The Knight in Dark Armor

Class three spirit, reports said that the victims were all human males ranging from twenty-three to forty. Reports show that all her casualties were dragged into this world in their sleep and was later killed. She also allegedly harmed the two previous reapers in pursuit and killed off one a week ago. The target's name is Dorothy Claire.

***

"Finally, My love has become strong enough that I was able to take you out. I'm no longer the invisible woman following you around, finally, I was able to hold you in my arms and yet. Why do you reject me, do you like to tease your girls that much?"

I heard an eerie playful laugh accompanied by a slow sharp footstep right around the corner. I pressed my mask onto my head and made sure it was stable. I shut my eyes and furrowed my forehead and after a deep breath through my nose, I hastened my stride to cross through the rough ground as fast and as silent as I could.

"Please… Please, I'm begging you let me go…"

"Why do you resent me? After all that I've done for you, I waited so much so I could just touch you so why do you have that grossed expression on your face."

I heard her voice yet again and this time it was accompanied by a plea from a young man. I paused at the wall before I took my turn to catch my breath and rest beneath the shadows. I moved my head out to eavesdrop and saw a woman in her late 20's clasping her hand in her chest. She wore a white nightdress and heels and her hair waved back and forth as she stepped back shaking her head.

The man in front of her pleaded, raising both of his arms as he begged her to keep her distance with tears in his eyes. There was a deep scratch on his left cheek, a graze on both of his sides and a flesh wound on his left leg. The woman bore a sad face but it wasn't long before her curled lips twisted into a smile. She ran her tongue across her lips and took a step forward as she raised her fingers dripping with blood.

"But… I've seen that kind of look before, your mouth can spout out lies but your eyes will confess the truth. Ahh… It feels great to have a man to be so engrossed with my beauty that all he could do is cry and whimper."

"Please...please"

"I still like my bad boys and shy boys. So no need to be so humble, touch me, touch me as they did. Don't worry, everyone had done this to me but need to make sure that you really are my prince charming. I need to reconstitute these feelings and make sure that you're not like the others who hurt me. Go on. Do it, don't make me draw another line on your skin and make you bleed."

She stepped forward, lifting her arms like a bird spreading her wings. The man, on the other hand, raised her shaking hand, lifting her skirt to follow her orders as a reply. The smile on her face widened with satisfaction and that became my signal. I walked out of the darkness and stretched my fingers for I thought that this is the perfect moment to strike.

"You see, I've been with a lot of men but I still believe that even in death my prince would still come. So I've been searching, searching for a while now and I can tell by the movement of your fingers… that you're not it.

"No… I did what you asked? What do you mean?"

His pained expression worsened to the point that his cry sounded like a laugh. I gritted my teeth, all that I know is that she can drag people out in this world and I don't know if she had any other ace up her sleeve. I couldn't afford to give away my position with much less information. I kept my eyes straight and prayed to whatever it is there that there would be enough time for me to cover at least to more meters.

"Judging by what happened to your face… You know what will happen to those who touched me and happened not to be my prince right?"

"Please… whatever I've done to you I'm sorry, I don't know anymore so just please let me go. I'll do anything"

"I like it when pretty boys beg, it makes me warm inside. You can still go but I'm so sorry, no one will come for you. But even so, all the other boys scream something is it gonna be your mom? Your grandma? I'm curious so let me ask… who are you going to call?

"Ghostbusters" With one meter left to cover, I snapped my fingers to call her attention as I leaped and closed the distance. I called my strings to wound up around her left leg which is the closest one to me. I ushered several layers of strings all at once to crush her limb and reduce it into a paste of white flesh.

"Hey Albert, It's me. Thank you for taking care of the others, I already disarmed the main target." I pressed the button of the transmitter right behind my ear and whispered.

"All that cleanup for nothing? But hey, as long as it turned out fine then I'm good…"

"You could come here if you like… then we'll head back together.with the team."

