Page 82 of A Demon Is Forever

Moving in fast, Kaleb brought up his blade, about to perform afinal three move riposte when he heard Shaw yell just one word.

“Down.”

He dropped like a rock. When a Valkyrie takes the time to tell youto duck during a skirmish, if you want to keep your head, you duck. Somethingsailed over his head, smacking Bartius right in the face, who automaticallycaught it, holding the mystery item up to look at the still squirming…tentacle? Ick, grey blood now splattered Bartius’s beard and forehead. Alongwith a series of raised weeping blisters marring any part of his skin where thedetached piece of… tentacle had made contact.

Whatever that lump of grey bleeding squirming flesh was, Kalebwanted no part of it. So when Bartius hurled it straight at Kaleb’s face, hewas too distracted trying to bat it away with the flat of his blade to noteBartius’s left boot following through, smashing into his hand. His bladesailing off in the same direction the disturbing lump of grey flesh had gone.

Victory lit up the older Demon’s eyes as he stood over a stillcrouched Kaleb, little realising what a complete and utter disaster he looked.With his burnt bloody robes clinging to him. His face, beard and hairsplattered with both red and grey blood. A multitude of shards made of metaland glass still piercing his blistered cheeks, side of his throat andshoulders. Raising his blade with both hands, a grim broad smile on hisfeatures, Bartius slashed downwards, aiming for Kaleb’s heart.

Rolling forward, Kaleb popped to his feet, invading Bartius’spersonal space, inches only separating them as he thrust the pointed tip of theice Demon’s horn, that he’d had tucked in the waistband of his trousers as asouvenir, deeply into Bartius’s gut. Yanking it upwards, through the olderDemon’s body, to puncture his heart. Leaving it embedded there momentarily,Kaleb reached up, snatching the blade out of a stunned and disbelievingBartius’s hand.

Less than a second later Bartius’s head hit the carpet with a dullthud, rolling away to disappear under the nearest sofa. His body collapsing,knees hitting the carpet first, the body swaying for a moment before fallingoff to the left.

The remains made quite a sight; headless, blood gouting from theneck wound, along with slower rivulets leaking from the chest, and torsowounds. Kaleb was beyond thankful he wasn’t responsible for replacing thedestroyed carpet. That would cost a bomb. Leaning over the body he yanked outthe horn, wiping the gory tip on the last relatively clean bit of Bartius’srobe. This souvenir was going to look great on a shelf behind his desk. Hmmm,though maybe a high shelf, where no pissed off parents or sneaky assassinscould make use of it.

Now, it was time to find out how Shaw was fairing in her fightagainst the last clone. Turning, Kaleb choked back laughter, well, that wasunexpected. They really must have been some mad scientists Bartius had hired tocook up the clones.

***

It had been guess work on Shaw’s part, that the cascasdian circlekeeping them imprisoned didn’t reach all the way to the incredibly high ceilingin this grandly overstuffed decorated room. Admittedly the angle wasn’t great.But she’d been using the somai as a weapon since she was a toddler. Lobbing itover an invisible wall was simple. Whilst arming the two rocks connected by thelong length of leather to explode required nothing more than a right flick ofher wrist just prior to releasing the weapon.

Even better, as the chandelier sheared away from the ceiling witha sudden burst of flame accompanied by a spray of metal and glass, she andKaleb were ironically protected by the cascasdian circle. At least until awounded clumsy Bartius blundered forward, breaking it. Sweet.

The raven haired clone moved with liquid grace to avoid most ofthe falling debris. Though she still incurred some damage. Casually yanking ajagged curving piece of metal from her upper arm. The wound closing before thediscarded piece of metal even hit the smouldering carpet.

Great, so last clone standing had healing powers.

More importantly though, she bled, as evident by the grey smearstaining her upper arm. And if something bled, Shaw could kill it.

To be fair though, she’d also killed a lot of things in her timethat didn’t bleed.

The clone grinned, looking menacing in her black leather catsuitas she stalked forward to confront Shaw. It seems like someone still wasn’tover the whole slim ankles backhanded compliment and was looking for a littlepayback. Luckily Shaw was just in the right frame of mind to kick one last assbefore this whole adventure with Kaleb was over.

Over? Her stomach curdled. No. No time to get distracted. You arekicking ass here. You love to kick ass. Do not think about the Demon. Do not worryabout how the Demon is fairing facing off against that mule headed foolBartius.

Stop thinking… oh, that was new.

Eight tentacles somehow unfurled around the last clone. Extruding,Shaw was guessing, from her back somewhere. They were dark grey in colour, eachat least five foot in length, with a circumference that would take two hands toencircle except for the thinner tips. They were all pointed towards Shaw rightat this moment, except for the very tips that made sharp L-turns towards theceiling… wait, was this cow giving her the tentacle times eight?

Palming a serrated edged knife from her boot, Shaw resolutelytamped down on the bitter knowledge that her halberds with their long staffswould have come in incredibly handy right at this moment. Still, she hadtrained since infancy with every weapon in existence. There wasn’t an item inthis room that she couldn’t convert into a deadly implement if required. No onefears a Dresden figurine, until you discover one is being used to scoop outyour heart.

“I’m betting all the other clones secretly called you Octopussybehind your back, didn’t they? Mutated lab sisters can be so cruel.”

“Before I kill you, I’m going to tear that sharp edged tongue ofyours out and make you eat it.”

Yep, definitely still hung up on the slim ankles crack. Shawclicked her fingers. “I just came up with a way better nickname for you. Sushi!What do you think? I like it and I really think in these last few minutes ofyour existence that it’ll grow on you.”

“So over confident.”

“Well. I don’t like to brag… without a pint of ale in my hand, butwhen it comes to the clone tally, I’m four for four, Sushi.”

The clone bared her teeth in a snarl. Two tentacles shootingforward, aiming for Shaw’s throat. Who ducked, flipped sideways, batting awayanother incoming tentacle with the hilt of her knife. Then proceeded tosomersault backwards to evade yet another jabbing tentacle before finallycoming to a halt, just beyond what she was guessing was Sushi’s reach. The rainof tentacles halting momentarily.

Looking decidedly relaxed, the clone took two steps closer. “What,no smart remarks now that you see what you’re up against?”

Provoking a foe in order to gauge their strengths and weaknesseswas taught to Valkyries in their first year of training. So yes, the clone wascorrect. Shaw had been making a study of how Sushi was able to use thosetentacles. But now that she had that information, the time for talking wasover. But Shaw didn’t bother explaining all of that to what was essentially adead clone walking.

Charging forward, Shaw dropped to her knees, sliding across thestained yet still lush carpet, ducking beneath two tentacles that shot forwardto try and stop her. Popping up only a foot away now, Shaw aimed for theclone’s heart, intending to end this bout quickly. Unfortunately, the clone’sreflexes were too quick, Sushi blocking the blow with her forearm. Seeminglyunconcerned as the blade sank deeply into her flesh. Two tentacles shootingaround at waist height to wrap around Shaw’s middle.

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