Abby let out a long, drawn out yawn. She was currently sitting in the living room,
flipping through the pages of a magazine. Granted, she could be watching TV, but... nothing
good was ever on in the afternoon. Her mind was concentrating not on the magazine, but on
her 15 year old daughter.
Actually, Eveon was going to be 16 in a couple of weeks. It had just been a few months
since Erin had come to discover she was more than human, but things had returned to
normal... or well, as normal as things could be when you have lesbians, demons, goddesses,
exorcists and half angel half demon hybrids coming by to visit.
"When did my life become a circus...?" She asked before smacking her head with the
magazine. She didn't even know the title of it. When Abby was about to go find something
useless to do (like sweep the floor for the sixth time), she heard a voice.
"Abby! Are you home?" In walked Tycara, smiling when she saw Abby in the living room.
"Of course I'm home. A stay at home mom usually does that..." She got up to go greet her
happy guest. Tycara had a bad habit of stopping by... because, well... "Are you here for
another snack?"
The silver haired girl nodded, smiling sheepishly. "You make really yummy food, Abby."
For a while now, Tycara had taken up the strange habit of appearing randomly, sometimes with
Seth and sometimes without. The blonde mother didn't mind that much, seeing as Tycara was
good company, but...
"How'd you get in here, anyway?" Tycara just held up a key. "Eveon said that since I
come by all the time, it would be a good idea to just give me a key."
Abby laughed before grabbing some bread to make sandwich. Tycara watched in rapt
attention. "So where's Seth?" Tycara smiled fondly. "Oh, he has some tests to make up...
some college work to do... I figured I leave him to his studies and come here!"
The blonde mother just gave her a curious look. "I know you have the ability to warp
almost instantaneously from place to place, but aren't you abusing it?" Tycara just shook
her head as Abby assembled the sandwich. "Nope. I'm not like Isaka. She used to hide in the
shadows to peep on Krystal when she bathed."
"Used to? I can't see Isaka stopping that..."
"Oh, now she and Krystal take baths and showers together." Abby let out a long sigh.
Of course they would be doing that... "Here you go," she said, giving Tycara the sandwich.
"Yay! Thank you Abby!" The hybrid started to scarf it down. Abby just sat across from
her and watched in amusement. "Having you around is like having another daughter," she said,
smiling.
Tycara chewed her food before speaking, "Ah, Eveon and Mina are lucky they get to be
around you all the time. You're a good mother, Abby!" Suddenly, she smiled sheepishly. "I'm
actually a bit jealous... I miss my mother a lot..."
As she continued to eat, questions bounced around Abby's head. "Tycara... how old are
you? 19 or are you 20? I can't ever figure it out, because you're so innocent and naïve,
like a child."
The girl looked a little downcast as she ate the rest of her sandwich. "Well... it's
kind of complicated. You could say I was 18... or well, 19 now I guess. Or maybe I'm quite a
few centuries old? Actually... I like to think I'm still eight years old."
Abby just looked at her, totally confused. "What? How can you be three different ages?
I understand you looking like you're 18 and actually being a couple hundred years old, but
eight?" Tycara sighed and twiddled her thumbs. "Well, you see, I died once."
There was a moment of awkward silence. Abby now felt a little bad. "I'm... sorry. I
didn't mean to bring up anything you didn't want to-" Tycara shook her head. "Nah, it's
okay. I mean, it is a bit confusing. I died when I was eight years old."
Tycara could see the unvoiced question in Abby's eyes and decided not to answer. "I...
don't like talking about how I died... it's really... horrible to remember your own death.
But I had a happy childhood...!" Her face lit up. "It was just me and my mommy, but the two
of us were so happy. We did everything together and we loved each other so much."
She twirled her hair nervously. "An angel demon hybrid is basically unheard of, so I'm
possibly the only one of my kind because my mommy... never liked to talk about my father.
She was an angel, but we lived by ourselves because she said the other angels would be mean
to me because I was different."
Abby suddenly said, "Tycara, you know you don't have to tell me things if you don't
want to." The silver haired girl laughed. "I told you already, it's fine! She just wanted to
protect me because I was different. I was... I am a monster. I'm an abomination that was
never meant to be... because... my mommy never told me, but I knew father had attacked her
one night and that's how she got pregnant."
