Snowflake's Passage
First Story (Scary Things)
Author's note: Having a bit of fun with this story. Are you? If so then please leave a comment.
Part 7: Things in the darkness.
A lot of discussion ensued. Her level of power was greater then anybody had ever encountered. The mean part of me thought that it was nice to hear that the counsel was running scared; always fun to see the bullies getting what they deserve. But in this case the baddie that had them freaked out was now in our neck of the woods so not so fun anymore.
Our brief conclusions were:
An order of execution was right out. Never was really an option. Kind of hard to execute something that apparently just won't stay dead and is not impressed by bullets.
A plus was that the America legal system did not recognize demons as people so killing was ok so long as you could figure out how and convince that authorities that a demon was involved. Demons cleared the red tape like nothing else.
Oh, and I let the group know about the screams I could hear but Micah did not. Hmm, I asked a question.
"Asher, Jean-Claude, Damian. You are by far the oldest of us. Have you ever encountered such a… creature before"?
They exchanged glances. "No Ma petite, over the centuries we have seen many… things. One hates calling a demon a common thing, for they are not, but never such a one as her".
Asher at that point decided to give me one of those smoldering looks that make things clench inside me. A reminder that the ardeur had not yet been feed tonight and I had been planning a rendezvous with both Jean-Claude and Asher. Richard saw the look as well and I could feel him begin to get angry (great, just great).
Jean-Claude held up a hand. "The performance is over and my invitation has been delivered. I am informed she is being escorted this way".
Yep, she was coming all right. I could hear the sound of female screaming and it was drawing closer, that and the feeling of utter wrongness and evil. I both felt and saw the others tense up, Richard deeply breathing in the air, and I assume her scent, with only his nose.
The figure of Childe appeared in the doorway escorted by two guards who were behind her. She was still dressed in the same casual jeans and a light green turtle necked shirt and sneakers she had been wearing in the graveyard. She also had a half eaten bag of popcorn. She felt strong and her power was hot, but it was contained. She spoke as she surveyed the room.
"Yes? You rang oh Master of the City".
Great. Sarcasm. Suddenly I had an idea of what dealing with me must be like.
Jean-Claude showed his usual diplomatic graces as he spoke while we all rose.
"Greetings Childe. I can't say I bid you welcome but we would like a moment to converse with you".
I felt her power mildly unfold and flow about the room like the smoke trail from an extinguished candle or lightly burning cigarette. It flickered about the room lightly tasting everybody. Her gaze also flickered from person to person as this happened while she named those she looked upon. Her tone was not insulting or dismissive, just a neutral tone as if she was rattling off a shopping list.
Vampire (Asher, one of my boyfriends)
Master vampire (Jean-Claude, one of my boyfriends)
Old and weak vampire (Damian, my vampire to call, wants to be a boyfriend)
Little rats (Rafael's guards)
Big rat (Rafael, local rat king, not a boyfriend, just a friend)
Big cat (Micah, local leopard king, one of my boyfriends)
Necromancer and… Cat (Me, she said the word Cat oddly, like with some nostalgia)
Little woofs (Richards guards, ut-oh, woof not wolves)
Big woof (Richard, so not good, fighting words, ex boyfriend).
Richard and the guards growled at being called woofs and not wolves. I don't know if she knew, but there are werewolves and weredogs and the two did not get along well. Calling a wolf a woof was slang for being a mutt, a lesser creature; or so the wolves thought of themselves. Kind of like the N word for a werewolve.
Childe stepped into the room and growled back. A soft but deep growl, like what a big dog does to a little annoying dog. Again an insulting action. I could feel Richard's anger grow. I noticed Childe had an oh so not nice little smile. I was suddenly struck with the idea that she had problems with werewolves for some reason, and that she had a good grasp on werewolf social interaction.
Richard replied to the challenge, his power spiked and came off of him in hot waves.
"I am Ulric of the Throonos Rokke Clan and we take no such insults".
She replied while finding an empty seat and flopping down in it, again just like a teenager would do.
