| Part three: Homesick They traveled through the rainy street. Balthazar had given Marron his jacket and held her close to him, as if she would get lost if he let go. It was pretty late now when they stopped in front of an apartment building. “Home sweet home.” Balthazar opened the door to apartment 3C and walked in, turning on all the lights in the room. Then he went into the second room. Marron entered and gave a good look around. A soft-looking couch and coffee table, with and empty cup on it, as well as a TV was pretty much the living room. The living room was half the kitchen and a counter. The couch looked like a very tempting thing but before she could sit on it, Balthazar returned from the other room with two towels. He handed her one and began drying off his own hair. “Before you sit, dry off, please. I like to keep things nice and dry.” “Um, is it okay if I took a shower?” She asked. Balthazar paused for a minute and nodded. “All right.” He took a hold of her wrist and pulled her into the other room. The bedroom had a king-sized bed, a lamp table, and a big bookcase with lots of books. It was a cozy place. “The bathroom is there.” He pointed to the smaller room in this one. “Throw your wet clothes into the hamper and I’ll find you some clothes of mine to wear.” “Thank you.” She went into the bathroom and turned on the bathwater. A bath would freshen her up. When the tub was filled, she stripped down and sank in. As she washed herself, her mind was clearing up and she began thinking again. Now what had she gotten herself into? She was in Balthazar’s home and at the mercy of a demon. But he wasn’t that bad, was he? Catalyst… Did Morael speak the truth? Or was he playing with her? Marron got out and wrapped a towel around her body. She cautiously crept out of the bathroom but it was in vain as it seemed the door to the room was shut and no one was in there but her. A pile of neatly folded clothes was laying on the bed for her. The clothes were a bit big but she rolled of her sleeves and walked out into the living room on the ends of the cargo pants. Balthazar sat on the couch with his towel around his neck. He was listening to the answering machine on the right side of the couch. “Hey Balthazar, where are you? You didn’t show up.” “Are you okay?” “Call us back when you get home. See you later.” “Your friends?” Marron asked. She sat down beside him. He turned around and smiled. “Yeah, the ones I said we were going to meet. You feeling okay now?” She returned the smile. “Much better, thank you.” “You must be very tired though.” He replied. “Yes.” He patted her head and got up. “You can sleep in my bed. And I have an extra toothbrush in the cabinet.” She stayed where she was. “I could just sleep on the couch.” He shook his head. “No, I’ll be up for quite some time making a few phone calls. I wouldn’t want to disturb you.” “You sure?” She continued. “I mean I don’t want to be a bother.” Balthazar sighed deeply and picked her up into his arms. “Whoa! Hey!” She shouted. “What are you doing?!” He carried her into the bedroom and spoke in a sarcastic, demanding tone. “You are sleeping in my very nice bed and that is final!” The girl was thrown onto the bed and the covers were wrapped around her. Before she could find her way out, Balthazar chuckled and called out, “Sweet dreams.” Marron got out and saw the door was closed. No point in arguing. She got up and went in search for the toothbrush. * Next morning… “Well, Balthazar’s late.” Three young men sat around a table of a café, drinking coffee. It was midday and they’ve been waiting for their friend for about an hour. “Oh, come on now Ben,” One of them said. “He’s had a rough night, why with Morael kicking the bloody hell out of him.” Ben sighed and ruffled his blonde hair a bit. “Yeah, but its been an hour. I’ve enough caffeine to keep me up for a week.” His friend threw a newspaper at him. “Take a look at the front page.” Ben opened up the paper and read aloud. “‘Missing child, Marron Grace Sanderson. Last seen with a young man wearing a black suit.’ Wow, front page news. So do you think Morael will use this to their advantage, Leo?” “One thing’s bloody sure,” Leo said, “We’ve better watch our backs.” Ben nodded and turned to the other man, at their table, who hadn’t spoken. “Eh, Luc, can we leave? I don’t think Balthazar is coming.” Luc didn’t respond. The silver-haired man was reading the part of the newspaper Ben had. “Look,” Leo spoke, “There he is, with the girl.” Across the street, Balthazar and Marron were waiting to cross. Balthazar was carrying some shopping bags in one hand while the other hand was hold the girl’s. Marron had a book in the remaining hand. As the crossed, Ben pulled up a couple of chairs from an empty table behind him and the two took the seats. Balthazar dropped all the bags and sat. “Whew! I am tired. Sorry we were late you guys but I wanted to buy Marron some clothes but then she wanted to go into this one bookstore.” Leo smiled. “No problem Balth, how are you?” “Fine, thanks.” Balthazar smiled. “Oh yeah, this is Marron. Marron, these guys are my friends, Leon, Benjamin, and Luc.” “Hey.” Ben extended a hand and Marron shook it. “Nice ta meet you. How old are you?” Marron replied, shyly. “Fifteen.” Leo spoke, “I think she’s old enough to handle it. Don’t you think Luc?” Luc moved the newspaper from his face. White as snow, his face was. There was no feeling in it as ice would numb the skin. He gave a slight nod and returned to the paper. This man, Luc, fascinated Marron. She would like to find out about him and why he was so pale. “What do you mean by ‘old enough?’” She asked. Leo turned to Balthazar. “Did you tell her anything?” “Some things, yes.” “All right then,” Leo started, “Let’s tell her the whole story. Marron?” “Y-Yes?” He placed a finger on her nose. “Pay attention to me, okay?” She nodded, vigorously, “Okay.” “Well then,” Leo took a sip from his cold cup of coffee. “Let’s begin at the very beginning. How the angels and ‘demons’ were created.” http://www.oocities.org/metallium_chaos/absolute03n1half.html There was a long moment of silence when Leo had finished. All eyes were on Marron, even Luc. She sat, contemplating her situation. A nail was caught between her teeth as she tried to think. Balthazar pulled her finger out of her mouth and gave her another warm smile. “Please?” “Can I ask a few questions?” she finally said. “Of course.” Leo replied. “One, when you say ‘sent back to heaven,’ do you mean death?” Ben replied. “Yeah.” She cringed. “Okay, then do you miss your home?” “A whole lot.” Balthazar spoke softly. “So, then how long do we have left?” “We found you early,” Leo said, “We still have twenty-six days.” Marron closed her eyes, took in a very deep breath and replied. “Well, if I don’t do this, I’ll die.” Nods all around. “Then I accept.” Balthazar beamed and gave Marron a backbreaking hug. “Yay!” “Balthazar,” Luc spoke, “She is turning a different color.” “Oh!” he let go. “Sorry.” She caught her breath and laughed, “It’s all right.” Ben cheered too. “Let’s get some lunch, eh?” “A bloody, good idea.” They headed off, paying for their coffee and grabbing their bags. Ben and Leo had arms around Luc and the two sang aloud. Marron and Balthazar listened to them from behind. Marron tugged on Balthazar’s arm, “Can I ask one more question?” “Sure thing, gel.” “Who was the winged whose boy died?” Balthazar nodded forward. “Luc.” “Really?” “Yeah, Luc is just his nickname. His full name is Lucifer. Also known as Satan.” “But he isn’t really bad, is he?” “No, he’s just gloomy. He still mourns the lost of the little boy.” “I hope he’ll feel better.” “We all do, gel. We fight, because we want to save him.” |