Reaper's Word

Chapter 17: Surprising Find

Isaiah moved down the halls of the house. He'd heard shouting and screaming somewhere. He figured that some of the humans were fighting or something. That would happen from time to time. The scream had been female and he thought that he recognized it. He found where the screams came from.

Isaiah stood looking at a shattered window. It was mending at the moment, to which he raised an eyebrow. A few specks of blood that were slowly fading into the woodwork told him who was here. He smelled Gustav, Mario, an unknown female, and Clair.

Had it been her that had screamed? He opened the door to the room but it was empty and recently so, Gustav and his little followers. He was thinking of killing the man quickly. He found him rather annoying in his control of the other humans. Not much fun to play with when they were mindless. He also didn't like the thought that he might have Clair.

She was his property to play with, not Gustav's. If he found the man and Clair wasn't in perfect condition there would be hell to pay. He didn't scent her anywhere else near where the group had headed to. He surmised that she must have gotten away from them. He was pretty sure that it was her blood that he smelled, because normally he wouldn't have caught her scent. Now that it was there, she most likely wasn't with them.

Good, he'd be a bit disappointed if she'd managed to get caught by the lowly group of humans and not by him. He moved down the hall and just let his feet take him where he wanted to go. He was completely full at the moment.

As were the hell hounds. They were now short twenty two humans. Which left a whole twelve wandering around the house. Though he wouldn't be all that hungry for some time to come. Not with the way that he'd fed, and he'd fed from more than just four. He left their bodies for the hell hounds to have. He just kind of aimlessly wandered from the scene. Not really thinking he was going to find anything interesting anyways.

He found himself looking up a set of stairs that went up to the roof. He hadn't been up there in a long time. Sometimes he could go out, sometimes he couldn't depending on his thoughts. He figured why not try it today? He was well fed so if he started to bleed it wouldn't be so bad. He had the urge to do so.

He just wanted something new. A different view, different air. He wasn't looking to leave. He reached the door and opened it. He stepped out into the bright light and blinked his eyes trying to adjust. The air out here smelled so much cleaner. It was a relief after the months of not having come outside.

Isaiah looked at his arms, no liaisons. He touched the corner of his eye and looked at his hand. He was relieved that there was no blood. So he could be out here today and have nothing to worry about. He moved along the roof and heard what sounded like scratching.

Then a voice, a feminine one and he recognized it. He glanced to the right and saw Clair sitting on the edge of the building. A board and paper in her hand and she was going at the paper like it had wronged her. He stood there for a second because this was not what he expected to find.

Nor that the house hadn't hindered him. He glanced around unsure for a second that something wasn't hiding in wait. Then looked back at Clair. Isaiah took a second look around the roof. He almost felt like this was a joke. It felt too easy and that made it surreal. He could but stand there for the moment. Did he just randomly come across her, how simple.

"Should have stabbed the asshole the second I saw him." She said to herself. "Hope the other guy limps for a week, not to mention that woman." She reached up and touched her face and then sighed. She kept at the paper and her movements slowed a bit.

Isaiah was highly interested now. She seemed absorbed in what she was doing. He moved around and behind her on the roof, making no noise. He was standing just behind her looking down over her shoulder. His head tipped to the side slightly as he contemplated the drawing and her.

He watched as she drew the fountain from above. He saw no reason to disrupt her and wanted to watch. Wasn't like she was really going anywhere now. He had nothing but time in this house, and she was an enigma at the moment. Besides, he felt satisfaction watching her and she didn't know. Just like she'd been doing to him.

Her hand was fluid over the paper she used both hands. One holding a pencil and the other a white paper stick of some kind and eraser. He didn't move just stood there watching the image on the paper come to life. He was easily consumed by watching her draw. There was something mesmerizing about it to be honest.

It was fascinating to watch her work. There was clearly something more to drawing than just a natural skill. It was how she perceived things. She had the fountain drawn and moved on to the roses, but she changed it a bit. The fountain still had water in it but it didn't come from the top like down below. Instead she had vines growing around and over it.

