"Is this a bad idea? I'm thinking this is a bad idea."
Lacey murmured as she looked up from their hideout. For the last one hour they had been chasing and killing the demons on the mountain. There was no sign of Ianthe so far, but Lacey so far couldn't help feeling that it was all a trap, especially when Suna suggested they go closer to where it seemed they were all coming from.
"How else would we know what's going on if we don't go? You can't feel her around or anything so let's just go!"
Suna murmured angrily and Lacey raised her eyebrows at her.
"But right into the devil's lair? Suna let's rethink this. It might be a trap!"
"Have you even wondered why the rest of the demons keep flocking here?"
Lacey asked hastily but Suna wasn't listening. No, she didn't even want to listen.
"I'm going. You can stay here if you want. It's not as if you're going to be of any help either way."
"Why did I ever think you'd be anything but pathetic and whiny?"
She muttered under her breath and Lacey narrowed her eyes at her.
"What is your problem with me?"
She asked and Suna shook her head.
"My problem with you?!!"
"Oh you have no idea."
"If you have something to say just say it!"
Cripin shifted his weight on his feet. He was getting very uncomfortable. And the two ladies didn't seem to notice that their little argument might be drawing more demons to their little hideout.
"Ladies..."
He started but Suna gave him a death glare, the look alone was enough to make him retreat. He had to stay out of it.
He thought as he walked away.
"My problem with you is that you're so pathetic. You have all these powers at your fingertips, all these advantages and yet what do you choose to do with it?"
"Nothing!!"
Suna scoffed.
"Instead, you choose to watch two grown supernatural men pine over you. You act like some defenseless little girl and watch them stumble over themselves while trying to keep you safe!"
"You have no consideration for their feelings! You do things without thinking! It's annoying!"
Lacey was dumbfounded.
She took a few steps back.
She wasn't expecting half of what Suna was saying.
"You don't think! You don't act! You don't care! About Hunt's feelings. About anything! You're only after yourself and what you want!"
There was a short silence after that.
Crispin briefly glanced at Lacey before walking away.
Lacey was pissed.
"Who are you again?"
She asked with a frown on her face.
Suna was taken a back with the question.
"Have we ever even officially met?"
She asked again and Suna swallowed hard.
She looked away.
"Why do you even feel entitled to talk to me like that? Like I'm beneath you?"
Suna opened her mouth to talk but Lacey raised her hand, a silent warning for her to pause.
"You don't know me. You never did. I don't know you either... And I don't think of you like that."
There was a short silence and Lacey sighed.
"But, you sound like a woman scorned. So, I'll give you a short advice."
She moved closer to Suna, suddenly enjoying the shimmering anger on her face.
"He likes me. He wants me. And he's perfectly okay with our arrangement. I suggest you start focusing on work and stop pining over your Alpha."
With that Lacey walked away.
She turned to Crispin, her voice crisp.
"Are we going up this mountain or not?"
She asked and he nodded.
Suna followed shortly after. Her face conveyed no emotion. Not after the bomb Lacey dropped.
She kept her feelings aside. Just like she always did.
After a few minutes of walking, Lacey could feel her.
She could feel Ianthe.
"Wait! Wait! She's here."
She whispered as she looked around, they were in the thick of the woods, it was nearing nightfall and already getting hard for them to see, but they couldn't risk any source of light drawing attention to them, not when they had company. Like the demons Ianthe let loose on the mountains.
"What do we do? Do we go back?"
Crispin asked and Suna shook her head adamantly.
"She doesn't know we're here. Let's try and get a little close."
"Suna. We don't have reinforcements, this is dangerous."
Crispin warned and Lacey agreed with him.
It was reckless of them to even be on such mission in the first place.
She knew they were desperate to rid the city of the demons, but there were other ways with better plans to do it.
"Let's go."
Suna murmured.
Lacey sensed her neck muscles straining as her head arched back in the path of a downward hole.
She screamed.
It was her first instinct. She felt as if someone or something was dragging her down below.
Her eyes were open all the way, like someone was prying her eyelids apart. She attempted to contort her body to a position where she could turn her head to see what was beneath her or if there was anything beneath her. She could suddenly see her legs. They were rising, her boot cladded feet were slowly rising out in front of her, and above her head.
There was her abdomen, splayed out ahead of her.
Realization dawned on her. She could feel nothing under her. Even the air was nowhere. Her hands were flapping by her side - two noodles she had no control of.
Chest tightening, breath speeding, managed to force her eyes shut, bracing for impact. She was powerless versus gravity; falling.
Lacey blinked. Once, twice and she was awake. The first thing she noticed was the blinding pain at the side of her head. She was on the floor. On the cold and wet floor. She noticed as she struggled to get up.
Her hands were tied to her back, in what seemed to be ropes.
"Oh good. You're awake."
Ianthe said as she walked closer to her.
Lacey looked around, they were in a cave. A cave! Under the mountain.
That was where the demons were coming from.
