The Dark Shroud(Book 1)

Anna Tracy, a 20 year old woman dying from consumption is saved and given a second chance to live. The catch; she has to live her life as a grim reaper, and she has to devote her new found immortality to the God and Goddess of the underworld. 150 years later she meets a man named Ren, who is the second son of the Don for the Irish Mafia. All her instincts tell her to stay away, she doesnt want to get involved with a mortal, but she finds herself drawn to him. Will she be able to stay away, or will she give into her desires.

"What are you saying," I cough and blood spurts into my sheet, "sir." I can feel sweat beading on my forehead and drip down the side of my cheek. The summers in here are very humid and hot.

The man sits on the bed next to me and watches me as I have a coughing fit from the consumption.

"I am a grim reaper, Anna," he says. "And I am here to give you a choice that very few of the dying get."

I cough the words out. "What choice?"

The man sits closer to me on the bed I flinched away unwillingly and places his hand on my forehead. At his touch, my body calms and I stop coughing.

"I have been given my final reaping and after I make that reaping, I must name a successor to replace me. I have been watching you and I want to choose you as my successor. So, the choice you get is to be reaped and pass into the afterlife or become a reaper and gain a life of servitude for the god and goddess of the underworld."

"What will happen if I choose to die?"

"I will take your soul from your body and take you to the angel of death, who in turn, will take you to Charon to pass over the river of Styx into the underworld where Hades will judge you and treat you accordingly on how you lived your life."

I look at the man confused. "I have so many questions."

"Do you want to live or die?" William asks.

"I am only 20 years old I have barely lived the life I have. Of course, I would want to live."

I say determined and fearful.

The man smiles and bends over to kiss me on the forehead. He then grabs my and hand and squeezes hard. I start to convulse from the pain before I see something dark and black move from under his skin. It moves through the veins in his hand, into mine and then disappears. I feel my hand become warm before spreading up my arm and over my whole entire body. He lets go of me as my body changes from feverish to perfectly healthy. I sit up on the bed and look at the man with confusion and he smiles.

"All better?"

I nod and he holds his hand out for me to take. "What is your name?"

"My name is William and I have been a reaper for over 500 years."

I stand and he looks at me up and down.

"It's a shame." He shakes his head and hands me a black rough spun dress to change into.

"What is a shame?"

"That I soon have to die, while you live on," he answers. "It is a shame because you are a beautiful woman and I would love to court you."

"Is that why you chose me?" I ask.

He nods. "Partially, yes..." He walks over to the desk and grabs my shoes and hands them to me. "...I chose you because regardless of this being a man's world you don't take any lip from anyone, and given the world today that is a strong attribute for a reaper."

"What are we going to do now?" I ask.

"We are going to my last reap and afterwards you will then take my place."

We walk out of the plantation house and into the cold morning air and mist. Normally I would already be cold, but I welcome it with the warmth that I am still feeling from when William grabbed my hand.

"The first thing you will learn is how to shadow jump," he tells me leading me to the barn. We walk into the barn and he closes the door behind us. "Shadow jumping is the art of using shadows to move between planes to get through obstacles, like so."

William walks into a shadow and disappears and reappears in a different shadow on the other side of the barn. To a normal person it would seem impossible and would probably call William a witch, but now that I am a reaper, I can see the possibility. I can understand that this is a necessity and I am excited to have this experience. He walks back to me and pulls me into a shadow. There is no middle ground when moving between shadows, the moment I entered the shadow I left it, but in a different place. When I look, we are in an old house, in a room with a man that is dying in his bed. Surrounding him are his family and friends who all seem to be crying and distraught. All accept a little girl standing by his bedside. The dying the man reaches up to caress her hair before leaning up to kiss her on the cheek. The little girl starts to cry and the man whispers something only she can here. She nods her head and the man rests his hand back on his chest.

I feel William place his hand on my shoulder and leans in. "Stay here and watch."

William walks forward and lifts his hand to snap his finger all the while with his hand still on my shoulder. The room goes grey and he reaches out for me to walk forward.

"We are now in a different plane parallel to this one called the grey area," he says grabbing my hand. "This is how we will reap the soul without being seen by the living, except those close to death." He walks around the bed and William sits next to the man. The man looks at him and closes his eyes for the last ultimatum of this life. William places his hand on his chest and the man takes a deep breath before exhaling for the last time. William lifts his hand and between the man and William's hand is a string of light. In this string of light, I can see how the man lived his life, all of his memories and pain all in a couple inches of pure delight, towards the end I can see the light get exceptionally weaker and almost disappear, I know this is his soul. William pulls the soul full from the body and throws it over the head of his family to materialize as a spirit. William stands to his feet and walks over to the soul before leading him to me. He grabs my hand and we shadow jump once more to an open field surrounded by trees.

