Guard and Scythe

The Devil's Reaper

NOTE: Picking up where chapter one left off. These chapters will keep going back and forth in time as the story goes on.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We corpses were dragged to Satan's clocktower. Every night at the final stroke of midnight, the souls of the damned met here, to bow under his mighty power.

The crusty blood smuthered streets were silent. The tortured souls bowed their heads to me as I walked past, my long grey cloak wafting like smoke behind me. I held my head high, and ignored the loud clanking of my metal chains, as I made my way up the barren path to Satan's throne under the shadows of the clock.

DONG! DONG! DONG!

The strikes of the bell rang throughout the endless fields of dead black grass, over the eternal fires of acid, and rang inside our heads.

I found myself standing before the devil himself.

He wore a long black cloak that flowed out from his thrown and leaked into the darkness of the shadows itself. Dull yellow horns stuck out from the hood covering his head and face, and where always tainted with crusty blood. He offered his bony grey hand out to me in welcome.

"I was worried Trisnae that you might have forgotten about me. You've always been such a good child before. You were almost late," he said in his soft tones. He had a scratched voice, that hitched up at times, as his breathing became off pace.

"My Lord, I could never abandon thee," I saw taking the hand in both of mine, and brought it to my lips. They were colder than ice, but drier than any desert. 

After I let his hand go, I was offered my spot by his right, and on the left, the band of my fellowly cloaked brothers and sisters awaited on their knees respectfully.

Satan turned to adress us all.

"Tonight, My children shall embark on their nightly quest to persue the world of the faulest, cruelsest, most disgusting human beings that roam the earth...Just like you all once did. You eternal punishments shall commence, for now, and till the end of time."

It was his usual nightly addressment to us all. To remind us of the scum we were; to tarnish any hopes or dreams that one day we might see daylight once again. We will never see daylight again. The damned are forbidden.

"My children shall depart from us for now. But when they return, they shall come with new company," he says. Death can be childish. The Devil is a primary example of that.

"Go my children! Go forth, back to the human realm to search for the rodents inhabiting their world!" he says dramatically holding his hands out.

The door begins to open at the base of the clock tower. Slowly we all walk through the door; the only escape from this land of eternal punishment.

I look back right before I walk through. I hear Satan's cackles ringing throughout the dead fields. The souls of the damned all shudder and groan aloud. Their wails are the last thing I hear before I close the door.

I take the key off my finger. I kiss the ring before I lock the door, and run off into the streets of night. Only I can reopen the doors now. I held my nose up to the air, searching through the night like a bloodhound on the scent.

*                                   *                                     *                                     *                               *

I watched the flames devour the body of the criminal from afar. This one had just broken out of the local jailhouse in florida, and had been stupid enough to go running up to the first pretty girl he met in the streets and tried to rape her. The girl was lucky this time. Lucky I was there anyways.

I find that ironic; the fact that death can be the greatest hero. I was no superhero, though I did have the cloak for it. 

The flames licked at the blackened skin, and slowly the man began to drip onto the grass like candlewax. I came closer and swirled my hands around the melty mess. I licked my fingers, enjoying the flavor or the smoky flesh trickle down my throat. If the man hadn't been such an idiot, we might never have crossed paths. The girl had ran away the moment his gun had "disapeared" into thin air. When she woke up the next morning, tonight will have been nothing but a terrible dream.

Dreams can only hurt you so badly, so I assume that must be a comfort to her.

Inside the special bag tucked away inside my robe, the soul of the man wails, desperatly fighting to escape. It's amazing how much stronger human souls are than their physical bodies were. I could easily crush one of their fragile skulls between my fingers without any struggle.

I sigh and decide to go to one of the more peaceful places on earth. A graveyard.

Graveyards are only "spooky" to the poor humans who live in fear of death. Fearing death shows nothing but weakness. The graveyard is the only place humans can connect with the dead. For some reason, they've decided to bury their physical bodies six feet under dirt. The only reason the dead bother to stick around these stone gardens is because the church blesses the land they are buried in.

I sometimes wish I had been buried, but then I remember that dreaming is the cause of all our sufferings. Dreaming only taunts you, showing yoou what you desire, but never shows you the road to go there.

Dawn would come soon. My brothers and sisters would come to find me, before the sun began to arise.

We were creatures of the night, sworn to the eternal oath to obide Satan's laws and carry out his duties in the human world. We were his hellhounds, sent to fetch the garbage that contaminated the world.

We were just trash picking up more trash to bring back to our dump.

I could not cry. Tears were created for humans, with human emotions. I wish I could cry. What if I had chosen differently that night so long ago? I was a child then, and had been broken to the point of insanity. I had made my choice, but at the ultimate price. The shackles around my feet began to rattle, and tighten around my ankles.

"Momma, I miss you," I whispered to the sky above the graveyard. Hopefully some kind angel up there would pass on this demon's message.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey sorry I didn't edit this. Let me know what you think in the comments. (Also I would consider you to be extremely amazing if you voted for this chapter, or told your friends about this story ;) !!! )

Thanks so much for reading!