Mr. Brown slumped against the wall of his house, holding the phone in his trembling hands having yet to ring the number. A shaky hand wiped the perspiration and blood from his forehead, flicking it onto the ground. It hit the wood floorboards with small splashes a few feet ahead of him, leading his eyes to travel toward Adam, who was now wiping his tears away with a pulled-down sleeve.

He crawled toward Adam, kneeling before him as he grabbed Adam’s small shoulders. “I’m sorry,” he croaked, bowing his head down towards the floor. Sobs racked through him in violent waves as he choked out “I should have never let you do this. We’ll find something else, okay? We need to get away from here.”

Adam looked shockingly at his father bowing down before him, the devastating edge in his voice filling up the room. Shaking his head slowly at first, Adam’s rejection became boisterously angry as he shoved off his father. “No,” he cried. “I have to get my powers back! I’m nothing without them but a devil!”

“Adam, I’ll find something else for you. I don’t care if you’re a Leith or not, you hear me?” Mr. Brown was raising his voice now, pushing himself onto his feet. “I can’t lose you, too! We need to find something else far from here!” Mr. Brown's voice now loomed over Adam, threatening to crash down and wash away his rejection.

Before Adam could interject, a sharp knock sounded at the front door, reverberating through the house with loud whispers. Mr. Brown quickly rushed Adam into his room before approaching the door with light, quick footsteps. When he opened the door, a female and male officer forced their way in with relative ease, investigating the area with an almost jaunty aura.

General Kristiansen had eyes everywhere. Even in the central branch that was hunting him down in this very area.

“So, Mr. Brown,” the male officer said lazily, his words lolling over the stench of blood in the room, “You doing your job well?”

Mr. Brown gave an immediate nod. “Yes, everything that was ordered. Her father is dead.”

“She stopped by here?”

“No, sir. Those two were her friends. I haven’t seen her since the fire. She attempted to attack Adam, but ran off”

The officer’s eyes bore into him as he took a step closer and closer, until he was staring right at Mr. Brown. “You’re not having any doubts, are you?” He tilted his head, a smile creeping up his face. “Keep doing your job, you hear? If you ever show even an ounce of hesitation,” he paused for a moment, eyes pointing toward Adam’s room, “you’re both dead.”

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Throat bobbing up and down with a heavy swallow, Mr. Brown gave a sharp nod. “Morrigan didn’t stop by. If she had, I would be dead. It was her two friends.”

“Are you talking back to me, Mr. Brown?” Inquired the officer, his face taking in a vicious curiosity as he took a step back.

“I want more pay for this job,” he replied, staring straight ahead toward the officer. “For my injuries and to compensate for Adam. He could have died.”

The officer froze for a minute before bursting out into laughter, clutching his stomach as his voice rolled destructively toward Mr. Brown, each thundering howl seeming to bite a chunk out of him. When he finally regained his breath, wiping a tear from his eye, he looked up with intimidating interest. “Really, for free? You want me to pay you for free?”

Finally speaking, the female officer walked closer to Mr. Brown. “Or do you plan to whore yourself out again?” She continued to step toward him, foot after foot, until her head rested on his shoulder. Mr. Brown sealed his eyes shut, his jaw violently trembling in fear. She licked the back of his ear and he shuddered, praying that Adam couldn’t hear or see anything from his room.

She whispered, “plan on sleeping with Leiths again for another magical son?” Her breath was searing hot on his skin, whispering burning thoughts that seemed to brand his mind. Her hand, now holding spare change, forcefully made their way to his back pant pocket. “The woman you loved. I heard she killed herself… because of you. You ruined her.”

She finally detached herself from him, peering into his eyes that now opened to small slits. “You don’t seem very excited. Too bad I already paid you. If you’re more interested in men, I’m sure my colleague would love to spend some time with you instead,” she suggested, her face twisted into a sinister expression.

Both of the officers howled out in laughter at Mr. Brown’s ghastly expression as they headed toward the door. “Don’t forget to phone the general, Mr. Brown,” she called, her colleague offering a suggestive wink before they shut the door behind them.

A shuddering sigh left Mr. Brown’s lips at the sound of the door creaking shut. Tears welled in his eyes, clinging onto his lashes before falling down his cheeks. He stumbled over to the couch, trying to cease his trembling body before Adam would see him.

The worn out cushions seemed to pull him deeper into the couch as his head rolled back to stare at the ceiling marked by water leaks. The only thing he could bring himself to consider was how he ended up here.

He supposed it began with the woman. The woman with the fiery hair and an inextinguishable vitality that seemed to make her glow a warm yellow from her skin. A poor entertainer traversing the paved streets, he believed he fell in love with her when she asked him for directions.

He knew if he answered, he’d be haunted by her presence eternally, addicted to the fertility and life that seemed to prosper from her very fingertips. Yet, he did, and he became eternally wed to the way she smoldered at his sanguine promises of a life teeming with prosperity.

When she became pregnant, a dull cast dampened her life, and a sheet of white horror was all that was present on her face. Perhaps the crime, the immorality, of what she had done seemed to finally grip her mind. The grotesque world that surrounded the two of them ate her alive bit by bit, stripped her of her illumination, until she finally left Mr. Brown all alone with his infant son.

Perhaps this was where it truly began. This was where Adam, born from love, was bred to hate, where Mr. Brown was ready to sacrifice Morrigan’s mother, and now, where Juro rekindled lavish dreams.