William returned to the office close to 1 in the morning, slightly flustered beneath the surface, but remaining stoic. He took the elevator to the 17th floor – the dispatch director's office – and hoped that his boss was still there. The Directors usually worked late, William knew from experience; he had spent more than a few late nights helping them out with their busywork. This was still no guarantee that he would be around, but William wanted to get this out of the way as soon as possible.
He walked down the hallway of uniform doors, very aware of his footsteps echoing against the freshly shined tile. He was probably the last person here, as per usual. One must do some unpleasant things while working towards management; a fact William knew all too well. However, instead of bringing armfuls of finished documents to the director's office, tonight William only had a small manila envelope containing a demon feather, and hope of being believed.
When he approached the door at the end of the hallway, he saw a light peeking out through the cracks in the form of tiny speckles. The Director was there, but did not want it to be known. He tended to put a blanket or a towel beneath the door in order to hide the light, but it was never a perfect plan. Those who had spent enough time running back and forth between the Director's office and various departments knew when he was there.
William knocked three times on the door, stepped back and waited for a response. He knew there would be one. Though he tried to hide his presence, his boss would always answer if called upon personally. Few people would dare to approach him directly, and those who did always had a legitimate reason – they had to. William truly hoped that this would be considered legitimate.
The door cracked open and a middle aged shinigami peeked out, his oval shaped glasses hitting the sides of the door frame. "Well it's about time, I've been waiting for my coffee... Oh, you aren't Miss Powell. My apologies, Mr. Spears."
"There is no need to apologize, sir."
"Indeed, indeed. Now, what is it you need?"
"I have something important to discuss with you regarding my soul count over the last week. I have something that..."
The Director sighed, cutting William off. "If this is about alleged demon sightings..."
"Sir, I have proof."
The Director's eyes went wide, and William realized what he had done. Interrupting a superior was a horrible taboo, and he could easily be punished for it. He had already broken the rules tonight, and it was likely with his recent record that he would be forced into a temporary demotion.
"William, please come in." the Director said, opening the door just enough for him to enter. This was awful: Directors didn't use first names unless something very serious was going on. William very well may be getting a temporary demotion, on the first week of his new job too. He could never live that down.
The Director sat down behind his desk, and ordered William to sit also. It was fortunate that he was standing in front of a chair; when the Director tells you to sit down, you sit down right where you are.
Stirring a cup of stale, cold coffee the elder shinigami spoke, "William, may I see this evidence?" William placed the envelope on his boss's desk and watched as he opened it. He looked in the envelope and back to William several times before taking out the feather and placing it in front of his employee. "What is this?"
"It is a demon feather, sir. I found it tonight after..." William paused.
"After what?"
"... After it took another one of my souls, sir."
The Director's face grew dark, and his voice became low. "A third one, Spears?"
"I apologize sir... it was..."
"The demon?" he snorted.
"... yes sir."
The older man sighed and removed his glasses, resting his head on his hand. "William, I didn't expect this to happen to you. You always seemed the level headed type. That's why I trusted you as a supervisor."
A lump formed in William's throat. He knew what this meant. He was going to be demoted, suspended, perhaps even fired. This would be the end of him.
"I think, considering your performance this last week, that this new position is becoming difficult for you."
He was preparing himself for the earth shattering words that would end his career.
"I think it would be best if you took a day off."
"A day off?" William repeated, clearly shocked.
"I've seen this happen to more than a few new supervisors. The stress gets to them, they stay up too late working, and they start messing up. I can't afford for mistakes from you right now, we have enough problems already."
"But the feather, I found it..."
"William. Please go home."
"Yes sir..." William said, bowing his head and turning from the room. A day off? This couldn't be happening. The Director had requested that he use up his vacation time before, and that he understood (as much as it bored him) but he had never been forced to take a day off for something like "stress". He wasn't stressed, he didn't get stressed. It just wasn't in his nature.
