Holly wasn't surprised when Ruby took away the barrier or when Eros grabbed her and hugged her hard. "Don't you ever do that again," he hissed.
Holly pushed at him. "I was with Ruby, it's okay, Eros. She's my friend now."
"Friend?" Eros stared at the reaper. "Why in the world would you befriend her? You do remember they are our enemies right?"
"You're the one that suggested they stay with me, right?" Holly challenged with a smile. "That will work out much better if we're friends."
Ruby stayed quiet as the two went back and forth until she noticed her own group staring at her. She sighed. "What do you want now, Quix?"
"I was just jealous she got to spend time with you, alone."
"If you would please leave me out of your emotions, I would appreciate it. There is nothing for you to be jealous of, for there will never be a relationship like that between us."
Krim chuckled. "I love when she shuts you down."
"Did you find out if our girl has magic or not?" Lachesis asked. "That was the whole reason you took her to that privacy screen right? Not to try to hurt her?" Her eyes narrowed. "Because in case I didn't mention it before, Holly is under my protection."
"Why are you being all protective, Fate?" Ruby shook her head. "But, yes, she does have magic. I just don't know what kind it is."
"We're basically no closer than we were before?" Eros demanded. "You kidnapped her from me for no reason then."
"Excuse me? I did not kidnap her, yet. I took her with me to a secluded area of the dimension that I could investigate the matter at hand."
"Why not do that here?" Eros said with a scowl. "Would have been easier."
"Because I did not want to be interrupted by the likes of you and the Fate. I just wanted to focus. Now, I know that she possesses power inside, though we're no closer to determining what it is."
Eros tilted his head. "I have a question for our guests here."
"What is it?" Krim demanded his eyes narrowing on the man.
Eros didn't back down. "Why would you need to take her to Death, why isn't he just breaking the door down himself?"
Quix chuckled. "That's an easy one. Whenever a reaper has a target, that target is kept invisible from others, and we're the agents of Death. He's not really good with people."
Eros snorted. "Why does that not surprise me?"
"Because your brain is pretty small?" Quix replied. "It would have to be since you still haven't figured out your charge's power."
"It's not like I'm used to this mentor thing," Eros grumbled. "Normally, she's got a bit more help in that department. But I don't know where the guy is. I just know Tydeus is going to beat the crap out of him."
"What a wonderful visual," Ruby sighed. "I find it hard to believe that we have been chasing the two of you for so long and this is the mastermind behind your plans. He was more tolerable as an animal."
"Excuse me?" Eros demanded. "I am a Sin, and I don't know if you've realized it, but I rank above reapers like you guys. At least people know what I am."
Quix chuckled. "And yet you were still created just like we were. Death didn't care about doing the job himself, far easier to have some reapers travel around the world and do it for him."
"There's a mass of you guys, my siblings and I only count seven, you tell me which is the better version," Eros demanded.
"Do you guys have to fight?" Holly questioned softly. "I haven't been back that long and yet I already went to go back into that fog thing to get away from the bickering."
"There's no time for that," Lachesis interrupted. "We need to focus on revealing what type of magic you possess and using it to fight the Sin here so you can fulfill this life's purpose."
"Fulfill her life's purpose? That sounds pleasant," Ruby remarked coolly. "However, that's making it a bit too cut and dry. You're insinuating that once she fulfills her mission you'll be done with her, is this not true?"
Lachesis scowled. "That's not what I meant, but she can get back to her normal life after the Sin is beaten. But we have to know which one it is."
"And why don't you have that information?" Krim demanded. His eyes were narrowed on her a cruel glint in them. "You're a Fate, shouldn't you be the one that is aware of all?"
"We couldn't see the threads for this life. Her thread was completely taken over by black. The others thought she was corrupted, but it's obvious our girl is just too close to you guys."
"What happens after the thread is taken over?" Ruby questioned over her shoulder.
"I stopped watching, instead I came here. I was determined to help." She smirked. "I've always been close to Juniper."
"I'm not Juniper," Holly interrupted. "I know you want me to be, and I know that Tydeus guy does too, but I'm not. I'm Holly, and I don't plan to sacrifice Holly's life for Juniper's mission. I'll go along with it as long as my life as I know it is in danger, but once the danger is over, I'm done. I'm not going to just be a puppet."
