Chapter 17

We reached the town of Merriston by noon the next day. It was a small village near the rocky northern border. The mountains loomed over the village, creating almost a shelter over the homes of the people. Too bad it didn’t act as such.

The whole village was waiting at the front for our arrival, their mayor at the very front looking nervous and anxious as we exited the car.

“Mr. Garrett,” Keno shook the mayor’s hand and showed him his transmitter. “What seems to be the problem?”

“There is a monster in the cliffs,” the old, crinkled man pointed up.

 Really, is that why we were here? Who would have thought! I was still a little ornery and probably a wee-bit sarcastic from my current restrictions. Who knew that silence could be so hard?

“What kind of monster,” Logan reiterated.

“An ogre, we think, no one has ever really seen it,” Garrett shrugged.

“Then why did you call CCOR?” Kotori seemed just as annoyed with these boondock villagers as Logan did. A Sa’harielan was not helping us in this case. There were murmurs amongst the crowd and disgusted looks all around but the four of us ignored them.

“Many of my people have gone missing,” Garrett said, putting aside his racism if only for the moment. “We see blood trails leading up to the mountain.”

“It could be a number of things, why do you suspect an ogre?” Keno asked.

“A hunter came by, told us it was an ogre and said we should call the CCOR,” Garrett said. “The hunter said he was too busy with something else to help us.”

 “Alright, ogre,” Keno sighed, having the same idea of who this hunter was as I probably did but ignored it. “Where do we find this ogre? Is there a cave up there?”

“A whole labyrinth of them,” Garrett replied.

“Peachy,” Logan muttered. “I always love when the monster has the upper hand.”

“And on the phone you said that you would need someone to watch over the youngest?” Mr. Garrett asked and Keno nodded.

I looked up at Keno with a glare. He was seriously taking advantage of the fact that I wasn’t allowed to talk. He didn’t even look down at me, not with shame, and not with authority.

Garrett moved over to Logan and wrapped his arm around my brother’s shoulder reassuringly. “We’ll take good care of him.”

“What?” Logan shoved the man’s arm off him. “I am not the youngest! Why does everyone think that? “

“Because you are short,” Kotori said as he stifled a laugh.

“No, he is the youngest,” Logan grabbed my arm to pull me forward. “He is the one that needs watching. Him not me.”

“And I’m not staying behind,” I said and looked up at Keno. “It’s just an ogre, Keno, we’ve fought them before.”

“No, those were ground trolls,” Keno said and I shrugged.

“Ogres, trolls, they’re in the same family,” I said. “What’s it matter if it’s ground level or on the mountain?”

“You really believe that?” Keno crossed his arms and somehow made himself appear taller to give him more authority. How he did it, I wasn’t sure, it wasn’t like he slouched…. Ever, so how could he stand straighter than straight?

What am I saying? This is Keno we’re talking about. Sure, he made himself taller, but I kept my ground and didn’t let his towering height put me down. “Yes, yes I do.”

“Fine, but you will stay close to one of us and you will step back if I say so,” Keno said. He even pulled out the index finger of threats. I pushed his hand away.

“It’s a deal,” I said with triumph I tried so hard to hide.

“And stop using your voice,” Keno said and I rolled my eyes, he still defeated me.

“Allow me to show you where you’ll be staying,” Garrett said, unsure of what we were fighting about but moving along. I liked this guy, he didn’t bother for the details he just wanted an extermination job.

I just wished more of our clients were like that.

 

I spent most of the day looking around the village, I wasn’t allowed to go and interview people because that would mean I’d have to talk. The interviews were boring anyway but wandering around doing nothing? That was twice as boring.

I found a rock sitting near the side of the road on the outskirts of town. It was large and flat, perfect for sitting on which I did happily. I’d been sitting there for only a few minutes before feeling a looming presence.

“Now what do you want?” I muttered and looked to my left to see Hiero sitting there. He said nothing for a few minutes, just sat there.

“Come on, I have something to show you,” Hiero stood up suddenly.

