Archive of Our Own ^beta

If Ryan just so happened to be a demon, he should have denied the existence of the supernatural so as to not draw suspicion onto himself? Right? That would have made sense.

But Ryan didn't. Because that is what people would have expected. Instead, Ryan made his strong opinions on the supernatural known. It was like hiding in plain sight, in the last place people would have expected to see you. It was a smart plan, if you asked Ryan. 

The only thing that could throw a wrench into his plan was...well, salt. 

~

Neither of Ryan's parents had been demons, that much had been explained by Alexis, his demon mentor. Yeah, you read that right. Basically, when a demon was born to human parents (yes that could happen, something about demon genes or whatever skipping over one or more generations) the Council of Atteria (the demon world) assigned a mentor to them, to show them this whole new world that unlocked inside of them when they turned 12. Ryan took a lot of convincing to believe that his visit to Atteria wasn't some sort of weird dream but when he finally came around, he was excited. He wanted to test out his supposed powers, visiting the supernatural and making objects move on their own just like Alexis could do? Fuck yeah!

His enthusiasm quickly died down when he realized that he didn't have any powers. He was supposed to, all demons had some sort of power unique to them but Ryan? Nothing. It puzzled Alexis to no end. He came to the conclusion that Ryan just needed practice. 

All throughout Ryan's teenage years, he diligently practiced. Squeezing his eyes tight, searching for that power that lurked inside of him, just out of reach. 

And again and again, he failed. 

By the time Ryan was twenty, he had given up. He was a deformed demon or something. A demon without any sort of powers, it was laughable. 

Alexis was an amazing mentor, always answering Ryan's questions, never looking like he was tired of the endless barrage of them. But he was absentminded, and that absentmindedness almost cost Ryan's life when he was 21. 

He had been eating breakfast in his tiny college dorm, speed reading through his textbook, his roommate attending a lecture. He had been eating a chicken, he remembered. Leftovers from the previous night. The stay overnight in his fridge made the chicken dull and flavorless, so he searched the kitchenette for some spices to put on it to at least make it seem like he was eating something, not the flavorless texture of chicken. He came up empty-handed. Ryan had returned to the living room floor, defeated and succumbed to his fate of flavorless chicken. After a bite of chicken though, Ryan's eyes landed on something on the kitchen counter, seemingly left out by his roommate. A salt shaker, filled to the brim with white crystals. It was so full some crystals of salt were on the lid. 

Ryan wasn't picky about salt, rarely added it himself to his food. But anything would be an improvement to this chicken, he supposed so he reached over and plucked the container up. 

And then dropped it and screamed. His entire body was in pain, the pain so sudden and intense that his mind stopped working. He couldn't think, the adrenaline from the whole shock of it coursing in his veins. 

Black spots filled Ryan's vision before he fully blacked out. 

~

Ryan was woken to the beeping of a heart monitor he had previously only heard in movies before. When he opened his eyes, sure enough. He was in a hospital. 

The doctor had explained that his body had some sort of allergic reaction to salt that he previously hadn't formed. The doctor was puzzled, just told Ryan to avoid salt until further notice. 

Two weeks later, Ryan accidentally ate pasta at an on-campus restaurant. He could taste the salt on his tongue. But he was fine. 

That meant it had to do with his other side. His demon side. He had called Alexis, and Alexis had explained to him. 

Demons were allergic to salt, but only in their skin touched it. They could eat it just fine and lucky for Ryan since it was in practically everything. 

He should be fine, since he couldn't perform magic there was no risk of him being discovered that way. 

So the only thing that could expose Ryan was him touching pure salt. Something you didn't normally do on a normal basis. So Ryan was safe. His secret couldn't get exposed. 

And he was right. 

Kinda.

~

"Queen Margarita died here in the 1700s, supposedly drowning in a hot bath. Her citizens were suspicious, however, but no evidence came to light if she was murdered. Her successor, her sister supposedly showed no grief at her sister's death. Her autopsy was never released to the public." 

"That sucks," Shane interjected. "But, like, imagine being named after a cocktail." 

Ryan laughed. "I'm sure the cocktail came later."

Ryan and Shane were currently in an abandoned palace on Italian farmland. Buzzfeed had agreed to let them fly all the way from California to Italy for this special episode. Perks of having a popular show, Ryan guess.

The palace was a large, sprawling place, several stories high and many miles wide. It had been long since abandoned decades ago, with cobwebs and dust on everything, a ghost of its former beauty. 

Ryan and Shane were currently extra footage of the house, just panning their handheld cameras around to show the audience their surroundings. They had gotten enough footage of them exploring today, so they could turn in and after tomorrow's filming, they should have enough content for the video. The whole crew had been exhausted so Ryan and Shane had offered to take over Mark's job. 

They were planning on spreading sleeping bags on the floor and sleeping in what once was the sitting room of the palace. Ryan suddenly got a cold feeling in his chest, misplaced in the humid temperature of Italy. He stopped spreading his sleeping bag and thought. He had felt that cold feeling he felt earlier when they first arrived at the palace, a shiver from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. It was eerie, Italy in the summer was hot and humid, Ryan shouldn't be shivering. A glance at Shane showed that he looked fine, spreading his sleeping bag out and loudly challenging ghosts to come out. 

The strangest thing was that Ryan knew this feeling, he had felt it before he was sure of it. But he couldn't, for the life of him remember where and when he felt it. 

Beside him, Shane finally stopped insulting the ghosts and climbed into his sleeping bag. "You coming?" He asked Ryan, adjusting his pillow. 

Ryan looked around. "Yeah." He said, climbing into his sleeping bag. 

An hour later, sleep still hadn't come. A glance at Shane told Ryan that he was in deep sleep, snoring loudly. Ryan rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. The cold feeling was back and no matter how deep he buried himself in his sleeping bag, it made no difference. This time, the coldness came with nausea. Ryan felt like he was either going to freeze to death or throw up. Or both. Probably both. 

When Ryan glimpsed the figures, he wanted to slap himself in the face. Of course, that was the feeling. Ryan had felt it when he visited Atteria for the first time, just 12 years old, and scared out of his mind, convinced he was going insane. This place was actually haunted. A few of the haunted places Ryan had visited before on Buzzfeed Unsolved had been, namely the Sallie house. But that had just been a few ghosts, that minded their own business, more bored than anything else. 

These figures weren't ghosts, they didn't have that translucent shimmer. They were demons. 

Ryan could immediately tell they were demons instead of ghouls. Ghouls had horns and blood stains around their mouths from eating dead bodies. Demons had a red aura around them, with red eyes when they were using their magic. Ryan saw Alexis with his red eyes frequently when the older was using his magic. 

They weren't coming near him and Shane, just lifelessly drifting in the hallways. Their lips were moving but no sound came out.

Still, Ryan was on guard. Sure, he was a demon without magic, but he needed to be ready to protect Shane if any of these demons decided to try and hurt him. Demons were like humans, some were bad, some were good and some just existed not caring about what goes on in the mortal world.

"Ry?" A voice called out. Ryan jumped. 

"Jesus, your jumpy today." Shane continued. "Can't sleep?" 

"Yeah...just this whole place freaks me out." 

"You want to leave?" Now Shane sounded more concerned. He propped himself up on his elbows. "Cuz if you want to, we can."

Ryan swallowed down his fear. "No, I'm fine really. Really," he added seeing Shane's disbelieving look. They went to bed pretty early, around eight-ish so now it would be around half-past nine.

