Samael

SHIT. SHIT. SHIT. Why did I just say that? Why did I go and open my big mouth? I didn't want to tell him the news this way. I didn't just want to spring it on him.

"I'll let whatever is happening here slide, but whatever's going on, just know that when this is all over, we will revisit whatever this is," Luka responds, looking at me inquisitively, before turning and heading toward the opposite side of the house, "Let's get going."

"Uhh... aren't you going the wrong way?" I ask, thankful Luka let the conversation drop for now.

"Samael?" Luka asks, turning his head and raising an eyebrow at me, "Do you ever just do as you are told?"

"Never," I replied cockily, "I am an heir, and it's not like my parents were around much to tell me what to do."

"Hmm, looks like I'll have to teach you to do as your told then," Luka replies with a wicked gleam in his eye and a smug look before turning around and continuing to head toward the back of the house.

Fuck. It really did something to me whenever he played the macho alpha and those damn sweatpants. If we weren't in the middle of Tartarus, I'd be tearing those off his body right now.

I followed behind him quietly, taking in the sight that is Luka's backside. I could get used to seeing him dressed down like this. He looked more approachable, and less clothing meant that I could see more of his immaculate body.

"I can feel the heat radiating off your body from here," Luka states stopping suddenly and turning towards me, "Holy Fuck, Samael, reign in flames, you go out there looking like that, and you will be a fucking torch leading our enemies to us."

I looked over my body, trying to figure out what Luka was talking about, and almost jumped when I saw my blue underworld flames alight my entire body. I hadn't lost control like this since I'd first come into my power five years ago. What was it about this man that made me lose all control of my power? I took a deep breath, inhaling the sulfur-like smell of Tartarus, letting my senses take in my surroundings. Now was not the time to be distracted; now was the time to focus. I needed to reach Lilith's prison unharmed. I needed to find the elixir to slow down the spread of the Eitr, and I needed to return to Katrina and help her harness her power.

"Okay." I reply to Luka, "I'm ready."

Luka looked at me questioningly, but I ignored him, my eye spotting the door he was leading us to. I stepped past him and opened the door. Tartarus no longer looked like what was pictured in the history books again; it had glamorized itself to mimic the underworld. I pulled at the small piece of Luka's magic inside me and pushed it forward. The bond from the magic made my entire body ache to touch him, but I couldn't be distracted by him again; I needed to accomplish the goals of this quest. With Luka's magic at the forefront of my mind, I could see that while Tartarus looked like a blanket of darkness, there wasn't anything to be worried about yet. The lava river looked calm, and there was a small bridge from Pele's volcanic home leading toward the rocks named after her lovers. I slid easily out the door and began to make my way to the path between the rocks.

"Samael!" Luka shouted, hurrying behind me.

His voice was music to my ears, but I couldn't turn around. If I looked at him, I would become putty in his arms. I would want to wrap him in mine and get lost in each other for the remainder of the day and explore each other's bodies, but we didn't have that kind of time. There were too many things happening right now to allow me any distraction.

I steel myself before turning toward Luka, knowing that my words would break my heart as much as they would break his, "Look, Luka, last night was fun and all; the fact that I'm your mate makes my world less confusing now than it was a few nights ago, but listen, I need to focus on what's important. And that's finding the elixir, returning to the underworld, saving my kingdom, and returning to Katrina. Nothing else matters right now." I stare directly at Luka's ear. I'm too much of a coward to look him in the eyes and see the pain I know will be there. The pain that I've intentionally caused.

"wh..." Luka starts, then clears his voice; I watch his ear lift an inch higher, knowing that he's now standing at full attention, firm like an impenetrable wall. "I was going to tell you that you should fall back and allow me to lead since you don't know the way there." He replies with a tone I've never heard.

I turn my attention away from his ear and look at his eyes instead. His face is blank. Gone is my carefree, gentle, loving Luka, and in his place is the Professor. I can feel my heart beginning to break, but it's no one's fault but my own. It has to be this way. Luka and I can't afford to let ourselves become distracted by each other any more than we already have. The fate of the future lies in our hands. Without this elixir, the Etir will continue to spread, and who knows what kind of monsters will come out of it.

Luka's gaze flickers to mine for but a second, a small speckle of hurt flashing through before he steels himself again and walks silently ahead of me. We walk this way for what seems like hours. Luka's stance never changes; his back is so stiff that I wonder how a knot hasn't begun to form yet.

The scenery throughout Tarturus slowly changes the closer we get to Lilith's prison. What was a smooth path between two rocks has now turned into rough rocky terrain; the higher we climb up the rock path, the more ledges seem to appear, the path narrows, and if we aren't careful with our foot placement, we will find ourselves falling off a ledge into darkness that seems to go on forever. It's not the darkness that gets to me, though. It's the silence. I can't hear the lava waves crashing against the shore, the noises the smaller creatures of the land make, and the crackling of the volcanic ash under our feet. There was nothing.

"Be on the lookout." Luka states gruffly, not bothering to turn and look at me, "We are entering the territory of the cyclops." He walks further ahead, and I can see our bond tethering us; it looks like a chain; he's the guard, and I am the prisoner being escorted to his cell. As I chuckle at my wittiness, there's a loud crash behind me, and suddenly, I'm covered in a gray cloud of dust. I can't see anything.

"LUKA!" I shout at the top of my lungs. I need to hear his voice. I need to know that he's okay.