was saying. Up ahead I saw a mage turn with a look of determination on his face as he looked at us. He had a staff that looked like mine only it was made out of a darker wood and, I focused my eyes, to see that there were a set of wings carved at the top, then runes ran down the length of it as they glowed different colors in a seemingly random pattern. When he'd turned completely and looked at us completely, I saw that he had green eyes. Only they weren't just a normal green, they were the electric green as if green had been touched by magic. When they landed on her they glowed brightly, accented by the thick black frames of his glasses that surrounded them. A tail of black hair curved over his shoulder with someone coming loose in his face. The massive man that was carrying me as they slowed slightly as the man, Justin, started to chat, holding his staff adjacent to his body.

Movement caught my eye and my head darted to the side, seeing a vampire using its enchanted speed to rush at us in a blur.

"Watch out." The shout was half out of my mouth as another vampire slammed into its side and sent it flying. The chocolate man only glanced at him before he just shook his head as if all of this was just annoying.

There was a moment when the vampire that had saved us looked up from his fresh kill and looked over at us. His entire body was dripping with blood and I couldn't help the shiver that ran up and down my spine as I realized that his eyes were the deepest of black with a deep blood red rim. He had a very strong jaw which stubble growing in a black mess. The black of his hair was cut short on the sides and long on top, currently it looked windblown and messy. He wore all black, which his black pants, shirt, and shoes. He flashed a fanged smile at me as if he were amused before he had darted off, back into the mist like all the other ones had done. I tracked his movement before I could no longer see his form.

"Who was that?" I asked in a rush as I turned my attention to the conversation that was happening around her as they'd stopped.

"I found her," Chocolate eyes spoke. "She's human." I shook my head i

"I am not human." My voice was hard and exasperated as I turned in the man's eyes and looked at the mage, then his staff. "I need to get my bag and my staff." I went to continue however those electric green eyes connected with mine and the words fell from my lips as I realized that he wasn't just looking at my face, but into my soul. It made my chest lighten and feel as though the essence of my being was trying to glow. I couldn't help but stare at him. Wondering who the hell this person could be to make the dead part of herself react in such a way.

"William, get her out of here. I'll see if I can find your bag and staff." I gritted my teeth as the mage turned, dismissing me in a single gesture and looked at chocolate eyes.

"Don't stay to long," William spoke before they clasped forearms. Then, before I could utter another word he'd jumped into the portal and vanished from the battleground.

When I stepped out of the shower, I grabbed the towel that I'd taken from the door and started to dry myself before wrapping it around myself as I turned to my clothing. Dreading to put them back on, but I froze as I realized that they weren't in the bathroom anymore. My eyes darted to the door where my cloak should have hung, but it was also gone. There'd been no way that the monster of a man had snuck in here without me noticing, I'd been listening. I cursed so much that if Grand Mama had been here, she would have slapped me upside the head, I turned in another circle just to make triple sure that my stuff wasn't in here. Before, I cursed a final time, turning my attention to the door that had been pointed out to me. After pushing it open, I felt my jaw start to tick as the neat pile of clothing that was folded on the end of the bed caught my attention.

The aggerated scream that was crawling up my chest and into my throat tried to break out of my mouth as I tired to figure out exactly what I should do. I'd told him not to take my clothing and he'd ignored me. I bit back another scream as I had the dawning realization that I could not let that man see my marks and as I looked down at the clothing, I cursed again as I saw that it was a part of shorts and a t-shirt. It would show far too much skin, and all of her marks not only on her forearms but also on her legs and neck. I could not simply wear someone's clothing like it was nothing. If they saw my marks then they would know that I was a reaper, and that would cause even more problems that my Grand Mama would whoop my butt for later.

We didn't actively participate in the world. We were simply observers from the sidelines and were the ghosts of the world. Watching and waiting, so that we could take the souls of the dead back to the soul stream.

I pushed down the tantrum that was building inside of me as I took another look at the clothing and went to the door, cracking it slightly.

"Um, excuse me?" I shouted as loud as my voice would carry. "Where are my clothing." I heard footsteps that came to the end of the hallway before they paused.

"There in the wash." A voice that wasn't the big man spoke and it took her a second to realize that it had been Justin's, the mage that had opened the portal.

"Um, can I have them please?" I tried again, pushing my anger down once more as I tried to figure out what to do in this situation.

"There not done yet." The amused voice of Justin spoke once again.

"That's alright, I just need them back please."

"William says not until there done." Justin spoke and his voice grew louder as he came down the hallway. I was suddenly overly aware that I only had a towel wrapped around my naked fame, which was doing the definition of showing so much skin. "If you're having an issue dressing, I don't mind helping." There was a laugh on his voice as I slammed the door shut only to hear him actually laugh on the other side of the door.

Stomping, only slightly, over to the bed, I took yet another look at the clothing and came to the conclusion that they were better than a towel. If they would not return her belongings to her until they had finished washing, then this would have to do until then. I pulled on the t-shirt first and couldn't help but stop once I had it completely on, just to lift it to my nose. It smelled amazing, like cinnamon and vanilla. Confused, I took yet another deep breath with the cloth next to my nose. How did clothing even end up smelling as delicious as this?

The soft tapping at the door pulled my mind away from the smell as I looked at it. Taking in the fact that the shirt was massive on my small fame, falling well past my knees and elbows.

"Do you need any help?" The sound of Justin's amused voice floated through the wood, the laugh on it making my words louder than I would ever normally speak.

"No thank you." I responded in a determined, serious tone as I grabbed the shorts and pulled them on. They went down to my ankles leaving only my feet, hands and forearms on display. The black marks showing brightly in contrast to my pale peach skin completion. Sighing I turned and looked around the room once more before my eye caught the reflection in the mirror. I felt and saw the blood drain from my actual reflection in the mirror, making me gasp as I shot towards it in a rush.

My hands going over the markings that were now on show, which was impossible. The foundation that we used to cover the black markings was so strong that it didn't come off unless the special concoction of shea butter, coconut oil, and some weird leave found in the beyond. Never in my life had the foundation simply washed off without it. The stuff was a second skin, it didn't just come off. My eyes widened as my hair caught my attention, more curses spilled from my lips as the spells that I'd placed on myself were simply gone, but that was impossible. They didn't just slip. They were made to stay in place in the event that a reaper somehow died on a job, they would be treated just like any other human.

"Is everything okay?" Justin asked through the door, concern laced his words and I froze as I heard the soft click of the door as it opened. Panicked I grabbed the towel from where I'd thrown it and wrapped it tightly over my head, shoulders, and forearms, holding the fabric tightly against my frame. No one, and I mean no one, had ever seen my markings apart from my mother and that was only until I was old enough to apply the paste myself.

"What's going on?" Justin's hand landed on my shoulder and I jumped away from it, trying to wrap myself up tighter in the towel.