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Subject: {ASSM} Shadow Knight Chronicles 1-6/? (mf MC mF teen rom)
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 22:10:09 -0400
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<1st attachment, "SKC1-6.doc" begin>

             Shadow Knight Chronicles 
                           {Book One: Ethan Remfield}
                                    By Gambit


                               Chapter One
Ethan Remfield stood beside the picnic bench that had been the
meeting place for him and his stepsister for the past two years,
ever since they had moved to this school. He would sit, and he
would wait.
The place he was waiting at wasn't that bad. There weren't too
many kids milling about, and he was virtually by himself -- the
way he preferred to be. The grass was green, and it seemed like a
fair day. Something was nagging him though. The day had gone too
good so far, he knew that something had to go wrong sooner or
later.
His light, light blond hair was in dire need of a haircut, and he
knew this, as he wiped the bangs away from his mirror plated
shades. The shades were very small and round, just big enough to
cover the boy's eyes. He was dressed in all black. One would
think that he hung out with the gothics of the school, but he
didn't. The black button-up shirt and jeans were just his style.
He really had no good reason to dress that way.
They were much unlike the shades, which he wore because his eyes
were extremely sensitive to light.
No, Ethan didn't hang out with the gothics, preps, nerds, or even
the jocks. The truth was that the seventeen-year-old boy was a
loner through and through. Some would call him a snob, or even,
maybe, stuck up. But that wasn't the case at all. The fact was
that Ethan just liked to blend in.
Some would call Ethan eccentric and maybe even odd over some of
the things he did. Like wearing his shades, even at night when he
didn't need them. In truth, the boy did that for two reasons. The
first being that when people saw his eyes they always either
gaped or accused him of wearing contacts, which he didn't. The
second was a small part of why people thought him odd.
A person could tell many things by looking a person in the eyes.
And the boy just had emotions he didn't want people to see. Ethan
always guarded his privacy with a fierce determination that would
sometimes even surprise his family. He didn't like it when people
looked in his eyes; it was as simple as that.
'She's late again,' he thought, sitting down on the cement picnic
table. But that's nothing new, his thoughts added. Then he pulled
out a pack of Camels and a Zippo that his lovely sister had
gotten him for his birthday last year. There was an inscription
on it that said: 'To my big Brother, with love'.
The seventeen-year old blew out a jet of smoke and thought of the
past. Some of it had its moments of joy. Others... Well, there
was torment beyond most people's understanding. That's why he
didn't talk to that many people about it, not even to Joanna or
Tosh.
Joanna Remfield. That woman was possibly the savior of his soul.
Lord knows she was definitely the savior of his life. He knew for
a fact that he would have ended it all with a few quick cuts of a
knife by now if it weren't for this woman, this woman that took
him in and claimed him as her own.
To put it nicely, before Ethan was eleven, he was a child of the
system, a system that didn't really suit him well. Most called it
foster care, but not Ethan. He called it 'Hell's Outhouse'. And
that was what it was for the boy. He understood that the system
worked for many kids... But he also understood that he had to
have had the worst run of luck in the history of foster care, or
so he thought.
By the time the boy was eleven years old, he had visited the
emergency room nine times, twice for gunshot wounds, the rest for
various broken bones. There were times when he should have gone
to the emergency room but didn't because his "Foster Parents"
thought that he should stay in his room and think about what he
did, while he bled, and when it was bad, prayed for death.
A miracle happened on his eleventh birthday though. Shawn and
Joanna Remfield adopted the boy as their own. This confused Ethan
somewhat; since he had stopped speaking altogether by the time he
was ten. They would talk; he would nod yes or no, nothing else.
There was not a peep that came from Ethan.
Ethan did not do this to be unruly. In all truth, the boy really
didn't know why he stopped speaking. All he knew was that
sometimes things started well, but then the other shoe would
drop, and he would be straight back in hell again. He just didn't
want to chance giving his feelings to someone that might throw
them back in his face.
He was thirteen years old when it happened. A beating didn't
break his silence, and it wasn't broken by a bribe. His
stepsister, who was a year younger than him, broke it. She had
always looked out for him after that day.
He was playing with a pocketknife that his stepfather, Shawn, had
bought him for his birthday and sliced his finger open. Natasha,
Tosh to her friends, had immediately gone and gotten a Band-Aid
and fixed him right up. "There ya go, sport." That was all she
said.
It wasn't the hurt of the cut. And it wasn't the sight of the
blood... But it was the sheer warmth in the younger girl's eyes
that made Ethan brake down. He cried as he had never cried
before- even when he got the beatings from the other families.
No, these were tears of joy. And this girl, no more than a slip
really, had brought them crashing down.
After that, Tosh had become his best and only friend. When he
finally spoke to Joanna, it was her turn to cry. And Ethan was
pretty sure that Shawn even got a little misty for a second or
two. From that day forth, Ethan had striven to make them as happy
as they had made him. If a person were good to the Remfield's,
they were good to you.
Ethan had learned that very early on.
Ethan knew a lot about his family that he didn't let on. He was
always good with details. He also knew a lot about himself that
he didn't think important enough to go into with his family,
especially his stepsister. She would probably hover over him
until he went to the doctor's office. But, the changes to his
body... He pushed the thought out of his head. He really didn't
want to go into it.
Just then Ethan looked across the schoolyard and saw a short
(probably about 5'1") girl standing in front of three jocks,
football players to be exact. He watched her closely, seeing her
wipe the black died hair (she was blonde originally) from her
eyes impatiently, yelling at the three jocks with ferocious
intent.
She is kind of cute when she's mad. He thought with humor. She
was pointing her finger at the one in the middle and verbally
assaulting the boy as best she could. But knowing Tosh, there was
a good reason.
Ethan saw that the middle jock's face was turning more than a
little red. Ethan's feet started him in Tosh's direction before
he even thought twice about it. He didn't know whether the jock
was the type to hit girls or not, but he wasn't going to stand
around and find out.
"You listen to me you dumb fuckin' jock. I'll try to use words
that you'll understand," Tosh started off, her deep blue eyes
starting to flash. "If I want to 'Dress like a boy' that does not
make me a damn 'dyke', as you say. Of course, your small mind
probably doesn't know that there is nothing wrong with that to
begin with."
Tosh kept going, loudly, and wouldn't even give them a chance to
speak. "Once you get an I.Q. that doesn't involve football stats
or a number of shoe sizes, why don't you take a look around. You
might finally figure out that you are a complete and total
ASSHOLE!"
I might have just screwed up. The small thought came to Tosh as
she watched the middle jock's face turn bright red from anger.
The boy, who was about two and a half times her size, looked as
if he were going to pop. And his friends didn't look any better.
Yep, definitely messed up. Open mouth and insert foot, Tosh. She
thought, a little worriedly. She knew she could fight, but not at
these odds. One of these days I'll learn.
The middle one, who had the bad haircut, and had started this
whole mess to begin with, apparently decided that he was not
above hitting a girl. His arm reared back to slap the loud mouth
girl into next week. Then-- nothing. Someone caught his wrist.
The jock, Daniel was his name, turned to see his reflection in a
pair of mirror-plated shades. The blonde boy that owned them had
a look of complete calmness. That calm look should have allied
his fears some. But for some reason, it only worsened them, and
with very good cause.
By simply twisting Daniel's arm in the wrong direction, Ethan
sent the boy, almost, into a flip. Daniel landed on his upper
back and almost his neck. That was when Daniel's friends thought
they would get in on the action. Ethan just smiled in a maniacal
way that even made Tosh a little nervous.
The first one just came barreling in with haymakers that Ethan
almost laughed at. By the time the boy actually made it to Ethan,
Ethan did a spinning round house that impacted squarely on the
boy's jaw. Ethan could have sworn that he felt a few of the boy's
jaw teeth come loose from that, but it might have been his
imagination.
Ethan felt something that he rarely felt-- elation. And this
feeling came from battle. He was pretty sure that this was the
first time he felt it. It almost felt as if he were unstoppable.
All his movements felt completely natural. And this was a
strange, yet elated experience. He was in, what he called 'The
Zone,' and he loved it.
All the sudden, Ethan heard a scream ring out. "Look out!"
By sheer instinct, he dropped to one knee and turned
simultaneously. He turned just in time to see the third jock
right in front of him. Without thinking, Ethan delivered two
quick rabbit punches to each of the boy's legs. Each of them was
just above the knee, and slightly on the inside of the thigh. The
result was the boy falling to his knees right in front of Ethan.
Then, with lightening quickness, Ethan grabbed two handfuls of
jersey and jerked the boy forward with vicious intent. The
head-butt that was delivered made those watching wince in
sympathy, even Tosh. She knew the boy had a broken nose. She also
knew that all three were unconscious.
What amazed some of the people that were watching was that during
the entire fight, Ethan's shades never slipped once. That and
Ethan never got hit once, and that was at three to one odds.
Ethan stood up with one fluid motion, without using his hands. If
Tosh didn't know it, she couldn't have known that he was just in
a fight. The only indicator was the grass stains on the knees of
his jeans. "We better jet, before a teacher comes out." Tosh
stated, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him off the
schoolyard.
But, he would have certainly left on his own accord. He was in no
mood to hang around.
"Whatever you say, half-pint."
"Don't call me that." She stated, slapping him in the chest
playfully. She let out a nervous giggle as she tried to get him
off school grounds. She was not quite quick enough to do so
though.
"Mr. Remfield, hold it right there. I'd like to have a word with
you."
It was a voice that Ethan was really hoping he wasn't going to
hear after that fight. It was that of Principal Wayne.
"And what word would that be?" Ethan asked with a mask of stoic
calmness. It was all an act though; he was a nervous wreck on the
inside.
If a glare could have killed someone, Ethan would have been dead
right on the spot.
"Go to my office and wait, Mr. Remfield."
Then the chubby little bald man turned his attention on Tosh.
"You wait for me as well, while I get this lot picked up and
sorted." He added gesturing towards the downed jocks.
Ethan could tell Tosh was about to say something and grabbed her
by the arm gently, erasing any protests she had on her lips. She
just gave out a defeated sigh and followed Ethan into the school.
Behind them, the principal was helping up the football players
and making sure that there were no serious injuries.
Although the town they lived in was only moderate size, the high
school there was top notch. It was a three-story building that
was still moderately new. The town had just finished construction
on it two years before. Yes, the town of Kaymon, New Mexico had a
great deal of respect for the educational system. It's just too
bad the students don't have that same respect for one another,
Ethan thought with a wry shake of the head.
"Jeez, Bro, you had me worried for a second when those other two
jumped in. I thought you were gonna get the shit knocked out of
you," Tosh said, only receiving a slight twitch of a smile from
Ethan. Her face became sober all at once, she wanted some answers
and she wanted them now. "I never seen anyone in real life fight
like that, Ethan... And move that fast. Where did you learn to do
it?"
They were on the second floor by now. Ethan just kept walking
with his head bowed, looking at his feet. After all, what she had
just asked was part of the changes he had not wanted to talk
about. "From around the way." He murmured softly, knowing that
she would drop the line of questioning.
That was his code phrase to Tosh that her line of questioning was
getting a little too personal. She gave a frown but dropped the
line of questioning. In all truth, she was a little irritated
that he would only open up to her a little at a time. He never
shared his past experiences in foster care with her at all.
Whenever she would ask about them, she would get one of two
responses. He would tell her that she didn't want to know, or she
would get the other response. He would sink into a depression
that would last for days and not speak a word to anyone. It was
the last response that made her quit grilling him about the
past.
They both walked into the waiting room of the principal's where a
receptionist was typing on a computer. The office was very nice,
and the seats were comfortable, even if they were plastic. The
woman that was on the computer looked to be in her mid thirties
and looked to be so wrapped up that she didn't know they had
entered. That all changed though, as soon as she spoke up.
She and Tosh were on an almost friendly basis since Tosh was in
there so much.
"Ah, Ms. Remfield, so glad to see you again. What did you do this
time? Put a green snake in your teacher's desk?" She asked
teasingly; her Spanish brown eyes were twinkling.
"Nope, did that last week. This time I'm here for starting a
fight I didn't participate in. My Knight in shining armor here,"
She waved an arm Ethan and continued, "Was the one to doing all
the fighting." She gave Ethan an impish grin and got a scowl in
return.
"You don't look as if you have been in a fight, young man." The
receptionist replied, appraising the boy.
Ethan gave the woman a self-depreciating shrug before sitting
down.
"He don't talk much, but he grows on ya after a while." Tosh told
the woman in an almost mock conspiratorial tone.
Ethan drowned out the rest of what the girls were talking about;
he had no wish to hear about himself. Every time he heard his
name he would just give an absent-minded nod. Yes, Ethan
definitely had something bigger on his mind. And it worried him
that Tosh had noticed that today. Noticed his quickness, and the
ability to fight. He was also fairly certain that the black
haired girl also noticed the sheer brute force he used behind the
blows.
The boy had no clue where he had learned those skills. In all
truth, that was his very first spinning roundhouse kick - and he
had executed it perfectly and with great efficiency. It was
beginning to worry him. What worried him most were the changes to
his body. But no, he didn't want to think about that right now.
'Best keep my mind on the matters at hand.' He thought.
Just then, the short, bald, little man that called himself a
principal walked in. He was wearing a cheap gray suit with a clip
on tie, and he smelled of Old Spice. That was another changing
Ethan was worrying over a lot. His senses seemed to be
heightening gradually. But not at a super fast rate, thank God.
He didn't know whether he could handle that.
But, first he would have to think of the trouble that he was in
now. 'Great, he's looking right at me. Why does he remind me of
an oversized muskrat?' He thought humorously.
"Right this way, Mr. Remfield," The man spoke with an authority
his small little body shouldn't be able to hold, but Ethan stood
up none the less. "I'll speak with you afterwards, Natasha." He
added, as he walked into his office with Ethan in tow.
"Please shut the door, Mr. Remfield." Mr. Wayne told him as he
took a seat behind the desk. Then the man started to clean up the
papers on his desk with a professional air. Ethan had a feeling
that he was doing it so that he could flaunt the fact he was the
one in control.
"Let me get to the point, Mr. Remfield. I think that you are a
troublemaker and a bad element in this school. Did you know the
boy's nose you broke our star quarterback's? No, I suppose you
wouldn't, Mr. Remfield. You're the one that is always lurking
behind the crowd, waiting to cause trouble. Well, Mr.
Remfield..."
Ethan really couldn't hear the rest of what the man was saying.
Oh, he heard bits and pieces, but he didn't hear everything.
Which really didn't matter, because what he did hear was starting
to make him mad, and that was always a bad sign.
