Demons 3 Draft 1 CH 25 (Patreon)

“Stop pacing,” Gregg says from the chair, eyes closed.

I don’t stop walking from one end of the living room to the other. “When are they going to be back?”

“Whenever they get back. It can’t be easy to convince people in this kind of organization to work against its interest.” He opens an eye. “You’re going to tire yourself before we start on anything.”

“I am not made to sit around and do nothing.”

“You can’t tell me that they had you constantly run around killing demons back in the day. Even the military knows that’s just going to lead to us making mistakes.”

“No, but there were experiments run on me. Jason’s teaching. I rested when I needed it, and after that, I was kept busy. And living in the wild, with you chasing me, did not lead to a sedentary life.”

“You have to learn to enjoy the quiet times, they’re going to be over quickly enough.”

“Not quickly enough,” I grumble. The door opens before I ask again how long until they return and Taros hurries in, bag in his arms.

“The others are right behind me.” He hands me the bag. “Before you ask about them, you need to know we didn’t tell them about the danger of the city getting blown up. We told them that if you didn’t rescue the doctor, the military is going to storm the city. It was enough. Blowing it up would have just sent them running.”

The bag contains food, meat, vegetables, and fruits, mostly fresh by the scents. My stomach grumbles and I do my best to ignore it.

“I’m surprised you didn’t run,” Gregg says, standing. “You’re a wanderer, this feels like a perfect time for you to go.”

“I’ve made friends here,” Taros snaps, but still takes a step back. “Yes, at some point I’m going to head out, but I’m not going to abandon them in a lurch.”

Gregg raises his hands. “I didn’t mean—”

“Sure you didn’t,” Taros replies, as the door opens again. “Just watch what you tell them. I got you a dozen, any more and we’ll raise suspicion; unless you’re looking to start a revolt, you don’t want us to be noticed.”

Florent joins us, accompanied by muscular men. They remind me of the men I met during the caged fights. Big, eager to fight, and not too interested in questioning why. Florent looks out of place among them. Both in physique and attitude; he doesn’t hide that he was dragged into this.

He gives an uncertain wave. “Hey guys, these are the ones who agreed to help.”

Gregg slaps his hands together and rubs them. “Great, glad to have you on board. Have they told you what the plan is?”

“Get you to some doctor so the army’s going to leave us alone.” One of them answers, tall man, skin darker than me. The others remain behind him, marking him as the leader of this group.

“We need to stop by the prison first to rescue my people. We’re going to need them to fight whatever Walker has protecting her. Is that going to be a problem?”

The man looked at the others and the strongest protest is a shrug. “Not for us. The only condition we have is that you aren’t killing anyone.”

Gregg raises an eyebrow. “We’re breaking people out and running away. Someone’s going to try to stop us, and being gentle isn’t going to be something we’re going to have the time to worry about.”

The man shrugs. “That’s not my problem. You want our help, you don’t kill anyone.”

Gregg shrugs and lies again. “Okay, I’m going to have to deal with it.”

I study the others. For people who lie so much, humans aren’t good at knowing when one of them is lying. “Were you able to find out if Mister Graves knows about Hard as Steel?” Glances shifts to Gregg, who smiles at them. It doesn’t comfort them.

“As far as I could tell, no one was willing to risk it,” Taros answers. “I don’t think anyone ever killed a demon in the maze, and no one wants to find out how Graves will take it. Of course, the word is a second one was killed earlier today, so who knows, maybe he’ll have to get used to it.”

“Do you have details?” I ask. I look at Gregg, who is eager for information. Only one of the soldiers can have accomplished that, and if they got out of the maze, they should be here with us by now.

Taros looks around.

“It’s just something we heard,” the leader answers. “Don’t know if it’s true, but rumors also say the guy who did it was taken out on a stretcher.”

“Dead?” Greg asks.

“How else is a demon going to leave anyone, even the guy who managed to kill him?”

“He killed one and walked away,” Florent says, indicating Gregg.”

The man shrugs. “So you say. Look, unless that matters, is there a reason we’re not already moving?”

“I need to eat,” I indicate the bag in my arm, and my stomach grumbles again.

“You lot stay here,” Gregg says, “the two of us need to strategize.” He follows me to the kitchen, ensuring no one sneaks close to listen.

“Strategize?” I empty the content on the counter. Enough for one decent meal. If this stretches further than tonight, I will need to eat again.

“What are the odds he survived?”

“Not good.” I find a large bowl, a knife, and set about cutting everything into reasonably sized chunks. “Unless he was able to get his hand on Boost, he was outclassed. Even with your training, you don’t take on young demons by yourselves.”

Gregg curses. “I am going to make them pay for this.”

