Demons. CH 23 (Patreon)

Amanda is in the doorway, the one we could have used, on the left of the side of the glass wall. That section isn’t glass, so it survived Claws’s entry in the room. She looks around the room, then steps in.

Claws tenses and I shake my head.

“This is quite the mess,” Amanda says. Four women in heavy armor holding large rifles enter behind her and position themselves on each side of her. I look at the rifles. I’ve never seen them before. By the width of the barrels, I can tell they use much higher calibers than the revolvers.

“You should have known they wouldn’t be enough to stop me.”

Jason enters behind them, looks around, and lets out a series of expletives.

Amanda ignores him.

“You had help. Although you’re not looking too good. Feeling under the weather?”

I try to snort, but I can’t work up the energy. I am still tired. “I’m guessing some of the swords were poisoned.”

“Only Rebecca’s.” She looks around, then shrugs. I’m guessing Rebecca was the last guard I fought. “I’m happy to see it did work. We didn’t get a chance to test it before. Until now it was just a theoretical model, based on your unique biology. I had no idea how it was going to affect you, but I’m disappointed it hasn’t killed you yet. I was expecting it to work faster.”

I don’t bother trying to shrug. Claws is supporting all my weight. It’s all I can do to keep my head up. “What can I say? You built me tough.”

“Yes, I did.” She smiles. “But you’re still going to die. So how about you give me back the soul stones, and I’ll make your last moments more comfortable.”

“No.” I look her in the eyes. “They aren’t yours. He’s going to take them back to his people.”

Amanda frowns, but Jason looks surprised. He studies Claws for a moment, then turns to Amanda.

“Manda, you don’t have to do that. He’s more valuable alive than—”

“Do shut up, Jason.”

“D. Please, tell her you’ll work with us. If you don’t, you’re going to die.”

“I’d rather die than work with humans like you.”

“D, you can’t mean that.”

“Why? Because I believed all the lies, you told me? Because you acted like you cared about me? Like you were my friend?”

“Good,” Amanda says. “Since you’re resigned to dying, let’s get this over with.” She raises her hand, and the women aim their rifles at us.

“No,” Claws says.

Amanda gasps. Jason nods knowingly.

“You… You talk?” She’s confused for a moment, then understanding shows. “That explains the low mass of the body that was brought in. You never killed it. You lied to us.” She says it like she can’t believe it happened.

“You should be happy. It’s something else I learned from you.”

Jason grabs Amanda’s arm. “Manda, this is enough. You can’t learn as much from him if he’s dead as if he’s alive.”

“What is your problem?” she asks, exasperated. “He’s a failed project. I’ll make you another one soon enough, and you can fuck that one if you want it that badly.”

Two of the woman glance at Jason, disgust on their faces.

“You know damn well that’s not why.” He throws his hands up. “Never mind. It’s clear I can’t talk you out of this stupidity, but I’m not hanging around here to watch you throw over two years of work down the drain.” He turns and storms out.

Amanda waits for a long moment, during which I hear Jason stop, then the elevator door opens. “I can’t let her do this. He’s—" It closes again. He was too far away for her to hear him, so I’m not surprised when she continues.

“Where were we? Ah yes, killing you.”

“No,” Claws repeats. “I will not let you kill him.”

“Why?” Amanda asks, sounding surprised. “I mean, it isn’t like I’m planning on letting you walk out of here either, but why do you care? He’s going to die either way. Are you hoping to eat him?”

“I’m not dying here,” I tell her. It takes every ounce of willpower, but I manage to get my legs under me and stand tall. “It might be the last thing I’ll do, but I am not letting myself fall into your hands again.”

“You are full of bravado,” she replies. “I’m going to have to make sure the next one doesn’t have that. It’s annoying.” She looks at the four women with her. “It isn’t like you have any say in the matter. I’m the one who decides—” The room falls into darkness.

Claws moves, and I fall to the ground. I only see five forms with my thermal vision, then muzzle flashes illuminate Claws as he grabs one of them. Something breaks and he throws her away. He hits the next one over the head, and she falls like her bones have been taken out. For a while, I don’t see him in the flashing light. Then they have to reload, and I see one bend in half with the sound of her spine breaking. 

The fourth one fumbles around. She’s whimpering. She turns a flashlight on and screams as it illuminates Claws, then there’s a ripping sound. Claws has something hot in his hand, her insides. The light falls to the ground and rolls away.

Amanda stands frozen during the short time this takes. I wonder if it’s fear, or because she was confident she wouldn’t lose. Now it’s too late for her to run. Claws grabs her by the neck.

“Don’t,” I croak.

“She poisoned you,” Claws says. “She intended to kill you. She must die.”

