Dead Men Smiling

6.0 JULY 13TH

A hero will let you burn as long as the paper prints their name while a villain will set the world on fire and you'd never feel a flame.

___

The sun had risen, the birds were singing and a cute little house in the forest was shrouded in darkness.

The man within the house flipped the page of his latest novel and sighed as his eyes scanned the words of the thirteenth novel he had read this week. He knew he'd later regret wasting the 172 hours reading romance and not something he'd appreciate later for adding value in his life but he needed time to pull himself together after the dreaded night.

"At least I'm a professional kisser and sex giver and/or receiver in theory." He cringed at what he recognised as a sex scene. "People read this? This has got to be illegal; tentacles up a-"

He cut himself short to listen to the tapping noise that had been occurring for the past week and rolled his eyes as he got more comfortable in his couch knowing that the bird would stop after some time.

The bird, however seemed to have other ideas.

He dropped the book in shock when a thud sounded against his window followed by three more. He grit his teeth. "What in the name of the King is happening?"

After gently closing the book and setting it on the table, he walked to the window and opened it, only to be hit in the centre of his chest.

He doubled over in pain and caught a delirious looking bird with a slight groan. "Why do I feel like you knew what you were doing?"

He set the bird on the table and went to the kitchen to get sunflower seed and some water which he gave the winged creature.

He then let out a sigh as he made himself comfortable and reopened the book in hopes of finishing it when a new disturbance made itself known.

A new very disgusting disturbance.

He closed his eyes and counted to ten, knowing exactly what had just happened but trying to control his reaction to the situation. He glared at the bird perched on the book and met its eye. "What do you want?"

The bird opened its beak. "Honestly dear, pull yourself together. Just because one thing went wrong doesn't mean that your whole life should be on hold."

with those words, it pooped on his book again and flew out of the open window, leaving him with a slight smile. "Thank you."

Two hours later, the house was clean and instead of sappy romance novels, the male was reading old legends and spell books, taking note of different things that would help him with the dagger but sadly none of the books had anything on Crystal runes.

He froze when an image formed in his mind's eyes: a hand clawing at vines and soon a face he knew too well was showing amongst them despite how quickly the vines grew over the damaged parts.

He let out a breath and stood to his feet, summoning satchel with what he considered important: Crystals, money books, shrunken potions & cauldrons and even his book retriever.

A mask with cross eyes and a smile flew in hands and was soon secured on his face. He waved his wand again, smiling as his pjs turned into ripped jeans, a dark blue dress shirt hat was rolled up at the sleeves and untucked, a dark blue cape with a hood and a pair of black riding boots.

He then sheathed the dagger on his left leg and wand on his thigh and left the house.

He once again found himself holding a small box with his shrunken house in it and slipped it into his pocket with a small frown.

He held his cape open like a curtain and smiled when a white panther and a black wolf walked out of it and gave him curios stares.

"Malum, Reign, looks like we're back to having adventures and running from the past," he said with a low voice as he bit into a crystal.

Before he left, he decided that instead of letting the stray magic merge with Malum or Reign, he'd create a new animalistic form of magic and call them Jez.

As he held the barely formed creature in his hands, he nodded at his other two companions, signalling that it was best that they left before his past caught up with him.

-

---

"Wow guys, we're now being considered a terrorist group." Rowan chuckled as he read the news. He then flipped a page. "Greenland has been bombed by a female in a mask-"

"My money's on Leilani," Maximus said while kicking his webbed feet in the pool of water.

"She was described as to having dark brown hair though, she's a blackette."

As if providing a valid argument, Maximus lifted his wrist so that Rowan could see the daisy chain bracelet that Sora had made for each of them which Dolan had charmed to hide their true physical looks.

"OK, I see what you mean," Rowan said while reaching for a strawberry from the bush next to him, "Have a strawberry, Sora."

The Angel who was certain the pair didn't hear him approached shook his head declining the offer before realising that Rowan couldn't see him. "No thanks, Ro. I just want to dip in the pool. My side is killing me."

Maximus narrowed his eyes. "Don't you mean back?"

Sora pulled of his shirt and shook his head. "Nope. Side."

Maximus asked if he could examine the wound and asked how the Angel got it to which he responded with how he just remembers the discomfort he felt before the fire had started. The former nodded his head as he reached for the guitar and played a tune that healed the wound.

Sora asked him to try his back to which Maximus hesitated; he didn't want Sora's delicate condition to get worse. After some persuasion, the thin pink lines that had red tufts sticking out had started to bleed.

"Oh My Creator." Sora hissed at the pain.

Rowan chose to ignore his friend's shenanigans and kept reading his paper, making a comment every once in a while about what he saw. After about thirty minutes, he looked up and rose a brow at the scene before him. "You guys do realise how expensive Angel blood is?"

