Estella

"There's a problem," Vasser said as he stormed into the room and to the head of the table. He turned and looked at the five of us as we sat, waiting for him to continue. His eyes scanned the room then landed on me, a worried expression on his face.

"What is it?" I asked, puzzled as to why he suddenly called us to council.

He huffed and then sat down, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger. "Someone is hunting the Klaren."

I shifted uncomfortably and turned to Klane as he spoke, "What is the point in that? It just means we get new Reapers faster." he said, and everyone else nodded. The Klaren were living humans whose souls were capable of becoming reapers if they chose to after death. So if they died, they had the option of being reincarnated or becoming one of us.

"They are using a soul-killing weapon," Vasser said, and I froze.

I looked to the empty seat beside me, and I felt my panic rise. "It will be Okay Nydelig; I will be back before you know it." He had said to me when he had been permitted to reincarnate again. "Nothing will happen to me."

I turned to Vasser again, his lips forming a tight line as he tried to hide his worry for his second in command who was currently one of the Klaren. "I have assigned people to guard the ones we know about, that is the best we can do right now."

I stood up and started walking out of the room but stopped in my tracks when he called after me.

"Estella!" He said, standing and walking over to me. I scowled at him as he stopped in front of me. "He has a guard-." He began, but I cut him off.

"That won't be enough, you know they will sense his power, and go after him."

He closed his eyes and clenched his fists, but a moment later, he grumbled loudly and looked back down to me. "Fine, you can be his Protector." He turned to Klane. "Klane, you will go as well, truthfully there is a surprising amount of Klaren in the area. I will assign you to one."

He turned back to me and flinched at the frown and death glare I was giving him. "Don't look at me like that; I'm only doing this because Agnar would slaughter me if I didn't."

"Hm," I mumbled, crossing my arms and cocking my eyebrow. Unsure how I felt about Vasser being afraid of Agnar's wrath. I turned to Klane, and he stood up and walked over. I looked up at the hulk of a man who towered over me. his sort brown hair appearing black in this light. His usual angry scowl was gone; instead, a slight smile on his face as he nodded, humour running through his hazel eyes. He was playing the silent type even though he was far from it.

"You will head out tomorrow," Vasser said to us, then walked back to his seat. "You two can go prep; the rest of us will figure who is behind this."