G

The decision to continue patrolling was just because the night was silent and I didn't feel like getting out of the car. Yet, I still found a few wraiths trying to slip into the city. So I guess that the overall situation was still the same with a large obstacle in the way.

Should I go interrupted Izzy fun or not?

Before I could decide, my phone rang. Luckily, it was my personal phone and not the glass phone. I don't think my heart could take any more surprises.

"Yo?" I answered the phone.

"Hey, this is Dr. Carson. I heard we have something similar to wraiths infestation. Do you mind catching one and bringing it back for us?"

Catching a wraith?

"If I can, I will but how do you plan on keeping it?" I turned towards the north gate.

"We have devised a containment unit that is able to capture rare elements that exist in awakeners. We are currently building a much larger one for the wraith. If we are successful, maybe we can start the foundation for increasing your stagnant power by passing the tiny amount you ingest through your mutated food." Carson sounded excited but I had this odd itch that said he was mocking me.

"Okay." I hung up as I felt challenged every time I listened to him.

It took me about ten minutes with no traffic or should I say little traffic. With the gas engines becoming obsolete due to lack of the main component, gas. Solar power or electric engines were becoming the mainstay but there was a lack of material to make it a public resource. Thus most cars on the street belong to City guard, roaming guards, or city transportation.

I rolled up on the gate and this bus was parked off to the side. Three spotlights were hawking the crowd that stood like corn stalks on the other side.

Rolling down my window, I waved down a nearby guard. "What is the issue?"

The guard that answered had red pupils and a weird piercing in the side of his jaw.

"We have an increase in refugees from the city to the east. Ever since the government camp got taken out, we have been getting large groups." He pulled on his big belt buckle that had a buck head.

"Oh, okay." I rolled it back up and slowly crept through then sped down the empty road.

It felt as peaceful as hitting the highway late at night. Only seeing about three or four cars on the road. Well until I hit a particular street where I had to curve around potholes, turned over cars, and mail boxes. There was this lady running through the snow.. no, she was running on top and my good sense said to flee. So I did. I put the foot to the pedal, built a ramp out of my golden-red light, and driven above the obstacles.

You know how people say gods don't exist or that you need faith to believe they do. I don't need either, this bitch is sitting in my passenger seat as I'm staring at the rear view mirror trying to make sure she wasn't following me.

"You can slow down. Not like you can outrun me when I'm sitting beside you."

My hands did the jerking that my heart was attempting to do. I formed a quick barrier as I slammed through a house.

"You stupid cunt!" Someone shouted behind me.

I couldn't help but look back. If there wasn't a literal goddess in my car, I might have backed up and asked them who was the cunt.

"Why are you such a big man child? I'm not going to harm you. My lady wouldn't like that. Besides, I'm literally the winter version of you but I don't have to fumble around and suffer backlashes." The woman smiled at me as she put her feet up on the dashboard.

"Okay, why are you here?" I suck down the need to point out that I was human and not a walker.

"Good question. The first is that her majesty hosted a ball to mark the founding of her Kingdom. You are obligated to attend and bring a plus one." The woman somehow picked up my phone and was surfing through it. "Tsk, you don't have anything worth keeping for blackmail. Why are you such a choir boy?"

I scratched my head. Choir boy? Me? Since when?

"Second thing, is that you have food and my little area doesn't have the ability to produce food in the winter.. well we can but its not exactly enough to keep people satiated not does it provide variety. So I came to talk about trade." She tossed the phone down and turned to me. "Say, do you really have one of us as your wife?"

I shrugged. "Can't really say she is wife material. Doesn't even want to cement the relationship. She should be back with her father by now or still trying to hide and leech off me."

The woman looked at me with what I took fascination. Sadly, the lady was about as flat as a board and gave off the vibe of the anime Lolita. It killed any urge to see her as a living person.

"So about this trade? How much do you need and where?" I changed the topic to something safe.

She dug into her jacket pocket and took out a crumpled up piece of paper. It took her a second to actually unfold it. "About six point two tons. Is that doable?"

It was doable.

"Okay, where?"

She handed me the paper. "There."

I looked at the address written down and realized it was two states over. "You need to make sure the sky is clear when I ship it or pick it up at the border." I snatched up my phone and sent the details over to the respective team.

"Wow, that's easy?" She took the paper back. "I feel like I need to give you something in exchange. How about a kiss from a Goddess like myself?"

She puckered her lips and I fell out the door while trying to see if the Fbi was watching behind some van surveillance camera.

