"I'm gonna ask you one more time, Where is he?", Aeuri bit his lip in both frustration and impatience. He looked down at Darwin with pure disgust in his face. He looked around the room to look for a window and then back to him with a smile creeping across his beautiful face.
"I have no idea what you are talking about", Darwin snapped with fury.
"Oh that's too bad. Maybe torturing you will be fun", Aeuri's face faded into anger at Darwin's tone. He grabbed Darwin by his neck and threw his arms upward. The roof above them warped open and the harsh sunlight poured them down roasting Darwin's skin at the moment.
Darwin hissed at the sharp fangs of sunlight piercing right through his skin. He looked away whimpering in pain as steam started spewing out from his body.
"Stop!" ,Darwin screamed in agony. Aeuri threw him across the room.
"I don't have the capacity to force you for an answer. Compulsion. Familiar? But I have a very painful way of extracting your mind while sapping your life out of you. And it's really painful it's gonna distort your beautiful face", Aeuri warned with narrow eyes towards him.
"Look, idiot. I actually don't know what you are talking about. Is that the way of asking someone? Rude", Darwin snapped back with a hint of sass.
"Oh did I forgot to mention a name? My bad. I'm sorry you have to lose 10 ribs because of my mistake", Aeuri snapped his finger and Darwin flew across the room and pinned upward to the wall beside him.
"This will be your eleventh if you don't answer me", He looked at Darwin hissing beside him with a taunting expression.
A silence crept in between them before Aeuri cleared his throat for another word. But before he could even say a thing Darwin flickered in front of him and dug his hands right through his chest. He took a good grip of his beating heart.
"That's the last time you'll lay a hand on me", Darwin send him daggers.
Aeuri gasped in pain and struggle as Darwin tightened his grip to his heart. For a moment, it felt like his blood was about to stop running through his veins. He grabbed Darwin's neck and dug his nails through his skin.
"I should have killed you when I had the chance", Aeuri narrowed his eyes and flames started circling around them.
"I'll take one heart in exchange of my ribs", Darwin's eyes turned red as he pulled Aeuri's heart from his chest. The fire around them put out and his body thud down the floor. He kicked his body hard sending it smashing to the floor.
Darwin grabbed his chest as he fell back into the wall hissing and fighting not to weep. His wounds healing slowly and he hasn't taken any rest since last day.
"You are all talk. Who are you? What do you want from me?", Darwin turned to the lifeless Aeuri across the room.
His body cannot take it any longer so he passed out. Surrendered to the call of nature as he closed his eyes and let the gravity pull him back to the ground in a thud. His thoughts spiralling in the wilderness of his mind. In a heartbeat, his eyes shut down and his mind fell into a deep slumber.
He woke up the next day still in the same position as he was yesterday, lying like a broken vase in the hard wooden floor bathing in his own blood. His skin rejuvenated and his wounds have already closed. He felt a strong surge of power and energy in his body after that slumber. He was about to gather his thoughts when he smelled something in the kitchen. His eyes snapped open at the thought of reality kicking him hard in the gut. He pulled himself up in a split second, scanned the room still with haze in his vision. He let out soft yawn and little grunts as he went on with his feet. He took his coat off then his inner shirt and then his pants then his underwear leaving only his marvelously carved body naked in the open air. He walked towards the smell of something like pancakes without any care about his nudity.
His eyes went wide when he saw a very familiar face munching a pancake while seriously narrowing his eyes in the newspaper in front of him, Aeuri.
"...ew, pedophiles"
Darwin heard him whisper with pure disgust in his face.
"Seriously?! You can't die?!", Darwin yelled shocked at his face.
"Seriously?! You can't dress up?!", Aeuri's jaw dropped at the sight of Darwin in front of him. He scanned his body up and down before playfully looking away with his newspaper.
Darwin blushed in shame as he covered his private parts with both of his hands.
"Oh come on, I have something like that too", Aeuri turned to him with his eyes rolling.
"What are you doing here?", Darwin asked in confusion.
