Page 43 of Death God

“Pip? Is it truly you?” he called, and it broke my heart. “You look just like the picture.”

I fought back my tears. I remembered singing to him and tucking him in. One of his favorite games was to splash water in my face when I bathed him and giggle when I made tiger sounds.

“I don’t know you,” I said harshly. “I don’t know any of you. You need to go.”

“Are you still mad at us for not looking for you?” Sam asked. “Dad went to look for you and stumbled into the war zone. He never returned.” Tears flowed from her eyes again. “Mom got cancer and passed away five years ago. Things got really bad after you were gone. Most human cities turned lawless, and there wasn’t enough food for everyone. Now we’ve found you, we must stick together—”

My heart was in pieces. I wanted to curl up on the ground and cry for Mom and Dad. But I didn’t have the luxury of showing any emotion in front of my immortal enemy.

“Say no more!” I said and turned my face away so I wouldn’t see my family’s looks of hurt, sorrow, and devastation, which cut straight into my heart again. “I don’t know any of you. I picked the name Pip, but I’m not your sister. You’re mistaking me for someone else.”

Before my sister could protest and convince me that I was her Pip, her sister, and thus bring more danger on herself and the rest of my family, I glared at Spartoi. “I don’t need all this drama. You said this was supposed to be my date with Jared. At least he was trying to woo me. Why must you ruin our date by bringing strangers here who claim to be my family? You know who my parents were, since you killed them.”

“Did I ruin the date?” He let out a low chuckle, enjoying toying with me. “So you admit this is an official date.”

My family’s dark fate was sealed, but I still needed to try.

“Just return them to where they came from,” I said. “Have a squad of soldiers bring them back. And you should compensate them for all the inconvenience you caused them. That’s the least you can do. I can’t stomach you starting to kidnap people. Aren’t you the savior of Earth? When you say it, please mean it for once. Just return these people!”

“No, no, no,” Spartoi said, his lips tugging up in a cruel smile. “I have a better plan for them. They’ve been treated as the most honored guests because of you. Now that we know they’re nothing to you, I can dispose of them right away since they displease you so much. Or I can add them to the slaves’ ranks. Hard labors will be good for them. Or there’s a third option—my mages and witches will find a good use for them.” He glanced between me and my family. “Say the word, Lady Pip Ophelia.”

My family looked between the horseman and me in horror. They hadn’t expected this dark twist of fate.

Spartoi snapped his fingers, and three witches stepped up and bowed to him. One of them directed a hateful look at me.

“Send all three adults to the labor camp,” Spartoi ordered. “Brand the slave symbol on their foreheads. They shall also be chained. The chains will come off after they prove to be useful and obedient.”

“What about the boy?” a redheaded witch asked. She was the one who had fought for the premier spot to give the Alpha King a blowjob at the orgy party.

Spartoi tapped a finger on his chin. “Good question. Keep the boy with you until I can think of something. Don’t toy with him too much since he’s at a tender age.”

My family clutched at each other, trembling. Sam pushed her little boy behind her protectively, and he hugged her leg. Dylan and his girlfriend closed in to form a circle to shield the boy as well. It was futile.

Sam lifted her chin in defiance, but she avoided looking at me now. Dylan, however, glared at me in hatred, disgusted by my merciless betrayal.

The redheaded witch snickered and went to grab Sam’s boy, trying to tear him from his mother.

“No!” Sam cried.

She grabbed her son to her and threw her free hand out to fend off the witches. The little boy screamed.

The other two witches lunged toward Sam to subdue her.

I moved in a flash. I bet that save for Spartoi, no one else expected me to move that fast. And he wasn’t stopping me. He was more than happy to watch the show.

The heel of my palm rammed into the redheaded witch’s jaw. I could have pushed the cartilage into her skull, but I didn’t want my family to see blunt violence and death if I could help it. I wouldn’t want to traumatize my nephew.

“Fuck off,” I told the witches coldly and cut in front of Sam, absorbing a dark spell a black-haired witch had tossed at my sister to inflict pain on her.

My boot rammed into that witch, sending her flying into the table.

I yanked the disguised band from my forearm and snapped it into a whip.

“Touch any of them again and you die,” I said, my eyes on fire. “And you won’t die easily. I’ll cut you into bits like you did to me all those long years, only you won’t come back from it.” I could feel my family’s horror, but my harsh gaze stayed on the witches and mages all around us as I continued to issue a warning. “And when you die, you’ll still meet me and suffer a worse fate. I’ll make sure that your souls never find peace, as you know I’m Death.”

The witches and mages cringed. Though they hated me, they couldn’t hide their apprehension of me as well, and I drank in their delicious fear.

“This is an interesting development,” Spartoi said with a mild chuckle. “You said they were strangers to you, milady.”

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