* REAPER

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He nodded as she explained that she wanted to make Azrael proud. Azrael had done a lot for her. She saved her life by making her a reaper, and she’d been kind enough to not be too hard on Charlie when she’d made the decision to save Sam’s life too. Even after death, Azrael had provided Charlie with a means to live after what Will had done to her. It wasn’t hard to understand why Charlie wanted to make her proud, and he couldn’t tell her she was wrong for thinking that way. “I’m sure you do make her proud. It’s not like you’ve just been a reaper your whole life. You’ve put in a lot of work and helped a lot of people. You’ve worked harder to keep the balance than anyone else. There’s no way she isn’t proud of you.” There was a reason that Lucifer trusted Charlie with becoming Death, and it wasn’t just because he personally favored her. They all knew Azrael trusted her too.

“Just because others saw what you didn’t, doesn’t mean you were wrong for it. I mean, you’re talking to someone who’s got a family of people making the wrong kinds of relationships. Sometimes, it’s just hard to see someone for what they are until they show us their true colors. They know exactly how to hide away those awful parts of themselves from us until it’s too late. It doesn’t mean we’re any less than for not seeing it.” He smiled softly when she said she wished she’d met him back then. “That would’ve been nice. It would’ve saved me some heartbreak too, but I think we worked things out just fine. We still got here either way, and we’re able to help more people this way.” He was happy with what they had, even if he’d had to suffer to get here. 

It was hard to imagine not being able to touch. In theory, it sounded like something that wouldn’t be that hard, but it was something that was more part of his life than he realized. He was having a hard enough time not giving Charlie reassuring touches, but he would’ve accidentally touched more people if it applied to everyone. “Maybe they’ll have some magical equipment too.” Maybe Zatanna could make them something too. He touched the skeleton hand skeptically. “I don’t know. We can always try it out. See if it helps any.” He took the hand and put it on her shoulder, rubbing it like he would when he was trying to reassure her. It didn’t really have the same feeling, but it did make him erupt into laughter. “Yeah, nothing more reassuring than a skeleton hand.”

He wasn’t entirely sure about that. Sometimes, it felt like living was the problem, but he also knew that dying wasn’t the answer. There just wasn’t any kind of sanctuary from the problems in the world. The closest he had to it was Charlie, and it felt like the world wasn’t even letting him have that right now. “I mean, there were a few strings attached,” he countered jokingly, wiggling the skeleton hand around. Not being able to touch her wasn’t great, but it wasn’t as bad as losing her would’ve been. He personally would’ve taken any consequence if it saved her life, but he was grateful for Lucifer not asking anything of him in return. He looked at her hand on the counter, so close to his but infinitely far away. He put the skeleton hand on top of it. “Maybe I can do some research on things we can do instead of touching. There’s gotta be some couples who don’t like being touched at all. Maybe they have other ways, and I can try to help you figure out this being Death stuff. Most of the other reapers know me too. We can make a plan of how you want to handle this stuff, so you don’t feel like you’re running in blind.” It’d help give him something to focus on too, and they could still have the feeling of being close if they were working on this together. 

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She smiled at Sam’s warm compliments. He always knew how to make her feel better when she was feeling subpar. That was the difference between him and William. William would’ve taken every opportunity to tell her she’s not good enough for this position. He would’ve wanted the power for himself. Sam was just glad that she was alive. “Thank you. I needed to hear that. I think I’m just struggling because I know there’s reapers out there that are older than me and they could probably do a better job at this. Az left some big shoes to fill and absolutely no manual. Her job is so specialized that even Michael only knows bits and pieces of how it all works.” It was a little overwhelming to go to sleep one day as a reaper and wake up the next day as Death. She sniffled a little when he told her she wasn’t any less of a person simply because William had been able to mask around her. “He did a really good job hiding it. I felt naïve for the longest time after my death. I thought I was over feeling like that, but I think seeing him again just resurfaced it. I know I’ve gotten better at seeing manipulation for what it is. I’m not that same person anymore. He just makes me feel like I am.” He was gone now at least and she hoped the feelings he surfaced in her would be gone too with time.

