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The siblings followed Sadie through the city towards South Street. After several blocks, they arrived in the strange mishmash of American subcultures was South Street. Between the street performers and seemingly random mixture of stores, anything could be found here. They passed an old concert hall and a silver building with a huge line of patrons that wrapped around the outside of the building.
Soon, they stopped beneath the dull glow of an incandescent sign that read Helga's Eatery hung from above an old restaurant. The sign sporadically flickered from faulty wiring but wouldn't fall dark. Through the windows, the 1950's decor looked classically inviting and the stickers on the door displayed a plethora of culinary awards. With a jungle of a rusty string of bells, the children entered through a glass door coated in moisture.
With the cooling wave and the roar of an air conditioner, the disgusting street smell instantly vanished in a cloud of deliciousness that emanated from the grimy diner's silver plated kitchen. Any loss of hunger soon vanished and the children were seated happily at a both glancing over browning laminated menus looking for the perfect delicacy of Helga's making to satisfy their returning hunger.
"Hello, Sadie." The waitress said as she smacked a piece of chewing gum between her lips while she carried a steaming pot of coffee towards two truckers who sat at the bar eating slices of pie. "Early today?"
"Last day of school, Renee. Half-day." Sadie said.
"Hope yah did well in school this year. You're gonna be a junior next year aren't you?" She asked.
"Yup," Sadie said.
"You're getting old. You better not drop out, like I did." Renee blew a bubble and it popped. "Anyway, Helga'll be right wit' cha." She refilled the trucker's coffee and smiled with a smile that was missing more than a few teeth. But, it was a kindly smile even with the bags under her eyes being loaded with all sorts of experiences that the children could scarcely imagine. "She'll be happy you're in early. She's a good ol' bird that one. Don't know what a stray like me would do wit' out her." She placed the coffee pot between the truckers and pushed her ratty hair behind her slightly pointed ears that were loaded with piercings.
"I guess you showing us around is more than just walking around the city." Callen began scanning the menu.
"So, you noticed Renee's an elf. That's pretty easy." Sadie teased. "But so are the truckers."
The two men carried the wear of the road, both in the lines on their faces and the unkempt nature of their appearance. One had a confederate flag sewn onto the sleeve of his stained blue jacket and the other wore a NASCAR hat over his greasy mullet. The points on their ears were very slight and he wouldn't have picked it out if Sadie hadn't told him.
"How are those guys elves?" Ania asked.
Sadie shrugged. "Well, how are you a human?" She asked rhetorically. "You just are."
"But elves in the movies and books..." Ania started.
"I know where you're going." Sadie reached up and pushed a lock of her curly dark hair that had fallen free from her bandana back behind her ear. "And the answer is no. Not anymore. Not for a long time, maybe not even ever. If there was something magical, it's long since disappeared...anything that's there now is because of demonic pacts."
With a creak from the red pleather booth, Callen leaned back and glanced around the diner. There wasn't anything special about the diner's patrons, save a few curious features that were barely identifiable. Since he was looking, they were easy enough to spot, but occult ancestry mattered little in their daily lives. They still ate burgers and tipped the waitress when they left. With their occult origins muted by generations of genetic dilution, they were simply human.
"So, what exactly is this place?" Callen jumped back in on the conversation.
"This is Helga's." Sadie flirted.
"Quit being cute." Callen scoffed.
"So you think I'm cute?" She chuckled.
Callen rolled his eyes.
"So, I'm not cute? Here I am taking you and your sister out to lunch and you don't even consider me cute?"
Ania started to laugh.
"Sadie stop. You're going to give the poor boy an aneurysm. I'm sure he already has enough to process." A tremendously large woman with a southern accent said as she exited the kitchen. Her green tinted skin wrinkled as she laughed. She had a large nose, small eyes, scraggly black hair, a few scattered warts, and a kindly smile. "I'll be with you kids in just a minute. Renee, pour them some waters please and that pie needs to come out of the oven." She pulled off a check from her checkbook and handed it to the pair of truckers. Renee followed the large woman's directions with a nod and Helga began to chat with the pair of truckers.
Callen half listened to their conversation. They were headed to a Wal-Mart distribution center in Pittsburg and they were stopping at a new casino and grill on the river before they headed out along the highway. It was all so mundane, and this side of their new reality made everything more palatable, even if it did dispel the fantasy of hidden elven woodland villages.
