The morning sunlight filtered through the blinds.
It was not the alarm clock that pulled Lief from sleep, but his own biological clock, perfectly synchronized.
He stretched in bed, feeling how his joints cracked satisfactorily. He felt... incredible.
The physical recovery capacity he possessed was not something human, but this morning he felt particularly invigorated. The reverse "feeding" session of the previous afternoon with Jennifer not only had not exhausted him, but had created a strange feedback loop.
His spiritual strength, usually stable, vibrated with a renewed clarity, as if dust had been wiped from a camera lens.
While he dressed, his mind wandered briefly toward the events of the previous night.
When he went down for a glass of water around midnight, he had encountered a scene that bordered on the surreal. The three were still squeezed on the living room sofa, sharing a single blanket while watching a cartoon marathon.
They did not speak… nor did they move. They just watched the screen.
Smiling to himself, he grabbed his backpack and left the house, breathing the fresh morning air.
The path to school was the same as always…
"Hey, Lief! Wait!"
The sound of sneakers hitting the pavement approached quickly from behind. Before Lief could turn around, a heavy arm surrounded his shoulders with familiarity.
It was Frank who seemed to have run a marathon and, judging by the dark circles under his eyes, had not slept much.
"Tell me you did the physics homework" said Frank without preamble, with a tone of genuine desperation, "That last question... I swear to you, it was not written for human beings. I am convinced that the teacher is a sadist who only wants to filter who goes to college and who is going to end up living under a bridge."
"I did it." Lief gave him a smug smile, "And, honestly, I found it quite simple."
Frank let out a theatrical groan and rolled his eyes, withdrawing his arm.
"Don't be so smug, please. It is disgusting" he grumbled, "And we know you are a damn genius, but have a little compassion for mortals like me."
They continued walking, falling into their usual rhythm of jokes, when a soft voice interrupted them.
"Lief... Frank... Good morning."
Both stopped. Carrie was standing at the corner, waiting for them.
Today she wore a light blue dress that highlighted her skin tone and eyes, and instead of using her books as an impenetrable shield against her chest, she held them in a more relaxed way.
Her posture was more upright. She looked... present. Although, of course, upon meeting Lief's gaze, that old shy blush dyed her cheeks immediately.
"Good morning, Carrie" greeted Lief with a warm smile.
"Hey, Carrie" greeted Frank, giving Lief a friendly tap on the arm, insinuating something, "You look good today."
Carrie smiled, lowering her gaze for an instant, grateful.
However, the moment of tranquility was shattered by the deep roar of an engine.
The sound of a car approaching made several heads turn on the street. A fire red convertible, shiny and ostentatious, took the curve and braked with aggressive precision right next to them, raising a small cloud of dust.
The music lowered in volume.
Jennifer was at the wheel. She looked spectacular, radiating a vibrant energy that Lief recognized instantly as the result of their "session" yesterday. She lowered her sunglasses and looked at Lief with blue eyes that promised trouble.
"Hello, Lief…" Her voice although normal seemed loaded with a double meaning that only Lief caught. Then, her gaze swept over the rest of the group, "And hello to my little friends. Do you need a ride? I have free seats."
In the passenger seat was Anita and she was not looking at Lief, she was busy throwing a cheeky wink at Frank, biting her lower lip.
Frank froze, with his mouth slightly open, processing that one of the most popular girls had just flirted with him.
Lief, however, maintained his relaxed posture and shook his head.
"No, thanks. We are going to walk," he replied with a smile, "It does us good to do a little cardio before sitting all day."
Jennifer pursed her lips in an exaggerated pout, disappointed but amused by his resistance.
"You are so boring, Lief~" she said, pushing her sunglasses back up.
The engine roared again when she stepped on the accelerator.
"See you in class!" shouted Anita, blowing a kiss in the air in Frank's direction.
The convertible shot off, leaving behind a trail of laughter and the lingering and expensive scent of designer perfume mixed with burnt gasoline.
