Silver Shackles

Chapter 9

"Big brother, where are you?"

The sound of his voice stirred me awake. Wary, I sat up to look around. The sensation of being watched weighted on me, yet no one other than us was in our room.

Despite my brusque awakening, Baal only stirred in his sleep. He mumbled some gibberish before he continued sleeping peacefully. I breathed out relieved, I was probably having a nightmare...

"Come on out, Luke. Don't you want to see your brother?"

I opened my eyes wide, my body going cold. My hands were shaking and I was scared. How did he manage to find me here? He couldn't have caught up with me. I made sure to keep a low profile.

"It's cold out here, not that it matters, but you wouldn't want me to go inside looking for you, would you?"

I got out of bed and got dressed. With my sword in hand, I rushed out the room leaving Baal asleep in bed. I ran out to the main entrance and then blindly into the dark, mountain forest. Once I ran far enough, I came to a brusque halt. He was close.

My skin crawled wherever I sensed his gaze. His eyes were posed on me.

"I thought you'd be more occupied playing with the princess, Thanatos." I spoke up. More so than anger, fear threaten to show in my voice. "Isn't she a shinier new toy?"

"She got boring. I already toyed with her enough, she has too much of an explosive character..." The faint sound of footsteps over snow interrupted the eerie silence reigning in the mountain.

I turned around and there he was, smiling as smug as ever, his eyes glowing bright red. My younger brother didn't look anything like me. Nutmeg colored silky hair covered his head, neatly combed back so it wouldn't hide his red, almond-shaped eyes. His pick of dark pants, knee-high boots and a sleeveless button shirt would barely keep a human from freezing to death in these conditions. The first buttons of his shirt were undone, exposing a nasty scar over his lightly tanned skin. Belts decorated his waist as they hung loose and incorrectly adjusted to his pants. Part of his alluring charm was his almost irresistible, intoxicating scent. It threatened to numb me out, make me stray from sanity.

If it weren't for the fact he was undead, one could say Thanatos hadn't changed at all in the last two thousand years.

"Aww you don't seem pleased to see me again big brother." The way he smiled was cold and fear inducing.

He knew he was powerful and he enjoyed it.

"How could I be? You're not really my brother, I buried him a long time ago." I wanted to sound as cocky as possible, make him think I wasn't about to run away. He knew better. "My answer is no."

"I'm not here for your 'yes', Luke. Actually, I'm here to see your sane side for one last time." His words were mocking as he circled me like a wolf stalks its prey. "It's not like I care about your mental health, you will say yes to me, insane or not... well, it'd be nice if your boyfriend joined us too instead of dying for your sake. The Goddesses have a cruel way of steering things their way. I thought you'd know this by now, the prophecy is very clear on—."

"I'll tell you this now, little brother. There is no version of our story where you get to lay a finger on Baal. You can rest assured."

My body grew hot thanks to searing anger. The moment he mentioned Baal, fear disappeared from within me. Thanatos wouldn't touch him. He could do with me as he liked but I would not allow him to harm a hair on Baal's head.

"Is that rage I see in your eyes? That's new...I thought he was just one of your usual flings. You do bed maidens as much as you blink, but now... I really would love to see the face he will make when you deprive him of his life."