21)

Cassy- Trying to stay out of the line of fire in front of the old paper mill.

I saw Grimaud’s eyes go wide as Kinkade turned into a chimera made up of several animals and rushed forward while reaching out for his face with one clawed hand that was now big enough to wrap around his head.

Then he was gone, leaving behind a cloud of dust and bits of scattered ground clutter as he shot up into the air.

Otto yelled out “Light him up.” and leaned back as he raised the working end of a modern day gattling gun high to open fire into the sky. Up to where Grimaud had reached the height of his leap to escape Kinkade’s grasp.

A line of glowing dots and flames shot out of the ends of the spinning barrels as the tracer rounds flew out and almost seemed to hold the pale man in place up in the air as they struck and shook him. As well as illuminating Kinkade in flashes as her legs seemed to fire her into the air as they stretched out into a pair of tree trucks anchoring themselves to the ground with their roots. Her growing legs brought her up high enough for her to bring up her arm around and above the pale man.

Otto got out a “Hold fire.” in time for most of his men to join him in not shooting Kinkade as she got up close and personal with Grimauld, except for the one harpoon that sank into her shoulder.

That didn't seem to slow her down much as she swung and send the Thibedeau’s errand boy flying out into the darkness, but it did prompt her and Otto to both shout “Dammit Chuck!” nearly at the same time.

Oh, good. I got a name for that guy now.

Grimaud skipped along the ground a few times before he came to a stop. But before he could even get to his feet, Otto yelled out. "Red 8" and "Fire in the hole."

Oh... good.. .they got here ahead of us with enough time to set out a grid of remotely detonated mines.

So thoughtful of them.

Nope. I am not getting in on this. I got a handgun, it has some bullets that can go through the side of a tank, but I had learned while working for my boss to take cover when things are going to be exploding.

I could hear the boom and got a glimpse of fire, smoke, and Grimaud flying back at Kinkade like a cartoon coyote as I took cover behind my car. I also got a look at Kinkade as she was lining up her now scale covered arm with tusks coming out of her wrists and curving up to line up along the sides of her fist as she braced to backhand him as soon as he came back into her reach.

Which she did. Right into my car. The one I was hiding behind. Which then crumbled in enough on the far side to hold Grimaud in place for a moment as the Rough men took aim and fired.

Otto wasn’t lined up at the right angle to fire his minigun, either that or he figured out that with me hiding behind a car that his bullets would go right through. That is the sort of thing I would end up taking that personally, you know. If I survived.

The pale man pulled himself free just in time for Kinkade to close in and grab a hold of him by the leg before lifting in the air with the eyeless bear head as the end of her... arm? Before smashing him into the ground face first several times.

With no one shooting a the moment I came around the end of my car to see Kinkade now holding Grimaud down with one of her tree legs rooted into the ground over his lower body. Her bear arm biting down on his shoulder while two other scaly arms held him down at the wrists. Then Otto aiming his minigun right into the pale and bleeding man's face.

At least I think that's blood, it was sort of transparent.

Her other arm was once again in a first pointing Natalie's ring at his face, you know, just to give him a closer look at it in case this was all about him not seeing it clearly the first time. If anyone asked.

Kinkade reshaped her mixed up alligator and fox shaped head into something close enough to human to speak.

"My grandmother is a healer. I'm. Not. Her."

Grimaud turned his head and spat some of the gooey stuff that seemed to pass for his blood. “Touche. You now have my attention.”

Right, now to make it official. "Grimaund...which I guess is the only name I have for you. You are under arrest. Anything you do or say may piss off Natalie Kinkade badly enough for her to burn off some of your body parts. So maybe just answer my questions so that doesn't have to happen.”

He just stared back at me coldly. “You may ask whatever questions you wish Agent, but I will answer only to the Thibedeau."

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I nodded. “Fair enough, Director Thibedeau did want you to answer some of her questions in person and since she gave Kinkade her ring, and you got your ass handed to you, she will expect you to come with the two of us like the obedient gentleman you are.’

He didn’t seem happy, but. “…I agree.”

I didn’t think the cuffs would be enough to hold him if he changed his mind, but putting the cuffs on the bad guys when you catch them is just one of those ritual things you do to keep the magic going.

Plus he would have to remember being my prisoner every time I saw him.

Donovan- losing his humanity in the Party-mart.

“What?”

The cowboy gave me a sympathetic look. "The whites of your eyes are going gray, being in my girl's domain is slowing it down. But once a warning sign like that shows up, you only got a day, maybe, and that’s just if you stay in here.”

He jerked a thumb over his shoulder, "Out there. It would only take a few hours before your soul gets damaged enough that you'd end up needing to feed on humans. At least if you ever return topside."

He began to look around. "Now where is that girl? Prudence! I came to visit you Pumpkin."

His daughter screamed back as she leaned over the now rapidly regrowing hole in the ceiling. “My name is Damia now daddy! I'm out with my friends. Why are you even here?"

He pointed out at the now restored landscape. “Someone nearly blew a hole right through to the flux. I had to show in person to fix it before raw Chaos started flowing in. They didn’t hurt you did they?”

