“It still amazes me to this day how you can read each other so well without having a link,” Hero said, shaking his head.

“It’s no different than having a twin,” Hawk said. “There’s a bond that can’t be explained or understood by someone who’s never been in our situation, unless that person is a multiple.”

“I remember Arla saying something like that once,” Hero nodded. “The link she had with Noah was one way so she couldn’t read his thoughts like he could hers, but they still mimicked and mirrored each other perfectly, even after they were separated for so long.”

“When you’re that close, you know each other in a way no one else can,” Hawk said. “It’s the same for me and Nox. It took us ages just to think of ourselves as two people instead of one.”

“You still fight as a symbiotic entity, though.”

“It’s the only way we know how to fight.”

Hero pouted. “I’m still jealous,” he muttered.

Hawk laughed, putting his arm around Hero’s waist and kissing the side of his head. “We fight just as well together, mij dayos,” he said.

“Totally not the same and you know it.”

“True, it’s not. But at least I know you have my back, just as I have yours.” He thumbed behind them. “Case in point.”

Hero grinned as they rounded another building and down a sidewalk that zig-zagged between several businesses before opening back up to another main street. Hero pulled the pocket tablet out of his back pocket and verified the address once more, pointing at a building just ahead and to their left.

Hawk frowned. “A tavern? Seriously?”

Hero glanced up at him. “You’ll be fine, I promise.”

“It’s still a dick move on his part,” Hawk grumbled, bringing Hero’s fingers back to his lips. “He should have thought that one through a little bit more, methinks.”

Hero pressed his fingers a little more firmly against Hawk’s lips, retrieving a kiss for his efforts as they headed over. Pushing the door open, Hero searched the large open entrance space, catching the eye of the attendant at the counter. He greeted him politely before stating his purpose for being there. The attendant pointed off to their left and Hero thanked him. The couple made their way through to a sparsely populated bar, the tables spaced out randomly throughout. There was only one person perched at the bar, slouched over his shot glass, the rest of the patrons spread out, eating, drinking, and talking softly.

“Hey,” a gravelly voice called to them from the back wall. Their eyes fell on Nox’s raised hand and they shuffled over, Hawk doing his best not to look uncomfortable. Nox’s eyebrow shot up under his long blood-red hair. 

“A bar, dude? Really?” Hawk muttered.

“I didn’t know you were coming,” Nox said with a shrug. 

“Always assume I am and you won’t be wrong.”

“Fair enough.”

Hawk and Hero pulled out chairs and sat across from the Devil King, a barmaid arriving a moment later with a tall mug of beer and a plate full of appetizers. Hawk was about to protest the drink when Nox drew it closer to himself.

“I’m not a complete idiot,” he said, nodding to the barmaid who scampered quickly off. He looked between the two. “Thanks for coming, by the way.”

“Sure,” Hero said. “Are we expecting anyone else?”

“A couple people, yeah. One’s on his way, the other’s in the bathroom. Apparently the trip was too long and she couldn’t hold it any more.”

Hawk’s eyebrow ticked. “She? You mean, Charlotte’s here?”

“Who’s watching over the Realm if you’re both here?” Hero asked.

“Finn,” Charlotte’s voice came to them from a short hallway nearby. She smiled at the two and gave them each a hug before sitting next to her husband, her blonde hair spilling over her shoulder. “He’s not thrilled about it, of course. He’d rather be back in the Valley with Ava and Cameo.”

“Can you blame him?” Hawk asked.

She shook her head. “Not at all. The only reason why he agreed in the first place is because we told him it wouldn’t be for long, a couple weeks tops.”

“This isn’t your only stop?”

“‘Fraid not,” Nox said, leaning back with a heavy sigh, his finger tapping heavily on the scarred wood of the table. “And as much as I’d like to say I’m happy to see you both, this isn’t going to be the funnest conversation we’ll ever have.”

“I didn’t expect it to be,” Hero said. “There’s too much going on and not a lot of time to figure it all out. The last thing any of us needs is a war on our hands.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Charlotte said, reaching for an appetizer. “If Lucifer continues to make a claim that isn’t rightfully his, there will be. And I don’t just mean in the Underworld, either.”

Hawk frowned. “Only Hell has ever been called that,” he said, noting the term she used. “Why not just call it what it is?”

“Because, thanks to your son, nothing is separate anymore, apart from the Veil and the Mortal Realm.”

Hawk and Hero turned as Nox and Charlotte looked over their heads at their new arrival. Hero nearly choked on the appetizer he was enjoying.

Standing against a wooden post dressed in dark reds and blacks, his dark hair slicked back, his lips curled in a crooked grin, and his bright amber eyes shining, was the Devil King of the Second Realm.

Hades.

-*-