Sorry it's taken SO long for this to be updated, but with "Dark Deal" finished this should just fly by with NO problem.
As usual thank you SO much to those that review read and send good thoughts. I attempt to PM all those who read so I don't do mailboxes and all that, but if you want me too let me know.
On with the Show!
Chapter 7: The Countdown.
Gotham City Train Station. Midnight. Day 1.
Roy Harper, or Speedy as he was known to the Titans, stepped onto the train car that would take him back to his home of Steele City. He felt bad for lying to his teammates about were he had been, but hey it wasn't the worst thing he had done, so what's one more bad deed right? He looked around at the five other passengers who seemed to be headed either to for from work. None of them seemed threatening so he took his seat by the window and set his duffelback in the empty seat next to his as the train pulled out of the station and began the two hour journey back to Steele City. He opted to keep the hood on his red hoodie up to cover his ice blue eyes and auburn hair, not like anyone would recognize him here, but still why take the chance.
About half and hour into the ride Roy still couldn't stop thinking about his team. He told them he needed some R&R, which was true after Aqualad, but he told them he was going to be in Star City spending time with the Arrow family, but clearly that wasn't the case, he was spending it with a different family. After a week off he was climbing the walls and ready to go back to the superhero life. His "secret" girlfriend understood since she had things to do herself, so it was fine for them to serperate once again. Didn't mean they had to-
He took a sharp inhale and sat straight up in his seat. Out of the blue he suddenly had the feeling that somebody was watching him, made sense since he wasn't alone. He shrugged it off at first, but the feeling got more intense with each passing second. Not liking the feeling anymore he looked around the car, but found something much more terrifying then someone staring him down.
The car was empty.
Instantly he grabbed for his duffel bag and the portable bow inside, then grabbed a small quiver with about six pointed arrows and slung it loosely over his shoulder. He stood up with a loaded arrow and carefully searched the car. After inspecting each seat were the passengers were supposed to be, he found no evidence that there was anyone else inside the car besides himself, and yet he could still feel eyes boring into him from every direction. He remained calm though, remembering his training, and calmly but quickly backed up until his back hit the other side of the car with the intercom to the front car of the train. He slightly lowered his bow and hit the button to the intercom.
"Hello?! Is anyone up there?!" Static was his answer. "Damn it." He raised his bow again, now aware of the temperature drop around him and an uneasy feeling in his stomach. He tried to steady his trembling hands that were gripping his bow to tightly, taking deep breaths to calm his nerves. Then his ears picked up an odd sound, the sound of someone taking their finger and rubbing it against a pane of glass. Carefully, and fearfully he turned his head to look at the window that was now covered in a thin film of ice, and once again his heart stopped.
There on the window was written one word . . .
. . . .
. . . Speedy . . .
The car suddenly went black even so much as to cover the window's in darkness. It only lasted for about a second but when the lights returned there was another word written on the window. This time it said . . .
. . . . .
. . . Lian . . .
Roy aimmed his bow, anger replacing fear. "SHOW YOURSELF!"
. . . .
. . . .
. . . . he heard nothing but the sounds of the train. . . .
The car went dark again.
Roy let out a gasp when he saw a pair of milky white eyes floating in space and looking directly at him. He released the arrow just as the lights returned, but all the arrow did was drive itself into the other end of the car, hitting nothing but thin air. In less then a second he loaded another arrow just as the train went dark again. Once again the white floating eyes returned.
"WHO ARE YOU!?" Roy didn't have time to release his arrow when the car was illuminated again. The pure terror returning like a punch to the gut.
All over the car were the words. Speedy. Jade. Garth. Bumble Bee. Mas y Manos. Lian, over and over again and each word written in blood.
He began hyperventilating. He didn't care that his body was shaking uncontrollably, he kept his bow up ready to fire at a moments notices. The car went black again, minus the eyes staring at him, but when the car was lit again, the eyes were inches from his face and attatched to a sinister looking man.
