"We're concerned about how you're running things, Eri," one of the younger ones said. He made gold. And nothing else. A useless metal the mortals worshipped for no other reason that it was pretty.

"Do you think I care what you think?" I asked and tipped my head to the side.

He frowned. "Why call us to a council if you don't want to hear what we have to say?"

I rose to my feet, towering over them all, perched on my platform. Above them, where I belonged.

"I called you here to inform you of my total reign. You're expected to fall in line, not try and argue with me. I don't have the time for your drivel. I don't need it."

I needed no one. Not even Tiny. I was where I had always wanted to be. In charge. I ruled both the mortal world and Paradise. I was the king of it all, and no one would ever take that away from me. No one could.

"But..." another god said, raising to his feet. "What about the mortals? What about the balance between our world and theirs?"

"I'm restructuring how things are run. For now, that's all you need to know and prepare for. I'll call for you when I need you." I waved them away, dismissing them.

I dumped down on my throne and watched them leave. No one said a thing as they filed out between the chairs.

And I waited. I had one more person to see before I could go home and unwind.

The first angel wasn't tardy. He walked into the council hall with authority, his back straight and shoulders pushed back. His son looked so much like him it was actually annoying. I had had to catch myself referring to the hybrid as 'Adonai' several times. And they were both so insufferably self-justified. They thought themselves to be righteous at all times.

"Adonai," I said and leaned my cheek against my fist.

"Master," he said seriously and bowed his head.

"Have you found them yet?"

He clenched his jaw. "No. They've probably got the ward-making half with them. They're lost to us, if that is the case."

I subdued a growl and rose to my feet again, walking down the steps and stopped right in front of him.

"How is it someone as old as you can be so incompetent?"

"I apologise," he said but he didn't sound sorry at all.

"Find your son, Adonai. I don't want to tell you again. You understand?"

"Of course, Master." He bowed again and got ready to leave, but I grabbed the collar on his shirt.

"Do I have to remind you what happened to your son the last time you disobeyed?"

He flicked his eyes up, meeting mine. "No."

"I made you. I can easily unmake you. Or turn him into a soul eater. I always need new guard dogs in Purgatory." I forcibly let go and Adonai stumbled back a couple of steps.

"Yes, Master," he gritted out between his clenched teeth.

"Do your fucking job, Adonai."

He clenched his jaw and bowed, indicating he was ready to leave. But he waited for me to allow him to leave. I revelled in the power I had over him. He physically couldn't disobey me as the leader of the angels. I knew he couldn't be working against me. It'd be impossible for him.

And that was almost as sweet as my revenge on the hybrid would be.

Driving in America made me pissy. Driving, in general, made me pissy, but since I was the only one who had actually bothered to get a driver's licence, I always ended up behind the wheel. I had just gotten so used to teleporting everywhere, I had completely forgotten how much I actually hated driving.

But right now it was better not to use any powers, it would just send Saga back into a fit. And I didn't want him to bang his head against the wall again like he had last time.

It had been tricky with Sam. Saga had ordered him to come with the last remaining minutes of him actually being himself. After that...

I gripped harder around the steering wheel, trying not to go down that road. It wasn't productive.

I finally pulled up to the house, we had borrowed for this, and put the car in park. I leaned back against the backrest and sighed deeply.

How Sam had convinced Tobies to help us, was still a mystery but Tobies didn't seem very happy. Not that I knew him that well. He was like a wall, though I'd seen more range of emotions coming from a wall.

I stepped out of the car, grabbed the supplies from the trunk and locked the car. No need for actually locking it, I just liked the security of having locked it. I opened the door with my elbow and dropped the supplies off in the brown kitchen. I heard heavy footsteps behind me, groaned and turned around.

Saga's brother... Or whatever he was, was even bigger than I remembered. His scarred face lacked all positive feelings when he saw me. Pretty sure I was sending him the same expression.

"You bought anything good this time?" he asked and started digging around the shopping bag.

"Hey, I have an idea, why don't you go shopping next time, Titsoff?" I asked feeling my mood dropping even more. "Since you're obviously missing something."

He scowled at me. Sam appeared and sighed.

