Before I explain the next position I had gotten myself in the gym, let's backtrack a little, shall we? There's a little something I left out in this story.

Ok, so it was a big something...

As you know, Devin had knocked me out cold with his freaky Devil powers (I learned not to question freaky stuff like that because it usually ended with a major headache), allowing me to sleep like a rock through whatever ways of traveling he had taken to get to the D & S tower. When I was laid on top of a soft surface, I remember cooing like a baby being able to sit in the stroller after hours of struggling with its chubby legs to run through the tough sand at the beach. Not the best metaphor, I know, but my body was completely a-okay with having a little cat nap.

Unfortunately, I quickly began coming in and out of consciousness. While I was conscious, I listened to the deep murmur of two conversing men in the room. Devin and Death. I was comfortable at first, listening to their smooth voices, when suddenly, I was absolutely freezing, as if my skin had been blasted with cool jets of air for a long amount of time. One of their voices, Death's, had become as sharp as a blade.

If this was what the after affects of flying with Devin felt like, count me out, because my teeth were chattering so hard that they hurt.

And when I did fully woke up from my bitter-sweet nap, I really wish I hadn't.

"Are you done screaming at me? I think my ears are bleeding. I told you: I was careful."

"You telling me how you were careful while feeding and that it won't happen again is equivalent to a horny guy that holds grudges, and has a sexually transmitted disease promising me they'll use protection the next time they "accidently" bang their ex girlfriend that cheated on them."

"That was unnecessarily graphic and really thought out. And this is me talking." Death sighed deeply. "I'm just saying, I was in control. Don't get your pronged tail wedged up your--"

"Watch your mouth. If you're going to be disrespectful after I've given you a second chance to watch over Faith, we'll have this talk thousands of feet in the air with your wings duct taped to your ass. You better believe I'm dropping you over the Grand Canyon when it's over. I don't care if you were in control. It's never happing again. Ever. You could have killed her. Dead--just like that."

There was a sudden massive heat wave in the room that died down after a few minutes.

"I apologize."

There was some sort of "Gabriel fell from heaven two weeks ago. I don't know the exact reason, but the massive swirling cloud thing going on outside and multiple gun shots and random humans going psycho and blowing up buildings kind of strikes me as odd. Something is going on up in heaven, and I want to know what. We can't just assume the Elder's are coming down because the warlock told you so. This storm could also mean the Balance is about to collapse. In a month or so, Gabriel's wing wounds will heal and he will be much harder to track down. He can't get far without his wings and I need to find him. I have to. The Balance collapsing, or even the Elder's coming down to pay us a visit, are both something we have to prepare for."

"How could we prepare for all of evil taking over the planet?" Death wondered. "We expected this to happen. The day I gave Faith her life back was the day the Balance shifted towards our favor. Now, now it's shifted even more. It's happening, Devin. Finally, our day has come. It is just as Ace told me years ago, the Elder's will descend from heaven to destroy all of mankind, to start over, and that is when I will break my curse and kill them all."

"How do you know Ace's vision is correct? That she's the one? You haven't been able to give me proof. All I currently know is that she was able to survive a reaper transition. You could have bonded with any human and given them the abilities that she has now."

"That's the thing, I don't know," Death said, lowering his voice even more. "What I do know, is that he wasn't lying about a baby girl being born a few weeks before Christmas, that would be named Faith Williams. That he wasn't lying about her being fatally shot in a market with the correct date and time. He told me that I would have to die to lift my curse, and just yesterday, when I went to see him...he shouted at Faith while he was having another vision, that she would be the one to kill me. What are the odds that the first time they meet, he gets caught in a vision--possessed, even? He told me when she would die... The first time, that is. The date that we would meet for the first time. Ace drew me a picture of her in his vision. This had to be eighty years ago at least, and he predicted her birth. Her eyes. Her mouth. Her hair...Years passed and I not only forgot the date that we would meet, I gave up on finding her. But the moment I saw the little girl with blonde hair in the market, reaching out to me with those big blue eyes, I remembered the picture that Ace had drawn me years before."

"Something called out to me that day...a connection, a link--something between us that told me to save her. Maybe it wasn't even her that called out to me, maybe...maybe it was her soul. I've been bribed before to spare people, but I swore a long time ago that I would stop. She was different. It wasn't a coincidence that we met, it was fate. I knew. I knew she was the one that would end this never-ending nightmare."

