CHAPTER FOUR

Aaron's house definitely beat out the motel. Hell, he had a full gym in his basement! Plus, the water pressure in the shower was ah-maz-ing.

Now that I was squeaky clean, and wearing borrowed sweat pants and a tourist-y blue 'Vancouver' t-shirt, I went to go check on Sammy. The kid was exhausted and after he took a shower and put on his own borrowed ensemble, he'd almost passed out on the couch. So Aaron suggested he go to bed and walked him up to his ex-roommate's room, where he was currently sleeping, sprawled face down on the bed. Satisfied that he was ok, I quietly closed the door and padded down the stairs, following the delicious scent of cheese and meat.

"Is your brother ok?" Aaron asked, setting five boxes of pizza on the coffee table. The red head actually looked kinda concerned.

"He's fine." I mumbled as I walked into the living room and planted myself in the armchair. "He just gets nightmares. Damn demons." I probably said that last part a little too loud, because Aaron and Kai shot each other some worried looks. But neither pushed for more info. Instead, Aaron passed me a beer on his way to the couch and Kai took a seat on the other end. I took a swig then reached for the first box of pizza. "What is this? Is that pineapple?" I sneered, feeling disgusted.

Kai snort laughed and grabbed a game controller from the shelf under the coffee table.

"Yes, it is." Aaron retorted as he snatched the box from me and put it on his lap.

"Gross. Fruit has no place on pizza, it's just a fact." Then reached for the second box on the table, which, thank God, was a normal pepperoni. Oooo, and cheesy stuffed crust!

Kai laughed again, and leaned a little in toward Aaron, "I like him." He gave me a half smile and grabbed a slice.

"Fine." He gave Kai a dirty look. "All for me."

"Heh, good thing Sammy's not awake, you'd have to fight him for it," I said through a mouthful of pizza, "he likes that crap too."

"Good man." He smiled and gave me a pizza salute. "Sooo, you plannin' on sleeping tonight?"

"Nope." I answered, focusing on my next pizza slice.

"Great, here." He smiled, and passed me another game controller from under the table, "You can add to the entertainment and regale us with your portal story." He took another bite of his fruit pizza and I grimaced again.

"Hah," I grinned and shook my head, "Not until you guys clear up what the hell you are." While the two guys contemplated my demand / question, I grabbed the last pizza box. Everything pizza. Jackpot.

Aaron put his pizza box back on the table and brushed the crumbs off his pants, "Fair enough." He shrugged, "Kai and me are Mythics, humans who have magical gifts," he added when he saw the blank look on my face, "I'm a pyromage and Kai is an electramage, Elementaria class."

I gave him a scoffy laugh, "Pfft, yeah, I remember you saying those words at the warehouse, still don't know what they mean. Hey, this controller doesn't have any chords."

"2006", Kai whispered to Aaron, who was looking at me funny, "Don't worry," he smiled "it's wireless."

"Sweet." I frowned and took another look at the controller, then set it on the table. "Now, you guys were telling me what you are." I leaned back, and gave Aaron my 'serious' smile.

"Right, okay, well there are five mythic classes…"

Twenty minutes, another beer later and I was seriously wishing Sammy was awake.

My eyes still closed I heard Aaron say,"Sooo, does that clear things up enough?"

"Umm, yeah" I opened my eyes and pushed up out of my 'couch slouch', "Just gimme a minute," I pinched my eyebrows "I'm just, I'm

just… processing." Then took a deep breath and shook my head, "Uh, you guys got anything stronger than beer here?"

"Of course, we're not savages." Kai's lip twitched in a grin and he headed to the kitchen.

He came back carrying a full bottle of whiskey and three glasses. Then came around the table and handed me the bottle before setting down the glasses and returning to his corner of the couch.

I considered just opening the bottle and downing it, but I figured that would be rude. So instead, I poured myself two fingers and tossed 'em back, then poured another for good measure before handing Aaron the bottle. "Thanks." I gasped, shaking off the whiskey grimace.

"So, now that you're all liquored up, you feel like sharing how you guys ended up walking through a time travel portal?" Aaron prodded, while pouring he and Kai some whiskey.

"Um, okay," I cleared my throat, "We were hunting something new…"

"Hunting? You mean like a bounty?"

"Hah!" I scoffed. "No, we don't get paid. I wish we got paid… Wait. Do you guys get paid?"

"Well, yeah." Aaron shrugged. "It's kind of what we do." He gave me a slightly pitying look and took a sip of his whiskey.

"Son of a bitch." I grumbled.

"Alright, paychecks aside," he cleared his throat and set his glass down. "You said it was something 'new'?"

"Yeah, I mean, at first we thought it was a demon--"

"Hold up," Kai interrupted "You thought it was a demon?"

"Yeah," I poured myself another shot, "But there were none of the usual signs, you know?" I frowned and tossed back my shot. I shook off the whiskey burn to see that Aaron and Kai were both looking at me like I'd lost it. "What?" I asked, tumbler paused half way to the table. "Why do you guys keep lookin' at me like I'm nuts?"

Aaron worried his lip and glanced at Kai, who was just staring at me with a poker face. He turned his attention back to me and gave one of those charming smiles someone gives when they either don't want you to worry or don't want to tell you something. "Nothing, it's nothing. We can talk about it later."

I squinched my forehead, "Whatever." If there was more weird shit going on, my brain was too fried to handle it tonight anyway. So I just shook my head and tossed back another shot.

"So," Aaron cleared his throat, "did you guys get a good look at the thing?"

"Um, yeah, sort of. It kind of looked like a hot Viking." I reached for the game controller. And it was…" I shrugged, "sparkly?"

"Sparkly?"

"Yeah, it was like it was shining." I shook my head. "Definitely not a demon."

Aaron gave Kai a quick glance, "I think I gotta make a call." He flashed a charming smile at me, then stepped over Kai and headed to the kitchen.

"Don't call him Aaron." Kai said, sounding almost bored.

"Why not?" Aaron's head popped out of the kitchen, phone already at his ear.

Kai sighed. "Because it's 2:30 in the morning and he might actually kill you this time."

"Whoa, wait… 'This time'?" I asked feeling a bit shocked and that I was missing some very important details.

"Nonsense! He loves me." Aaron smiled and waved Kai off.

"Not at 2:30 in the morning!" Kai shouted after Aaron.

"Soo, who's he callin'?" I asked as casually as possible.

Kai, sighed. "Zak."

"Who's Zak?"

"Our Druid."

"Druid?"

"Yep." He muttered, smacking his lips on the 'p'.

"Ok, then. Sounds good." I frowned, feeling even more confused. Hopefully, tomorrow we'd get some answers.