LITMIR.BIZ

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me, eh?”

      “Not too bad for an asshole who, for some reason, refuses to work as part of a group!”

      Karl rolls his eyes as he looks at Clay, not wanting to turn around. He knows who it is, and he knows why she’s pissed. “Look, Melissa—”

      A sudden burst of those familiar fireworks explode before Karl’s eyes.

       Pop! Pop! Pop!

       “Gah! What the hell!?” Karl drops his sword and swats at the painful bursts of fire looking like a man trying to ward off a particularly nasty bee. He turns, coughing and wiping tears from his eyes. “Just because you learned a new trick doesn’t mean you can use it all willy-fucking-nilly!”

      Standing before him, hands held up like a Las Vegas magician selling the audience on an elaborate illusion, is Melissa Odell. Her come-hither eyes, perfectly formed birthing hips, and full, round breasts combine with her 33 years in a way that could make her the very definition of the term MILF.

      “The next time you take off like that instead of sticking to the plan,” says Melissa, daggers shooting from her eyes, “I’ll let the goddamn Bludden pulverize your ass!”

      Clay steps in between Karl and Melissa, his arms spread out like a referee at a prize fight. “Okay, okay – let’s remember that we’re all on the same side here. Geez, you two are more obnoxious than my folks were right before their divorce!” Clay flips the hood of his sweatshirt back onto his head. “Can we please just finish this pointless exercise and see what’s left in that Wal-Mart? The last thing I need tonight is another lecture from Mayowen.”

      Melissa and Karl eye one another like a couple of gunfighters - each trying to anticipate the move of the other. It is Karl who breaks first. His set jaw relaxes into a playful, almost handsome grin. He takes a deep, theatrical bow, waving one arm out toward the Wal-Mart entrance in grandiose fashion.

      “After you, fair maiden. For the Mart of Wal awaits.”

      Melissa steps briskly past him, not pausing as she smacks him upside the head.

      “Ow!” Karl yelps. “I hardly think there’s any call for violence.” But he isn’t angry. Quite the contrary. It gives him tremendous pleasure to know that he can get under that controlling broad’s skin every now and again. She may be sexy, and she may be the only one of them with any aptitude for magic, but neither of those things changes the fact that she can, and often does, get a right nasty bug up her ass when she wants.

      Karl steals one last glance at the four dead Bludden, rests his ridiculously oversized sword on his shoulder (not noticing how the blade has become sticky with the coagulated blood of his fallen foes) and follows after his companions. Taking a couple of Bludden in an open Wal-Mart parking lot was one thing. But none of them should face whatever could be hiding inside said Wal-Mart alone. Even he knows that.

      Old Man Winter Watches From On High

      On the outskirts of the Wal-Mart parking lot, sitting atop a tall, out of commission streetlight, is the wizard Mayowen. His long, white beard stretch out to the side as the bitter night winds swirl around him. His white robes flutter and fall, flutter and fall. Only his white, pointy, wide-brimmed hat seems to be unaffected by the winds. It sits atop his head, steady as a lighthouse in a hurricane. How a man of his advanced years could perch in such a place is nothing short of astounding. Hell, an 18 year old gymnast in peak physical condition would find it nearly impossible to keep his balance in such a place. And yet there he is, Old Man Winter himself (as Karl thought of him). Seeing him up there could lead one to believe that he was responsible for the night’s cold winds. But that is not the case. At least, it’s not this time. True, he is capable of such a thing. Controlling the weather is mere child’s play to a being as powerful as Mayowen. But not this night. This night he simply watches, waits, and lets the weather do what it must.

      The scene below plays out much as he expects it to. Karl, with his newfound vitality after shedding his bloated, lazy lifestyle, charges in headlong and stubborn. He fights well at first, admirably, even. But to spearhead an attack is one thing – to rush in unaccompanied is quite another. Were it not for the quick actions of Melissa, her fingers dancing through the air, her lips whispering the latest incantation Mayowen has taught her, Karl would be dead right now. And then there is Clayton, the boy of shadows. His deft movements and quick decisions will prove to be invaluable in the battles Mayowen foresees upon the vast horizon of time.

      Each is progressing well on their own. But to survive the dangers Mayowen knows to lie ahead, they will have to find a way to come together. No amount of magic, from this world or any other, is capable of sealing the bond of fellowship. That has to grow of its own accord, or not grow at all.

      A large crow lands upon the streetlight next to Mayowen. It cocks an eye toward the old wizard, its head twitching nervously. It caws twice, trying to shoo this large, odd creature from its territory. Mayowen stares back, pushing his gaze deep into the birds black eyes.

      “And where would you have me observe from, Master Blackbird? Down there? I should think not.”

      The crow caws again, then ruffles its feathers, puffing itself out in a show of dominance.

      Mayowen’s bushy, white eyebrows raise in a look of befuddlement. “Well I never… Such insolence in this world, even from the fowls.” With the slightest twitch of his fingers, a fresh gust of wind bursts forth from the empty space beneath the crow, lifting it off of its perch and into the air. It tumbles once, then spreads its wings and takes flight, cawing with indignation.

      Mayowen chuckles to himself and turns his attention back to his trio of apprentices. They cross the remainder of the parking lot, stepping over the multitude of cracks and brakes in the asphalt where weeds and grass have started to once again lay claim. There is a faint but visible confidence to their walk. They’ve defeated these Bludden with relative ease and they know it.

      He whistles a sharp breath from between clenched teeth. Minor skirmishes with small packs of Bludden is one thing. They could probably survived most of those on nerve, guts, and luck. But in that building, Mayowen knows, is something altogether more terrible than any of them has faced before.

       They’re entering as one, he thinks. Now let us hope that they fight as one as well.

      Underwear And Other Essentials

      Karl grips Clay’s shoulder just before the boy is about to duck into the broken out frame of the Wal-Mart entrance. He turns, his green eyes barely visible within the darkness of his hood.

      “Dude, what? We’re supposed to go in there, right? I mean, isn’t that, like, the end-game of this whole exercise?”

      Karl takes a deep breath. “Yeah, but something feels… off.”

      Clay shifts his gaze from Melissa to Karl and back again. “So now you’re getting some kind of ESP or something? I thought Melissa was the only one of us sensitive to—”

      “It’s not like that.” Karl runs his fingers up the stubble on the side of his face. “It’s more of a—a gut feeling. Look, I just think we need to be careful, that’s all.”

      Melissa raises her eyebrows as she looks at Karl.

      “Don’t give me that look. What? I’m not allowed to be careful every now and again?”

      Melissa smiles in spite of herself. “No, no. Trust me, I welcome it.”

      She flexes the fingers of her left hand and turns her wrist over. As she des, a small blue and white flame appears, hovering just above her palm. “Shall I lead the way?”

      Clay and Karl step aside letting Melissa lead the way. She is dressed in a dark blue pea coat, jeans, and motorcycle boots, and she barely stands 5 feet 3 inches tall. The blue flame she holds out in front of her casts a soft glow as she enters the darkened building. The light extends out around her for about five feet, but the surrounding darkness feels threatening

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