Chapter 25

We Need To Talk

After he had the talk with Dolph at the coffee shop in the morning, Finn decided to make a quick visit to the phone shop near the shopping mall to buy a new cell phone, unknowing about the grisly death of a certain corrupted demon hunter that was just taking place in an abandoned apartment complex at the moment. He couldn't borrow Paige's cell phone forever, he felt like it would be unfair towards her. Plus, she would be absolutely furious if he would accidently break it if he would unexpectedly encounter a demon. A few minutes later, the demon hunter exited the phone shop with a brand new cell phone in his pocket; hopefully this one would last a bit longer than the previous one did.

So it was Baron who was behind the slaughter in the city's suburbs... his hunch had been proven right. That bastard had been in Levesque City, he was so damn close to him and yet he didn't launch an attack on him. But why? Was the massacre just some sort twisted warm-up before the actual attack? Did he need to gather more strength to take him on? All of that was possible, and Finn knew that he had to stop the ink demon before more innocent victims would be hurt or even worse. The demon hunter returned to The Pentagram, where two teenagers were the first customers to enter the gothic shop, taking their time checking out the fashion and accessories. Paige was standing behind the cash register, but Finn didn't want to wait for the break to talk to her. He asked her if she had a moment; the demon witch must've realized that it was important, because she excused herself to the two customers, told them she was going to be back in a minute and followed Finn to the upstairs apartment.

'Bloody hell...' Paige whispered after the demon hunter had told her about what Dolph had told him. 'So it was him after all...'

'Aye. And I have the strong feelin' more people will die if I don't stop him, Paige. I need to find him!' Finn couldn't help but feel like a complete fool for not searching for the ink demon earlier, all because he wanted to be there for Paige... Fuck, what kind of demon hunter was he? He could already hear the voice of his deceased mentor in his head, lecturing him about one of the most disgraceful things a demon hunter could do; neglecting his duty. Collin Bálor would turn in his grave if he would hear that his pupil cared more about the health of a demon witch than going after a demon who wanted him dead.

Paige didn't reply immediately, glancing at the floor with a thoughtful look in her eyes. 'I think I have something that may make the search easier for you.' she said. She told Finn to wait there, quickly went to her bedroom and later came back with a bundle of keys in her hand. 'Follow me.'

They went down the stairs together and went back into the shop, where the two teenagers had already decided to make a purchase and were waiting at the cash register. Paige told them she would attend them in just a moment, which made one of the teens roll his eyes in mild annoyance. While they walked to a door in the far back of the store, Paige searched for the key she needed to open it; she had found the right key when they were just three steps away from reaching the door that would lead them into the backroom. She slipped the key inside the keyhole, twisted it and unlocked the door with one click. Finn followed her inside.

Looking around, he always had the feeling that he had stepped inside a fantasy world. The walls were painted dark red, which already gave the backroom a bit of a mysterious atmosphere. Dark grey tapestry with pentagrams weaved in them covered most of the walls. The red candles weren't lit, but they were clearly used a lot. A big, round, oak table was put in the middle of the room, the table leaf was covered with a big mirror with the same shape as the table. He saw glass bottles in different sizes and shapes in the big, wooden cabinet in the left corner of the room, containing powders, roots and liquids. Paige walked to a wooden chest on the right side of the backroom and opened it. Peeking over her shoulder, the demon hunter saw that the chest was filled to the brim with all kinds of mysterious-looking relics, like golden goblets, beaded strings, old books and he could even spot a dagger.

'Let's see, where is it?' the demon witch mumbled while she rummaged through the items. 'I'm pretty sure it was in here, I had seen it the other day... Come on, where is that bloody thing? Hmm... Ah! There it is!'

She got up and turned around, facing Finn and presenting him with a gorgeous amulet. The dark blue gem was set in a round, iron frame. A black leather cord was attached to it. Upon closer inspection, Finn could see that the blue gem was decorated with black lines that resembled cracks.

'This is an amulet that can detect ink demons and their magic.' Paige explained while she handed over the amulet to the demon hunter. 'If you will get close to Baron or the places where his powers have been the most active, it will react to his presence. Like this, you should be able to find him. Now go! Quick!'

'Thanks, Paige.' Finn turned around and walked away from her, but just when he wanted to exit the backroom, Paige felt the need to say something else to him.

'And... Finn?'

'Aye?' the demon hunter halted in the doorway and looked over his shoulder. He could clearly see a hint of worry on his landlady's face.

'Good luck. And please... be careful. Baron is a dangerous demon.' she said.

