Page 67 of Death God

“It won’t let me pass,” he said. “I can feel the warning. If I try, I’ll turn into a skeleton.”

“It’s for me only,” I said.

“Be careful, Pip!”

“Shield yourself behind the barrier,” I told him.

I kept going, my blood running hot and cold at the same time while chills sank into every inch of my nude body.

I paused three feet from the barred cell in the deep shadow.

I could see tendrils of dark mist swirling around the outline of a massive being who sat on the stone bench against the wall, formidable power circling him, darkening the darkness.

He wasn’t a human, though he remained in a humanoid form, mostly. He looked like he would be over seven feet tall standing. The next second, his shape shifted between a humanoid form and a skeleton. When he bore his skeleton form, his unfathomable eyes glowed dark crimson.

An undeniable connection pulsed between us.

I could sense that this being was cut from the same cloth as the horseman of war. They were both dark angels, yet there were differences between them. One held the serene, eternal countenance of death, while the other brimmed with violence and greed.

The being’s eyes that could swallow any light and life fixed upon me, and he resumed a more humanoid form. His face was pale. A dark curl dangled forward, brushing the corner of his sensual lips. I was certain that he’d once been handsome. No, he’d been beyond handsome. He’d been perfection, a celestial being that rode the shadow and fire and commanded the Underworld.

All the dead had once bowed to him.

He’d come to Earth to collect souls, but he’d failed in his job because he’d fallen in love.

Instantly, I knew who he was. The genetic memory my parents had burned in the recesses of my mind churned to the surface with a roar.

“D—Dad?” I croaked.

“Daughter,” he said, his deep voice like a chilling wind. “You’ve come. Finally.”

“You’re alive!”

“Barely, as I’m Death. I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”

My heart leapt to my parched throat.

“I—I was in the same dark tower,” I said.

“It pained me no end that I couldn’t reach you. I couldn’t save my own daughter. I’ve been trapped here since War murdered your mother and incapacitated me. I’m very sorry. But I knew you’d save yourself one day and find me, because you’re my daughter.”

I was lost for words, so I just stared at the original Death, my father. Only a few months ago, I’d escaped this hell and I couldn’t even remember my name. I’d thought I was all alone in this world, then my human family showed up. Now, I’d found out that my father was alive, also trapped in enemy territory.

I swallowed. My father was the great power.

“You’re so beautiful, just like your mother.” His voice softened, laced with grief and pride. “I hope she can see you, but I’ll tell her soon about meeting you.”

I blinked. “But Mom is gone.”

“As the angel of death, I’ll have the privilege of meeting her again.” He smiled at me, radiating power. “I promised her I would wait for you, no matter how hard it got.”

“Was Mom really a dragon?”

“The most beautiful and fierce dragon,” my dad said, his eyes no longer holding cold death but brimming with fond memories. “The last of her kind. Arielle, your mother, was my fated mate. She was the only one who could tame and mate with the angel of death. The living fire in her matched my icy death. And you have both, daughter. You have the purest heart and the darkest soul.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” I said, but I waved a hand dismissively to show my comments weren’t important. I wanted to know more about my parents instead. “How did you meet Mom?”

“There was an exodus from the last dragon clan when War first arrived on Earth,” Dad said. “War somehow managed to capture their princess before the portal was shut for good. Your mother, the last royal dragon, sacrificed herself for her people. She was his prisoner for a century. When War refused to return after his task on Earth was done, I came looking for him. My first mission was to send him home before I unleashed death upon Earth.

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