I know it's been a while, but I have a reason for that: I hurt my wrist somehow. It's not broken or anything like that, but it's been a painful ride for a few weeks. It made writing and typing next to impossible for a bit there. It seems to be calming down, though, so yay!

"Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect."

Margaret Mitchell

Adam

Demons. The birds that set Adam's teeth on edge when he noticed them were demons, or so they claimed. He couldn't wrap his mind around it. He wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, but he did know that demons were supposed to be evil. He also knew that demons didn't exist, according to most people. Then again, just because Adam hadn't seen something didn't mean it wasn't real. After all, the pyramids and Santa were real, and he never saw them.

Mr. Davenport seemed to feel the same way. He clutched the arms of his chair with white knuckles, staring into space. Maybe Adam should have been more delicate than "Douglas sent demons to guard us," but it was too late now. Leo sat by his mother on the couch, rubbing his eyes as he tried to wake up. Tasha rubbed Leo's shoulders, watching Adam as he sat on the floor.

It would be great if Bree didn't sprint to the Lab the second she got home. Adam understood the desire to hide, but she would have explained things better than he could.

Mr. Davenport shifted his weight at last, narrowing his eyes. "Did the birds follow you?"

Adam shook his head. "Bree sped us home." There was no way the birds kept up with that.

Tasha's eyes shot to Mr. Davenport. "You don't think they're actually demons, do you?"

Mr. Davenport shook his head. "No, he's just messing with me. They're androids or something."

Leo shook his head hard, blowing out a breath. "Okay, I'm good."

Adam patted Leo's knee, offering him a smile. At least Leo didn't hurt himself. That was one weight off Adam's shoulders, but it didn't get rid of Douglas' bird demons. "If they're androids, why wouldn't he just bring Marcus back?"

"We're onto Marcus," Mr. Davenport explained, waving Adam's words away.

"Why birds, though?" Tasha looked at the door as she asked the question, and Adam couldn't blame her. Anxiety gnawed at his stomach like something was still watching them. He resisted getting up to check the house for spies.

"Who knows?" Mr. Davenport shook his head, smoothing out his shirt. "It's more about the demons than the bird thing for him, I promise."

Leo bounced his leg, prompting Adam to let go of Leo's knee. His eyes flicked between the window and Mr. Davenport. "Why demons? It feels so…random." He wrinkled his nose.

Mr. Davenport waved the words away, sitting up. "Childhood thing. Look, why doesn't matter," he said, avoiding Tasha's "what-the-hell" look. "We have to figure out what Douglas' game is this time."

A flash of motion outside the window caught Adam's eye. He raised his hand. "Mr. Daven- "

"You don't have to raise your hand to talk at home, Adam," Mr. Davenport interrupted, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, but – "

A bang on the door cut Adam off again. Cackles rang through the air, almost drowning out a string of curses. "There's a door there, idiot!"

The laughing increased until an orange tongue of flame burst through the air. Adam hopped to his feet, clenching his fists even as the fire vanished into a curling tendril of smoke. Mr. Davenport stood more slowly as the voices outside started talking again. "Geez, Carth, you don't have to be so pissy."

"I'm over 20,000 years old and being used to babysit. I'll be as mad as I want."

"Can we just get in there? I'm tired of all this 'fresh air' crap."

Adam clenched his jaw as something started scratching at the door. He balled his fists as three mice squeezed their way under the door. They had the decency to pick different colors, at least. One settled on a light gray, one was brown, and one had a black and white pattern going on. They scurried across the floor to stand in the middle of the living room as Tasha yelped, pulling her feet up onto the couch. The brown one sat up, wiggling its nose. "Don't run again. It's hard to guard you people when you just disappear on us."

Adam found himself conflicted now. He lowered his fists as he studied them, frowning. They were so cute. He bent down, reaching for the gray one. "Weren't you birds?"

The mouse hopped back a few steps, chittering its teeth as it flicked its ripped ear. "Don't touch me, or I'll bite you."

Adam pulled his hand back as a muffled protest sounded from under the couch. "Don't hurt that one. He's nice."

"We couldn't hurt him if we wanted to," the brown mouse muttered, scratching its shoulder.

Adam and Mr. Davenport exchanged a look at that, but the mice were talking among themselves now. The gray mouse fixed Adam with as much of a glare as a mouse could muster. "I can make accidents happen."

A gecko – his gecko, Adam realized with a jolt – crawled out from under the couch. A fly struggled in the lizard's mouth, trying to free a wing. "I'll eat anybody who causes an accident."

Adam's eyes widened as he pointed at the lizard. "Wait, you could talk this whole time and didn't tell me?"

