Chapter 50: A Protective Father Figure And A Laidback Mentor

--- Reymundo Ochoa ---

“Now what do you say?”

The teddy bear was silent.

He raised his pimp hand.

“I am sor-”

“Correctly.” He warned, cutting off the voice forged from the primal roar of the flame.

The demonic teddy bear was silent again.

He raised his pimp hand of power again, ready to backhand a little bit-

“I… I’m sowwy Miss Zowy.” The teddy bear cried in a squeaky voice. “I know I’ve been a… a… a super stoopid meanie poopy head… hu-haugh… Can you, can you eva find it in yous big beautiful heart to forgive me for… for being a, a stoopid poopy head? Wuh-hu-huh…” The teddy bear sobbed as if death would’ve been more merciful.

Zoey looked up at him with a concerned look.

“Don’t worry, he’s serious, he won't ever hurt you again. In fact, he swore on his life to protect you.” He assured the girl before glaring at the bear, fully aware of how his eyes flashed gold. “Didn’t he?”

The teddy bear continued to sob, unaware of the fact that he couldn’t actually kill the bear without risking the girl. (Not that’ll stop me from beating it into submission again.) “I did…”

Zoey gave the bear a glare as she took it from his hands. “You promise to be good?”

“I promi-” He coughed and the teddy bear shivered. “I pwomise Miss Zowy… wuh-huh… I was onwy a meanie because I don’t know how to… how to make… fweindy fweinds!”

Rather than being offput by the demonic entity’s wails of despair, the little girl seemed to take them as a sincere form of regret and gave the teddy bear a comforting hug while patting it’s back and telling it, “It’s okay.”

(Ah, she really is just an adorable little niña~)

“Is, is it really okay to leave that… thing with her?” The girls’ caseworker asked, while the teenage one looked between him, Zoey, and the teddy bear with something conflicted. (And that’s a whole other can of worms…)

“Unfortunately, it’s soulbound. Even if we put it in a cement block and threw it into the bottom of the mariana trench it would somehow find its way back to her.” He sighed, wishing he could do just that. “It also means the best way to handle it right now is to make sure it understands that it’s in the demonio’s best interest to keep her safe, and that if it doesn’t well be having another… what’s the thing?”

“Conversation?” The caseworker offered a little unsurely.

“Sí, a brutal beatdown in which it’s established that el demonio es mi perra.” He nodded in agreement earning a huff of amusement from the teenager even as the caseworker looked even more concerned.

(Which should work in my favor.) He figured before giving the caseworker a sympathetic, “Look I understand where you’re coming from with all of this, but I’m a cazador, a monster hunter. I hunt and kill monsters in… what’s honestly not the most lucrative profession if I’m being honest.”

He happily blamed that on the fact that you couldn’t go five feet without running into a vampire, werewolf, witch, or some other kind of Deviant bullshit just itching for a fight with an acceptable target. (Well, that and that Morris guy refusing to support small businesses by hiring non-Sanctuary contractors…)

“What that means, is that I’m constantly in danger of being killed by something supernatural, live in a ramshackle church, and am probably going to be gone far more often than is safe for children with that mess going on.” He tried to explain with a wave towards the cracks in the sky.

Rather than the caseworker simply accepting his reasoning and moving on so that he could really look into how a Demon got itself soulbound to a child, the caseworker gave him a frown and asked, “What about your other two foster children? Given how… decisively you’ve handled this… situation, you must have been a… cazador, during their time with you.”

“Yeah, but they were both teenagers who could look after themselves without me around.” He pointed out, not admitting that he was still a little confused how Harper never figured it out even with Fred running interference. (Seriously that girl could have a Vampire bite her and she wouldn’t realize it. Really glad Fred keeps an eye on her too.)

“What if I watched Zoey?” The other girl asked, interrupting his thoughts.

He blinked, looking at the girl in confusion. “¿Qué?”

“If… if you’re busy doing this monster hunter thing, what if I watched Zoey here and you kept… doing whatever it is you’re doing while we stay here.” The teenager elaborated.

“That’s… a wonderful idea!” The caseworker smiled, seemingly confused by but appreciative of this change of events.

“Seriously?” He couldn’t help but scowl. “You just saw me beat a Demon into submission and hand it back to its victim, and you still think this is the best place for these girls?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Admittedly, he’d dragged it into the alley behind the church before showing it whatfore, but he was pretty sure they heard him at the very least. (Either way, the point stands.)

“Given how swiftly you dealt with this incident and the fact that there is… apparently more than I was aware, you might actually be the best person to leave them with during this event.” The caseworker assured him.

“Yeah.” The teenager nodded. “I’ve been with Zoey since the fire and I… I never noticed she was suffering!” The girl hissed through her teeth before taking a calming breath and looking at him with two blue eyes. “You did though… You kept her safe.”

He stared at the teenager for a moment, before cursing,“Fuck…”

Not so much because he was being pushed into a corner where he’d have to take these girls in and protect them, something he was quite happy doing with Harper and Fred, but because as he stared at her he realized (she’s got something stitched onto her soul too…)

--- Old Man Hendrickson ---

“What do you know about soul parasites?” An overgrown runt asked with no preamble.

