Chapter 19
Luck of the Irish
The woman was just a few inches over five feet tall. With dirty blond hair cropped at her shoulder length and emerald green eyes, she could easily catch any mans eye. To her dismay, she had caught a few women's eyes as well over the years with her flirtatious manner, ready smile, and abundant wit. It had also worked against her in the past, and was about to do so again.
Pamela was on her daily walk through the mostly tamed lands of Ireland, to the North and West of Eglinton. One of her favorite walks was along the beach, but some workers doing construction on the road had made her decide to take a less often used route, through the forest and hills past a graveyard and an old abandoned keep.
In her natural good spirits, she enjoyed the warm weather the day was providing and moved along at an unhurried pace. Drawing near the graveyard, she heard some men talking nearby. Still not concerned, she was nevertheless curious. The voyeur in her made her smile to herself as she moved more carefully towards the origin of the sound. Slipping behind a tree, she peered around it and saw a group of men gathered together near the low stone wall of the graveyard, discussing something heatedly. They were still some forty feet away, but her instincts suddenly screamed in her ear that something was wrong. She turned to flee but was stopped by the sight of a grinning man standing behind her.
"What have we here?" The man asked rhetorically, grinning lecherously at her and speaking in the baroque common to those from the emerald isle.
Pamela's wits deserted her then, and terror took over. She stammered out something about being on a walk but was silenced quickly by the man who grabbed onto her arm.
"Shaun, what're ya doin?" One of the other men called out, seeing the lone guard preoccupied.
The man named Shaun pulled Pamela out from behind the tree and grinned at the others. "We've got a visitor."
Pamela's speech returned to her then, and she said quickly, "I was just going for a walk down the trail! I did'na see a thing!" She was almost limp in Shaun's grasp, however, and let him pull her towards the others easily.
"She's seen to much, methinks," Another man said, who appeared to be the leader of the small band.
Pamela glanced down then and saw several bags laying on the ground between all of them. Out of one of them was sticking the barrel of a gun. She shook her head quickly and tried to protest, but the man had stepped forward and slapped her across the face before she could say anything.
"What do we do with her, Connor?" Shaun asked, a suggestive smile on his face while he held her still. He had no need, however, for with the slap, Pamela had gone still and submissive, her terror taking control of her body and her one thought was to do whatever they asked of her so that she might survive.
"Throw her off the cliff," One man suggested.
Connor, the leader, looked at the man and pondered the idea for a moment before he nodded, "Aye Patrick, a good idea. Shaun, you and Ryan take her up to the keep, we'll be up as soon as we've buried these." Connor nodded to the guns to indicate that was what he meant.
Shaun pulled Pamela after him, winking at Ryan on his way past. Ryan returned the grin and moved ahead of them on the trail. Pamela was certain that she was going to die now, unless she acted out and did something. She was afraid to act though, for both men towered over her short form, and each looked like they could easily overpower her and outrun her. Such was the curse of being a small woman, even though she kept herself in shape, genetics were not on her side.
As she grew accustomed to the terror, her mind began to work again. She thought up and discarded plan after plan to escape. She knew her two captors would take her up to the keep and rape her at least once each, then the others would come and probably all take their turns as well before they tired of her and cast her from the edge of the cliff the keep sat on, into the Atlantic ocean far below.
Timed moved to quickly, for by the time she had thought up and abandoned half a dozen escape plans, the open gate of the keep loomed before them. Small by any standards, the keep was little more than a tall circular wall with a lone tower in the middle of it. Abandoned ages past, it had once been connected to a larger castle nearby, and had been used to store ice and other consumable goods in it.
It was in this tower that they took her, and with rope they produced from somewhere, they tied her to an ancient wooden support that ran from the floor to the top of the tower. Pam's breathing started coming faster then, they had her facing the pole, with her arms wrapped as far around it as they could go, then her wrists were tied. Then she heard the sound of a knife being drawn from its sheath, and she started to really panic. She tried to scream, but her voice was caught in her throat.
The knife was placed at her throat then. "Not a peep from you lass, got it?" Shaun breathed in her ear. Pamela nodded as best she could, tears running down her cheeks.
Her shorts and panties were pulled down next, and cruel hands grabbed her ankles and forced her feet out of them. Her firm ass was left on display for them, and one of the men reached out and grabbed it roughly before the other tied another rope around her ankle and looped it around the pole and then tied it to her other ankle, forcing her legs to remain spread apart. Pam whimpered then, a subconscious act brought on by the rape they were about to perform on her.
"Shut her up!" Ryan hissed, not liking the sounds she was making. Shaun grabbed up her panties from the ground and shoved them into her mouth, following it with another length of rope tied around her face to act as a gag. Pam became acutely aware of the rough fibers of the nylon rope scratching against her cheeks, and she strained to figure out what the men were going to do to her next.
She felt them fondling her ass again, with one of them probing none to delicately at her pussy. She cringed and tightened up, trying to deny them entry, but that just made it hurt more as the finger thrust against her. With a muffled sob, she felt the finger break penetrate her womanhood. Contented by that victory, the hand withdrew from her, pulling and pinching at the lips of her pussy.
Through her misery, she dimly heard another man's voice, but she did not understand a word that was said. The hands were withdrawn from her body then. Sobbing quietly, she overheard the sounds of a very brief struggle. Metal on metal, then the wet chopping sound. Another sound was that of a man having his breath knocked out of him, and then she saw a body flying past her field of vision. It was one of her would be rapists, flying through the air with his arms windmilling crazily. Her crying stopped suddenly, realizing the man was at least ten feet off the ground and still going up! She heard him thud into the wall of the stone tower, then he hit the ground.
She heard two separate voices that time, from behind her. She tried to turn her head to see what was going on, but she was unable to. Still she could not understand what she was being told. Of all the things to realize, she suddenly remembered her naked ass was proudly displayed for the whole world to see, and her cheeks flushed with color at the further humiliation. She squeezed her eyes shut, praying that this was a nightmare and she would soon awaken. When she opened them again, she found that she was still there, but the ropes binding her to the pole had been cut. The one gagging her was soon severed as well, allowing her to turn and see her benefactors.
Her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, and her nudity and embarrassment was forgotten. One of them was a black man, six and a half feet tall or so, with long blond hair so pale it was nearly white, and eyes that looked red in the dim light of the tower. The other was a white man, looking like an ancient Viking at just over seven feet tall. The white man had unkempt brown hair that came to his shoulders and bright green eyes.
What was even more alarming to her was their dress. Each of them wore clothing and equipment reminiscent of the middle ages. The black man wore a dark blue tunic and breeches, with the sleeves tucked into black bands of metal around his forearms. His pants were likewise tucked into high boots that were made from some strange leather she had never seen before. At his waist rode a belt that had many things attached to it, from a couple of pouches to a sheathed sword at each hip. A nice black hooded cloak hung from his back as well. The giant, as she had instantly come to think of him, wore a similar pair of boots, but other then a similar earring shaped like a dolphin they both wore in their left ear, the similarity died there. A large hammer was on his back, and on his chest was a crimson colored shirt that was open to reveal much of his finely chiseled chest. His breeches were brown, like the other mans, and while archaic, seemed normal enough.
All of that she noticed nearly instantly, and further, that while the black man was extremely attractive, the white man had the looks, allure, and attraction of a Norse God. She wondered idly if it was Thor himself that had come to save her. But who would that make the black man? A black Loki, perhaps?
The black man spoke again, but his words she could not understand. She tried to focus on them, but they did not sound like a language she had ever heard before. Then the white giant glanced at her naked groin and smiled. The smile was not a threatening one, but still Pamela felt her embarrassment return. She glanced about and saw her pants, and quickly pulled them onto her legs and over her hips. In doing so, she saw what had happened to her assailants.
Shaun was laying on the floor, obviously dead and in a pool of his own blood. The knife he had used to scare her was on the ground nearby, but the gash across his stomach and the puncture wound in his chest left no doubt that the black man's swords had recently been put to use. She felt her head lighten at the sight, and her bile threatened to rise. Turning quickly, she saw Ryan, laying crumpled against the wall of the tower, his neck and arm bent at angles that proved they were broken. A trail of blood had leaked from his broken and mangled nose to run down his cheek and neck.
She turned again, knowing her battle was lost. She rushed outside, past the two surprised men, and emptied her lunch into the grasses of the courtyard. They followed after, giving her some time and distance to finish her retching and compose herself. At long last, she was finished, though she still felt chills running down her back at the murders done in cold blood only a few feet away. Sure, she had been saved, but violence was against her nature, and the thought of it made her stomach queasy again.
"I thank you for your help, good sirs," She began, leaning against the outside wall of the tower. "But did ya have ta kill them?"
The two looked to each other, a strange look of understanding passing between them. The black man's hand raised to touch the dolphin earring on his ear and he grinned. He looked back to Pamela, the grin still there, and said something else she couldn't understand, then repeated what she had said to him, though speaking it slowly and carefully. Finally he made motions with his hands between them that she interpreted to mean he wanted her to continue.
"Well, I do na know what to say," She said, surprised that for once in her life she was nearly speechless. "Where are you from and why are you wearing those silly clothes and weapons?"
Both men slowly repeated what she said after it was clear she wasn't going to say anymore. Then spoke to her in their own incomprehensible language. Shrugging apologetically, she realized that they were trying to learn English from her, and they seemed to be able to do it at an incredible speed. A part of her was fascinated and excited by it, until she remembered the rest of the men who would soon be showing up.
"I do na know how you can understand me, if you do na know me language, but in a wee bit there will be eight more men coming up here to help those other two rape and kill me," Pamela said, finding herself almost wishing that the same thing happened to the others that had happened to the first two. "Some of them will have guns, you can be sure!"
"Guns?" Both men said, confusion on their faces. Being a fine Irish lass and raised on Irish folklore, Pamela was as superstitious as the next Irishman. Still, what was good to tell tall stories about over a pint and what was real was beginning to become confused to her.
"Ya do na know what a gun is, do ya?" She asked, grinning incredulously.
Both shook their heads, a look of intrigue on their faces. Pamela could not help herself but laugh at the sight. "A gun is a weapon that used exploding gunpowder to shoot a lead bullet out from the barrel. It goes farther then a longbow, and can kill a man without the man even seeing the man that's shooting at him!" She finally explained.
