It has been 250 years since I became a reaper and every day since I have collected the souls of the living.

I will say I love being a reaper; I have been given a life that most people would dream if they knew it existed. In fact, the only time, other than having one in the family, even though my family thought I was a witch in the beginning, a living person has accepted the existence of a reaper is when they are about to be reaped. And I mean everyone, including clergy and other people with faith. It is like they lose their belief at the moment they see me in or out of the grey area.

And what I love about being a reaper most of all is that sometimes I get a soul that wants to challenge me for another day of living. I found it amusing when a man who was hit by a car wanted to challenge me to a game of connect four, he couldn't even pick up the pieces. So, then he challenged me to a staring contest, he lost, and only because we were in the sanctuary and the angel of death pulled him in.

Reaping has become a big part of my life; I even get paid big money to do it. You will probably ask how I get paid, well I have a bank account and somehow money mysteriously appears in said bank account. I don’t know who or how the money appears, but it does and sometimes raises a red flag. The only thing I do know is when I am being investigated on how I came into this money, the people responsible for finding the problem either go missing they quit.

Other than the reaping my life has been pretty simple. For example, today I am attending the wedding of one of my great nephews. His bride from what I hear is a cold-hearted gold digger, who is only in it for the money that someday his great aunt Anna would give him for an inheritance. What she doesn’t know is that I am the great aunt Anna and I don’t plan on dying soon, I don’t even age. What I do know is that if she gives me any lip, I will show her what is feels like to be less impervious to pain than I am.

I walk into the church after parking my white Chevy Chevelle. I ignore the chauffeur and sit where I please and take out my cell phone.

“Miss you are to sit here,” he says.

I look up and notice that the man talking to me is one of my distant cousins.

“Do you know who I am?” I ask him raising my eyebrows.

His eyes get wider. “Sorry ma’am I will leave you to your business.” He leaves and I go back to the game on my phone.

“So how many weddings have you been a part of now?”

I look up and see the brother of the groom sit down next to me in his black tuxedo and white cumber bun.

“Do you want me to include weddings I’ve had to reap someone?” I ask.

The man rolls his eyes. “Why not?”

“This one would make it 58 weddings I have been to,” I tell him. “When is this thing supposed to start, Bryce?”

“Any minute now, once all of the guests get settled into their seats,” he says. He looks at his watch and stands up. “I should get to my place.” He leaves.

I turn my phone off and wait for the ceremony to start.

After about five minutes the hall seems to be filled with members of both sides of the family. I look at the other side of the aisle and look at the family that is marrying into mine. You can tell they are of Irish decent and not by the accent that fallowed them from over the ocean, but by the red hair and blue eyes that pop up in their genetics. Every once in a while, I see dark or black hair in the mix. While I watch I catch the eye of one man in his mid-twenties with the darkest hair of the bunch. From across the way he is dragged to his seat by one of his friends all the while keeping his eyes on me. The ceremony starts and a piece by Johann Sebastian Bach called Air on G string fills the air. The entire room turns to watch as the succession begins down the aisle. I watch as the groomsmen adjust their ties and stand all in a line. I then see the ring bearer, the flower girl, and the first bridesmaid wearing a blue and yellow Greek style dress walk down the aisle, the whole time the man is staring at me and will not look away. It seems that I am more interesting the wedding itself to this man. And as I watch the procession of the 4 remaining bridesmaids including the maid of honor, my mind goes blank and I stare into nothing, I do this when I get a vision of my next reaping. I hear the traditional wedding march start up as I watch with a blank stare. During these visions, it seems as though I am day dream dreaming, and it feels that way too, but instead of voluntary, it is forced and I cannot turn it off. it doesn’t always happen right away, sometimes there is a warning if I am in danger if I have a vision, like I might crash if I was driving.

I see a dark room with several people hunkered down on the floor crying. There is a man there walking around with a gun and he is on the phone making demands. The vision stops and I stand just as the bride is starting down the aisle. I walk into the aisle and in front of the bride, cutting her off. I hear her start to yell and cry at me, but I don’t care, I have work to do.

