Her plan is perfect. Grelle has thoroughly thought of everything that could go right or wrong during the grave sin she is going to commit, and has made sure that it will go smoothly no matter what. It has to. This had to work. She's not sure she could take it if she failed.

She looks over her checklist once more and counts out the supplies she's gathered. Chalk, candles, chains from the reaper realm, duct tape, a dagger, the ancient texts, an abandoned building where she won't be bothered, and a great sacrifice. The sacrifice is the only part that hasn't been prepared already, but that will have to come last. Grelle isn't even sure if her target will work anymore after what happened, but she knows that her feelings for him are still there, despite what he's done to her. Her greatest love and her greatest enemy. He'll be gone soon. Well, if the plan works, which it absolutely will because it has to.

Despite her highly detailed plan, however, she still feels a pit in her stomach at the thought of what she must do. To summon a demon, one must make a hefty sacrifice, whether it be a family member, an aristocrat, a powerful being, or, in this case, a loved one.

She crumples her list up and throws it out of the way, then approaches the mirror in a neighboring room. She looks herself over and finds the usual mess of unkempt red hair and bloodshot eyes with heavy bags. She hadn't been getting much sleep ever since William had…

She begins shaking as the events from a few weeks ago rise in her thoughts and shakes her head wildly to alleviate her mind. When that doesn't work, she slaps herself. She needs to focus, have a clear mind. She looks at herself once more, this time with a determined expression, and decides to start with her teeth.

She sticks her thumb in her mouth and quickly runs it from one side to the other, flattening her bottom row of canines. Then she does the top and uses her tongue to make sure they're all normal. Next, she runs her bare fingers through her ruby tresses, and they begin to bleed into the color blonde, following her hand. She moves her fringe to cover up half of her face in a style reminiscent of that old reaper she'd fought and brought to dispatch once upon a time. Lastly, she exchanges her red glasses and chain for the round ones she used while acting as a butler for Madame Red. Her new appearance, combined with her women's uniform, complete with a pencil shirt, medium black heels, a plain black bowtie, and a crisp white blouse, stuffed with stockings to give the illusion of breasts, makes her seem like a completely different person than her usual loud and flamboyant self.

Finishing up, she glances at her pocket watch and finds that it's seven o'clock. Time to go. She leaves through the front door of the old creaking house and heads toward dispatch through the darkness.


By the time she reaches the office, it's raining cats and dogs outside. Luckily she gets inside just before the storm really begins, so she's only half-drenched. She wrings her golden hair onto the concrete at the steps of the building and then enters, making an effort to appear shy and mousy so as not to raise suspicion. Hopefully, there would hardly be anyone doing overtime at this hour, and those that were and didn't recognise her would assume that she's some poor new recruit stuck with extra work already. Fortunately, the case seems to be the former, as only a few workers are scattered throughout the office, each too engrossed in their own work to give her a thought. She ignores them and makes haste towards her soon-to-be former boss's office.

The office outside of William's room is blessedly empty. Grelle doesn't know if she could handle pushing off Ronald if he caught her in that moment. She puts her ear to his door and hears nothing but the scratching of pen on paper. She removes her head from the wood and places her hand on the doorknob. She takes a deep breath to take in the scent of what could be the last she'd ever see of her workplace and opens the door.

William's office doesn't have much of a different atmosphere than the rest of the building. He looks up from his work when he hears her come in, and her eyes dart around the room from behind her fringe before meeting with his own. He looks back down and continues signing off on paperwork. There are two stacks in front of him; the one on his right for finished work and the one of the left for unfinished. One is drastically taller than the other.

"May I help you, miss?" He asks nonchalantly. Grelle hesitates, knowing she'll blow her cover if she speaks, but decides that it no longer matters.

"Yes, actually." She half-heartedly attempts to put on a lighter voice, but she can tell by the stilling in his pen's motions that he recognises her immediately.

"Grelle."

"Yes?"

"What are you doing here?" He looks back up at her and maintains eye contact as they speak, not trusting the other enough to look away. Grelle does the same. "Is this about-"

"About what? About what happened at the banquet?"

William clutches his ink pen tightly.

"No…," she lies as she approaches his desk, hand brushing the wood casually, "I'm long past over that little issue, darling."

He sighs, and the tension in his shoulders dissipates. It's a foolish mistake for him to believe her, but perhaps he just desperately wants to think that she really can forgive him for what he did. He leans back in his chair.

"Then what is this all ab-"

The moment he lets his guard down, Grelle strikes. The hand that had been running along the side of his desk snatches one of his pigeon shaped paperweights, and the other darts at his throat in the blink of an eye, squeezing tightly. William grasps at the hand blocking off his air and grits his teeth, but before he can attempt to reprimand her or plead for his life, the paperweight comes down on his head, and his world goes black.


Getting William's incapacitated body out of dispatch is a surprisingly easy task. Grelle is stronger than she looks, and the building where she once worked was almost empty at this time of night, allowing her to easily escape from her boss's window and return to the human world. Her heart is beating wildly as she runs through the human world, too quickly for any mortal to notice her. The cold night air rushing past her and turning her cheeks and nose pink is perfect for the events that would take place soon. She arrives at her hiding spot fairly quickly and kicks open the uselessly loose door, hauling William's body in with her. He grumbles in his sleep a bit, scaring her, but she then realises that it's just from the difference in temperature and lighting. She plops him down unceremoniously in a corner of the room and grabs her checklist, marking off "a great sacrifice."