Junior looked at Ted. The male nurse had always had a special kind of vacant idiocy in his eyes. Ted knew those calm eyes were often compared to the gaze of a cow, supposedly because of the kindness in that docile stupidity. Well, Ted ate cows. He would not have touched Junior's flesh with a long pole, but the point was still valid.
Calm could be stupid and stupidity allowed for maximum serenity. Ted shuddered as he thought about the slow life Junior was living. Ted wanted to feel his pulse. He wanted to know he was alive.
Junior, though, he would never be alive in a certain sense, never again. His will had been broken by black witchcraft, magic that was eons old and more potent than a hundred dark eastern stallions.
Ted laughed.
"I can call you all sorts of things, and you will approve them and say they reflect you, Junior. Isn't that right, you limp piece of wet rag wrapped inside a stinky human skin?"
Junior nodded.
It was not as much fun to torment a completely defenseless victim, as Ted soon found out. With the right commands, Junior could be a functional tool, but he would not be an independent person any longer. That was why Ted also needed to brainwash that Dragon.
This was where Ted Tobias felt a bit bad about himself. It wasn't because of any moral convictions, heavens, no, he did not entertain such a folly inside his head at all. Instead, he lamented the loss of a competent participant. That man had been fun to talk with, so much fun to subtly dominate with verbal cues, but he had proved himself too strong. He had to stay silent about certain things, like the exact reasons of Ted's departure.
Hopefully, it would not be a long trip as much as a thrilling journey through beautiful, exotic and esoteric lands.
Ted had one final and rather painful debate with himself about the subduing of the Dragon, but he ended up doing it on the very same day.
Eknie was in the guest room, packing her bags.
She frowned as Ted greeted him.
"You know what, Ted, I think I have forgotten something at my place. Mind walking down the street with me? I could use some sophisticated company, and if I am able to entertain you in return, well, that's even better."
"Sure, it won't cause a problem."
Ted put on his travel shoes already. He was not up for any chit-chat. He just had an awful gut feeling that he had to be present when Eknie visited her apartment. Once one was high up on the social ladder, having enemies was a given, and sometimes Ted happened to know something to be true even before things had been confirmed.
He took his cane, too, the one with the nicest blade hidden within. It was not one of those pretentious swords, rather, it was just a long knife or a dagger. Such blades were better for combat indoors, with range that was superior to any random potato peelers the opponent might grab, but with agility that outperformed longer blades in close contact combat.
Ted used the cane as one would have used any cosmetic cane. He did not limp more than would have been fashionable. He let the end of the cane make the clack, clack, clack sound on the stones as he walked.
Clack.
The thought of his own mortality drilled into his head.
Clack.
The sunlight was harsh, even though it was already seven o'clock in the evening.
Clack.
He wondered if he would end up stabbed behind a saloon or a brothel, found by some enemy that he had never even acknowledged.
Clack.
This weather was making him completely unhinged. Such hatred he felt that his face distorted into a frown and his eyes turned upwards, towards the cursed star that was making him suffer.
"Ted…"
Clack.
Ted wondered how big a gun would have to be to take out an entire star.
"Ted, are you all right? We already walked past my apartment."
Ted chuckled. "It's just the light playing tricks with me…you know how that feels."
"Right. I definitely do. Ladies first?"
Eknie smiled as she opened her door.
"You are no lady," Ted claimed as he pushed past her in the narrow doorway. "Besides, there might be an intruder here, and I am more intimidating than you."
Eknie did not argue with his flawless logic.
He had trouble seeing anything, as the placement of the windows in the trendy flat was an unfortunate one, and neither of the two masterminds had lit a candle or a lamp yet.
Besides, the curtains were so thick that no ray of unforgiving light could push through to torment them.
Ted lit a match.
There was no one in the apartment. No humans, no demons, and certainly no gods.
Ted did not know what to make of that, but he grabbed a candle and looked into the bathroom.
There was nothing there except for a frighteningly large black salamander.
Ted closed the door, processing what he had just seen.
A large black salamander had been sitting on the vanity table.
"Good heavens," Ted said and opened the door again to point the light of the candle towards the beast. "Do you see that too, Eknie? Where did that damned thing come from?"
Eknie looked at the salamander and shook her head.
"Absurd," she said. "I think we are both seeing things."
"I don't think so. Hold the candle."
Ted ensured that his gloves could withstand some damage, promptly walked up to the strange beast and grabbed it.
The salamander screeched. Its skin was somehow wet and scorching hot at the same time, as if it had just crawled out of boiling water. Ted dropped the creature.
The salamander seemed to take a defensive stance. Ted had no desire to bully it.
An apartment like this was not a suitable environment for animals, though. Ted had to figure out what to do about the poor thing.