After their heartfelt conversation, everyone was tired.

The training combined with emotional fatigue caused Kazius to give up on staying up tonight. Instead, he went to sleep along with everyone else. That, of course, ended up with him waking up before everyone else, again.

Deciding not to just lay around, he got up.

He did his best to quietly leave the room before he then got dressed.

It was strange being up and about while everyone slept. It was dark out; the sun had not even risen yet. Still, there was an odd familiarity and soothing quality to being up and about in the dark.

Normally, due to Vargstam being filled with Werewolves, there was at least some distant howling every now and then… But it seemed everyone in town was asleep.

Kazius would walk along the river. The moon was reflecting on the water, being almost full but not quite. It provided plenty of light, even though he did not need it.

His mind raced from all sorts of things… From Alice… To the voices he heard… To Damon… And so on…

The silence of his walk was then suddenly interrupted by the choir that he was growing familiar with.

“Demon… Approaching…”

‘Last few times it was just the word approaching… Now they tell me what as well… I wonder why… It would be better if they spoke proper sentences... But I guess that other voice spoke properly…’

“Hi, Azanor.” Kazius stated before even turning around. The Demon was quite sneaky. He had not even made a sound. Were it not for The Shadows, he would not have known he was there.

It was surprising to see him up, but then again not entirely unexpected. When Kazius actually turned around and spotted him though, he could not help but notice he looked a little worn for some reason. He didn’t do any training himself… And he didn’t sleep… So why did he look so drained?

“And here I thought I was being perfectly quiet… You’re up early.” Azanor mused, looking quite surprised. He put no effort into hiding the curiosity in his face.

“You were sneaky…. And... I could say the same to you, but you don’t sleep.” Kazius mused back at Azanor. Kazius was just too curious… He had to find out if that voice had spoken the truth.

At Kazius’ words, Azanor looked more than shocked. He even looked more unnerved than tired.

“And how would you know that?”, Azanor asked wearily.

As Kazius had assumed, he looked like he had been creeped out. Still, he needed answers about that other voice… And this showed indeed it had spoken the truth… Something Kazius wasn’t so sure on how to feel about.

He had only heard it once… The whispers came when they wanted, but way more often… Regardless, both seemed to only have useful things to say…. So perhaps he should try and purposefully listen for them?

Maybe Leo and Alex had hit his head too hard… Or maybe it wasn’t recent at all. Maybe Priestess Rosette was the one that knocked the sense out of him all those years ago… But he supposed his worries were silly. After all, if what they said was the truth, then he clearly had not lost it.

He was physically fine, there was no reason for him to worry like that… But that did not make the voices any easier to explain.

It wasn’t like he could tell his friends that he heard such things. He didn’t even know 100% what they were. He figured the choir of whispers was just The Shadows speaking, but he could always be wrong… But then why had he heard one specific voice out of nowhere? Was that one something else?

Nope, he could not tell anyone about them at all.

Kazius did not want to alarm Azanor… And while Kazius did not want to lie to his friends, he still kept plenty of secrets from them… As hypocritical as that was…

So, he decided to tell him half of the truth.

“It might have to do with me being a Shadow Fiend, but I could tell you were pretending.” Kazius admitted with a shrug. He was trying his best to play it off as no big deal.

Azanor made a face at his answer. After all, he had explained to Kazius that Shadow Fiends unnerved him. He had warned against saying the name out loud, likely out of fear that they could listen in from the shadows.

Still, as the voices had shown him… There was really no point in any sort of roundabout way of avoiding saying the name of his kind. The Shadows had ears, that much he knew for sure. They were not listening for any sort of specific set of words… They were always listening.

So, if any of his kind were around, they would be able to listen in. The fact that none had shown up showed that either they did not care or that none of them were nearby. After all, they probably had better things to do than listening in on them…

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Then again there was the small probably that they were always listening and/or were nearby but in hiding… But not only did they have no reason to do that, but it was just unlikely. It did not make sense to Kazius.

Still, the last thing Azanor probably needed to hear was any of this.

“Please try and avoid speaking about that so openly.” Azanor pleaded as he looked around, his face showing just how unnerved the Demon was. Something about his demeanor seemed more tired than normal as he did this. Kaizus did not understand why he looked so uncomfortable.

“Sorry…” Kazius apologized, playing along.

“So… Why do you pretend to sleep then? Though, I guess I understand it a little… Until now, I’ve been laying in bed since everyone else was too…But that is pretty boring… So, I decided from now on I will go for a walk while I wait for everyone to wake up.” Kazius admitted, deciding to keep the conversation on track.

“Ah, so that is why you are walking around… I guess I will join you then from now on. It is hard to just lay there… I have been bored with it too, but I don’t really like being far away from Eve … This place seems safe enough though… And Alice is there too… So, I guess it will be okay…” Azanor admitted with a sigh.

