They were gone. At least for now. The mind numbing voices in his head. Rhenakos pulled out a quill and started to write. At first, the words were easy, but with every word he scribbled down, he felt himself fading again.

Oh? What’s this? The fake Osiria was over his shoulder again, leering down at the paper. “A letter? For me? How sweet, dear…” Her voice was taunting. “Poor Reva will be so hurt…but it’s fine. Everything is fine. You and I can be all alone…’ Her form distorted to that of the white haired gentleman, the demon. The Collector.

“Shut up,” Rhenakos gasped out. “Shut up, shut up, shut the fuck UP.” He slammed his hands down on the table. It was quiet again. “Fuck….I need…” He started to write again. Every word was agony, and there were tears in his eyes. At least, that was what he thought they were.

Except it was blood. His left eye was bleeding.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Rhenakos hissed as he finished the letter, falling out of the chair. “I have to…” The world spun, and everything went dark.


—

When the morning came, all that was left was a letter. It was addressed to Osiria with a tiny heart next to it.


“Dear Osiria and Reva,

I don’t know how much longer I can be myself. The demon eye…it’s taking over. It started slowly…I’d lose a few minutes. Soon, it turned into hours. I never brought it up, though. I tried to talk to you about it, but there was something holding me back.

Someone.

I can feel his claws dig into my brain even now. He wants to run free. I can’t have him be free…not around you. Please, Osiria. Don’t follow. I can’t hurt you, or Reva…stay away.

I love you both, and I wish to the Gods that I could stay…but even they can’t help me now.

Goodbye.”

On the back, were scrawled letters.

H E I S M I N E

Osiria had gone to the market with Reva and she was watching her daughter ask for things. “Mama?” Reva looked up. “Can we get this for Daddy?”

“Sure sweetheart. Your daddy will love that,” Osiria rubbed her red hair and smiled even more. Picking Reva up she let the girl get some cookies to give to Rhenakos.

“These are Daddy’s favorites!” Reva was so happy as she held the plate close to her.

“I think his favorites are whatever you give him,” Osiria smiled and kissed the top of her head. Once they got home she spotted the note. “Looks like we’re out of luck. I guess he went on a job,” she thought it was weird that he didn’t tell them good-bye and Reva held a sad look on her face.

The mother opened the note up with a smile on her face but as she read it dropped. Tears started to form but she choked them back, “RAILE.” She stuffed the letter where she could and picked up Reva letting the cookies spill everywhere. “I need you to watch Reva. I’ll be back but it’s an emergency.” Her eyes were screaming that something was wrong as she shoved Reva into his arms. “Stay good for Uncle Raile okay? Mommy has to go help Daddy right now…” She looked at Raile with worry as she portaled out.

Once she was in Sularia she was bolting towards Hazel’s hut. If anyone could help… Since she was apparently being asked not to… It would be Rex.

She slammed the door opened and scared Hazel and Izzy who was cutting a cake singing to Rex only moments before. Osiria puddled herself onto the floor letting out a wild sob as she threw the letter. “I can’t… He just… Rhen…” She couldn’t contain herself as she finally let out her emotions in the form of heavy sobbing.

It was a special day, and Rex hadn’t even realized it. In an offhand comment, Rex had told Lewis what his birthday was a long time ago, and as such, Lewis told Simone. And Simone told Hazel. And so, here he was, celebrating his birthday with his loved ones around him.

Of course, Lewis and Simone had celebrated it in their own way at home first, but figured something like this would be better for him. Hazel and Izzy were his closest family other than them, and that meant the time spent with them was special.

“Happy Birthday Rex!” Izzy said with a smile as she stood up on her chair. “Make a WISH!” She tried to grab his head and slam it down into the cake, but he merely sat there with a half grin. “Aww…no fair. You’re too strong.”

Rex laughed as Hazel started to cut the cake. Today was a great day, and nothing could ruin it.

Except the door slammed open, and a panicked Osiria spilled into the room. She was barely containing herself as she threw the letter, and after that, she broke. Izzy went to comfort her, rubbing her back as Rex picked up the letter and started to read it. His eyes widened as his grip tightened on the paper.

“That pompous fucking-” He looked to Hazel, who was shaking her head.

But why….why did he do this? Anger was overriding rationality, but with Hazel there, he felt as though he could fight it at least for the moment.

“What…even does this mean?” Rex asked after a moment.

