After the truth, we ran to the lab. My dad had told us to go to be with Leticia. He was sure she wouldn't make it. Leticia was in that condition because Chris and I failed to discipline ourselves. Either Chris or I impregnated her. We were both the devils. When we reached the lab, Splendor welcomed us with his fury. He pointed at us with a pistol. We stood as he wanted. It was clear he allowed Orionos to take Leticia.
"Splendor… wait, where's Leticia?" Chris asked, his fingers pointing at Leticia's bed.
Splendor chuckled, his eyes drowning in tears, and his pistol still pointed at us. After his disgusting chuckle, he roared, "You devils, why hiding in my claws all this long, I am going to equal my father's death!"
Silence filled the room when Splendor called us devils. No one wanted to explain or move forward while the pistol was still at us until Chris asked again, "Splendor, where is Leticia?"
Again, Splendor chuckled. I never saw him behave that way. He looked like a villain in my eyes.
"Asking like you're her family, you devil liars," he laughed and said, "She's where she should be with her father."
Without hesitating, Chris jumped and threw a heavy punch on Splendor's face. The punch was not in Splendor's anticipation. He failed even to dodge it or use his pistol at Chris. However, he proved to be fast like a mamba as we saw Chris bleeding from his stomach. He might have failed to dodge the punch, but he moved faster than we couldn't see how he stabbed Chris with lab scissors. Chris momentarily stood still while feeling the scissors in his intestines. Thereafter, he fell down. I jumped to help him.
"How does it feel to lose someone you love?" Splendor laughed, looking at me, and said, "Now tell me, Oliver, did I just stabbed the devil or my pistol points at him?"
His words made the blood in my body to boil. I almost jumped at him with all of my strength, but with his pistol pointed at me, he was going to kill me. Triana came next to me and held my shoulders. I remembered my dad saying our powers were strong if we were closer to each other. But we didn't know how to trigger those powers.
"You stabbed the devil. Your pistol also points at him. How nervous are you?" I said, standing up, my hands wet with Chris' blood, and my eyes focused on Splendor as if to frighten him. I went closer to him until the tip of his pistol touched my temple and asked, "How can you trust Orionos with Leticia's life?"
Splendor's hands quivered, and he lowered down his pistol.
"I learned to trust Orionos because he talks the truth. If not him, I wouldn't have known that your family killed my father. I was young by then, but now I am old. I can feel all the pain at once!" he said and cried, "Why now killing my mother? She was my everything."
He fell down on his knees.
"I am sorry for your grievances. But Orionos is the enemy. He blinded you to believe whatever he told you. Now you're behaving just as he wanted," Kort said while taking the pistol from Splendor's hands.
"No!" he screamed, burying his face in his arms.
At that moment, as usual Leticia's mother came. When she saw what was happening, she screamed, asking for her daughter. Splendor's lips became heavy at that moment. Mariana responded to her mother. Leticia's mother got shocked after hearing Orionos take Leticia with him. Splendor tried to explain that Orionos promised to heal her since he was a mage. Before he finished explaining, a tight slap fell on his cheek. When Leticia's mother was about to send another slap, Kort stopped her. Thereafter, she held Splendor's shoulders and asked about the book that my dad talked about.
"Here is the book, Kort. I wonder what your interests are in this book. I expect Oliver to ask that question, not you," Orionos said, surprising us as he entered the lab and questioned, "How come you're still alive?"
Kort instantly pointed Orionos with the pistol and asked where Leticia was.
"I see your stubbornness kept you alive all along. The questions you ask are none of your concerns. Leticia is my daughter. Anyway, I am not here for drama," he said, heading to Splendor and commanding him to stand up, which he did. After that, he asked, "The book you gave me has some missing pages. Where are they, doctor?"
Splendor struggled to speak. Orionos was patient with him until he said he had no clue about the missing pages. Orionos lost it and pushed Splendor away from him. Kort pulled the trigger to the roof to stop Orionos, but he just screamed and told her to shoot straight at him. Thereafter, he said, "Splendor, you hid the missing pages. I thought I easily manipulated you. Anyway, I can find the missing pages by myself, so I see no need to keep you alive. I should fulfill the promise I made to your father before I killed him. I promised to kill you and your mother for that book."
"You're the one who killed my mother… my family!" Splendor screamed, puffed, and said, "So the devils didn't do it?"
Orionos laughed and removed the gun from his belt. Before he shot Splendor, Kort released the trigger aiming at Orionos' forehead. She was sure she was killing him. But after releasing the trigger, she realised the pistol had no bullets. Orionos didn't waste a second and shot Splendor's leg with his gun. When he pointed at Kort, my dad entered and kicked Orionos. The kick made Orionos fall to the ground but remained gripping his gun. I never thought my dad was that powerful, judging by the thrust of his kick, which flew Orionos.
"Vega Santino! You always come late to such parties. Last time, I almost killed you. You live on my mercy," Orionos said, standing up. His face veined, his eyes blazed red fire, and the atmosphere in the room changed.
"Songs were sang of your courage. You were the undefeated back then before you betrayed your kind. However, your betrayal was on the timeline. You're selfish, Orionos. Anyway, today you surprise me. You've become so weak. How can you start by killing my children while I am still alive? That's a cowardly act," my dad said and made a deal. "Let my children go. Just fight me."
"I lost everything the day I left. Nothing is important in this room except the devils. I am going to kill all of you. After that, I will kill your children and rule this city, knowing no one will be a threat to my rule," Orionos thundered.
My dad laughed and said, "You were nothing, Orionos. Remember, you will die again because the power you seek is never yours. When the rains comes, it will rain on you. Behold, the power of the black rain!"
"It seems you forget that it's no rain season, Vega!" Orionos said, flying with a blade. He flew so fast as lightning and cut into my dad's arms. That made me jump trying to defend my dad, but my dad stopped me. He told me to remember the blade that killed him. It was the same that killed his father. Thereafter, he told us to run away. We didn't wait for him to say it again. We carried Chris and ran into the bushes.