Kingdom of the Gods: Godkiller (Sequel to Mythical Madness)

Chapter 4

5: Touchdown at the Chateau (of the Immortals)

JACK'S POV

We had arrived at the chateau, getting clearance from the two skeleton guards to go into the gates and parking beside the massive building. Four zombi had filed out of the building, opening our doors and taking our backpacks for us. So far, this was exactly like Kiase's previous chateau. We walked into the chateau, and that changed.

Inside, the chateau's entrance was modeled after a modern hotel, not a Victorian era atrium like the previous one. Ghost maids and skeleton butlers still filed around doing various chores, but this time it was inside a modern hotel lobby. A door at the far end of the room opened and James Kiase strode out again, decked out in a crisp three-piece suit and carrying his trademark staff and monocle. He donned the eyepiece and strutted over to us, the shadows around him swirling like snakes.

"Welcome, welcome, again, my friends! I see that you five are staying with me once again, but this time in my Cornwall Chateau! What a pleasure...Silas, show them to their rooms and take their bags," Kiase said.

"Mr. Kiase! How long can we stay here?" Jack asked.

"Oh, however long you'd like! Just don't disturb things too much. Dinner's precisely at 6:30 sharp, so get down here and eat however much you'd like. I'm afraid it will be quite a lonely meal though. My main servants have no need to eat, and only my hired bodyguard Silas will be eating with you. I have business to attend to now, children. Ta-ta!" Mr. Kiase said, striding away again.

"God, I hate that man," Kevin said, after Kiase was out of earshot. Silas gave a grunt of agreement, taking our backpacks from the zombi.

"Right this way. Kiase's given you the best rooms in the house...considering there's nobody else in this place," Silas said, trudging up a sleek silver set of steps.

We followed him up to the chateau's second floor, where he gave Piper and Alice each a room. He then walked over to an elevator that was set into the wall and hit the button for the fourth floor. Max, Kevin, Silas, and I all stepped in and the elevator took us up. We all got out of the elevator only to nearly smash into a Ghoul that was running down the hallway towards the elevator. Silas gave the ghoul a kick in its side.

"Watch where you're going, Bugcruncher!" he yelled. The ghoul snarled an unintelligible response and loped into the elevator, a tad more slowly this time.

"Wouldn't that hurt him?" Kevin asked, referring to the kick.

"Ghouls don't feel pain," Silas replied.

He opened a door right in front of us and Kevin walked in. We then walked down one more door and Max stepped into this room. I took my place in the third room down.

"Alright, ring the bell on the wall and a Skeleton should come to assist you. I assume you heard what Kiase said about dinner, so be there. Have a good stay at the Chateau de Immortels," Silas said with a grin, closing the door and walking off.

__________________________________________________________________

"Alright, so we'll run over the plan one more time. Kevin and Alice will go into the city and the surrounding countryside and look for information on Herne and Watcher tomorrow. Piper, Max, and I will stay here and keep a lookout in case Watcher finds out where we are. Tomorrow, if nobody comes, the groups will switch roles. Sounds good?" Piper asked. Various nods and "yeah"s went up from the group.

"Alright, then! I guess we'll head up to bed then. It's pretty late," I said, giving a genuine yawn and taking a sip of hot cocoa.

We were all clustered in a small arc of soft high-backed chairs around a fireplace, mugs of hot cocoa in our hands. Above the fireplace were a whole bunch of creepy animal heads from old hunts that Kiase might have made. This was what Piper had coined the Rustic Room, as it was the only room in the entire hotel that wasn't overtly modern.

As we all were talking peacefully, an odd voice came from behind Kevin's chair: a lilting, arrogant voice with the slightest touch of a British accent.

"May I interlude here? If anything on this chateau gets ruined in an attack on it by anyone, the funds for its repairs are going to come out of the Syndicate's money," James Kiase said.

"HOW IN THE WORLD DID YOU GET HERE!!!" Kevin screamed at the son of Hades. I had never seen him so angry.

"I have my ways, boy. Now anyways, if Herne or Watcher decide to come here, then Kaiendos' funding will take a steep drop, I can assure you that. Besides, the prophecy has yet to come true, so I would reccomend that all of you got out in order to fulfill the thing. Am I clear?" Kiase asked, almost menacingly as his eyes narrowed to dark slits.

The shadows around him whipped around and hissed like snakes, especially at Kevin. Kiase's glare nearly scared me to death, and I quickly answered "Yes!" Kiase then pulled back. The shadows around him went back to their normal peaceful movements, like seaweed in water, and his sinister leer turned into a charming grin.

"Great then! Feel free to do what you want now!" he said.

Maybe Kevin was right about hating him...