"Relax fuzzy. Just twisting your tail. Wanted to see how… dominant you were". Said with a smirk as she then ate some popcorn.
Interesting. She had just gotten here and already was making the meeting go off track. This was deliberate. She was testing us, all of us. She was seeing what we'd do. I noticed she'd selected a chair that put her back to a wall with nobody behind her. Good to know that at least she thought of us as some kind of a threat.
Richard growled again but then sat back down. Thankfully she did not growl back. We all sat down and I sighed with a quiet sense of relief. You know it's tense when I find myself trying to come up with a way to settle things down, usually I'm the one poking the monster with the pointy stick.
Childe looked around the room again, I somehow got the sense she was searching for something, looking for some hidden danger. She made a statement while tossing some popcorn in her mouth and noisily chewing.
"I hope this isn't gong to be another rape by fang and claw. The last one didn't go so well for those involved and I'm better prepared for such… attempts now. I will warn you but once. Attempt me such harm and I will end you all, regardless of the value I place in Mrs. Blake".
As she spoke her scent filled the room. Her scent and her rage, cold rage. Wolfish, but different. Burnt and smoky. With strong tones of bitterness and sulfur. If I was getting this with my human nose I could only imaging what the weres and vampires were able to sense. I saw all the weres go still, like an animal does when it realizes that a predator is in the same room as them. A bigger predator, one that preys upon creatures such as they. The stillness of an animal that is trying not to be noticed. I also saw a flash of recognition in Damian's eyes.
Rape. Shit. The source of the rage was obvious now.
One, how the hell do you rape a demon? I mean aren't demons the ones who do the raping? Demons are all about violation, not being violated.
Two, everybody reacts differently to rape. You feel defiled. You tend to internalize it. Some women, and men, break down. Some become withdrawn. Childe, I could sense, likely fell into the rageaholic end of the pool.
Three, I suddenly felt bad for her. Which made no sense. Demon remember. Demons do bad bad things, things of nightmares. But demons aren't supposed to slouch in a chair and eat popcorn. Yea, I was confused. Jean-Claude answered for us.
"We do not mean you harm at such time Childe, but these are our lands and your… interest in Anita…. Well, we are concerned for her, and for ourselves as well".
Childe answered with a sniff of disregard. Like our concerns were of no value or were irrational.
"I have a job for Mrs. Blake. Once the job is done I shall depart".
A growled whisper from Richard. "Will you"?
She turned her head to look directly upon Richard and replied.
"Yes… wolf. (Thank God for wolf and not woof) I will. There is nothing of value to me in this remote nook other then that which drew me here. I tried to polite at first and got… grief as my reward. I was a fool and should have known better. Apparently only power is respected here so…"
Her power flowed out of her like a fast moving volcanic ash cloud and filled the room. We were not pressed to the floor but we all struggled to breath, apart from the vampires that is as they only draw breath to speak. Everybody's power flared under such a heavy touch, but they were contained, constrained, while only Childe's power filled the room. God I expected the walls to crack there was so much power.
"I dislike this world and its rules. So confining, so judgmental. It's… distasteful being forced into forms other then my choosing. So yes I will depart. Unless…"
That same snarling look that greeted the new Master of Cairo.
"Somebody gives me cause to linger. I don't think you'd like it if you gave me cause to linger".
She stood up, nobody else did. Either the weres were still frozen into immobility or her power was keeping them pinned. Don't know about the vampires. Me? I was still trying to digest the concept of a demon being raped.
She looked me over carefully, and the glanced at Jean-Claude and then back to me.
"See you tomorrow morning Mrs. Blake. Oh, please feed well before we depart for Cairo. Don't want any avoidable… difficulties".
With that she faded away again; taking the screams and her power with her.
All the weres exchanged glances, frightened glances. Something about that scent had them spooked; and these were men who don't scare easily. Damian, who was almost a thousand years old, moistened his lips and spoke. A statement that defined the scent and brought no comfort.
"Not just demon, dragon as well".