Finn gave her a small smile, but deep inside he knew that it wasn't enough to completely reassure her that everything was going to be fine. 'Don't ya worry about. I will be fine, I know what I'm doin'. Baron won't know what's comin' to him.'

All of that happened a few hours ago and much to Finn's frustration, the amulet hadn't reacted to Baron's presence for once during the entire time.

While he explored nearly every location in Levesque City he could think of, he expected the magic amulet to react at any moment by glowing, twitching, or even by leading him directly to him just like Joelle's book did when she was in grave danger, but nothing happened. It was almost like Paige had played a joke on him by giving him an ordinary piece of cheap jewelry you could buy at one of those stores with knock-off products, but he knew that she wouldn't do something like that. Paige wanted Baron to be stopped just as much as he did, this wouldn't be the time to pull pranks on him. The female demon was always dead serious when it came to taking down malicious demons.

Finn searched at every location that came to his mind that afternoon, and when his frustration started to grow, he went as far to go visit places where it would be most unlikely for Baron to be at, like the city's library and even the shopping mall. Searching at those places proved to be a waste of his time. Along with the frustration, something else was brewing inside him... and it was much darker than said frustration. Finn could hear the demon inside him growling with a low, inhuman voice, as if it was urging him to let him out. It always wanted to get out, but now he was being louder than usual. The demon hunter managed to catch a glimpse of the monster that was hiding inside him when he walked past a large window of one of the stores upon leaving the shopping mall. His reflection perfectly captured the image of his demonic self, his skin as black as the night, red veins pulsing on his limbs, claws and teeth white and razor sharp and growling at him as if he was resenting Finn for keeping him in check for so long. Unmoved by the demon's threatening appearance, Finn mumbled at him to fuck off and since then he hadn't seen him once during the entire afternoon.

The demon inside him had thankfully obeyed him again... but for how much longer was he going to stay put?

Was Baron still present in Levesque City or had he already left? It could explain why the amulet wasn't reacting to him. But Finn didn't want to give up, he had to find the ink demon, even if would take an entire day for him, hell, he considered to search outside the city if his search proved to be useless in the end. Levesque City was pretty big, so there was still a chance. Sooner or later his lucky break had to come, it just had to be! It was around four o'clock when Finn exited the shopping mall and thought about searching at the abandoned industrial area near one of the city's many canals. He knew that demon's often preferred to hide at deserted buildings, so the chance that he would find him there would be quite big. Fuck, why didn't he thing of that earlier? Mentally slapping himself on the forehead, the demon hunter headed to the industrial area, which was located on the other side of the city. It took him about more than half an hour to get there.

While he searched the abandoned factories, Finn expected the amulet to react at any given moment... but to no avail. Not even here he could find Baron. Outside, it nearly looked like the demon hunter had finally reached his boiling point when he actually considered to throw that damn amulet in the calmly plashing waters of the canal, but he managed to control his anger. Deep inside he knew he had to stay calm, or else the mission could turn into a complete failure. Finn looked at the sky and saw that the sun was going down at any moment, coloring the sky in a very gentle shade of orange. Sunsets were absolutely wonderful to look at during the summer, Finn had always thought that, ever since he was a little lad. But right now it was the last thing that was on his mind.

'Where the hell are ya, Baron?' Finn growled, clenching his fists in his pockets.

Just then, he heard the soft rustling of wings behind him. The sound was so soft, as if the wings were entirely made out of... feathers. Finn immediately turned around and the sight confirmed his suspicion.

It was Roman; as soon as the angel's feet touched the ground, his wings retracted into his back.

'Roman..' the demon hunter mumbled, already preparing himself for the now inevitable. Damn, how long had he been following him? While he slowly walked towards the angel, he could feel his dark powers already pulsing through the veins of his arms. 'You've come here to fight me again? Well, that's fine with me, pal. I'm ready to fight ya. Give it all ya got, 'cause I'm not going to hold back this-'

'I'm not here to fight you.' Roman calmly replied.

Finn stopped dead in his tracks, slightly widening his blue-grey eyes in surprise. He frowned in confusion. What the hell was with this sudden change of heart? Inside his head, the demon hunter heavily debated whether he should let his guard down. He had only encountered Roman two times, both of them were everything but friendly. On both occasions he wanted to bash his goddamn brains in, this could be a dirty trick for all that mattered. Apparently Roman could see the doubt on Finn's face.

'I'm telling you the truth.' he said. 'If I wanted to attack you, I would've done that already. Like I said, I'm not here to fight you, Finn. I'm just here to talk to you. That's all. Only that and nothing else.'

But Finn was still not entirely convinced about the true intentions of the angel. 'Just... talkin'?'

