 
Of The Blood

By Joshua Laack

Copyright 2013 Joshua Laack

Smashwords Edition
Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Epilogue
Some things in this world cannot yet be explained by science. From these things, imagination explodes.

Introduction

The wind billowed up and ran its fingers through their hair. The two stood alone on top of the sandy hill, enjoying the silence and the great presence they felt in each other. This peace was to be short lived though. At the bottom of the hill waited death in droves. How could there be so many of them? Why did they have to come now? This new life together had just begun. It was far too soon for it to end, but there was little other choice. At least here they could choose their own way out. They would go out fighting to their last breath, sort of.

Chapter 1

Jefferson was an unexciting school of about four hundred and fifty students. At the moment, the cafeteria was buzzing with the voices of about half that number in juniors and seniors eagerly awaiting food that wasn't worth being excited about.

"Andrew!" Andrew Stephen Marks didn't bother to look up at the excited voice calling his name across the lunchroom. There was only one possibility, one friend who had managed to find a way through the dark wall that separated him from everyone and everything.

Andrew didn't understand why that wall was there. It just had been for as long as he could remember. As hard as he tried to overcome it, he stayed trapped within it. It was a gray and lonely world, but it was the only one he knew.

His brow furrowed as he stared down at the six chicken flavored lumps with soggy breading that sat on the faded yellow tray in front of him. Andrew imagined that the lumps were staring back up at him. For a moment, he wished that he had chosen salad bar, but thinking of the choices there didn't sound any better than what he had. There were days when the soggy lettuce and four toppings were a much better choice than the main meal. Andrew finally looked up from his food and toward his only friend in the world, who was almost to the table where they always sat.

Jason Meyer rushed up to the table with his own tray of pseudo meat. He was breathing a little harder than normal as he dropped the tray and sat on the round plastic seat across from Andrew. Dark brown eyes stared out from under bushy, jet black eyebrows. The matching hair had a little curve to it and it was long, though not quite to his shoulders. He wasn't exactly overweight, but he wasn't thin either. Jason claimed that he was just big boned. Andrew had light brown hair, hazel eyes and a wiry frame from a metabolism that devoured anything he ate without ever truly letting him achieve complete respite from hunger.

The two had been friends since seventh grade when Jason moved into town with his dad after his parents divorced. Jason's dad, Jim, got a job working for an engineering company in town. His mom was too busy with her new family to have time for him so she gave custody to his father. Andrew sometimes tried to imagine what that must have been like for his friend. The only comparison he came up with was the darkness surrounding his own life.

This wasn't far off the mark and it was this shared darkness that first brought the two together. Jason acted as if he didn't care about the past, but it bothered him more than he would admit, even to himself. It separated him from those who had the potential to abandon him like his mother did.

For Andrew, the darkness had nothing to do with his parents who were both around and much involved in his life. They tried their hardest to reach their only child, but Andrew never connected with them. It wasn't just his parents. Andrew never connected with anyone. Nothing anyone did was able to penetrate the darkness around him. Andrew knew how hard they struggled to relate to him and he struggled to reach through the darkness as well, but until Jason came along, he was not able to bridge the gap.

They both were into fantasy. Andrew's loneliness and the darkness made the fantasy worlds seem much better than anything that this life had to offer. And Jason's dark past pulled him to the fantastical for much the same reason. Needless to say, their preference for make believe had not made them popular among the students at Jefferson.

The vast majority of the students just ignored them, the rest spent their time being cruel. The school as a whole was focused on sports and other popular activities that had never been of much interest to either boy. In response to the ridicule, both Andrew and Jason pulled even more away from the world around them. The final result was two young boys surrounded by people everyday and yet still alone.

As Jason looked at Andrew across the table, he was quivering with some knowledge that he couldn't wait to share. In spite of the dark mood that accompanied Andrew, he couldn't help but produce a small smile at his friend's excitement.

"This ought to be good," Andrew said, the almost real smile stretching his face, though not quite reaching his eyes. Jason chuckled.

"What gave it away that I had something to share?"

"Just a guess..." Andrew responded with a slight shrug, the smile already gone as the darkness pulled it from his face. Jason didn't seem to notice as he plowed forward with his news, voice cracking slightly as he struggled to contain his excitement.

"Okay. So listen to this. I was just in the office for a minute between study hall and lunch and I overheard the principle talking to a new transfer student in his office. I waited around for a bit to see if I could catch a glimpse of her, but the secretary told me to get to lunch." Actually, this was more interesting than Andrew expected. Jason's tidbits of news often ended up being silly with a large helping of lame.

"A new student? That hasn't happened since you showed up." Andrew paused, for a moment feeling a burst of elation that was larger than it should have been for the news just shared. The elation was accompanied with a view beyond the wall.

In that brief and unexpected respite from gray, the world seemed brighter than it had ever felt for Andrew. Real happiness flooded him and he felt like laughing. "I wonder if she is into fantasy." Andrew and Jason looked at each other for a moment and then burst into laughter, something neither experienced often.

The feeling was short lived. Before Andrew even had time to enjoy the light, reality returned and with it crashed bleak grayness around him. It was a nice thought, but no girl ever wanted to hang out with the nerds of Jefferson High. Andrew felt the last bit of light fading from him as he had the sad thought that he would never find a girl who would like him. He was going to grow old and die alone. The wall chuckled as it closed back in around him, cutting him off once more from the world.

After the bell signaling the end of lunch, the two boys walked together to Government Studies, the only class they shared. Ms. Frankin, was taking the class through the presidential election process since this was an election year. A few students in the class would be eighteen and able to vote when the time came, but Andrew's birthday wasn't until the twentieth of February so he wouldn't be one of them. He wasn't concerned about it though. Politics seemed unimportant compared to the dragons, wizards, vampires and the other magical things that filled his free time. The mystical world was a happier place than the real one.

Andrew wished that one of his fantasy worlds and reality would trade places. He knew it was a crazy thought that would never happen. The real world and the fantastical were forever destined to be as far from each other as he was from being freed from the dark cloak that rested perpetually upon his shoulders. It was with this bleak perspective that Andrew sat down in his assigned seat for the class. What he never imagined as he did, was that a new chapter was about to begin.

Chapter 2

About five minutes into class, a knock on the door echoed into the room and the door swung open with the screeching protest of infrequently oiled hinges. In the doorway stood the principle and behind him, another figure Andrew couldn't see clearly.

"Ms. Frankin, I have a new student for you." She set her book down on the table and motioned for them to enter. The principal turned and left and the girl standing behind him stepped into the room. As she stepped into the light, Andrew's heart began to pound within his chest.

He glanced around and wondered why no one said anything about it. It sounded like thunder in the midst of a summer storm as it echoed in his ears. Surely they had to be able to hear it, as loud as it was. No one was looking at Andrew though, they were all trying to get a good look at the figure in the doorway.

From where Andrew sat in the second row, across the room from the door, he could clearly see the glow of sapphire eyes set in smooth, pale skin. Her dark brown hair cascaded past her shoulders like water over a fall, shimmering like the finest silk strands despite the terrible florescent lighting. She was tiny, with delicate features, though there was strength in the way she carried her small frame. Strangest of all, she seemed to actually glow as a bright light in the midst of darkness and it dazzled him. He wanted to stay here for the rest of the day and stare into that glow.

Those sparkling blue eyes glanced at Andrew and he felt them pierce through him as if she were peering into his soul. His pounding heart beat faster and louder still. For a moment, Andrew feared it would burst. Then, while still looking into his soul, she unleashed a small smile. Andrew almost fainted.

The whole exchange lasted only an instant, but it felt like forever. Then it was over and she turned to face the teacher who was welcoming her to the class. Jason was saying something beside him and the rest of the class was all whispering as well, but Andrew heard none of it. He was lost to the real world. For that short moment, he had felt a strong connection to the girl.

Andrew frowned. That wasn't quite right. It was more than that. It felt like he knew her from somewhere, but she was a transfer student so that didn't seem likely. He didn't understand the reason for the feeling. A smile crept upon his face and Andrew felt a lightness within himself that he was unfamiliar with.

There had been brief glimpses of light all throughout his life, but they were nothing compared to the unexpected burst of clear hope that filled him upon seeing her. There had been darkness in his spirit for as long as he could remember, but for some reason, she seemed to repress that darkness.

Andrew shook his head. It was insane. Who felt so happy about someone they didn't know and had never even spoken a single word to? The girl turned to the class.

"Hello," she said with a smile. "My name is Josefina Sanchez." There was a scattering of hellos from the class, though they seemed somewhat unenthusiastic based on the brightness of the beauty Andrew saw before him.

Josefina glided to one of the empty desks in the room with a grace that made Andrew's still rapidly beating heart catch in his throat. Watching her move, he again felt certain that he knew her from somewhere, but that was ridiculous. He couldn't know her. He snorted to himself with a shake of his head. He had to be imagining the feeling. He wished he knew her, but what guy wouldn't?

Josefina sat down and the class attempted to resume as it had been before the interruption, though the result was far from perfect. Andrew tried to pay attention as well, but he couldn't focus. His thoughts and his beating heart continued to race out of control.

As Andrew stared at the front of the room struggling to tame his wandering mind, he felt the hairs all over his arms and neck stand up. It was like the feeling that someone was staring at him. Andrew stiffened, but forced himself to relax. If she were staring at him, he didn't want to let her know that he was aware of it.

As nonchalantly as he could, Andrew placed his head down on the desk and allowed his eyes to wander back around the room until they reached Josefina's desk. She wasn't looking in his direction, but down at the temporary book that Ms. Frankin had given her. Despite the obvious fact that she wasn't looking at him, the feeling of being watched persisted. As it did, the light and hope he felt with Josefina's presence vanished and he sank back into an even blacker black than he was accustomed to. The vengeance of its return dulled Andrew's mind and buried him into a depression far stronger than he was accustomed to. It was at this point that Andrew realized what was going on. He was losing his mind. It was the only explanation he could fathom that came close to explaining what was happening.

The rest of class dragged by at a snail's pace. It took most of that immense period of time for Andrew's heart to slow back to a normal pace, or at least close to it. As his heart calmed, the hairs on his body, which had remained at attention to this point, calmed as well. At the same time, the darkness within him faded back to normal as well, if such a word could ever be used to describe it.

The bell rang to end class and Andrew rushed to get up and away from the the craziness that he was feeling. He was still feeling lightheaded from the excessive blood and oxygen that had been pumping through his brain. He felt himself waver for an instant before he got it under control. As he did, the most intoxicating aroma he had ever inhaled in his entire life filled his nose.

It was a strange scent of wild flowers and some kind of citrus fruit. When Andrew breathed in that scent, his heart shuddered to a complete stop in his chest. It didn't just feel that way either. It literally stopped. The black upon Andrew's mind grew so strong that it faded the world in his eyes. All color vanished into shades of gray and it was difficult to make anything out. Everything seemed as if he were staring at it through water.

In a daze, Andrew turned and there she stood, right beside him. In the midst of dimming vision, she was brighter than ever, shining in a halo of light and gleaming in full glorious color. She stood out like a polished jewel resting among a pile of ordinary rocks. Her blue eyes stared up into Andrew's hazel ones and she smiled the same half smile she had when she looked through him upon first coming into the room.

"Hello Andrew Marks." Her voice of silver chimes rang in his ears as he started to fade out of consciousness from the complete and sudden lack of oxygen to a brain somewhat adjusted to an excess. She reached out as if to steady him. As her cool white hand touched the skin of his arm, Andrew was jolted with an electric current that flowed from her touch into him like the paddles on a defibrillator. His heart began to beat again at its normal, steady pace. At the same time, Andrew heard the strangest growl emanating from somewhere nearby. The current he felt at her touch doubled and then the blackness screamed. The sound echoed in his ear and then a different blackness rose up and took him from the world of the conscious to a place where not even dreams interfere.

There was no awareness of time in that blackness so Andrew was not certain how long he lay there before a small circle of light appeared in that darkness. The light rapidly grew larger, like the light at the end of a train tunnel rushing closer and closer. Soon, the light took up more space than the black did, and it continued to grow until it overwhelmed the blackness leaving the space brighter than staring into the morning sun.

Andrew blinked, still seeing nothing but the brightness of that sun as she stood over him. As he looked, the circle of people standing around him faded into view. They were still not in color, but this time the color had been washed out by light in front of his eyes instead of being faded away by darkness. Josefina remained the only one in color as she knelt beside him, her hand now on his face instead of his arm. The current still flowed between them, though no longer as strong as it had been in the moments before he had passed out.

"Whaa..." Andrew cleared his throat to remove the large frog coiled up there. "What happened?"

Josefina removed her hand and with it the current. She stood and stepped back into the circle of people that included Jason and Ms. Frankin. Colors returned as the sun vanished from his eyes and Andrew sat up.

"Careful Andrew. Don't try to get up yet. The nurse is on her way. You just fainted." Ms. Frankin sounded quite concerned which surprised Andrew. He never expected anyone to care about him, and when they did, it always took him back a little. He turned his head, searching for the sun and caught a glimpse of her face in the background. She smiled at him, winked and walked out of the room, leaving Andrew staring after her lithe figure in wonder.

What had just happened? Andrew tried to put the pieces together in his mind. The last thing he remembered was his heart stopping. Had she started his heart again with her touch? What had caused the current flowing between them? Whatever it was, his heartbeat was now steady and as strong as it had been before. Another thought hit him as well. As far as Andrew knew, he didn't recall saying his name to her, or anyone else mentioning it either. How in the world had she known it?

"Whoa man! That was crazy!" Jason's voice was on Andrew's other side. Andrew turned and looked up at him.

"What was crazy," Andrew asked? Jason snorted and stared at him.

"What do you think I mean? The new girl said hi to you and she knew your name. Then you fainted. That seems crazy to me." Andrew nodded and then stood up despite the protests of Ms. Frankin.

"Yes, I would agree. Completely crazy!" He turned and walked from the room.

"Wait," Jason called after him! "How did she know it? Hey! Where are you going?" Andrew kept walking, pretending that he didn't hear his friend as he had no idea what the answers to either of the questions were.

Andrew met the nurse walking in the hall toward the class and walked with her back to the nurse's office behind the main offices. After a moment of examination, Andrew told her that he had stood up too fast and the blood had rushed to his head. The nurse pronounced him fine and sent him on his way. By this point, the bell for next hour rang and Andrew headed to his locker and then to class. He avoided thinking about the events of the previous class as he walked toward Trigonometry. An hour with Mr. Anderson, as dull as it would be, might be a nice break from the craziness in Andrew's mind.

That thought was dashed. Somehow, Josefina was in both his Trigonometry class and after that, health class with Mr. Roberts. Andrew learned nothing in either class. His eyes kept wandering to the figure who still seemed to glow in his vision. Andrew knew she must not glow in reality since no one else was remarking upon it. So it was just him that saw it. He wondered if this whole day was just in his head. He did have some strange dreams sometimes. Maybe this was just one of those dreams. He knew it was not.

Chapter 3

That night Andrew had one of those strange dreams that frequented his nights. It was a recurring dream he first had starting when he was about thirteen. It was the only one he had that repeated itself. In the dream he stood in his room at night looking out the window into the backyard. Everything in the dream was exactly as it was in real life.

Andrew's room was on the second floor and in the back of the two story home where he lived with his parents. Behind the house there was a small yard with an old swing set that was rarely used when Andrew was a child. Butting up with the backyard were several acres of undeveloped land covered in trees. The real estate agent who sold them the house said at the time that it would be developed, but after nearly eleven years, it remained untouched.

In the dream, it was mid summer and Andrew stared through the screen of his open window into the trees. Often, night was the worst time dealing with the darkness within himself. When it was at its worst, Andrew found himself unable to sleep. That was the case this night. Many times he would end up staring out of his window as though he was expecting something or someone. Nothing ever came and eventually, he would go back to bed.

Once again on this night, there was nothing but trees beyond the yard. Then, in the space of a single blink, she appeared in the shadows on the back edge of the lot, between the trees and the house. The moon was not bright enough to illuminate her features, but her eyes stood out, shining with an inner glow, like the eyes of a wild animal.

As Andrew looked at her shape standing there, he felt no fear, though some small part of him felt that he should be terrified by the strangeness of this encounter. He continued to watch and the lithe figure stepped forward into the glow of the moonlight. As she did, Andrew's heart began to race and his breath caught in his throat.

Andrew sat up gasping in bed, shaking his head to clear the cobwebs of sleep from it. Sweat poured down his face and the sheets wrapped around him were drenched like never before. In all the times that he had experienced this dream, Andrew had never seen the face of the girl. The dream always ended right before the moonlight revealed her features. That had not been the case in the dream this night. The face in his dream tonight had been that of Josefina Sanchez.

He shook his head once more, this time to deny the impossibilities of that idea. It didn't mean anything. It couldn't since the Josefina in the dream looked identical to the one who had walked through that classroom door despite Andrew's dream being of a time several years ago. His mind had just added her in after meeting her at the school. That made sense considering the strange events that had occurred during their meeting. Despite knowing that this was what his mind was doing, it was still hard to shake the strange feeling that the dream felt more real this time with her in it than it ever had before.

After a minute, Andrew climbed out of his bed and pulled the wet sheets off. He placed his comforter over the top of his fitted sheet and then lay down on top of that. He pulled half of it over himself and rolled onto his side. It was just after four in the morning, he was exhausted and knew that he would be even more so the next day. In spite of that knowledge, or maybe because of it, sleep was a long time in returning. The sleep he did return to was devoid of dreams, at least any that he recalled.

All too soon, the alarm was buzzing on the night stand beside his bed. Andrew came awake with sand in his eyes and struggling with the exhaustion he had feared would greet him. He lay in his bed, staring at the blank ceiling above him, wanting to close his eyes and forget the day ahead. He shook his head to dislodge the feeling. He refused to let himself fall into that pattern again.

There had been several years when he had allowed the darkness to prevent him from doing anything with his life. His parents had to drag him from bed in the morning for school and he lay around all the time, doing nothing. The longer he lived like that, the worse everything became.

One day, he realized that living this way was not doing himself any favors. He made a life resolution right then and there. He promised himself that he was going to do the best he could with what he had. He refused to allow this thing to control him. It was his life and he was going to do something with it, darkness be damned.

It was this decision that motivated him. It allowed him to get up. It got him to school. It pushed him to do things with his parents and only friend. It carried him to his job and put a smile on his face even when indifference or sadness threatened to take over. When he took control this way, the darkness didn't seem to hang over him as strongly. There were even moments when the smiles he forced upon his face became real. Those moments never lasted, but they were another thing that helped him to continue on his quest to do the best he could despite this huge hindrance in his life.

He struggled daily to find those moments and each one that he found gave him hope that another would come. So he rolled out of his warm covers and got ready for school despite the yawn on his lips and sand in his eyes.

Chapter 4

Andrew sat in his chair for English, waiting for the bell to ring. He couldn't help groaning to himself as he worked to keep his eyes open. The worst part was that as tired as he was, it was only going to get worse as the day progressed. The one positive thought he had was that he didn't have work after school.

Andrew worked at Grocery Mart, one of a couple of small, locally owned grocery stores in town. He did everything from stocking shelves and cleaning aisles to cashiering and bagging goods. Being such a small town store, there were not many employees, so whoever was there did whatever was needed. Andrew didn't mind the job. It paid poorly, but the hours were decent for someone in high school and the job wasn't overly taxing. It was busy enough that it often distracted him from thoughts of life and there were some good moments.

He worked two or three days a week which brought in just enough to pay for the gas and insurance for his car and buy a few things like the fantasy books he wanted to read. He was also trying to save money for college.

That was the other big promise Andrew had made to himself. He was going to get as far from this place where the darkness held him as he could. That started with college. After that, he didn't know where he would end up, but he was certain that it would not be here. There was no way he could stay here like this.

The bell rang and snapped Andrew out of the tired daze he sat in at his desk. Mr. Davies had the class reading Hamlet together. After everyone quieted down, someone started to read while Andrew did everything he could to keep his eyes open.

He was a bit disappointed to see that Josefina wasn't in the class. Having her in all three afternoon classes had been nice, so a small part of him had hoped that she might be in more of them. He started to think about the girl with the glow and the strange things that had occurred the previous day.

Andrew didn't know anything about her. The only thing he knew for sure was that there had been some kind of strange connection between them. The current that flowed at their touch was something that had never happened to him before and he was curious about it. What caused it? Would it happen again?

As he sat there, head now resting on his hands, Andrew imagined her glowing face in front of him as she caressed his face. That electricity sparked between them and she quietly admitted with a little blush in her cheeks that she wanted to stay with him for the rest of eternity. Of course, being the gentleman that Andrew was, he softly caressed her cheek as well and smiled back at her. Then he whispered his own desire to be with her until the end of time.

It was a beautiful dream during which the cloud hanging over Andrew's shoulders pulled back. He was so lost in those thoughts that he didn't notice that the darkness faded or see the other shadow that fell over him to replace it.

"Mr. Marks!" A throat cleared directly above him. It didn't fit into the daydream at all. The sharp voice and the following sound destroyed the beautiful setting and his dark cloud came rushing back to fill the void.

Andrew started up from his desk and looked up into the face of the heavyset and balding, sixty something, literature obsessed man who stood beside his desk. It was not a happy face at the moment, not that it had ever looked happy.

"Uh.." Andrew cleared his own throat which sounded as though he had swallowed several frogs. "Yes Mr. Davies?" Several members of the class laughed at the surprise and the red in his cheeks at the interruption to a fantasy that he didn't care to leave.

"Would you care to join us on page 31, starting with Hamlet's second line?" Andrew cleared his throat again.

"Ah, yes sir." He turned the pages as quickly as he could, trying to catch up to the rest of the class. "O throw away the worser part of it..." Hamlet's lines were his only focus for several pages and then the torch passed on to the next victim. After he finished his turn at reading, Andrew tried to continue to focus, but it was a struggle. He kept shaking his head, both to keep himself awake and to clear the daydream that returned each time. Andrew didn't understand why was this getting to him so much? She was just a girl and likely a girl that would want nothing to do with him like the other girls here at Jefferson.

He heaved a giant sigh of relief when the bell to end first hour rang, releasing him from the grasp of his daydream and of literature that was not as fun as the books on the shelf at home. As he walked to his locker, Andrew thought to himself that the day was going to last forever. He took to long at his locker contemplating how tired he was and then he had to rush to get to Spanish class before the bell rang again. There all thoughts of sleep and the length of the day fled from his mind.

When he stepped into Spanish class, she was sitting there, right beside his assigned seat. The boy who normally sat there was sitting back in one of the previously empty seats. Andrew frowned at the shuffle? Not that he minded her sitting beside him, but he didn't understand why the teacher moved them around. He sat down in his seat, still pondering the move.

"Hello Andrew. How are you today?" Andrew glanced over at the source of the silvery bells that rang like music in his ears. That strange aroma he had first noticed the previous day filled him once again and those astonishing sapphire blue eyes pierced into him. The glow that only he seemed to see still suffused her figure. Andrew's heart skipped one beat, but continued without any of the other strangeness it had employed at their first meeting.

She was smiling, lips dark red against the paleness of her skin. She didn't seem to be wearing any makeup, but her skin was flawless anyway. Seeing that, Andrew was self conscious of the acne upon his own face, not that it was bad, but compared to her smooth cheeks, it stood out in his mind.

He realized that it had been a long moment, and he still hadn't answered her question. Not wanting to seem rude, he rushed to fill the silence.

"Hi. I'm doing fine I guess. You?"

"I am doing well, thank you." Andrew sat there for another moment before he realized that he should say something else to keep a conversation going instead of just sitting there like a fool. He never talked to anyone at school but the teachers and Jason, so this conversation was somewhat harder than he had imagined in his daydream.

"Um, so why, uh, why did you come here, ah, I mean move here?" He felt like groaning in frustration. Much better, instead of sitting there like a fool, he just sounded like one. She smiled anyway, or maybe because of it.

"You sound as if you don't like it here that much," she said. Andrew shook his head.

"No, I don't like it at all. I plan to get out of here as soon as I can." She grinned at him.

"I love it! It's a quaint little place." Andrew raised an eyebrow, but didn't turn to show her the expression. Who said quaint? Maybe it was a thing from wherever she came from. It sounded natural coming from her lips, as if she often spoke with words he never would have considered using.

"There is nothing good here for me," Andrew said after a moment. She looked at him, those eyes piercing down to his foundation.

"Where will you go," she asked? Andrew shrugged, a little bit in response to the question and a little bit to try to dislodge the unnatural feeling of being seen to the core.

"I don't know, and I don't care. Anywhere but here is fine with me." At that point, the teacher called the class to order and their short conversation came to an end. There was no real chance to continue during class either. It is difficult to whisper in English during a class about Spanish without getting noticed, and Andrew's Spanish wasn't even close to fluent enough to converse.

On top of that, he still couldn't believe that she would want to talk to him. He was the outcast. He was not part of the popular crowd where she would fit in quite well. Andrew was disappointed though. It had been nice talking to her and listening to her voice even if his own words were awkward and crude in comparison.

A few minutes into class, the hairs on Andrew's body stood up again and the feeling of eyes on the back of his head was even stronger than it had been the day before. The difference was that today, it wasn't fleeting. It appeared and it didn't go away. He began to grow anxious about it. It obviously wasn't Josefina since he could see her face beside him and she wasn't staring. Andrew tried to glance inconspicuously around the room, but as on the previous day, no one was taking any interest in either him or Josefina. He tried to shrug it off, but the feeling persisted. It grew in intensity as the hour passed until the feeling of the eyes was driving him wild.

When the bell rang, he gathered his books and headed once again for the lockers. He was going to say something about finishing the conversation to Josefina, but when he looked up, she was disappearing down the hall. She moved quickly despite her shorter height, which couldn't have been much more than five feet. Andrew wondered where she was headed in such a hurry.

She wasn't in chemistry, which didn't surprise him, though it did disappoint Andrew a bit. He frowned. Now that she was gone, the feeling of being watched was gone as well. That seemed strange since it couldn't have been her in Spanish. What was going on?

Andrew tried to turn his attention to the class, but he couldn't focus. His thoughts twisted and turned in his head, back and forth between the bright light that filled his vision and the strangeness of the events surrounding her. Why was he so obsessed with her? He had seen her in a few different classes and spoken to her briefly. No reason came to mind beyond a feeling of a connection and of course, the fact that she was a beautiful girl that just happened to glow.

Even though that was more than enough reason for some guys to obsess over a girl, it didn't seem like enough to him. There were other girls in the school who were quite beautiful, and none of them had ever filled his thoughts like this. What was different about this girl? What was different about Josefina Sanchez?

While the first group of students ate lunch, Andrew had study hall. Andrew and the other seniors ate with the juniors during the second lunch shift. When he walked in, Josefina was smiled at him from where she sat and then waved him over. Andrew went to the empty seat next to her.

"Mind if I sit here," he asked tentatively? She continued to smile as she shook her head.

"Not at all," she replied. Andrew smiled back and sank into the chair.

After a moment of awkward silence, Andrew brought up their previous discussion about leaving this town after graduation. After that, conversation was far easier than he feared. They spent the duration of the period discussing different places that he might like to go when he broke free of the hometown grasp. It was fun to imagine exotic places and she was quite skilled at describing them so that he could envision himself being there.

"You describe all of these places as if you had been there yourself," he commented after a while.

"I have," she said with a nod, "I have done a great deal of traveling in my years." That sounded as strange to Andrew as her use of quaint, but he couldn't put his finger on why it sounded so odd. In truth, he didn't care. She was strange, but he knew that he was too. He stared out the window for a moment before glancing back to Josefina.

"I wish I could travel like you and see all those places." She brushed his arm with her fingertips, though on the shirt not the skin. He was disappointed to notice that there was no electricity at the brief touch.

"You can if that's what you want." Andrew nodded at her words, but he didn't see that happening. His final thought in study hall was that he was destined to be stuck here for the rest of his life.

After the bell rang, Andrew headed to his locker to put away the homework he hadn't even looked at. He slammed the door and spun the lock before heading to the lunch room.

When he stepped into the line of students, he turned slowly, scanning the room for Josefina. He didn't see her anywhere. A voice behind him made him jump and he spun around.

"Looking for someone?" She was right behind him, though Andrew was positive that she had not been a moment before. His cheeks turned pink at her notice of his search.

"Uh, not really," he stammered into the silence. She smiled, probably laughing at how awkward he was.

"Do you know what they have to eat today," she asked? Andrew nodded.

"Yeah, today is hot ham and cheese sandwiches." There was a grimace in her features when he said that and he smiled at her. "I know what you mean. The food here is horrible, but it is better than not eating at all." She shook her head.

"I'm not sure I can agree with you on that. It smells terrible." He tried to sniff the air, but didn't smell anything out of the ordinary. Maybe she had a better nose than he did.

"You could always get the salad bar if you don't like the main meal, though the options there aren't a lot better." She smiled, but shook her head.

"I don't think that sounds appetizing either. Maybe I will just skip eating today." She looked up at him. "Would you mind if I sat with you anyway?" Andrew shrugged and tried to keep the thrill of that idea from his face.

"That's fine with me."

"Where are you planning to sit," she asked, looking around the room? Andrew spotted Jason already sitting down by himself at one of the tables. He considered abandoning his friend so he could have her to himself, but realized he couldn't do that. He pointed to where Jason was already sitting down.

"I sit with my friend Jason, the one with the longer black hair there." She nodded.

"Alright, I will see you shortly." She walked over to the table and sat down across from Jason. The surprise on his face was hilarious. No one ever sat with them, ever, and now there was an attractive girl sitting across from him. It didn't look like he knew how to handle that. Andrew was not sure that he did either.

Before long, he was through the line and moving to sit down. For a moment, he couldn't find the table, and once he did, he wasn't sure that there would be room for him. The table that had been empty only minutes before was packed with guys. In fact, looking around the room, Andrew noticed a definite grouping in the tables nearby as well. It was as if Josefina was a black hole and all the males in the room were drawn in toward her. The circle of girls around the outside edge of the cafeteria looked less than happy.

Andrew was about to give up and sit in the outer circle when he saw that there was one empty seat, right next to Josefina. He didn't know how she had managed that, but was not about to turn it down. He walked toward the seat, weaving his way through the crowd that was all leaning toward the gravitational center of the room. As he moved to set his tray in the empty spot, he found about six boys all standing in the way.

"She's saving that seat for someone else. Back off geek."

Andrew's heart sank. Of course the seat wasn't for him. How could it be?

"Actually boys," interrupted a melodious voice coming from the creature now standing at his side, "the seat was for Andrew."

Andrew's heart rose just about as far as the eyebrows on the opposing faces. Josefina maneuvered herself through the surprised, but wholly unnecessary body guards, pulling Andrew with her. With a great deal of grumbling at the result of the confrontation, the other boys returned to their seats as well. Josefina leaned over to whisper in Andrew's ear.

"Would you please agree to go on a date with me?" She grinned at the expression on his face when he turned to stare at her. "You will understand the reason in a moment." His poor heart was racing again. Andrew was going to have a heart attack if it did this every time that she was near. He tried to hide the trembling excitement that he felt as he nodded his agreement to her proposal.

"Sure." She smiled a small half smile as he wondered what she meant when she said that he would understand. At this point he didn't think he would ever understand anything. No one liked him. And he didn't like anyone else. That was the world that he had come to be comfortable with. Now someone was breaking those rules, and he wasn't sure how to deal with that just yet. A part of him, how much he didn't know, was glad that the rules were changing. If some rules could change, maybe others could as well. Maybe freedom was possible after all. But of course, that thought was short lived, like all hopes he ever had.

Moments after the thought, Andrew understood what the real purpose of asking for the date was. Several voices from guys that appeared to have been doing more thinking than eating piped up at about the same time, asking Josefina for a date. The ones who had spoken all glared daggers at each other. Several others who looked as though they wanted to ask the same thing, but just hadn't gotten the courage yet, all glared at the ones who had. A massive fight was brewing and Andrew wasn't sure if there were any real way to prevent it.

"Sorry boys, but I have already agreed to go on a date with Andrew," Josefina interjected in her musical voice. All those glares turned to incredulous stares in his direction and he felt a flush rise in his cheeks from the sudden scrutiny. Jason's eyes were wide and he was staring at his friend.

After a moment of stares and some grumbles, the whole situation just dissipated. Jason was still staring though and his mouth was open a little in his surprise.

"Yes," Andrew asked him? Jason's mouth closed with a snap.

"Uh, I always thought you didn't date," he muttered in explanation.

Andrew was trying to still act excited for his friend, but it was difficult because he now understood that the real purpose behind Josefina's question was that the whole thing was made up. She just wanted to avoid the attention of the other guys. Of course she didn't want to go on a date with him. Andrew's stomach sank and he felt disappointment flooding through him. The food on the plate looked even less appetizing than it had before.

Andrew realized as he was sitting there that Jason had been looking for an answer and was still waiting. He shrugged.

"Just never met anyone else before that I was interested in dating," he finally said. Jason nodded, knowing what Andrew meant. Of course, it seemed that most of the girls in school were self absorbed snobs, not that attractive despite their good looks. Josefina didn't seem that way, though Andrew supposed it could be an act.

As he sat there, he wished that the date could be for real. He did feel a connection to this girl and wanted to spend more time with her, but he didn't have much hope that it would happen. No one liked him and he didn't like any of them. That's just the way it was. His world would never change.

Andrew felt the darkness of depression filling him. It was on top of the dreary gray world he was used to. This new depression was an inner pain while the one he was used to was a gray blanket obscuring his vision of the world around him. The combination of the two was almost enough to make him want to give up on this pathetic life. A voice whispered in Andrew's ear.

"Do it. Give up. There is no point." He nodded. There was no point. Giving up would be so much easier.

Josefina reached out and rested her hand on Andrew's. He felt current jolt through him. The whispers vanished and he heard the same growl he had noticed before passing out the previous day. The bleakness around him lightened and the depression faded into the background. Andrew looked into Josefina's eyes.

"What is going on," he asked? "I don't understand."

"I am not entirely positive myself, but I have an idea," she replied. "I will tell you what I can when I am able," she smiled a half smile at him before continuing, "possibly on that date I asked you for." The combination of her touch and the hope contained in her words broke the depression the rest of the way and pushed the grayness back enough to calm Andrew. Her words brought promise of answers, though how she knew them, he didn't know. They also brought a small ray of hope that maybe she did want to go out with him after all.

The rest of the day passed in that reduced hazy gray. It threatened to grow a few times, but somehow Josefina was always there when it did and her touch or a word or two pushed it back. There was something so different about this girl. Andrew just couldn't understand what was happening to him. He was used to the steady blackness with the occasional blurb of light and in the two days since he had met Josefina, it had jumped back and forth and up and down so much that Andrew felt dizzy. He hoped Josefina's answers might be able to help him get it under control.

Andrew lay in his bed that evening and stared at his ceiling just as he had in the morning. For some strange reason, he was no longer tired. He lay there pondering the things he had come to believe were so certain in his life. He knew he was going to be alone. He knew he would never understand this darkness in his life. He knew the rules and he had always followed them. But did it have to be that way? Could there be a brighter future out there for him?

Chapter 5

Josefina's eyes narrowed as she looked down at the food on Andrew's tray. As with the day before, she had chosen to go through the line without eating anything. She had also chosen to sit with him again. Most of the crowd of boys had dissipated back to their normal seats now that they knew she was not interested. A few still sat nearby, as if hoping she had not been serious the previous day or that she would change her mind. Andrew didn't care either way since she had still chosen to be with him. He still wasn't sure why, but it was nice to have her there. He held up one of his French toast sticks.

"Do you want to try it to see if it's as bad as you think," he asked her? She shrugged and picked it up. She took one tiny nibble from it as if she were afraid of what might happen to her. She frowned and quickly set it back down on Andrew's tray with a disgusted look on her perfect features. The disgusted look melted into one that seemed like she was about to be ill. Her face took on an almost greenish cast, something that everyone says when someone is sick, but not something Andrew had witnessed before.

"You okay," he asked her? She shook her head.

"No, this doesn't seem to agree with my system at all. I will be right back." She stood up and rushed from the lunchroom in the direction of the restrooms in the hall. Andrew picked it up and tried a small nibble of the food. It was bad, but all school cafeteria food was. It was still edible though. A minute or so later, Josefina returned looking healthy once again.

"Better," Andrew asked? She smiled and nodded as she sat down.

"Yes, sorry to run out like that, but I felt quite ill for a moment. I will have to remember to avoid the lunches altogether from now on. I doubt they will have anything here that agrees with me." She smiled at him. "If you don't mind, I would still like to sit here with you, even if I'm not eating."

Andrew felt a thrill run through him. He didn't mind at all. In fact, he liked that idea a lot.

As lunch ended and the afternoon progressed, he saw Josefina once again in so many of his classes. Andrew found himself wondering how that had happened. It wasn't a big school, but in six classes and a study hall, he didn't think there was a single person who shared more than three of those things with him. Yet the new girl shared four classes and study hall. And she also happened to interest him in a way that he had never experienced before. Life never worked out in his favor. Something was going to go wrong, he just knew it.

When the last class was over and they were walking back to lockers, he finally got up the nerve to ask her about being in all of his classes. She gave him a half smile that seemed to be her favorite expression and a small shrug.

"Just lucky I guess." Andrew snorted at that. "What," she asked? "Don't you believe I could get that lucky?"

"No I just don't know that getting into a class with me is all that special. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not the most popular guy around here." He got another half smile.

"I don't care what the rest of the school thinks of you, though I doubt it's as bad as you think. You are better than most of them to me." Andrew shook his head. How was this happening? The first and only girl he was interested in was looking for someone with personality instead of just going after the hot, popular guy? It didn't seem like something any girl he knew would do. On top of that, Andrew was the one she thought had personality worthy of her time. What had he done to deserve this?

At this point they were walking down the hall away from the lockers. There were some students left in the hallway, but not many. A majority of the students rode the buses which had taken off several minutes before, but Andrew had Trusty Rusty to take him home.

Trusty Rusty was a nineteen eighty four Oldsmobile Cutlass. The nickname came from the fact that there was just enough good metal left on the hull to hold the rust spots together. It was not a nice car by any means, but it had always worked for him. Now with Josefina walking beside him toward the lot Andrew felt embarrassed. What would Josefina think about such a piece of junk? Would she be disgusted by it?

Andrew wanted to tear his hair in frustration at the thought. These ideas kept appearing in his mind and he couldn't control them, these thoughts of fear about Josefina and thoughts of his own unworthiness. The thoughts felt foreign to his mind and no matter how hard he tried to prevent them, they continued to find their way to the surface. He needed to ignore them and push forward. No matter what his thoughts told him, it seemed that Josefina wanted to spend time with him and didn't mind his strange behavior. If she didn't care about that, she wasn't going to care about his car.

Andrew made up his mind that he was going to act like she wanted to spend time with him no matter what his thoughts told him. It was Wednesday and Andrew had to work from three thirty until seven thirty. He decided to ask Josefina if she wanted to hang out for a bit after that. No, she wouldn't like that.

Andrew frowned. That last thought had appeared in his mind before he even had finished thinking about asking if she wanted to hang out. The two thoughts had overlapped each other. That was something he had never experienced before.

Thinking two thoughts at once was the strangest feeling. Kind of like trying to listen to two different songs at the same time. The negativity of the second thought was diminished by the effect of the crossover. Andrew felt at that moment more alone than he ever had. He couldn't even trust his own thoughts to not betray him. If he couldn't even control himself, there was no hope of anyone else being able to help.

Andrew grunted as Josefina's arms appeared out of nowhere and wrapped around Andrew in a bear hug. Despite being smaller than he was, her grip was strong enough to expel the air from his lungs. The hug did more than push out the air. The strange thoughts and feelings in Andrew faded the instant he felt her skin brush his and that strange current flowed once more.

Josefina released him and stepped back at his grunt, almost as if she were afraid that she might have hurt him.

"Sorry, I am not usually so impulsive." She gave him her customary half smile. "Do you have anything going on today? I would like to spend some time with you outside of school." Andrew gave her a half smile of his own, one of several real smiles that had appeared in the short time since meeting her. The bleakness struggled to crawl up out of back of his mind, but somehow it was unable to break through his excitement at spending time with Josefina.

"I would definitely like that, but I have to work until about seven thirty so it would have to be after eight," he paused for a moment, "Also, feel free to be impulsive as often as you want to. The hug was nice." Josefina smiled and nodded. She turned and began to walk away. Andrew bent down to throw his books into the car and then looked up. She was gone. He looked all around the parking lot, but there was no sign of her, and he hadn't told her where he lived.

The light that appeared with her hug faded as he started his car. Andrew wasn't able to keep the darkness repressed any longer. Despite that, a real grin stretched his face. Somehow he knew that she would surprise him just as she had with everything else so far. Even though the dark was back now, it would leave again when he was with her. The smile didn't leave his face for the entire drive to work.

During his shift at work, some of his coworkers and the regular customers commented on how happy he seemed. That was something Andrew never heard from anyone. The best part about it was that they weren't wrong. The darkness was still there, but the glimmer of hope that usually faded so quickly remained with him throughout his entire shift. Andrew wasn't sure what this girl was doing to him, but whatever it was, he liked it.

Chapter 6

Most evenings when Andrew got home from work, he ate leftovers from his parents' supper alone in his room. After that, he glanced at his homework and did the vital stuff and then spent the rest of the evening reading.

Andrew's parents weren't thrilled with their son's reading choices. They felt that the fantasy didn't do anything to help him focus on his future. They wanted their son to read and do things that would help him to further himself.

One time Andrew had tried to argue that he might want to be a fantasy author so in effect, he was just doing research. That didn't seem to comfort either of them. They tried to understand their son's passion for make believe, but it was beyond them. Everything about their aloof son was hard for them to understand, but they never gave up trying. They were determined to reach him no matter what it took.

One of the reasons that they didn't like the fantasy is they felt it didn't fit with their religion. It had been Andrew's too, sort of, until he turned sixteen. At that point, his parents told him that it was his choice whether or not to join them at church. Andrew knew they were hoping that he would choose to continue going on his own. To their disappointment, he took the out that they offered and slept in on Sundays.

Despite the fantasy that he read, or maybe because of it, he couldn't bring himself to believe in a glowing figure who sat up in the sky watching everything and judging everyone. It just seemed too impossible to be real. Andrew was certain that there was about as much chance of God being real as there was that something from one of his fantasy books was.

On this particular night, Andrew pulled up in front of his house and for once, reading was the furthest thing from his mind. The normal distraction from reality it provided was far overshadowed by the creature coming to his house. It was strange for him to realize that there was something in the real world that he wanted more than he wanted to escape it.

Andrew sat in the kitchen with his leftovers and wondered when Josefina might show up. He hoped it was soon. He was looking forward to spending some time with her outside of school. He wondered for a moment if he could sneak her in and out of the house without his parents knowing that she was ever there.

They weren't home at the moment. There had been a note on the counter about drinks with friends and that they would be home around ten. It was possible that he could keep her visit to himself. That way they couldn't ask questions that he didn't know the answers to.

After scarfing down food without tasting it, Andrew went up to his room and grabbed a book to pass the time. He opened the book and stared at the first page for a long moment before realizing that he wasn't reading. He tried to focus, but couldn't seem to keep his eyes on the words long enough to register any meaning to them. After a few moments, he gave up and put the book back down on his desk. He lay back on the bed and stared around the room at the two posters on the walls, which were the only decorations.

One was a dragon poster that Jason had given him as a present for his fourteenth birthday. It was quite the artistic piece with a spiral of fire blasting out of the dragon's mouth toward a wizard in the background. The wizard was responding to the fire with streams of lighting exploding from the ends of his finger tips into the flame and the dragon beyond.

The other poster was a silver, two thousand and four Lamborghini Murcielago. It had sleek lines and paint that glistened in the artificial lighting under which the picture had been taken. It was not a realistic car for Andrew to ever own, but it was a dream car of his nonetheless. He didn't even get into cars all that much, but that was one he felt as though he could get excited about driving.

The rest of the walls were bare and a plain light beige color. The lack of activity had never bothered Andrew before, but as he sat there waiting he was worried about it. What if Josefina thought that he was boring because of his plain walls. Of course, he knew he was boring, but he didn't want her to know that. He lay there considering different things he could hang up to disguise it as a more exciting room.

The doorbell rang.

Andrew almost fell on his face in his haste to get up. His feet tangled in the blanket that was laying on the end of his unmade bed. After he got that untangled, he rushed out and down, nearly falling again on the stairs, twice. In front of the door, Andrew screeched to a halt, took a deep breath and then opened the door as if he hadn't almost killed himself in the process of reaching it.

His real smile faded into a half hearted attempt at a smile. The figure on the other side of the door was not who he had been expecting to find.

"Oh, it's you," Andrew mumbled after a moment.

"Well it's certainly wonderful to see you too," replied Jason, as he stepped around his disappointed friend and into the entryway. "Who were you expecting? It wouldn't be a young transfer student would it?" He frowned at Andrew. "One that you somehow managed to get a date with a day after she shows up." Andrew grinned at him. Now that he was over the initial disappointment, he was glad to see his friend.

"Come on in for a bit, but if you don't mind, I might kick you out at some point. She is coming over, though I'm not sure how soon."

They headed up to Andrew's room where Jason sat on the computer chair while he sat down on the bed again.

"I heard that she somehow ended up in four of your classes and your study hall. Is that true," Jason asked? Andrew grinned and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm not sure how it happened, but it is true."

"How did you manage it," Jason asked his friend, sounding a bit grumpy?

"How did I manage what," Andrew asked back in feigned ignorance? His friend stared at him, a small frown in place.

"How did you get her to like you so fast? No offense, but she seems like she would fit in with the popular crowd a lot better than with you or I. Yet somehow, she ends up at our table and agreeing to a date with you." Andrew shrugged, and felt a shudder of doubt and fear course through him. His friend's questions struck a little too close to the fears he was trying to keep squashed. He still didn't know how much of the date was because she liked him and how much was avoiding other unwanted attention.

