Mateo’s party regroup at the nearly destroyed Brilliant Hare inn and tavern. The outside is mostly rubble with a few existing wooden tables and chairs. His party are surprised to see him accompanied by lady Heroldin herself. Even more surprised when another woman appears to confront the ascended Heroldin.

  A woman of striking figure and beauty appears before Mateo. Her face is painted white like a skull with intricate symbols in bright violets and reds. Her hair the color of raven wings. Bare feet press into the blood-soaked ground making for an approach that is ominous and demanding not unlike the soft siren like tone that escapes her cold lips. Mateo steps forward meeting her approach and takes a bow.

  “Lady Death, I presume, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Mateo says holding out his hand as he stares into her pale blue eyes.

  She reaches forward placing her hand in his and he lifts it gently kissing the back of her palm. He releases her and her hand slides gracefully back to her side, her expression somewhat shocked.

  “I must say you’ve a pleasant aroma about you, what is it might I ask?” Mateo continues his flirtation.

  “Roseaillia oil and veil seed extract, I find that it is more presentable than the stench of death, something I learned from one of your companions,” she replies glaring over at Terror.

  Terror shifts his gaze away rubbing his neck nervously.

  “Your hair looks nice too, do you condition?” Mateo continues addressing her in a more casual manner.

  She snipes another scornful glance over at Terror as Mateo places his hand on her shoulder pointing her to a table outside of the tavern that has been all but destroyed. She follows his lead, and he pulls out a chair for her to sit. His removal of rubble from the table is less than graceful as he simply shoves everything onto the ground.

  He digs two more chairs out of the rubble and places them at the small round table motioning Heroldin to one of them.

  Then he takes a seat, and Natalia squints her eyes at him.

  “Hey, what about me, I’m a lady too!” She chirps angrily.

  “I thought you could sit in my lap,” Mateo replies with a crooked grin.

  Natalia floats down landing on his shoulder with a scowl painting her face.

  “Let’s not be too informal about this, I’ll start with introductions, Death, this is Natalia, Natalia, this is lady Death,” Mateo says directing his hand in a presentation between them.

  “Oh, I am quite acquainted with Lady Starbreaker, she sent me so many souls at once that my facilities overflowed and I had to release some into the void, I’ve heard she’s been there several times since then,” Death replies.

  Natalia stares away nervously poking her fingers together.

  “Lady Death, this is Lady Heroldin,” he interjects.

  “Just Heroldin is fine,” Heroldin replies absorbing her wings to make herself more comfortable.

  “I am also acquainted with lady Heroldin,” Death says leaning back in her chair as she crosses one leg over the other.

  “Ok Heroldin it is, now I assume you’re here because Heroldin resurrected me, and we are to strike a deal with Death?”

  “That is not untrue, however she did not resurrect you, she stole your soul and that of the Starbreaker and Rayo from me,” she replies her tone seeming more hostile.

  “Not a good start, how about we begin with a different approach, Stitches!”

  “Hey, look guys he noticed we are still here,” Stitches yells at the others.

  “Terror wishes they, particularly Lady Death, forgot he was here,” Terror states seeming embarrassed.

  “Stitches, do you think you could rummage through the kitchen and find us something to eat?”

  “Can I wear the barista outfit?” She asks.

  “Wear whatever you like,” he pauses, “on second thought just go with the barista outfit.”

  Terror moves rubble out of the way as Stitches clears off a stone oven lighting a fire under it. Jade does her best to help gleefully. Serenity ignores the fact that her boyfriend is having a date with Death. Rick and Beatrice are arguing over who got more kills. The entire group seems to be suffering from shock. Coping with the trauma in whatever strange way they can.

  The band of bards have mysteriously vanished upon lady Death’s arrival. Which is a shame because this date could use some music.

  The villagers of Heroldin that aren’t staring at the strange sight of their hero in the flesh, are gathering their dead and clearing rubble.

  “So,” Mateo says tipping up a glass of mixed berry juice, “how much is my soul worth?”

  “It’s hard to value a soul, what do you have to offer that is worth anything to me at all?” Death replies.

  “It’s hardly his place to bargain, I’m the one who stole his soul from you, and I’ll gladly pay the price for it,” Heroldin interjects.

  Death looks her up and down longingly. Her hazey blue eyes change to a solid gemstone blue. Stitches approaches their small table adorned in a very enticing barista outfit custom tailored to fit her tail. She’s also wearing some thin framed spectacles that Mateo finds particularly enchanting.

  “What can I get for you two lovely ladies and the lesser man?” Stitches asks.

  “Hey, why you gotta put it like that?” Mateo says squinting his eyes.

  “You’re dining with a demigod and a goddess, how would you have me address you?”

  “I am having an informal formal meeting amongst greater beings on the grounds that we are all,” he pauses for a moment, “friends.”

  “I can appreciate that,” Heroldin replies.

