//------------------------------// // Chapter Ten: You Gonna Carry that Weight // Story: Inner Demons // by Spider8ite //------------------------------// The sound of birdsong and the first rays of sunlight crept into the living room, tickling my senses, and waking me from my sleep. I yawned and stretched, looking at Vinyl snoring — thank Faust and my father she wasn’t as bad as Neon. But my attention was drawn to the figure in the kitchen drinking something. It was my father, already awake and ready to go. I rose and went to join him, looking at him and waiting for him to say something — to even acknowledge my presence — but he was immersed in his own thoughts. I sat on the chair in front of him and after a long time I finally asked, “are you alright?” Dante blinked for a moment and then looked at me. “Yes, I was just thinking about what we have to carry now. It’s a big weight. And we’re going to carry that weight,” he answered and took another sip of his coffee. “I know, and I’m going to help. Vinyl is too.” I stopped and remembered last night. “Do you really like her? Or were you just making a scene when you came here for the first time?” My father played with his hands and stared at me, then chuckled. “I was mad and worried, it was just that. And, like you said, she can be… ‘impossible’, right?” I nodded. “That’s why I was tough with her. I can get a little out of control when someone tries to hurt someone in my family. I’m sure if someone tried to hurt her, you’d be just the same — I know that; I know you got that from me.” I smiled; it was true. I was protective over Vinyl, or anyone I loved. “Yes, I would. And it isn’t just you who is worried, I am too. I do not want to let Fenrir do something to my mother — I love her. And I really don’t want to lose her to a monster’s game. Do you have any idea of how we can put a stop to him?” Dante nodded, agreeing with me. “Well… I remember hearing something about a type of sword made by Faust and Miss Death. They’re really close, you know. I think that they made it to demonstrate that anyone — even a powerful supernatural god — can be ended. It has some kind of spell that makes the person who gets hit by it become mortal. Maybe that’s why he fears it so much. Some people say that four such swords exists.” He snapped out of his reverie and looked around. “Now, I’ll wake up Vinyl, and then we will pack everything up. Do you need to do anything?” I thought of saying no, but then I remembered I had to speak with someone. “I need to go talk to someone. It will be fast, I promise. I just need to speak about something with her.” He thought for a moment. “You go. We’ll pack up.” He smiled at me and I did the same, then he walked upstairs. I sighed and rose up, got ready to go out, and then headed to Bon Bon’s apartament. “So why did you need to get me out of bed at this time in the morning? It’d better be something important,” Bonnie said rubbing her eyes sleepy. Bon Bon’s eyes widened in sudden realization. “Oh yes, your father! So… how is everything going? Did your plan work?” she asked with an excited smile. I grimaced. “More or less…” I sighed, taking a sip of the tea she had given me. “You know all the supernatural gods, right?” “Yes. Nosferatu the Vampire, Classy Note the Siren, White Wing the Angel, your father and mother, and Fenrir the Lycan. Why are you asking?” “Well… everything is going fine and my parents are staying here for a year,” I said and she smiled. “But, well, there’s just been a little problem… Fenrir kidnapped my mom. He wants my father’s powers. But he’ll probably double-cross us when we see him, so I’m going on an adventure to find some way of tricking him.” “You’re going to try to scam Fenrir?! A god, a Lycan, a…” “We know what he is, but Eisheth is my mother — she was the one who raised me, who taught me to play a cello, and to love music. The one who sang to me with her beautiful voice when I needed to sleep. I love her. That’s why we need to do this.” She sat in silence for a long time, staring at her own tea cup. “And… I don’t know if I’ll come back from this. I hope to… actually, not ‘hope’, because if I say that I would be lying. I just… need to believe in that to stay calm and not freak out about this.” Bonnie scratched her head and then looked at me worriedly. “Well, you’re my friend, so you have my blessing. If anybody can do this, you two can. And you will. Everything will be fine, Octavia.” She gave me another huge comforting smile and I smiled back. “I admit that… Fenrir is powerful, really powerful. But I know that your father must have found some way to do this — he must have a plan, because gods are immortal, or at least very long lived.” She explained what I always knew. “He told me tales about some kind of magical sword or something with a spell on it. A spell that can make beings mortal again. I don’t know where that sword is, or even if it truly exists, but…” I sighed, “we going to look for some enchantress that might know. Maybe she does, maybe she doesn’t, but we going to the mountains to find her anyway.” “You