Casting Shadows

Chapter 19

Chapter 19 (Brendon's POV)

The loss of Saint has kept Pete unable to carry out any normal length conversation.  Mainly, he isolates himself by keeping a distance from everyone else and by staring into nothingness.  Bronx takes comfort from Olivia.  Those children irritate me to the extreme, while everyone else seems to be perfectly content with their presence.  I do not understand the appeal of the incompetent youth.

While Bronx is completely useless, Olivia actually has some potential to be of help.  If she were to learn how to spread her wings and use them, then we would gain a significant amount of force.  However, since hybrids are the only species who can completely retract their wings, she can only be taught by one of her own kind.  With no luck so far, we search everyday for a hybrid who has the capability to help us. I am very sure that there are numerous demon-angels in hiding, they are just still too afraid to show themselves in the open.

"So we find a teacher for Olivia and then what? We can't just storm Andy's mansion and hope that Gerard isn't ready for us," Pete says. The two of us stroll down the sidewalk, the night's darkness wrapping around us. The others were getting some rest, while Pete and I were not particularly in the sleeping mood.

"How about instead of continuously asking me for a plan, you come up with one on your own?" I grit through my teeth.

One of his coping methods for the loss of Saint is to rant about an irrelevant topic.  If it is not irrelevant, then he just repeats the same points over and over again in attempt to fill his mind with something other than the image of his son's corpse. "If we kill Gerard, someone is going to fill in his place. Perhaps Mikey would take over or some other dedicated member of the cult."

"We've already established that revelation," I grunt.  I begin to regret joining him on this walk.  There is only a small amount of any Wentz that I can handle at a time.

The difficult part of creating a valid plan is stopping Gerard from using his emotional control.  Emotion is the largest factor that goes into one's actions and he could stop anyone from killing him by simply making them breakdown into tears.  If I just used my gift on him, then he would force me to stop just as easily. The only plausible solution to that issue would be to disable his ability and in order to do that a witch would be needed. Most likely, there would have to be multiple witches if the spell requires a massive amount of strength.

A cracking sound followed by a thump comes from behind me and I notice that the imbecilic demon is no longer walking by my side. I turn sharply and glare at the scrawny pest who is standing over the demon.

"I want to talk with you without any of your friends listening," says Tyler.

I flash an image through my mind of the hybrid's body erupting in flames. Just as I do so, he hunches over and clutches his head in agony.  "How about in stead of talking, I tear your flesh from your bones?"

He grips his hair in tight fists and drops to his knees. "I can help you get what you want!" he grunts.

This could very easily be one of his tricks. Tyler is known to cause trouble and mislead people into making deals that they do not fully understand. It's part of the reason of why he is so deadly. Not only does he know how to manipulate a conversation into his favor, but he also looks like an unlikely threat.

"Nice try," I spit. "I know your tricks. The second I lift my gift from you, you're going to rip my head off."

He peers at me through his eyelashes, his eyes failing to look intimidating.  "You can't kill me," he grits through his teeth. He knows that I know that I cannot kill him. I would end up having double the enemies to worry about. "How do you think I've survived this long? It's been through mutually assured destruction."