Chapter 1 - New Friends

This is the first chapter of the book.

Alessandro arrived on what appeared to be a public alleyway in Boston. As Alessandro explored the surrounding area, he noticed a lone Hispanic woman being beaten by a Caucasian man wearing a grey business suit. Without even thinking, Alessandro stepped in and pushed the man away from the woman. “Hey! You leave her alone.” said Alessandro. “Get out of here now!!” said the unknown man as he pulled out a gun from his jacket pocket. At an instant, Alessandro slapped the gun out of the assailant’s hand, grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up. “Like I said: Leave her alone. If you don’t listen, I will rip every limb off your body.” said Alessandro. “Okay. Okay.” said the man in the suit. “Good.” said Alessandro as he dropped the assailant and let him run away. “I won’t forget this. You better watch your back.” said the assailant as he ran away. The Hispanic woman approached Alessandro and said, “Thank you.” Alessandro looked closely at the woman he saved and noticed that she was dressed in a purplish jacket and matching pants. Her curly black hair had a lone purple streak on the front. “You are welcome. You looked like you needed help.” said Alessandro. “Say. You’re a demon. Aren’t you?” said the woman. “How did you know that? What are you?” said Alessandro. “I am a witch.” said the woman. “What’s a witch?” said Alessandro. “Wait a minute. You’re a demon and you don’t know what a witch is? Demons and witches have been in war with other for a long time.” said the woman. “I grew up in a broken home in Hell. I isolated myself from others because I couldn’t trust anyone there.” said Alessandro. “Oh, that’s so sad. Why would you put yourself in a lonely situation as that?” said the witch. “Thanks so noticing. I was punched, bound in chains and then beaten horribly by my own mother for refusing to eat human souls.” said Alessandro. “Oh no. How could any mother put their own son through that kind of torture? I guess that made you want to leave Hell.” said the unknown witch. “You’re right.” said Alessandro as he sighed. “Say do you have anywhere to sleep for the night?” said the unknown witch. “No. I don’t.” said Alessandro. “How about you come live with me? Please take this as payback for saving my life.” said the unknown witch. “I will only go with you if promise not to force me to do anything I don’t want to do.” said Alessandro. “You have a deal. May I have your name?” said the unknown witch. “My name is Jonathan. What is your name?” said Alessandro as he stared at a store sign with the name he gave to the witch. “My name is Natalie. It’s so nice to meet you, Jonathan. Come with me.” said Natalie as she led Alessandro to a five-bedroom house on Cambridge Street in the Allston/Brighton neighborhood. During the walk, Alessandro checked out every human that walked past him as he headed over to the destination. He also noticed the large billboards that promoted a wheelchair designing business. At the bottom right of the sign there was the name “Adam Smith” along with a phone number. “Humans look a lot different than I imagined.” said Alessandro. “There is more to this world to learn but I have no problem in teaching it to you.” said Natalie. “So, this is where you live?” said Alessandro. “It is. I have housemates who are also witches. I hope that they accept you as do I.” said Natalie as she opened the front door. Inside the house there were several occupied rooms. The moment the front door was open, every witch stepped out of their rooms to check out who it was. The witches were dressed in clothes that matched Natalie’s and had resembling hairstyles. They were of diverse races. All the witches approached Natalie and Alessandro in unison as the door shut on its own. “Natalie, who is this?” said one of the witches. Alessandro flinched as one of the witches approached him closely, checked him out and said, “You’re a demon.” “Yes. Is that a problem?” said Alessandro. “Demon!!” said another one of the witches as she stood side by side with the others ready to attack Alessandro. “Everybody stop now!!” said a witch as she approached Alessandro and Natalie. The witches stepped aside and allowed her to pass through them. Alessandro stared at the Caucasian witch who looked much older than the others. “Helena. Look, I apologize for going out without permission again.” said Natalie. “Save it Natalie. If you weren’t your mother’s daughter, I’d stop putting up with you. After all these years, you