"You lads having a go at each other again? Isn't it getting old?" he asked and grabbed a can of soda from one of the bags.

"It seems the little hybrid has problems letting go," Ado replied and shrugged. We had to rename the asshole because he really didn't like his name. Like really as in he swore, he was going to rip my head off and stuff it up my ass if I called him Adolf again. I guess he opened a history book and wasn't too happy with his name-brother.

I clenched my fists and pretty much everything else.

"No problems," I said through my clenched teeth.

We had to get help from Ado since he was the only one who actually knew how to keep Saga in the same place for more than two seconds. The shackles Saga had around his wrists kept his powers at bay, making it impossible for him to run anywhere, and Ado was the only one who knew how to make them. Luckily for us, he hated Eri's guts and was more than happy to help us. He seemed a bit too happy to lock up Saga again though.

I grabbed some food and drinks and headed downstairs to the basement. It was dark and there were no windows. The stairs creaked on my way down and it smelt damp down here. But it was perfect for what we needed it for. Bars were keeping one section closed off from the rest of the open space, keeping Saga confused to a corner with a bed and nothing else.

"... But I don't know where I am..." I heard Saga mumble. He stopped talking the minute I walked in. He narrowed his eyes at me.

"Still talking to Eri?" I asked and sat down on a chair in front of the bars.

"Shut up!" Saga snapped and shook his head. "Sorry." He closed his eyes and rubbed them. "It's a bad day."

"You want something? I just came back from the store."

"Booze," he mumbled. I took out a bottle of vodka from my hoodie and rolled it over to him. A violent shake went through his body and he lunged forward.

"I'm going to rip you apart!" he snarled.

"Yes, amor, you told me that yesterday too."

"Sorry," Saga said again and sat back down on the bed, rubbing his wrists. He grabbed the bottle, twisted the cap off and took a big sip. If he was drunk enough, he was more or less able to ignore Eri for a while.

It was the only time, Ado could remove the shackles and Tobies could hold him back, while he shifted. He would shift every third day. I wasn't allowed to be in the house when this happened. Saga's orders. He couldn't contain the hunger and if he was hungry enough, he could fight off both Ado and Tobies, while still being drunk off his ass. And then kill me.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up," Saga muttered tired and leaned his back against the wall.

"What's he saying?" I asked. Sometimes it helped Saga to just say things out loud. Maybe Eri heard how fucking insane he sounded and stopped messing with my girl/boyfriend.

Saga's head twitched and he took another sip.

"He's telling me he's disappointed in me. That I should stop fighting and... I'm weak. You know, the usual fatherly love talk." He twitched again. "Brace yourself, he's taking over..." Saga hunched over. He straightened back up and rolled his shoulders.

I unpacked my sandwich and leaned back against the wall. Saga blinked and looked at me.

"Since Tiny can't keep our conversations private, I thought I would talk to you directly," Saga said not looking like himself.

I ignored him.

"I can leave him alone, you know. I could leave you two alone, so you can go play house for all of eternity."

I took a bite of my sandwich and slowly chewed, keeping my eyes on it.

"Oh come on, Seth. I am not being unreasonable here."

I finally met his gaze. "You just hijacked his body, asshole," I answered and frowned a bit.

"More like borrowed." Saga's body shrugged. "I just need to speak to Tiny face to face. That's all I ask. Let him go and see who he chooses."

I snorted and took another bite. He slowly rose from the bed and walked as close to the bars as the chains would let him. He cocked his head to the side.

"I might even spare your father if you guys give yourselves to me. I could give you entrance to Paradise. You could see your mother again. Would you like that?"

I sighed heavily and put my sandwich down. "Eri. There is absolutely nothing you can give me, that will make me give you Saga."

"I could give you him."

"What do you mean?"

"I could give you Saga. You could both live in Paradise together." He took another step forward, really straining the chains. I rose from the chair and stepped up to the bars.

"Yeah, as long as Saga is your hitman, right?" I spat.

Saga's body smirked. "I wouldn't call it hitman. More like... Employee. You can't deny me my own child, Seth."

I wrapped my fingers around the bars and stepped closer to them. "Watch me."

