"Hello? Is this thing on? Yes? Okay then. Douglas here! Zara doesn't know I took this from her. :3
"Anyhow, welcome to the glorious showcase of my general awesomeness. :D Zara maintains that this story involves everybody, but we all know it's about me.
"I'd like to thank my various fans – you know, the readers and reviewers who continue to show up – and would like to repay you with this 'yo mamma' joke because I don't have anything clever.
"Yo mamma's so stupid that she bought tickets to Xbox Live.
"So let's answer some reviews!"
Mia-Teresa-Davenport: "I believe that Hellcat was trying to distinguish the never-gonna-happen demon coupling from Chia by calling it Hellia."
j. liz. 8: "I will not be cleaning that water up! Adam did it, he cleans it! And I know he's not useless. It's just hard to remember sometimes."
DisneyXDGirl: "You will do so or I'll shove the leaves so far up your ass that you'll be tasting maple syrup for a week!"
DarkestKing: "Two things. First, we're here! Second, I heard something about some nukes?!"
RissA15: "I made Zara explain this to me, and she had a point. The concentration thing to do magic is based heavily on how magick – the religious form that is practiced in real life – works. And, while she won't make Adam just awesome at magic, it would make sense that he would pick up on it first, since he seems to focus on a single thing all the time. Most everybody has to practice concentrating on a single thing for more than a few seconds. Our minds wander too much. Go on, try it. I dare you to focus on one thing without another thought crossing your mind. I bet you won't be able to do it for long. Oh, and your army is going down."
Gg180000: "I don't know how I feel about this."
"Anyways, let's get to the chapter! I'm sure you're dying to read about what I've been up to. Zara doesn't own Lab Rats or anything you recognize. If you don't recognize it, it's probably hers."
Douglas, you rat bastard! Give me that!
"A man's true character comes out when he's drunk."
Charles Chaplin
"I had a daddy, didn't I? He wasn't perfect and he certainly wasn't the one I'd dreamed he would have been, but I had one all the same. And I'd love him as much as I'd hated him, hadn't I? All that distance, all that time wasted, but the fact that he'd inspired such passion in me meant something in itself. I can honestly say now that I think that's special. Screwed up and turned inside out, we were special him and me, and I am so thankful that I can say that I had a daddy and that he mattered. All his faults and failures mean nothing to me now."
Melodie Ramone, After Forever Ends
Chapter Fourteen – And We're In
Chase
As it turned out, Bree didn't want to let anyone in. Not on her watch!
Which would be why she was outside, patrolling the fence when Owen decided to show up. Little artistic punk. He interrupted me when I was rubbing my side against the stair railing while I waited for Leo to finish practicing his ability to concentrate on a single thing.
Because that bitch was mine. Not sure why. But it belonged to me. So, even though only Ysthry, Oly, Yahn and I were the only ones who would be able to actually tell – only our noses were sensitive enough – but at least they would know it.
It was the principle of the thing.
However, when Owen knocked on the door, I did two things. First, I forced myself to appear totally human. It wouldn't do to expose the demon world to some….
I didn't have a series of words that were accurate enough. Eccentric posing hipster wannabe? Was that it?
Close enough.
The next thing I did was attempt to answer the door.
I only said "attempt" because Douglas beat me to it.
"Hello," Owen instantly greeted while Douglas stared at him with an unreadable expression. "I'm here to take my muse on a date to the new art exhibit."
Douglas narrowed his eyes. "Who is this douchebag?" he asked, pointing at Owen.
Mr. Davenport got up from the couch, putting down his newspaper as he started for the back door. "I'll get Bree."
"Bree is your muse?" Douglas asked slowly.
Owen grinned dramatically. "She is the single ray of sunshine that breaks through the storm clouds in my life. She is the drop of vibrant color in the clear water of my soul. She is the – "
Douglas casually slammed the door in Owen's face, cutting him off. He locked the door and walked back to the couch, sitting and picking up the newspaper. "NASA is working on warp bubbles," he observed.
I started to laugh. However, I felt the need to ask the golden question: "What was that for?"
Douglas snorted with contempt. "That posing asshole isn't going to be dating my daughter. Bree deserves better. What does he do, by the way? Is he some kind of drama student, or…?"
As much as I agreed, I had a feeling that it wasn't going to end well for him. Bree wouldn't be pleased. "A bad artist. You do realize that Bree is going to be pissed, right?"
Douglas shrugged. "She'll get over it once she realizes that I'm right."