“Hello to you too.” He greeted, ignoring how the annoying whippersnapper was blocking his sun. “Did finding religion strip you of your manners, and turn you into another high and mighty asshole? Why not ask your goddess about souls or is she too busy being a gimp for-”

“I just found an eight year old with a Fire Demon stitched onto her soul, in such a way that I couldn’t separate them.” His former employee turned Death Priest interrupted him, thus leaving with ample time to take another sip of his beer.

“Well, religion definitely didn’t teach you how to be humble.” He grumbled (as is the god given right of the old) before sitting up and feeling his back pop with the action. “Why do you think I’d know something about souls that you don’t?”

Rather than answering little Rey-Rey simply gave him a look.

He rolled his eyes. “Fair. Bullshit, but fair.”

Killing the beer in his hand he tossed it to the side before grabbing another and popping the top while hoping that it would be enough to get him buzzed enough to deal with this shit. “You said the parasite was demonic, right?”

“The first one.” Little Rey-Rey nodded, causing him to pause, beer halfway to his lips.

“The first one?” He repeated.

“Second one was something… dead, vengeful, protective, and cold.” The Death Priest explained. “Complete contrast to the one that was a… primal, destructive, flame of hunger.”

He considered that for a moment, chugging his beer so that the haze of alcohol would be enough to dim the unhelpful thoughts for the more useful ones, before suddenly remembering the kid. “Think this might have something to do with my runt? If it’s just soul deep, what you’re describing would look a lot like possession.”

“Possession is having someone break into your house, this would be more like breaking a wall down and turning two apartments into one.” Little Rey-Rey argued, before conceding that, “If the residents moved between the two, it would look like possession if you weren't looking closely.”

“Fancy way of saying I’m right.” He scoffed, before thinking about what he’d picked up on regarding the kid’s situation. “The spirit he’s hooked up to was definitely something dead, a bit demonic but that’s more Malice than actual Demon stuff, the vamps reek of the same thing especially with the blood involved, but… it wasn’t doing anything more harmful than your standard Arcane Summons.”

“Yeah… the ghost in Kelly seemed harmless, at least compared to the Demon burning down their foster home with all of the kids inside of it.” Little Rey-Rey growled, his eyes flashing gold as reality began to bleed color and he started to look a little less… human, his nails sharpening, and his fangs growing.

He made the runt knock his eldritch bullshit off with a can to the head, earning himself a half-hearted glare as little Rey-Rey caught the beer he wouldn’t drink. (The sober ass hoe.)

“I get enough of that shit from my ex’s, you aren’t bringing that crap onto my lawn.” He warned the runt who wasn’t too big to bend over his knee. (Doesn’t matter if he’s my kid or not.)

Little Rey-Rey’s narrowed eyes met his own as he popped the top on the beer before pouring it out on the ground.

He silently mourned the fallen for a moment before leading his eye’s back to the runt’s. “You’re still a little bitch I see.”

“First rule of the supernatural.” His runt argued with a feral grin.

“Take no shit.” He nodded toasting his beer, glad the boy learned something from him (even if he’s still a little bitch,) before finishing the can off in a single go. “A lesson that we’re going to be teaching another youngster tonight.”

“You want me to check out your kid?” Little Rey-Rey asked, quicker on the uptake now than when he’d first met the runt.

“Hopefully, he just sold his soul to a succubus that’ll fuck him to death, but if he’s got the same bullshit these girls you found have then we’ve got yet another problem. One that probably has to do with that bullshit given the timing.” He explained with a finger towards the cracks in the sky.

“Wonderful…” Rey-Rey sighed, sounding like he wished he wasn’t a sober hoe for once. (Not that that’s really helping me.)

With a shake of his head he told the overgrown runt, “Come on. The kid has been going on and on about having a date tonight, one at his house. Surprised he had the game to manage that for his first date given how much of a clutz he tends to be.” as he got out of his lawn chair.

“Huh… that’s funny…” Little Rey-Rey told him awkwardly, probably remembering his own ‘first love’ given how much of a rambling romantic the runt was.

“Yeah, he’s probably hoping his lucky streak will keep going tonight, and that he’ll really get lucky after all the times he got shot down. Honestly, I feel kind of like a dick blocking him like this but the city is more important than a one night stand.” He’d learned that the hard way, a very hard way that may or may not have involved several very pointy things doing exactly what that one night stand would’ve done to him. “Still given how he flirts with anything that moves, he’s probably fully aware that there are other fish in the sea.”

The runt who never learned that lesson gave him a nod as they got to his truck. “I… don’t suppose he told you anything about the girl he’s bringing to his home, as a first date…”

He couldn’t help but roll his eyes at that. “Don’t worry, she’s his neighbor, so he’s going to have another chance with the blonde regardless of if we get in the way. Hell if we didn’t her massive dog probably would’ve. I promise you we might stop him tonight, but I’m sure he’ll bed her tomorrow. I’ll even give him some of the tips that got all my exes to ignore my crazy long enough for a quick shag.”

“That’s… nIcE of yoU…”

“Oi, what did I tell you about that eldritch shit?”