by Al K. Line
"So I've heard. Like killing kids and shunning everyone."
"Oh yeah, right, like I'm the one doing the shunning." Pumi stood, the modesty forgotten, and I couldn't help looking. There was something about him, like he drew you to him with his essence.
His naked body was very different to how he looked in clothes. He's big, and all muscle, but his body makes you want to cry. Written large across his torso is agony of the flesh. Veins were thick and wriggling, parts of him were slightly off, swollen lumps I guess maybe from all the changes into the monster and back again, but it was the brutality inflicted on him that made you stare, mouth open in shock and wonder that such punishment can be taken and survived.
"I never let them break me, however hard they tried," he said, noting me fixating on his upper thigh. It was a mess of scar, thick and a tangle of white and nasty red, scar upon scar upon scar and what looked like a serious case of burned flesh.
"What happened?" I couldn't believe it, I was having a chat with an evil killer, but something inside told me there was a lot more to this than I had expected.
"They peeled me, many years past, different life, back when I was in the arenas. I was good, so they handicapped me. Peeled a layer of skin before each tournament, and when that didn't work they cut me, and kept on cutting."
"Shit!"
"Long time ago, like I said." Pumi turned and walked to the side where there was a simple mattress and a few random bits and pieces.
"No funny business," I warned.
"Just getting some clothes, if you've seen enough?"
There wasn't much I could say to that so I watched, purely to keep an eye on him, as he dressed in jeans and a t-shirt he pulled from a large brown canvas rucksack. This wasn't going as planned at all, but that inner voice told me I could trust this man, this broken human being.
"Come on, spill it. If you've got something to say then say it." Was he making a fool out of me? Was my information totally wrong, and why ask about Levick?
"I was with this kid, an orphan. Little thing, all skin and bone, dirty blond hair that she kept brushing from her eyes and—"
"What, you wanted her?"
"Wanted her? Fuck, what is wrong with you? No, I helped her, at least I tried, but she saw something, wouldn't say what. And now she's dead."
"What could she have seen that would be so terrible? Nothing can be worse than the way things are now."
He stared at me, exasperated. "Like I said, she wouldn't say. But she talked about a man, saw him do something, or... Hell, I don't know, okay? She's dead now. I found her, at ground zero."
"You go there, where the Rift happened?"
"Of course." He looked stunned that I would even have to ask. "There are Strange there, waiting, and they need help. It's where I met her, so we would go there sometimes, and I found her there dead. She'd been gone for the day, and I got worried, so I went to the place we met, our safe place. She was dead and I ran, like a coward. I went into hiding. And now here you are, big bad Justice, ready to blast me with magic and do your master's bidding like a good girl."
"I'm nobody's servant. I do what I want."
"Nobody has that luxury and you're a fool if you think you do." What was with this guy? He wasn't exactly trying to ingratiate himself with me. Didn't he care about his own life?
"Who was this man she said she saw?"
"She didn't know. But I get the feeling you do. I bet he's pulling the strings here. If you tell me this Levick looks like some kind of corporate dude, with expensive suits and slicked back long white hair then we have a problem."
I deflated like a punctured ball and sat next to him on a dirty crate I tried not to look at too closely. "Maybe you should tell me everything that's been going on."
"I think I better."
It took a while.
Getting to Know Each Other
There was magic within Pumi, no doubt about it, but he wasn't adept, wasn't a wizard or anything like that, he was just different. Born in another time, when the Pool was in chaos and many Strange were finding their way in the world, when magic was little more than superstition, and certainly not understood like today.
He was an aberration then, and still is to this day—few shifters can use magic, let alone live extended lives. Yet he couldn't control it, channel it and use it to change reality or blast it at his enemies, it was merely there inside him, ensuring he remained what he was, which made getting him out of hiding problematic.
In the end we came up with a simple solution. He got his sweatshirt with a hood and I used a mild protective spell to change his features slightly. It wasn't perfect, it's certainly not my area of expertise, but it allowed us to walk through the streets undisturbed.