The gecko shook its head, whipping the fly around as it looked at Adam. It spoke out of the corner of its mouth. "I wasn't supposed to talk to you." It looked at Mr. Davenport, then back to Adam. "I'm sorry."

Mr. Davenport's eyes were almost as large as Leo's. The boy in question pointed at the gecko, his voice shooting up an octave as he watched Adam. "You knew there was an android in the house and didn't tell anyone?"

Adam threw his hands up. "I didn't know it was an android." How would he, short of breaking the creature in half? Adam didn't want to do that to something for no reason.

The black and white mouse raised its nose. "What's an android?"

The gray one threw its head up. "Who cares? We're not androids. We're imps."

Leo pointed at the door from his perch on the couch. "Whatever you think you are, get out before I make you go."

The mice scoffed, the brown one even letting out a laugh. The gecko crawled up onto Adam's shoe. "We can't. Master's orders."

The brown mouse took a few steps towards Leo. "No, hang on. I want to see him try."

Adam's hand twitched towards the mouse. It was hard to reconcile the rodent with a threat from Douglas. Leo stood up, clenching his fist. "I can handle a mouse."

The mouse seemed to blur around the edges. Then, a second later, an exact replica of Leo was staring the original Leo down. Leo himself took a step back, swallowing. "Hey, that's my body! Give it back!"

Leo II rolled his eyes, then blurred into Bree. The deep voice that rolled from the copy's mouth sent a chill down Adam's spine. "I don't want your body, runt."

Leo's eyes widened further, if possible. He sat back down without a word, watching the new Bree.

Mr. Davenport found his voice at last. "Enough!" When everyone looked at him, he pointed at the party of animals. "I want your names right now, demons, or I'm dragging out Tasha's silver necklaces."

Tasha scowled, but Bree II threw his hands up. "Easy, easy. I'm Carth, that's Mesth – " he pointed at the black and white mouse – "that's Vilar – " he pointed at the gray mouse – "and that's Ajiiyahn." He finished by pointing at the gecko perched on Adam's shoe.

Mr. Davenport's expression darkened at the last name, landing somewhere between recognition and resentment. The gecko spoke around the fly again, its voice uncertain. "You can call me Yahn, if it's easier for you."

"Anyways, Master sent us to guard you," Carth continued, crossing his arms. Adam frowned at the action. It was so stiff and unlike Bree that seeing it in her mirror image was disorienting. "So stop making it harder for us."

"And Master is Douglas?" Adam asked, crouching down to rub Yahn's back with one finger. This was still the gecko Adam had spent time with, demon or not.

"We don't need Douglas to guard us. He's a threat to us," Leo muttered.

Adam frowned. Douglas was a mystery anymore. He both brought Krane and Marcus into their lives and tried to kill Krane for them. These imps could mean anything at this point.

"And we have a security system," Mr. Davenport added, looking at the screen in the living room wall. "Right, Eddy?"

The program in question popped up on the screen. "What's going on? I was sleeping."

Mr. Davenport turned fully to the screen. "Eddy!"

"What? Beautiful doesn't just happen, you know," the program said. "Just look at Tasha. Talk about no effort."

Tasha glared at the screen. "I'd take almost anything over that deranged emoticon."

Mr. Davenport rubbed his eyes, letting out a sigh at Eddy's comment as Mesth cocked its head. "That thing can't see imps, anyways. We can."

"Besides, I've been here for a few days," Yahn added. "If Master wanted you dead, you'd be gone by now."

Leo's eyes widened again as he sat up straight. "You've been spying on us for days?"

Yahn gasped. "I'm not- crap, catch him!"

The fly freed itself as Yahn opened his mouth, making a beeline for the door. A blur of motion followed it, animals and Bree II changing into four very different things. By the time the fly disappeared under the door, the living room had a blue-scaled dog, a tiny cat-human thing, a two-headed lynx with green fur, and a gray gargoyle that Adam was pretty sure was Yahn. The dog creature dug her claws into the carpet, gouging deep ruts in the fabric. "Damn it!"

One of the lynx's heads fixed Yahn with a glare. "Way to lose the actual spy, moron."

Yahn dropped to the floor and curled up in a ball, his wings and hands covering his eyes as he groaned. "Master's going to kill me."

The cat-person sat down, sighing as he rubbed his eyes with a gold-furred hand. "All of you are incompetent, I swear."

Yahn still trembled in a ball on the floor, his tail tucked around him, lamenting. "He's going to feed us to Half-Breed."

That got the attention of the other demons. The dog's spiked tail lowered as she cocked her head. "Half-Breed?"

Yahn sat up, throwing his hands to the sky. "His djinni, his kid. The guy is Master's favorite, and we're going to be his snacks!" He threw himself back down on the floor.

