CHAPTER 49: CHAPTER 49 – ACCUSATION

Vanessa knocked on the Lordstone household door. She drove fast as soon as Matthew called her about being served court papers. He was being accused of murder of both the robber and the kidnapper, destruction of property, the mall’s glass dome, destruction of public property, the bus stop, and assault of the second robber.

Matthew’s father was furious about the accusations. His mother and Sarah were deeply scared about the possibility of him going to jail. However, Matthew himself was still stunned from his earlier discovery about his soul that he could not even emotionally process what was going on.

Sarah opened the door for Vanessa slowly. As if keeping her outside would somehow change what was going on.

Vanessa entered the house politely and greeted everyone. Her tone was professional, the way she was used to deal with these situations when she was still a lawyer.

"I didn’t know you were a lawyer, dear." Matthew’s mother said shaking her hand. "Thank you for doing this for Matty."

"I’m..." Vanessa thought about saying she was no longer a lawyer, but decided not to. It would take too long to explain and it would only make Matthew’s mother more worried. And she was still technically a lawyer. She could still appear on court. "Yes. I am."

Vanessa sat on the kitchen table with the family and read the accusation. Her face clearly showed her disgust about what she was reading.

"Bullshit" She cursed underbreath while turning a page.

After she finished, she put the papers down and turned to Matthew.

"This is a load of crap. Purely political. Just because it appeared in the press." She said more to herself than to him.

"So... What do I do?" Matthew asked.

"I’ll write a rebuttal. The indictment session is in 15 days... There we will present our preliminary defense. If the indictment comes through, we’ll go the jury. I really doubt a jury will convict you. But there’s always a chance, since this showed up in the news..." Vanessa explained.

"Oh my poor baby." Matthew’s mother shuddered when Vanessa said the last part.

"This is bullshit." Matthew’s father cursed. "Didn’t that cop say himself to Matthew that this was clearly self defense?"

"The mayor is under pressure to reign down on adventurers. And Matthew’s case appeared on TV." Vanessa explained. "It’s purely political." She said with her voice filled with disgust.

They all got silent. No one knew what to say next.

"Ok... Matthew. I got what I need. I’ll send you some documents for you to sign to your phone later. But for now that’s it. I’ll take the documents with me and start to work on it. I’ll also call some friends to find out what’s going on in the DA’s office. But don’t you worry. I’ll get you out of this mess." Vanessa said after a while.

"Thank you so much, Vanessa." Matthew’s mother said holding both her hands.

Matthew walked Vanessa outside. She came in Eric’s car. When both of them were alone outside, Matthew said:

"Nessa. Thank you very much for doing this."

"It’s ok, kid. We’re a party remember? You saved my life more than once. It’s the least I could do."

"Well, you already helped me a lot as well. Guess we’ll just have to keep count." He chuckled.

"If we keep count of how much we help each other, this will be a very difficult friendship, kid." She chuckled too.

Then Vanessa hugged him.

"It’ll be fine."

"There’s one more thing you should know." Matthew said in a somber tone.

"What?"

Matthew then told her about his soul. How he became corrupted with a demonic soul. How it was impossible to get rid of it now and how he would train to handle it.

"This could be a deal breaker for Paula and Michael." Vanessa thought out loud. When she realized what she said, she soon complemented. "But not for me. We’re still a party."

"Thank you." Matthew said in a half smile.

"But seen how Paula is now..." Vanessa said putting her hand on Matthew’s shoulder. "I’m sure she’ll be more open to it. Be sure to tell her properly on Saturday. We’ll be going in the Labyrinth again."

"Ok." Matthew said trying to get himself excited.

The next few days passed as a blur for Matthew. With everything that was happening to him, he couldn’t focus on classes or on training.

Faralynn spent the rest of the week hiding herself from Matthew. She was too embarrassed about her behavior earlier and didn’t know how to look him in the face.

