Page 8

Chapter Eight

Thanatos

I ’d watched her for months, but being folded into their antics was a satisfying feeling I couldn’t name. I rarely interacted with humanity. What interactions I did have were predominantly business.

Death was busy.

The closest I came to what Asha and her friend shared was the other three Horsemen, but I hardly regarded them as friends. Inescapable acquaintances more like. These two women were bound to each other. Sworn sisters. Ride or dies as I’d overheard Asha mention a time or two when excusing her friend’s reckless behavior outside the office. My attachment to the Horsemen was agitating at best, though I had a soft spot for Ares. She didn’t thrive on the violence she created, simply knew it was necessary to maintaining the balance.

Humans called her War.

I didn’t realize I might yearn for something the two humans shared. It did, however, become painfully clear that I was weak to the same proclivities when Asha made expressions she hadn’t with me. When she let her guard down and gave into her friend more times than I could count. A nagging sensation reached my throat and clawed at my insides, demanding that I lay claim to her in front of the person who was her everything. If I didn’t charm her friend, I’d never charm my little raven.

Telling her I was Death was easier than I thought it would be. Maybe because I was resolute and saw no reason to hide it. Maybe because I wanted her to know me, the real me. The others would call it reckless. It was, but not for the reason they’d claim.

I expected fear when her entire reality shifted. I expected the little human to unravel and question the world she knew the second I exposed the truth. But I should’ve known that Asha would be different from the rest. Fear was there, but the strength and assurance she could coax answers from me shined through. She should be wailing and fleeing the room, but she wasn’t. She leaned back, the luscious curve of her delectable body a feast for the eyes, and weighed her options. Sought audience with her thoughts in a way I never predicted.

It was captivating.

I’d taken a risk by staying and telling her who I truly was. By revealing more than the human mind could comprehend. For what reason? Why was it necessary? I could’ve fled at the first rays of light. I could’ve come to her as someone else and completely discard this version. Woo her in another form, as another person. But I laid her out over the worn floral sheets she should’ve tossed in the trash months ago and dressed her with care the other Horsemen would argue I didn’t possess. I couldn’t leave her side again, not like before. Not if it meant I’d be forgotten.

So, I took a chance. I stayed. And despite the fear creeping into her expression, she didn’t run. She stayed, too. She asked her questions, countered my non-answers with sass, and projected strength when she knew it was futile.

My courageous little raven stayed.

Something tugged at the edge of my consciousness. One of them was reaching out. A second later, my phone dinged. Asha watched me dig it out of my back pocket. Her amused look was followed by a short, sassy “So, even Death can’t avoid being texted at all hours of the day? What a tragedy.”

My lips twitched, close to a smile, but I’d already given her too many. The fact that I lacked total control over my face around her was damning all on its own. Still, her saucy comment meant that maybe I hadn’t made a mistake. Maybe this was the perfect way to ripen and take her soul.

As Death.

As Thanatos.

The burn was back in my throat, fiercer than before. I ignored it. I’d never admit even to myself that I didn’t recognize my own reactions. I blamed the human body I created to walk this plane. Maybe it was malfunctioning because I wasn’t as practiced as my fellow Horsemen in the mortal realm. I was more comfortable as a raven or shadow, if I were honest.

A sigh escaped my lips when the person I least wanted to deal with popped up on my phone’s lock screen.

Fucking Zelus. He was on the hunt for his Counter Soul. Cleverer than most, he was the only one I worried about finding me with mine. The others didn’t care enough to chase me around, but Zelus was invasive on principle.

He lived to fuck with me every chance he got.

Given his nature, it made sense. Always desperate to cause devastation. Endlessly bored by his existence, so he found distractions in the humans he lived to torment. Sometimes the other Horsemen for a real challenge. He had the blackest heart of the four, which was saying a lot, seeing how our entire purpose was to maintain balance through pain and suffering.

If he was reaching out, it meant he was onto something. He might be sly, but I’d figured out his tells a long time ago. Whenever he latched onto something interesting with any one of us, he’d reach out. Stubbornly if we didn’t reply right away. This was his third text this morning. I’d need to be careful what I divulged to the nosy bastard and how I moved around with Asha. If he found her, he wouldn’t let up until I took her soul. He might even try to take it for himself; he was just that much of an asshole.

She’s mine.

I pocketed my phone without looking at the message.

