A Scripta

We've moved...to someplace I can access from work.

http://paragoncitytales.net/warwriter/

"Your agent said that Havens is your home, and that this is your resting place."

Grim looked up at the runes over the door, now modified.  None shall enter without my permission or they shall be destroyed.

Treated with scorn by everyone, he had finally realized that it wasn't worth beating his head against the wall over and over and over.  Raina refused to consider him a leader and was sleeping with LeBeau, which meant only a matter of time before he would be a "leader" and the 'mancers would take over.  Lue didn't care for him anymore.  Stefan was gone.  Kalius hated him.  The technomancers hated him.  Jack was a lost cause.  Shadow said he was done with them, too.

Rusty suggested to concentrate on building up the warehouse, of building the school.  He woke up this morning, deciding that was a great idea.

The hell with Havens.  The gypsies took over the palace.  He handed over the keys and walked out.  He pulled the Havens comm out of his ear and tossed it to the ground, stomping it underfoot.  If someone really wanted him - which he now doubted - he'd still have his phone.  But like a rejected lover, he never expected it to ring from them again.

Time to go find some teachers and students for his school.

Icy Rage was outside and watched as the body was brought into the compound.  Master Li, one of the best swordsmen in Paragon, bested by a mere mage.  Rage went over to the body and pulled off the blanket.  It had been pierced with multiple spikes - he could see the results of the Copper Serpent venom on the wounds.  His uniform had been torn and parts of the flesh beneath torn off as well. 

((This was retconned - it never happened.  However I figured on keeping it here.))

Grim turned over, and looked at Lue's smiling face. "Morning sleepy head," he said with a grin. He whispered the spell and kissed Grim gently.

Grim smiled, putting his arms around him. "I must have been more tired than I thought."

"After last night, they gave me the day off," Lue settled in next to him. "What do you want to do?"

"We can do more research for Blue."

Lue nodded. "I'll go get us some coffee."

"Cream, four sugars."

Lue after another kiss, he walked down to the door of the warehouse, and suddenly got a sharp pain in his chest. It wasn't where his heart was, but it was the place he would feel tugs when the avatar was being used by Grim. He whirled around, and ran back to the bedroom, which suddenly exuded a sickly yellow glow. He ran into the glow and saw Grim in the middle of it, still sitting on the bed, staring at himself. He was beginning to go intangible.

"Grim!" Lue yelled, and ran to him.

Grim reached out his hands to Lue, but they passed through him. "LUE!" he screamed, and slowly faded away.

When Grim was gone, Lue slammed his fists on the bed in pure fury. "Grim..." he sobbed, falling to his knees beside the bed.



Grim looked down and saw he was still sitting and now wearing the gray clothes that he wore when he did reaper work. The world around him was cast in a yellow fog, though he could see his way through it. He was in the middle of a forest. He got up and stretched his black wings. He heard a noise in the brush, and turned toward it. Then another on the other side. Then another. His hand dropped to his belt, but his dagger was gone.

Slowly, angels came out from the trees. They were all in white, all carrying swords. He counted six of them.

"Uh...hi?"

They spoke in unison: "You have brought humans into the spirit world without permission."

"It was an emergency. Somebody else brought one of ours here--"

"But--"

All the angels raised their swords and pointed them at him. Grim put his hands up.

"Only one can come with you," said one angel, coming toward him, still holding the sword out. "The one whose heart belongs to you."

Grim nodded. "Okay, look, I'm sorry. I won't do it again."

"No," said the angel, "You will not."

They all spoke together, "For a cycle of the moon, you will have pain upon your return from here, to remember that the living are not permitted entry here."

Grim had felt pain before, but nothing like this. It filled his entire body, like someone was sticking knives in him, inside and out. Someone was tearing off his wings, his flesh, his eyes. He couldn't help but scream in agony, and that didn't help things. The pain went on and on, seemingly forever, and then it got worse. He prayed for bliss. He prayed to pass out, but he couldn't. Finally, either it abated or he got used to it, he couldn't tell which, and he slowly felt the coolness of stone on his face. He slowly moved sideways, moaning from the leftover pain.

He heard someone bounding up the stairs, and felt Lue skid to the floor next to him. "Beloved! Are you all right?"

"Pain..." he moaned. "Everywhere."

Lue started drawing a pain blocking rune on his temple. Grim screamed and writhed, slamming his head on the stone floor. Lue stopped and tried to hold him down to withdraw the rune. He finally did, and Grim calmed, breathing heavily. Lue held him, rocking him, as the pain subsided, though it seemed to take a very long time. Finally, Grim could speak coherently, and told Lue what had happened. Lue clenched his jaw. "Again, you suffer for them!"

"I honestly didn't think, it was all my fault--"

"They should share this pain with you. But they wouldn't. I would ."

Grim shook his head. "I don't want you to, love. It's only for a month. I'll be okay. I can't die from it." He looked up at Lue. "Just hold me when it happens?"

Lue held him tight. "I will. Always."

Tub Ci steepled his hands below his chin and regarded the five men standing before him. “Gentlemen, we have a problem.”

The men stood perfectly still. All of them looked like sorcerers, with the long gown-like hakama, some with shirts, others without and proudly exposing their yazuka tattoos. They were more than sorcerers, but warriors with some sorcerer abilities, and five of the best from all over Paragon and beyond.

"I have summoned you here because we have a traitor that needs to be destroyed."

"A traitor!" snarled Red Mist, "I will tear his soul from his body."

"I expect you do to more than that." He put his hands down. "He has taken down my gambling dens, he has attacked and killed many of my men in Steel Canyon, Talos Island, and Independence Port. And now, his most recent offense..." He pulled out a piece of paper and passed it across his desk.

Mr. Po, one of the Dragonfly, picked it up. His eyes widened. "This is...one of our basic spells! Translated into English!"

Others peered over his shoulder, and Red Mist tore it out of Po's hand. "This is a sacrilege!"

Icy Rage said quietly, "He must be more than destroyed. He must be made an example of."

Tub Ci said, "Him, and his sidekick, a Crystal Boy."

A couple of the men chuckled, knowing that meant it would be easier to get to main target. Take out the support, and then the target would be alone. The others looked angry - to associate with a gay man, a so-called "crystal boy", was worse than marrying your sister. Homosexuality was very taboo among the Hmong, and even worse among the Triads, where men were expected to be men, and not effeminate weaklings.

"The Crystal Boy has been passing these out in Steel Canyon. I want one of you to follow him, and then lay in wait for him. You will attack and destroy him and these pamphlets. Who will go?"

"I will," said Master Li, drawing his swords with a bow and presenting them lengthwise to Tub Ci. "He will have no chance against me."

Tub Ci nodded. "He's just a simple summoner from what I understand, who can do nothing without assistance." He looked to the other men. "The rest of you will have your chance against Lue Xiong, who shall be known from now on among us as The Traitor Serpent."

Grim came out of the spring waterfall drying his hair when he heard someone banging on the barn doors. The sound echoed throughout the tomb. Lue came out of the bedroom, straightening the shirt that he just pulled on. "Who's that?"

Grim wrapped the towel around his waist. "I'll go see. Whoever it is will leave when they see me in just a towel."

Lue put a hand out and stopped him. "I'll go." Grim watched him go down the hall, a spike extending from his palm as he walked. Lue went up the stairs, while Grim ran into the bedroom and at least pulled on a pair of shorts.

They banged again, and Lue and Grim heard clearly, "Police, open up!"

Lue stopped at the foot of the stairs. Grim had the shorts on and dashed down the hall. "No, Lue!"

Slowly, the spike retracted as he went up the stairs. Grim ran up the stairs on the other side, but Lue was at the door already, his hand on the handle. He pushed it open - it creaked on its hinges. "Can I help you?"

"Where's LeBonte?"

"Why?"

"We need to speak with him. Please step aside."

Grim went to the door. "Let him in, Lue."

Lue stepped back, and a short man in a brown trench coat came in, followed by a woman in typical Psi-Corps regalia. Grim peered outside when they came in. "What, no SWAT team?"

"Sorry to disappoint," said the man with a small chuckle. Grim closed the door behind them. Lue had moved between Grim and the cops. "Got anyplace we can sit down?"

"Sure." Grim directed them down the stairs to a bench. Lue took a position against the wall, and Grim stood next to him, while the two cops sat down. "You're obviously not here to arrest me because you would have done that by now."

"Right," said the man. "I'm Detective Fergus MacBride, and this is my partner Detective Judith Harris. We're here to ask you about something."

Harris said, "Do I have permission to enter your mind to show you some images?"

Grim blinked. "Uh, sure..."

She nodded, and then Grim's mind's eye focused on a scene with a dead and bloody body lying in the grass, a look of total shock on his face. Next to the body, burnt into the grass, was a near-perfect replica of Grim's face. Grim blanched - this looked so much more real than the pictures Jack had showed him. Lue looked at him concerned.

"Okay, stop."

The images stopped abruptly. Grim took a deep breath. "Are you okay?" Lue asked, after whispering the spell and putting a hand on Grim's arm.

"Yeah, just...you were there, huh?"

"Yes," said Harris. "We were called in as investigators."

MacBride said, "So you obviously didn't kill her, because you're smarter than that. But what do you know about it?"

"The short answer? It was done by a pissed-off psychic alien."

"Where is this alien now?"

"We have her locked up. The one who made her is taking total responsiblity."

The two detectives looked at each other. Harris only nodded. MacBride looked up at Grim. "I'm sorry, but this is our jurisdiction now. You can't seem to handle this, and ten murders were committed in Paragon City. The perpetrator needs to be brought to justice."

"We can take care of it," Grim said, bristling.

"Is it here?" MacBride asked.

"No, it's in Safe Havens. I think. Unless Shadow took it to some other dimension."

MacBride got up. "Safe Havens isn't in the place it was."

"I know. Let me get you a keycard to get there." Grim went back to the bedroom, and returned with two green keycards. "Use these at any portal. It's in another dimension. Don't worry, you can get back here without a problem."

Harris asked, "Why is it in another dimension?"

"Security reasons. Our enemies are legion."

Lue said, "Their enemies."

