Chapter 1
“Please.. I won’t do it again I swear” the man begged from his knees with the barrel of my gun against his head. “You fucked up randy. You fucked up real bad man. Where’s the money?” I asked slowly pushing barrel of my gun harder into his forehead. “I..I.. I.. smoked it all.. but I can get the money. I can get it. Just please I don’t wanna die..” this would be the second chance for this schmuck. He fucked up once already claiming he got robbed that cost me five grand. Now this. Fuck.
I hate having to be so violent. It churns my stomach in all the wrong ways, but these fucken junkies. What I would give for a good worker to sell my ‘products' that didn’t end up using them all. Good help is so hard to find.
I raised my 45 caliber up and brought it down fast against the bridge of his nose. Blood sprayed across the floor, my hand and my gun. Fucken gross. “please ..” he begged tears mixing with the fresh blood from his broken nose. He couldn’t be trusted again which meant he was fired. I knew he couldn’t get my money back. There was no chance he could control himself long enough to work it off. I hit him again in frustration.
I should make an example out of him. Put a bullet in him to show what happens when you steal from me. More importantly show that I’m not weak and that I can pull the trigger if I need to. Its just not in me to kill a someone. At least not over money.
“fuck randy” I spat at the man that was little more than a sniveling bleeding puddle of shit at this point. “ you got a week to get me my money. If you don’t your dead. Your girl friends dead. Your parents are dead. You understand me? One week.” I kicked him in the stomach for good measure to make sure he was understanding my point.
He coughed but still managed to whimper out an ‘ok I swear and a thank you. I stomped on his ribs before I left “fucken idiot" turned and took my leave. His girlfriend rushed over to him. Heavy black bags under her eyes to. They had obviously used all the merchandise together and who knows when the last time they slept was. Both of them looked like there skin was hanging off of there face and they hadn’t eaten in weeks. Fucken junkies I thought as I walked out the front door.
The cool autumn air and crisp smell of fallen leaves took hold of my senses when I opened the door, taking my mind off the events that just took place. I needed to go meet the next guys and get them set up to work for the night so I could get some sleep. I got in my car and headed to the next meeting spot. I hooked them up without any issues getting my money and giving them enough ‘work' for the rest of the night. Giving out that much was always an issue there was all kinds of things that could happen cops, getting robbed and of course they could end up using more than they sell. Nothing but headaches and stress, this shit is giving me an ulcer. I wish I was somewhere else. Anywhere else.
I pulled up to my house the days work being in the rear view mirror. Opening the car door and taking in the sight of the orange and pink sunset behind the trees running down my block. I took a deep breath the smell of autumn always made me feel better. I grabbed the groceries out of the trunk and headed for the door of my house ready to play video games have a drink and relax.
Opening the door set off my dog alerting everyone in the house I was home. “ ok girl shhh it's just me.” I reached down and scratched her behind the ear while she just about wagged her tail right off her butt. “such a tough dog." she rolled onto her back expecting me to rub her belly. My little yorkie-poo cross made a better alarm system than guard dog. “daddy!” was the only warning I got before being tackled. She jumped off the half wall that rounded the living room a few steps below the front door entrance. Her little thirty pound frame landing on my back while I was bent over scratching the dogs belly. I almost didn’t notice her slip an arm under my chin. “ I got you daddy" she giggled. Her right arm she had slipped under my chin had grabbed the elbow of her left arm and her left hand was on the back of my head, then she applied pressure.
“ aaacckkk uuugghh" I exclaimed and rolled my eyes around pretending to have my blood flow to my brain cut off. Falling on my stomach to the floor I laid there unmoving with my eyes closed. “ I win” her little voice said. I still didn’t stir. “daddy?” she asked shaking my head a little while she climbed off my back. She stepped on my cheek while she repositioned herself. “ dddaaadddyyyy?” she asked again leaning over my face poking me in the eye.
