Before them, a red cat of gold eyes grew into a beefy little man all winded.
Short and birthmarked like a cow, he bumbled straight through the door like it wasn't there and gave a bow.
"Vivic, it's really you!"
"Course it's me—Who else have you seen of such beauty?"
And the two men hugged, Vivic's head smashing straight to Sieg's chest like a lover—he sure blushed like one too, this new guy. "Oh I've been looking everywhere for you, everywhere!"
They pulled apart. "How did you find me?"
Vivic jabbed a thumb at Sieg's left rib, Alice couldn't see anything there but she did notice how hard the Westen man winced. "Come on, you know the way—soon as your blood hit the ground, every skeleton our side knew where you were."
And while Sieg gave a groan and pinched the bridge of his nose, Alice squeaked out. "Skeleton?"
Vivic noticed her then and brushing past Sieg, he went to her, revealing himself a head shorter than her—Alice secretly cheered for this, there weren't many people she topped in that department afterall.
But Vivic only bowed. He took her hand and deposited a slimy kiss to its back like a toad, wiggling his been-through-a-lot eyebrows at her as he said his next. "Milady—you must be The Chickadee, Aka Licé. A nickname I imagine, he gave me one too. Except he'd just come from Europe when he met you, he thought you looked like a Lindsay then—didn't you boss? He gave me mine out of pure laziness. Nevermind it though. Evic Westen at your service."
Alice yanked away her hand, nodding her understanding while dragging it to her pants. She looked to Sieg."You invited your brother?"
Vivic nearly wet himself at that last bit, he paled and started sweating like a hog. "Oh no," he dabbed a hanky at his brows. "That child is a nightmare. No Licé, it's just a staple for our kind to carry the surname of the Death you serve, see? My cousin serves Death of the North so he signs Northen, but I serve Death of the West."
"Death of the what?"
Vivic's smile faltered, he looked to Sieg. "She doesn't know?"
Guilty as hell, Sieg started looking uneasy and that did it for Vivic. He started pacing in the patio. "No, no, no, no this can't be. Do you have any idea how fast things are moving down stairs? They're readying their everything to hunt her down and you told her NOTHING?"
Alice asked. "Who's hunting me down?" and when Sieg would say nothing else, Vivic screamed.
"Our kind!"
"But what are you?"
And this was how they ended up back inside the house, for that's where the dust was. They needed all Protection they could get for what Sieg was about to say bad.
Once there and circled by the two covens, Sieg gathered all of his gall. "Humans are always asking for the meaning of life and it is this, Balance. And what keeps this world's balance is life...souls to be exact. All souls are powerful, but some are exceptional—some are direct players in keeping the world turning. Some like Atalanta, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar? Their actions changed the course of history, their actions caused life and death and every death has consequences."
Rosalie looked around. "I thought all the booze was gone?"
"Don't you get it, Death keeps the world going, every kidnapping, every murder goes into a tally that when the year comes, brings change...good change. Change that makes sure that all of those horrible things never happen again and My kind, we're firm believers in the cause."
"What does this have to do with us again?"
"Well if you give a damn about the lil maiden there," Vivic pointed a yellow finger at Alice. "Then everything I'll say—she's a master soul."
A master soul, the way they lived or died had the power to create chain reactions that affected the world on a global scale.
She stood. "I don't understand."
"We saw a prophecy long ago, Chickadee. In a future without you," Sieg threw Edward a venomous glare. "There is a war that wipes out half of this continent's supernatural. The Volturi falls and that will bring good change. For that to happen, Love, you have to be deader than you are...that's why your humanity is returning—it's a sign of an impending visit from my kind."
"But what are you?"
"Well...what do you know about Reapers?"
