RSE CH 18 (Patreon)

Leo was surprised to find Asa waiting for him. The petite blonde leaned against a pillar to one side of the school’s entrance. She had her biology book. It looked like she was studying ahead, because he knew they weren’t anywhere near the final few chapters of the book that she was reading.

She looked up when he approached, eyes widening in delight when she saw it was him. 

“Thank God it’s you, Leo,” Asa said. “For a minute there, I thought you were Duane, or that creepy exor… err… my creepy uncle.”

Leo’s good-natured smile twitched at her statement. Had she almost said her ‘creepy uncle’ was an exorcist? He knew the girl was big on her faith… maybe it ran in the family. 

All he could do was bolster his smile.  “I knew you were extremely religious, but I don’t know if I’m worth thanking the Almighty for.”

Asa let out a small laugh as she blushed lightly, “I’m just glad I met you… and th-that you’re here. It must have been divine guidance.”

‘Divine guidance, huh?’

Leo simply chuckled. Though he had been an exorcist in training. He didn’t really believe in God—not that he didn’t believe there was an Almighty, just that he didn’t support that side. Hard to do when your mother was the enemy of God. 

Even so, he never belittled the beliefs of others. In fact, he admired those who knew even a tenth of what he did and who still had an abiding faith.

Asa looked down, suddenly shy. “I… I’d like to take you up on your offer, if I could. To take me home, that is.” 

She spoke so softly, that Leo had to lean in to hear her. When the girl looked up again, she was shocked to find Leo had stepped into her personal space to hear  her. Her cheeks heated as she stammered, “Th-That is… of c-course… if y-you still w-want to.” 

Leo grinned at his friend’s stammering, then gave her a wink.

Seeing his wink, Asa’s cheeks turned red.

“Of course,” Leo said. “I’d be happy to walk you home.”

The two of them walked towards the south side of town. It was well out of the way for Leo, but he didn’t mind. He was happy to help a friend—though he wondered why she felt she wasn’t safe. That had to be why she’d asked him to walk with her, right?

They talked about school and their classes until they reached an intersection with the light still red.

Suddenly, Asa stared across the street before shouting, “Be careful!”

At Asa’s shout, Leo focused on where she was looking and saw a child run out in the middle of the road after his ball. Not far up the road, a truck rushed towards the child at full speed. The screech of the brakes and the hiss of tires burnign rubber on the road filled the air, but it was clear it was already too late for the vehicle to stop before hitting the child.

Asa had already started running toward the kid, but there was no way she could cross the distance to sweep the child out of the way in time. It was impossible for her to save the child, but…

‘Not on my watch.’

Faster than should be possible, Leo zipped past Asa to grab the child under his arms as the boy fell to one knee after grabbing his ball. Hugging the boy close, Leo leaped out of the way of the oncoming truck. 

The few people who saw it were completely gobsmacked. Shouts rose as they exclaimed, rushing forward to help, though they didn’t understand what had happened.

“Leo! Are you alright?!”

The first one to reach him was Asa. She ran up with a worried frown on her face. Seeing that everything was alright, she blew out a sigh of relief before focusing on the child holding his ball and blinking in stunned silence in Leo’s hands.

Aside from a scratch on his knee, the child was alright. Wide eyed and confused by the loud noise and seeing a bunch of strangers runningt towards them, he burst into tears.

“There there, don’t cry. Strong boys shouldn’t cry.” Soothing the crying child, Asa laid a hand gently on the wound. Suddenly, two rings appeared on her fingers, as a green light briefly covered his knee. The small wound closed in the blink of an eye, completely healed.

“There,” Asa told the child, “everything is good.”

‘A Sacred Gear? Was that Twilight Healing?’ Leo wondered.

The original God of the Bible created the Sacred Gears to enact miracles on Earth, and only humans or half-humans like him could use them. They were humanity’s wildcards, the only way humans could surpass their limitations. With them, humans could face the supernatural without having to sell their souls or become completely depended on other magical races.

[Oh? This girl seems special.]

Ignoring the deep, dignified voice that sounded in his head, Leo focused on Asa.

That she would be living with Nephilim like Duane made more sense. Leo doubted that Asa was adopted or that Duane was her brother. If Asa had a sacred gear that could heal…it was impossible for her not to be involved with the church, or more precisely—the Exorcists. 

And that begged the question of what Asa was doing in Spartanburg. Why was she going to his school?

‘Has the Church learned this city is filled with devils?’ Leo wondered. The question bothered him—not that it mattered all that much. 

