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Death

She whimpers softly on the ground, her body shaking from uncontrollable tears. As I reach closer I see blood, it pools around her and coats her hands and is splashed across her face. A flash from my dreams comes to me all at once and it causes my heart to lurch, with fear,

"Adeline." I call her but she doesn't seem to hear me.

Her hands reach up to brush the hair from her face and they shake as her body racks with another fit of sobbing. "Someone help me, please."

I finally reach her, "Addie." I whisper, my hands reach her blood soaked arm, small gashes still oozes deep red blood as she trembles. "Its me, can you look at me."

God, please look at me.

Her head turns slightly upward, her bright blue eyes shine behind her dark hair. As soon as our eyes meet she reaches up and throws her arms around my neck, just as she did in the park when she killed that man. Only this time I don't know what's happened to her.

"Tell me what happened Adeline." She squeezes harder, her body shaking ferociously now.

"I...I'm so sorry. I thought I could change what happened but I can't. I can't." Bastet told me why she came, she just wanted her humanity back, to get rid of demon.

I grip the side of her face, forcing her to look at me, "Shh, stop. You're safe Adeline, nothing can hurt you now." I wipe away her tear stained face, taking in the way her sobbing has made her nose red and her cheeks puffy. I also notice the deep gash marks on the side of her right cheek, still fresh and bruising.

"Tell me what happened." Her eyes widen and her hands tighten on my arms. "No one is going to hurt you now tell me."

"She was here, she hurt me, they all did." Her hands reach my neck, her face drawing near, "I can show you." She whispers. Her lips crush mine as she drags me into her memories. She shows me how she got here, what the warlock did and she shows me Lilith. How afraid she was as she spoke to her, at how confused she was when Lilith told her of a long history that we once shared and most of how guilty she felt for not listening to me. She gasps against my mouth forcing me closer as she continues shoving her thoughts into mine. Flashes of their encounter speed past me before I can even comprehend what they were doing at the time. Then it slows, she slows, her lips grow softer, her hands grow warm, and her memories become clearer. The memory was cast in shadows but I saw her, Lilith smiled as she drove a dagger into Adeline and into herself, a light so bright blinded Adeline and me in her memories and all that was left was the body of Lilith and the loud cackle that came from Adeline.

I push her back and she laughs wickedly but it's not her at all. "Lilith, what have you done to Adeline?"

She licks her lips, "Well that was lovely. I do miss our fun encounters, with me on top of course." Lilith swirls and leaps from the ground, she sways her hips and plants down on her throne. "Welcome my love to my home. Where I've been rotting away trying to conjure a plan to get you to that very spot. How do you think I've done so far?" She laughs, it bellows across the empty space. "I had you there for a moment didn't I, I deserve something very special for that."

"You deserve to die, now what have you done to Adeline." I stand, lifting my wings to avoid the blood on the floor.

"What have you done with Adeline?" She mocks, rolling her eyes as she examines her nails. "She's unimportant at the moment, don't you think. We've just had our first kiss in over a thousand years."

"Please lilith." I beg, it's all I can do to not think of whose blood is on that floor.

She glares. "Don't you hear yourself. You sound absolutely pathetic. Why is she so damn important to you? She's nothing and she's no one." I search the room, finding Lilith's body on the floor behind the throne.

She slams her fist on the armrest, "Look at me when I am trying to speak to you!" I meet her gaze with a glare, "Thats better. Now don't you want to know why you're here."

"I don't suppose I have a say in the matter, Lilith." Everything I've built came crashing down, the wall that held my past in place is open and vulnerable. Lilith has reached back in, her hands around my heart.

She bites down hard on her lip, blood pools at her mouth and runs down her chin, Adeline's chin. "No you don't, I have the power here."

Her message was clear, play along and Adeline doesn't get hurt but the gashes along her flesh did not heal, those were real after all. Was she even in there anymore?

"I would like to start from the beginning, so Adeline here knows why she's here too." Adeline's body shakes for a brief second, Lilith tries to shrug off the loss of power over the body but continues. I want to sigh with relief, my worries have been answered, she's still in there. "We have a history you and I, Death. Its long overdue for a visit and it's about time someone knows who we truly are." I didn't want to hear it, I knew what happened and how the ending went.

"Ready my love." She cocks her head to the side, her claws gripping the armrest as if waiting for me to say no.

"Nothing will change what happened, why must you go back and dwell on something that you caused." She acts as if the world has punished her but it is her who has punished herself. I understand the crime I have committed, the wrongdoing I have caused, she however does not see it and that is her undoing.

The blue in Adeline's eyes turns to a black that spreads past her irises and the whites of her eyes until I am staring at two black holes. "I wanted this to be a time we shared in remembrance of our love for one another but you are making it so very difficult to do just that." She stands abruptly and makes her way slowly to where I stand. With quick hands she captures my face in her claws, "I will make you see and I will make you mine again."

The tips of her nails dig deep in my skull and soon I am traveling through time and stop at the very moment I lay my eyes on Lilith. My heart bursts with affection for the dark and fair skinned woman leaning against the large tree. A small gate is all that separated me from touching her smooth skin.

