When the car finally came to a stop Jesse had blacked out from the blood loss. He dreamt of his first picnic with Ryder. It was their two year anniversary and Ryder had been asking him for months to take her on a picnic. She had enjoyed their nights out, but she had always wanted something simple, just a small gesture to show his love for her. Jesse didn’t hate the idea, he had always wanted it to be special, and it felt special then. Although he had failed to make it as romantic as he wanted. He was a huge, horny asshole for most of their relationship, and even on this occasion he couldn’t curb himself. For the most part though, he didn’t ruin it, atleast Rydar had said he didn’t. They spent the better part of a few hours, sitting on the grass just talking. It was the most amazing time he had, had for a long time. Even though he couldn’t feel it, he knew his heart was aching over losing Rydar. The love he felt for her was still there, and very strong. It caused him a lot of pain. If he was awake right now, he now he would be craving a cigarette, or crying.
I love you with everything I am. Beyond forever and eternity.
They said that to each other every night before they went to sleep. It was the purest way that Jesse could tell her that he loved her.
Brent woke Jesse up with a hard shot to the face. He gasped for air and almost immediately went into convulsions again. Brent jabbed a needle in his arm and injected him with some kind of medicine. The pain faded and the convulsions stopped. He took a few deep breaths and gave it a few seconds before sitting up. His jaw felt stiff from the shot to the face, but the meds that Brent gave him kept him from feeling the pain. He was laying on a metal table with Brent sitting next to his feet with a cigarette in his mouth.
“Where am I?” he asked, looking over his wounds.
“In a garage on Circuit. We’ve got your wounds taken care of for now, I sent my boy to go get someone who can actually close them up the right way.”
Jesse looked down at his body and saw gauze horribly wrapped around his arms and other parts of his body. Old scars and wounds had reopened and were still bleeding heavily.
“What’s Circuit?”
Brent gave him a funny look, then laughed to himself. He flicked the ash off his cigarette and blew smoke into the air.
“Circuit is the largest of the three continents left on earth?”
“Right, right,” said Jesse remembering the image of the earth he had seen at the Tree, “How did I get here?”
“Do you not remember me driving you here?”
“I meant to Circuit.”
“Oh, that I don’t know.”
Jesse sighed and sat up slowly; his head was swirling but atleast the pain was gone. He ran his hand through his hair and grabbed a cigarette from the table next to the one he was laying. Brent lit it for him and they smoked in silence for few minutes. To Jesse’s surprise, his lungs started burning from the smoking, but it didn’t stop him. For some reason, it was nice to feel human.
The huge metal garage door opened and Jake and a female walked inside. She was young, probably a little over nineteen, with short partly spiked up, multicolored hair. Her arms and stomach were riddled with tattoos and a few scars. She wore a half cut, black shirt with the words : Tawmi’s Garage; splayed on her chest, a black sleeveless hoodie over it, low riding blue jeans that showed the muscles on her abdomen, and one black shoe and the other was dark red. Dark black eye liner surrounded her eyes and branched out into various designs on the side of her eyes. To Jesse she looked perfect.
“Dios mio, the hell happened to you?” she asked as she stepped up and looked him over.
“No idea. We found him like this,” responded Brent.
“And I see you put your expert medical treatment to the test.”
She eyed the bloody bandages and chuckled to herself.
“Alight, lay back down, I’ll stich you up. Brent, get that patch off his wrist. It’s the only way the holes in his temples will be able to close up.”
Jesse laid back down, but not before taking the chance to check out the girl as she bent over to set down her bag on a couch in the corner. He caught a glimpse of a light green thong peeking out over her jeans. Brent slapped his leg and gave him a weak smile. Jesse snickered to himself and held up his left arm so Brent could get to work on his wrist.
Jesse swayed in and out of focus as they worked on him. Barely feeling the needles digging into his skin from the girl and Brent tugging and pulling at the thing on his wrist.
“So who are you?” asked Jesse.
“I know you read the shirt,” she said with a smile.
“Tawmy?”
“No it’s pronounced Taw-me, just spelled a different way. It was the beginning of my unique life.”
Jesse laughed to himself as he watched her sow up the cuts on his stomach and chest.
“I can assume from your calmness that I’m not the first non-human you’ve had land in your garage?”
“The majority of the world is made up of non-humans now sweetheart. Circuit is almost entirely made up of were-humans though. Only a small percentage of the population is just non-human, and even less than that is human. Jake over there being one of them,” she said nodding to the long haired man sitting on a couch in the corner of the garage staring at a large television set, from the blurriness in his vision Jesse could barely make out any details.
