Chapter Two

Yup. Just me, Alaric, and the night terrors and sleep paralysis.

Nothing like another day in the life of Death.

After willing my body to calm down by focusing on the outside noises of my nightmare and terror, I managed to get out of bed. I changed into a pair of sweatpants and a tank top, heading downstairs as I listened to Alaric moving around the kitchen, talking to someone on the phone once again. I stretched at the bottom of the stairs, yawning wide.

"Yes, I signed the papers. Yes. Those ones too... Are you serious. It's my day off. Come on. Ugh, alright, just stop bitching at me for two seconds. I literally just woke up. Lemme throw some clothes on and I'll head over there as soon as possible. Don't let those assholes from the Razor X company leave, by the way. If they try to, hold 'em off. I have a bone to pick with that asshole from customer service." I poked my head in the kitchen to see Alaric moving quickly around the kitchen, shoving a couple pieces of toast in the toaster and putting a top on a pan of scrambled eggs and bacon.

"You're leaving for work?" I asked with a frown, walking over to him as he hung up.

"I'm sorry, baby. Some asshole lost the contracts I signed yesterday and that company that fucked up my order on the new communication devices is showing up today and I'm even more pissed now than I was when I called the pricks," he grumbled, heading for the stairs. I caught him around the waist, spun him around gracefully and pushed him up against the wall. He purred at that, gripping my arms, but not stopping me as I leaned in to give him one hell of a kiss.

"Be back soon," I murmured against his lips. He blushed, gave me a shove, then headed up the the stairs to get ready. I left him to do his thing as I went into the kitchen and pulled some breakfast together on a plate at the same time the front door opened, the sound of a few beeps indicating the maid had come in.

She poked her head in the kitchen and gave me a smile.

"Hey, Stanton, am I late?" She asked, tying her long auburn hair back into a ponytail. I shook my head, nudging my head toward the clock on the coffee maker as it grumbled and bubbled with another load of coffee to dump into the glass pot.

"I haven't left yet. Alaric's about to leave."

"I thought today was his day off?"

"Looks like there's some crap at work."

"That's too bad," she sighed, then offered me a smile, "Do you still want me to stick around today or should I go home?" I paused to consider that. She worked really hard. Even though the house seemed to be pretty clean on its own. Then again, maybe that's what I thought and the only reason it was always so clean was just because of her. I smiled.

"Go ahead and take the day off, Mia. Consider it a paid vacation," I replied. Her freckled cheeks blushed and her mouth opened in the beginnings of protest, but I shook my head.

"Don't argue, Mia. I'm gonna pay you whether you like it or not. Now go on and give my best to the husband. He still owes me a game of pool," I added. Mia laughed at the reminder.

"Oh, he knows you cheat, Stanton."

"It's not cheating. It's improvising. Tell him to try it sometime. He might actually learn a thing or two."

"Sure, I'll tell him," Mia said with a chuckle, then she looked around wistfully before meeting my eyes again, "If you're sure you don't need me..."

"Of course I need you," I responded with a scoff, "Our place would look like a pig stye if you weren't here to rescue us. Just because we're two males doesn't mean we're good at keeping a clean house. You probably know that already, though." Mia grinned.

"It's not too bad. I used to clean college dorms before this."

"Good lord, I'm so sorry."

"Me too. At least you guys don't pass out drunk in your own feces for six hours."

"That was a mental image I didn't need."

"Heh, alright. Well, if you're sure you don't need me, I'll take off then. Call me if you need anything, alright?" Mia asked, shrugging her coat back onto her shoulders. I nodded and gave her a wave before she left. A couple minutes later, Alaric was coming down the stairs quickly, snatching up a piece of toast and a strip of bacon, cramming it all into his mouth. He gave me a greasy kiss on the cheek, some muffled talk about finishing our earlier makeout session, a reminder to pay Mia, and I think something about a phone call before he was out the door.

And I was left alone in the house.

Which was a rarity. Usually I left in the morning, went to the gym, got to work, came home, and Alaric and I spent some alone time. We also took off the same days so we could spend weekends together. But every so often, I would get called in because some asshole fired off a missile or dropped a nuke or attacked a stadium and I had to get my ass out there to figure out the damage. So usually Alaric was left alone here.

Not today, I supposed. Today it was my turn to be the weepy whiny hubs left in the house. Except I didn't look as good in lingerie as Alaric. Not that I had tried or planned to. I'd probably rip all of Alaric's panties and he'd throw a fit. Besides, lace wasn't my thing. Too itchy. I was a leather person, through and through.

I tapped my fork on the side of my plate, trying to figure out what I was gonna do with myself for the day until Alaric got back when the doorbell rang. I frowned, getting up and heading to the door. A quick peek through the peephole revealed my least favorite person in the neighborhood, so it took me a moment to muster up some level of Friendly Neighbor.

I unlocked the door and opened it up to reveal Jaclyn. Jaclyn was your stereotypical soccer mom. Dark hair interrupted by lighter brown highlights, cut in a V bob that was so symmetrically sharp you could cut your finger on it. Her baby blues were fake due to tinted contacts, hiding the real hazel beneath. She probably spent hours getting her eyebrows done, only to color them in with what looked like sharpie, to match the winged eyeliner that was surprisingly on point for a female with five kids, two of which were teenage boys and three girls in middle school.

And you know, I could totally get past the whole physical look of her. She was allowed to do her thing. She was a free female.

If only she wasn't a goddamn cunt.

She was the type of female who went to PTA meetings with a megaphone, the one who demanded to see a manager if the cashier didn't smile at her, who screamed at the ref at her son's soccer games and bitched out the basketball coach on behalf of her daughter.