Ryan and Shane both laid down after that and sleep was just coming to Ryan when he heard a loud screeching noise. Ryan jumped. "Did you hear that?" He asked Shane.

"Hear what?" 

"Nothing, forget it." 

There it was again. A loud screech, like a chair being drawn over a tile floor. Ryan was tempted to look around the corner but how would he explain that to Shane?

Ryan must have flinched or something because now Shane looked even more concerned. "Are you sure your okay?"

"Positive." Ryan rolled over so he didn't have to look at the doorway anymore and suddenly found himself very close to Shane's face. Discreetly, he shuffled back a bit.

Was it just Ryan or was that shadow moving? Apparently, it wasn't just him. 

"Did you see that?" Shane asked. He got up and started to move towards the door. 

"Don't!" Ryan yelled, out of instinct. Shane jumped and redacted his hand from the door handle. They both were standing up at this point. 

"I just...have this feeling okay?" Ryan didn't know how to explain it. He picked up a camera that had been lying discarded on the floor next to them. "This might be our chance to catch de- ghosts on camera." Ryan almost slipped up and said demons. He didn't want Shane to ask him why Ryan thought they were demons and not ghosts.

Ryan and Shane each grabbed a camera and flashlight before cautiously peering out the door. The hall was empty but if Ryan concentrated he could swear he heard a screeching sound, this time softer.

"Jesus, what is this place. The shadow is moving and there's that awful screeching noise." Shane whispered. They were walking down a long hallway, a horror movie classic. At the end of the hallway, there was what used to be the entrance. It used to be grand, with two white marble staircases wrapping around a huge fireplace. Now, the marble was chipped and the fireplace a nesting place for different types of insects. The palace was silent, except for Ryan and Shane's heavy breathing and the crickets outside.

Ryan didn't answer, too busy concentrating. If I have any magic, like protective spells or whatever, this would be a great time for them to show up, He thought. Please Universe? 

Nothing happened. Ryan tried not to be disappointed. It was surprisingly easy, this was nothing new after all. Suddenly, a loud noise was heard. "That sounds like thunder," Ryan whispered to Shane. "But it's clear skies outside." Shane was also confused, moving back the curtain from the nearest window.

"Now do you believe in the supernatural?" Ryan teasingly whispered to Shane. He didn't know why they were whispering, they just were. 

"Really Ry? That's your first question?" Shane shook his head disbelievingly. Ryan was about to reply when there was intense pain in Ryan's head. Blinding light shone from all angles. Ryan's head felt like it was about to burst, blood surely dripping from his ears. He somehow ended up on the floor, clutching his head and screaming.

In the rush of everything, Ryan didn't even notice how he couldn't feel Shane next to him. 

~

The pain could have lasted for a few seconds or for a few days. It was impossible to tell, every moment Ryan's brain was just screaming "PAIN!" at him. He couldn't think about anything else. He couldn't do anything. When it finally stopped, Ryan just laid there, body exhausted. He felt like he had just run a marathon. All of a sudden, a thought struck Ryan. The cameras! He and Shane had brought them with them when they went out to explore the strange sounds in the hallway. Looking back, Ryan regretted that decision. His head still throbbed from the lasting effects of the pain. 

Speaking of Shane, where was he? Ryan was on his back in the middle of the hallway, spread eagle style but Shane wasn't next to him. Ryan carefully lifted his head up from the ground, wincing at the jolt of pain that still echoed through his body. "Shane?" He croaked out. He cleared his throat and tried again, this time louder. "Shane!" Okay, Ryan was seriously creeped out. Did Shane somehow escape before the pain hit him? How? He was right next to Ryan, he couldn't have. It was physically impossible. In his worry for Shane, Ryan temporarily forgot about the cameras. He was reminded when he spotted one in the corner opposite of him. The lens was a bit scratched but it seemed working. He needed to plug it into his laptop to view the footage, however. And his laptop was in his backup next to his sleeping bag in the sitting room. Which seemed like miles away because every time Ryan moved an inch, his body protested loudly. There was no way he could make it all the way to the camera then back into the hall and into the sitting room.

Groaning, Ryan closed his eyes. Huh, he didn't realize how tired he was. The hardwood floor didn't feel that uncomfortable. Maybe he should just take a short nap-

~

When Ryan came to, it wasn't the natural waking up. Someone was shaking his shoulders roughly. It was dark all around him, so he couldn't see the person's face. "Shane?" He groggily asked, still half-asleep. 

"No dumbass, it's not your lover boy." That voice was very familiar. Alexis. "You need to come with me right now. There was an attack." 

"Attack?" Ryan was confused. Then he remembered what happened. "Oh yeah, the attack. On me." Ryan felt like he was forgetting something but couldn't quite place his finger on what. Oh well, probably nothing. 

Alexis just sighed, used to Ryan's bullshit. "Just get up and follow me." Ryan was pulled to his feet. He braced himself, ready for the pain but nothing came. Just a dull ache in his bones that was manageable. It just felt like he needed a nap. A longer one. Speaking of which.

"How long was I out?" Ryan asked. "What time is it?"It had been around ten-ish PM that the attack happened. Now, it was still dark so it couldn't have been too long of a nap. 

"Around two AM. Now come with me." Ryan followed, mostly managing to stumble-walk on his own. "How did you know there was an attack?" Was his next question. 

"If you paid attention when I was explaining the working's of the demon world." Alexis started, in the tone of voice he used when he was about to start a long lecture. "You would know that there's a branch of government in Atteria called the Supervising Of Magic or SOM for short. Its job is to supervise the magic all demons use, especially the pain-inducing spells. To use one of them, for example, to show it to students or use it to catch a criminal, or scelestus as we call them in Latin, the language of demons you have to get a permit from them. They picked up multiple pain spells from here that were cast without a permit. And you told me you were going to Italy for your web series so I got worried and atom-traveled here." 

Atom traveling was basically teleportation but Alexis refused to call it that. "It's just manipulating science in ways humans can't." He had explained previously to Ryan, "Nothing magical about it. Humans are quick to call things they cant do 'magic'. Everything is made up of atoms, right? And all atoms are connected. Demons can use those connections to get from one place to another." 

Ryan nodded. "And thank god you did, I was attacked or something. All of a sudden this horrible pain hit me? And Shane's gone." The reality sunk in just then. "Oh my god, Shane's gone. Have you seen him? Where is he?" 

"Calm down, he has to be around here somewhere." Alexis looked around like Shane would suddenly pop out of the shadows. 

Ryan remembered something then. "The cameras! Shane and I were recording when we were attacked or whatever. I need to plug the camera into my laptop to view the footage." 

Alexis nodded. "Okay, here's the plan. You go to the sitting room and get your laptop ready. I'll get the cameras. How many are they?" 

"Two Go-Pros," Ryan answered. Alexis nodded again. "Okay, now go and get your laptop ready. I'll be back in a sec." 

~

Ryan bit his nails while waiting for Alexis to come back, a habit that he thought he left in middle school. He wasn't normally an anxious person, but with everything that had recently happened, he was justified to a bit of nail-biting and anxiety. Just thinking about the disappearance of Shane made his stomach twist with anxiety. 

Thankfully, Alexis returned back soon, two cameras clutched in his hands. Ryan quickly plugged them up into his laptop and clicked play. The footage started out blurry and green, the camera in night mode. Ryan could hear his and Shane's back and forth teasing banter and the sound of it filled him with sadness. Tears pricked the back of his eyes but he blinked them back. He had to see what happened next. He could cry later. Preferably after he found Shane.

