The Reaper's Wicked Obsession

"Kraven, are you sure about this?" he asked, growing impatient by the second, each minute they spent here was a pending disaster.

"About what, Rav?" Kraven replied with less attention, keeping his eyes on a particular table.

"This is not the best place to do this," Rav reminded, hoping he would listen to him this time. "Jarlas are here. This makes our position worse" he paced behind Kraven as his nerves worked him to the bone.

He never understood why Kraven brought him here when they were pursued, only to be in a difficult situation that would cause unwanted attention.

And of course, Kraven was just as relaxed as the sea before the storm. His entire focus remained on the girl who had plagued his dreams for many winters.

'There she is... I've found her' he thought triumphantly.

Her amber eyes searched everywhere for something that could not be seen. She was dressed in ridiculous attire as if an animal were up for auction—their taste in this place was questionable.

"Strange for the Jarlas to come to such a place, don't you think?" Kraven said, humor dancing in his tone, eyes never leaving her.

Whatever the Jarla told the girl, she seemed to become more apprehensive every minute, and this piqued his curiosity. He cannot help but wonder what she would do in such a situation.

"Maybe they are here because of the rumors about the mannfae," Rav replied, noting how Kraven's engagement had not wavered from something. "How's this to help with our situation?"

"I give it three counts, get ready," Kraven said, watching as the girl stood to run but was stopped by a fat man who dragged her back to the table.

'She chose to flee?' He thought with a huff. That was the most useless thing he had ever seen anyone do.

"Three counts for what?" Rav asked, bewildered.

"One" Kraven began as his grin got wider. "Two" he straightened his position. "Three"

"What are you—" Rav was cut short in his words when the door entrance burst open and Huntsmen streamed in. He cursed hastily knowing their location was compromised.

Kraven unsheathed his sword, and with a hand pressed on the railing, he swung his body downstairs and Rav followed. The chaos began as swords clashed and blood spilled.

Isadora crawled under the table and blocked her ears from the screams and cries. One minute her whole life was about to change, and then men stormed from nowhere and swords clashed. Her mind couldn't process what was happening right now.

"Mannfae!"

Isadora screamed as Bryndor grabbed her leg and pulled her out from under the table with her thrashing to break free.

"Don't you dare get out of my sight, I paid gold to have you!" he barked and Isadora trembled under his hold.

He pulled on her arm forcefully and dragged her with him, in just three steps a blade launched into his throat, and blood sprayed on Isadora's face.

Frozen to the spot, Isadora watched as Bryndor struggled to breathe with oozing blood from the wound before collapsing. Breathing heavily she stood in a spot watching, mortified.

Loud footsteps approached Isadora and a man crouched close to Bryndor's body. In fear, she drew backward but the back of her foot found a dead body and she dropped to the floor.

"Pity, I wanted him to suffer more" The stranger turned his neck and Isadora's heartbeat quickened, noting the skull mask concealing his face, it felt as if one of her nightmares had sprung to life at a mere glimpse.

"It would be unwise to move, stay still" he sounded amused. He redrew the blade but when Bryndor's body twitched he launched it causing a jolt from Isadora. "Is your only option towards danger... running? It could be so much more you know"

He just killed a man two times without so much as flinching and trying to hold conservation amidst the ongoing blood battle? Isadora couldn't make sense of any of it,

She couldn't move and just stayed in that position on the floor on the verge of passing out.

But when the man who saved her rose to his feet, it felt like Daudi, the god of death, had come to deliver punishment.

He loomed over 6 feet tall, clad in all black, from his boots to his leather pants, hood, and jacket. Everything about him screamed darkness.

When he took a step toward her, she whimpered and attempted to crawl to get away but the man's action ceased because a blade impaled him.

He didn't flinch from the wound or act in any distress, with one swing of his sword the head of his attacker dropped and rolled to where Isadora was, prompting her to scream.

If she thought Dashwell was a scary man all these winters, she thought wrong! She'd never met anyone like this. She kicked to her feet and ran through the fighting men, upstairs to lock herself in her room.

Kraven growled irritatedly as he watched the girl run from him. Taking a step forward he finally caught notice of the blade in his side. He cursed to the gods and found a seat.

"Kraven!"

"Bravo, Rav! Your kills are higher than mine this time" he amused, observing the dead bodies Rav left in his wake.

"This was an insane idea to cause a bloodbath here, now the Jarlas are dead, are you trying to increase the gold on our heads?!"

"I'm aware of that, I killed all of them" Kraven declared and realization struck Rav.

It seems Kraven's target was not their pursuers but the Jarlas.

"You can't be serious right now" Rav growled before his eyes found the wound. "You've been poisoned!"

Ignoring Rav's rants, Kraven's eyes caught someone crawling to flee, so he launched his dagger and it pinned just above Dashwell's head.

"You there... Are you the owner of this establishment?"