Roy fell backwards, releasing the arrow into the man's chest and was a direct hit to his heart. The man grunted, stepping backwards but otherwise showed no sign that he was in ANY pain. Roy got to his feet and loaded another arrow.
"Who are you? What did you do with the people on this train?"
The man chuckled darkly while playing with the arrow protruding from his chest as if it was merely a splinter. "Oh there were never any other people on this train, so you have nothing to fear in that regard." He pulled out the arrow, only wincing slightly. He brought the tip of the arrow to his face, Roy taking note that his blood looked like a much darker shade of red, almost black. "As to who I am. My name is Carnus, and I am the one that killed your friend Aqualad."
Roy forgot his fear as the words sunk into his mind and heart, at first he was surprised but that soon faded into rage. He said it so calmly, like he just confessed to eating the last cookie. No remorse. No guilt. "You . . ." he clenched his teeth released the pointed tipped arrow into the man's chest again and again and again, until he now had four arrows all in the area of his heart. Carnus faltered backwards as each arrow pierced his body, but he showed no indication that the arrows were causing him any pain. Roy's anger caused him to neglect that fact that he had run out of arrows considering this was only a small quiver used as backup, so instead he charged at Carnus ready to throw his bow as hard as he could against the murderer.
"You killed-!" He struck Carnus across the face with his bow taking him down to the ground, then pulled back again ready to crack him on top of his head. "What give you the RIGHT-" Carnus blocked the bow with his forearm and with his other hand grabbed Roy by his throat. His grip was incredible as he squeezed the archers airway shut and pushed him against the wall of the car.
"No one GIVES me anything." Carnus said calmly over the choking and gagging of the archer. Carnus leaned in to his ear, making sure his lips were brushing against him as he whispered . . . ". . . I TAKE it."
The car went dark again and when the light returned all that remained were four bloody arrows.
Jump City. Titans Tower.
"Robin this is a bad idea." Raven crossed her arms over her chest staring daggers at her team leader. Right now it was just the two of them out in the hallway while their three other teammates were in the common room with the Demon King, and the Dragon boy.
Robin was standing in the same position as the demoness, leaning against the wall, arms folded, and his brows knit together in frustration and thought. From afar it looked like she was repremanding him like a child. "I don't disagree-"
"Then why aren't you? We can't trust a DEMON, and whatever the hell his SIDEKICK is." Raven was jamming her finger towards the common room where the objects of her disdain were located.
Robin sighed rubbing his eyes with the palm of his hands. "I'm not talking about TRUSTING them, I'm talking about USING the information they have to stop a killer."
"Maybe I'm not being clear. DEMON." She dragged the word out a long as she could just in case Robin wasn't hearing her.
"Raven we have ZERO entel on how to fight these things-"
"I can get it. I can place a few calls to my professor in San Diego-"
"That will take to much time and we only have two days left, and he threatened one of our own?"
Raven scoffed with a bit of a laugh thinking the answer was obvious now. "So what when someone threatens Starfire all reason just goes right out the window."
Robin stepped towards her, his balled fists falling to his sides in frustation. "That's not what this is about. I would be the same way if any of you were in danger. We don't have time to get information from your professor, we have these guys here now, and the Demon has personal information. Is it the best idea? Probably not, but this is our best option right now."
Raven took a few deep breaths to calm and center herself, but finally gave a single nod relenting to her leaders logic and decision. Without waiting for Robin to respond she shouldered past him in a huff and back into the common room with him right behind her. Needless to say she was still miffed at him for what he had done to Beast Boy, and wasn't planning on forgiving him soon.
The common room was split down the middle with their teammates on one side of the couch, and the Demon King and the Dragon kid on the other. Once the two birds entered the living area the one called Landon got to his feet, clapping his hands with a single clap happily.
"So, we all ready to go?" Raven kept her arms crossed while glaring at the Demon. "Whoa darling, can those lasers be set to stun?"
