Twenty four. That's how many ribs there are in the human body. It's an amazing amount if you think about it; it almost seems too much to fit into the body. Yet it did, and Grim was fairly certain that all those twenty-four ribs had just been shattered.
She was also sure that her arm, both legs and maybe her jaw had been broken as well. It could have been more in all honesty.
She didn't have time to access the damage because Vex reached down and wrenched her to her feet. She could feel her bones healing themselves, faster than they ever did as a werewolf, but it was still too slow. His fist connected with her nose and sent her head swinging back.
He jerked her upright and brought her bloodied face to his, eyes narrowed. "Having fun Grim? Because I am."
Grim spat blood in his face.
He threw her into a tree, the tree snapping in half.
"You know," Grim choked out, "It doesn't really hurt."
"Doesn't make it any less satisfying."
He approached, scythe appearing in his hand. The red lined edge gleamed like it had already sliced through her skin. Grim sighed and stood, body mending itself automatically. The scythe appeared in her hand at a touch to her neck, but she sent the cloak away.
The two reapers stood, clutching scythes in hand and ready to fight. Grim knew she couldn't win. He was more powerful in every way, but she wouldn't go down without a fight. Whatever it took to keep him away from Mary.
Mary.
It seemed Grim couldn't escape her past no matter what she did. She was doomed to repeat the experiences of her life, but somehow in reverse. She couldn't believe it, but yet at the same time it somehow made perfect sense. Whenever something went bad Mary was there. She should have somehow known that Mary was involved with death stopping.
She was brought from her thoughts by the scythe swiping at her throat. Grim rolled out of the way just in time.
Vex spun around but not before Grim swiped her own scythe, causing a long cut to run a long his back. He roared and stumbled.
Grim stared at the scythe and back to his bloodied back. He was in pain. That wasn't supposed to happen. Then Grim realised. Nothing from the mortal realm could hurt a reaper, but the same could not be said about fellow reapers or weapons from the realm of souls.
Vex turned to her snarling. He straightened his back and stalked towards Grim.
"That wasn't nice."
"That was the point," Grim mocked.
Vex roared and launched at her. He scythe sailed through the air and Grim wasn't quick enough. She hissed as the scythes blade scraped along her arm. She stumbled away and turned back to him.
"This is just ridiculous," he said with a sigh and for a moment Grim thought he might put down the weapon and leave. "I thought it would be fun to beat you to death again with my own hands, but this just too exhausting."
Then he held out a hand and flicked his finger. Grim screamed in surprise as the ground underneath her begun to shake and crack. There was a terrifyingly large groan as the world split open. Grim teetered on the edge, string down at the endless depths before managing to push herself away. Vex didn't seem alarmed.
He flicked his finger again and fire grew around her, flames blue with heat. The flames burned around her, swirling and flickering in the air. It surrounded her, completely and in a thick ring.
"Don't even try to teleport," Vex said with a smirk, leaning against his scythe. "You won't get far."
"What is your problem?" Grim whined out, throwing her head back in exhaustion.
Vex smile dropped. His scythe disappeared and he folded his arms. "I don't have a problem."
"Bullshit," Grim snapped. "You know, I don't care if you trying to rebel against the council, but stop involving me and every other creature on this earth! I don't know what you think you're going to achieve by doing this, but you won't. Have you ever met the council? Have you ever actually spoken with them? Yes, they're assholes, but more importantly they don't care. They just make sure death keeps going. They don't care about you or me, that's why if you do anything wrong they send you down straightaway, they just don't care what you did or if you innocent. They don't even look at what you do! Think about that!
"They are not watching you, shaking their fists and cursing, because they don't care. Whatever you do it won't change a single thing. The council won't change and even if you bring every reaper on this earth to your side. They just make sure death keeps going, and if any one tries to change that they get rid of them. Nothing will change Vex, and all you're achieving here is injuring someone just like you."
He stared at her with red eyes, his face still and serious. "I'm not like you."
