6 Custodian of the Tower

Before she had a chance to ask, the now-familiar hot molten energy was pouring over the bump on her head.

She shook her head. It must have been just her imagination running away with her.

She looked up, and as she did, she noticed the bandage that she had placed on his arm.

"I guess I didn't need to bandage your arm, did I?" She turned away, feeling embarrassed about her pathetic attempt at healing his wound.

His method was instantaneous healing. Why did he even allow her to put a stupid fucking bandaid on his arm?

Slate placed a protective hand over the bandage. "This made me feel much better. Thank you."

Candi bit her lip. He was probably just saying that to make her feel less useless.

"Are you hungry?"

Candi looked up with shining eyes. "What do you have?"

He smiled. "I was going to make some eggs for you. I saw you have some in the refrigerator."

"Do you…ummm eat?"

He smiled as he took the eggs out of the refrigerator and grabbed a pan that was hanging on a hook over the kitchen sink.

"You're asking me if I need to take in nourishment for this body?"

"Yes that's what I mean. You're obviously not human. You look different right now from last night when you had, umm." She reached out her hands in a vague motion to describe the large wings behind his back.

He laughed and began frying the eggs. "I do need to eat, but not as often as humans do." He paused as he flipped the eggs. "Last night, you looked different too."

Candi scratched her head. "That was just my ops outfit, for when I need to go out and do some special work—ohhh. It's the same for you too, isn't it?"

"Yes. We turn into the forms that we need to be so that we can do what we need to do. In our daily lives, we prefer to be in our natural forms which is what you see here." He indicated his body.

"So last night, when you had no faces, was it to hide your identities?"

He nodded. "It was just a mask. If I recall, you were also wearing a mask."

Candi nodded. "Ski mask. Also to hide identity just in case someone happened to catch a glimpse of me."

"So would you consider last night to be your true form or as you are now?"

She thought about it for a moment and then grinned. "Does it matter? It's both me at the core."

"Likewise," he responded with a laugh and pushed a plate of warm scrambled eggs towards her.

"Eat. Then I need to take you back to The Tower so we can discuss a few important things."

"Ummm. Will the other men be there as well?"

"My brothers? Of course. They have been waiting for you to recover from your escapade. There are many things to discuss so we need to get moving quickly."

After her impromptu breakfast, she showered quickly and got dressed in a white summer dress.

By the time she was done, Slate took her down to the lobby of the condominium where a black limo was waiting to take them back to the hotel.

Once the limo arrived at The Tower, Slate escorted her back up to the penthouse at the top.

As soon as she and Slate walked through the double doors of the penthouse, they were immediately greeted with six crystal vases, each holding several dozen fresh roses in various colors.

The vases were placed on florist stands flanking the entry, as if waiting to greet them as they walked in. The scent of all the roses were at once sparkling and heady.

"Ah, there is our little Cancandi." Blondie gave a bright smile as he saw the two of them enter through the double doors.

Candi's jaw dropped as she looked around. They had changed the place out a bit. There was now a round table at the center of the room, with ten chairs surrounding its diameter.

Six of the demons had already taken their seat and Slate helped Candi to sit before taking his own seat next to her.

"Welcome back, Candi." The demon sitting on her other side greeted. It was Red Hair.

She smiled and thanked him perfunctorily. She didn't know what to say to any of them. The last time she had met them, she was basically a screaming banshee.

"Ah. Everyone has finally gathered I see." A voice called out from the doorway.

Candi turned her head. It was the porter who had taken her up to the penthouse the day before.

She smiled and waved at him, glad to see a friendly non-demon face.

He grinned at her and approached the table.

"I see you are doing well my dear." He took a seat at one of the two remaining empty chairs. "I hope these seven boys have treated you well."

Boys?

"Let's get started shall we? How about we formally introduce everyone to you."

The porter indicated his hand at Candi. "I'm sure you all know by now. This is the beauteous, gracious, most brave Candace Farrah."

He then went around the table and dropped a name to each of the men seated at the table.

"The red-haired one is the eldest of this group of degenerates so he gets the dubious distinction of keeping them in line. His name is Byron."

"Next in line is Dante who heads various businesses in this area," he pointed to the demon with the spiky blue hair.

"Then we have Lucas, the only show monkey of the group." He indicated at the demon with the gold and pink hair.

"And then comes Leonardo. He takes care of sick people even though sometimes, he's the one who puts them in the hospital to begin with." He smirked and pointed to the man with the bright blond hair.

After him are the twins, Jason and Jared. They call themselves fashion creators, whatever that means." He waved a dismissive hand.

"And of course, you've met the baby of the family, Slate."

Candi nodded at each, trying to remember all the names.

"What does Slate do?" She turned to the dark-haired man sitting next to her.

The porter grimaced. "He's the warrior of the group. He does what needs to be done."

"And you, sir?"

"My name is Ray Torra. I am the Custodian of The Tower. I'm here to make sure everything is as it should be."

His eyes turned dark. "Yesterday, we ran into a bit of a snafu even though I PERSONALLY took the time out of my busy schedule to escort you to the top of The Tower."

He bared his fangs at the men, which suddenly grew long and sharp.

A chill hit Candi's spine. Was this the same friendly porter who had whistled 'C'est Si Bon' in the elevator yesterday?

"There was supposed to have been an important Event." Ray's voice grew dark and menacing.

Candi's heart jumped and caught in her throat. His face was starting to change. He was no longer looking so jovial and friendly.

As the Custodian looked around the room, a twin set of red flames appeared within the pupils of his dark eyes.

"Any of you boys care to explain to me what happened?"