A Scripta

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?”