Raylan’s mouth fell open, spreading more of his minty breath outwards.

“Oh, shit, Raylan got schooled,” Fidgeter said.

Zeke shifted his focus onto Cotton Pants, who was oblivious to the situation. He drummed his fingers on the table continually.

“Hey, you there, is there something wrong?” Zeke said to him. “You seem on edge. Could it be related to the fact why you’re wearing such loose pants in comparison to everybody else’s cool and tight skinny jeans? Oh, it must be that then.”

“What?” Cotton Pants grumbled.

“You really want to scratch that itch, huh? But you can’t do it here in public; would you like to be excused once again to go deal with the fungus growing on your crotch in the bathroom?” Zeke grinned when he saw the panic spread on his face. He shuddered with excitement. “Don’t worry, your jock itch is easy to treat so stop depending on the internet and just go to the doctor already before it spreads and start bathing and changing clothes after practice.”

Cotton Pants lowered his head, utterly defeated. Fidgeter moved up and down in his seat with a mile-wide smile until he noticed Zeke locking onto him.

“And you with the itching ass,” Zeke barked. “You might want to follow Raylan’s lead and stick to water until after you get to the doctor and get cured. There are a number of reasons that could cause that itch.”

Fidgeter shot up like a cannonball and scowled down at Zeke, attempting to intimidate him with his sky-scraping height. He stayed silent for the full effect to overwhelm Zeke. “What’re the reasons?” he asked in a low, hoarse voice.

“It could be related to hemorrhoids or fissures, but then again, we do live in a world where very unlikely medical scenarios have occurred.” Zeke put a finger on his chin and curled his lip to the side. “So, I say that it isn’t much of a stretch to suggest that this could result from excessive masturbation.”

“I’m not like you; I’ve got a girl. I don’t need to jerk off.”

Zeke smiled. “Oh, in that case…” He looked up at the bully and intoned in a flat voice, “Either your girlfriend doesn’t know how to wash her privates properly or you don’t know how to wash your own ass. I can give you a few pointers if you wa —”

A fist flew at his face and erased the end of his sentence. His body followed the direction his head jerked to, and he crashed into the floor.

“Zeke!” AJ got up and rushed to his aid.

“Beat it, sasquatch! I’m going to kick his ass!”

Ugo sauntered out of the kitchen with a rubber waterproof apron on and announced, “Well, I heard plates breaking, so I came out here to see who it is that I should be thanking for making my job easier.”

“Get out of the way or I’ll kick your ass, too!” the Fidgeter screamed at AJ.

Ugo turned to the table and witnessed the scene with the fuming Fidgeter yelling at AJ coddling a bruised Zeke. He sprinted to the table. Raylan blocked his path and shoved him back.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he said. “Aw, looks like I made Zeke’s Puerto Rican lover weally mwad.”

“I am a Spaniard, cabron! And he’s not my lover!”

The rest of the entourage stood up and walked up behind Raylan. “Are you sure you want to do this? Have you ever been in a fight before?”

“No, but I’ve taken part in exactly 53,678 flights virtually.” he said as he raised his fists. “I’m great at fighting games, so I must have some skill in an actual fight—”

A left hook corkscrewed into his bottom lip and spun him around. “Or not,” he muttered disoriented, and then collapsed.

“Mora!” Zeke gripped the edge of the table and forced himself up. He ran past Fidgeter and grasped the back of Raylan’s long brown hair. He pulled him back to the table and slammed his face into the plate of pizza. Raylan raised his head and was met with a weak punch from Zeke that was enough to knock him into a chair.

Zeke hissed as the pain shot up his knuckles in coordination with the pain buzzing in his cheek. As soon as he touched his reddening cheek, two guys tackled him to the ground. AJ got up and watched Ugo rise and leap onto the two guys on top of Zeke. Fidgeter dove into the pile.

They all got up and attacked each other with whatever resource they had. Throwing punches and kicks. Grabbing plates and cups from nearby tables and flinging them across the room to their opponents. AJ joined the two-against-four grudge match by picking up a tray and swinging it across Cotton Pants’ face.

The band of three channeled the will of La Heroina Violenta.

