Chapter two –
Seph
Seph Firesword was an orphan. He was told that his parents died in a car crash, but he has known for a few years that that is not true. There are no records. Unknown to him, he is a demigod, a child of Hades. Seph has been trying to find his parents, or records of them, since he figured out that they had not died in a car crash. He would do almost anything to find out information about them.
Seph left the party to go to the old abandoned warehouse he has called home since he ran away from his lying, sniveling foster parents. It was almost midnight and he was watching television on a stolen set that he had managed to make work, when he heard a soft, almost hesitant knock on the door. The door looked, on the outside, like old wood with peeling paint, but, on the inside, was solid stone. Seph contemplated whether he should open the door or not and had decided not to when the knocking got more insistent. He hauled himself out of the chair and slowly sauntered up to the door, knowing that taking a while to open the door earned you more respect than rushing to open the door. Impatient people were also more likely to agree to a better deal than patient people and keeping people waiting at the door was a good way to make them impatient.
Once he had checked his peepholes and confirmed that the misshapen man standing at his door had only a knife in the way of weapons, and he could deal with a knife easily enough (he always carried at least two), he opened the door.
"You needed me for something?" Seph asked, making sure that he sounded arrogant and that his voice conveyed the message – You had better need me for something or else.
"I have the information that a Seph McCauley lives here. Is that correct?" the stranger responded, matching Seph's arrogance word for word.
"I have some information about your family. Would you like to acquire this information?"
"I might be interested." Seph said, trying to retain his composure. He was having some trouble though, because he was bursting with questions.
"I thought you might be," the man replied, and grabbed Seph's arm. The man was strong and, even though Seph dug in his heels and tried to pull away, the stranger managed to drag Seph outside before Seph twisted and freed himself. Seph didn't think he would need it, but pulled out a knife, just to be on the safe side. The man reached out and placed two fingers on each side of Seph's elbow. The stranger squeezed sharply and Seph's entire arm went numb, causing him to drop the knife.
"If I yell, fifty people will come to help me," Seph snapped sharply.
"But you won't, not if you want to ever see your family," the man said, still eerily calm. "And you will come with me." Seph had to know about his family and decided, in a split second, that he would go with the man. After all, the man didn't know about his other two knives. He could use those if necessary.
"And give me your other two knives," the man boomed.
Seph was astounded! How did the man know about the other knives? But Seph had to comply, handing over his knives meekly. The dark man dragged him through a maze of alleyways in to a dark dead end. There was a spilled stash of broken, empty beer bottles.
"Relax and breathe," instructed the man, as a shadow detached itself from the wall and dropped down in front of him.
"Hello Sssseph," the shadow hissed.
"Wha–" But that was as far as he got. The shadowy figure leaned forward, so its (or her or his) face was right in front of Seph's.
"Good night," it hissed, and breathed black smoke into his face. The growing darkness smothered his vision and he slowly sunk into unconsciousness. Right before Seph was completely unconscious, he felt a sharp pain down his side. His chest hurt in a line across his chest that felt like there was a cut going down to his heart. There was also the incredible pain in his arm, maybe it was broken.
"I told you not to harm him! Hades needs him!" the man was yelling.
"Sssssorry," the shadow hissed "But he will heal" And that was all Seph heard before he fell into unconsciousness.