Death Doesn't Bargain (Deadman's Cross #2)

[Charlotte, Cheesy Cakes]

Synopsis from the Official Site:

The Deadmen are back…

But so are the demons who have broken free of their eternal prison and are bent on mankind’s destruction.

The worst of the lot is Vine, determined to claim their lives for taking hers. She will see the world burn…and has the perfect lure to destroy them and Thorn, leader of the Hellchasers, once and for all.

Kalder Dupree has never known a day of mercy. Born to a mer-race who prides themselves on cruelty, he sacrificed himself for the only woman who has ever shown him kindness. Locked in a hell realm, he doesn’t expect anyone to come to his rescue. He accepts the fact that he was born alone and that he twice died that way— once by his own mother’s hand.

Cameron Jack is determined to set Kalder free. As a Hellchaser Deadman, it’s her calling, but her resolve stems more from the fact that she’s the reason he died in the first place. If not for him, she’d still be suffering. And she cannot allow even a not-so-innocent to be tortured for an act of kindness that spared her damnation.

To defeat evil, it sometimes takes an even worse evil, and Cameron is willing to do whatever she must to make this right. Even make a bargain with the Devyl and the devil himself. If Vine thought she had her hands full before, she hasn’t seen anything nearly as powerful as Cameron’s resolve.

Hell hath no fury as a woman wronged, and two of them are now about to face off, with the very fate of humanity hinging on the one who emerges victorious.

*****

[Charlotte, Cheesy Cakes]

As usual, we ask that you be respectful in your posts, and to use spoiler tags as appropriate for the first week after release.

[Bren]

I'm almost done and omg.

[Charlotte, Cheesy Cakes]

Unfortunately, there are several of us who will not receive our book until later tonight.

[Bren]

I get it, I'll come back tomorrow when more of you have read it :).

[Marie]

Starting to read it RIGHT NOW!!! :D

[Charlotte, Cheesy Cakes]

Started reading it this afternoon! =)

[Marie]

So... this was shorter than I expected

[Bren]

Yeah, it felt really short.

[Marie]

I think we're spoiled from all the super-long books she's written for DH, like Styxx and Acheron, and soon Stygian

[Marie]

About Savitar: (view spoiler)[ Remember that time he was described as a "demon Chthonian" in one of the books? Everyone was freaking out but SK and her Staff were quick to do damage control, saying he was the Chthonian for demons. Do you think it was a Freudian slip? :P

Also, I thought Chthonians couldn't be demons or gods or anything like that. So is Savitar a Chthonian the same way Acheron is a Chthonian? As in, strictly speaking, neither of them are actual Chthonians, but they are so powerful that they can kill gods, so that's how they are called for convenience's sake. (hide spoiler)]

[Bren]

(view spoiler)[I do remember that, and how quick they were to say that he was only the Chthonian for demons, which is why sometimes I take what they say with a grain of salt.

And yeah, the fact that Sav is a demon and a chthonian is kinda confusing, since they've been drilling into our heads since forever that that wasn't possible. But maybe it is like you said, he's just called a chthonian because he has the same powers as one.

Also, have we ever seen that type of demon before? I don't think we have. (hide spoiler)]

[Marie]

Savitar: (view spoiler)[ You mean one with horns and a tail?...Like Ash? (hide spoiler)]

[Bren]

(view spoiler)[Most of them have tails and horns. I mean the way Savitar was described as :

Savitar’s body rippled with flames. What little skin he had exposed was swirled with colors and was covered with an ancient articulated armor. He was even horned.

His expression still furious, he landed on the beach in front of them, and tucked his coal-black wings down. Along with his tail.


Have we even seed another demon of his breed, and if so what are they called?
(hide spoiler)]

[Marie]

(view spoiler)[ The articulated armor could be unique to him, since it's an armor and there are very few groups of beings that seem to have actual uniforms for the entire race. The swirling colors of his skin remind me of Charontes, though even the Malachai has been described in "swirling" skin tones on occasion. Since the Malachai's skin isn't supposed to be, strictly speaking, "swirling" so much as display a clear pattern with symbols, I don't know how much stock we should put in the choice of the word "swirled"

I'm not sure what a body rippling with flames is supposed to look like aside from being on fire and I don't now if that's part of his demon form or if it's just Savitar summoning flames.

But yeah, I have no idea what type of demon he could be. SK plays fast and loose on the physical characteristics of demons that apply universally to one race. Ex. Charontes' flesh is marbled different colors, they have bat-like wings, horns, and sharp elf-like facial features. Aside from that, their appearance will vary wildly from one to the other, but even that is more than most demon races have to define them as a group. (hide spoiler)]

[Bren]

(view spoiler)[You know what bothers me? That there wasn't any info on Thorn's wife. I honestly just bought the book so I could find out who it was, and they're apparently going to leave us hanging until next book.

