Chapter 3

"Arisa," I tried to gently wake her from her sleep. We have been traveling for a few hours now. Liz has been flying ahead to scout every once in a while, but so far, we have faced no problems. We just reached the other city. My legs felt ready to give out and I am barely able to keep myself awake.

"Arisa...." I shook her gently.

"Yeah?" She replied in a soft sleepy voice. My heart skipped a beat, I ignored it.

"We are here." 'Here' was an old house that use to belong to a friend of our moms. He lets us use it whenever we are in town.

Arisa fell back to sleep before I even finished my sentence. Chuckling, I brought her into the house and carried her to my room, tucking her into my bed. Guess it is the sofa for me tonight.

Well, not really night considering it is already morning.... God I am tired.

I went to the living room to find Liz passed out on the sofa. I sighed.

"Liz." I woke her as gently as I could. "You have to shower so you don't get sick."

She simply nodded and left. I wish I could stick around and make sure she did, or in the least sleep a bit, but I need to do something before I settle in.

I walked out of the house and set up a barrier around the house. To set up the barrier I do a simple chant in demon ancient language and draw a small circle over the main entrance of the building, in other words the front door of the house. This barrier allows me to know when demons or anyone with ill intentions come near the house and if they try to enter, the house will defend itself. Satisfied that at least they were safe, I set out to Veronica's.

Veronica is an ancient witch nearly 7 centuries old, damn old hag. If anyone knows who we are up against now, it is her. The only problem, she's known for her trickery and finding out any and all weaknesses and secrets, which is exactly why I left the girls at the house. As I made my way through the city I tried to stick to the alleys. Don't want anyone to stop me and ask questions while I am heading to Veronica's.

After 30 minutes of walking through the town I came upon her house. It was simple, nice, not really what you expect, but looks can be deceiving. I walked around to the back of the house. There in the far-right corner of the yard sits an old shed. To just a normal person passing by it would look like all it held was junk and almost as if it would collapse from rust at any given moment. Next to the door is a digital panel for a pass code, one most people would not expect to be there. Stepping up to the door I entered in the pass code. 1992785. The door clicked and slid open.

The air inside smelled sterile, and the walls were covered in clean steel. It was awful. Stepping more inside I found the elevator I was looking for. I pressed LV-6.

When I stepped into the room, there were four broad shouldered men waiting for me.

"Security check." As they stepped towards me, I stepped back, the weight of the gun tucked into the back of my jeans seemed to get heavier.

"Enough boys. This is my friend Cziro. Isn't that, right?" Veronica said. Even though it sent horrible chills down my spine, I nodded. "Come Cziro."

I followed her into another room. "I see that you have changed your appearance once again Veronica." Compared to her appearance of a little 12-year-old girl last time, she looked much different. Now she had long blonde hair and pale skin. She also has full lips and big gray doe eyes. Her figure seemed like more of an exaggerated hourglass than curvy. She didn't bother to look modest as her clothes were short and clung tightly to each and every curve of her skin, almost as if it was a second skin. If I didn't know her true age this might have affected me.

"Still quite the charmer I see Cziro. Now, what have you come here for? It has been a while, no?"

"I need to know who is after me and how they know of my existence." I replied firmly.

Straight-to-the-point, that's the only way I will get out of here alive.

"Cziro, surely you know better how I work by now. What is my payment," when I didn't reply at first, she continued on, "please tell me you didn't come here empty handed Cziro? You know I-"

"I have information!"

She seemed shocked. "On?"

I looked up at her determined, "Myself!"

She licked her lips greedily. "What about you?"

"Who my main companion is..." I could practically see the gears turning inside her head. I knew this was valuable. Especially to someone who loves information. If this got out people would be after not just me, but Liz as well. They would be sending more people after us.

"Deal. The name of the organization after you is known as Core. They hunt and kill demons and capture the ones they deem useful. Their main objective is to put themselves on the top of the world organization center, or the WOC. They see you as a prize. You, the only one to survive birth into the half demon half human stage. Many previous to you died as soon as they were born. Their human half too weak to hold the demon half bay.

Many are just born as humans, and no matter what experiments we have done they won't change. Even blood transfusion doesn't work. But they also see you as an abomination to both races. They learned of your existence by chance. They simply saw you protecting your companion one day from another demon. They saw you shift into two stages and saw you about to shift into your third when just the power of you beginning the shift killed the demon. They want your blood, it is somehow different, special even. Now, my payment?"

I stood up and began to leave the room. Just before I stepped out the door I answered, "She is my sister, related by blood." I heard her gasp before I closed the door and left. I don't know if I made a mistake or not, but either way the information may be useful.