Raven rolled her eyes. "I have a thing with Demons." She spat the word out like it was Beast Boy's tofu, but Landon was unphased. She turned to the kid next to him who lazily had his feet on the coffee table. "And Dragons."
Drake shurgged. "You wouldn't be the first one, and for the record I'm not his sidekick."
Raven and Robin shared a concerned look, how did Drake hear them? Landon looked down at his "not" sidekick. "You sure about that? Maybe a cape and some tights-"
"-do and they'll never find you body." Drake glared.
Robin stepped foreword hoping to stop the banter between the two. "Lets start with how you know Carnus?"
Landon quietly paced around the living area. "To answer that I have to go to the beginning, back to when I was first made the King of Hell. A few years ago, as you may recall, Trigon visited this world with bells on and the intent to destroy the universe, rule the world, blah blah blah. However since Trigon is a MULTI-DIMENSIONAL demon, and a powerful one at that, his being freed from his dimensional prison shook the very foundation of EVERY Hell dimension in existance. Now most of the Hell dimensions recovered just fine. Tartarus, Helhiem, Naraka, Mictlan, just to name a few, however some didn't, like my Hell, Azarathian, etc. The King before me vanished during the kerfuffle, dead or not we're not sure and don't care, but I was put in his place. Anyways, during the chaos someone opened up a Hell Gate, but not any Hell Gate, a gate to the Hell's Prison where we house all of our more . . . interesting Demon's."
"Dare I ask which one's escaped?" Raven asked in a more deadpanned voice then normal, but it only conveyed how serious she was taking this.
"Thousands darling. Once that gate opened, and I was given the corner office, it was on my to-do list to wrangle up all those pesky prison breakers. Over the last few years," he patted Drake on his shoulder, "Daniels and I have been Demon hunting and putting them back were they belong."
Like a student Beast Boy raised his hand. "But being a Demon, shouldn't you want those things running around on earth?"
"Excellent question by green friend." Landon sat down next to the changeling wrapping his arm around him getting uncomfortably close. "You see I'm a fan of what I call 'Organized Chaos'. Think about it this way. If my bedroom is 'clean' then I can't find anything, but if I have everything messily were I want it, I can find all my toys and I sleep better at night. When chaos is being spread in my name and I don't have control over it, it tends to burn a hole in my stomach."
Beast Boy bounced in his seat excitedly. "See guys it's a good reason my room is messy! It's ORGANIZED chaos."
"No Beast Boy it's not." Cyborg corrected.
Robin brought the attention to the subject at hand. "I'm assuming Carnus was in this prison?"
"You are correct my fine feathered friend." Landon winked.
Robin had on his detective thinking face on, but deep down he already knew the answer. Down in the pit of hell where Slade and Robin traveled, they had seperated. Robin to go find Raven and Slade to do, whatever it was. Did Slade open this Hell gate and unwittingly let out thousands of Demons?
Raven however had a question for the Dragon kid. "Where do you fit in all this?"
Drake had himself leaned back with his head on the back of the couch, his feet up, and very uninterested in the conversation but turned his head to face her. "What do you mean?"
"Well you are BFF's with a Demon after all." she said clarified.
Drake motioned to her team. "Technically so are they."
Beast Boy stood up before Raven had a chance to defend herself an angry feral glare aimmed at him. "She's not a Demon, only half." he snarled.
Drake eyed the changeling in a childish manner. "Ooooooo I guess we all know who has a cwush on Waven."
Beast Boy's mouth fell open, but only opened and closed as if his mouth was a malfunctioning piece of machinery, his face going red. Raven attempted to shrink into her hood, even though her face was turning a soft shade of red that she was sure was shinning through the darkness of her hooded sanctuary.
"How do we find Carnus?" Robin was growing frustrated with how often he had to keep steering the conversation back to the important matters at hand, and his friends were thankful for the interruption
Landon turned to him, though was way more interested in the drama taking place between the green and pale Titans. "We don't. You only find him when he wants you to find him. For the moment we need to ward your tower so Carnus dosen't come back and play. Which is were you come in darling." Raven raised a brow when his gaze met hers.
