Death Is My Soul Mate (Book 5) *ON HOLD*

Chapter 6: El Diablo

            "Actually that's exactly what he would do--" Ahrimad began in agreement.

             "I'm tired of this. I'm fighting, but I don't even know what I'm fighting for! It's been days. Days, and he's been gone. Gone without telling me. He took me home from the motel, left me on his bed, then vanished. He could be in Australia or China for all I know. This is ridiculous!  Surely, you both think this is ridiculous?"

            Caroline shrugged.

            Ahrimad coughed a little.

            "Oh...my god. You both know where he is! You've known this entire---you both lied to me!"

            Caroline touched my arm. "Faith, you don't understand. We were given strict orders not to say anything to you. If we disobey him--" Now I was on a rampage, stalking across the room to Caroline's gym bag and leafing through the front pocket. Gripping her phone, I searched through her contacts until I found the number I was looking for.

            I called Death.

            "Hey! Give me that!" Caroline came after me, fighting over the phone. I managed to twist and pull out of her grasp, sprinting around the room wildly as she chased me. "Nobody is supposed to know that number! That's his emergency number! He'll have my ass on a platter! Give me that! Give me--!"

            As we wrestled, the phone clattered to the ground, switching the speaker phone just as an annoyed, masculine, kind of breathy version of Death's voice vibrated from the other end of the device. "This couldn't be a more inconvenient time. What the hell as she done this time?"

            I flipped him silently off through the phone.

            "Uh, she--she hasn't done anything wrong," Caroline replied, watching my expression increase with anger by the second. Loud masculine grunts and sounds of heavy objects being thrown against metal rattled the other end of the line. "Nothing's wrong at all. I must have, uh, butt dialed." Caroline ran a hand through her pink Mohawk. "Sorry about this, sir, it was a complete accident. I'll let you go. You're clearly in the middle of a fight--"

            "Hand the phone to Faith. I want to speak with her."

            I took the phone. "Oh. Long time no talk. Have you finally penciled me in, Master?"

            "I was just about to call you. Turn the speakerphone off and go somewhere private." When I didn't move, as if he was looking right at me through the phone, Death added, "Please, Faith," and I immediately could tell from the serious, almost pleading tone of his voice that something was terribly wrong.

            I hurried out of the room without a word to Caroline or Ahrimad, and locked myself in one of the many bathrooms in Death's apartment. I cancelled speaker phone, flipped down the toilet seat cover, and sat down on top.

            "Are you alone?"

             "I'm alone. What's wrong?"

            "Turn the sink on and lock the door."

            I would have replied with something snarky, but that empty voice of him was terrifying me. I did exactly what he said then sat back down on the toilet. What could possibly drain Death, of all people, all his personality?

            "Tell me what's wrong," I said softly.

            He didn't say anything for a while. I wondered if he was going to tell me why he had left, why he had run away from me after telling me he loved me. He had left me alone in the worst possible way: not knowing whether or not that night had even happened, not knowing if it was all some practical joke. His confession had been sudden and random, surfacing the fear that he didn't really love me at all. That it was all for show. That it was all to get his precious possession back. That the game was still on, and I was still a player.