  “Ok then, what would your friends like?”

  Mateo looks about the table with a smile.

  “Would you like me to order something for you, it would be more a recommendation than anything,” Mateo says pretending to hold up an imaginary menu.

  “I’ll play along,” Lady Death replies with a giggle.

  “I’ve not had a meal with mortals in a while, I suppose I’m not opposed to any selection you might order,” Heroldin adds.

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  “Excellent, Keeliyah, would you be so kind as to provide lady Heroldin with some dazzleberry tea and poached chikus with crocan.”

  Crocan is a thinly sliced cut of cowlligator that resembles bacon.

  “Mateo, I thought I told you not to,” he interrupts Stitches.

  “Your name tag says Keeliyah.”

  “Oh, anyway, for Lady Death?”

  “If you could get Rachel some azulberry cakes and slaughterfowl wings that would be great, I find myself satisfied with this mixed berry juice, but any left-over cookies you have would be splendid,” Mateo says with a smile.

  The three women stare at him in awe.

  “What?” He asks.

  “How did you know my name was Rachel?” Lady death asks.

  “I read it in a tome,” he replies innocently.

  “What tome,” she snipes.

  “Ok, Terror told me.”

  “Ugh, that oath of a man, I can’t believe he rejected me,” Death grunts angrily.

  “Um, is there a story behind that?” Mateo asks.

  “There is.”

  South of the obsidian mountains a large orcen man sits on the dead corpse of an elemental hydra wiping tears from his eyes. He grabs a rock in his hand crushing it into small fragments.

  “Terror doesn’t understand why the Broodmother takes, Terror has only given, and Terror has only lost.”

  A large jade skinned woman appears before the orcen male. Her long dark hair is braided, and her figure is adorned in crude armor crafted from the bones of her legendary enemies.

  “Go away, Terror don’t want to be stronger, Terror don’t want to… Terror just want to be with wife Dahlia and daughter Xera again.”

  Another figure appears before Terror. A woman with ivory skin and long oily hair. He scoffs turning his nose away at the scent of her.

  “That’s rude, I’m Lady Death by the way,” the woman says angrily.

  “Excuse Terror for not being polite after watching his wife and daughter die, only to have to crush them under his own fists to survive.”

  “Terror,” the large orcen woman says her voice demanding. “This is Lady Death, she did not kill your family, she merely moved them along, I want you to spend a day with her, get to know her,” the Broodmother demands.

  “Get to know her, you bring Terror a woman with mangey hair that reeks of death and expect me to what, she’s not even an orcen!”

  The orcen woman stands tall over Terror asserting her dominance.

  “You will entertain our guest for the evening!”

  Terror sits across a small obsidian table staring at his menu as Lady Death does the same. After a few moments he lowers his menu moving his gaze to her.

  “Terror would know your name.”

  “It’s Rachel,” she replies also lowering her menu.

  “Terror doesn’t understand why you smell so bad, do they not have showers in the afterlife?”

  “That’s rude,” she replies angrily, “we do have showers, but I handle the dead all day and not everyone smells like rosemary and lilac when they pass.”

  “Why is your hair so unkempt, Terror has seen braided rope left for years in the elements that is more enticing.”

  She slams down her menu in an outburst of rage.

  “You’re not such a catch yourself; you are rude and inconsiderate, you have no idea how to treat a lady, or even a guest for that matter, do you even know why the Broodmother brought me here?”

  Terror stands, his tusked lips turning to an unsettling fake smile.

  “To punish Terror for not having the strength to protect the beautiful wife and daughter she provided him with.”

  “You’re insufferable, I hope you never die so I never have to see you again!” Rachel yells standing her form shaking with anger.

  Terror stares her down as if peering down at a child, his eyes filled with a dark sadness.

  “The Broodmother didn’t bring you here to teach me something, she brought you here so Terror could teach you something, Rachel…”

  “Oh, and what is it that I should have learned?” She scorns.

  “Humility, the Broodmother understands, no, she feels the pain of her people, Terror knows this, it is why she chose Terror to teach you, if you do not feel the pain of loss from the loved ones that you help cross over, then you are not a goddess, just a guide, and the deceased deserve more than that.”

  Mateo takes a bite of one of his cookies as Heroldin and Rachel enjoy their food. He pats some berry juice off his lips with a sigh turning toward Rachel.

  “Terror didn’t reject you, Terror turned you away, he found you revulsive, not because you aren’t attractive, but because his heart is broken, there is a fracture that runs through it, shattered pieces being held together by the memory of his wife and daughter, pieces that are now being held together by Jade.”

  “And what about you, do you find me, revulsive?”

  Mateo smiles lowering his eyes to the table.

  “Absolutely not, you are beautiful, the beauty of life is death, knowing that one day we may rest after our long journey.”

  “I’m talking about outward appearance,” she says squinting her eyes.

  Mateo takes a quick glance over at Serenity then back at Rachel.

