Who's been excitedly waiting for this update? I know I have! Sorry for this uber late update. Jesus, school sucks balls. I started on Thursday and I've been busy working on homework that should've been done over the summer, but I've only just started working on today. Screw life, I have until Tuesday. I managed to finish typing this up, been working on it for the last two hours, it is now past three in the morning and I'm contemplating joining Deadlox and committing homicide. Enjoy~
Jerome did his best not to feel guilty. He really did. After all, he wasn't doing any of this willingly, he would've never gone through with this if his mate's life hadn't been on the line. As loyal as he was, or had been before this incident, to his king, his mate was at the top of his priorities list. If kidnapping the king's slave and handing him over to Squid would grant him and Mitch's freedom, he'd do it. Hell, he'd do it a million times over if it meant his precious mate would finally be out of that filthy dungeon, finally be well fed and finally be taken care of.
Even by knowing that doing this task for Squid would set him and Mitch free, Jerome couldn't help the voice in his head telling him this was wrong. That it was wrong to steal the slave from the king, that it was wrong to follow Squid's order, that it was wrong to trust Squid in the first place. The Squid wasn't trustworthy, never had been and never would be, but Jerome was grasping at straws. If Squid backed out on his end of the deal, the most Jerome could wish for was the return of his stepson would at least distract Squid enough for Jerome to find Mitch and escape. He needed to get him and Mitch out of that rotting prison, even if stealing this slave would only buy them the slightest of chances of freedom.
If he were to be completely honest with himself, Jerome wished the king had beaten Squid's stepson bloody. He wished the slave had been malnourished and barely alive. He wish the boy had been covered in cuts and bruises and practically begging for death if it meant he escaped from the king's grasp. He wished the slave had been dehydrated and nothing more than a bag of bones. At least then, Jerome wouldn't be feeling as guilty as he was at kidnapping the young man. Poor kid couldn't be more than seventeen, perhaps eighteen at most, younger than when Jerome had made Mitch his mate. Mitch had at least been twenty when Jerome began sharing his life span with him; when Mitch became Jerome's mate, but this boy was just that, a boy, barely a man.
The thing was, this boy hasn't been mistreated. He hasn't been bloody, he hasn't been missing any limbs and he hasn't even had the slightest of scratches of bruises on his body. The boy was perfectly healthy, and seemed more than well taken care of. For Notch's sake, the kid had been in the king's bed chamber, resting on the king's bed as if he were meant to be there. Sure, the king had been no where in sight when Jerome had snuck in, he's made sure of this before sneaking in and grabbing the boy, but the kid had looked comfortable and relaxed, if not slightly worried. At what Jerome did not care to know, though he guessed it was most likely due to the king's absence. Which didn't exactly make much sense. It was well known that the king had long since lost his marbles, he was a downright nut case and every single resident in the Nether knew that. The king would've been overthrown decades ago if not for his higher than average fighting skills along with his genius military plans. Since the king had taken up the thrown, the Nether had grown in prosperity and wealth. With the king's lead, the Nether armies had pillaged, pirated and conquered villages and many kingdoms in the Overworld and even a few in the Aether, something that had been considered impossible before the king's reign.
Jerome sighed, adjusting the kid's body which he had thrown over his shoulder. The human was knocked out cold, a bit of blood matting his previously immaculate hair. The kid wasn't hurt too bad, nothing serious or permanent. Just a scratch, a bump and probably a head ache later on when he awoke, and that was all caused by Jerome. From what the bacca could make out, the king hadn't laid a claw on the young human. Physically he seemed fine, but perhaps the king had mentally abused the kid? Perhaps even sexually and the proof was hidden beneath the red boxers and white t-shirt the kid was wearing. Though, the clothes the kid was wearing were suspiciously big for him, much better suited with someone whose body structure was similar to the king's.
Jerome violently shook his head, his hair, long scrappy hair he kept in a low ponytail, messy strands of hair framing his face, momentarily covering his eyes before he brushed it away. Thinking things like that did not help the guilt slowly growing inside of him. He gripped the back of the human's knees a bit tighter, reassuring himself that the kid was still there and still knocked out. Without this human, Mitch would stay in Squid's prison and, with Mitch sharing Jerome's life span, most likely for eternity. Unless Jerome decided to kick the bucket anytime soon, though the bacca would do everything in its power to keep that from happening and potentially leaving his smaller mate to fend for himself in Squid's clutches with his life span returned to that of a humans.
Since leaving the castle -after doing his best to mask any evidence of his presence of course- he'd taken off in a sprint to the portal he had used to get the Nether in the first place. He hadn't stopped to look back, the thought of possibly returning the kid and finding a different way to save Mitch not even crossing his mind. He wasn't all that worried about being followed, he'd made sure to cloak most of his scent with a potion he'd managed to mug a villager for when he had first entered the Nether. He wasn't stupid enough to go in the king's palace without the potion. Even so, the potion only worked for lower class demons. The king would still smell him, faintly, but he'd at least recognize the scent of a Nether bacca, and Jerome didn't doubt that the king would eventually find him. Hopefully, by the time the king found Jerome's scent, the bacca would have reached Squid's kingdom and grabbed Mitch before the king completely destroyed Squid's precious kingdom. That was the plan at least. There were so many flaws in Jerome's quickly thought up plan, so many things could go horrendously wrong. The king could find Jerome's scent quicker than expected and intercept the bacca on his way to the Underwater kingdom, Squid could have Jerome killed once he had his stepson, he might not be able to find Mitch in time to escape the kingdom once the king found out where his slave was, Mitch could already be dead for all Jerome knew.
