Thanatos closed the door of her bedroom. Finally alone in her black and ivory coloured room, Death relaxed with a sigh. Away from the eyes of servants and nobility alike, she allowed the mask of immovability she always wore to fall. Quickly blinking away the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes, the young woman moved to her bathing chamber and quickly removed her simple blouse and pants. As she had instructed the servants, her tub was already filled with steaming water that she promptly slid into.

Letting the steam wrap around her aching body, she slid further into the claw foot tub. Closing her eyes, Thanatos reflected over all that had occurred since she had left the Great Hall ten hours before.

-

The four sets of heels clicked against the floor, setting a grueling pace that the train of servants and attendants had to follow. Thanatos listened to the bland servant as she told the Four Horsemen of how she found Lucifer. Kia, the servant, had headed to Lucifer’s room to inform him of a guest he had. After he hadn’t answered her knocking, she’d peeked her head in to see if he was even in his room. As soon as the door opened she had smelled something...amiss. The daemon, like all of her kind, had enhanced senses and as such the smell, which was heavy to those with normal senses such as the Thanatos, nearly overwhelmed her. Kia took one step in the room and saw what was on the floor. She immediately went to Thanatos.

“Who was the guest?” Romena asked, her voice contemplative and calculating. Luna and Gabriel sped up and took the lead as they reached the wing of the castle that held Lucifer’s chambers. The culprit had yet to be found or even identified and the Horsemen had always been trained to protect the highest ranking members of Hell. Now, that was Thanatos.

“Angels, your Grace,” Kia said, “I’m not certain but I believe his companion addressed one of them as Zachariah.” Thanatos hid her distaste from the many prying eyes but Romena was not as talented in such things. Her lips curled back and her pretty face turned into a sneer. Zachariah was well known as one of the most cutthroat and strongest angels still in existence. Long ago, angels were created by Cronus to serve him and do his dirty work. After he took over, Zeus had most of them killed. But, being the god that he was, Zeus kept some as his personal task force to do whatever he commanded them to. Zachariah, knowing that the Olympian gods were stronger than some Titans, had switched loyalties, if you can call them that, even before Cronus had been defeated.

“Why were they here?” Thanatos demanded, not pausing as they took the final turn that led to the door to Lucifer’s room.

“I don’t know, your Grace. They simply demanded to see His Majesty. I believe they are still here.” Thanatos opened her mouth to no doubt demand something else of Kia but all of her thoughts cleared from her head as soon as the doors opened and she stepped into what used to be the King of Hell’s room.

It no longer resembled the room she knew. Normally, it was a beautiful gold and silver theme that set off the white veins in the black marble floor and walls. A large bed with a dark wood frame sat accompanied by two matching bedside tables. One large window filled a wall that faced over the drop off and the wall opposite to that had an ornate desk that was scattered with weapons and papers alike. Next to the desk was a fireplace that was purely for decoration purposes.

Now, the gold and silver pillows and blankets on the bed were stained red and green. The large window was broken, and the weapons that had been on the desk were in the fireplace. Based on the way they were settled, it seemed as if someone had searched through the papers on the desk as well. And, the most noticeable change. On the floor, in front of the bed, was what appeared to be Lucifer.

It was hard to tell due to the fact that his body had seemed to be no more than a puddle of now green flesh and bodily fluids. His previously black hair was no more than an ashy grey and what remnants of his skin were left had turned a lime green. Blood and what seemed to be his spleen was everywhere.

Making sure to keep her face carefully blank and hide her disgust, Thanatos demanded a report even though she had heard most of what had been discovered before she had gone to the Great Hall.

A large, muscled spirit stepped forward. Achilles, head of castle security, said with a monotone voice that betrayed nothing, “The two guards posted outside of his room report that he entered after dinner and never left through the main door. They allowed the servant through to see if he was in his room and immediately came in when she screamed upon seeing the...body.” His voice stumbled as he gave a glance at the puddle that was the “body”, if it could even be called that.