Suddenly, the screen went black. Ryan shook his mouse, thinking his laptop just died but nope, the camera's suddenly stopped recording. 

"You didn't accidentally turn them off, did you?" Alexis asked. "Or when they hit the floor?" 

"That doesn't make sense, the camera's turned off before the attack. Shane and I were just talking. It has to be related to the attack. Is there a way to track who cast the pain spells?" 

Alexis bit his lip. "There is, but I'm permitted to access such data. There are all types of rumors about SOM being infiltrated with moles that work for bad guys that I'm scared to even request access to such information."

"What now?" Ryan asked the adrenaline that previously rushed through his veins slowing down. More than anything, he just wanted to do something, instead of sitting around here.  

"You need to rest, you're completely exhausted-" Ryan was about to argue until he realized what Alexis said was true, his eyelids were drooping and his insides still felt like they had gotten punched over and over again. Sleep sounded amazing to him. 

But the thought of spending the night on the floor in his sleeping bag, while the sleeping bag next to him was empty and cold was enough to knock back any sleepiness. Thankfully, Alexis had different plans. 

"Don't worry, we won't sleep here. We can go to a hotel." 

"I don't have any mon-"

"We're going to a hotel in Atteria."

~

Traveling to Atteria was the only "magic" things Ryan could do. And he could only do it from Earth to Atteria, not from places in Atteria to other places in Atteria or from Atteria to Earth. Ryan's magic was pickier than his ninth-grade English teacher who insisted they all write in cursive and only in cursive. Well, according to Alexis it wasn't even magic. Science of whatever, Ryan already forgot. Atom traveling always gave you a funny feeling, like being ripped apart to shreds then suddenly jammed back together. And it all happened in only a few seconds. When Ryan's vision cleared, he saw he was standing in the capital of Atteria, Aderia in front of a restaurant/hotel owned by Alexis's wife, Sayaka. 

When they entered, she was in front of the desk in her human form. Most demons these days stayed in their human form. "Ryan!" She rushed to hug him. "I heard what happened, I'm so sorry." Ryan hugged her back, feeling numb.

"Heres your room key," Alexis reached behind the counter and placed a card on top. Ryan reached into his back wallet for his special aureus, or the money used in ancient Rome to pay but Sayaka stopped him. "It's on us." Ryan tried to protest but the two wouldn't let him pay. Eventually, Ryan gave up and headed to his room. Now that he was in a calmer environment he could feel the tiredness in his bones. He arrived in front of his room and immediately went to sleep.

~

When he woke up, Ryan felt the tiniest bit better. He went downstairs to eat breakfast (again Ryan tried to pay but Sakaya and Alexis refused but Ryan sneaked a few aureus when they weren't looking.) Then he went back up to his room to try and look at the footage again, to see anything he might have missed in his state of panic yesterday. Nothing. The camera was working fine, recording him and Shane's playful banter before suddenly turning off. Ryan thought back to yesterday, that strange noise they heard. Could that have played a part?

Suddenly Ryan realized something. Those demons he saw yesterday! The weird ones whose lips couldn't move just aimlessly drifted in the hallways. How had he forgotten? Ryan got a sick feeling in his stomach. No… it couldn't be...

But why had Ryan forgotten about them yesterday? Already, the thought of them was slipping from his mind...he sure was hungry. Those pancakes from breakfast had been the perfect combination of spongy and squishy... No, focus Ryan! No time for those pancakes, no matter how good they were.

Ryan really didn't want to investigate this case, if he was right then what he was facing was much stronger than him.

But for Shane, he’d do anything. 

~

Ryan didn’t need directions, he roughly knew where to go. The parts of Atteria he was told to avoid, by Alexis and just generally his own common sense, he was going. For Shane. 

You could compare it to alleyways and badly light streets in a busy city, late at night. Things that screamed danger, of unknownness. Demons called them “periclum”  meaning danger in Latin. 

~

Ryan left the hotel without telling anyone, knowing Alexis and Sayaka would try and stop him. He had to do this, he didn’t think anyone else would understand. 

Ryan shivered, more out of discomfort than actual coldness. He was in his human form, for him it was his default form since he spent so much time in the human world. However, he knew soon he would have to change. Scelestus often were found here and they were very old-fashioned, with no patience for the human world. They rejected the human world and stuck to their evil ways, believing it was the right way to live. Most demons nowadays lived in hiding in the human world, often neutral or even sometimes fighting for good. However, if you did that here, you marked yourself as a target for the Scelestus. They were powerful old fashioned families who stuck to their conservative ways. 

And well, maybe Ryan had angered a few of them. More on that later. 

Ryan was heading to the infamous Sanguis (blood) Bar. If you wanted to find a Scelestus this was your best bet. Ryan just hoped he didn't run into any...familiar faces.

When the bar was in sight, Ryan ducked into an alleyway and concentrated. Slowly, his human skin peeled off, he got taller (wasn't it cruel that in his demon he was taller than Shane but couldn't brag about it?. He flexed his shoulders, stretching. It had been a while since he had taken his true form and he forgot how good transforming felt. Like taking off too-small shoes or a too-tight belt. Ryan checked his reflection in a nearby mirror and shuddered at the sight. In the back of his mind, he wondered what the Boogaras would think if they saw him like this. The Shaniacs would certainly get scared. Too bad Ryan couldn't flex the fact he was a demon. 

Deeming himself presentable (and by that meaning you couldn't see an ounce of human in him) Ryan took a deep breath (even though demons didn't even need air to live, but it was a habit ingrained in him by him living amongst humans for so long) and stepped through the door. It was dark inside but his demon eyes immediately adjusted. There were a few demons, sitting on stools near the counter or at tables scattered around. Ryan internally scoffed. For demons that wanted to distance themselves as far as possible from humans, they sure imitated human behavior a lot. This bar could pass as a human bar save for its strange patrons. And the alcohol. That was something demons didn't invent. Seemed a lot like picking and choosing what they wanted to take from human cultures but whatever. 

Ryan went up to the bar and ordered himself one beer. He wasn't there to get drunk anyway, just to blend in. He took a seat at one of the tables in the corner, trying to seem nervous. So far no one was paying him attention. 

"Well well, haven't seen you here before." Shit. Ryan forced himself not to tense up. He looked up to see a familiar face. Titus Umbra. Double shit. 

Titus Umbra was the leader of the Umbra Clan, one of the oldest clan families in Atteria. So much for not attracting much attention. Titus slid into the chair across the table. Everyone else in the bar froze what they were doing, trying not to make it obvious they were listening and failing. 

Ryan laughed nervously. "I'm new around here."

Titus' eyes narrowed. "What's your name?" Ryan gulped, well aware that his name wasn't a Latin one because he was a Skipper (or someone whose parents weren't demons because the demon genes skipped generations). But luckily he had prepared for this moment if it ever came. He had chosen a name that was similar enough to his actual name to remember while still being Latin. 

"Ramiro. I come from Aderia. Got tired of all the weak demons there and decided to come to where the real demons are."  

Titus smiled. Several of his teeth were gold. "I like you," He declared. The other demons around them stirred, seemingly giving up their pretense of not listening in. It seemed like Ryan had passed some type of test. 

"Come with me." He got up and headed towards the back of the bar. Ryan followed, wondering what he had just gotten himself into. 