I walk out of the church with swears and curses from the bride’s side coming out of the door, my family is completely quiet, knowing what I am doing. I get into my car and speed out of the parking lot to find a large enough shadow to jump into; I find one in the shade of a tree. I drive my car into it and I come out into a crowded street. I get out of my car only to be told by a police officer that it isn’t safe and I should proceed home. I get back into my car and park it in an empty alleyway and shadow jump straight into a bank. I hang in the shadows knowing I can’t be seen.

I sit and watch for some time while the man with the gun paces from the hallway of the bank to the main lobby where the hostages are being held. Every time he walks into the hallway he looks around in the offices and down the hallway. If it wasn’t for me being a reaper and in the shadows, he would have seen me. He walks into an office and starts to throw around the paperwork neatly stacked to the side. The man starts to throw a fit and the phone rings. He stops mid fit and looks at the phone. He runs to it and answers.

“What?” he asks.

“No, I will not let out any hostages until I get my demands. In fact, I will kill a hostage every half an hour until I get what I want. No, you listen; I am tired of how calm you want me to be. And to mean what I say about every half an hour I am starting now.”

The man hangs up the phone and runs into the hallway and into the main lobby. He seems to be at the end of his rope and hanging by the tips of his fingers, he is just a bomb waiting to explode. I hear a scream and then a gunshot. I jump into the grey area and walk into the main lobby to see the hostage he shot was a little boy with sandy blonde hair wearing a superman t- shirt and jean shorts, his guardian seems to be trying to get to him, but she is being held back by other hostages. I walk over to the body and reap the poor boys’ soul. In the beginning it was hard to harvest a child, but as time passed and I gained more experience, it was easier to take the souls, but I still have a heavy weight on my shoulders when I see an innocent taken so young. After the boy materializes, he clings to my leg like I am his mother.

“Don’t worry, you will go to heaven,” I say to the boy.

I watch the man start to throw another fit before grabbing another hostage and sitting her next to the body of the boy. He makes her kneel and she holds her hands together as if in prayer.

“Make your peace with god, your next,” he says holding her face to look at him.

The girl starts crying and praying when the phone rings again. The man runs to the phone and answers again.

“What?”

“That gunshot was a hostage being killed. Give me my demands and no one else will die.”

The man hangs up the phone and walks over to the girl and shoots her in the head prematurely. I walk over to her body to reap her soul when he shoots another hostage. I look up and see the hostage he shot was a bank teller wearing a black suit. I reap his soul in turn and wait for the next victim.

“Who are you?” the bank teller asks.

“I am your reaper,” I tell him. “My name is Anna.”

“How could you do a job like this? The woman asks.

“I have been a reaper for a very long time. In the beginning it was very hard to take souls without feeling sorrow from them, now since I have seen so many passes away, I am numb. I feel as though death is a part of life and part of nature. It also doesn’t help that while I am working my emotions are temporarily shut down. I will feel the sympathy later after the job is done.”

“I have seen you before,” he says. “You have an account with our bank. You have one of the highest paid accounts here. 13 million, am I right?”

“Yes, you are right.”

The man shoots another hostage, an elderly man with a cane, in the chest making him cry in pain. I watch the man as he falls to the ground and for some time afterwards.

“Why don’t you take care of him?” the girl asks.

“I can’t,” I say to her. “Not until his body and soul are ready to separate.” All souls have a fine line when they are ready to be harvested. Although, I can feel he is hurt and he is weak, he will survive this situation and I cannot help him.

“How do know he is ready?” the bank teller asks.

“I will feel a pull when they are ready.”

The phone rings and the man answer's it right away.

“What?”

The man holds the phone to his ear without saying any other word for about a minute before slowly hanging up. The man stands there at the phone and bows his head as a swat team enters the bank. The man turns from the phone with his gun and open fires on the swat team. They also open fire and kill the man.

After I reap the man, I take them to the sanctuary knowing that my reaping is finished. I tell them what will happen to them and where they will go and I leave them to wait for the angel of death. I don’t know what else happens beyond that portal, and I don’t know what will happen to them, but for now I have to make it back to the wedding just in time for the reception. The last thing I do before jumping from the sanctuary is console the little boy. His soul was still green and young. Although I know I am numb and he is in good hands it still saddens me when the young are taken too early. I kiss him on the forehead, and that is the last I see of him before leaving.

