Chapter 37: Chapter 37
Feeling a bit relieved that the pair of women hadn't devolved into a cat fight right after meeting, I headed back to where Micheal was still dealing with the angry older man.
As I walked past Micheal's truck an arm reached out and snagged my shirt pulling me closer to the truck's window. A pretty blonde woman with blue eyes leaned out of the window and kissed me as she wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me closer.
"I missed you too Megan." I said, giving her a smile as I supported her back into the truck after her greeting kiss.
"Karen briefed me after your mom called." Megan told me. "I can't say I like the idea, but she is supposed to know a lot more about what is going on and how it is going to affect us, so I will deal with it."
I nodded. "Yeah, she said she would explain more about the cores and stuff later when we have a chance." I agreed.
Megan nodded then pointed at me while giving me a serious look. "No more." she warned me. "We are willing to blame this one on your dad, but you better not try and do it again. Your mother has no intention of forcing a fiance on you, we already asked."
I smiled at Megan. "Got it. Consider me properly chastised." I replied.
I heard a snort from inside the car, "Not like he has anything to complain about, three girls give him one more than Micheal." Heather said from within.
I frowned. "So what happened to Grace and Samantha?" I asked. "And Chewy?" I added as I realized I hadn't seen the dog either.
"Already worrying about other women?" Megan asked, giving me a hard glare.
I stuttered as I tried to come up with an excuse but Megan and Heather just laughed at me.
"Over there." Megan said pointing across the intersection. "Grace and Chewy decided to ride in Sam's car. They are waiting over there."
I looked across the intersection then spotted Samantha and Grace sitting in a parking lot waiting for the rest of us. I waved at the ladies who waved back at me.
"I better go help your cousin." I told Megan.
Megan nodded then gave me another kiss before letting me go.
"That was different." Delilah murmured as we walked away.
"I know right!" Enya cheered happily as she flitted around my head.
I nodded too. She seemed a lot more sure of herself than usual.
"Was that not normal?" Sil asked.
I ignored the elementals as I approached Micheal, Courtney, and the angry older man. As I got closer I realized that things had escalated. The teens had gotten out of the car and were trying to calm the older man down. One was a guy who looked to be about sixteen while the other was a girl that looked about the same age. I guessed that the guy was the older man's family while the girl was probably the guy's girlfriend.
"Come on dad, calm down, it was just an accident." the teen male said.
"Don't tell me to calm down Ben, this fucking asshole hit me then tried to fake a seizure to get out of it. Who fucking does that!" the older man ranted angrily as he glared at Micheal.
I frowned at the man's ferocity. He seemed a little too worked up. Then a frightening thought entered my mind causing me to rush forward. "Sir, please calm down." I said.
"Who the fuck are you!" the man said turning his wrath on me.
I ignored his anger as I moved closer and grabbed the man's shoulder. I gripped hard so he couldn't pull away from me. "Calm down." I told the man as seriously as I could.
Micheal groaned. "Not helping Daryl." he said.
"Did you forget what happened at Little Mike's?" I reminded him in reply.
"Let me go asshole!" the man yelled at me angrily as he tried to pull his shoulder out of my grip. I tightened my hold on him. I wasn't sure how much my physical ability had risen during the last gate opening, but I was a lot stronger than this middle aged man.
"Hey, let my dad go!" the young man yelled.
"Daryl you aren't helping!" Courtney yelled at me.
Micheal grabbed my arm. "Let me handle it." Micheal told me.
I looked over at my friend appraisingly.
"I got it, don't worry." he told me.
I shrugged then released the man and stepped back while keeping my gaze locked on the older man as I watched for any signs that the man was turning into a twisted.
"What the hell Daryl, what were you thinking?" Courtney hissed at me angrily.
"I was thinking a gate just opened and that man seemed angry enough to turn into one of those monsters." I retorted.
Courtney stared at me with wide eyes. "Are you serious?" she asked.