"Why me?"
Landon approached the young demoness, a charming twinkle flashing in his eye as he took in her petite and curvy physique. "The warding I need to place in this tower will keep any and ALL demon's out of this tower, however I have no idea how they will affect you. They could banish you from the tower, trap you in here, or cause you to burst into flames, I don't know."
Raven gave him a blank stare. "You need to work on your people skills."
Landon was looming over her now, his inviting eyes looking into her violet orbs causing her knees to slightly buckle, much to the disdain of the changeling who was silently glaring at the exchange. "We can do it together darling." He flashed her smile, but she only rolled her eyes, fighting to keep her child-like swooning to a minimum.
"Let's get this over with." She headed out of the common room praying that her hood kept her shrowded enough.
Landon turned to the Drake who was still lounging about. "Coming?" Drake, with a roll of his eyes and a groan on in his throat, got to his feet and followed behind.
Once the three had left, Robin turned to Starfire who was seated next to the two other male Titans. "Starfire we are going to have someone with you at all times."
She looked up at him oddly. "Why?"
Robin wondered if maybe she misunderstood him somehow. "Carnus threatened you, and I don't want-"
"I am aware that my life is in peril, but why would I need someone to be with me? I was trained by the warriors of Okaara, and I do not fear a creature from the Earths Underworld." The remaining Titans watched in slight amazment as the innocent young Starfire was shed, and revealed the warrior princess underneath. She stood up shoulders back and chest high her face set with her eyes closed. "Besides there is nothing that he could do to me that hasn't been done already." She spoke evenly and clamly exited the common room, alone. The boys watched slightly with wide eyes as the innocent and bubbly alien girl they knew pretty much vanished before their eyes only to be replaced with the fighter she was trained to be.
However they were quite troubled by the comment of her having everything done to her.
What did she mean by that?
El Paso, Texas. Day 2
"LOS TITANES ESTAN. AQUI MATADLOS!" The group of drug smugglers opened fire on the Teen Titans that were at the ready to take them down.
"Titans GO!" Bushido shouted to his teammates as he drew his blade. Pantha, Kilowat, Thunder and Lighting shot off in different directions as the gun fire sailed past them. Stray bullets bounced off the young samurai's sword as he blocked the uncomming barrage, sparks flying off his expertly sharpened weapon. Kilowat created a sheild of pure electric energy, with Pantha close behind him and once he was close enough he dropped the shield and let the professional wrestler have at the drug pushing villains, taking apart their weapons with her bare hands. Thunder used the power of a sonic boom to push away the attacking smugglers while Lighting destroyed their weapons and land vehicles.
Bushido found himself surrounded on all sides, and after taking a headcount of at least eight a wolf-like grin spread across his teenaged yet handsome face. "What? That's it?" The drug smugglers dropped their automatic weapons in favor of knives, bat, clubs, and all manner of handheld weapons. With a shrug Bushido sheathed his sword, creating a wave of small laughter among the thugs and in one motion they charged the Teen Hero.
Bushido jumped from the ground towards the right, kicking off the stomach of one of the thugs, pushing himself into the air, then with the same foot, kicked it into another ones face to his left, then threw a back kick with his other foot into another one approaching from behind, knocking the two unconscious. Once Bushido came to the ground again, he instantly moved out of the way of a metal bat coming down on him, then with his left hand kept the bat on the ground and with his other hand threw a series of quick punches into the thugs face. Once the thug released the bat, Bushido grabbed it and threw it into the face of another attacker behind him sending him to the ground with a severe headache. He threw a flurry of punches into the thugs face in front of him, but then moved to the right as another thug threw another bat in his direction, but only managed to take down his brother in arms.
Bushido grabbed the thug by the back of his neck and brought his face down on top of his knee, causing him to drop his weapon of choice, then with him disarmed Bushido threw his hand into his throat, taking him to his knees gasping for air. Stepping back and looked around he saw most of his opponents down and out, minus one who was gawking at the young man, unsure if he wanted to provoke his wrath. Bushido stared him down, then made a jerking movement as if he was going to attack, but pulled back. Startled the remaining thug took off seeking a beating elsewhere.
