Ayumi (c)
Chapter Nine
By Fiction Writer #13
(rom, nosex, paranormal, teen, preteen)

The path cut through the forest for the electrical towers was like a 
canyon.  Trees rose up on either side of the trough, blocking any kind 
of breeze that might have been blowing, but allowing the sun to roast 
anyone unlucky enough to be within.  The relief we felt leaving the 
sticker bushes and thick weeds behind was short lived; we'd simply 
left one form of torture for another.  Under the trees the air was thick 
and suffocating, out in the open it was an oven.  The sun baked us, 
turning what should have been an easy hike down a wide-open road 
into a slow hellish march.

The ground crunched under our shuffling feet.  When the path was 
originally cleared, a service road had been laid down with a gravel 
surface.  Many years had passed since then and very little gravel 
remained in place.  Most had sunk into the earth; the rest lay 
scattered across the tree cleared path.  The locals had been using 
the service road as an off road track.  The deep ruts of their dirt bikes 
and ATV's crisscrossed and weaved between the towers.  Their tire 
tracks remained frozen in time, left behind when the ground had been 
muddy, and baked into permanence by the summer sun.

The towers were erected every hundred yards, black snakes of 
cables hanging limply high in the air between them.  Each tower was 
painted a strange gray-green-blue color, but red rust could be seen 
around most of the rivets holding the many steel beams together like 
a giant erector set.  The tops of each tower were adorned with large 
domed red lights, which would have been slowly flashing a warning to 
low flying aircraft, if there had been any power left within the wires or 
back up batteries.

Behind us the road slowly ascended a hill before disappearing back 
down the other side.  If we followed in that direction we would 
eventually find ourselves at the Highland Dam, and the reservoir.  
God, I wished we'd gone in that direction.  At least I knew there was 
water there, and some relief from this hell.  Instead we were heading 
for the city, a place where I hoped we would find someone willing to 
help us.  That path stretched on into infinity in front of us, the heat 
rising from the ground causing the air to shimmer, obscuring anything 
too distant.

It had been hours since we last heard the distant growls of the 
Zyrogoth, enough time for me to begin thinking that maybe they'd 
stopped chasing us.  That thought made me relax enough to slow our 
pace, but Ayumi didn't share my hope.  She kept right on trudging, 
despite the fact that she was barefoot.  It must have been painful, I 
know I would have been a little pussy if I hadn't been wearing 
sneakers, but she just kept on going as if it didn't faze her at all.  
Okay, I know it was a dick move on my part for not offering her my 
shoes to wear, but come on; she could heal herself if she needed to, 
and I couldn't.  All it would have done was slow us down even more.  
Like I said... I would have been a pussy if I had to walk barefoot over 
the hot dirt, gravel, and occasional pieces of broken glass.

Ayumi became unusually quiet at some point during our trek.  She 
hadn't uttered a word in what seemed like forever to me.  I chalked it 
up to the heat.  After all, I hadn't said much myself since we started 
toward the city, mostly because my mouth was so dry that speaking 
hurt my throat.  We weren't the only things keeping quiet.  There was 
a peculiar absence of birds as we walked, and even the cicadas 
stopped chirping in the summer heat.  All the silence was okay by 
me, it gave me time to think, something I hadn't really had a chance 
to do until now.

It bothered me that no one, not a single soul, bothered to come out of 
their home when all those bikers showed up.  Maybe they were just 
as afraid as we were, but I had a nagging feeling that it was 
something else.  Everyone in Highland Heights had been acting weird 
long before Ayumi made her appearance on my front lawn.  First 
Tommy and his family, then the other kids in my school... before I 
knew it, it seemed the whole town was in on something.  I know that 
sounds paranoid.  I know that's how most kids feel at my age, but 
still, something was up.  An entire town doesn't just sit back and allow 
themselves to be overrun by a biker gang.  The shit that went down 
between those two cops in front of my house all but confirmed my 
suspicions, and Ayumi's revelation about Bethany put the cherry on 
top.  Shit was going down all around me, and I was not a part of it... 
as usual.  Always on the outside looking in, that's me.

