Justin
10 minutes earlier
I shook my robes slightly as I walked down the hallway to our apartment. Dust fell from them in waves but, the dust was something that I was used to and didn't bother me. The road was always dusty, and it always clung to my cloak like a fine mist. Although, recently it had been much more than just dust, as me and the guys tried to fix the wrongs of our kind. Today, just like every day that we spent there, the battle had been horrible. We were in so deep that we didn't even know where to start or even how to dent the problem. The amount of deaths that hung around that place weighed on my mind and soul. Nevertheless, our hands were tied of the souls were unable to pay the cost of crossing. Yes, I could take them down to the river Styx and Acheron, however, they still had no payment, no proper burial, so even if I did, Eli still wouldn't be able to help them cross.
I sighed heavily as I ran my hand over my hair, the braid that bound it fraying from the excitement of the day. I was just happy to be home so that I could take it out and wash any of the grime from the battle field from my body. I stopped in front of the door that was numbered 12 and just looked at it for a little. This shitty little apartment in the middle of town had been our home base for a while now. We'd gotten it so that we could all stick together during this trial. It was our safe haven, the one place where we could get away from everything and just ignore the world and all its fucked-up glory.
I shoved my key into the lock, finding it open I walked inside. My feet stalled on the threshold though. The sound of the shower running met my ears but was conflicted by the fact that William was standing in the kitchen making gods knew what for dinner. Then, with a single glance down I saw no one else's shoes, so who else was here?
I kept my mouth shut, but my lips formed a thin line wondering who the hell the mutt had brought home when we'd all agreed not to bring anyone here. I turned, handing my cloak from my peg and only glanced at it as it dripped some black foul-smelling liquid off the edges and onto the floor. That was going to have to go into the wash and William wasn't going to be happy about the floor. He was a bit ocd when it came to cleanliness, and that could be blamed on Theo.
Walking into the kitchen, I slid into one of the chairs and started unlacing my heavy combat boots. Only, when I'd taken one completely off and William still hadn't said anything to me, I asked the question burning on my tongue.
"Who's in the shower?" I made sure to keep my voice void of any emotions so that the shifter didn't get the wrong impression of me and thought I was attacking him. He was hard to anger; however, he went on the defensive easily.
When William didn't answer by the time, I got my other shoe off and was setting them by the door, grimacing at the slime that was attached to the bottom. I turned and looked at William, his face was set as he seemed to be glaring down at a pot of some type of pasta sauce, demanding something of it that it didn't understand.
"William?" I prodded softly and he glanced at me, his eyes were grim as if he weren't sure if he'd made a horrible mistake or not.
"I brought her here." He said softly, his arms stiffening across his chest as he continued to glare down at the pot.
"You brought a human here?" I asked the shock coating my words and face as he looked back at me and deflated, turning his back on the stove and leaving his hip up against it.
"She isn't human." His words sounded more like an echo of something that she'd told him and not something that he understood. I took the moment to really look at him. The three headed dog shifter was often lost in thought but his face showed more emotions than just the normal pondering. It was as if he didn't understand something, assuming that something was the girl he'd found, and that he was upset about it. "There's…" He started them paused as he ran his hand over his face then looked me directly in the eyes. "There's something off about her. Did you feel it when you looked at her before we jumped through the portal?"
I paused at that. He wasn't wrong. When I'd seen her back on the battlefield, something had washed over my mind, almost as if I knew her from somewhere but I didn't recognize her face at all. Yet, it wasn't just that, it had been almost as if I'd been drawn to her like a moth to a flame, I could see nothing other than her and the need to get her away from that bloody mess as quickly as possible had consumed me. Though, it hadn't been her physical features that drawn me to her, no, her outward appearance felt wrong. As if she were a soul that was simply wearing the wrong face, but that was impossible. People just didn't wear the wrong face.
"You're not wrong, I did feel something," I agreed, crossing my arms to match his, "Though, that doesn't mean you should have brought her here." There was a jittering in my chest, one that told me that I wasn't upset at the shifter for bringing her here and that lone made the corners of my mouth drawn down in a slight frown. I was the logical one and it was my job in our little group to evaluate things and be the devil's advocate to make sure that we were making sound choices on this little escapade. So even if I seemed excited to meet the woman again, which was weird in itself, I still had to make sure it was the correct choice, one that wouldn't backfire on us. "What did the other's say?"
"They haven't returned yet. I figured that they'd arrive with you and we'd all discuss it."
"They had other business to attend to before coming back." There was a pause as William turned to stir the sauce he'd been glaring at. I let the silence hang between us as I pull my braid around as I undid it and ran my hand through my shoulder length black hair a few times to get rid of the knots as the big man gathered his thoughts. "Why did you bring her here?" I asked finally, keeping my voice as neutral as possible. He sighed and put the lid back onto the pot a little harder than he meant as he looked at me.