And then there was the fact that she didn't like me in general. She was one of many who misinterpreted my position as Death to mean that I killed people and enjoyed it... which wasn't that far from the truth, but that was more like a hobby, not my job. My job was the exact opposite. No killing people. The only time we could talk to the dying was to hold their hand, or make their passing less painful. Killing was strictly no-no. Our job was to escort the soul and move on.

Of course, fucking Jaclyn didn't seem to comprehend that. Death was death and it was all my fault.

And did I mention she was on the neighborhood committee, aka, pretty committee, aka, a council of elitist rich folk who thought they ran the neighborhood because they were a bunch of lawyers and doctors and one of them was a dentist? Yeah.

"Jaclyn. Good morning," I greeted as politely as I could. Those black eyebrows dropped down immediately and her blue eyes gleamed as she put her hands on her hips. Today's ensemble was brought to you by Target, the mother's dream store. Great deals on highwaisted jeans, mint green summer blouses, a teddy bear necklace that looked like gold, but was probably just some cheaply sprayed alloy, and a pair of black ballet flats.

"Stanton. I received a complaint last night from one of the neighbors about an altercation that happened on your property yesterday morning about eight in the morning and as a member of the neighborhood committee, it's my authority and duty as a member to keep this neighborhood peaceful and clean for our children and elderly," she explained. Her voice was nasally. So nasally. She reminded me of Lois from Family Guy, only Jaclyn didn't laugh.

And as soon as she said elderly, I knew who'd ratted on Alaric and I. Not the nice family next door, despite their looks of shock, which Alaric apparently had apologized for later that day. Nah, it was Ernest from across the street. A former superintendent who took an early retirement when he realized that being around younger creatures was going to put him into an early grave. And how funny that he was the one complaining for the sake of the children, considering the asshole hated kids and even stood at his window for the sole purpose of watching kids with a sneer, scaring them off.

Yeah. Protect the children.

"You're right, you have my apologies, Jaclyn," I responded, wondering if her eyes narrowed any further she'd just lose her eyeballs down her nose, "My husband and I had an off morning. We'll do our best to keep our personal lives behind closed doors." Jaclyn didn't seem satisfied, because why should she be? She was a housewife with two maids and literally had nothing else to do, but bitch and whine at the neighbors. How her husband stood her was a mystery to me.

"I don't think an apology is good enough in this situation. There were children in the vicinity of the altercation--"

"It wasn't really an altercation, Jac, it was more like a disagreement--"

"Those are literally the same thing and do not call me Jac--"

"-- and everything was sorted out and we apologized to the parents of the children who were there to witness part of what happened. The apology was accepted and things are fine."

"Things are not fine, Stanton--"

"I don't see any kids crying."

"The damage could be long term. You have no idea how incredibly dangerous it is for children to witness that kind of thing."

"Yeah, it'd suck for kids to see that adults argue, even when they're married."

"Are you making fun of me?"

"I would never do that to you, Jac."

"Stop calling me that..." The sound of my cell phone ringing from upstairs was a fucking godsend. I took a deep breath, slowly closing the door as Jaclyn got closer to it, still nagging about the so-called altercation.

"You're right. Super sorry, Jac. Listen, I gotta get this. Life or death situation, ya know? I can't dink about while people are out there dying--"

"Stop calling me--" I shut the door and reset the security alarms. Muffled through the door, I heard Jaclyn make a promise to return. I rolled my eyes and went upstairs after the phone, snatching it up off the nightstand and frowning at the unfamiliar number. I answered it anyway as I headed for the stairs.

"If you're selling vibrators, I already have one and his name is Alaric, so if you could just leave your name and number--"

"Stanton?" I froze halfway down the stairs, almost tumbling headfirst down mahogany and face planting on cherry wood. I caught the bannister, halting myself. A chill crept down my spine at the voice on the other end. My immediate thoughts were how the fuck did he get this number and shit, his voice sounds so much like mine it's creepy. I cleared my throat, recovering from the temporary shock before the anger surged through my veins like a white hot stream and I had to choked back the urge to smash yet another phone.

"Are you there?" He asked after a moment of silence in which I contemplated the risks of breaking another phone or at least screaming until my lungs exploded.

"How the fuck did you get my number." Not a question. And it was all I could manage at first.

"I got it from a friend. I needed to contact you and I apologize for intruding--"

"Don't fucking apologize for something you're not sorry about. You wouldn't have done it if you were sorry."

"I know, Stanton. But please, just listen to me, I've been trying to contact you for three days--"

"Really? Because I've been trying to ignore you for years and for some reason, you're still here. Go fig."

"Stanton, you have to listen to me, this creature Viviana--"

"Is so not my problem. Whatever shit you're in, you can deal with it. I'm through getting dragged into your drama."

"No, Stanton, you don't understand--"

"No, see, you don't understand. I do not want to hear from you ever again. I do not want to see you ever again. And if you even think of contacting Alaric again, I swear to the fucking Source you will regret it. Do you understand me? Do you understand that? And if you say anything other than yes, I'm going to hang up on you." I listened to the pause on the other line. It was an elongated silence, then a very soft reply.

"Yes."

"Good. Now fuck off." I hung up without another word and took the chip out of the phone, crushing it and ordering a new part via the desktop computer we had downstairs in the office room. I took deep breathes, raking my hands through my hair as I sat at the computer, glaring at the screen where a window informed me a new chip would arrive in the next two days. I wanted to pick the thing up and smash it against the wall. Then flip the chair over and smash out the window, maybe just burn the whole fucking house down and then move onto Jaclyn's house.

Fucking Jaclyn.

Fucking Xiphrus.

I shut my eyes and pressed the heel of my palm against my head, trying to find it in me to calm down. Smashing things was not going to help. It would just make Alaric angry and I was tired of arguing with him. I wanted to gather him up in my arms and hide away in our bedroom for the rest of eternity.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and stood up to leave the computer when something started ringing. I scowled, then looked at the screen to see that Thorn was calling via skype. I clicked the video chat and it slid open to reveal Thorn, Alaric's older brother. His features were similar to Lucifer's, friendly and warm. His long wavy dark hair was swept back from his face in a short ponytail, a well kempt beard taking the place of what was once just stubble, and his hazel eyes clearly exhausted and stressed out.

