The Death Boys (Nico/Anubis)

Part Nine

Sorry to keep you waiting. Well, not really. BWAHAHA.

Oh, god. I suck at Rickiness.

~ And still... best regards (not really),

Me.

~~~

"Th-the god of Death?" Nico didn't know what to make of the confirmed information. He'd never met a child of Death before. He still had no idea why Kai was acting like an enemy.

Kai's dark eyes shone dangerously. "Do you know any other god who bares that name?"

Nico tightened his grip on his sword and gritted his teeth.

Kai smirked darkly at this. "What're you gonna do now, di Angelo? Cut my head off?"

He seemed to laugh at the thought, which only made Nico angrier. Walt stood behind him.

"He's diverting your mind," he warned Nico. "We need to find out more about this."

Nico narrowed his eyes. "Why the hell do you want from me anyway, son of Death?"

"Straightforward, aren't you?" Kai hardly seemed bothered by the blade lying over his neck. "What would you say if I tell you that right now, I am controlling fate?"

"No." Nico scowled, willing his sword to just about bite in to Kai's skin. "That's impossible."

Kai winced, but his face immediately twisted back in to a hostile expression. He sneered menacingly. "Then you don't know who you're dealing with."

One moment, he was still threatened by Nico's sword. The next, he was jumping up and grabbing for Nico's sword hand. He'd rolled to the right with nearly inhuman speed and leaped at Nico with such agility that he hardly had time to back up. Instead Walt knocked Kai away from Nico and brandished a curved knife that Nico hadn't noticed before. It was black, long and looked a bit like one of those wicked razors used at the barber's.

Kai stepped back. "What the hell?" He held out his knife over his forehead and looked at Walt with disbelief and anger. "You're hosting the god of funerals?"

Nico heard Walt mutter "racist", but he didn't look too angry. He aimed at Kai's heart, but once again he avoided it with another agile move. Kai rubbed the slight graze on his throat, and Nico regretted not cutting through farther, maybe through the hinges. Or at least his vocal cords so he'd stop taunting me, Nico thought bitterly.

Nico's thoughts were interrupted by a sharp pain in his gut. It was the kind of natural reaction his demigod senses caused every time they overloaded with underworld-y scents. The strange thing was, though, that he sensed it coming from above, probably the rooftops of the buildings surrounding the piazza. Which was strange, because the underworld was down, not up.

Walt and Kai were still clashing blades fiercely, and though Nico should've gone and helped him, he couldn't see how he could. The way the two moved, he'd probably hit Walt by mistake in the chest.

Instead, he looked up. To satisfy his senses, he saw that on the top of the building to his left stood a number of shadows, mainly of similar creatures, with a shadowed humanoid or two strung up front, preparing to leap off. Nico's heart raced as he tried to sharpen his senses and zoom in on the shadows, but they seemed to block him out, purposefully.

Nico hardly noticed Walt staggering back, a gush running down his cheek, but he'd concentrated enough on his surroundings to come forth and stand by the godling's side. Kai was standing opposite, smirking so darkly he could've winked out the life and soul in an entire elementary school.

Nico brandished his sword. "We have guests."

Kai grinned with his mouth open, revealing perfect teeth with an exception of one crowned molar. "I did tell you I have backup."

With a swift move, the shadows jumped from the rooftop and, somehow, landed gracefully by Kai's side.