Demons. CH 20 (Patreon)

I stand outside the Golden Pint for a time, watching people walk by.

I never realized how busy the city could be at night. When Jason explained that work stops for dinner, I expected it to mean the city stopped at that time. The times I have had to hunt during the night seemed to support that; there were rarely many people out until the noise of the hunt drew them out.

When I walked around the city after Claws showed me the women being kept, I had been so shocked and focused on figuring out what it meant that I didn’t notice it at the time, but there had been a lot more people than I expected. And now, even this late, there is a steady stream of them going in and out of the bar, walking along the sidewalk, or driving their cars.

Why are they out in the city at this hour? Did Jason lie when he said work stopped at dinner time? Are they all going to a bar? This one can’t be the only one.

I remember Jason showing a movie on the television, and explaining how people watch them for entertainment, sometimes even going to theaters to watch them in a large crowd. Movies are something else I don’t understand. Jason said one of the reasons people watch them is to escape the boredom of their lives, but why not simply go out and do something to alleviate the boredom? How does sitting in a room with strangers, watching things happen, get that to happen?

I enter the crowd and walk with them. It takes me further away from headquarters, from Juliette, and hopefully this city.

For a time I look around, at the buildings, and try to figure out what happens in them. I quickly give up and look ahead. 

When I see him coming toward me, I think about turning around. He’s only a dark form stepping in and out of the street lights at first. The people walking in the opposite direction get out of his way. Do they realize on some level what walks among them? Do they understand that even if he looks like them at the moment, he could change that? Grow taller, larger, with claws big enough to rend them in half?

What does he think of them, for not reacting to what he is?

I keep going. I don’t stop as I pass him. He turns and falls in step with me, but he looks around. Is he searching for something?

“I thought you were leaving the city,” I say when the silence grows too heavy for me.

“I was.”

“Then what are you doing here?”

He’s silent. Glancing at him, I watch as he peers in an alley we walk by.

“I am worried about you. I am concerned about the trouble I might have put Juliette in.”

“You shouldn’t have called her.”

“I know, but I didn’t want you to be alone.”

“If Amanda had tried to capture me, she could have gotten hurt.”

“I trusted her not to get herself hurt.”

I laugh. “And she thinks you care what happens to her.”

“I do, but…” He shakes his head. “This situation puts me in a bad place. I have oaths to uphold.”

I want to ask him what that means, but sirens in the distance distract me. They are getting closer. Amanda said she would let demons deal with me, but she has influence with the police. She was the reason no officers interfered with my hunts. Did she order them after me?

I duck in an alley as the flashing lights reflect off the walls ahead of us. Claws follows me. I tell myself I should be annoyed with him for that—after all, he’s a demon—but I find his presence comforting, although he seems more nervous, looking around, checking above us.

I leave him to that, to his worries. I focus on the ground before me as I go from alley to alley, crossing streets, and following their winding path to wherever they lead. I try to make plans to go to Morotik, but other than knowing I’ll need food, I can’t come up with anything else. I don’t even know how far from here it is.

My nonexistent thoughts come to a halt when Claws grabs my arm.

“There another reason I came back,” he says, looking above us. “You are in grave danger.”

“What do you mean?”

Something massive hits bricks on one of the rooftops. I follow his gaze, but I don’t see anything. It sounded like a fist through a brick wall. A demon.

“I heard of demons, coming after you.”

I make out steps, heavy steps. Forms jump from the roof to land on each side of us.

A quick count, six of them.

Six demons, in one place, working together. This has never happened before. None of the reports I read… None of them told me the truth. This might be common.

Three in front, three behind.

In the little light that reaches us from the street and some of the windows, they are mostly shapes. The largest of them is before us, almost as tall as Claws was when I chased him. Its skin ripples and its eyes glow bright and angry. The two behind it are much smaller, only a little taller than me, and their skins aren’t doing anything, almost as if they are cowed by their leader.

As I look behind us, Claws moves, forcing me to fully turn and face the three there. They are all still, their glowing eyes fixed on me.

The odds are not in my favor, even if I were armed. I have never gone up against six demons. The one time there was more than one, I would have died if Claws hadn’t saved me. I clench my fists. 

I am surprised at how calm I am. I know I will not survive this, even with Claws' help, but it doesn’t bother me. I will die doing what I was made to do. I will die fighting demons. 

The alley is silent. Their claws scrape the ground, something grunts, and the demon before me shifts.

I don’t let it finish. I sprint to it, staying low. It drops to my height, and I jump over it. I land between the smaller ones behind it. I punch one across the muzzle with a right, and it staggers back. I smack my left fist in the other’s muzzle, and it steps back from the impact, but my hand explodes with pain.

I can’t think about that. I turn to keep them in front of me. I see Claws wrestling with the largest of them. I want to help him, but I can’t. I punch the closest demon again, but my fist isn’t doing much. I need a sword, something sharp to cut them.

I dodge a blow and feel my glove rip. I glance down at it, and I have a sharp-looking fin extending along the side of my forearm. Right, my skin can do that too.

