by P. S. Power
Then they made the sound again, right before he stood up.
The storm ended with a thought on his part, and so did all access to any energy for the three in front of him. That left them with what they held within, of course, and they could make on their own. That, he knew, was too much for him to overcome. Not before they managed to rip his head off or cause him to burst into flames. Except that when a powerful magic attack came at him from the attractive black man, Tyler waved it away. Killing the life force that was needed to bring it into being. Smothering it in darkness. Death and destruction.
It got the man to go a bit wide eyed.
"Impressive. So, magic does not work against you? We will have to do this the old way then." That, apparently, was with knives. Two of them, the very fast girl, who looked a bit like she could have been working at a grocery store, complete with a brand name uniform top, came at him first. Her stringy hair was a bit wild, thanks to the wind having blown it around.
As she closed with him, Tyler shook his head.
"You can't survive this. I don't know what you were promised, but it isn't worth dying over. Run. Leave this place. You too, big guy. This is between me and The Storm." That didn't stop anything, and the fighting then was fierce. It was all he could do to keep sticking his body together as the parts tried to fall off. The thing there was that he did it, and while he didn't look that good fighting with his slightly leaking limbs being chopped into bloody chunks, he was staying together, and beating the other two into the ground, over and over again.
They healed too, but as with The Storm the last time, they slowly lost their internal energy stores, and were using them up too fast to replace them.
For his part, well, the world was filled with death, all the time. It was clumsier, and didn't respond as easily as the magic of life, but there was a lot more of it, and these beings were starting to starve. Somewhere during the fight he noticed that a crowd had formed. One of them, Fram, was helpfully getting the whole thing on a high end video camera. Not that he knew that was the truth, but anything less wasn't going to catch much.
True, some help would have been nice from that quarter, but Tyler had bargained for blowjobs, not mutual aid in a fight. That was, it looked like, an oversight on his part. Next time he'd have to be a bit more adult about that kind of thing, he decided. Still, about ten minutes in, the whole thing suddenly changed. His two new attacker buddies both tried to pull back, at about the same time, moving toward the lines.
Cutting the silver strands of life with a flick of his hand, and a wave of death, Tyler shook his head.
"No. You had that chance. Now we need to have a talk about your behavior here today. Go stand by that Demon. Fram, if they try to leave, get it on video. We'll publically shame them later." It wasn't a great threat, but he didn't want to go around killing people, if he didn't have to.
To his utter shock, they actually did it. That left The Storm standing there, with something that she hadn't been holding before. It was a rocket launcher, if he could guess at that kind of thing. A nice green one, that looked slightly bland, as far as shininess. It really was the sort of thing that might actually give her enough of an edge to beat him, since it didn't take any of her own energy to use.
It probably would have worked too, if her head hadn't snapped forward at the last second, forcing her entire body to move toward the ground. The thing in Will's hands went off, but didn't explode, since it hit the ground about six feet from where it started.
Behind the woman stood a giant bull. A Minotaur, actually. Along with several other beings that were a bit more familiar to him. Keeley, Zack, Allison, the tiny doll like fairy girl, and the average looking man that had come before with Keeley.
Off to the side a bit were a collection of other beings, that weren't exactly normal either. One was Gregor, The Cleric, but how anyone could ever think that he was a Greater Demon, Tyler didn't know. The energy going into him did follow the same pattern that the others had, flowing at him from all sides, but it was finer, and of a sort that spoke of something very different. He was right next to a rather stern looking man, who was dressed in what seemed like a tunic and loose trousers. Like something that a peasant might have worn, hundreds of years before. That was in black. The Cleric was in a deep brown, and the man next to them, who looked old and wise, if in a friendlier way than the others, was in the same outfit, in a lighter color.
From a distance, a place well back from the curtains of death he had collected and still draped over the attackers, there was a farmer. Mike.
He spoke, not raising his voice. It was like thunder anyway. No one else responded however.
"You must destroy her, Tyler Gartner. If you do not, the plan of life itself will be undone. That might happen regardless, but at this moment, you, and you alone, must do this thing." The words, powerful and mighty, also held sadness.
That was a thing he could see. Michael was a being of light. Of love and energy that was so pure that he couldn't move to where the others were at that moment. Because of what Tyler was doing. Casting death about like a madman. Damaging the world with each passing moment.
It would heal.
There Mike was however, ordering the death of a being, when he should have called for life. That had to hurt, on a level that Ty probably would never understand.
A cute girl that he didn't know moved toward him. Probably Leslie, since he had a line of death connecting them. With a single hand he waved her away.
"Thank you all for coming. I appreciate the help. I have this next part." Then he looked at The Storm, and shook his head, sadly. "You know, if you would have just been my friend, we could have avoided this. Now one of us has to die, forever. It was your choices that got us here. So, now, let's finish this."
Will, looking at him shook his head then.