The black man nodded while the white man frowned and said a single word distastefully. That caused a chuckle from the black man, followed by some words that Pamela could tell by the tone were used to make fun of the other man. The white man shrugged and grinned after a moment.
"My name is Pamela, you can call me Pammy, good Sirs," Pamela said, when they were done.
"Kelnozz Risingmoon," The black man said slowly, nodding to her.
"Garrick Hammerthane," The white man replied, smiling beautifully at her again and making her knees tremble in spite of the recent events.
A loud crack of thunder rang out then, making both men start and spin about towards the direction it came from. Pamela let out a shriek and dropped to the ground. She had recognized it as a gunshot. Garrick reached up to his arm and pulled his hand away, blood was on his fingers.
"That's what a gun can do!" Pammy said, scooting further around the back of the tower from where the attackers were.
The open gate was a good twenty feet away, and in it stood all eight of the men. Two of which held guns pointed at Kelnozz and Garrick, while another three held knives. The remaining three men watched about carefully, in case the gunshot drew any unwanted attention.
"What happened to Shaun and Ryan?" Connor said, stepping forward and pointing his pistol at Garrick and Nordan.
"Shaun? Ryan?" Kelnozz said.
"Aye, the two that were to be holding that whore o'er there!" Connor nodded towards where Pammy was hiding.
Kelnozz looked to Pammy and saw the look of fear on her face. He winked at her, then turned back to the others. Speaking in his own language, he said something to Garrick, who was barely restraining himself already.
Garrick exploded into action, pulling his hammer off the harness on his back and throwing it with enough force so that when it crashed into the other gun wielding man's chest, it picked him off the ground and sent his body back out the gate. A loud thunderclap accompanied the strike, deafening the men at the gate and nearly doing the same to the more experienced Kelnozz and Garrick.
Kelnozz was moving as well, he ran in at an arc, somehow his swords moving into his hands without anyone other then him realizing it. Connor only had a chance to fire once, missing Kelnozz, before the elf was upon him. One of the longswords crashed into the pistol, knocking it to the ground and cutting Connor's trigger finger off. The other one he reversed and slammed the pommel with to much force into the man's head, cracking his skull and knocking him unconscious.
"Don't let any get away!" Pamela said, knowing that as much as she hated what was happening, if they let any get away, they would be in even more trouble.
Garrick's hammer was back in his hands, and he strode forward into the stunned group of men. Kelnozz had already downed one of the knife wielders, and was turning to deal with another. The newest knife fell to the ground, a disembodied hand still clutching it. Then the body of the man followed, blood gushing from the gash in his chest.
Garrick's hammer found another victim, crushing the arm and ribs of the third and final man with a dagger. He collapsed, gasping for a breath that would not fill his collapsed and punctured lungs. Another swing sent another man to his grave, shattered spine and broken ribs cutting into his organs as he turned to flee.
Kelnozz hamstrung another man that tried to flee, silencing his panicked cries with a slice across his throat, and then only one man was left, and he was already running away from the gate, trying to make it to the nearby forest. Garrick looked at him and threw his hammer again, then turned away before it reached its destination.
The sound of thunder telling them the hammer had indeed connected rolled over them a second later. Garrick opened his hand at his side and the hammer magically reappeared in it. He placed it back in the harness on his back and Kelnozz cleaned off his swords on Connor's shirt before sheathing them.
Pamela approached them, her mouth open in shock and horror. Never before had she seen anything to resemble what had just taken place. She worked for the hospital, and had heard gruesome stories, but she was sure those paled in comparison to what had just happened. There was so much blood on the ground, she could not believe it. So much violence, and the two that had done it appeared calm and casual, as though nothing was out of the ordinary. She saw the blood running down Garrick's arm, a wound that he had appeared to have forgotten about, and her mind refused to accept anymore.
Kelnozz caught her on her way to the ground. He chuckled as he set her down, knowing from her actions and the look on her face that she was unaccustomed to violence, as if her fainting was not proof enough!
"I'll stay with her, you follow their trail and see if there are any more of them," Kelnozz said, reverting to the common tongue of Viconia. "And check your arm, you're bleeding."
Garrick looked at his arm, remembering it was where the gun had hit him. He looked surprised and wandered away from the keep, easily following the obvious tracks through the high grass.
Garrick and Kelnozz sat in the courtyard of the keep, a fire keeping them warm in the chill night of Northern Ireland. Garrick was digging at the hole in his shoulder with a dagger, trying to find the source of his continued irritation. At long last, through gritted teeth, he made a triumphant sound and popped out the small lead slug.
"It looks like a small sling stone," Kelnozz said, studying the bullet in Garrick's palm.
"Aye, but no sling could bury it so far in the flesh!" Garrick muttered, eyeing his sore shoulder.
Pamela had to leave them soon after she woke up, but she explained she would return the next day. After all, she owed them her life. Something about her simple and plain honesty had impressed both the men, and they let her leave because of it.
Garrick had tracked the men to a graveyard, and after determining no more were waiting for them, he came back up and, with Kelnozz's help, they put the bodies in an ancient tomb they found in the graveyard, including Connor, who had died from a brain hemorrhage without regaining consciousness. Pamela claimed that the graveyard was seldom, if ever visited, so in their minds, the situation was taken care of.
Both men talked into the night, swapping stories and getting to know one another better. They were fast becoming friends, even more so then Kelnozz and Nordan had been. Losing the coin toss, Kelnozz drew the first watch for the night.
In the morning, shortly after Garrick had killed and butchered a sheep for breakfast, Pamela showed up. It was the method of her arrival that had both men so startled. She had arrived in a strange looking and extremely loud carriage with no horses to pull it.
Seeing their looks of curiosity, Pamela set about trying to explain things to them. First the car, then the English language. With the magical earrings they had gotten from the owner of the Broken Axe tavern, learning the language was easy for them, for each word they heard they understood and were able to remember. Thus, in a few hours of listening to Pamela talk, both men were able to speak to her in her own language, though it was broken and in many cases, they needed more help with missing words.
"Your car," Kelnozz said slowly, trying to put the proper words together, "will take us to Florida?"
Pamela laughed then, as she had many times listening to the two man struggle to master English. "No, good Sirs, it cannot. Florida is over an ocean, many thousands of kilometers from here. To get there, you must take a boat or a airplane."
"Airplane?" Garrick asked.
"An airplane is like a car that flies," Pamela said, not knowing enough about the physics behind the science of flight to explain it.
"It carries people?" Kelnozz asked. Pamela nodded, smiling at how quickly they figured things out. She had taken to thinking of them as very large children that were able to learn at a phenomenal rate.
"Dragons," Garrick said, grinning triumphantly. Kelnozz nodded, also smiling.
Pamela closed her eyes and laughed. Instead of contradicting them, she let them think an airplane was a dragon. Formerly a flight stewardess, she found the analogy not entirely unfitting. Besides, everyone knew there was no such thing as a dragon.
Pamela yawned and struggled to open her eyes back up. It was very late for her, but after talking to Kelnozz and Garrick for the past two days, she had come to here their stories. Not for the first time, she wondered at her own sanity for believing them, even for a moment. The tales they told were the stuff of legend. Fairy tales told to children. She was Irish though, and an Irishman (or Irishwoman, in her case) that isn't superstitious just isn't an Irishwoman.
So, now she was on her computer and telephone, trying to locate some acquaintances of hers. Her luck was hit and miss, but when the phone rang a few moments later, she felt deep within her that it was the call she had been waiting up for.
"Hello?" She answered it.
"This is Robin," The man's voice on the other end responded.
Pammy breathed a sigh of relief and quickly explained what she needed. Robin listened patiently to her, then asked a few questions to flesh her needs out a bit, then promised to get back with her in a few hours. Pamela groaned, knowing she would get no sleep that night.
To while away her time, she resorted to her computer, chatting away with friends scattered about the globe, fleshing out more ideas and details for the upcoming journey. By the time the night was over, she had not only began to flesh out a plan, but it actually seemed to be taking place.
Alesha woke up with a start. For just a moment, she had felt something. Something she had not felt in a long time. Rising naked from bed, she grabbed her sword and left her room behind. Descending quietly to the living room, she settled onto the couch and drew her blade from its scabbard.
"Talifernon, I demand answers!" She hissed, staring at the blade.
"What troubles you, Mistress' he responded in his growling voice.
"I just woke from sleep and sensed my old companion and lover, Kelnozz. He is here, on Earth!"
"You would know more readily then I, my awareness is trapped within this blade.' Alesha could sense his frustration and anger, but knew he was bound to obey by their God.
"Is there no counsel you can provide?" She asked, annoyed.
The demon was silent for a moment before he spoke. "So long as I remain trapped within this blade, I am powerless."
Alesha spat out a curse and lay back on the couch. After a moment of thought, she seized upon an idea. The very same idea Talifernon knew she would come upon.
"And what if I let you out of the blade, Talifernon. Would you then have the power to answer my questions?"
"Aye, Mistress, I would have that power."
There was something different in his tone that Alesha did not like. "But if I release you from the blade, what's to keep you loyal to me?"
Alesha could sense the demon's mirth from within her sword. It was an unholy and evil thing, and she was certain that it did not bode well for her. "Bavorish forced me into your servitude, Mistress."
Somewhat placated by that, Alesha still did not trust the demon. Nevertheless, she needed answers. Brooding on the problem longer, she soon decided that it was a necessary risk. With a minor flexing of her willpower, she released the demon from the magical blade.
The moonlight in the room seemed to dim then, though Alesha was certain it was only her imagination. A slight chill swept through the room, though she did not feel it for her natural resistance to such things. Then, as though she had blinked her eyes, Talifernon stood in front of her.
"Greetings, mistress," He said, a wicked smile upon his canine face. His eyes flashed over her body, openly admiring her beauty. Then he looked out the window and stared at the moon, waxing past a quarter full. He growled happily, a deep and harsh sound that made the hairs on Alesha's arms raise.
"Tell me what I need to know, demon!" Alesha snapped, refusing to allow herself any uncertainty as to what she had done.
