Friday, February 6, 1998

Up in the fathomless blue sky, clusters of white puffy clouds drifted lazily by. They seemed to have no care in the world, floating wherever the wind blew them, wherever life carried them. They took shapes today, unique shapes that clouds didn’t normally take.

One cloud took the form of a beautiful flower, the stem of which crossed the entire length of sky. Though most clouds were white, Veronica Amorou imagined this one was violet, her favorite color.

Most of her friends didn’t think she had too much of an imagination. Certainly not with the clouds. She loved fashion design, but the only person who really seemed to care about any of that was Carrie Green. David Corbin had little interest in her fashion passion, and her twin brother, Sean, always made it clear he had no interest in the clothing line she was trying to piece together.

Veronica’s long, dark hair spilled out like midnight-colored ocean waves eating at the winter grass underneath her head. She loved to visit this park on cool winter days like today, both to be alone with her thoughts and to enjoy nature before the spring—and then summer—heat became somewhat unbeara­ble later in the season. It was a fine day to wear blue jeans and a purple T-shirt, though Veronica would have enjoyed donning a nice summer dress if she didn’t think her legs would freeze in the cold.

Another cloud drifted by, and Veronica took notice, almost immediately attributing a form to it: a black butterfly. She smiled at the thought. Something about the winged insect seemed familiar to her, but she couldn’t pinpoint why.

She closed her eyes and inhaled the scent of rain, her heart rejoicing at what she perceived might be a coming storm. Here, somehow, she had little to no cares. She felt as if she resided within a place that was safe from the outside world. A sanctuary of sorts offering her protection from the cancerous afflictions that plagued the city of Lysallis and all of Enera.

She took a deep breath. She wanted to keep daydreaming, wanted to keep pondering what could be. High school was long behind her. Her and the rest of the Lazerblades had already saved most of Anaisha from whatever crazy criminal master­minds wanted to take it over, aside from Mr. Big. But even he didn’t seem to be up to anything at the current moment.

When she opened her eyes, she saw a massive cloud skating through the blue atmosphere overhead. This one was in the shape of a massive castle. Veronica imagined herself as a damsel in distress, high up in the castle behind the great stone walls. She wore a long, purple dress, and her hair flowed to the floor, the strands garnered with brightly colored violets. Some daring young man entered her daydream, arriving at the castle to res­cue her from an evil prince or a horrible dragon. She couldn’t decide. There were so many evils in the world, it took her some effort to decide which one she wanted to be rescued from. The hero didn’t care what evil harassed her. He would slay whatever ailed her and then he would sweep Veronica up in his arms and carry her off to some far-off land where they would live happily ever after.

She sat up in the grass, dismayed that her daydreams were just that: dreams. Fantasies. She glanced around the park. The few people who lingered were now leaving, no doubt distraught over the dark storm clouds that were beginning to fill the sky. She welcomed those clouds, welcomed the rain, welcomed the storm. She dismissed her fantasies with one final grin, imagining how much fun it would be to design the dress in her castle daydream.

She stood to her feet and stretched, breathing in the cool, rain-scented air. The dark clouds were all around her now, fill­ing the sky with their awesome presence. She wondered what David and Carrie were up to. She knew her brother, Sean, was probably off on a date or getting himself into trouble. David and Carrie though were items of interest to her, if not for the simple fact that they had become Veronica’s own personal soap opera with the way they each refused to tell each other how much they adored one another.

Veronica walked across the empty grass field and left the park, taking the sidewalk into the suburban neighborhood. The late afternoon sun was busy escaping the dark storm clouds, bright oranges and reds bleeding across the streets, casting shadows all over the place. She loved this time of day, entryway into night.

She cursed the situation with David and Carrie. She had be­come quite sick of hearing (constantly) about their on again, off again feelings for one another, and she wished they would just get it over with and be with each other already. It was sickening how they denied their feelings for each other. Especially David. He was the man, he should be the one to step up and take con­trol of the situation, right? Veronica chuckled to herself. Women were empowered nowadays, and it wouldn’t make a dif­ference if David or Carrie made the first move—as long as one of them did and soon. But she would have liked to see David step up to the plate and confess his feelings. If one of them didn’t say something to the other soon, Veronica would be forced to tell each of them their feelings for one another, if for no other reason than to preserve Veronica’s own sanity.