"Do you think that you can beat me? I'm a Greater Demon. You're just a slave. That's all you can ever be. A man, even if you do wear my symbol on your chest. That's a nice touch. It's almost like you knew I was coming."
He didn't have to glance down to get that one. He'd changed at work, since he was jogging home, or had planned to. So he had on sweat pants and the purple shirt that he'd found in his drawer a few days before. The one with the fist inside a circle, with a cross coming out of the bottom.
Feeling stupid he got it then. It was the same sign that the feminists used.
"Yup. I think on some level I did." They were fighting already, even as they spoke, magic trying to flare from The Storm, and being eliminated by him. All her slaves were freed in the first half minute, which was a mistake on his part, since it reduced the drain on her resources.
If he survived he'd have to keep that in mind, just in case it ever happened again.
Then, almost as one, they ran at each other. A skinny curly haired white man in jeans and a t-shirt with an open front short sleeved shirt on top of that, going after a similar looking white guy, with straight short hair, in exercise clothes. In a battle to the death.
It was, he had to guess, either incredibly pitiful looking, or amazing, since they both managed to do some impressive things. His part of that was mainly taking the knife that came out away after a while, and the repair he was doing as they battled.
Blows rang like thunder, but after five or so minutes, The Storm had to try to run again. Only to find herself blocked by the other Demons there. She couldn't get onto the lines, since after the first time she tried there was just no power left inside of her for it. She even tried to burn up part of her physical body for it, using it as food for a second attempt.
That caused visible weight loss.
Tyler, not being cut off from his own power, walked over to The Storm, shaking his head.
"We could have been friends. But that time is done. Goodbye."
Then, as if it was going to make any difference at all, Will rasped out one last line at him.
"Goodbye, son."
Then Tyler, over the course of several minutes, beat the
Greater Demon to death, not stopping until the last bit of life energy went out. Then, being careful, he flooded the corpse with the energy of darkness, causing it to turn to a fine dust that was carried away by the remnants of the breeze the storm had brought earlier. Well, part of it did that. The rest turned into a muddy sludge on the ground.
He stood there for a bit, the sky turning dark, not breathing. Doing that would suck Demon dust into his lungs and he really didn't want to bother with that. It rose into the sky, in a cloud that was fairly impressive, but it couldn't come back together.
In the end, everything died. That was his real power. The ability to make sure that happened. No one was immune from it, either. Not Greater Demons, not Angels, it was clear to him then as Michael moved off, seeming sad, even from a distance. Not even God, most likely.
Not that he'd be killing God. That seemed like a douchy thing to do. Before he even let himself process that he'd won, Fram pushed the other two attackers foreword.
"What are your plans for these two? Death? I don't think they can stop you right now."
Tyler shook his head, and looked at them both, one at a time. The Dark skinned man seemed amused by the whole thing, and the store clerk looking woman, who seemed to be in her thirties or so looked miserable.
"You heard what I said to The Storm? We could be friends too, if you want? No hard feelings or anything like that? Help each other out at times? Visit for Christmas? It's the best bargain I can offer you for the moment. Or we can finish this. I don't want to threaten you, but you did kind of try to kill me. I'll meet you halfway, but no further than that."
For some reason the people from the embassy all seemed shocked by that, and the Greater Demons all more or less just smiled and nodded, like it made great sense to them.
Leslie, the current little girl version of his mother, walked over then, smiling at him.
"Almoor, Cindy, this is my adopted son, Tyler. He runs the Coalition of Nations, is in a band, and works part time in a bookstore. He's a Human Necromancer. Some call him The Clerk, which would make you one of his people, Cin. I can recommend him to you as a person to know, without reservation." Then she moved back, not going over who the defeated pair was.
Which was probably due to the fact that they were vanquished.
The dark skinned man smiled, a huge and happy thing that shone a bit more than was natural really.
"I would love to be your friend, Tyler. What kind of settlement would you like for this? It was... An unfortunate miscalculation on my part. Forgive me?"
Tyler looked around at the parking lot, which was broken up in several places, most from where he'd hit the ground, but not all of them.
"Could you see about fixing this mess? Or paying to have it done. Whichever works for you? Both of you, if you're in too, Cindy?"
The woman shook her head, and then heaved a sigh that was done in a much better fashion than he could have managed. It actually got him to look at her chest, which was bigger than he'd thought, being hidden well under her clothing. Then, it was clear that whatever she did, it wasn't all about manipulating people with sex.
"All right. Are we doing Thanksgiving, too? I have a new cornbread stuffing recipe that I can make. Bits of people really make the green peppers pop." There wasn't even a hint of her being joking in the words.
"Oh, don't feed me people! I don't think I could stop, if that happened. Sure though, we can do that."
Then, almost politely, Zack helped them leave, taking them away through the lines, since neither of them could get onto them alone at the moment. Tarsus moved over to him, at least he assumed that was the one in the middle, along with the other men, and bowed, so he did it back. He'd done it more than once that day, so it didn't seem that strange.
