I raised up my arm, holding Blackie above my head, and rushed at him, heedless for my own safety. I pulled up short and watched in horror as the asshole that is Rick quickly morphed into some totally messed up, demon creature with horns, claws and everything else you would imagine of a nightmarish monster. I had stopped short during the transformation, ending up about four feet in front of him. He smiled at me, giving me a very good view of his very lethal-looking, pointy brownish teeth – a set that included two very big and extra long incisors on either side. The creature’s long, black, forked tongue snaked out and licked its black lips with a loud slurp.
My stomach rolled over.
“Hello, Jayne,” he said, malevolently. “Come to play with Rick, have you?”
An arrow flew past my left arm and imbedded itself in the monster’s chest. He reached up casually and broke the arrow shaft off, throwing it to the side as if he was just brushing off a fly. Black liquid started oozing out of the hole from where the splintered wood protruded.
“Surprised to see me here?” he asked, grinning wickedly.
“No. I’m not one bit surprised to see that Rick was actually cover for a steaming pile of horseshit.”
The smile on the demon’s face turned to a frown. “You mock me at your peril, fae girl.”
“You stand in my living room at your peril, fuckface.”
He took a step closer, and I held Blackie out in front of me. “One more step and you’re going to feel the burn, baby. Just one more fucking step. I hope you do it, too. You’re going to pay for what you did to my mom.”
Tim started buzzing the demon, zipping around by his face, stopping every once in a while to stick the creature with his tiny knife. The little nicks he was leaving allowed black blood to seep out in droplets from the demon’s face and head but didn’t seem to bother him much.
“Take that, you demon dog! Die! Die!” yelled a fully enraged Tim.
“Tim, get back!” I shouted, worried he was going to be killed. I couldn’t handle the death of another loved one tonight. I watched him, stressed about how close he was getting to the beast, but I also began to feel my spirit soar – my littlest buddy was avenging my mom’s death as best he could and I realized how damn lucky I was to have him in my life.
Another reminder of how awesome my friends are came in the form of another arrow, buzzing by me, this one hitting the demon in the eyeball, embedding itself deeply. Kill shot! I prayed it had given him brain damage and would soon mean the end of its time in this realm.
The roar that came out of the demon’s mouth was nothing less than unholy. It caused goose bumps to break out all over my body, and my hair felt like it was standing on end. Even the little hairs on my butt cheeks. I took a couple steps back, begging Tim to leave the thing alone. “Tim, get back here!”
The demon reached up to the arrow shaft at its eye and started working on pulling it out. I hoped with all my might that he’d pull his brain out of his eye socket with it. I turned my attention back to Tim for a second, urging him with my frantically waving hand to get away from the monster.
Tim finally obeyed, coming to hover near my head. “I got him for ya, Jayne.”
“Thanks, pixieman. Now stay away from him. He’s mad enough to kill you, me, and everyone else. I don’t know what kind of powers he might have.”
I heard some screaming coming from the corner of the room, and saw that the orcs were finally getting in close enough to grab the girls – they’d held the black beasts off as long as they could with their small, pretty-jeweled knives and energy sucking skills. I guess they didn’t work so hot on the inhabitants of the Underworld.
“Finn!” I shouted, “Take out the orcs!”
Two arrows flew in quick succession from behind me and into the orcs’ backs, making thunking sounds as the razor sharp arrowheads penetrated their thick hides, burying themselves deeply. Both orcs arched their backs involuntarily and let out screams, instantly releasing the twins. The girls scrambled over the now faltering orcs and slit their throats cleanly. Theresa made good work with her weapon, cutting the orc’s head clean off; it rolled from his shoulders, spraying black orc blood all over my mom’s favorite couch. The orc near Felicia was still moving a little, making efforts to get back up. Felicia stabbed it viciously in the spine and then jumped up, getting out of the way of the carnage and moving with her sister to stand with Céline, Finn, and Tony.
The demon had finally given up on trying to pull the arrow out of its eyeball and had instead broken it off near his eye – or what used to be his eye. Now it was a hole that black goo was running out of to drip down his face and chest. Sure enough, it was dripping on my mom’s beige carpet. For just one moment, I was glad that she wasn’t here to see this.
“You,” the demon said, pointing to me, “are coming with me.”
“Again, Finn!” I yelled, pulling The Green up and sending into his body, willing it to provide him with what he needed to bring about the death of this beast.
The arrow went airborne and found its target, true. The orc stabbed by Felicia, with his head still attached, let out his final death scream and fell to the floor, tarry black fluid coming out of the arrow hole in the back of his head to pool beneath him.
The demon looked at them and sneered. “Useless.”
“I agree,” I said, turning back to face him. “It’s time for you to leave now.” I had given up on actually being able to kill this beast with my weapon, whatever it was, since arrows to the eyeball didn’t do any good. I was not afraid to admit that I was terrified about getting that close to him. I wished Blackie were longer.
I felt Céline come up beside me. She held out a long, silver, sparkling sword in front of her, pointed at my nemesis.
“Whooaa, that’s a big friggin sword, Céline. Where were you hiding it?”
“In my cloak.” Her eyes never left the demon.
