Chapter Eleven (Julian)

"Four more?"

Hunter spat the news in disgust when we had rallied back up at our base, which just happened to be another McDonalds parking lot. We had parked our cars in a circle in the very back and sat just outside them with Hunter sitting in the back of the impala, his arm around his gut as if he were in pain again.

"I thought your midget friend told you there were only two people with demonic parasites," Seth pointed out with a frown, "You and that Vladimir dude." I shrugged, then looked at Hunter, who fell silent. I frowned at his expression. It looked like he was thinking, or rather, remembering something. I frowned.

"Hunter, if you know something, you need to tell us." I told him. He glanced at me out the corner of his eye, then looked away, eyes narrowed.

"Newell, Vladimir, and Julian. You three have had or still do have a demonic parasite. There was one other person." Hunter admitted bitterly, then paused again to cover his mouth with his hand in discomfort, his elbow on his knee. Adam and I frowned at each other. Kipp and Seth remained silent and Walter just gave Hunter a suspicious stare while Peter stared at his brother in surprise.

"Misha?" He asked. I frowned.

"His name was Misha?" I asked. Hunter sighed, frustrated now as he leaned forward, grimacing in pain before clasping his hands together, arms resting on his knees.

"I'm not gonna go into detail, but the general story is that I first met Newell in New York city. He was in a spot of trouble and he needed my help, and I was hunting in the area, so I agreed to help him if he helped me find what I was looking for. I was looking for a creature that was said to have extraordinary powers. We were led to a vampire named Misha that had contact with a friend of ours named Alaric. Long story short? Misha had the demonic parasite, but he was killed shortly after. Supposedly, that was the last we'd seen of this demonic power, until you, of course." Hunter said, looking at me. I frowned at that.

It seemed like there was plenty more to this story than Hunter was saying considering the way he acted. Even when he said Misha's name, he seemed to inwardly cringe. But I wasn't going to bring up the past, not if he didn't want to, so I only nodded slowly.

"That still doesn't explain how Orion got his hands on four of those... those things." Kipp admitted, obviously about to say a different word until Daimonas gave him a sour glare. Kipp shrugged sheepishly, looking down at his feet. Hunter looked up with a frown.

"He's right, though. Those things are incredibly rare. We'd only known of four of them up until now. Now there's four more. Unfortunately, I don't know that much about them. In our world, their species is still unknown, undiscovered. Most people think it's just a rumor, a legend, a myth." He explained, making us nod. Daimoans just frowned as he listened to us swap information. He still looked uncomfortable.

"Well," I said at last, "We might as well ask the only person who knows them the most." All eyes went to Daimonas and he looked up, snapping out of his thoughts to look at us uneasily. He was wringing his hands out nervously behind him, his eyes shifting.

"What do you want to know?" He asked at last.

"Start from the beginning," I suggested, making Daimonas look at me curiously, "The moment you're born." Daimonas hesitated again before sighing and plopping down onto the floor of the van, which had its side door opened to reveal the complex systems inside.

"We're not born like the ressst of you," He began slowly, "We have one mother and that'sss all. She reproduccess on her own, asssexually. The average batch isss usually three hundred."

"Holy shit." Kipp choked, coughing for breath. Seth grimaced.

"Three hundred? Then why are you so rare?" He asked. Daimonas frowned, folding his arms over his chest and leaning against the opening of the door.

"Becausse when we're born, it'sss a racce to sssee who can get a hossst firsst. We need hossstss to sssurvive, to live. We feed on power, on energy. We immediately racce to the closssesst ssssourcce of energy and take root inssside. Thossse of usss who did not make it to a hosst in time die a horrible painful death. They ssslowly disssolve into nothingnessss. Becaussse we're not born with sssoulss, they jussst ccceassse to exissst altogether. But for thossse of usss who did make it, we begin to feed off our hosssts until we begin to develop. We sssstart out asss a black fog. Our particlesss trying to piecce themssselvesss like a puzzle. We eventually gain our powersss, our body partsss begin to take form, until we become whole. Onccce that isss finished, we're allowed to leave our hossst. Or, we can choossse to ssstay inssside our hossst to develop further." He explained.

