The doorbell blared briefly through the house while Briseis tested the new lock on the back door.
"I'm coming!" Briseis yelled to the front door as she sprinted towards it past Micah, who stood in the kitchen watching her. Her long ponytail swung like a pendulum until she abruptly stopped at the door, flinging it open. "Hi there!" she greeted with enthusiasm as she met the tired eyes of a middle-aged pizza delivery man. He did not reflect the same energy but nonetheless gave an attempt to politely smile.
"Hi ma'am, here's your order. One extra large pepperoni pizza with extra cheese and a side salad." The delivery man pulled the pizza box carefully out of his green thermal pouch and handed it to Briseis who pursed her lips at receiving the bounty of food.
"Ooooh yes. Come to mama!" She grinned and received it with open arms. "Thank you very much!"
The delivery man nodded and handed her a slip of paper. "You're welcome. Here's your receipt since you paid online and thanks for the tip."
"You're welcome." Briseis lowered the pizza box so he could place the receipt on top. She looked at the delivery man's eyes and she sensed something very lonely in them. A kinda quiet solitude that could either be the result of a bad day or something else. She set the pizza down on the end table by the door. "Hey..."
The pizza delivery man turned around. "Ma'am?"
Briseis chortled. "Ugh, please don't call me 'ma'am' I know it's polite, but I'm not that old. I'll give you an extra $20 tip if you listen to my joke."
A befuddled look crossed over his face as he stared at her.
"It's a good joke, I promise," Briseis reassured, waving a $20 bill in the air, tempting him.
After a moment he scratched his head and with a scoff replied. "Uh, sure."
Briseis smiled. "Okay. Wise choice, sir." She took a deep breath. "Soo, what's the difference between a tire and 365 used condoms?"
The delivery man's lips twitched up, threatening to smile. His cheeks started to flush and swallowing down his budding amusement, he looked at the steps then back up to Briseis. "Uh, I don't know."
"One's a Goodyear, the other's a great year." Her delivery so confident that the pizza delivery man bursted with laughter. "Pretty good, huh?" She extended her hand to pass him the $20 bill. "See? Told you it was a wise choice."
He nodded with a healthy smile across his face. "Yeah, that was pretty good punchline there. Thanks." He stared at the money in her grasp and pushed her hand away. "I'm good, thanks."
Briseis frowned at his refusal. "Hey, we had a deal, sir." She reached back out with the bill, hoping she didn't somehow offend him.
The delivery man smiled and shook his head, zipping up his thermal pouch. There was a light to him now. Faint, but the shine was there, if only for a moment. "I know, but the joke was kinda worth more if I'm being honest. I think I'll use it."
She laughed and shoved the bill back into her pocket. "It's totally open source, so go for it!" She said as he began to leave. "Have a good day."
"You too!" He waved as he quickly made way to his car.
Briseis closed the door and turned to see Micah watching behind her. She jumped as she nearly ran into a wall of black-clad reaper observing the exchange like a guard dog. "Shit! Dude, you're going to have a wear a bell or something. We're you back there the whole time? What have we discussed about creeping?"
A disapproving frown grew on his face. He wasn't expecting his charge to chat up a random pizza guy and tell a dirty joke. It worried him how friendly she was. For a witch, it was a strange trait. Why did she care to make a conversation? "Were you flirting with the pizza delivery man?" As soon as he said it, the idea sent a strange pang of jealousy down his spine that he couldn't explain. Why should he care?
Briseis frowned and rolled her eyes. Grabbing the pizza box and salad, she maneuvered and ducked around him and head towards the kitchen. "Ew, no. What's the matter with you? I wasn't flirting thank you very much. What is it with men and confusing friendliness with flirting?"
Micah shrugged. "Then what was that?"
She sat the pizza down on the counter and shook her head at him. What's with all the questions, reaper? You know what Emo IQ is?"
Micah shook his head.