Rex knelt down next to Izzy and handed her the letter. After reading it over, the girl frowned. “Doesn’t sound like him to give up so easily. Normally he’d fight that tooth and nail.” She passed the letter to Hazel, who read it over quickly.

“Rex, Izzy…he left to protect Reva,” she said. “It’s not about fighting. It’s about protecting. He probably did everything he could to fight it. He wasn’t worried about himself…”

The lycan clenched his fist. “He could have told someone…”

Izzy thought for a moment. “Well, I remember when daddy was talking about a demon he hunted for an eye or something. I dunno, I was only half paying attention, but…anyway, he said the demon lied to him a lot and led him ‘stray. Maybe that happened? Maybe he couldn’t?” She went back to comforting her mother, hugging her. “It’s okay Momma…Daddy didn’t say anything about us not looking. Rex and I will go!”

“We’ll what!?” Rex asked.

“We’ll go?” Izzy replied. “Auntie Toya will let me go if it’s an emergency. And you're not doing much. We can handle it. Go track him down and kick his ass.” She pounded her fists together. “You and I can kick some demon ass.”

Osiria leaned into Izzy as she comforted her. She hugged her daughter tightly. While they fought a lot it was obvious that Osiria and Rhenakos loved each other a lot. They weren’t good at teamwork but they were trying to be better and they were getting there. Or at least she thought they were.

“I… I can’t see him go back to the way he used to be.” Osiria sniffled a bit and looked up at all of them.

“How was he before?”

“Focused. He didn’t care. We hated each other when we first met but… Obviously, something changed because both of us were broken in our own way. We were only supposed to be messing around at first, that shouldn’t shock any of you kids… but… We began to get close and open up to each other. When we were tracking the demon down we came across a demon in a dragon’s hoard who knew where his was. He got hold of me and Rhenakos didn’t want him to have me so… He killed both of us. Only Rhenakos didn’t know I was a phoenix or it escaped his mind at the time.”

Hazel sat herself down in shock.

“He began to horribly hallucinate me and if there was one thing that the demon could weaponize…”

“It would be you and Reva… Especially you.”

“He felt guilty. He became a better person because of me dying. Everything he did to become a better person was because he felt bad for killing me. My death torments him even now. When we got pregnant with Izzy he was scared shit less… He didn’t want to be a monster or a fuck up. Obviously, we had a lot to learn…” Osiria started to cry again. “I love that stupid motherfucker and I want him home. So please go get him and beat his ass for me. Then bring him home so I can beat his ass too.”

“If… If I was the way I used to be before Izzy… I would have disregarded everything he said. I would have gone after him with Reva on my hip but… We have to think of Izzy and Reva. This is more than just protecting Reva. It’s about what the demon did to his mother and what he could do to me to.” She moved and put her hand on Izzy’s face. “We’ve protected you both and we love you both so much. It’s why even though it hurt us and hurt Rhen… that we asked Toya to take you. I know you don’t like him Iz but… He really does love you. Rex too. He’s so proud of you.”

Hazel was already up and packing a bag, “We should start tracking his movements. I know how to track him after all he’s the one who taught me how to track.”

This was the first time that Rex had heard anything like this. Rhenakos and Osiria had been through a lot, and that had never really crossed the lycan teen’s mind. If anything, he had always assumed Rhenakos was who he was. It was…almost frightening to hear what he had been before Os.

“I…” Rex let his arms fall to his side. All of that anger was dissipating now, replacing itself with something close to regret. It didn’t even register that Hazel had started to pack. “Xeik…he told me I should have worked things out with Rhenakos. I…” Did he miss his chance? Had he talked with Rhenakos, would he have learned these things? Rhenakos had been working his hardest to become a better person despite everything that was happening.

I didn’t give him enough credit.

Izzy took his hand, and dragged Rex down to the floor. She pulled him and Osiria into a hug. “It’ll be okay, Rex…Momma.” There was a quiver in her voice. Despite her earlier bravado, she was seeing both her older brother and her Mother breaking. “We’ll make it right.”

“When did you get so mature,” Rex muttered. He wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt, and stood up. “Okay. Izzy, you and I-” he paused. “Wait, Hazel!? Why are you packing!?”

“I already said,” Hazel replied as she threw an empty bag at him. “He’s the one who taught me to track. It’s not like either of you know how to.”

Rex started to help pack, “When did you get so forceful…” he muttered. “It’s kind of hot.”

“Not the time,” Izzy and Hazel said in almost unison.

“I know, I know!” Rex shot back.