Death moved around the room, his presence bringing a trail of cool air along with it, brushing against my bare skin as he came closer to me. "And then there's my mother's haunting words thousands of years ago," Death continued. I could feel his gaze slowly graze every inch of my body. He had to of seen the goose bumps along my skin, he just had to. "I swore to myself I would never anyone else what she told me. However, I can tell you this, Devin...I know that we will be successful in whatever we do with Faith Williams. And as much as I'll regret saying this, we need Gabriel. He's powerful."

"We don't need anyone, Death. We are fine the way we are. Stop telling me to put my differences aside. I'm damned to earth for an eternity because of him, and so are you."

"I'm getting the impression that you'll kill him out of revenge before you get the information you want. Set aside your differences and kill him later."

"I'll consider it." Devin laughed shortly. "What is this demon's name again? The demon that Malphas spoke of to Faith."

"Sophus." Death sounded deep in thought. "His name is Sophus."

"I've never heard of him."

"Neither have I."

"I'll have to Google or Bing his name and conform to today's society of lazy teenagers and adults," Devin said sarcastically, then clapped his hands together once. I heard the fan inside of David's desktop turn off, then the click of his laptop closing. Two computers at once. Devin must have been doing some heavy duty research during the short amount of time that I was actually asleep.

"Sophus must have some sort of rare ability, if he's stayed out of my radar for some time in Chicago," Devin said. "All of this new information is very fascinating to me. If you've had some sort of connection with him as a child, perhaps you could speak to him again at some point." Devin scribbled onto a piece of paper. Notes? "What I don't understand...is how and why he would chose to become her aunt's boyfriend. Additionally, why would she keep such information from us--"

"Because my father threatened her family," Death interrupted sharply. "She loves her mother and father dearly, he knew her weakness. I have to work on making her less vulnerable to him. Malphas eventually expected me to find out he had touched her mind, maybe he wants to get my attention for some reason. The fact that he only told Faith this and he's boasting about his knowledge in the Peace Makers' cartel, proves that he's trying to catch our attention. He's onto something, Devin. Something with the demon blood."

"We have nothing to worry about with Malphas. Our men are much more trained than his. Much, much stronger. However, Sophus on the other hand, I am unfamiliar with. I believe we should get rid of these "Peace Makers" before anything gets out of hand. Demon blood is dangerous to every species. Highly toxic. There's been a rumor that humans are overdosing on demon blood and becoming...creatures. The same thing is happening to demons." I heard the squeak of a chair, imagining Devin had reclined back in David Star's chair and kicked his feet up. "But that's just one of our many problems, Death. Faith is ours. I will not let him take her from you."

"If it was that easy, Devin, we would have destroyed Malphas a long, long time ago." My ears were so sensitive now that I could hear Death scratching at his dark stubble. "Nothing can stop my father when he's determined, not even me. There's only so much I can do to protect her until they meet again. He's waiting. Waiting for the...deadline that I have not been given yet. If Malphas finds out when she...if he uses her soul first...everything...everything I've done--killed to have her all to myself, would be for nothing."

"Easy, we have time. Nothing is set in stone." Devin's soothing voice was velvet to my ears. Sinfully comforting. "You said that you met with the warlock. Tell me more."

"He was possessed." Death sounded exasperated. "At first, he was consumed by a vision, and then he passed out. Trixie told me that he had been passing out like that often. When I fed from Faith, I saw memories of Ace coming out unconsciousness and attacking her. It wasn't him. There was a life in his eyes--a soul, that wasn't his. That was when Faith transported for the first time to her apartment. She must have been really scared to have done that. The demon just randomly left shortly after our visit, or so Trixie told me. I don't know what connection the possession has in all of this. Maybe there's no possession at all."

"Could the demon or spirit possible have possessed Faith?"

"Faith is not possessed. I would have...tasted it when I fed from her. I'm almost sure it's a demon by the way it was trying to harm Faith. I've only seen one or two spirit possessions in my lifetime. I haven't had the time to check on Ace, but I have many hell hounds watching over him. Ace's health is very important to me, since he could possible predict the exact day that she'll..."

I felt his gaze on my back again as I feigned sleep on the couch. I fought with all of my heart to think of random thoughts, anything but my death. Anything but Death harvesting my soul. Death draining the life out of me and holding me limp in his arms.

"I see," Devin said over the silence. "The thing that bothers me about all of this," Death began, lowering his voice, "is that Andrew was on my To Die list."

"Odd. Demon's can't get on your To Die list."

