"You are not scared?" Damian blinked in confusion as he stared at Twenty.

The reaction genuinely caught him off guard. This was not the same man he remembered from before. The Twenty in his memory flinched whenever Damian displayed anything abnormal. He was cautious, alert, and always looked one strange incident away from questioning his life choices.

Yet now Damian had appeared outside his house after crossing several states in seconds, floating through the sky with a strange creature on his shoulder, and instead of fear, this idiot looked excited.

Rin’s ears twitched and its expression immediately darkened.

"Did he just call me a demon?" it asked in obvious offense.

In its opinion, being called a demon was ridiculous. While its existence originated from the inheritance of Hell, Rin considered itself a refined being. A creature worthy of becoming the companion of a Prince or perhaps even serving alongside a future Demon Lord. Grouping it together with common demons felt insulting.

Unfortunately for Rin, Twenty had already mentally discarded everything it said.

Twenty stared at Rin with fascination shining in his eyes. He circled Damian again and crouched slightly to inspect the fox more closely before standing back up with growing excitement.

"Come on man," he laughed while slapping Damian’s shoulder casually. "That was before. We weren’t friends back then. But now? You’re my brother. Why should I be scared of you?"

Damian stood silently for several seconds and then he smiled. It was strange because if Councilman Delaney had walked up and slapped his shoulder like that, Damian was almost certain his reflexes would have sent the man face-first into concrete before he even realized what happened. Yet somehow Twenty doing it felt natural.

Rin stared at both of them in disbelief.

"Are you seriously going to ignore the fact he called me a demon?" it growled yet neither of them acknowledged it.

Twenty threw his arm up and started walking toward the house.

"Forget all that. Come inside and have a drink brother. Tonight we celebrate." He laughed loudly and took several steps.

But suddenly he stopped. His body froze mid-step to the same invisible force that had brought him outside. He was gently turned to face Damian but this time Damian’s expression had changed.

The warmth disappeared and his eyes had become dangerously cold.

"I didn’t come here to celebrate. I came here to kill that bastard myself."" His voice came out low yet terrifying.

Twenty’s smile disappeared immediately and his posture straightened. The jovial nature vanished from his face only now did he realize Damian was not playing.

Seeing the message got through, Damian released him. Immediately Twenty immediately pulled out his phone and stepped forward.

The screen showed a GPS tracker on several moving signals surrounding a particular location.

Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, Wisconsin!

"That bastard ran that far and camped in the woods." His tone became serious now. "My boys surrounded the area already but they haven’t alerted him."

"If you want him we can make it there before midnight with my private jet."

Damian looked at the screen briefly, ignoring his words for a few seconds before revealing a small smile.

"You and your men have done well." His hand rested briefly on Twenty’s shoulder. "Let me handle it from here."

Twenty blinked in confusion. Before he could respond the ground beneath Damian shattered violently as a shockwave burst outward as he shot into the air

BOOM!

Twenty was knocked backward immediately and landed hard on his butt. His eyes widened in shock as he searched for Damian amidst the chaos but he was gone.

For several seconds Twenty just sat there and stared upward. His expression shifted between disbelief and excitement.

"That nigga is on some Superman shit!" He whistled. "I won’t lie, he got a sweet deal from the devil."

___ Chequamegon–Nicolet National Forest ___

Adrian sat beside a weak campfire built between uneven stones while absentmindedly holding half a burger in his hand. The bread had gone cold long ago and the meat inside tasted like rubber but he barely noticed.

He looked nothing like the handsome senior associate from Blacksheep anymore.

His blonde hair had lost all shape and hung unevenly around his face. His jaw was buried beneath rough unshaved stubble and his skin had turned pale and unhealthy from weeks of poor food and poor sleep. The expensive suits that once made him look refined had long been abandoned. In their place were layered jackets, faded shirts and cheap winter clothes thrown together for survival rather than appearance.

His eyes had changed the most, they looked hollow and sunken. Like someone who had not rested properly in a very long time. If Candice saw him now she probably would not recognize the man she abandoned Damian for.

Adrian lowered his eyes toward the burger in his hand and slowly took another bite.

He had escaped Chicago immediately after hearing Damian survived. Originally, the plan had been simply to lay low and wait until things calmed, then leave the country..

But things stopped making sense a long time ago Damian never named him. That was what broke him. Even with all the interviews while at the hospital, his name never surfaced. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

At first Adrian thought Damian had memory loss, but after watching Damian speak in his interviews, he was certain Damian remembered. Which meant Damian deliberately chose not to expose him.

Why?

That question followed him into every sleepless night. Driving him close to insanity.

He believed this was a trap, that Damian wanted him comfortable, that’s why he kept running.

But running costs money and his savings have already been burned out just from dating Candice for a few months. He had burned through his savings faster than expected, now he couldn’t risk using his credit cards or taking jobs.

Every stranger felt suspicious and every passing vehicle looked like police. At some point every unfamiliar face became Damian, that’s why he chose to run into the forest where he won’t have to see faces again.

Adrian looked down at the crushed burger in his hand and something twisted inside him. Slowly his fingers tightened until sauce leaked between them.

Before he stole Candice, Damian’s life was terrible. Then he stole Candice and Damian’s life which looked like it was on pause kicked off again while he lost everything.

Now, he was beginning to see the pattern.

"That bitch was the bad luck all along..." His fist crushed the burger completely, causing cold meat and bread to spill between his fingers as his eyes burned with hatred.