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I muttered curses under my breath, contemplating taking her earlier offer to leave and let her do this on her own. We hadn’t even started the assignment, and I was already vexed by her .

I scaled the building up to the roof, and she followed behind me. I didn’t need to wait too long and continued walking on top of the roofs of the townhouses.

“You’re in my way.” I pushed her away from me and, because I didn’t consider her size, she stumbled a bit too far off the edge of the roof. Oh, shit. I caught her hand, and she dangled there.

“Cute,” she mocked. “You saved me.”

“I’ll drop you.”

“Then, do it.” Reaper challenged.

If I did, I would win, if I didn’t, she would. She released her grip on my arm and waited for me to decide.

“You really want to die so bad?”

“Only if you do it,” she teased. “Afraid to let go?”

I wondered if she’d make the five-story drop, but her hand was slipping, so I didn’t have much time to think. I quickly pulled her back up. “You’re an idiot.”

She stepped back up to safety. “And you’re a coward.”

“Silias would kill me if anything happened to you.”

“Scared?”

“Why would I be scared of a silly, old man?” I asked. I don't doubt any of the stories about him, but aside from his limitless brutality, he was only human.

The expression on her face softened. “You’re right,” she said, “he is just a silly, old man.” She lifted her hand up to show me my rings she had somehow taken off me while I was saving her life. “Can I have these?” She slipped them over her fingers, but they were much too big for her.

“They don’t even fit you.” I snatched them out of her hands and put them back on, continuing our walk. She already had one of my rings, I wasn’t about to give her another.

“Why do you wear rings?” she asked .

“Because I like them,” I told her, annoyed.

“Why do you wear eyeliner?”

“Because I want to.”

“Why do you wear nail polish?”

“Because I can.”

“Do you always colour them black?”

“Yeah,” I muttered.

“How come?”

I whirled to face her. “Will you shut up?” I snapped. “Why are you asking me all these questions like a child?” Then I blinked and let out a breath. “Black is my favourite colour.” Though I am starting to like blue. I turned back to walk again.

She stayed quiet the rest of the walk.

We crouched on the roof, looking at the building opposite us. “Don’t you need to put your glasses on so you can see our target?”

“I don’t have much pigment in my eyes, so they’re sensitive to light,” she said, wrapping her bandana over her face. “I can see in the dark perfectly fine.”

She stood up about to just go for it, but I quickly pulled her back down. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to kill him,” she said casually, as if she were saying she was just going to the bathroom.

“We’re doing this together, so let’s talk it through about what each of us are going to do.”

She rolled her eyes and looked at me, tapping her fingers, impatiently.

“I’ll shoot the power box, causing a black out on this block, then–”

“Okay, cool.” She stood up again. “I’ll meet you inside.” She jumped down and scaled the building. Stygians. Can’t work as a team, but I guess I’m not good at that either .

Taking out my bow, I shot an arrow at the power box causing sparks and the entire street to go dark. I quickly got to the other building and when I arrived inside, most were already dead. Messy, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn't impressed she did it so quickly.

I groaned. “We were only supposed to kill one person.”

“No witnesses,” she explained, slicing one of their necks and finishing them off by stabbing them in the eye. She didn’t even blink as she did it.

I sucked in a breath. Can she get any more attractive?

I turned, scanning the corpses for our target, kicking one man to roll over onto his back so I could see his face. I snapped my head around the room, but our target wasn’t in here at all. “Where is he?” I asked.

She shrugged, uncaring. “Who knows,” she said, slaughtering the last person, ignoring his cries and pleas.

“What do you mean? You let him get away?” I growled in a low voice.

“Maybe if you came quicker, instead of wasting time with the power box, you could have blocked the exit.”

I cursed. “Now he knows we’re after him.”

She walked towards the window looking out. “He’s not far.”

I ran towards it and saw a man sprinting down the streets, frantically looking at his surroundings, shoving people out of his way. She’s made this simple job so much harder.

Jumping out the window, I landed two stories down without a sound, the people walking on the streets startled by my sudden appearance. I didn’t bother to check if Reaper was following me as I raced after him.

The man was running on adrenaline so he wouldn’t get too far and would tire out quickly, especially considering his heavier stature.

Stupidly, he turned a corner to an alley, making it easier for me to finish him off without so many people watching.

The man put a hand against the wall, leaning his weight into it as he struggled to run any further .

“As much as I love the chase, it’s hard to watch you try,” I said, taking out my butterfly knife, lips twitching at the thrill.

He whirled towards me, with wide eyes, trembling. “Please.” He dropped to his knees. “Spare me.” His hands clasped together.

“It’s nothing personal, really, I’m just doing what I’m told.” I let out a cackle that made him flinch. I took one more step towards him into a light and his eyes widened at the sight of my heterochromia ones.

“Vulture, Vulture.” He pressed his nose to the dirty ground, pleading with me.

Reaper jumped down, right behind him. She grabbed the back of his hair and pulled him back, up off the ground. “And Reaper.” Then she placed the blade of her knife against his neck. “You should consider it an honourable death to have both of us tasked to you.”

I snarled at Reaper. “He’s mine.”

She smiled at me. “I know we’re the bad guys but you’re so slow with all your monologuing.” Slowly, she dragged her knife against his neck, drawing a bit of blood, teasing me, waiting to see what I would do.

The man whimpered, shutting his eyes.

I tightened my grip around my knife. In a quick move, I shoved Reaper away from the man, stabbed him in the stomach and pulled the knife up to his throat, letting his corpse collapse to the ground.

I then pushed Reaper against the wall, pressing my bloodied blade to her cheek. “You’ve pissed me off.”

