Two weeks later, Elaine and Damon were out killing Demon Hunters as per usual. She was still weak, so instead of using powerful spells to wipe them out, she would use weapons. Her sword was one of them. She got her sword stuck in one of the Demon Hunters, and she was too weak to pull it out. They started to crowd around her, and she knew it was a perfect moment for something special.
"Damon, duck," she said.
Damon went low to the ground. She summoned a Gatling gun, and let out a maniacal laugh as she mowed through them.
"You have one of those?" Damon lifted his head after her initial firing of the gun.
"Yes, I have it for emergencies, and this was an emergency." She de-summoned the Gatling gun and picked up her sword, then wiped the goo of of it with her glove.
"You seemed very happy for it being an emergency." Damon stood up and wiped the flecks of goo from his face.
"I said it was an emergency, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it." She shrugged with a smile.
"Oh dear, what to do with you," a voice spoke.
"Oh fuck, not here." She knew who owned that voice, Turbuk.
"I see you know the danger you are in, little one." Turbuk strolled out of the back alley with an evil smile.
"Get back, Damon, and if worse comes to worse, just run." She brandished her sword against him.
"Oh sweet summer child, you dare brandish your useless blade against me." Turbuk tutted and slowly shook his head.
"Useless? I can imbue it with magic to even cut through bone." She kept her stance.
"So soon after your revival?" Turbuk grinned even wider.
"How did you know about that?" She couldn't relax her muscles, she was terrified and frozen in place.
"No knowledge is safe from me, I soak it up like a sponge. You and I are a lot alike. We both read that certain book as well." Turbuk's smile faded.
"I'm nothing like you, don't compare yourself to me," she tried to move, but her muscles were locked in place still.
"Oh? You hunger for knowledge as much as I." He pointed to himself.
"I don't want to take over everywhere I land my feet on though," she said.
"Then what is your end goal? You kill all the baddies, and think you are one of the few good ones, don't you think you would make a good leader?" he asked.
"I'm doing it to scare the bad ones away, if they keep coming, the bodies will continue to pile up until they get the hint," she said.
"So you want a perfect government?" he questioned further.
"I want one free of corruption and abuse," she said.
"How are you going to get there?" he pressed another question.
"I'm here to show everyone that corruption and abuse is not going to get you anything but dead now since I'm here," she said.
"And you think that makes you the judge, jury, and executioner?" he asked again.
"Their crimes speak for themselves. I'm not perfect nor am I the best person out there, I'm doing what others refuse to do. I'm here to dirty my hands so others will have clean ones," she said.
"I see, you think you don't have the right, but the need to fix things. Maybe I won't kill you, since you are still admitting that you aren't a great person. How about something else then?" he flashed a small smile.
"I never said I was the best person, or even good, vigilantes themselves should know that justice like that, mob justice, is not good, but still needed," she said.
"So you admit you are a bad guy, wonderful. Well aren't we both bad guys then?" he asked.
"I'm a different breed, I don't do it solely for enjoyment, though I admit I take joy in destroying wrongdoers. I have a mission, a mission different than yours. My means aren't the best, but it's the only way to make things better now," she said.
"So you admit you like killing people, doesn't that make you bad?" he kept adding to the pile of questions.
"I want this world to be better, and if I'm killing people who have hurt others or tried to get ahead by terrible means, of course I will find satisfaction in it, like I'll have satisfaction in killing you." She tried to point her blade at him, but her body was still frozen.
"And how are you going to do that if you are so weak?" he asked.
"I'm not trying to kill you, at least not right now. I'm trying to defend Damon," she said.
"Oh? That was a bad decision to tell me that, now I'm going to have to do something to him now. What, though, should I do? Hmmm..." Turbuk ran his thumb and forefinger through the beard of his goatee.
"I will hunt you 'till the ends of the earth if you even damage a hair on his head." she said as she bared her fangs.
"I don't doubt you will, but what can you do to me? An all powerful being such as myself scoffs at your weak and tiny form, child." Turbuk smiled and let out a small chuckle.
"I'm twenty three years old, asshole," she said.
"Hah, you sure don't look it," he said.
"What do I do?" Damon whimpered.
"Stay there, or you'll be toast, I will make sure of it," Turbuk said.
"Don't stray from me, Damon." She tried to look at him, but she couldn't turn her head.
"Do you remember what it was like? The first few months of being a demon, child?" he asked.
"Stop calling me a child! I've already told you my age," she said.
"Funny that you would demand someone more powerful than you to do something, I'm from the Old War, I am quite older than you in that regard," He scoffed.
"What about it? Me being a demon?" she asked.
"Was it hard? Was it difficult to get over?" he questioned further.
"I never said it was easy, but there was nothing I could do about it," she said.
"Then that's the perfect punishment for him, for you brandishing your blade against me, threatening to kill me and ordering me around." Turbuk raised his hand, and sigils sprung from it, the sigils turned faster and faster until a projectile of red light shot from the center. It curved around Elaine and hit Damon in his side.
