The Demon’s Bride

The axe drive down toward the black hound but before it could reach to him, Hallow had turned his body. The sudden change surprised Willow and had the effect to stop the axe on his hands.

"I know you are not aware of it but it's quite shameless for you to still not notice that other grim reapers call you as the most untrustworthy reapers," Hallow said and taking the chance he sprint over the forest. Having four legs and being a hound, he manage to bolt away from the reaper in ease.

"Shit!" Willow cursed and quickly he chased for the dogs with his humans legs. "Where do you think you are going? I do agree it's better for you to submit yourself to my scythe then being a lowly dog like that."

Hallow fought the urge to scream and retort but did it out of frustration, "I am not a lowly dog! I am a chick-a reaper! Damn it!" Hallow cursed when he find himself had taken a habit of claiming that he was a chick. He wasn't!

"You will regret it Hallow. Dying with one slice of my scythe will warrant you a painless death!" Willow continue to chase for the dog. He might have the appearance of a human but his soul was a grim reaper, allowing his movements to move briskly at the same speed of the dog, failing only by a short five meter distance. 

"See? This is what I call by ignorant!" Hallow rebuke, "All reapers know how you lack the proper ability of reaping a soul that you need to try five times wedging your blade to one's neck and that is more painful than being cut in pieces, stupid! How you don't know many reapers hope you will retire!"

Willow's hand clenched tighter at Hallow's ridicule as he was one person who never take it too kindly when other poke a fun at him. At once he pulled a black colored scythe from the thin air, "We will try whether it is truly my lack of skill by reaping you now!"

Hallow turned his head to look behind him, seeing how Willow's human body began to turn transparent. The flesh and skin of his fingers turned into bones. The side of his face starting from his forehead erase in a way like when a fire was dropped on a green grass. The change continue until what was left turn into a boney figure dressed in a black cloak where the cloak float like a fog.

"This is unfair!" cursed Hallow as he continue to sprint away from the man. How could fighting with a figure that can fly and go through trees count as fair?! To point he didn't have his scythe! 

"Mr. Beel! Lord Beelzebub!" Hallow began to chant, hoping he could call for help of the demon but minutes passed and the Demon didn't come. Damn it! Was today is the day he is going to die? If so...he would have enjoyed his time a little longer with Elise, thought Hallow. 

Before agreeing to Willow's offer, Hallow could already tell that the grim reaper was lying to him. He remembered his senior, Vanesh, the man who had told him about many things including grim reapers. He enjoyed his time with the senior and was sad when suddenly accusation was poured toward him that he couldn't meet his senior any longer. The elder grim reaper had told him that if one reaper manage to overcome the reason for their death, they would finally be released from the never ending role they had to take up by watching human to die. 

Hallow didn't dislike the idea of being a grim reaper but he often wondered his past when he was a human. If what Willow had said that he had taken his life because he felt hollow, he wondered what could fill his heart. It was then when he found himself feeling fulfilled when he played with Elise and in the bridge of danger, he acknowledge how much he enjoyed being a friend to the girl.

"Damn it to hell! Who is going to die?" Hallow growled to himself, countering all the negative thought. "If only I was still in my bear form..." Hallow said when his green eyes fall on his hand and surprise flickered on his expression before it turn to a sly smile.

Willow drew his non-existent skin between his invisible brows when he caught how Hallow suddenly took a left turn and his figure disappeared as he was covered by the bark of the tree. The reaper clicked his tongue quickly flutter through the trees, following Hallow's steps only to stop midway as he saw no one was there.

The grim reaper fell to a sudden confusion. He looked all over his surrounding, still not moving because he could sense a fellow reaper was somewhere near him. A snap sound came from above him, his eyes snapped up and the faint trace of smile and proudness on his face at once vanish from the blow.

"Willow how much will you bet that you can take my entire weight by your boney hands?" An evil smile curl Hallow's lips. "I can bet you a castle that you will turn to ash before you could catch me." Without further ado, to not allow Willow from gathering his composure and a time to flee, Hallow release his hold on the tree, letting himself to fall over the reaper. While beings and living tree cannot touch grim reaper and likewise, a grim reaper could touch each other, disregarding the fact that one is invisible.

By the time Elise and Ian came, she saw a large brown bear, the same one she had seen this early morning sitting on something that appeared like a skeleton that had turned to ash due to the enormous weight that fell on the skeleton. On the bear's hand was the skull belonging to the body with a torn hood and at the hem of the hood, it turn to a wisp.

Ian saw what was going on and mounted down the horse before helping her feet to touch the ground, a tilted smile appeared on his face, the curling smile of a Demon. Ian went nearer to the grim reaper's body and with an approving smile he hummed, "For the first time, I think I can truly reward you, Hallow."

Hallow's green eyes widened for a moment. He couldn't possibly hear it wrong? The Demon had called him properly by his name!

Elise went closer to where Hallow was, her eyes falling to the skull, "Is that a grim reaper?" She asked for a confirmation when the skull turn in a chilling way enough to make Elise shiver and it spoke,

"Release my head, you damn bear!" Willow demanded only to have Hallow's clutch on his head turn tighter.

Being called as an animal still didn't sit well with Hallow and he protest with anger, "I am not a bear! I am a dog..a chic-a grim reaper!" And he raised the skull, saying to both Ian and Elise, "This reaper came between us. It is the same man who you stared at before, Elly. He came to offer me to become a human again."

Elise finally dawned what caught her mind when she saw Willow from afar earlier, it was the bright green eyes that previously Hallow had told her to be an evident hint of that person being a grim reaper and they weren't wrong. A grim reaper had indeed mingled like a human.

****

A/N: Next chapter is up on a few hours, don't forget to support with power stones^^