Chapter 5 Hey, Soul Sister

I wake up. Cold sweat dripping down my back. The worst of my double hangover seems to have cleared. I slowly clamber out of my bed, out of my room and walk down the stairs. I definitely need a change of clothes, not only did the cold of the sweat make me uncomfortable, but it also made me smell like a sewer. I walk into the living room and turn right. Matthew is sitting comfortably on the couch playing Halo on my Xbox with two other people I didn't recognise, although the shorter of the two seemed to have an aura around him which made me stand in semi awe, and in slight fear. Matthew seemed to be winning, watching his hands they sort of blurred whenever another player flashed on the screen, and then they'd be dead, you could hear an extraordinary amount of swearing coming from the group, the effect was quite humorous. Matthew pauses the game and points at me, the other two I didn't know turned to face me. "This is Adrian Black," he said, "The one I was telling you about earlier, Adrian, these are Adam," He pointed to the taller one to the left of him, "and this is Bradley," He pointed to the shorter one on his right they have powers as well,".

"I thought he would be taller," said Adam.

"I don't care, he could be another person to help us against the weirdo freak-a-zoids, and that means..." he placed his hands behind his back.

"This isn't really necessary, Bradley," Matthew objected.

"Strawberries and cream for everybody!" Bradley shouted as he pulled from behind his back three bowls of strawberries covered in whipped cream.

"How did he do that?" I asked.

"It's one of his powers, the ability to make strawberries and cream for everybody, it's useful when you are starving, but it's annoying when he does it every three seconds," said Matthew pointedly.

"What's his other power?"

"Huh?"

"You said it was one of his powers,"

"Right, he also has the ability to make people think he is far more powerful than he actually is, creatures such as the imp are afraid to attack him because they think he is super powerful," explained Matthew.

"I call it my super awesomeness aura!" said Bradley.

"Are you always, uh, like this?" I inquired.

"No I'm just hyped up on sugar,"

"I have someth---" Matthew cut himself off as Xander entered the room, oblivious to what the conversation was about.

"I brou-- Ohhh, strawberries and cream!" he spoke, "Where did you get this from?"

"Uhhh, Bradley brought whipped cream and strawberries in a bag" I said dubiously.

"Right, while I'm absolutely certain you are telling the truth," he said sardonically, "I'm going to eat all three bowls," he ended.

Crash.

Everyone looked up. "What was that?" Xander asked.

"I don't know, probably a branch falling on the house or something," I said.

CRASH. BANG.

"Ok, that was definitely NOT a branch," he said fearfully.

"Everyone down!" Matthew commanded. Everyone jumped to the floor as a huge explosion shattered the windows of the house. We looked up. A strange ghost-like figure entered the house. It was covered in a wispy grey cloak and a veil covered its face. "Uh oh, Banshee," Matthew seemed resigned as he said it.

It peeled back its veil to reveal a decrepit face, the eyes were just empty sockets, it also released an enormously strong stench of death and decay.

It opened its mouth and screamed.