"Exactly. Andrew was supposed to overdose on dieting pills. It happened months ago, when Faith was resisting me and I wanted to meet with her in private. I just happened to see a picture of Faith and her aunt on one of his shelves, and thought it would be creative to use him as my messenger. He was frightened. I'm almost positive he wet his khaki pants when he saw me. Definitely a human, which means that Sophus killed Andrew at some point between then and now and took his place. It looks like I'm going to have to pay him a visit when he doesn't expect it."

Devin laughed shortly. "You spared someone on your list to flirt with Faith Williams through her own uncle."

Death sounded taken aback. "Excuse me?"

"You like her," Devin said, his tone slightly playful. "Luxuria. Lust. My favorite cardinal sin. I remember when I created that sin. Mmmm. I was quite the player back then, you know."

A low growl caressed my ear. Death was close. Very close. All he had to do was read my thoughts and he would probably know I was awake. Maybe he already did. "Define like. She pisses me off too much for me to like her."

"Do you want to have sex with her?" Devin asked, his voice dropping low. A drawer to a desk was open, then closed. Opened. "Death, if you can't control yourself...I'll find someone else to watch her more closely. You only have one chance at this."

I bit down on my lip to stop my teeth from chattering. It was so hard not to move, after hearing such a personal question being asked. I knew this was a conversation they didn't want me to be a part of. I opened my mouth and let out a small snore. Death snorted. Now he was far away.

Devin's question had drifted throughout the room for a long time, rejected, before Death's deep, obviously livid voice filled the room with an answer.

There it was again, that blast of freezing air.

"Don't patronize me, old man," Death replied, threat in his voice. Just like that, he was in the room again. The Grim Reaper. Not my Death. "I'm not much younger than you. Smarter than you. Stronger than you. If you honestly believe that I would screw up any chance for redemption to pleasure myself...it appears you don't know me as well as I thought. Pleasure lasts a moment. Revenge lasts ceaselessly. She's just a pretty girl. There's a lot of pretty girls that I can pleasure myself with."

Ouch.

"I've been waiting for this soul for centuries," Death continued. "I'm done waiting. I'm done withstanding this curse. Nothing will get in my way. That includes Faith Williams."

And with that, his presence disappeared entirely from the room. So did Devin. After staring at the couch in front of me, reminiscing on everything that had occurred in my life, I shut my eyes and must have fallen back asleep.

***

Now, see that?

No, not that devastatingly beautiful angel with the thick black hair, who looked straight out of a Photoshop tutorial. Not the towering, exotic jungle cat with vivid green eyes stalking along the mats with its long, muscular legs. Not the massive slab of hard, merciless muscle, broad back, strapping shoulders, and long, callused fingers-- which plundered through the chests of humans with thick claws, ripping out their soul entirely. Not the monster sharpening his fangs with a small blade he had seized out of thin air, waiting, watching, taunting his prey with pleasure as it clung to the highest fixture in the room, shaking vigorously like a maraca on Cinco de Mayo, clinging for dear life with hands that were so sweaty, she could have sworn the pole she clung to was slicked with butter.

This is so embarrassing.

When Death had cracked his sexy neck and knuckles, I hadn't even allowed that delicious specimen of man to get one step closer before I took off like a Jack rabbit. Yes, I managed to get all the way to the top of that crazy obstacle I had sworn to never touch. Don't ask me how, I literally have no idea. All I knew that I was done for, stuck--like a big, sticky piece of gum in a girls hair, and trapped like a damn cat up in a ridiculously sized tree.

How long had I been up there, anyways? Hours? Days? Years? Were hover boards invented yet? Clearly, it required too much effort on his part to climb up and get me, so he was scaring me into coming down by naming all of the many gruesome ideas he could come up with.

And why had I been forced to leap into the highest, furthest corner of the gymnasium, you ask?

Well, I'll let you decide that answer for yourself.

"Oh, don't think for a second I'm leaving you. I'm going to wait for you to come down from your tower, princess." Death's voice was low and sultry from below. I still felt like a caged bird and he was a hungry, obsese kitten watching me squirm.

My eyes grazed the slick, hard muscles pacing the mats below.

Ok, maybe the cat isn't obese.

"I'm not letting down any of my hair for you to climb up or anything, so you're going to be down there for a while," I said, mostly to the ceiling because I was dreadfully afraid that if I looked down while I was talking I would lose focus and fall from the ceiling onto my face.

