Chapter 47

Well this situation sucked. How the hell was I supposed to explain everything? I groaned mentally before I came up with a plan of action. I gave Micheal another glare, but he was conveniently looking out a window acting like he wasn't paying any attention to the conversation we were having.

I snorted at his obvious attempt to deflect my annoyance. "Alright I think I get it." I said then I looked at Bill. "What about you?" I asked. "Beating a brute isn't easy."

Bill nodded. "No, that fucker took entire clip of forty five's to the chest before it went down."

I winced, maybe Caly hadn't been wrong when she commented on how easy of a time I was having killing the twisted.

"That's it? You just unloaded a bunch of bullets into it until it went down?" I asked.

"How else would you do it?" Bill asked me while giving me a look Iike I ws stupid.

I couldn't resist, I know I should have, but I just couldn't. I lifted my hand and created a ball of fire in my palm. I chose to use normal fire, as I didn't want to risk hurting anyone. I had never extinguished the shadow flame before, and honestly I didn't have any of that automatic knowledge of how to do it except allowing it to burn its target to ash. "I prefer to burn them to ash." I informed Bill with a shit eating grin.

Bill and Tracy's shocked expressions were priceless.

Caly hit my shoulder hard.

"Fool! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" she yelled at me indignantly.

"Hey, I am not stupid enough to use shadowfire unless I need to." I retorted.

Caly just huffed and turned her head away from me.

"Daryl, what in the hell…. How the hell….." Bill stammered but didn't seem to know how to ask as he stared at the fire that flickered above my hand.

I extinguished the fireball before I gave Micheal a smug look. He just rolled his eyes.

"Alright, first thing is first. Those monsters are called twisted, the red ones are brutes. There are other kinds, but only the green ones have started to show up. Those are called reapers. While the brutes are big, strong, and tough. The reapers are more normal sized, fast, and have long nasty claws." I told them.

Both Tracy and Bill paled.

"Unfortunately Bill I have to tell you that the twisted aren't monsters. Well no, that isn't true, they are monsters, but they weren't always. The twisted are a mutation of humans." I told him.

"What?" Bill asked as the color drained from his face.

I sighed I sucked at this. "The twisted are mutated humans. So the one that you shot used to be a person. If I was to guess I would say that it was Tracy's brother-in-law." I told them.

"What?! No." Tracy replied immediately. "Jake went to the store with John." Tracy.

"Even better, it was a stranger." I told Bill.

Bill looked like he was about to be sick.

I stood up and walked over to Bill placing my hand on his shoulder. "If it makes you feel any better, they are monsters. While they were people before, the moment they become a twisted they become a monster that would have ripped Tracy apart just because she was human." I told him.

"You sure?" Bill asked weakly.

I nodded. "Yeah, we're sure." I told him.

Bill nodded though he still seemed a bit unsteady. "How?" he asked.

I moved back to my seat and sat between Karen and Caly. "Well that is due…." I started to explain but Caly put her hand up and covered my mouth.

"How about I explain it?" she suggested.

"Huh?" I said stupidly.

"No offense Daryl, but I get the feeling you will make them more confused than less." Caly told me.

I frowned but shrugged. "Fine." I said then. "Bill, Tracy, this is Caly. A lot has happened, but she is my fiance and knows a lot more about everything that is going on than I do." I introduced.

"Fiance?" Bill asked, surprised.

"I will cover that too." Caly replied with a smile.

I sat back ready to enjoy the story but Karen had other plans. She shifted beside me then my lap was full of Karen.

"Down hussy." Caly said though she didn't sound mad.

"Just getting comfortable, this seems like it will take a while." Karen replied.

I noticed Caly roll her eyes. "Fine you take him, he already went over the hard stuff. Just have him drop off those supplies before you drag him down stairs." Caly told her.

I rolled my eyes as Karen wiggled on my lap. "No, no reason to leave early." Karen disagreed.

I gave the back of Karen's head a hard glare as I reacted exactly like any other hot blooded man would. I expected Enya to make a comment any time now, which reminded me, I hadn't seen either of the still fairy like elementals since we arrived.

