Chapter 10

When Kitty next opened his bleary eyes, he had no idea where he was. He was trying to focus on something, anything, but his vision was badly blurred. A feeling of nausea and exhaustion washed over him. He blinked a few times to fix his tired eyes, squeezing them shut then opening them wide. Doing this for about a minute cured it. He glanced around. He still had no idea where he was.

He was in a wide, dark room. Was he in the barn again? No, this place was different. Brick walls and straight, tiled ceilings. There were wide doors and blacked-out windows around him. His vision then focused on a dentists chair in the far end of the room. He noticed a man fiddling with tools on a tall table. He was a lot older than Kitty, most likely in his 50s. He was skinny with balding grey hair and was wearing a doctor's coat.

Kitty could have sworn his heart stopped. Who the hell was this man?

His first thought was to run, but when he tried to do that, he noticed the rope restraining his body. He couldn't move. He couldn't get away. He was completely vulnerable to whatever this man had in mind for him. And judging by the tools on the table – scalpels, drills, knives and what looked like a taser – it definitely wasn't good.

How did he get here in the first place? All he remembered was going for a walk, getting grabbed and blacking out. He didn't see who it was who took him, but he was certain it was this man. It had to be. There was no one else here.

The man finally noticed he was awake. A sinister smile broke out on his long, gaunt face. "Oh, hello!" He said with a croaky, nasally voice. "Good. You're finally up." He picked up a scalpel and ran his finger along the blade. He didn't seem to care when blood poured out of the cut. "I was getting worried. I thought about starting before you woke up, but that would take all the fun out of it."

A chill went down Kitty's spine. "Who are you?" He asked. His voice was shaking. "Where am I?"

"I'm Dante, your doctor for today." He grinned, showing off his yellow teeth. He gestured to his surrounding with a sweeping arm. "This is my hospital. Isn't it lovely?"

No, the place was a goddamn pig-sty. Dust, grime and crude graffiti covered the walls. There was glass and mould on the floor. The elements had begun to reclaim the site. Moss was everywhere, and vines burst out from the windows and walls. Kitty's eyes fell back to the dentists chair. Black leather belts were nailed to it like straps on a stretcher.

"Don't worry. We'll be starting soon." Dante smiled at the scalpel. "Just waiting for someone to arrive."

Kitty thought he was going to be sick. All this fear and stress was becoming too much. Would it ever end? "Who's coming?" He tried to make his voice sound composed, but it was difficult. He could feel a panic attack coming on.

"A friend. Of yours."

This made Kitty even more confused. His friend was coming? Which friend? And why? He was about to question Dante more when he noticed a mass of shadows appearing behind him. The shadows formed a familiar figure, one he had met a few days before.

"Shadow guy!" Kitty exclaimed. He didn't know whether to be scared or relieved. Would he save him this time, too?

"Shadow guy? What planet are you on?" Dante asked with a frown. "He's Nyuujaku."

Kitty already knew that, of course. He just thought Nyuujaku sounded a little intimidating. He decided to give him a friendly nickname as a sort of thank you for saving him. But he wouldn't call him a friend. He'd only met him once. And he didn't even know who he was under that mask. This thought captured Kitty's curiosity. Who was Nyuujaku? He seemed to appear whenever Kitty needed him. Was he someone Kitty knew? His build reminded him of one person in particular. But it couldn't possibly be him. He was too frail, small and delicate. But then again, Nyuujaku wasn't exactly muscular.

"I bid you welcome, Nyuujaku! Welcome to my hospital!" Dante yelled with glee, arms outstretched. When Nyuujaku didn't respond, Dante smiled. "No reaction? Yeah, well, OK. But I know something that's guaranteed to get a response from you."

Dante leaped over to Kitty, scalpel still in hand. He grabbed him and yanked him up, then pressed the cold, sharp metal to his throat. Kitty gasped, heart thumping with fear. He shut his eyes tight. He was dreaming. All this shit had never happened. He was back at home, in his tent, and his father and brother were still alive. That's what he told himself over and over in his head.

"Watch what you do! One wrong step and I slit this cute little boy's throat!" Dante grinned. "Unless..."

Green eyes once again opened. Where was he going with this?

Grin becoming almost Cheshire cat-like, Dante pointed at Nyuujaku with his spare hand. "You take off the mask and wig, and show us who you really are!"

All he got from Nyuujaku was a stare. Kitty couldn't tell his emotion because of the mask. Fear hit him like a block of ice. Was he not going to save him?

Faster than either of them could even blink, eight black strips resembling the legs of a spider shot out of Nyuujaku's back and whizzed towards them. One wrapped around Dante's hand, the one holding the scalpel, and squeezed until he dropped it. The shadow strip picked it up and crushed it, and the other wrapped around Kitty carefully and lifted him up as well.

