I'm sorry it's been a while since I've last posted. This book hasn't been getting much love recently, so I was catching up on a few things and couldn't find the time to update. Again, my apologies. I hope you enjoy the latest chapter anyways.

Happy reading!

***

And suddenly everything made sense. It was written out in plain English, it was an omen of true and pure happenchance: Mathias Thanatos, the last living descendant of the god of death. He was the literal embodiment of death itself, standing in front of me triumphantly.

But I had heard of this god before. He was merciless, hated by all. His job was to carry the dead to the underworld, and he was apathetic about it. He had huge, black wings that carried him where he desired to go. Many characterized him as a demon who would come in the middle of the night, and bring death with him.

All in all, he deserved just about every form of torture that was written, created, thought of, spoken aloud, and unheard of. It was indescribable how much I hated the man who stood in front of me. I wanted so badly to scream at him, to tell him that I wish he were dead—no, that's too easy—I wanted him to burn internally forever. I wanted him to die again and again until he begged for mercy and forgiveness, and then I wanted him to keep dying.

He must have seen the fire burning in my eyes. "Oh, so you've heard of him. Well, Sam, let me tell you a little something about this 'god of death'. In Greek mythology, Hades was not the god of death, he was the god of the underworld. But Thanatos would carry the deceased from their place of death to the underworld." He paced back and forth slightly and stated every word matter-of-factly, disregarding the irritation that I clearly had sketched on my face. "That's what got him that title: the god of death. Wherever he went, death would follow." He stared right at my face, drew out a gun in one quick flash and spoke slowly, "And I wanted it to follow me too."

"What're you doing?" I tried to ask sweetly. It was hard, I'll admit.

"Don't play me for a fool, Ms. Ford. Did you really think that I didn't notice that look in your eyes? I can see how much you despise me, I'm not blind."

"You're fucking insane."

"Fitting that we're in a psych ward, then, no?" He took a huge step towards me, so he was glaring down at me. "Now, now. Don't be so upset with me. I'm merely doing my job."

"What's that?" I asked, the words dripping with disgust. "Being an utter asshole?"

He beamed, then replied, "Precisely. As the last living descendant of the mighty Thanatos, it is my job to carry on his legacy." When he received a disgusted look, he rolled his eyes dramatically, "Please, Miss Ford. Don't act so surprised. Could there have been any other possible reasons that I would want you?"

"I'm not even sure why you want me. Let alone any other reasons."

He gestured to the hallway in front of us; I hesitated for a moment, then walked with him. A feeling of peace walked over me as we continued. "Now, Miss Ford, you're curious as to what I want with you, no?"

"You're a mind reader too?" I asked, unable to keep the sarcasm from escaping my lips.

"No, just intelligent."

I snorted.

He continued as if I didn't interrupt him, "But I'm nothing like you." I raised an eyebrow, silently urging him to continue. "When I was younger, I had found out that I had a photographic memory. Everything that I was exposed to, I remembered. I would read an entire book and could tell you every aspect of the book including the punctuation. I was a child prodigy.

"After I learned of my roots and origins, including the magnificent god Thanatos, I realized that I had received a gift from him—a gift that I didn't plan on wasting. I graduated from Yale at the top of my class, was recruited instantly by the government to work in one of their facilities, specializing in human anatomy. That's what they told me, anyway.

"When I found out about the experiments, I was more than ecstatic. I was planning on doing something with my life, I was going to make a difference, become someone so important, my name—and his name—would be written in history books throughout the world." His voice got a little darker as he continued. "Until you."

"What did I do?"

He stopped abruptly in the hallway. "There's still a part of your memory that hasn't yet returned. Pity. Now there shall be more explanation than I would have liked."

"Get on with it."

"Right," he waved his hand dismissively and continued to walk down the hallway. "Keep up, would you?"

I muttered a few profanities and followed his command.

"After I got my job and found out the truth behind it, I decided that I wanted more. It wasn't enough to just have dead test subjects, I needed ones that were alive and healthy. That's when I created this psych ward." He looked around, pleased. "It took a while to get the designs made perfectly, each room is tailored a special way, but once they were finished, and the place was completed, I've never been happier."