"Wait," I said, frowning, "So if I had let you stay inside me instead of letting you out..." My voice trailed and Daimonas nodded.

"I would have become more powerful than Voltaire, but I chossse to leave... Or rather, I wasss evicted." He actually sounded bitter at that. I raised an eyebrow.

"Weren't you happy to leave me?" I asked. Daimonas stared at me for the longest time, then looked away, his muscles tensing.

"I wasss hoping to get away from your messss and your ssspeccciess, but now that I think about it, no. I'm not happy to have left you. I only ssstayed long enough to gain my physical form. I didn't even have the chanccce to develop a ssssoul." He answered. I paled at that.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked, guiltily. Daimonas blinked, looking caught off guard by my guilt before he surprised me by blushing.

"Becaussse you wanted me out ssso bad. I figured it wassss unnecesssssary information." He responded quietly. I grimaced. Now I felt really bad. Talk about awkward too. I didn't stop for a second to think about that, and yet I went around claiming I wanted to save Daimonas and I was the one that damned him should he die. He wouldn't go to heaven or hell or summerland or reincarnation. He would just cease to exist.

"Well, there's no use crying over spilt milk," Hunter said after the silence, "We need to focus on the here and the now. How could Orion get his hands on four of those things? How is he keeping them alive without a host?" Daimonas frowned.

"He'sss feeding them human flesh. While it'ssss not our idea of ssssuper power and ssstrength, it'sss still ssssomething and we can feed off the negative energy of the kill. And I don't think he realizesss it, but any negative energy he putsss off, they will devour. In fact, keeping ssso many in the sssame room assss he sssleepsss iss dangerousss. They probably feed on him while he sssleeepss. They're probably trying to weaken him to the point where he diesss. If they can at leasssst kill him, they'll be able to form physsical forms, but not wholly. They'll need more energy if they want to take on formsss like mine."

"Wow, you guys are scary." Kipp commented nervously. Daimonas gave him a droll stare.

"You don't need to be completely ssscared of me. I'm done developing. I have all my powersss from the moment of birth. And while I enjoy a good human carcassss, I reeeeally like that place you call McDonaldsss. It'ss juicccy." He answered. Kipp made a face at that and Seth just rolled his eyes.

"I'll ask my question now," He decided, glancing at each of us seriously, "Why does Orion have four of those things? For what exactly?"

"Probably daddy dearest," Hunter spoke up, making us look at him, "From what I've seen, Orion is pretty obedient of his father. Giorgos probably wants them and he made Orion go get them. From where, we're still not sure. It seems a bit difficult and tedious to find out where they spawned." He looked at Daimonas for confirmation and he nodded.

"Usually we ssspawn in very crowded areass sso we have more of a chancce of finding a hosst. Cccitiess, partiess, you know." Daimonas responded. Kipp made a face at that, shifting uncomfortably.

"So you guys basically crash parties." He deadpanned. Daimonas shrugged.

"Dependsss how you sssee it. We jussst want to live and ssssurvive. It'ss your world that'sss forcccing usss to live like fugitives."

"But you eat humansss."

"If we want," Daimonas replied heatedly now, obviously getting fired up about the subject, "I choossse not to eat humansss and eat your greasssy fassst food. I could jusssst eat anyone I wanted right now." Kipp shifted away from him and Daimonas stuck his tongue out at him as a response. I sighed and shook my head, looking at Hunter, who narrowed his eyes.

"Well, looks like we have a new goal." He stated. Adam frowned, folding his arms over his chest.

"What'd you mean?" He asked. Hunter stared at us seriously now.

"Zephyra has finally gotten their hands on more demons. And they still want Daimonas. They're probably doing tests to figure out how to use them for their own personal gain. Hello? Terrorists organization? This is like Korea actually having a chance to bomb the US. We need to get those demons out of their possession as soon as possible." He explained. Kipp made a weird noise at that and Seth frowned, glancing sideways at Hunter with a raised eyebrow.