"Ooof!" Ayumi suddenly stopped walking and I nearly fell over her. 
"Hey, give some warning if you're going to just stop like that."

"Sorry." Her voice cracked with dryness. "Someone's coming."

"Where?"

I spun around scanning the trees and the path behind us before I 
noticed she was pointing in the direction we were heading.  Far off, 
obscured by the quavering heat haze, a dark shape could vaguely be 
seen.

Ayumi looked up at me, her face flushed and sweaty. "What should 
we do?"

"Let's get off the road.  We'll go back into the woods a bit and wait for 
them to pass.  We could use a break anyway."

She smiled weakly at me, not really happy about going back into the 
spiky bushes, but grateful for a chance to sit down out of the sun.

"Come on, it looks like there's a break in the bushes over there."

The opening into the bushes led into the woods like a funnel, causing 
us to crawl on our hands and knees.  It went back about ten feet 
before twisting to the left.  At the end of the cave made of vegetation 
we were surprised to find a small clearing, just big enough for the two 
of us to lie down, and covered overhead by vines and branches at a 
height that allowed us to stand comfortably.  The ground was littered 
with a thick layer of dead leaves.  For some reason it actually felt 
cooler within our little hidey-hole, much cooler than out in the sun, 
and the air wasn't as oppressive with humidity.

"I like it here." Ayumi flopped into the leaves with a loud sigh. "Can 
we stay?"

"Sounds good to me," I chuckled before lying down beside her. "But I 
think we need to find some water before we move in permanently." 

Ayumi nodded to me, and then crawled over to a spot where she 
could peek through the thick brush and see a narrow section of the 
service road.

"Who do you think he is?" She looked over her shoulder at me. 
"Think he's friendly?"

"I dunno; Maybe." I crawled over and joined her. "I'd rather not find 
out the hard way, though.  We'll just let him pass; hopefully he didn't 
see us climbing in here."

My Mom tried to instill a deep fear of strangers in me since the first 
day she let me out of her sight.  It didn't really work, though I 
understood her reasoning behind it.  No one was coming to kidnap 
me, nor was I dumb enough to ever put myself in a situation that 
would have allowed it.  Not all strangers were the bogeyman, but I 
didn't want to risk this one turning out to be the guy my Mom had 
always warned about.

"It'll take him a while to get here, he was pretty far off." I rolled unto 
my back and stared up through the leaves at the tiny specks of blue 
sky that could be seen. "You must be exhausted.  Why don't you take 
a quick nap and I'll wake you when he gets closer."

"Okey-dokie."

There was a slight rustle of leaves as she snuggled closer to me and 
rested her head on my chest.

"Justin?"

"Yeah."

"Are you... are you mad that you found me?"

"What?" My hand automatically moved up to play with her hair.  I 
don't know why I did that, it just... I don't know.  It felt right. "No, I'm 
not mad."

She snuggled even closer, and despite how much heat she added to 
my own, I let her stay.

"I love you, Justin."

I froze.  Words that should have been fairly simple to say simply stuck 
in my throat.  The moment stretched on and on and on in 
uncomfortable silence as my mind spun in a dizzy circle.  What 
should I say?  Should I tell her that I love her too?  Do I?  Is it wrong 
to say it if I don't mean it?  Would it be leading her on, make her think 
that something more was going on than what really was?  Wait... did I 
feel the same?  Do I love her?  And if so... is it love like I love a 
girlfriend, or is it love like I love my Mom and Dad?  Jesus Christ, 
what should I say?  Why is this so damn hard?  Why'd she have to go 
and say something like that?  What should I do?  What should I SAY?

"I..."

Before words of any kind could be formed by my chapped lips, her 
gentle snoring reached my ears.  Thank God.  I really needed to 
figure things out, especially how I felt about her.  The last thing I 
needed was to say something stupid and ruin what we had together.  
But what was that, really?  What was going on between us?  Were 
we friends?  More than friends?  What if we were more than friends?  
I mean come on, she's eight and I'm thirteen.  Could that ever work?  
What would my parents have to say about that?  I'm sure it wouldn't 
be positive, though I'm sure they'd be thankful I wasn't gay at least.  
No, not gay, just a fucking pedophile.  I'm sure they'd love that.  Wait 
a second... would that make me a pedophile?  I mean, I'm not an 
adult... but I'm not a preteen either... so what's the rule about this?

