Cohabitation.

Nic's Point of View

I waited for her to fall asleep before stepping out. Reaper's can't sleep anyways and that sucks.

Apparently, she didn't trust me at all. For a thin and fragile girl she seemed brazen and quite pretty. Pale porcelain white skin and thick locks of pin-straight ebony black fringed hair.

I needed to reap the soul of a sinner quickly. I trudged through the streets in the dead hours of the night. The world seemed like an entirely different place when most humans were asleep. I could hear crickets up in a tree I passed by.

Not much cars were on the roads, it was chilly and the air appeared more thicker. It took me awhile before I ran into a lady, she was marked with a red X. She looked in her mid thirties, she was on the phone, a bag of groceries in her other hand. Probably from a twenty-four hour convenience store, it was almost two am.

I tailed her as quietly as possible. She couldn't see me, but I wasn't sure if she couldn't hear me either. I hoped she'd just venture into a deserted area to make my work easier. I'm guessing luck was on my side, she turned down into a street devoid of people.

I quickened my pace, moving forward and reaching for her, gripping her neck in one sleek movement. Continuously squeezing hard against the vertebrae embedded under the flesh. With how easily my fingers dug into her skin despite how much she struggled, proved that I was more stronger than her.

It felt like I was wringing out water from a washed cloth, she kicked forward frantically, her arms reaching out to grab the murderer but clasping around nothing. Still flailing her arms, I heard something like a crack, I presumed I'd crushed a bone, I suspected C4. Her limbs dropped to her sides sluggishly.

I let go of her, the air in her lungs emptied and she dropped to the ground with a big thud. Blood spewed out of her mouth in pulses and a few drops drizzled out of her nose.

Reaper duty, done.

***

I strode into the living room.

"Where did you go?"

Lily stood at the base of the stairs, when did she wake up? I was absolutely sure she was fast asleep when I stepped out. Turns out she's much smarter than I expected. My silence only heightened her suspicions, the distance between us lessened and she scrutinized me for clues.

"There's this strong smell of iron coming from you".

She pressed her lips together, inclining her eyebrows so much, it adjusted her facial muscles from a frown to a look of disdain.

"So what are you now? A detective?"

"It's blood, isn't it?"

She folded her arms, already quite certain her guess was right.

"Yes and so what? Reaper's reap souls, it's what we do".

She scanned for traces of blood in my nails. There was none anyway, I know I'm new to the whole reaper business but reading all those serial killer novels were starting to pay off.

"I don't know why you're here to find out what I am, but be careful, whether humans can see you or not, I don't want to be linked back to a serial killing spree or the like".

"Fine. Your roof, your rules".

I thought that statement would even things out but she just scowled even more. Huh?

"What makes you think you're going to be living here?"

"Huh?...uh I mean, I promise not to get in your personal business but for me to be able to draw some conclusions, I need to do some serious observations and that can only be successful if I'm around you most of the time".

That makes sense right? I don't even know what I was saying anymore. But I'm not even in a country I'm familiar with, I grew up in Canada and have only ever been to Switzerland. And what are the odds of an invisible guy getting renting a room this late.

She rubbed under her chin with her index finger, maybe whatever I ranted made sense to her.

"Fine".

She took me to the only room downstairs.

"This is where you'll be staying, we are not friends. For no reason should you come upstairs, or even close to my room, got that?"

"Sure".

I mean I needed a place to stay, whatever rules she has isn't as bad as lying on a park bench all night, right?

***

Lily's Point of View

I didn't trust that Nickel guy or whatever his name is. But he knows I can't die, that's not a coincidence. I mean my family...wait no eww I mean my relatives know too but what they don't know is that I've been trying to commit to suicide unsuccessfully afterwards.

Why can't I die? Why don't I bleed? I'm sure I'm not some chosen one or something. Those things aren't real. I really want to know what makes me tick.

So why am I letting a stranger who could probably be a mugger and serial killer live here? Firstly, I don't care if he stabs me or burns me alive. I've already tried that out, plus jumping into an extremely corrosive vat of acid and even using my own body as the target in a firing range. Secondly, he really was invisible. I'd activated the quiet notification system for the gates, I checked the cameras when he opened them.

I mean I could see the gates opening but I couldn't see him moving them. I suppose I can only see him with my actual eyes, gadgets are out of the picture. Weird, why does he want to find out what I am? I yawned. It was almost three in the morning. I'd only gotten about four hours of quality sleep. Tomorrow's Monday, if I plan on getting to school early, I better get more sleep now.

I'll find out all I need to know about him tomorrow, it's not like he's coming to school anyway, right? Reapers hmm... I'll research more about them later. But why do I feel like I've seen him somewhere before, I yawned again, stretching out a little bit under the quilt.

My awake senses deteriorated, till I was completely absorbed in a dreamless slumber.