Nicholae sat in his car parked at the edge of the cabin facing the direction of the tent with Jeffery was in.
None but one knew of the secret identity of the demon behind the mask.

'Aren't you coming?' Niko asked his father. He and Rex wore a tired and mildly displeased expression on their faces. The whole drive to the den had been irritating for everyone involved.

'Just run along.' His father replied.

The boy was a pest. He had entertained the thought of throwing him about or at least tearing his behind up with a belt or whip but that wouldn't be in character of Nicholae.
Stupid vampire had spoiled the boy.

Niko slammed the door and stalked off with the equally idiotic dog running behind him. The dog turned back and looked at him giving him a stank eye.
The dog, he was certain, no one would miss as much.

Now that he was alone in the car, pulled down seat and shifted until he was fine.
He had all he needed, the spell and some of the witch's essence he'd leeched.
He hadn't known demons had the power to do that which made him question what other things he didn't know he could do.
Later.

He spoke life into the spell and then threw the contents of the sleeping cocktail down his throat.

In the next second he was standing over Jeffery in the tent. The boy was asleep which was perfect condition for his plan to work. He couldn't help himself to laugh at his luck.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jeffery Logan ignored the forming apparition in room. His mind was focused on one person, Danielle.
He was having that dream again, the dream when his plan to kill Lynch had been successful and Danielle had run into his arms, choosing to be with him. And she thanked him for ridding her of the nuisance, and she was going to make love to him.
She just began the striptease when he noticed the oddity in the corner.

And then Danielle disappeared replaced instead by a disfigured man with horrible burns and devoid of any natural skin color. It wasn't dark brown neither was it ebony black, simply a tone resting right at the center of the two shades.

'What the hell?' Jeffery exclaimed at the abrupt interruption.

'You never fail to surprise me Jeffery.' He laughed and shook his head.
'You're chained up to a pole in this shit hole and yet you dream of Carter's girl.'
Jeffery noticed the glass in the man's hand.
The way he held it brought back a familiar rush.
'Do you even know what happened while you were whisked away being used as a damn guinea pig!'
He barked a harsher laugh and then zeroed his dead gaze on Jeffery who was on his feet.
'You had one simple job. To shoot the mutt and kill him. That was it. You lost control of the entire situation, even the bloody hunting dogs.'

'Who are you?' The air about the intruder sent uneasy chills down his spine. His hands trembled slightly when it moved to his chin to rub the stubble that had grown.

'You don't recognize me boy? I'm not surprised those dogs barely left me recognizable. But if you'd given me any thought at all. ANY AT ALL! You'd have recognized me you ungrateful piece of shit.'

Jeffery ducked just in time to avoid the flying glass launched by none other than his father, Harris Logan.
'Dad?'
Jeffery gaped in disbelief. He always assumed his father was alive and maybe miserable in Shepherd's Creek.
He wouldn't delude himself in believing his disappearance would have caused the spiteful man any misery. But losing his source of funding definitely would have made him miserable.
But apparently, that wasn't the case.

'This can't be true.' He couldn't believe what he was seeing. But then again this was a dream.

'You better believe it boy. The dogs you took with you came back home. They mauled me. I would be dead had it not been for the Mistress.'

Jeffery sat down on the bed, grateful that it was still there.
'This is a dream.'He told himself.

'Listen you bastard, I don't have the luxury of arguing with you. I came to talk to you about what happened that night. Why isn't the son of a bitch dead?'

It was clear he meant Osei but Jeffery stared for a moment and spoke.
'None of the silver bullets slowed him down like we'd hoped. And he had help. He turned the dogs against the men.'
He saw the links click in his father's head the same time the connection made sense to him.
Lynch, the murderous beast had gone after his father as well.
His father unleashed a string of curses all directed towards Osei.

'I should have known.'
But Jeffery wasn't fully paying attention to his father's words. He was engrossed in his father's new look.
'Close your mouth, idiot.'
There was no denying that was his old man. So why was his skin no longer that cocoa brown? His eyes no longer the dark brown, his irises rimmed with red and stained with black and brown. He barely looked human anymore.
'So what are you now? A zombie? A ghost?'
His words sounded insane even to his ears but after his relocation to wherever this place was, insane was the new normal.

'Even better. A demon.'

Jeffery shrank back.
'I sold my soul the devil. And so did you.'

Now Jeffery has to be imagining things.
'I'm sorry I thought...'
He frowned trying to figure out if he'd misheard.
'I thought you said... I think I heard you say you sold your soul to the devil.'

