Demons Beside You

Chen Zhao only worried about money when he’d first arrived in America. At that time, he didn’t have any source of income. Holding $10,000 wasn’t able to give him a sense of security.

Later, Chen Zhao became an illegal doctor and no longer had to worry about money. He only had headaches because he couldn’t make enough.

Now, he was worried about money again.

He really wanted to buy that land and he could do something good too. It was two birds with one stone. However, he couldn’t produce all that money.

He was renting his home now, after all. As a Chinese man, he had a longing for land. He always thought that he would only feel secure if he had his own house.

No matter what happened, if the house was still there, everything would still be there.

Should he bring all his demons to do something big?

No, this wasn’t realistic. He could only entertain it in his mind.

Chen Zhao sat in the swing in his yard. Fali made the swing. Watching the girl play with Obitos, Beelzebub and the others, he called out, “Hey, we know each other now, but I don’t know your name yet.”

“Azina Lincoln.”

“Where are your parents?”

“Why are you asking?” Azina suddenly grew cautious.

Chen Zhao wondered if he’d asked a wrong question. “Fine, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“Who said I don’t want to tell you?”

“Then tell me.”

“Why should I?” she asked matter-of-factly.

“Fine, pretend I didn’t say anything. It’s getting dark. You should go home.”

“So what if it’s dark? There’s no one home anyway.”

Did her parents leave her here alone while they worked? But according to American laws, underage kids couldn’t live alone.

“My dad is busy with work every day. I only said two sentences to him this month.”

“What two sentences?”

“Good morning, good night.”

“What about your mom?”

“She divorced my dad. She comes to see me once a month, but she already has her own family.”

Azina had matured early. Chen Zhao could no longer hear childish innocence from her words.

“Is that your girlfriend?” Azina suddenly pointed at Fali who’d just come back.

“No, we’re roommates.”

“You don’t like her? Or she doesn’t like you?”

“This has nothing to do with liking each other.”

“If a woman is willing to live with a man not related to her, then it means that she has feelings for him.”

Chen Zhao rolled his eyes. “Who taught you that?”

“They have it in the books.”

Chen Zhao didn’t think that Fali came to live with him because she had feelings for him. She’d come to live with Walter, not him.

“Hey, beauty.” Fali came into the backyard. “What’s your name?”

“Azina Lincoln. I live around the corner.” Azina looked at Walter. “That’s a big dog. Does it bite?”

“He’s really nice. His name is Walter.”

Walter was friendly with everyone. He went over to lick Azina’s face.

“Chen, how do you train all your pets?” Azina asked curiously as she petted Walter’s neck. “Why are they all so smart? I feel like they can understand what I’m saying.”

Fali was used to all this. These weren’t regular pets—especially the huge red lizard on the ground. According to Sienna and David, this was a real fire dragon.

“You two play. I’ll go make dinner. Azina, do you want to stay for dinner?”

“Can I?” She looked at Chen Zhao with uncertainty.

“Of course. I’m honored to invite you to dinner with us.”

Azina was having fun. Walter and Obitos both let her ride them. Her past pets could never do this. They were also really obedient and would react to whatever she said.

Just then, Bant and Mary came over from across the street with a huge pizza.

“Azina, you know Chen?” Mary was surprised to find Azina here.

“Hi Bant, Mary.” Azina greeted them but seemed a bit cold.

Chen Zhao welcomed them in and hugged them both.

“Chen, I heard from Ken what happened when I was gone. I don’t know how to thank you.”

Chen Zhao accepted the pizza. “This is the best thanks for me. Oh, you should know Azina’s father, right? If possible, can you tell him that she’s playing in my house and come here to pick her up?”

“You don’t know who her father is?”

“Should I know?”

“Her father is Deon Slote.”

“What? Then shouldn’t her last name be Slote?”

“Her full name is Azina Lincoln Slote,” Bant said. “Lincoln is her mother’s last name.”

“Does she have a bad relationship with her father?” Chen Zhao asked curiously.

“Because of her father, the kids bully her in school and don’t want to be her friend. That’s why she doesn’t have many friends.”

Chen Zhao realized that the rumors in town had affected Azina. This was why she was so withdrawn.

“But it’s good that she can play here. I was afraid that she’ll really have a traumatic childhood because of this.”

Chen Zhao glanced at Azina. She was riding Walter, yelling excitedly, “Walter, go, go, catch up to Obitos!”

Chen Zhao felt powerless too. He wasn’t part of the neighborhood committee. He couldn’t help with their family problems or neighborly relationships. He just felt that problems between adults shouldn’t affect the kids.

Kids might not understand this though. Adult problems often affected them.

“We should go.”

“Okay, bye.”

Fali happened to announce that dinner was ready. Walter shot into the house with Azina on his back.

Walter was really big now, but he was still growing. He had a shocking appetite. Chen Zhao had no clue how much he could grow.

He felt that if Walter continued growing like this, he could try for some world record. Of course, this could only happen if he didn’t somehow get mutated. If he ended up looking like the Bloody Hunter, Chen Zhao wouldn’t be able to accept it.