Chapter 3
"A surge of supernatural green energy was felt from the west of the woods, it lasted for quite a while and spread so far that Elder's machines managed to detect it all the way here." Sister Kate had looked solemn and there was a grave look in her eyes.
"So what? Demons could have caused that, we can handle that."
"The type of machines that were alerted are my concern, Rosette... it was the same machine that alerted us of Joshua's former powers."
A gasp escaped the two blondes, her blue eyes widening in obvious shock.
"W-what? I thought there weren't any apostles left? Joshua and the other children lost theirs a long time ago!" a calming hand was placed on her shoulder; she turned to see Chrno who silently told her to let Sister Kate explain.
"It had been developed since Magdalene died, the Elder took decades to make it... Now we believe that another apostle is out there, possibly one powerful apostle who has all the Joshua's and the children's power combined due to the readings we've got. Yes, a single source of power... Chrno, I think you know who will be targeting the apostle..."
"Aion and the Sinners, I suspect we might already be too late." The hornless demon looked anxious.
"I agree, there was also demonic energy detected... strangely enough, also some ectoplasmic energy..."
"A soul?" It was Joshua who spoke up this time. "You mean like ghosts?"
"Possibly." Remington replied. "You're jobs are to investigate the crime scene, here are the coordinates."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"Daniel James Fenton, it's a pleasure to meet you!" a cheery voice said.
"Huh?" the teenager was slightly dazed, not to mention bleary eyed. Was that woman wearing cat ears?
"I'm Sheda!"
Was she purring? Is that a tail swishing behind the woman?
... better question, was he losing his mind or has be already lost it?
"Umm... hello?"
"Ahh! Our guest has finally awakened!" it was deep masculine voice, which was very horribly familiar to the teenager. "You were out for quite a while now!"
Danny was frozen as he saw the white-haired man approach him with the grace and charm of a gentleman. He urged his body to transform to his ghostly half, but for some reason he just couldn't. The demon could tell his prey was panicking, wondering why his abilities were gone... temporarily.
"Don't bother with your powers Daniel my boy, Sheda here made little bracelet that keeps you human." Aion took the boys wrist, showing off a golden band around it. "Very intriguing indeed, a boy who's half dead and yet..."
The man leaned forward passed the teen's face, whispering in his ear. "... and an angel."
Danny shuddered and unconsciously pushed himself backwards, the steel-vice grip on wrist didn't let him get too far.
"A little younger than I expected though, presumed you would be around Joshua's age, looks like you're about two or three years younger, you're a lot smaller than him too, you sure you're fourteen ,boy?"
The comment on his height set off the halfa, forgetting his initial fear for the demon as he glared outright at the man.
"It's Danny, and yeah I'm sure fourteen, fruitloop!"
"Ah yes, a spit fire aren't you, you're so adorable went you try to look intimidating, 'Danny'," the way the man emphasized his name, made Danny cringed. It didn't help that the squealing cat woman was suddenly hugging him over his so-called 'cuteness'. At least it forced the fruitloop to let his wrist go.
"What do you want from me?"
"Your help, Danny, to bring freedom to me and my fellow sinners from the rigid systems of the demon kind."
"That sounds too noble of a cause, why would the Magdalene Order try to stop you from getting to people like me for that reason... " young blue eyes looked down for moment before meetng the demon's gaze. "Unless the costs of your freedom are too high."
"Very perceptive aren't you."
"My parents and sister are geniuses; I'm bound to rub off some intelligence from them."
"Indeed, our plans may cost a few lives."
"You mean innocent lives would have to be sacrificed," the blue hue of his eyes turned bright green in anger. "I won't be involved in murder!"
But his eyes soon returned back to normal. "But, isn't there any other way to gain your freedom? One that doesn't involve lives being lost? I'd help, but only if doesn't involve hurting people."
Aion was looked at the boy, showing genuine interest to help for his cause. It reminded him of Chrno's naivety and trusting nature to help those in need. Chrno had asked him for the same conditions.
"I'm afraid there is no other way."
"There's always another way," the boy persisted stubbornly. "There always is!"
The boy's pleas brought back memories; Chrno had said the exact same thing when he commanded his 'sword' to kill Magdalene. Why did Aion always run into these sorts of people?
"No, there is no other way, in any case, you won't have a choice in the matter." His eyes turned deftly cold at the next instant. Sheda had been subdued to silence as she flattened her eyes at the tone of his voice, warning Danny to not further anger the powerful demon.
The sad, forlorn look in Danny's eyes almost made the demon falter, almost.
"Get rested, Sheda will be bringing up some food for you." Aion quickly left.
The boy sighed as both demons left him. At least he knew his family was safe, for now. He wondered what Aion meant when he said Danny didn't have a choice. They were powerful, but they couldn't force out his powers... could they?
The thought made the halfa shudder.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
To their dismay, Chrno had been right about the Sinners. They were too late.
"Three people were found in an underground tunnel, luckily Chrno managed to smell them or we would have missed them completely." Joshua reported to his older sibling who was staring at the scorch marks on the trees. Beside the burnt tree was a tree Popsicle instead.
"Could Aion and the sinners freeze things solid?" Rosette asked. "With ice that doesn't melt?"
"Sheda could have invented something that could," Chrno suggested, he took a whiff of the tree and frowned. "Or not, it smells like death, not demon."
"Death?" both blondes looked at their demon friend questioningly.
"The source of the ectoplasmic energy, probably what Elder's machine detected, that's not the weird part either, I smelled death everywhere in the property, even the family and some parts of the forest... it was especially concentrated in one room of the house."
"Weird, don't apostles smell like... well not like death?" Rosette looked confused.
"They don't, but the apostle smell was also very concentrated in the same room..."
"So what, a spirit was clinging to the apostle... the kid was haunted?" Joshua added.
"That still doesn't explain why both smells were practically blending together, if not for the death's scent, I would say it same from the same being."
Eyes widened.
"I could be wrong; a spirit's scent might have been subdued by the apostle's."
The demon shrugged. Rosette looked thoughtful, absorbing all the information. She took a breather before finally asking the question that had been burning in her mind.
"Why didn't the Magdalene Order keep an eye on this apostle?"
"Simple, the parents refused them, their son was being objected like some lab rat, I'm not surprised of their assumption seeing as both parents were said to be scientists as well." Joshua explained as he looked through the file. "The family just popped out of nowhere, their papers were authentic though... the parents were geniuses in inventing, in this time of war, I'm not surprise they took refuge in the forests, the government might want to get them involve if they ever find out about them."
"Still, it doesn't explain why an apostle suddenly appeared out of nowhere when the rest were returned to normal."Rosette retorted, it didn't make sense for some reason.
"Not to mention the parents seem to be too intuitive and paranoid, I mean, they dug an underground chamber almost 10 meters under." Chrno concluded. "Are they fine?"
"Not sure, the Elder will have to take a look at the family, Aion used some form of drug unknown to us... its keeping them in a comatose state." Joshua looked forlorn at this statement. "We may have another orphan in our hands if the drug doesn't wear off."
"I can help cease its effects temporarily; I'll stop time in their bodies to stop it from wasting away... but..." the demon looked up to face his contractor's eyes, determined as ever.
"You'll need power for that, I'll loosen the seal, don't worry." Rosette never wavered in her words.