Twilight Wings: A Supernatural Romance/Action

Chapter 3: A New "Slate"

EMMA'S POV

The day after the scary graveyard incident with Az, something even worse happened. We had just gotten home from school, and Mr. Tholos decided to give us a review quiz from last year's material to see what we needed to brush up on. Az, Jacob, and I decided to have a review session at my house. My mom and dad were both out of the house, so we were alone.

Jacob had brought a 2-liter bottle of Coke and a bowl of Cool Ranch Doritos, and we were all sittnng around the living room talking about stuff from last year and eating. Az, as usual, was being quiet and he wasn't eating anything. Whenever I tried to offer something he would just refuse with a "No thanks, I'm not hungry." Polite, smart, and cute. There's Az for you.

About halfway into our studying, there was a knock on the door. I got up to see who it was. As I opened the door, I saw an odd man standing there. He was tall, skinny, and his face was shadowed under the brim of the massive cowboy hat that he was wearing. He wore a black T-shirt with an image of a skull on it, and he had black jeans that covered his legs. He wore black...combat boots.

"Howdy, folks! I was, uh...just stoppin' by because I had gotten a word from a little birdy that a certain Az Menaher was hangin' 'round these parts," he said in a horribly thick Texan accent.

"Az, there's somebody here to talk to you!" I called. Az got up and looked past me to the man, and instantly he tensed up, like something was really wrong. Jacob looked as well, and he got really tense too.

"Mr. Slate. What are you doing here. Emma, step away from him," Az said.

"What...why?" I asked.

"I said step away from him!" Az yelled. I got really scared, and backed up. Jacob gently pushed me behind him and stepped between me and "Mr. Slate".

"Oh, now what's wrong, darlin'? Az, I see that you haven't told her what's goin' on yet, have you, partner?" asked Mr. Slate, stepping into the house.

Mr. Slate reached into his back pocket and took out something shiny. I didn't see what it was before he lunged at Az. Az ducked as Mr. Slate swung the shiny thing at his head. But as Az got back up, Mr. Slate leaped forwards and rammed the shiny thing into his stomach. Blood sprayed everywhere and I screamed really loudly.

"AZ!!!" I screamed.

"You always were a fan of the pocketknife, Slate Face. But it'll take a tad more than a shard of metal to kill me," Az said, punching Mr. Slate across the face.

Mr. Slate shot backwards out of the door onto the sidewalk. Jacob and Az followed him out. Az was dripping blood all over the place, but he didn't seem to be feeling the pain at all. Slate Face whirled his pocketknife, but Jacob let out a...roar and started to change. 

His nose grew longer into a snout, and his teeth become sharper. His fingers morphed into sharp and pointy claws. Sandy-colored fur started to sprout up all over his body. He fell down onto two legs, like a...wolf. Before my eyes, my best friend had turned into a massive 8-foot tall wolf. He roared and ran at Slate Face, but the Texan cowboy jumped backwards. Jacob swung his claws at Slate Face's head, but they only smashed aside his hat.

Slate Face landed nearby and looked up at Jacob. His face was absolutely horrifying, and when I saw it, I instantly wished that he had kept his hat on. His eyes were no more than black pits sunken into his face. His face was an odd gray color, and as I looked closer, it was covered in some type of gray rock...slate, to be exact (which is where he must have gotten his name). He gave a horrible smile and calmly walked forwards, snatching up his hat. He put it back onto his head and backed up.

"Alright, fellas, I must be goin'. I'm not goin' to take on a death spirit an' a werewolf right now. I'll be seein' y'all again, and y'al best be careful when I come back, 'cause next time I ain't gonna be so merciful," Slate Face said.

And with that, he turned and ran down the street the way he had come. 

____________________________________________________________________________

JACOB'S POV

"Will somebody please tell me what the heck is happening?!" Emma screamed after Slate Face or whoever had run away. 

"Get back inside, and Az and I will tell you," I said.

Emma was obviously shaken up pretty badly. I didn't want her to get too scared, but when you've just seen your best friend turn into a wolf and another of the people you know get stabbed in the stomach and shake it off, you would be pretty freaked out. It was going to come out eventually. And she needed to know.

Az, Emma, and I all sat down inside the house, firmly locking the door and closing the blinds this time around. I popped a Dorito into my mouth and started to explain.

"Emma, I know that this will be a shock, but everything you know is...it's not everything you know. There's things...creatures and places, that have escaped human notice for a long, long time. Witches, werewolves, demons, shapeshifters, and all other types of creatures are real," I said, getting right to the point.

"So...so Az is a death spirit, and you're a werewolf?" she asked, shaking visibly. 

"Exactly. I'm surprised Jacob's been able to hide it from you for so long. I'm a death spirit. Around the world, they call us many different names. In Japan, we're known as shinigami. In Ireland and former Celtic countries, they call the female death spirits banshees. Here in the U.S., you guys would call us the Grim Reaper. My full name is Azrael. I was named after the Angel of Death in the Bible," Az explained, trying to be calm.

"So what about the Grim Reaper?" asked Emma.

"He's not real. There's just a bunch of us that basically float around. My bracelet has a scythe on it because that's the symbol of our kind. That night at the cemetery, that person you saw on the hill, that was me in...in uniform. Whenever we go out, we put our magical black cloaks and hoods. We death spirits don't choose which people to kill and we don't kill humans. We can simply communicate with the dead and command them. That night, I was just talking with an old ghost friend of mine who lives in the cemetery," continued Az.

"What powers do you have?" asked Emma, suddenly interested. 

"Well, we can take massive amounts of punishment, for one. That's why when Slate Face stabbed me, I didn't die. We're really strong too. We can also teleport limited distances, but not for too much of a distance. We can also talk with the ghosts and spirits of the dead, and we can also use them to do stuff for us. The cloaks that I told you about earlier can also block most forms of attack. For weapons, I carry a black-bladed sword and a scythe of the same color. I can pull them out of thin air and make them disappear whenever I want to," Az aid. What a show-off.

"And Jacob, what about you?" she asked me, trying to be nice and not get obsessed with Az.

"Well...we're fast. Very fast. We can turn into our wolf forms whenever we want too. We're also super strong. Silver bullets and dumb stuff like that is all a myth," I said. 

"Then what the heck was that guy? Who was Slate Face?" she asked.

"Slate Face is a creature known as an Ironking. He's been hunting me for who knows how long. As far as I know, he's almost as damage-resilient as I am, and he's a heck of a lot stronger. When he's in a pinch, he can sink into the ground and burrow underneath it," Az explained. 

"Are there any other...villains in the magic world?" Emma asked.

"Well, there's a bunch of dangerous creatures...like werewolves. But the two specific criminals that pop to mind are Sir Slaughter and Lord Malice. Sir Slaughter is the ghost of a knight who had his head chopped off in the Middle Ages. He came back, and he's gathered a band of Clattering Cadavers that ride around with him," I explained.

"Clattering whats?" Emma asked.

"Clattering Cadavers. Particularly gross undead spirits. They're basically skeletons that have come back to life. Sir Slaughter dresses his ones up in European knight armor. The other 'villain', Lord Malice, is a spirit known as a Nightmare because they feed on, well, nightmares. Lord Malice is a really bad one who kills humans for the fun of it," Az explained.

"I know it's a lot to handle right now, but you'll get over it soon enough, I hope. Now, shall we finish studying?" I asked.