Ascension - Book Eight - Man x Man

Chapter 135

"Can't find a vessel, Anubis?" Verando snaps, positioning himself slightly in front of me. I resist the urge to cover my nose, noting the body seems to be coming apart at the seams. 

"I don't wish to be here longer than is necessary. I've done much to rid the world of the wraith forests, but as you can imagine, I'm struggling with the burden of a world cast into darkness. It appears only the sinners still walk this plane, how it's different from the last time I stepped foot onto this putrid soil..." Lifting the ashy hand, he touches a leaf on a tree casually, as it withers and dies. 

"To what do I owe the honor? If you're so busy, why have you come here? Or were you just hoping to see if a vessel really could be achieved, Fenrir seemed eager to meet you." 

With black, ink-stained teeth, the vessel almost smiles but instead, the expression falls back into vacant staring as he observes the two of us. "Well, I suppose I was expecting to talk to Fenrir, not his vessel.. but it would appear that beast is not in complete control." 

In the blink of an eye, the man is before us, his hand clutching Verando's throat and the inky black spreading like opened floodgates. My husband shoves him off with a snarl, I feel my magic rush to my fingertips yet it threatens to drain me all in one. 

I should have left, I shouldn't have come for I'm a liability in this state. I'm so weak from trying to grow this child, from my body doing everything it can to keep us both alive, using would render me unconscious if I wasn't careful. My wolf backs off with a whimper in my mind's eye, Anubis was too powerful, we would not win if we fought back.

"Just under the surface. Fenrir... why are you placing nice with mortals?" Anubis tilts his head, black eyes overly wide as he watches curiously before exhaling a long, cold breath that feels much like an arctic chill. "Busy. I'm too busy for all of this, I've got a boat waiting for me. I am the escort of the underworld and all. I'll cut to the chase-"

"Please do." Verando snarls, I gasp as I feel the cold hand wrap around my throat, pulling me backward as I'm now suddenly facing my husband. It's as if the very life was being sucked out of my bones. Anubis grips the golden cuff, I spy his reflection as he sniffs it only to suddenly produce a staff to point at Verando and halt the male's approach. 

"Let. Him. Go." Verando's voice is a low rumble, I see his body trembling, threatening to implode despite the chain digging into his neck under the collar of his shirt.

"Well, you see, I need your help; and you, mortal, owe me no favors. This feels like a quicker way to get my point across. So-" Shaking his staff, he encourages Verando to back up. "Step back, and I won't hurt him or.. whatever curse Bast has decided to put upon him. Or, would you rather I offer you a favor instead? I weigh hearts you know, good and evil... desires and fore thoughts, you.. might like this more?" 

Gripping my cuff, I nearly scream as he squeezes it. "Stop!" I plead, feeling my insides threaten to shred. 

Verando lifts his hands, "Stop. Hurt a damned hair on his head and any deal you hope to gain will be impossible. What do you want? You have my attention, now spit it out."

"Rumor has it that you both harbor the reincarnation of the unicorn. Is this the truth?" He demands, at my husband's hesitation he squeezes the band again and I feel my knees threatening to buckle. The pain is indescribable as if removing the cuff would rip the gift right out of me. It'd been told me too many times before, that it would take a god to remove the band, and in my research, Anubis was immensely powerful. 

"Yes." Verando manages. 

"Don't tell him anything, Randy-"

"Hush." Anubis spits, crossing his staff over my throat and pressing the back of my head into his rigid chest. Mulling this over, muttering to himself for a moment, Anubis seems to accept this as true. "The balance of the world is thrown out of order-"