Thomas then felt a sense of uneasiness, like he had somehow woke
Professor Bruttenholm from the grave, and he looked around. A woman with
black hair, pale skin and dark clothing walked in. The hair on the back of
his neck stood up and he knew that the woman was one of them. She went
over to he and John's waitress and spoke to her a moment before the stupid
woman pointed at Thomas.
Tip Nazi time... no tip for her!
The dark woman walked over to the Thomas and looked very cautious. Thomas just looked unamused. "Good afternoon," she said, "I'm looking for John Meyer's, Salle said he was sitting with you."
"This is Johnny's day off so fuck off, Lady," Thomas said kindly, the combination of the tone and the words confused the woman to no end.
"Who are you?"
"Who are you?" Thomas asked back, "and don't be childish by saying that you asked first. Childishness is a pet peeve of mine."
"I'll tell you if you tell me your name."
"Deal," he said, "lady's first."
"Liz Sherman."
"Thomas Mallory."
"John never mentioned you before."
"He never mentioned you to me either, Ms. Sherman, and I've known Johnny a hell of a lot longer than you have, I assure you."
"Where do you know him from?"
"Where do you know him from?"
"Not this again."
"You know the drill but I'll go first this time. We worked together doing a mini-internship at information services. We flirted with the idea of dating for a while until he was transferred to wherever he is now... and lets just say that the name and address of this place, his favorite haunt, just sort of fell into my lap last week. I took the information instead of a bonus. Your turn."
"I work with him, we are friends and confidants and that is why I don't believe you."
"What part do you not believe, Ms. Sherman? I'm fascinated."
"First off, John would never date you."
"Because I'm a guy?"
"No, because you are an asshole, now if you don't mind where is he?"
"Bathroom," Thomas used a thumbs-up to point to the men's room in the back, "he'll be out in a second."
"He invited me out to coffee today and I know he would not have introduced us. What are you doing here, Mr. Mallory, and for real this time?"
"I'm here, Ms. Sherman, and this is on the level, to get John back," Thomas said but then cut off the rest of what he wanted to say when John reemerged from the bathroom, "well here is Johnny now."
John looked up and face went ashen at the sight of Sherman and Thomas laughed inside, this was priceless. He quickly walked back and smiled to us both. "Liz, I'm sorry, I lost track of time but Thomas tends to have that effect on me."
"It's ok," Sherman smiled back, "he and I have just been talking."
"Let me do the proper introductions. Thomas Mallory, Liz Sherman, a friend of mine from work and close friend. Liz Sherman, Thomas Mallory, an old friend, collogue and short fiction writer."
"She looks more like a pyro to me," Thomas smiled and Liz looked rather startled.
John sighed and pulled Liz up a chair, "Oh and I forgot to mention he is a hacker and all around busy-body-pain-in-the-ass?"
"I gathered that," Liz said as she sat down, "and I don't mind if I join you."
"I do," Thomas said, "Johnny and I are talking shop. No outsiders involved."
"Jealous much?" Liz asked.
"Not as bad as your boyfriend."
"Enough," John said, "just enough, Thomas, I know you are trying to make a point but really, this has gone on far enough. Liz is my friend and I wish you would respect her."
Thomas stood up and drew a $100 bill from his cuff and threw it down on the table. "It's Liz and her click that are making you miserable and emotionally lonely. You think about the job offer and get back to me next week, or sooner. Opportunities in New Orleans next month, just in time for Mardi Grais and you know how many times we talked about going to the festival," Thomas leaned down and kissed John lightly on the lips, making sure that Sherman got the best view possible and pulled back, attempting not to be smug but the look on her face was priceless: a cross between outrage and complete disbelief.
"One would think you like making an ass out of me in public," John said but Thomas ignored the hurt tone to his voice.
"The ends justify the means," Thomas smiled to Sherman, "good afternoon, Ms. Sherman. Good day."
Thomas walked out of the coffee shop and never looked back.
John watched Thomas go and sighed, doing his best to fight off the latest bout of blush. The man was still cocky and a heartless prick but he did mean well. That statement didn't make any sense, but then again neither did Mallory nine times out of ten. "You let him kiss you?" Liz asked, "I cannot believe you let him do that."
"Neither can I," John whispered, "I just cannot believe that he would do that, period."
"He said that you two wanted to date?"
