Hellstinger

10. ... heroes of Phoenix.

Phoenix isn't a very big city, but it is a very vibrant one. Even though Marcus hasn't been in the City for more than a week, he has come to learn about its beautiful sunset. Particularly, the sight of the sun setting behind the statues of 'the heroes of Phoenix'.

"It's getting late, Marcus," Alexander said, coming up beside him. "We need to get back to the Manor."

Marcus let out a sigh, drinking in the magnificence of the twin massive statues looming over him from its raised platform;

"Five more minutes," He said solemnly, "please."

Alexander has never indulged Marcus' procrastination, but this time, she decides to make an exception; "Alright, five more minutes."

Marcus had been disoriented when his delusions about his ordeal were proved false. He had tried to make a reasonable explanation, but then Alexander produced the bow.

The bow he saw in his memories - memories that aren't his - the same bow he obtained from that cavern. Then Alexander revealed things to him.

As he had learned from the Old man and his visions, his family was a lineage of demon killers who had fought the demon god for the freedom of mankind. They were sworn to their people and protected them for generations just like his parents did.

"Romulus, huh?" Marcus scoffed, his eyebrows knitting together behind the thick shade of sunglasses and hoodie he had worn to disguise himself in public. He stood from the bench where he had been seated and approached the statues with his hands deep inside the hoodie pockets.

He paused in front of the railings keeping people out of the statue's raised platform. Looking up at the heroes who had served and protected Phoenix from crime and evil long before he was born. The heroes that were murdered in their fight against demons, the last two Hellstingers before him. His parents.

"The demon god." He said to himself. Imagine what kind of evil would have vanquished these two great heroes.

"Marcus?" Alexander said, linking her arm with Marcus' as though they were a couple. "People are beginning to notice you, you don't want crazed fans bombarding you right now."

Marcus dropped his head to look at his bodyguard - who was in actuality a lot more than a bodyguard - dressed in a casual jean bootcut, a floral patterned singlet, with a button-down shirt tied to her waist as her blue shade hair flew around in the breeze; she looked nothing like a bodyguard.

"Alright, let's go. We don't need to do the couples act." Marcus said, bowing his head to avoid the gaze of onlookers, as he allowed Alexander to pull him towards the exit of the memorial ground.

As Alexander pulled him across the 3rd Avenue road and towards his parked Chevrolet Silverado, all Marcus could think of was the death of his parents, the heroes of Phoenix, the brutality with which people described their deaths, and the pain of a lost time.

He got into the passenger side of the car. Alexander ignited the engine and taxied back through 3rd Avenue Road. He looked at Alexander; she seemed worried. More worried than the time he decided to make skydiving a hobby, and definitely more worried than her usual bodyguard demeanor.

She seemed on edge as she navigated the lanes to enter 7th Avenue, looking left and right, checking and rechecking the rearview mirror, and constantly subconsciously patting the sidearm strapped to her waist.

The Old man had shown him a great darkness. What or where the darkness is is a mystery, and all Marcus could do was watch the buildings rush by in a blur as the car sped on.

"We shouldn't have come out here." Marcus heard Alexander mumble, disrupting his train of thought. He wanted to point out that it had been her idea to bring him to the memorial ground, but instead;

"You said my parents had fought this Romulus just like my ancestors," Marcus stated.

"Yeah, and even though they sacrificed themselves to make sure his army of demons and shrouds don't evade the world again," Alexander said, never taking her eyes off the road - and the mirrors. "you have to make sure their sacrifice isn't void."

"No!" Marcus said forcefully. His voice had a clear image of anger and his demeanor seemed as rigid as a gladiator's.

"My parents didn't sacrifice themselves; Hunters, heroes of Phoenix, never sacrificed themselves," Marcus said, his voice growing darker as he fiddled with the sunglasses he had been wearing. He turned to face Alexander;

"They were murdered by Romulus, and I intend to murder him right back," Marcus said, his anger fueling something inside him, and giving way to a very vivid intention. "I am going to murder that fucking demon god so bad he would be dead."

Marcus vaguely noticed Alexander's expression change from the peripheral of his vision. But he didn't care. He didn't care what she thought of him or his sense of vengeance that just kept building with each second he sat in the car.

Everything he saw, as the car sped through the traffic, only served to make Marcus remember why he never had a decent childhood. Of course, wealth was never a problem, he was born into the generations-old wealth of the Hellstingers' lineage. But he lived his childhood as though exiled, and without as much of a parental love as a mustard seed.

'I am so going to murder him.'

The pair drove in silence. All Marcus could do was consistently think of ways to fulfill his vengeful promise, and all Alexander did was speed just above the speed limit with an anxious vibe.

Alexander never relaxed until they were well out of the City Central and speeding up N Cave Buttes dam road. But even still, she isn't letting her guard down.

She spared Marcus a glance; seeing him in such a serious mood was more than heartbreaking. If she could, she would erase the events of the last couple of days and let him continue his nonchalant life. Forever denying him the horrors the city has to offer.