"I don't know." He let out a long breath and ran his hand through his short hair looking more than just annoyed. "She even told me that she'd leave, that she'd head home, but it was like I knew that she was laying. I felt like she didn't know how to get home, or wouldn't be able to, and I was worried about her wondering around, possibly even getting hurt in the city." He let out a low growl that seemed to emanate from his chest at the thought of that. "When we were on the battlefield. The target I was supposed to grab, basically tripped over her as if he hadn't even see her and then kept running. The instant I saw her, I completely forgot about him. I couldn't take my eyes off of her and it was like a primal need to get her away from that place."
Clarity like one of the first flowers to break through the frost in spring, bloomed in my mind at that. That target had been given to William by Theo, the ruler of the Underworld, and his master. It'd been a direct order to bring that guy back for interrogation and he'd thrown away his orders in favor of this girl. That alone went against the shifter's nature. He always followed commands and was a good blood thirsty, three headed dog, and the fact that he'd disobeyed orders for the first time since he was a pup, was eating him on the inside.
I opened my mouth to reply, to tell him that Theo wouldn't be mad at all, when a tiny voice spoke down the hallway and we both turned towards the noise.
"Um, excuse me? Where are my clothing?" I looked to William and he just shook his head, seemly annoyed at the question.
"I told her I was putting them in the wash. It was covered in that crap just like she was." William ignored her, not justifying her with an answer that he'd clearly already gone over with her in his head, despite her apparently not agreeing.
"There in the wash." I spoke down the hallway.
"Um, can I have them back please?" One glance at William told me that he was defiantly annoyed with this subject as he rolled his eyes.
"They aren't done yet." I countered instead.
"That's alright, I just need them back please." The lid to the sauce slammed down as William looked as if he were going to burst a vessel, which made me grin, but only just a little.
"William says there not done." I said quickly, my grin getting even wider as this small game started to amuse me.
"I left her clothing in my room for her to change into." He said in a gruff grunt.
"If you have issues dressing, I don't mind helping." A mischievous grin lifted up the sides of my mouth at the thought of toying with her. It only widened bigger as I heard the door slam quickly and a small chuckle left my lips as I crossed the space quickly and rapped my knuckles on the wood. "Do you need help?" I asked in a soft purr.
"No thank you." I was sure that was her shout, but I couldn't help but laugh, she was just so soft spoken that it was almost a normal person's conversational tone. I was sure she was blushing, and I wanted to see it. The smile however was removed from my face as I heard a stream of cussing some from inside the room. There was a pause before there was more cursing. With my brown drawn into one line I opened the door, all traces of my humor completely gone.
"Everything okay?" I asked as I looked around the darkened room before I spotted the small frame of the woman that William had found.
Oddly enough she had grabbed her towel, throwing it over her head so that it not only covered her face, but her arms as well. I crossed to her the crease in my brow depending.
"What's wrong?" She jumped away from me, pulling the towel tighter around her body. I hadn't realized it, but she was tiny and had to be no taller than five foot.
"Nothing," Her voice was harsh, "Please return my clothing."
"Once there done in the wash." I repeated, starting to get an understanding of why William was annoyed with the subject.
"Did you find my bag?" her voice was small. I grimaced. In truth I had looked for it but by the time I had arrived back at the spot where their trail led me, it had been gone.
"No, I wasn't able to find it." Her shoulders hunched and I saw that her hold on the towel had loosened slightly. Without being able to stop myself, I reached up and pulled on the towel down around her shoulders and we both froze staring at each other. Her eyes widening in surprise as I took in her appearance.
She was gorgeous with her silver purple hair and violet irises, but that wasn't the only thing. Her skin was creamy white and was covered in an intricate black design that covered her entire face and went below her shirt. It consisted of half-moon motions that overlapped at the edges then dotted with two black dots. Her face had three half-moon strokes on her forehead with two dots right above each of her eyebrows. Then there was one more half-moon on either side of her face going along her cheek bones and down her jaw. There were dots under each of her eyes and two on her chin. The markings moved down her neck and under the top of her shirt, but it all followed the same design. I glanced at her hands that were now on the outside of the towel to see that she had a black dot on space between her palm and first digit knuckles. Her hands were covered in the same black ink as the rest of her only it was alive as it swirled slowly. I felt transfixed as I looked from her hand to her forearm to see that there was another half-moon that connected with another one at her elbow, the two large black dots under the ends of the strokes.
With a violent jerk that confused me as my pursing was cut short, she yanked her arm from my grasp. Her face not only covered with pure, honest anger, but also a deep horror that was etched into the lines of her eyebrows. There was a moment where my eyes returned to her violet ones, before there was a soft thump noise, as she tapped her heel on the carpet and vanished.
My mouth fell open as I stared at the spot that she'd been standing just seconds before, then blinked several times. Not understanding where she'd gone. I could still feel her presence, even if it was very softly. I closed my eyes and started to extend my senses to see if I could find her, her soft presence still firmly inside the barrier that all of us had constructed but it was as if she were jammed. With a heavy sigh, I walked and opened the door.