The four armed demon turned back to her, forced to hunch over as the ten foot ceiling in the room did not accommodate his twelve foot height. "Find out on your own, human, I have my freedom at last!"
Alesha's eyes widened in outrage. "What of Bavorish's decree?" She spat out, rising off the couch and bringing her sword in front of her.
"He has no power on this world! Here the Gods lay sleeping and dead."
Talifernon reached for her then, grabbing her around the waist with one giant pincered hand, and just under her shoulders with the other. Both of Alesha's hands came together on the hilt of her sword, which was raised above her head, and she began to swing it forward, snarling angrily at the demon.
Talifernon's two human arms caught hers around the forearms, and with his demonic strength, pulled them apart. He forced her arms further and further apart, drawing a strangled gasp of pain from her.
"Don't you want to fuck me, demon? Like you did before? You remember how great it felt, don't you? You can have it again if you release me!" Alesha tried to bargain with the dog-faced nightmare.
Growling low in his throat, he responded to her, "You defeated me like that before, you think that I am so stupid? I have waited to long for this. Today you die by my hands!"
Alesha screamed as he pulled her arms further apart, until finally she could not fight any longer. With a wet popping sound, both of her arms tore free from her body at the shoulders, trailing spurting blood and rent flesh. Knowing the shock and pain would drive her unconscious, Talifernon wasted no time and dug his pincers into her flesh as well, tearing and twisting her body so that in moments, her legs flopped and twitched as they were separated from her body. Alesha's upper torso fell on the couch, blood, gore, and ruined organs slipping out of it. She stared at the demon with a cold hatred as the last light faded from her eyes.
Talifernon remained standing for a moment, staring at the ruins of Alesha's body. He chuckled then, knowing that he was truly free and had an entire world to plunder. He turned to leave, then stopped when he remembered Alesha's magical blade. Turning back, he looked for it, determined to make it his as well.
"Looking for something?"
The demon whirled about, then stopped in obvious shock to see Alesha standing between him and the patio door to the outside. In her hand was her sword. Around them, the gory remains of Alesha's body faded away, leaving no marks or stains behind.
"How?" He asked in outrage.
"An illusion, Talifernon, I let you see what you wanted to see, and now I know part of what I needed to know," Alesha responded coldly. "After all those months of counsel, all the companionship, you would destroy me so readily?"
Talifernon growled deep in his throat, prepared to make what he had just thought had happened into a reality. He tensed his muscles and prepared to spring on her.
"But wait, Talifernon, is this just another illusion? Or am I really here?" Alesha asked. The demon noted that her head was turned slightly, as though she wasn't looking quite straight at him. He glanced about warily, determined to find her true hiding spot and put an end to her.
Alesha's sword lashed out cutting a deep gash into the demons side. He howled and looked back at her in surprise. "It's me!" She spat out, reaching out with her other hand and grabbing a fist that swung at her face. In spite of his greater size, Alesha easily held the hand at bay. A supernatural black fire erupted around her hand, burning cold into Talifernon's arm, while Alesha pulled the demon off balance and lower so that their faces were less then a foot apart.
His other arms reached for her, but stopped when it felt the point of Alesha's blade touching his chest. The demon growled angrily at her, and began to mutter a spell. Before it could finish, Alesha released his hand and backhanded the demon across the face. He stumbled backwards from the incredible force of the blow, tripping on a chair and falling to his back.
Alesha was atop him, her sword once more poised at the demons heart. "Listen to me you dog, and listen like you've never listened before!" Alesha spat out, her eyes burned with a cold rage that silenced any protests Talifernon could make even more so then her voice did. "You're on the brink of extinction. No entrapment, no counseling, no returning to Viconia or the abyss. I shred your existence in less then sixty seconds if you don't bind yourself to me, body, soul, and mind."
Alesha waited a moment while Talifernon struggled to find a way out of his predicament. Seeing no response forthcoming, Alesha continued. "Don't think, do! I have the power and know the rites, I have your true name, Talifernon! Obey me and survive, deny me and be forever destroyed."
Talifernon growled a moment longer before nodding. "I, Talifernon, am bound by Alesha in all ways of soul and in flesh, for as long as she shall see fit." Eyeing her with hatred powerful enough to consume a lesser mortal in fire, the demon reached up to his chest where the sword remained poised and drew one razor sharp fingernail across his flesh. Blood welled up in the cut, which he then scooped onto his finger and offered to Alesha.
"Well done, Talifernon, I would have been most disappointed had I been forced to destroy you," Alesha said, leaning over so that she could suck the blood off of his finger. Instantly both felt the bond form, magical chains of slavery forcing Talifernon to obey Alesha's every whim, desire, and command, unspoken or not.
"What's going on down here?" Brian said, coming to the foot of the stairs. He had been awoken by the struggling and the shouting and had come running downstairs naked, but what he now beheld had him out of his league and terrified.
"Brian, meet Talifernon," Alesha said, rising off of the demon and reclaiming the scabbard for her sword.
"This is the demon you said was imprisoned in your sword?" He asked, eyeing the demon fearfully.
"One and the same," She responded, stepping next to him and turning to watch the prone demon. "Rise, Talifernon, and welcome to your new existence of servitude."
"How'd he get out of your sword?" Brian asked, his fear abating somewhat due to his sisters attitude.
"I let him out of it and tricked him. I needed him to do me a service, and he was unable to do so before," Alesha smiled coldly at Talifernon once he had gotten back to his feet. Blood still flowed freely from his side and his chest, and about his wrist and one side of his snout were scorch marks. "It won't do to have you bleeding on everything," Alesha said to herself. In seconds, his wounds closed up and healed, though a pink scar remained on his otherwise deep red chest.
Brian's eyes widened. As jaded as he had become following his sister around and learning her craft, he could still be surprised.
"I have a problem, Brian," Alesha said, walking to the couch she sprawled down on it, leaving her body in a very immodest position. Fortunately for her, she neither noticed nor cared. "You see, our Lord, Bavorish, for all intents and purposes, does not exist."
Brian's mouth opened as he struggled to find some words to express. Alesha had taught him of Bavorish - she had taught all of them about him - and all who had truly believed had grown in power and strength. Now to be told that he did not exist was as bad as someone saying that gravity was not the thing that held him to the surface of the planet.
"How?" He asked finally. "Worshipping him we've gained so much! Power, wealth, influence - he has to exist!" Brian nearly pleaded the last to her.
"He exists on another world, Brian," Alesha said, more than a little confused about all of it herself. She'd never really considered herself a member of a cult or religion, but now she saw that was exactly what she had been forming. "His powers are great there, but here different Gods exist, though they are sleeping and turn a blind eye to mortals. Here we make our own power and become our own Gods."
Brian sat in a chair across the room from her, forgetting about the fearsome demon in his shock. He even forgot about his sister's nudity, which still caused a rise in his loins no matter how many times they sated the incestuous lust. "But if there is no Bavorish, then how will we keep our people following you?"
Alesha smiled fondly. "Brian, you are perhaps the one and only person who loves me truly, and for that I thank you." Brian blushed at the praise, a rare thing from the powerful and cruel woman his sister had become. "We don't tell them of this," she said. "We go on as before, but we must filter out all mention of Bavorish. It does not matter what name we use to pretend worship, for the power comes from within. Let us turn it into another cult over time, something that you can continue to run and grow more powerful from after I am gone."
Brian frowned, as much as the thought of running the show and having all that power and influence meant to him, he hated to think of his sister leaving, as she insisted it must be. Alesha turned back to her pet demon then.
"Talifernon, find out if Kelnozz is here."
"Then what, Mistress?" The demon growled, clearly filled with hatred but forced to endure it.
Alesha paused, uncertain of what to do. She was filled with conflicting emotions, and some of them showed on her face because of it. "What's the matter, Alesha?" Brian asked.
Realizing what had happened, Alesha instantly composed herself. Ignoring her brother, she addressed the demon, "Tell me if he is here, if he is, I will deal with him."
Talifernon nodded and turned to the patio again. He stalked towards it, and reaching out to vent some rage, tried to smash the doors out of his way. Alesha beat him to it by using her powers to open the door in front of him. Growling deep in his throat in frustration, the demon stomped through the doors to the back deck and leapt into the air, using his powers to fly high into the sky.
"Come Brian, we have busy days ahead of us," Alesha smiled at him and climbed off the couch. Her hand caressed Brian's cock on her way back up the stairs. Brian turned to follow her then stopped. He shook his head at the strange things he had seen and smiled mysteriously. The patio door slid shut behind him on his way up the stairs to join Alesha.
Unseen in the darkness, the shadow slipped through the waters almost noiselessly. Behind it, the ship continued on towards its destination as though nothing was amiss. Three figures huddled on the inflatable black raft, the nearly silent but powerful motor moving them through the relative calm of the Atlantic ocean.
"The captain said that we should be able to reach land by morning," Pamela said, steering the small raft as Robin had taught her. Kelnozz and Garrick looked about, studying the horizon for some sign of land. Ahead of them lay mist along the shore. Still a few hours away, if it did not lift, their landing would prove difficult in the fog.
Weeks had passed, since their arrival in Ireland. Studying under Pamela, both Garrick and Kelnozz had learned English fairly well, though not until speaking with the sailors or the ship did they learn that they had strong accents. They had learned as best they could from them further, trying to rid themselves of their accents, but the passage had been short, taking less then a week on the modern vessel.
Both jaded by their travels and experiences, both men had been shocked and amazed time and again since coming to Earth. Pamela's plans to smuggle them aboard an airplane had failed, but she had taken them to see one regardless. Both had tried to attack it, which caused more than a little confusion and some hefty explanations as to why Garrick had suddenly acquired a large sledgehammer and was trying to hit a small Cessna trying to land. Even worse was how he had managed to hit it, doing considerable damage to the underside of the fuselage and nearly causing the pilot to crash it. It had taken a considerable amount of money to smooth things over with the airport owners and the pilot.
Next she had decided on smuggling them to the United States on a ship. That had been much easier to accomplish, and fencing the gems and jewels both men carried with them, Robin had been able to secure travel and equipment for them. An old hand at ocean-faring, Garrick had reveled in life aboard the ship. That is, until he realized there was nothing he could do. There were no sheets, no lines, not even any belaying pins. The speed with which the large tanker plied the waters left them both incapable of speech for long moments.