Grim sighed, "That's the thing Vex; you are. You're like every reaper on this planet, you hate the system but nothing will ever change it."
"You're wrong."
"You know I'm not. I don't know what Mary's promised you or the necromancer, but they won't come through, especially because you're working for Mary. Just stop it, there's no way you will get anything out of this."
Vex stared at her and dropped his arms, looking away from her. Grim watched him carefully, waiting for him to leave, but he didn't.
Vex shrugged his shoulders, scythe materialising in hand, "I don't care. I'm still going to see if I can kill you."
"Of course you are," Grim said with a breath of a sigh.
This was just her luck.
That was when she leapt out of the fire and shoved Vex into the crater he had created. She ripped his scythe from hand and watched as he fell screaming down into the depths. She didn't think it would keep him for long, but not having his scythe had to do something. She grabbed the end and twirled in a circle, spinning in a circle and letting it fly in an arc over the forest.
She was gone in the next second.
Grim stumbled to a stop and looked around, confused to where she'd ended up. It only took her a few seconds to realise that she was standing in the graveyard. She hadn't recognized it at first because it was completely different.
She walked over and stared down at a hole in the ground, where a body had clawed its way to the surface. All around the graveyard were disturbed graves. Dirt was flung around, occasionally parts of a coffin and every case all the headstones had one large crack running down the middle.
Grim blinked in surprise as the world suddenly darkened, looking over her head to see the bright sun had been washed out by unfurling great black clouds that went as far as the eye could see. She somehow knew that the storm wasn't normal.
"I know you."
Grim swung her head around to see Kenneth staring at her. His face was slack and eyes wide and confused, he was losing his grip on himself.
"Yeah, you do," Grim said softly, knowing all too well what it felt like to be a lost soul.
Without meaning to, and knowing she certainly didn't have the time, Grim flashbacked.
Two weeks was how long she'd been dead. It certainly didn't feel that short of time. Anya felt like she'd been stuck on this earth for centuries.
It was so hard to concentrate. She had forgotten her parent's name, and her brothers. Wait, did she have a brother? She didn't remember one. She mustn't have had one.
Anya drifted along the road. She didn't have any direction or place in mind, but that most likely because she couldn't remember much. During the day, when the streets were alive, she felt like the people walking along oblivious to her presence might know her, but she didn't know them, not anymore.
She didn't really remember much. It was easy to just list the things she did remember. She knew her name was Anya, but no longer could remember her last name. She knew she jumped off a bridge, and most importantly she knew why. One thing that hadn't left her was six names.
Mark. Jessica. David. Eva. Mary. Blake.
They echoed inside her mind and she just knew she hated them all. The emotion was almost overwhelming inside her, making her feel like she was going to burst in her rage. The funny thing was she couldn't remember the details. She knew they were mean to her, cruel and horrid but what they had done exactly was washed away. One thing remained; she knew Blake had rejected her.
The word was repeated ceaselessly in her mind, but she had forgotten what it meant. She knew it was bad.
Grim glided along the road absentmindedly. She didn't know why she was allowed to walk everywhere, while the rest of the dead she'd come across were often stuck in one place, she had no limitations. She didn't care why.
It kept her from getting bored.
Like right now for example, a girl with a large red umbrella was walking along the road, even though it was very late and very cold out. Anya's eyes narrowed.
Mary.
She began to follow her without meaning to. She couldn't help but glide along behind her as Mary turned abruptly and disappeared into the tree line. Anya followed easily as Mary darted in between trees and bushes.
It wasn't hard. She was practically neon in the gloom of the night.
Anya frowned as she broke through the trees to find a clearing in a perfect circle.
I know this place, a voice whispered in her head.
Mary, oblivious to her presence, was humming softly as she set a bag on the floor. She brought out a knife in a sheath, tucking it into the pocket of her coat. She then threw a few splashes of something in a vile on the marble alter in the centre of the clearing.
She did more but Anya glided away, peering through the trees just as Blake emerged. He was soaked in rain water, his clothes sticking to his and rivets of water running down his face and neck. He didn't seem to care.
