Chapter 441: First set of souls to take
The revelation of Belle once being a reaper, and now having to take back souls, changed every plan they had about going away to the mountains earlier. She couldn’t go away when a heavy responsibility had fallen on her head now, something she couldn’t run away from as it would catch up to her no matter where she went. No hiding from her destiny.
The first soul she was meant to carry was only a month away, and soon enough, the time came. Rohan took her there that evening.
It was a woman and her family of three, a mother with three children. She wasn’t even sick, but because her own mother was never supposed to live long enough to have her, Belle had to wipe away every one of the lives she had given birth to, including the mother herself.
It was hard. Belle wasn’t a reaper without feelings anymore. She was human, a wife, a mother, and watching the family she would soon destroy broke her heart.
When taking a soul, their death must not be abrupt or unexplained to humans, or it might raise unnecessary attention. Hence, she was now supposed to create a scenario that would lead to their deaths, and she had already done so.
Earlier, Belle had been in the kitchen while the mother was cooking for her family. She had the power to be invisible to her victims and to those close to them. It had torn at her inside, but she had dropped a poisonous plant into the pot the moment the mother finished serving her husband’s food, as he wasn’t part of her victims.
Their deaths needed a cause, and poison was the only thing she could think of.
Now, she watched them eat dinner together. Seeing the father and mother laugh at something their youngest daughter said, Belle felt a thorn in her throat and a heaviness in the hands that held the scythe.
Kuhn stood beside her, the creature who, on the very day she returned, had appeared to welcome her as his master.
"Welcome back, master," the creature had greeted. Belle hadn’t known what to say. She didn’t feel like his master. She understood now why Kuhn had never told her about her past. If he had, she would have been caught much sooner, and the people she was trying to protect might have fallen into greater danger. He had done it to protect her, and her secret.
Now, they both stood invisible in the family’s dining room.
Belle looked down at the ticking brown watch in her hand, reading the time and seeing that they had only a few minutes left. She wished time would move slower, just so the husband could share this last meal with them. But they didn’t even get to finish eating before the time ticked out in her hands.
This was worse than anything she had ever faced, but she had to do it.
The youngest daughter fell off her chair first, vomiting white foam from her mouth. The mother, who hurriedly left her seat to check on her daughter, also collapsed. One after another, the poison began to take effect on those who had consumed it.
With a heavy heart, Belle raised her scythe and swept it across them. Just like that, Kuhn fed on their last moments, and their souls drifted out like smoke slipping through fabric.
The husband fell to his knees, crying like a wounded animal when none of his family had breath left in them. The four souls watched in horror. Belle didn’t give them time to linger in the living world, she swiped them through the portal and sent them into the other world.
When she left the house, the veil of invisibility fell away. Her entire body was shaking, and a rush of bile rose to her throat. She lost her balance just outside the gate, collapsing to her knees, and began to throw up.
Rohan, who had been waiting outside in the shadows, rushed toward her. He bent down, pulled her hair back, and patted her back as she kept retching and emptying her stomach. Tears burned in her eyes, and when there was nothing left to bring up, she collapsed against Rohan, weeping like a child and clinging to the front of his shirt with shaky hands.
"You... should have seen the look on their faces... I can’t believe I did that. I—I tore apart a family... He will never recover from their death. Take me away from here. I don’t want to hear his cries anymore... I don’t want to..."
She was sobbing so hard she didn’t even realize Rohan had gathered her into his arms and carried her up into the sky until the wind hit her face.
They didn’t go home right away. Rohan flew around the night sky until her crying slowed and her sobbing stopped. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, her head resting against his shoulder as she stared up at the full moon that looked almost within reach. Her body still trembled slightly, but she wasn’t crying anymore, and that made Rohan sigh in quiet relief.
"How do you feel?" he asked softly, dipping his chin to look down at her curled in his arms in a bridal carry.
"I feel terrible..." she whispered hoarsely. "When I was Astral, I always thought it was unfair for the elders to make reapers emotionless and without hearts... but now I see why it’s necessary. When you don’t feel, it’s easier to do the job. But when you do feel... it’s unbearable."
A tear rolled down her cheek as she realized she still had more than a hundred souls left to take, most of them belonging to families. This was a punishment on its own, one the elders had given on purpose. If they couldn’t destroy her soul, they would break it, and she hate to think they might succeed.
Rohan wanted to console her, to make her feel better, but he had no words. If he could take on the work himself and collect the souls in her place, he would have done it just to spare her this sorrow, but he couldn’t. He had no way to help her other than to be there: to take her to each place, to hold her when it was over. But it broke his heart to see her like this, especially knowing she was pregnant, and that the emotions were striking her even harder in the condition.
A few days ago, he had brought a doctor to check on her, and they had announced her pregnancy. Just as he had suspected, this child was nothing like Angel, it would be a normal pregnancy for her as the baby wasn’t making it’s presence known like Angel.
A normal pregnancy was, in his opinion, even more dangerous than a supernatural one. That was why he didn’t want her to be under any stress in this condition, but with this mission, there was no way to avoid it.
"Hang on tight, my love."
Since he had no comforting words to offer, Rohan flapped his wings and flew in a different direction from home.
Belle, noticing the change, didn’t say anything but wondered where they were going. Being so high above the world, feeling the cold wind on her face, made her feel a little better, though her stomach still felt sick and the sight of the family still lingered in her mind.
Before long, Rohan began to descend, then stopped atop a large rocky mountain. The sound of rushing water and cool spray filled the air.
"Look down, love," he whispered tenderly.
Belle lifted her head from his shoulder and peered down toward the source of the sound. Her eyes widened, and she gasped softly at the unexpected, breathtaking sight below them.