"Yeah, I figured as much. Emotional intelligence." She pointed towards the closed front door. " I saw that the guy was in a real shitty mood. His depressing energy so palpable when I saw his eyes. So, I just wanted to make him laugh. You know, release some endorphins and most of the time if you're over 18, a good dirty joke does the trick. What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing. I just found it...odd. What do you care whether he has a shitty day?"
"What do you care if I managed to cheer up that shitty day?" She arched an eyebrow suspiciously at him. Kinda strange he was so touchy about doing something so innocent. "Aren't reapers and angels supposed to praise you for that sort of stuff?
Micah's stark blue eyes looked up at her. "I'm no angel."
Briseis felt the darkness in his words and shivered. "No. No, you are not. Angels don't creep up around people and terrorize little witches. They also praise you for not being a dick."
His only reply was a grunt. If she knew half of what he did about angels...
Briseis picked up and super warm, gooey slice of pepperoni pizza and carefully blew on it before she took a cautious bite. Micah sat quietly at the counter as he watched the strings of cheese play like bungee cords as she tasted the food. She inhaled and softly moaned as she chewed.
"Oh my God," she mumbled. "Missy Rae makes some melty, melty goodness." Briseis continued to savor the bite until she turned her attention to the quiet, handsome reaper watching her. His expression was enigmatic, but not without a certain intensity. Geez, does this guy ever switch off? She suddenly swallowed her bite and cleared her throat. "Sorry, I'm being really rude. I'm not used to guests. She gently raised her slice up. "Are you hungry?"
"No, thank you."
Briseis arched a brow. "You sure?" She pointed at the pizza still sitting in the cardboard box. "You're not even enticed by this melty, melty goodness right here? You do know what pizza is, right?"
Micah nodded. "I'm not an alien, Briseis. I've been around long enough to know what pizza is. And no, I'm not enticed, because I'm not hungry."
Briseis shrugged and took another bite of her slice. She stared at him with scrutiny and right then, Micah knew the curious questions were about to begin. "Sooo, reapers don't eat, either?"
Micah sighed. "We're capable of eating. We just don't have a need nor desire to do so. We exist on a different plane and have no need to eat or sleep. However, we do actually rest, which is not very much like sleeping."
"How long has it been since you slept?" Briseis asked. She then took another bite.
Micah blankly stared at her.
Briseis set her slice down and leaned on the counter. "Do you even remember?"
Micah shook his head quietly. In fact, she was right. He couldn't remember the last time he done something human like actually sleep. "It's been a long time."
She blew out a breath, amazed. No wonder they were uptight and odd. She loved her sleep. It wasn't an all out sleep fest in her life, but it was the only time that her brain at least attempted to shut down. Briseis couldn't imagine always running at all cylinders, never having sleep to power down. "Sounds awful."
"It really doesn't bother me. Like I said, it's been a long time." Micah folded his arms, shifting his body forward to lean on the counter.
Briseis looked at the delicious pizza in her hands. "Wow, you're missing out buddy. This hot fire is the best in nawlins' hands down. Now I don't mind killing half this thing, but I kinda got it for us to break bread together." Her mother always told her that the best bonds between people occur over food. Sharing substanence had a way of breaking down barriers.
Micah saw the disappointment clouding over her entrancing eyes. He looked at the pizza and like witchcraft, he felt a pang in his stomach. Foreign feeling of hunger achingly coming to the forefront and silently cursed to himself. He could strangle Saffron for suggesting this to him. He wanted to save the necromancer, but at what cost to him? Those feelings, those desires that made a reaper terribly human was finding their way back to him. I don't remember myself as human. What if I'm some sort of monster? He was a reaper for so long, he couldn't remember life as anything else. He preferred it that way. Preferred being Azrael's second in command. Now, as his stomach churned, he felt that slowly slipping away. Clearing his throat, he scooted back from it. A sickening feeling of dread moved over him. It was all downhill from here and he didn't like it. The sooner I can carry out the deal with Briseis, the sooner I can go back to normalcy. Back to the numbing sensation of existence.