"Could you get me a bag of chips-- maybe an iced tea while we wait for me to fall down into your awaiting fangy mouth?"

Death cackled loudly, turning his back to me again as he paced the mats. "You're real cute," he replied. His sudden laughter had startled me. It was not a humorous laugh. In fact, it was absolutely frightening and evil.

"Being cute is seriously the last thing on my mind right now. Just saying. Now it's your turn. Tell me what's on your mind, since this mind-reading thing has of course never gone both ways."

"Ok Faith, I'm going to set some things straight between us, just like you want me to. You are food to me. Food. I want to eat you on a fancy china plate and cut you up with a silver knife and fork. I've wanted to eat you. We are not acquaintances. We are not friends. We are not lovers. We are nothing. I'm self-centered and arrogant, remember?"

"You're also a compulsive liar..."

"You're food to me," he ground out.

I swallowed back a wave of emotions. "Message received."

"I'll still listen to what else you have to say to me," Death unexpectedly said. "I'll admit that you do bring out my curiosity. I do need a little bit of a break after working out. What is my new female reaper thinking about right now? Keep in mind, I'll be checking fact checking everything you say from here on out. Oh, wait, that wouldn't really help me with any lies, since you've become very good at hiding things from me."

"Besides having to listen to your annoying rebuttals about me, and the fact that it's a great view from up here....I'd really like to know what the hell is going on with me!"

"You're transitioning..."

"Yes, thank you for pointing that out, Captain Obvious," I huffed. "I'm talking about what I am! What Ace said I was! Life? Does this mean when I get my dang cloak I have to change its color so that I can walk around reviving people and not confuse myself with you?"

"If you get your cloak back, you mean. I just called for a cloak hunter a few hours ago, since Ace's club closed at twelve and I couldn't get anyone on the phone. He would have found your cloak immediately." Death paced the mats. "I know as much about what Ace said as you do. To me, it doesn't make sense at all. I've spared people before and kept their soul intact, but once someone is dead their gone. If they're revived while they're dead, their undead. I've never heard of an actual being that can revive anything and bring it back to its normal state. It's impossible, really."

Wait a minute....cloak hunter?!?!

"Is it, Death? Is it impossible? Because I have to tell you, I didn't believe in a lot of things before I met you." I eyed the great distance from my dangling body to the ground and swallowed hard. It was amazing that I hadn't peed my pants already. "Maybe it would make sense that I was life so I can cancel out your deathness."

"Faith, I've honestly thought about that myself, but I just don't know what's the truth anymore." He gazed up at me and smiled. "Any other things you want to discuss, cupcake?"

"No. Not particularly, when you're glaring up at me with your freaky eyes like that."

"You sure? I'm all ears until your hands get sweaty and you fall." When he realized his words weren't shocking enough, he took it to the next level. "Gosh, I could be here a while. Staring at you with my freaky eyes. Imagining myself stabbing you over and over again. Doesn't seem so bad, does it? There's a class soon that we're going to interfere with if we stay here a couple more hours, you know. A hell hound class. Then your reaper class is next."

"I'm absolutely thrilled," I said dryly.

"You've got a pretty tight grip, there, sweetheart. Just like that tight grip you had on my ass last night. Remember that? I do. I bet I still have bruises where the claw indents haven't healed yet. I think I'm going to have to work on gripping a few things of yours the same way. Evening the score only seems fair."

I blushed so bad that I could see red. I was totally hoping he forgot about that... "Since you said I could share my feelings, I'm feeling really caged---"

"You don't know what a cage really feels like. To feel isolated from the rest of the world and shoved into a small box that makes your arms and legs cramp after a while, then go numb. You don't know an eighth of what I know about cages. And I don't care about your feelings, I just wanted to know what you were generally thinking. I still want to shove your pinkies into a pencil sharpener and eat the shaving."

Earth to Faith: this is your ears speaking, he seriously just said he wants to feed your pinkies through a pencil sharpener.

"How about we just hug it out? A thumb war? Those both seem like more reasonable solutions to this." I choked a little on my voice, my thighs trembling as I readjusted myself. Oh, did I mention I was terrified of heights? Remember the Ferris wheel dilemma? Yeah, this was a lot worse. Especially since there was a shark at the end of my fall.

"I'd rather hug a used condom right now than hug you."

"Fine, be immature. I'm--I'm coming down to give you a hug." I grit my teeth together. Truthfully, I was coming down because I felt like my fingers were about to fall off. Did I think he would hug me when I got down? No, not at all. I had to jump before I slipped. But crud, I was really high up. I shook my head of my thoughts, exhaling.

