Demons. CH 21 (Patreon)

I stare at him. “You want to go there?”

“I will not leave what remains of my brethren in their possession.”

“Weren’t you the one who tried to convince me not to go back there?”

“You wanted to talk with them. I have no intention of talking.” He stalks away, shrinking to human size.

I look at his back for a moment, then catch up to him. “Do you have any idea what Amanda will do to you?”

“Nothing. Whatever they attempt, it will fail. They are only humans.”

“They will have irradiated weapons.”

He frowns. “You think I fear the poison?”

“Shouldn’t you?” I remember something. “Or are you immune to it? You healed rather fast when I shot you.”

“I knew your weapons contained poison, so I took a draught to counteract it.”

“And you have more of it?”

“No. But I don’t fear the humans.”

“Claws, it won’t be just swords. They’re going to have guns.”

He snorts. “Are they as good as you?”

“Of course not.”

“Then they aren’t going to be a problem. You barely managed to shoot me.”

I sigh. “It isn’t just that they will have guns. There’s going to be a lot of them. I don’t care how tough you are, or how fast. When a hundred bullets come at you, a lot of them are going to hit.”

“I am not worried.”

“Claws, I’ve fought enough of your kind to know what you can do. I’m telling you, you don’t stand a chance.”

He whirls and faces me, growing by a foot. “You’ve fought our young, and while driven mad with hunger. How would you have fared against those that attacked us? Against the one that surprised you? Do not think that you know what I am capable of because you shot at me, or chased me through this city. I let those things happen. If I had decided so, I would have ripped your head off your body before you would have known I was there. It will be the same for them.”

It takes me a moment for what he means to register. “No, absolutely not. I’m not getting you in there just so you can kill them.”

He smiles. “Then don’t come.”

I sigh. “I can’t let you loose on them. If I don’t take you to the stones, you’re going to massacre everyone there while you search.”

“Then tell me where they are.”

“Do you know how the building is laid out? If I tell you they’re in Room 34, on sub-level five, does that mean anything to you?”

He gives me a human shrug. “I will find it.”

“No. I’m going with you, and you aren’t killing anyone.”

He tilts his head. “Why are you still seeking to protect them?”

“They’re humans. I was made to protect them.”

“They lied about what my kind are so you’d kill us. Does that not make the reason for your creation a lie also?”

“It’s all I know!” I throw my hands up. “I know they lie. I know Jason turned his back on me. I can’t turn my back on them because of that. I’m not human. I’m a hunter. I exist to protect them. Maybe they don’t all deserve my protection, but I don’t want to believe that every human in this city, in that building, is as bad as Amanda and Jason are. If some of them are worth saving, I will do so.”

“They’re not worthy of your protection.”

I glare at him. “You don’t get to decide that. This isn’t negotiable. I take you to the stones, and you don’t kill anyone.”

“I don’t need you to guide me to them.”

“Then I’m going to have to stop you. I told you, I am not going to let you just kill them.”

He looks at me without moving for long enough that I get uncomfortable, then he smiles, and I see tenderness in his eyes. Why? Am I not understanding what I see in them? Why does he keep looking at me like he cares?

“Very well. You guide me, I don’t kill anyone.” He turns and starts walking. I fall in step with him. “But I make no promises on how little, or how much I will hurt them.”

* * * * *

We reach headquarters using the rooftops and alleys. I’m about to lead Claws across the street, toward the lobby, when he places an arm around my shoulder and forces me to continue walking.

“What are you doing? That’s the way in.”

“There are other ways in.”

“They’re all going to be locked and guarded after my escape.”

“How is that supposed to stop you?”

I stare at him.

“You can send a demon reeling back with a punch. What do you think you can do to a door? Or the guard?”

“I couldn’t do that to…” I’m about to say humans, but I am going to have to defend myself when they attack me. I will have to hurt them. “I’ve never had to break into a building before. I guess we can go in by the door I used to escape.”

“We could, but we won’t.” Claws is looking up. Not to headquarters’ roofline, but along the buildings further down the street. “There’s one entrance I know will not be guarded.”

“Then why are we moving past the building?”

“Because to reach it, we need to go through a different building.”

What is he talking about? “That makes no sense.”

“This isn’t my first time in a city. It is also not my first time entering a building without attracting attention.”

We continue walking until I see the grocery store’s sign. Claws stops, studying the building before us. It’s taller than headquarters, and like it, this building is mostly glass and steel, but the first two stories are red brick with carved wood ornamentations.

“What is it?”

“It’s a lodging building.” He looks me over, then shrinks until he is a head smaller than me. He is also thinner. How does he do that? Where does the extra mass go? “There is no security in them, but there will be a human at a desk by the entrance. Do not look at him. If you act like you belong there, he will not stop you.” He places a hand in mine. “We go in, head to the first elevator that opens.”

