Chapter 10

Yuri

I did not understand. Why was she praying to me? There is a feeling within me that I cannot quite grasp. Had my brother sent her here to toy with me? No. It wasn’t in his nature to do such a thing. Doesn’t she realize the consequences of what she’s doing? She’s going against her precious Gods by placing my gemstone on the altar. She was foolish. And yet, I find myself in strange awe.

I walked towards the well after placing a protection spell on the house. No threats would be able to enter the house whilst I am away. Not even that damn bird. In a deep breath, I jumped into the well landing on the muddy shore of the lake. The atmosphere had been its usual green gloom and no syrens were present. I walked along when I saw a dead one now taking her last breath in the distance. Her ribs were torn out of her body and her neck was sliced with two sharp wounds. I frowned, knowing only one person with that sort of attack.

Regardless, I had to stay on track. I needed to find out the name of the one who sent the hell-pawns and there was only one person in the Otherworld who had the ability to see the face. I walked through the damp city of Carcas towards the town of the dead where Madam Lasce dwelled. The brothel stood before me in its murky glory. Snakes slithered through and out of the entrance.

 “Mother was expecting you.” A familiar voice called from behind me in a soft hiss. It was the voice of the snake I had kicked out of my way from my last visit here. I turned to face the tall, thin man with icy white-blue hair and vertical pupils dipped in a backdrop of red. “You will have to wait as she just began her feast on the incompetent women of the brothel.”

“Send her my regards while I wait,” I stated solemnly as he ushered me in and allowed me to sit in a dark room where I felt snakes slither at the ankles of my boot, tightening their grip ever so slightly. As he shut the door, I quickly stabbed the thing away with the point of my scythe. A feminine hand wrapped itself around my chest, “Ssssooo thisss is the Demon God.” she hissed into my ear while another pair of hands found its way to my hair and a course feminine voice hissed seductively, “Ssssoft.”

“Get off me.” I scowled.

“Sssstay with us.” A third laughed and moved around me in a slow and excited manner.

“Girls,” a sultry voice warned as the door opened, and light-soaked into the room showing the snakeskin girls around me, “Leave him. He is here seeking me, not your service.”

 Madam Lasce stood before me with her viper eyes and serpent-like green skin. Her dark black hair fell in swirls down her waist. She indeed looked like a poisonous woman. I stood, greeting her with a small nod. “What a surprise.” She stressed with the ‘s’, giving a wicked smile whilst showing her forked tongue. “What are you doing in my brothel?”

“I wished to speak to the woman of many vile talents herself if she gives me the pleasure.”

She chuckled, “You flatter me, Demon God. I dare say you are more charming than I’d imagine.” Madam Lasce turned, “Follow me to my chambers. My children like to slither around what they shouldn’t.”

I did what I was told and followed her trailed into a dimly lit room. She instructed me to sit at the small table where a large dish filled with water was placed whilst she sat at the opposite end. “Now what do you wish to know? And what are you willing to do to seek the answer to your question?”

“Anything.”

I didn’t have anything to lose anyway.

She grinned. “Usually I would ask for something which is the dearest to you but I don’t think that it will apply to you will it, Demon God?” She paused and turned her grin into an innocent smile. “There is a man, however, Centron of the Gallies. Do you know him?”

“Yes. He was a former God in the Highlands who decided to elope with a demon woman to the Lowlands.”

“Yes yes.” Madam Lasce rolled her eyes and waved her hands, “We’ve all heard that story. Hell’s Don Juan. I want him dead. As a matter of fact, I want to eat his head. For over a month or so he’s been visiting my brothel, killing my daughters, and pestering me consistently. I cannot sssstand him. I’ve heard he was building an army on the outskirts of Carcas.”

 “It will be done. You have my word. Now, do as I request. Tell me who the one in command of the hell-pawns is.”

“Alright.” She began, “Place your gemstone in the water.”

In a few seconds, she closed her eyes and began chanting. The air tightened around us. The loud sound screeched within my ears. Time few distorted. Seconds passed. Minutes passed. Hours passed? I couldn’t tell. The dish suddenly split into halves and the water spilled in black tar. Blood flowed from her nose as she fell to the floor.

“This is too much- too much power.” She breathed finding herself in her seat, “There is a cloak spell over this individual. Its strength is impeccable. Only a God can conjure this sort of magic.”

I frowned at the information I was receiving. Just as I thought.

“There are many things about to change, Demon God.” She frowned, “I sense a great change. A great shift. Changes you may or may not be fond of. I saw a human. Betrayal. Bloodshed. A vessel. Death is reaching his hand towards you. You must accept it.” She stood, “Now leave. I must protect this place. It is unsafe.”

I nodded. “I shall return here with the head of Centron.”

She smiled curiously, “Indeed you will.”

I was about to leave the brothel when I saw the slender male snake I had met at first in his human form. He sat upon a rock in amusement. “Did you get your answers, my Lord?”

My hand reached towards him, clutching him by the neck. “Where did you see him?” I seethed.

He chuckled.

“I have no clue as to what you’re asking me.” Lying snake.

“Claude.” I hissed. “Why was he here in the Otherworld?”

“Perhaps on a vacation?” He grinned, “I would assume that causing havoc on the hells and the twelve dimensions is a tedious job, not so?”

I pushed him away. He was no use of information. For all I know, he could be lying. Claude could never be here. He had no reason to be. I looked up at the sky and saw the change of darkness. Madam Lasce’s spell absorbed time away from us. Hours had passed. I had little time remaining. I needed to get to Centron of the Gallies and do as she requested regardless if I hadn’t been given the answer to my question directly. Only a fool would not carry out the promise made to a snake sorceress within the same day. And I was no fool.