1 1- Let me introduce myself

"What are you?" the old wrinkled man trembled in front of me as I made my very slow, menacing, walk towards him.

Wide-eyed, the slightly translucent form, stumbled…on what I don't know being as he can't feel or touch- well anything- falling backwards and onto the ground beneath him, hands coming up to cover his face in an 'X'.

Lifting my upper lip in scorn, although I know just how scared he is by my aura. Everything about me is frightening except my looks, of course. From my narrow long black coat, to my black shirt, pants, and tall combat-looking boots- every accessory on my human-looking body is black except my pale skin. It was flawless with its milky soft but olive look. Yes, I am appealing to everyone.

Except now. When I have to do my job- then everybody is scared.

What are you? Who are you? Why me? No, I'm not ready. Leave me alone. Get away from me. Are you the devil? All these were some of the top questions the mortals asked.

I roll my silver eyes at him. This is my fourth soul for the day- solo. Normally I have my ring with me but she was being cleaned so I am alone. No not like a jeweller's cleaning but a soul cleaning. Spirit forms. She would normally unwrap herself from around my middle finger and just touch the confused spirit and that would calm them. Which irritated me at times because it took the fun out of collecting bad souls. Then I would simply let them know who I am and what I was about to do.

The thin band on my hand at the moment, can only contain a few souls as the storage is for emergency use when V is not with me. Erm, much like a regular phone and an SD card?

This man was an evil human, I say was and not is because he's already dead… who refuses to accept he is dead. He had lived his life taking the lives of others for top dollars. Eventually, his life was taken by another but that is not my concern. My concern is death. Not bad people.

This idiot had been dead for almost six hours and he was still trying to kill the man he was hired to take out. He'd been following the man, stabbing him, choking him, he even tried to push him onto traffic. With each effort, his body just went through the human's flesh. Coincidently we came into near vicinity of the man that killed him and the newly dead man tried to attack him as well. Much like the other man, the new murderer wasn't even fazed for he could not see or feel him. If I don't take the dead spirit with me, in another eighteen hours he will be able to touch flesh. Another twenty-four hours and he will be able to do more. Within seven days he could possess someone.

But he did not know this, for he is new to being dead.

My boots, I ensure make a heavy pounding sound as I stalk this vile being that is looking at me like he would have a massive attack of the heart. I almost smile with that thought but he is already dead, so- yea pointless. He should have had one just before he died, that would have made me feel better. His ugly, wide as saucer eyes fuel me. My eyes heat up and I know from his facial features that the red colour, infused with black shook him up more. With my height of six feet, six inches intimidation was easy on most, for me.

With a snare across my face, I grab the shorter man by his throat, lifting him to meet my face, with one hand as I dusted where his hands touched my coat, with the other. He left a drop of his slimy goo on it. That irritates me, for it smells like rotted flesh. Only ten times worst.

This is a stench that the other Underworld demons would be excited about. Me? No. I am different. Like V, my ring, and other upper Underworlders, we all love the smell of death. It's almost irresistible to us. But whilst I loved death, I hated this… this nasty icky- yuck…

Squeezing the man by the throat, I ignore his question and state flatly, "You are dead, accept this. Your soul seeks judgment. Are you willing to come with me?"

Honestly, I half expected the snake to say – well shake his head, for his vocals are blocked with my fingers- no. But he nodded yes. Well good for him. I am glad, for this means that he will be in hell. People like him deserve to be dwelling there. A refusal meant I get to destroy his soul. An almost euphoric experience for me. I live for these moments.

Dropping the creature, he fell heavily, his butt feeling the brunt of the hard pitch road, splashing his goo, missing my pants but getting my boots smeared. I raise the same boot and kick him. Straight across his sluggish face for I didn't care about little splotches at this point as I'm irritated. A stain like this meant another clean or keep the nasty smell. And cleaning this mess required a trip to the Underworld. Thank goodness I had another suit of clothing back in my apartment.

Yes. In my apartment, which was leased to me but owned by a human. She is a direct descendant of Wolf. And who is wolf you ask? Not 'a wolf' but Wolf. His name. He was, like me, like all of us, previously human. It was an aeon ago when Wolf made a deal with the Deathmaster. Obviously, he was dying at the time but Wolf begged, for not his life but the life of his unborn child.

It was the time of blood and warfare when the world was not so occupied with humans as now, so there was no us- existing yet. Just God and the Angels, and Deathmaster was one. Deathmaster gets to say who dies, so he had made the special request for Wolf, and his life along with his wife and child were spared. Wolf became King and ruled wisely until his death in old age. In exchange, he had vowed that he and his direct descendants would serve God truthfully.

Luxurious apartments were also now on the forte.

Who is Wolf to me? Ah. Wolf is the one. He decides if a soul is pure or not. I am to take this soul, along with the others obviously, to my handler who forwards them to Wolf. Like many others, we all answer to Wolf. Wolf answers to Deathmaster and so forth.

My irritation rises some more when I look down at my goo- splattered boots and was about to kick the stupid spirit-formed man again when my phone beeps. My cell phone. Yes, I know how to use a phone. In fact, it was from a social media app- yes, I'm very into-the-now. Lol. See? Keep a note that while I'm tech-savvy, I'm not into the snap app and definitely not on the clock one…tick whatever.

Ah, yea. I'm going to have to either mute my notifications, put my phone on silent or perhaps delete some apps. It's frustrating when I have such a busy schedule and its beep-beep-beep or ping, constantly. Vibration you say? Nah. That's worse.

It's Hannah, my roommate/ house owner. Well technically I owned the house but Hannah does not know this yet. I own everything she thinks she owns but that is another story and not for now.

[OUT]

That was the message. She is afraid of me, as she should be, so she just lets me know if she was home or not. 'Out' means that she was not coming home for the night. That's six nights in this week. Hannah is weird though, for every other human is drawn towards me, except when they die. They would be afraid if I show them my true self but I don't.

There was a time when Hannah got a roommate to stay with her but the girl was so attracted to me that Hannah asked her to leave. A guy came next, same. Of course, I had to flip a switch for the attraction part but I didn't tell her that. It was best to live alone. People brought complications and if the house was not in need of the owner to be alive and living there, Hannah also would be a no-no.

I am not a human so therefore I cannot think like one. I merely have copied a pattern of human behaviour and distinguished between what is right and what is not. A dwelling in between our worlds that made me adapt myself to your ways and lifestyle.

Who am I? I am J, a soul collector. A demon of the Underworld, who just happens to reside with you guys- in the upper world.

Yes, in a different realm.

I am an 'upper' Underworlder.