Scattered

54

Labyrinth

'Where are we going?' Olivia asked, leaning in from behind Damianos' broad back.

'Shut it and follow if you want to get out here alive, woman.' He sneered back at her with a flash of his deadly canines and turned back around just as immediately before hurrying ahead.

'Okay, grumpy pants.'

She grumbled as she pulled the hood of the long cloak Damianos provided lower against her face, following the antsy shirtless demon closer to the small rundown building. Demons of different kinds passed by them, a few of them stopped to talk to Damianos in few short conversations in a tongue wrenching language while ignoring her altogether. Olivia didn't mind especially because most of them had vicious eyes and teeth and all of them armed with different kinds of horns, each one intimidating than the last.

The mysterious building they were headed to was gritty and grimy as the tall walls that seemed to enclose the entire region like a maze. It terrified Olivia to think what would have happened if she made this trip by herself. Everywhere she could see were walls and poisonous rivers with deadly creatures roaming wanting to take a chunk out of her. Damianos rapped his knuckles against the rusty metal door and the two waited silently. In a few seconds, a latch opened and a pair of red cat-eyes glowed from the dark inside.

'State the purpose.' A rough, gravelly voice said from behind the heavy door.

'I am here for Claws.' Damianos said casually. 'Tell him Damianos is here.'

The red eyes narrowed and the latch shut unceremoniously in their faces.

'Wow that was a warm welcome.' Olivia drawled in sarcasm. 'Who is this "Claws" anyway?'

'Listen here, beautiful.' Damianos sighed as he turned to her. 'You are going to see and hear a lot of... things in there. This is not your dainty little Earth. This is Limbo. Whatever happens you keep your head low and walk silently behind me. Do not engage anyone, do not look anyone in the eye. Let me do all the talking, is that clear?'

'Noted.' She nodded albeit with a little hesitation. 'But why are you taking me to this person?'

'The Blood Castle, or the red-stoned castle as you call it, is a two day trek from here in the North and besides, the Centaurs in the South are not exactly friends with us demons. They will kill both of us on sight. We would have to teleport there and Claws has anyone to do anything under the sun.'

Olivia barely restrained the urge to say that she herself could teleport. Revealing who she was would be dangerous and she doesn't know how Damianos would react. Plus, she has no clue about this realm so it's not like she can teleport like she did in Brooklyn. She was sure that imagining red walls and dust isn't going to take her to the right place. Now she at least had a semi-friendly demon help her and she wasn't going to risk it all in this scary maze realm.