Now, cast away from the H.M.S. Phoenix by her captain (a friend of Robin's - or anyone else with the right amount of money), they had inflated the raft and headed towards the shore. Pamela had tried to secure passage towards Florida, but she needed to meet with another friend of hers that lived in America that would make their journey easier.
As Dawn approached, so did they approach the fog. Instead of lifting, it grew worse, and likewise the seas calmed from the three or four foot swells to a mirror surface. Garrick scowled then, finding it unnatural that they should still be moving with no wind, in spite of what he had learned of engines.
Cars had given them quite a start as well. A horseless carriage, they had finally come to the conclusion that it was powered by magic. Kelnozz knew there was science behind it, but Garrick was less concerned with the inner workings then he, and was content to view them with distrust.
Inside of Pamela's car they had discovered music. Or more appropriately, recorded music. More magic, as far as Garrick and Kelnozz were concerned, but a very useful sort. Pamela had laughed when Kelnozz had commented that she must be a very wealthy woman, to possess such powerful and useful objects for every day use. When asked why, she had explained to them that the gems and jewels they had given her were worth more money then she had ever seen in her life, and the price of their journey was worth at least ten years of her wages.
Things had gone smoothly for them, all things considered. Though many times both men felt as though something was watching them, neither could pinpoint it. It was no surprise that fate reared its head and caused them to finally break through the fog and reach a landfall upon the shores of New Jersey. Few houses dotted the shoreline, and even those that did were distant and almost invisible in the sparse fog.
They pulled the raft onto the beach and emptied the plastic sealed packs. Donning clothing, they deflated the raft and buried it in the sand. They hurried inland and found a road running along the beech, which they walked along. The pace Kelnozz and Garrick set with their long legs left Pamela panting, in spite of her daily exercise routine.
On the road they soon discovered a sign explaining that they were entering Forked River, New Jersey. Never dull, the roadside habitation quickly grew. Businesses and other buildings dotted the roadside, with traffic slowly beginning to pick up. Still untrusting of the vehicles, Kelnozz and Nordan kept a good bit of distance between themselves and the vehicles that passed by them with increasing regularity.
Soon they found a McDonalds, and had breakfast there. Garrick took an instant liking to fast food, whereas Kelnozz found it less pleasant, but he endured it as best he could. Four breakfast combo meals later, Garrick was ready to leave with a grin on his face. Pamela could not help but laugh at his childlike manner at times. Her laughter died when she saw the women behind the counter openly admiring Garrick and Kelnozz, and it was only when she reminded herself that she was not in love with them herself did the jealousy pangs subside.
Back outside, Pamela led them to a pay phone, where she dialed in the number she had been given by her State-side friend. After several rings he answered, his voice groggy with sleep. Pamela cursed, it was only six-thirty in the morning still.
"Sorry to wake ya Jason," she said, "but top o' the mornin to ya."
Coming awake quicker, the man on the other end responded, "Pammy? Is it really you? Are you here?"
"Yeah, "tis me!" Pamela said, smiling happily. "Me and the boys made it an' we're in a wee little town by the name of Forked River, near a McDonald's."
In the background, Pamela could here the sound of paper rustling, most likely a road map. "Okay, I got it - I'm about an hour from there I think. Go have breakfast and wait for me there."
Pamela frowned, they had already been in there, but he was right, they needed to wait close by. Shrugging she said, "Okay, we'll see ya then, bye!"
Another device the two had not grown accustomed to was the telephone. She smiled to see them eyeing it with caution as she hung it up and turned to them. "Care for a wee bit more to eat?" She asked, nodding back towards McDonald's.
Kelnozz scowled but Garrick smiled. "Aye, a fine way to break our fast!" He said, clapping Kelnozz on the back and heading towards the restaurant.
So excited was he at the prospect of another meal there, he stepped into the road and was greeted by the sound of rubber screeching on pavement as a car braked to a stop directly where he would have been standing had Kelnozz not jumped into him and knocked him out of the way. Garrick rose to his feet instantly, hammer in hand, and swung once before he got control of his reactions. To late, the crushed hood of the car, a radiator hissing steam, and an engine coughing to a stop was the monstrous cars response to his assault.
Pamela looked on in horror, as did the man driving the car to work. Kelnozz chuckled and slowly got off of the ground. Garrick realized what he had done and had the grace to look somewhat embarrassed. "Oops," he said, sticking his hands and the hammer behind his back.
The man opened the door of his car and got out slowly. He looked at the damage down to his hood and noticed the growing puddle of liquids - oil, transmission fluid, and coolant - gathering under his car. "What the hell did you do to my car?!"
The man, a few inches shy of six feet tall and clearly middle aged by his receding hairline and growing waistline, turned to look at Garrick and was taken back by how big he was. "Um, I mean - what just happened? Are you okay?"
"Aye, I am well," Garrick grinned sheepishly and turned to walk away from the man. Kelnozz raised an eyebrow at him and nodded behind him. Garrick sighed and turned back to face the man. "Um, sorry about your carriage."
Garrick reached into the pocket on the back of the jeans Pamela had bought him and pulled out the wallet. Opening it up, he took several of the bills in it and handed them to the man, "That should fix it," He said, closing the wallet and putting it back in his pocket.
The man opened his mouth in outrage, he looked at the handful of money Garrick had handed him and was about to lose his temper in spite of the likelihood that Garrick could easily pound him into the ground. Counting up the bills he saw caused him to stop. Garrick had handed him nearly thirty thousand-dollar bills. His jetta was old and in need of replacing anyhow, and nowhere near worth thirty thousand dollars, even when new! He nodded and smiled at Garrick and the others.
"Yeah, I guess we don't need to worry about police or insurance or anything, just slow things down and cause a hassle - I'll uh, I'll just consider it closed - I'm glad you're okay sir!" The man said, glancing back at his car and smiling.
Garrick nodded and turned away, heading across the road again (but not before checking this time). Pamela and Kelnozz joined him, with Kelnozz still chuckling. Garrick willed his hammer away and it disappeared again. Pamela shook her head and said, "You didn't have to give him so much money! That was worth more than the car!"
Garrick shrugged, "What is money, I have more where that came from, it is just pieces of parchment here."
"This keeps him from calling the city watch as well," Kelnozz pointed out as they returned to the fast food restaurant.
Pamela nodded her head thoughtfully, they had a point there. And it was not like they were running short on money, even taking a serious loss on their worth, the gems that Robin had fenced for them had brought in several hundred thousand dollars. She hoped that he would be able to sell them for at least as much as he had fronted them for the jewels, though it would take him time so that nothing seemed to mysterious or the precious gemstone market was not flooded.
Roughly an hour later a red four door all-terrain vehicle pulled into the parking lot. Kelnozz was a bit jittery from all the coffee Pamela kept getting for him, while Garrick was pleasantly stuffed on greasy hashbrowns and egg Mcmuffins. A man walked into the restaurant wearing a pair of shorts and a blue polo shirt.
He was six feet tall with just less then an inch of brown hair cropped into a flattop. Well built himself, his arms and shorts showed a fine definition of muscle and his shirt bulged in the proper places to indicate he took care of himself. In comparison to Garrick or even Kelnozz he looked like a lazy slob though, Pamela decided. She chided herself for such thoughts then and waved at him to gain his attention.
"Jason?" She asked as he got closer.
He smiled at her and nodded. "Hello Pammy, welcome to America."
She blushed, remembering how before she had met Garrick and Kelnozz she had though Jason was the ultimate specimen of masculinity. Then again, she had seen pictures of him, but mostly it was her imagination of how perfect he must be, since several thousand miles had separated them.
"You will help us reach Florida?" Kelnozz said, tapping his fingers against the table anxiously.
Jason sat down with them in the booth and looked at them both. "You must be Kelnozz," He said to him. "And you must be Garrick. Interesting names, I can't say as that I've heard of them before - though I must confess, there's something naggingly familiar about you two."
Pamela could see the skepticism on his face. "Jason, I didn't make up a story to see you, these men are really from another - place."
Jason looked at her and smiled. "I believe you, lass, I'm just not ready to jump into my truck with 2 strangers and drive to Florida. Especially when one of them looks like he could pick my truck up and carry it to Florida if he wanted to!"
Garrick's face took on a darker and more menacing expression, but Kelnozz intervened, "Aye, from what we've seen of this world, I'd not believe our tale either. What can we tell you to make you accept us?"
Jason leaned back and sighed. "Good question. Why don't you tell me your story and we'll take it from there."
So it was that they spent the next several hours recanting their story. When they finally finished, they had thoroughly annoyed the crew working at McDonald's, for while they occasionally would purchase a drink, they were taking up a table with no clear intent to leave anytime soon.
"Where in Florida is it you wish to go?" Jason asked after the tale had been told to him.
"Alesha said she was from a town called St. Petersburg," Kelnozz replied.
"I know the place," Jason said. "I've been there several years ago. Had a few buddies that lived down there."
Pausing thoughtfully, Jason finally said, "Okay, I've heard your story and I can't find fault with any of it, but it's quite a lot to believe. Okay, it's impossible to believe. What proof can you show me?"
Garrick scowled and Kelnozz sighed in exasperation. "Look human, we've been in this world long enough for an entire moon to pass! Alesha will not wait for us to come to her, she will return to Viconia and start where she left off before!"
The man drew back a bit in surprise at being called a human. Pamela smiled faintly and tapped her ears meaningfully. Jason stared at her blankly a moment before he turned to Kelnozz and studied him closely. "Pull your hair back. You said you're an elf, and not just a black man, I take it that means you have pointy ears and all that?"
Kelnozz shook his head angrily but reached up to his nearly white hair and pulled it aside to reveal his sharply pointed ear. Jason studied it thoroughly, clearly fascinated by it. "You look like a Vulcan," he muttered to himself.
"Is that what you call elves on this world?" Garrick asked, his magical earring not providing a translation for the word.
"No, it's - um, ah - nevermind, forget it," Jason said, realizing it would take too long to explain. "Come on, I don't know that I believe you, but I have nothing better to do and if you really wanted my truck that badly, I have a feeling that you could just take it from me. I'm sure I'd put up a good fight, but I don't think I'd win. Besides, Pammy says you're on the up and up, so I'll trust her."
