Tyrone skipped through the crowd, dodging handsy women and men alike as he made his way to Sprite…

The little, yet ancient, young girl darted through the crowd, picking everything of value from the pockets of those cheering for her illusion…

Yes, her illusion!

The Sprite attracting the gazes of the crowd was just a projection, not even a powerful one at that…

Sprite found it a bit funny that people’s minds were easier to trick in crowds in comparison to alone…

A single mind was a bit strenuous, but a group of minds was nothing difficult…

From the corner of her eyes, Sprite caught a glimpse of Tyrone heading her way…

Her illusion still drew the majority of the crowd’s concentration, but the more perceptive amongst the people were starting to notice that something was fundamentally wrong with the party…

After all, there was no way such an intense party would not be broken up by those in charge of the casino…

Gamblers needed concentration to gamble…

Sprite hid a smirk…

Tyrone thought that he had seen through her illusion, but she knew he was far from the truth – her best illusion, was often, using her real body as a part of the illusion…

So, while Tyrone was paying attention to her, he failed to pay attention to something else…

Knowing Tyrone was a couple of feet away, Sprite started to stuff as many chips as she could into her pockets…

Then, without a need to look back or even think, she leaped into the air and spun her body, falling backward directly into Tyrone’s embrace…

If there was one thing she could trust, it was the fact that Tyrone would always catch her when she fell…

It was an instinct they both have developed quite recently…

Of course, Tyrone was attempting to scoop Sprite up a bit roughly, but leave it to Sprite to turn everything into a charade for her own ends…

Now, he looked like a jealous lover that came to snatch his wife from a party…

Tyrone carried Sprite over to an empty counter, grabbing the water available to hand her a bottle…

While Sprite was not that tipsy, he knew she needed a clear mind to control her illusions masterfully…

The last thing they both needed was for the perceptive people to begin asking questions about who was the cause of such a phenomenon…

“I knew you could never keep your hands off me…” Sprite bragged, chugging the water down…

Tyrone was ready to retaliate with a snarky reply, but when he thought about it, he noticed that one way or another, his hands were always on Sprite’s body…

It was something unconscious, but undeniable all the same…

Not long after Tyrone and Sprite had released the tenseness from their muscles, drinking their problems away, a group of Security stopped next to them…

“We need you to come with us…” The Security ordered, grabbing Sprite by the wrist…

Sprite frowned, easily removing the Security’s grip from her hand “I believe this is called ‘Child Molestation’…”

As if suddenly gaining some inspiration, Sprite hopped atop the counter, drawing the attention of everyone still partying…

“These Security Guards, who are men, just put their hands on me… This one! This black one!” Sprite pointed to the only dark Security Guard “He is my biological father! I came here to look for him because he raped my mother and didn’t take responsibility for the child!”

Just when Tyrone thought that Sprite was finished, she spun around, lifted her shirt, and advertised her back for all to see…

It was filled with scars and bruises – obviously an illusion, but a nasty sight nonetheless…

Sprite broke into tears to accompany the sob story to come…

“I came all the way here to see my father and he whooped me like this… Please, kind-hearted people of the 20th century, help this young one…”

Tyrone was sure Sprite didn’t even notice that she started speaking like an old Wiseman towards the end of her speech, but the damage was done…

No sooner after Sprite finished, did a bottle break behind the Dark Security Guard’s head…

And a brawl started with the intent to kill…

Security Guards battling each other…

Strong Men within the crowd rushed forward to kill the Security Guards…

Naturally chaotic men and women bashing in heads where they could…

And Tyrone watched as the woman behind it all, Sprite, just stood atop the counter watching the blood and gore with an enthused face…

It disgusted him…

It felt like he was seeing Sprite - the True Sprite - for the first time…

How could someone live as long as Sprite and still retain their sanity?

Was her apathy really that surprising?

Thankfully, Tyrone quickly snapped out of his disturbed state when Sprite picked up a bottle from the counter, breaking it on a nearby wall, and pointed the sharp end at the fighting crowd…

Clearly, she was intent on joining the chaos…

While it would have been entertaining to watch a small ninja stabbing people in a casino fight, Tyrone, from his hood-life, could hear the loud blaring of a siren from miles away…

The POPO!

The POLICE!

The BABYLON!

The FIVE-OH!

The COPPERS!

The DONUT PATROL!

The BOMBOCLAT FEDS!

Every gang in the hood used a different name for the Police, but one thing was consistent, when you heard the siren, it was time to run…

A lesson ingrained into the very DNA of all Black Men…

“Nope!” Tyrone jumped, grabbing Sprite’s arm before she could drag him into the chaos…

He was desperate to get away from the chaos before the Police arrived, and lo-and-behold, his wishes were answered almost immediately…

Neither Tyrone nor Sprite expected a dark smoke to exit his body, wrapping around them both, and the next moment, they were inside the car in the Parking Lot…

Sprite fell on Tyrone’s lap due to the sudden teleportation, and for the first time, she didn’t feel comfortable sitting on his lap…

His Dark Smoke always gave her the creeps…

“We need to leave…” Tyrone said, ignoring the obvious elephant in the car that came in the form of his uncontrollable teleportation ability…

What if his teleportation took them to a volcano?

