Retribution [malexmale]

Chapter Eighteen

"This is great and all, but where's your so-called entrance?" He asked, gesturing around the cave. Dorean and I blinked, turning to scan the cave. Sure enough, there was nowhere else to go. The entire cave was just rocky walls with gems stuck into them. Lea snorted at him, moving toward one of the walls.

"If it was that easy, we wouldn't be one of the fiercest pantheons in existence. Stand back, sugar." She said, waving her arm back. Hades arched a brow, appearing amused by her as Lea thrust her hands out at the wall, causing white wisps of magic to shoot out from her fingertips and coil against the wall. A second later, a foggy entrance appeared and Hades just harrumphed as if he were hardly impressed and Lea just smirked at his denial before she waved us forward. We walked through the entrance and into the familiar twisting turning tunnels of the catacombs.

"I'll contact the others." Hades said once we were inside. We nodded and he sent a telepathic message to the desdios. We could've used the communication devices that Hades had made in the past, but Lea warned us against it. It was better to do less talking out loud for fear of attracting anymore enemies.

"They're safe," Hades said after a moment, "The griffin's subdued, not dead. Cowards. Anyway, they're en route to the chamber where Zetnos is. Let's stick close together and keep an eye out. We won't know what we encounter here." We nodded and began to move down one of the hallways, trying to navigate through the catacombs. As we walked, I kept close to Anexius so I could speak to him in a low tone.

"Anexius, what were you thinking?" I said through clenched teeth. Anexius shot me an angry glare.

"I was thinking that I had to save my brother."

"And almost blasting Lea?"

"It was an accident," He said in irritation, clenching his fists, "I didn't mean to. Just get off my back and focus on the task at hand." I didn't say anything. After seeing him lose his temper once and almost break my head open, I decided that now wasn't the time to get into a scuffle, so I hung back until I was walking beside Dorean. It wasn't until I did that, that I noticed Dorean looked a little pale and sick to his stomach. I frowned.

"Dorean, are you all right?" I asked. He hesitated, hugging his arms over his chest tightly before he gave his head a shake. I started to press it further, but a second later, there was a loud shriek.

"Down!" Hades commanded and we instantly obeyed as he threw his hand out and sent a blast of hot flames over our heads, singing my cheeks, and the blast collided with a demonic creature that was thrown back across the corridor. Lea cursed, shooting to her feet.

"The Kirati. They've caught onto us. Stick close, everyone." She commanded. Haded waved his hand to cool it off and Lucifer looked at him.

"Are you all right?"

"Fine," Hades responded briefly, scanning the hall, "We need to move. This place is way too tight for us to get into a battle with those things. Is there a chamber nearby we can set up to keep them at bay?"

"Yes," I replied instantly, "Zetnos's greeting room is just down this hall to the left." Hades nodded.

"Then let's head there. Watch your backs." He added. Everyone nodded and we moved quickly down the hallway. I looked back at Dorean, who appeared shaken and caught up to my side, taking my hand in his. I gave him a reassuring look that promised we'd continue our discussion later. Right now, we had to worry about whether or not we'd even have a later.

As we ran, I heard the sound of another shriek and dared to glance over my shoulder, hissing through clenched teeth when I saw one of the Kirati chasing after us. She kept her head low, teeth bared, her wings beating the air. She moved like a bullet down the hallway and was gaining us on quickly. I cursed, then sent a powerful energy shooting down my arm into the palm of my hand and quickly threw it over my shoulder at her, but she dodged. I threw a second one and this one caught her in the wing, causing her to slam into the ground, but it didn't stop her as she scrambled to her feet and struggled to gain on us again.