Beta. Reaper

MEET THE REAPER

ONE

I scrolled through the paper work in front of me and I almost scoffed in annoyance. The plush leather seat beneath me was beginning to feel hard as my body ached to be stretched. I went through a particular clause again before bursting into laughter.

Delta Sylvia wanted me to approve a ridiculous sum of money to fix up her daughter’s room for the second time that year. The pack house had already undergone renovation for the year and her daughter, Mirabel, was a spoilt little girl who constantly threw darts at her ceiling and some of them occasionally landed on her. I moved that particular petition to the pile of countless other nonsensical requests.

I started to massage my forehead when I felt a headache coming on. I had a lot of things to do for the day and a headache did not fit into my schedule. I still had lunch with my uncle, Skype with my friend, Remi, who was also my Alpha, as well as hundreds of petitions to go through.

Being the beta of a large pack that spread largely into Canada and with a branch outside of the country as well as over three million wolves, I had my work cut out for me. Pausing for a second, I let my mind wander to my twin brother who had been cruelly killed by our former Alpha. 

Ken was naturally a leader. He was born for it and he carried himself like one who knew just how important they are, someone whose decision could make or break a person for life. He was a good person and I missed him every single second.

“Cheer up, Kels. You look so much uglier with a frown on your face,” I chided myself. It was Ken’s go to sentence for when I was feeling down.

I was going through a more ridiculous petition than the one from Delta Sylvia when I heard it. Beta Paige wanted a big pool in the pack house so she wouldn’t have to take her children to the community pool for their swim practices. The sound I heard was a faint pop, amplified by the silence of my house.

Looking away from my work, I swallowed back a scream of fright at the sight of the man suddenly standing in my office. He was tall, well over six feet, dressed in complete black, from his midnight black hair to his feet cover in black loafers. The only exposed part of his skin were his face and neck and even these had a feeling of darkness surrounding them.

“How did you get into my office and what can I help you with?” I asked in a tone I usually reserved for erring children.

The door behind him was still locked and I didn’t need to check to know that my house was securely shut from the inside to avoid people wandering in and disturbing my work. I couldn’t fathom how this strange man that smelt like a predator even to a predator, had gotten into my office.

“Hello, Kelly Black,” He called my name in a familiar manner. A memory tried to raise it’s head as to who else I had heard enunciate my name in like manner but it couldn’t be. 

“Hello Mr –“ I trailed off as I waited expectantly for him to supply his name.

“You don’t know me,” Amusement danced on his lips. “I prefer the name Grim Reaper, Reaper for short, but your kind call me Death,” His cool voice said and I almost laughed. Almost.

This man, with his fancy designer clothes and glasses, was claiming to be death. I couldn’t help but chuckle. It wasn’t long ago when I was surrounded by the cold hands of death and I felt it suck the life out of me with just its presence. I had laid in darkness and watched the darkness swirl and turn like a ballerina before a face like no other had emerged from it and this man thought he looked anything like death. 

“It’s not Halloween yet, sir. We have a few months more before that and may I suggest you try out another costume because your apparel looks nothing like Death’s,” I sneered at the stranger. 

“You don’t believe me,” The voice vibrated with controlled anger that made me shiver. The air around me started to drop rapidly and soon I was rubbing my arms as goose bumps exploded on my skin.

He took off his glasses. He took them off and my gaze was suddenly drawn to his like a moth to a flame and while I stared into his eyes and convulsed in fear, I saw things that made tears dance down my cheeks. There was so much suffering. So much tears. As I stared, mouths opened in soundless screams and soldiers were yanked out from battles and into the great beyond. Cars piled on top each other and darkness enveloped them all, stealing their souls.

He snapped his glasses back on and I was wrenched out of my daylight nightmare. When I spoke, it was not with the voice of a Beta with power over three million wolves. It was with the voice of Kelly Black, a teenager who suddenly found Death standing at her doorstep.

“W – What do y – you want?” I stuttered with a shiver.

“I have come to see what kind of magic you possess,” His cool voice whispered around me. My heart slammed as he took a step forward. Hera, my wolf, paced listlessly as a predator more dangerous than her stalked closer.

“I – I don’t possess any k – kind of magic. I’m n – not a w – witch,” I said in a broken whisper.