She smiled when he agreed that it would’ve been nice to have met back then. “There’s got to be at least one universe where it’s happened, but you’re right. I wouldn’t want to trade our friends for that. They need your big brain,” she giggled. Sure, most of their friends were immortal, but odds were they wouldn’t have met the archangels like they did in this universe if they’d just lived a quiet and quaint Victorian life. Her smile stayed when he remarked that it was possible Val had some magical equipment that would allow them to touch. “I think this is as magical as they’ve managed to get,” she replied as Sam took the skeleton hand from her. Both of them lost it once he tried to use it to rub her shoulders. It took Charlie a minute to recover from the fits of laughter. “I guess it kind of works. I do feel a little better now,” she agreed.

“We’ll figure out how to break through these strings. We got you, wise guy,” she smiled. She was hovering dangerously close to his lips right now. She just wanted to kiss him, but she knew she couldn’t. She held the skeleton hand delicately as he placed it over her hand. If she couldn’t hold him this would have to be good enough. “If your research takes you to Asmo, you’re going to get some interesting answers to that.” And probably some toys. Horny Santa Claus was the best way Charlie could think to describe Asmo. “But if we can’t touch, there’s four other love languages out there at least.” Quality time was among one of her favorites. She nodded when he said that they could make a game plan for how to handle this stuff. “Most of the reapers are carrying on with their usual caseload right now. Me bouncing back and forth into different afterlives is causing some power fluctuations in the veil but I don’t think that’s going to stop until I’ve been to every realm.” Unfortunately there was no solid number for how many realms were left because her abilities took her to the realms of religions that no longer had any followers. “Historically, when there’s that kind of fluctuation in the Veil, psychic energy increases. There’s a chance you and Dean might run into some mediums that are following the energy here,” she warned.

“Intact and then some,” Mazikeen added. Her death touch was clearly expanded as they’d just seen, but she wondered if the other abilities were somehow stronger as well. The reapers could seem invisible to the humans, but she wondered if that ability now applied to her visibility with the angels and demons as well. “Any interesting ones?” she asked. Mazikeen didn’t tend to get to visit other afterlives, so she just had to listen to Charlie’s descriptions of most of them. Some of them sounded cooler than others, but if she hadn’t even seen those yet, she wondered why. Had Azrael hidden them from the reapers? “I won’t say no to some drinks.” She grinned as Charlie started looking through her cupboards in search of what she assumed was alcohol. “Check below the sink.” She advised. That’s where Maze last left some anyways unless Charlie had already found it and moved it. “Ok fine, then we just won’t let it happen then.” she huffed. She rose a brow when Charlie said it was too late. How was it- “Oh, Hell.” Mazikeen laughed. “You had that on the whole time? Just don’t let Lucifer see it. He’d start getting everyone to wear it.” Even without her officially being queen, she knew he’d love it. “I don’t think you want that role. I’d work you … to Death.” She grinned.

She glanced down at her hands as she spoke. “They tell me that I’m the equivalent of an angel now. I thought only God and angels mating with other angels could make those, but apparently this is a loophole. If I didn’t think it would traumatize him, I’d call Lucifer dad,” she joked. He made her like this, but the ironic thing was that her position was centralized in Heaven. “Interesting is one word for some of the places I’ve been to,” she grimaced. “I ended up in a realm for an extinct religion earlier. The only thing in there was a crumbling bridge and a hungry god trying to throw me off of it. We’re working on ways to keep me grounded, but I think the Veil is trying to show me everything and it won’t stop until I’ve seen it all.” There was one realm in particular she was not looking forward to visiting, but she knew it was inevitable. She checked under the sink as instructed and grinned when she saw the bottle of wine. “Ah, my favorite!” She uncorked it and poured a glass for Maze and herself. She was a fury of giggles now that Maze had gotten to see her t-shirt. It was nice to pull one over on the demon for a change. “And you know what, he should!” She slid the glass of wine over to her friend. “At the next party, everyone should get a Maziqueen shirt. In fact, I don’t think we should stop at t-shirts. I got big plans.” And she was going to share them all with Lucifer. She snorted at the joke. She needed a good laugh. “You’d find me very qualified for that role,” she insisted. “I’ll forward you my resume.”

