Chapter Thirty - word count 2007 - Download PDF
30.
      Crimson strode into the debriefing room it had been Seth’s temporary office, but now was the war room of the compound as the Mythos faced the threat of Raven and her as yet unknown associates.  
      He ran a hand through his blood colored hair, unhappy that he had to dump this news on Gabriel right now.  The leader of the compound had enough to deal with without Crimson having to add to it.  
      “Gabriel, good to see you back.”  Crimson sat down in a couch and nodded at the others in the room.  The blonde looked familiar but he didn’t know the dark haired guy at all.  
      “Crimson I’m glad you’ve come, I was going to send someone to get you.   I’d like to introduce you to Rage and Thor, they are helping out with this situation.”
      Crimson smiled a greeting at the men then turned back to Gabriel as the angel continued speaking.  “I need to let you know what is happening here.   It looks like things are going to get scary before this is done.”
      “Yeah and that scary is the least of our problems, we’ve got scary of a whole new magnitude heading our way.”  
      Gabriel pierced Crimson with a stare, then paced briefly before turning back to Crimson.  “Your father?”  
      Crimson lased his fingers together and nodded.
      “I put on flame and it put me back on the radar.  Cyan dropped by to warn me that my father knows the general area I’m in.”  
      Thor, who was lounging in a couch tossing his hammer then swiping it out of the air stopped and tilted his head.  
      “And who is your daddy that he is such a bad ass?”  
      Crimson looked over at Gabriel asking the question without saying a word.
      “Yeah, you can trust them.”  
      “My full name is Crimson DunLucfer.”  Crimson waited for the reaction his shoulders tensing, there was a very good reason he never gave his last name when he introduced himself to others.  
      “You’re shitting me right?”  Thor said.  It wasn’t everyday that you heard that name.  Most Mythos would run in the other direction.   
      “Enlighten me I don’t come from this world remember.”  Rage sat back in his chair crossing his arms over his chest and his feet at the ankles.  
      “I would never joke about my parentage.”    
      “Ha!  Yeah if ol’ Beelzebub was my dad I wouldn’t joke either.”  Thor threw the hammer into the air again catching it without looking.  
      “Who?”  Rage asked his voice lased with frustration.
      “Satan, Lucifer, the King of hell.”  Crimson sat back in his chair as he waited for that to sink in.  
      This was not good.  Gabriel knew they had a heap of trouble heading their way.  “Any word how close he is to finding you?”
      “Cyan said it’s only a matter of time.  Should I go pack my bags and head out?”
      “Why?  I gave you a place to stay and if Lucifer wants to reprimand me for doing that then by all means, let him try.”    
      “We going to have us some fun!” Thor sat up catching the hammer again as a grin spread across his face.  
      Crimson’s head snapped up, his eyes going to the corner of the room, he sensed the presence a moment before Rage’s arm shot out and his hand closed around something they couldn’t see.  An inky cloud started forming around Rage’s hand but he held on as the figure took shape in his grip.  
      “Rage that’s my brother you’re chocking.”  Crimson leapt out of his chair.  
      The god looked over at Gabriel with a raised brow.
      Gabriel’s nodded assured him that he could let go, Rage was disinclined too, he didn’t like creatures that eavesdropped before making their presence know, but he released his hold in the demon’s neck.
      “What are you doing here Sable.”  Crimson ground out.    
      “That was welcoming.”  Sable’s voice was like the shadows he’d formed from, dark and intangible, it seemed to slide along your skin leaving nothing but a shiver in its wake.  
      “Next time use the front door.”  Crimson said moving forward to face his brother.  “Did dad send you?”  
      “Yes and no.”  Always enigmatic Sable rarely gave a straight answer.  
      Gabriel crossed his arms over his chest.  He really didn’t like Mythos just appearing in his compound.  
      “What do you need Sable?  I’m presuming you didn’t appear at this meeting on a whim.”  
      “No.”  A half smile lifted a corner of his mouth.  
      “Spit it out Sab, we don’t have time for you idiosyncratic word games.”  
      A soft laugh escaped Sable before he answered.  “May I at least sit?”
      “By all means” Gabriel gestured to an open chair.
      Sable smoothed out his black coat before he sat, the incubus could only be described as monochromatic, he wore black from head to toe, the darkness blended with his black hair and eyes.  Sable’s eyes were solid black – there was no white to his eye.  It was freaky, and Gabriel was sure that the discomfort his eyes caused others was a weapon that Sable used to perfection.    
      “Good to see you again Thor.  It’s been a very long time.”  Sable shifted in his chair to face the god a smile hovering on his lips.   
      “Hell yeah its been, when are we going to hit Brumhilda’s again?”  Thor’s smile was just as warm.  It was obvious they had been good friends at some point.  
      “Name a time and I’m there.”  
      “You two know each other?”  Rage had returned to his seat.  
      “Yes they do.”  Crimson knew where he’d seen Thor before, a very long time ago Sable and Thor had been drinking buddies, but that had be a time when he was barely speaking with his brothers, so he’d never paid that much attention.
      “Can we leave the wonderings down memory lane for another day please.  I’d like to know what you are doing here Sable.”  Gabriel leaned back on the table pressing his palms against the cool wood, his long legs stretched out in front of him.  