No more fears. No more fears.

I let go of the pole.

Ever see those superhero movies where the hero lands on all fours after a high drop? I totally landed like that, perfect form and all. I know, what a badass! I inhaled sharply against the ground, eyes wide. Fearless. I had allowed myself to become fearless. Just like that! But how? I slowly stood up, my limbs shaking with adrenalin.

"You're a predator now. A reaper. You can turn off your humanity. It's like a quick switch, really. There's an on and an off button.." I froze at the closeness of Death's voice. A drip of sweat rolled down my spine. I clenched my hands into fists. Two endless, fiery green eyes drifted along my body, taking in every inch of me. His fingers played with a strand of my hair. "Don't get too excited, you're too soft to really get wild."

A slapped away his hand away and took a step forward, still facing away from him. "I can be wild if I wanted to be."

Harsh, booming laughter came at me in all directions. Hot, minty breath tickled my neck again. "Give me a damn break. The worst thing you've ever done in your life is have one-to-many beers at a concert and come home crying that you couldn't breathe."

I gripped my throat, feeling it tighten. "I had panic attacks."

"Bullshit," he bit out nastily."You were afraid you would blackout and end up in some random guys bed in the morning, so went crying to mommy and daddy. Did daddy sit you on his lap and rock you to sleep that night, princess? You must really miss your family. Why haven't you asked to see them? Afraid they'll only see the fangs and claws when you walk through the front door?"

"At least my father didn't screw me up like yours did. Hey, weren't you going to fight me? Or are you just going to insult me until I raise my white flag."

His grip on me loosened. "Turn around."

"No."

"Turn around, Faith," he demanded, voice empty of emotion. "I want to talk to you, not your back."

My tongue went dry, goose bumps formed along my skin. For a moment, I seriously thought I swallowed back a wad of dry cotton ball in my mouth. Turn around. I had just leapt from a three-story adult jungle gym, and I couldn't turn around and face a man that I had known my entire life.

When I turned around, I expected I would see a furious, heartless man.

Instead, I met a pair of dark, sad green eyes.

"I'm sorry," I found myself saying.

Death dropped his gaze. "We've both lied to each other at this point, but this time was different," he said, voice teetering off the edge of calm. "It was different for me, Faith. I wouldn't' have thought in a million years what you were keeping from me was about my mother. I was worried that Malphas was planning on taking you from me."

"So basically you're mad as a hatter at me for physically being unable to tell you what Malphas told me?"

"Well...yes."

I turned away from him. "I'm done talking to you, then."

"No you're not." In a blink of an eye, Death had wrapped a massive arm around me, caging me to his hot, muscular chest. I felt the urge to lean back into his hold, but resisted it with all of my might. "I thought of a million damn ways that he would take you from me," Death whispered at my ear. "That's all I cared about, Faith, and it pisses me off that I let Malphas speak to you in the first place in the coffee place."

"You were worried about me?"

"Of course I worried about you, I'm your guardian angel!" Death exploded, making my body jerk. I could hear his teeth grind together at my ear. His slow exhale of minty, warm breath. "I thought that I wouldn't know what you were keeping from me until it was too late. Until he took you. Killed you. Used you. Just like....like...."

"Just like Annona."

"Exactly," he whispered. "And what pisses me off is that he's getting to me, through you, just like he did when I was with Annona." It was a good thing I was a transitioning reaper, because I was pretty sure if he had squeezed me like that days before I would have died instantly.

"These things he's told you about my mother, they aren't true, Faith. She's dead. She's...been dead for thousands of years. If she were alive, don't you think would have been able to contact me? Malphas is just trying to fuck with you. I don't want you to be in the middle of all of these issues with my father. Not just because you're my "antidote," too..." Looking down, I felt a warmth on my belly where Death's hand lay right over my mark.

"You thought that you wouldn't be able to protect me against Malphas... and then when you found out what I was really keeping from you, your relief was bitter-sweet because it was about your mom and you think that he lied to me to distract you from the task at hand."

He inhaled at my neck, growling softly. "Yes."

"You're mad at me, but really you're mad at yourself for being mad at me?"

"Yes."

"You were ready to beat on me with your meaty fists, and you had no idea why you were mad at me?"

Hesitantly, he admitted, "Yes. I wouldn't have actually beaten you up, though. Not when you haven't been properly trained. Although, making you wet your pants would have been much more enjoyable even if you were trained."

