Seth innocently nibbled on the toast in his hands, eyes flicking between the two females sitting beside him. They both were arguing passionately about some fashion disaster that had been plastered over the news, some famous actress – or was it singer? – having experienced a wardrobe malfunction at an event the night before.

"I'm just saying," Leah glowered, sipping at her orange juice. "That if she didn't want the world to see her girly bits, she should've worn actual clothing."

Sue only rolled her eyes, picking at the food on her plate with a bored air. "She was wearing clothing," she argued instantly, tutting at her only daughter. "More than you do most days, missy."

Chuckling at the jibe, Seth wrinkled his nose. "Ooh, burn."

Leah growled and moved her attention onto her younger brother, the glare digging into his contented features. "Watch it," she warned lowly, eyes narrowing before she turned back to her mother. "What the hell do you mean more clothes than me? I walk around in a full fur coat most days, woman!"

"Yes, but when you're not decked out in fluff, you're walking around in short shorts and a tank top!" Sue berated, shaking her head. "Back in my day – "

"Whoa, okay!" Seth breathed, both hands lifted to defuse the situation. "Now is when I intervene. No one, and I repeat, no one needs a history lesson mum..." he pointed out weakly, smiling in her direction. "I think she gets the idea."

Leah grumbled lowly, folding her arms against her chest. "Actually, I don't..."

Seth sent her a look of warning.

"Alright, I do," she allowed, rolling her eyes skywards and heaving out a tired sigh. "Start buying me full pants, and I'll start wearing them."

Sue grinned and winked across the table at the young female, already playful in the argument. "I should teach you how to sew," she mused instead, snorting when the girl blanched in sheer terror. "Oh what now? You don't want to spend time with me?"

"No," Leah mumbled. "But I don't wanna make my own clothing!"

"Lazy shit," Seth murmured around his breakfast, not even bothering to smile when his sibling looked his way. He'd done it all before – spent hours learning under his mother's eyes, and then brought some cheap demin and made his own shorts. If he could do it, then so could his sister.

Sue smiled warmly at her son, reaching out to pat his arm. "See? Even your dishes-don't-need-to-be-put-in-the-sink brother understands," she mocked.

"I put my dishes in the sink."

Leah just huffed, brow furrowing in the middle. "Why can't we just catch the bus to Seattle and – "

"Sweetheart, you know why we can't," Sue cut in tiredly, all amusement fading into something akin to sheer distress. "I don't have the money to travel that far or too buy you clothing from a label store."

Leah slowly nodded, almost looking bad for bringing it up but she smiled nonetheless. "I know mum," she replied easily, swallowing back whatever argument was still on her tongue.

The small family fell into silence. The void was sometimes broken by the sound of chewing or slurping from glass cups, but never by spoken words or thoughts. They seemed content to sit in silence and stew for the next few minutes, and the atmosphere was tense and awkward – all aware of the sensitive topic of money. Seth wasn't sure if he wanted to say anything or not, but realised it was probably best to let his mother have the recovery time.

His sister, though, didn't seem to agree. And also didn't seem to agree with being the bad guy – which was why she moved the attention to another rule-breaker.

"Seth imprinted."

Spitting out orange liquid, the teenager gaped at his sibling with an open mouth and wide eyes. "The hell?" he demanded angrily. "Why would you say that!?"

Leah only shrugged meekly.

"You imprinted?" Sue whispered, looking to her son with wide eyes. "When? O-on who? Why didn't you tell me you imprinted?"

Seth withered under the attention. "Yesterday... I-I imprinted yesterday."

"On?" his mother demanded, almost in annoyance. To some she might have looked angry, with flashing eyes and set lips, but if you looked closer you could see the hurt and worry in her irises. She knew damn well what an imprint was, and she knew that usually it was cause for happiness...

But she knew what could happen if it didn't go the way it was meant too.

Lips moving soundlessly, Seth shifted in his seat, eyes blinking in thought. "Yesterday when we were called to the house..." he started, swallowing. "It was because someone had shown up and all but demanded that..."

"I know," Sue soothed. "Leah told me about the woman who showed up. I already know about what happened, so you don't need to fill me in okay?"

