The Reaper that loves me

Chapter 8 - The fool

*Him*

Ayden continued his work, but often times he would think about her. He would shake his head to get thoughts of her out of his mind but they kept coming back. He sighed. He hadn't seen her for two days. He couldn't figure out why he kept thinking of her and it was driving him crazy. He was waiting for his latest parchment to be delivered as he impatiently tapped on his scythe. "Where in all hell is that bloody crow..." 

As though it had heard him, it flapped down and sat on his shoulder and angrily cawwed. "Finally!" Ayden snatched the parchment and pushed the bird off of his shoulder. 

"Ok, you can fog off now." He waved the bird off. It squawked as it flapped off. Ayden unrolled the parchment and whistled. Today's list was massive. There were a few targets overseas from mudslides 

And then in the afternoon there would be a bus crash with mass casualties. Next to the bus crash list there was an extra note. *Meet with Maximillian to help with the reaping.* Ayden cursed. He hated Maximillian. He always treated things like a competition. He was self centred and very egotistical. Ayden rolled his eyes. It was going to be a long afternoon.

Ayden was waiting at the first site for Maximillian. He didn't have to wait for long. "Oh ho ho, look what the cat dragged in...." The honeyed voice from behind him made Ayden roll his eyes. "Hello to you to Max." Maximillian saddled up next to him. His blonde hair shining in the sun. "So...." Max unrolled his parchment. Ayden shrugged his shoulders. "So...?" Max smiled wickedly. "Shall we have a competition? I'll take the north side and you can go south, we'll meet in the middle?" He didn't even give Ayden time to answer before he took off. 

The sky started to cloud over and then it started to pour down rain. 

Ayden sighed. "it begins..." 

He took off up the south end. He didn't want to compete so he just took souls as they came. He opened two portals and funneled alot of energy into them to stay open for a longer period. He flew up into the sky as mud began to slide his way. To his left was a cracking sound and a house toppled over burying itself. Ayden hissed. There was a soul he had to fetch at the bottom of the mud pile. 

He held his breath and dived. He found his target. He pulled the poor soul out and flew to the sky. 

"What's your name?" The soul was dazed and confused. "Ah....I'm...Salim...sir..." Ayden clicked his tongue as he pulled out his parchment. 

"Hmm....Salim....Salim....Ah there you are....ok. Off we go...." Ayden guided the soul to the lighter portal. 

"Thank Hades this list is in alphabetical order..." 

He was covered in mud but he moved onto his next target. After two hours, Ayden was huffing and puffing. He had reaped a total of twenty souls. 

The rain had subsided and rescue workers were beginning their work. So ayden rested on top of a light post a meter above the mud. Max found him and in a sickly sweet voice he was humming. He sat on a tree close to Ayden. "How did you fair? I reaped...Ah....thirty souls...to your..what was it...twenty. ha ha ha I win!" 

Ayden rolled his eyes again. "Congratulations." He sarcastically said in Max's direction. Max danced on the tree branch. "Oh, don't be like that, Ayden. You should be glad you were beaten by a magnificent person like me! I made worker lighter for you!" 

Adyen ground his teeth. "pfft. Keep telling yourself that. I'm going home now." Max cheerily saluted. "Tootles, darling...." As Ayden flew off he was relieved to be away from the pompous i***t. 

As he flew he got out his parchment. In all the mud and rain it astounded Ayden that it had reined dry. 

But then again he wasn't surprised as the list was always compiled by Death himself every dawn. 

After hours of flying back home, Ayden finally made it back. He sat at the site of his last few targets. 

He again took the parchment out and looked at the tally at the bottom. There were still quite alot of zeros but he had managed to get his quota down to a quarter left before his time was completed. 

He rolled the parchment back up rested his head in his arms as he waited. He had sat a little ways up the hill to get a better vantage point. Ayden saw the bus coming around the sharp corner of the mountain top. He could clearly see the bus swirling and loose rocks flying from underneath it's tyres. 

Just as he was about to take off to do his job, Menahem flew down and landed next to him. "I message for you. Do your job. Let things take their course." Before Ayden could ask him what he was talking about Menahem had flown off and it was then that he saw her. Elise was hanging onto the side of the bus. Ayden began yelling. "No, no, NO! She's not on my list!" Out of the corner of his eye he could see the hell hound edging its way towards her. 

Ayden cursed. "Argh! The i***t! What is she doing!" He cloaked himself and took off in her direction praying that he made it to her first before the hell hound. 

The bus took a sharp turn and it pitched forwards off the edge of the cliff. As it went down, Elise was flung into the air. Ayden quickly caught her as she had passed out. Ayden quickly put her down and went to finish his targets. There were two of them. He quickly retrieved their souls and pulled them along with him. He touched down next to the still unconcious Elise. He whipped put his parchment and found that both of them were bound for heaven. 

He opened a portal and shoved them both through without explaining. 

He closed the portal with a 'oof' 

He looked back at Elise. The hell hound was still watching from the shadows and it growled at him. 

He gave it the bird. He sat down next to Elise and took out his parchment. He hastily scribbled collected next to the names of the last two targets and rolled the parchment back up and put it away. 

He leant over Elise and pondered on what to do with her. He picked up her right arm and checked it over for wounds. She was ok. Her left arm had grazes on it however. He sighed. "Clumsy idiot." He mumbled to himself. He bent over her and slapped her cheeks. 

"Wakey, wakey. I have a bone to pick with you...."