"I appreciate the gesture, but eating when you're not hungry for a reaper has terrible consequences." He pushed the box closer to her, refusing to meet her eyes as he lied.
She shrugged and stuffed another piece in her mouth. "Apparently there's terrible consequences like that for necromancers too." She pulled the box closer to her. "Typically it just manifests into getting a bigger ass."
Before Micah could help himself, he laughed. Somewhat embarrassed, he quickly stifled the quip into a cough. He looked up to see Briseis staring at him with a curious smirk. It caught him unaware and he prayed his obvious amusement wasn't so visible to her.
Briseis folded her arms, shock clearly visible on her face. So, Mr. Death does have a sense of humor, even if it's at my expense. I can work with that. "My ears must be playing tricks on me, because I could've sworn I heard you laugh."
Micah simply responded with a poker face.
Briseis shook her head. "Laughter doesn't mean you're an asshole. It means you're human." When Micah didn't respond, she sighed. She was quite intrigued of the dark stranger taking up residence in her home. There was definitely more to him to unwrap. And layer by layer she planned to peel back until all her questions were answered. "You mentioned before that the longer you stay down here, your body will begin to get tired?"
"Yes. It's a side effect of being on the mortal coil for long periods of time. The longer reapers are here, the more human we become. The five senses intensify, our bodies get tired, hungry."
Her ears picked up the frustration and angst in his voice. "You make it sound so unpleasant."
"It is. Most reapers do anything to avoid it." It was true. Being grounded was for angels, not reapers that had to maintain a certain level of control of themselves in order to serve in their duties properly. He'd seen many reapers fall from succumbing to their humanity and desire for earthly pleasures. Azrael had no patience for it and anyone who sullied their judgments in his name usually met the tip of his scythe if they were lucky. Micah couldn't remember the last time he felt hunger or sleepy or even remembered the feel of his fingertips against the multi-textured world of the mortal coil. As fascinating the new sensations felt, the fear of it loomed over him.
Briseis grimaced. "So being human to you is worst than death?"
Micah took a deep breath. He really didn't feel like explaining why being numb to the world was protection. It was a shield that every reaper needed, if you loved your job. "It's...complicated. But for reapers it compromises our judgment. Emotions, desires are all unacceptable traits."
Briseis scowled at his clear detest of the human condition. How odd for someone who appears so human to fear all of the traits that makes one so? Perhaps it was why he couldn't understand she bothered to cheer up a stranger with a dumb joke or resurrect a dying woman so she can be with the love of her life. How could she convince him to change his mind about her if he couldn't understand the basic human connection? "So there's nothing personal to your job? The souls you collect are a task to do and you just do it?"
Micah sat back as he picked up on her tone. "I see what you're getting at, Briseis, but for a reaper, it's the only way. Allowing our emotions to rule when claiming souls can be a disaster. Things like sympathy, pity...they can interfere and prevent you from doing what's right."
"So you feel nothing when you have to take a soul from a child or parent?"
Micah looked away. "That's not a fair question. I have a better understanding of what happens to those souls, so I don't have any remorse for good reason. Reapers don't rejoice in collecting souls; we aren't running around claiming souls when we're bored. We have to claim because it is the next step in that person's existence."
Briseis stared at him with bewilderment. "What? Death?"
"Death is a transition, Briseis, nothing more. It's simply another a way to move a being to another level of existence. Humans fear it because you fear anything you don't understand. It's in your nature to do so."
Briseis chewed her bottom lip. "Seems kinda unfair to make that assumption. You were human once...right?"
He met her eyes intently. "A very long time ago."
Briseis took another bite of her pizza and fiercely chewed as her gears began to turn. He was still this strange, mysterious presence in her life and she wanted to strip some of that aloofness away. "How many years we're talkin' here?"
Micah raised his eyebrow as she waited for him to answer. "Let's just say long enough to know that the human condition never changes. Your natural fear of the unknown is part of what allows us to do our work."