Veronica remembered Carrie telling her she had a date this evening. Some weird guy she met at the grocery store. He asked her out over a bundle of carrots in the produce section. Veron­ica sighed. Well, she thought, at least that guy seems to have more guts in that area than David.

David. She had to figure out a way to keep a better eye on him.

Years ago, he saved her life fighting a villain in the massive clock tower in South Ryshard. Veronica pledged her own secret life debt to him and since then, had kept a close eye on him. But now a close eye wouldn’t be enough. Mr. Big was still out and about, probably rebuilding his empire. Nobody had seen him in months, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t up to something. When the time came, Veronica knew she would more than likely have to break the truce her and the others had to not use violent means to save Anaisha. She would have to learn how to use weapons, if simply to protect David’s life. She wasn’t sure how she knew this or what her reasons for allowing her thoughts to travel down this road were, but that’s where she was at, and she wasn’t going to apologize to herself or make excuses for it. The world itself was changing. This was another thing she knew but wasn’t sure how she knew. Something in the air she breathed, something in the feel of the wind and air.

Something nefarious was coming their way.

She shook those thoughts, passing through the neighbor­hood as she made her way back home. She watched mothers and fathers call their children in from playing in the driveways. The wind started to pick up a little, and with it, small freckles of rain misted Veronica’s face and bare arms.

David. He entered her mind again as she stopped in her tracks. An SUV had started to pull out of their driveway without checking their mirrors. Veronica waved them out as the middle-aged woman mouthed the word ‘sorry’ from the driver’s seat. Once her vehicle was on the street, Veronica continued along the sidewalk.

She realized that deep down inside of her, she had a true love for David. Not a romantic love—she didn’t think—but a respectful love. One that went beyond the barriers of David’s sometimes stubborn ways. A love that would allow her to sac­rifice her own life for him someday. She didn’t know why this feeling came so strongly, it just did.

There seemed to be a great many things she had an uncanny intuition about but could not explain. She called it—for lack of a better word—her instinct, but she knew it had to be more than that. It felt more like a foreboding of things to come. Grave things to come. Always dark.

Veronica reached her family’s one-story house and walked up the driveway.  The surface of the concrete was marred with oil stains from her father’s junker vehicle that he used to commute to work every day.

She walked along the concrete path that led to the front door, observing the lilacs that graced the edges of the path. She had planted those a month ago and was happy with how fast they had grown. She would need to remember to water them tonight. Even though they weren’t known to grow well in win­ter, the lilacs Veronica had planted were special hybrids that re­sisted frost and seemed to thrive in the cold weather.

She entered the house, finding it empty. Perfect.

She grabbed a tall glass of cold water from the kitchen fau­cet and drank it up, her mind trying to remember when anyone would be home.

The purple telephone on the kitchen wall rang, startling her back to reality.  The glass of water slipped from her grip and crashed against the side of the marble island scattering glass every which way. She mumbled a curse or two and tiptoed around the shards, grabbing the phone from the wall.

“Hello?”

“Veronica?”

“David?” Even she noticed the bounciness in her own voice.

“Hey, didn’t think you’d be home. I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Yeah?” It felt nice to hear his voice. She had been alone with her thoughts all day and though it was comforting and re­laxing to have a day to oneself, she could only tolerate it for so long. She loved to be around others, to mingle with strangers and hang out with her friends.

“I have a blind date tonight and was wondering if you wouldn’t mind keeping it a secret from Carrie. She’s been a little defensive lately whenever I mention other girls. I’m not sure why.”

A blind date? Secret from Carrie? She was already holding Carrie’s date a secret from David. This was ridiculous.

“You’re not sure why?” she started. Then she reminded her­self that it wasn’t really her place to meddle. Not yet. She figured she would give them until the summer and then she would burst both of their bubbles. Then whatever was meant to happen could happen and they could move into the fall without having to wonder about one another. “I suppose,” she said, correcting herself. “I’ll keep it a secret. Where did you find this blind date?”

“Online. We’re going to the Lysallis Bowling Alley. I thought it might be fun. We’re going out before that to The Steak House.”

Hm. “What time are you going out?”

“Uh, I’m picking her up at 7.”

“Well, that’s sounds like fun.”

“Hope so!”

“Alright, I’ll talk to you later,” Veronica said, eager to end the call. Now it just felt awkward.

