A cold gust of wind rippled across Damien's face as he walked down the Takunda Drive highway. He blew warm air into his hands, increasing his pace in the hauntingly starless night.
He was close to the park now.
He could now see the old people's home that faced the park and the humongous Jacarandas swaying in the distance, dropping their delicate purple flowers all over as the wind carried their scent and sprayed it around.
Shuddering at the thought of what he was doing, Damien placed his hands into his jean pockets to make sure he had brought it—the faux gem he had stolen from Ahara's bedroom.
Whatever Kaos's reason was for wanting the original, Damien had already resolved not to give the Gem to him.
He was going to ask the doctor to provide him with intel on Ahara, and once he had what he wanted, he would escape. He was the fastest runner in his school, probably the entire world, too, since he'd never encountered a worthy opponent in the national championships yet, but that was a question of whether the Doctor was human or not.
If he were non-human like Ahara, then Damien knew he was already toast before the battle even began.
That's why he had brought the fake gem.
He was planning on throwing it a distance and luring the doctor away from him as he escaped. That way, he could both outsmart and outrun the old fart, and he'd be back home before Ahara or their soon to happen confrontation.
It was a perfect plan that allowed him to uncover Ahara's identity without looking suspicious or getting hurt.
The loud engine of a car speeding across Houston Road into Takunda Drive made Damien stop. It passed by with a loud whoosh, the drunk green tea bitch in it waving and grinning as he left a gust of carbon dioxide with his Mazda 323 for Damien to choke on.
Waving his hand in his face, Damien sprinted across the road away from the black smoke, already regretting coming out tonight. But he was already in too deep to ditch his investigation mid-way like this.
With a sharp pull, he opened the small gate that led into the park, a monumental green-filled space that was always packed with people having fun or picnics during the day. Now, though, it looked creepy as hell.
Walking down the maintained walkway, Damien glanced at his surroundings, his heart beat seemingly increasing with each step he took. He had asked Kaos where they were supposed to meet and was told to come to the kids' section, nearly 300 meters from where he was now.
Sighing, he gripped the gem on his chest and began to walk. He had to do this quickly and get back home. After all, he now knew how dangerous it was to be walking around at night thanks to Ahara and Kingston.
SNAP!
Damien lunged forward at the sound, palms bared as if in self-defense. His eyes flickered around the trees, but he couldn't see any strange shadows, nor did he feel like anyone was watching him from behind.
Then he looked down, and a low, suppressed laugh escaped from him.
"It's just a branch, you chicken."
Taking a deep breath to calm his hypersensitive nerves, Damien patted his chest and continued down the dark path.
'It's normal to he paranoid in the dark. I've never been outside this late before.'
But even as he assured himself, his senses just couldn't seem to calm down. He found himself jumping at the stupidest things; the worst being his own shadow after he passed by a lamp that reflected it on a tree next to him.
Eventually, he reached the kids' section, well, he could see it from the small space between the two buildings that blocked it—the internet cafe and restaurant. He had to go around them, but first…
Taking out the smartwatch, Damien was about to text the doctor and tell him he was almost there when he heard it, a gut-wrenching scream coming from where he was headed.
He paused typing and peeked between the buildings, but couldn't see anything noteworthy.
Then came another scream. And another. Each scream was followed by the next, their timbres and volume different.
Fumbling the device back into his pocket and gnawing at his bottom lip, the boy debated whether to go and take a peek or to turn on his heel and head back to safety. His body wanted to run, to escape whatever horrors awaited on the other end and return home where it was safe. But a part of him he never knew he had didn't want to leave those poor men.
Running his hands through his hair, Damien came up with the lamest idea possible, but he couldn't think of anything else that could surpass it at the moment.
Maybe he could use the gem to lure Ahara and her beast or Kaos to assist him. After all, they both said something about sensing the gem. He could remove it once he was near the location, that way, its 'aura' would stop getting into his chest and spread. But then that could make him a prime target for beings like his sister and Kaos.
"Ahhh!" Another scream echoed in the darkness, this time followed by the loud sound of something hitting a large metal boulder.
Closing his eyes and counting to three, Damien finally made his decision and sucked his abs in before squeezing in through the small slit. He had to bet on the slim chance of Ahara sensing the gem, or else he and those poor men screaming behind the buildings were done for.
'Why am I so big?' He wondered as he squeezed himself between the two buildings.
Fortunately, the slit widened a little the further he progressed down it, and by the time he was almost at the end, he was able to walk normal. However, the sight before him made him wish the two buildings had stopped him from the beginning.
Forming a circle in front of him was a large group of beastly people. The ones closest to him had fur protruding from their skins and eyes that looked like they belonged to a wild beast, exactly like how Kingston had looked the night before. The more Damien stared wide-eyed at them, the more they resembled wolves. Then it struck him.
'Werewolves!'
He cringed at his speculation, his eyes wandering around to the other strange group that was amongst them. They had glistening skin with ornate shapes that made it look like scales, with horns protruding from their heads.
'Dragons?' Damien wondered, cringing yet again as his eyes flew to the last of their group standing the farthest away from him.
