"So you're not going to do it anymore?" Din asked.
"Nope, I had a bit of a revelation last night, I'm too into it and need out, besides, I can write music without it." Hex shook his head.
He was tired of being chained to drugs, drinking, and smoking. He wanted to kick all those habits, but the drugs were the first that needed to go. He could work on kicking being an alcoholic next, and then finally smoking.
"You don't mind if... I still do them, right?" she questioned further.
"It's your body, you do what you want with it. I'm just saying I'm done with it. It was fun while it lasted but I need to stop or it's going to consume me." He sighed.
"What brought this on?" she kept pressing him.
"I don't wanna spend my life in a fantasy land anymore. I mean, aren't I living in one in reality? Why would I need drugs to see demons? I'd just have to go to Elaine's place to see demons." He shrugged.
"You aren't actually going to go to Elaine's place, are you?" She narrowed her eyes.
"No, I was saying hypothetically." He chuckled. He still disliked Elaine, possibly hated her nowadays. He still had sour feelings for her.
"You better not, she's trouble. The only reason I'd let you is because Zlyena said so." She folded her arms.
"She's off the wall, you're right. I don't need that kind of crazy in my life," he said.
"She may have helped you once or twice, but don't forget she's the enemy," she said.
"Yeah, I know. We gotta stop her somehow. I'm surprised Pain is going through with all her bullshit, isn't he supposed to be a better person than me?" he asked.
"I have no idea why, but he's not you, not anymore, you shouldn't concern yourself with what he does." She shook her head.
"It's just confusing is all, maybe he's whipped or something, I don't know." He laughed a little.
"Could be, but I wouldn't worry about it too much," she said.
"Also, what's up with that Trip person? Blaming me for shit I didn't do, just because I was selective in my relationships." He narrowed his eyes.
He heard a crash, and the new and less ear piercing house alarm go off. He got up and summoned his sword.
"What's going on?" Din got up.
"I don't fucking know, must be demon hunters again, let's see who would do shit like this in broad fucking daylight." He opened Din's bedroom door and peeked out.
It was that Dr. Gage's son, though he couldn't remember his name. He was on all fours, the shards of glass from the front window scattered around him. The boy looked up, and he instantly remembered the boy's name was Glitch. That twisted mouth full of sharp teeth was unmistakable.
"Bring me wood boy." Glitch said.
"He's not home, motherfucker. You can get the fuck out of my house right now before I do something that I'm going to regret," he boomed.
"You're lying." Glitch's twisted smile became a horrible grimace. Hex thought it was funny that just a few muscles in Glitch's face could emote in such a drastic way.
"I'm not going to prove it either, you want to fight, asshole?" He stepped out and pointed his sword at him.
Glitch laughed.
"You think you can stop me in this new android body of mine?" he asked.
"You look the same to me, just as ugly as ever." Hex shrugged slightly.
"Fuck you." Glitch swiped at him.
His claws were caught by Hex's blade. Glitch swiped with his other hand. Hex leaned back and avoided it.
"Same to you, buddy." Hex swung his blade, which ripped through Glitch's arm, completely severing it from his body halfway up from his elbow.
Glitch smiled again. A swirling vortex of silver goo spilled out of the stump, and formed a new arm, scars and all.
"What the fuck?" He was dumbfounded.
"Nanomachines, son." Glitch flexed his lanky arm.
"Can nanomachines actually do that?" he asked.
"These can. When I'm injured, signals are sent to my brain that then release the nanites into my bloodstream." Glitch replied.
"That's a bit overpowered, but I can fix that." He didn't know if it would work, but he dropped his sword, went up to Glitch and punched him in the side of the head as hard as he could.
Glitch was sent flying for a few feet and crashed into the wall. He slid down, his body crumpled.
"Who's the big meat now, motherfucker?" Hex grinned and cradled his aching knuckles.
"Is he... Dead?" Din asked as she peeked out from behind her door.
"I don't know, but he's not staying here." Hex went up to Glitch, picked him up, opened the door and tossed him out. He slammed the door behind himself, turned off the alarm, and went to get a board to secure the broken window.
Read the rest of the book here: https://www.moonquill.com/book/113