Too many questions, way too many questions and no answers.  
Thinking about everything left me excited, afraid, confused, and 
lonely.  I wished there was someone I could talk to about this stuff.  
Someone who had answers, but wasn't the kind of person who would 
judge me, or hold the information over my head as blackmail.

I'm sure Ayumi would have fit that bill, but I couldn't exactly talk to her 
about her now could I?  She'd just get upset that I doubted my 
feelings, that I wasn't sure if I was in love with her or just loved her.  
Damn it, why does this stuff have to be so complicated?  Why can't I 
just nudge her awake and talk to her about it.  Maybe she would 
understand how I was feeling, and be okay with it.  Nah, who am I 
kidding.  It couldn't be that easy.

A long time passed while she lay on my chest, the only sound that of 
her soft breathing and the thoughts rattling through my overtired and 
overheated mind.  I'd nearly forgotten the stranger when I heard him 
humming a song not too far away.  I gently ruffled Ayumi's hair and 
she woke right up, her eyes still half closed and sleepy.

"He's coming," I whispered before she could ask.

We got to our knees and moved to the spot where we could look out 
and not be seen as the figure slowly drew closer.  His humming was 
interspersed with actual lines from the song he was entertaining 
himself with.

"This little light o' mine... I'm gonna let it shine..."

Ayumi's face crinkled up as she pinched her nose shut.  A split 
second later I found out why as a pungent odor wafted into our hiding 
space.  It was disgusting.  Think sour milk and cat urine, baked by the 
summer sun and sprinkled with wet horse manure... then you're 
almost there.

The man himself fit what my imagination had conjured as soon as I'd 
smelt him.  He was an old homeless guy and obviously mental.  I 
couldn't tell if he was dark skinned or if it was just years of 
accumulated dirt that covered his skin.  He had a straggly beard of 
white, black, and yellow that matched his long stringy hair.  What got 
me thinking he was mental was the fact that he was dressed from 
head to toe in black robes that were just as filthy as the man 
underneath.  No one in his right mind would be dressed like that in 
this heat.  Yet there he was, smiling and humming as if it were a 
beautiful spring day, as he made his way down the service road.

As he got closer I noticed he held a large sign that he rested on his 
shoulder like soldiers do with their rifles while marching.  The handle 
was almost as long as he was tall, and it was topped with a large 
rectangle of dingy cardboard.  On the cardboard, written in big black 
bold letters drawn with a marker, were the words:

And they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

Revelation 17:14

Just as he was directly across from us he stopped humming and 
stood still.  Ayumi gasped before she could stop herself and I was 
dead sure he'd heard her.  For a moment he just stood there, staring 
down the road from which we'd come and our hearts stopped.  He 
raised his leg and bent at the waist.  As his leg moved up his robes 
parted and slid away revealing that he wore brown leather sandals on 
his feet.  He used his free hand to brush away some gravel that had 
lodged inside before standing upright again.

He didn't look at us, just kept staring down the road, but he pulled 
something from under his robes and chucked it into the very same 
bushes we were hiding in.  The object crashed and crackled through 
the branches before falling with a thud directly behind us.  I had to 
hold Ayumi to stop her from leaping away, or worse, scream.  Once 
I'd gotten her to settle down I took a look at what he'd just thrown at 
us and was shocked to find two plastic bottles of water.  The man still 
just stood there, smiling but never looking our way.

"The Uniter, the Protector, the False Man, the Crusader, the Lost 
One, the Broken One, the Reluctant Mother, the Man of Science, the 
Man of Faith," he spoke with a calm, steady voice, loud enough for us 
to hear clearly. "The Unbound Spirit, the Bodiless Mind, the Dreamer 
and the Dream.  Your journey is but beginning and the path lay out 
for you hath been corrupted.  I shall seek to remedy this at once.  Be 
patient, little ones.  Wait until the sun hath begun its descent before 
continuing onward."

