18. Like a Deer in Headlights
Chapter eighteen
Like a Deer in Headlights
Atlas
Ibounced around my office in the Shadow Realm trying to fasten my boots on. Magnus watched me with a raised eyebrow, quite amused by the spectacle. “I’m late, I’m late!” I sobbed as I fought with the laces. “Nick is going to kill me!”
“Some God of Death you are. Who’s late to their successor’s showing of Gehenna, literally the most important Realm to Demon Hunters?”
“I don’t need your input, Magnus!” I barked, but he just laughed in my face.
He checked his watch before tsking. “You’re two hours late. What exactly were you doing last night?”
“I was up late reading through Ambermourn’s notes. I fell asleep in my office and totally forgot about our showing today.” I said this while fastening earrings in and rapidly combing my hair out, so I was somewhat presentable.
Magnus took my shirt front and spun me around so he could fix the collar. “You’re being way too paranoid about this Ambermourn thing.”
“Am I? When your mortal enemy is trying to hunt down your other mortal enemy, you tend to worry!”
“I think it’s all coincidence. He's just trying to stalk you, and you’re letting him win by messing around with him,” he scolded with a cemented frown.
I pushed on the lines in his forehead. “Stop worrying about me so much.”
“I’m your second-in-command; it’s literally my job.”
“Yeah, yeah...” I brushed him away and gave myself one final look over. “Ok, let me handle this, then we’ll go over those reports from Antarctica for Elizabeth.”
“At this rate, there won’t be any animals left to report on! She needs to freeze that place, asap! Ashlynn's gonna melt the whole dang planet!”
I snorted. “I think Zephryine needs to get better at closing holes in the atmosphere.”
“Humans are making so many that she can barely keep up. Gods, if only they respected this planet a little more...” he sighed to himself before shaking his head and ducking into his own office.
I left him with his worrying and dashed through my portal to Gehenna, racing the steps like my life depended on it.
Considering how mad Nick got when I flaked on him, it very well might have been my life at stake this time.
I found he and Geneva with his Elites in the Inn, conversing over tea Evris brewed in a glass teapot in her kitchen.
My throat ached at the idea of getting something caffeinated and warm in my system.
I popped into the kitchen and procured a cup before hurriedly joining the two at the table.
“Hey, guys, I’m so sorry I’m late. I got tied up with some notes last night and totally overslept! ”
“Figures. If I'm late, it’s crucifixion. If you’re late, I need to just deal with it,” Nick scoffed with a heavy eye roll.
Geneva giggled and shoved him playfully. “Cut the old man some slack. His brittle bones aren’t what they used to be.”
“Fuck you both,” I laughed, ruffling Nick’s hair wildly before gesturing to his Elites. “How have things been going? Are they getting accustomed well to the Realm?”
“More or less. I have my eyes set on Emmeline,” he pointed to the copper-haired girl talking with Arabella and Beatrix, “but time will tell.”
“Two girls, eh? I think that’d be an interesting change to the Shadow Realm,” I commented.
“What’s that supposed to mean!” Geneva barked in offense.
I threw my hands up. “Nothing, nothing, yeesh! I was only pointing out that we haven’t had multiple women in control in a long time, and it would be a nice change! Don't jump down my throat, woman!”
“Alright, alright, let’s relax...” Nick chuckled, patting Geneva’s frazzled curls down.
“Funny seeing you lot down here.” A familiar voice filled my ears, making me turn in horror to the entrance of the restaurant.
Ambermourn of all people stood in the doorway with a coy grin.
He wore a slick black suit and adorned a cane with a snake’s head mounted to the top, which was crystalized.
The eyes were wide open, ensnaring all who looked into them, and its tongue slithered out to curl into a Q.
Nick tensed with anger, but I gripped his leg to calm him down and assure I could handle this. “What are you doing down here?” I asked suspiciously.
“I’d like to know the same thing,” Nick added in a venomous tone.
Ambermourn could sense the tension but decided to flaunt his charisma. “I like to come downstairs once in a while and check on everyone. I did help Geneva get accustomed to working down here, once upon a time, so it’s not like I’m a stranger.”
“That was a long time ago. I can handle myself just fine, now,” Geneva huffed in annoyance.
He flashed that cunning smile. “So I’ve heard.”
