Half Step

Author's Note: This is the start of what I hope will be a novel length story. Each chapter should be around 3-4000 words. There is NO SEX in the first chapter. If slow building stories are not your cup of tea please move along.

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I was on my way back home when I heard what sounded like muffled crying from off in the forest next to the road I was walking down. I was all set to ignore it as my imagination when it sounded again. I was unable to make out what was being said but I could tell there was a lot of urgency behind it. I turned off the road to go investigate thinking someone may be injured or something. The full October moon was quite bright and I was easily able to pick my way through the stand of Ironwoods. The bed of needles on the ground and lack of undergrowth must have made me stealthier than I thought as the scene I soon came across continued as if I wasn't there. I quickly pulled out my phone and dialed 911, stepping behind a tree to hide the light.

The call was quickly picked up and I tried to keep quiet enough to still remain unnoticed. "911, what's your emergency?"

"My name is David Thompson, I'm about a mile north of Oak street and Highway 41 and maybe 30 or so yards into the forest on the left side heading out of town. There's a man I don't recognize waving a big ass knife around and what appears to be a girl bound to the ground somehow. She's gagged, whimpering, and looks like she's in trouble." While I talked, I looked around for any nearby branches on the ground. I really didn't want to get into a fight with someone holding a knife but if I had to, I wanted something more than my fists to fight with.

"Police are on their way. Is there anything else you can tell me about the two people you see? Do you recognize them?"

I managed to find a likely stick and refocused on the crazy guy in front of me. "I don't know who the guy is, I can mostly see his back. He's got that big knife I mentioned and looks to be wearing some kind of long coat or something. The girl looks about my age, err, I mean, 17 or 18 or so. She's wearing the Highschool cheer uniform although I can't tell who she is exactly." I could vaguely make out that the man was chanting something as well as waving his knife as his voice quickly rose in volume. It seemed to me that he was reaching the climax of whatever dumbass thing he was doing out here. "It's getting more tense out here and I'm worried he's going to hurt the girl. I need to go and try and help her right now."

"No, wait" said the 911 dispatcher but I ignored him and stuffed my phone back in my pocket. I grabbed ahold of my stick like it was a baseball bat and stalked forward. I really wondered sometimes about my life choices and this was no exception. I had never before been a fight of any kind and now I was about to tangle with someone who had a foot-long blade. A large part of me wanted to sneak up from behind and hit him on the head but what if this wasn't what it looked like? Maybe they're just really kinky and this is roleplay of some kind?

I made my decision and called out "hey, what are you up to?"

The man just about shouted a few more syllables before turning to face me. Now that I could see his face, I still didn't know who he was. He had slicked back hair and some kind of beard-mustache thing that I couldn't see that clearly in the moonlight. "Stupid boy" he said and transferred his knife to his left hand. He cupped his right hand and drew back like he was going to throw a baseball at me. I didn't see anything in his hand but figured it was better to look stupid dodging nothing than get hit if he was holding something I couldn't see.

When he whipped his hand towards me, I was immensely glad that I dodged. As his hand came forward it looked like it somehow filled with fire and what he threw at me was a softball sized ball of swirling orange flames. It was like an incredibly detailed special effect from a blockbuster movie except that I could feel the heat pouring off of it as it missed to my left. My adrenalin and fear levels were already high but now they were through the roof. I had to get closer to him and put him down somehow if he could throw fucking fire at me. I was about ten yards away and started running at him. I was almost there when a large concussion of hot air hit me in the back, staggering me. Thankfully it staggered the other guy too or I would have probably ended with a knife to the chest. I recovered first and brought my stick around with all my strength aimed at his left arm and torso.

I'm not sure if he thought I would try and hit his head but he moved to duck under my swing and instead of hitting the arm holding the knife my stick connected with the top of his head. The stick must have been down for a long time as it shattered on impact. Thankfully, it also dropped the man who was now immobile on the ground. His knife was easy to see and I quickly picked it up and moved towards the bound girl who I could now tell was Sara Parker. She was thrashing around a bit and her eyes were wide with fear. Her hands and feet were bound with zip-ties to stakes pounded into the forest floor. The knife I appropriated was sharp enough to easily cut through them and she was quickly free.