"Is that really such a good idea? You heard what Daimonas said. Those thing would feed off our negative energy. They're probably just getting nibbles from Orion, but if we get them here, they'll be feasting. I mean, no offense, but we're not exactly the Seasame Street gang. Those things are gonna have a field day with us. And I don't know about you, but I don't like the idea of chopping people up into pieces and feeding them to jars of black fog." He said in irritation, making the rest of frown at the idea. Hunter shrugged, slowly standing up and pausing to wince. Peter was on his feet instantly, looking at Hunter worriedly, but his brother just gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze before he went on speaking.

"I rather get a little tired than have Zephyra use demons to destroy the planet. Besides, there has to be a way we can control them." Hunter turned to Daimonas now, who blinked, then nibbled his lower lip carefully so that his tooth didn't poke a hole in his skin.

"Ah, I'm... not... quite sure, but you can come up with your whole kidnapping plan while I come up with a way to feed them until we can... do sssomething with them." He answered. Hunter nodded and we ended our short meeting there to take a break.

But Daimonas was acting weird. Was it because of what the things said back in the hotel room?

They want both of you.

The last thing I needed was another demon, and I wasn't about to let Adam make his life anymore freaky than it was. He seemed to agree with that considering the way he put the jar back into the closet like it was on fire. But why would it bother Daimonas? We weren't going to accept... Or maybe it was something else.

I followed Daimonas around to Adam's truck with Adam right behind me. He didn't even have to talk to me to catch onto what was wrong.

"Hey," I said, getting Daimonas' attention as he turned to look at me with a frown, "What's wrong? You're acting weird." Daimonas said nothing at first and just looked away, like he was gonna try to avoid the question, but he wasn't black fog that could disappear on me this time. He was solid and I could make him tell me if he was gonna beat around the bush. Much to my relief, though, Daimonas seemed to know this and sighed warily, taking a step away from us to put some distance between us, which kind of worried me.

"It'sss... jusst," Daimonas hesitated again, then shited uncomfortably, pulling at the sleeves of his jacket, "I mean, I feel weird doing thisss. My ssssiblingsss and I may not get along and may try to kill each other onccce we've reached ssssolid form, but... I jussst feel like I'm putting them up for their deathss by helping you." I blinked, surprised. I hadn't pegged Daimonas to be sentimental.

"Well, we're not gonna kill 'em or anything." I told him. Daimonas stared at me.

"Aren't you?" He asked dryly. I frowned. I hadn't really thought about that part. Should we kill them? They caused a lot of problems and it would only be another reason for Zephyra to hunt us down. And while it was nice to have bait to lure in the generals, it was still kinda not cool to use living creatures. But then again, Daimonas and his species never meant to cause trouble. They were just trying to survive in the world, just like the rest of us, until someone decided to start doing tests and poking and proding at them.

I looked at Adam, who was frowning. I could see the gears working in his head, meaning he was probably going over the same options I was. I looked back at Daimonas, who was watching me for the longest time before he looked away with a sudden look of defeat.

"I'm even causssing troubless by being here. I got your mother killed and your family dessstroyed. Why do you keep trying to sssave me anyway? Isss there sssomething you want from me?" He asked me, making me stiffen.

"Daimonas, you did not get my mother killed."

"But--"

"You didn't. My mom was trying to save... Orion killed her," I said at last, clearing my throat and changing my mind about revealing the weight on my shoulders; instead, I went on to assure Daimonas, "This isn't your fault. It's Zephyra's. They're ruining everything. If we can get rid of them, we can save you and your species." Daimonas stared at me.

"Why?" He asked. I frowned.

"Because. There are billions of different species out there. Not all of them are saints. My species has to drink blood to survive, and sometimes we kill people. Humans fight each other to keep themselves and their loved ones alive. Your species has to live inside a host until you're strong enough to live on your own. Your species is just like any other species on this planet and I'm not about to let Zephyra make you extinct." I explained. Daimonas studied me for a while, still looking skeptical, then he just nodded and went into the truck to curl up with his heated blanket. I sighed, then turned to face Adam, who was giving me a sympathetic stare.

