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"Hold on to me, but don't open your eyes till I say so."

Amanda wrapped her arms around my neck, and I crawled vigorously down the way, removing the falling rubble by the Force. We got outside within minutes, and a crying woman rushed to us. She took the girl in her arms, and they both began to cry.

"Thank you!" she looked at me.

"Take care of her!"

Meanwhile, Jackson was heading to me. He was furious.

"Are you out of your mind? Why the hell did you go there? What were you thinking? Are you Captain Marvel or something? Or are you that stupid?"

I heard Jackson talking like this for the first time in my life, especially to me. He had never been so angry. And as offensive, as it sounded, he was right. After all, it was impossible to explain to him that it was much safer for me than for the rescuer. Several people would die trying to get the girl out, or she would die before I even used my powers. But Jackson did not know that. He saw this as a pointless risk and a miracle that I was alive.

"I'm sorry but I couldn't stop, when I heard her cry!"

I hugged my boyfriend to stop him from saying things he would regret. And when I stepped back I saw my mother, who looked at me with her eyes full of tears. How did she manage to get here? As we approached, she hugged me until my bones crunched and said,

"Don't you ever make us worry like this again!"

Doctors wanted to examine me but I refused and escaped. Soon after our return home, my mother took the children away, saying almost nothing in the end. I was sure she would not bring them here anymore. It was a hell of a day.

My parents were never happy about the idea that I would move to live in a big city with an incredible number of dangers that I would not be able to handle alone. My Mom saw herself the proof of her fears. It was strange that she had not yet tried to persuade me to return to a country town, where not fresh fish from the local supermarket was the only danger. My younger brothers and sister would not soon be able to escape the protection of my parents. And all this was because of the ill-fated trip to the mall.

I wonder was it a coincidence that this happened in the place where I was, or my presence caused it.

While I was thinking it through, I was put to the bed and treated with a cup of melissa tea.

"I'm fine! Really! I'm not shocked or wounded! I was born under a lucky star."

"I would say you've been born in a life suit," Jackson tried to be funny.

When the tension eased, he felt remorse about his words at the mall.

"Hey!" I stroked his short hair. "It's okay! You don't have to apologize. I'd have scolded myself for something like that, too. I don't know what has happened to me. I can't even imagine what it was like for you at that moment. I'm sorry I did that."

"Baby, I don't know what I'd do if I lost you!"

Jackson laid his head on my stomach and hugged me. I was caressing his head, trying to calm him down.

"I'd like to take a nap. Will you wake me up by 10 p.m., so I can read a bed-time story for Mary?"

Jackson nodded, and I leaned back on the pillows, blissfully closing my eyes. This was quite a day before the beginning of the academic year.

I had nightmares for a long while. I saw people dying of injuries on their way to the hospital or during surgery. Or was it real?

At 11 p.m. I was waiting for Eugene at the set place, and he did not show up. By 12:30 p.m. I started to get nervous. What if I was in the wrong place?

I sat down straight on the pavement and wondered aloud,

"Eugene, where are you?" I heard a sigh, and when I closed my eyes, I saw him.

It was not some fantasy but a real image of Eugene. He was fighting with a few demons or something. There was nothing else around, but the red ground and dim light – no moon, no stars. The terrain looked like a catacomb or something. I had not studied Tartarus yet, but he might be there.

Eugene selflessly swung his sword, striking the enemy with his weapon, and the tattoo on his face glowed bright red. His expression was stern and focused, his eyes blazed with bright flames. When there was only one opponent left, he looked up, as if he knew I was watching.

"Wake up!" he just said, and I returned to reality.

It was just in time. Otherwise, I would have been eaten by two disgusting creatures just in a second. It would be more logical for me to feel fear, but the first emotion was disgust. These creatures had hands, legs, body, and head like humans but they were not humans and not even Nefarious ones. The grey color of their skin differed much from ours. Moreover, their entire body was covered with mucus. They had no eyes and nose on the face, but swollen vertical holes instead, and the mouth was like a bulldog mouth with sharp long teeth. Their hands were longer than humans, with terrible black claws.

The attackers had hair neither on the head nor on the body. But the most striking thing was the complete absence of the navel and genitals. They were not concerned about wearing clothes. I got the impression that these creatures crawled out of the sewerage. I could feel their terrible stench everywhere.

"Oh dear, they look scary!" I blurted, and then I threw a fireball at one of them.

It burned away in an instant without making a single sound. But I failed to hit the second one fast. He figured out my plans and disappeared from the fire line so quickly that I could not even notice this. Three fireballs missed the target, one of them set a garbage bin on fire. The second one nearly burned the car peacefully parked in the parking lot. It seemed unreasonable to fight these creatures under a lantern not far from the apartment house, but they gave me no other choice.

Three more fireballs were thrown in vain, and I was getting very angry.

"Hey, that wasn't the deal! You're making me dizzy!" I said to a silent monster.

I decided not to be on the bit and tried to calculate the trajectory along which the enemy was moving. Every time I tried to hit the target, he went a few feet to the left and stopped.

"Hm…"

I threw the next fireball, which served as the bait, from my left hand, and then threw the second one almost immediately hitting the monster when it stopped.

Having shaken my hands off, I smiled and said,

"That's it!"

I heard clapping behind me. Eugene stood, leaning on the lantern.

"I'm impressed. You learn fast. Yesterday you almost exploded from these abilities, and today you deftly kill vampires. By the way, it was them. That's how they look, not as you show them in the movies. It's not good that you've put on such a show."

"I was just waiting for you, and they attacked me. What was I supposed to do?"

Eugene shrugged.