The life and times of Death

"Who's the new girl?  She looks like nothing more than a mere mortal."  I heard someone whisper from somewhere down the hall.  

"Surely the headmaster would have highter standards than to allow a human in here."  Her friend replied.

"Look at the way she's dressed.  What mortal or even non-mortal dresses up in such a ridiculous get up."  I stealthily glanced down at my outfit.  Tight black capris that flared ever so slightly just below my knees.  The pants had two chains that hung from my belt loops and crossed forming an 'x' pattern on the backs of my legs.  I had a loose fitting and comfortable black tank top on as well.  I was wearing beige army boots and I had a spiked bracelet on.  Nothing too absurd....   I blew the stray pieces of hair away from my face and kept on walking.  Today was going to be a long day.

****

I observed the steak that was currently on my lunch tray, before glancing around and seeing that all the Werewolves were devouring theirs savagely.  But that was when I realized, they hadn't gotten an actual steak each and everyone of them had gotten a leg of some sort of animal.  I repressed the strong urge to gag, and pushed my tray away.

"What's the matter, mortal? Don't eat meat?"  Someone said sarcastically as they sat next to me.  I rolled my eyes and turned around to face a vampire.  I could distinquish him as one right away.  His features were just too perfect.  He had a smooth and round, pale face.  His eyes stood out like sapphires in contrast to his blonde hair.  His smile was somewhat childish and malicious, the pointed teeth completing the look.  He had several other perfect friends with him, all of whom laughed at his pathetic joke.  I didn't reply, wanting to remain a loner just for the lack of drama that it caused.

"Don't talk either?"  The female at the original vampires side scoffed.  "You're going to get killed in a school like this."  I didn't even flinch as she appeared behind me with her mouth open, fangs poised at my neck.  

"Just bite her, Daveigh.  I'm sure the headmaster won't even notice."  The blonde said teresly.  That was when I snapped.  I could move just as fast as these damned vampires, and I was going to use that speed to my advantage.  Faster then they could blink an eye, I had punched the girl who was above me in the jaw, sending her toppling backwards into a nearby table, and swiftly kneed the Blonde in the genitals.  Undead or not, men would always be attatched to their dangly bits.  He doubled over in pain and fell to the floor in the fetal position, and by then the entire cafeteria was looking at me.  I watched Daveigh struggle to her feet and the blonde moan pathetically for several seconds before grabbing my books and swiftly walking out of the room.

I had barely made it to my locker when I heard footsteps approaching me, I turned towards the direction I heard them coming from and waited until the people rounded the corner.  It was merely a girl and I could tell she was neither a vampire or a werewolf, and therefore not an immediate threat to me.  I relaxed slightly and waited her for her to stop.

"Do you know who you just beat up?"  She asked out of breath.  I frowned at her.

"Do I look like I care?"  She instantly got caught on, and she wasn't going to back down.

"Would you care if I told you that was Parker Drenair and his friends, the only pure blood vampires in the entire school?"

"What makes you think I would?"

"Could it be that you're nothing but a pathetic mortal?"

"Did you ever stop to think there could never be humans in this school?"

"Who else in this school has no magical aura whatsoever?"

"If I said you, would you go away?"

"If I told you you're making me want to punch you in the face, would you take offense?"

"What if I told you that you wouldn't be able to touch me?"

"Would you expect me to just sit there and overestimate you?"

"That's not over-estimation its reality.  And as for this game, it's stupid and unnesescary and I have no desire to take part in it any more."

"God, you certainly are a bitch."  She muttered underbreath, causing me to glare.  "May I ask what this bitch's name is?"

"It's none of your business."  I replied cooly.

"What isn't my business is searching through the headmasters files and finding out everything about you and using it as a liability to you.  You wouldn't want that now would you?"  I scowled darkly.  I studied her over, she had bright copper colored hair that was in two pigtails hanging loosly from the sides of her head and fell to her waist.  She had large exuberantly green eyes, that reminded me of the canopy of the Amazon Rainforest.  She was about 7 inches shorter than me, and her voice was a high soprano.  Not annoying really, but extremely distinct.  She was certainly tiny as well.  I was almost positive that if I were to grab her wrist I could crush it if I really tried.   That's when I realized that she was probably a sprite of some sort, fire most likely.

