'Riley, good to see you alive and well', shouted dervish across the way. He seemed to be standing next to a rather large table with Grubbs sitting there embarrassed.
'What's wrong with him?' I laughed, as he sunk lower into his chair. Bill-E seemed to be smiling next to me, and I was then that I knew something was up.
'Never mind', Dervish smiled.
'Okay, what's up?' I smirked, knowing something was going on. I had never seen a rather mixed up bunch.
'Just thought we'd have breakfast outside today, and didn't want you to miss it', Meera smiled, sitting down in the chair next to Dervish's.
'Okay', I said rather slowly. 'What's this about?' I asked, Bill-E as I sat down between him and Grubbs.
'You'll see', came his singsong voice. I looked around the table and saw everybody smiling and eerily looking towards Grubbs. That was when I noticed the spare chair.
'Are we expecting any…?' I started before a car horn blasted behind us and a rather bright white car pulled up by the house.
'Well, Grubbs, go and meet you're…' Bill-E snickered.
'Shut up!' he snapped, getting up ever so slowly and making his way over to the car just as the passenger door opened. Out stepped a rather pretty looking girl, about my age or younger. She was wearing a rather flowery dress, and had her hair tied up into a high ponytail. She looked like she was three with the way she dressed, but as soon as she saw Grubbs, I knew different.
She practically flung herself at him, and wrapped her arms around his neck and glued her face to his.
'Is that…?' I gaped, trying so hard not to laugh.
'Grubbs' girlfriend', Meera smiled, as Grubb's took his new girlfriends hand and walked her over to the group.
'Everybody…' Grubb's said rather embarrassingly, 'this is my…'
'Girlfriend, Leela', she butted in.
'Hey, Leela', Meera smiled, waving.
'Well…' Grubb's stammered.
'That over there is Dervish, that pretty face there is Meera, this here is Bill-E and I'm Riley, it's nice to meet you', I smiled, standing up and holding out my hand. She looked at it as if it was alien and stared at Grubb's for help. Grubb's sat her down in the no longer spare chair, and sat down himself.
'Well, maybe we should start breakfast', Dervish chimed in, not waiting for a reply. He lifted up the big silver domed lid that sat in the middle of the table, there sat six individual plates, loaded up to the full capacity it was able to handle.
'I hope your hungry', Bill-E laughed, grabbing the plate closest to him and setting it down in front of me before twisting it around and grabbing a plate for him self.
'Relax, you look like you've got a ten foot pole up you ass', I whispered to Grubb's as she sat with his back straight.
'Shut up'; he snapped quietly, not even looking at me.
'So, Leela, what grade are you in at school?' Meera asked as everybody sat quietly eating his or her respective breakfasts.
'Same year as Grubitsch', she said quickly, ripping her hand under the table as soon as she had taken a bite of something.
'How are your parents?' Dervish asked, trying to keep the conversation going.
'Fine', she said quickly, again, ripping her hand under the table.
'You don't talk much do you?' I snapped, getting a little irritated at her rudeness. Before we all sat down she was fine she even self-proclaimed herself Grubb's girlfriend, now, all of a sudden she's to embarrassed to even say anything.
'Riley', Dervish said, looking me straight in the eye. I knew what he meant, but one way or another I was going to find out what was up her ass.
'Sorry', I muttered, going back to eating my bacon.
The rest of breakfast went a long painfully slow. Bill-E and I were having a competition as to who could chew and swallow a strip of bacon first. I won the first time, however after that I wasn't so successful.
'Well, if we're all finished ignoring each other…' I started, and received a look from Dervish and Meera, 'I might go for a walk around the yard'.
'Do you mind if I join you?' the soft voice from the body that hadn't said a word since the start of breakfast, sung.
'Oh, uh, sure', I smiled, looking from Dervish to Grubbs. I stood up, and stepped out from around my chair slowly, only to find that Leela was standing right next to me. 'Let's go', I said uncomfortably as I headed off towards the house.
We walked round the house in silence and came to the other side; I stopped.
'You're an odd one', I stated, stopping slightly longer than planned before walking forwards again.
'Oh, I'm sorry', she smiled. Odd.
'No, that's fine, don't apologise, it's just…' I started, before stopping again and turning to face her. She wasn't listening anymore she was looking around her, looking back at the house, trying to see around it. 'Are you o…?' I tried.
'Listen here', Leela looked at me angrily, stepping forward with a rather determined glint in her eye. I didn't have time to react; I just stood there staring at her. 'Grubbs is mine. You may live with him, but he's mine'.
'What on earth…' I tried again.
'No, I'm talking', she snarled. I was stepping backwards, attempting to at least put some distance between us, but every step that I took backwards, she took forwards. 'My master has worked hard for this, he is not about to let an ex familiar ruin it for him'.
'Ex Familiar?' I muttered, looking rather worriedly at her. I took my last step back and found myself against a small wire fence.
'Aw', she giggled, covering her mouth slightly with her hand, 'you don't know, how sad'.
'Listen, girly, you're starting to go all kuku, so I'm going to walk this way and…' I started, stepping sideways, but she blocked me by taking a step forwards. I looked up into her eyes and saw a rather odd thing.
