Chapter 50: Chapter 50: Bulletproof

Chapter 50: Bulletproof

Ares and Allyn make it to Tamara and Howard's funeral. There is a crowd around the two caskets. And it is not just grieving vampires, either.

Hm, I wonder why the vamps prayed to me, if they are going to cry at the demon lady's funeral. Strange world. Allyn looks at me, when I stand from my chair in the back, and head to the casket. He doesn't follow.

It is just so… anticlimactic. As if I came in here to vanquish a villain, and instead, the villain vanquished herself. In all of my years as a war god, I have never experienced such a thing.

The closer to the caskets I go, the more vampires there are. All the ladies are wearing body tight clothes. I wonder why?

"Are you… that Hero of Ultimate Fate, who got summoned last month?" One of the pretty women asks. I nod. "She wouldn't have given you too big of a battle. She… she was broken down to her roots."

"I figured," which makes all the training I went through pointless. "Tell me about her. And no, I don't want to learn more about that D-pop bullshit."

"It was her life's work. You shouldn't call it bullshit," the woman says, and then places a hand over the demon lady's hair. She gives it a couple of pats, and then sighs. "But I get what you want to know. Yet, the person who could have told you, lies dead next to her."

"The paparazzo?" I ask, and she nods.

"They were love and Tams. Thick as thieves. I think she knew he was a Hero of Ultimate Fate, and was amused by it," the woman removes her hand from the demon lady's forehead, and then I look pass her.

 There they are, two ghosts, smiling at all the people who came to see them in their final hours on this world.

"Hm, I think I will go and get myself something to drink," I say, and then do an almost invisible move with my hand. The two ghosts see it, and follow along with me.

I make it outside, where golden tents are placed, with blood, alcohol, and even something called a troll's thumb. I think I saw it in one of the supermarkets. Still, I know it is an opioid.

"So, why didn't you wait for me?" I ask the demon lady, who looks at the table before us in distaste.

"I really wish that they didn't bring such things to my funeral," she says, and then uses wind, to knock the packets with the drugs below the table. "To my credit, I never ate troll's thumb."

"Never, Tams?" The old man asks, and I zero in my eyes on him.

"Never, love," Tamara tells him, and then reaches out. The two can't clasp their hands together, but they still try.

"And you? Why didn't you do your duty?" I ask the old man.

"What duty? Do you think I wanted to be killed by an ambulance? Just what did I owe to the world, after such a start to this whole… Hero of Ultimate Fate business?" He does have a point, I suppose.

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"You are different," the demon lady says, and then looks me straight in the eyes. "What are you? How come you can see us?"

"My real name is Ares. Yes, the Ares," I scrunch up my nose at them. "And the two of you just gave up, without fighting."

"We had full lives," the old man says, with a shrug. "Well, not too full, for we did end up in bed together. Ah, the honor of having Tams in my arms, just for a second. Good times."

The demon lady giggles, and the old man mirrors her, after a while. I realize that I won't get the answers I want from them. They are too far gone, for me to see the truth behind their double suicide. So, I wave them out of this plane of existence, making sure they stick together. 

I hear footsteps behind me, and I see him. Allyn, his blonde hair a sharp contrast to his black suit. Looking worried about something.

"What are you doing all by yourself out here, Ares?" He asks me, and I turn fully to face me.

"You were an orphan, before you got adopted by the king and the dark lord, right? Tell me, is that why you wake up crying at night, when you think I can't hear you?" My question startles him. He is just a young man. Almost still a boy. He takes a step back.

"Nothing horrible happened in the orphanage. The worst part was the hungry nights without dinner, I guess," Allyn tells me, and I close the distance between us.

"I know why those two died," I whisper to him. Almost like I am sharing a great conspiracy. "They had too much sorrow in their hearts, and their hearts stopped beating one day."

"What is with the poetry, Ares? You know that is not how it ended," Allyn tells me, as I take a hold of his arms. He doesn't move away.

"You have too much sorrow in your heart as well. Despite the best efforts of your parents to help you get a clean slate," I tell him, as I lean my head down. Our lips brush. "Well, not on my watch. You will tell me everything. Just what turned you into such a cynic? You will tell me, or you will lose me."

"You are so full of it," Allyn says, letting me glimpse at his defense mechanism.

"Tell me now, Allyn. Or, watch me walk away. I like you, but I am not ready to accompany you to the next life. I am no Howard to your Tams," I say, and he bows his head.

"Just one kiss, to give me courage?" The blonde asks.

"Just one. We are at a funeral," his lips turn up, and I let him take the lead. Just like I let him be the one to decide, what is he going to tell me.

Ares didn't manage to get to vanquishing the demon lady on time, but he saw that his companion, the prince Allyn, had the same sickness in him, that she did.

And it is a hero thing, to rescue people. More so, than vanquishing dark ladies, or lords.

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