Birthrights (33 page)

"Favors, you say?" Ve loved having power over people,
especially powerful people. He looked again between both girls and
noticed a shift in their energies. They were, to his eyes, almost
feeding off of one another. Ve took note of that and nonchalantly
began talking again, "my apologies to your friend, please, sit and
stay a while." He smiled as Caislyn sat back down. "Now, do tell
what sort of favors fair Caislyn is requesting?"

"We ran into some trouble with a few Fey, and we
need..." Caislyn's voice trailed off because as she thought of what
she would need to kill a Fey, an unsettling shiver ran through her
body.

"Demon forged steel." Ve finished quietly.

Jaxon leaned over and whispered to Caislyn, "I
thought we were here for cold steel?"

"Cold steel is just a simple term for demon-forged
steel. Throughout history there have been accounts of demon-forged
steel being too cold for a mere human to handle, thus the term
'cold steel.'"

Ve listened to the exchange between the two girls and
watched as the shield that wrapped around Jaxon also began to coil
in and out of Caislyn's aura. 'Interesting,' he thought to himself
and then he decided to provoke them again to see what the reaction
would be, now that he was paying closer attention to what has
happening between them. He looked at Jaxon, "and are you going to
be my payment?" Red flashed through Ve's eyes as he picked up on
Caislyn's sudden horror at what Ve was implying and the waiver of
the shield that was being held around her friend. Jaxon was about
to loose it and the only thing that held her shield in place was
the Caislyn battery it was now attached to.

Caislyn threw an annoyed glance at Ve. "Don't get
your hopes up demon-boy, she is not the prize."

Ve feigned a sigh, "well, one can always hope." Ve
tilted his head back and took in a big breath then looked back at
Jaxon. "It's a same really, because I sense so much potential in
this one."

"Earth to Ve," Caislyn interrupted. "We did come here
for a purpose, and as to the payment plan..." Caislyn reached into
her book bag she had brought with her. "These are the books you
used to eyeball in my parent's store." Caislyn quickly held up the
volumes in question and then put them back in the bag.

"You brought them with you, interesting!" Ve smiled
at Jacob. "Not very bright to bring them in person though."

"Aww, Ve!" Caislyn feigned hurt for a few moments as
she pouted. "I think you know me a little better than that. The
books are charmed right now." She smiled. "If I don't give them to
you of my own free will they will return where they belong.

"Mac taught you well." Ve conceded. "What exactly do
you require?"

Before she could answer there was a commotion in the
main entryway of the house. Ve turned, eyes the deep hot red of
burning anger personified. Before he could even get the words out
of his mouth, Jacob was running to the entryway to see what was
going on.

"I do hate being interrupted in the middle of
business." Ve sat back down. He looked at Caislyn and began again,
"so, you've run into a bit of trouble with the Fey? Is this
anything to do with Mac and Vesta's disappearances?" Before Caislyn
had a chance to respond, Jacob came back and whispered something in
Ve's ear. "Ladies," Ve started while staring forlornly at the book
bag Caislyn was holding. "As much as I want to conduct business
with you, I am afraid this is going to have to wait. We've had..."
Ve looked away from the bag and up towards Caislyn's face, "a bit
of an emergency situation. If you don't mind seeing yourself out
the back door, Caislyn - I believe you know the way." Ve got up
from his seat and walked towards the entry way.

****

Ve made his way to the front of the house in time to
see the blodd trail Marco was leaving across the marble floors as
he drug the stump of what had once been Tobias, the best runner on
the east coast. "Marco, I did intend for you to bring Tobias to me
in one piece so that I could slowly do what has so obviously been
done to him already. When we spoke on the phone you were in a car
driving, would you like to explain to me how this happened?" Before
Marco could answer Ve picked up what was left of Tobias's legless
body and took it to the elevator. "Jacob, see that this mess is
cleaned before any more guests arrive."

"Ve," Marco started to say, "I thought we were in the
clear, but when we got out of the car and started walking up to the
door..." the elevator opened and Ve walked in and placed Tobias
down on teh floor on his bloody stumps. He pushed the buttons to
get to the lower levels as Marco gulped back the gut-wrenching
vomit-inducing feeling after watching Ve stand Tobias on his
stumps.

