Keone
Please, just let me go. I won't tell anyone. I swear. Just leave.
Keone walked up the steps toward the house. The door was unlocked, though it was never locked to begin with. He paused before entering and simply stared at the door for a while. He knew exactly who would be waiting. It was difficult to miss that kind of presence when so near.
Just as anticipated once Keone entered the house, Angel stood waiting.
The house was covered in darkness, and there the man was, a shadow formed into the shape of a monstrous being, a force unlike any other. Keone straightened his stance, unafraid of Deathâas much as any sane being could be. "You should be out."
"You've done something." His voice was level, calm even, but it was a lie.
"You left me with no choice." Keone refused to back down. He did the right thing. She would have presented a threat down the line. He did Angel a favor. He saved them both from an unrelenting headache.
Angel stepped forward, into strips of moonlight that escaped through the blinds. Those black eyes were seething with unhinged rage. Keone had never gone behind Angel's back before. It wasn't a complete betrayal but it was disobedience. "You killed the woman. I felt it."
Keone frowned. "She's one out of billions. She's insignificant, Angel."
Angel looked down briefly to examine his nails. "I suggest you stop talking."
Keone closed his mouth but was certain his face said everything he didn't verbalize.
Angel took another step forward again. He was always so fucking still, unbothered. Keone knew better. "I told you to stay away from her until I discovered more. And what did you do?" He smiled. "You killed her...get out of my sight."
Keone didn't move for a couple prolonged seconds. While he wanted to continue the conversation, Angel made it clear he'd just drawn a line. So, he said nothing else and walked past Angel and up the stairs. His heavy feet thudded throughout the quiet house. If he looked back, Death would have been gone as though never there.
When he made it to his bedroom, Keone carefully laid out his weapons on top of his dresser.
He removed his clothes until he was down to nothing but his second skin, a thin and impassible armor laid against his flesh. It was created and perfected over the centuries in order to preserve the integrity of a vampire's original blood. It was possible to wear constantly, but Keone just couldn't. He peeled it off, exposing the thick scars scattered across his body that he acquired as a young, human warrior.
Naked, he walked into the bathroom with a dagger in hand. No one dared cross this property unless they craved the end. Still, he could not ever be unarmed.
He caught sight of himself in the mirror. Seeing the crimson splatters on his face and body shouldn't have meant anything. It wasn't the first and wouldn't be the last. Yet, her face flashed through his mind. Her tears. Her defiance. The woman Death could not take. Renata Jiménez.
But he did. He murdered her in cold blood.
Eight days ago...
Keone came down to the kitchen. He was surprised to see Angel sitting at the table with his hands folded. On the other end was a steaming mug of coffee. Keone accepted it and sat across from someone who was not known as a morning person, or someone who lingered on this property at all. "What's happened?"
"I tried to reach for someone." He spoke so casually. From the way he spoke, it was hard to tell whether he was discussing his favorite type of bread or what kind of knife he preferred to use when slitting someone's throat.
Keone finally registered his words. "What do you mean 'tried'?"
Angel stood up and braced his hands against the table. "Exactly how it sounds."
Keone shook his head. "That's notâ"
"Possible. Theoretically, it shouldn't be. I've tried six times...I don't know who she is or what she is, but this new development is quite certainly...alarming."
He never heard Angel use the word 'alarming' before. Angel was not someone who could be alarmed by anything or anyone. Yet something about Angel was unsettled for the first time since Keone had known him.
"You're saying you can't kill her?"
"You can wipe the shock off your face. These are simply new circumstances we will have to face head-on."
"What's her name?"
Angel paused in contemplation. What, he didn't trust Keone with her name? "It's Renata Jiménez."
"I'll check into herâ"
Angel shook his head. "Don't bother." He gave a you-should-know-better look.
Keone pushed back from his seat. "Well, if you can't end her, I will."
"What you will do is stay away from her until I say otherwise."
Keone couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was obvious what their next course of action should be, yet Angel sat there like he was still formulating a plan. This was not something Keone ever expected from Death, a being as old as existence. "Does the undying know of her?"
"Not yet." He leaned away.
"We can't let them discover her, Angel."
"I've made my instructions perfectly clear." Even though the house had been filled with sunlight, it suddenly darkened. The brightness was snuffed out like a flame without air. "Do recall how much I dislike repeating myself."
"Yes." Keone grabbed his coffee. "I do."
The room became more and more blackened until it was like all the light had left the world for good. "Don't make me regret sharing this information." The next time Keone blinked, everything was back to normal but Angel was gone.
He received the warning loud and clear. But as he rubbed the handle of the dagger on his upper thigh, he knew what had to be done, something that was going to get him into a fuck ton of trouble.
Diamond
She hurriedly got to the door and knocked on it with her free hand. In the other, she held a cup holder for their favorite ice creams. Matcha for Renata. Ube for Diamond. After having the sleepover with her the night before, she was even more concerned for her best friend than ever.
Diamond hoped a surprise visit with ice cream would maybe lift Renata's spirits.
She knocked on the door, almost dropping the ice cream as she did so. "Hey, it's me!" She listened in for a response, but there was nothing. "I know you're in there, I have your location." That came out more creepy than she'd intended. "Ren? Hello?" Diamond frowned. Her apartment wasn't that big. Renata should have heard something, even from her personal bathroom. "Ren?" She waited a second longer. "Okay, I hope you're decent, I'm coming in."
Diamond crouched down to set the ice cream on the floor, much to her disdain. She rummaged through her purse until she felt the coolness of her keys. She picked the treats back up and awkwardly keyed herself into Renata's place. A strange scent immediately hit her nose as she kicked the door closed behind her. "Ren?" She called out again.
A chill ran through her as she surveyed the apartment until her eyes snagged on the kitchen, where red paint was smeared and splattered on the fridge door. The rest was cut off by the wrapping counter. "Ren, what the fucking is going on?" She swallowed, trembling as she approached the blocked view.
First, she saw an all-too-familiar brown foot. Red surrounded it, up the ankle, the leg, up the middle. This person was laying on her stomach but Diamond knew that wild head of curls anywhere. The ice cream fell out of her hands, crashing onto the floor, spilling everywhere, like the blood. Her own screams were like a distant echo, even as she felt the vibrations burst past her lips.
Diamond leapt forward, slipping in the crimson. It didn't matter as she took a hold of her best friend's limp body. "Oh, no! No, no, no," she screamed as she saw the stab wounds littering Renata's body, her cold, cold body.
"No," she shook her head, "you're not dead. I just have to get you some help." She placed a kiss on Renata's face. Diamond knew she wasn't thinking straight as she lifted Renata from under her arms. She just kept reassuring herself over and over again, even speaking to the lifeless thing in her arms.
Diamond didn't feel like herself as she mindlessly dragged Renata out of the apartment. It was a struggle, but she was so crazed from shock that she had actually managed it.
"Who did this?" Diamond demanded in a shaken whisper. "I'mââ going to kill them. First, we're gonna get you some help. Sound good, Ren? Just don't leave me." Of course, there were no other sounds but her panting and material being dragged across the floor.
Right as she got close to the elevator, she stumbled, losing her grasp on Renata. She couldn't contain her sobbing as she looked into Renata's lifeless, unblinking eyes. "No, Ren." She felt like she was shattering into a million pieces. "What the fuck."