Chapter 31 - Jason
I tackle the boss as he steps out the back yard. I pound the back of his head with my pistol but ignoring his bargain pleas. I’ve never met an Orc who bargains. I just need him to know I’m not to be screwed with.
Shit, I didn’t see expect him to throw dirt in my eyes. I guess for all the mob acting and Orc tradition he doesn’t mind playing dirty. I try to wipe the dirt out of my eyes and see but it isn’t going well. I can make out a shadow and I give chase the best I can, hoping I’m chasing the right guy.
He slams the door of the car. I go to fire as he starts the car but both guns are empty. I switch out the magazines and start to fire as the tires squeal. The bullets shatter the front windshield but they don’t pierce the crumpled glass as he backs out. My vision starts to return and it looks like I missed every shot. Shit, I won’t have another chance like that to catch him. I was unprepared, my back is killing me and I got caught off guard. If I had known he would have eight- or nine-feet tall Orcs who could fling me around I would have taken more time to prepare.
It looks like every Orc in the building has come to the back door now. This isn’t a fight I can win. I also can’t outrun an Orc on foot after the beatings I’ve taken today. I need some kind of distraction. There’s the sunlight grenade, but it won’t work out here in the daylight. I could fire off some more shots, but I’m sure police are probably on their way now. I could just take off running and hope they get stopped before they can catch me. They look ready for a fight for sure.
My miracle comes in the form of giant ball of blue swirling energy. I’d never seen anything like it before. It came flying from behind me and slammed into the Orcs knocking them over like bowling pins. Part of the building tumbled down on them. I hear someone scream out in pain behind me and turn to see a teenager with a matted afro rolling on the ground, holding his arm and screaming in pain. It doesn’t take a genius to guess the blast came from this kid.
The Orcs start to crawl from the rubble, and I need to run. I take off and snatch the kid up by his backpack dragging him along with me until he can run on his own. I duck into an alley as he keeps running. I can’t leave him alone. I’m sure the Orcs have seen him. I catch up and shove him into the next alley I see. I hold him to the wall and peak around the corner. We’re still being followed. He’s dirty and sweating. Probably homeless. I could make it out of here alone, but I can’t leave this kid. They’ll kill him. We need to hide before they get down here. I open up a dumpster, it’s almost empty, but still smells terrible. I cover the kids mouth and jump into the dumpster. Slamming the lid down behind us.
“It stinks in here, and it’s dark,” the kid starts to complain.
“Be quiet, they still might find us,” I click on a flashlight.
“It really is you,” he shows a big smile showing all his teeth.
“What?”
“You’re Jason. You saved me. I went to the temple. I’m Kaiden remember?”
“What are you doing here?”
“Looking for you.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t want to stay at the temple.”
“How did you find me?”
“I didn’t. I was working here in exchange for food and shelter. You found me.”
“Shhh,” I hear the Orcs walking through alley outside.
He’s happy to just sit in silence as long as it takes now that he’s found me. Like a lost puppy he moves to my side of the dumpster and leans on me. I need to get him back to the temple. For now, I need to be sure the Orcs are gone. If anything, I can use the moment to heal some of my wounds. I close my eyes to focus the energy towards healing my major wounds. Typically when I use my enhancement magic it hits everything at once but my back can use some extra attention after hitting so many walls, or the same four walls over and over again.
“What are you doing?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re glowing,” he stares at me in confusion.
“I’m not glowing,” I click off the flashlight and still can’t see any glow.
“Yes you are. It’s yellow, you’ve got a whole aura. It’s coming from your back,” he’s serious about this.
“Wait, can you see magic?”
“Can’t everyone?”
“Some kinds of magic are visible but others aren’t. Enhancement magic isn’t visible because it’s enhancing parts of the body. But, you can see I’m trying to heal my back.”
“That’s so cool. Does that mean I have some kind of special ability?”
“Not really, just means you have an affinity for magic. If you had stayed at the temple, I’m sure you would have learned that.”
“I hated that temple.”
“Why? I’m sure they took good care of you. All the food you can eat, warm beds, roof over your head, and all kinds of things to learn. Magic, fighting, literature, anything.”
“Because all the people there are weird. You can’t have emotions. You can’t learn to fight or use magic until you’re sixteen. They keep telling me I’m not sixteen because of the stupid vampire thing. I got beat up all the time. I didn’t have any friends. Please don’t send me back there. I’ll do anything to stay.”
“Relax, we’ll deal with it when we get out of here.”
He’s got a tight grip on my arm now. I couldn’t shake him off if I wanted to. I don’t have any way to contact the temple. If I could contact them, would they even come? If I send him back he’s just going to run away again. I’m stumped with this. I know a dozen ways to kill vampires. I don’t know anything about raising kids. He’s almost an adult, he should be able to take care of himself. Maybe I just run really fast. He doesn’t have the cardio to keep up with me. Then again, he came to the city to find me, he might find me again. Shit, am I responsible for a kid now?
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