iCarly: iMeet the Relatives, Chapter 11: Guests

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I don't own iCarly. I'm jus' sayin'…

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Chapter 11: Guests

Grif's Apartment: Carly had accompanied him back. "Do you think it's wise to raid the Darkness again so soon, Grif? I mean, hadn't you better wait and make sure things are stable now?"

"Now's no worse than any other time, Carly. Besides, you're here. My connection to you is strongest here, in the center of my life here on Earth. And maybe I can glean some information on what actually happened out there. I've alerted Adriel; she's nearby, if need be. Don't worry; it's perfectly safe. And I won't be long. I'm still not really going looking for souls to save, not just yet. This is still recon."

"Okay. It's just…Grif, I just wonder if this is not something you're not prepared for. I mean, I know you're powerful, an' all, and I don't know what sort of experience you've got, but everybody seems to think this is pushing all the envelopes there are."

He embraced her. "Don't worry, Carly. I won't take stupid chances. I just need to see if the overall aspect, or condition, or whatever you want to call it, of the Darkness has changed, and, if so, to what degree." He paused, looking at her. "You know, there is a slight possibility I may've caused what happened to Aunt Maggie."

She looked up at him from within his embrace. "Grif?"

"I mean, did I disturb the Darkness to the point where it lashed out? It did seem to focus on this world…the very world I started my harrowing of it from. I'm hoping that was just coincidence, but I don't know. And I have to know."

"A-alright. Well, what do you do? A, a magic circle or something?"

"Unnecessary." He kissed her, broke away and moved towards a cleared spot between the couch and the TV. "Just hang on. I shouldn't be but a few seconds." And with that, he disappeared in the usual electric tornado.

The Darkness: he couldn't see anything like last time, where he'd seen, or sensed, a vast battlefield. This time, it was a flat, endless plain, zebra-striped, but perfectly smooth, without so much as a pebble to mar its perfectly polished surface. He cast his angel vision around cautiously; there had to be something here, if for no other reason, to imagine this featureless plain. He could tell that there were whorls all about where time did not pass as it did in the mortal realm; although they posed him no danger, he nonetheless avoided them. No point in taking chances.

He did give them a little study, however. This was the closest thing anyone had done to research on this condition called the Darkness had done in….well, it might well be the first research anybody had ever actually done at all. Was it possible for the Darkness to absorb and dissipate time itself? He guessed there was no reason why it couldn't.

At the very edge of his vision, he caught sight of beings, or things, appearing and disappearing. Such were the conditions here in this vast place that he couldn't see them very clearly. Even some things close by seemed indistinct, a decided handicap for someone accustomed to having eyesight far beyond what humans would call perfect.

Floating over the ground, he glanced around him. Just a vast, billiard-ball smooth plain…maybe very, very far in the distance, he could see what appeared to be mountains jutting up into the sky, a sky that was completely black, yet with visible objects moving through it. These objects appeared to be blacker than the blackness around them, and he wondered what they could possibly be. Perhaps there were some records back home; he'd have to look them up…

All of a sudden, he felt something grab him by the ankles. Instinctively, he fought, pulling his feet up, but couldn't shake whatever had grabbed him. He tried to get a look at it, but his vision was obscured by the temporal distortions inherent of this place, and all he could make out was an indistinct blur. Whatever it was, it wasn't letting go. Alright, he thought, that's the way you wanna play it? I'll just drag you into the light, and take a good look at you. And with that, he initiated his return sequence, latching onto Carly's lines of potential and hauling himself and the whatever-it-was virtually hand over hand "upwards" towards the Earth realm. At the same time, he prepared a force-dome capable of neutralizing anything and everything he could possibly think of….

….and found himself back in his apartment, with Carly looking up, startled, from the magazine she'd been reading. Her gaze slipped off him and turned to the weight he'd been pulling… "Who's she?"

He looked around. Lying halfway on her side was a dark haired girl wearing a red tunic and pants, cinched together by a large-buckled black leather belt. The tunic crossed over and buttoned around the side. Around her shoulders she wore a cloak or cape that somehow didn't seem completely real. Instead of draping around her, like a normal garment, it seemed to float slightly, in the tiny breeze there in the apartment. A trident made of some sort of shiny black metal was gripped in her right hand, and she lay gasping on the floor of Grif's apartment.

Carly quickly moved over to help, and he had to get in front of her. "Keep behind me, Carly! And whatever you do, don't look at her!"

"Don't look at her? What…what's going on, Grif?"

But he ignored her, turning his attention to the strange woman. "Cover your eyes! Do it now!"

The girl ceased panting, and pushed herself up. "An' if I don't?"

He already had his hand up, ready to Speak. "You don't want to hear what I'll have to say about it."

The girl considered it for a moment, glaring up at him. "Cheeze Louise. I can't get away from you guys even in the Darkness. Awright, already. Keep your robe on. There. I'm covered. Happy?"

Grif relaxed somewhat. "It's okay now, Carly."

Carly came from around him, examining the strange woman.

Woman? She looked to be about Maggie's age, maybe early to mid-twenties, only a few inches taller than Carly was herself, with dark, wavy hair that fell to her shoulders. Her fine features included wide cheekbones, a strong, pointed chin, upturned nose, and a high forehead. Combined with her expression, she gave the overall impression of not only a very intelligent young woman, but an exceedingly attractive one, by any human standard. Are all the girls out there supermodels? Carly wondered. "Grif? Is this a friend of yours?"

Not taking his eyes off her, Grif answered. "By no means. Carly, this," and he gestured towards the strange girl, "is a demon."

…..