Grim turned back to the marble alter and then to Blake. Darkness seemed to curl up in her stomach, a tight ball or rage and hatred and sorrow. She drifted away, just on the edge of the clearing and she watched.
She watched as all of those names she remembered arrived. She watched as they went to the alter. She watched as Mary brought out that knife. She watched as they all sliced their hands open. She watched as Mary said the words she faintly remembered.
As she witnessed all this that dark ball inside her stomach seemed to grow. It made her hands tremble with rage, her face twists into a snarl and consumed her.
They were making a blood oath. She couldn't believe it. They were so concerned with themselves, so worried they would get in trouble they were swearing that they would never tell a soul.
Conceited. Cruel. Mean. Selfish. Evil.
Anya screamed at them. She screamed and screamed and they didn't spare her a glance.
The darkness curled inside her seemed to explode at that moment. Anya stared at her hands in horror, watching as the pale, translucent flesh blackened and cracked. The blackening extended up her hands until it covered every inch of her.
"Hello Anya."
She turned and faced a distantly familiar figure. The reaper stood in front of her, no scythe in hand and only a black cloak on his shoulders.
He was looking at her sadly.
"I told you to come with me," he said while shaking his head. "Now, it's too late for you."
Grim shook her head, sending away the memories. It was the clearest memory of being a ghost that she had, and it was the worst.
She hadn't told Blake that him making that blood oath had turned her dark and into a reaper, and she never would. Grim wasn't that cruel, and besides, there were just some things that people shouldn't ever know.
It was hard not to think about that time when she was staring at a clearly confused spirit. She pushed it away, she couldn't allow herself to wallow in memories, especially when she had no idea what exactly was happening.
Kenneth drifted closer to her, "How do I know you?" He asked. "Is your name Sandra?"
"Why?"
"Because I remember the name Sandra, but I don't know who she is."
Grim eyed his sadly. She shook her head, "My name's Grim, I'm not Sandra."
"Ok." He begun to drift away before Grim called him back.
"Have you seen a little girl, who umm, has a dark aura? She would have been with a dead woman."
"Yes,' He said with a nod and turned away.
"Wait! Which way did the go?"
Kenneth sighed and simply pointed. Grim followed his finger to a large building close to the high school. It was at least ten stories higher than any of the other buildings surrounding it, and Grim distantly knew that it was a hotel. A very nice hotel, the only decent one in the whole town.
"Really?" Grim asked eagerly but Kenneth had already disappeared. Grim didn't wait for him to show his face again, she touched her necklace and was gone.
The hotel was empty, silent and ghostly. No one was at the front desk, no doubt having been herded out by the dead. Grim jumped on the counter and stared at the computer. She had no idea how to use new technology. No clue whatsoever. Sure, she'd seen it be used before by the living, but hadn't really used itself. She could Google stuff, as she had on Blake's computer but that was about the extent of her knowledge.
She didn't know how on earth she was going to figure out what room the necromancer was in. Then it came to her, the necromancer was working with Mary. No wonder they'd gone from living in a mausoleum to a high priced hotel. If they were with Mary, they would be staying in her room, and this was Mary so she'd have the top suite. The most expensive room they had available. Grim was there in a flash, kicking open the door and pushing her way through.
The room was empty. Grim wrinkled her nose, the smell of death lingered in the room. She walked around, they was clothing tossed here and there, a jacket or scarf. There were a couple scraps of garbage littering tables and bench tops. There were personal belongings, things that people wouldn't have left behind intentionally.
Grim leapt a good foot in the air when a phone rang. She turned and listened, following the sound to a small room at the end of the penthouse. She pushed the door open, finding a closet like room filled with paper, and several phones. Grim reached forward to the mobile and pressed answer.
"Adele, we're having problems with the werewolves! You said they would comply! They're not complying and there are humans with them! What do we do?"
Grim didn't say anything as she listened.
"Adele? Are you still meeting us at this parking spot, near this place called Sal's Finest?"