"What the fuck? Did you need to do all that? Could have just said no." She looked offended but I think I should be the one offended. "Fine, here take this." She left a bottle on the center console and vanished in a puff of sparkles.

I wiped the sweat off my brow. I dodge a swift one. Fbi is getting even more clever with their setups. But you can't confuse me, a Lolita is easy to spot. Dead giveaway. One with a weird ass personality, even more of a dead giveaway.

I set back down and dusted the snow off to the side. The bottle in front of me look like golden misty soup that I wouldn't even feed my dog if I had one. I still grabbed it and down it in one gulp.

"What? You actually trust me enough to take a random experimental drug but not to give you a kiss? How shallow." The crazy lady's sudden appearance made me vomit the drug back up.

I slapped a hand over my mouth. Trying my best not to barf it out when I could feel it perfecting my genes with the little my body was able to digest before the surprise.

"Am I that unattractive that my sudden appearance makes you want to vomit?" Her voice had an ounce of coldness.

Shit, I even felt my eyelids frost over. Not to mention the windows or the surfaces with pane. I decided to let the fact I was still swallowing my vomit speak for itself.

"Okay, I will remember this." She disappeared again.

I could only hold up my hands in helplessness. Who told her to just make a sudden appearance when someone was drinking? Even a fearless man would shit himself when he can feel encroaching death's breath everytime she smiles.

Speaking of which, I felt an odd feeling of sleepiness. It was odd because I was wide awake and my heart was just hammering in my chest like a drum line. I was wired and in a constant state of readiness but the switch to fatigue hit me like a sudden shot of vodka after decades of sobriety.

I sent a quick message to one of my majors. Hopefully, they will get to me before some lucky enemy does. It would be awkward as hell waking up in a research lab with two spooks looking over me while discussing my chart.

****

Two days later, I woke up to Izzy screaming at her teammates about feeding on purpose. I touched my chest and felt a hair but no missing organs.

Had to make sure because Izzy was too perfect but she was also Latina and those guys had stories that could curl your pubes in shock.

I slipped out of bed and felt a little odd. Like something wasn't just right. The room still looks the same, Izzy still had her gut or foodie as she called it. The leeches were still in my house. Luna was still here and Mary and Riley were in the Gym room.

So what was odd?

I walked into the bathroom and cut on the light. I reached down and got ready to release a stream when I noticed the first thing that wasn't right.

I waved my hand and my phone shot into my hand. Sadly, it didn't softly land or even survive the impact. It exploded directly and I was left scratching my head.

"Babe, you okay?" Izzy's voice didn't make me feel better.

She was speaking in that gentle tone that said, I know you aren't normal but it's okay. Fuck it wasn't! I had damn paws that had golden red scales climbing up the back of my paw. I was afraid to step into the mirror because I might go from looking like a half decent man to something from a damn cartoon!

"Babe, it's not all that bad. You still look sexy, just sexy with fur and scales." Izzy was leaning against the doorway while trying not to laugh.

I swallow my reply as she was honestly being helpful and she didn't deserve to be lashed at. Which made me step into the mirror path and take a gander.

The first thing I noticed because every man noticed it. My pecs look so damn impressive. I felt like it could squeeze someone's head in between and still had room to hold my wallet.

To top that off, I wasn't that big on abs before. Never purposely done anything to move past a relatively flat stomach but I had a decent washboard stomach. What I mean is that there weren't any abs but it was freaking clean looking with the hard lines and golden fur. Scales on the side of my hips.

It looks kinda badass.

The most amazing thing was the hard jawline. Every man looked at a hot guy and go damn his chin is fucking sharp. Bro, could cut glass with it. If they weren't insecure, they might even feel a bit of envy. Me, now, I had that look.

I honestly had to turn my head side to side. I ignored the braid style that went from the sides of the top of my head, straight back and down past my waistline. I knew Izzy had a field day with fucking with my hair. I knew because my head felt tender like she did those fucking braided patterns last time then undid a section because it wasn't the same as the other side. Which meant multiple undo'es and redo'es.

My temple had three scales in an odd triangle pattern that led to a small horn growth. It would have been odd on anybody but I guess my cat-like nose made it somewhat stomachable. I could do with a beard again, that light trim hid my laugh lines which would eventually show my age. My eyes were a beautiful shade of green that on a woman, I would have loved to stare into. On a guy, it felt weird. Maybe it was just my own insecurities but since it was long slits that looked more like green tear with red edges..

Now, I felt like there were too many things to pick at.

Eh, I walked back over to the toilet and realized that my legs were getting a little backlash from the height of the fall. The sad thing was, I didn't grow any in the important section. It was still the same but the Bush went from black to soft looking golden brown.

