Chasing Demons

CHAPTER 9

Sorrows of tomorrow

Time was weird if non-existing concept here in the Nevernever I was pretty sure days had gone by but I did not feel any hunger or tiredness. Alastor had left me alone after sharing that bombshell of a revelation he might have lied or omitted some details on the other hand the guy had nothing to lose by telling me the truth either. I wanted him to have lied because the alternative was too much to bear. When a hand reached out to grab me I was close to decking Ilynia in the face, she gave me an unimpressed look in response. I just stared at her not ready to confirm if she was real or just a desperate creation of my mind. My doubts were shattered the moment she punched me in the shoulder "we do not have time for this, the demon could discover me any moment we have to leave," she snarled. I blinked then shook my head "fuck right how are we doing this?" Ilynia gestured for me to get closer as she whispered; "shadows guided us and lead us astray from the demon's sight." The feeling of being cloaked was as alien as ever, but for once I welcomed it. We snuck out of the room I had been staying in and out into the hallway. "We need to find James," I insisted as Ilynia gestured for me to follow her. "Do you have any idea of where he is?" she asked seeming impatient. I shook my head "no, but I am not leaving without my brother." She sighed "it might be that or not leaving at all I hope you realize I do not have any way to fight the demon that makes this lair it's home." I figured as much, but I was not going to give up now not when I was so close. "Can we at least not take a quick look around?" I pleaded and Ilynia looked rather conflicted before finally nodding.

We found him in a slaughterhouse. Broken remains of what might have been people once lay scattered around. Alastor was there taunting him; "you can eat these sucker's souls, and if you ever think to stop I might just take your brother's." Ilynia gave me a dark look as she stopped me; "we cannot do anything anymore your brother is dead." "Dead? He is right there what the fuck do you mean?" I replied not liking the tone of this conversation. "That is not your brother, that is a demon," Ilynia replied like it was obvious. "Sounds like semantics to me he is still my brother and we are not leaving him here," I forced myself to keep my voice down. "Demons are born from people but as soon as they are born they eradicate the soul of the person they used to be, it is their first feast and greatest sin. Lacking a soul of their own they then seek out to eat others," she lectured me. "I do not care we are not leaving him," I refused to believe all of this soul nonsense and even then there must be a way to fix this there just has to be. "Please Caleb does not do this, that demon is not your brother, and it will hurt you," hearing Ilynia plead like that made me pause. She never did that it felt wrong. "No, I at least need to talk with him," I tried to compromise. "You can hide here while I do it," I added as she was still hesitating. Finally, she nodded looking grim.

*

It felt like before Alastor left but as soon as I was sure he was gone I stepped over to my brother. "James we need to leave," I started before roughly being hoisted up. I stared into my brother's eyes a blank abyss of hunger and bloodlust. I could not speak those eyes they did not belong to James there was just no way. The grip on me tightened hurting as the silence between us lingered. I was certain he was going to crush me the pain was getting all my nerves in action leaving me seeing dark spots. I needed to do something I needed to say something. Why do the words fail me now? I never used to have issues sprouting nonsense before, but when it matters I go mute. "James we need to leave. We can go home you just have to let me go and we can get out of this hell," I tried feeling a stack pain in my ribs for every word leaving my mouth. It was no use tears uselessly fell out of my eyes as I tried to gather enough air to say just anything. What could I even say? Do not give up? Was this even my brother anymore? "At least we die together, "I rasped out feeling oddly giddy about the whole situation as small laughs left my throat then the world dark.

I woke up under a tree, so I was pretty sure I was dead because hell had no trees whatsoever. "What a stupid way to go, "I muttered to myself. "You are very stupid you could have died," two voices rang nearby making my head hurt. I tried to get up to get a better look only to be pushed down, "you should not be moving around in that condition," the familiar voice scolded me. I wanted to protest I could move around just fine besides it was weird talking to someone without being able to see them. Honestly, if this was the afterlife then it was rather disappointing I mean the least it could have done was remove my wounds right? Unless it was some stupid rule around here you had to keep the wounds that killed you? With my luck that might as well be the case. I was about to voice these thoughts as I felt myself being lifted. The voices kept talking but they felt so far away, and I could not make out a word of what they were saying. Waking up for the third time this time my head felt more clear and I looked around in the tent I was laying in. "You are never going to heal right if you keep moving around this much, " I froze as I saw James in the opening of the tent too tall to fit inside it. "You..." He crouched down to get closer to me "yes, I am well not fine but more myself right now," he assured me.

I crawled over to him ignoring my body's protest and hugged him tightly afraid he was going to disappear at any moment. We sat there for a while being way too sentimental but also unwilling to stop. A million thoughts were running through my mind "how are we going to deal with you looking like a demon?", "How are we going to go home without getting apprehended by the military." Then James hugged me back and I pushed those worries aside. For now, it was good enough we could just be together we could deal with the military and the bombshell of a piece of information Alastor had given us later.

[End of arc]