• Chapter five


    The next day Zero and I paid a visit to an old friend of the family. He was a quiet man who normally kept to himself and didn't ask for trouble, but if it came his way he could sure take care of it himself. He was always there to help mom when she needed it the most. We knocked on his door of his two story home. He came to the door in a dress shirt, slacks, and dress shoes. His hair was pulled back in a ponytail that showed only little signs of white around the edges of his ears.
    “Hello boys.” He said in his British accent I could tell he was very happy to see us.
    “Hello Walter. It's been a while hasn't it?” He chuckled a little.
    “Yes, yes it's been far too long. Come in,come in.”

    The place was lively as it was in my younger days as a kid playing with Zero here. A fire was lit in the fireplace keeping the place toasty warm. I could hear the sound of the radio playing softly down in the basement. Zero and I smiled at each other as we followed him into the kitchen.
    “You haven't changed a bit sense we last saw you Walter. Still dressing nice even though your at home and that radio of yours playing that old country station.” Walter simply chuckled. He gestured for us to sit down while he went to the counter.

    “You boys want some coffee while your here?” We shook our heads.
    “Were okay for now Walter.” Zero said. I nodded in agreement. I was silent for a moment trying to find the right words to tell him.
    “Walter...there's...no better way to say this but...he's back.” Walter stopped moving and looked at me with tired eye's.
    “Are you sure?” I pulled the knife that was stuck on my door out of my belt and showed it to him.He gave a shaky breath before speaking again.
    “So it tis true.” He turned back to the counter.
    “He's come back after all these years.”
    “Where not exactly thrilled about it either Walter.” Zero said. “He's caused enough heartache for us already.”

    The room fell silent for a while as none of us spoke. The situation was becoming clear on what needed to be done.
    “We've got a lot of work to do boys, so let's get to it.” He lead us downstairs to the basement. The place was neatly kept out of habit by Walter, things were on shelves organized the way he wanted it. He stopped by a blank wall and held out his hand towards it. He pressed little slots of the wall that formed a handle, with one hefty push in and a twisted the wall slid apart to show a secret room.

    As we walked in Walter flipped on a switch to light up the room. Weapons of all kinds lined the wall for fighting humans, vampires, ghouls, demons, and shapeshifters. Walter went to the back of the room and took out two cases, one black and one silver.
    “I believe these belong to you both.” Walter said sliding them on the table. He flipped open the cases showing our swords inside them. I reached in, pulling out my katana sword, I slowly pulled the blade out of the sheath. The blade created a small ringing sound as it came out of the sheath, as if giving a voice to the sword.
    “Hello Carlos.” The sword seemed to be saying. “It's seems like eons sense you last weld me.” I smiled.
    “Hello Yamamoto.” said back. “You haven't changed one bit from the day I laid you in that case.”

    I backed away from the others and swung the sword experimentally hearing it sing it's own song of death. I spotted a small empty box lying on the table to my left. At a speed to fast for a normal human to see I cut the box into four pieces. To the human eye it looks as if nothing had happened, I slowly slid Yamamoto back into the sheath as I did the ringing sound began to come back. I snapped the sword the last of the way in causing the box to split into the four pieces.
    Walter chuckled at the sight of the box crumbling.
    “You haven't lost your touch have you Carlos?” I came out of my battle stance and looked at him with a pleased smile.
    “A little on the dull side but with a good whetstone I could make the thing be able to slice strands of hair again.” I looked over at Zero and saw him pick up his custom semi-auto pistols SilverfangandWhitefeather. Twirling them around to get a feel for them again he chuckled a bit.
    "It's been a long time sense I held these things. They feel like lead weights rather than guns." He shrugged. "But that will pass after awhile." When he was done he placed them in their costume holsters with a satisfied smile. He swung his swordShadowfire a few times before he placed the sword on his back just as he use to.
    Walter showed a sign of satisfaction from the both of us. I looked on the wall and picked up a two-handed sword crafted out of pure silver. I picked up the sword and a few other things as we left.
    "What's the sword for?" Walter asked. I looked at him with confidence.
    "I once made the mistake of not protecting those I care for properly. I won't make the same mistake."
    We went upstairs and back to the door.
    “Thank you Walter.” I said.
    “If there's anything else we need we'll let you know. He smiled and bowed deeply.
    “I'm happy to be of service Carlos.” As Zero and I stepped out the door Walter placed a hand on my shoulder.
    “Carlos. Can I ask you something?” I turned to him without saying a word.
    “When this is all over. What will you do? Have a happy and prosperous life that your mother always wished for? Or will you go back to living a life of solitude again?” I stood there thinking his question over carefully.
    “I don't know Walter. I never thought ahead to the future, I was always caught up in the moment.” I patted his hand to reassure him.
    “I do know one thing...I've been given another chance at happiness and I'm not going to let him take that away from me again.” With all my strength I pulled out Yamamoto and sent out a sonic boom sending trees crashing in the forest. The forest was still and quiet nothing made a sound.
    “And so the game begins...” I placed Yamamoto back into the sheath slamming it shut. The trees in the forest splintered and exploded from the pressure of the sonic boom. “Now.”