"..."
Frank stared at the car's lights as they moved away, and then looked at Lief with disbelief.
"Bro…" he whispered completely indignant, "Did you just reject a ride in a convertible with Jennifer and Anita? Definitely, your genius brain has a short circuit."
…
The group arrived at the school entrance just as the warning bell began to ring in the distance. The campus was the usual morning chaos: skateboards hitting the concrete, groups of friends catching up and the constant buzz of hundreds of crossed conversations.
But, even among the crowd, Lief saw her instantly.
Maria was standing under the shade of the old tree near the steps, set apart from the main stream of students.
She had her head down, her hair falling like a curtain over her face, and her fingers twisted the strap of her backpack with anxiety.
She seemed to be trying to merge with the tree bark.
However, as if she had a radar for him, she raised her head out of pure instinct just as Lief was approaching.
Their gazes met.
Maria's face went from pale to scarlet red in less than a second, a violent blush that rose from her neck to her hairline.
"Maria…" started Lief, raising a hand.
But it was too much for her.
Maria let out a stifled squeak, made a gesture with her hand that was a mix between a wave and a nervous spasm, and turned around. She shot off toward the inside of the building, disappearing among the tide of students before Lief could say another word.
"..."
He remained with his hand in the air, and then lowered it, letting out a resigned laugh.
"Wow," commented Frank, arriving at his side and looking at the trail of dust that Maria had left, "That girl is faster than the track team. I guess her shyness remains intact after the break."
"Give her time," said Lief, resuming his pace toward the entrance, "It is part of her charm…."
…
The school day passed in a blur of schedules, assignments. When the final bell finally rang, releasing the herd, Lief intercepted his group at the lockers.
"Listen to me everyone," he said leaning on the lockers with a relaxed smile, stopping Frank, Carrie, Jennifer and a reluctant Maria who was trying to sneak away, "No going home yet. My treat. What do you think if we go eat something greasy and unhealthy to celebrate that we have survived another "peaceful" return to classes?"
The proposal was accepted without the need for a vote. The mention of "my treat" was enough to convince even Maria.
Twenty minutes later, they were all squeezed into a red vinyl booth, the most popular fried chicken place near the school.
The table was buried under red plastic trays full of chicken strips, mountains of french fries and giant cups of soda.
"I swear on my life, I am not exaggerating," said Frank with his mouth half full, waving a chicken drumstick as if it were a microphone, "During the break I flew a real plane! I felt the G force and everything. It was... majestic."
"Sure you did, Maverick," Jennifer mocked, taking a sip of her soda, "Just try not to crash next time you play the simulator on your PC."
"It was real!" Frank protested, indignant. Then he turned to Carrie, "And what about you, Carrie? Any high-risk adventure?"
Carrie, who was eating her fries one by one, blushed slightly at becoming the center of attention.
"I... well, I stayed at home," she said, "I read a lot of books. The local library renovated its fantasy section, so... it was nice."
"Sounds safe," Frank nodded. He looked at Jennifer, "And you, drama queen? Besides driving expensive cars, what did you do?"
Jennifer licked a drop of barbecue sauce from her thumb with a slow movement, pushed her hair back and sighed with theatrical boredom.
"Oh, you know. The usual," she said with boredom, "I was kidnapped by a cult of crazies who tried to sacrifice me. A total drag. I had to ruin my shoes to get out of there."
"God, Jennifer, your sarcasm is in top form." Frank sighed.
"..."
Jennifer exchanged a fleeting glance with her Master (Lief). Both knew it was not sarcasm. It was a literal description of her last Tuesday.
"And you, Lief?" asked Frank, trying to change the subject, "Did you do anything interesting?"
Lief shrugged, stealing a french fry from Frank's tray.