"Oi William, is Eli back yet?"
"Eli! Justin wants you." William shouted and I knew that he was making himself heard over the noise of the videogame that they were playing. The noise was cut off as the game was paused and I saw him coming down the hallway.
"What's up?" He asked looking around the room seeming confused for a few seconds. "Where did the woman go?" He asked sounding slightly annoyed.
"She just vanished on me." I said crossing my arms and the annoyed look on his face set deeper into the lines of his frown. Then, he pushed past me and glanced around the room before he took a sudden, sharp intake of air.
"Justin, do you have any idea what she is?" He asked his eyes turning and the second I saw his face I knew that something was very, very wrong about the current situation.
"No." I said warily.
"She's in the beyond." He growled and I paused wondering how anyone could get into the beyond just like that. It took me a second to flex the magic that I hadn't used in years as I shifted my eyes and looked around the room once more. Sure enough, a set of very angry, slightly scared pair of violet eyes were currently looking back at me from inside the void of the beyond. Though it seemed as though she were stuck. Which meant two things. One was that our barrier worked really well, and second that she was probably panicking right now.
"Do you know what she is?" Eli demanded and I glanced at his upset face.
"I would have to do some research on her marks. I've never seen them before." He turned on his heels and stalked from the room, muttering under his breath before he took one long breath and boom William's name at the top of his lungs.
I glanced back in time to see the women flinch, as she dropped down out of the void and into the space between the two. Ducking behind the side of the bed as she hid from whatever hell Eli was about to rain down on William.
"Where the fuck did you find a reaper and why the hell is it half naked in your room?" I grimaced at that and knew that he'd fucked up.
"Hold on," I heard Theo jump into the conversation. Always the one to defend his dog. "What's going on?"
"He brought a fucking reaper home." Eli said with heat in his voice. "A fucking reaper." He was seething.
"Calm down." Theo said sounding like he was getting annoyed as well and I could only roll my eyes. I didn't want to deal with yet another fight today. The day had already been long, and this was just no way to end it.
"Are you talking about the woman?" William asked in his calm voice that said he was seconds away from losing his shit.
"Who else would I be talking about?" Eli seethed.
"She's the person I found on the battlefield!" William boomed making the air in the house vibrate with his voice.
"Calm down William," Theo spoke in a stern command, and I sighed walking down the hallway to find him standing between the two with his brow pinched. William glared at Eli for a second before he returned to his pot and stirred it once again, muttering under his breath. "Now explain to me, calmly, why your freaking out." Eli seemed on the verge of really loosing his shit before he turned and took a couple of breaths.
"William brough…" He stopped his eyes going to the hallway only not looking at me but looking down towards the floor. "I can see you. You can't just sneak out of here and the barrier won't let you leave via the beyond." He said his voice overly flat. There was a long moment as he just stared at the spot before he looked over at Theo. "We have a reaper from the pagan pantheon in our house right now." He said in a dead voice and Theo raised his brow.
"Why would there be a reaper from a different pantheon on that battlefield, that just doesn't make any since." Theo countered as Eli turned his face so that his eyes were trained on something that the rest of us couldn't see.
"That's not the problem right now." Eli said in a dead serious tone before he turned to William. "Where are her clothing?" He asked serious and William threw his arms up in the air.
"There in the wash." He slammed the lid down on the pot, crossing his arms. The large muscles on his back flexing menacingly as he tried to contain his rage. "They were covered in the muck from the battlefield, just like her. So, she took a shower and her things are in the wash." Eli let out a very long drawn out breath with a groan on the ends of it.
"You can't take away a reapers clothing," He said shortly, and Theo raised a brow at him. "They have markings on their body that no one is supposed to see." He said shortly and Theo's brows raised before he paused.
"I remember being told that once… at some point in time… Okay its been a long time since I've ever run into a reaper, so I'd forgotten." Theo conceded and I felt myself pause at that, suddenly feeling overly bad for ripping that towel off of her head.
Eli turned sighing under his breath as he turned to walk down the hallway, but he stopped, then bent as if he were picking up something and walked away down the hallway and into his room. Slamming the door for good measures.
I turned my face to look at Theo and William in the kitchen. The shifter's shoulders had fallen as if he had been scolded and Theo was just looking at me with a mixture of annoyance and concern painted on his face.
"I don't know much about reapers," I spoke with a shrug. "I didn't know what she was when I saw her."
"She just looked like a normal human when I picked her up." William spoke in a low deep voice that sounded like a whine. Theo took a moment to pat him on the shoulder.
"Eli will fix it." He said softly looking at me and I shrugged as our eyes connected and I could tell that Theo was still a little confused on the topic as he scrunched his brows in my direction. So, I turned and headed back down the hallway towards Eli's room. Pausing as I heard them talking inside.