"I can't believe it! They couldn't even wait a little while before putting it out on the news, or in the papers, about our moving here." Lhaklar said angrily. The newspaper, that he had just gotten through reading, was tossed onto the table. In the living room, he heard his mother saying something similar; she went to call Mr. Leinart after he showed her the article that was on the paper's front page.

"It was eventually going to get out about our being here." Bile said.

"Eventually means sometime after we've moved here. It's only been three days and we're all over the news and—"

"We haven't been all over the news, Lhaklar. One news station ran a small report that we were sighted in the Grün Bach subdivision." Bile said.

"It was more than just one news station, Bile. I got up earlier than you. I was flicking the channels like mad... I saw over—"

"Five total, you kept ranting and raving about it to mom after she got up." Hazaar said. "You practically jumped at her about us being on tv before she could even get dressed."

"Six," Lhaklar corrected.

When they heard their mother speaking in the next room, they went silent; while they were hoping to hear-in to what she was saying to Mr. Leinart they were also hoping that she'd speak in a low voice so they wouldn't be able to hear what transgressed between her and the man who had helped them in getting the house that they had been living in for the last three days. That morning wasn't the best of mornings for any of them. Lhaklar had decided to get up at six; after getting dressed, he turned the 30" flat screen tv, that was in his room, that Mr. Leinart had generously purchased for him, on.

The news had just started running when he turned his tv on; the report on their being sighted in the subdivision of Grün Bach had caught his attention quickly. After that report concluded, he did some news channel surfing to see if what he just saw was being passed around; what he saw had taken his breath away.

The news on channel 1 was just airing the report on their being sighted in the subdivision of Grün Bach; the news that was airing on channel 103 had shown a photograph of them and their mother standing outside the house with Mr. Leinart while channel 50 had shown a video clip of two of the semi-trucks coming into their driveway. The news that was on channel 202 had shown a video of him, Hazaar, and Lazeer walking about the town's community center and the news that was on channel 34 had done a short, simple interview with one of their new neighbors, who said that it looked like they were moving into the neighborhood. He was pretty miffed after seeing all of them reports, that one photograph and video, and that one interview; when Bile's alarm went off at eight, he went straight across the hall to their mother's room to tell her what he saw on his tv.

Along with being too excited, he wasn't able to speak coherently after reaching the room; he was stuttering and stammering like crazy, and he was also flinging his hands about like a mad man. With the way he was acting, it hadn't surprised him that she had asked if he was feeling well—the movement of hers in going to see if he was running a fever had done the trick in breaking the curse that he was under; he started talking in a normal, clear way after her hand was placed to his forehead. Hazaar was in the upstairs bathroom at the time; Guyunis was in the downstairs bathroom while Bile and Lazeer were getting dressed—due in part to his screaming most of what he had told her, they had heard him relay all of what he saw on tv. His mother had surprised him by staying calm. She had said something around the area of putting in a call to Mr. Leinart after breakfast—she hadn't seemed a bit concerned over their being on six news stations that morning. She had remained calm all throughout making them their breakfast; her stationed chair, that sat at the head of the table, had just been sat in by her when he showed her the article that was in the Elchesheim-Illingen newspaper.

If it was just one or two news stations running a report on their moving to the Grün Bach subdivision, he would of gotten a little upset; seeing five similar, but different, reports on five other news stations had made him mad. He came close to ripping the newspaper in two after seeing the article that was on its front page; while reading the paper, he had wondered where the old respect that they had received on their other moves had gone—the humans had shown them respect after they moved to Green River, Wyoming; no reports on the news stations were made or run and no newspaper articles were written on their moving to the area for nearly a month. The humans had let them get settled in their new home before putting it out on the news and in the papers about where they were; that same respect was given to them when they were moving from town to town in Canada. While the humans had written or done their newspaper articles or news broadcasts on them a week after they moved to Oklahoma, they had still been given ample respect during that move. If the humans in the U.S and Canada could give them that type of respect then why the hell couldn't the humans in Europe of done the same thing? Lhaklar picked the newspaper, that he just threw on the table, up; he spread it out then read the article that was written on his family for the third time that morning.

Master Vile in the Americas; Daughter and Family in Europe

Where is our planet's heroine? Six months ago, it was discovered that Angel Irene—who, along with all of her sons, had previously been reported as missing after her apartment exploded in early December—was alive and well in the North American state of Colorado; while elusive, she was reported as being seen on several occasions after being sighted. The question of where our planet's heroine, and her five-reported sons, went sprang up after the much-feared Master Vile, who staked a claim on our little planet in the Milky Way Galaxy over two thousand years ago, happened on a way to get into the North American shields that had previously kept him out. Many have wondered if the entire family was captured by the ruthless monster; many have wondered if she fled the planet with her five sons for fear that her sons would be harmed by the man; and others have wondered if she and her family went into hiding. We all got our answer on where the family went three days ago: the family was spotted in good health in the subdivision of Grün Bach—which is in our town of Elchesheim-Illingen. Curiously, they were spotted in the company of our nation's president, Mr. Stefan Leinart.

According to sources that have wished to remain anonymous, Angel Irene and her family were given assistance by our president; Stefan Leinart has been reported as purchasing them a house and then a car. On August 1, four of Miss. Irene's five sons were spotted in the community center that's in our town; Miss. Irene's oldest son, Bile Vile, who is also the son of the ruthless monster that's over the Atlantic taking over the Americas, was spotted in Amsterdam on the same day.

Ten months ago, Miss. Irene only had four sons in her care; she surprised all of us by showing up in one of the towns of Colorado Springs, Colorado with five sons. It's speculated that she adopted a child before the aliens and monsters that are related to her showed up in Green River, Wyoming—the town where she and her four biological sons lived in ten months ago.

The administrative offices in the Chancellery haven't returned any calls from news stations or from anyone working for the newspaper; Stefan Leinart has remained very tight-lipped on Angel Irene and her sons and no one working in the Chancellery will speak of Miss. Irene and her five sons' living in our nation of Germany. So far, the monster that's across the Atlantic has shown no signs of coming towards the Eastern Hemisphere or in knowing that his daughter, son, grandsons, and probable adopted-grandson are in Germany.

"After finishing breakfast, we need to head up and start packing our things." Lhaklar said. He slapped his hand on the table's surface when his brothers groaned. "Look, I hate to do it myself but we do have to face the facts. Everyone in Europe will know that we are here; everyone that lives in the Americas will know that we are here. With our moving here being broadcast all over the news, the tyrant that's in the Americas will find out where we are soon. It's best that we move and now before he comes looking for us."

"We just got through fixing the house up—" Lazeer said.

"We stay here, we get hurt by that... that... man that's on the other side of the planet, Lazeer." Lhaklar said. Although he was trying to keep his cool, he was near to exploding.

With their being so busy in getting the house set-up the way they wanted it to be set-up, none of them were really able to watch any tv or read any newspapers. They had pretty much been busy from the moment they woke up until the moment where they went to bed; say that to Mr. Know-It-All aka Lhaklar, his younger brother who thought he knew it all, and who also thought he was the Man of the House, he'd probably say otherwise. Dark Dad would of already shown his ugly face by now if he knew about their being in Germany; he would of tried to get into the shields and he would of started trouble and they'd be running for their lives. Lhaklar would of said something about their getting out and fast if he had brought up them little facts; Bile looked at his brother's hot, angry face for just a second before standing up. He left the table, and then the dining room, then went straight to the living room, where his mother went to make a phone call ten minutes ago.

As hard as it was for him to believe, the room that he was walking into was bare... naked of all furnishing three days ago. It was now fully furnished; he thought that his mama and Lazeer had done a fabulous job in fixing it up. Very little assembly was required after the red microfiber sectional couch was brought in; up to five persons could sit comfortably on the couch that his ma had seen and then picked from the catalog that they were given. The couch was up against the room's left-side wall. There were two, red microsuede, square-shaped pillows resting against the couch's arms; the rustic, modern coffee table—yet another item that his ma had seen and then picked from the catalog that they were given—, that was in front of the sectional couch, had a tv remote on its surface.

Most of the residences where he and his family had lived in had either had a Laz-Y-Boy or a modern chair in their living rooms; there was no such furniture in their new residence. Instead of a Laz-Y-Boy or modern chair, his family's new home had a red velvet loveseat in its living room—there were two textured throw pillow's on the loveseat. His mother actually had to purchase the pillows that were on the loveseat and sectional couch; neither of them two pieces of furniture had come with them two decorative items included. The round pedestal side table, that was beside the sectional couch's left arm, had a 25-inch tall, espresso-brown traditional table lamp on its surface; his mama had gone and gotten two of the round pedestal tables—the second side table was beside the loveseat's right arm. The table that was beside the loveseat had nothing on it.

