Helo was having an okay night. Work started off normal. If normal is having to sneak into your job so people don’t find a way to stalk you back to your house. But he got assigned to the third floor. This usually meant he would stand in the corner near the bar and every 10 minutes he would walk a lap around the patio picking up any left behind items.

  Today started out pretty normal but as he went on his first walk with a happy fox walking near him, he started gaining more attention. This wasn’t all bad, a lot of the girls gave him attention he was not used to but liked and Lelai loved it. But as he got more attention the guys on the third floor got more upset with him.

  They started getting in his face trying to tell him to get lost. When he let them know that he was working they changed tactics and tried to buy Lelai from him. This is frustrating for Helo because he has never considered Lelai something to own. She has always been his companion. They have been together for years. Telling them only makes them more upset. Thankfully an argument started, and attention went elsewhere.

  Listening to the interaction between the two guys, one of them looks like he was about 14 and the other 18. They seemed to be arguing about who was engaged to a girl named Alli. Hearing Alli’s name surprised Helo. But he assumes that it isn’t the Alli that he met because she was way too young.

  “If you want her to marry you how about you prove yourself. I challenge you to a dual the winner gets the girl.”

  “Your so on. Good for you that you have the handicap of being older. We Starhaven’s don’t know how to lose. We were just born better.”

  Off to the side he hears one of the more popular girls say, “Uggh, listening to them is making me feel embarrassed. Let’s go downstairs.”

  The two continued to argue and set a place and time for them to dual. While they make noise Helo does another lap and gets back to him spot near the corner. As he reaches out to the table near the bar to scratch Lelai he finds her missing.

  “Huh” Getting worried Helo closes his eyes and focuses on his hearing hoping to hear her growling or yipping. Hearing nothing of Lelai but acknowledging that the two guys stopped arguing, Helo starts searching for her on the third floor. As he is frantically searching, he is getting worried only to find her in the lap of a beautiful Asian girl in a traditional dress.

  Walking up he lightly admonishes her. “Lelai, you can’t run away from me like that. Especially while I’m working.”

  Having a conversation with Hinata, Helo is about to get back to work. Speaking with someone as important as her is making him nervous. It doesn’t help that she is so well spoken too. As he is going to say goodbye, he recognizes the silver hair next to Hinata. Pausing slightly, Hinata takes that moment to jump in and introduce her friend. This makes Helo’s anxiety skyrocket.

  All he can get out is an, “Ah. Hi.”

  At the same time Alli starts blushing, saying the same thing, “Ah. Hi.” Looking at the girl sitting down, Helo is not sure what to do. He is finding the courage to speak up when he hears everyone around them whispering.

  “Who his that boy?” “How does he know the little wolf princess” “Do you see them both blushing, maybe they like each other.”

  As that final rumor goes around the two men that are interested in Alli finally lost their cool. Alli and Helo are still staring at one another as a very angry Dorimer comes up behind Helo and grabs his shoulder pulling him back. Luca is more mature but just as vindictive, he makes a phone call to send some thugs to beat up Helo. He remembers some men in the area that his father used in the past. They failed and his father lost their number. They were his age and would see this as an opportunity to redeem themselves. He is sure that the four men can ambush a 12-year-old just fine.

  Dropping Lelai as he is pulled back by his shoulder. Helo snaps, he has been on edge all weekend and at that moment his anxiety was rising by being in front of Alli and Hinata. Growling softly Helo’s canines start to elongate and his nails begin looking like claws. Rolling out of the hand on his shoulder Helo swings his opposite foot around placing it between Dorimer’s legs. He is now positioned with his right shoulder in front of Dorimer’s right shoulder. Snapping out and up with a closed fist Helo drives his knuckles into Dorimer’s adams apple. Using the force of Dorimer’s pull, the strength in his body and driving up with his planted foot Helo sends him gasping back and holding his neck.

  Dorimer lands on his back as the entire rooftop lets out a collective gasp. All the teenagers are used to violence. It is a part of their upbringing. But none of them were expecting an unawakened kid to drop Dorimer on his back. Looking up at Helo Dorimer starts to choke out, “Yo.. caugh… you just struck a royal el…” Only for his voice to crack as he looks into Helo’s glowing eyes and fangs.

  As Helo turns around his fangs retract and hoping the confrontation is over tries to calm down. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. The girls are staring at him. They all witnessed his blood red glowing eyes for a moment. As Helo’s heart rate slows, he opens his eyes, and they are back to a soft pink. Everyone at the table can’t help but find themselves interested in this 12-year-old.

