The Source of Power

By: Yamiko #7

Hello again! Well, I look like an idiot...Steelers won. (Sigh) I guess you can't have everything...and I'm not an anti-Steelers person or anything, I just would have liked the Seahawks to win. Oh well.

So what was everybody's favorite Super Bowl commercial? I was particularly fond of the one with the fly..."well, that killed him." I laughed so hard my eyes watered. What about you guys?

I certainly hope everybody got the explanation on glamour. If not, please e-mail me questions, and I'll answer them as best I can. (Just don't put anything suspicious in the subject line, or it'll get deleted. There's this new virus going around, and I want to be careful, especially since the internet is on my parents' computer...you know.)

I received particularly good news the other day. I'm a National Merit Scholarship Finalist! Yay! (Does a very, very happy dance) I have about a 1 in 2 chance in winning, and if I do, it'll certainly help with the college tuition costs. This doesn't exempt me from filling out scholarship applications, though...(sigh)...so time-consuming, and they all want the same things.

That's more than enough about me for one Authoress Blurb. On with the fic!

Chapter Seven: Something Wicked...

If there was one thing Rosette absolutely could not stand, it was a loose end. Disorganized as she was, she liked everything tied up nice and neat at the end. Loose ends drove her absolutely crazy.

Which was why she was about to go tie up hers.

That son of a dog had tricked her, brought her under his control, and made her suffer a week straight out of hell. She hadn't exactly refused...but then again, he hadn't exactly been honest with her either.

Which was why she was going to go kick his ass. One one hand, it would rid the world of another malicious demon who delighted in causing pain and havoc. On the other hand, if all else failed, beating him into a pulp (with the help of her trusty Colt .45) would certainly make her feel a whole hell of a lot better.

It was ten-thirty a.m., and she had just arrived at the tree stump. Let the fun begin.

"Hello," she called, dredging up what little acting skills she had in order to create a convincing performance. She wasn't scared...nothing had changed...a week's absence didn't matter...everything was just as it was before...

Pigs could fly...

Unfortunately for Rosette, her opponent had also done his homework on Power Sharing. Even worse, he was the better actor of the two.

"Why, hello," he greeted her, appearing before a tree with his hat in its customary position - pulled down to shade the upper half of his face. "I've missed you."

"Sorry. Hell of a week." Well, at least that much was true. "Couldn't get away." she shrugged innocently and forced a smile.

"Oh." He gave an easy Gallic shrug. "So sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, well...everything's jake now." The smile became markedly more forced.

"Good to know." The demon moved closer, reaching for the back of her neck. It took all the strength of will she possessed not to move out of the way. This was what he had always done. He didn't suspect a thing. Just like normal, right?

Except now that she knew what was going on, it suddenly wasn't so "normal" anymore.

Slowly, almost imperceptibly, she went for her gun. Her hand reached the lip of her holster just as his hand reached the back of her neck.

Her focus shifted, crossed, finally righted itself. She found herself on her knees.

When had she fallen?

More importantly, why couldn't she get back up?

She tried to move something, anything. No luck. She couldn't feel a damn thing. About all she could do was blink. That, and talk. "What the hell is going on?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a malicious grin spread across her captor's face. She was sure shivers would have run down her spine if it weren't so numb.

"Why do you need to ask?" The voice had lost all the amiability it had once held. In its place was nothing but chill. No object, no emotion, just a sub-zero coldness that froze the back of her neck.

Or maybe that was his hand. Yeah, that sounded about right.

Or, better yet, maybe she was just scared.

"After all, I'm sure your precious Chrno told you all about it." A glimmer of malice crept into that frozen tone. Great, Rosette gave the mental equivalent of an exasperated sigh. Yet another demon from his past...so to speak.

"So you know we had a contract," the demon continued. "I hope you made good use of my power." He began to lightly stroke her cheek with his other hand. She flinched. "Because now I intend to use yours."

She resisted the impulse to show off her impressive knowledge of profanity and insult. "What the hell are you talking about? I don't have any power!"

"But of course you do, my dear sweet little nun." He grabbed her chin and turned her to face him.

Her lip curled at the epithet. If you call me that again I swear I will bite you.

All thoughts of rebellion froze over at his next words.

"After all, he loves you, am I right?" He said "love" the same way some people uttered "idiocy" or "necrophilia." "I can use that." He let go of her chin and straightened up, the one hand still on the back of her neck. "After all," and his grin widened, "what man doesn't have a weakness for a pretty girl like you?"

Rosette gritted her teeth, again biting back several unsavory phrases. "How did you know?" There. That was safe enough...maybe. "How did you know I had talked to Chrno?"

He cocked his head to the side, his mouth taking on a patronizing smile to replace the malicious grin. "I talk to animals. They have so much to tell me."

Rosette stifled a gasp. "The stray cat..."

"And the birds..." the smile once again became the grin. "And now him." He waved his hand and a black mastiff appeared as if from nowhere.

Rosette quirked an eyebrow. "Isn't a dog a step down...?"

"Oh, no. Fido here is very intelligent." The demon patted the dog's head possessively.

Rosette's other eyebrow rose to match the first. "Fido?"

"Oh, give me a break. I made him when I was only a kid."

"You MADE him?"

"Yes. He's my familiar. Do I have to explain everything to you?" The demon's tone became impatient, frustrated, as he realized that he was wasting time. "No more." He waved his hand shortly. Fido gained a grin eerily akin to his master's and turned, bounding through the forest.

"And now we wait." The voice smiled. "Soon your lover's life will belong to me."

Rosette's jaw clenched. Not if I have anything to say about it.

Okay, so it only took me a month and a half to update...not bad, considering this thing actually has a plot...right? (Sheepish smile)

Okay, it's short and it's weird (especially the Fido thing...), but I figured I only had so much time before y'all broke out the pitchforks and came to claim my head. That, and I was tired. Laser tag really takes it out of you. So that's my excuse for the quality of this chapter...I tried, people. I really did.

Believe it or not, I started writing this chapter right after I posted chapter six (as you can probably tell from the opening author paragraph...yeah, that's only from February...eh heh heh.). Better late than never, right? Right...? (Dodges flying objects and pulls a Ritsu) I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'M SOOOOOOORRY!

(Pant pant) So, between this, English orals, various portfolios, math tests, assignments, other fatal parts of IB life, and my other fics, Chapter Seven should be posted around...the end of April? (I know it's depressing, but at least it's realistic.)

Thanks for sticking with me through this ridiculous period between updates, please leave me a review of some sort, and I'll (hopefully) see you next chapter!