Chapter : Curse, Crush And Love? Part-1

[8:30 pm] At ???

The female Reaper lugged two heavy suitcases up the stairs toward her new apartment. She was very thankful that this was the last load of things from the truck.

"You had to get the third-floor walk-up, didn't you?" Alastair asked as he carried two boxes in his arms, climbing the stairs behind her.

"Quit your bitching," she said with a grimace as she hoisted the roller suitcases over the last step to the third-floor landing. "At least, I didn't take the one on the fifth floor." She looked behind her and grinned at her partner before moving down the hallway to her door.

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled.

Once inside the HQ dormitory apartment, they each put down what they had been carrying and flopped on the black microfiber-covered couch. They had spent the morning bringing up all of the furniture and putting it all together before they started to bring up the boxes and bags. This meant that they had the couch and television in place so they could relax after it was all done.

Alastair looked down as the female's phone landed in his lap. "Why is your phone visiting me?" he asked, looking over at her.

"You call, I pay," she replied. "But no weird stuff on the pizza this time."

"Pineapple is not weird stuff," he said and protested with a roll of his eyes. He got up, his muscular frame topping 5.8 feet tall, and glowered at her for a moment before moving to the kitchen counter where they had tossed all of the "new resident" papers, which included coupons for the local pizza place.

"Fruit is for dessert or a snack, it is not a pizza topping," she said. Even though her muscles were protesting movement, she got up as well and headed for the fridge. She got out two soda bottles from the case she had put in there when they first arrived. They were now blissfully cold. Grabbing her keychain, she used the bottle opener she had on it to remove the caps. She handed Alastair his bottle when he hung up the phone.

"I knew there was a reason I agreed to help you move in here," he said, taking the bottle and downing a swig of it.

"Yes, pizza and Coca-Cola, I know how to bribe well." They clinked the necks of their bottles together and drank.

"I'm honestly surprised you didn't stay at your old place," Alastair said as they sat back down on the couch, trying to subtly broach the subject.

"Nah," she responded nonchalantly, shaking her head. "I have a reason for suddenly moving here, though I suddenly have a feeling that things are about to get interesting," she said as she recalled the encounter with the high school girl a few days ago. Her words were cryptic, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of unease.

"Sometimes I don't get it at all," he remarked, puzzled. "You've always been so secretive. It's hard to tell what's going on inside of your mind." 

"Some things should always be left unheard," she stated with a cunning smile. "Who knows? You might get hurt in the process of it." 

Alastair knew that his friend had a point, but he couldn't help the sense of frustration that washed over him. He cared about her deeply, and he wished that she would confide in him more. But he respected her boundaries, even if he didn't fully understand them.

He looked around the sparse apartment, finding a need to change the subject.  "Are they going to let you paint the place?" he asked, noting the walls were all white and he knew how much she hated white walls.

"Yeah," she replied, a mischievous glint in her eye. "White signifies pure and innocent, and I am none of those things. I was thinking a light blue or pale gray or something." 

He chuckled, but then proposed a different idea. "I don't know," he said, looking around. "I see it more in a kind of pink color." 

"Pink?" she asked, raising an eyebrow in disbelief. 

"Yeah," he grinned, knowing he was getting a rise out of her. "I mean, you're a girl and all. Aren't you supposed to be all pinks and purples and lace and -" He was cut off by a couch cushion hitting him in the face.

"Sexist asshole," the female said, though she was laughing as she said it. They both laughed and he tossed the pillow back at her. After taking another drink of his bottle he leaned back and eyed her for a moment. "You sure you're going to be okay here?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" she asked, a little surprised at his concern.

"Eh, never mind. I know you can take care of yourself."

She nodded, more gratified by his concern. A knock sounded on the door and she rose with a groan as she went to open the door. "Man, I haven't been this sore in ages."

"You're getting old, my lady," Alastair called over his shoulder, and he didn't even have to turn to know she was flipping him off for the comment.

She took the pizza and paid the delivery boy. Alastair was in his thoughts and recalling the memories of how he fell in love with such a wild girl. 