  Muttering softly, “Sorry about that.” Helo reaches down and grabs Lelai while turning to the door.

  Alli wants to call out, but she isn’t able to say anything in the moment, everything happened so fast. Her thoughts are lost on those harsh red slitted eyes.

  Helo hangs his head and takes a step away, he hears from behind him. “Hey, you can’t just walk away after striking me like that.” Turning around a furious Dorimer is pointing a finger at him. The finger is shaking slightly but Dorimer is convincing himself that the glowing and fangs weren’t real. “You struck the heir to the Starhaven clan and in front of my fiancé. That offence deserves punishment.” Looking around Helo isn’t sure how to react.

  Confused and just wanting to leave Helo says, “I’ll go turn myself into the police then.”

  Everyone on the roof finds his answer cute and a little heartwarming but they all know that things are not that simple.

  “You think you can go hide behind the cops. No, you’re coming back to Clan territory.”

  Hinata, as quick witted and intelligent as she is, speaks up. “We all know how you treat your prisoners. He offended your honor. Dual him. Just get this over with” Hinata saw the glow in Helo’s eyes and how quickly he moved. She knows that he isn’t normal. He dropped Dorimer once. He can do it again.

  Everyone on the roof agrees with the idea. All the men that are interested in Alli start chanting, “Dual him, Dual him.” This is a great way for them to get rid of a rival. From their perspective it seemed like they already were close. When Helo gets killed, he is gone and Dorimer is the one that did it.

  Not sure what is going on Helo is about to take off when Dorimer says. “Yeah, and when I beat this trash, I’ll skin his fox too.” At this Helo sets Lelai down and takes a step forward, his eyes narrowing. Every girl around looks at Dorimer with annoyance for his blasphemous words.

  Alli finally snapping out of her daze joins in. “It is against clan rules to dual someone when they are under 15. If you want to fight him, you will have to wait.” Everyone is surprised at this because Helo looks young, but he is also very fit. “My dad mentioned something about how he is a year younger than me. Right Helo.”

  “Ah. Yeah, I’m 12.” Helo quietly says while confused. The party goers are surprised because Dorimer is in the same school grade as Alli, but he is old for the year and she is young. That means he got laid out by someone almost two years younger.

  Getting even more flustered and needing to find a way to look more impressive Dorimer shouts. “Fine than three years from now. I challenge you to a deathmatch.”

  At this time everyone gasps, and phones come out. The fact that Dorimer just challenged someone two years younger than him to a deathmatch is posted all over their social media platforms.

  Storming past Helo and out of the room Dorimer shoulder checks Helo making him stumble back. All the guys that were following him chuckle at the stumbling Helo and walk out. Still confused Helo looks at Lelai and ask, “What just happened Love.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Everyone will forget it before the three years are up.” Hinata says while walking up to him. She is a bit upset and at the same time proud of her friend. If she didn’t speak up this would be over with. Helo would have won. She is also happy her friend found the courage to speak out. She likes acting haughty, but she truly is very shy.

  “Um. We have to go.” Alli says this while feeling extremely awkward. She feels partly at fault because all the assumptions were about her too. She also feels awkward because she pictured Helo to be some hidden prince with immense talent. Only to find out that he is a servant cleaning tables for cash.

  Grabbing Hinata’s hand they both start walking out together. Needing some air, Helo leaves along the back stairs with Lelai. He is heading to the back alleyway to get some space. Seeing as how Alli and Helo are leaving Luca must make a decision. He already sent out a text for a group of his father’s men to be sent out. The thing is, the Helo and Dorimer issue would take care of itself. All he must do was make sure people didn’t forget about the dual and what Dorimer said. Good thing he took a video of the altercation and he is quite famous on the Awakened Social Media platform. So, what to do with the men… He needs a way to work himself into Alli’s good graces…

  Pulling out his phone he makes a call, “Change of plans. There are going to be two girls coming out the front. Silver and Black hair. If you can get them alone rough them up a little. I’ll be right down to stop you after they get scared.”

  “They are coming out of the back room do we have to worry about reprisal?” the man says through the phone.

  Luca knowing that if he told them about who the teenagers were they wouldn’t follow the plan, so tells them a lie. “No, they are just servant girls, their masters are coming out after. I just want them to feel indebted toward me.” Getting the agreement from the men he hangs up and waits a few minutes for the show to begin.

