Chapter Sixteen

Power Struggle

Jimmy sat on the cold mud floor of the Kinder Farm main house cellar. His arms and back were sore and tired from being chained in this position for so long. And he was getting weaker from loss of blood. He was wet, filthy and cold from being stripped of all of his clothing save his blue plaid boxer shorts. He stopped shaking from the cold over six hours ago. But, he could still feel the pain from the hole Nica made with the stake in his left shoulder, broken ribs on his left side, fractured wrist, black eye and fat lip. Nica and her little cronies had made him their personal "dammit" doll. He tried to kick his feet out from under him, but whenever he tried he winced in pain and quickly stopped.

"Sorry, I keep forgetting how easily you things break." The sultry menacing voice came from the center of the cellar. She was perched seductively on the stone altar that she was raised from. Using his right eye (because his left was swollen to the size of a golf ball and shut) he could see that she had cleaned herself up from their initial meeting. She had exchanged her tattered and burned red silk corset for a black, backless halter with a plunging neck line and her burned black leather pants for a fresh pair. She reached up the a hand and smoothed her onyx bob and twirled her finger around her dangling ruby chandelier earring.

A trickle of water rolled down mud wall and landed on Jimmy's bare shoulder. The sensation shocked him into shivering again.

"Oh I'm sorry love, but, after that little incident with your annoying exploding watch, I found myself unable to trust you. So, we removed your clothes to make sure you didn't have any other surprises for us. This is why we left you with your underwear, no surprises there." She giggled and looked down referencing his manhood. He wanted to cover himself to stop her from visually violating him, but his hands were chained against the wall behind him.

"My apologies, did I strike a nerve there?" The sound of a click and then a flash of a flame, signaled that Leo was there as well and was lighting his usual roll-your-own. He stepped forward exposing his face to the small amount of light streaming down from the stairs. Nica looked up at him and grinned. She grabbed his hand and stuck his finger in her mouth and slowly pulled it out. The smoke from Leo's cigarette puffed and billowed. It drifted along the room until it reached Jimmy's blood crusted nostrils.

"Do you mind? I happen to like my lungs and don't plan on being a second hand smoke statistic!" He forced.

Leo walked up to Jimmy, took a deep drag from his smoke and blew it back out in a huge cloud in Jimmy's face. "You're going to die soon anyway. Just a few more hours."

"You live with whatever delusion makes you happiest." Jimmy groaned. "When my sister gets here she is going to be sooo pissed that I don't think they make a rating for the amount of violence she's going to do to you." He smiled the best he could with his puffy lips.

Nica slid from her stony perch and glided over to him. "Your faith in your sister is touching." She crouched down in front of him. "But naïve." She stuck her finger into the half dollar size hole she had inflicted the day before and twisted forcing more blood to ooze out and run down his chest. He grunted and clenched his teeth in pain. She yanked her finger back and sucked the blood from it. "Face it book worm, she can't stop me. She isn't strong enough. And from what Leo hear tells me, she too busy with her own issues to worry about me or you!" She stood and walked backwards away from him. "So relax! Enjoy your last few remaining hours! Because, when the sun goes down, you are going to die!" She threw her hands up and laughed. "And when I have what I need, I am going to take my best guy to see his hometown!" She held Leo's face in her hand and kissed him. "And we are going to have ourselves one hell of a party getting rid of all those little girls playing commando!" Leo clutched her hips and kissed her forcefully.

"Your malice is perfect mia caro! You are la mia bella distruzione." He kissed her once more. He had found in her what he couldn't find anywhere else. She was his lover, his confidant, his teacher, his equal and his superior. He had traveled with Jerome for thirty some odd years and still he felt nothing more for him than teacher to student. With the moment he felt her presence, he knew that a new world of possibilities had opened up to him and he wasn't about to let it pass. His time of disillusion had come to an end with the beginning of Nica.

Jimmy turned away and groaned in disgust. Their display, however excessive and bordering on the pornographic, did turn his thoughts to Layla. He wondered if she was ok, if Emma had gotten to her in time. Who was he kidding? Of course she had! This was Emma he was talking about! She probably saved her first and then bitched at her for an hour for making her exert herself! Yes, he was sure of it. And he knew that she would be here soon to save him and then save the world from Nica and her butt boy.

"What's the matter junior? Jealous?" Nica teased as Leo nuzzled her neck.

Jimmy scoffed and looked away again. "Yeah, Right. God only knows where all you have teeth." He mumbled.

Leo heard this and stormed over. He punched him across his jaw knocking him unconscious.

"That is what makes you lesser beings so intolerable." Naberius had entered cellar from his chamber down the tunnel. He walked determinedly over to Nica, Leo and the newly unconscious prisoner. "You have no patience. Or control over your tempers." He nodded to acknowledge Nica. "And you my queen. Did I not ask that you refrain from cavorting with this filthy one?"

