Chapter Nineteen (Daimonas)

Everyone was still upset about Seth, and Julian.

I knew Seth would be okay, so it didn't bother me that he was still unconscious in the place they called a hospital room. Julian, on the other hand, confused me. He didn't want to talk to me because his fangs were gone, and even when his did, his voice didn't sound the same and it bothered me.

I wanted to give his fangs back is what I wanted to do, but how? Jack took his fangs away, so I couldn't very well grab them and shove them back in. Jack would rip me apart just like he did to Julian. And creating new fangs to replace the old ones? I didn't know how to do that, and if I wasn't careful, I could do something else and hurt him and for some reason, hurting him bothered me.

No, this whole emotion thing bothered me.

I was still so very confused. Why did I care about either Seth or Julian? They were both beneath me, weaker creatures that could easily be taken down by their own kind. Seth was just a mere human. His body had been mangled and destroyed in the car crash. Julian, even though he was a pureblood, no longer had his fangs and that dropped his threat level way down. They were both helpless and I should be annoyed by that. I should just kill them to put them out of all our miseries, but...

For some reason, I didn't want to. The very thought bothered me.

I didn't like emotions. They were confusing. They got in the way.

And they were the very reason that my concentration right now was failing.

Julian and Adam had gone to the bathroom to help Julian clean the blood out of his mouth. Kipp was curled up on one of the sofas, fast asleep while Walter and Peter sat nearby. Walter was napping with his head tilted back and Peter was looking at something called a magazine, but his attention was very obviously on something else that I couldn't pinpoint. It looked like he was interested in the way Walter was sleeping maybe.

And I was sitting alone in a seat, staring at the can of grape soda Julian had bought me. I was trying to move it with my mind, but it didn't even shudder an inch. It remained absolutely still, right where Julian had left it and trying to move it was giving me a headache.

It didn't help with all these emotions banging around inside me and the ringing in my ears that indicated that my brother wanted to talk to me. That piece actually surprised me. We made it a rule not to converse with one another because it only got in the way of the fact that our goal was to kill each other and absorb our powers.

Daimonaaas. Is that what you call yourself now? Such a cute name!

Shut up, I snapped bitterly, pressing my fingertips to my temples as I tried to concentrate on the can of soda. It was silent for a while and I almost dropped my hands into my lap in relief when there was a low chuckle at the back of my mind. I ground my teeth together. He wasn't going to leave me alone until I spoke to him. I got up slowly, glancing at everyone else who wasn't paying attention to me, even though Adam told them to watch me.

I felt like they were supposed to be, as Julian had mentioned a while back, babysitting me. And while I wanted to argue with the term baby, I really couldn't. I was still too young. I hadn't even reached the toddler age that humans went through. I was practically an infant, but it annoyed me that people treated me as if I were stupid.

I shook the thought from my head and crept out of the waiting room. I went down the hallway back toward Seth's room, keeping my head down to avoid questions from people in white coats that passed me.

I think Adam called them doctors, but I couldn't quite remember.

But I did not like them at all.

They wore the same white coats and gloves that the people back in Zephyra wore, the people who locked me in the incubator. I didn't like it at all. But much to my relief, none of them jumped me or attacked me. They just smiled and kept walking, but I still didn't trust them. They didn't give me a reason to.

I stopped in front of the window that looked into Seth's room. Some of the machines that he had been hooked to were gone, and I'm not sure if that was good or bad. What was good, however, was that Seth was still breathing as he slept, breathing through a plastic tube thingy that the doctor people shoved down his throat. But inside, I could hear my brother squirming to get comfortable and heal all the damage that had been done.

He wasn't doing it out of the kindness of his heart. His vessel had been damaged and he had to repair it, otherwise, he'd have to leave and find a new host. And considering this was a place full of ordinary humans, he wasn't going to find much... But then, he did find Seth.

Why are you inssside Ssseth? I asked my brother, frowning into the window. There was a short pause before he chuckled again, and I hated it when he did that. He acted as if I were a fool, but he was the younger one. If anyone was stupid, it was him.

