Rade's Demon Elimination Service

Chapter 31: Carys' Savior

Kalleid was just casually hanging around his apartment when he suddenly got the call from Sis Nina.

He has been detaching himself from everyone for the past few weeks, he got to admit that but at least and it was intentional after everything that he did. It was something he has been doing after losing control over his humanity to his demonic side. To be lost within his own thoughts and just drift away, it was what he was doing. For the third time since his mother has given birth to him, he was almost killed.

He knew of the consequences that entailed on living within the hunters' society while being half of both the worlds (which does not always mean that he belonged with both those world), but he still went on because he thought he would miss a greater part of his life and he doesn't want to deprive of himself with that. The reason was not because he was selfish, it was because Kalleid was only still a kid.

There were a lot of things that Kalleid never expected to happen and not all of those were bad but it doesn't mean it was always the unicorns and sunshines instead of the dark.

He hasn't been cleaning his apartment (he also got to admit that). He hasn't been eating. He hasn't been attending classes and making some real work around. If Kalleid was being honest with himself, he hasn't been doing anything for both himself and the others lately.

And the bruises on his hands just kept on healing that it made him frustrated. He could hurt anyone but himself and was that just not such an irony?

It made Kalleid angry with himself.

He could hurt anyone but the person whom he hated so much.

So when Kalleid received the call from Nina that she was having an emergency— her voice was extremely strained— Kalleid suited himself with two layers of jackets before going outside. He did not hesitate at all. But then, he came back to his apartment to get himself a pair of slippers as he sensed that there was a sudden roughness on the floor he was stepping on. After carefully locking the door behind him and checking if he forgot something else, he went to where Nina told him where she was and her emergency.

It didn't take him long before he saw her carrying a person on her back, a person who was roughly the same age as him with long gorgeous blond hair. He quickly get the boy off Nina's arms but found out he doesn't have enough strength to held the boy so, in the end, Nina took the boy back to her arms and gently laid him there quietly while Kalleid went on to get the weapon the boy dropped.

"Sorry," Kalleid timidly said, his eyes were casted down on both of his feet. He felt a light pat on his shoulder and Nina's face was gently smiling at him which made him feel guilty all of a sudden.

"It's fine, dear," Nina answered and kissed his cheek— Kalleid only tried to lift up the corners of his lips.

He was supposed to help them both, not to burden Sis Nina further.

And when he looked at the boy, Kalleid couldn't help but gasp out loud when the boy's face was revealed.

"Lauri Haeven," he uttered under his breath but Nina was shaking her head, contradicting him before he could even gauge what was actually happening and was there someone who looked extremely like a dead person was in Nina's arms. "Who is he, Sis Nina?" Kalleid asked curiously at Nina.

Nina pursed her lips and stared at Carys, sleeping soundly on her arms like a little kid. Up close, she could still see some big traces of Lauri Haeven on the boy's face but it was clear that it was not her. Everybody saw her body being paraded through the hunters' society, so this person was definitely not her.

So this boy must be her brother, the one who had been killed last yeat, both Nina and Kalleid weren't certain though both of them were already having their own hypothesis.

"The brother of Lauri Haeven," Nina concluded solemnly.

"He's passed out," Kalleid remarked and led Nina to a particular direction. "Shall we go in my house? To get him warm up and see if he has any injuries?"

"That's a good idea," Nina said and nodded along, following Kalleid to his apartment. "We should go quickly before demons come back with more reinforcements. At least inside your home, there's a boundary that would protect us."

And so, the three made a hasty escape to Kalleid's door.

Shame was written all over Kalleid's reddened face when they got into the interior of his house. In a frenzy of conspiracy and conclusions about the sudden appearance of this little boy on Nina's arms, Kalleid actually forgot that his apartment was still a mess and that he hasn't done any cleaning for at least two weeks. Litters of crumpled sheets of paper, empty cup noddles, plastic bottles, and cans were strewn all oveer the floor. Dust was also being collected on the shelves that haven't been touched since the last time he cleaned them.

The only neat place was his bed and that was only because he didn't want to sneeze out dust collection and be cold while he was sleeping.

Kalleid's face naturally turned into the same shade as a tomato and he hastily closed the door again, then he turned to Nina and the boy who still hasn't woken up just yet. Kalleid held up one index finger to Nina and smiled very awkwardly.

"Would you mind if I clean for a second, Sis Nina?" Kalleid asked bashfully, the redness spread to his ears and his neck. "My apartment isn't prepared to receive any visitors."

