“That was…”
“Yeah,” he answered coherently.
Clearing his throat, he leaned away and studied her, the flush in her cheeks, the sparkle in her blue eyes and the dark fall of her hair framing it all.
“So, I guess we need to tell the others not to bother coming up here then, huh?”
Death chuckled, finding humor in the situation as a bit of pressure was lifted off his chest.
Maybe getting the others back would be easier than he thought.
“Wait, she did what?” Betrayal asked, as they placed the blade on the kitchen table. It gleamed even in the low lighting of the kitchen, and Death began to wonder if it would glow even in darkness.
With a smile twitching his lips, Death turned to Daria. “Would you like to tell the story?”
She shrugged nonchalantly, even though pride glittered in her eyes. “I guess. We walked into the museum and I felt this, uhm, ‘mental tug’ is probably the best way to describe it. Like the blade was calling out to me.” Her gaze darted between the three of them, her cheeks flushing brighter the longer she talked. “It led us to the last display room, and right to it. As soon as I saw it, I knew that was what we needed. Then the chaos got really happy, and I let it do its thing.”
“Do its thing,” Hope echoed, mirth playing in his green eyes.
Daria’s cheeks colored even pinker. “Yeah, I don’t know how else to describe it. I just let it do whatever it wanted. It worked in our favor!” she argued defensively, and Betrayal released a chuckle of disbelief.
“Holy shit. Well, that was easy. So this is what we need to kill Pandora, huh?” Betrayal asked, running a finger along the edge of it. He flinched and jerked his hand back, glaring down at his index finger. A bead of crimson welled on his finger, and he popped the digit into his mouth.
Giggles tittered out of Daria, probably the last remnants of her adrenaline leaving her body, finally.
“It’s sharper than it looks,” he mumbled in response.
“So now what?” Daria questioned. “We have the weapon, now we just need Pandora.”
Hope nodded over his shoulder to the garage. “I think we know someone who can help.”
Death grabbed the blade and purposely hid it from sight as he followed Hope to the garage. Betrayal and Daria followed, and his lips twitched as Daria teased him about the cut.
“Did big bad Betrayal get a paper cut?” she teased in a baby voice.
The growl that left him would have terrified anyone else, but Daria just stifled more chuckles behind her hand.
“Be nice,” Death called over his shoulder, and Betrayal shot an annoyed glance in his direction.
“Did you get it?” Cadmon inquired from the chair, trying to twist around to see them.
“Maybe,” Hope answered. “There were less complications than first anticipated. Now where is Pandora?”
“Uhm… no,” he drawled slowly. “I’m not just giving her location up. It’s way out of your league, even with Daria and her chaos powers. Plus, what if she has extra demons by her side? There’s only four of you.”
All things that had crossed Death’s mind. “You’re listing problems, but I hear no solutions,” he pointed out with an arched brow.
“I was getting to that,” he said defensively. “I have followers who would stand beside me until the end in order to make sure chaos still reigns, even though there aren’t that many of us. That could be very useful to you in a time of battle, were it to come down to that.”
And we all know it will.
Death crossed his arms and searched his expression. “How do we know you wouldn’t double-cross us? We have no reason to trust you.”
He grumbled in frustration and struggled against the ropes. “I told you where the blade was, didn’t I? If I wanted you to fail, I would’ve just given you Pandora’s location, setting you up for failure from the start. But I didn’t. I made sure you had a fighting chance by telling you the one way to kill her. Isn’t that enough?”
No. It never would be, not when it comes to protecting Daria.
But what choice did they have? It was either go in and possibly be outnumbered, or trust Cadmon and… still be outnumbered. But if he was telling the truth, that man could be their one chance at pulling this off. At finally putting an end to everything. Getting their friends back, finally returning their lives to normal. Well, Daria’s life to normal, and giving them a chance to start a new one.
He glanced to Betrayal, reading the same muddle of confusion, concern, and hope in his gaze that he found in Daria’s. Death was battling his own emotions, but when they stepped back and looked at the options provided…
“Okay. We’ll let you contact your cult. But we want the location first,” Death decided. The others nodded in approval.
“That’s fair, I suppose. Now can you finally, please untie me? I’m not going anywhere.”
“Location,” Betrayal demanded. “I don’t sense any hidden motives from you, but if that changes, the second it does, you will die. There will be no hesitation,” he promised.
“Agreed. Do you want an address or coordinates?”
Death hesitated at the question. The hell would they do with coordinates?
I miss Persy, he sighed. He knew shit about computers, was surprised he could work the damn cell phones they’d gotten.
“Address it is.” He chuckled and called out an address in the middle of nowhere.
Or so he thought.
“That’s… that place has been abandoned for years. There was a big accident at the factory, and it’s been locked down because they were afraid of the toxic fumes inside,” Daria remarked.
“I know exactly where it’s at.”
Betrayal clapped his hands together. “So when are we leaving?”
“Now, hold on,” Death urged, holding his palms out. “Shouldn’t we think about this?”
“What is there to think about? If Pandora locked away most of the demons, we should be fine. We don’t need this guy and his human army. What are a bunch of humans going to do anyway?” Betrayal argued.
“We don’t know that Pandora locked away most of the demons. Most of us? Yes. But remember what Truth said, she’d made promises to some of them,” Hope responded.
Betrayal scoffed, folding his arms. “And you think she’s the kind of person to uphold those promises? Why would she fight to lock us up, only to let some of us roam free?”
Death raked his hands through his hair, frustration fizzing in his chest. “You’re not wrong. But instead of running in half-cocked, why don’t we do some more reconnaissance? We can scope the place out, and make sure she doesn’t have a horde of demons on her side.”
“I like that plan the best,” Daria said, voice low and serious. “I don’t want any of you to get hurt, especially when—” She cut herself off, eyes wide, and glanced away.
Especially when you’re the only ones left, Death finished for her.
He nodded once. “That’s what we’ll do then. We can go tonight.”
“But take the blade just in case?” Betrayal suggested innocently.
Death shot him a glare. “Fine. But no instigating. We’re only casing the place.”