She stared back at him with red-rimmed eyes and quivering lips of fury. Her raven seamlessly blended with her thin veil. She was shrouded in darkness, in secrecy. But he saw the silhouette of her sharp-tipped ears. Always hiding. Except, for right now. Her gaze was locked with his, and she gave him that same look when she vowed revenge for her family—determined, reckless. It didn't surprise him that she looked as if she was ready to die and haunt him for all eternity.

And it terrified and amazed him how far she would go to get what she wanted. Grimm wished he could be the one to die, but he could not.

Immortality had never been a problem for him. He rarely felt time. But ever since he met Nora Del Luna, he counted every second, minute, hour, day, and night. During the hours he wasn't with her, he was seeking a solution to their problem. A way to make her immortal. Or him mortal. He didn't care about his losses, he only cared about being with her. But he had come to know Nora despised the world. She loathed it so much that she would either destroy it or end herself.

She rather liked to put herself in danger, and he found himself wondering if he should unleash another plague on the world. He imagined being with her at the end of the world. He thought about it quite often.

But he couldn't be by her side anymore. Not after Nora had eavesdropped on the conversation he was having with his sister. His hope of ever being with her has vanished. Nora knows about Morrígan but she doesn't know all of it. He was going to keep it that way. Because if he told her the whole truth, she would take it as another reason not to be here. The Capturer of Souls knew there was only one part he could play to prolong Nora's life.

A role he executed perfectly since he could remember. He gripped his scythe and pulled himself up.

He met her gaze, evenly. "This isn't what I wanted," he admitted one last truth before his tongue became a master of lies. "If only my sister hadn't come and revealed everything. I probably needed to wait a bit more, right? At least I can stop pretending. I'll admit it was fun and more so, recently but I'm getting bored. I want my power back." A flash of hurt passed through her eyes, then quickly erased it.

"All of this for power?" she echoed, chillingly.

Flickers of redness moved in and out of her brown eyes. He was awakening the demon inside of her. Good. He needed to push her some more. "My mother did warn you, didn't she? Or perhaps, the voices?" he tapped the side of his head. "Didn't she warn you about me? Oh, that's right, I'm immune to you." Cold harsh winds grazed his skin.

The snowflakes fell upon her veil and hair, like crystals. He remembered the first time he saw her. Heavens, she was captivating. The temperature dropped more. He briefly glanced at her hand—an icicle emerged with a death grip. Despite her injuries, Nora's wrath would prevail above anything else. He counted on it.

She pointed it at him. "Nobody is immune. Not even you." She threw her icicle at him, and he swiftly drew his scythe upward as the ice crushed against the steel blade like glass. It quickly dissolved on the ground. Nora marched forward, summoning another icicle and throwing it again. He blocked it again. "How could you do this to me?" she growled as she threw a larger icicle.

He moved backward as his scythe went upward, downward, horizontally, vertically, and diagonally.

Cutting. Crushing. Cutting. Crushing. Cutting. Over and over again.

She didn't stop attacking. "You lied to me! You cursed me! Why?" she yelled. "Was Morrígan your past lover or something? Is this what it's about?" What a disgusting assumption. Morrígan was not his lover. 

Far from it. 

Still, he did not attempt to correct her. "Did she reject you? She didn't want you and then what? Did you decide to curse her entire bloodline? I didn't take you to be such a sore fucking loser!" she fumed as she got closer and closer. "Do you know how exhausting it is to be this way? Listen, cry, and mourn. Repeat. Listen, cry, and mourn. Repeat. Why did you do it when you said you never hurt me? Is the poison also on your sweet words?"

Her icicles became sloppily, shorter, and choppy as she closed the distance.

He lowered his scythe once she stood in front of him with no ice or magic. "I let you take my father's soul. I let you walk him because I trusted you. How could you?" she asked, raggedly.

Grimm didn't want to answer her. He met her gaze with silence. But oh, his heart burned more deeply than Hell's Fires. She hit his chest. Once, twice, then thrice. "Why, why, why, why, why...." she repeated as she continued to hit him with all her strength.

He finally roughly grabbed her wrists and pulled her to him, their noses an inch apart. "Enough. You didn't let me walk your father. I did. His soul became mine the moment he took his last breath." Their warm breaths exchanged. "Just as you will one day." He leaned in, whispering over her snarling lips. "Your soul will be mine one day. Just like your father. Just like the rest of them." Her chest heaved then suddenly stopped.

She tore her hand from his grip and swung her fist across his right cheek. It brutally stung. Hot liquid fell down his cheek. He looked down at the icicle ready at her hand, his vibrant blood dripping off the edge of it. The cut would heal but the stain of it would stay.