"Yeah, I thought about it, but then I decided that that didn't sound like any fun." She slapped her hips and propped herself against the stone altar. "We both know that you won't do anything to me until you get what you want Naberius. So quit trying to scare me."

"We've already had this conversation! So if you want to stick around after I do get what I want you better start being a lot nicer!" He stomped over to the sleeping Jimmy and lifted his face with his massive hand. "Hard to believe that this little vermin possesses the spirit of the Warrior of the People. What a waste." He stood there bent over inspecting Jimmy; poking at his wounds with his large index finger. "He's so fragile, nothing like his warrior sister."

While Naberius was hunched over their captive, one of the lackey vampires snuck down the stairs quietly and gestured for Nica. She motioned for him to be quiet and met him at the banister.

"The Orb was missing from its resting place My Lady. We were unable to find it in time." Nica rolled her eyes at the news. "We were however able to get the other thing you requested." The lanky vamp pulled his hand out of his pocket and slid something small and wrapped in a white cloth into hers. She smiled and waved him off instructing him to disappear and she unwrapped the gift. It was a tiny vile filled with illuminated blue liquid. Leo looked back at her and grinned when he realized what she held.

Nica reached into her cleavage and pulled a small syringe from her halter. She stuck the needle into the vile and drew a small amount. After retrieving the correct amount she placed the vile in the same hiding place that she had the syringe. Nica looked at Naberius and zeroed in on the back of his neck. She aimed and shot it from her finger tips into her target. Before he could reach up to touch what had stung him, she used her blink ability and was within inches of him in a fraction of a second to shove the plunger in with the palm of her hand so hard that the needle broke off. She blinked back again in time for him to stumble to a stand and touch the back of neck. His vision blurred and he continued to struggle to stay on his feet.

"Wha… Wha…" He couldn't form words. Nica stood with her arms crossed across her chest smiling.

"Nectar of the Gods. It's a bitch ain't it? It won't kill you, that's what the orb is supposed to do, but we couldn't find it. Arturo was kind enough to tell me about it before I plucked his head from his shoulders like an apple. No, this little magic solution that's made from all kinds of interesting things that I can't pronounce, but I do know that it renders you as weak and harmless as a kitten! Night night Daddy!" She wiggled her fingers as he fell to the ground in front of Jimmy.

Nica snapped her fingers twice and her attendants emerged from the steps in a twinkling. She pointed to Naberius and they bowed and went straight to him dutifully. They lifted the still conscious Demon King off of the mud floor and carried him over to the stone alter where they laid him. The three removed their sheer wraps and began to tie him up. His eyes rolled as the world around him swirled wobbled. Nica instructed her attending priestesses to call for Naberius' monks and stood above him running her fingers down his stone chest.

"Now, you might feel a little funny. Like, your arms and legs are too heavy, takes every bit of concentration to form coherent thought. But don't worry that part will pass. You still won't be able to move your limbs, but your thought process will soon come back. And when that happens, you are going to tell me where my effigy is so I can stay a play for a while. Ok? So until then you can just rest right here. And just incase you do end up retaining a little remnant of your strength; we've got ya tied down with my priestesses' silk wraps, blessed of course. You'd have an easier time ripping apart steel." She kissed her finger tips and pressed them to his.

The priestesses returned with several monks and genuflected.

"Hello boys! You have a new boss! ME!" She outstretched her arms and threw her head back. Leo came next to her and kissed her hand. "Naberius has decided that he is too old and grown weary or being a powerful ruler and has graciously handed the reigns over to myself. You will do as I command for now on, or you will die. Now, I won't have you making any rash decisions and I will understand if your religious beliefs and your loyalty forbid you from staying here under my command. So for those of you that that apply too, you are free to go. All I ask is that you step forward and pay your respects to your former liege before you go on your way." She stepped back away from the altar against the mud wall away from the vampiric monks. "Go ahead, I won't harm you!" She assured.

A monk stepped forward sheepishly at first, but then gained confidence when he saw that Nica didn't make a move. Once he started to walk up to the altar that Naberius lay on, some others began to move in the crowd. He genuflected before him and then turned to go. He nodded to the others that wanted to leave as well letting them know that it was ok.

He made it a couple of feet when Leo, who had not moved from his spot, in one clean move, produced a stake from inside his jacket and planted it deep into the monk's back piercing his heart and reducing him to dust. The group froze.

"Like I said I won't do anything. But, lover here just hates to see me with hurt feelings." She batted her eyes. And moved back in front of the group.

The dust from the dismantled vamp made it to Jimmy's nostrils. It swirled around with his breath and tickled the tiny hairs that covered the fleshy walls. He awoke as he sneezed. When he looked up he saw the room full of vampires and Naberius tied to the stone altar.

"Mornin' sleepy head!" Nica greeted cheerily.

"Oh no." He groaned. "This can't be good."