I prepare to slice whichever one comes closest, but it’s the larger of the three who jumps me, landing a blow that sends me to the ground and sliding back while I try to regain my breath. It stands over me, the rage mixed with satisfaction in its eyes. It raises an arm, its claws gleaming in the little light.

This is it. This is how my life ends.

Something lands next to me, and the demon is sent flying back.

Claws looks at me, then moves to stand between me and the other demons. He’s twice my size, his horns longer than I remember.

Using the wall, I get to my feet, only to drop down to a knee when Claws roars. I cover my ears; I have never heard a demon roar like this. Broken glass rains on me from above. I see one of the smaller demons run off before I have to close my eyes.

It isn’t pain that assaults me, that forces me down. It’s fear, terror, a desperate need to be as far from here as possible. His roar causes that in me, and it takes all my concentration not to run off blindly.

When silence falls on the alley, it takes me a moment to realize the only thing deafening me now is the ringing in my ears. I open my eyes to see another demon run, scrambling up the wall.

I only see three demons. The tallest one, the one that knocked me down, and one of the small ones. Another must have run off while I struggled to stay put. Of the three, the only one not showing signs the roar affected it is the tallest, the one nearly as tall as Claws.

It’s leaner overall, but its horns are thicker at the base. I’d never encountered a horned demon before Claws. Does that come when they are older? How old is the one facing off against him now?

Neither move, except for the demon’s skin still rippling angrily. It growls, and Claws growls back.

It takes me a moment to realize the growls aren’t even. They modulate, dropping and rising in pitch; they are talking. I have never heard this before, and I know I don’t understand what they are saying, yet I get a sense of their intent.

Claws demands obedience. The other offers defiance. Claws' tone changes, he’s pleading now. The other’s reply is pride and arrogance. Claws commands, the other disrespects.

Claws sighs—an actual sigh, not an intent carried through their growls—and the other jumps at him. I stand and move away to keep out of reach, and to keep an eye on the other demons. I don’t know how much I can do against them—my left hand is still numb—but if they try to interfere, I will get in their way.

They watch the fight rather than me. I only see it out of the corner of my eye. Motion of black on black, the sound of ripping flesh, growls that carry little intent.

Then all motion stops.

I risk looking away from the demons. Claws holds the demon by one arm wrapped around its neck, and the other holding its muzzle. Claws growls, imploring. The other replies with anger.

Claws roars again, but this time anguish assaults me. Through it, I hear breaking, a ripping sound, and the demon crumbles at Claws’s feet without its head. He looks at the head, then up and around. His gaze passes over me, and I step back at the rage in his eyes. He levels it on the two remaining demons, and they scamper away.

Claws' breathing is labored. He puts the head on the ground and rips it open. He digs through the brain goo and pulls out the soul stone. He looks at it with what I think is sadness.

Then I look away and try not to throw up. He’s licking the goo off the stone. When the sound of licking stops, I look back. He sits on the ground and pulls the body to his lap, holding it gingerly.

I watch him. He acts like its death means something, like it isn’t just another demon. I don’t understand his reaction.

“Why are you doing this?”

He glares at me. “I didn’t want to kill.”

“What else were you going to do? It’s a demon.”

I see stars as I impact the wall. Claws his holding me against it, his forearm pressing against my throat just hard enough to let me know his anger is real. I never even saw him move.

“I had to kill what was mine because of you.” His words are distorted by his growl, and through them I sense anguish. He starts to say something, then stops, searching. “I killed my child,” he finally says.

Okay, that explains some of it, but not all. “Then what’s the problem? Just bring it back.”

He looks at me, frowning. “What do you mean?”

“You have that.” I point to the stone in his hand. “So you can bring it back.”

He steps away from me. He studies me as I rub my throat. He looks to the stone, then back at me. “What do you think this is?”

“It’s the demon's soul stone. Its life force, or spirit, or whatever you call the stuff that makes you live.”

He looks at me and laughs. It isn’t a pleasant sound. “Life? Is that what the humans who made you tell you?” He cradles the stone. “This forms as we die. This contains our memories, our accomplishments, who we were.”

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”

He looks at me. The anger is gone from his eyes, and I think that pity replaces it. “Did they tell you we can come back?”

I nod. “You’re some sort of spiritual creature.”

He shakes his head. “We’re not whatever that is. We don’t come back. When we die, it is as final for us as it is for humans. When I get back to my home, I will light a fire. I will throw my child in it, and the flame will carry the memories to the First One.”

It is my turn to frown. “What do you mean, you don’t come back?” My stomach feels like it’s filled with rocks. “No, no. That can’t be right. I’ve had to collect the soul stones to keep them from coming back. They put them in containers that prevent that from happening.” My legs almost fold under me, and I have to use the wall for support. “If that isn’t true, then why are they collecting the soul stones from my kills?” I see the glass bell with the stone suspended in it. I see the lightning vaporizing it. I see the dust going up the tube and into me.

Before I can be sick, Claws grabs me by the shoulder and shakes me back to now. “How many?”

I try to shrug, but his grip is too tight. “Forty or so.”

Horror lights his eyes.

“Take me to them.”