Chapter Eight
It was coming up for nine thirty and the two were all ready to leave for their breakfast date out. Sonic was trying to forget that dream but it just wouldn't leave him. He tried to focus and think of other things, putting in a lot of concentration to keep peaceful images there. Only whatever he focused his mind on it would always fizz away and the image of Shadows blooded and battered body chained to that chair would appear.
"Should I tell him now or wait until we have had out date? He is in a much better mood now and I don't want to spoil it. I think I will wait until after our date, let us have a proper date in peace." Sonic thought as he opened the front door and allowed Shadow to walk out first.
"Oh lovely, good mood gone." Shadow grumbled as he frowned deeply with crossed arms at who just appeared on the driveway of Sonics home.
"What, so I can't visit my baby brother and his boyfriend now?" Flame smirked deviously as he looked back at Shadow with amusement.
"Hey Flame, we were kind of just on our way out for a breakfast date so if you don't mind we should get going." Sonic casually said after he locked up and was walked over to Shadow, linking with one of Shadows crossed arms when he reached Shadows side and giving Flame a forced cheerful smile.
"It is more like you want something , blaming something on me or dad sent you for something. Which one is it? I would like to get moving so out with it already." Shadow growled as he glared at his brother with some anger in his now glowing red eyes, not appreciating being stopped from heading out with Sonic.
"Hey Sonic I think you better go back inside with Shadow and sex him up some more, he is clearly in need of some fun." Flame teased as he locked eyes with his brother.
"What do you want?" Shadow asked through clenched teeth and was really losing his cool with his eldest brother.
"Oooo, I really think you should Sonic, he looks like he is about to throw a fit." Flame laughed and laughed harder when Shadow growled very aggressively at him.
All of a sudden the ground around them began to shake a little as Shadow became more angered, cracking in some places. The skies quickly clouded over with the looks of a thunderstorm about to happen any moment. Flame looked up into the sky and chuckles as a few seconds after lighting flashed brightly and was accompanied by a loud bang of thunder. Rain soon poured down hard and everything was soaked within seconds, including all who were out in it.
"Man bro when you are vexed, you really are vexed. Did you do your meditation last night or was you far too busy getting screwed legless by Sonic werewolf style?" Flame asked with amusement and moved his head to look back at his very pissed brother, who was growling with more aggression now with bright red glowing eyes.
"Flame I think that maybe you should stop the teasing and just tell Shadow why you have interrupted something important to him. Shadow, love, you really need to take in deep breaths or I am cancelling our date and making you do your meditation instead." Sonic said with all round seriousness at the two demons.
"Fine." Shadow lowly spat out with rage through clenched teeth then closed his eyes, mentally counted to twenty and did some deep breathing exercises.
"That's it love, nice and calm." Sonic softly said as he watched Shadow with a warm look in his eyes.
When Shadow was reaching the number twelve the skies began to clear up and the sun was once again rocking the skies solo. The ground stopped its mini earthquake but the cracks still remained, they just didn't get any bigger. When he finished his counting Shadow breathed out slowly and opened his eye. They were no longer glowing and looked somewhat calmer now as he looked at his brother.
"What do you want Flame?" Shadow asked with a calm voice and looked it too.
"Dad sent me to tell you both to be extra careful for the obedience sword is missing from where it last rested. Doesn't mean those dicks kidnapping demons have it, it just means it is no longer in an known location. Also those witches are innocent, dad said he spoke to their coven leader last night, not long after you both left hell, and they really don't know who stole that book from them and have promised to inform you if they suspect anyone. They have your number now so answer all calls ok bro. Lastly dad is having you both watched by Espio on the count of he can make himself invisible so you wont know where he is. So just a heads up to that and see ya next weekend." Flame said then vanished back home before Shadow could react to what he said.
"Dad doesn't trust me to not look in that book or call him when I have found their location clearly." Shadow grumbled with a frown as he and Sonic began to walk away from Sonics house.
"More like your dad is worried for your safety love." Sonic gently said as he rested his head on Shadows shoulder while they walked down the street.
"Oh yes dad is awesome like that, he can even go as far as to hellbound me too. Aren't I so hell-blessed and lucky to have such an overprotective father." Shadow faked a bright happy voice as he felt the complete opposite to that.
"Totally are babe. Who is Espio by the way?" Sonic chuckled then kissed Shadows cheek, making Shadow softly smile.
"Oh just one of dads best assassins. We have been very fortunate he hadn't fallen victim to these mortals, he is very skilled and, like Flame said, can make himself invisible. I have worked alongside him during my very first investigation. He taught me how to get information from others and how to track down someone's location." Shadow said with a smile at Sonic.
