Death

How does a warlock deal with death..?

He doesn't. Any warlock worth his salt would know death as merely a passage. It merely marks the moment a soul escapes the body of a living being, only to transition to a purpose far greater, far more important than its cause in life. Death was only important as the mere fact of the soul's release for his use - to unleash the full potential of such a gathering of energy, to craft, to shape it into the weapon it was meant to be. The process of death itself would therefore mean little to him - it was as simple, as common, as a man walking twenty paces to his marketplace in the morning for his groceries.

What of demise? Of course, he would know of demise. He would understand demise not as death, however; demise of a soul meant two causes. One -  it was lost to powers that fed on its energy - stripped clean by a hungry demon, siphoned for use elsewhere, shattered in the hands of the warlock himself so as to better accomplish his goals. In the use of the warlock, it was not mourned, but treasured. It had served a purpose worthier than its existence. In the hands of a ravenous demon, or a fool of a magician, it was often wasted in excess, like a child eating half a chicken and throwing the wings out.  However, that, at least, served some purpose. The second option was the truest tragedy to a warlock.

Funerals.

In the name of respect, many traditions hold rituals in which they revere the dead, and allow them freedom of passage to wherever they pleased, or wished to guide those souls to a spiritual realm of apparent joy and pleasure. Both situations meant a complete waste of the energies in the soul - nor, as often was seen, were the souls capable or willing to contribute to society or the warlock himself by other means. No, more often than not, they were left to their own devices - free, unshackled, lost to the winds. And such wilful wastefulness was closely guarded by those who respected them, who could not see past their devotions to consider the uses, the possibilities of their contribution.  To a warlock, such a useless ritual could only be viewed with scorn.

Yet, a warlock does not survive by recklessness. To scorn those who revere the dead, he would turn his back on society. He would form enemies among those whom he could use, would lose those that held some semblance of ability , some potential, which could in return be used against him. Such would cause a funeral to become far more of a tragedy than it already was; and such was, in certain cases, not worth the gain of a single soul, or two.

Nor was an argument likely to cause these sympathizers to change their minds. It would, in fact, be far easier for the warlock to simply show that same 'reverence', to show that there was, in fact, a living soul inside him, that he was as much a creature of emotion and respect as the others. To subdue his practicality for this time, to ignore the temptations to show the mourners that the dead were, in fact, watching over, and could form amusing shapes such as rabbits and deer or possibly combinations of both when properly coaxed with his brand of magic. To amuse himself with their reactions would cost him to pay a greater price than he might be able to afford. No, it would be far more productive to hold his head in silence, to observe this simple, if foolish, ritual, and to allow their grief to be resolved in such a manner.

Perhaps, it could be seen that such a ritual aided the release of their grief, allowing them to cope with this idea of ' loss', and hopefully, speed their recovery to productive uses. Perhaps, even, the warlock could tap into the fact that he could, in fact, feel; to show, simply for a moment, the emotions that he was capable of, that he could understand how it felt to have something so dear torn from him; that he could take the time, to think, to reflect on that which he had lost over the years...

..such as a good funeral suit.