Demons 3 Draft 1 CH 19 (Patreon)

“I didn’t think they’d bring you back,” Humbert says as the lone guard motions for me to enter my cell, “or that one of them was enough to keep you under control.”

“He isn’t,” I answer as the door closes, “but my actions impact more than only me. “

“What, you care about the rest of us?” Cline asks, surprised, “when did that happen?”

“Don’t be an idiot, Cline. He means his demon, not us.”

“I mean all of you, Claws included.” I sit against the metal wall.

From his position mirroring mine, Humbert studies me. “You expect me to believe that? You’ve never cared about us. You were ready to feed up to demons the last time we worked together. I’m with Cline, what changed?”

“For one thing,” I answer, “this time we have the same goal.”

“Unless it’s to bring Walker back, we’re not on the same page.”

“She doesn’t want to go, but yes, that is still the mission.” I look at Claws, he is more himself, looking like a biped mix of demon and human sitting cross-legged. “How are you doing?”

“I am well, taking into account the situation we are in.”

“Do you need to feed anytime soon?”

“No, our last hunt will last me until we are done here.”

Unless Mister Graves starts torturing him the way Adam did.

“What did Walker want?” Humbert asks.

“To parade me before the man who employs her as a demonstration of what she can accomplish. A Mister Graves.”

Humbert shrugs. “I’m not into local politics, and that name never came up in any of my briefings. Anyone?” he asks the other prisoners. No one knows the name.

“We should rest,” I say, “and avoid discussing important matters. They are listening in.” I close my eyes and sleep.

* * * * *

I wake at the opening of a door. Guards enter the hall, carrying trays. Two keep machine guns aimed at the person in the cell while one deactivates the security, and another slides the tray containing food through the partially opened door.

“No one does anything,” Humbert orders as the soldiers tense. He studies the guards as they close the door and move on to the next cell.

The same repeats at every cell. The only difference with mine is how much food the tray contains. Amanda has instructed them as to my requirements. I stare at the can of soda that is included. Is that a message, that she remembered Jason and how I feel about him?

“Shit,” Cline says, staring at my tray as they pass Humbert his meal, “What are they trying to do, fatten you up?” Claws doesn’t get anything.

“I am not human,” I answer, picking up the can. The taste is fresh in my memory. She knows how much I crave this, but she wouldn’t care. A gesture from Mister Grave? A small way he shows he can get me what I want? “I have a demon’s need in quantity, but I still process it at human speed, therefore I need more and more often.” A hunt helps make it last longer. “Do you drink this?” I ask Cline.

“What’s the flavor?”

I frown, turning the can in my hand until I find a flavor written on it. “Strawberry. Do they come in different flavors?”

Cline stares at me. “Don’t you drink the stuff?”

“All I taste are chemicals, sugar, the carbonization. I never identified anything resembling fruits or vegetables in them.” I consider tasting it. Maybe none of those I drank before were strawberry and this one will have the correct taste?

“Then why do you drink them?”

“I’ve grown addicted.”

“And you’re offering it to me? I’m… I’m honored.”

“I don’t like the message it gives that they included it. Amanda knows I’m addicted, but she would make sure it wasn’t there specifically for that.”

“Okay, I’m not quite as honored, but I’ll take it, anyway. All I have water.”

“Same here,” the woman in the cell next to Cline says. “How about you share with the class?”

I consider the angles and settle on Humbert. “Captain, you’ll have to pass it along, I can’t slide it to Cline.”

“I’ll do it,” the man in the cell next to me says, Diniz, the man who removed the skylight.

“You touch it, Din, and I am going there to break you,” Cline says. “He offered it to me.”

“You’re not going to share?”

I slide the can across the corridor to Humbert.

“I might, but you’re a hog. You touch that and there isn’t going to be4 any left for the rest of you.”

“Stop arguing,” the captain says, passing the can between the bars to Cline. “And you’re sharing it with anyone who wants some on our side. That’s an order.”

“What bout us?” Diniz asks, sounding hurt.

“Coplar can try to slide the open can to Murray opposite her, and if it doesn’t tip and spill the content, it’ll make it’s way to you.”

Diniz makes a show of looking at the others through the bars. “You are going to leave me some, right?” laughter is the response.

“You have to catch what you eat, right?” Humbert asks Claws, who nods.

“But as I told Derick, our last hunt will last me until we are done here.”

Humbert sits and we all eat.

* * * * *

The next two days are the same. Meals and rest. The soldiers grow nervous and talkative, but nothing they speak of is relevant to our situation. Jokes, by how some laughs afterward, personal histories. Even Humbert joins in on the second day.

On the third, halfway between lunch and dinner, four guards enter and force Coplar out of her cell.

“Captain?” she asks, giving no indication of how she feels.

“What’s going on?” he replies.

“She’s going for some exercises,” one of the guard answers, and by the way the others laugh, something about should be funny, but only to them, none of the soldiers join in. “You’re coming, no matter what your boss says, the only question is how banged up you’ll be for it, and trust me, you don’t want to be banged up for what’s coming.”

