I would say the climatic part of this books is about now.  ;) 

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We were a mere twenty feet down the hallway when I felt the walls closing in on me. Leo's hand was secured tightly around my elbow, and at the front and back of us were his beasts. As I turned over my, I locked eyes with Marcy, who was unwillingly in Thomas' arms because she was unable to move little to none of her body.

      I absolutely lost it.

       Thomas brought his hand to his chest, his mouth open in shock at the blade that I had turned and thrown at him, hitting him straight in the chest.

      Thomas looked down, another cocky grin lining his mouth. "And to think I thought we were best friends," he said, narrowing his brilliant blue eyes at me and dropping Marcy straight to the floor. She let out a painful yelp. "I'm fairly impressed at your aim, Faith. It seems we finally have something in common. Aim." Without any sort of emotion on his face, he ripped the blade clean from his chest and threw hard in Marcy's direction.  Marcy had been trying to reach out towards another one of her knives, when his blade penetrated her through the arm. She bit down on her lip, suppressing a scream. Marcy had already been bleeding fairly profusely, and appeared to be making little to no movements with her legs.

      "I'll kill you," I snarled.

      "If you could, you would have done it already, Faith," Thomas said, laughing. Thomas lifted Marcy straight off the ground again, and looked down at her as a father looks down at a baby, teasingly making baby coo's at her. "But really, you and what army?" He nodded towards Leo, laughing even harder. "This guy? He's on my side, Faith. This murdering session will be pretty anti-climatic if I fight someone on my side, don't you think?"

      "If you kill Marcy, I'll lose it, Thomas. I'll absolutely lose it. You can tell Malphas he can go jump off a bridge, and say it's your fault--"

      Now that I was seeing Thomas up close, really seeing him, I saw that he hadn't shaved in at least a few weeks, nor gotten a haircut anytime soon, since his blonde hair was curling just past his ears and his sculpted jaw was covered in stubble.  

      His complexion had gotten paler since he had been killed by Death, brought back to life by Malphas, and turned into a rare and powerful half-human, half-demon breed, similar to myself. Thomas had bullied me in grade school, and teased me throughout high school. That was somewhat normal. But now there was an aura about him that was harsh...evil. And judging by the way Thomas stood, with his shoulders back and his bow perfectly posed to attack, I knew that Malphas had transformed Thomas into his own deadly weapon.

      Can I just meet ONE demon-guy or angel that doesn't melt my eyes off they're so hot? This is getting really painful.

      Once I looked past Thomas' obvious good looks because my incredibly annoying hormonal reaper self, I then noticed that Thomas had at least ten knife wounds stained his grey shirt, and a nasty, newly healed scar running from his pretty hairline all the way down to his pretty nose.

      His jaw tightened at my stare The question: Aren't you going to ask how I got this? lingered.

      "You bastard, I can't feel my legs!"Marcy lashed out and gripped his calve with her claws. He winced, frustration in his face as he kicked her away. Marcy let out  a yelp, breathing quickly as Thomas dug the heel of his boot into her throat.

      "And you won't feel the rest of your body if you don't shut it," he snapped, turning back to me. "Malphas says hello, by the way."

      A sinking feeling settled in my gut. My mouth dried. "You don't say, Tommy," I said dryly.

      "My name is now Vetis. I've had to remind you and Marcy both many times now. For every time I have to remind you from here on, Faith, I'll cut one of Marcy's fingers off. Comprende?"

      The idea of Marcy getting hurt by Thomas made my insides crawl. I fought against every instinct in my body to attack him right then and there. Knowing I was risking Marcy's life even further prevented me.

      Thomas patted Marcy down, taking many weapons from her leather clothes and tossing them from the side, keeping a single black knife that he put at the base at her throat when she said something under her breath.

      "What did you say about my hair, baby?"

      "You look like a girl," she spat loudly.

       Thomas' said, his jaw tighten. Then he dropped her right to the floor again, smirking as she smacked against the tile.