Because it's warm in here, he answered daintily, and his soul is like a furnace. I've never seen a human this powerful before, Daimonas. But enough about my host. Let's talk about you. Cute name you got there, and cute lisp. Is it because you gave yourself two tongues?

Shut up, I snapped in irritation, fighting the heat that kept wanting to come up to my cheeks, I chossse Daimonasss becaussse it passssed through Julian'sss head oncce during hisss Latin lesssson and I liked the sssound of it. And I didn't mean for the tongue thing to happen.

Of course you didn't, he returned in a chiding tone that made me grind my teeth together, and you're still too stupid to figure out how to get rid of one of them, am I right? And look at you. You still don't know how to fully change your form? How old are you now?

Ssstop mocking me, I protested angrily, clenching my fists, I wassss locked inssside a big boxxx called an incubator for a year. I couldn't get out or ussse my powersss or anything.

Aw, poor baby.

It'sss not funny! The ssssame thing isss going to happen to you if you don't be careful. How did that vampire, Orion, catch you and the othersss anyway? I asked sternly. I waited, listening to the deafening silence that made my ears ring before he spoke.

Mother took us somewhere she thought was safe to birth us. There were almost three hundred of us at the time and she spat us out. We all went in different directions, except me and three others. We felt drawn to some kind of power source, but when we got there, it was just a giant metal box thing... and then the door shut on us. We were stuck. They managed to get us into these tiny glass things and keep us prisoner. If you think a host is uncomfortable, Daimonas, those glass things are worse.

But how did he keep you alive? You need a hossst to live.

Not anymore, my brother scoffed, we're new and improved. Mother made it so we don't need to depend on a living host. Unfortunately, we still need to live off energy. The human pieces we were given helped, and so did being near the thing you called an Orion. We were feeding on him so heavily that he mostly just slept all the time because he didn't realize we were draining him. We also borrowed from an old lady in the next room, but she wasn't leaking as much negative energy as the Orion.

I... ssssuppossse that makessss sssenssse.

It does. Why does the Orion even want us?

He wantsss to capture all of usss sssso he can ussse usss for thisss group they call Zephyra. It'sss a terrorissst organization. They want to ussse ussss to kill humansss.

That would disrupt the balance. Is he stupid?

It'sss not jussst him. There are five generalsss right now. And their leader, Giorgosss. My hosssst, Julian, and hisss mate, Adam, are trying to ssstop them.

They're not doing a very good job.

It'sss not their fault! I exclaimed, then caught myself. I was just defending them, again. When would this all stop? These emotions were getting in the way of my rational thought. While it wasn't exactly Julian and Adam's fault that Zephyra was going on a rampage, they were still at the root of it. Things were going to get worse, much worse, especially when Orion realizes that Seth and Kipp stole his demons.

Anyway, my brother said, making me frown and look up, I like it here. They can't take me out. This human is strong and warm. I want him to name me.

You actually like him? I asked, appalled. That was a new one. My kind was born without souls, and with souls came the strongest of emotions. From the sounds of it, this one had already begun to develop his soul.

Yes, my brother replied, he's... different. There are so many things going on inside his head. I like watching them. Do you know what a program is? Because he's got it all over in his head. And a Kipp. There's a lot of something called a Kipp... Oh wait, it's a person. I see now. Is that his mate?

I paused at that. Kipp Seth's mate? That had to be the worst joke in the world. Seth seemed to strongly dislike Kipp. He was always hitting him and yelling at him and acting like he didn't care, but then, emotions were an odd thing. Maybe he didn't want Kipp to know? I wasn't sure.

Kipp isss the persson wearing the white ssstuff on hisss forehead. Dark hair and dark eyesss. He'ss got the bluish jacket on. He'sss the one that wasss trying to get Ssseth out of the car when it crashed.

Ohh, I remember him. This human. This Seth. He kept saying his name in his head and saying he was sorry. I don't understand it, but that doesn't matter now. What matters now is that I'm safe, and you need to stop putting my host in danger. While I can repair this damage, I won't be able to repair certain damages. If his head gets chopped off, we're both screwed because that would not only sever him, but it would sever my head from my soul and I sort of need that.