"SHADOW!" A voice called out making both lovers instantly stop walking.
"Oh what now?" Shadow groaned and hoped whoever it was wont prolong their walk to their breakfast date.
The couple turned around and watched someone come running towards them. The being was a purple cat with determination in her eyes and she didn't stop until she was in front of the couple.
"Blaze, what are you doing down here?" Shadow questioned with a tilt of his head in wonder.
"Angel book stolen…angels are going missing,…was sent to find it and stop it…and you?" Blaze said as she tried to catch her breath.
"Demon book missing…demons going missing…was sent to find it and stop it…and this is Sonic." Shadow said with amusement as he faked being out of breath too.
"Oh you are so funny and hello Sonic, it is nice to meet you." Blaze rolled her eyes and was once again breathing normally.
"Great so now we have two crazy mysteries with more lives at stake." Sonic sighed with a shake of his head.
"Or it could be the same people doing this, clearly getting far too greedy when it comes to power and control." Shadow casually said with a small frown.
"So the demon book is in this town?" Blaze asked as they all started walking towards the town centre for breakfast.
"Yeah but still do not know where and it can't be located with a tracking spell either." Shadow answered calmly.
"The angel book is here too so it is highly possible the same people who have the demon book have the angel book as well. It might be beneficial if we work together with this." Blaze seriously said as she looked at Shadow beside her.
"She has a point babe. The more trying to find these books the more chance we got to getting them back and freeing those under the obedience spell." Sonic said with a smile as he looked at his partner he was still linking arms with.
"Wait how do you know there are obedience spells in those books? I never said they were spells I just said rituals, is there something you are not telling me?" Shadow asked with a suspicious look back at Sonic.
"I, didn't want to spoil our date babe but I had this dream last night that I think was another vision sent to me. You were locked to a chair while the guy was torturing you then the demon book appeared out of no where. The guy began to read from it after opening it up to the right page. I was locked in a chair facing you and forced to watch the guy slice and dice through your flesh then listened as he read from that book. It was making you dazed and out of it and by the end you fell unconscious. The guy said to me that he will do the sword ritual as well just in case you are not fully bound and obedient. I not long woke up to your beautiful image after that." Sonic explained then smiled warmly as he tried to butter Shadow up so he wasn't too mad he kept this information from him.
"So it is still going to happen, I am still destined to be forced to obey these dicks?" Shadow growled with a deep frown.
"According to what I saw last night in my dream, yeah and I'm forced to get front row seats to it now." Sonic grumbled as he looked down as he walked.
"Wait you have been having visions of these people, what do they look like, sound like and where are they doing these ritual spells?" Blaze fired question after question.
"They were blurred out, their voices were disguised and lastly in some empty looking dimly lit warehouse that I don't know where it is." Sonic answered with a frustrated tone, dying for a better clue to what he was being shown.
"Yes, forgive me. I should have known if you knew who was behind this then you would have stopped them sooner." Blaze sincerely said with an apologetic expression.
Not much was said after that and soon they were taking seats in a nice breakfast diner together. After giving their orders and whatnot they continued their talk about the angel/demon situation at hand.
"So we know the books are in this town somewhere and both unable to be tracked, what else?" Blaze quietly said with a small frown while sitting back with arms crossed, locking eyes with Shadow opposite her.
"I managed to figure out whoever does have these books, their kid attends the local high school. I enrolled to do a deeper investigation but never found anything suspicious. I read minds, listened to conversations yet nothing came up that had me suspicious. I suspect the kid was protected with some kind of spell to prevent sensitive information from being discovered." Shadow replied with a frown of frustration.
"It sounds like that is the case Shadow. They might have done this as a precaution, I would imagine they do not want anyone to find them." Blaze said and was in agreement with Shadows suspicions.
"What the hell!" Drake shouted out as he and Amy had entered this very diner to have a breakfast date then he stopped with wide eyes as he saw his brother, Sonic and an angel sitting in the exact diner chatting.
"Hi guys, this is Drake my boyfriend. We met on a dating site a couple of months ago and we are having our first date together." Amy smiled sweetly as she and Drake stood by the table linking arms still.
"You never mentioned you were dating someone on line Amy." Sonic said with a grin at the couple standing there.
"I was going to announce it during our camping trip by bringing Drake with me." Amy said with an innocent smile at Sonic.
"Drake, does dad know you are dating mortals?" Shadow smirked deviously as he and his brother locked eyes.
"Wait what? You two are brothers which means, you are a demon Drake?" Amy gasped then looked up at the one she was linking arms with.
