Chapter Eleven

Three days later…

"Hey Sonic, how's he doing?" Silver softly asked as he and Mephiles entered Shadows bedroom and walked over to the bed Sonic was sitting on with an unconscious Shadow laying beside him.

"I don't really know the answer to that for there hasn't been any change since we fond him. The only thing that is good is his wounds have fully healed and he is still breathing." Sonic said with a sad sigh as he has been watching over Shadow constantly with next to no changes during that time.

"You need a break Sonic, let me and Silver take over while you go have some time to yourself. You look exhausted and in serious need of some hell air." Mephiles said with a small smile at Sonic.

"I cannot leave him, it's hard to explain why but I just can't." Sonic sighed as he glanced at his partner silently sleeping with little emotion expressed.

"A werewolf thing right?" Silver said with a smile at Sonic.

"Yeah, he is my mate and it is my duty to watch over him while he is in this state. I feel like I have failed him by not being there to protect him you know. I wont leave his side and I am going to make up for my failure by making sure nothing else happens to him during his unconscious state." Sonic said with a guilty expression at Silver and Mephiles.

"You never failed him Sonic. You did all you could to stop Shadow from being placed in that situation, was willing to give him up to protect him. I would say you were protecting him very well and put him first. I was the one who allowed this to happen, I should never had left him alone in his room." Xander announced as he walked in and had heard all that Sonic had said.

"It still doesn't change the way I feel though." Sonic sighed as he bowed his head a little with a sad expression in his eyes.

"I do have some news, I managed to find out about the page Shadow was told to look into. It was page seventy-four in the angel book. Blaze so kindly allowed me access to the book after asking for the last three days, all under her supervision of course, and found out all about the page. I just got back from meeting her and she was a little shocked by what the book said too. She also promised to keep the information to herself and I do believe she will." Xander said with a faint smile.

"You can read angel language?" Silver asked with a raised brow at Xander.

"Oh that I can." Xander playfully said with a wink as he was taught long ago how to read and speak in the language angels use.

"Want to share uncle Xander or just leave us all hanging with suspense for the rest of our existence." Mephiles said with a grin at his uncle and looking very eager to know about this page.

"It was all about Charlotte." Xander said softly as his gentle smile was back and looking more visible.

"Who's Charlotte?" Sonic asked curiously as he looked at the king of hell.

"Charlotte, where do I start? She was an archangel I once was deeply involved with. She would come here for days at a time just to spend her time with me as I could not go to her up in heaven. She was so beautiful and full of grace and wonder. Her eyes sparkled like sapphires and her fur was as white as fresh fallen snow on the ground. She walked with grace and beauty, with her quills always neat with not a single one out of place. Her voice was so soothing and gentle, like listening to a lullaby being sang softly. She was perfect in every way and I love her so much." Xander began to explain as his smile grew warm and his look growing a little distant as he pictured Charlotte in his mind.

"Wow, loving an archangel, how forbidden." Mephiles said with a grin at his loved up looking uncle.

"Yes it was very forbidden yet neither of us cared about that. We were so happy but then other angels found out and banished her from heaven. I told her to come live with me in hell where we can always be together. She did and we spent a good twelve years in bliss and happiness. No one bothered us or poked their noses into our affairs, well until she fell pregnant. News began to spread like wild fire and it soon got back to a few angels upstairs. They tried to get to her and rid her of our children but I was very good with keeping them out." Xander said with a grin.

"Wait, children? She was Shadow and Annabel's mother wasn't she?" Sonic asked with a grin back.

"That she was yes. She eventually gave birth to our twins and life was peaceful for just over two years. Angels broke through into hell and tried to take Charlotte and our children away but someone wasn't having any of that." Xander said with a smirk at his unconscious son, remembering very well what happened that afternoon.

"Oh I know that look, what did cute little two year old Shadow do?" Mephiles asked with an amused smirk.

He and Silver had no idea all this happened for he was but a kid himself and Silver wasn't around at the time all this took place.

