Before Isabelle had even turned around she knew who had appeared in the church. Another reaper. When she turned around, she saw the man in a black suit and a black coat that covered himself. He had a curly brown fringe at the front of his head which was parted at the side to have short hair on the other side. His eyes were narrowed and his lips thinner than most people she had come across which were wide as he smiled at her now. "Baltimore," she greeted the reaper who was the tenth card of the Grim"s. To think he missed a few moments after Lucas left, she didn"t know if it was Lucas" luck or pure coincidence that he had arrived at this week and hour of the day.
"Were you expecting me?" asked the reaper, his eyes looking around the church as if he smelt something.
"I don"t think anyone ever expects to meet a reaper. You never know when their number is up," answered Isabell with a subtle smile on her lips.
The man chuckled, "You are right," he answered before the smile on his lips fell down, "I smell a reaper in here. Who was the visitor, Sister Isabell?" asked Baltimore, his nose picking up faint traces of a reaper in the atmosphere. Reapers didn"t enter churches because of the way it made their skin feel like an acid being thrown on them which was slowly corroding their skin.
Sister Isabell softly frowned to ask, "Who are you looking for? There are many town and village folks who come here to take blessings."
"Of course. How would you know except for the one who helped you," Baltimore commented, his green eyes staring into hers and it broke away from her to look at the chapel, "Always with so many secrets, I wonder what would happen if one were to tell who you really were."
If it weren"t for Lucas, Isabell wouldn"t have known the land of the dead existed in parallel to this world. Like the land here, there were many hierarchies for the creatures that belonged to the dark world. Lucas was part of the Grims and there were thirteen people that belonged to the Grims, while some followed the rules, some broke without getting caught and some broke rules in ways that couldn"t be fixed and had gone rogue. Like Lucas, Baltimore was a rogue reaper who didn"t follow rules. He had been trying to get hold of the thirteenth card for his own benefit, it was at least what she had heard from Lucas.
"I wonder what the Grim"s would say if they found the fallen Grim to be here," Isabell retorted calmly as she started to walk next to the walls towards the front of the church.
Baltimore smiled to show his fangs like teeth which were much thicker, resembling almost like a corrupted vampire"s transformed teeth, "You think you have strings to pull."
"I think we both have an advantage over the other, Baltimore. Why are you here?" she asked not wanting him to beat around the bush and instead speak what he wanted. The man was cunning, but then all the reapers were when it came to being devious and sly as if it was an innate trait of theirs.
Isabell hadn"t spoken a word about him to the others and neither did he, keeping each other"s existence in the land of the living to be a secret and also leverage which could expose each other.
Baltimore smiled at the white witch, "I was just visiting you. This is a place that accepts everyone, doesn"t it?" he questioned her, "I thought it has been too long since I last saw you. Thought it would be good to talk to you."
The woman stared at him, her eyes calmly looking at him, "Okay," she said, taking a seat nearest to her.
Baltimore appeared to be pleased by this and he walked towards her, taking a seat right behind her, "I notice your forehead holding some strains, do you want to talk about it?" He leaned forward from where he was to speak right behind her ear with a whisper in his words, "You know I will always listen to you and give you the right words of advice."
"I have been doing perfectly fine," Baltimore was trying to sway her by his words, he was the pusher, a reaper who could use words to get people to do his biddings but the reaper didn"t have enough power right now. One because he was a fallen Grim and two because Isabell didn"t exactly belong to the land of the living nor to the land of the living, "What brought you here?" she asked him.
"I heard about the recent ma.s.sacre that took place last night and went to check it. Seems like the bodies were taken away by the so-called council. Don"t you feel bad Isabell? How many years have you been fighting? What for? All you had to say was yes and you would have been in a much better living condition," said Baltimore with a cunning grin on his lips and he pulled himself to have his back placed against the bench, "You know the black witches will succeed. It isn"t too late yet."
"I have no interest to be played by the black witches" words."
"Don"t play. Tell me where that precious books of yours are," Isabell smiled hearing this.
"Pardon me but I don"t know which books you are speaking about," the reaper"s grin widened.
"The books that you wrote. I went through your collective items but didn"t find anything there. Where did you hide it?"
Isabell replied, "I would have got it back if you didn"t push the villagers to kill me," her words were tamed, the memory had turned to a distant one.
Baltimore shook his head, "I did what I had to do, on the word of the black witch but see where I am right now. I got framed for resurrecting you when in truth I did nothing. I was framed and I had to turn to a rogue reaper. I have an inkling who did it, and I know you know who it is."