"I made pancakes for you. Is that a crime?", Aeuri replied.
And why are you naked? Did you have sex with yourself or something? Too bad you're not a girl I cannot do it with you", He added with a disappointed look in his face.
"I'm a lot sexier than your women", Darwin lift his brows as he bragged his body to him.
"Oh shit. But no. Maybe next time", Aeuri ignored him by looking back at the newspaper. He gestured his left hand and a char pulled off inviting Darwin to sit.
Darwin grabbed the chair and sat across the table. He grabbed one of the pancakes and put it in his mouth.
"I never thought something lowly like you could actually factory reset me", Aeuri mockingly snickered at him as he grabbed another bite.
"Only if you asked nicely", Darwin replied.
"Oh I could easily do it again but I'm in a friendship mood now so I'll probably just have a tea time with you", Aeuri took a sip of his tea as he gave Darwin a wink.
"Fine. I'm not in the mood for some one sided battle with you", Darwin pushed his back on the chair giving Aeuri a taunting look.
"True. Coz I can easily wipe you out", Aeuri replied with a smirk.
"I think not. I killed you once", Darwin added.
"You mean sent me back home. You cannot kill a demon. It's one of the primitive foundations of the universe", Aeuri passed the maple syrup to him.
"What exactly do you need?", Darwin asked.
"The question is, Where is he", Aeuri replied.
"What games are you playing?", Darwin snapped back with his arms crossed.
"Big games for the big devils. Now where is he?", Aeuri started heating up the atmosphere.
"Hubert Riverlight", He added before Darwin could even say another word.
The word 'Riverlight' sent waves of confusion in Darwin's mind that he tilted his head with narrow eyes. Looking intently at Aeuri with a curious look.
"Riverlight?", He asked one more time.
"What? Hubert Riverlight? Your so called Apprentice. Your soul mate", Aeuri threw his hands in the air.
"He's Hubert Strikerealm", Darwin commented with all the confusion building in.
"An adopted Strikerealm. Illegitimate. Correction", Aeuri commented as he took a sip on his tea.
"You're bluffing", Darwin gave him a smirk.
Silence crept in between them. Aeuri bobbed his mouth in boredom. He dropped the newspaper in the table and took a bite of his pancake before breaking saying another word.
"Here's a thing, I'm not just gonna sit here and play charades with you. My time is running out and I need to find my host. Now tell me where the hell is he and we can go on our merry ways ", Aeuri proposed nonchalantly.
"But you asking me won't make me say a thing", Darwin replied with sass.
"Maybe hurting you more might do", Aeuri's eyes turned pitch black as flames started spewing up the stove behind him.
"That if you can lay a hand on me", Darwin returned the look with his eyes in pure crimson.
In a nick of time, Aeuri flickered behind Darwin and grabbed his neck. So fast the even with his vampire impulses, he couldn't catch up.
"Don't mess up with the diabolical one", Aeuri grittingly threatened with a furious tone. He flipped Darwin to face him and crossed his arms in his back.
"Just kidding, come I'll tell you a story", Aeuri's mood suddenly changed as he walked with Darwin back to the lobby.
"Fuck!", Darwin swore under his breath. Feeling a little threatened on the power that suddenly stunned him. He could have messed up only without the punchline.
Darwin looked around and then to his body and then to the man in front of him.
"Oh come on. Put your clothes on. I can't attracted with those....", Ae gave him a disgusted look.
Few minutes passed and Darwin finally slid out of his room and down to the lobby. His hair brushed back, still wet and the scent of mixed vanilla and musk lingered in the air as he walked down. He wore a red sleeping robe and white socks.
Ae poured a glass of bourbon in the empty as he walked in. He gestured him to sit down.
"What are you doing?", Darwin frowned at him.
"Oh come on, I'm not drinking alone", Ae tossed the glass across the table.
"Up for story time?", He added.
Darwin took a shot of the bourbon and put the glass down. He felt a little sting in his stomach and it goes down into him. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and tossed back the glass to Aeuri.
"Why are you here? What exactly do you want?", Darwin asked.
