Chapter 21

'Well,' the word was out of Kashmana's mouth before he was fully through the door.

'Mobilise them.'

Even though he knew full well Ni wasn't about to start his attack yet, he had no hesitation about getting the first punch in. He wasn't aggressive by nature, but these were exceptional circumstances; more exceptional than either of them realised.

'I'll let them know,' Kashmana nodded, before disappearing.

'Why'd you do that,' Pitch frowned at him, 'I told you earlier Ni's not ready to start his attack just yet.'

'What, I'm not allowed to be the macho-aggressive one for once?'

'Oh no you're allowed, you just normally choose not to, what's gotten into you today?'

'Gotten into me,' he almost seemed to laugh. 'Nothing's gotten into me Pitch; I just wanna get this underway.'

'Why,' she eyed him up suspiciously. 'What did her father say to you exactly?'

'Nothing that I didn't expect anyway,' he shrugged.

'If you expected it, then why are you acting like this now?'

'Acting like what exactly?'

'Acting like someone with something to hide,' she folded her arms. 'Come on, you were gone an awfully long time, what happened?'

'What makes you think I came straight back here,' he averted his gaze. 'Maybe I went somewhere else first.'

'Somewhere like where?'

'Somewhere that maybe I'm not supposed to know about,' he shifted nervously.

'Somewhere like where,' she repeated, almost impatiently now.

'We talk,' he moved himself away from her, knowing full well she wouldn't quite get what he meant by that.

'Well I would hope that's what we were doing now,' she sounded strangely curious, 'I just wish I knew what we were talking about.'

'No,' he shook his head, his hands slipping into his pockets to grab round the objects hidden in each of them, 'I mean, the others and me talk.'

'Basically you mean you talk to yourself,' she rolled her eyes.

'Yeah, that's exactly what I mean. That's how I can know about things I'm not supposed to know about.'

'Things like what exactly?'

'Like hiding places,' his hands tensed around the objects he was holding.

'Hiding places,' she frowned for a moment, before her face became flawless with realisation. 'You haven't her eyes dropped towards his pockets. 'You didn't…'

'I have,' he nodded. 'I mean, I did… or rather I do,' slowly he pulled the objects out of his pockets and held them out for her.

'Oh…' she let out a strange breath, 'why'd you do that?'

'Do what exactly?'

'Get them?'

'I… I wanted a little security.'

'Against what?'

'You know what,' he averted his gaze again. 'I want to be sure that she won't… you know; especially considering what she's been through the last six weeks.'

'I know,' Pitch placed a hand on his shoulder, 'but this isn't the right way of going about it. You should have more confidence in the power of our little trinity by now.'

'Like I've said before, we've been powerless the last few weeks,' he shook his head. 'How can I have confidence our trinity can do anything?'

'Okay, I'll give you we haven't had the best track record recently, but there were other factors at play.'

'Factors which could still be a problem now if we're not prepared for them. I just want to make sure we're prepared for them.'

'Okay, I understand,' she sighed, 'I wish I didn't, but I do. Still, if I were you kid, I wouldn't let Kash see those, he's already fuming at you for having so little faith.'

'Why'd you think I wanted to get him out of the way before showing you these?'

'You mean…'

'No,' he shook his head, 'I still think we should show Ni what he's up against before he starts his attack, it'll be the best way of buying her and the others a little time. But…' he shifted his gaze, 'it could have waited another hour or so.'

'And no doubt would have if it wasn't for…' she sighed heavily, cutting herself off as she did. 'Well now that they're here you'd better put them somewhere safe. We wouldn't want any… accidents.'

'Right,' he nodded, 'that would be the worst thing right now, wouldn't it?'

'What do we do about Damon,' Tristan sighed now they were out of the earshot of the siblings. 'Do we investigate this power of his or…?'

'I don't know,' Kaiba cut him off thoughtfully. 'It's a bit of a tricky one, isn't it? I mean this supposed power of his is definitely more obviously demonic than CiCi's, but he doesn't seem as…'

'Malevolent,' he finished for him, 'as inclined towards being stroppy and disruptive.'

'Gee, could you paint your step-daughter in any better light,' Kaiba rolled his eyes. 'Be fair she was… upset about her parents leaving for a long time. She acted out because she didn't know what else to do. But…' he hesitated.

'If she'd had the same power as Damon you'd be a little more concerned now,' Tristan prompted.

'CiCi doesn't mean to, I know that, but she can come off a little… dangerous sometimes. And even though I know she'd never go out of her way to seriously hurt anybody, I'm glad…'

'She has the power she has and not the one Damon does.'

'Damon's might be at a low level right now, but if it grows…'

'His could be a lot more fatal,' Tristan nodded in agreement. 'But we can't exactly deny him his gift.'

'Can't we,' Kaiba's near sightless gaze flicked from side to side. 'I mean, isn't that what this whole group decided to do to Drake?'

'Drake hated his gift; he wanted it taken away from him, so you can't use this as a comparison. Damon's too young to understand what it is he's doing, you can't just decide to take it away from him, it might make things worse.'

'But it's hardly an ability we can allow to grow,' Kaiba shook his head. 'What happens when he gets older and it becomes too powerful for him to control…'

'Now you're trying to parallel him to Taylor.'

'Not just to Taylor,' he shook his head. 'Before CiCi started that secret little training of hers, she almost lost control too, don't you remember how scared she was?'

'Yes,' he sighed heavily, 'and I know you're right on this one, we need to be keeping an eye on it. But we can't deny him his birth right if that's what he chooses to have. We have to find someone to train him.'

'Great, more demons to enter our lives, just what we need as we stand on the edge of hell's uprising.'

'If we want them to stay good then we can't deny them the option of being bad,' Tristan reasoned. 'If you deny them the choice they'll always side against us.'

'I know,' he sighed again. 'I just wish…'

'That they weren't demons,' he finished for him. 'So do I, but I don't love them any less for being so.'

'Neither do I,' Kaiba admitted, 'they're everything to me.'

'Who'd have thought we'd end up with such a perfect little family,' Tristan smiled to himself.

'Married with three kids,' he laughed. 'We're practically normal.'