MacBride and Harris glanced at Lue, who was looking at Grim. Grim avoided Lue's eyes and focused on the two cops. "You'll have to talk to Jack or Raina Whitney. They're co-leaders of the group right now."

"Got it," MacBride said, and they started up the stairs. "Don't skip town, LeBonte."

"I don't plan on it."

They left the building, and Lue walked over to Grim. "Grim."

Grim turned to look at Lue, "Yeah?"

"You're going to get in trouble over them again. Will they stand behind you?"

Grim couldn't look at Lue. They both knew the answer - it was, at the very least, I don't know. Lue whispered the spell and took Grim by the chin, lifting his head up. Lue said firmly, "I will stand behind you. Always."

Grim sat bolt upright in bed, a scream stuck in his throat. Lue woke up immediately, spines extended.

"God, oh, God..." He put his head in his hands. "Oh God..."

Lue retracted his spines, whispered the spell and touched Grim's thigh. "What, love?"

"Another job from Hades." Grim whispered the spell and kissed Lue, then got out of bed. He glanced at the clock - it was 4:30 a.m.

"Love, you don't have to do this anymore."

Grim turned to Lue as he grabbed Scythe. "What do you mean?"

"Didn't you do this to protect Kalius from being claimed by Hades?"

"Yes."

"You said yesterday you don't love him anymore."

"But I don't want to see him dead."

Lue frowned.

Grim went over to him and caressed his cheek. "I still care about him enough to want to help him. If having to fetch souls and bring them to their assorted afterlifes every once in a while is payment for that, then it's okay."

"They do not know what a generous man they have in you," Lue said.

"Lue, if you want me to stop associating with them..."

"I do, but I won't tell you to."

"I'll wait until they tell me not to."

"They never will. They'll keep using you."

Grim's eyes danced. "We'll see." He kissed him again. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

Lue watched Grim leave, then lay back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. "Oh, Grim," he sighed sadly.


Jeffrey Glick stumbled out of his car. Working third shift at the hospital in maintenance sucked, but at least it paid the bills and he could sleep in relative quiet during the day. He climbed up the four flights to his apartment and fumbled with the keys at the door. Seven a.m., he was so fucking tired, all he wanted to do was fall into bed with his wife, just a quick kiss and conversation while he undressed, and then she would get up and he would pass out.

He opened the door, dropped his knapsack on the couch where he usually put it, and passed the kitchen. The clock on the stove was blinking - the power must have gone out some time during the night. He turned the corner and looked into his bedroom. He stopped short.

There was a large lump in the bed. This lump was a lot bigger than his wife. This lump also had short curly black hair, as opposed to his wife's long brown, and the broad back was dark brown instead of milky white.

His mind slowly registered that another man was sleeping in his bed. He looked back at the kitchen and his eye fell upon the knife rack. No, something faster than that, something that won't miss. He turned back to the bedroom, and focused on the nightstand near the door. He walked quietly to the nightstand and slowly pulled out the drawer, then pulled out the S&W 9mm and the magazine next to it. He stood in the doorway and shoved the magazine in, flipping off the safety. Holding the gun tightly against his side, he walked back out of the room, making plenty of noise.

The lump in the bed stirred, and he saw there were two lumps moving. "Ah, babe," said the brown lump. He heard a wet kiss. Then his wife: "Oh, shit, the power went off, look at the clock!" The brown lump rumbled, "I hope that we're not too late."

He turned over in bed and saw Jeffery standing across the hall, the gun pointed right at him. "Oh, fuck," he uttered, his eyes wide.

"Jeffrey!" yelled his wife. "I can explain!"

Jeffrey didn't even see her, his eyes focused entirely down the barrel of the gun. Jeffrey had done enough target shooting with his father. He knew what he was doing. The brown man moved slowly, as to not startle him, and stood up. "Hey, man, look, I'm sorry. I'll jus' get my clothes an'--"

Jeffrey was prepared for the small kickback of the pistol and rocked back with it, but kept his arms straight and steady. The shot went true, right into the man's chest with an armor piercing bullet - his father always said, pack armor that you know will kill an intruder because you often had only one shot. This blew a hole out the man's back that he could very well put his fist through, and it blew gore all over his wife. She stared at it, and started to scream.

"Shut up, slut!" Jeffrey yelled, and swung the gun in her direction. He pulled the trigger without thinking, and the upper left side of her head blew off.

The man was no longer breathing. Jeffrey aimed the gun down and walked over to a pair of jeans hung over his computer desk's chair. He pulled out the wallet and got his name, Brian Simone, same address as this building, different floor. Jeffrey looked at the two bodies on the bed.

"You know," said a voice behind him, "I would have done the same thing."

Jeffrey turned around and saw a blond man in gray, with black wings folded against his back.

"I'll give you a choice. If you live, you go to jail, maybe get executed, maybe not, depends on the jury. If you die, you go to Hades and wander eternally. What are you going to do?"

Jeffrey looked at the bodies again. He looked up at the gray man. "I want to live."

He heard a "snickt" and saw that the man took his hand away from a knife at his belt. "As you wish. Better call 911."

He walked over to the phone and saw that he still had his gun in his hand. He put it down next to the phone and dialed. "911, what is the nature of your emergency?"

He glanced behind him, but the gray man was gone. He took a deep breath and said, "I shot someone."


((Inspired by Wake Up Call by Maroon 5))

Names:

The Hmong have only a certain amount of names to choose from. There are 18-19 clan names and a small number of traditional first names for boys and girls. Because of this, there could commonly be more than one Lue Xiong in the same village. Therefore, many times, they are given nicknames or are called "So and so’s father's son/daughter" to differentiate them.

Once a woman is married, she assumes her husband’s name and is considered part of the husband’s clan, and is then publicly called "Wife of –" (The same word means "aunt"). Her husband is usually the only one who calls her by her original first name.

Sources:
Wikipedia: Hmong Customs.
http://www.cal.org/co/hmong/hlaos.html

Blackie – Lue’s father
He’s considered uncaring about the rest of the family and its customs and has "a black heart".

Jumping Tiger – Xang, Lue’s cousin
He is a highly competitive martial artist.

Sparky – Teng, Lue’s cousin
He’s an electrician by trade.

Cuisine:

The weird food you hear people eating in Third World countries is common in the markets. Fried grasshoppers, moths, boiled goat heads, roasted fetal pig is not unusual. The Hmong and Lao both consider glutinous rice to be a staple of a meal, such as bread with Westerners, and are usually eaten at all meals of the day. Breakfast and lunch are often the same type of meal, with dinner after sundown.

The most popular beverages are beer and coffee. Beer is drunk at all hours. Coffee is usually served in glasses at room temperature, with a layer of sweetened condensed milk at the bottom.

Desserts are mostly packaged and very sweet.

Wikipedia: Hmong/Laos cuisine
http://www.tamnaklao.net/mains.php

Lue and Grim were sitting across from each other at a coffee shop just down the street, when Lue finally spoke. "They wanted to use me. Just like at home."

Lue looked so forlorn, that Grim just wanted to hold him. Instead, he glanced around to see if anyone was noticing and took Lue's hand and squeezed it. He looked up at Grim, his eyes sad.

"Oh, love," Grim whispered, a hitch in his voice. Grim wanted to take the pain in his eyes away. He held onto Lue's hand with both of his own, no longer caring who saw. "After this, we'll go back to the house and pack, and practice some of the things Thao taught us?"

Lue squeezed Grim's fingers wrapped around his hand. "I know what you're trying to do, Grim." Grim pulled Lue's hand to him and kissed his knuckles. That got a slight smile out of Lue. He said quietly, "You're the only person I can trust."

Grim smiled and kissed his hand again. "I love you." He released Lue's hand, though Lue didn't pull it back immediately. "We have five hours until the flight. I still want to at least see the deep-fried grasshoppers."

Lue sat back with a gentle smile, "All right, all right. Finish your coffee, we'll go to the market."

For once, it wasn't raining. They had to pass by the house on the way. Lue and Grim glanced toward it, and saw more cars parked in front. They looked at each other. "No," Lue said, and kept on walking toward the market.

Although he started looking through the wares there, Grim was preoccupied with how to avoid a confrontation. He got to see the grasshoppers - they looked like french fries, too. They really didn't taste that bad - they were crunchy like the moths, without the papery aftertaste. Lue also picked up some red-colored strings of what smelled like some sort of meat. Grim regarded Lue, "Okay, what're these, worms?"

Lue laughed, "No, they're fried pig intestines."

Grim took one - it had the rubbery consistency of fried calimari and the spiciness of black pepper. "Do you guys deep fry Twinkies, too?"

"They probably would if they had them," Lue said, eating more. Then, lastly, Lue picked up one more thing - chunks of cold shiny red meat in a thick red sauce. He also got a side of more hot sauce, which Grim could tell was hot because he saw the pepper seeds floating around in it. Lue sat with Grim and plucked a piece off the plate with his chopsticks. He offered it to Grim. Grim reached for the chopsticks, but Lue said, "Go on, I'll give it to you."

Grim smiled, and let Lue feed it to him. It had the consistency of liver; it was smooth and slimy, and pretty much tasteless. Lue took a piece for himself and dipped it in the ever-present hot sauce. "Okay, what was that?"

"Blood bouillon."

"Blood?"

"Yes." Lue motioned to the hot sauce with his chopsticks. "Want to try it with this? It's got some taste."

Grim's stomach roiled, but he swallowed. Lue watched him, concerned. "I'll be all right," he said. "I've had blood pudding before, this is just, well, different."

"It's cold, for one," Lue said, taking another piece. "We're getting you a set of chopsticks so you can learn how to eat properly." He grinned.

"You're the barbarians, you don't even use forks!" Grim hit Lue's shoulder playfully. "Yeah, let me try it with the sauce."

Lue smiled and fed him again, lightly dipping it into the hot sauce. "Better," Grim said. "You can have the rest."

Lue finished it. "Can't wait until you get home and have a regular cheeseburger?"

"With pizza and a Coke."

Lue chuckled. He pulled out a huge wad of bills. "We still have a lot of kip left. I want to get a few pounds of chilies because I like these better than the ones at home."

