Chapter eight

      Eleven years later

          I was making out madly with a redhead whose name I couldn't remember when the door burst open and Sergei stepped inside,

         "Seriously Sophia ? This is the third time this month! Are you doing this on purpose?"

         The last ten years had been very kind to me and the slightly overweight girl was gone and I was now a curvy girl with straight blond hair that reached my waist. All the boys in the school were very interesting in 'bagging' the prize I had become, problem was I was interested in 'bagging' some prizes of my own.

          Which brings me to the situation I found myself in right now. The red haired girl that was sitting on my lap quickly got up , grabbed her top from the floor and ran out the door past Sergei. By the time she got out her skin was as red as her hair and she was unable to meet anybody's eyes, which was understandable. She was supposed to be dating Sergei not fooling around with me.

         Sergei looked at me, "That's three, Sophia . Three girlfriends I lost in one month because of you!"

         I just looked at him and said, " Not my fault, I told you to not leave any of your girlfriends alone with me, especially not the cute ones. Plus stop being so melodramatic , I know exactly how much they mean to you so don't pretend that you care. We'll settle it the usual way , the next month I'll do three assignments of your choice, no projects though, none of those girls are worth a project and you know it."

          Sergei's 'upset' face melted away," Four and we will call it even , Evelyn was the daughter of one of my father's lieutenants , I was supposed to seriously consider her and now you've blown that all to hell. How did you even do this? I know for a fact that she was straight, we dated for two weeks. She was a straight laced girl, wouldn't even let me kiss her except for a peck on the cheek , fifteen minutes with you and you've already gotten to second base. What the hell?"

          The last ten years have also been kind to Sergei , the tall and awkward kid was now a tall and muscular man that most of the girls in school drooled over. Coupled with the fact that his father was the head of the Russian mob making him the ultimate bad boy he got more dates than a freaking calendar. Was it really a surprise that I helped myself to some of them?

         "Alright fine, four assignments. And I already told you every girl is curious, and curiosity is all I need."

         "You know, you might be a bigger womanizer than I am. Anyway do you mind if I stay at your house tonight? There is going to be a meeting tonight , a big one and I don't like some of the people invited."

        "Sure , Mi Casa Es Su Casa. There isn't anything wrong with your family's business is there?"

         "Yeah, a new group is moving into our turf . Started last week, they came out of nowhere and started viciously attacking the docks."

         "That sound's bad, you should just stay at my house until this whole thing blows over."

          We walked out of the school together and outside waiting for me like always was Kazimir in a Bentley, Sergei turned towards me and said, " Are you sure you don't want to ride with me on my bike instead?"

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          "No thank you, I'd rather be safe and comfortable."

           He put on his helmet then mounted his prized Ducati and sped off out of the parking lot. I on the other hand calmly greeted Kazimir, entered the Bentley's roomy and comfortable back seat and enjoyed a cheese cake from the mini fridge on my way home. Why anybody would choose the bike over this is beyond me.

            As we traveled towards my house I started thinking about how the last eleven years passed. My relationship with dad grew ever closer and now I loved him more than anything else in the world. He was always very busy but he would make time for his family. Mom was still a monster in disguise, she married dad a month after I was adopted. They found out a few months later that she was barren , I wonder if that was because she was a monster or not. We were always civil with each other but we weren't very affectionate for obvious reasons.

          I once secretly followed her to the company she worked at, Fairweather Tec and for a whole afternoon just sat there in a cafe across the street from the building seeing who was going in and out. There were a lot of normal people but there were also many people who were monsters like mom although they didn't look alike. Some had wings, some had tails, some didn't even resemble humans anymore just bloated worms. 

          My favorite time of day for the last eleven years was at night when I was sleeping because I got to visit the being that I now call big brother. We would spend our time in one of the many impossible rooms just enjoying ourselves and talking. He knew almost everything and he was the one who told me what the monsters were. He called them the Atelli, parasites of the soul. They are either imperfect creations of  a fledgling god or the results of some other mistake. The Atelli are incomplete and as such are unable to see , hear or experience anything so they try to inhabit a host to do so. Some are benign even helpful, tagging along with the host and enjoying the ride. Some are malignant , forcing their incomplete souls into the soul of the host , taking control of the body and damaging the host's soul forever. Over the years as he told me more and more about them I came to really hate the Atelli.

              Besides sleeping and going to class , the other thing I have been doing is practicing with my powers. I learned that I could do literally anything I wanted but the more impossible it was the more it would sap me of my energy. I practiced mostly by going to my father's clinic under the guise of visiting him and helping out patients here and there, thanks to that my father's clinic is now really successful and is sometimes known as the miracle clinic. I was always low key when I visited so no one ever connected the miracles to me. 

            While I was deep in thought I heard screeching tires and gun shots in front of us , I immediately took out the pistol that was under the seat in a special compartment, you don't become the best friend of the biggest Russian mobster's son and not know a few things about guns. I cocked the pistol and put a bullet in the chamber as I opened the door of the car that had stopped because of the commotion.

          I had a feeling that this had something to do with Sergei.