Page 17 of Thanatos' Craving

The female hums. “I feel cold. I heard that happens before you go. I guess it’s true?” she said to herself.

I looked around the alley. It’s dirty, it stinks, a body is just a few feet away from her. It is a terrible place to let go of her life, especially after spending so much time in a place where she never wanted to be.

I balled my fist in anger. It was unfair for her to leave the earth like this. Who knows where else her life could have taken her?

To her mate.

I growled, gripping my scythe with both hands. I didn’t like that, either.

A torrent of dark shadows whipped and whirled at my feet, creating a mesmerizing dance around me. The chilled wind tugged at my robes, causing them to billow and sway. I could feel the gentle rustle of my ebony wings as they adjusted to the gusts.

“I’m not seeing a bright light, though. Guess I wasn’t good enough, or didn’t fulfill some greater purpose?” Her lips wobbled. “Did little of anything with my life. I can understand that.” She nodded.

She looked straight into my hood, and unlike the other gods and goddess, this human continued to look into the darkness, searching for my face.

“You’re not that scary, you know,” she whispered. “You’re kinda calming.”

Calming? Even with my emotions bubbling inside me? My shadows were dancing wildly around me, my wings spreading, making myself appear larger.

I looked behind me, gazing at my massive state. I wasn’t trying to scare her, not her. Not this innocent soul. Then what was I doing exactly? I paused, looking upwards, trying to understand why my body was making itself larger.

I moved my wings and found that drops of rain fell through my hood and onto my skull.

Shielding her. I was protecting her from the rain. Protecting her from the elements. Protecting her body that should no longer matter.

Rules, fate, I had but two jobs: to collect souls and to help Ember with her cause. Now the lines were fading. Now emotions, very uncontrollable emotions, were messing with my head.

I came closer, bringing my scythe with me, and she didn’t flinch like many humans would. She showed no fear in me. She stared death in the face.

It was refreshing.

I liked it.

And the more I looked at her, even with the blood, her bruised face; she was beautiful.

A beautiful creature like her would not want to know a monster like me, but I found this female fascinating. I had the urge to know more about her, be around her the longer I stood in her presence.

As I grew near, her soul entrapped me, suffocating me with its aura.

Her soul didn’t call for me to reap, it was reaching for me to—do what?

I tilted my head.

She was someone’s soul mate; she was fated. Perhaps her soul was trying to live on, knowing part of themselves was missing. Yet she did not know.

A fire blazed inside me. A fury that I had never known before seared my bones, ready to char whoever she was to be gifted to.

I didn’t want anyone else to see the soul inside her. I didn’t want anyone else to take the beauty of what lay within her. They would taint it, they wouldn’t understand how special it was.

Only I could see that. I was the only one who could look inside one’s body and truly see.

I want her.

My wings shuttered, hearing the rolling thunder.

This female had a soul too interesting, too delicious, too powerful for me to just let her live and let her go. Her mate was not here to take care of her, to heal her body, and I would be damned if I just left her here.

By the fires of Tartarus, have I really considered this? Take her? Steal her away and never letting her meet her mate?

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