Incubus [malexmale]

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty (Killian)

I had seen many a miracle in my day, but none such as the one before me that day.

Only hours ago did I leave Alexius in a dark warehouse to torture his captive, leaving him with the words I had hoped changed his heart. I knew it would take time. After all, this Nico had been the one to cause Alexius a considerable amount of pain.

But I hadn't expected it to happen this fast.

Alexius came out of the woods on the trail, walking with his head held high. He had the same glow in his eye that meant he was taking in everything around him. It was as if his mind were taking a hundred pictures at a time. He was inhaling the deep scents of the air, savoring them. But the most shocking detail of all was the fact that he was dragging Nico behind him by his elbow. Nico look less damaged and had seemed to have healed.

I turned to Xav, but he was staring as well, so I left him alone and jogged across the training fields to meet him. Alexius saw me coming and instantly stopped, jerking Nico to a none-too-kind stop. Nico flashed him a glare, but said nothing as he saw me coming. He curled his lip at me, but remained silent as I approached, my hand resting on the hilt of my sword.

"What happened?" I asked. Alexius studied my face for a moment, then narrowed his eyes before taking on a rather nonchalant expression as he shrugged, nudging toward Nico with his head.

"Marikas has put me in charge of him and has ordered that I keep him in my tent." He answered. I frowned, wanting to ask more, but I had learned that questioning Alexius all at once would instantly put him on guard and make him angry, so I only nodded, looking at Nico curiously. My eyes scanned him until I spotted the hole at the center of his pants that he seemed to be trying to hide with the hem of his shirt. My eyes flickered at the position of the hole and I looked at Alexius quickly, but he said nothing and only cleared his throat, shoving past me as he made for his tent.

What had happened?

Surely Alexius wouldn't have done something like that.

Not after his mother... No, Alexius knew nothing of his mother-- and he couldn't know. Not from me anyway. I wanted to go after him and see just what happened, but I had a feeling Alexius didn't want to talk to me right now. I also didn't have much time. I hadn't contacted Kalziar and Ryouta in two days; they were sure to be worrying.

I excused myself from training, walking across the field to my tent that was nearest the fields. I pushed the flap back, peering inside to see that my servant had come by to clean the inside. I quickly ducked inside, shutting the flap and belting it before I went to my bed, flopping down on my back and closing my eyes.

I relaxed, every muscle in my body loosening. I took deep, even breathes as I concentrated on the demon council hall. I laid there for only a few more moments before I opened my eyes and found myself standing in the main room with the large, round table at the center. However, today, Ryouta and Kalziar were joined by a third person-- Goll, the representative of the Ahnz demons from the Ethos pantheon. They all looked up, startled at first before relaxing at the sight of me.

"Killian, you scared the hell out of us." Kalziar scolded, fanning his face. I rolled my eyes, then glanced at Ryouta to see him watching me grimly.

"What's wrong?" I asked him. He glanced at Goll, who sighed in frustration, running a hand through his hair before leaning on the table.

"We have a problem. Ethaniao knows Marikas has a cambion within his ranks. And he's not very happy about it. He's created a special squad just for capturing the cambion." He informed. I blinked, feeling a little shiver of fear go up my spine. A special squad just for capturing Alexius? What could Ethaniao possibly want with Alexius? Alexius would never join his cause. Surely he couldn't be considering killing Alexius. Cambions were extremely important. It was like protecting a rare species. There were very few cambions in the world. It wasn't often that demons mated with humans, as they wanted to avoid the humans trying to take their offsprings.

"What would you have me do?" I asked with a deep frown.

"What you were supposed to do from the beginning," Goll scolded me, making me look at him in surprise, "We know full well what's been happening between you and the incubus cambion. We didn't allow you to take on this mission so you could find a lover, Killian. You were sent in to sway the cambion to return to its rightful place. The realm of the cambions." I felt a wave of irritation flood through my veins, and worse was, I knew he was right. I was wasting my time trying to get personal with Alexius. I had to stop acting and just get to the point.

At the same time, my heart clenched. I would probably never see Alexius again after we finally moved him to the cambion realm. I couldn't help, but worry. Would he be all right there? Would the nature that blossomed in the virgin realm be enough to keep him company? Would he make friends with the other cambions, or close himself off as he did back in Ivacha?

"You're wasting time," Ryouta agreed, turning to face me, tucking his hands into the sleeves of his yukata, "You need to bring Alexius to the realm of the cambions, otherwise, Ethaniao will get his hands on Alexius, and even Goll isn't quite sure what Ethaniao will do to Alexius at that point."

"It's a lot harder than you think," I protested in irritation, "You're the one who told me that Alexius wasn't treated as a proper cambion. He was severely abused by his people. He doesn't trust anyone and even though I've tried to get closer to him, he still doesn't trust me well enough. But I'm close. I need more time."

"You've run out of time," Ryouta told me firmly, narrowing his eyes at me, "Alexius needs to join the cambions in his realm. If he refuses to become neutral, then I'm afraid we'll have to change the terms of your mission."

"Excuse me?" I demanded, snapping my head to glare at him. He glared back, dropping his arms to his sides. Kalziar winced and took a step back to avoid our argument while Goll sighed in frustration.

"You heard me," Ryouta spoke in a hard, icy tone, "We can't risk the entire universe for one cambion. If he cannot see the wrong in his ways and join his fellow cambions, you must kill him, Killian."

I felt like I'd been kicked in the chest. I couldn't breath for a full minute and my brain raced around in circles around that simply sentence. Kill Alexius? Even though our whole purpose was to rescue him, if I can't do that, I'd have to kill him myself? How could they even come to that conclusion? Cambions were rare, powerful creatures to be protected and reserved for when the real moments of the apocalypse were upon us. And not only that, but I'd unintentionally gotten close to Alexius.

I couldn't imagine killing him. I couldn't think of any ways to do it. My mind pulled up a blank sheet and I suddenly remembered the way he had looked trying to protect me from the Croz. He'd only known me for a couple days and he was already fighting off one of the most powerful creations in the world to keep me alone. His arms were torn apart due to his actions, and yet, we both managed to get away alive.

We'd gone through too much to let Alexius die now.

I wasn't going to allow this.

The demon council had been created as a sort of police, to keep the demons in the neutral position and out of the affairs of the gods and humans. We were our own people, and while we have creatures powerful enough to create a war, we understood that and used our powers for different things. Things that didn't involve ultimate devastation.

"No," I said at last, making Ryouta scowl at me in confusion, "I refuse to kill Alexius. He's changing, I know he is. I've been watching him the moment I saw him appear in the camp. I will not allow Ethaniao to get his hands on Alexius and nor will I allow Alexius to die. I will bring him to our side and I will protect him. Your orders may be to take the cambion away from this civil war at all costs, including death, but mine are to protect the cambion."

"Killian, that is not what the council agreed upon--"

"To hell with the council," I snapped in irritation, interrupting Goll, who looked at me in surprise, "I am also a council member and I am not infavor of this decision. I will only come here to report my progress. I volunteered for this mission and I will carry it out as I see fit. So if you're quite finished, I'll be taking my leave." No one said anything. In fact, most of them looked surprised, as if they couldn't believe I'd just retaliated. Actually, even I was having difficulties understanding what I had just done, but there was no time to stand around here and dwell. I had to return to Ivacha and watch Alexius.

Ethaniao was coming after him now.

And knowing the king of the Ethos pantheon, he was not going to treat Alexius kindly.