"Where do I feature?"

"You come in after the creation of this place. Yes, you know about my sister, about how I was studying the love that you had for your brother the same way that my sister had claimed to love me. I'm sure she doesn't anymore, I've taken so much from her." He frowned; it was strange, I didn't expect him to seem so... sad. "Forgive me for being weak, my sister was a very strong person in my life, I hate myself for what I've done to her."

"Why did you do it?"

"I needed to know."

"What?"

He stopped again and leaned over me, "I needed to know if your brother was a threat. There can only be one man in your life, Miss Ford. And I intend to be him."

"Why did your sister have anything to do with me and Collin?"

"There are so many different types of loves, Miss Ford. There's brother-sister love, there's husband-wife love, mother-daughter, father-son, best friends. I needed to know what it felt like—what it looked like—when she said she loved me. I needed to know if it matched you when you said it to Collin."

"You're insane."

He frowned deeper, "Someone is a broken record today, no?" He snapped his head up, "Someone is coming."

"Let them come, no one else knows that I'm not actually infatuated by your very existence."

He smirked down at me for a moment, "Not yet, Miss Ford."

"We'll see."

"Indeed."

I cocked my head to look deeper in his eyes, and I could have sworn that I could see someone slightly normal behind all of those lies. Someone who actually wanted to just be a child, someone who wanted to live life without all of the pressures of being a child genius. I could have sworn that there was something more in those black eyes than I originally gave him credit for. There had to be. This couldn't be it for him, could it?

What was I saying? Of course, it could. This man murdered innocent people because he believed it was his destiny. How could one man be so evil? And how could I still be so sympathetic?

I glared down at the floor and listened to the fast approaching footsteps behind me. "Mathias, sir!"

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this one's for you."

He lifted my chin up with his finger, "What was your first clue?" His eyes locked with mine as I opened my mouth and then snapped it shut.

"Just a hunch," I replied, not breaking away from his eyes.

The footsteps continued until the carrier was standing right next to us, saluting Mathias with a shaky hand. "Sir! There's been a problem in the records room!"

Mathias glanced over to him, and then returned to me. "Excuse me a moment, Miss Ford."

I grabbed his suit firmly with my hand, "But Matty," I purred, "Don't you trust me? How are we supposed to be an 'item' if you can't trust me?" I pouted slightly, surprised by my composure and lack of laughter.

"Of course, Miss Ford. Silly me." There was an irritation burning in his eyes. "Then, by all means, Lieutenant. Continue."

"Right away, Sir! The captives in the records room have escaped sir."

Mathias' stance went from consciously respectful to straight-up pissed in the blink of an eye. "Run that by me again."

"The captives, sir. They've escaped."

"How?" The single word was more menacing than an entirely thought out threat. I shivered slightly and hoped that they were both too busy to notice me.

"They had help, sir. They were assisted by Mr. Ryder."

Mathias glanced at me then. He took note of the terror on my face, turned back to the Lieutenant and muttered a bleak, "Kill them," before striding off down the hallway. "Sam!" he barked.

"Yes, sir!" the shaky Lieutenant replied, snapped to attention to the place that Mathias had disappeared from, saluted the air, and marched down the way he came. After he was gone and out of hearing range, I stormed over to Mathias.

"You're really going to regret that."

He stopped immediately, "What're you going to do about it, Miss Ford? Are you going to call me the devil? Shame me? Damn me to hell?" His face was inches away from mine now, "Save it for someone who gives a fuck. I have what I want now—I have you. I have no use for them anymore."

I blinked. "What do you even want me for? What have I ever done to make myself so appealing?!" I threw my arms up in the air. "If I'm being ignorant, oh fucking well, someone please humor me."

Mathias didn't flinch all throughout my screaming fit. He took a few long breaths, then spoke in a calm voice, "I want you, Sam, because of this." He flicked his hand down, pulled out his gun, and pointed it right at my forehead. He pulled back the hammer and pulled the trigger.

Everything was pretty much black for a while after that.