Death and Rica walked side by side through the forest, a brisk wander in the snowfall while a hypnotised Aleion trailed behind.

  “You have heard of the Battle of Human Hell—a tragedy, for both sides, a foul move was made by the scummy Kan family.”

  “The cambions believe the Kan family manipulated the nations into war?” Death asked.

  “Not a belief, the truth—sinners have no reason to lie about such a dastardly act, they would relish in the sin if they actually wished to do such an evil thing, you will not find a demon-blooded soul who will commend the murder of the little prince, because it was a murder, Death, a wicked taking of life pinned on us. That’s the thing with us demon-blooded, sinners or no, we are loyal to our kind. The murder of the cambion princess shook even the nastiest of sinners into contempt those above, when the call was made to avenge the innocent princess, also murdered by the Kan family, not even one of our ancestors shut their ears to the horns of battle.”

  “And your plan is to use this tear of the angel to… kill enemies, exact revenge on the Kan family?”

  “I cannot reveal my motivations, that is a promise I also made, I will say that the Kan family will get what they deserve one day, however that day is not soon… take that as you will.”

  “I am not fond of cambions,” Death admitted. “The reasons for which the nations despise you are not the same as mine. I have never had a positive experience with one… and if I did, I don’t remember it happening.”

  “First time for everything,” she said with a smile. “The people of Hell yearn for the warmth of the sun rather than the fire of a pit. Even now, the snow is nice on my skin, I wish to share this space with the humans again in my lifetime, drink with humans, bet with humans, kiss a human, all that stuff.”

  “Your brother does not think the same way.”

  “He believes a second war will come, that somewhere hiding in the nations there is a soul waiting to lead us against the Kan family, he believes the humans have this soul in captivity, there’s never been any evidence of this.”

  “Does he think it’s a succubus?”

  “Succubi are extinct,” she reminded. “There was a tiefling who fell at the battle who was regarded as Hell’s most honourable, some say he survived, he is of my bloodline, Veiron Flame, but even if he did survive this purge of our races, he’s not immune to time, his bones would be dust, his flesh a meal for the ravens, his horns put above a mantlepiece, mistaken for the skull of a beast. If I am to be honest, Death, I think you have asked too many questions and not given me enough answers.”

  “By all means, ask your questions and I shall answer well, this is the most I have been entertained for a while.”

  “Who informed you of our whereabouts and the contents of our ritual? I watched you dig around in her, knowing where to look.”

  “No one told me a thing.”

  She narrowed her eyes and shook her head, not accepting the answer as the truth. “I want to believe you, Death, it is absurdly hard to believe that you stumbled upon a highly kept secret, in a highly guarded location, at a highly convenient moment.”

  “Not to be rude, but it wasn’t exactly highly guarded.”

  “Yes, it was,” Rica assured. “Every entrance had twenty guards to the door, it was very strange, that was when I suspected we may have been double-crossed. We did the ritual anyway.”

  “The door I entered from had two guards, Valan armour, very easy to eliminate.”

  “Which one?”

  “My companion said it was near a brothel, that there would be plenty of screaming should the guards try to call out.”

  “That is the entrance Killian Entrail came in from, he left giant footsteps leading to it… do you swear to me this is the truth, that you truly did appear moments before Killian Entrail and his men barged through those doors by pure coincidence.”

  “Yes.”

  She wasn’t impressed by this answer, however she believed him.

  “Confusing,” she mumbled. “I will need to consult many people after we have done this trade. What is that you want for it?”

  “I was thinking information would be fair, but it is a big ask.”

  “Nothing is too big of an ask for the tear of the angel.”

  “I would need to keep your necklace as collateral,” he said. “I do not know whether you would keep your word, the information I need is not something common, not something you can wave your hand and figure out.”

  “That is… a hard bargain… that necklace means a lot to me.”

  “You have my word it will be kept safe; I know the value of tiny little crystals that are priceless, trust me.”

  “What is the information you seek?”

  Hm… I feel if I reveal I am on the hunt for the last succubus she will not aid me… what do I ask for, I wonder? Should I ask her to scout and find the whereabouts of my scythe, Souleis? That feels too low of a bargain, asking her to find the scarred man is impossible with only a scar as a descriptor. Ah, I’ve got it.

  “Do you know of the screaming crystal in Valan possession, the one claimed to have a trapped soul?”

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  “I have heard it briefly in passing.”

  “I need to know which of the Valan brothers have it, and I need to know how they came to acquire it. If you let me keep the necklace as collateral for your compliance, this deal is done.”

  “That is all?” she said with a sad tone. “I will do one better for you, that is not as hard as you made it out to be—I will steal it if that is what you desire, that would be an even trade of my service for the tear of the angel.”

  “I still need to know where they got it from, how long it has been with them, any known information about it.”

  “That is doable,” she said firmly. “It will take weeks, I will find you when I have it, the energy from my necklace shouldn’t be too difficult for me to sniff out.”

  “It has a scent?”

  “Only to cambions.”

  Death pulled the tear of the angel out of his pocket.

  I suppose this the end of your journey with me, little rock, how I regret that I wasn’t able to explore your capabilities… back to your owner you go.

