Luna
My name is Luna Cross, I am seventeen years old, and in 24 hours, 5 minutes, and 3 seconds-- I am going to die.
One second now, I'm still counting. One month ago, I was told that I had cancer and that there was a chance that I wasn't going to survive. Just yesterday I was told that in 48 hours, I had a very good chance of dying.
I'm looking at my watch. In about two minutes my mom will be, hopefully, walking through the door to take me home, back to my life....
The door opens-funny how these things work, right? - And Dr. Clay walks in with my mom. "Well Miss Cross", he says to me kindly, "it seems that you will be going home, enjoy your time".
You mean enjoy your last breath, I ponder. My mother smiles sadly at me, "Let's get you home, sweetie".
Freedom! I dream happily as my mom and Dr, Clay discuss removing me from the hospital.










Demitri
The room was dark and gloomy, papers were everywhere but neat. There were no windows for light. Instead there was a candle making the room glow up. There were no doors; it was like a big box.
Two men appeared out of thin air, one tall and one slightly shorter. The tall one had his face covered by a hood, but by the way he carried himself you could tell he had a superior air about him.
The shorter one was a handsome boy in his teens, whose shaggy black hair fell neatly in his face.
"Demitri, I have a mission for you", the taller one said in a low, cold voice.
The boy, whose name was Demitri, bowed, "Anything My Lord".

"There is a girl who is about to die, you must retrieve her soul for me".

"Yes, My Lord".

"Since your partner has been disqualified, you shall be going alone".

"Yes My Lord".

The tall man looked at Demitri sternly, "Any mistakes and you know the consequences".
Demitri stood straight, "Nothing will go wrong".
The tall man smiled a cold smile, "You are my best Adrian, Demitri, and I trust you".
With that he disappeared with a quiet, "No mistakes", leaving Demitri in the room by himself....









Luna
I look around my bedroom happily, my mother hovers in the doorway looking like she is waiting for me to faint or something.
I turn around and hug her, "Mom I'm fine, really".
My mom hugs me back gently, "I know honey but I'm so sad". Her voice cracks and I knew she was going to start crying soon.
"Mom, what did I say about crying"? My mother’s voice cracks still as she says, "I'm sorry Luna, I know you told me no crying, but your my only child and when you leave I'll be alone and your were everything to me".
She burst into tears and I hugged her hard.
"Everything will be ok, I wouldn't be surprised if the doctors were wrong and I lived to be 40".
I knew this was a lie though, very few people lived from this cancer and I had a feeling I wasn't one of the people who was going to live.
My mother wipes her tears with her shirt and trys to smiled, "Alright would you like something to eat?"
I shake my head, "I'm going to sleep, I love you mom".
My mom hugs me one more time before going downstairs. I walk to my bed and lay down, slowly drifting to sleep....







Demitri
Demitri stood in the middle of the street in Austin, Texas. He watched as a couple past by, of course they couldn't see him because he was invisible to all except those close to death.
He waited until they past until he went into the house where he was told the little girl lived.
Demitri, appeared silently in what he was sure was the upstairs hallway. Down stairs he could hear someone crying.
Parents probably don’t want to scare the little girl, he thought, well here we go.
Demitri opened the door quietly and came face to face with a girl sleeping on the bed.
He looked at her and silently cursed, he thought they meant a little five year old or so, not a girl in her teens! Why hadn’t they prepared him? For the past years all the people he did were under seven years old!
Demitri looked at the sleeping girl, he told his body to move and take her soul but he couldn't, he just couldn't will himself to.
She looked so peaceful, her long, pale blonde hair laid gently against her face, her mouth was slightly parted and Demitri could hear her even breathing.
Now he was confused, he was supposed to take this girl's soul!
Demitri pondered what to do; he didn't want to kill her but if he didn't he would die.
He would have still pondered but at that moment her eyes snapped open and Demitri came face to face with the grayest eyes he had ever seen.











Them
Any other time, I would have screamed for help. But the worry in the emerald eyes I now stared at was too sad to look away from.
I should have threatened, 'Get out before I call the police' or something like that, instead I asked, "Who are you?"
The boy looked at me with pain now, "You can see me".
It wasn't a question but I nodded, "Yes why wouldn't I?"
The boy moved away and stuck his hands in his hair, "Oh no" he moaned.
I sat up and was able to look at him carefully. He had black hair that fell into his face and the most beautiful emerald green eyes I had ever seen in my life.
He was tall, well tall compared to my 5'5, he looked about 6 foot. He was lean but you could tell he was muscular.
I carefully got out of my bed and walked to my desk where I held my mace.
"Who are you?" I asked again.
He looked at me and sighed, "My name is Demitri and I am an Adrian that was sent here to retrieve your soul".
I gaped at him, "My soul?"
He shook his head, "I know it’s hard to believe but it is true and I have to get it done if I don't want to die".
I continued to stare at him, "You actually want me to believe that you are an Adri-thingy".
"Adrian", he corrected, 'And yes I want you to believe me".

"Well I don't".

"I didn't think you would".

"Well if you want me to believe you than prove it".

"What?"