"Those two guys..." Helga rolled her eyes and put it in the cash register and came back to the children's table after grabbing a tray of waters that Renee had just finished pouring. "The menu has got you looking a little green. Well, not green like me green...but sick green...you know what I mean." She gave a pig-like laugh.
"Don't think it's the menu," Callen said sarcastically.
Helga snorted out a second laugh. "Guess this is the first time you noticed a troll, eh?"
Callen nodded slowly. "Among others..." He glanced at Renee.
"Well, lucky for you, we take no offense. But, you best watch that tongue. There are many folks who are quite sensitive about the way they look." She laughed. "I blame the media for their obsession with hungry looking women...and men for that matter. But, we'll have none of that hungry here. Welcome to my eatery for all sorts of lost souls. So, what can I get ya?"
"I'll have a burger and fries," Sadie ordered as if it were a ritual. "Human style of course, medium rare, and a vanilla milk shake."
"Human style?" Callen asked.
"That just means that we don't use any of the extra stuff that regular folks don't eat," Helga explained. "But, regular is relative...you wouldn't believe how many folks would be able to balance their diet simply by adding minced dung flies or moldy cheese to their morning eggs. If they only knew..."
Callen gaged at little at the idea.
"I'll have a veggie burger, salad, and apple juice," Ania said. "Hold the gross stuff."
"And you?" Helga asked.
"Umm...I'll have the barbecue pulled-pork sandwich and a chocolate milk shake."
"That's our specialty, coming right up. I learned to cook barbecue from the best, down in eastern N'Carolina." She lumbered back into the kitchen. "You're gonna love it."
"She's the civilized type of troll," Sadie said. "We call them city trolls."
"Creative." Callen rolled his eyes. "I take it there are forest trolls, swamp trolls, and a bunch of other troll types that are named after the environment they live in?
"Yup. It doesn't have to be creative if it works."
"So, how exactly do you know this?" Callen asked.
"Well...that's where it gets complicated..." Sadie explained. "Research...both into ancient lore and modern science."
"Alright, but how do you, specifically, know about this stuff?" Callen asked.
"Stay around here for a while, and you'll pick up a lot about demon hunting," Sadie explained. "It's just how I grew up, and one day, I'll hunt them too...and my dad's an expert..."
Callen shook his head. "They should have told us. Mom should have told us."
"But she didn't." Ania sighed. "And now..." She swallowed hard.
"I don't know why you weren't told." The pleath
er creaked when Sadie leaned back in the booth. "Leaving the order just doesn't happen and you two should have grown up like me."
"Yeah." Callen sighed. "I've pretty much figured that part out..."
The bell jingled again and a few businessmen with corporate ID badges came in and sat at in one of the booths and began ordering. The last one to enter caught Callen's eye. He had a neatly trimmed brown beard; his hair was pulled back in a ponytail. He looked like a dwarf, but less robust. He walked with an energetic spring in his step, despite walking with an intricately carved wooden cane.
"Brownie," Sadie said before either of the siblings had the chance to ask.
"For desert?" Callen looked back at Sadie. "I haven't even gotten my sandwich yet."
"No, he's a brownie, well part brownie." She clarified. "The one you're staring at."
"Trolls, elves, dwarves, brownies?" Callen raised an eyebrow. "I guess I should get a fairy field manual. Maybe you should have taken us to the new age shop instead of the local diner."
"Na, those books are written by people who wanna profit off people who think they are ready to know what we know." Sadie giggled. "We have all sorts of lore going back through the ages. I think the only place that may have stuff we don't is the lost library of Alexandra or some hidden Tibetan monastery. We go to the hidden archives in the Vatican for occult lore. Not some new age shop."
"How do people not notice?" Ania asked.
"People see what they want." Sadie was making light of the situation. "They always have and always will. They say the devil's greatest trick is convincing the world he doesn't exist, right? Well, maybe its even better to convince the world that the endless pits of Hell...and everything else from mythology...are just child's tales."
"And a more practical explanation?" Callen didn’t sound convinced.
"Well, I guess, you can thank things like the witch-hunts, and the inquisition or some careful sociological engineering by some super powerful secret society...but that's just conjecture too."
"Wait, a secret society? You mean like the one you, Grandpa, our parents, and everyone else here seem to be a part of?" Callen asked, sounding annoyed.
"Nothing secret about our parent organization, save what we do and what we know. We're part of the Sovereign Army of Malta."
"What?" Ania asked.