"Well, I went to that summer camp at the lake, you know, where I met Jason... " he started listing on his fingers, "And then, while I was coming back by motorcycle on the back road, I crossed paths with a deformed ogre in the woods. Oh, and let's not forget that charming family that turned people into wax figures."
There was a moment of silence at the table, and then Frank burst into laughter.
"Okay, okay, I get it," said Frank, wiping a tear of laughter, "You spent the summer watching horror movie marathons and Jennifer was reading crime novels. You are geeks."
"If you say so…" Lief smiled, taking a sip of his drink.
Maria, sitting at the end of the booth, said nothing. She drank her soda in small sips, watching them all. She was red as a tomato every time someone looked at her, but she nodded slightly, feeling part of the group, safe in the anonymity of the noise.
The atmosphere was perfect.
Lief leaned back in his chair, letting the chaos of the restaurant envelop him. He observed his friends: Frank arguing with Jennifer, Carrie smiling shyly, Maria listening.
He enjoyed the moment. Truly.
Just at that moment, the glass door of the place was pushed open with force, triggering the annoying tinkling of the entrance bells.
A gust of fresh air slipped into the restaurant, momentarily cutting through the smell of grease.
Two young girls entered, stumbling slightly.
They looked fresh out of a college party or a club, they wore short dresses, heels that were already bothering them and makeup that was starting to run under their eyes.
One of them, a brunette with sharp features named Tara, held the door open for her blonde friend, Dawn. They looked exhausted, with that specific mix of residual euphoria and physical tiredness left by cheap alcohol.
"I swear, Dawn, if I don't sit down right now, I'm going to die here," complained the blonde, slurring her words while searching for a table with her gaze.
"Just order some fries and shut up," replied Tara, rolling her eyes, "We need carbs."
They were so focused on their little bubble of post-party chaos that they didn't notice what entered right behind them.
But Lief did.
A figure crossed the threshold, and it was as if the temperature of the place had dropped ten degrees in a second.
It was a man. Or at least, he had the shape of one.
He was tall, gangly and was dressed in a black and white clown suit, that looked like it was taken from a silent film era nightmare. His face was covered by a thick and pasty layer of white makeup, accentuating an aquiline prosthetic nose and a black painted smile that extended too far onto the cheeks, grotesque and permanent.
A small black top hat was perched on his bald head.
The most disturbing thing was not his costume.
It was how he moved.
He didn't walk with the fluidity of a normal person… His movements had a strange rigidity, and at the same time a predatory fluidity, like a puppet whose strings are handled by something that doesn't understand human anatomy.
In his right hand, he dragged a large and heavy black trash bag.
In fact, he made no noise. No breathing, no footsteps, nor the rustling of clothes.
The clown ignored the order counter. He ignored the people in line. He simply walked in silence toward an empty table in the darkest corner of the place, placed the trash bag on the seat and sat down.
Then, he remained motionless and simply fixed his painted and empty gaze on Tara and Dawn, who were arguing at the counter.
The change in the atmosphere was obvious to everyone.
It was the primitive instinct of the herd detecting a predator at the watering hole. Everyone felt that uncomfortable presence, that "wrongness" in reality that had entered through the door.
At Lief's table, the fun evaporated instantly.
"T-That guy…" murmured Carrie trembling involuntarily, shrinking in her seat, leaning toward Lief until her shoulder touched his arm, "That guy is very wrong, Lief. He feels... Strange."
She with her psychic sensitivity, was reacting to something more than the appearance. What emanated from that clown was not the simple discomfort of a weird out of season costume.
It was a pure malice… and black, a radiation of cruel intentions that didn't even try to hide itself.
Jennifer had narrowed her eyes.
She placed her soda cup on the table. As a succubus, her survival depended on reading human emotions: desire, fear, anger, joy. They were her food and her map.
But when she looked at that clown, she saw nothing.
It was a black hole.
There was no lust, nor rage, nor sadness, just a static silence.
It was like looking at an empty shell that someone had covered with human skin. That total absence of biological or emotional signals made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
And then there was Maria.
