"Are you out of your bloody mind?! No! Absolutely not!" I protest furiously. How dare he tells me to eat this innocent girl's soul when I specially informed him that I draw a line at consuming them?! I won't go through with this!
"You need to learn how to be a proper demon and demons are known to eat souls or negotiate into taking custody of one." Damian scolds and walks to the girl who I noticed is very young. At most, ten or so.
"I'm not going to eat her soul! She's too young to-" I begin before Damian interrupts me.
"Die? Garrick, everyone dies at some point and this girl is no different! She has nobody and will not be missed! By eating her soul, you'll be doing her a favor in leaving this awful world!" Damian explains.
Shaking my head in defiance, I back away from the loon. "I'm not going to eat her soul and that's final, Damian!" I declare firmly and ignite my transformation into a raven.
My bones shrink back to my animal form as my feathers grow out from my skin. My feet turn to talons, my hair into feathers, my lips to a beak, my arms into wings and my eyes dilate to a black pupil. As soon as I became a raven, I hastily flap my wings and fly up to the sky before Damian could have gotten the chance to grab me.
I have to leave. . . I have to go there. Damn, I'm already late! I hope he hasn't grown suspicious. . . The gothic castle I came to know from my frequent visits comes into view along with an open window where I see the vampire prince pacing in his room. What could be on his mind right now?
I quietly flew into my friend's room and land on the windowsill, watching the vampire prince lost in thought. Whatever is on his mind has him completely focus on it for he hasn't noticed my presence at all. Perhaps, I should signal him that I'm here? I thought then let out a caw.
Alexandru's head quickly turns to face me and smiles as he walks to me. "How long were you waiting there for me? You could have just said something the minute you walked in, Doru." He chuckles. "Come here, you must be hungry right?"
Yes! I'm starving! I thought and flew to his shoulder, nuzzling my head into his cheek. Maybe I can show him my true self today and we can finally meet properly. . .
"I'll go get you some berries." Alexandru declares, walking off to the kitchen with me still on his shoulder.
After he gathered a bowl of my favorite berries and watched me eat them, Alexandru takes me outside so he could do some hunting. I'm thinking whether or not now is a good time for me to revert to my normal self since I have prolonged it for too long and I don't know how much longer I can keep this act up. I'll just wait until he's done feeding.
Alexandru heads off to the village and looks for someone to drink off. But something feels off about the village. It looks vaguely familiar. Isn't this where Damian wanted me to learn how to be a proper demon? Before I could go any further with my question, my eyes pick up on a dark figure, who I automatically assume it to be Damian, a few yards away from where I'm sitting.
He's found me! I thought and let out a caw to alarm Alexandru but he's not listening to me. He's too busy devouring the human's blood. I must leave now while I can. By doing that, I could prevent Damian from seeing Alexandru and I won't get into any trouble with my parents. Yes, I have to leave right now if I'm to protect my friend.
Taking one glance at Alexandru drinking the blood of his meal, I silently flew off from my post on a tree branch and head toward the woods. Assuming that Damian spotted me and has decided to chase after me, I venture deeper into the woods until an idea popped into my head.
If I fly high above the trees, I could blend with the rest of the animals still up and about. Diving sky high to the trees for coverage, I observe the ground below me and see that I was right about Damian chasing me. I better come up with an excuse for leaving him. I thought to myself while I fly back down to him.
Once I'm close to the ground, I revert back to my normal form behind Damian. Except, Damian wasn't wearing an odd attire nor did he used a cane. "If you're done flying around and wasting your time with vampires, I would prefer it if you don't try to sneak up on me, Garrick. You wouldn't want to die prematurely and by me." The man said before me.
"How did you-" I begin until he holds up his right hand. Did he just silent me?
"Let's skip the formalities, shall we?" He suggests as he turns to face me where I take in his appearance.
For one thing, he looks older than me by about ten years but looks young nonetheless. Young and confident as if he looks like an earl or something of the sort with his hands on the length of his cane and a hat at its end. His hair is a dark brown, his skin a nice tan, and his eyes are brown. His clothes suggests that he has loads of money but I do not have a single idea from where he chose his clothing. Perhaps England's taste in clothes have changed drastically since I left.
"I suppose. . ." I murmur. What does he want with me? The prophecy! Great, he's another angel.
"Good lad. I'm known by many names but to make things simple and short, I am Death." He replies.
"Death? As in the grim reaper?" I ask. I never seen a reaper before but I have heard of them from my mother. She warned me that reapers do not particularly like demons because of the soul issues.
Death lets out a frustrated sigh and shook his head. "Grim reapers are my employees. Think of me as the boss of them. The one who tells them who to reap souls once a human being dies. But I'm not here to tell you of my work. I'm here to see you. My future benefactor." He explains.
