Reaper

Samuel sat perched on the edge of a headstone in the desolated cemetery. His head was bent and his arms were hanging limply between his legs. His long black trench coat fluttered in the cool breeze behind him and made him appear as if he were a lone crow. His brows knitted together as he bore the pain of hearing hundreds of voices echo through his head. Momma? Momma? Where are you momma? The soul of four year old Amber cried in his head. Its dark momma, I’m scared. Samuel groaned in pain and clenched his eyes shut and gritted his teeth. When a soul-stealer harbored a stolen soul, the soul remained with them until it reached its final resting place. It was a very painful experience. What was he suppose to do with Amber? He brought Legion Amber’s soul to devour but he denied it.

Legion asked him to bring him a four year old girl’s soul, and he brought him Amber’s so why didn’t he take it. Now Amber was forever with him because he sure as hell didn’t know how to release her. He had to think of a way to silence her, the more she screamed the more pain he was in. Children were always more difficult to calm, they didn’t care for reason or fate, in most cases they just wanted their parents and if he didn’t steal the parent’s soul too then it was extremely difficult to soothe.
“What cha’ doing out here, kid?” Samuel turned at Axel’s voice and squinted at him, if he only knew the pain he was in right now. Axel was the first ever soul stealer and he was the boss under Legion. Axel was Samuel’s mentor, every soul stealer had a mentor that taught them the ropes and if you were lucky enough to get Axel (which rarely anyone got) then you were definitely going to be very good at what you did.
“I’m trying to calm a crying child in my head, can’t you tell?” Samuel replied in irritation as he rubbed his temples to ease the pain. Axel walked over and touched Samuel’s arm and instantly transferred Amber to him. Axel had thousands of souls trapped inside him yet he acted as if he never felt pain. Samuel sighed in relief and looked up at Axel in appreciation.

“Thanks,” Samuel said, Axel waved him off and leaned casually on a headstone.

“Don’t worry about it, it takes a long time to get used to the pain,” Axel replied with a smirk. “Apparently, Legion has another job for you,”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me? What is it now?” Samuel asked in disinterest, Axel pulled out a piece of paper and cleared his throat as he read the description.

“He wants you to steal the soul of girl between the age of nineteen and twenty-four, he wants her to be naturally dark haired with green eyes, he prefers her to be pretty and around the height of 5’4, and he wants her to weight between 117 and 125 lbs,” Axel said as he folded the paper back up and placed it in his pocket. Samuel sighed; it was another day on the job. Legion was always this painfully specific, which meant that he had to do some serious searching. Samuel jumped off the tombstone and stretched.

“I’m on it,” Samuel said before he vanished. Within seconds he was in French Quarter, on Bourbon Street to be exact. The streets were lined with many different bars and it was booming with tourist. He never understood why some people came during December but that was the nature of some. His eyes searched endlessly as he wandered, he scanned every face and surprisingly enough, he found none who matched. He transported into one of the local bars and scanned the dimly lit room. The loud music was overbearing and his eyes stop at a woman at the bar who matched the description. Wait…that wasn’t a woman. Damn these boys with their tight pants and long hair! Just as he was about to leave he spotted a woman, at least he hoped it was a woman. She matched the description perfectly and not only that she was beautiful. She was sitting in a booth with two other female friends and they were all laughing and having drinks.

She would be easy to manipulate, everyone was always easy to manipulate. His eyes glowed as he mentally reached out to her. Come to me he commanded. As those words swirled in Amelia’s head she had no choice but to look up and spot the man standing by the entrance. He was a sight to see, his long black hair was gelled back and he had the most bizarre silver eyes, his skin was pale and he wore a long black trench coat and black leather pants and boots with a tight nylon black shirt. His feathers were something else; he had a face like a fallen angel, his eyes were sullen and cold but ultimately he was a gorgeous man.
”Come to me, now, he commanded again. Amelia gave her head a quick shake, what was she hearing in her head? God she was a lightweight when it came to drinking. Amelia had this big acting audition tomorrow and to clear her head she thought she would drink. That was a stupid thought because drinking did the exact opposite of clearing a head.
“Hey do you guys see that hot guy over there by the door?” Amelia asked her friends, Angel and Christina. They both looked over and then turned back to her in confusion.

“What guy?” Christina asked with a raised eyebrow.

“That guy right there, how can you miss him? He kinda stands out,” Amelia replied, Angel and Christina both looked back over and saw no one standing there.

“Lia, I think you’ve had enough, you’re starting to hallucinate,” Angel said as she took away Amelia’s drink.

”Come to me!” Samuel shouted in her head that jolted Amelia right out of her seat.

“Whatever, but I’m going to say hi,” Amelia said as she stumbled over to him. Angel looked over at Christina and smirked.

“Now you know she’s had too much to drink if she’s approaching a guy, even imaginary ones,” Angel said as she sipped her glass of tequila.

Samuel narrowed his eyes and walked back out of the bar, gesturing her to follow him. Amelia obediently followed after him and when her friends saw her leaving, they sprang up follow her. It wasn’t long before Amelia was led into a secluded alleyway. Samuel was waiting at the end of the alleyway and Amelia was completely under his spell. Samuel stepped closer to her, she really was beautiful, he felt guilty that he was going to be the one to end her life.
“Hi,” Amelia said enthusiastically. Samuel smiled at her and brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face. She had such a youthful glow, something that he’d long since lost, actually he couldn’t recall ever having such a happy glow.

“Hi,” he replied back sadly.

“So, what’s your name?” Amelia asked as she stared into his eyes.

“It doesn’t matter,”

“It doesn’t?” she asked in a daze, he shook his head no, and stepped closer to her. He took her into his arms and before she could protest he crushed his lips on hers and started to extract her soul out through her lips. As he consumed her soul in the deathly kiss, her skin turned deadly pale and her eyes lost their shine and animation. He could hear and feel her heartbeat slowing down. She lost her footing but he caught her and slowly lowered her to the ground. His lips left hers and he laid her down gently on the ground. She looked up at him and he wanted to turn away from her cold gaze but he couldn’t, her gaze seared him, her lips were parted as if she had last words but did not dare or she couldn’t utter them. She took very slow shallow breaths and seconds later her breaths and her heartbeat stopped completely.
She was dead. Another nameless soul he collected.

This time was different though, he never felt so bad for what he did before, not even with children. To see her eyes stare at him like that would haunt him forever but what was he to do, it was his job, his bargain and his afterlife.