Fifteen ✔

18

"Bradley. Do you have the girl with you?" the voice was loud but gentle. It was authoritative but young, younger than the people I had met at least.

"She's with me currently," Bradley's voice had taken over a new tone I hadn't heard from him. It was deeper, different, as he spoke to his brother through the door.

"Come in," the voice of the western leader rang out and with this Bradley turned the door and pushed it open. Inside sat a man who I had met only a few times as a child. He was very different than what I had remembered. He seemed smaller, his hair was less cared about, his eyes were duller.

The huge threat of this world was sitting, right in front of me, hunched over a desk with his head in hiss hands. He glanced up at me with a nod and returned back to his previous position.

"Baden? Are you o-."

"Of course I'm not okay. You know what the issue is. Can you check on the hoodoo stuff you got from that lady?"

"What?" I asked, my eyes were wide with shock as he spoke to his younger brother.

"It's nothi-."

"I need your help," Baden spoke, cutting off his brother.

"Ain't I enough help?" Bradley spoke with anger.

"You've been helping for 15 years, brother, think of her as an assistant."

"How could I possibly help?" I asked, eager to get out.

"I need someone to ensure this.. this hoodoo stuff stays in place."

"What happens if it doesn't?"

Bradley looked at me with a look that screamed that I shouldn't have asked that question. Baden barely moved his head before he began to speak, "I'm going to die."

"That seems a bit.. uh.. Like a bit much?"

"He means," Bradley let out a sigh, "He means that this stuff is the one thing that is keeping the hounds out."

"Hounds?"

"Hell hounds. I sold my soul for power. I stupidly sold my soul so I could lead some powerful group. I was young and dumb. If I could go back in time and stop myself I would, but I can't. Now I'm bound to stay in this room and wait for the day that the hounds finally break through the hoodoo."

"What happens when they do?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

"They come in, rip my body to shreds and drag my soul to Hell."

I leaned against the wall, a small plan building in my mind, "How did you find out about the whole soul sale thing?"

"Sno."

"Really?"

"It's not my story to tell. I will tell you, though, that Sno knows a lot about all of this stuff. The whole supernatural world, he's like a walking library of it."

"There's more?" I paused to glance over at Bradley, only to turn my sight back to Baden, "More than just hell hounds and the soul collector guys?"

     Bradley let out a small laugh before openly mocking me, "Soul collector guys. That's nice. They're called demons."

     "What he means is, yes, there are more than hell hounds and demons. There's so much, I can't even tell you half of it," Baden sighed sadly, "Have you ever met Sno?"

     "No, I've heard lots of stories from my mother though. He sounds..." I let my voice trail off in hopes that he would catch ny drift and finish. I didn't know how he felt about Sno and I didn't want to give away that I had actually met him.

     "He's a good person who was dragged down by the fate of his sister. He was the good to her evil, but in the end he appeared evil to protect her. He could have done amazing things if not for Blu."

     He'd simply restated Sno's opinion of himself. I nodded my head and walked towards Bradley to watch him as he continued with the hoodoo. Baden continued to speak but I hadn't been listening in the slightest to him after I'd turned my attention to Bradley.

     "He's gonna want to you learn how to do this," Bradley spoke as softly as I'd ever heard him, "It's a good thing you're watching now."

     "Why did this happen?"

     "It was a low point in his life. He didn't even know I existed at the time. He just wanted power and now he's running on extended, borrowed time."

     "Aren't they going to come eventually? The hell hounds?"

     "Eventually. Maybe even a few demons will come and see why the hell their hell hounds aren't getting the soul yet. But that's not today."