Seth shook his head. "No, no I do... She was Death."

Sue's eyes widened and her thin cheeks lost colour. "Death?" she whispered back, voice cracking as she looked between her two children. There was no denial on their features and she blanched. "Oh gods..." she rubbed a hand over her face before one more look at her son answered too many questions. "No, don't – you didn't..."

"I did," Seth whimpered, eyes slipping closed.

Sue's chair screamed as she hurried to stand, hand lifting to cover her lips. She looked almost horrified with the notion of her son being bonded to death, but at the same time relieved that it couldn't get any worse than that. "You imprinted on the grim reaper?"

"What? No!" Seth hurried to his feet as well, shaking his head wildly. "I... She's not the grim reaper, and she's not really death either – she's more like the handler of Death? She controls it?"

Sue's features slackened. "Yeah, she sounds like the grim reaper."

Seth only glared back, eyes narrowing in annoyance at the woman. It was strange, to feel so protective over someone who had only been a part of his life for twenty four hours. "Vera is not the grim reaper."

"Vera?" Sue echoed, looking to her daughter for confirmation.

"Vera," Seth ground out, folding his arms with a pout.

Sue managed a smile, eyes turning only slightly warmer than an ice cream cone. "Well, alright then," she murmured, reaching out to wrap her son up in a motherly hug. "I'm expecting to meet this girl, you are aware of that right? And when she comes over to the house – I would like to have her for dinner – you are expected to have the door open at all times!"

Little did he know that even as his mother hugged him and set out more rules, the small black charm attached to his wrist was blinking.

Reclining against the worn cushioning of a loveseat, she ignored her sister when the red headed female let out a startled laugh.

"Oh my gosh – did you bug him?" Leonora snorted, shaking her head even as she clutched her stomach. Her red hair, limp as it was, bounced on her shoulders with her laughter. "Nice. Trust in a relationship is a must."

Vera lazily looked up to her sibling. "I did not bug him," she argued blandly, looking back to the haze of colour resting in her palm. The wash of hues showed the inside of a modest home, and three separate beings, each pouring over breakfast. "I simply set something on his person so I could watch him."

Leonora lifted both fiery brows. "Yeah, you bugged him."

The other sister's eyes flashed in annoyance, but she didn't speak, instead focusing on the images dancing in her hand. The magic coursed and grappled about on her palm, seemingly chaotic but controlled at the same time as it showed the three occupants of the house and revealed the topic of their conversation.

War took a few steps closer. "He's not human, is he?" she murmured curiosly, hoping to get a look at the boy. Just as her eyes focused in on tanned features, the image of his face was crushed under pale fingers.

"Can I help you?" Vera asked carefully, both brows perched high on her head. In her hand, the magic was complaining and withering about but she smothered it further.

Leonora grinned, showing teeth. "Am I banned from seeing this guy or something?" she asked teasingly, ignoring the warning in her sister's voice. She circled the other female and dropped her head on her shoulder, poking at the closed fist with a pout. "I wanna see who managed to get your attention..."

Vera's eyes flickered to the chin digging into her shoulder. "No one managed to gather my attention, sister," she replied coolly, opening her palm again only to reveal empty air. "I was simply checking in on one of my investments."

"So that wasn't mystery guy?" Leonora questioned, lips turning downwards into a frown. "And no offence, but when I said relationship you didn't deny it..."

"There is no mystery guy."

"Oh really?" Leonora snorted with a sharp roll of her eyes. "Who did you bug then?"

Vera's cheek twitched. "An investment, as I stated so before," she commented darkly, pushing to her feet. "Do you not believe me, sister dear?"

"Oh no, I do not," Leonora grinned wildly. "You come around here asking questions about soul mates, and now you're watching an investment? I believe you about as much as I believe there's a higher power, sister dear, so don't try and bullshit a bullshitter."

The dark haired female wrinkled her nose. "By the gods, you sound like an idiot," she groused. "What happened to the refined manner of speaking you once possessed?"

"Mortal television happened."

