Chapter Eighteen

"Dude, you are fugly, " Carson heard off to his side. He could just make out the newcomer's appearance; his vision was dimming by the second, and he could sense his life ebbing away from him.

"Sarah?" Carson uncertainly asked as he gazed at the woman right beside him. The girl looked just like Sarah, except for the eyes, they looked cold, and her posture was unlike the Sarah he recognized. She held herself in cold confidence that made it seem to Carson as if she were looking down on everything around her.

The girl stared at Carson; her piercing blue eyes seemed to stare right through him.

"Not quite, " the girl said in a mechanical tone.

Her hair blew in the wind as she took in the Death Stalker again.

"Tell me, would you be opposed to me getting rid of that, thing?" the not Sarah asked suddenly.

"What?" Carson asked dumbly. He couldn't wrap his mind around the girl who stood before him. She was wearing the same clothes Sarah was, but the girl did not talk like Sarah, and she was acting like he was a stranger to her.

"I'll take your silence as a no, " the not Sarah said and started walking towards the Death Stalker, unafraid. Carson tried to stop her, but he didn't have the energy even to speak anymore.

"Ss-stop, " Carson managed to get out through trembling breathes. The not Sarah looked back at him, frowning.

"You are in no shape to fight. With one look, I can tell you are on death's door, " the not Sarah said. She turned back towards the Death Stalker and continued walking towards it like she was strolling through a park on a sunny day. Carson noticed the Death Stalker freeze in fear; it's lower legs were even trembling from terror.

What's going on? Just who in the hell is this girl? I've never met anyone so domineering before, Carson thought sluggishly. Even now, Carson could feel a heavy pressure coming off the girl before him, like she had an endless amount of energy inside of her that she could not contain. If he could summon even an ounce of strength, he could have used it to use a technique to gauge the girl's power.

"J-just who the hell are you, h-human, " the Death Stalker said, terrified.

"Y-you are n-not the same human, I d-defeated earlier, " the Death Stalker stuttered.

The not Sarah froze mid step and tilted her head to the side.

"I'm sorry...what did you just say?" Sarah said angrily. When the Death Stalker decided to keep its mouth shut instead of answering the not Sarah, she started to step towards it.

Carson blinked in surprise when the girl's body flickered out of existence and reappeared next to the Death Stalker with just a casual looking step. The girl's hand shot out and clutched the Death Stalker's throat.

"Answer me, did you, or did you not, harm this body, " Carson heard the girl say in a tone that was so low and dangerous that even he wanted to take a step back from it.

"It did, " Carson managed to get out.

"When I got back to you, you were on the cusp of death, " Carson said honestly.

The girl's hand clenched the Death Stalker's throat even tighter, making audible cracking noises. The Death Stalker opened its mouth wide to scream, but no sound came out. It struggled against the girl's hand that was clutching its throat, but it couldn't budge the vice-like grip on its throat no matter how hard it tried. Carson wasn't sure whether he should be amazed or amused at this moment. The Death Stalker stood over six feet tall, and Sarah barely stood five foot five, which made the scene look a bit comical to Carson.

The Death Stalker decided to change tactics. It pulled its arm back and struck Sarah's face as hard as it could. The ground behind Sarah shattered and blew apart, the shock wave heading straight towards Carson. Carson shielded his face and closed his eyes. He knew in his condition, after exhausting all his life energy, he would not survive the shock wave headed straight towards him.

Carson hesitantly opened his eyes when nothing happened. He hadn't even felt a strong wind blow-by him. The not Sarah was standing a few feet in front of him with her back facing him. Her head turned to face him, and when their eyes met, she winked at him. The girl's face was unblemished from the Death Stalkers attack, and Sarah would have had to move extremely fast to protect Carson from the shock wave. How can she be standing after an attack like that, Carson thought to himself.

The girl frowned before asking, "Hey, I kinda feel bad for bullying the weak and all. Do you know if this thing has killed any humans or something?" Carson gave her an incredulous look. Asking whether a Death Stalker had ever killed anyone before was like, asking a prostitute if she had ever had sex before; it was just something you did not ask, for obvious reasons.

