Death?

Natasha knew with the words of the man, that he was not an easy personality. His words kept ringing in her head telling her not to make a deal with this man, but did she have any other choice? No. she does not. This strange and mysterious and dangerous man before her was her only hope of getting away from here. If he leaves her here, sooner or later death will be coming for her soul.

Ignoring all the warnings in her head she said, "I will make the deal with you as long as you can help me get out of here". The seriousness in her eyes gave no room for anyone to doubt her stands.

After hearing her, the cloaked figure gave a low chuckle and walked up to her. Even as he was this close, right before her face she still could not make out his face even as her eyes had adapted to the darkness. All she could see were a pair of gold eyes that looked more like flames burning inside the sockets where eyes should be.

The figure bent forward and used his hands to break the chains that bound her. For a second Natasha thought she saw fingers with no flesh or skin on them but brushed it off her head thinking she was just hallucinating the things.

When he was done breaking the chains which did not take him half a minute he raised her and carried her up in his hands. "Are you ready?" He asked. His dead cold voice made her shiver a little bit.

Wrapping her hands around his neck to make herself comfortable, she mumbled an answer, "Yes. Yes, I am ready". She said not knowing what she was acknowledging being ready for.

After Natasha answered, dark flames swirled around them and soon swallowed them whole leaving nothing except the broken chains behind as evidence of Someone being held captive there moments before.

The moment Natasha and the cloaked figure disappeared, the sound of falling chains was heard inside the room. Immediately following that, the door was forcefully yanked open from the outside.

The man looked at the empty room and the broken chains on the ground with a horror-filled expression.

How did the woman break the chains that even an average bodybuilder would not find easy to break?

A woman as weak as Natasha can never cut a single thread without the help of a pair of scissors. Now seeing the broken chains on the ground and the woman nowhere to be found, he was terrified.

Fearfully he closed the door and ran out to report what he had seen but no one believed him. When they all came and saw the things for themselves they could not believe that a woman would do that and blamed it on the man who was standing guard outside the room for setting her free and letting her escape.

He was questioned and severely beaten but all he could say was the truth that he knew nothing.

After some time they went to check the security cameras outside the room and discovered after the three men who took her inside left the room, no one else went in or came out of the room. Which left them perplexed.

*****

Natasha appeared in an unknown place, with the cloaked man. Gripping his shoulders tight for her dear life with her eyes shut. She thought she was going to die the moment the dark flames started swirling around them. She didn't know what it was or what it was doing to them.

She was being put down after the flames disappeared from around them. She looked at the place and felt her soul leaving her body. She was beyond terrified.

Scrambling away from the man who had brought her to this dark place, she once again made a vain effort to find his face which was well hidden behind the cloak.

She turned her attention back to the surroundings. The walls had torches with weird-colored flames. There were skulls of different sizes hanging on them. Some of the skulls still had eyes on them that were staring at them. For a moment she was too terrified to take her off of them.

Shaking her head vigorously she directed her gaze to a different part of the room she was in. Scanning the room with her eyes, she found a set of chairs and a tablet on one side of the room. She took a closer look and found that the legs of the table and chairs were made of bones.

Not wanting to look any further and get herself more petrified she turned back to the creature that brought her here. She didn't know what to describe him as. What kind of man would live in a place like this?

No matter how evil you are, a place like this is uninhabitable. "Who are you?" Natasha asked.

The figure lifted his hand and pointed a finger to a desk in a corner of the room. She realized that she was not wrong in her assumption. The fingers that she saw indeed had no skin on them. They were just bones.

Fear struck her hard. 'Was he an undead?' She asked inwardly.

Without any other option, she followed the direction his finger pointed and there she got the answer she was looking for.

There was a desk made of bones with an hourglass with black-colored sand on it with a frightening and intimidating scythe leaning against the table and the wall.

Natasha's body started shaking and trembling in terror. She could no longer hold back the fear that got into her from the moment she arrived in this place.

Taking slow and fearful steps, she moved away from the creature that had brought her. Now she understood what the fear she had when she first heard his voice was. She understood the message the warning bells were trying to convey to her.

She carefully stepped away making sure she did not touch anything. Who knows whose bones were used in making whatever she touches?

"D... Death? The reap...reaper?" Natasha said with a trembling voice while clutching tight to her dress.

"Indeed I am". The reaper replied to her but still did not move from his standing position.

Natasha crumbled to the ground not knowing whether to laugh or cry or just pull all the hair on her head out.

How did she get the reaper's attention to herself? They say you will see death coming the second you are about to die but, she... She got saved from death by death himself?! What an irony!

"What do you want from me?" Natasha asked with her head bent low not daring to look at him anymore.

"The promise that you made earlier little bunny". Came his reply.

Natasha felt a huge lump in her throat. Forcefully swallowing that lump she realized what his warnings meant. To think and rethink her decision. Or his words that said there was no turning back.

He was going to make her give lives in exchange for hers.