I walk into the hall with people from the bride’s family giving me the stink eye and pursing their lips. I stop next to some of them and smile, they sneer at me.

“Miss,” a voice says to my left.

I turn to see a very large man standing before me.

“The bride has instructed me not to let you into the reception,” he says.

“The bride is a stuck-up bitch that needs to be taught a lesson,” I say. “I am curious, what will you do to me if I refuse to leave?”

“I have been told to throw you out.” He answers.

“That’s all?” I start to laugh and he looks at me like I am crazy. While I am laughing, I look around the man at my nephew sitting next to his bride at the wedding table. He looks at me and I give a come here gesture with a stern look. I see fear wash over him. He looks away from me and at his new wife to whisper something in her ear, she nods. He kisses her and walks in my direction.

“I’ll take it from here,” he says putting a shoulder on the man’s arm. The man looks at him and then leaves without another word.

“I want you and your new wife to see me outside. We need to have the talk about me and what I do for a living.”

“I don’t know if she will be out for that, with you,” he says.

“You don’t have to tell her that I am out there,” I ask. “I know both of you smoke, and I bet you both are dying for a cigarette. So, I think both of you need a break.”

“That might be a good idea,” he says.

I look at him and raise my eyebrows. “You will do what I say, understand?”

He nods and I leave to go outside. I walk into the garden adjacent to the reception hall and under a weeping willow tree where I sit on a half-moon stone bench. After about ten minutes of waiting I see my nephew and his wife come out of the hall and light up a cigarette. After they take a hit, they both relax against the wall with relief. I see my nephew look up and at me before grabbing his wife’s hand to lead her into the garden. They walk around for a few minutes before finding me under the willow tree on the bench.

Upon seeing me, she turns to Brian and slaps him. I instantly feel anger in sue my body as my emotions come back to normal from my last assignment.

“This bitch ruined my wedding, you need to leave.” She says pursing her lips, and sneering.

“Selfish, aren’t we?” I ask with a smirk. “From what I know, this is both of your weddings. Isn’t that right, Brian?”

“Let’s go back inside,” she says.

“She wants to talk to us,” Brian says worried he might upset both of us, but more worried if he upsets me more.

“Is that why we are out here?” she asks rolling her eyes.

“Yes, Tiffany,” he answers with a shaky voice.

“I have nothing to say to her,” Tiffany says crossing her arms like a teenager throwing a fit.

I stand up and look at her. “Tiffany, do you know what kind of tree this is?” I point at the willow behind me.

Tiffany turns and looks at the tree then at me. “Does it matter?” she raises her chin. “I have better things to like dance, eat cake, and throw my bouquet.”

“It does.” I say with sincerity of an elder.

“And how does it matter?” she asks like she is better than me.

“There are nine sacred trees, with each one representing a different property. This willow tree is one of the nine. And it represents the aspect of death.”

“Well you learn something new every day,” she says turning.

“I AM NOT FINISHED!” I say sternly making her turn to me. “I tell you this because I have a connection to this tree, we all do. But my connection to this tree is on a much higher level than any other living person. I am not connected to this tree because someday death will take me; I am connected to this tree because I am death’s servant. You will show respect, and you will show it in spades.”

“I don’t follow,” Tiffany says as her eyes widen and her face turns white.

I hear a noise as if she just threw up a little bile in her mouth. I then hear her swallow it. I smell fear coming off of her, and for some reason I feel like I can torture her to tell me anything.

“Are you saying you kill people?” She asks as her body begins to shake. Tears begin to fill her eyes as I feel her soul get a little weaker.

The fear that is washing over her is not that she thinks I kill people, it is the fact that she thinks I am a lunatic. I am going to have to give her the harsh truth of what I am and I can’t wait for her to accept what I am telling her.

“No, I don’t kill, I reap and I harvest souls. Don’t call me crazy, the family knows what I am and how beautiful death can be, because of me. My family isn’t afraid of death, because they have seen if first hand.”

She looks at me confused and scared, then at Brian. “What do you say about this? I think she has gone crazy.”

“She called me crazy, I told her not to call me crazy,” I whisper to myself. “I will show her.”