###

Naomi found it painful to breathe. The silence that replaced the angelic cries of agony came abruptly and was dizzying. She gawked at Kalmiya’s decrepit, crumbling container that stood atop a pile of inactive angelic Containers flopped on the sandstone layout of the Sanctum. The intruder from inside the compromised Container stuck its thumb out and drove it into the center of the sigil on its chest. It sang a silent, quick incantation, and a black ball of energy exited from its mouth and flew out of the area. The Container froze in place.

Naomi heard footsteps and turned to her side. She was reminded of the other intruder in the male angel’s Container. The intruder sauntered to the barrier, put its hand over it, and started an incantation. Kalmiya’s Container buckled and turned its head full circle to the barrier. The cracks worsened and spread across the Container’s face, subsequently, a bright blue ray of light burst the face open and blasted towards the barrier continually.

Naomi analyzed the beam and noticed that they were composed of spheres of pure blue light — angelic souls. She couldn’t hold back her trembling as she stood there and did nothing.

The spell was ridiculously long. She had more than enough time to eradicate the intruder, but she had to convince herself to do so. Halfway through negotiating with herself; the intruder cited the last words and the souls gushing out of the container halted. The faceless Container fell to the floor.

The intruder took its hand off the barrier and doubled over to catch its breath. The Container the intruder occupied was deteriorating rapidly. It stared at the paralyzed Naomi, quizzically, and said, “You were surprisingly idle.”

The barrier sparked and dimmed. Its sigils faded.

“Why did you do that?” Naomi mumbled.

“Why did you do nothing?” The intruder asked, and then cocked a broken smile.

She heard crackling and looked over to the other doors on the walls of the room. They were breaking and their sigils were dissipating. The doors disintegrated, and a plethora of spirits and phantoms and souls ranging from a myriad of colors spilled out. Some were nebulous and shapeless blobs; others took the form of apparitions of warped, screaming faces. Some flew for the exit while the rest swarmed hectically like moths.

The rancid stench of sulfur and rotten egg coupled with chaotic demon susurrus overwhelmed Naomi. She staggered back, shrieked, and balled up on the floor, covering her head as spirits tried to attack her. The intruder stared for a bit and then pressed its thumb into the center of the Container’s chest, recited an incantation, and ejected in soul form; a bone-white sphere of energy fled the scene.

Naomi felt the spirits strike and seep their demonic energy into her by firing dark beams and clinging onto her flesh. She retaliated by sprouting out her giant gray wings from her back, tearing apart her white shirt and dark blue linen blazer. The spirits pushed back and halted. Her wings were massive and seemed disproportionate to her body. They looked like they belonged to someone of greater height. They had jutted, sharp tips that resembled that of a beast, and were a multicolored wonder. Light white at the top, charcoal gray in the middle, and jet black at the end. Her wings rose and arched, taking an even more imposing shape; the coruscating tips along the curve lengthened, and then they dropped, launching her upwards, leaving a white dust tail like a comet that peacefully eddied on the floor.

She flapped her wings once more, and they leveled and protruded to either side, allowing her to cut through the air seamlessly. A horde of black globs chased after her.

###

The azure hazed night sky speckled with white stars had a lavender effect on Zeke upon gazing at it while perched at the end of the rustic wooden docks.

The earthy scent that rose from the wood and blended with the piquant, salty aroma from the sea tickled his nose. The humming of the water was gentle on his ears. All this and clenching his discoloring doctor’s bag in his arms, allowing him to focus on the leather smudging into his fingertips, made him ignore the purple bruise on the side of his face, just below his eye; other tiny blemishes patterned on his face attempted to bother Zeke with the pain as well.

He was glad that he could get his bag from the locker after the bar manager, Gale, a burly woman showed up amid the chaos and he, Ugo, and AJ quit on the spot and ran. And now he was with said criminals luxuriating at the edge of some random, abandoned factory docks they found during their escape.

AJ and Ugo were on either side of Zeke. He patched Ugo with a bandage under his lip and one over his eyebrow. He also mended AJ’s scraped knee with some gauze and checked her shoulder for any injuries; it was sturdy as usual.