The beauty in front of me tilted her head in curiosity. “Not a fan of whoever messaged you?” My eyebrow rose, and she laughed for the first time since she discovered last night wasn’t a dream. “I mean, I know you’re not exactly human, but that was a pretty universal look for someone who wasn’t happy to be bothered by that particular person. The face I make when Asshat —er, my boss—calls. Or maybe just receiving a text bothered you in general? I don’t know. I’m still trying to process you being Death and…having a cell phone.”

“Me having a phone is what you’re most curious about? Not the fact that I’m here with you?”

Mumbling, her eyes dropped to her lap. “Well, that, too. Obviously. But someone wanted to play twenty questions…”

Twenty questions?

Still, it would appear Zelus had competition. I shouldn’t be surprised that Asha picked up on my genuine distaste for the Horseman the humans liked to call Pestilence, but I rarely gave my thoughts away. I was…out of sorts after watching the little human sleep all night. I’d never craved something so fiercely after already claiming it, but the second she appeared in the light of the kitchen, her body aglow and my shadows reactively reaching for her, I was desperate to have her again.

I’d never admit it, but she put me off balance.

In all the time I existed, nothing and no one could challenge me. Not that they ever did. Even Zelus knew better. He walked a fine line, and if he ever crossed it, he’d pay the price. I existed outside the usual planes of good and evil. My existence was ultimately a benefit to both, so I generally stayed out of their squabbles.

Unlike the other Horsemen, I was perfectly content to do what I was always meant to do. But I couldn’t deny that the night I crossed Asha’s path, something changed in me. I craved. I yearned. I chased. And after last night when I thought for sure fucking her— ripening her —would satiate those cravings, I was surprised to find that if anything, they’d gotten worse.

Fucking hell.

Stealing a glance at me, Asha got to her feet. “Well, I guess you’re done answering questions. Not that you answered many. You can…uh, leave? Go hither? Be gone to the underworld or whatever? Door’s over there.”

I couldn’t help it. I laughed. She was in the middle of turning to head out of the room but went rigid when my laughter echoed off the time-worn wooden floors. She stood stock-still as if she’d been struck by a bolt of lightning. Then her eyes tracked back over to me.

Getting to my feet, I towered over the frightened human. Her eyes followed, but she refused to move. My little raven wasn’t one to flee even when she should. “Forgive me for being short with you. You’re the first human I’ve revealed myself to in…quite some time.”

Her breath whooshed out of her, and then she clicked her tongue. “Bet you say that to all the girls.”

Again, I was chuckling against my will. What was it about this woman that had such a hold over me? Surely the fact that she was my Counter Soul was to blame for why I’d become practically unrecognizable since the first night I caught sight of her. I knew immediately she was meant for me. Meant to be ripened and used to bring the end of the world.

“I swear it isn’t a line, Asha. I know better than to pull one on you.”

Her eyes danced across my face, skeptical at first, then firm in a way I’d never seen before. “Okay, say I believe everything…why me? What do you stand to gain, Death? Are you here for my soul? But then why save me in the first place if you just planned to collect it anyway?”

Yes, cleverer than most. My little raven didn’t miss a goddamn thing.

Thankfully, she quickly rambled under her breath, no longer speaking or looking at me. If she had, she would’ve noticed the strain in my jaw when she accused me of the very thing I was there to do. But her head was elsewhere, caught in another one of her mumbling rants about how crazy it was she watched five men—if you could call them that—die at the hands of literal Death. Despite the circles her rant took, it was clear she believed I was who I said I was.

I heard every word but decided to move forward with the plan. I’d dance around the truth and blame the ache in my chest on the power of a Counter Soul and not because the very thought of her soul disappearing forever ruined my pulse and shredded my insides to bits. This was fate’s trick. Humanity’s failsafe measure to thwart the apocalypse. A mere obstacle, and I’d do what was necessary to accomplish my goal.

“You intrigue me,” I whispered, crowding her with a few steps.

Still, she didn’t step away. She held her ground. What a brave girl she was. She leveled her gorgeous green eyes on me, the power of someone with a soul worth shepherding the end of humanity in her stare. “Why?”

I held her by the neck, the growl waiting in my throat when her eyes fluttered shut. “Call it intuition, but there’s something about you, and I won’t leave until I figure out what that is.”

Her mouth opened to a soft, barely-there breath, and the urge to kiss her made it difficult to focus on anything else. Until my phone’s vibration went off over and over, an insistent annoyance in my back pocket. Not a text but a call. Fuck. The spell was broken, and Asha broke the contact between us by taking several steps away from me.

