Chapter Ten

The night after what happened was awkward and it was hard getting to sleep with Nikkos on the other side of the bed. I was just grateful that he had dropped the situation and when he joined me in bed he didn’t say anything. It made it easier for me to fall asleep and the morning was a lot less awkward. It went as it usually did with me serving up breakfast and small talk before we both got ready to head out.

We ended up using the map that Hades left for us and it showed us the locations of every house. There weren’t as many as I thought it would be but there was still enough to keep us busy for a few hours and maybe even a bit past lunch depending on how long it took at each house we stopped at.

“We can start our way from into out and then I’ll teleport us back home?” I looked at Nikkos to make sure he was okay with this and he gave me a nod of approval.

The first house we went to wasn’t too bad looking and when we knocked on the door a woman answered. I could tell that she wasn’t human but I didn’t want to be rude and ask her race or focus on that. I used the excuse Nikkos had given yesterday and told her we were there because Hades sent us and that it was just for questions and no one was in trouble. She relaxed after she heard she wasn’t in trouble and even invited us inside her house but we declined.

I asked her some general questions like: Have you been experiencing temper shifts outside the weather? Seeing anything strange in the last couple of days or weeks? Anyone new came around? Heard anyone else experiencing strange problems? Ran into someone whose mind was clearly not together?

She answered all our questions honestly from what I could tell and they were all no. She did go off on a tangent a couple of times about other things she had problems with, but none related to what was going on. We ended up listening to everything she had to say though and I told her I would be sure to talk to Hades about the issues, but I wouldn’t. I refuse to tell Hades that he needed to fix anything because I didn’t need another person hating me. Plus, I’m sure he already didn’t care for me because I was Zeus’ son.

We moved on to the next house and this time it was a guy but before I could say anything he slammed the door back shut. Nikkos stepped from behind me and knocked on the door harder this time and the guy swung the door open and was met with Nikkos burning glare. I wanted to laugh at the look of fear that crossed the guy’s face but I only put on a polite smile and flashed him a grin.

I introduced us the same as before and asked him the same five questions. His responses were similar to the lady before but he had mentioned that his house had been cold for no reason and no matter how much he turned up the heat it wouldn’t get warmer. I told him that we would get right on fixing it and once we were away from the house I sent a text to Hades and Death letting them know one person was experiencing the same thing others who have died have.

After that me and Nikkos went around to many other houses and the majority was straight no’s and a whole bunch of random complaining. There were some that called for me to notify Hades and Death but nothing too serious to cause instant alarm. We did get a lot of people referring us to other houses because they thought something weird was going on and only one of those had been right. The guy was living in the house with his daughter and she was seeing shadow people. She was only a sixteen-year-old nymph.

We went to knock on the last house on the map and it was a bit farther out but not enough to warrant teleporting there. I knocked on the door and waited but heard nothing before I tried again. I waited and when I went to go a third time Nikkos stopped me and told me that he heard movement growing closer, so I dropped my hand and waited.

It took a few minutes but when the door opened I knew why; standing there was an old lady. She was still beautiful and as I looked at her I realized she was a mix of succubus and human which wasn’t that uncommon. She might have looked like she was sixty but I knew she was probably pushing 150 or around there.

“Sorry to bother you but we were sent by Hades to go around and ask some questions.” I spoke gently and the lady stared at me and then at Nikkos before back at me before nodding.

I asked her the same five questions and she had said no to all of them or gave off a mini-rant about something related. I honestly didn’t mind listening to her rant and I knew that was because she was half-succubus but it beat all the other rants me and Nikkos had to hear today. I was tempted to cut most of them off but a part of me didn’t want to be rude or cause any issues which would make this whole task more tiring.

Although the lady's answer to the last question was not no. She informed us that, “There’s this sweet girl who lives about ten miles out. Her house was just added a few months ago and she always comes by to drop me off some goods she bakes but I haven’t seen her in the past few days. In fact, the last time I saw that sweetheart she didn’t look too well either. Informed me she wasn’t sleeping so I gave her an old succubus treatment for it but don’t know if it helped.”