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“You don’t need your powers for that,” he smiled lovingly at her as he took the seat. He just wished she could sit with him. He wanted to hold her hand and comfort her, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t say he knew how something like that felt, and he didn’t know how to advise her about it. He did, however, know about overstimulation. “Maybe there are things we can do to help it not feel as overwhelming. When you were just a reaper, you dealt with a lot of it already, and this is just a step up that you have to practice getting used to. You don’t have to do anything right now aside from working on getting comfortable with it. We can take some time every day to sit and silence and … just be. The Veil will still function like it did before for you to have time for yourself, and the archangels, other reapers, Zatanna, Dean, Cupid, Bells, Maze, and I will all be here to support you. It’s not your fault for what he did. It wasn’t your mistake for trusting him in the beginning. It was his for not appreciating what he had with you and just throwing it all away to take advantage of you. You were perfect, and he couldn’t see that.” Sam didn’t blame Charlie in the slightest for what happened, but he didn’t think him blaming her was the problem. She blamed herself for it more. “Valefar’s the one with the gold touch, right?” Sam recalled, making sense of how they’d help.

He sighed when she returned her look to him. She wasn’t going to let him get away with pushing his feelings down. “I don’t know. I just feel numb to it. I thought for a while that coming to this universe was going to be a new chance to actually have a good life, and I’ve been trying to make it good. I had hope again, and I try not to let this stuff bother me because I don’t want to lose that hope.” Saying he was fine all the time helped that hope stay afloat, which was why he thought it was better to deny anything was wrong. “But this kind of thing is exactly what would happen in my universe. It still feels like Chuck, or even something worse than him, is pulling the strings on my life that I can’t do anything about. At least in my universe when I got tortured by Eileen, she was okay and could just leave in the end with some emotional damage, but I was so scared that you were going to die, and there was nothing I could do for you. You know that I have a history with people dying around me. I didn’t want you to be one of them.”

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She blushed as he smiled lovingly at her. They’d been dating for some time now, but his kind words always brought color to her cheeks. They were much needed after all the crude words William had tossed her way. She nodded when he remarked that she just needed to take her time and give herself a break. It felt like that was easier said than done. The Veil was self-sufficient to an extent but it had gone on without a keeper for some time and it needed a little bit of TLC that only she was capable of giving. “I just wanna make Az proud,” she sighed as she leaned against the counter. She didn’t know how she would stack up against the angel. She appreciated that he didn’t want to blame her for what happened, but she still carried the guilt of ever having trusted William to begin with. “My sister saw him for what he was. She was suspicious of him from the beginning. But I was naïve and I thought it was love. I wish I would’ve met you back then instead of him.” She liked to think that her family would’ve liked Sam. They were good people and much ahead of their time. They would’ve approved her marrying for love, but in the case of William they were able to see what she couldn’t. She nodded when he asked about Valefar. “They’re the Demon Prince of Greed. They’ve been dealing with not being able to touch people for longer than I have. I’m sure they’ll have some pointers. Asmo gave me this...” she held up a plastic skeleton hand. “He said it was how he and Val handled deals and contracts and physical touch. Though, I can never tell when he’s serious or not,” she replied as she wiggled the hand about. 

She listened empathetically as he described feeling numb to everything. She knew that was a protective response for him. His mind was trying not to dwell on what happened. “As long as we’re alive, there’s always hope but I know what you mean. The things we’re involved in aren’t exactly safe or normal.” She knew that was the kind of life he always desired but never really found himself gravitating toward. The only answer she could find for this disconnect was that his heart wouldn’t let him. It was too big for him to just stand by while injustice happened. “You did do something,” she insisted. “You called for help. And help showed up without any strings attached.” That was the major difference between their worlds. Here, help didn’t come with stipulations. Lucifer didn’t expect anything in return for saving Charlie’s life and Sam didn’t have to give up anything important to him like his soul in order for Charlie to live. She sat down beside him, her hand resting on the table as close to his as possible without touching him. She desperately just wanted to hold him and be held by him. “I’m sorry that what happened back there unearthed those feelings of helplessness. As much as I didn’t deserve that, you didn’t either. I’m hoping that things will start to get better. I don’t think anyone will blame us if we lay low for a while.”