“You better get that,” she remarked, pointing to my pocket. “Look, thanks for saving me from those gross assholes, but unless I’m marked for dead, I don’t want to get involved in whatever this you-intrigue-me business leads to. I’m barely keeping myself mentally afloat as it is. So, you can go ahead and show yourself out. I’m sure that’s not a difficult task for someone like you.” With one final, fleeting glance, she escaped down the hall. The door to her room clicked shut before locking.

“Fuck,” I cursed, taking my phone out before answering in a tone that threatened violence. “What, Zelus?”

“Just missing you, Dead.”

I stole a look at the hallway, determined to chase but worried it’d be met with derision and silence. Worse, I sensed Zelus was close by. If I stayed, he’d find me with her. So, I’d go elsewhere to keep him off her scent.

“I can see you’ve made yourself a nuisance again,” I clapped back, heading to the front door. Shadows crawled across my torso, fitting a shirt into place, then my favorite leather jacket. Leaving her made me uncomfortable, but I needed to intercept Zelus before he came too close. “I’ve been taking care of some business out here, so what do you want?”

“Death business?” he pried, another tell.

“What other kind is there?”

I could hear him snicker. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe you’ve found your Counter Soul and neglected to say anything. That sounds like something you’d do.”

Growling, I quickly exited Asha’s building, leaving her behind the way I promised I never would. “Unfortunately, I’ve been too busy doing my goddamn job. Must be nice to be so free to wander around, doing nothing but what your heart desires, hmm, Pest?”

That shut him up.

“So, no soul yet? We only have a month left, Dead. They have to be easier to find than this. Fate wouldn’t make it impossible. I mean, we know practically nothing about them, of course, but it shouldn’t be this fucking hard to find one measly human. There’s one for each of us. That means four, Dead. And none of us has found a single soul? Seems odd, don’t you think?”

I heard the uncertainty in his voice. He’d been unsuccessful. He hadn’t found his. He was seeking me out for help because he was getting desperate.

How perfect.

Brushing back my dark hair, I eyed the street, sensing him miles away to my right. He wasn’t as powerful as I was, so he wouldn’t be able to track me from this distance. I’d lucked out, but it wouldn’t stay that way. Zelus was smart enough to get this close, so it was only a matter of time.

A raven landed on a fence nearby, cawing its greeting. I nodded to it, sending it to find Zelus. It would track him better than my shadows from this distance. But he’d grow suspicious if he noticed it follow him, so I asked it only to report his location and tell the others to take places along the way to Asha’s home to ensure if he was headed this way, I knew about it.

“Want me to hold your hand and lead you into the apocalypse? Wasn’t it you who said it was a piece of cake and we’d all be thanking you because you’d found yours and taken care of it?” I finally muttered when the raven took flight.

“You’re a real dick when you want to be, Dead. Just let me know if you cross yours. Not that you will before I do since you’re so busy and can’t be bothered.” I heard him call out to a woman nearby, and I let loose a breath of relief. “Whatever, you sour wanker. Come take the edge off. I’ve got us some birds. Not that kind before you give me an ear-lashing. But I bet the reason you’re all growly is because you haven’t fucked someone in a couple decades. Still got those piercings?”

Instead of answering, I ended the call and did a quick sweep of the street. Alarm was ringing through my body, electrifying all of my otherworldly senses. Zelus was crafty, so I couldn’t trust he was off the scent just from one conversation. I’d play it safe and take post at a distance for the night instead of returning to her room, my new favorite spot.

Zelus might have trouble tracking me while I was a shadow, but around Asha, I couldn’t trust myself. I’d want to touch her, feel her warmth against me, wrap my shadows around her and fuck her again. It was laughable how scared Death was of some little human, but I wasn’t reckless enough to test it with Zelus skulking around the area.

I hated the idea of not watching Asha sleep and missing the angry ramblings she’d make about me or her poor attempts at rationalizing what she experienced, but I couldn’t take the risk. Not when I’d just revealed myself to her. Not when I had her where I wanted her. Not when I hadn’t had my fill of her gorgeous body or been given the chance to chase and fuck the excited fear into her.

No, I wouldn’t let that bastard ruin this for me. I just needed a little more time. I’d ripen her the way I liked then deliver her soul like I was supposed to. I had a month. Plenty of time to accomplish such an effortless task. Too much time one could argue. Might as well enjoy what I could before she was…

My throat constricted, but I cleared it and fixed my jacket. Easing back into the shadows, I watched Asha's building from a distance, invisible to the humans who ambled along on the sidewalk. Determined never to be far from her. Surrendering her to no one, not the other Horsemen or the apocalypse.

For now.