"I'm going to take that look as a yes then, " the not Sarah said, smirking. She turned back towards the Death Stalker and cursed.

Carson noticed the Death Stalker was no longer there. The attack it made had been a diversion.

The girl hesitated for a bit before coming to a decision. She turned around and knelt beside Carson putting a hand on his shoulder.

Her eyes probed Carson's body up and down as if she could see right through him.

The girl's gaze stopped directly at Carson's heart and then frowned.

"Don't worry. I knew what I was getting into when I decided to save Sarah's life, " Carson said weakly.

The girl's eyes stared into Carson's as if searching for an answer.

After a while, she sighed deeply.

"Tell me what Sarah is to you? For you to risk your own life for hers doesn't seem like something a stranger would do, " the girl inquired softly.

"She's like a daughter to me, " Carson answered honestly.

"I guess that means I can't let you die then?" the girl asked more to herself than to Carson.

Carson was too exhausted to tell whoever the girl was that saving him would be impossible.

No one had the power to restore someone's life energy, not that he had ever heard of anyway.

The girl placed a finger on Carson's chest right where his heart was. Carson wasn't sure what the girl was up to, nor did he care at the moment. All he knew was that he wanted to shut his eyes and take a long-awaited nap.

Carson was on the verge of slipping away when he felt warm energy enter through his body.

The energy rushed throughout his body like a hurricane. Every inch of his body was quickly enveloped in the mysterious power, but it did not stop pouring into him after; instead, it started to compact inside him.

"Dude, start cycling the energy into your heart, you moron, " the girl snapped at him.

Carson mentally cursed at himself for not thinking of that himself. He could figure out what this mystery energy was later like when he wasn't dying. Carson started cycling the power into his heart, but he couldn't keep pace with the girl's constant acceleration of energy she poured into him.

"You need to slow down, " Carson said through gritted teeth. "I can't keep up with your speed."

"Nah, you just need to speed up. Otherwise, you'll explode, " the girl mocked while keeping up a steady pace.

Carson repeatedly cursed in his mind as he quickened his speed of cycling his energy, just barely keeping up with the constant flow he was receiving.

"See, was that so hard?" The girl quipped.

Carson had never wanted to punch a girl so badly in his life until now. He was confident that if he weren't putting all his concentration into saving his life, he would have struck the mouthy girl, even though she looked just like Sarah. Carson felt relief when the girl finally stopped pouring energy into him.

"There, that should do it, I think, " the girl let out good-naturedly. Carson got to his feet slowly, feeling light-headed all of a sudden.

He toppled forward, losing his balance.

The girl casually caught Carson before he could hit the ground. Carson felt his head hit something soft instead of the hard earth he was expecting.

"You should buy a lady a drink, first, " was the last thing Carson heard before falling unconscious.

Dave

Dave set the unconscious man down onto the ground carefully.

Something told him that this man meant a lot to Sarah and shouldn't let any harm befall him.

Dave wasn't trying to harm the man when he was lending him the energy.

He just had no idea how he was supposed to explain to the guy that he was going as slow as he could when he sent power to him.

But everything turned out fine in the end anyway, so there's no reason to cry over spilled milk, Dave thought to himself.

Dave sighed in annoyance."Are you just going to hide there all day, or are you going to come out, " Dave said coldly over his shoulder.

A woman walked out of the woods, looking surprised that Dave noticed her.

"How did you know I was there?" the woman asked, frowning when her eyes alighted on the body next to him.

Dave's jaw dropped when he took in the beauty that just walked into his clearing. The woman had snow-white hair and flawless facial features that made her look like a warrior goddess from myth and legends.

If Dave had to guess her age, she would be around her mid-twenties, but he also knew soul gear would make guessing the woman's age impossible.

The beauty was wearing a skin-tight blue outfit of some kind that showed off the curves of her midriff in a very pleasing way.

