Chapter 8

Hadrian walks in on Ethan on the phone. "Don't worry, Hadrian is here with us as well; I think he's responsible," Ethan said when he came in.

"What?" Hadrian said subconsciously. Responsible for what? He wants to ask what he was responsible for, but he decided to wait for Ethan to finish his call.

"Got it, I will not call you again after a night of 'fun,' instead I'll be appearing at your location in the future," Ethan said, and Hadrian's eyes widened.

Who is Ethan talking to?

Aw, thanks," Ethan said, then cut off the call, and began laughing.

"What am I responsible for?" Hadrian asked, almost scared about the responsibility.

"Oh, Taegen is worried about me causing some trouble, and I don't think he trusts Emily very much because of what she did. So I told him you were here, and you seem responsible," Ethan explained. He sees Midnight walking into the kitchen and begins mewing out loud. "Why did she go to the kitchen?" Hadrian asked.

Then he gasped in realization: "She must be hungry," he said. "I guess it's time for me to reach into her emergency stash of meat," he said.

'Two.'

Second Rank: Space.

Ethan activated his ability and proceeded to draw a rectangle, which represented a door. A dark purple portal appears in that place, and Ethan says to Hadrian, "I am going to get some food for Midnight from her emergency stack; I'll be back very soon." With that, Ethan steps into the portal, and the portal closes behind him.

Hadrian hears a very loud mew, and he walks to the kitchen. He sees Midnight sitting on the countertop. 'How did she get there?' he wonders.

He reaches out to touch Midnight, but he is violently hissed at. "Sorry," Hadrian apologizes almost immediately. Midnight must have some serious trust issues. He looks over to the twin-tailed cat to see that she is still on guard.

He reaches over to touch her again, but he is scratched this time. Blood dripped from his hand, but he wasn't angry. Instead, he activates his ability and begins creating shapes with his blood. The cat looked at his little show while still on guard, but she was a lot more relaxed.

Hadrian wants to pet Midnight again, but he's afraid that this time she might not be very merciful.

He looked at Midnight and thought, 'She has the aura of a B-tier beast." Ethan must be feeding her his energy quite well. Soon, she'll have the aura of an A-tier beast. For an F-tier beast to have the aura of a B-tier beast, it must mean that Ethan is incredibly caring. Anyone else, who didn't want to keep the F-tier beast as a pet, would abandon it or kill it because F-tiers are nuisances to take care of.

Hadrian felt a cold breeze behind his neck, and Ethan returned with a piece of cooked fish on a plate in his hand.

Ethan saw that Hadrian was entertaining Midnight with his blood, then saw a scar wound on his hand.

"Did she do that?" Ethan asked, pointing at his wound.

Hadrian nodded. "Yes, I don't think she likes me very much," he said.

Ethan snorted a bit. "She doesn't like anyone; it took Emily a long time before Midnight finally accepted her," he said. "I think she's waiting for you to try attacking her before she makes her final judgment on you."

Ethan drops the plate on the table and checks the scarred wound on Hadrian's hand. "It doesn't look that bad," he said. "Can't you fully heal yourself? I thought the Bloody Tyrant could fully heal himself."

Hadrian raised an eyebrow. "Really?" he asked. "But I am not the Bloody Tyrant," Hadrian said.

"But you are, aren't you?" Ethan asked, squinting his eyes. "Ebenezer makes no mistakes when finding the reincarnations since he has the blessing of the Goddess of Time."

"Really?" Hadrian said.

Ethan nods in response. "And because of this, he thinks he's so cool and has all the power in the world!" He said in annoyance. "Let me tell you something," he said, signaling Hadrian to get closer to him. "I heard that the only reason he's a head is because he has the blessings of the Goddess of Time," he whispered.

"Why are you whispering this to me?" Hadrian whispered back.

Ethan moved back and shrugged, "I don't know, that's how Taegen told me," he said.

"Is that the guy you were speaking to on the phone?" Hadrian asked.

Ethan nodded. "Yes, he's one of the heads of the academy," he explained.

"Alright," Hadrian said. "Thank you for telling me."

Ethan smiled widely. "It's fine; we are friends, right?" he said.