"Although it would be flattering, I never considered dating him."
"Why on earth would dating him be flattering?"
"He's good looking, smart and funny."
"Not to mention the world's biggest jackass! You could do ten times better than him."
"He doesn't want to date me," John quickly changed the subject, "he wants me to work for him, that's all."
"Work for him? So that explains why he wanted to get rid of me so badly," Liz said, "you told him where to stick it though, right?"
John didn't say anything, he just looked down into his half empty coffee cup. "John, you told him you didn't want to the job, right?" Liz asked again.
"I told him I'd think about it," he finally said.
"Seriously, John?"
"Yeah, seriously, it's a good offer and I would already know most of the people I'd be working with."
"Oh," Liz said, suddenly getting very quiet, and John knew that he had hurt her.
John sighed and then said, "Liz, I love working with you guys but with your boyfriend angry at me all the time..."
"He is not my boyfriend."
"But you know who I mean and he makes life really hard. There is nothing in the universe can I do to please him. He thinks that I'm trying to steal you and that really does hurt because I do care about him and because I have to work with him all the time that makes my life miserable."
"Well maybe if you didn't ask me out all the time to where he cannot easy follow then he wouldn't think that," Liz snapped uncharacteristically and John physically flinched.
"You are right," John said as he stood up and almost knocked the chair over and got the waitresses attention, "check please. I presume you can find your way home, Liz; it doesn't take a psychic or a psycho to tell that your boyfriend is waiting for you around here. Give him my regards; tell him I'm never taking you out again. I'm going for a walk."
"Are you gonna call Mallory?"
"Why? Do you think I should?"
"No," Liz said, "I don't. He wants to get you into bed and keep you around as some harem bodyguard deal."
"He is a very sexual being and I hate the way he makes me blush," John admitted quietly, "but I do like the way he makes me feel more than useful."
"We just make you feel useful, how can you say that?"
"You, your boyfriend and Abe, you guys have each other and I wish you guys would realize that you have me to."
"Yeah, well," Liz quickly got out of her chair and headed toward the door, "it doesn't appear that we will have you for much longer."
The waitress came over and handed John the bill, and he asked her for a pen. On the back of the bill he wrote down his phone number down, "I'm sorry my friend was a prick to you. I'm not gay and I think you are rather attractive, Shirley, and the change is for you for putting up with me and my crazy friends this afternoon."
Shirley looked surprised when John gave her Thomas' $100 bill and blushed, "Thank... Thank you, John, you are a sweet guy and I appreciate it."
"My work schedule is hell but call me soon and maybe we can go out sometime," John smiled as she blushed and muttered her thanks. John smiled and headed out the door. Liz and her normal car was no were in sight and he didn't have that nagging sense that Hellboy was around anywhere either. When it started to rain he decided that walking was probably a bad idea and picked up his motorbike from the back parking lot and drove back to the Bureau. He didn't think that he would beat Liz back but he had six more hours of his day off and he intended to enjoy every second of them, by getting a few extra hours sleep. He switched to decaffeinated coffee at noon so he could nap the rest of the day away.
He revved up his motorbike and took off down the street, like the preverbal bat out of hell. Maybe if he rode fast enough he could out run the thoughts flying around in his mind. It was tempting to just take off and never go back to the Bureau, live a life of a hacker elision. Anything was better than living the charmed existence of fighting all sorts of unpleasant undead or demonic things. Although the one last week did remind him of his third grade teacher.
Liz did make a point about him leaving. What good was he if he wasn't going to stick around? How many other people have been working close to them and just take off when a better offer came along? "I'm being stupid," he muttered into the wind. A hard gust of wind blew back at him, as if saying 'you are stupid and how, kid'. When he came to from his mental musings, he couldn't even remember what he was musing about, he had no clue where he was. He decided to continue and find a dinner or at least a green sign that gave a hint to where on earth, or New Jersey, he was. John felt that something was very wrong, and stopped to see the airport in the distance. John's skin crawled as he felt propelled against his will to go to the airport. His intuition screamed trap and not just any trap, a Mallory trap. Thomas was not going to take no for an answer this time.
To bad because he was going to have to.
