Chapter 23

Follow Me, Mr. Crabs

Billy was leaning against a wall while looking at Lilith, who was pacing up and down.

He had seen angry women before, he was mostly the cause of their anger but not this time. He was happy not to be the object of the silver-haired woman's ire.

She came to a stop and then looked back at Klaus, who was sitting with a big dumb grin on his face.

"I am happy this amuses you. I, on the other hand, do not think this is funny at all. You could have died!"

Klaus' smile faded but only by a little. Lilith had been going off at him ever since she learned about what happened, and he was starting to grow irritated. He was feeling pride towards his achievement, and she was challenging that pride. "I used my stigmata and made fire shoot from my hand like magic, magic! That is a reason to celebrate, not stomp around and scream at me like a banshee."

Billy winced and thought to himself. 'Bad move Klaus. That was a genuinely poor move.'

The Prodigium had joined them when he followed a gaggle of guards who had stormed past his room. To his surprise, Klaus' quarters were not far from his. If it were up to Billy, he would be living it up in the penthouse.

It was there that he learned what had happened. Klaus had passed out after, apparently, using magic. He was barely out for a few seconds before he woke up again. Not long after, the smile Klaus now had, had appeared on his face. It had remained even while the banshee came in like a thunderstorm to scream at Klaus.

'Maybe I can ask Klaus to move me to the penthouse, the blonde I met yesterday would surely appreciate it.' It was Billy's turn to sport a stupid smile.

A commotion drew his attention back to the ruckus. 'He will have to survive first, though.'

Lilith, just stood there glaring at Klaus. The young man met her glare with one of his own. It was a stalemate.

Billy was expecting Lilith to go into a rant, admonishing Klaus for being stupid. Instead, he watched with awe as she walked over to give Klaus a hug.

'How did he do that?' He thought.

What he did not know was that the two of them were conversing with their minds, and Billy had only heard half of the conversation.

Billy felt a tinge of jealousy when seeing Klaus held to Lilith's chest. To him, like most others, Lilith was a beautiful woman.

'Lucky bastard. I need to convince that blonde to come over sooner rather than later.' He then looked at his hands. They had a subtle shake to them. 'I also need to resupply.'

He clapped his hands, spoiling the pink moment for the other two. "Well, this was entertaining and all, but I am gonna go."

Lilith stood back from Klaus and straitened her clothes. Billy nearly snorted at her action. 'It's not as if I have not guessed that you two are already bonking.'

"Before you go, I need to say this to all three of you."

Billy was about to ask who else she was talking about, but Liz stepped in from the hallway with a sheepish expression.

Billy started to laugh. "Don't look so guilty, I was also drawn here by the commotion." He then placed his finger to his lips as if contemplating. "Although I just came right in and did not eavesdrop like a certain someone."

Liz only gave him a glare as a reply and then turned to Lilith while squaring her shoulders.

Lilith looked at each of them in turn before her gaze finally stopped on Klaus. "It is imperative that you understand how magic works and how it is tied to your stigmata. So that none of you make the same mistake that this one did." At her last words, she ran her hand through Klaus' hair.

"Now that Klaus has managed to activate his stigmata, my words should not be blocked. True magic cannot be used in the normal worlds, attempting to do so anyway could result in death. Do you know why?"

Liz tentatively lifted her hand into the air. "The Secret Worlds does not allow it?"

Lilith nodded and then spoke. "Yes, that is what people say, but what does it actually mean. The Secret Worlds constrict us in many ways when we are on normal worlds, but for this, it only needs to cut us off from the ambient magic, which means that when we cast our magic here-"

"-We use magic from inside ourselves." Finished Billy in a bored voice. He then walked towards the door while he continued to talk. "That means. When you use magic, you use that which keeps you alive. In other words, you are basically killing yourself."

Billy stopped at the door. "I already know all this." Then he was gone.

Lilith sighed and looked at the other two. "Your stigmata serves as a medium. Learning magic can take decades, especially the abilities tied to your bloodlines. Stigmata serves as a doorway so you can learn and access it sooner. Some of it may even be unique like the ability the Cromwells are known for." Lilith wanted to continue explaining, but her voice suddenly cut off and she gave the other two an apologetic look before shaking her head.

"That's all I can say at the moment."

Klaus had a pensive look on his face. "So if I use my magic in shorter bursts, I should be able to use it without passing out."

Lilith closed her eyes and clenched her jaw. "Out of everything I just said, that is what you got out of it?" She sighed and rubbed at her temple. The headache she had developed during the search for a safer route was still present. "Yes, but it opens you up to sickness. Stuff like cancer and such." She looked at Klaus. "Luckily for you, you have a very high rate of healing, but because of what you did, it will probably take a while to get to where it was before."