"This is getting more and more complicated." I admitted quietly. Adam shrugged, then gestured for me to come closer and I did, relieved to feel his arms go around me. I hugged him back tightly, letting my head rest on his chest. He kissed me on the head, then rested his cheek there.

"We'll figure this out. We can't destroy Zephyra in one night. We've been waiting a whole year for this. We can wait a bit longer."

"I guess," I sighed, gripping him to me tightly so I could inhale the thick scent of smoke and liquor off his shirt, along with his natural spicy manly smell that made my body tingle, "I just wish things weren't this hard."

"Nobody said life was easy," Adam reminded quietly, "But once Zephyra's gone, it will get easier. We just need to take baby steps. Right now, we need to get those demons away from Orion. I have a feeling Hunter doesn't want us to kill him just yet." I made a face at that, but said nothing.

We all split up to find a place to eat at, because while Daimonas enjoyed McDonalds every two seconds, the rest of us wanted something less fatty. I let Adam take Daimonas in the truck while I walked around the city, heading in the direction of Orion's hotel.

I wasn't going to do something that stupid. I just wanted to find out more, and maybe... just maybe make a deal with him.

Okay, maybe it was a little stupid, but I didn't want to see the blood of my friends on the pavement and if that meant trying to make peace with Orion, fine. Of course, it wouldn't last too long, considering the bastard had done too much to me for me to forgive him.

I went into the hotel lobby and to the register where a young man had taken the place of the woman from earlier. Note to self, next time write down the number of the room. I grimaced, then quickly faked a pleasant expression as I approached the desk.

"Hello, sir, what can I do for you?" The guy asked.

"I'm looking for Orion Cipriani. Could you tell me what room he's in?" I asked. The guy hesitated at that, a frown working itself onto his face.

"Are you family?"

"Er, well, no..."

"Then I'm afraid I can't give you any information, sir. You must be a member of the family."

"Okay, I changed my mind. I'm a member of the family."

"You don't need to be a smartass, kid," The guy said suddenly in irritation, "If you don't leave, I'm going to have to call security." I nibbled my lower lip, debating whether to just go upstairs and take a wild guess or just leave and try again later.

"Excuse me, are you looking for Orion?" A woman's voice asked. I blinked and turned to see Orion's girlfriend, Olivia, approaching me. Wow, she really was pretty up close. She was wearing the same cute outfit she'd worn with Orion earlier, and for a second, I thought he was with her, but looking around, he was nowhere in sight. I looked at her hesitantly.

Orion's girlfriend. She might not know anything... But maybe she could be useful? A little voice in my head warned me against the idea, but before I could fight against it, my mouth was opening.

"Yeah, is he around?" I asked. Olivia smiled warmly.

"He just left for work," She answered, then paused to sigh, giving her purse a little tug of distress, "He always has to leave our dates for work."

"Oh, you're dating?" I asked, pretending to be innocent. Olivia smiled.

"Four years now," She replied cheerfully, then paused to look around before leaning toward me with a grin, "Between you and me, I think he's getting ready to pop the question." Her face was incredibly bright and excited and instantly guilt pooled into my stomach. Jeez, and to think I was about to use her to get to Orion. Would it really be worth it? I hated Orion to the core and I would gladly watch him die a horrible painful death, but what about his girlfriend? She seemed to really like him, and the idea of them getting engaged? Holy crap.

"Uhm, that's great." I answered awkwardly. Olivia just beamed, then tiltd her head to look at me curiously.

"Are you a friend of Orion's? He usually doesn't want me to meet his co-workers or anything." She admitted, sounding disappointed. Of course not, I thought bitterly. From the sounds of it, Olivia didn't know Orion was a terrorist. Did she know about his being a vampire, though?

"Uh, yeah, sorta," I replied, watching Olivia frown slowly before I laughed nervously, "Actually, we got into a pretty bad fight a while back and I feel sorta bad. I wanted to come back and talk things out with him." Olivia's features softened as she smiled.

