Chapter 16 The Devil's Advocates

Sal thought he knew what fear was, after all he'd felt it everytime Lester came home hours after the sun had set, everytime Boulder so much as stared menacingly in his direction, he'd felt it on those first lonely nights at the foster home, where the sound of voices from the minds of the people around him kept him up and staring at the ceiling, missing the voices of his mother and his father, missing the touch of the family he knew.

But now seeing the arrow fly towards his half brother Sal felt a different fear creep in, it was different from the one he'd felt on those lonely nights, it was terror beyond even his imagination.

Antony's eyes widened as the arrow sailed towards him, his body went rigid with shock, and as soon as Sal saw that something kicked him in his heart.

Sal didn't even register when he'd moved, all he knew was that he had moved, and then the arrow was in his head.

He felt it penetrate his skin, sink through his skull and brain and come out the back of his head, felt blood spray out and dribble from his forehead, between his eyes, down the length of his nose and then drip to the floor.

It hurt.

Terribly.

But Sal ignored the pain.

He turned to Antony who still stood shell shocked with his arms in the air, there was a spray of golden red blood on his face and his body was shaking violently.

"Antony, are you alright?" Sal asked him.

Antony nodded and gulped, using the sleeve of his shirt to wipe the crimson liquid off his face.

Sal sighed in relief and then snapped the arrow before pulling it out with a sickening sound.

Then he turned to Katarina who was staring wild eyed at him, fear and surprise replaced the anger that had simmered just minutes ago.

She wasn't the only one staring though, they all were, but he didn't blame them, he'd pulled a fucking arrow from his head like it was a needle in a pin cushion, surely this was the reaction he expected.

"Kat" he started cautiously, walking forward with slow deliberate steps even as he felt the wound in his forehead closing. "I want you to listen to me, Antony's a friend.."

She was still shocked momentarily, but then something seemed to click in her head.

"Friend!" she yelled, it seemed her shock was not long lasting.

"He killed Casmir" Kat said, her voice as cold and hard as ice, "that's all they do Sal, they destroy the things you love, they take away what matters and they leave you with nothing, with no one"

"You don't have no one, you have me"

Before Sal could realize what he said she'd already reacted, her expression shifting suddenly from her initial anger, to surprise and then confusion.

"I mean", he sighed, "you have us, besides that wasn't Antony, that was Neptune, his father"

She seemed disappointed but with her constant fluctuations of emotion Sal couldn't tell.

She shook her head, clearly not convinced, and fixed a pleading look on her face. He'd only know her for a few days, but he could read her perfectly.

I know you're trying to understand him, but do you understand me?

"The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree Sal" she said finally.

She looked away from him and turned her gaze to Antony.

"I don't know why you're here or what you want.."

"I want to help" Antony said. He'd regained his composure and his face was set in a mask of determination. "I'm here to help you finish this"

"We don't need your help." Kat answered, the anger already boiling back with renewed heat.

"Actually we do"

They all turned to see Marcus standing in the doorway, his eyes glowing golden and staring at all of them.

Sal didn't even hear when he'd walked in and although the kitsune gave him a weird look that was most likely directed at the blood on his face, his gaze immediately went to Antony.

"I told you we were six under the red moon, we are always six, nothing more, nothing less, it is either the black bird or the diamond shell", Marcus pointed at Antony, "he is the diamond shell"

Antony smiled and raised an eyebrow like he'd planned the whole thing.

"See, you do need me." he said.

"And what could we possibly need you for?"

It was Bloom that spoke this time. Sal could hear the intrigue in her voice, the challenge that boiled beneath the question.

Antony stepped forward, clearly taking the challenge, and pulled out something from his pocket. It was covered up with a blackened handkerchief and as Antony unravelled it Sal felt dark demonic magic thrum slowly into the room. Marcus must have felt it too because he flinched and took a step back.