“So what race do you belong too?” asked Jesse.
Tawmi and Brent exchanged awkward glances but neither said anything.
“Am I stepping on toes with this question?”
“She and I are both, were both, angels at one point.” answered Brent.
Tawmi stood up and lifted the back of her shirt. There were blood stained nubs where wings used to stand on her shoulder blades.
“We scrub hard but the blood never washes out, its our constant reminder of our choice,” said Tawmi.
“Why did you choose to leave?”
“You’re asking way too many questions sweetheart. This has to be a two way street, how about you tell us what you were doing in Elysium.”
“What’s Elysium?”
“The place you fell out of bro,” said Brent, not looking up from Jesse’s wrist.
“I don’t know how I got there. The last thing I remember is . . .” he trailed off as the memories came flooding back.
Brent and Tawmi exchanged glances again.
“From the holes on your temples, I can only assume someone used stimulation rods to jog some memories from you. It’s a standard angel tool thats come in handy on more than a few occasions.”
“Sounds kind of underhanded for an angel.”
“Angel’s aren’t as clean as everyone likes to make us out to be. We do whatever we can for the ‘right thing’.”
Tension and anger radiated off of Tawmi as she seemed to stare off, lost in an old memory.
“Well ya, an old friend of mine used them on me, I’m not sure why though. All I know is that after she stabbed me, I saw and remembered everything about my life. Too much for me to be able to handle at one time. My mental stability snapped and with it, came a flood of Aura that I could not handle. I became a giant bomb, then I exploded. I felt my body rip apart, inch by inch, shred by shred, I felt myself become nothing. Then there was darkness, nothingness. I was floating in space, floating towards a tree made of beautiful blue light. Slowly but surly there were silver lines running around my body, showing the channels of Aura that flow through my body. My body took shape as I got closer to that tree. A root grew out and wrapped itself around me. Suddenly I felt someone grab me from behind and hold me still. Then the roots were cut and suddenly I’m waking up in a white room.”
“Sounds like they were trying to purify you.”
“Purify me?”
Tawmi sighed took a wet rag across Jesse forehead and face. When she pulled it away, it was covered in blood. She laughed as she wrung it out over something on the floor and set it back on the ground.
“Obviously they didn’t get too far in the process. There’s still a lot of animal in your blood obviously. Tell me, can you shift back?”
Jesse nodded and closed his eyes. He shifted back to his human form, but only for a few seconds. Tawmi and Brent looked at each other but said nothing. He tried again but with the same results.
“It’ll do you no good buddy. This jewel on your arm is emitting far too much Aura in order for your body to stay in human form. Hell if it wasn’t for this patch you would have another explosion,” said Brent looking over the patch, “With the way its emitting Aura, your body will be healed within eight hours. After that, you’ve got two choices. Either I can seal it off completely, and you become basically human, or I can make it removable; so you can take it off and on as often as possible but you can never go back to your human form? Up to you.”
Before Jesse could answer, Tawmi stuck a syringe in his arm and pushed down on the plunger. He wanted to argue, but he felt drowsy.
“Let him sleep on it Brent. I’ll wake him up when it’s time,” she said, stroking his hair.
Brent laughed and stood up, he set his tools down and headed for the door. As he left Jesse turned his heavy head up to look at Tawmi. She was smiling as she continued to stroke his hair. “Sweet dreams,” she whispered as he fell asleep.
When Jesse woke up, he was completely healed just like Brent had said. He wasn’t on the table anymore, instead laying on couch in the corner of the garage. His tail had found a spot in between the cushions so it wasn’t being smashed but his wings were a different story. He had folded them underneath him in the hope that they would just sink into the cushions. Sadly that was not the case and instead they had went numb from his sleeping on them. It was weird have the three extra appendages to have to worry about. This was going to be his body from now on though, he would have to get used to it. Not only the tail and wings, but the pointy ears, the horns, and whatever other changes his body had. It was one thing for it to be temporary for fights, but with this being his permanent body who knows what had changed. His digestion, or lung capacity, everything could be different. He would have to take some time to figure out his body.
There was faint sunlight coming in from the window, but the rest of the room was covered in shadows. He sat up and looked his body over, the cuts and everything had healed once again. The sound of faint crying and the smell of perfume made Jesse aware of Tawmi’s presence in the shadows. He got up silently and limped over to where she was sitting. She was sitting on top of one of the ledges by a high up window, wiping tears from her face and trying to hide her sobs.
