I'm pretty sure I'd banged my head on something at some point in time. I mean why else would I be going, alone, to the Legion base to meet with Kate?

And why else would I have bought Death's daughter a rose?

With everything going on, the alliance, Ian, Nora, and Daniel dying, and the loos of our spies in the Gold Order everything should have been miserable.

But with Kate everything was okay. We kept moving.

So I'd gone to a nice florist and bought her a single red rose that would get me killed if anyone found out. I'd definitely hit my head on something.

I walked up to the front door of the Legion base. Unlike us they didn't have to hide, the Legion owned one of the tallest skyscrapers in Manhattan.

Taking a deep breath I pulled open the door and walked into the deathtrap, I tried to fake confidence. The guards at the door eyed me but let me pass.

An older woman in a maid uniform walked over to me. She was wearing the same gray shirt and black pants my mother used to come home in when I was a kid.

"You must be Xander, you look so much like your mother. I'm Madeline." The woman greeted me.

"You knew my mother?"

"Of course I did. Andrea was a wonderful woman, I'm sorry I couldn't save her." Madeline.

Death had killed my mother when she'd tried to smuggle out files that would have turned people against the Legion. My father had always told it as a story of heroism.

I'd always wondered why my mother had left me.

"It's not your fault she's gone. Do you mind showing me where Kate and I are meeting?"

Madeline began to lead me through the base

"Kate? I'm surprised she told you her real name she's normally pretty secretive about that. She wasn't always like that you know, she was a very sweet little girl before Death got to her."

"You knew her as a kid?"

"I did, your mother was closer to her though. She used to play games with little Kate between chores. Kate was the sweetest thing, but she was also very headstrong. And Death didn't like a daughter with a rebellious spirit."

"So why did he let her become his second in command?"

"That I'm not sure of. Death was always cruel to Kate, then when she was about twelve the broken little girl started to get happier. Her pillows weren't stained with tears anymore.

"Then when she was fourteen Lilli died and all of the sudden she was the Devil. She was this ruthless commander. I'm still not sure if she broke or if she finally found happiness."

I took a second to process everything Madeline had told me. I'd always assumed Death had trained Kate to be the Devil. I'd assumed it was the path he'd laid out for her, not one she'd seemingly chosen.

"Why did Death let her be his second in command if he was always so cruel? Why not Derek?"

"I have absolutely no idea."

Then we reached a door and without another word, Madeline opened it. I was instantly greeted by an adorable German shepherd puppy. Dad had never let me get a dog as a kid but I'd always wanted a German shepherd.

The puppy curled up on a couch next to Kate, he clearly liked her.

"Cute puppy, I didn't know you were a dog person." I greeted her.

"I'm really not, this one just kind of grows on you." Kate turned to Madeline. "Tell the kitchen I want the grilled salmon and asparagus dish they made me last week and a glass of club soda with lime. Xander do you want something?"

She's a bit rude.

"Can I have a BLT and some fries and a root beer please?" I asked, trying to be friendly and compensate for Kate.

"And two slices of chocolate cake," Kate added.

"Of course ma'am." Madeline seemed more subdued around Kate.

"So to business then?" I asked. I wanted to get the planning over with.

I couldn't let Kate find out we'd lost Gold. If she did the alliance would be over and we'd either have to let the Legion run the show or come up with a whole new plan.

And I didn't like either of those options.

"Of course. Our top priority is to get the virus location so we can destroy it. I assume your people working with the Gold Order can get the location?"

There is no chance in hell of that happening.

"Of course. The only trouble is that Gold is away at the moment and we can't contact him, but as soon as he's back we can get the information."

Good, buy yourself time.

"Well he better get back soon, we only have a week to destroy the virus before it kills me."

I'd almost forgotten the virus was originally targeted at Kate and her father. Yet another reason we needed to stop Gold.

"I'm sure he will Kate. Do we have a plan for once we get the location?"

"Pink mist them and go in guns blazing."

"Won't a lot of people die if we do that?"

Knowing Gold he would have his virus surrounded by a lot of guards. I wanted to limit the casualties as much as possible.

"More will die if we don't stop Gold. Do you at least know where the Gold Order base is?"

Yes but I'm not letting you pink mist all of those people.

"No, I can put people on that though."

"I have an entire department on that, I highly doubt you can find what they haven't"

It had taken Izzie three months of checking satellite cameras and investigating black market supply lines. But we'd finally found it when one of Gold's guards had been three seconds late turning of the tracker on his x-com.

"I feel like you're underestimating me," I said with a smile.

"I doubt it."

Kate smirked and I made the mistake of looking into her ice-blue eyes. I could have chickened on the rose. I could have just left the stupid flower in my bag.

Without looking away from her beautiful blue eyes a reached into my bag and delicately pulled out the blood-red rose.

"I know it's cheesy and stupid and I have absolutely no business giving you this. But we've kissed twice now, and I can't get you out of my head."

My heart stopped. I was dead. Kate had reached for her gun. I seriously considered whether or not she'd shoot me for getting her a flower. It was a stupid thing to do.

Then her hand moved away from the gun and she opened her mouth. She took the flower.

"It doesn't have any thorns. What's the point without thorns?"

I was momentarily at a loss for words.

"I think the florist removes them, why do you want thorns?"

"Because roses without thorns are sad. It's like if you took away my knife. They're defenseless."

"That's oddly poetic. I'll get it with thorns next time."

It was then I realized I was going to do this again. I wanted to bring Kate flowers as long as she'd let me.

Then I looked back into her eyes and two kisses became three. It was absolutely worth risking my life for. It was then I realized I didn't care about the risk if it meant I got to kiss Kate.

Then somebody knocked on the door and we pulled apart.

A man came in and placed a tray of food on the table. I grabbed my BLT and took a bite. It was delicious, almost as good as Leo's.

"This is amazing," I said through a bite of my sandwich.

"We just kissed again," Kate said.

"Uh-huh," I said, ignoring the pending conversation as I took a bit of my sandwich.

"That's three times now. And we've never talked about it before."

"Yup." I really didn't want to hear how we couldn't kiss again, couldn't I pretend it was all okay?

"Why the fuck do we keep kissing?"

"I haven't the faintest idea. But I really don't want to stop."

"But it has to stop Xander."

"Why does it have to stop Kate?"

Maybe because both of our sides would kill us if they found out. I didn't doubt Death would kill his daughter for this, especially after he refused to pay her ransom.

"Because we're supposed to be enemies. I'm supposed to poison your drink then offer you the antidote in exchange for your base location, don't drink that by the way. I'm not supposed to kiss you."

"You poisoned my drink?" I pushed the root beer away.

"I wasn't going to let it kill you."

Ok. She had mentioned an antidote.

"And as for what you said we aren't enemies. Right now we're allies, and allies don't have to hate or kill each other. And I think I might be falling for you, and I can't explain why. You're evil, but I don't really care right now." I really didn't care

"We won't be allies forever Xander."

"Then we'll stop when this is over."

"It ends when Gold is dead."

And then she kissed me again.

***

Hey guys! What do you think of Kate's backstory? How did Kate become the Devil? What will happen when Kate finds out Xander no longer has people in the Gold Order? Please vote and comment, I want to know what you think!

-Jade