Demons Beside You

When he got home, Fali had already prepared dinner.

She wasn’t a traditional housewife though. They interacted just like before, but more casual and relaxed… Of course, when others weren’t there, they were more intimate too.

After dinner, the two grabbed beers and sat in the backyard. They enjoyed the peace and quiet.

White Ma’s injuries were much better. Chen Zhao had taken off the gauze, but there was still a glaring wound on his stomach. He couldn’t do any intense exercise or else the wound would tear.

Wouter grew familiar with them these days. He followed behind them all day like a lackey. However, the yard was a bit small while they were all big.

Before when there was only Beelzebub, Carrie and Walter, it felt okay. Now, the three huge guys Obitos, Black Ma, and White Ma were here and they could barely run.

At that moment, Bant and Ken came over. They also had an Alaskan with them. Instead of going through the front door, they came in from the backyard.

“Chen, Fali.”

“You guys have a dog too now? Can you take care of it?”

“We couldn’t help it,” Bant said, smiling. “We saw your dogs and wanted one too.”

“What’s its name?”

“Bobby,” Ken replied. “But he’s kind of scared of your dogs.”

“Maybe they aren’t familiar with each other yet.”

Bobby was smaller than Wouter, but he was still a big dog. If he was by himself, he would look huge, but next to Black Ma and White Ma, he was just okay.

“Chen, I came to thank you for finding a good job for Mary.”

“Please don’t thank me every time you see me.”

“I heard you bought the land at Mirror Lake, right?”

“Yeah.”

Bant had been the first to know when Chen Zhao got this idea. He’d asked Bant to help get information for it.

“You’re going to build a house there?”

“Yes.”

“What about the furniture after that? Are you going to buy ready-made ones?”

“Bant, do you have any suggestions?”

“My old friend and I plan on opening a wood workshop. If you need help, I can give you the best price.”

“Of course, no problem.”

Since it was a new home, he would definitely have most of his furniture custom-made instead of buying those generic brands.

Just then, his phone rang in the living room. Chen Zhao got up. “I’ll go get the call.”

When he picked up, he realized it was Sienna.

“Chen, come help. I’m at UCLA.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Didn’t I tell you? My client is here and I’ve been here getting rid of evil spirits these days, but there are more now. They’re much stronger than I’d expected. My client and I are stuck here.”

“Okay, send me the exact location and I’ll go right now.” Putting down his phone, he went outside. “Fali, give me a ride. Bant, I’m sorry but a client is looking for me. I need to go.”

“Okay, then we’ll go too. Bye.”

…

Chen Zhao got onto Fali’s car. He didn’t bring any pets because Blackie was enough.

“What’s wrong?” Fali asked.

“Sienna might be in trouble. It’s dangerous.”

“What’s it this time? Demons? Or evil spirits?”

Fali had suffered from the ghost ship last time, but she wasn’t traumatized. She was still enthusiastic about paranormal activity—if it had nothing to do with her, of course.

Outside the school, Chen Zhao grew worried for Fali. “How about you stay inside the car?”

“It’s okay. I’m more worried if I’m alone in the car. If I’m with you, you can protect me.”

“Okay.”

Chen Zhao and Fali went into campus. There weren’t many people walking around at this time.

When they reached the older part, they saw someone standing at the entrance.

“What are you here for? This is the forbidden zone.”

“Are you the administrator here?” Chen Zhao studied the man. Chen Zhao found him familiar, but he couldn’t place where they’d met.

Smith looked at Chen Zhao with a similar look and feeling. They’d met somewhere before.

“I’m a lecturer here. Many things had happened in the old campus, so it’s been sealed off for a while.”

“Then why are you here?” Chen Zhao asked, looking at Smith.

“I just passed by.” Smith often came to and from this place. He would occasionally meet students or other teachers and could deal with them easily.

“Ah, I remember!”

Smith was taken aback by Chen Zhao’s sudden exclamation.

“We’ve met before!” Chen Zhao cried.

“Where did we meet?”

“Crossing the road a few days ago. Did you forget? You lost a coin.”

Smith furrowed his brows. He remembered after Chen Zhao pointed it out. He’d wanted to toss the gold coin that day, but Chen Zhao put it back into his hands.

“Oh, it’s you… How have you been?”

Chen Zhao was confused. He didn’t know this man, so why was he asking?

“My friend is in there. I think she’s in trouble, so we’re going to look.”

“Your friend? In trouble?” Smith frowned. “What trouble?”

“I think she fell and hurt herself,” Chen Zhao said. “We’re here to help.”

“Uh, okay… Be careful when you go in.”

Smith didn’t stop them. Fali turned around to look at him. “That guy feels weird.”

“You think so too?”

“I can’t place it.” Fali shook her head.

“Blackie, do you think that man’s strange?” Chen Zhao asked.

“Yes, strange.” Blackie’s answer was the same as Fali’s.

“Where?”

“I can’t place it.”

“How come your answer is the same as Fali?”

“You can’t say what’s strange about him either and me too. Nothing’s weird about that.”

“Let’s go. We can’t make Sienna wait too long.”

The two humans and Blackie came before an old building. Glancing at it, Blackie said, “There are so many evil spirits and they’re all strange.”

“How so?”

“Evil spirits stay in the human world because of some obsession, but these evil spirits don’t have any. They’re trapped here; they didn’t stay because of their own will.”

“Someone killed them?”

Blackie shook his head. “No, it looks like they died natural deaths.”