Never make plans because someone more powerful than you will find out about them and do their best to ruin them for you. John entered his bedroom and found two letters waiting for him. One was from Abe, a quick note without an envelope asking him to stop by when he came back in to play a game of chess and the second from David Donavan, which was sealed up tighter than a drum. He had made a quick call to David while he had been in the bathroom to check the rumor mill concerning Mallory. Looks like Donavan found things and fast. Mallory was powerful but not the most discreet man in existence. He opened the envelope and found three slips of paper.
"Paranormal Kingpin, Thomas Mallory, finally classified as rating 10 telepathic."
"Mallory, woos and seduces Madaline Matthews, commercialized witch, into agreeing to side with him in upcoming struggle with the B.P.R.D."
"Mallory and Matthews have done something using the nine occult triangles to former apprentice, John Meyers."
The last slip of paper was highlighted in neon blue highlighter. John sighed and put the slips back into the envelope and sealed it. He folded the envelope in half and stuck it in his back pocket. He changed his shirt, a long sleeve white shirt, into a tight black t-shirt with a faded print of Lon Chaney, Jr. as the Wolf Man on it. He tossed his shoes off and walked to Abe's room in his socks. Abe had been moved back into Professor Bruttenholm's former study, as was requested in the Professors will, and was finally given the thumbs up when Dr. Manning thought he saw the Professors' ghost in there three months ago. If Abe has seen the ghost he certainly wasn't telling anyone about it.
The Professor's study had remained almost exactly has it had been when he was alive. A chess table was the only real addition, a gift John gave to Abe last Christmas, since the only chess set around here was a cheap plastic one. Abe was the only one who seemed to be able to stand him lately.
John knocked on the door and the door opened. He stumbled in and saw Abe sitting by the table, reading a book, using a pencil to turn the pages. "Liz got back over an hour ago, where have you been?"
"I... I'm not sure, I rode around and got lost in a train of thought I guess."
"That man is dangerous and I don't want you to ever see him again."
"Man?"
"Don't play stupid, John, it doesn't become you. Sir Thomas Mallory, the paranormal kingpin and archenemy to the Professor. Liz told Hellboy and me what had happened and that Mallory scared her. He is a mentally unstable telepath, John, and I don't know what he wants with you but for your own safety stay away from him," Abe looked up from the book and blinked twice, well blinked as much as a merman can blink, "you blacked out."
"Excuse me?"
"Why you took so long."
John shifted his weight from foot to foot, looking a bit unsteady himself. He tried not to think about anything too hard in front of Abe, but he mind kept wandering back to the airport and the thought of Mallory waiting for him ever so patiently. John sighed, "I feel like my willpower is being sucked from me."
"John?"
"Nothing," John said suddenly, "I'm sorry I guess I should go and take a nap."
"No, I want to talk to you."
"About what?"
"Why you feel like you don't belong here with us. Look, John, I know you are trying to help him but just stay away from Liz for a while."
"I don't want anything to do with Liz for a very long while, Abe."
"John, we have trusted you and the Professor trusted you to stay here with us. I know what Mallory is probably offering is much more glamorous than the life you lead now."
"It's not about the money, hell, it's not even about being above ground."
"What is it about then, John?"
"Feeling like I belong," he hung his head, "go ahead and laugh at me, Abe, I know it's probably very hysterical..."
"No," Abe walked over to him, "it's not. I understand what you mean but if you want us to trust you and belong with you then you need to start trusting us and belonging with us. Neither of which is easy, I know."
"I don't want to leave."
"Then don't and don't let Mallory trick you into leaving either."
John held his head in his hands as he felt a headache coming on, "The joys of migraines."
"Your head?"
"It aches a bit; probably all that decaf coffee, I can sometimes trick my mind into thinking it's the real thing."
"I don't understand."
"Caffeine headache."
"Why don't you just sit down and rest a minute?"
"Nah, I'll get back to my room."
"Are you scared of me?"
"No, of course not," John looked at Abe and sighed, "I owe you an apology."
That startled Abe, "An apology? For what?"
"This has been bugging me for a while and I'm really embarrassed by it."
"John, are you okay? You've become white as a ghost, please sit down," Abe said, taking a firm grip on John's arm and leading to a nearby chair. This was not the first time Abe had touched him, they would shake hands after every game and when John had fallen (stupid new shoe strings) Abe had helped him up because Hellboy was too busy laughing his red ass off. Abe's touch was just like the mer-man, strong but gentle.
But not this time.
