Prologue: Rachele and Kian

(Sorry for the delay. This is the last prologue. We'll get into the good stuff in the next chapter!)

An intense stare had ensued between the duo. Her hazy blue eyes had locked on his silver eyes, both sets narrowed to their best intimidation. Their hands were flat on the table and not one of them budged. Rachele eventually smirked, raising one of her rounded freckled cheeks up under her eye. "Just give it up, Kian. You can't win this one."

He didn't blink. "Don't think so?"

"M-m." Her eyes went wide now with her lips tightly pursed.

"We'll see." He nodded and held his breath. Her eyes turned serious again. Suddenly their hands struck forward and slapped the center of the table where the last French fry was lying on a napkin. Rachele snatched it up and shoved it in her mouth quickly. Kian smacked the table. "Ah, damn it!"

The auburn haired teen giggled as she munched her prize. "Sorry."

"Yeah, I bet you are." He grabbed his soda and stood up, taking a thick, vicious swig. "All right, you win this round. But you just wait. Next time it will be mine." He buttoned the front of his black suede jacket and fixed his tight red scarf that fit snuggly under his jaw over the collar. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yep!" she chirped happily as she took another drink of her soda before throwing it away with his. "Let's do this."

They marched out of town to the forest outside the suburbs where their last assignment for the week was. A shallow fog had settled over the foliage as the sun went down. Kian walked alongside her with his hands in his pockets. "Did you hear that?"

"Hm?"

"Listen." He stopped and pulled his gloved hands out and left them at his sides. There came a sound through the trees, low and deep. It sounded like a moan. Or a grumble. Maybe a snore? The two slowly kept walking with their eyes peeled and being sure to keep their steps light. Sure enough, curled close against a tree were two men sound asleep in the leaves. Their guns were in their belt holsters that lay next to them but not in immediate reach, Kian noticed. The duo looked at each other. "What should we do?" Kian whispered, a hand going through his fine nearly-white hair. "Should we just…kill them?"

"Would that be rude or…unfair to not even give them a fighting chance, though?"

The men slept against the tree, snoring audibly even as the two spoke.

"Wake them up." Kian nudged her.

Rachele glanced at him and cleared her throat.

The men continued to sleep.

She cleared her throat more loudly. Kian stood back and watched them. None of them moved.

"… HEY!" he shouted. Not only did Rachele jump out of her skin, but the men were also startled awake, sitting straight up with their shadowy eyes wide. They looked to the duo from where they sat on the ground, the fear showing in their faces. Kian gestured Rachele forward.

She barely rolled her eyes at her partner and turned her attention to them. "You're wanted for the destruction of innocent souls. Prepare yourselves to fight."

The men looked at each other, their fangs showing in their shocked expressions. Slowly they stood up and took up their weapons that shook in their hands. With a kick of leaves, the two bolted off in the opposite direction, hanging onto their hats.

Simultaneously, Kian and Rachele leapt up into the trees above, disappearing in a blink. As the mobsters checked over their shoulders to see if they were being pursued, the two landed swiftly and gracefully in their path, forcing the men to come to a sliding halt and lean on each other for support. The duo stood their ground.

"Escape isn't an option," said Rachele without blinking. She leaned forward and held her arms out on either side of her. Smoothly and lightly, Kian rolled quickly across her shoulders, his legs wheeling behind Rachele for perfect momentum, which soon emitted a bright light. Kian rolled to her opposite side, now in Rachele's hand as a long, fierce scythe with a white blade that bore a jagged crook near the shaft where two holes were pierced with silver rings dangling from each. With her weapon positioned straight out in front of her, she returned back to her previous posture. "Your souls are mine."

The men whipped up their guns and began firing wildly in her direction. Rachele raced forward and spun her scythe in front of her, the bullets clinking and clanging off of Kian's metal as she neared. With a sideways spin, she sliced at one man's hand, making his gun fly away. He withdrew his hand with a yelp and held it against his chest to stop the bleeding. The other man came from her right, aiming to strike her with the butt of his handgun. Rachele ducked and threw all of her weight behind her elbow and drove it into his stomach with great force. The skinny man was knocked off of his feet and left to slam into a tree trunk behind him. The weapon meister spun again and swung her ankle under the first man's feet. He tumbled to the leaves before he could reach his gun.

"Woo!" cheered Kian's voice from the blade of the scythe. Without hesitation, Rachele charged at the man on the ground, sprung into the air with her partner over her head, letting her momentum increase to double the force of the strike. This was it for him.

