Word Count: 1570

¬Luella

I'm ashamed that I'm more relieved than concerned.

He wants to kill Death. Just hearing those words come from a complete stranger sounds so absurd. You can't kill Death, she is infinitely powerful; perhaps one of the most powerful of the immortals, considering the mass of immortals she rules over by herself. If she were to no longer exist, there would be no place for mortals who have just died to be judged and to serve their sentence for their past life sins. The entire concept of death would be so skewed it would likely destroy the world as we know it.

"Who are you?" I can't help but ask, wanting to know what kind of person thinks they can come here and threaten an immortal like that - even if that immortal poses a threat to a lot of people, including me. But I would never be foolish enough to threaten her life.

He shifts, rubbing his hands together. "My name is Stace. I come from a realm very far away. I shouldn't be here, doing this, but Death has become too much of a threat."

"So you're going to kill her?" The words feel ashy in my mouth.

He nods grimly. "It is what must be done. Powerful immortals are becoming a threat to my kind."

"And what exactly is your kind?" I ask warily, my gaze falling to the tattoos on his neck, depicting patterns I've never seen before, a foreign story I don't even want to begin deciphering. Not to mention the way they drift and curl tauntingly, ever so slowly that they nearly convince you that you're just seeing things, and they are in fact nothing but normal tattoos.

"Demon like creatures, and not in the way you think. We appear in this state, obviously." My throat tightens. His current state is an excessively tall man with dark features and a well-muscled stature. Not to mention, he looks as though he wields dark magic I don't want to explore.

I shuffle back. "And what exactly do I have to do with this?"

"Well you're an excuse for me to get into her home. Do you know how difficult it is?" I watch him deleve a hand into his dark hair, ruffling it more than it already was. Here he is, trying to get in, when I desperately want to get out.

"You can't kill her. She's one of the most important immortals," I tell him firmly. She may want to remove my powers - well, I suppose she completely wants to get rid of me but doesn't want to ruin a relationship with Thought, but that doesn't mean I want to risk the entire fabric of this realm by having her killed.

The frightening part is knowing that as I look at him, he's completely serious.

"She is one of the biggest threats to my people's kind. Those that dwell here are getting killed off. I don't care what happens to this realm," he admits.

Fear slices through me, hollowing at my stomach as I consider that. He is willing to destroy an endless amount of lives over a simple threat to his people. I want to tell him there are ways to stop it without going through with this, that there are more options than killing, yet I somehow know it's useless to reason with a complete stranger.

But that doesn't mean I'm not going to use what abilities I have. "That's hideously cruel. You can't possibly do that."

"I don't expect you to understand, Luella," he mutters, moving toward the door, however I quickly reach out, grabbing his arm. Strength wise, I would stand no chance putting myself between him and the door. Yet still, he turns around, those dark eyes glowing.

"No, stop," I practically beg. "I don't care if she wants to take my powers away, you can't kill her, I won't let you."

He tilts his head. "And you're going to stop me?"

"I have powers you couldn't begin to understand," I growl. From taking over Revel's body, who is now collapsed upon my bed, still unconscious, I've become weak. Weak to the point where I'm seeing colours in my vision and my limbs are shaky and weak. But I would try, if I had to, to get into Stace's head and stop him before he can kill us all.

I thought maybe he would be fearful, however, his lips twitch upward, humour filling his eyes. Had I been stronger, I would have slipped into his mind right then and have him walk out and admit his plans to Death on his behalf.

"Luella, darling," he says, the condescending nature of his voice causing my fists to clench and unclench painfully. He may be bigger than me in all aspects, but I'm not allowing myself to be afraid, nor intimidated by him. "I'm not from this realm, from any realm even close to your imagination. I'm the limitation to your power."

I could try to prove him wrong, but I can't bring myself to. When I consider drifting into his mind, my own seems to be repulsed by the idea of it. The tattoos on his neck are almost like wards, keeping me from infiltrating his mind.

"Please, Stace." I continue to beg. Then my mind settles on an excuse, a way to get to any males heart. "Do you not have a mate?"

Stace falters, eyes narrowing slightly. For some males, it may be a sensitive subject to bring up their mates, but often times it's the perfect way to get to them, to find a weakness and exploit it. With his plan to kill Death, I need to do all I can to stop him, even if that means putting myself between him and his mate.

"Yes, I have a mate," he breathes, the cautious nature of his tone suggesting that he doesn't trust where I'm going with this. I know nothing about him, where he has come from, and I'm still risking it all.

"And is she from this realm?" I test. I'm not even sure what the matebond is like between his people, if it even exists.

"The mortal realm," he comments warily.

"Don't do this, for her. You'll destroy the very world that she lives in. Even if you take her to your realm, or whatever your plan is for her, she will resent you for the life she lost, for people you will kill," I tell him assuredly. If there is anything I'm confident, it's that, which I hope he can see in my eyes.

Immediately I can see the way his original confidence falters, doubt flashing into his eyes. With powerful, magical males like him, there is often times very little ways to get past their ego. It seems almost immediately I've hit a sensitive stop, as his shoulder tense, his eyes turning dark.

"I'm doing this to protect her," he tells me softly, almost as if he doesn't quite believe it himself. I just have to push...to put it off until I can speak to Thought and have him help me find an idea.

I just wish he would get here by now. He promised he would be here by today...

"And it's worth destroying any chance with her?" I question. Stace's jaw clenches, those dark tattoos are seeming to crawl and shift menacingly, daring me to continue pushing me. If he wanted to hurt me, he would have done so already.

"My people are important to me," he murmurs.

I take a step toward him, which he doesn't match backward. It allows me to catch his scent, or the sea and something sweeter. "You know this will ruin everything for you, even if you don't know it yet."

"Well, speaking of ruining things, I suppose I should tell you that your mate has been apart of killing my people for many years, for a very long time," he admits, folding his arms across his chest. I freeze, letting those words wash over me.

"Excuse me."

"I won't kill Death, but not for you, but for my mate. But I can't promise that bad things aren't going to come from this. Perhaps even worse things," he mutters, going to turn away, but once again I grab his arm to get his attention. I don't care how serious his words are, how dangerous they could possibly be; I'm too busy repeating what he said about Thought over and over in my head.

"Wait, go back to what you said about Thought..."

Stace freezes, looking away as if he is sensing something that I cannot see. Maybe Revel is about to find consciousness again, or Death is approaching.

"And even though I have a mate, I have to do this," he mutters, a pained look in his eyes as he pulls me toward him.

Immediately I protest, as his hands wrap around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him until my hands are pressed against his chest as I try to battle him off.

And without any explanation, he leans down and kisses me.

💙••💙

Hey guys! If you're enjoying the story, you can head over to RADISH and read THOUGHT ahead of Wattpad!

❄️••❄️

I've just released a brand new supernatural romance here on Wattpad and Radish. Head over and check it out if you have the chance! (:

Instagram: Sophie_Midika

~Midika 💜🐼