Chapter Five

They all appeared in an area surrounded by trees and shrubs, the book shop could be seen in the distance passed the trees they were near. Shadow began to walk out of the edge of the small wood when his arm was grabbed by Sonic, making him stop and look back.

"Yes?" Shadow calmly questioned with a raised brow.

"You can't just casually walk in there without some kind of plan. What if that place is cursed or something?" Sonic said with concern.

"It's a book shop." Shadow said as he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah and what if that is just a cover up of what it really is? Ever thought of that hun?" Rouge said with a frown as she totally agreed with Sonic yet again.

"But it looks like one and I do not see any warning symbols on the front of the place or any kind of sigils." Shadow said with a little frustration in his tone.

"Ok but we go in, look about as if we have come in to buy something then the first sign of trouble we get out." Sonic firmly said as he knew Shadow would not leave without answers.

"You really think that shop is dangerous don't you, ok fine we do this your way my love." Shadow softly said with a smile then motioned Sonic to take the lead.

They followed Sonic to the front of the store then entered, with a bell being hit when the door was opened. The place was full of shelves with all kinds of books on and some even had strange objects and crystals on. They took different isles, in twos, and had a slow look around to keep in character.

Rouge and Amy went together, Knuckles and Tails stayed close together and Sonic and Shadow held hands as they walked further into the amazingly larger on the inside then the outside book shop.

"Look at that Amy, isn't it just beautiful." Rouge called over and made the hedgehog stop to look at a medium sized ruby sitting in a posh looking box on a shelf with a glass cover fully around it.

"Yeah actually it is." Amy whispered as she stood looking at it.

"You know this place gives you a bad vibe." Knuckles muttered as he and Tails stopped to glance at some books with weird symbols on the front.

"Yeah kind of feels evil." Tails agreed with a shiver down his spine.

"Hey Sonic look over there!" Shadow suddenly shouted with excitement then dragged Sonic towards the reception desk where a strange book in a glass display cabinet was resting on the desk.

"Is that?" Sonic whispered as he tilted his head at the thick old looking dark brown book that seemed to have gold around the edge of each page.

"No this is the book of the dammed, it has very dark spells and rituals in. It was once in the possession of a very powerful witch before her death. Since her passing the book kept vanishing and reappeared all over the place until it disappeared without a trace. Seems like it found a new owner." Shadow excitedly said as he kept his eyes on the book, dying to get it out of its locked casing and flick through it.

"That is correct young man, not many people know of its history." A middle-aged human woman announced as she walked behind the reception desk, grinned madly at the hedgehogs.

"Can I look through it?" Shadow asked as he never removed his eyes from the book.

"I'm afraid you cannot. Can I maybe help you with something else instead?" The woman filmy denied the request then asked in a more sweeter tone.

"No fair but fine, your book I suppose. I don't suppose you have seen two hedgehogs come in here at any point have you? They are friends from school and are missing well they never turned up at the mall where we were supposed to be getting camping supplies together. They are not at home or round anyone else's home. They left a message saying they came here but I don't see them anywhere, did they show up here?" Shadow asked as he lied to avoid any suspicion or trouble.

"Actually I did have a break in by two hedgehogs late last night. I have them down in the basement tied up and at my sisters mercy." The woman angry said then clicked her fingers and the shop went into lock down.

"What the hell?" The friends shouted out all together then ran to where Shadow and Sonic were.

"Witch I take it." Shadow said with a smirk and not at all looking concerned.

"Yes and you all are not going anywhere. If you know those two troublesome hedgehogs then you are just as bad as them." The witch seriously said with narrowed eyes at Shadow.

"Just let them go please, it would not be in your best interest in keeping them locked up in your basement." Shadow sighed with a shake of his head.

"Is that a threat you little rat?" The witch growled with anger in her voice and began to moved a hand around to cast a spell.

"Ok that's it." Shadow seriously said as his eyes began to glow then he flicked his wrist at the witch.

She screamed as she was flung into the wall behind her and locked in place. Shadow waved a hand in a circular motion and muttered an incantation under his breath in demon language.

"No, Ahhhh, stop please stop!" The witch screamed out as pain filled her entire being, deep cuts starting to appear, causing blood to soak through her clothes.

"No, you kidnapped my family and this is your punishment. I can do far worse. Now, scream louder for me witch." Shadow growled with high aggression, smirked sinisterly as he spoke.

"Please, I'm sorry please. I'll let them go!" She cried out with tears streaming down her cut up cheeks, mixing with her blood as they fell.