~

It turned out that the bar was also a hotel. Titus lead him into one of the rooms then ordered him to stay before leaving. Ryan took that time to collect his thoughts. He was still mad at himself for not remembering those demons he had seen and now he couldn't even ask Alexis about them. It was times like these in which Ryan wished there was a demon version of Google. But why couldn't he remember those demons? He was getting distracted again. Frustrated, Ryan took time to look around the hotel room, something he should have probably done earlier considering an almost stranger basically ordered him to come here then left. It seemed like a normal hotel room, with a bed and wardrobe. There was a small connecting bathroom.

Ryan got up from his perch on a chair and jiggled the doorknob. It was locked. Ryan could hear his heart suddenly start to beat faster, panic rising up in him. Was he locked in here? 

Ryan waited a few minutes, trying to bid his time and see what to do. He sat down on the bed, after carefully inspecting it. He was in enemy territory, after all, he couldn't forget that. He was here to find Shane, then get out ASAP. 

And then what, his mind whispered, what are you going to tell Shane? Are you just going to wipe his memories? You would have to wipe everyone's at Buzzfeed and the police too. 

Ryan's heart twisted. When he and Shane disappeared all their friends, the crew that had returned to the hotel early, and their other co-workers must have gone insane with worry. Katie herself would kill Ryan if someone else didn't beat her to it. He had been so caught up with worrying about Shane he had forgotten that others must be looking for them. And when he found Shane, would Shane think that Ryan was somehow evil? That he was a part of the plan to kidnap Shane?

Thoughts swirled around Ryan's head and he fell back onto the bed. I'll just close my eyes just a moment, he thought.

~

Ryan had his headphones in, focused on editing the latest Buzzfeed Unsolved video. It was holiday time and several of the people who usually helped him edit were on Christmas vacation. Ryan just needed to finish this video then his Christmas break would start. 

It was all dark in the Buzzfeed office, with just Ryan's computer light on. The few people who had come into the office today had all left hours ago. Sure, Ryan didn't need to finish the episode right now, there would still be plenty of time after the break before he had to post it but Ryan was really into editing right now and would rather finish it now. 

Suddenly a light flicked on and a voice yelled! Ryan jumped and spun around in his chair. There was Shane, his eyes wide and fresh coffee stains on his white shirt. (Ryan ignored how his shirt was now see-through.) A coffee cup lay on the ground. 

"Oh my god, Ryan you scared me! What are you still doing here?" Shane's eyes were wide and he had a hand over his heart. It was one of the few times Ryan had seen Shane genuinely scared. 

Ryan chose not to answer the question. "What are you doing here?" As far as Ryan knew, Shane was one of the people who was already gone on Christmas vacation. 

"Forgot my hoodie." Shane went to his desk next to Ryans and grabbed the hoodie that was sprawled on the desk chair. Ryan winced at the coffee stains on Shane's T-shirt. 

"Sorry for scaring you," Ryan said sheepishly. Shane looked over at him. Ryan didn't know if it was the fact that they were alone in the dark, the only light from Ryan's computer or what but Shane looked at Ryan with a certain look in his eyes that made Ryan's throat dry. 

Shane coughed and turned away and the moment was over. "You never answered my question. Why are you still here?"

"Finishing editing an episode. I should be done in a few hours." 

Shane hit him with that same unimpressed look he always did when Ryan suggested aliens as a theory. "You do realize the time right?" 

Ryan spun around again in his desk chair (which he should really stop doing, it's making him dizzy) and checked the time in the lower-left corner of his computer. "Holy shit, it's 3 AM? Why are you still awake?" 

Shane shrugged. "You know me, I don't sleep. Demon Shane strikes again." Ryan laughed. It was hilarious to find out that their fans thought that Shane of all people was a demon but also very ironic. For the record, demons didn't need sleep to survive but Ryan quite liked sleeping. It was like chocolate to humans. You didn't need to survive but it sure made life a lot better. Sometimes Ryan just liked to conk out for a while. 

"For the record, you don't get to comment on my sleeping habits when you're still here working."

"But I have to-"

"You don't have to." 

Ryan sighed. Shane had a point. "Fine." He grumbled, saving his work and exiting the editing program, and closing his computer. 

The two of them walked out of the office, Shane stopping in the bathroom to change out of his coffee-stained shirt and into his hoodie.

Shane stopped Ryan before Ryan got into his car with a hand on his arm. "Hey, have a good break. And take care of yourself." 

Ryan paused. He was all too aware of Shane's hand on his arm, warmth bleeding through two layers of clothing. His heart did a funny flip in his chest.  Shane and Ryan's friendship wasn't one filled with a lot of deep moments but it made moments like these more momentous. "Thanks, you too." 

Ryan got into his car and watched Shane walk away to his car. He rested his forehead on the steering wheel. "Shit," he whispered to himself. "Shit shit shit."

~

Ryan woke up feeling gloomy. He didn't know why his brain replayed the exact moment he realized he had a crush on Shane but he sure didn't appreciate it. Maybe because Shane was one of his last thoughts before going to sleep?

Suddenly, he remembered where he was. Ryan lept up with newfound energy and tried the door again. The handle easily slid open. Someone must have opened the door while he slept. Glancing down at himself to make sure he was still in his demon form, Ryan took a deep breath and stepped out of the room. 

The hallway with identical room doors was empty. Ryan headed downstairs to the bar. Titus was downstairs waiting for him. 

"Ramiro," Ryan almost forgot that that was his name now, "I trust you had a good sleep?"

Ryan nodded. 

"Good, because I have an important task for you today." Ryan forced a smile on his face. Great. 

Titus took him out of the bar 'nd hotel and into the streets. Across the street was an old rundown building with boarded-up windows and doors. A skull was painted on the door. Lovely. 

"You'll love this," He said with a wicked laugh worthy of a Disney villain. There was another demon at the door that stepped aside to let Titus in. It was dark inside but Ryan's eyes instantly adjusted. The place reeked of the delicious, addicting smell of human fear. Despite his mind hating it, Ryan's body loved it. Titus threw his head back and took a deep breath. 

"Fear. There's nothing like it, innit?" 

Ryan laughed (nervously). "Nothing like it." He agreed amiably. Thankfully, Titus wasn't looking for a conversation and let it slide, leading Ryan into the main room. 

Ryan quickly realized that this was a holding cell. There were sleeping bags on the floor and a rusted toilet. In the back corner, Ryan could see a human. She looked old with gray hair and wrinkles. Her eyes were hollow and unseeing as Titus and Ryan entered the room. Her face was ash-white except for dark under-eye circles. Ryan had to look away. It was as if the woman was already dead. 

Titus held no such qualms. He grinned, flashing his gold teeth. Ryan wanted to knock out all of Titus's teeth. 

"Should probably kill that woman, she's lost her mind. No more fear-scent from her." He laughed gruffly. "The real fun's this way." 

He lead Ryan into what seemed to be the main room of the buildings. There were cells on both sides and a rickety-looking staircase that led to another level of cells. Inside were all types of humans, old ones like the women Ryan saw earlier, teenagers who couldn't be past high school age, middle-aged men and women, black people, brown people, white people, people with missing body parts, people with dyed hair and piercings. They were all sitting against the back wall of their cells but several of them raised their head when Titus and Ryan entered the room. The smell of their fear was so strong it was almost dizzying. Ryan had never smelt so much fear in one room. He quickly scanned the room for Shane but came up empty-handed. 

"This is where we keep the humans that are close to haemon. To free the haemony they have to pledge their loyalty to the Legion and forever stay in Atteria."

