T E N
Heart of Hell

WE DEPARTED FROM the castle grounds almost immediately and this time, Fabian was the only one that volunteered to stay behind. In his words, Fabian mentioned that he had been 'too tired to continue through another bothersome drag of a journey' and suggested that he be the one to stay behind and guard the castle grounds while we were off searching for the heart of Hell itself.

The decision was fine by me, of course, seeing as to how Fabian and I could never seem to stand each other's guts no matter how much 'bonding time' had been spent between the both of us.

So we left, trudging through the large castle doors once more as Calvin turned to wave goodbye to his brother. Fabian stood at the enormous doorway, arms folded across his chest and his lips shaped into the usual frown and scowl that never quite left his features. In fact, I was so sure that I had only ever seen Fabian smile once or twice throughout my time knowing him.

How a man can stay that stoic and never-changing, I would never know. It truly took something really touching to be able to force a change in Fabian's expression.

"Does he ever smile on a normal day?" I asked Dimitri when we were finally a safe distance away from the elegant residence, the doors slammed shut with a loud resounding thud behind us.

Calvin and Wilhelm walked a good few steps in front of the both of us, their trained eyes scanning the domain for any signs of danger as they led us towards the entrance of the underground labyrinth.

"Yes," said Dimitri with a small frown. "He used to always be smiling when Ida was still alive. Ironically, I was the one that constantly had a scowl on my face back in those days."

I frowned, my eyebrows crumpling as the little bit of skin in between crinkled with my change in expression. "So the both of you are doomed like that? To only have one smiling while the other wallow in some sort of despair?"

"Well, I guess so?" Dimitri's reply came more as a question than a statement, but I did not bother to point out his uncertainty. "At least until he is able to find someone else to be his one true love, I suppose he will never truly be happy. I mean, if you're in Hell, it isn't that easy to find happiness, am I right? That's what the humans explained this domain to be, after all."

I raised a single eyebrow, shaking my head with a roll of my eyes. "Dimitri, you dedicated your entire immortal life to defy what us mortals say. Why are you changing that?"

He did not reply in the joking matter in which I had expected him to. Instead, Dimitri's expression darkened ominously, the corners of his lips tilted down just the slightest. His usually luminous silver eyes were now a dark storm gray, depicting an inner turmoil in which I had hardly even spotted him adorning before. Those irises seemed like shards of metal that were melted down to liquid, swirling with a flurry of emotions that could never be shaped into words to describe.

"And maybe those mortals had never been quite too far from what is really true." Simply, he murmured under his breath before looking on into the distance. Dimitri then turned his head, studying me with what seemed to be great regret. "Addison, how well do you truly know me?"

I pondered over his question, opening and closing my mouth quite a few times before deciding that I could not find an answer to his question. I had known Dimitri for only about two years, perhaps more during my childhood, but I can never know for sure. When he had been in the form of Cassiel, Dimitri had mentioned before that he knew me for far longer than I could imagine. And for each past life that died, Dimitri had always been the one to ferry me to my next life.

In other words, I knew Dimitri like perhaps no other. And yet, I do not really know everything about him. His past, his future, his thoughts and the storm of emotions in which he possessed. He was a novel that was locked shut, unable to be read in the purest form.

"I guess I don't know you as much as I would like," I admitted with a shrug. "But that is because you never seem to really describe the explicit details of your past."

"There are things in which no man would ever want to admit." His lips were pursed together tightly, eyes stern and hard set as he looked to the front. "The darkest chapters of his life. And I have fallen victim to this such occasion. There are some things about my long past that I pray you will never find out, Addison. Simply because I don't know how you will react to it."

Dimitri's words rang into the air, ringing chimes like a sort of orchestra as a shiver ran down the back of my spine. The case in which he spoke of sounded as if he had committed a crime so sinful that even the devil would retch in disgust. Yet I know that for the most part, I would probably forgive him for everything he had done in the past for he had proven himself different on many occasions.

Why bring up the bitter memories of what is dead and buried when the culprit had proven that he had learned his lesson? Why torture him like so when you know that he is guilty of it? Furthermore, why bring up a fact that had happened what could be eons ago?

I glanced around our surroundings, noticing that we had descended from the top of the cliffs where the castle stood overlooking a scenic beach. Instead, we were now at the foot of those said cliffs, heading towards a small cave that was halfway into the salty sea water. Seabreeze cascaded around us, brushing my hair behind me as the crash of the waves resonated into the air.

The aftermath of a storm was terrifying, and I was afraid of the horrors the war might bring even further into this once peaceful land.

"We are here," Wilhelm stated, squaring his shoulders as I peered past Dimitri's shoulder to look into the cave where we had stopped in front of.

Unlike the entrance to Lucifer's lair, this cave did not own any red undertones. It was simply an opening into the darkness, the waves crashing against the great rock structures where solid met liquid. Seafoam swept into the cave with each burst of rising tide, soaking the sand below as I bit onto my bottom lip.

"It is a little dark, don't you think?" I asked, eyes darting back and forth between the three brothers.

Calvin shrugged, his muscles moving along with the movement. "We will be able to see. You will just have to trust us."

With that, Calvin flashed me a reassuring smile before continuing on into the dark, disappearing past the blind spot of the cave. Wilhelm soon followed after, his dark red curls disappearing into the void as I stood rooted to my spot.