Maze felt her energy draining as she hugged Charlie, but she just wanted to hold onto her friend a little longer after she’d nearly lost her. Charlie broke the contact in the end, but Maze was still just glad to see her doing okay. “That’s really some upgrade you got. What else can you do?” she flirted teasingly. She wasn’t all that surprised to hear that Charlie knew about her and Lucifer. Everyone seemed to know by the time she got out of bed with him. “I’d make sure he wouldn’t blame you,” she joked, though really she didn’t know how Lucifer would react if she died or if any words she said before she died would make a difference. “I’m not the queen yet, so you’ll have to hold off a little longer. We’re still just in the dating stage.”

Charlie couldn’t help blushing as Maze teased her. Several centuries of this and she still wasn’t always used to Maze, Lucifer, or Asmo’s come ons. “I’m not really sure yet. Most of my reaper abilities still seem intact. I’ve been bouncing from afterlife realm to afterlife realm though which is new. Some of them I’ve never seen before.” There were dead afterlife realms of religions no one worshipped anymore. It was pretty eerie to see. “We need to get some color back in your face. I’m afraid I’ve drained it all,” she replied as she began going through the cupboards in search of alcohol to give to Maze. “I’d blame me,” Charlie laughed. Especially if Maze went into the Empty. The realm was once invisible and inaccessible to Charlie but she could see it now. She hadn’t gone in yet, but if she got close enough she could hear the screams. “Too late,” she grinned and pulled off the crew neck shirt she borrowed from Sam’s closet to reveal that she was wearing her Maziqueen shirt underneath. She wasn’t going to visit her friend without trolling her first. “It goes great with every outfit,” she insisted. “I call dibs on being your lady-in-waiting or whatever.”

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Belphegor nodded in agreement with Charlie that it was a shame artists had to resort to these things. “It seems like a lot of work for something they don’t really get any credit for, but I guess I can see the appeal.” Although it took a lot of effort to forge copies, it was also lazy to an extent because the artists didn’t have to put in as much creativity to their pieces like the original artists did. There was no feeling in these paintings. Belphegor imagined Valefar would’ve felt a lot of greed in them though. The only one that did have feeling was the final piece.

The art thief didn’t look impressed by Belphegor. That was fine. Belphegor wasn’t impressed with him either. “Belphegor Valentine,” they introduced themself. “Where did you get this one anyways?” It was the only real one here as far as they could tell. “And why is it the only one with a private auction if you’re claiming all the others are real too?”

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The appeal was definitely money. The black market sales for decent dupes was pretty high. “They artist behind these dupes could probably make a decent living in art restoration if they wanted to go legit.” Charlie would unfortunately have to report these dupes to her contacts at the station. She didn’t know if the art thief did them himself or if he’d hired someone to do them for this showing. 

The alleged thief stared down his nose at Belphegor. “I’ve never heard of you,” he replied suspiciously. His family had been in the art industry for quite some time and he’d never come across that name.

“Their paintings are under pseudonyms,” Charlie replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

“Well, with a name like Belphegor no wonder--”

Charlie cut the man off before he could continue. “You didn’t answer their question,” she pointed out. “How come only this Monet is going up for auction?”

“Because I wanted to put it on auction,” he replied in the same tone she’d previously used. “If you’re interested in some of the others, I’m willing to negotiate a fair price. But seeing as you feel the others are a dupe, I feel you’re wasting my time with this conversation. All of my paintings are real and authenticated. By people who don’t use pseudonyms,” he added.

Chastity let out a sigh of relief when Charlie confirmed that Elemiah was gone. He couldn’t come back and hurt her again, but at the same time, knowing he was gone didn’t change much of anything. It didn’t erase what he’d done, what he’d told her, or how she felt. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there after you had to deal with yours,” she apologized. She couldn’t have helped Charlie much with becoming Death, but she should’ve been there for her at least. “I’m … holding,” she answered. She wasn’t outright saying that she was struggling, but she wasn’t trying to lie about the fact that all of this was hard. “What about you? Are you and Sam okay?”