"Yeah, it's just you he doesn't like dating others. Count yourself lucky he gave his permission for you to date Sonic. Hi Blaze good to see ya, what are you doing down from heaven?" Drake smirked back at his brother and using a teasing tone then went all friendly when greeting Blaze.
"Hello, when were you going to tell me you are a demon?" Amy huffed as Drake unlinked arms with her and slid into the booth next to Blaze.
"Hey don't just ditch me." Amy whined with a pout and arms crossed.
"Yeah sorry, say Shadow sit on Sonics lap then Amy can join us." Drake said as he gave his brother a pleading look.
Shadow rolled his eyes then nodded. With Shadow moving to sit on Sonics lap and Sonic moving up, Amy smiled in thanks and sat opposite her boyfriend.
"And I would have told you eventually, I just wanted you to get to know me better first. So Blaze why you here?" Drake smiled warmly at Amy as he spoke to her then re-asked the angel in a curious tone, now looking at the cat for an answer.
"The angle book is missing and there are angels disappearing. It is a serious matter for it is angles that keep heaven running and delivering souls there. The less there are of us the harder it is to keep heaven stable. Souls wont be able to reach heaven for there wont be enough of us to leave heaven and collect them. So far twenty have vanished and seven have been found dead." Blaze explained with a very serious tone as she narrowed her eyes at the table space in front of her.
"Count yourself lucky, more demons have been found dead but the only upside to this is it's dad running hell and not all demons so hell will always be open for business" Drake grumbled as now he understood that this was getting very serious.
"Unless they get to dad and Flame wrecks hell." Shadow pointed out with a small frown, hoping that that did not happen.
"Let us deeply hope our brother doesn't do that and dad is ever taken away. There will be riots, there will be death and there will be a civil war." Drake said with a small frown, he knowing Flame was no where near ready to rule hell yet and things will go deadly wrong if he was placed as ruler too soon.
"So now both angels and demons are going missing. These people really do mean business huh." Amy softly said with some fear to what these guys were planning to do.
"Don't you worry beautiful, we will make sure they are stopped before anything bad happens." Drake assured with a smile at Amy, making her smile back.
The waitress came over as she noticed the two new customers and took their order then reported it back to the chef in the kitchen. As they waited Shadow began to look out of the window then gasped as he saw someone motioning him to come out.
"What is it?" Sonic asked as he looked but couldn't see anyone.
"I-impossible." Shadow whispered as he kept looking at the girl trying to get him to come out and smiling warmly at him from across the road.
"What Shadow, there is no one out there?" Blaze said as she now began to look, making both Amy and Drake lean over to take a peak.
"I will be back in a minute." Shadow said then vanished, appearing where he saw this girl waving him over.
The four kept watching and could only see Shadow standing across the street alone, looking a little confused as it appeared he was listening to someone for he began to nod slowly.
"Ok so he is clearly able to see someone that no one else can." Drake muttered as he moved to sit properly in his seat, Amy doing the same.
"Yeah but who is he seeing and how come he seems confused by whatever is being spoken to him about?" Sonic muttered as he kept his eyes on Shadow.
"My best guess is it's a spirit that he knows and they have a message for him that is a little cryptic. Either that or it's a little muddled up and needs un-muddling in order for it to make sense." Blaze calmly said as she removed her gaze from the window and looked at Sonic, who was still intensely watching.
"He vanished." Sonic said with fear, thinking Shadow was summoned away.
"Yes but I am now here." Shadows voice was heard as he stood facing all and standing next to the table.
Sonic moved back and patted his lap for Shadow to once again sit on it. Shadow smiled happily, vanished then reappeared on Sonics lap.
"That was the most weirdest thing that has ever happened to me and yet I am just so happy it has happened. Annabel says hi by the way Drake." Shadow brightly said then Drake gave him a wide eyes stare, even Blaze shifted her gaze else where.
"Erm Shads isn't Annabel gone?" Sonic calmly asked as he looked at Shadows very happy expression.
"Yeah she is and when a demon dies, they stay dead with no spirit. We just no longer exist anymore." Drake said with a deep frown and was growing suspicious with what Shadow saw.
"Well yeah ok but she was over there and wanted to talk to me. I can't really remember what she said but I don't care, I got to see my twin again." Shadow said with pure joy as he spoke with a warm smile.
"I'm calling this in, I wont be long." Drake sighed as this seemed very suspicious then vanished to have a word with his father.
"Shadow as much as I know you really miss her but I do not think that was Annabel out there talking to you. It was more than likely a spirit disguised as her to get you to come over." Blaze very calmly said with a sincere smile at the demon opposite her.
"It looked exactly like her and sounded just like her, how was it not her?" Shadow growled as he just wanted to live in this bubble a little longer without someone coming along with a pin to pop it.
