Death's Daughter

Chapter thirty: inspection

Rolling my eyes, I lean back in the wooden chair and sigh. She's merely been a goddess for two years, she doesn't understand the duties of a goddess fully yet. Then again, who am I the one to judge? I've only been a Demi God for sixteen years. I didn't even learn my duties till I was twelve because that's the 'gods way' but I still know more than Cora. She's an amateur compared to me. I do learn quickly after all.
Looking into her bright emerald eyes, I open my mouth to speak.

"I want to see this army of yours" I say, mind set on an inspection rather than negotiating terms. Cora smiles brightly at me and nods, standing up and gesturing me to follow after her.
Briskly I stand up with Leo alongside me.

"They have been training on the school grounds where they can be protected and under full supervision" Cora says in a honey glazed voice, walking down some stone steps with her small heels clapping on the ground. Ironic that a mermaid is capable to walk in heels considering they were born with a tail and not legs.
Cora leads me and Leo down endless corridors until we finally reach the gymnasium where her soldiers are training. As I enter the room, a wide range of training techniques catches my eye.
In the left hand corner there is a section where training dummies are dressed up as vampires, goblins and sirens, each programmed with the enemies magical abilities.
I watch a dark haired boy with black wings looking similar to a crow walk up to the siren dummy. The dummy begins to sing a song of the sirens, attempting to entrance the crow boy. The boy simply sneers at the doll and uses a silver feather to slit the dummy's throat. Cotton falls from the fake siren, the song coming to an end. Seems that silver feather was a secret blade.
Next a white haired boy with Snow White fox ears walks towards the goblin and the vampire. With one slick move, he summons a fox fire, burning the two dummies to ashes in one throw. Killing two birds with one stone I see.
In another corner, archers are practicing their aims by shooting at cutouts of various supernatural creatures, many of them aiming for the heart or brain.
Lastly, at the back of the room a scene was set up similar to a battlefield. A girl steps up to the challenge and avoids the robotic versions of the enemy with full stealth, managing to shield her presence to go undetected then quickly she jumps onto a robots back and twists it's head off.
I must say I'm impressed. Cora looks over to me and smiles.

"Doing well aren't they? All have their own techniques" she says proudly, watching one boy in particular. I follow her gaze to the boy and realise he's in fact a vampire, the only one in this room. The vampire walks up to a robot simulating another of his kind and with questions close speed, he pulls the robotic vampires throat out, brutally killing him.

"Odd to have a vampire willing to fight his own kind" I say, observing him.

"He's actually part kelpie" Cora says, her emerald gaze not removing from the vampire.

"That's quite a strong combination" I say in respect to her. She's chosen the best of the best.

"So what do ya think Rave? Good enough for your army?" Leo says, arm over me shoulders. Pushing him off me I nod.

"You've done well Cora" I say, nodding towards her as she smiles widely.

"James come over here!" Cora shouts to the vampire. Swiftly he makes his way over and watches me carefully. Raising an eyebrow at him, I turn to Cora.

"Deaths here?" James questions, studying me.
"Don't see many reapers around here, who's dead?" He asks, turning to Cora.
Cora's eyes suddenly change from a beautiful emerald green to a vibrant red. Mermaids eyes and ends of their hair change colour to reflect their emotions. It's clear Cora is angry at James for embarrassing her.

"James, it's Raven" she says through gritted teeth. James eyes widen as he looks at me.

"You're the goddess of death?" He exclaims, shocked. Sighing I shake my head.

"Demi God actually" I retort, sneering at the vampire.
I hate it when people confuse me with a goddess, it's not the same as a Demi God. Gods and goddesses are bound to a life already written for them. Demi gods have an unwritten life ahead of them. If I wished, I could abandon my duty as a reaper but it would be extremely difficult, after all even Blake came back to it.
Demi gods also have stronger powers. No other reaper can do what I can. I can reap a soul and revive it if I wanted. That's how I brought Callum back to life. I knew his soul didn't belong in the underworld yet. So I returned it.

"Whatever" he says, turning to walk away just as Cora grabs his shoulder, swinging him around to face her.
Cora immediately swings a punch into his porcelain face, knocking him out cold. Leo and I marvel at the goddess, looking at her in awe. Cora rapidly shakes the fist she used to pinch James, now bright red up and down in the air.

"I can't stand it when he tries to be a smart arse" she says, smiling apologetically to me. I nod in appreciation, she was looking out for me because Demi gods aren't exactly very popular, in fact Demi gods are loathed by some because of their abilities to write their own destinies. People like mother.

"So, shall we return to my office where we can discuss further details?" Cora asks, opening the wooden door.
Without saying a word, I walk through the door and down the corridors, up the stairs and back into Cora's small office.

"Hey things are looking up for us Rave, the coastal region is more than prepared to fight!" Leo exclaims, smiling proudly.

"Now it's just the other regions" I say, sighing. Leo raises an eyebrow towards me.

"What do you mean?" He asks, confused.

"This is just one region Leo. We still have to go to the desert region and speak to the Egyptian gods then we have to make our way to India and speak to their gods and even all the way to China! Our work is barely done" I exclaim, slouching in my seat.

"Well, where to next?" He asks, anticipation hidden behind the amber glow in his eyes.

"We're going to the native region next" I say firmly, turning back to the sea goddess.