At this hour far into the night, the ride back to our flat took only fifteen minutes. It had been a silent one, with the occasional glance from King in our direction through the driving mirror. She was in police uniform, but the Uzi in a holster stuck to her leg wasn’t part of the reglementary equipment.
She had given me a warm medical blanket to cover up, but blood was still dripping on the car seat.
I hoped she wouldn’t be the one asked to clean it, it would have been a lousy reward for saving the world twice in a row.
As we arrived at our flat, Marie and I stepped out, simply thanking King before leaving.
“See you tomorrow.” She reminded us through her open side window. She drove away hurriedly, back in the city center’s direction.
“I’m tired.” Marie said to me in the elevator. She grabbed my bloodied hand with hers.
“Me too…Marie?”
“Yes.”
“Please don’t do this again.”
“What?”
“Get between me and a millennia-old monster.”
She gave me an angry look but sighed instead of exploding.
“You were being hit over and over, and neither of you seemed to want to stop, even though it all was ridiculous.”
“She could have been offended and just murder you here and then, I…”
“She wouldn’t have. She asked me to call her Ass, not the kind of thing easily offended people tell you. And before you say she’s not a ‘people’, she is. I’m more and more convinced that what King said is true.”
The elevator doors opened. And we both stepped out.
“What part?”
“That most of those supernatural creatures are and remain human. You may have all your great powers, but you’re all still as dumb as the average Joe.”
“Hey!” I protested.
“What. You’re telling me you weren’t taken by the fight at the end?”
“I was constantly worried about you!”
“I know. But you were having fun, too. Even though she was hitting you with dynamite-like punches.”
We opened our locked door and stepped into the entrance.
“It was the Beast…” I began, then stopped myself. “Maybe not.”
“Ha! That’s why I acted as I did. I believed what I said then. You were acting like teenagers having a fit, so I intervened with the appropriate response. Reminding you both of your responsibilities and being firm.”
“Sounded more like An…”
“Don’t finish that sentence.”
“Sorry M’am.” I teased her foolheartedly.
She gave me a deadly stare, then kissed me voraciously.
“Shower.” She ordered.
“Y..es.”
“I’m in charge this time.”
“Sure.”
The flat’s bell rang at 7 am that morning.
Marie grunted next to me, clearly unwilling to go see who the psychopath waking us up at this hour of the day was.
“Is that King?” I asked myself, putting some clothes on in a hurry.
I went into the living room and was faced with a rather terrifying sight.
In order of the least problematic to the most:
My front door was broken, fully opened, with the lock completely turned into dust.
A very angry-looking vampire Elder was standing in the entrance, his wounds from the night before seemingly vanished, and wearing another tuxedo that didn’t fit such a child-like creature.
Last but not least, was Astarte sitting on my dining table, surrounded by luggage, wearing sunglasses like a teenager going on holiday.
“Heya! I’ve heard you’ve got a free room!”
“…” Was I still dreaming, and could I get out of this nightmare somehow?
“Astarte. She broke the First Law.” It didn’t seem like Alik had said that for the first time.
“Pshh, don’t worry, that’s why I came, I’ll check up on her, so she won’t do anything bad!”
That was a lie.
“Second chances have been removed; she needs to be executed.” Alik was looking at me with pure hatred in his eyes, but I felt the feeling was more towards the living nightmare currently checking my apartment.
“Then why didn’t you destroy Jeanne?” Astarte’s voice had suddenly shifted, deeper and accusatory, and I saw Alik’s body stiffen. She smiled, showing her full row of sharkish teeth. “It’s a bit small, but I’ll only stay here a little while.” She then said cheerfully.
That wasn’t a lie but wasn’t reassuring in the least. What was a little while for a five thousand five hundred year being?
“Hi.” My brain finally managed to bring words to my lips. “What are you doing here?”
“I told you silly! Did I hit you too hard last night?... I had so much fun, and your lover made such an impression on me, I wanted to come and live with you two! Ah shit, I wasn’t supposed to say that in front of Licky Licky.”
“AS IF IT WASN’T OBVIOUS!” Screamed the Elder, his anger refueled. “Astarte, you gave your word you would stay put for a while.”
“When was that?”
“FIVE HOURS AGO!”
“With the angry-looking human full of scars?”
“YES.”
