They appeared in a room unfamiliar to Hunter. It was furnished to be a living room, so this was someone's house. Oh, right. Darius' house. Darius said he'd take him here. He said he'd be safe.
Hunter stood up (he fell to the ground at some point during the abomination-goo teleportation), quickly brushed his clothes off, and looked at Darius, who took a seat on a very pristine looking couch with an exhausted sigh.
"Go on, take a seat," the older witch said, running a hand down his face. "We have much to discuss."
Hunter didn't feel very much like discussing anything right now, especially not if he had to bring up last night, but he also was still a little skeptical about telling Darius anything. Darius gave him his first scroll, he kept Flapjack a secret from Belos, he didn't tattle on Hunter for disobeying him, and now he was supposedly keeping him safe from coven scouts. That would be more than enough proof for anyone else that Darius could be trusted, but…Hunter had trust issues. He didn't want to admit it, but he did, and could you blame him?! He'd grown up having back-stabbing, scheming coven heads as role models, and literally his whole life was a lie-he wasn't even a witch, for crying out loud! After everything, it was hard to believe that Darius wanted to help him right now. What was in it for him, anyway? What did Darius get out of helping him? This had to be a trick somehow, or a lie, or…or…
Flapjack pulled on a strand of his hair and chirped at him in a way that seemed almost disapproving. 'You can trust him,' the palisman said. 'You know you can, you're just not thinking straight right now.'
Right, right. His palisman-his sweet, caring (and sometimes annoying) palisman-was right. Darius was proven to be a rebel last night when he helped create the spell to enter Belos' mind. With that being the case, he probably wouldn't have a secret evil motive for helping him right now. With them both technically on the same side…The side against Belos…Hunter supposed that he could give Darius the benefit of the doubt.
That didn't mean Darius was all in the clear with him, though. Hunter wasn't one to trust easily, even with proof, and especially now. He'd have to remain on high alert while he was here.
But…Maybe he could try opening up to the coven head a little? He could prove to have useful answers, after all.
Darius rose an eyebrow at him and Hunter took that as his cue to take a seat. He set his bag of clothes down and then awkwardly collapsed his hands in his lap. "What do you want to talk about?" the teen asked in a low voice. His heart pounded frantically with nerves. He wished that he could just calm down, honestly. He hadn't been able to relax for even a second in the past 12 or so hours.
"What you saw in the Emperor's mind, for one, but that can wait. First things first, we need to figure out how to deal with your little 'runaway' problem," Darius replied.
"Runaway…problem? Don't you mean fugitive? Belos, he-he'll-"
Darius shook his head. "Belos, for some reason, hasn't announced you as a traitor. I don't know what happened in his mind, but I assumed if the human girl was in trouble with him, you were too. That, and I saw how panicked you looked when you ran away last night. Something terrible happened, didn't it? Something is keeping you from returning to Belos."
Hunter's cheeks flushed red with embarrassment and his eyes filled with hurt. He turned his head, wanting nothing more than to avoid eye contact with the coven head right now.
"I'll take that as a yes." A moment of silence. "I think I…actually have an idea of what you might have seen."
Ah, so Hunter was right-Darius did know something. But what? He and Luz saw several horrible things in there, any of which Darius could be talking about. Wait, but if Darius knew something, why didn't he tell Hunter sooner? He couldn't help but feel a slight pang of betrayal because whatever the coven head knew, there was a very, very good chance that it concerned Hunter in some way. "What-what do you mean?" Hunter asked, brows furrowing. Hesitantly, he brought his gaze to meet Darius' again. "What do you mean you have an idea? What-what do you know, Darius?" And how? How did he know?
Hunter had never seen Darius rendered speechless before. The abomination witch always had something to say, he never had a lack of words, never. Yet…Right now, his mouth was set in a grim line and his features looked troubled. Several times, he opened his mouth to speak, only for nothing to come out. Then he shook his head and sighed. "Sorry, this is…Something I've never told anyone before. It's harder to talk about than I imagined…" He placed his head in his hands. Minutes seemed to pass before he finally spoke again.
"Do you remember when I told you I knew your predecessor?" Darius asked in a very tired sounding voice.
Hunter nodded slowly. "You said he was your mentor." He frowned. That's right, Darius knew the previous Golden Guard…The previous grimwalker. Knowing that all of the previous guards were…what, basically copies of the same person (he needed to research grimwalkers to find out more, because he honestly had no idea what he was)?...suddenly made him feel awkward to be around Darius. He knew the previous grimwalker. How much did he resemble him? Were they nearly identical or were there obvious differences? Wait…Was that why Darius used to avoid him like the plague?!
