Darksiders: Among the Shadows (Book 2)

Ow...

Damiana hugged her knees and leaned against War's shoulder, frowning at the setting sun.
"What's wrong with you?" War asked, surprised when he felt the youngest horsemen lean on him.
"Everything is wrong, you and the others treat me like a child!" She hissed, biting her bottom lip.
"You are a child-"
"No I'm not! I'm over a century old, I want to go on missions with you guys..."
"It's too dangerous." War said simply, looking back up at the orange sky.
"I bested you in swordsmanship whenever we sparred, I'm faster than Strife and his pistols...don't tell me those missions are too dangerous for me!" Damiana growled, sitting up quickly.
"That as when we allowed you to become unbound...and you being unbound for a too long of a time would hurt you." War mumbled, still staring up at the sky.
Damiana frown grew deeper and she crossed her arms angerily, mumbling to herself.
Standing up, Damiana dusted herself off and put her hands on her hips.
"I'm going back home...are you staying or are you going to escort me?" She asked in annoyance.
"I believe you're old enough to escort yourself..." He said quietly, knowing exactly how the young girl felt.
Damiana raised a raven black eyebrow in confusion. When War didn't elaborate, she shrugged and began walking towards her awaiting mount.
"I guess I can go where ever I want!" She yelled over her shoulder.
War turned his head and gave Damiana and soft glare.
"No, you're going back home...I am not getting in trouble because of you."
"I don't understand why I'm being held prisoner here...and who's gonna make me go back home? Betrayal is far faster than sluggish Ruin." She sneered, stopping to look back at the red rider.
"Then again...it doesn't take much to be faster." Damiana added, seeing the challenging grin War wore.
"Are you proposing a challenge, young one?" He asked, standing up.
"Yeah, will you accept...or do you agree with my statement?"
"I have been a horseman for centuries, I have more experience than you would ever hope to have, are you sure?"
Damiana rolled her eyes and crossed her arms across her armored chest.
"Seems to me you're scared of losing." Damiana scoffed, flipping her long black hair as she turned on her heels.
Not much to her surprise, Ruin flew past her with its rider. Its flames singed a couple strands of her hair as it passed.
"To the house, I assume?" She asked, smiling widely at the horseman as he blushed in anger.
"I'll see you there." He grinned, urging Ruin into a gallop.
Damiana raised her hand and attempted to summon her mount just as she sees the other horsemen do. After awhile, Damiana looked back and frowned angrily when she spotted the full black mare stand dormant at the cliff side. Stomping her foot, Damiana beckoned the mare to come over to her, looking back to see Ruin disappear over the horizon. As the lazy Betrayal trotted over to its anxious rider, Damiana sighed impatiently and heaved herself into the leather saddle.
"Let's goooo, they're probably half way there!" She grumbled.
Betrayal rolled its purple eyes and began galloping at its abnormal pace, much faster than a regular horse would be at. Tiring of Damiana's insistent whining, Betrayal opened a portal and charged through it, regardless of Damiana's intended will.
"No, wait!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
War grinned in triumph as he and Ruin slowly edged their way to the stone mansion like house that they all resided in.
"Looks like I'm about-" he started, turning to look back at what he hoped an angered Damiana.
But only the trail of fire accompanied them...
Shrugging, War looked back to the front and thought about the over zealous Damiana's absence. She usually would be behind by only a couple of paces if she was not first during races. When he spied his eldest brother, Death, standing by the entrance, awaiting the pair's arrival, War's grin grew broader.
'Another person to witness my victory.' He thought, pushing the thoughts concerning Damiana out of his head.
Suddenly, a large shadow leapt from the ground and landed with a loud crash, stopping once to regain its balance. Ruin, startled, stopped as well, shaking its head in confusion.
Seizing its chance, Betrayal galloped past the confused Ruin and towards the house. Damiana, clinging on to the saddle for dear life, smiled nervously as she past the dumbfounded War.
"You cheated." He growled, making Ruin catch up to Betrayal.
"You cheated first! Starting a race when I wasn't in the saddle."
Before War could utter another word in protest, Betrayal gained a burst of energy and dusted the tiring Ruin, quickly reaching the house.
'I'm gonna win, yes! Finally, they'll respect me and-'
Betrayal snorted and slowly began to disappear,
Just as it did before...
"No!" Damiana yelped, trying to control her restless mare.
Betrayal paid no heed to Damiana and quickly disappeared, leaving Damiana to flail helplessly in the air. In a fraction of a second, Damiana crashed head first into the ground, cringing when she heard a sickening crack in her arm. Rolling to a stop at the front step, Damiana's head struck the front step, slicing a gash into her forehead. Shakily, Damiana sat up on her elbows and through the blood streamed down her face, smiled happily up at the stunned Death.
"I won..." She laughed, passing out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Damiana sighed and shifted under her covers, slowly waking up. She glanced over at her doorway and smiled faintly at her worried hellhound. Shadow stopped her pacing and looked up at the bed ridden Damiana, orange eyes bright in fear.
"Master," Shadow yipped, jumping onto of the bed.
When the medium sized husky jumped on to the bed, Damiana winced. Her broken arm was sloppily set into place with steel and tan hide bindings. With every move made near her arm, it felt as if the side of the broken bone rubbed against the other, making a scraping noise inside her head.
"Careful," a voice, low and sarcastic, rang from across the room.
Standing in the corner stood Death, the Eldest of the horsemen, with his arms crossed. He stood in the darkest corner, as if trying to mask his concern of the young one, only his eyes were completely visible.
"Oh, hey Death...did you see me win?" Damiana grinned, trying to hide her pain.
"I saw you crack your skull open," Death retorted, taking a step towards Damiana.
"Well..." Damiana mumbled, reaching up to touch her gash.
"Do you see now why we keep you here? It takes more than a century for you to get over your mortality and you get hurt easily."
"No I don't!" Damiana grumbled.
"Well, you do, and we aren't going to risk having you hurt...we're leaving to investigate something for the Council. They made it a point that you join us-"
Damiana whooped and went to get up, but was gingerly forced back down by Death's steady hand.
"But I will explain why you aren't to come."
"Seriously?!" Damiana hissed, pushing his hand off her shoulder.
"I am NOT staying here again!"
Letting out a curt sigh, Death turned and walked out the room, ignoring the young girl's protests.
"I've been dormant for too long! You said-"
"That was then, this is now. You can barely control your horse, who knows what will happen if you were to ride with us with a fractured arm and rib?" Death said.
When Damiana didn't retort, Death glanced back and saw Damiana standing up stubbornly. The two stared each other down, until finally Damiana sighed and threw herself back on her bed, biting her lip.
"We'll be back before dawn...don't leave this room until we do." Death said, watching Damiana carefully.
Damiana put a thumbs up and buried her head into her pillow, fighting back bitter tears of disappointment.
"One way of another...you guys will respect me...maybe tonight will be tonight." Damiana grumbled when Death was out of earshot