Demons 3 Draft 1 CH 10 (Patreon)

The humans don’t know what to do with me as well as the demons in my first days officially part of their community. Cub and the Teenagers hound my steps, waiting for when I stop moving to jump me, bring me down, and use me as their mattress. They don’t put me in a position where I can’t force them off me, it only means they come back later. Cub loses interest after a few days, but the Teenagers are tenacious.

The older demons keep their distances, wariness the constant undertone when I am close. The young ones put up defiant fronts to mask the fear they emit anytime one gets close to me.

The humans approach, ask questions, leave. They come back with other questions, leave again, and return. They want to know about me, my life, the city, my relationships. Each one asks the questions another did. Even once they find me things to help with, take advantage of my strength to help them build or repair structures, they still ask questions.

The only time I receive some peace is when I go into the small house Moores assigned as my own, but I don’t spend much time there. The questions are no more intrusive than what the scientists asked when I was their subjects, and satisfying their curiosity makes them happy, it makes me feel included in their community. They pester each other as much as me.

After a week, I have helped repair damage to two barns caused by a storm, help erect a third, one that will have more recent equipment to preserve and process the creatures the human get their meat from, and I had to put in his place the young adult the humans call Many Names.

He spends days following me; hiding around buildings, slinking on rooftops. Overall doing a poor job of being unnoticed. When I decide I have enough, I make sure there are no humans around. The Teenagers are with older demons, one is on a hunt, the other two are learning. I leave myself open, my back to them. In a courtyard large enough nothing will be damaged in the fight, and wait.

I don’t wait long. With a hiss, they launch themselves from the rooftop. I turn, make eye contact, do they know I am neither surprised nor afraid, then step out of their path. Skin stretches from their arms to legs in an attempt to gain control of the leap, but they don’t have the room. All they do is distract themselves and crash to the ground, hurrying to stand and raise to their full height, helped with altering their body until they are too thin for how tall they are, over twice my height.

“I eat you. I am Eat the Eater!” They throw themselves at me and my surprise over the name almost keeps me from reacting in time. I grab the arm as I feel claws against my side, the black skin already covering it to keep them from piercing, Turn and adding my strength to their momentum send them rolling away.

“I don’t eat demons,” I state, looking at the rips in the shirt Moores gave me.

My statement confuses them. “Then I am Defeat the Hunter.” They run at me, shorter, bulkier, arms thick and claws long.

I jump over them, slapping the side of their head to make my point. “You’re Lose the Fight.” I land and turn. “Unless you call yourself Walks Away.”

They puff their chests out. “I am Not Afraid.”

I wonder if they understand the concept behind a name is to allow others to have a specific term to identify them by. “Who will you be when I defeat you?”

They snort. “No human defeats me.”

“How many humans have you fought?”

They pause, hesitate before forcing the confidence back. “One.”

“Me?”

They nod and with a growl more pitiful than fear-inducing throw themselves at me.

I thicken the skin over my right arm, hardening it as I step into their jump and punch their chest. I don’t hold back, even in a young adult, it takes more than one punch to do serious damage. They land on their back letting out a whine of pain, unable to hide the fear.

“I’m not human.” I approach and they try to scamper away.

The shadow passes over us as I reach for their leg, and they grin at me.

Protect lands behind me, a growl of annoyance filling the courtyard. “What are you doing?” they demand, and before I can explain myself continues. “I told you to stay away from this one.”

The demon at my feet loses their smile. “It hurt me.”

The sigh is loud. “He’s Eats the People. You should be happy pain is all he caused you.”

“But it—”

“He,” Protect hisses. “Humans differentiate between men and women. If you can’t judge the danger one poses, at least learn to tell them apart.”

“Why are you defending him?” the demon demands. “It’s the enemy of the people.”

I feel Protect glaring at me. “He hasn’t hurt the people even when he had the chance.”

“But—”

“You attacked him.”

“It’s okay,” I say, now feeling bad for Many Names. “They’re young, they’ll make mistakes.” Something Jason liked to tell me in my first year of existence, when I was still adapting to being alive, to this body.

“Disobeying me is not a mistake, it is a habit.”

I smile at Many Name. “You might want to apologize to him. In my experience, it helps calm angry people.”

They glare at me defiantly. “I don’t listen to you.”