Saving her hair from the cheese was a failed attempt; the best Zeke could do was pick off some bits of meat, chips, beans, and jalapenos, but she assured him she didn’t care.

“Now, that’s one hell of a way to quit a job!” Ugo cheered and then hissed at the pain immediately afterward.

Zeke smiled for a second. He took notice that his hands were still shivering. A knot formed in his throat, and he slowly eased back into panic.

“You think she called the cops?” Zeke paused for a moment. “She definitely called the cops; we broke some stuff. How much do you think we owe her? Dios Mio, what if she called Mom and Dad.”

“Well, we haven’t received any calls yet.”

“Aren’t your phones still on silent mode? Why not check to see?” AJ said.

“In that case I’d prefer not to, and be surprised when we come home,” Ugo said.

AJ sucked her teeth and pondered. “Yeah, good idea. I might as well enjoy freedom before returning home and having it taken away forever by my dad,” She looked over to Zeke. “What you did back there. It was crazy. I never want you to do anything like that again but… thank you,” She moved her eyes down to her hands.

“You can also thank us by crushing on an actually decent guy next time,” Ugo said. “If I knew that our little girl was ready for boys, then I would’ve scouted one out for you.“

AJ gave Ugo a vacant look and then eyed Zeke once again. “You were just like Violet back there.”

Zeke grinned, and then scoffed as he shook his head. “Thanks,” he wanted to stop there but a gnawing feeling in his chest forced him to continue, even though his throat hurt like someone was repeatedly punching into the back of it. “But the difference between me and her is that she would’ve won that fight on her own. In overall, I am super ineffective.”

“No, you’re not, Mano. You’re awesome. How many times do I have to remind you? With all the Black Souls and Monster World trivia championships you’ve won? You can name all three hundred monsters for crying out loud! Is that all meaningless? If that’s not skill, then what is?”

Ugo’s claims confused Zeke. His brother professed about pulling all-nighters to learn the intricacies of complex combo systems and memorizing facts and the names of fictitious creatures—which weren’t much different from plain gibberish—as if it meant something in the real world. It didn’t attract them dates or any sort of validation from their parents. No real prestige.

“It’s all useless, Mora.”

“How about me? You don’t think that ranking the 7th best player worldwide in Blitz Fighter is a skill that matters?” Ugo said. “I’m the best player in the state, one of the best in the country! Or how about managing to be one of the only 15 people in the world who beat Maniaman on hyper mode, do you have any idea how fast and insane that is? Are all the championships I’ve won meaningless to you?”

“In the grand scheme of things, yes, they are meaningless!” Zeke looked away and lost the strength to comment any further. This is the roommate whom he paired with for years, of course, he became a connoisseur of useless information and in overall, a meaningless member of society who won’t be remembered for anything decent.

“You’re too obsessed with legacy.” Ugo said.

“And you don’t care enough about it, but you don’t get it. You come from a good family and no one has issues with Spain, everybody loves Spain!”

“Try saying that to Catalans.”

The boys winded down and looked around.

“It’s just the adrenaline talking. Everybody just try to relax.”

Silence took over for a while, and then—

“Hey, look!” Ugo shouted as he pointed at the clouded sky. Zeke and AJ looked up and peered at a white scintillating light tracing across the blue visage, enhancing the sky’s hue. “Let’s make a wish,” Ugo closed his eyes.

“What are we, eight again?” AJ said and then gaped at Zeke as she caught him closing his eyes as well. He was mumbling something to himself in Spanish. She sighed and followed their lead.

The pain and tremors dissipated as Zeke focused on his wish. He allowed his body to be motionless; for it to soak in the chilly air in its entirety on his scrawny, sleeveless arms and absorb the delicate murmurs of the sea. The saltiness plugged his nostrils and with a clear mind he could see what he wanted more than anything. More than becoming a doctor or bringing his grandmother back was to open his eyes and find himself in a reality where he was not cursed with a malevolent inheritance. To not be the son of Adelmo “The Demon” Rosario, one of the most notorious drug traffickers in the country. A hero to the underworld and a menace to the surface.

Zeke opened his eyes, and the sky was exploding.