This time it burned, like that time his Uncle accidentally splashed him with 350 degree hot oil. The touch burned and his mind was on fire. He felt nothing but unholy fire flowing through his veins like a fire fight was being fought inside his body. Sadly this was not too far from the truth.
Tip Nazi time... no tip for her!
The dark woman walked over to the Thomas and looked very cautious. Thomas just looked unamused. "Good afternoon," she said, "I'm looking for John Meyer's, Salle said he was sitting with you."
"This is Johnny's day off so fuck off, Lady," Thomas said kindly, the combination of the tone and the words confused the woman to no end.
"Who are you?"
"Who are you?" Thomas asked back, "and don't be childish by saying that you asked first. Childishness is a pet peeve of mine."
"I'll tell you if you tell me your name."
"Deal," he said, "lady's first."
"Liz Sherman."
"Thomas Mallory."
"John never mentioned you before."
"He never mentioned you to me either, Ms. Sherman, and I've known Johnny a hell of a lot longer than you have, I assure you."
"Where do you know him from?"
"Where do you know him from?"
"Not this again."
"You know the drill but I'll go first this time. We worked together doing a mini-internship at information services. We flirted with the idea of dating for a while until he was transferred to wherever he is now... and lets just say that the name and address of this place, his favorite haunt, just sort of fell into my lap last week. I took the information instead of a bonus. Your turn."
"I work with him, we are friends and confidants and that is why I don't believe you."
"What part do you not believe, Ms. Sherman? I'm fascinated."
"First off, John would never date you."
"Because I'm a guy?"
"No, because you are an asshole, now if you don't mind where is he?"
"Bathroom," Thomas used a thumbs-up to point to the men's room in the back, "he'll be out in a second."
"He invited me out to coffee today and I know he would not have introduced us. What are you doing here, Mr. Mallory, and for real this time?"
"I'm here, Ms. Sherman, and this is on the level, to get John back," Thomas said but then cut off the rest of what he wanted to say when John reemerged from the bathroom, "well here is Johnny now."
John looked up and face went ashen at the sight of Sherman and Thomas laughed inside, this was priceless. He quickly walked back and smiled to us both. "Liz, I'm sorry, I lost track of time but Thomas tends to have that effect on me."
"It's ok," Sherman smiled back, "he and I have just been talking."
"Let me do the proper introductions. Thomas Mallory, Liz Sherman, a friend of mine from work and close friend. Liz Sherman, Thomas Mallory, an old friend, collogue and short fiction writer."
"She looks more like a pyro to me," Thomas smiled and Liz looked rather startled.
John sighed and pulled Liz up a chair, "Oh and I forgot to mention he is a hacker and all around busy-body-pain-in-the-ass?"
"I gathered that," Liz said as she sat down, "and I don't mind if I join you."
"I do," Thomas said, "Johnny and I are talking shop. No outsiders involved."
"Jealous much?" Liz asked.
"Not as bad as your boyfriend."
"Enough," John said, "just enough, Thomas, I know you are trying to make a point but really, this has gone on far enough. Liz is my friend and I wish you would respect her."
Thomas stood up and drew a $100 bill from his cuff and threw it down on the table. "It's Liz and her click that are making you miserable and emotionally lonely. You think about the job offer and get back to me next week, or sooner. Opportunities in New Orleans next month, just in time for Mardi Grais and you know how many times we talked about going to the festival," Thomas leaned down and kissed John lightly on the lips, making sure that Sherman got the best view possible and pulled back, attempting not to be smug but the look on her face was priceless: a cross between outrage and complete disbelief.
"One would think you like making an ass out of me in public," John said but Thomas ignored the hurt tone to his voice.
"The ends justify the means," Thomas smiled to Sherman, "good afternoon, Ms. Sherman. Good day."
Thomas walked out of the coffee shop and never looked back.
John watched Thomas go and sighed, doing his best to fight off the latest bout of blush. The man was still cocky and a heartless prick but he did mean well. That statement didn't make any sense, but then again neither did Mallory nine times out of ten. "You let him kiss you?" Liz asked, "I cannot believe you let him do that."
"Neither can I," John whispered, "I just cannot believe that he would do that, period."
"He said that you two wanted to date?"
"Although it would be flattering, I never considered dating him."
"Why on earth would dating him be flattering?"
"He's good looking, smart and funny."
"Not to mention the world's biggest jackass! You could do ten times better than him."