"You were saying?" Ve asked as he looked entirely
serene, as if he had simply wondered onto the wrong set in a
movie.

Marco cleared his throat and continued, "there were
hounds outside. They were waiting here for us when we arrived."
Marco was ringing his hands, an age-old nervous habit for him when
things got a bit too uncomfortable. "Trained well too," Marco said
as an afterthought.

The elevator door opened just then and as Ve grabbed
Tobias again he asked, "what was that?"

"The dogs, boss. They were trained well. This pack
didn't even try to come after me. That's how come they got Tobias
so quickly. Usually they get confused about who they want to eat
first and it gives you a second to run. These dogs sniffed the air
and flew hot for him. I barely got him through the door."

"I am sure Tobias would not agree with your
assessment of getting him through the door since obviously, not all
of him made it." Ve quipped. He opened a silver door about half way
down the dark, surprisingly empty hallway. The opulence of the
upstairs decor was not carried over to the downstairs areas. For
Ve, the downstairs was a functional affair, not about the glamor.
Ve's strange humor still managed to permeate the room they entered.
A stranger would think they were waiting for their doctor to come
examine them. It was set up like a doctor's office, down to the
rolling little stool that always graced those kinds of rooms and
the jar of tongue depressors. Ve plopped Tobias's still unconscious
body down on the exam table and sat on the stool. He rolled it
across so he could get a better look at Tobias's stumps. Then with
a giggle he looked up at Marco. "You know, Marco, I often wondered
why doctors were so inclined to use the rolling stools, but I think
I understand better each time I have to do this. They are like
crotchless panties. They provide easy access to things you want to
see the most!"

Marco stood, not knowing what to say to that. "Um,
can you fix him up enough to get him to talk, or was this a wasted
trip?"

"It's never a waste, Marco. You see, we have him now
and whoever else wanted him doesn't. Well, except for his legs, of
course, but I have a good feeling those legs became a meal for the
hounds, so we have all that's left." Ve looked up from the bloody
stumps to Marco, "we are a leg up on our opponents." Ve, having
amused himself again, simply giggled as he continued cauterizing
the stumps. "Get it," he said to Marco, "a leg up!" Ve laughed
while Marco just continued to look sick.

"I'm going to go help Jacob clean up the mess
upstairs bad in the elevator, boss." He turned, but couldn't help
looking back as Ve laughed and mumbled to himself about missing
legs. 'What the hell was I thinking ever going to work for a
demon?' Marco asked himself as he walked to the elevator.

It took nearly two hours of what would have been
sweat inducing work for a human, but Ve still looked as nonchalant
as possible as he began administering the drug that would allow him
to wake Tobias. The drug was not like anything humans had at their
disposal. Ve liked to call it the Ve cocktail. It had the potential
to wake a person from the deepest coma, but Ve didn't plan on
letting it out of his hands. He had, after all, killed its inventor
when he accomplished the desired results. A little magic mixed with
a splash of demon blood, and he had his perfect drug for torturing
those who double crossed him. Being the only one to possess this
drug gave him power and that was all that Ve cared about in the
end.

****

Tobias began to stir and as he came around he saw
Ve's eyes and shuddered. The longer he looked, the redder those
demon eyes got. Ve was sucking in his fear, he knew, but it didn't
make it any less disturbing. Nor did it allay any of his fears. Ve
had that sort of amused half smile on his face as he looked at
Tobias, which made the man even more nervous.

"Finally," Ve said impatiently. "I've been talking to
myself for the better part of two hours, I really would like to
hear someone else speak."

"Two hours?" Tobias was shaking off the groggy
feeling that had him in a haze still. Then he realized he felt a
sharp pain in his right thigh. When he looked down he saw that
there was a sheet covering both of his legs. That was when he
decided he needed to look around at his surroundings because until
now he had only noticed that Ve was in his field of vision. As
Tobias looked around a sense of knowing dawned on him. "Damn, you
took me ot the doctor?" He looked again at the amused grin parting
the demon's lips. "The dogs, I remember the hounds nearly got me
when we were running for the door." Tobias moved his hand to his
knee unconsciously to scratch an itch and realized that his knee
was ot there to scratch. "What the..." panic overtook Tobias as he
scrambled to remove the sheets that were hiding the stumps of his
legs. As his mind focused on what his eyes were seeing Ve began
chuckling.