Turning around in his arms, I struck Death with my palm right in the forehead. He looked confused for a moment--stunned even, then pinched my side.

"Ow!" I screeched

"You smacked me on the forehead..."

"You deserved it," I said, fighting back a laugh as narrowed his eyes. Straightening myself, I put on my best serious face. "Malphas was bound to get me alone at some point. And he's bound to do it again. You shouldn't blame yourself for him manipulating me. No Faith's were harmed in the making of this manipulated reaper."

Death raised an eyebrow.

"He didn't hurt me, see?" I motioned towards myself and did a little jig. Death didn't even flinch with laughter, just stared at me in a very serious, unnerving way. I hated when he looked at me like that. With that empty, inhuman stare. "Your antidote isn't harmed, Death," I murmured.

His lip twitched. "Don't act like you're an undercover spy from Russia, princess." He poked lightly at my chest, making me stumble. "We let you listen to that conversation."

I snorted. "You'd rather have an information conversation about my own demise that I ease drop on than tell me in person. I'm surprised you haven't taken a major in college for drama yet."

Death swiped a hand slowly down his face. "You are just too funny for words," he replied dryly.

"Do I need to smack you on the forehead again so you take me seriously?"

"Cupcake," Death said, coming so close to me that I had to cringe my head up to look at his face. Inwardly, I was screaming to myself to step back, but my body resisted. Every ounce of myself swayed towards his muscular frame. And when he brushed his fingertips against my belly, my marking along my abdomen lit with flames.

"I'm terrible at things like this." For once in a very long time, Death wasn't making eye contact with me and instead stared down at my t-shirt. "I don't like...sharing things with people, especially personal things because I have a lot of unsolved issues. You know that. Just hear what I have to say and don't speak over me because I'm not saying it again, okay?"

I watched him carefully, waiting for my response. He played with the piercing on his lip, shifted from foot to foot. Continued to refuse to not make eye contact. It's like he's a nervous little boy. Whatever Death was about to say it was very important.

"Death." My heart pounded as he slowly looked up. His eyes were large and unreadable. "I'm listening, I promise."

"I'm not good for you," he began softly. "I'm not the person that you think I am. I know what you feel towards me, and I'm not good for you. I wanted to be there when your darkness consumed you. When your thoughts stopped being your own, but your reaper side's. I wanted to be there when your every thought to keep you hostage at the darkest corners of your imagination. I wanted you to be like me for so damn long. At the end of the day, my darkness always wins. I learned that nothing can change my ways a long time ago. I can't fight to feel something, when there is nothing worth fighting for to begin with. Just...emptiness. I've lost myself to the darkness, and I've wanted you to lose yourself as well."

"Coming down here tonight to workout, being alone for a few hours, I realized that I never lost myself to anything. I was born into darkness. My father made sure of that. He put me in an enclosed box and blocked out any light, any hope for me having an actual future. A family. Friends. You're right about me. Pretty much everything you've said about me is right. I've barely told you anything about myself because I know you can already see right through me by now. I used to abuse alcohol and drugs. I'd have one of my replicas harvest off of drug dealers and take whatever bags were in their pockets, allow the other hundred or so continue to collect around the world. If you can imagine, my body burns off the drugs within minutes, just like any human food that I consume, so I had to intake more than you would ever believe to actually get drunk or high. Truthfully, I've wanted to feel numb for a while now, but I've grown to resist most drugs. I told you already, I can't kill myself. Devin helped me with a lot of things in my life, but not my drug and alcohol abuse. He told me only a few years ago that he never attempted to stop my abuse of drugs because he knew that if he helped me I would have simply ceased the drug use because I had to, not because I wanted to. My abuse was different than a human's drug addiction because I wasn't physically addicted to it, I just wanted to be numb. I had to convince myself to stop. The day that I stopped, I had stared at myself in the mirror for hours and then quit cold turkey."

"Now all I'm good at is quitting cold turkey. Not so much inanimate things, like cigarettes. Or even...women. One night stands. When I'm not depending on some sort of stress reliever, I just...I can't function. As stupid as it sounds, cigarettes and women that only want to sleep with me involve a minimal amount of dependency, and act as the perfect stress reliever for me. I get so wound up sometimes or my thoughts will become chaotic. With hundreds of replicas around the world of myself, collecting souls, I've had to train my mind to stay in the moment. If I don't relieve all of the stress that consumes my mind and body, I just...explode. And if I get to attached to things, I'll suffocate it. Sometimes even literally if you catch me in the wrong mood..."

