Ria
I swallowed my disgust as I moved forward, hoping that whatever I was touching with my hands wasn't what I thought it was. The substance under my body was soft and wet as I moved, making me regret all my life choices.
A few ideas as to what it could be passed through my mind, but I pushed them all back down, sure that if I thought about them even a little bit more I would puke all over the already dirty passage.
" Are we there yet?" I complained as much as I could, rising my voice and looking back at Arsheus with every step, or more like crawl, we moved closer to the exit.
He didn't answer me, as usual, so I just kept crawling.
After a while of having to deal with the dark passage with barely enough space to crawl through we finally reached the exit.
When I was out I felt like a new person. I no longer felt like puking, the smell of dirt and death no longer wafting into my nose and trying to attack me.
I was so relieved to be out that I didn't notice Arsheus was pushing me from behind to get me moving until I heard his voice.
" Let's go"
When he spoke I came back to life. That was right. We needed to get out.
I nodded and looked at my surroundings for the first time. We were in the middle of a hallway like any other in the castle, nothing that could tell our position apart from the rest visible on the walls.
It was as well lit as the rest of the passages, torches on the walls. If it weren't cause I had been inside the tiles just a few minutes ago I wouldn't have believed that under those perfectly placed tiles that looked solid was an underground passage that led into the dungeons.
When I felt Arsheus moving forward I snapped out of my daze and followed him.
" Where are we going now?" My voice was soft as I asked. I wanted to know where we were going now. Allea was still out there waiting for us and worst of all, that woman, Cordelia, was out too and unlike Allea she seemed to have real power.
" To my room"
" Really? Is that it, shouldn't we go to somewhere outside, where they don't know us?"
Arsheus didn't answer my complaints, he just glared at me, telling me silently to shut up.
Fine, I could shut up if that was what he wanted. I was pissed and he was going to pay for that later on, but fine.
As we moved out of the hallway and into nearby ones Arsheus and the men in front of me went still, their hands reaching for the weapons hanging from their belts.
When I saw them so on edge I wished I too had a weapon for myself, but nooooo. I didn't need a weapon.
All I could do was trust them to protect me, so I did. I walked closer to Arsheus and stayed near him, fear gripping me.
As we walked the guards and other servants turned to look at us and stare longer than they'd ever done, but no one came for us.
After a while of being ignored I begun calming down, sure now that they wouldn't try to kill us.
Although my mind was calmer and no longer shouting at me I was still on edge. Only when we reached Arsheus's room did I finally calm down when they pushed us all inside and closed the door behind us.
The first thing I did when I was inside was look at the room. It was just like mine, which was kind of depressing and a let down. I didn't know what I had expected, but definitely not the same room I had. I had thought it would be something greater, not....this.
" Well, time to speak up" Arsheus's harsh tone as he spoke to Raphael dragged me out of my own thoughts and into reality.
I turned to look at them and found both Rin and Arsheus glaring at Raphael, their eyes no longer warm and welcoming as they looked at him with something close to suspicion in their eyes.
I was finally getting some information.
I pretended I didn't care so that they wouldn't drag me out as I sat down on the bed, my ears opened as much as I could to take in every single word they uttered. For once I was finally getting the information I wanted.
I was going to know what this was all about.
" Remember how I helped you out in the end?" Raphael's voice was steady as he regarded the other two.
His words made no sense for me. I wanted to ask them what they were talking about, but all of them seemed serious as fuck as they listened. I was fairly sure that if I were to speak right now they would try to kill me. I would have to ask about their relationship at a later date. For now I was just happy listening in on their conversation.
" I remember" Rin nodded, agreeing to whatever Raphael had said that I hadn't understood. If the whole conversation was going to be like that I was as good as fucked. I didn't understand jack shit.
" Well, the rest caught me"
Arsheus and Rin stood still, listening for the continuation of the story.
Since Raphael didn't immediately continue I saw the chance and I took it. I was tired of not knowing.
" What do you mean you helped them in the end? Weren't you enemies? What is all that about?"
As soon as I spoke up all of them turned to look at me. Arsheus and Rin glared, clearly unhappy that I had interrupted their important conversation. Raphael, on the other hand seemed thankful for the change of topic.
" I know them from way back. We used to fight over everything. They were the demons in charge and I.... I was the angel in charge. We must've fought time and time again, but despite everything I always considered them my friends. Our battles always ended before anyone could get hurt, that was until the other elders decided they wanted a war" I stared at Raphael. This whole story was new. I knew nothing about this. Demons were supposed to be the bad guys, they had always been, right? " The elders decided to attack, but I couldn't watch my friends die, so I warned them" Raphael's eyes shone with unshed tears as he regarded Arsheus and Rin with care. " Anyway, they caught me and that is the end of the story"
I stared at Raphael. There were a few things that I wanted to ask, the first of them about what he had said about him being an important angel. As far as I knew the elders were only the men that we had found dead not that long ago. They had always been them, there was no one else. Since no one seemed to care or tried to shut me up I dared to ask what I wanted to know.