He and his brothers all agreed that the bamboo and rattan floor lamp was a nice piece; their mother had bought it three days ago when she went out to do a little shopping for the house. Lazeer had placed the lamp in the corner that was to the left of the loveseat. There was a 39" big screen tv mounted above the gas-powered fireplace; the gas-powered fireplace had framed photographs of him and his brothers all along its front. There were more framed photographs of him and his family on the room's walls. The walls also had a few flower portraits on them.

His mother was on a red, cordless phone, that had a round, hollow base unit. The phone's handset was rather thin—so much so that he and his brothers could wrap their hands around it twice. The buttons that were on the phone's handset were transparent while the numbers and symbols that were on them were a fluorescent yellow color. The phone's base unit was on a solid oak, two-shelf entertainment center, which was to the right of the gas-powered fireplace; at the moment, the phone was the only thing that was on the entertainment center. Of all the things his mother had purchased three days ago, the entertainment center had cost her the most—he was floored after seeing the amount of €245.10 on the receipt! After everything was set-up in the room, his ma had said that she didn't want the house's living room to look cluttered. She wanted everyone to be able to breathe in the room and she also wanted the room to look clean and somewhat organized. He and his brothers had all agreed that they'd do their utmost best to not destroy the house; they had crossed their chests when they made that promise. After walking into and then taking the living room in, he contemplated taking a seat on the loveseat, to wait for his mother to get off the phone. He had no more started towards the loveseat when his mother placed the phone's handset down on its base unit.

"Ma," he said after she hung the phone up.

"Biley," she returned.

"Is... is everything alright?" he asked. "Do you want us to start packing our stuff?"

"Everything's fine, Bile. No, we're staying here." Angel answered.

"Lhaklar wants us to start packing up our things after we finish breakfast." Bile said.

Angel went forward, towards her oldest child; when she reached him, she turned him around then gave him a gentle push to get going. She led him to the dining room then she told him to sit at his place at the table, which he obediently did. She resumed the task of eating her breakfast right after he retook his seat at the table.

In a way, she was glad that the room was so quiet—she needed a few minutes to process all of what Stefan had just told her. She had a feeling that something about her family moving to Germany would find its way to either the tube or the papers and it had—the move wasn't a quiet one... there were a lot of people around to witness it and, naturally, one of them people had gone around, spilling certain things that were going on in their neighborhood.

She had done the best she could in remaining calm after being told about their being on the news; after Lhaklar showed her the article, that was in the local Elchesheim-Illingen newspaper, she had experienced a sort of freak-out. After seeing the article, then taking the trip to the living room, she called the number that was on the card that Stefan had left her. The man had picked up right away; he and she had talked pleasantly for a minute before the issue on her and her family being on the news, and in the newspapers, was brought up.

"Miss. Irene, have you noticed any news coming forward from the Americas lately?" Stefan asked after she told him her concerns about her and her sons being on the news and in the newspapers.

"No—I've been quite busy the last three days. I haven't been able to watch any tv or read any newspapers." she replied.

"For the past three days there's been a block on any news reaching the Western Hemisphere," Stefan said. "I did all the calls myself. I arranged a meeting with all of Europe's, Eurasia's, and the island nations' leaders after I left your place. We all agreed that any and all news from our side of the planet will remain on our side of the planet."

The question pertaining to what was going on on the other side of the planet was asked; Stefan had responded by saying that things weren't good in the Americas. Stefan claimed that several of North America's states were combined; civilians that lived in or around the forested parts of Central and South America were ordered to abandon their homes—any and all form of civilization had either been torn down or forcibly abandoned in them two parts of the Americas—; and her father was now issuing his tests to that part of the planet's population.

She had a field day in telling Stefan all about the tests that her father continued to throw in the faces of his new civilians—normally, a test would consist of either a single page of questions or a small set of stapled papers that had questions on them; her father's test was very different than the standard tests that school teachers gave out to their students. His test was practically a small, twenty or so page booklet that consisted of questions that were all about him. All of the questions that were in them twenty-something page booklets had to be answered correctly; if any were answered incorrectly, the person who took the test would be given a fine. Her father was right strict on his booklet tests; the civilians of his newly conquered planets were only given one day to study before he gave his tests out. If someone got one answer wrong, they were fined a hundred dollars. If that same person continued to get answers wrong on the second try, he or she would spend a week in jail and, if that same person continued to get the questions wrong, he or she would be thrown in jail for the rest of their life.

She had seen her father's own personal test booklet once; with the test being on him and only him, only one who either knew him real well or who had done some heavy-duty studying on him, that'd take up more than a single day, would be able to pass it on the first try. Naturally, when she told all of this to Stefan, he had said that her father needed to be thrown in a loony bin. She had agreed with him then they had said their goodbyes before hanging up.

"Momma—"

"You five have finished working on your rooms right?" Angel asked. Out of her five sons, only four nodded their heads. Bile shook his. "Bile, what have you left to do with your room?"

"Need to find some shelves or something—can't put them lamps that I bought three days ago up until I do." Bile replied.

"I-k-t's been three days and you've yet to put them cool lamps tha-k-t you bought in Ams-k-terdam up?" Guyunis said in shock.

"Man, you best put them up before Guyunis or I decide to steal them from you." Hazaar said.

"You can have the lamps, I want that Megan Fo-k-x poster that Bile put on his wall." Guyunis said.

"Are the lamps the last things you need to put up in your room, Bile?" Angel asked.

"Yes,"

"Alright, I want that room of yours finished by nine this morning." Angel said.

"Uh, well, I can't really do that, ma. I—"

"Why can't you, Bile?" Angel asked.

"In order for me to have my room finished, I would need some shelves or something to put the lamps on. My bookcase is full to capacity—I'd either need to go find some shelves or a table or something at the dump or go on another buying spree." Bile replied. He looked down at his plate; his food had barely been touched. "And I have no money to do the latter and I've been too busy with the house to do the former."

"You didn't see or ask for any shelves three days ago when Mr. Leinart gave you that catalog?" Angel asked.

"No, I didn't think I'd need them." Bile replied.

After getting to her feet, Angel reached into the front left pocket of her pair of faded blue jeans for the folded fifty euro note that was placed in it that morning.

A little late-birthday shopping was done for each of her sons three days ago; she bought them some things that she thought they'd like—since she didn't want to ruin or spoil the fun that them gifts would bring, all of what she bought was currently in their underground storage. She didn't want to give her sons their late-birthday presents until their rooms were complete; with Bile's room still not finished, she couldn't give them their presents yet.

With the money withdrawn from her pocket, she gave it to Bile; she told him to use the money on what he needed for his room before reaching into the back left pocket of her pants for the wad of cash that was in it.

She was a fair mother; one who never gave one son more than the other and one who never gave one of her children money while leaving the others flat broke. She had €300 rolled up in her back left pants pocket; when she pulled that out, she quickly deducted €250 from it. She split that between Lhaklar, Guyunis, Hazaar, and Lazeer; the remainder of what she had was put in the pocket that she had gotten the fifty euro note from. She was planning on getting some flowers for the flowerbeds that were in front of the house with the money that she had just distributed to her sons; for her, the act of her being fair in giving all of her sons some money was more important—she didn't want any of her sons to start thinking that she was playing favorites.

"Mom, we really should consider leaving. We're all over the news and—"

"Lhaklar, we're fine. I spoke with Mr. Leinart about our being in the papers and on the news. All news that goes on in Europe stays in Europe, Mr. Mean across the Atlantic won't know anything of us being here." Angel said quickly.

"You sure of that? Sometimes things get out and—"

"It's been three days, Lhakie. If he had read about our being here, or had seen us on the news, he'd of either sent one of his lackeys here or he'd of come here himself." Angel said, again interrupting her son. "We've seen nothing and we've heard nothing."

"How do we know that he doesn't know we're here though?" Lhaklar asked. "We should be careful... Someone might slip up or something when they go across the Atlantic to visit friends or s—"

"One of the humans here in Europe is going to hop on a plane or boat and go across the Atlantic to visit friends or relatives when there's a mad-man in the Americas?" Bile chuckled as he shook his head. "Why the hell would someone go visiting friends or relatives when Dark Dad is known to be in the Amer—"

"Out of fear—someone might go across the Atlantic to rescue their family or friends." Lhaklar said. "Your father might also have someone checking the mail as it comes in as well. The mail is still running; someone from Europe could write a relative or a friend and say that we've been spotted here."

