Devils and Demons

Chapter 5

Iver

I felt terrible doing this, but they had to know. Besides, Ezra, Aslan and Ji were bugging me to no end about how I knew Silent.

"What do you want to know first?" I ask them

They were all gathered on the couch with me on a seat. Silent was off at the fort and Ears was there to make sure he didn't leave. The kid was freakishly good at knowing things he shouldn't.

"How did you meet him?"
"How old is he?"
"Where did you meet him?"

All the questions come in at once so I try my best although it confuses me they didn't know how old he is.
"I met him when Ears and I ran away, he's-"

"Who's Ears?"

I forgot they don't know out nicknames. I guess I would have to explain those too.
"Dario. And Silent is 15"

"Who's Silent and why does he know Dario?"

I glare at Aslan. I had to say that Silent was Cade? No, that was a death wish since he despised his name.

"Let me finish all of the first questions. Silent is Cade. I met him in the forest."

"Okay, how did you get your nicknames, and what's yours?" Ezra asks. He was the only civil one. It felt terrible to say Silent's real name.

"My nickname is Eyes. Cade is Silent because he rarely makes any sound although we do have a different variation so he goes by Silencer or Silent.

Dario is Ears. He got his nickname because he was complaining how everything was so loud in the forest when we met him and I'm called Eyes because I actually saw him."

"What do you mean you saw him?" Eden asks.

"Well, he was laying in a tree pretty high up so not many people would've been able to see him"

"Why is he mute?"

At this question I shift uncomfortablely. I knew the reason of course, but only because when Silent is dissociating, the only way they get him out of it was to talk to him and sometimes he would tell us things. When he wasn't dissociating he didn't remember a lot.

"I shouldn't be the one to tell you, although I doubt he would"

"Why, and how did you get him to tell you?"

"Your strangers to him. He hates strangers and he doesn't like talking to new people."

"Like he talks" Ji scoffs

"He's selectively mute and it took him 9 years to talk to Dario and I."

"So he's choosing to be mute?" Nur asks. Nur was all of their fathers.

"Not really. His body won't let him talk unless he trusts you 100%."

Aslan stares at me. He has some kind of emotion I had never seen before lurking in his eyes.

"So why does he trust you?" He asks. His voice even deeper than usual.

I snort. "After a decade I hope he does"

Nur decides to speak again. "Why is he mute?"

"I already said that I shouldn't tell you that"

Nur glares at me and I try to stare back. I was supposed to be the leader of the Mafia soon, but I had never been able to win a staring contest with Nur, or Dad, or Antonio.

Finally, I look down. Why couldn't I win that? Heck, I couldn't even win against Silent.

"You really want to know?" I ask quietly

Everyone nods and I feel my stomach churn. Of course they did. Of course I had to tell Silent's biggest secrets.

"You can't say anything to even suggest you know about why. Normally, he doesn't even remember it"

"Why wouldn't he remember it?" Ji asks.

"Because he dissociates a lot. The only reason we know this is because we get him out of that by talking, and this is what he told us once"

I say it but the guilt is beginning to come. Like I'm betraying him. I wait for some kind of interruption, but none comes. They wait for me to talk and I really hope that Ears is able to keep Silent at the fort.

()

His Mom tried her best to get Cade ready for the world. But it wasn't just the world. It was the Mafia's version. Where people would kill them every second they could.

She taught him as much as she could even though he was little. She has been taught that way, so that's how she taught her youngest.

But she wasn't just this killer. She acted as a mother as well and played with him. They lived in solitude. In hiding because of a threat that drove her from her family. She told him stories about his father and brothers and sister.

She was happy and he was happy. She because she would return to her family soon. It would be safe to return, but Cade was happy because it was all he had ever known and his Mom was happier than usual.

Ruth had one last lesson with him. Warning him of the Mafia world because they were leaving their home in the woods for it soon.

She put him to bed the night before they left and went to bed herself, but no good can last forever.

Their were too many to fight, and she didn't know if they knew of her son. Not even her husband knew of him. All too soon, she was kneeling in the living room of their cabin and the men brought out her son.

A boy no older than 5. They told her how stupid she was. After all, the agreement had been she leaves her family and they would be safe. But she had a son with her. But rather than hurting him, they could break the mind if the Mafia Prince.

While they held him, they skinned her alive.