Maximus had wrapped bandages around Sora and grimaced when they started to stain. "Rowan, help us."

"Sorry guys, but that's your baby to carry."

He then rolled his eyes and snapped his finger, getting both Sora and Maximus' attention. "Sora, rest up and Max, clean this mess. We have to head off tomorrow."

Sora whined about his injury while Maximus moodily asked why he was the one tasked with cleaning up. The question earned a wicked smile from Rowan as he shrugged, acting as if he didn't care about what his friends did. He then told them he was going for a walk and left before he would do something that would violate the Code of Pacifism.

"Well, that wasn't very nice of you." A voice purred at the back of Rowan's mind. "I don't recall asking for your opinion, Beast." Rowan muttered in reply as he studied a closed flower with a thoughtful expression.

"Somebody's in a mood and for once, I'm not the cause." "You're usually not this annoying unless you want something from me."

Rowan smiled at the silence in his mind before Beast spoke. "At least tell them the truth if you aren't going to let me have total control once in a while."

it was Rowan's turn to fall silent at the other's words and he felt his lips tug downwards as he frowned, debating which of the two ideas Beast suggested was the lesser evil. He let his thoughts trail to an image of Beast lounging in a throne wearing royal robes that did nothing to hide his exposed chest. "Are you decent up there?"

"Am I allowed to lie?" Beast asked sheepishly.

l Rowan sighed at the question and muttered how Beast shouldn't do anything rash before letting the Demon have full control. Rowan liked to imagine letting Beast have full control was like falling into a semi-conscious state where he was allowed to observe and seldom intervene. Besides, he didn't have a problem trusting Beast not to do anything that could land Rowan in trouble because Rowan being in trouble usually guaranteed trouble for Beast as well.

Beast flexed Rowan's fingers and grinned; he would always be amazed at how much the body suited him but for one tiny problem. "You smell like a virgin." He whined at the realization. "How do you not have girls falling left and right for you?"

"I'm not interested." Came the quiet reply.

Beast shrugged and looked up at the moon. "Just another odd difference between the Vessel and its Demon."

Beast was just about to piss Rowan off – out of obligation more than anything- when he felt a presence he never thought he'd sense again. He snarled as he turned, baring his teeth at the fellow Demon. "Mira." "My, my Rowan. You're letting the sex addict out? It's a wonder how he hasn't yet begun to hump the tree." Mira's voice was low and had a gripping effect that made everyone want to hear what he was saying. Beast chuckled. "How about I show you what this sex addict's really made out of?"

Mira visibly restrained himself. "As much as I'd love to, I have bigger fish to fry. It was, however, a pleasure seeing you again. Ta-ta."

And he disappeared on the spot.

"I want to find that bastard. He is up to something." Beast protested as Rowan took control of the legs. Rowan then rubbed his temples as soon as he regained control. "Take that as a no."

He planned to tell the others about the occurrence but then shook his head; how on Earth was he supposed to tell them that the man who had helped raise them and taught them a lot of what they knew was now the vessel of a corrupt Demon? In fact, how was he going to explain that unless an expert intervenes, something terrible would happen?

Rowan then took a deep breath as he shrugged his shoulders, masking his worry with nonchalance. "It isn't my pregnancy to carry."

"What isn't your pregnancy to carry this time?"

Rowan nearly jumped at the sound of Sora's voice, shocked that he reached the camp site. He then acknowledged that the pair had in fact, cleaned their mess. Maximus tilted his head at the hesitation in the Vessel's eyes before narrowing his gaze at the larger male. "What happened?"

Rowan let out a heavy sigh before explaining everything to his companions who then exchanged a glance, one thing unclear in their minds; if Beast is a powerful Demon, how come Rowan didn't let him fight Mira?

Sora asked the question.

Rowan worried his lower lip and looked away from them. "Beast is a Lust Demon and draws his power from sex."

Maximus ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm not seeing the problem if there is any." "I'm a virgin."

the words were spoken in a voice so low that if Sora and Maximus weren't paying attention, they would have missed it. Maximus let out a disbelieving snort as he eyed Rowan. "You claiming to be a virgin is the equivalent of Sora denying his crush on Lani at a point."

"It was just interest," Sora said in exasperation.

Deciding to spare Sora the embarrassment, Rowan steered the conversation away from the awkward crush to Leilani and how they had to s

save her from the pit she dug for herself.

---

Despite how put together Dolan looked and acted, he does not handle pressure well. So imagine how he felt when he stopped by King Beryl's mansion only to discover that Mira had escaped his prison vines almost a week ago with the help of the Blue Eyed Bandit.

He was extremely panicked but the King remained unaware to the inner turmoil as Dolan's brain took in the information and looked at the sky. He then smiled at the younger. "Despite all the wrong in the world, we should never lose sight of why we fight."

Dolan took a deep breath and nodded. "Of course Your Majesty. "