Chapter 4: Lucas and Shay

After spending a few days at home, dealing with reporters and scientists, Quint was finally allowed to return to school. You see, people coming back from the dead is unheard of, especially if they were dead for 3 days. The Tate home was bombarded with phone calls and visitors wanting to interview, test, and even see the boy that came back from the dead. People had even thought that maybe Quint was some sort of religious prophet. Maybe he could bless them or heal incurable diseases. People remained camped in front of their house for days! Today, the police were finally able to disperse the mass of people on their property.

Quint and Shay took his normal route to school. Shay had decided that she wanted to stay home instead of going back to boarding school. She had missed her brother and mother so staying home was ideal. Lucas met then halfway to school. "Quint! Shay! You're back! My rival is back!" said Lucas.

"Yeah, I'm back! Nothing can keep me down," said Quint while hitting his chest proudly.

"Since this is your first day back, I won't challenge you to a competition. Be ready for tomorrow though. We're going to fight and I have a new technique to show you!" stated Lucas.

"Boys calm down! Quint definitely shouldn't be fighting," said Shay.

"If you say so, Shay" replied Lucas.

"Awwww.... but I've been training!" said Quint.

" You shouldn't have been training. I'm sure your body needs rest," she said.

"Alright. Alright. When I get home, I'll rest," said Quint. They arrived at the school. A large mob of paparazzi was waiting for Quint at the school's entrance. "Shit! Those leeches are here too!" said Quint.

"Let's go through the back," offered Lucas.

They ran around the school and entered through the back.

The school held an assembly to celebrate Quint returning to school. They weren't happy because he was alive, he lead the football team to the playoffs and leads the material arts club to a championship. Not only that, he was an honor student. Lucas always placed number two in the same activities. Therefore those two became rivals. Always competing to be the best. Their competitions could go from a game of rock, paper, scissors to an all-out brawl between them. Their willingness to be better than the other has pushed to excel at everything. On the negative side of this, they sometimes end up injuring themselves or each other.

Once school ended, Quint, Lucas, and Shay went to the dojo. They dropped off their backpacks and began stretching. "You're not training today. I told you that earlier. You can be so stubborn sometimes!" said Shay while looking annoyed. Mary walked in and saw Quint attempting to train. "Go upstairs and rest!" barked Mary. She then charged at Quint with a swift kick. "She's moving slower than usual," thought Quint. He quickly dodged the kick instantly. Mary was shocked. "He dodged it! He won't get around this though!" thought Mary. She quickly followed the kick up with an elbow strike. This time she moved faster than normal. "This one is quicker," he thought as he blocked the elbow strike with his forearms. He then rose her arms up exposing her weak points. "She's wide open! This is my chance!" thought Quint. He squeezed his fist tight and hurled a flurry of punches. Quint was moving as fast as he could. "He caught me off guard!" thought Mary. But then, Quint felt a powerful presence in the room for a split second. During that time, Mary easily evaded his punches and appeared behind him. "Too slow" she whispered. Then she karate chopped the back of his neck, instantly knocking him out. She reappeared in front of him. Shay and Lucas stood there trying to figure out what they witnessed. Mary and Quint moved too fast for them. They could normally keep up with ease, but this time, they felt like they missed the whole exchange. "Lucas, could you take him to his room and put him in his bed please," she ordered. Lucas did just that.

While Lucas took Quint to his room, Mary and Shay began talking. " What was that Mom?" questioned Shay.

" It was nothing, we just fought" replied Mary.

" Nothing? I could've sworn you disappeared for a split second,"

"No, did you blink or something? I think you're imagining things"

"Ok if you say so."

"Now, let's get to training"

Lucas came back down and they began training.

After training, Shay and Lucas decided to go to the store to grab some things to cook. "Whew! I'm beat!" said Lucas while exhaling. "Mom was going a little harder than normal at us. I could barely keep up," said Shay.

"Maybe she was upset because Quint dodged her kick."

"That's not it. It has to be something else."

The two were so caught in their conversation and thoughts that they didn't notice that they were being followed. A demon was pursuing closely behind them, concealing his presence. The demon watched as they entered the store and retrieved their items. "I'm gonna kill them," said the demon to himself, " I will avenge you brother,"

Shay and Lucas left the store and headed back to the Tate house. The demon approached them covered in dark clothing. "Kids shouldn't be out this late," said the demon.

"We're headed home, sir," replied Shay.

"You won't be making it home, " said the demon while exposing his teeth.

"What the fuck is that?!" yelled Lucas.

"I am a demon. My name is Freecs. And I'm here to avenge my brother," replied the Freecs.

"A demon! Brother? Avenge. What is he talking about?" asked Lucas while he and Shay took off running. They had never seen a demon before. Before tonight, they didn't even consider that demons were ever really real. Just fictional creatures in books and video games, so the sight of an actual demon was too much for them to try to process at the time. Their bodies just did what it could and ran. Freecs turned into his demon form. He had the body of a snake and his top half was more like a human. He slithered behind them and swung his thick, mighty tail at them. The tail made contact and knocked to the ground. "Girl, your brother killed mine, so now you must suffer. I will eat you and your friend, but first I'm gonna soften you up!" declared Freecs. Lucas stood up quickly. "Shay, I don't know what this thing's problem is, but it's serious about killing us. Run away while I buy you some time to get as far away as possible," stated Lucas.

"I won't leave you. We can fight this thing together,"

Lucas and Shay got into their fighting stance and prepared to defend themselves from Freecs. Freecs slithered to them rapidly and bit down on Shay's arm. Freecs teeth sank deep into her arm, cracking the bones. Lucas immediately began punching the demon's body. The punches had no effect due to its think scales and muscles. Freecs wrapped his body around Lucas and began to squeeze. He also let go of Shay's arm. She fell to the ground and couldn't move. "That's my poison taking effect. I'll leave you paralyzed, but you'll still be able to feel everything I do to you," stated Freecs while laughing maniacally. "Shay!" screamed Lucas while writhing in pain. Freecs started squeezing even harder on Lucas. Shay began thinking about what has happened. Maybe she should have run away. Tears began running down her cheeks. Lucas began losing the feeling in his body. Freecs start salivating over the fact that these two had lost hope. "That's it! Fall into despair! That will make you even more delicious," said Freecs. Hearing those words triggered something in them. They remembered what Mary had beat into them. Three simple words..... "Never give up!" they both screamed. Shay started slowly getting up. Lucas began head butting Freecs' body. Freecs was surprised by their resistance. "That's what I like to see," said Ariel descending from the sky, "Unleash your power!" Ariel fired two golden rays. One hit Shay and the other hit Lucas. "I feel powerful!" said Shay. "Get ready to die!" said Lucas. Power surged through their bodies! Lucas freed himself from Freecs and grabbed his tail and threw him into the sky. " Hold your hand out," said Ariel to Shay. Shay raised her hand towards Freecs. "Concentrate and picture him dead," ordered Ariel. Shay did as she was told. Suddenly, a blast of water was fired from Shay's hand. The attack pierced Freecs body. Freecs began screaming as his body was barreling to the ground. Lucas touched the ground and spikes appeared. Freecs landed in the spikes, killing him.