Chapter Ten
Theo
Did the stack of journals keep getting taller or was it just him?
Theo stuck his bottom lip out, pouting. Not that there was anyone in the room to see him.
Because Theo had acted like a total brat.
There was so much reading and then Dario had the nerve to ask Theo when he was going to start his own journal.
Okay, he probably shouldn’t have yelled at Dario. That wasn’t how mates treated each other.
Theo rubbed his stomach. He hated the feeling of disappointing his mates.
He knew that Dario didn’t mean to make Theo feel like he was skirting his responsibilities.
It was just so hard to accomplish everything that he wanted to do.
They were moving into the new house, Theo had his class work, he wanted to spend time with his mates, he needed to practice using magic, and Evian had brought Theo even more journals.
Instead of crying like he’d wanted to, Theo had lashed out.
He totally needed to apologize. He pushed the journal off his lap so he could go in search of his mate. Dario was somewhere in the apartment as Alek, Mitch, and Wylder were at the new house.
“Dario?” Theo called from the living room. He wasn’t sure where Dario had disappeared too and the apartment was big.
“In the kitchen,” Dario yelled back. “I’ll be right there.”
Instead of waiting for Dario to come to him, Theo started in the direction of the kitchen. He wanted to fix things with Dario. It just didn’t feel right.
The entire apartment shook, causing Theo to stumble.
Was that an earthquake?
Heat filled the room like someone had turned the furnace on high and Theo was directly under the vent. He reached out to grab hold of the couch but snatched his hand back at flames bursting up around him.
“Dario!” Theo screamed.
“Theo!” Dario shouted.
He could hear Dario running for him but Theo knew that it was far too late when the flames wrapped around him. Theo didn’t fight it this time. The magic inside him pulsed and he knew that he was being summoned.
“Theo!” Dario ran into the room right before Theo was gone.
He landed on his knees in the middle of a large, cavernous room.
Lifting his head, Theo scowled at the demon sitting on a throne looking down on him.
Pushing himself up, Theo straightened his oversized shirt.
It might belong to Mitch or Dario, Theo wasn’t sure.
But he straightened his clothes and huffed.
“Hello,” the demon greeted with a nasty smile.
“My mates are going to be very angry at you,” Theo responded. At this point he wasn’t even scared. The one journal that Theo had read through was the one focusing on hell and Mitch had sat with Theo, answering every question he had. Theo knew this demon in front of him.
“I did warn my son that I would take matters into my own hands if he didn’t bring his mates to meet me,” Micitian stated. “I’m done waiting.”
Theo knew that dealing with this demon god was going to be tricky. “We’ve been kind of busy.”
Micitian waved his hand like Theo’s words didn’t matter. “You’ve had plenty of time to meet with the chosen. You are even learning magic from one of them. Unseelie magic.”
The jealousy was evident. Theo shook his head. “It’s their job to help us with the transition into becoming the chosen.”
“Unseelie magic is in my wheelhouse,” Micitian claimed.
Loud banging echoed around the room, making Theo want to cover his ears.
“Ah, your mates are getting better at tracking you down.” Micitian said. “Not that they can enter my throne room without permission.”
His mates were going to be so worried about him. This wasn’t fair. Mitch was right about his father. He was kind of a dick. “Well, I’m here now. What would you like to talk about?”
Micitian leaned forward as he narrowed his eyes at Theo. “I expected…” Micitian hummed. “More fear. From everything I have heard of you, I expected you to be crying and cowering. This is very disappointing indeed.”
Yep. Micitian was a dick. “Uh, sorry to disappoint you?” Theo offered.
“I should have summoned the human. I bet I could have made him cry.”
That made Theo snort. Wylder would have gone right after the demon.
Especially if he had his sword. And Wyler always had his sword.
It was literally tattooed on his arm so Wylder could use borrowed magic from Seb to summon his weapon when needed.
That had been accomplished just the night before.
It had looked painful so Theo was glad he didn’t need to forge a bond with a weapon.
“You laugh at me?” Micitian roared.
“No, no, no.” Theo held up his hand to placate the demon. “I’m not laughing at you.”
There was more pounding. At least his mates were close. Hopefully.
“That is annoying,” Micitian complained.
“You could just let them in,” Theo suggested. “We could stay for dinner.”
Micitian perked up as if that was the best thing that he had ever heard. “What would you like for dinner? I can send my demons out to hunt boar. Or there is a dish that is coated in the blood of my enemies that is a delicacy, but I would share with you.”