Vera lifted her brow, nodding in acceptance. "Ah," she allowed, moving to circle the room with precise steps. Her eyes were clouded with thought as she moved; body absently sidestepping puddles or debris and magic sparking in the air like a halo around her head.

Leonora watched it all with demanding eyes, studying the way her sister moved and trying to analyse the thoughts dancing behind her ever changing irises. She could only catch flickers of different emotions; sometimes dark like fury but other times light with something closer to contentment.

Which was strange... Death wasn't a content being.

"Okay, admittedly your little ploy worked for the better part of ten minutes, but I just caught on," Leonora suddenly spoke up, eyes narrowing. "You distracted me by changing the subject!"

Vera looked to her sister. "That I did. You're getting slower."

The red head scowled. "So why do you suddenly wanna know about soul mates?" she demanded, crossing her arms. Her tone left no room for argument. "Why the sudden fascination with true love, hm?"

"It's a power I don't possess," Vera commented dryly, coming to a graceful stop. "You expect me to not be fascinated by something no one – light or dark – can control? At one point in your life, you were as interested as I," she reminded the female. "You just dropped your study when you found exactly what you were looking for."

Leonora's face twisted in a split second of anger. "I wasn't looking for my soul mate..." she hissed lowly, sinking into the same chair she seemed to live in. "I was looking for the key to my enemies hearts, as you know. I was trying to find out what made them pledge loyalty to someone because of love."

Vera made a small noise back to her sister, hand opening and sparking to life with magic once again. The dark hues lightened and revealed a young face, one that brought the ghost of a smile to her lips. But before the other being in the room could even peer closer, she had crushed the same smile under a frown and the magic under her mind.

"You weren't looking but you found it," she murmured. "That's often how it is, is it not? You go looking for love and you won't find it but go looking for something else, and it's what you will find."

Leonora only pulled a face. "You sound like some dipshit philosopher," she moaned. "If I search you on the internet, am I gonna find a bunch of bullshit quotes with your face next to it? Am I going to find your words next to pictures of cute animals and those stupid yellow minion things?"

Vera adopted a lost expression.

"Right," Leonora frowned. "Gotta put everything in old fashion speak for you, don't I?"

Vera blinked.

"Okay, I was mocking you," she tried to explain next, sitting up with a forlorn look. "This is my life now, spending hours trying to explain things like the Kardashians and Ellen to my mentally retarded sister. Great, just great."

This time, the other female caught on. "I am not mentally ill, sister," she pointed out.

"It's an insult."

"This is why I do not visit you often," Vera muttered, shaking her head in exhaustion. "It is like trying to talk to a child. A child with poor pronunciation and bad language. I feel like sending you to father, maybe then you'll gather your wits about you once again."

Leonora snorted and slumped against her moth eaten chair, legs lifting to recline along one of the arms. "Please, like daddy dearest would even want to see me," she grumbled bitterly, eyes sparking in anger before the ember died. "And for your information, trying to talk to you is like trying to explain Windows to an elderly person."

"What is a 'windows'?"

"My point exactly."

Vera scrunched her face up, waving a hand through the air. "It does not matter," she brushed aside. "I should get going, but I suppose I shall visit you again..." she offered lowly, studying her sister. "And if you want this to happen, please shower."

"I don't sweat remember?" Leonora frowned. "Why would I shower?"

"You do sweat, I can smell it from here," Vera pointed out. "Our bodies are somewhat slower than humans, but they require food and water and sleep. Which also means they require frequent use of a lavatory and bed, not to mention the use of a shower or bath," she listed, eyeing the red head. "You move, you intake water, and you sweat it out."

Leonora pushed to her feet, only to mock bow. "Oh thank you wise and masterful teacher," she breathed. "I will hurry to clean my body of earthly sin right away."

"I knew you could still speak like a normal person."

"That is not how a normal person speaks!"

This is definitely one of the more fun stories to write. Admittedly, I feel that it might be a while before the serious plot points come into play (as in serious plot points) because it's fun to play around with the confused imprintee and the dopey imprinter, you know?

Also! Anything you guys wanna see? I mean, how you want their first kiss to happen, something you wanna see Vera react too... Head-canon's you have for this story. Share them! I'd love to include some.

Taila xx