Nico stood beside three men.
They were speaking loudly, clearly not aware of his presence.
"They fell right into her trap," one of them said. The others laughed.
Nico guessed that these were the men that worked with Saltus and the woman they mentioned was the clairvoyant. Now he knew what they looked like at least.
"Some stupid kids can't beat her," another man said. "She's too smart."
They all started laughing but stopped quickly when an Iris-message appeared before them. They straightened and the largest guy, Nico presumed he was the leader, stepped forward.
From his view-point, Nico couldn't see what the person sending the message looked like, but it was clearly a woman, judging by her voice.
"They survived the trap, and all our notes are gone," the woman said. Gaging by their reaction, this was not something they'd anticipated.
"What?!" the male spokesperson said. "Then they know where we are, don't they?"
"Calm down. Yes, they know where our hideouts are, but that doesn't change anything," the woman's voice said, her tone dripping with malice. "I want you to stay put. It's time we stop hiding and teach those brats a lesson."
The men cheered at that and Nico's vision faded.
Nico opened his eyes and immediately noticed a body wrapped around his own. He glanced down and spotted Anubis curled around his torso, his head resting on his shoulder. The god's face was relaxed, his breath coming out in slow waves; the air brushed over Nico's bare chest causing goose-bumps to rise on his skin.
The demigod tried to extract himself out of Anubis' arms, but he just tightened them and let out a whine.
Nico sighed, "I was planning to get things done today, Anubis."
"But you're so warm and cozy," Anubis answered, nuzzling his face further into Nico's shoulder. He got up on one elbow and leaned over to look down at the demigod's face. Nico looked up at him. This close he could see every detail in the other's face. His eyes were the colour of dark chocolate, framed by long lashes. It was odd to think that these were the same eyes he felt terrified of when they glowed yellow in the forest that first night. He felt no fear when he looked into them now, only a belonging with someone who felt exactly like him, who was filled with the same dark energy as himself. He had felt alone for so long, it was strange to have Anubis, who he should definitely be wary of, lie beside him and actually want him. Even if he might have had ulterior motives when they met, Nico was sure he had let go of most of them. He wasn't naïve, he knew Anubis was flawed, but he wanted to bring the best of him out, and he felt like he was getting there.
"We still have to get out and stop those guys," he said, bringing his hand up to swipe some of the god's bangs out of the way. He looked down and felt the area where the manticore spike had punctured his skin. It was smooth, but the scar tissue was already evident.
"It healed already," Nico mused, prodding the pink skin.
Anubis squirmed, "Stop that, it feels weird." The demigod smirked and tickled the skin, only stopping when his hand was grabbed. He smiled sheepishly as the god traced his hand with his thumb, the fingertip following the curves of his scars.
Anubis looked at him and Nico swallowed, his mouth dry. The god smiled and leaned down to press his lips firmly against the demigod's. Nico welcomed it and hummed, his hands slipping into Anubis' hair to pull him closer. He lightly bit his lip, grabbed the god's shoulders and flipped them over.
He straddled Anubis' hips and leaned his weight on his hands on each side of the god's head, looking down at him. Anubis looked surprised and his pupils were dilated.
Nico grinned and lowered his head, kissing Anubis softly. The god pressed back and his hands snaked around Nico's back to stroke his back, his fingers gently tracing the outline of the newly formed scar.
The demigod licked Anubis' lips and slipped his tongue inside once granted entrance. He moved his hand to cup the god's neck, tilting his head to deepen the kiss.
Anubis pulled him down to him and Nico felt something hard press against his thigh. He gasped and shuddered, feeling Anubis smile against his mouth.
Pulling away, Nico swallowed, "Let's continue this at a later time, when we're not searching for murderous people."
Anubis scowled at him, leaned up and kissed him again, "Okay, but don't think you're getting away that easy."
Nico rolled his eyes.
Having planned their destination, based on the Greek notes, Nico grabbed some ambrosia just in case. He grabbed his sword and they were off.
They walked out of the shadows in front of a giant mansion.
Nico looked around, taking in the isolated location. The mansion was walled in on all sides, only one gate leading into the property. Nico couldn't see any houses nearby and knew that this was the perfect spot to hide for someone who didn't want to be found, the place not likely having had any visitors the last century.
"Well, this looks like a nice murder-house," Anubis said from beside him.
Nico scoffed, "Yeah, looks so inviting and everything."
He started to walk towards the main-entrance, his shoes echoing off the stairs. He grabbed the door handle and found the door to be ajar. He pushed it open and entered the house.
The entry was enormous, it would take a long time to search the entire place.
"Should we split up? It'll take too long search otherwise," he said, turning to Anubis.
The god nodded and headed towards the stairs to the second floor. Nico stared at his back as he left and moved to search the first floor.
He walked down the hall and headed for what he thought was the kitchen. It was empty, but he decided to look for anything noticeable. He opened the refrigerator and found it full of containers filled with blood. Furrowing his brow, he left it and, stepped into something looking like the pantry and found three huge freezers. He opened one and almost gagged at the sight. The freezer was filled with human body-parts - arms, legs, and ribs packed in plastic bags.