Damia crossed her arms, huffed, and rolled her eyes. “No, he didn’t hurt me and I got it under control. You could have just left after you fixed the damage, you didn’t have to come over here.”

Damia’s father took a step backwards to keep his daughter in sight as the ceiling repaired itself above him. "But you got your own place now darling. I wanted to see if it for myself since you talked about giving up on inheriting Perdition. This place is a lot... smaller. Are you sure you want to live here instead?”

I could hear Damia stomp her foot, then snarl as she stepped forward to catch up with the regrowing floor up to where she could stomp her foot again where her father could see it.

"Yes daddy. I'm sure I want a domain with electric lights, flushing toilets, and an internet connection instead of ruling over cowboy land. Let Jethro or Clem take over if you want to make a new place so bad.”

The cowboy twisted up his lip for a moment before taking a step out of the reforming door. "Them two are the best of the bunch pumpkin. But even then that ain't saying much. You're the smart one. That's why I agreed to send you up top to that university.'

Damia leaned out over the regrowing front wall. "Which you pulled me out of. One mistake, just one and you dragged me back to hell. I had friends up there, thousands of followers, and I was even doing all right in my classes.”

Her father sighed. “You agreed not to feed on anyone to the point of death Prudence, or whatever name you're using today. If I waited until the person in charge up top sent some of her servants to send you down, you could have gotten hurt.

His daughter look down out of the front window and sighed. "Yeah... I screwed up."

Both went silent for a moment before she spoke up again. "But this place, it's something for me. A little of what I lost, and Perdition just isn't what will make me happy.'

The cowboy gave her a hopeful grin as he looked up. "You could keep both. Run Perdition during the day. Take the weekends off, and have this place for yourself to relax in.”

She glared down. “The only thing keeping Perdition from rising as a Realm is you still being in charge of it. Which means it would rise if I took over and that would leave this place behind in hell. Nice try Dad. Now it’s late, I’m tired and going to bed. Help yourself to anything in the store. Good night.”

Then she slammed the now reformed window shut and pulled the curtains.

Her father looked up at the window for a moment, then looked through the fully repaired door at me before stepping back into the store.

“Well son, it looks like I got some time on my hands, so tell me your story.”

Martin- In an old familiar place.

I was awoken by the sound of the creaking hinge on the door as it opened. But it was the sharp chill in the air, the smell of pine trees, and the chemical smell of the cleaning products the school used that told me I was back in my room at St. Jude’s Academy, or a reasonable facsimile.

My own personal island of misfit boys.

They had just as many girls too. Such as the young lady giving me a look of outrage as she looked up from the purple skirt, black blazer, and white shirt of her school uniform.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" She gestured down at herself. "She's like... thirteen or something. This is who you dream about?"

I had guessed it was her wearing the image of the girl of my dreams, but it was always nice to confirm.

“We were both thirteen the last time I saw her Damia, and I asked you to leave me alone.” I rolled up the left sleeve of my pajamas, the blue one with sailboats I had long since outgrown. And examined my now intact left arm.

Intact here at least.

She leaned back against the wall on the far side of the room next to the door and pushed back my first love’s pale blonde hair.

"Oh, sorry. Most guys' dreams keep up with their age. And really, pajamas?"

I stood up from the bed, slipping my feet into a simple pair of slippers issued from the commissary. “They were a birthday gift, and," I gestured out the frosted window to the snow covered back lawn of the school. "Rather a practical one since it is winter in a rather old building.”

I considered the only other woman I would dream about might be more of a nightmare, but that would have been unfair to Kinkade. I also had no reason to share any details of my life with my nocturnal invader.

We regarded each other for a moment before she looked away. “I’m sorry about your arm, were you able to heal it?”

I sighed, “For brevity, let’s just say that I did. Now. Why are you here?"

She started to step forward until I held my hand up to stop her. “Uh, I need your store, and I know you said I can have it. But with it split in two and you still in one of them I can’t fully claim it as mine.”

I crossed my arms "I don't see that as a problem, stay out of my side, stay out of my dreams, and by the end of the day I should be gone. Then, it’s all yours.”

Her face went through several expressions before settling on a calculating look. "And what is that going to cost me?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose between my fingers. "For a place, I've worked at for the last four years in order to make a life for myself. That I want nothing more than to leave far behind. It will cost you a bit of patience and a bit of respect for my wishes for you and yours to stop, bothering me.”

She look a tiny bit ashamed or at least faked it well. "And retaliation for your arm?"

I thought I had let my temper cool, but it turns out not so much. "Lethal. Perhaps biblical, if I see you or your servants again."

She began to creep back toward the door with a nervous grin. “Right, again sorry, I'll just keep out of your way for now.”

Then she tried to back her way out the open door which was now occupied by a woman with the same pale hair and deep blue eyes as the body whose image she had appeared in, only thirteen years older.

I cleared my throat.

"By the way Damia, in case you didn't know. You should never enter the dreams of someone who has already been fed on by another succubus. It leaves a mark and lets them known when another of their kind is poaching. It also seems that stealing their appearance might even be more upsetting.