"Serpentine"
Author note: And here you have it, the long-awaited sequel! Hope you enjoy!
It was a dark, stormy night in the city of London, and the rain was lashing down. Thunder rolled and lightning flashed, illuminating a figure perched on a nearby rooftop. The man crouched, seemingly unaffected by the downpour; he didn't mind getting a little wet as it was a simple matter for one such as him to dry off. The wind whipped at his long auburn hair and snatched the black velvet ribbon binding it and ripped it away.
"Oh fiddle, and that was my favorite one," he complained to no one in particular as the ribbon soared out of sight.
He supposed he could have caught it if he'd tried, but he was too absorbed in his task to bother. His eyes flared a bright yellow at the thought of the confrontation to come. As his anticipation and excitement grew, he could feel an itching at the roof of his mouth. His fangs longed to be set free, to swing down and into striking position, but he held back.
"This is a discussion, not a kill," he reminded himself, speaking aloud.
His powerful thigh muscles bunched. Three, two one… He leapt from the building and landed in the street in front of the shop he'd been watching, a feat that would have killed a mere mortal.
Inside, Undertaker started. He'd been so absorbed in his work of readying a body for a funeral that he hadn't even caught the odd scent until it was nearly too late. The door was flung open just as he reached the main area of the shop and a figure loomed in the doorway.
"Is it really you?" Undertaker asked, for once not his usual amused self. "It's been, well…ages! My goodness, you're all grown up, aren't you?"
"I've been grown for hundreds of years," the other ground out. "And don't even bother with my old name…it's Rue now."
"Rue, is it? A bitter plant indeed, ehehe!" Undertaker chuckled. "Rue's for regret, you know."
"Yes, I know," Rue drawled. "I'm everyone's regret, yours most of all!"
This last bit was delivered with an open-mouthed snarl, and Rue could no longer control himself. His fangs swung down and forward and his tongue transformed, becoming forked.
"Doesss it pain you to sssee me again?" Rue demanded, his "s's" becoming sibilant the more his serpent-demon side took over.
"It's not you, Rue!" Undertaker pleaded, all mirth uncharacteristically leaving him.
"Yess, 'It'sss not you, Rue! It'ssss what your father did!'" Rue mocked, his eyes blazing yellow and flickering as if lit from within by the very fires of hell. "Excussesss! You've hated me sssince the day I was born!"
"Not you, Rue, never you!" protested Undertaker, attempting to embrace the younger being.
Rue drew back with a snakelike hiss.
"No, Mother, it'sss not that easssy," he spat, speaking the title as if it was a dirty word. "I left because I could sssenssse your disssgussst. You tolerated me asss long asss you could."
"The Elders located you and even had you privately trained because they knew what an uproar it would cause if you went through the academy like most young shinigami," Undertaker said, realizing he was getting nowhere with his son on the topic of his feelings for him.
"Yesss, and it'sss given me many tasssty mealsss. I imagine I eat better than mossst demonsss, who mussst form contracts with humansss and wait yearsss for their sssoulsss," Rue admitted, distracted by Undertaker's gambit.
Undertaker had to admit that it did make him somewhat uneasy that Rue's demon side was dominant, but it didn't disgust him as Rue contended that it did. He'd dealt with plenty of demons over the centuries. One, however, had bested him. Gleeful at having captured a reaper, the creature set about humiliating him any way it could, including rape. Several months later, Undertaker had realized that, as impossible as it seemed, he was expecting. The result, of course, was now standing before him.
Shinigami and demons, along with many other supernatural beings, could appear any age they wished after reaching adulthood. Rue preferred a rather youthful appearance, what would be equivalent to a human male in his early twenties.
"The mass death scenes I work are positively delightful. One soul a scene for my very own- much better than being some human's pet for years, possibly decades," Rue continued. "Tame demons- hmph!"
Undertaker could tell that Rue was calming as the sibilance had disappeared from his speech; he was beginning to reassert control over his form. Actually, he supposed that Rue likely had several forms, including the demon one that had just been breaking through until Rue had suppressed it. He had never seen the boy in complete demon form, however, and could only guess at it in instances such as this.
"What brings you back to London, hmm?" he asked Rue.
"Special assignment, as usual," Rue grinned. Suddenly he became more solemn, although a hint of excitement still crept into his tone. "I wish I could have been here five years ago, though, when my betrothed was born."
"Betrothed? You don't mean…"
"I don't know her name, but it is true- every shinigami, including me, felt when it happened."
"It may be true that shinigami can sense a momentous even such as the birth of a second halfblood, but where did you get the idea that you and Lottie are betrothed?"
"The prophecy," Rue breathed, almost prayerfully. "I need to…I need to meet her!"
"Hold on, prophecy?"
Rue made a noise and rolled his eyes, as if to say that Undertaker, of all people, should have been aware of this important vaticination.
"It's in that book of yours, Mother. The huge purple one that foretold my birth and hers."
"Well for goodness' sake, Rue- by the way, I don't care for that name- that thing is as vague as Nostradamus! How I was I supposed to know that I was the shinigami who'd carry the first demon/shinigami hybrid ever? It could have been anyone!"
"Don't be obtuse," Rue groaned, frustrated. "I'm not blaming you, merely mentioning it as a means of designating which book I meant!"
"Then we ought to examine that augury, shouldn't we? Ehehehe!" Undertaker cackled, becoming himself again.
He hunted through the disorganized shelves of which his library consisted, musing to himself that he'd had no idea how far-reaching the effects of Rue's birth would be. He and many others in the upper echelons of the reaper realm had been sworn to secrecy on the whole matter. Ordinary rank-and-file reapers had no idea that Lottie wasn't the first of her kind. One heard rumors, but they were mostly dismissed as stories with no basis in fact. Now, however…If Rue was truly betrothed to Grell and Sebastian's daughter, he'd of course want to meet them, and if he met Grell, well…the flaming red reaper was hardly the soul of discretion. What an imbroglio the whole thing would turn into!
Finally, he spotted the sought-after volume and brought it down from the shelf.
"Give it here!" Rue cried eagerly, practically ripping it from Undertaker's arms.
"Calm down, m'boy! It's not going to change because you look at it a few seconds later!" the elder shinigami chuckled.
Rue eagerly flipped through the tome until he got to the passage he wanted.
"See, right here!" he cried, stabbing his finger at the page.
Undertaker leaned in and took a look for himself.
"'The two who are half-divine, half-damned are betrothed…' Well, this certainly seems to be straightforward," he remarked, looking up at Rue.
"You see why this book sometimes gave me comfort growing up? It reassured me that I wouldn't always be alone," Rue confided. "I realize that it will be years before she's old enough to wed, but still…I can be her chivalrous, devoted knight in shining armor until then."
He bowed, as if she was already standing before him. Suddenly, the night sky lit up brightly as a loud boom was heard.
"That would be my cue," Rue announced, a smirk on his mouth and his eyes glowing yellow. "Sorry to cut the reunion short, but duty calls."
So saying, he dashed out the shop and bounded away across the rooftops.