"I am going to destroy everything you love." Saga slumped and stepped back to the bed. He immediately grabbed the bottle and emptied it. He rolled it back to me and leaned up against the wall. I picked up the bottle and put it down next to the chair. I sat down again.

He couldn't have bottles in there. We learned that quickly when Eri tried making him cut off his hands so he could get the chains off.

"Are you okay?" I asked, knowing it was a stupid question.

"Grab me another bottle, yeah?" he asked with a hoarse voice.

I nodded and went back upstairs.

It had been a normal morning when Saga woke up and felt completely different. I knew from the way he looked at me, it was serious.

"I'm not alone," he murmured, his eyes getting wide. I shot up and backed away from him. He kept sitting on the ground looking down at his hands. "Sam..." he whispered. He rose to his feet and looked up at me. "Sam!"

Sam popped up and Saga cringed. He winced his face contorted in pain. "Get me out of here!"

Sam grabbed onto both of us and teleported us away. We ended up in Montana, where Sam had another house. How many did he have of these?

We got Saga down in the basement where there was a cage... Why was there a cage in the basement? I didn't have time to shoot Sam a question about that because Saga's head jerked up and looked at me.

"Hybrid."

"Please tell me you have a plan," I said to Sam and got him to move away, as I slowly pushed Saga back against the wall.

"I'm on it," Sam said with a phone in his hand.

"Saga, please stay with me."

"Oh, he's a little busy." He smirked at me. "Busy not being himself."

"Leave him the fuck alone, you piece of shit!" I growled and kept holding onto him, even though he didn't fight me at all. He was actually casually leaning against the wall, smirking at me. He slowly blinked and looked over at Sam.

"Slave," he said with a deep voice. Sam's head shot up from his phone, eyes alert. "Kill the hybrid."

"Yeah mate, I don't answer to you," he just said and shrugged. He looked down at his phone again and smiled. "Help's on the way. Gotta go fetch them though, location's secret." Without any further ado, he vanished. I turned my attention back to Saga.

"I know you can fight him, amor. Come back to me."

"He's taking a break." Saga rolled his eyes. But it wasn't him. Even his expression wasn't one he'd wear. "He's trying very hard though. Fighting me. It's not really working very well for him, is it? His mind is so weak. So easily breached. Taking over his mind and body is easier than taking candy from a child."

"I bet you do that a lot, besides laughing maniacally while explaining your evil plans," I groaned and got a better grip on Saga's shoulders.

"Oh please," He waved his hand in a dismissing gesture. "When I'm ready, I won't explain anything to you. I'll make Tiny here kill you and I'll let him regain consciousness just enough to realise what he's doing but won't be able to stop it. It'll crush him sure, but he'll learn not to cross me again."

"You're sick," I spat, trying hard not to dig my fingers into Saga's shoulders.
He winced again, trying to twist out of my grasp.

"Get... Out... Of my head!" he roared and tried to bring his hands to his temples.

Sam reappeared with Tobies... And Adolf Titsoff. If I hadn't been too wrapped up in trying to keep Saga on his feet and his back pressed against the wall, I would probably have fallen into a mad fiery sea of fire. But I stayed close to Saga as Titsoff just smirked at me, dangling a pair of shackles from his finger.

"Heard you needed help," he grunted like a fucking pig. Probably not exactly like a pig, but fuck I hated his guts.

"Just do it, will you?" was all I managed to say through my gritted teeth.

"Chain me up. Please, I can't..." Saga squeezed his eyes shut, holding his hands towards Titsoff. The big god didn't linger, but went straight to work, first fastening the chains around Saga's wrists and then bolted them to the wall.

Saga backed away from me and sat down on the bed, pulling his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them.

"Please... Leave," he whispered and looked up at me. "I don't want you to see me like thi-Like the dirty addict he is," Eri finished off and smirked through Saga again. Titsoff was nowhere to be seen. Tobies started setting up wards, while I lingered behind in the cage.

"I love you," I said quietly. "Remember that."

"Aaaww, that is so cute, Hybrid. Like father like son, eh?"

I had no idea what he meant, but I didn't stay around long enough to ask. We had to plan this. Had to talk shit through, Sam, Tobies, Titsoff and I.