It took Ryan a second to realize what haemen were. It probably was a combination of human (humano) + demon (daemon) or demons that were close to humans or acted like them. Realizing Ryan needed to add to this conversation, he quickly came up with something.

"I love the way you run things here, it's so organized." Ryan internally winced, did he sound like a kiss ass? Thankfully Titus didn't seem suspicious. "Yes yes, if we continue the way things are running right now, we will soon run out of space."

Now was Ryan's chance. "Oh, you don't have more spaces to hold the humans?" An innocent question. 

Titus sighed. "It's unfortunate but we have to be careful. The disgusting government is on our trail, particularly SOM. Thankfully, we know how to disguise our spells so they can't track us."

"How so?" Ryan hoped he sounded interested rather than suspicious. Titus did shoot him a strange glare, or maybe that was Ryan's imagination. Nevertheless, he answered Ryan's question. 

"We combined and masked the pain-inducing spells and transportations spells with useless spells so that it seems harmless in their agent's eyes."

Alarm bells rang in Ryan's head and he remembered what Alexis had told him. "I heard from someone you have moles in SOM?"

Now Titus definitely was suspicious. "Oh yeah, who?" 

"Just rumors, here and there." 

"You shouldn't listen to rumors, Ramiro." Shit, did Ryan just blow his cover? 

"Where did you say you came from again?" Titus turned over to look at Ryan with his piercing gaze. 

Ryan tried to dodge the question. "Aderia, but I've been here and there." 

"Hmm, you could be valuable then." Titus said, slowly stroking his chin. 

Ryan stood up straighter. "How so?" He asked. If he needed to act like a teacher's pet to rescue Shane, then so be it. He would do anything for the big guy. 

"We're looking for a secure location to put our higher-level prisoners. These are prisoners that have tried to escape or simply are close to higher-level demons that we want to make sure don't find them." 

Oh. He was asking Ryan to help him with his evil plans. Ryan hesitated. He had enough information he could go to the authorities and let them handle this one, but he felt personally indebted to these prisoners. He needed to be the one that saved them. Plus, he hadn't found Shane yet. He couldn't blow his cover until Shane and the other prisoners were free. 

"It would be my pleasure." Ryan acted excited, like keeping humans hostage and blackmailing haemen were on his bucket list. 

~

The next day, Ryan woke up feeling focused. He now had a clear goal. It looked like he had succeeded in getting close to Titus. 

After breakfast (hey, a demon's gotta eat!) Titus lead him again to the building but this time to a large shack in the back. Instead of wood, it was made up of rusted metal. 

Titus led Ryan inside. They entered a long hallway with doors on either side. There were six doors in total. Each of them had a name inscribed on the door in Latin. Ryan scanned the door names, brain whirring as he tried to process the Latin alphabet. It had been a while but his brain was slowly making out individual characters and words. He felt a sinking pit of dread in his stomach when he realized he didn't recognize any of these names. There was Rachel, Hazel, Percy, Nico, Leo, and Frank. Ryan committed the names into his memory. He had to save these people. Titus was talking to him about possible locations he wanted to move the prisoners and Ryan should really have been paying attention because he was about to blow his cover but he couldn't because he just saw the name written on the last door at the end of the hallway. Shane.

Ryan felt something strange rise up inside his stomach. It was a mixture of hope and dread. The hope outweighed the dread, but barely. He wished that Titus wouldn't open the door but he also wished he would. It was confusing, he didn't know what he wanted. But he was out of luck today, at least the side of him that wished Titus wouldn't open the door. He watched almost in slow motion as Titus cast his hand out. The door magically clicked open, but Titus didn't move to open it just yet.

"-our most valuable prisoner." Ryan just caught the end of the sentence Titus was saying. "He was just kidnapped a few days ago." He bragged. "Fresh from the human world. You should just smell his fear scent." Ryan already could smell it. It was fresh, deep, and delicious. It made him feel drunk, it was the finest wine in the world. Ryan kept inhaling it, almost greedy in the way he craved for it...

Titus's little sigh as he too breathed it in brought Ryan back to the present. It disgusted Ryan. Shane wasn't here for Titus's pleasure and blackmailing plans. "Why him?" Ryan forced himself to ask.
"He has a friend who's very connected if you catch my drift." Ryan did. He knew he had connections to high places, such as Alexis. And Alexis had a bunch of other friends in the government. It was actually a smart plan.

While Ryan was thinking all this, Titus opened the door. It was the casual way he did it, just flicking the knob to side, getting ready to strut inside that lit a flare of rage in Ryan.

But that wasn't nearly enough to distract him from the sights that lay behind the door.

There was Shane. He seemed to be sleeping, laying down on a cot on the floor. His face was beautiful even in sleep. He had dried blood trickling from his nose and a few light scratches on his arms but nothing serious. The most important thing was that he was alive. Ryan could cry from happiness, but he had to stay in character. In front of Titus, he wasn't Ryan he was Ramiro.

"There he is," Titus said. "Not much to look at, your typical American white male but there you have it." Ryan clenched his jaw but said nothing. Shane was so so much more but he didn't have time to contemplate how head over heels in love he was with his straight best friend right now. Just then, as if it was fate someone called for Titus. "COMING." He grumble-yelled before clapping Ryan on the back. "I'll be right back. Don't move." Ryan nodded, the picture-perfect definition of obedience. Titus limped away. The second he was out of Ryan's eyesight, Ryan turned back to Shane. He roughly grabbed Shane's shoulders, shaking them to wake Shane up. Shane grumbled, blinking his eyes opened then screamed. Ryan hoped the walls were soundproof because Shane sure was screaming his head off.

"No, you idiot! It's me!" Ryan whisper-yelled. He was about to change back into his human form but decided against it. Titus could come running in here any second and that would be hard to explain.

"I don't know you! Please leave me alone!" Shane screamed.

"Shane it's me, Ryan! You're best friend and co-host of Buzzfeed Unsolved!" Ryan tried to think of things to prove to Shane that he was really his best friend and not a sadist insane kidnapper.

"Stop it! How do you know that about me! Are you a stalker!"

Ryan sighed, then resorted to something more specific, that it would be unlikely a kidnapper would know about.

"Hey there, demons, it's me ya boi." He grumbled.

Shane blinked.

Then he blinked again.

Then-

"HOLY SHIT RYAN YOU'RE A MOTHERFUCKING DEMON?"

"Yup." Ryan popped the 'p'. "And I just saved your motherfucking life you son of a bitch." Ryan and Shane just so easily fell into their banter.

Shane looked Ryan up and down. "You're so tall, WAIT ARE YOU TALLER THAN ME?" He tried to get up but Ryan pushed him back down. "Shh, the actual bad guy is coming. Pretend to be asleep." Shane quickly laid back down and closed his eyes. Ryan could tell that it took several more seconds for Shane's regular ears to pick up on the footsteps. When Shane finally heard them, his ears perked up.

Just before Titus reached them, Ryan whispered. "I'll be back tonight. And I'll get you and everyone else out." Then he turned back to the door as if the sight of a human disgusted him. When Titus opened the door, he laughed at the expression on Ryan's face. "Yeah, I know. Being with a demon sucks. Come on, let's eat lunch."

Ryan followed him outside into the dreary sunshine. It represented his mood. Wary but with undertones of happiness. He had found Shane and Shane was alright. Now he just needed to figure out a plan to jailbreak Shane and the other humans.

