Check out the Death x Faith and Malphas x Phoebe fan made music video to the right! It's so awesome! :)
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Rain poured down from the blackening sky in harsh, pelting, cold splashes, that hit my skin, awakening me from my dream. Immediately, I was confused as to why I was in the position that I was in. I was sprawled out in the middle of an alley on my stomach with my arms at an awkward angle, and my hair and clothes tangled and wet amongst oily puddles. My one leg had fallen asleep. The throbbing sensation at my temple was not a headache, I could only conclude that I had somehow been hit in the head or fell. Whatever the injury to my head had been, I was knocked out cold with no recollection as to how.
Laughter cackled throughout the alley in cruel echoes, startling me.
"Who's there?" I demanded.
The laughter died off. I was basked in silence for the longest time, until I heard the caw of a bird to my right. I whipped my head towards the raven, heart in my throat, wincing greatly as my forehead throbbed. The raven cawed again, then flew vertically up the brick wall of the alley, landing on a street lamp.
"A villain..."
I tore my gaze all around. I couldn't deceiver their voice through the bombarding, spiteful strikes of the rain around me. "Show yourself!"
Laughter cackled again, louder. This time I could pinpoint which direction it was coming from. Alarms went off in my head and crab walked away from the direction of the villain, rapidly getting up onto my feet and slamming my back into a brick wall in the process, pressing my back against it and surveillance both ends of the alley. I squinted my eyes around the dim ally and tried to sit up, a black mass spread along the ground, blanketing me like a thick shadow. I heard the sudden flaps of many birds and more blanketing shadows creeping towards me, until they all shrunk back like an elastic band towards one source, forming the silhouette of a man, who leaned on the opposite brick wall of the alley, watching me with his black eyes.
"Malphas," I breathed out, recalling the vivid dream I had witnessed moments before. What were the odds of seeing him after that dream? "What are you doing here?" I asked.
"Your reaper side took over and you lost control. Give it a moment and you'll remember, love," he replied gently. I stared at him in confusion for a while, before he stepped away from the shadows, his black, bloodied fangs exposed in a wide, evil grin. "Actually, perhaps I could help you regain your memories..." He motioned to my feet with one gloved hand. "You're welcome."
I looked down at my feet, where a dead man lay with his eyes viciously pecked out. It all came back to me.
I was curled up in a ball against an ally wall with my head in-between my trembling knees. It was cold. Night. Windless. I should have been warm, but an endless chill had hibernated beneath my new black leather attire. This was before it had began to rain, and a few moments after I had heard a gunshot not too far away from my location. The sound had triggered something inside of me that I had stored away for two weeks. Fear. My hand was clutched to my stomach over a black, intricate mark, in recollection of the little blonde girl in the market who had been shot and almost killed. The blonde girl who was saved a cruel, ruthless Fallen who would break her years after.
Sighing, I took the wad of cash out of my pocket and started to count. I definitely wasn't in the safest part of Chicago, but I didn't care. I didn't care about anything, really, just the fact that I had another wad of cash in my pocket from another sucker business man that I could use to pay for another night at a nearby motel.
I stared at the opposite side of the alley, my eyes glazing over.
"Hello?" an impatient male demon barked above me. They had a square head and shoulders that were too wide, and had been yelling at me for about twenty seconds. I hadn't been listening to a word they were saying. There were many other important things to think about.
"I said: this is our territory, demon whore," a buff, square-headed demon. "Get your pretty ass up and get out of here."
I looked up at the man, my upper lip sneering slightly. "No," I said defiantly, counting my money again.
"No? Who the hell do you think you are?"
I tried to hide my identity by moving back into the shadows. Nobody had recognized the Redeemer yet, and I didn't plan on it happening anytime soon. I had no idea what they would do to me if they knew I had the purest soul to ever exist. I was the one who could break the Angel of Death's curse through sacrifice, and turn the world entirely evil. Capturing me would put a hell of a lot of power in someone's hands.
His men were on me in a heartbeat, so fast that I wasn't able to defend myself. They kicked me with their heavy shoes, hit me with their fists, and clawed at my skin. At some point, I fell to the ground and took in a mouthful of oily water. I pathetically threw up, emptying the contents of my stomach as the men laughed through their sharp fangs and beer breath.
"Stupid whore. You should have left while you could."
