The Deception Of Alexander Riotan #wattys2016

Chapter Eight: Grim Reapers, Bastards, and other broken things.

Terms of the Chapter:

Parasol: The word "Parasol" is used for a lacy umbrella used in Victorian Europe by fashionable women. It protected from the sun and like mentioned before was sort of a fashion statement.

Bastard: An illegitimate child. In Victorian era a child born out of wedlock were degraded. They could not inherit and were treated like lepers in society.

Picture of Grim above. Let me know what you think.

Seven years ago.

"That woman hasn't taken her eyes off of you since we sat down" Robert commented.

Alex and his friends were at a pub near Cambridge, celebrating their last exam of the year. He was on his third drink when he noticed the blonde, middle aged, woman sitting two tables away from them. She cast the occasional glance at Alex; She was elegantly dressed, her clothes spoke of money, and she stood out in the usual crowd of young men.

"A bit old for me, don't you think?" Alex joked. She looked young for her age, there were a few wisps of white entwining her gold hair.

The whole group was tuned to the conversation now, "She seems like a fine glass of brandy, age will only make her sweeter" another classmate, Lionel, chimed in. The boys broke into boisterous laughter at his analogy, but Alex said nothing. Their interest was lost as quickly as it came, and the conversation moved to horses. When the woman cast another look to Alex, Damon nudged him, saying "Maybe she knows you or she's lost".

There was something foreign about the way the woman carried herself . She was beautiful with midnight blue eyes. He had seen her before.  But where?

At that very moment, the woman caught Alex's searching eyes. Her eyes widened in a look of pure horror. She quickly rose, disappearing out the pub door, and her reaction spurred Alex in into following after her.

He followed her out of the pub into the slightly chilly evening air.

"Excuse me, Madam!" he called.

She had covered her head with a hood, and she turned at his voice. 

 Suddenly Alex was shoved against the stone wall of the pub. A curved, metal, blade was at his throat, which belonged to a thin lipped pale young man with hooded black eyes. They were like dark pools of ink, and his hair were an identical color.

Alex remembered a biblical story his father used to tell his siblings and him. About the Angel of Death or the Grim Reaper; a hooded figure carrying a large scythe. A mythical creature that guided the deceased to the next world. As a child Alex was always curious about what was beneath the hood.

Surely he couldn't just be shadow and smoke?

He finally found a face for his childhood obsession. Alex lifted his foot and slammed his boot onto his dark haired assailant. Grim (Alex decided to name him) gave a not so undead howl of pain. Alex gave a swift punch to his gut, but he managed to block it. Grim took advantage of his surprise, and retaliated with a swift kick to his face--

"Halt!" The woman screamed, "Noah! Halt!"

Grim abruptly moved away, eyes widening, as the woman yelled in a foreign language. He sent a sharp look of disbelief towards Alex, and then replied, heatedly, in the same language.

Alex wiped the blood dripping from his nose with his sleeve, confused at the situation. The woman's eyes landed on his blood stained sleeve, and she apologized in smooth English, "I'm sorry for my escort. He's a little--"