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Scene #36
Chapter One
The Demon Queen was pleased. Her raging need had been slaked...for the moment. In the far corner of her throne room, the remaining human female cringed in a steel cage with white knuckles threatening to snap on the bars. Her lips were moving, eyes large and pleading. The fresh waves of power entering Aysa's body thrummed too loudly for her to hear the whimpers for release; salvation. She really loved them this way - preferred having her guests writhe in fear and desperation until she decided they had become ripe enough to give up their soul. This was the daughter of the forgetful old Empath she had just consumed, but that didn't matter.
Laughing in her singsong voice, she called upon the Demon Gorat to take the pitiful human from her sight. Bathshara would be the last place she would ever see alive. She flashed a satisfied smile at the Demon as he obeyed her command.
"How may I be of assistance, Your Highness?" The creature bowed low, grey scaly skin covered in an oily sheen glistened in the torch light. His cunning black eyes focused on the floor at his master's feet.
"Put that in the torture chamber for me until I call for it again." She gestured at the terrified human penned up in the small, steel prison. "A few more like her and I will be able to leave this dimension and visit Earth myself." She swished her long taffeta skirt behind her and pranced up the steps to her throne; not sparing another glance at Demon Gorat who hauled the simpering woman away from her.
Instead; she pictured the face of the vampire she'd seen in her black mirror after hearing of him from the Phages who barely escaped his extreme pursuit. Becoming aroused by the idea of his powerful body under her supreme command, she imagined devouring his intense, focused psyche. He had almost stopped her Phages from coming back to Bathshara with her prized possessions...almost. No one had ever gotten so close. And for that, he must be punished. He would be difficult to find and subdue, but she had as long as it would take.
She was immortal; after all, having been the conquering proprietor of Bathshara for hundreds of Earth years. The Demons did not count time in the way humans or vampires did. There was just existence and living for whatever the moment brought with it. She would bide her time and take the opportunity when it presented itself. She always got what she wanted eventually. Having his soul would be worth it. She looked through the open balcony doors out over the barren landscape carved by volcanic heat and lava. It was always dark here; which used to suit her. Why was she becoming so restless in her inhospitable kingdom?
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Aspen McKitrick took a deep breath after the disappointment he suffered tracking two Phages through the stormy night. He was ready to sleep for the day and forget about the haunting memories he'd read from the little girl he rescued in the empty house. The Phages had left her home barren of its adult inhabitants. If the girl were not so young, they might not have overlooked her.
The one he had killed last week was a weakling in comparison to the evil he sensed growing in the pair that escaped last night. He lost them near the park at the edge of town. He tracked them to Oak Cliff Street until they disappeared, weaving among houses. He caught up to them crossing out of this dimension having feasted their malevolent appetites. An empty car sat in the driveway of the house they had invaded, its driver's side door gaped in the rain.
Now there was a pang of guilt that he hadn't erased the child's memories of the night. He couldn't bring himself to do it. Introducing herself as Elspeth Helena Dunn, the girl asked him to help her find her mom and grandma. She said her middle name was after her grandmother. She showed no fear of him, in fact she seemed to share his quality of intensity. If the strength and bravery she showed at such a young age were any indication of her future personality, he would love to know her.
He planned on looking in on her from time to time anyway. He didn't trust that dickhead of a father she had. He read in her thoughts where the guy lived, took the girl over there and left her on his sofa while he slept. Her memories of him were not so great. For a moment, he felt a strange urge to bring her to his place and take care of her himself, but knew that would go over like a fart in church once he got hungry and tried to drain her blood. And he was sure he had no idea how to care for a human child. He had never even kept a pet.
The phone rang; a welcome interruption to his insomniac mental ranting. He let it ring a few times, and then rolled over to pick up the receiver. The cord was wound up too tight as usual as he stretched it out to reach his ear.
"Aspen, what happened last night? You disappeared after those two Phages faster than I'd ever seen you move!"
"Hi, Jack." Aspen managed to hedge in a gravelly voice before his partner's next outburst.
"You dematerialized and then I couldn't find you. Those damn Phages must be learning how to put a fog over our senses so we lose them. Do you think they can do that, or do we just suck that bad at tracking these days?"
"Nice to see you haven't lost your enthusiasm since last night. I was hot on their tails until I hit Echelon Park." He swallowed his despair. "Two women lost their lives last night."
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