really need to let that go.” said Helena as she stopped an inch away from Natalie and Alessandro. “Look I know this isn’t my business but I’m curious about the subject of this conversation. What is it about?” said Alessandro as he looked at Helena. Helena then stared at Alessandro and said, “Witches of the coven, hold your spells. This demon is no threat to us.” “What makes you believe that?” said one of the witches. “Because if he was then he would’ve attacked us already.” said Helena. “As she said, I am no threat. If you still can’t trust me then here. You can have my weapon.” said Alessandro as he pulled out his sword and handed it to them. Unfortunately, before the handle of the weapon reached the witches hands, an alarm blared in the house. “Oh no.,” said Natalie. “What’s that?” said Alessandro. “The motion sensor. Demons are on their way here.” said Helena. “Please Helena. Let me help.” said Natalie. “Unfortunately, you’re in no position to help. You’ll just get killed and I can’t allow that. Stay inside. Come on witches.” said Helena. “Okay…,” said Natalie. “What about me?” said Alessandro. “You can prove yourself useful. That blade you have is a silver encrusted one which is a threat to all demons. Now let’s go.” said Helena. “Okay.” said Alessandro as he opened the front door while the witches followed. “Faith, you know what to do.” said Helena. “Right. Stop!!” said Faith as she used her magic to stop the flow of time in the surrounding area. Alessandro gasped at the sight of every living creature outside as well as the flow of traffic on the street froze in place unable to move. “Wow. What is this?” said Alessandro as he grabbed a fly and flicked it away. “You never seen magic before?” said Helena. “Nope. This is my first time seeing it with my very own eyes.” said Alessandro. “A demon that never seen magic?” said Helena. “Yep.” said Alessandro. “What is your name?” said Helena. “Jonathan.” said Alessandro. “Okay Jonathan. Will you help us?” said Faith. “I will. I want to help.” said Alessandro. “If you do this, we will trust you. Here they come.” said Helena as she noticed the band of demons approaching. “Draw your sword, Jonathan.” said one of the witches. “Right.” said Alessandro as he unsheathed his blade and charged at the group of foes in front of him. As Alessandro rushed into battle, he noticed that his right hand started to glow on its own. With that, Alessandro extended that same hand and at an instant, a surge of power began to flow into his body from every single demon that came at him. When the opposing demons realized that they had lost their powers, they tried to run away. “Don’t let them escape Jonathan!!” said Helena. “Right.” said Alessandro as he charged and started killing the demons with his sword. None were left alive. “Well done, Jonathan!! You did it!!” said one of the witches. “Yes. I did.” said Alessandro as he fell on his knees and breathed heavily out of exhaustion. “Hey, are you alright?” said Helena. “Yes, I just need rest.” said Alessandro. Later that same night, Alessandro woke up on a bed in a room. “Oh, you’re awake.” said Natalie. “Yeah.” said Alessandro as he got up. Helena and the other witches were there as well. “We like to apologize to you for freaking out earlier.” said Faith. “It’s no problem. If I was a human and saw myself, I’d freak out to.” said Alessandro. “I got to say Jonathan you got guts as well as compassion for a demon.” said Helena. “I couldn’t let any of you get hurt especially Natalie.” said Alessandro. Natalie blushed red the moment she heard what Alessandro had said. “I never encountered a demon like you before. Anyway, witches how about you introduce yourselves to Jonathan.” said Helena. “I am Faith Thompson. I am the time witch.” said the Caucasian witch, Faith. “I am Sage Kobayashi. I am the elemental witch.” said the Asian witch, Sage. “I am Zoe Jones. I am the flight witch.” said the African American witch, Zoe. “And I am Helena Carver. I am the manifestation witch. You’ve already met Natalie.” said Helena. “Natalie. What kind of power do you have?” said Alessandro. “My power is. . .,” said Natalie. “Unfortunately, Natalie has no idea what her power is. It’s completely dormant. Even with that, it never stops her from trying anyway.” said Helena. “I can’t give up. I can only learn by going after the ones who killed my mother.” said Natalie. “Natalie, like I said before. You must move on. She’s gone and she’s never coming back. This certainly won’t make that happen.” said