  “Well Lady Death, I believe answering that question might send me into your embrace far sooner than I intend.”

  In an ethereal plane of existence Rachel, Lady Death, meets with the Broodmother. Those who hold the title of gods and Demi gods do not discuss their tribulations within the realms of mortals.

  “I don’t understand why you had me sit down with that mortal,” Rachel scoffs.

  “So, you learned nothing?” The Broodmother asks.

  “He said I was to learn humility; I move people on from their miserable lives to the afterlife, what humility do I need for that?”

  The Broodmother clenches her fists, her voice turning to an assertive rage.

  “Their miserable lives, miserable,” she moves closer to Rachel pointing a finger at her as to pierce her soul with it. “Terror and his family were not miserable, the happiness he lost, the happiness I sacrificed, careful your words Rachel, or you’ll find out why they needed a newly appointed goddess of death, if I could beat you into the void and rip back the souls of his family so that he could revel in their joy, in their happiness, I would without flinching, do not think that because you move the perished from one life to the next that I cannot move you with those souls?”

  “Then why don’t you!” Rachel yells in nativity.

  The Broodmother takes a deep breath regaining her faculties as the ethereal realm around her flutters with the light of a thousand stars. She turns to Rachel reaching out her hand to touch the cold pale cheek of death.

  “Your father was good to me and my people, he was good, even if everyone saw him as evil for being death, he is not gone, but he is absent, you take his place, I promised him I’d look after you if he wasn’t able too.”

  “It’s not my father’s shoes I’m filling, it was my brother you cut down.”

  “Don’t get me started on that insufferable shit stain,” the Broodmother coughs regaining her composure, “anyway we are past that event.”

  “I have responsibilities to more than one orcen male, the whole realm is my domain, what makes him so special?” Rachel demands.

  The Broodmother smiles as much as any orcen can.

  “Of all in this realm that you have met, who have asked your name?”

  Rachel turns her nose taking a deep breath. The Broodmother is testing her, showing her she is still chained to her mortal emotions. Death cannot be empathetic, or apathetic, or bias in anyway. Death is death. Is this the truth? Is this a lie? She is death and no other. Mortal emotions be damned she is the end of life.

  “That doesn’t matter,” Rachel replies.

  The Broodmother smiles with an unsettling grin that forebodes times to come.

  “I think, when the next man calls your name, you’ll think differently, young reaper.”

  Returning to their current situation Rachel peers across the table at Mateo as he struggles to pull a sweet salt roll from the clutches of his pixie Natalia.

  “I haven’t had any snacks all day!” Natalia yells.

  “Oh, so all of my honeysuckle pocket jolly’s just disappeared from my inventory ?”

  “Maybe someone pickpocketed you,” Natalia replies glaring at him.

  “You need to slow down on the snacks Natalia you’ve gained a lot of weight.”

  “I know you aren’t calling me fat! I can’t believe I scraped you off the bottom of the void!”

  Mateo releases the sweet salt roll and Mateo scurries across the table clutching it like a precious prize. Mateo lowers his head and pretends to pout. Natalia sets down the roll and steps across the table toward him.

  “Mateo, I didn’t mean it like that,” she says hanging her head.

  “It’s not about me Nat, I’m sure we’ll find some insulin around here at some point,” he sobs.

  Natalia’s face twists into an angry rage.

  “You mother fucker! I do not have diabetes!”

  Rachel turns to Heroldin with a confused look.

  “Are they ok?”

  “I don’t know, we just met a few moments ago, they’re cute though right?”

  Rachel looks over at Mateo laughing as he teases his pixie. For all the anger in her expression and tone, she seems, happy. Happy to have someone to tease her. Happy to have someone at her side. Happy that she isn’t alone. Is that what true happiness is? Having someone to share your life with? She snipes a glance over at Terror before turning away shamefully. Is that what she took from him?

  “Hey Rachel, you ok?” Mateo asks.

  Her gaze leads her pale blue eyes to Mateo’s hazel eyes. She stutters for a moment unsure of the emotions she shouldn’t be feeling. Has her mortal core broken past her immortality. No, this is just a moment of weakness.

  “Sorry, thought I had to sneeze, it went away,” she replies.

  Rachel stands patting her robes.

  “Thank you for the meal, Heroldin has taken charge of what you owe, and we will settle the debt in private, such is as the immortals will.”

  “If I become immortal, can we be friends for real?” Mateo asks.

  Rachel turns her eyes away unable to blush because her face is painted and her avatar is devoid of blood. Natalia floats over to her and whispers something in her ear. Rachel turns back to him her face painted with a sly grin.

  “Hold on, what did she tell you?”

  Rachel steps closer to him placing her finger on his chest her sly grin turning seductive. Mateo braces himself for the mischief Natalia has bestowed upon lady death.

  “I think we can become very, very close, stepbro.”

  “Godsdamnit Natalia!”