I was taking him home.
Yeah, yeah, I know. Say what!? You just met the guy, tried to kill him, and after a chinwag you're inviting him home for dinner? Are you crazy, girlfriend? As Mack would like to say.
It was because I was wrong, that's why. The things others had said about him, the good things, they were all true, I could just tell. Call it intuition, call it some deep-seated ancient sense of what is good and bad, right and wrong, or maybe even a little lust clouding my judgment, but he was sincere. This man was not a monster in the way so many humans are monsters.
He had revealed his true nature, stripped bare and scary as scary can be, yet he kept control, did not attack or try to harm me in that form when he could have easily done so. No, he showed me his strength and his weakness, and I knew. The truth was being kept from me. I was being misled, and he was victim to an injustice. I was meant to be Justice so I couldn't very well go punishing a man I was now sure was wrongly accused.
So, we talked, learned a little of each other, and the more he told me the more I was convinced of what he said. He had lost a friend, was grieving, almost given up any hope, and I had nearly pushed him over the edge yet he held back and that showed the kind of man he was.
So, yeah, he was welcome to be my guest.
A Vision of Loveliness
"Oh, no." I stopped dead in my tracks, a gut-churning dread clamping down hard on my insides as I saw what waited for me on the steps of the church.
Pumi turned, saw my fear and checked the street, but he needn't have bothered. "What? What is it? Should I shift?"
"No, no, that won't do any good. In fact, it would probably just get her more excited. She's funny like that, real weirdo. No offense."
"I'd say none taken but I don't know what you're talking about." Pumi followed my gaze, taking in the figure on the steps that was already waving.
"Damn, we've been spotted." I think I may have grabbed his arm to steady myself. Okay, I did, and the muscles were just as hard as they looked. I shook, disgusted with myself for thinking about such things, but also for allowing myself to be thrown by the vision in yellow that awaited me.
Pumi bent a little at the knee, put his hands on his thighs and peered up into my face. "What's the problem? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"That's just it, I—"
"It's a ghost?"
"No, it's worse than that. It's my sister."
"Oh." He straightened and looked from me to the waving mannequin at my new house. If she moved her hand any faster it would fall off, with any luck.
"Okay, come on. But be warned, she's a devil in a dress."
"I think I can manage a little girl. I've lived for—"
"Yeah, yeah, thousands of years. Gladiator. Monster. Scars. Fought for freedom, whatever." I dismissed it with a tired hand. All of that was well and good, but I've seen powerful mages driven to the edge of hell by this woman. She draws men in and spits them out like flies landing in her mouth after she's done with them, and she makes me utterly nuts. I also love her more than life itself.
"She looks pretty." Pumi was messing with me, I knew, but he didn't know just how right he was.
"She is more than pretty, Pumi. She is utterly gorgeous. Adorable. Look up beauty in the dictionary and her ph
oto is beneath it."
"Really? Wow!"
I punched him on the arm, but I'm not sure if he even felt it. "Idiot. That was a joke."
"Very funny. Come on, then, let's go meet your big sister."
"How naive you are." I sighed, dramatically, because I knew the drama was about to begin, and even though my feet were screaming at me, "No, don't make us. We want to go walk on sharp nails instead, or how about a barefoot wander through glass, or maybe kick depressed trolls," I told them that if I was going then they were too and put one foot in front of the other, forcing the rest of my body to comply.
I kept my eyes on Robin as we got closer, Pumi walking fast and me having to do that silly run-walk thing to catch up with his damn long legs, but at least I got a decent view of his behind for a while. Ugh, I have to stop doing that.
Sooner than I would have liked, by about a googolplex years or whatever the largest number is, we were there, up the steps and beside the most stunning woman you can ever hope to lay eyes on. She wore a canary yellow dress, like she was off out to a party or something.
"Swift, so nice to see you," said Robin with a wide, perfect smile, voice as husky as ever. I swear she practices it every day, even uses spells to turn honey into sound, and it's really annoying.