"Stanton," he said, sounding relieved, "I've been trying to call you." I averted my eyes, reaching up to rub at my nose awkwardly.

"Yeah, uh, it died on me. What's up?" I asked, leaning forward. Thorn's lips made a grim line before he spoke.

"Another death in Purgatory," he answered, making me frown and sit up, alert, "Exploded all over the main street. We need you to come in and check things out again. Think you can stop by for a few?"

"Yeah, no problem. Alaric's out anyway. Give me five minutes," I responded. Thorn nodded and ended the call. I got up and went upstairs for a shower that turned out to be ice cold for some fucking reason. I threw on a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt, swinging my coat on and teleporting straight from the house to Purgatory, because no fucking way did I wanna go outside and advertise myself to Jaclyn.

Oh, do you have free time, Stanton? Great, let's talk about how terrible you are.

Sorry, Jaclyn. Lives to save.

I landed in Purgatory's main city of Madina. The first city and the largest of Purgatory. A hub for souls and other creatures from mainly the Judeo-Christian-Muslim world. Purgatory had temporarily opened its doors to pagan creatures, only to have that get fucked up real quick. So the doors were basically closed to outsiders. Except, of course, visitors on diplomatic missions or me.

Sometimes it paid to be Death.

No doors to realms for me. Nope, just open doorways with a sign that welcomed me and my kind in; my kind meaning reapers and death gods.

Madina was a great city. Lively and open, lots of music playing in the streets and in open windows, colorful stands set up to sell food in the marketplace, clothing, trinkets, and other whatnots. The people were pretty friendly, even in the poorer side of Madina.

Although, today seemed to be kind of off and it was probably the giant splatter of black oily blood that splashed up across the side of a building and dripped off a stand selling what used to be oranges, and now were black globs. A few people were gathered around to stare in horror, but Thorn's men had arrived on the scene and were working to keep people back. Standing in the center of the mess was Thorn and his Cajun shapeshifter slave, Remi. I liked Remi. His species didn't technically have genders or sexes, but he chose the form of a slender male model with dark hair and sharp eyes, and looked good in just about anything he wore. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he looked drop dead gorgeous in a potato sack.

Thorn looked up as I managed to get past the soldiers to approach him. We exchanged a brief handshake and I stepped back, eyeing Thorn's exhausted face.

"How're things with Ambrosius?" I asked. His husband, Ambrosius, was pregnant. And you'd think that was fucking weird, a male getting pregnant, except he was a faerie and male faes also had the ability to become pregnant considering they were fertile creatures. It was just surprising considering Ambrosius also had god genes, and god genes tended to outweigh any other genes. Then again, considering who Ambrosius's faerie father was, I'm surprised Blaine's genes didn't just completely drown out Hades's.

"Stressful," Thorn answered me, and I arched a brow, making him sigh and rub at his forehead as if feeling a headache come on, "He's still upset about the whole thing with Hades."

"Hades knows now?"

"He's known for a couple days, but uh..."

"Let me guess, he took it about as well as baking soda takes vinegar."

"About as well as an erupting volcano, more like it," Thorn muttered.

That wasn't surprising in the least. I didn't like Hades for a thousand reasons. One of which included the treatment of his sons. Hades had always been a rotten father. He'd ignored his sons and abused Ambrosius like there was no tomorrow, locking him up in a sensory deprivation room to teach him a lesson whenever Ambrosius didn't directly obey him. And while Hades had loosened up over the years, there was still enough shithead in him to treat Ambrosius like shit if he were to find out he was pregnant.

"So what did he do? Threaten to kill the baby? What about you? How are you still standing?" I asked. Thorn looked at me.

"Lucifer was there when we told him. I think that's the only reason I'm still standing with my balls intact. And he's... He didn't actually explode, like, all wrath and fury. He just said he'd be there to take care of Ambrosius's medical needs, then left. According to Lucifer, he won't talk about the pregnancy at all otherwise. If anything, he's pretending Ambrosius isn't even his son. And it pisses me off, you know? Because Ambrosius is his son. And he's been doing a great job of treating him that way, but since the pregnancy announcement, Hades has pretty much disowned him. He won't even look him in the eyes during the exams."

So like Hades. When things didn't go his way, he sulked. Though, I suppose it was better than having him blow up and kill everyone around him. Of course, I didn't say that. Ambrosius had a weird relationship with Hades. It was the desperation of a son hoping to please his father, and whenever he did disappoint Hades, his soul was crushed and he moped for weeks on end. He'd done the same thing when he'd announced he was starting dancing as a career. Hades had stopped talking to him for a few months, nearly a year actually, and finally started talking to him again out of the blue.

It all boiled down to the fact that that family in particular was fucking crazy and dysfunctional.

And I couldn't help, but think... And Alaric wanted me to take a shot at family? Thanks, no thanks.

"So, what've we got here? That's an awful lot of blood," I said, changing the subject. Thorn nodded and Remi just whistled, like it was impressive. I cast him a smirk as Thorn gestured around.

"Victim's name is Saad Raine. He was a Muslim scribe. He moved here a few years ago and never left. The past couple months, he's been acting really weird. Stopped talking to people, stopped eating in the marketplace. He cut off contact with his handler a few weeks ago, didn't contact his assistant before firing him. Someone said they smelled something weird last night and when they went inside, they found a bunch of dead birds. When people came out of their houses this morning, they saw this. It looks like it just happened, but you know their blood takes forever to dry up, so we're not entirely sure. We only know the victim because of his strange behavior and that he hung around here."