The strip, which in movement appeared more like a shadow tentacle, brought Kitty into Nyuujaku's arms. He instantly wrapped his own arms around his neck and held on tight. For reasons he didn't quite understand himself, he felt safe and secure in his embrace. His hug felt familiar. Nyuujaku held him and started to run. Kitty stared at his masked face, as if he could see through it.

Why did he feel so cherished by this man that he didn't even he know?

Dante cursed. He rushed to his table and rummaged around until he grabbed the taser. He pointed the taser at Nyuujaku and pressed the button. The electric darts burst from the device towards them. Nyuujaku noticed in time and swerved to avoid them, pulling Kitty with him. Then he dashed away once more.

Holding Kitty with his shadow tentacles, he lifted his mask, revealing his chin and mouth. Kitty noticed two little piercings under his soft-looking lips. His eyes widened. It had to be him. The piercings were exactly the same, his lips and skin tone were the same. That gentle, feminine face that he had stared at longingly so often couldn't belong to anyone else. He needed to see behind that mask. He needed to see if it was him.

White gloop was spat out of Nyuujaku's mouth into Dante's face. When it impacted, it formed a spider web that covered his eyes. He then spat two spider webs onto his gloved hands, holding Kitty securely with the shadow tentacles. Then he spat two more onto the floor in front of him. He stepped on them, making them stick to his feet, and ran to the nearest wall. Once there, he stuck his feet and hands onto it and began to climb up backwards. The spider webs glued him to the wall, but he was still able to move. He scuttled up into a dark spot near the ceiling and blended them both into the shadows.

Now hidden in darkness, Kitty deemed it safe enough to check who on earth Nyuujaku really was. He stared up at him, and Nyuujaku stared back. Kitty couldn't see his expression. He lifted his bound hands and touched the mask. He looked into his eyes through the grey material over them, silently asking his permission. Nyuujaku didn't stop him. Kitty removed the mask and blond wig as careful as he could, being sure not to drop them and give their location away. Kitty could finally see who it was, and his breath caught in his throat. His suspicions were correct.

The pale, gentle, beautiful face of Damien stared back at him with an anxious expression. His eyepatch was gone, and Kitty could see the reason he wore it. His right eye was blood red with no iris, and the pupil was the numbers 666 going in a circle. This proved he was the antichrist, the man the world despised the most. How could they fear someone so kind and compassionate? Kitty knew he was staring, but he couldn't help it. He couldn't believe what was happening.

Damien looked him in the eye and smiled. "Sorry." He whispered.

"What for?" Kitty made sure to whisper as well.

"Lying to you." Damien sighed, eyes filled with guilt. "I didn't want to, but I had no choice. I didn't want to put your life in danger, but that's exactly what I've done."

"Don't worry about me." Kitty couldn't help but frown, but he wasn't angry. "What if you died? Who would save the world then? You risked your life for someone as insignificant as me-"

"Don't say that. You mean more than you think." Damien shook his head and stared into Kitty's eyes. "I'd die for you, Levi."

Those words pierced Kitty's heart and made it flutter. With tears of joy in his eyes, he nodded and smiled. He wrapped his arms around Damien's neck and hugged him. "Thank you."

He had never felt such intense adoration for someone he wasn't related to. It was dangerous, feeling so strongly about someone he hadn't known for very long, but he didn't care. He could fall in love with this sweet boy.

Back on the ground, Dante finally managed to wipe the gloopy web from his eyes. He gritted his teeth in anger. His head whipped around, searching for Damien and Kitty. He growled and kicked his table over when he couldn't find them.

"You're not as clever as you think, Aoi!" Dante yelled.

Kitty noticed the rage on Damien's face at that name. Was that his real name? It was strange for a Japanese guy to have an English name. Damien could have been a nickname or an alias. But if his real name was Aoi, how did Dante know that?

They thought they were safe. Damien whispered to Kitty that they would blend in with the shadows and escape out of the door. Dante grabbed a torch from his knocked over table. Kitty told himself it would be OK. If he didn't know where they were, he couldn't shine the torch in their direction. They could move when he pointed it at them.

But it would never have been that simple.

Dante smiled like a madman and pressed the button on the torch. The entire room illuminated, lit up like a candle. No shadow could hide there, and neither could Damien and Kitty. Damien growled in rage, and Kitty shut his eyes tight.

Shadows enveloped Damien's body. He was about to attack when Dante zapped the taser again. Before Damien knew it, the darts had pierced his thigh and he was being electrocuted.

Damien went limp and Kitty fell from his arms. He landed on his back on the floor, wincing at the impact. Damien quickly followed him. Kitty begged for him to get up, but he was unresponsive. What if he was dead? He couldn't even check for a pulse with this damn rope tied around his wrists. There was no way they could get away now.

As Dante came closer, Kitty could only wish that their deaths would be as quick as possible.