                                      ☯︎

Like to join a company you have to go through a test or interview. The final selection will determine if you are worthy of joining the hunter Association. The final selection is the final process that proves that the applicant has qualified in all the rounds of the selection process and will be issued an appointment letter. This is the final step in the selection process. After the candidate has successfully passed all written tests, interviews, and medical examinations, the candidate is sent or emailed an appointment letter, confirming his selection for the job.

          𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙎𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣

                                  𝘿𝙖𝙮 𝙊𝙣𝙚

A series of rustling and heavy breathing was heard, four pairs of footsteps running, two were in a panic and the other two, they ran after two curse spirits with ease. ■□■ and Alastair were running fast as they tried to catch up with their targets which were continuously distracting them and slowing them down by cutting bushes to give them time to outrun both of them.

The black-haired girl ran at full speed toward one of the curse spirits, she sliced its head in a circular motion before doing a horizontal slash in the direction of the other curse but it missed. She clicked her tongue and jumped back to Alastair to where he was. "You turn, Alas," she happily said.

Alastair looked at her and then put on a determined face. "No need to tell me! I'm not stupid you know.." he replied, you rolled your eyes and then stood back aside. Alastair took a stance before lunging towards the enemy at a decent speed and slashing its head successfully with his daggers.

The last curse screeched in annoyance, "DAMN YOU, DAMN ALL OF YOU. THE CURSES WILL KILL ALL OF YOU PATHETIC HUMANS AND REAPERS TO SHREDS SO DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT CELEBRATING!!" it yelled in pure anger and hatred before they crumbled away in the air. The female Reaper laughed as she turned to Alastair and hooked her arms around his shoulder. He looked at her and raised a brow, "Nice kill bro, and you were really fast! You didn't even use your curse energy!" she exclaimed.

He rolled his eyes and then smirked. "I don't need to use my curse energy! I'm hella fast! So I don't need it. Besides, that thing was weak!" He bragged.

 "Yeah, yeah whatever, Mr. Perfect" she teased. His left eye twitched, and he then ran straight toward her and tackled her to the ground. "AHAHAAHAH- YO- OUCH-OUCH OUCH STOP TUGGING AT MY EARS!!" the female Reaper screeched. 

"THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR MAKING FUN OF ME BITCH-" he yelled back. "GIRL, SHUT THE FUCK UP OR I'M CANCELLING YOU ON TWITTER " she threatened, He deadpanned at her before he started shouting again. "WHY DO YOU HAVE A TWITTER ACCOUNT??" He asked in confusion. "NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS." she retorted. 

The two of them continued to bicker for a few minutes before hearing a scream and immediately stood up and dashed in its direction.

                               𝘿𝙖𝙮 𝙏𝙬𝙤

"Alastair," she called out, "now what?" the dark-haired lad asked in annoyance. "I feel dead inside." the female Reaper bluntly admitted, her friend stared at her and scoffed. "It's day two and you already feel dead? you are dead, to begin with, pfft..." he teasingly taunted. The female Reaper sat up and gazed at him intensely, dead in the eyes. 

"Fuck You." She stood up and ran away to have a little killing spree. Alastair's eyes widened "O-oi! I was just joking!" the scarred boy reassured, but it fell on deaf ears as the girl sped up into the woods.

                             𝘿𝙖𝙮 𝙏𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚

A strong slash was heard from behind the curse spirit before the head then fell to the dirt. 

'This seven-day thing is slowly dragging me to fucking insanity,' the female Reaper sighed as she stared at the floor beneath her with crazed eyes.

 "Oi, Dumbass stop being crazy, it doesn't suit you!" her friend boomed behind her which made the female Reaper to jump at the sudden volume. "I- sorry I'm just hungry.." she sadly replied to her chaotic friend. She looks like a sad puppy.

He looked away with pink decorating his cheeks, 'god this girl is so..,' he let out an exasperated sigh. "It's fine besides that I will get out of here soon so just.. don't lose your shit too early," he said. He would be lying if he said he didn't want to hug her right then and there. She laughed slightly before dragging him along to kill more curse spirits.