Rey followed the rest of his friends, constantly staring at Kassandra's back, hoping that she would turn around and look at him. He had heard somewhere that if you stared at someone's neck for long enough, they would eventually turn around and look at you. Well, Kassi was really putting that theory to the test. Ever since they had escaped from Noidet's hideout and walked out onto the street, she hadn't looked back once.

  Still, Rey wasn't going to lose faith. She would have to turn around sometime. Ajay and Filomena walked hand in hand, and even they kept throwing glances his way. Even fucking Noidet had turned around and thrown fearful glances his way.

  It was like Rey was invisible to the one who mattered most to him. To her, he might as well be Aearbon, who was invisible and walking beside Rey. He hadn't even asked the guy to walk beside him, but just knowing that he was here was bringing some comfort to Rey.

  As for the demon guards, they must all still be playing with his Gravity Orbs, since he periodically got notifications about killing demons. They must've called all the demons in the area to that one spot, because they hadn't seen any guards otherwise.

  Still, they were doing their best not to draw attention to themselves. They had even spread apart enough so that it would look like they weren't walking together. So far, by some miracle, they hadn't run into any guards.

  Rey finally gave up and sighed in defeat, and lowered his gaze from Kassi. He drew his thoughts towards another thing that had been on his mind a lot. It was the vision that had saved them. He didn't know where that had come from. Rey was sure Fate knew by now that he was having visions to screw up his plans even more. Boy, that kid would be throwing a temper tantrum.

  But what caused that vision…

  Fuck, if I know. Demon Rey replied.

  I don't even have solitude in my head. It's because of you she won't talk to me.

  Me? Demon Rey snapped. I've been keeping us alive in this fucking hellhole.

  He ignored the demon's response and focused on trying to figure out the strange vision. The worst part was that he couldn't talk about it with anyone, as he was always supposed to have such visions. It was a fuckery of the highest order.

  I could really use a dungeon right about now.

  He wanted to call on Noidet to ask about dungeons nearby, but he didn't have time as the demon turned into a really tight alley. They all followed and arrived at a small red door.

  "This is it," Noidet said, and turned to knock at the red door with a series of knocks to the tune of We Will Rock You.

  "How do you know that song?" Ajay asked the question on Rey's mind.

  "It's a very famous song among us demons," Noidet said.

  For some reason, they all looked to Rey, aside from Kassandra, of course. He would've dropped a clever one-liner, but he just wasn't in the mood. He stayed quiet and stared at the floor in defeat.

  "Damn, it's taking an awful long time, huh?" Ajay said, clearly to fill the silence.

  "It's okay, he'll be along shortly," Noidet said. "He must've been away from the door."

  A few minutes passed, and they stayed there looking very suspicious, cramped in the small alley. Thankfully, Aearbon stayed invisible; if he'd been visible, they'd have a whole crowd of spectators paying money to see who the behemoth ate first. It would probably be the first person to place a bet like that, or the one collecting the bets, since it would be against the Tigerman's honor, as he would never hurt his friends. Rey would place money on who he would kill first, since he had immunity as he was his Darasahn.

  Finally, the door opened, saving them all from a lot of boredom. The demon inside looked mighty familiar. He had the same short knub-like horns as Noidet, but his were protruding out a little more. What's more, he had a wart right in the middle of his eyebrows, plus he had a beard reaching down to his chest.

  "Hey, Moitev, it's been a long time."

  "Not long enough," grumbled the demon. "What do you want?"

  "Oh, come on, don't be like that. Is that any way to talk to your brother?"

  That raised a few eyebrows. It was so obvious given all those familiarities. It wasn't super rare for members of the same family to end up in Hell. It happened far more often than people imagined, especially with brothers. If they had been robbing and killing together, then sure, they would end up in Hell together. It was rare for them to be in the same Kingdom, or at least, Rey hadn't come across many pairs in his time.

  "After you stiffed me on my coin, I really deliberated if I should even open this door," Moitev replied.

  "Oh, come on, I always find a way to repay you eventually. Man, my friends and I are in a bit of trouble, and we desperately need a place to stay. Just let us lodge in one of your back rooms for a few nights."

  "Wait, you brought us to an inn?" Kassi asked.

  "Of sorts," Noidet replied. "It was the only place I could think of on such short notice that wouldn't attract the people coming after us."

  She sighed as she shook her head. "An inn is the last place we should be at."