“Hey, Veronica?”

“Yes?”

“Thanks for keeping this a secret. It’s not really that big a deal, I just don’t want to…I don’t want to upset Carrie. You know?”

“Sure.”

“Thanks. Talk to you later.”

She slammed the phone onto the receiver and then looked down to the glass shards spread across the kitchen floor. She knew she should clean them up but had no desire to. Who cared? Her parents were out of town, and she knew she was going to have to get ready to go out tonight, to keep an eye on David. A blind date sounded like trouble. Veronica remem­bered David’s last date…Jennifer. Mr. Big’s niece. That was a nightmare.

Veronica grabbed the broom and dustpan and swept up the glass. Then she went into her room and started shuffling through outfits in her closet. She would have to keep a low pro­file tonight, stay out of David’s field of vision. If he ever found her following him around, there would be a lot of explaining to do, or at the very least a crafty excuse that Veronica didn’t think she had the intelligence to put together. Even she knew that what she did—tailing him on his dates—was a bit strange, but how else could she keep a close eye on him?

She picked out a blue blouse and black jeans. She took off her T-shirt and stared at herself in the mirror for a moment. She eyed her breasts that sat nestled in a black bra, swearing to her­self that one of them was lopsided. She shifted them, relieved that they remained even, and told herself it was just her imagi­nation. She slipped on the blue blouse and buttoned it up. Then she slipped off her blue jeans and felt her legs for stubble. They were still pretty smooth. Satisfied, she slipped on the blue jeans and then slid her feet into her blue and white sneakers.

She smiled at the mirror, satisfied with her ensemble. It was missing something…

She grabbed a blue flower clip off the top of her dresser and, after collecting her hair into a bunch atop her head, snapped the hair accessory in. There!

She stared at the flower and sighed. This isn’t low profile, she reminded herself. She pulled the hair clip out and let her black hair fall across her chest. She unbuttoned the top button of the blouse and let the top of her breasts breath a bit.

She suddenly realized, amidst getting ready to tail one of the only men in her life (besides her brother, Sean) on his blind date, that she wanted someone in her own life. She wanted a gentleman, someone who would accept her for who she really was. She knew she could be moody, direct, and sometimes in­credibly introverted. At other times she could be very extro­verted. It all depended on a variety of factors. Overall, though, she considered herself to be very consistent in her nature. She was loyal, reliable, and could be counted on.

And she never lied. She could keep secrets, but she would never lie. That’s why it was so important that David never real­ized what Veronica was doing. She couldn’t lie to him. Especially not him.

She grabbed her purse and glanced at the digital clock on her nightstand. It was already six-thirty. By the time she arrived close enough to David’s house to follow him, it would be around seven.

***

The evening played out in a very predictable way, beginning with dinner at The Steak House in downtown Lysallis. It was a pricey restaurant that Veronica had only been to once before. The place had warm lighting, hardwood tables, comfortable booths, and top-tier service. The food was fair, though Veron­ica felt the quality didn’t meet the exorbitant prices.

David and his date sat in a corner booth toward the back of the restaurant. The place was packed, but Veronica had man­aged to tip the host to get a booth not far from David’s.

David’s date wasn’t anything to write home about. She was about five-foot-eight, had long blond hair, and was fairly thin. She wasn’t as thin—rather fit—as Veronica, but she wasn’t overweight. She had a pudge belly, and her legs looked like lines of coleslaw that someone plopped on a plate at a family dinner.

Veronica didn’t think of herself as thin, necessarily, just in shape. She took walks every morning for about a mile and rode her bicycle every—rather almost every—night around the neigh­borhood. She tried to eat right.

Was all of that enough? Why wouldn’t some random guy out here in Lysallis want to be with her? Or was it her desire not to be with the guys of Lysallis? The only person she really found capable of even satisfying her needs in a mate was David, but his mind, body, and soul…well, his mind and soul…were taken by Carrie. Until the end of time, no doubt.

The date (Veronica managed to catch her name—Brittany) carried herself as if she sat in a cubicle, processing reports on a computer all day, her back hunched, her gait somewhat sloppy and stumbly. She giggled and laughed like a drunk and threw her hands all over David as if she didn’t know what to do with her body when she was around him. David seemed to repel her advances somewhat successfully, nudging her away or drawing himself a good distance from her. But boy was she smothering.

