This is the first of a short series of Stephen King inspired short stories I wrote for a group.

Secrets

The Ascension always had an unusual bond. Words were rarely needed between them. A look between them conveyed its own conversation. This connection and their connection to darkness made others leery of them.

However, there was something different about them, more so than usual. In the beginning, one could only just notice the changes. Every little detail was just the same, but the intensity, if comprehensible, was dialed up to fifteen. The hits opponents suffered at their hands would be felt for days. Roars and snarls rattled in the minds of those that heard them. In the locker room, when someone passed by, hushed words could be heard that none in the international collection could understand.

Question regarding their behavior were brushed off. The Ascension were always like that.

The other changes were only spoken of in whisper. One witnessed Viktor's eyes grow dark while another saw Konnor's glow in just the right light. At one point, Enzo Amore swore he saw a tail swinging behind one of the pair. Another swore he saw horns.

No one thought this could be true, but the whispers wouldn't stop.

"Think the others suspect anything?" Konnor asked when the two were alone.

"Why should they?" he replied, shaking his head. "To them, demons are little but fignments of imagination, dreamed by children and by religion." He dropped the illusion.

Instead of two men stood two creatures of eternal darkness.

The larger of the two resembled a mishmash of creatures. A pair of horns curled like that of a Bighorn sheep. The skin of his large forearms was covered with hard scales, reminiscent of a crocodile's. The tips of his fingers had thick claws designed to rip and shred his victims. Large tusks jutted his his lower jaw.

Viktor's form echoed the physical differences of their human forms while sharing many traits. He remained a lithe silhouette. Like Konnor, Viktor too had a pair of horns. However, his pair came up from his forehead and back before twisting up like the kob antelope of Africa. Everything in his demonic visage would remind a witness of a bullwhip—strong and ready to strike at a moment's notice.

Behind them, a voice cried out and they could hear skin hitting pavement.

The Ascension turned.

A person they recognized but could not name had seen them. He continued to stare, unable to take his eyes off of the monsters in front of him.

He was a stagehand.

Their faces masks of neutrality, Viktor and Konnor's eyes met. No questions clouded their minds on what they needed to do.

Not a single soul could know.

I have an especial love for the Ascension as demons. Never question it.