"You shouldn't have come here, Angel. He will know." I wanted everyone to know, my foolishness was unconsciously seen to me at the time and all I ever wanted was her in my arms.

"But here I am, alone once again with a true Angel insight." She smiles, it wasn't just any smile, that smile held secrets only she would tell herself.

With careful hands she sets the flowers aside that lay in her lap and stands in one elegant motion. With naked feet touching the soft grass she walks to where I stand and places her hands on either side of mine neither one of them touching.

"Take me away, Samuel. Take me away from this place forever and I will be with for eternity." The warmth from her hands seemed to touch my own and I lost all control over my emotions.

"Tonight at dawn you will meet me here and we will never be found again." She cries out, but it's a happy cry filled with tears.

"At dawn it shall be."

I remember planning everything before it would happen, before I would have the woman of everyone's dreams. It wasn't that I wanted power or that I wanted her out of lust, it was true love that I felt toward her and I would soon find out that it was all a lie.

"Lilith!" I whispered. The moon sat in the sky, casting the tree and overgrowth in a white light.

I waited for hours until she finally came, drenched in blood and sweat. She laughed when she saw my face, "What have you done?"

"I told him, I told him I did not want him. He would not listen Samuel. He tried forcing me to stay so I hurt him. He will not take me from what I want, he will not take my freedom." She sounded crazed and unbalanced, at that point her illusions began to fade.

"Don't you mean me, he will not take you from me."

She smiled wickedly, her face that was so full of love was now filled with an underlying hate. "Oh you poor thing you, my love for you is not as strong as my will to live a life I choose, in a life away from the Garden of Eden."

"Stop!" I push her away from me watching as Lilith staggers back, her eyes as blue as ever.

"Death, is that really you."

My gaze widens, "Adeline." Before I can touch her, a cruel smile dances along her lips.

Adelines head rolls back, her lips part before inhaling deeply, "No. I can assure you she won't be coming back."

"End this now Lilith, let her go and do what you must to me but leave her alone." This was going too far, Adeline cannot handle having three souls inside one body, her mind will break.

"Why?" She cries, "Why do you care so much for the girl, she is nothing compared to what I have for you. The history, the bond we share can never be replaced. I want to live a new life away from this darkness and live with you."

I shake my head, "Your idea of living is not the same as others, you want a power that I can not give. You want a love that does not exist. That is why we are the way we are now, banished and branded. You were to live a life of darkness and I was to live a life collecting the dead, all because you wanted more. Wasn't I enough Lilith, wasn't the power and love we had enough?" I wipe my face, never wanting to live this very moment all over again. "I will never be enough to sedate the demon in you, to sedate the a real darkness in your heart."

"You are just so pathetic! Disgusting and useless!" It's as if time as repeated itself, she just has a different face that tries to turn me into nothing. "You're right on one thing. No one can match me. I am the one and only person who enjoys the dark, not even little ole Luci has this much hate and rage. I want nothing more than to watch you bleed and rip each little feather from those dreadful wings but I have a whole universe to take over." She breathes out heavily, brushing away the hair that as stuck to her cheek. "To think you could have been by my side."

"You know I can't let you go. My Reapers are outside, can't you hear the sound of your demons cry, they will lose. You have no one. And that vessel you wear is not worth the trouble, she will fight you and They will come for her. The Angels want the girl Lilith and no one not even you can get in their way." It was a long shot to try and scare her from whatever plan she had but Adelines life was on the line.

She laughs cruelly, "You think those feathered rats scare me. I am not easily swayed, this will go on as it was planned even if I do it alone. Demons can be replaced. This body is now mine to control, I can practically hear her slowly fading away." She wiggles her fingers through the air, they have already darkened from the corruption.

She can fight this, I know she can, that small sliver of her came through when Lilith was distracted, she can do this, "Adeline. Listen to me, fight her, don't give in. Forget everything I've ever told you and don't give in to her."

Lilith smiled cruelly but suddenly it goes sour as she screams in pain, clutching her hands against her temples, she's breathing heavily now her eyes wild as she stares at the ground, "No. You're weak, you both are." She moans as another round of pain shocks her to her knees.

"Keep doing whatever you're doing Sweetheart, it's working perfectly." She pounds her fists on the ground as I circle her, she slashes out and I quickly side step her. She groans returning her hands to her face.

"I will claw her eyes out Death, just so she can't see you." Her claws move fast but not fast enough. I grip her wrists, catching them before her claws dig deep in the blue pools of Adeline's eyes.

"Let her go." I grunt out as I fall to my knees in front of her. She's stronger than I remembered, she fights me with a growing laughter that echoes around the room.

"Never. Your attachment is too sickening. I will kill the girl before I ever let her touch you again."

She acts like she cares but I know it's all a game to her, "Lilith, just let...her go." She screams again but this time in anger and her anger fuels strength and power, it sends me flying across the room, my back hits a pillar the dust flows through the air and fills my lungs.

I roll on the ground, coughing up different particles from the marble pillars.

