Judgement (The Twelve) (8 page)

Then again
what the blue
blazes
had happened to him?
He
’d
destroyed that thing with one punch. He suspected a touch would have down the trick just as good as
a
punch.
His hand had been in close contact when it exploded.
How
had
he
healed
himself
so fast
?
  
There
were just t
o
o many questions.

Chris stood and facin
g them,
“
Lets get one thing straight; I come or go as I please. I choose to stay, get that? I choose to stay. Now answer me this, j
ust who or what are you guys?”
He demanded
with
his
hands on
his
hips.

Patch walked past eating on an apple, “Simple
,
we’re The Twelve
. “
She blew him a kiss.

Priest belched, “
God’s chosen ones.
”

Heartless smirked, “
We
’re
t
he
P
rotectorate of the human race.
”

Rage added, “
I prefer
The Twelve.”

Chris
could count
, “
But there are only
ten
of you?
”

Heartless chuckled
and moved to lean against
the dinning table, “Boy can count.”

“Why the leather….?”

Speed flashed past on the way to the bathroom upstairs,
sucking air along in his wake,
“Not important kid.
Need a dump
” The bathroom door slamming shut
on the second floor a fraction of a second later
.

Chris
was angry, none of this made any sense. He saw
a
n old
TV set in the corner
, walked over and pressed the on button
. Of course it didn’t work, “
You could
at least live in a decent place!”

He was angry because he
’d been
forced to live in a fucking box. They had a house for Gods sake! Why live like this,
are they simply
squatters, “You guys have any money?”

Slash
sat
down
at the dining table
ne
x
t to Heartless. He pulled a wet stone from a pocket
,
spat on it and started to
sharpen his knives, “
This place gives us a roof over our heads. Don’t need luxuries, just food, showers and a bed. Of c
ourse we got cash
, l
ots of it.
Anvil
collected plenty over the years
and we helped add to it
.”

Chris had to ask, “How many years?”

Slash smirked,
“Oh
a long, long, time
.”

Heartless turned and grinned down at Slash, “As in before Nelson lost his eye.”

Slash laughed, “Before he was even born.”

Heartless grinned from ear to ear, “Before his parents were even born.”

“Or his great, great, grand……”

Anvil snapped, “Don’t confuse the kid with details. Suffice to say we’ve got a very healthy budget.”

Chris shook his head in disbelief, “If you are who you say you are how come we’ve never heard of you. I mean you guys could have killed Hitler for one thing, stopped the bloody war from happening!”

The one called Priest answered, “We don’t interfere in
the ways of
mortal
s. God gave them the gift or curse, of independent thought. They stand or fall by there own actions.”

Chris laughed, “Easy way out!”

Anvil looked grim, “Not easy, far from it. Don’t you think we know we could have stopped that war
or any other for that matter, before the mass killing starts
. God forbids us to take action on that level. We deal with those creatures man has no defence against, thus protecting the balance between good and evil.”

‘
Okay enough is enough’
Chris thought and started towards the door leading to the hallway and front door.
‘These guys are really messed up.’

“Were you going kid?” Rage grumbled.

Chris didn’t answer
, he
reached for the door handle
,
only to find Rage suddenly
blocking his exit,
“I said where you
going
?”

“Leaving
,
going for a walk.
”
Chris tried to step around Rage.

“No you’re not
,
”
His bulk blocking the doorway.

Anvil
was
talking quietly to
Priest, he turned
, “Rage don’t…”

But Rage wasn’t
listening;
he reached out with one mighty fist, intent on gripping Chris by the coat front. But Chris’s hand flashed up and gripped Rage by the wrist, or part of it.
Rage smiled at first,
before
look
ing
baffled. He tried to pull free but couldn’t move. The room filled with the smell of burning hair. Chris looked down
as a terrible pain drove up his arm, there was sudden pop
!
Followed
by a flash of light from under his hand, Chris
was
suddenly
and painfully,
shoved
away from Rage
by some invisible
force.
Rage raised his arm in front of his eyes. The shape of Chris’s hand was a red shaped blister
o
n his skin, minus the thick cover of black hair.

Chris shook his own hand
which was also burnt.

“Ouch” Rage whispered in surprise
as he stared at his wrist.

Chris looked
aghast;
he never meant to hurt Rage,
“I’m
sorry.”

Rage still staring at his arm, muttered, “Amazing!”

Slash
pushed away from the table,
c
oming over
up with Patch and
Priest
, they stared at the injury. Slash whistled, “First time I’ve seen Rage marked in any way.”

W
ithout thinking
Chris
reached up and touched the burn. For a second nothing happened then slowly
the blister vanished and at the same time his own injury vanished.

Rage smiled, “
Well done
, I think you and I will be friends
,
young one.
”

Anvil
had approached silently
from behind, he tur
ned
Chris
gently
around to face him, “
First rule
of the Twelve, w
e
can
never do harm to one another
.
”

Anvil
stared
into Chris’s eyes
, “
Look
will you
…
please
…
stay with us for awhile. You want answers as much as I do. You can have a bed all to yourself
.
As for your
old
clothes, they
were
not much more than rags
so we threw them out. But
you can keep those
you’re wearing, unless you want some different stuff suitable for a teenager?
”

Chris raised an eyebrow,
fingering his leather jacket,
“Leather?”
He asked
.

Anvil
smiled, “
They’re made special when
I find a new
reborn
.
It’s a sort of uniform
that followed on from my first set of clothing. In my day everyone wore leather or hide. Bu
t you can keep those cloth
es and the leather jacket and this…
”

Anvil pulled out a wad of twenty pound notes and thrust them into Chris’s hand. Looking down he guessed he was holding about two hundred quid!

Chris wasn’t stupid to miss a bribe when he heard
and saw
one, but manag
ed a half smile and a quick nod
, he was street wide after all
and quickly put the cash in his jeans pocket, “Guess since you’ve not paedophile’s  and since you’ve dressed, fed, washed and paid me. I can stay for a short while.”

Patch squealed  with delight, grabbed him by the arm, pushed Rage to one side,
( which was an act in itself quite amazing to watch)
opened the door and started to drag him into the hallway, “Come on I’ll show you to a spare room
,
”
a
nd after a pause, “Then the bathroom.”