Lords of the Underworld [malexmale]

Chapter Thirty-Eight

"Let's talk and fight at the same time," I suggested in a growl, whirling around to catch an enemy in the throat with my blade, "You know, to avoid that whole dying thing. Could be real nasty if someone wipes me off the face of the planet that'll disappear after I'm gone." Abel wrinkled his nose, but didn't disagree as he threw his sword and it impaled a soldier in the back.

"Persephone has a secret entrance into your palace via an underground maze that lets out wherever your destination is," He told me as he spun around and put his back to mine, kicking a soldier back from him, "Unfortunately, it only has one entrance and it happens to be on the edge of my least favorite river. It's a specific spot too. I can take you to it." I nodded.

"Sounds like a plan. Now, if we can just get to that side of the field." I muttered, narrowing my eyes at what seemed like miles between our post in the empty field and the river. And just a couple miles off to the west was Cerberus's mansion, in flaming ruins that I'm sure was pissing him off judging from his angry howls and snarls as he tore through the soldiers like an oversized version of Cujo.

"You aren't going anywhere without me." Cain snarled suddenly from nearby and we turned to see him hacking the head off one soldier before a second leapt onto his back. Cain swung the soldier over his shoulder onto the ground, then punched a hole through his gut and tore out his intestines, which he then proceeded to throw into the face of a nearby enemy, who shrieked and ran away.

"My hero." Abel deadpanned, watching the soldier flee.

"Remind me to sign him up for therapy after this." I grunted, causing my sword to dissipate and splash to the ground as blood. Cain scoffed, walking over to us and putting his hands on his hips.

"Trust me, this is therapy. Now let's go do our thing. Got enough juice for teleportation?" He asked. I started to nod before a soldier came screaming at us with an axe, but Cain caught him by the arm, tore him off his feet and snarled in his face, baring his fangs before throwing the soldier down and cutting his head off with his own axe. I frowned and tried to focus on concentrating a spot for teleportation, but a handful of soldiers came screaming at us, waving their weapons. The twins cursed and quickly whirled to face them. I started to send out a blast of power, but pain split my skull and I roared in agony, sinking down to my knees and covering my ears.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" I shouted, blinking rapidly against tears that threatened to surface as pain pulsed hot in my skull. I had fought hard to try and ignore all the screaming thoughts blazing through my head from all the other soldiers, but I was like an ADHD squirrel. Concentration in the midst of a screaming battle was damn near impossible.

"Are you all right?" Abel demanded, dropping to his knees beside me.

"Fine!"

"You don't look fine! You're bleeding from your right ear! We need to get you to the back of the troops and find Jahlia--"

"No," I barked at him, jerking from his grip and struggling to get to my feet, breathing hard, "We don't have time! Teleport me to the entrance, now!" Abel clenched his teeth and appeared to want to argue, but Cain was thankfully more cooperative as he grabbed both our arms and teleported us from the center of the battle field, away from a group of soldiers that had been charging for us. We moved from the battlefield to the out skirts, a good ways away from the fighting.

We appeared just near the river that seemed to bubble and churn from the amount of turmoil going on around it. Not to mention, the blood soaking the field was flooding into the river and turning it a deep dark red color. The souls inside writhed and screamed in agony. It made my head ache even further.

"It should be around here somewhere." Abel assured me, stepping away from the grass to the cobblestone path that ran the lengths of the river. I watched him move across the stones, tapping them with his foot when a fissure of power cut through the air and I cursed, whirling around just in time to grab Cain in my arms, jerking him out of the way of a vertical plate of flames that dispersed just a short ways away. Cain looked around, startled before looking up at me, like he hadn't expected me to save him. I quickly pushed him behind me with Abel, who had ducked behind me at the source of the power.