Flames of the Hell Spawn

Chapter 18: The Return of Hell's Library

Happy new year y'all
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Gehenna: Azazel's Castle

"Explain." Azazel crossed his arms and glared at Rin. He didn't know why his younger brother thought it was a good idea to bring humans to Gehenna, but he was going to find out.

"There's a very simple explanation." Rin paused. "Isolde has partially awakened that ones power." He pointed to Yukio.

"And how does this involve me?" Azazel could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on.

"We need you to change him back." Rin answered.

Azazel sighed.

"Does father know about this?"

"Yes. He was the one that sent me here." Azazel thought this was odd. His father should have been able to deal with this himself. So, why would he send them here? He must have had a good reason, or did he just not want to deal with the humans. Whatever the true reason was, they were now his problem.

"Fine. You come here." He motioned to Yukio.

Cautiously, Yukio did as he was told. Azazel stared intensely at Yukio, making the exorcist very uncomfortable, like a small defenseless animal that was about to be devoured by a much stronger predator. He walked around Yukio eyeing him closely. When he was done circling him, he turned to Rin.

"Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is I can change him back, the bad news is that I need the old book of spells to do so."

Rin had a strange look on his face almost like depression mixed with worry.

"Do you even have the book?" Rin asked.

"Yes. It's in the library, somewhere." Azazel said.

"Well, then let's go get it." Shura instructed, wanting to get this whole ordeal over with.

"It's not that simple." Rin told her. "Dear big brother here, likes to rearrange his books when he's bored."

"It also keeps you and Iblis from getting your hands on certain books. Now come with me" Azazel then turned and headed towards the library.

They all stood in the library staring up at the shelves. The humans were a bit overwhelmed. They had never seen shelves like this. Not only were there an endless supply of shelves but the amount of books on them couldn't even compare to library at the exorcists base.

"So, basically you have no idea where this book is." Rin asked as he looked at the shelves.

"No clue." Azazel responded matter of factly.

Rin and Azazel climbed up the shelves. Rin was rubbing his finger across the books. When he came to a certain book, he became irritated. He pulled the book out revealing it to be a manga he had lost a long time ago.

"I've been looking for this!" He shouted and threw the book at Azazel, hitting him in the head. Azazel Ignored him and continued looking.

Not long after Rin found another book that interested him. It was an tattered brown leather journal. Rin pulled it off the shelf, intending to sneak it out, but a heavy book hitting his head changed his mind.

"Don't even think about it." Azazel threw a book at Rin, returning the favor. Rin put the book back, but made sure to remember where, so he and Iblis could come and get it later. Azazel made a mental note to move that book later.

While the two demon brothers joked about, looking for the old spell book, they had completely forgotten about the humans below them. Yukio and the others were looking at the books on the shelves too, but more so to see what kind of books would be kept in a demon's library.

Yukio watched Rin and the King of Spirits interact. He wouldn't admit it, but it made him mad. The two were so friendly towards each other, like brothers. The way the were playfully arguing reminded Yukio of the ways he and Rin would bicker. How could Rin be so happy conversing with a demon king, and so hostile towards his own twin. Yukio couldn't understand it. As hard as he tried to convince himself that Rin was a demon, he just couldn't, and that complicated things. Yukio needed to keep his distance from Rin, not be jealous over how close he and the King of Spirits were. He was a demon and if Yukio showed any sign of weakness, he was sure that Rin would kill him the first chance he got.

Yukio looked up to see where the demons were. They had made it pretty far up. The two were next to each other and seemed to be having some sort of argument.

Rin had just found the book they had been looking for when another hand, out of nowhere, reached for at the same time. Azazel and Rin both growled at each other. Azazel pushed Rin off the shelf. The King of Spirits grabbed the book and went back to the humans.

After skimming through the book, Azazel turned to Rin with an odd look on his face.

"Well, I can make the tonic that will stop Isolde's curse from fully awakening him. But..."

"Why is there always a but?" Rin asked, a little concerned.

"I don't think you'll like this. In order for the curse to be completely reversed, you'll have to go see Samuel." Azazel finished.

"No, not the clown." Rin didn't want to take them to Samuel. He wasn't sure how well a meeting between them would go. The humans didn't know that Samuel and Mephisto were the same demon. They knew that he was a powerful demon, but he didn't know how they would react if they found out that the King of Time and Space was their old school director, Mephisto Pheles.

Yukio and the others didn't like this idea either, but for different reasons. They felt like they had met far too many demon kings already, and didn't want to meet any more. Also, they didn't even know if this demon would help. They had tested their luck long enough and just wanted out of Gehenna. Unfortunately, the curse on Yukio prevented that from happening.

A little while later Azazel returned with the brew. He gave it to Rin.

"No one but the cursed one can drink this tonic. If you do you will die. It's mostly made out of poison's, but it will counteract the curse." Azazel instructed.

Rin locked eyes with his older brother and nodded. He then looked back at the humans.

"Time to go." Before they could protest, Rin headed for the door.