"Knights Hospitaller. The Order of St. John." Sadie explained. "Well, that's what we are now. During the Crusades there were a lot of orders of Knights...some switched loyalties, others disbanded over history. Ours, well, we didn't. Now, were just part of the Pope's private army...the demon hunting back ops branch..."
"Food's ready." Helga grabbed the plates from the serving window and began serving their food. "Eat up, 'cause I got the best food in all o' Philly." She smiled. "You eat just like your daddy, boy." She handed Callen his sandwich. "I don't know about your sister though, I have never seen a Thorne eat a vegetarian meal in my life."
"You knew our parents?!" Ania asked.
"You bet yah! They use to come in here all the time when that old monastery was bustling with activity. The knights have always been good to us. They have kept the riffraff away. Too bad things are going south around here in the last few years....hey come to think about it...whatever happened to your parents?"
"My dad disappeared when we were little and my mom is in the hospital in a coma." Callen looked down at the sandwich she placed in front of him. His heart sank.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Helga's jovial voice and expression disappeared. "I had no idea." There was a moment of awkward silence.
"It's ok, Miss Helga," Ania whispered sadly. "You didn't know."
She nodded. "Well," She brightened up, perhaps a little falsely but Callen appreciated it. "Don't you two worry, ol' Helga will take good care of you until everything is all better!" She looked back towards the kitchen. "Now, you three best be eating up, oh, and Tende will be done his shift soon so you all can do something fun. But before you go, ol' Helga has cooked you up a fresh cherry pie."
"Human style?" Callen tried to help break the awkwardness.
She gave me a funny look. "Like there was any other way to have cherry pie? Ol' Helga would never flavor no cherry pie with dried fish eyes, rabbit gall stones, or any other deeee-liccccc-ious additive out there. Cherry pie is sacred and all must be able to indulge in its perfection. Now eat your sandwich, and I'll get the slices ready."
Callen took the first bite of his pulled-pork sandwich. It was absolutely delicious. The barbecue sauce was amazing. It was the best pulled-pork he had ever eaten and was soon raptured in its heavenly blend of smokiness, vinegar sauce, and cold slaw.
"Hey Sadie, who are your friends?" A muscular albino Asian with small tusks for bottom canines and a heavy sloping brow said as he came out of the kitchen while pulling off an apron caked with cooking stains. His sleeves were rolled up on his shirt revealing a collection of tattoos. His tattoos were all holy images and a variety of biblical passages.
Sadie swallowed a big bite of burger. "Oh, this is Callen and Ania."
He grabbed a handful of Sadie's fries. "I'm Tende."
"He's pretty much my big brother," Sadie said. "He was raised at the church, like me.”
"Um, what are you?" Ania asked as she grabbed her mouth. "Sorry, that's rude."
Tende laughed and tried to grab another handful of fries from Sadie, but she slapped his hand and shot him a glare. "Don't worry about it. I usually get called a freak or bleached ape. Those morons wouldn't recognize what I am even if I told them. But, in a way they're right. I'm a freak. I'm half-oni."
"Japanese devil?" Callen looked at the large teenager in disbelief.
"Can be," Sadie interjected. "He isn't of the devil variety. He is of the ogre variety. Just the Japanese ogre variety, as opposed to the European ogre varieties."
"But I'm not Japanese." Tende laughed. "Well, all Japanese. My Japanese side is oni and my human side is Filipino."
"So, you're a knight?" Ania asked.
"Nope." Tende answered. "But, I got an offer to become a squire. I don't think it is going to happen though. I'm going to go to seminary school...and become a lore scholar for the order. But until then I just help Sir Corth and the others..."
"You help grandpa?" Ania asked.
"Wait, you're Sir Corth's grandkids? The children of Eve and Alexander Thorne?"
"Yup," Sadie said. "This is them. I thought Corth told you. They arrived yesterday."
He turned and looked at the two siblings. "But wow, it's an honor. Both your parents are legends...well, among some of us...err..." Tende started, but Sadie nudged him hard. "Oh...right...ah..."
Callen felt the sadness begin to slip into his heart again.
"I still can't believe you told Sir Jason no." Sadie shook her head with disgust. Callen was grateful for her effort to change the subject. "How could you turn down a squire-ship with him?"
"Wait, what's a squire-ship?" Callen asked.
"Well, you know, like, in Star Wars or ancient Europe, jedi have padawans and knights have squires?" Tende shrugged. "Well, that's pretty much how it works here too. Only being a knight isn't like being a jedi and getting a glowing sword. It's more like being a combination of a navy SEAL, James Bond, and Moulder and Skully from X-files."