"I'm not sure. She initiated most of it. I have just been sort of swept up in the whole thing. Not that I'm complaining of course. I just didn't have anything to do with it that I know of." Jason frowned and shook his head.

"It just doesn't make any sense. That girl is hot! She could have any guy in the school she wanted." He stared at Andrew. "You are so lucky, you know that right?" Andrew smiled back and nodded though he wasn't sure what he was lucky about yet. Whatever Josefina became for him, he just hoped it involved more of the brightness that having her near seemed to bring him.

Jason stayed for about a half an hour talking about Josefina before he left for home and then Andrew was alone once again. Before this week, that would have been fine with him. He preferred to be alone, but he didn't like it at all as he sat downstairs in the living room on the big, brown, leather couch. He stayed there for a few minutes before realizing that sitting there wasn't going to make her show up any sooner. He trudged back up the stairs to his room, which was on the left, right at the top of the stairs. He opened the door and just about jumped out of his skin.

She was sitting in the computer chair, looking as though she had been waiting there the entire time. Andrew's heart was racing, though from being surprised, or from her just being there, he couldn't decide. Most likely a bit of both.

"Hello." she murmured and then she smiled.

"Um, hi. How did you get up here?" Andrew stared at her. Now that the initial shock was fading, curiosity was setting in. There was no way she had gotten through the front door and up the stairs without him noticing. She must have figured out a way though. It was impossible to climb to the second floor on the outside of the house. He knew because he had tried it himself several times. Josefina shrugged and smiled the half smile at him.

"I am just good like that," she said. Andrew shook his head, not sure whether to be amazed or frightened. He hadn't told her his name, never mentioned an address or anything about where he lived, yet she had known both and then managed to get into the house without him noticing. There was something not normal about this girl. Andrew wondered what he was missing.

The other thing he wondered was why he wasn't bothered by any of this. He was sure that most people would freak out if someone sneaked into their house and knew things about them that they shouldn't. For some reason, Andrew couldn't seem to feel disturbed by any of it.

"Did you know that if you rang the doorbell or knocked, I would probably be willing to let you in? Then you wouldn't have to sneak in and scare me half to death." Josefina gave him a half smile.

"You'll get used to it. I like being where people don't expect me to be." Andrew felt a thrill run through him. If he was going to get used to her, that meant she was planning on sticking around for a while and he liked that idea. He walked over to his bed and sat down.

"I think I can deal with that." Josefina looked at him with some surprise on her face.

"It doesn't it bother you? Why are you so accepting of how strange I am acting?" Andrew looked away from her for a moment so that he could concentrate. She seemed to make his thoughts go all awry. Sometimes even to the point of overlapping again, dark thoughts blasting in over the top of happier ones.

"I'm not part of the popular crowd as I'm sure you noticed, but it goes a little deeper than that." He shrugged, "I've never connected well with people. Even as a child growing up, I always felt like I didn't belong. My parents have struggled to relate to me since I was born and I have all but given up on finding someone I fit well with. Most normal people pass me by without a second glance. You didn't. If I have to deal with a little strangeness, I can handle that." Andrew realized that he was pouring out everything to a girl he didn't even know. It was doubtful that she cared to hear his sob story. Why was he doing that? His mouth slammed shut as he continued to stare away from her.

Josefina reached out and touched his shoulder, on his shirt so there was no current. He glanced up at her face and found a look that surprised him. She looked sad, like she might care after all. She leaned back and her hand fell to her side.

"That sounds horribly lonely." she said. Andrew nodded after a moment.

"It has been more so than I ever expected it to be, but it hasn't been all bad." He smiled at her. "I do have my friend Jason. We get along well, both with the fantasy and because we are outcasts." Andrew paused before continuing, "Even with him though, the connection is not terribly strong." As he shared this, Andrew recognized that he had been even more alone than he had known. "I never knew how much it bothered me, but I would just love to find something or someone that makes me feel like I belong here in this life." He glanced over at Josefina again. There was a look of sympathy and maybe even empathy on her face. Did she know what it was to be alone in a world, even when surrounded on all sides by people?

"I know you may not believe me, but I understand how you feel. I have been lonely for a long time as well. I also have a difficult time connecting with those around me. I too must pretend that I am happy with who and where I am, but in truth, I wish to find someplace with someone where I feel as though I belong." Andrew recognized the raw pain on Josefina's face from his mirror. It seemed that she did know what he felt.

"Maybe we can try to find a place where we fit in together," Andrew blurted out. He turned bright red. Where was this coming from? He had never been so forward in his entire life. She shook her head.

"Even you would not fit with me I'm afraid." She frowned. "I didn't mean to say that much out loud." She sighed. "I think even you would not be able to accept the real me. Maybe I should go."

"Please don't leave. If you have something that you cannot share, it is fine, but I would like you to stay." Josefina looked surprised.

"You are willing to let me stay even if I have a secret I can't share with you." Andrew nodded.

"Everyone has secrets. I don't know how to say this right, but for some reason, I feel a connection to you, something that I have not felt with anyone ever before. I don't think there is anything you could be hiding that would make me not want you here." She looked at him askance.

"That is sweet of you to say. Also a little crazy, but you are right about the connection. I feel it as well, and as much as I know I should get up and leave, I want to stay too much to do that." The corners of her lips turned up then, though Andrew could still see pain in her expression. He felt a fierce desire to take away that pain.

"I'm glad that you feel it too. I was beginning to think that I was losing my mind. What with the connection and other strange feelings." Her eyes narrowed and her face tightened.

"What do you mean, strange? What exactly have you noticed?" Andrew flushed.

"Well, I felt like someone was watching me, and I thought it might be you, but then in Spanish class I could see that it wasn't. I guess it must have just been someone else noticing the connection between us."

One instant she was sitting in the chair, right by the bed and the next instant she was standing up, staring out the window. The motion happened so quickly that it appeared that she transported between the two spots. Andrew's jaw dropped. No one could move that fast.

She was looking around outside, but even there, the motions of her head were too fast for the average person. While she looked, she was muttering to herself. He tried to hear what she was saying, but the words were not in English.

"Um... is there something wrong," he asked, his voice tentative? She spun toward him, almost as if she had forgotten that he was there. There was a pause as she reconnected with reality. Realization dawned and her motions became normal and fluid. She smiled a half smile, though she still seemed distracted.

"I'm sorry Andrew, but I must go. I will explain more when I can. I will see you later." She walked to the door, opened it and closed it again before he could even open his mouth to say a single word. He stood up and rushed to the door to ask what was wrong or at least to say goodbye. She wasn't there.

Chapter 7

The next morning, Andrew waited through first hour, not paying any attention to what was going on in the class. Thankfully, it didn't get back to him to read, so he didn't think anyone noticed his lack of focus. He was anxious about second hour, worrying about what he would say and wondering what she would say back. He had spent the rest of the previous night going over their conversation, trying to figure out what had driven her away. Was it because of the connection, or the strange feelings he had mentioned? Had he done something else wrong?

All that worry was for nothing as Andrew sat through all of second hour without a sign of her. Was she sick, or avoiding him? He shook his head. That was impossible. There was no way anyone would skip school just to avoid him. He wasn't that important.

Third hour, study hall and lunch rolled in and out, again without a sign of her. Andrew didn't notice the food that he ate or anything around him. Jason tried to talk to him a few times, but after some unintelligible responses, gave up and left him alone.

The rest of the day passed in that haze and before Andrew knew it, the final bell was ringing. The day was over and he had no idea what had happened. He was ready to go home. All he wanted was to forget everything and go back to life when it was simple and he knew what to expect. The darkness was better than this up and down. It was better than hope dangled so near and then yanked away leaving him worse than if it had never been.

He climbed into his car and was halfway home when the fact that he was supposed to work again tonight wormed its way through his heavy thoughts. Andrew thought about skipping it, but after a moment, sighed and changed directions. Maybe a few hours at work would give him enough of a dull distraction to get him over this irrational melancholy. He didn't know this girl at all. Why did it matter so much to him that she wasn't there?

As he was driving, a shiver wracked his spine, all the hairs on his back and arms rose to attention and he realized that the feeling of being watched was back again. He looked in his mirrors and around as much as he could, but Andrew didn't see anyone. That was almost as strange as the feeling itself. This stretch of road was always packed with traffic during the day. Yet, for some reason, his was the only car for as far as he could see.

Despite being alone on the road, Andrew still felt those eyes on him. He tried to shrug it off, but the feeling wouldn't go away. It was crazy and he knew that he was losing his mind. He thought to himself that maybe he should get some professional help. Imaginary eyes could not be a good sign of mental health. Then he saw it.

At first it was just a shadow in the ditch. The shadow was keeping pace with the car, but it was on the wrong side of the road to be the car's shadow. Andrew strained to see what was making the shadow and noticed a heat blur about the size of a person. It was difficult to drive and watch the thing at the same time, but he somehow managed it.

The longer he watched, the more of a shape within the blur he saw. It was a dark outline of a man shape, though a bit larger than the average human. It was too blurry to make out any details, but he felt certain that this was the thing that had been watching him. What was it? Why was it following him? What was it going to do? Fear roiled in the pit of his stomach, threatening to overwhelm him. On top of that, the darkness which had always existed solely within himself emanated from the creature running beside his car. It was at this point that he knew for certain that this thing was about to kill him. A voice in his head said that it was time to end the pain and darkness. Just let it all end. It sounded peaceful. It sounded easy. Why not just let it happen. It was not like there was anything he could do about it anyway.

Andrew glanced back at the road ahead from time to time as he drove, but most of his attention was focused on the dark blur. In between two of those glances forward, Josefina's small form appeared on the road, standing on the center line. At that, his whole attention switched from the blur to her. At the same time, his whole attitude shifted as well. There was always hope and she represented his. He would fight death to the end, and somehow, she would help. She was about a hundred car lengths down the road, standing motionless and then she vanished.

Andrew hit the brakes and tried to see where she went. The blurred form beside his car flew backward and he saw her crashing into it, arms moving so fast he couldn't track them with his eyes. The cracks of the blows reverberated in Andrew's ears like thunder to accompany her lightning fists. The form was still blurry, even as it lay still upon the ground, though still was not an accurate description since it bounced around with the blows raining down upon it from her tiny fists.

Josefina lifted up in the air and flew backward over thirty feet. She rolled and bounced beyond that on the hard concrete, her body flopping around like a rag doll. Andrew hadn't even seen the blurred form move, but it had delivered a blow that was beyond anything he could even comprehend. He felt tears well up in his eyes as he watched her rolling. There was no way she could survive a blow that hard, let alone striking the concrete and bouncing like she was.

Then she wasn't rolling anymore. Not because she stopped rolling. She just wasn't there. She was on top of the dark blur, pounding once again. An instant later, there was another figure, a male that Andrew didn't recognize. The two came at the blur, which by this point was standing again. The male knocked it back and then Josefina was gone. He looked around and then she was standing beside the driver door.

"Move over," she urged him. Andrew unlocked the door and hurried to unbuckle his belt and move over as she climbed into the driver's seat. Outside the car, the two figures were still locked in a fierce struggle. The blur kept knocking away the man, but he was back as fast as it could send him away.

As he watched, Andrew saw that the blur was slowing, but the man didn't seem to be. Small chunks of the blur broke off with some of the blows.

The gas pedal of his poor car hit the floor and Andrew was thrown back against the seat. He rushed to put his seat belt on, though Josefina didn't bother with hers. Behind them, the fight faded from his sight as the car rounded a corner. Josefina never glanced back. She just drove his car at a speed it had never before endured.

The look on her face was one of anger, though at the thing or at something else, Andrew wasn't sure. He was also unsure if it were wise to talk when she was so much stronger than he had realized was even possible and at the moment, angry. He decided to risk it.

"What just happened," he asked, though he spoke in a quiet tone in an attempt to not upset her further? Her face turned to look at him, not even watching the road though she had the car groaning along over a hundred miles an hour. The car never swerved or moved from where it was supposed to be on the road. Her eyes looked into his.

"Don't worry about it," she said, and then he didn't. Who cared what had just happened. It wasn't a big deal. The car slowed down as she pulled into the parking lot at his job. She parked the car, still looking into his eyes. "Forget everything that just happened. You left the school parking lot and drove directly to work. Nothing else happened." And then, nothing else had.

Chapter 8

Andrew scanned the next item and smiled at the elderly lady with the large bun in her gray hair. She was telling him about her husband who had passed away nearly a decade ago. He heard the same story every time she came into the store. He didn't mind though most of the time.

"Bertram was an amazing man. He used to ride a horse for two and a half hours both ways to come and visit me in town. You young kids these days have no idea how good you have it."

"You're absolutely right Mrs. Paxley, we do have it good these days." She humphed.

"At least you see that. Most lads your age don't understand." She talked a bit more and Andrew did his best to smile and agree with her. He wasn't certain why, but he was anxious for his shift to end. His heart had been racing ever since work started, though he couldn't think of a reason. Halfway through the shift, it had slowed, but not all the way back to normal. He tried to think back on the day, but he didn't come up with anything that would explain the nerves or the heartbeat. He had been a little bit disappointed that Josefina hadn't come to school, but that didn't make him anxious, just disappointed. He shook his head and tried to focus on what he was doing. He had been doing that a lot since meeting her.

Like it did any time he wanted to be somewhere else, Andrew's shift crept by at a snail's pace. He checked the clock constantly, but instead of hours moving by each time, it was minutes. When ten o'clock crept onto the face of the big clock on the wall he stamped out and headed for his car. He was more than ready to be at home.

Trusty Rusty was waiting in the lot, right where he left it. He remembered parking in a rush as if he would be late if he didn't hurry. The memory felt fuzzy, but Andrew shook it off. He was just tired from work.

The engine rumbled as the key turned and the car started. The rusted muffler groaned as it often did whenever Andrew first started it or if he drove too fast. He paused as that thought went through his head. Something wasn't right. He saw a flash.

The speedometer was vibrating at almost a hundred miles per hour, but that couldn't be right. He never drove that fast. Something was wrong with his memory. He tried to figure it out as the memory played in his head.

Andrew realized that the view of the speedometer in his memory was from the passenger seat. Who was driving? In his mind, Andrew tried to turn and look at the driver. A soft voice overlapped the thoughts and the replay. It was a memory of words spoken and Andrew saw eyes in front of his face, but there was no one there.

While he was driving home from work, Andrew tried to remember being there. He was sure that he worked because it was after his shift and he was driving away from the store. He remembered driving there, but everything after that was fuzzy. Maybe he needed to see a doctor and get his head examined. Come to think of it, his heart had been acting funny too. Maybe it was time for another check up, though just thinking of the last one made him flush.

It was embarrassing to have to undress for a doctor, worse since he wasn't comfortable with his body. Not that he thought he had a bad body, but it wasn't much compared to most of the other guys at his school. Andrew had long ago given up being muscular and tan like them. His destiny was to be wiry and pale as long as he lived.

Andrew pulled up to his house and parked the car. He locked the doors and walked up the sidewalk to his house. There were no lights on inside, but that didn't surprise him. It was just before ten thirty and his parents both had to be up before the sun. They were in bed by about a quarter to ten on weeknights unless they had plans like the previous evening.

A squirrel ran by him in its rush to get to a tree. The small shape blurred in the night that was dimly lit by random street lamps. It wasn't the squirrel that Andrew saw running past him though. In its place was a dark shape the size of a man that had been running on the side of the road. The squirrel continued on its trek, but the thoughts it had evoked in Andrew didn't fade with its passing.

The events of the day came rushing back to him and his mind sifted through them. At the end of it all, he reached the memory of Josefina in his car before work. Her eyes stared into his and her voice told him to forget. As before, when he looked at those eyes and heard those words, he felt the recent memories start to slip from his grasp. At the same time, he could feel the darkness upon him pushing on the back of those memories, trying to make them fade faster. The feeling made a growl of frustration rise in his throat.

"No!" The night echoed with his growl and muted word as Andrew struggled to hold onto those memories. "I will not forget," he muttered to himself. An audible click sounded in his mind, and without understanding what he had done, the memories firmed. Another moment passed and they were as strong as ever. Andrew frowned. The next time that he saw Josefina, she had some explaining to do.

He turned the key in the deadbolt on the front door and stepped into the dark interior. He slipped out of his shoes and trudged up the stairs. Inside his room, he shut the door before flicking on the light. There was no need to wake his parents in case they left their door open.

The room was empty. Andrew placed his school bag on the bed and then went into his closet to get a shirt to sleep in. He moved into the bathroom and brushed his teeth and then stripped down for a full shower.

The warm water cascaded down his back and he felt himself relax. It wasn't until that point that his heart rate reached its normal beat. It had been pumping fast for most of the afternoon and evening. Andrew thought to himself that he was going to have a heart attack and die young if he didn't figure out how to keep that from happening.

He toweled himself dry and slipped into boxers and the shirt he had grabbed to sleep in. His hair was still wet, but it was fine hair and would be dry by the time he was ready to sleep.

Andrew liked to read for an hour or so before bed. He had some homework to do, but nothing popped out at him as urgent. He was a horrible procrastinator when it came to school work. He wrote papers and did almost everything the night before it was due. He seemed to get it done and get decent grades, so he didn't see a reason to put any more effort into it than that.

He stepped into his room and started to walk to the bed without turning on the overhead light. The lamp was all that he needed for reading. He stopped. There was no noise, but Andrew felt his heart pick back up a bit. At the same time, a sense of calm flowed over him and the ever present dark cloud pulled back, giving him a view of the light beyond. This feeling had happened to him only a few times, yet he knew it immediately.

"Hello Josefina," Andrew said to the darkness. He reached for the lamp and flicked on the soft light. She was standing there, in the center of the room, staring at him.

"How on earth did you know that I was here," she asked, eyes wide and brows just about lifting off the top of her face. Even in the soft light of the lamp, she seemed to glisten as if she stood under the brightest rays of the sun. Andrew shrugged.

"I just felt you," he replied. She frowned and shook her head.

"I had no idea that was even possible. Even I... most people cannot sense another presence without some sign to give them away." Andrew felt a strange feeling of exuberance at surprising her. He was also looking forward to the rest that he had to share. She was going to be shocked.

"Yeah, I'm not sure how I did it either. Speaking of doing unexpected things... you have a little bit of explaining to do." She looked at Andrew for a moment and then smiled a small half smile.

"I told you, I like to surprise people. That's the reason I'm here. I didn't think you would mind." He shook his head, complete with a small half smile of his own.

"No, I don't mind at all, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm referring to earlier. The thing that was following me that you and the other man like you attacked." This time, she was more on guard. Her eyebrows rose slightly, but that was the only outward sign of surprise.

"How on earth?" She shook her head. "Apparently I didn't make you forget as well as I thought." She stepped closer and looked up into his eyes. "You will forget everything that happened today. You will remember working and then coming home and going to bed." When she had spoken before to his unaware mind, those words had slipped into Andrew's subconscious and worked like she wanted. Now, whether it was the knowledge of what she was doing or some other reason, the words were just words. He shook his head.

"No, I don't think I would like to do that. I think I would rather you explained what is going on and who you are." There was a long pause as Josefina stared at him, pondering what to do about this unexpected situation.

"Astonishing," she said after a time. "I haven't met anyone like you before Andrew. No one has ever been able to remember when I did not want them to." Her head tilted to the side and the feeling that he knew her from somewhere else flooded through him, though he couldn't bring any memories of it to mind or say why he felt that way. "I wonder why you are able to." He shook his head again.

"I don't know, but that is not what we are talking about here. You attacked that dark, man shaped thing earlier and I would like to know what it was. I would also like to know how you are so fast and strong." Josefina stood there for a moment.

"I cannot tell you. I'm sorry, but I just can't." She stood there a moment longer staring at him, and then she was gone. The curtain shivered for a moment before it stilled. Andrew hadn't seen the window open or close, but he knew that she had gone that way.

Who was this girl who had the power to command minds to forget and to move like the wind? What was she? And most importantly, why was he, Andrew Stephen Marks, not afraid of what the answers to those questions might be?

Chapter 9

She wasn't in school on Friday. Andrew waited through first hour to get to Spanish class, hoping to talk to her there, but her seat was empty. He was disappointed, but couldn't help but look again in study hall. She wasn't there either.

Jason and Andrew sat alone at lunch, and after seeing the dark look on Andrew's face, Jason said nothing about her absence at the lunch table. The afternoon was worse because even though she hadn't been there all morning, he still looked for her each class, hoping she would change her mind and show up.

He spent the day in a sort of daze, wondering what she couldn't tell him and where she had gone. He was surprised by the ringing of the final bell. He knew that he had gone to all of his classes and eaten lunch, but his mind was blank. He remembered nothing but looking for her and not seeing her and the thoughts of the previous evening playing over and over again in his mind.

He climbed in his car and drove home, glad that he didn't have to work. He wasn't sure he could have managed it. The daze he experienced during school accompanied him all through supper with his parents and into bed. The darkness, which had taken a back burner all day to his thoughts, tried to flow into his mind as he lay there, but he shook his head to clear it away so he could continue thinking of Josefina. His thoughts were so focused on her, that Andrew didn't even notice how easily the darkness had been pushed back.

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear, but Andrew felt none of the warmth that sunlight streaming into a room should bring. He glanced at the clock on the nightstand. It was nine o'clock on a Saturday. He should have been sleeping, but he had been up for over an hour. He went back to staring at the ceiling above him which he had been doing since he had woken up.

A thought struck him and pulled Andrew up from where he lay. She couldn't tell him, but could he figure it out on his own. He glanced at the computer on his desk. Maybe there were answers out there if he searched for them instead of waiting for someone else to bring them to him.

Andrew was excited at first, and dove into the research, but after several hours, his head was in his hands. He was exhausted and frustrated at the results of his search. With each passing moment of time spent staring at the screen with no good answers, the darkness pressed down upon him harder, urging him to give up his quest. He was beginning to agree.

It's not that there weren't some ideas, it was just that none of them fit. There were thousands of pages about people who were faster and stronger than they should have been. Pages talked about medical things like adrenaline rushes. There were people in the grip of fear for loved ones who ran faster than they ever had before. They lifted heavy things, busted down doors and walls and fought off large groups of people. Other sites talked about people who trained all their lives to be able to punch through bricks and run up walls. These people performed feats of strength and skill that amazed Andrew, but couldn't explain the things he had seen from Josefina and her male companion from the road. Still more web sites talked about fantasy ideas like super heroes who could run faster than bullets or jump tall buildings. There were aliens who were vastly different than their human counterparts and could do incredible things, but while Andrew was more familiar with these, they didn't fit with what he had seen either.

The last suggestion he found was about demons who possessed people and could force their bodies to do things beyond normal limitations. That didn't fit either. None of them fit. Each had aspects that matched, but also many that did not. He shuddered thinking about Josefina as demon possessed. Andrew knew it couldn't be true. Josefina was about as opposite of a demon as it was possible to get. He had seen the light around her and sensed far too much good in her. Demons were a scary thought though. It was far more likely that the other thing that had been chasing him had been a demon than her.

His blood felt froze in his veins. Andrew shuddered in terror as the truth clicked in his mind. That thing beside the road must have been a demon. He had sensed its presence on the road, and that presence had been dark and evil. A cloud of darkness had rolled off of it. He sat there with his blood frozen, fear pumping his heart faster because Andrew was now thinking about the other thing in his life that felt the same as that dark thing on the road. The reason he had even recognized the feeling of the demon had been because it felt like his own darkness. Shivers of fear wracked Andrew's body.

"That's not right. It can't be right. Demons can't exist." The words felt like thoughts in his head, but Andrew recognized something about these words that he had noticed before and passed it off as just strange. These thoughts overlapped his own and now Andrew understood why. They weren't his thoughts.

The shivers stopped after a while and the terror faded to a fear in the background that was manageable, as long as Andrew didn't think about it too hard. All of his life, Andrew had wished for the worlds of his fantasy books to trade places with the real world. That wish was now coming true and all he could do was wish that it were all a mistake. Fantasy was fun in a book. It was far scarier now that it was mixing with reality.

Andrew didn't know what to do except try to get through the weekend and hope that Josefina was at school. He didn't know how else to get a hold of her. She was the only one he knew of that had any chance of knowing what to do to help him. He wondered if there was even anything that could be done.

He went to bed early that night without reading from any of his books. The thought of more fantastical things that might be as real as the terror he had discovered was too much. Instead, he lay in his bed for a long time staring through the darkness at the ceiling above him and trying to pretend that it was all a dream.

He never expected to fall asleep with the thoughts in his mind, not to mention not even knowing which ones were his and which came from the dark cloud within him. Despite his fear, after a while, sleep came and stole him from terror. His sleep was restless, but if there were dreams, he didn't remember them when he woke.

The next day, Andrew was up long before his parents were. He considered going with them to church, but none of the things he knew about it promised any help. He thought they would want to send him to a shrink or just lock him in a straight jacket. He considered that possibility several time throughout the day. Maybe he needed to see a shrink.

He spent a good portion of the day debating himself about that. At least he hoped it was just with himself. If he couldn't figure that out soon, he would need a shrink for sure. By the end of the day, he was still convinced that he wasn't crazy. Reality was the crazy thing.

Andrew fell into his bed at close to midnight, drained from the mental strain of fear and arguing with himself. As he lay in bed, he just hoped that she would be there tomorrow. If she wasn't, he didn't know what he was going to do.

Chapter 10

In what had almost become normal for him over the course of the previous week, English the next morning was a blur in which Andrew floated, unaware of his surroundings. He spent almost the entire class staring at a clock that didn't seem to be moving. He stared long enough that the clock blurred past the point of recognition. The bell to end class surprised him so much that he almost fell out of his chair. In breathless anticipation mixed with desperation, he rushed to his locker and on to second hour.

The relief Andrew felt upon seeing Josefina in her chair filled him and he let out a loud breath that he didn't even know he had been holding.

"Thank God you are here. I honestly don't know what I would have done," Andrew said as he collapsed in his own seat. Josefina smiled a small half smile at him, though her eyes looked uncertain.

"I wasn't certain that you would want to see me after I couldn't tell you anything."

"I'm certain you had your reasons, and I don't want to be the one to make you violate them, but I believe that I have figured some things out that might change that."

"And what do you think that you have discovered," she asked him?

"I still don't know exactly what you are, but I believe..." Andrew realized how ridiculous his theory would sound aloud. He glanced around, but no one was paying attention to them as they waited for the bell to ring to start class. As his eyes came back to Josefina, he decided he didn't care how silly it sounded. She was his only hope.

"You are a fool. You should be quiet and go back to minding your own business." The words reverberated through Andrew and he shuddered under the force of those words in his mind. The demon in him didn't want this conversation to continue. Josefina's eyebrows climbed her forhead.

"What do you believe? Are you alright?" She paused, "I'm afraid something might be wrong with you." Josefina sounded concerned, but Andrew knew that for some reason she had to protect her secret. He just hoped his news would allow her to change her mind enough to help him. He just had to tell her what he knew.

"Everything is fine. I am fine. It was all a joke. I don't really know anything." A smile formed on his face that stretched his lips farther than normal. Inside of his own body, Andrew watched in horror through his own eyes as the demon turned back to the front of the class and pretended to pay attention. He fought as hard as he could to turn his face back to hers, to try to let some sign out to her that he was trapped, but he couldn't even make his own eyes blink.

"Andrew?" The whispered question beside him caused the demon to turn his head toward the sound.

"What do you want, I'm trying to pay attention to the class?" Andrew fought as hard as he could to move his face or his hands, or something, but it was useless. Andrew was no more than an awareness living inside of a shell. The demon frowned at her.

"Sorry," she muttered, facing front herself as the demon forced Andrew's head to do the same thing.

The rest of the day passed in much the same way. Every time anyone he knew was in front of him, Andrew struggled as hard as he could to show some sign that something was wrong. He figured any attention was better than nothing. But no matter what he did, he wasn't able to make any change to his own body. By the end of the last class of the day, he was so scared and frustrated that he wanted to cry, but he couldn't do that either.

The demon drove him home and parked his car on the street in front of his house. It jiggled the key in the lock and opened his front door. When the door shut behind it, the demon began to laugh.

"Andy my boy. You are done for. My master will reward me beyond anything you can even imagine for you. I was just supposed to stop you in any way I could, but now I can deliver you directly to him." Andrew felt a darkness all his own fill him. He had hoped that one day he would beat this darkness, but it seemed that the darkness had won. He felt himself beginning to give up and fade even farther into the dark recesses of a body that was no longer his.

"I'm afraid it just isn't going to happen that way." The soft bells came from behind Andrew, but the voice reached deep inside of him and lifted him back up. Andrew's body spun and the demon let out a growl at the sight of Josefina standing there. Words came from his mouth, but they sounded nothing like Andrew anymore. The gravelly words grated on Andrew's ears.

"What are you going to do about it? You think that just because you are Blood that you are invincible." Andrew's face twisted into an evil grin. "Allow me to show you how wrong you are." Andrew's fist came up ten times faster than he had ever moved before. It struck Josefina square in the face. The blow that would have broken both a normal hand and a normal face did nothing to either.

It did something else that Andrew did not expect. The touch of their skin did the same thing it had done each time in the past. It sent an electric current between them. This time was a bit different though. The size of the current was a million times as powerful as it had been before and the blast it created lifted both Andrew and Josefina up and launched them apart. Andrew's body went through the wall behind him and into the living room on the other side. Electrical wires, wall studs and parts of the wall were scattered all around him. Josefina crashed through the front door and landed on the sidewalk by the street, the metal door still underneath her.

At the same time, the lights of all the houses on the block flickered on and then in almost the same instant, every bulb exploded. Screams echoed down the block as the shock of the unexpected lights and following blasts took residents by surprise.

Back inside the house, the demon and Andrew were both dazed as his body lay on the ground. Andrew struggled as hard as he could to move his body, to regain control. As he did, he felt a shift within himself and he once again took over his body. A small part of him regretted it because he felt a great deal of pain from the damage that his body had just endured. But more than anything he felt joy to be once more at the helm of a body he never expected to have to fight for.

He groaned as he sat up. He felt like his entire backside was one giant bruise. From what had just happened though, he was shocked that there didn't seem to be any other damage. He started to move, trying to sit up, but found his way blocked.

Where there had been no one moments before, Josefina stood above him, looking down as if she were about to smash him back to the ground, or beyond.

"Wait! It's me," Andrew said, trying to hold back the blow that would likely kill him without the demon in charge. Josefina hesitated, looking cautious, but optimistic.

"How can I be sure," she asked after a moment? Andrew held up his hand.

"Help me up, apparently you and the demon can't touch without the world exploding." Josefina gingerly took his hand. There was the slight tingle of current that had occurred at every touch, but no other reaction. She started to pull and Andrew's body protested. "Slowly please. My body isn't as strong as yours seems to be." She pulled with a little less force and brought Andrew to his feet. He checked himself over again now that he was standing.

Despite the force at which he had gone through that wall, he seemed to be in good shape with only some bruising. Apparently there was some benefit to being possessed. Wait. That last thought hadn't been his own. Even though he was once again in control, Andrew still had two in a body made for one. He looked up at Josefina.

Josefina pulled out a phone and opened it. She shook her head and closed it.

"I don't suppose you have a phone that isn't fried." Andrew's phone was in his book bag. He looked around and realized that the demon hadn't bothered to bring it in.

"Maybe. It should be in my bag in the car. I can go get..." Josefina stood in the entry in almost the same spot she had been a moment before, but she now held his bag in her hands. She was rummaging inside and came out with the phone. "What happens now," asked Andrew after a moment? Despite knowing she was different than he was, seeing it still surprised him.

"I have to talk to my superiors and find out." She glanced around the broken house. "Let's go to my house if you don't mind." Andrew nodded. They climbed into his car with her at the wheel. The car was once again subjected to high speeds that it was not used to enduring. On the way, Josefina made a phone call. She spoke so fast that Andrew couldn't even follow where one word ended and the next began. He also had no idea what the words were since they were a different language. After a few moments of rapid speech, the phone beeped as she ended the call and she tossed the phone into the center console.

Josefina's house was about a mile outside of town. The driveway was winding gravel and it led back into a large wooded lot, not unlike the one behind Andrew's house. As the driveway curved around a last little bunch of trees into a clearing in the center, the house came into view. His jaw dropped. It wasn't a huge house, but it was the most amazing one he had ever seen.

It looked like a houses that an architect might design after becoming rich from success on other projects. It was difficult to describe. It looked a little like several different building blocks that had been stacked precariously on top of each other by a young child. None of the outside corners lined up. Some of the blocks had glass sides in them, others were plain or had smaller windows in them. The building material looked like concrete that had been stained a brown cedar color.

Josefina parked the car on the circular slab of concrete in front of the house.

"Wow," Andrew exclaimed! "This place looks incredible." Josefina grinned at him.

"Just a little something I have had in my head for a while. I had it built here about three years ago by some out of town contractors that I know." That wasn't right. Hadn't she just moved here? What else had she told him that wasn't true? Was she who she claimed to be at all? Was she even safe? He reluctantly climbed out of the car and followed her to the front door.

Josefina typed in a code on the door and the deadbolt receded into the heavy steel door with a whir and a click. She opened the door and ushered Andrew in ahead of herself.

Once inside, the door snapped shut like the clank of a prison door. He was trapped. His heart started to race and he felt his hands get clammy. Her hand touched his arm and he jumped.

"You are safe here," Josefina said in a soft soothing tone. "I know you don't understand anything yet and I will tell you what I can as soon as I can, but I would never do anything to hurt you." The words were reassuring for a moment, but Andrew's dark thoughts quickly overrode any comfort he received from them.

A small part of him whispered that the thoughts might not be his, but they made a lot of sense and Andrew found himself listening more and more to the darkness within him. It warned him to run at his first opportunity from this dangerous creature that he knew nothing about. He nodded his agreement. He had to get out of here, as soon as he could.

Josefina's home phone rang. She moved over to it and picked it up. Her movements were as quick as they had been the other day in his room and again today in grabbing his bag. It was unnatural and it frightened Andrew. Her back was to him as she answered and began to speak, once again in that strange language that Andrew didn't understand. A thought crashed through his brain.

Maybe she was the demon. Maybe the thing with him was just trying to protect him from her. How could he be sure that she was the one telling him the truth? He felt the room start to spin and knew that now was his only chance to survive. He grabbed the knob behind him, yanked the door open and made a dash for the car.

She had the keys. Andrew ran past the car and down the long driveway as fast as he could, his thoughts whirling in fear and darkness. She could run faster than he could. He had no chance. She would catch him before he even reached the end of the driveway. He didn't know what to do.

"Let me run for you," the voice in his head whispered. "I can run faster than you can." It was right. Andrew knew it was stronger and faster than he was. It might be his only hope at getting away from her and whatever she intended to do to him. He nodded. Before he even finished agreeing, it was done. The demon chuckled as it took an even stronger grasp than before.

The world blurred as Andrew's body ran faster than he had ever moved in his life. The demon had been right about one thing. It could run faster than he could. Now that it was in control again though, it stopped pretending to be his friend. It howled laughter at him in his head as it described horrific things that its master would do to him when he was delivered.

"You will suffer for all eternity for what you might have become. My master will see to it and if he allows it, I will help."

A single tear fell from the demon's eye as Andrew realized that he had allowed this evil thing to dupe him. He had listened to the darkness with the light and the truth so evident in front of him. He was lost.

Chapter 11

As they ran, Andrew tried to recall the feeling of what he had done in his living room to take control. He struggled to reach for that feeling. He came close several times. But each time that he was close, the demon rose up and squashed him back down. It laughed at his pitiful attempts.

"It is too late for you," it growled, "just give up." Andrew refused to give up though. He strained time and again to overcome this thing inside of him. He threw his mind at it until his mind was exhausted. He didn't even know the mind was something that could get tired, but each try was weaker than the last. With each try, the demon mocked him more. The combination of tiring and the mocking was taking its toll on Andrew's mind, driving him to the darkest place he had ever been. He screamed as loud as he could, but no sound left his lips. It was at that moment that he gave up. There was nothing he could do to save himself. He did something then that he had never done. He prayed to the God of his parents.

The path ahead of them was empty, and then it was not. Josefina stood there, feet spread, arms crossed and the answer to a prayer that Andrew had not expected to be answered. He had given in to the demon. He didn't deserve to be saved, yet here was salvation.

"You will not take him." The demon spun him around to run the other way. The man that Andrew remembered from the side of the road the other day stood there, blocking his path. The demon rushed him with a howl that curdled Andrew's blood. The man, or demon hunter, or whatever they were, stood fast as Andrew and the demon blurred toward him. Just before the demon in Andrew's body reached him, his fist blurred up and then Andrew was flying back at twice the speed he had been running forward. Josefina and the man appeared above where Andrew had landed on his back. The man looked at her.

"I thought you said we couldn't touch him without a reaction?"  
"I don't know. It happened before." The demon rolled and stood up as fast as it could. Josefina rushed to where it stood and wrapped her hands around Andrew's face. The jolt of energy lifted both of them into the air with a visible blue ball of lightning that flared out in all directions. This time, Josefina didn't let go and the current continued to explode into Andrew skull while the demon within howled in pain. After that initial blast, they fell to the ground rolling as Josefina struggled to keep her hands on his face and the demon fought to get away from the burning of electric fire.

Andrew felt like howling along as every fiber of his being was fried to a crisp with the the power coursing through it. As he struggled to adjust to the pain, he found that he could feel the separate lines of power flowing into him from Josefina, except that wasn't her name.

With the link between them, Andrew felt a vastness of knowledge within her. He couldn't get at all of it, but the surface of that knowledge slipped into his mind with the pain. The light of that power illuminated every part of his being. He could visualize that light flowing through him and in spite of the pain, it was the brightest and most beautiful thing he had ever experienced. There was one exception to that beauty. Inside of his mind, there was a dark shape that kept shifting to avoid the lines of light flashing around.

Andrew reached for the light with his thoughts and found that he could touch it. He tried to grab a piece of it and felt it slip through his thoughts like squeezing a handful of water. He refused to give up. Josefina was giving him a chance at freedom. It was up to him to grasp that chance while it was offered.

He kept trying again and again. After countless tries, he had a different thought. If he couldn't grab it, maybe he could just guide it. Andrew imagined a path for the light and to his surprise, the light grabbed onto that path and followed it. He thought of a path to the center of that blackness. It couldn't move in time to avoid the flowing light and the surface of the darkness rippled like a lake in a turbulent storm as the light punched through. The demon screamed and the sound echoed out of Andrew's mouth.

"Get out!" Andrew shouted in his mind as he guided more lines of the light into the demon. Each strike left the blob shuddering and twisting in an attempt to avoid another blow. Andrew was relentless, creating new paths each time the demon moved to avoid him. Another idea occurred to him and Andrew gathered up all of the light that he could, spread it in a large net of paths around the demon. Then he began to squeeze the net. The net tightened on the surface of the blackness until it was covered by light. That ball of white grew smaller and smaller as Andrew pressed in upon it with all his mental might.

The final gut wrenching scream burst from Andrew's lips, but cut off as the black bubble burst. The light collapsed into a pinprick with the remnant of the black still within. The tiny point of light exploded and Andrew's body shook from the force as it expanded to fill every part of him. An instant in that blazing agony and then the blaring lines of power faded to a soft tingle that Andrew barely felt after the current that felt as though it should have blasted him into dust.

Johari, which was Josefina's real name, released her hands as the current faded. To his surprise, the soft lines of current within him did not disappear at the loss of her touch. Andrew lay still for a minute and then gingerly rolled onto his back, eyes still closed. He let out a long sigh and opened his eyes.

Above him stood Johari, glowing as she always had, but the glow was different. It was a soft halo that simply separated her from the light around her. Andrew gasped as he beheld the world before him. The sun was shining from its place near the horizon, but despite the late hour, the day was brighter than Andrew had ever seen it. Light was everywhere, so bright he almost wanted to close his eyes, but at the same time it was so beautiful that he never wanted to close them again. Shivers of joy echoed through him as for the first time in his entire life, Andrew looked out of his eyes at a world without any darkness in it.

"Beautiful," he breathed, and then it faded away as he slipped from consciousness.

Chapter 12

When he came to again, Andrew didn't want to open his eyes. He was afraid that when he did, it would have all been a dream and the world would be dark again. So he kept his eyes closed and stared at the bright picture of the setting sun that his memory played back for him. Johari and a male voice talked in soft voices on the other side of the room. Andrew caught a few words. It seemed that they had orders to do something and Johari thought it wouldn't work. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes.

He was laying on a couch back at Josefina's house. Inside, it was dark as there were no lights on. Outside of the large windows, the sky was dark with the lack of sun, but instead of the black of night he was accustomed to, the color was the deepest royal blue. As he looked, his eyes pierced through the night and he found that he could see much farther than he ever had in the dark.

Andrew turned his eyes to the inside of the house. Every color around was so vibrant that he almost didn't know what to look at first. The starlight and moonlight fluttered in through the windows traveling on rays that scattered in different directions. The dust motes hanging in the air lit up from the moonlight, each visible as if it were a bright dot of light all its own. The texture of the couch he lay on jumped out at him looking unlike the smoothness he had come to expect from fabrics and more like dried and cracked earth. His eyes also noticed amazing grain variations in the wood floor that he had never seen in wood before. He jumped as the light crashed into his eyes. The room flooded in the unnatural florescent lighting, destroying the beauty of the moonlight.

Johari and her friend walked into his view from where he lay on the couch. Andrew pulled himself up into a sitting position on the couch and looked up at the beauty with the golden glow.

"I'm sorry," she muttered in such a soft tone that he had to strain to catch her words. "I have no choice. We have our orders." What did she mean? The man stepped forward and stared into his eyes.

"You will forget everything you think you know about demons or about Josefina or myself. She is just one of your classmates. That is all you know." The words were compelling, but he had been controlled by another being twice now and he refused to be forced ever again. The lines of light inside of his mind reached out to the powerful words. He pushed and the words floated out of his head without doing as they intended. The man stood up, believing his job done and walked to the door. "You did the right thing," he said. Andrew understood him, but his words were different and strange. Andrew didn't know what to make of it, but said nothing to show he even saw the man there. He was not supposed to register the man's presence since he had been told to forget him. Despite his recent help in fighting the demon, Andrew didn't trust the man who had just attempted to control him. What he couldn't decide was whether or not he could trust Johari either. He wanted to believe in her, but how could he ever know for sure? She had hidden a lot of things from him.

The man opened and closed the door. Johari stood staring into the air for a moment after he left. She cocked an ear to the air as if she were listening like a dog would. Andrew did the same thing and for a moment, thought he heard fading footsteps, though that was impossible. No one could hear that well. As the last footstep seemed to fade, Johari turned to Andrew.

"I know you may not remember anything about the last few days, but you deserve to know the truth. You may not believe any of this, but I promise you that every word is true." Andrew smiled at her, decision made for him by this beautiful creature that he now knew he could trust.

"I remember." Andrew said in whatever language it was that they spoke. It had come to him almost unbidden, as if he had spoken it for many years. It must have been within the knowledge that he and Johari had shared while they had been connected. That knowledge and much more stayed with him just like the strands of light that even now coursed through his body. He felt that there was a lot more knowledge now locked away in his head, but he couldn't access most of it.

"What in the world?" The look on Johari's face was so shocked that Andrew couldn't help but grin at her.

"For whatever reason, my mind seems to be able to ignore your commands. As mesmerizing as your voices are, I still know what you are." She smiled down at him on the couch, though her look was still a little uncertain.

"To be honest, I am glad, even though whatever you think you know may not be the real truth. It is nice to know that you see me and remember." She stepped up to Andrew and her small hand reached out and touched his own for a moment where it rested on his leg. That small touch reacted with the current still within him and those strands twisted and spun within him sending an explosion of current through his hand and arm.

Johari jerked back and dropped into an attack stance.

"What was that? Is the demon still with you?" Andrew shook his head.

"No. The demon is destroyed. The power is just us." Johari relaxed after a moment and sank into the couch next to him, a puzzled expression on her face.

"I was going to be the one explaining things to you, but it seems you are the one who must explain. I thought we had destroyed the demon following you, but somehow we missed another one and it managed to possess you right in front of me. You speak a language you should not even know exists as if you had spoken it for years. You contain a power that should incinerate you at the barest touch and yet here you sit as if it were the most natural thing in the world. You used that power to destroy something thousands of times stronger than you and far older when you shouldn't have been able to recognize either the demon or use the power." Andrew smiled at the beauty beside him. Even with his new clearer vision, he still could not find a single imperfection on her face. He knew he should be worried about the same things that seemed to bother her, but Andrew just could not focus past the presence of the creature beside him on the couch. Silence filled the room for a long minute before he tried to answer her questions.

"I can answer a few things, but most of it is uncertain for me as well." Andrew told her everything that he knew. All about how he had always felt this darkness, discovering what it was and how he had destroyed it with the power that flowed between them. "After the demon was destroyed, I opened my eyes to this bright world and I knew more than before, like the fact that your name is Johari and how to speak your language." The name flowed into his mind. "Aramaic." Johari's eyes were still wide, but she seemed to have it under control.

"I have heard of some of my kind experiencing flashes of this kind of power when fighting demons in their spirit forms, but nothing of this magnitude. Certainly never between one of my kind and a human. You have defied every expectation I had of you. I don't understand how you are able to do what you have done." Andrew shrugged and let his shoulders drop.

"I don't understand it any more than you do. I just know it happened. I don't understand much about you or your kind either. I know that you are demon hunters, but that is about it." Johari smiled a half smile.

"That's more than any human is allowed to know." Her brown tresses wavered as she shook her head. "I can't believe I am about to tell you any of this. I will get in so much trouble." She squared her shoulders, "What do you want to know first?"

"Did you mean it when you asked me on a date?" Josefina stared at Andrew for a minute and then began to laugh.

"You could ask me about my strength, my speed, the ability to control memories or a myriad of other things, but you ask me that?"