“I’ve known what she is for all my life. We all have.”

“We, who is we?” she asks in disbelief.

“The family is we,” he answers. “The whole family knows what she is and since you are in the family now, you are allowed to know too.”

“So, she is a killer?” Tiffany asks backing away. She turns away and puts a cigarette to her mouth, she lights it, and inhales deeply. She blows the smoke from her lips and reaches up to scratch her head with the cigarette in her hand. She messes up her hair just a little tiny bit and some of the cigarette ash falls into it. I feel instant happiness knowing that she doesn’t realize she just messed up her perfect done up hair. She turns towards us again and inhales her cigarette one more time before speaking. “I think you are crazy killer, who has conjured the idea of being a supernatural being to cover the idea that you are nuts and actually kill people.” She looks at Brian, “Your family should have her committed.”

“I am not a killer, I am a harvester,” I say to her. “I have been a grim reaper for about 250 years. And I will be one until I am given my last reap.”

“Are you off your medication? Do you know how ridiculous you sound?” she asks shaking her head back and forth. She looks at Brian and then at me. “You must be crazy to think that I will believe this prank.”

I look at Brian, who steps away from Tiffany, who notices. “What?”

“We all had to do it,” he says. “Don’t hurt her.”

“What do you mean don’t hurt me?” She looks terrified now and it pleases me.

I walk up to Tiffany. “Close your eyes.”

“Why?” She asks.

“Just do as you are told.” She hesitates before she closes her eyes, I then grab her arm, and because we’re already in the shadow of a tree I jump our bodies through time and space. We feel the cold air and a breeze kisses our skins.

“Brian, I am cold can I have your jacket?” she opens her eyes and looks to her left for Brian but he is not there. She looks around herself and then at me. “WHERE THE HELL IS THIS PLACE, HOW DID I GET HERE?”

“Where are we?” she fearfully.

“Look down.”

She looks down and notices we are standing on the Sphinx in Egypt. She looks around and finds three pyramids. “Egypt, we are in Egypt.”

“Yes, we are,” I say letting her go.

“How did we get here?” she asks with tears welling in her eyes.

“We shadow jumped here,” I say. “I can go anywhere in the world just as long as there is a shadow there. This is how grim reapers travel to get their assignments.”

“Okay, I am ready to go back,” Tiffany says hugging herself. “And I am officially freaked out.”

I grab her arm and jump back to the garden and to Brian.

“Believe her now?” He asks her as she rips her arm out of my hand.

She looks at Brian and then at me. “So, I guess this is your great aunt Anna?” she takes a step forward and looks me square in the eye. “I want to know everything, I want to know what will happen when I die.”

I explain everything that happens when I harvest a soul, and everything that happens when the soul passes into the underworld. She seems to be fixed on every little bit of information I give her, what fascinated her the most was the judgement of the souls.

“Who will judge them, you?” she asks.

“No, I just harvest the souls and help them pass into the underworld,” I answer. “I think judgment comes from Hades and Persephone.”

She nods and she turns from us and then prances back to the reception hall.

“Well she is pissed now that I will not be inheriting 13 million dollars,” he says turning from me. “I guess I will need to go take care of some crowd control.” He walks away and to the hall.

I sit down on the bench and think. I just told an emotionally unstable, gold digging, and power-hungry woman of what I am, this isn’t going to be easy. I stand up and walk around the garden for a while before going into the hall to join the party. I sit at a table alone and watch the crowd.

“You must be from the groom’s side,” a young man with black hair and green eyes says sitting next to me.

“How did you guess?” I ask recognizing the man as the one staring at me during the ceremony.

He smiles. “Can I get you a drink? Champagne?”

I smile and nod. “Sorry, I am on call.”

“Are you a doctor?” he asks grabbing two champagne glasses from a nearby server. “Do you help the sick and dying?”

I smile and giggle knowing how stretched that truth is.

“Do you?” he presses me.

“I do, in a way.”

He smiles and sips his champagne.

“Why do you want to know?” I ask him with curiosity.

“No particular reason,” he stands up and walks away leaving me again to myself.