"And the chopsticks."

"Right." They headed off into the market and got five pounds of chilies. Next they went away from the food stalls and toward the other part of the market, where there were assorted wares for sale. There was plenty of jewelry, silver and gold bangles and earrings, bolts of brightly colored fabric, along with scarves and sashes, pipes and Buddha statues. Grim saw a tapestry hanging up that he liked - a blue square of cloth with people and animals sewn throughout it. The woman saw him admiring it, and immediately extolled the virtues of the piece, explaining that it was a Paj Ntaub Tib Neeg or a story cloth. It illustrated Teng Chu, the son of the first man, putting up the sun in the sky. Lue saw that Grim liked it, so he started to haggle. Lue got her down to a reasonable price, and Grim happily took it.

Next they got a leather-like box with a pair of chopsticks. They were onyx and red, with symbols of good taste and fortune along the side. Lue again bargained. Grim stood and watched Lue, smiling. Grim took the chopsticks from him after he bought them. "You're good," Grim said, and smiled warmly.

Lue blushed slightly. They walked on a little more, while Lue counted out the kip. Grim stopped at another booth and saw a set of wooden bowls. However, they were colored like marble, with light wood and dark wood intertwined. "Lue," Grim said, "we can get these for your grandfather."

Lue slowly smiled and sidled up to Grim, close enough to get in his space without touching him. "That sounds nice."

This time, Grim haggled. Grim didn't do such a good job. Lue complimented him, anyway. They handed over the rest of their kip - even though it was more than what Grim had haggled for. Eventually they started to the house. The cars were still there.

"I can create a fog," Lue said.

"And I'll make the house look dark from the outside while we pack."

Lue nodded. He made some hand signs and they started up the path. Grim peeked into one of the cars and grabbed Lue's sleeve. One of the men in the back seat had a pistol lying across his lap. Lue pulled Grim to the house, and they went inside. Grim hissed, "They're going to try to kill you!"

"Both of us," Lue said angrily. He looked torn - should he go outside and wipe them all out, or should he avoid the confrontation? Lue stared at the door, waiting for an answer.

All Grim could see was Lue leaving behind a path of blood as he went down the street. And then they'd have to get past the police, and the resulting manhunt, and how would they get on a plane? If they travelled back on their own, they needed to somehow cross the ocean, and it could take a week. No, it did not bode well. Grim put a hand on Lue's shoulder, "Please, love, let's just get out of here."

Lue's shoulders slumped. Grim knew that wasn't the answer he wanted, but it was the safest one for now. If they were closer to home, it might have been different - Grim would have let him do it under the cover of darkness. Finally, Lue turned to Grim and nodded slowly. The men packed up quickly. Lue created the fog again and stepped out of the front door. "We'll go down a few blocks and call a taxi," Lue said quietly.

Grim stayed well within the fog, as they both slunk past the cars and down the street. There was a pay phone there, and Lue called for a taxi. The taxi came in twenty minutes, and, of course, had to drive by the house to get to the airport. Grim pulled Lue down against his protests and held him there on the back seat.

Grim swore he would never come to this country ever again.

Grim had closed his eyes and the next thing he saw was sunrise. Lue had also fallen asleep in his arms and was breathing deeply. He awoke moments later, even though Grim hadn't moved. "We...fell asleep," Lue said groggily.

"Fully dressed," Grim said and yawned. It was getting hot in the room again. "Dammit, is it ever cool around here?"

Lue made a couple of hand signs while they still lay there and a constant breeze flowed across both of them. Grim smiled and hugged Lue. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Lue looked up at the clock and lay his head back down with a groan. "Seven-thirty..."

"Three and a half hours to showtime."

"Must you remind me?"

Grim kissed Lue's hair. "What are you going to tell them, love?"

"I'm sure it's already been told."

Grim looked at the ceiling. "Oh." As he usually did, Grim searched for a way to make him happy by distracting him with humor. "Hey, can we go back to that market again? I want to try the grasshoppers."

Lue chuckled, saying, "I'd much rather stay here." He snuggled against him for emphasis.

"We can order out."

"At seven-thirty in the morning?"

"C'mon, you guys have running water, you don't have 24 hour delivery service?"

"We don't have that at home either."

"Which goes to show the necessity of it! I should tell Rorri."

Lue shook his head, chuckling. "Grim, I love you."

"I love you too, Lue." Lue raised his head, and looked with longing at Grim.

They discovered that the bed was sturdier than it looked.

=======================

Tao Xiong paced. Long Cha, the bride's father, looked worried. Mee Cha sat with her mother and two younger sisters in an adjacent room, oblivious to what was going on. Rumors had reached Long that Lue had arrived from America, which threw all the plans in disarray. Originally, the four negotiators would come together - two from the bride's and two from the groom's - have a few drinks, and negotiate the bride price and the dowry. What was to be exchanged was a mere formality, and an excuse to have a party. A wedding would be performed in absentium and Lue would be informed by mail that he now had a wife. He was honor-bound to accept her.

Now, it was all wrong. Lue was here, and he was going to refuse her. That part of the rumor mercifully did not reach Long Cha, though Tao wouldn't be surprised if it was making its way through the guests right now, and it would only be a matter of time before Long would come up to him demanding what was going on.

At five of noon, the door to the hall opened. Teng and Xang should have been the ones standing there, ready to begin negotiations. Instead, it was Lue and his alien friend, Kim. A collective gasp came over most of the hall, as the two men walked side by side down the aisle that was created, heading toward the booth at the end of the bar, where Cha's negotiators now stood to greet them. Both men were dressed formally, as was expected, and both of them looked very serious.

Lue walked by Tao, heading right to the booth. He whispered something to Kim, who stood back as Lue continued up the three steps to the booth. Lue said, in a clear voice, "I wish to speak to Mee Cha." It wasn't lost by the assembly that he didn't call her "my bride".

Long Cha looked at the negotiators, who were looking at him. One of them turned and went to the room the women were in. Kim stood alone in the middle of the floor, his hands behind his back, waiting. The door to the other room opened and a young, pretty girl came out. She looked about Lue's age, with raven black hair and gentle brown eyes. Lue wasn't wrong in saying that she was a kind person, because she exuded that sort of aura about her. She smiled at Lue. "Lue Xiong! They said you'd come here." She smiled happily. She was probably expecting a ragamuffin, and instead saw a very handsome man.

"Mee Cha," he replied with a small smile. Mee came forward and hugged him. He returned the hug, then held her at arm's length. "I must tell you something."

The smile faded slightly.

"I'm sorry, but I must refuse this marriage."

"Wh..." The entire hall gasped again, and Grim saw that some women had put their hands over their mouths in shock. Mee's smile totally disappeared. Grim watched Tao turn from the scene and head toward the bar. "Wh...why?"

"I am a hero in Paragon City, in America. I am a hunted man there. I won't have the time to devote to you, nor will I be able to protect you. Your life will be in constant danger. I cannot be responsible for that."

She looked ready to burst into tears. "You won't take me to America?"

Lue stared at her, stunned, and so did Grim. Grim whispered, "Son of a bitch."

Lue whirled and faced Tao, "Is that what this marriage was about, for me to take her to America?"

Tao said, a drink in his hand, still standing at the bar, "That was the bride price."

Lue's eyes were dark; Grim knew that meant fury. He took a deep breath and turned back to Mee. "I am sorry you were caught in the middle of this and mislead--"

"I want to go to America! And bring my family!"

Grim said quietly, "You're making this worse, honey..."

Lue said coldly to her, "That's not going to happen, at least not with me." He turned from her and headed back down the stairs, going to the door.

It was then that he saw Xang and Teng, along with some of the men from last night flanking them. Teng stepped forward. "You want to know the real reason, Mee?"

Grim started a spell that would cause him to lose his voice for half an hour. Lue heard him and put a hand on his arm, shaking his head.

"He likes men."

That caused an audible gasp in the room. Lue waited for some time then folded his arms and regarded Teng. "Are you finished?"

Teng was slightly taken aback. He was probably expecting Lue to adamantly deny it, or at least start an argument. He was ready for that. He wasn't ready for Lue's cold acceptance of the accusation. Teng blinked. Lue nodded his head toward the door, and Grim followed.

"Coward!" yelled Xang.

Lue turned around. "You are the real cowards. At least I have the bravery to follow my heart." Lue summoned a wind to throw open the doors before them, and both of them walked out.

As he flew, Grim let the rain cover him in a shield, about a couple of centimeters away from his body, like a second skin. He had warmed it up to his body temperature, so it wasn't cold and he could barely feel the drops. His head was full of the water knowledge, how to pull it from the very air and everything around him, how to manipulate it, warm it, change it into steam or ice, how to make it disperse in a violent explosion, how to part a lake or hold back a wave, how to create a tsunami and a localized storm, and how disperse them all. Thao alluded that anything liquid could be manipulated like this.

Including blood, which gave Grim all sorts of ideas.

He also alluded that this was only part of his knowledge, and he would share as time would go by. But he believed he wasn't much longer for this world. Grim, in all his honesty, silently agreed. However, Grim did leave Thao with a rune: the rune of liquid refill, which he thoroughly enjoyed with his Lao Lao - fermented rice wine.

They landed two blocks away from the house. It was dark again, Saturday night at midnight, and both of them were exhausted mentally and physically. They walked slowly to the house, and saw were a few cars parked in front of it, people gathered at the stoop. Grim could see well in the dark, and Lue could sense shadows, so both men stopped at the same time half a block away.

"We have a welcoming committee," Grim said.

Lue peered and Grim watched him close his fist to extend a long spine out of his knuckles. "Let's go see."

The men walked slowly, and the people started moving down from the stoop. Grim counted ten. More came out of cars. He counted six more. Lue kept his hand at his side. "What's wrong, Xang? I defeated you so now you've brought some friends?"

"We know why you can't marry Mee Cha. You're a homo."

