A/N: Okay I know its been almost a month but here it is, here is the next chapter. However I have to say this is a special chapter, this chapter marks my 5,000 view of this story. As I wanted to make a big thing of this mile stone, and as you've been waiting so long, I've decided to give you a special offer for first time only here is two chapters for price of one.
Originally it was just going to be one extra long chapter, but honestly it was far to long. So I've split it into two, here is the first of the two. I'll upload the second one a little bit latter.
Chapter Ten: Matthew 7:15
It was colder now and a cool breeze had begun to blow. Leonard shivered slightly as he walked down the dimly lit streets. How it could go from being so hot to so cold, was baffling to him. But he had no time to worry about that now. He carried on, and there before he saw the sign, "Hobs Lane" he mummed to himself, this was it. He began to walk down the dark lane.
As Leonard walked down, he began to doubt his decision, was this really the best choice he could make? But then what other choice did he have? Penny was dying, she needed help and this was his only option. He could no longer wait for Sheldon to come back, but at the same time he also couldn't abandon his friend. Leonard hung his head slightly, residual guilt still washing through him. What else could he do? What other choice was there?
The street soon came to its end and sure enough there was the turning. Leonard continued down this new street. It was clearly an old street, one which had been poorly maintained, the pavement beneath Leonards feet was cracked. The road had several potholes in it. The weeds were overgrown. All the houses looked empty; some even had boards over the windows.
Decomposing waste littered the area; Leonard even saw a rat at one point. But truthfully he was more worried by the snake that was chasing it. A great nagging sensation was in the back of Leonards mind, part of him told him he was making a mistake, but then what other choice did he have left?
Asking himself this seemed to ease the sensation, but it refused to leave. And there before Leonard was it, his destination. Of all the houses it seemed the most presentable, in fact Leonard would go as far as say it looked almost liveable. This was a good sign. Slowly Leonard walked up the path way towards the house.
Approaching the door, he hesitated, once again asking himself if this was the right choice, once again racking his brain for a different answer, and once again reaching the same conclusion. Leonard gasped the knocker and banged at the door. He waited for some answer, for moments there was only silence and then the door opened.
Leonard looked around to see who opened it, but found no one. Leonard paused and quickly looked over his shoulder, there was no one there, and yet he could not shake the feeling he was being watched. In his confusion, Leonard had failed to notice the breeze had stopped blowing, the exact moment the door opened.
Seeing no other option, Leonard pushed open the door and walked in. Reaching over Leonard flicked a switch and the dim light began to flicker open. The inside of the house, resembled the outside, in that it was old, but not yet run down. The floors were dusty, but the walls were clean. Looking around Leonard was unsure what to do next. "Hello? Hello is anyone here? I've come, as you said I should. Are you here?"
No one replied, Leonard was about to examine the front room, when he heard the sound of a phone ringing, upstairs. Hesitating slightly, Leonard began his accent up the stairs. The old stairs creaked underneath his feet. Emerging on the landing Leonard paused to take in his new surroundings. Much like the first floor, the second was neglected but not completely ruined. Never the less cracks in the walls quickly grabbed Leonards attention, following them up he realised they went all the way across the celling.
Throughout the floor, the phone continued to ring. It seemed to becoming from the master bedroom. Walking into it, Leonard quickly saw the phone. It was an old cell phone which someone had left on the bed. Walking over, Leonard picked it up, opened it and dialled the green button. Pressing the phone to his ear, he hesitated before speaking "Hello?" he timidly asked.
No one replied. Leonard stood there for several minutes uncertain and then the dial rang. Confused Leonard hung up. What was going on? He placed the phone back on the bed and turned to leave. He was about to walk off when he heard the phone beep. Slowly Leonard turned around again, and picked it up. Opening the phone, he saw the message on the scene. He had a text.
Howard smiled, the beach was so quiet and peaceful, and the sun was so warm. He chuckled silently as he laid back, soon the girls would be coming, just as they always did. This had to be somewhere in his top ten dreams, shame he never got to the end, but oh well. It wouldn't be much longer now. As listened it was like the waves were calling his name…Howard…Howard…
"Howard," Bernadette shouted.
Gasping for breath Howard sat up, he silently cursed before turning to face his wife. "What is it?" he snapped irritated.
"Leonards gone!"
"Gone? What do you mean gone? Gone where?"
"I don't know he's… he's just not here."
"Maybe he just went out for some air or to get something?"
"No his bed's not been slept in, he left some time last night?"
"So sometime after you speech about us all leaving tomorrow?" Howard added irritably.
Bernadette shook her head, "No," she mummed, "no he wouldn't have run off, so he could stay here, he wouldn't do something that stupid, he just wouldn't."
"He might." Howard said pessimistically."
"Come on this is Leonard we're talking about, he may be desperate but he's not stupid."
"Maybe, but then where is he?"
They were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. The pair gave each other a look before running out of the room and into the hall. And sure enough standing there was Leonard. He looked exhausted, like he hadn't slept a wink all night. For a few minutes the three of them just stood there in silence.
And then Bernadette broke the silence. "Where have you been?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly, as she already suspected the answer.
"Wild sixth, fifty-six street," Leonard replied sleepily.
"Wild sixth, fifty-six street? But that means, oh Leonard you didn't?"
Leonard nodded "I did."