She was quick with the flowers, a practiced hand. Then she started around it. He was stunned by the devastation that she drew around it. Like a city that was in ruins and burning. It gave a very deep feeling of hopelessness and yet it was serene.

She would set things down next to her in a tray. Then grope for the pencil type she wanted while using her eraser or white stick. He didn't know how long they were up here for, but he didn't mind. What else exactly was he going to do? Nothing he hadn't done a thousand times already. This was different and she wasn't going anywhere. He didn't always kill someone the instant he came up on them. This was one of those times. She didn't look anywhere but at the garden a few times and the paper before her. The image was very nearly done as the sun was sinking lower.

"Just a few more minutes." She said to no one in particular. She pulled her hair to one side, tipping her head to stare at the picture. He noted that along the exposed skin of her cheek there was bruising and on her drawing wrist as well.

Obviously she'd had a confrontation with them. He frowned slightly, he did not like that she wasn't as he'd seen her last. If something was going to change about her, he'd be the one to do it. He made a note to find those that had been in the hall and deal with them.

The sun touched the mountain peaks to the west and she made a frustrated sound working at one part in particular. He didn't see what was wrong with it but she seemed very angered by it.

"Damn." She snapped and set it down. He found it comical that she would talk to herself this way. Clair raised her head and looked at the trees. She closed her eyes and gave a very deep sigh. Isaiah moved slightly and crouched down next to her.

"You are very talented."

Her head snapped around to him, and her face paled but she didn't scream or lash out at him. Then again she was sitting on the very edge of the house. Though he wouldn't put it past a few humans to jump to their death to avoid the way that he would and could kill them.

"Thank you." She said, watching him with a wary eye. He always liked her calm response. She was bracing herself slightly for what he might do to her. He did notice that she glanced a bit around them. He didn't know why she bothered. She wasn't escaping this time. He appreciated that she stayed calm and didn't do anything stupid.

"I'm not going to kill you, yet. If I'd wanted to do that I would have done it while I watched you draw." He told her. Just so it would keep her from trying something ridiculous.

"How long?" She asked in a quiet voice. She seemed to be fighting a bit of a tremor, but she sounded steady.

"Nearly the entire time. I've seen most of your drawings. They are very pleasing and annoying at the same time. Where is it that you seem to watch me from?" Her pale face colored slightly and then a bit

of anger came to it.

"I'm not telling you that. Find out yourself, or do you think you can't, and that is why you are asking me? A game you can't win." She played that card very well. She had figured out a bit of his character. If he forced her to answer him he would admit that she had beaten him. He did not like to lose, especially to a human. She wasn't better than him, but she sure was tempting.

"I've killed for less than that."

"You kill for simple boredom." Her voice was quiet but strong. Clair didn't know why she spoke to him. She should just stare at him. Let him think what he wanted. It was disturbing to her to have been watched and not known it. Then again she'd done it to him. She was relieved that he hadn't just dragged her off and killed her straight away. It made her more scared of what he might want from her.

"This is true." He reached over and took the board from her and the drawing. He looked at it, his gaze moving over it.

"How do you draw so well?"

"I always could." She answered him.

"I have something I would like you to draw for me." He stated. He wanted a drawing of it to have to display. A kind of cruel yet unknown joke to those who saw the image she would draw for him. She was going to draw the only exit the house had. An unspoken chance, just to see if anyone was crafty enough, and also a game with her. Just to see how smart Clair actually was.

"What do I get if I draw it for you?" She asked, he smiled. So quick.

"Follow me Clair." He said standing, he knew she would. She'd want to do it on her own, not being forced. She grabbed the drawing items and moved to follow him. He held the board and drawing. She

looked up at the darkening sky, and they went to the door that was closest to the studio. She followed him down to the studio room and he stopped outside the door. He pointed to it and the door opened. He handed her the image and she took it.

"I ask that it be done in charcoal. Grab whatever you need for it."

"You haven't told me what I will get for this. What or why you'd even offer." She said moving into the room and putting the things away. He stayed out of the room in the doorway. This was her room really and when she was in it, he didn't feel that he could safely go in.