“Are you okay?” asked Jesse from a distance.
“I didn’t hear you wake up. How are you feeling?” she asked quickly wiping her face and trying to hide the shakiness in her voice.
“You’ve avoided a lot of my questions, but I won’t let this one go. Are you okay?” he asked one more time, taking a step closer.
“Pushy for someone who doesn’t know me.”
“I don’t need to know you to care about you, and not want you to be crying.”
“Wow, a natural born care giver. A rare breed now a days.”
Tawmi wiped her eyes and jumped down from the ledge, landing in front of him.
“How does an animal like you learn sensitivity?” she asked glaring into his eyes.
“From being beaten,” responded Jesse.
They stared at each other for a while before Tawmi finally broke eye contact and laughed saying, “Follow me boy.” She walked passed him and patted his shoulder.
“Where are we going?” asked Jesse, following behind her.
“You’re covered in dried blood wearing torn up clothes. There’s a shower and spare clothes in the bar across the lot.”
She lead him out of the garage through a small door on the side. Outside, Jesse had to shield his eyes from the blinding light. He must have been passed out longer that they told him because his eyes were really sensitive to the light. Even when he tried to squint the brightness burned his retinas. He stumbled and fell to his knees, one hand barely able to catch himself as the other blocked his eyes.
Tawmi quickly ran over and helped him to his feet. She held him up and forced his arm around her shoulders.
“Are you okay?” she asked, genuine concern in her voice.
“So fucking bright,” muttered Jesse, keeping his eyes clenched shut.
“Here.”
Tawmi pulled his free hand from his face and slid a pair of goggles into them. With his free hand Jesse slid them over his head and tightened them until they were comfortable. He carefully opened his eyes and let them adjust before looking up and around. There were motorcycles, old school motorcycles from before Azrael’s invasion, with tires, exhausts and everything, lining the sides of the parking lot between the bar and the garage. Tawmi lead him inside and through the crowded bar. There were two guys behind the bar giving out drinks to the multitude of people inside. Jesse was surprised to see so many non-humans in their natural forms just walking around. There were fairies, dark angels, were-humans, elves, almost every race was here. He was more surprised that they were all laughing and hanging out. From his past life he had thought that all the races hated each other and that occasions like this were impossible.
“It’s amazing isn’t it?” asked Tawmi, obviously reading his mind, “A few years ago, this would have never been possible. But with a common enemy, all the races can stand together and be friends.”
“I’ve never seen unity like this, but who is the common enemy?” asked Jesse.
“Azrael. With the power he’s displayed, they are all scared of him.”
“Why don’t they fight against him. If they all united, they could easily take him and his army? Return this world back to normal.”
“They won’t unite unless they have someone they believe is strong enough to fight him to get behind. None of them have enough faith in themselves or anyone else to try it.”
“Someone strong enough.”
Jesse let the words linger in the air before turning and having Tawmi lead him to the back room. It was set up like a little apartment room, with a large dresser filled with clothes and a joining bathroom with a shower.
“You’ve had run-ins with Azrael haven’t you?” asked Tawmi as Jesse turned on the shower and closed the door.
He paused and starred at himself in the mirror. His appearance was different from how it was normal in his dragon form. He had no scales, and his hair was still a mohawk, however only half of it was silver now, the bottom was black. His eyes were completely different, they were both silver dragon eyes. He had no fangs or claws, but still had his horns.
”You still alive in there?” asked Tawmi, knocking on the door.
“He took me from my family and imprisoned me for five years. Tortured and tested me everyday until I was finally able to escape. We clashed a few months after that and I was able to get the better of him, but it was momentary. If we clashed again, I doubt I could win,” responded Jesse as he stripped off his clothes and tossed them in the trash, careful to set the goggles by the sink. He stepped into the shower and closed the curtain. As the water washed over him, Tawmi stepped inside and closed the door.
“Taking some liberties aren’t we?” asked Jesse jokingly.
“I can’t see through the curtain; besides, its not like it’s something I don’t want to see.”
Jesse felt his face grow hot with embarrassment. He ran his hands through his hair and saw the water turn red from the dried blood.
“You must be pretty strong if you can survive five years of torture, and get the best of an angel like Azrael,” said Tawmi.
