Last time, Rodere was being hunted by a certain Ceasar Malignant. Yes, the name sucks, but there's already been a Gruesome Krav, Nefarian(from nefarious) Serpine, a Baron Vengeous(from vengance), a Mevolent(from malevolent), and a Nocturnal and Carrion from a short story included in the back of the first book. So I didn't have a lot of options for bad-guy names. You know the drill: no recognizable characters, instances, and other stuff that Derek Landy thought up belongs to me. Story's all mine, though, so if you copy it I will... I will... feed you to a man-eating plant. Radishes!

12:34 AM

Sev and Zephyr had been up all night. Rodere had fallen asleep on the couch shortly after stating he was too nervous to get any rest. The man snored, too: a sort of snuffling, snorting noise. It got incredibly annoying after a few hours. Sev wondered if he should have raised his fee a little more.

Zephyr was perched on the armrest of the large, brown couch by the wall of the bedroom. She sat unnervingly still, and Sev figured she hadn't blinked for at least an hour. He'd kept track of the time.

Truth be told, he was worried for Zephyr. He prided himself on being tough. He was large and very strong, and if they were going up against Caesar Malignant, someone so small and fragile as Zephyr would never make it through the night.

Sev sighed. Now he had two people to look out for. Neither seemed like they could hold their own against a grasshopper, let alone a psychopath like Malignant.

The wind whistled through the grass. Sev walked to the window and peered out. The slowly swaying stalks surrounding the tall, narrow house whispered. The stars shone coldly from the sky over the deserted dirt road. Sev noticed something was wrong.

A star had been there just a moment ago – it had dissapeared, as if something had moved over it. No one but Sev would have seen it. But Sev was good. Sev was the best.

He spun around, as Rodere jerked awake.

"He's coming."

Zephyr drew her gun out from underneath her sleek leather jacket. She'd originally viewed the large man, Sev, as strong but not very smart. At least he knew when something was coming. She had to give him credit, even she wouldn't have seen the attacker, or attackers, that early. Maybe he could do something other than stand there and look stupid.

Zephyr and Sev stood back to back. Zephyr trained her gun on the door, Sev on the window. Sev fired first.

A shadow that belonged to no one slunk through the window like it wasn't there. It encircled the room until all the walls were dark, it's sinister shape wriggling. Sev and Zephyr fired over and over, but the shadow couldn't be shot. Before long both guns ran out of bullets.

The shadow smiled with a mouth full of large, sharp teeth, and folded in on itself until there was a young blond man standing by the wall, in front of the door. Blocking the exit; Malignant knew what he was doing. "Mr. Rodere, get between us, away from the window," Zephyr said softly. Rodere scuttled between the two bodyguards. Years of practice had taught Zephyr never to yell at a person in a situation like this. They might freeze up, or break down in tears. Especially someone like Rodere.

Caesar Malignant smiled. His teeth were filed down to sharp points, giving his face a jack-o-lantern look. If not for those horrible teeth, he might have been vaugely good-looking. His eyes were a dark blue, and he looked to be in his very early teens. His real age was at least a hundred times that.

"Anders! Anders, dear friend, how wonderful to see you again! You don't call, you don't write... I hope you don't mind that I came to pay you a little visit? See how you've been?'" Malignant's voice was charismatic, inviting you to follow his word blindly, to trust in whatever he said. That impression was spoiled, though, by his gruesome teeth. Rodere whimpered, obviously scared out of whatever wits he had possessed in the first place. "And you brought some friends over! Could you be so kind as to introduce them?"

"Who are you working for?" Zephyr was pleased to see that her voice was steady, and that she sounded completely in control. In reality, her heart was hammering, and she was surprised she hadn't fallen over yet. Who knew what this thing was capable of?

"Oh, you haven't figured it out yet? A pretty lady such as yourself should always be at least as smart. Why, those poor Faceless Ones, trapped somewhere... Don't you think you'd be lonely if you were floating around in another dimension? I just want to bring them here so they can keep company with everyone else! Think how nice that would be..."

"First of all, if I was an evil god, I don't think I'd be very lonely. Second, I don't think it would be very nice at all to have said evil gods destroying the Earth as we know it. Now, I suggest you go back to whatever pit you crawled out of, before I'm forced to end your miserable existence. Understood?" Sev's face looked calm, which was good. The best warriors were'nt only those who had skill, and experience, but those who felt no anger. Anger made you reckless, and people who were reckless made mistakes.

Caesar Malignant laughed, and lunged.

Definitely a multi-chapter story. I'll probably end it next chapter, though, and if not then, then the chapter after. I need ideas for one-shot's, and I need PM's or reviews for ideas! Anyway, thanks for reading. :)