Lords of the Underworld [malexmale]

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Three

Finally, a night lacking nightmares.

However, I woke up to an odd sensation. The room felt different and there was a strange surge of power. For a moment, I thought it was Raven, but he was pacing the room. I propped myself up on my elbow and ran a hand through my hair to get it out of my face while yawning.

"What's up? We getting any food? I'm starving." I murmured, sitting up slowly, but Raven shook his head and I frowned, studying him more closely. He was tense and his expression was twisted in concern. I slowly got to my feet.

"Does something feel wrong to you?" Raven asked after a while. I shrugged.

"Aside from the fact that you guys locked me in a barrier? Nope."

"You're lying."

"I can't help it. I'm a liar," I said with a shrug, then paused as another strange fissure of power flooded through the room. I looked at Raven, but he shook his head, indicating it wasn't him. And if it wasn't me, it was somewhere else. I would've recognized Lucifer's power by now, as well as my sons and his. So what the hell was that? I looked around the room, eyeing the projection area before looking at Raven.

"Can't you take down the barrier so we can get out?" I asked. Raven looked at me sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"The barrier is fueled by everyone's power. After I entered, my power over it was shut down. Only one of the others can break it down. And seeing as nobody's done it yet, something's got to be wrong. If they felt a foreign power, they would've taken down the barrier to let us out."

"And by us, you mean you." I corrected him sourly. Raven shrugged, but said nothing more as he walked the length of the room. I eyed him warily for a while before closing my eyes, looking away. I tried to send a power pulse to pick up on something, but it slammed into the barrier and bounced back at me, causing a headache. I cursed under my breath and went to the door to open it, when it suddenly opened on its own and I quickly stepped off to the side to get out of view.

"This is oddly pleasing." A voice mused. My eyes widened and Raven whipped around, the blood draining from his face. I stepped forward to see Julius standing there, looking as smug as ever. His dark hair swept back from his rugged scarred face, deep red eyes set under dark brows, dressed in armor the color of blood with the image of a scythe carved into the breastplate. I cursed inwardly.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I demanded, raking him with a disgusted sneer as I moved to stand between him and Raven, who was still shocked into silence. The kid only trembled like a leaf in the wind and looked like he could pass out any moment. I didn't blame him. He'd fought long and hard to get rid of this monster and now he'd dragged his filthy carcass out of Tartarus... No, by the looks of him and that armor, the Titans had freed him to lead their army into Hell.

Their attack had already begun.

"Hades," Julius greeted with a plastic smile, flashing his vampiric fangs, "What a pleasure to actually see you out of that palace and out on the field... Heh, or rather, in a nice cozy barrier. You've even given me my slave back." I scoffed.

"He's not a slave anymore, asshole. My son seared off the mark." I replied. Julius smirked wickedly.

"Did he?" He asked. I scowled before Raven screamed in agony and I whirled around as he dropped down onto his knees before curling up in pain. I cursed under my breath as smoke rose up from his right boot. I dropped down and snatched it off, tossing it aside to reveal that the slave brand had burnt itself back onto the underside of his foot, causing the flesh there to blister and become bloody. Raven sobbed in pain, wrapping his arms around himself tightly. I clenched my teeth before whirling around to glare at Julius, who had his head tilted so he could admire his handywork.