AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The other EMT looks stunned and confused for a second, but he recovers and races over to help.
I’m watching them carefully pull her out of the car when a low rumbling hits my ears.
A black ominous haze fills the air.
The Soul Collector.
He’s coming for me.
The ground opens up around my feet. A foreboding orange light shines up through the cracks.
My eyes are locked on my girl as I feel the Soul Collector’s grip tighten around my legs. I never look away.
Time is irrelevant to Grim Reapers and the moment stretches out for an eternity.
But even a powerful Reaper like me can’t escape the Soul Collector forever.
The unstoppable force yanks me down, separating me from my girl. From my sweet soul.
And down I go…
…into the Soul Collector’s lair.
CHAPTERTWO
Grim
Humans knownothing of the afterlife. Heaven, hell, reincarnation, Akhirah, Valhalla, the River Styx, moksha, karma… there’s no shortage of stories that humans will tell themselves when they don’t know. They can’t possibly know.
There is nothing… but this…
“Grim,” the Soul Collector growls from the darkness. That’s what he calls all of us Reapers. We leave our human names when we take up the black. “It appears I am short a soul.”
I grip my scythe as I hear him approach. Back straight. Chin in the air. I will not cower to this demonic being.
Heavy footsteps thud on the frosted stone floor. The thick damp air gets colder. My fingers stiffen as the frigid wintry blast surrounds me.
I don’t know where the humans came up with hell being hot. There’s no heat here. No warmth. Not while the Soul Collector is here.
My body tightens as he steps out of the shadows. I tilt my head back as I look up at him, trying to remain calm, trying to keep my wits about me.
Seeing the Soul Collector is always jarring. It’s always shocking.
This is the third time I’ve stood before him and with the wrathful look in his bright red demonic eyes, I can tell that it might be my last.
“Where is my soul?”
I swallow hard as I stare into his infuriated eyes, not flinching, not reacting.
My girl’s sweet soul is on the line and I’m not about to let her down by cowering in front of this demonic monster.
“Answer me!” he screams in outrage.
I grip my scythe and glare back at him.
Souls are usually terrified when they see us Grim Reapers approaching them, but we’re a delight compared to this beast. If they saw the Soul Collector approaching, they would never recover, they would never be the same.
I grit my teeth as I look him over. He must be thirty feet tall. Legs thicker and stronger than the oldest of oak trees. Hands that could crush a car like a man crushing an empty soda can. Long thin tail swishing through the air like a deadly snake. Long gray claws that could easily slice through metal, rock, me. Red skin thicker than the mightiest shield. Teeth sharper than the deadliest sword. Two curled horns protruding from his forehead that could turn the bravest warrior into a whimpering wreck.