Garrick slapped the table hard happily. Jason's and Pamela's eyes widened when they heard the plastic crack. They all stood up and headed out of the restaurant, Jason and Pamela leading the way. "Trust me, Jason, I've seen them fight, if they wanted your truck, they'd take it!"
Jason snorted and said, "Well, they look big and tough enough, but you've never seen me in action, I can hold my own."
Pamela rolled her eyes but kept her derisive laughter to herself. They reached the vehicle and piled into it, with Garrick and Kelnozz sitting in the back somewhat uncomfortably. Their large backpacks they carried with them went into the back of the truck, joining a smaller duffel bag Jason had brought with him. In moments, they were on the road and heading south on the expressway bound for Florida.
"You were right, Mistress, they have come for you on this world," Talifernon said to Alesha later that night in her office in the nightclub she had acquired.
Alesha remained silent for a long moment, putting her thoughts and plans in order. Brian was out in the club, overseeing things while she was alone in the room with the demon. Finally she reached a decision and looked up at the demon.
"You say they have come, who has come with Kelnozz? Martin and Nordan?" She asked.
"Nay, Mistress, Nordan's father, the one you knew as Helmut," He said, a wolfish grin on his snout.
"Helmut!" She hissed, her breath momentarily stolen from her. "He escaped me! Now he returns with the elf to claim vengeance - " She lapsed off thoughtfully for another moment then.
"Let them come. Things progress smoothly here, we can return to Viconia sooner then I thought, if they show up before we leave, then we will deal with them."
"Mistress, is returning to Viconia wise?" The demon asked, speaking boldly for the first time since his indentured servitude to her. He loathed and despised Alesha still, and would nurse that hate for as long as they both still existed, but he had also realized that her powers demanded respect, and that his best chance of regaining his freedom was not in trying to deny her control over him.
"Of course it is, this world is all but ruined, and certainly not a place where I can carve out an empire for myself," she responded, staring at him suspiciously. "What makes you question me so?"
Talifernon chose his words carefully before proceeding. "On Viconia, Bavorish will again be able to reach you, and he may not be happy with the decisions you have made. And more so that you have discovered your powers do not depend upon him."
Alesha pondered this before discarding it, "Nonsense, he was the one to send me back here. Why would the Gods seek to destroy me?"
Talifernon bowed his head submissively, "As you say, Mistress. But I overheard the one Kelnozz travels with be addressed to as Garrick."
"Welcome to Florida, land of the giant fucking swamp," Jason said as they crossed into central Florida and were surrounded by lakes and weeds as far as the eye could see.
"You don't like it here?" Pamela asked, enjoying the changing scenery as they had driven south over that day and the day before.
"It's hot, humid, and filled with lots of things that bite," Jason explained. To accentuate his point, he pointed out the side window to a swimming alligator. "Bugs mostly, but I'd take a mosquito over a gator any day."
Kelnozz and Garrick chuckled. Over the time they had spent together, they had grown to like Jason, he had a constant sense of humor that, while often dark and sarcastic, nevertheless kept them entertained.
"That's a small one," Kelnozz said, judging it carefully. "And they taste good," Garrick added.
"You've seen alligator's before?" Pammy asked them, turning around in her seat. Both men grinned at her, a sure sign that they had many stories they could tell. Something both Jason and Pamela had learned was that both of the strange men had a host of stories that bordered on the fanciful and outrageous. So outrageous were they that both of them found themselves believing the stories.
"There was this road that went through a swamp near Yolarch," Kelnozz began.
Jason and Pammy were swept up in a story of how Kelnozz, Nordan, and an old friend named Pompey had been caravan guards for a while. Ambushed by lizard men, they had seen the pets the lizard men had in the distance. Pets that made the alligator that they had passed already look like a hatchling.
By the time the story was done, they had reached the outskirts of St. Petersburg. They drove around until they found a motel to stay in, and took their things inside the two bedroom motel room to set up a base of operations while they searched St. Petersburg for Alesha. It was late in the day, after seven p.m. already, and it seemed to them that it would be best to search on the following day.
For something to do that night, Jason took them to a topless bar that he had visited several years past. The fake identifications that Robin had provided for Kelnozz and Garrick were more than sufficient to let them in. Pammy felt a bit uncomfortable entering the club, but had never been to one herself, living a relatively sheltered life, and her curiosity easily won out over her inhibitions.
Garrick and Kelnozz were won over by the nature of the bar, Garrick more than the elf, but not by much. That was until Garrick decided to get a little friendly with one of the dancers. Jason cursed as he realized he had not explained the rules of the club very well to them, for Garrick's attempts to fondle the stripper were not appreciated by the management.
"Hey, you can't do that!" She protested, a wisp of a woman named Chastity. Garrick grinned lecherously and reached for her again. Clearly the smile on her short blond haired face indicated that she didn't mind, but club rules were rules, and she had seen more than one dancer get fired for getting to personal with the customers while at the bar.
"Hey buddy, no touching the girls!" A bouncer, a large black man, said, clamping his hand on Garrick's shoulder.
Garrick flew out of his chair instantly, the bouncer's hand unable to hold him. Glancing around quickly, they saw that three other bouncers had positioned themselves nearby and were now moving closer. "Gotta ask you to leave," The first bouncer said menacingly.
One of the other men noticed how much bigger Garrick was then the rest of them and showed signs of nervousness. They had dealt with drunks and even a few crazy men from time to time, but this guy looked like he could seriously hurt them.
"Look, my friend isn't from around here, he didn't realize it was against the rules to touch the dancers," Jason said, jumping to his feet and trying to defuse the situation. Kelnozz was also up and ready for action. Pamela stumbled to her feet last, her senses fully overloaded by what was going on.
"Fine, then leave and there won't be any trouble," The bouncer said again, coming closer.
"If you're going to have wenches dancing and teasing me, you can be damned sure I'm going to touch them!" Garrick growled. "And nothing you do will stop me!"
Jason groaned as the head bouncer accepted the challenge and came at him, intending to grapple with him. The other bouncers came at them too. Pamela shrieked and just tried to stay out of the way of all the adrenaline crazed men surrounding her.
Garrick and the man grappled, and from the beginning it was obvious that the bouncer was overmatched. Garrick toyed with him for a moment before he drove the man to his knees and then lifted his own knee into the man's chin, sending him sprawling backwards unconscious. Another bouncer came up behind him and caught him up when Jason swept his feet out from under him.
Kelnozz slipped off to the side unnoticed and watched the growing brawl as tables were bumped and patrons got upset. He sat down next to another dancer, this one a well proportioned black woman named Jasmine who was wearing only a tiny g-string and some red high heels. "This happen often?" Kelnozz asked, nodding towards where Garrick was hit in the face by the fourth bouncer.
She opened her mouth to reply when Garrick retaliated, his fist catching the man in the stomach and making the breath explode from his lungs loud enough for nearly everyone to take notice even over the loud music. What really made her jaw drop speechlessly was how the force of the blow not only lifted the bouncer off the floor, but it literally threw him backwards and onto the stage that was several feet away.
The downed bouncer climbed back to his feet and turned to face Jason, who was waiting for him. Two punches to the bouncers face sent him staggering back, trying to gain some room to recover. Jason advanced on him, but was caught off guard when the bouncer charged into him, grappling with him and wrestling him to the ground.
"Excuse me, I need to borrow this," Kelnozz said to a couple of guys sitting at a nearby table. He grabbed one of their beer bottles and, with a lightning fast move of his arm, threw the bottle. It cracked against the bouncers head and shattered, raining beer and broken glass down on the bouncer and Jason both. The bouncer slumped down, stunned by the hit, and Jason scrambled out from under him.
Garrick turned to the last bouncer, who grabbed onto his arm in the hopes of calming him down. Garrick grinned and pulled the bouncer closer to him. With his other hand he grabbed the bouncers thigh, then used the first arm to easily overpower the bouncer's grip and grab him by the shirt. Lifting him up easily, he aimed at two men moving towards him from a nearby table that had gotten overturned by the first bouncer on his way to dreamland. Heaving him forward, both men tried to dodge but were caught up by the body of the thrown bouncer, knocking all three to the ground.
"We need to go!" Jason said, climbing to his feet and kicking the stunned bartender that had been accosting him in the side. "The cops will be here soon!"
Kelnozz frowned but hopped to his feet. He threw a wink to Jasmine, who still sat there looking stunned, and hurried over to his companions. "Come Garrick, the watch comes!"
Garrick grinned and nodded. They followed Jason out of the bar, who stopped only long enough to grab Pamela's hand and pull her out with them. Once outside, they hurried to his vehicle and hopped in, tearing out of the parking lot as quickly as they could before the police showed up.
Pulling back into their motel spot, Jason checked his rear view mirror and saw a car pull up beside them. They hopped out of the truck to confront whoever had followed them and saw that it was the first dancer, Chastity.
"What are you doing here?" Jason asked harshly.
"I followed you guys," She said, eyeing Garrick appreciatively. "I've never seen anybody fight like that, you could have killed those guys! And Franky, he'll be pissing blood for a month!"
"Why did you follow us?" Jason asked, not wanting the extra attention she would bring. She had a long T-shirt on and that looked like it was the extent of her outfit, other then her purse and the mini skirt, g-string, and high heels that she had on at the club.
"Because I wanted to tell you," She was talking directly to Garrick, "that you were welcome to touch me like that somewhere other then the club, but you had to wait until I got off work!"
Kelnozz laughed and said, "I see where Nordan gets it!" Kelnozz headed towards the door to their hotel room.
"Ah, a good night you have shown us, Jason!" Garrick said, clapping the man on the back. "A tavern brawl and a whore to boot, well done!"
"Hey, I'm not a whore! I just liked you and thought maybe we had a connection, ya know," She said, not looking terribly upset at being called a whore, but protesting for the principle of it. She had a piece of gum in her mouth now, and was chewing on it vigorously.
"Somebody has been here," Kelnozz said with a deadly seriousness to his voice. All other conversation was cut short, and together they moved towards the door.
"How do you know that?" Pamela asked, her head still swimming from the events of the night.
