by Troy Neenan
Cassidy couldn't believe the idiot on stage was enjoying what had happened to her. She spun on David, “So, all I have to do is get this model thing and I should be fine, right?”
“No, Cassidy.” David said nastily. “In case you weren't paying attention when your parents taught you this, there is a bit of a difference between giving a complete stranger a smoke and fucking them in a bathroom stall. While your friends got the minor blessings you went in balls first. You signed a verbal agreement with a magical school.”
“I did what?” Cassidy said, “You mean I fucked Harry Potter in the bathroom stall?”
“Hey,” Daisy protested. “No fair. You knew I had a crush on Daniel Radcliffe.”
David was starting to get a headache dealing with these two, “You signed a contract with the school itself. A school that trains and eats its students.” He let out a sigh, “Cassidy, you basically sold your soul to a haunted house as a protector.”
Not wanting to explain things to a fantasy illiterate, David looked to Kim with pleading eyes, “Kim, you know those 'guys go to another world stories'? That's what's going to happen.”
Kim looked alarmed as did the other women, “Can't you do something?” Kim asked.
“I'll try to talk with this guy. But Cassidy needs to be prepared to go missing. It could be hours or days until he summons her.”
Unable to take being treated like she was a child, Cassidy screamed, “What the fuck is happening? What's going to happen to me?” Tears were welling up in her eyes. After the fire she didn't think that she could be scared anymore but there it was. Cassidy was afraid.
The table made a noise like a phone message. David tapped at the screen and looked at the prompt.
Your minion, Judith has killed ten beings from the shadows and has crippled or incapacitated twenty beings without being seen. She has earned the profession, rogue.
Rogues work in the shadows, both literally and in society. They are the dagger in your back, the tempting whisper, the cunning politician, the dashing scoundrel, and the pox covered pirate.
Remember the first rule in battle. Keep your eyes on the rogue.
“Ah crap.” David groaned.
Chapter Twenty-Five
After the pink woman left, Judith got out of bed and dressed herself. She had slept enough on the plane and in the car. In fact she had slept a lot since she had left the other city. Judith didn't like sleeping. Sleeping was boring.
The Variant picked up the shirt that her daddy had bought her. It had the picture of a colourful pony on it. It looked... Judith didn't have the words for it. Actually, she didn't have much of a vocabulary at all. But she did like the picture.
The pink one in particular liked to use words a lot. It annoyed Judith. It seemed like such a wasteful thing. Most of the time the people here just went on and on without actually saying anything at all.
Not knowing why clothes were so important and knowing that her master didn't like it when she went without them, Judith put on the shirt and then held two items of clothing. One was a pink skirt and the other was a pair of pants. The girl held both articles of clothing up as if she were a set of scales.
She decided to go with the skirt. While the pants offered more protection and would hide her legs better, the skirt offered a degree of movement. Plus the skirt was pink, Judith liked pink.
Her shoes on, Judith opened the door to the outside world and walked into the night.
While her master had given her over to the pink one to look after, he had underestimated Judith's usefulness in his cause. Her master was playing with useless and stinky animals. The idea that a mouse could ever be the equal to a Variant was insulting and she had been tempted to stab her master for being so silly.
Judith admired her hands and using the barest hint of concentration pushed her bone spikes free of their skin sheaths. These were her tools, what separated her from the rest of these people. She jabbed at the air and retracted her vicious arsenal.
Judith looked in the direction of the building that the pink-haired one had taken her from. The connection felt both strong and fragile at the same time. It was a feeling, an instinctual throb that told Judith the general vicinity of master. He wasn't close.
The Dungeon Core had wisely wished to keep his activities as far away from this place and snooping people. He needed privacy and to lower the chance of discovery. This, Judith had to admit was a good idea worth following.
She moved to the car park and looked over her selection of transport. The cars ranged from a selection of boring Fords and a Toyota. Not that Judith was a car expert. Her idea of a good car was that it was big and looked intimidating. Incidentally, this is the same mind-set that most car owners have.
Going to the biggest car she could find the Variant tried the handle. It was locked and she put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes on the hunk of defiant scrap. Annoyed, she placed her bone spike on the lock and squirted a few drops of acid into the lock.
There was a violent hiss as the fluid ate through the metal. Happy that the mechanism was adequately taken care of, Judith opened the door. That was when the car alarm sounded.
Judith realised her mistake too late, the car was trapped. She looked back and forth not knowing what to do. Frightened that her master would be told of her vandalism, the Variant ran into the night.
When she could barely hear the car alarm she stopped and seeing the lights of the city she began to walk. Unlike the day time the air at night was comfortable and there was a cool breeze. She walked on admiring the street lamps and buildings.
Eventually she found her way to a MacDonald’s and watched from the safety of the sidewalk as a group of teenage boys came out conversing with one another. One of them wore a school uniform while his friends were in casual.
Judith followed them as they walked through the shadows and into the restaurant car park.
The boys met up with some girls their own age and Judith knew that she had been right to follow them. There were three females waiting for the males, each were young and capable of giving birth to strong children. They were also pretty enough, which didn't hurt.
“I'll take that,” One girl with red hair said as she pinched her hamburger from the bag.
“Soooo,” one of the boys trailed off. He had a face full of pock marks and pimple scars. “What are we doing?”
“What, just hanging with us not enough?” a girl with black hair asked teasingly.
The boy in the uniform wrapped his arm around his friend’s neck in a hug, “What my man here is trying to say is Bomb Train is playing at the cinema. You girls fancy us paying?”
“And for you to grab our tits while something goes “Boom!”? I think we'll pass, thank you.” the red head said, not amused by the boy's choice in movies. She earned an elbow jab from her friend.
“My aunt's place is empty. Her boyfriend always keeps a few beers in the fridge.” the third girl said, and then added a bit too quickly, “They have a pool.”
The boys smiled nervously and the girl's friends looked at her, willing to follow but also ready to toss in a sceptical reply.
From listening to the communication between the two groups, Judith managed to catch several things. These humans were going to a residence where the owner would not be there, they would be alone, and they would probably be distracted by the pool. The opportunity was too good to pass up. Her master would be happy.
As they continued to talk, Judith moved to the back of the teenager's car and hoping that the alarm would not sound, lathered the boot lock with her acid. Just as before the boot opened effortlessly, but this time there was no alarm.
Judith slipped inside.
After ten minutes the engine stopped and the Variant waited for the humans to get a good distance before vacating the vehicle. It wasn't a difficult exercise. The stupid teenagers made more noise than the car alarm had.
Judith slipped out and examined her surroundings. She was in a forest of houses and units. Everywh
ere there was stone, wood, and glass. Nine out of ten of the lawns were trimmed and there were the occasional dog bark from neighbouring houses.
The tug on the invisible connection told her that her master was even further away, which meant that if she did manage to succeed in her plan, then it would be difficult to bring her prey to him.
The teenagers had jumped the fence to the back of the house and Judith could hear them talking. As quiet as the grass she stepped on, Judith stalked her way through the shadows, moving with a speed and grace that few humans could duplicate.
From the fence she watched as the awkward teenagers were once again separated into groups. The once cocky boys were huddling together, discussing ways to converse with their female interests. The three females on the other hand were growing bored and were eager to be courted.
Judith watched with interest. Was this some kind of game? The boys were discussing strategy as if talking to the girls were some great battle. Meanwhile, the Variant could smell the nervousness on the females and saw the boredom in their eyes. Something was going to happen soon and they were emotionally preparing themselves.
Then, one of the girls separated from the group, “I'll just get those beers.”
The boy in the uniform followed her inside, “I'll help,” he declared as if getting a few bottles were a two man job.
Judith saw her moment. She moved to the window and used her acid on the lock just as she had done on the cars. It took some leverage but she managed to get inside. She found herself in a bedroom though everything was a bit too fluffy for her taste.
Somewhere in the house the back door closed and Judith scrambled to get under the bed. In the dark she waited there for a second and listened.
“God, Chris can be such a bitch sometimes.” The girl said.
“Yeah, but she's nice to look at,” the boy said. There was the sound of a fridge opening.
When it appeared that she had not been discovered, Judith began to crawl free of the bed. She got upright and took a careful step forward. The floorboard under the carpet creaked and the Variant grimaced. It didn't matter anyway, the humans were busy fraternising.
Her eyes adjusting to the ambient light, Judith navigated her way to the kitchen and saw the boy walk away with the beer while his female partner was on a step ladder, looking through her aunt's cupboards for something stronger.
Judith watched the young woman, her eyes scanning the creature for weaknesses. While the kitchen was heavily illuminated the female was alone and wasn't watching her surroundings. How to do this?
The female heard the noise of small sneakers tapping on the kitchen floor but didn't turn to investigate, “Hey, Brent. You're taller than me, can you get this...” her sentence was interrupted as a thin piece of bone was inserted into her spine.
The girl opened her mouth to scream out in pain but the sudden shock caused her to simply fall back and crash onto the kitchen floor. A sound that only the deaf would miss.
“What was that?” one of the teenagers called from outside.
Judith quickly looked around for escape. She saw the pantry door and rushed inside. For once, her size came in handy, while an adult would find it difficult to wedge themselves within the shelves; a three-year-old girl had no problems.
From the crack the Variant watched as both the males and females came together to investigate the disturbance.
“Oh my God,” The redhead breathed and fell down to check her friend who lay on her back and stared up at the ceiling in agony.
“What happened?” One of the boys called out in worry.
The whole group before her with their backs turned, Judith exited the pantry. Her movements were unrefined but were fuelled by a basic and primal knowledge. Her twin bone stilettos pierced the nearest two standing teenagers just above the tailbone as easily as a needle punctured a vein. Her goal was not to kill but to disable; the acid she injected into their spinal cords was just to make sure that they would not be getting back up.
As the bodies crumbled to the ground like falling dolls, Judith chose her next victim. She wanted to disable the next largest threat; in this case it was a boy with pock marks covering his face. This time Judith didn't need to hold back, her master needed material for his work.
She sent both of her bone spikes into the back of his calves. The boy screamed and fell backward. He landed at nearly the same time as the pair behind him. He had enough time to grab his burning legs before Judith sent her right hand into his neck, her bone needle digging through the flesh under his jaw and touching his brain, a single drop of acid was all it took to remove him from the fight.
In a matter of seconds the three-year-old had managed to permanently disable three beings nearly four times her size and much stronger than herself. Four giants who should have been more than qualified to outwit and out match her in every way, and yet, this toddler stood above them.
Her actions had not gone unnoticed, however.
“What the fuck?” the boy in the uniform said as he turned to stare wide-eyed at the small girl standing in a pile of his friends. The bizarre sight caused him to lower his guard, something that he really should not have done.
Judith capitalised on her prey's indecision. She used one of the prone bodies as a springboard to jump up onto the sink. With the higher ground on her side she lunged at the boy and drove one of her bone spikes into his open mouth, piercing all the way into his brain stem.
Again her actions earned her the focus of her prey. Her eyes noticed that the last remaining survivor, the redhead, was drawing in breath, most likely to scream bloody murder.
She was going to scream and cause everyone within earshot to investigate the disturbance. The Variant envisioned her creator becoming very unhappy with her. Unfortunately, Judith couldn't do much about the impending alarm as the girl was too far away.
As her latest victim slumped against the counter, his mouth gushing out a stream of blood, Judith caught sight of something truly beautiful. It was long and made of steel, its handle was plastic but the colour of obsidian. She grabbed it, taking note of how good and natural it felt in her hands.
She remembered this video that her master was watching about this man who threw similar things at a bullseye, it had been entertaining to watch and it gave her an idea.
Having mixed emotions about discarding her new toy so easily, Judith threw the knife at the girl who was getting ready to let out a scream that would most definitely wake neighbours.
The knife hit the girl in the throat, handle first. Apparently, throwing a knife took a bit more skill than Judith realised. The toss had been effective, however, the redhead began to cough and hold her throat.
Her scream disabled for the moment, the redhead attempted to wave Judith away. She grasped her throat and her green eyes saw the knife on the ground. Judith could see her prey thinking of fighting back.
Judith rolled the thought over in her head. So far she had taken care of five of the teenagers and she was tempted to know how this human female could fair in a real fight with her. The Variant dismissed the idea quickly however, her master needed to gather his forces quickly against the usurper. If she lost the fight or the witness managed to escape his plans could be jeopardized.
Fight or flight kicked in. The redhead attempted to flee from the scene, preferring to try her chances at running. A good strategy, her legs were longer and she could maybe make it to the exit before the tiny psycho ended her.
Judith pursed her prey. She performed a roll grabbing the knife without losing momentum, her little legs pumping fiercely.
“Help!” redhead choked before banging her leg on the coffee table. “Fuck.”
While her next victim attempted to blindly navigate around the obstacles, Judith jumped up onto the couch and threw herself at the teenage girl, who was just about to make another mad dash for the front door. The knife found her back.
The ginger girl wanted to scream as her world was filled with sharp pain. Judith wanted to scream as
well. While her bone spikes had been doing the job perfectly the knife was a much harder weapon to tame. The Variant needed to repeatedly stab the redhead four more times before she got the message to fall down.
“Help,” The redhead moaned as her legs gave out on her.
Judith, not wanting to take any chances used her trusty bone spike, inserting it into the young woman. Her prey had put up a decent fight but even she was no match for Judith's skill.
Done with her murder spree, the Variant viewed the carnage that she caused. Three were dead, one female and two males. The others were paralysed and bleeding out. They were all doomed. The dungeon born monster had moved too fast and had no knowledge on how to safely disable her targets. Judith's strikes were far too deadly.
She had just learned that it takes more effort to incapacitate somebody than it was to capture them.
Now that Judith thought about it, there was no way that she could keep these humans alive long enough to give birth to Variants and she was not strong enough to move their bodies to the car. Well, this was disappointing. The Variant made a disgusted face and she thought of just cutting and running. Then she heard a woman shout from next door.
She froze in place and a smile spread itself across her normally blank face. Her master would be so happy.
The small girl sheathed her spikes, this time she would try to take these people alive.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The house looked unassuming. It looked like just a house, walls, tiled roof, a nature strip, but David knew that some bad shit had gone on inside the place.
It was currently four in the morning. It was still dark outside but soon people would be getting up and going to work. There would also be joggers doing their morning runs. If just one person remembered there being a van outside a murder house, that would probably be the end of the Dungeon Core.
He sat there in a reasonable duplicate of the dead guy's clothes. The stupid son of a bitch had come to the building for some reason and his golden cat had totally fucked him up. It turns out that his animals were born hungry and while they couldn't eat him or each other without permission, nothing stopped them from chomping on anyone unlucky enough to get in their way.