"It is the only question that seemed important." Andrew stared at her with eyes opened to the true beauty of the world around him. He could see the extraordinary brightness of it with no hint of gray in his way. With that new eye opening vision, she was still the only thing he wanted to look at. The rest of the world was more beautiful than it had ever been and its newfound beauty was plain in comparison to her.

It was unnerving for Andrew that he felt this way for someone. It was a more than just beauty. It was desire for a real connection with someone else that he had never experienced before and she was the one with whom he wished that connection to occur. He wondered if there were any chance that she would want the same thing. His mind flinched at the current line of thought and prepared for the rushing return of the bleakness that always accompanied that kind of negative thinking.

The fear was unnecessary. Despite the depressing line of thought, the world around Andrew remained bright and beautiful. A surge of optimism flared up within him. It was a incredible. He had always had the small hope of escaping the darkness, but this new uninhibited hope that his life could remain beautiful for the foreseeable future was beyond amazing. For the first time ever, Andrew was at peace with where he was and confident that no matter what happened from here on, life would work out for the best.
"Would you really want to go on a date with me knowing that I am so different," Josefina asked, interrupting his thoughts, "and how are you so calm?" Andrew struggled to find the words to express his new hope.

"Partly because I know that you and your kind protects us from the threat of the demons. Most of all, it has to do with the incredible change for the better that meeting you has brought to my life. I was filled with the darkness of that demon for my entire life. It was such a profound, dark barrier between me and the world that I just avoided everything and everyone. Then you walked into that bleak scene as the brightest beacon of light that I had ever seen. Once I saw the light, I wanted nothing else. It was a long, hard battle, but you helped me to defeat the darkness and for the first time, everything around me is filled with bright light and hope. That change is so profound that I feel with every fiber of my being that there is nothing that won't work out the way it should." Josefina was staring at him again, shaking her head. She grinned at him.

"You would have liked our creator a great deal. He was fond of light as well. I think He wanted this meeting to occur. Knowing you and seeing the hope that can be brought to those in the darkness has reinvigorated a desire within me for the mission we have." She shook her head at Andrew. "You amaze me. You have fought an impossible battle your entire life against an enemy you weren't even aware of. It puts the small battles I have fought in a new perspective." She smiled at him, and once again laid a hand upon his arm, but did not pull away at the tingles of power flowing back and forth. "I don't know why, but I would like very much to go on that date with you." Andrew grinned at her, a smile that filled his face and danced in his eyes, a real smile. Johari responded with her own signature half smile.

"Do you have any more questions," she asked?

"You mentioned a creator. Who created you and how did you end up fighting demons?"

"That's a complicated question. With more than one right answer." She looked into Andrew's face. "How do you feel about religion?" Andrew shook his head.

"I don't know what to say to that at the moment. I never believed much of it growing up. I just didn't think any religion could be real. It seemed so fantastical. However, after my experiences over that last few days and the fact that some of the fantasy worlds I read about are coming to life before my eyes, maybe I should have a more open mind about the possibilities of there being a God." Johari nodded.

"That's kind of what I thought. I believe I will stick to the simpler explanation for the moment." She paused, gathering thoughts and then began a story that was the most fantastical thing Andrew had ever heard in his entire life.

Chapter 13

"Though I am not now, I was once as human as you." Andrew's jaw dropped until he caught it and forced it closed. This impossible creature, faster and stronger than anything he had ever encountered was human? That was hard to swallow. How could that be?

"Is this evolution, the next stage for humans?"

"Yes and no, but mostly no." She smiled. "It is not evolution, but in a sense, it is the next stage. Most humans will never see this stage in their lifetime though. I will try to explain it in a way that makes sense." She sat back in the sofa and looked up as if trying to recall details that were buried deep. She glanced back at Andrew. "How old would you say that I am?" Andrew shrugged.

"You look about seventeen or eighteen. When we were connected though, I felt that you were quite a bit older than that." He raised his shoulders again in a slow shrug. "Maybe a hundred," he suggested, nervous to offend a girl about her age. She patted him on the arm.

"I hope this doesn't frighten you, but I am a lot older than that." Andrew was about to deny the possibility of that, when his mind interjected. This girl who wasn't just a girl had some amazing powers. Why couldn't she be a lot older than she looked? She could just age so much more slowly than a human that it would be impossible to tell.

"Two hundred?" She shook her head. So he thought he guessed a little high. She stared hard into his eyes as if trying to determine how bothered by all of this he was. Andrew did feel a little weirded out, but he thought he could handle it.

"I was born in a small village in what is now eastern Romania almost eight hundred years ago." This time, Andrew was unable to catch his jaw before it fell all the way open. Eight hundred years? It just wasn't possible. Well, a short time ago, he would have said that demons and mind controlling super beings weren't possible. He was no longer confident in what was possible and what was not. How could he be? He closed his jaw.

"You don't say," he said with as little surprise evident in his voice as he could manage. Johari burst into laughter.

"That was not the reaction I was expecting," she said after laughing for a moment. He grinned at her as she resumed her story. Andrew felt himself drawn into the tale, lost in a recounting of history from over seven hundred years earlier. As he listened he tried not to think about it too much. "I was more intelligent than many of the other people in my village. I experimented with growing things in different ways and with storing food in ways other than how it had always been done. Some of my ideas worked. I shared whatever I learned with others and never tried to hide it. Because of this, I was well liked and accepted by most of the village. I had a mate and a little girl and I was happy. When I was about nineteen, a strange illness struck the village and young children and the elderly in our tribe began to waste away and die. The chief of the village was one of the few who didn't like my intelligence. He was jealous and I believe that he didn't like the idea that anyone, let alone a woman, might be more intelligent than he was. So, when the illness struck, he told everyone that my beauty and my intelligence must be because I was possessed by evil demons who were now causing the deaths. He convinced them that the only way to save the village was for me to die." She glanced at Andrew to see if he was listening and understanding what she was saying.

"Then what happened," Andrew asked, eyes intent on her face? Johari looked at him for a moment, shook her head and then continued her story.

"I would have argued with them, but at the same time, my daughter became ill. She died after only a few days." No tears were on her face, but Andrew could hear weeping in her voice. After all of the time that had passed, there was still a great deal of pain in that loss. "I was in no condition to defend myself. I even wondered if maybe he were right. What if I had killed my daughter? My village had a way to deal with those who they believed were possessed by spirits. I was hung upside down by my heels from a tree. Then both of my wrists were sliced open. They believed that the spirits lived in the blood and that they would die if all of the blood ran from the body. As I mentioned, I was well liked in my village, but no one spoke for me and no one came to witness my death aside from the men who tied me up to the tree. The part that hurt the most was that my mate was one of the men who helped to string me up. He watched without any apparent emotion as the chief sliced my wrists. As I felt life slipping from me, I realized that it was ridiculous that I had anything to do with the illnesses. I knew there were no demons within me. I wanted more than anything to live. I tried to tell my mate that it wasn't true and that I loved him. I begged him to help me, but he never even acknowledged that I was saying anything or looked at me more than he had to. The men left once I was hanging there with my wrists cut. They walked away without ever saying a word. None of them wanted the spirits to enter their bodies as they poured out of mine. I cried out for my mate, but he never turned." Johari paused for a moment and glanced down at her wrists. Andrew followed suit. They were perfect. There was no physical sign of the scars still etched in her spirit. "As I hung there in that tree dying, I heard a man's voice behind me. He asked me if I wanted to live. I didn't even need to think about it. Of course I said yes. He told me that I would be different if he saved me. I didn't care. I begged him to save me. He grabbed the rope that was holding me with one hand and then sliced it with a knife with the other hand. I wasn't a heavy load, but he lowered me to the ground with one hand like I was a feather in his grasp." Andrew's mind was reeling.

This was so like one of his fantasy stories that a part of him didn't want to believe it could be real, but the sincerity in Johari's voice and face was proof that she believed the words she was sharing with him. Also, he had experienced enough of the truth of the world she was part of to know that it was more real than this one in which the wool lay heavy on the eyes of humankind.

"Was the man who came to you the creator you mentioned," Andrew asked? Johari shook her head.

"No, he was involved much earlier in the story of our kind. This was just another who had once been human, but became what I am today. He was just there to share the life that had been given to him." She sat silent for another moment, mind lost in a past so long ago that Andrew couldn't even begin to comprehend all that it encompassed. Finally she continued. "I felt the moment of my death approaching. I knew that I was going to die despite what the man had offered me. Then he did something I did not expect. He bit his own wrist, pressed it to my lips and ordered me to drink. The first little bit of blood flowed into my mouth. I thought at the time that there was no way I was going to drink his blood. I would have preferred to just die, but then I tasted it. It tasted so alive. Before I even knew what was happening, I was swallowing as much as I could and felt a surge of strength flow into me with each swallow. I don't know how long I drank, but before I was ready, he pulled his wrist from my mouth. I blacked out the instant he pulled away. When I awoke, it was to the most excruciating pain I have ever felt in my entire life. The pain of childbirth was nothing compared with this pain." She paused again, remembering her daughter, before continuing. "The pain didn't get better either. As bad as it had been when it started, it somehow just got worse until I thought that I might die from the pain alone. Then it stopped. It didn't fade away, it was just there one instant and gone the next. Then I passed out again." She looked up at Andrew for a long time.

"What happened when you woke up," he asked after a minute? It was another long moment before she continued.

"When I woke up for the second time, everything was different. I was different. The man who had saved my life was not far from me. He welcomed me back to the world of the living, but I wasn't sure that that's where I was. Everything looked strange, even the man. He explained to me that I was now special. I was part of an elite group of individuals who were 'Of the Blood'." Johari stared at Andrew for another long moment.

Andrew felt another doubt about the whole thing. It was so much like the stories he enjoyed. Jason would laugh at him for believing in this. He almost started laughing, but there was something in her expression that said that not only was it all true, but that she had more to tell. The doubt faded away looking into those eyes. This was insanity, but it was normal that was the lie. This was truth.

"What else," Andrew asked softly? There was the longest pause yet, and he thought that maybe she wasn't going to answer. After a long time, she spoke, though quieter than before.

"You believe that I am the heroine of this tale, but it's not true. I haven't always used my abilities for good." Andrew felt a shiver run down his spine, but just waited without reacting. "I awoke from my change with something else in me as well. I was angry. Angrier than I had ever been before in my life. What right had those men had to take my life? What right did my mate have to treat me as if I were a piece of trash to throw out? I spent several weeks with Sabinus, the man who had changed me, learning to control my new body. It was difficult, but I used the anger to forge ahead faster than Sabinus could believe. In all that time, the anger only burned hotter, never dissipating in the slightest. I kept it all inside though, never letting on to him the anger that filled my heart." Johari's eyes darkened as the memory of that anger filled her. "I waited until Sabinus left me on my own one evening, I don't even remember why, and then I started running toward the village. The joy I experienced each time, being able to run that fast was almost enough to turn me aside from my quest for vengeance, but the anger rose up even higher and pressed me onward. I came into the village in the middle of the night, easily passing by the men who watched for danger. I went first to the chief's hut and crept inside. He was sleeping beside one of his wives while the others lay in the next room. I placed my hand under his jaw and broke both his jaw and his windpipe with the squeeze of a hand. His eyes popped open in pain, but he stared up at me unable to make a sound. I knew that it was too dark for him to see me inside the hut even though I could see almost as if it were day. I wanted him to know who did this to him, so I grabbed him by an arm and dragged him outside where the moonlight would illuminate me enough for him to see. 'You condemned me to die because you were jealous of me,' I told him, 'now I condemn you to die for taking my life away from me for no other reason than that.' His eyes were wide, though whether from pain or shock, I could not tell. I hung him by his feet from the front of his house and slit his wrists. I went in turn to each of the men who had strung me up, but I simply broke their necks while they lay in their beds." There was less regret in her voice about the chief, he had deserved her anger, but she sounded as if she would take back the deaths of the others if she could. "I saved the hut I shared with my mate for last. As I approached, I realized that I intended to spare his life. I wanted to show him that I was still alive and tell him that I had not been possessed. I hoped to change him too and bring him into this new life with me. When I entered the hut, I saw his sleeping form laying upon our bed and I felt almost excited to share this new life of mine with him. I had loved him in life and once he understood the truth, our love could follow us into rebirth. I stood and listened to his breathing and his heartbeat for a moment before I noticed something odd. There was another breath and another heartbeat nearby. I thought someone was right outside and I was about to look when a slender arm reached around from the far side of my mate and wrapped itself around him. In just a few short weeks he had already cast aside all thought of me and taken another mate. The anger within me exploded into a fountain of rage. 'Hello,' I said, loudly enough to wake them both up. The two figures sat up in the bed staring in the dark to see what was speaking. I watched my mate walk to the embers of the fire in its pit and stir it up with a stick. The stick caught fire and the room lit up enough for them to see my face. I waited until I knew that he saw me and recognized me and then I moved to his new woman. It was a girl named Nalin. We had been the best of friends since early childhood. She gasped as I appeared beside her and again when my fingers wrapped around her neck. My fingers closed as she beat against me to no avail. All the while I stared up into my mate's frightened and shocked eyes. The scene was so unexpected that he didn't cry out or even move for a moment. Then he threw himself at me with a yell, the fire stick brandished before him in desperation. He jabbed my head, but instead of piercing or burning me, the stick just broke in his hand and the burning piece fell to the bed. The blanket caught and the stuffed straw mattress soon after began to blaze. I released the now dead body of my former friend and let it fall to the burning bed. Then I stood up to face my mate who had turned to grab his spear. I just stood there as he rushed toward me across the small room, weapon in hand. At the last moment, I stepped aside and grabbed the shaft of the spear. I spun it and he flew by me aided by the force of my spin. He crashed into the far wall of the hut and fell to the floor groaning. He struck with such force that the building shook and at least one of his ribs cracked. Thatch from the roof rained down on me as I walked over to him. 'You could have had me forever, but you abandoned me not only to die, but even my memory before I was even gone a month.' I growled at him and he cowered on the floor, both in pain and fear. I grabbed his spear point and slit his wrists. 'May the demons within you drain out and die.' He looked up at me and an evil sneer spread on his face. I stood up and looked around the hut. The fire had been spreading rapidly and I could tell that other people in the village were waking from his shout and from the smoke. I kicked him in the head, snapping his neck so that there was no chance that anyone could save his life and then I ran from the village." Johari stared down at her feet for a long time before she said anything else. "The horror of what I did that day has been with me ever since. You say that I save people from the demons, but I am worse than them. I had the chance to do the right thing, but I am a monster. I have spent the entirety of this long life of mine in an attempt to make up for my choices that day and none of it has come close." She stood up and started to pace around. "I will leave you alone to think about everything that I have shared with you, and if you don't wish me to be around anymore, I will understand." Andrew could see the pain that was still with her, after so many years and instead of being frightened of the monster she claimed to be, he just wanted to take away that anguish. He stood up, walked to her, and wrapped his arms around her. She didn't respond at first. Then she turned within his arms and raised her own to hug him back.

"I would prefer it if you would stay," said Andrew. He released the hug, but grabbed her hand before she moved away. Her mind still seemed to be lost in her past as he pulled her back to sit on the sofa beside him.

Once sitting down, Andrew wrapped his arms around her again. She was rigid for a moment, but then she relaxed a little and leaned her head on his chest. A calm settled over both of them as they sat there, not talking, not needing to for quite a while. Instead of fear, Andrew realized that he had never been so content in all his eighteen years.

They sat there for a while longer, just enjoying the peace that seemed to fill the air around them. Andrew thought of more questions for her, but didn't know if he should ask them or not. He didn't want to bring her any more pain than she had experienced in the telling of her tale. Her hand caressed Andrew's, pulling at the strands of light beneath the surface.

"I am sure that you have more questions. Please do not be afraid to ask me anything. For some reason, it makes me feel better to share with you, though I am afraid that what I have shared will push you over the edge when you have time to absorb it all." Andrew waited a moment and then spoke.

"How do demons come into the story?"

"The chief of my village was correct about the illness being caused by demons, but he was wrong about the source. They somehow found out that something that would stand in their way would come because of someone in my village so they tried to wipe out the village before it could happen. In doing so, they caused me to be." A fierce note entered her voice. "I am a force that has stood in their way many times." It seemed that some of the anger was still within her, though now it focused upon the demons. "On a larger scale, the first of us came into being about two thousand years ago in order to begin the fight against the demons. Before that time, there were few people alive who were not in some way corrupted by their power. They had almost free reign in this world and many people were tricked to follow their evil ways. It got so bad that most of the people were destroyed for their evil. After that, humans spread out once again and the demons started again, trying to corrupt them all. That was when our creator decided to give the world a force that would be able to stop them. " Andrew smiled.

"They don't have a chance with you in their way." Johari shook her head.

"They still cause a great deal of harm, even with us fighting them. They are behind almost every terrifying thing that has happened in this world. They start all of the wars, stand behind every cruel tyrant and leader. They speak through these leaders of great good, hope and change while at the same time, crushing the freedom of the people every chance they get. They find evil within people and they magnify it. As my own story testifies, not even those of us who are of the blood are immune to their dark power." Johari shook her head, "I do not understand how you can want to be so close to me, knowing what I am and what I have done."

"You saved my life from the demon that plagued me for as long as I can remember. You brought hope and beauty into my life that until now had been devoid of those things. How could I not accept you as your are?" She seemed to ponder that before nodding.

"I suppose that makes a certain kind of sense." She looked over into his face. "You have not known demons as long as I have so you do not realized just how amazing what you have done is. Few people so deeply in the grasp of a demon ever fight back. Most end up taking their own lives or just allowing the demons to control them. You have given me renewed hope that people can be saved and that this war we fight has a real chance to change things." After that, she was silent for a long time again, and Andrew didn't feel like interrupting the peace.

Some time later, Johari straightened and disentangled herself from Andrew's arms. "Thank you for listening and for holding me. I think you need some time alone to assimilate the things I have shared. Your parents will be home soon and I think you should spend some time thinking things through and spend a little time in reality with your parents." Andrew's eyes widened.

"Oh no! The house is destroyed. What will they think when they come home and find that and I'm not there?" Johari smiled.

"Calm down. It has been taken care of. We are good at fighting the demons, but also good at protecting humans from the truth of the war. Others like me have repaired your house and made certain that if anyone saw anything, it was forgotten." Andrew relaxed a little, but wasn't sure how it was possible. The main floor of the house had been destroyed. He couldn't do anything but take Johari's word for it at the moment, but he would feel better after he saw it for himself. Almost as if their conversation had summoned it, Andrew's cell phone rang.

"Andrew, where are you?" Her voice sounded concerned, but nothing like it would if the house had been as destroyed as it had earlier.

"Sorry mom, I should have left a note. I am hanging out with a friend from school. I will be home in a bit."

Andrew and Johari began to move to the front of the house. Andrew looked at his hand and realized that it was shaking. His breathing was a little ragged and his heart was beating faster than normal. It wasn't surprising when he considered just how much he had been through.

"I better not drive. A part of me is still in shock from everything else this day. You were right. I think I need to go home and try to absorb today." Johari nodded. Together they headed out to his car in the driveway. She climbed into the driver seat and they took off toward his house. When they pulled up in front of his house, she smiled.

"If you need anything, you should call me right away." She took his phone and typed her number into it for him. She gave him a brief smile as he climbed out of the car. She stood there for a second as if unsure whether or not it was safe to leave him alone there and then she was gone.

Andrew let out a breath he hadn't even been aware of holding. He stood there in front of his house not wanting to face his parents when he broke into a laugh. He couldn't help it. He was freaked out beyond anything that he had ever experienced, but he was happier than he had ever been at the same time. It was a strange combination of feelings, but no matter what the world held for him after this, he knew that he would be able to face it with clear vision and open mind.

The dark voice that whispered at him his entire life would no longer be there to drag him down. The darkness in his vision would no longer obscure the brightness of life. Today was a brand new day. The beginning of a life of hope and opportunity. With laughter still echoing in the air behind him, Andrew opened the front door into a house without a scratch and went to greet his parents. He couldn't wait.

Chapter 14

It was the hugs that threw them off. Andrew gave one to each of his parents as he came in the kitchen where his mother was preparing supper. The last time he had hugged either parent had been around the age of five and he hadn't wanted to even then.

"What's for supper? It smells great!" Andrew smiled at his mother as she stirred whatever was in the big pot on the stove. His parents looked at each other and then back at Andrew. His father's eyes narrowed.

"The friend you were with today wouldn't happen to have been a girl would it?" Andrew grinned at his parents. Until that point, he had been unsure how to explain the change in himself he knew he would be unable to hide. The truth would just frighten them. That was the reason the Blood hid it in the first place. Now his dad had just given him the answer to his problem and it was even the truth, at least part of it. He waited a moment and then let his grin widen.

"Actually, yes. There is a new girl at school and we seem to have hit it off." Of course this answer spurned a whole slew of questions that Andrew was unprepared for and unsure how to answer. He did the best he could, but his parents still seemed unnerved by the continuous smile on his face. A small part in the back of Andrew's mind worried about it too.

Would this good feeling last? What would tomorrow bring? He forced the thought out and focused on connecting to his parents for the first time in his life. They sat down for dinner together, another thing which Andrew had not done willingly for a long time. Most dinners he took to his room or ate leftovers when his parents were done.

Andrew enjoyed the small talk conversation during the meal and wondered at all the things he had missed. Instead of feeling resentment for those things, he found instead that he was excited to explore the world around him with new eyes as he discovered all that he had missed. His new vision allowed him to see more than he noticed before. Each instant looking at the world was a bright snapshot filled with amazing colors, textures and feelings. His mind grabbed each of these new sights and stored it away, a new picture to look at later. Each laugh and word shared with his parents worked to fill the moat of separation that had kept them apart.

All three went to bed later than usual that evening, each reluctant to destroy the mood of the evening, each afraid that the next day would bring a return of the darkness that had been present for so long. There was no reason for their fear.

Morning dawned bright and clear. Andrew looked out the window at the gray clouds and pouring rain and smiled. The rain smelled so fresh and clean when he cracked his window to enjoy it. The drops splashed off puddles in the yard, fountaining up and scattering droplets in all directions to land among the waving stalks of grass. Despite the gray sky, Andrew saw light reflected in each raindrop and that light scattered and bounced and wavered with each drop of rain falling. It was like watching an impressionist painting come to life in his window.

Andrew's parents were wary of him as he walked into the kitchen before they were gone for work. Most mornings he waited until they left to finish his morning routine.

"Morning," he said with a smile. "Looks like a beautiful day out there today."

"Are you feeling okay," his dad asked? Andrew laughed and nodded.

"Never better. I'm just excited to get to school." His parents looked at each other and his dad shrugged.

"If you say so. We just want you to be careful. We love that you are so happy, but please take things slow with this new girl," his mom's voice was filled with concern and Andrew smiled to reassure her.

"Don't worry mom, we are still just friends at this point and I have no desire to rush into anything. Just the fact that I am interested in someone and they are interested back has opened my eyes to all that I have been missing. I have decided to approach life a little differently than I have before. On that note, I have to tell you guys that I am sorry I have been difficult. I hope that we can share a little more together than we have in the past." He smiled at them again. "Well I guess I'm off to school. Hope you guys have a good day at work." His parents were both staring at him a little flabbergasted. His mom called out after him as he walked to the front door.

"But Andrew, it's only seven." The door closed on her words. John and Mary Marks stared at each other for a long time, not speaking, not knowing what to say. A slow tear trailed itself down Mary's face. Unlike the multitude of frustrated tears that had fallen over the years, this was the first happy tear that had fallen for her son since before he had learned to talk.

They had resigned themselves to who their son was long ago and never expected much more from him. They considered the idea that something was wrong with him, but since he continued to do fine in school and had at least one friend that he spent time with, they decided not to do anything. But they never expected to see the change in their son that they seemed to now be witnessing. There was a light in him that they had known was missing, but they had not realized how much that lack had affected both them and him until they saw him with that light in his life.

"It's a miracle," said Mary finally, throwing herself into her husband's arms, tears now streaming down her face. John just nodded, not knowing what else to say because that's exactly how it seemed to him as well. He squeezed his wife as tears of his own formed in his eyes.

Andrew whistled along to the music playing on his stereo while he drove in the falling rain. The tune was something light and airy that he hadn't heard before. He listened to music before, but just to drown out the silence, not because he cared what was playing. Today, the sounds lifted him and brought his already cheerful mood to a new level. The beat vibrated in him causing the little wires of light to dance around. Different songs seemed to affect it in different ways, but each tune made him feel like dancing along with the strands within himself.

He pulled into the parking lot, parked and started walking to the building still whistling some of the songs. He realized that he could recall every song he had heard on his drive. Like the sights his eyes took in, his ears grabbed onto new things and stored them away, refusing to release their grasp on the new freedom they had.

There were few students in the building and Andrew realized that it was only a quarter after seven. He grinned, he had never been in the building so early. He started to wander the halls, seeing for the first time all the posters, drawings and other decorations that filled them. Lockers were covered with hand drawn posters wishing players luck for different sports. Andrew marveled at the time it must have taken to draw all those signs.

He always thought so negatively about his fellow classmates, but it seemed as though at least some of them cared about their school and about encouraging their fellow classmates. It was possible that he had judged them too harshly. Maybe he could change that starting today.

He came to his own locker and opened it, depositing his bag and most of his books inside. He took what he needed for English and then closed it. He almost dropped the books.

"Hello Andrew," said Johari from where she stood behind where his locker door had been moments before.

"Good morning," he said, though the words sounded strange to his ears. Johari's eyes widened.

"You still speak Aramaic," she asked in surprise? Andrew shrugged in answer to the question that he didn't know the answer to.

"I suppose so. I didn't mean to, but that's how it came out." Johari nodded, her expression wary.

"I know we connected, but I just don't understand how your mind would be capable of absorbing an entire language and retaining it in that short amount of time."

"Would any of the others like you have an idea?" Johari frowned.

"It's possible, but I can't ask. You aren't supposed to remember me as more than a fellow student, let alone have any idea about the powers we possess. The penalty for breaking the Blood's code of silence can be quite severe and I fear for me it would be even more so. I am well known among the Blood and I would be used as an example that not even the high can break the code."

"How do more people become members of the Blood if you can't tell anyone about it?"

"We don't add many. We are a small group, somewhere above two thousand. The number has remained close to that for a thousand years, about the time the main rules were instituted. A few new humans become blood and a few blood are killed in the fight against the demons."

"Why did the rules come about?"

"Some of the blood were changing humans without considering the ones they changed. Some pretty bad people gained immortal and powerful bodies. Our kind was forced to fight others of our kind and still hold back the demons."

"How do you decide which humans to change then?"

"The humans who are changed are decided upon by the main council which leads us in our struggle. The council is two of the first of our kind and two others who are selected from the group and serve for a time. Of those who are selected, most do not survive the change. It is not an easy process, so most of the time it is only attempted when the person is already dying." Andrew felt his hopes fall a little at that. So much for becoming Blood himself. For that to happen, she would have to tell her people that he still knew and it sounded as though that was unlikely to happen. Not to mention the fact that he probably wouldn't survive the transformation. He resigned himself to the fact that he was stuck as a human.

Even this couldn't keep his spirits down for long though. For the first time in his life, Andrew was excited to experience school. It was more than just Johari being there. He was looking forward to make up for his harsh judgment of his fellow classmates. He wanted to make new friendships that he would never have attempted before with the demon dragging him down. He always believed that they weren't worth his time, but the truth was that he had allowed the demon to keep him from making new connections.

That brought up another interesting thought. Why had it allowed him to become friends with Jason? That friendship had sustained him through the darkest of his days. Maybe that was the intention. It might have allowed him one friend because it would be enough to keep him moving forward, but not enough to give the ability to break free from darkness.

By this time, the halls had flooded with students as first hour rapidly approached. Andrew and Johari went to their respective morning classes. Andrew wondered as he entered English why Johari had chosen not to take this class and third hour with him. He supposed that if she had shared every class with him, someone would notice, maybe even him since at the time of the scheduling, he had not yet known anything about her.

He sat down in his desk and waited for class to begin. Before, he couldn't wait for the days to be over. Today he was looking forward to experiencing the simple things that were a part of everyday life without the darkness imposing its own spin on it. He wasn't disappointed either.

They were done reading together as a class and now the teacher was discussing the book with them as well as assigning them a paper to write on the book. Andrew looked around at his classmates as they avoided the teacher's gaze with each question. A strange realization came to him. Each student was in their own self imposed darkness as they put their effort into avoiding school instead of using that same effort to enjoy it and get what they could from it. Andrew raised his hand.

"Um... Andrew. You have the answer?" Mr. Davies sounded surprised and confused that Andrew would volunteer. He had been the worst of the lot at not paying attention and avoiding the dreaded questions. Andrew smiled. His teachers and his classmates were in for a surprise in the days ahead.

"Yes Mr. Davies, I do. Hamlet both stabbed Claudious with the poisoned sword and forced him to drink the poisoned wine." Mr. Davies paused and then nodded. He still seemed surprised, but shook it off and continued with the class. Andrew didn't know all the answers, but when he did, his hand was in the air. Other students saw that the most antisocial of them all was participating and it seemed to prompt them all to not be left behind. By the end of class, people were suggesting different opinions for motives in the story and others were arguing these and offering alternatives.

All in all it was the most productive English class Andrew had ever been to and the beaming smile on Mr. Davies face said that he felt the same. The bell rang and instead of the usual rush for the door, a great many of the students filed out in twos and threes, still discussing the book that the previous week, none had seemed to even care about. Andrew walked out with two, Kyle and Corey, discussing the reality behind the ghost of the king. Reluctant to end their conversation, the three parted ways to head to next hour.

Andrew sat down beside Johari in Spanish just as the bell rang. He grinned at her.

"That was fun." He described his first hour. Johari chuckled and shook her head.

"¡En Español por favor," interrupted a voice. Mrs. Stimets always said the same thing when students were talking in her class. Before it had worked as she intended. It made students be silent since most struggled to pass the tests let alone speak the language, but today Andrew smiled.

"Lo ciento Maestra." He turned back to Johari and continued the story in fluent Spanish. Poor Mrs. Stimets didn't know how to respond for a moment. In effect, she had given him permission to talk, it just had to be in Spanish. There were several grins and laughs across the classroom as the rest of the students realized what was happening. Small conversations in halting Spanish struck up across the whole class. Students pulled out Spanish-English dictionaries that they hadn't touched since the beginning of the year when they got them.

Mrs. Stimets watched in wonder as the classroom filled up with the sounds of students who now wished they knew more Spanish instead of wishing they could be somewhere else. There was laughter and failures as some of the students mispronounced words, but others corrected them and fifteen minutes into class, it was still going strong. Finally, Mrs. Stimets interrupted, but there was a happy smile on her face as she called the class to order. She didn't launch into her lesson plan though. A new idea had taken a root in her mind.

"Did anyone have any things they struggled to find a way to say?" About half the class stuck their hands in the air and upon seeing this, most of the rest followed suit. The rest of the class period was filled with questions and answers as students talked about things that mattered to them and learned how to say those things in Spanish. The bell to end second hour surprised them all and like first hour, students filed out in small groups, many still speaking Spanish or discussing the strangeness of the class.

"Andrew, stay a moment will you," said Mrs. Stimets. Johari raised an eyebrow at him, smiled and then left.

"What's up," he asked his teacher as the last students left the room.

"I just wanted to thank you for what you did this morning. I always assumed that you didn't pay much attention in class because you didn't like the language. I never considered that it was because you could speak it already. In either case, I think you have started something that will change how I teach Spanish for the rest of my time here." Andrew smiled.

"Everyone did seem to enjoy the different style of class. I'm glad I could help, though the effect wasn't intentional." By this point, a few students started coming in for the next class and Andrew made his own escape to his locker and on to his third hour.

Chemistry had always been Andrew's favorite class. He didn't care for conversions, but the idea of how different things combined or reacted fascinated him. The change in this class wasn't as drastic, but again Andrew noticed that the more he participated and got excited about the class, the more others felt comfortable to do so. Some of the students from either Spanish or English were also in the chemistry class and they were still hyped up from those classes. It was the loudest chemistry class to date, but like with the other two morning classes, it was one of the most productive as well.

"What is going on," Johari asked as Andrew dropped into his seat next to her in study hall?

"I'm not sure I know what you mean," he replied.

"The whole school is buzzing and while no one specifically cites you as the cause of it, I witnessed the reaction in Spanish. For whatever reason, people seem to be drawn into your new optimistic view of life." She shook her head. "And now you seem to speak another language fluently that I'm quite certain you didn't know before." She paused and her eyes narrowed as she stared at him, deep in thought. "I just don't understand how you are doing any of this and it's going to bother me until I figure it out."

Lunch was interesting. Like the first day that Johari had eaten lunch with them, Andrew found himself at a table surrounded by classmates. Unlike that first day though, on this day it was his choice to be there. In fact, he deliberately found a group of people that included some of those from his first three classes. The conversation at the table was still over the strangeness of the day. The general consensus was that despite being strange, the three classes had been better than ever before.

Jason's face darkened when he stepped out of the lunch line and saw Andrew at the group table instead of in the usual place. Andrew waved him over, but Jason went and sat down in the usual spot. Andrew hopped up and went over to his friend. As he approached, he felt the dark cloud around his friend. It was a tangible fog, though like the brightness around Josefina, Andrew seemed to be the only one who could see this darkness billowing in the the air.

Andrew approached and reached out his hand to touch Jason. His friend squirmed and backed away from the touch. Andrew's hand landed on his friend's bare arm. There was something like a static spark at their touch and in that instant, Andrew felt the darkness that his friend had absorbed from him. It didn't feel as if Jason were possessed, just influenced by the dark.

The spark didn't vanquish all of it, but it did reduce most of it. Jason was reluctant at first, but he followed his friend back over to the other table. They accepted him in just as they had Andrew and soon a real smile crept onto Jason's face. The same smile was on Andrew's as he absorbed everything that he had been missing for so long.

Beside him, Johari, or Josefina as the others knew her, seemed to be having just as much fun as he was. After eight hundred years, Andrew wasn't sure that he would still be as interested in the short little lives of humans. He resolved to ask her about it later. He noticed that she shared little about herself, but kept asking questions about their lives and things that mattered to them. In between questions though, her eyes continued to wander back to Andrew. Each time they did, they were full of contemplation as if he were a puzzle that she was struggling to comprehend. That strange look followed him throughout lunch and the rest of the afternoon. The afternoon was no less interesting than the morning had been.

First was Government Studies. Andrew didn't even need to initiate it this time. Other students that had been at his table during lunch and in earlier classes were paying attention and asking questions they wouldn't have bothered to ask before. Ms. Frankin was as responsive as his morning teachers had been to the change. She took every advantage of it by catering to the interest and questions of the students in order to keep the conversation going. Most of the questions dealt with the upcoming election and trying to understand the purpose of the electoral collage. The consensus on that was that it didn't have much of one anymore.

After Government was Trigonometry. Math never held much interest for Andrew, but today, he paid attention and asked questions. He found that it still didn't excite him, but it was better than it had been. He smiled at that thought. It wasn't just math. Everything was better than it had been before.

Health was interesting for a different reason. Johari smiled at Andrew as they sat down. He took a long look at her with unclouded vision and thought about her without the darkness pulling him back.

"I don't have to work tonight. Do you want to come over?" Johari smiled at Andrew, but the smile seemed curious.

"This whole thing hasn't sunk in yet, has it," she asked him? Andrew frowned.

"What do you mean," he asked, confused? "I don't know if this change in me will ever sink in." She rolled her eyes.

"What do you think I'm referring to? I mean the things you know about me. How can you want me to come spend time with you after school. I keep waiting for you to run screaming like any normal person would do." Now it was Andrew's turn to roll his eyes.

"That's not going to happen. It has sunk in and I'm not going anywhere." She shook her head and was about to say something else when another voice interrupted her.

"Would you care to join the rest of us Ms. Sanchez."

"I'm paying attention just fine Mr. Parson." The portly teacher frowned at her.

"I see. Would you perhaps care to recap to the class what we are discussing then?" She smiled at him.

"Certainly." Her face looked a little distant and then she began to recite something. "The long term effects of alcohol abuse range anywhere from fatty build up in the liver causing nausea, vomiting and weight loss to incurable diseases like cirrhosis and brain damage." She looked up at the teacher. "Would you like me to continue?" He frowned at her and shook his head.

"No that's alright. Just try to focus up front a little bit more if you would." She nodded at him with a smile. Andrew was impressed for a moment, but then he realized that just as with the songs this morning, the words of the teacher were recorded in his mind. While his recall wasn't as good as hers seemed to be, he could have come close enough to appease the teacher just as she had. That thought surprised him. He never used to have a great memory. Now he seemed to remember things he wasn't aware that he heard. Up until Johari had repeated his words, all Andrew had been paying attention to was her voice. As class continued, he realized that he was hearing far more than he had thought possible. Even the muted conversations of students flowed to his ears and was captured by his hungry mind. Andrew shuddered away from the implications of that.

They kept conversation to a minimum after Mr. Parson's admonition to pay attention. It wasn't that hard as the information was interesting. Andrew and the rest of the class were again more involved than normal. Mr. Parson didn't seem to notice as much as the other teachers had, but it was still a fun class. It was over before he knew it. The bell rang and then they were closing lockers and walking toward the parking lot.

"I will be over in a little bit," said Johari as they broke out of the building to where Trusty Rusty was parked.

"Want a ride," Andrew asked her? She shook her head and then vanished. Andrew shook his head, grinned and climbed into his car. "Show off." He wondered if she was still close enough to hear.

The afternoon was still cloudy, though the rain had subsided. Andrew drove home with a smile on his face and music blaring on his radio. Just as he parked in front of his house, a ray of light broke through the clouds. Andrew stepped out of his car into the warm sun and took a deep breath of rain fresh air. Today had been an amazing day at school and it would only get better as Johari would be there soon. Andrew grinned at the joy welling up within him. His life was only going to get better from here.

Inside, Andrew made a snack of an apple and a turkey sandwich. He sat at the island in the kitchen and ate it before cleaning up his mess. Before, he would have left it for his mom to take care of, but for some reason, that didn't seem right. He rinsed his plate, stuck it in the dishwasher and wiped his bread crumbs off of the counter before heading up to his room. On the way up, he passed the wall he had crashed through and shuddered as his mind recalled what had taken place there. The fight flashed through his mind. It was a little fuzzy, but he was surprised that he remembered so much of it. He could find so little sign that anything had happened here that anyone who wasn't aware of it would never be able to tell. Johari wasn't kidding when she said her people were good at protecting humans, not just from the actual threat but from the truth as well.

In his room, he sorted through his homework and started to make some notes for his English paper that was due in two weeks. There was no point in putting things off. Besides, by starting now, he would have time to do a little more research and write a better paper.

Andrew jumped at a soft tap at his window. He set aside his paper, stood up and crossed over to it. On the other side was a pretty face, smiling at him. It seemed as though she were just floating in the air, though her hands were holding her up on the window ledge. Andrew raised the window up.

"Mind if I come in," she asked? He shook his head.

"Not at all, and you don't have to ask. You are welcome anytime." Before he even finished speaking, she was standing beside him and the window was closed.

"Are you sure you are okay with this, my being here," she asked? Andrew grinned at her.

"Yes, I am definitely alright with you being here. More than alright. The reality of what you are has sunk in and I find that I want more than anything to have you around." The corner of her lip turned up in a half smile. He moved to the bed and she sat down on it beside him.

"Do you have any more questions for me," she asked after a while?

"What is it like to be immortal?" There was a long moment of silence after he asked the question and Andrew wondered if maybe he shouldn't have asked it. Before he could take it back, she responded.

"There are many good things about it, but honestly, I would give it all up in a heartbeat if I could." Andrew frowned into Johari's hair.

"Why do you say that? I don't know, but I feel like I would love having your strength and to see all the things you have seen."

"I enjoyed it a great deal at first, but no one was intended to live this long, especially not alone. I have been alive for nearly eight hundred years and have found many things to occupy my time, but since joining the Blood, I have been incredibly lonely. Not always alone, but always lonely." Andrew knew exactly what she meant about being lonely, but he shuddered as he tried to imagine being as lonely as he had felt during his darkness, but spread out over eight hundred years. His mind couldn't wrap itself around the sadness of that idea.

As horrible as it had been for him, it had to have been so much worse for her. Her face was sad as her thoughts dwelt on that sadness. Andres slipped an arm around her and pulled her up against his side, as if to pull her away from the loneliness.

"I can't even imagine how hard that has been for you," he whispered into the air above her. She didn't say anything, and Andrew didn't add anything else.

They sat there for a long time. Andrew felt a great sense of peace above and beyond the joy of light in his life with her by his side. He hoped that she was getting some of that same peace and that maybe with him, she could feel less alone for a time.

That was unlikely though. He had no doubt that she had looked for comfort from humans and also from her own kind before. If she hadn't found it from others, what could he offer her above and beyond them? In spite of this knowledge, in Andrew's mind, the fantasy formed that he was the one who was able to provide true companionship. It was a little ridiculous to think that, but he wanted it to be true and couldn't seem to stop the thoughts. The truth was that this made him more nervous than what she was. He still knew little about her and on top of that, he just wasn't accustomed to having feelings for another person.

They sat there in silence for a time before Andrew asked her some small talk questions about likes and dislikes, favorite movies, book, colors and other things like that. He was trying to distract her from thoughts of her past. In turn she asked him some of the same questions and others like them.

Before they knew it, evening descended. A door slammed as his parents came in from the garage. Johari sat up.

"I should go," she said, "before your parents find me here." Andrew shrugged.

"I don't mind if they know you are here, and I'm sure that they won't mind either." She looked at him.

"Do you want that? Do you want me to be around that much?" Andrew did not want to be too obvious about the desire, so he half shrugged and nodded.

"You have made a pretty major difference in my life in a short time. I would like to see if more time brings more good changes. If you want the same thing that is." Johari smiled at him.

"I would like that. You have surprised me more than anyone else has ever been able to do in this life and I would like to see if you can continue to do so. I am going to go for now, but if you still want me around, I will be around." She brushed his arm with her fingertips and then as a knock sounded on his door, she vanished. The curtains in front of his window shivered. That was the only sign of the direction she had gone.

"Andrew?" His dad's voice echoed from the other side of the door.

"Yeah dad, come on in," he called as he picked up his English notes from where they sat on the corner of his desk. He looked up and smiled at the amazing man who had always been there for him even with Andrew failing to reciprocate. "Hey, how was your day?" The impromptu question and the underlying implication that his son cared about his life took John Marks by surprise for a moment, but he recovered quickly.

"Pretty good day today." He smiled at his son. In his eyes, the hope all parents have that they can connect with their children reared its head a little bit after so long lying dormant. "How about yours?" John was even more surprised when his son launched into an excited description of how much better his classes had been today.

He described the new beginnings of friendships and his interest in subjects that had bored him before. He skipped over the fluent Spanish part, but mentioned how saying a little in Spanish had inspired a whole different kind of class. After he finished his long description, Andrew smiled up at his dad.

"I know I've never said it before, but I just want you to know that I appreciate everything you and mom have done for me. I know I have been difficult and distant in the past, and I am working hard to change that. Thanks for not losing hope in me." John Marks stepped farther in the room and patted his son on the leg and then left, though not before Andrew saw the tears beginning to form.

Andrew stayed in his room a bit longer, making a few more notes for his paper before heading downstairs to find his mother and share the joy of his day with her as well. She was working on sloppy joes for supper when he stepped into the kitchen.

A flash of apprehension filled him when he saw his mom chopping some vegetables. He shook it off and greeted her, sharing the same story and a similar appreciation for her patience with him for so long. She gave him a big hug during which a few tears landed on his cheek and shoulder before she went back to finishing the food.

During supper, the conversation was lively and full of laughter, though his parents glanced at each other several times throughout the meal. Andrew didn't mind their surprise. It was a different feeling for him as well. He felt a moment of sadness that he had missed out on so many years of this, but most of his focus was on the joy of experiencing it now. He was determined not to miss another minute of what life could be.

After supper, he spent the rest of the evening on homework, a little reading and a great deal of contemplation on the changes and the future that his life now held. After a shower and other bathroom bedtime preparation, he lay in bed for a long time, thoughts preventing him from sleeping. After a while though, a smile on his face, he succumbed to sleep's strong grasp.

That night, he had the same old dream again. He stood at the window, staring out into the backyard at the wooded lot, taking a break from whatever book he had been reading. Then, she was there, standing just at the edge of the yard. At first she was obscured by the shade of a large tree, but then she stepped into the moonlight and there stood Johari, in all her beauty. The moonlight glowed off of the gems in her eyes and glistened across her velvet hair and alabaster skin. Those bright eyes looked up at Andrew where he stood in the window. Her mouth lifted in a smile to reveal perfectly strait and glistening white teeth. And then she was gone. For some reason, Andrew was not afraid. He wished that she would come back. It is not every day in a young teenager's life that a gorgeous woman shows up in your backyard and smiles at him. His wish was granted.

He felt a chill flow down his spine and he knew that she was in the room right behind him. Andrew turned to face her. Up close, she was even more beautiful than he had realized from the window. Her smooth skin was perfection and those large glowing eyes pierced him through and through. The waterfall of glistening auburn hair flowed down and over her shoulders to cascade across her back. She was a little over five feet tall, not much shorter than him at that point. He experienced his first crush in that instant.

"So you are the one they are interested in." She smiled again and took a step toward him. Andrew's heart stopped beating.

He had heard of someone being so beautiful they stopped a heart, but hadn't ever imagined it being a real physical thing. Yet here was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen and his heart was dead in the water. It wasn't from fear either, at least he didn't believe that was why. It simply stopped beating. After what felt like forever, though it was only a few moments, she reached out and touched his arm. It burst back into beat.

The beat was different than before though. Somehow, it was stronger than before. In the instant his heart restarted, she gasped and jerked her hand away, though whether in shock or pain, Andrew couldn't tell. She stared for a moment and then her head whipped toward his door. A moment later she was back, staring with those bright blue eyes into his.