Quix smirked again at the Fate. "One more question."
"What is it?" Lachesis snapped her eyes narrowed on him.
"After her other lives were done carrying out their mission, how many were just able to return to live as normal? How many just picked up the pieces and just put all this behind them? I'm curious."
"None," Eros answered as he leaned back against a wall and crossed his arms over his toned chest. "
"None?" Holly repeated. "What do you mean none? How is that possible? What happened to them?" It was her turn to glare at Lachesis now. "What are you hiding from me?"
"Nothing," Lachesis held her hands up. "Listen, I wouldn't do anything to put you in danger. You just don't understand."
"Understand what?" Holly demanded. "Tell me now why none of them just went back to a normal life?"
"They didn't have one," Lachesis whispered with a sigh. "Willow was the first one, her life was bad enough when the sins started to wake. She was a sex slave."
"And what happened to her?" Quix asked in a sing-song voice.
"She was poisoned," Lachesis whispered her eyes on the ground. She was twisting one of her wild pink curls around her finger by this point. "She let herself be turned so she could live as long as possible with those she loved."
"Turned?" Holly frowned. "What does that even mean?"
"Vampire," Eros replied. "You do know those are all real right? Vampires, werewolves, fae, etc, they're all real."
"No way," Holly whispered as she swayed on her feet.
"Wait," Krim interrupted with a scoff. "Blondie over here is willing to accept there's a talking cabbit thing, she's willing to accept reapers and Death himself are after her but she draws the line at vampires?"
Holly looked down. "It's easier to believe in you guys than vampires and werewolves. She just let herself get turned into one?"
"She was with one in the end," Lachesis said with a smile. "After she finished with the Sin of Envy she was able to have a decent enough life as a vampire. A far better fate than her original one."
"But you said there was more, right?" Holly challenged. "What about the others?"
Lachesis glared at Krim and Quix. "Her 2nd life ended better, but her fight did change the world around her. The shifters were almost revealed at that time."
"And then her last life she was forced to suffer at the end night after night in order to try to purify her soul," Eros muttered his eyes almost closed. "No, Holly, your former lives didn't have the chance to be happy before everything started, not like you do."
"How do we know that I will have that chance?" she whispered. "Three other lives before me couldn't manage it, or at least those are the ones you're telling me about. How do I know this is even going to work?"
"It'll work,' Eros replied. "I won't let you fail, and I won't let anything bad happen to you, Holly. I'm here for you. You don't have to trust any of them, but please trust me."
Holly smiled as she nodded at him. "I do trust you, Eros. If you wanted to betray me you would have done so already by this point."
Eros smirked.
"And I trust Ruby," Holly continued.
The smirk vanished in an instant. "Holly!"
"I told you, she's my friend. And I trust my friends." Holly smiled.
"Why aren't I your friend?" Lachesis demanded with a pout. "You're befriending someone that was chasing you before you'd friend me?"
Holly was thoughtful for a moment. Why was that the case? Something about Ruby made her believe she could trust the reaper. And something about Lachesis gave her hesitation. "You're going to have to prove you actually care about me and not just this Juniper person."
"That's not fair," Lachesis grumbled. "Well, can you at least promise you're not gonna befriend these two before me?" she pointed to Krim and Quix. "Because that wouldn't be fair at all."
Holly's lip twitched and she smiled. "We'll see."
"How are we going to figure out what magic she has anyway?" Quix questioned as he walked around Holly. "It could take forever if we try it one thing at a time. Besides, I'm sure that not one person knows all the branches of magic here. Even if all of us worked together, we might not cover them all."Eros sighed. "I don't understand how Angel figured it out so easily. He should have shown up by now, or at least Tydeus." He stopped then turned on his heel. "Wait, Holly, didn't you mention something about Tydeus? While we were arguing.""Yes, he visited me in my dreams," Holly responded. "He insisted on calling me Juni
Holly didn't waste any time, she shoved Quix back and knocked him onto his back as she held a hand against her lips."Please, don't do that again. I'm not a toy for you to mess with. You can't just do what you want to try to make me blush."Quix raised himself on one elbow and grinned at her."But that's the fun of it. Ruby doesn't do anything but roll her eyes. You do all kinds of wonderful things for me. Your breath gets shallow and fast, your heart beats faster, your cheeks change color.