"Oh, I know how that can be. He's so stubborn sometimes." She replied. I smiled.

"Yeah, tell me about it... Uh, hey, listen, are you busy right now? I haven't had lunch today yet and I could really use a bite to eat, but I don't know the city very well." I explained. Olivia brightened even more at that.

"Sure! I'd love to. I've never met any of Orion's buddies before, so it'd be nice to learn a little bit more. You'd think four years together and I would know everything," She murmured, "But sometimes I feel like he's hiding something." I nodded sympathetically before she led the way out of the hotel and we made our way to a small cafe on the corner.

"So, what's Orion been up to lately," I asked casually, "I haven't seen him in so long." Olivia smiled, shrugging lightly.

 "Well, we're planning a trip to the Bahamas. He really liked it last time and I figured it would be a nice birthday present," She explained, making me smile and pretend to even know when Orion's birthday was, "He's been so busy lately with work. His dad keeps calling him to do odd jobs for their company and I can tell it's taking a toll on him. He seems to constantly be tired. He fell asleep on me the other night when we were watching Tangled."

"Tangled?" I asked for confirmation. Olivia blushed, laughing.

"Aha, yeah. I'm a huge sucker for Disney movies and I always make Orion sit down and watch with me. He used to whine and complain about it, but now he sits there and enjoys them with me. I'm gonna get him his favorite one for his birthday."

"Oh yeah? And which one is that?"

"Pirates of the Caribbean. It's definitely his style, and he even bought us tickets for the opening night of At World's End, so I think he'll like it."

"I think he will too."

"That's good," Olivia sighed in relief before smiling again as we walked into the cafe, "I was afraid I was getting to soft again. I know Orion isn't the kinda guy who watches Disney movies and cries when Bambi's mom dies or likes to pick daisies or anything. He's... pretty hardcore, and sometimes I wonder if I'm even doing the right thing."

"Why do you say that?" I asked. Olivia smiled shyly, tucking a lock of dark red hair behind her ear.

"Well, I mean. You can probably tell just by looking at me. I'm not exactly the most wild girl in the world. I was brought up in a Catholic family, never dated until I met Orion four years ago when I graduated from university. I've never done an illegal thing in my life. I always did what my parents wanted me to, always behaved." She paused to make her order and step back so I could make mine before we stepped off to the side to wait for our meal and she continued speaking.

"Orion, on the other hand," She paused to smile as she remembered something nice, "Well, when I first met him, he showed up at my graduation on a black motorcycle. Talk about cheesy, right? But I couldn't help it. The moment I saw him get off that bike and take his helmet off, I was in love. His father sponsored my university and he was showing up in his father's stead. We met after graduation when he was congratulating me and we just kept talking and before I knew it, he was asking me out to dinner the next night. He was so bold and... maybe a bit brash? But I couldn't resist. It was like Grease or something." I almost laughed at that. It did sound kinda cheesy.

Goody girl meets bad boy, they fall in love. Yeah, except Olivia had no idea just how bad her boyfriend was. But I kept that to myself as we gathered our food and went to a table out on the patio of the cafe.

"So how did you meet Orion?" Olivia asked cheerfully as she bit into her bagel. I shifted a little, taking a sip of soda and pausing to resist grimacing at how sweet and carbonated it was on my fangs. I licked my lips uneasily.

"Oh, uhm, not long before we got into our... argument. His company was dealing with my father's. And we ran into each other and things were okay for a while, I guess. He was a pain in the ass, but he didn't do anything major until our argument." I explained, weaving around the details. Olivia seemed to respect that and nodded.

"That makes sense. What kind of company does your father own?"

"Ah, well, he owns a chain of hospitals."

"Oh really? That's amazing! Your father must be a very intelligent man."