“I couldn’t have done it without her,” Jesse drifted off as his thoughts turned to Ryder. He grew silent for a few seconds before adding, “And I told you, it was momentary. I couldn’t do it again.”
“If it happened once, it could happen again. You just need to get that strength back.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“It wasn’t my strength. It came from the female that I was with, and the kingdom that I represented. Both of those things are gone now.”
“This is the same female that kept you alive in the prison?”
“No. That one left me to find better happiness.”
“It sounds like she isn’t the first girl to leave you life.”
“No, she’s not.”
As Jesse rinsed the soap off his body he took a second to look at his fully healed body. It was so strong, yet it felt extremely weak to him. With everything he’s lost, and dying so many times, how much power could it really posses.
“You get your strength from others?” asked Tawmi.
“I’m not much on my own,” responded Jesse.
He turned off the water and waited a second; not sure what to do. He didn’t want to expose himself to this girl, it wouldn’t be right to Lust. Suddenly he realized that he hadn’t heard from her since he had woken up in Elysium. He tried but couldn’t even feel her presence like he used to. Was she dead?
Sadness washed over him and he leaned back against the shower wall. His eyes were stinging from tears and his body was shaking. The third woman he loved that was taken from him. Maybe he should just give up on love or being with anyone? Every time he found someone to be happy with, it was taken from him. He was alone. The curtain moved a bit and Tawmi’s hand appeared with a towel in it. Jesse took it and wrapped it around his waist. He stepped out of the shower and gingerly passed Tawmi back into the room.
“So this power of yours. . .”
“Is no longer existent. Like you said, my powers comes from others, and I’m alone.”
“No friends or family?”
“My friends are back on the other continent, and think I’m dead. My family, well my twin brother is with my friends, but I don’t know about the rest of my family.”
“That’s so sad,” said Tawmi, obviously hurting from a shared pain.
“It’s for the best. Azrael must also assume that I am dead, which mean’s they are all safe from him. They can all go back to their lives.”
Tawmi stayed quiet and starred at him.
“So what are you going to do then?” she finally asked.
Jesse rummaged through the drawers of the dresser for a few minutes before finding boxers and other suitable clothes.
“Are these clean?” he asked.
“I clean them every week if they aren’t worn, every night if they are,” responded Tawmi, “Don’t avoid my question though. What are you going to do? A power like yours shouldn’t be . . .”
“Why are you so focused on my power?! There is no power, nothing that makes me any different than the other non-humans sitting in that bar out there. I am just as powerless as they are.”
“But you stood up to Azrael. You had the . . .”
“Christ lady, are you looking for a savior that bad that you believe I could . . .” he stopped as he saw the anger in her face. He was right, she was looking for a savior, someone to unite the non-humans and go head to head with Azrael, “Why are you so fixated on this? Your determination goes beyond just care for the world. What did Azrael do to you?”
The anger in Tawmi’s face was replaced with sadness, then determination.
“My father was part of a motorcycle gang that was growing powerful enough to unite the non-humans and lead a charge against Azrael. However, Azrael had my father and few of the other members of the gang imprisoned. He tried to get them to turn on each other and cause the gang to implode by making them pick someone to sacrifice to be killed so they could get out. Instead, my father choose to give his life for his friends and the gang. Unfortunately, the gang was still wiped out soon after, and his sacrifice was in vain. I hate that man for what he took from me, and what he forced my father to do.”
Jesse turned away from her and started pulling clothes from the drawers. He tossed some boxers, a pair of long black socks, a gray undershirt, dark black jeans, and a light blue, button-up,flannel shirt onto the bed and turned back to face Tawmi. She was starring at the ground, her hands clenched and shaking with rage. He wasn’t really sure what to say to her. The old him would have rushed to console her, and guarantee that he would make Azrael suffer for the pain he caused her. But he can’t be that guy anymore, he couldn’t stand to watch someone else die or be hurt because of the choices he made. There’s enough scars on his body and his heart, he didn’t want anymore.
“I’m sorry Tawmi. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, however . . . I’m not,” he paused, trying to find the right words, “It’s not like I . . . the thing is . . . is . . . is that your dads?”
Jesse pointed to a leather vest that was hung on the center of the wall that was connected to the bathroom. As soon as Tawmi turned to look Jesse took off his towel and slid the boxers on, then tore a hole in them for his tail to slide through. They had been talking long enough to air dry and he didn’t want to continue the conversation naked. He was already having a hard enough time focusing without worrying about her seeing him exposed.