Death scratched his tightening jaw and shifted his weight, deep in thought.

"Here is the part that confuses me about life, Faith," he continued. "It's confused me for so damn long time and I've only found one answer for it. Angel's are suppose to be passionate, emotional creatures with big hearts. We get married and have children as humans do. Each child is nurtured and cared for more than any human baby on earth put together. Even Fallen have children together. Why is it that I can't get emotionally involved with any living creature in order to have a family? Why am I stuck with cigarettes and one night stands? The answer is this, Faith: I've been damned and fated to feel unattached to those around me for an eternity. This is my curse. If I didn't feel this way--I wouldn't be the Angel of Death, because I would be able to have something more concrete than lust---even passion, that would tie me to the ground and keep me away from my duty. Everything in my life is about brief, cold contact and fleeting faces."

"I'm sick, Faith. I'm the sick, twisted, inverted version of the person that I used to be. Maybe...maybe things would be different between us if you and I had met when I was human. Maybe I would been able to return your affection. But right now, I have little to no conscious in all of the people that I've murdered and slaughtered senselessly years and years ago. That's not the type of person anyone wants as a friend, boyfriend, lover, or even husband."

"I'm not going to display our situation with flowers and glitter. I'm a killer, a Fallen, and I'm going to use you with any means necessary, no matter how much you love me, sway me, or how much you want to change me, in order to lift my curse. I'll kill anything and anyone in my way because I've waited this for too damn long. Nothing has ever stopped me from getting what I want, and what I want is unluckily within you. Take my advice and stop. Stop caring about me. Stop wanting me to change. Stop trying to get in my head. Just stop. Do you understand what I am telling you?"

I was at a loss of words. I was inwardly clutching at my chest, restraining my heart from leaping out right into his hands, when in actuality my arms were stiff at my side as if I was being lectured by my father for doing something wrong. He had emotionally impacted me so greatly, that I hadn't realized I had been crying until he had finished speaking.

I was so heartbroken, so internally destroyed, that I was convinced if the ceiling hadn't come crashing down onto my chest, slowly crushing my heart underneath all of the rubble. Just like that, I lost it completely.

"I understand exactly what you're telling me," I said between trembling, utterly painful breaths. "But I just want you to know that I'm not apologizing for trying to help you. For caring for you. For feeling bad for you. I'm not sorry about anything except the fact that I have always been too stupid to know when to give up on you. Most importantly, though, I should have known that you never were a damn hero. You're a con artist with a pretty face and an even prettier grin, that's all you ever will be. That one should have been obvious the first day I met you. I'd hate to be the one to break it to you, but even when your curse is lifted, you'll still feel numb inside. You'll still feel detached. You'll feel the same exact way that you do now. And you know why? Because you'll still be an egotistical dick."

The doors to the gym burst open. Neither of us noticed, we were so intensely looking at each other. This was the big climatic part that we were all waiting for. The moment of truth.

"Whatever we had," I said, motioning between us. "You better believe it's over."

A girl with bright pink hair and a phone to her ear came walking in wearing army pants and a tight white t-shirt. As she turned her face towards us, I saw that her eyes matched her hair. The girl stared at me, her eyes going wide as she spoke. "And he also has an opening for Wednesday at 3:00 PM.... Igottogokaybye. Hi, Death! I...I didn't know..."

Pink Hair shut the phone closed, still shocked, then turned over her shoulder. In came Marcy, my best friend since childhood--correction, my ex best friend from childhood, who had secretly been a demon working for Death, and who had most likely throwing an illusion onto herself to appear younger during our kindergarten through high school years. After the initial shock of seeing her after what seemed like years, it also pained me to see her dressed like a freaking assassin.

Our entire friendship has been a lie.

And the fact that she was wearing all leather and had two guns in her hands didn't exactly rid of that thought. Marcy stopped next to the pink haired girl, following her gaze. She froze, slowly covering her mouth with her hand.

"Faith...?" she asked, unsure of herself. "What's...what's wrong? Your eyes..."

To make matters even more worse, man built like a tree trunk stomped into the room, holding a massive duffle bag. He dropped it in the middle of the room then shook my hand, making brief eye contact with me. His eyes were dark. "Spike. Trainer. You must be Faith. You're signed up for a small class. Rest of the crew will be in shortly. Some will be missing."

