Mal has to be in pain to have that dagger tearing up his back. I can see it in his eyes. His eyes are in pain; I can see tears coming out. For him to have tears is very unusual. I believe he ushered tears when he told me about his son. For him to show emotions, this is a pleasure for me to see a demon wanting to act more human.

Noticing the dagger still in his back, I do not want to pay any attention to it, but to console Mal. Nonetheless, Mal is telling me something.

“Take it out!” He cries.

Heeding to that order, I pull out the dagger. Mal feels it coming out of him and screams a bit. “Sorry!” I yell. I hold onto the blade where I notice it has a very r-curve shape. There layered top of the metal blade is Mal’s black blood. I notice it has strange rune symbols etched on the handle.                

I drop the dagger to the ground and give my attention back to Mal. I lay Mal to my arms where he soon grabs my left arm. I look up to see where Aris is. I glance and then see Mal is trying to speak to me.

“I wish I could’ve helped you continue the fight.” He says very cryptically, sounding like he is really going to die.

“No. You’re not leaving me.” I say and turn my head back to see Desmond. “Do something!” I yell at him probably if he knows that healing charm. Desmond looks despondent and refuses what I just said.

“Desmond!” I yell his name again, yet he looks ahead with a stunned face. I notice Aris standing next to Asmodeus—both smiling.

What! That spineless backstabber of a demon; Aris betrayed me. He betrayed Mal. He stabbed Mal in the back…literally.

“You prick! It was you!” I shout at him.

“Sorry Caden, but I had to kill Mal after all he killed my older brother.”

“Mammon…he’s your older brother!”

“And I got my revenge.” He smirks off.

Asmodeus just standing there smirking; embracing my sorrow; then both of them flies off. Looking back down to see Mal, he is rarely breathing.

“Mal!” I continue, “Don’t leave me!”

He nearly closes his eyes, but I can still spot his pupils. I really do not want to see him die. This cannot be happening. Mal soon places his right hand over my face. Feeling the warmness in him turning into cold. He looks at me kind of strange.

“I can see his eyes in you.” He says as his breathing is fading.

“Dantailon. My father” I reply.

“Yes, your father.” He says.

“Please Mal, not now.” I cry as I begin tearing up.

“Thank…” He pauses, “Thank you for making me feel like a mortal.”

“No!” I exclaim.

Almost showing a smile, his blood is covering his mouth as it looks impossible for him to bring a smile. However, that is what Mal is. A hard headed being who just cannot smile fully. Sometimes he smirks when I get things done in training, but nothing else.

“Remember Caden, you…” He pauses again as his breathing is declining rapidly. “You are in control.”

That has been my motivational push for me to continue the fight. Not only against Asmodeus, but as well my demonic side. I’m in control. 

“Take control!” He shouts out. Out of the blue, his eyes closes completely shut. Whatever weight he had on his body, I can feel him losing his balance and slumps.

“Mal?!” I say trying to wake him up, but it is too late. “No!” I scream in anger and in pain. Mal is dead.

Still holding onto him, I begin to feel his body changing once more. I see him changing into ash-like form. Then the ash collapse down to the ground. Mal is officially gone. All what is left are my hands in the same position from me holding onto Mal’s body.

I cannot believe it. Mal usually disappeared a lot to find a way to help me fight off Asmodeus and the other demons. He risked his life every day. The battle wounds and scars were shown, but over the time I got to spend time with him, Mal never let go of his will to fight back.

The one person who knew a lot of the demonic world and who has been on my side since I was born is gone. Mal is dead. Aris that rat murdered Mal. Asmodeus is trying to do what it takes to get me. Burned down Oxley’s home, forced Oxley to disappear, had Aris defect from us, and eliminated Mal.

Feeling the urge of pure anger spreading throughout my body; the loss of someone I cared about. Something happens. Instantly, I could sense something is not right. Something inside of me has shattered. It is like a broken shard of glass trying to find its way back to the whole piece.

In some way, I’m comparing this to my demonic side. I feel angry and hurt. Without any cause, I begin to lose control. I can sense my normal demeanor is going away. It is like my demon side is trying to take over.

My vision begins to turn black. I start to see everything very dark and grayish. Feeling my body has a mind of its own, I begin to run into the forest. I can hear Desmond screaming my name. I want to respond, but it is like I’m trapped within my own body.

My body is running back into the woods crossing many trees. All of the sudden, I stop moving. The strange part is that I did not have control of my legs. Could this be my demonic side taking over me? It looks like it is, and I feel helpless to stop it.

I notice my arms are sticking out; I can feel the black vine lines creeping all over my body. I feel a huge shock throughout my body. I sense the power. As my hands am holding out, electricity is rampant to my arms as I start to witness me—or my demonic self—throwing electric currents out of my hand.

I see a tree in front of me getting hit by one of the electric currents; it erupts in fire. I then turn violently around and throw another round of electric currents to another unsuspecting tree. That tree erupts in flames. I can hear Desmond.

“Stop, Caden, stop!”