  Aleion broke free from his trance with a rageful roar after seeing the tear of the angel. “No, no!” Rica yelled. “Brother, you—”

  “We weren’t getting anywhere with him, I’ll kill him and we’ll get that necklace back from that white-haired whore.”

  “This is not the way! The death of these people is unnecessary.”

  “There was always going to be unnecessary deaths, this is just one more to add to the pot.”

  “Brother, please—”

  He struck her so hard she hit a tree and went unconscious. “You pitiful fuck!” Aleion screamed. “I heard everything you said, how highly fucking convenient of a situation.”

  Death reached for his sword and realised he didn’t have it. Well, that’s not very good. He ducked under the mighty swing of the rage-filled fist and punched him in the liver, having no effect.

  “Foolish,” he mocked. “Your punches are weak against me!”

  He grabbed death by the keep and spun a circle, choking him, slinging him away like a stone on a rope. “You will surrender the tear of the angel!” he screamed. “Or you will die!”

  Death crashed through the window of the hut and knocked over the table. Vera and Snow screamed.

  That hurt, Death thought. He threw me so far that I must have a few seconds to gather my thoughts… my bones ache, damn this body and this cursed weakness, thankfully it seems only my left arm is broken, shattered at the wrist and elbow, I can still use it to throw reckless punches in a desperate manner should I need to. A minor fracture on a few of my ribs, I can feel them shifting with each of my breathes, this shouldn’t limit my movement if I ignore the pain. The main issue is in my skull, I think a part of my skull might be cracked too—I feel a rush of warmth and a sogginess behind one of my eyes, internal bleeding perhaps.

  “Vera!” Death screamed. “I mean it this time, you do not come to my aid under any circumstance. You protect Snow, even if that means leaving me.”

  “Those dirty pink-skinned weasels!” Vera screamed.

  Snow rushed to Death with tears, begging him not to sacrifice himself for them to escape. “I am not going to sacrifice myself,” he told her angrily. “If you die, I die, and I will not die because I refuse to let darkness take me.”

  “Little Death, little Death, be a good boy and come out to your new daddy!” they heard Aleion yell. “Tell those two whores you got that I’ve got a thick red rod for them to choke down!”

  “Go!” Death demanded, grabbing his sword. “I will be fine, the injuries I have should give me three minutes before I reach a critical state in which I will lose focus and vision, I can kill him before then but only if I do not have you as distractions.”

  Never have I began a battle at such a disadvantage, this thrill coursing through my veins is such a memory! I will beat him until my bones break, then heal them all back when I break him and kill him! Oh, how I can feel my body has missed the ecstasy of bloody battles, come, cambion… I am not at a disadvantage; your cheap tactic has made this ground equal.

  Vera dragged Snow away and out of the backdoor. Finally, that damned fox listens to an order.

  “Come out, piggy,” Aleion ordered. “Or must I rip you out of there like the dirty human swine that you are.”

  Death climbed out of the shattered window. “Calling me human is a mistake,” he boasted. “I am a god.”

  “A god with a broken arm, leaking blood from your eye—looks like I got you good with that throw.”

  I don’t have time to throw quips and learn his mind… three minutes until my body gives out on me, that is doable.

  Death dodged all Aleion’s attacks, frustrating the cambion into a further fury which made his punches predictable. Death hit him under the jaw with the pommel of his blade and sliced his arm from finger to shoulder, then slid through his legs, slicing open his left heel.

  Death didn’t spare a moment; he swung for the head.

  Aleion squeezed the blade in his hand after catching it, cutting it to the bone, a snarly smile as he ripped the sword from Death’s hold and kicked him so hard in the stomach that he had to fight to keep last night’s soup inside of him.

  Damn this, Death thought. He will be immobilised with that left heel sliced but I am without weapon and time, he can still limp and put a fight… two minutes until I lose strength, the vision in one of my eyes is already stained red and purple.

  “If you knew who I was, you would kill yourself instead of fighting me,” Death said, rising to his feet. “I was just beginning to change my mind on cambions… such a pity.”

  “Lucky for me that I don’t give a fuck who you are.” He cracked his knuckles against his thick, veiny neck. “I’m gonna chain you up and use you as a sex slave for my dogs.”

  That is an outrageous statement. “What kind of dogs do you own that you need to provide sex slaves?”

  “Human ones.”

  Death was so taken aback by the cambion’s stupidity that he lost even more function in his brain. “Then they aren’t dogs.”

  “You are really starting to piss me off.”

  Death reached down and pulled up a sharp stick from the snow, the only weapon he could use. “Likewise,” he grunted. “Now, you deeply unsettling hellish freak, let’s end this.”

  A warm palm touched Death’s cheek, and everything suddenly went black, pure darkness, pure peace.

  What is this? he thought. Surely I have not died.

  He looked at his broken arm and saw it was healed, a beacon of light that spread and brought him back to the snowy lands. Aleion was gone, the snowfall was pounding down heavier, in front of him there was a face he recognised—the frozen face of the woman from the ritual, her entrails turned to hungry worms turned to ice, the root of a tree sprouting into her body.

  Odd, he thought. Is this a hallucination.

  He turned and saw a door stood in solitude with no walls and no floor. Behind it, music, a cacophony of joyful yells and moans.

  Perhaps this is punishment for my deeds… no, I wouldn’t die so meagrely so early into my second conquest… whatever this place is, I must find my way out.