Chapter Forty-Two: Chase Her Down

Holly's heart pounded in her chest. They had slipped away, but for how long? They couldn't keep this up. She could still see her friend's eyes before that monster had eaten her. All she wanted to do was throw herself down on the ground and sob. Atropos hadn't deserved that kind of death, no one did.

"I won't let anything happen to you," Angel promised. "Don't worry, okay? I promise. I've always protected you, and I always will." He stared into her eyes and Holly's pulse raced. What was with her that even Angel could bring about that kind of response? But as she looked at him, the way everything about him was self-confident, she believed him.

"Except that time you weren't even here yet," Eros pointed out with a snort. His eyes narrowing at the other in a silent challenge. Holly hid her wince. She didn't need Angel, she had Eros. Eros was the one that was always at her side, always helping her. He had been her protector. There was no need for her to soften up at the soul's other protector.

"At least I wasn't pretending to be someone else. Seriously, Eros? A cabbit? What were you thinking?" Angel's lips curled in a sneer. "You know she's my charge. I'm the one that will always keep her safe."

Eros shrugged. "All that matters is I was able to keep her safe while you weren't around. They would have had her long ago if it hadn't been for me. You should be thanking me that nothing happened to her."

"Stop it you two," Quix demanded as he held his scythe at the ready. "We're not fighting beginners. If they find us, we're dead. Well, dead again in our case." He gestured to himself and Ruby as his lips twitched. He glanced over at Holly and smiled at her as his body softened. Oh, how Holly wished she could just grab him and runoff and have some private time with just the two of them.

The other reaper's fist clenched and unclenched. "We're no match. With Death's new powers it's only a matter of time before he uses us two against the lot of you." She summoned her scythe as well. "We need to take each other out so we can prevent that." She pointed her weapon at Quix. "At least this way we won't be anyone's puppets."

"No!" Holly leaped in front of Ruby and grabbed onto the weapon. Energy singed her hands but she refused to let it go. The purple sparks danced across her flesh. "I won't let you guys do this. Besides, you don't even know if that's the plan this time around!"

"Holly, she's right." Quix grabbed her from behind. Hands wrapping around her shoulders he pulled her away as he peppered her neck with butterfly kisses. "I'm happy we have you back. But it has to be obvious to you. He's going to have untold power after that. We can't leave anything at risk. I won't do anything that could lead to losing you."

"Oh, look who I found," Sloth chuckled from a nearby tree. "They're over here," she sing-songed as she gave them a slow smile.

"I'll keep the barrier up," Angel offered with a sigh. "Tydeus, Dagon, you two have to keep her safe." His magic sprung up around the reapers creating a magic field that Death's power wouldn't be able to penetrate, hopefully.

"Good work," Lucifer congratulated as he smiled at the group. His eyes were pinned to Holly alone. "Now, I suggest you come willingly. You've already seen what happens when you defy me. Unless you want the rest of your friends to follow the fate of your last?" He smirked at the pun.

Dagon glanced over at Famine and the two brothers faced their father. "You're getting old," Dagon observed with a flash of his teeth in a snarl. "That's my woman you're threatening. I'm not about to just let you torture her."

"I shall be on my brother's side, this time. There is no conceivable way I'm about to let you get stronger, Father." Famine straightened his shirt collar.

"And yet I have the one that just took down a Fate on my side," Lucifer replied with a shake of his head. "You're making a huge mistake Famine. You are not enamored with the soul. Why risk your life for it?"

"You have the one?" Death's eyes glowed a dark pink as he walked from the boughs of the trees. "Father, I told you before that because you had the power I followed you." He studied his hand. "But now, that power is mine. I have no desire to follow you. As it is, you're just in my way."

Glancing over at his words, Lucifer was hit full in the chest by the attack that Death sent his way. His body crashed into a tree and he grunted before pink threads burst into life and tied him down. The man struggled against his binds as the threads glowed. The glow intensified and Lucifer's chin his chest and his body went still.

"Did you kill him?" Holly whispered as she shivered in Quix's hold.

Death chuckled. "Kill? No, unfortunately, the power of just one Fate isn't enough for that. Perhaps I could manage if I drained all of you." He smirked. "Imagine. If just one is capable of this, what will the warrior of Fate's whose soul is reborn again and again do for my powers?" He grabbed his wrist and rolled it as he walked forward. "That barrier is annoying me, be gone with it."

Angel's magic field shattered as the pink threads split up and shot across the surface, attacking it from a dozen different directions at once. Death walked through it and pointed at Ruby. The woman snarled at him and with her scythe flickering to life in her hand, she jumped. Quix nodded and mirrored her actions as he guided Holly towards safety as he went to help his comrade.

"Isn't this cute?" Snarled a voice Holly hadn't heard in so long. Turning she came face to face with Krim as he strode out of the trees. "I'm sure you thought I was dead. I'm a reaper remember? I'm not so easily killed. Too bad that's not the same for some of these others." He pointed at Ruby. "Can I kill her?" he questioned death.

"No!" Holly screamed but she was held back by the Eros this time. The man held her tight to his chest as he took steps away from them.

"Be my quest," Death responded with a nod of his head. "I'll enjoy the show. Traitors deserve to suffer in the first place."

"Please, don't do this," Holly begged, pushing away from Eros but the man would not let her go.

Krim smirked. "Ruby, your real name was Bridgette. You agreed to be a reaper because back when you were alive you were bullied to death, made even worse because you weren't even the target until you stepped in to help someone else. What a reward for such a sweet woman. Before you tried to step in, you even had friends. Just remember it all."

Rudy's eyes glazed and with a scream, her fingers tangled in her hair as she dropped to her knees. "No!"

Krim chuckled. "That's right, Bridgette. You weren't some on-the-edge loner. You were just betrayed by everyone you loved. Your friends weren't willing to be bullied too. I bet if you closed your eyes you could see them." Grinning he leaned closer even as Quix screamed and charged. "I can bring the skeletons of your friends to you, wouldn't that be the best reunion ever?"

"Leave her alone!" Quix demanded as he brought his scythe down.

Krim jumped high into the air and somersaulted away from the attack before landing next to Death. He dropped down into a bow as Ruby's screams echoed around the area.

"Ruby!" Holly grabbed at the woman but she was thrashing back and forth. It was impossible to calm her down.

"Quix," Ruby gasped as she stared at her fellow reaper. Her eyes were red by this point and her skin grew pale. "Run, don't let him do this to you," she begged before she screamed again. Her screams built in crescendo as she fell on the ground and thrashed a final time before going still.

As the group watched, Ruby's scythe vanished, and then her heavy reaper cloak faded away. Her legs glowed a dark black before they too faded and bit by bit the rest of her followed suit. There were no more screams from her no. No more struggling against this fate she'd been dealt.

She bowed her head in acceptance, and the reaper known as Ruby faded out of being.

If Ruby's final screams had been ear-shattering, they were nothing to the straight-out howls that escaped Holly now as yet another of her friends was ripped away from her.