"He attacked them and managed to free his mother and sister from their hold then went mental on them all. Don't tell him this but he actually killed three of them out of rage and fear. The surviving angels fled back to heaven but not for long. Months later they returned with the intention of only taking Charlotte away so she and I couldn't breed any more children together. They saw first hand how powerful Shadow was at only two and knew Annabel would be the same as her brother. So to avoid more powerful half-breeds they took my Charlotte away and had her condemned to death. I got my revenge of course and they all paid dearly for taking Charlotte away from me, for taking Shadow and Annabel's mother from them." Xander finished explaining and was now frowning unhappily at the painful reminder of not having his beloved with him.

"I'm sorry to hear this but why doesn't Shadow know who his mother is?" Sonic asked with a puzzled look at the king.

"For his protection, if angels found out he is mine and an archangels child then a few of them will hunt him down and kill him. Those who knew back then were all killed by either Shadow or me. No angel has a clue, apart from Blaze but like I said she wont say a word. That is how I wish for it to stay, that is how it needs to stay." Xander explained with a serious look in his eyes at Sonic.

"See now that explains the over-protectiveness of Shadow, his words not mine by the way." Sonic grinned as he related Shadows word about how Xander is like with Shadow.

"He is not wrong, I do tend to be a tad overprotective of him." Xander said with a slight nervous vibe as he smiled at Sonic.

"A tad?" Mephiles raised a brow at his uncle, looking amused at the understatement.

"I'm not the only one that gets overprotective of him, his siblings do too for they all understand what will happen if the truth ever hit angel ears. So please do not say anything to anyone and especially to Shadow. He will go off and try to find out everything about his mother, even go as far as break into heaven and demand answers that I wont be able to give him." Xander said with a small frown, knowing full well Shadow would.

"He can get into, no wait, of course he can for he is half angel. Forget I even spoke just then." Silver said with a slight nervous laugh as he realised being half angel means Shadow can infact get into heaven.

"Yeah we will keep quiet and not tell him because you are so right, he would do something like that and end up with a whole bunch of angels on his ass." Mephiles said with a roll of his eyes, knowing his cousin very well.

"Thank you, if any changes happen I will be in the sitting room with Flame giving him a lecture about why he shouldn't mess about with souls and set them lose on one another." Xander said with some amusement at his next task then walked out of the room.

"That actually sounded fun to watch." Mephiles muttered with a small frown as he missed something worth witnessing around here.

"I doubt it Flame will stop so there will be another opportunity to watch souls attacking one another." Silver said with a grin as even he could agree it would be entertaining to watch.

"Yeah he still defaces hell and blames Shadow for it, so he will do it again." Sonic casually said as he grinned at Mephiles.

"That he does but uncle Xander knows it isn't Shadow doing that." Mephiles smirked as he recalled Shadow doing it the once just to get Flame in trouble, which worked and Flame was made to wash the blood off with a toothbrush.

Two days later…

Shadow groaned as he was made to stay in bed while he was being checked over by his boyfriend. He was sitting up with a deep frown and arms crossed while Sonic put a hand over his forehead to feel his temperature.

"You know I was not sick and didn't have symptoms of sickness." Shadow muttered as he just put up with his boyfriends over protectiveness.

"Oh hush babe and sit still alright. This needs doing for you woke up two hours ago so hush." Sonic said with a roll of his eyes then after half a minute he removed his hand from Shadows forehead.

"So?" Shadow asked with a faint smile.

"You are just too hot." Sonic purred with a look of seduction then went all serious seconds after.

"Well I cannot exactly help that." Shadow said with a grin back at what Sonic said to him.

"I deem you completely healthy babe but you still need to take it easy though. You recall what happened to you yet, remember anything from when you were in that warehouse?" Sonic added as he spoke in a semi serious tone and kept his serious look about him.

"I do not do bed rest very well Sonic and sorry to say, no I cannot. The last thing I can remember is sending a message to dad before walking into that building." Shadow semi seriously said and was being completely truthful here, he really cannot remember what happened to him.

Sure he knew he had been at the mercy of the mortal that was kidnapping angels and demons, that is only because of the visions Sonic had told him about. He simply cannot remember the event, what was done or said to him during that moment.

"If you get difficult and will not stay put then I will have your father keep you in place." Sonic grinned with amusement as Shadow deeply frowned in displeasure to that threat.

