Chapter 9

***Chapter 9 ~ Death***

***Grave Konchina***

***~***

***Moscow, Russia***

“She’s late.” I muttered to Mikhail.
“I know. Go, find her and get the job done.” He sighed, impatiently tapping his desk with his pen.
I nodded and grabbed my silver briefcase before making my way back out of the office. The city’s street and walkways were basically barren at this time of night, with the occasional car or figure that had no intention of socializing. I despised the fact that Anastasia had to go out for her own work like this. I trusted her more than anyone, but I could still have the hope that she wouldn’t get hurt when I couldn’t be there to protect her; and I knew Mikhail felt the same way.

Through the cold Russian winds, I made my way into the building of the address I was given: an old warehouse on the edge of the city’s limits with trash lined around the fence. After scoping out the perimeter, I found a gap in the weathered fence and opened it more before slipping through. Only the sound of the city echoed around the eerie warehouse and I slid open one of the doors. The inside was no different than the outside; empty and desolate. Without taking any chances, I rested the briefcase on my arm and removed the curved silver blade.

“Anya?...” I whispered, but got no response.

I stopped walking as I heard footsteps coming up from behind. I whipped around around to see who it was, but all I found was trash and emptiness. The figure I heard was now behind me. The first thing he did was attempted to separate the sickle from my grip, both of us getting cut, him more than I, in the struggle. During the hysteria, a second figure came from my behind, wrapped an arm around my neck, and covered my mouth and nose with a bitter white cloth. My body started to go weak, my mouth felt like it was filled with copper coins and my eyes started to droop.

“The infamous Reaper, I expected more from you.” The man in front of me said coldly.
I tried to reach out and hit him but my arm went limp and was difficult to even stand. My  attempt only made the man laugh and tapped my shoulder blade, distorting my balance and sending me to the ground with a thud.

“To be honest, Reaper, your little sister put up more of a fight than you did, kind of pathetic on your part to say the least.”
My heart sank. Anya...she was gone...

My vision started to go as the man gave orders in my maidan tongue to his men. Finally, I lost all feeling of my body and the world around me went black.

I don't know how long I was unconscious, could've been hours, hopefully not days. I blinked my eyes open, or at least I thought I did. It was completely dark all around me. My breath was cut short when I realized I was in a box with my legs bent close against my stomach and a wooden roof above me. I slammed my fists on the wood in the hopeless attempt of escaping. My heartbeat started to race and I tried to hold my breath as long as I could to save oxygen. In the black, my mind started to wander to the thought of Anya; what happened to her and what was going to happen to Mikhail when this was over. I let out a sigh and didn't care. Andrei didn't let her live, she would've been home safe and sound if she had survived. She was it, the last family I had; I was never as close to Mikhail as Anya was and either way, there was no escape. So I closed my eyes, coming to terms with what would happen. I could feel the world pull away from me and the oxygen run low, sending my mind on end. There was nothing I wanted to do to save myself and I waited for the last of my air to deplete, sending me in a broken haze and returning me to the darkness.

"Do you read the bible? You don't strike me as someone who does." A voice commented in the black.
"Wha-...What's going on?..." I muttered. It was hard to decided what I was more confused about -- the absurd question or the fact that someone was able to ask me a question at at all.
"Job 14:14 - If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come." The voice recited.
"So?"
I slowly began to look around. It was still black all around but I wasn't in the box anymore, so I could actually move around. In front of me stood a man in dim light, in a dark overcoat and a matching hat that covered his eyes. A glimmering black stone hung around his neck.

“You take death so lightly and you're barely over twenty. Have you ever thought of what happens after?”
“I'm Russian, and judging by your accent, so are you; death shouldn't hold us back, it's hard but we can't fall behind. We are not weak.” I said slowly.
“Well, you're not wrong there, Grave. But you should really think about what comes after, because it's not just heaven or hell; especially not for you.” He replied coolly, as he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket inside the jacket and a knife from the seithe. He held them both out to me without explaining, except for “Follow your queen.
I took the knife from him and looked at it skeptically. He watched intently as my body was out of my control and I ran the blade against my palm, causing a river of blood to form. I clenched my fist tightly over the paper and let the river flow down over the line at the bottom. he man yanked the paper away and looked down at the gem around his neck that was now a heavy navy color.