Wait, you have a sssoul?

I have a sssoul, my brother snapped, sounding offended, how rude! We all have souls. You have a soul too.

No, I don't.

Yes, you do. I'm looking at it right now and it's bright purple.

But... But it doessssn't feel...

What were you expecting? Powerful fireworks of beauty? The soul isn't like that. The soul is like a little ball of colored light that hides in your chest. It just slowly develops over time. It's like your brain. The more you learn, the more you absorb, the more whole your soul becomes. You didn't know that?

No.

Jeez, you're dumb.

Shut up! I am not! At leassst I know what a cheessseburger isss.

Well, at least I know what a scalpel is. He returned snarkily. I gave up trying to talk to him and whipped around, heading down the hallway to get away from him. It wasn't until I reached the end of the hallway that I realized I was lost. I had gone in the wrong direction. I looked around, frowning, but I couldn't read the strange symbols on the plastic signs. I nibbled my lower lip, glancing both ways in hopes of seeing someone I knew, but there was no one.

I should turn around, I decided. As soon as I did, I bumped into someone in a white coat and instantly I felt something hot shoot up my back and I could only place it as being fear, because my hands were shaking. But the man in the white coat just smiled at me as he stepped back. He didn't look like the other people in white coats. His hair was an odd mixture of white, gray, and black. His eyes were really dark blue and I could only tell when the lights reflected on them. His skin was a little wrinkled and looked soft, but I didn't touch him.

"Sorry about that, are you all right?" He asked. I didn't know what to say at first, because I didn't like talking to people I didn't know and Julian had always told me never to talk to strangers. Then I felt stupid because I actually let Julian treat me like a child again... And then I realized he only did it to protect me.

And now my head hurt.

"Uhm," I said slowly, trying to find the right words, "No. I mean, yesss, but no. I don't know where I'm at." The doctor person just kept smiling. He seemed nice. Julian smiled at me. Adam smiled at me. And they were nice, most of the time, so  that might mean this guy was nice too.

"Where did you come from?" He asked me. I looked behind him down the hallway, then pointed.

"I'm ssssupposssed to be in the placcce called a waiting room." I told him. He kept smiling and nodded.

"All right, then let's head back that way, shall we? What's your name?" He asked as we started back down the hallway. I shifted a little, tugging at the long sleeves of Adam's jacket that I was still wearing. It was hard to take it off because it was so warm and it made me feel like I was still hiding in Julian's body. How odd was that?

"Daimonasss." I replied. The doctor looked a little surprised, and I didn't like that expression, but he quickly smiled again, like he noticed it bothered me.

"That's an interesting name. Do your parents know Latin?" He asked. I frowned, confused.

"What'sss a parentsss?" I asked. Now the doctor looked confused and I didn't like that. He didn't smile anymore, just looked at me a little worriedly now.

"Parents. You know, your mother and father. Aren't they here with you?" He asked. I blinked, feeling my shoulders slump in relief as I shook my head.

"I only have a mother," I answered assuredly, "I don't know what a father isss, but I know I had a mother. I left her a long time ago, but Julian takesss care of me now." The doctor still seemed a bit confused, but he was smiling again, so I felt okay. We kept walking until I saw Julian and Adam outside the waiting room, arguing with Peter and Kipp while Walter just stood nearby. Walter looked up and saw me first, elbowing the others, who looked up.

"Daimonas," Adam stated as we approached, "I told you to stay in the waiting room."

"Sssorry," I snorted, "But my brother wanted to talk to me." Adam gave me an odd stare, then looked at the doctor apologetically.

"Sorry. He's a little... retarded." He drawled, making me wrinkle my nose. What was that supposed to mean? The way Peter and Kipp smirked told me it might be an insult, but I couldn't be too sure. The doctor seemed to think so too as he shook his head.