"Enya, Sil?" I called out.

When there was no reply I tried to sense them. While I could still sense them through the bond, and knew that they weren't in distress, I couldn't tell where they were.

I frowned but before I could say or think anything else a gust of wind blew through the room and Enya and Sil appeared in the middle of the room. "Sorry master." Sil said sounding breathless despite looking no different than normal.

"Do I even want to know what you were doing?" I asked curiously while I tried to ignore the way Karen continued to shift on my lap. Little minx needed to be punished later.

"Delilah suggested we patrol the area, get a sense of the nearby residents in case one of them might be close to transforming." Sil told me, still sounding breathless.

"What the hell are those?" Bill asked in shock.

I ignored Bill. "You can do that?" I asked.

Sil considered it for a moment as she eyed Bill and Tracy for a moment then looked back at me. "We can peek in on them and gauge their emotional situation. As the emotional triggers are anger and hatred, it isn't hard to guess if they are having issues." Sil replied.

Enya snorted but didn't say anything.

Sil glared over at Enya but Sil didn't say anything.

I wasn't sure what that was about but decided I didn't need to know. "Did Delilah say or suggest anything else? Was anyone close to transforming?" I asked.

Sil hesitated before shaking her head. "No master. Only three of the other buildings are occupied. While some of them seem distressed, none look like they are about to transform." Sil replied.

Enya couldn't seem to help herself and burst out laughing after a few moments.

Sil glared at her again but didn't say anything.

"What?" I asked looking over at the fire elemental.

Sil sighed, gave Enya another stern glare. "It's nothing master. We just stumbled onto a scene I wasn't able to understand immediately." she admitted.

It didn't take me long to figure out what she meant. "I see." I said with a chuckle then grabbed a hold of Karen's hips and held her tight to my lap so she couldn't continue to squirm.

A couple of the others caught on and laughed as well.

"Well that is good to know." I said. "Was that why you seemed hesitant?" I asked.

Sil shook her head. "No master. The couple in the house directly behind this one were arguing heatedly. Enya and I feared one of them might react, but they calmed down before anything happened. Delilah promised that she would keep an eye on them in case they started to argue again." she replied then blushed.

"Something else?" I asked after noticing her blush.

Enya chuckled some more but continued to remain silent.

"No master." Sil replied her voice while quiet it seemed to quiver.

"That must be Marshal and Rebecca." Bill spoke up. "They are good people, but their marriage isn't as strong as it used to be."

I nodded then looked to Caly.

Caly stared back at me, "What? Oh, are you done now?" she asked me mockingly but with a smile on her face.

I leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek. "Yes." I replied.

Caly huffed. "You better be planning on giving something better than a quick peck later." she complained.

"It's been a while for him, that might be all he has in him." Micheal quipped.

"Micheal!" Courtney admonished while the others all laughed at my expense.

I rolled my eyes, but decided not to retort, and it wasn't because I couldn't come up with anything worth saying.

"Fine, where were we?" Caly asked looking back towards Bill and Tracy.

"How people become monsters, and what are those?" Bill replied then gestured to Sil and Enya.

"It's who, not what!" Enya retorted.

"Ah, oh I'm sorry miss." Bill replied a bit startled.

"Better." Enya replied then flew over to settle on my shoulder.

Caly just shook her head. "Alright then…" she said then began to fill everyone in.

Courtney got up to get Heather and Samantha so they could hear it too.

The trio returned quickly with a very sleepy Bryan cradled in his aunt's arms.

By the time Caly had caught everyone up it was getting late, and despite the fact that I was enjoying it, Karen was getting heavy. Not that I would ever tell her that. Before she stood up she twisted around and locked lips with me. It was a sweet but far to brief a kiss before she climbed off my lap. I wanted to chase after her and claim another, but my legs had gone numb.

Caly gave me a wink but was up and out of my reach before I could even consider pulling her over. Didn't she just complain about not getting more than a peck on the cheek?