"And old trick I learned a while ago. I placed some hair near the top of the door, and any body opening it would disturb it, somebody was in our room."
Garrick opened and closed his fist in mid air, and Chastity gasped as his warhammer appeared in his hand. Kelnozz took the key from Jason and put it in the lock quietly. Turning it suddenly, he opened the door quickly and leaned away from it. Just in time, for a hail of gunfire poured through the opening, tattooing a pattern where Kelnozz had just been.
The sound of several wet pops and thuds could faintly be heard over the gunfire, and glancing back they saw that Chastity had not moved away from the door when the rest of them had. Her body fell to the ground and she gasped in pain and confusion as her life rapidly poured out onto the sandy parking lot.
Garrick growled and leapt in through the doorway as the gunfire ceased. His hammer was already on its way, crashing into one man and crushing his head. The resultant thundering boom stunned the two men next to him. He found another man closer to the door and his fist closed around his throat, crushing his windpipe and spine holding him off the ground while he flailed.
Another bout of gunfire followed, though this time Garrick held up the dying man as a meat shield between himself and them. A few bullets still found him, but they only grazed one arm and one thigh. Clips ran empty and Garrick threw the bloody corpse, catching a man while he struggled to place another clip in his pistol.
Kelnozz was in the room by now as well, a knife he had hidden in his boot slicing through the air and sticking in the throat of a gunman wielding a sub-machine gun. The gun fired erratic bullets into the sky and the mans arms went up. He dropped the gun and grasped at the knife in his throat, pulling it out and increasing the flow of blood both into his lungs and onto his hands and shirt. He collapsed to his knees and drowned in his own blood moments later.
The two men that had been stunned where coming to their senses by then, but Garrick had reclaimed his hammer and with a swing smashed the gun out of the hands of one of them. Jason leapt over the bed and crashed into the other man, forcing his pistol to fire over his head as he drove him to the ground. Shaking away the deafening noise, he drove his fist into the mans jaw until he slumped unconscious.
Turning back, Jason saw Kelnozz duck in time to see Garrick throw the man who had just had his gun smashed out of his hand into the wall next to the door. A sickening crunch sounded, indicating that the mans neck, at the very least, was broken. No others remained in the room.
Pammy looked in and saw the carnage of the room. Her hand flew to her mouth and she turned away, retching into the parking lot. Jason was quite shocked himself at the display of gore and violence, and just as much at his own reactions taken. Garrick had the look on his face that would have easily convinced him that he was the angel of death right then.
"This one's still alive," Jason said, clearing his throat first to make sure his adrenaline laden nerves did not make him tremble.
Garrick proceeded towards him then, deadly intent evident. Kelnozz grabbed his arm and stopped him, shaking his head and saying, "Perhaps he can tell us something."
Garrick nodded and took a deep breath. Letting it out, he searched through the bodies of the dead men. They had nothing on them by means of identification. Jason and Kelnozz gathered up their bags and quickly loaded them into the truck, knowing that they couldn't stay there. Already people had started approaching, asking questions. Kelnozz grabbed his dagger off the floor and slipped it back into his boot, then followed the rest of them into the vehicle, which then screeched off into the night in search of a new place to stay.
"We need to talk," Kelnozz said when the remaining attacker began to come to his senses.
The man groaned as he tried to put everything back together in his bruised mind. Realizing where he was, he struggled to put distance between himself and Kelnozz, only to realize that he was in the back of the truck and could not get out. Jason pulled it over to the side of the road in an empty Circuit City parking lot and let Kelnozz do his thing.
Torture had never been his specialty, but between him and Garrick, they soon had the man trying to scream. Had his mouth not been gagged and bound, he would have surely gotten the attention of several nearby people, including the law. And they hadn't even gotten to the point where they started asking questions yet.
Both his hands had been smashed with Garrick's hammer, breaking most, if not all, of the bones there. They had promised to do the same with his feet next, if he didn't tell them what they needed to know, and left him gagged tied to a lightpost in the parking lot with some time to think before they returned and began again. A rope ran from each one? wrist to the other, holding the lightpost inside of his arms and near his face. Blood ran from his mouth and nose, where Jason's earlier punches had split his lips, broken his nose, and even bloodied his eye.
Garrick and Kelnozz returned to the truck to talk to Pamela and Jason. Jason handed Kelnozz a small radio and said, "Do you think this will work?"
Kelnozz nodded and smiled. Garrick grinned as well, for his part in the plan they were executing. "What are you talking about?" Pamela asked, clearly upset at all the violence that had gone on around her so far that night. She knew what Garrick and Kelnozz were capable of, but she did not realize that Jason could be as violent and ruthless as he had been so far.
"Hey!" Pamela said, glancing out the rear window. "He's getting away! He'll tell the police if you don't stop him!"
Silence greeted her as the other men watched out the windows. In a moment, Kelnozz reached into his pack and pulled out his equipment. Stripping quickly out of his shirt, he slipped his magical bracers on each forearm, then some gloves. He put a loose black shirt back on and then slipped his feet into his magical boots. Slipping daggers into his boots and also hanging one from his belt, he finished making his preparations. In a moment, he was off, heading after their escaped prisoner with the radio clipped to his belt as well.
"Where's he going, after him?" Pammy asked.
"Aye, he's going to follow him back to wherever Alesha is," Garrick said. "Kel and I both know how powerful Alesha's control can be, he would have told us nothing. Letting him think he escaped lets us follow him back there."
"But, we need to stay within a couple of miles or the radios won't work," Jason added, starting his vehicle and pulling out of the parking lot in the same direction that Kelnozz had gone.
Every so often the radio would come on and Kelnozz would speak into it, trusting that the magic of the device would let it function. Jason chuckled as he listened, letting the elf lead them as best he could. Neither Kelnozz nor Garrick had learned how to read English, only to speak it, so street signs were useless to them. Instead the elf would describe what he saw and hope that Jason could follow him. At one point they made a wrong turn and lost contact with him, but by driving fast and recklessly, they managed to get within range again after turning around.
Nearly two hours later saw 3 o clock in the morning approaching, but Kelnozz relayed the description of the building that he was standing in front of to them. The building that their former prisoner was about to cross the street and enter. Before he could do so, Kelnozz slipped up behind him and took out a dagger. He held it firmly against the mans back and told him to walk into the building. The man crossed the street fearfully, not knowing what he should do.
Suddenly, the man tried to run away from Kelnozz, heading down the street. He knew that leading Kelnozz into the club would grant him a fate worse then death at Alesha's hands or her pet demons. Kelnozz was a step behind him when he jumped in front of a car, slamming into the front grill and tumbling down under the front wheels. Kelnozz stopped and grimaced at the sound of the squealing brakes and crunching bones. Without waiting for the driver, he turned away and ran towards the club.
Opening the door and stepping inside, Kelnozz was greeted with two men at the door stationed as bouncers, even though it was after hours for the club to be open. Wordlessly, both came at him, and Kelnozz knew they weren't trying to kick him out for an improper identification. He slipped away from one and pounded his dagger into the chest of the other, leaving it planted there as the man fell forward.
Spinning around, Kelnozz punched the other man in the face, driving him back a few steps as blood gushed out of his nose. He raised his leg up and pulled another dagger out of it, slashing quickly to keep the man away from him. The slash caught the inexperienced bouncer across the forearm, opening up a deep wound that bled freely. He clapped his hand to it to apply pressure and Kelnozz kicked out at the mans knee. It cracked and he fell to the ground with a loud grunt. Kelnozz descended on him quickly, slashing out his throat.
Rising to his feet, he turned around and listened carefully. He could hear a band playing inside still, and the further loud noise of many people still drinking and partying. He wiped his daggers clean on the dying mans shirt sleeve and put them back in their sheathes. Straightening up, he made sure he didn't have any blood on him, and pulled the two men behind a desk where one of them should have been collecting cover charges. That done, he went through the inner doors and entered the club.
"Is that it?" Pammy asked, pointing to a club that matched the description that Kelnozz had given them. Garrick grunted and Jason nodded. He pulled over and parked. Down the road a bit they saw some red and blue lights flashing.
"What's that?" Garrick asked, looking at the lights.
"Let's hope it's not your friend," Jason muttered, and hopped out of his truck. Garrick and Pamela got out as well, but Jason stopped her and shook his head. "You don't like what's happened so far tonight, and inside of there will be a lot more of the same. You're right, these guys are incredible, I'll be lucky to take care of myself in there, I can't watch out for you too. Stay out here and keep my truck running in case we have to get out of here in a hurry, okay?"
Pamela looked at him for a moment and saw the genuine concern in his eyes. She smiled and nodded, then felt an irresistible urge to kiss him. Turning back to face him, she saw that he'd already gone, heading after Garrick towards the door of the nightclub.
"Jason, you'd better come out of this okay!" She whispered, then hopped back into the truck and took the keys he had given her and started it up.
In the entryway, Garrick and Jason saw the corpses hidden behind the desk, and judged them very recently dead. They hurried inside, Garrick carrying a large bag in one hand. Inside the club was easily a hundred people, jammed inside and dancing to the music. Or at least it looked like dancing at first, but as the two men took in the seen better, they saw that they were swaying back and forth in time with the music, but both were merely a compliment to the ritual going on up on the stage.
A young man with red hair was standing on the stage with his hands in the air while a woman was kneeling before him, sucking his cock deep in her throat. He jerked into her, pounding himself mercilessly into her throat. Just as mercilessly she was thrusting her head forward onto him. Mindlessly might have been a better word for her actions, for her eyes seemed to realize what was happening and were filled with terror, but her body performed mechanically as though it was not under her control.
"What the fuck is going on?" Jason asked, making certain that only Garrick heard him.
"Alesha's unholy rituals. She gains power from them, to have raised a following this big so quickly, she must be powerful indeed," Garrick said, studying the crowd carefully. "If you should see her, avoid her at all costs. With merely a thought she can make you do things you would not believe."
Jason nodded and said, "Okay, let's kill this chick and get the hell out of here!"
Garrick grinned and motioned for Jason to follow him as they began trying to move through the crowd. Up on the stage the woman raised her hands up above her head, and in them was held a wicked looking dagger. The couple continued to thrust into each other, and soon the man's thrusting became more erratic. The sexual energy charged through the crowd, reaching into even Jason and Garrick, though both ignored it as best they could.