~

While Ryan ate lunch, he brainstormed his plan. While he was at the cells earlier, he had noticed a simple lock and key system. Titus had the key, he had magicked the door open which meant he knew the exact entry spell but they had to be others who knew. Normal prisons had guards but unlike in human prisons, they wouldn't just carry a physical copy of the key or keycard around that Ryan could steal. And Ryan couldn't even perform magic, which was a huge setback. 

 So Ryan had to think smarter. Ryan Bergara wasn't known for his intelligence but the Bergaras can always think up a solution in a jiffy if need be. But Ryan would need some amount of luck on his side, and luck wasn't something the Bergara clan knew. A plan started to formulate in his head.

After lunch, Titus disappeared with some other demons into a room. Ryan assumed they were in some sort of top-secret, high-level members-only type of meeting. Ryan could see the other demon's curious eyes on them. He hadn't had a chance to meet any of them because he was so busy following Titus around. He knew what he looked like, a stuck-up snob instantly attaching himself to powerful people to leech off of them. Ryan could feel the other's curious eyes on him and while Ryan really wanted to get a move on with his plan, he had to wait for Titus to come back from his meeting. So now was as great of a time to socialize as any. 

~

Ryan first approached an older lady demon, about sixty years old in human ages. She had long firey-red nails and a permanent scowl and furrow between her eyebrows. She was downright scary but Ryan deduced from the way the other demons kept glancing to get her reaction that she held some sort of power in their society. She had also been one of the ones that had been staring at Ryan since he had arrived, sort of sizing him up, Ryan guessed, determining whether he was a threat or not. 

It's going to be fine, Ryan reassured himself, just picture a wrinkly old grandma who had 50 cats and scowled at everyone who came near her or her pets but if you were brave enough to talk to her was actually really nice and made killer chocolate chip cookies. Ryan was definitely not speaking from experience. 

"Hello," Ryan said diplomatically, his tongue still getting used to speaking Latin, "My name is Ramiro, I just arrived yesterday from Aderia." 

"Ah yes, the newcomer. I've heard some much about her. I'm Roscea." While her words were neutral, the way she spoke made them negative. Her voice was soft but with a strong undercurrent of venom like she wasn't afraid to show you who was boss. Ryan smiled charmingly, already falling into the role like it was a bit. "I hope I live up to -and even pass- standards."

She sniffed haughtily. "Why did you decide to join the Sanguis Legion?" She questioned. That question reminded Ryan of his interview at BuzzFeed. 

"I've heard good things about you. I've gotten tired of dealing with haemen and their ways. Thinking they're better than the 'conservatives and all that." Ryan just hoped that he said it all correctly in Latin. Roscea didn't seem suspicious, however, but with her cold demeanor, it was hard to tell. 

Roscea nodded. "You're on the right path, young man. This is the way demons were made to be. They need to stop fighting against their nature." Ryan nodded. 

Her words were full of shit. 

They talked for a few more minutes about inconsequential things, where Ryan was born ("born and raised in Aderia") how old he was ("30 in November"), and more. After what felt like hours to Ryan but was probably only a few minutes, in reality, Ryan saw Titus emerge back into the common area of the bar. Everyone else briefly stopped their conversations when they saw him but resumed when they saw he wasn't making an announcement. Ryan excused himself from where he was talking to Roscea and a few of her equally terrifying elderly friends. They seemed charmed by Ryan, which made Ryan thank his acting degree. 

Titus sat down and started to eat and Ryan waited patiently, knowing Titus was more likely to be agreeable on a full stomach. When Titus was finally done, Ryan sat down next to him. 

"I was thinking," Ryan started, "I wanted to be more helpful. Is there anything you need me to do?" 

Titus blinked slowly, seeming sleepy. "Ah yes, Ramiro. Uhm- you can uh-..." He trailed off uncertain. One of his advisors chimed in. "Ya want to be on cle'ning du'y?" He slurred. 

"Err, what about guard duty?" Ryan knew that there was a slim chance that this would work, but the Bergara ran on slim luck. 

The same advisor blinked in surprise. "Well, uh, you see the guards have to be specially trained and we usually choose people who have stayed with us for a long time..."

"Are you calling me disloyal?" Ryan said loudly. Several demons turned around to see what the commotion was. Ryan knew he was playing a dangerous game by provoking the demons but he had no other choice.

"No, uh of course not!" Lucky for Ryan, he seemed like a very nonconfrontational and anxious sort of fellow. "But you're new and all..."

"Just leave it, Marius. Ramiro is loyal and eager to help. The same cant be said about the rest of you." Titus turned to address the room as a whole. "We need to work together to defeat the haemen and some of you aren't doing your part." Titus seemed like he was going to say more but he seemed tired and craving a long nap. "We will discuss this more later," He said threateningly before getting up and signaling to Marius to follow him to his private quarters.The two demons left. Ryan let out a discreet sigh of relief. Things were going to plan, sort of. 

~

Ryan stretched his neck muscles, eyeing his partner on duty, Marcus who Ryan learned was Marius's fraternal twin. Unlike his twin, Marcus seemed very strong and capable of beating Ryan up. He permanently had a scowl on his face that made him look like he was just woken up from a good nap. The two of them were stationed near the back of the holding building and periodically Ryan could see flashlight beams shining ahead from demons patrolling. Ryan hadn't counted on moving patrols when he made his (albeit rushed and bad) plan but he would have to make do. The air was still as if the night itself was holding its breath. 

Ryan suddenly bent over and started to cough. Marcus only glanced down at him. After a few seconds, when it was clear that Ryan wasn't stopping anytime soon, he started to pay more attention. "You need help, Ramiro?" His voice was thick with an accent Ryan couldn't place. Ryan couldn't speak, he just kept choking on air. Now Marcus looked more concerned. "Uh, I'll be right back." He awkwardly shuffled away, clearly not wanting to be associated with Ryan. Ryan had correctly guessed due to Marcus's accent not being like the other demons that he wasn't from this area and was probably new. Ryan just wondered how Marius had so fast climbed up the ranks to Titus's personal advisor but he deduced that the twins probably had joined separately. But they had such different accents...?

Anyway, Ryan was alone now. This was his only chance. Ryan took off towards the door at the end of the hallway where Shane was. The way was thankfully unpatrolled and when Ryan reached the door he reached for his clavis, or key in Latin. He had gotten it from the head demon in charge of guard duty, along with the entry spell. The demon was suspicious that Ryan wanted a physical copy of the spell, really just using magic was easier but Ryan was able to convince him that it was just for backup. Anyhow, Ryan had the clavis now. He was one step closer to freeing Shane and the others. His plan was to first get Shane, bring him outside to the secured location Ryan had earlier scouted out then come back for the others. The regular level humans plus the other six special prisoners. That was a lot of people, Ryan was definitely feeling the stress now. 

Ryan held up the clavis. It was crudely made, a mere mockery of old-fashioned keys the humans made. It was so strange that demons hated humans and wanted to differentiate themselves from them but at the same time used their inventions. Ryan just hoped the clavis worked and didn't trigger any sort of alarm. 

Then it hit Ryan. The door didn't have a keyhole! What was the point in the key being a backup key in case of an emergency where you couldn't use magic if you needed magic to access the keyhole. Ryan took a couple of deep breaths. He got this. He closely inspected the door. It was made of the same rusted metal but if Ryan concentrated hard enough he could make out the glamour of the protection spells cast upon the door. The door looked so rusted that you would think a strong push would make it swing open but it was all an illusion. It would be so easy if he was just able to do magic, Ryan contemplated. But as he carefully inspected the metal, Ryan found little bumps in it. They roughly resembled the shape of a keyhole from what Ryan could tell, and we're so tiny and well disguised that even close up it was hard to tell except if you were looking for one."