"But…But… are you mad? Don't you realise the danger you just put yourself in? You could have been killed or kidnapped or tortured or who knows what sort of horrors could have happened to you. What were you thinking?"
"I was thinking we needed help, and I was out of options. I went alone; if it failed the affects would only affect me."
Bernadette shook her head in disbelief, "are you really that thick? Do you honestly think it would just be you? Were all in danger, if one of us put themselves in jeopardy, it puts all of us in jeopardy? What were you thinking?"
"I'm sorry," Howard butted in, "but what are you talking about, Leonard where did you go last night?"
"I went to see Bilis." Leonard replied solemnly.
Howard stared at his friend, "have you gone completely insane? We all agreed it was too dangerous to try to follow through. We have no idea who or what Bilis is, what he wants with us or anything, he could have killed you he could… he could have…"
Bernadette coughed loudly, realising he was just repeating what had already said, Howard stopped.
"Look," Leonard said irritated, brought on mostly by tiredness. "Okay I made the choice, it was mine to make, I did it, it's done, there is no point arguing over it."
Bernadette stared at him in disbelief, "you don't seem to get it," she snapped, "were on the run from the abominations, the dark beings, the forces of blackness and evil themselves, we are constantly in danger, every day we survive it's mostly down to luck, and despite all this you still feel the need to put us in more danger. You could have potentially put all are lives in even more danger, all because you were too petty to admit you had lost. What the Hell were you thinking?"
Silence fell, Leonard just stood there, too shocked to know what to say next. Bernadette and Howard also didn't speak. Bernadette was herself shocked by what she had just said. So no one spoke. No one had any idea how to continue this conversation. Eventually realising that nothing was going to happen, Howard spoke up. "Well what happened?"
"Sorry?"
"With Bilis, did you see him? What did he say? What's going on? What happened?"
Leonard paused unsure whether or not to reply; he hesitated for a few for moments before beginning "well I went round the house, it loved like it had been lived in, but only barely. I didn't see him, he wasn't there, but I got this." He took out the cell phone. "Here read it."
He tossed the phone to Bernadette, cautiously she opened it. Howard stared over her shoulder, there was a text.
"Hello Leonard, so glad to see you agreed to take up my offer. Sorry about all this cloak and dagger stuff, but as you can gather keeping my activities from Asmodues and Mammon is difficult. Still as you've accepted my offer I will fulfil my promise. But I sense that you may not trust me just yet. So I've arranged a little something. I will contact you with this phone, at Mid-day in four days. See you soon. Bilis."
Bernadette looked up at Leonard, "well it looks like we won't be leaving today after all." She said coldly. "But just remember, anything that goes wrong from this point, anything what so ever. It's all your fault." And with that she just walked off.
Howard started after, his eyes focused. Leonard went to speak, but Howard shook his head, "not now mate, please I'm in no mood to talk. Go get some sleep, you look horrible."
"Fine," Leonard replied. He walked off to his room, but paused and walked in with Penny, he looked at his love, still staring blankly at the celling. "I did it for you," he whispered, "I would do anything, risk anything all for you." And with that he walked off to get some sleep.
Amy emerged out from the street and began to walk up towards dark building. She peered in, carefully checking to make sure the room was empty, before walking in. She was making her way over to elevator, when a hoarse voice shouted "Stop."
Reluctantly Amy turned round, out of one of the rooms, the old man had emerged. He was standing up straight, and from the looks of him and the smell of his breath, he was presently only mildly tipsy. Amy gulped, now the moment of truth. How would he react to what had happened last night?
Walking up, the man snarled, "the rents due." He snapped.
Amy felt a sense of relief coming over her, he didn't remember. However her relief was short lived, she still owed this man money, money that she did not have. "Well you see it's like this…" Amy began. The man snarled and Amy shuddered. He was a lot bigger than she was, and this time she was completely alone. She discovered last night he was not above violence towards his tenants, at least when he had been drinking. How would he react when she asked for more time?
Amy built her courage, she just had to tell him the truth there was nothing else for it. And if he kicked her out, well they could always find somewhere else. That was presuming he didn't… no she put those thoughts from her mind, she had to focus. Amy brought in one big breath, so she could say it all at once.
She was about to speak, when a sudden breeze blew, for a second there was the sound of wings flapping. Amy blinked and looking around, spotted several notes on the man's desk. "Um, I left it on your desk." Amy pointed. The man spun round. He had to hold his head, as he moved to quick for a man of his size and age.
Heck, he practically shot over to the desk; he counted the money in seconds, before stuffing the whole lot down his pocket. "Very well, I hope you enjoy your continued stay here." He grumbled his back still to Amy. Amy ran into the elevator, as she began to climb up, her confusion began to change to suspicion.
By the time the elevator stopped, Amy was already well past suspicious. She ran along the corridor to her room, fuddling with key, she once again managed to jam the rusty metal into the ancient mechanism, she pulled the door open. Her boyfriend sat there on her bed; in his left hand he held a book and in his right he held a small pile of notes.
"Sheldon?" Amy asked, almost accusingly "what is that?"
"Money," Sheldon replied, "Here have some," he handed Amy some of the notes.
Amy stared at Sheldon waiting for a more detailed answer, but Sheldon had just returned to reading his book.
"Sheldon," Amy snapped.