She came down with a potent strike, Kian's blade passing through the man's shoulder with relative ease before severing his arm from his body. While he howled in pain and Rachele found her ground. She spun again, letting her scythe swing three hundred sixty degrees and leaving his head to join his arm on the leaves. The rest of his body fell in a heap. Rachele whirled around to the other who was getting away—nearly out of sight. She took chase, zipping through the fog in hot pursuit with her weapon beside her. He must have found his gun again, for he now pointed it over his shoulder and fired. In order to evade the bullets, Rachele followed in a zigzag pattern, though not nearly at the rate she needed to catch up with him now.

"He's gonna get away. We have to resonate," said Kian from the white blade.

"All right." Rachele stopped behind a tree and grasped the shaft of the weapon in both hands, held straight out in front of her. The sound of the mobster's escaping footsteps fell away as she closed her eyes.

A white room came into view when his eyes opened. A brilliant polished marble stage sat before him, furnished with a single white stool. The contrasting color among the nearly blinding white was a deep pleasant burgundy that shone from a cello leaned against its stand, accompanied with a matching bow. He took a breath through his nose and approached the stool, clad in a black tuxedo with a red vest. Kian sat down and positioned the cello in front of him, running his fingers smoothly up the strings before putting them in place at the neck. His other hand picked up the bow and delicately lighted it on the strings. He took a calm breath and closed his eyes. "Poltergeist." The bow glided across the strings and a deep, rich sound started to crescendo.

Rachele's eyes snapped open and they shone a brilliant glowing blue, pupils shrunk to tiny dots in the sapphire seas. Kian's blade and shaft turned white and started to grow, the blade elongating and curling a little more at the sharp end. The white light broke away and Rachele's weight shifted with her newly formed weapon. Her body faded into the fog without a trace.

The mobster looked behind him to find that his pursuers had apparently given up chase. He stopped and leaned over to catch his breath. A shadow weighted the fog around him—multiple shadows. He saw a blobby silhouette of the girl's figure and her weapon before him but also beside him and behind him. He quickly snapped upright and aimed his gun at one shadow and whirled around to another, his respiration turning rapid. "Show yourself!" he yelled. There was no response. None of the shadows moved or made a sound. He began to fire wildly into the fog, turning circles and calling out his frustration and panic. Bullets flew and the mist swallowed them up and the shadows began to disappear until none of them were left. He lowered his weapon and held his breath…

A thick but quiet swish sliced through the air, a mere whisper in the evening wood. The felon remained still and blinked. His eyes traced down to his middle were a spot of blood was slowly growing on the edges of his torn jacket. The fabric was separated in a perfect line. He looked up and blood unexpectedly cascaded over his bottom lip. He blinked again. The man's torso slid off of his hips and thudded to the leaves and the legs soon followed.

Rachele appeared from where he had first been standing, twirling Kian over her shoulder as he assumed his human form. He rolled his neck on his shoulders and looked down at their prize and the little red soul that hovered above the body. "Good work, darling." He picked the soul from the suspended space and pushed it into his lips with a single finger and chewed in satisfaction.

"Thanks. You too," she chimed as she followed him back to retrieve the first soul they had vanquished.

Kian looked at the time on his phone after eating the second orb. "Hey! We can still make it to the party!"

"Woo! … Race you!" Rachele darted off through the trees.

"Head start, no fair!" Kian ran after her.

Rachele pushed the door open to Christian and Katy's dorm and called out a cheery hello to everyone. Nikki, Christian, Tim, Katy and Odette all called hello back to her, all seated on the cushy couches and armchairs that lined the room beside a coffee table and a flat screen television. Katy hopped up and bounced toward her best friend and hugged her. "Hey, lovely! How did your mission go?"

"It was really easy, actually. The guys were scared to death of us," she chuckled. Kian nodded in confirmation with a smirk, pulling one of the silver studs in his bottom lip a bit.

"I don't blame them!" Christian piped up, "When you two resonate it gives me the chills." He took a drink of punch, leaned back comfortably beside Tim who was enjoying some chips and salsa with his cheeks full and preparing for another bite.

"Of course, you two are amazing." Katy smiled at them both.

"How did yours go?"

She inhaled and smiled with closed lips but said nothing.

Rachele frowned. "I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"Eh, it's okay. It's the weekend, right? We're partying, no negativity, just fun! I'll get you some punch." She trotted away to the bowl at the counter in the adjoining kitchen.

"Oh, thanks!" Rachele looked to her partner with concerned eyes then looked to Christian. The blond twirled a finger in one of his curls and winced, barely shaking his head. The signals were clear that now was not the time to ask what happened. She took her seat next to the other red head and thanked Katy when she brought her glass of punch to her and Kian. Odette smiled at her. "So glad you guys could make it!"