The friendly looking old guy on the far right smiled at him, tried to send a tendril of magic at him, and looked baffled when it vanished. It wasn't an attempt at taking him over. That would have held more power. So it was probably just mind reading.
"I normally host the Christmas parties, would you like to come to mine? I do Halloween as well, and I insist you come to that. Finias, by the way. I think you know some of my family?"
That got Zack, Keeley and Allison to walk over, Leslie taking her place by his side, and, oddly enough Fram moving over on the other. He spoke first, explaining things.
"Most of us are related. Don't let it concern you too much. I mean, Keeley and Darla are my cousins, and Zack is pretty much one, too. For that matter, I'm pretty much your uncle. Our bloodlines do tend to run a little bit close. Finias, The Mind Taker, is Keeley and Darla's father. Allison here, I mean. I do like the new face. We should get together and see about crashing an R rated movie or something." The words were inappropriately flirty, but if either of them was under five hundred, Ty would have been surprised.
Tarsus looked at Fram like he was a waste of space, then turned a similar expression onto Keeley.
"I'm rather arranging a bargain to have myself freed from enslavement if anyone ever manages that. I take it that you won't wish to fight him, if he does so, Mistress of Souls? He is no Demon, but I do think that in The Clerk we have your perfect foil. We can discuss terms at this upcoming party? I left a roast in the oven, so should be getting back to that now. I look forward to our next meeting." Then he walked away, going around a two by three divot in the parking lot, which had shattered his pelvic bone nicely, and stepped to the right, vanishing into the lines.
Keeley turned and looked at the three Greater Demon slaves, and shook her head.
"I don't suppose that any of you would like to be free? You can't come for me, ever again, and have to play nice with Tyler and the rest of us, but if you can really do that, we might be able to arrange something?"
The plain man laughed then and shook his head.
"I'll kill you, if I can. I'd lie about it to get free, but that isn't allowed to me." Then he stopped and shook his head once, seeming upset by his own words.
The large bull man looked at her vapidly.
"Done, on those terms." The voice was incredibly deep, guttural enough to cause things to shake inside of Ty as he listened. Then they tightened a bit, in fear, as the giant turned to look at him. "What cost?"
He was about to just do it, when Lucy, looking like a little white girl, who was thinner and a bit prettier than her friend Allison, touched his arm gently.
"Half of what he owns would be a good start. That and several favors, to be used by you over time?"
The Minotaur didn't even hesitate.
"Agreed. Six favors? I can reject them, and they must not come at cost of life?"
That was interesting wording. It was supposed to sound like he was just a bit unused to English, but he'd just said that those favors were a specific thing. Probably to try to trick Tyler.
"All right. Half of what you own, or the monetary value of that, and six favors, which you can reject at the time, but that will not cost anyone their life. If you decide not to do the favor, then you must forfeit the rest of your wealth."
They worked out that half of that amount was fair, which it wasn't really.
Then he broke the slave link in about ten seconds. It took longer than it had with Steve, since it just took more power to hold a Greater Demon. That was his guess on the matter.
The little doll looking fairy smiled at him and agreed with Keeley's conditions and to have half her wealth used. Then offered to come be his sex slave for ten years, instead of those favors.
He was supposed to get all awkward about it, since she was really unique looking, and he did shake his head, but explained.
"Only if you agree not to spy on me. Also, do you do sex tapes? I'm trying to put one together. Minotaur are you in on that? It will be fun, but it doesn't pay anything."
"Does count as favor?"
"Sure? Why not?"
In the end he had several new friends from the whole thing, and while no one else volunteered for the tape itself, Allison said that she could get
the camera crews and lights in for it. Plus the needed sound equipment. Since he'd just figured on borrowing Fram's digital hand held for it he agreed to that readily enough.
It was a very odd thing to be talking about, after the death of the day, but he understood what was going on, too. Lucy explained it to him as they walked back to the mansion, along the roadway.
"You fought three of us, and not the weakest, and could have killed them all. Then you established that you weren't without the ability to be bribed and bought off. You didn't even side with Keels too much. That marks you as being someone powerful enough to tell her to fuck off if you have to. We were hit a few years ago with her, and everyone has been in a tizzy over it since. She could have taken us all. There is no way to describe how uncomfortable Greater Demons get when they have to rely on the goodwill of our own kind. Now we have a way to fight her. You. For only half of what we own, and some favors that look like they might be pretty vanilla sex. A good bargain that any of us would be willing to pay for the service at need." Then she grinned at him from the side as they walked. "I take it you don't want me in your sex tape? It's a shame, I can do some really interesting things with my tongue. Here, I can show you." She pretended to grab at him, but he moved away laughing.
"Agh! No. Mom cooties. Gross." It was bad enough that Fram was his uncle.
As if reading his mind, Lucy winked at him.
"Don't worry, he isn't related by blood. None of us are. Not with you."
That was a thing that he could tell now, for certain.
He was, and always had been, Human.
A dead one, but there were worse things to be.