"Two days, full immunity from me, Beta, Alpha, and Zeta. I see that you know their names." She just gave a nod putting material into a plastic case.

"Where did you learn mine.I never told you."

"Gregori." He recalled telling the man. Interesting that he'd told others. Not that it mattered.

"Their images, I would like to take them. I only put them back so you would not know."

"Tried to catch me in here?" She asked not looking at him. Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

"Didn't work so well." She glanced at him but didn't say anything. She moved to the cabinet, and pulled out the folder with I.Z.A.B on it.

"Three days." She said holding the folder. "I have a feeling I might not enjoy what you will have me doing."

"Oh you will." He said with a smile. "Just for fun I'll give you your extra day." He replied. Isaiah decided that he didn't want her dead or gone yet. He liked trying to figure her out. He hadn't found where she was hiding yet. He wanted to know the answer and she wasn't going to tell him. So at the moment he had several ideas of what he was going to make her do besides draw.

She held out the folder to him and he took it. He'd keep these for a very long time, long after she was gone. A kind of memory because he didn't think he could learn her skill. But she still had a bit of time. She had gotten his attention so he wasn't ready to dispose of her yet.

He noted that she still hadn't said okay. She was a smart one and probably wouldn't say okay until he told her exactly what it was that he wanted. She came to the door with her supplies and a new canister with several pieces of clean paper. Isaiah made a low whistle and a minute later, Alpha came running down the hall toward them. Clair stiffened and he smiled at her.

"Nervous?"

"Wouldn't you be?" She asked still in her quiet voice.

"Do you know which one this is?"

"Alpha." She answered. He held out a hand for her things and she gave them to him. Alpha opened his mouth and took the strap and box in his jaws. Clair listened while this time he spoke in a language she didn't know. Alpha turned and ran from the hall.

"What am I drawing?"

"You can't draw it until tomorrow. You need the light, your eyes aren't that good." He said, and motioned for her to move forward. She did but was watching him.

"Where are we going then?" She asked and he sensed the spike of fear in her. Still she did nothing to attack, didn’t even sound snide. So very refreshing for him.

"I feel that you will have to earn your three days a bit more than just doing what you are naturally good at. We are going to the piano room." She just gave a nod. He followed behind her as they went down the halls and across the house. Clair found this surreal, just walking with him.

"What else are you talented in Clair?" She glanced at him as he opened the doors to the room.

"Such as?" she asked.

"How about music. Do you know how to play?" Isaiah was extremely fond of music and sound. Just because he wasn't human, and more than deadly, didn't mean he didn't have joys. Didn't have wants or desires along with things that made him feel good.

"A little." She said. "Piano and guitar." There was a slight hesitancy in her voice as well. He noted it instantly. Even with how subtle it was. He would know everything about her. She would tell him, he’d find a way to make her.

"I think there is something that you are not telling me, embarrassed?" He was very used to others being completely silent or screaming around him. Terrified to the point they couldn't move. He liked that she managed to keep calm enough to speak to him. Good conversation was hard to come by, civil conversation was impossible. Obviously he killed things, and the rest were terrified of him. She wasn't acting like the others, but he knew she was nervous.

"I... just don't want to be asked to do it." She said with a sigh. Knowing that now as she said it he would ask her too. The doors closed as they entered the room, and she felt very trapped. His presence was nearly overwhelming. She had no idea how much time was left on her life standing here. Even not knowing, she wasn't going to spend them acting like an idiot. She knew when to fight and when to give in.

"And that is?" She kept her gaze from him. She didn't meet his eyes much he noticed. It was slightly irritating, he liked to see the emotions passing through the eyes. It made it easier to understand a person. Especially one whose mind you couldn't read.

"Singing." He smiled at this.

"Is that so?" She just gave a nod. "Then you will know what I ask." She gave another nod. She looked up meeting his gaze for a moment. Her demeanor and posture were always so deceptive with what her eyes said. When she looked at him he saw a very strong personality and will. Unlike her submissive pose. Isaiah reached down and took hold of her forearm and raised her right hand.

