Demons 3 Draft 1 CH 17 (Patreon)

Consciousness returns with pain and I touch the side of my head before anything else registers. It is tender and pain flares as I press on it. Outside of Amanda’s experiments, I have fallen unconscious only once, under the Wrinkleskin’s claws. This was one strike, administered by someone who knew what he was doing, knew how tough I am, even without my skin protecting me.

I push the sense of betrayal down. He cannot have betrayed me. There is something else happening here. I can accept betrayal from humans, they lie even when they think they are helping, but demons are straightforward. Claws might withhold, but he doesn’t lie, he doesn’t betray.

Under my hands, as I put myself up, the floor is cold, metal. The buzzing of sounds resolves itself into words, conversation, voices I recognize, a variety of tones, annoyance, amusement, derision.

“Well, well, well, look who’s finally waking up,” Captain Humbert says dryly. I look over my shoulder, through metal bars. He is across a corridor from me, sitting on the floor in the back of his cell. The only thing with him is a toilet. “For someone who’s supposed to be near indestructible, you sure stayed unconscious a lot longer than we did.”

“To be fair to him,” The man in the cell next to the captain says, “none of us were hit by his boyfriend.”

“Just whose side are you on, Cline?” the captain demands.

“Yours of course, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate his head stayed attached. I know Murray’s would have come right off.”

“Fuck you, Cline,” a woman says, and I look around. Cells line each side of the hallway, enough the twelve soldiers each have one, as do I and Claws.

My friend shrinks in on himself as I look at him. With only bars separating us, I step to them and grab one to rip it out of my way. The warning comes as electricity shoots through me, a small part of me registers it didn’t come from Claws, then I’m on my back, trying to get my limbs to move. The words dissolve into static again. Control returns slowly as the pain diminishes. I roll onto my stomach and push myself up again.

The Captain opens his mouth and I ignore the gibberish that comes out of it.

“I think that fried his brain,” Cline replies to whatever it was, and I look at him. “I think it wore off.”

“Are you okay?” Humbert asks and sounds concerned.

“That hurt more than I expected,” I answer. I have to think back to more of Amanda’s experiments for a time when I felt something resembling that level of pain.

“I think they jacked up the power on both your cells to take into account are tough you are. Granted, I don’t know about your boyfriend, since he hasn’t tried to escape.”

“Claws isn’t my boyfriend,” I reply, unable to keep the annoyance from my tone.

“How can I tell? With the way the two of you are attached at the hip?”

I glare at him. “I don’t feel the connection required to be romantically attached to anyone, human or demon,” I snap. “If you can’t stop yourself from assigning us some sort of human relationship, then think of him as my parent.”

“I didn’t think you were the type who cared,” Humbert says with a sneer.

“I don’t!” I snap again and close my mouth.

“His brain might still be on the scrambled side,” Cline says. “The electricity was strong enough he smoked for a few seconds.”

I want to look at Claws, demand answers, but I can’t tell how I’ll react to his explanation if Humbert’s jabs are causing me to snap. I don’t care about the human, he means nothing to me past this mission, but if I can’t maintain control of myself with Claws, what kind of damage could I cause?

“Can you give me an update?” I ask to give myself time to regain more control. Humbert begins smirking and I feel the glare start to form on my face.

“We’ve been caught,” Cline says, “that should be obvious.” He ignores the look of betrayal Humbert gives him and somehow that is funny to me. A sign my mind isn’t back to normal. “Once you went down, more guards and hybrids stormed the room, which was better than the alternative, considering that big ass demon that brought yours to its knees and turned it against you.”

“The demon ordered Claws?” I try to remember the details of the fight, but it’s a blur of motion and feelings. I remember the demon’s demand for submission, fighting against it, but no other sense from them.