"What?" he replied looking slightly annoyed at being interrupted from his reading.
"Where did you get all this money? Yesterday we were broke." Amy paused and then her eyes widened, "You… You didn't steal it did you?"
Sheldon stared at Amy in shock, "No I didn't I would never steal money, my mother didn't raise a thief." He suddenly snapped back angrily, "how dare you accuse me of stealing? Especially considering I just saved you from potentially another bash to the head."
Amy staggered backwards, surprised by this sudden mood swing. "I'm sorry, your right, thank you for doing that, I know you would never steal money, I don't know what came over me."
Sheldon nodded, "its okay," he said in a much calmer voice.
"But where did you get all that money then?"
"I sold Daniels truck." Sheldon replied casually. He returned to his book.
Now it was Amy's turn to stare in shock. "You…You sold the truck, without consulting me?"
"Yes," Sheldon causally flicked the page.
"What the hell where you thinking?" Amy shouted, she was overcome with a strange fury, one which even she didn't understand.
Sheldon looked up, for a moment he was surprised by her reaction, but getting over the shock his eyes narrowed. "I was thinking," Sheldon said, his voice somewhat lower than it normally was, "that we needed money, to follow your plan, and that it was the only thing we had that would be worth anything to sell."
"But…But we needed that truck," Amy gasped.
"No we didn't," Sheldon replied, "we haven't used it since we got to this tiny town, it's just been sitting outside gathering dust. If we need transportation, we have me; I can fly us anywhere, in a fraction of the time it would take to drive anywhere. You know what we really need. Money! Cause having a lack of it yesterday led to you getting hit and me almost killing a man in a fit of anger."
There was a pause, Sheldon panted slightly for breath. Amy just stood there, partially out of shock, and partially as much as she racked her brains she couldn't think of a single counter argument. Sheldon's logic was sound, everything he had said was right. Selling that truck was the right thing to do, so why did it make her so angry he had done it?
"Still, you should have at least consulted me first." Amy said trying to salvage her argument.
Sheldon looked at in that way only he could, like he was literally looking inside her…could he look inside her? Amy didn't know, he seemed to be able to know what was broken or damaged when he examined their bodies after fights or incidents, despite never touching them. Could he see through objects? But if he could, then when he was looking at her that meant he could have…
Amy blushed bright red, and almost instantly her anger was replaced with another warm sensation, which filled her body. Amy shook slightly, before collapsing onto the bed next to Sheldon. Sheldon got his feet and gave Amy one other look, before walking over to the window and jumping out. There was another fluttering sound and quick flash of white before nothing.
Amy sat there alone, why had she gotten so angry? It was like her, she was a very even tempered woman, she virtually never got angry. And yet recently she had been getting techy with Sheldon. Why? Amy had no idea, still she examined the money that they now had, this was enough to keep them going for a sometime. Truthfully Amy knew that Sheldon had been right. And now she had a feeling she wouldn't see him again for few hours. Still looking at the money, it gave Amy an idea. She smiled slightly before walking off.
Leonard groaned, his eyes fluttered open, looking at the clock he realised he had slept through most of the day, it was almost five. Groaning he got to his feet and walked out of the room. Howard was sat there on the coach. Leonard paused unsure whether or not to sit down. Howard didn't look up. After thinking it through for a moment, he decided to speak.
"Hey,"
"Hi," Howard replied without looking up.
"Where's Bernadette?"
"Went out shopping, says we need more food if we're going to stay her for a bit longer, and don't worry she took her cross."
"Okay, how's Penny?"
"Slowly dying." Howard replied pessimistically.
Leonard rolled his eyes, "What the matter with you?"
Now Howard looked up. "What is the matter with me? Oh I don't know, maybe the fact are lives are in danger?"
"Were safe now,"
"For the moment, what happens when they find us? And don't you dare mention that accursed jerk. Why the hell, do you put so much blind faith in him?"
"He's are friend," Leonard angrily shot back.
"Friend? Friend? He abandoned us! He never helped us, what right to claim to my friendship does he have?"
"He didn't mean to, he was probably just trying to get away from the demons. He'll find us eventually."
Howard shook his head, "forget it, I give up. If you're not going to wise up to the cold hard reality, I'm not going to try. I've got better ways to waste my breath. Let's just change the subject okay?"
Leonard didn't reply, he simply turned and walked out of the room. Howard was clearly still in a bad mood. Leonard didn't hesitate; he walked straight into Penny's room. Slowly he walked around her bed, before sitting down. Penny had finally fallen asleep. She always looked so beautiful while she slept, so peaceful. Leonard sighed, gently he stroked her cheek. As he did, just for a moment he saw Penny smile. But it was over in a moment.
Leonard shook his head sadly. Once again he was reminded of the fact that she needed help, the 'cold hard reality' as Howard had called it lay before him. His poor sick girlfriend, she had always put it upon herself to protect him. Now it fell on him to protect her. Leonard shook his head sadly, there was no way he could do that, he was too weak, he couldn't even protect her against natural dangers, let alone supernatural ones. But now thanks to him, they had some hope, now they had some hope. And that made Leonard feel better.
"Things are bleak my dear," he whispered kindly, "but there not hopeless yet, I'll get you well again, I promise, I'll do anything for you. No matter what it takes I'll do anything."
