After a few minutes the dragon let out a fierce roar, as if her life depended on it, which had startled the warlock rousing him back to consciousness. She sat there and waited for him to get back up.

"What happened?" The warlock asked in a groggy voice.

"You fainted that's all." The dragon explained.

Salem stood up, looked at the demon and back to his two friends. He quickly got his thoughts in order. He shook his head much like the dragon would have done.

"So let me get this straight, my father hired you?"

"Yes, he did."

"Did he tell you why?" Salem inquired.

"No, he did not. He just said it was very important." The half demon replied.

"If I don't believe you?" Salem questioned him.

"Then I shall suffer a fate worse than death, all because you don't want to listen to what your father has to say." Braydin spoke through gritted fangs.

"You mean the father that walked out on me?" Salem snapped back.

"I don't know anything about that, just that he needs to see you and there isn't much time."

"What do you mean?" The warlock asked.

"Please just come with me." The half demon begged.

Salem looked down at the ground then glanced over to the sorceress. He took a deep breath. All he really wanted to do was go back home, but the curiosity was getting to him.

"You have spent more time around him than I have, do you think I can trust him?"

"I trust him. He speaks the truth." Pandora replied.

That had been enough for the warlock vampire. Her word was better than gold to him. He hesitated only for a moment.

"Fine then let's go see what's so important." He replied.

Braydin shook his hand thanking him over and over again.

"Look you little devil's spawn you can thank me when this is over, that is if I don't kill you first."

"Warlock I get it, I caused you a difficult journey and I'm truly sorry for that, but don't you ever threaten me again." He glared at Salem, his eyes glowing fire red.

"Why don't you two call it a truce until this buisness with his father is finished?" Suggested the dragon.

"That sounds like a fine agreement to me." Braydin replied.

The rest of them looked at the warlock waiting for his reply. After a long pause and a sigh of discontentment, he finally spoke.

"A truce for now. Just remember, this is far from over." SApat the warlock with a look of complete rage brewing from him.

"Now that's settled what do we do next?" Pandora asked brightly, inching closer to the warlock.

"Now we find his father. He's probably visiting the witch doctor, again." The half demon told them.

"What? Why is he at any doctor?" Salem asked with concern. His father was a vampire. That breed didn't get sick.

"The vampire doctors can't tell what's wrong with him." Braydin told him with a look of sorrow.

Thousands of questions bombarded him at once. It took a few minutes of deep concentration to block them out. Rather he wanted to see his father or not didn't matter. He knew deep down he needed to see the vampire. He took a moment to center himself before all of this began. He glared at the demon for a long moment, then softened his gaze.

"Okay demon, how do we get there?" He asked as nicely as he possibly could.

"I will escort you to him. It's not that far from here, a day or two at the most." The demon explained to them.

"Thank you. I don't know if i trust you or not but I do appriciate any real help."

"You're quite welcome. I don't blame you, but you'll have to trust me at some point." Braydin pointed out.

The warlock gave him a look of loathing and just shook his head. Pandora clutched one hand on Salem and one hand on the dragon's back. She was nervous from all the tension but she knew if it came down to it she would give her own life to protect Salem's.

"We're ready whenever you are, lead the way." Pandora told him.

Braydin nodded his head and began going down the other side of the mountain in a south west direction. The rest of them had no trouble keeping up with him as they went down hill at a 90 degree angle. The four of them hiked straight down in dead silence until they cleared the mountain about an hour and a half later. After they reached the bottom there was a strange looking grass land that stretched on for several miles. First it was bright yellow, as they kept going it faded in to a bright orange color. Another ten miles the orange grass changed to a dark blood red.

"Excuse me Braydin, are you sure we're going the right way?" Kadrid asked with her child like curiosity.

"Yes it's the correct path way. What makes you ask?"

"I've never in all my years seen red or even orange grass before." She commented to him.

"Oh, I've been down this path so many times I've just gotten used to it." He informed her.

As they went along the pathway the demon shifter had taken them through a left hand path. Then within the next four miles the pathway began to change, transforming the strange colored grasses into a sort of ashen state. Pandora and Kadrid both looked a little horrified. The warlock was a little disturbed by this but did his best not to show it to them.

"It's okay, that's perfectly normal." The demon told them. The others simply nodded and kept right on following him.

"How far is it?" Kadrid whined.

"Don't start that again." Salem commanded her.

"We're making great time, trust me." The half demon replied.

"Your asking me to trust a demon?" Salem asked.

"No I'm asking you to trust a half demon." He joked.

Salem was far from amused by this guy, but was also in no mood to debate with this underworld reject. After a very long moment of silence, a question began to burn itself into Salem's thoughts that he couldn't help but ask.

"How well do you know my father?"

"He rescued me from the underworld, if that helps."

"Why would he do that for you?" Salem asked, more curious than before.

"Probably so that I would do anything he asks of me, like help locate his son." The half demon replied with a wink.

The warlock nodded in agreement. That made perfect sense to him.

rmCru