"Forget everything about me," she whispered, and then she was gone.

A soft knock sounded upon his bedroom door.

"Yes?" The door opened a crack and Andrew's dad leaned his head into the room. Andrew looked over at him from where he had been standing, looking out the window into the trees for a bit. "I just couldn't sleep so I was looking outside for a bit." John Marks nodded.

"Alright, try to get some sleep son." And then he was gone. Andrew went back to staring out the window as he had been doing before. He sighed. The darkness which was always within him pulled at him, as if to make sure that he was as depressed as possible tonight. He fought it as he struggled with the strange thought that something special was missing. He had no idea what it could be.

Chapter 15

His eyes opened. Every other time, the dream had ended before the scene in the room and even that part faded from memory soon after waking. This time the whole thing remained. Andrew knew it wasn't a dream. It was a memory, one that he had been forced to forget, but like the other things, it was something that he now refused to forget ever again.

His mind reviewed the dream and Andrew realized that Johari and her kind had been keeping and eye on him for some time now. Both Johari and the demon had mentioned something about people who stood in the way of the demons. Was he destined to be one of those people? Was that why both the demons and their immortal enemies both kept Andrew in their sights? It was a mind numbing thought to think that he might have some kind of role in a war that he had just come to be aware of. He shook off the thought and decided not to worry about it. If he had a role to play, it would become apparent in time, but worrying about it now wouldn't change anything.

Andrew glanced at the clock on his nightstand. He had woken before his alarm again and his parents would still be downstairs getting breakfast. He stretched and climbed out of bed to join them before they had to go. They were still surprised to see him, but just as enthusiastic as the day before.

After breakfast, Andrew got ready and left for school. He arrived early once again, though not quite as soon as he had the day before. He noticed more banners and signs made by students and he resolved to see if there was anything he could do to help out around the school too.

That day, classes were still more involved and students more excited than usual. It was a slow start in each class, but once Andrew got involved, the rest followed suit. He also continued to make new friends. There were some amazing people in his class that he had never given the time of day before.

Andrew also pulled Jason along with him. At first Jason was dark and resistant. As the day progressed though, Andrew saw his friend warm up to the changes. At lunch Jason even told jokes and laughed along with the rest of them at the table.

There were always people around, so Andrew refrained from mentioning the dream to Johari. In fact, he didn't mention anything that would confuse people or that might get her in trouble if it were overheard. He supposed he could always talk in Aramaic, but even that could cause trouble if it were overheard. So instead, Andrew just focused on being as happy with his new life as he could.

All that day, Johari seemed to delight in watching him finding new relationships with his classmates. She also encouraged and found joy in him working with his friend to pull him from the self imposed gloom of separation and loneliness. She smiled and told him that now that he had discovered the light, it was amazing that he would choose to spread it to those around him. She seemed to be alluding to something deeper with that comment, but he wasn't sure what that might be.

The day was over before it even had a chance to begin. Now that Andrew was taking an interest in things around him and enjoying himself, time flew by at breakneck speeds. The final bell rang and Andrew and Johari were back at the lockers for the last time of the day.

"What are you doing after school today," she asked him? Andrew slipped his books into his locker and glanced at his work schedule he had taped to the door. He slammed it shut before answering.

"I don't have anything. Do you want to hang out, or maybe we could even go on that date." Andrew was surprised at himself for having the courage to just bring up the date in such a casual way. In the past, he wouldn't have dared, but a part of this new life he was forging for himself was the decision to go for things he wanted instead of waiting in the background for things that came his way on their own. Johari's smiled and shook her head.

"It still surprises me that knowing all that you know, you still want to go out on a date with me." Andrew smiled at her as they walked down the hall toward the parking lot.

"Of course I do, if you are interested of course. I understand that you are older and might not find me as interesting as someone like you." Johari shook her head.

"No, I like the idea. I haven't found anyone like me that I was interested in. Why don't I stop at your house a little before dinner time and pick you up, six thirty or so?" Andrew nodded and climbed into his car. He didn't bother to look around for the slim figure who had long since vanished.

Chapter 16

Andrew paced back and forth in front of the living room window while his parents watched from the kitchen. They glanced at each other and both smiled. When Andrew had been born, they had both been excited and wondered at the things their son might grow up to do. As he had gotten a older, most of their hopes had been dashed. He was antisocial, uncommunicative, and buried in books. All their hope had been pulled from them year by year as their son became worse and worse. Now after meeting this new girl, he seemed to be almost the exact opposite of the dark son they had resigned themselves to.

For that reason, they were as excited and nervous about her as Andrew was. Who was this person who had the power to reach their son in a way that they hadn't been able to in eighteen years? Three pairs of eyes turned and then widened as the car pulled into the driveway.

The car was a late model, burnt orange Aston Martin Vanquish. John and Mary Marks glanced over at their son's shocked face. He hadn't known about the car either. Then they glanced back at the girl climbing out of the car. She was dressed in a modest blue dress, but Andrew's dark jeans, tee shirt and brown sweatshirt that had been nice on first inspection were now just a little too casual.

The falling sun peaked out of the clouds just as she shut the car door and her long auburn hair appeared to burst into bright flames. Andrew stared out the window wondering how such a beautiful girl could want to go out on a date with him. Not to mention she was so much more than he would ever be, darkness or not. She smiled at his wondering stare as she walked, still aflame, to the door.

Andrew was frozen for a moment, and then rushed to the door and opened it before she had a chance to knock.

"Come on in," he said. He hesitated for a second, "if you don't mind, I think my parents would like to meet you." She smiled at him and walked past him into the entry way. Her first thought was that the repairs had been well done. Even her sharp eyes had a hard time finding the scars of the battle that had occurred there.

Together they stepped into the kitchen where Andrew's parents were busy pretending they hadn't been watching and listening. They looked up as one. Neither one was sure what they had been expecting, but the beauty in their kitchen was not it.

"Mom and dad, I'd like you to meet Josefina Sanchez. Josefina, my parents, John and Mary." Johari extended her delicate hand, but shook both of their hands with a strength that defied the delicacy of her frame. The confidence presented in that handshake surprised both of them.

"It's lovely to meet you dear," said Mary. John added his agreement.

"It's nice to meet both of you as well. I hope you don't mind me stealing your son this evening. I promised him a date a while ago and tonight was a good opportunity to fulfill that promise."

"Of course not," replied Mary. "You guys have a great time." Andrew was waiting for some kind of rules or limitations on his date, but it seemed that they were just so excited to see him happy, that it didn't occur to either of them.

"I won't be out too late," he offered for their peace of mind once he was gone. With that, they headed for the door and the car waiting in the driveway. Andrew felt a little nervous about climbing into the car. He didn't want to get it dirty or scuff it with his rough tennis shoes. Johari laughed at his tentativeness.

"It's just a car, don't worry about it."

"It's not just a car. My car is just a car. This thing is the most expensive car I have ever been in. How did you afford this?" After he asked it, Andrew realized that the question was a little personal, but Johari just smiled.

"As you know, I am a little older than you which means I have had a little bit more time to save and invest money. I have done well for myself." Andrew wasn't sure what to say to that. Money had never been that important to him, so he didn't have nice things or care all that much. He hadn't considered the idea that she might be rich, but upon consideration, he should have. Her house looked expensive, but he had other things on his mind that day so it hadn't registered. Come to think of it, she had been nothing but surprise after surprise since he first met her. This beautiful creature just kept continuing to amaze him.

Johari glanced at the face of the boy next to her. It was not a concerned face which was the thing she was most concerned about. She was breaking all the rules with this one. The people she was assigned to watch were not supposed to be aware that they were being watched, let alone be any significant part of the life of the one watching them. Not only did her charge know who and what she was, she was involving herself with him.

At some point, she knew she was going to get in trouble for this. She also realized that she didn't care. There was something different about this one from any other she had ever been assigned. Every time she turned around, he did something else that no human was supposed to be able to. This young man just kept continuing to amaze her.

"Where are we going to eat," he asked, breaking out of his thoughts about being with someone so much more than he was. At least that thought, while somewhat of a downer, did not bring on the crashing darkness. He realized that he was enjoying her presence and would continue to do so as long as she allowed it. There was nothing else he could do.

"I thought we could go to the restaurant over by the theater on the north side of town." Andrew frowned, trying to think of which one she might be referring when his eyes widened. He didn't know much about fancy restaurants except that this particular one caught his attention for a reason.

Andrew's had been open for about three years. It was hard to ignore a news broadcast or article that had his name in it, so Andrew knew a little bit about the place. It had received countless awards and was often visited by famous people. The place had a dinner theater section with a band, a comedian or some other type of entertainment combined with dinner. There was a normal restaurant area and also a private dining area for high profile people.

Andrew glanced down at his clothes. They were not appropriate for a place like Andrew's.

"I hope you don't mind, but I picked up a set of dinner clothes for you since Andrew's isn't a jeans and tee shirt sort of place." Andrew shook his head.

"No, that's fine." By this time, they pulled into the driveway at Johari's house. Andrew spent a little more time observing the house since he wasn't as distracted as last time. It was one of the most interesting houses he had ever seen.

The design was imaginative and now that he looked at it a second time, it looked a lot less precarious and much more intentional than before. From what he remembered, Johari had designed it herself which was an impressive feat and Andrew said so.

"This is pretty amazing." Johari grinned at his comment.

"Do you really think so," she asked? Andrew nodded and her smile widened as she lead him to the door and inside once again.

The inside was just as modern as the outside, but Andrew noticed something strange. Despite the stuff, it felt empty. There were paintings on the walls in different spots and random bits of furniture spread all around the main area, but it just didn't feel lived in. It was too perfect, too arranged, too clean to be normal.

The main area contained a kitchen on the back wall and an eating area next to it, also on the back wall. The front part of the area was a large living room. One side of the front had a fireplace and a few recliners set around it. The other side had a large flat screen TV on the wall and two long sofas angled away from the wall so that people on either sofa could see the TV. In between the kitchen and the dining area, there was a patio door that went out onto a large deck on the back of the house. In the center of the giant room was a large spiral staircase that led to a loft that overlooked the living room on the second floor.

Johari took Andrew up the spiral stairs to the loft. At the far end of the loft was a large, two paneled maple door. Beyond that was the largest master bedroom that Andrew had ever seen.

The flooring was a patterned brown carpet with flecks of blue and different shades of the brown. The carpet was so plush that Andrew's feet felt like he was walking on cotton balls strewn across the floor. The walls were painted with a decorative finish to look like some kind of marble. On top of the marble, there were vines done in a plaster stencil that protruded from the wall and had then been hand painted to look as real as possible.

A giant four poster bed sat in the middle of the far wall. The posts were large, but simple. Just square blocks with the corners sanded smooth. Like the main floor, the bedroom and the things in it felt unused.

In a little square niche on the far left was a little library of shelves and an overstuffed chair. Some of the books were newer, but most appeared to be old. Several volumes sat out on the small table by the chair. It was the first place in the house that had a lived in feel to it.

The right side of the room had two doors. Johari directed him to the closest one.

"The clothes are on the dresser in there." Andrew opened up the door and stepped into the closet that was as big as his room back at home. The walls were lined with as many different kinds of clothes as he could imagine. In the center was the dresser that she had mentioned and on top was a zippered clothing bag. Inside of that were the clothes she had picked for him. They were nicer than any Andrew had ever worn.

He didn't put much thought into the clothes he wore most days. He did try not to clash too much and was cleaner about his clothes than most guys that he knew, but both style and quality had been low in importance for him. His mom had tried to get him to care, but it hadn't stuck.

The shirt Johari chose was a light blue that felt like the softest material he ever touched. Andrew glanced at the tag. The shirt was one hundred percent silk which explained why it felt that way. He slipped on the white undershirt from the bag and then the silk. He wasn't used to so many buttons, so it took him a moment to get it closed up. He wasn't sure what to do with the top button, but it was uncomfortable on his neck, so he opened it back up and left it. Johari would let him know if it was wrong.

The pants looked like a khaki material. They were also much smoother than any pant material he was used to. He tucked in the shirt and then threaded in the brown belt with its silver buckle. The last article of clothing over the top was a black dinner jacket. It was beginning to get cooler at night as the season was changing so the warm jacket would be nice. The last thing on the dresser was a box which contained brown socks and shoes.

It all fit him as if he had been at the store and had it all tailored for his body. The shirt and pants hugged his form without being tight anywhere and the shoes fit onto his feet better than any pair he had ever owned. Andrew stepped out of the closet and gasped.

Johari grinned girlishly at the look on Andrew's face and at his exclamation. She had changed as well. She was always beautiful, but the outfit that she was wearing was a stunning compliment to her natural beauty.

The evening gown was a shimmer material in a midnight blue color that seemed to cling to her form like gossamer threads draped across it. The makeup from before, designed to make her look younger had been wiped away and replaced by simple blush and light blue eyeshadow. The true beauty of her face shone without the makeup covering it up. Her blue eyes stood out with the blue of the dress, making the outfit complete.

"Wow!"

"You look quite nice yourself, Mr. Marks." He nodded thanks, but didn't believe her. What could look good standing next to her? She grinned and did a twirl.

"Do you really like it?" She asked in an innocent tone.

"You are beautiful," Andrew blurted out, and then turned bright red at his forwardness, but he meant it and didn't try to take it back despite his embarrassment. Johari looked pleased, though she must be used to such compliments.

"You are sweet to say so." There was a moment of awkward silence and then they walked together down the stairs and out to the Aston Martin still parked on the circular drive in front of the house. "Want to drive," Johari offered? Andrew shook his head. He wasn't about to be responsible for crashing something that expensive, no matter how fun it might be. She shrugged and they climbed in.

He thought she had driven fast before. She drove her car much faster than she had driven his and unlike his, her motor purred as the car sped along. For a moment, Andrew regretted declining to drive. It would be fun to be in control of something so powerful, but he doubted he would be able to control it half as well as she did.

Sirens blared, interrupting his joy in the car. Andrew looked behind and sure enough, the red and blue lights were flashing. Johari pulled off to the side of the road. The officer approached the car with excessive caution. He had his gun out and was standing back from the car. They didn't mess around with people who went more than double the speed limit.

"Step out of the car, hands where I can see them," he shouted. Johari rolled down her window instead of climbing out, she looked into his eyes.

"Go back to your car, erase any video or notes you may have on me and forget you saw me." The officer's eyes went blank and he turned and walked back to his car, gun hanging at his side. Johari slipped the car into gear and pulled away at a normal speed until she was beyond the range of radar. Andrew shook his head. No wonder she wasn't afraid of speeding. If it had been him driving that speed, he would have been arrested.

"Does that happen often," he asked Johari? She shook her head.

"No, I usually spot them long before they see me. I was a little distracted today and he was well hidden." Andrew supposed that somewhere in there he should be more concerned about the speeding and getting pulled over, but he felt comfortable that Johari had it under control. They were silent as the car picked up speed again and before Andrew knew it, they were pulling up in front of the restaurant.

He wondered, as they drove up to the front drive under the canopy by the entrance, what a middle class, high school senior was doing in a place like this. They would recognize what he was at the door and send him on his way. Andrew was certain that Johari could get in anywhere, but then again, she didn't look like a poor student, she looked as though she belonged here.

As they climbed out, a valet stepped up and handed Johari a ticket. The man was either a professional or else he saw a lot of cars like hers, because he didn't seem excited about the car. As he pulled away to park the car in the lot, Andrew leaned over and asked Johari which one she thought it was. She grinned.

"He's a professional. His heart started to beat faster as soon as he saw the car pulling up. Andrew shook his head.

"Maybe it wasn't the car. He might have just seen you." He grinned at her. "That is enough to make my heart beat faster." Johari smiled at Andrew as he offered her his arm. She took the arm and walked with him through the front door.

Inside, there was a young man standing behind a hosting booth just beyond the coat room. Andrew was just wearing the dinner jacket which he didn't feel belonged in the coat room. Johari wasn't affected much by the temperature and hadn't even worn a jacket, so they both walked to the booth and the young man with a polite smile on his face. The smile was directed more at Johari than at Andrew, but Andrew couldn't blame him? He preferred to look at her too.

"Good evening, sir, madam. Could I please have the name on your reservation?" Johari smiled at him.

"We don't have a reservation. My name is Joan Endress, I would like one of your private rooms please." The host looked surprised.

"I apologize madam. We are quite busy this evening and I'm afraid we don't even have room to seat you in our main dining area without a reservation, let alone in one of our private rooms. I don't think anyone but the owner could get what you are asking for tonight, and even for them, we would be hard pressed. I am most sorry, but you will need to make a reservation and come another night." Johari sighed.

"I am the owner." The man smiled and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, but..." Johari held up her hand to stop him.

"Why don't you just call Paul, tell him my name and let him deal with it." The host looked a little confused as if there might be something going on here that he didn't understand. Then he shrugged as though he knew that there was no other way in which he could get rid of us. He picked up a phone from the booth and keyed in a three digit number. A moment later, a voice picked up on the other end.

"Hey, Paul? Yeah, I have two guests here who are asking for a private room without a reservation. They insisted that I call you." He listened for a moment, then nodded and hung up the phone. Johari didn't look pleased. "Paul asked me to again pass on how sorry we are, but also asks that you make a reservation for another night." Johari shook her head.

"You didn't listen." She said, now a little frustrated. "You were supposed to give him my name." Andrew was beginning to feel a uncomfortable.

"It's okay, we can go somewhere else tonight," he murmured to her. Johari shook her head.

"No, it's quite alright. If junior here had just done as he was told, we would already be sitting down." Junior, of course, could hear every word, and he looked a little upset at the nickname.

"Miss Endress, is it?" He didn't wait for a reply. "It really doesn't matter who you think you are, there is no room tonight." He took his time enunciating the last part as if he thought that maybe she didn't get it because she were a little slow. She just rolled her eyes at me.

"Good help is so hard to find these days." She stepped closer to the booth and looked right up into the man's eyes. She spoke softly, but Andrew felt the force of her words from behind her. "Call Paul back, now, and tell him my name or you will be finding yourself new employment, I can promise you that." Andrew felt the force, but for some reason, she didn't seem to be compelling him. The man raised his hands in a placating gesture.

"Okay, okay. What if I just call Paul down here and let him talk to you directly." Johari nodded.

"Yes, that is fine." The host picked the phone back up and redialed the three digit number.

"Hi Paul. Sorry to bug you again, but the two guests I called about a moment ago are still here." He paused. "Yes I know, I told them, but they insist upon seeing you in person." Another pause. "Okay, thank you Paul." He set the phone back down. "Paul will be right down to see you." He smiled as he said this as if he knew something that they didn't.

A moment later, Andrew saw what it was that he had been smiling about. A tall lanky man that must have been Paul came out of the kitchen, followed by two massive gentlemen in matching black suits. It looked like he was going to get thrown out after all. Paul's eyes fell upon Johari and even from where we were standing, Andrew saw them widen. He whirled on the two men following him and ushered them back the way they had come with his hands. They turned and disappeared back into the kitchen while Paul hurried over to the booth.

"Mike, why don't you go help Michele to clear out the blue room and reset it for two." Poor Mike, the friendly host, looked confused.

"But Paul, I thought..."

"Mike. Michele. Blue room. Now!" The last word cracked off of Paul's tongue like a whip and Mike's eyes widened, but he nodded and hurried off to find Michele, whoever that might be. His eyes stared back one more time as he left. "I am so sincerely sorry about that Miss Endress." Johari smiled.

"No real problem, it's not that big of a deal. It would have been nice, however, if young Mike had just mentioned my name right away like I asked."

"You are most correct. I shall speak to him and of course to all our hosts about it. This will not happen again." Paul eyed Andrew with more than idle curiosity a few different times while they stood there and finally he asked. "Who is your friend, if it is not too presumptuous of me to ask?" Johari smiled.

"Paul, I would like you to meet my partner, Andrew Marks." Paul's eyes widened yet again. Andrew wanted to laugh at the ridiculous expression, but contained himself.

"Mr. Marks, my humblest apologies for the wait sir." Andrew wasn't sure how he was supposed to respond to that, but Paul recognized his name and so Andrew thought that he was should try to play along.

"It's not a problem Paul. Mike didn't understand. I appreciate you acting so swiftly to remedy the misunderstanding." Andrew glanced at Johari after a moment to see if he did alright. She was smiling, so it must have been close enough. Not even two minutes later, Mike returned. He nodded politely this time. Somewhere, he must have picked up the idea that these two guests were important people. Andrew was getting the same impression himself. He knew why Johari was important, but why was he? Paul pulled two menus from behind the booth.

"If you would please follow me this way." He led Andrew and Johari across the main dining area in the direction that Mike had just returned from. On the far side of the dining area was a hallway with several different doorways in it. The doorways were covered by thick curtains. Paul led them to one labeled The Blue Room. Paul pulled the curtain aside and ushered his two guests into the room.

The name didn't fit the room at all. As far as Andrew could see, there wasn't a speck of anything blue anywhere in the room. The base color theme seemed to be gold and red. It was like an old Victorian dining room. The ceiling was lined with thick crown molding. A similar, wide chair rail ran around the middle of the walls. The area below the chair rail was burnished gold and the area on the top was maroon. The far wall was a large maroon curtain, behind which would be all of the different things used to set up the room. It was a beautiful room, Andrew just would have called it The Maroon and Gold Room.

The room was big enough to seat a party of thirty, but there was just one table set up. The table had two place settings on it with a small candle in the middle. Johari and Andrew each took a seat.

"Michele will be right in to serve you. Please enjoy the meal." With that, Paul set the menus on the table and left the room. Andrew was struggling to contain his curiosity by this point. As soon as Paul left, he burst out.

"Okay, you have to explain. What is going on?"

"I thought you would have figured it out by now." She laughed. "I am the main owner of the restaurant."

"Whoa, that's awesome! This place is amazing!" Johari shook her head at him.

"You missed something fairly major. I said main owner. The name is Andrew's...." She left it hanging as Andrew stared at her.

"Are you saying what I think you are?" Johari smiled at me.

"I believe I am. You are listed as my partner and a private investing owner for the restaurant." Andrew didn't know what to say to that. This restaurant had been around for several years, which meant that she had started it not long after she appeared in his yard. Had she known then that things would go this way? Did these immortals have knowledge of the future?

"Why did you do it," was all he asked, even though the rest of his mind buzzed with other bigger questions?

"I like to stay busy. When you have been around for as long as I have, you need to find things to make life more interesting. Watching over you was my main objective here, but I couldn't just watch you all the time, so I decided to start a restaurant. This was my first restaurant and as I was doing research for it, I discovered that people in the restaurant business respect partnerships more than single owners, because they feel like there is more than just one person interested in keeping the business alive. So, I made you a silent partner. I did tell them you were young, but I didn't say how young." She grinned. "Paul was a little surprised."

"Why me?" Johari's eyes narrowed in thought and she shrugged.

"I'm not sure. I never involved myself with someone that I am charged with watching before. This is new territory for me as well." Her eyes looked troubled about it and Andrew decided to drop the topic for the moment. He picked up a menu.

"So what's good at our place?"

At that moment, the server stepped into the room and walked over to the table. The conversation ended for the moment, and both Johari and Andrew ordered glasses of water. Michele left to grab waters while Andrew looked over the menu. He had been sort of joking with the food question since he had surmised from what he had seen so far that immortals didn't eat. Johari surprised him with several suggestions.

"I did plenty of research on chefs and on the foods they produce while I was getting ready to hire people. Paul handles most of the day to day things here now, but I was much more involved at first. I had a chance to read different reviews on some of the dishes that we have here." Andrew took her word for it and decided on the Fillet Mignon. Michele came back and took the order. Johari declined which was an obvious surprise to Michelle, but she left with just the one order. Andrew decided it was time to ask some more questions.

"You tried the food at school, but nothing here. Do you not eat at all?" Johari shuddered, and her mouth twisted.

"I did try the food at school, much to my chagrin. My body is no longer capable of digesting food and it is no longer necessary. I can eat the food just fine. It just tastes horrible and provides no nutrition for me. Later, I end up throwing whatever I eat back up. It tastes even worse the second time. The cafeteria food was so bad that even that little bit of it made me ill almost right away." She shrugged. "I just try to avoid food at all costs when I can."

"Why did you try the school food then?" She shrugged again.

"I was trying to fit in a little bit better, trying to make you feel comfortable with me at the food table, but it was a bad idea. I should stick to what I know."

The server returned with food and while Andrew ate, Johari asked him random questions about things that he didn't understand why she would want to know. She asked about vacations he had gone on, music and TV he liked and just about any other mundane details of life that she could think of. She seemed to enjoy learning about all the little things and so he kept answering questions long after the food was gone.

When the server came again, both turned down desert. It had been the best meal that Andrew had ever eaten in his entire life. Part of that was because of the quality of the meal. Another part was because of his new brighter outlook on life. However, the biggest reason he had enjoyed the meal so much was the company.

Andrew had experienced an initial attraction to Johari both in his room when he was younger and again at school. However, with all the demons and the fact that she was what she was, he had pushed the feelings to the side. Now they were coming back unbidden. He wondered what he should do as he took a sip of his water, watching her over the rim of the glass. Would she even be interested in someone like him as more than someone she had to watch out for?

Paul slipped into the room, interrupting Andrew's thoughts.

"I hope that you enjoyed your meal. Of course, for the owners, it's on the house. Please feel free to return at any time." He smiled blandly. "Of course, if you would call ahead, we would be able to provide you with much better accommodations." Andrew wasn't sure how it was possible to have better accommodations than what they just had, but Johari and he nodded.

The valet, a different man than before took the car ticket and disappeared back into the lot. He returned in a few minutes with Johari's car. His eyes were shining as he climbed out of the car but all that he said was,

"Have a good evening sir, miss." Johari slipped him a tip and Andrew nodded to him as they climbed into the car.

At the terrifying speeds that Johari drove, they were back at her house almost before Andrew could form a coherent question from the thoughts running through his head.

"Do you want to come in for a bit," asked Johari? Andrew nodded and followed her into the house. They sat down on the couch in the living room and Johari stared at him as he tried to gather his thoughts. She broke the silence.

"I'm sure this evening was a bit much to take in. A place like that is probably not something you are used to. Plus the whole ownership thing had to be a shock." Andrew turned to stare at her for a long moment and then burst into laughter. She smiled, but the joke seemed lost on her. When his laughter subsided, he attempted to explain.

"You think that I am deep in thought about a restaurant. Over the past little while, I learned that demons exist, that one had been possessing me for most of my life and that immortal creatures fight them for the side of good. I just went on a date with one who happens to not only be attractive and quite nice, but who has been watching me for years without me knowing about it. Oh and who happens to be about eight hundred years old." His left eyebrow stretched upward as he stared at her. "And you believe I am thinking about a restaurant?" Johari started to chuckle.

"I didn't think of it quite like that." She stopped and her eyes narrowed. "What do you mean watching for several years?"

"None of your little mind tricks stuck with me." Her eyes narrowed.

"How so?" Andrew shrugged at Johari's question.

"At first I thought it was just a dream that I had a lot, but it has become clear to me that we first met almost five years ago during the summer. You showed up in my yard and then in my house." He paused as a revelation struck him, "Come to think of it, that was the year I decided to fight the darkness and make something of myself despite its influence on me. That was the summer that started the process that led me here to the freedom that I have today." Johari slowly shook her head.

"I hoped that you could continue to surprise me, but I didn't expect it. Are you saying you have had dreams of me all these years?" Andrew nodded.

"They weren't as clear as last night, but yes. It wasn't even so clear that I knew you when you showed up the first day at school, but even then, I felt a strange connection like I knew you somehow. I just thought it was my mind playing tricks on me at the time. Now I realize that my subconscious was trying to let me know who you were." There was just silence for a bit and then Johari started to laugh.

"And here I assumed you were just a normal teenager thinking about dating, money, fast cars and owning restaurants. In the years I have been watching you, I thought I had you figured out. It turns out I still have a lot to learn."

"I feel the same. Now that I have freedom to explore and share in the world without that demon on my shoulder, there is so much that I want to learn and do. I hope you will be there with me." Johari smiled.

"I will be here as long as I can. I was tasked with watching you and that is usually a long commitment so I think there will be time." Andrew smiled at her and received that half smile in return. Life never looked so bright as it did that moment.

They talked for a while longer and then, since it was almost eleven, Andrew decided to call it a night.

"I should be getting home soon," he said, though he wanted to stay longer. "If I stay out much later, my parents will worry, no matter how happy they are for me." Johari nodded. After he changed back into his normal clothes, they climbed into the Aston Martin and headed back to his house.

There was an awkward moment in the car when they stopped in front of the house where Andrew wasn't sure if he should try to give Johari a hug or if he should just get out. She solved his problem for him. Johari slipped her arms around him in a quick hug.

"Good night Andrew. I had fun tonight."

"Me too." He smiled. "See you tomorrow." He stepped from the car and she was gone.

Inside was dark and Andrew was as quiet as he could be as he shut the door and took off his shoes. He didn't bother to turn on the entry light. He no longer seemed to need it to see in the dark. The blackest part of the night was just a dark blue to his eyes now.

The light coming on took him by surprise as did the fact that his parents were still awake and rushing down the stairs. Before he knew it, Andrew was sitting at a bar stool at the kitchen island trying to respond to excited questions that he couldn't answer.

He tried the best that he could, but had to claim exhaustion long before their curiosity was satisfied. They were disappointed by the lack of information, but still thrilled at the hope that they found in seeing their son opening up to life.

Chapter 17

The following weeks flew by at an incredible pace. Andrew continued to make new friends at school. It was amazing how soon he became known as one of the popular kids. He still didn't play any sports, but other students still wanted to hang out with him. Classmates he hadn't even had a chance to talk to yet or connect with at all said hi in the halls and even stopped to make the first connection themselves.

At first Jason was jealous of his friend's attention that was being shared with others. He was surly and didn't want to participate in Andrew's new happiness, but the good moods and positive attitude were catching and soon Jason was pulled in to the new crowds of people. He wasn't as popular right away, but he was Andrew's friend, so everyone accepted him too.

The biggest change for his friend came from a suggestion by Johari. About a month from the day Johari had walked into Andrew's life and began a change there for the better, Mikayla came into our group and began a change for Jason. She was a grade younger, but Johari seemed to think that she would be a good match for Jason so she set up a double date.

They met on Friday after school, out at The Fiesta, a Mexican grill in town. It was obvious that Johari had a good eye for matchmaking. The two of them couldn't keep their eyes off of one another the entire time at the restaurant. To both Jason and Andrew's surprise, Mikayla read fantasy and loved some of their favorite books as much as they did.

Andrew pondered that while they talked and ate their meals. Throughout their entire school careers, neither Jason nor he had found one person interested in any of the same things they had been. It seemed now that their loneliness had been self imposed. They could have found people like Mikayla earlier if they had been willing to look.

Sure the demon had made life difficult for Andrew, but he could have had friends and maybe even girlfriends if he had paid any attention to those around him instead of focusing inward on his misery. Andrew had blamed others for his sad life, but most of it had been his own choice. He promised himself again that night that he would not squander his future the same way that he had his past. He had so much time before him and he was going to enjoy every minute of it.

Andrew smiled over at Johari, thinking of the new life that was his because of her. So much was different now that she was here. She smiled back and his smile spread into a grin.

Chapter 18

Andrew's eyes fluttered open and he half closed them again from the bright sunlight streaming in the window. He lay there for a long moment enjoying not having to rush to get to up. He was never a morning person so Saturday and Sunday were his two favorite days of the week.

He glanced at the clock on the nightstand and groaned. It was only eight thirty. Why had he woken up? That's when Andrew noticed a strange feeling in his chest and he knew.

"Good morning." he said to the air above him. Andrew knew that she could hear him, wherever she was in the room. "Stop hiding and come cuddle with me, if you don't mind." He realized that this invitation was much more forward than he would have ever considered before, but then again, he wasn't about to make the most of this new life of his by hiding from the things he wanted.

"How do you do that," asked the small form curled up beside him on the bed? Andrew had expected something of the sort, but her sudden appearance still made him jump.

"How do I do what?"

"How do you know that I am there?" He shrugged, or at least attempted to. It was hard to do with someone pressed against his side.

"I just felt you. I don't know how to explain it beyond that." Johari frowned, and if Andrew didn't know better he would have almost said that she were pouting.

"It just shouldn't be possible for a human when I can't even do it." Maybe the pouting thought wasn't as far off as he thought.

"Do you think there is something wrong with me," he asked her? She grinned at him.

"I am an immortal who is almost eight hundred years old. I move at lightning speeds and fight demons yet you are wondering if there is something wrong with you." She shook her head at him. "What a strange young man you are." He smiled at her. It did seem silly to worry about it when she put it that way.

"If it's alright with you, I think I will still worry about it a little bit." She rested her hand on his chest and then traced a finger up and down his stomach. Andrew lay there, enjoying her presence and the peace he felt with her there. It was hard to imagine that he had lived for so long without this feeling. One moment she was there beside him, the next she was just gone.

"Wha..." Andrew started and then the door swung open.

"Andrew. You're mother and I are going out for breakfast. Did you want to come along?" The invitation was not unexpected as Andrew had joined his parents several times over that last couple of weeks, but today the interruption was not as welcome. Only moments before, he had been enjoying himself a great deal and that was gone now. Where had she gone and would she come back?

Andrew raised his head and just about choked. His father was standing there, holding open the door. His head hung just past the opening of the door. Johari stood behind the door, inches from him. The idea of him standing so close to her and not knowing it almost made Andrew laugh aloud, but he managed to control himself.

"I think I will skip it this time dad. Thanks though. You guys have fun." My dad shrugged.

"Okay, see you later then." The door closed as he extracted himself. Andrew waited until he heard his father's footsteps on the stairs before he allowed myself to chuckle.

"What is so funny," Johari asked as she sauntered back to the bed? She looked so graceful in that walk that Andrew almost forgot what he was laughing about.

"I just about cracked up when I saw you standing right beside my dad without him having a clue. I don't know why, but it seemed humorous." She grinned.

"I suppose that would be funny to see." She hopped onto the bed and even that move was graceful. Of course it was possible that he was just biased. "So what do you want to do today," Johari asked, now sitting beside him? Andrew groaned at her.

"It's early on a Saturday morning. I want to sleep." She glared, though it was not a menacing look, but a silly one.

"I have been waiting all night for you to get up. Now that you are awake, you are not going back to sleep. Besides, it is a nice day outside. We should be out doing something when the weather is warm." She crawled up next to him and Andrew reached out and pulled her down beside him again.

"This is good." he said and closed his eyes.

"Oh no you don't," she said, pulling back. We are not staying here. We are going outside. Now get up and get dressed." Andrew groaned again, longer this time and then opened one eye and looked at her to see if his mock frustration had any effect. He didn't care about the sleeping any more, but he did want to cuddle with her more. She shook her head at him as if she knew exactly what he was thinking. For all he knew, she might.

"Can you hear my thoughts?" She grinned at his question.

"Maybe." Andrew looked into her eyes, but couldn't tell one way or the other. "No, I can't," she said after a moment, "though that would be nice sometimes. Now, no matter how much you groan, we are going out." Andrew sighed then smiled and rolled out of bed.

"What do you mean waiting all night? Were you here that whole time?" Johari looked a bit sheepish and nodded, as if not sure how Andrew would react to her being in his room while he slept. "What did you do, sleep on the floor?" Johari chuckled.

"No, I don't sleep." Andrew's mouth dropped open before he caught himself.

"What do you mean you don't sleep? You mean not ever?" She nodded.

"Yes. This body no longer requires it. I am unable to fall asleep, even if I wanted. In truth, there are times when I wish I could leave the world behind for a couple of hours, but it doesn't happen." Andrew sat back down on the edge of the bed as he tried to process this new information. It wasn't that it was bad or anything, but it brought a new meaning to her age. He tried some quick math in his head. Over eight hundred years, eight hours a night, three hundred and sixty five nights a year. That was more than two hundred and fifty years of awake time than the average person would have gotten out of that amount of time.

Andrew shook his head at the speed with which he had just done that math in his head. He had done alright with math in school when he was younger. It had been getting a little better lately as he had put more time and effort into studying and homework, but the numbers he had just multiplied and then divided had been in the millions and he had done it in a blink. Extra study didn't even come close to explaining that away. What was happening to him? He decided to avoid that line of thinking for the moment. He turned back to Johari.

"Alright, if you are going to make me get up, I guess I should probably shower." She nodded at him and he grabbed some clothes and headed for the bathroom.

The shower felt great and once Andrew stepped out, he felt more centered. Of course the thoughts of where this new brain power, as well as the other strange things that had been happening to him did not abandon him, but he felt clear and refreshed.

Now that he was up and showered, he was looking forward to going out. The company might have something to do with that. Well, everything to do with it. He wondered what they would do as he slipped into his clothes. It didn't matter as long as she were there, but he was curious.

She was stretched out on his bed, reading one of his books when Andrew walked back into the room.

"Are you a fan of fantasy," he asked as she closed the book and set it down on the nightstand? She nodded and sat up on the edge of the bed.

"Yes, I enjoy most types of writing. With fantasy, it is interesting to see other peoples perspectives on the things that could exist. I often wonder if some of them have encountered the things they write about because there are a lot of fantasy stories about real things." Andrew smiled at her.

"So demons aren't the only dangerous things out there?" he was trying to be funny, but her face was serious when she shook her head.

"No, there are other things just as dangerous. Many of the monsters depicted in fantasy are based in some part on truth. You don't need to worry about it though. I won't let anything happen to you. I promise." Andrew wasn't worried, but he liked the idea of her being around to watch over him. He thought about it and realized that wasn't true. He was a little worried, but not about anything besides the demons.

It was difficult to worry about something unnamed that he had never seen or heard of. The demons he had both seen and experienced first hand so they concerned him more than a little bit. He wondered if the demons were like demons in the biblical sense. Did that mean that there were angels too? Where were they? Andrew glanced at Johari and grinned.

"What's that grin for," she asked?

"Just thinking that if there are real demons then there must be angels too. So that would make you my guardian angel." She smiled the half smile at me.

"There are angels, but I am not one of them. Though it's nice of you to say that. I think I like that idea a little better than being an immortal."

"If it helps, I will continue to think of you that way." She laughed, though the laugh was one of happiness, not of mockery so Andrew thought that his words were appreciated.

"I would like that a great deal. I hope that after you have become accustomed to who and what I am that you will continue to think of me like that."

"I don't think that will be hard. You are the most amazing person I have ever met." he paused, unsure how to word his thoughts, "Person is the right description right?" Johari smiled at the hesitation in his words.

"Person is still a good description. I may have a changed body, but who I am remains the same as it was so long ago." Andrew nodded, done with that line of questioning for now. He was uncertain how to deal with his own changes and thinking of her differences accented his own to him. He changed topics.

"So what are we going to do today?" She grinned.

"Actually, I have a little bit of a surprise for you today." And that was all that she would say on the matter. Before leaving, Andrew ate a bowl of cereal, which Johari of course declined. She tried not to let it show, but she shuddered as she watched him consume the breakfast dish. Maybe it was her obvious distaste for the contents of his bowl, or maybe something else, but the cereal he always enjoyed tasted like cardboard on his tongue. Regardless of the taste, it didn't make him sick as food seemed to do to her and he knew that he needed the nutrition, so he finished the bowl, brushed his teeth and they were off.

As always, Andrew was thrilled riding in Johari's car. It didn't seem to faze her, but it was still new enough for him that it was exciting. He wondered how long it would take before he was as used to it as she was. Would she stick around long enough for him to reach that point? He flinched against the inevitable advance of the darkness within him and once again was amazed by its lack of presence. Of course there was sadness with the thought that she would someday disappear, but this sadness didn't control him as the darkness would have.

The thought that the rest of his life was free of the scourge of demons filled him with a great deal of joy and without even realizing it, the importance of riding in a fancy sports car faded from him for far different reasons than he just considered.

Fancy sports cars came back to him in a hurry though as they pulled up to a racetrack just past the edge of town. Andrew had known that there was a track, but had never been there before. Today, the track was empty except for one shiny silver car sitting there, waiting in all its glory. It sat there looking for all the world like it had jumped off of the poster on his wall and settled itself there to wait for him.

"I thought you might like to take a Lamborghini out on the race track. I know you liked this car, so I thought I would give you a chance to see if it measured up to your dreams." Now this was an idea that Andrew felt he could get excited about on a Saturday morning. He tried to act nonchalant and shrugged.

"Sounds okay... I guess." Then he grinned at her. "If you insist, I suppose I can suffer through it." She laughed as she pulled into the parking lot.

"Bit heavy on the sarcasm there." Andrew laughed with her and nodded.

"Do you know someone who owns the car?" Johari nodded at his question.

"In a way." She glanced at him and smiled, "I bought it for you." Andrew was quiet for a moment as that sank in.

"Mine as in I get to keep it," he asked, his voice a little higher than normal? Johari smiled her half smile.

"Yours as in you can take it home." Andrew thought about that for a moment. That wouldn't be the best idea. He lived in a good neighborhood, but this wasn't the kind of car that you just parked on the street. Not to mention, how would he even begin to explain this to his parents. No, this car would have to stay somewhere else and he would have to continue driving Rusty. With the silver beauty sitting there in front of him, that sounded a whole lot less appealing than it had before. He hadn't ever had any major problems with his car and it had been his, so he was proud of it, but the minor problems seemed a lot bigger as he looked at the car in front of him.

Another line of thought crept into Andrew's thoughts. Why would Johari buy this car for him? He hadn't ever purchased anything for her or asked for anything. Was she trying to buy his affection? First the restaurant and now the car, both in his name.

"Johari, I appreciate these things, but I just want you to know that you don't have to buy me these things." Johari frowned.

"I know I don't have to."

"I just want you to know that I don't need the fancy house, or the restaurant or nice cars or anything other than you." The full implication of what he just said sort of struck Andrew. That was more than he should be feeling at this point, let alone saying aloud. He tried to curb it back a little. "I'm just saying that I like you for you, regardless of what you are or the life that you have lived up to this point. All this stuff is so unimportant compared to you." The silence was deafening to Andrew as he waited for Johari to respond. He had to wait a bit as she just sat there for a long moment, staring at the silver car, or beyond it to that piece of space that contains all deep thoughts. A small tear trailed its way down her cheek from her right eye, falling through the air to land on the seat next to her.

The sound the tear made when it landed was almost silent to Andrew's ears, but Johari jumped as if it had exploded there on the seat. Her small head turned toward him and tilted to the side with an unspoken question.

"What are you thinking," Andrew asked when she didn't speak? No more tears fell, but a small sigh escaped her lips indicating that more remained inside that had not had time to escape before she rained them in.

"Astonishing," was all she said at first. After what seemed an eternity, though encompassed no more than a few minutes, she continued. "In nearly eight hundred years, I have known many people, but none has ever seen so clearly to the heart of me. Not even my first mate truly understood me or even cared to. Many have tried to steal my heart, but none have tried to know me or think about why I do the things that I do." She shook her head. "You have managed to amaze me over and over by what you can do. You have survived a lifetime of a demon, destroyed that demon with a power that most of my kind cannot even begin to control. You did both of those things with a grace that surpasses understanding. You went on to accept me even knowing what I was. I never imagined that you would be able to surprise me more than that. Andrew Marks, you are an example of the best of mankind and I do not deserve you." Andrew almost laughed, but realized in time that she was more than serious. For someone who had spent eight hundred years fighting for mankind, she had a low opinion of herself.

"You are the amazing one. You were betrayed and abandoned by every human around you and yet spent the next centuries of your life protecting and saving those humans who had done nothing but treat you wrong. You have given up all of yourself to save those who don't deserve it. If that is not a perfect example of self sacrificing love and an example of light that more people should follow, I don't know what is. The truth is that I am in awe of who you are and what you have done, not just for me, but for the whole world. I count myself lucky to have this time to share with you." There was a moment of silence as she stared at Andrew, one more tear rolling down her cheek. Andrew reached out and caught the tear before it landed on the seat.

There was a small spark of that light within him as the tear struck his palm. A tingle from that spark spread through him from his palm and grew until it filled his whole body before fading away. Andrew glanced down and found that the center of his palm was a soft pink, but the dampness from the tear was gone, absorbed into him.

Johari reached out and touched the side of his cheek with the tips of her fingers. Andrew's eyes traveled up until they met hers. Then she leaned across the center of the car until her face was right next to his. Andrew felt the tingle of power begin coursing through him faster as his heart sped up, and then she kissed him.

Fireworks exploded in his chest and smaller sparks burst all over him as Andrew experienced his first kiss. All his life, Andrew had known that the magic of the first kiss described in movies was fake. There weren't real sparks or magic. He knew that those things didn't exist, but somehow for him they did.

Johari's eyes spread wide and she leaned back.

"Whoa," they both said, hearts beating fast.

"If I had known kisses were like that, I would have tried it sooner," Andrew said, a little out of breath. Johari just nodded. Andrew thought that she didn't need to breath, but she was pulling in rapid breaths all the same.

"Kisses aren't like that," she said after a bit. "Is there anything about you that will fail to surprise me?"

"A similar thought had occurred to me." They sat there for a second, just enjoying each other's presence. Both of them feeling the whole range of emotions from fear that the amazing feelings could not last to the exuberant joy that they existed in the first place. Andrew's hand crept over to Johari's and she slipped her fingers in between his larger ones. "So what should we do now," Andrew asked? Johari smiled her half smile and nodded to the Lamborghini parked not far away.

"Time for some fun in your car." Andrew frowned.

"I thought I just gave all that up." Johari nodded.

"You did and because you did, you get to keep it all and me besides." She grinned and he had to grin too. Life was so much more amazing than he had ever imagined it could be. He would have loved for it to last forever.

Chapter 19

The engine revved as Andrew pressed the gas and then released the clutch. The car lurched forward and then killed as he failed to shift fast enough. His lips tightened as he started the engine again and tried for a third time.

