Demon Lover, Part Three

 I felt like Frodo leading the fellowship toward Mordor. Rachel walked beside me as we followed the water.

            I caught glimpses of animals skittering in the bushes—and flying up in the trees. Once I thought I saw a small dinosaur circling in the dark sky. A snakelike creature slithered through the grass near my feet, then disappeared before I could jump back.

            Soon the stream widened into a river. After a few hours we had to stop for rest. Katrina didn’t want to wait, but Meghan was exhausted.             

            We sank to the rough ground to rest.

Rachel crouched next to the river and ran her hand in the water. She licked her fingers. “Tastes all right.”

            Her hazelnut eyes looked hazy, as if she was sleepy or high. I felt lightheaded myself. Meghan was almost asleep.  Maybe this dimension was affecting us. Something in the atmosphere—or the world itself?

            I’d traveled to another dimension years ago—one where humans from our world got sick over time. It wasn’t inhabited by demons, but it still wasn’t anyplace for a long-term vacation. I hoped we had enough time to find what we were looking for.

            Katrina struggled to her feet. “Come on.”

            She staggered forward. Rachel took the rear, helping Meghan keep up.

            Lights flickered in the trees. I waved a hand in front of my eyes. Fireflies? I stopped.

            The trees swung back and forth in the cold breeze, shaking more sharp-edged leaves down over our heads and shoulders.

            Then a demon stepped out of the darkness.

            This one was female. Seven feet tall, no horns, just vines that seemed to grow from her scalp like Medusa’s snakes. Her feet were bare, with short claws sprouting from her toes and heels, and she wore a short leather skirt and a vest made out of leaves, and she carried a long thick branch in her hand.

            “Humans.” She smirked. “I haven’t seen your sort in a long time. What are you doing here?”

            Katrina pushed me aside. “I’m here for my daughter!”

            I wanted to pull her back. But Rachel put a hand on my arm. “Let her talk.”

            No mansplaining. I got it. But I kept a hand near my pocket to grab the stun gun if things got weird.

            “Who are you?” The demon looked us over. “What do you want?”

            “Her name is Nikki.” Katrina wobbled on the earth. “Her father is—Webb. Where is she?”

            The demon woman smiled. “I’m—you can call me Desi. That’s not my name, but we never give out our names. Webb? That sounds like . . .”

            She stiffened and turned around, as if hearing a call in the distance. “Okay. What will you give me? If I take you to him?”

            “Anything.” Katrina nodded. “Whatever you want.”

            “Kat!” Meghan darted forward. “Don’t say that. You don’t know—”

            Her sister pushed her away. “Shut up! If this is the only way—”

            “She’s right.” Rachel stepped between Katrina and the demon. “You don’t want to make any deals you can’t keep. Not even for Nikki.”

            “Goddamn it!” She stomped a foot on the hard ground. “I want my daughter!”

            Desi laughed. “You’re in our world now. You want something? Be ready to make a deal.”

            She turned on a clawed heel. “I’ll take you to . . . Webb. But you’ll owe me.”

            This was turning out all wrong.

We followed Desi through the forest.

            Rachel slugged my arm. “Stop looking at her ass.”

            “I wasn’t—” Okay, maybe I was. Desi wore a short skirt, and I’m a guy.

            Meghan collapsed, begging for rest. Desi laughed, leaning on her staff. “This is no place for humans.”

            “Give her a few minutes.” I knelt down and handed her a water bottle. “You okay?”

            Meghan forced herself to stand. “Kat? I love you, but . . . this is crazy.”

            “I’m sorry, Meg.” But she didn’t look back. “I have to find Nikki.”

            “Okay.” Meghan stood up, panting. “I’m good.”

A gray stone cottage sat next to a small pond. Red flowers grew in rows next to the door—the first real color we’d seen in this land. A young woman sat in front of the door, peeling some kind of yellow fruit. She wore leggings and a long shirt that reached down to her knees. She threw the rind into one wooden bucket between her feet, and the fruit onto a wide dish next to her.

            Her feet were clawed. Her scalp was almost bare, and a single small horn jutted from the back of her skull.

            She looked up as we approached. “Dad? There’s humans here!”

            Katrina staggered back. Meghan caught her arm.

            “Nikki . . .” she whispered. “Nikki?”

            A wooden door swung open, and Webb stepped out.

            He had the same jutting chin and thin cheeks, but now he had two short horns in his forehead and claws on his fingers. He ran his eyes over us. “Hello, Kat. Meg.”

            “They were looking for you.” Desi smiled.

            Webb frowned. “You didn’t make any deals, did you?”

            “She said ‘anything.’” She poked Katrina’s shoulder. “Didn’t you?”

            Katrina said nothing now.

            “Nikki, go inside.” Webb held the door.

            But Nikki stayed still. “Mom?”

            Katrina walked forward as Desi watched and smirked. “It’s you.”

            She leaned down and grabbed her daughter in a tight hug. After a moment, Nikki reached her arms around her mother’s waist, looking up at her face.

            “What happened?” Meghan stared at the child, then glanced at me.

            “Time moves differently in different dimensions.” I’d seen it happen before. “We could go back and find out that only a second passed.” I hoped it didn’t work the other way around. I didn’t want to get back and find out years had gone by. My apartment, my car, my business . . . my mother.