"No, I think he's quite special," He told Adam, who raised an eyebrow, and then the doctor turned to me with a smile, "It was a pleasure to meet you, Daimonas."

"You too, doctor perssson." I told him. The doctor laughed.

"Dr. Reiner. See you around." He told me, then touched my shoulder before he left. I blinked, reaching up to touch where he touched me. He felt warm and something about him was so... sterile, maybe? I wasn't sure. I turned back as Julian sighed, but he didn't say anything and that bothered me.

I wanted to put his fangs back.

What if Dr. Reiner knew how to put fangs back?

"Oh wait," I said, turning around, but Dr. Reiner was already gone and I cursed under my breath, "He went away."

"He's a doctor, Daimonas," Kipp sighed wearily, rubbing his temples, "They're always very busy. The fact that the guy took the time out of his day to bring you back was nice."

"Don't wander off like that," Adam told me sternly, making me frown, "You scared the crap out of us. It's too dangerous for you to be on your own right now. Zephyra is going to be after us even faster now. And we need your brother to kick his healing into overdrive. Zephyra is going to find out we're at the hospital and come get us when they realize we took their precious demon babies." I scrunched up my nose at that.

He was scolding me. He scolded me a lot. I didn't like it. It both annoyed and bothered me. Bothered me as in... I think I felt upset. I didn't like being scolded, it made me feel stupid and I hated feeling stupid.

Dr. Reiner didn't make me feel stupid.

And I wanted to ask if he could put Julian's fangs back. If he could do that, at least Julian would talk to me again and I wouldn't feel so dreary. I think it was mostly knowing that Julian couldn't talk to me that made me feel uncomfortable. I was used to hearing his voice and something about it made me feel calm...

And that thought made me feel silly.

"Anyway," Adam continued, making me glance at him, "What did you mean by your brother wanted to talk to you?" All eyes went to me now and I didn't like it, but I had learned that saying something annoyed me didn't matter to them or even letting it show on my face. So there was no point in that and I shrugged.

"He wanted to talk, that'sss it." I replied. Adam frowned at that. Julian did too. I didn't understand what they were asking, and I think they decided to rethink their question as they shared one of those looks that made me momentarily wonder if they could read each other's minds. We all went back to the waiting room to wait on more news of Seth's recovery, but I wasn't worried. Seth would be okay.

But Julian? I wasn't so sure.

I let my eyes drift to the side to see Julian fast asleep against Adam, their hands clasped together tightly on Adam's lap as he slumped in his seat, head against the wall behind him as he slept. I looked back at Kipp, who was struggling to stay awake as he sipped at his coffee. Walter was staring at one of the television screens in the room, a frown on his face at the things the man was saying on the screen.

"The crash caused extensive damage," The man was saying, "Two survivors, young boys by the name of Kipp Sanrose and Seth Zeggers. Unfortunately, Zeggers has sustained critical injuries and is currently being held at Jefferson Hospital." My eyes widened at that.

Stupid human, I thought angrily. He had just broadcasted our location to Zephyra, who no doubt would be listening in to find out where we were. Walter seemed to realize the same thing as he narrowed his eyes and stepped away, turning to face me.

"Wake up your parents, kid, we need to get moving." He stated. I scowled at that, but didn't correct him since, in a way, Adam and Julian had taken care of me as best they could.

"And where should we go," I asked, making Walter frown, "Sssseth hasssn't finished healing and the doctorsss won't let uss take him ssso sssoon. It might even be dangerousss." Walter gave me a droll stare and held up both his hands as if he were weighing out our options.

"Let's see," He began in a sarcastic tone that made me glare at him, "A little bleeding here and there or a psycho terrorist organization. Huh, gee. I wonder which one is more dangerous." He dropped his hands and ignored my scowl as he made his way to the exit.

"Wake them up. I'm gonna go get Peter. He's probably out in the parking lot." He muttered, then left the waiting room. I turned to Adam, who was still snoring in his sleep, but Julian was slowly waking up from the commotion. He blinked sleepily, rubbing at his eye. He started to open his mouth to ask me something, but I saw the realization and shame hit his face before he shut his mouth instantly and just looked up at me questioningly.

