(There will be a double chapter posted with 24 & 25. Make sure you're on the right chapter!)

HEY REAPERS! 

Quick note (VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!)

So obviously with this rewrite there's been a lot of huge changes. My main focus was Death and Faith's relationship and so other relationships around them naturally aren't as strong as they should be. One of those relationships is Faith with her Aunt Sarah. I want you to imagine that they have a much stronger relationship, especially before Death takes Faith away into his world. I really have to establish this when I edit these books, but for now, pretty please use your imagination & don't kill me!!!

As is, I tried to find a middle ground where her relation is somewhat passive because yes, they don't have a relationship in this book at all, but that was a huge mistake on my part because of the way the book played out in my head. LMFAO. Writing books is so hardz manz.

Love you all!!!!
Katkatkatkatkatkatkatkatkatkatkat

Death was wrong. I didn't cry. I didn't feel anything, actually. Maybe I was too shocked to feel anything. Deep down, I knew I would get my aunt back because I would do everything in my power to. I wouldn't think about the what ifs. Not yet.

But then I became angry. It hit me like a blow to the stomach and it was hard to breathe. Since meeting Death, my life had become one trying event after another. Not only were the people I loved becoming a distant memory in some past past life I had, but also they were getting dragged into the hurricane that I was at the eye of.

And I couldn't ignore the pulse of electricity in me veins. It was so powerful that I was afflicted with a migraine and debilitating nausea that left me hunch over on Devin Star's couch. As soon as I'd stepped into this place, Devin's office, I'd felt sick to my stomach.

Now I was a vicious swirl of fury and revulsion. I was a live wire and there was no outlet to release the energy. It was as if there was a pressure building inside of me and because all I could do was either suppress it or lose control of it entirely, it was eating away at my insides.

No, not eating away.... Pressing against my insides. Something was beckoning the power to come out. Something literal. There was an enchantment to the air, invisible tendrils brushing my skin. I looked up, and my eyes drew to the wall next to Devin's electric fireplace. There was nothing special about that section of the wall. No cabinet, no door, but something was there. Faith... My attention sharpened, and my migraine worsened. I blinked past tears I fought the urge to get up and satisfy whatever urge I had to meet there. Frowning, I tore my gaze away from it, leaned forward, and braced my head in my hands. I suffered in silence as the men around me argued loudly.

"I want you ready by the end of this week."

It was Lucifer's voice. I lifted my heavy head and looked towards the group of men ahead of me. Death, Devin, and Leo were all in different positions around a long glass meeting table. Devin's office was more like an open floor apartment, with dark red and grey hues and dim lighting. Devin sat in a red and gold throne-looking chair at the head of the meeting table. His expression was muted and I could see his fingers were curled tightly around the ends of his armrests. Leo had his arms folded, standing on the opposite side of the table as Lucifer. Death stood at the middle, and was the furthest from the table, peering out one of the massive windows and into the night.

"End of the week," Death confirmed, "and without Faith. She stays here."

Lucifer slid a finger down his jaw. "I would prefer that. But don't you need the familiar in her pendant for you to navigate through the realm?"

I heard a low growl and expected it was from Death. "I ask you to reconsider that. We can find another one–"

"I don't have time for that," Devin interrupted evenly. "You know a familiar must choose you. It could take centuries to find a familiar who chooses you specifically."

Death stretched his neck, clearly unhappy with where the discussion was going. He still faced the window, so I couldn't see his expression. "Her abilities are driven by her emotions. With her aunt being kidnapped, and after her memories were taken away"–and with me being a dick to her, he didn't add– "her emotions are off the charts at the moment."

"I can agree with that," Leo chimed in, lower, as if he didn't want me to hear it. "She's been through a lot. And she isn't experienced like we are."

"I've done plenty of training," I suddenly chimed. Crossing my shaking arms, I stood up and made my way towards the meeting table. The closer I came to the table, the sicker I felt. "Weeks of training. And I still have the barracuda. I know how to fight."

Death slowly looked over at me as if he really had forgotten I was in the room. He looked paler than normal, and his features were sharper, sunken in, which made him look more angel than human. His eyes weren't quite as bright as they normally were, and I could tell by the minor lisp to his dialect that his fangs were longer than usual and still filled his mouth.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked sharply. His frown was so deeply etched into his expression that his entire face was an open book. He had something shoved up his ass and that much was clear. "You don't look right."