“Raaaaaawwwwwrrrr" I yelled as I jumped up and grabbed her by the abdomen digging my fingers into her ribs just ever so lightly. What followed was a mixture of laughter, screaming and barking till i tossed her lightly onto the couch. “that’s not fair!” she exclaimed “your bigger than me, and pretended to be dead! I thought I killed you!”
“oh you know I’m tougher than that. You need to work on that choke a lot more before you can take me down kid.” She stood up on the couch and put her hands on her hips pursed her lips and glared at me. “one day kid" I told her while I ruffled up her hair with one hand.
“ill never understand why you taught a cute little girl like that to beat people up.” my mother was coming around the corner from the hall. “thanks for watching her while I ran out. Work is crazy these days its so hard to find good help." she thinks I’m a manager at the steel mill just outside of town. No one knows what I actually do to make my money. I keep it as far away from them as I can.
“ oh its no problem. We love spending time together don’t we sprite?” she put one arm around Emma’s shoulder and pulled her in for a side ways half hug thing.” Grandma taught me how to bake cookies! We made chocolate chip.” The biggest grin set across her face as she mentioned that “ did you save any for me?” I tried to see if there were any left on the counter or something maybe I could get one while its still warm. Nothing better than a hot chocolate chip cookie.
“the cookies are in a Tupperware beside the microwave and I mashed potatoes and there’s a roast in the oven for you. Just take it out when the timer goes off.” She patted me on the back while she moved to the door to leave “ Ah your to good to us thanks mum.” She just waved at me like it was nothing. After she got her shoes on she took her leave. Probably to go make my father dinner now.
“wanna watch a movie tonight dad? We can watch the little mermaid again?” I nodded and moved my way into the kitchen to look for a cookie. “you know your not supposed to eat cookies before dinner dad” she started to scolded me as I put the first bite into my mouth. “ no Your not supposed to eat cookies before dinner… I can do whatever I want cause I’m the adult here.” After explaining that difference I stuck my cookie filled tongue out at her. “groooosss" she made a gag noise and stuck her tongue out pretending to vomit.
“your pretty lippy for a seven year old you know that?” I shook my head and looked into the oven. Damn that roast smells good. “ grandma made dinner so that means you have to do the dishes tonight daaaaaad.” That’s my kid alright cheeky little brat. “ fine but I’m playing video games till dinners ready you can watch whatever on your tablet.” After that she plopped down on the couch. I followed suit after a quick stop to the bathroom. Then to the couch to play some fantastical realms 4 the latest console rpg of the series. I couldn’t wait to dive into it. I hadn’t had a chance to play much since I got it so I was still pretty low level but it was the best FPS style RPG to date, got max ratings from every critic, it was top of the line. Anxiously I sat there waiting for the loading screen to jump to the game play when the stove started beeping at me. “gaddammit" I said and tossed the controller on to the couch in-between me and Emma.
“Dad your not supposed to curse its bad grandma says people that do bad things go to the bad place when they die.” Dammit mom I thought to myself I wish she’d keep her religious stuff to herself. “ I don’t want you to go to the bad place dad so you shouldn’t swear" I just sighed “Ill try my best kiddo." that answer seemed to satisfy her enough to drop the subject. “dinners ready!” I hollered out to her as I finished cutting up her piece of roast and put it on the table.
My house was mostly open concept except for a half wall that separated the kitchen from the living room and cornered around to part of the hall and entrance way with a space for someone to walk through on either side of the living room. The TV was mounted on the wall so I could see it from the kitchen and dining room. Just as I was putting her plate down the loading screen changed to the game play screen. I figured my character would be fine standing there for a moment while I finished dishing out dinner then I’d pause it and eat.
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As I was scooping the mash potatoes though something started vibrating on the table looking at my screen I saw I was being attacked by wild dogs “dammit" I said as I jumped over to my living room to grab my controller except that it wasn’t the controller id heard it was my phone because the controller was still on the couch. ‘private ‘my screen read. I already knew who it was. “ ill be right back I gotta take this call" a cry from the TV and the sounds of my character dying was the next thing I heard “you have died" it told me. I sighed an exhausted sigh and answered my phone while I walked into the next room at the back of the house.
