He spoke as though it was some kind of betrayal, like he was angry with me for having imagined Zack but why the hell would he be? Those eyes looked even more deadly than before, evil evil evil. Dark and intimidating and frightening. Slits through which I could see the the dark look in his eyes.
His other hand tapped one finger at a time on his knee. "Tell me who he is." He ordered in a silky smooth voice.
I frowned. What did Zack have to do with this? If I said who he was, would he get in trouble? In trouble with Death... I was angry at Zack but I wasn't that angry.
Then again maybe it was just curiosity but looking up at the darkness emanating from him as he sat there and I kneeled in front of him I got the feeling that he couldn't be trusted.
I shook my head.
He raised a brow, his face blank but his voice had a hard edge to it. "Why are you so secretive about it?" He asked as he removed his hands from me and I sank a little lower on the floor.
"Why are you so curious about him?" I asked.
He frowned, raising a hand and glaring at his fingers. There was a moment before a gentle flame burst out of nowhere at the end of them and he allowed it to slide along his pinkie finger like one of those fuzzy joke worms you got from the joke shop as a kid. Like he was pulling the flame along on a string he slid it between his fingers as he stared at it intently.
"We're going to be partners for all eternity..." He said eventually. "That's a terribly long time not to know anything about your other half."
"Your other..." I swallowed. "Y'know humans usually call lovers that. So it's a bit weird."
He turned his sharp gaze towards me. "Your point?"
I squinted at him. "Well, we're not-"
"You known you're not really reacting the way I expected."
I stared at him. "You mean because... I was drunk the other day, the first time I met you."
"Yes, I noticed."
"You did?"
"I could smell it."
"Right." I cringed.
"Are you drunk now?"
"No."
"Then why aren't you screaming?"
I frowned. "Why, should I be?"
He smiled slightly, a slight spark reaching his eyes in the gentle light. "I'd prefer it if you didn't. The song of screams is one I can enjoy in plenty when I am working."
The memory of the screaming corpse of a man, begging desperately for Death not to take him, the maggots dripping out of his flesh wound as he crawled across the muddy grass sank in my mind.
"Yeah, I can imagine that."
He looked down at me, allowing the flames to slip through his fingers once more before crushing it in the palm of his hand. "I thought I knew humans very well. Their reactions to me, to pain and death and sadness. Deplorable pain and misery and even acceptance and happiness. However, I'm not sure I've met one like you before, or perhaps I have..." He mused. "If I have I didn't pay much attention."
I nodded. "Well as far is improbable entities with mysterious fantastical powers go you're not exactly what I expected either."
He narrowed his eyes, glaring at me. "What's that supposed to mean?" He said bitterly.
I raised my hands. "Oh, it's not an insult, not really. I just imagined... I don't know, more bones and, like, scary stuff."
"Bones." He scowled at me. "Your the only reason I look like this." He pressed his index finger against his face. "All this flesh, the blood and sinew and sweat. I wasn't brought into existence with this, you know."
I stared up at him in surprise. "You mean I made you like that?"
He glared at me. "You simply walked up to me, as though you owned me, and pressed your hand against my chest. Since then I've been coddled with flesh and my form is significantly less frightening than it once was. So far the reaction of the dead has been mainly self-concerned and I haven't been required to intimidate anyone into coming along, but soon enough this will be a problem for me."
"Why?" I asked. "You're still plenty scary, you're just really handsome now too."
He turned to me in surprise a moment and stared at me wordlessly and unblinkingly, before frowned at me and coughed turning back to a new flame that had sprung up on his hand. "There are no menacing humans. The very form defies it. A pale peach colour ranging to soft or dark chocolate. Squishy flesh and big wide eyes."
"Some people have small eyes."
"I hardly have time to describe every sort of human now do I." He snapped. "And besides, the smaller the eyes the less scary the man."
"Well-"
"No, far better a skeleton. I rather liked the shape of my skull too."
"Well... Why change at all then?"
He tutted. "Do you have salt in your eyes and parsley in your ears. You did this to me."
"Salt in my eyes..." I stared at him like he was mad.
"Even a deaf person might be able to follow my lips."
I shook my head, getting annoyed. "How are you saying I did this to you? If I had that kind of power I'd be out there regrowing peoples limbs and stuff."
"The only explanation I can think of is that I have gained a human form to appeal to you. Otherwise the only possible benefit for such a body is if I wished to feel pain. Which I can promise you I have never wished for. Not once."
"I..." I frowned intensely, my eyes watching the flame he was toying with like I was watching the laundry turn in the washing machine. "Why would you have to appeal to me?" I asked. Looking him up and down, eventually finding myself growing red in the face. I mean it wasn't news to me, he really was handsome, so maybe he was right. In any case, whether he liked looking human or not, no one could deny he had adopted a intensely attractive form and I couldn't imagine being resentful for that.
His hands met in the middle and he laced his fingers together as he looked down at me, as though he were considering something over and over in his head. "Why do you think I kissed you exactly?"
My face burned in response, remembering the kiss was enough to make my skin feel like it was hot enough to cook an egg. "I don't know." I said.
