Death is My BFF Rewritten (Book 1 of the Rewritten Death Chronicles)

Chapter 40: Greed

                        "Devil's horns! This one is funnier than last year's event! Look at all the brainwashed air-breathers," one of the neatly dressed 'men' at our table snorted out between laughter. He was one of the ugly, fanged creatures I had seen earlier without an illusion. Nausea built up in my belly at the memory of that vile thing.

                        "Do you think he's doing one of those satanic sacrifices this year?" a woman asked at our table, excited. When I really concentrated on her, I saw a flicker of discoloration in her face, almost purple. "It was so captivating last year."

                        "I don't know," the first 'man' answered, "but I still have that vid on my phone from last year of Death chopping that chick's head off and throwing it into the crowd! I was so close to catching it! Hilarious!"

                        "You got to love Death and Satan," another man at the table said. "Those two really know how entertain the Underworld." Death and Satan. The Underworld...

                        "D & S," I said numbly. "Death and Satan..."

                        I looked over at Ace to find him awkwardly scratching his head. "We couldn't think of anything creative to name the building," he said. "I wanted to name it Hell's R' Us, but Devin said that was grammatically incorrect and too obvious. Then again, he also said that 'Devin' wasn't an obvious name for himself, the Devil, so who was I to even consider his opinion?"

                        At first, I had thought the D & S Towers were named after David and Devin Star's first and last names, but now, once I had said it out loud, it was clear that it was meant to be Death and Satan all along.

           

                         It was as if this was the last puzzle piece that completed the whole puzzle that was the Star family. Devin Star was Satan. Death was David Star. The David is Death part took me some time to realize, but the Satan part took me a millennium. Why hadn't Devin's identity been so obvious to me before this event? Were my bizarre powers truly impelling me to see the world for what it really was: one big lie?

                        I looked back at Devin Star, analyzing him as he wrapped up his speech. Devin was dazzling and beautiful, like an angel...

           

                        No, he wasn't an angel. He was a monster with a beautiful veneer over his real skin. The longer I stared at Devin; my vision became tunneled until it was just he and I in the room...

           

                        Horror gripped me by the throat as the man's skin began to get an impossible red and scaly, and his graceful fingers, resting on the top of the podium, began to lengthen and sharpen into talons.

                        "Ten out of ten would not fück with that guy," Ace said. "Even when I'm feeling playful, I poke him with a stick from a great distance."