Before the principal got another word in edge wise, Ethan broke
in. This was when something really strange started to happen. It
was a tingling sensation that went all the way from the back of
his neck and all the way up to his skull. It sort of made his
scalp tingle. It wasn't a pleasant feeling, but it sure as hell
wasn't unpleasant either.
"Shut up, you poor excuse of a little man. I have a first name.
Ethan. Use it. Learn it. Burn it into your fuckin' brain, because
if you call me 'Mr. Remfield' one more time, I will skull fuck
you. Got me?" The strange part of this dangerous lecture was that
his voice never rose above normal level.
The principal had a mute look on his facial features, but he
nodded nonetheless.
Ethan went on. "Now, what happened out there was not my fault.
Those three jocks started messin' with Tosh, and NOBODY messes
with Tosh while I'm around. So, what I think is you should let us
both go home and forget about the whole thing." The tingling
intensified. What the hell is that blank look on his face all
about? He thought, as he looked the principal over. His eyes were
also glazed.
Ethan was expecting to get expelled, not what happened next.
Finally, Mr. Wayne shook his head a little, as if clearing
cobwebs, and gave Ethan a genuine smile. "I think you're right
Ethan. Family is very important... And I think we should just
forget this whole thing ever happened."
"Thank you." Ethan replied, a little uncertainly, as he stood
up.
"You may tell your sister on the way out that she is free to go
as well." The usually dour man added with a smile.
Usually, people irritated Ethan that smiled like that nonstop.
But hey, if it kept Tosh out of trouble he was all for it.
"Thanks, I'll see you on Monday Mr. Wayne."
But, Mr. Wayne's smile wasn't the only thing that was on Ethan's
mind. It was how things went in that office. He knew for a fact
that Mr. Wayne could have chucked his ass out of the school for
the rest of the year for the way he talked to him. Something
wasn't right, but the guess he had, was positively ludicrous, at
least to him it was.
Mind Control, the changes in his body, there were too many things
that were happening at once for him to think of.
'I can't even believe I'm even entertaining the idea of Mind
Control.' He thought as he walked back out into the
receptionist's office.
He saw Tosh sitting in the blue plastic chair trotting one of her
legs and waiting impatiently. "You ready to get out of here,
half-pint?"
"Don't be toying with my emotions, Little Man. I'll kick your ass
to the moon." She added jokingly.
"Nah, seriously, he let us off. Let's get the hell out of here."
Tosh didn't have to be told twice, she was on her feet and just
before she went out the door she turned and told the
receptionist. "See ya Monday, Connie." The fact was she was in
the office so much that she was on a first name basis with the
woman.
"Probably so, probably so." The woman murmured as she kept typing
on her computer.
When they finally made it out on the school grounds, there was
someone there that was waiting patiently for them. It was one of
Tosh's friends. Her name was Heather. And Heather, in Ethan's
book, was a complete knock out.
She was leaning against a Dodge Ram pickup truck and was wearing
a pair of white shorts that were a tad too short by societies
standards, but certainly not by Ethan's. Heather was also wearing
a light blue blouse that was just a little short at the bottom.
Just short enough to give a peak of her belly button every now
and then.
She was also a year older than Ethan, which made her two years
older than Tosh. But, neither of the girls seemed to mind. "So,
what didja get in trouble for this time, Tosh? You were in there
for a while." She stated as she flipped a red ponytail over her
shoulder.
"Why does everyone think it's me that always gets in trouble?"
"Because you usually are." Ethan and Heather replied in unison.
He even had to chuckle at that and that was a rarity, because he
usually kept a tight lid on his emotions. That was, unless he was
just with his family.
Tosh just gave them both a glare. But, she knew that they were
mostly right. "Well, this time it was Ethan here who got in
trouble. Wiped the floor with three football players. Probably
broke our quarterback's nose." She said proudly. And she looked
proud. It was a good act. But, she knew that he shouldn't have
been able to do what he did. And it was making her even more
worried that he was hiding something from her. She hated when he
did that. They were best friends; they told each other
everything. And she could tell by his facial expressions that
something was bothering him.
"Hey, Tosh. I'm still crashing at your place tonight, right?
'Cause my parents are going at each other's throats like you
wouldn't believe." Heather asked with a frown.
"Yeah, I cleared it with Mom and Dad last night." Tosh replied,
opening the door of the truck. Heather's parents were notorious
for fighting days on end, but they always seemed to work it out,
somehow.
"Hey, wait. Before you guys get in, I want to show ya something."
Her smile was almost diabolical as she led them to the back of
the truck. She then unzipped her duffle bag and moved aside the
clothes she brought with her.
Ethan and Tosh looked down into the bag, right at a liter of 100
proof Vodka. Tosh even let out a very uncharacteristic girlish
squeal. She always loved trying to get away with things that she
wasn't supposed to be doing. Ethan just usually marked it down to
teenage rebellion and left it at that. She swung an arm around
Ethan's shoulders and with mischievous eyes said, "We're gonna
get drunk tonight, Bro."
Ethan just shook his head and let out an amused sigh. "You do
whatever gets your kicks, Tosh. But, if we get busted, it's your
ass."
She just stuck her tongue out at him in response.
With that, the three of them got in the truck and headed for the
Remfield Household.


Chapter Two
Shawn, Tosh's father, and Ethan's stepfather was fairly
successful because he worked at a law firm. That meant that they
were by no means rich, but they were fairly well off, to say the
least. They lived in the suburbs, and their house was just
slightly above middle-class. But that was just fine with them.
The house itself was a two story one. The top part of the house
had three bedrooms and was considered "The Kids'". That meant, as
long as they kept it clean, did their own laundry and gave their
parents no reason to come up there, their parents would never
come up there.
Shawn and Joanna were pretty cool like that. They trusted their
kids to take care of themselves. But, they trusted Ethan to a
fault. And there was a reason for that. If he ever did anything
wrong, there was a damn good reason for it, like the fight that
he had gotten into that day. He had a good reason: Tosh's safety
was in question.
But, all Ethan could think of on the way home was that tingling
sensation that he got and how the principal simply bent to his
will. It couldn't be Mind Control, could it? It wasn't possible
to control someone, was it?
That was when he figured out that he would try a few things on
Heather, just to assure himself that it wasn't mind control. When
they pulled up, they were surprised to find that there was no car
in the driveway, which was kind of odd. Their mother was usually
home when they got home. They knew that their father wouldn't be
home, for the fact that he was on a business trip in Oregon.
"Huh. Wonder where Mom is?" Ethan murmured as he got out of the
truck.
"Only one way to find out." Tosh replied, heading for the front
door. She made it to the door with the others firmly on her heel
and pulled out a key to unlock the door.
Ethan walked straight to the kitchen, where the refrigerator was.
That was where all family notes were posted. There, he read the
note from his stepmother.
Dear Kids,
Jeanie's husband was in a bad car wreck; I have gone to help out
with her children. There should be plenty of things in the
'fridge to help feed those monsters you call stomachs. (Ha ha)
Now, you had best behave yourselves. I should be back by
tomorrow.
Love,Mom
"Who's Jeanie?" Tosh asked, a look of confusion marring her
face.
Ethan just gave her a shrug. "Hell if I know. But, you know how
Mom is; she'd help anyone." Tosh nodded her assent to this.
"You know what this means don't you?" Heather asked. A huge smile
plastered on her face. She didn't wait for an answer. "We've got
the whole place to ourselves. We don't have to sneak around!"
Ethan just gave a dry chuckle. "Well, I don't know about you
girls, but I'm taking a quick shower." Ethan stated, heading in
the direction of the stairs. "See ya in a few."
"Are you getting all clean and dashing for me, Ethan?" Heather
asked, completely missing the incredulous look that Tosh gave
her.
"Of course. You know I've been secretly lusting after you for
years." Ethan replied with a straight face. He watched, with
delight, as Heather turned a nice shade of pink. Then he broke
into a wide grin as he turned and jogged up the stairs.
"You're wasting your time, girlfriend. You'll never get that boy
to blush. I swear he's prepared for anything anybody has got to
say." Tosh told her friend. She tried to keep any sound of
annoyance out of her voice.
The truth was that she was a little jealous. Ethan rarely smiled,
and it was only for a handful of people, all of them in his
adopted family, and namely, her and Shawn. She had had a severe
crush on the boy for the last two years, and it was to no avail.
She had flirted and flirted, but he would never flirt back, not
seriously anyway.
And to see him openly flirt back with her best friend... Well, it
irked her a little. But, Tosh wasn't the type to let that get in
the way of friendship.
And Ethan had just been acting strange the last couple of weeks
to begin with. He was more outgoing, yet more closed nonetheless.
It was almost as if he were putting on an act. But, she decided
that she would wait until after Heather left to wrench the truth
of what he'd been hiding out of him.
Tosh threw an arm around her best friend's neck and said, "C'mon
kid. Let's go listen to some tunes in the den." She noticed that
Heather was finally getting over blushing and chuckled a bit at
her friend's reaction to her brother.
'What the hell has gotten into me? Why did I say that?' Ethan
thought as he made it to his room. He walked into his room and
sat down with a 'thud' in his desk chair. He knew that he hadn't
been himself for well over two weeks, but he thought that it just
had to do with his body. Maybe it had to do with his mind too,
because, usually, he wouldn't even talk to any of Tosh's friends.
He would be just withdrawn and closed off. Oh, he'd talk to Tosh,
Shawn and Joanna. But that was about the extent of it. He didn't
like talking to other people. That's just the way he was. Ethan
was just a very shy boy, at the best of times.
But it seemed, since the changes in his body, he was slowly
gaining confidence. Which was understandable, considering the
changes. Ethan knew one thing for certain; he would have to tell
Tosh sooner or later. He hated keeping secrets from her.
Ethan just shook his head, as if he was trying to shoo away the
disturbing thoughts and stood up. He walked over to his dresser
and pulled out a sleeveless black button-up shirt and a pair of
black Lee jeans, along with some underclothes and headed for the
shower.
He undressed quickly when he made it to the bathroom. He always
thought that it was pretty cool that he and Tosh had their own
bathroom to share. Shawn and Joanna had their own downstairs. And
he would thank whatever mighty being that was up there watching
that Tosh was a tomboy.
Ethan didn't think that he could handle sharing one with a
regular type of girl.
The shades were the last to come off. They were always the last.
He squinted a little at the harshness of the light in the
bathroom. He forgot to turn it off. That was one thing that did
irritate him about Tosh; she always forgot to turn off lights.
Ethan got into the shower and let the hot water run over him in
waves. He just wished that the water would take away his worries
just as it did the sweat and dirt.
He must have stayed in that shower for close to thirty minutes
just letting the water wash over him. It felt great. He always
liked taking long showers, or taking a long soak in the tub. For
a person that had been through as much as he had, he learned to
enjoy the simple things of life at an early age. Because when he
was in foster care he found out that some of the things that
people took for granted in a normal life, he just didn't have in
Hell's Outhouse.
Ethan got out of the shower and wiped the steam from the mirror.
He looked at his reflection with mixed emotions on his face. The
things he was looking at were the changes that happened at a very
rapid rate -- during two days in fact. That was what worried him,
and if he were truthful, excited him more than a little.
Two weeks ago, he was of average build for someone his age. Now,
his muscles were not exactly huge -- he guessed the best word for
it would be 'cut'. But, they were also bigger than what they were
by about two times. And they were very well defined. His
washboard stomach stood out in stark contrast.
Ethan looked into his own eyes, and he could swear that they were
getting icier. It almost looked like the tint of blue had faded
just in the slightest. They were looking more supernatural, and
he would be lying if he said that it didn't bother him. Ethan
really didn't want to be more different than he already was.
Ethan dried off his hair quickly and ran his hand through it with
negligence. Then he threw on the jeans and the sleeveless black
button-up shirt that he had. Then he slipped on his shades. When
he looked in the mirror, he could have sworn that he was looking
at someone else. There were a couple of words that came to mind
as he looked at the boy in front of him. The boy who's bangs fell
over his mirror plated shades slightly... Wild. Untamed. Those
were the words.
He didn't bother to button up the shirt he was wearing as he
walked out of the bathroom. He didn't know how to explain to Tosh
what had happened because he didn't know. So he would show her
and pray that she took it well. He really wished that she
wouldn't worry about him so much, however, he was a little
flattered.
He stopped at the top of the stairs before he went down, so he
could think. 'How can I see if it's really mind control if Tosh
is watching? If it were mind control, I sure wouldn't mind some
fun with Heather.' He thought the last with a crooked smile.
'I'll burn that bridge when I come to it.' He thought with a note
of finality.
Ethan made his way down the steps as quiet as a cat. Which wasn't
that hard since he was barefoot and the stairs were carpeted.
When he first made it to the bottom of the steps he noticed that
the girls were not in the kitchen. That's when he heard the sound
of their laughter coming from the den.
"I'm not kidding; you should have seen the look on his face when
Ethan sent him flying backwards. It was remarkable. He looked
like a cow shit on his head, he was so surprised!" Tosh stated,
then they both broke out into laughter again.
"I wish I could have seen that! Daniel always was an asshole."
Heather said wiping a tear from her eye.
Ethan noticed that Tosh must have taken a shower as well, because
her hair was wet, and she was wearing a pair of very faded blue
jeans and a t-shirt. She was also barefoot, just like him. He
sort of liked the way her eyes sparkled with contained laughter.
Ethan let his shoulder lean into the doorframe as he watched
them. He listened and watched them talk about that fight for a
good two minutes. "It really wasn't all that great," He told them
with amusement in his voice.
Both of their backs were to him, and they both jumped a little,
making Ethan chuckle a little. "You would say that, Ethan," Tosh
said, right before she took a drink of soda. She made the mistake
of turning to look at him with the soda still in her mouth. Once
she saw him, the soda was promptly spat halfway across the room.
Ethan was very glad that he was far enough away that he didn't
get hit. Tosh just stared at him, wide eyed. "What? Did I grow a
third arm or something? 'Must have by the way you're staring." He
stated with a sound of amusement that he didn't feel. 'That's
right, Ethan, just pass it off as normal, maybe you can get her
to do the same.' He thought.
"Damn boy, what have you been doing?!? Working out while I
slept?" Tosh exclaimed, trying to keep from staring at her
stepbrother's pecs and abdominal muscles. 'I knew he was in good
shape, but damn!' She thought wildly.
To take her eyes off Ethan's body, Tosh looked over at her best
friend. Her best friend was just staring at him, her mouth
slightly agape. She wasn't even blinking. Tosh snapped her
fingers in front of her face. Apparently that worked, because she
snapped out of it. "Damn Ethan. Lookin' good, kid."
Ethan wanted the focus off him. "Are we gonna drink or jaw all
night long."
