Chapter 10

Donatello blinked in shock. "Followed us? I thought we killed it?"

"We must have only weakened it," Master Splinter rasped. "It is much stronger than I first believed."

"What do we do?" Mikey asked his baby blue eyes wide with panic. "It can get inside our heads at any moment. It might already be inside one of us!"

"Calm down, Mikey," Don tried to sooth his youngest brother. "I don't think Diego's inside our heads. Not yet anyway."

"He did this to Raph," Leo whispered, looking down at his unconscious brother. "For that he must pay."

"So what do we do?" Mikey asked, determination steeling his voice.

"We kill him, once and for all this time," Leo said grimly. "We need to find out how to kill a demon. Don, that's your department."

Don nodded. "Once I've cleaned up Raph's wound, I'll look. Lucky I brought my laptop with me."

"What do we do?" Mikey asked, turning his eyes to Leo.

"We wait," Leo said. "At least until Don's figured out how to kill it. Then we hunt down Diego and make him wish he were back in Hell."

Forty minutes later, Don had a solution.

"Okay, this is what I got, mind you I don't know how legit it is," Don said, pulling away from the computer screen and rubbing his tired eyes. "Most of the stuff I found was mediocre at best, but I think I finally found something useful."

"Go on," Leo prompted.

"It's not good, I'm afraid," Don began seriously. "If what I found is legit, then I don't like our chances."

"Why Donnie, what is it?" Mikey asked tentavily, his eyes torn between looking at Don and looking down at his unconscious brother in the bed beside him.

"This Diego, as we know, is not our brother, nor his he something in our heads. We know that he is a demon, though he is not just any demon, as I first came to believe. He's an Arch Demon."

"What's an Arch Demon?" Mikey whispered. "Is that bad?"

"An Arch Demon is a very, very powerful demon- nearly at the top of Hell's hierarchy."

"So does that mean all Arch Demons can get inside people's heads, like Diego does?" Leo asked.

"No, only Diego can, or should I say, Carniveau, which is his real name. The reason why Carniveau can get inside our minds is because he is, in fact, the Prince of Possession."

"So that's why Diego- ah, Carniveau is so powerful," Leo murmured.

"Yes, which makes him a lot harder to kill," Don said grimly.

"So I'm guessing throwing salt on him won't work this time?" Mikey asked.

"No," Don shook his head. "Salt only weakens him, as it is said to be a purifier. If we want to rid ourselves of Carniveau once and for all, we need a spell."

"A spell?" Casey asked, speaking up for the first time. "Like a magic spell?"

"No, a dark, ancient spell," Don clarified.

"Well, can you get this spell, Donnie?" Leo asked.

"I don't know," Don said honestly. "It's a very old spell, not to mention a complex one written in Latin. I'm sure I have an old tome of a book back in the sewers about demon lore, for interest reading I had at the time. That book may have something useful in it- but for now I'm afraid it's not possible."

"Then how do we get Carniveau back to the Lair?" Mikey asked.

"We need to leave-now. Pack up all of our things and get back to the Lair as quickly as we can. Hopefully, Carniveau will follow."

"Wait, how did this demon, Carniveau or whatever, manage to leave Hell in the first place?" Casey asked.

"That is a question I have asking myself for days now," Don confessed. "I haven't got a clue."

"Alright, let's not waste any more time," Leo spoke up. "We do as Don says, we leave now. Don and Mikey, you go downstairs- make as much noise as you can, but be careful; we only want Diego to know that we are leaving, we don't want him to try and stop us so be quick. Master Splinter and I will move around the top floor. Casey, you bring the van up as close as you can to the house. And April, I need you to watch Raphael until we get back. If anything happens, scream, and we'll come running. Now, is everyone clear on the plan?"

Everyone nodded.

"Good, then let's go."