Chapter 23

Things just kept getting stranger. All our lives Keno had hated our father; he shuddered at the mere mention of the man, cursed the fact that they shared blood, he even kicked him out of our hotel. Now he was asking for help. Desperation had nothing on my big brother. Unfortunately there wasn't time for anyone to think about the significance of this, not even dad.

“You lost him?” Niall shouted while Keno and I sat on the couch with heads hung low, just like two kids being scolded for breaking a window.

“Actually, he ran away,” I said only to receive a glare.

“Not now, Logan,” Niall said and started pacing. “You should have called me as soon as he tried running away the first time!”

“I did,” I said slowly with a similar glare. “You didn’t pick up. I also tried when we got back but you still didn’t pick up.”

“Don’t take this out on Logan,” Keno said. “This is my fault.”

“No it’s not,” I sighed. “You left me in charge, I couldn’t even stop him from leaving.”

“He nearly crushed your skull,” Kotori said. “There were at least forty demons.”

“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “I was still in charge.”

“Boys,” Niall sighed with annoyance. “Stay focused, which way did he go?”

“I don’t know,” I sighed. “Up?”

“Up sounds good,” Kotori nodded.

“And we have no way to track him,” Keno added.

“D****t,” Niall said. “This isn’t good.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” Keno said quietly.

“We have to find him quickly,” Niall said to Bennett, dismissing us “kids” just like that. Keno must’ve seen how much this pissed me off from the “I told you so” quirk of his eyebrow. I snarled at him before turning back to the conversation.

“We don’t even know where to look,” Bennett said.

“They wouldn’t have gone far,” Niall put on his jacket. “Master would set up base nearby if he were planning on taking Ozzie now, he wouldn’t go far. He’s not that patient.”

“Why are you talking like you know this demon?” Keno asked.

“I’ve done a lot of research,” Niall said.

“So have we,” I said. “How do you know more than we do?”

There was a sudden and unexpected knock on the door and we all froze. I looked around the room. We were all here and as far as I knew no one had ordered room service so who was it?

“Logan,” Keno said quietly and I stood up.

I parted the door slightly to peer through the crack before whipping it open with speed and rage, not even caring or hearing the split of wood as I shoved the demon into the wall and my blade appeared under his chin.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here?" my voice dripped with venom as I glared up at Hiero who just stood calmly to my threat. "I should kill you now."

"If you do, you'll never see your brother again," he said just as darkly. "It's not a threat, it's a fact."

"Logan," Keno touched my shoulder and pried me away from the demon. He was just that desperate. His hand didn't leave my shoulder as he spoke to the spawn of hell. "Where is he?"

"Not here anymore," Hiero said. "We packed up shop."

"I should've killed you the first time I laid eyes on you." Keno said and the demon shrugged.

"You've had 17 years of chances," the demon said. "Your threats mean nothing now."

Now it was Keno's turn to be violent as he shoved Hiero into the wall, denting the plaster, it was bound to happen sooner or later and the demon didn't at all seem surprised. He looked away from us and smiled.

"They are just like you, eh, Niall?" he said and Keno and I turned to our father who was paler than a sheet. "Reminds me of the good old days."

"What's he talking about?" Keno asked, lowering his sword a fraction, one so slight, you'd need a microscope to see.

"Where is my son, Hiero? I beg of you," Niall dismissed the matter as he pleaded.

“I can take you to him,” Hiero said and started towards the door.

“Wait, now you’re helping us?” I asked.

“Yes, would you rather I didn’t?” Hiero asked.

“I just want to know why?” I said. “Why did you change your mind?”

“We have to go quickly,” Hiero said and we started to go down the hall. “Master was growing tired of his minions failing to destroy the human race. Demons are stronger in this world than in their own; he wants this to be the new Hell. There’s this legend about the First Apocalypse that he heard about and he decided to recreate it.”

“That’s how Oz got into this?” I asked with anger. “Because some demon liked his bed time stories a little too much?”

“Why was he so unresponsive?” Keno asked, ignoring my remark.

“Because,” Hiero started and watched as Bennett went down the road to get a van we’d spotted. “As things went on, Master grew more and more paranoid as Oskar’s strength grew. You can’t have a minion that is both smarter and stronger than you, right? The boy was far too important to lose so Master just shut down his mind.”

We went outside where Bennett’s CCOR van was waiting for us; we all piled in, Hiero taking the front while the rest of us got into the back. I had to stop myself from thinking about what would be placed back here, turning a blind eye to the reddish stain in the corner. Rust, that’s all it was, rust.

“Go left,” Hiero said from the front and the van started to turn. My arm hit the side harshly and I winced with pain.

"Hiero used to be human," Dad said to start the awkward story and cleared his throat, hoping to calm his nerves. "We were best friends, like brothers. We both grew up in the same orphanage."

“What?” Keno said and dad shrugged.

“We left the orphanage and became free-lance hunters,” dad continued, ignoring Keno’s offended tone. I couldn’t tell if Hiero was listening but he’d changed from verbal orders to a simple point of directions which meant that he must’ve been.

“Our travels took us to Alddell,” dad sighed. “There was some kind of disease-”

“We know all about that,” I said and Niall nodded.

“Well, we met the demon there, it tried to go for me but,” he shrugged, unable to finish the sentence. “Hiero didn’t last the night.”

That’s why he’d gone to Alddell, he’d thought Master was there, that he could get some much needed revenge, but then he found that newspaper article and knew that he was only wasting his time.

 I could tell that Keno felt bad too. Our father’s childhood friend, his brother, who’d risked his life to save him was now working with the demons who were bent on destroying his youngest son.

“You lied to us,” Keno said. “Why didn’t you tell us you knew him?”

“Would it have mattered?” Niall sighed.

“He almost killed us!” Keno shouted.

“He’s the one that warned me this was going on,” Niall said. “He made sure you boys got out alive the night of the fire.”

“He almost killed us,” Keno repeated, articulating each syllable. “Whether or not he helped or saved us back then doesn’t matter.”

“He’s our only hope, Keno!” Niall shouted and Keno was quiet. “And if he’d wanted to kill you, he would have done it. No doubt about it.”

“Exactly,” Hiero nodded before nodding to the next turn.

Keno shook his head and turned away, unable to argue anymore. The rest of the ride was silent and tension hung in the air. Niall sighed as Keno ignored him, he reached over and put a hand on my brother’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Keno, I know I haven’t been a good father but I tried,” Niall said. “I had to leave to find a way to help Oskar.”

Keno shook dad’s hand off his shoulder and turned farther away. “Is that why you left again? Why you didn’t even come to look for us?”

“It would have been foolish to keep my weaknesses by my side all the time,” Niall said. “I’m sorry.”

“We’re almost there,” Hiero said back to us and Niall, knowing trying to get through to Keno was a lost cause at this point, turned to me.

“How’s your shoulder?” he asked and I shrugged, despite the pain.

“It’ll be alright,” I muttered.

“Put a little salt on it and the black will only affect the wound.” He said and I nodded. “It’ll hurt like the dickens, though.”

“Bring it on,” I tried for a smile. Whether or not I succeeded or failed couldn’t be seen in the dark of the van.

 

Author's Note

Alright... I'm going to just post the last few chapters... cause I keep forgetting... Enjoy1