Death’s New Pet: Love after Life

Death’s large arm curls around my body as he shields me from the attack. My heart hammers in my chest as he easily hides me behind his monstrous form. Black tattoos throb on his skin and swim around on his body like little snakes, eager to attack.

He’s doubled in size from his already huge stance, but I can’t see what he looks like yet. I don’t dare tilt my head back out of fear of putting myself into the firing zone.

A shiver pulls through me as he dodges a huge fiery stream. The heat licks my skin, and the sweat instantly pricks to the surface. He hisses, correcting his stance and throwing his arm out. All the while, he forces me to stay pressed up against him. Not that I want to do a fucking runner when there are three Hellish beings eager for my death all of a sudden.

But the hardness and heat of his body utterly take me by surprise. I feel the way his muscles flex when he throws out a force field to stop whatever is lurching towards us. I don’t know what the fuck is happening or why it’s happening, but I make no move to leave the strange protection of Death incarnate.

Suddenly, the temperature in the arena goes up and I feel myself sticking to Death with sweat. My head pounds and my mouth feels dry, and there is a roaring sound coming from in front of Death.

“Death, don’t you dare!” I hear Misery shriek in horror. I make no move to peek my head out to check what is happening, and instead push my head into Death’s back, praying that whatever happens next, that I get out in one piece.

“That’s too far!” Longing is next to try and negotiate with him, but he is having none of it. He growls and it rumbles through him and into me, that low and challenging sound making the hairs on the back of my arms prick.

“Back off, Father.” Death’s voice is ridiculously deep now. The sound has my body responding in a way that I’ve never experienced before. Something deep in my stomach twists and something flutters down there.

What the fuck?

“You had it coming,” Death growls as the roaring gets louder. He rears back and I see the blue and red fireball the size of a football bubbling and boiling away. Then, just as he aims, a low clap erupts around the arena.

Startled, I spin around and face the creature that has joined the arena. A short but stocky man walks in, hidden in a large black cloak and red flowers on it. He grins but it makes my stomach flip in the most uneasy way possible, and when his beady little eyes nervously flicker to Death, I instantly realise that he is not welcome here.

His features are just as handsome as the others, but two huge scars starting at his eyebrow and pulling through his eyeballs down to his cheeks, make him much less appealing. His eyes are white except for the bloodshot scar that rips through them, and the only way I can tell he is now looking at me is the mutilated-looking iris that looks me up and down.

“Rage!” Misery’s head snaps towards him in horror and then down to her hands. Her large mournful eyes then turn to look over at me. And a wallowing noise escapes her lips. “Rage, how dare you! We could have killed her! Wait, does that mean she didn’t do that herself?”

What the fuck is going on? And what the hell does she mean to do it myself? Do what myself?

“Oh boohoo, another dead mortal.” The man rolls his eyes sarcastically and feigns confidence. I can smell the act a mile off. Even though he makes purposeful strides across the arena, his pacing and nervous tics do all the talking. His voice, on the other hand, is powerful and eery, yet, he completely dodges Misery’s question. “What even is this shit show? Is this what it’s come to since I’ve been gone? Watching weak little mortals torture themselves with thoughts. How pathetic. Where’s the real show?”

“Son,” Longing whispers. “Leave.”

Son? Is this Death’s brother?

“Are you not happy to see me?” He frowns at his mother and then turns to his father. “What about you? Happy to see me or are you still a miserable bastard?’

Nobody responds. I hold my breath and wait for another fight to kick off as they all glare each other down. Death is tenser than earlier, and his grip on my body tightens to the point it becomes painful. I yelp and try to pull back, but he doesn’t relent.

Furious, Rage turns to his sister, “Misery, I’ll assume my invitation got lost in the mail.”

“Get fucked.” She spits pure venom at him. “You need to leave.”

He finds absolute pleasure in taunting them. “But the party has just begun!”

“Don’t do this here, Rage,” the Devil hisses under his breath, “What are you doing here? How did you get out?”

“It seems brother dearest forgot to renew the curse. Or did he forget that a temporary death is only temporary?” Rage twists and faces Death, and a cocky smile kisses his lips.

Death finally releases me and starts for his brother, but before he can get there, the Devil flashes in front of his face. He barks things at Death but it’s far too quiet to hear, but Death stays deadly quiet and oozes a black mist that has me stumbling backwards to avoid getting touched by whatever the fuck that is. I still haven’t been able to get a good look at him. It’s as though he is purposely avoiding turning around to face me.

“We will deal with this later.” Longing sends her son a pointed look, but I catch the fearful glance. She visibly trembles and no longer oozes that alluring motherly instinct. She’s as pale as anything, as if she knows something awful is going to happen as a result of this untimely meeting.

“I’ll put him back into the grave now.” Death fires up the same ball as earlier but before he can do anything, the Devil grabs him by the arm.

“You know you can’t. Don’t.” The stern words vibrate all around the arena, making me shudder.

What does that even mean?

An awful silence haunts the room. Death shrinks back into his familiar, smaller form, but his tattoos swim faster on his body until they blur. He takes control over his Being, but the fury never leaves him. I gulp.

Whatever the fuck happened between them, Death surely hasn’t forgiven him.

“That will be all today, Monsters and Monstresses. Vote on your favourite candidate and we will see you again tomorrow!” Misery rushes the words. Before she can even take a breath after the last sentence, a light flashes before my eyes and the next thing I know, I’m back in the lounge with the other contestants.

Mortified, nobody says a word.

Not even Prey Three. Every single person trembles, shakes and sobs quietly, completely taken aback by what they’ve just witnessed. The absolutely unimaginable power of Beings forged from the depths of Hell, fighting one another with a force that the human mind could not even comprehend… and yet, crazily, my mind is locked firmly on one thing.

How fucking good it felt to get that punch on Maximo.