SSSSSSUUUUHH DUDE? I just bit into a Whopper from Burger King. #YEEEEE

I AM SO EXCITED FOR CHRISTMASSSSS!!! What is everyone hoping to get as a gift for the holidays, and if you aren't celebrating any holidays, what's the best gift you've ever gotten??!?!?!

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            As I came to, Death's furious, venomous features hovered over me like a nightmare come to life, and I knew instantly I was in trouble. Too bad I was so relieved to see him that I didn't care.

"You look like shit," he said in that deep, hypnotic voice.

"Good morning to you, too." I put a palm to my forehead and rubbed at a stabbing headache. "Oh, lovely. Feels like a hydraulic press smashing into my brain."

Tilting my heavy head away from Death's rude unpleasantness, I noticed we were in some part of Ace's library. The lights were dimmed down, but I could see the outline of books upon books upon books on shelves and it was peacefully quiet. We were alone in this big space.

"How long was I out?" I groaned.

Death breathed hard through his nose like a dragon, as if struggling to compose his moody ass enough to get one more sentence out. "Four hours."

"Four hours?" Well, that was terrifying. It had felt like fifteen minutes in the other world, tops. "No wonder my bladder is going to explode."

"Do not piss on me."

"It was a hyperbole, dude. I don't have to pee that bad." I pressed the heel of my palm into my forehead again.

His sweltering gaze slid over my horizontal body, hitching on the swell of my breasts, before landing on my face. By then I was on fire.

I tried to sit up, but Death's hand didn't budge on my shoulder. His fingernails stabbed the ends of gloves, razor sharp talons primed to release. Sinfully masculine muscles constricted beneath leather and thin black cotton. A body built to kill...and lick––stop it.

That was when I realized the firm pillow underneath my head was Death's muscular thigh. My head was situated in his lap. We were on a couch with blue velvet, and his cloak draped over me like a blanket. His big gloved hand rested on my shoulder, casually pinning me down so that I couldn't move. Not that I wanted to move. I was rather comfy, actually.

Just resting my head on an unstable Fallen who could snap my neck with his bare hands. Comfy. 

"You fainted in the greenhouse," Death said in a gruff voice.

"I fainted, and then you carried me all the way here and wrapped your cloak around me? That's kind of romantic." I thought a playful smile might crack the irritated expression he'd loved wearing lately, but all it did was train his vicious gaze onto my mouth.

Clearly, he was in no mood for flirting. Glaring down at me, Death's striking green eyes were borderline mad, but at least they distracted me from the fact that my head was still on his freaking thigh. Was it weird to find a man's thigh hot? Definitely.

"You were dead," he growled, grinding out the words between his fangs. "Your scent changed. You were barely breathing, and I could barely find your pulse. I thought you were dead. Where the fuck did you go?"

At the thought of the whole astral projection thing, and Malphas, and that terrifying creature with skin like a reflection of a mirror, I snapped out of what felt like a nightmare hangover and sobriety slammed into me. My heart started to pound a million miles a minute. Show me what the warlock withheld from them.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," I whispered.

A muscle pulsed in Death's carved jaw. "Try me."

"Where's Ace?"

"He had to talk with one of his employees," Death grumbled, and then carefully tucked his cloak around my side. We made eye contact, and he quickly stopped tucking and stabbed his glare elsewhere. Someone was still hangry. "Tell me what happened. Now."

"I was...somewhere else. Limbo, I think." I felt my breath choke as a sob lodged in my throat. Awareness slammed into me. Suddenly I couldn't stop the fearful words on the tip of my tongue from tumbling out. "Oh god. Death. Your life is in danger."

He laughed derisively. "My life?"