"He doesn't want to date me," John quickly changed the subject, "he wants me to work for him, that's all."
"Work for him? So that explains why he wanted to get rid of me so badly," Liz said, "you told him where to stick it though, right?"
John didn't say anything, he just looked down into his half empty coffee cup. "John, you told him you didn't want to the job, right?" Liz asked again.
"I told him I'd think about it," he finally said.
"Seriously, John?"
"Yeah, seriously, it's a good offer and I would already know most of the people I'd be working with."
"Oh," Liz said, suddenly getting very quiet, and John knew that he had hurt her.
John sighed and then said, "Liz, I love working with you guys but with your boyfriend angry at me all the time..."
"He is not my boyfriend."
"But you know who I mean and he makes life really hard. There is nothing in the universe can I do to please him. He thinks that I'm trying to steal you and that really does hurt because I do care about him and because I have to work with him all the time that makes my life miserable."
"Well maybe if you didn't ask me out all the time to where he cannot easy follow then he wouldn't think that," Liz snapped uncharacteristically and John physically flinched.
"You are right," John said as he stood up and almost knocked the chair over and got the waitresses attention, "check please. I presume you can find your way home, Liz; it doesn't take a psychic or a psycho to tell that your boyfriend is waiting for you around here. Give him my regards; tell him I'm never taking you out again. I'm going for a walk."
"Are you gonna call Mallory?"
"Why? Do you think I should?"
"No," Liz said, "I don't. He wants to get you into bed and keep you around as some harem bodyguard deal."
"He is a very sexual being and I hate the way he makes me blush," John admitted quietly, "but I do like the way he makes me feel more than useful."
"We just make you feel useful, how can you say that?"
"You, your boyfriend and Abe, you guys have each other and I wish you guys would realize that you have me to."
"Yeah, well," Liz quickly got out of her chair and headed toward the door, "it doesn't appear that we will have you for much longer."
The waitress came over and handed John the bill, and he asked her for a pen. On the back of the bill he wrote down his phone number down, "I'm sorry my friend was a prick to you. I'm not gay and I think you are rather attractive, Shirley, and the change is for you for putting up with me and my crazy friends this afternoon."
Shirley looked surprised when John gave her Thomas' $100 bill and blushed, "Thank... Thank you, John, you are a sweet guy and I appreciate it."
"My work schedule is hell but call me soon and maybe we can go out sometime," John smiled as she blushed and muttered her thanks. John smiled and headed out the door. Liz and her normal car was no were in sight and he didn't have that nagging sense that Hellboy was around anywhere either. When it started to rain he decided that walking was probably a bad idea and picked up his motorbike from the back parking lot and drove back to the Bureau. He didn't think that he would beat Liz back but he had six more hours of his day off and he intended to enjoy every second of them, by getting a few extra hours sleep. He switched to decaffeinated coffee at noon so he could nap the rest of the day away.
He revved up his motorbike and took off down the street, like the preverbal bat out of hell. Maybe if he rode fast enough he could out run the thoughts flying around in his mind. It was tempting to just take off and never go back to the Bureau, live a life of a hacker elision. Anything was better than living the charmed existence of fighting all sorts of unpleasant undead or demonic things. Although the one last week did remind him of his third grade teacher.
Liz did make a point about him leaving. What good was he if he wasn't going to stick around? How many other people have been working close to them and just take off when a better offer came along? "I'm being stupid," he muttered into the wind. A hard gust of wind blew back at him, as if saying 'you are stupid and how, kid'. When he came to from his mental musings, he couldn't even remember what he was musing about, he had no clue where he was. He decided to continue and find a dinner or at least a green sign that gave a hint to where on earth, or New Jersey, he was. John felt that something was very wrong, and stopped to see the airport in the distance. John's skin crawled as he felt propelled against his will to go to the airport. His intuition screamed trap and not just any trap, a Mallory trap. Thomas was not going to take no for an answer this time.
To bad because he was going to have to.
Never make plans because someone more powerful than you will find out about them and do their best to ruin them for you. John entered his bedroom and found two letters waiting for him. One was from Abe, a quick note without an envelope asking him to stop by when he came back in to play a game of chess and the second from David Donavan, which was sealed up tighter than a drum. He had made a quick call to David while he had been in the bathroom to check the rumor mill concerning Mallory. Looks like Donavan found things and fast. Mallory was powerful but not the most discreet man in existence. He opened the envelope and found three slips of paper.
