Deliverance [malexmale]

Chapter Fourteen

And even though my stomach cramped sharply at the idea of eating, I wasn't in the mood. I didn't want anything in my stomach at the moment and the idea of eating something that was possibly poisoned only quelled my appetite further.

"I want to talk to Atlan," I said at last. After all, the bastard yanked me out of Hell and dropped me in another kind of hell. One where he had yet to confront me and I was tired of playing his waiting game. It was now or never, and I was pissed enough to tell Atlan to fuck off and die without fearing for my life.

Not that I was ever really afraid of dying.

If anything, it would be a relief, which fueled my urge to piss Atlan off further.

"He may not be available," Dianna murmured, reaching up to place a hand on her cheek thoughtfully, "Last I checked, he was away, but if you let me feed you, I can go--"

"I don't want your food and I don't want your hospitality. It's clear that I am a prisoner here and treating me as a guest will not earn you brownie points," I replied flatly, folding my arms over my chest. Dianna scowled at me quizzically.

"Brownie points?"

"I don't know," I admitted. I'd heard Hannibal, Akin, Arikos, and a number of other people use the term and while I understood its use, I wasn't entirely sure what it meant.

"Very well," Dianna said at last, then cut me a grimace, "Just don't use your strange modern idioms around me. It makes my skin crawl." I arched a brow at that particular reaction.

"Why?" I asked. Dianna frowned for a moment, a haunting look passing in her eyes before she averted the, clearing her throat and gesturing for me to follow her. Mostly curious about her reaction, I obeyed. Dianna never answered my question. Just led me through the winding hallways as if she knew exactly where she was going, and it made sense that Atlan's servant would know how to maneuver the halls.

"You're not a prisoner, by the way," Dianna said, making me give her a droll stare.

"Of course not. The ever changing halls are just to give me exercise and the island is to help me relax."

"What else would it be for?" Dianna asked. Her tone was so serious it caught me off guard and I looked her, but she kept her eyes ahead and I sighed, averting my eyes. Yeah, there was no getting through to this woman. She was brainwashed and didn't appear to even realize that her own charge was a prisoner-- or maybe she did and Atlan had just ordered her to be nice to me in order to sway me to their cause.

Nice try, Atlan.

Niceness was not the way to win my loyalty now. If anything, it only made me more bitter. Because it was the cold hard reality that slapped me across the face, reminding me that no one would be nice to me out of the kindness of their hearts. No one was nice without a reason. Everyone and everything had a motive. For a moment, a memory blipped in my mind of Arikos, but I quickly shook my head, reminded myself the whole reason Arikos had played the nice guy in the first place.

Being the Key of Atlantis was turning out to be a really shitty gig.

So much for being all-powerful.

Tiberius saw to that. A chill crept up my spine at the reminder and I flinched at a wave of memories I really did not want to revisit. I shuddered and came to a stop in the hallway, making Dianna look at me in concern, but her voice was muffled by the sudden onslaught of unwanted voices in my head. I cursed and snatched at my wrists, sinking my fingernails down into the fresh scars in an attempt to rip them open.

Dianna's eyes widened in fright and she caught my hands to stop me and I snarled at her, making her leap back. The fear in her eyes instantly snapped me out of my horror show and I swallowed hard, stepping back against the wall, my chest rising and falling frantically as I tried to regain control of myself.