Chapter Thirteen - Predictable development

A group of men had broken into the door, all dressed in similar varsity jackets, one of them, a tall, blond guy, wide as a door, visibly drunk was screaming for Hanna.

"Who is that asshole?" asked Tia scornfully.

Before Locke could answer Hanna yelled at the newcomer. "Sean, who invited you and your stupid friends? Get out!"

"Our invitation must have been lost!" Sean replied with a pretentious smirks "But I would never miss my girl's birthday!"

"I HAVE TOLD YOU! I AM NOT YOUR GIRL! I HAVE NEVER BEEN YOUR GIRL AND I WILL NEVER BE YOUR GIRL! " Hanna replied with visible anger, Locke calmed her by wrapping his arms around her, the scene made Sean furious, his drunken face turned into an expression of anger.

"You have courage, man, hugging my girl in front of me!" Sean snapped his fingers, the people around moved away, he and his friends started to get closer. "What is the name for the tombstone?"

Hanna was going to answer them to let Locke out of it when Locke answered first, holding Hanna by the waist. "My name Locke Driscoll, Hanna's boyfriend."

Hanna blushed at the statement, lowering her head and resting her forehead on Locke's chest, full of happiness, even in the situation she was in, she was radiant.

Sean was so furious that his face was the color of a tomato, veins were spreading across his forehead and his teeth were grinding with rage. "I'm gonna kill you!"

"Let's go outside" replied Locke with a strange smile, Sean didn't notice it because of his anger, but the rest of his gang felt a chill down the spine.

"Let's break this sucker!" Sean replied, leaving the room to the backyard.

"Locke, you don't have to do this!" said Hanna worriedly.

"Don't worry, I won't get my hands on them, I promise! We will just talk for a little while" Locke smiled, kissed Hanna's forehead and left too, with his hands in his pockets.

Everyone at the party went out to see the show. Tia circled the air with excitement "I already saw things this on television! This is the moment when the hero beats the villains to win the girl love! "

"This is called a predictable development!" Locke replied to the fairy, turning to Sean and his group he said "hey guys, last chance to give up... you will make fools of yourselfs, let's just stop and each one of you can go home well, and I can go cover up my girlfriend in kisses again!"

Sean's face managed to reach an even darker shade of red, it looked like he was going to have a stroke, his anger was so intense that he foamed by the mouth, advancing like a bull he attacked Locke.

Locke sighed, his current body was about five times stronger than that of a human, Sean's movements looked amateurish and childish, Locke swerved sideways without any difficulty, making a small sweep with his foot and knocking Sean face down on the floor, the full weight of his charge made him roll like an armadillo.

"Are you ok?" said Locke with a smile "lucikly you fell on your face, so you doesn't hurt anything worthwhile."

Sean got up from the floor with his face full of grass and dirt "What are you waiting for?! GET HIM!"

His friends ran and attacked Locke, the six started punching and kicking, but Locke moved like a ghost and easily dodged all blows, sliding between them and making them hit themselves in the friendly fire, occasionally knocking over one or the other with sweeps kicks, making them out like a bunch of clumsy clowns.

Sean took the chance to sneak into Locke's blind spot, taking the opportunity to attack him from behind, but Locke had his little invisible companion, "*sshole at 6 o'clock" said Tia.

Sean attacked with a full-body onslaught but Locke was prepared and with an unexpected backflip Locke fell behind Sean, planting a beautiful executed kick in Sean's ass, sending the same flying in towards his friends, making a full strike, the footprint of Locke boot stamped on his buttocks.

Locke's kick was been strong and Sean felt like his *ss had been hit by an iron bat, his eyes had filled with tears and he was holding his ass, the crowd couldn't hold it and started laughing hard, the 'fight' looked like a scene from a comedy movie and the group of bullies had never been so humiliated in their lives, they are revolted and prepared for a new attack, this time Sean and a few more pulled switchblades from their pockets, causing the crowd to shout in surprise and fear.

"Now you are f*cked! We will tore you a new hole!" Sean shouted.

Locke sighed, "It looks like it's time for some real beating" he started making small leaps in the place, warming up his legs "Boy, you gonna regret..."

The bullies were ready to charge when a loud and strong voice sounded in the yard, catching everyone's attention. "ENOUGH!!!!"

A tall, middle-aged black man with a hair cut of a army soldier with a big mustache on his face, dressed in social clothes and a beautiful black lady, extremely fit for her age, dressed in a blue evening dress were standing beside a gray Lamborghini, they were the parents of Aliyah and Hanna, Mr. and Mrs. Moongraves.