"Paranormal Kingpin, Thomas Mallory, finally classified as rating 10 telepathic."
"Mallory, woos and seduces Madaline Matthews, commercialized witch, into agreeing to side with him in upcoming struggle with the B.P.R.D."
"Mallory and Matthews have done something using the nine occult triangles to former apprentice, John Meyers."
The last slip of paper was highlighted in neon blue highlighter. John sighed and put the slips back into the envelope and sealed it. He folded the envelope in half and stuck it in his back pocket. He changed his shirt, a long sleeve white shirt, into a tight black t-shirt with a faded print of Lon Chaney, Jr. as the Wolf Man on it. He tossed his shoes off and walked to Abe's room in his socks. Abe had been moved back into Professor Bruttenholm's former study, as was requested in the Professors will, and was finally given the thumbs up when Dr. Manning thought he saw the Professors' ghost in there three months ago. If Abe has seen the ghost he certainly wasn't telling anyone about it.
The Professor's study had remained almost exactly has it had been when he was alive. A chess table was the only real addition, a gift John gave to Abe last Christmas, since the only chess set around here was a cheap plastic one. Abe was the only one who seemed to be able to stand him lately.
John knocked on the door and the door opened. He stumbled in and saw Abe sitting by the table, reading a book, using a pencil to turn the pages. "Liz got back over an hour ago, where have you been?"
"I... I'm not sure, I rode around and got lost in a train of thought I guess."
"That man is dangerous and I don't want you to ever see him again."
"Man?"
"Don't play stupid, John, it doesn't become you. Sir Thomas Mallory, the paranormal kingpin and archenemy to the Professor. Liz told Hellboy and me what had happened and that Mallory scared her. He is a mentally unstable telepath, John, and I don't know what he wants with you but for your own safety stay away from him," Abe looked up from the book and blinked twice, well blinked as much as a merman can blink, "you blacked out."
"Excuse me?"
"Why you took so long."
John shifted his weight from foot to foot, looking a bit unsteady himself. He tried not to think about anything too hard in front of Abe, but he mind kept wandering back to the airport and the thought of Mallory waiting for him ever so patiently. John sighed, "I feel like my willpower is being sucked from me."
"John?"
"Nothing," John said suddenly, "I'm sorry I guess I should go and take a nap."
"No, I want to talk to you."
"About what?"
"Why you feel like you don't belong here with us. Look, John, I know you are trying to help him but just stay away from Liz for a while."
"I don't want anything to do with Liz for a very long while, Abe."
"John, we have trusted you and the Professor trusted you to stay here with us. I know what Mallory is probably offering is much more glamorous than the life you lead now."
"It's not about the money, hell, it's not even about being above ground."
"What is it about then, John?"
"Feeling like I belong," he hung his head, "go ahead and laugh at me, Abe, I know it's probably very hysterical..."
"No," Abe walked over to him, "it's not. I understand what you mean but if you want us to trust you and belong with you then you need to start trusting us and belonging with us. Neither of which is easy, I know."
"I don't want to leave."
"Then don't and don't let Mallory trick you into leaving either."
John held his head in his hands as he felt a headache coming on, "The joys of migraines."
"Your head?"
"It aches a bit; probably all that decaf coffee, I can sometimes trick my mind into thinking it's the real thing."
"I don't understand."
"Caffeine headache."
"Why don't you just sit down and rest a minute?"
"Nah, I'll get back to my room."
"Are you scared of me?"
"No, of course not," John looked at Abe and sighed, "I owe you an apology."
That startled Abe, "An apology? For what?"
"This has been bugging me for a while and I'm really embarrassed by it."
"John, are you okay? You've become white as a ghost, please sit down," Abe said, taking a firm grip on John's arm and leading to a nearby chair. This was not the first time Abe had touched him, they would shake hands after every game and when John had fallen (stupid new shoe strings) Abe had helped him up because Hellboy was too busy laughing his red ass off. Abe's touch was just like the mer-man, strong but gentle.
But not this time.
This time it burned, like that time his Uncle accidentally splashed him with 350 degree hot oil. The touch burned and his mind was on fire. He felt nothing but unholy fire flowing through his veins like a fire fight was being fought inside his body. Sadly this was not too far from the truth.