“I remember, don’t get so touchy about it. It’s why I’m here. If I’m bored, I do oopsies, but with those two, I’ve got the feeling I won’t be bored. So, no oopsies! Isn’t that a good thing?”
“STOP TALKING TO ME LIKE I’M A CHILD!”
She giggled and waved her hand at him. “You can go now, oh, and bring someone to repair the door, I can’t live in a place without a door!”
I was 99.9% sure she was the one who had destroyed my front door. Also, that last part had been a lie.
Alik slowly turned around and left, not before punching a hole in my wall.
“You’ll repair that too.” Astarte noted.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” The vampire Elder, who was apparently responsible for the supernatural beings of North America, proceeded to rip the guardrail of the corridor into scraps of metal and stone in a fit of rage, then vanished away.
“He’s so fun.” Astarte said, her expression like that of an old grandma talking about her grandchildren.
I had to sit down but was stopped by Marie coming behind me.
“Gray? Did you hear anything crazy like Astarte being in our flat? Or is it just me hallucinating in my sleep?” She passed next to me and saw Astarte.
“Fuck.”
I winced.
“Sorry Gray.”
“No worries, I’m thinking the same thing.”
“Nice body.” Astarte commented, looking at the partly nude Marie. Then, before any of us could react, she clapped her hands. “Who wants breakfast?”
“Those pancakes are to die for.” King was hungrily eating the remnants of our breakfast. Astarte had left an hour ago, and they hadn’t crossed paths.
Probably for the better, as me and my best friend were still hoping for a collective hallucination.
As King took a bite out of the pancakes that should not exist, I sipped my tea. Lavender, to calm your nerves. I was thinking that it was not working.
“Who cooked those? Marie?”
She shook her head left and right.
“Igris?”
I did the same.
“New roommate?” As we did not answer, she continued. “I know what occurred yesterday must have been shocking, but I need to know everything that happened.”
She took another bite out of the pancakes.
“We had a disagreement with the Elder.” Marie began.
“Not possible, you would both be dead.” She pointed towards her with her fork, coated in maple syrup.
“So Gray here kicked his ass.”
“What?” King suddenly stood still.
“Marie?” I asked.
“I’m tired, Gray.”
“Sure.” I agreed.
“What the hell happened to you two?”
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
But Marie wasn’t caring about King’s confusion.
“So, Astarte then recognized her, and protected the child demon.”
“Uh? Wait.”
“They fought for a while, and when I realized they would not stop, as they were evenly matched, I just interrupted the fight to go take a shower.”
There was a short silence, before King seemingly understood: “Damn you’re both delirious.”
“Astarte accepted, and we thought that was it. But then she came this morning and proclaimed herself our new roommate.”
“Astarte is one of the strongest creatures out there, feared like no other. I don’t know what happened yesterday, but in no way is what you said possible.”
At the moment she finished that sentence, like a karmic event written in stone, Astarte was back, with new bags and luggage.
“Oh? You’ve got company? Don’t worry about me, I’m just moving, in then I’m gone for the day, I’ve got to tell everyone you’re my new friends.”
And she went in what was previously Stan’s room.
…
“By the way, she made those.” I felt the need to say, as I pointed at the new piece of pancake on her fork.
King, in a very dignified manner, put the fork back on her plate, and simply said: “You’ve spiked my pancakes.”
“Astarte’s pancakes.” Marie was hiding a smile as she said that, enjoying the teasing a bit too much.
“Marie.”
“What? Am I supposed to be nice? We were just looking at a wall for two hours, I’m more shocked than when you went all wolfy!”
“It hasn’t been two hours, my phone says 10 AM.”
“That makes three hours.”
“Time is relative.”
“Yes, please! Tell me we’ve been in a bad sci-fi trope this whole time and that the fake teenager who wants to fuck, or kill, us both, isn’t currently putting a double bed mattress in Stan’s room!”
“I won’t lie to you.”
While we bickered, King got her phone out, hand trembling: “I need to call my superiors.”
“And tell them what exactly?” I asked.
“Erm…well...”
“You just saw it, and you can’t even believe it, just finish the pancake, and we’ll tell you everything. Hiding my nature isn’t needed anymore.”
“HOU! Hou! Wait for me to be done before that part, I want to know too!” Shouted Astarte through the flat.
I put a hand across my face. “Sure…”
“Thanks!”