Shadow muttered under his breath in demon and looked to his other side away from Sonic with a deeper frown, slouching so he was half laying down and half sitting up.

"There, there love. It's only for today then you are free to wander about the palace ok." Sonic softly said as he reached out and scratched behind Shadows ear.

"I'll do more than simply wander about, I'm camping in the entrance way." Shadow said with a faint smile at the gentle scratching on his ear.

"Hey that is a great idea since we missed the camping trip our friends went on." Sonic cheerfully said with some excitement in his tone as he stopped his actions on Shadows ear.

"Hey I didn't say you can stop." Shadow whined as he turned his head to look back at Sonic.

"Oh really, well in that case maybe you would like something a little more better?" Sonic grinned as he locked eyes with a now smirking Shadow.

"Yeah I would very much like something more." Shadow purred in response to this offer.

"Great I'll go get you something to eat and drink." Sonic brightly said then turned and walked out of the room, chuckling to himself as he pictured the stunned expression Shadow gave him when he said what he said to Shadow a second ago.

"THAT WAS EVIL!" Shadow shouted out knowing Sonic wasn't too far down the corridor to not hear.

"Getting me all excited and hyped only to have it crash and burn." Shadow mumbled as he glared at the end of the bed and not looking happy now.

"And what was evil?" Flame asked as he casually walked in with a smirk then jumped onto Shadows bed near the foot end.

"Do I go into your room and jump on your bed like that? Answer, no I damn well don't so respect the bed man." Shadow seriously said with narrowed eyes at his eldest brother.

"You are just too scared to even step foot in my room. So how you doing and what is evil?" Flame deviously said with a wink at Shadow and moved to sit crossed legged and facing his now grumpy brother.

"Yeah that is so true, I will be blown by the sheer awesomeness of your room." Shadow sarcastically replied with an eye roll, purposely not answering the question.

"Damn straight you will but seriously how you feeling bro?" Flame chuckled then suddenly went serious as he locked eyes with Shadow.

"I am doing fine, bored out of my mind but fine all over. Still cannot remember anything but I think that is a good thing. I don't want to recall what happened to me and just want to move on from it all." Shadow calmly answered with a faint smile at Flame.

"Great so you up for something fun?" Flame grinned with amusement at what he had organised for a select few to witness.

"Hell yeah I am, I want out of this bed." Shadow said with excitement then threw the cover off him and got out of bed fast.

Flame chuckled at the eagerness and got off the bed himself then walked over to Shadow. He laid a hand on his little brothers shoulder then teleported them both away. They appeared over the far side of hell where a large cage was sitting on the ground. It had an electric fence around the sides and a glass dome over the deadly arena. Shadow wasn't the only one present, Silver, Mephiles and Hector were also there. They all stood together on a platform overlooking the dome and able to see clearly what will be happening in that cage.

"Am I right in assuming we are going to witness some cage fighting?" Shadow asked as he looked beside him at his brother, looking not only hopeful but amused too.

"Ha, hell yeah bro and it will be awesome because I promised the winner a week of no torture. Of course that was a lie just to get more entertainment and I don't intend in carrying that promise out, like not ever." Flame smirked with a wink at his brother then vanished to get a few souls to fight.

"You doing ok I see. Glad you are alright Shadow." Hector said as he moved to stand where Flame was and facing his youngest nephew.

"Yeah, OW! What was that for?" Shadow said then cried out as Hector whacked him hard at the back of his head.

"That is for being reckless and stupid for getting yourself in such a situation you were almost permanently lost to us. What were you thinking Shadow?" Hector seriously said with anger in his eyes as he and Shadow locked gazes, Shadow still rubbing the back of his head from the hit.

"I do not know what I was thinking, I don't remember what happened to me. I gave dad a message to tell him where I was and clearly he got it or I would not be here." Shadow mumbled as he dropped his hand while also ignoring the sniggering coming from both Silver and Mephiles.

Hector grinned then grabbed Shadow into a tight hug and squeezed his nephew.

"And this is because I am glad you are alright." Hector calmly said then after half a minute let his nephew free.