"You know what I mean," I said, bolting upright with his cloak clutched to my chest. The room swam a little, and his hand shot out to curl into my waist, keeping me upright. "When I passed out, I went... somewhere else. To the willow tree, where you freed Ahrimad from that mirror as a little boy. And I was...warned. You're going to die. You're going to die, unless...." I jump. Whatever that means. I shook myself, confused as to why I was believing all of this in the first place. It sounded so ridiculous when I said it out loud. I had so much trust in a force I didn't understand, but my gut told me this was the right thing to do. "Ace, I think he's playing us. I think he knows something about is about to happen to you."

Death focused on the marble floor in front of the couch.

I leaned into him, trying to ignore the fact that I could count the different flecks of green in his wicked eyes this close. "Don't you find it a little weird that he's still on our side, after everything that's happened? Even after you used his body, and I ruined his séance room?"

"Ma chére," announced a chirpy French voice, and I jumped a little. "I'm so pleased to see you are awake."

Death pushed off the couch and stormed toward Ace at full force. With a passive expression, the warlock glided a few steps back and lifted his chin. Turquoise swirls of electricity formed a wall between Ace and Death.

"Really?" Ace asked as if managing a brooding, unhinged six-foot seven monster was a piece of cake. "Do calm yourself, or you'll spend the rest of your visit in a cage."

"You lied," Death snarled out.

He dropped the magic wall with a snap of his fingers. "Pardon?"

"You swore an oath, and you broke it." Death's broad shoulders tensed and his fists clenched, as if he was stopping himself from lashing out at Ace with his talons. "And, she's stoned out of her fucking mind from whatever the hell you put in our tea."

I scoffed. "Stoned? Jesus Christ, Death. I'm telling you the truth! And what do you mean he swore an oath––"

"Silence, female," Death hissed at me, and my right hand sparked under his cloak a little with light. Oh hell no. Silence, female? What was this, Medieval era? His cloak smoked a little in my lap, and I swatted it absently with my hand.

"Just because you don't have your scythe," I snapped, once the small fire was discreetly out, "and you're more 'pantherine' than usual, or whatever the hell your freaky looking"—sexy––"malicious ass is, doesn't give you the right to actually act like an animal." I frowned. "That sounded a lot more coherent in my head."

Death narrowed his eyes into slits and faced Ace again. "How do we put her back to sleep?"

"Hey! That's not funny. I'm a part of this conversation whether you like it or not," I said, throwing his cloak off as I stood and smooshing it to the ground with my foot. "And if you have a problem with that, then you can suck on my light beam!"

Death glared at his cloak on the ground, glared unblinkingly at me. That look could have literally wilted every single plant in Ace's greenhouse. Muttering a curse under my breath, I picked up the stupid fancy garment, folded it haphazardly, and tossed it back onto the couch. "There. Happy, Grim Moody?"

"Excuse me," Ace intercepted, crossing his arms over his chest, violet eyes darkening. "I will not be dishonored in my own home. I didn't put anything special in either of your teas except for cream and sugar. So unless either of you are lactose intolerant or glycemic, you can both suck on this." He flipped us off with a ringed finger, and then his violet eyes locked onto Death. "I kept to our blood oath. I didn't tell her anything of your foreseen death."

I felt my heart fall into my stomach as my eyes met Death's. "You knew?"

Death became unnaturally still. "Yes, I knew."

"For how long?"

His gaze dropped to the ground, and the betrayal I felt was gut wrenching. He'd known for a while. I felt like crying, screaming, but then mind wouldn't cooperate. I retreated inward, slipping into some dark place. When I spoke, my voice didn't sound like my own. It was hollowing and empty. "You weren't going to ever tell me, were you?"

"He couldn't," Ace answered for him. "Death understands the cost of overriding Fate more than anybody. It could be destructive to the balance between good and evil."

"Destructive to the balance between good and evil?" My muscles quivered, and my fists clenched so tight that my nails formed deep crescent marks in my palms. "Screw the balance between good and evil! I was supposed to die, and here I am!"

"That's not the same, Faith," Death said. What kind of response was that? After everything we'd been through... He wouldn't even look me. Or explain this impromptu decision he'd made to let Fate have its way with him.

