Ari waited until the sun left the sky to creep down the darkened hallway. His eyes, like any other human's eyes, could not make out much in the dark but small specks with varying shades of black and grey. As his vision cleared, the darkness became like haunted shadows at dusk lingering well on into the night. He went around the tables and chairs scattered around the floor and perched himself up by a large window covered with cloth.

Freir would not have abandoned him without a plan. He pressed a hand against the cold glass before dragging them down the window and clenching them into fists. Horrors from the night before ran through his mind making him squeeze his eyes shut and bang a fist against the sill. If not Freir, Rein should have come by now. He could not attempt to run again. What the demon had shown him that night was a warning and he was not so desperate whereas he would try again already knowing what the results would be.

There was movement coming from upstairs. He heard the floor creak and a bed pressing against the floorboard with added weight, Although his eyes could not adjust to the darkness, his ears had instead. It was Auovin, he knew.

Ari carefully made note of his feeding habits such as how often and when. It was sporadic, at best. He had not wanted any of his blood for some time, not as though he was complaining. He touched his neck still remembering its fangs. How could he forget them?

Ari focused his attention on the moon and the burnt buildings that laid before him. Everything was charred. Ash still fell from the sky and the wails of people lingered in the air. Ari was convinced now that he was evil incarnate. He was a wicked and cruel being that fed off the suffering and pain it caused others. Despite that, he was the least of his worries. He needed to get to the meeting grounds before it began and the demon was hindering that.

Just as Ari was getting up to leave, he felt hair tickling his neck causing him to shirk back. He stumbled on some chairs before regaining his footing and looked at the looming figure before him.

"Shh."

Ari's eyes widened as the figure stepped more into the moonlit window revealing a noticeable scar going across the side of his face.

"I am here for you, Ari."

"Freir?"

He gave a nod but Ari only backed away.

"I am not running and you cannot fight him. You will die and he will make me watch."

"Ari." Freir tried to reach a hand out to him but Ari continued to grow farther from him. "What has he done to make you so afraid?"

"Nothing. He has done nothing."

After he had shown him the terrors of what his anger could bring forth, Ari had decided it was best to bide his time with the demon, to earn his trust even. It was the only way he would ever be able to escape. Running, like the time before, would not do anything, but cause the demon irritation. He did not take kindly to it before and he would not tolerate it again. He made that clear enough. Ari touched at the side of his neck still healing from the demon's last drink.

Freir shook him out of his thoughts before grabbing his arm and tugging him forward. He tried to pull away, but Freir had a firm grip on him.

"Did you think I would leave you with that thing? You knew I would come back for you."

"You must leave."

"And go where? Nolan will have my head!" Freir hissed in his ear causing Ari to twist away from him. Again, Freir caught the top of his arm and spun him around until he felt the point of a dagger at his throat.

"This is what we do to do those who do not follow orders. Shall I refresh your memory?"

Ari's heart rate soared.

"Rein is waiting outside for us. Do as I say and you will be fine, boy." Ari smelled the ale and mead on his breath. As he brought him closer, his gruff was like sandpaper against his skin. "If you do not." He closed his eyes as the dagger went down his neck and slid into his shirt. "I will sell you to one of them brothels as we should have done when we first found you."

Ari knew those were only threats to scare him. Empty words Ari had grown used to after having spent a decade with him and many others who had wanted to be rid of him.

Freir pushed him in the direction of the kitchen and bent him down under a large table. There were bricks removed forming a hole large enough for a grown man to fit through. Freir kicked his leg coaxing him to move through it without another moment of hesitation. Ari's heart was beating so fast he could hear it drumming through his ears. As soon as he was through, Ari felt a warm hand grab his wrist and help him to his feet.

Rein looked exactly the same as since he had last seen him minus the hues of purple and red around his right eye and bottom lip. His dark brown hair covered one side of his face masking his expression. He had never once been too kind to him, but he was a brother in the order as he was. With that came respect. Nothing more and nothing less.

"Does it know?"

Ari's eyebrows furrowed.

"The markings... on your back. Does it know?"

Ari shook his head causing Rein's lips to purse.

"Hurry now, through here."

Ari looked at him for a moment before looking back at the hole from where he came out of. He closed his eyes and did as told following Rein through the bushes. Instead of going through the ruins of the town, Rein rushed down the path to the forests. The trees were black from their pine down to the roots. It was said that the darkest souls would gather and be stored here never to be put back into the great cycle. He had never noticed how much of them there was here, until now.