My face felt like it had been hit with sixty soccer balls, and my insides felt inflamed. The men laughed vociferously at me as I tried to get back onto my feet. My eyelids were practically swollen shut, tongue too thick and injured from biting down on it in pain.
Suddenly the men were screaming until their throats went raw. I heard the cries of angry birds, the flaps of their wings slicing through the air. I had no idea what was happening, my eyes were too swollen to open. Demon blood and gore splashed on my face and in my mouth as I tried to crawl away from their screams. Holding down a gag, I swallowed the contents in my mouth and the blood miraculously stared to heal me. The swelling in my eyes and my face subside. A raven land on my stomach as I turned over onto my back. I held my breath, frozen in fear. It turned its head to the side to watch me with one beady black eye, then oddly fluffed up. Behind it, the demons who had attacked me were retreating down the alley, with a hundred or so ravens pecking and ripping at their flesh, throwing pieces of their skin to the ground.
Minutes later, I could no longer hear the men's screams. Just the pounding vibrations of my heart in my chest. The ravens came in a swarm back down the alley, cawing and spiraling rapidly in a tornado formation, morphing together until a man stood in their place. The man started to stroll towards me, his limbs and joints seeming to bend and crack in odd directions.
I got up off the ground inhumanly fast, and the raven on my chest flew upwards, landing on the criminals shoulder. I retreated a few feet before I tripped over a body, hitting my head so hard on the pavement. I blacked out.
I came back to the present and continued to stare in horror at the dead man at my feet. It was sure as hell the head of the pack of demon's who had attached me. At first, I was having trouble finding my voice, but as Malphas started to come towards me, I straightened my spine and put a good amount of distance between us.
"Stay back," I growled, my claws lengthening. "I don't know why you helped me, but I know it wasn't out of kindness."
Malphas stayed where he was, chuckling under his breath. Regardless of his laughter, his rough, sandpaper voice turned acidic as he responded with, "You don't owe me anything in return, love." He gave the lifeless demon with the pecked out eyes a hard kick with his dress shoe.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "That's not how you work," I said with detest. You're as foul, empty shell of a thing." I saw what you did to Phoebe, I wanted to say. You tried to kill her, and the only way she could get away was to trap her soul in the Unknown for an eternity. "You'll want something in return for saving me. That's how you both work," I added outloud.
"Why Faith, I'm extremely offended that you think of me as an equal to Alexandru when I am far more superior and handsome."
"I'd say you're both equally monsters."
Malphas made a low hissing noise and flashed an unfriendly grin, black fangs exposed and threatening. Death and Malphas had too much in common. Their beauty was undeniable, their arrogance was proud, and their tongues were witty and always prepared in advance. Not to mention, they both clearly paid too much time on their hair.
"I wonder, how would you know how I work when you don't know a thing about me, love?" Malphas suddenly challenged, black eyes unblinking. "You could have been killed. I want you alive and well. It's as simple as that. I believe a thank you is in order."
"Death told me all about you and Phoebe when I was younger."
Malphas' smirk fell and his expression changed to something unreadable and cold.
"He stripped me of my memories of him when I was a child," I continued. "I'm just starting to regain them back. Call it fate that I just regained the stories he told me about you right before you came to my "rescue". I know exactly what you did to Phoebe, and I know how ruthless you are. Don't try to deny what you did, I've seen her in the mirror myself. She's tried to communicate to me before. You're an asshole and you're evil swine. If I'm not the one who destroys you, I hope it's her. I hope she crushes your black heart in her hand for what you've done to her."
We stood there for a while, just looking at one another. Malphas started to laugh.
"I'm an asshole and I'm evil swine," Malphas echoed. He laughed even louder after he heard himself. "You are bold, Faith Williams. Very bold indeed." In the blink of an eye, Malphas was right in front of me, our faces inches apart. I didn't feel threatened by him so I didn't try and move away. That's what I kept telling myself.
"But you're wrong, darling," he whispered at my ear. "You couldn't be any more wrong about me." His next words sliced through the air ferociously. "That black witch can't crush what I don't have. I have no heart." He captured his icy hand in mine and brought it to his chest, where there wasn't even the shallow movements of his breath. "It was ripped out my chest many years ago. You think you know everything about me, love? You're sorely mistaken then. Let me tell finish the story for you one day, and tell it as it truly is beginning to end. There is nothing there beyond my ribs, there is no life inside of me anymore. I feel nothing. I have nothing. All because of her. She is the reason I am what I am." His tone went gentle. "Don't feel bad for me with that sweet, sweet heart of yours. I enjoy feeling nothing. I enjoy being alone." It was then that Malphas' swarmed around me, pressing his mouth harder against my ear, his words drilling insensitively into my brain. "But I do not appreciate being called swine. I am not, nor will I ever will be, swine, you incompetent little girl."