A smirk grew on Briseis lips. "That was a great pivot, right there, by the way." She folded the remaining slice of pizza and took a huge bite.
Micah lifted his chin and sat back a bit amused that she called him out as well as her cheeks swollen with pizza as she scrutinized him. "I'm here to answer your questions, remember? The questions you want answers to are not about me."
"What if they are? I mean, if you're as old as you let on, then you're a reaper who knows what sort of rules I'm breaking. If you truly mean to show me the error of my ways, that is."
"I do Briseis Devereaux. In fact, I think it's time we begin to talk about these rules."
Briseis waved another pizza slice in his face and smiled. "Sounds like it's gonna be a long night. You better tank up on this melty, melty goodness right now if you're gonna have the stamina to keep up with me and my tenacity."
Micah shook his head at the slice of pizza that dripped grease and cheese onto the inside of the box. He looked past it to her smile. The warmth of it radiating where he sat. This witch was a little too beguiling for her own good. "Why are you trying to feed me?"
Briseis rolled her eyes and plopped the pizza back down in the box, defeated. "Ugh, because I'm my mother's daughter, that's why."
He raised his eyebrow at her cryptic comment.
Reaching for the kitchen towel to wipe the grease from her hands, she turned to look back at him. "I'm a southern woman, okay? I believe in feeding all people living and breathing, notwithstanding, that includes you. I'm sorry if you feel like I'm jamming delicious, melty pizza down your throat. I just wanted to be polite." She closed the box. "There, I'll no longer tempt the untemptable."
Micah looked at the closed pizza box and at her. "Thank you, Briseis."
His was voice deep and serene and Briseis somehow visualized silk ribbons fluttering through the darkness to describe how sound waves of his voice must depict. She was tempted to hand him the cookbook on the counter and ask him to read it. Maybe that was an easier request than to get the man to eat something.
She pushed her hair back with a huff. "You're welcome. If you somehow decide to experience Missy Rae's pizza nirvana, it'll be in the fridge. You can nuke it, but it's also pretty awesome cold." Briseis opened the fridge and set the box inside before coming back to her mug to heat up some tea. Plopping down in the stool next to him, she set her cup down. Immediately, she shivered from his aura and when looking at him, noticed that he noticed her reaction. "Micah, I'm sorry--"
He waved her response away. "You can't change how you react to me, Briseis."
Briseis took the opportunity to admire the man sitting across from her. "No. No, I cannot. Can I?" He didn't really seem to fit the darkness he possessed. Everything about his physical attributes were bright. Warm even. From his golden blond hair and square jaw to his full lips that she couldn't seem to stop fantasizing about. The floral scent of jasmine and lilies were faint but still followed him. Didn't seem to be an end to how out of place and odd his presence was to her. "So, I imagine you'd like to know more about my rules that keep me from breaking the system." She took a sip of her tea, making an unapologetic slurping sound.
"You have rules?" Micah asked.
"Well, yeah. Of course I do. I have them to keep from making a mess of things in necromancy. I think it's important you understand where I'm coming from."
Micah sighed. "I hate to start this off on the wrong foot, but I highly doubt that any of your rules are protecting you because there's a reason I'm in your home right now. There's a reason that Azrael sent me here to handle you."
Briseis frowned. "Handle me?"
"If we're being honest here, yes. You are considered as out of control to him and your actions have made a ripple of mass changes to his plans. He's not happy and neither are his reapers."
She folded her arms, listening to him reprimand her. "Why? Because I overturned their shitty ruling?"
"Yes."
"The people I've brought back aren't hurting anything, Micah. They are simply humans that wanted to live. It wasn't their time."
"Says who?"
"Says me, alright?" Briseis leaped off the stool. Her blood hot from anxiety, she glared at him from behind her stool. "Your boss made a bad call and I thought better of it. I don't see him taking those lives back, so he must've thought something I did was right!"
"Briseis..."