"I think my ribs are cracked." Shadow grinned as he spoke back teasingly.

"Well it wouldn't be a hug if you didn't experience a few cracked ribs." Hector chuckled as he ruffled Shadows fur on the top of his head.

Shadow grumbled as he flattened his fur down and didn't really like it when others did that to him but dared not say anything. Reason he kept his mouth shut was because if he did voice his dislike then everyone will come along and mess up the fur on his head, all for the sheer fun of it and to purposely annoy him.

"How long does it take to gather a few souls anyway? Flame is taking forever." Shadow casually asked as he gently grabbed his tail and began to fiddle with then end a little while he waited.

"He is probably making sure to pick ones that will last and fight hard with one another. There is no point if our fun doesn't last longer than ten minutes." Mephiles answered as he too was growing a little bored with waiting for the fun to start.

"I am back and now it is time for the real fun to begin." Flame appeared looking excited at all here with him…

Meanwhile Sonic was on his way back holding a plate with a sandwich on, that had sliced heart with a thick spicy blood pepper sauce in-between slices of bread. When he reached Shadows room he stopped at the entrance and deeply frowned at Shadow not being there.

"XANDER!" Sonic shouted with anger while glaring at the empty bed.

"What, what is it?" Xander asked with worry as he appeared in front of Sonic.

Sonic pointed a finger at Shadows empty bed and the king followed it only to see his youngest son's bed empty.

"He is supposed to be on bed rest today. Just you wait until I find you Shadow, I will handcuff you to the bed and add a day more, maybe two days more." Xander growled with anger then gently grabbed Sonics shoulder and teleported them both away.

They appeared on the platform in front of the cage and Xander dropped his hold on Sonics shoulder. They both expressed dry unimpressed looks as down below were four souls fighting one another violently with deadly sharp weapons.

"Shit did you see that hit!" Flame said with a smirk as he had watched a soul slash another's arm and almost taking it off.

"And what is going on here?" Xander seriously said and got everyone's attention.

"Nothing." Flame innocently replied with a smile at his father.

"And why the hell are you out of bed Shadow?" Sonic asked with a you are so in for it expression at his boyfriend.

"Er well you see I thought it was a good idea to stretch my legs a little and what do I find on my leg stretching but this. I joined all and watched this mysterious event unfold. We have no clue who set this up but we are not questioning it for it is very entertaining to watch." Shadow innocently said with a smile at both his father and boyfriend.

"Uh-huh sure and there is no way it was set up on purpose and you dragged to watch it." Sonic dryly said with a raised brow at Shadow.

"Give us a little slack brother, we all need some chill time and what better way to have some then to watch this." Hector grinned at his brother with a wink.

"Huh, ok, ok. I will allow this but back to bed straight after Shadow." Xander sighed then vanished, leaving Sonic there to make sure Shadow did go straight to bed.

"Awesome." Flame said with excitement then got back to watching the carnage below.

Sonic rolled his eyes then moved to stand next to Shadow then passed the place over.

"Thanks, you are just too good to me." Shadow happily said as he took the plate with both hands then began to eat while watching the violence before him.

An hour later…

"I can't believe they are still going at it, they all look totally mangled up. Good job they are already dead or they would have died five minutes into the fight." Mephiles said with amazement, him and Silver sharing a large tub of popcorn to munch on.

"I know and that one is still going strong even with one arm missing and it pouring out with blood." Silver casually said with a grin then ate some popcorn.

"Wow! I was not expecting that." Flame said with high excitement as a soul got his head sliced clean off and the head rolling on the floor then electrocuted by the fence around the arena.

"Now there are only two left, this will be interesting." Shadow smirked as he watched intensely at the two souls trying to slice and dice one another.

"I say one arm is going to win this." Hector casually said with a grin as he kept his eyes on the fight.

"Nah I reckon limpy will, he's got two weapons and really going at it." Sonic said as he was really getting into this as much as the demons were.

"No, one arm will for limpy is struggling with his footing." Xander calmly said with a grin on his face, having returned half an hour ago and too got into this cage fight to the death or not death since they are damned souls.