Malphas pulled back, his raven cawing stridently on his shoulder, and his lips peeled back from his black fangs into a sinister smile. "We'll meet again," he said, then stepped back into the shadows.
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When I staggered through the door of my motel room I was drenched in water. My leather clothes were ruined, I would have to buy more clothes in the morning. Then I remembered that I no longer had the wad of cash I had earned throughout the day and smacked myself in the face. It hadn't hit me how vulnerable I had been when those men had beat on me in the ally until then. How weak I had been. Why hadn't I fought back and protected my earnings? I knew how to fight by now.
I guess I'll just walk around naked the rest of my life, I thought.
I stripped all of my wet clothes and fell face-first onto the bed, not caring about the unsanitary disaster that was beneath me. Lord only knew the countless amount of drug addicts and prostitutes who had used the bed beneath me. I rolled over and stared up at the stained ceiling, wondering where I had gone wrong. The entire room smelled like must, vodka, and mold. Yum. When I had arrived in the room two weeks before, there were three pairs of handcuffs on the bed, and empty condom boxes scattered along the floor. The rooms next to me either had headboards slamming against the wall or drunk people screaming their heads off to pounding music. Fantastic.
I finally slid off of the grimy bed and examined the items of clothing I had stuffed in a single motel drawer. I knew my face was still swollen from being beaten up. I didn't care. I put on a pair of shorts and slipped a t-shirt over my head. The shirt clung to my skin and I struggled to get my arms through it.
That was when I felt his presence like a tip of a knife dragging up my spine.
I quickly shoved the shirt over my breasts, my heart pounding wildly in my chest. "What the hell are you doing in here?" I didn't turn around. I also tried to sound as nasty as possible. I didn't even recognize my own voice. It was so empty of emotion and cruel. Maybe if I was mean to him, he'd finally leave me alone. That's how it worked in the second grade at least, on boys who I didn't like. But this boy I liked very much, there was no denying that. I quickly turned my face away from his new angle on me. The evil man was doing as he normally did, making me squirm without doing anything at all. I wouldn't let him in. Not this time.
There was an untamed jaguar in the room, and the weight of its slanted green eyes were pure fire on the back of my neck. Surely, he was mocking me. I was the helpless prey, I always would be. I could sense the beast's hand reaching out to me, but like the polar ends of a magnet trying to make contact, that hand never reached me. It just fell back where it was supposed to be at his side.
Good.
"You're not welcome here," I continued. There it was again, that empty voice that I somehow was managing to project.
Silence. The heat from the intruder's body was growing cold, he was backing away from me. Was this another one of his games? My insides were trembling like an earthquake. My lungs crushed, feebly trying to inhale air. I should have killed the intruder for making me feel this way.
I started to say turn around. Admittedly, there were tears in my eyes. I was more than hurt that he hadn't bothered to help me in the ally. "Say something already--"
Death was no longer in the room. We had always shared the ability to communicate without words, even before I became supernatural, but somehow, we had lost that connection. He was a stranger to me now.
Realizing I was alone once more, the back of my throat began to closed up and I struggled to keep my emotions at bay. My fists clenched and unclenched, sweat dripped down my forehead. I had done it, I had scared him off. I inhaled slowly and reeled in my threatening tears until my expression was vacant.
He was still near.
Fuming, I went to the only window in my motel room. It was rusty and old, the glass was dirty. I pushed upon the window and leaned out. I was three stories off of the ground. My eyes quickly skimmed the cars below, druggies passing small bags of substances beyond the glow of street lights. There was a hobo sitting on the ground next to a broken vending machine, smoking a cigarette.
I still felt Death's presence like a continuous lick of a wild animal against the side of my throat. I was falling for his Where's Waldo? trickery, and it was pissing me off. I slammed the window shut, pacing the room. Heavy metal continued to blare in the room next to mine, mixed with loud male moans and continuous banging noises against the walls. I had already complained twice to the motel owner about that second part. The motel owner just disappeared the third time I went to complain, so I gave up. It was sick what my new motel "neighbor" was doing with their life. Having constant sex. It had kept me up all night for at least a week and a half.