It was a coin of a black metal, molten beyond recognition with the image of seven skulls embedded in it. Sal shivered as he looked at it, the evil in that thing was primordial, the magic as old as the existence of magic itself.

"What is that thing?" Melchior asked.

Antony looked up at all of them, his crystalline eyes were, for the first time, dark and dangerous.

"This is the key to finding Percival."

***

"The Seven Deadly Sins" Melchior whispered as he stared at the coin still lying in the handkerchief and placed at the centre of the coffee table in the living room.

They all sat around it, staring at it like it was a deadly weapon. Sal had drawn several protective glyphs on the table just in case, wards against evil and demonic intervention pulsed on the surface and magic thrummed in the air like static electricity.

"You know the Seven Deadly Sins?" Melchior asked.

Antony looked straight at him and Melchior could feel the power of the sea that surrounded Antony. He was sure it was something only he could feel, Antony was his master after all, the son of the most powerful sea god, just the knowledge that they were in the same room, fighting on the same team, was ecstatic.

"They don't like being called that" Antony warned, "it angers them and trust me they are always listening, they prefer being called the Devil's Advocates"

"Why?" Marcus asked.

Antony turned to him, there was a tenderness to the way he looked at him, as though he owed Marcus a great debt.

"Because they are the seven emotions that eventually lead to sin.", Antony answered, "Pride being the first, then greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and lastly sloth."

"And to answer your question hybrid, yes, I do know them personally, my father has sent me to them on multiple occasions, for favours, bargains, appeasement." Antony said. "On one such occasion the Advocate of Sloth gave me that coin, said I could use it whenever I needed a favour from any of the other advocates"

Antony gulped like that was the most treacherous time of his life but it quickly subsided and he looked at Sal who'd been listening with rapt attention.

"I can use this favour to find Percival, maybe that's why I'm needed here." he said.

"I'd still prefer my brother" Katarina muttered with raw bitterness in her voice.

Antony frowned but didn't answer, he looked to Sal, he knew who he was trying to convince.

"Let me prove myself, I can help, I know I can"

"I know you can too" Sal said. "But Antony these are primordial spirits, entities as old as the mala'chim, we're playing with power that we can barely hope to understand, power originated from the thoughts of beings older and more powerful than us"

"Us, yes, but not you" Antony replied. "I've seen what you can do, you met the blow of an Atlantian, you performed magic in the realm of a god, you looked my father in the eye, no one, no one has ever dared to look a god in the eye, not the way you did, with you we have a chance."

Sal looked unsure, afraid even, of the Advocates or himself Melchior couldn't.

"We can find another way" Katarina said. "I have connections, I can ask a few questions, call a few Shaded beings…."

"All of that will take time" Antony countered, he turned to Sal, "we don't have time."

Sal looked visibly shaken, there was something only he and Antony knew, something, Melchior felt, was beyond any of the rest of them.

Sal sighed and closed his eyes, his mind working to make a decision. Melchior could see that he was tired, his eyes had no circles and his face didn't show it but it was evident in the hunch of his back and in the way he brushed his hands through his hair. Sal had always seemed calm, but it was clear that something had him flustered.

Or perhaps someone.

"Antony's right" Sal said finally, his head still bent, "we don't have time"

Katarina scoffed as though she'd been betrayed.

"You're choosing to trust him?!" she exclaimed.

Sal raised his head and looked at Katarina but he didn't answer, instead he looked back down at the coin at the centre of the table.

"How do we get there?" he asked Antony.

Antony looked from Kat to Sal and then to the coin, trying to decipher what sort of connection the two had.

"It's not certain", he said, "they're constantly shifting location but I think I can track them using the coin."

Sal nodded and turned to the rest.

"Okay, we leave in the morning guys, get some rest."

"Sal let's talk about this" Katarina protested. "I don't trust him one bit"

"I don't care if you don't trust me" Antony replied suddenly. "I'm not here for you, I'm here for my brother"

"A brother you knew about but decided to ignore" Katarina shot back.