Though there were a bunch of devils at his school, they weren’t the kind of devils the Church would be bothering with. Sharon Sitrin and Rayne Mephisto were about as far from stray devils as you could get. They were basically a short step down from the top amongst the devils’ nobility. 

If an Exorcist attacked them without a good reason, it would most likely start another war—one that would not go well for the humans.

‘This isn’t the time to worry about things like that.’

Leo didn’t want to deal with the police. The last thing he needed was people to start asking questions about how he’d crossed the street in the blink of an eye. “Let’s get out of here. People are coming.”

Stepping back from the child, Leo took Asa by the hand and tugged her away from the still sniffling child. Together they turned and ran from the site of the accident. After running for a while, the two of them stopped. 

 Asa was out of breath, but the smile on her face was bright. It lit up the park where they finally stopped like a miniature sun. Leo couldn’t help returning the smile.

‘Damn, she’s got a beautiful smile,’ he thought.

“That must have surprised you.” Asa said this so quietly when the two of them resumed walking that Leo almost didn’t hear her.

“Well…” He scratched his chin. “You mean the rings that appeared on your hand and the green light? I assume that’s a Sacred Gear. Healing is a rare power, and an amazing one, too.”

Healers were incredibly important during any fight. With a good healer on the team, the risk of death during a mission lowered dramatically. Until now, the only person with healing-type Sacred Gear that Leo knew about was one of his instructors in the Vatican, Dieter von Rosenheim. 

Dieter was a senior exorcist whose sacred gear, Holy Resuscitation, was said to be able to heal an entire army if necessary. 

Healing was a power that Leo envied. His Sacred Gear could only hurt and destroy. Compared to that, healing seemed so much more beautiful, more divine. It was a power he yearned to have. Unfortunately, he knew it could never be his due to his genetics.

Devils—even half-devils—couldn’t heal.

Beside him, Asa gasped. “You know about Sacred Gear?”

“Well… yeah.” Leo paused. 

‘How much should I tell her?’

“I’ve seen Sacred Gear in action before—though most aren’t nearly as cool as what you just did. You are amazing.”

Asa seemed genuinely happy at his praise. 

“Healing is a wonderful power granted by God. What I can do is…” She paused, ducking her head. “It’s a wonderful power.”

Leo sensed her mood dip there at the end. He was not a stranger to such a sudden change in emotion. Like him, this girl must have a story—a past that haunted her.

“It is amazing, but you should be careful about who you demonstrate that power in front of.” He tried not to sound harsh, though his intent was to warn rather than discourage. “Not everyone would accept it.”

Asa frowned, then shook her head. “If I can heal people, I won’t hesitate to use my power and…”

“And?”

“I just felt like using it in front of you wouldn’t be a problem.” Her blue eyes stared up at him. “I feel safe when I’m with you.” The more she spoke, the more embarrassed she seemed to become. Her pale cheeks turned a deep shade of red.

Leo understood that she wasn’t just alluding to the fact that he was not normal. She hadn’t said a thing about his burst of speed. It was impossible for a normal person to react and move as fast as he’d done.

The fact that she hadn’t asked about his power showed that she respected his boundaries. After all, though she seemed naive, it didn’t mean she was dumb. 

“Well, this is my house.” 

Asa stopped at the end of a short driveway in front of a dilapidated old ranch-style house at the edge of a rough looking neighborhood. Looking at the house she’d stopped in front of, Leo frowned. He sensed divine power inside the old house. 

He knew Asa lived with at least one Nephilim, but the power he sensed was stronger than that. It felt like a fallen angel might be inside. Nothing good would come from a fallen angel seeing him. 

He was trying to fly under the radar here—but having a fallen identify him for what he was? That was the last thing he needed. Besides, he didn’t want to cause any problems for Asa.

“Well then,” he said, “I think this is it.”

“Thank you for your help! I would like to return the favor…Do you want to come in?” She twisted in place, looking anywhere but at Leo. “We could just hang out for a while.

Leo estimated the time. It was late afternoon, almost evening. He had already wasted quite a bit of his time bringing Asa here.Lucy would be upset that he hadn’t let her know he would be home late. She was sure to raise hell about him being late for training. 

“I’m sorry… maybe another time. Perhaps I could invite you over to my place some afternoon.”

Asa’s frown at his gently rejection turned upside down at the offer. “I’ll hold you to that!” 

She darted forward and leaned in while half-hopping, half-getting on her tip-toes to press a quick kiss to his cheek. Spinning around, Asa ran into the house before Leo could do more than blink.

Bemused, he rubbed the tingling spot on his cheek where he still imagined he could feel the warm press of her soft lips.