Blake

I watch Damien as he unlocks the door to his house, stepping in, he waves goodbye to me. I wave back as I pull out of his driveway.

I still can’t believe most of what happened tonight. Mob bosses, magic, Elena and Rose finally kissing. It’s fantastic and yet unbelievable.

I killed men, I still don’t feel anything when I think that. I don’t think Elena understands how much that scares me.

I pull into my driveway and just rest my head against the wheel. I think that I am just burying the emotions, but I just can’t tell. Mentally, I know what I did was terribly wrong, so some small horror turns up in me, but it just isn’t what they felt. Elena and Damien. I could see it tearing them apart, Damien more than Elena. That praying thing that Elena did was how she dealt with the emotion. Damien… he just looked haunted.

I get out of the car and unlock the door to the house.

A light turns on as a grizzled middle aged man looks at me. “Where the hell have you been?”

I look into the man’s blue eyes. My father. “Sir, you’ve killed men before, haven’t you? What did you feel when you did it?”

The man looks at me, finally taking in the blood on my shirt and my bedraggled appearance. His gaze softens by the smallest amount, “What have you gotten yourself into this time, son?”

I look down from his gaze, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Follow me.” He says, turning around.

I follow him to the kitchen. He opens the refrigerator, pulling out two cans of beer. He offers one to me.

I look at him in surprise.

“The day you have to watch a man die, is the day you can drink a beer without any trouble from me.” He explains reluctantly in a gruff voice.

“Thank you, sir.” I respond, grabbing the beer from his hand.

He opens his beer, taking a large swig from it. “Each man feels something different when they take their first life. Some men break down, some men get angry, some don’t feel anything and some crazy bastards feel joy.”

I take a large gulp of my beer. “But what are you supposed to feel?” I ask, not sure what answer I am looking for, “Sir.” I add hurriedly.

He laughs a humorless laugh. “You aren’t supposed to feel anything. As I said, each man takes it differently.”

“What did you feel?” I ask the question that started this conversation again.

He pauses for a moment, “I felt anger. Anger at the world, anger at the man that fought on the wrong side of the war and anger at myself. Because I knew what I was doing when I pulled that trigger.”

For the first time in my life, I see real tears in my father’s eyes. That surprised me. My father is not a man that cried. He is the man that yells at you to get your ass off the ground and go do something.

“Thank you, sir.” I say, surprising myself. “I think I understand now.”

“Good.” The tears that I had thought I saw are gone now. “You should clean yourself up before your mom sees you.” I turn around to leave but he says something else that stops me “I won’t ask you what happened. You’re a good kid, and I know that whatever happened, they deserved it. But when you are ready, I hope you will tell me.”

Then I walk away, as my father drinks his beer, reminiscing about men he had killed and friends that he had lost. I don’t blame him for those tears that I saw in those moments.

Elena

I lead Rose up the stairs gently, she leans against me, still half asleep.

It couldn’t have been easy on her, this whole ordeal. I don’t believe that she was physically harmed, but she hasn’t been awake enough to tell me what happened to her.

We arrive at my room. Dee, the little Faerie, watches me as I move the covers and lay Rose down on my bed. I brush her hair back, before stepping away. Her hand moves faster than a snake, latching onto my arm.

“Please. Don’t leave me.” Rose says, her eyes open wide. I get lost in the emotion there, the fear of being left alone.

I nod. “Alright.” I say.

Rose moves over, making room for me. I lie down next to her, pulling the covers over both of us.

She snuggles close to me, whispering “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight Rose.” I say.

Feeling all of the action today suddenly affect my body with exhaustion, I fall asleep.

***

Waking up with Rose in my arms is a beautiful experience. She is still asleep, so I lay there, finally giving some attention to the blue windows that had been sitting at the corner of my vision since last night.

Congratulations! After facing multiple life and death situations, you have reached level 3! You gain a two percent increase to Brilliance and Physicality along with an increase of 20 in Health, Mana and the special attribute Psi.

That has some nice benefits. I take a quick glance at my status, looking at the changes.

