Mind Games With A Snake

By the time Kole arrived at Shera's old place, the Watchforce had practically wiped the place clean. Everything from food to furniture had been examined, shrink-wrapped, and packaged. The apartment was now nothing more than a barren chain of linked rooms. It looked completely generic and mundane. Nobody would have guessed that the dragoness reaper had once lived there. It was only slightly irksome for Kole to see such a change of interior, though he knew Tibias would have made a bigger deal out of it.

It didn't seem like any sort of damning evidence against Shera had been found in the apartment. The Watchforce hadn't reported any such thing and likely wouldn't. A fair number of operatives were under the impression that the vicious claw mark on Shera's badge had been the work of a demon: specifically Mammon. Based on what Royal had told him earlier, Kole knew they were wrong. Royal had still been inside the apartment building during Shera's disappearance and had sensed no demonic energies. The truth seemed obvious, but Kole wasn't obligated to say anything on the subject. Why would the grim reaper care about losing a comrade?

The only thing that slightly vexed him about the whole situation was the sudden realization that his responsibility as a reaper was now triple what it had been before. Kole mulled this idea over while the Watchforce was doing a final magical scan of the apartment, but it was hard to concentrate on with the High Sword in the room. Watchforce's High Sword, Alanzo Nago, was over two-thousand years old and had a presence that was almost as bone-chillingly freezing as Kole's own. Unlike the High Shield, who commanded the operatives within council headquarters; the High Sword held authority over the operatives who were stationed on the outside.

If the council sent Alanzo... Kole pondered. ...they must be planning to send a strike team after her. Don't they have anything better to do?

"The area is secure." An operative reported as the scanning division concluded their activity.

"Is it now?" Alanzo sneered. "I still sense something off-putting about the air in this room."

The snake-like supernatural turned to face Kole and stuck out his forked tongue. The High Sword seemed to laughing a bit, but it was a quiet hissing laugh. Kole didn't act impressed.

"If it's not me than it's you, Alanzo." The Grim Reaper scoffed.

The High Sword responded with more sick laughter, "Ah, yes. There's that entertaining attitude of yours, Kole. I like it even though it's still not quite as much fun as Matao's was. God, I miss him."

"Don't lie." Kole said. Alanzo held his tongue. Even at the serpant's ripe old age, an emotionless man like Kole could still read him like a book. The serpent paused for a moment before deciding respond as nastily as he could.

"It's going to be a burden, isn't it?" Alanzo hissed. "Being the council's only living reaper."

"I supposed." Kole smirked, looking otherwise unaffected.

"I can smell her you know." Alanzo chided. "Shera, I mean. When Matao and I raided her dragon colony all those years ago, I learned to remember her scent. With Matao out of the way and all her ties to the council broken, she's now a target. That half-dragon abomination won't escape the eyes of the Watchforce."

"Didn't you just say she was dead?" Kole replied with a slight edge of matter-of-factness.

"Wha-? I may have." Alanzo swallowed hard when he realized his mistake.

Kole raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't it be better use of your forces to stay in Boston and help fight Mammon, rather than chase a dead dragoness?"

Alanzo twitched. "But you and I both know that-"

"-your assignments are left up to the council." Kole interjected. "You are their property after all."

The Grim Reaper turned away and faded into shadow, seeing as he had won the argument. Alanzo's operatives were snickering in their minds. The High Sword clenched his fists.

Reapers. He thought angrily.