Dimitri, on the other hand, must have felt my discomfort. He reached down to grasp my hand in his own, intertwining our fingers together before placing a fleeting kiss to my knuckles. Though I could not exactly feel it, the movement still created a flutter in my chest.

"You don't have to be afraid, Andy. I'll be here with you the entire time." He smiled a dashing grin before nudging his head in the direction of the other two horsemen. "Let's go."

I nodded, finding solace in being able to hold onto Dimitri as he led the both of us into the dark. The cave walls were damp, the sound of dripping water echoing hauntingly as we ventured further and further into the dark. There was a sharp scent of salt water, the smell of the summer sea breeze flooding my nostrils.

We had to be only a few steps in before darkness encased us completely, the light at the entrance of the cave gone. I could not even see my fingers in front of me and I could feel my heart palpitating wildly against my chest. From ahead, I could hear the footsteps of the two brothers as they trudged on into the darkness.

However, something mysteriously enchanting happened. It brought me back to the days of the boathouse countdown party. From ahead, I could see a faint glow of white and red colliding, as if someone had lit a torch or switched on a neon light sign. I gasped, sucking in a deep breath when I realized that Dimitri's back was starting to glow as well.

The color that was emitted from him was a muted shade of pale green, similar to that of those glow-in-the-dark Halloween decorations found in cheap dollar stores. When he noticed that his body was set aglow, he began to remove his shirt, peeling it off his sculpted body as I shamelessly looked on.

"I told you that we would be able to see!" I could hear Calvin's gleeful tone from a little up front, but I was still gaping at the wonderful phenomenon.

The past collided against me as my memories brought me back to the entrance of the party. I had seen both Calvin and Wilhelm's tattoos before, artfully painted details that were carved into their backs. Those tattoos, however, did not appear after the end of that first day at the party. How convenient it was to disappear and reappear whenever needed.

"Your tattoos glow," I said in a near whisper as Dimitri smiled.

"Yes. And we are also able to hide them as we wish. It is a stage just before the personification of our powers appear. They glow because it is something like our powers being torn away from our physical bodies."

"Such a gruesome explanation. Was that necessary?"

"It's not that bad." Dimitri chuckled. "It is not like they actually hurt us or anything. We just don't keep it constantly visible because any sign of an impactful emotion showing might cause us to accidentally create a personification without meaning to. Feelings are incredible triggers in regards to many things and we have to be careful with them."

What Dimitri said couldn't be truer. Tragically, the vehemence of one's reaction can often give rise to the creation of unfortunate circumstances. It was an undoubted fact that we should always be very careful about displaying our emotions and feelings. Then again, is it truly healthy to keep everything hidden and bottled up?

I do not know. But I am doing exactly that at the moment. Bottling up my feelings because of a greater fear.

"We best be going." If Dimitri had noticed my sudden silence, he did not comment on it. Instead, his eyes were searching the darkness, scouting for Wilhelm and Calvin's disappearing lights. "We don't want to split up. It can result in a catastrophe since this is a labyrinth."

His hand reached back down to hold mine tightly before he took off in a sprint, desperately trying to catch up with Calvin and Wilhelm. We finally found their familiar figures stopped right in front of a fork in the road, split into three different equally forbidding paths.

"Keep left," Wilhelm instructed. "The heart of Hell is just ahead. We will be there in no time if we just stick together."

"No need to tell me that twice." Laughing nervously under my breath, I began to walk. "I've watched enough horror shows in my teenage years to know just that."

"Oh really?" Calvin smiled. "But if I do recall, you and your little friends did split up once back in the boathouse. And our little Dimitri nearly kissed you then."

Yet another memory was ignited within me as I flushed, thinking back to what had happened that night. It was true, we had split up because of an oncoming attack of those dreaded ghouls, or personifications, but we thankfully made it out alive. I had nearly kissed Dimitri that night while he was still under the pretense of being Cassiel. Due to some, thankfully, rational calculations in my mind, I hadn't and managed to turn my head just in time.

All of a sudden, there was a rush of heat within my body as I blushed a brilliant scarlet under the influence of that memory.

Wilhelm sniggered, making Dimitri scowl in annoyance. "Do not bring up the past, Calvin. I thought you knew better."

"Just trying to lighten up the intensity of the situation, brother." Calvin shrugged nonchalantly. "We all need a joke every once in awhile."

"Aren't you already one?" Wilhelm quipped back.

And so it carried on. The brothers threw playful bickers back and forth about many different topics. All the while, I simply watched and smiled whenever Dimitri turned to quickly glance at me. It seemed as though everything in the word was at a peace, nearly making me forget about the troubles we had on hand.

Down the left lane we went every single time, crossing the dirt path continuously until there came a glow of a torch. When we stopped in front of a large boulder with carvings, I frowned.

"It's a dead end."

"If you think that this is a dead end, then you truly do not understand the way in which Hell works, my lady." Wilhelm laughed before wiping the dust off of the slab of rock. Certain markings began to show itself and I recognized them as the same language as the words on the walls of Lucifer's cell.

Calvin grinned, resembling that of a child at a candy store.

"Welcome to the heart of Hell."

Vote, comment and share. ❤️

Until next time. 💓