Margit Sandemo - The Ice People 33 - Demon of the Night

“Yes, Master.”

Tamlin forced himself to bow, and then he took flight.

Far below him, he saw the deserted Valley in the starry night. He could discern the figure of Tengel the Evil like a small, black pile. Then it dissolved.

His master had been pleased with him. Tamlin was relieved and proud.

He flew on towards the domain of nightmares, the hidden realm of the demons of the night. He hadn’t been there before, and the route went through the dark minds of human beings. Soon he arrived at the entrance and rushed down through blue-black corridors, between twisted columns at the entrances of grottos like dark holes. He instinctively found where he wanted to go, past the worst nightmares of slumbering children and adults, where peculiar, gnarled shadows waited by the cave openings. He saw dimly shining eyes watching him. He heard an undulating, moaning scream and he understood that this was an echo of the bad dreams of those who were sleeping.

On his way he met other demons flying out of the grottos, because it was always night somewhere on earth and they had a lot to do.

Then he reached the innermost grotto, landed and went in through the tall gate.

Many demons were gathered here. They turned to look at Tamlin as he stepped inside. A tall, beautiful woman, half animal and half human, walked towards him, and he greeted her with a respectful nod. “I am Tamlin,” he said. “Our terrible ruler has placed me in the house of the Ice People, and I am trying to carry out my task to our joint honour.”

The woman smiled. “Oh, so you’re Tamlin. We know you. What do you want?”

Tamlin quoted Tengel’s order to them to seek out “the invisible one”.

A demon stood up. “I know about the invisible one. We don’t want to be involved in this.”

“This is the order that was given to me,” Tamlin objected. “I can’t refuse to obey it because the power of Tengel the Evil is much too great. I must guard my honour.”

“Then you’re not to be burdened with knowledge of the invisible one,” replied the older demon. “There are strong powers behind the Ice People clan. We can’t get involved, so it’s better for us to keep quiet. I know that it’s now your duty to report me to our evil ruler, who has unlawfully seized power over us. However, your mother can eradicate your knowledge of me from your consciousness. Will you please do so, Lilith?”

Lilith? Lilith was his mother! The most beautiful of all the female demons!

The beautiful, animal-like woman put her hand over his eyes and murmured a few words. “When you leave here, my son, you’ll have forgotten everything about this demon’s knowledge.”

She removed her hand and smiled at him.

“When you’ve completed your task with the Ice People, you’ll be united with us once again. I can imagine that you’re bored in the home of human beings, but they don’t live forever. You’ll be free when the clan dies out. Or when Tengel the Evil assumes power on earth.”

Didn’t they live forever?

“What’s the matter, my son? Your face has turned so dark?”

Tamlin shook his head with a look of indifference.

Lilith went on: “I hope you’re being watchful in the house so that nobody knows of your presence? Be careful not to drop anything or leave traces!”

Tamlin replied: “Nobody knows that I’m there.

“Very well!” replied Lilith. “Thank you for your warning, and thank you for your visit! We’ll see each other again when the time is right.”

Tamlin took leave of them and shortly afterwards he was out in the human world once more.

As he flew homewards, swifter than the wind, he tried in vain to remember something of what he had heard when he was with the demons. But his mind was empty. Somebody had warned him about something, and he had objected ...

No, his mind was empty.

Vanja had woken up in the meantime. She could feel that Tamlin had disappeared.

Not again, she thought. Had he gone out to pry around the house – or was he somewhere in her room, and up to his usual mischief?

She felt strangely alone. The room, the whole house in fact, seemed empty. Only ordinary human beings lived here.

A sleeping raven was sitting in the tree outside her window. It often sat there.

She got up, gazing out into the dark night. Where could he be? He had never vanished before.

After a while, Vanja went back to bed. She crept down underneath the blanket, lying pensively on her side.

What a strange relationship she and Tamlin had! Both of them were more children than grown-ups, but the games they played were beginning to turn into something dangerous.

He had never used his tail again as he had on the first night. However, a few days later, she had suddenly registered his claw-like hand on her breast. That wasn’t unusual but this time was different – it was resting against her skin. Underneath her nightgown. She had opened her eyes and looked straight into his mischievous ones.

“You’re improving,” he laughed in his hoarse voice, which was no voice but merely a series of whispering sounds.

Now she understood what he meant. He was cupping one of her breasts and it wasn’t just a little bud anymore: there was a slight curve between it and her ribs, the first sign that she was growing into a young woman.

“Yes, and the other one as well,” he said; she was about to feel it, but he had been swifter than her so his hand touched her breast first. It didn’t matter. She let his claws tickle her new forms.

“I’m becoming a grown-up,” she murmured. “It feels ... invigorating.”

Tamlin did nothing, just letting his hand rest there, and then she fell asleep.

After that, they often lay like that. Then one evening, he let his tongue play across her skin, playfully and light as a feather. She could see his dark head in the gloom of early spring, how he held it above her as his hair tickled her face. His tongue played under her chin until she shivered, licking her throat, over her shoulders and breast until she broke loose with a moan and turned her back to him.

“You’re teasing me,” she said, her voice thick. “You’re horrible, horrible, horrible.”

“Not at all,” he replied with satisfaction. “I’m enjoying it, and I know that you’re enjoying it as well.”

“How do you know?” she hissed.

“Well, you feel the same way about it as I do.”

Those words made her stiffen. “Tamlin, get out of my bed! Immediately! I don’t want you here anymore!”

He was silent for a minute. “I hear fear in your voice. I promise I won’t do it anymore.”

“How incredibly nice you are, all of a sudden!”

“Nice? Not at all. I just don’t fancy lying on the floor. Besides, your fear may mean that you’ll tell the others about me. So my niceness boils down to selfishness. I’ve been given an assignment, and you’re not to gossip about me. It’s as simple as that.”

“What kind of assignment?”

“Just shut up and go to sleep, you slut!”

His words made her so furious that she got up and sat by her desk all night. Tamlin stayed up with her and was exceptionally sarcastic and sharp towards her, and that morning they parted as bitter opponents.

That had been yesterday.

Now he was gone.

Had he grown tired of her? Had he moved his hiding place? Maybe to be with a more willing, more compliant girl?

The thought triggered deep furrows in her soul.

Then a dark shadow came rushing over the night sky. It came closer and landed outside her window, which she opened wide.

“Where have you been?”

“That’s none of your business!”

“Now, Tamlin, don’t be rude! I thought ... I thought ...”

To her horror, she began to cry.

“Did you think I was never coming back?” he asked her coldly, edging his way past her into her room. “How cute!”