His eyes never sought us out as he spoke, and his smile never 
wavered.  Slowly he raised his sign as if he were about to join a 
group of protestors on a march.  I had to blink a few times as I re-
read the words scribbled on the cardboard.  It now read quite clearly:

And if it will make no peace with thee,
but will make war against thee,
then thou shalt besiege it.

Deuteronomy 20:12

Everything happened so fast.  For a few seconds I couldn't even 
comprehend what I was seeing or hearing.  Ayumi reacted quicker 
than me, she screamed...

"LOOK OUT!"

A huge dark shape emerged out of the corner of my eye and charged 
at the homeless man.  The beast slammed into him with the force of 
an out of control freight train.  There was a flash of green light, light 
so bright it burned my eyes even though my lids had slammed shut, 
and a peal of thunder.  The sounds of branches snapping, whole 
trees cracking in half, and wood splintering filled the air not far from 
where Ayumi and I were squatting.  The ground vibrated as whatever 
fell through the trees reached the ground.

GROOOWAAAARRRR!

The furious Zyrogoth righted itself only yards away from us, close 
enough to see its red burning eyes, but it made no move to attack.  
Instead it clawed its way free of the underbrush and back out to the 
service road.  As one, Ayumi and I turned our attention back to where 
we expected to find the homeless man lying dead, but there he 
stood... still smiling as if nothing had occurred.

"Foul beast, born out of the minds of fouler men.  I condemn you.  I 
banish you from this world and send you back to the darkness from 
which you came."

The homeless man raised his sign high in the air as the Zyrogoth 
growled and snapped its massive jaw menacingly.  The monster 
crouched down, preparing to pounce.

"Be gone!"

The Zyrogoth launched itself into the air, leaping faster and higher 
than a creature of such size should have been able to.  The homeless 
man pointed his sign at the beast and a bolt of green lightning rippled 
down its length and leapt out across the sky to strike the beast in 
midair.  The lightning spread around the Zyrogoth, enveloping it in a 
sparkling blanket of green tendrils.  The homeless man took a step to 
the side as the creature completed its arc and came crashing to the 
ground beside him.  It twitched as acrid smoke rose from its 
smoldering corpse. 

"Holy..." I was amazed by what I'd just seen.  Words can't explain 
what it was like to see magic, real magic, for the first time.  Ayumi 
was enthralled by it as well.

"He's a wizard!"

"Hush now, little ones." The homeless man put a finger to his lips but 
still refused to look our way. "The darkness is gathering, preparing to 
block my passage.  Remember my words; await the sun's descent 
before moving on.  There is much work still to be done.  I shall clear 
your path.  He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name' 
sake."

With that he began to walk away, his sign now reading:

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: For thou art with me;
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine 
enemies;
Thou annointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over.

Psalm 23

Ayumi and I huddled together in the bushes, listening as he resumed 
his humming, while the Zyrogoth sizzled and popped on the ground in 
front of us.  We waited until we could no longer hear him before 
attempting to move.  Apparently we both had the same thought at the 
same time and nearly bumped heads reaching for the water bottles.  
I'd never been so thirsty in my entire life, and the water was 
surprisingly cold and refreshing.  It felt as if the simple act of drinking 
it was washing away all my aches and pains, cleansing me of sweat 
and dirt from the inside out.  I'd never felt better than when that water 
slid down my parched throat and filled my belly.  Ayumi must have felt 
the same as me because her smile returned tenfold.

"He blessed it," she offered as an explanation for its restorative 
properties. "It's been n'chanted.  It has to be.  It tastes too good not to 
be."

"Why do you think he was coming this way?"

"Dunno... but he was def'nly a Wizard; A powerful one, too."

Ayumi's jaw dropped open and her eyes opened wide.

"Oh no!  Do you think maybe that was him?"

"Who?"

"HIM!" She frowned at my continued ignorance. "The, the... the 
Wizard that Jin told me I'd find!"

This was all news to me.  I know she thought I was a Wizard when 
Otho melted away, but she never said anything about Jin telling her 
that she would be meeting up with one.

"Yumi, I think it's time you filled me in on what's really going on."

"What d'ya mean?"