I can see him waving his hands, and he looks at me kind of weird. I want to stop, but I fire another round of electric currents straight at Desmond. He ducts out of the way as the currents miss him by an inch and hits another tree causing it to combust in fire.

This is not me. This is my demon side controlling me. I need to find a way to take back control. I remember Mal’s last words that I need to take control. All I can feel around me is anger, but I need to see if I can channel that anger and relinquish that just for now.

Desmond looks at me and tries to bring out his wand. I cannot do anything because of my demonic side gaining control of my body. However, before Desmond uses his wand he begins to tell me something.

“It’s okay to hurt. I know that is not you.” He says.

Hoping what he says can calm my demonic side down just a bit, but I need a lot more to regain control. Then Desmond comes right at me; I can feel my hand folding into a fist and tries to punch him in his face. Oh boy, I hope he knows that is not me.

He consoles his left cheek, but then strikes back grabbing both of my shoulders.

“Caden, if you are in there, it’s time for you to come back!” He states.

Hearing that message loud and clear, I’m reach well into my own soul and sense something. I can feel the anger, and the best way to fight anger is happiness. I begin to think about the happier times I had before all these demons appeared in my life; hanging out with my friends, seeing my mom, just living a life as a normal teenager.

As I remember the happiest memories I almost forgot, I realize those memories are part of my life. It had a hand to shape me. Feeling the happiness, I can see the anger I had about Mal’s death and the other things these demons done receding. 

I see my demonic side is bending my knees down to the ground. Then I look up to the sky still seeing the dark grayish color. However, I feel a sharp pain. I scream sensing the pain, but as the pain goes away I notice the dark grayish color reverting back to the normal colors. I can see the green leaves and the blue sky once more. As my sight is getting back to normal, I have regain control of hands and feet. I turn to see Desmond confused.

“It’s me.” I say.

Looking at me strange, he then breathes a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness!” He states.

“Why you looked at me like that?” I ask curiously.

“Your eyes dude, it was your eyes.” He replies in a freak out way.

“Was it black?” I ask again.

He shakes his head up and down signifying that the dark grayish color I seen was from the result of my pupils being black. That never happened to me before; I remembered my eyes were burning and it had black vine marks around my eyes, but I never had my eyes turn pitch black.

It was a very telling sign; my demonic side had possessed me. I look to my hands seeing the only connection me and my demonic side has at all is my powers, but the prophecy was right about me. It is an internal struggle between me and my demonic half.

“But that power you had, that was wicked.” He says.

“Wait, you mean those electric currents.” I say.

“Exactly.” He responds.

“That wasn’t me; it was my demonic side that controlled that power, not me.” I continue, “I was trapped within my body like a lion in a cage.”

“I never knew you had that type of power. “

“Me either.” I continue, “Oxley told me that I had other powers but was dormant.”

“With that power, I figured a no-brainer it had to do with your anger over Mal’s death.” He says.

“Yeah, my anger was so much I lost control and my other half found that opening.” I say.

Desmond looks like he is wondering about something, and I’m curious for what he is thinking.

“Got something useful?” I question.

He reacts to my question, and begins to reply, “You don’t think Asmodeus knew about your shocking powers.”

I’m stunned about that interesting info. However, he really may be on to something. Asmodeus did appear twice during the fight against Mammon and the other demons. Asmodeus had Aris killed Mal; Asmodeus already killed Dantailon, but Mal escaped. Now he got Mal.

I think Desmond could be right; Asmodeus might want Mal killed to trigger a major reaction from me. He knows about my struggle against my demonic side. And I have a funny feeling, he knew that I had more powers than the ones I been using before. If he knows that and planned this out, this could very well be the reason why he is after me.

My powers.

Glancing back at Desmond, “It’s my powers.”

“What about them?” He asks.

“Asmodeus wants my powers.” I reply. “It has to be it. All of this chaos so far, he has me where he want me.”

“So he wants your powers. Why?” Desmond asks again. 

“I wish I knew, but he won’t stop until he gets what he wants.” I respond.

“We have to stop him before he gets all of your powers.” He says.

“I think it’s best for us to split for now.”I say eventually.

“But do you think that is what Asmodeus want, for you to be alone?” He questions.

“Before I check with my mom, I need to check on Karina and see if Aris didn't kill her.” I say.

“Alright.” He says.

Desmond about to walk off further in the woods until I stop him, “Wait Desmond, where are you going to go?”

“I know Oxley told me don’t find him.” He says.

“You’re going to find him.” I say.

“I half to; he’s my master and as his apprentice. I won’t allow the fact Oxley wouldn't leave permanently without saying goodbye.” Desmond says as he ventures forward into the woods. I actually hope he does find Oxley, because the last time I saw him. I was kind of brash. If he does come back, there are a lot of questions I want to ask him. Some of them have to do with this Blessed Twilight and the Sabbath day. My fate is going to be affected, and without his knowledge I’m clueless in what to expect next year. I still need to handle Asmodeus. I need to find Karina.

***

Back at the Cove, I enter to see if Karina is here. “Karina!” I scream out her name a couple of times. I check in the room with the bunk beds, but no one is here. I head back to the center.