"Babe calm down ok. It just seems suspicious that all of a sudden you happened to see your twin at just the right moment in the right town you are currently staying in. Think about it love, in all that time she has been gone don't you think if her soul was around then she would have shown herself to you sooner?" Sonic said as he hugged Shadow close to him and speaking in a soft tone.
"Angels and demons do not have souls Sonic. It is like Drake said, when we die we no longer have any form of existence." Blaze said with worry as she can see Shadow was getting very upset.
"I, I do not care. Stop ruining this and just let me believe it for a little while longer please." Shadow whispered as he bowed his head down and shut his eyes to stop his tears from forming and leaving them.
"Shadow…" Amy began to say but was cut short from a high pitched scream.
"Ahhh!" A waitress screamed at what she was carrying exploded and the stack of syrup pancakes went everywhere.
"Shadow calm down and try to relax." Sonic whispered as everyone looked over and some were running out after not long coming in.
"It is not fair." Shadow croaked as he willed himself to not break down.
"Ahhh shit!" A man called out as his coffee began to bubble and spit out burning hot splashes, hitting him in the face and making him quickly get up away from it.
The lights began to flicker and bulbs started to blow with glass sprinkling all around. Tables began to shake and some even cracked a little on the surface.
"W-why did she have to leave me?" Shadow sobbed as he covered his face with his hands.
The cash till began to violently open and close repeatedly and more food began to explode with drinks bubbling so hot the mugs were starting to crack.
"We need to leave now." Blaze seriously said as she looked at Amy and Sonic, who nodded in agreement.
"Come on love it is time to leave and take a nice relaxing walk together." Sonic gently said as he helped Shadow off his lap after Amy got up then when Shadow was on his feet he slipped out.
Drake returned just as they were about to walk towards the front door and he wasn't alone, the king of hell was standing next to him.
"Alright Shadow , come with me." He calmly said as he motioned his youngest to come to him, which he did.
The king brought his very upset son into his arms then vanished back to hell. The four left behind quickly rushed out of the eating establishment with the other people, walking fast down the street together.
"I always miss the action." Drake moaned out with disappointment as they slowed down to a normal walking speed, he linking arms with Amy as they walked behind Sonic and Blaze.
"I say we should count ourselves lucky our order wasn't up the table or we could have gotten burned like some of those people did." Blaze semi seriously said with a deep frown.
"Good point so thank you for the very slow service." Amy said with a little giggle, agreeing totally as she did not want to get burnt from food or drinks.
They suddenly stopped as the king of hell appeared a little in front of them and he was not looking happy. He stood tall with his arms crossed and frowning deeply.
"Shadow is calming down in his room and wont be returning until he is calm. So none of you saw Annabel is that correct?" The king asked with a deadly serious voice.
"Only Shadow saw her and went over to speak to her, we saw just him standing alone and slowly nodding. He claims he doesn't remember the conversation but I have a feeling he is lying and doesn't want to share." Drake explained with the others nodding in agreement.
"I will put him in a trance and look through the memories of that moment. He wont be happy about that but if he isn't willing to say then I don't have a choice. My condolences for the loss of your fellow angels Blaze and I hope we get those books back before things turn ugly. I must go and I will bring Shadow back soon." The king sighed heavily then vanished back to hell.
"So Shadow lied then?" Sonic asked as he turned around to look at Drake.
"Oh yeah, I have learned to notice when he is and believe me it is not an easy thing to learn. Granted Shadow doesn't lie often but when he does, his tone has a very slight nervousness to it that is barely audible." Drake explained with a smug smirk at Sonic.
"I don't know if he was or not but either way your dad is going to find out what was said. In the meantime you both should get back to your date while me and Blaze put our heads together and try to find a lead or something." Sonic said with a small frown as he truly believed Shadow wasn't lying but at the same time knew it was possible.
"Right and if anything happens then here is my number." Drake said with a grin as he passed Sonic a card with his number on it.
"Thanks and I will." Sonic replied as he took it and looked down at the card.
"Did you get this card from a strip club?" Sonic asked with a grin while glancing over at Drake.
"Excuse me?" Amy said with some anger in her voice then shot a disapproving glare at her boyfriend.
"Anyway lets go find a different place to have our date, bye guys and good luck." Drake anxiously said as he gently grabbed Amy's arm then guided her away with him.
"I do not see them two lasting." Blaze muttered as she and Sonic watched them leave while having a quiet argument with one another, the anger on Amy's face told it all really.
"Come on we can go back to my place. Its not that far away from here." Sonic sighed with a shake of his head then motioned Blaze to follow him home…