Howard sat there in his chair, Leonard had left him; from the sound of it he was talking to his girlfriend while she slept. Howard slumped back in his chair, he was alone. Bernadette was still angry with him, Leonard couldn't be rational and Penny was near insane. He was completely alone.
Sitting there Howard couldn't help but wish Raj was there with him. No that was wrong, he didn't want Raj to be here with him; no he wanted to be there with Raj. He chuckled to himself as he thought about his best friend. There he would be making dinner in his apartment; he would always make too much, and would always be happy to share. Then they would discuss the new comic book or game or show or something, and then Raj would say something without realising the full implications and Howard would silently chuckle at him. And then they would probably play Grand Theft Auto or something.
Howard shook his head, he missed his best friend. He wondered how Raj was reacting to all this, presumably he would still be badgering the police to find them. It was only really then, that it dawned on Howard he would probably never see Raj again; he would never see his best friend again. Howard shook his head sadly, no he probably won't. And then what would happen to Raj? Well he still had Stuart, so he wouldn't be completely alone.
But still he would be left behind, he would probably spend the rest of his life wondering what happened to them, wondering if they had died or if they were all just playing an elaborate joke upon him and any moment they would jump out and surprise him. Yeah that's what he would be wondering. Once again Howard shook his head, in times like this he really wished he had his best friend.
But he didn't, and that was probably for the best. At least Raj's life wasn't in danger like there's was. At least one of them was safe.
Amy sat there on the edge of her bed, it was half-past nine, and it was nearly time to find out how her idea had gone down. She remembered the look on Sheldon's face when he first told him, at first he had been strongly against it, but once Amy had made her point. And given him all the details he had finally accepted she was right, this was particularly beneficial for him.
And then Amy heard the flutter of wings, and the window clicked open. Sheldon emerged through. From the look on his face, Amy could tell that he wasn't especially happy. And standing there Amy could see why, Sheldon's nose was bloody and his chest was bruised. He was also soaking wet, it was still raining heavily outside.
"So how did it go?"
Sheldon didn't reply, he just began to walk forward, as he did his bruises faded and the blood ran back up his nose. Sheldon let out a slight groan, shaking his wet wings, before receding them in. Amy grabbed the towel she had gotten when he went out, and handed it to Sheldon. He quickly began to dry himself.
After finishing, he grabbed his shirt and put it back on. It was only then that he turned to Amy.
"So how did it go?" She repeated herself.
Sheldon looked at her, "Amy, are you really sure it's necessary for me to do this?"
Amy gave Sheldon an exasperated look. "Yes, of course it is. Sheldon you yourself agreed, that your skills with fighting are significantly lacking. Your physical strength may mean you normally get away with it; strength is never a match for skill. As such taking these self-defence classes will help you next time you have to face the demons."
Sheldon sighed, "This sort of thing takes months if not years to learn, I may have an eidetic memory, but that doesn't mean I can build a muscle memory in a few days."
"Well you don't need to become a master fighter, you just need to learn the basics. Besides you've been in several fights already, so it's not like your starting with nothing. By the way what happened to your nose?"
"I didn't manage to block in time and my partner hit it."
"Are you okay,"
"I'm fine, but I had to wait till the end of the lesson before I could heal it." Sheldon paused, he looked like he was about to say something else, but then changed his mind and remained silent.
"You will be going to next one tomorrow, won't you?"
Sheldon hesitated, but seeing Amy's eyes, he sighed before finally saying "okay fine I'll go."
"Thanks you Sheldon." She paused, "You did remember to turn your strength and durability back on their normal levels?"
Sheldon gave her a look, "of course I did. Do you think I would go into even a mock fight against a normal person?"
"Well we have to be careful, I wouldn't want to you to send someone flying, or them to break their hand trying to hit to you."
Sheldon face fell, "Believe me," he said solemnly, "I know, and I don't want that to happen, far more than you do." He sighed slightly before sinking into a chair.
Amy felt a lump emerge in her throat. Great that was the second time to do that she had managed to offend and upset her boyfriend, at this rate she would have talked him into leaving before the end of the week. She needed something to his mind of it, and fast.
"Um Sheldon," Amy began.
Her boyfriend looked up at her, "yes?"
"Well it's not too late, so how about we get some more training done?"
Sheldon gave her an exasperated look, "ok," he said reluctantly, with that he got to his feet. "What do you suggest we do?"
"Well so far we've been focusing on your physical abilities, which I must say are very impressive. But that's not all you can do, how about we have a closer look at your supernatural ones."
"Could you please not use that term. Supernatural means it has no answer in science. My abilities are strictly Paranormal; they have an answer it just hasn't been found yet."
Amy rolled her eyes and smirked slightly, "Okay your paranormal abilities then."
Sheldon nodded, in an almost happy matter. "So," Amy continued "Now we know you can heal extensive wounds with your blood and you can your wings can sense when demons are nearby. How does that work anyway?"
Sheldon paused, "well it's sort of like this, my Wings are entirely pure, or rather entirely positive in nature. Demons are entirely negative in nature. When they are in the area, they two complete opposites interfere with each other; hence it causes my wings to dim."
Amy looked at him, "Sounds like Pseudoscience, honestly."
Sheldon shrugged, "Like I said, I don't really understand much of it myself. You're just going to have to except my analogies, its closest answer I can give you without a five hour lecture and a blackboard to include the equations. And even that wouldn't be completely accurate."
