4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Nox

T he pretty girl had disappeared. While we'd all been debating what to do with her, she'd snuck off. Couldn't say I blamed her. We were all being assholes, speaking about her as if she wasn't there. She'd probably heard everything Cass had said and decided to wonder off. Fuck, I hoped she'd not gotten far. The Underworld was a dangerous place to those who didn't know how to navigate it.

I played with my trusty butterfly knife. The sleek black blade had gotten me out of more than one sticky situation in my lifetime and I never went anywhere without it.

"Fuck this," I said under my breath before walking out on the other asshats. They were still arguing among themselves, Rook blamed Cass, Cass was just grumbling, and Korbin was stood there playing mediator and failing. Fists were going to fly in a minute, and I wasn't hanging around for that even if I enjoyed violence. A fight with these guys could level buildings.

"You'll find her in the cemetery," Korbin said softly as he looked in my direction, his white eyes looking in my direction but not really seeing me. Not that that stopped him from knowing what was going on around him. He had faster reflexes than I did.

"Creepy motherfucker," I mouthed at him, and he smirked in response. See, that right there? Fucking weird.

I dissipated into thin air, a pop and crackle bursting by my ears, before I reappeared under gateway to the cemetery. It wasn't like a normal cemetery where the tombstones and mausoleums were all laid out neatly in a row. Here there were grotesque statues that stood over the resting places of the dead. There were gaudy monoliths listing great deeds, angels that wept for the damned. This wasn't a place of peace. It was a place of restlessness and endless wandering.

My eyes scanned the horizon until they found a spot of purple gleaming like a beacon and drawing me to her side. I walked slowly, observing her without her notice. She was sat on the ground, her knees tucked under her chin and her arms wrapped around her shins. She looked so small and lost. There was an urge bubbling in my gut to protect her, to comfort her and fuck knows where that came from. I'd never felt any kind of connection apart from the one that tied me to my brothers and to my maker, Hades, but both of those felt familial. Whatever this connection to her was, it was something else entirely.

"Hey, pretty girl," I said softly, trying not to startle her which went against all my predatory instincts. Didn't stop her from flinching though. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

"That's okay."

"Can I sit?"

She shrugged her shoulders and I sat next to her between a twisted angel and an avenging demon. This place was odd, but I loved it. Was it odd that this was my happy place? Probably not considering my main purpose in life was death. I'd always felt more in touch with the dead than the living. People with souls were weird.

"Your friend is a dick," she said, her eyes locked on the sun rising beyond the horizon.

I huffed a laugh. "Yeah. I'm sorry. He shouldn't have said those things."

She hummed softly. "I thought the Underworld would be all fire and brimstone, but it actually seems quite nice."

"Oh, there's fire and brimstone. Just in the Depths of Hell. We're in Infernium, the capital city."

"There's a capital?"

"Yep. A few other big cities and some outlying towns and villages. Like a normal world just inhabited by the dead or those somewhere on the scale between being alive or being dead."

"Huh?" she said with a frown. Her eyes were a rich amethyst and held my gaze with curiosity.

I leant closer and dropped my voice to a whisper. "Like vampires."

The veil between the mythical world and the human world had fallen some decades ago leaving both living in the same space. Humans had taken it well, mostly. But there were still some humans that thought they were better, that the world was theirs by right and blah, blah, blah. Never mind the fact that they'd cohabited the space together for centuries without realising it.

"I've never met a vampire. What are they like?" Her entire face changed to bright wonder, her eyes widening and her excitement somewhat infectious. There was an odd pull of something around my mouth and I realised I was smiling… normally. Ugh. Disgusting.

"Well, they're not sweet and sparkly. Definitely will rip your throat out if you look at them funny kind of vampires."

"As they should be," she replied with a nod.

I waggled my eyebrows. "You got a vampire kink there, pretty girl? Wanna meet one?"

She chuckled. "No, just always been fascinated with the idea of being undead." Her expression dropped and her brow creased. "I guess I fall into the category now. Am I dead?"

She looked at me with such hope that my traitorous heart lurched in my chest.

"I'll be honest, I'm not sure what you are. We've never had anyone appear like you did. The Raathmore coven were followers of the Deathwatch Revenants, weren't they? Do you know what they hoped to gain by sacrificing you?"

She looked away from me again and her eyes watered. She brushed away a stray tear and there went that instinct to comfort her again. Fuck knew what that was about. I wanted to pull her into my lap again, like I had done earlier. She felt good there. I'd never felt that pull for anyone before. I wondered if it was tied to the sacrifice. I filed that thought away to speak to Korbin about later.

"My grandmother was desperate to have a Necromancer in the coven. We hadn't had a fully-fledged one for a few generations and when she found out my mother was pregnant, she decided that the Blood Moon was the perfect time for a sacrifice. I was to be sacrificed to the Deathwatch and, in return, the coven would receive the magic to ensure my mother's unborn child would be born a necromancer."

I thought about what she'd said. We hadn't felt a draw or pull for our magic during the Blood Moon, which was unusual. But I wasn't the thinker in our group. That was Korbin. I was the guy they sent to torture and maim, gut and kill. I didn't mind that though, I enjoyed it. More than thinking anyway. "I don't think their spell worked."

"Why?"

"Because we didn't reward anyone or send any magic topside. The only thing that happened was you arriving."

"Oh. Wait. What do you mean you didn't send any magic?"

"The others and I are the Deathwatch Revenants. Your coven sacrificed you to us."