Of Death and Demons

Chapter 1- To Japan We Go

I tapped my pencil against my desk, waiting for the lunch bell to ring. 3, 2, 1, RING! Everyone rushed out of the class, except Dylan and I.

"Em, can you follow me for a sec?" he asked sheepishly.

"Sure." I said hesitantly.

Oh god, please don't ask me out. He's a good guy but I didn't want to lose his friendship if something went wrong. I followed him to the back of the school. Why are we out here?

"Finally, I can't believe it was so easy." Dylan said, his back turn to me.

When he did turn towards me, his eyes were wild, teeth pointed and a smile way bigger than it should be.

"Dyl, you okay?" I asked.

"I'm perfect, princess. Now come with me." Dylan said, holding out a clawed hand to me.

The air behind Dylan began to ripple, as if the air was trying to rip itself open.

"Did you really think SHE would go unwatched? I am surprised the American branch let you get this far."

We both looked up the tree next to us. There, on a lower branch, sat a guy. With a six foot long scythe in hand.

"Damn, a shinigami." Dylan growled.

"A what?" I questioned.

"Now,  I will ask you to back away or I will make you." the guy in the tree said, pointing the blade of his scythe at Dylan.

"No! Don't hurt him!" I yelled at him.

He sighed and said, "He's not your friend anymore. He's been possessed."

He flipped himself off the tree and drove the butt of his scythe into Dylan's chest. He twirled his scythe in hand then pointed the blade at Dylan, standing between me and Dylan.

"Damn you." Dylan said regaining his balance.

The guy smirked and began saying something in a strangle language.

"No!" Dylan yelled.

He began to rush towards us but as the guy came to the end of his chant, Dylan froze. Then he dropped to the ground.

"Dylan!" I tried to go to him but the guy with the scythe stopped me.

"Go home. As soon as possible, I don't care if you have to lie, run, or push people out of your way. Hurry." he said before vanishing in front of me.

I felt shaky as I stumbled towards my next class. What just happened?

"Mr.Jones, I think I need to go home." I said.

"That's unusual, you're never sick. But okay, I'll write you a pass."

Half an hour later, one of the nurses had dropped me off at my house. My mom was waiting on the porch for me.

"Emma, are you alright?" she asked. She looked past me and said, "Oh."

I turned to look and what I saw made my blood run cold.

"Rin, it happened didn't it?" mom asked. The guy with the scythe nodded gravely. "Come inside, both of you." mom said ushering us inside.

We sat at the dining room table, all looking at each other.

"How did they find her?" my mom finally asked.

"I don't know, but are you sure she even inherited it?" the guy my mom called Rin asked.

"Yes, I have no doubt." she answered.

Rin sighed and said, "Then you know what I have to do."

My mom got a sad look and nodded.

"Wait, wait a second. Who are you? What did I inherit? And do what?" I asked.

"I" he said pulling a small pole out of his bag, "am Rin Shinigami, grim reaper senior first class."

"A what?" I asked, in confusion.

"Shinigami, death god, grim reaper, guider of spirits, slayer of demons, guardians of mortals, and now your executioner." he said, extending the pole into a scythe.

"Wait! You protect people, right? Then make me one of you. I want to protect people, to help people. I want to fight demons and become powerful so no one has to get hurt anymore." I said.

Rin looked at me in shock but there was something else I couldn't put my finger on.

"You didn't tell her, did you?" he said turning to my mom.

"No, and I'd like to keep it that way as long as possible." mom replied.

I looked between them in utter confusion.

"Have you ever done something you couldn't explain? Spoken a language you didn't know? Notice you were faster or stronger?" Rin asked me.

I had, since I was little.

"You have....a gift, so to say. You'll need that gift to catch up to your classmates." Rin continued.

"Wait, that means I get to become one of you, right?" I asked.

"Yes, get packing. The school is in Japan." Rin said.

*****

"Wow, I've always wanted to go to Japan. What's the school like? I bet it's awesome. I can't wait!" I was so excited, I couldn't stop talking. "How do you know my mom?" I asked.

"Believe it or not, this isn't the first time we planned to kill you. And not the first time you wiggled out of it." he said, he gave me a crooked smile that would have melted the toughest of girls. "You were actually born in Japan. For some reason you were marked dangerous,  and I was sent to kill you." he continued.

"How is that possible? You couldn't have been older than one." I said.

"That's not actually true. I'm a lot older than I look." he said.

By the time I realized where we were, we were boarding the plane.

"Oh god." I said, clutching to my armrests.

"You've never been on a plane have you?" I shook my head rapidly. "Take this. It's a sleeping pill that should last the flight. When you wake up we need to discuss some things, okay?" Rin said.

By the time he finished talking, I was already getting sleepy. The last thing I remembered was falling asleep with my head on Rin's shoulder.