But she can't. She had prevented Marcus from coming anyway near Arizona, but his destiny was calling, and her oath was unyielding. Marcus had to come to Phoenix, he needed to become a proper Hellstinger, and he must face the darkness all alone.

'For the sake of mankind, don't let your vengeance blind you, Marcus.' Alexander thought to herself as she sped up, pushing the car even faster as though on a time limit.

In another sense, she could as well be on a time limit. Romulus will come back, sooner or later, he will. And he will send his minions to exterminate the only thing that can stop his world domination; a Hellstinger.

Although Alexander has no idea when or where Romulus will return, she fears Marcus won't be ready when the time comes.

'I wish I could protect him as I promised,' She thought, taking her eyes off the road again to look at Marcus' angry/sad expression. 'but I will make sure he becomes the greatest Hellstinger that ever walked the Earth. I will make him the strongest...'

No sooner had Alexander renewed her vow to Marcus' parents did something fast catch her eyes off the road. And before she could make sense of the fast-moving figure, it slammed itself into the car.

<<< CRASH >>>

The car immediately spiraled out of control. Doing a full 360-degree spin multiple times, and throwing Marcus and Alexander around in the car.

"Grr! Ugh!" Marcus groaned, dizzy, and disoriented from the numerous spins. He massages his neck and subconsciously says a small prayer in gratitude for the car remaining upright through the crash.

"What on...?"

"Stay in the car!" Alexander cut him off. He looked at her to see that she wasn't the slightest bit fazed even though she had no seatbelt on - unlike him.

She seemed angry and yet scared. Marcus watched her maneuver herself to retrieve a sword from under the backseat.

"Only sh..!" Marcus stopped himself mid-gasp. He remembers the sword, he has never seen it in his life, but he remembers it as though he made it himself.

Alexander pushed the door open and unholstered her sidearm in the same bit; "you heard me Marcus, stay put." She said, slamming the door shut.

Marcus had no idea why Alexander seemed so mad and scared at the same time. And he definitely had no idea why she needed a sword and a pistol in each hand as she headed toward the rear of the car.

<<< Gunshot...Shriek..! >>>

The gunshot startled Marcus, but it was the horribly familiar shriek that made Marcus jump in his seat. He looked around, checking the side mirrors and the rearview mirror, in search of its source.

"Come on, you...ARGH!" He heard Alexander's pained grunt a second before a body crashed into the rear of the car. Gunshots issued and sounds of blade-piercing flesh combined with Alexander's groans and the shrieks of whatever she was fighting.

"Fuck!" He heard Alexander yell in anger, and four successive shots punctuated her annoyance after which everything went silent.

Marcus looked around again, involuntarily shaking and sweating despite the cool atmosphere of the car, in hopes of seeing what was going on. But all he could see through the rearview mirror was Alexander's reddish-hue blue hair as she leaned on the car, clearly exhausted. And all he could hear was the silent rumbling of the car's running engine.

He opened the door and stepped out; "Lexy!?" He called.

Alexander appeared from behind the car, and although all that illuminated her was the blinking Hazzard lights and the red brake lights of the car, Marcus could see that she might be bleeding.

"In. The car. Now!" Marcus wanted to protest, but her deadly gaze made him reconsider. He quickly got into the car to wait for her.

He heard groans and grunts and saw her put whatever she had just killed into the trunk before she came back into the car.

"A...are you okay?" Marcus asked, switching on the car's indoor lights.

"Shit..!" Was all he could say at the sight of the blood soaking the leather of the driver's seat. "Shit, you are bleeding, who the hell was that?"

"It looks like Romulus is just as eager to murder you." Marcus' brows knit together, "and Goat seems worried about you." She said.

Marcus frowned, confused. He followed Alexander's eyes to look out his window only to see the glowing blue four-eyed face of a beast less than a foot from his;

"FUCK!" Marcus jumped back in his seat, momentarily unconcerned that his movement could affect Alexander's wounded side, "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!"

"Argh, fuck!" Marcus took long calming breaths as the Fra'r continued to sniff the air around as though excited about its master's fear. "Why does it keep doing that?"

"It must have sensed your distress and came running," Alexander said with a groan as she shifted gears and coordinated the car to continue their ride to the Manor.

"What do you mean sense my distress?" Marcus asked, watching the Fra'r with a skittish look as it strouted beside the car, with its massive build swallowing the car's crooked frame, matching its luxury pace.

"It means the Fra'r is connected with you in a supernatural sense like...like wifi. It knows what you want even when you don't know what you want." Alexander said, groaning, with her right hand on the wheels and the other holding her shirt over her wound to gauze it.

Marcus wanted to make a snarky comment, but one look at Alexander's fluttering eyes told him just how endangered she was. The Manor was already up ahead, and she stubbornly refused to let him drive even if it killed her. So all Marcus could do - as he alternated staying away from the Fra'r and worrying about Alexander's condition - was reel on the fact that Romulus was after his life.