This has been the journey so far…

Our rider has helped many humans along the way. He has attracted much attention, both good and bad. The human vessel now seeks answers, answers that require help. But who would help Death?

...

In a big skyscraper across Rendville a tall, hulking man with jet black hair was talking to two businessmen at his desk. The man was wearing a business suit and tie, and had a small beard and moustache. If one were human, they would say he was quite handsome.

"So you're sure this is how much you want to pay for company Mr. Youngblood?" one of the men asked.

"Yes," Mr. Youngblood replied. "If it were to go bankrupt, I will be able to handle it."

Samuel Youngblood was a rich business investor, and one of the most powerful men in America.

"A pleasure doing business with you gentlemen," Mr. Youngblood said as the two men walked out of his room.

Mr. Youngblood turned his chair around to look out the window. "You can come out now Belial, Beelzebub, Zachariah, Astaroth!"

An orange circle with a pentagram in the middle appeared on the floor, and four human men emerged from it. Belial was pale and immensely fat, Beelzebub was African American and scrawny, Zachariah looked young enough to be a child dressed in a gothic manner, Astaroth looked as if he had never shaved in his life.

"Sir?" All four stood at his attention.

Mr. Youngblood's eyes blazed a fiery orange. He lifted Astaroth with telekinesis into his out stretched hand. The men's eyes were wide in terror as Mr. Youngblood crushed Astaroth's skull. Blood and brain matter oozed between the killer's fingers. And he began to slurp up the blood greedily.

"S-sir?" Beelzebub gulped. "What's the matter?"

Mr. Youngblood looked at the men and growled. Astaroth's blood dripped down his face as he looked at them.

"The Council has sent for the Horsemen!" He yelled. "Our damnation has been decided!"

Astaroth's corpse faded away in a puff of red smoke.

"Now then," Mr. Youngblood pulled out a tissue and wiped the blood off his face. "The Horseman "Death" has been seen in this city."

The others began to sweat.

"He has become somewhat of a Vigilante to the Third Kingdom," Mr. Youngblood stroked his chin.

"But sir!" Zachariah spoke up.

"We are but simple demons, the Horseman are above any of the Three Kingdoms." Mr. Youngblood smirked. "But these are of none of the three Kingdoms. They are a race that has long been repulsed. I believe you know of what I mean."

"The Nephilim…" Belial growled.

"Yes," Mr. Youngblood licked the last of the blood off his lips. "My master has long tried to control them, but they must be destroyed!"

"What is your will?" Zachariah asked.

"The Horseman may be here, but they are still children to the humans," Mr. Youngblood replied. "You appear to be around the age of Death."

Zachariah looked at the ground.

"You will pass yourself off as a "New kid" to this boy, and when the time is right you must dispose of him."

"As you wish," Zachariah smirked. "Samael."

Sam huffed and puffed as he ran to Jamie's house.

Crap! Sam thought. She probably thinks I ditched her last night!

Sam ran around the block to Jamie's house. He reached her front door and knocked. Jamie answered.

"Hey Jamie," Sam said softly. "How are you?"

Jamie looked at Sam with an unsure look. "I'm fine I guess, come in."

Sam followed her inside and sat down on her couch. Another girl wearing a revealing shirt was sitting there.

"Hey muscles," She smiled seductively. "You up for some fun?"

"Elaina!" Jamie warned. "Excuse my friend, she's not really house trained."

"It's okay," Sam scooted away from Elaina. "Neither am I."

All three just sat there in an awkward silence for about three minutes until Jamie broke the silence. "What the hell happened to you last night?"

Sam's heart skipped a beat. "Well I was um, not feeling well so I went home."

"On an undead horse from Hell?" Jamie scoffed.

"Oh," Sam chuckled. "You saw that huh?"

"The whole city saw you!"

Sam began to sweat.

Jamie glared at Sam. "Now if you're some kind of freak or something I don't want you!"

Shit! Sam thought. I've gotta fix this screw-up right now!

"I'm sorry," Jamie sighed. "I'm just scared."

Sam hugged her. "It's okay! Really, I'm scared too."

Elaina got up off the couch. "How about I leave you two alone?"

"How about you do?" Sam smiled.

…

"So you mean to tell me that you're the Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse?" Jamie asked.

"I guess so," Sam scratched the back of his head. "The Council told me, or told Death, that I have one year before I have to prepare for the Apocalypse."

"What will you have to do?"

"I don't know," Sam lied. "So what do you think?"

"Well, um," Jamie didn't know what to think. She didn't want her boy… her friend, to have to commit a hellish genocide. But he didn't seem too worried. In fact he seemed pretty happy. So all she could say was, "It's pretty cool, I guess."

"Yeah it's cool!" Sam exclaimed. "It's fucking awesome!"

…

Sam, Nick, and Nathan walked through the city looking for something to do. Sam had told his friends everything about his adventures as Death. Being his best friends they believed him, sort of. After all, how else could he have grown that much muscle over night?

"So these Council dudes turned you into the fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse?" Nick asked.

"I guess so," Sam shrugged. "But I can't really control my powers."

"What do you mean you can't?" Nathan raised an eyebrow.

"Whenever I turn into Death, he just sort of does everything for me," Sam replied. "I'm still aware of what I'm doing I just have no free will."

Sam and his friends turned a corner to an old, dark shack. It had a sign in the window saying "Vulgrim's gifts and trinkets". Vulgrim was a creepy old merchant who claimed to have traveled all over the world. His store's windows were lined with strange antiques and charms. Sam and his friends had decided to check it out for fun.

