by Debra Dunbar
The townspeople were beginning to leave, eyeing Dar suspiciously as they walked by him. He was a stranger in a small town.
“My nephew,” Az told them. “Come to help an old man.”
The townspeople made approving comments. Clearly human relatives were expected to take care of their elderly. Alibeck appeared in the doorway and motioned them both in.
“Some child set the fire,” he told him, obviously relieved. “Are you ok, Herr Schmidt? That man said the boy assaulted you?”
“It wasn’t a human boy, at least not anymore,” Az warned him. “It was Paquit. He’s here. A woman dragged him away for punishment. His form sucks, but it’s dark out, and she was convinced he was a naughty child. He’ll be back as soon as he’s gotten over the shock of human women beating the shit out of him.”
Alibeck panicked. “I don’t know what to do! I’m a clerk, a scribe. I don’t fight. I don’t know anything about planning or protecting myself. Should we stay here? Run away?”
Humans were idiots.
“It’s night,” Az told him. “we won’t get far and we’ll be out in the open trying to fight him. He’ll have the advantage. He’s really not that smart, and he’ll come right back here. Let’s set up some kind of ambush, a trap for when he does.”
“Like what? What can trap a demon?” Alibeck looked doubtful.
“Well, he knows I’m here, but he doesn’t think I’m much threat. He isn’t really sure what you’ve got in terms of power and abilities though, and he has no idea that Dar is here.”
“I can hide and jump him,” Dar interjected. “I’d have the element of surprise, but I’m really not much of a match against Paquit.”
“Not solo,” Az told him. “But together I think the three of us can take him.”
“Oh no, oh no,” Alibeck said, backing away. “The plan was for the demon to fight him while I get away. I think that’s still our best plan. And you’re just an old man. You’re lucky he didn’t kill you last time.”
“Are you going to spend your life running and hiding?” Az asked scornfully. “You might as well have stayed with the elves. At least then you wouldn’t be spending every moment looking over your shoulder, wondering whether each human you meet is really a demon out to get you.”
“It’s better than being torn apart,” he retorted. “At least if I run, I’ll have a chance.”
“No, you won’t have a chance. Demons live far longer than humans. It would be a pleasant diversion for Paquit to spend the next fifty years chasing you down and making your life miserable. He’ll never give up, because that sort of thing is fun. You need to face him now, or spend the rest of your days, and I do mean days, in fear.”
“So what kills a demon?” Alibeck asked, wavering.
“Destroy his physical form. When the form dies, the spirit being no longer has anything to hold it together. He’ll die.”
“Sounds easy. It’s got to be harder than that.”
“Normally it’s not easy to destroy a form,” Dar chimed in. “Demons create very sturdy, hardy bodies, and we actually enjoy a pretty high level of pain.”
“Human bodies are weak though,” Az said, remembering the injury she’d suffered from just crashing into a table. “He’ll be surprised by how much damage little things cause. Things that back home wouldn’t even bruise his skin.”
“Okay. So hit fast and hard. Destroy him quickly, before he realizes what’s going on.”
Az nodded. “Got any of your spells that will help? We could make him dance naked until he dies.”
“That only works on human women, and I’m saving that spell.”
Dar gaped. “You have a spell that makes women dance naked until they die? Where did you get that? Can I buy one? That has got to be the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard.”
Alibeck ignored him. “Maybe the curse enemy one, but I really wanted to hold onto it for an emergency.”
“This may qualify as an emergency,” Az assured him.
Alibeck went to his chest, and pulled out the clothing, removing the scroll from under the false bottom and examining it.
“I have the oils, and the dove’s blood ink. Looks like you write the enemy’s name in dove’s blood on parchment, put it on top of the scroll, with ingredients on top, and then burn it while reciting the incantation. Oh. I need hair and fingernails. I doubt I could get those and survive to do the spell.”
“Plus they’d be the human’s fingernails and hair. How would that work with a demon? Would it curse him, or the dead human?”