“Go,” Humbert tells her. “You hurt her and you are going to have to deal with the rest of us, do you understand?”

The guards laugh. “Oh, we won’t be laying a finger on the pretty lady. She’s not for us.” He looks her up and down and she punches him before anyone reacts.

“No, you ain’t, you piece oh sit. And if you ever look ah me like that again, ah-ma going to rip your balls out.”

I stare at her as the man picks himself up. I understand the way she speaks is an accent, humans from different regions have different languages, and then they speak another it distorts it, but this is the first time I’ve heard one of the language shift as they spoke. I look to Humbert, but it’s Cline who answers, as the guard lead Coplar out.

“Her accent gets creeps in when she gets angry. I’d say that was a three out of ten. When she hits six, it’s just about impossible to understand anything coming out of her mouth.”

“You’d know,” Humbert says, “Seeing as you get your kicks out of pissing her off anytime you’re off duty.”

“What can I say, cap, I reserve the on-duty times to pissing you off exclusively.”

Humbert looked to the ceiling. “You are so lucky there are electrified bars between us. I really want to strangle you right now.”

The man grinned. “I can step to the bars if you want, you should be able to reach through can grab my neck. If you’re careful, you might even be able to strangle me without electrocuting both of us.”

Humbert lets out a breath and goes back to sitting. “That won’t be necessary, sergeant, I’m going to need every soldier I can spare to get us out of this, yes, even you,” He adds before Cline speaks. “God save us all.”

That makes everyone laugh, even Cline.

“What is that about?” Claws asks me.

I shrug. “I don’t understand humor. Jason explained that it’s one of the way human relieve tension. Sex and fighting are the others.”

“Oh dear God,” the woman one cell beyond Diniz exclaims. “Someone explained sex to something like you?

“Jason wanted me to be human. Sex is one of most basic of humans things according to him.”

“And?” A man asks. I look in the direction of the voice, but can’t see him. “How was it?”

“I didn’t do it.”

“What, never?” the same man asks.

“The process Amanda used to make me removed whatever it is that drives humans to do it.”

“You can still enjoy it even if you don’t feel like doing it, I mean just ask Cline’s wife.”

“You got that wrong, Sam,” Cline replies. “It’s your husband who needs to force himself to do it with you, trust me, he tells me that every time he sneaks into my bed for some really good times.”

“Fuck you, Cline,” Sam says good naturedly.

“No in public, sorry, but even I have my limits.”

The others laugh and the conversation devolves into good-natured ribbing.

Coplar doesn’t return.

* * * * *

The next day the guards take Diniz, and this time the man doesn’t go willingly.

He does not return.

* * * * *

The day after they take Sam, and they have to beat him unconscious before they can take him out of his cell, and help one of the guards to walk out. No one makes jokes. They understand what is happening, if not the how.

Mister Graves has demons to feed, and while I don’t know how he selects who he normally feeds them, he doesn’t have to worry about it for some time since he had intruders to dispose of. That I haven’t been picked tells me he is waiting for a specific demon to need a hunt. He said I had time while he prepared things. Do I merit the elder, or will he keep Claws for them? Throughout my time hunting demons for Amanda, I never encountered a demon who was more and an older adolescent, possibly a young adult. She never bothered classifying them, but once the hunger madness passes and they can think, the threshold demons use to make adulthood, they quickly learn how to avoid attracting the attention of anyone looking for them.

The first adult I know I met is Claws, then was his child, after Lives Alone, that Protects the Community, Kills and Watches. Claws dealt with his child and the others didn’t try to kill me.

How old are the demons in this city if an elder like Rules us All is here? Who does Mister Graves have in mind for me? I want to speak with Claws, ask his opinion, he will have a sense of the demons here. But I am unsure how the soldiers will react to the knowledge we are being fed to them. If they panic, at best they will exhaust themselves, at worst, they will get hurt trying to get out of their cells. However we will escape this, everyone will need to be at their best.

* * * * *

The next day is different. Instead of four guards, eight enter and along with their machine guns, they are fully armored. It is my turn. Humbert looks at me and I shake my head. I can’t take them all, all they need is to push me against the bars and the electricity will incapacitate me. Maybe once I am out of the cell block, an opportunity will present itself, but—

“Alright, you two beauties are going for your exercise.” The man is the one Coplar punched the helmet covers his face but does nothing to mask his voice. Humbert is as surprised as I am that two of the guards are aiming their machine gun at him as another opens his door. “I hope you appreciate how we treated your friends who weren’t cooperating and you aren’t going to make my life difficult.”

I watch Humbert. He is more used to fighting humans. With the two of us, he could have strategies that will work in this environment. The shake of the head is small. He can’t see a way to win here either. We exit our cells without causing problems.

Two of us means the demon will be older, more difficult to beat, but two of us also means we may find a way to escape before we reach the maze. This is a better situation than I hoped for.

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