I don't like you with other men," Slowly, disdainfully, he whispered the words through his teeth, "But you always push me, Nina. Push me to the point of doing something I would regret."
She stood her ground, keeping herself in a non-threatening position. After Nina's mother had passed, her father had broken and never been able to piece himself completely back together. She'd learned through trial and error that when he got like this, he was more like an animal than a man. Remaining absolutely still with no sudden movements and a relaxed, even tone was the best thing for her to do.
"I need you to calm down, Dad. I can't talk to you when you're like this," Nina said clearly, her voice serene, betraying none of the fear that lurked just beneath the surface. "Why don't we take a deep breath, hmm?"
***
From the backyard of the house, hidden in the shadows, Grim watched the exchange between father and daughter. He leaned against a magnolia tree in their backyard, staring through the dusty window at the pair. He'd been watching Nina for a while now, and knew it was only a matter of time before her father finally ended her life.
Grim brushed a stray leaf off his shoulder as he watched Nina work through her father's volatile mood, trying to calm him down and bring him back from the murderous brink that he seemed to be at constantly.
How many times have I seen this now?
Too many times to count. It was a miracle her father hadn't just killed her already. Grim knew the man couldn't last much longer. Murderers, just like addicts, were always looking for the next high, the next kill to make them feel whole and alive again. He'd been studying humans for years, learning their patterns, anticipating their actions. It made the Collectors' job easier, allowed them to slip into the human word just a second before or after a humans death and then leave with their soul back to the Underworld.
The Underworld, Hell, Hades, there was a name in every culture of the world for his home yet few cultures truly depicted it correctly. A mirror image of the human world, the Underworld was just that, a world apart from the humans. It was neither purgatory nor an Eden. It was not a place for humans, but for reapers. Yet, because reapers had nothing besides the human world to use as comparison, they recycled the souls of animals and plants to use in their landscape, modeled mountains and deserts after Earth's marvels. There was no point in going to different planets, traipsing through different galaxies. They needed souls to exist, needed the power those souls provided to live. Just like vampires feed off blood, and zombies feed off flesh, so too did reapers feed off the energy stored in all souls.
Grim returned his attention to Nina, and smiled at the way she handled and controlled her father's mood.
She's strong. Stronger than I thought,
he acknowledged proudly as he stepped out of the shadows and walked through the back wall into the house's kitchen. He noted the sudden condensation on the wall he passed through and watched a chill snake up both Nina and her father.
"Dad, I need you to stay with me. Look in my eyes... keep looking..." she chanted softly to her father, still as a statue.
Grim moved swiftly, more out of habit than necessity, and took a seat in one of the kitchen chairs, his eyes never straying from Nina. Even after months of similar behavior, it still bothered him to see her like this, walking on eggshells around the man who she should have been able to lean on. Goose flesh ran across her arms, and made Grim smile. It was a small consolation for him that even though Nina could not see him, her body could still feel his presence in the room.
Not that it makes a difference, either way.
Grim forced himself to be impassive, stifle the emotions trying to push to the surface. He ignored the blood that coated his palms from his digging his nails in, and the blood that flowed over his tongue as he bit down hard on his lip. They were involuntary actions, things he couldn't stop because somehow he'd developed more than a simple affinity for the human.
Sending his power out, Grim felt a brief tingle before his wounds healed. Sometimes he forgot that his human body was a perfect replica of its counterpart. When Grim hurt himself, he felt pain and saw blood. It was only a flash, barely anything in the grand scheme of his life, but it was a small price to pay for the form because the alternative had always felt... strange to him. Even though reapers were made from human bone and magic, to actually don his bones, cloak, and scythe felt uncomfortable. It felt more natural to Grim to have flesh. It was one more thing he'd inherited from his mother, one more thing that made him unlike most other reapers.
Despite the fact that Nina couldn't see him, Grim felt more... comfortable in his human form around her. He wasn't sure what it was, but being around the woman made him feel more like himself. He didn't understand the sensations the human girl inspired in him, didn't understand why it mattered so much. Running a tired hand through his hair, Grim turned back to Nina and her father, the sudden feeling of violence in the room disappearing like smoke.
"I'm sorry, Nina," her father said, a note of apprehension in his tone.
"It's fine, Dad." Nina smiled comfortingly and changed the subject. "Are you still hungry?"
Smart girl,