  Alli is incredibly upset and conflicted about what happened today. The last few minutes were confusing. Helo’s reactions were more violent than she expected but, in their world, it is almost expected. He was impressive. But now she has to find a way to save his life and any request she makes of the Starhaven family is going to come with concessions she doesn’t want.

  Arriving at the front door they find the driver of their car. Letting him know they are ready to leave he informs them that the car is around the block, and he will be back shortly. The girls wanting to get away from all the gossip step to the edge of the building where they wait for the car to return. Everyone coming out are busy getting their cars prepared and staring at their phones. When the new app came out for Awakened life got more complicated. Now it isn’t just the normal world that is filled with image management.

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  As they are waiting Hinata hears a noise from behind them, “Alli-chan what was that.” She says while stepping closer to the alleyway. Not finding anything she turns around only to see Alli’s wide eyes. From behind her a man stepped into the light holding a gun to her head. Alli is to scared for her friend to scream and before she can say anything they both are dragged into the darkness.

  Barely able to see Alli is scared for herself and her friend. She can barely see her outline while her eyes adjust. But she can feel the grips of the men as they drag her deeper into the alley. As she and Hinata get tossed to the ground the four men start talking. “Well Cam, Rod, Dillan. Looks like we caught our prey.”

  “Yeah Jared, this turned out better than I expected.”

  What did the boss say… Something about these two just being servant girls. Something else about roughing them up a bit.”

  At this both girls start to push back from the men, but they follow them further back. “Well guys it looks like they want to give us more room to work.”

  “Yeah they keep moving further into the alley, he never said how we need to rough them up. You hear what I’m getting at?”

  “Yeah guys, if they are just servants, we can have some fun with them as well. What is it that they say. Something about it not being called work if you enjoy yourself.”

  The four men grab onto Alli and Hinata. The two girls are shivering and crying. They are trying to say that they are not servants. But every time they get too loud one of the men slap them. “Rod, Dillan you both grab them. Cam and I will have the first turn.” Two of them hold the teenagers down while the others start pulling at their clothes. As the men get more comfortable, they are about the start coping a feel. But suddenly everyone in the alleyway stops feeling a chill. It passes by in a moment and the men hear a noise.

  The four men look up feeling annoyed because they didn’t even get to start, and the boss already showed up. They look toward the entrance only for it to be empty. Looking at another in confusion they get back to their work only for Rod and Dillan to choke out and drop blood spraying over the faces of Jared and Cam.

  Helo can’t believe what just happened. How does any of that make sense. Death duals, clan laws. This what situation makes no sense to him. Getting to the back of the building Helo sits on a retaining wall surrounding the trash enclosure. Sitting in a lotus position he takes a breath and starts to meditate. He is aware now that he is not normal. After seeing the video, he can’t argue that. Be after this incident Helo is starting to suspect that he is far less normal than the men think he is. He is also aware that his eyes sometimes glow. But tonight, when his emotions so suddenly burst out in such a violent and instinctual way… In that moment he truly felt different. Looking at Dorimer he wasn’t just another annoying teenager he was just another mortal. Just prey to be hunted.

  Helo needs to get his emotions in check. Before he truly hurts someone. Pulling back and ignoring all his senses, Helo starts to meditate. Just when he is about to find his center, what Ms. Accleas called when you truly enter meditation. He is woken with a jolt as Lelai bits his finger. Looking at the fox she twitches her ears at him. She is looking at him with a gaze filled with intention.

  Somehow understanding what she wants easily. Helo focuses on his hearing and listens to the world around him. Truthfully, he can hear a slightly raised voice clearly from 500 meters away. This is about two and a half blocks away. He rarely has reason to listen that far and if he does it takes him time to pinpoint a location. His sense of smell is far more precise. Luckily what she wanted him to listen to was only 50 feet away not 1200.

  Listening to the atrocity and violation happening down the alley Helo snaps. From somewhere deep inside a roar awakens within his blood and he sees red. An unconscious wave of pressure and killing intent sweeps through the alley. It isn’t a lot, but it is enough to freeze everyone in the alley. Leaping forward with a growl every movement afterward is silent. All the men for some reason look toward the entrance of the alley like they are expecting someone before looking back at the teenagers. Helo can see all of their movement and exactly what they are doing to the two girls. His night vision is better than it has ever been. There is also a glow outlining the six individuals in the alleyway making them stand out even further.

