“Five minutes to the drop zone, Mr. Johns,” the pilot calls out over the comm unit.

  “Roger that,” I reply.

  I shakily stand up in the osprey, due to the heavy turbulence outside. I make my way back to the backend of the aircraft and stand by the hatch.

  A few minutes pass. “Two minutes,” the pilot says.

  I press the button that lowers the hatch. It slowly starts to open. I summon my armor and cloak. The hatch opens, and the light switches from red to green, signaling that it’s okay for me to jump.

  “Good hunting,” the pilot calls out.

  “Roger,” I call back.

  I jump out of the osprey into the clear, starry night. I keep my arms and legs tightly closed and fly straight as a bullet towards the ground.

  I’m about fifteen feet from the ground when I decide to do a forward spin. I land on the ground in the “superhero pose.” Damn, I look cool, too bad nobody’s around to see it, I think to myself.

  I stand up and pull my hood over my head. My face is fully obscured, so no one should be able to recognize me. It’s good to be back in Portland, now to find my team.

  I start running through the city. I use my nose to sniff any familiar scents and use my enhanced vision to look for any signs of life. Demons are prowling everywhere, so I try to be as stealthy as possible so as not to draw attention.

  I’m able to clear downtown in seconds, so I move to the outlying neighborhoods. Once I clear the neighborhoods, I decide to make my way towards Hillsboro.

  Once I get into Hillsboro, I make my way over to the house where Jesi, Jeni, and I live. I get to the compound to see that it’s still standing. A barrier is protecting it.

  I let out a sigh of relief and ring the intercom buzzer.

  “Hello?” a female voice calls out.

  “Hello,” I say trying to disguise my voice. “I was passing by and was wondering if I could stay the night. I have nowhere else to go, and the demons are out in droves.”

  “Sure, be there in a moment.” The intercom goes quiet.

  A minute later, the gate opens and I instantly recognize Angie’s face.

  “You can come in,” Angie says, “But you must first pass a test. This is an anti-demon barrier. If you can pass through this barrier unscathed, you may stay the night. If you take any damage, you will be killed by us immediately.”

  “I understand,” I say quietly.

  I step through the gate and pass through the barrier with ease.

  “Do I pass?” I ask.

  “Yes,” Angie says. “May I take your cloak?”

  I pull my cloak tight. “I’d rather you didn’t. I’m in mourning and I’m ashamed to show my face.”

  “Oh,” Angie says sadly, “I understand. Come with me.”

  Angie leads me into the main house. Once inside, she closes the door and motions me to the couch to sit down.

  “Can I get you anything to eat or drink?” she asks.

  “Water is fine.” I respond.

  Angie nods her head, goes into the kitchen, and comes back with a large glass of water.

  “Here,” she says gently.

  I take the glass from her. “Thank you.”

  As I slowly sip the water, Angie tries to look under my hood. I stop sipping and turn my head away.

  “Please, don’t look at me.”

  Angie’s face gets flushed. “Sorry. I just feel like I know you. Your voice sounds so familiar.”

  I smile under my hood. “Maybe it was in another life.”

  Our voices carried throughout the house, because I could hear the pitter-patter of feet coming out to the living room.

  The next thing I know, I see a scythe blade pressing firmly against my neck.

  “Don’t you fucking move.” a British voice says. I knew immediately that it’s Rebecca.

  I use shadow step to move away from the scythe and draw Gemini’s Lament.

  Angie holds out her arms between us. “No fighting, Rebecca, this man is our guest.”

  Shizumi bares her naginata down on me. “How do we know he’s even human?”

  Angie waves her hand at Shizumi. “He passed the barrier test.”

  I feel a hand trying to pull at my hood. I use shadow step to move away. I look over and see Hanneke.

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  “Don’t fucking touch me,” I snarl.

  Aaboli steps into the living room to Angie shouting, “Everybody calm down! This man is our guest!”

  All of the commotion wakes up the rest of the Davis family.

  “What the hell is going on in here?” Greg asks.

  “Angie let a strange man into the house.” Hanneke angrily says.

  I put away my sword. “Look, if this is going to cause a problem, I’ll just leave.”

  I walk towards the door. As I turn the handle to open it, I feel Greg’s hand grasp my wrist.

  “No, son, please stay. If you ever need a place to stay, you’re welcome.”

  I drop my guard a little. “Thank you, sir.”

  I return to sitting on the couch Everyone sits in other chairs around me, eyeing me suspiciously.

  “So, stranger, what brings you to my humble home?” Greg asks.

  I let out a heavy sigh. “I’m looking for my team. We got separated four years ago at the battle of PSU. I thought they had died, but I received intel that they were in this area. I just need a safe place to stay for the night. I’ll move on in the morning.”

  Rebecca pipes up. “That’s quite the coincidence. We lost three of our teammates four years ago at PSU as well. Our boyfriend. And two sister girlfriends. They were twins. We were told that our boyfriend was moved to Seattle to recover. But ever since all phone lines were destroyed, we haven’t heard anything about him since.”

  I shake my head. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

  Hanneke, still suspicious of me asks, “Why won’t you remove your hood?”

  Emma, Angie’s younger sister, scowls. “Hanneke, that’s rude!”

  I hold up my hand, a tear trickles down my cheek. “It’s okay. I’ll tell you. I’m in mourning. I allowed two people that I loved to die on the battlefield. They were part of my team. Now, all I have left of them is this.”

