ELEVEN

Tossing the last bag into the trunk I slammed it shut. Pausing I looked at the house I called home for the last fourteen years. It was a home that Amy and Shu built with me. It was where Rai grew up and took her first steps, said her first words, demonstrated her first acts of green magic.

We had so many memories in this place. It was the first place that I felt like a teenager again. It was the first place that I had two parents again. Even though it was an illusion, it felt nice. To be taken care of, to be loved unconditionally.

Once again, a demon took my family from me. It was Ban and Kenji that ripped my family apart. I wanted to pay them both back in blood. At the same time, I didn't want to be reckless and lose more members of my family. We shouldn't have gone after Maya. Or maybe I shouldn't have told Shu, Kenji was with her. Maybe I should have fought harder to get him to turn around the car.

I could think in maybe and what if all day and night. It wasn't going to change the simple fact that Shu was gone. That our whole team was dead. Now, what did we have? A demon, a white mage, a half-trained green mage, and a pregnant ex-Demon Hunter.

I shook my head. Shu was going to be a father again. Amy explained to us the reason she fainted was because the stress was too much for the baby. She was going to tell everyone when we got back from killing Maya. Shu would have been so happy to learn he was going to be a dad again. He would never meet his child, his child would never meet its father.

Getting into the car I was in the driver seat as Amy sat up front with me. She had the mapping orb in her hand. Tech came a long way since I was a human. GPS were a lot more accurate, there was no annoying voice telling you to drive five miles out of your way just to make a U-Turn.

Soji had suggested that if we had nowhere to we should return to his church. I vetoed that bill as soon as it passed his lips. I didn't trust holy rollers. Maybe it was because I was playing for the other team. Maybe they would have invited Amy and Rai in but I wasn't human. I wasn't going to be locked in someone's cell.

Pulling off I looked through the rearview mirror. Rai was still angry at me. I wondered if it was over Shu or if she was really upset about the kiss Soji and I shared. I was inclined to think it was the kiss since she refused to sit in the same row of the truck with Soji.

She had her head pressed against the cool glass of the window. She stared out into the world numbly. I knew the loss of a father. I knew the loss of a home. Rai and I had that in common now. Once we found somewhere to set up, I would talk to her. Maybe if she knew she wasn't alone in this, she would stop being so angry.

The truth was I didn't know where to go. Shu was the man with the plan. He was the leader of this group. Was everyone looking to me now? There was only one place I knew to go when I was lost. An old woman who claimed to have known me when I was human. That probably meant she was a demon if she was still around. The fortune teller always pointed me on the right path when I didn't have a clue where to go.

The drive to where the woman lives was done in silence. Everyone seemed to be in their own world. We each had our own thoughts, our own worries. We each mourned in our own way. The important part was that we were together. That we were moving forward at a time like this.

It was about twelve hours in the car. Samter was a town that Shu and I had visited a lot in our travels. It wasn't far enough from our old him. Still we were going to need more supplies if we were in for a long road.

Passing the card that held our credits over to Amy she looked took it understanding that it was up to her to food and supplies. Parking I got out of the car and Amy followed so that she could move to the driver seat.

"Where are you going?" Rai asked jumping out of the car as well. It was the first thing she said to me since she saw Soji and I kissing. "Can I go with you?" My eyes shifted over to Amy. Amy looked over at the both of us. I could see that motherly worry on her face.

"You two need to be careful," Amy said and Rai smiled nodding her head. I nodded as well. She said the both of us because she still saw me as one of her children. She didn't have to worry. I was going to protect Rai with my life. It was the least that I could do now that Shu was gone.

"Soji could you go . . ." I paused looking at Amy. I didn't want to insult her. She was a proud and strong Demon Hunter. She was also pregnant and still looked pale from the night before. I didn't want her driving around alone in case something happened.

"Amy and I will do our thing. You and Rai do your thing. When and where shall we meet up?" Soji said. It was better this way. Soji was a white mage. He should have been strong enough to protect Amy. I knew that I would protect Rai.

"The Demon Hunter bar is as good a place as any. We'll meet up in two hours." That should have been enough time for Amy to gather what we needed. We all nodded before turning around. Walking with Rai all was silence again. I wondered if she was ever going to talk to me again.

Why did she want to come with me? Because she didn't want to go with Soji, or maybe she didn't want Soji to come with me. It was a shame that she didn't like Soji. Shu would have liked him. He would have told him to shut the hell up with his annoying rambling. He still would have liked him.

"Are you dating him?" Rai spoke as we walked down the street. I looked over at her frowning face. "He looks like a girl, you know." I laughed at her assessment of the white mage. Soji was small, short and petite like a girl. He was soft and very beautiful. I could see how people could mistake him for a girl. Rai only glared daggers at me. I shook my head at the girl. She had Shu's quick temper with Amy magic. A deadly combination.

"It was just a kiss, Rai. If I dated everyone, I kissed then . . ." I let my words trail off. If I dated everyone I kissed then Ban and I was in a serious relationship that spanned two hundred years.

"He's the same age as me isn't he." I didn't know how old Soji was. I would give him between fourteen and seventeen. I suppose that was still young since I was over two hundred years old. Still my body was only sixteen. There was nothing wrong with kissing someone a few years younger.

"I guess," I muttered. What was with this line of questioning?

"How do you even know you like boys, Zero. I thought you liked Aya." I liked Aya well enough. I wasn't about to kiss Aya though. I guess that didn't actually matter anymore. Aya was gone. How did I know I liked boys? It was just something I alway knew. Even as a human.

"I love you, Zero," Rai said and I turned to her. Smiling over at her I reached out pushing my fingers in her hair.

