LOGINShare
Fifty-Nine † Floral Tribute
Last Updated:
2020-10-12 08:10:13Freezing. Cold. That was what Calix had said he'd noticed, even though Kat hadn't. Could this mean that it was her way of healing, or was this only an introduction to something worse?
This question kept Kat awake that night. Her body felt almost jelly-like with exhaustion, but her mind was as active as ever. Even with Calix's warmth beside her, she had very little comfort. Sleep eluded her. She kept coming back to the past. She remembered the suffocating sensation brought upon by removing the medallion, the fragile layer of ice forming on her skin, the heavy suspicion settling on her gut that told her everything was just a prelude—
"Kat?"
Related chapters
Drop-Dead in Love Sixty † The Bucket List
"No, go lower," Kat instructed. "There. Yeah, that's it. Now rub it.""What?" Calix's head shot up, his eyes dazed but still conveying confusion. "Like . . . like this?"She almost cackled with joy. "Yes! Exactly like that."With that, he waddled back to the brass Buddha statue and put a hand on its shiny belly before proceeding to move his palm in big, circular motions. Meanwhile, she took out her phone and began filming him.They were at The California Hotel and Casino, lingering at the posh registration area to rub the Happy Buddha statue. The practice was said to bring luck, but so far it had only brought them a bunch of people eyeing Calix with interest.To be fair, Kat couldn't blame them. If she were one of them, a passerby in the area stumbling across an extremely attractive man awkwardly patting the Buddha, she'd be pretty keen to linger too.Lucky for her, the aforementioned man was all hers to ogle, tease, and make fun of. Emphasis on the ogle, since he'd just gotten a neat
Last Updated : 2020-10-14Drop-Dead in Love Sixty-One † Ride or Die
Kat had always liked snow. When she was a child, she'd always gotten envious of her classmates who'd traveled to New York, Washington, or other places that experienced four seasons.Gregor, who'd never been a fan of fancy travels, had taken her to Mount Charleston once with Aunt Therese. Kat remembered how much she'd resented it, the fact that they could only afford to go there and not anywhere outside the state. She'd thrown a tantrum at the lodge they'd stayed in, refusing point-blank to go out and discover the place for herself."Honey, don't do this," Gregor had pleaded, holding up the parka he'd purchased from Walmart. "Don't you think you're too old
Last Updated : 2020-10-15Drop-Dead in Love Sixty-Two † Settle Your Affairs
Kat set the mug on the coaster on top of the wooden table, blinking rapidly. She snuck a pinch on her arm to get herself to snap out of this state, but nothing changed. Nothing disappeared. As casually as she could muster, she touched the pendant of the medallion through the fabric of her sweater, trying to pull it away from her skin. It didn't budge. It stayed there, even as she moved, stuck to her like a leech sapping out the last bit of blood. Her heart began to thrum faster and faster, her hands shaking along with it. "Um, where's Calix?"Mrs. Lawrence frowned because of her question, but she smiled nonetheless, waving her hand as though Kat had just asked a stupid question. "He went for a walk around the woods with the boys, remember? He asked if you wanted to come, but you politely refused. Now you're with me and my little angels."She leaned over to kiss the two kids, who giggled and tried to wriggle free from their grandma's embrace. One of them, a young boy with fluffy blond
Last Updated : 2020-10-17Drop-Dead in Love Sixty-Three † In Grave Danger
Kat's entire system shot into overdrive. She hurriedly reached for the brass candle stand beside the pedestal to use it as a weapon, ready to swing at the Punisher as soon as it got close enough. But of course, Calix jumped to his feet, dropped the candles with dull thuds, and met the Hellborn halfway.Faster than a flash of lightning, he seized it by its collar, pushing it against the wall with his elbow while taking its mask off with his free hand. The Hellborn was struggling, trying to push him off with its gloved hands, saying something inaudible under its mask. Kat slowly approached with her impromptu weapon in case it gets off Calix's grip, but it seemed that he himself was determined not to let it slip. He shoved it harder and stood his ground, finding a firm gripping point to completely tear the mask off the Hellborn.And staring at them from behind the head covering was no other than Thisbe.She was as beautiful as Kat remembered, with her dark skin and startling gold eyes, b
Last Updated : 2020-10-18Drop-Dead in Love Sixty-Four † Graveyard Shift
The group was headed by a tall beefy man, who Kat deduced was Halvar the general, with his bronze mask pushed up his shaved head. He had dark skin and a shaved beard, and his voice was smooth, deep, and chilling. “Have you searched the area I assigned to you?”“I did not find anyone.” Thisbe was surprisingly calm. “How about you? Any sign of the traitor, at least?”
