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After the bedtime story, I started to get nervous. Jackson often stayed up late working on the project. And I really needed him to go to bed earlier today. I did not have to puzzle over a certain plan for it because I had one option that worked perfectly. Ten minutes later, Jackson was already snoring and should have been sleeping until the morning. Usually, he was sound asleep after sex, and it was impossible to wake him up even with a shovel. So, not caring about noisy, I quickly got dressed and went downstairs, and only then I realized that Eugene and I did not discuss the meeting place.

Looking around and seeing absolutely nothing in the pitch darkness, I went to the only lighted street, so he could find me.

"And I was about to pick you up!" Eugene appeared from nowhere. He just emerged from the air.

"What? How did you?"

"Haven't I mentioned that I can become invisible if needed? It's the main gift of the Guardians. That's how we can guard the reliquiae and creatures while remaining unnoticed."

"So, in the park, you just wanted to piss me off?"

"You're smart!"

"For a principled and inhumane Guardian, you possess too many of our habits. Are you sure you're not a hybrid?"

I squinted and tried to calm down. Eugene certainly sought emotion from me but his motives remained unclear.

"Wait! This means you can spy upon me even in the shower???" I was horrified.

"I can but won't. I've already explained to you that I'm attracted to people neither in physical nor in any other sense, so to say. Besides, Tol explained to me that people extremely value their personal lives. Though I don't get it, I promised to respect this."

"You sound like you don't have any private life," I snorted.

"It's not like in your world. We can train now and then go hunting, or vice versa."

"Let's do the opposite way. I don't want to be exhausted before fighting a demon. How are we going to do this? How do we find someone we need to kill?"

"I believe it'll be even easier than you think. All supernatural creatures feel you, or rather the Force inside you, and want to obtain it, so they'll come after you. We can simply walk into a dark alley or a closed space and… By the way, the prohibition on leaving the underworld was set by a reason. The thing is that Charon is the only one able to take the Force of others. Everyone knows this but the soul or Charon himself can only pass through the gates. Even Hades has no right to cross the River. Charon was safe there until his first escape. He was aware of all the risks because his absence doesn't let souls find peace and ruins the Balance, and he also endangers the whole world, wandering without protection, where every Nefarious can take away his Force. It's not an easy task but the human form makes him vulnerable. If the Force is captured by someone with evil intent we are doomed."

"I can't get one thing. Charon is immortal, as well as some demons, but, nevertheless, they can be killed. Isn't that absurd?"

"Gods, as well as Charon, can't live on the Earth in their normal form. Therefore, they're forced to transform into a human, which makes them vulnerable. Demons are another kind of creatures. Demons originally didn't exist. When Hades was kicked out of Olympus he got furious with supreme Gods and dreamed of revenge, though he was weak and alone for that. Then he used the only option he had – souls that couldn't be transferred. These souls can't be exiled to Tartarus and brought to the Island of the Dead for one reason or another. They'll dwell in the river and suffer forever. And suffering demonizes them. And Hades used these souls. He gave them form, bestowed the abilities and released to the Earth. That's how demons appeared. All the other creatures have formed from demons mating humans, demigods, nymphs, Guardians, and others. Demons were becoming more and more powerful over time, and Gods made them immortal for special services. The weapon of Hades was often directed against him. These creatures were too greedy, so they failed to serve one master. Since they got a second chance, they craved to get it all. Not many manage to harm or kill the immortal. But Gods created a weapon for that. Every powerful demon must be afraid of death. Otherwise, it can get out of control and cause troubles. There are three ways to do this: The Sword of the Guardian," he grabbed the handle, focusing my attention on it, "erasing for mistakes, which will lead to unwanted attention to our world, and your Force. You can absorb immortality and then kill the vulnerable demon."

"Now I have a clearer picture. Can I get a couple of textbooks from your library to progress faster with my training?"

"No. It's forbidden to take the books outside the library. You can only study there."

"So, I can read the books only there but we can fight with swords here, right? And what if someone sees your magic sword?"

"You ask too many questions," Eugene shook his head. He was very restrained in answering a million of my questions earlier but now he looked me straight in the eye, probably, for the first time since we met, and I noticed his anxiety and fatigue. He liked all this no more than I did, and he was definitely hiding part of the story.

I could hardly imagine the consequences of the ruined Balance but some of the pictures in their textbooks describing the similar scenarios left no doubts about their large-scale and catastrophic nature. While this was not obvious in the human world, Eugene's look gave out that their world had been already under changes. He would be much more willing to help his comrades now, instead of babysitting a freshman who was unfortunate enough to be in the backyard of the night club when Charon was there in search of someone to pass on his curse. Could one blame him for waiting to get rid of this? I could not. Every meeting with the soul was unbearable: the feeling of the death pain and mental anguish were realistic as if mine. Having lived their feelings for a day, I could not wait to get rid of this punishment. It is possible to fight one's own demons but withstanding this for others, feeling physical pain for several hundred years without days off and holidays was incredibly hard. It was a change that I was already experiencing, and I could not even imagine how a person could change in a few hundred years…

We walked in silence, and I did not know the final destination. Eugene silently handed me a training sword. I liked its characteristics – the blade appeared only right before the fight, resting all the rest time; a magnificent handle which seemed some unnecessary accessory or case for glasses.

"We've been walking for an hour. What if today is not the day?"

"Every day is the day. Delays cost lives and destruction."

"What do you want us to do? You're the Guardian. There must be a way to track demons."

"Yes, you're right, but they'll sense us then."

"So, what's the problem? Is that bad? We're looking for them," it did not make any sense: Eugene had the opportunity to find a demon but we were idly wandering the streets of Boston instead.

"The thing is that it works like a locator in both directions. All creatures feel when I use the power of search. Once they know our location, we'll be in danger. We'll face tens of demons at a time. Do you get now why I'm not looking for such adventures? Maybe later."

Meanwhile, we reached an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city. The area was not illuminated by a single lantern and one could see the road only due to the full moon shining brightly in the night sky. There was not a single cloud in the sky, so we could view all the constellations. They seemed particularly bright and beautiful today, and the cool night air gently embraced the skin, fresh from walking long. Why hadn't I walked so late when almost the entire city fell asleep and I could get to such creepy but romantic places? It was a pity that the magic of the moment was overshadowed by a wrong company. More than anything, I would like to have Jackson by my side, hugging me from behind, looking up together at the night stars admiring their beauty.

The silence was broken by the explosion in a few meters away from us. I screamed and tried to find the culprit.

"Darsy, stand behind me." Eugene whispered. He took out his sword and stared off into the distance.

I strained my eyes trying to see anything in the darkness, a few moments later a bright spot, resembling a human, emerged on a black background.

"What happened? Who's this?"

"Stop asking questions and better hide somewhere nearby, so I could find you if the demon's not alone."