"Any way back to the point, we know you can heal and can sense demons. But that's not all you can do, you told me that you know there are other things you can do, but you never learned about them, because you were worried about attracting demons. Well I get the feeling now's time for you to find out."
Sheldon paused unsure, "I mean I've seen some of the things you can do so, far and I have to say there pretty impressive. So if you could learn some more, it might just put you a tier high enough to take on Asmodeus or the others."
"I don't think it will work like that,"
"Well we have to at least try." Amy paused, something had just occurred to her. "And another thing I've seen you do. You remember when we saw those demons summoning Azazel in the alley? You managed to cause us to vanish into thin air and reappear back in the hotel. And later when we were confronted by Asmodues you were able to cause you, Leonard and Penny to disappear and reappear outside the truck. You can teleport."
Sheldon's expression had changed to somewhat uncomfortable, he hesitated for a moment before finally speaking "Yes, I suppose in I can."
"Show me,"
Sheldon hesitated slight, "I would rather not," he admitted, "it's incredibly draining on my power levels, it's practically exhausting to perform."
"Sheldon, just make a short jump, say outside this room. You can pull that off can't you?"
Sheldon sighed, "Okay fine, I can do that. But only once, as I said it's very tiring, hence why I only use it in emergency situations."
Amy nodded, "very well, only once. Now show me."
Sheldon still looked uncomfortable, but complied. He got off the bed and walked into the centre of the room. There was a pause and then he mummed something under his breath, Amy waited but nothing happened.
"It didn't work?" Amy said, "Sheldon why didn't it work?"
Sheldon paused unsure, "I guess I didn't want it to work enough." He replied.
"Well try again,"
Sheldon still looked unwilling, but he complied. He began to speak, when Amy interrupted him.
"Sheldon? Why do you keep saying that under your breath?"
Sheldon looked up at her, "No particular reason, do you want me to stop?"
"No its okay; carry on."
Sheldon nodded, he spoke again. There was a sudden fluttering noise and then he just vanished. Amy jumped to her feet and rushed forward into the space where he had stood. He had literally vanished into thin air. And then a knocking rang out.
"Amy…Amy…Amy"
Amy rushed over and pulled open the door, and there stood Sheldon. Amy backed away surprised. "That was incredible," she murmured as Sheldon walked in.
"Thank you," Sheldon replied half-heartedly, he just looked glad that it was over.
"Well let's get on with seeing what else you can do." Amy said cheerfully.
However Sheldon clearly had other ideas, "Amy can we wait till tomorrow, I'm tired and I would like to get some sleep."
Amy considered arguing, but looking at him, it was clear Sheldon really was tired, so she decided to drop the point. "Okay fine, good night then Sheldon."
"Good night Amy," Sheldon once again removed his shirt and let his wings unfold, before turning and walking over to the window, he opened it. It was still raining heavily outside.
"It's raining pretty heavily; you could spend the night inside. I don't want you to get all wet."
"I'll be fine Amy, there is some cover up there. Don't worry I can handle it." And with that he simply walked out and disappeared. Amy sighed, she felt a bit sad at being alone again, but she had still managed to get him to do several things that would help him in the end so all in all it had been a successful day. Sighing Amy closed the window, before preparing for bed herself.
Still even as she lay, Amy could help but thinking about Sheldon, alone without cover up there on the roof, forced to endure the terrors of this storm. Amy had to admit it seemed a bit odd all this rain, admittedly rain was common this time of year up here, but it all seemed to have come at once.
Leonard paused and once again he checked his watch it was Eleven Fifty-Seven. The four days had gone by slowly, Bernadette had almost ignored him over the first two, by the third she had begun to soften and on the fourth she had started talking to him again. Still he could sense that she hadn't gotten over this yet.
Howard was less negative, he was cynical as ever but he had seemingly gotten over it by the second day. Now it was almost time, time to see if Leonard's choice would pay off or not. All three of them sat in the room. Bilis would contact them at mid-day today. Leonard himself was probably feeling the most worried. He had risked a lot making this choice, and as Bernadette said if it failed it would all be his fault.
Looking at his watch he found it was now two minutes to twelve. He held the crude old flip screen phone he had found, in his hand, before carefully placing it on the table before him. Any minute now he would contact them. He would contact them? Wouldn't he?
Even before Leonard had decided to go, he had had this terrible suspicion that this would prove to be nothing, it was possible Bilis was simply just an insane man who happened to get it right every so often. I mean who was he? And how did he know all this? Could this all just be another dead end?
Leonard was grabbed from his thoughts by the sound of the phone beeping. All six eyes quickly fell upon it, and then all three of them scrambled forward trying to grab it. Leonard succeeded as he was the closest. He quickly opened the phone and began to read the text.
"Well read it out loud," Bernadette snapped.
"Okay," Leonard began "Hello, as promised here I am. Now I understand that some of you may doubt me, so to give you some trust, I promise to answer five questions completely truthfully. You can ask anything you like, however due to worries about this end being bugged, you can only ask Yes or No questions. And if you break the rules, you forfeit the rest of your questions, feel free to begin."
There was a pause and they all looked up at each other.
"It sounds almost like a game," Howard said.