"Do not linger behind." Rein pushed Ari ahead of himself causing him to lose his footing for a moment.

Ari could not see a thing. Just like the night when Freir and him were being hunted. It was an ominous feeling. Being the hunted instead of the hunter. He climbed over fallen trunks from the blackened trees and over large rocks. His head would turn back every so often paranoid that the demon would appear at any moment and rip Rein's head clear off, but he never did. They continued on that route for some time before Rein ordered them to stop.

The terrain was much nicer than before, flat easy surface and there was not a sign of a single black pine in sight. Ari's legs throbbed with pain causing him to flop on the ground and rub at his calves.

"Did it treat you so well you are now unable to trek for long periods of time?

"If you mean being bitten and used as food then yes. He treated me more than well."

"So that was it..."

Ari looked at him.

"The reason why you are still alive." Ari heard him laugh as he started a fire that warmed him in an instance. "Both you and Freir had the luck of Oliya at your side."

Despite the way he looked, Rein was a very superstitious man. Many of the Khaeo did not believe in the Old Gods, but for the ones who did, they believed in them fully and wholly. Ari was not one of them. It was his blood that had saved them, not luck; not the gods.

"There is an encampment up ahead. We will rest here for the night."

"Yes, I am sure the gods will protect us," Ari mocked causing Rein to look at him with a scowl.

Before he could rise, Freir appeared through the trees breathing hard. He tried to speak, but his voice was too heavy with breath for either one of them to understand.

"What is it, Freir?"

Freir laughed and sat down beside Ari causing Ari's brows to furrow.

"To think I may have been afraid of such a dim-witted thing!"

Ari's eyes sank into the dirt as his laughter grew.

He knew Auovin was anything but dumb. Something was amiss, lurking in the darkness with them. Ari took note of each breath and the clouds each one formed. His ears took in each sound coming from the trees and brushes. He heard the owls hoot, and mice pit-pattering across dried leaves. There was no sign of demons, however.

"What had you done?" Rein asked once his laughter died down.

"What I have been wanting to do for the longest. He made me look the fool for some time, and now it is him who is!"

"Freir..." Ari's voice shook from the cold fear going through him. He did not want what had happened to that town to happen again. The thought of him decapitating them right in front of his eyes made him nauseous and sick with the desire to leave and go back.

"Had you grown fond of him, now?" Freir asked.

Ari pursed his lips.

"Found something in common, had you now?" Rein added.

Ari squeezed his eyes shut at their mocking questions. Freir, of all people, should know that demon is not one to be trifled with. Ari had not grown an attachment to him. He had not. Although he was very much fascinated with him. The way he spoke, the way he dressed, even his ability to wield a small blade with a deadly force. He could do without his gazes and his fangs and grins and constant touchings. For a moment, Auovin liked to play in his hair, tugging and pulling at it while wrapping the strands around his fingers. He would also whisper little things in Ari's ear causing him much distress and discomfort. Auovin liked to watch him squirm; Ari knew that, but he did not ever make him suffer or cause him undue harm. He rubbed at his neck at the thought.

"Sleep, Ari. We have a long day ahead of us."

Ari felt Freir's hand go through his hair as he did as was told and laid down. They were cold and calloused hands, familiar hands. As his mind drifted away from his thoughts and onto sleep, Ari opened his eyes to a sky full of stars. He looked around and saw the fire still going, but Freir and Rein had disappeared off somewhere.

Ari rose and knelt down near a bootprint. His finger swept across the dirt feeling for the dryness of it. They had left not too long ago, he surmised before standing up. He heard sticks breaking under a pair of feet causing him to crouch down and take the nearest stick from the fire. Just as it appeared out in the open, Ari put the stick down realizing it was Rein carrying a drunken Freir on one of his shoulders.

"What in the god's names... " Ari mumbled under his breath. How could he ever think to drink at a time like this?

Rein laid him down on the side of the log facing the fire as he sat down right beside him. The top of his shirt was undone and his hair was pushed away from his face, for once, causing Ari's eyes to narrow. Before long, Ari spotted two bruises along the side of his neck. His skin was an ochre color, much like the mellow-brown clay littered around them. The markings stood out for such a reason.

"Do not ask questions you already know the answers to. Sometimes, it is best to feign ignorance."

Ari looked at Rein with sealed lips.

"Like now, I am feigning ignorance."

"Of what?"

"You."

"I do not understand."

Rein laughed lowly.

"Oh, Ari, I think you do."