"Fine you manipulative little brat.  The name is Kaya."

"Little brat!?  I am you're upper classman!"  She exclaimed outraged.

"That may be true, but you certainly don't look like it, little brat."  I grinned cheekily and poked her in the forehead with 2 fingers.  She took in a deep breath to control her anger, before saying.

"Okay, forget that.  Don't you have a class to get to?"  

"I'm skipping."  I said with a yawn.

"What?  It's only you're first day here and you're skipping?"

"Please, this school is full of beasts and creatures.  All of whom I'm sure are lax on morals.  Besides, I have a job to do."

"A job?  What kind of-"

"What's it matter?  I never heard you're name anyway."

"It's Azara.  But anyway, about those vampires."  I closed my locker and began strolling down the hall.

"What about them?"

"They run the school and they will probably overrun the world one day.  Plus they're perfect in everyway, and yet their bloodthirsty monsters.  They're absolutly amazing!"

"I for one could care less about vampires.  They are nothing special and they only use their perfection to lure and manipulate people into their bidding.  They hide behind the falsity of their age, when in reality they can die as easily as any other mortal.  All in all they boast their intellegence for more than what it really is.  This is why I'd choose savage and uncivilized Werewolves over the pathetic race that is Vampire."  I explained.  Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Azara's widen, and her jaw drop.  I also saw a blur of people begin to surround us.

Great.  More vampires.

Parker, whom I had seen earlier was standing directly in front of me, giving me the most hateful stare.  I returned his gaze and I saw him flinch when his hypnosis failed.

"What did you just say about vampires?"  He hissed, the other vampires around him (Which I realized must have been at least half of the schools population of them)  practically hissed along with him.

"You heard me.  But I will dumb it down for an inbred pureblood such as yourself.  Vampires are worse than mortals who are worse than Werewolves meaning that you're self proclaimed race of monsters are going to get themselves all killed one day."

"She's all talk!"  A vampire with jet black hair shouted to the crowd, before leaning over to me and whispered.  "Why?  Do you think that you will be the one to kill us?"  I turned around to face him and looked above his head.  The red numbers that hovered above his cranium were decreasing rapidly.  10...9....8....

"Well, actually,"  I started, carefully watching the time above his head.  "Yes, I do."  And with that I reached out and touched him ever so slightly on the shoulder as the number reached 1.  And he fell to the ground with a sick and hollow thud.  The rest of the crowd backed up, before one of the vampires ran up to him and observed him carefully.

"He's dead!  She killed him!"

"But she hardly even touched him!"

"What is she?  There's no way she's just a human!"  The crowd continued whispering things similar to those for several moments before Parker held up a hand and they all silenced immediatly.  He must of had some authority over them besides just being a pureblood.  He must have been a dorm leader or something.

"Clearly she isn't mortal, but I can assure you, whatever she is,"  He took a step towards me and leaned down so that his head was by my ear.  "I will find out."  He hissed.  With that he turned to face the vampires and shouted "Dismissed, get back to your classes!"  And with that they all dispersed.  I watched them until they were out of sight, and I couldn't hear or sense anyone besides Azara until I finally relaxed ever so slightly.  I glanced down at the deceased vampire, and sighed thickly.

"I guess I better dispose of him."  I grumbled as I leant forward to grab his legs.  I then effortlessly hauled him over my shoulder.  I then turned to face Azara, who was staring at me mouth agape.

"What?"

"You just killed him and you hardly touched him!  How?  What if you get in trouble?  Where are you going to put him?  Oh, man!  The vampires are really going to hate you now!"  She said in a rush.

"Azara, breathe."  I advised with a grin.  "It's okay, trust me.  Skip class and I'll explain everything, that is if you're not too much of a pussy to miss Ancient beast mythology?"  She scowled and folded her arms, sticking her nose up in the opposite direction.

"I am not a pussy, I just value education more than you."