Joseph Moongraves, Hanna and Aliyah's father, was a prosecutor, known for his lack of pity with criminals, looking at Sean he said "Boy, haven't I told you that I don't want to see you around my daughters?"

The mother, Azalea Moongraves, was the Police Commissioner, she gave a frightening smile at the scene, "Are these switchblades? did you have the courage to bring blades to MY HOME? No matter who you are a grandchild of, boy, you will leave here handcuffed!"

Sean was scared, he only came because he knew Hanna's parents were out dining, he thought this was the perfect chance to got the girl, but now all he had goted was humiliation and pain in his *ss, he saw Aliyah in a corner with a cell phone in hand, she had a nasty smile on her face and was making an ugly sign with her middle finger.

"DAMN IT!" Sean shouted "YOUR B*TCH!" He lost control of himself, Sean was one of the college sport stars, his grandfather was the dean and his family had a lot of money, he used to have all the girls at his feet and had many girlfriends, when he met Hanna he just I was in the mood for a quick f*ck, the girl was beautiful and had a marvelous body, he even like her gothic style, that he thought was hot, the girl was so sexy that he had decided that she would be one of his side chicks, when he learned from his sources that the girl had no experience with men he was ecstatic.

Sean had an evil hobby of deflorating innocent girls and then abandon them, he used his money and his status as a way to attract these girls, but Hanna had not only zero interest in Sean but also she despised him, This made him obsessed with her, he even used his henchmen to ward off any potential danger to his conquest away.

When he found out who Hanna's parents were, Sean took a back step, but bad habits are hard to kill and the thought of letting one of his main targets escape filled him with a horrible sense of loss, after a night of drinking and drugs with his equally awful friends he saw a post from someone at the Hanna's party, he started investigating more and found out that Hanna's parents were dining out.

Knowing that his target was unprotected he thought this would be the perfect time for a decisive attack, he even got a little help from a well-known drug dealer, a little 'something' to keep Hanna loose, but his plans had gone down the drain, all because of this 'boyfriend'.

"F*CKTHIS! IF SHE ISN'T MINE, SHE WON'T BE ANYONE!" screamed Sean, he always had everything he wanted, the mere thought of another taking what he wanted drove him crazy, he ran towards Hanna with the blade in his hands, eyes in a flow of rage anf crazyness.

When Locke saw Sean's new goal, his heart filled with anger, "DO YOU DARE?" he shout, his eyes flashed gold and he burst in a flash rush, appearing in front of Hanna like magic, land a kicking with all the momentum of the movement.

The kick was so fast that all the people managed to see is a blur, at one point Sean was charging towards Hanna, with people screaming, the next he was bouncing on the floor with the impact, with the limbs as soft as a rag doll, with blood escaping from his fractured jaw.

"I think you overdid a little, afterall Dragon Force makes you ten times stronger tham a commom man, but... he still alive, it's more than he deserves for try to hurt our Goth Chick" said Tia.

The other bullies tried nothing more, the fear of arrest was strong and at Hanna's mother's request they lay on the floor with their hands on their heads.

***

Locke was back on the couch, holding hands with Hanna, a female police officer was checking his testimonies, Locke and Hanna told everything that had happened, Hanna's father was beside him, watching with a raised eyebrow, analyzing the man who was so intimate of one of his daughters.

"This is all I need, no need to worry boy, everyone confirmed that they attacked you first, in addition the cameras confirmed that they were armed, we also found r*hypnol pills on him!" the police officer looked disgusted "It's obvious that group is up for no good!" The police officer got up and said goodbye.

Hanna snuggled into Locke's chest, but her dad cleared his throat, ruining the moment. Hanna and Locke remembered his presence and settled on the couch.

"What are your intentions with my daughter?" Hanna's father asked serious and stoic.

"Bang her! He wants bang her goth ass all night long!" shouted Tia, inaudible to everyone but Locke.

'Can you please stop it!' Thought Locke, 'damn it, I almost repeated what you said' he looked for words to express himself when a female voice cut through his discomfort.

"Stop it Jojo!" Hanna's mother came to the rescue "Tonight this young man was a hero! And this is already the second time that he helps our daughters!" she grabbed Joseph's arm, "I'm not going to let you terrorize Hanna's first boyfriend like you did with all Aliyah's boyfriends! It's good to see you again, Locke! "

"Ms. Moongraves, it's a pleasure to see you again," said Locke.

