The Unknown // Colby Brock

~~ Chapter Twenty-Five ~~

"My stomach is still uncomfortable. Is that enough of a reason for you to stay with me?"

"You're uncomfortable?" he blurted worriedly. The shirt of his that I was wearing - which was pretty much the only thing I was wearing - was instantly lifted to reveal my stomach where, for the first time, I saw the little scar the stab wound had left behind. It felt more uncomfortable having to look at it than it did before...

"I'm fine, Colby. Just leave it be," I said as I pried his hand away. "Let me just rest for a while. And I want you to stay. That's what you've wanted for a while now, right? Me?"

"Of course."

"Then just lie with me."

He was slightly hesitant but I felt him nod as his arms slid around my waist and pulled me in against him some more.

"I love you," I whispered, testing the waters.

He leaned down to kiss my cheek and whispered back, "I love you, too."

Then I settled.

********************

"You don't know that!" I giggled, pushing Colby's grabby hands away.

He chuckled back at me and dragged me over his lap being careful not to disrupt my scar. His lips went to my neck for a moment, trailing up to my lips where he kissed me a couple of times, a smile on his face. I loved to see his smile. I hadn't really seen it until today after we'd spent half the day laughing and teasing one another. I couldn't imagine a better way to spend my recovery time from the stabbing.

But just when I was about to move closer to him, a red flash caught my eye. My hand automatically went over my mouth as I moved form Colby's lap and turned to the intruder, who turned out to be Jake. He smiled apologetically, though I was kinda pissed still.

"Sorry kitten, Colby," he said casually as if he expected us to be like that. "There's a little issue and we need you, Colby."

"What kind of issue?"

"Um it's about the prisoner."

Colby eyes narrowed before he nodded, shooing Jake out of the room. He gave me a quick wink then blinded me with the big red flash that seemed to bounce off of every reflective surface in the area.

"Guess we should head downstairs. Flash me to my room?" I asked hopefully. Colby nodded and gently took my hand. When the flash of red died down, we were stood in the centre of my empty, boring room.

I quickly found something to wear so that I wasn't just prancing about in Colby's shirt then walked back up to him.

"Hope this isn't anything serious."

"For their sake, I hope it is," he grumbled back.

I pouted and placed my hands on either side of his face, silently asking him to smile. He did after a moment, making me smile back and kiss him.

"You make the devil hide away and I don't like it. I can't act tough around you."

"There's no need to act tough, that's why. I've already seen your cuddly side," I teased.

"And I'm leaving."

"No! Wait for me." I quickly grabbed his hand and followed him out of my room. We walked down the empty hallway, every room seeming to be completely silent, which only meant that everyone was downstairs. Which never meant anything good besides my arrival.

Surprisingly, Colby never let go of my hand, even when we reached the top of the stairs where we could be seen by the circle of all of our friends. They each turned to look at us the closer we got to the throne room itself making my heart beat a little bit faster. The devil, on the other hand, wasn't even affected in the slightest. He walked to his throne dragging me along the whole way then sat down, still holding my hand. I tried not to smile too much when I perched on the arm of his throne.

"Is that a little smile I see, Colby?" Kevin teased as he raised an eyebrow at his king.

"No. It's a glare. What's the issue?"

"Right. A couple of prisoners are making rackets that are disturbing... well, there is no peace in hell but it's annoying as fuck. Kevin wants your permission to remove them by sending them to heaven..."

"Why heaven?" I blurted, frowning at Jake.

"That's what we always do. When the prisoners get sent back down, they fall into the lava."

My confusion only got worse. Why not just kill them? Remove them entirely from existence rather than have them in this afterlife. Although that was still more torturous.

"God's on his last legs with us, as my mother made very clear. Unless we want a war right now, which we don't" — Colby looked between everybody who'd gotten excited at the sound of a war — "we better not do anything to piss God off, including sending unwanted prisoners to his shiny golden gates."

"That sounds like a euphemism," I mumbled.

Colby almost laughed but he contained it in time and squeezed my hand to tell me to shut up. "So, we'll deal with them before they get thrown into lava, or we'll send them to the dungeon for a while to shut them up."

"You're seriously going to kiss God's ass?" Mike complained.

"I'm not kissing his ass, Michael. I'm preventing him from snapping and deciding that hell isn't necessary anymore."

"He's already decided that," Reggie admitted as he scratched the back of his neck. Cassie kicked him in the shin but he still opened his mouth to speak again. "He's just waiting for the opportunity."

"Reggie's got a point," Cassie said as she cleared her throat. "From his perspective, you're never going to find a queen in the time period he's given you."

"That's from his perspective," Colby replied quietly.

I turned my head to look at him and smiled. The thought of becoming the queen of hell partly terrified me, but another side of me liked it. I would get to rule by Colby's side, which was an honour in of itself.

"We're going to have a little chat with God tomorrow, so alert him for me, Jake."

"On it." Jake disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"I don't want everyone to come with me, but I'll take some muscle. Kevin, Corey, Cassie, and Jake when he comes back. Devyn, you can come, too, but only if you're disguised just in case something happens."

"Why can't I come?" I asked with a little pout.

He raised an eyebrow, shaking his head before tugging me a little closer. I almost fell onto his lap. "Because you're going to look after hell for me" — he paused, capturing all of my attention — "my queen."

My heart practically stopped. I couldn't help but just stare at him, lips parted. The last time he'd called me his queen, I'd ended up stuck in heaven for weeks. But back then, I knew something was off. This time, I could see it in his eyes that he meant it. I would be his queen. Sometime - maybe sooner rather than later - I'd be crowned right beside him.

"Ari's blushiiiiiiiiiiing," Xepher sang as she wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

I pushed her away but the little smile on my face didn't fade. Everything just seemed so right; so perfect.

"Come on, I need to talk to you," she pushed, grabbing my other hand and tugging me away from Colby. I put up a little fight but gave up after a second, jogging with her up the stairs. She dragged me into my room where she sat me down forcefully before taking a seat right next to me, legs crossed. "We are talking about you and Colby, I don't care what you say. Spill all the beans right now..."