'I think might have pulled it off. Tosh isn't going nuts.' He
thought. In fact, Tosh was giving him a curious little smile. 'I
wonder what that's about?'
"We are gonna drink, Big Bro. And we are gonna drink hard." Tosh
stated as she went over to her friend's duffle bag and proceeded
to get the Vodka.
Ethan noticed that there was a little bit more of a sway in her
hips than normal. He arched an eyebrow at that. He didn't know
what to make of it. The next thing he knew she threw the liter of
Vodka at him. "I think there's some orange juice in the
fridge..."
Ethan caught the bottle deftly and just gave her a nod as headed
back towards the kitchen. He heard the hushed whisper from
Heather before he was out of earshot, though. "Jesus is he
built."
He just smiled at that as he made it to the refrigerator. He got
out the half gallon of orange juice and started making drinks
when a plan came to him. If it really were mind control, which he
wasn't sure if it were, then he'd just have Heather ask to see
his room, alone. Surely, Tosh would take the hint.
'I wonder if this is right, if it works?' He thought as he
started stirring the drinks. 'If she likes it, there shouldn't be
a problem, right? Right.' Right after that thought the girls came
into the kitchen.
"Took you girls long enough. Chattin' about the weather, were
ya?" They both blushed, and he chuckled. 'I could get used to
this.'
Tosh and Heather took seats at the table. "Hey, Ethan, what are
we gonna do while we drink anyway?" Tosh asked. She was slowly
getting used to the way he looked. But, she would be lying if she
said that she wouldn't mind dragging him upstairs and thoroughly
raping him.
"We could play cards?" Heather piped up.
"Yeah that sounds good. That ok with you, Tosh?" Ethan asked.
"Sounds great, as long as I get to drink and as long as it's five
cards draw." She replied, leaning back in her chair, taking in
every detail of Ethan. Since she was really looking, she noticed
changes that she hadn't seen before.
Take, for instance, the fact of how he moved with such grace...
Yet the grace reminded her somewhat of a jungle cat stalking its
grounds. He seemed to exude such power that she was very
surprised. She was surprised, because before his goal was to
blend in. Now... Now he had the attention of the whole room, even
if it were just she and Heather.
Ethan set the drinks down in front of the girls and went to
retrieve the cards. This should be an interesting night he
thought as he went to collect the cards.
One hour later and about three glasses of screwdrivers, Tosh
found out two important facts. The first was simple: She was more
than slightly buzzed; She was blistering drunk. The second was
she was trying to catch Ethan doing something. She had quickly
figured out that the little sucker was a born card-shark by the
way he shuffled, but it hadn't occurred to her to think of that.
"Ya'll, I tink itss time I went to sweep." Tosh's speech was more
than slightly slurred.
Ethan gave her an amused glance. It was all going the way he had
planned it. He had changed his original plan at the last minute.
He had been putting a lot more Vodka into Tosh's drink than he
had in Heather's and his'. This way, Tosh would sleep through
what (if it worked) he had planned. It looked like everything was
going in his favor.
Tosh stood up, swaying almost dangerously. "Watch it, half-pint.
Don't want ya fallin'," Ethan said as he moved quickly and
scooped her up into his arms as if she weighed no more than an
infant.
Ethan turned to the redhead that was still seated at the table.
"I'll be back in a minute."
"And I'll be waiting," She replied with a saucy smile.
'God he's gorgeous.' Heather thought as she watched Ethan carry
Tosh up the steps.
Ethan marched up the steps with determined strides. Now he was
very confused. 'How am I going to know if it's mind control? It's
as obvious as the back of my damn hand that she already wants
me.' He thought with a frown as he used a foot and kicked Tosh's
door open when he made it to his destination.
Tosh and Ethan had many differences, and their rooms were one of
them. Tosh's room was always in complete disarray. There were
clothes all over the floor and on top of her dresser. And he had
to chuckle when he saw a bra on top of her computer. His room was
always spotless. The girl in his arms had called him a neat freak
on more than one occasion.
Ethan noticed that his buzz had already dissipated, and he
wondered if it had to do with the changes in his body. He passed
the thought up as he made it to Tosh's bed and laid her down as
gently as he could. She was still half-awake, though.
Tosh looked at him with glazed eyes and a crooked grin. "What? No
kiss goodnight?" She asked. Her speech was still slurred.
What the hell. He thought and leaned down and gave her a gentle
kiss on the lips. Just when he was about to pull back, Tosh
pulled him by the neck, invading his mouth with her tongue for a
soul-wrenching kiss. Then, just as suddenly, she broke it off.
"If I wasn't so drunk an' sweepy, we'd do more." She told him
with a drunken wink and then promptly passed out.
Ethan stood up straight. His cock felt as hard as iron, but he
was also very confused. 'Does she like me like that?' He thought,
walking back out into the hall. 'Nah. It's gotta be the alcohol.'
He thought.
Then he leaned against the hall's wall, to sort his thoughts.
They strayed from Tosh to Heather. 'If she already wants me, how
can I tell if it's mind control?' He thought, drumming his
fingers against his thighs, thinking furiously.
Then an idea came to him. I could see if it works silently. Make
her do stuff that she normally wouldn't do in front of people.
But, it has to work off just thought alone, or I'd seem like a
complete jerk. He thought with a nod.
"Are you gonna stay up there all night, Ethan?" Heather's voice
floated up from the first floor. She didn't sound really drunk at
all. But then again, that's the way he had it set up.
"Be right down." He called, taking his time going down the steps
on purpose. He was trying to figure out what to try to make the
girl do. Then he got an idea.
He made it to the bottom of the stair and took in the vision of
Heather as she sat at the table. She had already taken off the
rubber band that held her ponytail, and her hair was flowing over
shoulders. She turned to look at him, and her green eyes
sparkled.
"Well, you made this Irish girl wait long enough." She said in a
joking voice.
"You're Irish? I didn't know that." He stated as he began to
shuffle the cards. "How much Irish are you?" He asked. Just
making idle conversation until he got to the point that he wanted
to start the test.
"You're looking at a full blooded Irish girl, bucko. I just
killed my accent early, so I could blend in better." She replied,
watching Ethan deal the cards.
Another reason he wanted to talk about a safe subject was that it
was part of the test. It's understandable that she may want him
in the heat of the moment, but not in the middle of a safe
topic.
"What part of Ireland are ya from?"
'If you're going to do something, might as well go whole hog.' He
thought, and then sent the command. <'YOU FEEL EXTREME LUST BUT
DO NOT WANT ME TO KNOW IT. YOU WILL TRY YOUR BEST TO HIDE IT
UNTIL YOU HEAR THE WORD 'TRICK''> He sent the command as hard as
he could.
Ethan watched in fascination as the girl flushed a nice shade of
pink. "D-D-Dublin. It's kind of warm in here isn't it?" She
asked. Ethan watched her shift in her seat.
"I really didn't notice it." Ethan replied. A smirk was planted
firmly on his face. He was pretty sure that it had worked. He
watched as Heather's breathing grew a bit more ragged by each
passing second.
By the end of the hand, she was breathing rather hardly and there
was a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead. "You ok, Heather?" He
asked.
"Yeah, o-o-of course." She stammered out.
"Hey, Heather?" Heather focused on him, her eyes were glazed but
it sure as hell wasn't because of the booze.
"Yeah?"
"Wanna see a card trick?"
That was all it took. She was on him like white on rice. It was
rather awesome for Ethan to watch. Heather flew out of her seat
and when she was in reaching distance, she pushed Ethan to the
tiled kitchen floor. He was flat on his back while he watched her
strip. He was rather amused that she wasn't wearing any panties,
and he was rather impressed at how quickly she undressed.
Before she could do anything more to him though he reached up and
pulled her down to the floor with him. They locked in a french
kiss that had both moaning at its intensity. Then he broke free
from the kiss and worked his way down.
"Ohhhhh, God." She moaned out as his lips circled one of her
already taut nipples. He swirled his tongue around it and sucked
on it for about thirty seconds before moving on to its twin.
He was starting to move down her taut belly when the tides
turned. She flipped HIM over. "None of that. I'm ready NOW." She
stated in a very husky and sexy voice. Then proceeded to rip his
pants and underwear down to his knees.
She straddled his hips and grabbed a hold on his nine-inch cock;
another of his bodily changes, then she started to rub the
bulbous head of it up and down her slick pussy lips. Her
breathing, although unbelievable, was even more ragged by this
time.
Heather looked at her reflection in Ethan's mirror-plated shades
as she sank the entire length of his cock into her pussy.
"OHHHHHHH GOD!" She screamed nearly at the top of her lungs as an
orgasm automatically hit her. Her body shook with convulsions.
That was all Ethan could take, considering that this was his
first sexual experience. He arched his back as his come filled
her, setting her off into another orgasm. "Damn," He gasped.
Heather just laid her head on his chest, totally exhausted.
'Wow!' That was her only thought.
'I think my life just got even luckier.' This was his thought as
he stroked the redhead's hair.


                              Chapter Three
Light filtered through the window, making the sleeping form on
the bed stir. The form tossed and turned as if he were in a bad
dream, the covers were wrapped around him in a very constricting
manor.
Reaching blindly, Ethan grabbed the pair of mirror-plated shades
that were on the nightstand. His eyes were still firmly closed as
he slipped them on. Much better. The sleepy boy thought as his
eyes slowly cracked opened.
He noticed two things at that moment. The first was that he was
the only one in his bed. He distinctly remembered going to sleep
with her the night before. The night before... Fuck! It worked.
He thought wildly, sitting straight up in bed.
The teenager pulled his covers off and got out of bed completely
naked, smiling as he remembered last night's festivities. Then he
frowned, wondering where Heather was. Ethan walked to his dresser
and pulled out some clothes for the day. As he looked in the
mirror that was on the dresser, he saw something on his muscular
chest. It was a symbol of sorts. It looked like small tiger
vaguely, but had the coloring of a hickey.
Huh. He thought.
In all truth, Ethan didn't know whether to be excited or a bit
scared about this new development. He didn't exactly know why he
was changing so much. And the more he thought about it, the more
it scared him. After all, would he change more? And what price
would there be for these gifts?
He sat back down on his bed and let out an explosive sigh as he
put on his shoes. And to top it off, Heather might be mad at me.
He thought.
As he looked at the nightstand by the bed, he saw that it read
11:45. He almost slapped himself in the forehead. He never slept
that late before. Could it be because of the changes? Does my
body need that much rest? He mused.
The reason that it worried him was because he was the type of
person that only slept four to five hours a night. He did the
math in his head and realized he slept thirteen hours. He never
slept that long in his life.
Ethan jerked his head up at the sound of the door. It was a
fairly light knock, so he knew that it wasn't Tosh. Tosh just
gave three heavy thuds and opened the door. "Yeah?" He called
out, standing up.
"Great, you're awake." Heather said as she walked into his room.
"Yeah, I guess I slept late enough last night, didn't I?" He
asked with a wry shake of the head.
"Yeah, guess," Heather started with more than a little
nervousness in her voice. "Listen, Ethan, we have to talk-- about
last night, I mean."
Oh shit. She knows. Was the first thing that popped into his
mind. But, then he looked at the expression on her face and it
was more regret than anything else. "Well, you see, it's like
this," She went on. "I have a boyfriend and..."
"And last night was a one time thing?" He finished for her
watching her nod. Then he nodded, very gladly. "I'm glad you feel
like that. I mean, I thought that you were going to come in here
and slap the shit out of me." He told the redhead.
Heather laughed a beautiful laugh. "As if. It was all my doing
anyway. Hell, I practically raped you." Now she was blushing deep
red.
Thank God she doesn't even know what happened. He thought as he
looked at the beautiful eighteen-year old. The possibility of
that would have been disastrous and Ethan knew it.
The next thing he noticed was Tosh sticking her head in his room.
"Hey, Bro. Could you do me a favor?"
Ethan looked at his sister's face and winced. He could tell that
she was in obvious pain. "What's the favor?" No matter what she
asked, he promised himself that he would try his best to do it.
That's how guilty he felt.
"Could you go to the store and get some aspirin? We're out." Tosh
said in a whisper almost.
"Yeah, I wanted to get some CD's anyway. I was gonna do it
tomorrow, but now I just kill two birds with one stone." He
replied with a smile.
"Not so loud, Bro." Was all his sister said, rubbing her temples
as she said it. Then she just went back down the hall and back
into her room. Her nice quiet room.
Both watched her go with pity in their eyes. "Hey Heather, could
you maybe do me a favor? Watch her while I'm gone? I don't like
seeing her sick like this."
"Are you sure? It's a two-mile hike to the store, and I would be
happy to drive you." She replied politely. They both knew it was
for show though. Heather really wanted to watch over her friend.
She hated seeing her like that just as much as Ethan did.
"Yeah, I got some energy to burn... So, go see how she's doing,
ok?" He asked again.
"You got it, kid." Ordinarily Ethan would have argued over her
use of the word 'Kid', but the boy just had too much on his mind.
"See ya later." She added as she disappeared into the hall.
Ethan was most certainly not lying when he said he had some
energy to burn. It felt as if he were on meth, or crank to some
people. He knew what that felt like because he had a foster
parent force it on him when he was ten, just to see what it would
do. He was up for days and had more energy than he knew what to
do with. The down side was when he came down; he started
hallucinating. God, I hope it won't be like that with these
changes. He considered. But in the back of his mind he really
knew it would be nothing like that.
Well, better get walking. He thought, grabbing his wallet off the
dresser. When he walked out the door he grabbed it, and he was
going to shut it as he normally would, with the normal amount of
strength and got a surprise. The doorknob came off in his hands
as the door was shut with vicious force.
He heard Tosh moan at the sound.
Yeah, a walk would do me some good. I definitely need to sort out
my thoughts. He thought. He was really getting worried now.
<img alt="0x01 graphic" src="StrangeNoGraphicData"><br>
The only thing that Ethan didn't like about the mall was the
people. He really didn't have much against a person singularly,
just when they were in large groups -- like in a mall.
The first thing he bought was Tosh's aspirin. He really didn't
want to forget that as he was going to look at the Music CDs at
the music store. He had about a total of thirty-five bucks in his
pocket after he bought the aspirin. Then again, I could walk out
with anything in this store and not get caught. He thought with
contemplation. But, he knew that he could never do that. He never
was one for stealing.
Ethan walked towards the music store, fully hoping that the CD
Everlast: Eat at Whitey's in. That was when he felt it. It was on
the inside of his head. It was like when he used the mind control
trick. This was more of a low-grade buzzing that he could even
hear, let alone feel. It made his head feel funny, and it oddly
made him feel like scratching his scalp.
