K Stewart - A Shot in the Dark

“Because he hates me?”

“That’s a given, but do you know why?” I shrugged, and Axel grinned. He was enjoying this. “Think about it, Jesse. Voices call us forth, but simple words won’t do it. What do you know that no other living champion does?”

His name. Because I’d faced the Yeti before, I knew his name. And names have power. In all honesty, I’m not sure what kind of power. Mystical Shit 101 was full last time I tried to sign up. Whatever it was, it meant something to the demons. Somehow, me possessing that name was a threat. A big enough threat to kill for.

I only nodded, showing him that I understood. Even thinking of it, the demon’s name swam dangerously close to the surface of my mind, fluttering like a moth with razor-blade wings, and I bit my tongue to keep it from somehow slipping out by accident. I’d have to say it, call him out when the time came. I wondered if, deep down, that made me any better than Cam and his little cadre of demon-summoning priests.

“What use is it? What can I do to him, with his name?”

Axel looked at his bare wrist. “My my, look at the time. I think our session is up for the day.”

“You’re a dick, Axel.”

“I’ve had a long time to perfect it, thank you.”

“What about the other champions? Are they all facing ghosts from their pasts, names they know?”

The blond demon shrugged. “Dunno. I don’t have a vested interest in the rest of your little playmates.”

I eyed him suspiciously. “You’re being awful liberal with your information.”

“Like I said, I just want you to be you. It works in my favor at the moment.” His eyes looked past me, over my shoulder, and he grinned with demon red eyes. “Oh this is about to get interesting.”

I turned to find Cameron at the top of the stairs, staring wide-eyed at Axel. His gaze darted from the demon to me and back, and I saw a grim resolve settle into his eyes. The smell of cloves sprang up strong-stronger than I thought him capable of really-and he opened his mouth to do… something.

“No!” I jumped, clamping my hand down tight over the possibly ex-priest’s mouth. “Don’t even try it. You don’t have enough juice to bless a sneeze anyway.”

He struggled halfheartedly (I think a true fight between us would be a lot messier), but finally settled for trying to pry my hand away from his face. I looked back at Axel. “You’ve caused enough trouble. Go on, get.”

Cameron’s eyes got wider, and though I couldn’t hear him, I could feel the movement of his protest against my hand. “Look, he’s… He’s a friend.” Sort of. “He’s not the thing that’s out there.”

“Aw, Jesse… I’m touched. Tears in my eyes, really.” I glared at the demon, and he just chuckled. “Wanna bet he’d wet himself it I walked over and touched him?” Axel wiggled his fingers with a leer.

“Would you quit? This isn’t helping.”

“Oh I’m sorry. When exactly did I offer to help?” He smirked.

Cameron said something else behind my palm, and I gave him a look. “Can I let you go without you… doing some hocus-pocus or whatever?” He nodded, his eyes promising to behave. I removed my hand and stepped back.

“That’s a demon!” His voice was distant, tinny, but I could make out the words so long as I was looking at him. Cameron pointed an accusing figure at Axel, who just laughed.

“Give the little priest a big cigar!” The smile Axel gave him was nothing short of predatory and the demon advanced on Cameron. “Now what are you going to do about it?”

“Nothing. He’s going to do nothing.” Will someone please explain to me later how I wound up protecting a demon from a priest? I put a hand on each chest and pushed, noting that yet again, Axel’s touch didn’t trigger Mira’s protection spells. In fact, he felt all too human. It was… yes, creepy, okay? I didn’t have a better word for it. “Both of you go to your separate corners and cool off.”

Cameron ignored my well-meant advice, of course. “What’s it doing here?”

“ It got stuck inside when that set off that rather poorly constructed consecration spell,” Axel spat. “ It had no intention of hanging around this little ape colony any longer than absolutely necessary, up until that point.”

“Axel…”

“What? He can be rude but I can’t? Demon, hello…” Whatever tirade he was going to go off on next was interrupted by a booming voice from outside, so loud that even I could hear it.

“ARCHITECT!”

Axel cursed, too soft for me to even tell what language he was speaking. My stomach gave a small lurch, so I was guessing it was demonic.

“ARCHITECT! Come out!” It had to be the Yeti because the mere sound of the voice made my skin crawl and I tasted oil at the back of my tongue.

I looked at Axel. “Architect?”

He ignored me. “I believe, gentlemen, that that is my cue to depart.” Axel sketched us a small two-fingered salute and headed for the stairs. Cameron scrambled to get out of his path.

I know the guys downstairs had to be saying, “What the hell?” (again) when Axel calmly walked down the stairs and headed for the front door, Cameron and I thudding after him.

I think we’d all forgotten about Duke. The mammoth mutt took one look at Axel and made a lunge for him, bellowing to high heaven. Without breaking stride, Axel snarled-literally snarled, with bared teeth and glowing eyes-at him, and the dog nearly did a backflip trying to come to a halt on the hardwood floor. Axel barked, “Sit!” and the big lummox cowered, making a puddle on the floor. So much for our valiant defender.

I snapped a quick, “Stay inside” at the guys, trying not to sound like I was telling them to sit as well, then followed Axel out onto the front porch. Cameron trotted after us pretty quick, and everyone else pressed against the windows to watch.

The Yeti was standing just inside the tree line, carefully out of range of the morning sun. He’d assumed his human guise again, the albino in the charcoal gray suit. Knowing what he really was, I could see both forms, flickering over each other like a bad film clip, managing to fill both the hulking space that was the Yeti and squash itself into the slender man’s form at the same time. It was going to give me a headache before too long. Dark shadows swirled around him, wisps of blight coalescing where he stood like fog seeking low ground.

Axel leaned against the porch rail nonchalantly. “You rang?”

“We must speak, Architect. Come here to me.” The suit-clad figure was still, but the other, superimposed over the first, swayed side to side, shifting from clawed foot to clawed foot. Almost like he was nervous.

I strained to hear the Yeti’s words. The voice part of it was still muffled in my damaged ears, but the demon side, the sickly oil-slick side was getting through loud and clear. Ugh.

Axel snorted. “No, you come here.” It was a moot point. Neither demon was going to cross the last strip of consecrated ground. The Yeti did inch out of cover though, fidgeting until he found a place safely shaded from the light. The furry form snarled its reluctance, almost like it was pulled forward against its will, while the man in the suit merely stood with his hands folded together in front of him.

“We must speak,” he said again, his colorless lips barely moving at all. “Of many things.”

“Of cabbages and kings?” Axel examined his fingernails idly, apparently finding them infinitely more interesting that the creature across the clearing.

“Of your transgressions.” I had a feeling that not only did the Yeti not have a sense of humor, but he had never read Lewis Carroll.

Axel laughed, and part of me cringed to hear myself laughing at the Yeti. I was really going to have to talk to Axel about using someone else’s voice. “You and I might have all the time in the world, but our friends here do not. Perhaps you should pick just one great sin to harp on?” At some point, I realized, Axel’s language had changed. He’d become all stuffy or something. More formal. I started to understand that, whatever this was, it wasn’t just a regular old chat between buddies.