"Hey, Robin. What do you want? Sorry, had a bad day."
She frowned ever so slightly, her clear complexion wrinkling in a suitably cute way, dimples forming. "To see my favorite sister, what else?"
"How did you know where I was? Okay, silly question."
"Of course it is." Robin turned to the side a little and put her shoulder up against mine, showing our matching tattoos, linking us together, each always able to find the other just in case we were needed. Yeah, we are that close, even if I moan about her at times, and her me. Pumi watched, taking it all in, bemused, seemingly immune to her charm. I liked him more already. "I didn't even need the tattoos, you know what all the gossips are like. But enough of that, just who is this handsome creature I see standing before me?"
"This is Pumi. He, um, he—"
"We had a fight and she tried to kick my ass but we're friends now, all forgiven." Pumi took Robin's offered hand and kissed the back of it. I rolled my eyes. I didn't get a kiss, but then, I had tried to beat him to a pulp. This is the effect Robin has on men, women too, and she milks it for all she's worth.
"Charmed, I'm sure. And, Swift, why can't you ever learn to be nice to good looking men? You'll never get yourself such a handsome one as this if you go around trying to beat them up all the time."
"It's my job. Although this time the bad guy turned out to be the good guy."
"Anyone can see that. Look at him, no man who has been through what Pumi-Sopa Fialkowski has been through could possibly be anything but a total charmer." She smiled at him, him responding in kind. I rolled my eyes again and stepped past the two lovebirds.
"Let's go inside. There are things we need to discuss, and I'm starving."
"Oh, goodie, I'm a little peckish myself. What you cooking?"
"Just get inside." Sometimes I despair, I really do. I have to cook for elves and demons after nearly getting killed, then I have to cook after fighting monsters and even have to invite my sister in.
The day just got seriously bad, like it wasn't bad enough already.
"Oh, um, Sis?"
"Yah?"
God, I hate it when she says that. She likes to think she is posh, but she grew up same as I did.
"Have you been inside yet?"
"No, I was waiting for you. I don't like that elf, he makes me feel funny, and it isn't natural."
"I'm surprised you haven't jumped him and nibbled on his ears by now."
"That's exactly the point, isn't it, yah? He's the one that should be nibbling on my ears, not the other way round."
"Whatever, come on. Oh, damn, you made me lose my train of thought."
"That's never difficult, is it? What did you want to say?"
Did I mention that I often want to slap my sister? "Never mind, it can wait."
I smiled. If she wanted to play funny buggers then she could see the new improved Mack with no warning. Serve her right.
Look, I get my kicks where I can, okay?
A Guest for Dinner
It was childish, but as I opened the door and the temperature hit, Mack seemingly now giving off heat like a dry sauna, and I ushered Pumi and Robin inside, I smiled, waiting for the freak out to begin when she saw him.
To say it was a letdown is an understatement.
"Mack, is that you? Oh, how adorable. Look at those horns, so pointy and shiny. And those teeth, how do you get them so white? Tell me your secret, you absolutely have to."
Okay, she's tougher than she looks. A lot tougher, actually, and I really thought I was going to get one over on her. No such luck.
"Robin? Wow, you look so different from up here. How you doin' girlfriend? I'm used to just staring up your nose, damn those tiny dormouse eyes, but you look much better from this view. If I knew what a pretty woman looked like then I'd definitely say you were one. You one whole lot of sexiness, woo-hee."
I tried not to sulk as he never said anything nice like that to me. I'm past that at my age, honest, and said, "Mack, meet Pumi. Pumi, meet Mack. And where's Zeno?" Zeno came out from the rear of the church with a rolling pin. He saw us and hesitated, then strolled down the now rather pleasantly arranged open space. The pews were gone, replaced with what furniture of mine hadn't been crushed. He held out a hand.
"Hello, I'm Zeno. An elf, a good one."
