Chapter Four - Kage
ONCE
MORE this human robbed Kage of his ability to speak. He was powerful. He was the
darkness. He was feared by all… except for Austin.
From
the moment he’d come into that child’s life seventeen years ago, Austin had
never been afraid of him. Kage was the nightmare that lurked in the dark of
night. Paranormals actively avoided his kind, and for good reason. And yet this
human trusted Kage. Always had.
It was
humbling.
“Also,
shadow demon is a nickname. The so-called demons from the Christian Hell do not
exist.”
“Okay,
so…? The demon part of that makes sense, I guess. Can you explain the shadow
part?”
“My
kind travel via the shadows,” Kage said.
“Think
of it like a portal,” Hudson added. “They use them to go from one place to
another.”
“Yeah,
except those aren’t supposed to exist,” Austin pointed out.
“Surprise!”
Hudson grinned. “You’ll find there’s a lot of things which exist humans don’t
know about. Anyhow, it’s how Kage and I arrived. Daemons can also send someone
from one place to another via shadows.”
“Ah,
like Tom?” Austin asked.
“Yes.
As long as there is a shadow, that’s all we need,” Kage said. “Even on the
brightest of days, there are always shadows. We can also manipulate them to do
our bidding.”
“I’m
not gonna lie, that’s terrifying,” Austin said.
“Now
you know why paranormals avoid his kind, because yes, they are terrifying,”
Hudson added.
Kage
glared at Hudson. That was not helpful. Not at all.
“What
happened to Tom and the other guy who you threw at the shadows?” Austin asked.
Kage
studied Austin for a brief moment. “Are you sure you wish to know?”
“Usually,
if that question has to be asked, then the answer is usually no. But I’ve been searching
for answers for so long, and I’m finally getting them. So, yes. I want to
know.”
“Very
well. One was deposited on the plains of the Serengeti.
The other one I dropped in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.” Kage shrugged.
“They might live.”
“But
it’s highly doubtful, I’m guessing. And all your kind can do that?”
“Yes.”
Kage scowled as Austin’s heart rate rose. “I’ve scared you.”
“No,
no, not you,” Austin said. “But can’t you see how frightening that is? I could
be walking along, minding my own business, then boom! I’m floating in the
ocean. My God. What’s to stop a daemon from doing that to me?”
“For
one, we don’t attack random humans for no reason.”
“That
you know.”