“It’s alright,” she reassured the Virtue. Charlie wasn’t in short supply of friends and supports. She had plenty throughout her recovery and she wanted to check in and make sure Chastity had some support too. “Every time he’s killed me so far I’ve just come back stronger. I think it’s safe to say this is my final form.” Or at least she hoped it was. She nodded when Chastity replied that she was hanging in there. “It does get easier...it just takes time,” Charlie assured her. Trusting people again was the hardest part, but then again Charlie as a reaper asked for a lot of trust from her charges so it was only fair she trusted them in return. “Sam’s...also holding. He’s unfortunately used to what happened to him. Probably more used to it than anyone would like.” 

Charlie was right, but Chastity still felt guilty. She might not have been in control, but it was still her body and her hands that had Elemiah’s  blood on them. She had been surprised at first that he wanted to be anywhere near her, but she couldn’t deny his requests to have her near. She fidgeted with her hands when Charlie pointed out her own trauma from the ruins. It was easier to divert the issue to helping Elemiah than herself. “I … I didn’t feel like I should talk about it. Everyone else is going through a lot already. I don’t want to add my problems onto theirs.” It didn’t feel fair. Normally, she’d talk to Cupid, but the ruins had hurt her too, and it was Chastity fault things had gone as far as they did. If she just stuck with Cupid, things might’ve been okay. She didn’t want to worry her siblings either. “I wish I could’ve gone to her wedding. Cupid and I both missed out.” She sighed, wondering if that would’ve actually changed anything. “I can’t blame you. Love can be scary even without what you went through, but it’s worth it once you get it right. Your auras are so pretty when you talk about each other.”

Charlie frowned when the virtue remarked that she didn’t want to burden people with her problems. “Look, I know Cupid romanticizes the whole idea of pushing your problems away to help someone else in their time of need but...have you seen Cupid lately? There’s nothing romantic about that notion.” She loved the angel, it was hard not to. But Cupid’s pattern of pushing her feelings away in favor of helping others was starting to become a serious detriment to her and the reaper could see Chastity was heading in that direction too. “Being someone’s only lifeline isn’t a healthy relationship. You should consider talking to someone as much as Elemiah should,” she replied in all seriousness. Perhaps Chastity didn’t want to burden Cupid or her siblings but there were angels in heaven who’s entire jobs were healing and support. “Yeah, I missed it too,” Charlie joked. She hadn’t been alive at the time. “But I heard it was a beautiful ceremony. Asmo told me all about it.” Charlie blushed when Chastity mentioned her aura when she talked about Sam. “He’s a good guy,” she smiled. “He’s the first guy I’ve felt safe with in a long time.”

Cupid looked up from the floral arrangement that she was working on when she heard someone tap on the window. to her surprise, it was charlie. cupid had kept to herself since the spiritus twins party, but her recent form change had more and more people checking in on her. she was sure they were worried she’d fall before bells found out the truth, but bells already knew. still, cupid carried on as though nothing had changed. she stepped out of the shop to greet charlie. “hey,” she did her best to smile convincingly. “you’re not here to pick up flowers, are you?” she joked. even before becoming death, charlie struggled to keep plants from wilting in her her presence. they were more fragile than humans and right now cupid felt just as fragile. “i’d invite you in, but i just ordered a new shipment of orchids and they’re dramatic.” 

She smiled as Cupid teased her about picking up flowers. “I don’t think my gardening gloves are strong enough to keep me from killing the plants these days. Especially orchids.” Charlie didn’t have a green thumb like Cupid. The only plants she managed to keep alive were the plastic ones. Although Cupid appeared pleasantly cheerful, Charlie could feel an undercurrent of anxiety. Cupid had gone through her own fair share of traumas lately so Charlie could hardly fault her for wanting to stay in and stay hidden. But Cupid was also a social creature, or at least she had been for the years Charlie had known her. It was tragic to see her collapse inward. Charlie knew the isolation wasn’t good for her. “I was actually wondering if you had time to accompany me on a short trip. That is, as long as the orchids are willing to wait.”

Maze had been through a lot recently, but not as much as Charlie. Despite the miscommunication between her and Lucifer, Maze had eventually gotten to the truth of the fact that Charlie was the angel of Death and not actually dead. There were some other realizations there too, but the most important one was that Charlie was still kicking. Lucifer had warned Mazikeen that hugging Charlie would be dangerous, but in the moment that Maze saw Charlie in Hell in front of her, she didn’t care. “Charlie!” Maze practically squealed, charging at Charlie at full speed and hugging her tightly. “You’re really okay.”