“Then go away,” Protect orders, the words reinforce with the undertone of command. The words have all been for my benefit, or possibly something they always do when humans are around.

Many Names scampers to their feet and leaps on a rooftop, hissing at me over their shoulders before vanishing down the other side. Protect sighs and deflates.

“Yours?”

“The child of the child of my child.” They shake their head. “Stubborn like each all my children.”

“I think all parents feel that way,” I say, remembering Claws saying something similar to me. “I’ll make sure not to hurt him too badly when he tries it again.”

Protect’s lack of response, lack of a threat, makes me look at them. They look at where Many Names was before vanishing. They notice me watching them and frown. “I will eat you if you injure Many Names.” The threat isn’t accompanied by the usual undercurrent. Then Protect leaps up, the wings spreading out of their back and they fly away.

* * * * *

Over the next weeks, I continue to help, to watch for Many Name’s next attack, but I don’t give them an opening this time. If they want to fight me, they will have to earn it. The Teenagers finally grow tired of me as their mattress. And most of the humans no longer pester me with questions, which I discover I miss.

I mostly eat with Moores and the town elder but hunt in the night when the food I’m served no longer fills me completely. Even demons hunt out of sight of the humans when they are old enough. Humans aren’t comfortable watching us eat the creatures we bring down.

I am carrying the axle assembly to one of the tractors from the blacksmith back to the mechanic when Sandra approaches.

“Hi, Derrick.” She smiles at me. This time she is dressed in pants and a shirt partially open at the top, it is the right size for her chest at least, even if her intent is clear by exposing the top of her breast to view.

“Hello, Sandra.” I continue walking.

“This had to be heavy. You don’t have to do all that work, you know. Everyone’s already more than grateful for everything you’ve done already. I know I am. You can take a break. My house isn’t far from Fukui’s shop, you can take a shower there if you want afterward.”

“Thank you, but this isn’t strenuous, and I like keeping busy.”

“I can help you stay busy, you know.”

“What work do you need done?”

She smiles. “Oh, you know what kind.”

“Not without you telling me. I’m not adept at seeing the kind of repairs a house might need unless it’s the result of a fight, and there hasn’t been one of those in town recently.” I look at the rooftop on my left, locking eyes with Many Names, who drops out of sight after getting over their surprise.

She presses close against me. “Staying busy doesn’t have to mean carrying heavy stuff or building something. There are more pleasurable ways to occupy your time.”

I smile at her. “I don’t think you’re resilient enough for us to spar.”

“That’s not what I mean,” she says in exasperation.

“Then I’m not certain what you could be referring to.” I learned with Diane, in my first week, that simply acknowledging what they wanted made convincing them I have no interest in it more difficult. I nod toward Fukui’s garage. “I hope you have a good day.” Then call to the mechanic to let him know I’ve arrived.

Sandra leaves me. She and the other women who are somehow interested in me don’t like having too close of an audience for their advances on me.

* * * * *

By the time the following month passes, I fall into a routine. Many Names has yet to attack, but they are getting better at sneaking around. If they ever settle on one name, Isn’t Seen, will be a good one.

The ladies of the town still approach me and try to get me alone in their homes. Some of them have been explicit in what they want to do with me, and the lack of comprehension I put on for them confuses them more than when I state I am not interested in any of it.

The town’s people continue to find work for me. And the demons no longer avoid me, although they don’t lose the undercurrent of worry when I’m close.

* * * * *

It’s a hot afternoon when the call comes. It’s too hot for the humans to do more than sit and talk, gathered in one of the large gathering spaces between houses. Protect and other demons are there, Cub playing with the children. He can go a few hours between feeding. Baby can last five minutes.

I don’t hear the call, I feel it. My bones vibrate with it and I remember Claws before me; before I walk away from him in the hopes of discovering who I am when I have neither humans nor demons to force my actions. I wonder what he is doing. Did he go back to his family? Did he travel? Where—

Protect’s rumble of worry and fear has me on my feet and I realize the call isn’t something I imagine. I can feel it under it all.

Familiar.

The other demons are up, following Protect’s example, and the humans are experienced enough to know something is out of the ordinary.

“Intruder,” Protect says. “Strong.”

“Are they a danger?” Moores asks.

“No,” I answer, realizing what this means. “I know him.”

Claws has come for me.