“What were they?” Obie’s voice was listless as he stared at Luke’s corpse, wondering if this was all a bad dream.
“Chimeras” Phoebe tried to gently steer Obie away from the corpse but he wouldn’t budge,
“What did they want?”
“They eat humans” Daphne explained, looking around to see if any other threat was still in the vicinity, absently noting that they took away Ryuu Wheelers corpse.
“How do I kill them?”
“You don’t!” Phoebe and Daphne replied in stereo “we do”
“Look, just come with us we’ll explain everything to you” Phoebe grabbed Obie’s arm, but the boy still resisted
“I can’t just leave him over here” he knelt down and closed the eyes’ of Luke’s corpse.
“fine” Daphne effortlessly lifted Luke’s corpse bridal style, finally shocking Obie out of his trance “let’s go”
XXXXXXX
The leopard chimera known as Gabi and the Puma chimera named John finally stopped upon reaching their hideout.
“Why… did you… need to… turn this kid?” John panted out his question to Gabi as he dropped the unconscious body of Ryuu. Gabi had bitten him and converted the boy into a chimera.
“Boss was hinting just the other day about needing a couple more members” Gabi pointed out “plus he looks way too good to just eat”
“Pretty sure boss meant to pick the new recruits herself” a voice came from above them as a girl with black wings instead of arms landed in front of them.
“Whatever I don’t think she’ll be too pissed” Gabi shrugged “and how was your night in Tessa?”
“Less eventful than your I’d say” Tessa chuckled as she pushed her dirty blonde hair out of her face and peered closely at the still form of Ryuu “I personally could totally eat him”
“Yeah, well he’s one of us now” Gabi rolled her eyes.
“Well, boss should be here soon” John shrugged “all there’s left to do is wait and see what he becomes”
XXXXXXX
“You're also a magician?!” Obie incredulously questioned the short Asian man standing in front of him.
“We prefer the term witches actually” Phoebe couldn't help but smile at his expression
“And familiars” Daphne chimed in as well
“And no, I'm not” Paul Chang, the history teacher of Solwood high replied to Obie's question. “My father was a witch, but I unfortunately didn’t inherit his magical abilities, so now I teach instead” they were all currently at his house.
Obie simply rubbed his temples “this is all too much”
“I know what you’re thinking” Paul Chang patted his shoulder “this is all a dream, this can’t be real, I need to wake up, but the fact is that this is real”
“Seriously!” Daphne raised an eyebrow “you could be less crass Chang”
“Hey, he can see through the veil, he’s in it now” Chang defended himself.
Before Obie could ask what, the veil was, they all heard a groan from the mouth of Luke’s corpse as it sat up and asked “What the hell just happened?”
“AHHHHHH!” Obie started screaming, as did Luke when he heard Obie scream while Phoebe, Daphne, and Paul just stared on in shock.
“WHY ARE YOU SCREAMING?” Luke demanded from his friend
“YOU DIED!” Obie was bordering hysteria “YOU DIED AND NOW YOU’RE ALIVE AGAIN!”
“He’s a chimera” Daphne’s sword appeared in her hand again
“Wait!” Obie jumped in front of her “you can’t kill him”
“Watch me” Daphne didn’t back down
“EVERYONE STOP!” Phoebe screamed, making everyone turn to her “let’s all calm down and figure things out”
“okay” Luke agreed “but first you gotta tell me what’s happening.”
XXXXXXX
“a Lizard?” John stared at the transformed form of Ryuu as his giant reptilian form beat against his cage “seriously?”
“he’s not a lizard, he’s a Komodo dragon” Gabi gingerly nursed the cuts and bruises she had just incurred, they would heal in a couple of days but right now, they hurt like hell
“Hope he’s worth the beating boss gave you” Tessa gave Gabi a sideways glance, their hyena leader had been unusually pissed at Gabi and had given her a good couple of hits.
“Whatever” Gabi rolled her eyes
“I think his mind is starting to take control again” John noted as the transformed Komodo dragon stopped beating against his cage, panting heavily as it stared at the wall of the cage with a gleam in its yellow eyes.
“That quickly?” Tessa flew down to Gabi’s other side
“Oh yes!” Gabi smirked despite the pain “he’s gonna be a good one, I just know it”
XXXXXXX
“So, Phoebe’s a witch” Luke summarised Chang’s explanation “Daphne’s her familiar, you teach them magic, and you all hunt monsters”
“Yes!” Daphne shrugged in acceptance
“And Luke’s a chimera now?” Obie nervously stared at Daphne, wondering if she’d pull out her sword again, a sword which had disappeared into thin air.