Ethan just shook his head and tried to clear it as he made his
way towards the music store. When he made it there, he
automatically went to the "E" section. But he really couldn't
focus. The buzzing sensation was starting to get on his nerves.
Then all of the sudden, it seemed to get stronger.
Then for no apparent reason, Ethan jerked his head up and looked
directly to the left. What he saw was a little surprising. It was
a girl. But, it was also a girl the likes of which Ethan had
never met before. And there was one thing that stood out on the
girl that gave Ethan a sense of wonderment, and, if he were
truthful, dread.
The girl that stood no more than six feet from him had a sword
that was attached to the back of a thick leather jacket. The
sword looked like a Katana with a silver dragon's head on the
butt of it. Under the leather jacket--he could tell because it
was unzipped--was a black t-shirt that was tucked into her
skintight black jeans. To top it all off, the girl was wearing a
pair of silver tipped boots.
But, what got Ethan attention the most was the fact that she was
wearing the exact same kind of shades that he was wearing. She
also had the same shade of hair he did. It was a little unnerving
though, to have her just standing there, as though she were
evaluating him.
"Problem?" He asked in a neutral voice, taking a step towards
her. She took a step back, and all the sudden he felt a wave of
dizziness wash over him. By sheer instinct alone, he realized
that the girl before him had entered his mind. With that same
instinct, he locked her out and lashed out.
The girl reached up and rubbed her temples, a lot like what Tosh
was doing when he left. She quit almost as quickly as she did it,
though. As if not wanting to show that she was in pain before
him.
"Hunter, Tracker or Rogue?" She asked. Although there was an edge
to her voice, Ethan had to admit that it sounded quite
esthetical.
She might have been beautiful, and her voice might have been
lovely, but Ethan thought that her manners were lacking. "What
the hell are you talking about?" He asked, and there was
definitely an edge to his voice at that point.
It didn't seem to faze the girl though. "Are you a Rogue, Hunter
or Tracker?" She asked slowly. There was a little uncertainty in
her voice now.
Ethan looked at the girl, who looked to be about his age, and
thought that she may be a little crazy. "My God, you really don't
know what you are, do you?" She asked. There was even a note of
pity in her voice.
"What's your name?"
"Jesse Budroux. Second Adept," She started, but before Ethan
could speak, she asked another question. "Have you even learned
what you are capable of yet? Or do you just play with people's
minds." Jesse asked that last question because that was all she
could get from him with her quick probe before he shut her out
like a Master. Who is this kid? She thought. A novice wouldn't
have even known she was probing until it was too late. She saw
Ethan go pale at the thought of being caught, and she had to
smirk.
"Relax, I'm not judging. You're really new to this aren't you?"
"How 'bout we go somewhere that's a little less public to talk?"
He asked. Ethan would be lying if he said that he wasn't more
than a little scared. How did she know? He thought wildly.
Jesse nodded. "I saw a small caf that's just a short walk from
here. I'm a little hungry, might as well kill two birds with one
stone." She replied practically.
All Ethan could do was nod mutely. This was becoming a little too
much for his brain to process. "Yeah, sure. I could use something
to drink."
The both of them started walking down the line of stores in the
mall. He knew one thing for certain and he was completely baffled
by something else. The first was, the longer he stayed with this
girl, the more at ease he was. Well, there were two things that
baffled him. The first was the fact that no one seemed to mind
this beautiful blonde walking around the mall with a Katana
strapped to hitch that was on the back of her leather jacket.
"Why aren't people freakin' about the blade you have on your
back?" He asked, curiosity tinged his voice.
Jesse gave the boy a smirk. "I just give off a mental vibe that
tells them to ignore it."
"Why do you carry it?" He asked as they walked into the small caf
where there were very few people. They took a seat as far away
from the people as possible.
"I'll answer that all in good time, maybe," She started. "But
first, what's your name?"
"Ethan." He replied. A chubby little waitress chose that time to
come over to take their order. Ethan ordered a Mountain Dew, and
Jesse ordered a hamburger with a Coke.
Jesse looked at the boy before her with a very serious
expression. "Look, I'm going to ask you something. And before you
say no, I want you to take into consideration that I'm in a
little bit of trouble and I don't know whom I can trust."
Ethan just cocked his head as if asking her to go on, then took a
sip of soda.
"I want you to let me into your mind-- to see if I can trust
you."
The word "NO" almost jumped immediately to his lips. But, then he
thought about it and decided that he really didn't have anything
to hide. But, he did want something in return. "I'll let you do
it-- on one condition." He stated.
Jesse leveled her gaze on him.
"Let me see your eyes."
The girl decided that the few moments of irritation that the
light caused would be worth it if she could get a look into
Ethan's mind, to make sure he wasn't a threat. She lowered her
mirror-plated shades and gave him a level gaze with a small smile
on her lips. "Now it's my turn." She stated as she pushed back up
her shades.
"Is it gonna make me dizzy as it did last time?" He asked. He
really didn't like the feeling. Ethan saw how she squinted
against the light. We really are alike. He thought. Maybe I can
get some answers now.
"No. You should only feel a slight tingle." She didn't tell him
that a novice wouldn't feel anything at all. "And that's because
you gave me your permission."
"Do it." He said with a note of finality, before he lost his
nerve.
Jesse didn't have to be told twice. The whole thing took only
about five minutes, because she was that good at doing probes.
She learned everything about him since the time of his first
memories. It gave her only a slight headache doing a full probe
like this.
Ethan felt the tingle, as she said he would. And after about five
minutes it was gone, and he knew that she was out of his mind.
When he looked at her, he was a little more than surprised. He
saw a tear rolling down her left cheek. He then did something
that was completely uncharacteristic of him. He reached out and
wiped it away. "What's wrong?" He asked gently.
"Hell's Outhouse... How did you survive it?" She asked in a
terribly sad voice.
Ethan was glad that he was wearing his shades, because, although
he wasn't crying, his eyes misted. Finally, someone that fully
understands. He thought. He gave her a weak smile. "No other
choice." He stated plainly. He was starting to feel really
connected to this girl named Jesse.
"You're much braver than you let on, Ethan." She replied,
collecting herself so that her voice didn't waver. "You really
don't know about the Shadow Knights?" She asked, after what all
she saw in his mind, it was the least she could do to explain it
to him.
He shook his head negatively. "What's a Shadow Knight?"
"You and me, and a lot of other people. Shadow Knights are a cut
above the Normals, Ethan." She said in a very serious manner.
"We're faster, stronger and have a higher mental capacity. I want
you to notice that I didn't say that we were better, though. We
also have many of the same faults." She added this in a bitter
tone.
Ethan leveled an intense gaze on her. "What kind of trouble are
you in?"
"The Hunters from the Zone are looking for me."
Ethan looked at the clock on the wall of the caf, then back at
the beautiful Shadow Knight. "Come home with me." He stated
plainly. Even he could hardly believe he said it.
"What?! Are you that dense, Ethan? I just said that Hunters were
looking for me. I won't put you in that kind of danger." She
added the last sentence softly. "Or your family." She added and
watched him flinch at that prospect.
"It's highly unlikely they would find you at my place. They would
probably look in places that they knew you would likely go to.
Since you're the first Shadow Knight I've met, I damn well know
that none of them know me."
"And what of your family?" Jesse retorted.
"They'll say yes."
"If they say no?"
"I'll... I guess I'll have to persuade them." He put emphasis on
the word persuade. His face was marred in a deep frown. He really
didn't like the idea of doing that.
"It gives you a guilty conscience to use the gifts you were
gifted with?" Jesse asked with a curious expression.
"They're my family," was his simple answer.
And by the smile that was on Jesse's face, it was the right one.
She watched as he stood up and held a hand out to her, as if to
help her out of her seat. If anyone else would have done that to
her, she would have thought them chauvinistic. But, it was pretty
charming when Ethan did it. It also amazed her that he could
still hold the element of charm after all that he had been
through.
What amazed her more, was when they were walking through the
mall, he never let her hand go. She didn't know why she allowed
this... Well that was a lie. She did know. It just felt right.
Jesse decided, before they even left the mall, that she would
teach this newbie of Shadow Knighthood everything he would need
to know to survive against those that would do him harm. And
there were those that would. She knew that for a fact. That was
what the Trackers were for. They were recruiters. If you didn't
give the answer they wanted, it was your head. And she would make
damn sure that never happened to Ethan.
Ethan's thoughts were very confused. He didn't know why he kept
holding the girl's hand. All he knew was that it felt completely
right. It was almost as if the girl were a kindred spirit to his
tortured soul. She was someone that finally understood all that
he went through.
I just hope Tosh, Joanna and Shawn understand. He thought a
little sadly. But, he had a feeling that he would have to use his
gifts on them to let him take Jesse in.
Mine. A primal thought went through his head as he squeezed
Jesse's hand a little harder, as if claiming her. What the hell?
He just shook his head and kept walking.
Tosh sent me for aspirin and I am bringing home so much more.
Hope it doesn't increase her headache. He thought with no humor.
<img alt="0x01 graphic" src="StrangeNoGraphicData"><br>
Ethan let out an appreciative whistle when he saw the car that
Jesse had. It was a Mustang convertible with a scoop on the hood.
"Nice wheels." He stated, as he opened up the door on the
convertible and sat down in the passenger seat. He almost looked
at Jesse with jealousy when she just vaulted over the door-- that
was exactly what he wanted to do.
"You'd be surprised the kind of deals you can get with our
ability." She stated, now he knew what she meant. She in no way
bought this car.
Ethan just smirked at her and appreciated the rev of the engine
as she gunned it. With a maniacal smile, she pealed out of the
mall parking lot. This was a side of Jesse that she didn't show
many people. But for some reason, she felt comfortable around
him.
There were legends about when two Knights meet in the Shadow
Knight Chronicles, written by Dakrin. Legends about how some
Knights found their soul mate. But, she always considered that
hogwash. That couldn't be it, could it? There were no Knights
back at the Zone that had felt that. That she was sure of.
They didn't talk much on the way over to Ethan's. He wanted to
wait to quiz her when they were in private, and quiz her he
would. The boy had a thousand questions going through his mind.
The first of them were simple. When would the changes stop? The
second was; what was he capable of?
Ethan groaned as they pulled into the driveway.
"What's the matter?"
"Shawn would pick this day to show up early from his business
trip." He murmured, and then opened the door. It wasn't as if he
wouldn't have been very pleased to see him... It was just the
circumstances.
"Who's Shawn?" Jesse asked as she hopped out of the car. She was
a little bit disappointed in herself for missing something in the
probe.
"He's my Dad... Well, the only man that I respect enough to call
that anyway." He replied with a sad little smile.
At that moment, Shawn came out on the porch smiling. The smile
faltered a little when he saw Jesse, but grew again. "Jesse
Budroux, as I live and breath. You're a long way from home."
Ethan noticed that everything in his adoptive father's voice
asked a simple question: What are you doing here?
Ethan was floored that Shawn even knew the girl. And he knew that
if Shawn knew Jesse, he knew other things too. But what?


Chapter Four
What the hell? They know each other? Ethan thought as he watched
Jesse walk up to Shawn. Then something that completely freaked
Ethan out happened. Shawn fell to one knee and grasped Jesse's
hand, placing a light kiss on the back of it. "It's good to see
you again, Mistress." He said with a sound of awe.
'Yeah, I think this is an off the chart weird day.' Ethan thought
as he watched the two of them
"Get up Shawn, before the neighbors see you. Act normal, I am no
longer part of the Zone." She said with a sad smile.
'I am gonna ring some answers out of that girl when I get a hold
of her.' Ethan thought.
<'I'll explain when we're alone or when your foster-father wants
to do it'> Ethan jumped at the voice in his head.
<'I know you will'> He sent back. For some reason he new
instinctively how to do that. And the message he sent had a
little edge to it.
Jesse sent him a look that told him to be patient and to his
chagrin, he felt guilty for being impatient. "Whatever," He
started speaking out loud. "Can we all go inside now? I want some
damn answers."
Shawn gave the boy a stern look for cursing, but Ethan didn't
care, because he was more than a little pissed at him. He'd been
hiding things from him. Ethan marched straight into the house
without looking back to see whether they were coming. He noticed
that his hearing was a bit more sensitive, and their footsteps
were easy to pick up on. He could zero in on their exact
location.
He walked right into the living room and stared right at Shawn
and Jesse after he got settled into a recliner. He figured he
would less likely blow up if he were sitting down. "Well? Where
are the answers?" He asked in an almost bark. He saw Jesse flinch
and winced inwardly. He really wasn't mad at her.
Shawn looked at him with his deep blue eyes. "Before I give you
the answers, I want to give you something that your father gave
to me. It was something he owned and wanted to pass down to
you."
'I couldn't have heard that right.' Ethan thought. 'Shawn knew my
father? What kind of sick twisted joke is this.'
Shawn walked to the hallway closet and went to the back of it. He
kneeled down and pulled up a corner of the rug and there was a
small black button there. When he pushed the button, the back of
the closet slid to one side, revealing a plethora or daggers and
knives. But, the centerpiece was that of a Katana.
The sword's handle looked to be in sturdy black leather that had
been polished almost religiously. The sheath was cased in dark
black leather that was well cared for. But, it was the head of
the dragon that was on the sword that held Ethan's interest the
most. It was so well detailed that he knew that it had to have
taken hours to make. This head was right on the butt of the
sword. He had thought that Jesse's was nice, but this one was
much, much better.
Shawn also walked out with a book in his hands. It was a fairly
good-sized book that looked to have over 300 pages in it just by
looking at it and guessing. It was also leather-bound and black,
with a symbol of two swords crossed with a ring of fire around
them.
"What is all this about, Dad?"
Shawn let out a sigh of relief. If he were calling him Dad and
not Shawn, he knew that he wasn't as mad as he thought first.
"Ethan... I want you to listen very carefully. Can you do that
for me? Not interrupt until I am done?"
Ethan noticed Jesse crouch beside where he was sitting. She
wanted to listen too. "I promise. Just tell me what the hell is
going on." Ethan asked in almost a desperate voice. The changes
in his body and mind and now this, well, it was beginning to wear
on him.
Shawn walked over to Ethan and handed him the book and the
Katana, then headed back to the middle of the floor, and stood as
if he were a bard about to tell a story. In a way, that was
exactly the case. Only it would be a very short story, because he
wanted Ethan to learn most of it on his own.
"First, I'd like to tell you what I am. I am known as a Watcher.
I watch over new Shadow Knights until they can look after
themselves. I just lucked out when I found you, in more than one
way."
"So you guys adopted me out of duty?" Ethan asked, hurt in his
eyes.
