Lachesis stepped in front of both Holly and Eros and erected a simple barrier of wind that the scythes grazed off. "Why are you after Holly?" she demanded.
"I haven't done anything to you," Holly added. "There's no reason for you to hunt me like this! Leave me alone and let me go back to my normal everyday life."
The three hooded figures took a few steps back. The one in the middle swept back their hood and the woman revealed stared at them with her green gem-like eyes.
"Do not misunderstand us, Holly Knight. We do not track you for some sick desire of our own. You have been marked."
"Marked?" Holly demanded.
"For death."
"Why?" Holly demanded again.
"You are a being that is foretold to create great change. Death is the only answer." The woman pointed the tip of her scythe at Holly again. "You can come willingly, or we will defeat your guardians. They can not stop us."
"You underestimate us," Lachesis clicked her tongue. The barrier vanished from her hands and she took a stance in front of Holly with her hands on her hips. "I am Lachesis, I am sure beings like you know that name."
The woman paused and looked at her companions. "Lachesis, the Fate?" she questioned.
One of the others threw their hood back now and the silver-haired man frowned. "If this is true, this will cause a lot of trouble."
He was shorter than his companion and his shiny hair was twisted into a braid down his back that swayed with his every movement. "Why is a Fate here?"
Lachesis smirked. "You're more worried about me than the fact that she's got a Sin as a companion? I could introduce you, it's Eros the Sin of Lust."
Eros smirked and the golden lights in his hands turned into twin flame swords. "And I will not allow you to take her."
Holly chuckled. "I'm still mad at you, Eros, but even I have to admit you look pretty cool right now."
The woman reaper frowned again Her soft brown hair made her face look so much softer than the hard glitter in her eyes would make you believe.
"I don't care who you are. Even if it brings more trouble, Quix," she called over to her companion. "I just know what my orders are. She will sow chaos if we allow her freedom. It is far better that Death takes her."
"What if I were to tell you that someone stronger than your master is involved in this?" Eros asked softly as he pointed his swords at the reapers.
"You wish to take her life, but you know nothing of her. She doesn't deserve what you plan for her. I demand you spend time with her and get to know her."
"What?" Lachesis demanded as she whirled to confront the Sin. "Have you lost your mind?"
Holly too shook her head. "No way! They've been trying to kill me! Why would I let them near me during the time I run from them? That makes no sense, Eros!"
"It makes perfect sense to me, Holly. If they're around you, they'll get to know the true you, the soul that shines so bright, and that should never be extinguished. Not to mention, if they try to break any of the rules we set up, well let's just say I know a certain Prince that will pull their own souls out, and then destroy them in the most painful way possible."
The last reaper flung their hood off now. He had dark-blonde hair and soft blue eyes. He was frowning in thought at the three of them.
"You want us to wait to take her? Why should we agree? It doesn't matter to us what kind of soul she possesses. We told you that this job is not up to us, but to our master."
A dark glare settled over Eros's face. "Do you mean to tell me that you don't care if those you take are pure or not?"
"Why should we?" The woman demanded as she flipped her hair with a hand. "We operate solely on our boss's orders. You want us to just abandon him? For what? You can't give us a single reason why we should let this girl go."
"Do you really want to make one of the Princes upset?" Eros challenged.
The reapers looked at each other now. "Do you think that's true?" The blonde whispered.
"Do you have any proof of this?"
Eros smirked. "He'll be here in a matter of days. You'll be able to talk to him yourself, and he's in love with that soul right there. Touch her, and you'll suffer."
Quix scratched his neck. "I'm not going to get involved in pissing off a Prince. I vote for waiting for a few days. We've been chasing her for six months now."
Holly's eyes widened. "Six months?" she whispered.
"Yeah, it's just been Ruby, Krim, and I. Ruby is our leader."
"Do you have to tell them so much?" Ruby snapped as she rubbed the space between her brows.
Quix shrugged. "We are going to wait, right?"
Krim's lip curled in a sneer. "I really don't think we should let them get away with it. This could be a ploy for time."
Lachesis smirked. "If it was a ploy for time, why would you be worried? You've been after her this long, what would a few days more really matter to you?"
"Because I hate to be taken advantage of," Krim growled between grit teeth. "I swear if this is just a ploy, if the guy doesn't show up in three days, I'll make sure that she'll suffer before Death, myself."
The woman held up a hand and the other two quieted. "I do feel this is a waste of time, but I'm going to allow it. Because when you're proven to be the liar I believe you are, you will cry for our mercy as she's torn apart, and there will be none."
Holly swallowed. She really didn't like the sound of any of this. "You'll stop chasing me?" she whispered. "Just let me go?"
"No," Quix answered. "We are going to be living in this building, here with you. You'll have a chance to show us this pure soul of yours, not that it matters. And you'll be saved if the Prince does show up. Though just his appearance won't be enough to save you."
"You'll be surprised," Eros remarked with a smile. "Now, why don't you all gather yourselves together, put aside your weapons, and introduce yourself to Holly here, properly."
"My name is Quix, I'm the second in command of this little group, and if any of you try to do anything to Ruby, I'll slice you in half."
The woman rolled her eyes. "My name is Ruby, this is my squad of grim reapers, and ignore Quix. He suffers from the belief that I will one day change my mind and agree to go out with him."
She glanced over at him as her eyes narrowed. "I will not, I don't do relationships."
Eros wrapped Holly in a light embrace again from behind with his arms around her shoulders. "I know you don't like being touched too much, but could you endure it a moment?"
