Chapter Six
In hell, throne room.
"And where have you been? You were supposed to be here hours ago!" King Xander shouted out as he stood in front of his youngest child, who was keeping calm while being shouted at.
"With all due respect father I wasn't due to report back until next weekend. I did say this and you did agree to it." Shadow calmly said as he bowed his head a little out of respect.
"I...are you sure it was next weekend?" Xander asked as he made himself calm down and watched his son lift his head up to make eye contact.
"Positive father or I would have been here like I always am when you tell me to come." Shadow replied with a soft tone and kept his expression calm and truthful so not to provoke his father's temper again.
"Right of course, well since you are here do you have any new updates?" Xander sighed as he was going to take Shadows word for it but did recall a conversation with Shadow about something to do with the last weekend of this month.
With the last weekend of this month being next weekend. He also couldn't see any lies coming from Shadow so this told him his son spoke the truth.
"Well we did find a place that had the book once but doesn't have it any more. So we are no better than we were when we first went out to investigate. Saying that we know it is definitely in that town somewhere, it just cannot be traced or sensed by demons. We suspect whoever has it might have a demon on their side, or forcing one to corporate, and is getting him or her to translate the information in the book. The language is in our native language so only a demon can read the text and understanding what is said. My other theory is that maybe they forced a demon to read the book then they killed him slash her after learning the language. I am not sure which is correct but I do know a demon was involved at some point, either willingly or forced. How else can they know how to read it?" Shadow related in a serious manner of all he knew so far to his father and kept to his calm relaxed posture.
"I did suspect this was the case but that means all those who have disappeared are possible suspects in aiding these mortals in their plans for us, if the demon translating is working for them willingly. If forced then they are probably one of those we have found dead, I doubt it these mortals would keep the demon around after learning how to read the book." King Xander frowned as he rubbed both of his temples, a headache was forming no thanks to all the stress he was under.
"Any new disappearances I should know of?" Shadow asked as he hoped the answer to his question was a no.
"No one since Jackson, so that makes nine days in a row now." King Xander answered with a faint smile as this was the longest run they have had since all this mess started months ago.
"To me that just means they are going to strike very soon. How is everyone coping with all of this?" Shadow said with hopes he was wrong then gave a concerned expression when asking about his family.
"All is well my son but I do worry about you. Actually I would like you to stop investigating and I will send someone else to take your place. I have it under some very reliable source that you are getting very close to someone else. I will not have that Shadow and I will not have you going off with a mortal and getting intimate." Xander said and was once again getting angry but not as much as earlier.
"But why? You know as well as I do I'm the best you have when it comes to this case and there is none that comes remotely close to my skills. If it wasn't for me we wouldn't even know what town they were hiding in. Just because I have a boyfriend doesn't mean you can stop me from finding this book and putting a stop to those sick psychos." Shadow growled as he crossed his arms and turned his head to avoid eye contact with his father.
"So he is your boyfriend now is he? I will not have some mortal corrupting you Shadow. You are to stay home where you will remain until I see it fit for you to leave." The king growled back with a little more aggression this time.
"What is wrong with me having a partner? Everyone else is allowed to have one but oh no Shadow has to stay single for the whole of his existence!" Shadow shouted as he looked back at his father with glowing red eyes that were filled with not only rage but sadness.
"Go to your room and do not come out until I say you can!" The king ordered as he pointed towards the throne room entrance.
"Fine!" Shadow shouted back with small tears in his eyes then stormed out.
Xander watched him leave then sighed heavily when Shadow was out of sight.
"One day you will understand Shadow but right now you just need to trust me." The king whispered to himself as he looked over at the entrance way.
Ten minutes later...
"It is just not fair Ruby, why does he baby me all the time?" Shadow complained as he laid on his bed and talking to his oldest sister, who was sitting on the edge facing him.
"Dad doesn't baby you Shadow or he would never have had you out there looking for that book and trying to stop those mortals from taking more demons. Heck dad wouldn't have made you his first officer if he was being too over protective of you." Ruby, a light red hedgehog with long curls at the end of each head quill and had shiny red eyes, gently said as she smiled down at her baby brother having a little tantrum, finding it a little amusing to witness.