Also, whatever Vine did to Will in the last book wasn't really mentioned on this book either, guess we'll have to wait for that too. (hide spoiler)]

[Marie]

Vine did something to Will in the first book? I actually forgot about that

[Bren]

I think it was her? I'll check.

[Bren]

Here it is, it's after she stabs Mara:

Strixa arched a brow as if she disapproved and wanted to say something, but didn’t speak while Vine made her way over to Duel’s henchman. How Duel had always been able to inspire such loyalty from those around him, Vine had never understood. And this particular little tossling pet of Duel’s … he’d been a nuisance almost as much as her ex-husband, so it was time she put the bastard to use.

Touching him on the brow, she cast her spell. “I think I shall let Duel kill you for me.”

After that Will lied to Bane about what had happened between Vine and Mara, so Vine probably messed with Will's head or something.

[Marie]

uh. (view spoiler)[ yeah, SK dropped the ball on that I guess (hide spoiler)]

[Bren]

(view spoiler)[The whole book I was waiting for Will to do something dumb and get killed (hide spoiler)]

[[deleted user]]

about Thorn (view spoiler)[ any ideas one who Thorn's wife is? I really ship Thorn with Karma and I don't want him to be with anyone else! (hide spoiler)]

[Malachaibubble12]

Neona wrote: "about Thorn [spoilers removed]"

In Infamous Thorn said to Nick that he had legit ruined all the people he loved, so he's gotta be talking about his wife too right since CoN is centuries after Deadman's Cross?

[Bren]

Malachaibubble12 wrote: "Neona wrote: "about Thorn [spoilers removed]"

In Infamous Thorn said to Nick that he had legit ruined all the people he loved, so he's gotta be talking about his wife too right since CoN is centur..."

I just can't think of any character that we have met before that could be his wife.

[Marie]

Malachaibubble12 wrote: (view spoiler)[...

Yeah I'm thinking she's gonna die. It would be cool to have a "Thorn" book that is a sort of crossover of Deadman's Cross and the present-day series DH. It would follow Thorn through the centuries and around Deadman's Cross-time, we would find out who his wife is and see her tragic death. Then, in present day, we would see him find love again, possibly with Karma. (hide spoiler)]

[Bren]

What's with the Karma/Thorn shipping? Did I miss something?

[Marie]

Jo thought there was a vibe between them, Karma always refused to say who the father of her son was, and we know from CON that she's been tricked by evil/darkness in the past. If all those things are connected, could be that Thorn is the father of Karma's kid but she didn't know who he was when they slept together and as a result, she might believe, like Brigid (?), that he used her.

[Bren]

I do remember that, I just idk I can't see it. And I do think Karma's baby daddy is probably a demon, probably the one that tricked her, but I don't think Thorn would do something like that.

[Marie]

Me neither, which is why I think that, if Thorn is the dad, then there is some big misunderstanding going on that would explain why Karma isn't acknowledging it or him, and why she's supposedly been "tricked" by evil. I don't think Thorn would actually use her, but he didn't intend to use Bridgid either and she still ended up believing he did and hated him for it.

[Malachaibubble12]

Are the swords inherited in each Necrodemian line technically Sephiroth swords but they have a "soul" medallion attached to it?

[Marie]

The Sephiroth swords were supposed to be destroyed after the Primus Bellum. They weren't, but for all intent and purposes, people thought they had been. The Necrodemians' swords are a loophole. Since the Sephirii were killed and their swords were "destroyed", the whole system of medallions was invented to get around that agreement.

[Malachaibubble12]

So the Sarim (or whatever that council of angels is called)-such as Michael and Gabriel are all technically just Sephiroths? Cuz, if so then that makes no sense given the whole deal that the Mavromino and Kalosum made to end the Primus Bellum.

[Marie]

They are Seraphs, not sephirii

[Malachaibubble12]

Marie wrote: "They are Seraphs, not sephirii"

I don't get how that wouldn't still count as Sephirii, since aren't Gabriel and Michael basically the same as Sephirii?? Is it just cuz their jobs are different?

[Marie]

They're not Sephirii anymore than the Arelim are Sephirii. They're Seraphs. I'm pretty sure it's a completely different species. What makes you think Gabriel and Michael are "basically the same as Sephirii"? We know one Sephiroth and we've almost never seen Gabriel, Michael or any other Seraph.

[Malachaibubble12]

Marie wrote: "They're not Sephirii anymore than the Arelim are Sephirii. They're Seraphs. I'm pretty sure it's a completely different species. What makes you think Gabriel and Michael are "basically the same as ..."

It's just that i don't understand their lineage. Because if the "angels" are the starter ancestors for the Hellhunters/Necrodemians then wouldn't they have to be the direct child of a Sephiroth warrior in order for the "angels" to have been able to have a Sephiroth sword in the first place AND thus have the ability to hand the sword down to *their* own descendants?

[Marie]

They're not sephiroth swords. The Sephiroth swords were all in Shadow's possession until they were stolen.