"No blood sample?" I asked. Thorn shook his head.

"Every time we try to get a sample, it comes up blank."

"Blank?"

"Literally blank. There is no trace of who they were once they've turned. The black blood just reveals... nothing, actually. There's nothing. I've been calling Hades in to pick up some of the leftovers to do tests. Basically, he says they don't exist. At all. Ever. So he's going to start collecting data and giving the things some name and background. Right now, we're just calling them shadows. Because that's really all they are, and it's all we know."

Made sense. These creatures were... definitely new, and if I was saying that, then they really were brand spanking new of the universe. In all my years in this universe, I'd never seen anything like them, or anything like this Viviana person. The creatures she claimed to spawn were basically anyone and anything that could be turned. Turned meaning they were infected with copious amounts of darkness, specifically Atlan's darkness that had been dispersed after the Source took him back.

Shadows, as they were apparently called, were just that. Shadow creatures, shadows of their former selves, shadows consumed by the darkness in their souls. Their former lives were almost always misery and woe, torture and brutality at its finest. The darkness ate them up inside, leaving them with nothing. They were reborn as shadows. They bled black, smelled sweet like cotton candy, killed off anything that reminded them of their former selves, took on a very Spartan environment. It was like wiping their slates clean and starting over... only with a soul jacked full of darkness, instead of equal portions.

As for Viviana, she was their leader. She brought them together and gave them a purpose, gave them what they never had; love, affection, caring. Her purpose, of course, was unknown as of right now. Of course, that's what everyone said, but I knew the truth. She was just like Atlan and every other monstrosity that came before her.

Take over the world.

Ultimate power.

Aaaaand cue the evil laugh.

I shook my head and went over to inspect what was left of the body. It was mostly just bone, chunks of black bloody flesh. Of course, there was no sign of a soul in the body. The ones who survived the transition had souls, but the ones who exploded like this? The souls were gone. Taken. And no one knew where. I, nor any of the other death gods or reapers, could pick up on the souls locations. Another oddity.

According to the grapevine, the souls were being kept in statuary in Viviana's garden, which made no sense to me. Souls couldn't be contained by simple things like that. They needed a vessel, or to be free to wander their afterlife. So what the hell were those statues made of to be able to contact something as powerful as a soul?

"No soul," I confirmed for Thorn, who sighed and rubbed at his face, "I'll make some calls, but we probably won't be getting this one back anytime soon." Thorn nodded in understanding. A second later, the air around us rippled and pulsed, and I tensed as soon as the feeling faded and we turned to see Xiphrus arriving, with Michael right at his heels, like some kind of dutiful puppy. And I wasn't even sure which one of them was the puppy.

Probably not Xiphrus, given that he was the size of a goddamn house. Ridiculously tall in a way that only Hades, Cerberus, and I could understand, Xiphrus towered over pretty much everyone in the area. His long inky black hair fell down his back, with the hair around his face gathered back in a loose braid, and his eyes a pale icy blue. His dark caramel skin was a canvas of blue tribal tattoos that zigzagged their way up and down his arms, all around his torso, his legs, all the way up his neck. And like a lot of people I knew, his wardrobe consisted of black on black on black.

A total opposite for the archangel, Michael. A slender petite male with a healthy pale complexion, a mane of thick blonde wavy hair that fell over his shoulders, and eyes gleaming like sapphires. There was something almost feminine about him, something that he shared with Lucifer if Lucifer hadn't opted for facial hair. And while Lucifer liked his white leather and cheery colors, Michael was classy. All suits and tie and expensive loafers, and I'm pretty sure the watch on his wrist was over ten thousand creds.

A weird as fuck couple given that Michael was all about the purity of the soul, of virtue and goodness, and all things Yhwhwa. Meanwhile, Xiphrus was a cocksucking monstrosity.

"The fuck is he doing here?" I asked, turning to Thorn, who raised an eyebrow.

"Considering he's now part of Heaven, it seemed appropriate. Also, he's Michael new bodyguard slash beau. So where Michael goes, he goes, and right now, we need Michael here," he responded. To which I wanted to retort how fucking come. Sure, Michael kept track of the scribes, but fuck, why did he need a bodyguard? Michael was stronger than he looked. He packed a hell of a punch when he was pissed. Just look at what he did to Lucifer.

"I'm out of here," I said as they approached.

"No, you're not," Michael said, making me narrow my eyes on him as he had the balls to come up to me like some kind of principal cornering a kid in the hallway at school, "We have business with you, so do me a favor and quit running away. If I'd thought Death was such a coward, I wouldn't have been so afraid of him." I tensed, even though the corner of my lips pulled into a smirk.

This little fucker.

I looked past him at Xiphrus, who didn't meet my eyes. He looked uncomfortable, ashamed even. And I soaked it all in. He should feel like shit. Especially after our phone conversation earlier. I hoped he had trouble sleeping at night like I did.

"I have no business with you," I told Michael as I slid my eyes back over to him, "I was called here about a body, now I'm gone."

"A body without a soul. A soul that is now in the hands of Viviana. Which makes it your business."

"Not really. I deal with the dead, not the stolen or the living."

"Wow, it must be so nice where you're living. Denial Land. I heard the main sport there is shoving your head in the sand. Let me guess, you're their pro player?" Michael asked. I glared at him. Holy shit, he was irritated as hell. Even more annoying was knowing that he could back up that sassy mouth of his with a suckerpunch to the kidneys, of which I was not interested in, so I took a step back from him before I made the mistake. Unfortunately, today was full of mistakes because Michael took a step toward me, like he was wholly prepared to throw done, and I bristled at the close contact, clenching my fists in my coat pockets.