I began my way home, once again sticking to the alleys. It was a while before I got home. My muscles seemed to be screaming in agony. I didn't even bother showering. In order to prevent me from getting sick I shifted into my demon form before passing out on the couch.

"Mark!....... Mark! Wake up!" Something hard smacked me on the head.

"Ow!" I turned about to slash at whatever dared to hit me in this form when I saw Arisa. She was standing before me with and apron on and a frying pan, with a dent the size of my forehead on it.

"Damn. Didn't think you had such a hard head..."

I glared at her. "Why on Earth would you hit me?!?"

"You can't very well sleep all day!!"

Like she's one to talk. I looked towards the clock in the wall and groaned. I had only slept an hour. I ignored my body's aching protests and got up.

"Breakfast is ready." She said smiling. Hopefully, breakfast can wake me up a bit, at least until I am able to rest again.

I sat at the table and pretty much inhaled my food. I would like to say it tasted good, but to be honest I was so hungry, and I ate so fast I don't even think I tasted it.

"How are you guys doing?" I asked them.

"I am good," Arisa answered. Liz just nodded with a huge smile on her face.

"We should get another night's rest and then we should head out."

Liz nodded, trusting my judgement. Arisa on the other hand, questioned it. "Why are we leaving so soon? We just got here, and 'here' seems to be SAFE."

I sighed. "Don't you remember what I said last time? Nowhere is ever safe. Especially now. Besides, we need to stop Cor-the organization that is after us and help anyone who is being terrorized by it as well." I barely managed to hide the information I knew. If they knew how much I knew they would ask why, and I can't let them know how much lengths I go through to keep them safe. Seeming defeated, Arisa just nodded.

"Good, now that that's out of the way, we should prepare and then we can relax."

I can barely hold myself up. After all those hours of walking through snow and through the city and only an hour of sleep, my body seems to be breaking down on me. Ugh. I walked around the room making sure I have everything I need. Hmm... Maybe I should shower and wash these clothes. Can't hurt. I grabbed some extra clothes and headed into the shower.

While in the shower I kept thinking about what Veronica said. Core... Huh. Well... What if, this far they hadn't been trying to kill me.... What do they plan on doing if they ever capture me? I know that even though I told Veronica the truth about Liz, someone would need to pay a price higher than money to get that info from her. It is too valuable to her.

Back to Core. What use would I ever be to them? I know I am stronger than most demons, but Veronica also said they thought of me as an abomination. What use would an abomination be to them? What use will my blood do for them? Hmmm.... Then again there's more than just that to think about.

What about Arisa? I know we agreed that we trust her, and I do, but what is her true ability? She hacked a computer for confidential files for a top organization. Not only that, but she also seems to be very skilled with a sword. And up until now she has had enough ability to kill demons, which is no easy feat for a human. Which begs the question, how much is she not telling us? And if so, how much will it affect us in the future?

Man, all this is giving me a headache, Arisa, Core, Veronica, all of it. Why can't life be easy? Just once? The water had long turned cold. I finally stepped out and troweled down. Putting on some old jersey shorts I took my clothes downstairs to wash.

"Mark?"

I turned to find Arisa looking at me questioningly. "Yeah?"

"What are you doing?" She asked gesturing to the pile of clothes in my hands.

"Washing my clothes."

"Can I put mine in too?" She asked hopefully.

"Yeah, might as well get Liz's too. I will set it up so all you have to do is push start. Is that okay?" She just nodded and took off running. Chuckling, I went and put my clothes in the washer and some soap. I left it waiting for Arisa. Guess it is about time I get some sleep. I went to the couch and passed out there.

"Mark! Help me!" Arisa screamed.

"Arisa!" I tried to reach for her but there was something blocking me.

"Arisa!!" I kept fighting and struggling. At what, I am not sure, but I was fighting to break free from it. To reach her.

"Arisa!!!!"

I woke with a start. I was sweating and shivering. I could still feel the nightmare on me. It felt like a thick, dark slime was covering me. I ran and took a shower, attempting to wash off the feeling. Afterward, I felt better physically, but mentally I didn't feel any better. It was still fresh in my mind.

I went into the kitchen attempting to get a glass of water. There, sitting on a stool with her head asleep on the counter, was Arisa.

I heard her voice in my head, "Mark!" I shook my head hard. Sighing I went around and lifted her into my back.

"Let's go sleeping beauty. Time to take you back to the room." I carried her and placed her back in my room. I looked at her and began thinking again. What is it about her that seems to bring my walls down like nothing? Just how much is she hiding? Lastly, what was the dream about?

Turning around I began to walk out of the room. "Mark?" I heard her ask in a sleepy voice. Without tensing up or turning around I kept walking as if I never heard her. If I turned now, who knows what I would say... Or do....