Chapter 24

Time was irrelevant, and yet I couldn't help the feeling of being nagged on by the 'tick, tick, tick' of time being wasted away. Here I sat with the angle of Death, demanding that we make an arrangement of some kind that would help with the battle that ensued around us. Death sat on the other side of the table, tapping her bony appendage on the glass top.

"I have until the end-of-days, necromancer. You, on the other hand, have very little time, and with the way this battle is going, you don't look like the victor," Death stated happily.

"Like I said before, I am here to make a deal. I will trade all of my souls for your assistance," I offered.

There came a pause and no movement from the angel.

"In the end, I get to reap those souls. No deal."

"There's a devil out there! Isn't that against some sort of your laws or something?" I barked out,

"No, least not mine." Death replied, pointing the finger at herself.

I ruffled up my hair and grumbled as Death softly laughed at my frustration.

"In the end, this war will bring a massive amount of death, and the gathering of souls, so no skin, so to speak, off my back."?

"None of this affects you, does it?"

"Not really. My job is straighforward: reap the souls of this earth for the end of the day."

I sat for another minute, then got up and paced back and forth with my chin in my fingers.

She has the duty of collecting all mankind's souls and to deliver them to the judgment halls or where ever. This isn't my forte.

"Wait a minute."

My head shot up and a thought struck my brain. I glanced over at Death. She looked the same as she did when we first started this negotiation.

"So, let me get this straight. In the end, you will gather all man's souls?"

"Yes."

"What about the demons' and the devils' souls?"

"They will be given this world, and then, the world will be destroyed along with them," she beamed with delight.

"So, what if they are given to you like a bonus?"

"You didn't hear this from me, but I think that they go to a special place and are tortured," Death replied.

"Okay, so here's a new offer. What if I give you a devil's soul, Jezebel's, and I give you all of my collected souls, and I will give you the satisfaction of giving all of mankind's souls," I emphasized.

There was no telling if I got the angel's attention or not, but she did sit up in her chair and placed the tips of her fingers together.

"I'm listening."

"All I am asking is that you help me turn the tide of this war into our favor and allow me to defeat Jezebel," I pitched.

"I am still only interested in this 'all of mankind's souls' that you have mentioned," Death breathed.

"I know for a fact that you cannot have all of the souls of this earth because over three hundred some were obliterated, and that kind of ordeal has to have some sort of bad report with your name on it, am I right," I questioned.

Death ground her teeth, a most unpleasant sound to hear.

"You know as well as I do that a necromancer can avoid the angel of Death for some time and even decline her what she desires most, our soul," I continued.

"Are you offering your soul to me, Necromancer? It can't be that easy, what's the catch?"

Death rose to her feet.

"The catch?"

"Don't think that I don't know a necromance would sooner double-cross me than give up his very own soul and the illusion of immortality," Death warned.

"There's a catch but not that. You can have my soul if you grant me my request. I know that you don't interact with the affair of man and this earth directly, but I'm out of options and time."

This time Death began to pace back and forth, talking with herself and glancing at me from time to time. I stood with my hands clasped behind me and rocking from heel to toe. Again, the nagging tick-tick arose from the back recesses of my mind.

Death faced me ultimately. She stood before me with her wings out and her legendary weapon in her left hand.

"If I grant you your request, then you will give up your soul?"

"Yes," I answered.

Death held out her weapon; I took hold of it, but her grip was solid.

"I can only give you this for five minutes tops, no more," Death warned.

"I will not be penalized if you cannot turn the tide in that time," Death declared before she pushed me away from her.

The sensation of entering the living realm was as if I were breaking the surface of water. The ground painfully stopped my fall, and I was back with the battle raging on becoming more and more fierce. I stood to my feet with the power of Death in my hands.

What incredible feeling, what force!

The force that lay at the tips of my fingers; there were no words to describe it. I walked, and there was authority, a hood covered my face, the flesh on my hands melted away, and black feathered wings sprouted from my back. For the time being, I was the living embodiment of the angel of Death.

My wings sprung back and whoosh forward, making a wave of black mist jet out and attached whomever I chose. Hundred of demons fell victim to the mist. They choked, spitting up their black inners before vaporizing into dust.

The hoard reformed, identifying a new threat, a more powerful adversary than the whole Seventh army. A new line was made, and the nightmarish mob was coming straight at me.

I didn't feel afraid. I didn't feel anything but power and the sensation to wipe out this obstacle that was in my way. I hadn't forgotten what Death had said. I had no time to spare.

With a wave of my scythe, demons vanished from my sight and opened a path to my real target, Jezebel. She was at the end of the path, ready for me in full armor and a blood-red sword waiting for me. Jezebel showed no fear, something that I didn't settle well with me.