Bushido laughed to himself at his cowardice until something caught his attention.
A voice. A familiar voice that flew on the wind and into his ears.
". . . . Ryuku . . . . "
It sounded like . . .
"Mother?" He looked around not the least bit curious how he was able to hear a voice as softly as this amidst the sounds of thunder and explosions behind him. He walked in the direction of the voice, his companions busy in their combat to notice he had left. He followed the voice until it took him behind a nearby shack of some kind, but he wasn't concerned what the decrepit building was for, why was he hearing the voice of his dead mother? After he was out of sight from the battle, the voice stoped breaking him from the spell he was under, and caused him to notice that he was alone, without the eyes of his teammates on him. Before he had a chance to turn back for his comrades he was ambushed by a cloud of black smoke, smothering him and bringing him to the ground.
After a second or less the smoke blew away from the young samarai leaving him shaken and cofused, but no longer alone.
A dark man with a sinister grin stood over him with his hands behind he back. "I'm surprised the whole 'voice of my dead mother thing' worked."
Bushido took a moment to gather his wits, but once he was back in the zone, he recognized the man, or creature in front of him. "Your an Akuma?! A Demon!"
His grin widened. "Bingo." Bushido got to his feet and reached for his sword . . . but couldn't find it. "Looking for this?" The Demon pulled his hands from behind his back to reveal the blade that belonged to Bushido. The Demon brought the sharp end of the blade to his palm making a small cut into his hand. Immediately his hand began to smoke and burn, red/black blood dripping from his hand. "Hmm. I blade forged from metal in the pits of hell. This can kill Demons ya know?"
With reflexes like lightning Bushido reached into his coat and threw a few shurikens at the Demon. Not expecting this, the Demon was impaled by the weapons, but only grunted in mild discomfort, using the small distraction Bushido charged at the Demon. He moved out of the way, slicing Bushido's own sword against his sternum bringing him to his knees. The Demon placed the point of the sword underneath the teens chin, bring his head up.
"As much as I would love to end you right here and now, I need you alive . . . for now." Carnus brought the butt of the sword against the back of the teens head taking him to the ground unconscious. Carnus looked over the sword then casually tossed it to the ground like it was trash and vanished with Bushido in tow.
Jump City. Titans tower.
Drake Daniels sat on a flat rock outside of the tower, looking over the ocean before him. Surprisingly he found staring off in to the rippling blue water oddly relaxing, at least until the silence was shattered by a scream from above him.
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" SPLASH!
Out in the distance Drake could see the young sorceresses head poke out from the water, coughing and sputtering with water, a laugh escaping his throat. Over the past day or so, Landon had been testing various warding spells and symbols, each of which had very interesting side effects on the half-demon, but being thrown from the tower seemed to be the most favorable one, at least for Drake. Once again Drake pulled up the phone to his ear. "Nope didn't work."
"Bullocks!" Landon screamed on the other end causing Drake to pull it back from his ear. "Alright give me a minute." Landon vanished from the other side of the phone while Drake watched Raven be brought back to the shore, her arms wrapped around the neck of a green Sealion.
"I can watch that all day." Drake smirked.
Raven glared while the Sealion barked a laugh, clearly agreeing with the Dragon boy. "Screw both of you." She floated off of her ride and began to wring out her cloak of water.
Drake's phone buzzed with a text message. "Landon says your good to go back inside. They wiped the bad warding." Without much of an acknowledgement to what he was saying she opened a portal underneath her and vanished inside. Beast Boy Flopped onto dry land and shifted back to his human form.
"Who knew this would be so hard?" he said sitting next to the Dragon kid.