They looked the most human amongst the group, and Damien almost thought they were the victims since they were the only ones with blood on their bodies, that is, until he saw their eyes. Bloodlust was evident in those fear-inducing glares that oozed of dark energy even to his human self, and when he looked closely, he saw that they had fangs.
'Vampires!' This time, Damien didn't cringe. His attention was now drawn to the middle, where the screams were coming from.
Deciding to risk it and close in on them a little bit more, Damien froze when another sharp scream echoed from the ring's middle before one of the dragon looking beasts was sent flying in his direction, hitting a trash can right in front of him and making a wolf like beast with white fur turn around and face him.
Damien's mouth turned dry, rendering his voice useless in an instant. His limbs froze, and he couldn't move, no matter how hard he tried to force himself to.
'I need to remove the gem from my chest,' he kept repeating in his head, but it was all futile. He had underestimated the power fear held over him who had never been in the face of danger before, thanks to Ahara's protection.
'Damnit, if only I can escape from here alive, then I'll return Ahara's gem and never question her power again,' Damien mulled in his head as the beast kicked the wounded dragon out of his way, sending him slamming into another trash can behind Damien.
"Ahhh," came another scream from the middle of the ring, making Damien flinch.
But the wolf didn't show any signs of stopping.
The closer it got to Damien, the more he felt this burning sensation as if the wolf had an invisible fire surrounding him.
He was only a few inches away, about to raise his hand and do whatever to Damien, when a loud, feminine voice made him still in his tracks.
"Out of my way fuckers! I need to fight that blithering idiot who dared to target my brother!"
'Ahara!'
A warm breeze of relief hit Damien's body at the sound of her voice, but then, the werewolf standing in front of him growled and flipped himself around, lunging into the air and landing somewhere Damien couldn't see clearly. The moment Damien wasn't the center of attention anymore, his body loosened up a bit, and he backed away from the scenery with one thought in his mind.
Escape.
However, he hadn't even managed to take a full 180 degree turn before he bumped into something hard and fell on his butt.
"You're here," came the chilling voice of Doctor Kaos.
Instead of washing him with another wave of relief, it only killed the bit of ease Damien had left in him, and he stilled.
"Y-yes," he stuttered.
"And you brought the gem?"
Damien slightly narrowed his eyes at him, a bit relieved he couldn't 'sense' the gem yet.
"Yes."
"Good. Now let me show you what you wanted to see so badly before we continue where we left our meeting this afternoon."
Without warning, Damien was lifted off the floor into the air. Not with the Doctor's hands, no, but a strange, almost suffocating feeling wrapped all around his body as if a giant's hand was squeezing him.
Trying his best to fight it, Damien groaned and wriggled, but to no avail. The doctor had some kind of ability that made the boy float without him even trying.
"Brace yourself, we're going flying."
BOOM!
The sound came after the doctor mouthed some strange gibberish, and without notice, Damien was launched into the air. The cold wind rustled past his ears, piercing its way into his eyes that were now watering as he tried to see where he was being taken.
To his horror, they were headed straight for the ground.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Damien cried when their trajectory changed, his head now facing the ground as he closed his eyes. "I don't wanna die!"
To his surprise, the trajectory changed again. His head was still dangling above the ground, but at least they'd stopped moving. Although the necklace was now hanging in the open below his head and he had closed his eyes after noticing Ahara standing a few meters away from them.
"Damnit!" He cursed out loud just when his sister let out a sharp gasp.
"Damien!" She cried, her voice sounding too hurt for hum to risk looking at her. The guilt was already settling in before she even counseled him.
"Open your eyes and look at her, boy. Isn't this what you wanted to see? Her real identity?"
"What is he talking about, Damien?" Ahara shouted at the top of her voice.
Damien finally opened his eyes but immediately closed them, for in his sister's hands was the head of the wolf who had almost grabbed him a while ago, blood oozing from the ripped neck whilst Ahara held a blood-soaked weapon in her other hand.
"Ah, too scared to speak, are we? Then I'll do the honors," Kaos cackled to himself.
"You see, the boy and I made a deal that I'd show him what you were hiding from him in exchange for him bringing the gem to me."
"Damien..." Ahara's voice came out weak this time, the betrayal she felt emphasized into it.
"Oh, how I love that look on your face, big sister. I can't wait to see what you'll look like when I blow him up into pieces."
"You wouldn't dare," Ahara growled at the same time Damien opened his eyes.
'He's joking, right?" Damien thought to himself, but when he saw the sickening grin playing on Kaos's face, his gut flipped, even though he was already hanging with his head lowered to the ground.
"Oh, but I will. Then I'm going to milk his veins little by little and feast on his blood. How's that for a farewell?" Kaos laughed, releasing the invisible fire thing he had felt coming from the wolf. Unlike before, though, it burned this time.
"Ahhhh!"
"You little shit, you're hurting him!" Ahara hissed at the doctor, gripping her belt-sword. But then she stopped. Kaos had placed what looked like a small, thin blade under the screaming Damien's throat and glared at her.
"I wouldn't move if I were you," he warned.
"Or what?" Came another voice, this time, a man.
Before Damien could comprehend who it was—for he was in pain—large clawed hands gripped his waist and snatched him away to wherever the beast wanted to take him, just like the doctor had done with his large invisible hand.