"You made a deal with Death and are to betray me?" She hissed at me.

She didn't wait for a response from me but lounged at me, thrusting her blade straight at my chest. She was wild with her swings, but there was a method to it all. She was keeping me from attacking.

She kept me on the defensive. Being a devil, Jezebel, was far more than capable of deflecting the scythe and her speed and agility, let alone her strength, matched my new powers. This was going to prove far more difficult than I had hoped, given that I had only three minutes left.

"Do you really believe that with this weapon and power you could defeat me?" Jezebel spat, landing a massive downward swing against my block.

"Yeah, kind of," I grunted.

I was able to push her off only to have her thrusting and slashing at incredible speed and precision. I could barely keep up. Then, that slithery tail of hers found a hole in my defense and plunged into my gut.

I could still feel pain.

I stumbled back and dropped to a knee.

Jezebel was chuckling, then laughing.

"I suppose Death didn't tell you that when you take her scythe, you don't become immortal or invincible, or did all that power go to your head, Darling?"

I pulled back my hand that was putting pressure on the wound. Black blood covered my hand.

I did let the power go to my head; she does have a point here.

"I couldn't help it," I chuckled.

"I admit, the power is amazing for a mortal like me. Who wouldn't let it go to their head?" I admitted.

I got to both my feet with a grunt, spoke in necro tongue, and the pain ceased.

"But thankfully, you have brought my head out of the clouds and back into the fight."

Jezebel ready herself.

"You forgot who I am."

"You are a necromancer, the blight of this world!" Jezebel snarled and charged.

I didn't try and move out of her way; I didn't even try and block the incoming black. All I did was smile at the devil. Jezebel's movements became slow as did the world, and right when her red blade touched my robes, Jezebel saw her error.

A bolt of lightning shot into her sword, ripped up her arm and shocked her violently. She was tossed back like dead meat, but when she bounced, she was on her feet, ready for her foe. But to her bewilderment, I was no longer in front of her.

Jezebel swung to her left to just miss me and cut through the smoke. She swung right at nothing, and the back of the scythe was under her, striking her chin. She flung on her back but was able to roll away from the sharper side of the sickle.

The scythe's head dug deep into the ground. Jezebel made a count at me as I was trying to pull the weapon out of the earth. She took a step too closed and was enveloped in green hell flame.

It scorched her flesh and left charred black pieces of hanging meat. She wailed in pain, trying to extinguish the fire. Once the flames were finally out, she was bloodthirsty.

Jezebel attached relentlessly, without mercy, as the demon she was. I couldn't get her to hold still long enough to land a fatal blow, Jezebel was all over the place.

"Hold still," I yelled at her.

Jezebel took another step and was about to jump when her feet didn't comply with her command. She gazed at her feet, frozen in a solid block of ice. Jezebel hissed and snarled, looking behind her finding Emma casting more ice on her legs.

"Damn you!" Jezebel cried out and shot her tail at Emma.

The movement was too fast for Emma to dodge. I was faced with two outcomes: one where I have the perfect fatal shot with Jezebel, but Emma dies or, two, I go and push Emma out of the way and giving Jezebel a chance to escape.

I don't have time, but…

Emma was thrown out of the way, and I took her place, but something that I didn't count on happening.

The tail was through my chest, my breathing was short and hard to intake, and pain reclaimed my body even though I had cased a spell against it.

"Death didn't tell you that when you use her weapon, there's another catch. If you say you had the ability to suck blood to heal, it won't work. Once you take hold of this weapon, your fate is sealed," Jezebel purred.

The devil broke loose from her icy prison and glided to me, pulling her tail out of my chest only to stab it with her knife-like fingers. My vision was beginning to blur, and the metallic taste swelled in my mouth.

She slowly pulled her fingers out, and I dropped to a knee and both my hands. The scythe lay grounded next to me, and Jezebel bent over me with a victorious smile.

"You lose, necromancer," she whispered triumphantly.

Like hell!

Every vein in my body turned a blood-red, all leading up to my eyes. With all the strength I had left, I snatched the blade into my hand and swung at Jezebel's throat. The devil made a 'erk' sound staggering back.

Jezebel's mouth hung open and eye looking to the sky absently. Then, a bloody line cut across her neck, and the devil's head flopped to the floor. Her body turned black and turned to ash, as did her head.

My blood lust faded as I too collapsed to the ground. Emma managed to catch me before my head hit the ground. The pain in my body was fading, but not due to my abilities. I could feel anything in my lower extremities.

"James?"

Her voice sounds heavenly.

"Sorry, but I think I have to go soon," I smiled weakly.

Tears flooded my vision, then, my body too turned black and turned to ash.