“It didn’t say anything,” Humbert says, “but, what else could it be? All joking aside, you two as kind of devoted to one another. It had an effect on your d—” the pause costs him, I see the need to mock me and Claws on his face. “It had an effect on Claws. After Adam, I didn’t think anything could scare it, but one look and it was a puddle on the floor. Something passed between those two. Demons talk in a range we don’t hear. The scientists haven’t workout exactly the range yet, but that’s coming. Anyway, Claws knocked you out, we were swarmed. I’m surprised they didn’t kill us there, but we woke up here a good hour before you. Doctor Walker walked by a time or two to check in one you. She ignored the rest of us, big surprise there.”

“She looked disappointed you weren’t awake when she came by last,” Cline says. “Maybe ten minutes ago.”

“Disappointment seems to be the only emotion I engender in her.” I turn to Claws, who hasn’t moved; as far from me as he can be, without touching the bars. I step to mine, hating they stand between us. I crouch. “Why?”

He looks at me, the glow in his eye dim. Normally I attribute that to a demon being near death, but I can tell Claws is healthy. That same sense that lets me pick him out of a crowd regardless of the shape he is in.

“Rules us All would have killed you.”

I force details out of my memories. Claws unable to resist the command, me nearly folding under it. His plight giving me the strength to push through, place myself between the two of them, no matter the price.

“I was trying to protect you.”

“I know.” The tenderness comforts me. “I do not wish to lose another child. Rules us All could not abide your stubbornness. Any who resist Rules us All die. Those who submit live.”

A snort behind me. “The rest of us seem to have fared well enough,” Humbert says. “And trust me, not one of us submitted to anything. We fought until they brought us down.”

“You are human,” Claws answer in that dismissive tone I rarely hear him use.

“What does that mean?” Cline asks, but we ignore him.

Claws did what he always does with me; what he thought is best. I don’t like it, but I understand it. “Their name is Rules us All? Do you know them?”

Claws shakes his head.

“And are they the rule of all of you?”

“No. My people do not have societies the way humans do. We have families. A family can be large, it will have an elder, and the elder holds power over the others because age brings it.”

“So its name is pure ego?” Humbert asks in derision.

Claws looks at me, confused, and I have to think back to Jason’s teaching for an answer. “They call themselves Rules us All just because they believe they should, not because it’s fact?”

Claws is silent for a few seconds. “Names are…” he trails off, searching for something.

“Descriptive,” I offer, and he shakes his head. “Claws in the Dark describes who you are.”

“It is more. I named myself Claws in the Dark, but my family agreed. I was not always so. I was Runs Swift when the madness ended. I was Sneaks Around after I left my parents. I returned Claws in the Dark alongside Fangs in the Light. Who we are reflects who the others see us as.”

“So the name Rules us All could have been given to him by his family?”

“I do not know. Humans are involved. Humans change everything.” The annoyance in his tone is sufficiently palpable some of the soldiers raise their voice in protest. “My people do not seek to rule. We do not have a word for how humans set themselves above others.”

“But you have the concept,” I reply. “Rules us All demanded that you submit, that we both submit. You did it before, back in the city, when you defended me from… from your child.”

“It is not the same. We are intruders on Rules us All’s territory. My child disobeys me by threatening you. Without the humans, Rules us All would have chased us off his territory once cowed, or we would have entered with respect.” He motioned to the cell he was in. “This is a human thing. My people do not build things to restrain one another. We simply leave to find our places.”

“So, humans named them Rules us All?”

“That’s bullshit,” Humbert says. “No one would ever want to live under demon rule.”

I look at the man over my shoulder, thinking of Moores and his town, Protect might not rule over them, but he was in a position of power and the humans were fine with it. But it isn’t what I think of when I tell him, “you don’t believe that. Humans have let demons order them. I’ve seen it in the cities. That part wasn’t a lie. Some humans will seek their protection.”

“That’s not the same. Those are small-time criminals who feed their own people to those demons just to save their skin. No one with more than a handful of brain cells would ever consider letting one of them rule, it’s a recipe for genocide.”