“It was my fathers. The club was gonna burn it, but I was able to convince them to let me hold onto it,” she said, running her hand along the leather.
There were four small patches spread out around the front of it. One on the right side over the chest that read: Men of Mayhem, then two on the left over the heart that read both: Redwood and Original. The one on the bottom right side was too faded to make out. The leather was kept clean and it looked like it was fresh from the shelves.
Jesse grabbed the jeans, tore a hole in the back, then put them on. He sat down on the bed, sighed and ran his hands through his hair, careful to navigate around his horns. Tawmi pulled the pins out of the vest and took it off the wall. She was careful as she walked over and threw the vest on the bed next to him.
“You should wear it. Maybe some of my dad’s nerve will turn you back into a man,” she said with spite in every word.
Before Jesse could speak, she turned and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. He starred at the door without moving, then he turned to look at the vest sitting on the bed next to him. With a sigh, he stood up to finish getting ready. Almost immediately the pants slid down and almost fell off of him.
“Of course they’re too big,” said Jesse, chuckling.
He went back through the drawers in search of a belt. As he dug through the clothes he found a collection of old pictures. He pulled out a hand full and took a seat on the bed again. The vest dug into his leg, but he was more focused on the pictures. They were pictures of mainly two young children playing in a backyard. A few of them had a woman who he assumed was the mother playing with the kids. She was a beautiful woman; shoulder length black hair, light green eyes, a caring smile.
As he went through the photos he finally found one of a man. From a few of the other photos it was obvious he was the father. He had medium length brown hair, a thick grizzly beard, brown eyes filled with vigor and determination, a body filled with muscles and tattoos, he had white skin and obvious tan lines from wearing a short sleeve t-shirt all the time. His hands were littered with rings and he had a chain-link bracelet on his left wrist. Jesse could see the determination and power in his face. He was obviously a man who had respect and power.
“You’re focusing a lot on power, but in truth, I didn’t have that much.”
Jesse looked up and saw the man from the photo standing in front of him. He was frozen with shock. Part of him wanted to get up and move, but the other part of him wasn’t really surprised.
“You’re . . . . you’re Tawmi’s father.”
“The name’s Opie, Opie Hurst.”
He extended his large hand and waited for Jesse to shake it. Jesse grabbed a hold of his hand and was surprised to find that it wasn’t that much bigger than his own. With a twisted smile Opie gripped Jesse’s hand with enough force to break it. Jesse gasped with pain and pulled his hand back.
“That was pathetic. I thought you were a man,” said Opie with a chuckle. He walked around and examined the room. Like he hadn’t been there for a while and was checking on it, “This place hasn’t changed much since I was last here. Just missing the naked blond girl in the bathroom.”
Jesse looked from the bathroom, then down to his hand.
“You’re dead, how can you still be so powerful?” he asked.
Opie laughed and took a seat next to Jesse.
“It’s not power, it’s strength.”
“What’s the difference?”
“Power comes from what you influence and have control over, or atleast what you think you do. Power is an illusion of control. Strength comes yourself. It’s what you have in your heart and your mind that makes you strong.”
“And that in turn will make you powerful.”
“Power can be taken away from you though, just as easily as it can be given. A friend of mine thought he had enough power to protect everyone, and yet we all ended up in jail in an unwinnable situation. So I had to use my strength to get us out of it and make sure they all survived.”
“But you died?”
“Dying happens son, it’s a natural part of life. You only have one life . . .”
“Actually I have more than that.”
“Then what are you afraid of. If you lose your life protecting the people you care about, it’s not really a loss.”
“But I’m not the only one who gets hurt. . .”
“Of course your not, your death and the choices you make will always come with a price. However, it’s whether the price is worth paying for the good of others.”
“But . . .”
“You say that word a lot too. Power and but are two words you shouldn’t focus so much on. I didn’t.”
With that Opie stood up and walked back to the center of the room.
“Keep the cut with you. I think it’ll be better on you than just hanging on that wall.”
Opie gave a smile and a small wave, then disappeared.