I felt my heart sink at that, but I didn't have time to waste with these stupid, confusing emotions because right now, we were in danger.

"Zephyra," I stated, making Julian's expression sharpen as he stiffened in his seat, "The TV thing just gave away our location. Zephyra isss bound to be heading here right now. We need to get out." Julian immediately gave Adam a harsh shake, to which Adam responded with a grunt and started to roll over, ignoring him. Julian scowled and went to shake him again, but I rolled my eyes and reached out, grabbing Adam's hand and sinking my teeth down into it. Adam hissed, eyes flying open as I unlocked my jaws from his hand, letting him hold his hand to his chest. He shot me a deadly glare, but Julian gave him a shake to get his attention before he pointed at me.

"Zephyra." I stated. Adam's eyes flickered and he instantly got up, forgetting about my assault on his hand. He pulled Julian up and took me by the hand, leading us out into the hallway, looking up and down, but it was mostly vacant now that visiting hours were over. We had stayed behind, refusing to leave the hospital.

"Julian, you and Daimonas take the back exit and get to my car, all right? Get in, stay in, and don't even start the truck until you see Walter and I come out with Seth." He told Julian, who blinked, looking surprised. He pursed his lips in frustration, obviously not liking Adam's plan at all because it didn't include him, but he didn't argue. He just took my hand and started to drag me down the hallway. I winced.

"You're hurting my wrissst." I told him. Julian instantly let go and gave me an apologetic stare. I looked back at him, but said nothing as we made our way down the hallway. Julian seemed to be able to read the signs, so we wouldn't get lost, but we were near the area where I'd seen Dr. Reiner and I wanted to ask about Julian's fangs.

"Oh wait," I told Julian, who looked at me incredulously, "Wait! I wanna find that doctor perssson. If we can find find him, he can put your fangsss back." Julian stared at me, surprised for a moment, before his expression softened and he just shook his head. I frowned. I didn't understand why he didn't want to do it, but I didn't care because I wanted to do it, so to hell with what he wanted.

I walked past Julian, who made a sound of protest past clenched teeth before he went after me, but I was already poking my head into rooms. Most of them were full of sleeping patients, or patients that looked a little offended that I was peeking in on their privacy, but it meant nothing to me right now as I kept going down the hall with Julian jerking hard on the back of my shirt. I ignored him and kept going, ignoring his whines and tugs.

I started to go past another room when I heard what sounded like Dr. Reiner's voice. I went a couple rooms down, but Julian gave me a particularly harsh tug and pulled me to his chest, covering my mouth. I gave him an angry glare and went to pull away, but the look he gave me dared me to make another move. I found myself submitting to that look as I listened to the voice in the room.

"He's here," Dr. Reiner's voice said, sounding as if he were speaking over one of those phone things, "It's definitely him, and the others are with him too. The Grey kid and his halfblood lover, and a group of humans... Yes, there's no doubt about it, one of the humans is housing one of your demons.... Oh gee, I'll let you know when I figure that out.... He's unconscious right now. We've pumped him with enough morphine to keep him under for a while... Who, Grey? No, the kid still looks twitchy after what Jack did to him.... Don't get mad at me about it. You should have known not to send Jack in. The guy is psychotic. He doesn't give a shit for your orders. Look, don't get angry with me. Just grab your men and get down here as soon as you can. It won't take them long to figure out what's going on. They're smarter than they look." There was a beep and click before some papers rustling around followed.

My heart sank at that. I'm a poor judge of character, I realized miserably. What a perfect trait to have. But he had seemed to polite and friendly, how could I not have noticed who he was beneath that? Had my hope for Julian gotten in the way? I was beginning to hate these emotions more and more as time went on.

Julian slowly let go of me and gave me an apologetic look that was probably meant to cheer me up, but it didn't in the least. I let him take my hand again as we went down the hallway to the emergency exit. We didn't make it more than halfway down the hallway when Dr. Reiner's voice called out.