" Are you an elder?
" I used to be"
What? Weren't the elders fixed? Was all I knew a lie?
" Why did they attack the demons if they didn't begin the war?"
Arsheus looked at me and nodded, as if agreeing with my question. I was glad that for once he seemed to be as curious as me about something.
" I don't know. At first I thought they just wanted power, but now...." Raphael didn't finish his sentence, which annoyed me. Why couldn't he finish it?
" Now?" Arsheus looked calm as he urged Raphael to continue.
He sighed and rubbed his temples before opening back up his mouth.
" Now I think it has to do with Cordelia"
" Who is she?" Rin opened his mouth to speak, his tone harsh.
" The previous elder's wife" I was faster than Raphael, so I answered the question.
" How do you know her?" Arsheus sounded suspicious as he asked.
I glared at him. I wasn't about to let him doubt me. In the end Arsheus pulled his eyes away and lowered his head, which I interpreted as an apology. I could accept that.
" I met her at the ball"
Arsheus frowned and bit his lower lip. I had noticed he sometimes did that when he was stressed.
Before I could ask him if anything was wrong he turned to look at Raphael.
" How do you know her?"
" She was the one that imprisoned me when I caught her murdering her husband and taking the heart away from him"
Arsheus's and Rin's face paled in real time as they listened to Raphael. I didn't understand half of what they had said, but before I could say anything else Arsheus launched at Raphael and grabbed him by the collar, his eyes darting and his body shaking violently as he pushed him.
" Are you sure!!!?" I had never seen Arsheus looking so disheveled and shaken before. Whatever Raphael had said had touched a nerve.
I didn't think it was that bad, but apparently both Rin and Arsheus did. Both of them looked as if they were looming right over the edge as their eyes stayed fixed on Raphael.
The man in question looked a little bit concerned, but nothing more. Soon the concern turned into amusement as understanding dawned on him.
" That was what you were doing here, right? Looking for it"
What the fuck were they talking about?
Arsheus's eyes gleamed as he picked Raphael and threw him to the other side of the room, breaking the wall with his strength.
Blood splattered everywhere as Raphael passed the wall, the debris from the destroyed structure thrown all over the room.
I stood up and ran up to him, shocked. Why the fuck had Arsheus done that?
I ran over to where Raphael was laying in a pool of his own blood, concern written all over my face.
As soon as I saw him I paled. He didn't look fine. White bone was protruding from his torso as red blood poured out from his mouth, ears and multiple wounds all over his body. Just looking at him made me want to puke.
He didn't have a single bone in it's place, his nose broken in several places and bended the wrong way.
It was a miracle he was alive.
Why the fuck had Arsheus done that?
" Are you okay?"
I tried to help Raphael, but I didn't know what to do. I didn't even know how to heal myself, much less another person. Maybe a few cuts, but nothing like the bloody mess in front of me.
" Yes" Raphael's voice was shaky as he spoke, a clot of blood flowing out of his mouth as soon as he opened it.
He looked like fucking trash.
I stayed there, near Raphael, trying to help him, but I twisted my head and glared at Arsheus.
" What the fuck was that about!!!!?"
He looked shocked as he looked at me, his eyes darting between me and Raphael.
" I'm sorry, I lost my cool there"
Holy fuck, I hadn't noticed.
Before I could scream some more Arsheus walked up to us and placed his hand on Raphael, healing his wounds in a second.
It was cool and all healing wounds that easily, but he shouldn't have inflicted them in the first place.
" I'm sorry" Arsheus looked somewhat really sorry as he offered Raphael his hand to help him up.
Instead of saying no or looking mildly afraid at least Raphael smiled and took it.
" I'm the one who's sorry. I shouldn't have played with you"
I stared at them.
Whatever. They could solve their own problems.
" So what now?" I was, as always, the one to ask the sensitive question. What the fuck were we going to do now?
Arsheus turned to look at me with his eyes filled with mischief. My heart raced looking at his smile. My panties lit on fire and I had to clench my tights. I fucking loved it when he teased me like that.
" Now we...." Before Arsheus could finish his lewd sentence the door blasted open, fire engulfing everything.
In a second I went from horny to afraid as the smoke reached me and the heat touched my skin.
What the fuck was going on?
Before I had even enough time to cough or try and escape a loud crash came from near me and dread pooled in my stomach as I watched Arsheus flying through the room only to end up on the opposite wall, just like what had happened to Raphael, blood everywhere.
What the fuck was going on?