“Actually it says on the bottom here that this curse only works on humans. So it’s of no help to us.”
“Just humans?” Az was curious. “Does it work on elves too?”
Alibeck shook his head. “I don’t really know. Lots of magic doesn’t work on them. The sorcerers often have to do specific charms or use an artifact if a High Lord wants something to cast against another elf.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Dar interrupted. “We don’t have elves coming after us, just Paquit. Let’s set some kind of physical trap to surprise him, and try to chop him to bits before he recovers enough to kill us.”
“After we’re done setting the trap, I’ll go get him and lure him here,” Az offered.
Alibeck looked at her in surprise. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Herr Schmidt. You don’t move very fast. He’ll catch you and kill you before you’ve made it more than a few yards.”
Az exchanged a quick glance with Dar. “Well then, I’ll just have to figure out a way to run faster.”
Chapter 4
Az looked in the window and covered her mouth to keep from laughing. Paquit was inside, getting the shit beat out of him by a human woman. She had him by the ear, and was whaling away on him with some sort of stick. Paquit was screaming and thrashing around, unable to control the young human body enough to defend himself. Finally coming to his senses, he threw out a burst of energy, missing the woman and blowing out the top of the door. The woman’s beating increased.
“Hans, you worthless child. What are you doing sneaking out at midnight? Have you been in the woods meeting with those witches again? Are you pledging yourself to the devil? Setting a house afire, beating an old man. And now you use evil magic to smash my door? They will hang you for this, burn you alive. Have you no shame? No sense of duty? If your father were alive to see you now, he’d weep.”
Az snickered, and with a pop, changed her form from the old human to the shape she normally used back home. Leaning in through the newly created hole in the door, she scratched a claw down the doorjamb and waved at Paquit. The woman screamed, flinging her son toward the door and kicking him.
“See? Satan has come for you. Take him away, you foul beast. He’s your servant now.”
Paquit was furious. His despised little sister had seen him hauled away and beaten by a human, and now this woman had referred to him as Az’s servant. He dove through the doorway, on top of the imp, shooting a stream of energy. But he was in the form of a weak human, and Az was now an orange, three headed, scaled lizard with wings. The energy hurt, but wasn’t lethal in her lizard form. Pain lanced through Paquit as he smacked against scales, impaling himself on a spike. Poison that normally wouldn’t harm him, spread through his veins and seized his heart. Ripping himself off the spike, he shed his human form, also assuming the shape he wore when in Hel.
The two demons ran through the streets, Az leading Paquit, in his stag form, to the house. Her legs were short and he’d catch her before they got there if she didn’t do something fast.
“You’re too late,” she called back to Paquit. “I already killed him. Ate him, every last morsel. What will the elves think of you now? You’ll return empty handed. Maybe I’ll get the status for the kill.”
By now, people were beginning to stare at them through doors and windows, a few brave enough to venture outside and gawk at a three headed, winged lizard and a massive, male deer with a human torso and head, an elongated snout a
nd horns.
“Bitch,” Paquit shouted. “You’ll be dead. Strung up in little pieces among the rafters of these buildings. No one will mourn your loss, you worthless imp. And there will be no one to say I didn’t kill him myself.”
“Taking credit for a kill you didn’t make? Becoming a habit, isn’t it Paquit.”
He stopped in shock, allowing Az a few seconds to gain some much needed distance between them. She unfurled her wings and beat the air, just to piss him off further. He’d always hated her wings.
“I know you didn’t kill that demon back home. That one that came for the breeding lessons. You’re nobody. A weakling claiming status you didn’t earn.”
Paquit roared, his head lifted to the sky. The humans squeaked in terror, like little mice, and hid back in their houses.
“I killed him. I surprised him on his journey home and fought him. My strength and cunning were greater, and I ripped him to shreds.”
Az laughed and increased the distance between them. “You didn’t kill him. I did.”
She edged slowly backward. Almost to the house. “I pulled his personal energy right out of his body and into my own. I consumed him, shredded his spirit and converted it.”
