To Be A Prince of Hell

Chapter 7: Revealed

WARNING: TORTURE SCENE!!! If you don't want to read it, read till this: ***, then skip until you see it again.

Normally, Meliodas was a very light sleeper. The slightest disturbance in his surroundings could wake him up and his hand could be at any intruder's throat in less than a millisecond. It was something he'd developed as a young child, and something that had saved his life many times. Though, it seemed like Hydra poison-induced unconsciousness dulled that alertness a bit. It took him a few minutes to realize that 1) the pressure on his body was not caused by the cold floor and 2) there was someone reaching over him.

He abruptly sat up, threw the blankets off of him, grabbed the wrist of his attacker, and wrenched it to the side. For some reason, he couldn't move that well. What...? "Meliodas." Meliodas stopped at his name and blinked up at the shadowed figure above him. He relaxed his grip and the hand slipped from his hand. He gave an irritated sigh. "Salem. You're lucky, you almost lost your head there. What are you doing in my bedroom?" He tried to sit up better, only to be held back. "What in Purgatory–" He looked over to his side and was stunned by what he saw.

Zeldris was coiled up to his right side, sound asleep. His arm was thrown over Meliodas's bandaged left shoulder, his leg thrown over his, and his hair falling in his face. Meliodas's right arm was trapped under his limp body. Salem must've removed Meliodas's outfit while dressing his wound, because if he hadn't, Zeldris would've been very uncomfortable. He heard a small snort and snapped his head around to glare at Salem. "Not. A single word," he bit out. Salem immediately composed himself, but, to his farther irritation, Meliodas could see a flicker of humor in his eyes. Bastard was laughing at him.

He tried to sit up more, but Zeldris had a death grip on him. So, he slumped back into the bed, glaring at his predicament. "Salem, what the fuck are you doing in my bedroom?" He asked again, a bit harsher this time. At his question, the amusement in Salem's eyes went out. "I've received information that may help in our investigation into the traitor group, my lord." Meliodas stilled, a predator finally catching the scent of his prey. "I see. And what have you discovered?" "I've heard from one of my colleagues in Cadiz," Salem started. "He informed me that Counselor Abraxas was seen with his grandson yesterday. His home has doubled the amount of guards it had and there's been whispers that a few shadowy figures have been seen going to and from his estate."

Meliodas laughed with unsettling glee. Salem smiled. "I figured that would make you happy." Meliodas shrugged–well, as much as he could. "I'm going to get to torture that old windbag. Why wouldn't that make me happy?" Salem's gaze then focused on his shoulder. "I cleaned and bandaged your shoulder. You've been sleeping for nearly nine hours now, so it should be healed." He nodded then turned to look at Zeldris, sighed, and jumped out of the bed, pulling his still comatose brother with him. When he stood, Zeldris fell, smacking his face into the floor.

"Ow!!" Zeldris bolted awake, holding his face. He looked a completely unsympathetic Meliodas in the eyes. "What in Purgatory was that, brother?!" He demanded, scowling childishly. "Time to get up. Go back to your room if you want to sleep some more." Zeldris got to his feet and stumbled out the door, grumbling the entire way. After he'd left, Meliodas began getting dressed. Salem stood up. "I'll inform the King." He then left as well.

As he got ready, Meliodas tried to figure out why Abraxas would do such a thing. He was pretentious and old-fashioned but not stupid. And this was very stupid. Plotting against the Demon King was a death wish. Even if he somehow managed to find enough Demons willing to follow him through such a stupid plan to actually make a difference, he'd still have a low chance of defeating the King in battle. They'd all be slaughtered. And that's not even counting what would happen if he was caught early, as he had been.