"No, I have rules that work and makes sense to me, alright!" She listed the rules out with her fingers. "I only bring those back that want to live. I don't bring people back who's been dead for more than 3 days and I don't piece mutilated bodies back together. I've managed to stay under the radar and help people who would've been six feet under. You guys swoop down from wherever and just take whomever whenever you want because Azrael has 'a plan'." She gestured air quotes that visibly annoyed Micah. "But I'm the one who's out of control? Micah, no offense, but you're too removed from being human, but if you weren't you'd understand that we're all connected and a saved life reflects in more than just that person's life."
Micah slid off the stool and eyed her standing behind the stool, her body language screaming in defense. "It's harder to take a soul back after its been reclaimed, Briseis. Careful planning. Years of planning is taken to weave the situation together where we're able to collect a soul. There is no swooping down like a thief in the night. People are connected together and broken apart to make new connections. It's not magic, Briseis. It takes buckets of time to fulfill."
Briseis looked down at the floor and felt her heart tugging at a thought. "You're right. It's not magic. How much time did it take for your black winged buddies to weave a plot for my mother? For me?" She stared at him as his eyes slightly dipped in remorse. "Yeah, I thought so. You guys play with people's lives, nothing more."
"Someone could say the same about you." Micah replied with a frown.
His words hit her like a slap and all she could think of was getting away. She whipped around and snatched her coat off the arm of the sofa.
Micah watched her tie up her hair and grab her phone. "Where are you going?"
"Out of here. I'm gonna need something a lot stronger than that fucking tea if we're gonna be talking about life, death and everything in between."
"I want to continue answering your questions, Briseis."
Her watery turquoise eyes met him. "And I need a break, Micah." She took a breath. "Gonna take a walk and air out. I'll be back later and you can continue. Alright?"
Micah nodded as she closed the door behind her. Running his fingers through his hair, he looked up at the ceiling and frowned. He didn't know what he was supposed to expect, but so far, everything seemed fubar. Briseis was so defensive and no matter what he did, it seemed he was the bad guy. "Saffron! This is bullshit!" He yelled to the ceiling. There was no answer from above, but yet it seemed to come from his thoughts instead. "To hell with this. I'm not done yet."
Briseis nearly felt like she was marching down the street. The nerve of that guy. Like she's some sort of loose cannon he's sent to handle? "No one's gonna fucking 'handle me'." she muttered aloud. How could someone so hot be such an asshole? Turning the corner, Briseis stopped as her cell phone buzzed. She pulled it out and swiped her finger to see that Facebook notified her that a friend was in the proximity. Sighing with relief, she shoved the phone in her pocket and continued to head towards the neighborhood bar, Homedale. There was only one friend she really had and right now, scoring a drink with a human being sounded pretty awesome. Just before she got to the door she felt a hand on her arm and instinctively jerked it away to see Micah standing next to her. Screaming, Briseis stepped back against the window. "Micah! What the fuck! If you want me to stop being frightened of you, you've gotta stop sneaking up on me!"
"We aren't finished talking about this."
"Tonight we are! I'm gonna have a drink and you shouldn't be here!"
A couple of men ran out with the commotion and looked at Briseis then Micah with suspicious eyes.
"Is everything okay lady?" One guy asked, still eyeing Micah as a menace.
Briseis sucked in a breath then looked at her ball and chain of a reaper then the bar patrons who awkwardly came to her rescue. Micah had no emotion written on his face. No fear for the three big dudes staring at him like they want to pound him into submission. He just stood there like he was made for that stature. Unwavering and stubborn. A bit like her.
"Yeah. We were just joking around. He's with me."
They nodded and began to move past a familiar face standing in the doorway of the bar. Briseis looked up and groaned. Oh God, what timing.
"Hey Bree! What are doing causing all this commotion?" Hal leaned against the door and smiled.
###
Stubborn is as stubborn does! Bree and Micah are a tug of war indeed. Now, she's gotta introduce Hal to him. How do you think this is gonna play out? Maybe some booze will loosen headstrong Bree? We'll see!