“Karina! Where are you?”

Not seeing her around here, I pray nothing happened to her. I pray Aris didn't touch her. He already killed Mal. I promise he is going to pay for that.

***

 Making back home, I see mom in her nursing uniform coming out of the kitchen. She is probably making dinner.

“Hey sweetie, I just got off from work early so tonight it’s going to be just us. I was probably thinking family night. After all this is a Friday, so I really don’t see this as a family night.”

I know my mother has the best intentions, but I’m really not all that excited for family night especially what happened hours ago. I try to head to my room, but I notice a strange brown paper wrap package. My mom sees me looking at the box nearby the kitchen bar counter. She soon reaches towards it. She grabs it and walks to me.

“I totally forgot about this.” She continues, “Remembered Mr. Rauch.”

Looking back and of course the sweet old man I had go visit and brought him a similar package as well. “Yeah, did he…”

“No, but he’s in a hospice.”

“So why are you mentioning him now?!”

“Mr. Rauch’s daughter left this box for her father, but before he went to the hospice, he told me you had a fond of the treats inside so he wanted me to give you this from him.”

I take hold of the package. I take off the brown packaged paper; and there is a retro gift box. I open the lid and there inside are about ten of the small golden color, rectangular-shaped bars Mr. Rauch called it ‘his candy.’

I almost smile just about to forget him. I almost did. That visit with him was one of the best times of my life. But to hear he is now in a hospice, knowing he is going to die any day. I soon think about Mal.

Looking back at mom, she worries about me in how I reacted to the gift package.

“You’re okay son?” She asks.

“I…I can’t.” I state. I put the package down on the kitchen bar counter, and I quickly sprint to my room.

Running into my room upset, I sit on top of my bed. I lower my head down thinking about Mal’s loss and almost having my demonic half taking control of my body. My mom then enters. I glance at her to see how worryingly she is.

“Sweetie, what is it?” She asks hoping for the answer.

I realize I can’t keep this anymore and that she needs to know.

“Mal’s dead.” I state.

She gasps and then kneels on the floor with one knee and then places her hands to mines. Grabbing me for some support.

“I’m so sorry, Caden.” She says.

“Aris killed him. I think all of this is happening because Asmodeus wants my powers.” I say.

“What!?” She says.

“That and my new power to shoot electricity.”

Mom reacts bewildered and stunned over what I say. “Yes, mom I can shoot electricity, but the thing is I wasn't in control.”

“What you mean?” She asks.

“My demonic side took control of me when I had so much anger over Mal’s death; I was taken over.” I continue, “If it wasn't for Desmond, my demon half would be talking to you.”

“I know you were angry, but that’s just part of being a human.”

“Yeah, I’m not an ordinary human.” I continue, “I got this demonic essence inside me.”

“I understand how you are feeling but realize this is your first time experiencing an emotional loss.”

I listen to her as I realize what she is saying is absolutely right. Mal is the first person—human or demon—I had to witness die in front of my arms.

“He died in my arms!”

“I know sweetie, but you need to understand an emotional loss is normal; even if you’re not human.” She continues, “It’s tough. Someone you care about died in your arms. But the best remedy for a loss…”

“Is what?” I ask.

“To move on; look at me.” She showcase her nursing attire; “I go to a place where losses happen nearly every day.”

I’m listening to what she has to say.

“It’s tough, but I move on. And it’s going to be hard, but eventually you will understand.” She continues, “I promise son, loss is just part of life.”

I hate to agree with that, but she makes sense. In some way, I have to move on from Mal’s death and go forward with my life. Before she heads out, she tries to tell me something important.

“You should focus on your school’s formal next Saturday.”

“Maybe I don’t know.”

“Why not? Liana seems sure you two are going to have a great time”

Maybe going to that dance could be preoccupying.

“Son, I don’t want to see you depressed day by day.” She continues. “Have fun with your friends. And I’ll be watching.”

“Meaning?!”

“I was asked by your principal to be one of the chaperons.”

 I sort of giggle the fact to see mom as a chaperon watching teenagers.

“Well excuse me, I can do it.” She express sort in a comical way.

“You’re sure?”

“If I can take care of anyone who walks into the hospital emergency room, I can surely watch you teenagers from running amok for one night.” She continues. “Besides I have experience watching over a teenager.”

I smirk whimsically, “Nice one.”

“Well, I’m going to fix some meatloaf, your favorite.”

“Na, I’m not hungry.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah, I’m going to relax and probably go to sleep.”

Mom waves and heads out; as she exits out of the room, I lay myself on the bed. I rest my head on top of the white pillow; I then place my left hand and arm behind my head. Instead of closing my eyes, I look straight at the ceiling.

I then bring out my right hand and observe it carefully. I flex my fingers trying to see if there was any problem. So far, I’m not sensing it. My demon side is like a bear just sleeps inside its cave until it strikes. I fear what happened today could happen again.

I could lose control and this time it could be my other half controlling what I say and what I do forever.