"No, no, no, nothing of Mrs. Moongraves! If you are dating one of my daughters, you have to call me Azalea or mother! Mom works too!" she smiled playfully "So my daughter finally got her hands on you!"

"Moooooom, Stoooop!!!!" said Hanna ashamed, covering the face.

Azalea laughed loudly with pleasure, she pulled Joseph by the arm, "Let's let the lovebirds have fun"

Joseph left upset, his eyes still showing a little fear of leaving his daughter alone with a boy, but like many men he was unable to go against his wife's wishes.

When they were both gone, Joseph asked. "Do you know this man?"

Azalea smiled and answered. "Don't you remember? He is the one who helped Aliyah that time with all that computer problem!"

"The Skinny one? This is impossible!"

"Himself, Locke Driscoll, the boy seeking a Computer programming degree, best of his class, genius with computers."

"Wow, I never would have recognized" Joseph was amazed.

"Me neither, but Aliyah told me over the phone"

Joseph looked again at Locke and Hanna, the two were holding hands, her head in Locke chest, but they were maintaining decorum, out of respect for her parents.

"What an incredible change..."

***

The confusion had ended the party, Locke was at the door of Hanna's house saying goodbye to her, he kissed her deeply and left after scheduling a date, they gonna go to cinema on Wednesday.

Locke was walking home, he had sold his old car and now he almost always moved across the rooftops or running, moving like a shadow through the night, but today he was walking slowly, excited by the changes in his life.

"I have a girlfriend now!" he smiled like a fool looking at the moon.

"Correction: you have a hot girlfriend now!" replied Tia "A hot goth chick have, with a nice pair of boobs and a hot goth ass!" she did a pose with her hands as if she were squeezing something huge.

Locke couldn't help but laugh at the antics of the fairy, "Perverted fairy!", he shouts.

"Am I the pervert? Do you forget that I know all your preferences?" Tia pouted, playing with Locke.

Locke was laughing, he was going to reply to the fairy when he saw something.

Since Locke had awakened the dragon's eyes the world had changed for him, he could see farther than before, he could see in the dark as if it were day, he could see the aura of people shining around them and he could see ghosts.

After a little training he managed to control his new, he no longer needed to see people shining like bonfires all the time, just when he wants, He didn't look like his eyes was spyglasses all the time, he could move closer and farther at will. But theres a thing he couldn't block or control, he continued to see ghosts, all the time.

The ghosts, however, in the majority are different from what he had seen before, most were almost all translucent, many had no physical aspect left, looking just like shadows that would disappear with the slightest breeze.

But now Locke was seeing a different type of ghost.

It was a boy, a very small boy, he was crouched on the floor, with his hands over his face, crying, he was the most realistic ghost that Locke had ever seen, looking like he was died some seconds before, his body was so real that Locke only discovered it was a ghost for one single detail.

The boy had no skin.

Locke stopped, Tia too, they both watched the little boy who was crying in absolute silence.

"This... this is horrible!" Tia's tone was serious, her playful tone fading like smoke. "What kind of monstrosity would do such a thing with a child?"

Locke approached the poor skinned child, the boy ignored him, like all the others ghosts, continuing to crying endlessly in silence, the boy was on a street behind a building standing next to a dumpster, Locke didn't even have to open the trash to find out why the boy was there, the metallic smell of blood filled his nostrils.

He bent down to the boy's height.

"Who did this to you?"

The boy ignored him, as if he couldn't see or ear him.

"Who did this to you?"

Locke's attempts at contact continued to be futile, the child just cried non-stop in silence.

"It won't work," Tia said ruefully, "He can't listen, he's trapped in the despair of death, unable to cross due to the shock, and too weak to manifest himself in this world."

Locke was angry, that child had awakened something inside him, he had no idea what had happened, he knew only one thing.

He had to kill whoever or whatever did that.

Locke started to analyze the possibilities, 'what did do this? A monster? A human? Where did this happen?' An idea came to him.

"Tia, is there any way to touch a ghost?"

"Well, yes, if you use mana you can affect a ghost and disperse it, with very little you can touch it."

Locke controlled his mana as much as possible and tried to touch the child's shoulder, the child flinched with fear at the sudden touch, shaking and crying, still without making sounds.

"I'm sorry, little guy, you'll just have to be strong for a while" Locke touched the boy's shoulder "I hope this works" closing his eyes he activated the magic he hadn't tested yet.

Locke activated the memory seek spell.