"Benefactor? I don't know what you're talking about." I question.
"Garrick, let's not circle around this. I do have the power to kill everyone you love with a simple thought of how I want them to die. Be honest with me and I'll be honest with you, fair deal?" Death negotiates. Without even a second's thought, I nod my head in agreement.
"You know about the prophecy as well. What else do I have to listen about this time?" I ponder, knowing full well he's about to give me some dull lecture about it.
"Unlike that angel of yours, I'm not here to offer protection nor insist that you take part on the prophecy." Death commences. "I'm here to offer a few words of. . ."
"Advice?" I finish, noticing he looked loss for words.
"I was going to say foresight, but you can see it as advice if you like." Death states. "I've heard rumors that you don't plan to kill anyone. I'm not here to hear about your reasons for not doing it."
"It's quite simple really but since you don't want to hear it, get on with what you came to see me for." I snap. Why am I being hostile around Death?!
"Temper, temper. I see you haven't bothered to take care of yourself but I won't take long. Once I'm done, I highly recommend you find a soul to consume and I'll make sure my workers won't give you a hard time." Death observes. Not another one. . . Even Death wants me to eat a soul!
"Thank you for the offer but no thank you. I'm trying not to consume a single soul." I politely decline.
"If you say so, but on that note, I want you to know something." Death replies.
"What?" I ask suspiciously. Is he finally going to tell me why he wanted to meet me?
"Death is inescapable. Sooner or later, everyone and everything dies. Even you with your immortality will greet me as a friend." Death affirms without any hesitation. "We will meet again and when I do, it is to witness your true nature at work."
"And what do you think is my so called true nature?" I question, my anger flaring up again but I managed to control it. I don't want someone to die because I insulted Death and he is not one I want to disrespect.
"To kill." Death declares in an ominous tone.
Ironically, when he said that, the temperature around us freezes and everything went silent. My eyes caught glimpses of leaves shriveling up until they become brown and the grass freezing up with frost growing on them. There was even a small fog emerging out from Death himself. Though, I believe he is unaware of our surroundings.
"And what in hell's name gives you that idea?" I question. Honestly, I know my combined ethnicities can draw me as a monster but that's not who I am. I am not a monster and I will never stoop that low. I will make sure of it.
"The fact you haven't had a soul to subside that demonic part of you will transform you into my benefactor whether you want it to happen or not is the reason." Death points out.
"I am not going to eat anyone's soul!" I growl. How many times do I have to say that?!
"Of course you won't. Now then, I have spent too much of my time with you and I'm very busy. It is a pleasure to meet you, Garrick Gastrell. Let's meet again, hopefully this time you have controlled the demon inside of you." Death declares and walks past me. But I wasn't going to allow him to leave like that.
As soon as he stood side by side with me, I place my hand on his forearm. "I will learn to control it without consuming a soul and I am not going to kill anyone for you or anyone else." I snarl lowly.
I don't know exactly what I was trying to achieve by menacing him like that but I certainly wasn't expecting him to laugh at me. After he had his fit calmed down, he faces me with a small smirk and his eyes directly staring into mine. I literally felt as though he was looking inside of my soul and I would be lying if I said I wasn't terrified.
"We will just have to see about that, won't we? Until we meet again, try not to change. It would be ashamed if you lost that spark you have right now." Death advises. My grip on him loosens which allowed him to walk away to who knows where. Probably the underworld or Hell or wherever it is he goes to send his reapers to do his bidding.
I've had enough visitors for one evening. I thought to myself and will my shapeshifting abilities to revert into my raven form. Once I became my raven self, I took off towards the one person who knows nothing about me yet. I flew to Alexandru's castle and dove into his room, landing on his pillow.
He's not here yet but I can take a nap here and wait for his return. I thought tiredly to myself and adjust my position till I found a comfortable spot. Immediately after I found it and began to shut my eyes, sleep took its toll on me.
*Nickole's Note*
Hey guys! I did it! I finally updated but I know you guys are eager to read the next chapter so I'll make this quick, ok? Good, now onto the Fun Facts!
1. The pic above is of Ed Westwick and you might recognize him as Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl. That's right, I chose Ed Westick to be Death in this story. Mostly because I really fell in love with that pic above and thought it made the perfect visual for Death. Don't get excited because he'll only come back much further into the series and then that's it.
And that's all! I told you this Note was going to be short. Anyway, I know you guys are eager to read the next chapter so I'll see you guys there. As always, I hope you guys liked the chapter and I will try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can. If you guys have any questions about when I'll update the next chapter or why I'm taking so long, please check out my activity page for more information. Until then, I'll see you guys next time! Enjoy~