Act of a Demon: The Dark Bloods - Book II ✓

Chapter 11 - Better Than Nothing

11.

Better Than Nothing

Dante, Reyna, and Gahn sat in a circle facing each other. The branch they were on was colossal enough to hold them with space to spare. Its dark bark was thick and twisted, and it had required several sweeps of Dante’s sword to smooth it out for them to sit without any discomfort. The now concaved tree husk even provided a backrest for the three to enjoy.

“So, are you guys gonna tell me what happened now?” Reyna asked.

Gahn leaned his head back and sighed. “Yeah, cutie. I just wanted us to get some distance between us and that asshole.”

Dante chuckled at the demon’s reference to Mundus.

Reyna rolled her eyes. “Well there’s about two days’ worth of nonstop, silent distance between us, so tell me now. What happened? Why did Auronmar surrender?”

Gahn stared at the two demanding faces of the humans before him. His gaze shifted to the wooden surface beneath them. It held such a suave and creamy, soft brown hue, a complete opposite in texture and color from the harsh bark that had coated it.

“To be honest, I’m not sure,” he said. Reyna’s face fell and Dante’s curled into disbelief.

“But I heard you say something to him. Something about not knowing if ‘she’ won’t kill him. You were talking about Blethinette, right?” Dante said and leaned towards Gahn. “What did you mean by all that?”

He met the Berserker’s stare. “Yeah, I meant Blethinette. I didn’t want Master Auronmar surrendering to her ‘cause I wasn’t sure how far she’d go.”

“How far she’d go? Isn’t it kinda obvious she wouldn’t mind killing Auronmar?” Reyna chimed in.

“She can’t.” Gahn shifted his serious stare towards her. “At least I hope she remembers she can’t.”

The two gave him frustrated looks.

“Will you just tell us already?” Reyna reached out to smack Gahn’s head, but he effortlessly dodged and gave a small smile. It wasn’t enough to light up his face to its usual charm though.

“Sorry, cutie. I’m trying to figure out if Auronmar would want me to tell ya guys this or not,” he said.

Dante harshly sighed. “Are you serious? Auronmar has been captured, we have nowhere to go, and you’re still with that?”

“Well he’s still my master. I can’t help it!” Gahn rebutted with a glare. “Look, just know that they can’t really kill each other. If they do, the other one suffers in some way. I’m just worried Blethinette is so up the crazy house that she’s forgotten that, and that’s all I’m saying.”

“I guess,” Reyna said under her breath while Dante said nothing.

A few moments of silence passed before the three companions regarded each other with a silent question: What now?

A noise rippled through the quietness and pushed it away. It was a loud, gurgling roar, easily recognizable for what it was.

Dante hugged his stomach and a scarlet wave graced his cheeks. “Uh, sorry about that.”

Reyna and Gahn looked at him for a moment before bursting out laughing.

“Easy for you guys to laugh when one of you is a demon that doesn’t need to eat and the other uses weird healing stuff to keep herself nourished.” Dante pouted.

Reyna shook her head, bringing her giggles to a stop. “No. I eventually am going to need to eat. What I really am is thirsty.”

“Yeah, me too, but this whole world is only grass and trees. I haven’t seen any bodies of water anywhere.”