YOOOOOOOOOOOO what's up??

This song high key makes me envision a character intro for DIMBFF, like a TV show one. :O

Hope everyone is staying safe and doing okay! Sending all my love to anyone going through a tough time. <3 <3 <3 <3

What's everyone been up to during quarantine?? Got any interesting stories? 

Me, I'm just been chillin' like a villain writing and watching the show Suits!!! (No spoilers PLEASE, I'm obsessed!!!) I've also wanted to get healthier, so I've been eating more mindfully while doing my normal workouts! I've lost 10 pounds!!!! :D

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            Ahrimad pointed his hand at the brackets connecting Death's chains to the ceiling, snapping them off. Death dropped to the ground, landing perfectly balanced on the balls of his feet, but still restrained, as two menacing high-level large demons caught the ends of his chains and tautened them. They kept his arms on a leash, like an animal.

"If you expect me to take fault for what I did to you, think again," Death snarled. "You committed your own damn sins to be trapped in that mirror where I found you. You chose to take advantage of me when I was only a child."

"I was your salvation, Alexandru. I saw greatness in you, when you were young and malleable. Now you're just damaged goods on the brink of losing your grip. That is no fault on anyone but your own."

"Because of you. You and this curse."

"Let's not pretend you weren't susceptible to me from the beginning," Ahrimad said, a coy smile lifting on his cruel mouth as he turned Death's wrath onto Malphas. "Your father was the one who isolated you in your training, which led you to me in the first place. Poor Alexandru, all he ever wanted was a friend."

Death was so furious that darkness nearly consumed his features, expelling off of his shoulders in tendrils.

"I'm his friend," I declared in a loud voice, catching everyone off guard. "Who's a girl. His girl friend. There was a space there, in between girl and friend. You just can't see it. Because I'm speaking. As his friend. Erm..."

Death pleaded for me to shut up with his eyes, while in the background, Ace made a few sharp gestures at his neck for me to stop talking. I shielded half my face with my hand and turned my head away.

"Anyway," Ahrimad gritted, before gazing back at Death again. "You once used the mortals for their true purpose as your sustenance, as your slaves. But you have become too entrenched in the mortal's world. Ever since you met that girl,"––he jabbed a finger at me––, "I sensed the sharp change in you. I see clearly that are you right back to where you began, Alexandru. Back to that pitiful, naive little boy who just wanted to be loved. You are neither mine, nor anyone else's. No, you are your own damned monster. An unstable crossbreed. An abomination. Fate had its ugly way with you, and that is no fault of mine."

Death didn't fight off the demons as they suddenly jerked his chains forward with their booming laughter. The only indication that he'd even wanted to tear them into pieces was the brief tautness in Death's back muscles, and the low noise that rattled his throat.

"No need to rile him up," Ahrimad called out, watching as his soldiers do his bidding for him. "There will be plenty of that soon."

"Hiya, honey bunny." Layla appeared out of nowhere and clutched my braid in a tight fist, not-so-nicely tugging me to the front of the room.

I glanced around at the cavernous, empty marble room, before clinging to the enormous portal, its mirror-like surface swaying back and forth like waves.

Layla shoved me so that I smacked right into one the terrifying demons holding Death's chains. The gruesomely ugly creature's skin was made of scales with cracks riddling the dry skin. Orange heat glowed along the cracks, reminding me of lava. As the demon glared down at me with its freaky fiery eyes, I felt a little feint as I noticed what was balanced between its lips like a cigarette. A chewed off finger.

I shrunk back, so that I stood flat against Death's chest. "Wowie, what great view of the giant infinity pool-looking thing filled with a traumatizing amount of blood," I said, poinnting to the marble centerpiece in the room. The high level demon looked to where I was pointing with a low growl. "I have to admit, ties in perfectly with the whole teaming up with vampires' theme and that gory fountain in the graveyard. Solid evil lair-esque vibes all around. Although––and this is just my personal opinion–– a hot tub would have been a much cooler centerpiece."