"Shadow maybe that is enough, she is no good to us dead." Sonic softly whispered as he placed a gentle hand on Shadows shoulder.

"She has a sister so who cares if she lives or dies. I'm going to kill them both when we are done here anyway." Shadow spat out as he kept inflicting pain and suffering at the screaming witch.

"What the hell is going on up here?" A voice called out as she ascended up the basement stairs towards the door-less entryway near the reception desk that had strip beads hanging down to the floor.

Shadow growled and raised a hand out when the other witch was in his sights. He muttered something and held her in an invisible hold, making her quickly fly towards the other.

"Now that you are here too, can a few of you go and see if Mephiles and Silver are down there please. I will keep these two in place." Shadow asked as he glanced behind him at his friends.

Knuckles, Rouge and Amy nodded and ran down to the basement while Tails and Sonic stayed behind with Shadow.

"Let us go, we know nothing of the book, only it's history and context." The witch that wasn't bleeding out cried out with fear in her eyes.

"I do not believe you, you are lying to me. Not a very good idea since I can rip you both apart with a single thought. Now where is it or if you don't know it's located then tell me who has it?" Shadow growled as he narrowed his eyes in rage.

"We don't know, please we are telling you the truth." The witch that was bleeding out weakly said with a dazed expression.

"We had it safely in one of our locked cabinet down in the basement but someone took it. They trashed this place in search for it months ago and only took that book. They weren't even bothered that we have much more powerful books here and was only interested in the demon book." The second witch said in a desperate manner for Shadow to believe her.

"Shadow they are telling the truth." Mephiles called out as he, Silver and the friends walked through the door-less entryway and over to Shadow.

"So what if they are, doesn't mean I should not punish them both for kidnapping you and Silver, making me worried sick and caused me hell." Shadow growled as he looked at his cousin but deep down was glad to see both Mephiles and Silver were alive and alright.

"Let them go cuz or I'm telling uncle Xander you are losing it." Mephiles smirked deviously as he and Shadow glared at one another.

"Father would not care for these witches and would kill them as well." Shadow growled with anger.

"True but he would care if you killed them and couldn't calm down, we both know you are getting very worked up and he won't like that." Mephiles smirked as he could see Shadow thinking about what he said.

"You wouldn't dare, would you?" Shadow asked as he was calming down and now starting to look a little worried.

"I would." Mephiles chuckled as even though he wouldn't he was very good at making himself sound and look like he would.

"Oh fine you little snitch." Shadow grumbled then clicked his fingers and both witches were released.

"Anna, you alright? You need medical help." The second witch said with fear at seeing her older sister looking so weak and still bleeding out.

Shadow rolled his eyes and once again clicked his fingers making Anna's injuries disappear.

"She needs rest and remember to give her plenty of water and small amounts of food. No witchcraft for a while though or she could end up worse." Shadow grumbled as he crossed his arms and glared at the two.

"That book you are all looking for i-is still in this town. W-we did a tracking spell and it shows it is still here but whereabouts within, within the town unknown." Anna whispered out weakly as she was being supported by her younger sister.

"That book is no use to whoever took it for not only is it locked with no key but in a language only a demon can read." Anna's sister seriously said as she looked at the group with some anger in her brown eyes.

"Wrong again for demons are disappearing from hell with no trace of them. Clearly these people had the key in their possession and found the books location, it being here, and took it." Shadow growled back as he spoke to them, getting angry once again.

"Chill Shads, you are getting all worked up again." Sonic softly said as he wrapped his arms around Shadow and hugged his demon boyfriend from behind.

"Oh look Shadow, uncle Xander's number. Do you want me to press the call button?" Mephiles said in a devious tone as he held up his phone and showing the demon kings number, ready to call.

"You are all just so...so, evil." Shadow muttered with a pouting expression.

"Still no use to them unless they have a demon working for them to translate the language. I wouldn't put it passed you lot, you demons are a greedy chaotic bunch." Anna's sister spat out with narrowed eyes.

"Or they are forcing a demon to read the book for them." Anna whispered with a tired expression.

"Then it becomes even more personal then doesn't it. I advise you both to keep a low profile on all of this and if I find out you are hiding anything from me, I will hunt you both down and rip you apart very slowly. I will melt the flesh from your bones and keep you alive throughout the process. You get one warning and one warning only." Shadow warned with a very dangerous look in his eyes.

"Yeah and he means it too." Sliver smirked with amusement then they all vanished with a click of Mephiles' fingers.

"Shit we need to call Carla and tell her of this. She will need to know since she is head of the coven." Anna's sister muttered as she assisted Anna to a near by chair to rest on.