“Why are you holding my hand?”

“I cannot make my head look human, so I need to keep the hood over it. An adult with a hood pulled like this will attract suspicion in a building like this, but a child, accompanied by an adult, will not.”

I look him over, and I have no idea how anyone will think he’s a child.

He pulls on my hand, and I start walking. As he said, the door is unlocked. And there’s a human sitting behind a desk, a woman dressed in a red and gold outfit. I glance at her only enough to tell she’s older. Her brown hair is thin, and her skin has dark spots on it.

There are four elevator doors, instead of the two at headquarters. There’s still only one call button. I press it. I can feel the woman’s gaze on me, and I have to fight not to turn and look back at her.

Numbers over the doors change, and I stand before the one coming down. I let the occupants exit before stepping in. The woman at the desk looks up from her phone to nod to the leaving people. 

Claws presses for the fifteenth floor, but before the door closes, a man runs in. Panting, he indicates the board.

“Eighth floor, please.”

I press that button.

The man sniffs the air, glances at us, then shrugs. I can’t understand how humans barely smell demon scent. Amanda explained that their supernatural aspect allows them to mask it from ordinary people. Now that I know that was a lie, I’m at a loss as to how it can be. The scent is thick in the elevator.

The man leaves without looking back at us. The door closes, and we are alone.

“What’s on the fifteenth floor?”

“The stairs to the roof.”

“Doesn’t the elevator go there?”

“No.”

“Then why didn’t we take them from the ground floor?”

“No one who lives in buildings such as this uses the stairs. We would have attracted attention.”

We reach the fifteenth floor, and he leads me out. The halls are empty and strangely quiet. No, not quiet. I can hear a television, conversations, arguments, but not as loudly as in headquarters. There, anyone could hear what was happening in one of the offices or labs, except for those that generated a lot of noise—those were insulated. Here, it sounds like every apartment is insulated.

At the end of the hall is a door I recognize. It is white with a small window. Claws looks around before pushing it open.

According to the elevator’s buttons, the building has eighteen floors plus one marked only with a "P." We climb past the doors labeled with each floor, and we come to the one leading to the roof. Claws pushes it open, and I hear something snap.

We step outside, and for a moment the only thing I see are the two moons. This is the highest I’ve been, and all the roofs I see in the distance form patches of darkness amidst the street lights. I turn around, and I see other tall buildings, two of which are taller.

Claws goes to the edge and walks around half the roof. “There is your building.” He points to one three blocks away. I don’t recognize it. Between us and it are seven buildings, the closest is half the height of this one, the others a little taller. I look down. I can’t make out people from this height, and cars are small boxes with lights.

“I don’t see how we can get there from here,” I tell Claws, who has grown a little taller than me and shed the semblance of clothing. His skin is tight against his body, except for the back, where it is bunching. He turns me, so I face him, and wraps his arms around me.

“You need to hold on to me tightly.”

I do what he says, and I feel the skin on his back shift around. Something under the skin also moves. His bones? They would have to be able to do that, to change height like he does.

I get a nose full of his scent, and I realize I am going to smell like him for a long time after this.

He crouches, and I am about to ask him what he’s doing when he jumps up. I look over my shoulder. We are fifty feet above the roof, and arcing away from it.

“Are you insane!” I yell as we slow, then begin to fall. I swallow hard, bury my face against him, and tighten my grip. There is no way we can survive this. I don’t care how strong he is, even if we make it to the other building, instead of between them, the impact will break all our bones.

I hear something catch in the wind, like clothing on a line. The noise becomes louder, coming from behind Claws. I risk a glance, and there’s a large sheet of his skin fluttering in the wind. The edge thickens, ridges spreading through the sheet, giving it shape. 

Wings. Claws has wings.

I look over my shoulder, and I have to close my eyes. We are no longer falling straight down, but we are still going down. He moves, and it feels like we impact something. By reflex, I look around, and I hate that all I see is empty air. I look down, and a building flies by. We aren’t going down anymore, just sideways.

I close my eyes and trust that he knows what he’s doing. I want something solid under my feet. I must be crushing his back, as hard as I am holding on.

It takes far too long until Claws lands; I can’t keep up with his fast walking since I need to do it backward. His wings flap and then we stop moving. After a moment longer, I manage to get my legs under me, and I let go of him.

I stagger away, almost fall, but he catches me. “I’m not doing that again,” I mumble. I’m trembling. I can tell this is fear, but it’s a different kind of fear from what I have experienced before. This doesn’t run as deep. I look at Claws, and his wings are melting back into his body.

“You can fly?”

“Only glide, catch updrafts. I prefer walking.”

“Me too,” I say, catching my breath. “Where are we?” I can tell this building is lower, but not by how much.

