Wanted Dead or Alive | 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐍 𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑

3 - SOMETHING WICKED

SEASON 1, EPISODE 18

The silence of the in-between was deafening. The land that hovered imperceptibly among the living world and the afterlife was not one that bore much entertainment, and without a job to carry out, Mara could do nothing but watch as humans were able to experience pleasantries like gusts of wind and emissions of radio music. She couldn't even listen to the Winchesters' playful banter without stepping the slightest bit into the land of the living, and even that was difficult, because it would only take one wrong move on Mara's part for her invisibility to fade away like fresh dew at dawn.

Luckily, death seemed to follow the Winchesters wherever they went. There wasn't a day that went by where Mara didn't catch a glimpse of another reaper, their intangible forms putting on a pleasant facade as they greeted a newly dead soul. Prior to Mara's involuntary binding to a yellow-eyed demon and his servant, she wouldn't have paid any attention to a reaper in passing. Death was no unordinary thing and did not startle her in the least. But now, when she was being forced to do nothing but observe three human beings as they went about their daily routines, she realized she should've been grateful for the company of her own kind when she'd had the chance.

Mara almost shouted in glee when the Winchesters decided to investigate a hospital in Fitchburg, Wisconsin. Hospitals always housed an abundance of reapers due to their high death rates, and this particular Wisconsin hospital was no exception. When Sam, Dean, and Katarina began interrogating parents about their children's undiagnosable diseases, and Mara felt the chilliness that signaled a reaper's presence, she saw her chance and leapt upon it.

She figured a simple conversation with another reaper wouldn't take longer than a minute, and it would temporarily satisfy the uneasiness that blossomed from being so alone. Even if the Winchesters left without her, locating them wouldn't be an issue. There was no doubt in her mind that it was worth the risk to speak with someone who could see her.

"Hello?" she spoke as she approached the reaper that stood nearest to her. His features were a little too close together to be appealing, and he wore a suit that was nearly indistinguishable from the ones other reapers liked to wear. When he responded to Mara's kind greeting, he was not as amiable as the female reaper had hoped.

"You," the reaper spoke, his voice hoarse and accurate to most mortal depictions of the reaper race. "There's something not quite right about you. You reek of...of something I cannot quite place."

Mara arched an eyebrow. "Pardon?"

The other reaper's eyes widened, and Mara was suddenly reminded of the reason humans pictured her kind as grotesque and gruesome. Besides being the harbingers of death, some reapers didn't even bother to look the slightest bit attractive. That much was obvious judging by the hollowed-out circles beneath the gray-skinned reaper's bloodshot eyes.

"You've stepped into the land of the living recently, haven't you? I can smell it all over you, the humans and their gluttony and irrational fear," the man spoke, one end of his mouth curling up in a nauseating snarl.