"It's time you told me about Jin, and why she brought you here.  And 
about how you ended up with the Midnight Riders." I stared up 
through the trees as my list grew. "And I wanna know exactly what 
kinds of magic things you can do, and if there's anything else you're 
hiding from me or just forgot to mention."

Ayumi shuffled her feet through the dry leaves. "Why?"

"Because!" I took a deep breath and let it out.  I didn't want to get 
angry with her again, but I was starting to get frustrated. "Look, I just 
want to know a little more about you.  I want to know what I've gotten 
myself into, and maybe not feel so blindsided when something else 
strange pops up.  Until yesterday I'd never met an Etherlithe, never 
knew that Demons and Monsters were real, never imagined that 
magic existed, and didn't know what it felt like to be hunted like an 
animal.  The whole world is all fucked up, I'm a little freaked out, and I 
just want some answers!  So... can you help me out?  Please?"

She'd been standing there with her eyes lowered to the ground, 
watching as her own foot dug into the leaves to find the cooler earth 
underneath, but when I said the word 'please' her brown eyes looked 
up at me as if I'd uttered a foreign word.

"Please?" Her head cocked to the side. "You're asking me?"

"Yeah," I smiled warmly. "Please, just tell me."

A devilish grin passed her lips. "You know, you could have ordered 
me.  You are my Master."

"I'd rather be your... friend." I only paused for a microsecond, but I'm 
sure she caught the hesitation.  Once again I almost slipped up and 
said something I'm sure I would have regretted.

"Friend, huh." A shadow briefly passed over her face, the tiniest hint 
of sadness, but it faded quickly. "Jin was my friend, too."

"So... tell me about her.  What was she like?"

"Ummmm..." She bit her lower lip and roller her eyes around as she 
tried to find the words. "She was... ummm..."

A clap of thunder rocked the ground we were standing on.  It was 
painfully loud, but much further away than what we'd heard earlier.

"Aiiieee!"

Ayumi shrieked as she scampered up my body like a spider monkey.  
Her added weight threw me off balance and we tumbled to the 
ground in a heap, me on my back and she on my chest, but she 
never let go.  More and more crashes of thunder filled the hot 
summer day, though there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  Horrific roars 
echoed to our ears between the thunder bursts.  Motorcycles, the 
roars were of motorcycle engines, not more Zyrogoth.  That 
knowledge did little to calm my frayed nerves.  All it meant was that 
our hunters were in the area and all that stood between us and them 
was one disheveled Wizard with a penchant for bible verses.

Ayumi's fingers painfully dug into to me every time a clap of thunder 
shook the ground.  It was dark all around me, despite the fact that my 
eyes were wide open.  When my senses finally returned I realized 
that what I was seeing wasn't darkness, but Ayumi's wings.  She'd 
been so frightened that they reappeared and wrapped around us like 
some kind of protective cocoon.

"Ayumi, it's okay." I whispered into her quivering ear. "They're not 
attacking us.  Listen, I think they're moving away."

I was telling her the truth.  The sounds of battle were getting quieter 
as time went on.  The Wizard was moving away from us, and taking 
the bikers with him.  However, the claps of thunder were still loud 
enough to keep Ayumi shivering and whimpering.

"Ayumi, listen to me, it's going to be okay."

But she kept right on whimpering, punctuating every noise with 
mewling noises like an injured animal.  I reached up, her velvety 
wings brushing against my skin, and took her head into my hands, 
lifting her face off of my shoulder so I could look into her eyes.

"Everything is going to be okay.  I won't let them hurt you.  Not now, 
not ever.  I promise."

Her hot tears dripped onto my face, ran down my cheeks, and 
spattered against my lips, leaving behind a slightly salty taste in my 
mouth.  Her tear filled eyes met mine, looking almost through me, 
searching for a lie that was not there.  I don't know why I did it, but it 
was what I wanted, what she needed.  I pulled her lips to mine, and I 
kissed her.  This wasn't a soft kiss like before.  This was something 
more.  It was as if everything that had been happening to me these 
last few days, these last few years, just boiled down to a single 
moment in time and erupted like the Big Bang.