While what Lhaklar had said was true—the mail was still being run so word on their being in Europe could get out by a simple slip up by someone writing a relative or a friend in the Americas about their being sighted in the village of Elchesheim-Illingen—, Angel made Lhaklar quiet up by telling him some good points. Stefan Leinart had used his hard-earned money on them; he had purchased the house that they were now in, he had purchased the house's furniture for them, and he had purchased the Porsche D2 that she drove, and he had also given them €5,000... if they left, they'd pretty much be giving themselves a bad image as moochers or as being ungrateful. They couldn't just leave; if they did they'd be shaming Stefan Leinart's generosity towards them and they'd be showing how ungrateful they were. Even though the man had signed the house and the car titles over to her, it would still be wrong of them to leave. Lhaklar gave his mother a long, sad look then went back to his breakfast.

As Lhaklar went back to his breakfast, Guyunis looked at the family that he had been living with for the last six months. He had no idea who the fool was that they were talking about and he had no idea why Lhaklar was being so nervous about the man. His new mum had told him that they were safe; the shields, that were over the civilized parts of Europe, had been made so nothing could get in or out of them—that should mean that this "Master Vile" person was no threat to them. Guyunis stuffed the fifty euro note that he was given into the only remaining pocket of his light brown cargo shorts—which were pretty much pulverized... shredded from the knees on down—then he did a quick glance around the dining room and kitchen that he and his family were in.

He and his family were seated according age at the table—Bile, Lhaklar, and he were seated in that order on the left side of the table while Hazaar and Lazeer were seated in that order on the other side of the table. The mahogany-colored china cabinet, that had a bowed front, was behind Hazaar and Lazeer but it was different now; it had glass plates, bowls, and glasses on its inner shelves. All of the stickers that were on the tableware had been removed by Bile; Bile had handed all of the items to their mum who had put them in the cabinet afterwards. The nice, three-tier, wooden spice rack, that their mutter had purchased three days ago, was to the left of the china cabinet. Bile had nailed it to the wall himself. Hazaar and Lazeer had teamed up to put the spices in the spice rack while he, Lhaklar, and Bile had helped their mutter in the kitchen.

The sleek, black Sunbeam microwave, that had a digital clock above the touch-sensitive buttons, was on the counter-section that the kitchen sink was on—he was the one to remove that appliance from its box. Lhaklar had put the silverware organizer and the silverware in the drawer that was on the opposite side of the counter-bar; he had also put the knife block, that had five, different sized, knives in it, on the edge of the counter-bar. The cooking utensils—the plastic and wooden spoons, the spatulas, the ladles, the whisks, and the slotted spoons—were put in the drawer that was beside the one that had the silverware organizer and the silverware in it afterwards. While Lhaklar did all of that, he took the stickers from the undersides of the plastic plates, bowls, and cups.

The counter that was to the right of the stove had an electric can opener on it while the counter that was to the left of the stove had a Hamilton Beach coffee maker on it; he was the "guilty" party responsible for taking them two appliances out of their boxes and then setting them up. A cutting board was under the coffee maker; he was the one responsible for putting it there. The Oster Osterizer, 14-speed blender, that was on the counter that was across from the kitchen sink, was removed from its box by Bile; Bile held the credit for setting that machine up on its counter and he also held the credit for plugging it in. The dish drain, complete with under-tray, was beside the kitchen sink; their mum had put it on one of her newly purchased towels. The 4-slice toaster was removed from its box and then placed beside the can opener by their mum.

He and Lhaklar had placed the mop, the broom, and the vacuum cleaner in the kitchen closet then they had stepped back. He was clueless on what was under the kitchen sink; Bile was seated Indian-style in front of the kitchen sink when he was walking by. There was a large pile of stuff near him that he was putting under the sink at the time. While walking by, he saw a bottle of Windex, a bottle of Mr. Clean, a bottle of dish detergent, and he also saw a pack of sponges. He thought he saw a container of Ajax as well; while that cleaning agent was needed in the house, he wasn't sure if it was purchased. The kitchen, the dining room, and the living room were all done in one day; their mutter had stopped them from doing any further work in the house after them three rooms were finished. She had said for them to relax while she made supper; in the two days that followed their first real day of being in their new home, they had worked on the house's bathrooms and closets. They had also worked on their bedrooms too.

"I've got some things to do outside today—girl-things that you fine bunch of boys would groan and be bored to death with. I want you five to go out someplace today. Enjoy yourselves, but don't get into too much trouble." Angel said. "Be back by ten-thirty; there will be a few surprises waiting for all of you... if Bile gets his lamps up in his room by then, that is."

"Uh-oh, she said surprises." Lazeer said loudly, he then started slapping his feet down on the floor. "Time to explode! Time to stampede! Time to go cr-aiii-zzz-eee!"

"What kind of surprises?" Guyunis asked. He found himself being right curious.

"My lips're sealed. You'll find out if your brother finishes his room." Angel said. She said no more afterwards.

Bile forced his near cold breakfast down then stood up. He excused himself then took his plate and fork to the sink, where he quick-washed and then placed them in the side of the sink that was reserved for dirty dishes; with his breakfastware squared away, he left the kitchen and then the dining room. There was the sound of a chair being scraped against the dining room's vinyl floor right after he left the room; he heard his mother snap at Guyunis to be careful with the chairs and the floor then he heard Guyunis apologize. He was just reaching the house's front door when he felt a hand wrap around his wrist. When he turned around, and saw who it was that had him by the wrist, he rolled his eyes. He shook Guyunis's hand off his wrist then turned back to the door.

He and Guyunis were much like he and his biological brothers—sometimes they didn't need to say a thing to know what they were thinking about or wanted. When he turned around to see who had grabbed him by the wrist, he had seen the question that was in Guyunis's eyes—Guyunis wanted to come along and had asked him via the eyes if that was alright with him; instead of saying no, and instead of pushing Guyunis away, and instead of getting in a fight with him, he had just rolled his eyes. Guyunis could tag along with him as long as he didn't slow him up, create trouble, or "cramp" his style.

While he and all of his biological brothers got along well and, while he liked hanging out with his brothers, there were a few things that they did that drove him crazy: Lhaklar had a way of trying to act like their daddy when he wasn't, which was damn annoying; Hazaar had a way of being too touchy and grouchy from time to time; and Lazeer's little habit of cracking a joke at just about everything and being overly goofy was just plain annoying. Lazeer drove them all crazy with his jokes; he even drove their mother crazy with his joke-doing and goofiness. That, in itself, was pretty damn bad. Regardless of the fact that Guyunis wasn't of blood-birth relation to him, he was of no exception—he enjoyed having him tag along with him and his relationship with him was just the same as it was with his biological brothers. While Guyunis's apprehension towards the humans was annoying, he had a good reason to show or express it. He had yet to find the little issues that Guyunis had to him that were annoying.

According to what he had heard on his alarm clock's radio, the weather for that day was going to be pretty mild; when he opened the door, he was bathed in the sun's warm rays. When the warm, morning breeze blew into his face, he shook his head. He was appropriately attired for the weather; the pair of blue jeans, that had large holes in the knees, and the gray shirt, that had three tears in the chest and stomach areas, weren't heavy or too light. The pair of brown leather boots, that were on his feet, were found in his room's closet; their laces were tied tightly, so they wouldn't slip off his feet while he was walking. He gave the pocket that was on the left side of his pants a pat on instinct to see if the €50 that his mother had given him was still there then he reached back to see if his wallet was were it was suppose to be; with both items being on his person, he looked over at Guyunis. The pair of steel-toed, waterproof logger boots, that his adoptive brother had on his feet, were well-worn but they looked to have plenty of life still in them. Guyunis was shirtless—his former adoption family had thrown him some shirts; he had thrown them all away as they had either been badly torn or ripped or very badly stretched out. His adoptive brother had no shirts to his name. Bile had to suppress the laugh that wanted to come out when he remembered Guyunis telling him about what he did with the pairs of underwear that his former adoption family had thrown him; this Meyer family had thrown Guyunis underwear that hadn't only been previously worn by them but that had also been very badly stretched out and holey. According to Guyunis, each of them given pairs of underwear were thrown away.

The laugh that he had just suppressed wasn't one of them laughs that happened after a joke was made; it was a laugh made before anger or anxiety sets in—he felt a lot of anger towards the people who had his brother before his mother adopted him. He was relieved over knowing that his brother wasn't wearing underwear that had previously been on someone else's body. He was glad he didn't know who the Meyer family was; how anyone could treat someone else so cruelly and heartlessly was beyond him—he was glad that Guyunis was with a family that wouldn't only show him love and respect but that would also provide him with the essential clothing pieces that he needed to wear to keep his body protected. He still didn't know if Guyunis had told their mother or not about the underwear that he was thrown; to his knowledge, Guyunis was still walking around with nothing worn under his pants. He cringed over that knowledge; his adoptive brother was really risking material burns on a rather sensitive area of his body!

"Ready to go to Bile Territory, Bro?" Bile asked Guyunis.