Jesse starred at the empty space in front of him then stood up. He picked up the vest from the bed and held it in front of him. Although he wanted to put it on, he couldn’t bring himself to actually do it. Opie had a lot of strength and knowledge, Jesse didn’t. He shouldn’t wear it, not unless he was worthy. He finished getting dressed, then found a backpack and put the vest in it. Even if he couldn’t wear it, it somehow made him feel better to keep it close. Besides, Opie didn’t sound like he wanted it on the wall anymore. He slung the bag over his shoulder, grabbed the goggles from the sink and went out into the bar. The crowd had dwindled to just a few groups of non-humans sitting around the tables. They were drinking and talking amongst themselves. The two guys were gone, replaced by Tawmi who was washing out glasses. Jesse looked away from her and quickly made his way to the door. Before he could get to it, he was hit in the head with a beer bottle.
“The hell do you think you’re going?” yelled Tawmi from the bar.
Jesse rubbed his head and turned around. She looked pissed and had three more beer bottles in her hand.
“I was going to go out and look around,” he lied.
“You can’t go out without someone who knows the area. You could get yourself killed,” she put the bottles down and tossed keys at what looked like a lion-human, “Watch the bar for me Rosie. Please and thank you.”
She quickly walked out from behind the bar and took Jesse’s arm. She drug him out of the bar and out onto the street. Jesse had to close his eyes as he pulled the goggles down over them. Why was he so sensitive to the light? He looked up and saw Tawmi waiting for him.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Ya, my eyes are just a little sensitive to the light I guess.”
“Strange, I’ve never seen any other were-humans be so sensitive. What race are you?”
“D . . .dog.”
“Dog?”
“Wolf, I meant,” he chuckled, “Too much on my mind you know.”
“What kind of a wolf has wings, horns, and a long slender tail?”
Jesse had forgotten that he wasn’t in his human form. There was no way he could lie about what he was now.
“I’m a Draco-human,” he finally said.
“Draco-human? What’s that?”
“I’m a dragon human.”
“So a were-dragon?”
“Not exactly. I’m not half of one and half the other. I’m a dragon with a human body, well a human slash angel body. Well . . .”
Tawmi looked at him sideways as he stumbled over his words to try to come up with a good explanation. However, it was difficult when he himself didn’t fully understand what he was. He had only just found out that he was an angel, and still didn’t full understand the dragon part of his body, or what it had to do with the jewel in his arm. The only thing he really knew about himself was that somehow that jewel controlled his Aura, his Aura gave him the ability to shift between human and dragon form and was the source of his attack, and if he used it all that he would die. Beyond that, he knew he could pass it to other people, but that was it. Every part of his life had become way too complex and confusing since Azrael had taken him. No one had been able to answer him or was even willing to give him straight answers. He was always forced to learn what he could on his own. It was extremely frustrating. If only he had known more about his powers, he could have been more help to his friends, to himself.
“HEY DON”T SPACE OUT ON ME!” yelled Tawmi, breaking Jesse’s thoughts.
“I’m sorry, it’s just hard to explain. I haven’t been able to seriously think about the situation and make sense of it all. Ever since I escaped from Azrael, my life has gone pretty fast from one stage to the next without much time to think it over. I couldn’t give you a better answer if I tried.”
“Would you mind if I looked?”
“What?”
Tawmi grabbed a hold of his head and pressed her forehead against his. He tried to pull back but she had a firm grip on him.
“What are you doing?”
“Angels have the ability to read into a persons mind, however you must allow us too. Will you allow me to look into your mind?”
“S . . .” Jesse was about to agree, when he remembered the blood filled memories, all the dead bodies, no one would stay with him after that, “No. I’m sorry.”
He pulled free of her grip and backed away. Tawmi stayed still for a few seconds and starred at him again. The look of bewilderment on her face was a lot worse than before. Jesse put his arms behind his head and walked past her, avoiding looking at her any further.
As he looked up for the sky, he was surprised about how hard it was to actually see it. There were railways covering a good majority of the way up, and tons of tall standing buildings around those. The two combined made very few gaps for the sky to be seen through. However there were plenty of lights hanging around to illuminate the streets. In Jesse’s mind though, they probably shouldn’t have been so lit up. There was trash and dirt littering the streets, streets that were barely paved and were broken in multiple places. Not like it mattered, from the lack of cars it didn’t look like people drove around this place.
“So explain this place to me,” said Jesse.
Tawmi took a second to get her mind together then walked up next to him and took his arm again, dragging him down the street as she prepared to talk.
“Circuit is a continent wide city, with railways spanning from one side to the other, connecting basically everything. They run through buildings, tunnels, across fields and rooftops, and are accessible to everyone. However there are certain places that some people can’t go without special permission. This permission is only granted once you and your pack have high enough rank and some places are only available to the alphas of the packs.”