He crossed the room slowly like it was a runway for models and then he sat right across from me. I wanted to howl for my pack even as my vocal tracts began to close up. The only exit was right behind him and the only thing separating me from him was my large mahogany desk. I was trapped in my office with death. As a predator constantly hunting for meat, it was a reversal of fortune to be trapped like this.

"You intrigue me, human," He sounded curious. A part of me that remembered what it was to be in control bristled at that insult. I was of the supernatural not ordinary.

"I am not human," There was stubbornness in my tone and after the words slipped through my lips without thought, I closed my eyes, awaiting the doom and destruction that clung to him to be unleashed on me.

"I smell your fear. It calls to me," My eyes slowly parted when I didn’t hear his voice thunder or his coldness envelope me. “It smells like none I have ever perceived,” He put his nose into the air as he drew in a deep breathe. “Ahh,” It was the sound of contentment that made me curious about this dark creature.

“OK, that’s creepy," I said.

“Your fear is – What do you call it?” He shook his head. “It whispers through my veins and it makes me crave – It makes me crave – It is intoxicating,” The cold surrounding him dropped. From the air around us I could read his mood and I feels ropes of confusion tangle about us.

“What does that mean?” I asked as the confusion started to affect my senses. There was no longer fear in the asides from the one nestled within me and it was gradually being trumped by curiosity.

He took off his glasses again and my eyes clenched shut. All the death, destruction and doom I had glimpsed earlier were still fresh in my mind and another look into them did not appeal to me.

The confusion in the air untangled, released and was replaced by cold amusement. When I reopened my eyes it was first to his smirking lips and when I gained enough courage to peep at the horrors in his eyes, I was met with grey. In the depths of grey, there were particles of brown dancing around. There ware smiles and green grass and hope in that eyes and around this, there was still a creepy coldness.

“Your eyes are beautiful,” I said in amazement. I had never seen eyes with so much emotions. Eyes so vividly bright and captivation. My words changed the air from amusement to surprise and anger followed behind.

"Kelly Black, you have cheated me and I have come to see if perhaps today is the day you repay me," All the emotions in the grey eyes were suddenly locked behind a wall and all I could see then was steel. 

Despite the cold feeling of death, I felt a lone bead of perspiration trickle from my forehead to my neck before finally disappearing into my shirt. The cold did not cause a shiver; it froze. 

“I want to know what magic you possessed. I want to know how you defied ME,” Paper works flew into the air before cascading to the ground at the force of his voice. I whined in fear at the anger that was seeping out of him.

"I don’t have any m – magic,” I gasped, swallowing a huge lump of fear that started to choke me.

"Yes, you must have some sort of magic. You must have strong magic to look ME in the eye and steal yourself away. You looked at me and you said ‘No baby, not today' and I have been thinking – Even while I work, I’m thinking –“ He cut himself off and turned the full force of his anger on me. I could feel my head begin to swell with each passing moment. 

“What magic have you used on me, Kelly Black? What mage is powerful enough to tamper with the Grim Reaper?” His voice boomed and papers flew.

I clutched my head between my hands as it became too heavy for my shoulders to carry. “Please stop," I gasped with tears in my face "Whatever it is you're doing, Please, stop," I begged.

“Now, you beg. Just like the others,” He mused quietly. “I had thought – Do you really not have any magic?” He asked.

“I don’t,” I gasped out. As suddenly as the pain started, it vanished.

I looked cautiously to where he was seated as the room reeked of his confusion. He was holding a scythe that made me swallow. Was he going to cut out my soul?

His form started to flicker in and out of concentration as an hour glass materialized in his arms. Oh goddess, it was almost empty. The scent of his annoyance permitted the air as he spoke.

“Duty calls, Kelly Black, it was foolish of me to abandon them for as long as I have. No reason to be so frightened, you are no longer on my list. I cannot accept that you have no magic yet I will have to think on that later. “ One second he was there and the next, a silent pop announced his exit.

A full hour later, the cold that accompanied Death spoke of his visit and I still tasted the bitter tang of fear in my mouth. My confidence, however, was back and it was out of ignorance I shouted to my ceiling. "You'll never get me, mister!" Ignorance really, because Death comes for everyone at a point in their life and what made me any different?