Her silver eyes were clouded as she continued to reminisce. "So we were outcasts, but
so happy... and then I died. I died surrounded by hate and prejudice and... my soul couldn't
rest. I couldn't rest knowing all that hate and it consumed me. So I died when I was eight
and a few hundred years later, I was brought back to life by a dark cult who wanted to use
me."
Tycara scratched the back of her head. "Those were the worst years of my life. They
successfully completed some kind of ritual because my soul was in limbo... or well, I
remember not being able to move on. So I was in a body of an eighteen year old, the same
body that I posses right now." She looked down into her lap, blushing. "I've done some
horrible things in my life Abby... I killed them all; I killed all the people who brought me
back to life because I was filled with hatred. They hurt me and abused me and all I could
think of was these are the kind of people who tore my mommy and I apart."
"...and then you met Isaka, whom kicked your ass, right?" Tycara looked up to see
Abby's smiling face. "Tycara, what you did in the past was okay. As long as you aren't
killing people now, it's fine. Killing... murder, is horrible, but you've changed."
Tycara smiled. "Thanks Abby... yeah Isaka beat me to a pulp and then nursed me back...
and she's my big sister, so everything's fine now!" Abby let out a sigh and got a glass of
water for herself and Tycara. "I'm sorry I asked about your age... I didn't know all that
had happened."
"It's fine," Tycara said, drinking from her glass, "Everything's okay now, so I'm
happy... it just makes me sad to think about my mommy. Our last moments together... were
horrible. And I know she's dead because it's been hundreds of years. I really miss her..."
Abby smiled at her. "I'm sure your mother is relieved, now that you've found people to
take care of you." Tycara just gave her a happy smile and her eyes were watery. "I wish you
could be my mommy too!"
Abby sighed and drank from her glass. "I would, kiddo, but some things just aren't
meant to be. Afraid you're going to have to settle for my friendship." It was later that
night, after Tycara left, that Abby saw the shadow.
*****
Eveon was staying over at Mina's, so Abby had the house all to herself. She hated it.
On nights like these... she missed Terry so much. His gentle smile, sparkling blue eyes,
crappy sense of humor... He'd been taken from her thanks to a car accident and Tycara's
story had Abby thinking about him. She got up and decided to watch something.
She didn't normally check out the window, but she felt something strange. Abby could
see the moonlight filtering through the blinds and decided that it would be fine to look.
The moon was probably beautiful. She lifted up one blind and took a peek. Her eyes did not
immediately pick up on the moon, but instead on the black shadow out in the yard.
Creepy. Abby told herself it was a black garbage bag fluttering in the wind, but...
wouldn't it have blown away by now? It looked like a person wearing a black cloak was
standing out there. It was too far away from her to tell, but... She decided not to worry
about it. Instead, she found that sleep came easy as soon as she slipped back under the
covers.
*****
The next day was similar to all others. Eveon came back, Abby teased her. Mina came
over, Abby teased the two of them a bit more. They went upstairs and Abby was happy they
weren't having sex. Then, Eveon decided to stay over at Mina's again and Abby said 'go have
fun, but not that kind of fun'. And then... there was the creepy black shadow in her
backyard.
In the morning, she checked to see if there was a trash bag there, but there wasn't.
Slim chance another bag would show up again, in the same spot, right? Abby decided that she
couldn't let this go on for two days in a row. With a sigh, she got out of bed, dressed only
in a tank top and boxer shorts and proceeded downstairs. She carefully put on her slippers
before going out onto the patio.
It was indeed a person. A bulky person for that matter. "Hey you." Abby only saw some
slight movement. "Yo, creepy dude in the black cloak, I'm talking to you." The figure turned
towards her and Abby was slightly disappointed. She was hoping to see a flaming skeleton or
a lizard man, but beneath the hood of the cloak, was a face.
Abby couldn't tell what they looked like, thanks to a strange piece of armor masking
their mouth and nose. However, she could clearly see the fiery red eyes, more solemn and
noticeable than her own. Strange, and here she thought she was the only one whose blue eyes
turned red thanks to an accident with chemicals.
The eyes of the person regarded her with shock and slight curiosity, as though they
never expected to get noticed. A monstrous, misshapen hand emerged from the cloak. Abby felt
her heart skip a beat at the sight, but once the moon shined on it, she realized it was more
armor. The fingers on the armor looked like metal talons, but there were five fingers and
she watched in slight amusement as the person in front of her pointed at themselves.
She took a moment to understand what they were saying. "Do you see any other cloaked
weirdos around here?" Abby had to keep her face neutral as the person looked around.