Mr. Davenport entered the room again, looking around with a confused expression. "Where's Owen?"
"Outside," Douglas answered casually.
"It was neat," I elaborated. "We're all thinking of locking Owen out, and he just does it."
Mr. Davenport rolled his eyes and crossed the room, opening the door to reveal a bewildered Owen. "She'll be out here in a second," Mr. Davenport said, gesturing for Owen to come in.
"Now why did you have to let him in?" Douglas complained. "He'll infect the house with his –"
"Thank you, Douglas," Davenport sighed, cutting him off.
"Douglas?" Owen echoed, smiling politely. "I'm Owen. Nice to meet you."
Douglas didn't even look at Owen when he responded. "I don't like you."
Owen's smile faded. "Might I ask why?"
With a sigh, Douglas looked over the top of the newspaper. "I'm not fond of artists."
"Afraid of an emotionally open individual?" Owen challenged while we all rolled our eyes. "In this day and age, expressing oneself should be celebrated –"
"Okay, stop." Douglas folded the paper and put it down on the couch beside him. "You are nothing but a poser. You act like a rebellious, emotional guy when, in reality, you're not. You just regurgitate bullshit that you hear others say in the hopes of sounding intelligent yourself. You have some kind of artistic talent, but waste it by working too hard to be deep and brooding in an attempt to convince the world that you have some kind of tortured soul when you don't –"
"How do you know that I don't have a tortured soul?" Owen interrupted.
"Because you wouldn't be fighting so hard to show it," Douglas growled. "You would let it out in bursts of artistic genius that you wouldn't try to shove down everyone's throat. I think you're just acting tortured to get girls into bed –"
"Douglas!" Mr. Davenport snapped, mortification crossing his face.
"Because I used to do the same thing," Douglas finished, narrowing his eyes. "I know exactly what you're doing, kid. If you want to pose as a tortured artist, that's your business. But, if I hear even one whisper about you trying anything with Bree that she doesn't approve of, then you'll be meeting the wrong end of my fists. Or my .9mm pistol. Whichever I happen to have at the moment. Are we clear?"
Owen was exceedingly pale now. He nodded rapidly, backing towards the door slightly. I tilted my head, trying not to smile. Mr. Davenport was glaring at Douglas, visibly restraining himself from chewing his brother out while we were around. I doubted it would be appropriate. I resisted the urge to ask how Douglas knew all of that – and exactly how effective his tactic to get tail was, since he brought it up (hey, I was a teenaged boy; anything to help me get laid had to be something I wanted to know immediately) – because I had a feeling that any word spoken would act as the spark that blew the tense situation sky-high.
Luckily, the tension was eased a bit when Bree finally showed up, smiling until she noticed that we weren't talking. She rolled her weight back on one heel and rested one hand on her hip sassily. "Okay, what happened?"
"You might want to leave before you ask," I informed her, grinning.
Owen nodded rapidly. Bree shot Douglas a look – how she knew that he had caused the situation was…actually not all that surprising – before taking Owen's hand and leading him towards the door. "We'll be back later," she called over her shoulder before the door closed behind the couple.
I burst out laughing as I let my demonic form show openly again. "It's about time someone told him!"
Mr. Davenport, however, smacked Douglas on the back of the head. "Just how drunk are you?"
Douglas held up his hands, holding his thumb and index finger close together. "A tad buzzed," he answered, smiling.
Douglas was drunk? Damn. The guy might have lost what little filter he had, but he seemed to handle it well.
"Where did you even get alcohol?" Mr. Davenport sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Douglas stood up and crossed his arms. "I'm legal, thank you," he huffed.
"Oh, is Master drunk again?"
Oly came flying down the stairs, landing on the back of the couch excitedly. She started to jump up and down. "What are we going to blow up this time? Can it be another one of those stupid convenience stores?" She snapped her beak loudly. "Selling corndogs, gasoline and lottery tickets in the same store is just stupid."
"What's your problem with that?" I asked curiously, lowing one ear while the other was perked.
She pointed at me. "Because shut up, that's why," she huffed.
"We're not going to blow something up," Douglas answered, rolling his eyes.
"Because you're going to sober up," Mr. Davenport huffed.
"You're no fun," Oly sighed, jumping down to the floor. She made to jump on the stair railing, but I growled and pinned my ears, stopping her.
Because it was mine, remember?
"Donnie, I'll be fine," Douglas assured.
"Tasha's going to be mad that you brought alcohol into the house," Mr. Davenport muttered.
