Rays of sunlight shone through the half-closed curtain, flashing a golden hue on Damien's rich sticker collection plastered on the wall.
The sound of sparrows chirping outside and the laughter from the kids playing downstairs should've been enough to make him go outside and volunteer to clean at the old people's home down his block like he always did every Saturday. Still, he was too tired and perplexed to even sit properly on his bed.
His head was fuzzy from pulling an all-nighter without sleeping thanks to the wild visions that kept flashing in his head every time he tried closing his eyes. In each vision, Ahara and Kingston were killing humans—killing and eat-
Ah. He couldn't even bring himself to finish the word.
Rubbing his puffy eyes, Damien tried to stand but ended up flopping back on his bed for balance after a dizzying sensation overpowered him the moment he stood.
"Tsk," he clicked his tongue, closing his eyes and letting the sun's rays burn some of his worries away, but not even the majestic stars' scorching heat couldn't calm his head.
What he had seen last night had disturbed him and left him wondering exactly what his sister's real identity was. When he saw her last night, she had blood and scars all over her but showed no signs of the beastly traits that Kingston had. Everything about her had looked human.
'Maybe she's a beast tamer like in the manga and had managed to tame Kingston,' Damien ran the thought in his mind. But that would leave another loophole he didn't want to acknowledge—that she wasn't entirely human but had magical abilities within her.
That she killed humans and devoured, no, fed them to her shape-shifting beast accomplice. Yes, that made more sense, but it still wasn't enough reason to justify her suspicious actions, nor did it explain the speed he had witnessed from her two nights ago.
Clasping his face, Damien groaned deeply. What the fuck was Ahara's real identity and where did that leave him as her brother? He tried to make everything make sense, but all it did was leave one loophole after another until his head was a tangled mess of loose shit.
"Damnit, now I'm hungry," Damien cursed, forcing himself to get up as he headed to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for himself and Ahara, only to be shocked when he saw a plate of fried bacon and eggs resting on top of the microwave with a note:
Heat it before eating. I'm off to work.
Placing the food in the microwave like the note said, Damien proceeded to give Silky his daily potion of bird feed, his mind wandering back to Ahara. Even though he knew for certain now that she wasn't human, Damien still wanted to believe in her moral compass that she would never kill anyone, well, at least not without a reason to do so.
BEEP! BEEP!
The microwave alarm went off and Damien took his food out before dragging his exhausted body to the living room. As was his routine that morning, he flopped on the couch, expecting the usual pilose and bouncy texture to send ripples of pleasure down his body, but instead, a sharp pain came from where his butt had landed, making him jump so high he almost touched the ceiling with his head. However, by some miracle called hunger, he held on to his food just enough to stop it from falling.
"Ow, ow, ow," the poor boy cried, rubbing his butt and placing his plate on the small table in front of him. Something had poked him, but he wasn't sure what it was.
Turning his head so fast he felt a snap go off somewhere in his throat, Damien glared at the couch. Then noticed it—a clear rock-like object poking out between the cushions lying by the intersection of the double-seater couch.
Narrowing his eyes, he bent himself to pick it up but was startled by a loud noise that came from the front door.
BANG!
The door hit the wall with a loud thud, sending a ripple of noise into the house as Ahara dashed inside, her breath heavy and unsteady.
"Morning Damien," she yelled, passing by him and heading inside her room as if it was another normal day between them. Annoyingly so, it was a normal day, for her, but not for Damien.
He had seen far too much last night for him to be calling it a normal day. If he was weak-hearted, maybe he'd already be on his way to the police station right now to report Ahara and her sickening beast, but this was a case he had to figure out by himself or he'd never get the answers to all the questions ringing in his head.
"Morning," he replied in a groggy voice, scooping the rock-like object from the couch and putting it into his pajamas pockets before sitting. However, just when he was about to take his plate from the table, Ahara suddenly appeared in front of him.
"Can you move from there, I think I lost something last night when I was sitting there," she asked, already rummaging through the couch.
Damien slowly rose from the corner where he was sitting, his eyes fixated on Ahara's body. Unlike what he saw last night, her wounds were completely healed, invisible even as if she hadn't been looking pale and nearly dead yesterday.
'Another piece of shitty evidence for me,' Damien noted.
"What are you looking for?" He retorted, giving his sister enough space to push past him as she continued her frantic rummaging.
He thought he heard Ahara say something about 'sensing it' but it might as well have been his dead brain telling him things since it was already exhausted and disfigured from all the revelations and discoveries he had to witness in just 48 hours.
"A golden necklace with a ge...rock, a clear rock in the middle," Ahara stammered, her voice filled with concern and...fear?
Recognizing what she meant, Damien's hand flew straight into his pocket. Once he felt it poke his skin, he adjusted his oversized t-shirt to cover the dent and took a step away from Ahara.
"What is it for? A gift for someone?" He faked a smile, hoping Ahara would take the bait and tell him why she was so anxious about losing a rock.
Ahara froze at his question, slowly turning her head to face him. "Did you see it somewhere?"
Damien held his breath. He was never good at lying to Ahara, but if he wanted to know the truth, he had to try and mask his emotions well enough to fool her.
Putting on a confused expression that he hoped was poker face enough, Damien shook his head. "No, I just woke up and was about to eat my food when you walked in," he pointed at his plate to prove his point.
Ahara squinted her eyes at him and he swallowed, but then she sighed, ruffled her hair, and clicked her tongue. "Call me immediately once you find it, okay? And when you do, don't hold on to it for too long."
"What'll happen then? Will I die?" Damien masked his curiosity with a laugh but immediately stopped when he saw Ahara's expression darken.
She blinked at him, her eyes glistening with what Damien soon realized were tears after she rubbed her eyes. "Two seconds tops or you'll get a rash," Ahara choked the words out before dashing out of the house in a hurry.
Once the sound of her footsteps had vanished outside, Damien took the necklace out from his pocket to examine it. It was indeed a clear rock with a golden chain attached to it. However, the part of the gold that held onto the rock had strange shapes to it that Damien couldn't quite figure out.
"A rash?" Damien scoffed. "What's so childish about me that you have to hide such huge things from me Ahara? Am I not your brother?"
His heart clenched in his chest when the question was left hanging in the lonely room and Damien clenched his teeth. If Ahara knew how much he loved her, how much trust he had in her, or to what lengths he was willing to go just to make sure she was safe, she wouldn't be risking her life at night with beasts like this, nor would she be lying to him so easily without any hint of remorse.
A rock she said. Did she forget that she called it a gem yesterday or did she too think he was dumb like the kids and teachers at school?
As if he had been violated, Damien felt a surge of anger burn within his clenching heart and he grabbed his chest, glaring at the gem.
'No sign of a rash yet,' he noticed, a vengeful smile playing on his lips.
Fuck touching it, he was going to hang it around his neck and hide it from her until she was desperate enough to tell him the answers once he was ready to bribe her.
"I'll teach you keeping secrets sis," Damien fumed, placing the necklace around his neck and hiding it under his shirt.
Feeling a sense of fulfillment from somehow managing to get back at his Ahara, he picked up his plate of food and flopped on the couch, this time without hitting any sharp object.
"Oh, I forgot the juice."
He rose from the couch and headed to the kitchen, a villainous smirk on his lips as the images of his sister being submissive and spewing all her secrets to him played in his head.
Little did he notice the small rash beginning to form on his chest as Ahara had warmed, or that the shapes on the necklace were changing and forming a strange orb around the gem—which was now glowing a dim golden color under his shirt.