     "See this?" Thomas switched his heated gaze to me and motioned to his scar that looked fairly fresh and painful. His jaw clenched. "This is what happens when you tell your boyfriend's Death and Lucifer that I'm a problem. They sent two demons to kill me. One of them had a blade covered in holy water! They managed to do this to me, attacking me in my sleep, before Malphas came ripped one of them to shreds. I'll have this for the rest of my life, now! That's why I could give a shit what happens to you, Faith. You did this to me."

      "Stop whining to her!" Marcy sobbed, clutching at her bleeding thigh. She must have been gaining some of her mobility back from the poison, because she was c. "She did nothing to you! It was me!"

      Vetis' striking blue eyes went wide with a sudden realization, then slowly slid down to Marcy. His mouth parted, revealing black poisonous fangs. It was then I knew that Marcy and Thomas had history that I couldn't quite understand. I knew that they had been in a relationship once, that they had broken each other's hearts, but there was something between the two of them that was dangerous-- raw even, enabling Thomas to understand her more than I could ever comprehend.

      "It was you that attacked me?" he ground out. "You...I should have known it was you."

      In a blink of an eye, he Marcy against the wall with his knee between her legs and his hand around her throat. Leo gripped me by the arms, holding me back from attacking Thomas.

      "Let go of me, Leo!" With a twirl of my body, I now had Leo against the wall, my stub-for-nails gripping the hot material of his shirts, healing and growing quicker and quicker by the minute. Soon, I would be able to rip out his lungs with them like I was imagining.

      Talk about thinking like Death.

     
      Now that I had him where I wanted him, I shook Leo hard against the wall. "You backstabbing traitor! I hope you rot painfully in hell! Rot!"

      His beasts hissed at me, curling their long, sharp tails as a scorpion prepares to strike it's victim.

      "BACK OFF!" I roared at them. "DON'T YOU KNOW NOT TO MESS WITH A HALF-REAPER WHEN SHE'S ON HER PERIOD?! HAVEN'T I BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH THIS YEAR? BACK OFF, YOU CREEPY LITTLE POOR EXCUSES FOR GODZILLA'S! BACK OFF! SHOO! SCRAM! GO PISS IN THE CORNER OR SOMETHING."  The beast's tails went straight between their legs and they backed up. Even Thomas, holding Marcy in his arms, started to back away, both horrified and disgusted. Realizing he was retreating like a little girl, he stopped, attempting to look a bit more macho by straightening his posture.

      Turning back to Leo, I gave him a hard shove against the wall. "I trusted you. We shared tacos together. And you never were planning on telling me who you were? You've been Sophus all along? What about what Malphas told me? What about Andrew?"

      "I've never even met Andrew," Leo whispered, yanking one of my clawed hands clear from his chest. His grip on my wrist was gentle, yet firm. "Malphas made it all up so that I would strike deal with him. Before you were even born, I needed information from Hell that I could get only from the inside. I was too far in to tell you."
     

      "I'll never forgive you for this," I whispered.

      Leo briefly looked  in Thomas' direction. "Lucifer and Death...they know things about the Unknown that I needed to understand. I wish I could get you to understand, Faith. But this is Hell. You're virtually in the beginning stages of sending people to hell. I'm not one of the good guys, neither is Death and Leo." Leo was silent, then, and I could feel him staring down at me through his mask, watching me with those heated black eyes. "And it's in your best interest to come with me. Because for every second that you waste in this hallway, your angel is with Malphas and his Fallen friends."

      "And he's not going to be able to move," Thomas said, scooping Marcy back into his arms as if he hadn't just been moments away from killing her. I could have sworn I heard a little bit of remorse in his voice. "Malphas told me to completely paralyze him. You can make you own conclusions why."

      ***

      As we stood outside the gymnasium doors my entire body became blanketed with goose bumps and I had the strange sensation that something was terribly, terribly wrong with Death. I had felt this way for a while, now that I was thinking about it, and only hoped that he was alright.

      But as the doors to the gym were thrown open expectedly by two massive, scary looking men with evident black wings, I knew that Death would be anything but alright. Fallen, I thought, backing away.

      "She's here," one of the Fallen said, their voice cold and empty. The other Fallen just stared me down with their dark eyes.