'When did we become friends?' Hadrian wondered. He didn't know he was considered a friend by Ethan. "Sure."

"So do you want to watch a movie?" Hadrian asked, after about ten minutes of sitting in the living room without doing anything.

"Sure," Ethan replies. "But let's watch something that wouldn't trigger me; I don't think Emily would appreciate waking up this early," he said.

"Okay, let's watch a mystery movie," Hadrian suggested.

Ethan nodded, and Hadrian turned on the TV.

----------------------

Emily wakes up in a daze, She sits up and stares at the blank space in her room for about thirty minutes.

She snapped out of her daze when she heard Ethan shout, "No! She didn't deserve to die!"

Did something happen? Emily jumps out of her bed in a hurry, kicking her blanket as she struggles to untangle herself. She did care that she was still in her nightgown. Ethan doesn't shout unless there's something wrong. "Who's there?" she shouts, using her ability to create a pistol. "I have a gun, and I'm not afraid to use it!" she said, aiming into thin air.

She looks around in confusion. There's no intruder in her living room. She sees Ethan and Hadrian staring at her, and she finally notices her TV is on.

"What do you mean? She's the reason why this is happening!" that came from the TV.

"Good morning Emily," Ethan said cheerfully.

She wasn't in the mood for a good morning. She glares harshly at Ethan. "What the hell? Why did you shout?" she asked.

Ethan laughs sheepishly. "Sorry," he said.

Emily sighs as her gun disappears. "Good morning, Emily," Hadrian said.

"Good morning," Emily replies. "I need something sugary right now," she said, rubbing her temples, as she walked to her kitchen.

"Can you bring me something from there as well?" Ethan shouts.

Sure, if there's enough," Emily replies.

It's a good thing she bought some soda, chips, and chocolate before returning to her apartment. That was what she was going to eat before Ethan appeared. There's also some leftover pizza. She should microwave that as well.

Hadria walked into the kitchen while she was microwaving the pizza. "Is there something wrong?" she asked him.

Hadrian scratched his head nervously. "So my manager wants to come over to see; I just wanted to know if she can come here," he asked.

"So polite," Emily said, smiling gently at Hadrian. "Sure, she's the one who helps with your career, right?" She replies, lightheartedly.

"As long as she's not under the Curse of Restraint, and wants to kidnap Ethan again, then I have no problem with that."

Hadrian smiles. "Thank you. Can you tell me where we are, so I can tell her?" he asked.

"Okay," Emily replies. "How are you going to contact her?"

Oh, with the phone with Ethan," Hadrian replies, to the living room where Ethan was.

"Alright," Emily said. The microwave dings signify that the pizza is done. "Help me get the soda from the fridge," she said, taking out two bags of chips from her cupboard as well as three paper plates. "Do you want some too?" she asked Hadrian, who had already taken the soda out of the refrigerator.

"Sure," Hadrian replies.

"What is taking so long?" Ethan shouts from the living room.

"If you want something, then come here to take it yourself!" Emily shouts back.

Emily and Hadrian took the snacks to the living room, and Ethan was being quiet. The movie was over already. "Emily, I want to commit murder," he said.

"No," Emily replies almost immediately. "You are not going to commit murder, you are too young for that," she says.

Ethan turned to look at her and said, "You..." He points at her and says, "You're not going to tell me I'm too young to murder."

"You've been doing so for three years," he said.

Emily shrugged and said, "Yeah, but I'm a mercenary; killing people comes with the package."

"Killing people?" Hadrian said, he wanted to be frightened, but he couldn't find the right emotion.

"Yes," Emily replies. "Also, I don't kill people for free," she said to Ethan. "I get paid millions by a lot of people," she said.

"Millions?" Hadrian says, he was thinking about how much money that would be.

Emily turned to him and stared at him blankly. "Don't even think about it."

Hadrian raised his hand in surrender. "I won't."

"Well, if you get paid millions, then why do you live in such a dinky apartment?" Ethan murmured.

Emily sighed. She wishes she could just shoot a few bullets into Ethan's body. But it wouldn't be worth it.

"You are very lucky to be my friend," she said.