After dinner, they headed to the bowling alley in downtown Lysallis. Since it was a Friday night, there were lots of teenagers horsing around the alley and it made Veronica feel claustropho­bic, although the crowds did help her to blend in. She watched David and Brittany from an inconspicuous seat in the noisy ar­cade as she sipped on a Dr. Soda. The couple was on lane seven, and at the moment, Brittany was conning David into ‘teaching’ her how to bowl. How hard is it to roll a ball down a strip of flooring? He had his arms wrapped around her thin waist. Ech. That should be Carrie.

Veronica knew it was an intentional move for the girl to wear a short skirt and form-fitting T-shirt this evening, even though it was the middle of winter. She seemed to be firing on all cylinders with the seduction, but Veronica also knew David had some level of integrity and wouldn’t fall for the girl’s wiles…at first, anyway. Would Veronica intervene if things got too heated? She felt if it was necessary, then she might cross some personal boundaries.

You’re here to keep him safe from physical harm, she reminded herself, not emotional.

“What have we got here? Look at this, boys! Dang!”

Veronica turned to her right and spotted three college guys, all of them with mugs of beer in hand, standing in a cluster by the Galaxy Shooter game. She turned away from them and re­turned her attention to David and his temptatious companion.

“She just blow you off?”

Veronica felt the men enter her personal space and gather directly behind her. The smell of alcohol wafted into her nos­trils, and she cringed. She hated the smell of beer.

A warm breath fell on her left ear. “Hey, baby. What’s your name?”

Veronica took a sip of her soda and set the cup down on the Chronic Fighter arcade machine before turning toward the man. He was tall—at least six and a half feet, and he had a bowl cut hairstyle and a scar above his left eye. Most likely the brawler of the group.

She grinned. “Do you honestly think my parents would be stupid enough to name me Baby?”

The man’s eyebrows arched, though the one above his left eye did so at a crooked angle because of the scar. “What?”

His companions drew back from their friend and started to feign playing on the Galaxy Shooter game.

The man with the scar took a quick, jolting sip of his beer and slammed the mug down on the Chronic Fighter game. “Are you getting smart with me?”

Veronica glanced over her shoulder at lane seven. David and Brittany were still bowling. She turned back to the man. “Scoot along, tough guy. I’m not interested.”

His face flushed. “Not interested?” He drew closer to her. Her eyeline fell at the place the bottom button of his polo shirt fell open, exposing strands of dark chest hair. She imagined this man was probably a walking, talking monkey with no clothes on.

One of his buddies put a hand on his shoulder. “Jake, take it easy man. It’s not worth it.”

Jake ran his massive palm through his short hair and fumed. His eyes wandered down to Veronica’s blouse.

She crossed her arms over her chest, wishing she hadn’t given her breasts room to breathe. “I suggest you get away from me.”

“Are you—Are you—threatening me?”

She sighed and rolled her eyes, blatantly so he could see.

The man closed his eyes and grimaced, as if he was trying to hold back some urge to kill her. Veronica realized that with the man’s strength, build and size, that she would pose almost no opposition to him, especially with David in the same vicinity and her wanting to stay incognito.

Jake’s two friends were behind him now, each one holding one of the man’s shoulders to restrain him from moving any closer to Veronica.

Jake shifted his body out of his friend’s grip and stepped closer to Veronica—so close that she could feel the warmth ra­diating off the thick skin on his face. He reached out, quick as a viper, and clutched Veronica’s neck, slamming her up against the Chronic Fighter arcade machine.

Her heart nearly leaped into her throat, but she fought to remain calm. They were in a public place, and the last thing she wanted to do was draw undue attention to herself. The other patrons of the bowling alley seemed consumed with their own affairs, though one or two people did look her way.

When he spoke, Veronica could see that some of his front teeth were chipped, no doubt from other senseless fights he had picked with other undeserving victims. His breath was rank. She could smell not only the beer, but a mix of onions and peppers as well.

His friends fought to pull him away from her, but even they didn’t seem to be strong or entertaining enough to draw him away.

“Listen good, my pretty little thing. If I take time out of my evening to come over here and talk to you, you talk back like a proper lady, not some wench from Merena. Now, I’m looking for some fun tonight. You look like fun. So you and I are gonna—”

His friends managed to yank him away from Veronica, breaking his hold on her neck as he stumbled backwards and fell onto his back on the stained arcade carpet.

