YO, SEXY CUPCAKES! DID YOU MISS ME???????!!!????
IMPORTANT: First of all, thank you SO much for being patient with me and supporting this book (and hopefully this entire series)! The reasoning for my extremely slow updates is that I have a LITERARY AGENT (woo!) and this story is getting PUBLISHED! The plot has changed a lot already in my edits (for the better, believe me!!!) so it's been difficult for me to finish this story on Wattpad, as the ending will most likely be different in the published version!
As for Omertà, it may seem like I am updating a lot for that story (because I am LOL) but I promise you, a majority of my time has been to focus on the published Death Is My BFF!! SO excited, and so is my agent!!!!!!!!!!! :DDDD
And for those of you waiting for Death Is My Soul Mate, I am SO sorry that my updates are pretty much non-existent. That story is even more difficult for me to write for because in order to publish, I have to essentially rewrite the entire series and the original series has literally no plot and is difficult for me to envision these days! But don't worry, I'll be using A LOT of the original series as I rewrite!!! Promise I won't disappoint!!! ;) <3
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The lights shut off, blanketing the room with shadows that were not once there before and a silence that broke with a slow song. A spotlight went on the ceiling, outlining a man and a woman in all black and silver masks, dangling from a web of black aerial silk. Their bodies partially intertwined, as they slowly spun around in a circle.
Suddenly, the music picked up, and the man threw himself away from the woman and fell, untangling himself from the aerial silk. My heart caught in my throat. The spotlight went off and some of the audience screamed, expecting this fall was accidental.
Another spotlight went on, this time at the center of the ballroom. The man with the silver mask now stood at the center of the room, his left foot behind his right, leaning forward as if about to charge.
And posed in elegant positions around him, in a circle, were an equal amount of men and women with exotic masks, gelled back hair, and skull makeup that contoured around their cheek bones, adding a sharpness to their faces and eyes. Each individual dancer remained stationary, portraying some sort of powerful emotion just by his or her disposition.
The man with the silver mask began to sway to the music and thus began a domino effect. They all began to sway in unison, moving closer and closer together. Then they were one, moving with the masked man. Following his steps as he spun and flipped around the floor.
And then music changed and the veiled men and woman broke away from their silver masked leader, and paired up with a member from the audience. They brought their audience member onto the dance floor and spun and twirled with their partner. The dancers would pull another person onto the floor, pairing them with their previous partner, and would pluck another person from their chair.
Other audience members got up by themselves and paired up, smiling, laughing and falling into the rhythm of the music.
Soon enough, almost the entire floor was dancing around the room to a formation that I'd never seen before. I was so wrapped up in it all, leaning over the back of my chair with my head resting on my arms.
"Dance with me," Ace said, breaking my attention away from the floor. He was standing next to my chair, with his hand outstretched down at me. "We'll get closer to the stage this way, where Devin is seated."
I looked at his outstretched hand. "I don't want to dance with you."
"Why not?" He frowned and looked hurt for a moment, but it vanished quickly. "Scared?"
A little. "I don't know how to dance like that." I eyed the original dancers with the skull makeup, and the man in the silver mask, who were all aloof from the guests and performing choreography at an open space, in the center of it all. "I've never seen anything like this," I said.
"Neither have most of the people out there," Ace said, and took the initiative to grab my hand. My hand in his was strange, especially when I was reminded that this was Death. He tugged me a little, until I stood up. "Come on. It's a game. This song is hexed, so that everyone knows the moves to the dance without ever performing to this before. But only the last couple standing truly know how to dance."
"Last couple standing?" I asked, horrified. "What the hell does that mean? Are people going to get killed off-?"
Ace took both my hands and pulled me into the swarm of dancers. I was in awe in how quickly I knew the moves to the dance, twirling around the room with him. Lights above us exploded into colors as the music quickened. It was a sad song. Something about the lyrics in the music hit me hard. Hard enough that I membered the position I was in, and how I had illegitimately gave my soul to the Grim Reaper. Everyone around us was having a blast, and there was I was,
"You're thinking too much, pumpkin!" Ace shouted over the music, his face hovering over mine. "It's not like you're the one trapped in another man's body! Live a little!"
Ace's hand cradled the small of my back as we moved, but in the back of my mind, even though I knew this was Death dancing with me, I'd wished that it had been Death's hand holding me.
But that was asking for too much.
At first, the selected audience members didn't seem to know what they were doing as the dancers moved with them around the dance floor, and then fell into a natural grace.
"I don't see Devin, he must have joined in on the dance," Ace said, as we curved in front of the stage and melted back into the formation of dancers.
The music quickened and so did the performance. I'd already noticed couples messing up the steps and sitting back down at their table.
I looked up at Ace. "How are we still doing this?" I shouted over the music, which was blaring at this point.