“No” Chang refuted him “when a person becomes a Chimera, their animal instincts immediately take over and they transform into their animal form and go wild until their humanity awakens again; so, no Luke hasn’t been turned into a chimera”
“So… what?” Luke stared at the three people who were already a part of this world “I’m normal?”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“I wouldn’t say that” Phoebe piped in, pushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear as everybody turned to her “I’m just saying, he literally rose from the dead, and his chest has stopped bleeding”
everybody turned towards Luke who was looking down at his chest as well, and sure enough it wasn’t bleeding anymore, or hurting to Luke for that matter, all that was left from the attack was a long diagonal scar.
“But…he’s still Luke” Obie protested weakly still standing between said boy and Daphne.
“indeed” Chang agreed “but we still need to figure out how he’s alive and if there are any permanent changes”
“So, you wanna run a bunch of tests on me?” Luke didn’t look too happy at the thought
“don’t you want to know if there’s anything wrong with you?” Daphne raised an eyebrow.
“Fair enough” he shrugged in acceptance after thinking about it for a bit.
“Alright!” Chang clapped his hand “it’s late so let’s meet up after school tomorrow”
“Sounds like a plan” Phoebe declared as everyone nodded in agreement.
XXXXXXX
A weird silence hung between Obie and Luke as they made their ways home.
“So… you wanna talk about it?” Obie prodded his friend
“No!” Luke didn’t even turn around to look at Obie.
“Wanna talk about how two people we’ve known since grade school are a witch and her familiar?” Obie changed the subject
“Dude this is so freaky” Luke immediately jumped onto the new topic. “Like, witches, and wizards, and familiars and chimeras” he waved his hands around in excitement and emphasis
“Y’know, I felt uncomfortable asking, but I have no idea what a familiar is” Obie chuckled
“Me neither” Luke laughed as well, slowly but surely, their laughter subsided and a silence filled in between them again.
“We can’t trust them” Obie finally voiced the thought that was running in his head “not completely”
Luke simply waited for his friend to elaborate “if they find anything wrong with you, they won’t hesitate to kill you”
“Oi vey” Luke chuckled “bro, if I ever become a monster, please let them kill me” he ignored Obie’s glare “I love you man, but you saw those… chimera’s same as me, if I’m eating humans like that then let the girls kill me”
Obie tightly shut his eyes for a moment in irate acceptance “Whatever!”
The boys soon separated as Luke entered his house and saw his mom still sleeping “hey mom!” he walked over and kissed her on the forehead “I’m back” he managed to stutter out as his eyes turned misty “and I’m never leaving you”
Only silence filled the house, but for Luke it was enough.
XXXXXXX
“Hey!” Phoebe greeted Chang as she and Daphne walked into his office. It was early morning and the students had just started trickling into the school.
“Hello ladies” Chang cleared his desk from the papers he was working on as the girls sat down from across him without preamble.
The trio had been working together for nearly four months now and always met in the morning before classes, which was why the girls knew he wanted to talk to them privately when he suggested to the two boys to meet up after classes.
“Let me guess, you were up all night doing research?” Daphne chuckled upon seeing Chang’s haggard expression.
“obviously” Chang shrugged “You don’t expect me to go into this half cocked, do you?”
“So, what did you find out?” Phoebe raised an eyebrow
“Nothing concrete, but I do have several possibilities to test when we meet him in the evening; but for now, I want the two of you to keep an eye on Mr. Wyatt, see his reaction to food, crowds… basically anything and everything that comes in his way.”
“Right keep an eye on him” Daphne nodded
“And on Mr. Reyes” Chang continued “if Mr, Wyatt is indeed dangerous we will have to take him down”
“And Obie might actually get in the way” Phoebe sighed despondently, the thought of fighting a friend no matter how distant was never a pleasant one.
“Exactly” Chang conceded “we’ll meet up in the evening a few minutes before we meet the boys” the three nodded in agreement.
Meanwhile the school was filling up as students were trickling in, the sun was shining, and Obie was giving a side-eye to the haggard looking Luke “Dude! You look like shit”
“don’t you feel hot?” Luke tugged at his t-shirt, his skin looking reddish and a sheen of sweat glistening on his forehead.
“It’s February!” Obie just shook his head
“Whatever” Luke brushed him off as he headed towards the water fountain; Obie continued to stare with wonderment as Luke silently drank from the fountain for three quarters of a minute.
“Did they like… cut the water to your house?”
“I’m just really thirsty” Luke shrugged before noticing the girls “hey!”