The friends appeared back inside the demons home, in the living room to be precise, and all feeling a little unnerved with what has happened.

"I suppose we owe you all a thanks for helping to find us both. So thanks." Mephiles said as he and Silver faced everyone, both with thankful expressions.

"It was nothing. Besides, I'm sure if we didn't then Shadow probably would have tore the world apart in his search." Sonic said as he gave Shadow a teasing grin.

"I would not have done that. Ok maybe I would have but that is not the point. You both need to be more chaos damn careful and next time leave a hand written note!" Shadow growled then vanished to his room to cool off.

"I did leave him a note it was on the fridge door." Silver said with a tilt of his head.

"Come again? Hold up one second." Sonic said then dashed to the fridge.

He came back seconds later with a peace of paper and a dry expression on his features as he looked at Silver and Mephiles.

"See I did leave a note." Silver grinned as he pointed to the peace of paper in Sonic's hand.

"Yeah it's says running out of hell sap, can you get some while we are gone." Sonic said as he read the note for all to hear.

"Did he get some more?" Mephiles asked with an amused smirk.

"I think Shadow meant to leave a note on where you both were going, not a shopping list." Amy sighed with a shake of her head.

"Not my job to tell Shads where we were heading, that was Mephiles' job." Silver shrugged indifferently as he spoke back.

"I left a message in his head, as we were ambushed and before communication was cut off." Mephiles shrugged as he did do as he said he would do, eventually did.

"Shadow is just a little sensitive and gets worked up too quickly. He needs to take a deep breath and relax before going off in a blind panic. It's a working progress and we will get there eventually." Silver said with a grin at the friends.

"Ok well I'm going to check to see if he is alright and relax I know where his room is." Sonic winked then dashed off to Shadows bedroom.

"And how does he know that?" Mephiles asked with a raised brow at group of friends.

Silver looked away and pretended he didn't know that answer. He didn't say anything to Mephiles about Shadow having a boyfriend, mainly because he, one, figured Shadow was simply messing about and, two, forgot and only just remembering now.

"What makes you think we know that answer?" Tails questions back with a small frown.

"Good question. So Rouge, please answer." Mephiles smirked while he gave the bat full eye contact as his eyes began to softly glow.

"They spend the night together last night and were quite busy in there. Wait I mean, did I just say all that out loud?" Rouge said and was freaking out as she did not mean to say any of that.

"So little Shadow is banging the blue hedgehog?" Mephiles asked with an insane laugh at the friends.

"Hey you made me say all of that. That is so cruel and an invasion of privacy!" Rouge shouted out with anger in her eyes.

"Yeah so what if I did, I need some blackmail material on Shadow and now I have it." Mephiles said with a wink at Rouge, happy to have leverage over Shadow now.

"That's mean, he's you cousin." Amy said with crossed arms and frowning unhappily.

"And that is supposed to stop me? Doesn't stop Shadow holding things over me. It's called payback and damn it is a bitch." Mephiles shrugged as he really didn't care much.

"Right dad's pissed where is Shadow? He was meant to return hours ago to give his report." A demon appeared and was not looking happy.

"This is Flame, Shadows brother. Shadow is in his room stropping so I'll give him a minute or three before you burst down the door." Mephiles casually said with little interest in his expression.

Flame was a deep orange hedgehog with dark crimson steaks in his quills and along his arms and legs. He had red eyes that were looking angry for being sent to fetch his brother. He wore black Gothic boots and a long black trenchcoat that was open.

"I don't care if he is off on one, he was meant to come home today. Dad is getting very angry that he never showed up and has sent me to go get him. I do not appreciate being forced to come here for a stupid reason." Flame growled with narrowed eyes at Mephiles and was not in the mood.

"Fine then go get him because I'm sure as hell ain't stepping one foot in his room and neither is Silver. After all it was you who was sent from hell to go get him." Mephiles sinisterly smirked as he locked eyes with his cousin.

Flame went silent as he took a moment to think about actually dragging his little brother out of his room when in a fit of anger. It was well known Shadow was very dangerous when in that type of mood and not even family members got off lightly when approaching him.

"I'll give him a moment to collect himself." Flame muttered as he avoided everyone's gaze upon him.

"Does that mean Sonic is in danger?" Tails asked with concern since if Shadow's own brother seemed scared with disturbing Shadow then it had to be dangerous for Sonic to be in that room with Shadow.

"Who is Sonic?" Flame asked as he looked at the mortals with a raised brow.

"No one." Mephiles said in hopes no one will give who Sonic is to Shadow away.