"This place could is kind of spooky," Nathan looked around in the open door. "If he's leaving the door open he must not have much worth stealing."

The three boys walked into the store and were greeted by the smell of dust and old cardboard. Most things in the store looked breakable, so they had to keep an eye on Nick.

Nathan began to wring his hands nervously. "The only thing missing is the creepy old store owner to pop out of nowhere,"

"Greetings," A soft raspy voice hissed suddenly. The boys jumped about a mile. Standing in the back of the room, in front of a curtain leading to the back room, was a tall, lanky, crotchety old man with long fingers and crooked teeth. He smiled at the boys like a snake about to catch its prey.

"What would you ask of this humble merchant?" the man rasped.

Once he caught his breath, Sam spoke, "Hey, sorry to bother you, but we're just looking around."

"Please, look around," Vulgrim smiled. "You won't be disappointed."

Nick picked up a talisman shaped like demonic skull, with a red jewel in the middle. The moment he picked it up though, a terrifying face flashed through his mind. He then dropped the talisman like a hot potato. "Well that's a no."

"I fished that old thing out of the River of Styx," Vulgrim chuckled.

"Is that a place in Europe?" Nick asked.

"Yes, as far as you know."

Nathan scanned the dusty old trinkets on the shelves, and finally picked up a large key. "What is this? The key to the city?"

Vulgrim let out a terrible cackle. "That is a Maker's Key I picked it up in the Forge Lands."

"How much?" Nathan pulled out his wallet.

"Hmm," Vulgrim thought for a moment. "I'd say about ten dollars."

Nathan pulled out a ten dollar bill and handed it to the old merchant. "I thought it'd be more."

…

Meanwhile, Sam had snuck behind the red velvet curtain. He felt a strange sensation in his chest. Something wasn't right; Vulgrim didn't seem normal. He kept staring at Sam as if he knew the boy was hiding something. His smile sent a chill up Sam's spine.

"This guy gives me the willies," Sam shuddered.

As he scanned the back room, he noticed a golden chalice encrusted with gems of a blue so bright, they were almost white. If Sam were a child, he would have tried to put it in his mouth. He picked up the chalice, and he instantly felt a soothing warmth wash over him.

However something else caught his eye. A stone tablet with a pentagram and various runes on it. In the middle of the star was an atrociously hideous demonic head carved into it. It had long gnarled horns on it's head, and teeth like a thousand needles waiting to shred a man's flesh in an instant. Underneath the pentagram was a name that he had recognized. He had just met the being with that name.

Vulgrim

"See something you like?" Vulgrim's raspy voice hissed suddenly.

Sam turned around and looked into Vulgrim's insidious smirk.

"Don't you know that it's rude to snoop?"

Sam stared up at the Merchant. "What are you?"

"Ah yes," Vulgrim licked his chops. "That is the question."

Sam continued to stare up at merchant.

Vulgrim continued. "I am no human."

"Yeah that much I got," Sam glared. "You're a demon aren't you?"

Vulgrim's grin grew wider. "An excellent observation, Death."

Sam was taken aback. "How did you…"

"I know many things boy," Vulgrim leered.

"But if you're a demon," Sam began. "Why do you look like a human?"

"Would you rather I not?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, that's a good point well made."

As soon as he said that, Vulgrim began to change. A bright blue flame began to envelope him. The demon's entire body began to burn, and the skin began to peel revealing a pale blue flesh underneath. When the flames extinguished, the human skin fell off of Vulgrim's body, revealing his true form.

His skin was scaly with a pale blue color, and his eyes glowed like a blue flame. He looked exactly like the demon on the tablet.

"So what are you gonna do?" Sam asked. "Take my soul?"

Vulgrim let out another horrible cackle. "I'm not going to do anything to you. You see I am different than the other demons."

"Yeah, I noticed," Sam mused.

Vulgrim continued. "While other demons try to deprive humans of their souls, I am but a simple merchant who only wishes to deprive them of their coins."

Sam reached into his pocket for his wallet. Before he could ask Vulgrim a question, he was answered.

"I'm afraid I can't help you with controlling your powers," Vulgrim shook his head.

Obviously this demon was a mind reader.

"Who can?" Sam asked.

Vulgrim licked his lips again. "Perhaps I could help you, for a price."

"What might that be?"

Vulgrim loomed toward Sam's driver's license. "Perhaps this could "seal the deal", as they say,"

"You want my driver's license?" Sam raised an eyebrow.

"No no," Vulgrim shook his head. "But the silver underneath it, I would like."

Sam pulled out his emergency credit card that he, being as poor as he was, never used. Sam handed it to the demon, which clutched it in his long gnarled fingers.

"Now how can you help me?" Sam asked.

"Serpent Holes," Vulgrim answered. "Ancient tunnels that spread throughout the realms."

Vulgrim waved a claw, and a portal of blue light appeared in front of the two.

"With this, you can access any realm, any city, any land in creation," Vulgrim handed a talisman to Sam. "And with this, you will be one step closer to controlling your powers."

Sam put the talisman around his neck. "What do I do when I get to… wherever this thing will take me?"

"Seek out the Keeper of Secrets," The demon replied. "He is known among others as the Crowfather. Find him, and you will find your destiny."

Suddenly they both heard glass shatter and Nick cry out, "I didn't do it!"

Vulgrim sighed in exasperation as he slipped the human skin back on. "Onward with you, I have some troubles to deal with."

With that, Vulgrim slipped behind the velvet curtain. Sam then slipped into the blue portal of light, exiting the Third Kingdom.