"Did Micheal not tell you what happened with Mike?" I asked back.
She frowned then looked back at Micheal and the older man. Thankfully he had calmed down a bit, though he still looked pretty pissed. Occasionally he shot me an angry glare but left it at that.
I sighed in relief. I didn't want to deal with another twisted if I could help it. I didn't think I would be able to avoid them forever, but if I could stop someone from changing right in front of me. I would.
"Master." Delilah called.
I looked over at the shadow elemental.
"Please be more careful. I suspect that the reason this gate opening affected you differently is because that gate opened onto a world with a different mana spirit." she told me.
"So?" I asked her.
"If I am right, then anger isn't the only emotion that will cause someone to turn into a twisted." Delilah replied.
"Oh, I heard of that!" Sil said floating closer to Delilah.
"What other emotions can do it?" I asked a sense of dread overcoming me.
"The ones I know of are anger, hatred, fear, and despair." Delilah replied.
I frowned then looked back at the older man who had calmed down. He still glared at me from time to time, but that was it. His son and the girl didn't seem upset either. In fact they seemed relieved that the older man had calmed down.
A loud blaring horn caught my attention. I looked at the intersection just in time to see a blue car speed into the intersection and slam into the side of a white van. The car had sped through a red light while the van had just passed Micheal's accident.
Everyone was silent for a moment as we processed what we just saw then Micheal and I were running for the accident. We quickly split up, Micheal went for the van while I headed for the driver side of the car.
I found a skinny young man with short brown hair trapped in an airbag futilely trying to push it away from his face. He seemed dazed but panicked. Thankfully there was no one else in the car.
"Hey you okay?" I asked stupidly.
The man turned his head to peer up at me but his gaze seemed unfocused.
I tried the door handle and it opened easily. Once I had the door open I helped the guy climb out of the car and sit on the ground before I looked him over. He didn't seem to have any obvious wounds which was a plus, but that didn't mean he wasn't hurt.
I looked over towards Micheal to see him helping another man out of the van. He looked just as young as the man I was helping, just blonde and muscular. He didn't seem as dazed as the guy I was helping. In fact once he was out of the van he pushed Micheal away then came stumbling around the van. He locked his hate filled eyes on the car driver and started making his way over. He wasn't very steady on his feet, but that barely slowed him down.
I moved to stand between the two while raising my hands. "Calm down." I told him. He ignored me and tried to push me aside. He was stronger than I expected, but not enough to move me.
"We have to run." the car driver said from behind me.
"You fucking hit me, and now you want to try and run!" the blonde man yelled angrily.
I frowned then glanced back at the car driver, but he wasn't staring at us. Instead he was staring back the way he had come.
I followed his gaze then swore. No wonder he had been speeding. Loping down the street was a pack of dark grey furred wolves. I didn't know a lot about wolves, but I was pretty sure these ones were a bit bigger than normal.
"Micheal!" I yelled as I grabbed the blonde man. "We gotta go."
"You too!" the man yelled at me angrily.
"I'll let the girls know!" Enya volunteered then flew off towards Karen and the others.
"What the hell!" the blonde guy yelled having caught sight of the wolves that were running down the street towards us. Others noticed them and tried to turn their cars so they could drive away. Instead they just added to the chaos.
Micheal ran over and grabbed the blonde guy so I could get the car driver. Then as I got a hold of the car driver the blonde guy pushed Micheal away again. "You! You brought those fucking monsters here!" the blonde guy yelled irrationally as he advanced on the car driver again. Then before I could push him away he collapsed to the ground all on his own. As I watched his skin turned dark green.
"Reaper!" Delilah exclaimed. "You have to stop his transformation master!"
I looked down at the man who was turning into a new type of twisted then down the street at the pack of wolves. There were at least six of them, maybe more and all of them had locked their gaze on me and the other men in the intersection.
"You have to be fucking kidding me." I cursed.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone