by P. S. Power
Her hand went under the table again, and rested on his left knee. Her face showed only that she was upset.
"You both have some idea what happened with Zack. What was done to him, and what he had to do. What both of you did to him. Yes, under orders, but again, you don't get out of that. You sold your own child to one of the worst beings to have ever existed! It would have been kinder by far for you to have just sacrificed him in a blood ritual... But no, you were foolishly jealous of the power that others had, and wanted it for yourselves. Notice, that didn't work, did it?"
Tina actually spoke then. Not to defend herself however. Ty would have been, but neither of these two even tried yet.
"No. It was just rape and torture, for decades. Healing and when we were lucky, drudgery. After Xenses... Goethe was a relief. We were both raped and brutalized, but it was regular in pattern. There were survivable limits to it. Is... Is the Demon that Tyler made that bargain with actually Xenses? That seems like what he'd do, making an elaborate hoax like this to give us hope, then ripping it away."
There was no real pause, though the small hand started to make circles on his inner thigh, which forced him to be a little distracted. Which, was no doubt, the point. She'd told him that he was supposed to be holding a concept. He did it then, moving to calm, since he kind of had that one already. After that he decided to move to the knowing of the color blue. Those were hard to hold for him so far.
The girl shook her head. It was a gentle thing, and not emphatic.
"No, Zack Hartley is your son. A Greater Demon. The one you sold into slavery. The Mind Taker found him as a child, after he'd been nearly broken, and killed him. Then brought him back. He was hidden, after a fashion, with your parents, Darren. Douglas and Lyn." There was a soft sigh then and a headshake. "Lyn... The Changling. If only you'd asked her to help you find power. She would have, you know. To her you were her own son. Now... Well, if you think that I'm upset with you, then you'd best not seek her out. I doubt either of you would survive the centuries of torture that you'd get there. As it stands the only reason you aren't undergoing that right now is because Zack is too kind to lie to Tyler, and Ty made a solid bargain with him, to have you free. Once that portion is done, I highly recommend that you run, however. Far away from the lands of men. Past that, if you can find a way to do it."
She stood then, and removed her hand from his thigh. It was a relief, since she'd started to stroke his leg a bit, and his body was responding. His hind brain, if he had one that worked, didn't seem to care what she looked like.
"Know this. Several of us could have freed you from Goethe at any time. He clearly never cared for you in more than passing. If you think that you were forgotten by the rest of us, think again. You are vile Humans. You let what should have been the kindest of my kind become insane. Driven to that state by your own greed and avarice. Yes, your son is The Line Walker. Yes, he will save you. But know this, you don't have just one Greater Demon enemy in this world, but six. I'll stay my hand perhaps, but that's all. I might not even do that. You'll be free soon, but I suggest, very highly, that you go away, and end your lives, as soon as you can. It's the only protection you can find. No matter what you believe, you will never, ever be safe again." She leaned into Ty then, her pert, but large right breast pressing against him.
The nipple was hard, which was annoying, he decided. She was trying to use sex and her current body shape to distract him for some reason. To keep him from seeing something. What that was, he didn't know. It was right there however. In the back of his mind.
He fought to think of it, but nothing came. It was like he was locked out of realizing what was really going on. It could just be hormones, but it felt stronger than that.
"Walk me to the door Tyler?"
"Um, yeah. Sure." The two at the table looked glum, their faces both drawn and stark. Like war refugees, which might have been closer to reality than not. They'd had awful things happen to them. A small hand took his own, and when they got to the door, the girl sank to her knees and started working at his pants front.
"Um. Is that a good idea? You look a bit young." The words were thick in his throat, and seemed slow as she started to work on him. After a bit she looked up into his eyes, her green eyes stark and gem like in her otherwise ordinary face. He was in her mouth, and couldn't really have told her no, even if it looked wrong. It felt nice, he had to admit, but it... There was something really unsettling about the whole thing.
