form.
The black feathers swirled into a hooded cloak, and his muscular form
took shape under the flowing cloak as he smashed through the glass
windows and into the bedroom.
Emma screamed.
Brett jerked up, the bliss on his face congealing into
horror. He had been on the brink of releasing his sperm into Emma
when his window had shattered with a blood-curdling roar and a shadow
had swooped into his bedroom. The shadow reared up into a tall,
cloaked figure, and under the hood, blue eyes burnt like intense
flames.
“ What the—” Brett shouted, pushing
himself up to confront the intruder. Death saw that Brett's penis
was shrinking as rapidly as his panic was rising. “Who are
you? How did you...” Brett glanced at the skyline as seen
from his twenty-seventh floor apartment that was now framed by his
shattered window. “I...I'm calling security and you'll be in
so much trouble, young man. Pulling a stunt like that.” Brett
grabbed his trousers from a chair and fumbled around the pockets for
his phone while trying to step into those trousers at the same time.
He failed at both tasks. “You'll be charged with trespass,
assault, outrage of modesty...”
Death cut his ice-blue eyes to Emma. She had scrambled
out of bed and had managed to grab Brett's crumpled white shirt off
the floor and thrown it on. She looked incredibly sexy in that long
shirt with her hair tumbling over her shoulders. Death felt desire
flare in him, but seeing her in Brett's shirt and smelling his scent
all over her was like a knife twisting in his gut. Her face was
still flushed from her recent orgasm, the orgasm that this cowering
bastard had given her.
Death took a step towards Brett and wrenched the phone
from his trembling hands. Brett stared up into his hood, and met his
cold, furious eyes. Brett's eyes widened as he backed away.
“Wh-what are you?”
Death smirked and lowered his hood. His blond hair was
tousled and shone unnaturally bright in the dim bedroom. He knew he
looked younger than Brett, even though he was older, eons older. He
was ageless, timeless and merciless. And to those who had the
fortune, or misfortune, of staring him in the face, he looked
indescribably beautiful.
“ I am Death.”
Brett seemed to have been struck speechless by his
reply. He simply opened and closed his mouth repeatedly, gulping and
making small, incoherent noises at the back of his throat.
Brett shook his head wordlessly as Death advanced
towards him. His gaze was becoming unfocused and teary. Silently,
Death raised his hand high above him, throwing a long, dark shadow
across the room.
“ No!” Emma screamed at him, and Death
looked up to meet her eyes at the very instant that he struck the
fatal blow.
Brett crumpled to the floor, like a puppet with his
strings cut. Death still had his arm raised, like the puppeteer
holding the severed strings and waving them inanely above the fallen
subject.
“ No!”
Emma came flying at him, shoving him forcefully away and
gathering Brett's lifeless, naked body in her arms. But it was too
late. The deed was done.
She turned her tear-streaked face to him at last, and
the raw hate in her eyes made him stagger back. “You!”
she said in a fierce, ragged whisper. “Why? Why have you come
back? Why? Just who do you think you are? And no.” She held
up a hand. “Please don't lie to me. Don't tell me you were
just doing your job. I know. It wasn't his time. Brett was fit and
healthy. He wasn't on any medication. His heart was fine. He
didn't just have a heart-attack while having sex with me. You...you
killed him. You killed him!” she spat.
“ Emma, it's not...that wasn't meant...” He
couldn't face her. “I—I...”
“ Get out! Get the fuck out of here! Leave me
alone, and don't come back! Ever!”
“ Emma...”
“ I said get out! You've been gone for so long, so
why come back now? Just go! And stay away...far, far away from me.”
She collapsed into sobs.
Death stared at the back of her
Douglas E. Schoen, Melik Kaylan