Deliverance [malexmale]

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Four

The necklace Atlan had given me was the one with Dekokles's soul.

He'd given me a necklace possessed by the god of nightmares. He'd done it intentionally. The longer I wore the necklace, the worse my nightmares had gotten. I hadn't noticed, because nightmares were a regular occurrence. What wasn't normal was the fact that my one safe haven, my one dream, had become twisted and dark and destroyed.

My one dream had been corrupted, and I had just passed it off as trauma... Or worse. A small part of me had actually thought that it was a premonition. I had almost believed for a moment that Hannibal could be like that. The very thought made me ill.

"Who has the necklace now?" Hades asked after I'd told them about the necklace. Lucifer looked at Hades.

"St. John. He took everything Menoetius had come in with. He'd told me he wanted to give the necklace to someone. I had assumed he'd found another bedmate and planned to woo her with it," he admitted with a helpless shrug. Hades raised an eyebrow.

"Your snake has girlfriends?" He asked. Lucifer gave him a deadpan stare.

"He's not actually a snake, Hades."

"Gee, could've fooled me with the whole creepy eye thing going on."

"You're one to talk about creepy eyes," a voice said, making everyone turn to see St. John leaning against the corner to the room, arms folded over his chest. Hades instantly bristled at the demon's presence, and I was still confused as to why the two hated each other so much that the grudge seemed truly personal.

"His eyes aren't creepy," Lucifer said sternly, to which St. John glared at him, "And neither are yours. Anyway, that's not the point. The necklace. You knew it had Dekokles's soul in it, didn't you?" St. John blinked innocently, placing a hand on his chest.

"What? Lil' ol' me? Why, I never. Lucifer, I'm so offended by your-- yeah, I knew," he said, instantly dropping his sarcastic bit to go deadpan, "I'm the fucking Demon of Creation, archangel. Nightmares are my playgrounds. And the births of special gods are my mandatory two-thirty meetings. Of course I knew it was Dekokles." Hades eyed St. John warily, arms crossed tight over his chest, body rigid. St. John cut him a stare. And judging by the twitch in Hades's brow, they were speaking telepathically, a conversation that the rest of us weren't privy to. And apparently one that was aggravating Hades to no end, because a charge of blue electric power crackled between his fingers.

"Hades, please," Lucifer said, touching his arm and Hades shrugged him off, "Please." Hades actually gave pause at Lucifer's plea, stared at him with obvious frustration, but said nothing. Lucifer looked back at St. John.

"What have you done with Dekokles?" He asked. St. John frowned.

"What should've been done to him a long time ago," he replied. Arikos looked pale at that.

"You didn't kill him, did you? It's not his fault Menoetius had nightmares. Dekokles is a slave to whomever controls the necklace and Atlan was just making him do it. He's not a bad god, he's just a kid, honestly," he said quickly. St. John gave him a strange look, almost like he was offended and annoyed at the suggestion.

"I didn't kill him," he said, and Arikos appeared to relax, "I returned him to his father."

"Zetnos has Dekokles back?" Arikos asked, brightening. St. John frowned.

"What's left of him," he admitted, making Arikos deflate like a balloon, "Atlan was using him for quite some time, I'd say. The kid is burnt out and exhausted. And he has no physical form in this world. He's just a necklace. One Zetnos will endeavor to care for from now on." Arikos appeared disappointed with that. Judging from his reactions, he must have known Dekokles personally. The thought of his friend being eternally imprisoned hurt.