  Drawing closer Helo emerges from the darkness behind the men like a wraith and latches his two claws around their necks. I will tear out your throats with my own claws… wait claws. Hands. Claws. Stalling for a moment due to his own thought, Helo holds the men’s necks within his grasp before drawing his hands back and seeing his… Well claws. Covered in blood. Ahhh. That smells good. Freezing again from the absurdity of his own thinking. It’s like the humanity that he was born with is trying to fight for its survival within his psyche. Both men choke out grasping at their necks and spraying their friends in blood.

  The other two men men look up from where they were leaning over the girls to see fiercely glowing red eyes and a bared mouth with fangs. They flinch back and can’t help but fear the monster that is protecting these girls. One action and they can barely breathe, their hearts feel like they are frozen.

  Pushing back his confusing feelings he leaps back into the shadows. As he does this the men feel like they can breathe again, only for a growling sound to come from their left. The last two men flinch letting go of the girls and expecting to see another monster. The men look left, and they flinch back only to feel confused because the most adorable fox they have ever seen is standing there. Helo splits to their right dashing out of the shadows and around the men. As he is moving, he hears movement from the entrance of the alley. With his enhanced perception that is ramped up further than he as ever experienced he hears a man say, “Dammit. I went to the wrong side.” Helo has but a moment to acknowledge that the man’s voice is the same one that was arguing with dual guy.

  He comes up to the right of Cam who was over Hinata and drives his knee into the man’s face with as much force as he can muster. Cam’s nose breaks, snapping his head back and cracking it into the concrete.

  Now, free Hinata uses the chance to dash out of the alley to get help. Luca reaches out to her trying to sound reassuring and helpful only to get ignored. Hinata runs straight to their driver that just pulled up with two cars full of guards. Seeing her appearance one set of guard’s surrounds Hinata and the other set run into the alley pushing aside Luka who was standing at the entrance.

  At the same time that is happening Jared manages to get his knife out of his pants, with a shout he starts brandishing it at Lelai. Lelai doesn’t move because she understands she is just the distraction. Hearing a snap, grunt, then crack from behind Jared twirls around yelling while blinding swinging his knife. With a lot of luck and the fact that Helo doesn’t have much control at the moment, he manages to stab his knife into Helo’s ribs.

  “Ahhhaagrr” With a yell then a growl Helo’s left hand wraps the side of Jared’s neck while his right goes to the knife holding it in place.

  Staring into Helo’s eyes they flash a deeper red and the iris turns into a slit. When that happens, Jared feels his will to move vanishing. His fear rises as he sees Helo grimace before holding the knife up that was in his ribs up.

  Helo can feel his blood leaving his body. As more blood flows out Helo’s desire to sink his fangs into the human in front of him increases at the same time the human trying to fight for control quiets. Throwing the bloody knife away Helo grabs the human by its hair. Letting his claws sink into its scalp he pulls it forward and sinks his fangs into the human. For the first time tasting the blood of a sentient creature Helo feels amazing.

  As the body in his hands gets weaker Helo can feel himself growing stronger. The pain and weakness flee his body while new strength floods in. Slowly coming back to himself. Once the pain is gone, he can feel his rationality coming back. Basking in the new feeling of strength, Helo looks into the clear night sky enjoying sensations within his body. The sensation of power is intoxicating but the feeling is quickly flowing away.

  Hearing a gasp from the ground beneath him, Helo fully snaps back into reality and takes in the surroundings. Quietly he says, “Oh my God. What have I done.” Looking at Ally one more time he takes off into the night with a happy fox on his heels. The last thing he hears is a whisper in the wind from behind him, “Helo…”

  Hearing grunts and feeling a warm liquid splash over her, Alli is terrified to open her eyes. But as one and then a second pair of hands leave her body, she finally opens them. The sight that she sees is now what she expected. A being is standing over her and her captors with one of them within his grasp. She can see it pull a knife out of its nice outfit before casting it aside. She watches with open mouthed shock as the being grabs her assaulter and kills him.

  Alli has no idea what she is witnessing. The being is cloaked in some kind of pitch black/purple whisps. They slowly rise off his body before disappearing in the air. It is masking some of her vision. The darkness of the alley is masking the rest.

  Next, she watches the being drop her last assaulter before looking into the sky. Realizing that she is safe for now at least from the four men. She lets out the breath she has been holding. Only to freeze again as the being… No… He… He looks down at her. The whisps disappearing and his glowing red eyes, let out a soft golden light before turning pink.