Klaus had a frown on his face. "I don't understand. Pain told me to meditate on my stigmata and attempt to activate them."

"Yes, but not to use them. There is a huge difference."

Klaus then turned to Liz with a very concerned gaze. It prompted Lilith to look at the girl too.

She was looking at the ground with her hands balled into fists. Klaus saw a tear run down her cheek and then fall to the ground. She finally spoke, asking a question in a voice that was barely holding together. "How well known is this information?'

Lilith took a step toward her but stopped when Liz took a step back. Lilith looked at Klaus with concern, but he nodded. "She needs to know, we both do."

Lilith sighed and rubbed at her temples again before saying. "It is common knowledge."

"Why would they, no. It's not true!" Liz looked like she had taken a physical blow from the words. Lilith made to step forward to console her, but Liz was out of the doorway before the older woman could move.

She gave Klaus an inquiring look.

His jaw was set and his eyes hard. He kept looking at the doorway where Liz had disappeared through. "She told me that her trainer had encouraged her to train from a young age. To use her ability. Lilith, why would they do that knowing what it could do?"

Lilith sat down next to Klaus. "I don't know. If I were to compare her to my own situation, it would make sense." Lilith kicked her shoes off and then leaned into Klaus. "My family saw me as a workhorse. They threw me everywhere they thought they would get the most benefits from. I think that's why they left me to look after you. If my aunt's plan had worked, she would have a Roth slave at her beck and call."

Lilith snuggled in even closer and yawned. "Even though they were using me like that, they did not let me use my stigmata until I entered the Secret Worlds. Whoever encouraged Liz to use hers, did so out of malicious intentions, not for profit."

Klaus wanted to reply, but he heard Lilith breathing evenly against his shoulder. He looked down to discover that she had fallen asleep sitting upright and leaning on him.

"What do I do now?"

Liz made it to the stairs. Her feelings were a mess, her older sister had been the one to encourage the usage of her stigmata. The revelation of what that meant saddened her beyond reason. Her sister was her rock her place of refuge after Elizabeth's awakening took place and she saw the terrible visions.

They were visions of war and bloodshed. She had been part of a vast army that spanned as far as her eyes could see. All manner of monstrous creatures and abominations marched with them. She would be called upon now and then to try and foretell where future ambushes could be lying in wait.

It worked sometimes, but not all the time. When her visions failed to warn the army, she would be punished.

That was her awakening. A series of feelings that drifted from fear to jubilation when she knew, she would not be punished. Liz was little more than a slave in the visions and she knew it. It was harrowing, the stuff of nightmares. Even worse, her awakening happened when she was just fourteen years old.

It was her sister that helped her get over it to a degree. Elizabeth's family was like many others, more concerned with what they could get out of their progeny rather than their wellbeing. They were disappointed that the awakening happened at age fourteen, but the fact that she had received stigmata afforded her some support in the form of her sister.

Said sister had awakened at age sixteen but had received no stigmata. She was worth less than the little one.

'Sister was already twenty-two when they pulled her out of the Secret Worlds to look after me. Did she hold it against me?'

Before Liz's mind could go further down the rabbit hole. Billy interrupted her with a cough. He was coming down the stairs. He walked past her and towards the door. She could smell that he had been smoking cigarettes.

"Well, you look terrible." He said.

Liz narrowed tear-filled eyes at him. "You stink."

He shrugged. "Touche." He seemed to pause and consider something and then smiled before saying. "Would you like to come with me?"

She rubbed at her eyes and then looked at him warily. Liz had interacted with Klaus a lot but barely spoke to Billy outside of their first meeting.

"I have been feeling cooped up in this place and was thinking about going out to a nearby club I read about."

Liz was caught off-guard, to say the least. She had grown up mostly sheltered from such things, and the thought to go to one had never occurred to her.

As such, her mind automatically went to what her mentor would think of this idea.

'My sister would never allow me to go to such a place.' The thought is what tipped the scales.

'Fuck my sister and the family.'

Liz squared her shoulders and wiped her tears away. "Give me a few minutes to get ready."

Billy smiled. "Excellent, I promise you won't regret it."

"Do you think we should invite Klaus, we are going to be a team after all."

Her sentence was barely done before Billy had her by the arm. He looked around conspiratorially. "I don't think that is a good idea. From what I have seen, he looks like one of those smart and stuck up types."

Elizabeth frowned. "Klaus is not like that at all. Once you get to know him, you will see."

Billy let go of her arm and sighed before looking at her. "Can you, with the utmost certainty, tell me he won't try to stop you from going out in the state you are in."

Liz bit her lip and shook her head.

"That's what I thought, now hurry and go get ready. I have another friend waiting for me as well." He lied.