"Hey," Thorn hissed at us, putting his hands out between us, "None of that shit. You can do your cock swinging later. Right now we have a situation on our hands. Viviana's managed to get another soul. Another person. Which means people are still being infected and swept away and we still have no idea why. And for the record, Viviana has her hands in all our cookie jars. So as much as I don't want to deal with another universal fuckery, we have no choice."

I said nothing. I didn't want to argue. I'd made my case. Fuck Viviana, fuck Xiphrus, fuck all of this. It had nothing to do with me. So she was jacking corrupted souls, who cares? Gehenna gets pretty crowded. She wasn't exactly doing anything evil yet. And even if she started to, Hades and his brigade of nosy twats were there to save the day. Didn't involve me.

"I'm leaving," I told Thorn, "I did my part. Soul's gone." Thorn looked like he was ready to put my head through a window too. I challenged his glare with one of my own until Michael cleared his throat, making our heads snap to look at him.

"My apologies for this aggressive intrusion," he told Thorn, who just nodded slowly, like he wasn't sure what to do with Michael's formality, and Michael turned to me, "We will have our discussion immediately and in private. If you wish to flee, I will come with you wherever you go. Including your cute little home in Hell as Lucifer has given me permission to enter the realm without official diplomatic reasoning. So please, test me, reaper. Run away from me and see how long it takes me to find you."

He was just asking to have his mouth punched. I wanted to smashed those pearly white teeth out of his head. He had balls to threaten me, and worse, to show up at my house. I cursed Lucifer for his stupidity in forgiving Michael. Where was all this sudden oh it's okay you tortured me for centuries and nearly killed everyone I know and love coming from?

They said forgiveness was strength.

Bullshit. Forgiveness was making me vomit.

But maybe if I gave them a few minutes to do their spiel, they'd leave me alone. They'd leave Alaric alone. We'd finally get some peace and quiet until the next universal catastrophe.

"Somewhere private," I said at last. Michael relaxed at that and inclined his head in understanding. Thorn gestured to the alley behind the building we were in front of, and we filed away as Thorn was left to deal with the damage. When we were sure we were out of earshot and the alley was secured, Michael turned to look at me while Xiphrus lounged further down the alleyway, playing sentinel for his current bedmate.

"Now that you're done being a child," Michael said, making me narrow my eyes, because seriously what a great fucking way to start a conversation, "We're here to inform you that Viviana is going to start gunning for you on a personal vendetta and she's not coming after you with chocolate and flowers. She's coming to kill you." I stared at him for a full minute because it took me a moment to understand exactly what he was saying.

Viviana was coming to kill me.

Personal vendetta.

My eyes went to Xiphrus, who had his head ducked down, his thumbs hooked into the pockets of his leather pants. Nothing said guilty like that pose, oh no.

So let me guess. Xiphrus did something to piss her off and now she was coming after me to get back at him. An eye for an eye and all that Gandhi bull.

Hell, if I wasn't a necessary evil in the universe, I'd find this Viviana ho myself and give her the knife to do it. Anything to make Xiphrus bleed inside. Because I wasn't stupid; I loathed Xiphrus right to the cockles of my heart. If he were capable of dying without destroying the universe, I would've killed him a long time ago. But he didn't hate me. No, Xiphrus loved me more than anything, especially now that I was one of his last living children, if not the only one considering I hadn't run into any of the others in billions of years.

And if killing myself would hurt him, I'd do it a hundred times over.

"Did you hear me?" Michael asked, annoyed. I looked at him. His arms were folded neatly over his chest, and somehow he stood without wrinkling up that perfect gray pinstripe suit.

"Yeah. So what?" I asked. Michael frowned. Wow, he went from pretty to angry papa real quick there, and I almost burst out laughing at the analogy. Angry papa. Because if he was dating my dad, it looked like he was my step-daddy. How great was that? Instead of just hating the stepdad, I was hating both of them. Damn, and here Alaric thought more family would do me some good.

"She's going to try and kill you," Michael repeated and when I didn't bat a lash, he looked thoroughly aggravated, "We don't know when or how. You're in danger." I stood there, calm and casual, and mostly because it was making him angry. And at this point, Xiphrus's head was up and he was staring right at me. Those eyes were complete and utter confusion, concern. And the urge to spit in his face was overwhelming, but instead, I just stood there and looked right back at him.

"Just because you say you're not part of this," Michael continued, "Doesn't matter. She will come after you whether you want to be part of it or not. She's going to kill you and frankly, I'm not sure what this will do to the universe." His eyes glanced over at Xiphrus real quick, and I immediately knew that it had nothing to do with the universe. He didn't give a shit what happened to the universe. It was more like, he had no idea what this would do to Xiphrus.

He'd probably cry, throw a hissy fit for a while, then get the fuck over it.

Because that's what he did to all his other kids after he killed them.

"Yeah," I said slowly, looking back at Michael, "I get it. Is that all you wanted to tell me or do you wanna go on some long lecture about how great Xiphrus is and how nice he is and how he cares about people and he loves me so much and he just wants to keep me safe?" Michael's eyes snapped fire at that. I'd successfully pissed off the prince of Heaven. Goodie.

"You are an arrogant whiny little brat," he started, making me smile slowly, and it only seemed to tick him off more, "You stand around as if you haven't made a single mistake in your life, as if you're the purest soul in the whole universe. How dare you stand there and make judgments about others when you've clearly never looked yourself in the mirror before. You're a self-righteous--"

"Michael," Xiphrus said softly. He'd appeared right behind Michael, taking Michael's hand that looked like it was ready to land me an uppercut. Michael tensed, shooting him an angry look, but Xiphrus shook his head and whispered, "please". Michael snatched his hand back, then glared at me.

"You are as tainted as the rest of us, Death." He vanished a second later. So I was left looking across the space between Xiphrus and I. It was just a couple feet. And yet, it felt like a giant trench. A trench neither of us could cross.

