Styx: The River of Hate [malexmale]

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

"Wait, you guys think the Titan is trying to turn you against Lord Theo?" Rara asked as we made our way down the hallway toward the throne room. I nodded, walking swiftly with my head held high, ready to face Malachi.

I wasn't scared of Malachi, now. There was no reason to be. He was one of the most tame of the brothers, and despite his mutual hatred for Theo, he wasn't going to let something this dangerous pass by. He would know what to do, or know whether it was the truth.

"Why else would I have a dream, Rara," I asked her as we walked, "Seth sealed my powers away, all of them. Dream walking, dreaming in general. I should not be able to do any of it, and yet, I happened to have a dream of Lord Theo, when he was a child. Someone is toying with my dreams and I don't know how it is. And how convenient that it happens after we receive a message about the Titans trying to escape."

"Wait," Rara said sternly, surprising me with how serious her tone was, "Let me get this straight. You get a message from a Titan who plans to infiltrate you, turn you against each other, so they can escape. To do that, one of them jumps into your dreams and tries to use you to get at Lord Theo."

"Do you have another idea?" I demanded impatiently as we passed through the throne room, that was now empty. We were heading to the main doors to take the less obvious way out.

When someone teleported in and out of Theo's palace, a sliver of power pierced the air in order to alert Theo that someone was leaving or coming. It was much less conspicuous to take the front doors as it used much less power than teleportation.

"No," Rara admitted with a frown, brushing her hair back from her face, "But something about it doesn't seem right. Call it woman's intuition."

"I don't trust your intuition," I said dryly, making her wrinkle her nose, "Not after you got me in trouble for going into town." Rara grinned sheepishly at that, but said nothing more as we went to the small lobby where the main doors were. I reached out and pushed them open, concentrating on the location I meant to be.

Instantly, Rara and I were drenched as we stepped outside onto the platform outside Malachi's manor in Inferi. Rain poured down in heavy waves, making Rara's teeth chatter at how icy cold it was. I fought hard against the chills the rain gave me and approached the front doors, knocking first out of respect.

While I was on Theo's side a large percentage of the time and I was his servant to the core of my soul, I still held respect for Malachi for being mature, even in the face of Theo's temper tantrums. He was also rather powerful and I wasn't in the mood for having my head popped off like the cork on a wine bottle.

The doors opened and Rara ran inside first, whining like a cat as she shuddered, shaking off her soaking wet body as I stepped in beside her, letting the doors close behind me. In the lobby were Malachi's front guards, Fos and Skotadi, two sister daemons.

Fos was small, like Rara, but still a couple inches taller with hair as black as midnight and cut short to the nape of her neck, bangs framing a pair of gold eyes in a black backdrop. Skotadi was taller, more slender, with long deep red hair that fell to her waist in wavy locks, matching her irises that were also sunken in black. Both of them wore tight leather black suits and looked hardly intimidating, but I had heard otherwise from people who made the mistake of underestimating them.

"Ooph," Fos made a sound of distaste, "What're you doing here?"

"How rude," Rara exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips, "That is no way to greet guests. Be thankful that this is not a hotel, should I tell your master and he have you both flogged." Fos stiffened and bared her fangs, but Skotadi smacked her in the back of the head before narrowing her eyes at us.