Silver Shackles

Chapter 14

"You don't think she'll try something now, do you?" Baal was angry, his voice trembled and the air around him seemed to sizzle. The life energy in his body was doing some weird things, kinda like it wanted to go haywire.

"I don't think so, she seemed very keen on 'staying on the sidelines'. What I don't like is the fact she's waiting for my brother to do something." I replied. The fact she was so confident made my stomach churn. "She's probably escaped The Palace by now, using that high-level illusion skill can only mean she knew it's not safe for her in here."

"She called you Apocalypse..." The tone he'd used was icy, the obvious anger fueling it apparent in his darkened purple eyes as he stared me down. "Luke, what the hell is really going on? Your brother came back, and you have to stop him, but what the fuck does that entail?"

Bad idea to I try his patience in this state. Very, very bad idea.

"Apocalypse is the name I bore when I was on my brother's side." I breathed out and sat beside him. If Naomi knew that much, then there was no use in hiding it lest I'd risk the fiendish woman spilling the beans for me in a less agreeable manner. "When I picked up Lucifer... I became cursed, that's the mark on my neck. Its main function is to drive me insane. It hadn't acted up until yesterday and it's been giving me hallucinations. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to bear with the burden."

Baal slapped me across my face leaving me stunned for a good amount of time before he pushed me down onto the bed and gave me a deep kiss. I closed my eyes melting into it, I let my lips move in tandem to the soft pace he led. I opened my eyes to meet his dark purple orbs. He rose his head a little, separating our lips, and I took full notice of how fast both our hearts were beating.

"I know you don't want to worry me, but... don't you think the whole scenario where you do go insane and I don't know why is worse than having me fully informed?" He spoke with a caring tone and a love-filled gaze. My heart skipped a beat and I felt a knot in my throat. "What was your plan? Avoid the problem until things got out of hand? Luke, first, you're literally thousands of years old enough to know how dumb that is. Second, you got me now... let's work on this together, okay?"

"Sorry... I wasn't thinking, plus I worry... I don't know what I'd do if you got hurt because of me. And now Naomi knows you're here and she's seen that you'll—"

"That won't happen." Baal pressed his whole body against mine as he nosed my neck playfully, managing to yank a chuckle out of me. "What you fail to realize is that I don't know what I'd do if you got hurt."

I placed my hands over his back and hugged him. We stayed like that for a full minute before we realized there was a banquet we had to attend to. In the few minutes we had left, we took a quick shower and got dressed in our new clothes. Baal sported a red vest with extra short sleeves and a short unfolded stand-up collar along with black pants and a pair of expensive looking slippers. He had braided his hair and had decorated it with star pins. I wore a similar outfit to his with the exception mine was black and I got to use a blue sash around my waist.

We darted out of our room with no regard as to keeping Baal's presence hidden. Naomi knew he was here, our plan A had been mangled but at least we knew Naomi was already in league with Thanatos.

I liked to see Baal stride through The Palace with his head held high and his whole body oozing commanding power. All the knights in The Palace recognized him and bowed as we walked by hand in hand. Baal was a little nervous to be at this sort of situation again. Living amongst the common folk got him used to not being treated differently. He felt out of place, even when I knew he fit in this sort of situation very neatly.