He tapped his fingers on his knee, patting the pant leg when he noticed the flame start to singe in slightly to put out the flame. "Well," He said, as if becoming disinterested. "Better that you figure it out in your own time I suppose..." He frowned, looking back up to stare at me, his eyes slowly travelling over my face and chest and arms. "You are particularly pleasant..."
"What are you..." I began, before I moved backwards as he suddenly pulled himself upright, standing slowly, the unearthly darkness gathering around him like a toddler clutching at his legs. The way he stood it almost appeared as he grew above me.
I didn't notice when I stood up but I was standing all of a sudden as I watched him. His wavy black as anything hair just long enough to tickle his jawline as he leant down and I saw his broad shoulders while he reached for his cloak.
Despite having put the manual effort into picking it up the actual adorning of the gown was seemingly done by something like magic. It quickly flung itself around his shoulders, like it was grabbing the man and devouring him, the hood slipping over his face and casting a long shadow. All that could be seen was a perfect straight nose that only slightly caught the light and the eyes. That strange blood red seemed to have a sort of light of its own.
He moved towards the window and I followed without real direction. He was leaving? But... Well, I don't know. Shouldn't I be asking more questions? I racked my brain for more questions but the only ones I came up with were 'where are you going?' and 'why are you leaving?' which were embarrassing enough in my head.
"S- So you're leaving?" I asked him.
He turned around, dangerous eyes pinning me down the floor. "I have work to do. You will join me soon."
I looked up at him with wide eyes. "You mean join you working as Death? Why would I ever do that?"
He cocked his head. "Because it is your fate, fight it, I will enjoy watching." He smiled slightly.
I frowned. "I'm not fighting anything... I just won't show up for work I guess."
He nodded, a slightly husky chuckle escaping his lips as he turned around completely. "Work will show up for you. As I said, your path will naturally follow the path of death." He turned around and opened the window, slowly stepping out onto the roof almost as though gravity was bending just for him. Every motion seemed so fluid, as though at times he was made of smoke.
"You can't make me..." But he could... Couldn't he? "Why..." I swallowed. "Why would you want my help anyway? I can't do anything..." I said as I followed him out onto the roof.
He turned around once more, and perhaps it was only my vision but it seemed as though the moon was blotted out by the darkness he conjured, as he balanced impossibly elegantly on the edge of the roof.
The wind whistled around us and the windows I saw in the distance with their lights on seemed to have finally blinked out of existence. Still, there seemed to be just enough faraway lamplight for me to see his form with relative clarity, so ethereal and impossibly handsome that I knew I would doubt whether this had actually happened tomorrow.
"I don't know how many partners you enjoy, at this time." He said, his voice progressively growing deeper. "But it would be advisable for you to cease relations with them now."
I blinked in the darkness, taking an unsteady step closer, before deciding that being saved once from falling off the roof was enough for tonight and I took a step back.
"You mean... I can't date?"
He nodded, turning his hand around to examine his nails in the long light. "Date, marry, copulate." He smiled, his voice growing colder and more sharp as he spoke. "I look so sweet and kind when you see me here... but I was never known for being kind. You have my fate in your hands, I will be very angry if you disobey me on this."
In a flash he was in front of me, a long finger under my chin, tipping my head upwards. "Very angry, sweet little thing. From now on, you are mine. Understood?"
I looked up at hose gorgeous red eyes and the intense darkness on his face and my Adams apple bobbed as I swallowed. "Wow." I spoke without thinking. "You're kind of intense..."
He cocked his head slightly. "Intense..." He said slowly. "Yes..." Then leaned in.
I pulled away reflexively but his arm slid around my waist and drew me closer and his lips landed on my neck.
"What are you-"
I pulled away reflexively but his arm slid around my waist and drew me closer against his body. I gasped in shock as his lips landed on my neck just at the crook between my neck and my jawbone. "What are you-"
I tried to jerk out of his gasp, shock drowning my words. His lips were soft on my neck, but there was a sudden burn, a throbbing burning sensation that bit into my skin even though I could feel his lips were still, even gentle. Soft warm lips, so why did it hurt like that?
The ache grew and grew. I tried to pull away but even if he now looked like a human he definitely wasn't made of the same stuff as the rest of us. "Ouch," I hissed. "You're-"
But he pulled away in time to interrupt me. "Marking you." He nodded. "To be safe."
"Marking me?" I asked, startled, my hands on my neck feeling the warm, bruised area left behind from the strange kiss.
He narrowed his eyes, suddenly back where he was before. He grew taller for a moment in that strange formless way, once again any light from the moon was hidden behind him and the darkness surrounding him. "We will meet again soon, goodbye."
The flesh under the patch of skin he kissed was now throbbing deeply, as though it were a sore muscle, warm and tingly. "Wait, what did you-..." I stepped towards him but he didn't reply before leaping, all of a sudden, into the air. And his form jumped into the night sky with the sort of elegance and grace that suggested he had to weigh nothing at all, before he blended in so easily that I could no longer pinpoint his figure amongst the fuzzy darkness of the night.
[A/N] Warm thank you to my patrons! If any of you are interested in exclusive chapters and early updates I always link my patreon. Chapter 9.5 up next! Big hugs all around.
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