Last Updated : 2020-10-20Drop-Dead in Love Sixty-Five † Meet Her Maker
"Calix, that's dumb," Kat had said before she'd left with Amicus, and at that moment, Calix had believed perfectly that splitting up was the best thing to do.Why? Well, the situation called it. Kat was the clear target of the four the King had sent. The chances of them escaping and protecting her while also subduing their enemies were pretty slim. It was better to spread their resources.But now, as Kat and Amicus disappeared into the entrance of the hallway, Calix began to see her point. Maybe splitting up really was dumb.
Last Updated : 2020-10-21Drop-Dead in Love Sixty-Six † Kill or Cure
Kat never thought she'd ever say this, but falling asleep sucked.Granted, the state she was in now probably wasn't real sleep, but it was still the worst experience she had ever gone through. That was saying a lot, since she had a pretty long list of terrible experiences under her belt. However, this weightless, blown-up sensation took the cake.
Last Updated : 2020-10-23Drop-Dead in Love Sixty-Seven † Six Feet Under
The memory faded into another one, faster this time, showing a high tower with gigantic bird cages suspended from the ceiling through thick chains. Inside of the one in the highest part was Edeline herself. Guards in masks were slowly lowering her, later on assisting her to a grand courtroom with the woman in the gold mask.And that woman turned out to be no other than the banished queen Aldonra."Your highness." Edeline bowed. "It is my pleasure to serve you and your kingdom. I will do my best to find the cure of the plague for your people."It seemed that she had done exactly that, Kat deduced, as the next scenes showed the budding friendship between the queen and Edeline. Edeline was no longer thrown back into her cage. She was serving Aldonra even in what seemed to be her private quarters. They would dine together, face subjects together, and at one point rest in one room together.Kat began to notice that Aldonra's face lit up around Edeline, t
Last Updated : 2020-10-24
Latest chapter
Drop-Dead in Love Eighty † End Game
† TWENTY YEARS LATER †To open or not to open. That was the big question.Calix stared at the cardboard box on his bed. He'd shut himself in his room in the Circle of the Councilmen, right after going to the mortal world to retrieve the box Kat had left at her father's glass case with his ashes. For twenty years he'd been going back there to continue what was supposed to be tradition, and for exactly that long he'd ignored the box.And even though for some reason he'd taken it home, he still didn't know what to do.He sprawled onto the cotton sheets, closing his eyes momentarily. He couldn't quite believe that he'd done that. Since Kat's death, he'd been avoiding everything that remotely related to her, and still that hadn't been enough to bury the pain.And how could that be possible? She was the first thing he'd see when he opened his eyes in the morning, the last thing he'd think of when he'd crawl to bed at night. Th
Drop-Dead in Love Seventy-Nine † To Die For
"Kat!" Calix's face sharpened in Kat's blurring vision. "Kat, stay with me.""I'm not going anywhere," she assured him, surprised that her vocal cords even worked. Her throat was parched; she couldn't even swallow. "Not going. Not leaving."The battle had long been settled. It seemed that the moment Aldonra vanished, her hold on the corpses had gotten lifted too. All of them were laying on the battlefield again, more damaged than before. They took many of the allies with them, though, and that made Kat wish she had done this sooner."Amicus!" Calix was yelling. "Amicus, help!"Footsteps rumbled around Kat. Around her, people started to gather. She could see Thisbe's horrified and concerned face, an expression that mirrored Byron's. Lady Gethen and Lord Odion stood next to their son, both of them looking devastated. Amicus loomed into view, taking out his assortment of medicine with trembling hands. The confidence he had on his face when he'd attende
Drop-Dead in Love Seventy-Eight † The Ultimate Sacrifice
Aldonra's constant struggle as they over the mouth of Sygnus brought fresh bolts of pain in Kat's back, but she didn't let go. She kept her arms locked around the queen's waist, letting momentum and gravity take over and swallow them whole.Amidst the deep, rumbling hum coming from the void, she heard was Calix's muffled protest, the scratch of the sandy ground as he struggled to get to his feet."Kat!" he called out, and she only had time to see his fearful, bloody face before she and Aldonra disappeared over the brink.Darkness. There was only darkness. It was thick and opaque and encompassing, coating Kat's skin like a breeze, or like thin satin. It was almost unnerving how it had an actual texture, coupled with the gravitational pull of the endless vertical tunnel that grabbed onto her ankle like a vice.She looked up as her hair whipped around her face. The mouth of the void was ascending far away from her in an unbelievable speed, yet she kept falli
Drop-Dead in Love Seventy-Seven † Drop Dead