It was then that they saw Kelnozz, up near the front, with only a few rows of people between him and the stage. He tried to act like the rest of the crowd of devil worshippers, but was out of synch enough to prove to them that he was merely trying to avoid discovery.
"He's got a good point," Jason said. "We should act like they do, makes it less obvious why we're here."
Garrick grunted and tried to slip into character, swaying with the music and raising his arms as they were. Jason joined him, and between the two of them, they were even more obvious then before that they had no good reason to be there.
Up on the stage, the man was on the verge of an orgasm, his thrusting so erratic that the woman had to struggle to keep his cock in her mouth. Tears ran down her eyes, but she continued the blowjob. The dagger in her hands flew forward then, stabbing deeply into his chest. He climaxed, exploding his seed into her mouth as his lifeblood drained out of his chest around the dagger. The woman sucked, gathering all of his cum and then let the dying man fall off the stage and into the crowd, where the onlookers rushed forward to consume him.
Jason was visibly sickened, and fought to hold down the contents of his stomach. Garrick was disgusted, and Kelnozz had a look of deadly resolve on his face. It was then that a woman appeared out of nowhere on the stage and walked towards the woman.
She was dressed as Kelnozz and Garrick had described her, resplendent in her armor crafted from the scales of silver dragons and wearing nothing else. At her side her sword hung from her hand. Jason thought she looked every bit as beautiful as Garrick and Kelnozz had described her, only perhaps more so. He had to catch himself from falling in love with her on the spot, and remind himself what it was that she was doing.
She motioned and the woman stood up, revealing her shapely figure. Streams of tears ran down her cheeks, but she moved towards Alesha and opened her mouth to show that she had captured all of the man's cum. Alesha smiled at her, and wrapped one of her arms around the woman's waist as their mouths embraced. The woman used her tongue to push the cum into Alesha's mouth, transferring every last bit of it to her. Alesha continued the kiss, but raised her sword between them. Drawing it quickly across, she opened the woman's throat in one motion. Alesha continued to kiss the woman as she drowned in her own blood. When her body could stand no more, she collapsed to the stage and died. Alesha turned and looked into the audience, which cheered her on with soulless abandon. The blood that had sprayed out from the woman's throat ran off her armor and skin leaving no marks or stains.
"Oh God," Jason whispered, at a loss for words or even feelings to express what he had just seen.
"Aye, but it's not your God," Garrick responded, forcing a path through the surging crowd.
A dagger hurtled through the air then, aimed straight at Alesha. It would have struck true had it not been for the demon that shimmered into existence and plucked it out of the air with one of its four arms. It roared a challenge and the crowd roared in response, lost in their debauchery.
Kelnozz leapt onto the stage, ignoring the band which still played further back on it. Talifernon glowered at him and advanced. "Mistress, shall I dispose of this thing for you?"
"Aye, Talifernon, but try not to kill him if you can help it," She said, smiling cruelly.
"Alesha, what is this madness!" Kelnozz called out to her. She blinked and looked at him, for a moment she let a look of sadness show, then she shook it away.
"On second thought, Talifernon, you had better kill him."
"Kel!" Garrick called out, throwing the bag he carried with him high through the air. Kelnozz caught it and reached in before Talifernon could reach him. He pulled out his longswords just in time to block the swinging pincers of the demon.
"We've got to help him!" Jason said, trying to push through the crowd faster.
"Nay lad, we've got our own troubles!" Garrick responded, summoning his hammer into his hand and readying himself.
"You're no God here, Garrick, you can be slain as easily as any other man!" Alesha cried out, seeing him in the crowd.
"Not so easy, I think!" Garrick challenged her.
"Kill him!" Alesha screamed, pointing at Garrick.
"Get away lad, if she knows you're with us, you're a dead man," Garrick said, swinging his hammer and crushing the first man to come at him. Jason hesitated a moment, then nodded when he realized how he could help better. He ducked into the crowd as it tried to overwhelm Garrick.
On the stage, Kelnozz sparred with the demon. He remembered his last encounter with it, but this time, he was more experienced and possessed better weapons. After a few minutes of battle, Kelnozz was amazed. He'd long considered himself near the peak of his potential for skill, but he had passed up half a dozen openings already in the fight with the demon.
The demon howled when Kelnozz's long sword cut into his hip. Another moment and its side was wounded. A few more swings and Kelnozz severed one of the pincers off. Talifernon snarled angrily, the elf was hurting him, and it seemed there was little he could do to stop him. He tried to summon up his demonic powers to cast a spell on him, but Kelnozz slashed into his thigh, just above his knee, and his knee buckled, driving him to the stage. Holding one arm up to ward off the impending blow, The demons left forearm ending in a hand fell to the stage floor next.
The demon fell backwards then, glowering both hatefully and fearfully at Kelnozz. Kelnozz advanced on him, slashing across and incapacitating the demons other leg. The demon tried to summon up its powers to disappear in order to recover, but it was blocked from doing so by the oath it had taken to Alesha. If it teleported away, it would fail her. Kelnozz's next swing cut through flesh, muscle, and bone along his side. The demon swung its arms up at Kelnozz, the two it had left, but Kelnozz blocked the strikes with the bracers on his forearms.
"You've gotten better since the last time you fought Talifernon," Alesha commented, showing that she was impressed but betraying no concern.
"As have you," Kelnozz responded, keeping track of her out of the corner of his eye, but keeping his attention on the wounded demon. He dodged another weak swipe from Talifernon and swung again, this time cutting deeply into his shoulder.
With only one arm still useful, Talifernon grabbed Kelnozz's leg, finally connecting. Kelnozz looked down at it, surprised, and swung his sword, severing the hand at the wrist. The demon howled in pain and terror, knowing it was doomed. Kelnozz's next swung was aimed at the demon's head, striving to send it back to the abyss. It was blocked.
Kelnozz looked up to see Alesha on the other end of the blade that had halted his own. "Apparently more than your power has changed," Kelnozz commented dryly. "The demon and I have an arrangement, if you destroy his body, that would seriously inconvenience me for the next hundred years or so," She responded, backed up a bit and preparing to face Kelnozz.
"Remember the last time we dueled?" Kelnozz said, advancing on her threateningly. "This isn't my world, I don't care what happens here. Surrender to me and I'll see to it that you live."
"How sweet," Alesha responded sarcastically. "Sorry lover, no deal."
Kelnozz shook his head sadly at her. "Then let us begin."
Alesha stood still and Kelnozz swung. Instead of hitting her, his sword struck an invisible barrier around her, only inches from her skin. She smiled and lashed out at him while he was surprised, nicking his shoulder and tearing his shirt. He backed up and came at her again, more carefully this time. One sword probed her defenses, meeting the barrier each time while he used the other blade to defend himself from her own attacks. She abandoned defense and attacked him wholly, trying to score a incapacitating wound.
Kelnozz could see the increased look of concentration on Alesha's face while they fought, clearly it was taxing her to do battle and keep the shield up. Then he was through it, scoring a glancing blow on her elbow. She grunted and fell back, gaining some room to catch her breath.
"Now what witchery will you use?" Kelnozz asked, advancing on her.
Alesha let her sword lower a bit and glanced around nervously. "After all we've been through, would you really kill me, Kel?"
"It is because of all we've been through, I would kill you," Kelnozz said matter-of-factly.
"Look at me, Kelnozz, I can be yours! Spare me and I will devote myself to you!" Alesha said, holding out her arms to display her body. On cue, her ornate breastplate was magically unclasped, falling to the stage floor around her legs. Her grieves and loin cloth fell next, leaving her with only her gloves, bracers, boots, and her softly glowing pendant on in front of him. She stepped forward out of the pile of armor and knelt before him.
"You're making it awfully easy for me to kill you," Kelnozz said neutrally.
"Then perhaps I deserve to die, if the one person I have been involved with for so long now wishes me dead," Alesha responded, her voice filled with sadness.
Kelnozz lowered his swords as well and stopped directly in front of her. "I know you to well, Alesha. You try to give me what I want, hoping to prey on my weakness for you. Time and again, you have shown me what you are truly capable of. I'll not be misled again."
Kelnozz raised the tip of one sword and a single tear fell from Alesha's eye. "If it must be so, lover, then let it be!" She reached up and grabbed the blade of his sword, ignoring the sharp edge, and held it steady while she lunged towards it, letting it thrust deeply into her chest. Her hands held on to the blade, preventing Kelnozz from withdrawing it.
Kelnozz gasped as a paralyzing cold swept up his blade and into his hand. From there it passed into his arm and quickly into the rest of his body. His other blade, raised to strike her head from her shoulders, was frozen in mid air and his muscles betrayed him and he stood still, aching in the frigid magic that ensorcelled him.
Alesha pulled the blade out finally, grunting in pain as blood burst from the wound. She shivered for a moment herself before she got control and used her magic to seal the wound. With the blade no longer imbedded in her flesh, Kelnozz fell to the floor, breath hissing through his teeth painfully. Alesha grabbed up her sword from where it had fallen and towered over him.
"I am sorry for this, more so then you will ever know," Alesha said, gritting her teeth with resolve. She raised her sword and began the downward plunge that would spell Kelnozz's fate.
Movement from the corner of his eye drew Kelnozz's attention. Jason slammed into Alesha's back, throwing both his hip and his shoulder into her forcibly. Her downward plunge aborted, she half flew, half stumbled into the set of drums that the band had only recently abandoned in their attempt to help the crowd destroy Garrick. Instinctively, Alesha slashed out as she flew, feeling the tip of her sword connect before she herself was stunned by the impact of the drums and the floor.
Kelnozz groaned and lurched to his feet as feeling returned to his limbs. He clumsily gathered up his weapons and moved towards Alesha. She had dropped her sword when she fell, and was struggling herself to get back up. He kicked it away from her and rested a blade on each side of her neck.
"Any more tricks up your sleeve?" He asked her, exerting enough pressure to let her feel the edges of his blades parting the outer layers of her skin.
"I don't have any sleeves on," She said carefully.