“Just be careful this group doesn’t see you doing it.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t call me out on it.”

“I’m used to humans lying. You’re human.” I don’t elaborate. No need to antagonize Gregg.

“At least you aren’t getting all high and mighty about it.”

I give everything in the bowl a shake and start eating. “Nighttime is the most appropriate time to mount the rescue,” I state.

“It’s also when they’ll be expecting it. A daytime rescue catches them unprepared. We’re also less likely to encounter demons in the day, with the way they see primarily by heat signature, they’re more efficient at night.”

“There’s still the danger of attracting attention.” I indicate his body armor. “You’ll need to change.”

“You don’t exactly blend it either.”

“A trench coat is less likely to attract attention.”

“Then let it to me and It’ll cover my armor.”

I consider it, then nods. Once the soldiers are rescued, there will be no way to easily hide them, I’ll get it back.

“If they stuck to their schedule, whoever they threw in the maze this morning was the fourth. So I’m down to eight. We’re going to have to get more Boost. We should get some for these guys too.”

“That’s dangerous. We don’t know how they’ll react to it. You have the experience, and you still ended up erratic. We could end up creating ourselves more problems.”

“We don’t have a choice. We know the opposition had access to it, so we have to even the odds. If we’re lucky, they won’t have changed the routine yet and the guards at the prison will still carry boost.”

“If not, I have five left from the pack I took yesterday.” I tip the bowl up to drink the juices, and Gregg makes a face.

“There’s no way that’s good. Come on, let’s update our troupes and get moving.

* * * * *

The walk to the prison building is uneventful. Gregg wanted a vehicle. But their allocation is controlled. We attract the occasional look from the people who are part of the support system, but groups of armed people don’t scare them.

Entering the prison is simple. The leader of the group announced they’re there to take one of the prisoners to the maze and we enter. By the time our numbers are noticed, we’re subduing the men there. Four of them, they fall easily. Only one of them has a pack of boost and only two vials in it.

“Stay here,” Gregg tells the men as he and I head for the cells. “Subdue anyone who comes in, if they have Boost take a vial each, but don’t inject yourselves. We’re keeping that for when the real fighting’s going to start.”

Another man is subdued in the cell block as he returns carrying trays with dirty plates. He only had one vial of Boost. The soldiers rejoice at seeing us. I head for Claws. He doesn’t look good, but he sniffs in my direction and looks better. By the time I locate the controls to his cell, he stands before the door. His rumble carries joy, relief, and reproach?

I open the door and he stands there. I glance to the soldiers and Gregg is looking into an empty cell, the one that held Cline.

“What’s wrong?” I ask Claws.

“I believed her.”

“Amanda? What did she say?”

“That you were dead.”

“Humans lie,” I tell him before I realize the impact such a lie must have had on him. “I’m sorry. After the maze they took us to another building, I couldn’t tell you.”

“I should not have believed her. You are the child of Fangs in the Light, you will not fall to a hunt so easily, but the elder here is so old. She said the old demon got you. I thought she meant the elder.”

Does he realize I’m here? I reached for him, hesitate, I don’t have gloves on, then grabbed his arm. “I’m here.” Devastation flows through me—him—as the scent of Fangs in the Light ends with their death. A madness takes him, different from that of hunger but also powerful. The same madness takes him as Amanda tells him I am dead. She regales in seeing him in pain, in inflicting that pain.

He throws himself at her, the electricity in the bars strong enough to stop even him. He tries again and again, and she smirks at his attempts, mocks him, denigrates what I am to him.

I hold him against me and the memories change. Him catching this new scent on a demon who fled the city, the reminding on it of Fangs in the Light mixed with something else. The curiosity of watching me hunt, catching my scent, and identifying it as that he was following, the realization that something of Fangs in the Light lives on in me.

He untangles from me, moves away from my touch, and for the first time, I don’t want him to let go.

“I am glad you are alive,” he says, and his rumble carries joy and anger. “Will you let me eat her?”

I want to say yes, for what she put him through. It doesn’t matter that Amanda believed what she said, probably the only way she could convince Claws it was the truth. “I’m sorry. The mission needs her alive. I don’t want to give the military any more reasons to come after us once this is over.”

The rumble changes, surprise. “Us?”

“Move out!” Gregg yells, loud and angry.

We will need to finish the discussion later.

The soldiers take weapons off the bound bodies, then Gregg stops a fight when one of the soldiers, Diniz, tries to take the machine gun from one of the men who helped us get here. Gregg is in full captain mode, by everyone’s reaction, as he screams at them to fall in line, and deal with the weapons they already have. Then he storms out of the building with us in tow, and there is no hiding they are a military force here to perform a mission.

And I realize Gregg still wears my trench coat.