Suddenly, I leapt onto my bed and pressed my ear to the wall. I listened carefully to the hard metal music and moans, my eyebrows shot up. What I was hearing were very familiar, deep, phony male moans.
"That...bastard!" I screeched.
Death had been the one keeping me up at night and banging on the walls. Literally! He had been banging on the walls with his hands!
I grabbed all three abandoned silver handcuffs and stormed out of my room. I made a show of knocking politely on the door. The music lowered. I knocked again. When nobody answered the door, I pounding on it until I thought my hands would bleed.
"Let me in, honey!" I screamed, gripping the handcuffs in a death grip. First I was going to handcuff him, then I was going to stab his pretty eyes out. What part of leave me alone, did he not understand?!
When Death still didn't answer the door, I took a few step backs and kicked at the door until it busted open.
The room was empty, but the bed had a nice little Death dent in it. There was an expensive stereo by the window that I kicked and stomped on with my bare feet until it started to smoke. I leaned down and smelled the comforters, my nostrils flaring with irritation. I stalked around the room like an animal, throwing over a few chairs and knocking over the dresser. I squatted on the fallen dresser and sniffed the air, a low growl in my throat. I still smelled him.
Where are you?
I heard movement on the other side of the wall. My wall. I raced out of the room, nearly slamming into a cleaning ladies cart in the process. Holding back my wrath, I knocked gingerly on the door, impatiently crossing and uncrossing my arms over my chest.
The door slowly creaked open without anyone there. Had I been unacquainted with Death's games, I would have stayed out in the hallway. Instead, I threw open the door and let it slam shut. The room appeared empty. I knew better.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" I sang, feigning sweetness. I was so peeved that my chest rose and fell in swift breaths. I threw open the motel room's closet door. Empty. I dropped to my stomach on the ground and checked under the bed and stuck my head underneath it. Dust bunnies, but still--
"Boo."
"Ahhhh--! Ooof!" I bunked my head hard on the bed frame. That one-liner never failed to catch me off gaurd. When I tried to roll over onto my back, Death'sknee pressed firmly between my shoulder blades, pinning me uncomfortably to the ground. It was definitely not my day. I tried not to breath in the motel carpet, I really did.
Click. Click.
He handcuffed my hands behind my back.
"Dang it!" I tried to wiggle as much as I could beneath him, sputtering out every curse word, every mean word I could think of. With every breath I took, he pressed me deeper into the carpet. Surely if I was entirely human his massive body would have crushed me. I was well aware of how he was pressing me into the carpet, too. It wasn't with his knee. It was with his pelvis like the pervert he was.
"Jerk!" I hissed in conclusion after my rant of more curses. I couldn't think of anymore names. My colorful vocabulary only made him laugh harder than he already was.
"You kinky little cupcake," Death breathed in my ear, snickering. "Were you going to try and handcuff me to the bed?"
"Yes," I admitted, anger still boiling my blood. "Then I was going to stab your pretty eyes out and slit your neck and lick up all of the blood while you watched."
"Hells horns that was the sexiest thing I've ever heard come out of your mouth. A thousand times better than that time you got all tribal on your pants and screamed at them to die over and over again."
"I was hoping you forgot that," I ground out.
"Never," Death groaned loudly, moving my hair from my neck and licking my neck in slow, hungry strokes, purring deep in his chest like a damn cat. I wanted to punch him right in the throat and chew at his perfect face with my fangs like a freaking Hungry Hippo.
Seriously. Who the hell got turned on by stabbing someone's eyes out and slitting necks?
"I bet you want to be freed so bad. I bet you want to rip my throat out. Grrr, so much anger. Isn't that right, princess?" Death placed the remaining two handcuffs in front of my face, jingling them teasingly as he nipped at my ear with his sharp fangs. He was being too sweet. Too friendly. Something was up, and I had no idea how right I was by detecting that. In an instant, I was pressed so painfully into the carpet that my vision spotted with black, and Death bit down on my ear until he tasted my blood. He licked the wound clean with care, still refusing to flip me over. I hadn't seen his face yet. The beast pinning me down went tense, muscles tightening dangerously above me. He was like a bullet ready to explode from a gun, and I would be the unfortunate person beneath him when he fired.
"Well you don't have to worry about killing me because I'm already dying," he said rather calmly.
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