She fell to her knees, gasping for air, as she rubbed the pain from the surface of her neck.

She watched as Jake struggled to his feet and turned to his friends, pushing them back. “Get off me!!”

Veronica stood, anger boiling within her. This man was a menace and needed to be taught a lesson. She figured she wasn’t the first or only woman he had ever attacked, and if he wasn’t stopped, she wouldn’t be the last.

Jake attempted to lunge at Veronica again, but one of his friends yanked his shoulder and pulled him back again. “Dude, you wanna get arrested?”

Jake spun around and punched his friend in the face, knock­ing him to the floor. The other friend tackled Jake and they started brawling. Veronica peered over her shoulder and saw that they had the attention of the entire bowling alley now—except David and Brittany, who were nowhere to be found. Ve­ronica did spot a security guard booking it from the front of the establishment, his hands fumbling to keep his oversized pants up as he ran.

Veronica fled the scene, escaping through a dense section of the surrounding crowd. She exited the bowling alley through the parking garage just in time to watch David and Brittany get­ting into David’s white four-door sedan. She heard the car sput­ter and stall as David attempted to start it. This gave her time to make her way out to the street where she had parked her own vehicle.

Veronica made it to her two-door car and started it grace­fully just as David’s car sped past her.

She followed him down a few streets and then into another parking structure, where David drove his date to the very top. Veronica had suspected David would come here. This was the tallest parking structure in Lysallis, and one could see the entire city skyline from the apex of the parking structure. He had even taken Veronica up here once…to talk about his feelings for Carrie.

He parked at the top, and Veronica parked two levels below him. Then she made her way into the stairwell, which she took to the top floor. It was a spot in which she could easily keep an eye David while also staying out of sight. She could make an excuse as to why she was at the bowling alley if David managed to spot her there, but what excuse could she use for being at the top of the same parking structure as him and his date? Veronica was certain if David found out she was tailing him to this par­ticular spot, it would seriously damage their friendship and break whatever trust he had in her.

David and Brittany walked to the edge of the parking struc­ture as David pointed out the tall blue Bank of Lysallis building that rose higher than the other buildings in the city. He always seemed to be so mesmerized by the neon lighting of that par­ticular building, and Veronica felt drawn to it, as if it had some­thing to do with their future.

Small lights hanging from the cement walls illuminated the stairwell just enough so Veronica could scan the stairs below to make sure nobody was coming up behind her. The last thing she needed was someone sneaking up on her when she wasn’t paying attention, though this particular parking structure wasn’t as busy because there weren’t many Friday-night-friendly busi­nesses around this part of the city.

Veronica sat on the top step and sighed as she watched Da­vid and Brittany gush over one another. Veronica felt…jealous? No, that couldn’t be it. She rarely felt jealous. She would like someone of her own to gush over. Heck, she’d settle for having a life in general. With Big MIA, Veronica really didn’t know what to do with herself. She felt a sick depression sink in at the lack of social life in her own circle. David was on a date tonight. Carrie was on a date tonight. Sean was more than likely on a date tonight—or doing something stupid. And here she was, following David around town like some psycho stalker. But she was just protecting him, right? She just wanted to make sure nobody took advantage of him or tried to take his life.

It was the least she could do after he saved her life years ago, or so she told herself.

Veronica heard an engine roar through the parking garage below. She made sure to stay out of sight as another car entered their level, an old black station wagon. The vehicle had been modified with extra-large tires, and spikes adorned the front grill. Veronica nearly gagged on the thick exhaust the vehicle exhaled as it traveled all the way to the top of the structure and parked diagonally across a few of the spaces not too far from David and Brittany.

Veronica peered over the top of the stairwell and watched as David’s eyes widened at the intrusion.

“What’s going on here?” David asked.

Brittany smiled at him, flickering the ends of her skirt around playfully. “Whatever do you mean, oh hero of Anaisha.”

Crap. This was about to go south quickly.

David stepped back a few feet and reached to his back pocket. The look of surprise that came over his face told Ve­ronica that he didn’t have his boomerang back there. Veronica slapped her forehead in frustration. She had told him numerous times to make sure he kept that on him at all times. If he wasn’t going to fight with modern weapons, he had to at least keep the ones he would fight with on him. Especially on a blind date!