Bernadette nodded, "Indeed, okay we only get five questions so we have to be careful what we ask, only important things. We have to learn as much as possible from this one session we won't get another."
It was then they realised that Leonard was already typing a reply, before anyone could say anything Leonard had already hit send.
"Leonard," Bernadette shouted, "what did I just say?" With that she snatched the phone from him. She paused before looking up slowly, "What did you ask him?" she said curious.
"I asked if he could cure Penny. What does he say?"
The phone beeped, Bernadette peered down at the answer, "Yes," she replied.
"Well quick ask him if he will?"
"Wait a minute that will be two questions gone already." Howard butted in.
"Yes, But Penny is the priority," Leonard replied.
"He's right," Bernadette said. She began to type before hitting send. They all waited in silence, and then the phone beeped, "Yes." Bernadette read.
"Okay, now that's cleared up what do we ask next?" Howard asked.
"Can we trust him?" Leonard suggested.
"To broad," Bernadette replied "we can't specify what we can trust him to do."
"Okay, how about, can we trust him not to betray us to either Asmodues or Mammon, or any other demon?"
"Now that would work,"
"Hold on," Howard said, "You realise it's entirely possible, that he could be lying about all this."
"Well," Bernadette said, "Let's assume just for the moment that he is telling the truth." She began to type away, finally finishing she hit send. There was a short pause and then there was the now familiar beep to tell a reply had arrived. Bernadette read it before looking, up "he says yes."
"Okay we've got two more questions, what should we ask him?" Leonard asked.
"Who is he?" Howard suggested.
"Not a yes or no question,"
"Okay how about… say… What about is he evil?"
"To broad," Bernadette replied.
"Does he have good intentions for us?"
"To Broad,"
"Does he know where Sheldon is?" Leonard suddenly asked.
Howard gave him an annoyed look, but Bernadette had already started typing.
There was a pause and then the answered arrived, Bernadette's face fell slightly, "No" she said shaking her head. "Okay last question, what do we ask? It's got to matter?"
They all paused, unsure what to ask, what could they ask in only yes and no questions? Then an idea occurred to Leonard.
"Ask if he wants us to meet him?" he asked.
There was a pause, Howard and Bernadette racked their brains trying to think of something better but, nothing came to them. Begrudgingly Bernadette typed in the question. For a few moments there was silence. They all continued to stand there staring at each other, waiting for the answer.
There was silence; they could tell they were all thinking the same thing. And then the phone beeped.
"What does it say?" Leonard asked.
Bernadette slowly, read she looked up "Yes," she replied, "He wants us to meet him in his house, on Saturday at 6pm. He says he will do it all there."
There was a pause and they all looked at each other, "so do we go or not?" Howard asked.
"We can't go; it's just not safe; it could all be a trap."
"But it could also be are only chance to save Penny."
"Leonard it's too dangerous."
"But we've got to try. I'll go alone, that way if it is a trap only I'll get caught."
"I can't let you take that risk."
"It's my life; I'll be the only one that has anything to lose."
"Leonard, it doesn't work like that, were your friends, we care about you, were not going to let you potentially throw your life away over a chance."
"Look I've got to."
"But Leonard…"
"No, I really have to. What other choice do I have? Penny's not doing that well, if this carries on she will die. We all know that, it's inevitable. I decided we couldn't leave, I made it so. Now I have to follow this through. It's her only chance."
"You would risk everything over a small chance as this?"
"If you were in my shoes, wouldn't you?"
Silence fell; Howard and Bernadette looked at one another. Neither of them said a single word, but truthfully they didn't need to.
"Okay," Bernadette finally said, "You can go through with this, but be careful, this could be very dangerous."
Leonard nodded; he had to do what he had to do. For Penny.
It had been several days since they touched on the subject of Sheldon's more Paranormal abilities. They had just continued basic training; going over what he could and couldn't do, and exploring ways they could improve. Sheldon had been continuing his self-defences classes, despite his initial claims he proved to be a fast learner. Years of being beaten up had apparently left him able to quite accurately predict attacks and given him very sharp reactions.
Sheldon and Amy's relationship had been very erratic over the last few days; they kept somehow going from getting along famously, to not speaking for hours on end. Neither of them truthfully understood this, and both put it down to the stress they were under affecting there moods. Never the less at the moment they were in a good patch. Sheldon had just finished his nightly class and they were alone in Amy's room together. And Amy felt it was about time they got back to the subject that Sheldon had been avoiding.
"Sheldon," Amy said calmly,
Her boyfriend looked up, "yes Amy?"
"It's been several days now, we really should examine your Paranormal abilities."
Almost immediately Sheldon's posture shifted, from relaxed to defensive, all in a single second. "Could we leave it till the morning, it is getting late you know."
Amy stared at him, "Sheldon," she said, "why do you keep putting this off, where constantly in great danger, why do you keep refusing to examine what might be are best chance for survival? What are you afraid of?"
Silence fell; Sheldon didn't reply he just sat there as if he was looking for an answer. "Come on," Amy continued, "I get this is all a bit scary for you, but we don't really have much choice, we've got to be ready, the demons will catch up with us sooner or later and when they do we have to be as ready for them as possible. So what is the matter?"
Sheldon didn't reply, he just let out one great sigh. "Very well," he said almost sadly, "you are right, I'll do it."
"Okay, you said you read about your abilities in your DNA, how does that work?"