"To be honest I'm sure Landon would have figured it out by now, but he enjoys experimenting on finding new things." Drake laid back on the rock and closed his eyes taking in the rays of sunlight on his face, his hands laying on his chest just under his shimmering ruby necklace. It was quiet between them for a moment or two before Drake asked. "What's Raven's deal with me?"
Beast Boy laughed. "I have been asking myself that question for the last six years."
"The difference is I don't care. I ask because if she's going to be frosty then it'll be a little more difficult to work together."
"Meh. You'll get used to it. It took her a couple of years for her to stop hating me." He shuffled his shoulders. "Although she may have a bit of a bias against ya though." Beast Boy picked up a few stones and tossed them into the ocean. "As far as I know Raven hasn't had any many relationships, outside of us as her friends, but the one time she opens her heart to someone he broke it into a million pieces. He just happened to be a Dragon."
Drake was quiet, but after the brief explanation let out a soft "hmm". "I'm sorry that happened. Getting your heart broken is never easy. She seems like a nice girl though, she'll bounce back." Beast Boy's next stone just sunk when a realization came over him as Drake spoke.
"Dude you almost sounded like you cared.."
Drake groaned placing his arms over his head. "Just don't tell anyone you big booger."
Beast Boy let out a victorious laugh, I still got it! His communicater dinged, and once it was flipped open, Cyborg's worried face filled the screen. "We need you both inside now!"
. . . .
Beast Boy and Drake stepped into the common room and saw the large television screen on the window in front of them was on with two faces of the other Titan leaders, Bumble Bee and Red Star. Both of them had deeply concerned looks on their faces, Bumble Bee on the verge of tears, and Red Star looking angry.
"What's up?" Beast Boy asked.
His team looked back at them, each member having a different look and worry anger or sadness. Starfire was trembling, trying to hold back her tears, Cyborg had a scared frown on his face, Raven had a stoic expression, but anyone who knew her could see how frightened and worried she was while Robin's face looked downright furious. Sensing his teammates uneasiness, Beast Boy himself was beginning to grow concerend.
Starfire, with her hands over her mouth, responded. "Friends Kole and Speedy are missing." Beast Boy leapt to his teammates, while Drake hung back in the kitchen were Landon was leaning against the counter watching the Titans go about their work. Even though they were hanging back, Drake and Landon still caught every word.
"That dosen't sound like Carnus at all." Drake said quietly.
"He broke pattern by killing that couple, but your right." Landon agreed. "It has to be more misdirection."
"Misdirection for what though? For the alien-"
"No! I know she's not the right one, because he TOLD us she was the right one." At this time another Titan appeared on the screen, this one was colored bright blue with bright pink hair. He was talking about how one of his teammates was taken too, but had left behind his sword which he remembered was crafted with special Demon Killing metal. The Titans turned to the two in the back, Robin glaring at the Demon not with anger toward him, just anger in general.
"What is he doing?" Robin asked. "He said he was after Starfire."
"And I told you it was misdirection, but I agree this seems more like improvisation . . . . Interesting." Landon looked off into the distance with actual interest in what the Carnus was doing.
"Uh guys-" Beast Boy was trying to get everyone's attention but Robin's glare zeroed in on Landon.
"Your supposed to know about this thing-"
"We're not exactly Facebook friends anymore-"
"But we're counting on you to help save our friends." Starfire pleaded.
"Guys-" Beast Boy begged again.
"Beast Boy what is it?!" Robin roared. Beast Boy just shackily pointed a finger towards the wall. Everyone followed his finger, then found out why Beast Boy seemed to frightened.
A message was written there . . . in blood . . .
Alien.
Come alone to abandoned mines by the seaside.
Now.
Your friends are here alive.
Come and they will be released.
Robin cut his way through his friends to Starfire who was already making her way to the window, and would have left if it not for a wall of black energy around her.
"Your not going anywhere Starfire." said Raven angrily.
"Not until we come up with a plan." Robin was by Starfire's side, but she was already staring daggers at him.
"I told you. I am a warrior of Tameran, and no more will die, not if I can do something about it." Her mind was made up while her friends desperately tried to reason with her.