"You've been asking that for like a billionth time already", Ae bobbed his face.
"Here we go again. Why can't you just answer my question", Darwin snapped back.
"You gotta answer me first", Ae replied with a stern look.
Silence crept in between them once again.
Ae cleared his throat.
"He's dead...", Darwin came up first before Ae can even say another word.
"Of course he is that's why I'm here", Ae rolled his eyes at him.
"Why are you posing as him?", Darwin followed.
"You mean why he's posing like me? I'm the real deal. I am the real owner of this look. You must have seen that 'child' already?", Ae tilted his head as if scanning Darwin's head.
"That child? You mean his base form?" Darwin added.
"Two points", Ae playfully snapped his fingers.
"That's the real deal. I mean the real deal...look...like Hubert...in flesh", Ae explained.
Darwin looked down in confusion something inside him is feeling a little betrayed by the way Hubert kept his secret but a bigger part of him believes that this guy in front of him is just messing him up. Either way, he didn't have the benefit of the doubt.
"Someone took him", He revealed.
Ae bit his lip in his words. He put down the glass calmly and crossed his arms.
"You could have said that since day one", Ae suggested with dismay.
"I don't even know how to put it in words. Maybe I can't accept the fact that he's gone", Darwin's voice almost cracked at the end of his sentence.
"Ok then. When all said and done we make a move", Ae grinned at him as he tossed another glass to Darwin.
"What's that suppose to mean?", Darwin asked.
"Stop asking. We find that being", Ae took a shot of his drink.
"We don't even know where to find him. And I still need to find Stephen", Darwin replied with a hint of sadness.
"Ohhhh classic heartbreak", Ae replied playfully.
"I feel like he's calling my name", Darwin looked away.
"How about we make a deal. You help me find that Riverlight kid and then I'll help you find your soulmate", Ae proposed with another shot.
"He's not a soulmate. No vampire can have that special relationship to someone like him", Darwin snapped back with a shot of his drink.
"Whatever. He's not my business", Ae laughed at his face.
"Why can't you find him all by yourself?", Darwin asked one more time.
"His death severed our connection together. Only someone who vowed an eternal allegiance with another person can transcend a connection beyond death. You two have it so you're the only one who can find him", Ae answered straightforwardly.
"Like I said, someone took him", Darwin shrugged his shoulder.
"You said that twice in a row", Ae rolled his eyes.
"Someone with a strong cloaking spell took him. That's what I think", Ae added.
"Someone stronger than that actually, an enchanter", Darwin looked back at him.
Ae frowned at his words. As if something had hit him up. He bit his lips once again as he look down the floor with a furious look.
"Rickon...", They both said in unison only with the difference in tone.
"Strikerealm, the real bad color", Ae continued.
"You know him?", Darwin asked one more time.
"More than breathing and any language I can speak", Ae replied looking away.
The atmosphere weighed down at their conversation. Tension was building up revelation after revelation and realization after another.
"Take a rest", Ae pulled himself up and stretching his arms.
"We have a deal", He grabbed Darwin's hand and placed his finger above it.
Darwin hissed at the burning sensation of in his hand. He looked at Ae in his pitch black eyes chanting a prayer that he seemed to not understand.
"What have you done?!", Darwin's eyes widened at the sight of a mark scarred in his palm.
"It's a hell compact. You made a deal with a devil so prepare your butt off coz we're gonna save your boys. Don't worry about going in hell with the mark of the devil, you've been shortlisted the moment you were born so it makes no difference", Ae gave him a wink before snapping his finger.
"Take this off!", Darwin yelled at him walking down the stairs of the portal he just summoned with that snap.
The doors of Ae's portal closed leaving only Darwin alone in the lobby. He fell down on his knees trying to put everything in place. He looked at his palm once again and the mark, a goat's head started beaming under his skin.
He suddenly felt an odd sensation in his stomach. His head throbbing and his skin started burning from the inside. He hissed in pain as fall down the floor.
"Darwin..." He heard a familiar voice as he spiralled into nothingness.