"Because I belong on Dancing with the Stars!" He spun me for emphasis, and gracefully lifted me off the ground to the beat of the song. Startled, I let out a small yelp, and we both laughed as he brought me back down to my feet. But as quickly as his laughter came, it fell, and Ace's gaze honed in on a couple that swept past us. "That was Devin! We have to catch up to him!"
Suddenly, the music sharply changed and the remaining couples on the floor stopped abruptly and faced one another. The sound of tribal drums slowly faded into the room. The tempo that was so smooth and rhythmic that I felt myself sway a little. I shook my hips to the rhythm, as the rest of the women started to do.
"This is so not okay," I said, unable to control my Shakira moves. I flipped my hair side to side as I moved. "I can't...stop."
"You're a perfect contender for this game and the hex on the music, that's why. You're letting the magic flow through you." Ace's gaze raked up my frame., "Naughty mother Mary, cupcake, are you letting it flow..." he muttered lowly, unable to take his eyes off of me as I circled his body. "Your making Ace's wand sparkle to life in ways that I am unbelievably uncomfortable with.
By force, the rest of the couples on the floor were dancing again with our partners. The rhythm was frantic and clannish, and the moves were exotic. My body pressed flat against Ace's, and I couldn't control the way that we ground together.
"This is definitely getting somewhere now," Ace said, as I was forced to turn my back to him and grind my backside into his crotch. He slid his hand down my stomach, and lower, and lower...
"This dancing game is getting a little riskay," I breathed out, and managed to fight through the hex and move his hand back up to my stomach.
We started to circle the dance floor again, moving faster than ever before.
"I see him again," Ace said, as we neared the back of Devin's head and his flawless tuxedo, my gaze locked on his blonde partner. Her eyes were a light blue and clouded over, as if she was under some heavy spell.
Aunt Sarah.
Devin and her melted behind another couple and disappeared.
I looked up at Ace. "Devin's with my aunt! Why the hell is he dancing with my aunt?"
"Devin said he was going to take control of the contract between us," Ace explained, "so when I sent the Hell Hounds after your aunt and Andrew, the hounds collected your aunt and brought her to Devin. OH, and Andrew's kinda in Hell rn, btw..."
"So what, he was planning on blackmailing me with her?"
"Well, that wouldn't really be out of his character. Blackmailing is his forte. But as soon as Devin knows that you're going to sign the contract, he should let her go."
"Are you sure?"
"Not really, actually. Devin does just him some busty blondes who know how to stab a demon in the heart. L-O-L."
"That's not funny!"
"Boo-hoo."
The music hit a crescendo.
"So Devin did expect you to bring me to this event so he could blackmail me?" I asked. "And by you, I obviously mean your alter-ego."
"Yes, he expected me to bring you. " We were closer than ever to Devin and my aunt now. "So he's probably already skeptical that something is up, because Ahrimad doesn't seem to have a date. Nor does he appear to be making much of an appearance. Hold on tightly to my hands, we have to break out of the hex to get next to them."
I gripped his hands tighter. An odd pressure pressed against my body as Ace and I moved faster than the rest of the contenders. I could feel myself fighting against the rhythm of the song. And then we were side by side with Devin and my aunt.
Devin's blue gaze slid to us in confusion.
"Hey, Grandpa!" Ace said cheerfully. "It's your favorite"-we spun-" Fallen angel," he finished. "Thanks for answering your god damn phone,"-we spun again-"you fücking moron! My body is stuck in Limbo, I had to possess Ace the warlock to get to you!"
Devin's eyes went wide. As he twirled with my aunt, his head kept turning to stare at Ace. "Death?" The muscles in his face constricted with anger. "HOW? I just...."
"Saw me? Yeah, that wasn't me. That was Ahrimad, in his true form," Ace explained quickly, and I could feel us slowly slipping back into the hex. "Malphas' slave used dark magic to trap my body in Limbo. And when he did that, my scythe and Ahrimad separated me. He can take a solid form with it. Ahrimad might be after your throne. Or he may just be using this event to make a statement. I have no idea, but I know he's up to something. This Faith with me, by the way. We're both obviously under an illusion."
"Um, hey," I said rather awkwardly. "Nice party."
Devin frowned. "Thanks..."
"She knows," Ace said. "About the whole Lucifer thing. She's able to see past illusions now too, Hell Boy."
Devin's icy blue gaze flicked from me back to Death, and those peepers turned into slits. I'd never seen a man look as furious as Devin did in that moment. "How long can you stay in that body? You're weak."
"I don't have much longer," Ace admitted. "Oh, and there's one more... tiny thing that I probably should have mentioned first"-we spun again to the music, and still, he kept conversation with Devin.
"Are you fücking kidding me, Death?" Devin snarled. "How could you let this happen? Ahrimad has control over your reapers, too, with that scythe!"
"People make mistakes!"
