Retribution

Well I had just given up on pursuing you, when you blindsided me by offering to help me heal. You had strict rules and made it clear it would be only a business arrangement, but I’ll admit I was eager to take you up on it, previous decisions be damned.

We shared another kiss and it revealed something to me I couldn’t comprehend and I guess I didn’t want to accept, the thing is Unya when something happens and I can’t handle it, I disappear for a while. I don’t like to think of it as hiding, but I guess it could be perceived that way. When something is troubling me or something happens that shakes me to my core, I have to be alone to decompress I guess.

That solitude helps me to work things out in my head and figure out if my first assumptions were in fact correct.”

“Malachi that is the second time you have said something without offering further elaboration, the first time you mentioned realising something and then just now with this big reveal. Are you ever going to explain what the hell you are talking about?”

“I will in time, but right now I should find you some food,” I replied, dropping a chaste kiss upon her mouth and then left her room.

It was a dickish move, I will admit that now, but back then I hadn’t wanted to reveal something to this Unya that I had never had the courage to tell her before.

You see the hardest thing for me was the fact that I had feelings for her still, but they weren’t as strong as they had once been. The big secret I hadn’t revealed to her, did not seem to apply to this new version. I was just waiting for some spark of her old self to resurface and hoped the old emotions would return.

The one thing that terrified me was the worry that the real Unya wouldn’t be able to look past the lies I was made to be complicit it, even though Lawson was dead I still might never have her as my own.

It was the first time I had returned to the surface since Unya removed me from her life, I always hated to admit having any kind of nervous inclinations, but I could feel them itching across my skin. It did not feel safe being up here, even if it was in Unya’s best interest.

The Gods had gone quiet, but being in Hades’ inner circle had some advantages. Namely being able to tell what catastrophes and evil deeds were being controlled by their hands. For some strange reason they had taken to the role of puppet masters, controlling the strings that bound the mortals, making them dance, kill and die for their own amusement.

Their end game hadn’t been made clear, although everyone with half a brain cell could tell you they still sought the death of the ebony child.

But despite all of that, I still walked the bustling streets of central London. I had chosen that location, for the inconspicuous edge it could grant me. I could not let Ackley or Marcus learn of my reappearance, especially before I could return to the Underworld.

All of that was plaguing my thoughts as I acquired food for Unya, my head had been so muddled, I hadn’t stood a chance at defending myself against the threat I never saw coming.

I guess luck had been on my side, I can’t explain how I knew that, but it was rooted deep in my bones I had made a narrow escape.

I hadn’t even been sure what had torn through the skin of my back, seizing a grip around my blackened heart. The only thing I could be sure of, was the tightness only stopped when a bright light flared and all the shadows were wiped from the vicinity.

“Malachi, is that you?” asked a female I hadn’t expected to ever see again.

“What the hell are you doing here? I thought you had shacked up with one of the rebels down in Devon,” I stated as Janelle stood before me, a blazing ball of light being bounced back and forth by some creature I did not recognise.

“I didn’t shack up with anyone my friend, but the rest is true. I came here against the wishes of those I surround myself with, but after what happened to Marcus there was no way I could just stand back and not try to lend a hand.”

Her words had thrown me for six, which I wasted no time in telling her. It was then she told me what had become of Marcus, after Ishira had leapt over the edge of her own sanity. What had driven her to it, Janelle would not say, just like she would neither confirm nor deny whether Marcus had perished under the damage Ishira inflicted.

“I get why you would branch out, but why would you risk it? The last I heard you couldn’t leave the safety Devon provided you. Aren’t you putting yourself at risk?”

Janelle cut a sharp glare towards the creature that was still playing with the strange ball of light, and it looked anywhere but in her direction or mine, come to think of it.

“Not everyone is as familiar with my background as you are Malachi, I would prefer it if you wouldn’t reveal my secrets to every Tom, dick and harry that is within ear shot.”

“Does David know?” Inquired the creature, who stopped playing with the light, and instead let it float up around us, still keeping any shadows from forming.

Janelle turned her back to me and stared at the, what now appeared rather human like, creature. She gave a quick shake of her head before returning her attention to me.

“A lot of crazy shit is going down, Ackle

y has been rather closed off since you disappeared. I can’t even describe how your disappearing act has affected him. I’ve kept my distance but my ‘friend’ here has been keeping a watch for you. She felt you resurface, which means others may have. You need to return to the Underworld while you still can, something is trying to stop whatever plan you have put in motion. You would have died had we not interfered.”

I had taken on board Janelle’s warning and descended back into Hades’ domain, trying to figure out just how a shadow could piece my flesh and fill my body with an icy chill that refused to leave me.

13

Unya

When Malachi returned he seemed rather shaken up, I wasn’t in the right mindset to bombard him with questions, as I was still feeling quite shaken myself after what happened.