Darksiders: Age of Creation (Book 3)

Chapter 12: The Worst Hider in the History of Hiding

Holding her hand up to block the harsh sun rays from her eyes, Damiana gritted her teeth in quiet agitation. Betrayal made a loud snort and stopped short, hiding amongst the shadow of the batch of trees before the pair.
     The last horseman rolled her eyes and gently squeezed her knees against her mare's smooth sides. When the mare refused to move, Damiana threw her hands up in the air and folded them tightly across her chest.
"Come on! I thought we were past this! I'm the rider, you're the horse, you listen to me!" She hissed, looking around for the fallen angel.
    When she scanned the vast area filled with trees and odd formations of rock, Damiana's eyes grew wide when she saw what Betrayal sensed.
"Son of a- why are all four of them here??" She murmured, dipping low in the saddle when the other female horseman turned to gaze in Damiana's direction.
"Great...where the hell is Zareal, I can't be gone from Heaven for too long." She mumbled, quietly sliding down from the saddle.
    Betrayal seemed to roll it's bright purple eyes and bobbed its head in quiet understanding. When Betrayal stopped and looked past Damiana, it flattened its ears and made a soft rumbling noise deep within its throat.
    When it's rider turned around, an overjoyed smile brightened up her dull expression.
"Shadow!" She mouthed happily, tightly embracing the sullen hellhound.
"Hello, um, what are you doing...here?" Shadow said shakily, growing stiff in Damiana's arms.
"Oh, I'll explain later...hm...I need to get down there to find Zareal..." Damiana started, turning to gaze over the bush she was hiding behind.
Shadow bowed her head and sat on her haunches, licking her paw grimly as Betrayal continued glaring at her.
     After a few moments, Shadow sighed and firmly put her paw down, meeting Betrayal's hardening glare.
"What?" She snarled quietly, baring her teeth at the mare.
Betrayal only snorted angrily and stomped it's foot against the soft dirt, not even bothering to offer any answer to the hellhound...
As if it knew something...
"Maybe if I climb the tree...no one will see me!" Damiana smirked as her eyes rested on the large oak tree near the trio.
"What are you doing here on Earth again?" Shadow asked, still locking eyes with Betrayal.
"I need my blue amulet back." Damiana gently jumped over the bush and grabbed the nearest tree branch.
    When her brothers stopped talking, Damiana held her breath and pressed herself against the trunk of the the tree, scrapping her arms against the bark.
"I guess...it was my imagination..." She heard Fury say.
    After a few moments, the talking slowly commenced back again and Damiana let out her held breath. Digging her nails into the bark, Damiana slowly traversed the large tree. After a few moments, Damiana reached the top branches, she gazed down and felt her heart stop.
"Oh damn, why did I look down?" She closed her eyes and continued walking across the branch to the next tree.
"...he had this in his possession."
Damiana stopped and looked back down again at Fury, who and the rest of the brotherhood stood directly beneath her.
    Squinting, Damiana leaned forward and instantly cursed herself.
  In her elder sister's hand was a glowing blue stone, encased with metal entwined in the shape of a heart.
"Why do they have...god dammit to hell and back!" Damiana leaned even father to get a better glimpse at the necklace.
She watched the brotherhood quietly, listening to their conversation.
They need to find Zareal, blah blah blah. Damiana wasn't doing her job correctly, blah blah blah. Blame gets pushed onto Strife for teaching Damiana to be rebellious, blech.
"I'm my own person, why do others feel the need to take responsibility for- GAH!" Damiana gazed down at her hand and screeched when she saw a large long legged spider crawl up her hand.
As she attempted to slap the creep crawly away, Damiana's grasp on the branch faltered and she tilted forwards.
Before she could catch her balance, Damiana plunged forwards and tumbled down to the earth, screaming as she did so.
When the ground came speeding to her, Damiana shut her eyes and waited for impact. After a few moments, Damiana cautiously opened one eye when she didn't hear the wind whistle in her ears.
The ground was about a foot and a half away and her brothers all stood around in a circle, watching her intently in a mixture of shock and quiet annoyance.
"Dami...what are you doing here?" Fury started after a short pause.
"Don't you have a mission you should be on?" Strife yawned, crossing his arms.
"I, uh...What are YOU people doing here!" Damiana growled, trying her best to look up at her brothers as she hung upside down.
"That's really none of your concern. What are you doing here without the presence of Abbadon." Death mumbled.
"Can someone please cut me down?"
"I think we should let you hang there until you tell us why you're disobeying the Council." War said, chuckling quietly to himself.
Damiana stuck her tongue out at her laughing brother and looked at Fury with a pleading look.
"Come onnnn I can't tell you anything if my foot is currently holding me in an unnatural position." Damiana pointed to the rope like vine tangled around her leg.
When the other 3 chittered silently, Death sighed and cut the vine down, setting Damiana gently onto the ground.
"Thanks, and, can I have my necklace back, pllleeeaaasseee?"
"You still failed to tell us why you are here and not doing as you were ordered to do!" Death muttered, glaring down at Damiana.
     Damiana only glanced at Death to the side and ignored him, only focusing on Fury.