Finn fanned out to our right, getting a better vantage point to take another shot at the demon.
The demon stood there, breathing heavily, grunting with the effort. He looked like he was trying to figure out what his next move was going to be. My friends didn’t waste any time getting into position to take him out. Tony came up on my other side and the girls got my six.
“What’s the plan, Céline?” I asked, deferring to her elderly wisdom.
“I was hoping maybe you or Tony had one.”
My eyes left the demon for a moment to glance at her in disbelief. “Céline? You’re our elder here. You’re supposed to know how to handle this shit!”
She shrugged, keeping her eyes glued to the demon. “I’ve never fought in a war before. And I’ve never seen one of these either.”
I guess at that point the demon decided that he didn’t like being left out of the conversation any more.
“Stop talking. I am taking the elemental with me. Move or die.” He took a step towards me, a very intent look on his black, blood-covered face.
My friends grouped in tighter around me.
Céline lifted her sword higher.
A breeze started blowing through the room. Some papers that were sitting on a nearby coffee table started sailing around by our heads.
I heard a singing whistle as Finn sent another arrow into the demon – a shot into its neck this time. A fresh river of spurting blood began flowing over the demon’s shoulder and down its side.
I winced at the vision this beast made, with arrows sticking out of it, black blood running everywhere, horns sprouting out of its head – I knew I’d probably be seeing him in my nightmares for the rest of my life. To think that this is the thing that came into my room at night so many months ago ... it was enough to make me vomit right here in the living room. Man, would my mom have had a fit over that.
“Why?” I asked, all of a sudden. I had no idea where I was going with this, but I decided maybe I could stall him and give Tony time to come up with a plan. “Why me? Why not someone else? Some other fae? Like ... a cute succubus for exampl
e.”
“Hey!” came the synchronized protests of Felicia and Theresa behind me.
The demon’s gravelly voice answered, “They are not the ones who will bring about the end. You are the only one.”
I thought about that for a second. Now I was even more confused. “The end of what?”
The demon’s evil face got even more intense and frightening, which I wouldn’t have thought possible. “The end of all fae. The end of everything that stands in the way of us and our destiny.”
“And that destiny would be ... ”
“To take the Overworld, naturally.”
“Oh, yeah. Naturally. All the demons from hell invading heaven and killing the angels, I suppose. Then what? You rule the world? The universe?”
“Now you understand,” he said, taking another step towards me.
We all moved back one step in unison, sticking to each other like glue. From far away, we must have looked like a ten-legged fae monster. I think all of us, save Finn, were worried about being odd man out, standing out there vulnerable for easy pickings. Finn stood off to the side by himself, loading up another arrow and waiting for the perfect shot. So far he hadn’t found this creature’s vulnerability. I would have thought the eyeball or neck would have done it. But no – the demon was as tough as he looked.
“That still doesn’t tell me why you want me of all the fae in the world you could have.”
“You are the Mother. Without the Mother, there will be no child. Without the child, there will be no ... ” He stopped talking. “You are distracting me. Come with me now. I must get you to the chamber.”
“Nope,” I started shaking my head, “no chamber for me.” Chamber? What chamber? Is there a secret chamber in my mom’s house?
“We must begin with the conception.”
I laughed and then snorted. I couldn’t help myself. He sounded so alien. So formal. So ... freaky. I think my adrenaline was short-circuiting my common sense and self-preservation instincts.
“What are we supposed to be conceiving?” I thought he was talking about coming up with an idea, that kind of conception. But his next words told me he wanted me for something a little more personal than that.
“You and I are to conceive the long-awaited demon elemental. I will bed you now and you will return with me to the Underworld to await the birth. I am to be your demon consort. You should consider yourself honored.”
I choked on my own saliva, suddenly unable to breathe. At first I could do nothing except gasp for air, but then Céline put her sword in her other hand and whacked me a couple times on the back. The percussion created by her fist-pounding dislodged the glob of drool that was stuck in my windpipe, and the air whooshed into my lungs, causing me to begin coughing uncontrollably. A few moments later, after my respiratory fit was over and I had taken a few deep breaths to regain my equilibrium, I found myself strangely speechless. All I could think about was, one, how many of my father’s predictions about me were coming true right now – loser boyfriends, teen pregnancy, bad choices, and so forth – and two, what does a demon wiener look like? Total ew. I caught myself looking down at his nether regions and was very relieved to see he was wearing pants. I think if I had seen anything else I may have just fainted dead away, leaving my friends to save my sorry unconscious ass.
“Go back to the Underworld, demon,” said Céline, in her tough-lady voice, “Jayne will not be accompanying you anywhere.”
I held up my hand, first at Céline and then at the demon, demanding a pause so I could ask one more question. “How long have you been possessing Rick or inside him or whatever?” No matter what answer he gave me, it was going to be bad; there was no good one. I just had to know. I had to know who I had been eating with, who my mom had been living with, and who had tried to molest me.
“The day he moved into this house, of course. I had been waiting for a male human to come along and finally he did. I found him a most suitable host. A perfect mind – small and weak.”
