Chapter 10 #2
I reached out for him again, the darkness purring in my ear for me to do so.
I felt sated and drained all at once over simply touching him.
He lifted me until I was standing. I swayed this time, and he caught me.
“See?” was all he said before his heated smirk hardened.
“Later,” he promised, and the darkness worshipped inside me.
I didn’t know what was happening and why the darkness didn’t affect him, but I shook my head and tried to come back to reality.
It took a few seconds but just in time to blast some imps with my magic.
“I don’t think there are any children here,” I told him as he sliced into imp after imp until we were left with green guts and blood on us and everything else in the spooky mansion.
“One of the Reapers likely found the kids,” he replied, wiping his blade against his pants. “Looks like the address Payne gave me was just one of her hideouts.”
The mansion shook, and Sebastian reached over and steadied me.
Thump, thump, thump. Something was moving.
He was touching my skin again, and the heat licked over me in a rush.
I pulled away from him quick enough this time and ran toward my gloves lying on the floor, slipping them on when we heard the roar.
The mansion quaked even more with the sound it made.
Was this what I peeked at earlier outside the mansion?
It’s okay. Remember. The darkness killed everything.
Strangely, that didn’t help.
“I think the big guy you saw is coming to welcome us into his home.” Sebastian was radiating with energy and when he turned around and smirked, my stomach heated without him touching me.
That wasn’t good.
And neither was whatever was coming.
“Can you sense what it is?” I asked him, scooting up behind him.
He nodded with a know-it-all grimace. “Oh, yeah. It’s Cerberus.”
“How is that possible? I thought he guarded the entrance to Hell,” I said in shock.
My time spent with Julius taught me one thing.
To fear where evil went when evil died… I left before he turned me into a monster like him, but only because I was able to wake from the trance he had over me.
Memories told me I did things that were immoral before that happened.
I feared where my soul would go once I passed.
“He guards the only entrance for most demons, but not us.” Sebastian eyed the far end of the mansion and waited.
“My family is probably one of the few who can reach Hell without going through that entrance other than angels, but even then, most would never be able to find it no matter how hard they tried.”
“Then… this is the gate?”
“No.” He shook his head with a tight scowl. “This isn’t the real Cerberus. He’s him, but he’s not… I can’t explain it. It’s almost like he’s a copycat of some sort.”
I swallowed the bile in my throat and blinked and blinked once more, then shook my head but the memories resurfaced.
The creature whimpered… So tiny and helpless.
Julius crept up behind me and slid his hand up my abdomen as he bit into my neck.
I hated when he touched me, the darkness made it so that I couldn’t function or think when he did.
He always made me feel good. It was when he wasn’t touching me that I realized how twisted my relationship with him was.
“We can make him better,” he whispered into my ear and a moan escaped my mouth.
“We just have to kill him first.” I wasn’t in control, the darkness was.
It didn’t give me a chance to think about how warped everything was with Julius.
How wrong. “Lift your arms and forge him with the demon we brought.”
My arms lifted.
“Don’t, don’t! Please don’t!” the demon begged and pleaded with me.
“He will thank us later when he’s born anew.”
A blackness seeped out of my palms and from the darkness, the demon and creature became one.
“See? One day you will understand. All of this is necessary.”
I came back to reality as the giant dog burst through the wall. His tail was that of a serpent’s and he growled as he stalked toward us. “I thought Cerberus had three heads?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“Like the real one, I’m sure this copycat can choose how many heads he wishes to show.
” Sebastian ran forward to meet him, blade in hand.
Cerberus twisted his body around and swung his tail.
Sebastian jumped, no, he practically flew across the air.
“Duck!” he yelled, and I did just as he landed on top of the beast.
I raised up, seconds from running to help when a hand slid around me. “You must be the cure,” a devilish voice whispered in my ear. I turned and found charcoal eyes looking down at me. Coal black. Hair just as dark. I didn’t recognize him, but something about him looked familiar.
“Who are—”
“August!” Sebastian roared. I looked back quickly and saw murder in Sebastian’s eyes as he yelled, “Don’t you fucking dare!”
“I already took care of my job. You’re slacking, brother.
” August smirked up at him. That was why he seemed familiar.
He resembled Sebastian despite the difference in their hair and eyes.
I briefly remembered him saying one of his brothers’ names was August as well.
“I’ll take the cure while you do what you’re doing. ”
Cure? Wait, his arms were still wrapped around my waist.
“Wait,” I said frantically. “Don’t touch me!”
“Let’s go, beautiful.” August drank me in and held me tighter. He grabbed my hand, and I jumped, expecting something bad to happen but remembered I had on the gloves. “I’ll show you a world you might not want to leave.”
“August!” Sebastian roared.
And I faded with him. Only it was the wrong brother that took me into the timeless place wherever it was he wanted to bring me.