“Looks like the favor has been repaid.” He said before walking away.
I watched confused for a quick moment before it felt like my body was burning from the inside and my skin was decaying off the bone. It increased and increased until I fell to the floor again, doubling over from the pain, waiting and hoping for to be over and through the haze, it all ended.

I jolted awake with a heavy inhale, as if I was walking from a nightmare. Breathing heavily, I looked around and I found myself in the middle of a forest in a circle of dead plants. Right at the edge of the black was a woman about my age with bright blondish-white hair. She sat silently, with a worried look on her face, but she was beautiful.

“Everything is alright...you're safe now.” She said softly.
“Where...where am I? Who are you?” I muttered, running my hand over my face.
“My name is Skye. You're on the Island, we don't know much besides that, I'm sorry.”
“I...uh...Grave, my name is Grave.”
“Do you mind if I see the inside of your wrists, Grave? I won’t hurt you, I promise.”
“I never thought you would.” I joked lightly, turning over my arms for the both of us to see the bones printed onto my skin. The oddest part of the sight, besides waking with an unknown tattoo, having them in such a position to look like that of an angel. Skye gently trailed her fingertips over the markings, neither of us saying a word before she stopped.

“I think there's someone you should meet Grave, wait right here.” She quickly got up and headed back into the forest.
I looked around some more while she was gone and attempted to stand up as she made her way back through the brush with a younger girl behind her. The girl had a leather jacket on, bright blue eyes like mine and black and purple hair.

"Grave, I would like you to meet Duskara, she came here recently too." Skye said, looking between us.
Duskara looked at me silently but was thinking the same thing, we looked too much alike to ignore. There was this constant feeling in the back of my mind but all there was nothing more than a constant emptiness. She looked familiar, there was no doubt but I couldn't place it  with it sending me on edge. Before I could say anything, she beat me to say it.

"Skye, I would like you to meet my brother." She said plainly, her emotionless expression breaking into a small smile.
Skye even broke out into an even larger smile than before. “That’s wonderful, Duskara, how about you show Grave to a cabin, and I’ll let the others know? I was a pleasure to meet you, Grave. The Island isn't that large so we’ll see each other around.”

I nodded along, honestly overwhelmed by the whole situation, and even forced a smile to join the party. She flashed us both a smile before heading back into the forest.

The two of us stayed rooted in our spots for a few lingering moments before Duskara snapped out of it and motioned me to follow her down a trail. I asked a few questions, she gave me a few answers.

“There’s six others besides you and me, you’ll meet them eventually. No one has any idea about the tattoos, we just have them and live with it. And death, that’s just you, no one else. But if it helps you, everyone else has their own little issues.” She explained plainly.
I opened my mouth to have her elaborate more on the “issues” comment but my voice was cut short when we began to exit the forest to come to what appeared to be almost a town. It wasn’t too lively, but I could hear voices and see movement through the rows. There appeared to be some about Duskara’s age while only a handful my own age.

“‘Ey Cher? Yah little hungover there?” One of the residents my age laughed. Honestly I barely understood what she said, her accent and speech slurred the words into one long string. I looked at myself; she wasn’t wrong, I was wearing what looked to be a suit once before but was covered in dirt and mess, it was a miracle the stayed on.
“Ignore Glitch, she’s always like this. You’re fine.” Duskara reassured me. “Yours should be down this row by the end.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” I nodded to her and let her take her leave down a different row of homes. Which one was mine, that was up for debate, but I followed her instructions. They all reasonably looked identical; it took a keen eye to tell them apart, all except for the various carvings into the wooden doors. The carvings themselves resembled angelic wings. I continued to eye the doors until a skeletal structure came into view. The door itself was cracked open slightly but no life seemed to be lurking within.
It was dark, completely and hauntingly black. Dark curtains hung over the windows, with the only lighting being the candelabra light fixtures hanging on the wall. Placed underneath one of the lights was a reasonably small couch where a throw pillow that had the enlarged photo of a human skull took up half of the cushion. I didn’t think twice before collapsing down into the black. Just within my line of sight, I could find a bed on the second floor, matching in color with the entire cabin.

This was my world now, enclosed by black and shrouded in the unknown and confusion. My whole body ached with every move I made, not making my stay any more pleasing or comforting. I closed my eyes slowly, letting the darkness enclose me once again, letting the previous events go through like a broken movie reel as I tried to piece anything I could remember before seeing those calm crystal blue eyes surrounded by all that death but there was nothing, and for who knows how long, there will always be nothing.