Our lips crushed together, slipping and sliding against one another, 
until it was hard to tell where her lips began and mine ended.  She 
hummed a contented sigh that filled me with a sense of... Well... the 
only word that comes to mind is 'victory'.  I hadn't set out to conquer, 
but as she melted against me I could feel her surrendering herself to 
me.  It made me feel powerful, strong, dominant... it made me feel 
like... like a man.  And I wanted more.  I'm not exactly sure of what I 
wanted more of, I just wanted more.

My hands slid over her back, my fingers tracing the lines of the 
leather strips that surrounded her.  Her skin was smooth, maybe the 
softest smoothest thing I'd ever touched in my life.  Our breathing 
rose in intensity as I clumsily groped her.  My hands moved lower and 
lower until I reached the top of her tiny bum.  My heart felt as if it were 
going to explode it was beating so fast, and the way she was 
squirming on top of me didn't help.  My jeans felt painfully tight, 
confining my growing hardness and pinning it down at an awkward 
angle.

I risked moving my hands lower.  A fear that she would stop me filled 
my mind, but I shouldn't have worried.  As my palms found their way 
down over her bare backside she raised her hips to fill them with her 
delicate flesh.  Feeling her bottom under my touch was almost too 
much to bear, and since my cock was otherwise bound tight, I 
penetrated her body with my tongue.  It slipped between her soft lips 
with little resistance, and I tasted her...  Oh my god, did she taste 
good.  I never would have believed that having my tongue in another 
person's mouth would be such a good thing.  It was warm, wet, soft... 
and when her tongue touched mine... I nearly lost it.  I could feel 
myself pulsing against my own thigh, so close, so ready.  I wanted to 
free myself, needed to free myself, even if it didn't lead any further 
than us kissing.  I just couldn't bear to be trapped any longer.

My hands slipped over the mounds of flesh, down her tiny hips, until I 
could feel the sweat dampened denim of my jeans.  She must of 
sensed what I was trying to do because she raised herself off my 
pelvis just enough to allow my hands passage.  My fingers fumbled 
with the top button on my fly as my tongue swirled, tickled, and 
explored within her.

"It's over here!"

A deep voice called from just outside of our hiding place, too close for 
either of our comfort.  In a panic I rolled over on my side taking Ayumi 
with me and our lips separated.  Fear is a strange thing.  I had felt 
that nothing would have made me stop kissing her, and then this had 
to happen.  She looked just as disappointed as I felt, but kept herself 
together and remembered not to complain out loud.

Together we slowly made our way back to the place where we could 
peek out and see the service road.  Not twenty feet from us stood 
Garog, Otho's brother, and he looked pissed.

"That cock sucking preacher killed this one as well!" he roared as he 
circled the fizzling carcass of the Zyrogoth. "Fucking holy men; 
should all be nailed to crosses, that'd fix 'em."

"Wouldn't matter if it was alive," Another biker stepped into view, this 
one taller than Garog, but much thinner. "That son of a bitch ruined 
the scent trail he stunk so fucking bad.  We'll have to track them the 
hard way."

"Send word back to the pack.  Tell them..." Garog looked away down 
the road. "Now who's this fucking moron coming our way?"

The other biker looked up and squinted. "Not one of ours."

"No shit, Krent," Garog snarled. "Fuck.  It's him."

"Who?"

"The big man's lap dog; who else would it be?"

"Shit."

"Don't say anything about the little bitch, or my brother, got it?"

The other biker gave a curt nod.

"We were given specific orders to leave her be, but Otho never could 
pass up a piece of ass, nor a chance to step beyond his place.  
Fucking moron.  I shouldn't have let his fuck up get us where we are.  
How am I going to explain that fire?"

"It's out now.  We only lost ten houses and an acre or two of forest."

"Doesn't matter.  He'll want to know why part of his stronghold went 
up in smoke this morning."

"You could tell him it was a gas leak; a simple coincidence that just 
happened to occur when we arrived."

"He'll never buy that.  Otho had his Dark Mark with him.  He already 
knows that the fat bastard was in town a day too early and paid for it 
with his life.  I just need a reason why he was there before schedule."

"Tell him..." The biker called Krent opened his leather jacket and 
scratched his armpit. "Just tell him he took the van and went ahead to 
make sure the way was clear for us.  That he was acting on his own."

