Chapter Text
I grabbed my staff, and headed out the door. Too late, I remember there was another potion, but the demon can see my now, so I do not want to try to return to my apartment, get the potion, drink it, and then try and come back out to find the demon, probably, camped at my front door.
There are no words exchanged this time, which is a bad sign. He roars, grabs a stop sign, and hurls it at me like a javelin.
I dodge, even though I am not worried about that little thing actually hurting me, and make sure my hands are in the right places on my staff.
The demon does not seem eager to charge at me, but I know he will. Then I’ll shove my staff in his face, activate my stored fire magic, and destroy him. Or anyway, burn the head off the husk he’s using on this plane of existence, effectively ending his participation in events.
I pick a convenient spot, and lean on my staff, waiting for him. I do not gesture in his direction because he is, after all, far larger than I am, and I do not need any shows of bravado anyway.
OK, here he comes! He reaches for me and I start to dodge his hand, but I slip on a loose piece of sidewalk I had not noticed. Instead of his face, it is one of his arms that gets the fire, effectively burning it off.
That does not stop him, of course, and now I am far too close to him. He reaches down with the other arm, picks me up and tosses me across the street and into one of the buildings there.
I say into, not against, because I go through a window, hit a desk, and come to rest under a chair. I am not harmed, of course, because my shield took the hit for me, but I no longer have my staff. I climb to my feet and check to see if-
And the demon, having followed me, reaches through the hole with his good hand, and grabs me by the legs. He pulls me out of the hole, and dangles me, upside down, apparently wondering what to do with me. If I had my staff, now, I could end this very fast by simply showing it in his face. That ‘s how close he is!
He tosses me again, and this time, I land on a car, in the windshield, ass first.
“Are you OK?” Someone nearby asks, and I start to automatically ask him or her what it looks like, but I stop when I see the blue uniform.
“You might want to hide, or at least take cover,” I said, as the demon comes stomping close again.
The cop, this one a goat, makes an odd sound, and then simply falls over. Now I need to move the fight out of this area so the goat does not get squished by accident, so I roll off the other side of the car and, with no good choices about where to go, I run toward the demon.
Surprised, he is unable to grab me, so I get behind him, and then dodge behind another car, as he turns around, slowly. I give him some fire from my hands, damaging but not destroying his nearest leg.
If I had my staff-
It is at this point that I see my staff. Not on the street, or stuck under a car, but floating. It hesitates, apparently thinking, and then it turns toward me, and starts getting closer.
The demon, of course, can also see it. He pulls back, slightly, and does not move toward me or the floating wood. Staffs do not usually do this sort of thing. If they’re enchanted, they will just appear where they need to be, or, if they move, they are always faster than this!
The staff changes course, acting for all the world like it needs to avoid major obstacles. Like it is being carried? But that would mean a carrier. And then I realize what must have happened, but I do not want to move because I am fairly sure the demon will attack as soon as I move. I do not know what, or who, he will attack, and an invisibility potion is not the same thing as an invulnerability portion.
The demon does not move until the staff gets much closer to me. In fact, it is behind me when the demon finally decides to act. I dodge, backward, as he lunges. I grab the staff.
“Get out of here!” I shouted, turned toward the demon so he will not realize I am not talking to him.
He roars again, taking a swipe at me with his less damaged arm. I dodge, again, rolling backward over a car. The demon grabs the car, moving it out of the way.
Instead of retreating again, I rush toward the giant, pushing my staff up toward his chin, and then release a targeted burst of fire across his neck and lower part of his face.
He screams, batting at me with his better arm, and manages to knock me down.
It is too late for him, however, and his body starts to come apart. Pieces fall, and then vanish. Demons are not from this plain of existence, and so, when they’re ‘killed’, there is no physical debris. Magical debris, yes, but nothing physical other than the damage they do while they are physically here.
I got up, and walked toward where the demon was. Looking around, I can see that I am apparently alone near the center of this darkened street. All the nearby street lights have gone out, probably as a result of the magical energy being tossed around. I can feel some sort of weakening link from the demon with a rabbit, not Judy, so probably that Craig person?
It could be several possible rabbits, of course. Maybe Cotton? But that would be so-
“You did it,” I heard Judy’s voice say, interrupting that chain of thought.
I turned toward her, and noticed several things. First, I can see that the invisibility potion is wearing off because she is now more translucent than invisible. Second, she is naked, and making no effort to cover herself.
She is, well, she is perfect, and so brave! Almost no fat on her body. And so confident! Back straight. Nipples-
Ahem, I think I will think about that later. Not now.
“We did, yes,” I replied, and made myself turn away. I put down my staff and pulled my shirt off over my head, and held it out to her. “Put this on. The spell will not last forever.”
She takes the shirt, and then I hear her putting it on. I wait a few seconds and then turn back toward her. Her scent does not indicate any sort of embarrassment.
“Did you,” she starts to ask, and then seems to be unsure how to continue. She has the shirt on, covering her like a tent, exposing only her head, one shoulder, feet, and hands.
“I did not see anything,” I lied. She must have noticed that her skin was no longer fading out and then fading back in, but she’s been nude the whole time, so she might believe me.
She nodded, accepting my answer.
“So, what now?”
“Now, I have to do something I hate.”
“It’s not washing dishes, is it?” She asked.
I paused, thinking, no, it is not, and then realized she was making a joke. “Very funny.”
She nodded, and we started walking back toward my apartment.