Mysterious Deliverance For those of you who like this it would be great to know if you like the way it ends or if you'd like for the story to continue after this. Thanks ‘Good morning class,’ said Mr Shapiro as he walked into the classroom and stood behind his cluttered desk. ‘Today we are going to talk about mythical creatures.’ Straight away every head in the room turned as one towards me. Isn’t it amazing when someone mentions mythical creatures, people automatically think of vampires and werewolves? Naturally of course they all thought I was a vampire, after all, I do look like one. If only they knew the truth… *** My name is Derek Soloman. I may look like I’m only sixteen, but I am in fact two hundred and twenty-two years old. I’m not a vampire if that’s what you’re thinking. Far from it; I don’t need blood to stay looking young. All I need is the will to look young. If I lose that, I die. You’d think after more than two hundred years I’d be bored, but you’re wrong. My long #life isn’t the only power I have. I have the power to do pretty much anything I want… within reason of course. I couldn’t, for example, destroy the world. I could, however, influence certain powers to start a world war if I wished. Not that I’d want to anyway. I quite like it here. Enough about me though. Don’t want to give everything away too early. *** ‘Derek,’ said Mr Shapiro taking me by surprise. ‘Would you like to start us off?’ Normally Mr Shapiro leaves me alone. That’s why he’s one of my favourite teachers. Never asks someone a question if he thinks they’ll know the answer. Since I know pretty much everything, he never asks me anything anymore. ‘What would you like to know sir?’ I asked as politely as I could. The twinkle in his sunken brown eyes faded as he realised I knew a lot more than he thought. ‘Can you name a mythical creature that no one will have heard of before?’ He was trying to regain some control of the situation, but it wasn’t going to work. I could see the beads of sweat starting to form above his brow. ‘Would that include one that you won’t have heard of either sir?’ I knew he wouldn’t like my impertinence, but I just couldn’t help myself. There were only two people in the whole classroom that weren’t impressed by this. Mr Shapiro and Ernie ‘suck-up’ Best, the teachers pet. Ernie’s your typical know it all who likes to parade the fact that he’s the smartest person in our year, after me of course. He was also the captain of the chess club and editor of the school newspaper, who no one reads. ‘Can you name a mythical creature I’ve never heard of?’ he challenged. Of course I can you idiot, I thought as I smiled at him sweetly. It was almost as if we’d been transported out of the classroom and into a gladiatorial arena and the rest of the class were the spectators waiting for the battle to commence. ‘Have you ever heard of a Henkaphid?’ I asked, only to receive blank stares from all sides. ‘Of course we haven’t heard of a Henkaphid,’ drawled Ernie, ‘because you just made it up.’ ‘Believe what you want Ernie,’ I said, not even looking at his scrawny stature. ‘Enlighten us then Derek,’ Mr Shapiro sat down heavily with a smug smile on his withered face. ‘What is a Henkaphid? I’ve certainly never heard of it.’ ‘A Henkaphid is a mythical creature sir,’ I replied as innocently as I could. This was going to be fun. ‘And what type of mythical creature is it?’ He was staying calm… so far. ‘It’s the worst kind there is. It’s the kind of creature that if it wanted to could destroy the world.’ There were sharp intakes of breath from some of the more easily persuaded pupils. Others just sat and shook their heads with a mocking smile on their faces. They would be the ones who would pay, starting with Ernie, I smiled. ‘Oh please,’ scoffed Ernie. It irritated me how he could get away with something like that with a teacher present. Just for that he would be left til last and it would be very slow and very painful. ‘A Henkaphid can take any form it wishes. Be it human, animal or plant, but it has to be a living organism,’ I continued as if Ernie hadn’t said anything. ‘It can also influence the weather, water and solid ground without any problems. The only problems they seem to have is with people.’ I paused and waited. ‘Why people?’ asked Lucie Sharp, a pretty blond girl who had been one of the one’s who'd gasped. I liked her. She would be spared. ‘Because people are so unpredictable and irrational,’ I answered. ‘It’s much harder to influence a being so emotional and complex. Not impossible though.’ I could tell everyone was enthralled now. Even Ernie was sitting with his mouth wide open. ‘So how can you tell who or what a Henkaphid is?’ This was asked by Alex, a fat boy who spent most of his time reading crime novels. I guess he fancied himself as a bit of a detective. ‘That’s the hard part,’ I replied. ‘Unless a Henkaphid introduces themselves to you, you won’t have a clue. They are masters of disguise and deception. It’s almost impossible to catch them unawares. Even if you do succeed, it won’t make any difference. You’ll either forget the encounter completely, go mad or end up dead.’ ‘How do you know so much about them then if no one ever remembers seeing them?’ Ernie had regained his confidence. His question also got a few of the other heads nodding. I smiled and left them hanging for a few minutes. It was good to see them squirming in their seats. From the looks of horror on their faces, some of them had already come to the only conclusion available, while others refused to believe it. Mr Shapiro was the first one to snap out of his trance. He looked up at the clock with a look of surprise on his face. ‘Is that the time already?’ he rose from his seat and started to shuffle some of the papers strewn over the cluttered desk. ‘I think you can all have the rest of the period off.’ ‘But sir,’ interrupted Ernie, slightly raising one hand. ‘We’re only halfway through the period and Derek’s still not explained everything to us about Henkaphids.’ Most of the class had the good sense not to say anything, but Ernie just couldn’t help himself. ‘What are you talking about Ernie?’ Mr Shapiro asked innocently. He could be very convincing when he wanted to be. ‘I’m talking about Derek’s made up story about a mythical creature supposedly known as a Henkaphid.’ ‘Are you feeling alright Ernie?’ Mr Shapiro looked concerned. Well done, I thought. ‘Of course I’m alright. Why are you acting so weird?’ Ernie looked round the sea of faces only to find them all looking in another direction; all except me. As our eyes connected, I smiled. ‘Ernie, I don’t know what you’re up to, but we don’t start mythical creatures until tomorrow. I explained that at the start of class.’ Mr Shapiro certainly knew what to say. The rest of the class were also nodding their agreement. ‘But sir…’ Ernie looked gobsmacked, as if he’d been given a B instead of the A+ he expected. ‘No buts. Now as I said, class dismissed.’ Mr Shapiro then started putting the papers on his desk in order as the class quickly put their books away and ran out the door as fast as they could before anyone could stop them. I stayed seated, as did Ernie. He had a determined look on his face. I’d seen it before, many times. He wasn’t about to give up that easily. As Mr Shapiro went to close his briefcase, Ernie struck. I was much quicker than he was though. He was still new, whereas I’d been doing this for much longer. I had recognised him straight away. Mr Shapiro never knew what happened. One minute he was standing at his desk closing his briefcase, and next minute he was sprawled in a heap on the floor behind me. He was unconscious, but at least he was alive. That was all that mattered. ‘Who are you?’ hissed Ernie. He’d taken up a fighting stance. His nails had extended to double their original size and were now razor sharp. Teeth that could bite through the toughest metal protruded from his open mouth and his lanky frame had inflated to become a body builder’s physique. He watched me carefully through black eyes. ‘I’m hurt you don’t recognise me,’ I said as I stood my ground in front of Mr Shapiro. I didn’t need to change my appearance to knew I was stronger and faster than Ernie. Like I said, I’ve been doing this for a long time. ‘Don’t play games with me. Who are you and how do you know so much about me?’ Even though I was standing casually, I knew that Ernie was looking for an opening to get to his prey. I’d been watching him for weeks now and knew that he’d planned his attack for today. All he’d needed was a valid excuse to stay back and speak to Mr Shapiro alone. It had helped that it was last period on a Friday too. ‘I’m the one who’s going to stop you by any means necessary,’ I replied calmly. ‘That still doesn’t answer my question.’ Ernie’s muscles tensed for a few seconds before he relaxed again. That was the problem with young Henkaphids. They couldn’t control their urge to devour and destroy. I was surprised Ernie had lasted this long. ‘Are you sure you really want to know?’ I asked, aware that we didn’t have long before the bell rang for the end of school and people started walking past the windowed door. All it took was for one person to see Mr Shapiro lying unconscious and me stopping Ernie from getting to him and all panic would ensue. I couldn’t protect that many people from Ernie. I’d need to make this quick. ‘I’m sure I want to know who or what is keeping me from my prey,’ replied Ernie still watching me carefully. ‘Ok then. I am what most of our kind call a Henkaphear. Have you ever heard that term before?’ I paused, but it was obvious he hadn’t. ‘Of course you haven’t. After all, you’re only thirty-three and it’s not as if you’ve ever tried to locate any of our kind, let alone learn anything about us.’ ‘Are you telling me there’s more like me out there? I thought I was the only one.’ Ernie looked shocked and had even relaxed enough to revert back to his chosen form. ‘Only an idiot would believe they were the only one of their kind in this world.’ ‘So what’s a Henkaphear then?’ he asked mockingly. ‘You can think of me as a policeman for our kind. I make sure we all stick to the rules set out by our elders, and if I find any that don’t, I take care of them.’ ‘I doubt you could take me.’ Within a second Ernie had changed back into the hunter and leapt at me. I saw him coming before he finished transforming and was standing ready for him before he’d even left the ground. With one hand, I caught him in mid air and spun him round, throwing him clear across to the other end of the room. Thankfully he missed all the furniture, landing on solid ground with a thud. Within seconds he was up again and heading straight for Mr Shapiro who was still lying unconscious on the ground. Before he could get very far though, I blocked his way, took one arm and twisted it up round his back, making him spin on the spot. I then placed my other arm across his throat in a choke hold, while he scratched helplessly at my arm with his free hand. ‘I gave you plenty of warning of what would happen if you didn’t stop,’ I growled in his ear. ‘You should have listened to me and left while you still had the chance.’ I tightened my arm around his neck until I heard it snap and watched his carcass slump to the ground. As I looked down at Ernie, I heard Mr Shapiro’s breathing start to change. I quickly kneeled down at his side and whispered, ‘You were leaving the room when you tripped over your chair and hit your head,’ in his ear. I then scanned the room to make sure there was nothing out of place and kicked Mr Shapiro’s chair over to make it look like he’d tripped. Lifting Ernie’s carcass off the floor, I left to dispose of the body. It’s a good thing I’d put the rest of the class in a trance before they’d left. At least they wouldn’t remember what was talked about and no one would care if Ernie never came back to school. My job was done.