He looked disgusted. “You Owned another demon? That’s sick. That’s just wrong. You’re lying. You’d have gone insane if you did that. He was three thousand years old, he would have overcome you.”
“I didn’t Own him. I devoured him. I made him mine, and I’ll do the same to you, Paquit.”
He paused, uncertain for a moment, then chose not to believe her. She was Az. A little imp. Almost a Low. She couldn’t have killed an adult demon. With another roar, he launched himself at her.
Az used her wings for added speed and sprinted the distance to the house, wedging herself painfully through the doorway just as he grabbed for her. It was a tight fit, and she scraped scales off one side as she pushed herself through. Paquit took advantage of her dilemma and grabbed one of her wings, tearing it in half.
“This will be the last time you ever touch my wings,” she shouted.
Dar and Alibeck had done a great job. Along with the charred remains of the table and chairs, the room was now decorated with blood and bits of flesh. It was chicken, but she doubted that Paquit could tell the difference. Actually, he was so angry, she doubted he even noticed their efforts.
He charged in the house, and reared, coming down with all his weight on Az’s damaged wing. It snapped at the shoulder, and he reached down with a surge of energy and ripped it off. Az howled.
“One wing down, one to go. I’m going to miss tearing these things off when you’re dead.”
He shot two more bolts of energy into her, and Az forced herself to hold back.
“That all you got?” She winced, feeling important parts inside her smoldering and leaking. Much more and she’d have to fix herself.
Change back to human, change back to human, she pleaded silently. But he didn’t. He stayed in his demon form and proceeded to launch a stream of energy into her. Scales burned away, muscle burned away. Az held herself together, fixing only what she had in order to survive.
“You are fucking impossible to kill,” Paquit complained. Again, he poured a stream of energy into Az, but this time it was weak, sputtering.
“Now!” Dar shouted.
Both Dar and Alibeck launched themselves on top of Paquit, knives flashing as they sliced away at him. It wasn’t enough. If he’d change into a human form, they would have killed him, but in his demon form, he was practically impervious to their attacks.
Paquit roared in pain from the ineffectual slices and bucked, launching Alibeck head first into the wall. Dar held on valiantly, but he was in a human form, and unable to maintain a solid grip. He too flew across the room, cracking his head and back on the stone fireplace. With the two dislodged, Paquit again turned his attention to Az. Bending at the knees to better reach her, he drove his horns into her damaged abdomen.
Their plan had failed, but Paquit was clearly out of energy, drained to nothing. He might not have changed into a more vulnerable human form, but he wouldn’t be able to fix any wounds. Az had nearly her entire store of raw energy remaining. Repairing herself, she reached up with one head and bit down hard on Paquit’s shoulder. Another head slashed at the back of his neck, and the third bit deep into a foreleg. He screamed, and rooted into her with his horns, ripping apart what she’d just fixed.
Dar and Alibeck were both slumped on the floor. She needed to take Paquit out herself, and she wasn’t sure she could, even with his lack of stored energy. Knowing he’d surely kill her this time gave her resolve, and Az shot a bolt of energy into him, chewing and tearing with all three of her heads. He stumbled back from her, and she raced for the door. If she could get him out in the open, she could re-create her wings and launch an aerial attack, safely from above.
Unfortunately, there was that damned little door, and without her former forward momentum, she found herself unable to do more than get her three heads through it. Paquit attacked her from the rear, gouging with horns and kicking with powerful hooves. She was stuck, wedged in the doorway, unable to go forward, and assaulted from behind.
With a flash, she converted into her Owned human, and fell out the door. She was out, but she was also naked, and in a vulnerable form. Before she could transform herself back, Az felt an impact from behind and felt her ribs crack painfully. Face down in the mud, blows from Paquit’s hooves rained down on her. It was all she could do to fix the damage before she was killed. There was no time for her to change to her demon form. At this rate, she’d use up all her stored energy repairing herself, and be in the same spot as Paquit. Worse actually, since she was a weak old man and he was a powerful demon.
