"Why didn't you use those bullets against the archdemon then?" Lucas wanted to know.

"Limited supply. I only want to take that shot when it's point blank and there's no chance of that bastard dodging it, because once he gets a whiff of it he'll be more cautious from then on."

Lucas couldn't find fault in the point. "How many do you have?"

"Six."

Six chances to make the archdemon rest once and for all. "Not bad odds."

"You think so?" she asked with an unconvinced look.

Truthfully, Lucas would've said the same even if she had one bullet. Blessed bullets were bullets manipulated by the power of Wizard Council members themselves. Lucas didn't know the exact process or why they were so effective, but they penetrated a demon's thick skin and burned them from the inside out. Typically, they were reserved for defeating demons of a higher level and were a very rare commodity. 

So rare in fact, that without the right contacts, one might think they were nothing but a myth. However, Lucas had been in a unique situation in the past that helped him know a lot of the truths surrounding the Wizard Council.

A more pressing matter suddenly dawned on Lucas. "Wait. You said the archdemon had my scent...I figure he'd be extra pissed off about now. What's stopping him from tracking us here?"

"Wards. The archdemon may be able to track our path, but our trail will go stale quite quickly."

Lucas frowned. Having blessed bullets and wards in your arsenal as an independent hunter went past impressive - it was suspicious. "Just who the hell are you?

"Someone who doesn't want to view the aftermath of another archdemon night expedition," she replied quite evasively. "To stop that, we'll have to be better prepared - and that goes past blessed bullets."

"We could've had preparation if you let me in on the secret of the likely visit of a man-eating creature," Lucas pointed out sourly. 

Tamara considered his point before shrugging. "Doubtful. Regardless of whether you'd be able to conquer your fear after stumbling upon your first archdemon murder scene - which as you put it, has very bad odds - the reason we escaped is the element of surprise you had with the archdemon focused on me."

 "I would've still had the element of surprise because the archdemon wouldn't know what I was capable of all the same." His tone sounded weak and hesitant, even to himself. He knew that she was right - if he'd known the archdemon had his scent after witnessing firsthand what he did in that alleyway, he would've sooner stowed away on a rocket to space before sleeping in that hotel room.

Tamara must have sensed this because she didn't push the issue further. "We'll have to think of a strategy to ensure the bullets hit their mark," she said, shifting uncomfortably on the couch, favoring her right side. Is it possible for you to hold him in place?"

Lucas thought about it. He imagined he'd have to set up the gravity element on the creature's head, then pour an immense amount of energy into it to greatly multiply the presence of gravity tethering the archdemon to the ground, effectively constraining him.

"It might be possible," Lucas said finally, "but I'd need a ridiculous amount of juice to keep him in place for more than ten seconds. I must account for his weighing more than me and having a natural magical resistance."

"A strategy dependent on those few seconds you can keep him stationary then," Tamara said thoughtfully.

"I believe I used the word might."

"Diffidence doesn't look good on you," Tamara commented wryly. "You would bet on your ability to hold him?"

Lucas thought of the imposingly large figure of the archdemon and the bulging muscles that flexed as it turned towards him. "Of course."

Markus sighed dramatically loud. "Now she's basing strategies on the chance that you'd bet on it working? You idiots are both doomed."

Lucas spared him a quick glare, which didn't go unnoticed by Tamara's observant eyes. "Something wrong?" she asked after looking in the direction of Markus, who was invisible to her.

"Nothing, my back is just annoying me. I guess we avoided broken bones but it still hurts like hell."

Tamara nodded. "Resting has to be our priority for now. We're in no state to take on the archdemon."

"Evidently you never were," Markus said with a bark of laughter which caused Lucas to fight down a smirk.

Tamara got up and disappeared into the kitchen where she explored an overhead cupboard, retrieving a small blue package, and moved to the fridge next where she removed several ice packs.

Lucas smiled. "Now we're talking."

It initially felt a bit awkward to take off his shirt and have Tamara apply ice packs held fast to his body by way of linen wrap. After all, she was a woman and he was a man, but the serious air she operated with didn't feed his imagination, and eventually, all he thought of was the cold compress sedating the discomfort in his back.

Tamara said she'd apply her own herself and disappeared from the living room, presumably retiring to her bedroom. Lucas didn't know how or when sleep seduced him, but he fell asleep sitting up on the couch, his neck leaning to the left as if he'd lost control of it.

His dreams were unpleasant. As usual, he was distinctly aware of it being a dream, yet that hardly softened the blow. He saw the aftermath of the archdemon's murders, their pupilless eyes one of the only intact parts, serving him a haunting look. As if that wasn't bad enough, they seemed to morph, both mangled bodies suddenly growing enough flesh in their facial region to provide clues to their fictional identity. 

The faces were eerily familiar. Both resembled the last time he'd seen one of his parents, with the addition of those haunting death-stricken eyes that stared into his very essence, judging his soul for what it was. 

Useless.

He welcomed the feeling of someone prodding him awake, running from the nightmare that threatened his sanity. He awoke to Tamara standing over him impatiently. "You need to learn to sleep lighter," she said with a frown.

Lucas decided not to point out that just a few hours prior he'd saved her because he had awoken out of his sleep in time.  "I guess I was more tired than I thought," he said instead.

She handed him a plate of what looked like multiple packs of instant ramen. Lucas was by no means ungrateful, but he couldn't resist a jab. "Not much of a cook?"

"I do what takes little time and is effective," she said gruffly. "If you want a five-star meal, go purchase it yourself and risk another confrontation with the archdemon."

"Ramen it is."

Truthfully, Lucas had been on ramen-only diets multiple times throughout his life and so the familiar relaxing taste probably did him more harm than good. He avoided thinking of his dream, which was hard initially, given the fact Tamara didn't even have a TV in her house. However, Markus appeared in one of his talkative bouts, tipping excitedly about nothing of substance as Lucas ate.

