The Reaper

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Eva could smell it.

     She could smell the newborn spirit emerging into the afterlife. His fragrance, while delicate and fragile, teased her with a hint of lavender and something else. It lingered from a distance, tempting her to stalk it. She stopped and squared her shoulders. Heaving in a sharp inhale, she savored the air like a desperate hound, testing it. She drew in five more sniffs from varied directions before stitching together a location.

     A hospital.

     Of course he was in a hospital. The more she put her nose to use, the more her thoughts accumulated and generated new visuals. This was a unique soul that she was about to hunt down, a soul with the potential to become an new guardian. A golden opportunity, she realized.

     Eva rose to her feet, her stance firm and rooted in the rooftop of a house. She often occupied the roofs of random buildings whenever she was out patrolling this world. No mortal being was capable of detecting her presence, no one except the dead.

     "The time has come," Eva declared to herself, her voice stern.

     As if on cue, a tiny chameleon suddenly popped his head out from Eva's bushy hair. He had been hidden inside her thick mane for quite some time now. His slick skin shifted colors, morphing from dark brown, the color of Eva's hair, to lime green. He wiggled through an ocean of chocolate locks, crawling past the summit of her head. Having grown accustomed to the prickly sensations that often tickled her scalp, Eva ignored his icky movements. Her reptile companion slithered out from her hair and perched himself on her left shoulder.

     Eva gazed out into the starry sky. The ruffles of her dress mimicked the dance of a gentle breeze, tugging her to the right. "We have a mission to take."

     And with that, she followed the smell.

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