"More like the only reason he gave me that position was to probably keep me close." Shadow muttered under his breath as he turned his head away from his sister and glared at the wall.
"Maybe but think about this Shadow, dad gets protective of all of us and more so since Annabel. You were her twin so in a way she is still around, through you. Dad just doesn't want to lose his only last connection with her or lose any of us. I'll leave you to think about that and I'll come see you later." Ruby sighed as she stood up then when she finished talking she left the room, closing the door shut.
"If Annabel was here she would so back me up on this." Shadow thought as he curled up on his side and closed his eyes for a nap, grabbing his long tail and hugging it a little.
Back in the realm of mortals...
"Why is Shadow taking so long?" Sonic asked as it had been almost two hours since Shadow left and he needed to get home before the sun set in less than two hours.
"It will take as long as it takes so you all might as well just go home. I'll tell him you said bye and that you will see him soon." Mephiles casually said as he lounged on the sofa with his feet hanging off the edge while watching some cop show on the telly.
"Fine, whatever, see ya around maybe." Knuckles shrugged then walked off having all but Sonic follow.
"He isn't coming back is he?" Sonic asked as he looked down at Mephiles.
"How should I know, if his father tells him he has to stay home then he has to stay home. It is out of my hands ok so try to get over him or something, move onto someone else." Mephiles replied as he never removed his eyes from the TV screen.
"At least he is safe I suppose. Bye." Sonic sighed sadly then walked away and joined his friends in leaving.
"I'm sure Shadow will be back Sonic, I bet he will come see you first thing in the morning." Amy assured with a sad smile as they all walked away from the demons temp home.
"I don't think he is coming back but here's to hope right. I'll see you all soon ok, I should get back home before, well, you know. Bye." Sonic said as he forced a more cheerful look then waved as he began to run to his home.
It took Sonic just over thirty minutes to run to his house and now he was closing his front door. He locked up then just stared at the door with a sad expression. He knew he was probably never going to see Shadow again for some time but he wasn't going to just get over him and move on. He was willing to wait for him no matter how long it was going to take.
"Even if it takes years I will wait for your return Shadow, I won't ever look at another guy or dare go off with anyone. You are my one and only and that is how it will always be." Sonic muttered under his breath as he vowed to never stray and gave a promise to wait.
"Foolish words to say considering you are only a mortal." A deep dominant voice was heard from behind Sonic, making Sonic gasp and quickly turn around.
"Who are you and how dare you come into my home uninvited." Sonic seriously said with some anger in his voice, glaring suspiciously at this dark grey hedgehog with burning red eyes.
"Watch your tone with me boy or I will rip it out of your mouth. I've come to see who has gotten Shadow so enraptured and to see if he is truly worthy of being his partner." King Xander seriously said with a very firm and intense stare at Sonic.
"Right so that makes you..." Sonic raised a brow and had his sentence finished for him.
"His father, yes. I do not see what is so special about you or why my son is so bewitched by you. It doesn't matter in the least bit for he is not leaving hell for a good few centuries and you will be long dead by then." The king said with a sinister smirk.
"Good keep him there, if he stays here he won't be safe and I won't watch that happen knowing I could have prevented it. So don't let him ever leave hell until those creeps are no longer a threat to demons, please." Sonic seriously said as he tried his utmost to stop himself from breaking down in deep sorrow.
"My youngest is at risk of those mortals? How do you know of this?" King Xander asked with some surprise at what Sonic has requested.
"I have this dead relative haunting my home and he kind of did this thing to me and I was given a vision of the future. It showed Shadow bound to a chair and being tortured until obedience. There was this sword thing with weird symbols on it and it was shoved right through Shadow's chest. I won't have that happen to him and if he isn't here and unable to leave hell then it won't." Sonic explained as his eyes began to water while he was now having that vision run through his mind.
"I know of the sword you have seen in this vision and it is very deadly. I shall make it my business to find it and lock it away so it can never be used on my son. Shadow is very important to me, like all of my children are, and I will not have him get hurt in any way." The king said with a deep frown, feeling a little fearful of that happening.
"That is if they don't already have it." Sonic said with worry.