Veronica took a deep breath and waited. She would have to find the right moment to intercede. But what was she going to do without a weapon of her own?

“What’s the matter, hero?” Brittany asked him as the door of the black car opened. Out of the driver’s side stepped a tall man in a black leather jacket and tight jeans. He was so tall that Veronica was surprised he had even fit inside the cramped-looking station wagon.

Brittany reached into the back waistline of her skirt and pulled out David’s boomerang, tossing it to the new visitor.

Veronica shook her head. So, David was prepared, just not all that alert around Little Miss Pigtails.

The tall man took the boomerang in hand and waved it at David. “The sword of Excalibur. Your weapon, isn’t it?”

David didn’t speak. Veronica watched his gaze dance around the structure, looking for a way of escape, for a way out of the fight. Veronica knew that wasn’t what he should be thinking about though. There was no way to avoid a confron­tation at this point. This was an ambush, and he should be thinking of ways to fight.

“What do you two want?”

The girl bounced up and down in her short skirt, her pigtails bouncing with her movements. She smiled a devilish grin and pointed her finger in David’s face. “You. And I delivered you! Aheeheehee!”

The man smiled. “That you did, Jewels. That you did.”

David sneered. “Jewels?”

She nodded, stepping toward the man in the biker’s jacket. The man leaned down and kissed her, then he pinched her rear end and smacked it. “This here is my baby girl.”

“What do you two want?”

The man took the boomerang and broke it over his knee, snapping it in half. “I, for one, want you dead. So does the rest of Lysallis’s less-righteous community. So, as a public service, I have taken it upon myself to give the community what they want: your head on a platter.”

Even from her hiding spot, Veronica could see the fear in David’s eyes. “Are you crazy?”

The girl shook her head, sticking her finger in her mouth as she did it. “We’re not crazy,” she remarked. “We’re brilliant. You fell for our little trap! Ahee hee hee hee!”

David wasn’t glancing around anymore. Instead, he was siz­ing up the guy who had broken his only weapon. Veronica knew it was around this point that he would try to fight them off. But there were two of them and a vehicle. She wasn’t sure he would win on his own, and so she resolved internally that she may be forced to reveal her presence to them and to David.

The man walked around his car and took out a cigarette, lighting it while the girl bounced up and down in front of David, apparently mocking his capture.

“Listen, David,” the man said. “Lots of people want you dead right now. Now, whether I deliver you to the highest bid­der or simply kill you myself and claim the bounty doesn’t really matter to me.” He took a puff off the cigarette and made his way back around the car toward David. “I really don’t like you. I never have. You put my brother away, and I can’t say that I’m all that appreciative.”

David stared the man in the eyes, standing tall while he did it. “I don’t really care what you are or aren’t appreciative of. I’ll be putting you two away while I’m here tonight and then how are you going to feel?”

Veronica shook her head. Why did David have to mouth off all the time?

The man took another puff off the cigarette, blowing the smoke into David’s face. “See, I had Jewels here bring you up here tonight so I could have a nice face-to-face chat with you. But here you go again, being uncooperative and rebellious. Why can’t you stop with the whole rebel attitude? It doesn’t suit you.”

“You’re a criminal.”

The man laughed, taking another puff off the cigarette. He blew the smoke out in a long cloud. “A criminal? Are you sure about that? I simply told you that you put my brother away, that doesn’t mean that I’m a criminal. It means that maybe my brother was.”

“I’ve already activated a tracking device that has alerted the police to my presence. If I were you, I would get out of here as fast as you can.”

The girl bounced up and down again. Veronica wanted so badly to put that tramp out of her misery, but also wanted to keep the element of surprise as long as possible.  

Jewels twirled around in her short, slutty skirt, “You, David Corbin, have been tricked. The only tracking device you acti­vated was the one I switched with yours.”

David grimaced. “What are you talking about?”

She pulled a black square-shaped device from inside of her bra and then waved it in his face. “This is your tracking device, stupid!”

David pulled out a device similar to hers. “Then what was this?”

“The one I traded you.” Her eyes grew wide and the smile on her face lengthened, like a menacing afternoon shadow. You just alerted our gang. They should be here in a matter of minutes.”

David threw the device at her face and then lunged toward her. They both fell to the cement ground of the parking structure and wrestled.