Shawn walked over and kneeled beside him. "I'll be truthful with
you, Ethan. At first, yes, we adopted you out of duty. But after
only a few months I started to love you like my own son," He
stood up again, looking at Ethan. "When you reach the point of
being able to read minds you will know that this is true." He
added in a matter-of-fact tone. He watched Ethan give him an
incredulous look at the last sentence.
"Now for the story of your real father. The one that started The
Shadow Knights, and the one that wrote that book you have in your
hand. His name was Dakrin. As far as anybody knows, he is the
first Shadow Knight in existence. Some also say that he was the
wisest."
"In that book you hold, there will be rules to follow and a
philosophy to consider. Because, like it or not son, you are a
Shadow Knight, and soon will be a Master with the right training,
and you will be a leader." Shawn stated as he sat back down on
the couch. "That is all I have to say about your father, if you
want to know more, you had best read that book in your hand."
Maybe it was fate. Maybe it was in his DNA. Maybe he was just
losing his damn mind, but he believed everything that came out of
Shawn's mouth. "Are you a Shadow Knight?" He asked.
"No, I'm merely a Watcher that makes sure you survive to
maturity. I do have a small amount of telepathic abilities. They
are no where near that of a Shadow Knight though."
"What is a Shadow Knight capable of?" Ethan asked, curiosity
marring his teenaged face.
"Many things," She murmured. Jesse's eyes were closed, and she
was scanning the house while the guys talked. What she found
surprised her. There was a Latent listening in.
Jesse cleared her throat as if to say something, and Shawn bowed
his head to her superiority. "Shawn, with your permission, I
would like to take Lord Remfield to a training cabin in Michigan.
There, I could teach and show him what he needs to know. And I
believe that you know my brother Shain. When I can't teach him
anymore, I'll take him to Shain's Shadow Zone Complex."
"I received an interesting command while I was gone on business,
my lady. One that said the main Shadow Zone in New Mexico is
hunting you. Are you sure you should be the one that should start
his training? If they find out who he is... They know the
prophecy." Shawn replied to her in a soft voice.
'Lord Remfield??? What the hell? Prophecy? I need a hell of a lot
more questions answered. That's for damn sure.' Ethan thought.
But, he also decided to go with the flow. For some reason--a
reason he completely didn't understand--he trusted Jesse
implicitly. "How long will the training at the cabin take?" He
asked in a neutral voice.
Thank God. He's taking this better than I would. Jesse thought.
"About a month, give or take. But, if I know my brother, he'll
want to train you for a few months, depending on how quickly you
learn. There's another thing, Shawn." She said with a sad tint to
her voice.
Shawn gave her a look that said she had his undivided attention.
"I think it would be best if I take the girl, Tosh, with us.
She's a Latent," She then turned to Ethan to explain. "A latent
is someone that has the possibility of becoming a Shadow Knight.
But it's usually upon first death."
"First Death?!" Ethan exclaimed.
"Relax. I'll explain it later, my Lord." Jesse's replied in a
soothing voice.
'Boy, 'O, Boy. If I have to ring her scrawny neck, I'll get me
some answers.' Ethan thought more than once. Not that he'd
actually try to hurt the pretty Shadow Knight. Then a second
thought came to him. The book in his hands held all the answers
he needed, or so it sounded when they were talking about it. 'So
a guy named Dakrin was my farther.' He thought.
Shawn frowned as if already knowing that fact. "I will allow my
daughter to go, but training two people at once can be hard on a
person. Shouldn't you consider some help, my Lady?"
Jesse's pretty face went into that of a frown. "Can I use your
phone?"
"Of course, my Lady." Shawn replied as he watched Jesse go to the
phone.
"Dad," Ethan began. "Why do you call her 'my lady' and why the
hell does she call me Lord Remfield?" He asked curiously.
"It's nothing but protocol and etiquette in the Shadow Zone, my
son."
"Then why don't you call me my Lord?" He replied cheekily.
"Don't get a big head, Ethan." Shawn replied with a chuckle.
"Now for the hard part, how do we get Tosh to believe us, and
leave her friends here?" He wasn't talking about Heather. Ethan
was talking on a more permanent basis.
"I won't use mind control on her." Ethan stated with ironclad
conviction. "And I won't let you do it either." He stated this to
Jesse, while she dialed a number on the phone
"There won't be any need for that. I thought there was something
going on, and now I know why," Came Tosh's voice from midway up
the stairs. "This is way fuckin' deep." She said with a very
serious face.
"So what's the answer, half-pint, you going or not?" Ethan asked.
His voice was light, but his insides felt as if they were in
knots, and the knots were growing tighter for every second she
didn't answer. He really didn't want to leave her behind.
"Where you go I go." That was her answer, a sweet smile adorning
her face, as she wiped her bangs out of her eyes.
"Then it's settled, my Lord. When would you like to leave?" Jesse
asked with a cock of her head. She was already coming up with
training exercises for her Lord to go through.
"First things first: Quit calling me Lord. Please, I'm asking
this as a favor; I don't like it coming from you. If it were from
someone I didn't know... Who knows?" Then he looked at Shawn.
"When does Mom get home?"
"She'll be here in the morning." Shawn replied. "Are you going to
stick around to say good bye?" He asked. There was definite
sadness in the man's eyes.
"Yeah, I owe her that." And so much more. He thought.
<img alt="0x01 graphic" src="StrangeNoGraphicData"><br>
{Three Hours Later}
Ethan sat on Tosh's bed and thanked whatever God was up there
that Heather had gone home when Shawn arrived. He really didn't
want to explain this thing to her, and he wasn't really sure she
should know.
Smiling, Ethan looked over Tosh's room. The girl never was one
for neatness. The room had all the 'modern' conveniences, though.
For instance, a 19" color screen TV and a top of the line
computer. The computer had all the necessities and gadgets. Such
as, Digital Cameras, a Scanner and a web video cam etc.
He looked over at Tosh who was sitting at her computer desk. "I
can't believe we're leaving this place tomorrow." She said with a
sad sigh. Then her eyes grew a little hard. "And I can't believe
you kept this from me! I thought we agreed never to keep anything
from one another, no matter what. Why would you do that?" She
exclaimed, jumping to her feet.
Ethan just closed his eyes because he knew that she was justified
to yell him. After she finished, he patted a spot on the bed.
That was his signal that he was ready to talk. Tosh did as he
told her to, but grumbled on the way over. Ethan thought that it
was kind of cute. But, he wouldn't dare share that information
with her in the mood that she was in.
"Look. You know I love ya, right? The reason I kept it a secret
for so long was because I didn't understand it at first," 'And I
still don't.' His thoughts added.
"I guess I can sorta understand that. And I want you to know
something," She started. She reached out and pulled him gently to
her lips. It was a sweet and gentle kiss. "That didn't bother
you, did it?"
"Not at all, half-pint, not at all."
That was the point where there was a gentle knocking on Tosh's
door. "Yeah," She called out. The tone of her voice said that she
didn't like being interrupted during that moment.
"May I talk to for a minute, my-- Ethan." Jesse caught herself
just in time from calling him exactly what he asked her not to.
"Yeah, sure." He replied, getting off the bed. Then he turned to
Tosh. "We'll finish this conversation later." A crooked smile was
on his face. 'It's just as well we didn't do anything... With
Shawn being in the house and all.'
He noticed the narrow-eyed look that Tosh gave Jesse, but ignored
it. It was one of the lesser problems on his mind. He would get
his answers. He stayed quite this long because he didn't want to
be rude. But, he thought that it was time to get his answers, and
now.
Walking out in the hall, he looked at Jesse. "Dad set you up in
the guest room?"
"Yeah, Shawn's a good man." She replied with a slight smile, as
if she had a fond memory of his stepfather in the back of her
mind.
"Good, we'll go to your room to talk. It's time I got some
answers." He stated in a no nonsense voice.
<img alt="0x01 graphic" src="StrangeNoGraphicData"><br>
When they were in the guest room, Ethan shut the door behind him
and sat right down on the mattress. He noticed that his body was
more sensitive to the smallest things. He didn't know what to
think about it at the moment. He had one question he wanted to
ask first. And he wanted to look her in the eyes when he asked
it.
Since the lights were turned off, Ethan took off his shades and
laid them on his desk. "Take off your shades." He requested of
her. She did as he bid and laid her mirror plated shades on the
nightstand.
"Why are you running?" He asked in a completely neutral tone.
"Ah, I knew that question was coming," She replied with a smile.
A smile that even a blind man could see was fake; it was full of
pain. "To answer that question, I'll have to tell you about the
way the Zone in New Mexico is run. It's changed a lot since your
father was in charge."
"I'll tell you the short version, and you can read the rest in
Dakrin's Chronicles," She started as she stood up. "You know for
a fact that you can control peoples' mind with thought alone.
But, you do not know the full extent of your capabilities."
Ethan just sat quietly and listened. "The Knights in New
Mexico... Well, there is only one way to describe it. They're
power hungry. They have already mentally enslaved an entire town
of about 2,000 people."
Ethan grew pale at the thought of someone doing that to an entire
town.
Jesse noticed this and was more than a little pleased. "They're
tracking me because I broke Shadow Code Number One."
"And what is that?" Ethan asked, shifting in his seat a little.
"I killed one of my own, a Shadow Knight by the name of Jimmy
Tomas." She said in a matter of fact tone.
Ethan didn't look disgusted at her at all. And there was a reason
for this. Because in the back of his mind, he knew that she had a
good reason for doing this. But, he asked the question anyway,
because he knew that it was expected of him. "Why?" He asked,
their supernatural eyes locking for a moment.
"I'll show you." She stated simply, closing her eyes.
The first image he saw was that of a boy carrying a plate of food
to a man that was dressed a lot like what Jesse was, even the
sword. The boy tripped and spilled the food on the man, and with
nothing more than a glance, the boy fell to the ground dead. The
Knight was the second to hit the floor. And that was Jesse's
doing.
"How do you kill a person by just looking at them?" His face was
a little pale at the vivid images he saw. It was almost as if he
were there, there to see the blood squirt from the boys nose
before he hit the ground and went into convulsions.
"One word: and you will need to learn it by heart. Kinetics.
There is energy all around us Ethan," As if demonstrating, she
turned in a complete circle, then looked him back in the eyes.
"That's what sets us apart from the Normals. We can bend some of
the rules of energy to our will. Some say that Dakrin was able to
break it. But, I think that's just a legend." She finished,
sitting down on the bed.
"By Kinetics, you mean telekinesis. That's how you killed that
guy?"
Jesse nodded an affirmative.
"How do you do it?" He then asked. Ethan was avoiding the
question that he was dreading. What happened to his father?
"You just focus your mind and use it as an extension. But I warn
you. It's like a muscle. You have to keep using it to make it
stronger." Then she got a twinkle in her eyes and suddenly the
chair that Ethan was sitting in lifted about four feet off the
ground.
"Hey!" He barked out.
"Sorry, couldn't resist." She told him with a look of mischief.
"The one thing about telekinesis, though, you can't use it on
yourself, meaning you can't make yourself float. Got it?"
Ethan just nodded. After Ethan was sat back down on the ground
and the fun and antics were over, he got a serious look on his
face. "The changes to my body, what do they mean?"
If the truth were told, that was the last question she wanted to
hear. She knew how often the boy before her had prayed for death,
and it would never come. And now... She decided to be blunt.
"You're immortal. The only thing that can kill you is a bullet to
the head, decapitation, or being ran through the heart with a
sword. Other than that, Ethan, you will never grow old." She
added the last in a soft and sad tone.
Ethan sat there for almost two minutes thinking about how he
should feel. And after that he figured out that he didn't know
and decided to push it to the back of his mind. "Ok, now I know
the second biggest question."
"What was the first?"
"What happened to my father, Dakrin?" His eyes were filled with
curiosity.
Jesse decided to be blunt again. "Most of the Knights grew tired
of his rules. Like the rule where there where only two Followers
allowed to each Knight. They ganged upon him and slaughtered
him."
"Followers? You mean slaves?"
"No, slaves do not exactly like where they're at. Whereas, if a
Knight is good with his or her mental abilities, he or she can
make a follower the happiest person in the world." She stated
with a frown.
"That little boy that the Knight killed... He was your follower,
wasn't he?" He asked as he got out of his chair to move to where
she was sitting on the bed.
A few tears rolled down her face. "Yeah," Her voice was hoarse.
Ethan did nothing but rock her backward and forward and gave
soothing words. It was a few minutes, but the beautiful Shadow
Knight finally got her composure back.
"We had better get some rest; my brother wants us to come
straight to the compound." She stated in a firm voice, She didn't
trust herself this close to Ethan. She could feel the wetness
between her legs.
Ethan smelled it. He gave her a smirk.
"Whatever you say, Jess. Whatever you say."

Chapter Five
Joanna Remfield always prided herself on trying to be strong  
she never much succeeded   but she always tried. She promised
herself that she would not cry when this day came. And the day
was here. Moreover, here she was still all misty eyed as she
watched her little Ethan pack his bag in his room.
This was her handsome boy. She could not help but cry. She
watched how his gentle, light blonde hair fell over the
mirror-plated shades that she had gotten him just last year. The
boy had well over seven pairs. Joanna should know; she bought
most of them for him.
She knew this day would hurt, she knew. However, that didn't help
one bit.
Ethan looked over at his adoptive mother and did something he
rarely did; a tear slipped out from behind his shades. "I have to
go, Mom. You know this is the only way. Just take care, all
right? I promise to call."
That was all it took, the blonde headed woman broke down into
sobs. That, in turn, lead Ethan to do something that he hardly
ever did again. He walked over quickly and gave her a very hard
and warm hug. "It will be all right. I promise. Hey, when have
you ever known me to land on anything but my feet?" He asked this
jokingly, but his voice was hoarse.
"You get yourself back to me, you hear. And I mean in one piece,
Ethan." Joanna stated in a stern voice. Such a stern voice that
it managed to break through her teary voice.
"I promise, I promise." And with that, he picked up his bag and
headed out of his room and down the stairs. He knew Shawn
wouldn't be there. He never was much for goodbyes.
He didn't dare look back at his mother's eyes, for fear of losing
his nerve and staying. If half of what Jesse said were true, his
people really needed him. He was The Chosen. But, he still wasn't
completely convinced.
<img alt="0x01 graphic" src="StrangeNoGraphicData"><br>
The trees seemed to pass by in a blur for Ethan. He could hardly
believe that he was really leaving the only real home that he had
ever known. It was almost surreal. The circumstances were
surreal. He tried to keep all thoughts of Shawn and Joanna out of
his mind and just keep his eyes on the scenery.
