Anton’s mouth was opening and closing like a fish. Odds were he looked like a complete moron and normally he’d care about that, but he was too shocked to function.

He’d watched his sister get burned up by holy fire and he really didn’t understand how that could possibly be. What had happened? One minute Charmian was being stabbed, the next she suddenly had her sword in her hand and was shoving it into Lillith. How was that even conceivable? Besides the fact that she was human and shouldn’t be able to summon divine weapons, she was bound by magic. She had agreed to come quietly; she had forfeited her ability to use the damn thing. So why was Lillith now charcoal? What the hell had he just witnessed? And what the hell was he going to do now? Normally he was extremely quick on the draw and able to respond rapidly to anything no matter how far out of left field it came – his ability to adapt was part of what made him so successful. Now for the first time in several centuries he really had no clue what the appropriate reaction was.

Even as the light was quickly fading from behind Charmian’s eyes, she still managed to prick the corners of her lips up in approximation of a smile.

“We had a deal, Anton. Fair’s fair.”

Her words made it finally dawn on him – he’d accidentally reneged on their bargain. When he had shoved Justin out of the way (even though it was with the intention of saving the dumb ass) he had injured him. He had sworn to leave the pop star alone but still he had come to harm at his hand. He’d inadvertently broken his oath. It was no wonder she was suddenly able to make a shish kebab out of his sister.

Then with a sinking realisation he realised that meant he was just as dead as Lillith or Charmian.

Charmian weakly raised her sword. It was a pretty pitiful gesture at this stage since she was clearly about to collapse, but she was more lethal to him now than she’d ever been.

“I believe this is the part where I get to kill you.”

It was indeed. It seemed unlikely she’d live long enough to manage, from the look of her, but then for all he knew he’d spontaneously combust anyway. Breaking a blood oath was deadly serious stuff; his crack to Justin earlier about liking his intestines where they were hadn’t been all that much of an exaggeration. The reason blood oaths were not to be made lightly was that the penalty for failing to uphold them was your life - it was her absolute right to kill him now. The magic involved was arcane and archaic but it packed a serious wallop. That was why few dared to make such deals even though in theory they should be a brilliant tool – the potential cost was too high. Demons needed to be free to make the double cross but with blood oaths that was suicide.

Ever the operator, Anton’s mind was in overdrive. There had to be a way out of this.  Was there some way to appease the magic? It was a deal sealed in blood, an exchange of one thing for another. He supposed in a way that it was a contract – and when you breached a contract you could pay compensation, right?

If there was a magical equivalent of settling out of court... an alternative to killing him… maybe there was another deal to be made that could override the first?

Yes – there was a very obvious one. It was a deal that would get him in even worse trouble with his superiors than the whole mess when he had first let Michael/Justin slip through his fingers. They would not appreciate its magnitude one bit, especially since an oath could only be broken by the one who originally made it. If he made this deal they were stuck with its terms and they would spare nothing on the torture rack while they expressed their feelings about that.

Never mind; he still held the same attitude he’d taken the first time. It didn’t matter if you took a few hot pokers and slipped down the ladder. You could always rebuild… so long as you were alive. Charmian’s list of conquests was littered with the names of those who had prized their egos over their lives, and they were all idiots in his book. Dead was dead and there was no glory in that.

“Or you could waive that right in exchange for something else. Like, say, my solemn promise that your boy stays safe and uncorrupted? No tricks, no loopholes this time, off limits to the entire pit. Just don’t kill me.”

Her face remained emotionless, though possibly that was more the result of her body shutting down than her acting skills. Yet something in the set of her jaw made Anton wonder if this hadn’t been exactly what she’d been counting on him to do when she’d realised his transgression.

“For this and all future lifetimes?”

Damn it. He was hoping she’d forgotten about the incarnations to come. Oh well, he was in no position to haggle. He took out his own blade and hastily made the necessary cut. Blood dripped to the floor.

Hate her as he might he really did have to respect the woman; to the very end she played smart.

“Agreed. I swear to those terms.”

“Alright then.” Her words were audibly slower and more laboured. “It’s a deal. You can fuck off and let me die now.”

Justin had been watching all of this in a dazed stupor. The tears had been dripping down his cheeks and his elbow throbbed insistently, yet somehow it had unfolded like a TV show before him. He had been a passive audience, unable to further intervene in the action. It wasn’t until Anton hastily ran out of the room and he saw Charmian’s knees finally buckle that he came to his senses and dived forward to grab her. It was murder on his ankle and with only one arm he nearly dropped her, but at least he managed to catch her.

When Lucas and Alex finally rushed through the door it was already too late.

**

Lucas’s dining room had become a funeral parlour, complete with the deafening morbid silence.