"That's it, I'm leaving,"  I replied, forcing myself not to laugh as I turned around.  I took 2 steps, before she ran to catch up.  She looked exhilarated and nervous at the same time.  That look made me finally burst out laughing.  

"What?"  She snapped.

"Nothing."  I shook my head with a smile and nodded for her to open the door.  She held it open, wincing at the sight of the vampire as I walked past.  We stepped outside, and a blast of cool air met us.  I inhaled deeply, loving the scent of night, while Azara shivvered next to me.  I rolled my eyes and kept going, heading eastwards towards my family's manor.

"I'm f-freezing!"  Azara exclaimed, teeth chattering.

"It's only 64 degrees out!  God, you fire sprites certainly become bothersome."  I scoffed.  Sudden'y I heard what sounded like a torch being ignited, and I sharply turned to face her.  Her hair was nothing but flames bursting from the top of her head.  I knew it was because she's annoyed, but it also provided her warmth.  I chuckled and veered left.  

"Where are we going anyway?"  

"My house."

"This is a boarding school, meaning that your parent's are supposed to send you here from foreign lands or states.  Not from somewhere a mile down the road."

"It's a mile and a half.  Sounds pretty foreign to me."  

"Quit being a smart ass.  Besides, I hope you're aware that you have a dead body draped over your shoulders, and if the wizards catch you, you'll be in serious trouble."

"No I won't be.  Relax."  She knew I wasn't going to explain anymore at the moment so she let it go.  We continued walking down the side walk in silence, listening to the sounds of the night.  I glanced up at the nearly full moon, and almost on cue heard the sounds of several wolves howl from somewhere in the distance. Seems I wasn't the only one out tonight.  
story wh
After about 10 minutes we reached my manor.  It was a large 4 story whiteish house.  Almost everything about it was old fashioned, the doors seemed medieval, the windows were a colonial fashion, with black shutters.  The lawn had hedges cut out into morbid shapes, which cast eerie shadows over the entire yard, which, despite the hedges seemed suprisingly empty.  Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Azara gape at my house.

"It's not that great, really."

"No, it is!  But it just seems kind of you know, creepy."

"Huh?  Oh, I suppose it is.  I guess I never really noticed.  Well, come on, I'm sure Mom and Dad will be glad that I made a friend or something like that."  I avoided grabbing her wrist, knowing that with her abnormally high body temperature I'd probably be burned if I held on too long, so instead I merely gestured for her to follow me.  I lead her over to the front door and pushed it open, causing Azara to gasp at the inside of my house.  

"This is you're house?!  It's amazing!"

"You get used to it after awhile."  I turned around and was about to shout for my parent's attention when my father strode into the room.  He was a tall and bald man with half moon spectacles.  He had eerie extremely pale green eyes, which seemed to lack pupils, but it didn't make him appear blind, if anything it made him seem more all knowing, as though there was nothing he couldn't understand or know.  He had a sharp and angular face, all of his features highly prominent.  

"Hey, Kayanne.  Who is this?"  He greeted fondly, turning to her.

"I'm Azara,"  She said shyly and slightly suprised, due to the fact that he hadn't said anything about the dead man yet, let alone cast a second glance at him.

"Nice to meet you."

"Dad skip the introductions.  I'm going to go get my scythe and take care of him."  He nodded once, before almost silently striding out of the room.  I shifted the position of the vampire slightly before heading up the main spiral staircase to my room on the fourth floor.  I slid open my closet door and pulled out my scythe.  The wood was varnished black and the curved blade was sharpened to an extremely lethal point.  Once again, Azara's mouth was ajar as she looked around my room and at the scythe.  

"What is that?"

"A scythe...what does it look like?"  

"It looks like it's hard to carry.  And especially with that corpse you're carrying.  Do you want me to take the scythe?"

"No!  I'm fine!"  I said a little too quickly causing her to raise an eyebrow.  I took off walking again, heading back down the stairs to the basement.  "You can't touch it anyway.  It only accepts me, anyone else who touches  it will either be severely maimed or die."  She backed up a bit.  