Dave's body disappeared and reappeared right in front of the woman in an instant.

"Hi, my names Da..." Dave coughed in his hand when he realized he almost slipped and told the woman his real name.

"Sarah, my names Sarah, what's yours?" Dave inquired of the woman.

The woman seemed to be frozen, just staring at Dave with wide eyes. When she finally got her bearing, she took three steps back."Fast, " the woman stuttered in alarm.

Dave followed each step with his own, not giving the girl space she was trying to get.

The woman must have taken Dave's actions as a threat cause her arm flashed, drawing her blade at her waist, and swung it at Dave in one motion.

Dave marveled at the perfection of the woman's attack. It was flawless without any loss of momentum from the moment her hand went for the blade.

Dave took a casual step backward at the last second, dodging the woman's sword strike.

When the sword finished its arc, Dave stepped in towards the woman embracing her around the waist, making it impossible for her to swing her sword at him again.

Dave brought his lips to the woman's ears.

"Haven't you heard the saying, it's better to make love than war, " Dave said.

"You will not take my soul demon, " the woman spat out vehemently.

Her body glowed red, and the energy pushed Dave back like it was a solid object.

Dave's feet skid across the ground for several yards before the red energy shaped like a wall stopped and dissipated into thin air.

Dave was too stunned at what the girl said to do anything except let himself slide across the ground.

The second the red energy dissipated, the woman made her move.

Her body flashed across the distance, creating a whooshing sound, and struck Dave in a side slash with her blade.

Dave caught the blade between his thumb and index finger making a loud metallic ringing sound as he did so.

The woman's eyes went wide when Dave blocked her attack so effortlessly.

She tried to pull her sword free, but Dave's grip was like steel and would not budge.

"What did you mean about me stealing your soul?" Dave asked curiously.

"Don't play dumb monster! I saw what you did to that man lying there. You sucked his soul out!" The woman asserted defiantly.

"Okay, I think there has been some kind of misunderstanding, lady, " Dave said while letting go of the woman's sword.

The woman took a step back, brandishing the sword in front of her in a defensive stance.

Dave rolled his eyes, "look lady, the man is fine, so stop insinuating things. I was just healing the guy."

The woman hesitated, her sword dropping a couple of inches, and her beautiful brown eyes looked uncertain.

"You're a healer?" The woman asked slowly, with a voice laced in doubt.

"Check for yourself, " Dave said while stepping aside, giving the woman a direct path to the unconscious man.

The woman made her way to the man, not taking her eyes off Dave once and always keeping her sword facing him.

She crouched down beside the unconscious, still facing Dave, and checked the man's neck for a pulse.

The woman sighed in relief before standing and sheathing her sword.

She gave Dave an apologetic look before bowing her head.

"I apologize, lady healer, for my misconduct unto your life. I beg that your ladyship will forgive this undeserving servant."

Holy shit, what the hell just happened, Dave confusedly thought as he scratched his head.

The feel of long hair on his head threw him off for a second as he was expecting to feel his short hair he had in his original form.

"I'll forgive you under one condition, " Dave said, holding up a finger for emphasis.

The woman straightened from her bow and had a look of obedient acceptance of whatever fate Dave would demand of her.

"Tell me you're name, " Dave said, smiling kindly at the woman.

My name, my lady?" the woman inquired nervously, thinking she misheard the Dave.

Dave nodded in reply crossing his arms across his chest.

Again the changes of the body he was in threw him for a loop.

He wasn't expecting Sarah's large breasts to be there, and it felt uncomfortable for him when he wasn't used to having breasts.

Dave attempted to cross his arms over the top of the breasts instead, but that felt even more uncomfortable to him, so he tried underneath them but again, it didn't feel right, so he just gave up on crossing his arms altogether.

Dave looked up at the silent woman who was watching him with a slightly pink face.

The woman turned her gaze away, turning a shade pinker as she did so.

Dave cleared his throat, which broke the woman out of her stupor.

"The names Sophia The Red Queen."