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It had been a while since William had been outside the office this late at night. He was usually assigned earlier collections so that he could fix any mistakes made by his subordinates during the night, so he usually didn't get to leave until about 5 (to get his precious 3 or 4 hours of sleep). When he went home, people were usually waking up and going to their own jobs just as he was leaving his. It was never this quiet, it was never this still. It should have been peaceful, but was far from it.
He could sense what was happening on the roofs above him. It was that thing again, that disgusting, greedy, trouble making thief of a thing following him, stalking him, watching him. If only he could pinpoint it, he could...
William stopped, feeling the stare from above, seeing the flitting shadow on the roof. It was there, and it was moving. It knew what he was trying to do, and it didn't want to be seen. Or perhaps it just didn't want to be caught. But William was done with this; he took out his scissors (of all times he needed his scythe) and hurled it towards the demon.
His breath caught in his throat.
It had caught them. It had his scissors.
"You!" he shouted, too infuriated to think of anything else to do as the shadow darted between the walls and landed as a dark blur at the corner, about 20 feet away.
"Demon, what do you want?" William said, imitating perfectly a voice of self assurance, grasping his second pair of scissors in his belt. This was a nightmare; though he found demons to be bothersome and useless creatures, they were intelligent and cunning, not to mention quick. Torture and murder were engrained in their genes, right next to an innate mindless hatred. They had no capacity for compassion or mercy, and never felt regret. One of these creatures was walking towards him, and it was in possession of half his scythe. William was far from self-assured.
"What do I want?" it asked, within feet of him now. He could now see the outline in the darkness, the violet eyes, the pale skin. It was an unpleasant looking thing. When it stopped before him, it lifted the scissors, and William prepared to fight, possibly to the death.
But the demon stopped before killing the reaper, held out the scythe and said "I wanted to return this to you. It seems that it slipped out if your hand and somehow made its way to the roof."
What? William screamed inside his head. What was this demon playing at? He took the scythe before the demon changed its mind, and repeated his earlier question. "What do you want, demon?"
"Hm? I believe we have already discussed that. I wanted to..."
William grabbed the demon by the throat and slammed him against the nearest building. "Why are you following me?"
He could both hear and feel the demon's laughter, and forced himself not to shudder at the sound. He knew now that it would haunt him for nights to come, and he could be afraid then, but not now.
"I said 'Why are you following me?'!"
"I wasn't aware that I was."
"I am not in the mood to play with you, demon!" William warned him, pressing a pair of his scissors to the creature's throat.
"I can see that. Those scissors are truly intimidating. I must say I am very scared." he smirked.
"Don't try my patience. I don't waste time on things like you. Answer me now."
"Or you'll kill me? That's something I would like to see. But you wouldn't. There is a strict rule against killing those not on 'the list', isn't there? You're in enough trouble already."
William tried to suppress a shudder. How much did he know? How long had he been watching?
"Because of you." He pressed the scythe harder, almost enough to cut.
"Are you suggesting that I got you in trouble? I'm not the one who can't perform the simple task of protecting souls. I've actually been doing what I am supposed to be doing, unlike some."
"Tch. You mean stealing?"
"Stealing? Not at all. How was I to know that you were trying to collect it? The soul wasn't in your possession, so by definition I didn't steal anything from you. By all rights, I should be the one angry with you for assaulting me like this. Quite barbaric. I believe I shall go complain to my higher ups about this."
"Watch your tongue, vermin. You aren't in a position to be mocking me."
"Is that so? I believe that this is a very easy position to mock you. After all, you have a weapon to my throat, you could kill me at any instant, yet you are too afraid to do so. I find that to be grounds for mocking."
"This is a final warning to you, demon. If I see you again I will kill you on sight."
"Will you? I should be careful then." he smirked, as William released him. The shinigami remained where he was for several minutes afterward to ensure that the demon was not following him home. The last thing he needed was for that thing to know where he lived. When he figured that he was alone (save for a few birds perched overhead on a window ledge) William headed back home, still on guard even as he reached his apartment.
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