"I could say the same thing about you."

He smirked slowly, baring his fangs. There was a thinly veiled threat in the way he deliberately spoke. "I dare you to."

"Alright." Leo glared at Death, before stepping down from the meeting room and heading towards me. "Faith, I really think you should sit down–"

"I think you should leave, Leo," I said, and he looked very taken aback. Maybe I would have cared if I weren't so numb at the moment.

"I agree," Devin said, in a more pleasant way. "This is a discussion that should between us three. Leo, you should inform the other reapers of what has occurred. The last thing we need today is for one of the Seven to be attacked."

Leo bowed his head, his golden eyes carefully avoiding mine. "Of course, my Lord." He turned and exited the room.

Returning my attention to Death, I stepped up into the open floor meeting room and entered the conversation. "You won't be able to navigate through the portal alone, Death. Ace was very clear about that."

"I don't believe anyone asked your opinion on the matter," Death said, crossing his muscular arms over his chest.

"Really?" I crossed my arms over my chest, mocking his 'macho' position. "Because I think my opinion is what will get you your scythe back. But it won't get your head out of your ass." I turned to Devin. "He needs me to go with him."

Death's jaw tightened to the point that I thought something would fracture in his face. Shut your damn mouth, little girl, his expression told me.

You won't do shit.

The Grim Reaper tore his gaze away from me as if it took every fiber of his monstrous self to do so. He didn't seem to appreciate Devin's amused expression. "You can't honestly be considering her opinion–"

"Please, have a seat," Devin said, motioning to a chair for me. "I want to hear your perspective."

I sat down. Funny that Lucifer was the most reasonable person in the room. "Ace told us we have to go in together. He saw it in his vision. He gave me us his word that he wasn't making anything up. What if me not going tips sort of balance we're supposed to follow? It's our fate to go together."

Death raked a hand through his midnight hair. "This isn't some Disney movie, princess. Our fate is what I want it to be."

"Not to mention, it was my aunt who was just taken," I added more irritably, avoiding Death's searing gaze on the side of my face. If it was one thing Death hated more than anything, it was being blatantly disregarded. "I have a right to go with him. If I don't do anything...if I don't do anything to help, and something happens to my aunt... I'll never forgive myself."

Death rolled his eyes. "Do you honestly think Ace's word holds true? As usual, Faith has no idea what she's talking about."

"You're just saying that because Ace has an aversion to your personality and lack of restraint," I fired back at him.

The Grim Reaper braced his hands on the glass surface between us, leaning forward. He had disposed of his shredded leather gloves, leaving his hands bare and dangerous. They were covered in markings and at the fingertips; his nails and part of his fingers were blackening. I couldn't recall ever seeing that on his hands. "In your fantasy world," Death whispered lowly, "does Ace have nothing against you, too? Might I remind you again, cupcake, you burned his library to the ground and beat up his girlfriend. Your trust in him still, is very telling."

I leaned back in my seat, mostly because my heart was beating a mile a minute and he was one small leap away from ripping my throat out. "And what does it tell you?"

"That you're naïve," he said slowly, pronouncing every syllable with care, "and want to fuck him."

My temperature rose slightly. I wanted to rip his damn head off.

Lucifer intervened before I attempted to do so. "Ace has been my neutral alliance for centuries. He respects my position and knows the consequences of betrayal are far worse than anything sinister he can produce in his cauldron. Am I naive for trusting him, Death? You're smudging my table."

Without a word in rebuttal, Death removed hands off the table.

"Who do you think patched the ward that was broken?" Devin inquired, his attention still set on Death. "Maintenance with a Band-Aid?"

"You've got to be kidding me," Death hissed. "You had Ace come and fix it? At what price? That magical dick is becoming a monopoly!"

"He only requested more protection from me," Devin answered, "due to the, and I quote, 'Next pending storm your punk friend will surely create.'"

Death grinned, a broad display of his fangs. "So he is blaming Faith's actions on me. Honorable, thy name is Ace." He turned to me. "He really wants you to slam you with his cane, doesn't he?"

I only glared at him.

Death's vicious grin widened. "Devin, do tell the Wizard hope for a speedy recovery for his burn victim, I mean, girlfriend, Trixie."

"As we were discussing," I said irritably. "I have the right to come with him to find my aunt. Please approve of this, Devin."