      "Well, well, if it isn't the girl who lived. You  came just in time," a chilling voice said, and suddenly I was staring into the clouded eyes of Shabriri, the white-haired demon that I had seen with Malphas a few times. Apparently, as Death had told me in private, Malphas and him were good friends. Truthfully, Shabriri's face had haunted me dreams, so seeing him once again had been anything but exciting.

      Shabriri took a step towards me until I had to cringe my neck up to see his pale face. His clouded eyes seem to enlarge and engulf me in their grey depths. Shabriri reached a thin hand out as if he was going to touch my face and stopped, his white eyebrow arching.

      "Your pureness is simply...mouth watering," he said. "Even though you are now half a reaper, you are as pure as ever. How...fascinating."

      Before I could knock the white-haired guys teeth out for getting in my space, I noticed two people at the center of the room. One of them was Malphas, with his long dark hair tucked behind his ears. I cursed myself at how attractive Death's father was, but as I looked down at hsi hand and saw his whip,  then Death, sprawled along the center of the floor on his stomach, I froze for a moment, before shoving free from whomever was holding me and started towards Death in a run.

      "Death!" The two Fallen grabbed at my arms and hauled me straight up in the air, kicking and screaming.

      "NO!" I roared.

      "Hello, Faith," Malphas greeted lowly, a thin smile forming along his handsome features. "It's been too long, my dear. It's a shame you came here when you did, seems you've missed the show. Your angel put up quite the fight, but the poison that was injected into him took over rather quickly."
       

      I watched with bated breath as Malphas kicked Death with the tip of his boot, rolling him over. Just like that, the room around me had been muted, and I was taking in the numerous welts of a cross and whip marks along Death's muscled chest and torso. No. His head fell limply to the side and his hair was damp with sweat and blood and over his eyes. With the shallow movements of his chest, I could see now that he was coming in and out of consciousness.  

      With tears in my eyes, I looked back at up Malphas. "You hurt him. You lied to me about Sophus, and you hurt him," I whispered, my anger dangerously close to exploding into something that had been building inside of me, begging to be released. Malphas hurt Death. He hurt my Death.

      Mine.

      "Why would I ever hurt my own son? Who or what ever gave you that impression?"

      His sarcasm made my eyes flare up, to the point that I knew they were glowing a vivid, cold blue. "You're a bastard," I said, "and I should have never, ever trusted you. I should have known that you would screw me over like this, with your sweet talk and your damn fluttering eyelashes like smug, evil things that you are!" I looked over my shoulder at Leo once again, "Both of you," I added.

       "I only keep my son in his place. Back in the day, that was accepted by society. Now I"m "abusive" and should be on "Dr. Phil" as your fellow stupid humans watch." Malphas frowned for a long moment before his features twitching with laughter that slowly began to surface, until my ears were vibrating with his loud, maniacal laughter. "I see Death had trained you well, Faith Williams. You can not only point out the obvious, now, but you can also blame the person that has tried to help you all along." He then took the whip in his hands and played with the end of it, tickling the fine leather tail along Death's cheek. "What do you say...you tell me exactly what the warlock told you and Death?" he said, his gaze threateningly falling between Death and I.

      "I don't know what you're talking about," I said, my gaze steady and unblinking.

      "Oh, but I think you do, darling. I really, really think that you do," Malphas said, flipping the whip along Death's side. Death reeled upwards into consciousness with a wail, his eyes wide and a brilliant blue. "You see, Faith. This is laced with holy water. Just like Sophus' beasts tails." I then noticed as he trailed along Death's body with the whip, it left behind small blistering areas where his skin was burning.

      "The more that you resist me, the more that your angel is injured."

      "Why does it matter to you anyways?!" I burst out, flailing against the two Fallen that held me back. "You're going to get what you want, aren't you? Why would his predictions matter to you? Why are you doing all of this, why not just steal me away from Death and end it now!"

      Malphas' dark, bottomless eyes consumed my gaze. "Because, Faith, that's not fun at all. What's the point of playing a game for the thrill, if there's nobody less superior than you trying to beat you? What I want is a war, and  a war is what I will get."

