Chapter Thirty Four - word count 2118 - Download PDF
34.
      Gabriel’s warm laughter filled the air.  He was pretty sure he was going to like Crimson’s brothers.  They had the kind of dry wit that he appreciated in man and Mythos.  “They do have a point Crimson.”  
      Gabriel was impressed with their timing another minute and Crimson and the other would have been gone.  Gabe suspected that they had news Crimson might want to hear.  “I’m assuming you have news from your father.”  Gabriel stepped forward, curious to hear if his theory would prove correct.  
      “We do.”  Sable said as he reached into the folds of his coat and produced a scroll.  He handed it to Crimson then crossed his arms waiting for Crimson to read it.  
      “Seriously?”  Crimson asked with a raised eyebrow.  “The ass needs to figure out that the dark ages are long gone, hasn’t heard of paper?”  He was stalling. He wasn’t all that sure that he wanted to know what his father had decreed in the parchment. For all Crimson knew it could be a contract on his own sorry hide.  
      “Just open and read it Crimson.”  Cyan leaned back against the door as if he wasn’t itching to see his brother’s reaction.  
      Crimson frowned, but looked down and broke the seal then unrolled the parchment.  He read the document his eyes widening as the words sunk in.  His father had released Cyan and Sable and him from Hell.  They were free to go where they pleased with no fear of being hunted.  It seemed the old man did value his throne more than his heirs.  Crimson passed the parchment to Gabriel.  
      “Surprised?”  Cyan asked, a smile playing around his lips.  
      “Yeah.”  Crimson admitted.  
      “I’m not.”  Gabriel rolled the parchment and handed it back to Cyan.  “You better keep this in a very safe place.  Its not every day you score a ‘get out of hell free’ card.”  Gabriel flashed a smile before speaking again.  “I’ll get Selphie to assign you some rooms.”  
      “You would give us a place…”  Sable started.
      “He would, but you will stick to the rules.” Crimson cut in. “And keep your incubus tendencies firmly controlled.”  The glare he directed at Cyan made it plain that of the brothers Cyan was most likely to use those abilities to get what he wanted.  
      A wicked grin curved Cyan’s lips and his eyes pinned Sorcha.  “Do I have to?”  
      The low growl trickling along his skin forced Cyan to turn toward the sound.  
      “Not up for the competition?”  He asked Kyle when he saw the black scowl on Kyle’s face.
      Kyle opened his mouth, ready to tear this particular ass-hole a new one – painfully, but a frustrated hiss and a low curse from Fenn stopped Kyle’s retaliation.  
      “For shite sake, we don’t have time for pissing contests right now.”  Fenn stepped between the men.  Willing to pull them apart if it was necessary.  “The Vale-” he shuddered as he said the name aloud.  “should be dealt with as soon as possible the sooner we get going, the sooner we can get home.”  
      “By all means lets go.”  Sable stepped forward.  
      “No, you aren’t going.”  Crimson told Sable what they planned to do.  
      Sable stared at his brother moment, as if formulating his reply.  
      “I think Cyan and I would be an asset, not a hindrance.  All three of us are born of evil, if we surround the party we can help Fenn,”  Sable nodded in the elf’s direction.  “to mask their presence better.”  
      “Sable has a point, and it would help, the less energy I have to expend trying to hide the others the more I have to combat the forests other dangers.”  Fenn agreed.  He hadn’t considered the idea before Sable had pointed it out but the presence of the incubi would help him immensely.  Elves were by nature pure and more prone to the good side of the scale than the evil side.  It was difficult for someone like him to force evil from his pores.  The incubi would find it far easier.
      “It’s decided then.”  Gabriel turned towards Sorcha and nodded.  “When ever you are ready Sorcha.”  He frowned then asked.  “Can you move this many?”  
      It was Kyle who snorted then answered Gabriel’s question. “Of course she can, she is Omega.”  
      Gabriel shook his head and smiled at Kyle’s ready defense of his Nexus mate.  Gabe stepped back then addressed them all.  “Be careful out there, I want you all back here as soon as possible and I want everyone back alive.”  
      Sorcha took that as her cue, time to get a move on, so she closed her eyes and felt for the essences of the men around her.  Cyan’s essence made her feel like she’d been in a desert without out water for a month but there was cool water when she got out and that chilled flowing water was Cyan.  Sable was warm wood smoke, and dark shadowed corners brimming with passion and sensuality.  Crimson was warm almost hot, controlled, like flames batting against a fire grate.  Marcus felt like a coiled spring, as if he hid the speed of the wind under his skin. Fenn was like a forest, living and green, Sorcha could swear she heard bird song as she brushed against the elf’s being.  
      The last person she reached for was Kyle, she could feel his cat, coiled and prepared to launch forward when needed, but he was more than that, he felt like a playful breeze, touching her everywhere.  He was the most disturbing by far to touch, because hidden under the playfulness was a strength of feeling she didn’t want to examine too closely.  She was frightened if she did she would realize some things that she wasn’t ready to face yet.  
      Sorcha fixed the coordinates in her mind and pulled all the men toward her as she streaked through space to materialized them all in the spot Fenn had marked.  She stumbled a little as she took shape, and felt a hand clamp around her upper arm to steady her.  
      “Are you okay Sorcha.”  Kyle’s smooth tones rubbed along her body sending a frisson down her spine.  “I know I told Gabe that you wouldn’t have a problem, but…”
      “I’m fine, thank you.”  She was careful not to let it show in her tone but the stumbled had surprised her.  Sorcha had moved more than seven people before, so the teleport shouldn’t have sapped her energy enough to make her so unstable on her feet.  