Nina smiled politely at Kalleid, a glint of amusement on her face though it showed nothing of mockery. She didn't mind even Kalleid's place was like a dumpster but it seemed as though Kalleid minded the character he showed to other people. Kalleid was still, after all, a teenager and his face and dignity and the fact that he was about to get humiliated mattered to him.

Nina nodded before telling Kalleid, "If it isn't a bother to you then just go ahead and do what you would like to. Take your time," she even added politely.

Kalleid took that positivel, nodded with enthusiasm, and closed the door behind him. He frantically gathered all of the trash to his empty trash bin and got a rag from his kitchen sink, he then started scrubbing furiously at the coffee stains on his table and the dusty bookshelves before patting down his bed and shoving the thrash to someplace that wasn't visible to the naked eye. After cleaning up, the apartment wasn't still squeaky clean but at least it was acceptable enough for someone else to sit on and be comfortable at without cringing with all the accumulated dirt.

When Kalleid reemerged from the door, Nina's muscles were already dead and she was spent on carrying the little boy on her arms. She said nothing though, always as patient to Kalleid and being so accepting that the guilt Kalleid was unconsciously collecting was piling up inside his chest and mind. Kalleid smiled shyly at Nina and let her enter the apartment. The air was a little cold when they all entered since Kalleid opened up the windows to puff the acrid air out of the apartment.

"How do you know him, Sis Nina?" Kalleid asked curiously again, his back was in front of Nina, brewing coffee. "Or should I ask how you were able to find him?"

Meanwhile, Nina laid the boy with long fair hair on the bed and sat on the floor that was placed with a fancy and newly taken out of the cabinet carpet. Kalleid walked over to Nina and offered her the mug of coffee he made that she accepted with a small word of gratitude.

"Didn't you know?" Nina asked after taking a small sip on the mug.

"Know what, Sis Nina?" Kalleid asked, his head tilting a little on the side.

"That boy attacked Rade at the lantern parade," Nina said in a grim voice.

"Someone attacked Rade?" Kalleid asked in an incredulous manner, there was a crease that appeared in between his two brows. He got up from where he was leaning on the sink of his apartment, both of his eyes were wide.

"I guess she didn't tell you then," Nina said calmly, sipping on her mug. "The assassination attempt missed as you might have guessed."

Kalleid knotted his forehead, the crease was deepening. Knowing Rade, she wouldn't want any of them to be involved with this matter. Much more so if someone was out to get her.

"His face..." Kalleid started to say while he stated at the boy. "His face looked so much alike to Lauri Haeven."

"I also thought at first that he's Lauri Haeven, but there are a lot of factors why he wouldn't be. First, why would the Haeven clan need to fake her death if that is the case, if he is actually Lauri. That won't make sense, the Haeven clan isn't as powerful as they once was and an elaborate scheme in regards of their daughter wouldn't benefit them at all. They would be kore benefitted if Young Lady Laurinette is still alive. There must be another one who looked exactly like her."

"You investigated?" Kalleid asked, amazed by the determination of Nina.

"That, I did," Nina answered but there was a slump on her shoulders that told Kalleid the result of her investigation wasn't positive. "But all I could find is that he's the younger brother of Miss Lauri Haeven. There aren't any records of him. Not even previous kills. He's just... not existing within both the mortal world and hunters' society."

Kalleid's eyes widened with that revelation. He wasn't told by Rade anything about Carysia Haeven, just that the three of them were always together, grew up in the same household after the unfortunate death of Rade's parent. She never mentioned that there was a brother who might be willing to kill Rade in the hopes of fulfilling a revenge plot against her in the pretense that she was the one who killed Laurinette Haeven or that the dead brother who was supposed to be a bunch of bones and only skeletons was actually very much alive and kicking.

After hearing that piece of information, Kalleid stared at the delicate face of the boy lying on his bed. There was a certain kind of glint that changed within Kalleid's gentle brown eyes.

This boy, he thought, how painful it must have been for him to be so alone.

Kalleid doesn't exactly know what happened, and, frankly, he doesn't want to be involved with all of that when, in his reality, he was still rather a mess himself. He hasn't sorted himself just yet, he hasn't been kind to himself in all honestly and he does not know if he could find it in his hard reality to be kind to anyone yet.

But maybe empathizing with someone would not tale too much of himself.

So here was Carys Haeven, entering his life and dragging him to his life. Kalleid wanted to shake his head but this has already happened and there was nothing he could do about it.