"Okay, shut up now.  Don't say anything in front of this prick.  He'll 
take anything you say right back to him, and then we'll all be fucked."

"Understood," Krent re-zipped his jacket and knelt down next to the 
dead Zyrogoth. "Damn, I really liked this one."

A black car, completely black right down to the windows, rolled into 
view.  It made no sound as it moved; not even the normal crunching 
of the ground under its weight could be heard.  It kind of glided along 
until it stopped by the pair of demons.  The driver's side door swung 
open revealing an interior more like that of an F16 than any car I'd 
seen before.  The driver of the car, dressed as if he'd just come from 
a business meeting, extracted himself from the seat and stood for a 
moment with his back to us.  When he turned around I got the second 
biggest shock of my life since hearing about Bethany.

"Oh shit.  I don't believe it."

Ayumi did a little jerk beside me, startled by my breathless whisper.  
She looked at me with confusion written all over her face. "What?"

"That's... that's Mr. Johnson."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Tommy's Dad.  Bethany's Dad."

Her eyes went real wide. "Ohhhh..."

He didn't look like I remembered him.  He looked pale, sickly, like he 
hadn't been out in the sun in a long time.  His eyes were ringed with 
dark circles and were sunken.  Apparently he'd been going without 
sleep for some time, and it was taking its toll on him.

"He wants a report, Garog." Mr. Johnson's voice was filled with 
annoyed anger. "He's tired of waiting for you to send the signal.  We 
have a tight schedule to keep."

"I was just about to order my men to send it when you arrived," Garog 
boomed.

"Don't bullshit me, Garog.  I don't have the time nor the patience to 
deal with your shit.  I have my own problems to deal with."

It was strange listening to Mr. Johnson speak like this, especial 
knowing that he was saying it to a demon.

"Sorry to hear about your problems." Garog couldn't keep the 
contempt out of his voice. "We had a run in with the Preacher.  He 
ran right through our lines as if we weren't even there."

"We are well aware of the Preacher's movements.  We've been 
tracking him for over two years now.  He's of no concern to our 
operation.  If you hadn't been way out here in the first place, you 
wouldn't have known he was in the area."

"A little head's up would have helped."

"You were told all you needed to know." Mr. Johnson pointed his 
finger at Garog's chest. "You were given a list, a list of people to steer 
clear of.  The Preacher was on that list."

Garog bellowed, "Don't point your fucking finger at me, you human 
piece of scum!"

"I'll point my finger at anyone I chose.  Don't forget who you take 
orders from, Garog.  I serve Him, and he's the one calling the shots.  
So if you've got a problem with me, then you have a problem with 
him."

"How dare you question my loyalty?  I was serving Him while you 
were nothing more than a dream in your whore of a mother's mind!"

"Don't fuck with me, Garog." Mr. Johnson spat on the ground 
between them. "I'm doing my job, which is more than can be said of 
you right now.  What's the status of the town?  How many homes 
were lost because of your brother's arrogance?"

Garog snarled, "Ten homes."

"How many were occupied?"

"Five of them."

"And the people inside, were they lost as well?"

"No." Garog gnashed his teeth. "We saved them, though I don't 
understand why."

"You don't need to understand His plan; you just need to do as you're 
told." Mr. Johnson waited for that last bit to sink in fully before he 
continued. "Now, the forest has been seeded for well over a year 
now.  Did you're men begin the task of awakening them?"

"Yes, but we'll need more blood.  That old age home only had fifty 
occupants, just enough to awaken the plants around the home."

"Then you'll have to hunt for more bodies now, won't you?  Just 
remember, no one is to be touched within Highland.  You can send 
some of your men out to Lakeland to gather what you need.  That 
area has been cleared."

"Understood," Garog looked to Krent who nodded before hurrying off.

Mr. Johnson waited for Krent to hop on his motorcycle before moving 
closer to Garog.

"You did good, Garog." Mr. Johnson's demeanor changed the instant 
Krent's cycle ripped away. "You gave him enough time before the 
awakening.  He's escaped her clutches.  Thank you."

Garog remained silent.

"I'm a man of my word, Garog.  When the time comes, I'll remember 
what was promised to you."

