9

It was a chaotic scene. The inhabitants scrambled out of the building one after another, not caring about anything but themselves as they shoved and stomped on the people that had fallen down and had gotten in their way.

The fire was fierce and out of control as it raged over the five-story apartment building, almost engulfing it as a whole. The 'firefighters' as Lord Thanatos has explained were on their way since sirens could be heard from a few kilometers away.

Eden and Lord Thanatos were on the opposite side of the scene, on the roof of another apartment building, surveying the situation.

From the Greek side, Lord Thanatos, who appears as a middle-aged man with brown hair and black eyes, is the God of Death and the Reapers of Souls. 

Years ago, Eden met Lord Thanatos while on the job. His unique circumstances was not the talk of the town up in Olympus. For that reason, the God was quite confused when he saw Eden since one benefit of being a God is the ability to instantly recognise one's true identity. They didn't exactly become friends but they weren't strangers either. However, if they happened to run into each other at the same place and had scheduled souls, they would keep an eye on the situation together. 

Lord Thanatos yawned aloud and stretched his arms above his head. "I hate Mondays. Can't humans just stay put and not die for one second?"

Eden was sitting on the ledge. The wind blew his jet-black hair back, revealing his mismatched eyes and scattered freckles on his nose. His features gave him a kind and innocent impression. Thanatos was fooled by his features once as Eden can be described as a lily of the valley, beautiful to look at yet deadly. 

Eden didn't reply and just stared towards the burning building and Lord Thanatos just started talking about random stuff. Eden can't see anything.

Eden took out a black casing from the inside of his pocket, lifted the lid open and took out his aviator glasses with a cord to go around his neck. He had forgotten when but he remembered gradually not being able to see clearly from afar but being able to see up close. Apparently, being immortal does not stop one from getting nearsightedness.

The Nephilim slid his glasses on and immediately his vision cleared but before he could monitor the building for the souls that were scheduled to die, Lord Thanatos suddenly wrapped his arm around his neck, leaned on him and pointed, "Look!"

Eden narrowed his eyes to where he was pointing. He didn't see it at first until they passed one of the windows; a woman was carrying her child in her arms and was possibly injured with the way she was limping towards the end of the hallway, heading towards the emergency stairway. They were the souls that Eden needed to reap.

Lord Thanatos laughed, "This is why I admire mothers. As long as it's for the sake of their child, they can do anything. Weren't they supposed to be trapped in their unit or something? Hm? Hm?" 

The God started annoyingly poking his cheek repeatedly.

Eden smiled at him, though it didn't reach his eyes. "Shall we go, Milord?"

"Sure, sure!" And without warning the God of Death snapped his fingers, and they were instantly teleported inside the burning building, and in between the emergency exit and the woman.

The woman was in her thirties and she screamed at their sudden appearance. There was blood dripping down from her forehead, and her arms were badly burned. Her ebony hair was matted with sweat due to the heat and her eyes looked wild and alarmed. In her arms was her child who looked to be six to eight years old and was currently unconscious. 

"How ..?" The woman started to say.

"Name's Thanatos, God of Death!" Lord Thanatos said rather excitedly as he conjured his scythe into his hand. Eden expected her to be in shock or in disbelief, but the woman stared at Lord Thanatos' scythe and began to whimper as tears escaped her eyes. She cautiously took a few steps back and held her child protectively.

The temperature was rising and the fire was closing in around them at a fast rate. The smoke was beginning to thicken. Panic was evident on her face. She started to look around for another escape route but she knew there was none except going back to where she came from which was a stupid choice if Eden was being honest.

Her gaze then focused on Eden, and strangely, a ray of hope appeared in her eyes. The woman approached him and went down to kneel at his feet, her head lowered until it almost touched the ground. "Please save my son. I don't care what happens to me but please let him live." She pleaded.

In response, Eden bent down, gently took hold of her hand so she could sit up and be at eye-level with him. He showed her a smile that appeared to be one of assurance, and when the woman saw it, her eyes were filled with hopefulness. 

Then he said without missing a beat, his tone was cold and unfeeling, "Miss Landlady, you set the whole apartment on fire because you wanted insurance but you didn't expect it would get this out of control, did you? And to top it off, you set the fire in your own unit.  Your ex husband was right to divorce you. You're fucking stupid. Now both you and your son are paying the price." 

Reaping souls wasn't the only ability that reapers had; the other is being able to see the cause of death and the life path of the soul they are in charge of.

The woman's jaw fell open at the revelation of her actions, and her eyes widened in shock but Eden wasn't finished, "You two were supposed to suffocate in your home because of the fumes and here you both are. You humans are really trying …"

Eden focused on her child, who was still breathing, albeit barely. He put his palm on the child's chest and commanded the soul to flow into his grasp. Her son's chest stopped rising and became still in her arms right away. The woman's eyes turned horrified as she began to frantically look for his vital signs. She repeatedly screamed out his name like an annoying mosquito in one's ear before finally accepting the harsh, cold truth.

"He's so cold …" She said helplessly. She then turned to face Eden. Fury mixed with grief was apparent on her features. "YOU TOOK MY BABY!"

Eden rolled his eyes and placed his hand on her shoulder. "I'm merely doing my job. My condolences." He doesn't sound the least sincere. 

She wanted to snap back but Eden had already grabbed hold of her soul and pulled it out. Since she was facing him, she collapsed towards Eden and without any hesitation he pushed her off him and stood up. He pocketed the two white wisps inside his satchel before turning towards Lord Thanatos that had been silently watching the whole thing, "I'm done here. Do you need any assistance with yours Milord?" 

Eden smiled.

'Psychotic bastard.' Thanatos couldn't help but think so.

Thanatos was aware of Eden's twisted heart but he finds Eden's treatment towards humans to be disturbing. As if humans in general were a nuisance to him despite having the same blood flowing within his veins. However, Eden's past speaks for itself and he has no right to comment since he wasn't involved and Eden is already being punished. 

"No. Actually I have no souls to pick up today." Lord Thanatos wrapped his arm around Eden's neck again, sighing. "You see, my sister, Nemesis and I had plans to go to this famous cafe down the street and she bailed on me at the last second. I was on my way there when I saw you so would you like to accompany me to the lovely establishment? My treat."

Eden wanted to decline, simply because he didn't want to. Spending every minute in the human world and even being close to them was repulsing. He can't imagine being 'willing' to stay any longer than he needs to. "I apologize. I will have to refu-"

"Great! Let's meet at pier 46 in an hour. I need to change first because my clothes smell now." 

Then Lord Thanatos patted Eden's head who looked at the God in disbelief and before Eden could get a word out, Thanatos teleported him back to Hell.