“Well, I guess we can agree on one thing.” My mind was fast-forwarding through the last year of my life. The nights I sat at the same dinner table as a demon. The nights my poor mom slept with one and ... oh, ick, the nights she did it with one. And I remembered the nights he was trying to get into my room. For the conception.
“You’ve tried to do the nasty with me before now.”
“Yes, but I was constrained within the human form. I am no longer. You will go with me.” He took a step closer and I tried to take a step back but there were bodies in the way.
“Get back!” I said desperately, trying to figure out if I could make a break for it to the front door. I had no idea how fast this thing moved, but arrows to the eyeball, neck and chest weren’t stopping him so I had to assume he could move fast enough to make that a bad plan.
Finn launched another arrow, this one to the beast’s abdomen, and all it did was piss it off more. Another arrow shaft was broken off and thrown to the ground. More black blood. Tony held up his axe and it began to hum. I held up Blackie and pulled The Green up into me strongly. I sent it to the dragon fang I held in my hand and it began to glow dark green.
“Your weapons cannot kill me. I am from the Underworld. You are too weak.”
Without warning, Tony leaped forward, swinging the axe with all his might. It came down in a glowing blue arc, embedding itself into the demon’s shoulder. It sank in a few inches and stopped, sizzling a little as it sat there.
Tony got a panicked look on his face, as he stood holding onto the axe that was stuck in the creature’s bone. He yanked on it one time, but nothing happened.
“Tony! Let go!” I yelled. But I was too late.
The demon roared and swung its arm in a wide arc, making contact with Tony and sending him flying across the room. Tony hit an armchair near the far wall and fell to the floor. My heart froze in my chest.
I could see him moving slowly, so my heart began beating again. He wasn’t dead. I couldn’t lose anyone else today. I just couldn’t. Before anyone else put themselves in harm’s way for me, I had to do something. I decided to make a play that I thought might work. This guy was from the Underworld. My powers were totally Here and Now, but they wrapped up energy from everyone here. Maybe even demons. Maybe if I could get him away from everyone, I could get rid of him myself.
“Okay. I’ll go with you. If you let everyone else here go, and if you promise not to hurt my friends.”
A chorus of disagreement rose up from the fae in the room. Even Tony who was struggling to get up, the look on his face telling me he was in pain from participating in the fae toss, was trying to let me know that he was not okay with my plan.
I turned sideways to look at all of my friends as best I could. I gave them a discreet one-eyed wink, where the demon wouldn’t see it. “I have to go. To make sure you’ll be safe. My heart is green with envy for all of you, really. It’s just green, green, green.”
I hoped they’d get the hint.
Céline took one step towards the beast. “Demon. I am a silver elf and I refuse by the power of the wind to allow you to take this child to the Underworld.” She held out her sword and leveled it at his chest. “This blade was forged in the mountain by the sea. It will surely pierce your heart. And I know you have one in there somewhere. You cannot have fully sacrificed everything that made you who you were as a creature of the Here and Now.”
The demon smiled at her, sending chills down my spine. He walked towards her until the point of the sword was touching his chest, just where you’d think his heart would be. “I know you, silver elf. You do not command Wind – you are merely its servant. And I have sacrificed everything to be here today.” He took two more steps forward, burying her sword into his own chest. The blade should have pierced a heart and sent him to his knees, but all it did was make him smile.
Céline’s face blanched. “Torrie?” she asked, weakly, with way too much breath.
The demon’s face lit up with unholy anger. “Do n
ot say that name in my presence!” He roared and grabbed the sword, pulling it from her hands by forcing it into himself farther and then turning sideways to yank it out of his chest. He threw it like a spear across the room, embedding it in the wall, black blood leaving the blade to drip down onto my mom’s favorite framed needlepoint hanging on the wall below it. The vision it created was grotesque, especially since the needlepoint formerly of beautiful spring flowers now looked like a landscape of bleeding black horror. But the awfulness was nothing compared to the demon standing before us now. It’s as if he got bigger and meaner. Whoever this Torrie was, he didn’t like him one bit.
“Oh, my ... it’s you. It’s you, isn’t it?” asked Céline, now clearly freaked out about the demon in a totally different way.
“Torrie,” it spat, “is no longer. Move, silver elf, if you value your life.”
Tears silently slid down her cheeks. Silver ones – or at least they looked silver. Maybe it was a trick of the light. “I cannot do that ... Torrie,” she whispered.
I could tell she was torn. I wondered if she would stick him with the sword again, now that she realized she knew him. Either way it didn’t matter. I was going to go with him long enough to get him away from my friends. Then I was going to do whatever I could to blast him back to the hell he’d come from. He’d killed my mom, and used horrendous violence to do it. He didn’t have to be so cruel and do it that way, but he did. I would be showing this Torrie demon no mercy.
I stepped towards him to separate myself from the others and then threw up a green bubble of protection around them. I even wrapped it around Finn and Tony who were still off to the side. The only one I hadn’t managed to contain was Tim, of course. The little pest was still flying around somewhere. I hadn’t seen him in a while, but he was here, no doubt about it.
“No more arrows, Finn. They’ll just bounce off.”
The two girls put their hands up to touch the shield, realizing for the first time they were trapped inside.