25. Cassius

"Fuck!" Cassius cried out. Kushiel and the ghost had literally faded away right in front of his eyes. He tried not to panic, and instead he focused his sight.

He breathed a sigh of relief. The golden ropes—because that's what they were now, as opposed to simple threads—were strong and led off through the wall in the direction that Cass thought might be west. Cass could find Kushiel.

"Oh my, oh my," Aunt Ro whimpered, wringing her hands. "What happened to them?"

"My guess is Mammon," Cass replied, anger flowing through him. "I don't think it was a coincidence that the ghost started to disappear just as it was able to communicate."

Cass reached out and placed his hand through the golden ropes linking him to Kushiel. He felt… reassurance and composure. Kushiel was obviously ok, and he seemed to be sending that message to Cass.

Cass took a deep breath, looking over at Aunt Ro. She was wearing a dress with purple hyacinths. Cass couldn't help rolling his eyes. "He's fine, Aunt Ro, and I can find him, so let's go."

She stopped wringing her hands and breathed her own sigh of relief. "You're sure he's fine?" she questioned.

"Yes. I'm getting reassurance from him. No anger or fear or anything. No pain. He couldn't hide those things from me," Cass reassured her.

"Well then, what's the plan?" she asked.

"Get Kushiel back," he answered, walking toward the door, pulling on shoes, and grabbing his keys. Luckily he had gotten dressed before coming down to breakfast.

"And what are you going to do about Mammon?" she asked.

"I don't know," Cass said, walking out the door and turning to pull it shut behind him. When he turned back around, Aunt Ro was blocking his path, her hands out.

"Well I think you need a plan. Slow down a minute and breathe. You said that Kushiel is fine, right? How far away is he?" she asked.

"I don't know," Cassius bit out, trying to hold onto his frustration. He just wanted to get to his soulmate. Yes, he could sense that Kushiel was fine, but he wanted to see it with his own eyes, and what if Kushiel didn't stay fine?

"Well sense it, Cassius. See how far he is. You can sense everything else, and you ought to be able to sense that," she commented.

Cass took a deep breath, and he opened his vision again. He could sense Kushiel off in the distance, and he could pinpoint the general direction. Aunt Ro was right, because when he really concentrated, he could feel distance as well. Kushiel wasn't far. Based on the direction, the distance, and the clues from the ghost, Cass guessed they were somewhere in the nearby state park.

"Not far. I think maybe the state park," Cass replied.

"Ok, so you can get there in ten minutes. Did Michael or the hellhound answer you?" she asked.

Cass had to move, so he started walking toward his car, pulling out his cell phone at the same time. He needed to start driving; he needed to be doing something. He needed to be closer to Kushiel.

"I'll call them from the car," he answered, getting in. Aunt Ro appeared in the passenger seat beside him, and he was surprised but pleased. She hated taking transportation anywhere; she complained about how much she needed to concentrate to stay with the moving object.

He started the car, pulled out of the driveway, and used the speaker to call Michael first.

"Good, you got my text. Are you on your way?" Michael asked when he picked up the phone.

"What?" Cass asked. "Do you know something about Kushiel going missing?"

He heard a squawk of surprise and some rustling, then he must've been put on speaker, because he heard Michael tell Ari that Kushiel was missing.

"Dude! What the fuck! Who messed with my bruh?" Ari called out. "We'll figure out a way to find him, Cass. No worries, dude. We'll figure this shit out."

"I know how to find him," Cass replied, thankful to have their support nevertheless. "We're mated, and I can feel where he is. I'm heading toward the state park now. We think it's Mammon, and when the ghost tried to tell us, it disappeared, and Kushiel grabbed onto them and disappeared too."

"Perfect. Our place is on the way. Stop here," Michael answered.

"But—" Cass started.

"Dude, trust us. I'll transport us to the state park once you're here," Ari reassured him. "I know you're probably freaking the fuck out, because I would be if my s'more went all poof, but we have something you need."

"Fine. I'm already in the car and will be there in like two minutes. Meet me outside," he grumbled, then he hit end on the call.

His phone rang before he could think what to do next, and he saw it was the hellhound calling.

"How did you get my number?" was the gruff response as soon as Cass said "Hello."

"Hmph. Do people not even say hello anymore?" Aunt Ro grumbled.

Cass ignored her, answering the hellhound instead. "I knew it when you came into the shop a couple weeks ago, and I saved it in my phone."

"You just knew it?" the hellhound asked suspiciously. "And why are you texting me about finding some guy named Mammon?"