"I take it you're a sci-fi nerd?" Callen asked.
"Yeah, why?" Tende stole another handful of Sadie's fries.
"Your description gave it away," Callen said.
"That bad, huh?" Tende sighed and stole another handful of fries. "Oh well, shoot me. Anyway, don't you know nerds rule the world?"
"All you have to do is look at the tech that people can't live without to realize that." Callen laughed. "But, still, you're the first guy with religious tattoos who is into sci-fi and wants to become a monk that I've met befo
re."
"Yeah, I can't say I'm not a weird combination..." Tende laughed. "But aren't we all?"
"Yeah, well get used to it." Sadie took a sip of her water. "If you think you meet weird things on the fringe of mundane society, you're gonna realize that those sub-cultures are a joke in comparison to what we see."
"Tende, did you play Shadowborne yet?" Ania pushed her plate back to return to decorating her place mat. However, instead of starting, she was focused on the conversation.
"Oh...no...you didn't just..." Sadie gasped.
Tende grinned with excitement. "I signed up for the beta...but didn't get in."
"I got Callen Shadowborne for a coming home present. He didn't start it though because of..." She paused.
"Wait, you got it?!" Tende asked excitedly. "No way! I was actually going to go pick up a copy after work, and then I saw you guys. Did you create your character yet?"
"Well...ah no, not yet, things have been...crazy since I got it." He sighed. "But I think I'm gonna make a Leprechaun combat engineer on the Allied side. But, I was thinking about making a soldier or an assassin too, but I'm not sure what race or faction. I was thinking maybe Russian side orc soldier or Nazi human assassin."
Sadie cursed under her breath. "Guys...there’s more to life then..." However, she crossed her arms with frustration when she realized no one was listening.
"I didn't know you can be a Nazi...that just screams controversy right there." Tende sounded amused at the idea.
"No, when you make a Nazi you're not loyal to Hitler and fighting to end his evil reign from inside. At high levels, you get to get to defect to the Russians or Allies."
"Now you've done it." Sadie glared at Ania. "Now we got to listen to those two nerds talk about video games."
"Yeah, my brother is the Prince of Nerds." Ania sighed. "That's what his friends use to call him. But, nerdy stuff is fun..."
"Hey, now..." Callen objected. "Your worse than I am..."
"Come on guys, lets talk about something else..." Sadie whined.
"Did you consider the pacific campaign?" Tende asked, completely ignoring Sadie.
"No. It's not released yet. They are still working out the rest of the details. It will come out in an expansion pack, besides the game was just released the only American option is a spy class." Callen explained. "In the game world Pearl Harbor hasn't even taken place yet. But they said they one of the new classes for the Americans is techno-gunslinger and I am totally gonna make one of those as my main character when I can."
“Is it true that it’s like that game Destiny, but like…way better?” Tende asked.
“A lot of the same guys that made Destiny made Shadowborne,” Ania said. “They learned from what the critics said and made major improvements.”
“Sweet. I can’t wait.” Tende said enthusiastically. “Let's get me a copy, and do some playing!"
"Me too," Ania added happily. “I don’t want to have to just watch…”
"You too?" Sadie sighed and looked at Ania. "I thought Callen was joking..."
"Yup." Ania smiled. "Like I said, it's fun. But, I don't have a computer or any..."
"I'll totally buy you a copy since I doubt Sir Corth gave you any money." Tende said, "He forgets that stuff...and I'll get you hooked up with one of my old computers."
"Thanks." Ania fidgeted with excitement in her seat.
"No thanks required." Tende nodded. "Corth was one of my dads, so as far as I see it, your family."
Callen felt himself relax a little. It felt like the first good news he had heard in a while. "Let's make a coordinated team." He suggested. "It's gonna be awesome."
"Just my luck." Sadie sulked. "Nerds a plenty."
"Guess Sadie has no interest in ruling the world." Callen laughed.
"Na...not really." Tende confirmed with a jovial smile. "She's into girly stuff..."
"Don't talk about me like I'm not here..." Sadie half laughed and pleated. "And I wouldn't call..."
"You hear something?" Tende laughed.
"Nope." Callen shot Sadie a half-grin. "So, pie and then video games, here we come..."
"Just great..." Sadie moaned.
As soon as Helga noticed they were done with their lunch, she served each of the children a huge piece of cherry pie. Callen and Tende paused their video game conversation until their plates were scraped clean.