"I've got it," he called back
Jonah didn't move right away.
He stood there for a second longer, listining to the silence on the other side of the door. The pressure behind his eyes hadn't gone away. If anything, it had settled deeper, sharper, like something waiting.
Then he unlocked the deadbolt.
The door opened slowly.
Adrian stood in the hallway.
For a moment, Jonah forgot how to speak.
Three years hadn't changed his brother as much as it should have. The resemblence was still there, sharp in the jaw, the brown eyes, the posture, but everything else had hardened. His blond hair fell unevenly across his forehead, catching the dim stairwell light. His coat was dark, clean, rain speckled but untouched by anything else.
His expression didn't shift.
It never really did.
"A-Adrian?" Jonah said quietly.
Adrian looked at him for a long second, his gaze moving across Jonah's face like he was measuring what had changed and what hadn't.
"You look worse," Adrian said leaving a slight chuckle.
Jonah let out quiet breath, something between a laugh and a sign. "Good to see you too."
The silence that followed was heavier than the one before it.
Then Adrian stepped forward.
"We need to go."
"Something's not right here."
Jonah frowned. "That's your big entrence?"
Adrian didn't answer. His gaze moved slowly across the hallway behind Jonah, tracking something unseen.
"It's wrong," he said quietly. "The pressure. The way it's sitting, i could feel it miles away."
Jonah studied him for a second, then his expression hardened.
"How do you know I live here?"
Adrian paused.
Not long, just..enough.
Then he looked back at him.
"We kept track of you."
Jonah jaw tightened. "We?"
"Dad and me."
The words landed heavier than anything else.
"You think you can just walk away?" Adrian continued. "We checked on you. Distance. Never close enough for you to notice."
Jonah didn't like that.
"How long?"
Adrian held his gaze. "Long enough to know this isn't normal."
Before Jonah could respond, movement came from behind him.
Soft footsteps against the wood.
"Jonah...who is it?"
Arianna stepped into view, one hand brushing through her hair, still waking. She slowed when she saw Adrian standing in the doorwar, her expression shifting from sleep to confusion.
Her eyes moved between them.
Jonah exhaled quietly. "..This is my brother."
Arianna blinked. "You have a brother?"
"Oh real nice.." Adrian said..
Adrian attention shifted to her, and for the first time since he arrived, something subtle changed his expression.
Not shock, but surpise.
He looked at Jonah again.
Then back at her.
A faint, almost amused smile touched the corner of his mouth.
"Well," Adrian said, voice quiter now, "that explains a lot"
Jonah narrowed his eyes. "Don't start."
Arianna gave an akward half-smile. "Hi.."
"Adrian," he said, giving a small nod. "Didn't think he was capable of this."
Jonah sighed. "You've been here ten seconds.."
Adrian ignored him completly, still looking at her. "How long have you been putting up with him?"
Arianna blinked, caught off guard. "Uh...a while?"
Adrian glanced back at Jonah. "Longer than I expected."
Jonah rubbed the back of his neck. "You done?"
"Not even close."
Adrian's voice was calm, but his eyes shifted slightly past Arianna.
Jonah caught it, that shift...Subtle, but wrong.
The air in the apartment tighttened, like something pressing in from all sides.
Arianna noticed the silence first. "...Okey, what's going on?"
No one answered her.
Adrian's expression didn't change but his posture did. Just slightly. His shoulders straightened, his head tilting a fraction as if listing to something far away.
Or something very close.
"It's here" Adrian said quietly
Jonah's grip tightened, "Where?"
Adrian didn't look at him, "Too close."
Arianna frowned. "You guys are being really-"
Somethign moved behind her. Fast.
Jonah saaw it first.
"Arianna, move!"
She turned, confused-
And the thing attached to her.
It came out of the hallway like a mass forced into motion. Limbs-too many-wrapped around her from behind, locking her in place before should even react. Its body was swollen and uneven, covered in blinking eyes that shifted and rolled independently, all of them snapping open at once.
Arianna screamed.
One arm clamped around her throat.
Another pressed against her chest.
More coiled around her waist, thightening.
The creature puller her back against it, its surface twitching like something alive beneath skin that wasn't real.
Its mouth opened near her shoulder.
Too wide.
Too wrong.
For a second, Arianna froze-
Because she could see it.
Every single eye staring directly at her.
"What- WHAT IS THAT??!"
Jonah and Adrian had already moved.
The guns were already up.
Without thinking
Jonah fired, one after another..
The shots cracked through the apartment, loud enough to ring in his ears.
The bullet struck the creature's side.
It didn't tear through it.
It hit - and the thing reacted violently
Its body warped, the surface rippling like liquid trying to reject the impact. A disorted screaming sound came from it, something between a shriek and metal scraping.
Arianna dropped as its grip loosened.
Adrian fired.
The second rounds forced it back
Then a third from Jonah.
Each hit didn't kill it - just hurt it.
Pushed it.
Distrupted whatever held it together.
The creature's limbs recoiled, tightening inward. Its many eyes blined rapidly, unfocused now, its body folding into itself like something trying to collapse.
Then it started to sink.
Not stepping back.
Not running
Its form melted downward into the floor, its shape breaking apart into shadow as it disappeared.
Gone.
The apartment fell silent again.
Arianna was on the ground, breathing hard, her hands gripping the floors as if it might disappear beneath her.
"I-" her voice shook. "I can still see it-I can still-"
Her eyes darted wildly around the room.
The corners
The ceiling
The hallway.
Every shadow.
Jonah and Adrian lowered the gun slightly, stepping toward her. "Arianna..hey...it's gone.."
She flinched.
Not from him.
From something behind him.
"It's not.." she whispered, shaking her head. "It's not gone.."
Adrian fully stepped fully inside, closing the door behind him with a quiet click.
"You see them now," he said
Jonah glanced back sharply. "What do you mean now?"
Adrian didn't look at him.
He was watching Arianna.
"You don't start seeing them unless you're close enough," he said calmly.
"Close enough to what?" Jonah asked.
Adrian met his eyes.
"Death."
The word hung in the air.
Arianna's breathing hitched. "No-no, i'm fine...I'm right here."
"You are" Adrian said. "Barely."
Jonah jaw tightened. "Enough."
He crouched slightly in front of her, keeping his voice steady. "Arianna, listen to me. You're okey. It's gone. "
She shook her head slowly.
"No," she whispered. "Something still here."
Adrian gaze shifted toward the hallway.
Then back to Jonah.
"That wasn't random," he said. "Something is conjuring here."
"Conjuring?", Arianna said looking confused and frightened
Jonah stood up slowly. "You said something wasn't right."
Adrian nodden once while his eyes flicked back to Arianna.
"This is why."
Then said it, quiet but certain-
"It came for her."
Jonah went still.
"What?"
Adrian didn't hesitate.
Whatever's happening," he said, "it's centered around her."
Arianna looked between them, fear still fresh in her eyes.
"I don't underatand..."