"Who marked you?" He asked, she gave a shrug.

"Doesn't really matter. I got away and they would have just dragged me to you anyways after they were done." That narrowed it down a lot. He'd asked three people in Gustav's group.

"The names Clair." She tugged at her arm a little but he held on to it. He gripped her chin and pulled her head to the side. Angry red marks and bruises were there but healing. That said how the house was accepting of her. It was helping her heal. She was unique wasn’t she?

"Again I ask why it matters. I'm still alive for you to kill later. To play with." His gaze moved over the slender column of her throat. For one second he thought about leaning down and sinking his teeth into the soft flesh. It excited him, but he pushed it down. Not yet, didn't want to break his favorite little mouse yet.

"Because I don't like what belongs to me damaged. You don't fix like this house does. Whether your mind can get over the fact or not. The moment you signed your name, you signed your life to me. I own you and therefore I will dictate what does and doesn't matter. The names if you will, of those that have damaged my property."

Clair didn't want to be the reason that they died. However he was serious and she could sense it. Being told that she was property was pretty depressing as well. Kind of like being a slave. Now she knew how they must have felt every day of their lives. Fearing that someone could take it for no reason at all.

"I don't know the woman's name, she did this." Clair said touching her cheek with her free hand. He let go of her chin and she was relieved, but he still held her wrist. She looked away from him at the far wall

debating with herself.

"You don't know them. They would trade your life in a minute." He was perplexed by her. He'd pretty much just told her how worthless her life was here. That she wasn't much more than property. She'd been attacked by someone she didn't know and wasn't willing to say his name. He didn't think that he would ever figure her out.

"Gustav?'

"He was there. I just got a nice slap from him. Tackled me to try and stop me from leaving." She made a kind of unbelievable laugh. A sheen of tears in her eyes. What did she have to be sad about? Perhaps it was because she realized how little her life meant. He found that he wanted to hear her say the names. That being humane, being nice here was not how it worked. She needed to learn that, and he'd break it into her.

"And?" She met his gaze. She knew the name of the one that had bruised her wrist. She might very well be bruised on other places below her shirt that he couldn't see.

"Did it ever occur to you that some people don't want to be responsible for others' deaths?"

"Like your roommate Laura, or those that you don't share your hiding place with?" She was a bit surprised that he knew who Laura was. Or remembered.

"I never handed anyone over to you or the hell hounds. That is first degree murder." She looked away from him. The things moving behind her eyes he was unable to see now. It frustrated him even more.

"I'll tell you what." He wanted to know. He'd asked and her refusing to speak was very close to slapping him in the face. He didn't do well with disobedience or being denied. He had enough dead bodies to prove that. Not to mention he'd once killed Alpha for disobeying him.

"You tell me and I'll just kill him. Don't tell me I'll go right now and find all three I asked. Plus whoever else I come across bring them in here and make you watch while I kill them." She stiffened then and hung her head defeated. Why was he so bloodthirsty and cold? What was he really?

"Mario." She said very quietly and he gave a slight crooked smile. He was slowly going to figure out the best way to manipulate her. What she would or wouldn't say no to.

"Not so hard was it?" He said, dropping her arm and looking at her bent head. Then she raised it. She didn't answer. Just seemed to resolve herself and pushed whatever it was she was thinking away. How frustrating not to know.

He looked at her, this was the first time he'd managed to get a hold of her since she'd danced with him. He remembered that vividly. He'd liked the feel of her, the way that she moved, fluid, graceful. He was very attracted to things like that. She was clearly a graceful creature.

She was thin, but they all were here. They didn't eat well. The fact that she still looked overly healthy with her two months of active living told him that she was trying to see to all her needs. She had a womanly figure that was harder to see at the moment with the loose blue shirt she had on, but the jeans she wore were tighter. A very soft and flowing form. How he'd enjoy it when the time came, just not quite yet. Isaiah moved to the bench and sat down. He motioned to her and she moved over to him. Clair hoped this wasn't going to be painful.