The Grimm Diaries Prequels Volume 11- 14: Children of Hamlin, Jar of Hearts, Tooth & Nail & Fairy Tale, Ember in the Wind, Welcome to Sorrow, and Happy Valentine's Slay. Read Online Free Page B

the Beast’s door, waiting for the first customer of the night, breathing in the air from the forest. It wasn’t easy finding his bar though because it was at the edge of the world –  you could only figure out how to find it when using one of Sorrow’s enchanted compasses. Older folks didn’t call it the Belly and the Beast. They thought the name was juvenile. They simply called it the Inn at the End of the World.
    Miles away, in the middle of the forest, Ladle was in trouble…
    She was patting a boy she was supposed to kill, and telling him that it was all right. The boy was only twenty-four but the Tree of Life had ordered his death. Sometimes, Ladle never understood this Tree of Life. Why did young people have to die? But who was she to argue? She was merely Death.
    “It’s alright,” She told the boy. “We all die. Everybody dies, even the funny looking squirrels.”
    “I am not a squirrel,” the boy cried out. “I still have so much I want to do with my life.”
    “Like what?” Ladle asked. “Maybe we can do this today before I whack your head off.”
    “I want to get married, have kids, and I want to travel the world.”
    “Wow,” she mused. “That’s a lot. We can’t do that today. You need at least nine months to bring a kiddo into this horrible world. Which reminds me, why do you want to do that?”
    “Why?” the boy couldn’t believe she’d just asked. “I don’t know. Everyone wants to have kids.”
    “But if you die right after they’re are born, what’s the point? You’re logic is absolutely flawed.”
    “ My logic is flawed?!”
    “You need to accept death like everyone else,” Ladle explained. “It’s like going to school. It sucks, but you can’t say no.”
    “I really hate you!” the boy screamed.
    “Really?” Ladle looked sad. She really didn’t want him to hate her. “Look, I have great idea. It’s the last day in your life. You shouldn’t spend it worried and freaked out. In fact, it should be the best day of your life, because it’s the last. Do you understand?”
    “I don’t understand,” the boy wept. “Why do you have to kill me?”
    “That’s like asking a teacher why you have to do your homework,” Ladle said, swooshing a squirrel away. “It’s simple really. This isn’t democracy, it’s a dictatorship. You don’t get a vote. You have to die because I’m in charge and I said so.”
    “I love life!”
    It’s still loves you back,” Ladle told him, holding her scythe. “At least until the clock strikes twelve tonight,” Ladle tilted her head. “Then I will have to chop your head off. Chop. Chop. Chop.” She waved her scythe happily in the air.
    “I can’t believe you’re happy you’ll be killing me when the clock strikes twelve,” the boy cried. “You make it sound like I am going to a ball at midnight,” the boy sobbed. “You’re horrible.”
    “Believe me, I hate my job,” Ladle mused. “But you’re horrible, too. You know that?” she stood on her toes, pointing a finger up the boy’s nose.
    “Why? What did I do?” he felt wicked that Death was almost sticking its forefinger up his nose.
    “Why?” Ladle sneered. “It’s your last day in your life and you can’t even have fun? Are you going to spend the next hours whining that you’re going to die? Isn’t there anything you always wanted to do? This would be the right time to do it.”
    The boy seemed taken by her words. He slumped back, sitting on a log in the forest.
    Ladle had been trying her best to stay strong with those she had to kill everyday. She was new to the job, and it had been really hard. Each time she was sent to kill someone who wasn’t a witch, a goblin, or some nasty creature, she felt confused. Humans had millions of excuses why they shouldn’t die when their time came. Ladle had a soft spot for them, and always considered sparing them, but she couldn’t because that would have been irresponsible. She inherited a job, a destiny, and she