I stare down at my untouched drink sitting on the bar. The smell is almost as repulsive as the man who bought it for me. How do humans drink this acid? I ponder, lifting the small glass up to analyze the dark liquid.

“Don’t drink, babe?” The man sways awkwardly on the stool beside me. He grasps the edge of the bar for support. “Or d’ I look good ‘nough withou’ it?”

The man leans in so that our faces are only inches apart. His hot alcoholic breath burns my nostrils, and I turn away gagging. His free hand awkwardly finds my knee, and I rise from my chair. I pull back my arm, ready to bring my fist down on his face. A twisted smile rests on his lips.

From outside, I hear my ravens making their low, hoarse kaws and knocking sounds. I leave the man sitting at the bar, and run to the door. I push the wood door open, and find the world outside cold and dark. It reminds me of home in the underworld.

The heels of my boots click sharply against the sidewalk as I follow the sounds of my crows. I find them in an alley behind the bar.

The oldest, Desir, is croaking and snapping his beak as he stands on the chest of a man they had pulled off the street. Brath and Vex, my other ravens, are swooping and croaking around the man. Their feathers are the color of onyx, and dark smoke rolls and tumbles from their sleek bodies like black water. I whistle; Vex and Brath land on my shoulders. The soft feathers of their wings brush against my cheeks and blend in with my dark hair and eye makeup.

His soul is clouded, Vex’s voice echoes into my mind. Her voice has always reminded me of glass shards tinkling to the ground.

“How clouded?” I ask quietly, so that the man doesn’t hear.

Even I cannot see the bottom. Vex’s feathers ruffle. Vex can see into the souls of everyone-including me. Normally, she can see through the dense black smoke of a soul, but this man must be truly evil. I will only be able to see his dark deeds when his soul is naked.

I sigh heavily, and with great displeasure, I state, “Begin.”

At my word, Brath and Vex spring from my shoulders with their wings outspread. Desir continues to snap his black beak at the man’s face. Brath and Vex land next to the man’s head, and begin croaking and kraaing in a chant. All three birds ruffle and puff out their feathers; black smoke moves like an agitated nebula of darkness that steadily pools on the ground until the alley is filled with the motion of the fog.

“What the h### is going on?” the man screams from his lying position on the asphalt. He stares into my eyes, but I look away. I can stand the look of their faces when it happens, but I can’t stand the guilt that comes after.

Desir’s beak pierces the man’s chest over his heart; the man screams and flails his arms in an attempt to knock the demon away. Desir struggles to pull his head away from the man’s chest, and I can see the red and black strikes of electricity striking from the man’s chest. My hair begins to defy gravity with the charge building in the air. Vex and Brath join Desir in pulling the man’s soul from his chest while he lies in shock. Clasped in their beaks is what appears to be a ball of intense electricity and chaos tamed into a tangible form. Normally, a human soul would be bright and alive, crackling and charging like a sparkler, but this soul is dead. It is small and twisted and rotten like a shriveled apple and it’s leaking dark pulses of energy. The ravens pull it from its moorings and fly it over to me, and I take it in my hands like it’s spoiled food that will fall apart in my fingers. This man’s soul is no bigger than a soccer ball, and it’s covered in a chalky residue that stains my skin. It doesn’t have any weight to it.

Quickly the man’s memories flash behind my eyes, too quick to really understand what’s going on. Here, a flash of a school building, a bedroom, a field, an airplane . . . Emotions that come with the memory flicker through me. Disgust when he got turned down as a kid, anger while he stands on the sidelines of a club, joy as he packs someone into the trunk of his car . . . I can see now he was evil, as I stand as a one-person jury to his life.

The ravens land on my shoulders again and I heft the soul up into the moonless sky like I’m about to spike it to the moon. With a boom like thunder that rattles windows and shakes the very air, the soul breaks and falls smoking to the earth like a spent firework. The pieces disintegrate before they hit the ground.

The alley is quiet except for the rustle of the ravens at a loss of what to do. The man’s body lies dead and limp, but a second later cracks start to appear along his skin and with a dry, crumbling squeak of cinders breaking apart, he caves in and falls apart into ash.

The deed done, I walk along the sidewalk without purpose. My ravens follow behind me and I can hear their wings beating through the air. Feeling Vex’s blind eyes on me, I glance over my shoulder. She flies just behind me with Brath close to her.

Their smoke mixes and tumbles almost playfully together. Vex’s eyes are a shade of creamy violet with gray pupils. She makes a soft clicking sound to her mate before coming land on my shoulder. I can tell by her tensed wings and fluffed up feathers that she’s worried about something.

“What is it, Vex?” I ask, and she looks slightly startled.

Your soul is getting lighter, she answers. I can almost see the bottom. I almost lose my footing on the flat ground, and stare at the raven. I open my mouth to ask if she’s kidding, but Vex never jokes around. Being in the mortal world is taking its toll on my soul, and if it turns white then I will turn to ash. I was only supposed to be here a few days, but I had found the city so overrun by the frothing scum of the streets that I had been here almost a month. And I still hadn’t found the one I was sent to kill.

“Once our job is done we’ll leave,” I say, and Vex nods.

May our task be easy. She ruffles her feathers before taking to the air to join Brath.

~#~

I remember the day that Anubis, the god of death, called me before him. He sat confidently on his throne, and held a set of paper origami birds in his hands. Three were black ravens–representing Vex, Rath, and Desir–while the other was a white crane with spots of red like blood spatters; representing a corrupt angel. I watched as Anubis breathed dark swirling smoke over the paper figures, and they came to life. The ravens and crane took to the air, and soared around me. Vex and the others watched in awe at the sight.

Anubis watched me curiously behind his mask. The porcelain jackal face was painted onyx with gold markings around the eyes and inside the pointed ears.

“Do you know why I called you here, Nephthys?” the God of Death asked, but his booming voice made it sound more like a command.

“My role is to place order in the upper world,” I responded, and he nodded.

I watched as he lifted his hand for the origami birds to return, and they glided towards his open hands. Once close, he allowed the birds to playfully circle each other before he balled his hand into a fist. The paper ravens began to assault the crane, and the battle came to my side. The Ravens surrounded the crane, and it was caught in flames. I held my hand out, and the crane fell into my palm in ashes.

“Either way, someone has to die,” he said, and I didn’t respond. I knew the risks involved, but if I could wipe this evil from the world, I didn’t mind being a pawn.

“I don’t expect to return,” I said, staring him directly in the eyes. I thought he might be smiling.