Hector remembers nothing of the journey, save for a drifting sensation and a warmth against his arm. A hand on the back of his neck, gentle but calloused. Alex must have carried him home.
When he eventually tries to open his eyes, they feel like leaden weights. But he’s awake enough to know that his brothers are somewhere close by. Their voices sit just above a murmur, trying not to disturb him. He supposes they’re not in his room; neither of them could stand the mess in there.
Hector shifts and leather squeaks beneath him. Sofa? Fingers touch his brow, moving loose strands of hair to the side.
‘You awake?’ Alex’s voice.
It takes another moment before Hector manages to pry an eyelid up. Then the other. Sure enough, Alex stares down at him with a creased forehead. The frown on his face is deep, but it loosens when Hector offers him a toothy grin. Alex returns the smile—before promptly drawing back his arm to deliver a swift punch to his brother’s shoulder.
‘Ow! Asshole!’
‘That’s the least of what you deserve,’ Alex retorts, as Hector curls into a groaning ball. ‘You never listen.’
‘Wh…’ Hector sputters. ‘I—yeah. Okay.’
‘Oh?’
‘I didn’t actually think I’d find the demon there.’
Alex stares at him, dragging an incredulous hand down the side of his face. ‘Then why did you run off?’
‘He needed to pee,’ Eliav finally chimes in and Hector turns his head to see him fiddling with the remote control. The television comes to life, the evening news rolling in quietly. Another storm in Wolfpick. Probably nothing supernatural.
‘You were going to pee in the…’ Alex sighs. ‘Are you a stray dog?’
‘Hey,’ Hector sits up, and he’s pleasantly surprised to find that his organs don’t start falling out of him. In fact, most of the pain is already gone. Somewhere inside of him, he can feel the flicker of magic beginning to return. ‘I told you we’d find the demon faster if we split up.’
‘You’re going to get yourself killed,’ Eliav says in a tone entirely devoid of sympathy. Hector tosses a cushion that falls short.
Alex crosses his arms over his chest with a fresh frown. He had changed into more comfortable clothes while Hector slept and apparently replaced his own rags with a clean shirt and a pair of shorts. Peering up into his brother’s face, he could recognise the concern behind the sharp disapproval. The tense jaw was not so much anger as it was the fear that one day, Hector would truly bite off more than he could chew. Whatever petulance sat on Hector’s tongue died.
‘Look, Alex…’ Hector rubs the back of his neck. ‘I’m sorry I ran off like that. It won’t happen again.’
‘So you always say.’ Still, Alex looks relieved, and he reaches down to ruffle Hector’s hair before turning to join Eliav by the stack of films he had accumulated during the exchange. Rolling onto his side, Hector props himself up on his elbow as he watches his brothers. It was always like this—trouble, an argument, reconciliation. Always reconciliation. They only had each other, after all.
A knock on the door draws all their attention to the front of the house. Alex glances at Hector. Hector shrugs. ‘I didn’t invite anyone over.’
‘Me neither,’ Eliav says.
The three of them exchanged uneasy glances. It could have been nothing—there was a party some houses down and it wasn’t yet particularly late. But it was a steep walk up to the front door, and an enthusiastic drunk would find it difficult to make the hike. And regardless of sobriety, few people had business with the Argyris brothers.
‘Maybe we shouldn’t answer it,’ Eliav starts but Alex is already moving towards the door, shoulders raised in a dismissive shrug.
For Hector, everything seems to happen in slow motion.
Alex pulls the door open, the beginning of a question just out of his lips. A bloody hand interrupts him, shooting past the door to close around his throat. Hector sees the wide-eyed surprise on Alex’s face, the way his mouth drops open in shock. Eliav leaps to his feet and runs to grab Alex’s shirt. But he’s a second too late. His fingers close around the air as Alex is pulled from his spot, beyond the threshold into the night.
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