He had learned to drive a stick on his dad's little pickup truck, but the shifting was not quite the same on a powerful beast like this car. This time, he managed to get from first to fourth with only minor chugs in between shifts. The car hit fifty and he slipped it into fifth gear so smoothly, he almost thought he hadn't shifted. The car cruised up to about eighty five and he circled the track a few times before gearing back down and bringing the car to a halt in front of Johari's red Aston Martin.

"Want to show me how it's done," he asked Johari? She grinned at him.

"Are you sure?" He nodded and they switched places.

Johari slid the seat up a bit, and then pressed a button on the console. The words, Racing Mode, flashed up on the instrument panel in bright green. Andrew watched as Johari worked the pedals. The car's RPM's rose, closer and closer to the four thousand mark, but the car didn't move.

It reached the four and the car dropped into gear and jumped forward with a growl. Andrew was thrown back into his seat as the car barreled down the track. The world around them blurred by faster and faster as the car neared the two hundred mile per hour mark.

He was dizzy as the car slowed down and parked in front of Johari's.

"Well, I would agree that is how it is done," he said after he caught his breath and his heart rate slowed a bit. Johari smiled at him. "How do you make it look so easy?"

"I have a bit of an unfair advantage. My mind processes things just a little bit faster than most. I have time to think about exactly where to shift and how much pressure to use on the pedals and all of that. Not to mention, that I process more information at once so I can think about shifting, pedals, speed and the road in front of me without even thinking that hard."

"That's amazing! I wish I could do that." Johari's smile faded a bit.
"I'm afraid that isn't possible. There isn't much chance that the council will approve you being turned and I would never be willing to risk it even if they did. The chance of you not surviving is too great." The sudden fear in her voice filled Andrew with two separate feelings. The first was the joy at the thought that she cared so much that she was afraid of losing him. The second was a profound sadness at the thought that she would lose him anyway as time did its work and stole him away.

Life looked so long with the demon inside of him. Then, Andrew couldn't wait for the last days of life to escape the darkness, but now life was too short to experience all that he hoped to with her. It was strange how life and the desires in it changed. Life was so different with this bright light in his heart instead of the darkness. That was the final thought and feeling that Andrew settled on. His time on this life was short, but he was going to spend every second of it in her light if she would let him. A slow smile spread its way across his face.

"I know that you can't turn me into what you are. It was just a thought. Let's just enjoy what we have and let tomorrow worry about itself."

They took turns racing the car throughout the morning. Andrew's skill at shifting and his courage to drive at insane speeds increased in equal measures. He didn't quite get to the two hundred mark and couldn't match the ease at which Johari handled the car, but all in all he was proud of his improvement. Lunchtime came and went without either of them realizing the time. It was Andrew's stomach that announced the late time.

"I hate to stop this now, but I think it's past time for me to find a little food." Johari was driving at the moment and she pulled the car to a stop in front of her own.

"I'm so sorry. I forgot about you needing to eat. I am not used to regular mealtimes." Andrew nodded.

"It's fine. I would have said something sooner if I had thought of it. I should check in at home anyway since I didn't tell my parents that I was going anywhere and I am sure that they are home from their own outing this morning." Almost as he spoke, the phone in his pocket began to buzz.

Andrew pulled it out and spoke to his mom for a bit before promising to be home soon and hung up. They climbed out of the Murcielago and walked to the Aston Martin. Andrew looked back once at the silver beauty, wishing once more for just a moment that he could take it home after all, but he knew that was not possible. This car didn't fit into his life. Could she? Only time would tell.

Chapter 20

It was after three o'clock in the afternoon by the time the red sports car pulled into Andrew's driveway and he was starving. Before he could even ask, Johari answered his unspoken question.

"I have to check in with the council and meet up with Michael, the other Blood you met. I'm not sure how long it will take, but I will stop by later if you would like." Andrew smiled at her.

"I swear you are a mind reader, no matter what you say. I will be around whenever you stop by." Andrew climbed out of the car and headed for the house as Johari drove off.

Andrew's parents were both in the kitchen when he walked in. They both smiled at him as he walked through the kitchen door and headed for the fridge.

"No wonder you didn't want to come along for breakfast. You had better plans," joked John. Andrew shook his head.

"Not better, but good plans all the same. How was breakfast?"

The three of them chatted for a little while as Andrew ate a sandwich and drank some juice. His parents wanted to know if he and Josefina were dating, a question that Andrew didn't have a good answer for. They had kissed and talked a bit about the foreseeable future, but they hadn't defined anything. Until his parents' questions, Andrew hadn't thought about needing to define anything, but he began to wonder where this thing was going.

Did they have a chance to be a couple? Could she even see him that way since she was so much older? Not to mention, she had likely loved and lost enough times that she wouldn't have any interest in loving again. These were troubling thoughts and Andrew cringed from the dark that no longer came. The reaction was smaller and easier to squash than before. Not for the last time, he grinned at the freedom and possibility his future now held and he was certain that it would work out.

"Why the grin," his mother asked him? Andrew realized that he had been quiet in thought for a moment.

"I just realized that things will work out. I think Josefina likes me a great deal and I like her too. I am pretty sure that we will end up dating. She is an amazing girl with qualities that I didn't even know to look for in a person and I feel that she can bring a lot to my life. I think I can bring some things to hers as well, but only time will tell." He grinned again at his parents, gave them each big hugs and left to work on some homework until the beautiful woman he had a question for showed up.

He didn't have to wait long. He was working on some notes for the English paper and beginning to put together an outline when he felt her behind him.

"Hi there," he said to the paper in front of him before turning around. She was sitting on his bed, small half smile on her face at his words, though there was still a question in her eyes. Andrew didn't understand how he felt her presence. He thought it might have something to do with the connection they had shared with the destruction of the demon, but then again, he had reacted to her presence before that. He shrugged to himself. He would figure it out in time.

"Hello." Johari patted the bed beside her and Andrew moved to fill the space she indicated. He didn't move with the speed or grace that she did, but neither one of them minded as his hand took hers and the little current of their connection began to spark back and forth. For an instant, Andrew thought he could almost see the white sparks leaping about the skin where they touched, but he must have just imagined it since he couldn't spot them again.

They were quiet for a long moment before Andrew recalled that he had an important question for this beautiful creature.

"I have a few questions if you don't mind." Johari nodded.

"I thought you might. Ask away."

"Have you dated a lot over the years?" She was quiet for a moment.

"I have dated a little, but I haven't had much desire for relationship after the results of the first one. There hasn't been much opportunity either. I have not been idle despite my long years. This is not a fight that ever lets up. Why do you ask?" Andrew's first thought was that this was a good thing. If she hadn't dated much, then maybe she wouldn't be tired of dating and relationships and might be more interested. Then he had a thought to the other side. What if she just said that she hadn't dated much because she didn't want to date? What should he do? Did he ask what he had intended to or not?

He sat there for a moment and then remembered his new goal for life. He wasn't going to let opportunity pass him by anymore. If she said no, then so be it, but if he didn't ask, then she couldn't say yes.

"It sort of leads into my next question. Earlier we sort of kissed and I have been feeling a strong connection to you and was wondering if we needed to define what this is and I just..." Johari touched her finger to his lips.

"You're babbling, and I would say that we more than just sort of kissed." Using the finger on his lips, she turned his face down and pressed her lips into his once again. After a long moment of the explosions of ecstasy as the light within him writhed, she pulled back. "In eight hundred years, I never met anyone like you and though I have kissed a few different people in that time, none felt quite like that." She smiled. "Andrew, I like you a great deal. I also like kissing you." Her hand grabbed his, "But I just don't know that I am ready to define this just yet. People have disappointed me over and over in this long life, and I need more time. I would like to continue to spend time with you and see where this goes. Is that enough for now?" Andrew wasn't sure what to make of that answer. It seemed that eight hundred year old women were just as confusing as girls his own age.

She hadn't said no, just that she wasn't ready. It wasn't what he was hoping for, but it still meant that he would get to spend time with her and even kiss her once in a while. The problem was that he knew that wouldn't be enough to last him forever. Maybe she would come to trust in time that he wasn't going to be one of those people who disappointed her. Of that he was certain. He would not be the one to leave her.

"I am fine with that. I just wanted to know where you were at." Johari gave him a half smile and squeezed his hand.

Her head turned to the door and a moment later, the door bell rang downstairs.

"It's your friend Jason," she said. Andrew felt a little bad for his friend. He often hung out with Jason on the weekends. Jason's dad worked and left his son at home alone. Today, he had been too distracted to call his friend.

"I can go," offered Johari. Andrew didn't like that idea either. He shook his head.

"Maybe we can get Mikayla to come over too and play some cards or something." His eyes lit up. "Can we go to the race track with them tomorrow? We could tell him the car belongs to a wealthy guy you know." Johari paused for a moment and then nodded.

"I don't see why not. No secret sharing though." Andrew smiled at her.

"As if he would believe me." Andrew heard the steps on the stairs outside. "Oh, I just thought of something. My parents don't know you are here. Can you go around and ring the bell and come in that way?" Johari nodded and vanished.

"Come on in Jason," he called to the figure on the other side of the door before his friend could knock. The door opened to his friend with a confused look on his face.

"How did you know I was there? I didn't even knock." Andrew shrugged.

"Turns out I am psychic." Jason grinned and shook his head.

"That stuff is a bunch of baloney."

"Ding dong."

"What?" As Jason asked the question, the doorbell rang, echoing through the house and Andrew's friend jumped. His eyes narrowed. "Alright then, I will bite. Who is it?" Andrew closed his eyes as if he were concentrating.

"It feels like Josefina." Jason snorted. "Wait, I feel more. She will come up and as soon as she sees you, she will think of inviting Mikayla over too for some cards." Jason shook his head.

"No way man. You are just pulling my leg."

"Come on in Josefina," Andrew called, again without waiting for the knock. Jason hadn't heard her steps outside the door. Andrew wondered at that himself because he had never noticed the sound of footsteps outside of his room before either.

The door swung open and there stood Johari. She stepped into the room and with an exaggerated excitement, she looked at Jason.

"Jason! I didn't know you were going to be here. We should call Mikayla too. Maybe we could play some cards or something." Jason looked back and forth between the two of them, both with strait faces staring back at him.

"Okay, that had to have been planned. Please tell me it was planned because otherwise I am going to freak out a little." Johari and Andrew held the strait faces a little bit longer and then both burst into laughter.

"Yeah, it was sort of planned," Andrew admitted when his laughter died down.

"I actually already called Mikayla for you. She is in for tonight and for tomorrow."

"What's tomorrow," Jason asked?

"A friend owns a sports car and we are all going to the track to test drive it." Jason grinned.

"Yeah right. What kind of car is it then?"

"You will just have to wait until tomorrow to find out," Andrew said with a smile. His friend was in for as much of a surprise as he had been today.

Before long, Mikayla showed up and the four of them sat chatting and playing cards. Supper time came and Andrew's parents ordered a pizza for them, though Andrew wasn't starving after eating lunch so late. Johari passed of course, claiming that she had eaten right before coming over. After pizza, they went back to cards and having fun avoiding Jason's questions. Mikayla was also curious, but didn't prod for answers the way Jason did.

Jason started the yawns at about ten thirty. Pretty soon all four were yawning, though Johari's yawns seemed a little off to Andrew since he knew they were fake. Jason and Mikayla didn't notice though. They lasted until almost eleven and then Mikayla ended it.

"I have to go to church in the morning. I need to go home and get some sleep." Jason nodded.

"Me too." Andrew smiled.

"Church?" His friend hadn't been any more interested in that than he was.

"Yeah. I've gone a few times with Mikayla and her parents." Andrew was surprised, but then again maybe not. He looked at Johari. If she wanted to go to church, he would go with her too. And once again, he felt certain for a moment that she could read his thoughts.

"I would like to go with you and your parents tomorrow if they wouldn't mind," she said.

"Ah... I will have to ask them, but I'm sure that it would be fine." Actually, they would be thrilled. Anything that brought their son along would be more than fine with them. The thing Andrew didn't understand is why Johari would want to go in the first place.

They hadn't talked much about religion since their first conversation about what she was. She had mentioned a creator, but could it be possible that the creator she believed in was the same one that Christians believed in? Andrew had promised himself to keep a more open mind about things, but on this one, he was just going to have to wait and see.

Andrew saw all three of his guests off at the front door and then headed back up to his room. She was already there again, sitting on his bed. He grinned and went to sit down beside her.

"That was fun," she said. "We should do things with them more often." Andrew nodded his agreement.

"Yeah. I'm glad to see my friend so happy too. He just can't seem to stop smiling when Mikayla is around." He paused. "Come to think of it, I can't stop smiling either." Johari took his hand and they sat there in silence for a bit.

"Are you sure you don't mind going to church with me and your parents?" Andrew shrugged.

"It's not that I mind. I'm just not sure what I believe about the whole thing yet. It surprises me a little bit that someone who has existed so long and seen the suffering in the world would believe in an all knowing God who is supposed to love everyone so much." Johari nodded to acknowledge his thoughts.

"Yes, there is a lot of suffering in the world, but none of it comes from God. He put me and my kind into the world to prevent as much of it as we can. Humankind demands free choice, but then turns around and blames God for the problems that are here because of those choices. They see the bad things that do happen, but have no idea the number of things that He does stop from happening."

"Well, I guess I never thought of it quite that way. I just don't know what to think."

"That's okay. Just keep it in mind and the truth will come to you." Andrew was fine with that. He didn't know which way he would fall on the issue, but he would do his best to try to understand her point of view before he made a decision. If that meant going to church for a little while, so be it.

They spent the next hour or so just sitting there, sometimes talking about mundane things, sometimes just sitting in the quiet and enjoying each other's presence. Andrew had never imagined that just sitting with someone could be so nice.

It wasn't to last though as Andrew began to yawn again. Johari smiled at him.

"Looks like you aren't going to make it much longer. In a way, I envy you. It would be nice to escape the world for a bit."

"I think I would enjoy the extra time, but I can see how it might be nice to have the break. Are you going to go then?"

"I don't mind staying here, at least for a while. I might leave after you fall asleep though. Watching people sleep is fine for a while, and then it just feels a bit creepy and awkward." Andrew laughed.  
"I suppose it would at that. You can stay as long as you want, but I understand if you want to leave."

Andrew struggled to remain awake a while longer because he didn't want Johari to go, but after a while, sleep stole him away.

Chapter 21

Sunday morning dawned bright and clear. Sunlight streamed through the open blind and pierced the dust motes hanging in the air. The dust glimmered and reflected the light. Andrew lay there for a moment, marveling at the beauty of the light dancing. He glanced at the clock by his bed and yawned. It was a little after eight.

He stretched and climbed out of the bed. He felt a bit of disappointment that the room was empty, but he knew that he would see her soon enough. He still wasn't sure about going to church, but if that's what she wanted, that's where he would go. He smiled. How strange it was to have someone in his life that made him so willing to change everything at the drop of a hat.

Another thought came to him. Even though he wasn't sure that he cared to go to church since he didn't know what he believed yet, he no longer felt the aversion to it that he had before. It made a great deal of sense to him that if his demon had been one in the biblical sense, then it would not have wanted anything to do with church. That would explain his longtime aversion to going.

It was also possible that some of the thoughts that the demon had given him to think had survived the death of their originator. That was a scary thought. What parts of himself, what fears and doubts were his and which ones belonged to his past. It seemed that even though the present had changed, the past might still have a hold upon him.

Andrew decided that in addition to his desire not to waste any more time, he would also try to find the things that he didn't want to do or was afraid to do. Some of them might be the fingers of the past and he was determined to find and eradicate all traces of that foul beast from within himself. The task was a daunting one considering that he had eighteen years worth of doubts and fears and thoughts to dredge up and consider, but regardless of the time or effort it took, he was going to be himself. Today that meant getting in the shower so that he was ready to face his doubts at church.

The water felt nice and as he washed, he felt little bits of his old life slip off and swirl down the drain. Andrew knew that it wasn't quite that easy, but everything seemed so much more hopeful for him that he imagined that it was. When he stepped out of the shower, a shiver ran through him from the sudden change in temperature. At the same time those little sparks that were always with him now shifted within him. The cold feeling dissipated, leaving him warm and comfortable. He frowned.

What was that? Did the sparks within him have more power than the pleasant euphoria at Johari's touch and the destruction of demons? Maybe it was only his imagination, but even the act of thinking about the power seemed to make it jump within him. Andrew wasn't sure that he liked that idea.

While it wasn't the darkness, this was something else that had taken up residence in his body that wasn't him. The fact that it had done nothing but protect him or make him feel amazing was reassuring, but still, now that he was trying to become himself for the first time, would this get in his way as the darkness had done? Andrew sighed. It was a question that would have to wait for another time just like so many other questions that now floated around in his mind.

Back in his room, Andrew sorted through his clothes, trying to find something nice for church. He wished that he could wear the clothes that Johari had gotten him. Those would surprise his parents. Almost as soon as the thought crossed his mind, he felt her behind him and the barest breath of air from his window caressed the hairs upon his back. He turned and smiled.

"Hello there," she said. "Nice outfit." She grinned at him as Andrew's face turned beat red. He was still in only a towel. He gripped the towel tighter to make certain that it would not betray him. Her grin widened and to Andrew's surprise, he was able to find a deeper shade of red and he put it on in lieu of the clothes he didn't have. "That shade of red is cute on you." Johari laughed and pointed to the clothes that she had laid down on his bed. Then she vanished.

Andrew trusted that she was gone and wouldn't try to peek, but still felt a little uncomfortable lowering his towel. He dressed as fast as he could. When he was buttoning up the shirt, he spoke to the air.

"I'm decent now." And then she was beside him. He turned and looked at her for a long moment. She had chosen a much more toned down blue dress than the one she had worn to their first big date. She still was stunning, but managed to look more modest in this one than she had in the other. Her fingertips reached out and straitened the shirt collar.

"You look nice Mr. Marks. I am going to grab the car which I parked close by. I will see you again in a minute." She vanished again. If she kept this up, Andrew felt that he was going to get mental whiplash from all her abrupt comings and goings.

No matter how hard he focused, he couldn't see her move when she vanished or appeared. As he thought about that, another thought came to him. Even after he knew what she was, she had been careful not to show much of herself to him, but over the weeks since, she had loosened up and seemed to be much more comfortable around him. As much as some of this supernatural stuff still frightened him, he was glad to see her being so open with him. He would deal with all the strange she could throw his way if it meant growing the connection between them.

The doorbell rang and Andrew was jolted from his thoughts. He rushed out of his room and down the stairs. Halfway there he realized that he hadn't mentioned anything to his parents about this morning. His dad was already at the door by the time he reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Good morning Josephina. Come on in. How are you doing this morning?" At this moment, Andrew came up behind his dad. "Oh, hi Andrew. You didn't mention plans. Where are you two off to?"

"I forgot to tell you. Josephina wanted to go to church with us." John's eyes widened, but he didn't give any other indication of shock at his son's words." The short pause did give away John's attempt to absorb this news.

"That would be wonderful," he finally said, smile spreading onto his face. "I just need to grab your mother, and then we can go." He disappeared into the kitchen and Johari smiled at Andrew as they both heard the flurry of whispered conversation echoing out into the hall.

"Forgot to mention it I see." Andrew nodded.

"Sort of. It was too late last night and I didn't get up in time this morning to talk to them before you got here."

The four of them climbed into Mary's Camry and they drove to the church building. Andrew's parents went to a local church called Grace Communion. It was a small church, but that was nice because it was like a family. In fact, it was so much a family that Andrew was shocked and surprised. Even though it had been years, many of the different members remembered him and welcomed him back with open arms, literally. He felt that he gave out more hugs in the minutes before church than he had in his entire life.

Johari, or more accurately Josephina was welcomed as well and she seemed to flow right into the atmosphere of worship surrounding the place. She commented to him about it as they were finding their seats for worship to begin.

"I feel like I am home with real family. This is exactly what He had in mind when He started the church. People loving Him and loving one another." Andrew felt the same atmosphere in the air, but he didn't know what to think about it yet. With the demon, he felt like he was dirty when he was at church. Now he felt as though all the evil had been cleansed from him. Maybe he could appreciate the house of God as it was meant to be. With a smile on his face he stood with his family and the girl he was coming to care for more than he ever believed possible. Together they sang songs of praise and worship to a God that Andrew was just beginning to believe in.

Chapter 22

"Alright, what kind of car are we driving," Jason asked for the umpteenth time? Andrew grinned at him.

"You will just have to wait and see." The four of them were in trusty and the ride had been filled with Jason struggling to contain himself. His curiosity was answered as they pulled into the track parking lot.

Jason's jaw was as unhinged as Andrew's had been the first time he saw the car sitting there. By this point, all four were standing beside the car, Johari, Andrew and Mikayla were grinning at the look on Jason's face, though Mikayla gave the car a few appreciative glances as well.  
"Um... whoa," Jason exclaimed! "So whose car is this again?"

"It belongs to one of the owners of that Andrew's restaurant in town. Josefina knows him." Johari smiled the half smile at Andrew as Jason nodded.

"I still can't believe that he would just let us drive this thing. This is like a three hundred thousand dollar car!" Andrew shrugged.

"The owners of Andrew's are so wealthy that they don't care all that much. We should try to be careful anyway."

"Well duh. I would hate to see this car damaged in any way." Jason looked up at Andrew and shook his head. Johari handed Andrew the keys and the two boys climbed into the car while she and Mikayla stepped aside to let them take the first run.

"How in the heck did you manage all of this in such a short time," Jason asked in a quiet voice as they pulled the doors shut? Andrew knew that Johari would hear anyway, but his friend didn't need to know that.

"I'm not sure. Everything that has happened has been beyond my control. She is an amazing girl and I have been happier and clearer over the last while than I have ever been in my life." Jason grinned.

"I guess I can't blame you. I have been a little distracted and happier too. Who would have thought that we would find girls that would want to date us." Andrew smiled the half smile he had picked up from the beautiful creature who had changed him so much.

The engine started with a roar and both boys grinned. Andrew pulled the car out onto the track which was empty of anyone except for them. He looked at Jason, grinned, then he punched the racing mode button on the console. Racing Mode appeared on the dashboard display and a small thrill flowed through him.

Clutch, brake, then gas. The car just sat there revving up as he pressed the gas pedal down closer and closer to the floor. The rpm's hit four thousand and the car jerked forward as the clutch engaged itself. Andrew whipped through the gears as they flew down the track, he hit a hundred and thirty five or so and held it there for a bit. Then he began to let the car slow back down. Beside him, Jason was breathing hard.

"Whoa!" The car coasted down to a reasonable speed and Andrew brought it back to the starting point. "That was insane," Jason said, then laughed aloud. "I like your new friends and I haven't even met them yet." Andrew laughed with his best friend. If only Jason knew. For a moment, Andrew felt the desire to share this new life with his friend, but he knew that could never be. It had almost been more than he could take and there had been an amazing reason to help him deal. Not to mention that Johari was already in trouble. Andrew wasn't going to be the one to make it any worse for her. So instead of telling his friend anything, he shared the only thing he could.

"Your turn," he said. Jason's voice was a bit shaky.

"Are you sure it's okay for me to drive this? What if I crash it?" Andrew shrugged.

"The owner would say that it was only a car and not to worry about it." Jason shook his head slowly.

"I wonder what it would be like to be that rich that you don't even care about throwing away three hundred grand." Andrew laughed before replying.

"Probably not as good as we might imagine." Jason nodded.

"Yeah, I can see that there would definitely be some down sides to all that money, but I think I could handle them."

"You know, I think I probably could as well." They both laughed and Jason shrugged.

"Alright, let me give this thing a shot." They switched places and Jason took his first turn racing the car down the long track. Andrew tried his best not to wince when his friend ground the gears, but noticed that Jason winced too. He didn't go past a hundred and then brought it back to the starting line. There was a big grin on his face as he and Andrew climbed out of the car.

Andrew didn't know if he was just used to holding on to the car door when climbing out or if it was the different shape of the seats, but whatever it was, as he climbed out, he managed to trip himself and fall onto the rough concrete below. He stuck his hand out to catch himself. He could smell the salty iron scent of blood. He pushed himself off the ground and stood up before looking to see how bad the scrape was. He was nervous to look because there was quite a bit of red on the rough concrete.

His hand was tingling like crazy, though to his surprise, it didn't hurt as much as he expected. From past injuries, Andrew was sure that the pain would soon follow. After a short pause, he turned his hand over. There was no denying the tiny sparks of power leaping about in his skin. Everywhere they landed, the skin pulled itself back together and by the time Jason got around the car and Johari and Mikayla made it over to them, there wasn't even a scratch left on the surface of his skin.

Andrew placed his foot over the red splotch on the ground as his companions reached his side.

"You ok," three voices asked, almost in union? Andrew smiled and nodded.

"Yep, just used to using the door to climb out of a car I guess. I caught myself before I did any damage."

"That's good," said Mikayla, "I'm glad you are alright." Jason nodded, but Johari gave Andrew a strange look. She reached out to take his hand. The ever present tingle at their touch sparked like the shock of static electricity and then settled into its usual rhythm.

Johari turned over his palm and stared at it. The surface was a little more pink than normal, but other than that, there was no sign of the damage that Andrew had just done to himself. Johari's eyes narrowed, but she said nothing about it and allowed his hand to drop.

"Why don't you and Mikayla take it for a run," Andrew suggested to his friend.

"I'm driving," Mikayla piped up immediately. Jason smiled and nodded, though Andrew was sure that his friend was surprised that Mikayla knew how to drive a stick and would even have any interest in it. The two climbed in and Andrew had to admit as the car roared to life, shifted gears and took off down the track, that she was better at it than his friend had been.

"How," Johari asked him as soon as the car had taken off? Andrew shrugged.

"You're guess is as good as mine. I scraped my hand up pretty bad, but by the time you guys got there, it healed itself. I think that whatever that power is that allowed me to destroy the demon is trying to protect me."

"I really wish that I could talk to my superiors about this. You keep doing these things that should not be possible for a human, some of which not even Blood can do and I don't know what to think about it." She smiled at the concerned look on Andrew's face. "It doesn't seem to be anything to worry about though. Let's just keep an eye on it for now, and if something else happens, I will just have to risk talking to my superiors."

"I'm sure that it will be fine, especially if we have each other. I will be with you no matter what happens." Johari smiled at him and reached around him for a hug. A moment later, she pulled back and turned her face up. Andrew answered her invitation and pressed his lips into hers. As before, the world exploded inside of him and the world outside disappeared.

"You know, if you wanted to be alone today, you could have just said so," interrupted a voice from the other side of the car. Johari and Andrew both jumped, neither one had heard the approach of the loud car.

"That's alright," she said after a moment as she smiled at Jason and Mikayla. "We like having you here. We were just waiting for you." Jason and Mikayla both smiled at her.

"You sure you guys don't mind us being here," Jason asked? Mikayla smiled,

"Yeah, we would hate to be the ones that kept you from whatever you wanted to do." Johari and Andrew both laughed at their friends' teasing. They felt joy flow through them as they considered the friendships they had that neither expected to have.

"We don't mind at all. This is what we were going to do today anyway and it is fun to have you along to enjoy it as well." Andrew grinned at Johari. "I drive kinda fast with it, but you guys should take a ride in the car with Josefina. She has a little better control of the vehicle." Jason nodded, but didn't look like he believed that the tiny girl with them could be that much better with a car.

"If you say so." Jason looked at Mikayla, "You want to go first?" She smiled and shook her head.

"No, you go ahead." Jason climbed in the passenger seat and Johari climbed in on the driver's side. The doors closed and she started the engine. The engine revved, the clutch engaged and the car shot down the track. It was moving much faster than when Andrew had driven. He knew she was going to take him to the car's limit which was a little above two hundred miles per hour. Mikayla's throat cleared softly beside him and Andrew turned to look at her.

"What's up," he asked her, seeing the question evident upon her face? She looked a little surprised, but didn't comment on that. She cleared her throat again and then after a moment asked her question.

"Does he like me?" Andrew was a bit taken aback. This wasn't even close to a question that he had expected to hear.

"Definitely! He is happier than I have ever seen him in my life and you are the cause of that. What makes you ask?" Her face turned pink and she didn't answer. Andrew smiled as he realized what she was thinking. "You have to remember that neither my friend nor I have much dating experience. We spent a long time believing that we were destined to be alone so we are both a little uncertain about it. If you want him to kiss you, you either have to make it blatantly obvious or just tell him so. I would recommend just telling him."

"Am I so obvious," she asked after her face turned even more pink? Andrew shook his head.

"Not really, I just figured since the question came so soon after you saw Joha..." Andrew caught himself and cleared his throat, "saw us kissing." Mikayla looked at him a little strangely, but said nothing about it.

"Thanks. I will try that." Andrew felt like kicking himself. He had almost revealed that Johari was not who she said and that would only lead to more questions. He couldn't afford to slip up like that again.

By this time, Johari and Jason were on their way back. They returned after a minute and Andrew could see Jason's face through the glass. He looked shaky, but there was a grin locked onto his face. After a moment, he climbed out and looked at Andrew.

"Okay, I believe you. She is better at driving this thing than you are." He laughed, though it was still unsteady. "That was insane." Andrew grinned back at him and patted him on the back.

"Told you," he said to Jason.

Mikayla and Johari took the next turn and Andrew took the opportunity to enlighten his friend to the desires that had just been expressed to him. Jason's eyes got big.

"Are you sure? I have wanted to kiss her for a while now, but I was afraid that she didn't want to and I couldn't tell." Andrew grinned at his friend.

"Yes, I am quite sure. She will let you know when, but even if she doesn't say anything, if you feel like the moment is there, don't be afraid to go for it." Jason's face lit up and broke into a grin that was even wider and happier than the one about the car had been.

They took turns driving and riding for a while longer and then Johari ended it around five thirty or so.

"I suppose it's time to get the car back to it's home." Jason and Andrew both nodded though without much enthusiasm for the end of the fun. "I am going to drive it there." Johari looked at Andrew. "Do you guys want to follow and pick me up?" He smiled at her and nodded.

"Sounds good." Jason, Mikayla and Andrew got into his car and Johari hopped in the Lamborghini. She gunned it, pulled out of the track and vanished into the distance. Jason snorted.

"She drives as fast off the track as she does on it. Isn't she worried about speeding tickets?" Andrew laughed.

"I don't think so. I doubt there is a cop out there who could catch her." Jason chuckled.

"I suppose that's true. Do you know where we are going since the car we were supposed to follow is gone?"

"Yeah, I have been there before," Andrew said with a nod.

They drove in silence for a bit until they got to the driveway.

"This place feels like the middle of nowhere, but it isn't far from town either. That's pretty awesome," Mikayla commented in her soft voice. Andrew smiled.

"Wait until you guys see the house." A moment later, they pulled around the corner of the drive and there was the house. Jason and Mikayla both gasped.

"That's crazy. How does someone get so rich," Jason asked.

"Time and a little smart investing and this is what you can have. Of course, I doubt either of us have enough time or know enough about investing money to get to this point, but some people do." Jason just nodded. He was still looking at the big house.

Andrew parked on the circular drive in front of the house and all three stepped out of the car.

"Is there anyone home," asked Jason as we walked up the walk? Andrew shook his head.

"I don't think so. There wasn't anyone else here before." As they approached the door, Johari opened it and smiled.

"What took you guys so long?" Andrew's face lit up at the sight of her and he smiled.

"Oh you know. Little things like the speed limit." Johari grinned. She ushered them all into the house ahead of her and pulled the door closed behind. The click of the latch resonated in Andrew's ears and he felt a momentary upwelling of fear as the memory of the last time he had heard that sound came back to him.

This time of course, there was no demon to manipulate him and he knew that the fear had been the demon's not his. That knowledge didn't immediately dispel the emotion in his memory though. He struggled to squash it as they walked into the living room.

Jason and Mikayla's eyes were a little wide as they took in the sweeping grand room filled with expensive paintings and furniture.

"Are you guys hungry? We could order some takeout," Johari offered as they sat down in the living room area. Jason frowned.

"How well do you know these people? They don't care if you eat in their house and use their cars?" Johari smiled at him.

"This is where I am living. I know the owners well and neither of them would mind us being here at all." Andrew raised an eyebrow at Johari and she nodded at his unspoken question. His name was on the house as well. In about a month, he had gone from a poor, ignorant high school senior to a wealthy entrepreneur and upper class home owner with a Murcielago in the garage. Yet none of it mattered at all because of the real change that had occurred during that short time. He had gone from darkness to light and loneliness to joy. What more could anyone ask for from life? Well, more time to enjoy it maybe, but Andrew knew that wasn't a possible future for him. What he had would have to be enough, and it was, more than enough.

Chapter 23

After Jason, Mikayla and Andrew devoured the Chinese food they ordered, Johari pulled out a deck of cards. They discussed games to play for a minute and decided on B.S.

The game was the most fun Andrew had ever had with Jason before. Every time that either he or Mikayla lied about their cards, their hearts accelerated a little bit. Johari could hear the change and her lip would curl into just a little bit of a smile. Andrew let some of Mikayla's slide, but he didn't let Jason get away with it once. After a few games, he grumbled about it.

"How are you catching me every time? Do I have some kind of tell that I don't know about? What is it?" Andrew just shrugged.

"I can't tell you that or I wouldn't be able to tell anymore." Then he grinned at his friend.

Andrew also managed to trick Johari, which was not easy considering her built in lie detector. Andrew lay down a pair of cards which he was telling the truth about, but as he did, he imagined how it felt when they kissed. The swirls of light within him twisted with the thought and Andrew's heart rate accelerated.

Since he had been calling all of Jason's lies, she called this one on Andrew right away. The expression on her face when Andrew turned the cards over to show the right ones was priceless.

"How in the world? I could have sworn you were lying." He grinned as she picked up the pile of cards and added them to her own.

"I guess you can't read me as well as you thought." She frowned at him, still confused.

The afternoon passed into evening as they went from cards to watching a comedy movie on the big flat screen in the living room. Before the movie started, she pressed some button on the wall and all the windows darkened to limit the setting sun in the room.

Andrew sort of saw the movie, but was more focused on the cool form that was fitted to his side the entire time. Jason kept glancing at the space between him and Mikayla on the couch. When he glanced up, Andrew lifted his own arm that was around Johari and nodded at his friend. Jason hesitated for a moment and then slipped his arm around Mikayla to rest his hand on her shoulder. She looked at him as if surprised, but slid over and pulled his arm around to hold her even closer. Andrew saw her glance his way and then she mouthed, thank you, at him. He smiled at her and then went back to being lost in his own world that sat beside him.

Before they knew it, the movie was done. As it came to a close, Andrew pulled out his phone to check the time. It was just after ten. Normally that wouldn't even phase him, but they all had school in the morning and he was still hoping for a little more alone time with Johari. He was about to put his phone away when it buzzed in his hand and made him jump. The screen said home.

"Hello?"  
"Hey Andy."

"Oh, hey mom. What's going on?"

"Just wondering where you are. You usually don't go anywhere on Sundays." Andrew smiled. That was true. He never felt the need to go out much on weekends before Johari.

"Sorry, I should have let you guys know. Jason, Josefina, Mikayla and I are hanging out. Just playing some cards and watching a movie. I will be home after not too long." His mom's voice sounded pleased that he was still showing interest in Josefina and being active with friends and even life in general. Andrew had a sudden picture of telling his parents the truth about his new life and seeing how excited they were then. It was a struggle not to laugh.

"No rush sweetheart. Whenever you come home is fine."

"Okay. Thanks mom. Talk to you later." Andrew hung up the phone and slipped it back into his pocket. Johari was grinning. Andrew knew that she had heard the excitement in his mom's voice.

All four chatted for a little while longer and then Jason, Mikayla and Andrew got up to head out. Andrew still had to drop off Jason and Mikayla at her house where he had picked them up after church.

"Let me know anytime and we can probably drive the car again or hang out here if you guys want," said Johari as she stood just inside the doorway. Andrew gave her a hug. More than that and he knew he would have had a hard time controlling himself in front of Jason and Mikayla. They smiled and waved from the front porch.

"Thanks Josefina. I had a great time today," said Mikayla.

"Yeah, I appreciate you sharing your good fortune with us," added Jason. Johari smiled at them.

"No problem guys. See you in school tomorrow." They both nodded at her and then the doors closed as they got into Andrew's car and drove away. We were in the car for about a minute when Jason let loose.

"Wow! I mean seriously... Wow! How did she manage all of this? No one with that kind of money just lets others use it like that." Andrew shrugged and smiled at his friends.

"I don't have all the answers to these questions yet. It still surprises me too, but I'm just glad to have her in my life."

"I'm happy for you guys," Jason said with a smile. He grinned at the girl who he had chosen to sit with in the backseat. "It sure is great to have the right person in your life." Mikayla smiled back at him, then looked at Andrew.

"I'm happy for you too. I hope that you guys stay together for a long time. Andrew agreed with her, but deep down, he was wishing that the long time could be much longer than either of the other two knew was possible. Andrew wondered what it would be like to spend the next eight hundred years at her side. It was a beautiful thought, though scary as well. It was hard to imagine being with someone for even the normal length of a human life. Andrew believed that he would remain happy with her no matter how long they were together, but he knew he would never have the chance to find out.

By this point, they were in front of Mikayla's house.They said good night and hopped out of the car as Andrew headed off for home, and hopefully to see Johari for a bit before he slept. As he drove, Andrew hoped that his friend would take the courage to kiss Mikayla good night. From her words earlier, it was evident that she was feeling a bit insecure that Jason hadn't made an attempt yet. It seemed that no matter who people were, they all needed to feel the desire and connection of others. They needed to know that someone cared about them. This extended beyond mere mortals and into the realm of eternity where Johari resided. Even after so much time on this earth, she still needed to feel the love of another.

Andrew parked and walked up to his house. Inside, his parents were waiting with another steady stream of questions for him. Were they dating yet or still just friends? How much did he like her? Would she want to come to church again? Did she have a lot of family in the area? The stream of questions went on without Andrew even being able to say anything.

He stood there for several minutes under the barrage before he held up his hands.

"Hold it. How can I answer any questions if you don't let me get a word in edgewise?" Both of their mouths snapped shut at the same time. "Now, I am still not sure about the dating seriously, but I do like her quite a bit. I think she feels the same way, but only time will tell. I haven't met any of her family and I honestly don't know if she has any at all in the area. I am sure that she would like to come with us to church again. She enjoyed the service."

The next half hour or so was filled with Andrew struggling to answer questions he didn't know the answers to or couldn't answer honestly. When his dad asked how old she was, Andrew almost choked.

"Okay guys. You are asking far too many questions and a lot of them, I don't even know the answers. Why don't we postpone this interrogation until I know a bit more about her, or at least until we are dating." They seemed disappointed, but allowed their son to escape to his room.

She was laying on the bed and when he walked in, she was grinning up at him.

"You handled the interrogation well." She laughed at the expression on Andrew's face.

"I didn't think they were ever going to stop." He lay down on the bed beside her. "I get the feeling they approve of you though." Andrew rolled his head to look at Johari. She smiled and then leaned in and kissed him. Andrew reached out and pulled her to himself. She pulled back though. "What's wrong," Andrew asked quietly, uncertain why she would pull away? She looked embarrassed, despite the fact that she didn't blush.

"I hate to say this, but your breath is terrible." Andrew quickly leaned back.

"Sorry. I know my food is gross to you." He jumped up. "Hold on, I will be right back."

Andrew ran to the bathroom and reached for the mouthwash. He was about to leave it at that, but then shrugged and grabbed the toothbrush too.

He took his time scrubbing out his entire mouth. When he was done with that, he even gurgled water in case the toothpaste or mouthwash wasn't pleasant to her either. He felt better having the remnants of the food gone from his mouth. He had been hungry so he had eaten just as much as Jason and Mikayla, but the after taste when he had finished just wasn't as good as he recalled.

As Andrew walked back into the room, he stood there for a long moment, just looking at her laying there. She was staring back up at him with the small half smile on her face. Andrew tried to saunter over to the bed, but he knew it didn't turn out the way it was in his mind when she burst into quiet laughter at the attempt. Andrew was about to be embarrassed about it, but she didn't give him time. Her strong arms pulled him into the bed and her lips pressed into his. He could think of nothing else.

Some time later, after he had to stop for a real air break, not just a quick breath, Andrew lay on his bed, content with her cool form fitted against him. Life wasn't meant to be this good, was it? He sighed. He knew that it would fade someday and she would leave. How could she stay when he grew too old to be of interest to her anymore? She would find some new exploit that was more interesting. Someone who had a more exciting life or grand future.

"Why so great a sigh," she asked, her hand tracing the contours of Andrew's chest through his shirt?

"Just thinking about the future, and it is not as pleasant as I would like." She smacked him on the chest.

"Hey now! A future with me will not be depressing." Andrew smiled a half smile at her, though there was sarcasm in the gesture.

"Of course not, but how long can you stay with me? Soon, I will be old and gray and I know that I won't be exciting anymore long before that point comes. Will you want to stay with me through all of that?" Her hand moved up to caress his face.

"Of course I will. I will always stay with you, no matter what." The spark of our touch made Andrew lose concentration for a moment, but he struggled and refocused on the issue that was bothering him so much.

"But I will be old and slow, while you would still be young and as lithe as ever." She sighed.

"It doesn't matter to me."

"You say that now, but it will seem different when it comes." Andrew paused before trying one last time. "It doesn't have to be that way you know." He left the thought hanging there.

"Absolutely not! I am not going to risk your life, trying to turn you." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "What if it didn't work? What if you died for real? I couldn't bear that." The sadness in her quiet voice was so deep and profound. Andrew smiled at her with the biggest and happiest smile he could manage through the disappointment swirling through him.

"It's alright. We don't need to worry about it now. I am still young yet." She nodded, but her face was still sad, lost in the past. He knew then that she had attempted it before. "Who was it?" She looked up at his face, snorted and shook her head.

"For a human, you read immortals a little too well." Andrew grinned at her.

"Just you that we know of. I've never met any other except for your friend." Her face became more serious.

"You are right, I did get permission to turn someone once before. It wasn't a boy though. About seventy five years ago, I befriended a young girl over in London. She was a bright girl, though she was not appreciated for that. Her family abandoned her and she lived on the streets. I took her into my house and we became the best of friends. She had so many of the qualities that we look for in members of the blood. And she was dying. She didn't even know it yet, but she had picked up a disease from her time on the streets and I could smell her body beginning to decay from it." A tear formed in the corner of Johari's eye, but she dashed it away before it could fall. "I approached the council and asked to change her. They evaluated the information that I shared and agreed to let me try. I tried so hard to do it right, but she never woke up." She paused for a long time. "That was the only time I ever tried and I will never do it again, unless that is the only option left." Andrew nodded as his thoughts of changing her mind faded away. So much for him becoming blood. He took just a moment to absorb that before turning back to her.

"I'm sorry. That must have been so hard for you." She didn't say anything, but her eyes were distant as she managed to wiggle a little bit closer to him. They just lay there for a long time in silence, which didn't bother either of them. Andrew went back to contemplating the future and she, to the past.

A knock on the door jolted both out of their reverie.

"Good night," said my dad from the other side?

"Night." Andrew called back. He smiled at Johari as his father's footsteps faded away down the hall. "That surprised me a little bit." She laughed.

"Me too."

"I need to shower. Will you be here when I get done?" She nodded and raised her head so Andrew could pull out his arm and escape the embrace. He knew it was temporary, but it felt empty not having her in his arms.

He took a change of clothes and slipped off to the bathroom. The warm water felt nice and Andrew took a moment to feel more of his darkness wash away. The more he thought about it, the more a soft tingle spread through him. When he turned off the water, he felt more clean than he ever had in his life. He smiled to himself as he pulled on his tee shirt and shorts to sleep in.

When Andrew returned to his room, Johari was still lying in the exact same place where she had been when he left. Of course she could have been doing anything though, right up to the moment that he opened the door and still have moved to that spot before he got inside. Loving an immortal with such amazing abilities did have some quirks that Andrew would have to get accustomed to. He smiled at her there. It didn't matter. He would adjust to just about anything to be with her. She sat up and patted the bed. He moved to sit down beside her, smile on his face.

"Thanks for going to church with me today. I know you don't believe yet, but it gives me hope that you are willing to try."

"I didn't mind as much as I thought I might. It was a nice service and the people were amazing. I think a lot of my fear and aversion came from the demon within me. I still don't know how accurate the bible is, but I am willing to give it a chance." Johari smiled at him, then her face became a little more serious.

"I can clarify that for you. The bible is a real account. Above and beyond that, I am positive that there is a Jesus of Nazareth who did all the things that the bible claims."

"How can you possibly know that for sure," Andrew asked, confused by her certainty?

"Simple. I know Blood who knew Him. In fact, He was fairly involved in the start of our kind. He is the creator that I mentioned when we first started talking about the origin of the Blood." Andrew's mouth opened and closed a few times. From the moment he first knew what she was, he never in his life would have guessed that she was a Christian, nor that the Jesus in the bible was so involved in her past.

"Wow. That is a lot to take in," Andrew finally said. Johari chuckled at him.

"You believe in humans becoming Blood and living for centuries, but the idea of a being who created us is beyond you?" She shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I have plenty of time to show you the truth." And that was the end of their faith discussion, for the time being anyway.

They chatted a for a while about little things, but Andrew was soon struggling to keep his eyes open. He also needed to sleep so that he could function at school in the morning. He was looking forward to it a great deal. That thought made him smile. The thing that he had dreaded each morning for years was now something that he was excited for. It was amazing what his life had become in such a short time.

Chapter 24

Andrew's eyes flashed open as jolts of current flowed into his lips and throughout his body. Johari's face was pressed to his and he was instantly wide awake. After the initial surprise, his arms wrapped around her and pulled her even tighter against him. She allowed that for a moment and then pulled away with a small smile.

"Good morning! I thought that you might appreciate this a bit more than the alarm clock." Andrew's breathing was ragged and his heart was racing, but he managed a nod. After a moment to catch his breath, he grinned.