Clearing his throat he continued, “I came as soon as my men contacted me and I than ordered the servant to go get you. During the time it took for you to arrive, I confirmed it to actually be Lucifer and ordered a search for him anyway. As you put the castle on lockdown we could only search the insides and we found no trace of him besides the body.”

“How did you confirm the identity of a pile of mush?” Luna asked, still scanning the room for any and all information and dangers. Her face did little to hide her disgust.

Achilles snapped his fingers at one of the guards that had been looking around the room. Somehow understanding what it is his captain wanted, the spirit moved to the “body” and knelt down. He came back up carrying something that he promptly showed to the Horsemen. It was a piece of flesh, now turned green it was hard to tell if it could’ve belonged to the dark skinned King. On it, however, were an arrangement of tattoos. Nine tattoos, each a small, unique symbol, adorned the skin. Thanatos recognized the tattoos she had seen on her Father’s arm time and time again when they had sparred. Each of the markings were the symbol of one of the Realms. Only Lucifer had all of them tattooed on that arm.

“Excuse me, your Grace,” a young woman, one of the guards, came up to Thanatos and Achilles with a small bow. “We’ve finished sorting through the weapons that were in the fireplace and the papers that were on the desk.”

“What weapons were in the fireplace?” Gabriel asked, his voice calm and sweet while it was directed at the cute young woman.

“There were seven weapons. A bow with a quiver of arrows, a fire lance, a crossbow, a short sword, a whip, a longsword, and a small dagger. They were all made of high quality rare materials such as lava infused diamonds and frozen god tears.”

“That’s wrong.” Thanatos said, turning herself as her eyes skirted over the entire room.

“That’s all we found, your Grace.” The guard said, glancing between Achilles and the Horsemen with fear in her eyes.

“You’re missing two weapons. There should also be a katana made from soul infused glass and a flail made of bloodstone.” Thana sounded distracted and her voice trailed off as she seemed to have spotted something. Moving with all the grace that her ancient life had taught her, Death moved across the room to the desk that had finally been cleaned up in the room search. Taking the silver ring that always adorned her hand off, she silently commanded it to transform and soon it was a thin dagger made of what appeared to be translucent glass.

Wedging it in the wood desk, Thana soon pulled something out of the wood. Holding up something in the light, Death’s face scrunched up in distaste. “What’s up boss?” Romena asked, the first time she’d spoken since entering the room.

Thana dropped what it was that she’d pulled out of the desk into Romena’s waiting hand and quickly had her enchanted weapon transform back into a ring which she promptly placed back on her finger. Romena looked at her hand to see a fingernail, so long it was more claw like. Flipping it over with her own nail, War felt something wet and sticky on the underside. Lifting her finger she sniffed it as her own skin began to sizzle underneath it. With a hiss, Romena wiped the poison on her pants before anymore of her skin could be damaged.

Taking the nail from Romena and handing it to a servant, Thana ordered the room to be locked down and that no one was to entered. Moving to the door, Thana demanded that all the papers that were found on the desk be brought to her room.

The other Horsemen falling into step behind her, Death left her Father’s room, and the body it contained, behind. After that, she ordered her three companions to return to their rooms and get what rest they could. “And,” she demanded, “Be on your guards.”

-

After that she had gone around and spoken to all high level personnel. It had taken forever and a few of the Rulers had already left so she would have to talk to them the following day. With a sigh, Thana got up from the bath and put on some loose pants and a loose shirt that she could sleep in. Moving across the room, Death froze as she spotted the papers littering her bed. With a groan she took the pile and put them all on her bedside table. She knew she should probably look through them now, as they were the papers that had been on Lucifer’s desk, but she simply couldn’t find the energy to do so.

Climbing underneath her black and purple covers, Thanatos blew out the candle that had been lighting her room. Closing her eyes, she felt the first tug of sleep and she soon fell into unconsciousness.