Page 45 of A Kiss From Death (Oath of Vengeance #1)

I weakly ball my hands into fists. “F-fuck you, you coward,” I seethe.

His eyes dance with mischief as he flashes me his bright white teeth and then quickly rips the blade from my side.

The pain is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before as I shake uncontrollably, blood pouring from my wound.

I let out a scream that makes the furniture in my room rattle, knocking items to the floor.

I hear the splintering of wood and a feral snarl from somewhere in the distance, but I’m fading too fast. The room is suddenly plunged in pure night, my skin erupting in goose bumps from the deadly presence hovering in my doorway.

Death stands before us, seething like the reaper himself coming to collect.

I can’t see him, but I can feel him like always, and I know exactly who it is, even in my dying haze.

“Who’s there?” Aeron whispers on a shaky breath.

“The monster in your nightmares,” his deep, gravelly voice echoes around us, ensnaring us like prey. “Remove your hands from her before I remove them from your body.”

“I’m not scared of you,” Areon shouts breathily, but the way his body trembles next to me says otherwise. He knows it, I know it, and the embodiment of death in front of us revels in knowing it.

A deep, rich chuckle vibrates the walls with each step he takes towards us. “Wrong.” Stomp! “Fucking.” Stomp! “Answer.” Stomp!

Aeron is ripped away from me in a flash of fury. I’m fading fast, barely able to keep my eyes open or follow what’s going on. Aeron’s limp body dangles in the air, held up by Hade’s hand gripped tightly around his throat. I notice his face growing redder between each blink.

“It’s no use,” Aeron chokes out. “You’re too late. She won’t survive it.”

Hade lets out a vicious growl. “She is the strongest person I know, she can survive anything.”

Aeron slowly shakes his head the best he can with Hade’s death grip on his throat while flashing an evil grin.

“My dagger was laced with poison. See the way her body shakes, the way her skin is now deathly pale? How her chest is barely rising? She will be gone within minutes; seconds, maybe. The damage is done, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. ”

“Dagger?” Hade breathes the word shakily. Roaring, he throws Aeron across the room, his body slamming into the mirror above my vanity, shattering it into a million pieces. His body drops to the floor like a doll, shards of glass piercing his skin while raining over the floor.

I take a shallow, rattling breath, desperate for any air I can find.

It sends me into a coughing fit, and blood sprays from my side all over the bed.

I let out a small whimper from the pain, and the room goes eerily quiet.

My head spins, my vision completely blurred at this point, but I can barely make out a tall, dark figure frozen from my cry, as if breaking him out of his haze of destruction.

He lets out a low grunt, picking Aeron up by his neck again, slamming him against the wall.

Glittering black tendrils of magic seep up from between the floorboards, making the room shake.

The tendrils tornado around Aeron’s body, encasing him in magic that keeps him afloat.

Hade releases his hand from Aeron’s throat while his body thrashes in the air.

Hade turns swiftly, stomping over to my bed with a face only found in nightmares.

Just when I’m about to give in and fade away, Aeron lets out a scream of death unlike anything I’ve ever heard.

He cries at the top of his lungs, screaming like he’s being torn limb from limb, slowly and delicately. It’s haunting.

Hade kneels next to my bed, coming into my blurry vision. I try to give him a soft smile, but I’m paralyzed. My body is giving out, and my mind is slowly approaching death’s door behind it. He pushes the hair back from my sweat-soaked forehead, smiling back at me.

“You’re gonna be okay,” he chokes out, and I’m not sure if he’s saying it to convince me or himself. “I’m going to fix it.” He repeats the words to himself twice over, seeming lost in his own head.

I just give him a watery smile, knowing my seconds are numbered but not wanting to give in just yet, guarding this last moment with him like a lost treasure. I’m exhausted, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t selfish enough to take one last moment of this unguarded Hade.

“What are you doing to him?” I choke out.

He growls next to me, his body vibrating, trying to refrain from finishing the job. He scoops me up like I weigh nothing, and I let out a soft whimper of pain, making him curse under his breath. My limp body melts into his giant, warm chest as he nuzzles me into his embrace.

“I’m making him live out his future death on repeat in his head until I can make it a reality.

My magic gives me control over everything involving death and the dead, a variation of Necromancy magic.

I can talk to the dead, control the dead, or in this case, show someone how they die until it drives them to insanity. ”

He’s rushing me down the long hallway to who knows where.

My body is freezing, and I know I won’t last long enough to make it there.

I push my face farther into his chest and take in these last moments of my life, surrounded by his intoxicating scent of smoke and sandalwood. It’s a heady last memory.

“My death magic is just an extension of myself, letting me pick things up with it, talk or listen through it, and even encase my body with it, turning myself invisible. What you just saw is the true extent of my magic. I am no saint, Nyxi. I am death .”

My body trembles, but it’s not from his admission.

It fascinates and intrigues me, and I only wish I could have had more time to see him in all his glory.

I close my eyes, just needing some rest as my body turns heavy and numb.

I take a shallow breath, and then I lay my heart bare before him, knowing I won’t have to face the aftermath of my words.

“It was a p-privilege to have known you, Hade. Thank you for letting me see the d-darkest parts of you that helped me face the darkest parts within me. You are no dark to my l-light. You are the dark that sparked a light within me. I l-look forward to being on the other end of your magic in the afterlife.” I give him one last, weak smile as my lungs deflate.

“Have an orange waiting for me there, would you?”