Page 37 of A Demon Is Forever

“Um, no… let me.”Kaleb stepped forward and using a clean edge of the shirt wrapped around hishand, swiped at her cheek several times. The purple material readily soakingaway the blood. Not her blood, his. Shaw recalling the something pink andbloody that had hit her in the face earlier. Crap. How many digits had he lost?

“Shit, where didyou last see your fingers? We have a great medical team here. If we can findthem, they can get them reattached good as new.”

“It’s fine.Conflict Demon, remember? They’ll grow back.”

Oh, yes, she’dforgotten for a moment. A spike of red-hot anger suddenly piercing throughShaw’s gut. “It was foolish, what you did. You could have lost more than acouple of fingers.”

“We’re partners inthis, Valkyrie. I’m not completely worthless in a fight, but it would help if Ihad a weapon next time.”

The red-hot angerin Shaw’s gut bubbled and boiled hotter still… next time. Someone really wantedKaleb dead, given the number of attackers here today and the fact that theywere willing to trespass on Valkyrie property. “Maybe we should reconsider thatsafehouse idea.”

“This King gigdoesn’t really allow me to go off grid for extended periods of time. Inevitablythere’s a crisis or a war that needs to be averted. I have to stay relativelycontactable and unfortunately, we can no longer trust anyone in the Court.Besides, for the moment, I might be relatively safe. If you hadn’t noticed, youwere their main target today. I’m afraid declaring you my Consort had a rather nastyconsequence. Whoever the traitor is, they might hate the idea of me as King,but it appears the thought of you as my official Consort strikes them as evenmore distasteful. I wonder if Kreyon is the one behind all these attacks.”

“The xenophobe?”

“Yes. I’ll have mypeople look into it. In the meantime, perhaps the best idea is for us to keepon the move.”

“Yes, agreed. Theonly reason they found us today was because they knew I was a Valkyrie. Theymust have had some spotters watching Headquarters who recognised the mustangand triggered the delivery truck full of assassins into action.” Shaw grittedher teeth. “We’ll need new transport. Come on. Let’s head inside. I’ll check inwith my team. And we can get you some medical treatment.”

Kaleb could feelthe nubs of his fingers already starting to re-grow. They tingled and itched,irritating but not painful. “I’d really just prefer a bathroom to wash up in,some fresh clothes, and a sharp bladed weapon.”

“A weapon? Easy.Fresh clothes? That might prove a little more difficult… unless, wait, I havean idea.”

***

“He’s a ConflictDemon?”

“Yes.”

“And Royalty?”

“Yes.”

“And you’reworking with him? A Conflict Demon? Whose Royalty?”

Shaw adored herbaby sister, Zuri, nicknamed Z, in tribute to the mechanical and weapons geniusfrom the James Bond films, Q. She was beyond brilliant, producing fantasticallyinventive and deadly weapons.

Zuri was alsopedantic. Bored easily. Renown for losing track of time when she was working onsomething that caught her interest. Showcasing a talent for blowing stuff uppretty much from the cradle. A fact made apparent to their parents when Zuriwas ten months old and she blew apart her crib, using a teaspoon of two day oldporridge and a couple of flint rocks she’d managed to pick up from theplayground.

There was fiveyears difference between them, but thanks to their supernatural genes Zurilooked like she was barely twenty-five Earth years. Of the three Bengala girlsshe was the one who looked most like their mother, Christina. Inheriting hergolden Moroccan sun-kissed skin tone and matching dark blonde hair. Not a curlor a kink in sight. Though from a young age Zuri had learnt to keep the silkenmass braided tightly back, unless she wanted to set fire to her head… again.

An inch shorterthan Shaw, Zuri at 6.1ft, was blessed with long legs, broad shoulders and animpressive rack. She’d spent several years on the battle Planes during heryouth but kept getting into trouble for snatching weapons away from theirenemies to study. Often forgetting to kill said enemies, until they annoyed herso much she ended up using their own weapon against them to test it for strengthsand weaknesses.

It hadn’t beenlong after she began fighting on the Fjornfall Planes that Zuri started to makea few tweaks to her own weapons. Improving their efficiency dramatically. Soon,in her spare time, she was doing the same for any of her sister Valkyries whorequested her services.

The higher upseventually concluded that Zuri was not battle bitch material. However, movingher to the Siege Division proved a bigger mistake. Catapults. Explosives.Battering rams. Zuri tinkered and improved everything so much the divisiondestroyed three fortresses completely, angering several clients, before theycould pinpoint who was behind their suddentoo-successfulnew approach.

For the past tenEarth years Zuri had been in charge of the Research and Development Division.Basically comprising of Zuri and four helpers, who all delighted in makingthings explode just as much as Zuri. Their Department producing an array ofweird and wonderful gadgets for the Quest, Bounty, Treasure Hunting and all theWarfare Divisions. All the while Z, and her helpers, constantly modifying andimproving weapons and inventing things that would go boom.

The ValkyrieEmpire to a woman loved and adored Zuri. The only group not delighted by her,besides their enemies, were the Elves.

Who loathed thefact Z often took one of their revered Elf made weapons andimprovedit.The Elves disputing the clear evidence of Zuri’simprovementsloudly andvigorously.

Ever sinceStephanie had contracted the Elves to establish a permanent workshop atValkyrie Headquarters offering sales, rentals, repairs, and buffing services,there had been an unspoken war going on between the two camps. One which Zuriwas pretty much oblivious of.

Except every sooften when Stephanie came by, requesting Z improve the sound-proofing, as herneighbours across the Staging Area, the Elves, were claiming the constant soundof things blowing up was interfering with their zen.

“I didn’t know hewas King when we agreed to help each other out. I just thought he was Galen’sfriend who’s a bit of a dick, one who needed a bodyguard for ten days.”

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