"You'd better." Garog growled. "I risked an awful lot for that boy.  If 
He ever finds out how it all went down..."

"Don't worry." Mr. Johnson reached into his pocket and pulled 
something out. "He won't."

Before Garog could react, Mr. Johnson plunged the dagger deep into 
the demon's chest.  Garog stared down at the sapphire jeweled hilt of 
the blade with surprise and amusement.

"Didn't think you had it in you, you little shit!" Garog laughed as his 
hand went to pull the dagger free. "Too bad knives don't kill my kind!"

"I know." Mr. Johnson smiled and turned his back on the demon. "But 
holy objects do."

Garog struggled to pull the blade free, but couldn't.

"YOU MOTHER FUCKER!"

"Sorry, Garog; boss's orders.  I'll keep my promise though.  I'll 
mention that you should get the promotion over Krent, but I think he's 
already made his decision on that matter." Mr. Johnson chuckled to 
himself as he slid back into the black car and closed the door.

The car pulled silently away, heading back down the road from where 
it came, as Garog spun around in place, trying desperately to pull the 
blade free of his body.

"I'LL KILL YOU!  I'LL FUCKIN'..."

That's as far as he got.  The gem in the hilt erupted with blue flames 
that surrounded Garog, cutting off his angry tirade.  The flames 
consumed him completely in a matter of seconds.  One moment he 
was there, still trying to pull out the knife, the next he was gone, 
nothing of him left behind except for the foul stench of burnt hair.  The 
dagger floated in midair before it clattered to the ground, its flames no 
longer burning.

"Holy shit!" I gasped aloud. "Did you see that?  He just killed a 
fucking demon!  Mr. Johnson just killed a demon!"

Before Ayumi could stop me, I crawled out of our hiding spot and ran 
to where I saw the dagger fall to the ground.  Nothing remained of 
Garog, but the blade was there so I picked it up.  Ayumi crawled out 
of the bushes just as I straightened up and I held it up for her to see.

"That was awesome!" I held the long dagger in my hand and liked the 
weight of it. "This is awesome!"

"Justin, I don't think it's safe to come out yet." She tugged on my shirt 
to draw my attention away from the shiny weapon.  At some point 
between being in the bushes and coming out here she'd made her 
wings disappear again. "The Wizard said that we should wait until the 
sun started to go down."

"Relax, Yumi." I smiled at her. "Otho's dead, Garog's dead, those two 
Zyrogoth things are dead, and besides..." I pointed up at the sun. "It's 
afternoon, see?  The sun isn't above us anymore."

She let go of my shirt, but still seemed wary. "So, what do we do 
now?"

"Well..." I resumed twisting the dagger in my hand. "I say we just 
keep on heading towards the city."

"But what about the Wizard?"

"What about him?"

"Jin said I was sposed ta' find a great Wizard when I got here.  
Doncha' think that was him?"

"Maybe, but he's all the way back there, with them.  Do you really 
want to go find him?"

"I don't know... I just... I just know what Jin said, and..."

"Look Ayumi, I don't know what Jin told you, but I doubt that Wizard 
would have gone to all the trouble of clearing the way to the city if 
that's not where we were supposed to go."

"I... I guess so."

I could tell she wasn't one hundred percent sold on what I was 
saying, but her interest in that Wizard was really starting to bug me.  I 
mean, I'd gotten us this far, why was she so willing to go and chase 
this guy down?  Sure, he was a Wizard, but I'd saved her first, and I 
didn't even use magic to do it.  Okay, so maybe that was just dumb 
luck that Otho stuck his head into that water, but who the fuck cares?  
She was happy enough with me when she had no one else around to 
help, but now she wanted to go off and follow some stranger?  Nah, 
that wasn't happening.

"Come on." I slipped the blade of the dagger through one of the back 
belt loops of my jeans and took her hand. "We should get moving if 
we hope to get there before dark."

She came with me without another word about the Wizard, but I 
caught her looking behind us a few times as if she wished he would 
come back.  Each time she did it, it pissed me off more and more.

So this is what jealousy feels like?  It sucks, big time.



Continued in Chapter Ten....


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