It was strange, watching Alex and Lucas being so stone-faced and methodical about everything. Of course he knew that they were programmed to be able to squash emotion, but he’d never expected them to have any kind of ritual for this sort of thing. After all, they lost avengers to kidnapping not death. Yet on their arrival Lucas had solemnly laid Charmian on the table, wordlessly summoned Nathaniel and then he and Alex had got to work on cleaning the body as best they could. They had folded her hands together and straightened out her hair. Now they were both stiffly standing vigil, backs ramrod straight and heads bowed in deference.

The other odd thing was watching Nate behave just like a normal priest in that situation, lighting candles and solemnly praying, but that at least was something Justin understood. He had only been able to slump in a chair and observe with a heavy numbness in his limbs. Maybe that was whatever magic concoction Nate had slathered on his arm to heal the broken elbow, he didn’t know.

If it wasn’t for the stillness of her chest, she would have looked like she was asleep. He couldn’t wrap his head around it. This ethereal creature he’d seen dancing to the death, fighting with all the grace and power of a panther, the woman he’d seen heal a vicious stab wound before his very eyes… she was lying there beaten. None of the cuts and bruises would ever fade, now this being who was thousands of years old was finally spent. For all the worrying he’d done once he’d found out she’d lost her immortality, somehow he had never truly believed in his heart of hearts that she would die. Not until he’d seen her get into that ring. Then she had miraculously escaped that and he’d thought they were going to be okay… until they weren’t.

He’d thought she was invincible and he’d watched as he was brutally proved wrong. Somehow he’d believed she would win the day anyway and here all was in ruins. His fingers brushed angrily at his eyes.

“Guys, we did it! We…” The voice had entered the room before Carmel did, and she was stopped in her tracks. “Oh God.”

Justin had assumed Lucas would have spread the news with that irritating telepathy of theirs, but Carmel’s face was too ashen. Clearly she hadn’t known. It appeared she’d only just got back because she hadn’t changed out of her fighting gear and she was still smeared with blood. Zac limped into the room, and Justin was surprised to see actual tears well up in his eyes when he saw her. They didn’t fall but the glassy sheen was unmistakeable.

“What happened?”

“Lillith,” Lucas replied gruffly. “Though at least Char took the bitch with her.”

“Oh God.” Distress washed over Carmel’s face, and she gingerly reached forward to touch her friend’s hand. It was awful to find it cold. She was used to dead bodies, but not those of her friends. Not of somebody she cared about. This wasn’t a feeling she’d had in a very long time and it took more effort than usual to push it to the back of her mind.

“It wasn’t for nothing,” Alex said in a gentle, conciliatory tone. He was another one who was surprising to Justin – he wasn’t quite as moved as the rest of them, but he seemed a lot more affected than you might imagine Charmian’s big rival to be. “She took Lillith out and she managed to trick Anton into securing Justin’s safety. She won.”

“She won?” They all turned to look at Justin as he spat the words out, venom in his tone. “She’s dead, how’s that a win?”

Lucas’s head turned slowly to meet Justin’s gaze, an icy fire in his eyes. If he hadn’t been mortal, he would have punched him.

“She has spent lifetimes trying to make you safe and she sacrificed herself to do it. She finally got what she’s always wanted and that would have been the greatest victory for her so you can shut your cakehole, you ungrateful little asshole. She died for you.”

Justin stood up so fast his chair almost tipped over. His fists balled up, despite the pain that caused in his not quite healed arm. With a couple of steps forward he was squaring up to Lucas.

“Don’t you fucking dare twist me like that, like I was saying she was a failure. Don’t you fucking dare lay this on me and her. She should be alive right now and she’s not because of your stupid fucking boss and his dumb shit decision to make her vulnerable, and that is not a God damn win. Win would be if she was sitting here getting patched up and able to go on with her life, she deserved fucking better than this and this is not some kind of fucking victory! I don’t know what kind of fucked up priorities the people you bastards work for have if they let this happen to her but it’s a fucking travesty not a win!”

“He’s just hurting, Lucas, let it go.” Carmel’s voice sounded in his ears.

“Little shit…”

“She’s right,” Alex responded. “He’s obviously upset and feeling guilty, cut him some slack.”

Nathaniel laid his hand gently on Justin’s shoulder. “We’re as devastated as you are, Justin. It was a senseless thing but in the end Charmian was a soldier and she died a hero’s death. She fulfilled her last wish and we have to take some comfort in that.”

His body sagged. “It’s not fucking right.”

Alex turned quietly to Zac and Carmel, sensing a change of subject was in order. Lucas still looked like he wanted to get into it with Justin. He was visibly steaming – defensive of his general until the end. Thankfully Nate had the sense to steer him out of the room while the avengers continued talking.

“You guys alright?”

“Yeah,” Zac grimaced. “Poison blades again, I took a slice on my leg but I should be okay by tomorrow.”

“What happened?”

“After you guys left the room we were about to follow but there was a fresh wave,” Carmel replied, nail scratching at the dried blood masking the bat on her wrist guard. “Somebody managed to call up Bob, too, so it got hairy.”

“You did a good job getting out of there, then,” Alex nodded. “How many did you manage to take?”