"It was a little better I guess," he said. She grinned back.

"If you are good, it might happen again." She stood up. "Now, I need to run home and change into school clothes and you need to get ready as well. I will see you later." Andrew opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, she was gone.

After sharing breakfast with his parents, Andrew headed off to school, wondering what the day would bring. He parked Trusty in the student lot at the side of the building. He smiled to himself as he considered driving the Lamborghini to school. It would cause an uproar, but it would also just make people jealous. He didn't want that just as he was beginning to connect with his fellow students.

Andrew walked into the building and navigated his way around the halls to his locker. There weren't many students in the halls yet since the buses hadn't arrived. Andrew glanced at a clock on the wall and realized that he was earlier than he expected. He had half an hour before class.

He spun the combination on his locker and opened it up to put his book bag inside. He grabbed his English notebook and his copy of Hamlet out for English and shut the door. He realized that he had been a little distracted over the weekend and hadn't done much work on his Hamlet paper.

He just about dropped the book and notebook on the floor. Johari was standing right behind his locker door again. A huge grin lit up Andrew's face as his heart slowed back down a little. An answering smile appeared on Johari's face.

"Good morning. You are here a little early. Are you eager for school today?"

"I am looking forward to it, but I had another motive. I was hoping to see someone here before classes started. I wanted to tell her I care about her more than anything else in this world." Johari threw her arms around Andrew and squeezed. Then he did drop the things in his hands. It was hard to hold on to something when he couldn't feel his fingers. "Oof!" Johari loosened her death grip, though he supposed that to her, it wasn't a hard squeeze.

"Sorry, for as much practice as I have had with this body and being around humans, it is still difficult to control myself sometimes when I get emotional." She released Andrew from the hug. He was disappointed until her hands pulled his face down to hers. Her lips pressed into his and set off the fireworks that he doubted he would ever tire of.

Andrew lost track of the time, and she did too because they both jumped when a throat cleared. He was pretty sure that they were going to get in trouble as he turned to see who had discovered them. Jason stood there, grinning at them.

"For shame! Kissing in the school hallways. Don't you two know that it's against school policy to do that?" He winked at Andrew.

"Just be careful not to get caught." They both nodded and watched Jason walk away toward his own locker. Andrew picked up his stuff and then he and Johari just stood there talking as the hall filled up. Then he walked her to her first class, Ancient History, before heading to his own. He sat down just as the bell rang, signaling the start of first hour.

After the weekend, the students were sluggish and unresponsive. Andrew smiled and threw himself into the class full bore. It didn't take long and the rest of the class followed his example. A few seemed surprised by their willingness to participate, but no one complained. The class flew by and all too soon, the bell rang to end first hour.

No one had connected the changes to Andrew yet, but the news that the English class was fun spread through the school. Even students who hadn't been in the English class were excited before Spanish began. Mrs. Stimets encouraged the class to talk for a bit in Spanish and then after about fifteen minutes, called them to order. Andrew spent the hour talking with Johari, still in fluent Spanish. He didn't even have to think about it. His mind just switched and started thinking in Spanish. He wondered if there were any other languages in his mind that he wasn't aware of yet.

Spanish ended and they had to end their conversation while Andrew went off to Chemistry and Johari went to Social Studies. At first, Andrew was bummed that she wasn't there, but then he got into the Chemistry. His classmates were quieter at first too and then as Andrew's involvement and interest picked up, the rest of the class followed suit. He was surprised at how much his own mood and interest affected them. Had that been the case before as well? Had his darkness dragged down the whole school as much as his light lifted them up? He tried to remember, but it was hard to see through the dark haze of his memory before the demon had been destroyed.

Johari and Andrew continued their conversation from Spanish during study hall. They took turns asking questions about more mundane details of their lives. Her details weren't as mundane as his, but she seemed to enjoy learning about him almost as much as Andrew did about her. Study hall flew by and then they were walking down the hall to drop off their things at the lockers before lunch.

The main option was what they called pizza wheel hot dish. It was a lump of overcooked round noodles with ground hamburger, tomato sauce and cheese. Not that it was saying much, but Andrew had always considered it to be the best meal that they had. The side dishes for the day were applesauce, carrots and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

They found a group of the people that they had befriended over the last few weeks and sat down. After a moment, Jason got through the line and came to sit with them. He started to devour his meal almost as soon as he sat down.

"Hungry," Andrew asked? Jason just nodded with his mouth full. He slowed down and took much smaller bites once Mikayla came to sit down though. Andrew poked at his favorite meal. He took a few bites, but felt almost nauseous as it crossed his tongue. He pushed the tray away, shaking his head.

"Anyone want my food? I'm not hungry." Jason and two other guys, Pete Markowitz and James Fielding all pulled pieces of the food onto their own trays until it was empty. Andrew pulled it back in front of himself. He was still feeling a bit sick as the period ended and he dumped his dirty tray in the dishwasher window and then walked down the hall to the lockers with Johari.

Government was an enjoyable class, and it had become more so as the students had begun to participate more. Andrew loved the terms that the teacher, Mr. Carrol used for things. He called the leaders of any government big poppa and big momma. He had names like that for just about everything which just seemed humorous for some reason.

Andrew struggled for a bit of class until the nausea faded. After that, the class became more lively and entertaining. Mr. Carrol lectured about how big momma and big poppa sent their boys across the big pond in an effort to maintain their power over the colonies in the New World. Andrew wondered to himself how much of the history of governments and the history in general was accurate. Had Johari experienced any of this war? She had mentioned the demons being behind most of the worlds wars and having been there to fight them. Now that was a history class that would be far more enjoyable. Listening to someone who had been there just seemed so much better than hearing it from a book that might not even be right. Andrew bet she would tell him about the history of those wars if he asked.

The rest of the afternoon went by in a flash and the bell signaling the end of the day surprised Andrew when it rang out of nowhere. He and Johari walked for the last time of the day to the lockers. Andrew wondered if she would want to hang out again tonight after his work shift or if she would be busy. He was going to ask, but she beat him to it.

"So? Do you have any plans tonight," she asked as they closed the locker doors. Andrew smiled at her and shook his head.

"I do have to work until about seven thirty, but I am free to hang out after that. Did you want to come over then?" Johari smiled back.

"That would be nice. I will stop by your place around eight or so." Andrew nodded and after a quick kiss in the parking lot, she vanished. He didn't think he would ever tire of seeing her do that.

Work that day was busy, which made it go by faster than he expected. Before Andrew could believe it, it was seven thirty five and he was clocked out and on his way home. Andrew smiled as he thought of the girl he would soon see. He couldn't wait.

Chapter 25

It was almost eight when Andrew parked on the street and headed into the house. There were no fancy cars parked anywhere that he could see, but that didn't mean anything. More often than not, he knew that she just ran. If he could move that fast, Andrew would run too.

His parents were in the living room watching TV. Andrew stopped and chatted for a few moments, but he was anxious to see if she was waiting. He grabbed the plate of leftovers that his mom had left in the refrigerator for supper and then headed to his room.

The sight of her lying on his bed was still an amazing thing to behold. Seeing her there, Andrew knew that if he ever could live forever, he would never tire of seeing her, or of being with her.

Johari's face lit up just as Andrew's did when he entered the room. To her surprise, she felt more for Andrew than she had ever expected to. He was such an amazing person who had gone through so much and come out on top, stronger than ever. There was also mystery around him. He could do things that no other had ever been able to do and that intrigued her enough that she wanted to be with him so she could try to figure him out.

Johari sat up on the bed to make room for Andrew and for the plate of food, though she glanced at it and shuddered.

"That smells terrible. I don't know how you can stand to eat anything that you do. If you could smell the food the way I can, you wouldn't touch the stuff." Andrew grinned at her.

"Smells good to me." She shuddered again as Andrew took a bite. He realized that it didn't smell as good as he thought. He wasn't sure why because it was one of his favorite dishes that his mom made, a broccoli and chicken Alfredo. He finished the plate in a hurry, trying not to smell what he was putting in his mouth.

"I'm gonna go brush my teeth," he said as he finished the plate. Johari nodded her agreement. As Andrew stood up to go, he decided he should take a quick shower as well. He didn't want to be away from her all that long, but it couldn't hurt to smell nice all over, not just his mouth. "Actually, if you don't mind, I am going to take some me cleaning time too." Johari nodded again and he grabbed some clean sleeping clothes to change into after the shower. As he left the room, Johari picked up the book on the nightstand and opened it to the first page.

In the bathroom, Andrew was about to brush his teeth when he felt sick. He stood there for a moment, trying to swallow, but it didn't help. He rushed to the toilet and knelt there for a few minutes before he was done. He felt much better with the food out of his stomach. He stood and rinsed his mouth with water. Then he brushed, flossed, rinsed with mouthwash and then with water again, just to be on the safe side. Then he hopped into the shower. He was planning to hurry, but the hot water felt so good that he spent a few more minutes in the shower than he had planned to. When he climbed out, Andrew felt refreshed and cleaner than he ever had. He slipped into into his comfy shorts and tee shirt.

She was waiting on the bed. Andrew looked down at her there and smiled. He was so lucky.

"Did you get tired of the book?" Johari shook her head.

"No. I finished it. It wasn't too bad, though not as imaginative as some of the fantasy books I have read over the years, like The King of the Golden River." Andrew hadn't even heard of the book, but it wasn't surprising, considering the number of years she had been reading. What did surprise him was that she had just finished a four hundred page novel in about twenty minutes. He wished he could read like that. Though, it meant that reading would no longer give him the break from the real world that it did at the moment. Though, if he were like her, Andrew doubted he would need a long break from reality.

She patted the bed next to her. Andrew started her way and then hesitated.

"Do you get sick?" Johari frowned and shook her head.

"No, why do you ask?"

"I didn't feel well at lunch and I was sick over my supper."

"Aw, that's too bad. Don't worry about me. Come here." She patted the bed again. Andrew slid onto the bed next to Johari. She curled up next to him and caressed his arm as they lay there chatting. "Do you feel better now," she asked?

"Yeah, I feel fine. Maybe there was just something wrong with the food." She nodded and then leaned over and kissed him lightly. She pulled back as if to see if he felt alright with that and he pulled her right back to him. Kissing Johari was the best experience in his life. Andrew wondered if Johari felt the same since she had lived long enough to experience many more things the world had to offer.

Johari's mind was struggling to focus beyond the kiss. This was unusual for her since she was capable of thinking about several things at once. For whatever reason, he overwhelmed her thoughts. It was the best thing she had experienced in all of her years to escape for a moment from the constant thoughts. She wondered if it was this incredible for Andrew.

When Andrew needed to breathe, they cuddled and talked about more random things for a while. Then as he began to get tired and to feel less like talking, Johari began to tell him stories from her past, things the world remembered differently than she did, or didn't remember at all.

She talked about life in the village where she had grown up and she told Andrew a little bit about how she had been watching over him for the last couple of years. He was beginning to lose focus during all the soft talking, but it was so interesting just to hear her talk that he struggled to remain alert. Johari laughed at him.

"Don't fight it." She said with a chuckle. "You need to sleep. We can do this again tomorrow night, and every night for as long as you would like." Johari began caressing his hair as she talked on about different things. It wasn't long before he was sound asleep, lost in the world of dreams. Once there, he wished more than ever that he had remained awake with Johari, where it was safe and the world was all as it should be.

Chapter 26

The dream began innocently enough in the kitchen. As Andrew stood there, he felt strange. The colors were all wrong and there was a strange buzzing in his ears. He was also confused as to why he was standing there. Something was not right. A feeling of dread infused him. He knew he shouldn't be there, but why? It was his house, his kitchen. He looked around to discover why he felt such fear. Nothing stood out. Then he glanced down at his feet.

Andrew's mother Mary lay there in a pool of her blood that raced across the floorboards as he watched. The sight of the red liquid sent a chill down his spine. She was still moving, but the movements were weak and the fear and the knowledge of approaching death was in her eyes. Andrew was frozen in his own fear for a moment, then he cried out in horror and reached down as if to pull her away from the blood. Instead of reaching for his help, even in the throes of death, she jerked back from him. The light faded from her eyes and as it did, the scene faded from his mind.

In that instant, Andrew was standing in a dark room. The room had tall ceilings, at least twelve feet. The walls were a stone material, almost like a black marble or dark granite. There were pillars arranged around the room. His entire house would fit between any one of the pillars. The room felt like part of an ancient temple. The lighting was dim, but everything was still clear to Andrew's eyes. His first assumption was that it was lit by torchlight, but the light didn't flicker, and he noticed that in stark opposition to the ancient feel of the room, there were small electric lights arrayed around the walls with a few on columns.

They provided enough light to highlight the faces in the crowd of people gathered behind him. Andrew could hear the low hum of the murmurs as they talked among themselves. Arrayed around him were robed figures standing at attention. Andrew glanced down and discovered that his wrists were bound in manacles. To his right, he noticed that Johari stood, surrounded and bound as well.

In front of the two and their guards was a long table, behind which sat four figures, each looking at them as if waiting to condemn them for something they had done. The one on Andrew's far left was a young woman who seemed to be even younger than he was. The man sitting next to her was older, about forty with just a sprinkle of gray at this temples. Next to him was another woman, older still who seemed to be near sixty. There was gray sprinkled all throughout her hair. The last figure at the table was a man who seemed to be close to Andrew's age or just a little older. It was hard to tell.

All four of them were olive skinned, with dark hair and blue eyes. A moment later, the older man in the middle raised his hand, and a profound hush fell over the room. Andrew glanced at Johari's face and it seemed to him to be a face devoid of hope. The instant knowledge that he was going to die here today filled him. She looked over with a face of sorrow, not for her own fate, but sympathetic sorrow for his.

"I am so sorry that I dragged you into all of this." She mumbled. Her face turned from sorrow and lost hope to resignation with a side of defiance. She stared at the man who raised his hand as if to dare him to do his worst, and somehow, Andrew knew that he would.

Andrew woke, sweat beading on his forehead. He lay still for a moment, staring at the ceiling, mind replaying the two dreams back. They were a little bit fuzzy, but not fuzzy enough to take away the fear that they entailed. He rolled over onto his side, at least he tried to. He discovered that Johari was still there, lying right next to him, her lithe figure curled around the shape of his side.

"Hi there." she whispered. "What are you doing awake?" It's like three thirty in the morning."

"I just had a strange dream." Andrew mumbled. "I'm glad you are here." After hearing what time it was, he felt exhausted again, and rolled to his side, facing away from the wall. Johari turned as well and scooted in close to him. Andrew felt safe from terrifying rooms and bleeding mothers with her there. He was soon fast asleep and when he woke for the second time, he hadn't dreamed again, not that he remembered anyhow.

The alarm clock this morning was just as nice as it had been the previous morning. Johari allowed Andrew to kiss her back for a moment after he woke up, and then she pulled back.

"You are going to have to be careful. I could get used to this alarm clock. Pretty soon you are going to have to do it every morning because the other one won't wake me up anymore." She smiled at him.

"I think I could handle that. How are you feeling this morning?"

"I feel fine. I must have just eaten something that didn't agree with me." Johari nodded.

"You certainly don't smell sick. In fact, you smell healthier than you ever have." She frowned, "Healthier than you should smell." Andrew shrugged.

"That's good right?" Johari nodded, but she didn't seem convinced. He kissed her to take the frown from her face. Just as she began to kiss him back, his dad knocked on the door and ruined the moment.

"You up yet Andrew?" He separated himself from her lips long enough to reply.

"Yeah. I'm up. I'll be down in a minute." Andrew heard his dad moving away from the door. He tried to steal a few more kisses, but Johari laughed at him and then was standing up beside the bed, hand held out to help him up. He groaned.

"Couldn't we just go somewhere together and forget all about school and this human existence?" Johari laughed.

"Someday, you will be glad that you took the time to finish school. You will want a career where you have something to show for your work. Laying around with me all the time will get tiring eventually, I promise. There isn't that much left to the school year anyway. Just a couple of months."

Andrew thought about that for a moment. While the only thing he cared about at the moment was her, there was a part of him that realized the importance of having something of his own to stand on in the future. Not to mention, school had been interesting lately and his new friends were fun to hang out with. Andrew smiled at her and nodded.

"Okay, we will do it your way." And that's what they did.

Chapter 27

For the next several months, they spent every day together in school. The classes were fun and the classmates in them began to realize that he might have something to do with them being that way. Because of that, Andrew and Johari became even more popular throughout the school. Just about everyone in the halls knew them and said hi. Jason and Mikayla got the popular treatment as well. Those months at school were a happy time for all of them.

Andrew and Johari spent the rest of their free time outside of school together as well. They spent a great deal of time talking and Andrew learned more about the past from her than he did in school. They also talked about the future. Where he wanted to go to college after high school, what kind of jobs he might like and whether she would fit into those plans. Her only real job being to watch him, the answer to the last one was obvious and they were both excited about exploring new things together.

They also continued to go to church with Andrew's parents and Andrew felt himself drawn more and more to the feeling he felt when he was at church. He still didn't go so far as to consider himself a believer, but there was more to Christianity than he believed before. Even the power that still lived in him liked church. Whenever he was there and worshiping, it danced within him to the music, filling him with feelings of euphoria.

Because of the time Johari and Andrew spent together, Jason and Andrew didn't hang out alone much. Andrew felt a little bit bad about that, but Jason never complained. In fact, the only thing he ever talked about when they were alone was Mikayla. Andrew couldn't blame him, since the only thing he talked about was Johari, or more accurately Josephina. He still had to be careful to think of her that way when they were around other people so that he didn't slip and use the wrong name.

Jason wasn't the only one happy with the changes to their lives. Andrew's parents were ecstatic as they watched him opening up and making all of these new friends. They gave all the credit for those changes to Josefina, and they were not wrong in doing so. Without her presence in his life, Andrew would still have been the same recluse that he always had been, locked in with a demon as his only true companion.

She spent a great deal of time with the whole family, church of course, but also sitting with them for meals from time to time, playing games and just sitting around talking. At first, Andrew's parents felt terrible that they had nothing to offer her that she could eat, but it is possible to get used to almost anything with time, and after a while they didn't even notice her strange lack of eating habits.

While his parents adjusted to her habits, Andrew was doing a little of the same, though on a far different scale. As time passed, he became accustomed to the fact that she was an immortal, and all of the strangeness that accompanied that fact. He didn't even notice it anymore.

The passage of time was another thing that Andrew no longer wasted daylight noticing. Before her, he watched the second hand, waiting for each day to be over. Now the days were gone almost before they began. All too soon, graduation was only a few weeks away.

With that end in sight, a feeling of restlessness began to fill Andrew. It was a feeling that he needed to do everything he could all at once. It grew on him a little more each day, to the point that Johari, his family and most of his friends noticed the change.

Andrew passed it off as normal worry and excitement about the end of high school, but on the inside, he was ready to explode. His parents and friends worried about the darker Andrew returning, but that wasn't what was bothering Andrew. It was if he expected what was coming, as if he could feel the future rushing toward him. He didn't mention this to anyone. He didn't want them to worry. Then, ten days before graduation, it happened.

Andrew didn't understood why things happened when they did, or even why they happened at all for that matter, but not understanding something doesn't prevent it from being true.

It was the third week of May. All morning, the feeling of being watched bothered him. Andrew hadn't felt that feeling even once since Johari and her friend had taken care of that first demon and then the one within him. On this particular day it was back again. It showed up during first hour. He tried to shrug it off, believing that he was just anxious to be done with school.

At fifteen minutes after four in the afternoon on Thursday the twenty first, the rain was pouring out of the dark gray clouds in sheets and waves. Andrew was peering out of his windshield, trying to see through the rain in order to get to work. It was almost a losing battle since even with better vision that had accompanied the loss of the demon, he could barely see the white line on the edge of the road.

He hadn't been scheduled to work that day, but someone had called in sick and his boss had called and asked if Andrew could take the shift. Johari had excused herself after school for a phone meeting with her superiors. Those often lasted for some time, so Andrew agreed to take the hours.

The wipers were whipping back and forth, but they were no match for the water falling from the sky. Andrew could see enough as the wipers went by to keep the car in between the lines on the road, but that was about it. He was on the highway, the short stretch of it that he traveled to get to the store. It was the same stretch where he had encountered the dark demon that clued him in to his own uninvited guest.

As he drove, slower than normal due to the conditions, Andrew noticed a pair of bright headlights some distance ahead of him. They were wrong somehow. It appeared as though they were in front of his car instead of off to the left as they should have been.

The first instinctual reaction that Andrew had was that he was in the wrong lane. Then he realized that the other vehicle was the one that was in the wrong one. It got closer and Andrew saw that it was a large semi tractor with trailer attached. He laid on the horn, but the huge truck didn't move or slow down. He kept waiting, certain that the truck would notice and swerve in time. It didn't.

The realization that he was going to get hit if he didn't do something struck Andrew full force. He swerved his car into the opposing lane, hoping that there wasn't another car beside the truck that he couldn't see from where he was. There was no one, and Andrew felt a rush of relief flood his system. He was going to pass this idiot on the wrong side, but he was going to survive.

Something crashed into the side of his car, forcing it back to the lane with the truck in it. The horrified glance to the side revealed a muted blur of a dark figure. Andrew slammed on the brakes and swerved again to the other lane, smashing into the dark figure, knocking it away from the car. Andrew's pulse was racing and the glass on that side of the car was shattered, but he thought that he might still miss the truck.

The light mixed with the fear within him, swirling through his body making him hyper aware of everything around him. His hands were gripping the steering wheel as he guided his car down the wrong lane. Water from the broken back window splashed on him and the wind raised goosebumps on his arms, but he was going to live.

The truck swerved back into its own lane. Andrew whipped his wheel around again to bring the car back over to where it was supposed to be, but as he did, his tires struck a puddle of water and the demon struck the back corner of the bumper. With the combination of these two things, instead of switching lanes as Andrew had hoped, his car began to hydroplane sideways toward the oncoming truck. The last thing he remembered was staring out of his driver side window, into the headlights of the truck. Over the top of the headlights, there sat a blur in the driver seat of the truck. The last thought he had was not one of fear for his imminent death. It was a thought he sent into the wind, wishing he had told her before, hoping that she would feel it and know that it was and always would be true,

"I love you Johari!" And then light blared into his eyes followed only by darkness.

Chapter 28

Andrew stared into the darkness above him, wondering why he was awake since it was obviously the middle of the night. He was still a little groggy from sleep and moved to check the alarm clock beside his bed. At least that is what he meant to do. Despite his best intentions, his arm didn't follow his mind's command. It was at that moment that his dream returned to him, but it wasn't a dream. The scene that had just begun replaying in his head of the final moments of that terrifying car crash was real. He had been in that car and there was no possible way that he could have survived.

Trucks at highway speeds make mincemeat of smaller cars like Trusty. That truck had blasted him at more than sixty miles per hour. Yet no matter what he had expected, it seemed as though he had survived.

After that initial moment when Andrew first woke and then recalled what had happened, it took him a little while before he began to register anything. The first thing he noticed was that his body felt numb below his neck. That explained why his arm wouldn't respond. In stark contrast, his face was freezing. It was pitch black wherever he was. So dark that there was no difference between having his eyes shut or open.

Andrew tried to call out to see if there were anyone nearby, but found that he couldn't speak or even move his face at all beyond blinking. At that point, the thought entered his mind that he was dying. Worse yet, it was possible that he was dead after all and this was some sort of afterlife. After considering that for a moment, he realized that was doubtful. It was much more reasonable that it was night time and he had been thrown from the car. He must have broken his neck since he couldn't move anything or feel anything except for his face.

Time passed with Andrew stuck in this state, how much he couldn't say except it felt like hours. Nothing changed in that time. Then, out of the blue, he felt a jolt of intense pain in his neck. It felt like someone took a sharp knife and jabbed it into the spine, right at the base of the neck. He couldn't think well with the pain. The only thought that did register was confusion.

How was he feeling this with a broken neck? Shouldn't he still be numb? In the next moments after that thought, the pain exploded outward from the spot, traveling down his spine and stopping at his tail bone. It tingled there, at a level that would have had him writhing in pain, if he could move, before fading to a manageable level.

As the pain settled into a soft burn, Andrew noticed a slight tingling in his fingertips. It spread up his fingers and into his hands and then he could wiggle his fingers just a little. What was going on here? Spinal cords didn't repair themselves, maybe it had only been pinched or something. This theory seemed to fit as the minutes passed. The tingling spread throughout his hands and up his arms, along with the ability to move them a little bit. They weren't steady, but he moved his hands out, trying to feel around to see if he could discover where he was. The result was nothing that he expected, nor was it pleasant.

Andrew was in a box, lined with soft velvet, and he wasn't wearing his work clothes. He was wearing a suit and he was laying in a coffin. He was dead and buried after all, yet somehow still aware. His first thought was that he should be terrified, but he wasn't.

This was nothing like a nightmare about being in a coffin that comes from going to a funeral or watching horror movies. For one thing, Andrew had to assume that he was dead, so there was no real reason to panic. For another, this box designed and built for a dead person was actually quite comfortable.

As he lay in his coffin, Andrew wondered if he was going to be there for a long time, or if maybe there was a heaven out there waiting for him. He thought that he been a pretty decent person, especially over the last few months. Maybe that was enough to get him into heaven. Or maybe this was his moment, the time he was supposed to make a decision whether he chose God or not. It didn't feel like that though. It seemed that there should be a spirit guide, or an angel, or something.

Then Andrew had a darker thought. What if there was hell, and his hell was that he would be stuck in a coffin for all of eternity. That didn't seem right either though. The hell he knew from the fantasy books and movies he liked so much was a fiery place of eternal torture and while the now muted pain in his back was uncomfortable, it was far from torturous. Also, Andrew somehow doubted that there would be comfortable coffins in hell.

How long Andrew lay there pondering his situation, he didn't know, but in the midst of one of his darker thoughts, another sharp pain wracked his body. This time, it felt like a knife stabbed into the middle of his back. Maybe this was torture after all. A moment of the sharp pain and then it too exploded outward like the first. This time, the pain didn't dull after it exploded. It just spread, growing stronger as it went.

As it reached certain points on his spine, Andrew felt as though more knives were stabbing him, from the back of his head, all the way down to the tip of his tail bone. If the pain were steady, it might have been bearable. Instead, in each of these spots, it felt as though the knives were being twisted, ripped out and then plunged back in again and again.

It hurt so much more than anything Andrew had ever experienced or expected. It didn't seem fair since he was already dead. Yet that fact wasn't enough to satisfy whatever was causing this. A giant fist, plunged into Andrew's chest and gripped his heart, squeezing so that it couldn't beat. He felt his back arch involuntarily.

Then Andrew began to spasm. As if that still weren't enough, the knives left the spine and began to explore other parts of his body. They turned from invisible knives to sharp claws, no longer stabbing so much as just tearing every inch of his body to shreds.

Andrew heard someone screaming at the top of their lungs. He realized that it was him. He couldn't help it. The pain was so intense that he almost couldn't breath. The sound cut off mid scream, leaving behind eerie silence, as the claws plunged deep into his lungs and his breath gave out leaving him without breath for real.

A moment later, fire began to spread from his shredded lungs. At first it was just a light burning, like when he held his breath past the point that it was comfortable. It was almost inconsequential in comparison to the rest of the pain that he was in, but as it spread across his chest, and as he struggled to take a breath and couldn't, the burning began to increase.

Despite the darkness, Andrew saw white spots appear in his vision. His thoughts ran rampant within his mind. What if he were still alive, but dying somewhere else and imagining this whole thing? What if it was a terrible nightmare? Though if that were the case, it was more real than any nightmare he had ever experienced.

Through the agonizing torment, Andrew struggled to force himself to wake up. Whenever he had realized that he was dreaming before, the dream either ended or changed to something else. Nothing happened to the coffin around him. Nothing happened to the pain destroying his body or the burning from the lack of oxygen. His head was the only place that didn't hurt. Andrew would have kicked himself for having that thought if he could have.

As soon as it crossed his mind, an ax dropped into the center of his skull. It felt like his head should have exploded into a million pieces from the force of that blow, yet somehow, it held together. Andrew wished that it had not. He couldn't take this anymore. He wanted nothing more that to just die so all of this pain would end.

When death didn't come to relieve him, he thought he might be able to make it long enough to pass out from the pain, or maybe from the lack of oxygen. Even that was a boon that he was not to be granted. Instead he lay there, aware and in agony for what felt like an eternity. He had no way to judge the time. It could have been an hour, or it might have been days.

The pain eased just a little. To his surprise, Andrew had been adjusting to the constant level of pain. He hadn't known it was possible to become accustomed to so much. The lessening of that pain felt like the greatest relief that he had ever known in his entire life. If there had been any air in his damaged lungs, he would have sighed in relief.

The respite was brief. He Andrew didn't even have enough time to appreciate it and then the exquisite pain doubled and became the new worst agony of his life. In the face of this new level of pain, Andrew couldn't think at all. The only thing he was aware of was pain. Agony, torture, hell and pain, agony, torture, hell and pain. He burned in every cell of his body.

The pain increased yet again. Andrew was so incoherent at this point, that he didn't comprehend how much it increased, only that it did.Andrew lay there, somehow still aware after so long without breath, still alive at this level of agony. Time passed and the pain remained constant. His only capable thought beyond the pain was a longing for death. A longing for escape from the cruelty that life was imposing on him. Cruelty that crippled him beyond recognition.

Then, in an instant that would have left him breathless if there were any breath within him, it was all gone. Andrew's heart shuddered and began to beat once again.

Chapter 29

As he lay there, languishing in the lack of pain, Andrew realized that he could once again breathe air into his lungs. He took a deep gulp of air. No sense of relief accompanied the rush of air. It felt strange to breathe in and out and when he let his breath out and didn't pull in a new one, there was no sense of discomfort, just a slight panicking in his mind that he needed to breathe.

Andrew began to notice a few other things as well. He could hear noises in the distance. At first they were confusing. It sounded like there were cars driving right above where he lay. He also heard music and people talking. But they would fade into hearing, and then after a moment, they would fade out again. Andrew concentrated on the sounds, trying to understand what it was that he was hearing.

As he did, he found that he could focus on just one sound or group of sounds and hear it as clear as if it were right next to him. Somehow, he was hearing the radios and the people talking inside of cars that were driving by.

Other sounds filled his ears as well like the chirp of birds and bugs, wind moving through trees and water bubbling somewhere. All of these registered themselves in his mind and were stored away to reconsider later. Andrew found he could listen or push to the background any noise he chose by focusing on it.

Andrew took a breath in through his nose out of habit, not for any real desire to have air. He gasped as he was bombarded with smells. There were ten times as many smells as there were sounds and it was that much more confusing to try to sort them all out in his mind. After a time, he was able to do the same thing with the smells that he had done with the sounds by concentrating on them one at a time. Some of them, he could identify. Flowers of some kind, dirt, moss, mold, decay, wood and a few others. Then there were a multitude that Andrew had no idea what they were.

What amazed him the most of all of this was his mind. Andrew had always been intelligent, but he had never been a quick thinker. He always took his time to figure things out, but now his thoughts were jumping from smell to sound and back to smell again faster than anything he had ever experienced. It was also astonishing to discover just how his mind was able to process a smell and identify it. If it didn't recognize the smell, his mind stored it away for future reference and then moved on to the next.

His nose and ears were behaving strangely so Andrew wondered if his eyes might be doing the same. He squinted, but still couldn't see anything. He wondered if maybe he could see his hand if it were in front of his face, and then it was.

He didn't feel it even move. It was at his side where it had fallen while he was spasming in pain, and then the next instant it was in front of his face. Andrew's mind, which seemed to be processing things faster than it ever had before, didn't register a motion in between. It had just been one place and then the other.

After that, Andrew was in almost childlike glee for a while, just moving his arms and hands around. He discovered that the same thing happened when he turned his head from side to side. He didn't think he would ever get tired of moving that way.

While in the midst of playing, another thought entered Andrew's mind and stopped him. He was in a coffin, but wasn't dead. Now that the pain was gone, he didn't feel like he would be dying anytime soon either. In fact, Andrew felt far better than he ever had. So, since he wasn't dead, maybe he should get out.

The sounds, which Andrew could still hear from time to time seemed close. It was possible that they hadn't buried him yet and a coffin was just a large box with a hinged lid. He just needed to push it open. As soon as he thought this, his hands were strait out in front of him, spaced about a shoulder width apart.

This didn't have the effect that Andrew had been hoping for though. His hands had gone right through the fabric and the wood of the lid and buried themselves in the earth above. Any hope that he hadn't yet been buried was destroyed.

Andrew felt a moment of panic as he realized that they had already put him in the ground. What was wrong with them? He was still alive. What kind of funeral home buried people when they were still alive? Weren't they supposed to check for that kind of thing first?

This whole thing was just too strange. None of it made any sense. It couldn't be real. With that thought, Andrew realized it was possible that this whole thing was just a dream while he lay in a coma in some hospital bed. That made more sense than this being reality. A dream would explain the strange way his body was acting, the smells and sounds and the speed at which he was moving.

The more Andrew thought about it, the more sense that made to him. Even if it was a dream that he couldn't wake up from because of a coma or medication, he sure wasn't going to find out, or wake up, just laying here. He pulled his hands back into the coffin and closed his eyes as dirt fell back through the holes. He punched again, a little bit away from the first holes he had made.

More dirt fell through the now larger holes. Andrew punched again and again until he had almost broken out a square piece of the coffin lid. Just as he was about the punch again, it cracked and the square and all of the dirt above it collapsed and poured in and around him in the coffin. His head was buried and he felt panic take hold.

That faded as he remembered that in this dream, he didn't need to breath. Andrew also noticed that despite the amount of dirt resting on top of him, he didn't feel the weight of it. His hands were underneath the piece of coffin lid which was resting just below his chin. He concentrated all of his effort on moving his arms to lift the wood and the weight of the dirt above it. The square lifted with little effort.

As Andrew pushed, the square caught on the edge of the hole in the lid, but as he pushed a little harder, some pieces snapped off and it slipped through. He used one hand to hold the piece of coffin lid up. With the other on the edge of the hole that he had made in the lid, he pulled himself up into a sitting position in the hole. Another push raised the board up into the ground above him. He was amazed at how easy it was to push through the dirt.

Alternating between pushing on the board and clawing himself upward, Andrew was eventually standing up in the the coffin. One final quick heave and the board shot up and out of the dirt, leaving a hole through the last little bit of dirt. Some of the dirt was falling back into the hole, but light flooded his eyes and Andrew felt hope that in this dark dream, he had a chance of escaping.

It took some time, but he managed to work his way up through the loose dirt that kept collapsing in on him to reach the surface. He stayed there a moment, just arms, shoulders and head above the surface of the dirt, and stared around in amazement.

He thought after destroying the demon that the sky had been brighter and bluer, but this sky was so far beyond that. He could see swirls of color moving around the sky. The colors above him ranged from dark navy to the lightest robin's egg blue.

After a quick glance around, he decided that he was alone in the graveyard and that it was safe to climb the rest of the way out of his grave. He noticed as he crawled out that the top of the grave was loose dirt without any sod or grass growing on it. He couldn't have been buried for long.

Once on top of the ground, Andrew shook as much of the dirt off of himself as he could, and then worked to push the mound he had created in extricating himself back into the hole. He found that he had to concentrate most of his attention on his motions. If he didn't, he moved so fast that he couldn't even register what he was doing. With focus, he was able to level all of the dirt that had been pushed out, back into the hole.

There wasn't enough dirt to fill it back up since some of it had fallen into the coffin. Andrew looked around for more. Not too far from the spot was a backhoe that was probably used to dig the graves. Near that was a pile of the dirt with a shovel stabbed into it. He took some of that dirt and managed to level off the surface of his grave. To anyone walking by, it would seem undisturbed.

As he finished, Andrew wondered why he felt the need to make it look like he was still in the coffin. He was alive. People were going to find that out after they saw him. What did it matter if they found the hole that he had crawled out of. He shrugged to himself and began to move toward the road that wound past the cemetery. It was there that he discovered the source of the car sounds.

He heard them clearer now that he was out of the ground, but there were less cars than there had been before. A cloud moved out of the way of the light in the sky and Andrew glanced up. The moon there was the only indication to Andrew that it was night. As he stared, he could see all of its various craters. He just stood there staring at it. It was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen in the sky.

A thought struck him an instant later. It was dark out, but he was seeing things as well or even better than he had in the middle of the day. What was happening? This had gone on way too long, and felt far too real to be a dream. A word floated into his mind. Blood.
"No way." The sound was melodic and reverberated in his ears as though he had shouted it instead of just spoken to himself. It wasn't possible, was it? A vision flashed into his mind.

He was in the car, only it was moving sideways instead of forward. Once again, he was looking out of the driver side window at the bright light from the large truck barreling toward him. An instant later, the truck hit the car and the scene went fuzzy. The vision reappeared with him laying on the cold ground staring up into the rain. He couldn't feel anything but his face, which was freezing.

Johari's face floated into his vision and blocked the rain. Andrew was grateful that she was protecting him from the cold water. Streams of tears fell from her eyes off of the bottom of her chin and landed on his face in place of the rain, but they were warm, so it didn't matter. Each tear tingled as it landed on his face. Andrew wondered what was wrong to make her cry like that.

"No, no, no! It's not supposed to be like this." She was sobbing out the words. "Not like this. I just got you. I can't lose you." She stared down at him for a moment through her tears. Then her velvet hand floated in from the side of his vision and rested on his face. "Do you want to live," she asked? What a strange question. Of course he wanted to live. He tried to tell her yes. He tried to comfort her to take away her fears and her sad tears.

Andrew found instead that he couldn't move his jaw to speak or move his head to nod. He could moan though, and he did that, though it was not voluntary. He struggled to move anything on his body. The only things that responded were his eyes and a little bit in his lips.

Andrew forced his mouth into a smile, which came out more like a grimace because it hurt to move his jaw. Then he blinked twice. He hoped that she would take that for a yes. She smiled, but there was still worry and sadness obvious in her eyes. "Do you understand that you will no longer be human if I try to save you?" She seemed to choke as she asked him the question. Andrew forced his eyes to blink harder and more slower. She smiled through her tears and nodded. "I will do my best." Her eyes whipped up and away from his face. "Not yet," she whispered, "It's too soon."

Andrew gazed up at that face as he felt himself fading away. He wanted to tell her that he loved her, but he couldn't. Instead, he did the only thing he could. He forced himself to smile one last time. She struggled to smile back through her sorrow and that was the last thing he saw, her face struggling to overcome her sorrow to leave him with a smile. Then other hands grabbed her and pulled her away.

The vision had come in an instant and it vanished just as quickly. As it vanished, Andrew found himself still standing where he had been, in the moonlight at the cemetery. Yet everything seemed different. Somehow, he was Blood. The look on Johari's face was not one of a person believing that she had time to succeed and he had faded before she fed him any blood, yet he was here. She must have gotten the blood into him in time. He smiled. Everything he had hoped to share with her was possible.

Andrew wondered what he should do first. He glanced down at himself. He was filthy from the climb through the earth and the subsequent filling of the hole. He wanted to go home and get cleaned up. Then he would go find Johari. He couldn't wait to see the look on her face. More than that, he couldn't wait to begin the life he wanted so much to share with her.

Chapter 30

As soon as he thought about it, Andrew was moving. The air was rushing by his face, and the wind echoing in his ears. It was exhilarating to be moving at such a fast pace. He wondered if he could go faster. He concentrated and he could.

The houses he was passing as he ran should have been a blur, but Andrew found to his amazement that even at this incredible speed he could still register details and see things around him, though some of it was just a little blurry around the edges.

All of that and he still wasn't tired and didn't feel as though he was at his limit. Andrew put all the effort he could muster into running and focused all his thoughts on it. The world on either side vanished in a blur. The only thing he had time to see was what was in his line of sight. There was no way a human would be able to even register that he ran past. He laughed out loud. He was Blood and he loved it more than he could have imagined.

His house appeared in his line of sight. As soon as Andrew thought it, he was stopped in front of the house. For some reason, he felt a hesitation there. It was as if he shouldn't be there. A whisper in his mind told him that he should be trying to find Johari first, not going home. He ignored the whisper. This was his house, why shouldn't he go in? He opened the front door.

A noise came from the kitchen, so he headed in that direction to see who was home.

"John? Is that y..." Andrew's mom was standing at the kitchen counter, slicing some vegetables for a stew that she liked to make. Her head turned as her son entered the room. The sudden look of shock and then of fear that flowed into her face chilled him to the bone. "Oh my God! Andrew! No! This can't be real! This isn't possible!" Her lips were barely moving as those whispered words came out, but Andrew heard them as clear as day, as if she had shouted them even. He wondered for a single instant what was so wrong, and then he realized why he didn't belong here. He was dead.

They had buried him, gone to his funeral and wept over his casket. Andrew had a sudden image of his mother standing above him weeping. He tried to think of some explanation that might make sense to her. Nothing came to him.

"You are not my son! Get out of my house!" Mary's eyes were wide and her breathing ragged as she screamed. The chopping knife in her hand raised and she came at him. In that instant, Andrew took in her trembling hand, her flaring nostrils and eyes with pupils dilated far beyond normal. He registered that she was attacking him and saw her begin to move. Just before she reached him, Andrew grabbed for the knife in an instinctive attempt to protect himself.

He wasn't sure exactly how it happened, but his hand moved too fast and the knife came down on top of it. Instead of cutting in, the knife bounced off the side of his hand and then his mother crashed into him. His hands caught her as she started to bounce back and fall. He heard a tearing noise and smelled blood. That was strange. Andrew couldn't understand where it was coming from since the knife hadn't cut him.

Andrew lowered his mother to the floor and stepped back to see what had happened. The knife had turned as she crashed into him. The vision from his dreams that had faded from his mind came flooding back in all its fullness as he stared down at his mother on the floor. She was to weak to even cry out. Blood poured out from the long gash ending with the knife sticking out below her chest. It flowed onto the floor forming a rapidly expanding puddle. Andrew stumbled back even farther as her eyes stared up at him, and even with death close, it was obvious that the foremost thought in her mind was terror at the sight of her son.

It had been only moments since Andrew entered the house, and he heard his father rushing down the stairs to see what his mother was shouting for. He stared down one last time at his mother and two teardrops trailed down his face.

"I'm so sorry," Andrew whispered. Then he turned and ran, leaving the door wide open in his rush to get away from what he had done. He didn't notice where he was running as everything blurred around him. He ran, trying to leave the horror of what he had become and what he had done behind him. No matter how fast he ran, it was still there. Andrew had killed his own mother.

At that moment, he realized that he was back at the scene of his own accident. The place that had almost killed him however long ago, and that he now wished had left him dead in reality. He was standing beside the road, and his sharp eyes took in the few chunks of glass left on the concrete and a lot more along the side, as if someone had tried to sweep them up. The car itself was gone, and there was no sign of the truck or any pieces of it that Andrew could see. A terrible thing, erased and already forgotten by most people.

Andrew stared off down the road, in the direction that the truck had come from and there he saw another one coming. It was farther away than he would have ever been able to see before, but he didn't even notice how much his vision had improved. Instead he waited for the truck that he was hoping would end his life here as it was meant to end.

He waited in the ditch where he knew that the driver couldn't see him. Andrew wondered what the driver would think that he hit. It didn't matter. He just wanted to be where he belonged, back in the ground, where he couldn't hurt anyone ever again. At the last moment, he jumped in front of the truck. He was moving so fast and was so close to it that the driver never even saw what he hit.

Before that moment, despite playing a little baseball in phys-ed, Andrew had never taken the time to imagine what the ball would have felt like as it was struck by the bat. He did ponder it at that moment. A whoosh of air from the front of the truck, a solid strike and then he was flying through the air, off into the opposite ditch from which he had jumped.

He landed on his backside and rolled head over heels multiple times before coming to a stop. Andrew ended up in a sitting position in the grass, facing the spot where the truck had struck him. He had flown almost sixty yards and rolled another ten or fifteen. He sat there for a moment, waiting to die. To his disappointment, he realized that not only was he not going to die, but that the truck hadn't done much damage to him at all.

No bones seemed to broken and although there was some of his blood now mixed with his mother's on the tattered remains of the suit, the mass of cuts that it had come from were already closed in the moments he had lain there. His new body was going to be much harder to kill than his old one. At this particular moment in Andrew's life, he wasn't all that excited about that.

He lay in the ditch for a long time. After several hours, a sort of numbness settled over him. Andrew realized that since he couldn't die, he would have to learn to live with the death of his mother, with what he had done. The truck driver, who hadn't even stopped to see what he hit, couldn't help Andrew. He had another thought. Maybe living with her death was a more fitting punishment than dying would be.

Andrew decided as he sat there that he would learn to live with this pain. He would never forget it, but use it to make himself stronger, so that he would never hurt anyone else. He needed to find Johari. She could help him learn that control. She could keep him from hurting anyone ever again.

Andrew jumped up and began to run, though not as fast as he could, in the direction that he knew would take him to her house. Now that he was headed in the direction that he should have gone to begin with, he felt better, but tears still filled his eyes as he struggled with the image of his mother he couldn't get out of his mind.

Andrew could have run faster and gotten there sooner, but he forced himself to walk instead. He had to concentrate to walk at a normal human pace, but he just didn't feel like he deserved the joy of being able to move so fast. At this slower speed, it took Andrew a long time to reach the house.

Just as he was walking down the driveway, the sky, which had been changing colors without him noticing, broke into a glorious golden gleam as the sun pushed its first tiny sliver of the day over the top of the horizon. The light sparkled across the sky, lighting up all the things around him with a beauty that he never imagined was possible. Then a figure with a beauty all her own appeared into that glow that outshone it and everything around her.

Johari was standing in the middle of the driveway as Andrew came around the curve toward the house. He saw her standing there, ivory skin glistening in the light. He stopped walking to drink the vision of perfection. She was so much more beautiful than he had ever realized or could have seen with his old eyes. Andrew's new vision drank her in, storing every detail of this image away into his mind.