      He kicked Death in the ribs, hard, and I winced as Death curled on his side, his arms clutching at his ribs and his entire body shaking.

      "Stop it! Stop hurting him!"

      "He'll heal!" Malphas bellowed, a vein throbbing on the side of his neck. "It's great that I know how to break the "terrifying" Angel of Death into little tiny pieces until he sobs like the baby he is. I've known how to break my son. In fact, know everything about Alexandru. I know his motives. I know his powers. I know his future. I know his past. And I know his weakness. And you know why I know all of that, Faith?"

      I kept my mouth shut.

      "Because I own him. I control him. I've always controlled him. He thinks he's one move ahead of me, when he's really ten steps back. His failures are not mine, they are his, and they weigh on his shoulders and stain his skin, and that's the best part of it all! He blames himself! The heartless, cold, pathetic, worthless, piece of shit that he is today is all thanks to himself, isn't it, Death? I just gave him a little" -- he shoved at the air--"off of the cliff of sanity, and look where he is now! Flying off of his freaking rocker trying to figure out why in the hell he can never seem to beat me. He can't beat me because he's weaker than me. And I don't mean physically, I mean mentally."

      "What are you trying to prove to me?" I asked sharply.

      "That you have other options on the table for you than this weak-minded fool, Faith, and I'm the damn best one that's going to be offered, whether you like it or not."

      "You don't say," I replied dryly, "and Is that why I'm being restrained and Death is in his own pool of blood? Because your offer is just so tempting?"

      Malphas dropped his whip roughly into Death's body, and I winced as if I had been hit myself. Quickly, I tried to recover from my obvious reaction and tried to wipe my expression clean. But it was too late, because Malphas already had a smug smile on his face. Now that Malphas knew him hurting Death was my weakness, surely he would use it to his advantage.

      "We can talk in a civilized way without you hurting him," I said.

      "He deserved this beating for what he's done to you. You are the redeemer, but not just for Death's curse. You are much more important than a simply pure soul. Your soul is Death's opposite."

      I kept my gaze steady, hiding my reaction. "Oh?"

      "Think about it," Malphas said, clasping his hands behind his back. "You are a virgin and he is not. You are good and he is evil. You are a female and he is a male. You are innocent and he has killed. All of these differences that you both have makes your souls are virtually polar opposites, which is what makes you his "cure", so to speak. Your soul represents everything that he is not."

            She is life, Ace's voice echoed my head in a soft whisper.

      "What makes me different from all of the other women like me?"

      "Because no other woman with those same traits were revived from death as you were. That is what makes you unique, your connection that goes beyond any angelic bond or matrimony," Malphas rose an eyebrow. "He saved you from himself by giving you a part of his own soul. But if there's one thing I know about my son, it's that he never gives something to another person unless he gets something in return. Like father, like son."

     "Like father, like son? Like father like son, both of you want to kill me. I don't have any options, Malphas. I never did."

      "I will not kill you because I have other strategies of getting what I want. And that strategy is to get rid of Death and Devin, and then take over Hell."

      "What happened to the whole "make the world entirely evil" thing you had going on for a while?"

      Malphas smiled at that. "That's already happening without me even lifting a finger, darling. It's slowly been happening for thousands and thousands and years."

      She is life, Ace's voice echoed in my head.

      My heart sunk in my chest.

      "Do you remember Debora?" Leo wondered, pulling his mask off and staring at me intensely. "The witch that cursed Death to Earth. Do you remember what Death did to her?"

      "Yes," I said softly. "He killed her."

      "There would be a counter to Death's ability to destroy the world. That is what she told him years ago. That is, after he threatened to destroy her son, Ace." I must have shown how shocked. Leo added, " I heard Devin and him talking about Death's encounter with Debora myself. Debora's prediction of Death being enabled to destroy the planet, clarified to him what Ace, her son, had predicted years and years before about you being born and freeing him of his curse. What Death hasn't told you, is what his curse really is. Sure, it damns him to Earth, but did he also tell you it prevents him from destroying the entire world?"

      Suddenly my attention honed in on his words. "He wouldn't..."