"You not going to commit suicide?" Izzy asked after a pause.

I looked at her then scratched my head. Why would I even think about dying? Can't others die for my brief moment of depression?

"No, I'm fine. It's just a little odd." I was going to shake but decided to grab a tissue and dab.

"Oh.. so you are okay with this whole change into whatever that is?" Izzy had that crooked smile that never failed to make me smile.

"Yes, I'm fine with it. The question is, are you?" I washed my hands and then searched for bathroom cleaning spray.

"Yeah, I like the half cat look. Plus you are warmer than before and feel like one of those fuzzy blankets." Izzy sounded more happy with the transition than I was. "Oh, your other phone has been going off. Maybe you should answer it."

I blinked a couple times. The other phone didn't register in my mind for a second but then the lady with a soul that was a brilliant blood red in a world of white and black made me drop the spray bottle and bolt for the phone.

It wasn't on my side but then Izzy held it up as she dropped into a chair.

I grabbed it and planted a kiss on her cheek. There were several messages from her majesty. How did I know what number was hers? It was auto programmed in with a picture of her face and a caption that said, 'May I rip out your soul?'

No way I could miss something so simple. Her message was just congratulating me on the transition from mortal to immortal and telling me that as her General, I should show up. Along with an address that put her in the center of three states if the geography was right. Considering that the winter Lolita was from two states away from me. Which was one state away from her majesty. I was on the other side. Did she also have spring and autumn under her command?

The other was from the winter girl and was just thanks for prompt delivery services. I added the summer knight app which seemed to have a transformation to its name. There were tons of messages from people but I ignored them as they were just stating their concern about my health. Along with thanks for kicking winter aside and reinstating summer.

The window pane was playing with dust and the sunlight that danced through. The grass beyond looked newly cut and had that rich smell. The streets were bone dry and the sky was a little cloudy.

I mobilized my mana and the clouds began to congregate. A light drizzle fell from the sky and I heard some soft complaints from people walking without umbrellas.

"You want to go to a ball with me, tomorrow?" I asked izzy while texting Sophie for an update on what crops was planted.

Izzy turned to me with a funny look. "Not really. I don't have a dress nor do I have time to get my hair done. Ask Luna, she is still your wife or take your mistress."

You need hair done and a new dress to go to a ball?

"Okay, rain check on our date night or we can move it up tonight?" I made a group chat between my assistants and asked them.

"You know at this point we don't need a date night. We can just cuddle at home and you cook me some food. Massage my aching back and we catch up on some movies that I never watched before." Izzy turned back around and I felt like I was missing something.

"Okay, I'll get started on the food." I grabbed a pair of joggers and put them on as I walked.

"Mary is cooking already." Izzy shouted after me.

Well then..

I turned around and grabbed a shirt then headed downstairs. I got a reply quickly from Scarlett but she was just about as lacking as the winter girl. So I denied her with emphasis and exclamation marks.

Of course, I also thought of Luna but she is in some kind of world that I haven't acknowledged. However, I, ironically, came across her not even two minutes after leaving my room and creeping downstairs. She frozed and held a book to her chest. Look down and tried to act as if she didn't exist.

Which made me feel obliged to see her gone. So I called her father right then and there.

"Hey, come get your daughter, right now." My voice picked up a slight tremor that added to the depth and accent.

"Oh, you are up? How was the nap?"

"Don't joke with me. Get your ass over here now."

"Fine. Fine. So grouchy. I remember when you didn't even want to come outside after I kicked your ass."

"I seem to remember you having a huge ass hole in your stomach. You only took off my forearm."

"It was a small hole. Thank you very much."

"Still a hole."

"Fight me now!"

"Okay, let me know if you are ready."

"Ready for what?"

There was a loud boom on his side of the call. It took him quite a bit to reply back.

"Did I ever tell you how happy I am to be your pet? I really mean it. The pet food is wonderful. The women are simply eye candy and my daughter is very lucky to be with you."

"So, are you on your way?" I crossed my arms with a smirk plastered on my face.

"I was but then lightning blew up my car. So it might take me a while to walk all the way there."

"I can help you fly over."

"No, no need. I'll be there in two seconds."

"Charming."

There was a knock on my door and I gestured for Luna to get to walking. She kept her head down the entire time and I had a feeling that Forgotten might have missed something when he proposed that marriage alliance. Such as her mental age.

"I'm here to pick up my daughter!" Forgotten wrapped his arms around her while emitting a burning smell.