"I would've come if I could" Antony said.

"The point is that you didn't!", Katarina shot back, "and now you want to act like you've always been there, as if it's that easy"

Antony didn't say anything after that, the words had definitely struck a nerve or two. So he moved from his seat and walked to the door, slamming it shut as he went out into the night.

"Kat" Sal said, his voice was strained, his heart clearly torn between Katarina and his brother. "He's trying his best"

She shook her head, the strands of dark blue hair that came undone curling against her cheeks, and turned to the stairs.

"Nothing he does will make me trust him" she said, as she walked, "but I trust you Sal, and I trust you know what you're doing"

She shot the door a deadly glare as though Antony was still there, and then sighed, the hardness in her glare softening.

"He's not going to stay Sal, they never do"

***

The next day came as fast as the previous had ended but Sal was ready even before the crack of dawn. He didn't sleep that night, even as he got home and had to answer Lester's constant questions about why there was smeared blood on his and Antony's face, even as he stripped down to his underwear and plopped down on face first on his bed, even as Antony drifted to sleep and his soft snore filled the room, even as he stared at Antony's sleeping figure, Katarina's words finding their way back into his mind over and over again.

He's not going to stay Sal, they never do.

After that he gave up on sleep and resorted to staring at the ceiling, thoughts and glyphs swirling across his vision.

He'd been so restless that he managed to get up from his bed before everyone else and made his way out of the house fully dressed in his tunic just in time to catch the sun rising.

He leaned against his front door, his head tipped up and facing the grey early morning clouds, gazing wistfully at the corona of light waiting to appear.

Then it happened, slowly, but every second it took was worth it as the sun rose and shot bright colours of yellow and orange across the sky.

"That looks amazing."

Sal didn't move an inch, he knew who owned the voice, he knew they'd come eventually, even though he'd hoped it would be later rather than sooner.

No one gave you a job without asking how much progress you'd made.

Sal turned and sure enough there Hermes stood looking like a K-pop star. A white sweatshirt and black sweatpants hung on the god's body and his black hair hid his left eye from view.

Hermes met his eyes and smiled at him, walking forward with his hands in his pockets and with the grace of a vampire.

"You're look amazing as well Salome, I hear that purple's what's popping these days" Hermes said with the lilts of his ancient accent.

"No one says that" Sal replied.

"Never say never" Hermes replied.

Sal rolled his eyes.

"What do you want?" He asked, his patience already wearing thin. He didn't want to see any gods anytime soon, he didn't even think he could stop himself from attacking Hermes if the god got too close.

Hermes stayed were he stood, his black hair — so much like Casmir's— shining like tar under the sun.

"Percival is nearly ready" Hermes said, the humor gone from his face, "he plans to cast his spell soon, just came to check on your progress, since, you know, the fate of our worlds rests on those broad shoulders of yours"

Sal shot Hermes a glare at which the god smiled at, the way you smiled when a child tried to push you over with a cute shove and ended up falling instead.

"We're working on it." Sal answered.

"We?, oh yes, the list, I'm so glad you followed it, I thought you'd be reckless and go take on Percival yourself. That would have been very stupid"

"Obviously." Sal muttered.

"Having trouble with the team?" Hermes inquired.

Sal looked away from him and tipped his head back to the sun, feeling the warm light bask across his face.

"I thought so" Hermes said. "Don't worry, everything will work out just fine, trust me, I know"

"Why? cause you're a god" Sal said.

"No, cause I'm a god of travellers, and this journey isn't just yours, it's there's too" Hermes said.

Then there were a series of dull thuds coming from inside and Sal moved away from the door right before Antony pulled it from behind him.

Antony had a flustered look on his face and he'd so clearly worn his clothes in a haste. His dark jeans were rumpled, his dark purple shirt was worn inside-out and backwards, his jacket collars were stuck up and his boots were in his hands. Even his usually perfect purple hair looked like a hurricane went through it.

