Dance with the Devil

Chapter 3

A/N - not a full update, only a partial. This is so I can read it on my other account and edit it accordingly while I'm out and about. 

A SLEEPOVER

With her head still cocked to the side, the earth beneath her feet began to rumble in anger and the house around the groaned its protest. A swift wind curled itself around her legs, lashing at anything that came too close. Water twirled around her left hand while fire burned on her right and when she locked eyes with Evelyn Trianni, her eyes blue for so long looked red like her Lucille's once did. Evelyn's heartbeat echoed in Julia's ears, a predatory gleam shone in her eyes and she felt those elements playing with her fingers inch their way closer and closer to the woman she called aunt.

Evelyn screamed. She hadn't screamed since she was a child, not even the pain of childbirth equating to the abuse she suffered at the hands of her own mother and matriarch. Her sister had been a powerful witch, certainly. The most powerful witch their world had ever seen but as Evelyn looked upon her niece, she knew that Lucille had only been a fraction of what this child was.

Evelyn didn't know just how long she screamed, and she didn't even care about her own two sons as she turned and ran for the door, then her car before peeling out of the driveway. The twins though, ignorant of magic and all that it was curled up under the dining room table, watching Julia and avoiding anything that might fall.

A loud thump resounded and then, "Julia!"

Everyone looked to the source of the noise where a man, face hidden, wings out, horns out, arms out, stood. Breathing, crying, sobbing, Julia collapsed into his arms finally feeling safe. As though sensing her ease, the elements protecting her slipped away and the girl, dwarfed in Deaths' arms slipped into sleep as well.

The figure looked at the two boys and they sensed he wasn't quite sure what to do. "You boys, your mother has left you here. You will stay the night and head home tomorrow."

"Why can't you just drop us off home? Where's your car?"

"I don't have one."

"Then, how did you get here?" Death didn't say anything as he turned his head to look at the wings behind him. "You didn't fly weirdo, where' the car?"

"Check if you'd like, there's no car here."

"Then you must live somewhere near here."

"I live in Hell." The twins just looked at him as though he was crazy, just what he expected of the humans nowadays. "I'm taking Julia to bed. You have no way of getting home and curiosity enough to make you stay the night. Would you like any blankets? I'll set you two up on the couch. You and Julia can decide what to do in the morning."

Stumped and at a loss for words, it was Theodore that spoke up, "We'd like some blankets, thank you sir."

"Don't call me sir, young one. Just, do me a favour and look after this one, she can be trouble but she's fiercely loyal, almost to a fault and once she claims you, she would go to the ends of the realms to protect you." He mused staring down at the girl though with a black face, he looked more ominous than anything. The twins shuddered and somehow, naivety and all, that this was someone not to be angered.

Yet as he walked upstairs with Julia in his arms, they weren't as afraid. Not even when pulled blankets out of the linen cupboard and threw them on the couch, could the twins fear him because there was something else entirely on his mind, a black-haired girl, asleep in her bed.

So, when Death walked into Julia's bedroom, black walls and dark furniture, his demeanour shifted. His hand caressed her face and he felt that soft hair against his fingers. His gaze was soft to no one at all but if they could only see that this was not his fault, that it was a curse of his position that could never be removed.

It was documented that there were several Deaths throughout history and not many had been able to remove the curse and no one could recall where it had originated. Some said it was a jealous ex or lover that had insisted that no one else be able to see them while others had a more romantic notion that it was to ensure Deaths' queen loved him true.

This Death couldn't care less. It was a pain, sure. But he didn't find it all that bad. It was something that helped to keep the fear drummed into his subjects, that his power could not be contested, that he was not someone to be trifled with. But just before, not even two hours, Julia had peered into his hood and seen his eyes, a definite change from the last few years that had him leaving to do some research on the curse rather quickly.

He came up with nothing but had ordered several of his maids and butlers to continue looking as soon as he felt her magic run amok in a fit of rage. Swiftly as he could he slid into the nearest shadow of his palace and with a thud was dropped onto the floor elsewhere. To his left, he spied a pair of twins hiding under the table and straight ahead had been Julia.

The elements around her, protecting her from nothing. He didn't watch long before water, not from magic, fell down her cheeks and without realising it, he called her name.

"Julia!" that magic faltered slightly and when she glanced in his direction. Seeing his form, the elements began to fall away even faster and wrapped in his arms, they fell away entirely. She was so small in his arms, so light. He wanted to protect her, to keep her away from everyone and everything and ensure her safety until she died.

Wanted to but wouldn't. He wanted to see her scream and cry and sob. Wanted her to feel everything she'd been ignoring. Wanted her to fight, and punch and break, anything to contrast that empty shell he never wanted her to be, the shell her mother never wanted her to be.

So, seeing her standing there, those elements fighting, those tears down her face, the total anguish lining her features, he was happy. Happy that she did still feel something, even if it hurt her. That pain only proved she was alive. Proved she hadn't given up entirely on what and who she could be.

But she had almost killed who he assumed was her two cousins that night and knew that had she really hurt them she'd have never forgiven herself. She wouldn't recover from that. Probably wouldn't be willing to make friends with anyone. Most certainly wouldn't be willing to learn and teach her magic to this Fabian Gonzales kid.

"Julia, you need to wake up." He muttered out while gently grabbing her shoulder, careful not to throw her into a panic. "Julia, this is important."

Julia's muffled groan of dislike was loud enough to make him smile a little. "Julia, wake up."

She attempted to roll away from his voice. She landed with a thud on the floor and was upright in an instant. She looked towards Death and glared a little. "What do you want Death?"

"We're doing a crash-course on magic dear one. Lest you want to risk obliterating the next person who pisses you off from the face of the planet." He said, amused as her disgruntled behaviour and not at all bothered by it.

Julia's eyes clouded with the recent memory of her aunts' visit before they shone with shame. "Ok. When?"

"Right now."

"Why?" she asked, whining like a child. He couldn't help it that his quiet chuckle reached her ears this time and she shot him a glare. "Fine."