know that’s dangerous, right? Manticores, timberwolves, and a lot of other dangerous animals and creatures live around there. You’ll have to pass through the Everfree Woods, and that’s one hell of a dangerous place too.” Her face had a scared grimace. “Well… when I was kid my father always told me demons did not have to be scared of anything — they need to be scared of us, unless they want to end up at our home.” I smiled. “Finally I can put that advice towards something useful.” “Maybe he’s right. I wouldn’t like to be anywhere near an angry Octavia, and I don’t think any normal humans would like it to imagine being there either.” We both giggled. “I just hope you get back alright. Who will come to me with all her problems if you don’t get back?” Bonnie said and winked at me. “Oh, Bonnie, you’re just too kind to me.” I took a last sip of my tea and got up. “Thank you for everything. I hope you have a good Remembrance Day next week,” I said when she got up and hugged me. “You’d better come back, because I need someone to talk about her own crazy girlfriend to calm me down and help me remember that I’m not the only one living with a crazy girl,” she joked. “I will. If my father is right, I will.” I smiled and walked up to the door. “Bye, Bonnie. Goodbye.” Then I walked out. “Good luck, Octavia.” “Everything’s packed, right?” my father asked Vinyl. “Yeah, yeah, old man. That knife, food, blankets, flashlight, Wub Wub’s dog collar, Ol’ Foxy, my shades, some notes, a map, a lighter, and a comic.” Vinyl said with a smile. We looked at her with raised eyebrows. “What? Why are ya’ two looking at me like that?” “Comics?” we asked simultaneously. “Yeah, I don’t wanna be bored in the woods. It can be really boring there. I went camping once. It was awful. Never again.” I remembered that she’d mentioned that trip before. Neon got a snake bite that day — in not a very good place. That must have hurt. “Okay, then we have everything we need,” my father, said arranging his jacket in front of the mirror. “I’ll use black magic to teletransport us next to the Everfree Forest. If everything is okay, we can get to the far side of the forest, or at least the middle by sunset.” “Dark magic?” Vinyl asked. “Yes, dark magic. Do you doubt my magic?” My father frowned. “Of course not, old man, hehe.” Vinyl coughed. “So can we go? Look how impatient Wub Wub is getting.” Vinyl pointed to the little black dog sat on the ground, who was looking at her curious about what was happening. “Okay, come stand next to me,” he requested. I picked up Wub Wub, and Vinyl came with me so that we were all gathered together. “Magnum teletransportatus… I think that is the spell…” he murmured. After an second a big bright ball of energy appeared in the room. Then everything was black, then purple, then red for a moment. Then we were standing in front of the Everfree Forest with animal sounds. The sun was already overhead, like it was already afternoon. I peered up at the sky. “Why is—” “Teletransportation seems to take such little time, but actually hours can pass in the non-magical spectrum. You will learn that one day, maybe,” my father explained, interrupting me. “Now we need to go and find some place to set up a campfire and stay the night. And remember: if you see a cockatrice, don’t look at him. I don’t have any magic to deal with the results of staring at those chickens.” After a long time walking we came across a little meadow and made a campfire just like my father had suggested. We passed the time talking about random things, and then Vinyl decided to take a walk with Wub Wub, who had been yapping around us, desperate for attention, giving my father and I some time alone. My father didn’t stop looking at the flames, as if something important was in there. “What are you thinking now?” I asked. “About how Fenrir is stupid — it wasn't me; it was my father. I didn’t killed him; actually he almost killed himself…” Danter murmured still staring the fire. “I remember when he jumped at the flames, trying to avoid my father’s sword. I was only young back then, but I saw everything, and did nothing to stop him, so now he says it’s all my fault.” “What are you talking about?” “Someone really important to Fenrir. He was his fiance, Koda. He was a Lycan too. It was back when Lycans and Demons lived together in peace, but Lycans hated Vampires. But then,” he sighed, “that Lycan betrayed us and tried to kill my father. A war started in the Supernatural Nation. Faust watched everything, weeping about what was happening. Miss Death awaited us in the Dead God’s Graveyard. But we never came there.” He stopped and looked at the moon. “And then after that, Fenrir started everything that is happening now.” “I’m sorry for that…” “You didn’t start any of this — he did.” He sighed once again and lay on his mattress. “I’m tired. I need some sleep… good night, my dear Tavi.” “Night.” With that I sat staring at the full moon and thinking about the days ahead. And then I murmured something to remind myself that I could do it. “I’m gonna carry that weight.”