Theo’s stomach turned. “Or we could just have pizza?” It was the first edible food that Theo could think of. He really didn’t want boar or blood. Eww!
“Boring.” Micitian rose from his throne. And were those bones making up Micitian’s chair? Like real bones? It sure looked like it. Hellcats! This demon was crazy. “But as my guest, I will accommodate you.”
Should he thank the demon? The rules in hell weren’t the same as fae. Less tricky as demons usually were pretty straightforward in what they wanted.
“First I have a gift for you.” Micitian beckoned him forward.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to get me anything,” Theo tried. He didn’t know what a gift from a literal demon god would entail. Nothing good probably.
“You’d refuse my gift?” Micitian demanded.
He just needed to get this over with. “Of course not.”
“Good. I’ve been holding this present for several days and it just keeps getting more annoying. Come along. We’ll eat your pizza after.” Micitian turned toward a door that Theo had missed earlier. Were his mates through there?
He stumbled, trying to hurry and follow the demon. “My mates?” Theo asked.
Micitian glanced back. “You have a one-track mind. Fine. I will allow them to wait more comfortably.”
What did that even mean? Theo was so out of his depth here. “Great. Good. Where are we going?”
Micitian gave Theo that creepy grin again. “To my personal prison cells. Where your gift awaits.”
Uh-oh.
* * * * *
Mitch
The entrance to his sire’s throne room was blocked, which just proved that Micitian had indeed summoned Theo away from him. Mitch had waited too long and now would pay the price. Fuck!
“Why can’t we get in?” Alek asked, frustrated.
“My sire is playing with us. He has Theo and isn’t going to allow us entry until he pleases,” Mitch replied. He pounded on the portal wall even though it wasn’t doing them any good.
“I thought Theo couldn’t be summoned again!” Wylder exclaimed.
“My father is a master of magic. If anyone can get around our protections, it is him.” Mitch hated that it was his fault that Theo was in this predicament. “He won’t hurt Theo. In his very messed-up way, Micitian wants our approval. This is all about his jealousy of the chosen.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better.” Dario had tears in his eyes. “He was in here all alone. I shouldn’t have left him.”
“He should have been safe in the apartment,” Mitch responded. “This isn’t your fault.”
“Theo was stressing out and I just added to it,” Dario said.
Fuck! Leaving the blocked portal, Mitch strolled over to Dario. He grabbed Dario’s chin, forcing the golden dragon to look at him. “You were trying to help him. We both know that Theo would have felt bad for yelling and would have apologized.”
“He’d called for me,” Dario said quietly. “I was preparing dinner and told him to wait. If I’d been—”
“Stop,” Mitch ordered firmly. “This is not your fault. I knew my sire wanted to meet you all.”
“How did he summon Theo?” Dario asked.
“I have no idea,” Mitch confessed.
“How are we going to get him back?” Wylder asked. He was rubbing the newly placed tattoo from the prior night when he forged a bond with his weapon. As if he couldn’t wait to pull it out.
“It won’t be fun for Micitian if we don’t suffer a little. He will also want to gloat about getting Theo, so it shouldn’t be long until he allows us entry.” Mitch was certain about that.
“This sucks!” Wylder kicked the portal.
Instead of hitting the blocked portal, Wylder fell through.
“Shit!” Mitch dove for Wylder as he ended up head-first in his own portal.
“Mitch!” Alek shouted as Mitch went through.
He wrapped his arms around Wylder as they stood in the middle of his sire’s living room.
“Where are we?” Wylder asked, looking around.
Mitch snorted. The red and gold was too much.
So were the numerous paintings of his father, all of them with his sire and his massive throne which he was obsessed with.
“My sire’s greeting room. Usually he pulls his guests into his throne room to show off but since he had Theo there, we’ve been designated to wait on him here. ”
Dario and Alek stepped through the portal, both looking ready to battle.
Waving them forward, Mitch directed Wylder to the closest red velvet couch. “We might as well sit and wait.”
“What is he doing to Theo?” Wylder questioned, pulling Mitch to sit with him.
“I have no idea,” Mitch admitted.
* * * * *
Theo
The prison cells were just as horrible as one would think.
Theo made certain not to touch the dirty bars and avoid being grabbed by the…creatures that were reaching out for him and groaning.
“Ignore my pets,” Micitian told him. “They can be a little feisty.”
Theo shuddered as one bony hand brushed against his arm. “What did they do to deserve being here?”
Micitian laughed. “All kinds of atrocities, I assure you.”