Hunger settled inside me, but I couldn't let her see that side of me, not yet. Sitting on the grass, I held my child in my arm as I watched people going back and forth. The surrounding area with a scant few buildings had been transformed into a small sanctuary. They had turned the small plot of land that resided in the middle into a garden using a nearby herb shop. Everyone chose different buildings to rest in, probably in an attempt that if danger occurred people would be able to flee. They also carried many guns and pistols around their waist at all times. It might work against the lesser, but it would mean nothing to others. Still, it may be a measure for them to feel safe at mind.

Their spirits seemed lifted even though they were technically besieged on all sides by many monsters. The powerful auras here kept them away by only the eye distance. Enêpsigos had been locked away with Ash in the apartment on the right side for days now. These people would go there and pray, not even entering the building. It became a ritual of sorts. Maybe that is why their spirits were so high. She told me that she was planning to help her, but was she really? I still didn't trust her, and that bothered me.

Honestly, everything bothered me right now. Samael, Rainbow, Enêpsigos and this plan that seemed destined to fail now. I had believed it would work seeing how Rainbow operated. I had come to believe her, but now what could I really believe? Perhaps I should just take Alice and head home? My stomach growled, interrupting my thoughts.

"Daddy, are you hungry?" Alice asked as she looked up at my face.

I rubbed my hand on her head before giving her a kiss.

If I can't eat humans for now, then I would have to settle for something else. My eyes scoped around the premise, looking at people tending the garden while others were deep in conversation. Where was Eric but as I looked around another face popped before me, Andrew?

"Domenic," he said, as he approach and then took a seat right next to me, "are you okay?"

It was a long time since I had seen him and he looked like an entire differently man. A full beard and moustache and his hair fell to his face. His eyes looked tired, his left arm was in a cast and he looked skinner than normal. If I wanted to, I could kill him right here. Right now, he would be dead, just like the other man that trampled upon my life, Mr. Vanderbrock.

"I see you haven't changed one bit, you're still giving me those evil eyes."

"Don't you deserve them?"

"But maybe not for the same reason you think."

"What other way should it be?"

"Only for abandoning my friend when he needed me the most. Leaving him knowing the way he was and thinking it would be better for him. That was my mistake."

"If she wasn't here..."

"You would kill me, because you thought I had," he paused, looked at Alice. "with Mallory? That I was looking down on you, your whole life. I never did any such thing. Would you care to hear me out?"

"Why should I listen to you? Our friendship is long over."

"To hear the truth."

I got up as I lifted Alice onto my shoulder.

"That's the problem with you that made me leave you alone in the first place. You always try to run away from everything."

My eyes turned back at him. "Run away from my problems. I never ran from any of my problems. Unlike you, I never had that chance, I faced them all. You don't know what the hell I have been through, the things I had to do to survive. You don't know shit."

"Then why don't you tell me? Help me to understand as I help you to understand. Don't just run away."

I turned full towards him and closed the distance between us.

"Domenic," another voice called. I looked up to see that it was Eric.

"Eric please look after Alice for a while for me," I said to him handing her over Alice did not complain in the slightest.

Eric held a surprised look before he nodded and walked away. I heard him asking her what would she like to do for fun.

I took a seat beside him. "Well then, I am here tell me your side and then I will tell you mine."

Andrew nodded as he spoke, "My job at the bank that you always sneered at was never one that I got by myself. I had always been struggling, just like you. If it were not for Kim's actions of putting a word in for me, I would never have been promoted. She just seemed to know the right people, and I never complained about it. We were having a relationship as well, and I made the best use of it. You know it was happening from the time we both got out of school. I knew having that job bothered you, but it wasn't like the pay was something that made me superior. In this city with the devalued money, it was barely worth anything."

I was jealous when Andrew had gotten that job. I remembered it like yesterday. He spoke about it to me, but he never had a smile on his face when he mentioned it. We had the simplest dinner together, all of us, Andrew, Mallory and I. My aunt, that made sense in why they were always together, I still couldn't stand her.

"When I started making money was around the time that Mallory had lost her job. I was technically making more money than you at the time. Mallory still had a brave face that things would get better. She had hoped that another job would come after all. We had spent our entire life studying and preparing for life."

He chuckled as he brought his hand to his face. "Life however, was a lot more different from anything we were shown at school. After about three years, Mallory had given up and the few times I had seen her. She had looked defeated, and it was at that tim—."

"You had sex with her?"

"No, I never did it was then she asked me to talk to you. Did you forget that conversation we had at the bar? I passed there that day after work to find you seated in the same chair. You were so drunk with so many glasses in front of you. How you had even managed to afford them was a surprise. I had to tow you home and your car. When we got outside your apartment, I told you at that time, which you agreed to allow me to help because I could somewhat. Maybe I was the fool then because the next day you dismissed everything I said, "You don't need my pity," was what you told me. The problems don't go away like that though, and I realized that the only way I could help you was indirectly."

"Indirectly?"

"Yes, you never noticed the food in your fridge? I brought food, I started to pay for some of the bills as well where I could. Wherever I could help you as a friend I did."

"As a friend, huh, that's why you did that too. I heard you with her on the 17th of August 2016. The date has been ingrained in my mind when I was heading home. You and Mallory were having sex in my apartment."

"Domenic, I don't know what you're talking about. I had never been with Mallory alone at your apartment, ever. At night I always would be with your aunt."

I looked him deep in his eyes, but I couldn't sense any lies there. His facial expression seemed genuinely shocked by what I said.

"Whatever, so is that it?"

"Only one last thing, when Mallory left. I had her stay at Kim and I paid for everything that they would need. Kim didn't like that fact, but she was willing to stomach it for me."

"Then why did she come back?"

"I told her you needed to see your daughter, and you were in a better position than I."

"I see."

"Well then, tell me your side."

I spoke of all the horrors and problems that I faced. I told him about what happened to me from the beginning. The loss of my mother and the none attendance, the drug and the man I met in the bar. The lost of my job, my attempted failed suicide, my meeting with Ash, when I took it and where I ended up. The sick games I played at night, the old man, Martini's fate, the marks that took me back. Rainbow, Zora, and me having to kill her and my own transformation. The only thing I didn't say was what I was doing now. I watched his face twist as each detail I told him, every horrible one, seemed to make him twitch. His composure was gone and disgust seemed to take him. Ah, that's right, I guess in a way I am a monster too. When I had finally finished speaking, it was almost like I had taken years of his own life. Now he knew how hard it had been for me and how much weight I had to carry and that his pathetic side meant nothing to mine.

"Well then," I said to him as I got up and looked in the direction to where the monsters were. "I am going to get something to eat."

His body shivered at the words. But I was only interested in the foul tasting creatures outside that I would have to settle for, for now.