  I summon Gemini’s Lament in my hand. I manage to suppress my red aura, but blue and green sparks crackle around the scabbard. Everyone looks on in awe.

  I put away my sword. "I’m a failure as a leader. I failed to protect my team and now two of them are dead and they’re never coming back.”

  Emma puts her arm around me. “It sounds like we have something in common. But you’re not a failure. You did your best to protect them. Death in battle is bound to happen, and there’s nothing in the world we can do to stop it. All we can do is protect the ones we care about to the best of our ability.”

  I wipe the tears streaming down my face. “Thank you so much, that means a lot to me. Could you show me where I’m staying for tonight?”

  Emma hooks her arm around mine and pulls me up. “Sure. Angie will take you to our guest house out back.”

  We arrive at the guest house, and Angie unlocks the door. I step inside, and as I’m about to close the door, both girls push their weight on it and force themselves inside. Emma closes the door and locks it. Angie slowly pulls my hood down. I put my hands on hers.

“Stop.” I say quietly.

  Angie moves her face closer to mine. “How much longer are you going to put on this act, brother?” She pulls my hood down, then gives me a passionate kiss on the lips.

  I feel her tongue entangle with mine. It feels good to kiss her, but gently push her away.

  “Angie,” I softly say, “How did you know?”

  Angie blushes and softly giggles. “Do you think I wouldn’t know the voice of my own adopted brother?”

  Emma, who was first taken aback by my long white hair and red eyes, now comes over and hugs me. She too gives me a passionate kiss.

  “It’s so good to have you back, Chris. We’ve missed you so much.”

  I hug my adopted sisters. “I missed you, too. But why did you kiss me like that? Are you really in love with me that way?”

Emma giggles. “Of course, we are! Ever since it was revealed that you were adopted, all of us girls in the Davis house wanted to marry you. Me, Angie, Jesi, Jeni, Emily, Anna, Rene, and Julie. We were jealous that Jesi and Jeni got to you first. And when you brought those other girls home from PSU, we didn’t we had a snowball’s chance in hell.”

  I smile at the girls. “I love you, too. But at the time, I didn’t think of you all as potential lovers. Just my sisters.”

  “But why choose Jesi and Jeni? They were your sisters, too.” Angie says bashfully.

  I can’t hide my blushing. “I don’t know. Maybe because we were closer in age, I guess. I don’t know.”

  Emma snuggles closer to me. “Now we’re all grown up. I’m eighteen and Angie is nineteen. With you being twenty-five, the three of us can get married. You know daddy will approve.”

  Angie also snuggles closer to me. Both girls’ double-d breasts are pushing up against me. Four years ago, the girls were barely a b-cup, my god, how much they’ve grown! They were cute when they were younger, and now they’re super beautiful all grown up. I can’t hold myself back!

  I grab both girls in my arms and start kissing them passionately. Our hands glide over each other’s bodies frantically as we make our way down the hallway toward the bedroom.

  In the bedroom, I dematerialize my cloak and armor. We strip our clothes off in a frenzy and I begin making sweet love to them on the bed. Our bodies entwine as we move in sync to each other’s desires. All three of us end up climaxing at the same time in an eternal state of bliss and fall asleep in each other’s arms.

  We are rudely awakened in the morning with a thunderous crash. We get hurriedly get dressed. I summon my armor and cloak. I pull the hood over my head and we rush outside. Above us, a winged demon is stomping on the barrier, trying to get in.

  The demon finally breaks the barrier and crashes to the ground. Angie summons her halberd and Emma summons her twin short swords.

  “Shed blood for my pain; Gemini’s Lament!” I shout. My sword quickly appears in my hand as I launch myself at the demon. I corkscrew through the air, land multiple strikes on the demon before landing on my feet.

  The demon pulls his sword on me and takes a swing. I do a backward flip in the air and land several feet out of striking range.

  “Pierce the sun with everlasting twilight; Shadow Fang!” My other sword appears in my other hand.

  I launch myself at the demon again. “Vorpal strike!”

  The demon laughs. Trying your luck again, vampire?”

  Our swords clash together, the metal ringing throughout the compound.

  “So, you know what I am,” I smirk.

  “Your scent is easy to trace,” he retorts.

  I Jump back just as Emma leaps overhead and lands behind the demon. She uses her twin swords to make an X-shaped slash across his back.

  The demon screams out in pain. “You little bitch!” He grabs Emma’s arm and flings her over his head onto the ground.

  “Ugh,” Emma groans.

  Shizumi, Rebecca, Hanneke, and Aaboli jump in and strike at the demon, landing multiple hits on him as well.

  I launch myself at the demon for the final blow. “Sonic... warp!”

  I swing one sword vertically and the other horizontally. “Crucifixion.”

  The demon shrieks and then falls to the ground in heaps of flesh.

  Greg witnesses the execution and claps his hands. “Good job, son, and welcome home!”

  I pull down my hood with both hands, my white hair blowing in the morning breeze.

  “Hey, pop. How’d you know it was me?”

  The girls stand there in shock. Angie and Emma just smile.

  Greg smiles and hugs me. “Do you seriously think I wouldn’t know my own son? Besides, those swords gave you away. And do you really think that I would let just any man spend the night with two of my daughters?”

  Hanneke, Shizumi, Aaboli, and Rebecca race up to me and start hugging and kissing me. “It’s been too long. We miss you! We love you.”

  I hug and kiss them back. “I’ve missed you too, and I love all of you. I’m glad to be home. Let’s go inside and you can catch me up on the last four years.”