Lyan
It was not easy peasy. The guys stuck to me like gum and didn't let me search the school, but it was finally Sunday. We had spent the whole Saturday lunging in the couch, and after a while I finally managed to convince them to go to town. Part two of the plan could commence.
We were on town, all together, since they didn't trust me not to get lost, hurtful, but fair. The town was bustling with students and humans, all mingling and running around, screaming, talking, haggling. It was lively.
" Look at this. I think it looks good on me" Mark picked up a red hat from a small stand in the middle of the square and placed it in his head. He looked ridiculous, but he was so proud I didn't want to say anything.
" You look great" I lied.
He beamed and bought it. Jack just snorted, which earned him a kick to the shin.
My real goal in this outing was the library, but I doubted they would let that go without asking questions, even if Mark was himself right now and I didn't have to deal with the observant Oscar, so instead of going to the library we walked around the town square, looking at different products.
" This looks great" I beamed, picking up some earrings. They were masterfully carved. They were made out of wood painted on the surface to make it look like gold, but the details and the precision on the tree were so amazing that the fact that it was made of wood didn't matter.
" What'd you want that for? You have no holes in your ears" Jack pointed out.
It wasn't that I didn't have them it was that I was too poor to buy them before, and now that I had finally scammed a decent amount of money from the guys in our pocker nights, I couldn't buy what I wanted because I was still pretending to be a guy in case a fellow student saw me.
I sighed, disappointed, and continued strolling the street with no goal in mind. Well I had one, but it was nearly impossible to do that with them here.
We were walking through a particularly bustling street and I was telling the guys some story of how I'd fallen down a third floor one time, more like got pushed, but the fact that I feel remained the same, when I was suddenly on the floor.
" Auch!!!"
Yesterday's bruises reignited, sending pain all over my body as new ones formed and I had to control my shadows so that they wouldn't spread and try to protect me. I was wondering what had made me fall when suddenly there were four faces panicking all over me.
" Are you alright lad?" A man with a thick accent and bottle glasses that hid his eyes said, face a few inches away from mine.
" Yeah. It was just a fall" I said, getting up and dusting off my pants.
" I'm so sorry lad. I wasn't looking. I deeply apologize" The man looked genually sorry, and he hadn't even done it on purpose, there was nothing to forgive.
" It's nothing sir. I forgive you"
" Thanks lad. I have to go. I'm already running late"
I waved him goodbye as he ran and turned the corner, almost taking another passerby down.
" You sure you're okay?" I nodded to Jack half absent minded, still thinking about the incident. There was something about it that reminded me of something, but what?
" Aha" I exclaimed, and the guys looked at me weird.
" Are you okay?" Orus asked.
" Yeah, I just remembered something" I told him as I subtly guided them to my favorite coffee shop in town. They all waited for me to continue.
" That old man reminded me of a guy that did the same thing to me last Sunday" They all nodded along, but it was clear they didn't understand where I was going.
" That man apologized and I didn't think more of it until I heard his voice again" Now they were all looking at me with real curiosity showing in their eyes.
" His voice was the same as the demon's that entered our room. Isn't that weird? 'Cause that'd mean that the demons were here before the attack, and they could still be here"
I looked around, fearing they would still be here, but the officials had deep cleaned everything of demons, hadn't they?
" It is weird, but don't worry. I'm sure there are no more demons left" Orus and Jack placed their hands on my shoulders, comforting me. Mark was the only one that seemed shaken.
" What is it?" I asked him. If he knew something he better tell it before I got even more stressed.
" Just Oscar being Oscar" He didn't specify anything else, and that didn't calm me down. Oscar was probably the smartest and the most observant one, and if he was worried, well, it was enough to say I was worried too.
We finally reached the coffee shop and I guided them to my favorite booth on the corner, where I could see the whole shop, but only a few people could see me.
My favorite waitress, Jinn, a blond woman with big blue doe eyes and an easy smile, came over to where we were sitting, and after taking one glance at the guys she looked me in the eyes and winked.
I had completely forgotten about that misunderstanding. One time I was feeling down and she had asked me what was going on, and since she was just a human I had confided in her and told her I thought I had a crush on some guys, which I described exactly as my roommates, God knows why, and had completely forgotten that I was posing as a guy, so that was that.
" What can I offer you to drink?"
" Black coffee" The three said at the same time.
" The usual" I told her, but instead of scribbling into her notebook and going along to get me my coffee she leaned down to reach my ear with her mouth and whispered.
" Now I see the problem"
" What problem?" I whispered back, perfectly conscious that at least Orus could hear our conversation perfectly fine.
" If their's won't fit inside you, just bang them yourself, and if they don't want that then they're not for you. I wouldn't want you to have a broken asshole" She said and then she disappeared with our orders.
My face turned red and I held my face between my hands, hoping Orus would let it go, but nooo. He couldn't just let it be.
" So you want to bang us, huh?"
" Please no" I groaned.
" No what?" Mark looked confused.
" That waitress suggested she pegged us, which I'm not against. How about this? We do one each. What'd you think?"
I just turned even more red. Jack laughed like a hyena and Mark looked at his shoes as if they were the most interesting thing in the whole world.
" You all like black coffee?" I said in between my hands in an attempt to distract them from the previous topic, and thankfully Mark caught on and went along.