I opened my mouth to respond, when my sensitive ears picked up a conversation outside the doors. "As I was saying...I grated demon numbero uno's skull against the brick. Then I met this chick at a club... I forget her name, but damn. I was all over that like ranch on dressing. Know what I'm sayin'?" "No, not really." "Chris, shut up already. It's four in the morning. I'm still processing the fact that class if four hours early, don't make me kill you." "Touchy."

Three massive men with short hair came in, wearing t-shirts and warm-up pants. One of them had blonde hair and blue eyes. One had golden everything. The last one I recognized as Leo, the man I had gone on a single date with, who had briefly spoken to me about boy problems, and who had been there when I came out of the Unknown and held me. He had dark set eyes and short black hair.

Even Leo looked a little taken aback when he saw me.

Golden Boy, who I expected was Chris, was the only one who came in and didn't stop and join the staring fest Pink Hair and Marcy had started. "Word on the street is that President Horns and Vice Presi-Death are two raging girls on their periods this morning..." he trailed off, spotting me. Chris leaned over to Pink Hair and whispered, " Is that her?" Getting no response, he leaned over again and whispered, "Do you think you-know-who heard what I said before about the, you know, period thing...?"

In unison, everyone but Death and I screamed, "Chris!"

Leo stepped forward, nodding curtly towards Death. "My Lord, I apologize on behalf of us all for interrupting you, but our class has clearly been moved to an earlier time. We were all notified at 3:24 AM that a hell hound assigned to the level 3 Weapon Check Center of the D & S tower was mauled to death riding elevator 4, wounded to such an extent that his identity is so far undetectable."

"The witnesses?" Death asked, his voice hollow.

"We're unsure who managed to call in the attack," Marcy said, her hands clasped professionally behind her back along with the others. "It was very, very quiet kill. Happened within a span of seconds from the surveillance tape that I watched just before I came. It was all professionally executed. Whoever it was, they came with a purpose...and they left with victory."

"There's one more thing, sir, that I believe you should know," Golden Hair spoke up, widening his stance. The other demons all stared at him with wide eyes. "Screw what Devin said, he has to know what they left behind," he told them.

"Devin believes this attack might have been an act of war," Leo said, his eyebrows crunched together, "because the killer left behind this." He retrieved a scarlet envelope from his pocket and presented it to Death. "It's barely legible, I couldn't understand it myself, and you know that I've decoded things for you," he added.

Death took the envelope from Leo's hand, gingerly probing and peering into the slit of the envelope. Inside there was a white piece of paper that he unfolded, read to himself over and over again. I watched as Death's face grew dozens of shades paler than his normal tanned skin.

"You know what it means?" Chris asked, suddenly appearing eager. "None of us could figure it out. Not--not that we read it or anything--"

Death's voice grew sharp, violently sharp. "Are you sure it wasn't a woman?"

"Yes," they all said in unison.

"Boss, we'll be right back," Chris said, then, "I just got an alert that elevator 8 suddenly broke down. It's probably nothing." He tapped Golden Hair on the shoulder and whispered something, then they both quickly jogged out of the room.

Death eyed the two exiting the gym with narrowed eyes, sinking slowly into a thick haze. A few seconds later, he spoke to us again, his voice void of any emotion. "Any description of the killer? Voice? Height? Any markings on their skin? Skills?"

Leo started to shake his head. "Not that I've--"

Pink Hair spoke over him. "I'm the one that called in the attack. There...there were no witnesses except me, sir. Everyone else had gone home, and I had been on that floor to restock my own ammo encase we were doing target practice this morning. I--I didn't see much of any of their features....but...he was favoring his one arm, didn't even use the other. I hadn't realized what I was watching until it was over or I would have intervened. I don't think he saw me. It was the strangest thing...how fast he was. Definitely a man. He wore all black. I didn't hear his voice, just... growls."

Finding my voice, I addressed the demons. "Do we know for sure that the killer left the building?"

Not one demon in the room had an answer to a question that should have been asked first. We looked to one another, a look of fear in everyone's eyes except for a certain dark angel, who was staring intensely at me.

"What did the letter say?" I slowly asked Death.

Death paused, debating whether or not to share its contents. "It was written to me. It said: I'm closer than you think, brother. That earned a gasp from Pink Hair. "It was signed with Sophus, but that doesn't mean. anything, it could be a fake--"

Suddenly, a scream that shook my bones sounded from outside the gymnasium. "Dude, what the fuck are you doing! Stop!"

The lights of the D & S building went out.

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