Victor leaned forward, aimed, and shot the white ball straight into the hole.

“My god. You suck.”

“Ja, well, that’s not new.”

He gave the stick to his friend, Matthew.

“How does it feel to be out of the house for something other than school or treasure hunting?” he asked, “I sure as hell miss hearing your voice in person and not on the phone.” He shot the white ball. It skimmed one of the other balls and bounced off the rubber, stopping right where he wanted it to.

“It’s good to see you again, but too many people,” Victor said. He stood out of Matthew’s way with his arms crossed. A bright, cone-shaped beam of light illuminated the pool table, like the other two beside them. Other than the bar, with its orange lighting, the rest of the place was either in shadow or dimly lit.

“I get that you’re an introvert, but everybody needs to be in a gathering now and again. It’s just human.” He made his shot and sunk two balls in one hole. “So, what’s going on with that boy?”

“He’s fine. I think the memories of his past life are freaking him out, but he’s fine.”

Matthew took his third shot, sinking a third ball. “What kind of memories?”

“Killing people. Faces of victims.”

Matthew looked at Victor strangely as he leaned over the board for another shot. “What are you planning to do about it?”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s getting memories of who he was. He’s getting the powers, the experience, the knowledge, the personality.”

“He’s fine. That demon doesn’t seem to be bothering him. It’s not like he’s going to become the serial killer he may have been.”

Matthew straightened up and placed the butt of the stick on the ground.

“Victor, that’s not how this works… Reincarnations are complete. They may take time, but they’re complete unless the person wants to completely erase their experiences from their past life.”

“Maybe this is different. He went most of his life not being a killer.”

Matthew shook his head. “That’s only because the non-killer part of him was reincarnated first. The rest of it’s catching up now. What’s the name of that silver haired trio?”

“The Dunns.”

“Ja. Remember when Leech helped them reincarnate the eldest? She was losing her shit for the first two days, but eventually she remembered who she was. Every last bit of it. No weaker, either. How old is the boy?”

“Seventeen. Eighteen maybe.”

“If this reincarnation is taking that long, then he must be from a really long time ago. And that’s bad. Science didn’t exist back then. People used magic and spirituality to answer their questions. There was only the magical interpretation of the world and it made the strongest angels and demons.”

Victor stared at the tip of the stick as Matthew bent over and poked the white ball. The ball slowly rolled and dropped into a corner hole and the sound of it rolling groaned in the table.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“We’re going to have to kill him,” Victor said and closed his eyes.

Matthew nodded sympathetically. “Eventually. Eventually we won’t have a choice. I think you should be the one to do it. You can get close enough. Do it now and save a few extra lives. If anybody else gets involved between now and D-Day, they’re kicking a mass murder off early.” Matthew handed the stick to Victor. “But let’s not ruin the vibe by thinking about that. You get two shots.”

Victor took the stick and looked for a solid to shoot. “Of all the places,” he said, “Why would you bring me to a pub?” He shot an orange and set up his second shot to sink it.

“I was originally going to fool you into going with me to a strip club, but then I realised that I’m not that kind of married man and you’re too uncomfortable around dancing women… and a strip club is no place to meet women.”

That’s what this is, Victor thought. “Not this again.”

“Oh yes, this again. Look around you. Count how many groups of women you see. Not individual women. Groups.”

“Matt… “

“Go on. Count.”

Victor looked around and tried to count how many groups of women there were as subtle as possible, making some unwanted eye contact with some of the women. “Three. Three groups of women and if you skim the crowd, the individual women add up to another two groups.”

“Exactly. I’ve been keeping my eye out for potential mates for you and I’ve seen a few of them look at you.”

“Mates? Matthew, I think you’re a few evolutionary jumps behind. We’re two guys standing in the brightest part of the bar. Eventually they’re going to look.”

“No no. Not look... Look. The look. The have-my-kids look.”

Victor laughed, scoffed and sunk his first ball. “Do you hear yourself? You’re keeping track of the women and who’s looking at us. Do you know how weird that sounds?”

“Well, it seemed normal in my head but now that you put it out there…”

“Uh huh. Sounds crazy right.”

“No, it sounds crazy as is. Consider what I’m trying to do.”

“You’re trying to find me a mate apparently.”

“Hear me out.”

“Trying to find me a group of women to start a pride with. I’ll start pissing around the bar to mark territory.”

“Seriously, hear me out. Mate was the wrong word. I’m just trying to get you to get a girlfriend.”

“A strategically picked partner to help me repopulate the Earth.”

“Hey, I’m being serious. Work with me here.”

“Matt, what do you want me to do? Take my shirt off and beat my chest like a gorilla?”

“Would you drop the animal kingdom thing now?”

“Fine.”

“I want you to talk to one. Look for one you find attractive and talk to her.”

Victor took his third shot, but the stick skimmed the side of the white ball. He walked to Matthew and gave him the stick. Matthew didn’t take the stick and gave Victor a stern stare.

“What?”

“Not what. Give me a response.”

“Okay. Uh- Relationships are for men and women who can’t love themselves.”

“Don’t give me that fake cynical crap.”

“Fake cynical? It’s the truth.”

“No, it’s not. If you were really cynical you’d accept the fact that as an animal, your goal is to reproduce. You’d realise that treasures aren’t going to fill that void you’ve had since childhood anymore.”

Victor scoffed and turned to the board to add some more shots. Matthew waited for a response, but realised he wasn’t getting any. He decided to tease him.

“It’s funny how you cross your arms and hide your left hand so women don’t see that you’re not married. It brings out the muscles on your forearm and your chest pops out. Putting your hands in your pockets don’t help either because it brings out your triceps.”

Victor ignored Matthew and played his lonely game of pool.

“When you take these shots, it’s really just a free gun-show, you know? Puts the muscles in action. It shows off those mountain-climbing, demon-fighting, treasure-hunting arms.”

Matthew mimicked the way Victor moved.

“With arms like that, some of these women don’t care whether or not you have a ring on your finger. Or on their own finger, come to think of it. “

“Okay.” Victor let the stick to lean on the table and walked for the door. “I’ll see you next time.”

“What’s wrong? Not the type who enjoys making a woman cheat?”

Victor said nothing and kept walking away from him.

“Victor. I’m joking. Cheating isn’t funny. I’ll stop.”

Victor walked out of the pub and Matthew stood at the pool table feeling like he’s prom date had left him. He sighed, turned around and sunk the rest of the balls to clean up. No point in being here, then… You know what? On second thought, maybe a bar was a bad idea as well.