“Alphas, packs, special permission?”
“I’ll explain as we go, just let me finish ‘cause I’ll lose track if you ask a lot of questions.”
“Sorry.”
“Anyway. The continent is divided into five large sectors and multiple divisions within these sectors. The five major sectors are as follows. Sector one is the private sector. It’s your basic high society types that generally consists of business owners, high ranking packs and alphas, and other rich types. They are forced to abide by a strict code of ethics, including manners, dress code, and so on. They get special trains to keep them from being forced to deal with the common people.”
They had reached the top of a large flight of stairs and were waiting at a train station as she finished to take another deep breath.
“Sector two is the City Sector, and the one we are currently in. It’s made up of large office buildings, markets, various stores, and other nonsense. This is the second largest sector of the five. It’s the location of almost all of the jobs available on the continent. It’s dress code enforced but obviously it’s only enforced to the standards of the job you have. Which is listed on the back of the i.d. badges each job issues you, but they don’t really check unless you really piss someone off.”
“Sector three is the home sector and it’s name says it all. It’s the largest sector and where everyone on the continent lives. The houses range anywhere from mansions towards the center to shacks on the outer rims. There’s no dress dress code and all the houses are pressed so closely together that most are connected through a single wall. The builds are lined in rows with streets in the front and the back of them. Homes are provided for people depending on the ranks of their packs and ranks within said packs. The money earned from jobs are used mainly for food and other things. The other two sectors are the farming sector and the prison yard, which both are self explanatory.”
By this time they were on a train that said it was heading for the home sector, district’s ten through seventy-three. Jesse was starring out the window while Tawmi was sitting in the chair next to him. Once again, he was awestruck by the sights of the city. The buildings were large and well made, the tracks were well spread out and but had such odd patterns to them. And the roof tops of some of the buildings were decorated to look like parks, and cafes, and other places for people to spend time together and relax.
The train dove into a long tunnel and came out over looking a large barren desert. There were no buildings, nor were there any real signs of civilization. It looked like a closed in version of the African safari. Were-humans, some wearing full orange jumpsuits, others just the pants, were gathered underneath the tracks shouting, howling, and roaring at the train as it passed.
“Is this the prison yard?” asked Jesse.
“Yeah, we have to go through ti before we reach the home section. It’ll be okay though, just a . . . .”
The trains brakes clamped down and everyone was thrown forward by the force of the stop. Jesse had a hold of Tawmi and grabbed one of the poles to steady themselves. By the time he let go, the pole had bent into the shape of his hand.
“Howdy folks. It’s time to pay the fare for entrance into our neck of the woods,” said a were-cat walking in front of the front car. He was followed by two other large men. The largest was a were-tiger and the other looked to be a were-gorilla.
“Now remember folks, Thirty sil and you’ll be free to go without issue,” said the were-cat in the lead. He and the two guys behind him were holding up bags as they passed by the passengers.
“I hate these assholes,” said Tawmi reaching into her purse.
“Who are they?”
“The packs name is the Lords of Jungle, and their alpha is the Rufus human in the front. His name is Ralph Torren, but he prefers to go by Reno. The Tigris human is Paul and the Gorilla human is . . . actually I think he’s new. I don’t know his name.”
“What’s a Rufus human and a Tigris human?”
“I figured you’d know about were-humans by now.”
“Well ya I do but I’ve never heard them called by those names.”
“Interesting. Well the Rufus human is the were-bobcat, and the Tigris human is the were-tiger. The names come from Genus of the species that the person belongs too. It’s just an easier way for us to identify the different types of people.”
“Hey bitch! I know you heard me. Give me the money or . . .”
Reno was shouting at one of the female passengers a few feet away from them. She didn’t have the money to pay and was trying to explain it to him. He snapped his fingers and Paul opened the door to the train.
“If you don’t got the money, you ain’t got the transportation,” said Reno with a laugh. He grabbed her arm and jerked her out of her seat.
“Let her go Ralph!” shouted Tawmi jumping up from her seat.
Jesse sat in stunned silence behind her as she threw some silver coins at him.
“That’s ninety sil there. That’s payment for me, her, and the guy behind me. So let’s go,” she demanded.
“Bitch. Ain’t no way that’ll cover her attitude, or yours. I’ma need atleast two hundred sil; maybe even three.”
Reno was now standing just inches away from Tawmi, starring at at her with a smug grin on his face. The other two were standing next to him, both looked like they were ready to pounce.
