Chapter Fourteen

It's Hard Being a Single Demon Father in This Day and Age!

One Week Earlier

She paced anxiously across the plush ruby carpet. Her black silk robe billowed and flapped across her legs as she constantly changed directions. She wrung her hands vigorously and tapped her elegantly sculpted red fingernail on her lower lip, which was also painted a brilliant ruby red. Not a hair was out of place as she whipped around to and fro; it remained ever coiffed and as shiny as polished black onyx.

Nica's room was in stark contrast to the rest of the farm house. It was decadent, opulent, and cultured. The ceiling was black molded plaster, and large, lavish mahogany drapes dripped from the crown molding to the thick carpeting below. Black iron gothic candelabras were placed on either side of the windows and doorways. A large matching chandelier hung from the ceiling in the middle of the room. The candle light cast eerie shadows along the floors and up the walls making the room look even more menacing. Unlit Tiffany oil lamps adorned the three claw foot cherry wood tables that were set against the front and side walls. The table at the front wall was book ended by two red velvet Victorian wing back chairs that were the resting places of some discarded blacks shawls and a new People magazine.

Nica stopped her pacing abruptly and grabbed one of the four posts holding up the red with black trim canopy. She let her body swing back against the bed covered in silk pillows and let the fringe from the canopy run across her face. She grabbed her abdomen with her left arm and grimaced in pain. She felt her insides burn and toss. It was like they were being ripped apart and losing their cohesion. Her body shimmered and for a second it was as if she wasn't there. Nica dropped to the ground on her knees and held herself with both arms. She couldn't wait anymore she needed something now. She could call some in here but there was no one here with a soul! Her hunger was becoming more intense. Where were they? She sent them hours ago to bring back with them her lambs. Naberius was yet to allow her to venture out of this house; his nightingale in a gilded cage. This time it would be different. She had an ally and she would finally be able to break free. Of course Naberius wanted her here permanently, as soon as it was "time" he would let her out of here and seek out that little slayer so she could have enough strength to keep her cohesion, but, he would still have that leash around her neck. Who ever possessed her effigy controlled her. And Naberius had it, he has had it more over a millennia. But, this time, she was going to get it back. She was tired of being his slave. It was fun at first, but, after a few hundred years and then being forced back into the ether of a hell dimension, it had gotten old. She had Leo now, and he was just what she needed to finally break free and do some real damage to this place.

But, for now, all there was was the searing agony wafting through her insides. Suddenly, her door swung open and a couple of Naberius' lackeys dragged in her repast and tossed them in front of her. The closest to her was an overweight man with glasses and thinning hair. Not but six inches from him was a younger blonde woman in a red jogging suit and an orange reflective belt. Both where bound at the hands and feet with grey duct tape. They also were gagged with the same tape wrapped around their heads. The vamps didn't even bother to move the woman's pony tail out of the way and so it too was taped to the back of her head. Hungrily, Nica crawled over and on top of the fat man. She reached up to his mouth and placed a finger to his covered lips and prompted him to hush as he was whimpering and quivering viciously. He blinked and looked relieved for a moment, but, as soon as he felt the relief, it was replaced by the heat and sting of the tape ripping from his face and taking hunks of flesh along with it. Nica grinned manically at the reaction she had gotten from such a quick and simple gesture. He began to cry like a child at the knowledge that these were his last moments. She opened her mouth in delight and licked his bloody cheeks, lips and grazed her teeth just enough to scratch at the surface.

"Please", he whimpered, "I have a wife and kids! They need me! Please! I beg you!"

She smiled as she pulled out his wallet and produced his driver's license. She tapped at the personal information that included his address as she taunted him.

"Don't worry baby, I'll take care of them!" She grew tired of playing as the pain in her stomach reminded her of her terrible hunger. She fell up upon him and sunk her teeth in as deep as they allowed her to and drank deep. The blood was thick, sweet and hot. It rolled down her throat in draughts. The other two vamps watched as she gripped his abdomen with her left hand and what little hair he had at the top of his head with her right. Naberius entered the door way and watched with a smile on his stony face with the rest of her audience. The glimmer in the man's eyes shown brighter for a moment and then quickly began to fade. At the same time, all of his coloring started seeping away into the direction of Nica's mouth. Once all of the color had drained into her, her coloring shown brighter and then flashed back to normal. When the man was empty, she flung her head back and reveled in the ecstasy that the man's soul had provided.

The woman on the floor, seeing all that had just passed, began a desperate attempt to break free of her bonds and get away from these monsters. Nica wiped the tiny droplet of blood from the corner of her mouth and shoved the empty shell of the man to the side to make her way to her next victim. The woman froze in sheer panic; wetting herself in the process. She knew she should have taken her run earlier that night and now she would die for her procrastination. Nica clutched the loop her taped down ponytail had made and drug the woman towards her. The woman closed her eyes tight and began to cry. Nica rocked her in her arms and brushed her bangs from her eyes. She wiped her tears with her finger tips and licked them.