When Saturday came, he almost forgot he had to go with Vanessa and the others back to the Labyrinth of Enkidu. But Vanessa seemed to know beforehand that he would and stopped by on Eric’s car to pick him up.

Matthew prepared himself with his new equipment. New guns, new swords and a new armor. He came out of his house not looking like an amateur anymore. Vanessa and Paula were standing outside the car talking when he opened the door. Michael was inside on the backseat sleeping with his head pressed against the door.

Paula looked Matthew up and down in his new gear and whistled playfully.

"Looking good, Matty!" She said coming close to him and hugging him. "Nessa will get you out, don’t worry." She whispered in his ear.

"Thank you." Matthew said.

"You should talk to her about your other problem once Michael wakes up." Vanessa said pointing at Michael inside the car. "But for now, let’s get going."

"What other problem?" Paula asked looking at Matthew.

"It’s better we talk when Michael wakes up." He said getting in the car.

That made the drive to the Labyrinth of Enkidu a long awkward silence only broken by the heavy metal playing on the radio. Vanessa’s favorite music style.

When they arrived at the Labyrinth, the countdown clock for the current cycle was at 1 hour and a half. They paid their fees, and went to drink a coffee.

"Ok. You two are starting to piss me off." Paula said crossing her legs elegantly and drinking her coffee in a small sip.

"Why?" Michael yawned sitting at her side and drinking his.

"Apparently, Matt has a problem and couldn’t talk about it if you weren’t listening." Paula explained with a hint of sass.

Vanessa took Paula’s hand on hers and calmly asked:

"Please. Just listen to him."

Paula sighed and shook her head:

"Okay. Talk, boy."

Matthew then started by explaining what happened to him after he used the Animal Companion skill to transform Lumi into an Ice Phoenix. The more he explained his situation, the more Paula’s face shifted from annoyance to a look of terror and pity.

Michael too looked at Matthew with eyes full of pity, but also scared.

"Professor Claude is a powerful priest." Michael finished explaining. "He’ll help me to control the demonic mana. He’ll teach me how to use Purification effectively."

After a moment of silence and seeing that neither Paula or Michael were going to say anything, Matthew continued in a sad tone:

"I understand if you two don’t want to party with me anymore."

Michael looked at Paula, waiting for her to say something first, but after a long time of her just looking at Matthew thinking, he broke his silence:

"I trust you man. You were ready to give up your life for us during the Red Moon. I don’t think there’s any demonic mana that will make you lose yourself and hurt us. I think you’ll do just fine."

"Thank you, Michael." Matthew said smiling at him.

Paula took a moment longer after Michael said those words to do something. She got up, walked up to Matthew and, without saying a word, picked his hand a put it over her breast.

Matthew quickly pulled his hand away as if her body was made of fire.

"What the!! Are you crazy?!" He screamed while she opened a smile.

Paula then bent over, pulled his eye patch and looked him deep in the eyes searching for traces of the demonic mana.

"Not even one bit, huh?" She commented to herself letting go of the eye patch that slapped him when the elastic pulled it back to his face. "I trust you, Matty." She said walking back to her seat. "If that didn’t wake up the red mana in this virgin, I don’t think we’re in any danger." Paula laughed drinking again from her cup of coffee. "Beside, Lumi trusts you too. And she trusts no one."

One of Paula’s rings shinned as she said those words and Lumi materialized on the table screeching in agreement. Then the Ice Phoenix walked to Matthew and rubbed herself on his eye patch as if saying sorry for what Paula did.

"Also." Paula said putting her empty cup down. "Lumi is powerful enough to gouge your good eye out if you try anything."

Matthew, who was petting Lumi, stopped suddenly when Paula said those last words. He froze from her threat, not knowing how to react to that. And the face he put on made Paula burst into laughter.

"I’m pulling your leg, Matty." She said wiping a fake tear from her face. "I trust you." She said seriously now. "Truly."