“All done,” Logan said as he panted. He struggled to breath as blood still fell from his eyes and he coughed more blood. He felt like if he stood up he would break. 

“Logan,” Ian said as he crouched beside him. “Are you okay?” Ian asked as he winced at the sight of Logan’s blood. It was the second time that night that he was seeing Logan bleed that much.

“I’m okay,” Logan said in between harsh breaths. “I’m just not strong enough yet,” Logan said, clearly struggling to breath and talk properly before he passed out on Ian’s floor.

“Logan?!” Ian exclaimed as he shook Logan but he remained unconscious. “Is he still breathing?” he thought to himself as he leaned into Logan’s face and waited for a few seconds until he felt his breath. 

Ian left Logan lying on the floor of the attic as he went back downstairs and grabbed a wet cloth from the bathroom to clean the blood from Logan’s face. Once he was back upstairs he sat beside Logan and started to clean his face, he tried to be as careful as possible, he didn't want to hurt Logan’s bruised face more than it already was. “He didn’t deserve that,” Ian thought to himself as he finished cleaning Logan’s face. Logan was the nicest person he had ever known, not that he knew a lot of people, he didn’t deserve to be beaten up like that. 

Ian picked Logan up, with difficulty, and climbed down the stairs to take Logan to his bed so he could rest properly and not in the floor of an unused attic. 

When Logan was all settled on Ian’s bed he grabbed Logan’s car keys from his pocket, he thought that the least he could do is take the crosses back to his car. When Ian went back to the attic the atmosphere was eerie, the shadows created by the moonlight, the crosses on the floor, the chalk drawings, the remnants of Logan’s blood and the scratches on the wooden floor from the demon, it wasn’t the nicest of sights.

“Is he not afraid?” Ian thought to himself as he gathered Logan crosses. “How can he be seriously injured twice in the same night by demons and still brush it off as if it was nothing” Ian said out loud as he cleaned the chalk and blood from the floor. 

Once he was done he grabbed the four crosses that Logan had brought and took them to Logan’s car. When he was done he was exhausted but he didn’t care, Logan didn’t really have to come here to help him but he did anyway and got hurt in the process.

When Ian reached his room he left Logan’s car keys on his table and sat next to the bed where Logan was sleeping. 

After almost an hour Ian started to fall asleep but just as he was about to close his eyes Logan woke up. 

“Ian?” Logan asked confusedly and with a faint tone of voice. 

“Logan?!” Ian said, relieved to see that he was okay. “Are you okay?” Ian asked worried.

“Yes, I’m okay,” Logan answered with a genuine smile. “Thanks for taking care of me,” Logan said as he realized that he was on Ian’s bed. 

“It was the least I could do,” Ian said. “Thanks for helping me too,” Ian thanked Logan. 

“That’s what friends are for, right?” Logan said as he got up from the bed. “I think I’ll be going home,” Logan said as he grabbed his keys from the table. 

“Are you sure that you are okay to drive? You can stay here,” Ian said as he followed Logan. 

“I’m sure I can handle a fifteen minutes drive,” Logan answered, he was a bit amused of Ian’s caring personality. He always seems a bit cold. “I have to go and pick up the crosses,” Logan suddenly remembered. “Sorry about messing your attic,” Logan apologized, rituals that big tend to be a bit messy.

“Don’t worry about that, I brought them to your car a while ago,” Ian said as he and Logan stood in front of the door.

“Aren’t you nice?” Logan said teasingly. “I believe this is yours,” Logan said as he took off Ian’s jacket and gave it to him. “If a demon comes again don’t hesitate on calling me, the hour doesn’t matter,” Logan said as he opened the door.

“Alright, goodnight,” Ian said before Logan ran to his car and left his driveway.

When Ian arrived to his room he held in his hands the jacket that Logan had been wearing, it was still warm and had a few drops of dried blood.

“Friends?” he thought to himself before getting into bed and drift into a dreamless sleep, still holding onto Logan’s warmth lingering on his jacket.

***

“Good morning,” Ian said to Max who was waiting for him at his door. 

“You look tired,” Max said as he walked down the street with Ian. 

“I didn’t have much sleep,” Ian said plainly to Max. 

As they walked down the quiet and cold streets, Ian wondered if he should tell Max what happened yesterday at his house. Logan did tell them when a demon attacked Kyle’s house. Just when Ian was going to tell Max he interrupted him.

“Logan called me this morning,” Max started to say, gaining Ian’s interest. “He told me to go to the coffee shop, he has something to tell us,” Max finished saying. Ian wondered if the thing that Logan had to tell them was related to the demon attack in his house. 

“Did he tell you what he has to tell us?” Ian asked. 

“No,” Max answered Ian. “But he did sound kind of worried, it may be important,” Max finished saying as he remembered Logan’s call from this morning. “It’ll probably be something about demons,” Max reasoned, he couldn’t believe that he was talking about demons as it was the most common thing ever. 

“Probably,” Ian said as he remembered last night’s events. 

When they arrived at the coffee shop they saw Logan reprimanding Kyle for something behind the counter, the rest of the shop was empty but they could see a couple of dirty cups on a table. 

“I don’t come for one day and no one can do anything?” Logan said mad as he pointed to a huge pile of dirty dishes in the sink. “It's not like you were alone,” Logan continued rambling to Kyle. When Kyle spotted Ian and Max he quickly went to greet them so he could get away from Logan.

“What was that all about?” Max asked Kyle. 