Holly sighed. "It's not the same with you, Eros. It's okay but just a few moments." It was best to give rules and structure early. Speaking of.
"Why are you glaring at me?"Krim demanded.
"You haven't introduced yourself yet." Holly pointed out.
"Yeah, so? Just because they did, doesn't mean I need to," he argued with a huff.
"This is Krim, he's got a lousy attitude, and it's going to be a pain in the ass stuck in a building with him," Quix introduced. "Don't waste too much time with him, or you'll regret it."
"What's wrong with you?" Krim demanded glaring at the other man.
Quix shrugged. "You weren't doing it, so I did it for you. You're not exactly allowed to complain when you refused to answer a simple question."
Holly ignored the group as she continued to let Eros hold her. There was nothing obscene about the gesture, he was just holding her tight as if she was the most precious person in the world to him. She found it impossible to pull away from those feelings. Not after everything they'd been through.
"That means you can have a normal night, Holly," Lachesis observed. "You can get actual rest at the right time."
"I'm not even tired right now," Holly complained. "If we were going to do this, I would have just stayed up during the day instead of resting."
Ruby chuckled. "We're supposed to be impressed by her whining?" she demanded.
"She's upset because her body has no sense of when night and day are anymore, and you do realize that you're to blame, right?" Eros demanded. His eyes were narrowed on the three.
"If she would have given up right away, she wouldn't have had to worry about that," Krim argued.
Lachesis raised an eyebrow. "If she would have just died for you?"
Quix frowned. "I think you lot are misunderstanding something here. What we're here to do. We're not here to kill her. We're here to bring her to Death."
Eros's eyes widened. No. That couldn't be what he was talking about. "When you say death with such emphasis, you're saying that as a person, aren't you?"
Ruby smiled. "That's it. We're here to take her to one of the Four Great Horsemen. The Horsemen of Death."
"So that's why you'll wait for the other Prince," Eros pointed out. "I'll have you know, ours is infinitely better than yours. You have a cruel master, but ours is capable of kindness."Quix burst into laughter. "Kindness? None of them are capable of that. They're all selfish and only do or help with things that will benefit them. You're clueless if you truly believe that yours is any different. But I'll let you prove it because there's nothing more that I love when someone is proven wrong. The shock on their faces, it's like a drug."Ruby rolled her eyes at him. "Lust, while I'm not as fanatic about it as Quix, he
Holly tensed as the fog completely covered the two of them and all contact from the others was halted."Relax," Ruby ordered her fingers moving in small circular patterns on Holly's shoulders. "Just relax.""But, the others," Holly whispered."Not important right now, I need to focus on you and see if you have magic inside, and for that, you're going to have to relax and trust me."
Holly wasn't surprised when Ruby took away the barrier or when Eros grabbed her and hugged her hard. "Don't you ever do that again," he hissed.Holly pushed at him. "I was with Ruby, it's okay, Eros. She's my friend now.""Friend?" Eros stared at the reaper. "Why in the world would you befriend her? You do remember they are our enemies right?""You're the one that suggested they stay with me, right?" Holly challenged with a smile. "That will work out much better if we're friends."
"How are we going to figure out what magic she has anyway?" Quix questioned as he walked around Holly. "It could take forever if we try it one thing at a time. Besides, I'm sure that not one person knows all the branches of magic here. Even if all of us worked together, we might not cover them all."Eros sighed. "I don't understand how Angel figured it out so easily. He should have shown up by now, or at least Tydeus." He stopped then turned on his heel. "Wait, Holly, didn't you mention something about Tydeus? While we were arguing.""Yes, he visited me in my dreams," Holly responded. "He insisted on calling me Juni
Holly didn't waste any time, she shoved Quix back and knocked him onto his back as she held a hand against her lips."Please, don't do that again. I'm not a toy for you to mess with. You can't just do what you want to try to make me blush."Quix raised himself on one elbow and grinned at her."But that's the fun of it. Ruby doesn't do anything but roll her eyes. You do all kinds of wonderful things for me. Your breath gets shallow and fast, your heart beats faster, your cheeks change color.
Holly must have fallen asleep, though she didn't even remember her eyes closing. There had been a loud bang, like glass shattering. Had that been part of her dream?On the end of the couch, Quix was snoring, hugging his braid as if it was a stuffed toy. Was this truly one of the people she had been running away from in terror for so long?She leaned forward as she watched him sleep. Was he faking it?"Are you done pouting yet?" hissed a voice behind her.
Eros's warmth was nice, but there was a point it became suffocating. Holly moved her friend to the middle of the couch where he whimpered for a moment before cuddling against Quix.She held back a chuckle. Even though she was still upset with him, she couldn't deny he was cute.What had woken her up? The sky was dark outside which normally meant she'd be in full running mode at this point.It was strange to not be running at all. Her Chasers were not what she had expected. Ruby was a f
"Fake?" Holly repeated. She didn't have the strength to try to free herself any longer. "All fake?""Every last one," Krim agreed. "This entire world has been created for you. To study you, to judge you.""Judge me?" Holly frowned. "I don't understand. Why am I being judged? By who?" how could she even ask questions? Her mind was still trying to comprehend what Krim had revealed. There was no way this entire world was fake, was there? None of it made sense.Krim picked up his pace as they got farther and farther away from the others. "Death can explain more if he feels like it. I don't know how much I should give away. I don't need to put myself in danger over this.""You said you'd tell me everything," Holly reminded. Inside, her world was spinning. None of this made sense. "Why would this world be created for me? Why? And who did it?""You want all those answers?" Krim twisted his neck to study her. "Then I need something from you. It's the only