Once her hands were released, she pulled the gag out of her mouth and said "Holy shit am I happy to see you Dave. I thought I was going to die a virgin." She must have been running on more adrenalin than I was as it took her a moment to realize what she just said before she started blushing bright enough to see in the dim moonlight.

I smiled at her, trying to keep my cool in front of one of the prettiest girls in school and replied "good to know." She smiled back at me for a moment before her attention shifted behind me and the fear returned to her face. I swiftly spun around to see what she was looking at to find the guy I thought was knocked out lurching towards us. He had his right hand out and it was glowing a pale blue that I figured couldn't bode well for me and Sara.

Just before he could reach us Sara rolled over and lashed out a kick at the guy's ankles. She managed to connect and he lost his balance. He fell directly towards me and I tried to back out of the way but I was too slow. When he landed on me there was an incredible pain just below my chest and my diaphragm started spasming. I realized I had still been holding the knife between us and I wondered if I had just stabbed myself. The guy reached his hands for my throat and I figured that I had more important things to worry about at the moment.

He kept trying to choke me while I fended him off as best I could. I had a fleeting wish that I wrestled instead of played soccer as I felt totally incompetent. I could barely breath and could feel a sticky wetness spreading across my torso. Part of me wondered what happened to the blue glow that had been on his hand and why he wasn't doing whatever it was again but mostly I was too busy. Sara appeared above us and kicked at the guy again, this time in the head. His eyes kind of lost focus and his grip lost all strength so I was able to roll him off of me.

When I did, I realized that it wasn't me that had been stabbed. The knife was buried in the other guy's chest and as I watched, blood started bubbling out of his mouth. The pain I had felt must have been the hilt jabbing me in the diaphragm. It wasn't long before he stilled completely and I assumed he was dead. Sara kind of collapsed next to me and looked as shocked as I felt. I pulled my phone back out of my pocket to talk to the operator to find that it had broken in the fight. The screen was shattered and dark and I didn't get a response when I tried to talk into it. Before I could do or say anything else, we were joined by what I can only describe as a demon. It faded in from nothing and while I really wanted to run away, I was frozen in place.

He had red skin and satyr like legs. His forehead sported two short horns and his eyes glowed a pale yellow in the night. His voice reminded me of those stuck up British royalty you hear in the movies although he seemed to be talking to himself as he inspected me and Sara. "The summoning was done properly and there was an appropriate sacrifice although it's not usual for the summoner to be the sacrifice. There's also the fact that there are two of you and only one lifeforce to use. Hmm, I'm assuming they have no idea what's going on so let's give them the basic package, half each. That works, but what aspect I wonder?"

He stared intently at the two of us for a second before breaking into a huge grin. "Young ones, I know what to do. They always want the same thing." He raised his hand and pointed at me and Sara. Before I could even think about dodging whatever it was, a forked bolt of red electricity shot from his hand to both my chest and Sara's. Instead of the pain I was expecting I felt completely invigorated. The demon grinned once more and said "if I were you, I wouldn't talk about the unusual happenings tonight. Reporting the, well, magical events will just get you looked at like you're crazy."

With that he faded away and was gone. I looked over at Sara who nodded at me. "I agree with whatever that was" she said. "No one would believe us anyway. I'm sure the police will be asking us questions. Let's not lie to them, just omit the fire and stuff."

I agreed with her wholeheartedly especially as I was still shocked at what had just happened. I still had trouble believing that some kind of wizard or mage or something threw a fireball at me. "Sounds good. Let's head towards the road at least." I stood up and offered Sara my hand. After helping her up we made our way back out of the forest. She had released my hand after we stood but was still right up next to me as we walked along. It wasn't any closer than good friends would walk but we had never really been friends as we ran in different circles. I will admit that after what had just happened it was comforting to have her there.