"That sword can kill demons and not many survive the process, no bodies of those who are missing have turned up anywhere with injuries that suggest that sword was used on them. I have demons out there searching, visiting morgues and anywhere someone might dump a body. Yes a few have turned up dead but no serious stab wounds were detected on their chests which suggests they do not have that sword." The king of hell said as he hoped there will be no more deaths to be reported.
"That is good and I hope you don't have to face that, I'm sorry by the way. What happened to your daughter, I know what it's like to lose someone important to you and I'm just sorry it happened." Sonic sincerely said with sad eyes.
"You no nothing of my pain so don't dare compare such hurt to that of your experiences. What happened to Annabel should have never happened and Shadow…Shadow should not have been the one to discover her rotting corpse." Xander said, starting off anger as he felt insulted then went sad near the end of his words.
"Yeah I may not know what it is like to lose a child but I do know what it is like to lose my parents. I imagine the pain would be similar to one another and I do not mean you any offence by that either. Please send Shadow my love and I hope he lives his life in happiness." Sonic said a little chocked up and really, really stopping himself from crying out those tears in his eyes.
Kind Xander frowned deeply at those words then clicked his fingers, vanishing from the mortal world.
Hell...
"Come on Shadow stop moping about, it's annoying and so childish." Shadows brother sighed as he walked over to Shadows bed and stood by it looking down at Shadow.
"I'll do what I like Razor so leave me alone to rot in my own pit of sorrow." Shadow groaned out with a very dramatic tone, having an arm draped over his eyes as he laid on his back still on his bed.
"You are such a drama queens Shadow, you behave like it's the end of the world when all's that has happened is you've been taken off this investigation for your own safety." Razor, a light grey hedgehog with red eyes and a stray quill over his right eye, said with a roll of his eyes then left Shadow alone, closing the door up behind him.
"That's only half of it." Shadow thought as he stayed in his position.
Five minutes later Shadows bedroom door was once again being opened. Xander sighed as he walked closer to Shadow and sat on the edge near him.
"Shadow you can come out of your room now but you are not to leave hell." Xander softly said as he looked down at Shadow.
"Finally, being in here is worse than being locked up and tortured." Shadow replied as he uncovered his eyes and sat up but was in no way happy.
"And why is that my child?" Xander asked with some amusement in his voice as he smiled at Shadow.
"Because no one knows how to leave me alone and insist in visiting me with the intention to either rub it in my face you sent me to my room or to out right annoy me." Shadow dryly answers with a frown.
"Well then consider being sent to your room a forever punishment for you, if it's that effective then I'll keep dishing it out to you." Xander smirked deviously at Shadow as he spoke with a teasing tone.
"Please don't, just do something like put me on lock down in the dungeon or make me clean Drake's bedroom for a month. Heck I'll happily be whipped twenty times if it means I don't get sent in here for hours." Shadow desperately said with a slightly begging look.
"Only twenty? Oh relax my son, I've rarely have to punish you so I doubt it you will be getting one any time soon. Come let's take a short walk together." Xander smirked as he stood up, motioning Shadow to follow him out.
Shadow shrugged his shoulders and hopped off his bed. He began to walk along side his father out of his room and down the hallways.
"I've decided to have both Silver and Mephiles come back home and they will be arriving tomorrow. I went to see them and I feel they are not safe especially after they told me what happened to them." Xander casually said as they walked towards the sitting room.
"Oh right, they told you everything I take it." Shadow asked as he gave his father a nervous glance as they walked.
"Yes and quite frankly I do not blame you for the way you were with those witches and I'm impressed you showed such restrain in not killing them both. Of course I'm sure it would not have mattered much if they had perished by your hands but I am now having them watched. If they were lying or not telling all they know then we will find out." Xander grinned as he glanced back at Shadow while speaking.
"It was more the fact I stopped due to fear of your reaction to my actions than of pure willpower." Shadow thought as he kept his expression neutral and looked ahead of him.
"Why don't you carry on and go to the sitting room, I have just remember I have a quick errand to do before we all sit down for tea." Xander suddenly said as he stopped walking and smiling softly down at Shadow.
Shadow also had stopped then turned around to face his father with a raised brow in question.