Ryan traced them with his fingers (desperately hoping the rust didn't give him some type of disease, before remembering oh yeah, demons don't get human diseases) and something inside the door clicked open. (Was it magic? Ryan didn't know, but perhaps, just perhaps there was some sliver of magic buried deep down inside of him.) The door rumbled and out of nowhere, a keyhole appeared. Ryan wasted no time, sliding the key in. It went in smoothly. He turned the key and with a click, the door slid open. 

"Psst, Shane?" Ryan whispered urgently. "This is our chance to escape."

It was pitch-black in the cell but it was kind of hard to miss a 6 feet 4 inches tall long-legged creature (Ryan thought that with all the fondness in his heart.) To this credit, Shane was quiet and followed Ryan quickly out. He held up a finger to Shane to motion for him to stay in the hallway and Ryan went to open the other doors. The other doors all had the same minuscule bumps on them, but these times in different shapes. There was a circle, a triangle, and either a hexagon or octagon. Ryan didn't stay long enough to figure it out. "I work for the good guys," He whispered, time and time again. "You'll have to trust me on this. Follow me for freedom." (Ryan would cringe at those words later, but right now he was running purely on adrenaline.) 

All of the people in the cells were young (late teens, Ryan would guess) and so surprised to see Ryan. One of them, a curly-haired brown boy even murmured to himself, "I'm hallucinating again, aren't I?" But nevertheless, they all followed Ryan out. The girl with a single black braid was so defensive that she refused help to sit up and looked alert as if Ryan was going to attack her at any second. Ryan didn't blame them, they probably all needed a shit ton of therapy. And Chipotle. God, Ryan missed Chipotle. 

Once he had them all gathered in the hallway, he herded them into a dark corner of the hallway where he could tell them his plan. "I'm Ryan," he told the teenagers. "But to the demons, I'm known as Ramiro." Now he spoke to all of them, including Shane. "I can tell you my story later, there will hopefully be plenty of time for that. But right now we need to get out of here. There are more prisoners, maybe about 20. I don't know if you guys know this, but you're in this big metal shack type of thingy. In front of it is the main building where they are being held. There are two different patrols of demons that guard this place." 

"They come in 10-minute intervals," The red hair girl interjected. She, strangely enough, had paint stains on her freckled cheeks. Ryan didn't even want to know. "The flashlights flash into my cell every 10 minutes. I counted. Several times." Ryan nodded. He would have to trust her. What did she have to gain by lying to him? 

As if on cue, a patrol came down the corridor, their flashlights swinging about almost wildly. They didn't even try to be discreet, loudly talking about a joke so and so said. They looked so unprofessional, it was a joke.

"Alright, let's go," Ryan whispered. Their odd group of a rogue demon, a giant, and a bunch of teenagers tiptoed out of the room. They looked like a class going on a field trip, Ryan thought with mirth, if their chaperones were a demon and a ripped bloody tall dude and the school dress code was ratty clothes. 

Outside, Ryan half expected the air to be fresh and airy after the dank, musty room but he again forgot that he was in Atteria now. They didn't do that fresh air thing here. They all trekked across the mist-strewn field for a minute or so until the large building with the skull face and boarded-up windows came into view. Ryan peeked inside the building just in time to see a patrol turn the corner and disappear. If the patrol schedules were the same, then they had 10 minutes. Sufficient time, but just barely. A nauseous feeling rose up in Ryan's stomach, this felt too easy. Like a trick question on a test.  He ignored it. He was a man on a mission. 

Again when they entered only a few humans looked up. When they saw that it was Ryan and the humans, from their viewpoint a human and some prisoners they probably thought they were getting new cellmates. They immediately lost interest, going off into staring into space. Even the few ones that last time had defiant expressions last time now looked defeated. 

Ryan clapped his hands. "Okay guys, if you want to get out of here, follow me. I'm leading this group back to Earth." He hoped he sounded confident, and not like a madman.

General muttering broke out. One woman with dark blue hair spoke up. "How?" Ryan realized that she was pregnant, and pretty close too. She went on. "I'm pregnant and Mrs. Carter is elderly." The old lady Ryan saw last time looked even worse, hunched over and wheezing for air. Ryan made some quick decisions. 

"Everyone pair up," He said. "That includes you too," He told the group of teenagers. (He had forgotten their names, even though he tried to remember.) "Shane, you're with me." Normally, Ryan wasn't this authoritative but this wasn't a normal situation. "The weak pair up with the strong." An Indian girl immediately came to the old lady, Mrs. Carter. "Come on," She said softly. "We're getting out of here." 

"Eh?" Mrs. Carter said. "Speak up!" Ryan decided to leave the two to it as the girl started to explain loudly. The pregnant woman was now holding hands with a young black woman. 

Once everyone had paired up, Ryan led the group outside. It was now roughly 2 AM in Earth time and pitch-black. Mrs. Carter stumbled over a rock but the same Indian girl was there to catch her. All of the prisoners looked worse for wear, weeks of malnutrition causing them to tire easily. But they were almost there, Ryan reassured himself. He could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Literally too. Since Ryan didn't have magic, he had to rely on a teleporter portal. He had placed on at the end of the street next to a bench earlier in the day. 

The air itself seemed tense and sinister as the group made its way to the teleporter. They were so close, and for a moment Ryan thought they might make it.

The air crackled and with a burst of light Titus and Marius appeared. 

Fuck. 

"You thought you outsmarted me?" Titus cackled. "I knew from that start all about you, Ryan." Ryan got chills down his spine as Titus said his real name. 

"Marius told you? But how did he know?" As far as Ryan knew, only Marcus had been seen Ryan disappear. 

"What?" Titus looked confused before remembering something. He laughed again. "Oh, so the great Ramiro didn't realize it, huh?"  

Something clicked in Ryan's mind. "Marius and Marcus are the same person..." He mumbled, more to himself than anyone else. They weren't twins after all. The accent and change in personality had all been a hoax. 

"Took you long enough." Marius? Marcus? The M guy said. His voice was now deeper, a mix between Marius's and Marcus's voice. Before Ryan's very eyes, his face started to change. 

"Too bad your escape attempt didn't work." Titus said condescendingly. "But maybe if you didn't break Livy's heart then we wouldn't be in this position. 

"Livy?" Ryan asked incredulously. "Is that what this is about? You have a crush on her?" Ryan forgot that they had an audience in his disbelief. "What happened between us was years and years ago." 

Titus's mouth pressed into a firm line and he took in a sharp breath. "You hurt her." He growled out. For the first time, Ryan saw underneath Titus's mask. He wasn't an angry and proud dictator, but rather a hurt boy trying to impress his crush. 

Behind Titus, the M guy was looking around nervously. "Why didn't they have backup?" Ryan wondered. Was he waiting for a signal from Titus to call them out? 

Titus kept going on about how Ryan was a bad person and all that. Ryan had tuned him out. He now had a plan. He glanced at Shane and Shane nodded. They were both thinking the same thing. 

"I didn't hurt Livy!" Ryan exclaimed. "I just didn't have feelings for her." 

That did the trick. 

In an instant, Titus's hands were around Ryan's throat. "Say that again." He snarled. 

"I can't control my feelings. Livy liked me and I gently let her down." Ryan said, heart pounding in his ears. Titus had the power to kill him, and wouldn't hesitate to. 