"I told you I didn't want to see you again," I said coldly. Xiphrus looked at me, but not directly at my eyes. He was avoiding them like he didn't want to see how much I fucking hated him.

"I apologize. We needed to be here because of the body, but... We needed to tell you about Viviana, Stanton. She's deadly," he said, and this time he looked up and met my eyes, "She's not like anything else we've ever encountered. She's plotting something big, something horrible. And she's not afraid to kill you. She probably can, the way she talks--"

"I'm not scared of her," I cut him off abruptly, "I faced you." He fell silent, just stared at me. There was a small hope there for a brief moment, that somehow the space between us could be repaired. And with those words, that hope was snuffed out.

"Now fuck off," I said, dismissing him. I vanished from Purgatory and teleported back home. I reappeared just on the steps of the house, undoing the lock just as I heard someone shout my name and I cringed, glancing up at the sky.

The Source really was trying to push my limits today.

I turned to see Jaclyn coming up the walkway with Ernest and Chloe, Jaclyn's number two. Ernest looked like what you would expect of a former public school superintendent; a chunky male with a peppered goatee and a combover and blotchy skin, who didn't wear his clothes in the right size, so his gut was threatening to pop his shirt from its tucked in state on those khakis.

Chloe wasn't nearly as unbearable as either one of them. She was a quiet frail female with perfect pale blonde curls, straight cut bangs, seafoam green eyes, pale creamy skin, and probably wore a size 0 in all her clothes, and still they managed to look too big on her. She was an elf, and as such was subject to a disease called in fame, which in Latin translated literally to starvation. It was a disease that basically made it difficult for them to process food, difficult to hold it down. It made eating a hassle and quite painful sometimes.

"Jaclyn," I greeted as she approached with narrowed eyes, "I thought we sorted this out."

"Absolutely not," Jaclyn snapped, miffed by the assumption, "We have a dire situation here."

"I didn't think someone else's marital problems were dire, but if you think so. What do you think I should do? Alaric doesn't really care for flowers," I added, making her scoff. Apparently she wasn't talking about the problem between Alaric and I as opposed to what a problem our problem was.

"You know that's not what I'm talking about," Jaclyn chided, and behind her Ernest made a gross old man coughing-snort like he was hacking up a lung, then decided he was gonna eat that too, "Your disturbance has caused unrest in the neighborhood." I looked up and down the streets, looking for the so-called unrest she was talking about. Some lady was watering her garden with a big floppy hat and a Border Collie running around after her, biting at the water. Another guy was mowing his lawn with his headphones on. A family was splashing around in an inflatable pool. Next door, the neighbors were outside playing tag, looking completely unbothered by the events that had unfolded yesterday morning.

"Oh yeah," I murmured, feigning shock as I turned to look at the trio, "I can just see all the devastation. I had no idea my little marital issue would cause such a problem." Chloe's lips twitched, like she wanted to laugh, hiding her glossy pink lips behind a hand and those eyes shyly peering up at me. I flashed her a smile and she blushed right to the tips of her ears and Jaclyn shot her a dirty look that shut her up real quick.

"How're your kids, Chloe?" I asked her. She blinked owlishly, surprised I even remembered she had three children, one of whom was a toddler that had inherited her illness.

"Oh, uhm, they're doing good. Thank you."

"That's good. I saw Dex the other day and he looked pretty good."

"Yes, uhm, he went into remission again, so he's eating much better now."

"I'm glad to hear it. Are you still dating that--"

"Enough," Jaclyn snapped, making Chloe jump, "We are not here to catch up on our personal lives."

"Oh no," I asked, raising an eyebrow, "Cuz, I could've sworn that you came here to get up my ass about my personal life." Jaclyn's cheeks darkened and she opened her mouth to start in on one of her bitching fests.

"Hey, what's going on here?" We looked up as Alaric came up the walkway, frowning at everyone as he approached with a couple bags of take-out, and holy jesus in heaven, I could smell that kung-pao chicken and egg rolls as if they were already in my face. My mouth watered and I forgot all about the crazy lady and the old man making gross snuffling sounds. I went right through them to Alaric, putting my arms around him.

"You've saved me," I moaned in his ear, cradling him against me. Alaric laughed softly, patting me on the back as he handed me one of the bags. He gave me a kiss on the cheek, then looked over at the trio, who just stood there staring at us.

"What's wrong?" He asked them.

"Alaric!" Alaric looked over at the neighbors, who waved in greeting to him and he waved back. He looked back over at Jaclyn, raising a questioning brow. Jaclyn stared at him for the longest time, then looked at me, then back again. She tensed.

"Sorry. Just wanted to make sure things were all settled here," she replied. Alaric smiled.

"Yup. Apologies have been made and we'll do our best to keep things down next time. You know how it is."

"Yes, of course. Have a nice day." Jaclyn walked past him with Ernest hobbling behind and Chloe giving us a friendly little wave as she followed. We watched them go.

Of course Jaclyn never attacked Alaric. That would be stupid of her. See, Jaclyn was a nasty bitch to everyone, except Alaric. Because he was a member of the royal family. She kissed his ass as much as she could, for some reason thinking that if she was best friends with Alaric, she'd get some kind of benefit. As if having a rich friend got you money. As if they were paying you to be friends with them.

As if Alaric needed her. Bullshit. Alaric had plenty of people who loved and adored him for nothing more than he was who he was. He didn't need people like Jaclyn.

We went in the house and unpacked the takeout on the island counter, filling the air with delicious sauces, seasoned chicken, spicy noodles. It got even better when Alaric got out a couple of beers.

"So what're you all dressed for? Did you go out?" He asked as I slid my jacket off and tossed it on the coat rack. I shrugged as I gathered up my things and led the way into the living room where Alaric turned the television on and scrolled through a list of recordings to get to our usual show, which was like the mortal show Maury, only with a lot more violence and screaming.