At the very thought Jerome's breathing quickened as his eyes flashed. The Squid better hope Mitch was perfectly fine when Jerome arrived. He ignored the fact that through the mate bond he would be able to feel if anyone dared harm Mitch as he flexed his claws. If so much as a hair on Mitch's hair had been touched, Jerome would murder Squid, even at the cost of his own life. No one would touch his mate, no one would harm his mate, if they did, they'd have a pissed off Nether bacca on their hands.
Reaching the portal, Jerome paused. Was this really a good idea? He shook his head sadly in response to his own question, elf like ears twitching slightly in sadness and disappointment at himself as he stepped through the portal.
"I'll kill him"
Deadlox's words were loud, serious and held a promise to them. He could feel his breathing quicken as he stared at his now empty room. His fists clenched, claws digging into his skin, drawing blood as his lip curled in anger. His wings unfurled, furling once more as his agitation increased. The scent of Sky, blood and Nether bacca filled his chambers, teasing him, taunting him. He hadn't been there, he hadn't been there for Sky, he hasn't been able to save Sky. The feeling of failure threatened to consume him, causing him to choke monetarily, a mad grin beginning to grow on his face.
How dare they? How dare they steal Sky? Steal his Sky. Sky belonged to Deadlox and no one else. When Deadlox found the bacca responsible for taking Sky, hurting Sky in a way that caused his human to begin bleeding, the things Deadlox would do to them could only be imagined in someone's worst nightmares. There would be blood, loads of it, Deadlox would make sure of it. He'd tear off the skin on the bacca's very body, pull the hair of its head and yank that small tail Nether baccas were well known for off. He'd keep the bacca living, because he wouldn't be done with him. Deadlox didn't care what he had to do. Potions, magic, anything. He'd use it to keep the bacca alive, torture him until Deadlox was satisfied that he felt the very pain Deadlox was feeling now. The slow suffocating feeling in his lungs, the painful clenching in his heart, his panicked heavy breathing, the familiar feeling of his sanity being ripped away from him.
The sanity that being with Sky had granted him, that very sanity was slipping away as broken chuckles left his hunched body. He felt his shoulders began shaking as he fell to his knees, a clawed hand touching the drops of red staining the floor. The metallic scent of blood surrounded him, Sky's blood. His hair fell over his eyes, his body wracked with shivers as the shaking persisted. Laughs left his agape mouth, bloody drool hitting the floor with a wet noise. His arms crossed over his chest, claws digging into his chest, trying desperately to prince himself back together, already knowing one of his episodes was coming, was already happening. One of the episodes Deadlox hadn't had since Sky had come to his life. Blood dropped onto the floor, white fangs and teeth caked in dark red as maniac chuckles resounded around the room.
Oh yes, the bacca would certainly regret taking Deadlox's Sky from him, especially when the king managed to get his claws into the bacca's writhing body. Deadlox could already imagine it as he shakily stood.
His tail swished behind him as he made his way to the large doors, already hearing his servants and guards gathering near his chambers. He could practically taste their misery at the sound of his familiar insanity filled laughing. Deadlox didn't care. He didn't have Sky with him, why should he care about anything else? Without Sky, Deadlox was nothing. He was nothing more than a husk of a man, a husk of a human with nothing more than a brilliant mind and insane tendencies. Back to how he was before the treaty he had made with Squid, the treaty that had brought Sky to him.
He slammed the large oak doors open, eyes wide and mildly crazed as he took in the sight of his bowing servants and guards. He relished in the smell of fear filling the air, the smell having been gone since the fateful arrival of the human that had brought the king sanity, if only temporary.
"My human has been taken from me," Deadlox began, a cackle ending the sentence as the smell of fear was immediately replaced with fury. Sky had made quite an impression on Deadlox's people it seemed. "A Nether bacca's scent is in my room, and, and the funniest thing, ready for it?" Deadlox giggled, eyes opening wider as he watched the people in front of him tense, a few more guards slipping into the corridor, news traveling fast as more servants appeared.
"Blood," Deadlox whispered out, watched eyes flash in animosity, "blood. Can you believe it? Sky's blood. Silly bacca hurt my Sky, he's in trouble," Deadlox steeled himself, all previous emotion leaving him as he narrowed his eyes, "big trouble."
Haha, I was gonna do this thing where someone guessed what was gonna happen next and the winner would get the next chapter ahead of everyone else (just snippets of whatever I write throughout the weeks and such) along with a oneshot but I figured no one would want to do it so, meh xP too bad