Charlie was so swept up in the excitement for a moment she didn’t even realize what she was doing when her arms wrapped around Maze to reciprocate the hug. It was only moments later as she felt Maze’s essence being drawn into her that she realized she was killing her best friend. Charlie quickly pushed away from Maze so that there was no more skin to skin contact. “Oh fuck, I’m so sorry,” she apologized. “It would be in real bad fashion to kill the devil’s girlfriend right after he saved my life,” she replied, a grin returning to her face as she visually checked Maze to make sure she was okay. “I heard I finally get to put my Maziqueen t-shirts to good use.”

Valefar always enjoyed their birthday parties. Things were always so grand, and so many people came together. Although Val couldn’t touch most of the people they cared about, it was just nice to see them all together. Now that it was over, they had the fun task of sorting through all the gifts. It was difficult for a lot of people to shop for them. They could get practically anything they could ever want, so it was interesting to see what people tried to get them. Most people just gave them more money. Those people really got them. She pulled her head out of a box when she heard a voice calling out to her. “Ah, Charlie. Ouelette said you’d be coming.” She’d gotten so caught up in sorting, she’d almost forgotten. “You mean your Death touch, of course.” Why else would she come to Greed for help? “Help me sort through all of this while we talk.” She snapped her fingers, pointing at a spot, and two demons brought up a cushion for Charlie, setting it just far enough away from her, so they wouldn’t have to get too close to her before they went back to their posts. “Money goes there. Jewelry there. Clothing there. Miscellaneous in that corner.”

She nodded when Valefar inferred the nature of her visit. “You could say it’s a little out of hand,” she joked. It was easier to joke about how out of control she felt than it was to admit that she was scared she’d never learn how to safely wield this much power. She nodded and thanked the demon that brought the cushion over to her. Once the demon was far enough away, Charlie picked up the cushion, set it near one of the open baskets and listened as Valefar explained what went where. “Did you have a good party?” she asked curiously. She hadn’t been able to attend on account of the fact that she was recovering and also there were too many people on the guest list. The potential to accidently knock into one of them and kill them had been too high.

Their thoughts were so loud lately. Although they were frequently kept busy, both by torturing Will and by the tasks Dagon kept bringing up to them involving running their kingdom, there were often moments where they just sat there, staring at nothing while they filtered through the thoughts running through their head. They almost didn’t hear Charlie through them if it weren’t for the fact that their thoughts seemed to register her presence before their eyes and ears did. Hello, Charlie, said the Void. Bells looked up and a smile spread across their face. “Charlie!” They ran over to her and wrapped her in a hug. “I was so worried about you. But you’re okay now?” they asked. They could see that she was alive at least, but she’d been through more than just physical pain. “Is Sam okay?” They weren’t allowed to see him right now, not that they’d spent much time on Earth anyways. They looked down at their tattoos. “Dagon put them on for me in between torture sessions.”

Charlie did her best not to react to the Void addressing her. She had about 200 years of practice when it came to not addressing the being head on. But still, its voice caused a chill to crawl down her back. She knew as Death she would have to enter that afterlife sooner or later. She hoped it would be later. She flinched when Belphegor wrapped their arms around her and almost reflexively pulled away before she remembered they were an Archangel and she couldn’t harm them. “Sorry,” she apologized as she squeezed them tightly. She really needed a hug and it seemed they did too. “I’m okay. A little more deadly and a little more cautious these days.” Distracted too. Not only had she been bouncing from afterlife to afterlife involuntarily at times, but she also felt the veil in a much different way these days. No matter where she was, she could feel every soul that entered it. “Sam’s okay; I managed to get him separated from the other Sam. I think Maze is dealing with that one. Our Sam’s sleeping though,” she smiled proudly. She knew they’d be happy she got Sam to sleep. Her smile faltered a little when they mentioned torture sessions. She had no doubt the Void had encouraged that. “Torture? That sounds...exhausting.”