Sheldon paused and didn't reply, "Pass me some paper," he calmly said, Amy obliged. Sheldon took the paper and placed it on the table. He walked over to a cupboard and took out a pin. Taking the pin he pressed it hard into his finger. Calmly he held the pieced finger over the paper and waited till the blood started to drip out. Calmly he pushed his finger down and spread it in one straight line across the paper. Finishing he held his hand up and looked down at the line. His eyes carefully focused upon it.
Then he took another sheet of paper and began to write down several complex symbols onto it, he continued to write until eventually he filled the page. Turning it over, he carried on writing. He continued with several other pages before finally finishing. He handed them to Amy.
Amy stared at the mass of strange symbols before her, "What is all this?" she asked
"What it says,"
"What?"
"You didn't expect it to be written in English did you?"
Amy stared at him confusion what exactly was he talking about out? What was all this? "Well, what is it then?" she asked.
"That is Enochian, the language of the angels. Now the Dee versions just for the tourists, but this is closest we can get to the real deal. It's not perfect you understand, due to the fact that it's merely a loose translation form the actual data included in my DNA, subconsciously translated by the angelic parts of my mind into what should be my natural language, but isn't as I'm not an angel. However it might still be good enough for us."
Amy stared at it, "Sheldon what does it say?"
Sheldon shrugged, "it's difficult to tell," he replied.
"You mean you can't read it?"
"I can read it, well parts of it at least, but it's very difficult to translate. It's not a language anything like our language you understand. But like all languages everything on some level goes down to points of reference and understanding. The Points of reference included in this are things that neither us or really anyone living has ever seen, so even if you were to translate it, it's incredibly difficult to understand what it says."
Amy stared at Sheldon in disbelief, "so your saying we can't actually read it?"
Sheldon shook his head, "No, I can translate parts of it, but we won't be able to get the full impact of the text. And exactly what it says will be at least difficult for us to understand."
Amy stared at her boyfriend confused, "well do it then." She said.
Sheldon nodded, he took another sheet of paper and began writing however he had barely got to the second syllable, before he crossed it out and started rewriting. He paused and then started again. For the next twenty minutes that's all he did, write, erase, restart, write, erase restart. They were getting nowhere.
"Okay," Amy said, "you said you've read this before, so you must have some understanding of what some of it means."
Sheldon turned to face her, "indeed I do."
"Well can't you use that as a guide to translate the rest?"
Sheldon shook his head sadly, "No, I can't, I'm sorry but it just doesn't work like that."
"Well what can you translate?"
Sheldon paused, "Well I mostly understand this sentence." He said pointing to one of the lines of text,
"What does it say?"
"Loosely translated it means: You are a Nephilim, the child of the Sons of God and the Daughters of Mankind."
"Okay, I thought you were only translating lines, you didn't already understand."
"I am," Sheldon replied looking up, "it's just that line is repeated a lot, each time written in a different way."
Amy sighed this was clearly significantly more complicated then she had expected, "Okay just keep working, tell me when you find anything."
Sheldon nodded and got back to work. Watching him Amy couldn't help but wonder why he had been so unwilling to do this? Although clearly it was very hard work, she knew for a fact Sheldon was not lazy. Never before had any suggestion of hard work ever stopped him. Could it be he didn't want to know what some of the information said? Now that was possible. It wasn't just information about what he could do after all; it was pretty much a text book about him. But if that was true, what else could be in there that he didn't want to know?
Sheldon continued to work on for well over an hour, Amy was just getting ready to tell him to call it a night when Sheldon called out that he found something.
"What is it?" Amy asked, straightening up to look.
"Come and have look." Sheldon replied. He seemed somewhat happier suddenly.
Unsure, Amy began walking over. Standing behind him she glanced over his shoulder and began to read the large pile of notes he had wrote. By the time she finished, she could barely believe what she had read.
"No, it can't be. Surely you can't do that." Amy said, "It just sounds to sci-fi."
Sheldon shrugged. "That's what it says." He replied. "I guess I must be able to."
"Well test it then."
Sheldon reread the notes several times, before thinking carefully about what he was going to do. And then finally having everything set in his mind, he got up and to give it a try.
Both Sheldon and Amy woke up late the next morning, being up late the night before testing this new discovery. It had taken several tries and a lot of effort, but they had finally discovered he could indeed do it. Not to any level that was particularly impressive to watch, but still it was something. And they could now work on it. However they had other plans intended for today.
Sheldon of course left by window, once again it had been raining all night. He was secretly thankful that he had fallen asleep inside Amy's room, rather than outside. It was certainly a lot more comfortable. However he knew it couldn't continue, tonight he had to go back to the roof, it was the only way.
While pausing for a moment Sheldon wondered how much longer they would be staying here for. It was now over a month since he had last seen his friends. He couldn't help but wonder how they were doing. They should be safer, after all the demons were chasing him, not them. But still he probably wouldn't feel completely better until he got back to them. Never the less he waited there outside the building; Amy would be down in a few minutes.
Amy sighed as she stepped outside the building; it had been an unusual night to say the least, when she had imagined sharing a room alone with Sheldon for the first time she honestly had never involved that. Still they had succeeded, and now the new about another one of his abilities, one which Amy felt sure would one day greatly help him.