The girls greeted back with waves and nods, as did Obie, everyone had their guards up; everyone except Luke who was wondering if the school’s heaters had malfunctioned and was suddenly running at two hundred percent.
“Well, we’ll see you guys after classes” Obie decided to push out the awkwardness
“yeah” “Totally” the girls nodded in acceptance and they all went their sperate ways, none of them noticing Jules looking at their meetup in confusion.
XXXXXXX
“I just feel so… alive!” Ryuu growled with a feral smile on his face. He was in is human form, but his eyes were yellow and claes coated the right side of his face
“Wait till you get your first kill” Gabi licked her lips “that feeling will reach a whole new level”
“Yeah” Tessa giggled, still perched onto the scaffolding of their warehouse “once boss comes, we’ll take you for your first hunt, it’s an essential ritual for any chimera.
“Boss is busy with her schtick and just dropped a message about not bothering her” John lifted his phone up for emphasis. “we’ll just take you after nightfall”
“can’t wait” Ryuu rotated his shoulder in anticipation.
XXXXXXX
“I know you two didn’t get a proper explanation last night about witches and magic” Chang spoke to the two boys without preamble “kinda forgot in all the running around and seeing Luke come back from the dead”
“it’s cool” Luke pretended to be nonchalant. It was early evening and the five of them were in an unused classroom.
The only thing of note that the girls had been able to give Chang was that the redhead seemed to need a lot of water and was feeling hot even in February, so the teacher and Phoebe’s guide was approaching Luke’s situation with a completely neutral outlook.
“As you two already know witches are real, but what you don’t understand is that they are actually protectors of the realm, guarding regular humans against monsters such as chimeras, vampires, and anything else intending to harm the innocent”
“How come this is all hidden from the larger world?” Obie decided to jump right into his questions
“In the ages of antiquity, the witches cast a powerful spell to create a veil, that covered the eyes of the mortal world; although sometimes people can see through the veil” Chang tilted his head towards Obie “usually when they’re directly confronted by magic or monsters”
“what’s a familiar” Luke directed his question towards Daphne, along with Phoebe, was sitting adjacent to them.
“I… have magic” Daphne explained “but I don’t have the magical prowess or potential for witchcraft, so instead I’ve formed a bond with Phoebe as her familiar, I am her guardian and her right hand” Phoebe gave her friend a thankful smile which was returned in full.
“So, you’re like responsible for this entire town’s protection?” Luke asked the petite blonde girl in incredulousness “like… just the two of you?”
“Magic flows through the earth in various pattern called leylines” Chang took over the explanation again “and this town sits on a nexus point where three leylines converge, attracting all sorts of magicks and monsters, and the Vesper family has been guarding this town ever since its inception”
“My grandma was the town protector before me” Phoebe shrugged nonchalantly even while the two boys stared at her in awe.
“Now that you two are all caught up, let’s get to the testing; and then the girls can go to their patrol” Chang clapped his hands
“Patrol? To hunt for those three chimeras?” Obie perked up where he sat “can we join?”
“NO!” Chang, Phoebe, and Daphne replied at once
“They killed me, I’m not going to let them get away with it”
“you’re still alive” Phoebe raised an eyebrow
“No thanks to them” Luke chuckled while the others gave him odd looks
“Besides, Ryuu could still be alive” Obie didn’t want to divert from the topic
“I told you, they eat people” Daphne sighed as if explaining two plus two equals four, for which the boy glared at her, but Chang was focusing on something else.
“Why do you think he’s still alive?”
“He was still breathing from what I remember” Luke looked away as he tried to recall the fight “but my memory gets fuzzy after having my chest punched open”
“it’s actually something the girl had said when we were dancing” Obie shook his head “‘You’re way to pretty to eat’ I thought it was just some weird way of her flirting, but now I’m thinking she wanted him alive; like a… like a pet, y’know”
“Or a companion” Phoebe’s eyes were wide in horror “She converted him!”
“Do you know where Wheeler’s home is?” Daphne immediately asked the two boys
“Yeah, why?”
“Chimeras have a ritual” Chang explained “Whenever they turn someone into a chimera their first hunt is to eradicate and eat up anyone the new chimera was close to. Kind of like severing all ties to their old life”
“Okay, we’ll show you the way” Obie decided “look, you want to save them, so do we, and you know that you need us, because it’s almost night fall and you’ll take too much time in breaking into the school records to find his address”
“Fine!” Phoebe gritted her teeth “but no dumb heroism from you two, just grab his mom and dad and get them out of the way”
“Two moms” Luke corrected her “but yeah, we won’t get in your way”
“Alright then” Chang pulled on his jacket “let’s go!”