Cass realized his text was probably confusing to a hellhound who was pretending to be human, but he didn't have time to play games. Kushiel was missing.

"Look, I know you're a hellhound, and I'm sorry about the vague text. I know you don't know me, but I'm a seer and an oracle, and I'm unfortunately dealing with afterlife bullshit right now. A demon has gone rogue and taken a whole bunch of souls from hell and turned them into ghosts and hidden them, and now he stole my angel, too," Cass explained.

The hellhound was quiet on the other end of the line.

Cass let out an exasperated sound as he pulled into Michael's driveway.

"Look, I know this is all shocking and weird, and I know hellhounds generally only deal with the mortal plane of existence, but a demon has kidnapped my soulmate and taken him to the state park, and he's holding who knows how many souls there captive so they can't be redeemed. I was going to see if you could find him, but I can find him now because he took my soulmate," Cass explained.

"A rogue demon. That explains the undefined evil floating through town," the hellhound muttered.

"I'm going to deal with it. Somehow. And I'm going to get my soulmate back," Cass declared.

The hellhound made a hmph sound, and then the line went dead.

"Well, that was rather rude," Aunt Ro complained.

Cass saw Michael and Ari coming out of the house, and he opened his door to get out and meet them.

"He's a hellhound. They're not exactly civilized. They're basically serial killers with a moral code," Cass explained.

Ari must have heard the last part, because he chimed in, "Dude, hellhounds? Those fuckers are bad ass. They left hell centuries ago, but you're right that they have a pretty strict code. Is one helping out Mammon? Because that will definitely make things tricky as fuck."

"No, not at all. I know one, and I was going to ask for help locating Mammon before Kushiel disappeared. But now that my soulmate is gone, I can find him and Mammon. I'm just not sure what we'll do about Mammon once we find him," Cass answered.

"We've got that covered," Michael replied. "Come on over and huddle in. The state park? Any clue where?"

"Maybe two miles west inside the park area. I'll know once we're closer," Cass answered, walking over and standing close to Michael and Ari.

Ari grabbed Michael in a hug, and he threw his other arm around Cass's shoulders, folded his wings around him, and then… Cass didn't even know how to describe what happened next. It was a weird displacement feeling, like riding an express elevator. It lasted only a second or two before Ari was unfolding his wings, and Cass looked out and saw forrest.

He realized, a bit belatedly, that he'd left Aunt Ro behind. Oops. Hopefully she would find him; she seemed to be able to hone in on where he was most of the time.

Cass sharpened his sight again, and he still felt calm reassurance flowing through the bond. Kushiel was close now, probably less than a half a mile away, and Cass started off in the direction of the bond, heedless of the weeds and underbrush he had to trample.

Before he'd gone ten feet, however, Ari grabbed his shoulder. Cass turned around, and he saw Ari's eyes lose focus and sort of swirl. Michael grabbed Cass's other shoulder, as if to keep him still, but Cass knew what was happening.

Ari was having a vision. Cass hoped it would tell them how to deal with Mammon.

No one spoke, and after a moment, Ari's eyes cleared.

"Whoa, dude. That was wicked," Ari announced.

"Did you see how we can defeat Mammon?" Cass asked anxiously. He had this urge to move, but he knew this was important. Aunt Ro had been right earlier—charging in without a plan wouldn't help things.

"Dude, we can't do anything. I saw that quite clearly. Mike and I have gotta leave you to it, bruh. But"—Ari then reached behind him, and he pulled a large, gleaming spear out, almost like it had been resting on his back—"the reason we sent the text is because we had this for you. This will help you."

"What is it?" Cass asked, gently taking the spear from Ari.

"No clue, dude. If it works like the sword we got once, it sucks up the soul of whoever you stab with it, so be careful with that shit. Don't go all stabby on just anything, yeah?" Ari pronounced.

"I don't think Cassius is the type to go all randomly stabby on things," Michael muttered, rolling his eyes at Ari.

Ari just chuckled before stating, "Wish we could help, bruh, but I clearly saw that our place is not here. So we're out, but good luck, dude!"

With that, he grabbed Michael in a hug, despite Michael's sputtering, and he heard the human cry out a "Good luck!" as Ari wrapped his wings around them and they disappeared.

Cass was on his own, then. That was ok. He had a magic spear, he had ties to follow, and he would do whatever was necessary to make sure Kushiel was safe. He sharpened his sight, and when he saw the bond, he sent reassurance and love through it to Kushiel.

"I'm coming, Kushiel. Just hold on," he muttered aloud, setting off through the forest, following the golden ties that would lead him to his soulmate.