"Just what exactly are you?!"  She whispered, as though not wanting my parents to know what they already knew.

"A reaper."  I replied non-chalantly.  "What never heard of one?"

"Yeah, b-but I thought they were only legendary, maybe even mythical."

"Well you thought wrong."  By this point we had now reached the second level of the basement, and she was panting from beside me.  "Someone's out of shape."  I muttered snidely before pushing the door open.  Pale blue light met us, I merely kept walking, while Azara seemed temporarily blinded by it.  She rubbed her eyes for a few moments before hesitantly following me into the room.  It wasn't as much of a room as it was a labrynth, due to the fact that it extended past the border of our property by at least 2 miles.  Plus, with all the hundreds of thousands of shelves and book cases that lined the walls and filled the area made it look like one massive maze.  In the middle of all of them was a pool about a mile in diameter.  A smal fence surrounded it, preventing people from falling in.  It emitted the unnatural blue light that reflected through the 'room,' and had suprised Azara.  
and held it at arms length,

"What is that?"  She managed.  I didn't respond but instead, handed her the corpse.  She took it and held it at arms length, as though it was contaminated and wrinkled her nose in disqust.  I chuckled and raised the scythe above my head, bringing it down in a powerful swing so that the point went directly through the corpses chest and punctured through his back, dragging his soul with it.  Azara jumped as the soul rushed towards her and dropped the body.  I sighed and lunged forward to grip the soul and toss it into the pool.  It landed with a faint splash and all went silent in the room.

"What did you just do to him!?!"  Azara shrieked.

"Took his soul."

"Yeah, but why with the scythe!  It was completely unnecessary!"  

"Look closely at the body.  There's no blood or wound at the point of impact.  When people die, their souls get trapped in their body which is what we Reapers are for.  We remove their souls by severing and forcing it out from the body.  This scythe is not designed to leave gory wounds for something as merciful  as sending their soul to a better place.  It would leave a wound however if a person refused to die, but that's another story.  But anyway, once the soul is taken the body has no futher purpose and thus dissentigrates." We both scrutinized the body as it made a 'shhh' noise and dissentigrated into dust and then into nothingness.  "His soul is now in there, along with every other person and creature who has died in North america over the ages."  Azara blinked taking this all in, before rushing over and griping the sides of the small fence, peering into the pool.

"There he is!"  She gasped, pointing to the soul of the man I had killed who was drifting aimlessly underneath the liquid with millions of other souls.

"Yeah.  Hey, have you lost any relative either recently or years ago?"

"My brother.  He died in a fight for the Fire Sprites territory a couple years ago."  She said wantonly.

"Ah, well just keep watching.  The dead have a way with keeping in touch with their loved ones.  I'll be right back."  I told her, before turning to run down the aisle where all Sprites records were kept.  

"What was his name?  First and last please!"  I shouted over to her.

"Aiden Zeylr"  She shouted back.  I moved a couple aisles back to get towards the end of the alphabet until I found the last name Zeylr.  I then found a huge section of their family herritage, and dug through the newer ones until I found the scroll with Aiden's name on it.  I grabbed it, just in time to hear Azara shriek.  

"What?  What is it?"  

"It's him!"  I smiled faintly, before strolling over to her.  I glanced over the edge of the pool and saw a soul, with many of the same features as Azara standing atop the liquid, feet still slightly submerged.  Azara was staring wide eyed at him, while he smiled warmly back at her.

"Hey, Azara.  It's good to see you again."  His voice was deeper than I expected a Sprites to be, and it echoed around the labrynth.

"A-Aiden!"  She stammered.

"Who else,"  He snickered.  His expression changed from sarcastic humor to sudden sadness.  "I miss you and mom and dad."

"We miss you too."  They were silent for awhile, while they merely took in each others faces, whom they hadn't seen in oh so long.

"I should probably get going, little sister.  But one day we'll meet again, I promise."  He leaned forward, and pressed a kiss against her cheek, before letting himself slip back into the liquid out of sight.  I didn't want to look at Azara's expression, so I busied myself by opening the scroll and letting it fall to the ground.   I read skimmed the boring parts of his life and read the date of his death.  14 May 2004.  