Darius' next words only confirmed what Hunter was thinking.
"You said that Belos tried to kill you last night. I imagine that he was all too eager to toss you away once you found out information you shouldn't have, am I correct?"
Hunter's face screwed up at that painful reminder, but he nodded his head.
Darius' expression hardened. "The same thing happened with the previous golden guard. Most don't know this, but he started drifting away from the emperor once he discovered Belos' true intent. Your predecessor had a kind heart; he wasn't about to continue siding with someone he knew was evil."
Evil. That word punched Hunter in the gut. Belos was evil. Belos was evil, and Hunter had been helping him for years. The previous Golden Guard apparently had the sense to realize that Belos was bad on his own, but Hunter…If he didn't get trapped in his 'uncle's' mind, he wasn't sure if he'd ever accept the fact that the man who had been his role model was a horrible person. The truth was so obvious, but Hunter had been in denial his whole life.
"And?" Hunter asked in a miserable sounding voice.
"Belos told everyone a terrible accident happened and never elaborated any further. The previous Golden Guard was never seen again." He paused for a moment. "You don't become close to someone only to accept such a feeble excuse, and though I was still quite young and not very high in rank at the time, I swore to myself I would find out the truth." Darius looked very sad at that moment, as he rested his chin on his hand, pulling one leg up onto the couch. "Like I said, I found out that Belos killed him. There was no 'accident'. He realized that something was off about Belos and started to uncover his plans, and once Belos caught wind of that…"
Darius shot a look at Hunter, who winced in return. Once Belos caught wind of that, he couldn't have his perfect little puppet risk messing things up. He tossed him aside like garbage and replaced him with…Hunter…And that was that, until last night, when Belos tried to off him as well.
Hunter hated the look of pity that Darius was giving him right now. He didn't want anyone's pity…He just wanted this to be over. He just wanted things to be normal again.
"Hunter…" Darius started again, speaking slowly. Hunter looked up, not used to the older witch addressing him by his actual name. He supposed that he had to get used to it, though. He couldn't be called 'Golden Guard' or 'Little Prince' any longer.
"What? Spit it out." Hunter was getting a little impatient. He didn't want to drag this painful conversation out any longer, and it was still obvious that there was something Darius wanted to discuss, something he was nervous about. Then it dawned on him. Darius found out that Belos killed his predecessor, wasn't there a chance that he knew about…about the grimwalker stuff too? "Darius, do…do you…Do you know about grimwalkers?"
Darius' shoulders jolted in surprise, and he raised his eyebrows at the teen sitting beside him. "So you do know something about that. I was afraid to ask. It's a…difficult topic to bring up."
In through his nose, out through his mouth. He knew. He knew! But Hunter couldn't be upset by this. Not now. Not when Darius potentially had information he so desperately needed.
"What do you know?" It took all of his willpower to not growl that out. He had to stay calm, stay calm, stay calm. He felt his fingernails sting the palms of his hands as they bit into his flesh. The slight pain helped to ground him a little bit, at least.
"I found a couple of pages describing what a grimwalker was in one of Belos' books. I didn't learn much, but it was enough to connect the dots. Your predecessor was a grimwalker, as were all the previous Golden Guards, and-"
"And me," Hunter muttered bitterly.
"Yes. And you as well."
Hunter blinked some tears away and shook his head furiously, before burying his face in his hands. Then his hands moved to desperately grasp his hair, tugging on the strands tightly. He felt Flapjack peck his hands in attempt to get him to stop hurting himself, but he ignored the small palisman. "But what-what does it mean? What-what am I?" He whipped his head to the side to look at Darius, eyes wide and frightful. This time, he couldn't stop the tears from falling. "What am I?" His voice wavered and his frame shook. He couldn't handle this, it was too much, this was all too much, Darius was just another person who knew that he was some sort of freak-that he was some sort of artificial, magicless lifeform.
Once again though, Darius surprised Hunter by reaching out to grasp his shoulders firmly, steadying his unsteady frame. He looked him in the eyes, gaze soft yet determined. "I may not have all the answers right now, but I swear to you that we will find out. You're not alone anymore, Hunter. You have friends now, and allies too, me among them. We'll figure this out together."
Somehow, having Darius-an adult and a very powerful coven head-say that, assured Hunter in a way that nothing else had yet. He appreciated Willow's support and friendship to no end, but having someone who understood what it was like to be a coven head and was fully capable of fighting back against Belos was such an incredible relief. He still couldn't fully wrap his head around the fact that there were indeed coven heads who were against Belos, but he was so, so glad there were.
Darius was right. Between him, Willow, and the Emerald Entrails, he wasn't alone in this.