They hadn’t really gotten to talk much with what had happened, but Sam had been eager to see Charlie again. once his body had time to recover and Charlie had gotten the other Sam properly secured in Hell. Kissing her drained him, but he didn’t want to stop holding her. Still, he had to. Regardless of her pulling away, he didn’t want to make her feel worse about hurting him when the changes she was going through had to be intense. “It’s like when we first met,” he breathed out while trying to regain his composure. His body probably hated him for all these near deaths, but it should’ve just expected it daily by now. “It’ll just take time to get used to it. I’m good,” he assured her. “I’m fine. Are you? I mean with Will and then becoming Death and dealing with the other me, how are you holding up? Is there anything I can help with?” It’d help to distract him from his own problems. “Maybe we can wrap you in saran wrap, so I can still hold you without touching you. You can still feel a kiss through plastic, I think.” It’d be like a kiss condom.

“Really just takes your breath away,” she joked mildly and motioned for him to sit down on the lounge chair. He looked a little wobbly on his feet after that kiss but he was slowly starting to regain some of his color. She didn’t really believe him when he said he was fine. He’d just had his body invaded and died again. He was pretending to be fine. Maybe if she opened up, he’d follow her lead and trust her with his own truths. “It’s different and the same all at once,” she acknowledged. “I’m not sure how to describe it. It’s like eating from the Tree of Knowledge and now you know too much.” She could feel the veil even when she wasn’t in it. If she looked at someone, she could feel how close to death they were. And if she concentrated hard enough, she knew how they would die. “I feel overwhelmed by how much I know and feel and hear and see. I feel scared because I don’t know what I’m supposed to do next. And I feel guilty for the torture you were put through because of a mistake I made 200 years ago.” Both of their autonomies were violated these past few days. She was trying not to get weighed down by it. What if her death touch behaved like Belphegor’s depression manifestation when she lost control? She didn’t want people just dropping dead before her. She smiled and eased a little at his joke about saran wrapping her. “I’m going to talk to Valefar and see if she has any suggestions so I can keep everyone safe until we figure out a way to channel and control this. Azrael got to a point where their touch didn’t hurt people so I know there’s silver linings here.” She looked up at him as if to say and now it’s your turn. “What about you? Are you holding up okay after everything?” He’d been tortured, possessed, and then killed. She wasn’t sure how much of it he remembered, but she knew it had to have some kind of effect on him.

Belphegor nodded. They couldn’t imagine much ever changing for Beelzebub. Maybe the curses might affect him, but they didn’t even know what his curse was. Belphegor held their head high, like an important person would. Their back straightened, and they walked to the left to look at some other pieces first. “We don’t want to make it obvious that that’s the one we’re interested in, right?” they whispered to her. At the very least, they didn’t want to look desperate. They spent a little time with the other pieces. Some of them were supposedly made by other artists they knew. “Fake. Fake. Fake. That one looks really good, but it’s fake.” Most of them were decent copies but not the real things, other than the pieces from artists Belphegor didn’t recognize. They might’ve been real. Finally, they reached the Monet and the alleged art thief.  “Where did you get this from?” Belphegor asked, taking a step towards the painting.

.

Charlie nodded as they walked around the venue and observed the other paintings first. She had a pad out both to take notes regarding the situation and to look the part as their assistant. She paused at one of the paintings that Belphegor indicated. “That’s a really good dupe,” she agreed. “It’s a shame artists have to resort to these kinds of things.” Decent forgeries made more money on the black market than original artwork did on the mass market which was why a lot of artists resorted to work like this. 

She flipped a page in her note pad as they approached the art thief. He paid them no mind at first. “Private auction,” he replied simply before turning away from them.

“Is it a Monat?” Charlie piped in. “Or is it fake like the rest?” This caught the man’s attention and he turned to look at them with greater scrutiny. 

“I beg your pardon, but all of my paintings are authentic pieces,” he insisted. Good. This was the kind of reaction Charlie was hoping to elicit from him. Anger. Defensiveness. A need to prove the art was real. It they played their cards right, they would be able to get a private audience with the alleged thief and the painting.

“I hate to break it to you, but they aren’t. My friend here,” she gestured to Belphegor. “is an established critic and authenticator. They’ve indicated that several of your pieces are actually just dupes. I hope you didn’t pay too much at auction for these.”