I told her we would go check on her and let her know how she was doing. She thanked us and since the house was farther out I grabbed Nikkos wrist, sending those tingles through my body before teleporting us to where the lady said the house was.

The outside of the house looked nice and even had flowers and grass put down. I noticed a water pot sitting on the ground by some flowers and some flowers that hadn’t been plotted were sitting on the porch with the tools. It made me wonder if the girl was in the middle of flowering and took a break.

“I don’t like the vibe I’m getting from the house.” Nikkos warned as we stepped on the porch.

I looked at him before knocking, “Should I let Hades and Death know before we do anything?”

“Yeah, just to be safe.” He said as he never took his eyes off checking out the house.

I pulled out my phone and sent a message to them letting them know about the house and the girl and that we were checking it out but it seemed very suspicious and that I would update them on what we find. Once I made sure it was sent I placed my phone back in my pocket and knocked on the door. I waited and didn’t get a response but when I looked at Nikkos he seemed confused.

“I hear light movement inside but farther in the house.” His entire body seemed to be even tenser which in turn made me tense up too.

I knocked again but harder and the door actually creaked open a bit, letting me know it was open the whole time. When we stepped past the threshold the coldness of the house made me shiver a bit and Nikkos stepped closer to me as I looked to see his face harden and his eyes turn that bright red. I looked around but didn’t move farther into the house as I waited to see if someone was gonna pop out.

“Still hear movements?” I asked Nikkos.

He nodded, “It's coming from that way.”

I turned to the right and it was a short hall before opening up into a living room. It was nicely decorated if you ignored the blood that was splattered on the curtains. I held my hand out and let a blade form in my hand before I took more steps inside the room with Nikkos ready behind me. I slowly walked around the living room checking out things and noticed more blood splatters on the back of one of the sofas and even some broken picture frames.

Nikkosed moved from by my side and shifted a stand over and a cat came darting out, scaring me at first before I relaxed and let it dash past me and probably out of the house. The poor thing seemed more scared than anything and if it was hiding from someone or something it meant that we had to be even more alert. I didn’t like the idea of running into more of those shadow things but I could stand my ground.

“Was that the noise you heard?” I asked Nikkos.

“I think so.” He responded.

I raised an eyebrow, “You think?”

He shot me a stare, “The feeling being in this house gives off is bad. It made my belua tense too. I dislike it even more having you in here too because something just seems off about it all. It's different from the other person who died in the shop.”

“Well, maybe the girl died more brutal than the others.” I tried to offer up and Nikkos shook his head.

“It doesn’t feel like-”

The sound of something breaking echoed through the house and Nikkos looked up at the ceiling, letting me know it came from upstairs. I was tempted to just grab Nikkos and leave because this couldn’t be good but it was literally my job to find out what it was. I moved to excite the living room and find the stairs.

When we located the stairs Nikkos actually went in front of me and I noticed his hands had claws instead of nails and so I changed my blade into my sword. We slowly ascended the steps before coming to the floor and I stood next to Nikkos. All the doors upstairs were open and the hall walls had knocked down pictures on the ground.

“There’s something up here.” Nikkos said slowly.

“Something as in what?” I asked out but before he got to answer the question I got my answer.

I watched as a smokey figure stepped out the door at the end of the hall and as it solidified it looked a lot like the people we fought in the forest. Its eyes were black and the black smoke never completely went away as it seemed to come off it in waves. As I took in the other features I took not that it was a girl and she did not look happy.

“You let my cat out.” Her voice came out like a raspy but the nasty kind that made it seem like the person had something stuck in their throat.

“Your cat? As this is your house?” Nikkos asked.

She growled, “My cat. My house. You are not welcomed. They told me about you both.”

The first thing to come out of my mouth was, “Well...at least we don’t have to tell the old lady she’s dead.”