“fuck man, you fucked up" the deep bassy voice said. “what do you mean? I took care of everything today. Every bodies got work.”
“I’m not talk’in bout that man im talk’in bout randy. He got his hands on some more dope and some heat. After he got high as shit he called me ranting about he was gonna come settle with you what you did to him how you disrespected him in front of his girl. Said he’s gonna fuck you up make you his little bitch with some strap he got from his cousin. You better watch your back man the drugs have melted that fucken guys brains.”
“ Shit. Thanks for letting me know man I"
Before I could even finish my sentence the sound of gun shots started ringing through my street and outside. Glass was being broke and my first thought was Emma sitting in the dinning room eating her dinner. I dropped the phone swung the door open and ran for her as fast as I could she was already laying on the ground on her side I scooped her up and ran back to the room I was just in bullets flying by me through the walls.
Stupidstupidstupid! I should have just taken care of that idiot when I had the chance. I crouched on the floor debris was falling all over me and the dust from the destroyed drywall was starting to fill the house. It must have been some kind of fully automatic because the bullets didn’t stop for what felt like forever. I sheltered Emma from the chaos as best I could holding her in my arms trying to cover every inch of her. That’s when I noticed she wasn’t clutching me back in fear like one would expect a child to in this situation. I looked down and saw my shirt was drenched in red and she had turned pale as a ghost. My heart started racing. My blood boiling. I quickly looked her over and saw she had an entrance would in her stomach and an exit wound in her back. I could barely hold back the hate that was building. He won’t get mercy this time. Only pain.
I raised my hand over top of her body and started chanting. Immediately a white glow surrounded her then she took a long deep breath before the crying started. The bullets were coming slower now with more yelling. “did I get you, you piece of shit? Huh? Why don’t you come out now and try threatening me again!” after that another bullet ripped through the house and a psychotic laughter could be heard. “fuck I guess I got him.” Now I could hear the sounds of sirens.
“Emma I need you to calm down.” I told her “ remember that thing I told you, you could never tell people. You know how you can transform?” her health bar I could see was at 50% so I cast a regenerate spell on her and her health started to climb back up. through wet eyes and a runny nose she just nodded her head “well I need you to change right now. Ok? And no matter what happens don’t change back till I tell you its alright.” She again nodded her agreement.
Closing her eyes I could see the concentration on her face. Then her small body began to get even smaller. A light blue glow surrounded her and small blue feathered wings began growing out her back. Her arms and legs receded into her body and she grew a feathery tail. Her hair also disappeared along with all her facial features. Now she was just a glowing blue ball with wings and a tail. “Like this daddy?” I couldn’t see her face but I could tell she was proud of her self and I was just as proud. “ Perfect. Now I want you to go into my shirt and don’t look no matter what you hear alright?” the floating blue ball bobbed once and then zipped right into my shirt. I tucked my shirt in around the waist and sent a party request to Emma.
As soon as she accepted I could feel the power surge through my body. And got a notification ‘Blessing of the Cherub' every member of the party gets a 100% stat boost in every stat. Essentially it doubles my level. Now its time to move. I cast ‘Relentless Charge’ on my self to give me another double boost to my strength and agility at the cost of half of each of my intelligence and wisdom. But that’s ok I have more than enough to spare.
“Hang on.” I told her before I turned on my heels and shot out the door at full speed towards the wall the bullets had been coming from. I could see him out there laughing like an idiot. He was just stepping into the car when I leapt. Smashing through the window the world moved in slow motion when I moved this fast it was pretty cool I had to admit even in my state of almost uncontrollable rage the tracers from the light bouncing off everything looked almost like solid lines. I didn’t slow down to take it in though a large piece of glass flew out the window with me and I grabbed it out of the air before everything hit the ground. I landed on both feet and quickly tucked into a roll not wasting the momentum I rolled back onto my feet and continued my charge.