Ace nodded to Death. "He's right, mon ange. You were destined to live, through the Kiss of Death. Although saving you had its own consequences, technically it was not a direct act against Fate."

"You don't get to decide anything about his fate!" I exploded, jabbing a finger in the air toward Ace. "I trusted you. Why don't you tell him the truth? You've done everything in your power to make sure his death went accordingly this whole time! What kind of person does that?"

"Faith," Death said, raising the palm of his left glove as he came closer. "You must calm down."

Everything seemed to warp around me. I was so confused. And angry. The kind of anger you keep tightly bundled inside of you so nobody else feels the burden of your pain, but it lingers right below the surface of you, ready to erupt. Why was Death seem so willing to accept this fate, and why, why hadn't he told me?

"No!" I cried, backing away from both of them. "I will not calm down. This is bullshit! You're the goddamn Angel of Death. You can't die. Don't you have some sort of plan of action? Some sort of way around this? A spell?" When neither of them responded, I pressed a hand against my breastbone and my frantic heart. "I refuse to accept there's nothing we can do to save you. Not when your father just told me otherwise."

Ace's eyes went wide. "Oh. Oh, no."

Death's expression closed up until something terrifying and inhuman was left in its wake. "You...were with Malphas? The black tattoo snaking up Death's strong neck came to life and bled into his face like wicked ink, and right before my eyes, Death's skin was shifting color. To obsidian. "I kiss you, and you skip off to meet my father in some remote fucking realm?"

"I can explain," I rushed out, and my breath actually fogged the air. Great. He was affecting the temperature of the room. This would end well. "Malphas was summoned."

"He was summoned into the projection," Ace said, as if trying to piece things together, "with the Familiar."

"No," I spat, glaring at Ace. "Not the Familiar. Someone else. But you already knew that, didn't you?"

Death stepped toward me, incensed. "Is that how you learned how to astral project? From Malphas?"

"No, no, it's not like that. "

"Then do you fucking value his opinion over Ace's?" His catlike eyes scanned every inch of me, as if to make sure I still looked the same as before I left. "Why," he growled out slowly, his voice more monster than man, "are you in contact with Malphas?"

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Ace said, now trying to calm down Death. "She's in shock. And she hasn't fully explained herself."

"You shut up!" I screamed at Ace. "I don't need you to defend me!"

The warlocks eyebrows bowed together. "Ma chère..."

"You didn't just silence the essence in my pendant," I continued to yell, "you silenced her! You knew she was trying to contact me, didn't you? You've known all along! She was trying to warn me about Death. That's why you wanted the pendant back, isn't it, Ace? I thought you were supposed to be neutral, I thought you were a friend, that I could trust you!"

"What are you going on about?" Death demanded of me. "Who's this she? I still await your explanation as to why you were with my father."

Ace ran a hand over his face. "Faith, don't do this right now. Don't confuse him in this state."

"The more you talk about me as if I am not standing right here, the more I want to eat you," Death hissed, his pupils shrinking until they were razor thin.

"The demon within your pendant is hardly subdued," Ace continued to say to me, moving his cane forward as he moved across the floor to move further away from Death. "Whatever you saw, you must know it was not real––"

"Tell me the truth," I said.

Ace sighed. "I am––"

"Tell me the truth!" I screamed and threw up my hand. My whole forearm ignited with white beams of light and the warlock's eyes went wide. "Explain why you subdued the spirit in this pendant!"

"Because I had no other choice." Ace gripped his cane with white knuckles and bowed his head, as if ashamed. "I only felt the demon was accompanied by something else after I cast the spell to subdue it. It upset me, believe me, knowing the demon was not imprisoned alone for all of these years. But whatever spirit is inside is trapped in your pendant, is one with its demon. If you are to free the spirit, the demon will escape as well."

"What the heck is wrong with you people!" I exploded. "What kind of person traps things into objects in the first place?"