"Well, I was going to break it to you gently, but I
guess you had your own plan."

"My legs!" Tobias yelled. "What happened to my legs?
What have you done to me? You sick son of..."

"Watch it, Tobias! Let's not forget who are dealing
with here." Ve stood from the rolling stool and looked down over
his work from his full height. "I did nothing to your legs. You
left those as treats for the hounds on my doorstep." Ve turned and
paced towards the door. "Which begs the question, whose dogs were
they?"

"My legs!" Tobias whimpered again.

"Yes, they are gone. Moving on now," Ve was loosing
what little remained of his patience and he was not fond of picking
up on the whining, whimpering emotions that Tobias was now giving
off instead of fear. If a person had a favorite flavor of ice
cream, Ve could say he had a favorite flavor of emotion. It was
definitely fear, followed closely by the release of emotions felt
during sex. Self pity was an emotion that was his least favorite.
It was more like eating mud pies for dinner. The might not kill you
necessarily, but you definitely didn't want to do it if you could
help it.

"Moving on?" Tobias questioned hysterically. "Moving
on? My legs are gone, and you act as if that shouldn't be on my
mind at all."

Ve moved in an instant and was standing so close to
Tobias that all the man could see was the red of Ve's eyes. "Do not
get me wrong, Tobias. I give two shits about your legs!" Ve grabbed
hold of one of the stumps and squeezed until Tobias was screaming.
"You sit painless on my whim, but mark my words, that does not have
to be the case."

Tobias leaned over the side of the exam table and
began to vomit. Ve, having already sensed what was about happen
kicked the trash can under the man before the contents of his
stomach was erupted. Handing Tobias a paper towel, Ve continued,
"now, I want to know who would be sending the hounds after you,
Tobias!"

Tobias wiped his mouth and looked back at Ve. "I
don't know."

"Oh, you really do not want to play this game today,
Tobias, it's been a rough day." He squeezed the other stump until
the screams were peeling from Tobias's lips. Again, the man leaned
over and threw up into the trash can at the side of the exam table.
"Who would be sending hounds after you? And why?"

"I don't..." Tobias's answer was cut off by his own
screaming as Ve grabbed both stumps at the same time and
squeezed.

"Again," Ve reminded Tobias as he sat trying to catch
his breath on the exam table.

"I was running for this chick already." Tobias said
between breaths. "She was looking for the same package you were and
so..." Tobias trailed off, fully aware of what his next statement
would mean for him.

"And so..." Ve encouraged the man to continue on,
knowing the war of emotions that was being battled inside him.

"And so..."

"Tobias, spit it out. I haven't got all day." Ve
rolled his eyes as he rested his hands upon Tobias's wounded legs.
"Let me guess, you thought a bidding war would be in order. You
felt, suddenly that you were being underpaid for such a hot
commodity?"

"It's not like that," Tobias began. "Well, it is, but
it isn't." Tobias was stumbling over himself trying to find the
right words. "She's hot man! Melina's the shit and she was offering
herself up to me along with payment." Tobias's eyes suddenly glazed
over in a dreamy state. "She was impressed with my business prowess
and she wanted to be with me. It wasn't just a bidding war."

"So, you sold our deal out for a higher bid and a
piece of ass?" Ve laughed for a moment. "I never would have thought
you had it in you. Who is this Melina you speak of?"

"No!" Tobias shouted. "You can't go after her."
Tobias's fear spiked to new heights as Ve looked on. "She's..." He
never got to finish his statement because before he even got a
single sound of the next word past his vocal chords Ve was on him
in a demon fury. He ripped the man to pieces as a rabid animal
would. Piece by piece he would tear at the man until the screams
died away to the animalistic grunts that were coming from Ve
himself. What Ve didn't realize in his frenzy was that Tobias
wasn't trying to save or protect Melina, he was trying to warn Ve
to drop it. She ran with a dangerous crowd. Dangerous even to a
ravenous demon.