Grim's translator changed the French word pedále into homo. Grim guessed there was no Hmong word for homosexual. Grim watched Lue for a reaction. Then someone grabbed Grim's arms from behind and yanked him back, away from Lue. Lue with a roar immediately exploded into spikes, and moved like a whirlwind, stabbing Xang straight through. Grim for his part yelled a spell that cast the entire block into pure inky blackness, with a howling of angry spirits all around them for additional effect. He was released, so he turned, seeing easily in the dark, and cast tentacles to hold three men down.

Meanwhile he heard men screaming as Lue let loose. Grim reached for the ley line - he was going to be doing some healing tonight. It wasn't as pure as the one near Thao's house, but it would have to do.

Grim pulled the darkness up like a curtain, and five men lay bleeding at Lue's feet. Three men were frozen in fright in tentacles. The rest of them were running blindly away. Lue was crouched over the bleeding men, not even winded, his venom dripping on them, but not causing them any further harm than the spikes had. Grim walked into Lue's line of sight. "Let me take care of them, love," he said quietly.

Lue stood up and nodded slowly, the spikes also slowly sinking into his body. Grim bent to Xang first, healing the hole in his chest, then putting him to sleep. He moved from one to the other, his hands glowing blue, healing as he went along, feeling slightly sick to his stomach as he did because of the taint of the ley line. Lue approached Xang and woke him up, then lifted him up by the front of his shirt. Lue pulled his face very close to his own and made sure that was the first thing Xang would see upon waking.

"Cousin," Lue said coldly. Xang opened his eyes and they went wide. "You are very lucky that Grim is a caring man, because I would have let you bleed to death on this street for daring to touch him." Lue let him go, Xang stumbled and fell. Lue looked around to see Grim finishing up healing the last person. Grim stood up after grounding; he looked pale and shaky. Lue went over to him, putting his arm around him to help him stand. "Are you all right, love?"

"Yeah. Magic isn't so organic here."

Xang had gotten to his feet, and was hugging a car, backing away from them. "You have brought dishonor on your father, your family," he yelled at Lue. "You disgust me!" He jumped into a car, and they let him drive off. The others started slowly returning. They stepped aside as Grim and Lue headed up the path to the door and went into the house. Without putting on the light, Lue went right to the bed. Grim followed, and the two of them held and comforted each other even after they heard the last car drive away.

Now, this is what Grim expected when coming to Laos. They were fifty miles north of Phonmouang, in the "highlands" of Laos. The road had turned into a brown slow-moving stream with banana-shaped boats scattered through it. The water came up to Grim's waist when he landed lightly.

"You're not supposed to go swimming until three hours after eating, love," Lue said, chuckling. The water swirled around him, not touching him.

"Oh, hush." Grim uttered the spell that Lue had taught him and the water also started flowing around him. A boat was coming their way, and the man driving it was waving at them. "Gondala taxi?"

Lue laughed, and waited for the boat to come by them and they climbed in among the freight. There was assorted produce scattered throughout the boat. Lue handed the boatman some money and the two men sat at the his feet while he chatted about the lack of rainy season and the lack of produce. Grim raised an eyebrow - if this was lack of a rainy season, he really didn't want to know what the real rainy season was.

Lue kept his eyes on a lookout. To Grim, all the brown houses on stilts looked the same, but Lue tapped the man's foot and pointed. "That one, right there."

"Ah, you go to see the Watermaster." He looked at Grim. "Is your friend ill?"

"No, we seek his wisdom."

"Ah, that's unusual for those of your generation to look to the elders for guidance."

"Wisdom comes in many forms." Lue looked at Grim and smiled. Grim smiled back.

The boatman left them off pretty much at the door, where a man sat in a rocking chair whittling at some wood. He watched the two men disembark onto the porch of the house. With a final wave, the boatman continued on his way, as Lue turned to the man in the rocking chair. "Greetings, friend," he said, and bowed. Grim copied him. "We come to see Master Thao Pang. Is he available?"

"I'll see. Who comes to visit?"

"Lue Xiong, son of Toua Xiong, grandson of Lang Xiong, great-grandson of Kue Xiong."

The man had got up from the rocking chair. "Come inside," he said. Lue followed him and they stood in a foyer, where it looked like wet clothing was hung up to dry on hooks. Grim kept his hands in his pockets. He reached and touched a ley line very close by, and retreated quickly. This one was much cleaner than the one in the city.

The man returned. "Come with me."

Lue and Grim followed him, and Grim was assaulted by the smell of cigarette smoke. They found themselves in a bedroom, where a really old man sat up propped up on pillows, smoking a cigarette. "Greetings son of Xiong," said the man. "What brings you here?"

"We come for your counsel and guidance, wise one."

He motioned with the cigarette and ashes went all over his blanket. "Sit, sit."

Grim found a chair and Lue sat on the edge of the bed.

"Shut that off, young man," he said to Grim, pointing to the TV. Grim turned it off and sat back down. Thao took a long drag from his cigarette. "Now, what exactly? And what have you brought in payment?"

Lue pulled out a wad of bills and set them before Thao. The shaman didn't even pick it up. "We wish to stop Tub Ci, he is the leader of the Tsoo, a gang of killers in--"

"I know of them," he said. "You are a sorcerer." He pointed to Lue's tattoos. "Many of us know of this Tub Ci. He has gone into the spirit world and taken knowledge from parts of our spirits for his use."

"I know. We must stop him."

"Son of Xiong, the first thing you must do is guard the spirit world from his encroachments." Thao looked at Grim. Grim raised his head. "You and the Soul-Eater."

"I promised to help him," Grim said.

Thao said, "You are joined thrice: by your body, in the spirit, and at the heart. You have no choice, Soul-Eater. Nor you, son of Xiong."

"We need help," said Lue reverently. "We need knowledge of things he does not know. We haven't seen anyone use water-based abilities."

"You wish to learn them."

Lue nodded. "I can make it rain, but Grim, he doesn't know--"

"The Soul-Eater also?" Thao suddenly smiled wickedly. "How badly do you want to learn?"

Grim slowly let a grin spread across his face - this man was challenging him, and he never backed down from a challenge. "As badly as Lue does."

"Do you know what else has water in it that is always in a pouch?"

"Blood."

"Very good."

Thao raised a hand, muttered a spell, and a layer of water appeared on the bed. Grim could feel the air was drier now, but no less hot. The water flowed off, through the slats in the floor, and probably outside. The used cigarettes were gone. Lue, still sitting at the foot of the bed, wasn't even wet. "How long are you here for?"

"Another evening. We fly back home tomorrow night."

"Then I will teach you some things that will help you against Tub Ci. But the Soul-Eater must pay."

"What do you want?" Grim asked. "I can show you some of my magic."

Thao waved his hand absently. "I am too old to learn new magic. Promise me this in payment: Teach this to no one else."

Grim blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"This magic is dangerous in the wrong hands. It should die with me."

Lue looked at Grim. Grim nodded solemnly. "I agree."

The old man threw back the covers. "Then let us begin."

Grim put a hand on Lue's shoulder after they landed. Lue was dry, while Grim was soaked through and had goose pimples. "Dude, I think I need a cheat sheet here."

Lue muttered a spell, and the water flowed off of Grim to puddle at his feet. Grim shivered, and Lue smiled at what the shiver showed through the tank top. "What do you mean?"

"The translator is giving me words instead of names. Like your father's name is Blackie?"

"He is called that because some people have said he has a black heart." Lue stared into Grim's grey eyes. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"Of course, love," Grim said. He went to reach out and touch his face, but stopped himself. "Whenever you're ready."

Lue nodded and turned to face a red brick townhouse with only two windows. Grim sighed - another closet, this one with one window.

He didn't even have to knock on the door when it flew open and an angry shirtless young man glared out at them. He was lithe and well-muscled, easily a fighter. "Get in here," he snarled.

Lue again held the door open for Grim. "Nice to see you again, too, Xang."

Xang turned around and glared angrily at Grim. "Who the hell is that?"

"He is my friend from America."

Grim bowed, ignoring the palatable anger in the hallway, "My name is Grim."

"You consort with aliens," Xang growled, "and you look like a hoodlum."

Grim muttered in English, "Maybe you should just hand them a piece of paper explaining things, it'd be a lot faster than repeating yourself."

Beyond Xang in the kitchen was another man, no less angry, but not quite as built as Xang. A few other women and children were gathered in another room watching TV, but obviously eavesdropping, since there wasn't much room for them to go.

Lue had already gone into how he was no longer a member of the gang, and Xang went into how the entire family had planned this and already. "There are 75 people coming to this! You're expected to marry her!"

"You can still have your party, just no wedding," Grim said quietly, and the translation stone picked it up. Xang glared angrily at Grim. Lue slapped Xang's shoulder to get his attention away from Grim. Xang turned at Lue and threw a punch at him. Lue caught it easily and twisted his wrist back. Xang also moved his off hand to hit Lue in the kidney, but Lue caught that one, too.

Lue's jade eyes turned dark green with anger. "Don't," he said coldly. He released Xang's fists.

The other man moved from the other room into the hallway. "Easy, Lue, we're not going to beat you up." Lue glanced at Grim who nodded that he was all right.

Xang stepped back to give himself distance. "So, Lue, you think you can beat me?"

Lue slowly turned his head to face Xang, and Grim stepped back. Lue would explode into spines any second now. "Yes," he said, with a predatory smile. "If I defeat you, you will accept that I will not marry Mee Cha and you will not stop me from refusing her." He looked at the other man. "Both of you."

Xang said, with a cold smile of his own, "And if I do defeat you, the negotiations go on as planned."

"Agreed."

"Come downstairs."

The four men headed into the relative coolness of the cellar. At the bottom of the stairs was what looked like a weight room and a medium sized mat in the middle of the floor. Xang took his position in one corner. Lue kicked off his sandals and Grim picked them up. Grim heard thumping from above them, and watched as the stairs filled with kids who all sat down quietly to watch the proceedings.

There wasn't enough room for them to do much more than circle each other for a moment. Then Lue struck out with his hand, and followed it up with a kick. Xang blocked the hand but didn't see the kick and got hit in the kidney. Then Lue was relentless. Grim slipped into mage sight for a moment, and saw Lue covered in shining layers of green, almost like scales. The tattoos superimposed themselves on the green, the nine-tailed fox he had drawn along with a snake from his back joined together and flowed among the scales. Quickly Lue got Xang down.