"Star lets just think about this for a second." Cyborg pleaded. "We can't lose you too. I REFUSE!" Cyborg's bellowing frigtened them all for a moment, but he was DONE losing friends.
"Landon what do you think?" Robin looked back to the kitchen, but they were gone. In fact he couldn't find them anywhere.
Factory above the Abandoned Mines.
Drake leaned over his knees as the nausea set over him. Once Landon had the location, he teleported himself and the half-dragon to the location provided, completely ignoring the fact that Drake HATED teleporting with a firey passion (pun intended). Luckily Landon was able to teleport them into the factory, but that didn't ease Drake's nausea in the slightest.
Landon patted him in his back. "Walk it off darling. We have hero stuff to do." Landon walked past him heading further into the factory to a gated elevator on the other side. Once the world stopped spinning Drake stood up . . . . and followed behind the Demon, taking in the old look of the abandoned factory around him. Nothing but old broken down conveyer belts, electrical boxes stripped of copper, empty boxes and creates along with palets, and adandoned fork lifts. Landon came to the gated elevater sliding the gate open and moved aside for Drake to step inside, then closed it behind him.
"Go get 'em tiger." He motioned to press the button to send him down, but a worried Drake stopped him.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Your not coming?"
Landon gave Drake a look that said "duh". "Dear god no. It's cramped down there."
Drake rolled his eyes. "Is this that whole 'tight spaces' thing?"
"Well your one to talk mister 'I hate the ocean'." Landon spat back. The two glared at each other before Landon gave Drake one final push into the elevator. "You'll do fine." He shut the gate and pressed the large green button sending Drake down below.
It was clear by the rocky trip down with the metal grinding against each other that the elevator hadn't been used in some time, but it was still able to get Drake to the mines below without to much hassel. Once the car hit the ground he opened the gate to already find the slick wet rocky hall of the mine to be lit by the rows and rows of light bulbs shinning the way into the cavern below. Reaching out his hightened senses, he couldn't feel any demonic being down here, but that didn't mean there wasn't any, but he could hear three sets of heartbeats.
Good their alive.
He continued down the path, his boots beginning to slush in the wet rock underneath him. He had forgotten that this mine was by the ocean, what on earth they were looking for he wasn't sure, but it was the perfect place to hide these teen heroes. Straining his ears again he could hear the heartbeats getting closer and closer, but also took note of the fact that they were quite fast, letting him know that they were frightened. Maybe the fact that they weren't sure who was coming, a friend or Carnus. Finally Drake was able to hear their ragged breathing just around the corner, so he picked up the pace, forgetting about the wet thuds his boots made.
Turning the corner he saw three teenagers he assumed were the missing heroes, at least he recognized the girl with the bright pink hair. All three of them were blindfolded, rags shoved between their teeth, and all three were hanging by their wrists by rope that was cutting into their flesh, none of their feet touching the ground as they hung.
Drake ran to the girl first. By the sounds of his footsteps the three blindfolded kids could tell that he had gone to her first and they began shouting through their gags for him to leave her alone, thinking he was the Demon come back to kill them. The girl screamed, squirmed and kicked against Drake, getting in a few shots before he was able to reach her blindfold.
"It's okay!" he shouted over their yelling. "I'm not here to hurt you! I'm here to help!" He pulled her blindfold off of her eyes. She flinched as the mine lights bit into her large blue eyes, but after blinking a few times she relaxed slightly, he was still a stranger after all. Drake was caught off guard by her eyes, a bright cobalt that were frightened, but still lovely. He composed himself and pulled the gag from her mouth. "Are you okay?"
She nodded, but looked to her wrists. "I can't feel my hands." She tried wiggle her fingers, but made little movement. Drake removed a blade that looked like a broken piece of a sword with a leather wrapping around one end, from a makeshift scabbered at his waist and cut the ropes, making sure to wrap his arm around her waist to keep her from falling to the ground. With her hands still bound, she put them around his neck as he eased her into a sitting position against the cave wall. He cut the remaining rope off of her wrists, ignoring the blood that had formed from the cords.