"I have it locked away so that the kids can't get into it," Douglas snorted. "Donnie, I have everything under control. I promise."
Mr. Davenport sighed again. "Don't drive and don't build anything," he finally relented. "And don't get totally trashed. Again. You always seemed to get in trouble that way."
"You worry too much," Douglas snorted. "Right, Hellcat?"
"Don't bring me into this," I responded, holding my hands up. It wasn't any of my business what Douglas did in his downtime. If he wanted to get drunk, let the guy get drunk. As long as he stayed at home and was responsible with it, I didn't have a problem.
The elevator door opened by the kitchen, revealing Leo and Adam, Ysthry and Yahn on their respective shoulders. "Into what?" Adam asked.
"It's not important," Douglas answered.
Mr. Davenport rolled his eyes.
"Leo," I said, changing the subject. "Did you finally get to where you could concentrate?"
"For a little bit," Leo answered, shrugging.
I nodded. "Well, get ready to study some more. Because you and I are going to learn all about how demons work."
"Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan."
Tom Landry
"If I ever completely lost my nervousness I would be frightened half to death."
Paul Lynde
Douglas
Leo was taking notes, actually looking like he was hanging on Hall's every word as the Summoner explained something. At least, that was what it looked like from a distance. It was hard to tell from across the damned room.
Beside Douglas, Chase's ears were flicking back and forth, listening to snippets of conversation that buzzed around them. The Council meeting had ended about ten minutes earlier, and Leo was already working his "eager student" angle. Adam was mingling with various demons, appearing at ease. It was kind of strange to see someone so content with the creatures, but whatever made the kid happy, right?
Oly shifted on his shoulder, catching Douglas' attention. "Think Leo is screwing us?"
"I'm sure he's doing fine," Chase assured. "We spent hours making sure that he wouldn't let on that he already knows what he's asking."
"Nerves might get him, though," Douglas observed, nodding at Leo.
"You yourself said that he does better under pressure," Chase pointed out, nudging Douglas with his elbow.
Douglas tilted his head. "Yes, but he kept messing up for a bit. He might slip back into that."
"I don't think he did," Oly pointed out as Leo and Hall shook hands. As Leo turned around and started towards them through the small crowd, he was grinning victoriously. On his shoulder, Ysthry was yawning, her long tongue curling.
If she was unconcerned, then Leo must have succeeded. Who knew that he was capable of being a double agent?
"Hall likes me," Leo declared in a sing-song voice once he reached them.
"Don't celebrate yet," Douglas responded. "You're still not his apprentice."
"Oh, but I am," Leo replied, a smug expression on his face.
"Already?" Chase asked, frowning.
Ysthry nodded.
"God damn," Douglas breathed. He had expected this to take a few more weeks. Apparently, Hall wasn't so hard to impress. "Then you know that you can't rely on us anymore, right?"
Leo's joyous expression suddenly seemed to falter. "What?"
"Once you're studying with Hall, it'll be one-on-one," Chase explained. "We won't be there. It's all on you now."
Leo's eyes widened as he swallowed hard. "Seriously?"
"Seriously," Douglas confirmed. "We've gotten you this far. Just remember: Take it slow. We don't need to know everything immediately. If you move too fast, you'll blow it."
Leo nodded, appearing nervous now. "Is it too late to back out of this?"
"Yep," Chase answered, smiling a bit. "You're in this for the long haul."
When Leo paled a bit, Douglas resolved to talk to him later. Or to get Donnie to do so. Either way, the kid obviously needed some reassurance.
Not that Douglas particularly cared whether or not Leo was comfortable. He just didn't want the runt to mess everything up.
Adam appeared between Douglas and Chase, resting his good hand on Chase's shoulder. Poor guy; he would have the wear the cast for a few more weeks. "What's going on over here?"
"Leo's in," Chase summed up.
Adam nodded thoughtfully while Yahn grinned. "Good luck, kid."
"And don't mess up," Douglas added seriously.
Leo swallowed hard.
Maybe it was time to worry about Leo's acting skills again.
Well, that plan worked much faster than Douglas expected.
That, and buzzed Douglas is amusing. xD
That doesn't mean that you should go out and drink. Please don't. It's just something Douglas does occasionally.
Anywho, I'm sure you don't need me to say anything just for some of you to say how much you hate Leo. xD
By the way, feel free to review. Or don't. I'm more concerned with my carrot-munching guinea pig than that. xD
And enjoy.
*Bows and exits*