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   “How did you bring her back?” his sister questioned him. Riley, who was eating cereal quietly, turned his head to look at Hart, squinting his eyes as if he was studying him.

“You should get that checked,” Riley said, pointing at Hart's bare chest – which had a large bandage wrapped around his new wound.

“Funny,” he muttered a reply.

“ANSWER ME!” Sera slammed her hands on the table, cracking it in half. Riley had acted quickly, grabbing his bowl of cereal just as the table dropped.

“It doesn't matter how I brought her back, she's back and there's nothing else to speak about,” Hart said as he cringed from the pain in his chest. He was going to painfully heal in time, but there would always be the scar, forever. That he couldn't heal from.

“Then at least tell me why you decided to rush the spell, you know the consequences when you don't let a spell do its job,” Sera said, sitting in front of the broken table, next to Nicholas.

“Because I know that mother knows something about the symbol in our yard and why it was put there. When a strong witch like that shows up at your doorstep, you don't ignore it. Something is going on and we need to find out what,” he said. “As soon as she returns, I will ask her.”

“Hart,” Riley said suddenly.

“Yes?”

“Can we talk?” he asked. “Alone.”

“Yeah, whatever you want. Want to go outside?”

He shook his head. “Upstairs. My bedroom.”

Sera and Nicholas eyed each other inconspicuously, wiping the smirk off their faces when Hart looked at them, confused. He was trying to read his sister's thoughts but she was blocking him out. He followed Riley out the dinning room and walked behind him up the stairs to his bedroom, which had remained untouched all this time.

Riley closed the door as soon as Hart entered and locked it.

Hart was slowly catching up, but he really couldn't be sure what Riley wanted, he had changed somehow. He was more comfortable, more confident, but his innocent side was still there, constantly questioning things and feeling scared.

“What do you want to talk about?” Hart asked.

“Why didn't you die?” he said immediately.

“I cannot die so long my sister lives. Because we share a soul, you have to kill both of us if you want to truly get rid of me. Kill us both, we die. Kill only one of us, we come back.”

Riley sat on the bed, watching Hart with nothing but cold eyes. “You told me the dagger can kill you, why did you lie?”

“I didn't lie. You really killed me. Remember that nothing can, only the dagger. But sometimes there are loopholes, this was one.”

“That's unfortunate . . .”

“Yeah,” Hart said softly, looking at the walls. He breathed loudly and brought his eyes back to Riley. “I know it won't do much, but I really am sorry for what I did to your sister. If there had been another way to bring back my mother, I would've done it.”

“You're right, it doesn't do much. I know why you had to do it, but I'll never forgive you for it. I won't ever say that it was 'okay' because it wasn't.” Riley got up on his feet to face Hart, eye to eye. “You were just following orders, that's why I'm going to attack the source and make sure my sister is avenged.”

“You can't kill her,” Hart said quietly as Riley moved closer to him.

“Why? Because you just brought her back?”

“Because she'll kill you first.”

“I can't die, remember?”

“Then she'll kill you over and over until you do,” Hart said.

Riley leaned forward and planted a kiss on Hart's shoulders, sliding his hands slowly over Hart's hips. Riley's hands moved from his hips to his stomach and up his chest, avoiding his bandage. He felt like he was going to rip it off and stab him again, but Riley wanted something else.

“Let's not worry about that right now,” Riley whispered, breath cold against his skin. Riley's lips found their way to Hart's and they crashed with gasps and desperate whimpers.

“I thought you hated me,” Hart said when he stopped kissing back, letting Riley nibble on his lips.

“I hate what you've done, but I still love you and I still need you,” Riley responded.

Hart strongly pulled Riley's shirt, tearing it apart as his other hand came up to touch the fabric. Riley's eyes blinked, his lips curling into an amused smile. Hart pushed Riley back towards the bed, the younger man's knees touching the mattress, making him fall back with Hart on top of him. Hart kept his hands on either side of Riley, keeping his weight off of him and using his legs to spread Riley's apart.