"...No." Their voice was deep and raspy, like that of a chain smoker. It sent a shiver down
her spine. That voice was rather... bleh.
"Great, now that we've established that I'm talking to you, would you mind explaining
what you're doing out here?" The cloaked figure stared at her before answering in that same
raspy voice. "I'm looking for someone." Abby rolled her eyes. "Aren't we all..." Just then,
a gust of wind blew past them, making the young mother shiver.
"Look, I don't usually invite creepers inside my home, but it's chilly and if you're
some kind of pervert, I'm sure I can outrun you in the time it takes for you to get out of
that... outfit." Abby turned around and walked in, only to see the cloaked figure looking
confused. "In other words, come in."
It followed her in, silent, even though she could see armored boots peeking from
beneath the cloak. She suspected that this person was wearing some type of armor, covering
every part of their body. Weird. Then again, she'd already met plenty of weird people in the
last year, so what was another weird acquaintance? Nothing she couldn't handle.
Abby started to brew some coffee and felt a shiver run down her back. Of course, when
she looked behind her, she could see her visitor staring at her with those creepy red eyes.
Abby was quite sure her eyes didn't give off... such a weird vibe. As she stared back at the
figure, she felt like they could see right through her.
She shuddered and turned back around. "Could you stop with all the staring? It's
starting to freak me out... and do you want some coffee? Or do things like you eat souls? If
so, I got none of that." Abby turned around to see the figure looking away. At least it
listened to her... "...May I have some tea?" Regardless of the polite words, the voice was
still gravelly.
Abby started to boil some water in kettle and got out the only kind of tea she had -
green tea. She somehow doubted the... thing... behind her would mind. "Why don't you sit
down? It's kind of silly for you to stand." It sat down promptly. Such a strange creature...
or person. Thing. Whatever. "So... is it okay if I assume you're a dude? You come off as
masculine and all." It nodded briefly, looking down at the table.
"Great, so what exactly are you and why have you been hanging out in my backyard for
the last two nights?" He glanced over at her. "I've been looking for someone and I think
they've been around here before." Abby sighed as the kettle let out shrill whistle. "Well,
this is a bed and breakfast. Sometimes people are staying here, sometimes not. Right now,
there's no other visitors."
She poured the hot water into the tea cup and added the tea bag. Abby gave it to her
strange visitor while grabbing her coffee. She sat down across from him and started to
drink. "But, you never said your name, mister. I'm-"
"You're Abby Kasaguri, age 34 and you have a young 15 year old daughter." She just
stared at him in shock. Maybe he was some kind of pervert... "I can see everything," he
said, red eyes boring into her own. "I can see everything you know..." There was bit of
awkward silence as Abby tried to adjust to the fact that this guy claimed to have some
strange sort of ESP.
"Alright... how old was my daughter when her father died?"
"Eveon was five."
"Hot damn, you even know her name... What was my cat's name?"
"Suzy Q."
"Okay... why does Eveon have purple eyes?"
"Even though you used to have blue eyes, when you were about to cross the street when
you were a little girl, a tire on a pickup truck blew out. It had some containers of
chemicals in the back and one of them fell and broke, splashing into your eyes. Your parents
were afraid you would be blind, but instead, your eyes became a red color. Your husband, on
the other hand, had blue eyes and when you had Eveon, some strange genetic mutation
occurred, giving her purple eyes."
Abby pursed her lips. "Fine. You have some freaky ESP thing going. I give up." She let
out a long sigh when he suddenly spoke again. "I am... the Living Inferno." She tried not to
laugh. "Living Inferno? What are you - a wrestler? Am I supposed to know what a 'Living
Inferno' is? I'm sorry, but I have no clue what that means or who you are."
He shrugged and stared down at his untouched tea. There was a moment of awkward
silence. "Aren't you going to drink it?" He looked up at her, but said nothing. Abby
suddenly understood. Mr. Living Inferno did not wish to remove his little armor/mask/mouth
plate thing that obscured everything by his eyes. "If you're that worried, you can go sit in
the corner and drink it."
She meant it to be a sarcastic remark, but she watched in awe as he actually stood up,
took his cup in one claw-like hand and went over to the corner. He crouched down and Abby
started to hear sipping sounds. "It's quite good, thank you," he remarked in his ever creepy
voice. She just started to massage her temples. Abby was going to have to remember not to be
so sarcastic around this guy.
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