“This is your building.”

I’ve never been on this roof before. It’s covered with a textured surface, not gravel like lots of the roofs I have run over. Vents poke out from it, but no chimney. I thought all buildings had those. On the other side, near a corner, is a building with a door in it.

“Those will be the stairs,” Claws says, following my gaze.

I head to that door, but it doesn’t have a handle, and the lip of the door goes further than the frame. I try to pry it open with my finger, but there isn’t much space to get purchase. I manage to grab on, and I pull as hard as I can.

It doesn’t open, but the door bends away from the frame. This allows me to slip my fingers in deeper and pull even harder. The door snaps open, and I step away.

I turn to smile at Claws, but I catch sight of my right hand: black, with the end of my fingers flattened. With a yell of horror, I try to peel off the glove, only to realize I’m not wearing gloves. No, no, no. This can’t be happening. The skin on my hand ripples. I look through my pockets for something sharp.

Claws grabs my left hand and pulls it out of the pocket.

“Let go of me! I have to get that off.”

He sighs. “I have told you before, there is nothing on you; this is you. It reacted and changed to what you needed.”

“Get it off me!”

He puts a hand on my shoulder and squeezes until I wince. “Calm yourself. You are not being attacked, it is part of you.”

I pull out of his grip. “That’s easy for you to say.” I point to him. He’s still a little taller than me, but he’s back to wearing clothing, although the edges of his shirt are frayed and catching in the wind.

“You’re probably having fun making yourself look like someone dressed in tattered clothing.” I notice the still-flattened tips of my fingers and cradle my hand under my arm, where I can’t see it.

He looks down at himself, and the frayed darkness stills then becomes a solid edge. “No, I wasn’t doing that. It’s because I am tired. My concentration wavers. In the wild, I don’t need to maintain one form; I change as I need. Keeping myself in one form for this long is taxing.”

“It isn’t just your skin that changes, right? Your bones do too.”

“I change. All that is part of me changes.” He points to my cradled hand. “Just like that is part of you and can change. You need to stop fighting it.”

“I didn't ask for it.”

“You did not ask to be created, but you accept that you have been made. You need to accept that your skin is part of that too, even if you were not aware of it. Learn to use it.”

“I’ve never needed it before.”

Claws points to the door. “And yet, when you did, it was there.” He steps into the stairwell.

Grumbling, I follow him. My fingers look normal now, but my skin isn’t just skin. It’s textured, like leather. It looks like my gloved hand.

The stairwell echoes with my steps and his claws clicking on the metal stairs. We make it down to the fourth floor when the door opens, and a guard enters it. He freezes for a moment as he notices us, then goes for his gun.

Claws reacts first. He wraps a large hand over the guard’s hand as he pulls his gun out. I hear bones break, then the guard screams. Claws throws him against the wall, more bones breaking. I rush to the guard to make sure he’s still alive.

“You didn’t have to do that!”

“He’s alive.”

“You shattered his hand and broke his collarbone, probably his back.”

“He was in the process of attacking us.”

“He couldn't do anything against us. You didn’t have to hurt him this badly.”

“I told you I would hurt them.”

“You don’t have to do that needlessly! You could have knocked him out with one blow.”

He fixes his gaze on me. “Derick, he is just a human. Not someone you have to concern yourself with.”

“No, he isn’t just a human! He’s a person, like you. Like me. He doesn’t deserve to be hurt like that, not when we can just knock him out and tie him up.”

Claws stares at me. I can’t read his expression. “Like me? And what of the rest of my brethren you killed? Were they not persons? You are asking me to treat this human better than you treated my kind?” His stare narrows. “I warned you that I—”

“No!” I look around at my shout and lower my voice. “I’m sorry for those I killed, Claws. I didn’t know what they could be, but look at him.” I indicate the unconscious man. “He doesn’t have any armor, no real weapons.”

“There was a gun.”

“You said those don’t bother you.” I pick the weapon up and pull out the clip. “And these aren’t irradiated bullets. They can’t do anything to you.” Why was the guard there, if not to try to stop demons? “He must be here to guard against humans.” I’d never realized they have a different job. I never wondered why they weren’t as heavily armed and armored as the those acting as my backup. I never questioned how things were.

“Claws, he was defenseless.” I drop the gun and stand. “There are going to be plenty of trained fighters along the way. Them you can hurt as much as you want, but I can’t let you hurt people who don’t even pose a threat.”

He sighs. “You are being unreasonable.”

“No, I am reasonable. You claim to be in control, unlike the young ones I’ve fought. Prove it.”

He throws his hands up. “Alright, I will not hurt anyone who doesn’t pose a threat to me. You realize this means I will not be able to hurt anyone.”