"Sure, where's thak-t?" Guyunis asked.

"Where did I spend all of the money that Lhaklar gave me three days ago?" Bile dropped his left eyelid in a wink. "Free-For-All land."

"Hold on a sec-k-ond," Guyunis said. He turned then went into the house.

The door to the house swung open after his brother went in; Bile waited for his brother to return. He didn't need to ask or wonder why Guyunis went back into the house; he knew by instinct that Guyunis had gone to retrieve his hoodie—the one thing that he never went out in public without. The humans—the Meyer's—that had him before his mother adopted him had done a number on his self-confidence; he was made to think of himself as downright ugly and disgusting, which, Bile knew, but wouldn't say directly to his new brother's face, wasn't true. While he knew Guyunis had changed a lot over the last half year, he also knew that his new brother had a long way to go before being fully settled. That went double for Guyunis acting like a normal, mid-teenager. When Guyunis came out of the house, he was wearing the remnants of the blue hoodie that he always wore when he went out in public. He had just gotten it situated on his head when Bile reached over. Bile grabbed Guyunis by the arm then teleported them to where he went to find some pot and to do a little bedroom furnishing shopping three days ago. When they got there, Bile stepped away from his new brother. He walked on down the yellow sidewalk alone for a few seconds before Guyunis appeared on his left.

This was the exact same stretch of sidewalk that he found himself walking down after teleporting to Amsterdam three days ago; its yellow concrete surface ran a short distance before going gray—the reason for this was clear. There was a bridge up ahead that ran across a river—the Amstel, which, according to the pamphlet that he grabbed from one of the conveniently placed locations that was nearby, had originally begun at two smaller rivers called the Drecht and the Kromme Mijdrecht, which had joined together a little south of the municipality and town of Uithoorn. The pamphlet that he picked up had said that, after the construction of the Amstel-Drecht Kanaal—which he and Guyunis were now walking over—, the river and the canal now began where the Drecht and another canal, the Aarkanaal, joined one another near the town of Nieuwveen.

His knowledge of Amsterdam, and the Netherlands, was pretty basic; his mother had only taught him the basics of the place when he was a child. Amsterdam was the capital city within the Kingdom of the Netherlands; it started out as a small fishing village in the late 12th century and it got its name from the Amstel river, which it was at the mouth of. There were about eight districts in the city; the population was currently under a million—in stark contrast, the overall population in 2013 was 3,500,990. The population had come under threat over the last few thousand years with all the plagues and natural disasters that had happened.

Despite his limited knowledge on the city, he was very well educated in the fact that the city was commonly called the Free-For-All place by the humans. Amsterdam was known well for its Cannabis coffee shops—places where one could walk in, take a seat, order something, then take a joint or a pipe out without being jumped on or hearing the you'll-get-in-trouble from someone nearby. The air that was in Amsterdam's Cannabis coffee shops was usually thick with Cannabis smoke so one didn't necessarily have to bring something to smoke in the establishment—one could get a contact high from just sitting in the place. After grabbing the pamphlet, he went straight to one of the Cannabis coffee shops to either get some weed or find a reliable human who would be decent enough to assist him in getting some weed.

His first attempt wasn't met with success; apparently, only the locals were allowed to purchase the shops' available Cannabis. Since he was a "tourist", he couldn't go in and then buy what the shops were selling. After visiting three Cannabis coffee shops, he decided to wait for one of the humans that were in them to come out. It took him four attempts before a helpful human was found; half of what he was given on that morning three mornings ago was spent on some good, mid-grade pot. The rest of what he was given was spent on his bedding. The lamps, and the Megan Fox poster, that he purchased while here three days ago, were splurge buys; their prices were more than fair, which was why he purchased them.

"You know the language spoken here, righ-k-t?" Guyunis asked.

"Ja, ik wil." Bile replied.

"I don't," Guyunis said. While he didn't know what Bile had just said, he figured that Bile's response was a yes. "I know only English, French, and German."

"I know several languages so, if any of the locals say anything to you that you don't understand, ask me to translate." Bile replied. Before leaving for Earth with his mother and brothers, both he and Lhaklar were learning Vilian and Moasian; they had just finished learning the basics of them two languages from their father when their mother fled with them to Earth. His mother had started teaching him and his brothers the languages that she knew after they reached the age of eight hundred and fifty; she had insisted that they learn some of the planet's languages. All of them were good pupils for her; she taught them her learned languages—which were Spanish, German, French, and Latin—first then she said for them to pick out a different language that she didn't know to learn. He picked Welsh for his fifth learned language while Lhaklar picked Japanese for his. Hazaar decided on Greek a few years after he learned how to speak their mother's learned languages and Lazeer picked Dutch for his fifth learned language.

Naturally, since they already knew how to speak English, they hadn't had to learn that language. He and his brothers had decided to pick up each others fifth learned languages soon after graduating from either Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic or the University of Telepathy; their mother had joined them in learning them languages—that was nice... The tutor and the parent had also become the classmate and the student.

While Guyunis followed Bile from a comfortable distance, he didn't slow him up or try to mingle-in with the humans that were walking about. Even though it was early morning, the human traffic on the walkway was pretty thick; he found himself having to turn his body just to keep from bumping into someone. Although Bile did look back from time to time to make sure he was following him, he, for the most part, walked and looked forward; he was looking for a building—a small one that looked rather dilapidated on the outside but that was pretty jam-packed on the inside with all sorts of stuff—that he saw three days ago. The building that he saw three days ago was sandwiched between two other buildings—one, a store that sold cool, novelty items, and the other a small pastry and magazine shop.

Bile led Guyunis down the walkway, that was on the bridge, that went over the canal, then he led him on for another mile before finding the store that he saw on the first of August. The brick exterior of the building had gaps and cracks in it; there was mold and dirt festering on its front; and the glass front door was rather filthy. When Bile opened the door, he cringed over the sound that its hinges made—they made a creaky sound that made his eardrums want to scream! The letters that were on the door spelled out Greta's Tweedehandswinkel—the latter word meaning Thrift Store in English. Bile went into the store with Guyunis following behind him; the door creaked shut behind them.

"For such a small store on the outside, it's sure long and big on the inside." Bile thought after he entered the store.

He wasn't the only one blown away by the store's interior—Guyunis was practically staring at everything through wide eyes. The inside of the building that they had just walked into seemed to stretch on forever; there seemed to be no end to the store at all. Despite the dilapidated exterior appearance, the store's interior was very neat and orderly; to their left, Bile and Guyunis saw clothing racks that held dresses, blouses, and jeans. To their right, they saw egg crates full of old toys that had not a speck of dust on them. There were boxes of socks and shoes in front of the racks that the dresses, jeans, and blouses were on and there were stands that had children's clothing on them in front of the egg crates that contained the toys. A magazine rack was up against the wall beyond the boxes of socks and shoes; there was a series of two and three-shelf bookcases that contained books in front of the magazine rack.

There were coffee tables behind the stands that had the children's clothing on them; they were either leaning up against the wall or were down on all four legs. There were rows of kitchen chairs and stools beside the coffee tables; a row of kitchen tables was beside the kitchen chairs and stools. Bile walked forward when he saw the two rows of bookcases that were beside the row of kitchen tables; Guyunis stood where he was. He was in shock over what he was seeing.

While he knew what a thrift store was, this wasn't what he had envisioned the store to look like—where was the filth? the dirt? the dust? where were the unkept areas? This... store looked very clean and organized; after craning his neck a bit to take a closer look at the bookcases that had the books on them, he saw that there were two registers in the establishment. There were two humans, both women and both rather attractive, running them. One of the women had blonde hair while the other had chestnut-brown hair; the blonde-haired woman had a rose tattoo high up on her left arm while the chestnut-brown haired woman had her hair set in a perm. Guyunis shook his head to clear it then walked forward; he figured that he best do something other than stand around. There was a cardboard box that looked to have some old, rolled up posters in it about five feet from where Bile was, he went to it.

"Is that who I think it is?" Cyndi Aeron said. She pointed at Bile, who had his back turned to her.

"If that's the cretin that took over the Americas... Stephen! Stephen, come over here please." a short, black-haired man, who was right big—both in girth and muscle—, walked over after hearing Ava Iwan, his co-worker, calling for him. "You had a good view of that fellow there—" Ava pointed at Bile's backside. "—is that the monster that's across the Atlantic in the Americas or is he someone else?"

"No, that fellow is half-green and half-yellow. Vile the Terrible is half-blue and half-yellow." Stephen Cothi replied. He had seen a newsreel of Master Vile that morning after getting up; he had a pretty good idea of what the monster looked like. "That fellow is most probably his son."

"We don't want him here. Give him the toss-out, Stephen." Ava said.

