"Hey Mark! Come over, sit with us!" My father made inviting motions with his hands, waving them back and forth to get his attention inside the busy restaurant.
Mark walked towards us with an awkward smile and gave me an "is it alright if I sit here" glance to which I nodded my head.
To be honest I didn't want him here, I felt weird about the things I saw. I mean I saw him meeting a cow demon in an alley filled with blood. I would have thought I was just hallucinating if it weren't for the rest of the day and the revelation I got about my magical heritage.
"Hello Mr.Dave" said Mark inconspicuously to my father.
"Boy, get anything you like, my treat! The double bacon chicken sandwich is delightful" my father continued talking on and on making small talk but I was nervous about the whole thing.
"Excuse me" I interrupted him."I have to go to the restroom." I got up and tried to leave but Mark followed me.
"Actually I have to go too Dol, do you mind if I follow?"
Of course I mind, I want to get away from you dumbass. That's what I wanted to say but I ended up saying that I wouldn't have a problem.
We went inside the main building, followed the signs pointing down and walked the circular staircase leading to the underground floor. We didn't speak, we just walked together, which was good for me because I felt awkward as hell.
Finally he broke the silence when we reached the split between male and female restrooms.
"Dol, I know you followed me today"
Way to be subtle. The straightforward tone caught me off guard but I tried denying everything.
"What are you saying, I didn't follow you... I just got a stomachache and went home."
Okay, I can't really lie. I'm sure my face was red as an apple, it wasn't easy at all to hide my embarrassment, frustration and almost any feeling that would get my blood going with that pale white skin of mine.
"Dol, you look like a strawberry, I can tell when you are trying to hide something." He was right, I could feel my face get hot and I was kinda trembling.
"Just tell me what you saw, it'll be alright."
I was being pressured, feeling like I was driven into a corner, which I was.
"I don't wanna talk about this!" I yelled and tried to leave but he grabbed my arm and stopped me. For the first time ever I saw him looking angry.
"What.Did.You.see?"
His voice was different, it was deeper, rougher than ever and for a brief, one millisecond I saw his eyes turning red.
That was the moment terror rose inside me and I yelled loudly! I made a sudden movement and released my arm. I run, run like hell and he let me.
Looking back I should have stayed in the restaurant, I shouldn't have gone to my dad, begged him to leave as I saw Mark coming closer, with a grin on his face. I shouldn't have left that place which was full of people.
We took the car.
"So there are Daemons coming after us?" My dad asked me while he was driving.
"Well, nothing I haven't faced before."
"You've fought Daemons?" I shouldn't have asked him like I didn't him believe him, but I did.
"Sure! I was with your mom for over 15 years you know." He sounded smug, but I think he deserves the credit.
We were alone in the road so we were moving at a fast pace in the dark, murky roads of Hillsborough Meadow when something hit the top of our car and sent us off.
The car turned around and I hit my head hard. Everything turned black.
The next thing I remember was my father trying to wake me up when the door next to me pulled back making an awful cracking sound. I fully regained my consciousness just in time to see the cow demon's head up close and personal and smell it's awful breath.
I yelled loudly as it grabbed me with it's muscular arm and took me out of the car.
I felt it's fingers crushing my ribs and my breath was forced out of my lungs.
I felt like I was passing out and then...
I heard Mark's voice.
"Leave her down Minos."
Just as Mark said the cow demon obliged.
He put me down on the hard, muddy pavement and I tried grasping my breath. My arm was hurt by the car crash, and I had blood dripping down my left eye. I was in no condition to fight. Especially the huge, 9 foot tall Minotaur-creature with the crimson eyes staring right at me and his pal, my old friend Mark.
"We didn't need to do this Dol... Why did you have to follow me? We could have let you live a few more days." Mark was grinning. I can't believe my best friend, the person I told all my secrets, the person I secretly liked, was now facing me with... bloodthirst.
"Why..." I could barely speak.
He walked up to me and lifted me up.
"Why does anyone do anything? For the fun of it of course. And for power!" He grinned and spoke to me in a condescending tone.
I spat on his face and he let me go, but he seemed pissed.
"I thought you were my friend... We shared everything!"
"I am a great actor, am I not?" He wiped my spit off his face and walked towards me menacingly, his eyes glowing red in the dark of night. This was definitely not the Mark I knew. I turned my back on him and started running but "Minos" jumped in front of me, his weight cracking the pavement.
I was surrounded, I was weak and I was alone.
Or so I thought because just as the demon charged at me my father shot him with a shotgun and broke one of it's horns off. The blood gushing from it's wound covered me red and it fell down mooing in pain.
"Leave my sweetie alone bastards!" Mr. Dave the European history nerd and professor, was looking like a demon exterminator for a moment there.
He loaded his shotgun and shot Minos one more time, this time in it's chest.
"Come one sweetie, we gotta run while it's down!" He said and I got up, dizzy as I was and followed him.
We didn't know it then but shotguns, bullets and regular weapons couldn't mortally wound these Daemons. Just hurt them and consequentially piss them the hell off.