Price of Freedom
Hoping to get this finished before the weather prevents me from posting today. If you don't see this today (Sunday) then expect two tomorrow.
Chapter 11
Annabelle was exhausted, but her day was not done just yet. She stood against the trunk of a large tree just on the edge of a sprawling property outside of London. Spread out in the woods nearby were five other reapers.
The fire from the burning manor reflected off of her glasses, making them appear to be a blazing orange. Despite it being well past six o'clock, she clearly had a lot of work to do. No one had perished in the blaze, but the source it was a demon. The Shinigami wanted to make certain that if Katherine was still around, she would not escape.
The house had been burning for some time when they reached it. Annabelle was sure Katherine was not around but they waited anyway.
Ronald joined her as the fire started to die. "Do you think we'll find anything?"
Annabelle shook her head. "The fire seems to have been meant to destroy everything. As for her," here Annabelle's voice adopted a bitter tone, "I think she's long gone."
"I don't doubt it."
She and Ronald stood there for several minutes in silence. The dying fire was soon extinguished completely by a fine misting rain. Wordlessly, the reapers stepped closer to the remains of the once great manor.
The once beautiful furniture was now smoking, black heaps that dotted the area. Here and there gleamed pieces of metal, most likely cutlery, that somehow escaped the fire. Bits of color contrasted against the black soot; they were parts of fabrics and wallpaper that were burning but put out by the misty rain.
Soot crunched under Annabelle's dress shoes as she stepped into the wreckage. She felt certain they would find nothing in the dark, ashy mess. Her feet kicked aside chunks of wood as she stepped further into the smoky remains.
"What was she hiding?" Annabelle mumbled, more to herself than anyone else. "She had to have burned this for some reason."
A scrap of fabric caught her eye. It was part of a skirt. The color was indeterminable but the lace was only slightly smudged. She pocketed it. It could have been nothing but she kept it anyway.
"It looks like we won't be finding a demon tonight," Ronald told her as he joined her.
"You're probably right. She's definitely not here. There also doesn't appear to be much, if anything, that would tie her here. She has to have been here at least once before."
Katherine smiled faintly to herself as she lurked nearby. If all had gone to her plan, the reapers would find nothing. Several of them would be busy at the ruined manor for hours.
"There's Mommy," she whispered to herself as she noticed Annabelle pocket something. "Stupid reaper, nothing will give me away."
She had almost been unhappy to burn down the familiar house but it had to be done. If anyone had stumbled upon her hiding there, questions would be raised. Especially if she killed the trespasser. She had a new location to hide in. One that was better than the manor, though it was a lot smaller.
Watching the reapers soon bored Katherine. She pursed her lips, deep in thought. 'With Mommy here, I wonder where the girl is?' Probably somewhere safe, she decided.
Absently, she began to tap one gloved finger against her cheek. 'Focusing on getting a reaper just to toy with her mother is stupid,' she thought. 'So why do I want to do that? Reapers haven't been the kindest of creatures to me, of course, but...'
She growled softly and ducked further back in the shadows as one of the reapers glanced in her direction. 'You're acting like Tatianna!' Katherine told herself.
That worked. Insulting herself by even thinking of her old master, much less comparing herself to her, brought Katherine back to her senses. Not wanting to risk being seen, she slipped through the trees and away from the manor.
She did not make it very far. There was a snip! and then sudden pain in Katherine's left hand. She glanced down, then laughed loudly. The tip of a very familiar death scythe was embedded in her palm.
"I thought you would be lurking nearby. Do you admire your own handiwork that much?"
Katherine smiled darkly at William. "Do you make it a habit to protect her?" she asked. She made no effort to free herself. Any struggle from her would probably start a fight, and a fight would draw the others' attention.
The urge to wince was a hard one to fight as he removed his scythe without care. His attempt to pin her to a tree failed as she ducked out of the way. With a smirk, she leaped high into the branches. "You didn't answer my question," she called down to him.
William pushed his glasses back along his nose as far as they would go. He spotted her hiding among the branches by the red of her cloak. 'She doesn't want to fight,' he thought. 'Too bad for her.'
He jumped after her, extending his scythe to hit her as he did. She slipped but grabbed a lower branch before she could fall too far. Pulling herself up, she stared at him. He was ready to kill her and what had she done but save him some work?
While she could have fought back, Katherine was looking instead for her chance to flee. On her person, she only had a handgun. Everything else was tucked away safely in her new hiding place. A handgun would be loud and draw attention. Not to mention hard to handle with one bloody hand.
Silently she cursed him. She kicked out, the heel of her boot connecting with another attempt to pin her down. William hung onto his scythe with ease as though he had expected the kick. Katherine was tempted to applaud his smart move but he was a reaper. A reaper who injured her hand.
Her response to his next attack was one he did not expect. Katherine rolled away from it, rolled right off the branch she had perched herself on. She landed gracefully below, clutching her injured hand close to her chest. Before he could jump down and engage her further, she fled.
He watched her leave with a scowl. "Next time," he decided, "you won't have the chance to flee."