"Rai, I love you too." She was like a sister to me. She was Shu's daughter. She was the baby that I held and watched when her parents needed a moment to themselves. She was the child that I played with. Who I taught how to cuss and steal cookies when her mother wasn't looking. I adored her and I loved her endlessly.

Rai leaped into my arm her mouth smashed against mine. I pushed her away as soon as her lips pressed against mine. I frowned at her as she frowned back at me. What the hell was that? I rubbed my arm across my mouth.

"I love you Rai, as a sister. For fucksake, I changed your diapers." That was just gross. How could she even think that I met it in any other way? I was pretty sure there was a line as clear day drawn in the sand. There shouldn't even have to be lines we were family.

Rai stomped her foot turning away from me and walking away. I shoved my fingers into my hair. What hell was wrong with teenagers? Shaking my head, I followed behind her. It was another forty minutes before we ducked into one of the shops.

Inside of the shop was a girl who was probably in her twenties. She was tall with huge breast and a curvy figure. Her black hair was streaked with purple as it flowed down her back. She was dressed in tiny shorts and a bra with knee high boots. I could see the many weapons strapped to her body. Most were guns, but there was a band of knives around her thigh. Who was this woman?

"Zero," an old voice croaked. I looked at the old woman. She was hunched over like always. Her sightless eyes were milked over as she looked through me. I could see her thinning gray hair coming around her face like a curtain against the world.

The strange girl turned around as if just now noticing she wasn't the only person in the shop. Her eyes moved over me and then to Rai. I watched as she walked towards Rai. I could feel my fangs pressing down. My own daggers were strapped to my legs. The stranger reached out grabbing Rai's boob.

The same kid that was just sexually harassing me with her kiss screamed and ran behind me for protection. I looked behind myself at Rai before looking at the strange woman again. What kind of person just grabs a stranger's breast?

"They are perfect." The woman gave this high pitched scream of delight. "I have been looking for the perfect pair. Yours are just right." She was opening and closing her hand as if squeezing something. "They fit in my hand so perfectly." She jumped up and down her own breast bouncing with the action. I wasn't ashamed to say my eyes followed them.

"Can I help you?" I asked. She was fast, but I was faster. As soon as she went for her dagger I was at her. My own dagger was pressed against her throat. "It's rude to attack strangers." I pressed the blade in enough to make a line of blood form. It smelled much better than the last meal I had.

"Funny, normally I only attack demons." She hissed back at me and I bared my fangs at her. Luckily everyone in this shop already knew I was a demon.

"Emiko!" A voice I was learning to recognize said. I turned around seeing Soji and Amy standing in the door or the shop. What were those two doing here? Soji eyes were on the girl. He has a huge smile on his face. I pulled my dagger away from her as she walked towards the white mage embracing him in a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Niwa told me about what happened at the base. I was so overcome with grief that my little light wasn't safe. I ran over to Mother Fate to find out who the beast that took you were." I noticed that she had Soji's head pressed against her breast. She was going to smother him with those things.

"I already told Niwa I was staying with Zero." She pulled him back looking him over. "It was my choice, Zero had every intention to send me home." That was true. I didn't ask him to tag along with me. He did that after his phone call.

"Then I have no choice but to come as well. Did the beast touch you?" She grabbed Soji's shirt trying to force it open. Soji yelped grabbed his clothes trying to keep them on. His face was a bright red as he protested the inspection Emiko was trying to give him.

I shook my head ignoring the idiots and moving in the back room with Mother Fate. Sitting down at the table across from the old woman she reached over grabbing my hand. Her skin was cold as ice. Leaning down I pressed my forehead to the back of her hand.

"It's been too long, Zero." I couldn't remember the last time I came here. When I first met Kaleb, maybe. I wanted to know if staying him was a good idea.

"I'm lost again." I shook my head at my own words. "I don't know where to go."

"You're not lost, Zeo. Stay with the white mage. He will remind you of the humanity hidden within. He's good for your soul." Soji was good for my soul. "He clears the fog." I looked up at her. Did that mean that Soji had cleared away the fog before? I haven't been in the hunger in so long. Why couldn't I remember him if we met before? How was it possible to have met him before?

"I don't have a soul." I sighed before changing the topic. "Ban got away again." I failed to kill the Great Demon yet again. I was never going to have my revenge at this rate.

"Do you really wish to kill Ban?" She asked and I looked up at her. Did I want to kill Ban? The answer to that should have been yes without a thought. Ban wasn't just the person who killed my family. He was the only thing that I held on to from my human life. He was the only person alive that remembered I was human once. Ban was . . .

"Are you sure you're not in love with Ban?" I growled at Mother Fate. Me? In love with Ban? It was impossible. You couldn't love the beast that killed your family. The sex we had was always enjoyable. Sex wasn't love though. I hated Ban. I wanted to destroy him for what he did to the people I loved.

"The world is ending, Zero. Ban and Kenji are trying to bring hell to earth. You can save us. Only you have the power to stop the Night of Demons. With Soji, you can find the power that sleeps inside of you. However, this power will come at a price. You will lose what you love."

"I already lost everything I love." I didn't know about saving anything either. I didn't know what the Night of Demons was either. Ban and Kenji were up to no good. How could they bring hell to earth? Hell was already on earth.

"Someone so pure needs to be protected, Zero. A sacrifice of innocence must be made. Ban will use Soji for this." Ban would kill Soji. I had to protect him. How was I suppose to protect anyone? I couldn't even protect Shu.

"What am I supposed to do. I can't beat him." I wasn't strong enough to beat Ban. How was I suppose to keep Soji safe? Mother Fate reached across the table. Her cold boney fingers touched my cheek. I looked into her milky eyes as she looked through me.

"You must do what you have always done, Zero." What I've always done? "Live."