Two hours and twenty minutes into the trip, Jesse got a phone
call on her car cell. As it turned out, Shain didn't want her at
his Zone at the time that they had allotted. He said that it was
too dangerous. There were warring factions in New Orleans and he
didn't know how many people would try to use her against him.
He even suggested a two-week wait at the cabin. Jesse shut the
phone off. I'm not going to argue with that.
"Guess what kiddies? We're going camping." She said in an overly
chipper voice to raise their spirits. She knew they hated leaving
their home.
"What, did your brother change his mind about us going up there?"
Ethan asked.
"Yeah, he's having some trouble up by New Orleans, until it's
finished he wants us at the cabin." Jesse replied.
"What's this cabin like anyway?" Tosh asked from the back seat.
She had a pair of earphones hanging around her neck. She had
listened to AC/DC almost the entire trip.
"Well, it's not exactly a cabin. It has six rooms and all the
modern conveniences. Shain just started to call it The Cabin
because it's out in the middle of nowhere." She replied, never
taking her eyes off the road.
She saw a motel up the road. "Hey you guys, let's take a pit
stop. We'll crash at that motel and then head out in the morning.
Besides, I want to teach you a few things while we are in this
town." She directed the last statement at Ethan.
They pulled up to the motel and made a complete stop. "So when we
get to the cabin, we'll be the only ones there?"
Jesse let out a snort. "Are you kidding? You have obviously never
met Shain. He said that since there will be three spare rooms we
won't be using; he's sending three Blade Runners."
"What's a Blade Runner?" Ethan asked. His mind was starting to go
into overdrive. He was starting to doubt himself, and even he
knew that doubt was a bad thing.
Jesse gave him a small smile. "Blade Runner's are the bottom
line. When it comes to efficiency, there is no one better. To put
it in a way you might understand better, when it comes to Shadow
Knights, Blade Runners are the special forces."
Looking at Jesse getting out of the car and going to the front
desk of the motel, Ethan couldn't help having a small flash back,
one where he was nine years old. He probably had about a kilo of
cocaine on him. His foster father had given it to him to take to
the motel, and then he was to bring back the money. It was
simple. Right?
He made it to the person he was supposed to give it to, but right
when he went to hand him the bag, it fell to the floor and
busted. That little accident caused him four weeks in the
hospital.
The guy beat him mercilessly with a pair of brass knuckles.
Snapping fingers in front of his face brought him out of his
reverie. "... Yo, earth to Ethan. Man, are you there or what?"
Tosh asked with a little nervousness in her voice. Ethan just
grew a little pale for about three minutes. Three minutes: that
was how long it took her to bring his eyes back into focus.
Tosh couldn't blame him for having a lot on his mind. But, she
thought that he was thinking about being the Son of Dakrin. In
truth, Tosh had a lot on her mind as well; like being a Latent.
She didn't know how she should take that. She was a little glad
that she could be like Ethan. But on the other hand, it was more
than a little frightening.
At the beginning of the trip, Tosh shot questions at Jesse as if
they were bullets. She wanted to know all there was to know about
being a Latent. She found out three things. One she already
knew.
That was; to become a Shadow Knight a Latent had to go through a
traumatic first death. Jesse said that first death would not be
permanent unless she was beheaded. She didn't like the sound of
death. If fact, she hated the "D" word.
The second was much rarer. If a Latent went through extreme
emotional duress, they might be able to reach, what Jesse called,
Knighthood. She didn't even want to consider what she would have
to go through to get that upset. She knew it would have to be
something bad, because she just didn't get upset easy.
The third she liked much better. All she had to do was talk Ethan
into it. And she thought that it shouldn't be too hard. It would
be difficult but not impossible. The third way to become a Shadow
Knight was for a Master to release it. The only other way it
could be released was by four First Adepts.
The reason she knew that Ethan would be reluctant to do it was
because of what he told her it was like when he went through the
change. For two solid days it felt as if his blood were on fire,
was what he told her. That was when she promptly yelled at him
for not saying anything. He also gave her a strange reply. "In
the back of my mind, I knew it was supposed to be this way." It
was a strange response, but she respected it.
The reason she knew that she would have to argue with him, was
for a simple and uncomplicated fact. He hated seeing her in pain.
Jesse said the pain would be worse for her because if someone
opened her up to Knighthood; those two days of torment that Ethan
went through would all be added up and it would hit her in a
change that would only last for an hour. And it would be a very
long hour, where her body would go through the change.
Tosh looked over at Ethan, who still had his birth father's book
in his lap and sighed; to her knowledge, her stepbrother had
never opened it up. It was almost as if he were afraid to do so.
It was as if he were afraid of what he would find. To look at
him, a person would swear that he was as solid as a rock. But,
all this was starting to weare him down. She could tell by how
tightly he was holding onto the leather bound Chronicle. It was
almost a white-knuckle death grip, but not quite. She had no idea
it was from the flash back he had.
She had to smile a little as she thought about the past they had
together. He was always bailing her out, or trying to anyway. She
didn't know how many times he took the blame for something she
did. He usually wouldn't get away with it though, and that was
for a simple reason; she wouldn't allow it. If she messed up, she
claimed the responsibility. But, there were times that she let
him take the blame, for the little stuff. She did this because
she knew that it made him feel better to help her out of jams.
"Why such serious faces guys?" Jesse asked in a light voice. She
watched them both jump. They were both obliviously in deep
thought. "I got us a room. It's number seven. Let's hope seven
lives up to its luck, huh?"
"Yeah, let's hope." Ethan said with a chuckle as he got out of
the car. He held out a hand and helped Tosh out when he got out.
"Your room awaits, my lady." He stated with a silly accent. He
was trying his best to lighten his mood. The way he figured it,
if he could go through the motions long enough, maybe he really
wouldn't be so wound up.
Apparently, Tosh was in harmony with the idea. "Why thank you
kind sir."
Jesse just laughed at their antics. "C'mon, I want to get settled
in. We'll rest an hour, and then you and I are going to the mall
that is about a fifteen-minute drive from here. The manager told
me about it. I want you to practice your mental skills," She told
Ethan. Jesse then looked at Tosh. "You'll have to stay here. I
don't want his concentration straying." She told Tosh in a gentle
voice. She didn't want to hurt the girl's feelings, but Ethan was
capable of really messing someone up if he lost his
concentration.
"That's cool. I could use a nap anyway." Tosh replied as the
three of them walked towards the room. They got situated in no
time flat.
<img alt="0x01 graphic" src="StrangeNoGraphicData"><br>
Ethan never was one for crowds. He pretty much hated them his
entire life; now was no exception. But, this was sort of a
different situation. He was looking for something. Or to be more
specific: someone. A guinea pig to be exact. Jesse wanted him to
flex his mental muscle, as she put it. He really didn't know
whether this was right or not, but he was willing to go along
with it.
The boy had a plethora of emotions running through his mind. Was
he worthy of being called the Son of Dakrin? Was he even the real
Son of Dakrin? And why did Jesse follow him so blindly? Sure, he
might be a Shadow Knight, but The Son of Dakrin? How is she so
positive? These were the questions running through the boy's
mind.
He looked at all the people that were walking through the mall.
Ordinarily he would have not even come to a place like this. It
wasn't that he had anything against the people here, he didn't,
there was just that there were too many of them. Just off the
odds alone, there had to be at least one asshole out of every
twenty.
He looked over at Jesse, who was slightly smiling, and looking as
beautiful as ever. She had on the same leather jacket with a
sword attached to it, just as he did. Jesse got him a cool
looking leather jacket at the leather shop. A biker's jacket that
cost around two hundred and fifty dollars. They got it for free,
of course. Then they went to Ace Hardware and got a latch to put
on the jacket, for the sword.
Because of her mental abilities, no one said a word about the two
swords she was carrying, or about the fact that she took things
freely and attached the latch to the back of the jacket. From
that moment on, he had his on sword on his back, even if he had
no clue how to use it.
And then, there were the leather belt and boots that she got him.
He was carrying all five daggers that he brought from home on him
now. The boy felt like a walking arsenal. There was a dagger in
each black boot and three attached to the back of his belt. They
were all very light and shiny; Jesse said they were titanium.
With all the blades that he was carrying, they made him feel -
deadly.
If it weren't for Jesse's - what she called - mental vibe, he
knew that he would have been picked up for carrying deadly
weapons, or at least hassled.
Ethan looked at his reflection in the mirror, and his jaw almost
dropped. The boy standing in front of him was not the boy he
remembered. Here stood a boy, in the reflection, that had a dark
black leather jacket with an all the zippers and pockets someone
could want and a pair of expensive rich black silver tipped
boots. The daggers were inside them. Jesse said they were just
for back up. The main daggers he would be practicing with were
the ones on his belt.
But, what got his attention the most was the sword on his back.
It was slanted at a slight angle that went to the right, so that
he could pull it easily. Jesse's words floated back to him as if
they were dust on the wind.
"A Shadow Knight will live and die by his sword. None of them
will use guns. Even the ones who have undesirable morals, will
live by that code," She clipped the sword to his jacket. "At the
cabin, we will mainly work on your swordplay skills. I said
swordplay, but there is nothing playful about it. If you fuck up,
you'll lose your life." She told him sternly.
"I promise to give it 100%." He replied.
"You had best give it 110%; 'cause we're running out of time. I
would be teaching you swordplay now, but I think you need to
relax a little." She added softly, laying a hand on his forearm.
Even through the leather jacket, the hand made his skin tingle.
And an hour later, as he stood in front of the shiny window, he
could swear that he could almost feel that slight tingle. He came
to a sudden realization at that moment. He was in love with
Jesse. Either that or he really, really, liked her a lot. But, he
was sure that she was half of the reason that he left his home.
The other half was because Shawn told him it had to be done.
He only hoped that he didn't disappoint her.
When it came to battle, he wondered about himself. When it came
down to it, could he take a life? 'That's stupid. Yeah, I could,
but am I capable of it? Can I take a life? Can I watch the usual
brightness of a person's eyes slowly flicker out like a candle in
the wind?' He thought morbidly. Then he just shook his head, as
if trying to rid himself of such thoughts.
A light cuff to the shoulder shortly startled Ethan out of his
thoughts. "Whatcha ya thinking about that's got your face in such
a god awful frown?" Jesse asked, standing to the right of him.
She could hardly believe she snuck up on him. She had read Tosh's
thoughts, and they said that he was almost impossible to
surprise.
"Nothing important," He fibbed. "So, Boss, you got me decked out
in all this gear, what's next?" He was carefully trying to steer
the conversation from what he was thinking.
Jesse saw through the tactic but let it go anyway. "I thought
that we'd start with something easy. I told you about the vibe
that I put out that make people not notice my sword. Well, I've
been adding you into that ever since you put the sword on - I
want you to do it yourself now." She told him with a quirk of a
lip.
"And just how do I do that?"
Jesse frowned for a moment. "Well... Well, what I usually do is
imagine my mind flowing out in all directions. And simultaneously
give the command that they do not see the sword on my back. You
can also make it so that they don't see you at all." She added.
Then her eyes lost focus just for a second, then looked at Ethan.
"Ok, nobody at all can see us now. They're subconscious can see
us, and they will walk around us, but that's about it."
Ethan nodded at this.
"Ok, I want you to tell me when you're ready and then I will take
my barrier off you. If you're not using yours, they will see
you." She stated, sitting down on a bench that was near a water
fountain. "Are you ready?"
Ethan made himself imagine that he was sending out radio waves
that told people not to notice him. He thought it would be easier
this way than what Jesse told him to do. "Yeah, I'm ready." He
replied, nodding briskly.
Jesse let the barrier go on Ethan, but left it on herself. She
then watched in amusement as he walked into one of the clothing
stores where a woman was looking at some clothes on a rack. She
laughed outright when he waved his hands in front of her face
like in a classic movie scene. He turned back towards her, walked
over, and sat down. "Now what, Boss," He asked jovially. He was
getting a kick out of his new gifts.
"Now you'll learn how to enter a person's mind." She stated
simply. She had to laugh again at look of astonishment on Ethan's
face. "It really isn't that hard. You look around in their head
and rearrange a few things. If you mess up, I can fix it." He
really is very moral. I suppose that's good if he shall lead our
people. She thought. "Well? What are you waiting for?" She asked,
standing up.
Ethan stood up with her. This will probably be the hardest part.
He thought. "Ok, is there a specific person I should pick out or
will any do?"
"Pick someone you'd like to fool around with; you look a little
tense." Jesse replied cheekily.
Ethan gave a mock scowl and walked off in search of a subject,
leaving Jesse to think. Jesse might have been putting on a good
act, but the truth was that she was a nervous wreck. She had
emotions that she didn't know what to do with, the first and
foremost being Ethan.
She didn't know how, she didn't know why, but she was completely
certain that she was head over heals for the boy. She knew that
she shouldn't feel this way - but she did. She felt the love as
if it were rooted deep into the very depths of her soul. The only
thing that she could even possibly come up with that would
explain it, was the legend. The legend that said there really
were soul mates out there. It was just that most people were not
lucky enough to find theirs.
But, there was also more on her mind besides love. She had to
train him the best she could in the way of the Shadow. She was
having doubts if she could do that well enough. Jesse also knew
that part of that was pride though. She wanted Ethan to be above
just par when Shain got a hold on him. She wanted to prove to her
brother that she was more than a pretty face.
The last time she tried to prove herself to him, he ended up
furious, but had to go along with it never the less. She managed
to get herself to become a spy in the Shadow Zone in New Mexico.
She would send him reports when she could and give him the vitals
on how strong they were. Overall, she had put herself in a very
dangerous position. And she blew her cover by killing another
Knight.
She didn't tell Ethan or Tosh that Shain was sending three Blade
Runners for her safety, and hers alone. Shain always tried to
look out for her. In truth, Shain didn't believe in the myth of
the Son of Dakrin. On the phone, he said that he would indulge
her and find out for himself when he met the boy. And Jesse knew
that Shain would put Ethan through the ringer when he started
testing him.
What surprised Jesse the most was the fact that Ethan acted as
though it weren't a big deal that he wouldn't age. In fact, he
hadn't even asked how old she was. It was all for the best
though, she supposed. She really didn't want to tell him that she
was one hundred and seventeen years old. It wasn't something that
a person bragged about to someone. Especially since she didn't
look a day over 16. She had seen many things in her life. But, by
far, Ethan Remfield was the most interesting.
She just hoped that her unbelieving brother would go easy on
him.
Just then, she looked up to see Ethan making his way back to her.
Behind him was a girl with brown hair and blue eyes. The Dallas
Cowboys' jersey she was wearing, was a little big on her.
Accompanying the shirt, was a Dallas Cowboys' ball cap that she
had on backwards, and far enough back to show off her bangs.
Other than that, the girl was wearing a pair of jeans and
sneakers.
