Chapter Eight: Sparks

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."