“Before we go further, I have one more question,” Riley said just as Hart was about to pull off Riley's pants.

Hart looked up, his hair already falling messily over his eyes. “What?”

“Is . . .” Riley covered his obvious blush, “Is your sister going to feel everything we're going to do?”

“We only block what each other feels when it involves pain, but sometimes it doesn't even work. It's difficult to block, so we only do it when it's serious. So to answer your question, yes.”

“Kinky . . .” Riley scrunched his nose, grinning wide.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

“HART!” Seraphina screamed as she kicked Riley's door open and marched right in. Luckily, he and Hart already had their fun and were only laying in bed, staring at the ceiling and enjoying the quietness.

Hart got up and threw one of Riley's pants on, not feeling one bit embarrassed that he was half naked and that his sister knew exactly what had happened, while it was happening. Hart had a dead serious look in his eyes as he and Seraphina shared a quiet moment.

Both of the siblings then ran out the door, too fast for everything to be normal. Something was happening. Riley put on his clothes and followed them down the stairs to one of the windows at the front of the house. Nicholas was staring outside through the closed blinds and Hart joined, clenching his teeth as he pulled away to walk around in circles.

“What's going on?” Riley asked them.

“We had a visitor today, a white witch,” Sera told him. “It left the mark outside, the symbol of war, a warning. We didn't get to see who it was but now the witch is standing right outside, watching the house in plain view.”

“White witch?” Riley asked curiously as he stepped down the staircase.

“Basically a witch that uses their magic for good. They are stronger than black witches, but this one feels way stronger than anything we've ever felt,” she said. “We don't know what he wants or why he's here. We need our mother.”

“Let's talk to him,” Hart told his sister, whose eyes went wide like he was stupid. “Riley, Nicholas, stay inside and don't come out.”

“This is your worst idea yet, and you brought back our mother,” Sera reminded him as he opened the locks.

They walked out side by side, shutting the door behind them. They stood still on the porch, breathing in the smell of burned grass. The symbol had vanished the moment the witch showed up, now it was just the lingering smoke that didn't seem to go away.

“Who are you?” Sera spoke loudly.

The white witch stepped forward and stopped again. He was wearing a mask over his mouth and a white hood that covered the color of his hair. His clothes were normal, in fact he looked like he was wearing hunting clothes. His eyes were brown, though. They were all Hart and Sera could see from this witch. It wasn't something new, they usually kept their appearance hidden. White witches were going extinct; everyone was turning to black magic. It made the current white witches even stronger, since their numbers were declining.

“My name is Dexen, I'm looking for someone,” the witch said in a strange accent.

“You have no business here, Dexen. If you know what's good for you, then you'll leave this place and never return,” Sera said, her words coming out very kindly.

“I'm not leaving until I get what I came for,” he asserted.

“And what is it that you came for?” Hart was the one to ask.

“Riley Aster Hamilton,” the witch said.

Riley? What does a witch want with Riley? Sera thought.

Before Hart was able to ask, Riley opened the door and walked out, staring at the witch.

“How do you know me?” Riley asked him as he walked between Hart and Sera.

The witch was silent. After some time, the witch brought his hand up and it made both of the siblings rush in front of Riley defensively. The witch didn't do anything but pull down the mask covering half his face and pushed his hood back.

“Riley, is it really you?” the witch whispered, his voice shaking.

Riley moved Hart and Sera aside and walked down the steps, moving closer to the witch to get a better look at him. He had messy brown hair and brown eyes, he looked like him. He even had some freckles on his face.

“Who are you? And how do you know me?” Riley asked again.

“My name is Dexen, I'm your brother.”

“I don't have a brother,” Riley said skeptically.

Dexen waved his hands in front of him and he took one leap forward, jumping across the entire yard and landing gently right in front of him. Now that Riley saw him up close and examined Dexen's face without any distance between them to mess with his imagination, he saw that they really looked alike. Him jumping in front of Riley did not look like a very safe thing for Hart and Sera, because they began growling with yellow eyes. They were shifting.