"God damnit," Devin cursed, as he and Ace paused and both dipped my aunt and I. "I'm going to lock you in a cage when this is all done," he said, once we were moving again. "I'll start discreetly evacuating people and find Ahrimad. Stay here."
Devin and my aunt glided off of the dance floor.
And as soon as it was just Ace and I dancing again, his violet eyes skirted along the massive mirror on the ceiling, and then honed in on the chandelier. And as he honed in on the chandelier, I felt a gaze on the back of my neck. I turned over my shoulder and found the man with the silver mask, the entertainer who had fallen from the silk at the beginning of the dance. He was dancing with a random girl who I didn't recognize.
"Something isn't right," Ace said, and then his face scrunched together in a fleeting wave of pain. "This can't be happening..."
I tore my gaze from the man in the mask. "What do you mean? What's happening?" As a thin stream of blood began to drop from the warlock's nose, drums began to pound to a tribal rhythm in the ballroom. "Is Ace kicking you out of his body?!"
"That's the main issue, yes." His eyes blinked slowly. "But we might have another issue on our hands here, as well," he added, between clearly painful breaths. "It's hard to explain, but ever since I left my body immobilized in Limbo, I've still been able to feel it. A weak but constant connection. Weak because my body is in a different realm." He looked me right in the eyes, then. "That connection just got a lot stronger, cupcake. Which means that my body is closer."
A chill shot down my spine. "Are you telling me...? That your body.... has moved? By itself?
"Not by itself. Someone else would have to control it." He dipped me, mimicking the handful of couples around us. I could see how frustrated he was. "I'm essentially a brain-dead corpse, without my soul. And theoretically, for a brief amount of time, if someone can reach into Limbo and summon my body, they can take control over it."
"Are you kidding me?" I said, once I was lifted back up. Our faces were inches apart. "And you knew this could happen?"
"I didn't have any choice, Faith. I had to get back to earth somehow. I can't travel between realms without my scythe."
"So what, anyone with magic could have taken control over your body and brought it back to earth?" I asked, low enough that only Ace could hear.
"Our illusions," Ace panted out. "I can't...keep them up." Ace seemed to be having a mini-seizure of sorts. I tried to hold him still with my hands, but he was too strong to restrain. I realized I had no idea how to help him, or whether or not I really wanted to help him. The monster possessing was against me. He always was against me, and I still found myself concerned for his well being.
Ace started to breathe normally and slowly tilted his head slightly upwards towards the chandelier above us. Beads of dark red dripped past his nose, to his shirt. He went deadly quiet and still. I followed his gaze, to find David Star-Ahrimad-- looking down at us from the second balcony above us.
And he was smiling.
The chandelier started to flicker above.
Unexpectedly, there was blast energy around us. Ace and I were torn away from each other, and a random girl was now in his arms. For a moment, I was swept away in the energy, forced to twirl alone to the dance and disoriented, when a pair of new hands caught me from behind and gripped my waist.
There hands were strong and oddly cold. Something sharp on their fingers poked at my skin. With my back to my new partner, we rocked to the beat. I tried to find Ace on the floor-to find Death-- but he was nowhere to be seen. I felt possessed by the music at this point. Trapped. Captive.
Suddenly, my partner gripped my waist again from behind and this time, alarms went off in my head. My head swayed. I fell forward, breaking from the hex, and my partner grabbed me from behind again and brought me back into the sway.
My eyes closed.
The music shifted, and so did we. The song slowly came to and end and my partner dipped me. My one hand reached back as I arched towards the floor, while my other hand held onto the back of my partner's neck. I could feel his breath on my chest, sliding up my neck. I let out an involuntary moan...
Something sharp dug slightly into my back and that's what snapped me out of my odd trance. It was coming from their fingers, like claws.
My eyes flipped opened. I was looking at the dance floor upside down, still arched backwards. I frowned. I curled my chin into my neck to look my partner. It was the man with the silver mask. His eyes were down, fixated on my collarbone and he inhaled softly. He was looking down, so I could only see his eyelids and lashes. There were faded black intricate lines around his forehead that had been covered with makeup, poking through the more I stared at them. He had stubble carved around his jaw, and I could see two lip rings on his bottom lip, as well as a ring in his nostril.
Fear crept up my bare skin.
My partner's eyes slowly slid upwards, away form the fixated part of my skin, to meet my gaze. They were like two different flames of green, burning into my skull. Sharply, we straightened so that we were both standing upright. He kept me close. I let out strangled breath and looked at our intertwined hands. There were intricate black markings along their fingers. I'd seen those fingers before, when Death had taken his gloves off.
The music had stopped.
The creature in front of me let out a low growl, which vibrated our hands.
"Oh great," I said.
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THIS CONCLUDES BOOK ONE OF THE REWRITTEN SERIES!
BOOK 2, DEATH IS MY BFFLAD REWRITTEN, IS ON MY PROFILE!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING! <33333333
xoxo,
Kat
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