Children of a Lesser God

Laz, Malene and Ruby got up and finally got dressed... mostly. When the sex is good to the degree that it was for them, it lets you ride a high like you've never experienced before. As such, they collectively couldn't give much of a fuck about clothing. If anything, Malene and Ruby cursed these new friends of Laz for ruining their moment.

But as Laz reminded the girls, if they were here, there must be a reason other than that they thought something had happened with Laz. If you considered who they brought with them, there wasn't a lot of fire power. The Ivy's were the strongest of the bunch while Dwayne was in a weird second. Julia would have been the strong third while Abraham was just in the late stage of awakening.

"Alright. Out with it," Laz said, drinking right from a wine bottle.

Everyone had gather back onto the balcony since it was the only place that wasn't totally destroyed by the crazy night.

"Well... we were trying to reach you because we thought you were in danger..." Julia said at first, but then looking around at the ones she brought, she realized she was probably too hasty. Anyone that could cause Laz trouble wouldn't find this group to be very dangerous, except maybe the Ivy's.

"Alright. Yes. But I'm guessing you were looking for me before that," Laz said in thought.

"Yo Bro. There is just too much to this. The peeps we got going on don't have no confidence with this plan." Dwayne said, having a drink himself. Out of everyone here, besides Laz and his girls, Dwayne looked the most relaxed. Laz could only wonder what kind of situations he had been involved in that would give him this level of confidence.

"The operation time is tomorrow night...tonight..." Laz said, looking at the time. He then turned to look at Malene.

"What time do you go back?" He asked the girl who was leaning on one side of him while snuggling him.

"Later tonight. My flight leaves around five."

"Ok. And you're coming with me?" Laz asked Ruby who was currently snuggled on the other side of him.

"You think I trust you to do something like this alone?" Ruby asked back.

"Right. Fair enough. Ok, give us a few hours to sleep and then gather everyone up. I guess it's probably better if we get a little exercise in before the main event." Laz didn't have experience leading a group like this, but it occurred to him that maybe introductions before the event were in order. And besides which, his best helpers were right beside him, so why not make use of them?

"Where would you like to gather?" Julia asked as she pondered this idea.

"We need a large, open area designed for fighting. Dwayne! Check to see if we can use the underground arena your aunt and uncle set up?"

"Yeah dawg. No problem. I don't think they will have any problems if I tell them you're asking for it. I'll set it up with them right now." Dwayne took out a phone and dialed. Apparently they were the type of people that were easier to reach this way as opposed to texting.

"Long as we got the go, have everyone meet at the physic's corner. Since we were planning on meeting there anyway, we can just set it up to do it sooner." Laz ordered. Julia immediately took out her phone to contact those within the council while one of the Ivy's went to work as well.

When everyone left, they had plans set in stone. Starting at 8 am, everyone would meet in the physic shop basement and begin teamwork building and sparring to get everyone familiar with each other. Although it was a last minute set up, Laz believed it was better then nothing which was what they would have had otherwise.

"You know a couple hours of this isn't going to change anything, right?" Malene said after closing the door.

"What choice do I have? Everyone's going to be nervous as fuck if we don't do something," Laz responded with a sigh.

Ruby sat down on his ŀap before Malene could beat her to it..

"Why do we need them? Just you and me baby and we could conquer the whole thing," she spoke.

"Because yeah, we could do this once. You and me. But are we going to be available for every gate that opens?"

"Dear. You can't protect these people. You have no idea what this gate is going to be or how difficult it will be. Hell, it could be a death trap. You need to let go of that idea of yours. Let them know, straight up, some of them, if not all of them, will die. You need to be honest about it. Throw them into the fire if you want so that they can get some experience, but leave them to succeed or fail on their own."

Laz wasn't planning on babysitting the group going in with him, but he did feel that he should at least look out for them. This speech from Malene was blunt and Laz had no argument to make back. Besides which, he could tell this wasn't so much as trying to convince him as it was ordering him. It was just a gentle order.

"Listen to her. We all ended up in a gate once," Ruby shared.

"You did?" Laz asked. This was the first they mentioned it.

"It was totally by accident and the world inside of it was mostly dead," Malene said, trying to reassure Laz.

"Mostly? Sister, our man may be as dense as hardened concrete, but he's not stupid," Ruby said, patting Laz's head while laughing at Malene.

Malene laughed along with her.

"You do know I am sitting right here... like, right here right?" Laz asked, astounded.

"Of course baby. I can feel your rod poking me from underneath," Ruby said, moving her hips a bit to tease him.

"Enough. He need's his rest since we now have another problem to try to solve."

"Right, right. Ok, shower time for us. You go get the bed ready... or at least see if you can get some pillows and blankets set up," Ruby said, looking around. She then grabbed Malene's hand and went for the bathroom to bath, leaving Laz alone.

"Why do I feel.... I don't even know what to feel right now? Am I being treated like a child? A maid? Or some sort of whipped boyfriend?" Laz asked out loud.

"Yep."

"Yes."

Two voices came out from the closed bathroom door, causing Laz to laugh despite wanting to sulk a bit more.

After a night of sleep, mostly because he was forced too, Laz, Ruby and Malene ended up getting a ride to the meeting place.

"So you just have people who give you rides?" Laz asked, looking out the window at the city flying by. He had gotten used to walking and was rather fast at it. But no matter how he walked, he wasn't faster than a car still.

Running would be a different story.

"Well we can't always rely on ride sharing now can we?" Malene said from the front seat, a ŀaptop on her ŀap.