Claws looks at me questioningly, and that is a word I encountered in my own learning. Amanda and Jason were careful never to let it enter my vocabulary while I worked for them. “It’s when one group leads to the complete destruction of another,” I tell him.

He nods. “What humans are doing to my people.”

“Hey! We only kill you because you hunt humans. You leave us alone and we’ll be more than happy to live in peace.”

I snort. “I existence proves you wrong, Captain Humbert. Amanda’s continued research proves you wrong. Maybe not all humans want demons annihilated, but Amanda does, the military do.”

Cline laughs. “He’s got you there Cap.”

I look at the man. “You don’t deny it?”

Cline shrugs. “I’ve been a soldier for more than twenty years. I had to make peace with a lot of horrible things. But I do believe that what we do is for the good of the most people in the long term. I wouldn’t still do it if I didn’t.”

“Killing my people will not be good for anyone in the long term,” Claws states.

“You are wrong there,” Amanda’s voice sounds through the cells. “You are so very wrong.” A door opens, and she enters. “Demons are a bane on this world. You kill and eat indiscriminately, you’re nothing more than animals, just smart enough to corrupt anything and anyone who comes close to you.”

“Doctor Walker,” Humbert says.

“Don’t even try to proclaim your innocence, Captain,” she cuts him off. “You’re here, with that.” She points at Claws. “I knew you were tainted when I saw you let it leave without even trying to kill it. I don’t know what kind of lie you told your superior, but that you’re still part of the military just confirms they aren’t any better.”

“Kettle, let me introduce you to Pot,” Cline said, and she stares at him.

I walk to the front. I don’t understand the expression, but I have an idea what he is alluding to by his tone. “You are protected by demons.”

“That’s not the same,” she replies. “They’re a means to an end. Mister Graves is only keeping them around until my process is perfected, then you will be what protects us all.” She looks at me. “Well, your successors, those who can do what they are told.”

“Then do not lie to them, Amanda. I don’t know what I would have done if I had known the truth, but the pain of finding out is part of what caused me to walk away from you and Jason.”

“Did it tell you that?” She asks suspiciously. “You were fine until you talked with it; until you let it fill your head with lies about me. If you’re killed it like you were made to do, none of this would have happened.”

I search her eyes. Look for the hard but fair woman I remember. The one driving me to be better, arguing with Jason over what me being better meant. Did she ever exist? I don’t believe she is able of that level on conniving, but what did I not know to look for in those years?

I see nothing like who I remember in there. And I make my decision. “I’m done, Amanda. I’m done thinking of you as more than another human. Once we deliver you to the military, you won’t have to worry about seeing me again. The next time you’re kidnapped, I won’t come to your rescue.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Just how full of yourself do you have to be to think I ever gave a damn about you? You’re a machine. A proof of concept.” She snaps her finger toward the door and it opens again and six muscular humans enter, each armed with machine guns. “Once you demonstrate to Mister Graves my process works, you will have outlived your usefulness.”

Claws us up and by the corner our cells share. “Do not hurt him,” he warns. Growing until he almost touches the ceiling. “If he does not return unharmed, I will hunt and eat you.”

She snorts. “If you think you scare me, you’re wrong. I’ve seen you cower. You’re not so scary when you’re not the biggest thing around, are you?”

“You do not understand my people if you think anyone will keep me from eating you should you harm my child.”

“He’s mine! I made him! I don’t know how you got him to think he had anything to do with your kind, but that’s not going to be a problem for long.” She motions to a guard. “Take him out of the cell, Mister Graves is waiting for the demonstration.”

Claws growls, demands submission in the undertone, fear mixed in with it, increasing before the humans don’t react to it the way demons would. Exasperation replacing the demand. The fear increasing.

“It’s alright,” I tell him. “They won’t hurt me.” I smile at him since I can’t send my confidence to soothe his fear. “They’re only human.”