Jesse did a quick scan on the girl. She was scared out of her
mind, but that was understandable. Ethan was just using what he
knew and nothing else. He had just commanded her to follow him
and to act as if nothing were wrong, and not to talk. But on the
inside, the girl was terrified. Ordinarily, Jesse would have
relieved her fears, but she wanted Ethan to do it. The girl was
very pretty, though. And Jesse liked her name. Her name was
Kasey.
She would make him a good follower. Jesse mused. He'll need to
get one eventually. It might as well be now.
"Good, choice." Jesse praised Ethan. "Let's find a place that's a
little quieter. I saw a janitor's room that way, on the way over
here." She said, motioning with her head.
Ethan just nodded. "You got it."
As they started walking towards the janitor's room, Jesse was
doing an in-depth scan on the girl. She was 16 years old. But
that was not what pissed Jesse off. No, what pissed Jesse off
were the scars on the back of her thighs. They were very light,
but there, nonetheless. They were there because her father, the
preacher, decided that he needed to beat The Devil out of her at
least three times a week. When Ethan saw this, she knew he would
feel better about what she would ask him to do.
The janitor's door was locked, but with no more than a flicker of
a thought, it was just as easily unlocked. The three of them
walked in. "I've decided something, Ethan."
Ethan looked at her with curiosity.
"Kasey Williams here shall be your follower," She started,
holding up a hand to forestall the protests that she knew were
coming. "I want you to look into her mind first. Look at her home
life. Look at what she has to live like. Then make a decision."
She finished.
Ethan let out an explosive sigh. "All right, but how do I look
into her mind?" I can't believe I'm actually doing this. He
thought. And I definitely can't believe I'm considering getting a
slave... Oops, I mean follower. He thought with a little
sarcasm.
"All you have to do is reach out with your mind and close your
eyes, soon it will find a connection with hers. You will be able
to see all of her memories and emotions. And you should be able
to manipulate erase or create new things in her mind at your
will." Jesse replied as if she were talking about the weather.
She was acting as if it weren't a big deal on purpose. She didn't
want Ethan to be too nervous.
Ethan closed his eyes and felt a moment of dizziness that lasted
no longer than few seconds, then his mind suddenly connected to
Kasey's mind. It was amazing, or at least it was to him. The
first thing he saw was how terrified she was. He erased that
immediately and made her completely comfortable around him. He
could see how her mind operated her body. He could see her
memories. He could see her fears and hopes. Then he grew angry
when he saw her father.
He would make her his. But, he would leave her personality; she
would exist just for him. If he were truthful, he would say that
this rather put him on a power trip, totally dominating someone.
He was the only friend that she had. That and she was very
sexually attracted to him, and wasn't shy about it either. The
one thing that he didn't make her do was call him "Master". He
would be called "my Lord" instead.
Ethan couldn't believe some of the things that this girl's father
did to her. He would beat her if he thought that she had even
kissed a boy. And then, deep into the night, guess who would
sneak into her room? That's right, her uptight preacher father;
and he would do all the things to her that he beat her for
thinking about.
It was almost scary to Ethan how natural all this seemed. It was
very easy to rewrite someone -- very easy, but also very
exhausting. He changed many things on her body as well as her
mind. The girl would no longer have to shave, and her nipples
were more highly sensitive to pleasure now.
When Ethan pulled out of the girls mind, he was breathing very
raggedly, not to mention almost exhausted. He looked over at
Jesse, who was leaning against the wall of the small room. He had
left the silence command on the girl, for now. He wanted Jesse to
look her over. "Care to check my work, sensei?" He asked a little
breathlessly. He was too tired to chuckle at the small joke.
"That's a sure thing, grasshopper. But, first let me do
something." She walked over to him and laid a bare hand on his
cheek.
Ethan could feel the power flow into him. In a matter of seconds,
he felt just as good as he did when woke up that morning. Then
her hand was gone, and she was breathing just a little heavily.
Ethan looked at her with awe. "What did you do?" He asked with
wonder.
"I just shared some of my Kinetics with you," She stated. "It's
not a big deal." She stated, and she was already starting to
breathe normally.
Ethan quit talking at that moment because he saw that Jesse was
staring at Kasey. Jesse stared at her a good five minutes. Then,
with her mouth agape, she turned towards Ethan. "Jeez, Ethan, do
you know what you did?!"
"What you told me to?" He asked, clearly confused.
"Yes you did that, but you also burned the commands into her head
so goddamn deep that I couldn't remove them even if I tried."
"Is this a bad thing?" Ethan asked. He was getting a little
worried now.
"Not unless you think its ok that the girl can't be away from you
for more than a couple of days. If she's gone any longer than
that, she slips into a severe depression. I've seen it happen
before, and it's not a pretty sight," She watched as Ethan began
to grow a little pale. She decided to reassure him a little. "But
look, if you're strong enough to put the commands in that deep;
you can most likely take them out."
"Yeah, maybe I can. I'll definitely look at into it at the
cabin." Ethan replied, but it sounded as if he were trying to
convince himself.
Jesse smirked at him. "Nobody will get mad at you for being too
good, Ethan," She looked over at the girl, then back at Ethan.
She then lowered her shades. "Why don't you and she get to know
one another. I think I want to do some shopping." She stated,
giving Ethan a wink and pushing her shades back up. Then she
promptly walked out the door before Ethan could even say a
thing.
Ethan watched as the lock locked by itself and knew it was
Jesse's Kinetics at work. He looked over at Kasey and was
surprised. He had programmed her to be happy with him, but her
eyes were misted over in tears. He pulled off the silence
command, and she started sobbing openly, which startled him.
"What's wrong?" He asked, but thought it sounded more than a
little lame. He rushed over and engulfed her into a hug.
"You don't really want me." She cried out.
"Yeah I do, I promise." He stated. What have I gotten myself
into?
"Really, my Lord?" She asked, eyes full of hope.
He knew one way that she would be positive that he wanted her. He
leaned down and caught her mouth in a deep kiss, making sure to
press his thigh against her jean-clad crotch. She moaned into his
mouth and ground her crotch into his leg. She was very sensitive
due to his reprogramming, and it was showing.
Ethan broke the kiss and took three steps back. "Undress for me."
He ordered gently.
"Yes, my Lord." Was the response that was given.
Ethan watched as the brown-haired girl undressed for him and had
one thought: Mine. She took off the jersey and bra first and gave
Ethan a view of her very beautiful tits. "Are they to your
liking, my Lord?" She asked demurely, giving the objects in
question a little jiggle.
"They're perfect." Ethan responded immediately. He was being
turned on highly by this girl. He was even more turned on when
she slipped her sneakers off and pushed down her jeans, leaving
her only in her socks.
She would have taken them off, but Ethan made his move. "Lie
down." He told her, holding her hand as she slid to the floor.
When she was completely laid down, Ethan started by kissing her
neck, listening to her soft mewing noises. He worked his way down
her body further. When he sucked a nipple in his mouth, Kasey's
back arched and she screamed out, "MY LORD!" Then her body was
racked in a mind-blowing orgasm.
When she settled down somewhat, Ethan slowly worked his cock into
her well-lubricated pussy. He started with slow and steady
strokes. All the while Kasey kept moaning. The longer he went;
the louder she moaned. After about five minutes, she was moaning
constantly and chanting. "My Lord, my Lord, my Lord."
That was all Ethan could take. He came with a loud grunt, setting
off another orgasm in Kasey. Her back arched and she squealed
loudly, then promptly passed out.
Ethan rolled off her and looked up at the ceiling. Being a Shadow
Knight does have its benefits. He thought with a smirk.

Chapter Six
Jesse had to laugh outright at the deepness of Ethan's blush.
Ethan hadn't been caught in the act, but the boy was caught with
his pants down - so to speak. And Kasey was completely undressed,
save for a pair of ankle length socks. She also noticed the girl
must have gotten a little wild because she had managed to rip
Ethan's shirt and because of that, she could see a hicky... No
that was no hicky. She knew that symbol very well. It could have
been a birthmark but was too well defined.
Oh yes, she knew that symbol. She had lived most of her life
under that symbol. It was a symbol of truth, honor and justice.
It was The Red Dragon. It was the symbol of Dakrin, and of the
second coming. Everything that she already knew was proven
correct in that one moment and it made her grow pale. She really
was in the presence of a power that might have the potential to
be the strongest in the world, if properly trained.
After Ethan and Kasey had gotten themselves collected, Ethan
looked at Jesse. She looked as though she had just seen a ghost.
"Hey, Jess," There was no response. "Hey, Jesse," Still, there
was no response. Then he lightly tapped her on the cheek. She
seemed to snap out of her reverie on that.
"I can't believe it. It's true, it's all true." She murmured in
awe. She was looking at Ethan with eyes the size of saucers.
"What are you talking about, Jesse? You're starting to freak me
out a little, I hope ya know that." He told her with a nervous
chuckle, and he wasn't lying.
"You have the mark of The Second Coming. Haven't you read
anything of your father's book?" Then she quoted a passage out of
the Chronicles. "And there shall come a time that a Shadow Master
will come to be; My symbol shall cover his heart and mind. And
there will be a river of blood that will flow from those who
doubt."
When she finished the quote, she poked him in the spot on his
chest, which happened to be above his heart. "This means that the
Knights in New Mexico and many of other Knights are being fools.
The Prophecies are true, even if they don't want them to be."
Ethan stood very still for more than a few minutes, taking in the
quote that Jesse just gave from The Shadow Chronicles. It was
beginning to become too much for him, so he did what he usually
did when he didn't want to deal with it at that point in time; he
shoved it to the back of his mind.
Jesse took one look at Ethan and knew that he needed sometime.
"Look, Ethan, why don't you take a walk and clear your head.
Kasey and I will go to her house, and I'll have to reprogram her
parents so that she can come with us. Will you go try to get your
thoughts straight before you come back? After all, your sister
would kill me if I brought you back like this." She said
jokingly. But in truth, she wasn't feeling very jovial.
Ethan tried to smile, but it was morbid at best. "Yeah, a walk
would be great." Am I going to cause a river of blood? He thought
and involuntarily shivered.
"Just don't stay gone too long, all right?" Jesse asked with a
tint of worry in her voice. She knew that he needed some time
alone, but that didn't mean that she liked leaving him alone.
Jesse looked over at Kasey who looked as she was about to cry at
the prospect of him leaving.
<'Reassure Kasey, would you? She looks like she's gonna break
because you're leaving.'> The voice inside his head startled
Ethan slightly. He didn't know whether he would ever get used to
people talking to him telepathically. He looked over towards
Kasey, who had tears in her eyes again.
"You're going to leave me?" She asked in a teary voice.
"I promise I will be back soon, a few hours at the most. Just
stick close to Jesse, ok?" He asked. Then he sent a calming
command, and she gave him the brightest smile he had seen since
he had first met her.
He then looked at Jesse. "I'll be back, I promise."
"I'll hold you to that Ethan Remfield." Jesse responded with a
sweet voice. She could feel the connection between them, the
love, it was stronger than ever; she suspected that was why she
wasn't jealous of Kasey.
What will the future hold? She wondered as she watched him walk
out of the room, to try to walk his worries away as an athlete
would try to run them away.
<img alt="0x01 graphic" src="StrangeNoGraphicData"><br>
One Hour Later
Ethan walked down the side of the highway almost blindly he was
so deep in thought. He hadn't had this much on his mind since he
was ten years old and had a mental break, shutting himself of
from everyone. But, he knew he could not do that again. Too many
people were depending on him. Moreover, he had no clue what to
do. It was a little disconcerting. The reason for that being that
it seemed like all through his life he had an answer to
everything. But on this -- On this, he was drawing a total
blank.
He was starting to feel like that helpless little boy that he was
in Hell's Outhouse, and that was something that he definitely
hated. He was having flashbacks of his past as he walked, and
they were blocking out all things that were around him, including
passing cars. Or people pulling over and asking him if he needed
a ride. He would just walk on, not even seeing them.
He was back in a kitchen in Brooklyn. A plate slipped from his
hand while he was doing the dishes and broke. The next thing he
knew was the harsh slap across his face from his foster mother,
then her sharp nails going down his back. They felt like razor
flames... 
Then he was back with his foster father. His foster father told
him to fetch him a beer from the kitchen. The man had just gotten
off work, and he always had a beer after work. Ethan thought that
he would get on his good side and open it for him that day.
Halfway there though he dropped the Miller Pony. He could still
feel the kicks of the steel-toed boots ramming in his leg... 
Then he was back in the house that he hated the most. It belonged
to the Baily family. His foster father and mother had dropped to
hits of acid and were tripping out. All the sudden they thought
that the nine-year old boy, Ethan, was a Nark. Mr. Baily shot him
in the leg twice with a 22. revolver before he came to his senses
and realized what he had done. To the man's credit, he did drive
Ethan to the hospital.
Ethan stopped dead in his tracks. I gotta quit thinking like
this. He chastised himself. I can't change the past, but I can
try to make a difference in the future... It's easier said than
done, though. The last he thought bitterly.
For the first time, the boy actually took in where he was. He was
right in front of a convenience store, and he suddenly found that
he was very thirsty. Without a second thought, he walked into the
store.
There weren't that many people in the store. There was an old
black man running the cash register and a couple of girls that
were looking in the candy section of the store with their mother.
He sent out a vibe that made them not see the sword on his back
and went directly to the drink section. He almost got a case of
beer, but changed his mind. He grabbed a 20-ounce Mountain Dew
instead.
He looked back over to the girls that were picking out candy with
their mother. They couldn't have been more than eight years old;
twins at that. They looked to be the personification of
innocence. They were all bright-eyed and full of laughter.
Was I ever like that? He mused as he walked towards the counter.
It never occurred to him that he could have just simply walked
out with the soda and had the man at the register ignore him.
While he was reminiscing and looking at the two cute little kids,
another man came in. This one was not cute. He was wearing a ski
mask and was holding a 9mm Berretta. Ethan could tell by the look
in his green eyes that he was jacked up on something. It was
probably meth, he guessed, do to the fact that the man's pupils
were huge.
The man lifted the gun in the air and fired it once. The little
girls screamed, as did the mother. The man behind the counter
turned ashen. "Nobody moves, and nobody gets hurt!" He screamed
out. "Give me all the cash old man!" He screamed at the cashier.
The cashier did so as fast as he could. Ethan saw something at
that moment and he didn't have time to stop it. One of the little
girls, that Ethan thought was pure innocence, made a dash for the
door before her mother could grab her.
The gunman, going off instinct and wild nerves shot blindly,
shooting the little eight-year-old girl right below the
collarbone. Ethan didn't notice that the man's eyes said he was
sorry; Ethan didn't notice anything. He moved faster than he ever
thought possible and grabbed the gun and the hand simultaneously.