"Prove it" I said again, "show me proof that you are an Adrian thing or whatever".
Demitri sighed and disappeared and appeared behind Luna. He tapped her back and she jumped.
"How did you that?" I asked in disbelief.
Demitri rolled his eyes and looked at her, because I am an Adrian.
I opened my mouth to ask another question when my mom came in.
"Who were you talking to?" she asked quizzically.
"I--I" I sputtered pointing to were Demitri stood but she didn't seem to see him.
"Are you alright, Luna?" her mom asked nervously, I looked at Demitri and he explained quietly, "Only the ones near death can see us".
I forced a smiled and looked at my mom, "Sorry I was talking to myself, Mom".
My mother looked at me strangely and walked out closing the door behind her.
I turned back to Demitri, 'Why--" I started but stopped when he held up a hand.
“Your mother is still listening”, he told me not bothering to keep his voice down, he waited a couple more seconds before looking at me, “you can start speaking now”.
I glared at him, and said, “So you’re saying I am going to die”.

“Yes”.

“How much time do I have?”

Demitri hesitated then said, “I was to take you now”. I could feel the tears coming to my eyes, “Please don’t take me, there’s so many things I want to do before I die”.
Demitri looked at the girl in front of him, how on earth could he kill her, it would be heartless of him.
Not that he had a heart, he laughed humorlessly to himself.
I still looked at him pleading, until he looked back, he sighed.
“Alright I can guarantee you one week that is how long I can keep you alive no more”.
I squealed and hugged him without meaning to, “Thank you, thank you, and thank you!”
“Yeah whatever”, Demitri muttered uncomfortably as Luna let go of him, “Now get back to bed while I go back and pack my bag”.
“Do Andrians need stuff?” I asked curiously asked my last question.
“Yes we do” Demitri explained, “Now go to sleep”.
I felt weird warmth come over me and I fell into a fitful slumber…



Demitri watched as the graceful little pale, blonde hair girl walked across the beach.
It had been five days since there almost fatal accident and Demitri was doing his best to let the girl do everything she could before she died.
Died. Demitri winced at the word, he had grown much attached to Luna and he didn’t want to let her go but tomorrow was there last day.
Luna came up to him breathlessly, “That was fun” she grinned.
Demitri smiled a strained smile, “Well what else do we have on your list to do”.
“Um…” Luna muttered rummaging through her bag, and pulling out a list, “Let’s see, dance in circles on the beach, check”.
She looked at the rest of the list, “My last thing to do is…” she paused and looked up, “There’s nothing left to do, I did everything”.
Demitri tried not to let her see him frown, he wanted her to keep going on with the list so he could keep extending her life but he knew it was until sometime that his master would find out.
I looked at Demitri who was silent, “What’s the matter?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he said quickly.
I sighed, “I can’t believe tomorrow is almost here”, I whispered quietly. Demitri looked at me sympathetically, “Are you sure there isn’t anything you want to do”.
I hesitated, “Well there are two things…” I trailed off.
Demitri pushed me for an answer, “What are these two things”.
“Well number one I want to know more about Adrian’s and number two…” I paused.
“Tell me” Demitri pleaded.
‘Well”, I could feel the heat coming to my face, “I have always wanted to be kissed”.
"Oh".

"Oh?"

"Yeah oh".

"Why on earth are you saying 'Oh'?" I asked.
Demitri shrugged, so I asked again, "Will you please tell me more about Adrian’s?"
"Well let’s see, Adrian’s are kind of like reapers only different, we stand in between Heaven and Hell and when a person is going to die we take their soul and put it in its rightful place".
“Sounds like angels to me”, I told him. He snorted, “Yeah do you see wings on us? All they do is go around flying singing those voices with harps”.
“Really?”

“Yep”.

"What do you guys eat?"

Demitri hesitated, "When we take a humans soul we devour half of it".
I looked at him wide-eyed, "Can--can you take the soul of anyone?" Demitri shook his head, "We can only feed on the person we are supposed to kill".
"How long can an Adrian go without eating?"

"About a week".

I was pretty sure my face was pale, "So you’re saying, if you don't take my soul by tomorrow you’re going to die!?"
Demitri looked down, "Yes, that’s why I couldn't expand your days longer".

"Do Adrian's have souls?"

"Actualy we do, but our souls are different from humans, its kind of complicating but we have a human soul, it is immortal and it has the choice of staying on earth".
"You say that as though it is not part of you", I observed. "Well thats the complicating part, when we become Adrian's we have the option of staying an Adrian or living on earth forever".
"How do you become an Adrian?" I asked.
"Only people who commit suicide become an Adrian", Demitri seemed to close the subject with this so I didn't ask any more questions.
"Well let’s get home before your mom gets worried, she is already surprised that you lived this long".

As I drove home I thought about what Demitri said about Adrian’s and suicide, so Demitri must have committed suicide! I thought, no wonder he didn't want to talk about it.
I looked over at him; he seemed peaceful just laying there on the seat as we drive home. I didn't want my week to end yet, I wanted to learn more about Adrian’s, I wanted to learn more about Demitri, and I wanted him to stay here forever.
I could feel helpless tears coming to my eyes, I didn't realize how much I enjoyed being around Demitri, how good it felt when he was around. I was falling in love.
"Hey", Demitri shook my shoulder, "Are you ok?"
I snapped back into the real world to see that we were home. I looked at Demitri to see he was staring at me in concern, 'Are you ok?" he asked.
I felt something come down my face, tears!
"I'm ok".

"You're crying", he touched my face gently to wipe tears away, I turned my face away, "I'm ok".
I quickly got out of the car and raced inside, slamming the door after me.

Demitri watched as Luna ran inside, what on earth was wrong with her! One minute she is happy and cheerful, and the next she was crying and running away from him.
Demitri doubled over in pain as he got out of the car, he looked at his arm to see the Adrian death mark engraving itself on him.
"Oh no" he muttered to himself. The pain hit him again and this time he groaned, he needed to take Luna's soul soon if he wanted to live.