"Shhhh. It's ok darling." She traced the duct tape covering her mouth with her index finger. "Oh, now, now. This won't do." Nica smiled lovingly and stroked the woman's face. She nodded reassuringly as she wedged her cold white fingers in between the tape and her cheek. The woman tightened her knitted brow and began to shake violently. In an explosion of pain Nica ripped the tape from the woman's head a hard as she could. With the tape came, bits of flesh, the majority of her ponytail, and her lower lip. The woman twitched. Blood glistened showing where the flesh had been torn away. Her once brilliant white teeth were visible and covered in blood.

"You know, I really think this is a much better look for you! Ponytails are so over anyway!" Nica said as she tossed the tape with the hair attached over her shoulder. "But, you know what? With this face all torn up like this, even the Swan could help you now! Oh well, might as well put you out of your misery! I do hope you had some fruit today that guy was all salty, I need something sweet to balance it out." With that, Nica bared her fangs and sunk them deep into the woman's neck. For a moment her eyes grew wide and then lapsed. Her color drained and Nica let her body drop from her lap as she stood. She looked up and smiled at the attentive Naberius.

"You could have joined me if you liked." Nica teased.

"At my age my dear, you know I don't need blood to sustain me. Besides, I like to watch." He waved the other two vamps to leave them and they did so obediently. Naberius stood up straight from his leaning post of the doorway and walked with arms folded towards the slightly satiated Nica. He placed his massive hands on her silken shoulders. They were so large, his hands, that they covered her shoulders, chest and half way down her bicep. He smoothed her hair and raised her chin so that her eyes met with his in a perfect line. His once jovial expression turned hard and angry.

"I am not dim Inanna. I know that you have been cavorting with that lesser being. You are tainting this gift of corporeality that I have given you. You have merely on week left here before you are expelled from that lovely shell into the nothingness once again. If you wish to stay here on this plane, you will comply with my commands." He wrapped of his stony clamps around her delicate looking neck and began to squeeze. He lifted her off of her feet to where they were nose to nose. Her face tightened and she glared at him angrily. She stayed completely still as he held her there so close to his face. "Because if you do not, your little marble action figure will be dust and you will lose all that makes you the Goddess you are. You will be nothing, a lowly lesser being. Just one of those 'Forsaken' as your precious Leo refers to it." He lowered her back to the floor and released his grip. He straightened her silk robe, combed her hair with his fingers and folded his arms back across his chest. "Now be a good little girl and you will have your Slayer."

She put her hands on her hips and looked at him defiantly. Her hunger began to grow once more fueling her rage. Her purple irises flashed brightly with her steely gaze. "Let's not play this game, Naberius. I'm not stupid either. You won't get rid of me, oh no, at least not until you get what you want." She took another step closer and ran her index fingers now his chest and stomach. She looked at him playfully but her eyes were deadly serious. "So, maybe you should play nice, or I won't play at all." As she ended her ultimatum, she turned abruptly allowing her robe to billow and walked briskly to her large English oak four poster bed. She swung around and then plopped down among the down silken pillows. She laid there twitching her rounded toes and filing her well manicured fingernails. She smiled coyly. This wasn't the first time they had had this discussion. To a point she enjoyed irritating him. And he knew it.

He closed his eyes and willed himself away. When he opened them once again he was down in the cellar of the farm house. He stood stalk still staring off into the blackness. How she infuriated him. Did she not realize that she was simply a tool? A means to an end? An end to this prison that the new army of Slayers has put him in. Because of this new situation in the world, power was changing hand and the Old Ones, the Demon Kings and Coven Masters were becoming weaker and more and more of them returning to the Deep Earth to sleep until a time came for them to rise back up to their true strength. But, Naberius refused to resign himself to such a fate. And the Inanna was the key. In another week she would be ready to take the soul of the Slayer and her essence would her powerful enough for him to confiscate. With that he would have what he needed to reclaim his powers and create a new legion of monsters. If only he could keep under better control. This was easier said than done however. The Inanna herself alone was volatile, perverse, corrupt, unstable and powerful. When couple with a human being who had been tortured and robbed of life in the flower of youth, then what you got was one resentful, crazy and almost unstoppable Hell Goddess. Luckily for him all doggies come with leashes. As long as he held onto that black marble image of her, he had his leash. One false move on her part, he could bust her down to vampiric version of mortality and leave her floating around from dimension to dimension being nothing more than that of the consistency of air.