Titus started to squeeze his hands, choking Ryan. But after a moment-

"Why arent you fighting back?" 

Ryan used that moment of confusion to his advantage. He slammed his knee up into Titus's crotch. Titus thought he knew everything about Ryan but he hadn't yet realized Ryan didn't have magic. That was his weakness. Because while Titus relayed on his magic and was physically weak, it was the opposite for Ryan. He spent hours in the gym and it was working to his advantage. As long as Titus was dazed, he wouldn't be able to access his magic. 

The M guy was trying to pry Ryan's hands off Titus but again, Ryan was too strong for him. Ryan threw a punch into his head and he staggered before falling to the ground. Ryan hoped he was only unconscious, not worse. 

There was a flash of bright light next to Ryan. Ryan whirled around, fully expecting the M guy to have called backup but to his surprise it was Alexis. 

Alexis gasped when he saw Ryan. "You have magic?" He yelled. 

"What?" Ryan looked down at his hands to find that they were glowing. That strength he used earlier...was it magic? He felt...alive. 

"I-I guess?" Ryan kept staring at his hands, blinking furiously as if to make sure they were really glowing and he wasn't simply hallucinating. "But where is the rest of Titus's gang?" 

"Gone. They took off after the prisoners escaped. SOM is here now, collecting evidence from the place." Ryan glanced towards the teleporter pad. It was empty, which meant his distraction technique worked and that all the prisoners safely made it back to Earth. Since they didn't know to think of the place they wanted to end up, they probably ended up on a random spot on Earth. Ryan just hoped they all teleported at once so they were at the same location. 

"Don't think your off the hook for disappearing without telling me and Sayaka." Alexis said. His words were angry but his tone was relieved. He suddenly enveloped Ryan in a hug. 

"I had to do something to save him, I couldn't just wait around." Ryan tried to defend himself. 

Alexis nodded. "I would do the same if Sayaka was kidnapped." He stepped back and tried to hide the wetness in his eyes. "I was just so worried for you. You kinda grew on me, ever since you were this 12-year-old kid with braces that was obsessed with basketball and magic."

Ryan sniffed. He had known Alexis for almost two decades and the man's personality had really grown on him. 

"Now enough of this mushy stuff, go and get your man." Alexis lightly punched Ryan's shoulder. 

Ryan playfully saluted. "Yes, sir." 

~

The air was crisp and fresh when Ryan teleported. Ryan finally sunk back into the familiarity of his human form and took a deep breath, savoring the air after the mustiness of Atteria. He was on a mountain top and was surrounded by mountains on all sides but he could see a small village at the bottom. He figured that's where the others must have gone. If he hurried he could catch up to them. 

He caught up with them halfway down the mountain. Shane's hand slipped into his. They didn't talk. 

~

They found a nice enough motel and booked half of their rooms. The receptionist looked mildly concerned when they all trudged into the lobby but didn't say anything. Ryan was glad, he was tired and just felt out of it. They split up the rooms into two a room. Again, Ryan and Shane stuck together. They still didn't say anything. 

Ryan let Shane shower first. After Ryan finished showering, he looked at Shane, who looked all sleepy and cute. He had shaved, fixed his hair, and had put on his glasses now. Since he didn't have a change of clothes, he had to go down to the town and get some merchandise. Turns out they were in Norway. Shane's shirt read: I ♥ Husebygrenda. After some quick Googling, Ryan found out that Husebygrenda was a small town northwest of Oslo. It was only a 15-minute drive to the capital so Ryan was glad they didn't end up somewhere too rural. The combination of still damp hair, pink cheeks and glasses just made Shane look so soft and Ryan just wanted to-

Ahem. Point is. 

They had to talk before they slept or else things would be awkward in the morning, not to mention chaotic as they had to figure out where they were and how they could send everyone home. Shane was there, waiting for him on the other twin bed. 

"This wasn't the way I wanted you to find out." Ryan started out. "Honestly I meant to tell you but the moment just never felt right. I know it's a lame excuse but it's true." 

"It's okay, it's just a lot to process." It very clearly was not okay but if Shane needed more time to process that then it was okay. Ryan would tell his side of the story. 

"So, I don't know how much you heard but I wanted to be the one that told you the story myself." Ryan forced himself to look at Shane's comforting brown eyes. "This is all like a decade or so old. Basically, all demons born to human parents are assigned a mentor. Mine is named Alexis, I'll introduce you two some time. Alexis has a cousin named Livy. She's pretty but-" Ryan cut off. He had never actually come out to Shane despite knowing that the other man would be more than okay with it. Ryan was lucky to live in such a welcome and diverse environment as LA. Like many other things, it just never came up. "I just never liked her like that. But she didn't take it too well. She's always been..." Ryan struggled to find the right word. "Emotional." 

"Demons can be born to human parents? How does that work?" 

"Really? That's the part you're most interested in?" 

"Hey, I'm a strange man." 

"Demon genes can sometimes skip generations. My great grandparents were probably demons. They died before I was born so I didn't get to talk to them." Ryan shifted on the hotel bed, before settling against the headboard. He had wished countless times he had a demon family member like Alexis had Livy and Livy's mom, his aunt. 

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Shane said. 

"You know what's the strangest part about all this?" 

Ryan could think of more than a few. 

"You were taller than me. When you weren't human." His voice shook at the end and Ryan felt the familiar anxiety creep up in him. He didn't want to be weird, or scary. He was just a random dude who happened to be a demon. 

"Stop overthinking." Shane's voice cut him off his internal spiral of self-hatred. "I know you're doing it." According to Shane, Ryan got this Look on his face when he was overthinking. Shane had confessed it to him one night when they both were drunk out of their minds. 

"I'm not overthinking." Ryan lied. It was pointless Shane could see right through him. Silence again settled between them. Ryan suddenly became hyper-aware of the distance between them. The twin beds only had a narrow space in between them and Shane was sitting on the edge of his bed. Ryan's hand laid so close to Shane's. Come on, you can do it. Just act natural. You've literally been to like hell and back. This is nothing compared to that. Just reach out. It's so close, c'mon Bergara. 1, 2..." 

Ryan reached out-

His phone rang. He jumped, then tried to seem like he didn't jump and was just stretching. He didn't look at Shane, too embarrassed. A quick look at the caller ID showed that it was Alexis. "I need to take this." Ryan got up and walked to the other side of the room. 

"Alexis?" 

"Sorry to interrupt your time with your man..." Ryan blushed and was glad he wasn't on speakerphone. "But we found out some things I thought you might be interested in. The prisoner doors all had these little bumps on them, random shapes and such." Ryan let out an mm of agreement. He remembered those. "Well we found out what they meant-"

Ryan cut him off. "It was Old Latin right?" Old Latin was spoken before 75 BC. After Old Latin, it was called Classical Latin. 

"Yeah. We don't have an exact translation but it was basically some form of an alarm spell." 

It all made sense now...

They talked for a few minutes, how they would continue forward and etcetera. Ryan was planning on talking to the prisoners at breakfast tomorrow, see where they lived, if they had family looking for them. But that could wait until tomorrow. Everyone just needed to rest now. 

But there was something that couldn't wait until tomorrow. If there was anything this whole thing had taught Ryan, it was that time wouldn't wait for you to get your shit together. You never know what will happen tomorrow and on your deathbed, you don't want to have regrets of things you should have done, should have said. 

Ryan looked at Shane. He could do this.