After a brief moment of heavy silence, King spoke.
“So. What is it you have to tell me?”
“What Marie told you was the truth, even though it was missing the gruesome parts.”
“Those are unneeded.” Marie explained. “You were only protecting me.”
“I still killed. Again.”
“Who did you kill?” The lieutenant asked. “And you’ll have to explain better than that. I know Marie, but I don’t know you, Igris, or Gray as Marie calls you, like Ray Dunkelbaumen.”
“One thing at a time.” Marie intervened. “We had the meeting with this creepy kid, but it did not go as planned.”
“He tried to force Marie into revealing who I was with compulsion, but then Astarte arrived, and things got messy.” I continued.
“That’s normal when…” King stopped herself mid-sentence, probably realizing it was a bad idea to say anything bad about Astarte while she was in the room next door.
“So, Alik sent his goons after me, and they tried to hurt Marie, so I killed them.”
“How?”
“I shall come to it.”
I then recalled the rest of the events of last night.
“…and that’s when you arrived. Quite late by the way.” I concluded.
“There was a team in place, but they fell back once Astarte’s whereabouts had been established. It was supposed to be my day off, yesterday, by the way. But everyone got mobilized. Took some time.” King explained.
That meant the team of Hunters in the city was of at least thirty people, but not much more. King wasn’t lying when she said the underworld wasn’t big.
“It’s a beautiful story, and it explains the state both of you looked like last night.” She continued, unaware of my inner calculations. “But it’s still impossible. People who can single-handedly defeat an Elder are very, very few, and fight evenly with Astarte, even less so.”
“I don’t know about any of that.” I answered. “But yes, I’m not completely human since Jeanne abducted me.”
“Wait, wait, wait. Jeanne abducted you too? Is that how you and Ray met? Where is he by the way? Shouldn’t he be living here?” King asked, confused.
Marie sighed. “Yeah, we should begin with that.” She took a sip of her coffee and held my hand.
“Yes. Probably.” I felt uneasy, having revealed my secret only to Marie. I would have liked Stan to be the second and last one, but it didn’t seem it would be the case.
“You have to let go of my hand though, Marie.”
“Oh, you’re going to show it?”
“At this point, what else am I supposed to do.”
“I’d warn her first.” She reminded me.
“Yeah.”
“Warn me about what?”
“Igris is going to transform, it’s rather, impressive and weird, to say the least.” Marie answered her.
“Transform?”
“Oooh, something fun is happening!” Astarte seemingly teleported on a chair next to us.
“PRETZELS.” Marie shouted.
King also jumped at the sudden appearance.
“Do you want some?” Astarte asked.
“What?” Marie responded.
“Pretzels.”
“No, it's just that Gray doesn’t like foul words.”
“Mhh, strange. Who taught you to dislike them?” The question from Astarte was awfully specific, eerily so.
“…my brother.”
“In any case, Astarte, as we talked before, you coming here is also to our advantage, and we accepted that. But if it’s to give me a heart attack, I’d rather you leave.”
Astarte gave her an understanding look. “Sure, sorry, I’ll limit my movements so you can see them.”
“Thank you.”
“Wait, how, what?” King was clearly on the verge of losing it, so Marie and I felt bad.
“We talked with her this morning and came to an understanding. It is the reason why we can reveal Gray’s secret.” Marie began.
“Basically, if we accept Astarte as our flatmate, she’ll protect us from harm.” I finished.
“That…is unnecessary. The Hunters would have protected you Igris, you’re human enough.”
I smiled sadly.
“You’re already supposed to protect me.”
“Yes, for whatever reason, the Census has your name written inside.”
That was weird. Maybe the Census wasn’t just a large book.
“Whateeeeveeeeer. Come on, just show what you are!” Astarte pouted.
King visibly tensed, but she too, watched me.
“So, you can use illusion magic to transform?” She guessed.
“Nope. Marie?”
“Oh, yes sorry.” She removed her hand from mine.
I changed back into Ray’s body.
I hated doing that while I was clothed, some parts became too big, others too tight.
“WHAT THE…” King fell from her chair but aptly rolled back on her feet.
Astarte just whistled in amazement. “Wow.”
“Hey, I’m Gray.”
“W…w…wha…?” The lieutenant was searching for words.