  Fury looked at Damiana sternly and crossed her arms, necklace hung loosely on one of her sharp claws.
"I would love to give this to you, if you just tell us of why you are here."
    Damiana looked at Fury, then back at the necklace, then back at Fury. She couldn't tell them; she just couldn't. They would stop her, the would never understand.
There was only one way...
    Taking a deep breath, Damiana looked over to the side and locked eyes with Betrayal.
"Well?"
      Cursing herself once again, Damiana lunged forward and snatched the dangling necklace from her eldest sister's grasp and ducked underneath her legs.
"I'm so so so so sorry! Don't be too pissed at me, I'll explain it later!" Damiana begged her stunned sister.
   Betrayal roared and charged towards Damiana, stirring up whirlpools of darkness by its hooves. When her mare galloped past her, Damiana smiled sheepishly and kicked herself from the ground and grabbed the horn of her saddle. Slipping her foot into the stirrup, Damiana heaved herself into the saddle.
"I'm SORRY!" Damiana called over her shoulder.
                ~~~~~~~~~~~
"Did they stop chasing us, Shadow?" Damiana looked down at the panting hellhound as the trio flashed through the forest.
   Shadow only lowered her head and looked around their surroundings.
"We should-"
"Hey...is that a house...?" Damiana leaned back in the saddle to make Betrayal come to a screeching halt.
"This is Queens! Janelle is..." Damiana slid from the saddle and ran off to an unknown distance.
Shadow sighed sadly and followed Damiana, avoiding Betrayal's on going glare.
After a few moments of fight through the brush, Shadow found Damiana quickly jogging towards the area where she and Damiana buried Janelle a century ago.
"I haven't seen her in a while...I hope she forgives me." Damiana mumbled.
"Master Damiana...Janelle isn't alive for you to be forgiven." Shadow huffed.
"I know but..." Damiana mumbled, lowering her voice to a whisper.
"I'll just say hi and leave and get back to Abbadon, I'm sure someone realized that I locked him in the dungeon..." Damiana chuckled quietly, hoping to goodness Abbadon wouldn't be too angry.
"What??"
"I needed to be sure he wouldn't go somewhere and get hurt, so, he's in a dark dungeon until I get back to Heaven." Damiana chortled, looking down at her blue necklace.
"Don't you think-"
"Ah you worry too much! I mean-" Damiana stopped short at her sister's grave clearing, making Shadow bump into her legs.
"What's-"
   Shadow shook her head and looked up, heart instantly breaking at the sight of it.
    The grave site was trashed, everything was uprooted.
"JANELLE!" Damiana screamed, running towards the marked grave.
    The grave was dug up, leaving a large crater.
And it was empty...
"No no no NO!" Damiana leapt into the crater and used her hands to continue digging in the grave.
She was hoping it was just...a terrible dream...a terrible unfathomable dream.
"Seriously?!" Damiana stopped digging after a few moments and put her head in her hands, not caring if the black dirt got on her face.
"Why does this always have to happen to me? Why can't I have one damn day when I'm not reminded that my life is a fucking NIGHTMARE?!"
     As Damiana hissed unsavory things into her hands, a figure slowly approached the crater behind her.
"Who the fuck are you?" Damiana growled, feeling herself lose control.
"Sister, are you okay?" A calm voice asked, reaching out to touch her shoulder.
    Damiana looked to the side and glared at the man that was once in her dreams.
"Demetrix...?" She asked in an uneasy tone.
"That is indeed my name...are you okay?" He purred, giving Damiana a mock pained look through his platinum blond bangs.
"She's...she's-" Damiana sniffled, looking away when she felt a tear escape her eye.
"You don't have to look away, you shouldn't have to hide your despair." Demetrix begged, gently moving Damiana's silk hair to the side.
"Why are you being...nice to me?"
"Because you're my sister and I want to care for you...I can't stand to see you cry." Demetrix said quietly, edging a little bit closer to the hunched over Damiana.
"You do?" Damiana looked up at Demetrix through her small, bitter tears.
"Of course I do, we are a family after all." Demetrix reached over and gently wiped the tears from Damiana's round face.
    Demetrix looked down at the blue necklace clutched in his younger sister's fist and instantly recoiled.
"What is that?"
   When Damiana didn't answer, Demetrix gently pried it from her hand and tossed it to the side.
"Come with me, little one...you'll feel a lot better with me." Demetrix nodded to another unknown person.
"Do...do you promise I'll feel better?" Damiana asked quietly, sounding both childish and vulnerable.
"Cross my heart and hope to die." Demetrix smiled devilishly, easily scooping Damiana up and clutching her to his chest.
"You'll thank me when you're older." He smiled widely, showing his wife array of sharpened teeth.
"I thank you now..." Damiana said, looking up at Demetrix unblinkingly.
"Perfect."
"What are you going to do to her?!" Shadow hissed, biting down on Demetrix's flowing cape, preventing him from moving.
"I'm not going to do anything to her." He said quietly, not breaking eye contact with Damiana.
"She'll thank me and so will you...and the horsemen will too."
"They treat our Princess as if She was a child. No more will they under estimate you, my smallest sister. They will learn to fear the darkness." Demetrix kicked Shadow alongside her snout and walked off, leaving a trail of menace as he did so.

~hey everyone, my mind was sorta jumbled up during this, so if it's confusing, sorryyyyyy >_<~