"It is just a very quick run, I will be back within the hour. I also have to go find Flame as well, I haven't seen him since he got back from going to find where you were." Xander said with worry in his voice then vanished.
"Come to think of it Flame didn't even come into my room to bug me. It's not like him to pass up an opportunity to bug me." Shadow thought with a frown then soon began to make his way to the sitting room.
Upon entry Shadow had the shock of his life and froze by the entrance with wide eyes. His mind was going a thousand miles an hour as to why or better yet how Sonic got here and was casually sitting on a sofa with that warm smile on his muzzle.
"How did you?" Shadow whispered as he was slowly coming out of shock and forced himself to walk forward over to Sonic, stopping near him and just stood there in disbelief.
"Your dad came by my place to check me out, he wanted to know how you became so bewitched over me. I guess I impressed him somehow and brought me here to see ya." Sonic grinned playfully as he reached out and grabbed Shadows hand then guided him to sit next to him.
"I have you know I am not bewitched over you. Ok maybe a tiny little bit, what?" Shadow grinned as he tried to down play just how right his father and Sonic were.
"I beg to differ babe, you are infatuated by me and cannot live without me by your side." Sonic purred softly as he moved closer towards Shadows ear.
"If I say yes will you just keep that fact between us right?" Shadow whispered with a happy smile while looking at Sonic with soft red eyes.
"Of course but I do have a question for ya, am I going to change form while here? I know hell doesn't exactly have a sunset or sunrise but I don't think it will look good if your whole family see me in my night form. I'm trying to make a damn good impression so they will like me and want me and you to stay together." Sonic asked with a slightly anxious look.
"Believe me when I say they won't care what you look like and only care how you treat me. You won't change for there is no sunset, you should be able to just change at will whenever you want here. Well until you go back to your home where there is a sun shining in your solar system to create sunrise and sunset." Shadow casually answers with a faint smile.
"Speaking of transformations, nice wings babe they really suit ya." Sonic grinned as he moved a hand and ran his fingers along Shadows right wing slowly.
"That actually feels quite nice, very intimate if I'm honest." Shadow whispers with a blissful smile as Sonic kept moving fingers along his wing, repeating these stroking movements slowly and gently.
"Oh really, maybe if we get a chance to be alone then I'll see what else I can do with them." Sonic thought as he kept repeating his slow actions
"You know they look a little bigger than what I saw in my head yesterday afternoon." Sonic softly whispered with a slight seductive voice in Shadow's ear.
"Hmmm?" Shadow replied as he could hear Sonics voice but was too into the really nice feeling Sonics actions were causing him to feel and didn't quite catch what he said.
"Your wings babe they look bigger than the picture of you I saw in my head." Sonic chuckled as he stopped stroking and moved a little away from Shadow.
"Huh why did you stop?" Shadow whined a little as he gave Sonic a disappointed expression.
"You're too into it to hear what I'm saying love." Sonic grinned a little flirtatiously as he spoke with amusement.
"Well not my fault, I've never had my wings touched in such a manner. To answer your question, which was?" Shadow sheepishly said with an apologetic smile.
"I didn't ask a question but I will now. How come your wings look bigger than what I saw?" Sonic rolled his eyes as he brought up the subject once again while also making a mental note to not ask Shadow anything while caressing his wings.
"Oh right well a demons picture and all information on them automatically gets added into the book. When a demon is of age their image of that age is basically uploaded and is there for like ever. I was quite young and still had some growing left to do. My tail is a little longer than it was in that book and I am a little taller as well." Shadow finally answered the question with a smile.
"Right so you were quite young was you, how old?" Sonic grinned as he moved closer and was eager to find out.
"Sixteen, or was I seventeen? It doesn't matter the point is I was young and still growing at the time." Shadow grinned as he looked at Sonic.
"So does that mean if a demon is dead there image and information will still be there?" Sonic asked as he wondered if Annabel was still in the book.
"Yes but the information will be added to, just stating the demon is no longer alive and will show the date and time of death as well as how they died." Shadow answered with a sad frown.
That being his other reason of wanting to find that book, he wanted closure on how his twin died, when she died and what time she died. He didn't like the thought of her body dumped in that ditch for days or weeks before he found her…