"NO!" Kat's voice echoed in the vast field, raw and brimming with rage. "NO!"She lost Gregor all over again, only this time, it happened right before her eyes. It was another death, a different level that spared nothing. No remains. No memory. Nothing. And he didn't deserve that. He didn't deserve anything that he'd suffered through. He'd only been caught in between the choices of the woman he'd chosen to be his wife and the tainted child they had who shouldn't have existed in the first place.Kat staggered forward, tears flooding her eyes and flowing down her dust-speckled cheeks. The emotional blow itself was enough to make her want to sink into her knees, but she ended up lunging towards Aldonra.She knew she was going to get destroyed in the process, but she didn't care. Her anger was the only thing that mattered. Broken. Everything inside her was broken and burned and now she had to release the embers. She tried to shoot a line of flames at Aldonra, but her shaking hand and her m
Drop-Dead in Love Seventy-Six † Hell Hath No Fury
Fear made Calix's journey out of the throne room feel like an out of body experience.He had only a vague memory of leaving, of sparing the enemies who were alive and stirring in their spots on the floor. He extended his wings and set off, far away from the scene, towards Kat.His worry, confusion, and the shock of the revelation were solidifying in his chest, growing heavier and heavier as he swerved around the grand hallways. The medallion dangled from his neck, but he couldn't see it, couldn't really feel it. But its presence, the knowledge that it was there, dissolved him into nothing but a mess of disbelief and denial.The only time he regained some semblance of a connection to reality was when he arrived at the damaged courtyard.The allies were rallying around the fountain, binding the surviving enemies with handcuffs and taking the fallen in the more stable areas in the garden. His parents were at the stairs, sporting wounds but not in immed
Drop-Dead in Love Seventy-Five † The Last Bow to the Queen
"Demons," Amicus muttered, reining in Nyx as she continued to howl and fidget in her leash.Apart from the wolf and Amicus, everyone else was frozen, even the Demons. They looked at the four with their unblinking human-like eyes, standing in their path like they were meant to stay there all along.And perhaps they were. It was most probable that they had been assigned to guard the paths leading to Sygnus. They were just obstacles to be dealt with, but that didn't make their presence any less bothersome, especially for Kat, who had never seen these creatures before.But that wasn't entirely true, wasn't it? She had seen Demons before. Or at least a part of them. She'd seen their hands taking the souls at the gates for evil mortals. She'd heard them make noises, felt their presence at the other side every time she and Calix went to such missions.However, nothing could have prepared her for the sheer physical and emotional torture that they brought upon her.Kat knew perfectly that the f
Drop-Dead in Love Seventy-Four † Over Their Dead Bodies
Calix froze at the sight of Idris and his small army. Not because he was particularly scared of them, but because Idris pointed at him and put him under some sort of a paralyzing spell.Shock, disbelief, and anger fueled him up, but all the energy that those emotions ignited all fell flat when he realized he couldn't move. He fought to stay upright, his weapon still in his hand as his arms got pinned to his sides. His breathing was restricted because of the stiffness in his chest.However, even with all this, he looked Idris straight in the face fearlessly.
Drop-Dead in Love Seventy-Three † Face Down
Being in the Underworld had been nothing but bad, but at least Kat got to see the cute dogs.Okay, there were not really dogs. They were called shadow wolves. Their furs were purely black, as dark as . . . well, as shadows. Also, they were only cute because they behaved well and rather intelligently, not because they looked like normal dogs. For starters, they were the size of a small bus, with fanged mouths that could swallow an adult. They also had three eyes, one positioned at the forehead and all of them glowing red like a stop sign."Do not pet it," Amicus warned sternly as his shadow wolf named Nyx, sniffed her hand. "You do not want her to lick you
Drop-Dead in Love Seventy-Two † Kill Switch
As it turned out, the only way to enter the palace was the sewer lines. These were located at the back end of the landscape, right behind the forest line around the gardens.Calix and his parents found their way just fine, and with zero problems. The northern neighborhoods seemed abandoned, with all the windows shut and doors locked. Odion's ability to manipulate force had allowed him to put a shield on all of them, and Gethen extended her glamour on them too.The journey was more than surprisingly fine, but the destination was quite horrid.The entrance of the sewers alone was not pleasant. Grime covered the walls, and the metal lid of the gigantic pipes were rusted and covered in what looked like black slime. Calix couldn't quite imagine himself charging into battle through these paths."Is this really our point of entry?" He winced at the middle pipe that Odion had just opened. "Maybe there is another way in.""No, son." Gethen crinkled her nose and beckoned him forward. "This was o
