Ahhh, good ole' angst. Yep, ladies and gents, it's that time of the week again. Who's excited? Ahhh...anywho, as per usual, I do not own Welcome to Hell. That honor belongs to Erica Wester. I only own my original ideas. As usual, thank you to my beta for dealing with me at all hours of the day. She truly is a blessing. Anyway, without further ado, I hope you all enjoy the chapter!
Caius settled on the bed, looking entirely too smug. Jonathan sighed, already regretting his decision, and settled into his desk chair. "So, are you going to help me or not?"
"In good time. I cannot do much except provide you with information at this point." Jonathan looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue. Caius only smiled and rested against the pillows.
"Well?" Jonathan pressed impatiently. Caius sighed in pleasure, enjoying the waves of fear, stress, and anger that were rolling off the living boy.
"Well, I cannot very well tell you anything if I do not know what you already know."
Jonathan gritted his teeth, doing his best not to react impatiently. That was clearly what Caius wanted. He would be damned if he gave that self-centered brat one more reason to smile.
Reading these thoughts only caused Caius's smile to widen further. Did Jonathan honestly believe he could bottle up his emotions? Did he truly think the solution would be so simple? He waited patiently, knowing that, whether he wanted to or not, Jonathan had no choice but to play along.
"Fine. Mephistopheles said something called a Cataclysm is taking control of Sock's soul. Is there any way to get rid of it?"
Caius sighed, sticking his lower lip out in a slight pout. He hadn't expected that Mephistopheles would actually confide in the little mortal. He had truly believed that he had the upper hand on everything, had been excited to see Jonathan beg for the information he so strongly desired. But once again, Mephistopheles had gotten in the way. Just as he was about to mentally curse and rave at his fiancée, something occurred to him. Jonathan knew what a Cataclysm was; he must since he hadn't deemed it important enough to ask what they were. He had, however, asked if there was a way to defeat them. This meant he only had the most basic of information. Caius beamed, causing Jonathan to scoot away nervously in his desk chair; the little demon still had the upper hand.
"There are a couple of ways, but only a handful of supernatural beings know about these methods. These beings are mainly primordial in nature, so the secrets have been well kept for eons now. However, there are ways one can go about getting them."
"And those are?" Jonathan asked, unable to help the excitement in his voice. Finally, there was a chance of his being able to help Sock. Mephistopheles's warning to stay away from the situation entirely now seemed like a distant memory.
"Well, the simplest method is asking someone who already knows."
"Mephistopheles?"
Caius grinned, acting the part of a proud parent. "Now you seem to be getting it. Yes, Mephistopheles can give you the answer, but that does not necessarily mean that he will."
"But, why wouldn't he?" Jonathan spluttered, losing control of his emotions. He refused to be handed a lifeline and then watch as it was taken away just as quickly as it had been offered.
Caius all but writhed in pleasure; the feelings of negativity had permeated the room, and it was the equivalent of a grand feast. Having gotten lost in the flood of unhappiness, Caius briefly forgot that he was in the middle of torturing someone. Returning his attention to the mortal, he smiled patiently.
"Well, what reason would he have to do so? Since he knows the method, he can clearly go about sorting out the situation on his own. However, he won't be able to do that either. You see, Mephistopheles's older siblings, the Primordial beings, are very displeased with him. They blame him for what's happening to Sock, you see."
"Why would he be at fault? And who the hell are the Primordial Beings you keep mentioning?" Jonathan asked, massaging his temples with the tips of his fingers. Today had been nothing but an overload of information, yet he was still no closer to saving Sock.
For a moment, the patient smile slipped off of Caius's face. "I will pretend that you did not just utter the name of my home in vain." After making this proclamation and giving Jonathan a menacing look, he smiled again and continued. "Now, one question at a time. The easiest way to explain the matter is to start by telling you who the Primordial Beings are. They are supernatural beings born of chaos and nature's most basic needs. They are known to you and your fellow humans as Death, Famine, War, and Pestilence. They are also Death's older brothers and sisters."
"So, Mephistopheles isn't the baby of the family?" Jonathan drawled sarcastically. "How tragic."
Caius took a deep breath, letting it out through his nose along with a cloud of steam. "I will thank you not to speak about Mephistopheles in that way. Now, in terms of your second question, the older Beings blame Mephistopheles because he let Auriol go in the first place. If she had not gotten out of Hell, the curse never would have been placed. Sock would still be alive."
As always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Constructive criticism and anything related to that is appreciated, but flat-out negativity is not. See you soon!
XOXOXO