Holly must have fallen asleep, though she didn't even remember her eyes closing. There had been a loud bang, like glass shattering. Had that been part of her dream?On the end of the couch, Quix was snoring, hugging his braid as if it was a stuffed toy. Was this truly one of the people she had been running away from in terror for so long?She leaned forward as she watched him sleep. Was he faking it?"Are you done pouting yet?" hissed a voice behind her.
Eros's warmth was nice, but there was a point it became suffocating. Holly moved her friend to the middle of the couch where he whimpered for a moment before cuddling against Quix.She held back a chuckle. Even though she was still upset with him, she couldn't deny he was cute.What had woken her up? The sky was dark outside which normally meant she'd be in full running mode at this point.It was strange to not be running at all. Her Chasers were not what she had expected. Ruby was a f
"Fake?" Holly repeated. She didn't have the strength to try to free herself any longer. "All fake?""Every last one," Krim agreed. "This entire world has been created for you. To study you, to judge you.""Judge me?" Holly frowned. "I don't understand. Why am I being judged? By who?" how could she even ask questions? Her mind was still trying to comprehend what Krim had revealed. There was no way this entire world was fake, was there? None of it made sense.Krim picked up his pace as they got farther and farther away from the others. "Death can explain more if he feels like it. I don't know how much I should give away. I don't need to put myself in danger over this.""You said you'd tell me everything," Holly reminded. Inside, her world was spinning. None of this made sense. "Why would this world be created for me? Why? And who did it?""You want all those answers?" Krim twisted his neck to study her. "Then I need something from you. It's the only
Holly followed Death but as they traveled their surroundings blurred around them. Holly stopped but was tugged along by his grip on her. "What is this?" she whispered. Every step was taking them away from her friends, the only ones who might be able to save her from this awful choice of hers."You didn't think that I lived in that old shack, did you? I live wherever I want, and right now I'm taking you straight to my throne so we can talk." Death smirked. "I hope you don't give me what I want though, it's more fun when I hear screams and begs.""Throne?" Holly frowned. "I don't understand. Why would you have a throne? You're one of the four horsemen," she looked around. "Without a horse.""Nah, I've got a ride but have no reason to pull my baby out right now. You came to me willingly enough, so I let that escort of yours live. If you had denied me, you'd be drenched in his blood right now."Holly swallowed. "I don't understand any of this.""
Holly didn't know when the pain stopped. How could so much agony come from the tips of fingernails? But they had been like knives, slicing her skin, causing her blood to flow.But where had they gone now? The servant was gone without a word, and so was the master as well. Now it was just her alone and tied up. Was this a ruse on their part?"Holly," the whisper was close to her ear and she turned to meet Quix's eyes. "Stay quiet," he whispered as he went to work on her restraints. They popped off and he pulled her into his arms, closing his eyes as he willed them to travel.Nothing happened. They were still in the bowels of Death's trap.Holly sobbed."Don't worry," Quix whispered. "I have a plan."Holly didn't believe him. This had to be a trap. If she showed any sign of hope, it would slam down on her. The pain she had endured already was just the start. They were going to do so much more to her. "Leave me," she whispered. 
When Holly woke up, she was pressed against a half-naked chest. She didn't move as she blinked and tried to process just what was going on. She lifted her head and looked into Quix's sparkling eyes. "Hi?" she greeted."Hi," he responded with a lazy smile. He pulled her back against him and cuddled his nose into her hair. "I'm still sleepy and you smell great.""You said you wouldn't try anything," Holly growled at him as she fought to pull away."I'm not doing anything. Just holding you closer and enjoying that scent of yours. Maybe Ruby will have some competition if this keeps up." He chuckled down at her.Holly pushed against him to free herself and Quix's smile vanished in an instant to be replaced with a grimace. "Quix?" Holly froze. "Did I hurt you?""I'm still tender from yesterday's heroics. I'll be fine later. Man, Krim would laugh..." he frowned and shook his head. "Never mind. Ruby, she'd find this whole situation amusing."Holly d