Pumi shook and said, "Hello, I'm Pumi. A human, a good one." He looked confused—you couldn't miss the fact Zeno was an elf.
"Are you, are you really?" said Zeno. It was not going well.
"Yeah," growled Pumi, "what do you think I am?" They held their handshake, their knuckles whitening even though the slender elf fingers were like a child's compared to Pumi's hairy meat hands.
"I thought you were a Strange without a proper identity. I see you, know what you are."
"And what is that?" This was getting uncomfortable. What was with these two? Then it clicked.
"When you have quite finished we have things to discuss, important things. You too, Sis, seeing as you're here. Now, can we all play nice, please?"
The two men gave each other what I guess they assumed were tough guy stares, but they looked more like kids fighting over a lollipop. Men, they never change, and you can trust me on that. I've been around long enough to know them well enough, and when it comes to showing off and wanting to be the one the women are after, they are all the same. Total juveniles.
Not that I am saying women are any better. The sibling rivalry between Robin and I has never been lost on me, the only bonus is I know I can't compete. I'm cool with that. You can tell, right? Doesn't bother me a bit. Haha.
Robin said, "Hello, Zeno," then retreated to a safe distance. She did not like him, hated the vulnerability just as I did, but what rankled the most was that he attracted her, and she wasn't used to being the one drawn to another—lovers came to her like zombies to a train wreck.
Zeno, distracted by Robin, released his grip and smiled. He still held the rolling pin.
"What are you doing with that? You cooking?" I asked, hopeful.
He stared at the simple wooden utensil, forgotten with the new man in the room. "Cooking? I was going to ask what kind of weapon it is. Seems rather ineffective."
"Not when you get whacked over the head with it, it isn't," I replied. I was frustrated, tired, sore as hell from fighting Pumi, and knew I had to eat soon.
"What do you think of our new home?" asked Zeno, beaming at the work they'd done.
"Very nice. You did a great job. Just a shame we had to move." I glared at Mack but he was oblivious.
"And we got Mr. Moppet for you," said Zeno, dashing to the sofa I was amazed was still in one piece, although it was covered in red brick dust. He held up the battered rabbit like a prize then brough
t it over and handed it to me.
"Thanks, Zeno." I tried not to breathe his sexiness in and turned to hide my embarrassment. Stupid, I shouldn't be worried what others think, but having to force yourself not to talk to and cuddle a bunny isn't the hard woman Justice I want shifter monsters to have as a lasting impression.
Robin, for all her faults, said nothing, just smiled knowingly. She's a good person, and I do love her dearly, even if most of our conversations end up with me frustrated, but at that moment I could have kissed her. We share a past that is unbreakable, the bond too tight, and she would no longer make fun of me for having that one reminder of our childhood than I would laugh at her for the way she slept every night of her life with the light on because she was scared of the dark. And why would I? She has every reason to be scared.
"Okay, everyone hungry?" Like I felt in the mood to cook. The room perked up at the mention of food. Yes, they were all hungry. So I left them to it, hoping everyone would still be in one piece when I returned.
I went into the back room, pleased to note that the fridge was humming away. It had been cleaned, and the groceries were stacked with military precision inside, same as the contents of the cupboards. It was almost a shame to move anything, spoiling the display, but my belly beat the admiration of an obsessive compulsive elf and I ransacked the place good.
*
"Here we go, everyone ready to eat?" On the table, I placed a platter of cold cuts, bread, pickles, cheese, and anything else I could think of from my shopping trip and what was salvaged from the old house.
There were happy murmurs of agreement and everyone helped themselves, like they were all best friends and had known each other for years. It was weird, but that was what it felt like. Like we were drawn to each other, had all met and ended up in a deserted church for a reason.
"Mack, can you eat human food now you're a demon again?" I hoped not, he was bloody huge.
"Fo' shizzle, my nizzle."
Hands paused with food close to mouths. Robin looked at Mack, aghast, and Pumi dropped his plate.
"Did you just say what I think you said?"