"I guess I can't help it," Kalleid muttered under his breath while still watching the boy sleep soundly on his own bed. He turned to Nina who was still sipping the coffee he just brewed. "What should we do about him?" he asked the older lady.

Nina shrugged, also feeling hopeless, she actually doesn't have any idea what else to do about Carys Haeven. To hand him over to the Aldeia clan seemed like he did a capital offense against the clan and the HODE, that could even be a cause of a misunderstanding between the Haeven clan and the Aldeia clan.

To hand him over to the Watchtower was to tell them that he actually did a crime and he needed to be punished for it when Nina was certain the kid didn't do anything wrong and that he hasn't wronged anyone (maybe? even Nina herself was unsure). But the implication might complicate the situation which both Nina and Kalleid did not want to do.

"That, I'm not sure," Nina finally answered Kalleid who smiled gently at Carys then to her.

"Then Carys Haeven is welcomed in my apartment to stay," Kalleid said. He decided that if he just waits around until he was struck wit the inspiration to finally move from this phase of his, then that probably won't be happening any time soon but Kalleid hoped that was just some assumption of his that will not come true.

Carys has just entered his life and he might be something that could make Kalleid turn his attention away from what was happening on his mind, a welcomed distraction from the chaotic mess that was his mind.

"Won't you mind?" Nina asked, anxious and concerned about the boy and Kalleid who has a polite delicate smile plastered on his face like this was nothing to him. "I know you're still struggling about coping with what happened," she comforted him, attempting for something she has never done before for Kalleid who seemed to be always smiling and has a mild temperament. "And you don't have to shoulder this responsibility by yourself, kid."

Kalleid shook his head and also took a sip on his mug full of coffee. The aroma of the coffee spread on the small apartment and the wind blew the scent away from the closed confines of his temporary home.

"I know that men aren't allowed in the compound you're staying in, Sis Nina," Kalleid said in a reasonable tone. "I understand that you won't be able to take Carys back to your own house. It's fine for him to stay here for a while, I don't have anyone around and I'm certain that New York would understand the urgency of this matter. He won't breathe a word to any of the Aldeia clan's hunters if Carys doesn't allow it."

Nina nodded her head, she looked distracted and she didn't notice that Kalleid was already looking at her with a rather queer expression on his face.

Kalleid called Nina in his clear delicate voice but the lady didn't even raise her head to answer or even acknowledge that she heard him. The next thing he did was to tap Nina on her shoulder. In a reflex, Nina grabbed Kalleid's arm and twisted it around until they both heard a crack.

With a horrified expression filling on her face, Nina let go of Kalleid who groaned and casually shook his arm, already healing from the injury that he sustained. Instead of being angry at the absent-minded person that repeatedly apoligized to Kalleid himself over and over again, Kalleid only smiled sheepishly.

"You can tell Kalleid what's bothering you, Sis Nina," said Kalleid gently, a smile was placed on his lips. A crack resounded within the room, it was Kalleid's healing shoulder that had been twisted and dislocated just moments ago. It righted itself on place and Kalleid let out another grunt of pain with the movement of his shoulder. A few moments more and the injured shoulder has finally healed, recovered and as good as new.

It took Nina a few seconds before recovering, an odd and wistful expression touched her face as she gazed at Kalleid's face.

"I'm so sorry, Kal!" Nina repeated her sincere apology which was waved off by Kalleid. A moment she was in a daze, then the second, she was already in the reality. "I was just thinking about that." Nina pointed at the huge bow at the side of the door, just side by side with the umbrellas and Kalleid's shoes.

Kalleid looked at where Nina was pointing at and saw the bow that he picked up earlier when he went to fetch Nina who was carrying Carys. His forehead knotted automatically. The bow was, admittedly, something that Kalleid think London would find cool and awesome.

It has sleek black exterior and the length was quite long that Kalleid suddenly felt that it was too big for hin. But what Kalleid really noticed was that it was a weapon made for hunters.

"What about this, Sis Nina?" Kalleid asked to understand what Nina meant but there was unshed tears on her eyes that made Kalleid rushed over to comfort her. He put a hand on her back and Nina only shook her head, the hand that was holding the mug was slightly shaking.

Kalleid refused to ask what it was that was bothering Nina who was relatively always smiling and happy. It was a surprising scene to see her being forlorn that Kalleid's heartstrings were also strummed, feeling as though he could feel the pain that Nina has in her heart.

"That was my husband's weapon when he was alive," Nina said, trying her best not to cry but failing miserably. "That's supposed to be at HODE HQ, but what is it doing with Carys Haeven?"