Helena. “You never answered me this earlier. What is this about?” said Alessandro. “Oh right, you don’t know. Over twenty years ago, our leader was brutally murdered by the dreadful demon known as Ace.” said Helena. “Who is Ace?” said Alessandro. “He lives under the human name Adam Smith. He owns a successful wheelchair design business called Have Hope. Underneath that he is a very powerful demon.” said Helena. “I assume that you each have fought him before.” said Alessandro. “Yes. We fought and tried but couldn’t even budge him. We had no choice but to retreat.” said Helena. “I see. That’s exactly why Natalie shouldn’t go after him. Anyway, what does this Ace guy look like anyway?” said Alessandro. “Like this.” said Sage as she showed a picture of Ace from her cell phone. Alessandro then gasped as he noticed that the man in the picture resembled him. “He looks familiar?” said Zoe. “Yes. He looks like me.” said Alessandro. “You must be related to him. If I must guess, he must be your father.” said Faith. “Even if that’s true, I don’t want to see him. When it comes to that, I have no father.” said Alessandro. “I see. Any other questions?” said Helena. “Yes. What was Natalie’s mother’s name?” said Alessandro. “Her name was Matilda. She was the most powerful witch ever born. At least I believe she was.” said Helena. “Oh. I see. How many of you are here?” said Alessandro. “There are only five of us here. There used to be over a hundred but they either died or left us.” said Helena. As Helena and Alessandro conversated, Natalie said, “Excuse me witches. I’m sorry to interrupt this but could I have a minute alone with Jonathan?” “Of course. I should get dinner started anyway. Sage, Faith and Zoe let’s give them a minute alone.” said Helena as she left the room. “Right.” said Faith and the others as they followed. Alessandro sighed as he looked at Natalie. “Is everything alright?” said Natalie. “I’m scared if I should even be here. The one who was supposed to be my father killed your mother. I must be a monster just like him.” said Alessandro. Natalie approached Alessandro touched his hand and said, “That is not true. You saved my life. I don’t believe a real monster is capable of that. You may be a demon but that doesn’t matter. We accept you, Jonathan.” Alessandro smiled and said, “No one has ever said that to me before. Thanks Natalie.” “You are welcome, Jonathan.” said Natalie as she sat next to Alessandro and rested her head on his arm. Alessandro then held Natalie close to him. Alessandro heard Matilda’s voice. She said, “You found my daughter. Please keep her safe.” As Alessandro and Matilda were having their heart-to-heart moment, the door opened, and Faith came into the room. “Hey guys. Dinner is ready. Woah.” said Faith. Alessandro quickly let Natalie go and said, “Woah.” “I’m sorry. Am I interrupting something?” said Faith. “No. Not at all Faith.” said Natalie. “Right.” said Alessandro as he chuckled and followed Faith to the dining room. Alessandro sat next to Natalie. Helena walked over to the table with a large pot and set it in the center. “What’s for dinner tonight Helena?” said Sage. “It is spaghetti and meatballs.” said Helena as she opened the pot and fixed up bowls for Natalie and the others. At an instant, Natalie and the others immediately started eating. Alessandro stared at his bowl clueless of what to do. “What’s wrong Jonathan?” said Zoe. “I’m not sure what to do with this.” said Alessandro. “Is this the first time you had pasta?” said Faith. “Yes. The only thing I ever ate in my life were human souls.” said Alessandro. “I see. Well, I can help.” said Natalie as she picked up Alessandro’s fork and put some of the pasta on it. “What are you doing?” said Alessandro. “It’s okay Jonathan. I’m just helping. Now please open your mouth and say ‘ahh’” said Natalie. “Okay ahh.” said Alessandro as he let Natalie put the forkful into his mouth. “There.” said Natalie. “Now what?” said Alessandro. “Chew it and swallow.” said Natalie. Alessandro did as Natalie said. He closed his eyes as his stomach digested the bite of pasta. “How was it, Jonathan?” said Helena. “It’s good. I love it.” said Alessandro as he smiled. “Great to hear. Like I said before, I will be happy to teach you about our world.” said Natalie. “Thank you again Natalie.” said Alessandro. “You are welcome.” said Natalie as she continued to feed Alessandro more bites of pasta. Alessandro looked at eating with his new friends as a step to a new life of peace that he desperately wanted.