"We have assets spread out over most of the east coast. We hope to expand out to the west coast soon and work our way inward," Ruby added, understanding a bit of Laz's trouble. He was so used to doing things by himself that even when he got a group to follow him, it didn't change the way he operated. Besides, the council was just a thing for now. He would need to make plans for it in the future.

Laz thought about offering it to the girls company, but decided not to. They really were nothing but a loose group that had joined together for protection and therefore couldn't really be considered as a whole. How was it possible to drag it into a company that way? He figured the girls had their own ways.

"Heaven or Hell, even though they are a group, are a niche subordinate. We support them to give them and us a base, but they are still their own people in the end. We prefer to build from the ground up. It's safer and faster that way," Malene added from the front.

Laz didn't ask anymore. He enjoyed knowing they were successful, but didn't want to rely on them for his survival. Maybe it was just his male pride speaking.

"We're here," Laz said as the car slowed down. When everyone got out, Malene said something to the driver before he took off, leaving her ŀaptop in the car.

They ended up meeting Uncle Aaron and Madam Cal at the door before being escorted downstairs.

"It be good that ye be here. Them groups of people are like gasoline and a match. I be waiting for them to explode since they started showing up.

When Laz finally arrived downstairs, he noticed that the three groups looked like they had drawn lines between them. Even as far as the council went with their lack of cooperation, they still stood together and away from the others.

Laz was surprised to see Remi was also in the group.

The group of foundation realm people from the Vodun included Dwayne and the girl that Laz had singled out before while the group of the vampyres looked to be lead by the young lady who seemed to be Freya's assistant. Behind her stood the four Ivy's who had just broken into the foundation realm.

"Interesting group of trashed you've assembled here," Ruby said, looking around.

"A few minor mid level foundation realms and a whole bunch of weak early realms who can barely even count. Their foundations are weak, their bodies are weak and they lack any sort of fighting spirit," Like a war general inspecting troops, Ruby walked around the room, examining each person.

Remi and Damien stood at the head of the council group. After being insulted, Damien looked like he wanted to attack Ruby, but a quick look from Remi caused him to shiver and fall back. Remi was the mid level foundation realm from the Council's side and therefore was the one everyone listened to when Laz wasn't around, assuming she needed something. Mostly she just told them to do everything Julia told them to and to shut up about it. Even she understood that Julia was excellent at her job.

Remi felt a strong sense of fear when she looked at Ruby, even more than she felt from Laz. Although Laz was strong, she didn't feel like he was dangerous. Little did she know that he just understood how to hide that part of him.

When Ruby was checking out the Vampyre side, lead by the girl who's name Laz didn't know, she made several commits as well. But unlike the council's reaction of anger, every thing she said seemed like words of gold to the ones hearing it. Laz could tell they were making mental notes to work on the area's that Ruby was pointing out.

Finally, Ruby made her way to in front of the Vodun and repeated the process. Since Dwayne was Laz's friend and this girl came with Laz, he wasn't going to make things difficult for her. But not everyone shared his opinion, especially the girl who had questioned Laz before.

"Listen here. I don't know who you are, or care who you are. But keep you're fucking opinions to yourself," she said to Ruby who stopped.

As soon as these words came out of her mouth, Aaron, knowing who Ruby was on site, walked forward in an attempt to say something and warn the girl, but his wife put her hand on his arm to stop him and shook her head.

Looking at his wife, Aaron understood what she was trying to say.

'Some lessons have to be learned the hard way.'

Ruby ended up backing up while smiling at this girl.

"Oh ho. Interesting, I can honestly say that I've never seen such a chubby mid foundational realm before. Or is that related to your ability? Got some pig in those jeans somewhere? Weak arms and legs and big breasts to match. Honey, if you were blonde, you'd go for a high price for a couple years if you'd lost a few pounds," Ruby said back after analyzing the girl.

Although her skin tone was dark, red could be seen on her cheeks after having Ruby point out flaws she knew about herself.

"Puta with a big mouth, big ass and no chest. Typical. Bet you had to offer what little you had just to be here today with him huh? Wave that ass around a few times for his enjoyment just to be some arm candy?" The girl said back, implying that Ruby was some sort of prostitute that Laz had picked up.

Hearing this, Dwyane, Aaron and Madam Cal's mouths almost hit the floor. It was like the girl had just poked a honey badger with a stick repeatedly to wake it up and then shit in it's bed. Dwayne only knew the girl was with Laz and wasn't simple while Aaron and Cal knew exactly who she was.

It was included in the list of people that you never wanted to fuck with. While Malene was pretty high up on the list with the name 'spirit girl,' higher than her at almost the top was the Ruby Snake. She could kill someone while standing in front of them and not even looked like she moved. Hell, she had decapitated someone while it looked like both arms were behind her back. She held back for nothing and no one and was usually one that was assigned to deal with 'difficult' people.

And yet this girl just called her a puta to her face?

"Uhh... Jennia? That's.... that's not the best idea...." Dwayne said, backing away a few steps.

"Why? This bitch doesn't even have any strength to her and she wants to call me out? Fuck that. I ain't gonna let her step on me at all, you got that?" Jennia said to Dwayne before turning back to Ruby who was still smiling as though amused.

Even Malene had covered her face with her hand and wanted to look away. When Ruby had that amused smile on her face someone was going to die. And Malene understood Ruby was more pissed off because she was being disrespected in front of her man.

That was a clear no no.

"Tell you what ho, I'm in a good mood today. So I'm going to give you the chance to apologize now, before I take this leather boot and shove it farther up your coochie than any of the hundred other guys you let in there has ever been before."

"Fuck you bitch.... AAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"