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Dank closed his eyes tightly. “You won’t come back,” he said in a hoarse whisper.

“Why? You told the little girl she would. Gee said I would get another body and I would go on living; that is what souls do.” Dank reached out and cupped my face with his hands.

His thumb brushed my lips. I hated seeing the pain in his eyes. I wanted to end his pain. Why wouldn’t he let me?

“Pagan, the moment I became consumed with you and chose to break the rule everything changed. You’re my weakness. I chose you over the rules. Once you are taken you will be kept. I will no longer see you or be given a chance to be near you. I am Death. I can’t live with the light and you will live with the light. Forever. Never to return to Earth. I can’t resist you so they won’t let me keep you.” He bent down and kissed my nose gently. I trembled under his touch.

Tears burned my eyes. I couldn’t stand the thought of never seeing him again.

“And if he refuses to take your body he will be taken as a result. Are you going to tell her that part, Death? Are you going to tell her how you will no longer be free to roam the Earth as Death but you will be condemned to Hell? You’ll be as lowly as the fallen angels. If she lives, you essentially die.” Gee stood watching Dank with her hands on her hips. “The choice is now. Once your powers are stripped I’ll be 178



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transporting you down. And I truly hate to go down.” She flicked her gaze toward me. “You can live and have eternal life while he burns in Hell with the rest of the fallen angels and sinners, or you can go with me and live in light and let him continue to live the life he has lived since the creation of man. For he is, and has always been, Death.” 179



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Chapter Nineteen


The dark sky began to churn around a core of light. I grabbed Dank’s arm with both of my hands as if he was about to disappear. “What’s happening?” I asked over the sound of the wind roaring in the distance. Dank shook his head, with his eyes on Gee.

She glanced from him to me. “They’re going to take him.

Because of you, he will be considered as one of the least. He has fallen. He broke the rules.” Gee began to yell over the storm-like winds enclosing the clearing. I let go of Dank and walked forward, knowing I had to stop this and he wasn’t going to tell me how.

“What can I do?” I screamed at Gee.

She glanced behind me to Dank. “She isn’t like the other humans. It’s why you fell for her when no one else ever tempted you. Let her make this choice.”

“NO!” Dank yelled from behind me with a fierceness in his voice verging on panic. I ran toward Gee, afraid Dank would stop me.

“Tell me,” I demanded. She stared back at me as her glowing features seemed ever more otherworldly. The storm grew stronger. Her blond hair whipped wildly around her creating the appearance of the immortal she was.

“He can only be forgiven if you die. He is Death and he will have to accept your soul. I can only do what it takes to kill your body but in the end, until He is no more, Death has to take your soul.”

“NO! I WILL NOT TAKE IT! SHE IS A NEW SOUL! MY

WEAKNESS WILL NOT CONDEMN HER,” Dank roared from behind me as his arms pulled me away from Gee.

She ignored Dank’s protest and continued to watch me as the storm grew stronger. I had a power here that Dank wouldn’t admit and Gee was too frightened to tell me. She was trying to. The friend I thought I’d made at the mental house may truly be my friend after all. There was no wicked 180



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intent in her gaze like I’d seen in the other transporter’s eyes.

She was pleading with me silently. What was the choice? If Dank refused to take my soul then how could she kill me even if I walked right into her arms? Dank’s arms seemed to be fighting against a pull from the storm that wasn’t pulling at me or Gee. It was here for him. I glanced up at him and touched his anguished face so full of determination to save me that he was willing to be sucked into Hell.

“I love you,” I said, causing his face to contort in pain.

“I’m not a man so I do not have a heart that loves as a human does. I’m an immortal god that dwells with supreme power because I hold the keys to Death. But you are my existence. I am yours.” Hot tears streamed down my face as I stared into the face of someone who comprehended an emotion much stronger than my weak, feeble words of love.

His arm was ripped away from me by the storm-force wind and he stood like the god he was while a dark funnel formed around him. My heart pounded in my chest and I ran for Gee, knowing somehow there was something I could do. She could take me, I could see it in her eyes. There was a way for me to stop this. Gee watched me as I got closer to her and I noticed the hope flicker in her eyes.



“Help him! Do what you can but don’t let them take him, please,” I yelled over the roar behind me torn from the chest of Death. Gee nodded and glanced back over my shoulder.

“She made the sacrifice. It’s finished,” Gee announced with a loud, deep commanding tone. Her eyes came back to me as she touched her hand to my head.

The air around me ceased. No longer could I draw oxygen into my lungs. It took all my willpower not to try and gasp for air. If Dank saw me struggle I knew he would fight whatever force bound him to free me from Gee’s power. The cold, damp ground rose up to meet me and I lay limp as the sharp pain of suffocation burned my lungs. The storm around me faded away. I heard no more and felt no more. It was different than before. This time the pain eased away quickly 181