Klaus was torn. He was not sure if he should go console his friend or if he should give her time to work with things first. As a result, he had remained seated on the bed with Lilith drooling on his shoulder.

'Would I even know how to console her? To hell with it, sometimes someone just needs a hug, right?'

Not being one to remain indecisive, Klaus gently tucked Lilith into bed. He was aiming to head directly towards Liz's room but ran into Pride right outside his own.

He was in a hurry and spared no pleasantries, the demon did not care for it anyway. "What is it?"

Pride looked Klaus up and down. She quirked a brow at his unkempt state and then spoke. "A Mr. Craybist has been asking after you, repeatedly."

Klaus was about to brush her off when she continued. "He mentioned something about being sabotaged at the party, by the other Roths. Usually, I would not care, but it would go against my work ethic, not to inform you of something like this."

Klaus snorted. "You mean it would go against your pride.'

She only narrowed her eyes as a reply. "I suggest you go quickly, the boy seemed desperate."

Klaus looked from the corridor that leads to Liz's room to the elevator the would take him downstairs. He swore in his mind and then aimed for the elevator.

'Liz is not going anywhere right, besides this guy could have information for me.'

He stepped into the elevator and pumped the down button.

"Doing that won't make it go faster." Commented Pride, dryly.

Klaus closed his eyes, fighting back a retort. The doors closed with a ding, and the elevator started to move at what felt like a snail's pace to Klaus.

As soon as they were at the bottom, Klaus gave Pride a look, and she lazily pointed towards a man that was nervously fidgeting on a couch in the foyer.

Klaus made his way over. The guy spotted them and got up with a nervous smile. Klaus was surprised to see the guy was taller than he is. He was also built much larger as well.

He stuck his hand out, and Klaus gave it a quick shake, it was sweaty. "Hello, Mr. Roth. I came with the hopes of joining your party in the expedition to the Secret Worlds."

Klaus just watched as the man blurted out words at mach speed. "You see, my family is relatively new to the Secret Worlds, and I don't know whether or not it was your cousins or just a mistake, but they put my surname as Crabs on the application."

Klaus' lips twitched at hearing the explanation, he could not forget how Amelia and he had made fun of the name. He felt a bit guilty, but despite the desperate look, the man's whole bearing radiated, Klaus still knew nothing about him. He did not like unknowns, so Klaus did not want to risk it.

Klaus shook his head, and Mr. Crabist's whole body seemed to sag. "I am sorry, my team is full, and I don't feel comfortable taking on more people at the moment. Ask someone else."

'I already have my hands full with those I currently have.' Thought close, his mind already back on how to deal with Liz's situation.

Klaus turned to walk away. The guy behind him balled his fists and shouted at his back. "There is no one else. Do you really fucking think that I came to you first? You may not know but right now you are the boogeyman of this world. The guy who rejected me and chose a bloody Spartan instead. The one who sent the Roths packing and hangs out with demons by his side. To be honest, you scare the hell out of me, but I have no other choice. I will serve as your meatshield, anything, just give me a chance!"

The words struck a chord. A part of Klaus felt angry for being spoken to like this by an outsider and yet another part felt curious. 'What would drive someone to come to me if he fears me so much? Why was choosing a Spartan such a bad thing in his eyes?'

Klaus stopped, and the guy swallowed the next words he was about to shout. "Why?" Asked Klaus.

For a moment there was silence, and then Mr. Craybits spoke in barely a whisper. "Can't you see I am desperate?"

Klaus finally turned around. "Oh, I can see that. I want to know why? Consider your next words carefully."

"It's my older sister. She got hurt in the Secret Worlds and nothing here can fix her. I am hoping that I can find something that will."

Klaus turned to Pride, and she rolled her eyes. Klaus could have sworn he heard her mutter. "Humans." In a disappointed tone.

Unperturbed, Klaus kept up his gaze until she relented. "I will investigate and let you know." She finally said.

Klaus looked back at the man, who was looking on confused at their exchange.

"You are on probation. Don't ever talk to me like that again. If Pride's investigation proves that you were lying in any way, well, I leave it up to your imagination."

Klaus thought the man would jump in joy, but instead, he just let out a sigh of relief while looking around warily. 'I did just threaten him, seems normal. When Lilith wakes up, maybe she can check him out?'

Klaus could not help himself and said. "Follow me, Mr. Crabs."

Klaus then thought. 'Get this guy a room and then find Liz, should be easy, right?'

The two of them stepped into the elevator and just as the door closed, the one next to it opened.

Out stepped, Billy and in Liz's mind, nicely dressed Liz.

Billy gave Liz a look, he had been, doing so ever since he saw her when they met on their floor of the hotel. "You look like a nun."

Liz was unperturbed and quipped. "You look like a coloring book."

Billy snorted. "Touche."