      Kyle waited a breath more before releasing her arm.  He stepped back but kept an eye on Sorcha, something was not right.  Did she look pale?  Kyle resolved to stay near Sorcha no matter what.  He was distracted for a moment when Fenn spoke softly.  
      “That’s the place we are going in.  Stay close together, and for the love of all that is holy do not leave the path I create or wander off after something.”  He scanned the group of Mythos around him.  “Are we clear?”
      The murmured affirmatives set his mind at ease, at least a little.  “Sorcha Kyle and Marcus, stay on the inside of the group.  Crimson Sable and Cyan, form around them.”  Fenn used his left hand to push the material of his sleeve up exposing his right arm. “Keep all the evil you’ve ever witnessed in the fore front of your minds.  We are trying to convince the Vale that we belong.”  
      “Got you.”  Crimson said.
      “Good.”  Fenn rubbed his hand over a tattoo on his arm.  The image was of curling ivy.  The ink climbed from his wrist up his arm, disappearing under the fabric of his shirt.  More than a few of the gathered Mythos were amazed when the ivy pulled it self off Fenn’s arm coming to live and darkening to an emerald green as it curved up sinuously like a snake charmers python.  The ivy wove this way and that before settling in one direction.  
      “There is an entrance here.”  Fenn moved off in the direction the ivy tattoo had pointed, as the green ivy curled around his arm, becoming deep green ink on his skin again.  
      “Fenn, you’ve been hiding some serious skills behind the façade of a air head musician.”  Marcus had to grin when Fenn turned and scowled at him.  
      “I don’t hide anything, for an Omega you aren’t very observant are you?”  
      “Ouch, touchy much?”  Marcus retaliated, but the smile that hovered on his lips told Fenn it was good-natured teasing, and nothing Marcus said was intended to be insulting.  Fenn returned Marcus’s smile then moved into the hidden entrance of the forest.
      The air in the Vale was oppressive.  Sorcha could almost taste the evil that lurked around them.  She suppressed a shudder.  This place was making her feel nauseated.  
      As if sensing that she was not feeling well Kyle reached a hand forward and touched her on the shoulder, and amazingly his touch settled her stomach.  She smiled a thank you.  He returned the smile, but Sorcha could tell Kyle was just as uneasy as she was.  
      She moved forward again, close behind Marcus and Fenn.  
      In the distance someone started singing softly.  A melodic sound that soothed the frayed nerves of the group and made them eager to moved closer to the sound.  Marcus pushed past Fenn to follow the sound.  Fenn reacted with quicksilver speed, grabbing the werecheetah’s arm to stop him.  “Don’t listen to the sound, it’s a siren and if you follow her voice you will die.  Do you understand me Marcus?”  
      Marcus blinked slowly then shook his head.  “That was close.”  
      “I’m sorry there is nothing I can do to block the sound.”  Fenn looked anxiously around the group of people more than one of them were staring bemused towards the sound of the siren’s voice.  
      “You can’t but I can.”  Marcus started muttering in the language of magic.  His hands wove intricately in the air.  He drew in a deep breath and with one last word released the spell.  
      Silence swallowed the group and the siren’s song was cut off mid note.   
      Crimson rubbed at his ears and Kyle yawned to break the pressure on his eardrums.  
      “Would a little warning that you are going to hocus-pocus us be too much to ask next time Marcus?”  He asked with dripping sarcasm.  
      Marcus looked around him as if someone had spoken behind him then faced Kyle.  
      “Oh sorry, did you say something?  I thought Ross had materialized out of thin air…  There wasn’t time to warn you, you tool.”  
      Fenn stifled a grin behind his hand and moved through the trees again, he’d always enjoyed the Omega’s dynamic.  They were worse than siblings, but just as loyal and deadly when any were threatened.  It made Fenn understand a little better why Ross’s first loyalty would always be to the Omega.  
      They had been on the move no more than five minutes when Fenn held up a hand to stop the others behind him.  Someone wasn’t holding up the illusion of evil properly, because the forest beasties were starting to hunt them down.  It was probably him, the sense of pure evil radiating off the quietly moving incubi was a scary thing.  
      “I smell wyrm.” He warned them.
      “Wait.  The type of wyrm that always has an entourage of spiders and scorpions?” Cyan asked
      Fenn looked back over his shoulder at Cyan and nodded.  “That’s the type I’m talking about.”  
      Cyan cursed.  “I hate spiders.”  
      “Is it coming this way?”  Kyle asked.
      “Yes.”  
      “Crap.  Are the spiders and scorpions venomous?”  
      Fenn nodded.  
      “Lets find a way around them.”  Sorcha closed her eyes for a moment feeling as gently as she could for Raven.  
      “We need to go this way.”  She lifted an arm to point to the left.  
      No one argued as Fenn turned left and started moving through the trees.  They eased out of his way.   Bending their foliage to make space for and those that walked with him.
      Five minutes later it was Sable who warned them in a quiet voice.  “We are being stalked.”  
      Kyle nodded.  “Yes there are two behind us.  I keep getting glimpses of them out the corner of my eye.”
      “Three to our left.”  Crimson spoke softly.  “They are trying to surround us.”  
      Cyan shrugged, not really worried.  “Then they will bleed and die.”  
      As he spoke Sorcha caught sight of one.  
      “I don’t think bleeding is an option, and we better hope that dying is, because we are being stalked by zombies.”  
      “If I haven’t said it yet, I’d like you all to know for the record - I don’t like this place.”  Cyan grumbled.
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