'Exactly. I understand how you feel about this, but you have to believe me. It's... it's about my daughter.'

'Ya mean Joelle?' The powers he was about to unleash on the angel slowly retreated from his arms, stopping the pulsing in Finn's veins. He stored his powers away for now; if this turned out to be a lie, he wouldn't hesitate to use them.

Roman nodded. 'Yes. I would never lie if it comes to my child.'

It was quiet for a moment, that is if the barely audible plashing of the water in the canal. 'Alright then.' Finn eventually said. 'Let's talk.'

'Very well. You see, I want to know something, Finn. Is it true what Joelle said about you? Is it true that you were the one who saved her from her kidnapper?'

'What do ya mean by that?'

'She... she was kidnapped on that day. It was the most agonizing day of my life, you can't even imagine. It felt like a nightmare I was unable to wake up from. I was convinced that I would never see my little girl again... and yet she arrived home safe and sound at night. She told me that the 'sad man' from the park had saved her from that sick fuck who had taken her. I'll be honest with you... I could hardly believe it. Hell, I didn't want to believe it at first. But she knew your name. And now I want to know, half-demon... were you the one who saved Joelle? Tell me now, honestly.'

The demon hunter nodded. 'Aye, it was me, Roman. I saw all about Joelle's disappearance on the news that night. I had to help her, I couldn't ignore it, I couldn't live with the thought of her being hurt. She had forgotten her book at the park, it was thanks to a friend that I could use it to find her. I found the little lass at an abandoned factory... and I found her just in time. Whatever that son of a bitch wanted to do to her, he wanted to hurt her badly. I have made absolutely sure he was never goin' to try hurtin' another child again. After that, I brought Joelle back to her home. You've seen her yerself. All of this is the truth, Roman, and nothin' else.'

'My God...' the angel mumbled after all of this sank into him. He remembered the book Joelle was holding in her hands when she arrived home. It was the real copy she had owned from the moment he had given it to her on her eight birthday, it had the exact same folds on some pages, it even had the same drop of dried-up blood on the twelfth page (a reminder of a nasty paper cut Joelle once suffered); it was indeed her book. Finn must've been keeping it until they would meet again... 'So she was speaking the truth after all...' The angel looked Finn straight in the eyes, finally believing everything now that he had heard the confirmation. 'Finn... I can't thank you enough for saving Joelle. You have saved the most precious person in my life, no, the most precious person in this entire realm. It's all thanks to you that she's still alive. You were there for her...'

Roman glanced at the canal's water and slowly breathed out through his nose. Something was clearly bothering him, Finn could see it in his piercing blue eyes.

'Is there something wrong, Roman?' he asked.

The angel let out a sigh and shook his head. 'I feel like such a worthless father.' he mumbled. 'I should've been the one to rescue her. A good father should always be there for his child, he will always be able to protect her, no matter what. But I failed. Damn it, it was all my fault. If I had arrived at her school in time, she would've never been kidnapped. She wouldn't have to spend hours fearing for her own life. Believe me when I say I have searched for her. I have searched through the city for what felt like a goddamn eternity. I have called out her name, looked into alleyways, asked people if they had seen her, I have even asked my comrades Dean and Renee to help me searching for her. They too have done their best, but even they couldn't find her. I had no other choice but to report her missing. I could barely look my own wife in the eyes when I told her about it when she came home from work. Joelle was out there somewhere being held captive and I couldn't find her. Her own father... While I was at home with the police officers, I thought she was resenting me so much for not being able to rescue her. It felt like I had ruined the trust she had in me. God, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw her there in the dark. I was so relieved that my baby girl was okay... but I can't help but feel so goddamn guilty. Let me ask you something, Finn... have you ever loved someone so much that you can't live with the thought of them being harmed in any kind of way?'

A mental image of Becky's face flashed through Finn's mind; he had to quickly blink his eyes a couple of times to fight back the tears. 'Aye.'

'Well, Joelle is that kind of person to me. I remember the day my wife showed me the positive pregnancy test. A child... we were going to have a child together. I was so ecstatic about the news, but at the same time, I was afraid. Since my wife is a human and I'm an angel, I knew the chance of our child being born stillborn, the pregnancy gruesomely ending with a miscarriage or even my wife dying during childbirth was huge, but we decided to give it a shot anyway. And then the big day finally came after nine long months... Galina survived the childbirth and Joelle was alive and well. From the moment I held her in my arms, I swore to God that I would everything in my power to let her grow up in a safe world. I wanted to create a safe world for her. I admit, it's my obsession. I already had failed to restore the Angel Realm and saving my comrades when it was overflowed with demons... but I was and still am convinced that I would never be able to live with myself if I would fail to protect Joelle. When I received visions of you, I thought you were out there to hurt her. That's why I wanted to take you down. But now I finally see that you were never a threat... I'm such a fool.'