“Now really isn’t a good time to visit. We have our hands full with Nick’s Elites. Maybe a later date?” I said through my teeth, trying to warn him that Nick was far from pleased with him, but he didn’t seem to take the hint.
“I only came by to order some of Evris’s tea and biscuits.
I won’t be a bother whatsoever.” He sat at a far-off table and did exactly as he said: order biscuits and tea and open a newspaper left on the counter beside him.
We all eyed him angrily, but decided not to argue further, and went back to our conversation.
Nick gestured with his shoulder to Isadora. “On another note, you might want to talk to Isadora. She’s been a bit distant. Seems like something is bothering her, and since you’re the official God of this Realm, I’m making you do it.”
“Gee, thanks,” I grumbled, mushing his face with my palm before crossing the room.
Isadora was to the side by herself, her arms folded as she stared emptily at the Elites moving about the Inn.
She seemed forlorn, as distant as Nick claimed, but in an unsettling way.
I pulled a chair up beside her and crossed my arms on the back of it, sitting backwards in one of the seats Evris hand polished every single day.
“Hey, chickita. You seem kind of down in the dumps today.
What's cooking?” I asked in as casually as I could.
She flicked her red eyes to me, startled, as if I had broken a trance she was in. “Hmm, what? Oh, me?”
“I mean, who else would I be talking to?”
She rubbed her arm harshly, making marks in her light skin.
“I’m ok, really.” I gave her a look of ‘yeah, right’ that she shrunk under.
“I guess I’m just... I miss my sister.” Ambermourn peered over the edge of his paper when she said this, but when he caught me glaring at him, he sank behind it again and went back to reading.
I exhaled through my nose and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder so I could squeeze it. “I see, I see. I really am sorry about how things worked out.”
“I am, too. She was my sister, whether she was good or not. I wish... I wish I could bring her back, somehow.” She cut me a side eye. “I can’t do that, can I?”
“It’s not very easy,” I said with a shrug. “Besides, who’s to say she won’t try and hurt you again? Is that something you want to risk?”
“No, not really, but she deserves to live.”
“Does she?” I popped curiously. Isadora was unsure of what I meant based on the look on her face.
“I think she was a cruel, corrupt soul, who wanted to do nothing but take down those close to her to gain her goals. She lost fair and square. Who’s to say she would try to bring you back if the tables were turned? I don’t think you owe her anything.”
“Maybe not, but I don’t think of it like that.” She tensed up and looked back out over the crowd. “Only you and Nick can bring people back, right?”
“Yes...?” I unsurely replied.
Her shoulders slacked. “Thought so.”
“It’s for the better, Isadora, really. Try not to think about it too much.”
“It’s all I think about...” she whispered brokenly. I glanced back at Ambermourn, who sipped his drink quietly. His demeanor was calm, but his eyes were alight with plotting, scheming. I knew those eyes well and feared them more than anything in the world.
Ambermourn’s home was empty when I arrived today.
This was my fifth visit in two weeks, and at this point, I was growing tired of entertaining his desires for information.
My body felt worn down, like I was returning to a long and agonizing job; my joints were simply not ready to communicate with the rest of me.
I brushed through his office and bedroom, unsure of why he wouldn’t be here, and nervous about this.
A notecard sat on his kitchen counter. When I picked it up and turned it over, I saw a phone number etched in dark red ink across the backside.
Something about the number was familiar, so I pulled my phone out and dialed it into my keypad.
Low and behold, it was Isadora’s personal line.
“What the fuck are you up to...?” I snarled under my breath.
“It’s not nice to poke around people’s personal belongings when they’re not home,” Ambermourn sniffed from behind me, scaring the absolute shit out of me. The card flung from my hands and onto the counter again. I spun in a circle and threw my hands up. “I thought you had left me a note is all.”
“Uh huh.” He had an angered, glossy look of aggravation today, and moved to snatch the card and shove it into his pocket.
I switched on my charm and took his hand to tug on it, fronting an innocent smile. “You’re quite grumpy today. What's on your mind?”
“Nothing,” he cut in a short, blunt tone.
I tsked and kissed his cheek, leaving my lips there for a moment. “You can talk to me?”
He hesitantly accepted my gesture. “I just... don’t like when people are uncooperative.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“It’s... It’s nothing, really. Um...?” He ran a hand down his face with a huff of annoyance. “Look, can we do this another time? I’m not really in the mood today.”