The Daughter of Death- *RAYOR*

Chapter 23: In The Name of Greed

She had an angular, pointed face and brown hair, and eyes the colour of ice with all of the coldness, which, right now, looked like coals. She was also smiling in a strained way at me.

"Blakely! It's been so long!"

I glared at her. She'd left Death cold-hearted and unapproachable, and she knew she hated me, too. "Maria."

"Oh, that's no way to speak to your mother," said Maria.

"You hate me!" I flung at her.

"Did Gabriel say so?" Maria gestured to a tree. It clutched him in its spindly fingers. My little brother.

I ran at Maria, but she fended off my attack easily. With a few crisp, sharp movements, she'd sent me to the ground.

"How do the trees obey you?" Instead of the challenging tone that I had been going for, I sounded breathless. "You're not magical."

"They obey me because I am their queen. I live here. This is my home. I've lived here for so long, I've picked up my own tricks."

"The Underworld was supposed to be your home," I said. "Nothing would have changed. You would have been with Father. Why did you hide, like a child?"

"I'm not the child here, Blakely," said Maria. "I did what I had to do. You've been to the Underworld, and you've been here. Which do you like more? There is nothing below but mourning and despair. Up here, there's music, and laughter, and love..." she glared at me. "Have you ever laughed, down below?"

"You hurt Father," I said weakly, getting up, trying to ignore the throbbing pain at my collarbone. "He loved you."

"He never did. I was a tool," she scoffed.

"What could he use you for?" I looked at her as if she were dirt, which she was, to my eyes. "He is a king!"

"He's a fool!" she hurled at me. "He lay around his palace, ordering you to do his bidding."

"My job," I said. "He didn't order you to do anything."

"Why should he?"

"Love goes both ways. Same as trust," I said.

"Oh, screw your philosophies," said Maria.

"What are you going to do?" I asked suddenly nervous. What would happen to Willow and Arielle? What would happen to Gabriel? We couldn't be killed, but the half angel and Willow could. Why wasn't Gabriel teleporting himself out of the tree's grasp?

I looked at Gabriel. "Disappear," I mouthed. He shook his head, eyes wide. Obviously he couldn't.

"Do you know how long I've wanted to be out of Death's grasp?" asked Maria, musingly. "It wasn't as easy as it sounded. Years ago, an ingenious piece of machinery appeared in the Cave of the Lost, you know. You may have heard about it in 2008."

My eyes widened. "The artefact."

"A ring," said Maria, holding it up. It seemed to be made up of not gold, or silver, but fire. "But I can't put it on, until I have what I need. Do you know how the magic works, little girl?"

"A subject to power it with," I said. "To wear it and transfer their life energy into it, until you wear it yourself. But you need hundreds of mortals for enough life force to live longer. Thousands to render yourself truly immortal. It's only been achieved once."

"It will be achieved again, with less trouble," said Maria. "I would need thousands of mortals to power the ring, but only one immortal."

My mouth went dry. "You can't be serious."

Maria held up a shard of mirror. "I always knew you would come, Blakely," she crooned. "Crawling back for your brother, for your powers. All because of your father's greed."

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

"A half angel, untrained, leads to massive consequences. They're unpredictable, and very powerful. Did you know that your father lied to you, Blakely? Arielle was right. It was never her time to die, not yet. I visited her to tell her the truth in her sleep. He lied, so that you would eliminate the biggest roadblock in front of him: a girl that could possibly render Death mortal."

I gaped at Maria, then Arielle. There were tears in her eyes, and she was mouthing wordlessly. The same words over and over again.

It's a trap. It's a trap. It's a trap.

"I knew what would happen to you. I paid a trip to Enid, and she predicted it all. Along with the proof of the Mirror, I knew what would come. That you would come to claim your powers and your brother, and walk right into my kingdom."

"This isn't your kingdom," I spat at her. "It's a cave and a forest."

"Which I control," she said. "I eluded Death. And, like Enid, that led to the discovery of a power. I control this lost kingdom. I control what my fate-"

"You're crazy!" I yelled at her. "You're a madwoman! I'm your daughter!"

"I consider you as a daughter as much as you consider me as a mother," said Maria. "Nowhere near, in fact. You will do what I ask, or I'll kill Willow."

"What makes you think I care?" I bluffed, and I knew it came out more truthfully than I had expected, for Willow gasped. Part of my heart seemed to freeze over, the part that felt for him. "He's a mortal!"

"I was watching you," said Maria. "Gabriel was watching you. I knew he'd go to you and ask to leave me." she gave Gabriel a hard look.

"Why didn't you use Gabriel?" I was genuinely confused.

Maria sighed and crossed her arms. "It's... strange. What a child can do to you. He was just eight when he first came. I told myself I had to do it... but I couldn't."

I heard a snapping sound, and found that Gabriel had slashed the tree to dust. "You think I care about you!" he glared.

Maria waved a hand, and a larger oak grabbed Gabriel, crushing him against its huge trunk.

I yanked the knife from my waist and threw it at Maria. In my anger, I misaimed, and it scraped her skin, passing her wrist, and sank into a tree. Blood dripped from the wound. Her face contorted. In a flash, she'd yanked out the dagger and thrown it at me.

I ducked, and heard a scream of pain. It had hit Gabriel, and white-green stuff was oozing out of the wound in his shoulder. I rushed to him, yanking it out and putting pressure on the injury.

I turned to Maria fiercely. Her face was conflicted. Regret was shown in the bob at her throat, anger in the flaring of her nostrils. She was breathing heavily.

"I HATE YOU!" I screamed at her. "YOU MONSTER!" if the blade had hit me, it would have given me a blow to a face, possibly disfiguring me.

"He will get worse than that if you don't obey me." Maria held up the ring. "Any funny business, and I'll hurt him so badly he'll wish he was dead."

I felt something catch in my throat. I collapsed onto the ground, trying to hold it in. An ugly sound, a half moan, half gasp, issued from my mouth.

"Go away, Blake," said Gabriel. "I'll be fine."

"No!" I said, my voice thick with anger and tears. "I won't!" I turned to Maria. "You have to promise to let them go, after. Swear on your control over this kingdom that you will not violate this agreement. I will make sure that you keep it." I knew what would happen. It would be similar to the Impotens. I would be stripped of my power and body, contained in this ring with millions of other souls.

Enid was immortal, I realised. Or almost.

Maria nodded, holding out the ring. I took it in my hand. It was intricately carved to resemble flames, and now I felt it, it was very cold. Yet it seemed to light up in my hand, becoming so warm it was almost unbearable.

"Put it on," Maria ordered.

I turned to Gabriel. "I love you," I said. But, before I could put it on, there was a flash of light.

Out of the gloom, came two faces. One that I had known forever. One that I thought I would never see again.

Death had come.