chapter 5--

another angle to the story

 

In China it is considered a curse to wish a long and eventful life on someone, mainly because adventure leads to one thing. Pain.

 

After the train comes to it's final destination, after the suit is pressed and put away, when the road is finally showered off you realize that you're alone. The people you met on your adventure have all moved on, while all you did was keep moving.

 

The bus lurched and turned down the street as I watched the small texas town disappear behind me, all the normal people, the slow hot days, barbecues, and laughing children. Part of me wanted to stop the bus, to get off and stay, start a job in the little factory down the road and marry some fat lady and make a dozen kids, grow old and grey and die with a smile on my face.

 

Instead I leaned back in my small seat and tried to sleep, but the bright sun and the radio kept me from any kind of nap.

 

And so the miles stretcthed on, boring hour after boring hour, and despite the heat and the sun I finally nodded off and thankfully the nap wasn't a complete waste.

 

I felt hands all over my body, the darkness was filled with a thick incense that reminded me of Germany. The girl behind me whispered something in latin before licking my neck. Sex, latin, incense, I was remembering what went down a few nights ago, this was important. I concentrated and the darkness moved away, I saw the red lights bathing the round room, the cushions and the players, the circles burnt into the walls and into the carpet. A man to my left bent over a tray filled with a white powder. I looked down and saw I was kneeling in a circle, I had a robe that was open and nothing else. The girl continued to chant latin while she stroked me, this was nothing special, the occult was always an excuse for the rich to have orgies and do drugs, disguise slumming with the mystical and you don't have to worry about where the women come from or who is selling the cocaine.

 

I knew I was the only one in the room with any kind of power so it was up to me to provide some kind of entertainment, make them all think they are doing something special otherwise why invite me? A homeless drifter with no real connections.

 

I grab the girls hand and say a quick few words in latin, the circles all through the room light up with red fire and the guests began to chant frantically, trying to reach climax while the circles still glittered and burned.

 

In short it was like every other little party I had attended, why was this one special?

 

I could feel the bus drive over a large bump and for a moment I was afraid I would wake up before finding any clarity.

 

Smooth skin against my back and a pair of hands exploring my body I look around trying to pick out any details I may have missed the first time.

 

Suddenly the door blew open and people fell off each other and covered themsleves up, someone yelled somethind about the police but I knew better. Everyone saw a man walking in wearing a rain slicker and a rifle, I saw his true form.

 

Doubled over and lean he resembled an old wrinkled bat, his arms bent at a weird angle and were too long, his head was angular and his jaw jutted out into a muzzle. I didn't know exactly what he was but I knew what he was here for, me.

 

Someone stood and before I could tell him to get down the rifle went off and the man fell over, his head a pile of steaming gore.

 

That started the screaming.

 

I felt the girl pull away from me but I grabbed her by the arm,

"Keep going."

 

With shaking hands she continued and I closed my eyes while I felt the power build up inside me, a raging river against a rotting dam.

 

Her hands moved faster in fear and excitement, I opened my eyes and saw the world through a green and black haze. The creature turned towards me and the rifle went off again. Something hot and sticky ran down my back and I felt the weight of the girl fall against me.

 

Screaming and running, the frightened party-goers tried to run out of the room, crowding and pushing, getting in the way of my assasin.

 

Enough time for me to move my hands in a quick pattern in front of me and then everything went black.

 

The bus was at a gas station and everyone but me was outside it, smoking cigarettes and trying to make small talk, I just rubbed my eyes and looked at the desert sunset.

 

 

So that's what happened, didn't explain the suit or how I had gotten so far, but it shows that someone was afraid of me and wanted to send a message.

 

An attempt on my life, there were rules about that sort of thing, especially where the innocent were involved, that's what the watchers were for, to make sure the only blood we spilled in our little games were our own.

 

Sending a demon after me in the middle of a party filled with affluent and rich normals, that was bordering on the suicidal. Someone was desperate.

 

The street preacher was the first one back on the bus and he sat across from me with a smile on his face, oh joy.

"Going home, son?"

 

His voice was low and filled with a warmth that can only come form the deeply religous, I ran my hand through my greasy hair and heard my voice crack from my dry throat.

 

"Yeah all the way back home."

"Good feeling aint it? Going home shows you that there's always a place you belong."

 

I just frowned and looked out the window at the purple rays that danced under the thick white clouds, the suns good-bye before retiring for the evening.