As she struggled to escape, the weight on her suddenly lifted. Had Dar regained consciousness, fixed his wounds and come to help her? She rolled over, her vision blurred by mud and the head injuries she hadn’t yet fixed, and saw a shape, one that glowed with all the intensity of the noonday sun. The glowing person was tearing Paquit to bits with what seemed to be a flurry of teeth. She blinked in amazement as Paquit disappeared before her eyes, becoming no more than a pile of sand. The bright figure turned toward her, blinding her mud filled eyes with its intense light.
She was terrified she’d be next, that the being of light would turn her to dust too. The figure paused for a few agonizing moments, and then turned away, vanishing into the night. Az lay in the street, unable to move, unable to do more than tremble and gasp. She felt a hand on her, and panicking, swatted at it.
“Az. It’s me,” Dar said. “Do you have any energy left? Can you fix yourself? I don’t think I can carry you through the gate like this.”
Az struggled to compose herself. It was just Dar. The figure of light was gone. Had she imagined it?
“Paquit.” she croaked, slowly repairing her wounds.
“He’s gone. I don’t know what happened to him. I ran out here as soon as I regained consciousness and saw you on the ground, all bloody and broken. I thought you might have killed him, but I don’t see his body anywhere. Did he run off, injured? What happened?”
Az shook her head as Dar helped her to her feet. There was a pile of sandy dirt a few feet in front of her. Maybe she hadn’t imagined it after all.
“He’s dead,” she said. “There’s nothing left.”
“Fuck Az,” Dar exclaimed. “You ate his body too? You’re scaring the crap out of me, here.”
Whatever. There was no way she could explain this to Dar. She couldn’t figure it out herself.
“Is Alibeck dead?” she asked.
“I don’t know. He’s lying on the floor in the house. I didn’t bother to check him, I just ran right out here to help you.”
Az looked at Dar strangely. He ran right out to help her? What was that about?
“Where are all the people?” she wondered as they headed toward the house.
Dar snorted. “Inside. Hiding. Demons bat
tling in the streets? They won’t stick a nose outside until dawn.”
Alibeck was still sprawled on the floor when they went in.
“You can cut his head off and give it to the elves,” Az generously offered. “There’s a bounty. Might as well get some money and status out of the deal.”
“I can’t,” Dar said mournfully. “He summoned me into a circle and I’m forbidden to harm him.”
“He’s probably dead anyway,” Az reasoned. “And isn’t your tie to him broken? Paquit is dead, and that was the service he requested.”
“I still can’t kill him. And I’m not sure if I still owe him a service or not. I didn’t kill Paquit, you did.”
Az went over and nudged the scribe with her foot. “Guess you’ll find out if he summons you again.”
“Why don’t you kill him and claim the bounty,” Dar offered. “With Paquit’s kill and this, you’ll probably be up two levels.”
“No one would believe it.” She nudged the human again.
“I’ll vouch for you,” Dar offered.
Az shot him a surprised look. What was up with him? “Nah. I really don’t want the pressure I’d get for killing Paquit, and I’m kind of fond of this guy here. If he lives, I may come back in a decade or so and Own him. He’s fun.”
“I wish you’d kill him,” Dar said sullenly. “I hate that this stupid human is jerking me around, making me do things.”
“He’s a hack,” Az scoffed. “He’s got a handful of scrolls and he doesn’t know how to do anything beyond that. The idiot escaped the elves, and before the year is out he’ll be doing the same drudgery for the humans just to put bread on his table. He won’t summon you again, even if he can.”
Alibeck stirred, raising a hand to his head.
“Oh look. He’s not dead after all.”
“Great.” Dar walked over and sat on the trunk.
The scribe’s eyes opened. He looked up at Az, agitated.
“Did you see? There were two of them fighting. I couldn’t tell which was which. Did the elves send them both to get me? Did the little demon kill them?”