Grim hung up the phone. She had an idea who might have been the one to suggest this place.
When she arrived the hood of her cloak was blown off, revealing her face, not that there was anyone there to see it. Around her were dozens of buses and vans and airport shutters. They were all empty. Grim turned and froze when she saw the thick line of the dead guarding the road out of town. They didn't seem fazed by her sudden appearance.
She flicked her gaze to the large trail that she knew led to the local make out spot. She hadn't ever been, she was pretty preoccupied in school trying to deal with her daily torture, but she had heard enough to know about it.
Grim began walking. She didn't dare to teleport; the chance of her ending up where the wrong person could see her was too high. She needed stealth at this moment.
It took her a good fifteen minutes to walk along the path and to the large clearing. It overlooked the entire town, with forest surrounding on all three sides. There were only two cars parked in this area, one large truck and one small van.
Grim ducked behind a tree and watched. There was a tall, dark skinned woman standing and ordering a few people around. She was beautiful and deadly, something about her making the hairs on Grim's back stand. She searched the rest of the area and found a girl.
She was drawing in the dirt with a stick, holding onto a woman's hand, Grim knew that woman and she was supposed to be dead. That girl simply had to be the necromancer.
The funny thing was the girl looked so perfectly normal. She didn't have strange eyes or markings, she was small and cute and beautiful. She was also upsetting the natural order and could easily cause this world to collapse in on its self. There was no one else that she could see in the clearing but that didn't mean there weren't more in the truck or car.
She strained her mortal ears.
"—that's why you need to calm the fuck down. Have I ever let you down before? No, so shut up and listen to me. The wolves will obey me because I have their alpha, and then you will have your bodies. Now, if you ever question me again I shall obliterate you, most painfully," the tall woman snarled.
She stalked away, flicking her mane of hair behind her and sliding into the car. The necromancer tugged her mother's hand and they quickly followed.
Grim only just realised what she had said at that moment. She had Blake!
The man the woman had been yelling at turned, shouted some orders to a couple of men and they all climbed into the truck. Grim watched as the truck rumbled across and passed her. The van began to follow but Grim stepped in its path.
The dark-skinned woman was sitting in the passenger seat, while an unnaturally pale woman was driving.
The woman who was clearly in charge opened her door and stepped out. Grim caught a glimpse of Jessica and the necromancer sitting in the back, while Blake was slumped over on the window seat knocked out cold.
"Hello," the woman said, eyeing her with acid green eyes that were faintly familiar.
"Hi," Grim said with a forced smile, "I think you have some people I want." She nodded at Jessica, "Good to see you again."
Jessica looked away from her.
"You've changed a lot Anya," the woman said and Grim looked at her sharply. The woman smiled. "I bet you're wondering how I know your name. I bet you're also wondering who I am." Grim stayed silent.
The woman grinned. "Do you know what a soulshifter is, Anya."
"No."
"Well, they're creatures that are not limited to one body. We can travel between, shifting our souls from one body to the next. It's a useful power, gives you basically immortality and you can become anyone you like if you can get close enough."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because, I'm a soulshifter. I'm actually their queen, and they are my army. They've come here at my command to take over the wolves and the world will then follow."
Grim looked at her incredulously. "You're quite ambitious."
"Oh yes," the woman said. "I'm also some who knows you, and you know me."
"No I don't."
The woman sighed, "I'd hoped you'd be smarter. My name's Mary, Anya, and it is a pleasure to get to actually kill you this time around."
Then she began to breathe fire.
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Not many chapters to go now! We're almost up to a thousand views! Now, time for a bit of bad news. I changed the ending to what i originally had planned, and this unfortunately means i had to rewrite the last few chapters, and i still am. This means that my updates are going to be a little more spaced out while i'm writing them, so apologies for that.
Also, someone suggested to me that i enter the wattyawards, and i've never actually paid them any attention of entered in any of them. I decided why not, so i'm going to enter them, might win in a category for undiscovered maybe :D.
That's all, i hope that all of you have enjoyed the story so far and thanks for reading.