Nico opened the two other freezers and found them too to be full of body-parts. These people were obviously not only contacts of Saltus but also did some shady things on the side.
He shook his head in disgust and moved on, noticing a door on his left. He opened it and saw steps leading down into a basement. He found the switch and flipped it, the steps down bathed in surprisingly bright light.
He walked down, his eyes widening at the sight that met him at the bottom of the stairs. The room was filled with contraptions, torture contraptions. He saw an Iron Maiden stuck in one corner, a rack in another and a chair with straps for the wrists, ankles and neck. Chains hung from the walls and he could see skulls lining one wall. He grit his teeth when he noticed that some of them were children skulls. These sick bastards were gonna pay.
He walked forward and noticed buckets on the floor. One bucket was filled with cut-off fingers and toes, the other buckets filled with nails and bloody bones.
Nico turned and gagged, the smell hitting his nose. He felt his eyes watering ash he dry heaved, his stomach turning.
A sound behind him made him look up and just avoid the first hit. The second one, however, hit him right in the stomach, sending him to the floor.
His vision swam as he was grabbed by the shoulders and hauled over to the chair. His wrists were strapped down along with his legs and neck. He looked at his attackers, recognising them as the three men from his dream. The two strapping him down were the goons, and the leader was standing with his arms crossed in the corner, a smug expression on his face.
Nico tried to focus. Maybe he could shadow-travel if he was focused enough. He closed his eyes and ignored the pain in his stomach. He was slapped across the face by the man to his right. His eyes shot open at the sting.
The leader stepped forward, "Who are you and who sent you?"
Nico glared at him, but kept his mouth shut.
The man came closer, leaning down to be on eye-level with the demigod, "You know why we cut those people up? They're demigods, and we all know that there are some monsters that love to eat demigod flesh. And some like to drink their blood. For the humans with sight like we have, finding them is easy, and no-one will miss them, they're worthless."
Nico spit in his face.
The leader reeled back and wiped his face furiously, "Fine, stay quiet. We'll get the answers out of you wither way." He nodded to his grunts.
The son of Hades felt one man grab his hair and pull his head slightly backwards, so that it was at an angle. The other grabbed a damp towel from a table and placed it over his face, it smelled like blood and sweat.
Nico knew what would come next, but nothing could prepare him for the actual feeling of the water being poured slowly over his face.
The water seeped into the towel and started running into his mouth, keeping it closed impossible at the angle he was held. The water filled his mouth and he gagged. He couldn't breathe - it felt like he was drowning.
He gagged again and coughed as the water stopped flowing.
"You can stop this anytime," the leader told him, having leaned close to his ear. "Just tell me who you are and who sent you."
Nico gulped in damp air, "F-fuck you…"
The man sighed.
Nico felt the water rushing over his face again, filling his mouth and running down his throat. He gagged and tried counting.
15, 16, 17…
He felt his lungs scream at him to breathe. His ears were buzzing and his hands were straining against the straps.
The water stopped.
"Who are you, and who sent you?"
"Go- fuck yourself-"
The water started running.
30, 31, 32…
He felt his consciousness slipping.
The water suddenly stopped and he gasped. Blood was rushing in his ears, his lungs burning as he gulped in air.
He heard a sickening crack beside him and a thump of something hitting the floor.
The towel was removed and he dragged in a deep breath of fresh air, blinking against the harsh light.
Anubis was standing over him, his face a mask of absolute terror. He brushed hair out of Nico's face and cupped his cheeks.
"Are you okay, did they hurt you in any other way?" his voice sounded terrible, a mix of fury and worry.
Nico swallowed, "I'm okay, they wanted to know who sent us."
Anubis removed the restraints and helped Nico to his feet. The son of Hades dragged in a ragged breath as he was pulled into a hug by the god, Anubis' arms gripping him tightly.
He hugged him back and let his breathing steady.
Over the other's shoulder, he could see the unconscious body of the leader in the corner of the room. One of the two grunts had a broken neck and the other had been reduced to a pile of ash.
Burrowing his face into Anubis' shoulder, he breathed in his earthy scent, "How come you didn't come right away? You always seem to be able to tell where I am."
The god stroked his hair, "Something was clouding my sight of where you were, but I knew that something was terribly wrong." He tightened his grip. "I looked for you everywhere before I found the door to the basement. It seems like it was shrouded in something to make it less obvious."
Nico nodded, "What do we do with the last one?"
Anubis looked back at the man crumpled in the corner, "We could get him to tell us the location of the woman."
The son of Hades nodded again. He pulled away from the god and made his way over to the leader. He leaned down and grabbed his arm, signalling to Anubis to do the same. They pulled the man over to the chair and strapped him down. Nico grabbed the bucket of water and splashed it in his face. The man jolted awake and sputtered.
