Chapter 219Pebble of Grounding

Our first order of business was knowing the safehouse. It was in the industrial district (figures) and not too far away. We thought of taking the roof route there, but part of us all wanted to be among the humans for a little longer. It made us feel that much more alive. It was messing a little with my head.

Was this what they called bloodlust?

There were so many reasons for me to attack and kill them. Revenge for that they did to Rain, her sister and her parents. Or what they'd done to me, chasing me, Kryss and everything with him. But I didn't want to be like them.

Yet I longed for their blood.

My mind was distracted when they showed me the location. The safe house was nothing more but a really old building in the middle of some broken low office buildings. On each side there was no more than broken brick walls and rubble. It meant that there would be nothing to burn but the building itself.

The building was little more than walls and a roof. It must have been a shed or storage space of some sorts. It was kind of big, one and a half floor if I had to guess. The roof was slightly tilted, for the rain probably and the door was no more than a metal plate. Although it was roughly ninety percent wood, it looked quite thick. It woudln't be easy for rain or wind to come in. No windows either, that was kind of odd.

Why had they ever slept in that dump?

Valerie answered before I asked. "It was a long time ago, we only slept here for 2 nights, away from the city and with no better alternative."

I shuddered. "You will have to tell me some time."

Khuna put her hand on my shoulder. "You don't want to know, it wasn't one of our better times."

I nodded. "Fair enough. So we need gasoline and lighters. Both shouldn't be too hard to get."

Valerie smiled. "To be honest, large amounts of gasoline is actually harder to get than you'd think. Though we won't need more than one or two jerrycans. So that's alright. Any gas station would be fine."

A thought. "Aren't we missing something?"

Khuna and Valerie frowned. "Like what?"

"Shelter for ourselves?"

Valerie gasped. "Oh, that's a good point actually. We need to do this close to sunrise, just in case. And we need to prepare a lot before we're ready to trap them here long enough to light it."

I looked up in the sky and thought a while before I spoke. "Isn't this close to our old hideout?"

They both nodded. "Close-ish. We don't know if they know about it already, and with the people downstairs it's not a good idea."

I frowned. "Wait, it's a very good idea actually. They can't follow us there and it's hard to reach for those that don't know it. We can lock it heavily from the inside and it is in all ways better than a simple house. We're also more familiar with the building so we know what to do. And, the police downstairs might actually be useful to us. We aren't the monsters, they are. If I went to them and told them that I saw one of them..."

Valerie paused and thought this over. "You've got a point. And it's got the added advantage that we know how to get there pretty quickly."

Khuna looked up at the sky. "We still have time tonight. Wow... I can't believe you have all of this happen in one night, Amy. It's even worse than before."

I nodded. "I know, but I've got a feeling they want to do more as soon as they get the chance. If it was possible I'd drag them here personally, but I have no idea how many there are."

Valerie smiled. "I know. Nine."

Khuna and I both looked at her with surprise. How did she know that? How could she know that? Khuna opened her mouth even before I did. "Do you know something we don't?"

Valerie nodded. "Well, almost all of them are created by Kryss, as far as I know, he believed he could never make more than nine followers. In fact, I think he never showed them how to make more and, considering the type of people he chose, they wouldn't find out by themselves either. He wanted followers, not thinkers. There's a whole reason behind this nine thing as well."

She was making me curious. "Like what?"

Valerie blushed a little. "Well... From what Khuna told me, who knew him from before, he had a lot of Buddhist tendencies and he was very interested in god stuff. It's like he wanted to become a god himself. Buddhist rituals often, if not always, require nine monks to perform. He probably picked up on that a long time ago. That and I heard him speak to his group once."

Khuna frowned. "You never told me this."

Valerie shrugged a little. "It never came up, besides I was too tired from running afterwards."

I giggled. "We'll walk to the gas station together and you'll tell us, how does that sound?"

Valerie nodded and smiled. "Alright, sounds like a plan."