"Because bubbles and jets of hot water firing up my ass is exactly what I need right now," Death seethed sarcastically.

"I apologize that my lair does not reach your expectations, Faith Williams," Ahrimad said, linking arms with Layla as he came to stand before us. "I've had very little time to redecorate."

"Hiding in another realm like a coward must be so time consuming," Death hissed, his voice dripping with disdain. "You didn't even have time to eat a sandwich."

Ahrimad glanced down at himself. "The consequences of not being corporal in this realm have been severely damaging, but at least I've managed something less unsightly than animated bones. See, when you destroyed me nearly two-thousand years ago, my corpse was recovered before it decomposed. It was well-looked-after in the Underworld. Preserved for the very moment that you would screw up."

"One screw up in over two-thousand years," Death said with an arrogant smirk. "Damn, I'm good. I wager that makes me the closest nightly creature to perfection. Hey, I have an idea for your little snore fest get-together. Why don't we go around the room and talk about how amazing I am? Dad, you can go first."

All eyes were now on Malphas, who stood in a military stance with his hands clasped behind his back and a stern expression on his face. Malphas betrayed us by stealing the Book of the Dead, and my heart sunk at the notion that he'd also possibly killed the Reapers.

"It's remarkable that you're finding humor in this, Alexandru," Ahrimad said.

"We all survive in our own ways. Trapping you in my cloak for two-thousand years was a bit excessive," Death admitted, "but the sheer hilarity that I outwitted an ancient creature of death is the last thing I will ever regret in entire existence. Well, besides this." He grinned, displaying a mouthful of fangs. "Suck my dick and choke on it."

Ahrimad whipped his head dismissively away from Death. "Weaken him, Malphas. Now. He's far too coherent."

Malphas' gaze flicked to Death, the haunting blank automatic look within their cold depths unsettling something deep within me. He stepped toward Death like he a summoned doom. Blackness webbed out from his onyx eyes as his sharp black nails reached toward his son, and Death's large frame shuddered on impact from something I couldn't see. His fangs gnashed together as he held back a scream, his eyes shuttering between mismatched green and black as his shoulders crumpled inward.

I looked between Malphas and Death as this continued, breathing raggedly, adrenaline pulsing through me. I didn't even know my power had triggered, until I felt a spark of heat against my thigh and realized my fingertips were sparking.

Fearing for Death's safety, I started to raise my hand toward Malphas, when Ahrimad appeared in front of me in a blur and grasped me around the throat in a vice grip. In my peripheral, I saw Ace move to try to help me, when Layla reappeared in front of him with her razor-sharp claws at his throat.

Blackness splotched around the edges of my vision. As I gasped for air, a sensation that I could only describe as wilting spread through my limbs. I watched the light I didn't even know sprouted out from my fingers flicker out, as Ahrimad's fingers tightened around my throat.

"If I see even a flicker of that light again," he seethed, "I'll rip Death apart right down the middle and make you watch."

But I feared Death being ripped apart would have been less painful than that. Whatever Malphas was doing to him, the groaned, tormented noises escaping Death's mouth sounded like he was being eaten alive from the inside out. Layla came to stand beside Malphas and laughed maliciously.

"You need me," I grated out. "You need me or else you can't touch the Book of the Dead. If you kill him, I will do nothing for you!"

"I do believe this conversation is taking an interesting turn," Ahrimad countered, talking through his fangs. "But I'm going to have to be persuaded more than that."

Death dropped to his knees under his father's torment, his eyes rolling back into his head.

"He's killing him!" I shouted frantically. "Stop, please don't! I'll give you anything you want! I'll make a deal!"

Ahrimad's burning amber eyes snapped to mine. After a terrorizing amount time, Malphas finally let up on Death. Death inhaled a large gasp of air, like he'd been drowning, like it was out of instinct to breathe, even though he didn't have to. Death bent over with his head bowed against the ground, silently quaking. Whether it was from fear, exhaustion, or both, I was unsure.