The sunrise sparkled across her wavy brown hair as it flowed down and around her face. Ripples of light curved around her form creating a halo that far surpassed the vision he had first seen in his backyard and then again in the classroom door. Those blue eyes glistened like polished jewels and for just a moment, Andrew's sorrows and regrets vanished into the back of his mind and he felt so much joy as he stood there, just looking at her.

The realization hit Andrew then that he could be with her forever. Then he noticed the look on her face as she stared at him. She looked shocked, as if she had not expected to see him again. The expression of shock on her face was so similar to his mother's that the whole thing came crashing back in around him. Andrew fell to his knees there on the gravel drive, weeping for his sin.

"I killed her," he whispered to the air. "She was so afraid and I couldn't control myself and then she was bleeding in my arms and I... I... I killed her." He looked up at Johari and whispered, "I killed my mother." Then she was beside him. Her arms wrapped around him as she pulled him to her chest.

"Oh Andrew! I am so sorry." She paused and then whispered. "I thought you died and were gone from me forever." She pulled back, placed her hands on his face and looked him in the eyes. "It's all going to be okay now. I am here. There is nothing that you could have done that we can't work through now that we have each other." Her gorgeous voice sounded so sure as she spoke that Andrew felt hope that she was right.

The flow of tears faded and he felt that there was a chance that he could get through this with her beside him. Andrew looked into her eyes, eyes that were watching him hungrily, and he discovered that all of his human love and emotion was still with him, but even more magnified because his mind was capable of so much more. He loved this impossible creature with a passion that he felt for nothing else, and that he knew he would never feel for anything else ever again. The two pulled each other back into a tight embrace and just stayed there on their knees, holding each other for a long time.

After some time, Johari pulled away and stood up. Before Andrew could react or say anything, she grabbed his hand and pulled him up as well. His weight was still nothing for her to move. "Come inside. We can talk about anything you want to know about or need to share." Andrew wondered as he followed her into the house if he wanted to talk about it. He thought to himself that it would be better just to put it aside for now. At least until the burning pain of it had numbed within him.

They just got into the house and the phone rang. Johari answered in English, but switched to Aramaic. Andrew found that he could still understand everything that they were saying. A male voice was talking on the other end of the line, but Andrew couldn't believe the words that his ears were hearing. Johari stared at the phone for a moment after she placed it back on the receiver.

"Is it really true," Andrew asked breathlessly? Johari turned to him and smiled, her face filled with joy for Andrew.

"Yes, it's true. Your mother is still alive. She is in the hospital now. The knife missed anything vital and your father got to her in time. She is expected to make a full recovery." Andrew was only half listening to Johari as she was speaking. His mind heard it all and set it aside for him to replay later, but at the moment, most of his focus was on one thing, the news that his mother had survived. Between the nightmare and the horror of what he had seen on the floor of the kitchen, Andrew never considered the idea that she might survive.

Relief flooded through him as the reality clicked in his mind. Joy lit his face and Johari's as well as they shared in the unexpected peace and happiness. She threw her arms around Andrew and he hugged her back, smile still on his face.

Andrew knew that he still needed to learn to control his new body, but now it was because learning control was a part of that new life. Sure he made a mistake. It was one that could have haunted him for the rest of this long life, and a part of it would still haunt him, but not ever close to what it might have been. Whatever part of fate it was that had spared him the anguish of a life built on pain, Andrew was grateful for it.

After they laughed and celebrated together for a few minutes, the phone conversation returned to Andrew's mind. His mind was so much more incredible than his old one that it was difficult to imagine that he survived before as limited as he had been. He found that he could replay the whole conversation in his head, word for word.

"What did the other Blood mean when he said that the council is going to call?" Johari stared at him.

"I haven't followed our rules as well as I was supposed to. As I mentioned before, we are not to reveal ourselves to humans. The fact that I did means that I must appear before the council for my lack of judgment. They will decide what to do about it." She stopped, but Andrew could tell there was more.

"Is that all?" She slowly shook her head.

"No. The council will also be deciding if you are a threat to us. They need to know that you will be a good addition to our kind." She smiled at him. "Don't worry, once they know a little about you, they will be as thrilled as I am to have you among us."

"I am sorry to be the cause of so much trouble for you," Andrew said. Johari smiled at him and reached up to touch his face.

"It is not your fault. I was the one who made the decision not to tell my superiors that you knew." He pulled her face up to look into her eyes. She winced as his hands moved. Andrew let go in a rush.

"I'm sorry. I'm still getting used to this whole new body thing. I probably shouldn't touch things until I get better at it." Johari smiled and pulled his hands back onto her face.

"I understand what it's like to struggle with a new body. You won't permanently damage me, so I am one of the best things for you to touch as you learn." Andrew smiled at her as he held her face for a moment. Then, moving with care, he kissed the top of her head. Then he began to kiss all over her beautiful face until his lips reached hers.

He believed that the feeling he had when he kissed her before was the best thing that he would ever feel in his entire life. Now Andrew discovered that he had been wrong. That was nothing compared to the explosion that rocked through his body now. Lines of power flared into being within him, awakened for the first time from their slumber at his death. The light flowed out of him and into Johari and then back to him. He was shaking as he tried to stand up to the intense waves. He could only take it for so long before he had to pull away. He looked at Johari, standing there in all her beauty, shaking just as hard as he was.

"Impossible," she said softly, shaking her head. "I imagined many times that you could be like me and that we could have the rest of time to explore the world together, but never in one of those dreams did I ever imagine that you would be able to continue to amaze me. I thought you would just become like me. I was wrong. For some reason, you changed when you should not have. On top of that, even though you have become what I am, you still do things that should not be possible. I don't think you will ever stop surprising me."

"I too hoped for this life. My dreams didn't even come close to imagining what this is like. I hope that I can continue to amaze you as much as you amaze me." They stood there, in the center of the living room lost in each other's gazes, thoughts on the unexpected eternity before them.

Chapter 31

Andrew and Johari spent most of that first day together just talking about the future, exploring the world around them with Andrew's new abilities and enjoying each other, but as evening approached, Andrew's mind turned back to the council.

"What is this council, and what are they likely to do to us?"

"The council is a group of some of the first of our kind that work to keep our world of demons and immortals from being exposed. They enforce the few laws that our kind has and dole out punishment for breaking those laws."

"What laws do we have to follow?"

"Most of it is just the first law, don't allow humans to find out. There are also a few laws about killing humans and other Blood without just cause." Andrew nodded. That made sense. The only beings who would be strong enough to police a member of the Blood would be other Blood. He wasn't sure how one went about killing a Blood though. He had discovered first hand that they were almost unbreakable. "As to what will happen to us. I hope that they will be understanding of the situation. It shouldn't be anything to worry about. They will send someone to collect us after a little while. Once we arrive before the council, they will decide how best to remind me of the law I should already know. They will ask you a few questions to make sure that you are a good fit for the blood, of which I have no doubt you are. Then they will inform you of our laws, which you just have to agree to follow." Andrew felt a little better with her explanation, but he sensed the slightest hesitation in her as she spoke as though there were something bothering her about the whole thing. Because of that, a small part of him remained worried. He didn't pay much attention to it though. Andrew was too busy being immortal and being with her.

The next few weeks passed in a rush, even with the extra time that they had by not sleeping at night. Johari delighted in Andrew's joy at the discoveries that he made. He had so much fun playing with his new senses. From the second story window, he could stare down at the yard and see every detail of a twig on the ground. He could smell and identify different objects and materials from great distances. Johari could whisper from a hundred yards away and he could still hear it as if she were standing right next to him.

His mind was another joy as it learned and expanded even more. Andrew found that he could absorb new information at lightning speeds and his memory seemed perfect. Everything he saw, heard, touched, tasted or smelled he could recall in its entirety. He could glance at a page filled with words and take all of it in with just that single glance. No wonder Johari had finished an entire book while he showered.

As amazing as those things were, it wasn't even close to as good as how tireless his new body was. Andrew could run all day long without needing to rest and not be out of breath. That human phrase meant nothing to him. Not needing to sleep was an incredible part of that tirelessness and he realized that he could spend the rest of his impossibly long life without needing to take any real break that would take Johari and him apart from each other. Not that they wouldn't spend time apart, but the idea that they didn't have to if they didn't want was incredible.

They also spent a significant amount of time just sharing themselves with each other. Their relationship blossomed through the days and it seemed like the coming troubles were light years away, until they knocked.

Chapter 32

Andrew wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but what was knocking was not even close. It was late one evening, about four and a half weeks after he had become an immortal. He and Johari were standing in the living room, talking about whether Andrew was ready to drive his car or not. He was the one who didn't think he was. He didn't want to wreck it, or hurt someone else on the road. Johari insisted that he was in control. They both stopped and looked at the door.

There was a pause and then a second knock. Both knocks were quite soft, as if the person on the other side of the door knew that they could hear it, soft as it was. Johari looked at Andrew.

"It is time. They are here for us." They turned together and went to the front door. Andrew remained just a little bit behind her as she moved. He was able to see her as she moved, even at great speed, something else that had surprised Johari. She said that it had taken her almost a hundred years to be able to see other Blood when they moved, and even then, only when they weren't moving all that fast. She had been pleased, and told him that if he continued to work at it, he would make a powerful immortal.

Andrew smiled as he remembered her smile when she added that he should not forget that she would always be more powerful than he was. It was a joke, but of the truth behind it, Andrew had no doubt at all.

Johari pulled open the door. Two olive skinned males stood on the front step. They were both about Andrew's height, just over six feet, and both were heavily muscled, though he doubted that for Blood, that the size of their muscles made much difference. They would be strong no matter how big they were. Their eyes were both green and they looked similar, as if they were related somehow. Their faces looked somewhat indifferent as though they were just doing a job, but did not care all that much about why they had been commanded to fulfill it. For some reason, they looked familiar, but despite Andrew's ability to recall almost anything, he couldn't seem to place them. He set the thought aside to consider later.

"Johari, and companion, Andrew Marks, you have been called to present yourselves before the council." The words, except for the names, were in Aramaic and were formal and polite. They were spoken as a request, rather than a direct order, but somehow, Andrew got the impression that this was one request it would not be a good idea to refuse.

"As always, we hear and come willingly to stand before the council when called." Johari's reply was also polite and formal, as well as voiced in Aramaic. The words of the man at the door had been directed at Johari, and she made no indication that Andrew should reply or say anything at all, so until she said otherwise, he decided that his knowledge of the language would go unvoiced.

Both men stepped back to allow Johari and Andrew to come out of the house. The one who had spoken turned and walked toward a waiting black Denali SUV, parked in front of the house, and the other waited until they passed him and then he turned and followed.

Andrew took a breath out of a human habit he had not yet overcome as he passed out of the door. The scent of the one holding the door filled his nostrils. In that breath, Andrew could smell that the man was Blood. He had not noticed before with Johari because he was used to her smell, but the immortal blood had a different scent to it than the odor of the human blood of his mother that was forever imprinted in his mind.

It was strange, but for being in a body that died, their blood smelled more alive than human blood did. Andrew couldn't think of any other way to describe it than that. He cataloged the information in his mind. As they walked, he focused on Johari's scent again, and now that he had noticed it with the male Blood, he could detect a slight trace of the same within Johari.

Her overriding scent was the flower and exotic fruit mix that he had first noticed smelling her all that time ago in the classroom when his heart stopped. He mentioned it to her once, but she was unaware of any perfume or any other reason why he would smell such a thing. In his now perfect memory recall, he watched her face as he smiled and told her that it must be the scent of love. Despite the thoughts that had been in his mind and his final call in the car accident, it had been the first reference to his true feelings for her. She liked that idea. He smiled again as they climbed into the backseat of the Denali. The smell seemed to fill his mind as he focused on it, and as everything associated with Johari did, it brought him a great deal of joy.

They drove for about twenty minutes in the Denali before reaching the local airport. Since becoming an immortal and staying with Johari, Andrew spent no time near humans. He wasn't sure what to expect, but he knew that it was vital that he not do anything to attract attention here. If the law of the Blood was not to attract human attention, he needed to follow that law. He put his entire mind onto emulating the speed and motions of the humans around him. He was blinking, breathing, walking and moving as cautiously as he could.

The two with them watched him like hawks and even Johari kept peeking at him to see how he was doing. They seemed more and more confused by the minute and the smile on Johari's face widened with each glance. Andrew wondered what the two male Bloods expected him to do.

They boarded the plane within forty five minutes and were headed to another airport in Georgia to change planes before heading to the Middle East. It was during that first plane ride that Andrew recalled where he recognized the two from. The dream where he had seen his mother bleeding, the one that had come true, had gone on to another dream. One in which Andrew had known that they were being condemned to die. The two faces with them now had been standing nearby in his dream.

They were not going to be excused by this council. He and Johari were going to be sentenced to death. It didn't matter what they told the council or what she thought. That thought was all that filled his mind as they landed in Georgia and from there boarded the much longer flight to their final destination, where death waited for them.

Chapter 33

One of the flight attendants came over and leaned in past Johari, to speak to Andrew.

"Sir, you seem a little tense. Is there anything I can get for you? Something to drink perhaps? Or a snack of some kind?" The thought of food made Andrew feel ill. Somehow, he managed to shake his head and the feeling passed.

"Thanks, but I'm alright." As the flight went on, the two companions in the row behind them kept watching every time someone passed by or a flight attendant stopped to talk them. Andrew noticed them doing it out of the corner of his eye several times. It seemed that they thought he should not be able to control himself as well as he was. Maybe it took other Blood much longer than this to be able to interact with humans without giving away that they were something more.

Despite being able to control himself, it was the first time he had felt any tiredness. It wasn't physical, just mental exhaustion from trying to maintain a facade of humanity that no longer fit him. It was a long flight and Andrew sat there holding Johari's hand trying to ignore everything else but being careful to do act as human as he could. The intercom crackled and then a voice came on.

"This is the captain speaking. We will be landing shortly. Please return your seats to the upright position and buckle your seat belts. Please remain buckled until we have come to a complete stop at the gate and you see the seat belt light above you turn off." The captains voice echoed through the plane as it blared through the loudspeaker.

In a short amount of time, the plane taxied in and landed at a small airport somewhere just north of Jerusalem. Andrew knew that because Johari mentioned it as they were pulling up to the gate. One of our guards gave her a sharp look as she whispered in his ear, but the other one tapped him on the arm and muttered something in his ear so softly that Andrew couldn't tell what he said.

Andrew realized it was possible that the one Blood didn't speak English and didn't know what Johari was saying. The other one was just repeating what she said. The main flight attendant stood at the front of the plane and announced that the time here was just before nine in the morning. The flight had been scheduled to arrive at eight thirty, but some amount of delay was to be expected on a flight this long.

If he had still been human, Andrew would have been exhausted after a seventeen hour flight that arrived in the morning with a whole day still ahead of him. As an immortal, he felt just as awake now as he had when the flight began. Once out of the crowded plane, he found it easier to focus on his movements as well, so even his mental fatigue faded.

As they walked through the gate and into the terminal, Andrew noticed the scent of more Blood. Sure enough, two more were waiting just beyond the gate. Andrew wondered as they approached them, if all immortals could smell the others. He was sure that was the case as he had noticed it right away and he was so new to all this. He would have to ask Johari when he had a chance.

The new immortals and the ones who had escorted them thus far, greeted each other with silent nods and then all four escorted Johari and Andrew through the airport terminal. The new ones took the lead, while their previous companions followed.

Every muscle in his body tensed as a young woman jumped at Andrew, a knife in her hand. It wasn't a large knife, but that little knife bombarded Andrew's brain with the image of his mother coming at him. It hit him like a hammer in the face. Andrew just about lost it right then and there. His mind lost all focus and he wanted to just run as fast as he could. All of this went through his mind in the instant after seeing the knife.

His mind was thinking so much faster than he was used to that it felt like everything around him came to a stop. The slowdown gave Andrew the moment he needed to collect himself. He moved faster than anyone could see and took the knife. Then he repositioned himself so that he could catch her arms as if she had just fallen into him.

It played out as he imagined as he caught the girl, smiled at her and set her back just as he would have done were he still human. Then he just kept walking. Johari gave him a quick smile while the Blood ahead of them glanced at each other in shock. The one on the left glanced back at Johari.

"How on this earth is that possible for a blood who is a month old," he asked? He spoke in Aramaic, but his voice was so quiet, his lips moved so little and he spoke so fast that Andrew know that no one else could have heard or understood what was said. He wouldn't have even believed that the man had spoken except for the fact that Andrew heard the words and heard where the sound was coming from.

"I don't know actually. He has learned the focus all on his own." Johari replied, speaking the same way. The eyes of all four of the blood with them widened and the one who had spoken turned his face to the front again. Andrew wondered what it was that he was missing here. All four of these immortals had been acting suspicious, and now they seemed shocked, surprised and maybe a little disappointed as though things had not happened quite as they expected.

The next stop for the group was at a passport check gate where they were asked to provide papers and give a reason for the trip to Tel Aviv, the location of the airport that they had flown into. The overweight man behind the counter spoke English haltingly as one of their companions removed six passports from the inside of a small bag that he carried. He announced that they were all traveling together on a religious sightseeing trip to Jerusalem. The passports were checked, stamped and handed back to the one who had provided them. The man behind the counter didn't look all that close to make sure that the pictures matched the faces. If Andrew had to guess, he would say that the man had been payed off or even convinced to let them through without checking.

Outside of the terminal, all four companions ushered Johari and Andrew toward two identical, dark green jeeps that were parked in the airport's temporary lot. They rode in the back of one of the jeeps with the two newer companions while the original two followed in the other jeep.

Andrew didn't pay a lot of attention at first as they were driving east out of Tel Aviv. The bland valleys and endless rolling hills in the forty mile trip to the edge of Jerusalem didn't provide anything to interest him. At least not enough to take his mind off of it's consideration of the present situation. Once they got into the city though, he glanced out the window and found himself fascinated by the strange and almost random arrangement of the buildings within Jerusalem.

They were in a newer section of town, in which the buildings weren't arranged as close together as the older section toward the center of the great city. The whitish stone buildings were still closer together than Andrew was accustomed to back in the States.

There wasn't a ton of green mixed in, but the green that was there, mostly from the trees, stood out in stark contrast to the stone of the buildings. A lot of the trees were tall palm trees, leaves drooping in the heat. There were also a few olive trees, though there didn't seem to be any ripe fruits on them at the moment.

It felt as though the ride was taking forever, but Andrew was sure that it just seemed longer than it was. This ride toward an unknown destination that he wasn't sure he wanted to reach had a lot to do with the trip feeling so long. It just wasn't possible to look forward to death now that life was so amazing.

Chapter 34

Their destination was surrounded by a thick and wall that was about twenty feet tall. The corners of the wall had video cameras on them, watching for any sign of disturbance. They pulled up to the only gate in the wall, at least in what Andrew saw of it. The gate itself was also impressive. It was huge and solid metal. Unlike a lot of massive gates, it was just a plain giant slab. There were no holes in it and no decorations upon its surface. He was amazed at the thought of a hinge system strong enough to hold and move a gate that heavy. It had to be several thousand pounds.

There was a little drive, about the length of five of the jeeps, in front of the gate. At the end of the drive, a little back from the gate, was a post with a metal box on the top of it. The driver stopped the jeep with his window right by the box and stuck his hand out, pressing a small button on the front. It reminded Andrew of those parking garage boxes that scan an identification card and then the gate automatically opens. The driver muttered something in Aramaic. The huge gate swung inward, silent as a thief in the night, and they drove through.

The courtyard in front of the main building contained a stone fountain that was dry. The fountain was a simple one, just a three layered ring, one set right above the next. Water would have shot up in a spray above the top one and then filtered down over the edges of the rings, back to the bottom. Around the fountain was a circular stone driveway made up of thousands of palm sized stones, each cut to fit with those around them and set in by hand. By the weathered look of the stones, it had been done centuries ago. The driver parked the jeep in front of the main doors and both men climbed out. Johari and Andrew followed them, and then waited a moment for the other immortals to park their vehicle and join the group.

Up close, the outside of the huge building looked ancient. The stone showed signs of wear and repairs that weren't common on the newer stone buildings in the city. The windows on the front and the main door didn't look ancient though. Both looked almost brand new, as in the last few years or so. The door looked like a custom made, solid steel design, double door and the windows were tinted to keep the bright sun out of the building.

As they were ushered into the interior of the building, Andrew discovered that the inside was even more expensive looking than the outside. It also seemed newer, but that could just have been because of the lack of weather related wear that the outside of buildings are subjected to. The floors, walls and ceilings were all made of solid blocks of black marble or a similar polished stone. The ceilings were about ten feet high in the entryway and the halls that disappeared in several different directions. Andrew marveled at the complex architectural arches and stonework that kept the massive ceiling pieces from falling down on his head. He wondered if that weight would be enough to damage him.

The air was cooler on the inside than the outside, although temperature differences didn't seem to affect him all that much anymore so it didn't make any difference, it was just something that he noticed. From the inside, it was even more obvious that the windows were all tinted a shade designed to keep the ever present sunlight in the region from causing too much of a distraction inside the building. It wasn't necessary since his eyes could focus even in the sun, but it was more comfortable not to have it so bright.

They walked for a short time into the building, away from the outside walls and in the general direction of the center, or so it seemed. A minute or two later, they came to a stop in front of a tall set of double doors. They were about nine feet high and six feet across in total. The wood was stained a dark color to match the stone on the floors and walls. Andrew didn't recognize the type of wood that they were carved out of, but whatever it was, the doors looked solid and heavy, like everything else in this place. One of the Blood tapped on the door.

A moment later, the doors swung inward and eight Blood, in identical black robes that draped almost to the floor with hoods that fell forward far enough to cover their faces in shadow, floated out of the doors with hands folded before them. They looked like strange monks of some sort of dark religious order and maybe that is what they were in a sense. They floated until there were four arranged in a square around Johari and another four around Andrew. The original four companions vanished into the room and the great doors silently swung shut behind them.

The image from Andrew's dream while he was still human floated into his head. Today was not going to go well. He wasn't sure about the point of the guards. Maybe it was simply for show. Or maybe they were trying to humiliate the two who had come before them today. Either way, they sure weren't going to get a reaction out of him until he understood the situation better. Johari seemed to be of a similar mind since she did not react more than to display her displeasure at the whole situation by the tight set of her face.

A gong sounded in the room and the eight immortals floated forward, pushing the doors open ahead of themselves. Johari and Andrew had no choice but to walk with them or else be pushed into the room against their will. Andrew shivered as they entered the room. The doom he had known in the dream settled over him. The room was exactly the same as the dream had shown, tall ceilings, the pillars, the table and the poor electric lighting.

The table was empty at the moment, but in Andrew's mind, he could see the faces of the four that would fill it. Somehow, he had seen the future in the dreams he had that night. Before, he would have laughed at the craziness of that. But dying and coming back as an immortal had changed how he looked at the possible and impossible.

They stopped right where he had been standing in his dream and the gong sounded once again. A small door to the left and back of the table opened and the four figures, two male and two female filed out. They took their respective seats, just as Andrew had known they would.

Chapter 35

The figures at the table held Andrew's interest much more than the audience did. The two in the center smelled different than the other immortals he had come in contact with. Not that it was a lot, but these two were different. It was the older two from his dream, the man with gray at his temples and the even older woman who had gray mixed in all throughout her dark hair. The other two at the table looked and smelled just like the others he had met and the group behind them in the room, but Andrew couldn't think of the right words to describe the first two.

Ancient was one word, but some of the others smelled ancient too. Even Johari had a definite smell of age to her that Andrew was sure he did not yet have. There was something besides that. They didn't smell human, but unlike the rest of the Blood, their bodies smelled alive too, not just the blood flowing in their veins. These two had blood that smelled like immortal blood, but bodies that smelled more than human as well. Andrew just didn't know enough to understand what the difference was.

The man raised his hand, as Andrew had known that he would, and likewise, the room went silent, as he had known that it would. The man waited a moment and then lowered his hand and then began to speak in Aramaic.

"Welcome and greetings to all who have gathered here today. I Lazarus, have called you here as witnesses to this trial. This is as it has been done in the past, and as it shall continue to be done in the future." He paused for a moment to look around the room, as if to be sure that he had everyone's attention. "Through servants that work for us as eyes in the world, I have been informed of crimes that have been committed by these two before us and we are gathered here today to discover the truth of the extent of these crimes and to decide the nature of a just punishment." The woman in the middle glanced over at the first man before turning to the front once again.

"Greetings also," she said, again in Aramaic. "I have not been informed as to the nature of these crimes, but I stand ready to listen to the evidence and to judge." There were a few murmurs in the audience, again in Aramaic. One of the comments was repeated several times.

"Tabitha doesn't know what the case is about?" The voices were shocked. Andrew wondered what reason that this Lazarus could have to want the case to occur without Tabitha having a lot of time to examine the evidence. The last two members of the council spoke in unison.

"We also have been uninformed, but stand ready to listen and judge."

During this whole exchange, one of the robed figures behind Andrew had been translating everything that they said into English for his benefit. The guard didn't translate the murmurs, so as he listened to those, Andrew let his translator ramble on, but ignored him for the most part. Who was he to tell another that their job wasn't necessary? Lazarus waited for just a moment while the murmurs quieted down, and then he spoke.

"The crimes as I have heard them reported to me are thus. The female accused, Johari," A murmur of recognition both from her appearance and the associated name rippled through the crowd. Apparently, she was known here. Not all that surprising, considering the amount of time that she had been around. Lazarus continued, "has broken the golden rule and revealed our existence to a man after knowing him only a short period of time. She then turned him without prior consent. On top of this, she abandoned him to awaken on his own. After he located her, she made little attempt to teach him any self control or the language that we all know and use to communicate no matter what our first language might be. My informants have been thorough in their investigation of this matter."

Andrew wondered about the informants. They either had to be made up, or else they were good, because he hadn't noticed anyone watching them. Lazarus waited for the English translator to finish before continuing.

"The accused, Andrew Marks, awoke with such venom of anger and insanity in his soul against his own mother that instead of seeking out his maker upon waking as our kind normally does, he went first to his mother in her own house and he attacked her there. Leaving her upon the floor, he then went out and attempted to attack a truck driver. In his insanity, he didn't even realize that the man was still in his truck at the time, and that the truck was driving. Andrew was struck and thrown by the truck. Only after this did he attempt to locate Johari, his maker." There were quite a few nervous stares from around the room and even the guards around Andrew seemed to lean back before regaining control of themselves. They seemed to believe that he was going to haul off and attack them.

"We have all heard your tale now," said Tabitha, "Give us the charges so that they may be refuted and we can get on with our day." She seemed frustrated by this trial for some reason as if she couldn't believe that Johari would do the things that she was accused of, or maybe Lazarus did this sort of thing a lot and she was getting tired of dealing with him.

"Hearing the news that my informants brought to me, I charge Johari with revealing our existence to a human, unsanctioned creation, negligence and failing to properly instruct her illegal young charge. The result of these crimes is the accused Andrew, who I declare unfit to be among us, which all know has but one result which is death." The younger immortals on either end of the table looked at Johari.

"To the charge of revealing our existence unwisely, how do you plead?"

"Not guilty."

"To the charge of unsanctioned creation, how do you plead?"

"Not guilty."

"To the charge of negligence, how do you plead?" Johari paused for a long moment.

"Not guilty."

"To the charge of failing to instruct your charge in the necessary ways, how do you plead?"

"Not guilty." Lazarus looked less than pleased when Tabitha spoke up.

"Lazarus, we both know that she is telling the truth. I don't see how your charges can be accurate." He raised his hand again to silence the surge of murmurs around the room before he turned again to Johari.

"Truth is subjective to belief." Lazarus murmured to Tabitha. His murmur was loud enough though that the whole room could hear it. "Allow me to ask her in another way." Tabitha looked at him askance, but nodded her consent. Lazarus turned to Johari once again. "Did Andrew know of our existence while he was still human?"

"Yes, but..." Lazarus cut her off with the next question.

"Were you there when Andrew finished the change?"

"No, but..." His hand went up to silence her.

"Have you made any attempts to teach him control or our language when he finally came to you?" Johari looked angry.

"No, there was..." Again the hand went up and he cut her off.

"Did you get permission from anyone in the council to turn him?" Johari stared at Lazarus in frustration. "Yes or no please." She ground her teeth together in aggravation. It was a loud sound in the now quiet room. There was a long pause before Johari answered his question the way that he wanted it.

"No."

"With your own words of admission, your pleas of not guilty will be struck from the record and replaced with pleas of guilty. My recommendation to the council is that Johari be sentenced to a term of service here where she can be shown an example of proper behavior for our kind once more. She has been away from that example for too long." Johari snorted in disgust.

"I should have known, Lazarus," she said. The way that she said his name made Andrew glad that it wasn't his name. He would hate to hear his name sound that way. Tabitha glanced at Johari. For a woman, or immortal, who was well disciplined at showing little emotion on her face for dealing with trials, she was showing quite a bit at the moment. There was a mixture of frustration and irritation, whether at Johari and Andrew, or at Lazarus or for some other reason, Andrew couldn't tell for sure.

"Known what Johari," she asked? Lazarus waved his hand in a dismissing gesture.

"She is just trying to get out of a punishment for her crimes. Besides, of what import are the words of one who is, by her own admission, a criminal under our laws." At these words, Andrew felt the last little tiny shred of hope of leaving this place drain from him, just as it had in his dream. Johari looked more upset than he had ever seen her. The expression upon her face seemed to be voicing the words she had spoken aloud to Lazarus in the dream, "Do your worst." Despair filled him because just as in the dream, Andrew knew that this man Lazarus, was prepared to do his worst.

Tabitha's voice broke the spell of despair that had begun to crush him.

"Lazarus," She said, her voice rising a few notes. She wasn't happy and she was going to get her way. "Johari was with us for a long time as both friend and member. I want to hear what she has to say. You have rushed this trial by in such a hurry and now I would like to hear a few more of the details that you have glossed over." She looked at Johari and it seemed to Andrew as if he could almost see a little bit of a smile in her eyes. Some small sliver of hope appeared in the distance and he grabbed onto it as if it were a lifeline, and it truly was. "I am truly sorry for the rudeness of Lazarus." Her face became a little bit more stern. "However, among our kind, as you know, the charges you face are serious. I ask that you speak only the truth. Lies will not free you here." Her stern expression melted and she smiled, "but of course you know that already. Please tell us your story as it happened. Leave out nothing you think important."

Andrew found himself considering Tabitha's words. Was it possible that Johari had been a member of the council. She hadn't mentioned it, but it's impossible to mention all that you have done over the course of eight hundred years in just a few short months. He looked to Johari and waited for her to tell the story.

Johari's anger had drained from her face as Tabitha spoke, and she directed a small smile at Tabitha. Then her own face grew a stern mask that perfectly matched the one Tabitha had just worn, and the words she spoke were for more than just Tabitha and the council.

"I'm glad to find that at least one of the pillars for truth and justice still remains faithful to the cause, even if the other has not." She glared at Lazarus for a moment, but he just grunted at her, ignoring her remark and her glare. He had done his best to get this trial over and now he knew that Tabitha was going to seek out more details than he wanted her to have no matter what he said.

He still had a small smile on his face as though he believed that no matter what the details of the story that Johari told were, there couldn't possibly be any good enough excuses for the way in which she had behaved. Andrew felt confident that Lazarus would be more than a little surprised as he heard the real story. It was still surprising to Andrew and he had lived it.

"As you know Tabitha, and many of you here, I was once a member of this council. I left almost fifty years ago because I was looking for something more in this life of ours, I just didn't know what it was yet." She smiled at Andrew, "After many years of seeking as I did the tasks that you charged me with, I found the missing piece of myself in this young Blood that you charged me to watch. I didn't quite know it when we first met and he was not yet a Blood at the time, but I came to realize that there was more to him than was immediately obvious." The whole room was silent and lost in the story that Johari shared. Even Andrew found himself drawn into the words as she spoke even though he knew most of the story.

"I first met him about five years ago. It was night and I had just received the orders. I was walking the perimeter of the lot where his house was. I came to the edge of the trees and found myself staring up into the open window on the back of a house. Leaning out of the window, was a young boy who appeared to be about twelve or thirteen. He seemed sad and he stared at me unafraid. After a moment, I went up to his room, intending to leave him with no memories of the event. Once in his room, I began to walk toward him. Despite how strange the situation must have seemed to him, he still didn't appear at all afraid. Then, when I was only three feet from him, our hearts bonded. I was so shocked that I cried out. I looked into his eyes and willed him to forget and then I ran, believing that he would do just that." She paused as the memory played in her mind. Andrew smiled as the image of her shock appeared in his mind. Johari continued with her story. "I did not forget though, and thought of it many times as I watched him. I didn't approach him again, just watched from the shadows as we are told to do. Even with the separation, our hearts remained bonded and I felt them beating as one. I continued to watch over him, fascinated by him for a reason that I could not fathom. I got to know everything there was to know, or at least that's what I thought." She glanced up at Tabitha's face. That face was smiling back at her. It seemed to give her reason to continue and it increased Andrew's small sliver of hope as well. "Then, near the end of his senior year, I could keep myself away no longer. I had this huge desire to tell him everything, but I knew I couldn't do that. So, instead, I registered at his school and tried to befriend him there as just another human. It was a place where I thought that he would be less likely to question me coming into his life, but would allow me to be near him." She stopped and smiled at Andrew again. "I discovered several fascinating things about him immediately. The first was that he was of an interest to the dark demons we were created to fight. One was sent to watch him in school and it followed him to work afterwards. The other thing that I discovered was that he could sense its presence, something I cannot do and have not heard of before." All of the faces on the council were incredulous and there were murmurs of shock in the crowd behind us. "I was able to stop and destroy the demon with the help of the other Blood in the area, Paul. I thought that it had just been a simple seeking and that the demon had transferred to him because of my own interest. Since it had been killed, I thought that there would be no more issues, though I had Paul watch out for more demons from a distance. After the attack, I told Andrew to forget about the events of the day since he had seen me fight it and had even seen the demon itself fighting." There were more gasps from the audience."The next few days were shock after shock for me. He could sense my presence even better than he felt the demon. I passed it off as something to do with the bonding, but something didn't feel right about that. I was amazed, but thought maybe it had been a fluke. Then I discovered that on his own, he had overridden the command I had given him to forget. I tried more than once to make him forget things, but it never worked. He also recalled the first night that I was there almost five years ago. Even then, he had known I was different, but didn't care. I came to realize that Andrew had loved me from the moment that our hearts bonded and I also realized that I felt the same way." Lazarus' face clouded as Johari said this, and Andrew had a fleeting thought in his mind as to what this might be about. "I thought that this was the end of things. I was certain that he was more than I realized, but that I had discovered everything there was to know about him. Instead I came to discover that it was much more complicated than I ever imagined. Andrew had figured something else out on his own that he shouldn't have been able to. He was possessed by a demon and had been for as long as he could remember." The crowd was on it's feet and the immortals were in attack positions, ready to take Andrew down. Tabitha raised her hand.

"Please sit down. The council will hear all testimony and then the future will be decided." It took a moment, but the immortals warily returned to their seats. Tabitha nodded at Johari. "Please continue with your tale."

"The demon managed to gain control of Andrew and tried to attack me and run. Our fight was the strangest I have ever had. When our skin touched, light flared and threw us both back. In that time, Andrew regained control. I was confused. I had never seen anything like it, or even heard of another who had. Some of this I reported to you." Tabitha nodded.

"The last report from you was that the demon was destroyed, but nothing about how. Paul also reported that he made Andrew forget about the whole thing."

"I had very little to do with the demon's destruction. The demon gained possession again and when I touched Andrew, the power flared again. This time, I held on instead of letting it blow us apart. Somehow Andrew was able to take the light into himself and he destroyed the demon with it. Paul tried to make him forget all about us. Not only did that not work, but he revealed to me that he knew exactly what I was and didn't care. He said that I was what I was and he was alright with that. I couldn't believe that I could have found someone to accept me so fully in a human. I didn't know how to protect him from this world we live in. The idea that came to me was that as long as he wasn't going to frighten away, maybe I could bribe him to stay close to me, but not so close that I would have to worry about my world spilling over into his. I bought him his dream car, offered him an expensive house and fancy clothes. I let him know that there was plenty of money to do whatever he wanted with it. To my everlasting surprise and amazement. An eighteen year old boy, who should be caring about those kinds of things, didn't bat an eye. He just turned it all down, and said that I was all that he wanted." She glanced pointedly at Lazarus as if to say something to him by her look. He didn't notice, or at least pretended not to. "I have never been accepted so completely as I am. No ifs, ands, or buts and no strings attached. He was going to continue to love me despite anything that I might have done or anything that I might do in the future. At the time, I was overwhelmed, but I was also filled with joy. I stopped trying to keep him away, since none of my attempts had done any good anyway and I spent as much of my time as I could with him." Her mood turned more somber. "Then one evening, I went over to his house after I met with Paul. I got there just in time to hear a phone conversation from his work asking if he left yet because he was fifteen minutes late. It was dark and the rain was pouring down that night. I felt my heart flutter, and I knew instantly that somewhere, he was dying. I ran as fast as I could along the route that he would have taken to get to his job and I found his car, smashed and laying on its side in the ditch alongside the road. I didn't know until he told me later, but two more demons had been dispatched to prevent Andrew from being able to join us or to destroy another of their kind. One of them smashed into the side of his car several times forcing him to swerve. The other drove a large semi truck and smashed into his car at full speed. The demons left the area, believing their job to be completed." Johari's voice was full of the pain she had experienced coming into that scene. "As I approached the car, I could see that his life was draining from him. His neck was broken, as was his jaw, both arms and both legs, all in several different places. No paramedics had arrived on the scene yet, and I knew that he would not make it even if they did. I decided to break the law. I didn't care at that moment. I gently pulled him out of the car and laid him on the road. His eyes fluttered open and I asked him then if he wanted to live. He couldn't speak because of the state of his jaw, but he still tried to smile at me, even through the pain that it must have caused him. Then he blinked at me twice. I asked him if he knew what it meant, if he knew that he would become what I was. And he blinked twice more. I knew what he meant by the blinks. He was trying to say yes the only way that he could in his condition." Lazarus jumped to his feet, grin on his face.

"See, she even admits her crime. Why is this charade continuing?" Johari shook her head.

"You do not know all that you need to yet." She looked at Tabitha.

"Please sit down Lazarus. I will hear everything from everyone involved before I make my final decision and you should want that same thing." Lazarus returned to his chair with a frown on his face. "Please continue Johari."

"I knew that I didn't have permission, but I was willing to risk it and ask for assessment afterward since there was no time then to ask. I bent over him to begin the process to change him. Before I even cut my skin to give him blood, he faded from consciousness. Sirens blared nearby and then he died." The room erupted again. The looks on Lazarus and Tabitha's faces were identical disbelieving. Johari waited for it to quiet down a bit. Andrew stared at her with a similar face of disbelief. Johari smiled at him. "I know it sounds impossible, but I never gave you any of my blood." She turned back to the table. "The ambulance arrived at that point and I had a brief hope that they could revive him enough to allow me a chance."

Andrew glanced around the room and found almost every face locked on Johari in rapt attention even though the end was obvious. Surely the paramedics had saved him long enough for her to turn him.

"I followed the ambulance on foot and listened to them as they worked on him. It was strange to feel the jolt of their equipment in my own heart as they tried to get his heart beating again. They didn't even make it halfway to the hospital before they called his death. I was lost and heartbroken. I went to his wake and then to his funeral. I watched them lower his casket into the ground. I watched them cover it with dirt." Everyone was staring at Andrew who was staring at Johari. He hadn't known any of this. He had just assumed she had saved him, but now he didn't know what to think. "My hope and my life were done. The night after the funeral, I began to contemplate taking my own life. I didn't think that I could bear eternity any longer without him in it with me. I decided to wait for a few days before I made my final decision on the matter. Even in my distress, I was far too rational after all my time on this earth to make a spur of the moment decision like that, one based solely on emotion. If I continued to feel the same way, then I would go ahead with my plan. Two mornings later, just at daybreak, I felt my heart skip a beat, like it was realigning itself to something else, another part of itself. I went down to the driveway and stood there waiting for what was coming, not yet daring to hope, not understanding how it was possible. And then there he was, covered in blood, most of it his own. He cried that he had accidentally killed his mother, but I found no fault with him. All have struggled at first with their new lives, he was no different. We have been together ever since. And since then, I have been truly content and happy with my life. In a way that I have not been since I first took up this mantle of a life of blood. Most of the time has been spent together in the simple joy of each other. I still do not know what happened, but all I can believe is that the Creator saved him. Whatever happened, I am forever grateful that we were both given a second chance." Tabitha grinned at Johari with real pleasure, though there was still an air of uncertainty about it.

"I am so happy for you Johari. I can find no fault in you for the crimes that you have been accused of. Obviously, Lazarus' informants missed much in their gathering of information. You would not have left him alone had you changed him and did what you could to prevent him from discovering your identity." Lazarus interrupted Tabitha,

"What of teaching? Have you made no attempt at teaching him our language or how to control himself?" Johari smiled.

"I have taught him nothing, nor will I." Lazarus looked pleased.

"You have no intention to teach him?" Even Tabitha looked surprised at this. Johari shook her head.

"It is unnecessary." Tabitha shook her head.

"I believe Lazarus is right in this case. You must teach him the language and he must be taught a measure of self control." Johari smiled.

"He already speaks the language fluently. He apparently absorbed it when we were fighting the demon within himself." Tabitha held up a hand to silence the outburst in the room.

"Please hold your comments for now. Could you pause as well Nathanial." The translator stopped whispering in Andrew's ear. It was sort of a relief. Not that his mind couldn't listen to both languages at the same time, it was just harder to focus with both voices running. Tabitha looked at him. "Is everything that she has said so far true," she asked? He glanced quickly at Johari who nodded almost imperceptibly.

"As far as I know. I absorbed a lot of information during that connection and when I turned, the knowledge was still with me." It was hard to say for sure, but he thought that Lazarus looked just the tiniest bit disappointed at his words. Then Lazarus smiled at Johari. His smile widened. Maybe not. Something was going on here that Andrew didn't understand and he didn't care for that at all. He wondered if they had a chance of surviving, no matter what was said. Tabitha spoke up again.

"Very impressive Andrew. I have not heard of any young Blood learning our language as a human." She smiled at both of us. "Although there is some investigation to be done as to the source of young Andrew's change, with the information shared I think that this trial can end happily for all involved."

"No!" Lazarus stood up so fast that his chair flew backward and smashed into the wall behind him. It fell in several pieces to the floor. Even being able to focus as well as Andrew could, it was difficult to see Lazarus as he moved around, and Andrew didn't notice him standing up until he was doing it. Andrew struggled to concentrate harder. It felt important to him that he be able to see those movements. Lazarus was speaking again and his voice sounded desperate, "The immortal, Andrew, is still insane, despite what Johari may say about him. He killed his own mother upon completion of the change. No Blood can go go around killing and get away with it. He must die. It is law." Andrew's mind saw Lazarus begin to move around the table and then toward him at an incredible rate.

The robed guards who were still around him but five feet away on all sides, were still staring at the front desk, where Lazarus had been only instants before. It was as if no one else in the room had noticed him moving yet. Andrew knew that this original immortal was planning to take him out before he had a chance to argue his case any further. He hurtled toward Andrew, and even though Andrew's mind was fast, it wasn't fast enough. He saw the fist fly out, but couldn't see it fast enough to react.

The fist struck him squarely in the chest and Andrew heard and felt his sternum and a rib or two crack under the blow. The semi he played baseball with on his first day had nothing on this man's fist. Andrew was launched backward at an incredible rate, bowling over the two guards behind him. He flew back a good twenty five feet and would have gone even further except that a large stone pillar caught and held him fast. His head rattled as it struck the stone, pieces of it falling and hitting the floor at his feet.

In the instants after striking, Andrew tried to refocus back on Lazarus. He knew that the crazy Blood wouldn't wait. He would strike again. Andrew's eyes found Lazarus. He put every effort he could muster into concentrating on Lazarus' movements. His life depended on it. As he did, something in Andrew's mind clicked as though a door within had been opened.

His mind focused on Lazarus and took note of his movements. As fast as Lazarus might be, Andrew's thoughts were much faster. So much faster in fact that it almost seemed as if the other were moving in slow motion. A huge fist drew back and came hurtling forward, strait for his head.

Andrew waited for the fist to approach. At the last instant, he stepped aside. Lazarus had put so much of himself into the punch that he didn't even notice that Andrew had moved until he stumbled past. His fist struck the stone pillar that had been behind Andrew there was a loud crack as the stone pillar lost a large piece off of the side. There was a growl of anger then Andrew heard the air hurtling around Lazarus' fist as he moved to strike from behind.

Andrew felt the air pushed ahead of Lazarus' fist move the hairs on his neck. He stepped aside and Lazarus blew past him and stumbled over the guards who had just stood up, taking them down once again. Andrew stepped back to where he had been standing in the same instant. From the collective gasp in the room, it was obvious that he had moved faster than anyone had registered. It would have appeared that Lazarus went through Andrew as though he were a ghost.

Chapter 36

Andrew moved forward, around the guards and Lazarus, all still on the floor. He looked up at the three remaining figures at the table. "How is it that Johari has the right to argue against her charges and I do not?" Tabitha looked shocked and more than a little angry, but that last emotion was directed at the figure on the floor, not toward him.

"Yes, Lazarus? How do you have the right to carry out a sentence that has not even been decided yet? This young Blood you have charged hardly seems as insane as you have proposed and I would like to hear what he has to say."

"Fine," Lazarus muttered, standing once again, a short distance behind Andrew. "I should think that the fact that he intentionally sought out his mother and killed her before looking for Johari would be enough proof for you." The frustration in his voice was evident. It was obvious that he had not expected to be thwarted like this and was no longer as certain of the outcome. Johari smiled at Andrew and spoke up.

