The day finally came.  He saw all the signs and knew it was time to play a game of balance.  He had prepared in every way he could.  The goblins were almost within sight of the town, the bags were not full but had what he could buy and steal without too much notice, the fox was waiting for the signal to start her part, a dead wolf monster to substitute the fox's body was already brought in and waiting near the shop, and Wings was on her way.

He ran around and quickly gathered the youngest children and brought them to a place between the orphanage and the hole in the wall and told them that Ainselth was in trouble.  He was going to save her but he needed them to stay here and wait so that he could do that.  It took a little bit to convince them that waiting instead of trying to help was the best option.

Then he went to the orphanage where Wings had just arrived as well while staying out of sight.  This was already the day after Ainselth's new job and the director was staying true to his word.  By now Ainselth knew that all the older children were against her and that the director was going to betray her.

He snuck back into the orphanage and hid one room away from the closest group.  He checked and made sure that Wings was just on the other side of the orphanage as well and ready to burst in with him.  He took one last breath and attached his telepathic psi to Ainselth.

<Is this what you want?>

He heard a sudden cry of "no" with sobbing.

<You don't need to let them hear you.  Respond in your head.  Why are you doing this if it's not what you want?>

<Because if I don't then he'll do terrible things to the children...>

<He's already planning to kill you in less than two weeks, after which he will sell the children into slavery.  The few most loyal to him will be kept as his personal slaves.  He'll be rich and have lifetime workers but you'll be dead and the children will be in as bad of a position as you if not worse.>

<...what?  He->

<He has already made the deal.  The slave merchant is on his way.  The whorehouse has a nasty customer that kills his whores and has a session paid for for you.  This is all the harsh truth.  I knew it long ago and confirmed it many times.

I am not a good person.  I am not even a person.  I knew that you would never believe anyone who told you about any of it, including this part, which I also knew would happen.  You needed proof, so I waited.

I'm not averse to making a deal to help you, though.  I can even save the youngest of the children.  The price will be quite high, though.  How much are you willing to give in order for me to save you and the youngest children?>

<What about the other ones here?>

<They all want their fun with you and to kill you.  They are lost.  To save you, they must be sacrificed.>

<I...I can't harm children.>

<You won't.  You will be the cause.  The one who requested it and allowed it, but not the one to do it.  I need more to save you and the other children, though.  I need your life, your loyalty.  I need to know you will never betray the trust I will place in you.  I need you to understand not just the what but the why of how things will be afterwards.>

<I don't want them to die, though...>

<All but the youngest are lost already, as I said.  Even should you not allow it now and choose to die, they will be sold, tortured, and most will die that way.  The rest will soon be caught, tried, and executed as part of various illegalities.  Allow them to die now and save yourself and the younger children or all of you die in a worse way.>

<Is there no other way?>

<I tried.  If I had had more time then maybe.  I didn't.  So, no.  Those are the only options.  Time is running low, though.  I've managed to keep the smaller children away for now and prepare them for when you accept.  I can't help them if you don't, though.>

<Fine.  I accept your deal, devil.>

<I'm not a devil.  I'm just a monster.><Okay, Wings.  Let's make as big of a mess as we can.>

Jelin walked into the room where several of the older children were sitting around and laughing.  They all stopped for a moment and looked over at him.  He smiled.  Then he jumped forward and left his human form behind.  It felt so good to not be human after so long that h actually started laughing as he tore them apart and made as much of a mess as possible.

From the sounds he could hear, it sounded like Wings was doing similarly well.  The director came out and saw him as he started walking to the next room.  Jelin saw him shudder once before lunging and sending lightning through his body.  That one could wait for a bit.

Between him and Wings, the majority of the orphanage was turned into one of the bloodiest crime scenes in either world that Jelin had been a part of.  When the only ones left alive were the two of them, the director passed out in the other room, and Ainselth in the only untouched room, he sent Wings to give the fox the signal.

He switched back to his human form just before entering the room Ainselth was in.  It was a mess and so was she.  He said nothing as he walked around the room and started gathering her things together and putting it in a spare sheet that he intended to tie up like a bag.  Once she started to become more coherent, he turned around and threw some fresh clothes near her that he had set aside for her to change into.

"I've waited for you to come back to sanity, but time really is short.  We still need to grab the children's things.  Plus I should change as well.  I've also left you a present.  He can't live but I thought you might want to hear what he had to say or even take care of it yourself.  I wasn't sure, really."

"Who are you?"

"Jelin."

"No.  Jelin couldn't talk and wasn't like this."

"Oh, I could talk.  I just chose not to.  Yes, I was a monster the whole time.  There were things I could only get from humans so I disguised myself, pretended to be attacked by monsters, and used the opportunity to gather what I needed. 

No, it wasn't something stupid like human blood or whatever.  It was mostly just some things I needed to know and little else.  Hence why I wanted you to teach me to read.  I value knowledge more than most other things and have no need or desire to go out of my way to bother humans just to anger them like an idiot.  Is that enough to answer the most important questions for now?"

"Why did you have to kill them all if you don't need to eat them or whatever?"

"That's easy.  To hide our escape.  It's not quite enough but there's a goblin army about to attack the town as well and that will make up for the rest.  Before you ask something that will actually anger me, I hate goblins.  With all the bodies and blood the way the are, nobody will be able to tell how many or who died here.

I don't want to have armies of humans coming to destroy our home just because we decided you were a good enough human to be worth saving.  Good enough, now?"

"No.  But...I suppose I don't have much choice, do I?"

"We'll have all the time you need and more than you'll want for you to ask your questions and come to terms about all of this.  For now, there are small children waiting for you."

"Wait!  What's going to happen to them?"

"What do you mean?  They're going to come with us, have you continue taking care of them as the grow up, and most likely live a much happier and safer life than they have been until now.  Come on, let's move."

Jelin carried the sheet-bag as he led the way through the blood and gore, careful to step in only the clean spots.  He indicated that she should do the same and even though she looked like she was unhappy and about to be sick, she still stepped across carefully like he had done.  They soon came across the passed out body of the director, lying in the blood and body parts of his young posse.

"Wait here, I'll go gather all the other stuff real quick and change clothes."

He quickly jogged over to the boys' room and gathered all of the more decent clothes and some of the things he knew belonged to the younger children into the best sheet, creating a second bag.  Then he changed clothes and put them in the top.  It would be bad to leave it as evidence that there had been someone still around after the bloody affair.

He walked over to the girls' room and added to the bag with the girls clothes and things, making sure his bloody clothes were still on top and with some extra clothes between them.  It was a little difficult to carry both bag-sheets in his human form but he persevered long enough to make it back to the room where he left Ainselth.

"I almost though you'd try to run."

"You have the last of the children as hostage."

"I don't, though?  I did exactly as I said.  I stay true to my word.  I merely brought them somewhere safe and asked them to wait for you.  They're between here and the way out.  Anyways, it's time to finish up.  I'll need some help carrying these while like this as well."

"Like what?"

"Human.  It's annoying and difficult to get things done.  Also uncomfortable, like being in someone else's body.  Better than having a bunch of humans swarming forward to try and kill me when I'm seen, though.  Let me wake this...thing...up for you.  He can't live, like I said.  As long as he doesn't leave here alive, though, you can do whatever you want with him for the next five minutes.  I'll even accept following whatever you say."