"What are we doing here?" I ask.

"This is where you will reap my soul," William tells her. "And this is where you will meet the angle of death to present your souls for him to take. He will be here every morning at dawn when the green flash happens before the sun comes up."

"I feel drawn to this place." I acknowledge.

"You should," William says. "This is where we bring our harvested souls. This sanctuary, only the souls we harvest and other reapers are allowed in, other than the angel of death."

"What is an angel of death?"

"They are kind of like a promotion, you can have a chance to become one if you perform well," he answers with a smile.

William walks around in a circle with an excited smile and then to a large flat boulder. "And this is where my soul will be reaped by you."

He lies down on the boulder. "Now is the time for you to become a full reaper, and don't be afraid, everything you know now is by instinct."

I look back at the soul who seems to be staring at the trees and then back at William. I walk to his side and kneel and I place my hand on his chest shakily with the word instinct pounding in my head. I then feel his soul attach to the tiny nerve tendrils in my hand. His soul is strong and hard to pull from him, but with some effort and patience I finally get the deed done.

"Now look at me." I look at him. "You will feel a tug in the center of your hand when my soul is ready to leave my body. You can reap souls both in and out of the grey area, understand?"

I nod and he smiles. William closes his eyes and I feel a pull on the center of my hand. I lift up and see the silver light string form between his body and my hand. I hear William take a deep breath and as he exhales as I pull the rest of his soul from his body and throw it very lightly to my side. His soul materializes into view and William's body turns to ash next to me. I feel both exhilarated and afraid of knowing that this is what is going to happen to me when I pass my abilities on to a successor. I know that for some reason, I was meant to do this, and it is by instinct that I can do this.

"What happened to your body?" I ask with terror and understanding.

"All reapers' bodies do that when they die," William's soul says to me. "Yours will too when you expire."

I stand up and walk over to William's soul. I touch his arm, it feels cold, like a ghost would if they passed through you on a warm sunny day, that sudden rushed chill that send shivers down one's spine that only lasts a couple seconds.

"Another thing you must know," he says. "Take care of yourself, just because you don't age doesn't mean your body won't change. You can even have children. Also, your family and friends may know what you are, but the world must not understand?"

I nod and he smiles again.

"Also, there are three main rules. All reaping assignments must be taken, and you cannot reap a soul without an assignment. You also cannot use your abilities for personal gain. If you fail fallow these rules, it will upset the balance and that will be catastrophic."

"How will it be catastrophic?"

"The fate of souls of this world is what fuels the imprisonment of the Titans, if they escape the world will be shaped in the titans' image. The universe will fall under Cronus's rule and those who defied him will fall into despair and be punished. Also, because the human race was created by Zeus and the gods, a lot of the wrath will be directed as so."

"I understand," I say. "But is there a chance that the titans will escape?"

He turns to me and looks at me squarely in the eye. He reaches up and caresses my cheek. I get the gut feeling that he is hiding something, but I don't pry about what it is, nor does he answer my question, instead he just changes the subject.

"There are other things you will learn, but I cannot teach you. We are only given a short time here on earth for the last reaping. So, you only learn the basics, but when certain dark events happen, you will know what to do and how to handle them. It is a knowing that in every soul in this universe and a knowing that only a reaper can find. Not even gods are allowed such power and if they did, they could very well end our universe and others with corruption with the power they already have. There is a reason why reapers are chosen and not born and that reason is we can tear down the very existence of life with one little snap of our finger.

I chose you, not only because of your beauty, but because of your conviction. You hold onto something within your soul that I would never have any once or experience of knowing. I have no clue of what it is, but it made me choose you. I can feel within you a secret power even more powerful than the fates. I want you to have the same experience that I have had."

He grabs my hands and kisses each of my fingers. He looks into my eyes and holds his gaze for a while before speaking again. "I never loved as a reaper and it is because of that I decided to move on, but knowing someone as beautiful as you exist, it will give me enough love to last me a thousand life times in these last moments I have with you. I loved you Anna from the moment I saw you and I always will. I know you don't feel the same, so as a dying wish I want you find love, true love. It could take years or even centuries, but it better be true as my love for you is even now."