“That’s a load of crap. I paid the fee, you can’t just add on whatever you feel like!” responded Tawmi.
“I can do whatever I want, I’m in charge here.”
Jesse kept a close eye on the three men, but the fought the urges inside of him to jump up and get between them. This was Tawmi’s fight, she picked it and would have to fight it herself. He wasn’t going to make it his problem, that wasn’t him anymore.
“Dude, it’s three on one. And she no longer bares the full powers of an angel. She’s just a super resilient human,” said Opie.
“Well that’s on her for picking this fight,” responded Jesse, looking own at his feet.
“So your just going to let her fight on her own?”
“It’s her fight, not mine.”
“Whose choice is that?”
Jesse sat in silence and continued to stare at his feet. This wasn’t going to be his fight, he couldn’t continue to step in between everyone. Some people had to fight, that was how they become strong.
“How did you become strong?”
Now Opie was standing next to Reno, looking at Tawmi with a smile on his face.
“I became strong fighting my own battles,” responded Jesse; the words were dry.
“We both know that’s a lie, now don’t we?” said Opie, now looking over at Jesse, “She’s the spitting image of her mother. So beautiful, so strong.”
“I became strong . . . fighting for others as well as myself.” It still felt dry.
“Really?” asked Opie, now standing in front of Jesse.
“No. I became fighting for others because of myself. I fight for others because it’s what I want, because it’s what she wanted. Because I’m not a monster.”
Before Jesse knew it, he was wearing the vest. He didn’t even remember grabbing it from the bag.
He stood up and walked in between Reno and Tawmi, sweeping her behind him. The two men behind Reno stepped forward but stopped at the motion of their leader.
“And who are you hero?” he asked.
“Michael, Michael Ladon Ruiz”
“Okay Michael. What race are you?”
“Dragon.”
The train erupted with whispers and hushed conversations. A feeling of panic and fear ran through the people around them. Even Reno and his thugs seemed frightened by the mention. It was like whispering that you were the son of Hitler in a synagogue.
“There’s . . . . there’s no such thing as a . . . .a. . . .were-dragon,” stumbled Reno.
“I’m a Draco-human and you’re no longer in charge. Give these people their money back and get the hell out of here,” demanded Jesse.
He fixed his eyes on Reno’s pupils and made sure he was fully between himself and Tawmi. The two men behind him took a step forward but Jesse didn’t shift his gaze. Reno was obviously frightened and took a few steps back. Jesse walked forward and quickly snatched the bag from Reno’s hand. Paul came forward and Jesse immediately got in front of him. He tossed the bag back to Tawmi and clenched his fists. The two barred their fangs and growled at each other. Jesse headbutted Paul then swung wildly, connecting with two solid punches that put him on the ground. He slid his foot underneath him and tossed him out the open door.
“You next?” he asked; taunting the gorilla human behind Reno.
“I break you little gecko,” he responded with a strong accent.
“Gecko; well that’s clever. Good for you big guy. Now step back and take the house cat with you; otherwise you got out the door with the other guy.”
“I’m not freakin’ house cat, I’m a bobcat you ass . . .”
“Shut it house cat. You and ugly hear need to leave.”
Reno opened his mouth but Jesse quickly cut him off saying, “I won’t repeat myself.”
“Kick his ass Djimon,” shouted Reno.
The gorilla kicked Jesse in the stomach and he slid back into the far door. He laughed and took a step forward, winking at Tawmi. Djimon grew angry and charged forward. He swung his massive fist, only to have Jesse catch it with ease. There was a smile on his face and he took a step forward. His body felt strong again and his starred into the gorrila human’s eyes. As he held the first he noticed silver lines spreading out over his arm, originating from the patch. The gorilla swung his other fist, but Jesse kicked him in the chest. Djimon flew back and landed on Reno. Jesse covered the gap between them and grabbed both of there legs. He tossed Djimon out of the train, but carried Reno over and dangled him on the outside.
“If you ever try to rob another train, or come near me again, you will die. Understood?” said Jesse
Reno looked at the drop to the ground below, then back at Jesse and nodded. With a smile Jesse lifted Reno up, then let him go.
Jesse pulled the door closed and turned around to face the people behind him. Tawmi ran up to him and threw her arms around him. He could feel the tears streaming down her face. As the train started moving again Tawmi pulled away from him and slapped him hard.
“You ripped my dads vest you asshole.”