"Tabitha, Lazarus' informants are as misinformed in this case as they were in my own. When Andrew first awoke as one of us, he did not know exactly what had happened. He did not recall the accident that led to his death or know that he was now one of us. He was dirty from crawling out of his grave and his first thought was to go home and get cleaned up, just as he would have done before. Upon arriving at home, he saw his mother standing in the kitchen, cutting food on a cutting board. She thought he was dead and did not expect to see him. In her shock, she attacked him with the knife in her hands. Andrew was unprepared for this and reacted, but moved a little too quickly. His mother was stabbed, but it was an accident. Also, his mother survived the wound and is recovering." Lazarus interrupted.

"Even if that were true, you are saying that a human being now knows that her son, who was dead, is alive. This cannot be. How many has she told?" Johari smiled.

"Paul got to her in time and made her believe that what she remembered was a thief who broke into the house and ended up attacking her."

"What about attacking the truck on the highway," Lazarus asked, his voice sounding desperate.

"After Andrew regained control, he believed that his mother would die from what he had done and he couldn't stand the thought. He decided to end his life as he thought it was supposed to have ended. He went to the scene of his car accident and jumped out in front of a truck. The truck didn't hurt him and the driver never stopped to see what he hit." Tabitha turned to Lazarus.

"You never even checked any of the details of this story before charging these two did you? Where has your ideal of true justice among us gone? Why would you behave like this?" Andrew could feel Lazarus behind him. The immortal was almost quivering.

"Wait! I have more to share," he said. Andrew turned his head around to look at him. He was looking around the room. "Salem, come forward." Salem seemed to be one of the ones who had come to the house to pick them up. He was shaking his head at Lazarus as if to warn him not to do this, but Lazarus didn't seem to notice. "Come and witness to those gathered, Salem." Reluctantly, Salem stepped forward out of the crowd. "Tell the members of the council how Andrew almost endangered the secret of our existence on his way here."

"I apologize Lazarus, but he did nothing untoward for me to report." Lazarus had been smiling up at the other three members of the council, but at this he whirled to face Salem. Salem blanched at the look on his face.

"Nothing? Are you serious? Not even when the girl..." He stopped, but he had said too much. Tabitha was staring at him in confusion.

"What is the meaning of this? Explain yourself Lazarus," she demanded. Lazarus shook his head.

"There is nothing to explain. I will have to speak to my informants. I was told that he attacked a young woman at the airport." Johari raised her hand to get Tabitha' attention. There was a small smile on her face that to Andrew looked like a smile of victory.

"I must report that something did happen at the airport. In the terminal here at Tel Aviv, we were walking to get outside when a young woman came at Andrew with a knife. At the time, I believed it to be coincidence. Now I am no longer sure." Tabitha's eyes turned to Lazarus.

"Lazarus?" Her voice was slightly higher and a lot more upset than it had been before. "Am I hearing this correctly? You had them bring a young Blood through a busy airport system before we had even had a chance to evaluate him? You should know better than that." Her eyes widened. "You did it on purpose? To what end? What justice is there in any of this?"

"But... I... He..." Lazarus sputtered. His face froze in stone. "She's mine." He stopped as though he knew that those words would be meaningless for him here. He looked straight at Andrew. "You can't have her. They told me that I can have her if I kill you for them." Then he was rushing once again. He swung his fist, faster even than before, but Andrew's mind clicked into the mode which made everything seem so slow. One of the things Andrew's parents had done when he was a young boy had been to make him join an Aikido class to try to overcome some of the darkness and maybe make some friends. Andrew had never been any good, but all of the motions were somehow now in his head.

As his fist approached, Andrew stepped up and to the side. Then his right hand guided the fist past his face and then wrapped around Lazarus' wrist. Andrew's left hand came up just behind the elbow and used the force of his punch, which was quite a bit, shoving out in a throw. Lazarus flew and rolled, landing twenty feet away.

The landing didn't seem to faze him and he was up and at Andrew again. He swung again and again and Andrew just guided and threw him away each time. It was easy to react to his attacks since Andrew could see each one long before it could connect. As Lazarus struggled in vain to land a strike, Andrew's mind put together the last words and figured out some of what must be going on here.

Lazarus had to have fallen in love, or at least felt that he did, with Johari when she was on the council with them, or even before. Now he felt that she belonged to him and no one else. Andrew was just competition in the way, to be eliminated and then forgotten.

What Lazarus didn't realize was that Andrew was a figure on the other side of an impenetrable wall that existed between Johari and himself. Lazarus believed that if he crushed Andrew, that the wall might disappear as well. He didn't understand Johari at all. All he would get by killing the one she loved was a wall that was even more impenetrable. No matter what he did, she would never be his.

"She is not yours, nor will she ever be," Andrew said to him, though he understood that in Lazarus' current, frenzied state, he would never be able to hear or to understand. "I hate to be an inconvenience, but I do not wish to harm him, and I don't know how much longer I will be able to keep this up without reaching that point," Andrew said to no one in particular as he continued to watch Lazarus and counter the attacks. Tabitha's voice was laden with sadness as she gave the order.

"Stop him," she said. Eight robed figures converged on the flashing figure as he struggled to avoid them and to reach his goal. There was foam forming on his lips as he tried to fight off his new assailants. Sixteen arms that were not slow or weak themselves, were almost not enough to contain him. After a moment or two of struggle, they were at last able to grab him and hold him in place. "Oh Lazarus," Tabitha said sadly, "Why have you given it all up? You know the duty we have. Why do this for a relationship that was never meant to be? She never did anything to give you any indication that she would be more than a friend." She sighed with a look of such sorrow on her face that Andrew felt sorry she had to discover this treachery by her compatriot. "I'm truly sorry Lazarus, but I must vote to relieve you of your duties until such a time as the council finds you recovered enough to reinstate you." She turned to each of the others at the table with her. "Gregorr, Elizabet, how do you vote?" Both stared at Lazarus with a similar, but somehow lesser degree of sadness, as if they didn't have the same personal connection to him that Tabitha did.

"I agree that there is no other choice. He must be relieved for now," said Gregorr with a nod.

"Relieve him," echoed Elizabet. Tabitha looked at the eight guards.

"Please escort him to his room. Allow him to gather that which he can carry with him and then remove him from the grounds." She looked at him. "It didn't have to be this way Lazarus. Return to us after at least a year has passed, if that is your desire when the time comes. We will hear you and decide whether or not you are ready to once again join us on this council. We don't often give second chances, but for all that you have done for the community of the Blood, you have one." She waved a dismissing hand. The eight immortals, moving as one began to take their burden toward the door. Lazarus pulled back, resisting being forced from the room.

"Come now and destroy these filthy vermin, but don't harm the girl!" Lazarus screamed out as he pulled back against the eight and managed to break free of their hold. It was then that Andrew noticed a tingling feeling crawling over the back of his neck. That had only happened a few other times, but he knew it at once.

"There are demons here," he yelled out in English before realizing that many of those here wouldn't understand. He repeated himself in Aramaic and the room erupted in chaos.

Chapter 37

Dark forms rushed into the room from all possible openings like bugs pouring from a disturbed nest. Now that Andrew's vision was modified by his recent upgrades, they were no longer the blurs that he remembered from the days of his humanity.

They were humanoid, but the similarities were far fewer than the differences. Their faces were flat and featureless with no eyes, mouth or nose. There were two vertical slits about a half of an inch long near the center of the black skin. The arms were long and bulky, though not in a rounded muscular form, just large. The legs were also long and bulky, though not as much as the arms. The torso was slender and shorter. They had no real necks to speak of. All in all, they were ugly and seemed as if they should be awkward in their movements, but instead they moved with a grace and speed that defied belief.

"That one," screamed Lazarus! He pointed and face after blank face of demon swiveled in Andrew's direction, before charging toward him. The flow didn't seem to cease and Andrew lost count at almost a hundred. He grabbed the first as it came within reach and whipped it into the oncoming demons. The move bowled over three of them, but it did little to slow the onslaught. Andrew did the only thing he could think of.

Moving as fast as it seemed only he could, he stepped between the demons and grabbed Johari and pulled her with him out of the center of the mass. They moved around the table to where Tabitha stood just as the demons crashed together in the spot he had been only moments before. From behind the table, Andrew spun and pulled Tabitha and Johari with him and backed up against the stone wall. By this point, the confused demons spotted him and turned to rush once again.

The first of the demons reached them followed by Lazarus. Andrew dropped into a fighting stance and stepped into the first demon's attack. His left arm swept aside the strike and then his right fist bowled into the demon's chest with a cracking sound. It, along with several behind it, flew back several feet and landed in a pile on the floor.

He was about to step up when Johari stepped past.

"Help the others," she muttered into the air in front of her just as she blocked the first hit by one of the still standing demons. Andrew froze for a moment, fear for her at the front of his thoughts. Then he realized she was right. He could reach them all. Andrew switched into high speed and moved to the closest Blood locked in a fierce battle that she was losing against four demons.

Andrew grabbed the young looking female by the back of her shirt and hauled her out of the middle of the circle of demons. A kick as he did sent three of the demons crashing to the floor.

"Thanks!" Andrew let go of her and she rushed the one still standing. It was still facing the center of the circle where she had been a moment before and didn't even turn in time to see where the blow that knocked it from its feet came from.

Andrew moved around the room freeing those in danger of being trampled under and setting them back in the fight where they had a better chance of doing some good. There were only a few to go when he noticed that Lazarus had reached the front of the group demons and found that Andrew wasn't there. Lazarus turned instead to Tabitha and started to bring his large fist to bear upon her. Andrew started to run toward her.

Her tiny hand came up and Lazarus' fist stopped in the air. Demons and Blood alike stopped and watched in shock as she held his fist in the palm of her hand. Then, as they watched, tears began to fall from her eyes. Lazarus gasped.

"No! This isn't possible!" At first, the reason for Lazarus' shock was unknown, but then a slow wizening of first his hand and then his arm appeared and the answer became apparent. It didn't stop there, but crept up his arm and vanished inside of his shirt, reappearing moments later, both on his other arm and creeping up his neck. His hair began to fade into gray and then pure white. His back bent and he seemed to shrink. His fingers became gnarled lumps of their former glory.

Somehow, Tabitha had taken the life from Lazarus. Tabitha's now golden brown hair and twenty something face was the saddest thing Andrew had ever seen as her hand dropped to her side and Lazarus staggered back from her on unsteady, ancient legs.

"He told me this would happen one day, but I refused to believe. I'm angrier at myself for not seeing this than I am at you for losing your way." One last tear fell and then she wiped both eyes and they were gone. "I'm sorry my old friend. May you find forgiveness and happiness on the other side."

The whole exchange seemed like it lasted a long time. In truth, it was no more than two or three minutes. In that time, no one in the room moved.

At the sight of their inside ally being destroyed, some of the demons went into an angry frenzy and began to fight even more fiercely. However, most of them backed away and then turned and ran. Andrew was sure they were afraid that Tabitha could destroy them with a touch as well, and to be sure, the thought crossed his mind. There was no telling just how much power this woman had. From the look on Johari's face, she had no idea either.

Lazarus fell down onto the floor as his legs could no longer hold his weight. What landed was no longer him. The ash that hit the floor spread out and settled as powder onto the floor. As they continued to watch, even the ash faded into nothingness. Andrew shuddered as he realized how complete Lazarus' destruction had been, and how quick that total destruction had occurred.

Andrew joined back in the fight as those thoughts ran through his mind. With most of the demons running, it wasn't much of a fight to dispatch the few who remained. When it was over, several immortals took the pieces of torn demons and removed them from the room as Tabitha and the other two council members vanished from the room.

Johari and Andrew stood there as the room cleared and looked at each other, hopeful, but still uncertain as to what the future would hold. He reached out a hand and she smiled, taking it into her own. The soft tingle flowed at their touch as Andrew smiled back at her.

"It's really not fair you know," she said through the smile.

"What's not fair," he asked softly? She pulled him to her and he picked her up into his arms where she whispered in his ear.

"You are just a young immortal, yet so much stronger and faster than any other. I thought we agreed I was supposed to be the stronger one." Andrew thought he detected a note of humor in her voice, but wasn't positive until she pulled back and grinned. "You are the most amazing thing I have ever had the pleasure to know."

"Funny, that's what I thought when I got to know you!" He grinned back at her and then they were kissing. Lost in the pleasure, those ever present explosions of joy, it took them both a minute to acknowledge the soft throat clearing. A young looking Blood stood there waiting for them to finish their celebration of each other and the life that they shared.

Chapter 38

"Tabitha is ready to see you both privately. If you would please follow me." He turned and began to walk away. Andrew set Johari down, but grabbed her hand before she could move too far away. Together they followed the guide through the back door in the room and deeper into the corridors of the palace.

They were taken to a spacious sitting room. Gregorr and Elizabet were inside talking to Tabitha, but on their entry, they stood and bowed to Tabitha before turning to Johari and Andrew.

"Thank you both for your strength today," said Gregorr. Elizabet nodded her agreeance.

"We would not have been able to overcome this deceit without your help." They both smiled and then went into another room off to the side of the sitting room. During this exchange, Tabitha remained seated. After they left the room, she motioned for the two to sit as well. There were several brown leather chairs and couches arranged into a semi circle in the center of the room.

"Is it safe to discuss anything in here?" Tabitha nodded, though a small frown formed on her face.

"Yes, we are private here and free to discuss whatever you wish."

"Did the power you used have something to do with the fact that you aren't a Blood in the same sense that we are?"

"How in the world did you know that," she asked? Tabitha looked at both of us, the surprise evident in her face. Johari also looked surprised.

"Did you tell him that," Tabitha asked her? Johari shook her head.

"That was not my secret to share. I have told no one. I do not know how he knows." Andrew felt himself blushing a little under their scrutiny, something he hadn't even been sure he could still do as an immortal.

"I apologize if I know something that is not supposed to be known, but I'm surprised that the fact isn't widely known. You smell quite a bit different than the rest of the Blood I have been around."

"What did you just say?"

"What?" The two women spoke almost at the same time. Tabitha spoke again first. "What do you mean smell? Are you telling me that you can smell if someone is an immortal?" Andrew nodded.

"Yes, I first noticed it when Salem and the other one came to escort us here. Why are you so surprised? Can't any of you smell others?" Both women shook shook their heads in negation. "How do you tell if someone is a Blood or not?" There was a moment of silence and then Johari spoke.

"There usually is no need since we are such a small group and have excellent memories, we all usually just know who the others are. If there is one we do not know, it is because they are younger and at that point have not yet mastered complete control over their new selves. If you know what you are looking for, it is easy to see the difference between human motion and a Blood's. You are saying that you can smell a difference?" Andrew nodded.

"Yes, quite a bit of difference actually, though it is hard to describe what it is. I would describe it as how much life there is in an individual. Humans have bodies that smell alive, but blood that smells normal. Normal Blood like Salem or Johari have bodies that smell more preserved than alive, but blood that smells as if it had a life of its own. Tabitha, you smell as though you have the immortal blood, yet your bodies also smell alive, even more so than the humans do." Tabitha pondered this a moment and then nodded.

"That makes a certain sort of sense, though I cannot differentiate the smell the way you obviously can. I understand where the difference would come from though. Lazarus and I are," she paused for a moment and cleared her throat, "were, two of the first of our kind and our bodies are still completely human and even more alive than when we were humans. You as Blood do not have the fully alive bodies, just the knowledge and strength in the blood to keep the body from decaying or being damaged." That made sense to Andrew, though there was still one thing he didn't understand.

"Even if you are the first, what makes you so different?"

"You and I share the same kind of blood, which descended from one of the first of us, but you don't share the same method of awakening. All of us died, but we were brought back to life through other means. This resurrection from the dead gave our blood the knowledge of life after death, but the rest of you were awakened by the blood, not truly resurrected." Andrew's eyes widened as the names clicked in his mind. Johari hadn't been kidding when she said that Jesus was real and had been the creator of the Blood. Here were those who He had raised from the dead and they were the beginnings of the entire new race of beings.

"Why did He do it?"

"He set up this council and gave us the guidelines in which He wanted us to live. He informed us all that there was a purpose behind us becoming immortals as we had and that the purpose would become clear to us one day. It became clear to us as we discovered the demons in the world. We have been fighting them ever since."

They chatted about the purpose of the immortals and about other things for a while, but both Johari and Andrew could see the sadness behind the smile on Tabitha's face. He couldn't imagine how difficult it must be to see someone you have been with for two thousand years throw that away and turn against everything you believed in. After a time, they mentioned that they would like to head for home. Tabitha nodded.

"I understand the desire. It is difficult for me to be long away from this place, though I do leave from time to time. In fact, if it is agreeable to you, I would like to visit you at your home in the future."

"Of course! We would love to have you," said Johari with a smile. "Feel free to come whenever you would like." Andrew nodded his own agreement.

They both stood up and Tabitha stood with them. She stepped forward and shook Andrew's hand.

"It was a pleasure meeting you Andrew. I look forward to seeing what you are capable of with a little time and practice." She moved over and hugged Johari. "I am overjoyed that you have found joy in your life. May it ever be as strong for you both as it is today." She walked over to a small table in corner and pressed a button on the phone sitting on it. "Can you send in Salem please." There was a brief pause and then a slight tap on the door. "Come in." Salem opened the door and stepped inside, closing it behind him. "Salem, please take them back to the airport and see them on their way home." He nodded at her.

"Of course Tabitha."

As they followed Salem out through the corridors of the massive building, Andrew thought about the last day. This trip had been an eye opener for him. He had not known anything about the time after his accident aside from the blurry memories. There was something strange about how he had turned that everyone appeared to be avoiding. Somehow, he had changed without being changed. He shouldn't be here. He realized as he smiled at Johari that it didn't matter. They were alive and they were going to be together forever. Johari smiled back and Andrew's world was the most beautiful thing, more beautiful than he had ever imagined could be possible.

Chapter 39

Salem took them to the airport and purchased them tickets on the first flight home. Andrew didn't even notice anything around him. He only had eyes for Johari. From the airport, Johari called Paul to update him on what had happened here. Andrew wondered if he would soon get the chance to meet Paul as a fellow immortal and to thank him for what he had done for Andrew's mother. If not soon, Andrew realized that they both had plenty of time and he was sure that at some point, he would get the chance.

They talked for a moment, and then she hung up the phone. Andrew wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to the conversation or to the things around him. He was just reveling in being alive and in being with her. She sat beside him for a moment as they were waiting to board the plane, and then she shook her head.

"How do you do it," she asked? Andrew glanced over at her beautiful face.

"What do you mean?"

"I have been around for nearly eight hundred years. I was convinced that I had seen everything that I would see after only two hundred of those years. That belief held true for all of the next six hundred years. All I ever saw was the repeat of things that I had already seen. Humans and Blood existing the same as they always had since their beginnings. Sure there were new inventions and new ideas, but the reactions of humans and of Blood to their surroundings has remained unchanged. I always knew what to expect. Yet, after all that time, you show up in my life and manage to surprise me when you are still just a human. Then, you continue to do it as an immortal. I can't turn around without you doing something amazing and unbelievable." She leaned over and gripped him tight within her arms. Then the real reason for her words came out. "I thought he was going to kill you," she whispered. "I thought I was going to lose you and then, somehow, you moved faster than the fastest being I have ever known. So fast that most, including myself didn't even see you move."

"I guess he wasn't as fast as you thought," Andrew replied with a grin. Johari smiled and shook her head.

"I guess not." There was silence for a moment and then they began to call the first passengers to board the plane. They stood up, waiting to be called. At the other end of this flight was home. That sounded amazing, peace and a long life to enjoy it. Of course, that thought jinxed the whole thing.

Salem was standing beside them once more.

"Please, Tabitha begs you to return. It is not as over as we had believed." A feeling of dread rushed through Andrew once more as the undertone of Salem's words flowed through him. Demons, lots of them and if Tabitha needed their help, it was worse than he could imagine. He didn't want to risk his life again, and he didn't want Johari to risk hers. He just wanted to spend eternity with her, but how could he turn his back on the world when he now had the strength to do something to save it? Not to mention, if the demons won here, they would be after them soon too, no matter where they were.

"Of course we will come," replied Johari. She paused and looked at Andrew as she realized that this may not be the same decision he had come to. He smiled at her and took her hand, and then they followed Salem back to face their demons.

Chapter 40

Tabitha waited in the same sitting room with Gregorr and Elizabet. The three were talking heatedly, but stopped as Johari and Andrew entered.

"Thank the Lord!" Tabitha stood up from were she was sitting and motioned them over. The others stood as well. "Lazarus probably had no idea, but his attack here was supposed to fail. It was simply a distraction so that they could all gather without us knowing. That's why so many of them just ran at the end. They were rushing to meet up with the others where they knew they had a real chance of destroying us." She paused for a moment, "and they do have a real chance of that. There are thousands of them outside the city, preparing to march this way as we speak. You are both powerful, and we need every hand we can get to await them here."

That sounded like a terrible idea to Andrew, but he didn't want to disagree with Tabitha. She had years of experience, while he was so young. He wasn't able to keep the frown from his face though and Johari noticed it.

"What's the problem," she asked? Andrew looked at her and was relieved that he could address her instead of Tabitha. She frightened him a little bit. It didn't help that he remembered her as looking like she was at least middle aged, and now she didn't look a day over twenty.

"If we fight here, we have no chance." That got everyone's attention in a hurry.

"What do you mean," Gregorr and Elizabet asked at the same time? Andrew turned from Johari to face the other three in the room.

"If we wait for them here, they will gather up any humans they find along the way and march them in front to block us. No matter how strong or fast we are, many of them will be killed. Isn't it our job to protect them? It will be impossible to do that within the confines of the city." Three sets of eyes widened.

"How in the world did we not see that?"

"What do we do now?" Tabitha turned to Andrew.

"Lazarus was always intended to be our leader in major war and has served in that capacity before. Now we find ourselves without one so inclined. What would you recommend that we do?"

"The only chance you have is to take the fight to them before they can use the people of this city against you." The three nodded in agreement. "You are facing a larger group, so you need to use small attacks and try to separate the demons so you can attack them in smaller numbers." There was more nodding.

The next hour found Andrew planning a battle. He wanted to go home with Johari and leave this fight to someone else, but he wasn't about to abandon his new duty as a Blood. It also occurred to him that if the Blood lost here, it wouldn't be long before he and Johari were fighting demons anyway and with much less help. So he stayed and they prepared to fight.

Chapter 41

That was how Johari and Andrew ended up on the hilltop, the wind in their hair and death waiting before them. Andrew could see the dark blurs moving down in the trees at the bottom of the hill. As far as he could tell, they hadn't been spotted yet and they stepped back from the tip of the hill to keep it that way.

Although Andrew could catch nothing but glimpses here and there, he knew that the hill behind him was also filled with figures waiting for battle. Andrew hoped that they didn't die following his plans, but he knew that was a hope in vain.

Andrew still wasn't even sure what could kill an immortal. He assumed that if something were strong enough they could be ripped apart, but was that enough? Hopefully he could do enough to save her before he found out.

"Are we ready?" Tabitha's sudden appearance at his side surprised him, but Andrew did nothing to show it. He just nodded.

"As ready as we can be." She nodded back and vanished down the hillside. She had insisted on being a part of this fight and Andrew was not about to argue with her. She was a powerful fighter and they needed every one they could get.

It hadn't even been a day since the council meeting, so there hadn't been much time to call in more reinforcements, though everyone nearby had received the summons to fight. Behind him were maybe five hundred Blood and from what scouts could determine, there were thousands upon thousands of demons. There wasn't much hope against those odds, but Andrew would fight to the last as would all there with him. What other choice did they have?

Andrew raised his left fist, right hand still gripping Johari's hand like he never intended to let go, which wasn't far from the truth. As impossible as it seemed, the stillness behind him became even more pronounced with that signal. His fist dropped and quiet movement began to flow around both sides of the hill. After waiting a moment to let the pieces of my attack flow into position, Johari and Andrew returned to the top of the hill.

This time they made no attempt to hide their presence. They were spotted by some of the outlying demons who bellowed and began to run in their direction. A deeper voice boomed out from among the trees and the running demons tumbled to a halt and began to run back the other way. Someone was in charge there and Andrew didn't like that idea at all.

Johari had filled him in a little bit on some of the previous demon battles and most had been just hordes of them attacking with little in the way of leadership or form. The plan of attack had been based upon the premise that they would be disorganized. They would have to keep an eye on that.

"Cowards!" He laughed at the retreating demons. A quick squeeze and Johari joined in the mocking. About six of them broke off from their hasty retreat and turned back around, ignoring the fresh commands from the trees to return. The six ran up the hill, dodging and weaving in and among the trees. Along the way, there were several thuds as if they were running into those trees. The one who made it through didn't seem to recognize that it was now alone.

In the distance, more thuds and cries could be heard echoing the sounds of similar attacks all around the flanks of the demon horde. Andrew stopped listening to those sounds as the demon in front of them approached. He and Johari parted hands and circled the monster.

Andrew waited for her strike from the front and timed his to match from the back. Their fists struck, one in front and one in back where Andrew supposed the things heart would be if it had one. Sparks burst from Andrew's hand and he felt others coming from Johari's side. Those sparks tore through the skin that was like dried leather and their hands met on the inside which was more like rotten meat. Their other fists came from opposite sides of its head while it was still in shock about the hole in its chest. The strike ripped the head off of the trembling shoulders and one less demon remained.

In spite of the attacks all around, instead of engaging in the attack, the central core of the demon army pulled in even tighter and ignored the small losses around the edge. That was not at all what Andrew had hoped for.

After a few moments, several scouts came running up to report. Out of all the small groups set up to harry the outliers, only one Blood had been injured and he would be fine. Andrew learned then that a torn Blood limb can be reattached or will even regrow given enough time. With only that one injury, thirty eight demons had been dispatched. It was a positive start, but it was not even close to enough.

Andrew forced an upbeat smile and sent the scouts back to start the second round of attacks. Again he waited a moment for them to run to positions and then stepped forward so the demons could see him.

"You weaklings didn't even scratch us, but we tore you limb from limb! I didn't expect to be fighting such pathetic little things!" Andrew's voice boomed out across the field of demons and similar insults from others around the ring echoed through through the trees. The answering chorus of bellows from the black crowd before us rumbled through the little valley. A group of nearly a hundred demons broke off on Andrew and Johari's side of the ring, ignoring the orders from within to hold. The orders sounded angrier than the first time. Something wasn't happy with it's soldiers.

As the hundred or so wove their way up the hill, about ten disappeared along the way, but most made it to the top. Andrew threw up his fist and twenty Blood appeared from the trees and merged with them into a solid group. Together, they charged into the oncoming crowd, not focusing on destroying, but dividing and knocking back. A second run and then a third separated and confused the demons who expected to fight, not chase creatures who just kept moving.

They ran to the center and then scattered in all directions in groups of four or five, each group picking a demon and forcing it to move with them. As they moved, the groups each attacked the accompanying demon and destroyed it. Those not attacking the demon in the group focused on keeping others away. As each demon was destroyed, the group turned and ran in a new direction, choosing another demon. In Andrew's group, he chose to remain on the outside as he was fast enough to make sure that none but the one they wanted got close. Many times, his fist or foot sent a demon flying back.

The result was spectacular. The demons were demoralized and confused. They didn't know which group to attack or what to expect next. They ended up running around in circles, chasing after whichever group was closest, often to end up as the next one chosen and destroyed.

To be honest, it was a little sad how easy the score of immortals dispatched almost a hundred demons. The only other time Andrew had encountered a demon in it's physical form was when he was still human and his memories were a little fuzzy about that day. If his memory was accurate though, the demon on the side of the road had been much more difficult to face than this. Johari confirmed his thoughts as they dispatched the last.

"These are just the idiots who can't reason enough to follow orders. The real fight yet remains." Andrew nodded his understanding, but couldn't help but feel a little proud at the success of the tactic. Even the dumbest demon can still cause problems in a fight. It was better to eliminate as many as possible now.

The reports from the other groups trickled in and it was even better than last time. No one had been injured and between all twenty groups, each ranging between twenty and thirty Blood, over two thousand demons had been dispatched. The bad news was that this hadn't shrunk the group in the center as much as Andrew would have liked. How many of these monsters were left? Did they have any chance no matter how many they killed?

Andrew shook his head to clear the questions that had no bearing on what must be done. On to the next plan. He let out a shrill whistle and then waited a moment for the groups to gather what had been brought along. He didn't know where Tabitha had found them or why they had been laid aside, but he was glad that they had.

Another shrill whistle and five hundred hand grenades launched together at the center of the mass. The explosions were magnificent and as Andrew watched the resulting chaos, it did exactly what he was expecting. The explosions killed a few of the demons who were struck just right, but better yet, some of the less intelligent fools in their midst panicked and fought to get away from the unexpected blasts. They did more damage in their panic than Andrew could have asked for.

The outer ring of demons felt the inner rings pushing and the blasts. Not knowing what was happening, they moved out away from the crowd, and right into waiting groups of Blood who began to once again pick off lone demons. A bellow of orders in what Andrew could only assume was the demon's tongue once again brought order to the group.

The whole episode took about ten minutes and Andrew estimated another thousand or so demons dead. From the sound of the voice giving orders, this day wasn't going as planned. He let out a double whistle just as the demon general bellowed a command.

The demons, almost as one giant organism, rushed forward in Andrew's direction. Of course, in response to his whistles, the path in which they rushed was empty of Blood. The whole group had pulled back and now rushed in behind to pick off stragglers.

The remaining monsters were neither as weak nor as dumb as some of the earlier ones. Almost before he could see what was happening, large numbers turned and fell upon Blood who had gotten used to the easier kills. Almost a score fell before Andrew yelled for retreat. Of the score down, about ten were left on the field as those still standing dragged the others with them.

Andrew rushed to meet the retreating group. They had eight downed immortals with them and upon evaluation of their bodies, he was told that only four would survive. Andrew discovered then that it was the heart that was the vital piece. It was what contained the life altering blood and pushed it out to the rest of the body. The four who would not survive had theirs crushed and torn out.

After just a moment to regroup, Andrew began the next phase of his plan. They formed into tight fists of ten bodies each. The first fist would slam into the line of demons, focused on one particular demon. Two more fists would make quick strikes on either side of the first giving them all the chance to retreat. Then, two more fists waited back to block any demons who chose to follow the retreat. Andrew discovered with his speed that he could grab one demon and throw it back behind him to be destroyed by the waiting fists. Other groups saw what he was doing and were soon following suit as they were able. This worked much better than the original idea.

Over the next several minutes, another Blood was killed, but they killed at least fifty of the demons. It was a good thing Andrew's soldiers were much harder to wear out than humans because there wasn't time to rest. They continued to strike, but something didn't seem right. The demons in front of them didn't seem to be doing anything different to stop the attacks. He pulled back in his group and looked around. His heart sank. Moving in behind them were a large number of demons. They had been circled and now they were the center mass instead of the demons.

The noose pulled in tighter and tighter. Andrew grabbed Johari's hand and squeezed.

"I love you Johari." She squeezed back and grinned up at him.

"I love you too you big oaf. Now let's beat the crap out of these demons and go home." For whatever reason, even though he knew she was just being optimistic for his sake, he did feel better. He straightened where he stood and prepared to meet what came his way.

"Groups of three," Andrew called to the air in front of him. The fists split and reformed into triangles of three that spread out to give each group room to fight. After that, it was just a mess.

Chapter 42

Each immortal was a little more than a match for most demons. Most Blood can hold their own for a while against three or even four, maybe not enough to win on their own, but enough to defend until others could help. This battle was more than ten demons against each Blood on the field. Johari and Andrew found themselves with another Blood who Andrew didn't recognize from the council room. She had long brown hair hair and was closer to Andrew's height than Johari's.

Moments after she formed the third of their triangle, it felt as though the whole horde of demons rushed in on just their group. Andrew switched into hyper speed mode. The new strategy worked better than he could have hoped.

He kept most of the horde away from Johari and the other girl, allowing them to concentrate on just one at a time. In this way, demon parts began to pile up. Andrew lost focus of anything but the demons in front of them. Step in, block a rushing fist, punch a chest and knock three or so demons back. Run to the other side of his two fighters, grab a diving demon, spin and throw it back into the crowd.

The blow took him by surprise. The larger fist appeared out of nowhere as it landed on the side of his head. Andrew expected to fly, but instead just crashed into a similar massive fist on the other side and fell to the ground in between them, his ears ringing with the force of the blow which had been many times that of the truck he had played baseball with. As he looked up from where he lay on the ground, the rest of the demon materialized and then all hope Andrew had for winning this fight vanished.

Tendrils of smoke curled off of the demon's glistening body. The rest of the demons were all a flat black, but this one was glossy like marble. And it was massive, half again the size of the rest of the horde. It also seemed to be as fast as Andrew and much stronger.

As he watched, the demon struck out at the female Blood whose name Andrew hadn't even learned. Its left hand stretched out and wrapped around her neck and the right smashed through her chest, leaving a hole where her heart should have been.

Andrew stretched out his hand to help her, but the rest of his body wouldn't respond. A growl of anger left his throat as the now free left hand blasted Johari, who had been able to respond. Her neck bent at an awkward angle and she disappeared from his field of view. Andrew felt his heart skip a beat at the same instant and he knew it must have been her beat skipping that he felt. He feared the worst.

The demon pulled its hand from the hole in the female Blood and allowed her limp form to fall away onto the piles of demons they had destroyed. Then the demon looked down at Andrew. It smiled, but it was not a pretty smile. The ragged teeth were blackened and the eyes smoldered with an evil sneer.

"So you're the bug who escaped from my clutches. Look what good it has done you. You are still here where I wanted you, about to be crushed under my heel." It was the voice of the demon who had been shouting orders earlier, but now it was speaking Aramaic. The way it spoke grated like a fork scraped across teeth. Andrew shuddered. "Not much are you?" If he was honest with himself, the monster was right. No matter how fast or strong Andrew was, what chance did he have against it? His will to fight spiraled down and he stopped struggling to move. His arm fell at his side. It was better to just lay here and let this thing kill him than to suffer any longer.

"Ashmodai!" The soft feminine voice burst from the air nearby. "So nice of you to show your ugly face." The demon who had been reaching for Andrew, reared back up and looked for the source of the voice. Andrew didn't care that she had come. What could she do? It was all over. The thoughts sank him down into a great blackness and pressed him inside those prison walls he was so used to.

Andrew forced his eyes open. He saw darkness clouding his vision and his mind snapped. This demon was controlling him. He had been controlled once and he refused to do it again. He pushed back with the light in his mind as hard as he could. He pushed up and out of the prison in his mind. He raised himself up on one arm as the demon looked at him in surprise.

"What are you fighting for you weak little thing? You cannot win." Andrew ignored it's jab and forced himself to sit up. From his new vantage, he could see Tabitha, looking amazing as her twenty something form, standing not twenty feet away. Her feet were planted and her hands were fists at her sides. Andrew was glad that steely gaze was not directed at him. He thought it would have burned right through him.

"Tabitha! Is that really you?" The demon burst into laughter. At least Andrew assumed that's what it was. It sounded like a large animal choking on its own tongue. "Remember the last time we met? That didn't turn out so well for you." Tabitha didn't even blink.

"Last time was different. Today it ends for you. You took one I cared about and destroyed him."

"Lazarus didn't need much help from me. You are pathetic creatures. He destroyed himself, and for simple lust. Now I will destroy you too."

As they talked, Andrew felt more strength returning to his mind and also to his body and after a moment, he stood and stepped back from the two figures locked in a death stare. He glanced around the field and his heart sank. Half of the Blood lay unmoving, Johari among them and his fears of the worst came crashing down on his chest.

As he looked, she sat up and stretched her neck which had been broken, but was no longer. Relief flooded Andrew as he realized that she was going to be okay. Their was sorrow for the rest who would not get back up, but her he could not live without.

That fear gone, Andrew turned back to face the one still in front of him. As he did, the demon, Ashmodai, rushed toward the much smaller form of Tabitha. Its huge truck of a fist came back and then forward at incredible speed. Tabitha stepped forward into a fighting stance much like the one Andrew knew from Aikido. Her right hand came up loosely in an open palm and met the much larger hand coming her way. Her whole form slid back until her back leg dug into the ground enough to stop her and then to everyone's amazement, Ashmodai's fist came to rest in the air, her palm resting against the giant hand.

Tabitha stepped forward and inside of the great fist. Both her hands came back and launched forward in balled fist form, striking Ashmodai's lower stomach. The huge demon doubled over and crashed backward to the ground.

From the look of shock on its face, Andrew knew that Ashmodai had not expected any level of resistance strong enough to deter it. To be honest, he hadn't expected much either. It stood back to its feet, but Ashmodai now stood in a much more defensive stance.

The next few moments were some of the most incredible Andrew had ever witnessed. A small immortal and a demon that was more than twice her size fought back and forth with blows and kicks and blocks. Both went flying several times, but were right back into it. Each looked more and more frustrated as they came to realize how evenly matched they were.

The rest of the battle had ceased to watch this epic fight. Andrew realized that the whole battle thus far had been to set up for this one fight, the outcome of which would decide their fate. It was so close that Andrew had no idea which way the hammer would fall.

It was a small mistake. So small that he wouldn't have even considered it one. Tabitha stepped forward to strike a blow and stepped just a hair too far to the right. Realizing that this would bring her blow off center, she tried to adjust her footing. In the instant it took her to accomplish this, the truck came down from above and drove her to the ground. The demon brought up its foot as its fist came back and as Tabitha struggled to regain her own footing, Ashmodai's foot came down on top of her, burying her small form into the rock and dirt below.

That great foot rose into the air, and fell again with enough force to shake the ground. Andrew couldn't watch any longer. As the foot rose and began to fall once more, he rushed forward as fast as he could. Johari had the same idea and she approached Ashmodai from the opposite side at the same time. Andrew kicked his dropping foot back and then they both grabbed an arm and pulled back. Andrew wasn't sure what either of them hoped to accomplish by this, except that maybe Tabitha would be able to recover.

Instead, Andrew felt the power within him explode outward into the large demon. He also felt himself pulling some of that power out of Johari's hand where it touched his on the demon's arm. He added that to what was flowing into the large beast. It seemed to act almost like a giant taser, rendering the demon unable to control it's limbs. The other demons were bellowing and jumping up and down about this interference in what they saw as a one on one fight. Andrew wasn't certain what to do next.

A blurring figure appeared between Them. Tabitha reached out and placed both hands flat upon Ashmodai's chest, as high as she could reach. Johari and Andrew still had firm grips upon its arms. There was the briefest pause, enough that it would've been impossible for her to hold still that long while they were fighting, and then the same power that came from he and Johari, blasted out of Tabitha's hands almost a hundred fold higher than theirs and ripped through Ashmodai's body. Some of it backlashed into Andrew, and from her gasp, into Johari as well.

The aftereffects of that much power tingled in Andrew from head to toe. It did something else that he didn't expect either. He could feel the part of his body that no longer lived coming back to life. The joy of it made him break into a laughter he couldn't contain. Johari laughed not far away.

Ashmodai wasn't laughing. The look on its face was one of terror as its body rippled from black to gray and then to white. After a few moments, the entire body gleamed white in the early afternoon sun.

"Noooooo!" The agony in his much more lifelike voice was palpable. Johari and Andrew had released him by this point and now they stepped farther away. Ashmodai gripped his head in his hands, still screaming in an eerily human voice, and then he imploded in upon himself, vanishing into a tiny speck in the air. At the same moment, most of the demons vanished.

The hundred or so remaining saw that they faced two hundred and fifty angry immortals and turned to run. Not a single one got away. Instead, they were torn to shreds. Johari and Andrew remained by Tabitha who now looked much older than when they first met her. She started to sag and Andrew grabbed her and held her up.

"I'm so tired," she whispered, "so very, very tired." At that her eyes closed and she lost consciousness.

Andrew could smell the scent of the life within her, and it was fading away. He knew she wouldn't last much longer like this. He had to do something, but he didn't know if he knew how. He reached a hand out to Johari. She frowned, but gave him her hand. At their touch, Andrew felt the same tingling of power they felt at each touch, but now he had some idea what it was. It was the spirit of life within them that was what kept all the Blood alive, not their blood as they believed. Andrew concentrated on that sensation and then tried to move it within himself as he had with the demon who had possessed him.

At first nothing happened. Then Andrew felt a shift within himself. The spirit began to pull from Johari instead of just going back and forth between them. Inside of him, it spun throughout his whole body in a maelstrom, mixing with his own energy and then that spirit of life began to flow out into Tabitha. Andrew prepared himself to feel weaker and to age as it flowed out, but something unexpected happened.

His body began to replenish the life faster than he could get rid of it. A great deal flowed back into Johari, so much that she gasped and dropped his hand. Andrew tried to push harder into Tabitha as the storm within himself was becoming uncomfortable, but he couldn't. He set her on the ground to break the contact. Even that didn't stop the whirlwind. It spiraled up and up until Andrew was certain that it would soon burst from him. At the point where he knew he could take no more, it reached a plateau before spinning down to something he could bear.

"Astonishing!" The young woman on the ground rose to her feet. Her hair was bright and glowing white, though as Andrew watched, it began to fade back into the brown it had been after destroying Lazarus. She looked close to twenty again and in the prime of health. Johari's hair also had the same glow to it that faded as he watched. From the way she was looking at him, Andrew's own hair was glowing as well.

Gingerly, Tabitha reached out and touched each of their cheeks. There was no more of the transfer that had occurred. With a trilling laugh, she grabbed them both into a large hug. After a long moment, she stepped back.

"Johari, you were right. This young one is amazing. I had known that I would be giving up my life by what I was doing when I attacked Ashmodai. I never imagined anything could change that." She looked up at me with such a joyful expression. "I thought that I was ready to die, but in dying, discovered I was not. Thank you for giving me a chance to live once more." Andrew didn't even know how to respond to a thanks of that magnitude. He settled with a nod and a simple,

"You're welcome. I'm just glad it worked." They stood there for a long moment before he thought of a question.

"Tabitha, I understand that once Ashmodai was defeated, it had been holding the other demons here, so they were pulled back to wherever they came from. But why did giving life to Ashmodai kill it?"

"The life didn't kill it, it's master did. Ashmodai and all of the demon lords get their strength and power from their master, just as the smaller demons get theirs from the lords. The master and the entire demon realm is one of death and destruction. The demon king couldn't tolerate any source of life within its domain so it took its power away from Ashmodai which destroyed it." That was an idea that Andrew hadn't thought of. Had that been what had destroyed the demon within himself? Had the strength of his own life inside of it forced it's master to destroy it?

"So now what," asked Johari? "What will you do next?" Tabitha smiled, though it was a sad smile.

"I will begin to fix what Lazarus has destroyed. I will work to rebuild our family and the council. Many lives have been lost and while they cannot be replaced, we must be strong. The battle has been won here, but the war is not yet over." Andrew nodded at that. A great many demons had vanished, able to return and fight again. Not to mention the fact that they had been just those under the command of one demon lord. He was certain that there were more, and each with their own demons to command. "I would love for you two to remain and help me, though understand if that isn't your desire at the moment." Johari nodded and grabbed Tabitha's hand.

"We appreciate the desire to have us with you, but our life together is so young. A time together and apart from all of this is what I need more than anything now, and I believe Andrew feels the same." She looked at him. Andrew thought for a moment, though that instant of thought in his incredible new brain was more like hours of pondering in the old one.

He was torn. He felt two different things pulling on him. First there was the desire to just go away and be with Johari. He wanted to forget about the battle and those that had died so he could live. At the same time, Andrew felt the strong pull to remain and take up a place here, preparing for the next battle. He didn't know which pull was stronger, but he did know that she was the most important thing to him in this world at the moment, and her desire overrode any of his own for now.

"For now, we need this time together. At some point we will return and please don't hesitate to call or visit us at any time." Johari glanced into his eyes as if to try to understand the answer he had given and the motivation behind it, but she was getting what she wanted for the moment, so she said nothing. Andrew smiled as he corrected that thought. She said nothing here and now. He was certain the conversation wasn't yet over. That smile widened. They might even fight about it. It would be interesting to see who won that.

Side by side, Tabitha, Johari and Andrew walked away from the field where they had each almost been destroyed, and where the war had nearly been lost. They walked toward a future that was much brighter than any of them could have hoped for.

Epilogue

They spent a few days with Tabitha in the council building, talking of her plans for the future, both for the council and and for the Blood as well. They also talked about trivial things, prolonging the moment until they said goodbye.

Despite those delays, the time came and went and Johari and Andrew found themselves holding hands on the airplane and looking forward to their own future.

"I still don't get it," Johari said as they sat there. "I still don't get how you can continue to do more and more amazing things every time I turn around." She laughed and caressed his cheek with her small hand. That tingle at their touch that had been there from the moment they met was still there, but now it reminded Andrew both of the life they had given together, and also of how connected they were.

That last thought made him smile almost as much as the touch itself did. Johari shook her head, still smiling. "There has to be a point in which you can do no more to surprise me, but I've said that to myself already so many times, that I am beginning to doubt that you won't just go on surprising me for the rest of eternity." Andrew grinned at her.

"I guess we will just have to see won't we." And that right there was the crux of his bubbling joy. They would be able to see. He had so believed on the first plane ride and the following days that they would not have this time that he was still absorbing the truth that they were alive. They were alive and they would stay that way for a long time. Andrew tried it out loud.

"We are alive." Johari grinned at him.

"More alive than I think either of us have had the time to realize yet." Andrew nodded, but didn't say anything.

They spent the rest of the plane ride sitting as close as the airplane seats would allow, holding hands and grinning as they thought of the life that awaited them.

.....

About the Author

Joshua Laack grew up in the country in the Southern part of Minnesota. Being in the country meant not a lot of things going on around him, so he spent a lot of time lost in imagination. That quickly translated into a love of reading and then of writing. This book is his first finished work, but certainly not his last.