"He is." I admitted, pausing to think about that. I guess I never really thought about it. I'd been so focused on destroying Zephyra, my relationship with Adam, and getting revenge for my mother that I never really thought about my dad. I knew he was broken up over mom. He didn't say it, but I could see it on his face. He was miserable and lonely. Oh sure, Alex stopped by once a week on Sundays, but I don't think that was enough for him and I tried to call him, but I usually got the answering machine because he was working himself to the bone to avoid coming home to an empty house. Not to mention, he had to pick up all my mom's leftovers from work. We tried to get in contact with Lysander, his younger brother, but Lysander had totally vanished after the situation in Detroit.

I wondered if Lysander blamed himself for what happened, even though it wasn't his fault. He was just the type of person to run away from things that bothered him. At least, that's what my dad used to tell me.

"Are you all right?" Olivia asked after a moment. I blinked and looked up, then forced a smile.

"Yeah, fine. Just thinking... So, uhm, do you know what time Orion will get out of work?" I asked casually. Olivia shrugged, looking a little miserable for a moment as she sipped at her smoothie.

"I dunno, sometimes he'll come back early, sometimes not until the next day. I really wish he didn't have to work so much, and I know he gets stressed because of his father." She admitted. I frowned.

"His father? Giorgos, right?" I asked. Olivia nodded, glancing around for a second before looking at me worriedly.

"I know Giorgos is pretty big in the company. He owns it, he calls the shots, but sometimes I think he's getting Orion involved in really nasty business. Especially since Orion's brother went catatonic. Ollie was the one who did most of the work and Orion was only called every couple months to do odd jobs, but now Orion's almost always gone and I don't think it helps that Ollie can't be with him. Orion and Ollie are pretty close." She explained. I frowned at that.

Close? Considering Orion treated Ollie like shit, I was having a hard time believing that. According to Alex and Vladimir, Ollie was a terrible person. He tortured them for days before Vladimir did something to Ollie's break and pulled a plug. Ollie couldn't move anymore, or speak, or do anything for himself and Orion was put in charge of taking care of him AND Ollie's jobs. Orion resented Ollie for making him leave his regular life behind and take on this new one.

But I didn't let on what I knew and just nodded.

"How do you know they're so close?" I asked. Olivia give me an odd look now. Crap, did I say something wrong?

"Well, they're practically twins. Ollie and Orion were inseperable when they were in school. Didn't you know?" She asked. I shook my head, shifting awkwardly.

"When I met Orion, Ollie was still catatonic. It didn't seem like Orion really cared." I replied. Olivia's eyes got wide and she shook her head.

"Oh no, I'm positive he cares. When it comes up between us, he gets so upset. He won't talk about it with anyone else, thoguh, so I suppose that explains why you don't know. I'm sorry."

"It's fine," I replied, then caught movement out the corner of my eye and saw Adam's truck sitting on the other side of the street with Daimonas beside him, chowing down on burgers, so I cleared my throat and looked at Olivia with a smile, "Hey, I gotta go. My friend's here to pick me up. It was nice talking to you, though. Mind if we meet up again?" Olivia beamed.

"Of course! Here's my address." She took out a pen and paper and scribbled the address down before handing it to me. I nodded my thanks and went to Adam's truck on the other side of the street. I went around to the other side and climbed in beside Daimonas, who was looking at me with half a burger in his mouth, a questioning expression on his face. I scowled when he tried to talk past the burger.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," I scolded, then looked at Adam, who raised an eyebrow at me, "I got Olivia's address. Orion's girlfriend." Adam nodded, starting the truck and pulling out onto the road.

"Then it's time to meet up with everyone else to discuss our next move.... Oh yeah, and next time you're gonna ask a girl out on a date, let me know before hand." He added under his breath. I blinked and stared at him in disbelief.

"Are you jealous? Seriously?"

"No, I just don't like you getting to close to Orion. And right now, you're treading dangerous waters."

"How's that?"

"Don't be stupid, Julian. That's Orion's girlfriend you're messing with. And you saw how obsessed he is with her. When he finds out you've been getting close to her, he's going to go into a frenzy."

He had a point, I realized. I'd probably react the same way if someone got too close to Adam.

I couldn't tell if I had just made things worse... or maybe better for me.