by George Fry
“He… stole your makeup?”
“What kind of twisted, evil monster steals a lady’s makeup!?”
“What the hell are you two screaming about?” Drifter casually asked, having just stepped out of the shower, still drying his hair.
“The stalker demon stole Reine’s makeup.”
“Huh… that’s a new one…”
“It’s fine.” Reine explained. “I have backup makeup anyway.”
“Okay...”
“Wait!” Dale called. “You sensed that demon breaking into the room, right?”
“No.” Drifter laughed. “I was in the shower, stupid.”
“Shouldn’t we go find it?”
“Nah, fuck him.”
“But, what if-?”
“Hey!” Drifter interrupted. “Take a shower, kid. Get some of that homeless smell off you.”
“But… okay…”
After cleaning themselves, Drifter and Dale relaxed in the living room, patiently waiting for Reine to get ready, while keeping their wits about them, in case the stalker returned. After about thirty minutes, Reine emerged from her room, with a red dress and her trademark sunglasses.
“Alright boys.” She announced. “First on the agenda, is shopping!”
“Shopping?” Drifter questioned.
“Of course. I can’t bring you two to the garden party in those rags. We need to find you something more presentable.”
Dale couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“You mean, like, new clothes? Not second hand stuff people dump in charity shops?”
“Of course not. I’m getting you a fresh new suit.”
“I’ve never worn a suit before…”
While Dale was distracted by the prospect of new clothes, Drifter remained uninterested.
“Do we have to go?”
“You’re my bodyguards, of course you do.”
“You don’t need two of us.”
“Oh please. It’s not like you have anything better to do.”
“Fine, but only because that demon might show up again.”
“Good.”
“Why are rich girls always so stubborn…?”
Reine drove the group through the city in her fancy red sports car, until they reached Westgate Shopping Centre, with the absence of a certain group of people catching Drifter’s attention.
“No police? In such a busy area?”
“Oh, there are hardly ever any demon attacks here.” Reine explained. “So, having them patrolling the street is unnecessary.”
“No attacks, but plenty of stalkers, right?”
“Yes… well, when you see news of demon attacks so regularly you can’t help but feel a little paranoid. Hopefully with you two around any demons that do try to disturb the peace will be in for quite the rude awakening.”
They entered the bustling Shopping Centre, with Reine hurrying them along up the escalators to the clothing store.
Distracted by his own excitement, Drifter snapped Dale back into reality with a smack to the back of the head.
“Keep your eyes peeled, stupid.”
“What? Taking your job seriously, now?”
“There are five demons, scattered around the area.”
“Holy shit, are you serious? Already? It’s like they knew we were coming.”
“Try not to die.”
While Reine and the rest of the public were blissfully unaware of the danger looming over them, Drifter and Dale were on high alert… until Dale was immediately distracted with the clothing store and hurried off to find his perfect outfit.
“That dumb, fucking…”
Drifter’s outburst was cut short by Reine grabbing his arm.
“Oh, let him have his fun.”
“You call this fun?”
“What could be more fun than spending hours on end experimenting with new attires until you find your perfect look?”
“H-hours...?”
“Yes, come along. I’m sure I’ll find you something.”
Against his will, Drifter was dragged deeper into the store, lost amidst the forest of jackets and trousers.
“What about this one?” Reine asked, pulling a random suit from the rack.
“Whatever.” Drifter responded, sitting on a cushioned seat.
“Okay… what about this one?”
“Whatever.”
“Hmm….. what about these?”
“Whatever.”
“Drifter, you’re not even paying attention!”
“Sure I am.”
“So, you’re fine with wearing this frilly white dress?”
“I’m confident in my sexuality.”
“If you’re going to be this difficult, then you find something.”
“Fine.”
Drifter got up and yanked a random suit from the rack.
“Here.”
“You sure you want this one?”
“Oh, God. What’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing, but there are so many others to choose from, you don’t want to way up your options a little?”
“It all looks the same to me.”
“Ugh… fine.” Reine pouted.
“Fine.” Drifter folded his arms.
Breaking their awkward tension, Dale returned, carrying a variety of clothing.
“Okay, so… I wasn’t sure whether to go with this long sleeved shirt, or this shorter one, but I also wasn’t sure which shade of black looked best on these trousers, oh, I also have a bunch of jackets I want to try on.
Um, Reine. Do you think you could help me figure out which of these looks the best?”
Reine giggled to herself. “Oh, of course. Come over to the changing room and we’ll figure this out together. Coming Drifter?”
“No.” He replied, immediately planting his butt back on his seat.
The two left, leaving Drifter to his own thoughts.
“Damn, now I've lost track of those demons.
I can sense them gathering near the entrance, guess they’re ready to make their move. Well, four of them at least… where the hell did the fifth one go?”
Four creatures brazenly waltzed in from the entrance of the shopping centre. Although they varied in height, they were generally tall, muscular creatures, with long thin spines protruding from the heads like hair, and their limbs. All of them were a slightly different shade of green.