  "Not this one. There are hardly any Sniffers and guards that come here." He leaned back and spoke in a hushed tone. "On account of his food."

  "I heard that," Moitev snapped. "If you don't like my food, you can go somewhere else."

  "Well, it's a good thing we brought our own food," Ajay said. "Listen, just one room, and you won't even know we're there. We'll pay you a silver coin for your discretion."

  Rey couldn't help but be proud of his friend. He was growing up. The Ajay he had met many months ago didn't have the quick thinking to make this kind of transaction. Ajay had analyzed that they were desperate, and, seeing that they had nowhere else to go, this was likely their last resort. A silver coin was a pretty penny; they had enough of those, after all, it wasn't like they'd been leaving the dead with all their valuables.

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  "Ajay?" Kassi said.

  "We really don't have any choice. Rey, what do you think?"

  "Whatever, just pay the demon and get out of this street."

  Moitev's eyes immediately lit up when he saw the silver coin. "One room, sure. I have plenty of rooms open."

  "But we want the one away from everyone else," Kassi reaffirmed. "Like your brother said, one of your back rooms."

  "Sure thing, Miss. I would've given you each a room for the price you're paying."

  "And no one can hear, especially the guards."

  "Yes, yes, whatever you say. Just hand me that silver coin now."

  Ajay gave him the coin, which he stared at for a long while as if it were a gold ingot. Then they followed the demon inside. The demon took them through dirty hallways until they arrived at a rusted metal door. Given that wood was scarce in this Kingdom, everything was made of metal.

  "Here you go," Moitev said. "Your very own, cleanest back room."

  The place was a dump. There were blood splotches everywhere. There were only two beds and two chairs. Most of them would have to sleep on the floor. Maybe they could've squeezed two to a bed, but that would be tough to say the least. If one of them turned in the night, they would fall to the ground. Hellish bugs scattered all around.

  "This is the best you could do," Noidet asked. Even the demon didn't like it, and he was a demon.

  "You asked for a back room," Moitev retorted. "I can give you my best, but you would have neighbors, if that's okay with you."

  Kassi sighed. "This will be fine, I suppose."

  "Well then, enjoy your stay. Breakfast is not complimentary."

  As he moved to close the door, Rey put a hand on his shoulder. "If you breathe a word about us to anyone. Anyone at all, even by accident…Aearbon, please show yourself."

  The Tigerman appeared in the perfect spot. He stood right before the demon, towering over him. The best part was that he had to bend because the ceiling wasn't high enough to accommodate his full height, so it looked like he was glaring down on him.

  Moitev let out a shrill cry and jumped back from the Tigerman. “You’re-You’re…”

  "Yes, he's a Baaghror, and even more terrifying, he's a Baaghror that can go invisible, and he will be watching you at all times. At all times. You won't see him, but he will see you whenever, wherever. So, if you betray us, he will kill you before he comes to inform us of your treachery. Understood?"

  "Y-Yes." The demon trembled like a leaf in a hurricane.

  If Rey didn't know any better, he would've thought the demon's heart was about to give out.

  "Well, you can go now."

  Moitev literally ran out the door, keeping an eye behind him, where he saw Aearbon turn invisible again, which must've prompted an involuntary bowel movement, as there was a shitty odor in the air. Rey shut the door before Aearbon could even put a foot out the door.

  He turned off his Camouflage and frowned down at Rey. "You didn't mean for me to watch him?"

  "Nah. The threat is enough."

  "Yeah, my brother is a coward through and through," Noidet agreed. "He loves his life too much to even utter a word to anyone."

  "But Rey, he could still speak or slip a note to a patron, for god's sake," Filomena said. "We should at least have Aearbon watch him for a little while. At least, until his Mana runs out."

  Rey shrugged. "Sure. Whatever."

  He moved for one of the beds. As soon as he sat on the bed, a whole host of bugs slithered out from the sides, making more than one person cry out in horror. Rey wasn't phased. He kept sitting on the bed, even when the bugs crawled over him. But before they could bite, he activated Gravity's Orb with thirty percent gravity, and the bugs shot towards the orb at full speed. And not just the bugs that were around him, but all the bugs, even the ones on the wall, closest to him.

  Then he moved the orb around the room, collecting all the bugs. By the time he picked up the last one, many of the bugs had been squished to death. They were rotating around the orb so fast that it was quite funny, maybe not to the bugs. Another great joke came to his mind, but he just let it pass.