“I’m perfectly okay with that.” I take the guard’s radio. I don’t tie him; I worry about the damage I’ll do if I move him. He isn’t going to be able to alert anyone.

We make it down to the fifth sub-level without incident. I crack the door open and hear the whirls of computer fans from the closest labs. I hear something ticking, behind a closed door, but no other sounds. It’s late, and everyone should be gone.

“The Containment room is on the other side of the building.”

Claws nods, and we get moving.

I take my time, listening for any sounds out of place. I hear someone eating in a lab, then getting up and approaching the door. I wave Claws back and wait, ready to grab the person and subdue them.

The door opens, and I freeze on seeing Valerie. She jumps back, almost dropping her apple. I hide my hand behind my back.

“Derick, you scared me. I thought you’d left.”

Was that all Amanda had said? I had left? “I—I left something. I’m just getting it, then I’ll leave.”

She frowns. I don’t think she believes me. “Maybe I should tell Amanda that you’re here.”

“You don’t have to disturb her. It’s late. I’ll just be in and out.”

“No, I should let her—” Her eyes grow wide. She drops the apple and reaches behind her back. I grab her wrist as she pulls out the gun and push her against the wall.

She winces, and the gun falls to the ground

“Sorry,” I tell her. I look over my shoulder and Claws has stepped around the corner. With his scent all over me, I can’t tell when he’s moving, and he’s so silent it’s unnerving.

I feel Valerie clawing at my hand, but my skin has become rock hard. She stops and just touches it. I look back at her. Her expression is one of wonder.

“Oh my god, when did that happen?”

“Earlier.”

“When? Under what conditions?”

“It doesn’t matter. Valerie, I am going to tie you down.”

“Doesn’t matter? Are you nuts? Of course, it matters.” She doesn’t even try to pull away when I pull her back in the lab. “I’ve theorized that you’d show demonic characteristics, and I always wondered why you didn’t. I have to know what the catalyst was.”

I stop moving. I slowly turn to stare at her. “You knew what was done to me?”

“Of course I do. I’ve been working on the project from the start.”

I have trouble believing what I’ve heard. “And it never occurred to you to tell me?”

She shrugs. “Not my decision. Not that I’d have said anything. I’ve seen what happens when one of you finds out he has demon parts in him.” She looks from me to Claws. “Well, this. You always switch sides.”

One of me? Right. In the recording, Jason says I’m the fourth.

Does anyone else know? Does everyone here know? I recall the anger in some of my support teams’ conversations. Was that why? Did they hate me because of what was done to me? Did no one here see me as a person?

Valerie gasps, and I release her. Her wrist is covered with small lacerations. My palm is covered with blades. I’d become angry, and my skin responded.

“I didn’t want this,” I tell her.

She looks at me with fear.

“Is this going to take long?” Claws asks from the door.

“No.” I reach behind a computer and pull on the cords until they rip out. I pull her hands behind her and, none too gently, tie them together.

“If you think that thing’s your friend,” Valerie says, “you’re deluded. It’s using you.”

“You’re one to talk. Seems that everyone here was using me too.”

She’s quiet as I make sure she won’t get out of the restraints.

“Derick, you don’t have to leave,” she says as I stand. “We can help you. You’re not the first one to manifest demonic traits.”

“Why don’t you stop lying?” I reply, annoyed at her continued attempts.

“I’m not lying. Derick, the others didn’t have your level of control, but we learned a lot from them. We can learn even more from you.”

“You mean from my dead body, right?”

“No. It doesn’t have to be like that. Just come back, cooperate with us.”

I pull her up. “I don’t believe you.”

“I’m telling you the truth.”

I move her behind the desk and push her down behind it. “I don’t care.”

I shove Claws aside as I leave the room and close the door.

“Are you leaving her like this?”

“Yes.” I head down the hall.

“What if she gets free?” Claws is close behind me.

“I don’t care.”

“She might alert the others we are here.”

“I don’t care,” I say through gritted teeth, but that’s a lie. I do care. I want her to tell Amanda I’m here. I am angry, and I want to hit someone, someone who matters. My skin shifts, flows and hardens. It no longer looks like a glove. I want someone to pay for what I’m going through.

We reach the containment room, and I smile. It won’t be Amanda, but I’ll be able to hit people. Behind the large glass wall, in the room where the containment unit is located, stand at least thirty armed and armored people. As I watch, they raise their rifles at us.

“Why aren’t they firing?” Claws asks.

“The window is bulletproof. They don’t want to waste their bullets.” The room is large enough it doesn’t seem crowded, even with everyone in it. “Claws, what I said about not hurting them. Well, these people you can hurt to your heart’s content. They deserve the pain.”

Claws doesn’t respond. He runs through the glass.

It turns out bulletproof doesn’t mean demon-proof.