      "He would," Leo said, looking back at Death who was barely moving. "He would do it in a  heartbeat. He will kill you, then he will kill the Elder's, then he will kill everyone and destroy the Balance. And you know why he would?"

      "Because he doesn't care anymore," Malphas completed. "Look at him. The next time you believe Death's looking you in the eyes when he speaks, see that he is truly incapable of giving a shit about you. Everything Death lived for died the day he lost his wife, and now he is an empty  shell of the champion he once was. He would destroy the entire planet because deep down, he's tired of the humans, and the demons, and tired of everything else that comes before and after. He doesn't want to simply die off alone, he wants the world to come crumbling down with him, and he's had this idea in his head for years and years and years. When you met Debora, Death panicked...knew that if you figured out what he did, he killed her before she could tell you anything more than she already did. That's why he killed her. He knew...he knew you would start to think twice about trusting him. Who's the rotten bastard now, huh?"

      "You're lying to me," I concluded, willing my ears to shut down. This couldn't be happening again. Death couldn't have kept even more secrets from me. "You're lying to me, you have to be lying to me."

      "The only thing that I've truly lied to you about was Sophus' true identity, and in the end, I did that to help you, Faith Williams. We both want to help you. With Sophus' help, I can end the corruptness of the Devil and Death. With Sophus' help, you will survive."

      "The only corrupt person in the room is you," I replied, shaking my head back and forth. "I don't believe anything that you're saying."

      "He's telling you the truth, Faith," Leo said. His eyes were expressionless, lingering on the hands that held me back from him. "I wouldn't be taking his side unless he was. Trust me, I wouldn't. I'm sure you've heard it all about me, my mother was murdered by this man and I'm standing on his side on this. Don't you think I would take Death's if I didn't truly believe Malphas was right?"

      "How do I know he didn't bribe you?" I asked.

      At that, Leo suddenly at a loss of words.

      "What did he promise you?" I asked. "Money? Drugs?"

      "You seem to be the only one I have to bribe to get on my side, darling. I've already told you I would treat you like a princess once we took over Hell." Malphas smirked at me, but I was too busy staring at Leo.

      He had to of bribed Leo, I thought. He had to.

      Leo turned away from my gaze.

      "Listen, you slim ball! Before you come up with any more of your bull, the reason why Death's  heartless is solely because you killed his wife and child!" I screamed at Malphas, trying to wriggle out of the Fallen's tightening grip. "He's heartless because you killed his mother! He's heartless because you ruined his childhood! And because you beat on him, and cursed at him, and abused him until he finally broke! You're all talk. You're all talk, and no evidence."

      Malphas mockingly pouted. "And now Death has no spot in his empty heart for the girl that tried to love him back to humanity." His features grew sharper and his eyes angrier as he hissed into my face, "You stupid, naive little girl. He would string you up like a fucking pig, if it meant killing the Elders, destroying the world and lifting his curse if only for a moment. Your love means nothing. Don't you understand? Let's get it through your thick skull: he will kill you because it's all he damn well knows he can do right."

      Don't cry. Don't cry. I turned my head away. "He's changing," I found myself saying.

      "Into what? It's as if you're is living a Disney film!" Malphas roared, followed by cackling laughter. He grabbed my chin with one scolding hot hand until I was forced to look at him, drowning in his endless eyes that were two black holes. "Look at where you are! You're in the gateway to Hell with the Devil and the Angel of Death and their hell hounds!" he shouted, black venom dripping from his fangs as he loomed over me. "Look at what he's made you. What he's taken away from you. What he's promised you. What makes your delusional, miniscule little mind honestly think that you will ever change him!"

      I went silent.

      "Now," Malphas said, smiling again. "All I want to know is what the warlock told you and Death the other day. That's all I want to know, darling, and then I'll leave you and your angel alone."

      When I didn't answer, Malphas unleashed the whip in his hands again and wailed on Death with it until his back was even more blistery and bloody and my screams echoed off of the walls and rung painfully in my own ears.

      "If you won't listen to me, if you won't tell me what Ace has told you, then I'll make you listen to me, and I'll make him tell me for you," Malphas snarled, stepping back from his son. In a blink of an eye, Shabriri was situated at Death's head, clouded eyes wondering over Death's general position and hands nearing his face.