Veronica thought this might be her moment to intervene, but continued to stay put on the stairwell as she watched the guy standing by the car finish smoking his cigarette. He didn’t move, but simply watched David and Jewels go at each other on the ground.

“This is entertaining. Anaisha’s hero, wrestling on the ground of the parking structure with a girl about half his size.”

David knocked the small device out of her hand as it bounced across the cement and landed feet from them.

The girl jabbed her nails into David’s throat and pulled, cut­ting the skin and drawing blood. David grabbed her hands and pulled her to her feet. Then he shoved her into the smoker. His cigarette fell into the girl’s cleavage and her voice came out in a shrill screech that reminded Veronica of the hornbill duckbillies at the zoo.

Veronica had to give David credit. That would keep them busy long enough to…

Sure enough, David dove for the device and started pushing the button madly.

The man with the cigarette pushed Jewels off him as she fell to the ground by the wall of the structure, screaming and brush­ing at her chest with wild hands. “You burned me! You burned me!”

“Shut up!” The man slapped her across the face, knocking her to the ground. Then he turned toward David who was get­ting to his feet. “You made a big mistake.”

David lunged toward the guy, slamming him onto the hood of the station wagon. The guy wrapped his arms around David and started beating him in the back with his fists.

Veronica knew it was time to move in. She slowly stood up and was about to head toward them when something touched her shoulder and caused her to spin around in reaction.

A man stood there. He was bald, he wore a dark gray cloak over a dark-colored shirt and pants, and his eyes were a bit bloodshot. He motioned with his finger for her to keep quiet and then tried to motion for her to head back down the stair­well, out of sight. She shook her head. Something about the crooked way his finger bent or the way his lips moved like worms across his face struck dread deep inside the internal core of her being. She feared turning her back on him, but she risked a quick glance at the fiasco on the parking structure roof and watched David pop his fist into the smoker’s face before getting an elbow in his own.

She turned back to the strange creature in the stairwell with her. He looked up at her from a few steps down, like a rabid animal that had exited the shadows to look for food or companionship.

“I have something that might interest you,” he said, his voice deep and dark. “Something that I believe you can use.”

“I suggest you get away from me.”

He licked his lips. “Your friend out there is in his own bat­tle. You cannot and should not intervene. You lack the neces­sary skills to protect him anyway, as much as you would like to think that you could.”

“What are you talking about?”

He pointed to David. “That man that is fighting your friend already has defenses in place to fight your friend. If you inter­vene without your own defensive skills, strategy, or weapons, then you are a fool who does not value their life.”

“That’s what you think.” She turned away from the strange man, her intention to break up the fight and at least even the odds for David.

She felt the cloaked man grab her arm. “That’s what I know.”

She pulled her arm out of his grip and started toward David and the other guy. The girl was conscious now and a bit dazed. She leaped on David’s back and started to scratch up his face, tearing into his skin with her sharp nails as she wailed like a banshee.

David moved backwards and slammed her up against the side of the car a few times. She let go of him and fell to the ground as David punched the smoker in the face again. Veron­ica was already halfway to them when the sound of sirens ech­oed in the distance. The police!

She spun around and dove back toward the stairwell, hop­ing with all of her might that David hadn’t seen her. The cloaked man was still there, smiling deviously at her.

“I told you.”

“Shut up,” she remarked as she crouched back down at the top of the stair well. She turned back and watched David and the fight as police sirens moved up through the parking struc­ture, drawing closer to their location. The man fled from Da­vid’s grasp and bolted into his car. When he started it, the girl screamed for him not to leave without her.

David hunched over, his face a bit bloodied and beaten. He was out of breath, scratches along his neck and face. The car started and the man rolled the window down, yelling something out to David that Veronica couldn’t make out. The girl dove through the side window of the car and squirmed to get herself all the way in.

Veronica let out a quiet sigh, happy that the situation was over and that David had survived. Two police cars bolted up to the top level of the parking structure, signaling that the chaos was over. To her surprise, David grabbed onto the back of the man’s car as it started to flee the scene. He held onto the trunk as the man drove them into one of the cop cars, tearing through part of the officer’s grill before shooting down into the bowels of the parking structure.

Veronica shoved the bald man out of the way and made her way down the stairwell, knowing now that she would have to reveal her presence in order to save David’s life. The bald man followed after her, lecturing her on how she needed weapons and the ability to fight before going into a battle. She would have stopped to spin around and punch him in the gut, but she knew she didn’t have time. She feared touching him, as he seemed to radiate a dark, corrupted presence.