Elena S. Trudeau Age:16 Lvl: 3 Class: Coming soon... Mana: 120 Health: 240 Psi:140

Sponsor: Isis

Titles: Beta Tester, Crazy In A Good Way(Is that even possible?), Watched By The Gods

Special conditions: Almost Normal

Physical Condition: Healthy

Physicality: Athletic 88%

Brilliance: Graduate 99%

Equipment: Gloves(unique)

My class is coming soon, huh…? I wonder what that means. How do I get classes anyway? If I remember correctly, Scott Monroe had the class of Manipulator at level two.

My Brilliance is at Graduate 99%. What happens when I go up a level? Scott Monroe had a Brilliance of Doctorate 84%, so maybe once it reaches 100% it goes up to the next stage.

There is no way for me to know right now. I might as well wait until I get to level four and see what happens then.

I look at the final notification.

You have killed another Beta Tester (you naughty girl). Since there is no set heir for that Beta Tester, you will receive all lands belonging to the Beta Tester: None. And all items in his inventory: $2,000 American Dollars, Two Apples, Small Knife, Throwing Knives (Unique), Set of keys, Deck Of Playing Cards, Set Of Dice.

My gaze sticks to the first item listed. Sweet mulah. I do love them moneys.

Rose moves in my arms, causing me to turn my gaze to her. The sheets fall off of her as she stretches, giving me full view of her flat stomach.

“Mmm.” A comfortable noise comes from her as she snuggles up to me. “Waking up with you next to me, this sure is a beautiful dream.”

“Yeah, it sure is. It sucks that we have class in an hour.” I respond, glancing at the clock.

She moves away from me to actually look at my face. “E-Elena. What-?” She blushes, before the last vestiges of sleep leave her. “Last night wasn’t a dream.” She says, relief in her voice. Then realization enters her face “We have to be there in an hour?!”

I stare at her face in wonder, watching as her beautiful face goes through each emotion.

“Elena! Did you say we only have an hour?” She asks again, breaking me from my trance.

“Yeah, and you have to call your dad. Tell him that you are alright.” I respond, stretching as I sit up in the bed.

She jumps out of the bed, running to the door. She turns to me in the doorway. “What are you waiting for?”

“I thought you might want to change first.” I say, giggling as I look at her.

She looks down at her clothes. What used to be a pink shirt and a black short-skirt are now torn, bloody and covered in dirt. She blushes.

“My clothes should fit you.” I say, gracefully moving out of the bed and to my dresser. “But you really should call your dad first.” I toss my phone to her.

She catches it, but her gaze stays on me, a worried expression on her face.

“What?” I ask.

“Are you ok? That is a lot of blood.” I look down at my shirt and shorts, almost completely red from the dried blood on them.

“Yeah. Most of it isn’t mine.” I respond. I casually take my shirt off.

As I strip to my underwear, Rose gives yet another blush. I give her a provocative smile. Then I pull two pairs of clothes from my dresser. I hand one pair to her. “You get first shower.”

Dee floats up to me as Rose uses the bathroom. “You two are such a cute couple.” She uses the air as a bed, sighing. “I wish I had a relationship like that.” She perks up as a thought occurs to her, “Hey, are there any cute male Faeries around here?” She looks up at me with big round eyes.

“Not that I know of.” I respond thoughtfully, as I pack my backpack with the books I need for school. “I hear that there are elves in Iceland though.”

“Elves? Why would I want do date one of them?” She says, sticking her tongue out at me. “Maybe I can convince you to buy another Faerie guard... I want him to be handsome, oh oh, he should control the water element.” She smiles conspiratorially. “Water Faerie are famous for being great in bed.”

I smile back at her and wink as I finish my packing.

***

Rose and I are arguing about our favorite Netflix shows as we walk down the stairs. We stop as the voices in the living room become audible.

A handsome man with black hair and blue eyes is animatedly talking to my father about local politics. They break off their conversation as we enter the room.