"A deal, you say?" Ahrimad tapped his chin in a way that implied he was playing a game, like this moment was exactly what he wanted all along. "What an attractive notion. I suppose I can weave something else fun into tonight's plans. If I cannot use a spell from the Book of the Dead, of course I will need a corpse strong enough to contain my power for a longer length of time. The warlock has ways to extend my lifespan as I have, but at the end of the day, his soul is mortal. He's practically disposable to me."

"Lovely," Ace muttered sarcastically.

"You need a corpse that can maintain your soul," I elucidated. My heart flipped. Death was one of those possibilities.

"Death's curse is already deteriorating his mind," Ahrimad said, amused madness to his grin that made the hairs at the back of my neck rise. "He's entering a weakened state, which makes him susceptible to me. And though he is an abomination, we do share similar abilities. Why, he'd be the easy option tonight. At least, for a few centuries, until his young corpse deteriorates from my sheer excellence, and I'll seek out a new vessel. But, in all honesty, Faith, I'd prefer to keep my current vessel. I'll need some assistance from forbidden spells to do so, found only in the Book of the Dead."

My heartrate picked up. I could touch this forbidden book. And I could translate it. I was chosen for some unforeseeable reason, but I'd failed to protect it. Malphas had stolen the Book of the Dead from me, and now it was in Ahrimad's posession.

"Another pressing issue is my tether to the mortal world," Ahrimad explained, looking down at the supernatural jagged dagger in his hand. The one that had been wedged in Death's spine. Death's scythe. "It's this damn scythe. I'm bound to the blade, just like Death. This is no ordinary weapon, you see. It's a blade created by Hades, God of the Underworld. And to release my soul from it, I will need a two more spells. One to heal my corpse and make it stronger to maintain my soul. One spell to lift my curse to this blade, and another to maintain my soul within this vessel. That is what I require of you."

"Spells of that magnitude could end in utter devastation," Ace chimed in, flinching away from Layla as she started further unbuttoning his torn shirt and glide her hands all over his chest. "Surely a creature of innate impartiality wouldn't want to upset the delicate balance between good and evil."

"My only ties to this realm are the mortals from which I feed," Ahrimad answered. "Without my curse, I won't need their puny species anymore. I can wander any realm I please without my infinite hunger driving me back to the mortals. So, worry not, the last place in this universe I plan on staying in, is this dreadful realm." He turned to me. "I will strike a deal with you, Faith Williams. If you retrieve these spells I require from the Book of the Dead, I won't kill Death. I will give him back my blade, his priceless scythe, thus recovering his strength. I suppose I will no longer need it, anyway."

Death released a frightening growl as he breeched consciousness again. When his attention swung to me, I hardly recognized his face, it was so otherworldly an animalistic. The familiar presence of him seemed to be waning away, perhaps melting into the darkness around him. I feared he would be lost forever at any moment, leaving behind a truly unredeemable monster.

Ahrimad walked a slow path around me and stood at my back. "You can feel what he's becoming," Ahrimad whispered at my ear as tears slowly slid down my cheeks. "Would you be able to live with yourself if you let him succumb to his monster?"

My chest tightened. I gazed over at Ace, as if he would have the answer, but to my horror, his eyes were consumed by plumes of pink as Layla grabbed his jaw. The portal cackled behind them at a higher currency, and I could feel it on my skin like electric pulses through the air.

"If I do this, you'll let Ace free too," I said. "And once that portal closes, you will be on the other side. We will never each other ever again."

"Deal." Ahrimad braced his hands against the vat of blood before him. "Layla, my dear, come here."

Layla abandoned her games with Ace and slid her feet seductively across the floor. Her eyes playful slid toward Malphas as she passed him.

Layla stopped to cuddled up against Ahrimad's cloak with a small smile. "Yes, Master?"

"You are a true loyal servant, Layla. A powerful, charming female." Ahrimad's long fingers drifted down the curve of her cheekbone, and she leaned into his touch. "I'm afraid a traditional blood sacrifice of a demon is imperative for the potency of the dark spells I seek. This entails your soul ceasing to exist."