            “Leave us alone, Desi.” Webb put a hand on his daughter’s shoulder, pulling her away from Katrina. “We’ll talk later.”

            “Yes. We will.” She shot a look at Katrina. “Remember what you said.”

            Desi’s smile made me uncomfortable as she turned toward the trees.

            Webb growled. “Inside.”

“My mother took me to the human realm when I was less than one year old. I adapted. I thought.”

            We were inside Webb’s house, in a comfortable if primitive living room that looked as if Little House on the Prairie had starred the Flintstones. A hardwood floor with a rug that looked as if it had been skinned from a giant snow tiger, a table made of stone, and chairs built from wood and some kind of bone. I didn’t want to think about what kind.

We drank water out of stone cups served by Nikki.

            “My father started eating her skin, one strip at a time.” He might have been talking about random affairs or cheating on taxes. “He stopped when I was born, but then he started up again. She found a portal and left.”

            “Found one or made it?” I wasn’t sure how these things worked. Rachel poked me. “What? I ask questions. It’s my job.”

            Webb scowled. “A wizard taught her how to open portals in exchange for some flesh.” Again, as if flaying people alive was economics 101 here. “So we came to your world . . . but she didn’t make the transition very well.” His yellow eyes darkened. “She had to come back here sometimes. Otherwise the stress of acting human all the time made her . . . revert.” He slammed his fist on the table. The water in our cups shook. “Get violent. Lash out. It’s what happened to me.” He nodded at Katrina.

            “What about humans who come here?” I braved myself for another jab.

“They get sick. Sometimes they adapt.” He looked at Nikki. “She’s half demon, so she was sick for a while. After a few months she—became who she is now.”

            Nikki sat on the floor, impatient and bored.

            “But that’ll change when she goes back home, right?” Katrina was sitting forward on her bony chair.

            Webb’s yellow eyes flared. “Never. This is her home now.”

“But she was born with us! Her home is—”

            “Stop it!” Nikki stood up and stomped a foot on the floor. “I’m staying here.”

            Katrina’s face went pale. For a moment I thought she might faint. But she grabbed the arm of her chair and held herself up. Meghan handed her a cup of water. She gulped it, gasping, and ran a hand over her forehead, tears dripping from her eyes.

            Then she sat back and gazed at her daughter. “N-Nikki? What happened?”

            “Look at me!” She bent down and lowered her head, sticking the horn in her skull into the air. “At this! It’s who I am now!”

            “But you’ll change back. Won’t she?” Katrina shot a look at Webb. “You’re not—like that when you come back. She’ll—”

            “So what?” Nikki kicked an empty chair. “Am I going to go back to third grade again? I’m older! Look at me! I like it here! I have friends!”

            Meghan snorted. “Like Desi? And Argunn?”

            “Like my dad!” She stopped and planted her feet wide apart, crossing her arms. “He protects me.”

“From demons who want to eat your skin?” Katrina lurched to her feet, glaring at Webb. “Do you let them do that? Or do you eat her skin too?”

            “Shut up, bitch!” Webb stalked toward her. “Your piece of paper isn’t worth anything here! You’re in my world—”

            Katrina slapped his face.

            “Mom!” Nikki screamed.

            Webb reached out and grabbed her neck, pulling her close to his face. I saw long fangs between his jaws.

            I grabbed at my pocket and jumped forward with the stun gun, pushing the electrodes into Webb’s arm.

            Webb howled and swung an arm that hit my face like a sledgehammer. I staggered back, trying not to shriek in pain, and Rachel popped her pepper spray and squirted a long dose into his face.

            She managed to jump back before Webb could shift around to hit her. Nikki kicked me in the knee.

            Meghan pulled at her sister’s shoulders. “Goddamn it, Kat, you can’t—”

            “STOP IT!” Nikki’s scream stabbed my eardrums—and shook the stone floor of the house.

            Only Nikki was standing. Katrina was on top of her sister, squirming, trying to get back up and fight. Webb lay flat on his back, gasping for breath after the stab of Rachel’s pepper spray. Rachel rolled over and crawled to me, panting.

            “You okay?” I tried to sit up. Failed. So I sank back down, trying to catch my breath, searching for the stun gun on the floor with my hand.

            “Idiot.” She pressed the weapon into my palm. “Hang onto this next time.”

            I managed to sit up. “Can everyone just calm down?”

            Webb snarled. “I’m going to kill all of you! And eat your skin. Raw, while you’re still screaming—”

            “Dad!” Nikki knelt next to her father. “No! You can’t!”

            Webb raised an arm. “Shut up, you—”

            Katrina pushed Nikki away before Webb could hit her. “Don’t you dare!”

            Somehow Rachel got to her feet, grunting, and pulled Nikki back, her arms around her waist. They both fell, Nikki on top, and rolled away.

            Katrina was on her knees, sobbing. “Webb, don’t! Please? You don’t have to be like this!”

            “Dad!” Nikki escaped Rachel’s arms and planted her feet between Webb and her mother. “Stop!”

            The door behind us opened with a bang.

            Desi. With two more demons behind her.

            Oh hell.