Hanging out with Friends

"Pizza should be here in twenty. I'll be in my room if you need anything."

Brooke called out to the trio in the living room. They had only been home a few minutes, the call to order pizza had been the first thing Brooke did when they returned.

"So, you seriously only watch educational shows?"

"What's so hard to believe about that? Look at my watch history."

The trio was sitting on the couch with Rowen in between Nazeri and Nasi. Nazeri had the remote and was looking through everything that had ever been watched. At some point, she ran across the one episode of Magical Guardian Princesses that Rowen had recently watched.

"I found something interesting."

Rowen laughed and shook her head, "That one was a mistake. Gabriel wanted to see what it was like and we both regretted it."

"Really? It's not that bad."

"What is it about?"

Nasi had discovered tv for the first time the night before. Tv had not been invented when it had last been summoned.

"It's about these four girls in middle school who are witches. They go around helping people and fighting bad guys."

"Yeah, with lots of glitter and sparkles and cheesy lines. I can't believe I used to like it."

Nazeri smiled, "So you did watch it."

"A long time ago, in a land before my life got fucked up."

Nazeri's smile slipped away when she realized that there was more to it. Rowen's tone of voice had not changed, but she had lost some of the light in her eyes.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories."

Rowen shrugged, "It's nothing."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Not a whole lot to talk about. In one day my parents were killed, I ended up as a sacrifice for a really big summoning ritual and ended the day soul-bound to a demon and killing every damn cultist I could get my hands on."

"Gods…"

Nazeri raised a hand to cover her mouth, tears in her eyes. Rowen smiled softly and reached out to wipe the tears from Nazeri's face.

"Hey, no crying."

The doorbell rang and Rowen directed Nasi to answer.

"How can you be so calm?"

"Because I lived it. Some things have a way of making you numb. Everything that happened, that's how I'm able to make deals.

"In our world, they call me a Sync, in the demon world it's called soulmates or soul-bound. I'm no longer fully human and Gabriel is no longer fully demon."

Nasi returned with the pizza and carried the two boxes to the kitchen. It returned to the living room a second later.

"How many slices would you like, master?"

"Two. Nazeri, how many do you want?"

"T-two is fine. Shouldn't I do that? I work for you now, don't I?"

Rowen laughed and waved Nasi away, "You do, but so does Nasi and this is what it does."

Nasi returned with a plate in each hand and placed them on the table.

"Should I take Brooke some as well?"

Rowen glanced at the hall and shook her head, "No, just let her know it's here. She's not yet warmed up to you so it's better to give her some space."

Nasi bowed its head and did as she said, letting Brooke know the pizza had arrived. It then returned to the kitchen and got itself some pizza before rejoining them on the couch.

"So, what are we watching?"

Rowen looked over at Nazeri and took a bite of pizza. Nazeri pulled up a show that Rowen had never seen before, though one of the characters looked familiar.

"I have a shirt with that dragon on it."

Nazeri smiled, "It's about a dragon who saves a princess from a knight. They go on adventures and fight a lot. I think you'll like it."

They were three episodes in when Nazeri fell asleep. Rowen felt strangely protective when she looked over at the sleeping Nazeri. There had been no one to cry for her after she lost her parents and it had made an impression.

Four episodes in and Rowen had to get up to use the restroom. When she was done she went to the kitchen to grab a slice of pizza and found Brooke doing the same thing.

"How's it going?"

"It's going well, Nazeri fell asleep. If I didn't think we'd get in trouble I'd let her keep sleeping. She's a good kid."

Rowen leaned against the counter and took a bite of her pizza slice.

Brooke raised an eyebrow, "You're still a kid."

"No, you don't experience what I did and stay a kid. That part of myself died with my parents."

Brooke opened her mouth to say something and instead took a bite of pizza. There was not anything that could be said after that.

Once Rowen had finished her pizza she went to wake Nazeri. Brooke left early for work and dropped Nazeri off at Gailuri.

*******

A young girl was sitting on a chair in a living room that was simply decorated. It had two cushioned chairs across from a couch with a coffee table between them.

On the walls were pictures of the family that lived there; the young girl and an older couple. The woman sitting on the couch was one of three in the family photos.

Her brown eyes were full of light and tenderness when she looked at the young girl. Her hair was so grey it could be said to be streaked with brown. The young girl and older woman were playing a board game.

A few moments later an older man stepped into the room carrying a plate of cut-up sandwiches. His grey eyes were bright with laughter and his hair was completely white. He sat on the other chair and joined the game.

They had not been playing long when there was a knock at the door. The father got up to answer and was surprised to see who was there. He started to invite them in when he noticed there were two other men behind the first one.

"You aren't going to invite us in?"

"Who are your friends, Max?"

Max chuckled and walked in, easily pushing the older man aside. Max looked to be in his early thirties, where the couple looked more in their early sixties. Max had short red hair and green eyes that had a strange glow to them.

Behind him two men came in, both looked like they spent most of their free time working out with the way their clothes barely covered bulging muscles.

One of the men had his head shaved and a scar ran across his left eye giving it a milky, glazed look, the right eye was brown. The other had blue eyes and a shaved head. Neither of them looked friendly.

The mother and young girl stood, eyes wide.

"What do you want?"

The father moved to stand between the intruders and his wife and child. The one called Max looked at the old man with a grin before he turned his attention to the young girl.

"I'm afraid that we need your daughter. We're about to do something important that requires a life."

The girl's mother pulled her close and the couple attempted to protect her, but they were no match for the men that Max had brought. Within minutes of their arrival, the couple was restrained by the two men and Max held tight to the girl's arm.

"I want you to carefully watch this part and feel the despair. No one will come to save them, no one will come to save you. Pain and suffering before death are all that awaits you."

Max grabbed the girl's head and made sure she was looking at her parents. He gave a nod to the two men who each produced a knife. They took their time as the blades slid across the throats of the older couple.

There were screams and pleas for mercy, both the mother and father begged for their daughter's life to be spared. The girl was forced to watch as her parents bled out. It took a while for her to realize that the screams she heard were her own.

When Max released his hold on her head she fell to her knees, her eyes still locked onto the lifeless eyes of her parents.

Max laughed and it sent a chill down her spine.

"Good, good. I want you to understand that that is your fate as well, but not before you help me with something."

He motioned to the two men and the one with the scar stepped up to grab the girl as they left the house. They did not bother to close the front door when they left.

She was dragged out and thrown in the trunk of the vehicle. She was left in darkness as the trio drove to their destination, the uncertainty of her fate filled her with dread.

When they finally reached their destination the man with the scar dragged her out of the trunk and into what appeared to be an old warehouse.

With Max leading, she was taken to the center of the building. A group of people wearing cloaks with hoods that hid their faces were standing to one side. At the center, something had been drawn on the floor that she did not recognize.

"That's the one?"

One of the figures spoke up and stepped forward. Max nodded and took the girl from the scarred man. He also took the man's knife.

She did not struggle as she was taken to the center of what had been drawn. Her eyes were glued to the blade and the blood that was still on it. The image of her parents' death kept flashing across her mind.

"This is where you'll die, Rowen. Your death will help to bring a great change to this world."

She felt a sharp pain and when she looked down found that the knife had been plunged into her stomach. Max twisted it before he pulled it out. He released his hold on her and she fell to her knees.

"W-why?"

"Why you? Why here? The right person in the right place, child. Now, try not to die before they're done."

Max turned away and walked off, the two men followed close behind. She held her hands against the wound in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding. The group of cloaked figures moved to stand around her as they started to chant.

This time, instead of seeing the face of Gabriel, she felt herself die on that warehouse floor.