Grim blinked and studied the two men in real sight, Lue with one knee on Xang's chest and the other dangerously close to his crotch. "Well?" Lue demanded.

"You can refuse her," Xang snarled.

Grim said, raising his hand, "Excuse me? Can I make a suggestion?"

Lue got up from Xang and held out his hand for him. Xang took it and Lue helped him up. "What, Grim?"

"I think I remember Tao - Right? Tao?" He looked at Lue for confirmation. Lue nodded slightly. "Right, Tao - he said something about a dowry? That's when you pay for the bride, right?"

"The dowry is included in the bride price," Lue explained.

"Why don't you just give her the bride price without marrying her? Let her keep the dowry and be free to marry someone else."

"That's an insult!" roared Xang.

"Okay, look, I'm sorry!" Grim held his hands up and backed away.

Xang turned to Lue. "Did you tell him nothing of our ways?"

"He is only trying to help," Lue said. "I follow the traditions to a certain point."

"So long as it is convenient for you. What's the real reason you don't want to marry her?"

Grim said quickly, "He has someone in America."

Lue flushed brightly, and Xang stared at Lue. "An alien?"

"Yeah," Grim answered for him.

Xang sighed in frustration and headed to the stairs. The kids all jumped up and climbed back up the stairs. Xang looked at the other man while the kids moved. "Teng, he doesn't need negotiators. Tell my cousin and his mouthpiece to leave my home." He stormed up the stairs.

Teng looked sorrowfully at Lue. "You heard him."

"I did." Grim handed Lue his sandals and they trudged up the stairs, then quietly left. Lue stood out in the rain in the middle of the path to the door, not bothering to utter a spell to keep himself dry.

Grim embraced him. "Lue," he said, and kissed him. Lue put his arms around Grim, returning the kiss. Grim stepped back for a moment, blinking away rain drops. Lue put a hand on Grim's cheek and pulled the water off both of them. "Say, what about that guy you wanted to see?"

"Thao Pang?"

"Yeah, we can go get some lunch and then go find him."

"Sounds good." The two men separated and started walking down the path. Neither of them noticed the two women and child staring out the window at them.

Lue knocked on the door of a wooden pagoda house. Although slightly fancier than the one they were using, it wasn't much bigger. Grim wondered why people liked to live in closets.

An older woman opened the door and peered through the screen at him. Lue smiled. "Aunt Tao Xiong, remember me?"

"Lue Xiong?" she asked. "Blackie's son?"

Lue's smile faded. "Yes." Grim tilted his head at the direct translation - he thought Lue's father would have had a normal name, but this was obviously a nickname.

She scoffed. "We didn't honestly expect you to come." She looked him up and down. "We thought you would have stood her up."

"I have more honor than that," Lue said coldly.

"You have more honor than your father, that's for certain." She shoved open the door. "Well, come in." Lue held the door open for Grim and they stepped out of the rain into the already sweltering room. The woman moved through the house calling, "Tao, Blackie's son is here."

"Really?" Lue and Grim found themselves in a doorway to a small living room with a TV.

An older man sat there, a man with dark hair and equally dark eyes. "Uncle Tao," said Lue, and bowed respectfully. Grim looked from the man to the woman, slightly confused. They both had the same name? "Please meet my friend, Grimaulkin."

Grim turned to the man and also bowed. "They call me Grim."

"Kim," said Tao with a nod, then looked at Lue. "So, what did you bring for Mee Cha?"

"I am not marrying her, uncle."

Tao gazed at him. "This has been arranged since you were born in America. You are both of the same age and are of different clans as expected--"

"Uncle, I can't."

"Why not?" the man thundered. Grim stared at him - he was pretty loud for a small guy.

"I love another."

"Love doesn't have anything to do with it!" Tao yelled. The woman stood behind the two men, her arms folded with a very disapproving look on her face. "Status, and ability to provide children, and to continue the family line is what it has to do with it!"

"Uncle, believe me when I tell you, I cannot father children."

"Says who! Western doctors? They don't know anything! A shaman can find that part of your soul and bring it back to you, and you will be able to father many children on her. I'll even pay for it!"

Lue looked up at him, his jade eyes flashing. "I said no, I will not marry her."

"You're just as insolent as your father! Look at you, covered in tattoos like a Triad member. Is this what's in America, becoming the member of a gang?"

Grim was already angry, and the gauge had just gone up to furious. He clenched his fists at his sides and knew he was exuding the dark pitch aura of fear. It wouldn't take much to push it at this man, to make him cower screaming on his couch, as Grim would stand over him and pummel him with visions of pure horror...

"I am not a member of a gang anymore," Lue said quietly.

"Which Triad are you a member of, Lue? Or is that your name? Did you choose a different name now that you're in a gang?"

"I am not a member of a Triad, uncle," Lue said more forcefully. Grim's gauge went from furious to livid. Grim took two steps and Lue held his hand out to stop him.

Tao nodded to Grim. "Is he your enforcer?"

"Stop it!" Grim commanded. He glared at Tao, and Tao whirled his head to stare at Grim. "You have no idea - NONE - of what he's gone through the last couple of months. He left his gang, his clan, his family! They tried to hunt him down! His own brother tried to KILL him!"

"You left your clan?" Tao turned to Lue.

"I had to, uncle. They all fell under the spell of Tub Ci, who commands a gang called the Tsoo."

Grim could only hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears. Tao looked at Grim for a moment, then back at Lue. "And they did this to you?" He motioned to Lue's tattoos.

"Yes," he said quietly.

"My father must have been angry with you."

"He is not."

Tao didn't question that any further, because then it would have gone into the mystical, and Lue had already told Grim he really didn't want to go into explaining that to members of his family. "You still honor him?"

"I honor all my ancestors, uncle."

Tao glanced away and squeezed past them to a small room off to the side. Set up kitty-corner was a rickety table with burning candles and assorted things on them. Grim looked at Lue, who was smiling. "You have grandfather's wallet."

"One of them." Tao handed the wallet to Lue, who took it reverently and went through it. "He gave it to me before leaving for America."

Grim backed out of the room, feeling that this wasn't his place. He turned and was in the face of the woman-Tao. He smiled at her. She did not smile back. Grim side-stepped and took his place in the doorway of the TV room while the woman watched him warily. Grim stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned against the doorway.

Lue and his uncle talked in low tones, and he heard "Kim". Finally, the woman looked at Grim. "I am making some coffee."

Grim watched as she turned from him and went to the stove and started up an old-fashioned percolator. Grim smiled at the retro moment, launched off the doorway and walked a little closer to her. "Do you need any help?" he asked.

"I've been making coffee for longer than you've been alive."

Grim spread his hands. "My apologies."

Lue came out of the room and gave Grim a small wink. The female-Tao looked at the male-Tao. "Mai," said Tao to her, "please serve our guests."

Mai started taking out plates and some cookies out of packages, and pulled down three glasses. Tao made a motion to a chair at Grim and he sat down. Tao said to him, "Kim, so how do you know Lue?"

"When he left his clan, he came to our home. We helped him against the Tsoo."

Lue said, "Mostly Grim did." Mai set a glass of dark brown liquid before him. At the bottom of the glass was some carmel-colored liquid. He said thank you, but she gave no indication that she heard.

Tao sipped his glass. "You will be coming to the negotiations?" he asked Grim.

Grim looked at Lue. Lue said, "Uncle..."

"I know, I know, that's what you've said. But you haven't seen her since you were children."

"That does not matter. I've made my decision."

Grim sipped his liquid; it was coffee, similar to Jack's version of coffee, but much sweeter. It was also much cooler than normal coffee, but not ice cold. He could get used to it.

Tao merely sighed. "Her family is not going to like this."

"I know, which is why I will make my intentions known before them all."

Grim glanced around and saw that Mai had disappeared. Tao was continuing, "Your cousins Xang and Teng would have been your negotiators. If you want this man to be one instead, you will have to teach him some of our traditions quickly."

"We're not even going to get to the negotiations." Lue set his glass down. "I am going to refuse her immediately."

Grim was quiet as Lue told Tao about the family in America, about Tub Ci and what he had done to them. He left out key parts - such as what he himself had gone through to satisfy his father, his clan, and the Tsoo. He left out killing Zhao, saying only that he had been killed in a gang fight. He left out his war versus the Tsoo and the details. Tao for his part went into the health and welfare of Lue's multitude of cousins and uncles and aunts. Grim realized that most of Lue's family had remained in Laos for different reasons, most of them having to do with not wanting to be tainted by American life. However many of the new generation were striving to go to America.

Speaking of which, the phone rang and Mai appeared from seemingly nowhere to answer it. "Naim," she said to Tao, "It is Jumping Tiger."

"Xang," he explained to Grim, "It's Tao's third son, and he's two years older than me."

Grim nodded, and Tao took the phone. "Yes. Blackie's son is here. No one is more suprised than I. He is refusing her. I explained. You want to explain? I'll send him to you." Tao handed the phone back to Mai. "Jumping Tiger wants to see you."

Lue said, "I have made my decision - "

"Well you're going to have to explain to him and Sparky why." He nodded to Grim. "And figure out which one your friend is replacing."

Lue sighed and got up. "Might as well get this over with now." Grim followed, and then Lue hugged Tao. "I will see you tomorrow."

Tao nodded. Grim bowed and followed Lue back out into the rain. Lue nodded toward an alleyway, and they took off again, heading west.

Grim and Lue stepped out of the airport and headed to a taxi. The clock said 10:00, it was pitch dark and more humid than he's ever been in. They had spent most of Thursday on a cramped plane. The ride to Hamburg wasn't bad, but he hated Bangkok Airways; even though the stewardesses were cute, that didn't detract from the constant up-and-down motion of the plane all the way to Vientiane, the capital city of Laos.

Lue greased the palm of a guard at customs who questioned the syringe of milky liquid in the luggage, and there were no other questions after that. Grim fingered the blue tourmaline translation necklace, one of four he had packed. He was tempted that maybe, after they got home, he would actually get a translation tattoo.