With the monsters sudden appearance, the people weren’t sure how to react. Some stood still in fear while others ran for cover in the stores. Either way, their mere presence cleared the area of all obstacles.
The darkest skinned demon was clearly the leader, having a more imposing build than the others, addressing his lighter skinned underlings with a tone of superiority.
“Spinal! Are you certain this was where you spotted them?”
“Y-yes, Tuffnail.” The palest demon answered. “They’re with the woman…”
“I guess you’re not so worthless after all. Hubbs, Smalls.”
He ordered his remaining followers. Hubbs being their tallest and skinniest, with Smalls being the opposite, short and stout.
“While we gather hostages here, you two lure out the Demon Sword and his friends, by any means necessary.”
“But, what about the woman that’s with them?”
“Who cares? Stop treating these humans like they’re our equal, Spinal, or I’ll have to kill you out of sheer embarrassment.”
The demons quickly headed up the escalators. In a cocky display of strength, Smalls barged through the windows of the store, terrifying the customers and employees, as they all hid in the back.
“Look at ‘em run.” Smalls chuckled, satisfied with the mess he made.
“Yes, very subtle, Smalls… you’re just lucky you didn’t give away Tap’s position.” Hubbs berated.
“Oi! At least we’re out doing the real work, instead of hiding!”
“Shut up, Smalls! Before that mouth of yours gets you killed.”
“Not bloody likely with t
hese cowardly humans.”
“Then why don’t you put it to good use and tell me which of these humans has the Demon Sword.”
Smalls looked at the back of the store.
“I can’t! They’ve all huddled together at the back!”
“Yes, can’t imagine why that happened...”
“Aw well, guess we’ll just kill ‘em all! I sure we’ll find the sword buried somewhere, underneath all the bodies!”
“I suppose we’ll have to now, won’t we?”
“Oh, come on. The killing is the fun part.”
“Shut up, you fool! Something’s coming.”
“Eh?”
Drifter pushed through the crowd of people, emerging from the forest of clothing, wearing the blade they had been searching for.
Smalls sauntered over to the little human, amused by his courageousness.
“You’ve got a lot of balls to show up like this, human. Now, be a dear and hand over that sword.”
“No.”
“What?” Smalls laughed loudly. “Hey, Hubbs! Get a load of this! This human ain’t budging an inch!”
He leaned in, getting closer to Drifter.
“Bet you think you’re real tough, don’t you?”
“Does your breath always smell this bad or have you been eating shit lately?”
“You’ve got a smart mouth, too bad you don’t have a smart brain. Tell you what? Since humans are such weak little creatures, I’ll give you the chance to leave here unharmed. Just hand over that sword without any fuss.”
“I’ll give you one last chance to go back to Hell, before I send you there myself.”
The monster placed his large, foul hand on Drifter’s shoulder, squeezing tightly, to really get his point across.
“Listen to me, you worthless little ape! That sword belongs with a demon, not some frail, entitled, weak little human! Now, hand it over and maybe I’ll kill you quickly!”
Drifter's hand glowed with a white aura, as he gripped onto Smalls’ arm and without even flinching, tore it clean off with one thrust, ripping it right from the shoulder.
The demon’s gaping wound spewed blood, as Smalls was completely stricken by pain and disarray.
“Sorry, I wasn’t listening, did you say something?” Drifter asked.
“My arm!? What did you do to my arm!?”
“I tore it off. Need another demonstration?”
“But, you’re human! Humans are supposed to be weak! They’re just…. lowly humans!”
Smalls, fell to his knees, as Drifter ruthlessly kicked him onto his back. Once the monster lifted his head, he was greeted by Drifter’s open palm, already aglow with intense energy.
“And, next you’ll say ‘Please don’t kill me’.”
“Please don’t ki-”
Before he could finish Drifter fired a small orb of searing energy into Smalls’ mouth, which rapidly expanded until Smalls' jaw could no longer contain it. The orb exploded, obliterating the demon’s head, splattering viscera over the floor, leaving the lifeless body behind.
Drifter looked over at the remaining demon, completely unfazed by the gory display. Making someone’s head explode meant nothing to him.
“You next?”
Chapter 5: Miss Laijoe's Admirer
✽✽✽
By shoving a ball of explosive light into the gaping mouth of the cowering demon, Drifter mercilessly blew it’s head to pieces. Only four remained, as he turned his attention to his next target.
“Smalls, you fat moron.” Hubbs ridiculed, still shaken from Drifter’s attack.
“At least you died the way you lived…”
“With balls in his mouth?” Drifter retorted.
“Don’t get cocky, human. Smalls was practically living garbage, but I’m not so stupid.”
Hubbs leapt backwards, toward the exit. He raised his arm, as the spines protruding from it quivered violently, intensifying until they burst out, firing like pin missiles. They were as fast as bullets and as sharp as knives, but against Drifter’s defensive aura they may as well have been made of rubber.
The white heat surrounding Drifter’s body caused the spines to bend and snap upon impact. He was left without a single scratch.
“What!?” Hubbs cried. “My spines should have pierced right through you!”
“You expected me to just stand here and take that?”