The imps exchanged worried looks at the word 'djinni,' but Adam sucked in a breath at 'kid.' Tasha, Leo, and Mr. Davenport seemed to catch onto that, too. Adam almost didn't want to entertain the hope that flared up inside him. Mr. Davenport himself stepped towards the creatures, raising a hand. "That djinni wouldn't happen to look like Douglas, would he? Named Chase?"

Yahn raised his head, focusing on Mr. Davenport with big, yellow eyes. He nodded, sitting up and wrapping his long tail around his feet. "That guy, yeah."

Adam locked eyes on the gargoyle, holding his breath. If the imp was right, Chase was still alive. His little brother was still alive. Leo's hand shot up to cover his mouth as Adam ran through scenarios in his head. Chase would need rescuing if Douglas had him, but they could manage that.

The cat person looked at Mr. Davenport, frowning. "Who the hell is 'Chase?'"

"Okay, everybody stop!"

Everyone's attention locked on Tasha as she stood up, raising her hands high. She pointed at the demons. "Get them out of the living room before they tear anything else up."

Adam glanced at the floor at the dog's feet. The gouges hissed in the silence like acid had been poured into them. He could see why she wanted the imp out of there.

The lynx raised itself up to its full height – lynxes were smaller than Adam thought – and faced Tasha. "What if I – "

"Do you really want to test me right now?" Tasha narrowed her eyes, stepping towards the imp. When the lynx backed up a few steps, she nodded and looked at Mr. Davenport. "At least take them to the Lab or something."

Mr. Davenport nodded, waving his hands towards the elevator. "Right, everybody downstairs."

When the imps didn't move, Adam walked up to them. He picked up Yahn, shrugging as the creature nuzzled into his shirt. "Well, I'm going. Come on." He started for the elevator, still holding Yahn as the sound of paw steps followed him. That was a lot easier than Adam had expected it to be.

Either that, or they were rightfully scared of Tasha's wrath if they stayed behind.

Mr. Davenport's voice reached Adam as Leo fell into step beside him. "Honey, can I borrow a bracelet or something? It has to be silver."

Tasha sounded so tired as she answered. "Fine. Just pick one from the dresser instead of the jewelry box."

Douglas

Douglas tapped a pen on the legal pad as he stared at the papers on the table, his cheek resting against one hand as he sighed. The letters blurred together now, spinning into meaningless chaos as he stared. Stupid key. Why hadn't he solved it yet? He was Douglas fucking Davenport. This should be easy! He sighed again, stabbing the pen down on a drop of blood that stained one of the sheets.

Douglas was less-than-pleased when he came back downstairs to find blood spatter on the kitchen floor. He honestly thought Oly and Chase were past the phase where they'd want to fight. What was more stunning was the fact that Douglas hadn't heard that fight at all. It hadn't been awful – there wasn't enough blood to worry him – but he expected some snarling or something. It had been doubly surprising when he found the tip of one of Chase's ears laying on the floor. Douglas couldn't imagine biting down a scream from that injury.

Closing his eyes, Douglas shook his head and sat up in his chair. He could work on Oly and Chase's relationship when they returned from Lovett's place. His mother used to make him and Donald hold hands when they were fighting. That was a place to start, Douglas supposed.

This 'parenting demons' thing was more difficult than Douglas thought. It was a lot easier when it was just him and Marcus.

Douglas let his eyes drift back to the riddle that had haunted him for days. Why did Krane have to play this riddle game? Douglas didn't remember Krane being this playful after he got his bionics. Then again, maybe that was why Douglas couldn't solve this thing. Krane had super intelligence on his side, after all. Douglas curled his lip up at the paper. Stupid riddle.

What begins eternity and ends time and space? What starts every end and ends every race?

The fucking letter 'e,' Douglas thought, throwing the pen down on the table so he could cross his arms. He wished Krane would just use a computer next time. Douglas could steamroll through some encryption types in no time. Others took more effort, but it wasn't impossible. Anything would be better than –

Wait, was that it? The letter 'e'?

That would be too easy, though. Douglas narrowed his eyes at the riddle, frowning. It wouldn't hurt to entertain the thought, he guessed. What would it mean if it was the letter 'e,' though? It was a vowel, the fifth letter of the alphabet, nothing –

Hey, five was a number. If the key was nothing but a number, a rail cipher was more likely than the transpositional one Chase had been hunting down.

Douglas sat up straight, flipping to a clean page in his legal pad. He drew five horizontal lines and pulled the first page of Krane's letters to him. He started listing the letters in a zig-zag pattern, starting from the top of the table and going down five rows before starting to go back up. A series of V's formed across his page until he could finally read words.

Lovett: It is important that you understand me when I tell you to do something.

Douglas sucked in a breath, releasing it in a laugh. "Suck it, Krane!" Now, they could get somewhere.