"Miss. Iwan, I do think you need to calm down some." Stephen said. When Ava gave him a stern look he remained cool. He was a pretty confident fellow; he was twenty years older than both Ava and Cyndi and he knew well how to keep his composure. "I don't think he's here to cause trouble."

"If he's the son of that monster that took over the Americas, he will cause trouble." Ava hissed.

"Doubt it—I do believe that his mutter is Angel Irene. If Angel Irene's his mutter, I highly doubt he'll cause any trouble for anyone." Stephen said.

"He's going to scare away the customers!" Ava said in a fiercely low whisper.

"There's thirty-some people in the store, none have run out the door after he and his dark-skinned buddy walked in." Stephen said. When Ava cocked her head at him, he rolled his eyes then turned away. "If you wish to have him thrown out, do it yourself, Ava. I'm surely not going to."

That old song that was written on August 12, 4087, by the members of the band called The Maisors—Troubled Child—had pretty much been her song from junior high on through to the twelfth grade. She started smoking weed in the seventh grade then she started doing crystal before deciding to quit to dedicate herself to her schooling. Her parents had threatened to send her to a boarding school for girls if she didn't stop with all the drugs and with all the back-alley and street fighting that went along with the drugs; she had only passed the seventh and eighth grade by the skim of her teeth, and she actually had to repeat the ninth grade. She shaped up some after going through the ninth grade for the second time; she was getting good grades in the tenth grade then something happened that made her go down that troubled path again. One of her classmates passed her a white pill, that he called a "Hamburger", which she had stupidly taken.

She went right back to that old routine of doing drugs and getting into fights after taking that "Hamburger"; her schoolbooks had gotten dusty, her homework had stopped getting done, and she had started to not go to school. She had barely gotten through the tenth grade then she had found herself having to repeat the eleventh grade three times before the school decided to go on and pass her just to get her out of the building. She had gotten into fights; had come home with her face bleeding in several places, and with her knuckles being torn open—street and back-alley fighting wasn't pretty. She had paid a good penny for each of the fights that she was involved in. Thanks to her front teeth being knocked out, she was wearing a partial denture to cover the empty spaces where her real teeth had once been in. She had ended high school on a bit of an even worse note after finding herself pregnant. The little girl that she gave birth to nine months later was put in the care of her parents; due to her destructive behavior with the drugs, and with her constant back-alley and street fighting, she wasn't allowed to keep her child. She was only allowed to name her daughter; her parents disowned her soon after she gave birth to her daughter. They said that they didn't want to see her again; she said the exact same thing back.

She went right back into the drug-scene a month after giving birth to her daughter; it was around that time where she found herself getting into trouble. She was arrested twice, once for having crack cocaine on her person and the other for having acid and marijuana. Both times she was arrested, she went to jail; the first offense had gotten her six months while the second had gotten her two years. Due to good behavior, and the promise to not do drugs again, she got out of jail early on both of them offenses. She had to take drug screenings once a week, she had to go to drug counseling twice a week, and she had to wear one of them drug and alcohol ankle bracelets—her parole officer was the one responsible for her working at the thrift store; he had spoken to Greta Terfel about her working there. Greta had said that, as long as she stayed out of trouble, she could.

So far, six months after getting free from jail, she hadn't touched a single drug nor smoked a single cigarette nor drank anything alcoholic.

She had given Greta Terfel and Stephen Cothi—the former an elderly lady, who had gray hair and eyes and who had a slightly hunched over back, and the latter a forty-five year old man, who had a wife and four kids and who had been volunteering his time at Greta's Tweedehandswinkel for the last fifteen years—some trouble in them six months. She and a male customer had gotten into a fight after he came in smelling of pot; she had wanted no one near her with that smell on them. She was afraid that her bracelet would go off and she'd be taking a one-way bus ride back to jail for going against her parole. Another male customer and she had gotten into a fight over a kid's toy; he was asking her some questions on it and she was damn agitated that day due to withdrawals. She ran two female customers out afterwards; she thought that they were shoplifting when they really weren't and then there was the case last week of when one of them religious freaks came into the store. She had just gotten the bloody rose on her left arm done; when that religious freak saw her tattoo, he started in on her about how she was destroying the body that God had given her. When Mr. Religious Man saw her ankle bracelet, he started on her about how she should feel ashamed of herself for letting herself go down the path of destruction. She had told the guy off; he left then Greta Terfel told her to go home. Mrs. Terfel had come very close to calling her parole officer to tell him that she couldn't keep her in her volunteering service.

"Pleeeease, don't create a problem, Ava." Cyndi begged. When Ava stepped out from behind the register, she followed. "He's not doing anything bad, he's just looking at the furniture. Probably looking for something to—"

"It doesn't matter, he's the son of that demonic monster and that demonic monster's whore-daughter. He has it bred in him to create problems." Ava said.

"His mutter isn't a whore!" Cyndi whispered in shock. "Ava, Angel Irene has helped us! If it wasn't for her putting the shields up over the towns, cities, parks, and neighborhoods, we would be under the control of—"

"She had sex with her dat, that's enough to be called a whore to me." Ava said back.

"Av... she is not a whore and her son has been here for less than five minutes!" Cyndi grabbed Ava's wrist; when Ava continued to walk forward, towards Bile, she pulled her to a stop then turned her around. "That boy would of already caused problems long before now, leave him be!"

"Go back to the register, Cyndi." Ava hissed in Cyndi's face.

"He's just a customer!" Cyndi tried to pull Ava back but Ava was able to get free. Once Ava was free, she walked briskly across the aisle towards Bile. "Ava! Dammit, Ava! He's..."

He knew what was going on behind him and that was why he hadn't turned around to see who it was that was coming up behind him; while he felt a lot of anger over the fact that one of the women had called his ma a whore, he forced the flames that burned within his chest to drop down to a small flicker. He had to endure this a lot over the years; either a man, or a woman, in a store, or a park, would judge him after seeing him then they'd walk over to hark on him just because he was the son of an evil man who had caused so much grief over the course of two thousand, two hundred years. Who was he? Bile Vile. Who was his sire? Vile fuckin' Vile, a man who had hurt his dear mama something awful; who had put bruises and gashes and scratches and scars galore on her body and who had also had raped her continuously in the time that she was in his possession. Who was his mother? Angel Irene, the daughter of Vile fuckin' Vile, a man who considered himself to be the master of every damn thing in sight.

Let's look past the fact that Bile Vile has lived on Earth for the past one thousand, six hundred years; let's look past the fact that Bile Vile has done nothing to disturb the humans and their way of living. He's the son of the evil Master Vile so he has to be looked down upon; the innocent Bile Vile will forever be the son of the evil one who can't leave anything alone. When he was a kid, it wasn't all that bad; most of the time, the humans would speak lowly or they'd walk off to do their bad talking some distance from him. After he came home from Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic, he had to endure the full-blown judging and hatred and it had hurt him something awful. He had wanted to yell it out that, just because he was the son of the evil Vile Vile didn't mean that he'd be walking in the man's footsteps. He was raised by his mama, who knew no evil nor had ever done anything evil in her life. The only reason why he had kept them yells in was because of his mother, who had said that the best thing that he could do was show by way of action who he was—meaning; walk around, keep acting like himself, show the humans that he wasn't evil, and that he meant no harm to anyone.

"It'll be hard at first—you're going to feel a lot of mixed emotions—but, after a while, things will calm down." his dear mama, who he loved so very much, had said to him so many hundreds of years ago. "You have to show courage, Biley. Only by walking and acting like yourself will you earn the trust of the humans."

Instead of showing him how to earn the humans' trust, she had let him figure it out on his own—she had given him lots of support, and she had let him talk out his frustrations, but she hadn't given him any aid on gaining the humans' trust. Over the years, he had learned the reason for why she had done that—each human was different; no one action in gaining one's trust could be repeated or duplicated with any one human. With every move that his family had done over the years, he had found that each location that they had moved to had folk residing in it that either resented him because of his father or had turned a blind eye to the fact that he was raised by just his mother instead of by his mother and his evil father—to his extreme shock, he had also found folk in them locations who hadn't learned about what his ma had done to protect the planet; they saw the shields, they had heard the talk that was passed down from generation to generation about where the shields had come from, but they hadn't learned anything about what his mother had done to keep the planet safe. He had gotten into several fights with the humans over their calling his ma a slut or a whore; after going home, then explaining the reason for why he had wounds on his body, and then explaining the reason for why he had gotten into them fights, his ma had said for him to just plain ignore what was being said.

"There will always be stubborn ones around, Biley. It doesn't matter if they are human or alien, there will be times when you come across the stubborn, arrogant, and ignorant ones that insist that one being is slime." she said one day after he came home with his knuckles being all busted up. "Best thing to do when you come upon them is nod your head then turn around—I know you love me; you fight for a purpose when you come across humans that call me them names. Won't really matter though—them arrogant, stubborn, and ignorant ones will continue talking that way; it's best that you just turn and then walk away from them."