"Oh my chaos!" Shadow called out with wide eyes as limpy was struck in the head so violently the dagger was now embedded there.

"Ok I agree, one arm has this in the bag." Sonic chuckled as he watched limpy back away from one arm.

Then something shocking happened as one arm tripped on a severed foot and fell into the axe limpy was holding hard, it embedded into his chest deeply. Limpy smirked and spun around then roughly pushed one arm into the electrical fence then laughed insanely as one arm fried with that axe still inside his chest.

"You should have stuck to betting on limpy Sonic." Shadow said with a grin then lightly nudged his boyfriend in a playful manner.

"YES I HAVE IMUNITY FOR A WHOLE WEEK!" Limpy shouted out in victory.

"You promised what to the victor?" Xander seriously asked as he looked at Flame, knowing his eldest set this up.

"I was not going to actually carry it out, it is not like it was a blood promise just a verbal one dad." Flame defended himself with a slightly anxious smile at his father.

"Right so who will be the one to go into that cage and dish out his temp death so he can re-spawn into his personal torture chamber?" Xander rolled his eyes as he asked.

"Me." Shadow called then vanished, appearing in the cage.

"Shadow get out of there now!" Xander shouted out with anger.

Flame sighed then vanished and appeared right next to Shadow. They exchanged looks with smirks then locked their eyes on the soul looking back at them. They watched limpy limp over to them and stop a couple of meters away.

"Congratulations on being the victor of this death match." Flame clearly said with his smirk still on his muzzle.

"Yeah so what now? Do I get like a room to stay in for a week?" Limpy asked with a small frown, not liking the sinister smirks coming from the two princes of hell.

"Little brother why don't you give limpy his reward." Flame chuckled darkly as he kept his eyes on the soul looking nervous.

Shadow smirked then clicked his fingers. Limpy cried out as he was lifted up into the air until he was floating half way between the floor and glass dome above.

"Any requests!" Shadow called out and looked up at his family with amusement.

"Your choice Shadow!" Hector called back then was given a glare from his brother.

"Oh chill brother, he is fine." Hector grinned back then watched his brother look back down into the cage.

"Shadow you get back up here young man!" Xander seriously called down with anger in his eyes at his son but was totally ignored.

Flame whispered into Shadow ear then took a step back when he finished giving his request. Shadow smirked sinisterly and nodded then locked eyes with his victim. His eyes began to glow bright red and he held out a palm at limpy. Limpy screamed out in agony as Shadow chanted, those screams getting louder as more pain coursed through his body.

"What is Shadow doing?" Sonic questioned as he kept his eyes locked on what was happening.

Most shrugged saying no idea, as they watched. Xander, however, was still glaring with anger at his sons for this and disobeying his orders.

Shadow began to wave his hand in a slow circular motion and as he did purple fire began to spiral around the soul, starting from the feet right to his head until he was covered in a swirl of purple hot flames. Agonising screams filled everyone's ears as the fire burned the soul. The swirling flames began to slowly disappear in the same fashion it appeared, climbing up towards the head. When the flames vanished completely the soul was burned badly with patches of melted skin and black patches all over. Limpy was gasping and grunting from pain then he widened his eyes as he felt a tightness all over.

"Again we congratulate you for winning!" Flame called up as he knew this was the final of his request.

Shadow chuckled as he dropped his hand then clicked his fingers. The soul screamed then exploded with blood, limbs and guts flying in all directions.

"Damn!" Mephiles whispered as he had no idea Shadow could do that.

"Yeah you said it Meph." Silver said in a whispered voice as his eyes were glued to the scene, also had no idea Shadow was capable of any of what he just did to that soul.

"Even I have to admit that is some serious power Shadow has. See brother he has your talent, aren't we proud." Hector said with a teasing grin at his brother.

"Well what do you expect when he has a father such as myself to pass down the evil gene pool of destruction and death." Xander smugly said with pride in his eyes as he crossed his arms and smirked down at his sons laughing and high fifing each other with their tails.

"Uh-huh and it has nothing to do with who his mother is, no?" Hector quietly spoke over to his big brother.

"That might come into it too." Xander calmly replied with his smirk still there…