But as soon as his gaze fell on Sal relief visibly washed over him, he sighed and pushed locks of hair behind him, letting his crystalline eyes glimmer and reflect the sunlight.

"Oh dear gods", Antony exclaimed, "I thought you'd left already"

"Never" Sal said, "I was just talking to..".

He turned but Hermes had disappeared, the only thing left to register his presence was a slight golden shimmer in the air.

Sal sighed and turned back to Antony.

"Never mind, c'mon let's go, we have to find the Advocates and fast, Percival's spell is nearly complete" he said.

"I already found them, one of them reached out to the coin."

Sal was immediately cautious.

"Which one?" he asked.

"Greed, and they told me where to find them" Antony replied.

"We're going to Hollywood"

***

The HOLLYWOOD sign was a spectacle of wonder made up of beautiful solid white letters that reached for the sky at 50 feet and was surrounded by a combination of grass, sand, rocks and people. There was a faint magical aura surrounding the place but Sal couldn't tell if it was dangerous or if it was just the collective magic of the memories and emotions of those who'd stood on this ground before them.

Houses and plant life stretched out and over the foot of the hill, almost every inch apart from each other. and the view was unmistakable.

And breathtaking.

"We're here" Sal announced.

He scanned all their faces until his eyes landed on Marcus and he couldn't help but feel worried.

The oath he'd sworn rang in his ears like a siren song. Casmir's ashes found their way back into his mind.

He couldn't let anything happen to Marcus.

"You can stay outside if you want" Sal said. "It might be dangerous."

Marcus raised an eyebrow at him.

"My parents are werewolves." he answered. "I fight in the face of danger, and I never lose"

Sal raised his eyebrows in surprise, not failing to notice the smirks on everyone else's faces. He smiled, nodded and then turned to face the gigantic letters.

"Fine" Sal said. "Just stay close, will you?"

He turned to Antony whose eyes scanned the ground they stood on searching for something.

"Is there something we should be seeing?" he asked.

Antony didn't stop searching even as he spoke.

"Look for profanity", Antony replied, "swear words, vandalism, nudes"

"So porn's an Advocate?" Katarina asked with an eye roll.

Antony stopped and turned, giving her his full attention and looking at her like she'd made a very bad joke.

"Clearly you've never met Lust before", he looked her icily up and down, "or felt it for that matter", he completed and then continued his search with renewed gusto.

Katarina was suddenly shocked and rooted to the ground and Sal could make out the twitching of her fair fingers, clearly the desire to kill Antony had never been stronger than it was in that moment.

"If it makes you feel better", Marcus said suddenly, "neither have I"

Katarina looked even worse than before.

"I've found something!"

They all turned to see Bloom bent over and looking victoriously at the side of the giant "H" that still stood like an intimidating statue.

Antony moved first and Sal followed immediately, the others following diligently behind him.

Etched into the side of the "H" was a scripture, it looked burned as Percival's name had been burned onto Sal's bedroom wall, it was clearly Shaded, a faint shimmering floated over it, a dark and sinister magic surrounded it, but the writing itself seemed to pulse with a bright light, a sort of holiness.

"2 Timothy Chapter 3 " Antony said, his eyebrows creased in confusion, clearly he had no idea what that was, no one around them did, and then the information came, the scripture coming to the surface of Sal's mind as though it had always been there.

"2 Timothy Chapter 3", he quoted as he walked towards the writing, pulling out his wand from his boot and placing the tip over the surface, his mark burning, his heart pounding as the magic thrummed within his veins.

"...For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good…."

With each word he spoke he drew a glyph, all swirling lines that took the image of a laughing skull. Sal didn't know what he was doing, if it was a sudden compulsion or some form of external influence he didn't understand.

But he didn't stop.

Not until he'd drawn the glyph seven times and the side of the "H" crumpled before their eyes revealing a doorway that lead into a darkness that called to them.

Sal turned to his friends and nodded.

Together they answered.

And together they walked into the darkness.