      “I’m going to do something very uncharacteristic now, I’m going to get to the point.”  
      Sable sat forward in his chair, he knew he was going to drop a bomb on them now.
      “We have a rogue.”  
      Thor barked with laughter before asking.  “Hell has a rouge?  I thought all had was rogues.”  
      “Thanks Thor.”  Sable twisted his lips at Thor’s sarcasm then continued.
      “We have rules in hell, and right now we’ve got someone making a major power play.  Not unusual, but he’s breaking every rule we have.”  Sable saw Thor’s expression of disbelief.
      “Granted we don’t have many rules but the ones we do have a sacrosanct, and my father wants his ass bad.  We have a problem, the rogue is very good at hiding and he’s gained a rogue Psy as a partner.  So we are having  – if you’ll excuse the expression – a hell of a time finding the prick.”  
      “Wait, stop right there, did you say rogue Psy.”  Gabriel stood up from the desk.  
      Sable nodded.  “I did.”  
      “Looks like we are after the same miscreants.”  Rage commented.
      “Okay, so we are after the same Mythos, what does this have to do with us?  Our father couldn’t have known that bit of info.”  
      “Yes, he sent me to find you and ask you to help track them.”  Sable held up his hand to stop Crimson’s rant before it got started.
      “He’s prepared to offer you immunity from punishment, and-” Sable had to glare at his brother to keep him from commenting.  “He’s prepared to sign a contract releasing you from hell’s service.”
      Crimson sat back. “Tell the asshole I want that contract to release all three of us, you, Cyan and me.”  
      “Why would he do that?  If he knew the Omega and the Mythos of this compound were hunting the rogue anyway, he’d probably retract the offer he has on the table already.”  
      “You wont tell him that will you?”  Gabriel raised a brow in Sable’s direction.
      He was answered with a smile. “No, I think that bit of information is going to slip my mind.”  
      Sable stood.  “I’ll take your proposal to him Crimson.  Lets hope he wants the rogue enough to let all three his heirs go.”  
      Sable didn’t wait for Crimson’s reply, he simply evaporated, turning into the dark cloud then dissipating.  
      “Oh, he’ll agree, then try and find a loophole.”  Crimson spoke even though he knew his brother was gone.  
      The door opened and Kyle stepped in looking like a thunderstorm about to release all its violence on the room.  
      “Who stole your bone?”  Thor asked him.  
      “I don’t want to talk about it Thor.”  Kyle walked to the first open chair and plopped bonelessly into it.  
      “Raven is hiding out in the Glade of Shadows.”  He told the men in the room.
      “And how did you get that bit of information?”  Gabriel asked with a raised brow.  
      There was something upsetting Kyle, but that would have to wait.  New developments were coming fast and furious and Gabriel was sure they would have to scramble to keep all the fronts covered.  
      Kyle explained about the ghost of the girl, and what she had said.  
      “Very interesting.”  Rage rubbed his hand over the stubble on his face.  “Did you see the girl or did Sorcha relay the information.  
      It didn’t escape anyone’s attention when Kyle’s lips thinned at the mention of Sorcha’s name.  
      “I saw her.  Thor was that some of your power?”  
      “Nope.  I’m thinking you got some of Sorcha’s after all the time you shared her power.”  
      “Makes sense.” Gabriel agreed.  “If this trend continues she should have some of your abilities.  Are you a Nexus?  This will be one hell of a powerful Nexus if you are.”  
      Kyle didn’t say anything to that, he got up and left the room.  
      “Touchy much?”  Thor asked the room in general.  No one answered.  
      “Must be trouble in paradise.”  Thor twisted his lips, and then stood.  “Listen I want to go touch base with some of my guys.  See if anyone has any clue where this Vale of Shadows is.”  Thor vanished to the far off sound of thunder.  
      “Yes, I think I’ll do that too.  I doubt I’ll have much luck, but it’s worth a try.”  Rage followed Thor’s example and vanished.
      Gabriel turned to face Crimson.  “Have your brothers got somewhere to go?”
      Crimson shook his head looking worried.
      “If I give them a place to stay will they stick to the rules?”
      “Yeah, they may be arrogant Gabriel, but all three of us hate it in hell.  I was just lucky enough to get out of there when I did.  Sable and Cyan have been stuck under his rule for too long.”  Crimson ran a hand through his hair and sat forward.
      “Our mother, demon or not, was a kind and gentle person.  Our father never let her forget that she wasn’t good enough for him, sorry, I suppose the right way of saying that would be, evil enough for him.”
      The things in his past haunted crimson’s eyes, Gabriel didn’t want to push for details.  Crimson would tell Gabriel what had happened in his past when and if he wanted to.  Many of the mythos in the compound had bad things in their history.  It was the nature of what they were.  You live forever and bad things will happen to you.  You just have to pray that the good outweighs the bad.  
      “We could have ended up like him, but she never allowed it, she kept us close and kept us good.  We were lucky Gabe.”  Crimson stood.  
      “I know they will be grateful to get out… If he lets them out.”  
      “I have a feeling he will Crim, I don’t think he has a choice, his throne or his sons.  Which way do you think he’d go?”
      Crimson’s laugh was bitter, years of anger and frustration echoing in the cold sound of it.
      “His throne.”
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