When we broke out of the trees there were four patrol cars parked nearby. One of the officers immediately spotted us and gave a shout. He must have seen the blood on my shirt as he keyed his radio and called for an ambulance. He also pulled out his weapon and called out to Sara "miss, step over here please. Are you ok?"

I stayed put as Sara stepped towards the officer replying "he's not the bad guy. Dave rescued me from the guy who's still in the forest." She pointed back the way we had come.

"That's fine. I'm Officer Franklin. I just want to make sure you're safe. You said your assailant is still in the forest? Is he still armed?"

"I think he's dead" Sara choked out. By now the other three officers had converged on us and were making their way into the trees, sweeping their flashlights back and forth.

"It will be ok" Officer Franklin stated. "The two of you should sit here until the ambulance arrives. How badly are you hurt?" The officer finally addressed to me.

"I think I'm fine. All this blood came from the other guy." I sat down where I was. Sara came back to sit next to me on the curb while Officer Franklin started talking into his radio again. It wasn't long before a pair of ambulances and even more police showed up. We didn't live in the biggest city and it seemed to me that every officer on duty must have been there. I felt fine, especially after whatever that bolt was that hit us, but the paramedics insisted we go to the hospital and we couldn't convince them otherwise.

They let both me and Sara ride in the same ambulance on the way to the hospital. I was still shaken by what had happened in the forest. I looked over at Sara and was glad that she looked completely fine. Fine in both senses of the word. Her blond hair framed her pretty face perfectly, even after the ordeal she had just been through. It's no wonder she was considered one of the best looking girls in school.

Sara seemed to be much calmer than I felt. Even leaving aside the impossible supernatural crap that happened I killed someone. Thankfully we started chatting about irrelevant every-day things. Even though we had been in the same school for the past three years and now the start of a fourth this was the first real conversation we ever had and it was surprisingly nice. As we talked about light things, the teachers at school, how bad some of the new music on the radio was, and what upcoming movies we wanted to see I could feel myself calming. I think if I had been left all alone to think about what happened I would have started shaking.

It wasn't long until we arrived at the Emergency Room. We were split up and taken to different rooms and mine came with a police officer preinstalled. He wanted all of my clothes for evidence which I honestly didn't mind. The blood on my t-shirt had mostly dried and was pretty nasty. Some of the blood had soaked through my jeans and underwear so I ended up sticking everything I was wearing into different bags. There was a hospital gown for me to wear after I stripped and the officer left.

I sat on the bed but before I could start brooding a nurse and doctor combination came in to check on me. They poked and prodded for a bit but eventually said I was fine and the nurse led me to a shower. The hot water felt glorious and I spent way too long just standing under the stream. When I finished my shower I put on a clean gown and went back to my room. A new officer was there and she started asking me what happened. I described everything except the magic and the demon to the best of my ability and she eventually went away too.

One of the nurses returned and asked for my ID and Insurance card. I fumbled through my wallet to provide them and got a smile from the nurse as she looked them over. "Your birthday is tomorrow? Happy birthday!"

"Uh, yeah. Thanks."

"As you're still seventeen until then we need one of your parents to come get you or you will be stuck here until tomorrow."

"My Mom passed a few years ago and Dad is away on one of his business trips. It's just me right now" I explained.

"Hmm, I guess you can stay here until tomorrow and check yourself out then. It's already getting close to midnight so you can stay here instead of getting admitted. Let me go input your information and I'll bring your cards back."

"Sure" I said. It wasn't long before she returned. I was tired after the events of the evening and I tried to get some sleep on the uncomfortable bed. I tossed and turned all night and could hear nurses and doctors as they went about their duties throughout the night. At one point when I woke, I heard what sounded like half of a phone conversation just outside my door that both frightened and relieved me.