"Thanks!" she glanced at her hand that grazed her side. "Are you okay?"

Odette put both hands back in her lap. "Yeah, just got a cut from our mission yesterday. It's all right though."

Kian leaned forward from beside Nikki who was showing her twin brother something on her phone. "Who did you fight?"

"A low rank Kishin, actually. William said it was one of Carvalho's minions." She took a chip and dipped it in the tasty spinach and artichoke spread that her partner had prepared.

"Whoa, what happened?" asked Rachele.

"Something I had never seen before. It used its own bones like weapons. Spears. Stretched out from its body and shot them around. It was crazy." She crunched the bite casually.

"Sure you're okay? You didn't get infected with…" Kian's eyes narrowed a little.

Odette looked at him. "Even if I did…" She shrugged.

"Oh… Yeah, that's right you're…" He closed his mouth and glanced around. "… Where is he?"

She pointed a thumb over her shoulder down the hall of the little apartment. "In Christian's room."

"So, how is that…going for you guys?" He asked. Rachele's eyes repeated his question to her.

Her pink lips briefly pursed. "Fine, really. To be honest, I don't really notice it. I mean—I know it's there. But even when we resonate I can't…I can't feel it much at all. Maybe a little but not…significantly," she said with sincerity, holding her cup in both hands on her knees.

"Well, that's good… Isn't it?" Rachele asked carefully.

"I think so. He does a really good job of controlling it I think and that's why it doesn't seem to affect me much. Lord Death has been keeping an eye on our progress and I guess he's just making sure that it stays that way." She shrugged again.

"Of course. Nothing wrong with being careful," Kian said awkwardly. Everyone turned their attention to Christian's door when it opened and William came out into the kitchen and went for the punch bowl. A few hellos echoed to him and he nodded in general acknowledgement as he prepared a glass for himself.

Odette turned in her seat a little. "You come out to hang with us?"

"I have an appointment." William reached into the fridge and pulled out a hefty bottle of whiskey.

"An appointment? For what?"

"Professor Stein wanted to see me," he replied blandly as he opened the bottle and tipped it to his cup of punch. Kian eyed the steady stream of alcohol that seemed unending.

"… What for? It's like seven o'clock."

Christian lifted a finger. "Excuse me, why was that in my fridge,"

William shrugged and put the whiskey back and picked up his cup and headed for the door.

"O-okay, bye."

"Bye." He closed it behind him.

Christian looked about him to everyone else's bewildered expressions. Kian stared at the closed door. "Quite a chatterbox, isn't he."

Odette looked back at the duo and stuttered a little. "H-he's—got his own thing that he does and… He's okay, we're fine. What about you guys? You are getting a real reputation around Death City!" She elbowed the ginger.

Rachele noticed her quick change of the subject but dismissed it for now. "Eh, a little I guess." She tilted her head a some.

"Oh, stop being so modest. Yes you are! You're the most renounced Ghost Scythe pair at the D-W-M-A! That's so great! How have things been?"

Now Kian shrugged. "Pretty casual. Moving up in rank a little at a time. Though it does get pretty exciting when Lord Death sends us after low rank Kishin like you guys get to do. That's fun."

"Now what exactly is the advantage that a Ghost Scythe has over a Kishin?"

Rachele swallowed a bite of a chip before replying. "Kian's power is just more effective against them. Like any other weapon against a regular enemy. Not really an advantage per se but it just kinda evens the standards out for us."

"But the disadvantage is Rachele can't identify Kishin auras as effectively when we're together," added Kian.

"Why not?

Now he had a chip with dip on it. "Ghost auras feel very similar to Kishin auras. She can't always tell what's a Kishin and what's me."

Odette narrowed her eyes. "Gosh, that sounds dangerous."

"We're used to it. We do okay," Rachele said nonchalantly. Kian reinforced with a happy nod, chewing a mouthful of food.

She smiled. "Well, good for you. I wish you both all the luck in the world!"

Katy leaned across Kian and touched Rachele's thigh. "Me and Tim are gonna get going. We have a dinner-homework date."

"Oh okay. You two have fun!" The couple stood and waved goodbye to everyone and left the apartment. Rachele promptly turned her attention to Christian. "What happened?"

He scratched the back of his head. "Oh, you know… The usual." His sister giggled cattily. The blond rolled his eyes before going to get more sausage balls.

Rachele now looked to Odette.

She spoke quietly. "He asked me to check his soul again… I think they're both getting discouraged about working with each other."

The ginger sighed and looked down. She knew her best friend as well as Tim did. Handling any kind of loss was not her strong suit. "I hope they make it."