"What are you looking at?"  She asked suddenly, walking over to me so that she could see the scroll.  I handed it to her and said.  "It's you're brothers life scroll.  On it, is written everything he's ever hoped, dreamed, thought and done.  Once someone is born, their scroll comes into existence.  It has their date and cause of death on it as well."  She stared at it, not believing what she saw, before quickly pushing it back into my hands.  

"I really don't want to see this.  It's his personal information, and I would never invade his privacy."

"If you say so."  I rolled it up quickly and put it back in the shelf.  I got the feeling she wanted to ask how I killed the guy, so I began explaining it before she got to ask.

"His time was running down anyway.  In reality, I did nothing to him.  He had just been alive for his thousand year vampire life span."

"How did you know that though?!"

"I read the time above his head."  I stated casually.  

"Time?"

"Yeah, you have one too.  If you wish, I can tell you exactly how much time you have left to live."  

"I'll trust you on the time thing, but I'd really rather not know."  Her face was rather pale.  I sighed, thickly and turned to exit the room.  

"Come on, you've probably had too much information enter your head today anyway."  She followed me up the stairs to the actual basement and then up to the main floor.  I showed her to the living room where my mother was playing a song on the grand piano.  She turned around when she saw us and smiled friendly.

"Mom, this is Azara."  I greeted for them both.  

"It's a pleasure to meet you Azara.  I hope that our basement hasn't bothered you too much."  She fretted.  Her round lips pulling into a worried frown.  Her long black hair was pulled back by a red ribbon, so that it still hung loosely behind her, but was kept out of her face.  She had large crimson eyes, and delicate features.  

"Oh no!  It didn't bother me at all."  Azara said quickly.  Mom's face remained tense for a moment, seeing through the lie instantly, before the smile returned to her face.

"Oh that's good!  Would you two like to listen to my newest piece?  It's supposed to be for Livi's wedding."  Azara nodded and I shrugged and we both took a seat on the couch next to the piano.  

"Who's Livi?"  Azara whispered.

"She's my older sister.  She moved to England when the last of their reapers died out.  She fell in love with some mortal and they are getting married next week."  I said somewhat scornfully.  I didn't approve of her love with a mortal.  It just wasn't possible, and if it was it would only bring her misery in the end.  Mortals were so weak, so frail.  And they lived nothing but empty and short lives.  My mother ignored this, and began playing.  She was a Witch and an extremely powerful one at that.  Beside her love for magic is a love for music.  So she has an extraordinary way of combining them into the most amazing pieces of music.  I fell silent and closed my eyes to listen.  The piece started off as quiet, mysterious, and ominuous.  Heavy and slow minor cords were being played 3 at a time sounding wonderfully harmonious, but eerily condescending.  After about 20 measures of that it lightened up into something beautiful and more lively.  She played seemingly impossible arpeggios, switching from 32nd notes to 64th, but playing each note somehow more distinctly than the last so that you could hear each and every cord.  She transitioned into half and whole notes making it sound somewhat like Pachabels Canon, if not more cheeful.  However, that didn't last long before transforming it into something wonderfully romantic and placid.  The song remained that tone until the last couple of measures before she ended it just as darkly as it had began.  

Azara clapped, and admired my mother.  "That was amazing!  It must have taken years to learn all of that!"  My mother bowed dramatically but ever so gracefully with a cheeky grin on her face.

"Why, thank you, dear!  What can I say, I've had years to perfect my musical knowledge.  You are free to come back to listen to my music any time you wish!"  With that, she shook Azara's hand careful as to not get burned and strode out of the room.  Azara glanced at the piano, and I glanced at my watch midnight.  Time for me to start my job.

"Do you wanna come with me or not?"

"Go where?"

"Everywhere across North America.  I have to collect the souls of people who are dying."

"Oh, well I really should be going back to the school..."  I arched an eyebrow at her.

"Okay then,  You can go back to school and I'll do my job."

"Fine, I'll come with."

"I knew you would"  I smirked.
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