"Fine… fine… we had a hard time taking care of her friends either way so we'll regroup and pick you up. That okay?"

"Yep, that sums it up, Thanks for your help."

I let out a sigh of relief as I watched her topple down like a tower of playing cards. She grunted with a puzzled look on her face, I've had enough practice to make that little attack almost instantaneous so a lot of questions should be flooding in her mind right now. I expected her to writhe in pain but when I took a few steps to her side, I was surprised that she still managed to keep a straight face. She settled with her short breaths and a few silent curses here and there while she used her elbows to drag her body and crawl away.

"Hey miss, show me the arm you use to flush at a public toilet." She paused and ignored me but as soon as I saw her right arm twitch, I moved my fingers and made it disappear. She looks like that she's trying to figure things out but I made a self-rule not to let my cats out of their bags. Her face fell flat on the floor, gnawing her teeth as she tried to muffle her screams. She then raised her head towards me with an unfazed expression, her eyebrows had started to twitch as the mixtures of tears, dirt, sweat, and spit had started to pollute her cold demeanor.

"Hi, Dorothy. My name is Tanaka, your personal Grim Reaper. You do have at least an idea of what we do right?" I wished she could see the smile behind this mask of mine but my instincts told me to keep my guard up. When I looked at her glare despite what happened, my feelings are telling me that maybe she's plotting something or maybe she has everything under control. It's like when no one's looking shes reacting to it, but when our eyes meet it's as if her pain doesn't exist.

This made me uncomfortable to a degree so to appreciate her efforts, I stroked the dirt away from her hair, stuffed my finger in her cheeks and said, "This might be fun, so before we start. Let me do your bit. You know full well that no one is coming, even so, let me hear you scream. Who are you going to call?"

"My… my prince charming…" Dorothy puffed her cheeks to push out my finger, following it with a couple of short breaths and a soft cry. "He...lp… help me… please… I don't won't do- I don.. wamma die"

"Hey… Isn't this too much? You're hurting her man!"

"I like to be careful as much as you like to butt into people's businesses. This has happened before, a man rushed to me so I broke his body the same way I dry my laundry. Those were fun times and I don't want that to happen to me." I turned my head and leered at the man behind me. He had that caring gaze accompanied by the cold sweat running down his face and piss pinning him down in his place, a sight that crumpled my lips.

"But still…"

"Wow, you're still talking. such courage, what are you gonna do? Beg me to death?… and this is the same person who made you piss your pants after pulling you into this." I jumped on my feet and walked over towards him. I looked down and greeted his teary-eyed gaze. I stretched my fingers over to my side and gave him a loud cracking slap on his cheek that made him almost kiss the ground. He then looked at me with a terrified expression so I took a deep breath and said, "We grim reapers have the privilege to kick out the people who aren't really dead in this world. All we needed to do is to touch them so that hand-shaped sore on your face is your ticket. Go get your white-knight ass out of here, go change your sheets and let me do my damn job"

He fell silent and gave me a nod as he fades away but by the time that I returned my attention to my current target, she's already gone. There were no traces, there should have been a lot of blood or at least a trail if she left, but there's none as if nothing ever happened in the first place. I waved my tired eyes left and right just to see the boy disappearing while the girl was still nowhere to be found. Good thing that I had my insurance.

There was no sound, nothing had changed but I felt that my strings had moved. Right behind me, I felt a brush of wind and countless of my strings colliding with something. I made a wide grin beneath my mask and turned my head towards the fly that decided to jump back in my trap. She went in and attacked me with a face full of determination but I stopped her midair and made my strings constrict and crush her left arm like it was jelly.

"Oh.. nice try… you would have caught me if I really need to snap my fingers to activate my ability." I stretched my neck to let my cold gaze to set up the mood. I clicked my fingers again, this time to grind her other leg. I chuckled, shrugged my shoulders and followed, "Too bad I'm only doing it to look cool, also a force of habit? I don't know. Well t'was a smart choice, it's just I'm not as dumb as you"