The shy girl was pale as paper, her hands clinging to the edge of the table with such force that her knuckles were white.
Even Airam in the mirror seemed to have noticed something, warning her to stay away from that thing
"...."
The moment Lief's eyes landed on the figure in the corner, his relaxed expression evaporated.
The others only saw a weird guy, someone with a costume in bad taste, but he knew exactly what he was looking at.
That black and white clown suit… That aquiline nose… That black painted smile that seemed to cut the face in two. And, above all, those eyes... eyes that didn't blink, that didn't transmit humanity, only a sadistic mockery.
'Shit.'
Art the Clown.
A shiver ran down his spine, not of fear, but of recognition.
This was not a simple serial killer like the ones that appear on the news. This was not a human psychopath with mommy issues.
Art was a demonic entity of pure chaos that enjoyed dismembering reality as much as he dismembered bodies.
He was a monster that defied the rules of biology and death.
Lief shifted his gaze to his table.
Frank was frowning, uncomfortable, but oblivious to the mortal danger breathing the same air as them. Carrie was trembling, Jennifer looked like a cornered animal and Maria was on the verge of collapse.
They had skills, yes. Jennifer was a succubus, Carrie had telekinesis and Maria her mirror. But they were rookies. Against something like Art, who played with physics and immortality as if they were plastic toys, they wouldn't last even five minutes.
Lief made a decision in a second.
"It is getting late" he said standing up, "And I am exhausted. Let's call it a day."
Frank blinked, with a chicken wing halfway to his mouth.
"What? But we just…" He started to protest, but stopped dead upon seeing his friend's face. Lief was not joking, "Ah... Okay. Yes. You are right. There is school tomorrow."
The girls didn't even argue. In fact, Jennifer and Maria seemed relieved to have an excuse to get out of there.
"Let's go. Now."
Lief took out a couple of bills from his wallet and threw them on the table, covering the tab generously so as not to waste time waiting for the change. With quick movements, he shepherded the group toward the exit.
During the entire walk to the door, Lief kept his body positioned subtly between the clown and his friends, acting like a shield.
He didn't turn his head even once to look back, but he could feel it.
He could feel that cold and dead "stare", stuck to the back of his neck like a leech.
…
"Jennifer, take Frank and Carrie" ordered Lief while they walked fast toward the parking lot, "Maria lives near my route, I will make sure she gets home safe."
Jennifer nodded, taking out the keys to her convertible with fingers that trembled slightly. She didn't make any jokes.
Lief waited on the sidewalk until he saw the taillights of the red car disappear in the distance. Then, he stopped a passing taxi for Maria. He got in with her, accompanying her to the very door of her house, waiting until he heard the click of the lock closing.
"Lock up tight, Maria" he told her before saying goodbye, with an intensity that made her nod frantically, "Don't open the door to anyone tonight."
After ensuring that everyone was off the game board, the last trace of "carefree high school student" disappeared from Lief's face.
"..."
He stood alone on a silent street, under the light of a flickering streetlamp. The seriousness in his eyes deepened, turning dark.
He raised his right hand and the air in front of him distorted.
From the void of his system inventory, he materialized Fenrir.
The motorcycle fell onto the asphalt with a heavy weight.
Lief climbed on, the seat leather creaking under his weight.
He turned the key.
Vroooom
The engine came to life with a deep roar, like that of a beast waking from a long sleep, that vibrated the windows of the nearby houses.
Lief adjusted his gloves, and instead of heading home, turned the handlebars abruptly.
He accelerated.
The bike shot out, devouring the asphalt, returning directly toward the fried chicken place, toward the center of the darkness he had just left.
Art the Clown?
The monster they say cannot die? The incarnation of evil?
The wind hit his face, and a fearless smile curved on Lief's lips.
Perfect.
There was no better way to test his new skills.
He was going to check personally how much of that famous "immortality" was real.
________
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