“So yes, she’s my girlfriend…and boyfriend, I guess. I suppose it answers your questions, Lily.” Marie noted.
“That wasn’t magic per se.” Astarte examined me, coming closer. “You are clearly two different persons, but with the exact same energy signature.” She had stopped acting like a teenager and was now very seriously studying me.
“But… it's impossible!?” King finally said.
“Pshh. You’re young, I see impossible things happen every twenty years or so. This one takes the cake, nah second to the moon landing maybe; In any case instead of refuting it you should be proud witnessing it.”
“So. I’m Igris and Ray. I found a wolf pelt with Igris’s soul stuck inside at Jeanne’s home, and it fused with me. It seems both of us were Conscients, destined to be one but separated by five thousand years.”
“I get it, I get it. That’s why you feel so young as well, even though you should be my age.” Astarte analyzed.
“Yes.”
King slowly came back towards us and sat back down on her chair. She took another bite of the pancakes.
“Those are really good.” She said half-mindedly.
“Thank you. I had an incredibly good chef friend one century ago, he made me reconsider the beauty of food.” Astarte explained.
“You must have killer stories.” Marie noted.
“I rather prefer those without killers. You can’t have fun when the thing is dead.”
“Great, so at least you’re not a necrophiliac.” I provoked.
She looked at me, all childishness gone, a giant smile on her face.
“Don’t be disrespectful.”
I shivered. “Not what I meant, we just don’t know each other, and I’ve got a dark sense of humor.”
“To answer your question, no, I’m not a necrophiliac. I’ve killed some of those, though. I was the guardian of the dead for a while.”
Marie had stars in her eyes. “I have to hear about that!”
“Marie, she tried to kill me last night.”
“So did Natasha last week, and we’re still friends. You’ll get over it. Imagine what she could teach us!”
“And there is the Satan worshipper I know and love.”
Astarte giggled. Her teeth screeched together. “You two have nice chemistry. I’d like to see you fuck sometimes, has to be explosive.”
“Yes, we have nice chemistry. And no, you won’t watch us fuck or participate. In any case, you’re the second person who asks, so you’ll wait the line.” Marie firmly answered, but with no anger. She probably felt that Astarte wasn’t being serious this time.
“I can wait.” The age-less creature answered.
That was ominous.
King cleared her throat. “So, you’re the same person. And the only known full Conscient in history. Not talking about the prophecy and all that, it still doesn’t explain how you beat Alik. Or Astarte.”
“She didn’t beat me, we agreed on a temporary draw.” Astarte smiled at King.
“…I meant no offense.” The police officer very respectfully answered.
“None taken. And you mark a point, child, she had the fighting technique, and the hunting technique, of something way older, maybe even older than me. So, there is still a missing piece in the puzzle.”
“Erm, ok, we’ll explain.” Marie countered. “But what’s with the prophecy?”
“Psshh, bunch of nonsense. Translated from the original prophet’s language, it says a Conscient whole will bring the end of times.”
“…Erm…” Marie opened her mouth then closed it.
“What?” I said, aghast.
“Don’t worry. Prophecies, as Gray probably knows, are fake.” Astarte said.
I bit my lip. “Not exactly.” Prophecies were always vague, so that the chances they were true, under one or another interpretation, would be high. But there didn’t seem much room for second readings here. “Were those the exact words?”
“Nope. In that language, bring can also mean watch, begin or end. And the end of times is basically a bad transcript of the Christian Apocalypse. And before you ask, yes, it was a real prophet.”
“Oh good, I was scared for a second.” I thought Marie was doing sarcasm, but no, she was visibly relaxing.
“Wait, wait, wait. How is me potentially bringing or watching, or even ending the Apocalypse a good thing?! It means there will be one!” I stood up, angrily. Had the Beast said something like that, or Jeanne? I couldn’t remember. But I didn’t want to be the harbinger of Chaos, like my inner monstrous self.
“Because in it of itself, the Apocalypse is a good thing.” Marie explained.
“The end of the world? A good thing?” I looked at my girlfriend, breathed, then sat down. I wasn’t an expert in religion, and she knew much more about it than I did. If she was so calm about it, there had to be good reasons. And she would explain everything to me.
“It is a time of crisis and change, but it doesn’t say everyone dies or anything like that. Bad things happened, but it forces people in becoming better, and at the end, we create a paradise where the dead come back to life.”
