Black Friday; Part 2

                                                  XAVIER


"Oh, good god." Xavier muttered impatiently as he stood at the edge of the garden section of the still packed Cost Mart.
The retail Gomorrah had been packed to the brim since five in the morning for the traditional "Black Friday" sale and his current prey had been here since they opened those steel shutters and allowed the greedy, ghastly herd to stampede through so that they may fight and scratch and gnaw at one another for Christmas gifts.


"Is this woman's shopping ever going to fucking end?!"
"I mean seriously she has taken up my entire day so far and I see no end in bloody sight."


He stood there listlessly, pretending to be interested in the lawn gnomes as he watched his target out of the corner of his gaze, watching....waiting for that elusive moment when he could take her, and cross her off the list at long last.
He had no choice but to wait, Xavier knew that just because "the being" put this woman, Charlotte Lyons on the list, does not mean he did not have to await the sign.  Xavier, being still somewhat new to his occupation, still tended to feel twinges of human remorse and regret during the hard parts of his job, but this one has done him the favor of  pissing the young ward off and ensuring his conscience would be clear this time.


He stared into the dead eyes of a red hatted gnome with a long white beard, who was forced into bth grinning like a fool and fishing, the poor inanimate fellow.
He began thinking to himself, "Maybe I just looked away for a sec and missed the sign, maybe I'm already late and I need to just do it, it's not like i'll be seen....hmm"
He began to draw his sythe and formulate his approach when the gnome spoke up.


"No."


Xavier looked at the now scowling gnome impatiently.


"God dammit, come on dude, it's almost six. I have shit to do too ya know."

The gnome held his seemingly wooden stare on him.


"It will not move until it sees the sign."


Xavier knew that was the end of the conversation, and uttered a very juvenile "Blerg", a line from his favorite TV show before replacing his weapon and resuming to wait.


So he watched, as he had been doing for the last ten days or so as she shopped and cavorted with her male company for the day, one of what he noticed to be many, even for the modern "slut bag" as Xavier would say.
However he did wish he would have the chance to ask her if she was indeed related to the good Doctor Bruce Lyons before he ushered in her ending, he would have taken a particular joy in bringing anguish to the heart of that walking cod piece by filleting his kin but alas duty before self, he thought.



                                                     JACK and SALLY


Sally sat there, sharing a basket of what had to be the best chicken fingers she had ever tasted with her curmudgeonly cohort, the man who had now saved her life twice and yet she still kind of hated, Jack.
They sat in a thick fog of silence amidst the sprawling and scrambling humans, she felt all of the potential energy bubbling underneath her, so inviting and vast that she got the sense that she could almost bathe in it.


"So, how much longer are we gonna have to sit here woman?"


Her momentary nirvana had been broken by this coarse, feral animal she was forced to occupy space with, at least until the small matter of ensuring the planet is not destroyed by the giant, ectoplasmic, shape shifting blue entity that came pouring out of Jack's nose and mouth not two days ago is taken care of.


"Give me a little bit, Man?" She replied with hostility. 
"This might be the last time I get to feed off of something normal, I need to take my time, just get some more food, I know you can certainly eat more."


She knew how harsh she sounded and she did feel a tiny bit bad about treating him so callously, the brown eyed bastard meant well most of the time.
But she got the sense that he was starting to grow fond of her and she simply could not have that, so it was better to just toss barbs at him so that he would never get bold and try something the likes of what he did on their first walkabout together.  She knew that if he did, she would give in to him and that most certainly could not happen, not now at least.


She knew how silly she sounded, in one thought expressing disdain for this very
man-like monster only to express her underlying want for him in the next, but this was just the kind of effect Jack, the very estranged and lost son of Zeus, had on you.
She often wondered what he thought of her, but would never dare ask.


"God dammit!" Jack thought as he tried unsuccessfully yet again to avoid her gaze as he pretended to be more interested in the chicken finger he was gnawing on, knowing he was not fooling anybody.


"I wish she didn't hate me, how do I get her to like me again?"
"How do I get her to act like she is not embarrassed to be here with me?"


He knew there was no right answer, anything that came tumbling out of his face would no doubt be met with contemptuous indifference.
Hell he saved her life twice and she still hated him, he could not help or even control what he was and inherently understood her feelings, but still it hurt him to know it as the truth. He stared at her long, silken purple hair and her "mood ring" eyes that at the moment were a deep green from the energy she was imbibing and decided to get out of his head and try to focus on the plan.


"So it's a quarter to four now, how's about we split in about thirty then?"
"We still got a lot of miles to cover if we are gonna get to the elven compound by tomorrow night cheeky."


 "Do not call me cheeky. You have been warned."
"How would you like it if I took a particular part of your body and used it to label you, Hairy?"


She stared at him coldly once again, trying her best to be caustic and hide those treacherous dimples, but despite her words, she couldn't help but smile at him just a tad.
A smile that Jack could barely handle seeing and couldn't believe that it made him flash one right back to her, albeit briefly.
That's just about when the humans got in the way of their nice little dinner at the cost mart snack bar.