"What the fuck-" he glanced up and noticed that he was the one strapped down. "What-?" He looked down at the corpse beside him. "You killed him, you fucker!"
Nico ignored his comment. Leaning closer, he looked the man in the eye, "That's what happens to monsters like you. Even though you might call yourself a human, you're worse than any monsters I've met." He straightened, "Now, you'll tell us where your female leader is."
The man stared at him, glaring, "As if I'll tell anything."
Nico shrugged, "We'll get it out of you eventually." He turned and investigated the table filled with instruments. He found a pair of pincers, cutting pliers and a hammer. He walked back to the man and saw him take in the sight of the tools.
"What- what're you gonna do to me? You know I won't tell you anything," he sounded confident, but there was a slight waver in his voice that gave him away.
Nico smiled sweetly at him, "I'm going to give you a taste of your own medicine." He grabbed the pincers and pressed the man's left hand to keep it still as he placed the nail of the index finger in the pincers. He tugged the pincers forcibly and watched the nail being pulled up from the nailbed, thin strings of flesh dangling from the bloody underside.
The man screamed in pain and bucked in the chair. Nico saw tears in the corner of his eyes.
"You want to tell me where she is?" he asked, letting the nail slip out of the pincers and into the bucket beside him, joining the other torn-off tails already in there.
The man gasped, "Fuck- you…"
Nico placed the nail on his middle finger in the pincers and locked eyes with the leader, "I'm going to pull out all your fingernails and if you haven't told me anything by that time I'll find more to do." He pulled and heard the scream tear from the man's throat. Not giving the man another pause, he grabbed the next nail and ripped that out as well. The man wailed and shook in his restraints.
"Gah- ah- stop!" he yelled, tears spilling from his eyes.
Nico ignored him and pulled another nail out, and another. The man groaned in pain and his hand spasmed against the demigod's grip.
"Just tell me where she is, and this can all be over," he whispered into the leader's ear.
He shivered and shook his head weakly in response.
Nico grabbed the cutting pliers from the floor and didn't hesitate as he positioned the thumb in the middle. He grit his teeth and heard a "wait-" just before he tightened his grip. He heard an almost hollow crack and saw the finger fall to the floor. He shivered and felt an intrigued smile form on his lips. He should feel sick to his stomach but felt a sort of satisfaction at watching the man screaming in pain and bucking in the seat. He wasn't sure if it was because the man had done horrible things, but he felt there was something else as well. It felt like doing this filled a sort of hole in him that he was unaware existed.
He felt a soft breath against his neck and felt lips press a gentle kiss against his nape. He leaned into what he knew was Anubis and shuddered as the god bit his skin lightly.
"You're doing so good, Nico. I'm so proud of you," the god whispered against his ear.
Nico turned his head and stared deep into Anubis' eyes. He sighed and closed the distance between them, kissing the Egyptian hard. He felt the other's hands grip his shoulder and hair, pulling him in.
"You two are- a sick couple," the man spoke up.
The son of Hades looked at him and smiled sweetly as he took hold of another finger in the pliers. He grinned as he snipped the digit off, the crack resonating in the basement. As the man was thrashing and screaming, he wasted no time and cut off another finger, the blood coating his hand and seeping into his sleeve.
He glanced up at the man and saw drool dribbling down his chin, his eyes wild as he stared at Nico.
The son of Hades raised his eyebrow and cupped a hand behind his ear, "Did, did you want to say something?"
The man gargled incoherently and managed to barely shake his head.
Nico nodded, "I understand. You're tired of losing digits. I can figure something else out." He leaned down and grabbed the hammer off the floor. Not giving any warning, he slammed it down on the leader's right hand. The bones gave away under the pressure and snapped with a sickening crunch.
The man screamed and babbled incoherently as he twitched in the chair.
Nico waited for him to calm down and possibly tell them something. Hearing nothing, he smashed the hammer into the left hand. He shuddered at the crack and felt a smile broaden on his face as the joints separated and the bones shattered.
The leader wasn't much of a leader anymore, having been reduced to a drooling and whimpering mess. His eyes were bloodshot, he looked like he had given up everything.
"Where is she?" Nico asked.
He waited in anticipation and sighed in relief as the man finally gave in and gave him the location.
"Thank you," the demigod said. He dropped the hammer and grabbed the knife from his belt. Jabbing it into the broken man's chest, watching in satisfaction as his body disintegrated and his energy was absorbed by the blade.
He rolled his sleeve up and man an incision in his forearm. He wanted to go after the woman right away and needed the energy to keep going. He sucked in a breath through his teeth and felt the energy surging through his body, filling every corner over him.
"I forgot how intoxicating absorbing a soul was," the demigod said, flexing his hand and grabbing a chunk of ambrosia from his pocket. He popped it into his mouth and felt it melt against his tongue. The wound on his arm closed and his head and lungs cleared.
He turned to Anubis, "Let's get out of here. I can't stand this room any longer."
The god nodded and they walked together up the stairs.