"Another body in Purgatory," I said, making him frown as he settled on the sofa beside me, "Yeah. It was no big deal, though. They're dealing with it. I was just called to confirm the body and the lack of a soul." Alaric looked uncomfortable with that as he leaned forward and cracked open his beer, taking a swig and fishing an egg roll out of his brown take out box.

"That doesn't sound like no big deal," he said. I shrugged, sitting back on the sofa and putting my feet up on the sofa table as I used my chopsticks to fish around in the box for chunks of chicken.

"Not for us," I responded, then looked at the TV, "Oh shit, it's that vamp bitch again. Lemme guess, she doesn't know who the daddy of her other kid is now. You'd think being humiliated once would scare her off the show." Alaric looked at me longer, like he wanted to push the subject, but he knew better. I'd just keep responding with television references, so he gave up and started eating and watching the show.

Thankfully, that was all we needed to relax. Soon, we were shouting at the TV, thankfully having the windows shut this time, while taking bets on who the baby daddy was, and sometimes even the species of the child wasn't known for sure and when that shit came out, wow, did people go apeshit, including Alaric, who'd do fist pumps and smacks on my leg.

He was fun to watch when he got into the show. He got really into it, bouncing up and down, laughing his head off, choking on chow mein. His eyes sparkled and he was almost always smiling. It was great.

And I liked this.

I liked relaxing with Alaric. I liked this alone time we got. It was real. It was good. Life felt like okay, everything did. This was all I wished we could do for the rest of eternity. Watching dumb reality shows, eating take out, his cinnamon buns-- both kinds. I didn't have to think about war or death or misery or family. It was just me and Alaric, enjoying life. And that was how it should be.

And it always got better afterward. We would throw away the boxes from our food, clean up a little, then head upstairs for the best part of the night.

I sat on the bed, took off my boots, my pants. I listened to Alaric getting ready in the bathroom, probably pulling on some cute lacy shit. I threw the blankets back and shoved the pillows against the wall and settled against them, getting comfortable as Alaric came out of the bathroom.

And hot damn it was worth the wait.

He stepped out, wearing a pair of deep blue and black lacy panties with a beautiful intricate design done in the lace and it looked like it was stitched up the front with ribbon, so I got a nice peek at what lay beneath. I straightened on the bed and he smiled as he came over, got on the bed, and crawled over until he could seat himself perfectly in my lap.

"Gods, I've been waiting all day for this," I murmured, reaching up to brush the white hair back from his face. I captured a lock between my fingers, rubbing it and feeling the softness of it, like touching rabbit's fur. I leaned in and took a whiff, and it smelled like some off brand combination of spices and dark chocolate, and gods, I loved that smell.

"I've missed you, baby," Alaric purred, stroking my hair and leaning down to kiss me on the forehead. I smiled up at him, putting my arms around him and holding him in my lap. He felt so perfect in my arms. Lean muscle, smooth and strong, hard with soft skin stretched tight. My mouth watered for him, so I parted my lips and leaned in to kiss his shoulder. He moaned and I kissed him again, this time trailing kisses up along the side of his throat. He cradled my head against him as I reached his neck, suckling here and there, kissing the underside of his chin before finally reaching the grand prize of his perfect lips.

His kiss was deep and hungry, desperate for more, his hands sliding up through my hair, pulling hard. He didn't stay there, though. He started to scoot down my body, trailing kisses down my throat, over my chest, and down to my groin, where he looped his fingers in my tight boxers and inched them down so my cock bobbed free in his face.

He parted his lips and took me deep into his mouth, right to his throat. I groaned, reaching down to fist his hair as he worked his delicious magic on me, tongue going right where I needed it to. He nuzzled me, licked at me, then kissed down my shaft to my balls, sucking them into his mouth, lavishing them with attention both tongue and finger oriented. He shifted his attention back up to the head of my cock, lips touching the tip of me in a wet kiss, glossy with precum.

"You taste so good," Alaric purred, fingering the tip of me and I hissed, baring my fangs as I rubbed myself against his face, "Do you like it when I touch you like this, baby?"

"Fuck yeah."

"Do you want me to touch you more?"

"Yes."

"Right here?" He teased the tip of me and I squirmed. He laughed softly, blowing across the head and I shuddered, feeling the orgasm build up inside me. He dipped his head down, peering up at me through his lashes, then dragged his tongue up along the underside of me before taking me deep into his mouth. And fuck, that did it, that really did it; I came with a gasp, clutching his hair in my fists, arching my back as I spilled into his mouth. I peeked down and another powerful orgasm ripped through me right on the heels of the first one at the sight of him peering up at me with his mouth open, so I could watch myself spill past his lips, spurting onto his cheeks and chin.

Alaric moaned as I finished, licking his lips and cleaning my cock off. He wrapped his hand around me and it didn't take much to get me hard again, his fist pumping up and down wetly. Once I was good and hard again, he slid up into my lap and pulled a tube out of the nightstand. He prepared himself right there in my lap, arching his back so his chest was against mine. I wrapped my arms around him, watching him push his fingers inside himself, having moved aside the thin lace thong.

As he worked himself, I ran my tongue along his throat and he tilted his head back, sucking in a deep breath, then easing it out. He started to roll his hips, moaning as he touched himself while I lapped at his neck. I reached down between us, tracing the ribbons that crisscrossed his cock and he shuddered, breathing hard, and dropping his head forward to rest on my shoulder. I ran my hands down his arms, down his back, reaching the globes of his ass, fitting them in my palms and groping at the muscle there.

He purred, moving his fingers and grabbing onto me with a breathless moan.

"I need you inside me, baby," he whispered.

"Happy to oblige," I murmured, kissing him gently on the lips. He put his hands on my shoulders, rising up on his knees and positioning himself before lowering himself down on top of me. I rested on my hands on his hips, growling low in my throat as I filled him completely, the sensation of him sucking me in making my muscles twitch.