"Don't look at me, ma chére, I've only trapped a spirit into an object once or twice in my whole existence." Ace played with a ring on the thumb of his left hand as Death and I stared incredulously at him. "Okay, I'm rounding down. All young warlocks are cocky little shits in their early spellcasting years."

I crossed my arms over my chest. The warlock's explanation of the essence in my pendant sunk into me and left a sour feeling in my stomach. Although I'd jumped to burn him at the stake, my gut told me he was actually telling the truth. "You're telling me, you have no idea who's trapped in my pendant with the demon?"

"Of course not," Ace answered, frowning. "And neither should you? Not without liberating the pendant. And for that, I would need the person who trapped the spirit there in the first place. If not, would need a forbidden spell, found in the Book of the Dead. Plus, I would need a body for the spirit to take over. And even then, to undo an entrapment incantation while you are wearing the Devil's Repent would undoubtedly kill you. That is almost a given."

Death worked his jaw and then crunched furiously down on a candy. I realized he'd miraculously recover his control to listen to me and Ace bicker. "Let me get this straight. There's two essences in Faith's pendant?"

"Oui," Ace said, clearing his throat. "I believe so. One I am certain is the Familiar, and the other...I am not sure."

"I didn't know about this because?" Death seethed at the warlock.

Ace ran a hand aggravatedly through his colorful hair. "Listen, before you two convicts entered mon vie, things were much easier for me. You asked me to subdue the pendent until we could figure out how to get it off her. I did."

Death cursed viciously. "You despicable, inveigling little wizard."

Ace's eyes turned white with a furious glow. "I apologize for being otherwise occupied, renovating my séance room with fire retardant materials to prevent another spontaneous bonfire from your amant-ami!"

I laughed. "Excuse you, I am not Death's friend with benefits."

Ace quirked a brow, the white dimming from his violet irises and the mood of our heated conversation shifting. "Tu parle français?"

"Um, no." I scratched my head. "I've just been reading one of Death's French dictionaries in his apartment. I like to read dictionaries."

Death coughed into his gloved fist, stifling something that sounded a lot like, "Dork," and I shot him a glare.

"Very impressive, ma chére. You know, I would be more than willing to give you a few lessons myself one day."

"In your dreams, croissant head," Death growled.

"Real original," Ace said sarcastically, firing a sordid look at Death. "Anyway, I apologize for not having the time to reveal every single thought on my brain. I didn't think the pendent was a priority anymore."

"But you don't know who's trapped in the pendent," I said, gathering both of their attention. It was then and there I had to decide to tell Death the whole truth. Even if that meant losing any progress at all we'd made together. I pulled in an unsteady breath and turned to Death, pinned under his steady gaze. "It wasn't me who summoned Malphas into the projection earlier. It was Phoebe. Your mother."

Death stood unnaturally still, rooted in his spot. "What?"

"First Malphas was there," I stumbled quickly out, "in the projection, and we were near the willow tree. The one where you freed Ahrimad when you were a little boy. And the essence in my pendent... it was there, too. Malphas called her Phoebe. She was there, too. I think... I think, somehow, she's trapped within my pendant, and I think she's been trying to contact me...in my dreams, in whatever the hell that just was. She must have known Malphas would help us communicate, and he did. She was able to communicate to me, through him. He helped me, Death. And I know this sounds crazy because it's your father, but it seemed like he wanted to help you too. Phoebe is subdued, Ace subdued her and the demon within the pedant, but she was able to get through to me somehow because I was unconscious. And she warned us... She warned me that you were going to die. Unless..." The frown knit between my brows. "Unless, I jump..."

Death just stared at me, his eyes hard and stony.

"Say something," I asked softly. "You believe me, don't you?"

In what felt like a heartbeat, any imitation of humanity in Death had vanished, leaving behind the face of a cold, detached creature. "Ace is right," he said finally. "Nothing you saw was real. We must focus on the task at hand, not these hindrances with your sporadic power surges and fainting spells."