"A demon? Her? She's a demon?" Carly was clearly trying to process it all.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a demon. What of it? Haven't you ever seen-* Oh, right. You haven't." She stopped, scowling, pulling the cloak she was wearing around her more tightly. Carly noticed that she hadn't relinquished her death-grip on the trident she carried.

"First off, who are you?" Grif was standing in front of her, between her and Carly. Carly was rather glad he was. This girl positively exuded an air of trouble.

"None of your business."

He narrowed his eyes. "So I guess I'll call you 'nun' for short?"

The girl winced. "No need for name-calling. I'm…Jillian. There. Happy?"

"Ecstatic. Now. What were you doing down in the Darkness?"

The girl hitched her cloak around her even tighter, in what seemed to Carly like a nervous gesture, straightened up and turned, as though beginning a pace. She ran up against the force-dome Grif had set up when he first returned to the Earth realm. "Hey! You've got me locked in here!"

"That's right." Grif didn't back down. "Now. Once again: what were you doing down in the Darkness?"

The girl was obviously seething with anger, but she answered calmly enough. "Honest truth? I have no idea. All I know is, I went to investigate a distortion or disturbance out over the area I was supposed to be guarding when wham. Next thing I know, there's these legs floating over me. I grabbed 'em. Guess it goes without saying they were yours."

"Wait. You're telling me…something intruded into the Hell dimension? Some aspect of the Darkness?"

"You catch on quick. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Now, will you let me out of here? It's cramped in here."

"Not so fast. I want your word that you'll cause no harm to anyone while you're here."

She stopped and glowered at him. "Yeah? An' if I don't wanna give it?"

"Then I turn you over to the Seraphim High Council. I'm sure they'll find a 'nice' place for you." The threatening undertone in his voice was a little more than obvious.

Again, the demon winced. "Okay, okay. You don't need to twist my arm. I…" She rolled her eyes upward and blew an errant strand of hair off her face, "I promise not to terrorize anybody while I'm here. There. Good enough?"

"It'll do." He made a gesture, and the girl stood up straighter, stretching her shoulders out. The strange cape she was wearing wavered in the non-existent breeze.

"So much better. You know, you could thank me."

"Thank you?"

She smiled a lopsided smile. "When I first materialized here, I sterilized your floor for you."

"Ah. Well. Thanks, I guess." It sounded like it was pulled out of him with pliers.

"Grif? What does she mean, sterilized the floor? I didn't see her do anything. What's she talking about?" Carly was still trying to come to terms with being face to face with an honest-to-Go*-make that a real demon.

Without taking his eyes off the new arrival, Grif replied. "It's called Hellgaze, or demongaze. Anything a demon looks at, without the shielding illusion they normally use, dies. She looked at the floor when she first got here. So, yeah, everything, bacteria, viruses, you name it, that was on or in the floor is dead now. Right now, this floor is the only spot on Earth that's completely devoid of any form of life whatsoever. That's why you should never look a demon in the eyes. It's easy for them to drop that illusion. Too easy." Carly had been checking out Jillian, and had noted her hazel eyes—an illusion?

"Alright." Grif rubbed his palms together. "If something breached the Hell universe, then things are worse than I thought. I'll have to contact Uncle Jemiah; he needs to be made aware of this."

"Hey, I thought you said you weren't gonna turn me over!"

"I'm not. But I have to report. But you're not here unlawfully; you were kidnapped, basically. So you're under my protection."

The demon girl's expression turned three degrees of sour. "'Under your-* I think I need a barf bag."

….

While Grif made his report, Carly followed the demon girl into the main living area. She still carried her trident, but even as Carly watched, she gave it a twist, and the trident shrank, like a lightsaber in reverse, becoming a small rod she attached to her belt. The weird cloak around her also shrank, becoming a night-black choker around her throat. Jillian went over to the overstuffed couch and plopped down heavily into it, scowling.

Carly sat in a chair nearby. "So. You're…a demon."

Jillian glanced up at her. "Yeah, I am. What's it to you?"

"Nothing. I was just wondering…are you alright? I mean, you just came from the Darkness…and it's already hurt of friend of ours."

Jillian looked at her longer this time. Then, "You've been spending too much time around that angel. No, wait." She looked at Carly a little longer, puzzled. "You've always been this way. No wonder you two are running around together."

"Grif's a nice guy!"

"That's what I mean." As if she were having to explain that water is wet. She rested her elbow on the sofa's arm and her cheek on her fist.

Carly felt her own temper beginning to rise. "You don't have to be so snarky about it. I mean, you're out of the Darkness, Grif didn't turn you over, like you said…why this attitude? We didn't do anything to you!"

"You do know his sort and mine are primal enemies, right? He explained that to you?"

"Ye—ess…"

"Just how would you feel if you were in the midst of a war and suddenly found yourself a prisoner of the enemy? 'Cos I am."

Carly looked at her levelly for a moment. "I think a lot of how I'd react would depend on how I was being treated. Are you being mistreated right now?"

"…"

"And correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't my boyfriend just rescue you from something it seems like everybody's afraid of, with reason?"

Jillian's head lifted off her hand, and she stared at Carly, an unwinking, somewhat shocked stare. "Your boyfriend?"

"That's right. Didn't he just-*"

"He's your boyfriend?"

"Yes." It seemed they'd have to get that out of the way before the conversation could proceed any further.

Jillian looked at her a minute longer. Then she started to chuckle. The chuckling turned into a full throated laugh. The she-demon laughed so hard, she was holding her sides. "Oh, that's rich. That almost makes it all worthwhile."

To be continued…