He didn't know why but the look of these marks on her soft and delicate skin made his blood boil. Sure he didn't like it when innocent people where harmed, but he didn't care enough about these kids to get this angry about it, this WAS just a job after all. He shook off the feelings and reach for a flask in his back pocket. "Here drink this. It's just water." She took the flask and began to drink.
What she didn't know was that it was holy water, and if she was possessed by a Demon it would have burned her like acid. However it didn't. Not possessed.
"I'm gonna get your friends down, then we'll get the hell outta here." He screwed the lid back on and pocketed the metal container, but as he turned to leave she grabbed him by his arm.
Confused, he looked into her eyes, they seemed to be getting some life back into them. "Thank you." She gave him a small smile.
There it was again. An odd feeling butterfly like feeling in his gut, something he hadn't experienced in over a thousand years. It scared him. "Uh . . . n-no problem." He left the girl and went to the others.
What the hell was that? he asked himself as he cut down the kid in the red. I don't care about these kids, sure I don't want them to get hurt or killed, but I don't wanna make friends. This is just a job. Get in, get out, move on. I'm gonn take off and never think about these kids again, you'll see. He cut him down with the help of the pink haired girl then moved to the samurai looking kid. He was still having an internal conversation with himself, when out of the corner of his eye he saw something against the cave wall start to glow a dark red. He looked at the symbol, it was a symbol of what looked like a stick figure man with an scythe over it's head. He looked at it a little clos-
"SHIT!"
Drake cut the last kid down as fast as he could and leapt away from the glowing marking on the rock wall. Throwing his body over the other two just in time for a massive explosion to echo through the mine.
. . . . .
Landon felt the rocking from the mine below, his head snapping in the direction of the elevator. With wide eyes he saw smoke billowing from the caverns below
"Oh no." He ran to the gated doors, but stopped when a pillar of black smoke emerged in front of him, then the entire filled the intire factory. Once the smoke cleared, people of different sexes, races, tall, short, fat, skinny, stood around the Demon King, each with a pair of pitch black eyes. The one directly in front of Landon was a women dressed in a grey pant suit, with dark rimmed glasses, and a pixie style hair cut. In her hand was a large shimmering dagger that she swung around carelessly. Landon relaxed when he saw her, not the least bit intimidated.
"Rachel. Nice to see you again darling."
She smirked as she placed the tip of her finger on the blade. "You too Landon, still as sexy as ever. To bad you have to die now."
Still Landon was unphased. He stuck his bottom lip out. "Ooo sorry darling I don't really have time for foreplay right now."
She mimicked his pout. "Awe why? Cuz your sidekick is probably dead downstairs? Yea that could be a downer."
Landon was beginning to get annoyed. "If you think he's dead you are sorely mistaken-"
"What happened to you Landon? You used to be so much fun, now your . . . blegh! And who in their right mind made you king?!" Landon remained quiet, but didn't lose his smile. "So that's it huh? Oh well. At least once your dead I'll have a chance at the throne."
Landon laughed, a laugh that echoed through the factory making the other Demons uneasy. "You? Queen of the pit?" He said between fits of laughter. He continued to laugh as he reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a coat hanger. He removed his suit coat and placed it on the hanger, making sure to place it in a safe location. "You wouldn't last five minutes darling, that's just a fact." Landon unbuttoned his sleeves and began to roll them up. "I'm assuming Carnus fed you that story that you'd be a decent ruler?"
Rachel began to figdet, but kept an air of confidence. "He told us you'd be here. He told us we had a chance to take back the Hell we know it to be." She looked to the other demons who nodded in agreement.
Landon chuckled to himself while he finished rolling up his sleeves. "Oh darling." Black smoke appeared at his fingertips and created two black blades. His eyes flashing red. "You were sent to your deaths."
Man these kids just can't catch a break.
Let me know what you think!
cya next time!