I lean back against the chair and listen to the crowd and music along with the clanking of dishes and silver wear. After some time, a woman’s voice sounds into the room and announces that it is time for the father and daughter to dance. I sit up and watch as Tiffany and a very dark and husky man walk onto the dance floor. They take each other’s hand and dance slowly with the music. I watch them for a while until I get the feeling I am being watched. I grab the champagne off the table and down the entire contents. I leave the glass on the table and stand up. I walk out the hall and into the foyer where I can’t be seen. Upon stepping out from everyone’s view I still have the feeling of someone is watching me. I walk to the end where it dead ends and I turn to wait. I lean against the wall and cross my legs.

“I know you are there,” I say with a smirk, “I can feel you watching me. In fact, I think one of you are up there.” I look up to a break in the ceiling to a balcony on the second floor.

A man walks into view and I smile. On my level, other men walk into view including the man with the black hair.

“What do you want?”

The man walks forward. “I am Ren and I have a request.”

As a reaper I can feel the souls of every person I come in contact with. I can feel how strong and how weak they can be. I know how soon it can be before it is ready for harvest. The strongest souls I have ever met were that of other reapers and the angels of death I have encountered in my life. I have never met a soul stronger until I met Ren. His soul is so strong that I don’t think it is ever possible of being reaped. Deep down inside, my instincts tell me he is an immortal, I just don’t know what kind.

What confuses me the most is how come I didn’t feel how strong he was until before in the reception area.

“What kind of request?” I ask trying to sound arrogant.

“My father is sick,” he says while checking his nails, “he has cancer and in serious pain. I would like for you to look at him or give a better prescription for the pain.”

“And what would happen if I said no?” I ask still confused, but now by the strange request from someone so powerful

“Well there are four of us and only one of you,” says the man on the balcony.

Ren walks forward and looks at the man with concern and seriousness; I can see his jaw tense as well. I can see he becomes timid for my safety towards other men, but not for himself. When it comes to him, no other man can compare and he knows it, in fact he dwells in it. Ren strikes an old feeling deep in my gut, a feeling I haven’t had since that last night with William. The feeling I know William had for me, but now I have for Ren.

“He is right, we do outnumber you,” Ren says turning to me.

“So, you either come quietly or we drag you by that beautiful head of copper hair,” a man says from behind Ren.

I smile and start to laugh, they look confused. “I am not what you think I am.” With a straight face and raised eyebrow.

“You said you are a doctor.”

“That is your assumption of me saying I help the sick and dying,” I say stepping up to Ren. “And regardless of I being a doctor or not, I can still kill a man with my thumb. You do not know who you are dealing with.”

I step closer to Ren and look into his emerald green eyes. “You assume too much.”

He steps closer to me to where I can smell his cologne and leans forward to whisper in my ear. “And you don’t assume enough.”

“You don’t know me and you never will,” I say whispering back. “You will live your life and I will live mine.” I step around him and walk passed the other men in the hallway and into the reception hall.

I was about to sit down in an empty chair when an arm slips through mine and pulls me onto the dance floor. Ren spins me and holds me close to him while we dance. He looks around at few of his friends and laughs. They look at me and give him a thumbs up and a few cheers.

“What are you doing? Let me go.” I struggle in to get free, but he holds me tighter. I fight for a short while before I give in and let him lead. After a while I relax and I feel stress leave my body. I don’t even know if I want him to let me go anymore.

He pulls me closer so I am forced to rest my head on him chest. “Shh, a slow song is coming up.” he slows the dancing and I try to resist again out of sheer delight, only having him hold me tighter.

“Now listen,” he says whispering, “I don’t like to be told no. I don’t care if you are a doctor or not, there is something that tells me that I want you to look at my father.”

He loosens his grip and I look up at him, getting pissed off again. “I don’t care if your father is on his deathbed, you cannot make me do anything.” I slip from his grasp and leave him on the dance floor. I walk over to Brian and Tiffany sitting in their Victorian wedding chairs.

“I must be going.”

“Why so soon?” Brian asks.

“I am being harassed and I need to leave before I use my abilities for wrong.”

“Who is harassing you?” Tiffany asks. “Is it one of my relatives?”

I nod.

“Who is it?” she asks.