Nora screamed then jumped on top of him.

She wrapped her legs around his torso and pulled his hair violently. She was like a feral cat. She cursed and clawed at him. His vision was blocked by her body, and he mistakenly stumbled backward. His foot slipped on a rock or something as he tipped them over and sent them tumbling down the slope of a hill. It didn't stop Nora from attacking him. She somehow managed to bite his ear. He tried to hold her down or at least grab onto something.

When they came to the end of the hill, Nora's body skidded off him and rolled away from him. His chest rose up and down as he felt every bit of his body pulsing and throbbing. He sat up forward, his lungs deeply crushed. His gaze went to Nora, except she wasn't where he thought she landed.

He whipped his head back and forth, he stood up quickly. Where did she go? Panic froze his body—he then saw a pale hand latched onto the edge of the cliff. Fingers gripping tightly, knuckles white. He slowly walked over until he saw Nora dangling over the edge. High tidal waves rose against the cliffs reaching for her. They felt her presence. They wanted her back.

She struggled to hold herself up.

"Do you want me to help you?" he taunted. "Beg. I'll help you if you beg me."

Nora lifted her chin as if she was the one looking down at him. "I'm going to find a way to kill you." she breathed in her hate. "And when I do, I'm going to make you bleed and stretch your limbs from corner to corner till every living and dead soul recognizes your corpse." He kneeled before her, glancing down at her lips. So much venom. Yet he found himself tempted to kiss her.

Perhaps, he would indulge himself one last time.

Grimm's voice went low and hushed. "You can enjoy making me bleed all you want. But at the end of the day, I'm your captor and cursor. You'll run and hide. But I'll find you. I will always find you. And when I do, your soul will no longer belong to you." He placed his hand over hers.

"Eternally mine." he smiled.

Nora seethed. "I will never be yours. I will find a way to break this connection. And if I die before I do, I swear I will make sure my soul can never be touched by you." she vowed. "If you're my cursor, then I will be your doom." And so, he sealed her promise by stealing a kiss.

He bit her lower lip until he drew blood and licked it clean. The taste of her lips would forever be in his mouth and his in hers. He hesitantly pulled away from her and backed away. Nora stared at him with mixed emotions swirling in her eyes. One thing unnerved him. She had kissed him back.

He brushed his lower lip. "Fine, I'll give you a headstart. Give me a good chase. Good luck, Crier." He summoned his scythe once more and with both hands, he held the steel blade.

Nora slightly frowned.

Not wasting a second later, Grimm raised his scythe and struck it viciously on the cliff's end. A low rumble vibrated underneath. Chunks of rocks rolled and fell into the open water. Nora's eyes went wide. She desperately tried to claw herself up and made one last poor attempt to hold on before it all came undone.

The waves swallowed her gently as she took his heart with her.

He whispered over the crashing waves. "Hate me. Hate me. Hate me." Because Nora Del Luna was an unforgivable creature and she could only breathe if she hated as much as one could love someone. It was what kept her alive.

And he wouldn't love her any less because of it.

Suddenly his body became taut, and his scythe fell out of his hands as his knees hit the ground. He inhaled sharply. He lost his mobility to speak and move. There was only being capable of doing this. He knew she would come for him. Her steps were taken quietly into a path that led her to him.

She clicked her tongue. "She was your last chance to get your wings back. You only know how to ruin things, son." Fate placed a soft hand on his shoulder. He was not her son. He was her puppet. She pulled his strings and nothing else. He could only look forward.

"I suppose this means you've chosen the other path." she continued to stand behind him. "The Capturer of Souls and The Crier of Souls, the two faces of death. But there can only be one Death in this world. Either you will remain king, or Nora Del Luna will become queen." Fate declared.

It was never about Grimm getting his wings back. Fate made it clear to him what he had to do if he wanted them back. He would not do it. But Nora was special, extremely gifted. Fate saw the threads of her life. She particularly liked one. The thread of The Queen of Souls.

His sister was right but also wrong. Fate was up to something, but her plans didn't involve her children. Neither was Fate testing him. She was testing Nora. Fate paired her with Grimm to be taught about the dead because she would one day become Death. The old gods would die, and the new gods would replace them all.

Fate tilted his chin, and he met her violet eyes. "But she needs more time, and I can't have you interfere with her life anymore." She slid her slender, frail fingers over his eyes. He tried his hardest to leave her touch. "Sweet boy, don't make this any harder than it has to be. You will go back to her when the time is right. Now, hold still." She pressed her fingers into his forehead.

His body straightened like a chord pulled taut, and his mind went blank.