"I didn't want to do this Sam, but you leave me no choice." She's used my real name twice now and it almost drives me insane but I ignore the side that I've buried long ago and fight for what is real. I wait for Lilith, she leans over my body as I display a show of pain. She falls for the ruse, kneeling before me she speaks closely, "You will die by the hands of three women, one you've forgotten, one you used, and the one you just can't seem to lose." A light shines in her hands, it reflects symbols and I soon recognize it.

She notices my acknowledgment of the so called shard, "Courtesy of the Halfling. She's truly something that one." The pang of betrayal passes, it's not Adelines fault. She raises the spear, her hands come down in a blur.

"Death.." The shout comes from the entrance, a quick glimpse and I see Bastet running toward Lilith, with several others behind her.

As soon as she's caught off guard I catch her hands and roll us to the side where we struggle on the hold of the spear tip. She fights and it's never ending, my hands begin to slip as a pain strikes my side, a piece of the pillar must have struck my side. Lilith notices the weakness and knees me where it sticks out with fresh blood, I shout in pain, the spear slipping until it reaches my throat. The very edge cuts into my skin and Lilith's eyes fill with triumph.

"Adeline." I groan, the spear cuts deeper and soon I feel blood trickle down my neck, the small droplets drop down to the plated armor, making small tick noises as it splashes quietly.

Lilith gasps, her eyes declouding and the black in her eyes look like smoke as it reveals the blue fire underneath. "Death." She groans, "I did it, I got passed her but it won't hold...she's so strong. So much more stronger than me. You have to stop her, the things I've seen in her head. She will destroy everything and everyone."

Her voice, it's truly her, "I can stop her all I need is time. Just hold on a little longer."

She suddenly begins to cry, tears leaving her eyes, "I can't, she's tearing me up inside, I can't anymore, it's too much, please just do it before it's too late."

She starts to pull the spear back, her control growing as she breaths out heavier resisting as much as possible, "I'm sorry, Adeline." My hand grasp the side of her face as the other grasps the spear. "I lied to you, I do regret saving you. I regret putting you through more pain." She begins to convulse in my hands, her body wanting to give in to Lilith.

She shakes her head, "Please don't do that, don't bury me like you did her, dont forget me and remember. For a moment I wanted nothing more than to be in your arms forever. I'm the one who is sorry, I should have listened." She cries out again, her body sweating as the shard touches her chest.

I'm the one who breathes heavily now, an angel of death who takes souls without thought and here I sit with a human in my hands asking for a death that I can't give. "I can't." What she asks of me is impossible. My forehead touches hers, our breaths mingle, it becomes ravaged. "You can," she sighs, her lips touch mine and in that one motion the spear pierces her thin clothing and soon sinks deep into her chest. Her breath catches and holds, the bottom lip of her full mouth trembles before falling back slowly into my hands.

Rage, fear, loss, it's all I feel as she lays in my arms, her body no longer trying to fight for control, I shake her but I know she's gone. I pull back, the spear shines brightly red and a trickle of blood leaves her lips and slowly travels down to her chin. "She's not gone. She's not." I lift her head to my chest and cradle her in my arms, her body is chilled, too cold to be real. Adeline is warm, her blue eyes are the fire that fuels her stubborn heart.

A shadow catches my eye, it leaves Adeline's body and seems to drag on the floor in defeat, it shakes and trembles in nothing and bubbles away in fits of drenching screams of pain and horror. Lilith. She melts away into nothing her shadow covers the ground in black slime before it disappears entirely.

I look back at her, at Adeline, her blue eyes are still but they stare blankly at the ceiling. I have to collect her soul this time, I won't stop her from reaching the light she so craves. I brush my lips on top of her head, hating the way she doesn't respond, before I move away a hand touches my shoulder.

"Let her go."

I wanted to scream at that very moment, "She is mine to collect, Michael."

He sighs deeply above me, he moves away slowly, reaching the side of where we lay on the ground, "I am truly sorry brother but she's ours now."

I fight back the urge to strike, I just wanted her in my arms, "No, you're wrong. I am Death the keeper of souls and she is a soul I can take."

"Do you remember what she asked you? To take her life to save the world. Lilith would have destroyed the earth, derived anyone in her path. She sacrificed herself."

I brush my fingers slowly across her eyes closing them, "When can I see her again?"

"I'm afraid never. She will have duties to uphold."

I scoff, unimpressed by his caring and devotion to her and his duties. "Do not start this Michael, I will see her again if it's the last thing I do."

He kneels down and slowly caresses her face, "Then I will be waiting."

I let him take her away, watching her head fall back and her hair sway slightly as Michael carries her along. With a glance caste my way and a small nod he disappears leaving me alone drenched in her blood. I stand, groaning as I pull the piece of marble free. Lilith's body still lays on the ground next to her throne, I do not wish to see her black eyes all I want are blue ones. 

*********

You guys this is it, the final chapter, I hope you all enjoyed my book, as much as I enjoyed writing it. More details will come and maybe an Epilogue if you're nice. 

Leave your comments below on how you enjoyed reading my book and most importantly what you disliked. 

Also look out for the second installment, The Price to Keep. And continue reading the unfold of Adeline's and Deaths story. 

The details will be posted at the end of this book. 

xoxoxo

-Ash