He hugs me desperately and sobs into my shoulder. "I have been so alone in my time as a reaper, and I am happy I am not dying alone now." He pulls away and caresses my cheek again. At that moment I want him to kiss me, and I know he wants it too, but part of me knows he just wants to hold my gaze until the end. "Your skin is so soft and beautiful." He continues to caress my cheek before very slowly rubbing his thumb over my lips.

It is rough against my sensitive lower lip and I shiver. The gesture was so warm and powerful that it resonates in my soul for years to come. If he kisses me now, I know I will never want to let him go, nor will I let him pass to the angel of death. I also think the same reaction would come from him, if I kissed him.

"Dawn approaches and so does the angel of death." He says turning away and towards the open horizon. "I will see you again in the next life, and I wish we could be reapers together, but alas, I have to move on and wait for you." He grabs my hand and squeezes it gently and lifts his other to point at the horizon.

I look around and see the sky turn from dark blue to a light orange. I watch as the colors change and just as the sun pushes through the threshold to visibility, I see a flash of green and an opening. I watch as a hooded woman comes forth from Tartarus to extend her hand for the welcome of the souls to enter.

"Who is she?"

"Who knows who she was in the past," he says. "But there is something that I do know, she used to be a reaper and she got promoted."

William walks up to the angel and turns to me. "I will tell hades all about you, I am sure he will be pleased." I see one last tear as he backs into the gate into the afterlife. I see other souls I didn't see before walk past me from out of nowhere and into the opening as well as William. After all of the souls are gone, the angel of death turns from me, nods, and also walks into the opening and it closes.

I watch the horizon long after the sun has come up and gone. I contemplate what will I do with my life and how I will live. The worse thought is telling my family and how they will react to what has become of me. If I tell them, they will accuse is me of being a witch and have me hanged. If I don't tell them, they will see me now as healthy, accuse me of being a witch and have me hanged.

After some time, I feel my time there is no longer alone, I turn to see there have been several souls entered and standing in the middle of the sanctuary is another reaper. A tall petite woman wearing the same clothing the new slaves wear when coming off the ship from Africa. She holds a spear and shield, and wearing African warrior clothing of gold, red, and black. Her head is shaved bare and green paint covers half of her face. Little white dots encircle around her eyes. The most noticeable thing I see about her is actually not a part of her, over her head like and mirage a veil that I know only I can see. I know upon seeing this that is how we as reapers recognize each other.

We stare at each other before she nods and speaks in her language. "Hello Sister, my name is Amina. You don't know my language, but will understand me. I am here to give my souls. I know you are scared, I can feel it."

"I'm afraid my family will not accept me for what I am now." I tell her.

"You are allowed to tell your family, in fact, you are the only one allowed to reap their souls, but you don't have to."

I nod with the agreement of what she is saying. "How will I live my life? Will I have to solely be a reaper or will I have to marry and have children?"

"You may live how you wish. If no one accepts you, you may come here. This sanctuary wasn't just created to harbor souls to the underworld. And if you are good at your job, like I am, there are many perks, like money and recognition."

"Are there other perks?" I ask curious.

"Oh yes," she answers. "Zulu to me." Next to her materializing as though coming from a shadow is a tall looking dog like creature that later on, I learn is an African wild dog with beautiful black, orange, and white markings and spots. "This is a hell hound given to those that are recognized. There are thousands upon thousands of reapers, but only few get this honor. She first came to me 30 years ago and I earned her for helping with a plague that ravaged across the land far to the north. I spent quite a bit of time away from my family because of it."

I smile and Zulu runs up to me and smells me, but seams very skittish. She runs back to Amina and she smiles before nodding and disappearing.

I stand alone again and my mind wonders back to William. I walk a while, but get nowhere, because the sanctuary is infinite. I jump back to the barn with ease just as the sun begins to set in the distance.

After walking through the door of my home I feel an earie feeling. The home feels as though that many spirits and powerful things passing in and out planes within the dwelling of the house. The first person that comes into view is my step mother Missy.

"You look healthy," she smiles contentedly. She places her hand on my neck and nods.

"Mommy, I am a grim reaper." I blurt out without thinking first.

"I figured you were," she acknowledges. "I had a friend long ago who was one. It explains why you are so healthy now from the consumption.

In the midst of the conversation a vision comes into the back of my mind. In this vision I see a young girl walking down a stone road unaware of the runaway carriage coming from behind. I come back to focus in the room and tell Missy that I have received my first assignment after William.

"Don't worry, the family will know with time," she speaks before any other word comes from my mouth. "Do your job, you have been given another chance at life, you better not waste it."