" Yes. We were all raised together, so we ended up liking pretty much the same things"
" How did that happen?" I asked, letting my hands drop to my sides and looking him in the eyes, curious.
" My family was never a happy one. My parents would fight and scream, but I thought that was normal until my father threw my mother off the stairs in a fit of anger"
Tears started forming in his eyes and I grabbed his hand.
" You don't have to continue"
" I don't mind, it's all water under the bridge. They are my real family now" He said, pointing to Orus and Jack. I knew that was a lie, but if he wanted to believe that I wasn't going to be the one to shatter his bubble.
" My father tried to kill me because I had seen the murder, but Oscar appeared and saved me. When Orus arrived to check on me, we had been going to the same school and were more or less friends, he found my father dead and Oscar smiling at him. His parents adopted me and I've been their son ever since"
" My father died in the battle against the demons when I was little. My mother was captured by the officials while trying to cast black magic to bring him back and was eventually executed. I was left alone in that big mansion I once called home until my nosy classmate came in and took me home. And now we're brothers" Jack said it all so nonchalantly that if I hadn't been looking for it I wouldn't have noticed the slight tremble in his voice. I grabbed his hand, trying to comfort him, but he must've seen the pity in my eyes because he pulled away.
" So you wanna bang us, huh?" He said, back to his usual self, and I decided to humour him.
" No way. I don't want my body inside yours"
" It wouldn't be your body, it'd be plastic" Orus dutifully pointed out.
" Still no"
Our coffee arrived and we drank it in a peaceful silence.
Once we finished them Orus payed, which I appreciated, and we went back into the town, the sun already in the center of the sky.
" I'm hungry " Orus whined.
" Let's go eat" I agreed.
" I know a good place" Mark said and started guiding us, red hat on his head. Each turn we took there were less and less people.
" You sure this is the right way?" Jack seemed nervous, which was a normal response considering we were now passing through dark alleys with no one in them.
" I'm sure"
We turned a corner and pain bloomed all over my chest. I looked down and discovered there was a dagger, thankfully just a normal one and not a silver one, protruding from my chest. I fell to the ground, holding my chest and throwing the dagger away in an attempt to dim the pain.
" Jack, heal her now!!!" Orus screamed.
" I'm already trying. It isn't working. Why isn't it working?!!"
They sounded panicked and I felt bad for them. I just needed a few seconds for the pain to dim and I'd be fine.
My wound started closing up and I got up, legs shaking.
" Are you okay?" The guys fawned all over me, hands everywhere.
" I'm an undead"
Comprehension dawned on their faces and I saw the moment it clicked together, but Jack was still frowing and muttering.
" Why didn't it work?"
" I didn't ask that. I asked if you're okay"
" I'm fine Orus, where's Mark?"
Jack pointed to a murder scene. Blood was everywhere, splattered all over the street and walls. There was a corpse in the middle of it all, which I guessed was the guy who had attacked me. He was badly mangled. His limbs were torn apart, his fingernails gone, and his face, oh, his face. For a few seconds I wanted to vomit, but I kept it in. His face was a mess. His bloody heart was on his mouth and his nose was gone, as well as his eyes, and in the middle of it all was an smiling Oscar, eyes in hand.
" You want them?" he asked me.
" I'll pass"
" More for my collection" He whistled as he put the brown eyes, they weren't even pretty, in his pocket and came to us.
" I think it's time to go home" Jack said, casting a spell to dissolve the body and clean the scene, and we all agreed.
" Can we come back this afternoon?"
" Sure" Orus said, smiling.
" Thanks" I told the guys and we walked to the academy, me holding Orus's shirt over my broken one that showed my chest to everyone, Orus half naked and Oscar with blood even on his hair and smiling like a maniac. Luckily the locals were used to it and didn't say anything.
Once inside my room I changed clothes, gave Orus back his shirt, and we all went to eat at the cafeteria. It was cheaper than the meals in town.
We went back to town after eating and replenishing our strength and I managed to gaslight Orus and Jack into thinking we had a project due Monday on the old mines near the school. Total bullshit, but they bought it anyway. Oscar didn't, but he went along, which was a victory.
Once inside the oldest library in town I ordered my minions, a.k.a. my roommates, to search for the mine, but even after staying there for over three hours and searching the whole library they found nothing.
" Then how are we going to do our project?" I criticised them while sipping my coffee I had gotten in the coffee shop before coming to the library.
" Guess we'll just get a zero. But I really don't remember that project" Jack scratched his head.
" You have very bad memory" My gaslighting was beginning to fail.
" Wasn't that project scratched because it was too difficult to do?" Oscar was giving me a way out and I wasn't going to say no to it.
" My bad" I said. The guys groaned and we went back to our dorm after a heavy dinner in the cafeteria, again, it was cheaper than eating outside and even though I wasn't broke now old habits were hard to break.
" You're welcome" Oscar whispered into my ear when I was going to enter my room.
" Thanks" I whispered back.
I entered my room and changed into my pijama. Hugging the pillow, which I had to steal from Jack's room a few days back when he was too busy to notice, I despaired over the fact that tomorrow classes would resume.
' Why can't it be like this forever?'
Sure, it was annoying that I couldn't search freely, but overall I had had a great time.
Tossing and turning I finally drifted off to sleep.