'Roman, listen to me.' Finn said. He put his hand on the angel's shoulder and thought for a split second about the possibility of him swatting it away; but it didn't happen. 'Ye're not a worthless father. I don't think ya ever were. I have seen the rage in your eyes back at the park when Joelle was talking to me. Only a man who wouldn't give a damn about his child will never possess that kind of rage. I know how ya feel about creatin' a better world for her. Sometimes I wish I could do the same thing as well, for the sake of humanity. But that's impossible, I have seen that by now. Ya can never remove all that's evil in this world, but there's one thing ya can do to make it better. Just be the man that Joelle can look up to no matter how old she will become. Give her all the unconditional love ya have, make sure to make time for her, be present in her life. If ya do that, the world will already be a wonderful place in her eyes. Who knows, maybe it wouldn't even matter to her if it would burn down one day, as long as she has her father around. There will a day where she will live her own life and ya will have to let her go... but that doesn't mean ya will have to love her any less. Ya can't control everythin' that goes on in this world and will never wipe out all that's bad, but like I said... as long as ye're a good father to Joelle, it will already be good enough for her.'

Again, there fell a brief silence.

'You know...' Roman spoke. 'Maybe that's what my visions were trying to tell me all along.'

'What do ya mean?'

'That I can't control everything. I have the feeling that those visions were not predicting you harming Joelle... they were predicting you saving her. It all makes sense now... I wasn't in any of those visions, because I wasn't present to save her, but you were. Joelle was screaming in one the visions, but not because of you... it was because of her kidnapper. They were trying to tell me this all along, but I immediately looked at the dark side of those visions. You are right, Finn. I can't control everything and I never will. I will have to accept that. I'm going to try my absolute best to be the kind of father Joelle deserves. Thank you so much for making me realize that. And I'm truly sorry for all the trouble I've caused you.'

The demon hunter smiled reassuringly at the angel. 'Don't worry about that. I'm always in for a good brawl, ya know.'

Roman couldn't help but let out a brief chuckle. 'Glad to hear that.'

'But... there was something else that happened in the factory.'

'What happened?'

'When I arrived, I saw that Joelle had grown a pair of wings, just like you. Do ya know about that? Does she know... what ya really are?'

Roman nodded. 'Yes. She had told me about it before she went to sleep. I explained it all to her. I warned her not to show her wings to the other kids, because God knows what they might do to her. But she seemed to take it pretty good.'

'That's good. I hope she's holdin' up well.'

'She was still a bit shaken up for a while, but now it looks like she's doing fine again.'

'Ah. I'm glad to hear that.'

'Finn...' Roman reached out his hand, as if he was awaiting a handshake. 'If there is anything I can do for you, you can count on me. I owe you one, big time. You will forever have my gratitude for what you have done for not only me, but for my family as well. I can't thank you enough for saving my little girl.'

Finn gave him a nod and gave him a firm handshake, sealing the burial of the hatchet. 'Thank you, Roman. Ya know... there is actually somethin' I need help with.'

'And that is?' the angel asked, letting go of the demon hunter's hand.

'There is this ink demon on the loose. His name is Baron Corbin. He's already caused much trouble and I have to find him before things will get worse. I don't have any real description of him, but if ya do see an ink demon around this area, ya can give me a call. I can give you my cell phone number if ya want.'

'Very well. I will give you mine too.'

After they traded their cell phone numbers, Roman briefly patted Finn on his shoulder. 'I will keep an eye out for that guy, I promise. As soon as I spot him, I will give you a call. And Finn... I know I have said this already many times before, but... thank you for everything. Good luck.'

In the blink of an eye, Roman's wings reemerged from his back and moved them, creating a powerful gust that allowed him to ascend into the air. Then he flew away; Finn watched until he disappeared out of his sight. Looking away, he saw that the sun had almost completely gone down, almost disappearing down the horizon. Oh man, had they been talking for that long? Suddenly, Finn was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the ringtone of his new cell phone. He fished it out of his pocket and saw a familiar phone number displayed on the screen. He pressed a button and held the cell phone against his ear. 'Hello?'

'Finn, it's Dolph.' the blonde detective replied on the other side of the line. 'I need you to come over as quick as you can.'

'Uh, sure. Where are ya?'

Something about Dolph's voice didn't make Finn feel at ease at all; he could swear that he sounded like he had stumbled upon something truly disturbing.