“That sounds pretty bad.” King interjected.
“The zombies only appear way later, when they tell you the dead come back to the living, at least in the bible, it means resurrection.”
“Gray?” Astarte looked at me, a creepy grin on her face. She knew some things, so many things, and she wanted to share one with me.
“To punish you for the truth you stuck into my soul all those years ago, so shall I.”
“Arte, don’t hurt my boyfriend/girlfriend.” It was Marie’s time to stand up.
“I shall do no such thing. You follow truth, right, Gray?”
“I believe in it, yes.” How she knew, I did not know. But with her knowledge of people over all those years, that she could guess wasn’t even farfetched.
“It made me angry, your words, but it also helped me, much later.”
“You had no reason to try to kill me, then.”
“Of course not, but I saw your strength, I needed a taste.”
Crazy millennia monster.
“Who would you resurrect, even if it meant bringing chaos to the world?” She asked me innocently.
My body trembled. I first thought about my brother, but no, it was a long time ago, I had done my grieving.
I saw the future. My future, for a fraction of a second.
The table broke under my grip.
“Seems like you know what’s going to happen, then, Oracle.” She grinned.
“Arte, could you please refrain yourself?” Marie angrily looked at her, then put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “Gray, you alright? Don’t bother with what the creepy teen is saying to you. And leave my furniture alone.”
King gave her a shocked look, then went to look Astarte, seeing how she would react to that insult.
The creepy teen only gave a creepy smile. “I really like you Marie. How fun things are going to become around here because of you.
“I’m fine.” I said honestly. “I do ask for the truth, and sometimes it’s not fun to hear. I’ll tell you later.”
“No need for that.” She smiled at me tenderly and kissed me.
It shocked me as the feeling was unlike before.
It was the first time it had happened under Ray’s form, I realized. She realized it too and quickly backed off, her expression uncertain.
“So, you end the world, potentially, I don’t believe in it, but others do. It was a good idea to keep this a secret, Gray.” King said.
“Thank you?”
“How did you beat Alik?” She repeated.
“Do you know the story of the Beast?”
Astarte’s eyes grew wider. “The wolf howl last night! I had forgotten! The way you hunt! Jeanne’s pelt! OH MY GOD YOU’RE A WEREWOLF.”
I cringed really hard at the sudden reverting into childishness from Astarte.
“SHOW ME SHOW ME SHOW ME!!!”
“What the hell is happening?” King asked.
“I have no idea.”
Astarte was now jumping around everywhere.
“I missed it last time, I was SooOoo pissed! Thank you thank you thank you!”
“You like wolves?” Marie guessed.
“It’s my favorite animal!” Astarte was now looking like she was eight years old.
“Well sure, why can’t the five thousand five-hundred-year-old have a favorite animal.” I asked no one.
“Show me!”
“Sure, outside. It’s dangerous though, that’s the last secret.” I said towards the lieutenant, Astarte not listening to me anymore. “I’ve got a third soul inside, one of formerly the Beast, some sort of giant wolf creature with an unfortunate worship towards chaos.”
King looked frazzled.
“And you can transform into it? Does it have control over you?”
“Sometimes, but it’s pretty tame after I had a nice hunt. I think we’ll be fine.”
After all, with all that happened since yesterday, it had said nothing. I could swear it was sleeping, digesting the rotten things it had forced me to eat the night before.
“WOOOOOLFFFF!” Astarte chanted.
I sighed. Cohabitation would be hard on me. Marie would adapt, as she would. My drawing projects were going to suffer, though.
It reminded me about my piece at Diamond’s apartment. I would have to ask King about it sometime.
King and Astarte went outside, King taking a reasonable distance from the revered goddess of old.
As I was lost in thought, Marie brought me my coat, and painkillers.
“Maybe it’ll help. For, you know…”
“Thanks.”
“I’m sorry about earlier.”
“The kiss?”
She nodded.
“Why should you be sorry?”
“I didn’t want to, it just felt the right thing to do, I’ve never…”
“Marie. I don’t like lies, even when they’re towards yourself.”
“I’m not…” She shut up. “Let’s go to the park.”
“Let’s.” I knew this conversation would have to come, one day or another, but now was not the time, and I wasn’t going to push when we were not alone.
Surrounded by three women of very different ages, I walked to the park to transform, once again.