Emerging from the elevator, Amy very slowly stuck her head out. There he was the old man, sleeping at his desk. Amy smiled, and quickly walked out towards the door. She looked back him sleeping there, an almost empty bottle of wine by him. Amy shuddered slightly as she thought about once again. Still he was asleep and harmless now, with that she quickly exited the room and met up with Sheldon, together the two of them walked off.
They hadn't been gone any more than thirty minutes, when another figure walked into the room. They ancient bell no longer rang. The figure was tall, but fat middle aged man, he had greasy skin and was wearing fine clothes, including a top hat. He had black hair and brown eyes. He was wearing several gold rings, he also had a golden chain around his fat neck it was attached to an amulet, on the amulet was ascribed something in Hebrew. As he walked in the room seemed to get slightly darker.
Walking over the counter he banged his hand on the desk. The old man jumped up with a start, "what do you want?" he slurred looking up at this new figure.
The figure started back at him with a cold look on his face, "I'm after information," he said with a cold deep voice.
"What do you think this is a library? Get out!"
The figure placed his hand in his pocket, reaching in he brought out several gold coins which scattered on the desk. The old man's eyes opened as wide as plates at the sight of them. "I can make it worth your while," the figure said, "Now Mr…"
"Maurice," the man replied quickly, his eyes still fixed upon the coins. They darted from each one to the next greedily.
"Very well Maurice, do we have an agreement?"
"What is it that you want to know?"
"Some information about your tenants,"
"Now that's illegal, I suppose of course I might be persuaded to reveal that information, for a price."
The figured chuckled slightly, "Avarice," he mummed to himself, "It seems I am dealing with a man after my own heart." He reached into his pocket and brought out several other coins, which he dropped onto the table.
Maurice's eyes were practically glowing now he gingerly reached out to touch the coins, but the figures hand moved like lightning and grabbed him by the arm. Maurice suddenly found himself in a vice like grip, he struggled but the man was strong, much stronger than he looked. He looked up and saw his eyes staring at him almost playfully.
"Information first, then I let you touch the coins."
"Okay, what tenants do you want to know about?"
"I just need to know, have any of your tenants, been either a tall but thin man with brown hair, a sophisticated voice and blue eyes. Or a somewhat short, slightly chubby woman with has brown hair and eyes. Both are in there early thirties and both speak with an American accent."
Maurice paused, "I think I can remember someone like that," he began, "trouble is my memory is terrible, I blame it on the stuff I drink you know, it damages the mind. I would drink better stuff you understand but the only trouble is that better stuff is expensive these days, so…"
Before he even finished the figure had placed in his hand back in his pocket and scattered a few more coins upon the table. Maurice's pulse was going so fast now he had to stand up, as he was still somewhat under, he shook slightly, but managed to steady himself.
"Well?" the figure asked, "what do you know?"
Maurice shrugged, "Oh yeah, there is a woman who fitted that criteria, she checked in a few weeks ago, said she was staying for a sort while, but then she extended her lease for another month. She checked in under the name, Amy."
The figures eyes lit up, "Thank you that has been most useful to me."
"Yeah yeah," Maurice muttered to the man. He quickly snatched up the coins from the desk, fumbling as fast as he could to pull them all in close. He smiled happily as he held them close to him. Only to suddenly feel a shooting pain spread through his arms. He let out a yell, dropping the coins upon the floor.
The figure watched with interest. Maurice started at his arms, long black lines were spreading up his veins. He started in confusion and horror. Slowly he looked up, as he did he felt his vision starting to blur. The figure chuckled coldly.
"Oh just one thing I forgot to mention," the figure began.
Maurice began to stager, he tried to steady himself, but the room was spinning.
"It's just I'm always worried that someone might try and steal my gold, so I had it all treated with a special poison. Quite nasty stuff really. I suppose I should have mentioned that before."
Maurice tried to lunge for the figure, but with a single swipe of his back hand he was send flying into his wall. Over coming in agony he collapsed onto the floor. His body was overcome with an agonising burning sensation; it felt like he was cooking to death. He tried to scream but his throat was already to dry. He just lay there, futilely rocking back and forth, while shaking his arms and legs in agony.
The figure had already started picking up the coins again, "I suppose if you don't want them, I'll take them back then." He let out another cruel laugh.
Maurice looked up at him in horror, his vision was already too blurred to make out anything other than shapes, and his voice sounded so far away. "Who are you?" he just managed in a horse whisper of a voice the figured looked up from scooping up the last of the gold. "Well Maurice, my name is Mammon. And I have a good feeling we'll be seeing each other again soon. Still don't worry, I quite like you, you know."
Maurice let out one final gasp of breath, before falling back unconscious. Mammon took a Cigar out of his pocket. He turned and began to walk away, he paused and turned back to face Maurice "Oh don't worry mate, that poison isn't lethal it just really hurts…"
He lit his cigar, took a puff and continued to walk away before pausing once more. "…Just as long as you haven't ingested any Alcohol in the last twenty four hours that." He let out a cold chuckle before leaving the building.
Okay that's the first of the two. The second one I'll upload just as soon as someone starts reading this one. So its probably up by the time you read this (depending on the time it takes, it might not be). Still I hope you enjoyed this and it was worth the wait. And if it wasn't, well at least its over and its not ridiculously long.
So (if its up) please proceed to the next chapter.
And as always please review.