When he heard me burst through he turned his gun back to the direction of the sound with one leg in his get away vehicle. He pointed and started shooting but I was already gone from the direction he was pointing. Too slow I thought with a smirk three more steps and I was beside him. I used the piece of glass to slice the wrist of his gun hand. Almost simultaneously it seemed his get away driver who looked like his girlfriend from the view I had, hit the gas catching his foot and pulling his legs out from underneath him. When he landed his hands hit the pavement and went the opposite direction causing his chin to smack hard onto the street. The car let go of his foot and the driver didn’t even slow down as she flew up the block and around the corner. I looked down at Randy and still enraged at him for what could have happened had I not known a revival spell and mad at myself for giving him another chance, for showing him mercy. “Garbage.” I said quietly to myself. As I reached down to grab Randy’s leg my street started filling with red and blue lights. “Shit I guess times up.” the cars were screaming down the street towards me as I stood up and lifted randy by his leg into the air. “PUT THE MAN DOWN AND STEP AWAY” came the voice over the megaphone attached to the car I just shook my head side to side the universal response for no. I could hear moaning coming from randy and looked down to see he was waking up. Good I want him to be terrified for every second of this. The black and white vehicle came to a stop several meters away and a woman stepped out of her drivers side and leveled her gun at me from behind her car door and a heavy set man did likewise from the passenger side. “Put him down and step away we won’t tell you again” She shouted from her position. “ Dude I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. I I I just I was upset but I’m fine now Ill quit doing the shit I swear.” Randy begged “randy randy randy I gave you a chance already, and how did you repay me? By coming to my house and killing my daughter…” my tone was ice cold. And I looked down at him as he realized the mistake he had truly made. His eyes filled with horrified tears “Please I don’t want to dieeee.” the last word carried with him through his scream as I flung him into the air so hard and sudden I felt several pops before I let him go. Indicating to me that his leg was probably broke in several places.
As the cops followed randy with there eyes I started running at them which seemed to snap them out of there stupor. The female cop opened fire on me and screamed to her partner “We got a leveler! Call for back up!” “aw fucken hell” he responded while fumbling with the radio in one hand and his pistol in the other. “we need back up got a perp of high level with unknown stats, magic and skills” he yelled into the radio while trying to level his gun at me as well.
I strafed to the right as I ran towards the female officer I was moving fast enough that she couldn’t get a good shot at me. I could here the raspy voice over the radio when I was close enough ‘roger sending a knight of fifty he’s on route to your location' Shit, I thought and when I was right next to her door i gave it a good kick in the direction of it closing. Not hard enough to kill her but hopefully hard enough to take her out of the fight. She was sandwiched between the door and the frame of the cruiser and you could see the breath leave her lungs forcefully from the impact. “Sorry I know your just doing your job but today is not a good day for me.” As soon as she fell to the ground seemingly unconscious the guy opened fire at me. I ducked down and cast fireball while pointing my open palm at his foot from under the car. I didn’t put much mana into it so the splash damage should be minimal and it should go out in a second or two just long enough to distract him. I rolled up and started to move towards the back of the car so I could sneak around and knock him out of the fight and make my get away.
I popped my head around the fender of the car and saw the guy on his ass using both hands to pad the fire on his shoe. His gun laying beside. Perfect. I shot forward and landed a well controlled hit. I throttled back on the strength and used my knee to connect with his nose. I didn’t want to kill the guy just make sure he couldn’t shoot me in the back.
“Time to get outta here” as I turned to take off and leave this place behind us probably forever I paused thinking about what my mother and father would likely have to go through. What people would say about my friends, how they should have known what I am. The SGA (System Governance Authority) didn’t take kindly to ‘Levelers' as they call us. That’s anybody who increases there level in secret. There’s extremely strict rules around all leveling, magic spells, magic items, skill learning basically anything that can make people stronger or more powerful than the people currently in control.
A loud crash jarred me from my thoughts “fucken hell” I turned to see a large figure clad in polished steel armor land a few meters in front of the police car I was standing beside. “Stand down now leveler. And ill make your execution painless.” He spoke through his helmet giving it a metallic almost robotic tone. The penalty for leveling in secret is always death.
Fuck.