He had used her before. A couple of times actually. They enjoyed a brief love affair, but, as with most office relationships, it soured quickly. But, this time things were different. Normally, he simply used her as a general of sorts. He would keep her around long enough to aide in his conquer over a realm, and then allowed her to return to her ethereal self until the stars allowed for him to call upon her again. But, now he really needed her. And there would be no calling her back. Once she was at her true self he will open the effigy once again and devour her blood that remained in its vile. After that it was only a matter of smashing that statue and forcing her essence to anchor to the host that possessed her blood. And of course that would be him. With the power of two hell gods, he could go about his plan of building up an army to rival the Slayers and take over this realm once and for all. The only one who could foil this all wasn't the Slayer though. It was her witch. Only she could find and destroy the Effigy of the Inanna. Slayers are good for beating on things and sticking them with pointy objects normally made out of timber, but when it came to things of a mystical nature they fell a bit short. Naberius assumed that this is why the head honcho over in Europe had kept her witch around for so long. It seemed to work out pretty good for her. Naberius knew that he needed to get this over with before the sepia toned medium could find him and stop all that he had so painstakingly put into motion.

"Master, your chamber is prepared. Do you require any further assistance?"

Naberius turned and awoke from his thoughts. His aide stood with hands folded at his waist awaiting his instruction. He was white and bald with his face permanently fused into its demonic form signifying his rank as subordinate. Naberius nodded in gratitude and walked towards the vampiric assistant.

"Thank you Arturo. You may call for the guards now." He waved a hand in his direction and moved thoughtfully farther into the depths of the dank cellar.

"How was your address with the Goddess? I trust that it went well and all is still going according to plan?" Arturo asked genuinely as he stood at the bottom of the cellar stairs.

Naberius stopped short of the entrance to his chamber and turned slightly to face him.

"Arturo, you are no longer required. Your questions are inappropriate; if I need anything further I will find a circus monkey to do my bidding, for at least they lack the ability to question their masters. Send for the guards and make yourself disappear until I need you." He turned abruptly and walked into his chamber.

Meanwhile back in Nica's suite, she had waited just long enough to be sure that Naberius had really gone when she called for her attending priestess.

"Lunera, come." The priestess entered the room dressed in the same sheer black fabrics as at the ceremony. She walked evenly to the side of the bed that Nica was lounging on and knelt before her.

Nica looked her over carefully. The beaded headdress that she adorned draped the luminous material over her long, thick chocolate curls. Nica smiled and sat forward the touch the milk white skin of her bare left shoulder. She ran her finger over her collar bone, up her neck and to her chin where she lift it to raise her face to hers.

"Aren't you a stunner? Where did they find me such eatable priestesses?" She purred.

"I was born into this sect my Goddess. I wish nothing more than to serve and to please you. What is it that you require?" She smiled.

Nica leaned back on her pillows with her hands on her chest and mused out loud.

"What is it that I require?" She pointed her left toe and used it trace the attendants frame. She then gestured for her to rise. "Go and get Leonardo for me. Tell him it's urgent."

Lunera rose and bowed her head before turning to leave. Nica bit her lip as she watched her leave.

"Woman cannot live by blood alone." She giggled. She rolled over onto her stomach and waited for them to enter.

With in minutes Lunera returned with Leo. Nica rose from the bed and walked wantonly to him. They embraced in a deep and ravenous kiss. The attendant began to leave when Nica noticed. She pulled back from Leo and addressed her.

"No, you stay." Lunera stopped and bowed, knelt and stayed. Nica turned her attention back to Leo who continued to nibble her neck and ear. "Naberius tried to ground me tonight. He told me that I better start playing nice or he was going to send me back."

Leo stopped his nuzzling and looked her in the eyes. "So now what mio caro? Do we continue as planned?"

"Oh baby, Daddy's all talk. Don't you worry about him! He needs me; he won't harm a hair on my head until he gets what he wants. And by then, it will be too late." She kissed him once more and took a step back. She untied her robe, slid it slowly off of her shoulders and let it fall off onto the floor. The abandoning of her robe revealed a black lace under wire bra and panty. She stepped closer to him once more and started take off his grey blazer.

"Now, what we have to concentrate on is finding that gimpy little Slayer. Once I have her, I'm yours forever. And we will spread across this earth like a wave of pestilence. We will devour it until there is nothing left, and then, we will continue on to new dimensions. And from there, we will rule virtual galaxies!" He grabbed her hip and the back of her head. He licked her neck up to her ear. He bit down on his lip causing it to bleed and then kissed her with it allowing her suck.

She licked her lips and met with his eyes. "I have waited millennia to break free from this curse. And now that I have you, it's possible! Soon we will destroy Naberius and his order and I will be free!" Nica turned her gaze to the lovely Lunera and gestured with her right index finger for her to come closer. Lunera rose to her bare feet and came within inches of the pair. Nica ran her fingers through her hair and let her hand fall down caressing her neck and then breast.

"Lunera that clasp on your shoulder; does it hold all of that fabric together?"

"Yes my Lady." She answered dutifully.

"Maybe you should take it off so I can see it better."

Lunera did as instructed and when she removed the small silver, dagger like clasp from her shoulder, her sheer garb fell to her feet. Her body was perfect and firm. Though the rest of her skin was white her nipples were the color of her hair.

Nica smiled enough to show her fang teeth. "Now, show Leo your special talent."

Lunera nodded and smiled brightly.