Layla's eyes widened. "I––what?"

Malphas suddenly came up behind Layla and viciously snatched her by the back of the neck, securing her in place.

"No, no, no!" Layla's screams were horrifying, the anticipation of what was about to happen rattling my bones. "Malphas! Malphas, no! Don't let him destroy me! You promised I would be free!"

"I lied," Malphas said.

Ahrimad grabbed Layla's exposed throat and tore. Tore her throat straight out. An involuntary scream escaped my mouth, Layla gurgling out a choked sob. She fought, writhed, her hand reaching back and her talon-like nails clipping Malphas in the cheek, but it was no use. Malphas restrained her arm behind her back and bent her further over the casket, her blood spilling like a river amongst the liquid grave of the dead beneath her.

"Dump her," Ahrimad said coldly, once the empath's body grew still. He licked the blood from his fingers he stalked away. "These floors were just mopped."

Malphas lifted Layla's limp body and lowered her gently into the vat of blood, until her body fully submerged. The blackness webbing out across his features withered back into his eyes, as he looked down into the marble container. I'd almost missed a flicker of emotion dance across his face. Disgust. Malphas wasn't proud of what he'd done.

I couldn't shake this feeling. A sixth sense, telling me I was missing something. I knew that Malphas still had a greater part in all of this. And yet, here he was, obedient to Ahrimad. Doing his dirty work. Why? What had Ahrimad guaranteed him? What was he holding over his head?

Malphas' black eyes swept up and caught mine in what felt like a surreptitious moment, before the blank void slid back over his pale features, and he returned to his station with his hands clasped behind his back.

Warmth radiated against my chest, and my hand slowly climbed up to touch the pendant hidden beneath my clothes. Death's mother's pendant.

"It wasn't a gift," Malphas had told me in the projection. "It was a price."

"A price for what?" I had asked.

"I have done unspeakable things in this world that have left me entrenched in sin, but my greatest offence is my most painful secret. A secret, which I will take to the grave. You must discover these answers on your own."

A cold chill of fear slipped down my spine, and suddenly it all made a little more sense.

"I know how you did it," I accused toward Ahrimad's retreating frame.

Ahrimad pivoted sharply on his heel and faced me, cocking his head. "Dear child, I haven't the faintest clue what you are talking about."

"Malphas was the one who freed you from Death's cloak. But he didn't do it out of spite, did he? No..." I straightened my back, conviction strengthening my voice. "He's been your slave this entire time. You made Malphas free you that night. You keep making him do your dirty work, because you have something over him. I bet it's even a secret he must take to the grave."

A slow grin tilted Ahrimad's lips.

"You clever, clever girl," Ahrimad said, taking a few steps closer to me. "Meeting you simply wasn't enough of a distraction for Death. I needed to throw him a little... off kilter. And what better than a disastrous family reunion?"

"You're the reason Malphas returned from the Underworld," I speculated.

"That's not possible," Death hissed, seemingly alert and entering the conversation again. The high level demons gripped his chains tighter, as if to anticipate him lashing out. "Ahrimad was imprisoned. He couldn't have freed Malphas."

"Who ever said I freed Malphas from the Underworld?" Ahrimad ran his finger over the edge of his dagger, laughing like there was some joke we all missed. "You know, I really should thank you, Faith Williams. I hadn't a clue Malphas arrived here with your little...gang, until I ran into you in the hallway in Ace's corpse, and you mentioned that he stole the Book of the Dead from you. Malphas was supposed to be in another realm, establishing my army like a good pet. Now I know to keep him on a much shorter leash."

"You said your scythe was cursed by Hades," I said, trying to piece this all together. "He punished you, didn't he? That's why you were imprisoned in the other world."

"I was born with an endless hunger for the mortals," Ahrimad explained. "Let's just say it got a little...out of hand. Hades tried to control my violence, so I wouldn't tarnish his neutrality. I