She looked around. She couldn't find Crispin and Suna.
"Where are they?"
She croaked as she struggled to sit up straight.
Ianthe smiled.
"I left them on the surface to battle my demons. They should be dead by now."
Ianthe smiled.
"Anyways. I don't need them. It's you I need."
She purred as she walked closer to Lacey.
Her cloak wasn't with her this time. And Lacey could see that under all the clothes she had on was a slim and agile figure.
"What do you want?"
She groaned as she tried breaking away from the ropes she was tied to.
Ianthe shook her head.
"You're not getting out of those easily. They stop you from using your magic."
Lacey sighed.
She blew at her hair in her face.
"So, what is it that you want from me again?"
She asked and Ianthe shrugged.
"Well... A little birdie told me that vampire and Alpha have what I'm looking for."
"But honestly. You guys are so tacky. A locator spell? Really? That just made it so much easier for me to keep tabs on you all."
She said and Lacey frowned. They were wrong to have underestimated Ianthe's powers, especially when she also had dark magic within her grasp.
Why didn't they think of the fact that she could track them from the locator spell?
She brought out a phone and showed it to Lacey.
"So, now. You're going to do something very simple for me. We're going to call one of them, have them come over and give me what I want and you can be on.your way."
"I don't trust you."
Lacey said nervously.
Ianthe shrugged.
"I don't think you have much of a choice. Trust me when I say no one is coming to save you. They'll never be able to find you here unless I tell them where you are."
"So, will you cooperate or not dear niece?"
She said and Lacey scoffed
She always seemed to forget that they were related.
Then again, she did kill her sister.
There was no way in hell they could really be related.
She gave her Hunt's number, knowing he was the more rational one between the two of them. And the shock and Hunt's voice was enough to let her know that exchanging her for Hades Vigilanco was a bad bad idea.
She couldn't let that happen. The city was already overridden with demons. How the hell could she let another evil come into the city because of her.
"So, we wait. Let's hope your boys make it here in time with what I want."
Lacey scoffed.
"And if they don't?"
She asked and Ianthe stopped.
Lacey could see she was surprised by the question.
No, she wouldn't kill her?
Would she?
She had to do something.
She thought as she looked around.
"I'll be back. I have to check those miscreants upstairs."
"Don't go anywhere."
She said and then she stopped and chuckled.
"Wait. It's not like you have anywhere to go. Besides. Syphax will watch over you."
She said as slimy death black demon emerged from the shadows.
Lacey's heart started pounding heavily.
The looks of the demon was frightening enough. He was three times Lacey's size. With big black depthless eyes and razor sharp teeth that seemed to take up his entire face.
And the reek!
Oh he reeked of hell himself. He smelled like rot and filth and everything unclean in the world.
And he was watching her.
She started thinking fast.
Very fast.
If the ropes on her hand prevented her from using her magic, she had to start thinking of a non magical way to get them off.
She thought as she looked around her again.
There was a tiny shard of metal a few feet away from her. She just had to reach it.
She started shifting slightly, small quiet moves that seemed to take forever because she didn't want to catch Syphax's attention.
Finally....
She reached the shard of metal and picked it up.
She sighed.
This was going to take a long time. She wondered as she started cutting through the rope.
"What the hell were you thinking?!"
Queen Yvaine screamed as she paced the tiny room.
The witch had a hand to her head. She was still recovering from opening a portal to the Prison World.
Imelda was right next to her comforting her.
Meanwhile Aidas and Hunt were trying to make sense of what happened to them.
One minute they were in the Prison world about to be attacked by Hades. The next minute they had vanished into thin air.
"I don't understand. What happened?"
Hunt asked as he held his head in his hands. Still confused.
"What happened is that you almost let Hades free. That's what happened."
"When you entered the Prison World you left the portal to it open. Your witch couldn't close it without risking you locked in there with him forever and the portal being opened meant more chances for him to leave."
"How did you know?"
Aidas asked and the Queen scoffed.
She was still in her regal attire. And a crown of what seemed to be bloodied thorns laid gently on her head.
By the looks of it, it looked like she had disappeared right in the middle of court.
"I created that Prison World. It is connected to me, just like every other rift that I create. I felt it open and I knew it was unsafe if it was open for too long."
"We just wanted to ask him some questions."
Imelda said and the Queen cackled.
Aidas shuddered at how much she looked like a matured version of Lacey.
It was almost creepy.
"Questions?!! If you think he knows the way you can defeat Ianthe then you're truly stupid."
"If I wasn't here to close back the portal, the two of you would have unleashed great evil into this world."
"Great evil? What do you mean?"
Hunt asked and Queen Yvaine sighed.
"To manipulate demons and control dark magic, Hades and Ianthe made a deal with the Prince of Hell himself. Hades's body was made into a living gateway. With the help of Ianthe's dark magic, he can summon any demon at will. Without even using the cracks in our worlds or complicated spells. They could have the whole army marching down on your world."
"That was what you were about to do."
She said quietly.