My father turns to me, “Hey honey, this man was just asking if Rose was staying here, I told him no…” He looks at Rose, “I guess I was mistaken.”

The man opens his arms to Rose, “Hi Rose, I was really worried about you when I heard that you were missing. Can you give your dad a hug?”

“What are you doing here?” Rose asks, irritated, “I told you that I was fine, like you even care.”

I raise my eyebrows. Huh. That wasn’t very nice. I turn my attention to the man. His smile is no longer there.

“I came to get you.” Mr. Demor says, “I’ve decided that it is best if we move to Portland. You will be a lot safer and-” he is interrupted by Rose.

“No.”

“What do you mean ‘no’?” He asks, his eyes crossing in irritation.

“I have just started to make connections here, I don’t want to move again.” Rose says, crossing her arms.

“You can’t have any serious connections. It has only been three days. Come on, we are leaving.” Mr.Demor motions for her to come to him.

She looks at him, her mouth open, not knowing what to say. She looks at me for help.

I smile.

“Actually, sir. She has a very important connection here.” I say to him. Then, I grab Rose, bowing over her as I kiss her. She stiffens in surprise for a moment, before loosening and kissing me back. I take my mouth away from hers to look at Mr. Demor. “She is my girlfriend and if you try to take her from me. I will take your ‘company’ apart block by block, until you are living with nothing more than rags on the street.” I stand Rose rightside up and let her go.

Rose gasps for air, adjusting her skirt before adding “And she will too, she can really do some crazy things when she puts her mind to it.”

Mr. Demor and my father stare at us in shock. Mr. Demor’s mouth actually hanging open.

“Anyway, we need to get to school, mind giving us a ride?” I ask, smiling at him sweetly.

Mr. Demor looks at his daughter, then me. “Very well. For now. You understand what happens if you break my daughter’s heart, right? I hope that I don’t actually need to make the threats.”

“Of course not. I understand completely.” I respond elegantly, “And thank you for your understanding. It’s not every day that you find out that your daughter is in love with another woman she met three days ago.”

Rose’s eyes narrow at me, mirroring her dad.

She speaks first “Don’t make it sound so terrible.”

I smile at her. “I could never think of our love as terrible.” I pause for a moment, “Well I could, but I won’t.”

Rose mock hits me. Her father rolls his eyes, before he turns around and starts to walk away. She stands there for a moment, waiting until her father is out of earshot, “When did I become your girlfriend?” she asks.

“You looked like you were in trouble, I was improvising.” I respond.

She puts a hand to her mouth, her gaze provocative, “You should improvise more often.” she says seriously, surprising herself as much as she surprises me.

Her surprise doesn’t last long as an inviting smile flits across her face. She then follows her father to the front door, her butt swaying sensually. She looks back at me from the door frame with a twinkle in her eye. “Coming?”

“Be right there.” I answer, wondering at her sudden changes in mood. I mean, she was blushing this morning when we woke up. Now she is the one making the moves on me.

She is almost as crazy as I am.

Rose nods at me, leaving the house.

I turn to my father, “Sorry dad, I didn’t mean to spring that on you like that.”

He waves his hand dismissavley, “I understand, in fact, I am happy for you. I was always worried that you would end up with someone who could be a bad influence. She seems like a nice girl with an upstanding father.”

I look at my Dad with a smile. “You have no idea.”

I pull him forward and give him a kiss on the head. “Please be nice and let me be the one to tell mother.”

He gives me a devilish smile, “Are you kidding? I haven’t had information this juicy since you turned Blake down at the dance.” He dances away from my grip, saying the rest in a sing-song voice, “I am going to be telling everyone. At work. At Elizabeth’s school. How in the world could I keep this from your mother?”

I pick up a book and throw it at him.

He dodges and smiles at me. “Are you going to make that poor girl and her father wait out there all day? You are late for school you know.”

I smile at him. He is a goofball, but I love him.

“Love you dad.” I say, walking out the door.

“Love you too hun.” He responds.

I walk over to the Tesla waiting in front of my house and sit in the backseat. Rose is waiting for me there with a smile.