Suddenly it didn’t seem as great as it had when she’d burst into the room full of adrenalin and high on triumph. “All of them. That was what we came to tell you, Zac took that hit killing him.”

Lucas’s jaw dropped. “You killed Bob?”

He shrugged, face still downcast, and Carmel elbowed him in response. “He was brilliant. I had four of them on me and I was a sitting duck. While Bob was coming for me he totally blindsided him. Char couldn’t have done better herself.”

A hand appeared in front of him, and Zac looked up with a confused frown at its owner.

“I think I need to eat some words,” Alex said sincerely.

He wanted to smile, he really did. What remained unspoken was the common knowledge that Alex had complained bitterly about Zac’s promotion to the inner circle. It had been a residual bone of contention between the two for years. That comment was probably the biggest validation he could have hoped for – except the one that would never be coming from the mentor lying on the table. Still Zac grasped Alex’s hand and accepted the shake.

“Thanks.”

Lucas did something entirely atypical; he put an arm around Zac’s shoulders and gave him a brotherly squeeze. He didn’t trust himself to speak. It was a further great victory for Charmian – her prodigy fulfilling his potential – and the fact that she wasn’t here to enjoy it was making his stomach churn. Somehow he had held out hope that the boss would eventually calm down and lift the price on her head, that he would eventually have his best friend back. That was how he’d been wading through the quagmire that was keeping control of the avengers, believing that eventually Charmian would be back to pick up the reins. Even as a mortal, he still could have bounced things off of her as always. Now that was lost to him.

“So… what do we do now?” Alex prompted. They were her friends; he figured they should probably take the decisions.

“I guess… we tell everyone. Arrange some kind of funeral.”

“God. I don’t even know what we’d do for that,” he said. “This has to be a first.”

“Maybe we take her back to Athens?” Zac asked. “That’s where she was from.”

“No.” Carmel’s voice rang hollow. “Her family was a distant memory to her; the only person she cared about other than us was him. We can get to her wherever she is but we should keep her close where he can visit.”

“This is all assuming that the boss doesn’t ride roughshod over whatever plans we make,” Lucas said sourly. The more he was thinking about it, the more Justin and his bratty comments (irritatingly) started making sense to him. None of this would have happened if Michael hadn’t stripped her of her powers, a move which had always seemed counter-intuitive.

“Well then maybe you should ask the boss.”

All of them froze to the spot, not wanting to turn and see him. It was an unusually stealthy entrance for him; normally he came in with a lot more pomp and circumstance. In the end it was only Alex who dared turn his head, and he was immediately bewildered by the pissed off expression he saw.

Michael slowly and painstakingly stepped onwards, his boots clacking a drawn out staccato against the floorboards. He stopped at Charmian’s side, staring down at his fallen soldier’s body with his hands tightly clenched behind his back.

“How did this happen? She was protecting Timberlake?”

It fell to Lucas to answer as the most senior, but he was having trouble withholding the outburst he wanted to make. He also didn’t understand how the boss knew about Justin. In the end he had to settle for not showing proper obeisance, a small defiance was better than nothing.

“She got Anton to make a blood oath swearing his safety in return for her surrender, but he exploited a loophole and had his bitch sister snatch them both. We got the tip off from Nathaniel and we went in on a rescue mission, but there was some kind of scuffle before we could get to them and Lillith and Charmian killed each other. Anton somehow managed to break the deal in the process so with her last moments she spared his life in exchange for a real oath to keep him safe from the pit.”

Michael’s eyes flashed black and his lips set in a grim scowl. It was about the closest he ever came to expressing any measure of care for any of them.

“A hero’s death, then.”

Carmel’s hand grabbed Lucas’s arm and her nails dug into his skin as a warning. It was a good thing she had because he’d been about to let rip.

“Well, that’s some small consolation for losing my best warrior. I knew I should have disobeyed that order, if I’d known this was going to be the damn result…” His fist pounded lightly against the table, expressing the end of that sentence.

The shock wave rippled through the group.

“Sir?” Alex ventured the question, blinking dumbly all the while. He was having difficulty processing what he’d just heard. “You mean… you were ordered to demote her?”

“You take me for the kind of fool that tosses away his best asset out of pique because things aren’t going to plan? As if that was her fault? Idiots.”

None of them could come up with a response to that.

**

It was warm and it was bright. Those were the two things that registered most clearly. Her mind felt fuzzy in the unfamiliar surrounding. The meadow was pretty, covered in wild flowers – though oddly it smelled like a vineyard. That didn’t make any sense. Nothing much made any sense; it was as if she was just waking up from a very vivid dream. It was taking a minute to differentiate between her subconscious and reality.

As slowly the realisation dawned on her, everything came back into sharp focus. A million thoughts raced through her head, of everything that had happened and everything that might be happening without her. Yet the overriding thought was bizarrely not of any of that. There was nobody even around to hear her, but Charmian spoke it out loud anyway.

“My last words were ‘fuck off and let me die?!”