The rustic, two-shelf bookcase, that he found, was a nice piece. It would look good in his room, but he had no interest in it; the human who judged him, and then called his ma a whore, had zapped him of all interest in bookcase or shelving shopping. He took a breath then turned around. The human who called his mother a whore was just a foot and a half from him; her mouth was open and her eyes were blazing with hate. He looked the woman up and down quickly—she had long, blonde hair and gray eyes; her body build was very average. The woman stood about five foot, six inches; the bleeding rose tattoo, that was on the deltoid muscle of her left arm, looked new to him. She was wearing a pair of blue pants and a black tank top; the white tennis shoes, that were on her feet, looked rather new to him. He had just taken in the fact that she had a black band, that had a rather bulky box attached to it, wrapped around her left ankle when she spoke.

"Yeah, you go on... Get out of here!" Guyunis turned around; he had found nothing of interest in the box that the old, rolled up posters were in. He was near the far back of the building now; so far, he had found nothing of interest in the building. What he saw when he finished turning around made the pit of his stomach churn; the blonde-haired woman that he saw earlier was practically on top of Bile. She was jabbing a finger at him; he was leaned back and over slightly. "We don't want none of your kind here! You tell that old fag dat and that slut of a mutter of yours that—none of you are wanted or needed!"

"Ava!" a man, who was big in both girth and muscle, exclaimed. The man had short, black hair and brown eyes; Guyunis saw that he was wearing a red t-shirt and baggy brown pants; the pair of black boots, that were on his feet, were rather dusty. "Leave the kid be, he's doing nothing but—"

"I don't give a damn! He can look in another shop; this one doesn't allow for ones who have Master Vile in their DNA." the blonde-haired woman snapped, she then shoved Bile towards the door. "Get out, now! Get out and don't—"

"Ava, leave him be!" the chestnut-brown haired woman yelled. The woman's cheeks were red, and the fingers of both of her hands were entwined in her hair. "He's just a kid... He's Angel Irene's son! He's doing nothing but—"

"He's evil just like that old fag of a dat of his!" the blonde-haired woman screamed.

Guyunis walked briskly back to the front of the store; he knew exactly what was going on and he didn't like it one bit! The blonde-haired woman was pushing and shoving his bruder; she was stomping her feet and she was making a loud ruckus that wasn't only attracting the attention of the humans that were in the store but also the humans that were walking by outside of the store. The humans that were in the store had stopped their browsing; all of the eyes that were in the establishment were locked on his older bruder and on the woman who was assaulting him. Guyunis's chest started hurting; he was growing very pissed off at what was going on! The short, black-haired man and the chestnut-brown haired woman walked up to the blonde-haired woman; they grabbed at the woman but she managed to slip by them. She kicked Bile in the rear twice then, when he turned to face her, she did something that made him yell. Bile was sent reeling by the slap that the woman had just dished out to him; he took two steps back then he lost his footing. He was down one second then up the next; Bile ran right out of the store without chancing a glance back. He didn't bother opening the glass door; he ran right through it then made a right turn. He disappeared afterwards.

"Are you bloody insane?" a young, dirty blonde-haired man exclaimed after Bile crashed through the front door of the store.

"Someone call the constable! Have this woman arrested for assault!" a woman who had a young infant in her arms yelled.

"Do you have any idea what you just did!" the chestnut-brown haired woman cried.

Guyunis stood back in shock—it seemed that everyone that was in the store was ganging up on the woman who had just run his bruder off. There were women with children coming towards the woman; the women that were holding infants were jabbing their fingers at the blonde-haired woman; the men were all shouting at the woman quite loudly... The blonde-haired woman was walking around in circles; she was going from one of the humans to the next, pleading her innocence and sending up a gale of bad language towards anyone who said otherwise. The short, black-haired man, who had tried to make the blonde-haired woman leave his bruder alone, had rushed off to the back of the store; a slim, gray and blue colored phone, that had a rather long cord that had many knots in it, was ripped from its base unit after the man reached the back of the store. A number was dialed frantically; the man was now talking to whoever it was that he had called.

While he could see the man talking, he couldn't hear what was being spoken about; the man seemed to be acting rather frantic. He was throwing his free hand all over the place. Despite his curiosity over what the black-haired man was saying on the phone, Guyunis slowly made his way around the humans that had gathered around the blonde-haired woman; he made as little noise as he could—he didn't want any of the attention that was being directed at the woman that had assaulted his bruder to be re-directed towards him. When he was halfway by the throng of humans, he found himself unable to cope with his curiosity. Why the hell had that one human gone away from the rest and why was he on the phone and who was he talking to and what was he talking about on that phone? Guyunis turned around then jabbed his hand in the lone man's direction.

"Ukuthula iziki! Let the private conversation across the room be heard loud and clear to my ears." Guyunis said. After he said the spell, he dropped his hand. The group of humans, that were around the blonde-haired woman, suddenly went mute; he was now able to hear the black-haired man's conversation on the phone.

"Stephen, I'm very confused at the moment. Tell me slowly what happened at the shop again please." an elderly, dry voice said.

"Ava ran another of our customers off, Greta!" the man that Guyunis figured was Stephen replied. "We had two, non-human customers walk into the store—one of them was Angel Irene's oldest son, Bile Vile. Ava yelled at him... she assaulted him by kicking and then slapping him and—"

"Angel Irene's oldest son was in the shop today?" the elderly woman that was on the phone's other end suddenly seemed very interested, and alarmed.

"Yes!"

"Where is he now, Stephen?" the elderly woman asked.

"I have no idea; after Ava slapped him, he ran off. He ran right through the front door. There are shards and pieces of glass everywhere in the front and—"

Guyunis undid the spell that he did to make the crowd around the blonde-haired woman go mute so he could hear what the man named Stephen was saying on the phone then he shoved himself through the crowd that was still around the blonde-haired woman. He heard a lot of watch-its and gasps of surprise as he went by; his steel-toed, brown leather waterproof logger boots crunched the broken glass that came from the store's front door as he left the store. He felt a shard go through the sole of one of his boots but he didn't slow up to see if it went all the way through or not. Once he was out of the store, he turned right; when the sound of sirens reached his ears, he went faster. Two fears gripped him at once—he feared that whoever it was that was driving the fuzzmobile that was making the siren sounds was coming for him and he feared for his older bruder. Where had Bile gone after running out of the store? Was he okay? A third fear joined them two after he contemplated teleporting back to the house that he and Bile had left nearly twenty minutes ago. This third fear was basic; it was an automatic fear that chilled him down to the core.

What would mum do if he returned home without Bile? Would she yell, scream, and holler at him for coming back alone or would she grab him in a hug then tell him to go up to his room while she went to Amsterdam to find Bile? Bile had pretty much left him alone but he understood why; he'd of run off too if that human had assaulted him instead of Bile—his drive to get away would of forced him to run. After doing as his drive told him to, and after going to where his terrified feet had taken him to, he'd of been gripped in sadness, and then embarrassment and shame. He was surprised that Bile hadn't said anything to the woman after she started yelling at him and he was really surprised that Bile had said nothing after the woman kicked and then slapped him. While he took the beatings that his former adoption families had given him, he hadn't stayed quiet during them—he had said a lot of things, and he had made a lot of promises, and he had lashed out when his punisher had gotten him angry enough to forget the fear of whatever weapon they were using on him. While he would of run off after some human assaulted him, he wouldn't of done so without defending himself first—he was confident enough now to know when the time was right to show defense. The woman who assaulted his bruder had no right in hurting his bruder; Bile was doing nothing wrong... he had just been looking at the stuff that was put out in the store. He was minding his own business.

Guyunis ran down the sidewalk then made a left turn before sliding to a stop. He turned around then ran across the street; he jumped over the hoods of two cars then he turned a full, tight circle after another car side-swiped him. Car horns blared and humans yelled at him to get out of the way; after he got his balance back, he ran on across the street. He ran up the sidewalk on the street that he had just risked his life to get to then, just as the pain in his hip started to grip and slow him down, he made a turn into the alley that opened off the sidewalk. He slid to a stop then leaned against the building that was on the right side of the alley. His hip started to throb right when he heard a shaky sob coming from the alley's back. Guyunis turned his head then squinted his eyes; the light that was in the alley was pretty poor but he could see that there was someone sitting on a dumpster that was in the far back of the alley.

"My m-m-ma is not a wh-wh-whore or a s-s-slut..." the person that was on the dumpster sobbed.

