In the end, death will win, of course, but death is merely the silence in the room after the last word has sounded. 

-R. Campert

The world was dark and silent. No sounds, no sights, no movement. And then, in the darkness appeared a light. A neon pink and purple light. The glowing object raced towards Dante. An engine revving up, a swelling roaring sound disrupting the silence. He felt the noise vibrating through the ground as the vehicle approached him. A motorcycle, its female driver bent over, dressed in black. So this is what death looked like?

The air was filled with rushing footsteps, as Dante came out of the shadows with the rest of the police force. Dozens of guns and grenades were fired at the same time. They had been waiting for her. They had to capture her, and he would make sure they would. But the projectiles bounced of the energy shield surrounding her bike. 

She seemed to realize quickly that they were awaiting her. In a swift turn she started moving towards an escape. ‘Damn it.’, he heard officer Clay proclaim besides him. ‘Well, at least she won’t be taking anyone’s life today.’ ‘That’s not enough.’, Dante said through his teeth before making his way towards his car. ‘Wait!’, Clay screamed after him. ‘We are not allowed to leave the premise.’ Her voice soon faded into the background. Dante jumped into his car and slammed the door close. He smashed the start pedal. Instantly, the software came to life. ‘Awaiting your commands.’, a robotic voice sounded from the radio. ‘ Follow that woman.’, he shouted. Then he mumbled under his breath: ‘This will be your end, Psychopomp.’

The neon demon was fast, but he was faster. Bit by bit he closed in on her. Only meters of distance were between them now. Out of the cabinet he took a stun gun. She turned her head to look at him. Her helmet prevented him from seeing her face, but he was sure it was filled with fear. Pure ecstasy ran through his body when suddenly, a lightning bolt shot out of the back of her motorcycle. Almost in slow motion he saw it hit his car before it spread through the metal. The AI started to sputter and stutter. ‘Program…malfunctioning…shutting…down.’ The car started to swerve before it abruptly came to a stop. He crashed into the air bag and the world became dark again.

When Dante woke up, his head ached. So did the rest of his body, now that he thought of it. To his dismay, he found himself chained to a brick wall.  ‘Great to see you woke up.’ He jerked upwards to see where the muffled voice came from. The sudden movement made him cry out in pain. ‘You should be a bit more careful.’, the voice said. ‘You took quite the hit back there. Your mind might be immortal, but your body is far from invincible.’ The voice came from a woman dressed in ripped black jeans and a black bomber jacket. Her hair was colored a neon pink and cut into a long bomb. Big, iron goggles with purple glass covered her eyes. Her voice was muffled by a black medical mask with glowing teeth painted on it. And drawn on her bomber jacket was a pink and purple skull, her trademark. 

‘You.’, Dante said with the most disgust he could manage. ‘Me.’, she answered. ‘Death in the flash. Also referred to as the Neon Demon, Anubis, Yama, The Grim Reaper or as I like best, Psychopomp. Pleasure to meet you.’ With an extravagant gesture she bowed before him. He tried to spit on her, but she dodged his attack. ‘Feisty.’, she said amused. ‘You must have some courage speeding after me like that.' 'I'm a police officer. It's my duty to catch human scum like you.' 'For a police officer you pay very little attention to the road. You could have been in serious danger.' 'Because your motorcycle shot me.' She shook her shoulders. 'Fair enough. But then I saved you.' 'Saved me?' 'Your truck was about to blow up. If I hadn't dragged you out of there, you would have been a pile of crispy meat and bones.' 'I'm sorry if I don't feel thankful about being saved by the terrorist who brought me in danger in the first place.' He tugged at his chains. 'And who kidnapped me and tied me up.' 

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'Sorry about that. When I was pulling you out of that car wreck, your cop buddies showed up. Had to get some leverage to get myself out of that situation. Also, I might have messed a bit with your tracking system, so that they wouldn’t be able to follow me.' 'That's right. You take hostages as well.' 'I try not to. And I always let them go.' 'Why would you?' He looked at the monster pacing around the room. It was almost surreal to see her in person. He probably should feel terrified. He only felt a destructive rage. 'Why would I want to?', she mused. 'Because you get joy out of murdering. Seeing people's faces as they die at your hand. Because you're insane.' Psychopomp stopped in her tracks and turned around. 'That's how they frame me in the news, isn't it? The psychopathic, maniac serial killer with an unquenchable blood lust.' 'Because that's what you are.' By technical definition, I guess I would be a serial killer. But I am no psychopath.' 'Why else would you take innocent people's lives?' 'Because they wanted me to.' 

His blood felt ice cold and boiling hot at the same time. 'You're sick, absolutely sick.', he said through his teeth, face scrunched up in disgust. 'Am I really? Am I sick for giving people a way out? Am I sick for letting people die in a world where humanity has taken that possibility from them? Where immortality has become an obligation instead of a privilege?' 

There was a short silence in which they looked at each other. 'Death was a problem, an obstacle we have overcome and will continue to overcome in the years that follow.', Dante said with calm conviction. 'Yeah, that's what the billboards and the campaigns drill into your skull, isn't it? "Death is man's worst enemy, which we have managed to overcome through determination and cooperation.” But that's a lie. We have not overcome anything. We're living in a state of limbo, where no one is ever born and no one ever dies, because we are afraid of consequences.'

 When he heard her talk, it was almost as if Psychopomp believed these thoughts of madness. Maybe she did and this was the worst case of delusion the universe had ever seen. Maybe she was just a convincing liar. 'You're spewing the lies of a crazy person.' 'Who knows.', she said as she turned her heel again. She started pacing another round around the room before coming to a halt yet again. 

'I'll make you a deal.', Psychopomp said with a smile dancing on her lips. 'I don't make deals with the devil.' She chuckled. 'Not even when it's one you can't resist?' 'Especially not then.' A piece of her pink hair touched her face. She curled it around her finger as she said: 'You're not really in a situation where you can deny my request.' He grinded his teeth. 'You're a monster.' 'Maybe, but I think this deal is pretty fair. The only thing I want you to do is listen to my side of the story.' 

'Fuck you.' 'Just wait. I want you to listen to my story and in exchange, after I'm done, I will let you do with me whatever you want.' His eyes widened in surprise, before he became cynical again. 'Yeah, sure.' 'I'm not joking. This is a one-time offer. In exchange for listening to my story you get to go in the books as “The Psychopomp Slayer”.' Her eyes lit up. 'No, what do you think about “The Psychopunisher©”. Wouldn’t that be something?' His eyebrows scrunched together until they almost became one. 'And that's your only condition? Listen to your story?' 'Correct. Won't hurt you in any way and you can always decide to back out.' There was no other explanation than this being a trap. However, there was not much as else for him to do in this state. Fine, he would play a game with the devil. He would prove himself to be a die-hard opponent. 'Deal.'