Under Her Cursed Scythe

What's more was that this pinkish mood seemed to have influenced the Reaper's ring too in that for a minute, the dark stain that mysteriously appeared on the surface the day before, faded away a bit.

However, this moment of happiness only lasted briefly, as it was soon interrupted by a voice with an extremely irritated tone.

"ALIVIA! WHERE. THE. HELL. ARE. YOU?"

Alivia could feel her insides turning to ice at the instant she heard her mother's roar and angry footsteps approaching upstairs.

'Oh crap!' Alivia snapped out of her daydream as soon as she saw the clock on the wall. 'It's already seven!? The hunt!' She swiftly packed her things back into the drawers and pulled down her sleeves to hide the leather bracelet.

"Alivia Hestia! " Her mother stormed into her room and reprimanded, "What's wrong with you? Aren't you supposed to get everything ready by now? Don't tell me you need one more day to recover from your injuries! "

"I… I'm sorry, mother. I've lost track of time. I will prepare the things right away." Alivia apologized and hurried away from her room.

"Lost track of time?" One of her mother's brows flicked up. "The only good thing about this little brat is that she never forgets about her duties.", she commented, crossly. "She has been off these days… There must be something wrong with her...", she murmured and suspiciously gazed around Alivia's room.

She flipped open a few boxes, pulled out the drawers in the room, looked under the bed and turned down the blanket for clues that might explain Alivia's recently odd behaviors. But before she could find any, Alivia had called out for her from down below.

"I think I'm ready now." Alivia said evenly, , with her new face-long straight black hair, tiny monolid eyes and light skin tone.

"You'd better be ready and you'd better not come home with less than seven souls or worse with one only, like those two nights, do you hear me? We've wasted enough time because of your carelessness, so don't let me down again!" Her mother paced around her and stared at her steely as she lectured Alivia.

"I won't let you down. I promise."

Alivia panicked upon hearing her mother's words. "N-nothing, mother. You must have heard it wrong." she gulped. "Besides, there's nothing to be happy about as long as Luke's still...in bed...and weak." she said but none of those words were from the bottom of her heart.

"Yes, as long as your brother is still in bed, you will have to hunt for him, care for him and do whatever you can to stop his affliction. That's your responsibility as part of this family." Her mother poked her chest.

"Yes, mother." Alivia inclined her head.

Her mother shot a complacent look at Alivia, straightened up the collar of her leather coat and uttered, "Now, remember to be more cautious when hunting. You said those people who interrupted your hunt called themselves Blessers?"

"Yes." Alivia answered. "They acted and fought like Witch hunters as you have described but at the same time, they could use magic and they had all those weird sparkling creatures...some with humanoids beside them. They say they were something between Wizards and Witch Hunters. Oh! And they all wore cloaks." She tried to recall every single detail she could remember from that eerie and intense encounter.

"Something between Wizards and Witch Hunters? And sparkling creatures? Can they be demons? No... it can't be." Alivia was conscious of her mother's heightened interest. "They would never help the Witch Hunters..." Her mother placed her hand on her chin, rubbing it. "The Wizards...their sources of magic are...that's right! But...when did the Witch Hunters and Wizards started to work together? The daemons said nothing about Blessers…" She mumbled to herself and gave a moment of thought but an answer was never filed and when her eyes came across Alivia's puzzled expression, she cleared her throat and said, "Don't worry about the Blessers now. What's more important is to reap enough souls for the ritual. If these Blessers trespass against you again, you shall kill them! No mercy on anyone! " she viciously instigated.

"Yes, mother. I will not let you down again!" Alivia replied resignedly.

"Good... " her mother nodded. "Now get out of my sight!"

She pushed Alivia out of the door and closed it mercilessly.

******

Alivia went on top of a 105 feet tower up a hill where she could take in the views of her own town from every direction, and sat down to wait for the signals to appear.

Within just ten minutes, she picked up the first red light signal. She stood up at once and got into her "ready" position. Yet, this time, she was more prudent and before she dashed towards her target, her eyes roamed over the town, her ears listened for the sounds of unusual movements of people and energy, and her nose tried to sniff out the magic-the strong woody, herby and fruity smell of cologne that she had sense from the Blesser in the white cloak. Even though he seems harmless, less fierce, less impulsive than his other companions, these factors were not enough for Alivia to trust him.

When she could neither spot any strange movements nor smell anything particular, Alivia relieved and took off right away.

She landed in a park and soon caught sight of the owner of the sparkling Chinese character. Just at that point, she halted her footsteps with astonishment.