"I'd work much better alone," Death maintained, his entertainment fleeting. "She's doesn't listen to me, she's off the charts emotional, and she's a liability. Frankly, she's a fucking ticking time bomb. Did I mention she doesn't listen to me?"

"So are you," I seethed. "Something is happening to you. You're weakening. Your beast is showing through that sliver of humanity you cake on your face."

Death's head inclined a little to the side and a vein protruded in his face. If he were breathing, which I doubt he was, maybe he would have had enough blood circulation for his face to become red with rage. He continued to look at Devin, his expression slowly flattening until it was flat as ever. I wondered what he'd thought about that calmed him so quickly and couldn't help but envy that control. "Give me time to get the pendant off of her. I understand you have feelings for the demon hunter, Devin, but–"

"Do not. Belittle. Me." Devin stood up sharply, and his throne scraped backwards. A partial ring of fire had formed around his silhouette. "Sarah Williams is a chosen that can touch and read the most powerful scripture to ever exist in this realm. Now she's gone and the book is unprotected. You don't have your scythe. And because of your recklessness, Ahrimad was unchained and is now a threat to the balance between good and evil. This isn't about my fucking feelings. This is about the fact that I just discovered that hell is the most vulnerable it's ever been in thousands of years. I will not allow everything we've built to come crumbling down."

"Ace saw you and her in his vision," Devin continued, when Death was silent, "and if you choose to go against that and fuck up that's on you." Devin looked between both of us. "But then again, both of your actions have lead to a shit ton of of damage control on my part. So the two of you better get your fucking shit together and fix this."

"Also, a Cliff Notes summary of what is going on would be nice," I said boldly, slicing through the tension of the room. Devin didn't respond and simply looked nodded once at Death, as if it were his responsibility.

"You're making a big mistake," Death said tightly, as if I was no longer in the room again. "I don't have a good feeling about any of this. She's too important to be coming with me, she's far too important." As if recognizing he was losing the battle, he added, "What if I told you I know she can read the book? What if she can read the Book of the Dead, and you're sending her off with me into the Other Worlds?"

Devin grew inhumanly still. "You've had proof of this, and you didn't tell me?"

"I had my reasons," was all Death said, and I suspected by the look on Devin's face that Death would be greatly punished for this.

"Which page," Devin demanded, and was way too collected to not be rampant on the inside. "Which of the enchanted pages did you steal from me?"

"It was only a protection spell," Death admitted uncaringly. Clearly, admitting to showing me the page already did enough damage. "Oh, don't act so surprised, Devin. Our nature is one of the same. I put the page right back where I found it." He held out his hand, showing Devin one his fingers on his right hand, drawing attention to his tattoos that snaked up his fingers. "Damn page jinxed me right here, it did. Figured it out when I tried to get an eyelash out of my eye and my finger stabbed me in the eyeball. Had a mind of its own for years."

"He's clearly lying," I said, drawing Devin's attention back to me. It was like he was watching an intense Ping-Pong match, moving his attention back and forth between us, growing angrier each time. "I've never touched the book. I've never even seen it–"

"You've seen a page before," Death told me, and my hackles rose at his conviction. "I showed you a missing page when you were a little girl."

"And why would you do that?"

"I'm not sure, call it a gut feeling," he decided to say, his expression smooth as glass. There was something in his eyes, then. Nobody had a better poker face than Death. But right then and there, I could tell he was lying right through his fangs. He was lying so that Devin wouldn't let me go with him. "What would have been merely a blank page to thousands of others who have crossed it, was much more to you. Not to mention, you grabbed the page before I could pull it back." He looked at Devin. "Which, of course, in conclusion, puts into question whether or not you should come with me. With Sarah gone, there is nobody who can even handle it without special gloves. And even then, you know its effects ultimately seep through the material."

"If you are so certain of this," Devin said, and with a shimmer over his features his skin was suddenly a little bet scaly, "then it'd be perfectly sensible to risk her life right now and test it."

Death blinked. Other words visibly lingered on his tongue, before he finally decided to produce, "Perfectly sensible, my Lord."

"Now wait a damn minute," I said, my heart beating a thousand beats per minute. "I never agreed to this shit."

"Forgive me, but I don't remember asking you, dear," Devin said, and my jaw dropped. He crossed the room. I didn't watch where he went, but I heard a door open, and then shut. 

Then, once again, I was alone with the punk, green-eyed monster.

* * *

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