He did a viciously quick twist, and the man's forearm bone broke
through the skin. He let out an ear-piercing scream.
But that was abruptly cut off by Ethan using the other hand in a
lightening fast movement, ripping the man's throat completely
out. And just for good measure, he nailed the man's knee with a
malicious kick as he was going down, affectively crushing it. The
man passed out from the pain and died from the blood loss.
Ethan went straight to where the prone girl was lying, with her
mother bent over her. There has to be something I can do! He
thought wildly. The mother was franticly sobbing, so he reached
into her mind and calmed her down a little. But, he found that he
could calm her down very little. In the back of his mind, he made
a note to ask Jesse about that. But, he got her to stop sobbing;
now she was just weeping.
He would always wonder later why he did what he did next. And he
would never come up with an answer. He laid his hand over the
wound of the little girl, and he didn't know how he did it, but a
sort of power went out of him and into the wound. He stayed like
that for only a few minutes. But when he finished, he fell back
into complete exhaustion... But he saw the girl was healed.
With great effort, he stumbled to his feet. He had never felt so
drained in his life. Whatever he just did, he knew that he
couldn't do it all the time. He was so drained he couldn't even
erase the memories of the people that were watching, as he knew
he should do. "I have to get out of here before the cops get
here." He just realized he killed a man without even thinking
about it. The proof was lying about five feet away in a bloody
mess.
Without a word, the woman that was holding the child that was
starting to come around threw him a set of keys. "It's the blue
mini-van. Take it; it's yours. It's the least I can do."
Ethan just gave her a very grateful look and stumbled out the
store door.
<img alt="0x01 graphic" src="StrangeNoGraphicData"><br>
<'Ethan, where are you?'> Jesse's voice made him swerve on the
road and damn near go into a ditch.
He got the van under control before he answered. <'I'm about five
minutes away. What? Were ya getting a little worried about me,
Darlin?'> He sent back. He even surprised himself by using that
endearment with Jesse. He never thought he was one for
endearments.
<'Yes, I was worried. But there's something else, and I don't
think you're going to like it. It's about Tosh... '> She started
in a nervous voice. She hated giving people news that they didn't
want to hear.
<'Is there something wrong with her?'> He asked in a cautious
mental voice.
<'Well... '>
<'Just spit it out Jesse.'> There was no hiding the worried and
scared note in his voice now.
<'To make a long story short; she's a Shadow Knight now.'> Jesse
answered in a clipped voice.
Ethan was silent for about a full minute. "By process of
elimination, I'm guessing she killed herself." He said aloud and
mentally. Both had an angry tint to them. He also said it just as
he pulled into the motel parking lot. <'I'll be right in.'>
When Ethan walked in, he was fully prepared to yell and scream at
his stepsister, even if he were exhausted, but all the anger
disappeared when he got a look at her. She was twisting and
turning in agony. Jesse and Kasey were trying to hold her down so
that she wouldn't hurt herself. He took one look at the knife
that was on the end table that had blood on it and knew what she
did. That fact and the fact that the chest of her shirt was
covered in blood clued him in as well. He could tell that she was
completely healed though, after he did a quick mental scan.
It was just that the changes she was going through were extremely
painful. "How long has she been like this?" He asked Jesse.
"She was like this when we got here. She's having trouble
speaking, but she managed to get out that she did it about
forty-five minutes ago it should wear off at any time, if that's
the case."
As if Tosh's body were listening to their conversation, her back
arched very hard one last time, and then she went completely
limp. Ethan took the time to look over his adoptive sister with a
critical eye. Her arms, once girlishly toned, were now very
toned, as if she had been lifting weights for months on end.
Since her shirt was pulled up a little, he could see her abs.
They looked the same. Yes, Tosh had turned herself into a Shadow
Knight. He really didn't know how he should feel about it, or why
she did it. Well that was a lie. He pretty much knew why she did
it. She wanted to be like him. Now they were on equal footing.
Ethan made sure that she was peacefully sleeping when he motioned
Jesse over to the other bed. He mentally told Kasey to watch over
Tosh, and let him know if anything changed. The girl agreed
readily.
When Ethan and Jesse sat down on the other bed, he began to send
her images and words about what happened at the store. The
further he got; the wider her eyes got. "What, that's not normal?
Can't other Shadow Knights heal people?" He asked, confused.
"Yeah, but it usually takes three or four Masters to do it.
Either that or about eight Adepts, and that's pushing it." She
responded with a frown. But, then her face lighted up with a
smile. "You're gonna be a great Master. I just know it."
"I hope you're right Jesse, I hope you're right."
<img alt="0x01 graphic" src="StrangeNoGraphicData"><br>
Ethan noticed three things right away when he woke up. The first
being that it wasn't daylight yet, that was the easy one since it
was obvious. The second was that he was freshly cleaned of the
blood he had gotten on him the night before, and he didn't
remember doing that. And the third was obvious. He was completely
naked. I must have only slept a few hours. He thought.
But that was when he looked around the room. It was completely
empty. Then he heard a key hit the lock to the door; his first
instinct was to grab a sword. This stunned him somewhat because
he still didn't have the faintest clue how to use one. But, it
was a mute fact anyhow, seeing how it was Jesse, Tosh and Kasey
walking through the door.
"Well, looks like sleeping beauty has finally woken up." Jesse
stated. By the tone of her voice, she was obviously in a good
mood.
Sleeping beauty? He thought. "What do you mean?" He asked
groggily. He was still tired, but he was waking up slowly but
surely.
"You've been asleep all night and all day. It's 8:15 in the PM,
Bro," Tosh stated as she flopped down on the bed. "Did you have
any good dreams?"
He was becoming fully awake now, at a rapid pace for some cause.
And one of the things that he noticed was Tosh's hair; it was its
original color of blonde. "Yeah, I had a good dream. I dreamed I
beat the shit out of my sister for being a dumb ass." He stated,
sitting up in bed.
"Now you look Ethan, before you go postal on me, let me explain
why I did it." She replied with a pleading voice; a voice she
knew he had no defenses against. "I know there is some major shit
that's going to be coming down, and I want to be on the same
level as the bad guys, at least, when the shit hits the fan. You
can't get mad at me for wanting to protect you. Besides, Mom made
me promise to look out for you." She said with that same pleading
voice. She threw in her trump card - Mom.
Ethan just gave an explosive sigh. He never could stay mad at
her. And she looked cute as hell the way she was dressed. She was
dressed in a similar manor as Jesse; sans the weapons. Ethan
doubted there were that many places you could get a proper sword.
And if he understood Jesse correctly, all Shadow Knights' weapons
were made of titanium.
"We were about to go get some pizza for supper. You wanna come or
do you wanna lie in bed all day?" Tosh added. A twinkle was in
her eyes, but Ethan couldn't see it because she was wearing a
pair of round mirror-plated shades just like his. They probably
were his. That brand was hard to find. Joanna had ordered them
from a catalogue because he liked them. They were lightweight and
durable.
"When have I ever turned down pizza?" The question was
rhetorical. He slipped out of bed and both, Tosh and Jesse,
blushed deep red. Hehe. Paybacks are a bitch. He thought. The
only thing Kasey did was smile big, though. She had already slept
with him, so there really was nothing to be embarrassed about
when it came to that.
It only took Ethan about seven minutes to put all his gear on,
and they were out the door. In the car, Ethan listened to the
girls chat as he drove. He was glad that he left Kasey's
personality intact. She and Tosh had many things in common; and
she was a Cowboys fan, as was he, even if they were losing this
year. His way of thinking was that you should stick with your
team through the good and the bad. That's why there were Cubs
fans in the world.
On the way to the pizza parlor, Kasey couldn't quit telling Ethan
how happy she was that he had decided to take her in and all. She
didn't have to explain what her home life had been like, he
already knew that when they met. He did send mental messages to
Tosh of what it was like though, which pissed her off to no end.
She calmed down a little though when Jesse told her what her
punishment for them was.
Kasey's parents would take turns whipping each other with a
strap, just like what they did with Kasey. They would each get
twenty lashes a day. Tosh had to laugh aloud at that. It was
fitting, but she would have done worse.
The one thing that Tosh didn't like was when Jesse told her that
she would not train her without Ethan's permission. Ethan was
holding off on the idea. The boy didn't exactly relish having
Jesse train his sister to be able to kill. It wasn't on the top
of the list of his things to do.
It was when they pulled into the parking lot of the pizza place
that the shit hit the fan. They pulled-in between two vehicles in
the parking lot and as soon as that happened; a black van cut-in
behind them, effectively blocking them in.
"Shit. Ethan, stay in the car." Jesse told him. Then Ethan felt
something odd. It was almost as if he could feel energy rolling
off Jesse. He had no idea that she had just bound herself with
her Kinetics.
Of course, none of the people in the car listened and they all
got out. They got out of the car just in time to see the van door
slide open, and four figures got out. They were dressed in solid
black leather trench coats, and Ethan could barely make out the
symbol of a blue dragon on each of their shoulders. But, he was
very quick to notice the swords on their back.
They were all blonde headed, and Ethan was wondering if all
Shadow Knights had to be blonde. The apparent leader stepped
forward. He looked no older than seventeen. When he spoke, it was
a voice of pure confidence. "Well, if it isn't the infamous Jesse
Budroux." He stated with a smile that never reached his eyes.
"You know I'm going to get that promotion when I bring in your
traitorous head."
Jesse pulled her sword in one fluid motion. So did Ethan, only he
was very uncertain about his skill; with just cause. "I think
you'll find that my head doesn't come off that easily."
Ethan watched what happened next with a somewhat of an awed
expression. Two of the four Shadow Knights they were facing...
Their heads just seemed to tip back and fall off. Jesse didn't do
it, for she was still standing beside him. But, then he looked
about five feet to the right.
There was a girl standing there, holding a sword that was
dripping with blood, shoulder hight. Her pale blonde hair fell
over her mirror-plated shades, and she had a braid that went from
the side of her head and fell all the way to the middle of her
chest. She was wearing a plain black leather jacket that had four
gold stars on the right sleeve. "You boys look like you're a long
way from New Mexico." Her voice sounded amused, although she just
killed two people. "And you are definitely fuckin' with the wrong
person's sister." This was said with more than a little edge to
her voice.
Ethan could feel the power coming from this new comer. It was
even stronger than what he felt with Jesse. Her shades were
lowered, only slightly, making it so he got a good look at her
eyes. Her eyes looked calculative, cunning and cold as she looked
at the two remaining Knights.
Jesse, Ethan, Tosh and Kasey watched with mixed emotions as the
color drained from the two remaining Knights' faces. "This is no
concern of yours, Blade Runner," The biggest one of the two got
up the gumption to say.
"But it is mine!" Jesse said and waded into battle.
Ethan had never seen anything like it. He would have at least
tried to help, but it was over before he could do anything. Jesse
moved faster than he could see. All he saw was the sparks and
blur of the two swords as they collided. She killed the first in
mere seconds. He was so riveted by watching her fight that he
didn't even notice that the other girl that killed the first two,
killed the third also.
In the end, there were four headless corpses lying at their
feet.
The girl with the pale hair dropped to a knee in front of Jesse.
"Mistress, your brother sends his regards." She said in a soft
voice. She wasn't even out of breath.
"Jeez, Kait, get up. You know how I hate formalities," When the
girl finally stood up, Jesse looked at her friends. "Meet Kait
Munroe, the best Blade Runner in the western hemisphere."
Kait blushed deeply at the compliment and looked annoyed that she
would blush in front of people. She pushed up her shades, wiped
her blade clean with a rag she pulled out of her pocket, and then
sheathed her sword. Kait then proceeded to slam a fist over where
her heart would be, she also brought her heals together. "It is
good to meet you."
<'Follow suit, it's how we greet fellow Knights.'> Jesse sent
mentally to Tosh and Ethan.
Ethan and Tosh both followed suit, slamming their fists over
their heart and bowing their head. "It's good to meet you too
Kait, and at a fortunate time I might add."
Tosh just nodded her agreement. And then, there was a moment of
silence.
But Jesse soon broke that. "I thought my brother was sending
three Knights, Kait?" She asked quizzically.
"We were ambushed halfway here. I lost two of my men, my Mistr I
mean Jesse." She stated, catching herself before she finished the
formality. "It was blind luck that I found you. I was doing
random scans of this whole area. There are more here looking for
you. If you would care for my advice, I think we should make for
The Cabin now."
Jesse nodded her agreement. Then she looked at Tosh. She was
looking confused and a little pale, staring down at the dead
bodies. "Why did you have to cut their heads off?"
Kait looked at Jesse and Jesse shook her head 'no' to the silent
question of either of them having been trained. "We tend to
regenerate very quickly. Decapitation is the only 100% way we
know that will kill us." Kait explained slowly. She remembered
her first sight of a fight like this. Kait wanted to go easy on
the girl. Besides, she was cuter than all get out. She thought a
little saucily.
Jesse noted the fact that Kait wasn't exactly showing the respect
to Ethan that she thought she should. So, she thought that she
should get something out of the way right then and there. "Hey,
Kait, can I show you something before we leave?"
"Of course," The Knight simply responded.
Jesse carefully walked over to Ethan and stood right front of
him. "Just trust me." She murmured and began to unbutton his
shirt. When it was halfway unbuttoned, she turned towards Kait.
"Would you mind telling me what you think about this?"
Kait had to admit, she did not believe in the legend that the Son
of Dakrin would come and unite all the righteous Shadow Knights,
but what she saw in the next few seconds changed her beliefs in
an instant. Because Shadow Knights had excellent night vision,
Kait saw the symbol clearly.
The Red Dragon. The Symbol of Dakrin. Kait knew the prophecy by
heart, as did most Knights.
She paled a little, but then her jaw set and she dropped to one
knee, pulling her sword in one fluid motion and laying it before
her new lord. "My soul, skill and sword are yours, my Lord." She
stated in a shaky voice. How could I have shown him such
dishonor? She thought wildly.
<'Tell her that you accept and to rise... It's time to start
acting like a leader, Ethan.'> Jesse's mental voice was gentle
and loving.
"I accept; you may rise," He told the Blade Runner. "You will be
a true asset to the cause, Kait." Ethan predicted aloud.
Kait thought that if she smiled any harder that her face would
split as she stood up. "My Lord, I believe that we should leave
this place, unless you want to rearrange some people's thoughts
when they come out."
"Yeah, we should get the hell out of dodge. I think that we
should take the van that these guys had, since we have another
person along for the ride." He added, giving Kait a smile.
"I'm not going to argue with that." Jesse stated and started for
the van.



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