'I know you aren't retarded. Although sometimes you make me wonder.'

'So is that a yes? Or a no?' Jeffery didn't have the heart for his father's tangents right then, not when something else was at stake.
Harris wanted to throw something at his son.

'I'm going to have to kill you in order to kill the mutt. You don't have to worry, you'll come back as a demon I'll speak to the mistress about letting you join the ranks as a demon because of your sacrifice.'

Jeffery discreetly pinched his side trying to wake up. He recalled his father being a jerk but he couldn't remember his father ever being this evil.
Kill him?

'Oh don't look at me like that Jeffery. You're the mutt's life source. You die, he dies. He'll remain dead and you might come back to life. It's a win-win. Plus the mistress would return us back to Shepherd's Creek where we'll live in wealth and infamy.'

'I didn't sell my soul.' His brain finally holding on to that thread of information he had been trying to reject. He didn't recall signing any papers, so when was this.

Harris walked towards his son and placed a hand on his shoulders.
'You need to learn to honor your promises.' Harris smiled keeping the fact that it was his signature that had finalized the transaction of his son's soul.

'Don't dwell on it too long, it isn't a pleasant thought.'

'How are you going to kill me?'
Harris thought about it.

'The vampire Nicholae will do it. With me possessing him, obviously.'

Jeffery looked up more surprised each time his father spoke.
'That was you with... and no one knows?'

Harris smiled proud of himself.
'Nicholae kills you, Osei dies, the pack kills him and his bratty son and the dog, a war breaks out. They'll be no one to lead the pack, which by the way is nothing without their Alpha. In one fell swoop, everyone who is in the Mistress' way will be obliterated.'
He tightened his grip on Jeffery's shoulder.
'Your death will be the hand that turns the tide.'

'Is there another reason you want me dead?'
His failures as a son were good enough reason.
Harris scoffed. 'I'm not doing this for my pleasure son, I'm doing this for our good.'

He smiled.
'Don't you want to see Dani again? She's here. The wolf boy and the vampire brought her here to save the beast.'
Jeffery couldn't believe his ears.
The beast had brought Dani to a very dangerous place just to save his own skin.
But what he'd give to see Dani one last time and explain everything to her. Hopefully before he became a demon. He shuddered.

'I've heard you and I'll think about it dad.'
He'd think about it? Who was this damned fool.

'This isn't a suggestion, boy.'

'It's my life. And I'd like not to be pressured into dying.' Jeffery snapped back.

'Don't take too long thinking, you aren't too good at it. And you know how thin my patience runs.'
He vanished and Jeffery stirred awake.
In the corner of the tent was a dark cloaked figure.
His heart leaped into his throat and his belly sank into his feet.
He looked around and found a thin apparatus of the man from his dream- his father standing next to him staring the figure down.

So if that wasn't his father in the corner, who was that in the corner? An assassin?  And his father was really in the tent with him. That meant the dream was real.
But the thing went after Harris and not Jeffery.
His father honestly stood no chance. Two evil spirits were fighting over who got to kill him.
The fight was interrupted when Semi walked into the tent with his food.

Jeffery looked back and there was nothing there. He was alone.
'Are you okay Jeff? You look pale.'
Semi dropped the food on the small table and came to examine him.

Usually, he'd have replied with an insult. But he had too much going on in his mind.
His throat worked in trying to push his heart back to where it belonged.

'I just woke up.' He croaked.
'But you're shaking.' Semi took his hand.

'No. It's you.' Jeffery initially said that to rebuff her but he saw that she was. And her eyes were swollen from crying.

It was none of his business to ask what was happening. But he had his suspicions so He needed to clarify something.
'Is it true that Dani is here?'

Semi's expression said it all.

'How did you hear about that?'

'Lynch brought a vampire here the other day.' That was all he said. And from Semi's reaction, his initial suspicions were confirmed.
'I want to talk to her.'

'Well that'll have to be another time. She's not here today.'
Semi checked the restraints in his feet with no care for his broken skin.
She freed his hands so he could eat and then made her way out of the tent.
'Wait! Aren't you going to have me watched?'
Semi frowned at his odd request.
Jeffery was very grateful for not being alone. He could now wonder what had happened to his father:the demon.

       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The tendrils of the of his control went slack falling away. Harris cursed his attacker who had weakened him. Now he'd have to sit back and watch the idiot Nicholae live. But Harris would wait, Lily would find him out in no time.

But therein lay another problem. And he would have no answers.