"Bile?" Guyunis said. The reply was a loud sob following by near incoherent talk about the person not being evil like his father; it took him a few seconds to realize that the sobber was Bile. "Bile, it's—"

"Gew... away." Bile said back shakily.

The worst thing that he could do was ask if Bile was okay—he knew that his bruder wasn't okay; Bile wouldn't be crying or telling him to go away if he was okay. He could tell from his bruder's shaky, sob-filled voice that he was experiencing an emotional moment and, with his knowing how one of the male gender felt when them teary moments happened, he knew that Bile felt degraded and ashamed of himself over his allowing his emotions to get the better of him. He knew the feeling all too well of how one of the male gender felt when they had a teary moment—he had felt degraded and ashamed of himself on each of the times that he had cried on the edge of whatever piece of busted-up furniture that he was given to sleep on by his adoption families after the heads of them families verbally or physically abused or punished him for unknown reasons. Mathis Meyer Jr. had come very near to breaking his wrist and jaw once when he swung that heavy black belt that he always used as a form of punishment on him and Lenora Meyer had actually fractured his elbow twice after swinging the pipe that she frequently used as her punishment weapon on him.

He reached his hand up; he touched the left side of his face when he remembered Lenora's habit of slapping him five times in rapid succession in front of her and her husband's children once a day. If he so much as flinched while lifting the couch up to run the vacuum under it, she would come running up to him with that hand ready to swing. She had once kicked her foot into his groin for not wrapping the hose up after he used it to water her damn flowers and she had also swung a broom at his backside when the kitchen floor was still damp five minutes after he mopped it. He had to endure twenty years with Lenora and Mathis Meyer Jr... twenty long years of abuse from them. Guyunis shook his head then started looking around the alley that he and Bile were in.

As sad as it was, the only one who allowed him the privilege of going outside during the daytime hours was Angel Irene—he was allowed to spend as much time as he wanted outside when he was a toddler and then a young child and then as an early teenager; his new mum had let him do a lot of things that the humans hadn't. He had felt the sun's rays hit and warm his skin; he had felt the wind blow his hair back; and he had heard all the daytime sounds when she had him as a toddler, a young child, and then as an early teenager; his knowledge on what it was like to be outside during the daytime hours had nearly been zapped out of his memory banks after he was adopted by the Meyer family. Thanks to his nearly forgetting what the sun felt like against his skin, he had nearly run back into the Meyer's home after receiving the envelope that his new adoption forms were in—if Mathis Meyer Jr. hadn't been following and beating him with that black belt of his, he probably would of run back into the house.

Up to his exit of the Meyer house, he had taken the world in through either the house's windows or through the quick glance around when he was outside, tending the Meyer's yard during the night hours. Due to his busy, servant schedule, he had caught very little tv when he was living with the Meyer family; much of what he knew of the world around him had come from his reading the old, moldy books that the Meyer family had thrown in a box that was in their attic.

While he had several authors that he liked, his most favorite was H.P. Lovecraft, the American author who achieved posthumous fame through his influential works of horror fiction. Mr. Lovecraft had wrote of shadowy alleys that had a half-seen horror to them. What he saw here, in this actual alley, was far from horrible—it wasn't scary at all but, he guessed that if he had happened on it during the nighttime hours, he might of been a trifle bit edgy.

The entire alley was cloaked in shadows, but that was mostly because of the buildings that surrounded it on three sides—the buildings that shielded the alley also made it feel a few degrees cooler. The bricks of the three buildings that surrounded the alley weren't thick with green slime or crawling with all manner of bugs; they were simply chilly and rough in texture. There was garbage on the ground but that had come from either when the humans had missed the dumpster when they went to throw some trash away or from when a rodent or a stray dog or cat came around looking for some food that was thrown away. There were no shabbily dressed, scraggly faced homeless people sitting against the sides of the buildings with brown bags of liquor lying across their laps. There was some graffiti on the walls of the buildings though—stuff written by teenage kids or by gangs or by people who saw themselves as artists. The dumpster that was in the back of the alley wasn't slick with slime or oil; it was dirty but that could be explained by it being a plain old dumpster.

When he moved slightly from the side of the building that he was leaning against, his hip screamed in pain—he nearly collapsed! He bit down on his lower lip to keep the yell of pain from escaping then he leaned against the side of the building as he walked over to the dumpster that Bile was sitting on. It was his left hip that was hurting him; he didn't know if it was just badly bruised or cracked or broken—all he knew was that it hurt him and bad! When he reached the dumpster, he dropped to his knees. He felt blood flow between his teeth but he didn't release the tight hold that he had on his lip. He slowly pulled his legs out from under him; when he was sitting on the ground, he let his lip go. He gasped his pain, then sighed in relief over letting that gasp out, then leaned back.

"That human was wrong-k, Bile." he said to his brother. Bile had his back turned to him. It looked like he had stopped crying; he was quiet now. "Mum's not what that human said she is... Mum's a good human. She's—"

"Ma's not a human, Guyunis." Bile said.

"She looks it." Guyunis mumbled. Bile turned around then looked at him. His glowing, yellow-green eyes were glazed. "Well... she does. She looks very human-like and—"

"Ma is not a human." Bile repeated, with a growl. "She's almost pure Vilian."

"Pure what?" Guyunis asked.

"Vilian."

"What's a Vilian?"

Good question; he actually had no answer to it because he didn't know what a Vilian was himself. His ma had told him that a Vilian was a being from the planet Gamma Vile, a planet that was in the M-51 Galaxy that his father had under his control and the planet where his father, and all of his family, had actually been born on. His ma had never really told him what, exactly, a Vilian was or what a Vilian looked like. Bile looked at Guyunis for a long time before laughing; it started out low, and barely audible, then it picked up until it was a big roar. He laughed until tears rolled out from his nearly closed eyes. He laughed until his sides, stomach, and chest hurt. He slapped his hands against the lid of the dumpster twice; when a cat jumped out from behind the dumpster, he laughed even harder. His roar-like laughter only started to taper off when Guyunis asked him if he had gone crazy. His face, along with being sore, felt like elastic when the last laugh left him. When he was done with laughing, he slid from the lid of the dumpster then went towards Guyunis; when he reached him, he held his hand out for him to grab. Guyunis grabbed it slowly; Bile yanked him to his feet quickly.

"Why are you limping, G?" Bile asked. Guyunis had moaned rather loudly then had grabbed his leg after being pulled to his feet. When Guyunis said nothing in return, Bile walked forward; he ran his hand over his brother's left leg slowly before lightly touching the hip that was attached to it.

"Dude! Hands off!" Guyunis exclaimed. He slapped Bile's hand off his hip. "I don't swing-k that way."

"Did that human back at the store do something to hurt your leg, man?" Bile asked.

"No," Guyunis moved off to lean against a building.

"What's wrong with your leg then, bro?"

All of what happened to him in the last few minutes was forgotten; his pride had taken a serious beating after he was kicked in the ass and then slapped in the face by that woman but, in the last five to ten minutes that he was in this alley, it had healed. He now had something more important to worry about—Guyunis, who wasn't just his brother but also one of his younger brothers. When Guyunis continued to not answer his question about what was wrong with him, and when he continued to act like his leg was hurting him, he walked over to his side. A slight fight was held between them as he turned Guyunis around to the side that didn't seem to be causing him grief—there wasn't much to their fight; Guyunis shoved him back a few times, and he swung his fist at him twice. He was unfazed by his adoptive brother's antics; he was insistent on finding out what was wrong with him

Guyunis lunged at him; he responded by pushing him back then he moved in closer. He pinned his brother to the side of the building that was on the left side of the alley then he placed his hand on his brother's hip; just that one touch made Guyunis's drive to fight and get away from him grow. He found that he had to really rely on his strength to keep Guyunis up against the building—while Guyunis wasn't as strong as he was, he was still pretty strong and he was giving him a go for his money. When Bile had Guyunis where he wanted him to be, he reached his hand back down to feel the leg that his brother was having problems with; what he felt he didn't much like. He knew that the ball of the thigh bone was usually located inside the hip socket... the bone of Guyunis's thigh was located outside of his hip socket—there was a noticeable lump on his brother's leg, right above his hip socket, that was hard. He gently released Guyunis then stepped back after finding what he thought was the problem.

"Think it's time we went home, G." Bile said.

"I'll be fine," Guyunis said. His hoodie was pulled back in his struggle to get free from Bile. "just need a minu-k-te."

"Who hurt you, Guyunis?" Bile asked. "Was it that woman back in the shop? Did she kick you or—"

"No, when I was running-k to find you, a car swiped me." Guyunis replied. His arms shook slightly as he worked to keep himself balanced on one leg. "I'll be fine, swear."

"A car swiped you?" Bile blinked his eyes in shock.