“You really care about Eve, don’t you?” Kazius decided to ask, indeed curious about why. After all, Alice and him had accepted a long time ago that Azanor did not treat Eve like how a Demon treated someone they made a contract with… He did not only dote on her, but he also seemed the most interested in her regaining her memories… The way he spoke of her was almost like he had even known her before she lost her memories… Considering Azanor knew Zelphar… It wasn’t that far of a stretch.

Kazius never bothered asking about it since he figured he would not answer anyway…

Azanor sighed at the question, frowning. The answer he gave being surprisingly honest.

“I care about her more than anything… But… I care about all of you… Even about that new blockhead that just poured his heart out to us… Thanks to that conversation with Damon, I haven’t been able to deal with my thoughts. It has been annoying… So when I saw you get up, I was actually pretty relieved… I am annoyed with you though.” Azanor admitted as he gave Kazius a half-hearted glare. It seemed this was the source of his tired expression and the main thing on his mind.

Kazius stared at him, puzzled.

“What fuck did I do?” Kazius questioned, confusion all over his face.

“Not be an asshole…” Azanor grumbled out in dismay, as if it really was a problem.

“I’m… Sorry?” Kazius responded with even more confusion on his face while blinking at him in bewilderment, raising his brow.

Azanor sighed in defeat.

“You should be… Things would have been a lot easier if you were like Ratier, Thimdur, or Zelphar… I expected to be on my own with Eve by now… Instead, I am here… But I am actually happy about it… I hate it… I can’t have more people to care about, Kazius. I’m a Demon. This stuff is against my nature, just like being a creepy fuck is in yours.” Azanor admitted his tone was beyond irritated. It was almost like he was both ranting at and scolding Kazius. It was also surprising to hear the Demon curse as well, he was not as lenient with it as he was….

Kazius was actually also not offended by his words at all. For one Kazius could tell he didn’t mean anything bad by it… And he was also well aware that what he told Azanor was creepy.

“Not in the mood to be nice, huh?” Kazius joked at him, showing him that he indeed was not offended.

“Being nice for me is like constantly trying to pull out my teeth! I am too drained right now to give a shit to be nice. I am too annoyed at my own stupidity… I thought I was done helping Mortals… Or dealing with them all together. Yet here I am, helping you for free! FOR FREE! Last time I did anything for free, I ended up sealed away and then locked up! Yet here I am again… Practically asking to get backstabbed again… ” Azanor would complain, groaning. He was normally so secretive… But it seemed Azanor’s walls were coming down bit by bit.

His wording was odd though. He seemed to purposefully separate being sealed away and being locked up for some reason. Then there was the fact he seemed to exclude Eve when he spoke about Mortals.

“Wait, how is any of this my fault?” Kazius asked in confusion.

“Because! It is you! All you! I was fine just caring about Eve… But you had to show up with Alice… A descendant of that idiot that fucked me over… And now we met that goof with a big heart… He is the kind that normally I would make a deal with and prey on… He is so perfectly broken that he may as well be on a platter… I swore off eating souls… But even I was tempted when I saw him… I genuinely think I even drooled a little when I first sensed his soul… It was disgusting… But now he is a friend I met because of you.” Azanor admitted his expression showing a good amount of bitterness and annoyance. This had to be the most he had ever spoken about himself.

“You what?” Kazius asked in confusion. Kazius had always suspected Azanor did not want their souls, but it was surprising to hear that he had sworn them off. Why? Was it due to moral reasons or something else?

Then there was hearing Azanor admit he had been tempted to eat Damon’s soul… Again, Kazius was surprised at his lack of disgust at the notion. The only reason it bothered him was because Damon was now their friend… But if Azanor had said this about someone else, he genuinely could not have cared any less.

Thing was… Had this conversation occurred a month ago, it would have bothered him. He did not understand why he had this change… Did it have to do with leaving Ratier? Not being human? Then again, he supposed such a concern was unimportant.

“I suppose… Look, I am sorry… I will be honest with you... The way you and Alice have treated Damon with everything he has dealt with… How you have made sure to make him feel included… And even hearing about Damon’s family… I guess…. It has reminded me about a lot of things… But it also showed me… You and Alice… And even Damon… You… I don’t like it… But I will just have to accept I have friends again… I will trust you… So don’t make me regret it.” Azanor warned with a frown. His discomfort at the hug he got earlier coming to mind thanks to his current expression.

“I won’t I promise.” Kazius assured with a small grin. Honestly, part of him was rather happy to see Azanor being to open up some. It had been clear he had been embarrassed when he got exposed for caring about them earlier… But he now seemed willing to be more open about it.

‘Had he not mentioned his hunger for souls, perhaps I would have forgotten that he was a Demon during this conversation. ‘

“Good… Anyway… This conversation has been too sappy for my liking… Lets talk about something more entertaining… What do friends talk about again? I honestly have forgotten… Got a list of people you want dead?” Azanor tapped the floor with his cane before he perked up at the conversation starter.

‘Or maybe not… But he is trying .’