Tian woke to rain splattering
against his floor to ceiling windows. He had only been asleep for a couple of
hours; an Able’s mind doesn’t need the same amount of sleep as a normal person.
He hadn’t made it to bed until well after sunrise. He had set his alarm so he
had enough time to prepare for his lunch date with Adam. Tian was already up
and was slipping on his slippers when the alarm started buzzing. He showered
and continued getting ready for the meeting with his old roommate. He made sure
to tell John and Jim where he was going and to make sure no one could come into
the house. Then he left at a sprint.
Tian appeared at the entrance to
the Cafe seemed instantly. It surprised the Hostess but he just ignored her and
walked into the dining area. It took no effort to find Adam he always was a
loud mouth and this was no different.
“Hey, Can I get another beer my
friend will be here any moment.” He yelled at a server just as Tian walked up
to the table. “Oh see here he is please hurry with it.
“Good to see you Adam.” Tian said.
He didn't know what it was about Adam he didn't like but he figured he would at
least enter the scene with an open mind.
“I can't say the same about you. It
seems that you have been deceiving me.”
“It was a mistake on my part I
would have liked to have introduced myself to you straight up. Man to man,
style. I just didn’t know how I would have been received.”
Adam slid his chair further back
from the table. “Oh it wasn't a mistake hiding from me. If I had known, you
were still around never mind a changer I would have killed you as soon as I
could have. It seems now that we have a conflict of interest.”
“And what is that?”
“I have my secretary and you want
her… or is it I have your spy and you want her back?”
“I guess you could say that
Cathrine was a spy but not in a malicious way.”
“How is spying not malicious. You
were invading my privacy.”
“She was there so that I could
protect you.”
“From what I am? A god among men.”
“That isn't quite… exactly what I
was going to say I would protect you from.”
“Destiny?”
“No. Unrighteousness.”
“Give me a break. There is no god
and you know it.”
“Not unrighteous against god but
against yourself.”
“You dare to judge me? I should kill
you right here and right now.”
“I doubt you could.” with that,
time sped for Tian. He had seen Adam grabbing at the pistol, the one with the E
engraved on the slide. Tian’s hand planted on the table and kicked the gun from
Adams grasp as he brought it up. The
pistol flew from his hand and into the fish tank against the far wall. Then
Adams speed caught up to his. The room was dropping in temperature. The gun
ended up frozen halfway sunk in the fish tank along with the rest of the
liquids in the room. “You are faster than I am I'll admit it,” whispered Tian.
“You can only imagine,” said Adam,
“but that is my strength and not yours.
“Agreed let us quit this duel
before someone gets hurt.”
“Oh but that is when it gets fun,”
sneered Adam.
“Tell me where Cathrine is.”
Getting ready to absorb more energy as Adam would hurl it at him.
“I’ll give her back when I feel
like it, and you can bet it won't be soon.” He finished the sentence as he sent a
beach ball sized fireball at Tian.
The fireball shrank into Tian’s
hand as it approached him. “I’m afraid you are going to have to do better than
that. I am very good at many things,” he sucked at the life energy inside Adam,
“Including this.”
Adam’s face frosted over in a
matter of what felt like seconds and then his body fell to the ground, as unconsciousness
overwhelmed him. Tian let reality speed up to normal speed slowly letting the
heat out into the room, the temperature rose into the normal range. Everyone in
the cafe was staring at him, “Check please,” He yelled at his server. Luckily,
though the event was very volatile it was brief and no one in the restaurant
had really been in the way of anything except getting really cold and then a
tingling burning sensation when the temperature rose a second later. Later
people would notice the dead fish in the tank. He kept sucking energy from Adam
to keep him unconscious. Then left when the check was paid and a cab was called
for his friend who had drank bit too much in the afternoon sun.
About five minutes after Tian had
left the building the stair door to the loft was knocked off its hinges. A
second or two after the door had been knocked off its hinges a swarm of
soldiers swarmed in into every room. “Sheryl the place is empty.” said the
biggest of the men.
Sheryl walked into the room as soon
as it was quiet. Looked around and noticed something wasn't right.
“This room isn't empty.” Sheryl
finished the statement as blood started to drip from a gaping hole in the
soldier’s chest. It bubbled as he fell to the floor.
More soldiers were falling to the
floor but not a sound was escaping their lips. No death screams, no gasps,
nothing.
Sheryl tried to scream to run and
retreat but the sound of her voice never appeared as her mouth formed the
words. Her soldiers kept dieing and soon enough she was the only one standing.
The invisible assailants appeared right in front of her with knives against her
throat.
“I don't suggest you attack anymore
buildings without knowing what the people who live there can do.” Snickered Jim
“Now you are going to stay here with us.”
Sheryl was tied up in a spare bathroom
in the shower, invisible from the neck down, and the water cold. It seems that
Tian had some surprises of his own, and he would pay for this. She couldn't feel her hands or anything else. Her hands would probably have been blue but
she couldn't see them, and since she couldn't feel or see the knots in the rope
there was absolutely no way for her to get loose. She settled with entering the
trance. After several attempts she realized that she couldn't she had been
shielded from getting at that part of her mind. The best way to explain was
like running into a Rubik's cube in her thought process. She didn’t understand
what it was nor could she grasp the pattern or shape of the cube to solve the
puzzle.
“You didn’t think that we would let
you change energy in our house would you. Tian has this whole house ‘branded’
or so he says. We don’t know how he did it so don't ask.” The voice came from
somewhere by the sink. The door opened and closed and she assumed that she was
alone.