Dexen touched Riley's hand and they disappeared. They didn't teleport or anything, they were still there, only invisible. Riley felt like he was inside a magic bubble. As ridiculous as it sounded, he felt safe. The world looked gray except for them two.

“I know it might be difficult to believe me, but I really am your brother. I know that you're aware that you were adopted. You never got to meet our parents, you never got to meet me,” Dexen said. His voice sounded eerie in the bubble.

“But . . . how could I have a brother?” Riley said, confused.

“Our parents were killed, Riley. They never gave you up, they would have never done that.”

Riley looked back to see that Hart and Sera hadn't turned, instead they were just looking around like they sensed that they were there. Hart . . . he looked broken. Why did he look broken? There was sadness in his eyes, so much sadness. Was it because he thought Riley was gone? Or because he was going to leave again?

Breathing nervously, he turned back to Dexen. “I don't know how I can believe you, I've been lied to so much that I can't even trust who I am anymore.”

“I'll tell you everything, you just have to agree to come with me.”

“Come with you where?”

“There's a place I know a few states away from here, it's deep in the forest. It's a secret place that was built along time ago for witches who wanted to practice magic without getting caught. It was mainly used during the Salem Witch Trials, but it hasn't been used since. We could go there and I can tell you everything, I'll even teach you things.”

Riley quirked an eyebrow. “Teach me what?”

“You're a witch, too.”

“I'm a witch? That can't be possible. I've used magic but it's not my magic, it's Hart's magic.”

“I told you I'll tell you everything, but you have to come with me, away from these beings you have surrounded yourself with,” he said, looking over Riley's shoulders at the siblings.

“I'll come with you, but give me a moment to speak to them,” Riley said, feeling sick for what he was about to do.

Dexen covered his face with the mask and hood again and the grayness disappeared, they were back.

“Riley!” Hart shouted as they came into view. He started walking towards them, his eyes aiming for Dexen who was standing behind him with his hands behind his back like a soldier at ease.

Riley raised his hand to stop him, but Hart continued to walk until Riley's hand pressed against Hart's shoulder.

“Stop, stop!” Riley shouted. “Don't come looking for me, Hart. I will come to you again when I am ready. Tell your mother that I won't rest until she is back where she belongs, and she better be afraid.”

Hart parted his lips, his tongue visibly pressing against the root of his mouth. He looked so confused, but broken. He knew what Riley was trying to say, but he wanted it to mean something else, anything but him leaving.

“Please, don't leave,” Hart told him quietly.

“I'm sorry, but I have to know the truth. I deserve it, don't I?”

Hart closed his mouth again, his jaw tensing as he tossed another look at Dexen. Sera ran towards Riley, a clear panic in her eyes, and grabbed him, pushing him towards the ground and using her body to shield him from the fire that erupted out of Hart as he began to shift, this time for real.

“WHAT DID YOU TELL HIM?!” Hart roared at Dexen as he began changing, a lot faster than the first time. In seconds, Hart had transformed into a giant demon. His skin was black, like burnt skin. His horns were poking largely on his forehead and his mouth was disgustingly monstrous. It was large, full of sharp teeth and a tongue filled with red blood. There was nothing human about the way he looked, even his posture reminded him of the monster he had seen in hell, like a spider.

Hart sprang in the air, it was high enough to reach Dexen effortlessly. Dexen slashed the air over him with his hand and created a white roof just in time as Hart landed on it. Dexen then prepared as the roof disappeared and Hart dropped back on the ground. Dexen started throwing balls of white fire towards Hart, forcing him to back away as the light from the fire blinded him.

Sera, who was still over Riley, screamed and her eyes turned white. She rolled away from Riley and crawled away, dropping still in a fetal position. From the corners of his eyes, he saw Nicholas inside the house trying to come outside, but something was holding all of the doors and windows closed. Riley knew it was Sera trying to protect him.