The swords the Hell-hunters are using are completely different swords that come with medallions that hosts the soul of a warrior from some ancient badass angelic race that kept getting killed off because they were small in numbers. Hell-Hunters are descendants from the bloodlines of Seraphs, but as far as I know, it's not actually the Seraphs' souls that are in those medallions. That wouldn't make any sense since the way the medallion works is that the Hell-Hunters become possessed by the "angel's" soul in battle, but we've seen Gabriel and Michael walk around so we know they're not stuck in a medallion.

It's just that their descendants' angelic blood enables them to channel the angelic souls in the medallions.

Or maybe the better term would be Kalosum blood and soul.

[Malachaibubble12]

Marie wrote: "They're not sephiroth swords. The Sephiroth swords were all in Shadow's possession until they were stolen.

The swords the Hell-hunters are using are completely different swords that come with med..."

Ohhh! I was getting the term Seraph and Sephiroth sword confused. Sherri has got to try out some different sounding/spelled words that AREN'T so familiar!

[[deleted user]]

Malachaibubble12 wrote: "Marie wrote: "They're not sephiroth swords. The Sephiroth swords were all in Shadow's possession until they were stolen.

The swords the Hell-hunters are using are completely different swords that..."

At least you're not like me and constantly confusing the term Sephiroth with the Final Fantasy character

[Malachaibubble12]

Neona wrote: "Malachaibubble12 wrote: "Marie wrote: "They're not sephiroth swords. The Sephiroth swords were all in Shadow's possession until they were stolen.

The swords the Hell-hunters are using are complet..."

Lol! After a while of DH/CoN reading I was on tumblr and would keep seeing people talking about a Sephiroth. I was confused for a couple minutes and wondering "what does Jared have anything to do with Disney?"

[Marie]

Hahaha! XD

[Marie]

You know what I am maybe, mildly disappointed by? I kinda of thought (view spoiler)[ we'd see the scene of Kody trying to kill Adarian right after he escaped Azmodea. We sort of know what happened from Kody's account of it in CON, but I would have liked to see it from Adarian's side, from a third party's witness account or at least have people commenting on it. It would have been cool to know if anyone ever noticed that the same freakin' Arel has tried to kill every single Malachai since the dawn of time. That, that same Arel keeps getting slaughtered in the attempt, and yet keeps coming back (hide spoiler)]

[Malachaibubble12]

Marie wrote: "You know what I am maybe, mildly disappointed by? I kinda of thought [spoilers removed]"

Yeah, it makes you wonder why none of the other Malachai's with their inherited memories and all didn't track her down and kill her permanently. Maybe the Arelim hid her out of time so that they couldn't get to her?

[Marie]

Malachaibubble12 wrote: "Marie wrote: "You know what I am maybe, mildly disappointed by? I kinda of thought [spoilers removed]"

Yeah, it makes you wonder why none of the other Malachai's with their inherited memories and ..."

I'm pretty sure she was just dropped at the perfect time to strike, promptly killed by each Malachai, and then brought back to "life" in the Arel realm. Then rinse and repeat.

But I still feel like someone, somewhere, should have noticed the Arel assassin. There should be a legend about her. Some family lore in Nick's family at least

[Malachaibubble12]

Marie wrote: "Malachaibubble12 wrote: "Marie wrote: "You know what I am maybe, mildly disappointed by? I kinda of thought [spoilers removed]"

Yeah, it makes you wonder why none of the other Malachai's with thei..."

It never said that she was killed every time. I think it just said she was defeated each time.

[Marie]

Well, Adarian stabbed her to death. I remember reading that. Or something similar that implied it like "he ran his sword through her heart" or something.

As an Arel, she is a ghost and the physical form she has in CON is a "borrowed body", so even if she was killed, she's already dead and her bosses would just give her a new body and send her on her way to kill another Malachai. But, honestly, whether she was killed each time or not doesn't really matter. The point is the same freakin' Arel assassin keeps trying to kill every Malachai and I feel like someone should have noticed. Not just the Nick's ancestors, but, say, their allies or enemies or just random gods should have noticed and wondered why the Arelim, the protectors of Order and Truth, would endanger the balance of the universe in such a way

[Malachaibubble12]

I remember that she specifically said that she hesitated and she let her fight up against Adarian be fair by letting him recuperate (as he had JUST gotten out of Azmodea so he was super weak). It was her big mistake as in return for her mercy Adarian "spat in her face with his own brand of evil."

[Malachaibubble12]

As for why no one noticed that an Arel kept coming back to assassinate every single Malachai: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Marie]

Ooooh, if she let him recuperate, maybe we will get to see that scene after all

[Marie]

You know what weirds me out though? (view spoiler)[ It seems like Adarian was about to rise up through the Dread Waters...Since when can he do that? Burst forth from the darkest depths of the sea like a freakin' sea monster? What the hell would that look like? He has some sort of water form or something? (hide spoiler)]