Lighting crashed outside as she worked on him, her hands and tongue doing clever things that had him orgasming after about ten minutes. She swallowed obviously as the wind picked up outside the front door.
Then it clicked.
"The Storm?"
That got a laugh and a head shake from the girl.
"Nooo. It's me, silly. Lucy. I was just trying out my new persona. Like her? I just changed the number for The Technician in your phone the other day. I know, it's a mean trick, but I don't want you getting too close to her. I did play the thing in the kitchen about right, for her. She is not going to be happy with those two. In the end she'll let them go, because she loves Zack so much. It's a weakness, but one I understand. I love you in much the same way." Then, being a pervert, she took him back into her mouth. Right up until he rallied and managed to get free of her. That involved a lot of pushing and a bit of slapping at her, since she had a strong grip and didn't seem inclined to let him go.
"What the fuck. Mom? That's... Fucking creepy! Why would you do that?"
She laughed at him and licked her lips a bit suggestively.
"Really? Hello, son of my heart, Greater Demon? Did you think that meant we handed out cookies to orphans? Besides, we aren't really related. You're a corpse that I stole and grew as a project. Yes, I do love you, but don't let that go to your head. You're learning magic, and Zack wasn't wrong about us. You're basically the other half of me. So if I want to blow you, I can. Or the other way around. We'll have so much fun together. Don't forget, I'm the real Greater Demon. You're just my dead bitch. Now, get hard again, so I can have you take me from behind."
She started moving her hands on him again, which he understood was wrong. Not just because his mother wouldn't have done that to him. Moving back a step he smiled and shook his head.
"Nope. If Lucy had told me to get hard, it would have just happened. No friction needed. You aren't her. You aren't The Technician either. So you are The Storm?"
Moving back in she started to play with him, trying to get him going.
"Okay, fine. That's right. You caught me. Still, doggy style is fun. I mean you already came in my mouth, so why not? Or I suppose we could fight, if you want? You can't win against me, so, bitch, which way do I take my pleasure today? Either way would be fun."
Then she slapped him. One time. It didn't hurt, but he was laying on the floor across the room almost instantly. Knocked there by what should have been a light tap. Standing he tried not to shake his head. Something in his jaw popped, but it was only going back into place, from the tone of it.
Tyler considered his options for a moment, and noticed that he was pretty much hard again anyway. Since fighting meant losing, and being damaged, he shrugged. There weren't a lot of other choices at the moment.
"Get on all fours then." He pushed at her, a bit more roughly than he would if he wasn't being blackmailed like that. Coerced. It was better than having limbs ripped off though, so he did it. It had been more fun before, when he'd figured that he was just being a bit naughty with Allison, The Technician, but was a bit less creepy this time, if he were going to be honest about the whole thing. After she came he slapped her on the right half of her round, pink bottom. Hard.
"Now get the fuck out of my house. Next time we meet, I expect you to announce yourself first. Or we really can fight. I don't think you want that." He really didn't, on some deep level, but moved back, button up his pants and waited.
The girl was saucier about doing her own clothing up. Not that she was a g
irl. For all he knew she wasn't even a female. As she'd sort of pointed out, being a Greater Demon meant being whatever she wanted, at pretty much any time. Plus she was really, really old. That helped a bit. Being tricked by a little girl would be harder than this. Holding the concept calmness, since it wasn't a bad idea at the moment, he pointed casually at the front door.
She laughed at him, and then winked.
"Ah... Okay... I have one more thing to say to you then, before I go..." He waited, and she turned to face him directly. "I'm actually Keeley. You like my storm though? I've never messed with the weather before. I'll stop playing with you now, but you need to think before you mess with me again like you did last night. Ordering me to have sex with one of my own slaves? Not that you weren't right, but seriously? Most people would hold a proper fear of doing that. You got off light here, too. I really should have held you down and grown a penis. Don't forget this, or next time I'll get Anne to come and do you for real. Got it?"
He shook his head and made a face.
"See, now I have no clue who you really are."
"Good! You don't deserve to know if you can't figure it out. Though I really am Keeley. I didn't change Darla's number, and she really will look like this when you see her next. By the way, I look like a little kid. Perv." She smiled at him, as if there hadn't been rapey coercion on her part in the whole thing. "Now, give me a kiss, and we can be friends again?"
He shook his head.
"Oh, hells no. You'll bite my tongue off or something and tell me that I deserve it for falling for the faked up Keeley line. Get out. I can't trust anything you've said."
"Which is the lesson of the day. Not just for me, either. All the Greater Demons. Okay, you can trust Eve, since she's your mentor, but also not one of us really. Really though, hold those concepts. She wasn't wrong there. In fact you seem to have a bit of talent with magic. Use it carefully. If you get too good, too fast, the others will destroy you, and possibly your mother, for it. Don't let anyone know what you can do until you can take one of us out. Not that you'll be given a choice if that happens. At that point, no matter what people think you are, you'll need to be ready. Greater Demons aren't on top because we play fair." She moved to the door, and opened it, then waved her hand at the outside world. About six seconds later the rain stopped and the wind died down. "I'm really me. The Mistress of Souls. Don't fuck with me again like that, or next time I won't be nearly as much fun for you, understood?"
He nodded, still not believing her, but wanting to. Really, even if she were The Technician or The Storm he could handle it. Anyone but Lucy. That would be far too much for his little brain to handle.
A few paces outside the door she stepped to the right, and vanished into thin air. Walking the lines, which was a thing that all Demons seemed to be able to do, more or less. So at least she was probably one of those. Looking at the space he tried to hold the concept of what had just happened in his mind. It was too confused though, and didn't mean anything to him. That was probably why you had to be a Demon to use the things. It was just baffling to regular people like him.
When he went inside he felt dirty. It wasn't a physical thing, just a mental one. Whoever that had been did look a bit too young for him, but that wasn't it. He was too open minded for mere appearance to throw him off that way. It was the thought that he didn't know who it had been. Plus the threat that had gotten him to have sex like that. It was pretty much him having been raped. He'd done it, but hadn't wanted to, and didn't feel he had a real choice at the time. That fit the definition, all right.
Which if it hadn't been the person, Allison's, goal, then he didn't know what was. If it was Keeley, well, maybe it was fair? He'd sort of basically ordered her to have sex with Steve, after all. She'd done it too, which had made it seem like it wasn't a real issue, the night before. If she'd put all of this together on the fly... Just to make him pay for that...
Then it really was a good lesson in not screwing with her kind, wasn't it?
He hadn't been harmed physically, so no one would care about it, he bet. It was just another thing that a guy like him had to put up with in life. Women, and even girls, could do things like that to men, using threats of violence or intimidation, and nothing he said to anyone would make it seem like anything other than him having been in the wrong. Even if the girl was in her twenties, looking like that would be enough to get him into legal trouble, he bet.
Even if she flat out told everyone the truth.
The saving grace there was that he really doubted that was the goal. If she'd wanted to hurt him that way, by getting the cops involved, all she'd have to do was lie. Sure, he'd left a DNA sample with her, but a Greater Demon could fake that, unlike a regular Human girl. So it had been about something else at least, not just that kind of thing. Even getting pictures of them having sex wouldn't be needed, since those could be faked now, without much more effort than doing what she had.
So he could rest easier that way.
Maybe.
He was still unsettled and felt unclean so went to shower for about an hour. He scrubbed and scrubbed, but it didn't really help, after the first bit. He still smelled like her, in his head. It wasn't unpleasant, but it lingered in his mind for some reason. Probably just trauma. Working as hard as he could to hold the right concepts, he let that go, and after a while felt better.
