Lust Or Love

Chapter 20: Hunted And Free

The two laid there on the floor, doing nothing but staring up in shock, before a few of the EggBois began to surround them. Pushing himself up, Arackniss looked at his lover and smiled. It was clear that Pentious was still wrapping his head around the idea that he had shot an Overlord. The serpent looked at him quickly and opened his mouth to speak, suddenly more confused than shocked. "That's not Valentino's house. That's Vox's." He said matter-of-factly. Arackniss nodded. "That's why I came as fast as I could but... where was Vox?"

"He was there." The moment the words came out of his mouth is when he realized the most off putting and befuddling part of the whole thing. Vox had been there. Specifically, he'd come around the corner with Valentino when he'd gone toward the wall. However, Valentino had been the one to run, the one to catch him. Now that he was thinking about it, Vox had actually stopped. He'd let Valentino go after him, stopping in the back to simply watch, just like when they'd been in the office. "He was there." He repeated. "I know he was, I'm not out of touch with reality like that. He was the one who was there first. He was in his office, and then he was wandering the grounds with Val when I was trying to get away. He was even right there when you showed up!" Pentious frowned and looked down at the ground. "He was there, Pen."

"I believe you, Nissy, I'm not saying that he wasn't. I'm just wondering... if he was right there, why didn't he stop us? Why didn't he assist Valentino when he was pursuing you, or... why wouldn't he warn Valentino about me coming for you. He undoubtedly would have seen me coming." Arackniss felt his shoulders drop. Watching the snake turned and head for the front console, he thought about what Vox had said before Val had shown up. He'd said that Pentious' airship and his home were the only places he couldn't see. But that didn't involve it being physically in front of him, it only included him forcing himself into electronics, right? Or did Vox have a reason for not helping Valentino? Shaking off the feeling, he followed after his lover and stood beside the console.

"Hey Pen..." His lover looked down at him from the controls. "Do you have your phone? Vox took mine and I need to let Pops and Angel know I'm alright. I would hate for them to get the cavalry together and charge in there to start a bigger fight with those two." Pentious nodded and reached into his breast pocket to pull out the device. When the man handed him the device, Arackniss noticed the small, flat addition on the back. It was almost like those new pop grips he saw everyone with, but it didn't extend to make holding the phone easier. It was hard and square as well. "What's this?" He pointed to the addition as he asked the question. When Pentious looked at it, he shrugged.

"It's a blocking chip." Arackniss blinked.

"A what?"

"A blocking chip. It ensures that no electronic demons like Vox can slip inside my device. I have one on the ship as well, and their built into my home." Arackniss shook his head at that.

"Wait, wait, wait... so you have a chip that keeps Vox, one of the most powerful Overlords in Pentagram City, completely blind to you?" Again, his lover shrugged.

"I created it a while ago when a electric demon thought he could best me by controlling my ship. He failed of course, but it made me uncomfortable knowing that they could see into my devices, so I blocked them." He said, his focus once again on the controls for the ship and their destination. "Why?" Arackniss shook his head.

"Nothing it's just... something Vox said before Valentino showed up. He wanted to know what we'd done during the Cleanse, because he couldn't watch us. He said your spaces were the only ones he couldn't see." The snake nodded and smiled. "So... I was just wondering if that might be the reason why he didn't react to you, or if he just... genuinely had a different reason." Pentious hummed for a moment before setting the console to autopilot and facing him.