'Don't you even think about it', she snapped. It was then I knew what I was seeing in her eyes. I was seeing the eyes of another, someone I had seen recently, or at least I had seen within the last six months.
'Wh…' I tried, but I just couldn't stop looking into her eyes. They were drawing me in, rendering me completely helpless, as if I would never see the light of day again.
'That's it, keep looking', she cooed.
'Who…' I started, looking deeper into her eyes.
'Just keep thinking…' she sighed, not closing her eyes, not even blinking.
I leaned forward ever so slightly, and she smiled. Her teeth were…sharp! I leaned forward a little more and she opened her jaws and slammed them closed, as if it was supposed to make me remember something.
Before I could even brace myself against it, she had her hands clasped either side of my head and I started to violently shake. I couldn't think, I couldn't move as my eyes started o roll back into my head.
FLASHBACK
"Well, good morning Riley Sanchez, didn't believe I'd actually be getting a chance to be meeting you", Lord Loss smiled. Patting a rather odd looking…thing…beside him. It had the body of a large mangled dog, although the head was that of an alligators.
"Well, here I am", I remember sneering.
"Brave, very brave", he whispered haughtily, "I believe you have…"read" about me? How depressing".
"At least I know what to expect", I smiled knowingly that this was exactly how Grubbs had gotten to him during chess.
"Oh, you do, do you?" he asked smiling, well at least what was classed as a smile for him, blood seeping from the tiny gaping holes in his skin.
"Well, here you are, thinking your all high and mighty like in the book, and here are your pathetic little minions, believing that they are able to rip my head off, oh and we can't forget the fact that, I couldn't give a flying sod", I said calmly, causing him to sneer out of frustration.
"Vein, Artery", he shouted, face contorted to one of rage.
END OF FLASHBACK
'Riley, wake up, honey', I heard someone whisper as a flash of coldness wound its way around my face. I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe…I couldn't breathe! I started thrashing about, gripping at my throat, scratching at it, and trying to rip a hole somewhere so that I could expel air.
'Dervish, I'm worried', the whisper came again, 'she hasn't moved for hours'. I stopped. She hasn't moved for hours?!
'It'll be all right, she's a strong one', someone whispered. 'She's stronger then both of us, she'll pull through', he sighed.
'Dervish?' whispered a completely different voice.
'Grubbs?' the whisper I now noticed as Dervish's whispered in reply.
'Will she be all right?' Grubbs whispered.
'She'll be fine, when she…' but the whispered faded off and everything went black as I fell further into the coma I found myself in.
'Shouldn't she be awake by now?' I heard a voice exclaim.
'Grubbs...' another voice said, rather hurt.
'She should be, she should be, Dervish!' Grubbs' voice continued to yell.
'Grubbs', Dervish yelled, gaining authority back. 'She was revealed a time in her past through a Demon, it's going to take time, she has to rebuild the fragments of her brain back before she can continue functioning as she was before the attack'.
'But she's a quick healer, you told me yourself a year ago, you told me, Dervish', Grubbs shouted as i flinched. 'She moved'.
'What?' Dervish mumbled, and I felt the side of my bed tilt downwards. 'She's got her temperature back, and she's breathing normally...'
'That's because she's awake', I snapped, as Dervish jumped back.
'Oh', Dervish sighed, sounding relieved.
'What do you mean, a year ago, Grubbs?' I muttered, sitting up, looking over at the teen now standing dumbfounded in the middle of the room. 'What did he mean by a year ago, Dervish?'
'Now's not the...' Dervish started.
'Now is the right fucking time for it, I just got my ass whooped by a fucking demon child, alligator dog thing, I want fucking answers', I yelled, whipping the sheets off and standing up.
'Grubbs...' Dervish started, but somehow Grubbs knew what he was about to say and left the room, closing the door.
'So I'm a prisoner now?' I shouted, turning back to Dervish angrily.
'No, your a little out of it now', Dervish muttered, taking a step towards me.
'Look, Dervish', I grumbled. 'I'm not out of it, I'm confused and annoyed that she chose me and you somehow knew about me a year ago'.
Dervish started chanting something. I could feel the energy in the room being sucked out slowly, but none from me. Slowly I focused on hearing what he was saying and slowly, ever so slowly, the words he was chanting began to make sense.
'Banish, Banish, Banish thy name, banish thy air here, banish, banish, banish', he chanted.
'Dervish, please don't', I cried, feeling something tearing at the inside of me.
'Dervish!' Grubb's shouted from the other side of the door. 'Dervish, stop!'
Dervish however, didn't listen. He continued to chant as the air in the room began to suck itself out, making me grasp at my throat. 'Dervish!' I gasped, my legs collapsing underneath me. 'Dervish'.
I watched the door open as Meera and Grubbs stepped in, unaffected by the slowly dispersing air. I reached out to him, even to her as I felt my head start to build up pressure. 'Don't look Grubbs', Meera whispered. How I heard it over the rushing noise, I was not sure, but I had heard it. Dervish had stopped chanting now and was currently standing there, looking at me with a sternly.
I could feel and see the black surrounding the outer limits of my eyes as my body slowly started to shut down. I was almost blind when I saw a light, almost like the light you'd imagine someone would see if they were about to die.
'That's right', I sighed, sadly, 'I am dying'.