The Second Encounter: Normal Life (Alt.)

"Felix, I'll be honest. This tastes REALLY bad." I don't know how much more of this thing I can swallow.

"I know! Can we sue for false advertisement? How can something that looks this amazing taste so. Just."

"Shitty?" I finish his sentence.

"Yup." He agrees, and we both bust out laughing. This weird pie looking thing looks and smells so magical, but the ridiculous mix of sour and spicy is just overkill. I feel so bad; this thing wasn't cheap. But we're both laughing. This is nice.

The moment we walked in together, heads started turning. Even more so once we started laughing. But screw them. Frankly, I don't care what they think right now. I'm going to enjoy this crappy, sugar glazed spicy-sour-pie-thing with my—

My what? Oh, who am I kidding. A girl can get dreamy, right?

Maybe I'm moving too quickly, but now I'm overwhelmed with an even stronger feeling about my "job." Felix lives in District 1. I have to do my best—not just for my squad. I HAVE to keep District 1 safe.

"One sec, Janine." He starts standing up. "I'll go order something we can actually eat without dying."

"No, wait!" I put my hand over his before he can leave his seat. The quickening pulse I feel through his fingers makes me not want to let go.

"I won't have enough time. I still have to get to work soon."

This man. I had creepy, 'demon' fetishists hit on me before, but this? This is new, and I love it. This smart, funny, and kind soul that treats me with genuine dignity lives in the most dangerous District in the state. I will protect this man.

"Oh, right. We're getting close to that time." He relaxes, sitting back down. "You'll be cutting it tight, though. Do you want a ride?"

"I appreciate it, but my co-worker is coming to get me, and he should be here soon. Let's go pay for this, uh, edible comedy? I'll split it with you." I poke at the hardly edible abomination.

"Ha. That's nice of you, but I already paid for it when I snuck off to "the bathroom" earlier. You're not wasting a dollar on this waste of time and taste buds."

"Awww. You didn't have to!"

Nice of me, he says? He's the one that covered the whole thing.

"Let's try something else next time? There's some other stuff they serve here that looks really good. I wanna cover it next time, okay?"

And this was not a "waste of time." My mind is still lingering on feeling his pulse pumping against my fingertips.

We gather our things and start walking to the main lot. That's where he's parked and, coincidentally where Wolfgang specified the rendezvous point. It's a bit of a walk. Which works out, because I'm starting to enjoy feeling pretty.

"So, you said you liked my hair? Most people freak out by it." I ask, fishing for compliments.

"What can I say? It's like you're glowing all the time. It's nothing like when humans use hair dye or whatever. You'll have to forgive my flattery, but I do like how unique you are. Really cool, Janine. Really cool."

I never understood why humans have such weird hair dye colors. Humans are pretty as they are, so it's just odd to me. I'm glad he likes my look. For the longest time, I didn't. I usually hate compliments like these, but something about this just feels special.

"Guess I never really gave it much thought. We reborn go all over the place in color. From my red, to fuchsia, to pretty much anything you'd see in nature. My mentor—get this—had a lime green head!"

My Mentor. My kind don't have "parents." We're 'reborn' when sometimes when someone, somewhere dies. The "family" that we're reborn into oftentimes just throws us into orphanages, each with an adult Reborn Mentor. Or, we're abandoned—which is partly why Rogue Demons exist to begin with.

My mentor was an ex-researcher that studied the conditions of reborn, well, 'rebirth.' He treated me and the other kids like family. I guess studying a bunch of kids and seeing our conditions made him want to open an orphanage of his own. I liked him a lot. He was a great dad.

"Well, my ride's here." I see Wolfgang's car pulling up. "I'll see you in class next week?"

"Yeah. I'm looking forward to our next meal disaster." He says, locking his gaze into mine.

I wish I didn't have to go so soon. I lean in and wrap my arms around him. He takes the invitation and does the same for me and guides my head to his chest. My heightened senses feel the deep beating of his heart on one cheek, and the cute little pulses through his fingers on the other. I slowly pull away and wave him goodbye. We're not moving too fast. This is just right.

I'm met by Wolfgang's teasing smile and laughter. It's an odd contrast to the violence we're about to create. Inside the car, my gear is ready to go. It isn't much, but the basic peripherals and body armor are all I need. My superior strength and senses make up for everything else. I'll prove how useful I can be.

This is it. District 1 Demon activity rarely involves capture. Tonight will likely be my first kill, but all I can think about is protecting the smile that just held me.