“That’s too good for her. You have the stones. She can’t make another one without one of those.”

“She can get more.”

“We can destroy the servers. It contains everything, her research has to be on there.”

She moves back and up with a jerk, and her head hits the top of the door frame. Then she falls to the ground. She is still breathing.

“I do not like it,” he says. “You should not be protecting her.”

“Her research is everything. We destroy that, and she’s going to suffer for a long time.”

Claws picks me up, and I guide him down to where the server is. It isn’t just the room that is dark; the whole floor is, as well as all the others. It makes taking care of the few guards we encounter easy. Their flashlights warn us, and Claws moves too fast for them to react. He sits me down by the door, then the sound of things breaking lasts for five minutes. 

On the way out, I have Claws detour by the cafeteria. All of a sudden I am famished. Even this late there is always food ready, for those who work through the night. I want to sit and take the time to eat, make sure my hunger is sated, but we can’t afford to stay. I grab the tray of meats out of the fridge and eat as Claws carries me out.

We encounter no guards, not even in the lobby. Maybe they all went down to rescue the people there, or they are trying to restore the power. I wonder if my friend from the previous time is responsible for that. Hopefully, he isn’t one of those Claws hurt in the darkness.

Claws makes it two blocks before I have him stop. I get him to put me down, hand him the half-full tray, and drop to all fours. My stomach is rebelling. I am still hungry, but not only does it feel like I can't eat another piece, something is about—

I throw up.

I make a large puddle of chewed meat mixed in with a green goo, streaked with black. Once I’m done, I feel slightly better. I sit back against the wall of the alley. Claws crouches next to me and studies the puddle. I take the tray off his hand and get to eating again. He runs a claw through it, brings it up and sniffs it, then licks it. He has a thoughtful expression for a moment, then stands.

Once I’m done eating, I’m able to stand on my own. “I’m no longer as tired as I was.”

“You protected yourself from the poison.” He points to the puddle. The black streaks look like the black of my hand.

“I can do that?”

“If you are feeling better, then it seems likely you can. None of us can expunge part of ourselves like you did.”

“I don’t think Amanda realized I could do that.”

Claws nods.

I throw the empty tray in a dumpster and start walking. Claws falls into step, and soon he’s back to looking like a human wearing jeans and a hoodie. We walk through the night. 

I push myself. With the damage we did, I expect Amanda will want retribution. I don’t mind, but now that I am feeling better, I find I’d prefer being away from here, rather than having to fight them.

The moons are setting when the density of the buildings lightens considerably. By the time the horizon brightens, the buildings are sparse around us. We continue until the sun has fully risen. Claws stops.

“My people are in that direction.” He points in a direction perpendicular to the road. A car drives by, raising dust. It doesn’t slow.

“How far?”

“At a full run, I can reach them by the time the sun touches the horizon again.”

I nod. At the speed he runs, that’s a good distance away. Amanda shouldn’t be able to track him there.

“You should come with me.”

I shake my head. “I can’t. I’m not like you.”

“You are— My people would accept you.”

“Even after I’ve killed so many of them?” I shake my head again. “No, I don’t want to you to have to protect me from them. And if Amanda decides to come after me, I don’t want her also finding you.”

“Then I should stay with you.”

“No, I’ll be going to a city. You can’t follow me there.”

“I found you and followed you in this one.”

I sigh. “You have people to go back to. They are more important than me.”

He grabs me by the shoulder. I get the sense he wants to shake me, but he only stares at me, then lets me go. He turns away.

“What will you do in that other city? Will you continue to hunt my kind?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know how things work. I will have to get money. I have no idea how to do that.” I look behind me, at the outline of the city. “They never taught me how to live. Just how to kill.” I look back to Claws. “I don’t know if I can let demons kill humans. Even after all this, I don’t want to believe that every human is bad. Juliette tried to help me. She can’t be the only good human.”

His shoulders slump. “There are more good humans than bad, but you don’t owe them anything. You don’t need to protect them.”

“It’s all I know how to do right now.”

He turns and looks at me. “Derick, come with me. We can show you another way,” he pleads.

The use of my name surprises me, as does the emotion in his eyes. I think about it, looking into the distance, where he pointed. What would it be like, looking the way I do, living among them? I shake my head.

“Thank you, Claws in the Dark, for showing me the world isn’t just what I was taught.” I start walking along the road, away from him. “Thank you for saving me. I hope you have a safe trip home.”

I feel his eyes on me for a long time, and I fight the urge to look back. Even once I no longer feel it, I keep walking. When I do look over my shoulder, he is nowhere to be seen. I smile. I look ahead again and wonder how far along the road the next city will be, and what it might be like.