Dexen flawlessly dodged another Hart attack, jumping over the giant demon as it swung its claws. Hart crawled away from the scene and started twitching creepily as blood dripped from his tongue. His mouth began to stretch, the skin around it ripping. The lower part of his jaw dangled loosely, bleeding more now.

“Let's get out of here,” Dexen told him, and Riley nodded.

“NO!” Hart growled at them.

“I'm sorry, Hart,” Riley whispered, knowing he could hear him. Dexen reached him after running across the yard and as soon as they made contact, they were gone. They appeared again somewhere new, it looked like a real forest, not like the one where Hart's house was located at. This one had dozens of animal sounds, mostly bugs and birds. They were standing in front of a man made home, it blended in with the many trees, because it was also made out of branches and leaves. “It's like a fairy forest.”

Dexen laughed as he pulled his mask down. “Funny, that's what black witches call us.”

“Fairies?”

“Yep.” He smiled. Even his smile was similar to his. He had to be his brother, the warm feeling in his chest was the only reason he even agreed to go with him. He just needed to be really convinced for him to actually believe it. And it didn't hurt to see what he had to say, he still had his dagger ready if he needed to teleport out.

Riley followed his brother, and cringed at his thoughts. His brother, that felt odd to think about. There was no way he was going to call him his brother, it was too strange. But really? Strange? He had seen worse.

Dexen opened what Riley assumed was the entrance and went in first, letting Riley to decide for himself if he really wanted to do this. He did. He went in, ducking his head so that the very small door wouldn't hit him on the forehead.

“Wow,” he said when he was inside. It looked so much more different than the outside. The inside looked just like any other old fashioned home. You couldn't even tell it was made out of trees. It was big, very big. Half of it was underground, which explained why the entrance was so low. There were maybe a dozen bookcases, and five dusty tables and four closed doors. “This is cool.”

“Yeah, it is. If you need to rest you can use any of the four rooms and we can talk later. You must be exhausted after what those demons did to you,” Dexen told him.

“No, I've rested enough. I want to know everything. Start from the beginning,” Riley said.

Dexen nodded, clearing a table with one swift movement of his hand. They sat down, facing each other across the wooden table.

“Our parents were witches,” Dexen began. “They were very experimental witches. They were weak though, so weak that they couldn't even call themselves white or black. They were in between, just like you. They hadn't practiced enough to know which side their magic belonged to, and they didn't have the chance to. They were murdered after you were born, reasons that are unknown to me. But they knew it was going to happen, that's why they sent me off to Europe to live with one of their close friends. They were going to send you, too, as soon as you were born, but they didn't have enough time.”

“So whoever killed them, took me and brought me to a hospital to be taken into adoption? That doesn't make any sense,” Riley said.

“It doesn't have to make sense. People are unpredictable.”

“So a person killed them, not a demon?” Riley asked, thinking back at the possibility of a supernatural being killing his parents.

“I don't know, but I do know that our parents weren't always good. They were . . . desperate. Their last act was a sacrifice, one that got many killed because it backfired. They had escaped the disaster, but I believe whatever they had done got back at them. That is all I know about their death, but I really can't be sure. I wasn't there when it happened.”

“Why Europe?”

“That's where many white witches live. They are very kind, they were going to teach us about our magic so that we wouldn't end up like our parents, so that we could become strong and figure out what our purpose was.”

“And why didn't you come to me earlier?” This was the one question on Riley's mind that he really wanted the answer to.

“I was four when they were killed. I barely knew anything. It wasn't until I was a lot older that I started to research about my family, that's when I found out I had a brother who was supposed to come with me. I knew you were dead, you had to be. You were born right before our parents died. Not even children have mercy in our world. But I always kept an eye out for anything, that's when I received some news from an ally about a strange kidnapping that made absolutely no sense, and it was in the same town that everything happened in.”

“Yeah, I'm the freak of the town now. But why did you think it was me? It was just a kidnapping, how could that lead you to believe that I was still alive?”