“Like hell,” I muttered and continued my perch. He sighed with annoyance before holding out his hand, forcing me up with his demonic power. “Hey! Don’t man-handle me!”

“Well maybe you should realize when someone is trying to help you and take it!” Hiero said and started walking. “Follow me.”

“You? Trying to help me?” I argued but followed anyway. “Help me with what? Help me do your bidding? Telling me about how to deal with Master such as ‘Don’t look at him’?”

“I told you not to, don’t get snarky with me because you didn’t listen.” Hiero said and stopped. “Look, I just thought that you’d want some guidance or to at least understand what is happening. I’ve been through it all before, Oskar, I know what it’s like!”

“What?” He paused for a minute, realizing he probably shouldn’t have said that.

“Master injected you with a virus he created,” Hiero said quietly. “You’re turning into a demon, Oskar.”

“You’re lying!” I said.

“Why would I lie about that?” He asked and I couldn’t answer. “Now are you going to let me help you or not?”

I paused to think about that for a second but decided to follow him. This time he didn’t walk in front of me but allowed me to walk beside him. It was quiet as he led me further and further away from the village.

“How old were you?” I asked to break the silence. “When you turned into… you know?”

“23,” he said. “That was nineteen years ago.”

“You’re the same age as my dad,” I said and it seemed as though he completely ignored my statement. The rest of the walk was dead silent, even our footsteps fell against the frozen earth quietly until finally we came to a graveyard. Hiero had moved over to the far side of the road, away from the cemetery before stopping.

“This is what you wanted to show me?” I asked skeptically.

“Would you shut up for a minute,” Hiero replied irritably. “I’m trying to explain something here.”

“Sorry,” I said and watched as he turned to look at me.

“What do demons live on?” he asked and I stared at him blankly before realizing his question wasn’t rhetorical.

“Human souls?” I asked rather than answered. He sighed and shook his head.

“Energy, demons need energy and lots of it!” He said. “It’s where our power comes from and what makes it so hard to kill us. As long as we have enough energy reserves then it’s fine. If we’re ever injured we just need to get more energy and we’ll heal just fine.”

“So, why the graveyard?” I asked, completely missing his point, much to his dismay.

“Energy can come from any living thing if you know how to use it. The trees, the grass, a frigging puppy but the purest energy you can find in there.”

“You mean human souls,” I said, not impressed in the slightest.

“They’re no longer human,” Hiero said darkly. “All they are now are floating masses of energy waiting for a demon to come and take.”

“You think that I would ever-“

“If you’re desperate enough you will,” Hiero said, silencing me with his piercing gaze. “Taking energy from something as small as trees or grass is not an easy thing to do and even doing that takes a little energy. From a source such as this it will take seconds and the energy is more than willing to come to you. Can’t you already feel the energy?”

“I don’t want to,” I felt sick to my stomach. I hadn’t realized that was what I was feeling but now that I did, it was hard to push away the endless energy that felt as though it were trying to creep inside me.

“You have more control than I thought,” Hiero said. “My first time I couldn’t keep them away. Don’t go with your brothers to the mountain.”

“What?”

“If you can’t handle what you have to do to keep yourself alive, then you need to just sit in the back seat for a while,” Hiero said darkly and I glared up at him.

“Yeah right,” my words were just as dark as his, if not more. “I don’t trust you or your Master. How do I know you won’t kill my brothers or Kotori while I sit down here doing nothing?”

“God damn it,” Hiero stepped back, shouting angrily. “What the hell is wrong with you? I’m trying to make your life easier and your conscious free of guilt and what do you do? You Noirs are all the same! You know, you are just as stubborn as your thick-headed father always was!”

He froze which told me that was something he really shouldn’t have said. I could only stare at him with a slack jaw, letting the thousands of questions running through my brain mash into one that actually reached my lips.

“You know my father?”

 

Author's Note

This one is kind of short but the next one is pretty long so it all kind of even's out I guess... Enjoy!