The cold

Too late

Neil pressed himself against the wall, completely shocked, unable to process the sight before him. It was Andrew, he lay dead, in a pool of his blood, his head completely severed and lying a feet away from his body. They were supposed to be safe, he had promised Andrew that they would be safe.

He jumped when Hissana touched his shoulder, completely confused and scared. Hissana dragged an almost unresponsive Neil to his room, leaving him sitting on a chair, muttering something about bringing him some water to help calm him down. Neil was shocked, he had assumed that Andrew was safe after "master's" death, that everything was going to be completely alright . Damien had told him that the castle was completely safe, that not a soul could enter from outside without being invited in, then how could this happen? Was Micheal behind this? Neil was scared, he just wanted Damien to come back, for some reason he couldn't even call Loki , getting a fuzzy feeling in his head every time he tried.

Hissana entered the room, handing Neil some cold liquid that he said would soothe the nerves. He sipped the liquid slowly, looking up at Hissana , who had a strange expression on his face. "You won't be able to call pet spirits here, this room is sealed" Hissana stated, whilst walking towards the door and locking it. Neil started to feel a little queasy , Hissana was being weird , Neil tried getting up, only to realize he couldn't move. His limbs felt awfully heavy and he just didn't seem to have the energy to do anything.

This sent Neil panicking, he tried to shout out for help only for unintelligent gibberish to come out of his mouth. He stared at Hissana in fear, his plea for help in his eyes. Hissana smiled sadly at Neil, he didn't want to hurt the boy , he really didn't, but it had to be done. " I'm not going to kill you little one, I just need a little of your blood, it won't even hurt much, well, the preparation might, but you won't die" Hissana said, trying to calm the scared boy. 

Hissana removed the carpet off the floor, exposing the complex rune he had spent years preparing, a rune that was finally going to be put to use. He lifted the boy gently, placing him at the center of the rune, a fairly easy task , considering the fact that the tonic was still doing it's intended job. Now he had to mark the boy, Hissana winced at the thought, it was bound to  hurt, a lot. He lifted the enchanted iron from the coal, it was at the right temperature , the color of grey ashes. The boy let out a muffled groan when the iron was pressed to his face, on the right side. Soon a lean dragon started taking shape on his face, it's tail at the lower right cheek , reaching towards the boys forehead, skipping the eye. 

Hissana waited till the image was clear, it was a part of the rune. He slit the boy's wrist when the dragon started glowing a bright red ,becoming one with the rune. Soon the runes started growing larger , fed by the boy's blood. He felt a tiny amount of regret creeping in, the boy had done nothing to him and for what it was worth he really did love Abbadon, but he couldn't ignore orders from the woman who brought him up, no matter how hard he tried. He was never one to like violence, and yet he had to kill Andrew, denying him of a second lease of life that was just within his reach. He saw Miorag coming through the shadows , a content look on his face when he noticed that there wasn't much else to do but wait.

Soon the rune started growing bigger and brighter, miasma rolling off it like dark clouds. The sky turned a sick blood red, glowing brightly before a portion of the sky was ripped open, darker than the deepest black, the tunnel to Ement.  Hissana sighed, it was done, it was over.

It was about then that they arrived, after everything was done, after all was over. Damien rushed towards Neil, ripping the boy from the rune, telling a spell under his breath to close the wound on his wrist. The boy was still breathing, his pulse weak but at least it was there to Damien's relief. At least Neil wouldn't be joining the long list of people that were killed for this vile cause.

Abbadon stared at Hissana in shock, he stared at the one person who he had truly given his heart to,the one person he had dreamed to live the rest of his life with, grow old , adopt children....he saw his grandfather chuckle at the look on his face , clearly amused at the fact that his heart had been torn away from his chest and trampled on. Was everything a lie? All those walks under the moon, their secret picnics, the sweet words his love would whisper to him when he was frustrated or upset, was all that a lie? He stared at Hissana with a blank face, his heart numb to the look of shame the man he once loved sported. He walked almost on autopilot to the man, a sword in his hand, his heart begging the man to take the sword from him and kill him with it,what better a way to go than in the hands of the only person he had truly loved. 

Hissana gently touched his blank face, cupping the hand that held the knife in his own. He looked at Abbadon once more, taking in his lovers face for the last time, his sharp cheekbones, his eyes that were once fierce, his eyes that were now dull and lifeless. He knew that his betrayal was too severe a blow to the man's heart, a heart that he knew would probably never heal. He leaned close to his love and whispered in his ears for the last time, telling the man that he had truly loved him, before driving the knife into his heart.