As she reached the next level of the parking structure, the car tore past her with David hanging on for dear life. She con­tinued at a rapid pace down the stairwell, the tires of the car squealing throughout the whole structure. Her heart beat fast as she wondered why David leaped onto the car in the first place. The police were there, and they would have caught the guy…right?

She managed to make it to the next level of the parking structure before the car. She waited for a brief moment against the cement wall, catching her breath.

The vehicle roared toward her from around the corner of the structure’s pillars. She debated on what to do. If she stood in the middle of the garage, he would surely run her over. Or maybe not. She took her place in the middle of the structure as the car barreled toward her.

The bald man came down the steps and shook his head. “This isn’t the way to do this. I can show you an easier way, one where your friend doesn’t have to get hurt. One that will enable you to protect him without compromising your principles.”

She chose to ignore him. Who was he, anyway? She didn’t care. She had to save David…by any means necessary. The man in the car saw her now. She closed her eyes and waited, hoping he would stop in time and enable her and David to capture him together. She felt something brush past her.

The sound of screeching tires rumbled through the struc­ture, as if the car itself was a beast that had just been shot with a tranquilizer dart and was going down for the count. She heard metal and felt objects hit her. She fell to the ground and felt a force move her out of the way.

When Veronica opened her eyes, her vision was full of dark smoke—smoke that was pouring out of the damaged vehicle that was now halfway through one of the structure’s pillars. Her heart sank into her stomach. She could hear screaming and mumbling.

She felt someone helping her up.

When she got to her feet, she realized it was the bald man. He nodded, as if he was satisfied that he had proven some point to her now. “I told you that wouldn’t work.”

She glanced around. “Where is David?!”

The bald man shrugged.

She looked towards the pillar and was relieved David wasn’t there. The man and the girl in the car were bloodied and mum­bling incoherently. She chose not to help them, though every­thing inside of her told her she should. They were badly hurt. They needed medical attention. But for once, she didn’t care. They had almost killed David.

David stumbled out from behind a pillar a few hundred feet back from where the car had skidded out of control. He was clutching his ribs and seemed to be in a bit of pain.

Veronica rushed over to him, grabbing him in her arms as he collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily. “David? David, are you alright?”

He nodded, looking up at her through blood coating the side of his face. “I’m alright. Just a few sore ribs. What are you doing here?”

“I uh…” She had to think fast. Then she remembered the device. “I was close by and was alerted by the police when you pressed the alert button.”

“Holy cow that was fast.”

She nodded. “Lucky I was here, huh?”

“You were the one that stopped his car?”

She shrugged. “I knew I had to or something might have happened to you.”

He started to laugh but stopped abruptly when the pain tremored through his side. “Yeah. Probably. How are they do­ing? Are they still alive?”

She nodded.

“We need to help them out.”

She shook her head. “No, we don’t.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “What do you mean we don’t? They’re hurt.”

“Yes, but they almost killed you. That tramp and her stupid boyfriend can rot in that car for all I care.”

David stared at her for a moment. Then he let the words out with some trepidation. “I’m disappointed in you, Veronica. You of all people wouldn’t ever leave anyone behind like that.”

“That’s before people started setting up ambush plots to try and kill you.”

He chuckled. “Kill me? Everyone wants to kill me, Veron­ica. All the time. Nothing new for me. I’ve learned to deal with it.”

“I haven’t, David.” She whispered under her breath, “And I probably never will.”

She helped him to his feet. When she glanced over her shoulder to look at the car, the bald man was gone.

A strange hissing moved to the forefront of the sounds playing around her. The hissing frightened her, an omen of what was about to happen.

She grabbed David and took him to the pillars he had run out from behind as the car exploded, sending a wave of heat and debris toward them. Veronica shielded David with her own body. She felt the warmth radiating from the explosion as it flowed around the pillar and engulfed her back. She felt it burn through her blouse as she cried out in anguish.

Then it was over. She fell to the ground, her back smoking. David fell to the ground too and fell unconscious. It was too much for him. As she knew it would be.

She felt the cool air of the parking structure blow across her now bare and burnt back, satisfied that she had protected him…just as she had vowed to.