I know she is trying to show concern, but deep down I know she won’t do anything. I think she is trying to get on my good side, but I don’t trust her.

“I will not rat anyone out,” I say. “I must be going.”

“Please stay,” Brian says standing up.

“I have to go to a reaping,” I lie. “And I have to move into my new apartment anyway.”

“Ok, liar we all know that you leave right away when called into a reaping,” Brian says. “Send us your address, ok?”

I nod. “I have to anyway. I am sending you a check of $50,000.”

Tiffany stands up and hugs me, I feel sick. “Thank you so much.”

“Can I go now?” I ask as she lets me go.

“Are you single?” Tiffany asks sitting back down with Brian.

“Yes, why do you ask?”

“Good then you can wait until we throw the bouquet,” she says with a big smile.

“Do you know how many times I have caught the bouquet?” I ask grabbing a chair and sitting down.

“I would guess it has been a lot.” She sips her champagne. “But please stay, and keep me company. I would love to know more about your life style and how you live. How old are you exactly and how long do you have until your last reaping?”

“Fine I will endure it,” I say with obligation and refusing to answer her question about me, “but if I get called into a reaping I am leaving.” I know she wants more insight on my life, but I don’t want to give it to her,

“Of course,” Tiffany says with all too eager satisfaction.

Just an hour ago this woman called me crazy and lunatic, now she wants to be my friend. Something doesn’t feel right.

I leave them and walk alongside the dance floor slowly. I walk around on the dance floor for several minutes before I am swept by the same arms of Ren again.

“Like I said I don’t like to be told no.” he holds my head still with both hands.

“No,” I say through my teeth with anger. I rip out of his hands and walk off the dance floor and to a buffet table. I grab a plate and start to fill it with a plethora of fruit. I sit at the same table as before and eat what I have on my plate.

Ren pulls out the chair next to me at stares at me.

“Can I help you?” I say popping a strawberry into my mouth.

“Yes, by looking at my father.”

I finish my plate and stand up to throw it in the trash bin. I look at Ren and walk into the foyer, he follows. I walk until we are out of sight. I stop and I can feel him behind me close enough to make me feel his warmth. I take a step before turning to grab him and push him against the wall. I use my supernatural strength that I got from years of taking strong souls to lift him into the air, I still struggle with the task.

“I don’t like to be told what to do,” I say with conviction. I drop him and he gasps for air. I leave him and walk back into the reception just in time for the bride to throw the bouquet.

Tiffany finds me in the crowd and ushers me to the group of young ladies. I look over to the foyer and I see Ren leaning against a wall next to the entrance smiling, his eyes are fixed on me. I look back at Tiffany who now has her back to the group.

“Are you ready, ladies?” she asks the group. All of the groups except me answer her with a yes. “Okay.” She throws the handful of flowers over her head and I step out of the group letting the other girls fight over the bouquet. I walk up to Tiffany and give her an obligated hug.

“I am going now, ok?”

She nods and I leave. I open the front door to the outside and walk out to my Chevelle.

“This is a very nice car.”

I turn to see Ren standing by the hood of my car, caressing it.

“It would suck for someone to key it.”

“Someone like you?” I ask with pursed lips.

He smiles and walks up to me still touching my car.

“A woman owning a car like this is…,” he looks me up and down and bites his lip, “…erotic.”

The look gives me a shiver and my heart starts to race. I want more, but instead I open my door and he slams it shut before I can get into the car. He then pins me between the car and himself. I can feel his heat and his strength hold me against my will. He pulls up his arms and places them on the car by my head.

At this point, I know I can use my abilities to get him to stop because there is no one around to see, but part of me wants to see what he is going to do.

“Let me guess,” I smirk at him, “You don’t like to be told no.”

He smiles. “That’s right.”

“No.” I push him off of me hard and against the tree next to the space. He gasps for air and I get into my car before he can stop me.

I look him up and down and then into his beautiful green eyes. I never noticed before, but I can see every muscle through his shirt. I can tell he has a chiseled body.

He notices me gawking, smiles, and reaches to undo the top three buttons of his shirt showing just enough for my mouth to drop.

I roll down my window. “You know, if you want to get closer to me, you’re going to have to try a lot harder than that.”