Snippet: Blue Demon

OK, folk. Here’s another lil bit from my next book about a blue demon named Eyoen and a rock chick named Cass. In this blurb (unedited, so be kind) we find that Eyoen, for all his magical strength has a rather alarming weakness. For those of you who are new to the story, Eyoen’s servant Rierdane is speaking inside his head.

Eyoen liked the Knickerbocker. It was an old hotel off North Michigan Avenue with an elegant front and a rather old fashioned charm. It wasn’t a terribly popular spot with celebs, which was why Cass and Natty and their crowd liked to frequent it, and they were zealous about not telling anyone about it, lest it become a hot spot.

 “Hey Marvin,” Cass greeted the bartender. “Lemme get an Amaretto sour with DiSaranno. Whatchu want?”

 “The same as you, and the pretzel.”

 “I already ordered it,” Natty said, slapping Eyoen on the back and giving Cass a kiss on the cheek. “Come to the back when you get your drinks.”

He walked away before Eyoen could scowl at him for taking liberties. 

“Don’t you act up,” Cass warned. “These are my oldest friends, and I want them to like you.”

Eyoen just blinked innocently and gathered their drinks. “Of course, my dear.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, but she was wasting her time. He was a perfect doll. Natty was surrounded by family. His twin older brothers Jordan and Jeremy and their wives Baby and Lani were there along with friends Fiona and her husband Dane. Natty’s cousin Niomi was there with her husband Dan, but they were just about to leave. Eyoen remembered her from the photo shoot, but recalled in the nick of time that he had to act as though they had never met since he’d been in Lee’s body at the time.

“Already?” Cass asked.

Niomi laughed. “Himself is three sheets to the wind.”

Dan muttered something in French and teetered precariously before Jordan shored him up.

“Need to walk,” Dan slurred, turning to aim them in the general direction of the door.

“You need a cab,” Jordan laughed.

“Sick,” Dan insisted.

“He’s saying he’ll get car sick if he rides in this condition, but he’s too shitty to walk.” Niomi said, exasperated.

“Why don’t I take him to the restroom?” Eyoen suggested. “Splash water on his face, get him some water from the bar.”

She shrugged. “Sure. See if you can get him to pee. It might help.”

That was Eyoen’s plan exactly. He held his drunken acquaintance up easily and collected a glass of water from the bar from Marvin on their way past to the men’s room. Inside he held the liquored Dan up with one held the glass of water to his lips with the other, and told him, “Piss.”

Eyes closed, Dan drank the water and fumbled with his pants. Eyoen finally had to use magic to get them open, then Dan was able to take over. when the glass was empty Eyoen set it aside, pressed a spot in the middle of the back of his charge’s neck, and stood back while he peed himself sober for the next 90 seconds.

At the end of it he washed his hands, blinked sleepily and smiled, considerably steadier and more alert. Eyoen stood by while he drank another glass of water from the tap – he’d purified it with a thought – and took the opportunity to pick the man’s brain for thoughts of Cass. He found nothing more than a vague fondness, they’d known each other for a long time, but Dan’s thoughts were filled with Niomi and their inability to have a child. It was his fault, and he felt horrible guilt over it. Cass had mentioned it briefly in the cab on the way over lest he inadvertently say something to trigger sadness in the fraught couple. And he gleaned it was the main reason Dan had over imbibed tonight.

Eyoen knew he could help the man, but correcting a demon’s seed was serious business. Only slightly less serious because it was a human. It would take a considerable amount of energy, and he planted a little suggestion in Dan’s mind to come and visit him at the spa when it opened.

“You’ve got the touch, man,” he grinned, only slightly tipsy now as he washed his hands and face and tidied his appearance. When he’d finished he clapped Eyoen on the shoulder. “Thanks, eh? I’m going to have to come visit you at your spa when it opens.”

“Come to the opening.”

“Count on it. Niomi and I will look forward to it,” he said sincerely. “Shall we? I’m sure my wife’s telling everyone I’ve passed out in here on the floor.”

Eyoen laughed.

Niomi was pleasantly surprised to see Dan looking so well, and she went into his arms happily as they said their goodbyes.

“Eyoen, when Cass told me how you’d helped her with massage, I was skeptical. But what you can do in a bathroom in 20 minutes has convinced me that you are indeed a miracle worker,” she said as they stood out front.

“Where’s the doorman?” Dan wondered.

A man walked up. Eyoen stared at him curiously. He was dirty and he seemed to be holding something behind his back.

“Spare some change, mister?”

“Sorry, man. We’re on credit tonight,” Dan said.

“How about you?”

“He wants money, sire,” Rierdane said. “A vagrant.”

Eyoen pulled out his wallet and reached in to give the man a $20. But when the bum saw the wad he was holding, he made a grab for the wallet, leading with a punch toward Eyoen’s head.

“Sire, watch out!” Rierdane shouted, but Eyoen had already seen the fist and blocked the blow with one hand.

He still had the wallet in the other. He didn’t want it to hit the ground. He cared nothing for the money inside. He’d have given it to the man if he’d known all this drama was afoot, but it was one of Cass’ first gifts to him. Elegant distressed Black leather that she’d had monogrammed with a large masculine E after she grew tired of watching him pull out large, unruly wads of cash everywhere they went.

Blocking the wild punch and holding on to his wallet he was unable to move quickly enough to block the stab when the bum pulled out the screwdriver he’d been holding behind his back. He saw it coming in plenty of time to brace though, automatically shoring his magical defenses so he would not inadvertently turn blue during the fight.

Niomi screamed a warning, and Dan rushed forward as though to help him, but he wasn’t worried. He should have been able to repel the weapon. There were few things that could penetrate demon skin. It was one of the reasons magical energy was so important. One had to be able to get inside a friend of a foe in order to effect change of any kind. The most he should have come away with was a scratch, something quickly healed that he would have to fake to fool the humans around him.

But something strange happened. Dimly Eyoen heard Dan cursing and Niomi crying, but his vision seemed to have gotten awfully narrow, and there was a horrible burning in his side. He felt the wallet slip from his fingers, heard the bums’ feet pounding the concrete as he ran away.

As if in slow motion he looked down at his side. How odd, he thought. He had never seen his own blood before, this tinted red as befit his human disguise. It seemed to be pouring out of him at an alarming rate. He shuddered once, staggered, felt himself falling, and that was the last thing he remembered…