She licked the blood off my knife. “You say that a lot, but you never really do anything about it.” She met my eyes. “Do you like me, Cinth?”

“Don’t call me Cinth,” I spat. “Why do you seem to only continue to piss me off?”

She didn’t answer, she just gave me this blank stare.

We didn't have time for this, I could hear the sirens getting closer. Cursing, I released her .

“Get home on your bloody own,” I muttered.

I shoved my hands in my pocket and left the scene before the police could come.

***

I entered the apartment and slammed the door shut.

“How did it go?” Niko asked from the kitchen.

“No,” I said, not even looking at him.

“No?”

“No, it was awful, I never want to train her again.” I didn’t even train her, she just went ahead and killed everyone she could see… Or maybe she actually couldn’t see and lied saying she didn’t need her glasses but actually just forgot to bring them and didn’t want to admit it.

“What did you do?”

“Why is it always me?” I asked, offendedly.

He laughed. “Because I know you and you are a pain in the ass.”

He should properly meet Reaper.

I shot him a glare, only making him laugh more.

“Try harder.”

“She doesn’t respect me,” I explained. “She treats me like the shit she just stepped on.”

Niko looked up in thought. “Really?”

“What?”

“Why not try to talk to her, get to know her and let her get to know you.” That's what Lin suggested before too. “Your next training could focus on meditation and control, you know what I’m talking about.” He didn’t need to say any more. I had experienced Niko’s training.

“Can I use the dojo? ”

Niko owned a quaint dojo near the forest. He allowed anyone to use it whenever they wanted, but at night, it was closed for only Niko and I.

He nodded. “Might be good for her, I can only imagine that whatever Silias taught her was wrong and brutal.”

“You want to trade places?” I almost begged.

He shook his head. “You know what you’re doing and besides, she might be more comfortable around people her own age.”

I sighed. “Why did you even agree to let me mentor her?”

“Because you need to learn responsibility and hopefully she can give you that emotion you lack.” He tilted his head. “Empathy.”

“Bloody hell, of all people it had to be her?”

“Cinth,” he started. “You know when you two first met nearly a decade ago, you both ran off on your own together. She was the first and only person I’ve ever seen you willingly touch since I met you.”

“Where did we go when we ran off?”

He had to dig deep into his memory. “We found you two on a roof.”

“We?”

“Her father and I.”

“Her real father?”

“Cinth, do you really not remember?”

“No… Why did we run off?”

He shook his head. “I have no idea, but you two were like magnets. You met her a few times the next few months at her father’s house. We couldn’t separate you two and we never heard what either of you were talking about because you were always only whispering in each other’s ears. ”

We still talk to each other like we’re telling secrets. A sharp pain sizzled deep in the core of my head, slowly engulfing my brain in a scorching fire as I tried to remember.

“Every time we would eat dinner, you both decided to share a chair to eat.”

How embarrassing.

“You really wouldn’t let her out of your sight, nor would you let anyone else touch her.”

Bloody hell, I still act like that with her.

“You wouldn’t even let her own father hold her and when he did have the audacity to in front of you, you would break something.” He laughed.

Why was I so attached to her? Why am I still so attached to her? No matter how much I try to fight it, I find myself lingering around her.

“And we caught you two snuggled, sleeping together when the both of you slept at his house.”

I rolled my eyes, even though the motion made my head hurt more. “Okay, now I know you’re spitting lies.” I could never be that close with someone.

He shook his head. “If I wasn’t there, I wouldn’t have believed it either. Her father was so angry at you, but you would just glare back at him. Demons below, you had a death wish.”

I pulled my hood up over myself as I used my other hand to cover my mouth. Holy shit. Why do I have no memory of it?

He sighed. “Who knew she was the Grim Reaper.” He met my eyes. “This is the life her father worked so hard to avoid for her.”

He walked towards his room, but stopped and turned back to me. “Her father and I thought you two were going to be friends forever and maybe even more someday.”

Yuck .

“I know you two lost contact and I know she’s changed a lot, but why do you hate her so much?”

I don’t think it was her that I hated, but the fact that I couldn’t comprehend what I really did feel towards her. I shoved my hands in my pocket and leaned against the wall. “She messes with my head, I doubt she did that when we were younger.”

“Demons below, Cinth.” He shook his head. “Just let yourself feel and see where it goes.”

I furrowed my brows. “Feel what?” I can’t feel anything, except when I’m with her, but I don’t know what the feeling is. Having these constant heart attacks around her could lead to my death, which means this is a bad feeling, therefore, I hate her.

“Gods.” He sighed. “You’re probably confused because you were kids before and didn’t know you could get closer–”

“Niko.” I stopped him. “That is definitely not it.”

“Just… Let it happen.”

“What if I lose control?”

“Then, you lose it.” He shrugged, opening the door to his room. “You’re not going to die.”

I might. “She’s the one who will,” I muttered, instead.

He laughed. “I know for a fact you won’t actually ever kill her.”

I smirked at the challenge. “Now I really want to do it, just to prove you wrong.”

“How many times have you tried to kill her?”

At least twice.

When I didn’t answer, he asked. “And why didn’t you go through with it?”

“That’s exactly what I don’t understand.” I’ve never felt this before. Killing someone was like breathing for me, it was so natural and easy, so why was I struggling when it came to her?

“Cinth, you’re an absolute idiot, confusing wanting to kill her and wanting to–”

“Niko,” I warned.

He quickly closed his door shut and locked it for his own safety. Not that I would do anything to him, there was no gain in killing him. I’d already thought about it.