"Excuse me, but where do you think you're going?" He demanded, approaching us angrily. The sight of his white coat billowing around him and his white surgical gloves snapping onto his wrists as he pulled them tight sent a shock of fear up my spine and I backed up behind Julian, who had turned to face the man with an angry glare.

"You don't scare me," Reiner told Julian with a wicked smirk that cut his friendly face in half, fangs flashing dangerously in the lights, "Jack has defanged you. Dethroned you. You're nothing, but a maggot in my way. Now move, so that I may retrieve Giorgos' property." The muscles in Julian's face twitched angrily and he didn't give Reiner a chance to insult him any longer and lunged at him.

Reiner stepped back, looking mildly surprised that Julian still had enough strength to attack him. He managed to block one of Julian's kicks, but not the fist that slammed into his jaw. His head snapped to the side and he spat blood out onto the tiles. He wiped his mouth with the back of his head before whirling around to kick Julian in the stomach, causing him to stumble. Julian seethed in pain, but he didn't collapse and went at Reiner again.

I winced at the kicks and punches, looking around nervously. I shouldn't be standing here, doing nothing. I wasn't useless. I had plenty of powers that I could use against this guy. He was just a vampire, pureblood or halfblood didn't matter to me. My species still reigned powerful over them.

But what if I used the wrong power? What if I lost control of it? What if I hurt Julian? While those thoughts shouldn't matter to me, they did.

Damn my soul.

I clenched my fists and watched Reiner duck and dodge Julian's assault, returning with a few blows of his own until he had Julian pinned against a wall. I tried to reach within myself, tried to find the heated source of my power, but the panic rising in my chest wasn't helping, so I did the only thing I could do and ran up to Reiner, grabbing him by the back of the coat and ripping him away from Julian, throwing him around and sending him flying down the hallway and into the wall that shattered and broke open into an office room.

"Wow." I managed, looking down at my hands, then back up to see Julian pushing off the wall, breathing hard. He didn't say anything, just grabbed my hand and jerked me down the hallway in the opposite direction, but just as we neared the turn in the hallway, two people in white coats darted out in front of us and for a second, I thought they were safe, until one of them pulled out a knife that made Julian back up sharply until he smacked into me.

The one with the knife lunged at us and Julian went after him, catching him by the wrist and slamming him into the wall to twist the knife away. I watched him struggle with the knife man while the other locked eyes with me before stalking toward me.

"Come 'ere, little demon." He said in a mocking tone, a smirk twisting his lips as he reached out to grab me, but I ducked his hand and ran past him under his arm. He whirled around and went after me as I rounded a corner sharply and ducked into another office room. I slammed the door shut and locked it, listening to the guy slam into it repeatedly in an attempt to get it open.

"Open the fucking door, you little shit!" He barked angrily and slammed into it again. I winced and backed up, looking around the room before looking at the door.

Stop wasting your time with hand-to-hand, I scolded myself. Concentrate on the door.

What do you want to happen to the door?

Well, I kind of want it to slam that guy in the face and crush him into the wall on the other side, but....

No sooner had the thought crossed my conscious did the door explode off its hinges and crash into the wall on the other side of the hallway. I froze, watching the door stick itself against the hallway wall. After a moment, blood began to ooze down and pool on the floor. I opened my mouth, then shut it before clearing my throat.

Gross, I decided as I made my way out of the hallway, looking over in time to see Julian slam the Zephyra member's head into the tiled floor, smashing it open so all the blood inside gushed out. Julian shot to his feet instantly and came at me, grabbing my hand and leading me down the hallway.

"Did you sssee that, Julian," I exclaimed, "I completely crushed him!" Julian gave me an approving look that almost made me smile until I saw something ahead of us, waiting just in front of the exit door. My eyes widened and I jerked Julian to a halt. He snapped his head around and stiffened at Jack, who was standing in front of the door at the end of the hallway, twirling a black leather collar around his finger.

"Good to see you again." He stated, a wicked smile curling his lips. My stomach dropped and Julian completely froze up beside me.

Crap.