The Oval Office?

Maybe even a prison?

Luckily, Sprite was not someone to focus on the little things, and the conversion progressed seamlessly…

Seeing Tyrone was ready to hit the road, Sprite frowned “Aren’t you forgetting something?” she asked, watching Tyrone’s snapping the seatbelt with an amused look on her face…

“Nope… we have everything we need…” Tyrone replied quickly, anxious to get the hell away before the Police pulled into the Parking Lot and started shooting Black Men…

“What about Laura?”

Tyrone’s brows creased “Who?”

“Little girl with a pension for ripping things to shreds with her sharp claws?” Sprite reminded, hiding a smug smile…

Tyrone was usually the righteous one amongst the two of them, so abandoning a child was a new low for him, and that made Sprite proud because he was slowly sinking to her levels…

Sprite giggled with glee… if Tyrone lost enough morals and pride, then he would be ripe for the pickings…

“The little anima- I mean, the small child can sniff us out…” Tyrone quickly amended his statement “We’ll drive around the corner and then wait for her…”

In response to Tyrone’s willingness to leave Laura behind, Sprite raised her fingers and began a countdown “5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1…”

---CREEEEEK---

---SNAP---

---CREEEEEK---

Laura pulled open the car’s door, attempting to drag something into the car but failing…

“Did you bring it?” Sprite inquired, slightly peeking outside the car while extending her body as wide as possible to stop Laura’s entrance…

Sprite was like a tax collector inspecting the promised goods…

Laura nodded solemnly in response, her eyes boring daggers into Sprite’s body…

Tyrone stretched his head outside the window and caught sight of what Laura was pulling along – a vault… actually, half a vault…

Her claws had done some major damage to the vault, carving jagged edges out of the carbon steel like it was paper…

“Ayúdame!” Laura pleaded, trying to push the vault into the car…

“DO it yourself!” Sprite snorted, knowing that Laura’s strength could rival that of two adult males…

‘Trying to play adorable?’

“Grrrrr!” Laura growled, and widened her stance, straining as she barely managed to lift the vault into the car…

As retaliation, Laura spat on the money inside the vault… of course, she did this as subtly as possible since she knew how much Sprite loved her money…

In actuality, Sprite didn’t like money at all… what she liked was taking it from people who liked money…

The car groaned and leaned on one side as the vault was loaded inside…

Tyrone started the car, his mind in chaos as he tried to connect the dots… he was so lost in his thoughts that he forgot to complain about robbing a casino…

“So…” Tyrone glanced back at Laura with a complicated gaze “Why?” he asked…

Laura quickly shook her head defensively, not willing to take the blame for a crime that wasn’t her idea “Distracción…” she justified, pointing her finger at Sprite…

“WHAT THE FUCK, SPRITE!?!”

“What…” Sprite groaned nonchalantly, cleaning her ears with her pinkie fingers “We needed a distraction to get into the Vault Room of the casino, and everything worked without a hitch…”

Tyrone glanced at Laura’s wrist and noted the blood on her semi-revealed claws… and clearly, the blood wasn’t her own…

Obviously, a slaughter had occurred…

“How many did you kill?” Tyrone questioned with a heavy heart…

“Diez-” Laura replied without much thought, but when Sprite gave her the signal to bring the number down by a couple notches, she uncertainly slurred her response “Nuev – Cinco?”

Seeing that Sprite was still telling her to go lower and lower, Laura growled in frustration and just picked the most convenient numbers to report “Cero… Cero murió, solo les corté las piernas…”

Tyrone drove the vehicle in heavy silence for the next ten minutes… it wasn’t until the paved highway changed to dusty, desert roads did Tyrone speak again…

“What about their families?” He suddenly asked, referring to the relatives of those Laura had killed…

As far as he was concerned, any unjust killing happening in the world was Billy dying all over again

After all, those men were just Security Guards…

They probably had aspirations… dreams… families…

However, Laura didn’t care… she genuinely didn’t understand the value of a human life…

She was raised to be a killer, and, even if she was evolving to be more than a killer, it would take some time yet for her to realize that taking a life came with a price…

Sprite, on the other hand, understood the value of human life, but she ignored Tyrone’s question anyway…

After all, she gave Laura the mission to rob the vault, but never once did she mention killing anyone…

Hence, that was Laura’s initiative, and while it was impressive to Sprite, she was not about to throw herself into the sights of Tyrone’s anger…

“So, we are thieves and killers now?” Tyrone questioned, turning to Sprite since he knew Laura was just a mere minion “We just need to SURVIVE UNTIL WE GET HOME!” he shouted…

“SURVIVE! SURVIVE?” Sprite yelled back, tired of Tyrone’s holier-than-thou attitude “I don’t want to survive… I want to thrive motherfucker!”