He gasped when he was fully lowered, his arms going around my neck, dragging my head close so he could kiss me. I kissed him back and started to move my hips, making him gasp and squirm in my lap. I held him tight to me, thrusting my hips up. The sound of skin slapping skin, of Alaric's pretty mewls for more, his breath harsh. He smelled delicious, the scent of hot heavy sex mingling with his spicy chocolate scent. His sweat ran down his temples, trailed down his back, and the front of his panties grew wet with leakage, his eyelids sliding shut and swollen lips opening to spill moan after moan. He started to rock his hips with me, his breath growing more hoarse, higher as if he were so damned close to release, and I could feel it about to hit me too; feel that powerful build to the top. It rushed through my veins like lava.

And it exploded when Alaric threw his head back and cried out, spilling all over his panties. The sight of him coming, in complete ecstasy, fucking hit me like a truck and I shuddered in release, clutching him to me hard, pulling his face down and kissing him deeply. He moaned and ran his hands through my hair, rocking his hips against me.

From there, we switched positions so I had him sprawled out on his back, his legs pushed up onto my shoulders, body bouncing as I caught his legs and slammed into him. He cried out, clutching the sheets into his fist with one hand, the other clawing at my shoulder. I savored the burn of his nails, savored his cries, the tears coming down his cheeks as we reached our third round and I'd flipped him over onto his stomach, pulling his hips up and riding him hard as he clutched a pillow to his chest.

Fuck, it was a great night. Over and over and over again until Alaric couldn't take it anymore, and I knew only after he breathlessly begged me to stop because it'd gone from pleasure to pain. I concurred. My back was killing me and I was seconds away from passing the fuck out, so I surrendered and gave him a last kiss before getting up off him so I could go grab a washcloth to clean up our mess.

By the time I crawled into bed with him, he was out like a light. I fell asleep shortly after midnight, body aching and twitching. I wasn't sure how long I was asleep for, and I couldn't remember exactly what my dream was about, but it didn't matter. Even asleep, something felt off. Really off. Like, someone was watching me.

I blinked my eyes open groggily, turning my head to see that the clock on the nightstand read 2:59 in the morning. I frowned at the clock, then reached up to rub at my eye, but shit, my arm felt heavy. My whole body felt heavy as hell. I'd kicked the blankets off in my sleep, so I was laying there in my boxers, completely exposed.

I still felt like someone was watching me.

I turned to look at Alaric, but he was laying on his side facing the other way, bundled up under the blankets. I frowned at that until I realized how fucking cold it was in the room. No wonder he was being a blanket hog. It was icy cold up in this shit. I sat up and went to take some blankets back, only to go absolutely still as I stared across the room.

New moon tonight, so the room was dead dark.

But I knew something was standing in the corner of the room. I could feel it. The ice cold dread sliding down my spine, the prickling of my hairs as they stood on end, goosebumps riding all the way down to my legs. I wanted to open my mouth, to demand whoever it was, but I couldn't move my mouth. In fact, I went to move my arms and legs, but nothing was working. I was completely frozen in place, and I watched as the shadow in the room moved toward the bed, so they were standing right over me.

My heart was pounding like a bitch, my voice screaming in my head, cool sweat riding down the side of my nose. I wanted to grab Alaric, wanted to blast the shadow away from me, but goddamn me!

I couldn't move! I couldn't speak!

Move, damn you, move!

"It's okay," a female's voice said suddenly, and I went still at the husky rich voice that purred from the darkness behind me, "Don't be scared, sweetheart." I managed to turn my head to the voice, my vision focusing in on the shadow, and managing to make her out.

Holy shit, she was sexy as hell. Like a burlesque model straight off the pages of a 1920s playboy magazine. Hips that wouldn't quit, a perky rack that went into the double Ds, skin like fine fragile porcelain, and thick wavy jet black hair that fell around her shoulders. Her beautiful cupid's bow lips were painted a vivid shade of red, matching the lacy pattern of her skintight dress that went all the way down her arms to her hands.

The only thing that scared the living shit out of me and ruined the badass babe look of her was her eyes. Deep black pits. No separation between sclera, pupil, iris. It was just a pair of black holes drilled into her fucking head.

"Ssh," she murmured, reaching out to brush her thumb across my bottom lip, "I was going to kill you. Chop you up into tiny pieces and leave you here to rot beside your pretty husband, but..." Her voice trailed as she laid her hand on the side of my face, and holy shit, it was cold. It was icy cold. It felt like touching my face to the side of an ice cream container that had been sitting in the freezer for six years. It actually burned, it was so damn cold.

And yet I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. And damn it to hell, Alaric wasn't waking up at all. He was still buried in his blankets, snuggled up like everything was just fine and dandy.

She suddenly sniffed a little, like she was on the verge of crying, her black eyes gleaming. She tilted her head, studying me, her expression one of incredible sadness.

"I can't. You're so beautiful. You're so... masculine. And your honesty... You care so much. Love so deeply," she paused, and her eyes seemed to slowly harden now, and even though it should've been impossible, her hand got even colder on my face and my lips finally opened in a silent shout of pain, "No. It's not fair. It's not fair that he gets to keep you. He doesn't deserve you. He doesn't treat you the way you should be treated."

Alright, so she was fucking nuts.

This had to be the Viviana everyone was talking about. I'd heard she wasn't completely right in the head. This just went to prove it. First there was the fact that this bitch was talking to herself. Definitely not me, considering the faraway look in her eyes, which I had no idea how I could figure out considering her eyes were black as fucking coals. And then there was the fact that she had gone from sad to infuriated. She was bipolar on steroids.

"I have an idea," she whispered suddenly, a smile spreading across those red lips, "Why don't you come home with me?"