"I'll be fine." Guyunis insisted. "Gimme a min—"

"No! We're going home and now." Bile exclaimed. He grabbed Guyunis by his wrist then teleported them home in a near panic.

In the near forty minutes that her sons were out of the house, she had gotten nothing done—which she found quite surprising since she had planned to go out to do a little flower shopping for the house's flowerbeds that morning, after breakfast was consumed and after her sons went out to do their planned activities. Lhaklar went off about five minutes after Bile and Guyunis did; he had said something about wanting to check more of the town out. Hazaar and Lazeer had left the house together about eight or so minutes after Lhaklar had; Hazaar had said something about wanting to walk around their new neighborhood and Lazeer had said something about wanting to see what the Rhine river and its surrounding forest looked like. All of her sons had taken care of the things that they had eaten either on or with; since the right side of the kitchen sink wasn't full of dirty dishes, she couldn't do the dishes—why waste the dish detergent when there wasn't enough dishes to clean? The clothes hamper that was in the basement had some dirty clothes in it—mostly socks and underwear—but, again, why waste the clothes detergent when there wasn't enough laundry to wash? After her sons went off, she had just sat on her butt on the living room's sectional couch. She had done nothing but stare at the tv, which was rather abnormal for her—with five boys to watch over and a place to keep up, she usually had a lot to do. With this being a new house, and with her family just settling in to living in this new house, there was nothing to do. She was bored, point-blank.

The boys were all out and about; they were either exploring their new neighborhood, checking into and then making new "territories", or were meeting new people, making new friends, or, quite possibly, getting into some sort of mischief like all mid-teenage boys do. The house was clean; there wasn't enough dishes to worry about cleaning, and there wasn't enough laundry to worry about washing. She should of shoved off for one of the shops in town that sold flowers... She should of gotten herself ready for flower-planting and yard spiffing; instead, she was just sitting and staring at the tv—of which was on but wasn't really being watched.

"Just the jitters, that's all. You had them when you and the boys moved to Green River, Wyoming, remember? Lhaklar, Hazaar, and Lazeer had just gotten home when you decided to make the move. They were all too willing to help out in making the transition from Clearwater County, Alberta, Canada to Green River, Wyoming a smooth one. Instead of lazing around, using their one-month vacation to just relax and rest up from school, they busted their buns in helping you get the apartment that you moved from New York to Wyoming fixed up. After everything was done, you just sat and stared at one of the apartment's walls... just like you are now. The move was over with, everything was done, you grew nervous over what would happen next. It's normal, everyone experiences the jitters after the move's been completed."

She hoped that that was true; she hunched her shoulders, then sighed loudly in an attempt to get over the nervous feeling that had rolled over her after her sons had all left the house, then stood up. The money that she took from the envelope earlier that morning was on the fireplace mantle; she grabbed it then she checked her pockets to see if the house's keys were on her. When she found that they were, she left the house. She was just pushing the key into the door's lock when a heated breeze blew her hair over her shoulders. She shivered. She trembled slightly then she turned around; what she saw after doing so made her heart skip two beats.

"Ma!" the keys that were in her hand fell to the porch's landing; Bile was walking towards her and it looked like he was either carrying or letting Guyunis rest most of his weight on him.

"Bile, what..." that was all she could say; she found herself unable to say anything else. Her legs began to feel like rubber when she saw that Guyunis was grimacing with each step that he took.

"Ma, I think G's dislocated his hip." Bile said.

"I have not!" Guyunis exclaimed. "It's bruised, nothing-k more."

"What happened for his hip to be hurt?" Angel asked. All at once, she was able to speak. She walked over to where Bile and Guyunis were; when she got to them, she quickly threw Guyunis's right arm over her shoulder.

"He says that a car swiped him," Bile said. "He was—"

"A what hit him!"

Angel helped Guyunis up the porch steps then she stopped long enough to gather the keys that she had dropped; with the keys to the house back in her hand, she quickly unlocked and then opened the door. She and Bile guided Guyunis into the house slowly and gently after the door was opened. They took Guyunis to the living room then they slowly sat him down on the sectional couch. Angel left the room when Guyunis was comfortably seated; she was fast in going into the dining room, and then kitchen—a bowl, from one of the kitchen cabinets, was retrieved and then filled with water before she went back to the living room.

Bile and Guyunis were still in the room; Bile was standing by the gas-powered fireplace while Guyunis was still on the couch. She observed that her oldest son looked rather upset, which prompted her to ask him what was wrong. What he told her made her blood boil.

Many of the common stereotypes claimed that redheads were highly or fiery-tempered and highly sexed when, in reality, not all redheads were. She had met many men and women over the years that had red hair that were either as mellow or as quiet as could be so she knew that the stereotype of redheads being highly or fiery-tempered was incorrect; she didn't know much on the aspect of redheads being highly sexed or sex addicts though. She didn't go around, asking if this redheaded human or if that redheaded human was "fire in the bed" or not. For her, the stereotype of a red-haired person being fiery-tempered was correct but she didn't think it had anything to do with the color of her hair. She believed that she had inherited her temper from her father, who she knew had a rather violent temper, and she also believed that his temper was inherited from his father, who had a rather vicious temper that was dangerous and somewhat scary. When her son told her what happened in the store that he and Guyunis went into in Amsterdam, she very nearly exploded. She controlled herself as best she could as he told her what happened.

"Who told you that it was fine to go to Amsterdam, son?" Angel asked her son. She knew that what he had told her was true. If what he had told her wasn't true then why was his right cheek a bruised, dark green color? While Bile had lied to her in the past, he had never lied about something so serious before.

"I went there three days ago... I figured that you was cool with it since you said nothing about my going there after I got home and—"

"I wasn't able to comment on it three days ago, Bile. After working to get the house fixed up, and after doing some heavy-duty shopping, I was tired." Angel replied quickly. She placed the bowl of water down on the coffee table then sat down beside Guyunis. She took a breath in; she said nothing more until after she had calmed down some. "Bile, you know my rule on going off to places that aren't near home."

"Ask permission first."

"Correct. You didn't ask for my permission to go to Amsterdam three days ago and you didn't ask if you could go to Amsterdam today and you also didn't ask if it was okay with me if Guyunis could go with you." Angel said. Bile looked down at his hands, which were folded in front of him. "You ask me the next time you want to go to Amsterdam—don't you go off someplace without telling me where you're going and don't go taking your brothers anywhere without telling me. Here me?"

"Yes, ma."

"Next time you don't, there'll be consequences. I understand that this is a new place for you and I understand that you want to explore a little but be smart and safe in your travels." Angel said.

She gave her oldest son two options—to either go to the dining room or to his room—then she turned her attention towards Guyunis; she knew that her chiding Bile had made him nervous because, when she turned to look at him, he jumped. Bile left the room to do as she had told him to do at the same time that she placed her hand on Guyunis's shoulder; she stood after doing this then waved her hand over the bowl of water that was on the table. A stream of water rose up after she waved her hand over the bowl; she moved the stream of water over to Guyunis's hip then she started to rotate her hands around his hip region. The stream of water, after settling over Guyunis's hip, changed colors—went from being clear to blue then to dark blue before changing to green—as she revolved it around his injury. When the water's color went from green to purple, she swung her hand up. She made the purple-colored water wrap around her hand then she turned; she returned the water that was around her hand to the bowl that was on the table. The purple-colored water made the rest of the water that was in the bowl turn purple for a few seconds then it all went back to being clear again.

"Wh-what was tha-k-t, mum?" Guyunis asked. He hadn't just sat in place, or looked at the wall, when she was working to heal his injured leg; he was watching the entire time. He slowly stretched his left leg before standing up..

"Water Healing—it's a sub-power in the Elemental Water power." Angel explained. Guyunis slowly walked around the living room.

"I had no idea you could to tha-k-t, mum." Guyunis said. "I feel no pain... It's like—"

"It's an advanced move in the Elemental Water power. It can also be done in the Elemental Fire, Ground, and Air powers." Angel said. "You're all healed up now."

"C-can you teach me, mum?" Guyunis asked. While she had taught him how to use some of his powers, she hadn't taught him the power of healing with water.

"I will one day. You will need to get a bit more steady and advanced in your powers before I can." Angel said. Guyunis walked over to her then stopped; he reached into his cargo pants for the money that she gave him earlier that morning. Instead of taking the money back, Angel held her hand up. "You keep that. It's yours—whatever money I give you is yours to keep. You can either save it up or use it on whatever you wish to use it on."

"You sure, mum?" Guyunis asked. He looked down at the fifty euro note for a second before stuffing it back into the pocket that he took it from.

"Yes, that is your money now. You keep it." Angel said. She then stood up from the couch. "I suggest that you go up to your room—read a magazine or something. You and Bile have both had a rough morning."