Lue told him the destination, his cousin's house in Phonmouang, about half an hour away. Grim sighed, sliding into the air-conditioned taxi. "Why didn't you tell me the air was going to be chewy?"

Lue laughed. "I did forget about that," he said.

"I'm going to melt, Lue."

"I will summon some breezes for you, love."

Grim chuckled and watched the scenery go by. There were a lot of wood pagoda-like houses; but it was an intense city, not quite as modernized and congested as Bangkok, but there was an undercurrent of darkness beneath. Grim reached and found a ley line, but it was tainted and felt like he was putting his hand in a pool of oil.

The house they were dropped off at was cute, but tiny. Lue found the key in some secret place and opened the door. He switched on the light, and it was even smaller on the inside, cluttered with furniture of all different sizes and styles. Some were obviously of French design and antiques, others were more modernized. Grim looked around, but the translation necklace didn't extend to writing, so all the curvy lines on things meant nothing to him.

"Well, you have a packrat for a cousin."

Lue also looked around. "I never knew he had a taste for antiques."

They went into the bedroom where a lone futon sat on stilts. Grim looked under it. "This doesn't look too sturdy."

"Then we must use it only for sleep." Lue grinned at Grim.

Grim advanced on Lue, smiling. "Well, there's always the floor..."


Grim woke up in the futon, cursing tweeting birds, his arms around Lue. The clock on the wall said 5:30, and the light around the windows was a dull gray. He moved, and Lue stirred with him. "Hm?" he asked, opening his eyes to look at Grim.

"The jet lag is gonna kick our ass, love," Grim said, and kissed Lue. "It's 4:30 on Friday afternoon back home."

"I will take a few extra days off," Lue said after returning the kiss.

Both men rose from the futon and Grim looked outside as Lue performed morning libations. "It's raining," Grim said.

"It is the rainy season. It will probably rain the entire time we're here."

"Wonderful," he grumbled. When he exited the bathroom, Lue was already getting dressed. He wore a tank top that showed off his tattoos, and Grim pulled out the same from his luggage. They both wore shorts and sandals, Grim staring at Lue's powerful, muscular legs. Grim, however, was paler but no less muscular from his running around King's Row doing modified calisthenics that Kal had trained him with, and beating up the occasional Lost. The blue tourmaline necklace on the simple leather thong around Grim's neck caught the light and sparkled slightly.

Lue opened the fridge and peeked inside. "Looks like he didn't expect visitors. There's nothing in here." He closed the fridge. "We'll have to go out."

"Fine with me."

The house wasn't exactly set away from anything - Grim now noticed that it was nestled among other houses of its type. They walked a couple of blocks in the rain and turned a corner, where there were cooking kiosks of every sort. Grim took a whiff of the air and smelled everything from frying fish to a sickeningly sweet burnt honey. Lue grinned and started walking - Grim followed dutifully.

People yelled at him from all sides, demanding that he come and taste their wares. Then someone got too close to him, and Grim grabbed the man's wrist that had wandered to his hip. He looked into the man's dark eyes and sent at him a vision of destruction, and the man backed off in fear. Lue had stopped and looked back at Grim. "What is wrong, love?"

"He touched me," Grim said angrily.

"That will happen a lot around here, Grim. The city teems with people. There's no such thing as personal space."

"Sorry." Grim looked over to see french fries with green specks in a box. "Hey, those look good."

Lue turned and smiled. "Want some?"

"Sure."

Lue bought a box and took a couple. Grim took one and popped it in his mouth. He wasn't expecting the slight crunch and something like paper on his tongue. It was a little spicy, but not bad. Grim watched as the man also rolled something white into a ball and handed it to Lue. Lue gave it to Grim. "Rice." Grim bit into it - it was slightly sweet and chewy, like someone had overcooked it, not at all like the white rice he was used to.

They walked a little further and Lue got some other things, and then they found a place to sit on a set of stairs under a church. Lue dipped some of his rice in a sauce, and Grim did also, being rewarded with something that tasted like wasabi with chili peppers. "Holy Christ..." He blinked as his eyes watered.

"I got this one for you," Lue said, handing over a small cup of brown liquid. "That's sweet and sour." The two men sat, and some people came by, panhandling. They approached Grim, avoiding Lue until he would look at them, and then they'd scatter. This happened over and over.

Grim finished the last of the french fries and dusted his hands on his pants. Lue said, "Do you want to know what those were?"

"They weren't french fries?"

"No. They were deep fried moths."

Grim stared at the box. "Uh..." Lue watched Grim almost turn green.

"Don't get sick on me!" Lue cried, and drew a rune at his chest. It expanded even while it glowed green and covered his throat and stomach.

Grim took a few gulping breaths. "Lue, tell me next time!"

"You were enjoying them," Lue said with a smile. "I didn't want to stop you."

"I ate...wings. Blech!" Grim spat a few times.

Lue chuckled and got up with their trash. "Let's go see my cousins now. It should be a reasonable time to go there."

"Do they live around here?"

"A half a mile."

Grim looked around. "Do we..?"

Lue nodded. The two men went into an alleyway, and, after glancing around to see no one was looking, both bounded up into the air, Lue with a mighty leap, and Grim taking to the air.

Grim looked up from stirring his coffee absently when someone came into his peripheral vision. A blond-haired blue eyed man in running attire pulled out the chair next to him and sat down. Grim sat back and stared at him. "You've got some balls, Hermes."

"That's what Penelopeia said." Hermes put his feet up on the chair next to him. "Can I have that?"

"My coffee?"

"Yeah. You've been stirring it for a while."

Grim shook his head. "Oh, no, I'm not trusting you with anything."

"Oh, come on, it was just a little prank."

"Kal got his powers taken away!"

Hermes waved his hand dismissively. "Ares isn't that stupid."

"Well, he did it again when Kal failed to defeat Romulus."

"I stand corrected." Hermes looked at Grim as he turned back to his coffee. "Oh, c'mon Mike, you can tell me."

"I will tell you nothing."

"I'll tickle you with the feather of Ma'at."

Grim looked at him. "That's Egyptian. How did you get your hands on that?"

Hermes looked at him incredulously.

"Right. God of Thieves." He looked at his coffee again. "I had to kill people and then take their souls."

"So?"

"And I went to take one, but he fought me, and I cut him, and he disappeared."

"Ooooh," Hermes said.

"Is that a bad 'oooh' or a good 'oooh'?"

"Depends. You've been promoted. Sort of." Hermes held out his hand and a coffee mug appeared in it. "The Germans called it 'Totenengel'. The Angel of Death."

"I thought that's what I was."

"No, you were a Reaper and a psychompomp. You sent souls on, sometimes bringing them there yourself. Congratulations, you're an all-around agent of death. All you need is a pale horse."

"Somebody else has that," Grim muttered.

"Oh, the one Hades sent you after and you chose not to kill him? I think Hades was a little perturbed about that."

"Screw him. It wasn't Devil-Shot's fault. He didn't know."

"You Judged him also. That was out of your jurisdiction at the time." Hermes sipped the coffee. "Of course, that's well within your jurisdiction now, Totenengel."

"So what's the difference between what I was doing and what I'm doing now?"

"Not very much. You still go where Hades directs. You still bring the souls to their afterlife. But you have the power now to destroy their souls if they've been heinous enough to warrant it." He motioned to the knife at Grim's belt. "Scythe will know. She will destroy the soul as soon as you stab it."

"She?"

"Yes."

He looked at the knife. "What happens to the soul?"

"You want to know? They no longer exist. Within six months, their friends forget them. Within a year, immediate family will forget them. Two years, the living will no longer remember what they look like without pictures. The living will go to the grave, or the masoleum, or the area of their death, and there will be nothing there. The soul is gone."

"Gone-gone?"

"Gone-gone. Out of existance. Will never come back."

Grim looked down. "I really don't want to be the judge of that."

"Tell me, what was the grave sin that the man who's soul you destroyed do?"

"He cheated on his wife." Grim looked at him. "That's not so bad, I do it all the time." He blushed. "I did, anyway."

"But Scythe knew there was something more, and he still lied to you, the Grim Reaper. She knew, and the man wouldn't admit it. So, she ended his very existance."

"What about second chances?"

"Maybe he already had one. You do not know the history of every soul in existance." Hermes pointed to the knife. "She does."

Grim put a hand on the hilt of the dagger. It didn't feel any different. "So I'm just an instrument."

"You didn't know that?" Hermes got up with a grin and shoved his chair in. The coffee cup had disappeared. He leaned down and got in Grim's face. "We are all somebody's 'tool'."

"Only if we choose to be." Grim met his eyes, steely.

Hermes leaned back. "And you have, haven't you?" He laughed. "Eros' arrow struck you both squarely. At least both of you will be on the same wavelength." He started jogging in place, then took off down the street.

Grim stood across the street from the ranch house. It was 10 pm, and Grim had to leave Lue, telling him he was being summoned. Grim’s leg was still sore, so he put most of his weight on his left.

Lights were on throughout the house, and there were cars parked in the driveway and on the street. Grim looked down at himself and saw that he was in gray. This meant he was ready.

Grim walked across the street, through a car and the picket fence, right up to the front door. He put his hand out, and passed through the door.

Assorted people were gathered in the TV room. Some were asleep, catching cat naps. Everyone looked exhausted, watching the news without really looking at the TV. He walked by them, and a woman came out of a kitchen with a cup of coffee. Grim stopped short, but he brushed against her. She shivered.

Grim walked around, finding a set of stairs and he climbed up them. A nurse was coming down and passed through him. She stopped, turned around, looking for someone. Grim looked at her – she had probably felt this thing before, being a nurse. She seemed to focus on him for a moment, and then turned slowly away, her head bowed.

He continued up the stairs. Two men were in the hallway, talking. “And I said to him, ‘I think the best thing to do would be to redo it,’ but he thinks that she’ll go within a year.”

“Probably,” said the other man. “Widows don’t last long in this family.”

Grim went past them, brushing them with his wings. The initial speaker said, “Did you feel that?”

“Yeah,” said the other. “You think..?”

“C’mon, you believe that grim reaper crap?” The initial speaker laughed. “That’s like believing in Santa Claus.”

