Never Ending

Hide-and-Seek Pt.3

"I think we've been tricked." The smooth voice's statement made Kostas's hopes soar.

"But we haven't checked the rest of the caves." The other one said, clearly confused.

"We would have sensed him by now, but you make a good point. I just know how excited you are to find the human; I would hate to waste your time." Kostas could already hear them leaving the room.

"I do want to be the one to find him." The high-pitched creature relented.

"I know. It hasn't been long since you became a Hellion, right?" As the distance grew between him and the two Hellions, so did his hope that he had actually avoided dying.

"That's right. I want to prove that I'm old enough to be here!" Came the squeal of excitement as it quickly answered.

The last thing that Kostas could make out was the matured voice giving a chuckle before giving its reply. "I remember those days. Oh, I have an idea."

Once the two could no longer be heard, Kostas slumped against the stone wall. Though he had not moved from his spot, he felt as though he had just sprinted for miles. With a shaky breath, he tried to calm himself as he laid down. After being in the same position for days, his limbs were relieved to finally be able to stretch out. As he tried to wipe the sweat away from his face, Kostas realized how much his hands were trembling. In fact, his entire body was shivering uncontrollably in an attempt to rid itself of all the unnecessary adrenaline.

'I can do this.' Kostas smiled to himself. 'I can fool the Hellions.' Even though he was relieved, he still was careful to be as silent as possible while watching and listening for more Hellions to come his way. However, he felt as though he had won his first battle since coming to Hell. 'I'm coming, Kory. We'll be together in no time.' The thought of being back in his tiny apartment with his brother soothed his tired mind.

Awhile passed as Kostas carefully listened for any approaching Hellion. He tensed when he heard the scrape of a rock moving. He strained to hear anything that could have caused the noise, but no other sound came. 'You're in a cave, of course rocks are going to shift and fall; calm down.' He thought to himself as he shook his head for being so jumpy.

However, in the next moment, a figure appeared right at the entrance to his ledge. Kostas sat up with speed he did not know he possessed. His heart felt as though it had leapt in his throat as he clutched his dagger. Without a second to lose, he slashed at the creature. The moment it left the ledge, Kostas hurriedly made his way out of his hiding spot. He expertly climbed down to where the Hellion was waiting for him, thankful he had practiced getting down to the floor of the cave as quickly as possible.

This Hellion looked like a large cat with glistening black fur. Taking note of Kostas's stance with his dagger at the ready, the creature let out a chuckle. "Feisty one, but I need you to calm down." It sat down as it watched him intently.

Kostas furrowed his brows. The creature was positioned between the two exits and he knew it would lunge for him the moment he started to run. Still, it made no move to harm him. It simply sat there, studying him.

"You need to make sure you don't suffer; we can sense if you're in pain." It cautioned.

Kostas stared wearily at it as he tried to decide what would be the best plan for this odd situation. Taking a deep breath, he decided to try talking his way out--or at least stall until a better idea came to him. "I recognize your voice. You were one of the hellions here earlier." He stated.

"That's right." It nodded as it licked at the cut that Kostas had given it.

"Sorry about the cut." He said, not really because he felt bad, but he figured it could work in his favor to be somewhat nice to his potential killer.

"It was only a natural response at being cornered." The cat replied coolly. "Besides, it will be gone after a few minutes; It's already not as deep as before."

"That's good." Kostas commented awkwardly not knowing what to do in his first real conversation with a hellion who was not killing him on sight.

A short silence followed before the hellion spoke again. "You're suffering. It's slight, but stop."

"Okay." He replied hesitantly, realizing that the Hellions could apparently even feed on the suffering that came from being in an awkward situation. "So, I thought you said that I wasn't in here. At least, that's what you told the hellion that was with you before."

"Yes. I sensed your slight suffering; but, luckily, the other hellion was much younger--it couldn't sense anything." It admitted as it laid down.

Deciding he was not in imminent danger at the moment, Kostas sat down. "So, why not catch me then? Why wait?"

"I don't like sharing."

Kostas tensed up at the creature's honesty. "So you plan to kill me too."

"That should have been obvious." It shrugged. "I have to eat if I want to grow--I don't want to stay a Hellion forever."

"So Hellion isn't a species of demon?" Kostas questioned. Though now slightly more nervous, he remained sitting since the cat was just lazily stretched out at the moment, but he was careful to keep his dagger ready just in case.

"You're curious." It commented.

Kostas shrugged. "Might as well know about the creatures who insist on killing me repeatedly."

"Fair enough. Hellion is only a stage in the life of a demon; you could compare it to the human's adolescence period. The only difference between the two is that a hellion must feed to move on to the next stage; whereas, humans only have to wait for a few years to move on."

"So, what's after hellion?"

"After hellion, you get a human form and can choose your sex and gender. Typically, demons will then roam the Earth for a little while before coming back to Hell to choose their occupation." The panther like feline explained while facing him.

"Why come back? I might be biased, but I don't think this place is all that nice."

"So many questions." It rolled its eyes. "Because after only a decade or two of playing hooky, the Enactors will drag you back. It's better to just come on your own volition."

"Okay." Kostas replied shortly. He refused to trust this sense of peace that lingered between the both of them.

Each just stared at the other for a moment before the hellion broke the silence, "Well, I'm glad you're not suffering right now."

"Me too." He replied cautiously, trying to figure out what the feline could possibly be thinking.

"It's very fortunate. I was getting tired of idle chit-chat." Before, Kostas could even react, the creature lunged at him, pinning his arms and hovering over him. "Goodnight." It said shortly before bashing Kostas's head against the stone floor of the cave--successfully knocking him out.