My chest tightened. "Death, please, you have to listen to me. She might be the only one who can save you––"

"My mother is dead, Faith," Death said, the pupils of his eyes consuming and life in them until he looked just as demonic as his father. "She's been dead for over two-thousand years. End of story."

"But...but I saw her. And Malphas... Death, you should have seen the look on his face when he knew it was her. And Phoebe, the way she touched him..."

Ace shifted uncomfortable on his feet. "Perhaps we should all sit down––"

"I would never tell you something like this unless I knew it was true," I said. "I would never try and intentionally hurt you."

"I'm having trouble believing that right now," Death snarled. "You have no idea how lucky you are Malphas hasn't killed you. Why he hasn't kill you, is beyond me." He laughed humorlessly. "Honestly, knowing him, it's probably because he wants to fuck you."

Behind him, Ace lifted his chin. "Death..."

"Am I wrong?" Death grilled the warlock. "Has my father not proven his interest in fucking what's mine before?"

I had no idea what he was talking about, who he was talking about, but I regretted ever opening my damn mouth.

"I'm not," I stumbled out, struggling to get a deep breath. "I'm not trying to justify what he's done. All I'm saying is there might be a chance––"

"He murdered her!" Death's expression shuttered as his enormous body loomed over me like a pending doom. When he spoke next, his voice trembled hard with emotion, and his words kept coming. "My father killed my mother. Ripped her heart right out of her chest. You can't come back from that. Not when you're only a witch, like she was. Not when I wasn't what I am now, then. I watched him take her life, and it didn't stop there. He had to take everything from me." His eyes clouded over as pure anguish ripped over his features. "I have to go."

Death pivoted away from me, stalking down an aisle of books.

"Death," I shouted, running after him. "Death, wait!"

Ace grabbed my hand, halting me. "Let him go." His violet eyes were earnest and sad.

I turned back over my shoulder, tears welling in my eyes. Shadows peeled off the massive book shelves around Death's retreating frame, until he was nearly concealed in darkness. And then he was gone.

"If he believes your vision is true," I said, drawing my arms close to my body and holding myself together, "then this was a suicide mission all along."

Ace's silence was blaringly loud in my heart.

"He won't come back to life, will he? That's the reason you saw the vision. Whoever is going to kill Death knows how to keep him dead."

"I only said Death cannot be saved come tomorrow night," Ace said, and my brows dipped together at his choice of words. "I'll admit that I first withheld the rest of my vision out of vindictiveness, but secrecy is the natural way of the Seer nevertheless. Such premonitions are fragile, they are not supposed to be revealed in full. For the Fates and the Spirits are spiteful with our glimpses into the forward, when not even death himself can turn away from his own destiny. Not without a great consequence, which could turnover to anybody else, including yourself." He paused, as if deep in thought. "Although, once in a while, consequences are inconsequential. When we meet someone, who is worth walking through fire for."

I looked back at him, my chin trembling.

"At the end of the day," Ace continued, limping closer to me and raising a hand to gently wipe away my tears, "I am just a clever man with a lot of knowledge. I cannot tell you what happens next, and he does not know how it will end. I am not a force of nature, ma chére. I cannot move Heaven, Hell, or both, for my own advantage. But maybe, just maybe..."

"I can?" I whispered.

Ace limped past me. "Actually, I was going to say maybe I'll talk myself to sleep." He turned back over his shoulder and winked. "I believe you and I still have a lesson, but all this pandemonium has left me famished. Have you ever eaten at the Taco Bell?" 

Don't forget to help me by  VOTING, COMMENTING, and SHARING this story with your friends! Thanks so much. xx

SO BASICALLY ANXIETY IS HIGH BECAUSE I HAVE TO WRITE A CHRISTMAS SPECIAL FOR DIMBFF BECAUSE I PROMISED BUT I HAVEN'T STARTED BECAUSE I'VE BEEN SO BUSY BUT I'LL FIGURE THIS OUT HEHE HOHO HAHA NOBODY PANIC!!!

XOXO 

GOSSIP SANTA

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