            "What are you doing? Stop! Stop!" I squeezed my eyes shut, my teeth painfully digging into my lip, willing the wet, rough noises of the whip colliding with Death's skin to cease, the low moans of his pain as he tried to roll over away from Shabriri.

      "He's looking into his past," Malphas explained lowly. "Shabriri has the talent of manipulating what people see, but he can also look into their past and extract information that he wants from them. Unfortunately, it does take some toll on his victim if they are more powerful than him..."

      That was when I saw the blood starting to run from Death's eyes. It makes them blind, I mentally finished.

      "Stop him, Malphas! Stop him!" I fought against the Fallen at my arms, and abruptly, one of them lost their footing for a moment and had to grip my arm a different way.

      "Make me," Malphas challenged, his gaze heated. "Tell me what the warlock told you--"

      "He said..." My gaze fell on Death and my anger boiled over."I was Life! Life! LIFE!" I sobbed, heat radiating throughout my body. I felt a bolt of electricity surge throughout my body. "And he said I would destroy Death! You're going to get what you want, so leave him alone! He said I'll destroy Death. Just leave him alone! NOW!"

      "Make me," Malphas said one final time.

      The Fallen at my sides both began to scream as a  light lit up the room, radiating from my hands. I was screaming, my vision blotching in and out and my entire body on fire. Like a sonic boom, everyone around me was thrown against the walls except for Death and Shabriri. My arms were free now but my body was out of my control. I kicked out, slamming my foot into one of the Fallen's face and sending them flying across the room, then clawed at the other's face and body from behind until he fell to the ground. My hands were frantically moving all direction, dispersing a powerful beam of light along the ceiling and the floor.

      Now I was at Shabriri's side and my hands were starting to feel numb. "LET...HIM...GO!"

I felt another surge of energy as I gripped him by the skull, forcing his clouded eyes up towards the ceiling and his hands away from Death. It started with the white demon's hair, which started to darken to an auburn shade that mixed with the brilliant rays of blues that continued to shoot outwards from my palms. And then I felt Shabriri's hands on my wrists and his face starting to gain color as he screamed at the top of his lungs. Before I knew it, the grip at my hands was weaker, warmer, and I was staring into the eyes of a man that I felt like I had never met, but I knew was Shabriri.

      Another hand gripped my arm, pulling me into focus. Now I was being restrained by two hot hands and a face that I could barely see past the black circles dancing in front of my eyes. The energy within me continued to surge outwards, starting to painfully take a toll on my body. I was screaming again, begging for the sensation to stop, when I felt the comforting hands of another grasping my own, fingers weaving between my fingers, and the energy transfer to the another. It was as if the energy had met its match, and it was being countered by another force. I was on my back, pinned to the ground as the blue light consuming the area around me started to constrict and absorb towards a center point, until all I could see was a pair of glowing blue eyes above me.

      Death's eyes.

      "Enough, Faith," I heard Death command softly. Wounds were welling with blood where his claws dug into my flesh. Claws. Long, black claws that resembled knives. They were twice as long as mine. "Enough. I'm alright now. Look, I'm alright. Come back to me."

      I was fading. Everything was fading and coming to an end. But the light was finally dimming -- dimming until I was only aware of Death's intense stare and his hands steadily holding me up. My eyes slowly grazed over his body to see that his wounds were no longer on his chest, his eyes were no longer bleeding....but they were wide with terror and no longer attached to mine, as he stared at the unconscious person at our side. The only other person in the room, too, because everyone else had vanished.

      It was Shabriri, and he was unconditionally, impossibly, and unmistakably human. I, Faith Williams, had turned an ancient demon into a human right before everyone's eyes.

      "Fuck," Death said.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

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Eeeeek, I know this is unedited but I will try and make some things clearer over time! Remember, this is just a rough draft! I'm literally just making this up as I go along, even though I have a LOT of ideas and know how I want to end the series! So anything you give me as imput or any things that you want to happen in the future could very well happen in the series! ;)

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