“I'll cut the story short, I saw your picture on the newspaper that was brought to me. That's how I knew you were still alive, because you looked just like me.”

Riley leaned back against the chair, breathing in deeply and letting it out, sounding more irritated that he meant to. He was only a little irritated; there was so much he didn't know about. Such a huge world outside of the normal one.

“A lot to take in, huh?” Dexen grinned at him.

“Yeah . . . I don't know why I'm not freaking out that I have a real brother, maybe I'm in shock or something. I can't believe it . . . I have a brother . . . oh, there it is. It's finally settling in.”

Dexen chuckled, giving Riley a side smile. “Were your adoptive parents nice?”

“Yeah, they were amazing. They died in a crash when I was younger.” Riley noticed Dexen's quick change of expression, and he knew exactly what he was thinking. How could I lose my parents twice? “Yeah, it sucked. They were driving during a snow storm and the roads were slippery. But they were really good to me, and I even had a sister. She was everything.”

“Had? Was she in the crash, too?”

Riley swallowed, contemplating if he should tell him or not. He decided not to.

“She's dead, that's all you need to know.”

“Wow, I'm really sorry. That really does suck. Losing so much of your family, it must have been tough.”

“What about you? Were you adopted into a family?” Riley asked, changing the subject. Dexen noticed, but went with it, respecting Riley's privacy.

“Nah, my only family was the witch my parents sent me to. He taught me everything, but he passed away along time ago. I've been on my own ever since.”

Silence settled over them. They awkwardly stared and smiled at each other. Riley felt like they were still trying to grasp that they looked like each other in many ways, but they still looked different. Dexen was taller, stronger and more manly looking. Riley didn't know what that meant, but in his opinion, the younger sibling always looked more fragile. Did that mean Hart was the younger one of the twins? Sera was way stronger.

Riley wanted to ask how he found him in Hart's home, but he seemed to be a really powerful witch, he was sure magic was involved. But he did want to ask something else.

“What do you know about demons?” he asked him.

“Demons, or the ones you live with?” Dexen replied, raising a serious brow.

“Is there a difference?”

“So you don't know?”

Riley shifted uncomfortable on the chair, giving away that he knew nothing of what Dexen was talking about. Whatever it was, Riley was ready to know.

“What don't I know?” he asked nervously.

“Those two demons are hybrids, but not only hybrids, they are the demons.”

Riley glared at his . . . brother. “Listen, one thing you should know about me is that I don't do well with vague and mysterious answers. I usually end up stabbing people for that, mostly one specific person, but I'm open for more variety. Just say it out loud, it saves a lot more time.”

Dexen laughed at him, but quickly went back to being serious.

“Those demons you were with are the infamous son and daughter of Lucifer,” he said.

Riley turned stiff as a plank. He felt like he was going to be sick, so he moved away from the table just in case his stomach wanted to empty itself. Nothing would probably come out except the cereal he had eaten just a few hours ago. It wasn't disgust what he was feeling, it was just his body reacting to the realization that he was in love with something much more than just a demon, he was in love with the son of all evil.

_____________________

[Author's Message]: You guys have NO idea how long I have waited FOR THIS MOMENT. Ever since the birth of A Little Insane, this secret of who Hart and Sera really are has bothered me SO MUCH because I wasn't able to tell anyone. NOW YOU KNOW, LUCIFER IS REAL AND HE IS THE REAL FATHER OF HARTHEON AND SERAPHINA! OH MY FRIGGING GOODNESS!

(PS: Picture of Dexen to the side)

Yep. PLEASE vote for the chapter and DO NOT forget to leave an amazing comment to get a chance to have a chapter dedicated JUST FOR YOU! (You should mostly vote because I wrote this entire chapter in like 3 hours and it usually takes me a whole week to finish a chapter SO YOU'RE WELCOME FOR ANOTHER CHAPTER EVEN THOUGH I JUST RECENTLY UPLOADED!)