Deliverance [malexmale]

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Three

"His vitals are fine. You're sure he hasn't eaten anything?"

Lucifer's words barely registered as I sat in the chair back in the room I'd been given. Usually it would be Hades in here, checking my vitals and ensuring my health, but Arikos had politely asked him to let Lucifer check on me, because in his eyes, Lucifer was much nicer than Hades. While that may be true, I knew Lucifer was simply taking on a professional face. He honestly didn't care what happened to me. He probably just wanted me out of his palace, which I would endeavor to do so...

Once I got over the fact that I was trapped here with nowhere to go.

The realization over the fact that I could never leave this plane of existence felt like the final blow. I suddenly felt like everything had been sucked out of me. I felt weak and tired. I did nothing, but sleep, and when I wasn't sleeping, I was staring at the ceiling, trying to gain enough strength to get up and leave, but I couldn't. The world suddenly seemed so much darker and colder.

When I had refused the pills and given up on eating, Arikos had panicked and called Lucifer in to check on me, but he wasn't going to find anything.

"He hasn't touched any of the meals I brought to him," Arikos explained worriedly, and I felt like a bastard for making him fret when he really didn't need to, but it felt like it was impossible to move, everything felt so heavy. I didn't understand the point of moving. I didn't understand the point of anything anymore. I just felt drained.

"Has he said anything to you?" Lucifer asked, turning away from the bed to look at Arikos, who sat on the bed by my side, his hand on my knee. He did that because he thought it would help, and while it was nice to know he hadn't left me, I felt like a prick for not letting him go do his own thing. The longer I laid here like a useless pile of crap, the longer Arikos had to abandon his own life. I hated that he did it, wished he'd stop, but there was a deep selfish part of me that was happy he stayed there and talked to me.

And he talked to me about everything. He talked about his coffee shop, all his favorite kinds of coffee, about his co-workers. I knew all their names now; Terrance, Regina, Aadip, Xina, and his employer, Aaron. I knew all of their hobbies and their favorite hang-outs. I even knew about Regina's secret crush on Aaron.

He told me about how Hannibal helped him get his apartment, how it'd taken a while to convince the landlord he was legit. He told me about his favorite neighbor, Rasheed, a male fae who enjoyed having cocktail parties, despite his crummy apartment below Arikos's. He told me about Martha, the two-hundred-year-old gunslinging vampire who lived on the corner and passed out flyers for her favorite strip club, so she could get in free for advertising.

And he told me about the years he spent in Atlantis, when he had given up all hope of ever being freed, of ever finding a real person who cared about him, of ever having a real family, a real life. He told me about the times when life wasn't as bad, when he'd be left alone to go about his own devices, and he'd wander to one of the gods' homes, the gods who didn't hurt him. Generally, that would be Atlia or Lea, on occasion, he'd run into Atlantean sea nymphs and play games with them.

"No," Arikos answered Lucifer's earlier question, "He won't say anything. I mean, he was fine when he first woke up... Or, uh, as fine as he could be. I left him for one second and when I came back, he just asked about his clothes and suddenly stopped talking. He didn't eat. When I asked if he was alright, he just laid down on the sofa and stared at the floor." Lucifer narrowed his eyes.

"He asked about his robes?" He asked. Arikos nodded. Lucifer glanced at me, then looked around the room.

"St. John, get Hades and come here. Now." His command was definitely not as relaxed and calm as it had been earlier. Now he sounded angry. I wasn't entirely sure why. Maybe he knew about the jewelry and was infuriated I'd sullied it or something. I felt the air stir and buzz with electric power and a second later, St. John and Hades appeared in the room.