Chapter 48

'Dad,' Taylor turned uncertainly towards him the moment he arrived.

A part of him was amazed it had taken him so long, seeing as how Taylor had been there now for a while himself. But from the look on his father's face Taylor guessed he'd had good reason to stay away. For a long time he ignored Taylor's question and almost appeared half frozen. Then he swallowed hard and attempted to meet Parto's gaze.

'You can be such a fool some times,' his voice was strangely dry. 'Why didn't you want me here when you were in so much pain?'

'I've seen what the hell future did to you… to us… I didn't… I couldn't…'

'But we're not as we were in that hell future,' there were almost humouring tones in his voice, 'are we?'

'I don't know,' his Parto lowered his gaze. 'No, I guess we're not. I mean, they couldn't admit they loved each other. And they were so… hollow.'

'Hollow?'

'Everything good had been sucked out of them. They were living in death; no wonder Mokuba was so traumatised after. That was hell. That really was hell. And now Mokuba won't live to see it rise again.'

'But we won't let it rise,' Taylor turned towards his Parto. 'We're stronger than they are. Stronger than hell could ever be. They won't defeat us. Right Dad,' he flicked his gaze towards him for support.

'Duke's dead,' was all his father managed to say, instantly causing the cat clad Drake to howl in pain.

'Dead,' his Parto half-mouthed. 'But… how?'

For a few moments his father was silent, as though he couldn't bring himself to say what had happened.

'Drake please,' he eventually managed, 'you have to be quiet now.'

'How can you expect him to be quiet when you've just told him his father is dead,' Taylor felt a wave of anger spike through him as he pulled Drake into his arms to soothe him. 'What's wrong with you?'

'Taylor he can't hear you,' his Parto gave a heavy sigh, 'so there's no point shouting at him like that.'

'You can hear him,' his Dad breathed, almost mystified.

'I think I can,' he lowered his gaze again. 'Hell is going to rise, isn't it?'

'Parto no,' Taylor protested, 'it's not going to.'

'The beast is favouring Ni,' his Dad's voice was mute, confusing Taylor on more than one level.

'The beast,' his Parto breathed strangely, 'but I thought…'

'We all did.'

'It's working with Ni?'

'Kisara saw him leading its army.'

'Why would the beast give him anything?'

'I don't know, maybe they made some kind of a bargain.'

'I curse his daughters for ever being born,' his parto gritted his teeth. 'If it wasn't for them…'

'They were children,' his father cut him off.

'How can you defend them like that when three of them turned out so…'

'They're still my grandchildren; that might not mean anything to you but…' he turned his head away. 'Dayena still loves them, so why can't I?'

'They're Dayena's children, they're not yours.'

'The Dead Lover,' his father began reciting strangely, 'Soundless of the Merciless Mind, Tortured of the Broken Body and Tormented of the Darkened Soul. He didn't even bother given them proper names, just titles.'

'Soul demons rarely have names of their own,' his parto shook his head, 'and all four of them were soul demons.'

'I can't even remember their true faces now, only the faces we gave them. Sound, Chance, Pitch and Era, look what kind of lives they've had because of what we did. Because we had to punish them.'

'Ni's children needed to be punished for what they created.'

'Why,' his Dad began massaging his temples, 'the rules of creation hadn't been formalised back then; there was no right or wrong when it came to what they did. Okay, so events were in motion by that point. Rules were being discussed. But they weren't finalised till after. And maybe… maybe if we didn't punish them in the way we did, more than one of them would have turned out for the better.'

'You don't know that,' his Parto once again shook his head, 'and as it was you couldn't have risked them creating another beast.'

'We should have found a way to destroy it.'

'There was no way; you did everything you could and all you could do was cage it.'

'And that wasn't enough. If it was we wouldn't be standing on the edge of hell right now.'

'There must be a way to destroy this beast,' the only thing Taylor understood was that they were talking about something powerful. 'I mean, it's not like there isn't something more powerful than the Mistresses ever were to take it on now.'

'The beast can't be destroyed,' his Parto turned towards him. 'Any attempt to do so will simply kill the host and allow the demon to move on. Only it would be free to move to where it wanted to, because all we would have succeeded in doing is breaking the cage.'

'I don't understand, how could it be that powerful?'

'Even you must know normal soul demons are hard to destroy Tay,' his voice was mute. 'It's not just simply a matter of binding them to the host, its making sure they can't move on. That they're completely destroyed, because if even so much as a sweat drop remains of them, then they can find a new host and start again. That's why people don't destroy soul demons, just try to control them.'

'Only there's no controlling the beast,' his Dad sighed, 'not in the strictest of senses. The best you can hope for is to trap it in a bloodline and make sure the host vessel knows enough to not be manipulated by the lure of its power or its hunger for pain.'

'But there are those who believe that if you want to control the beast, then you must control the host. That it's possible for the host to learn to use the beast's powers without letting the beast take over,' his Parto folded his arms, 'but those people are fools. The beast will always get its own way in the end.'

For a few moments all three of them were silent. Then Taylor slowly lifted his gaze to meet with his father's, his grip around Drake tightening slightly as he did.

'Whose bloodline hosts the beast?'

His father didn't reply, instead his Parto rested a hand on his, forcing his gaze towards him.

'Does that matter?'

'Yes, of course it does, because maybe we can go to the host and beg them to stop this.'

'If the beast has taken control then there's no reasoning with the host.'

'We have to at least try, don't we? We can't just sit back and let hell rise.'

'I don't think we have a choice,' his Parto shook his head. 'From what I've seen… from what I've seen hell will rise either way.'