Damon crumpled to the ground, he gripped his side and cried out in pain.
"What did you do to him?!" she shouted.
"Just a little something to remember me by, that's all." Turbuk smiled, opened a portal behind himself, and walked backwards through it. The portal closed as he finished stepping through.
The terror that gripped her because of the extreme amount of negative energy Turbuk exuded that permeated everything around him disappeared, and she could move again. She bolted towards Damon.
"No, don't!" Damon held out his hand, which was already gaining claws.
A wave of demonic energy burst out from him, hitting her full force and knocking her back. Luckily she was able to absorb some of the hit, and survived. She fell onto her back. She gasped as she tried to breathe after she got the wind knocked out of her. She coughed as she rolled over and tried to get up, but her arms wobbled under her weight.
"Oh god, Elaine! Are you okay? Ow, shit, my feet!" She heard Damon struggling with something behind her.
She eventually hoisted herself from the ground and dusted herself off. She turned to see Damon taking off his shoes. The four toes in front had ripped through his socks, and the back toe had poked a hole in the heel of the sock as well.
"That happened to me too, I had to use gauze to walk around normally until I found Zlyena." She sighed, wondering how much he had transformed.
"Gauze?" Damon turned to look up at her, his eyes a solid red, like hers.
"We'll get Zlyena to make you shoe socks like mine, but for now, you'll have to use gauze." She summoned some gauze and started to take his ripped socks off.
"I'm sorry, I didn't think something like this could happen, I only have a gun and it ran out of bullets. I was about to ask for more when that man showed up." He frowned.
"It's my fault for not giving you enough ammunition, you'll be fine, I'll show you the ropes, what he didn't know is I didn't have anyone to help me until about a month later, but you have me and your family, Macabre Hearse." She smiled warmly at him, attempting to melt away his regret and comfort him.
"I guess he didn't account for that." He smiled back at her, showing newly grown fangs.
She felt responsible for him, and the pity made her more attached to him than she was before, even though it felt a bit wrong to her. It did make sure that he would be immortal though, which is what she wanted for him eventually, so she wouldn't have to see him age and die.
She finished covering his feet in gauze and stood him up.
"Thank you, how long will it take to make the shoe socks like you have?" he asked.
"Not long, it should be given to you in about twenty four hours after it's ordered." She waved her hand.
"Will I get gloves like yours too?" he questioned further.
"Do you want them?" she questioned back
"Yeah, they look cool." He nodded.
"Then we'll get you some, anything for you, after all." She giggled.
"I'm honored you chose me, but am I still not enough? That man, is he in your thoughts still?" he asked.
"I... I think you might be mad if I was truthful about it." In the end, she still obsessed over Hex, even hundreds of thousands of years in hell could not calm her wanting heart.
"It's fine, you're with me and not him, so I'm satisfied." He patted her on the back.
"So it doesn't feel like I'm leading you on or anything?" She turned to him.
"Of course not, I believe your emotions towards me are real too, if I can shower you with affection, maybe you'll be able to forget him and leave him behind." He walked, his gauze covered feet making a shuffling noise as he moved from one foot to another.
"Do you think that could happen? I hope it does, it hurts to think about him still." She frowned, she knew she would never get the chance to be with him. It wasn't like she was settling for less, honestly she didn't know what she saw in him, maybe it was how he didn't care what others thought of him? His brazen nature? How obtuse he was? Was it that she was attracted to the 'bad boy' types that he obviously was? She didn't know. She turned and started to walk.
"If it's hurting you, you have to try and let go," he said as he reached for and grabbed her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers.
"Don't you think I've tried? All those years in hell that I've spent?" She looked up at him.
"You mean to tell me that hundreds of thousands of years didn't help at all?" he asked.
"Of course not, the heart wants what the heart wants, love doesn't wane because you want it to." She shook her head.
"I'm speechless, was your soul put into some kind of stasis or something?" he questioned further.
"No, I had plenty of time to sit and stew about it," she said.
"I would have forgotten everyone by then," he said.
"I used a spell that kept my emotions the way they were when I got there. Even though it hurt me an endless amount of times emotionally, I feel that it was the best decision I could make. I didn't want evanescence to kick in, I didn't want to forget you or him," she said.
"It seems you have a spell for everything, are you sure that was a good decision? You were probably kicking yourself constantly down there," he said.
"Oh I was, but I didn't want to become jaded, I took the spell off after he left," she said.
"I can't imagine the emotional pain you had to deal with down there, it must have been brutal, if you ever need me, I'm here for you." He turned to her.
"Thank you." She smiled and nodded.
They walked home, and Elaine had to explain what happened to Damon to Kalan, who, even though his expressionless face did not show an ounce of emotion, radiated an aura of confusion.
Read the rest of the book here: https://www.moonquill.com/book/113