Kiriel sighed as she sat in the water. It was a beautiful little stream, clear as a priceless crystal. The peace made her start thinking. It had been three months since she left Hell and no one had even been sent to check on her. She felt something under neath her squirm a little. She frowned a little and wiggled her butt. The squirming stopped. Kiriel went back to her thinking. She reflected back on the first day the Rebels had been sent to Hell. They had created it together, and worked hard to make sure it started working. To make sure they made an imprint on the world The Creator was working on. And, of course, Kiriel had been put in the lowest job. Maybe that's why they didn't miss her.
She sighed again, but this time it was because the figure under her was squirming again, she reached under and hit a pressure point on the man's back. She had been sitting on his back for- she checked her watch - five minutes now. This guy never gave up. Contrary to popular belief, even if one were to add together all the murders done by Demons, it still wouldn't match up to The Creator's murder count. However, it seemed to have become a contest, for demons were becoming... Restless. Kiriel prided herself on what few morals she had, and had only hunted down and killed criminals. None of those petty crimes like stealing a candy bar. Kiriel went for the murderers and the rapists. The ones who destroyed families in more ways than one. The ones that would make even Superman sick with disgust. Kiriel looked down calmly as the man regained consciousness and raised his own head out of the water. She lifted a little when he tried to sit up, for she had been sitting on his back. Kiriel calmly grabbed the back of his head and smashed it harshly back into the water. She heard a large crack, even under the water, and felt him go rigid and still and she knew she had hit a rock and cracked his skull open. Shattered it even. She shoved the man so he was floating with the current before reached below the water's surface and grabbed the rock. "Fucker chipped it." She mumbled to herself before pocketing the chipped rock, a souvenir, and standing. The man was already surrounded in his own blood. The water was as clear as glass, so it was easy to see where the man's blood was. Kiriel tilted her head. "One more for the scoreboard." She mumbled, almost angrily, before stalking off.
Death came silently as the mortal man perished by the demon's hands, arms ready to reap the remains of another lost soul. It mattered not whom by, but only the fast the time had now come to pass where immortality would finally become a reality for the pathetic soul. Still, it was known the man had not accepted his lack of significance when he was alive, and so was not willing to greet Death so easily. The sound of the scythe cutting through the air was non-existent, for it was swift and balanced beyond the realms of the mortal world. Death paid Kiriel little heed as it reaped, focus seeping from the very core of this hollow being as black began to envelope the entity and the lost one. Smoke both thick and intangible seemed to cloud them, though in reality there was none - only oppressive atmosphere now encasing those present whole.
Kiriel froze as she started to leave. She felt a tingling sensation start in her toes and work it's way up her spine, freezing there. She knew this feeling all to well. It was a feeling that rose its head whenever an unearthly, an ungodly, creature was near. She slipped into a bush, realizing that it had frightened her, something she wasn't used to. She watched from the sanctity that the bushes provided as Death took its toll. She had always been fascinated by the Reapers, even if she'd only ever seen them once in a blue moon. The other demons would talk about how the Reapers were their own society of sorts, keeping to themselves as they always had. The demon hadn't expected to see one, she hadn't since her first kill. Her head poked up through the bushes when she saw the scythe.
An unearthly glint cast from the blade of the Reaper's weapon, casting an equally ineffable glow across the blade of the Earth. Another soul was harvested, the ghostly image of the man's vacant face was the last projection to be seen before the disapparition of his life force faded. Death sensed the living ones around it, trees expelling oxygen only to be inhaled by surrounding mammals to use for their own self-preservation. There was another force in the air, one Death had not come across in quite some time - the non-living sensation of a demon. The Reapers knew of the demons, stemming from a world between Reality and the Underworld they watched over all. The demon had taken this man's life before his time, and thus the Reapers own existence was extended. Hollowed eyes of the Ram's skull turn toward Kiriel, simply gazing with vacancy toward her that created a thick tension in the air between them which seemed unsurpassable.
The young woman froze when her eyes met empty sockets. She had never actually seen the face - or lack thereof - of a Reaper, and it was more frightening than she had expected. She almost pitied the mortals. Almost. One foot in front of the other, she slowly made her way out from behind the bush. She felt her human disguise disappearing, something it hasn't done since she appeared in the mortal Earth. She had become a spirit of sorts, one that didn't seem to know its own identity as faces of people she'd tortured flickered across her face.
The bony structure of Death's arm rose as Kiriel stepped forward from her hiding place, almost as if in warning should she step closer. An icy chill filled the air of the living realm as the Reaper moved over the grass and began gliding over the grass towards the demon. Faces of the deceased flashed over the baron skull in sync with their appearances as they flowed in place of Kiriel's true identity. Reapers knew when they were being deceived and it was not something which kept them complacent. A thin finger raised and threatened to touch Kiriel, expelling her forever unless she showed her true form. Her eyes widened a little and she took a small step back. In truth, she was more afraid of the Reapers than she was of Lucifer himself. She shrank back when it made its way towards her, ready to make a mad dash for who-knows-where, even though she knew she'd be caught. One does not simply outrun Death.
The instant the Reaper raised it's finger, Kiriel turned into a small ball. It was a spirit ball of sorts, and this was her usual form. The lower demons weren't given more physical forms, so they had to travel as spirit balls. Her eyes disappeared, but it was still obvious that she was staring at Death in the eye, terrified. Slowly the Reaper's arm lowered as the true form of it's current company was revealed. Death gazed upon the ball for what seemed to be aeons, the sense of a nod reaching the small demon before Death dropped a small gemstone, glowing deep onyx but upon closer inspection revealed wisps of silvery streams glowing within. Death rewarded the demon with a soul stone, the remains of fragments from soul that had broken apart and manifested in a physical body. These stones could be found only in the Vacant Realm where Reapers dwelled, and were incredibly rare - the mortals only hearing of them in legend.
The stone was a reward for the honesty of Kiriel, and also as a repayment for extending the Reaper's life. In a cloud of fog which suddenly fell upon the once sunny creek, Death retired from the mortal realm, though it would not be the last time. Kiriel waited a beat after Death had disappeared. She slowly shifted back into her form of flickering faces, and then her "mortal" form. She slowly made her way over and picked up the soul stone. She took the stone she had smashed the man's head on and tossed it back into the water, replacing it in her pocket with the soul stone. She quickly retreated, the ice cold shivers still tormenting her bones and muscles. The stone felt like cry ice against Kiriel's thigh, though lacking in pain and only causing a sensation of hot and cold numbness. It would be priceless in this world, however in the Underworld a price would surely be placed upon it. A gem so rare was hard to come by, Reapers did not give them so sparingly. Gently, the slim hand pet the stone as it sat in her pocket. Through her many years of "work", she had grown cold to pain and torture, but the cold of the stone was almost comforting. She knew of the rarity of the stone, especially when demons were concerned. The fact that she now had one almost made her giddy. It was strange, and she was questioning why she had it. The thought slipped her mind when she finally got back to her small home and curled up under the covers. The stone now rested in a secret nook she had created.
What Kiriel did not know, what that the stones were also passages for the Reapers to find the owner of the stone at will, should there be any deaths nearby. If the demon were to kill another as she had done this day, then Death would know of it, and transcend dimensions faster that lightning and graceful as the wind. Death was tragic, but magnificent; a curse upon all mortal men and a fear we are all born with. The Reaper and Demon would cross paths again soon, this was a certainty, for everybody knows the workers of the Underworld kill unexpectedly but never only once.