Then, because he didn't have anything better to do with his time he sat in the living room and meditated for several hours, holding one concept after another. The idea of warmth was interesting, since he tried to turn it into a feeling all the time. He couldn't tell if it was working at all however. Not until his right hand, which he was imagining as being like an ember in a fireplace started to smoke and smell like roasted ham. He stopped then and went back to calmness. It wasn't burnt or red when he looked at it, thankfully. There was a lingering smell however, so it had really taken place.
That meant more food might be in order, in case he actually managed to add power to the concept and it wasn't all just in his head. They were out of delicious soup, so he made a cake and used canned frosting on it, then ate the whole thing himself.
Looking up he saw Zack come into the room, and had to resist getting up suddenly. Instead he finished the cake not speaking, and got up slowly, as the thin, slightly Asian looking guy smiled at him, and set the three large boxes he was holding on the counter with a light thud.
"The first of the food I promised. You'll have deliveries starting tomorrow. Is everything all right? You look funny." The words were kind and gentle. Polite even.
Rather than try to explain it all, Ty held out his hand, which was taken over the top, like they were holding hands on a date. It was silly of Zack to do it that way, and made Tyler wince a little. After a bit, not long at all, the Greater Demon smiled softly.
"Ah. No, that was really Keels screwing with you. I can tell. It had her signature all over it. Not bad, faking being Allison like that. Darla's version is a little less heavy set. Not much. You'll like her. Or really, you might not, after all that. Still, what did you expect? Just be glad it wasn't her growing a dick the size of your arm first. She can do that, and... Yeah. She must like you."
He didn't deny that, or ask what Zack was trying to tell him. He'd heard a Zack related tale of horror already and the hints he'd gotten were more than enough for him.
So Tyler gestured at the clock on the far wall, on the right, behind where the kitchen table was.
"So, it's five. We should get going? Unless you want to visit with them? I think that, um, Allison there scared them pretty badly. I wonder which Greater Demons are the six she thinks will go after them. Or was that all talk?'
Zack shook his head.
"I don't know for certain. She probably meant her, Darla, Finias, Gregor, Lyn and... Then I'm drawing a blank. I know some others of my kind, but none that would be bothered by what happened to me. Maybe Anne? I doubt that. She and Xenses used to be friendly. That's how I met her in fact. She was spying
on me for him. Sleeping with Troy, my old roommate, in order to watch me and see what I was doing. Then we started to kind of date. Not that she still doesn't have sex with Troy on occasion. He's mainly with Barb." There was a smile and a head shake. "You should get her into bed sometime, if we're all going to be trading around like that. Clear it with Ginger first, since otherwise they might have to fight. Barb is her equal in rank, and older, but I wouldn't bet against Ginger if they fought over you. You're her property after all, and Barb is kind of a wimp, for a Master Vampire. She really needs to learn a lot more about fighting. In fact, if you get the time you should work with both her and Troy on that. He knows almost nothing, and is Human, so be careful there. Ben too. They're both learning to be Vamps though, so they need it. It comes up."
Tyler let the man talk and didn't stop to think about how different his life had gotten over the last few months. Sure, he'd been raised by a Demon, but he hadn't known that, which, in the end, meant he'd lived a pretty normal life. After a fashion. It hadn't really been that way, but it had felt like it to him.
Before they left, moving quickly, they put the food away. It was a lot more than it looked like, since there were a lot of cans and the boxes were huge things. There was also, for some reason a whole lot of shortening and peanut butter.
Zack saw the look on his face and tapped one of the red plastic lidded glass jars.
"Calorie density. My guess is that you need to be getting about fifteen thousand a day. Minimum. Since it's going to be transformed to magical energy, you won't have any real side effects that way. Of course it all goes to Anne. Your mother. Then she'll pass a bit back to you at need. If nothing else you can act as an extra power source for her. Maybe you can even learn to collect energy from the universe for that? That would be huge, in potential."
After they got the food put away, Zack pulling several jars of things and a loaf of soft bread for later, they went off to the bookstore.