“But, you’re only human!”
“Aren’t you observant.” Drifter groaned as he marched over to the frightened demon.
Desperate to gain any sort of advantage, Hubbs’ attention was drawn to a stray woman, quietly trying to sneak by him. Luck did not favour her, as Hubbs immediately captured the damsel, holding her by the head.
He dangled her haughtily, like a toy.
“Not so fast, human. I know how much your kind hate to see innocents die, so take one more step and her life ends.”
Drifter continued walking, unfazed by his threats.
“I-I’m serious!”
He lifted his other arm, as the spines on it grew sharper, prodding at her bare neck.
“She’ll choke on her own blood!”
Drifter kept walking, like he didn’t hear a thing.
“Stupid primitive! Don’t you understand what I’m saying!? I will kill her!”
“Kill her and you’re dead. Don’t kill her and you’re still dead.” Drifter asserted.
Tired of dragging out his farce any longer, the monster was about to slash the woman’s neck open when a blur suddenly zipped straight past Drifter’s side and flew past the demon, accompanied by the sound of a cleaving blade. There was a brief pause, before both of Hubbs arms slid off, spraying blood.
The blur landed to the left of Drifter. Looking over, he found Dale, watching the demon as it wailed in agony. He never imagined he’d see Dale with such a hateful, yet determined expression.
“Just try to hurt anyone now, you freak!” Dale proclaimed.
In spiteful defiance of Dale’s goading, Hubbs looked down upon the woman he dropped, who was too scared to move and with his monstrous foot, stamped on her leg, breaking it. As she cried in agony, the demon shuffled his foot around, making sure to crush as much of the bone as possible.
“You dirty piece of shit!” Dale yelled.
“Come any closer and I’ll break her neck too!” Hubbs laughed to himself, convinced he finally won, until a cold shiver passed through his spine.
“Sorry, dude. You’re already dead.”
In his brief moment of gloating, Dale appeared behind him, having already slashed straight through the monster. Hubbs’ head was bisected in two and split apart like a coconut. He was finished.
Dale maneuvered his way around Hubbs’ bloody remains and approached Drifter.
“So, what did you think?”
“Four out of ten. Get better one liners.”
“Oh, fuck off. At least I actually saved someone.”
“Not her leg, though.”
“At least she isn’t dead!”
“If you just killed the guy immediately, instead of shit talking him, she wouldn’t be in pain right now.”
“It’s a lot better than what you did!”
Dale stormed off, carefully picking up the woman and gently placing her on a bench so she could lie down.
“I-I can’t … feel my leg… is it over? ” She replied, in gasping breaths.
“Not yet, but don't worry, help will arrive soon.”
“Are you… some kind of superhero…?”
“Hell yeah! Just stay here and we’ll finish this!”
Drifter was already riding down the escalator when Dale caught up with him.
“Holy shit, are you kidding?”
Dale looked toward the entrance to find a group of people being rounded up. At the front of the pack was the burliest of the demons, waiting patiently for the Demon Sword to come to him.
“Welcome!” Tuffnail greeted as the two reached the bottom floor.
“I see you�
��ve already met my subordinates.”
“They’re dead.” Dale chastised.
“Can’t say I’m surprised, those two were as dumb as each other.”
“You don’t even care that they’re gone!?”
“Of course not! There can only be one wielder of the Demon Sword. If you hadn't killed those two idiots I probably would have done it myself.”
“But, they were your friends!”
“They were tools.”
“You prick!”
The moment Dale made a move, Tuffnail quickly responded.
“Hold up, make a move and they all die.” He taunted, pointing to his collection of human lives.
“Really!? Again!? Is this the only trick you have!?”
“As long as it works. Besides, this time, there's a twist.”
With a snap of his finger, there was a scream, as a blur leapt from the escalators, over their heads and landed beside Tuffnail. A slender demon, covered in black rags, with a black scarf over his mouth, appeared before them.
“The fifth demon?” Drifter questioned, shocked that he somehow didn’t notice its presence until now.
“No! It’s got Reine!” Dale cried.
“How the hell did I not notice it earlier?”
Reine called out to her subordinate.
“Drifter, don’t just stand there pondering! You’re my bodyguard, so guard me already!”
“Excellent work, Tap!” Tuffnail laughed, his plan coming together. “Guess you were right, Spinal. This woman was important to them.”
“Right…” Spinal looked away in shame.
“Shit! Drifter, what do we do!?” Dale panicked.
“I got it!” Drifter replied.
“What!?”
“The reason I couldn’t sense him earlier was because he was hiding in the shop with us.”
“What does that have to do with-”
“It’s like a radar, the more I zoom out, the less detailed the enemy’s positions become. I was so focused on the positions of the other demons around the area, I couldn’t sense where the fifth one was, because he was hiding right under my nose. Ain’t that a bitch?
Damn, that was almost impressive, but judging by the shocked look on his face, I’d say even he wasn’t aware of that oversight. He got real lucky.”
“Thanks for the exposition, but can we save Reine now!?”
“Oh, yeah, sure.”