“If you are against this…” Sprite huffed, punching the window next to Tyrone, shattering the glass with ease “Then get the fuck out of my car!”

Tyrone frowned “This car was stolen… and I was the one to hotwire it!”

“You’re such a hypocrite!” Sprite mocked, and grabbed Tyrone, shoving him out of the window with ease…

Sometimes, it was easy to forget that Sprite was stronger than Tyrone by a large margin…

Before Tyrone could hop back into the car, Sprite drove off, and Laura shrunk herself deeper into the backseat, not willing to pick a side between the feuding couple…

Picking Tyrone would guarantee her survival, but risk beating from Sprite…

Picking Sprite would guarantee nothing, but there was no way to go against her…

Hence, for Laura, it was better not to choose…

“Ungrateful motherfucker, try and see if you can survive without me with your bitch ass…”

Tyrone could hear Sprite’s cursing long after she drove off…

-------------------------

MIDDLE OF NOWHERE (PROBABLY DESERT)

Sweat rolled down his forehead…

Lips as dry as firewood…

Tyrone was even afraid to drink his own blood, fearing that breaching his skin would cause his blood to dry up before he could even take a sip…

His desperation was rising to tangible levels…

Yet, he didn’t even whisper a word about Sprite…

As far as he was concerned, the small girl was the devil incarnate for leaving him in the middle of nowhere…

Well – not exactly nowhere… he could head back to the town, but Sprite’s and Laura’s crimes would no doubt fall on his black shoulders…

Tyrone had grown tired of spending time in prison…

“W-w-wa-water…” Tyrone choked, failing to pronounce his words properly…

The heat lashed his back in waves of hot, and hotter, and repeat…

It was an excruciating experience, but a little struggle never hurt anyone, and, as someone recently accustomed to a lot of pain, the struggle had become a usual occurrence for Tyrone…

The heat did not cease, and neither did his powerful steps that dug deeply into the desert sands…

Tyrone finally understood how scientists discovered light was a particle and a wave – because he could feel the heat of the desert washing his body like an ocean of flames…

And this was caused by his great nemesis – the sun…

Just as he was stronger at night, Tyrone found himself somewhat weakened during the day…

Lately, he had been expecting sharp teeth to grow from his canines, cementing himself as the reincarnation of Dracula or something equally inhuman…

Tyrone continued to walk, step by step, for nearly two more hours…

Maybe an hour, he wasn’t quite sure since the sun didn’t seem to move from its central position in the skies…

Tyrone walked and walked until he was sure that his feet would fall off…

Occasionally, vehicles would pass him by, never stopping to ascertain his condition…

He reasoned that the hearts of the drivers were as black as the desert was making his skin…

Once upon of time, Tyrone prided himself on never getting sunburnt, but now, there was nowhere the sun hadn’t burnt…

From his fingertips to his taint…

Hence, when the latest in a series of cars flew by, Tyrone picked the nearest stone and attempted to throw it, but luckily, he managed to stop himself at the last possible second…

A sixth sense… everyone on the streets had it…

It was like looking at everyone, and suddenly, you just knew shit was about to go down, and someone was about to get killed…

Tyrone was experiencing that very same sensation at this moment…

Unfortunately, it was too late to avoid disaster…

The cars split apart, revealing a dozen more cars following closely behind… the cars semi-surrounded Tyrone on the roadside, and he barely managed to stash the rock behind his back…

The cars slowly moved, circling Tyrone, and he measured his steps to move along with the car, trying his best not to show his back for an attack…

A black hummer lowered its tinted windows, and Tyrone flinched, but managed to restrain every instinct that told him to attack…

“You seem lost, friend…” Came the snarky voice of Pierce through the vehicle’s window…

“Not lost…” Tyrone replied, “Just adventuring… it’s not wise to bother a friendly adventurer…”

“Do you like gambling? I like it…” Pierce beamed, gesturing to another man in the car that quickly handed him a WANTED picture “See this picture… it says you like to gamble…”

Pierce handed the picture to Tyrone, and he took it without any expression, glancing at the photo and crushing it in one hand…

“I suggest you get to stepping, or I can’t guarantee what happens next…” Tyrone warned, putting up a false bravado…

He was scared…

He was afraid of death…

But he was also ready to kill and hurt others…

The anger at his helplessness was building, and he knew that soon, it would reach critical levels…

“That’s where you are wrong, kid…” Pierce replied with nonchalant ease “I already know what will happen next…”

At that moment, Tyrone leaped into action as dozens of soldiers exited the circling cars…

The Battle had begun…