Nala was a tool of destiny. Her only responsibility was to separate the soul from the body and pass the soul on to the white-winged Angels of Deliverance who would move the soul on to begin its next life. They called her kind, for she was not the only one, Death Bringers. It was with they're touch that the soul would never return to its previous host.
Nala watched the murderous dance step-by-step as he pressed her to the grimy building and held her at her throat. She fought and squirmed, her blue eyes bulged in fear, her hair flying in tangles as she struggled for release. He held her tight and cut a slit up the side of her tattered yellow sun dress, destroying the delicate cotton. He pressed the blade to her cheek and she screeched. The sound seemed to spur him forward and he pushed the blade into her neck. It took only a moment and she was gone. There was no fight in her anymore. Death was all that was left.
He pressed a kiss upon her blood stained cheek, pulled the blade from her neck, and dropped her body to the ground. He left the alley within the minute, only hesitating to for an instant to look back at the girl one last time as if he wanted to be certain she really was dead.
Nala could see her life force fading, a small silver light at her heart dimming slowly until it was no more then a candle’s flame sputtering out in the wind. When it was gone, she dropped to the ground and looked at the girl with more precise examination.
Blond ringlets faded to sable at the scalp and brown flecks peeked out behind blue contacts. A narrow scar was fading at her nose, scalpel-precise; and temporary bronzer was smeared on her chest.
“You going to take her yet, or are you waiting for her corpse to start stinking?” Corrine snapped as she landed with a soft whoosh. They were mirror images of one another, sharing the same curious green eyes, small, sharp-featured faces, and lithe, strong bodies. The similarities were interrupted by Corrine’s silvery wings, so wide that they would not open fully within the alley.
She tucked them in tight at her side but stopped before her naked feet touched the blood that had gathered near the body.
“Have you no respect for the dead, Corrine?” Nala bit back.
“I’ve been sympathetic to enough of them. I’m tiring of my obligations to the Angel’s Creed. Let’s just get this show on the road.”
Nala shook her head and ran her hand over the girl’s arm. The smell of ozone filled the air and alleyway quivered for an instant before the girls soul appeared, rather corporeal for the fact that she was dead, and it stood there, shocked.
She moved her mouth but no sound passed her lips, only cold ghostly breath.
“Aw, the silence of death. The fact that the dead cannot speak is such a peaceful thing, isn’t it?” Corrine remarked. She wrapped her sinewy fingers around the girls arm and took off. “I’ll be seeing you when I see you, Nala.”
Lily's Notes: This is the sencond of a three part short story for BigBadBear's "What is Evil and Good?" Contest. The whole point of this short story is to explore my definition of good and evil through the actions of my rather conflicted Nala. You can find the first part here.