"Shadows boyfriend, serious boyfriend, and they are very much active." Amy said with a grin at Mephiles as Mephiles groaned in displeasure.

"No seriously, who is Sonic to my brother?" Flame smirked as he didn't believe the girls words.

"No one, he is just a friend." Mephiles said with a slightly nervous grin.

"He is way more than a friend. Sonic is Shadows serious boyfriend, lover, partner, mate, sexual partner...which ever way you wish to put it really." Rouge said as she gave Shadow's brother a wink.

"Wait my brother is banging a mortal and on a regular basis? Oh man wait until dad hears about this. Ok tell Shadow he needs to get his butt to hell within the hour ok. Oh man this is rich." Flame said with excitement then vanished to relate his findings to his father.

"Oh well bloody done! Now Shadow is going to get hell from his father." Mephiles growled with narrowed eyes at the two girls.

"Wait what? We thought you weren't saying anything because you would lose your blackmailing material. We didn't know Shadow wasn't allowed to be with someone on that level." Amy said with shocked wide eyes.

"Well he is not!" Mephiles shouted as he was getting very angry with the friends.

"But Shadow said he had a lot of freedom when it came to his choices in life." Tails said with a confused expression as he did assume Shadow meant being with others on a physical level.

"Yeah he did say that actually so if that is the case then why would his father get mad at him? Unless Shadow is lying and didn't want to admit he has restrictions." Amy said as she recalled what Shadow had said earlier in her head.

"He isn't lying, my uncle doesn't care what Shadow does so long as he obeys the rules back home." Mephiles shrugged as he felt he should stick up for his cousin a little.

"Shadow doesn't lie unless it is acquired of him to or if it is to protect someone." Mephiles added as he felt the friends needed to know this information about his cousin.

"Shadow is special to his father and his youngest child so he is kind of very protective of Shadow." Silver explained without saying too much since it technically wasn't any of their business.

"My uncle doesn't want Shadow to have a partner, plain and simple." Mephiles casually said with a shrug as he didn't want to go explaining their family affairs to a bunch of mortals they barely knew.

"And Shadow doesn't get a say in the matter? That isn't all that fair and he should be allowed to have a partner if he wants one." Rouge seriously said with a frown at the demons, not really understanding why it was an issue.

"Youngest child? Does that mean Shadow has more siblings than Flame?" Tails asked as he was a little curious to know.

"Yes he has two more brothers and two sisters. Shadow did have a twin sister but she disappeared two decades ago then found dead a month after her vanishing." Mephiles answered with a sad expression when mentioning his dead cousin.

"Seriously Shadow had a twin sister but he goes about like nothing bad has ever happened to him. I would imagine a sibling dying would effect someone, especially a twin sister." Amy gasped out in shock at what she heard.

"Hey guys, Mr Grumpy is all nice and calm now so what you all talking about?" Sonic announced as he and Shadow walked in while holding hands then stopped a little away from Silver and Mephiles.

"Well for one Flame came by and said you failed to go home to report to uncle Xander earlier. Apparently your father is very angry at that." Mephiles said as he locked eyes with Shadow.

"It is meant to be next weekend, I told father next weekend not this one." Shadow groaned as his father's temper was not something to be messed with.

"You had a twin sister?" Amy suddenly said as she gave Shadow a sad expression.

"Had being the key word there Amy." Shadow grinned as he looked her way and not looking at all upset with the question or the mentioning of his dead twin.

"How can you just be like that and not show any emotions when she is mentioned? She was your twin, surly you both had a special bond?" Amy gasped as she did not like the cold response she got from Shadow.

"Amy drop it." Silver said with a look that begged for the conversation to stop.

"No! If it was my sister, my twin, I would never be the same. I would always be sad when she was mentioned or brought up in a conversation." Amy semi shouted out as she just didn't understand why Shadow didn't show any emotions other than his usual attitude.

"She is gone and never coming back so why bother getting upset about it? I'm going to see my father and report back early." Shadow shrugged indifferently then vanished.

"He is so heartless." Amy growled with anger and was beside herself with Shadows cold attitude.

"No Amy, he isn't. He never got over Annabel's death and probably never will. He is simply doing what he has to in order to keep himself from breaking down again. He and Annabel were so very close and did everything together, never went anywhere without the other. Then she suddenly wasn't there anymore, Shadow went out and searched for her and never stopped until he found her dead corpse. So don't you dare say he doesn't care about her, you were not there during that time and never saw his heartbroken face when he brought her body home to his father!" Mephiles shouted with anger and sorrow as he was now reminded of that depressing time.

After that the room fell into a very uncomfortable silence.