Chapter Twenty

Nine

"Your brother?" Nine repeated, confused. "Kurt never told me you have a brother."

"Let me rephrase that," ETKOL stated. "The creature that was once my brother."

"What happened to him?" Two asked.

"He was a crazy scientist," ETKOL explained. "He had a bunch of creatures in test tubes and cages. He studied their powers. One day he accidentally released a bunch of the monsters. He was scratched by a werewolf, bitten by a vampire, facehugged by a facehugger. He wasn't chestbursted, but the whole experience left him deranged. He turned into some hybrid. I had him locked up for everyone's safety."

"What about his leprechaun magic?" Nine asked.

"He hasn't shown any cognitive function since fully transforming," ETKOL responded.

"Do we know why the Horsemen want him?" Davante asked.

"Maybe to siphon off his DNA," Grant suggested. "They could then use it to make their xenos even more powerful."

"They would lose cognitive function in them though," One counteracted.

"I want to speak to him," Nine stated. "I want One to come down with me to translate."

"It will be tough," ETKOL stated. "Even the most powerful animal speakers had a tough time speaking to him."

"Ony is an expert in talking to animals," Tac reassured him.

"Follow me," ETKOL stated. Nine, Two, One, and Tac all followed him down through his castle. "He is kept in the deepest part of the prison. His only human interactions have been between me and the best animal speakers in the land."

"Is he unfrozen?" Two asked.

"Royal leprechaun blood still runs through him, so yes," ETKOL responded.

"How long have you been king ETKOL," One asked.

"Since I first met Kurt about 500 years ago," ETKOL answered. "Before then I was just Ecabob the Prince of Leprechauns. I became King right before meeting Kurt. It was his idea to just shorten my name to ETKOL."

"What is your brother's name? I need to know before I talk to him?" Nine asked.

"Archibald the Head Scientist," ETKOL responded. "We just called him Tash. We are here." They came to a steel door. "Some fairy DNA got into the wounds, so we made all the walls out of steel." He opened up a slit in the door. An eye was peeking through.

"Tash," Nine started slowly. "We are not your enemies. I just want to talk to you. I am Nine, and this is One. He is here to translate what you say for me. Can you tell me the full list of mythical creatures that have become part of your DNA."

Tash snarled in response.

"He asked, 'Why would Kurt send one of his second in commands to do this? Why not just do it himself?'" One translated.

"He is currently captured," Nine explained. "We just want to see why the Horsemen want you."

Tash gave off a hiss after hearing that.

"'They want me as Primordial Chaos's host. The whole reason I am like this is because he sent someone to trip me up. He had all of this planned. He wants a true monster as his final host,'" One translated.

"If he can't manage to get you as his host, who will he go after?" Nine asked.

Tash put a pondering look on his face before letting out a grumble.

"'His daughter,'" One translated.