"You. Out." Riyanna said without turning around. Solus stopped but didn't turn around.

"I figured if you were going to grace me with your presence a little longer, we may as well talk about this problem before it gets out of hand." he responded instead of the much snider comment he had on hand.

"I need sleep. Haven't gotten any lately." She mumbled as she climbed into her bed.

"Not my fault. We need to talk." Solus pursued.

"Okay fine we're talking. I hope you don't mind my sleep talking." Riyanna closed her eyes and began to fade. Solus grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet.

Riyanna's eyes turned a glowing gold. Her fury was almost overwelming, but as exhausted as she was, she knew she couldn't beat him, and that was the only thing that held her tongue.

"Let's start with the smell that you smelled in Arkelus's room."

"You didn't miss anything. It's one of the worst smells: the smell of a rotting corpse that was dipped in water and left in the sun. I smelled it when I died. I know for a fact that someone was in his room."

"Who?" solus pressed, verbally and physically. Riyanna was trying to get away and there was no way he was letting her get away. Not if she knew something. So he had her pressed into the wall. Her claustrophobia was her disadvantage.

"I don't know. Do you remember what I said after I died? I said that I knew someone was with me, but I didn't know if it was my brother. I was hoping it was."

"It may be. If it was your brother then, and it was your brother now, it makes sense to visit his nephew."

"But then why would Arkelus keep it a secret from us? Not it wasn't my brother." Riyanna tried to think for a moment then looked Solus in the eye. "Let me go. There's nothing really to discuss. We don't know anything and it's too late to ask anyone who might know." Her breathing, even though it was unnecessary, was getting shallow as she started to panic.

"We go to see Ryan after you collect your death angels in the morning. He might know something. And don't waste my time trying to make me chase you." He let her go.

"I said I would stay until this is solved-"

"You're staying for a good sixteen years and maybe longer than that." Solus warned.

"No. I'm leaving as soon as this problem is solved. You can't make me stay short of a godly order and you won't do that because of the consequences." Riyanna challenged. Solus slammed her back into the wall, fury clearly written on his face.

"I just might risk it." He released his hold on her throat and strode to the door. "See you in the morning."

Riyanna snuck into her son's room that night.

Arkelus had thrown off his covers and was curled in a ball with his thumb in his mouth, sleeping peacefully. His hair was comming out of the usual ponytail it was in. Careful not to wake him, Riyanna gently tugged the rubber band out of his hair and smoothed it out on his pillow. Then she picked up the cover and laid it over his form. It was a cold night and the house remained cold due to the nature of the creatures that lived there. It didn't bother her or Solus, but their son was warm, living...

She sat in the rocking chair next to his bed and sighed softly, surrendering to the feeling of pride in the beauty and intellegence of her only son.

"Mai mult decât viaţa mea. That's how much I love you." She whispered.

"Where'd you learn that?" Solus asked from the doorway.

"On one of our stays in Romania. You should know what it means. I wrote it on the mirror that night." She whispered, irritable.

"I forgot what it meant."

"More than my own life. Did you have to come here?" She asked. She had wanted to spend some time alone with her son. "Dacă nu plec eu va trebui să te omor." (If you don't go away I'll have to kill you.)She added under her breath.

"I'll leave you be then." Solus responded. He walked away slower than Riyanna wanted, but then to be fair he couldn't get away from her fast enough if he just vanished into thin air to her.

"Would you really use a godly order on me?" She asked so quietly most gods wouldn't have heard it. Solus and Riyanna though, despite their fighting, used to be deeply in love, and so knew each other's every move like their own.

"You can't leave him. He needs you to figure out what's going on." Solus answered without turning around. he went to his room and closed the door, sprawling out on his bed.

It was dawn by the time Riyanna left her son's room. Watching him sleep was starting tobecome her addiction. She always felt that as long as he slept peacefully, all was right with the world.

She gathered her death's angels quickly and much earlier than usual that morning.

She would have a busy day the next day; one of her angels saw a huge car crash and there were a lot of dead and injured. She was in the middle of checking her list when a god found and walked up to her.

"Hey, Death! We got work to do!" It was The God of Destinies. He work closely with Ryan most of the time, bestowing a destiny on every person who comes into the world.

"What happened?" She asked. She was sure she didn't sound interested, and she didn't look up from her list. She didn't really like working with him. He can't remember his human name, so he's had everyone call him God. Get it?

"You know that massive crash that your friggin angel just brought up? There are survivors." He said, obviously irritated.

"There are survivors in every accident. What's your problem?" Riyanna asked, not out of intrest but because if she didn't ask he would never get to the point.

"There aren't supposed to be any survivors!" He growled.

"Fine. Here's what we do then. Ready? Kill them. There. See how easy that was?" She said in the same flat tone.

"But how? This is insane. The ones that are alive were supposed to be crushed by the huge 18-wheeler that was hauling lumber."

"You're the god of Destiny right? you'll figure it out. If all else fails, watch Final Destination. The last one was really clever." She answered. her list was messed up from the survivors nd she had lage notes next to them as to why they are supposed to die (she never reads those), but contrary to popular belief, she didn't have to go in order on her list. She just had to get it all done. going in order is just the easy way to do it.

God was looking at her weird still though. She sighed and closed her eyes. She placed their death's in Destiny's hands, allowing him to take their spirits away when they die.

Her problems solved she got up without a parting glance at God and weent home. As if her day hadn't been bad enough.