“He is a bit mad,” Kyle answered as he looked back at Logan who was sending him death glares. 

“Okay,” Max said as he laughed a bit, it was always comical to see Logan arguing with Kyle.

“Did you have something to tell us?” Ian asked Logan once they were near him, making him stop glaring at Kyle.

“Oh, yes. Let me go to my car,” Logan said before leaving the coffee shop from the backdoor.

“Anyway, you want something?” Kyle asked Ian and Max as he stepped behind the counter. 

“Black coffee,” Ian said as he looked at Max to see if he wanted something. 

“Hot chocolate,” Max answered. As Kyle was making their drinks Logan came back holding a canvas in his hands.

“Can you believe he has a car and makes me give him rides?” Kyle said, feigning annoyance as Logan made his way to the counter. 

“I’ve never asked you to give me a ride, you just gave them to me,” Logan answered back, still annoyed with Kyle. 

“Then should I stop?” Kyle asked Logan in a cocky tone of voice.

“No,” Logan answered faintly as his cheeks turned a bit red, he was never going to admit it but his favorite part of the day was riding with Kyle on his motorbike.

Kyle laughed at Logan’s answer but didn’t comment on it. “What is that?” Kyle asked Logan as he pointed to the canvas on his hand and handed Ian and Max their drinks. 

“A painting?” Logan said, mocking Kyle. This earned him a deathly glare from Kyle. “Yesterday night, after all of you left,” Logan started to say. “Aaron’s spirit came to visit me,” Logan finished saying as he looked at his hands, he knew he sounded crazy.

“Who?” Max asked, he didn’t know who Aaron was. 

“Here,” Logan said as he handed him his phone with a picture of Aaron on the screen. After a few minutes of looking at the picture Max recognized him.

“I’ve seen him in the administration building a few times,” Max said. “Didn’t he have a few classes with you?” Max asked Ian.

“Yes,” Ian answered a bit uninterested, he didn’t know the guy, he was just his classmate.

“He told me, well his ghost,” Logan clarified, sounding a bit confused on how to refer to Aaron. “That we are indeed being targeted by an organization,” Logan finally revealed.

“How does he know?” Ian asked, he could believe that a ghost went to visit Logan but he wasn’t buying the whole being targeted thing.

“He said that they killed him,” Logan said as a few tears rolled down his cheeks.

“Is that blood?” Kyle asked, alarmed as he saw that Logan’s tears were blood. 

“Oh, yes,” Logan said as he wiped them with his hand, staining it with blood.

“What do you mean, yes? How are you so relaxed after crying literal blood?” Kyle continued saying alarmed as Logan seemed totally okay with it.

“Yesterday a demon possessed Ian’s home so I went to help him and the exorcism was very draining physically, and more even after what happened in my home so now I cry blood,” Logan started to explain as he cleaned his face with a tissue. “I hope it doesn’t stay like that forever, it's annoying,” Logan said while laughing a bit.

“What?” Kyle and Max exclaimed at the same time. “Could you elaborate?” Max asked Logan. 

“Yesterday, late at night Ian called me asking for help because he thought a demon was in his house,” Logan started, making sure that Max and Kyle understood. “So I packed a few things for exorcisms and went there to help him and I determined that a demon possessed his house,” Logan continued, stopping after every sentence so Kyle and Max could follow the explanation and process it at the same time. “I wasn’t taking any chances so I used a very high-level ritual to expel the demon and because I was already tired from the exorcism back at my home it was more physically taxing than I thought it’d be and I started to cry blood,” Logan finished explaining.  

“Okay,” Kyle answered when he finished processing the information. He was a bit relieved that it wasn’t something serious.

“That wasn’t the point today,” Logan said as he turned the canvas around showing what was drawn on it. “This is,” Logan said, pointing to the painting.

“That’s a very nice painting of a box,” Kyle said, not very sure of what the painting meant or how it was important.

“That’s not why I’m showing it to you,” Logan said with a disappointed sigh. “Aaron said something about giving me something that would help us and that I’d know what once I went to sleep,” Logan said as if it cleared the situation.

“I don’t get it,” Kyle said confused as he looked at the painting. 

“I woke up in my studio with this painting next to me, and the paint was still wet so I must’ve painted while I was sleeping,” Logan explained further. “So do any of you recognize the box?” Logan asked as he looked at Kyle, Ian and Max.

The three of them looked at the detailed painting of a dark-wood box with golden decorations and a small lock on the front.

“No, but the painting is great,” Max said with a smile to Logan.

“That is not helpful,” Logan said as he sighed and rested his head on the cold counter. 

“Do you really paint that well? Why are you working in a coffee shop?” Ian asked Logan.

“We are not here to judge my artistic skills, do you recognize this box?” Logan said annoyed as he asked again.

“I don’t, sorry,” Ian said as he sipped on his coffee. 

Logan looked at Kyle with expectancy before he denied knowing the box. “That was disappointing,” Logan said as he took the canvas again to take it back to his car.

“If any of you see the box, call me okay?” Logan said as he walked back in. “Now let’s get to work,” Logan said as he grinned to Kyle and put on a baseball cap with the coffee shop logo and name on it.

“What’s with the baseball cap?” Max asked Logan.

“It actually is part of the uniform but no one uses it, but since my face is still bruised I use it to cover a bit,” Logan said as he pointed to his face. 

Max and Ian nodded understandingly and left the coffee shop. 

***

"But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content." 

Psalm 131:2