Grim chuckled to himself – maybe he should look into that job, too. He went through the door of the room and saw a man laid out on a pristine bed. He looked like he hadn’t moved from that spot in a long time, as the sheets and blankets around him were unwrinkled. His chest barely rose and fell.

Two people were on either side of the bed. One was an older woman, already dressed in black, sitting on a folding chair and holding the man’s hand. The other was a younger woman, older than Grim, dressed conservatively, and standing next to the bed. She had dark circles under her eyes and looked tired.

Grim looked at the man in the bed. His soul was superimposed on his body – Grim could see the soul looking right at him. “Who are you?” he asked.

“Grim Reaper,” Grim said.

The soul sat up from the body, but was still attached. The man’s body in the bed sighed, and the women jumped. “You don’t look like one.”

Grim wondered if he should demand a dollar for every time someone said that.

The younger woman said, “Mother?” She wasn’t speaking English, but Grim was hearing English. The older woman burst into tears, holding onto the man’s hand.

“I know I’m not what you expect. Sorry to disappoint.” Grim noticed he wasn’t speaking English, either. Since when did he know Russian?

Grim took out his dagger and looked at it. It remained a dagger. This meant he would have to kill him, too. Grim walked around the side of the bed, the soul turning his head to follow his movements. The younger woman turned and left the room. “David, Stan,” she called.

Grim took her place. The soul looked afraid. “Wait, wait, I can’t die.”

Grim tilted his head slightly. “Trying to bargain?”

The two men from the hallway came in and stood at the door. The older woman still cried. The younger woman hadn’t returned.

“I’m sorry, but it won’t work.” Grim raised the dagger. He aimed to cut down, directly into the man’s chest.

Then a surprising thing happened, the man’s soul grabbed Grim’s arm to try and stop him. “No! I won’t die!”

“Everybody…does,” Grim said and pulled his arm out of the soul’s grasp. “It won’t hurt if you don’t fight.”

The body in the bed started to go into convulsions. The older woman started wailing, and the two men rushed out the door to probably get help.

“I can’t die! I'll go to hell!”

“Why?"

"I cheated on my wife."

"Didn't you get your last rites?"

"I never told him..."

"You're taking it to your grave." Grim coldly sliced at the man’s soul. He didn’t realize his dagger had turned into a sickle, and he didn’t realize that he aimed to behead the soul. The head separated from the body, falling back, but disappearing before it hit the corporeal body in the bed.

The body stopped shaking, and the rest of the soul faded away.

“Oh, my God…” He put his hand to his mouth. “Where did he go?”

The bedroom started to fill with people. “I called hospice,” he heard someone say. “She couldn’t have gotten far.”

Grim backed away from the bed, passing through people milling about, still a look of shock on his face. What happened? Did I destroy a soul, too? What happens when I do that? Where does the soul go?

Something told him to get out of that room – he vaguely remembered he only had a certain amount of time before he could clear out. He flew out the door and down the stairs as others came up, and the keening of the older woman didn’t stop. He headed to the door and slammed face-first into it.

“Shit!” he cried, and grabbed the handle with a normal-colored hand, throwing open the door. Luckily, no one saw him as he ran across the lawn, vaulting over the fence and disappearing into the night.

The Midnighter was seated at a heavy oak desk, that looked like it was placed a little higher than the chair Grim sat in. Grim wore his normal “costume”: the Aegis - his black coat, a grey shirt and leather pants, motorcycle boots. The dagger was at his side.

The Midnighter wore a bowler and a tie. Grim hated bowlers and ties. He also spoke with a slight British accent, which made the stereotype worse.

“You’re the one who bought the house in Cimerora,” he said.

“Yeah,” Grim said, looking at the grain of the wood on the desk. He saw a rune there, and suddenly started to smile.

“What’s so funny?”

“You have a rune of compliance there.” He pointed to the desk.

“Not many people can see that,” said the Midnighter, and he leaned back in his chair. “You’re pretty notorious, Grimaulkin.”

“Oh, come on, I’m really a nice guy.”

“We know your history. All of it.”

“So does MAGI, and I’m still registered there.”

“But they don’t know your work in Nerva.”

“What work in Nerva?”

The Midnighter tilted his head. “Don’t play coy with me, Grimaulkin. Your signature was on two murders of Family members there.”

There were more than that, but he knew better than to point that out. “Does this mean you’re going to arrest me?”

“No. I don’t have the authority to even if I wanted to.”

The ticking of the clock behind him seemed to echo all around the room as the two men stared at each other. Grim looked away first.

The Midnighter leaned forward. “Report to Joseph Green for further assignments. I think he has something with some Thorns. Go down the hall, he’s the white haired man in blue.”

“Great! Thanks!”

Grim, for once, did not comment on how cute this man was, but instead meekly accepted his assignment: some Thorns had a golden scroll with some dangerous spells. Grim headed out to Perez Park where the Midnighters claimed it was last seen. He had to go through Steel Canyon.

He flew through the air, and got near the hospital, when he felt a shurken bounce off his chest. It had hit the Aegis, but it still made him stop in midair.

Then he realized his mistake, as a heavy wind came up from behind him and threw him down to the ground on his back. He put his hand down and it was pierced by a caltrop. The Aegis protected his back. He looked up to see a red-clad man with a sword come swinging it down at him. He rolled, and immediately summoned tentacles, Lue’s spells totally escaping him. The tentacles wrapped around the red-clad man – and then another man in white tried to kick him.

He let it connect, knowing the Aegis would take the brunt, and it did. It was like he had just kicked a man in full armor. Grim tried to get to his knees but the caltrops pierced him – the Aegis didn’t cover his legs. He struggled to get up but was knocked down again by wind. The sorcerer stood above him, and behind him was a Dragon Fly, the one who had knocked him out of the sky. The red-clad man was getting out of the tentacles, and the bald man in white had recovered and looked very pissed.

The Dragon Fly spoke, “We will kill you and bring your head to Tub Ci, and we will be well rewarded.”

“I’m rather fond of my head being where it is,” Grim said, and summoned up horrible images of war and death, and projected it at them. He turned around and stunned the two men with a toss of a dark pit, which made them wander into the caltrops stupidly. Grim whirled back to the Sorcerer – who had teleported away – and the Dragon Fly, still cowering.

Grim rose up slowly, ignoring the punctures of the caltrops. “You can tell Tub Ci, that he’s going to have to do a lot better than you idiots to come after me. But then, let’s see if you’re sane enough to tell him.” Grim raised his hands, and the men disappeared in a pop.

The sorcerer teleported back and saw that his cohorts were gone. He looked at Grim, who merely stood there. The sorcerer picked up the sword and held it awkwardly. Grim drew his dagger and crouched. “C’mon…”

The sorcerer cut down. Grim blocked it with his arm, stepped in, and stabbed the sorcerer in the chest. The dagger went through bone cleanly. He stepped back, twisting it, hearing it scrape against bone, and yanked the blade out. The sorcerer sunk to the ground.

Grim made his second mistake, turning his back from the sorcerer. The sorcerer, with his last breath, lifted the sword still in his hand, and swung low, slicing at Grim’s knee. The sword jammed into Grim’s calf and shinbone instead. Grim went down onto the caltrops again, howling.

At the same time, the three men he had teleported to Tartarus returned in a flash, frightened beyond belief. Grim yanked the sword out of his calf but it was jammed on the bone. Through tears of agony, he finally got it off, and blood flowed freely down his leg to the pavement.

He couldn’t stand, he was in pure pain, and the three Tsoo would be coming out of their stupor soon. He tried to concentrate on a flying spell but couldn't get more than a foot off the ground. It was enough - at least he wouldn’t be putting weight on that leg. He slowly flew the hundred yards to the hospital.

Grim looked up from his iPad to see a man in a big red truck come driving into the gated area of the warehouse in Kings Row. This was a huge, long abandoned warehouse, with smoke stacks to one side and large barn doors on the other. There were many doors in between, and loading docks, ramps, pulleys - all sorts of trappings of a typical werehouse.

Grim had found the phone number after searching through the town hall records. The taxes were up to date, but the place hadn’t been utilized in eight years. The owner tried selling it two or three times, but because of the economy nobody seemed interested. It was officially off the market. Grim expressed an interest to see inside.

The man got out of the truck. He was a big, beer-bellied man, bald and a salt-and-pepper beard. “You Mike?”

“Yes, sir. You’re Luke.”

He nodded, shook Grim’s hand firmly. “So you want to buy this place?”

“Yes, I need the room.”

“It’s a mess."

“I can see that.”

Luke undid the padlock on the doors and shoved them aside. Grim immediately was assaulted by the smell of decay in all forms. Wood, rust, flesh. Luke gave him a flashlight. He walked through it, scanning all around. The place was a disaster.

“It’s 47,250 square feet. The furnace probably doesn’t work. Some of the doors are rusted shut.”

A bird flew up in the rafters. “How about the roof?”

“Dunno, haven’t looked up there in years.”

Grim looked disappointed. The price on this place three years ago was just about what was left in his bank account from all his work in Nerva. He would be broke if he bought it. But it wouldn’t be for just him and Lue. Grim sort of wanted to create an artist’s loft for mages, sorcerers, summoners, and other magic users, where they would all learn from each other, and work with each other, show each other their skills. They couldn’t be part of some Order, or a coven, or a group, or anything else. They would pass their knowledge among each other. No secrets.

And not only mages, but maybe fighters as well. It would be, he hoped, like an Academy, where everyone would bring their knowledge and they’d all learn together.

However, this was so utopian and far, far, FAR down the pike, that he didn’t even think it would be a reality. He also didn’t know if he would need to do it – maybe Havens would wake up. Maybe Jack would get some nuts, and the technomancers go away. Maybe pigs would fly too. He did have a rune for that. He wished he had a rune to solve Havens’ problems.

He certainly didn’t want to lose the connection with Havens. He still remembered what it looked like before Rusty improved it, he had such good memories there. He wanted to help with the Sealers. And he knew that there were some people there who were against the technomancers, but who didn’t have a loud enough voice. He was moving out, but not abandoning them, not by a long shot.

