Until Death Do Us Part

'What taboo are you talking about?!'

"I understand that we have to keep his existence from Caius. But a taboo is still a taboo, Azrael." She turned her back to me and spoke with a lower tone. "Telling a human to kill himself..."

She lowered her voice even more until I could no longer hear her.

But I already heard everything that I needed to hear.

And what I heard enraged me.

"You want me to do what?!" I was no longer able to hold myself back, and the beeping of the machine beside me went erratic, probably indicating that my blood pressure was skyrocketing.

To make it worse, she briefly looked at me over her shoulder with her finger against her lips. "Ssshh."

"Ssshh? Ssshh?!" I pushed myself up from the bed, which was surprisingly difficult, and made me groan with pain from the bruises all over my body that I didn't notice until then. "How can you expect me to stay quiet?!"

Her eyes rounded in surprise at my sudden outburst. But she didn't say a word and just let me rant on.

"You've been discussing since earlier on how to get rid of me in front of my face. And now you want me to kill myself? Why? Because you don't want to get your pretty hands dirty? After managing to survive the tragedy that I've been through, did you really expect me to just nod my head and say,'Yes, Ma'am!' Then do Seppuku?!"

I felt so relieved after having my say, and I breathed heavily, trying to catch some air. Fully expecting her to get mad at me for shouting at her, I braced myself for the worst.

'She will not kill me for what I said, right?'

But then, a very pretty and proud-looking smile appeared on her face, which threw me off for a second. "You heard that, Azrael? This human refuses to do Harakiri. There's really nothing much that we can do if he refuses to kill himself, right? How do you suggest we get rid of this problem then?"

"Am I invisible right now?" I let out a sharp breath in frustration. "You're ignoring me on purpose, aren't you?"

She was silent for a long time, and her smile slowly disappeared as she listened intently to the person on the other line. Then her face paled once again as she slowly sat down on the bed.

I instinctively moved to give her room, then she took my right hand and whispered. "Yes… there is that method."

Seeing her look vulnerable all of a sudden made my chest feel heavy. "What method?"

She studied my face for a second. "I guess I really don't have much choice, do I?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked even though I already knew that I was not whom she was talking to.

"Don't worry, Azrael. I'll make this quick and call you back." She finally ended the call.

But when she finally focused her attention on me, it made me nervous. "W-what?"

Her gaze travelled down to my lips, where it lingered for a moment before she looked back up at my eyes and blankly stared at me. "I guess I'll just have to hope that you die early, human."

"You're hoping that I'll die early?" I chuckled with relief. "You mean, you can't kill me now?"

"I… don't want to." She traced her fingers on my lips and then smiled. "Now that I look at you, you seem quite delectable."

I caught her hand to stop it from doing whatever it was trying to do to me when a disobedient organ jumped inside my chest. Then, I moved my face closer to her and whispered in a sultry voice as well. "I am VERY delectable. So, just let me live. Please."

'I hope my charm works on her. Please make it work on her.'

She chuckled and bore her eyes on my face with a very seductive smile. "Tell me your name, human."

I blinked my eyes, trying to register her words in my head. "You mean, you've been planning to kill me without even knowing my name? What kind of organization are you involved in?"

"That's confidential information. And I'm not trying to kill you. At least, not yet." She smiled again as if the thought of killing me excited her. "You have to state your name for me to form a contract with you. Because right now, that is your only option if you want the people around you to stay alive and safe in the next few days."

"Is that a threat?" I tightened my grip on her hand. No matter how captivating she was, I would not let her do anything to harm my family or anyone around me.

The entire room became so quiet that I could almost hear her breathing, and then the corner of her lips lifted with amusement. "I guess it is. But I don't have time to explain. Your fiancée is almost here."

Will these surprises never end?! "What fiancée?"

The smirk remained on her face, but her ominous tone alarmed me when she dropped me an ultimatum. "You give me your name now or that Zeanne Haile would be the first to die. Your choice."

I felt like ice-cold water was poured on me. And all I could do was clench my fist and give her my name through gritted teeth. "Arthur. Blake. Paige."

"Xescilliz Eodum." She flashed me a triumphant smile before she intertwined my fingers with hers.

'Is that her name?'

But before I could ask anything, she tugged me towards her and pressed her soft lips against mine, which completely blew my mind.

'What in the world?!'

I was beyond shocked when I felt electricity crawl all over my body as if I was being charged.

But just as quickly as our lips touched, she also quickly pulled away. "Done."

"Done?" My brain had a short-circuit, and I stared at her in confusion. "Already?"

"So this is what it looks like. How tacky." She let out a very deep sigh while looking at her right hand where a black ring-like tattoo appeared on her ring finger.

'What the hell is that?'

I looked at my right hand and almost did a double-turn when I witnessed the same tattoo slowly appear on mine as well. Then, upon closer look, I realized that the ring was actually a set of ancient-looking scripts coiled around my finger. "What kind of sorcery is this?"

'Is she practising dark magic? Wait wait wait… Before that… is this magic? For real?'

Unbothered by my questions, she started reading the script out loud. "Una Taila Da Iataha Dau Usa Pa Arata."

"You can read this? What does it mean?" I asked while examining the scripture on my finger with a mixture of awe and horror.

The corner of her lips lifted into a dangerous smile. "Until death do us part."