"That'll teach you to fuck with a hockey player, bitch!" Jason said, coming to stand next to Kelnozz. He held his left shoulder with his right hand, but blood still trickled down his arm from where her sword had connected.
"Is it bad?" Kelnozz asked him, not taking his eyes off of Alesha.
"Yeah," Jason muttered, "She got me deep, it's spurting out when I don't put pressure on it."
"Heal him," Kelnozz commanded her, letting the blades cut in a little deeper.
"I am out of power!" Alesha hissed. "And even if I did, I have no bond with him, it would take to long."
"Then you are of no use to me anymore," Kelnozz replied, taking one sword away from her neck and preparing to bring it back in more forcibly.
"Wait!" Alesha cried out. "Let me try! Come closer to me, let me put my hands on it."
"If you try anything, know that I will take you back to Viconia and execute you, so that your pet demon and Bavorish will be able to reward you for your failures," Kelnozz whispered to her.
Alesha ignored the elf and motioned Jason forward. With a wary glance towards Kelnozz, who nodded approvingly, Jason knelt down next to Alesha so that they were almost on the same level. Alesha raised her hands and placed them on his shoulders. Closing her eyes she began struggling to raise the last of her powers. After a few moments, Jason felt a warmth spread through his shoulder, and the stinging numbness began to fade. A few minutes later she removed her hands and slumped back to the floor, clearly exhausted.
Jason studied his shoulder through the tear in his shirt. It was still sore, and there was a fresh pink scar, but he could move it and he knew he was no longer in danger of bleeding to death. "Neat!" He said, stepping back away from her and admiring his shoulder. "Kinda sore, but I'll live."
"Get her sword," Kelnozz said, still watching Alesha like a hawk.
Jason nodded and walked around Kelnozz to pick up Alesha's sword. It felt warm in his hand, and the grip seemed to adjust to fit his hand nicely. He walked back over near Kelnozz, but was interrupted by a loud roar behind him. Spinning around, he caught Talifernon's fist in his jaw, making him stumble back a step.
Demon's possess a greater rate of healing then most beings do, due to their unnatural origins and powers. Talifernon had managed to not only heal his severed leg muscles, but also one of his fists and one of his pincers. He advanced on Jason now, reaching out and grabbing the man around the waist with the pincer and lifting him into the air. Jason groaned as the sharp edges of the demonic claw cut and scraped his abdomen.
Remembering the sword in his hand, he swung it then at the demon. An awkward cut, his intent was to hack into the arm that held him aloft. One of the demons other arms, with only a stump that was just beginning to regrow some fingers got in the way, causing the blade to be diverted. It still struck the demon though, but it managed to hack into Talifernon's head, severing the canine ear and shaving off a section of scalp.
The demon dropped Jason then, and howled in pain as he covered his head. Wasting no time, Jason scrambled away from the towering beast, concerned more with putting distance between the two of them then anything else at the moment.
Kelnozz watched Alesha carefully during the confrontation. She had roused herself somewhat, but only laid on the floor watching with interest as Talifernon growled and stalked towards Jason.
A body came flying through the air between Talifernon and Jason then, and a quick glance to the side showed the Garrick was still in the middle of the crowd of people, though many were now unconscious or otherwise incapacitated.
Talifernon came in swinging, forcing Jason to backpeddle furiously to avoid another ringing blow to his head. He stopped when he reached the end of the stage though, only a two foot drop to the floor remained, and the distance from the edge of the stage to the wall of the club was less then five feet away as well. Cursing, he saw the demon bearing down on him and made a rash decision.
Bellowing loudly, he charged the demon, trying to catch it off guard. He held the sword down low and threw his shoulder into the demon's midsection. The greater mass and supernatural nature of the demon made his attack useless however. Bouncing off the demon's belly, he shook his head and slashed upwards with the sword. Talifernon howled as the sword cut into his crotch, narrowly missing his genitals, but slicing upwards through his abdomen and belly as though they were made of butter. His own strike at Jason landed on the man's head, but it lacked any force behind it, merely stunning the man.
Jason fell away from the demon then, amazed that the sword cut so cleanly and easily through the flesh and bone. He scrambled back to his feet as the demon tried to keep its bowels from pouring out of the wound until it healed back up. Slashing again, he opened up a horizontal wound that crossed the vertical one, making the demons efforts a failure. Jason then lashed out at the demon's knee, remembering how Kelnozz had taken him down earlier. Alesha's sword cut through the knee as easily as it did everywhere else, bringing Talifernon down to the ground with a crash.
Talifernon howled in pain and outrage. That such a puny mortal was hurting him was unthinkable. He swung for the man again, trying to swipe him off the stage and crush him in the process. Jason lunged forward, however, sinking the sword deeply into the demon's chest, and received only a glancing blow from the demon's hand. Talifernon's mouth opened in agony as it knew it had been defeated. As its body began to fail, it grabbed hold of Jason's arm with its pincer and threw a last punch at him. As the blow landed, the demon's form dissolved into smoke.
Jason flew backwards across the stage, some of the force diverted, but enough remained to crack his ribs and launch him into the air. He landed with a thud and laid staring up at the ceiling trying to work some air back into his lungs. The sword was still in his hands.
"What are you going to do with me?" Alesha asked once the fight was over and it was obvious that Jason was still alive.
"I'm still working on that," Kelnozz admitted. "I suppose I should kill you, but I'm having a hard time working up the conviction to do it."
Alesha tried to smile but failed. She glanced out at the crowd trying to overwhelm Garrick, in spite of his obviously incredible strength and skill. "You got a God to come with you for me, I suppose there really is no chance for me."
"He's not a God anymore, Nordan has taken his place. As Martin took Carson's place."
"Oh?" Alesha asked, beginning to win her fight against the fatigue the extensive use of her powers had caused her. "You've bested my demon and defeated me. With your friends, you've slain dragons mightier then I could ever hope to best. I give up, Kelnozz."
"What should I do with you?" Kelnozz asked her suspiciously.
"Kill me, most likely," She replied. "If you take me back to Viconia and don't kill me, I'm sure I'll resort to my wicked ways. I never was much good with temptation. If you leave me here, what's to stop me one day from starting up another cult? I love power, Kelnozz, it feels so good to control others wants and needs"
If Kelnozz was surprised at her honesty, he hid it well. Instead he said, "I have another plan for you, I think. If you can guarantee your best behavior while with me, perhaps there is a way out of all this."
Alesha looked at him with genuine curiosity. Finally, she shrugged and nodded. "Alright, old friend, you have my best behavior."
"Good, now call off your minions so Garrick will stop having fun," He told her.
Smirking, Alesha rose off the floor and approached the front of the stage. Laying on the floor in misery, Jason had to admit that he nearly forgot the pain when he could stare up at a perfect nude body such as Alesha was displaying. She caught his eyes and smiled briefly, then threw him a wink and blew him a kiss before turning to the grand melee below.
"STOP!" She said, her voice magnified loudly enough so that everyone within the building heard it clearly. Kelnozz flexed his hands around his sword hilts warily, never before had she recovered her powers as quickly as she appeared to now.
"All of you will go home now, leave this place and never return to it. Forget the things that happened here. Go now!" Alesha turned back to Kelnozz and nodded her head. Kelnozz eyed her suspiciously for a moment, then nodded in return. Already the people below had stopped harassing Garrick. They turned as one and moved towards the exit, leaving the club as best they could. Those that could not make it on their own were helped out by others, and soon only the dead remained. Garrick had seen to it that that number was impressive. A full score of people lay with broken necks, backs, skulls, and other important bones.
Garrick hopped up onto the stage, half sneering at Alesha, and walked over to where Jason was laying. "You okay lad?" Garrick asked him, seeing the man's eyes were open and that he was conscious.
"Yeah," Jason replied weakly. "Just thinking about taking a nap is all."
Unseen behind them, Alesha closed her eyes and contacted her brother. "Brian, I'm leaving now. Not the way I'd planned, but I'm still leaving. Continue your work and come and find me when it's time. Talifernon has been banished for a hundred years by a man they call Jason, but I transfer ownership of his soul to you. Be well, my brother."
"What's the matter?" Kelnozz asked her, seeing her eyes closed and her body swaying a little bit.
"Hmm? Oh, nothing, just trying to see if I had enough energy left to heal your friend again," Alesha lied. She walked over next to him and knelt down beside him. She placed her hand lightly on his chest and caused her healing energies to flow into him. He moaned as he felt his ribs shift to their proper positions and begin to mend. Alesha then leaned down to him and kissed him for a moment. Feigning weakness before getting back up, she let her head drop beside his ear and knew her hair hid their heads.
"Be wary, my brother will be after you for banishing his demon," She whispered. Jason's eyes widened and his breath caught in his throat. "Shh, not a word of that to your friends, that's an order."
She stood up and moved away as though nothing had happened. Alesha then began to put her armor back on after checking with Kelnozz to see if she was allowed to. Jason struggled to his feet, his chest still sore much like his shoulder, but otherwise he felt fine. He opened his mouth to tell them what she had just said, but found that the words would not come out. He shut his mouth before they noticed and instead remained content to simply glare at her.
"What about this?" Jason asked, holding the sword out towards Kelnozz.
"Keep it, she won't be using it anymore," The dark elf replied, challenging Alesha with his words and gaze. She refused to take the bait, and simply nodded her head.
"Destroy this place," Kelnozz commanded her. Alesha frowned but nodded. They headed towards the door but before getting there Jason asked them to wait a moment. He hopped behind the bar and grabbed a few bottles of beer. Handing one to Kelnozz and one to Garrick, he opened one himself and said, "After a tough hockey game it's always good to suck down an ice cold beer. I figured this was kinda the same thing."
Alesha smirked while Garrick and Kelnozz just looked at each other. Twice now he'd mentioned hockey, but neither of them knew what it was. They did know what to do with ale, however, and having already been shown how to remove the tops from the bottles, they quickly did so.
Once in the truck, Pamela was introduced to Alesha, and immediately the tension could be felt between the two women. As they pulled away, Alesha concentrated long enough to work her magic again. Brian slipped out the back door of the club moments before the liquor bottles behind the bar shattered and then ignited, spreading flames rapidly and consuming the place.
Continued in Epilogue
Tender Mercies: Book 1 - Chapter 19
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