They wandered through the warehouse, and tripped over a few bodies of birds and rats. He crunched on syringes, and saw some places where it looked like people had squatted. Rain leaked through the roof in places, eating away at the metal floor. He couldn’t visualize the potential of the place – he didn’t have that kind of artist’s eye. Rusty should have come with him, he would have a better idea.

However, Grim needed to perform the true litmus test. At the old Havens, when it was first in King’s Row, it had been chosen for its convenience. Grim hadn’t used ley lines then. The new Havens also didn’t have ley lines, and Grim had “drill” for them and bring the energy to the surface like an oil drill, so he could have quicker access to it. Now that Grim used ley lines – and other mages would too – he needed to see if there was a power source.

He felt something, but he didn’t open his senses fully to gauge it. He handed the flashlight to Luke. “Give me a second?”

“Sure…?”

Grim took a few steps forward, and stood with his palms out. He didn’t even try, but he felt something already. He looked slightly confused – it shouldn’t be drumming that hard. Then, he opened himself up.

He wasn’t ready for the rush – it felt like cold water and hot lava both at the same time. It filled him and overflowed him; he closed his fists immediately and collapsed to the floor. He put his hands down on the floor, and he couldn’t ground – the power was right there at the surface.

He looked around frantically. He got up and ran to a metal beam, and wrapped his arms around it. The energy came out from him, into the metal beams, and suddenly, the area was enveloped in bright light, as the beams crackled. Some broke and fell to the floor below, shattering into rust. The light arced to the roof, brightening it for a moment, before it all faded.

“What the fuck was that?!”

Grim, panting, slid down the beam and sat on the floor. “How…how much, again?”

Near midnight, Dmitrius headed through New Thebes toward the parking lot that he liked to frequent, which usually had a goodly contingent of Warriros, his preferred prey. He peered around in the dark. Freakshow, Freakshow, Circle...where were the Warriors?

He didn't come here to hunt, he came to check on the Kindred he had set to guard the area. Dmitrius frowned - he probably got killed by his Sabbat "friends" or was staked in one of the caves and paralyzed.

He walked along a bit and could see a place where the parking lot had been disturbed. No, not quite disturbed. There was a hole in it that was blacker than the darkness, and he was very close to stepping into it. He looked around - then went in closer. He tested the area, to see if it would hold his weight, and he fell slightly into the hole, sliding about four feet.

He smelled blood. Kindred blood.

Dmitrius turned and followed the scent, which went across the parking lot. He saw another dark spot in the concrete next to a store - it could have been oil, it could have been blood. He bent to it and touched it - no, not oil. It was dried and crusty, and he scratched at it, sniffing at what was under his nails. Definitely blood.

Licking his fingers absently, he got up and surveyed the area. Whoever killed this far out in the open, and this messily, must have been desperate.

He went down a little further and saw that a door had been cracked open to the back of a convenience store. He pushed open the door. The smell of blood was instantly stronger in here. He slowly walked forward in a crouch, ready to spring to avoid if it was bigger than him, ready to beat it to a pulp if it wasn't. He heard a sound and froze for half a second, noting where it came from and putting more weight opposite from where it was.

Something crashed, Dmitrius stood up, and was tackled by a yelling man. His eyes were bright red and his fangs were bared - Dmitrius caught him easily by the throat. "Orphan?"

The man hissed and lashed out with hands that were claws. Well, this answered him what clan he was. Dmitrius threw him into a door that led out into the store proper. The man fell hard against the register's counter, knocking over the register. Dmitrius kept walking, and slit his wrist as he did so. Dmitrius had an angry look on his face, and it got even more angry as he stepped into the store.

Bodies were all over the floor, throats torn open as if by a newly fledged childe. They were all civilians. Dmitrius advanced, fury now etched in his featues. "What. Have. You. Done."

Suddenly the hissing vampire stopped, and looked up at Dmitrius. If he was a dog, his tail would be between his legs.

"Where are my Warriors?"

The vampire said nothing, so Dmitrius grabbed him by the throat again and lifted him. "WHERE ARE MY WARRIORS!"

He choked, and Dmitrius squeezed, his fingers going into the vampire's throat, and wrapping around his trachea, but not squeezing it. Yet, so he could still speak. "Well."

"I--I--was buried alive!"

Dmitrius eased up.

"I only got out a few days ago, and I was so hungry..."

"I can see that. Who buried you?"

"A green man...with spikes. He opened up the ground and it swallowed me! I swear to God!"

"Do you know this man's name?"

"Jade...?"

Dmitrius let go of him. He probably chased the Warriors out, cleaning up the area like all the heroes do. The name was familiar...

He checked his comm and scrolled down the names. Sure enough, there was a Jade Najah in the group. He called up his profile. "This him?"

His guard stumbled over and peered at the comm. "Yeah...I think so."

Dmitrius put the comm back in his pocket. He whirled on his heel and stormed out, yelling, "Clean up this mess."

When they arrived the next night, Lori and Jason were already at their car. "Want to follow us?" they called as the two men pulled up.

"Okay," Kevin called, and they followed them. The pair of cars parked in a large parking lot for a steakhouse restaraunt. Dmitrius got out of the car and looked up at the restaurant's sign. Jason thought he could read something like apprehension.

They went inside, and had to wait for a table. Kevin sat between Dmitrius and his parents, holding Dmitrius' hand. Jason turned away. The whole thing was uncomfortable. Jason didn't know if he would be able to stand a whole dinner like this.

They finally got a booth. There was a pail of peanuts, and Jason started to dig in. "So you're a hero too, Dmitrius?" he finally said, because he couldn't stand it anymore.

"Yes, I am," he said, in that deep voice of command again.

Jason pushed on. "What do you do? Like your powers."

"I have super strength, super speed, I am very agile, and I have tough skin." He looked around the table and got a fork. He turned his arm over on the table, and stabbed the fork down. Lori and Jason both gasped, then saw the tines of the fork bend away from his skin. "I also have the ability to make people afraid of me."

Jason sat back, thinking, That explains it. Dmitrius focused his eyes on Jason, deep dark eyes, almost crimson red irises. He looked away immediately, not believing what he was seeing. The waitress came over and they ordered. When they got to Dmitrius he said, "Just ice water, please."

Kevin's parents stared at him. Kevin looked down at his placemat. The waitress walked away, nonplussed. Dmitrius looked up. "I can't eat any MSG."

"You can ask them to not put it in."

"I am highly allergic to even trace amounts," he said quietly. "You can tell them not to add it, but it's already in prepared food." He took a small dropper out of his pocket. "In fact, I have to test everything I eat."

"Oh..." Jason looked a little more concerned. "Maybe we could have eaten at home."

Dmitrius said, "You can't afford it. I have to go to Whole Foods or other organic places to get my food. They guarantee no MSG."

"Don't worry," Kevin said, and put a hand on Dmitrius' arm. "He already ate."

Their drinks arrived and Dmitrius dropped something from the vial into the water. The water turned purple. He shook his head. "They're using tap water." He sighed, pushed the glass away. "It's not your fault. This happens all the time."

His parents dug in guiltily when they got their food, but Kevin didn't seem to mind. Then, Kevin headed to the bathroom. Lori glanced at Jason and excused herself as well.

Jason screwed up his courage to look this man in the eye. Dmitrius met his eyes. "Yes?" he asked.

"Let's step outside."

Dmitrius gave a small nod and pulled himself out of the booth. He followed Jason out the front of the restaurant and they stepped over to a bench. Dmitrius sat. Jason did not.

"I want to know who you are."

"What would you like to know?"

"How many businesses do you actually own?"

He gave him a small smile. "Own? Three international conglomerate companies. I'm on the Board? Maybe six more."

"How did you meet Kevin?"

"We were both working on the same assignment. It's classified."

Jason looked down at him, but still felt that Dmitrius was the one who was in command. "Okay, I'm going to come out and be straight with you."

Dmitrius sat back and crossed his arms. "Good."

His words came out in a rush. "I think you're taking advantage of my son. He's still young, he's in a strange city, and he sees you, and you're probably throwing all kinds of money at him. Kevin will not be bought."

Dmitrius inclined his head. "Go on."

"And this getting married, it's way too fast. Six months ago he had Michael. He had been going out with him for months, I heard. Now you show up all of a sudden. What happened to Michael?"

Dmitrius said, "Kevin was dumped."

"Oh, oh, that makes this even better!" He raised his hands and dropped them in frustration. "Now you're really taking advantage of him, with him coming off a rebound."

"Tell me, Mr, Nokimos, why would a man of my station, with as much money as I have, want Kevin?"

"Maybe you're one of those sugar daddies."

Dmitrius laughed, a booming sound. Jason flushed red with embarrassment. "That could not be further from the truth." Dmitrius looked at him, smiling. "Do you believe in reincarnation?"

"Yes..."

"Kevin's soul, and my soul, have been searching for aeons for each other. Now we will join as one."

Jason stared at him. "Is that what you fed him?"

"No," he said. "It is what he fed me."

Jason was stunned. Kevin believing in reincarnation? He didn't even believe in karma. That Paragon City was odder than he thought.

"Mr. Nokimos, I know you believe that I am the older man. He is the older soul."

Jason turned away. This was getting too weird, even for him. "And you believe this?"

"With all my heart."

He looked back toward the restaurant. "I really think you're going way too fast."

"Mr. Nokimos, has it occurred to you that Kevin may be taking advantage of me?"

Jason blinked.

"I have the money and the power. I'm new to the state. I know I have powers, but I don't know how to use them well. Kevin as a lot up on me."

Jason considered while Dmitrius rose fluidly. "I love him, and he loves me. Isn't that what marriage is about?" He started walking back to the restaurant. At the table, he picked up the check, smiled at Lori and Kevin, and paid it.


For the weekend, the two men visited twice again, and both times Kevin's parents didn't seem too much more endearing to Dmitrius. Kevin extended the invitation by phone to the wedding to his brothers, and told them something formal would be coming soon. They didn't sound that much more happy, either. Finally, Sunday, it seemed like they were almost glad to leave. They laid overnight in Detroit, and took the last leg of the trip home, arriving in Boston at 12:54 a.m.