  He walked over to the window with his bug orb, which was twice the size of the orb by now. He opened the window and chucked the orb at the next building, and promptly shut off his skill. The bugs smashed against the building, and those that managed to survive skittered off.

  He shut the window, drawing the amazed looks of his friends, aside from Kassi, who was busy setting the chairs back at the table.

  He didn't even hear Ajay, Filomena, and even the one-armed demon thanking him. He reached into his satchel and took out a bottle of the not-so fine alcohol that he had acquired from the first inn they had burned. He uncorked the bottle and drank his sorrows.

  ***

  "Fil, leave it," said Ajay, waking Rey up, but he stayed in his bed as he had for most of the past three days.

  They had been lying low for the past three days, and nothing much had happened. Save for Rey drinking his sorrows away. They had been sitting here, lying low, and everyone was bored out of their minds. All because they had decided it was best to lie low for a little while, rather than go after Ginirth, the head of the Sniffers.

  Aearbon had been watching the innkeeper most of the time. Moitev hadn't slipped up, but he was terrified, or so Noidet reported, who found it hilarious. He thought it was karmic justice for all the times his brother was a dick to him.

  Rey had his back to the room, so they wouldn't know he was awake, and he was okay with that. It wasn't like he had much to do anyway.

  "What are you doing, Kass?" Filomena hissed.

  "Polishing my arrows."

  "Not that. With him." Even though Rey couldn't see her, he was sure she was pointing at him. "He hardly eats, hardly talks, just sits on that bed and stares out the window. At first, I was enjoying the peace and quiet, but now I just feel sad for him. It's like you've broken him."

  "I didn't do anything to him. What he does is his choice."

  "Can you two please talk quietly? You'll wake him," Ajay added in a whisper. "You know, how grumpy he gets when someone wakes him up."

  Filomena actually lowered her tone. "Did you two break up?"

  "What is this about, Fil?" Kassi replied.

  Rey noted that she hadn't said no, and that hurt worse than the two times he'd opened his wrist.

  "It's about the fact that you're pretending that he doesn't even exist. Silent treatment is one thing, but you haven't even looked at him in days. That is how you'll lose him forever."

  "He knows what he needs to do to make amends."

  "You want him to talk to you, and you think this will make him talk to you," Filomena snapped. "If anything, it will do the opposite, and it sure as Hell will get us all killed when the strongest one of us is too distracted to fight."

  "We all have our past, Kass," Ajay said. "You can't expect him to open up to you right away. There might be some traumatic things in his life that he's just not ready to talk about yet."

  "Did you think of that?" Filomena added. "No, you just got your feelings hurt because he wouldn't satisfy your curiosity."

  "My curiosity?" She said in a threateningly low tone. "And neither of you are the least bit curious about that…that demonic voice, and how he was so nonchalant about torturing those demons."

  "I was," Filomena admitted. "But think about it, we're in enemy territory, where the only ones we can trust are each other. If you really don't like torture, then call it interrogation. You know, he is never one to mince words. But to stop talking to him over such a little thing. Seriously, Kass, I thought you were smarter than that."

  "Enough, okay," Kassi snapped. "I know what I'm doing."

  "You clearly don't, or we wouldn't have had to have this conversation. Just remember, Kass, that if we fall because Rey is down and distracted, it'll be your fault."

  Right then, the door snapped open, and Rey quickly turned to the door to see Noidet rushing in.

  "There's been a problem," he huffed. "Guards downstairs, and they had a Sniffer with them, and they realized Aearbon, or being with a soul, is hiding down there."

  Rey was on his feet in a heartbeat. He used Attraction on his replacement spear and headed for the door. "Ajay, Kassi, you two go and secure our exit. Make sure no demons are waiting for us there. Filomena, you're with me."

  For the first time in days, Rey and Kassi's eyes met, and there was a look on Kassi's face. It almost felt like betrayal, or it could just be shock because she hadn't seen his handsome features in so long.

  Filomena had been right. Not about the fact that it'll be Kassi's fault if something bad happens to them, but he was too down and distracted. If anything, he had no right to let his personal feelings get in the way of the job. That was how they all get killed. He had told them they had to do everything he said and that he would see them through this. So, he would. Whatever happened between him and Kassi would have to take a backseat.

  Besides, he had won her over twice already. He could do it a third time.