Lucas idly wondered if his guardian angel had sensed his discomfort and purposely took his mind off of it. Nah, he thought, Markus wasn't usually concerned with his happiness levels. He was all about not being imprisoned to bouts of boredom, and that required talking at the moment. It was best Lucas didn't start to think otherwise, for his own health.

Tamara turned out to be a very unladylike eater, scarfing down her own helping of ramen as if she were being rushed. Somehow, Lucas was not surprised. She waited, rather impatiently, for Lucas to be finished; he was a much more elegant eater since he liked to savor the flavor of his food.

When he finally finished, Tamara retired the dishes to the sink and returned with a purposeful look. "Okay," she started with a clap of her hands. Her demeanor seemed to have softened in the confines of her safe house and after eating. She had removed her tactical vest and had put on a new black t-shirt - judging by the lack of dirt on it. "Since you're not so confident about your ability to hold our friend in place and you've just regained some energy, we can have you practice on different objects."

Lucas couldn't find a problem with the suggestion so he just nodded. Tamara disappeared again in the kitchen area and returned with things of various lengths and sizes; a fork, a knife, a cutting board, and a large pot. "These won't attribute to the size of the archdemon, but it's a start."

"Sounds like a plan."

Lucas stood and Tamara positioned herself a ways off and bent down so she could slide the objects across the floor toward him. He imagined he was the first wizard to have 'training' conducted in this way. Tamara didn't bother pushing the first object lightly to give him more time to figure it out, rather it seemed like she used all of her strength to send the fork hurtling toward Lucas. 

He spared a millisecond to shoot a glare her way before focusing on the fork with the little time he had before it hit his foot. The red dot once again surfaced, this time on the sleek exterior toward the end of the fork's handle, and the world seemed to dull to a slowed roar as Lucas focused on creating the effect he hypothesized. In essence, he had to amplify the gravitational acceleration of the red dot by aiming the force downward, so that the dot created an acceleration speed pulling his intended target downward that greatly surpassed that of the earth's.

He poured energy into the red dot as he instinctively guided his magic to manipulate the gravitational force downward as he intended. In a way, it was like an extended push that didn't only directly affect a single object, but a small area. 

Stay. His inner voice was much louder than usual, betraying the strain he was putting into getting the technique right. He felt the familiar sensation of his magic pouring into its target, causing a reaction - though not the intended one. 

The handle was bent downward, but instead of being anchored to the spot with a complete halt of momentum, the fork entered a violent spin that was impossible to track with the naked eye. Before Lucas could react, the fork collided with his big toe, sending an uncomfortable wave of agony shooting up his body. He collapsed back onto the couch, his yell muffled as he grabbed at his toe. 

Markus howled with laughter. "Forget a demon, you've been defeated by a fork!"

Lucas wished his archdemon was alive so he could show him just how painful a fork could be.

After his bout of silent screaming and making sure his toe was still attached to his foot - albeit a nasty bruise already beginning to peek through - Lucas stood back up gingerly and faced Tamara. She wasn't as amused as Markus, or at least, she had composed herself while Lucas was seeing stars. In fact, she already had the next object, a knife, in her hand.

"What went wrong?" she asked.

"Wish I knew, that way I wouldn't have shortened my toe's lifespan."

"Then find out," she said, as serious as ever. 

She crouched, already preparing to send the knife sliding toward him. He grumbled, but she'd already released the questionably sharp knife before he could get a real complaint in.

He repeated the process, this time pouring a significant amount of energy into his function. His thinking was he'd almost stopped the fork but didn't have enough power to do so correctly. There was a rumble as his magic bent gravity to his will and caused the knife to rattle, before flying into the air as if launching off from a trampoline.  Mercifully, Lucas was better prepared for shit to hit the fan and readily dodged out of the knife's path, which continued on and harmlessly clattered against the wall.

"What went wrong?" Tamara asked once again in a somber tone. 

Lucas couldn't stop his frustration from seeping into his voice. "Hell if I know!" He immediately felt bad for his outburst but Tamara stared at him evenly.

"Calm down. Getting frustrated won't do you any good; take a moment to think what change of strategy might work and execute it."

"She really thinks she's a drill sergeant," Markus commented with a wry smirk.

Lucas ignored him, noting the truth in Tamara's words. When you were given a bad hand by the dealer you couldn't show your frustration, you had to keep your emotions in check.  

This was no different.

He calmed down as he would before incorporating his poker face - which he'd been told was not the most convincing - and pondered over what had happened. At first, it was like working out a complex math equation without using a calculator, but then an idea so simple came to him that if Markus caught wind of the solution he'd refer to him as Mr. Idiot for a full year.

In his attempt at stopping the knife, he'd just gone for power and clearly that wasn't what was required, but it was the first attempt with the fork that granted him an idea. He had poured a reasonable amount of power into his function, but the dot had been aimed toward the handle of the fork, and it had been crushed and entered a tail spin as a result. 

What if the key to stopping his target was just a matter of placement?

"You look like you've thought of an idea," Tamara said with a curious look. "Am I right?"

Lucas nodded. "A theory, anyway."

"Better than nothing." Without even asking if he was ready, Tamara sent the next object, a cutting board, skidding across the floor his way. 

It would've been more tedious placing the dot in such a specific place on the smaller surfaces of the fork and knife, but with the length of the cutting board, Lucas found it relatively easy to focus on a specific area so the dot formed as close to the middle as possible. 

Stay.

Lucas almost held his breath in anticipation as he poured energy into the function and the cutting board started to slow before coming to an abrupt halt. 

He looked up and Tamara offered him the faintest of smiles.