"I've checked on the two kids and neither one has any power. They must have killed Samuel before the summoning completed." After a pause he started up again "alright, I'll leave them alone. No need to make anyone more suspicious. I don't think we need to watch them, they're mundane and we have too many other things going on to waste our time watching two kids." Whomever he was ended his call and I could hear heavy footsteps walking away.

The call I overheard didn't make it any easier to sleep as my mind was going a thousand miles per hour. I couldn't figure out what power he could have been speaking about other than the magic that "Samuel" guy had been using. I knew that I couldn't do anything like that. I thought magic was all make-believe until earlier that night. That demon thing said he gave us something but I was incredibly grateful that whatever it was hadn't been noticed. I wondered what it could be as my exhaustion finally pulled me back into slumber.

The next morning was Saturday, the 30^th of October and my birthday and began with a bunch of paperwork before I could be released from the hospital. With my phone broken I only had one phone number memorized to call for a ride. Before I had a cell I called the home number of my next door neighbor and just about best friend Amanda Jackson enough times to permanently burn it into my brain.

"Hello" Amanda's mom answered when I called.

"Hi Mrs. Jackson, is Amanda up yet?"

"Not yet Dave. How come you're calling here instead of texting her like usual? You haven't called this number in years. Oh, and happy birthday."

"Ahh, thanks. There was a bit of an incident last night. My phone broke and this is the only one I have memorized. I was hoping that Mandy could come pick me up from the hospital and take me to the mall to get a new one."

"The hospital! Are you ok? Why are you there?" Mrs. Jackson kind of took over the mom role for me once mine passed and I could feel the concern rolling off of her even through the phone.

"I'm fine Mrs. Jackson. I'll tell you all about it later but the short story is I had blood all over me and the EMT's thought I should get checked out here. Since I only turned eighteen today, I couldn't check myself out last night and you know Dad's away."

"Now I'm even more curious. I'll wake Amanda up and send her your way but I expect you to come back here with her some time today and give me a full report."

"We'll stop by there after I get changed. I need to get a new phone, and probably some food. Thanks!"

"No problem Dave, see you later."

I don't know if the ER has different rules than the rest of the hospital or if the requirement to be wheeled out is fiction but I was able to walk out under my own power. My clothes were gone so I had two gowns on. One covered my front and the other my back to make a kind of dress. It wasn't my best look and I knew Mandy would get a kick out of it when she arrived. She was there in about thirty minutes and I was glad she wasn't the kind of girl who took an hour to be "presentable." I could see her smiling face through the open windows of her CR-V and was struck again by her genetic good fortune. Her mom was half Black and half Japanese while her dad was White with a bit of Native American.

"Nice outfit Davey" she cackled as I got into her car.

"Thanks Mandy, you look great too!" I got a punch on the shoulder for my trouble. "Happy Birthday by the way."

"Happy Birthday yourself!" Mandy's enthusiasm had always been contagious and I could feel myself perking up in her presence. "Mom said you need a new phone but maybe we should take you home first and get some real clothes."

"Please. Thanks for coming to get me."

"Hey, best friends and birthday buddies right."

"Right." We had been as close as siblings growing up. Our moms had been friends through High School and College. Both of them found husbands and moved to the same town. They actually bought houses right next to each other. How they managed to give birth to both me and Mandy on the same day wasn't clear but we ended up spending a lot of time together. She was my first crush and I worried that I ruined everything when I asked her out in 8^th grade. She gently told me that she was as interested in girls as I was which was kind of a shock at the time. I got over it and our friendship got even closer as time went on. It was a bit strange to be discussing who I though was pretty or who I had a crush on with a girl but we frequently were hooked on the same girl. Mandy joked that we really were siblings and had the same taste.

Mandy pulled most of my story out by the time we reached our houses. I did leave out the unbelievable supernatural parts though. I wanted to tell her but I didn't think she would believe it. I had trouble believing it happened myself. I told her I would change and then meet at her house so that her mom could grill me and make sure I was ok. Mrs. Jackson fussed over me a bit but accepted my story well enough. In the end she invited me back to have birthday dinner with her family and shooed us out the door.