  Staring up at her savior she hears him quietly say, “Oh my God. What have I done.” Before taking off.

  By the time he is gone the only thing she as managed to say is in a whisper, “Helo.”

  Taking a moment to tear her eyes away from the where her savior left, she finally has a chance to truly look around. Seeing four bodies and blood everywhere she can feel the bile rising in her throat. She only keeps it down because she can’t find her friend. Looking for her she hears a voice from the entrance of the alley.

  “Chase it. Whatever monster did this. It tried to kill the young miss.” Thinking that he can still make something of this clusterfuck Luca starts yelling from behind the guards. One of the guards is about to take off but he hears a weak voice.

  “Don’t. Take me home. Please. Whatever that was, it saved me.” Alli says with her emotions spilling out. The guards lead her out of the alley to the car that is pulled up onto the curb, directly in front of the Alley way. Looking down, she is thankful for employees and their wherewithal. Her clothes are a mess, and she doesn’t want to be seen like this.

  Getting into the cab it has two female guards and her best friend, calling out. “Hinata-chan.” She dives into her friend’s arms.

  Hinata does the same thing. From behind they can hear a slight scuffle and a man’s voice. “I should be there for my fiancé. You let me in. In the future you’re going to be working for me, I’ll remember this.”

  The female guards in the car look about ready to kill him before the door finally shuts and they quickly head home.

  Graham BrightMoon his wife Cheyenne, Akira Kashiwagi his wife Yuki, and Micah Brightmoon are all within the living room off the entrance way of the Brightmoon residence. Their guard’s called with unfortunate news and now all the parents gathered waiting for their daughters to return.

  ‘I’ll kill them. I’ll kill them all.” Graham growls while pacing.

  Akira who is sitting and holding his wife says back, “From the report we were given. Something beat you to it.”

  Bursting into the room Bernard shouts, “Where are they? Are my nieces back yet? Who did it? We will kill them all.”

  Sighing softly Akira restates. “Thank you for coming Bernard-san. I’m sure the girls will feel safer with you here. And as the report I was given said. Something unknown beat you too it.” Looking toward the door, he says “They are almost here and I’m sure when they are ready they will tell us more. But the report was made by the guards and filled with the opinion of man who was nearby. From the report he tried to involve himself into the matter stating it was his right to be there are a fiancé.”

  Growling more aggressively Graham says through bared teeth, “Those idiots are getting shameless. I’m sending out a report that my daughter is going to choose her own husband. Hopefully all those vultures will stop claiming to be engaged.”

  Micah, who is closest to the door, gets up and opens it right as the guards leading the girl’s approach. They both walk into and leap into their mothers’ arms. After calming down and feeling much safer everyone is seated on couches getting served tea.

  Alli is laying back with a tub of ice cream in her lap and is going to town with a massive spoon. Hinata is sitting next to her with correct posture but a similarly massive spoon petitely eating from it.

  Bernard starts the conversation, “So girls… how about you start from the beginning tell us about your dinner.”

  Having the girls start by going through all the good things they begin to tell their story. Hinata is talking about how all their friends loved the fox that lept into her lap. When Alli jumps in, “Did you know how was going to be working there!”

  Micah and Cheyenna smile before her mom replies, “Yes we also met Lelai and he was there last night.” She says this with a smirk.

  Continuing the story and getting to the altercation Helo had with Dorimer Alli rages about how stupid the whole thing is. While Hinata spends some time on how impressive Helo was knocking him down with a single punch. Adding in that he would be a good addition to her retinue in the future. She goes on to say her reasoning for offering the idea of a dual and how even though her friend ruined her plan, she was proud of her for speaking up.

  Smiling shyly Alli adds, “Yeah… He would have torn him apart.” The adults all look at her funny and Hinata tilts her head in confusion, but Alli continues the story.

  They talk about what happened and Hinata talks about how she got free and ran past Luca who was walking into the Alleyway. Then Alli speaks up and tells them about what she saw. How the being that saved her seemed to find some kind of satisfaction as it turned its head to the sky. She ended while talking about how it looked at her and she realized that it was a he.

  At this all the parents and Hinata are looking at her. Graham doesn’t have the patience and ask, “So who was he. What was he!”

  “I don’t know what he is… But when I made a noise, he looked from the sky then down to me and I recognized him. It was Helo. Wrapped in a whisps of darkness and claws extending from his fingers”