The Wailing Woman

10. Bloody Fate

Soft trickles of snow fell from the sky. The white crystals landed on my nose, eyelashes, and black hair. Weightless as they melted sliding down my skin. My hand was still compressed against Death's hand, blood slipping between our fingers. I want to believe that I am dreaming but this feels all too real. We were in the forest but it wasn't the same forest. I don't know what happened. I don't know how we got here.

"Where are we?" I asked, trembling.

Death's jaw clenched and turned, "I don't know. Where did you take us?"

He thought I did this? How could I possibly do this? I am not capable of doing something like this. One minute I am feeling as if my head is being torn apart and the next minute I am somewhere I have never been.

"I didn't take us anywhere. Where did you take us?" I hissed.

Death's eyes darted back and forth, I could feel his hand tighten around mine. My eyes widened as I realized that the God of Death doesn't know where we are either, we are stuck. We are stuck together. I could feel my heart beginning to race again.

I looked down at our bloody hands, droplets of red stained the white powder ground. I wriggled my hand to remove it from his but when I tried to, Death's gaze snapped back towards me.

He held a glare, "Don't. We are bonded right now, leave my hand and you will be trapped here forever."

I kept my hand still against his.

"Well, aren't you a God? Can't you do something? Get us out of here." I said angrily.

I could feel my fingertips becoming numb either by the cold or how tightly Death is squeezing them. If we don't find a way out soon, my body temperature will slowly decrease and I would rather not die from hypothermia.

Small forms of clouds released as Death spoke, "I don't have control here. Someone must have brought us here. Someone must have gotten inside your head."

Someone is inside my head? How was that possible? My eyes roamed at our surroundings, white and gray. Gray sky and white ground with hundreds of lanky trees that lay in the background. It looked peaceful, calming and it was quiet.

I tried to shift from my foot to the other but the inches of snow-covered half of my boot. I don't like the snow.

As I am about to speak, a voice appears from thin air.

"Capturer and Crier of Souls."

Together, Death and I turn towards the airy voice. We are greeted by an elderly woman, her gray hair is neatly tied into a long braid and she wears a ragged brown cloak hanging loosely on her body. Her wrinkles show her age but her eyes, her eyes are a vibrant violet.

As she took a step toward us, her cloak swept the ground.

"I should have known it was you." Death sneered.

I looked back at Death confused, his posture had straightened as the movement of his shoulders stiffen. I felt curious about the woman in front of us, wanting to know who she was and how she was capable of pulling this reaction out from a God.

Her thin lips curled in response as she spoke silky, "Do not be angry with me, my God." Her body faced me, "Nora de Luna, a woman who will go by many names."

My eyebrows furrowed, how does she know my name? Her stare settled between the two of us as she kept walking around us. Was she another God? How many of them are there? More importantly, what did she want? Did she put us here?

As if she was reading my mind she claimed, "Patience, Nora. Everything will be explained. Everything will be answered. Everything will be back on your path."