Demon's Debacle, John Stormm [best summer reads of all time txt] 📗

in your own chains. That’s her nature. She’s not a bad person but like you, she is what she is and both of you are lonely.”

“I’ve got my kids,” Storm said. “That’s more than Merlin was ever allowed in the past. So, I’ve managed to beat my own archetype to some degree anyway.”

“It cost you, Daddums,” Mel agreed. “It always costs you something. Speaking of which, let me give you my bill.”

She wrote a couple words on a post-it note, folded it and handed it to her father. He opened it and smiled, and put it in his pocket and hugged his daughter.

“It’s all worth it, my Morgana.” He chuckled, and kissed her forehead.

To Khu Lim, this was exciting news. It meant that Storm was motivated by love to protect Yin from the Kuei. This could argue for her personal karma. It probably wouldn’t work out well for the wizard as she understood but she was concerned for Yin Nguyen, not the wizard. He’d mend his broken heart and move on. If he survived at all. That was another thing. The wizard was cocky because he wasn’t completely human. The Kuei would not be likely to know that right off. The wizard would not be an easy kill for the demon Kuei and that surprise along with magickal defenses of this caliber could be its undoing. Khu Lim was feeling very smug.

* * *

     For most of the first year, Martin the Kuei had the odd thug attempt to make moves on Yin and even some other women on the lines. Storm applied his own kind of pressure and not much was made of it. The Kuei was satiating all sorts of appetites in Martin’s body. He was an eternal sort of creature and this one was temporal, he could afford to wait. Storm never seemed to exert any more force than was necessary. Khu Lim appreciated the wisdom of this. He and Yin had become fast friends. At lunch breaks Storm, herself and An Nam would sit together and share meals. As a monk, An Nam could eat no meat, so Storm prepared various meats Asian style to serve over rice for himself and Yin, and the monk would bring tofu and vegetable dishes. Khu Lim was pleased with her match making. Even she was beginning to like the hybrid wizard.

* * *

     The battle started subtily. The Kuei thought he might first raise Yin’s terror by attacking her in her dreams. As it was, she was dreaming of walking through an Asian market with Storm at her side. When it came at them in the guise of a grotesquely malformed Martin Gorge, it found itself with the point of a silvery double edged sword at its throat. When it tried to wrest the sword from Storm’s grip, it cut its palm on the very real blade. This confused the Kuei no end. Khu Lim watched and delighted in the spectacle.

The following morning, Martin arrived at work in a foul mood, his hand wrapped in a large gauze bandage. Yin noticed, but didn’t seem to remember the dream. Storm, on the other hand, remembered everything. Martin glared at Storm as he waddled past him, but Storm just shook his head in the negative.

The next day, Martin had taken the day off for medical reasons. His pet goons, Tito and Tiny had court dates. Storm relaxed and concentrated on running his line. His worst problem was a migraine headache. Khu Lim noticed him rubbing his temples and just before lunch time, she saw the Kuei in spirit form sink its enormous fangs into Storm’s skull. He just dismissed his crew for lunch, when he went pale and slumped to the work table he was standing at. For a moment, Khu Lim thought all might be lost but another senior staff member came upon the unconscious Storm and called the company paramedics.

Storm was semi comatose for the next five days. His daughter woke him, fed him and let him return to sleep all of that time. During this time, the Kuei had no rest. As Storm, not being tied to his own body in this state attacked the Kuei relentlessly. He fought with demonic fury, but then, both of them were exactly that. The Kuei tried to shake Storm’s confidence at one point as they were circling each other warily.

“I have a blood debt with this woman that is my lawful due,” the Kuei growled. “I have no feud with you. You interfere at your own peril. Leave now, and leave me to my prize and I’ll let you live in peace.”

“There's this one thing that ruins your offer,” replied Storm.

“What could that be?” snorted the Kuei.

“Well, actually two things,” quipped the wizard. “First, I know it’s not my time to die. I need not bargain for what you can’t take. Secondly, I have a feud against you. Yin is my beloved friend. That gives me just cause. Haven’t you heard that ’love conquers all?’”

After five solid days of battle, Storm had to return to his healing body and resume making his wages. Martin would be out for another month. This was propitious because Storm looked like he had been altogether too close to death and he needed the time to regain his strength. Khu Lim was impressed with the hybrid. Even a full blooded demon takes care not to interfere with a Kuei collecting a blood debt. They are instruments of karma and entitled to their due.

* * *

     Many months went by. Storm and Yin were occasionally seeing each other after work for dinner and a movie or a company picnic. On their short days, sometimes Yin would go to Storm’s apartment and they would play computer games on his daughter’s ‘X-Box’ together. As always, Storm would sit in a chair and Yin sat alone on the couch. It was considered most improper for a single Asian woman to be alone in a man’s apartment. But for Storm’s ancient sense of honor, aside from occasionally referring to each other as ‘sweetheart,‘ there would be no improprieties. For her birthday, Storm had bought her a white gold necklace with a star pendant. It glowed to Khu Lim’s sight but it was not so much “charmed” as it carried Storm’s psychic signature. It was a cosmic version of the sign that says: “THESE PREMISES PROTECTED BY…” and nothing more.

Shortly after this, Yin began to miss some days at work. She was spending many nights at the hospital with her five year old niece who was suddenly stricken by seizures. The doctors were trying franticly to find a medication that would arrest them but when they struck they got worse and worse, taking more out of her little niece. Storm suspected the Kuei might be attacking the niece in place of Yin. Not being Asian and not being a family member, Storm was helplessly out of the loop. Regardless, it was not possible to protect them all.

At work, it seemed that Yin’s fears were over, except for her young niece. No more threats as Martin and his thugs were preoccupied in the new digital camera section of the pack center. Months went by and coworkers wondered when this relationship might move to the next level.

Problems came in the form of a handsome young Vietnamese man named, Lam Bing. Lam was about thirty years old and had a wife in Viet Nam he was working to bring over. He wasn’t in any big hurry to do even that as he was flirting with anything that he could talk to. He bragged in the men’s lounge that in a week or two at most, he would bang pretty Yin’s little, yellow bottom like a Salvation Army drum. Storm was annoyed, but having no formal claim on Yin’s affections other than friendship, he was in no good place to argue. He also hoped that Yin would have the sense about things she’d always shown in the past. She was half his age but he respected her. Maybe Lam would learn respect. That was doubtful.

Lam started taking his lunch with Storm, Yin and An Nam. With the exception of Storm, everyone referred to it as “the Asian table,“ an Asian smorgasbord set for mealtime every work day. In a few days, Yin, Lam and An Nam were speaking less English in Storm’s presence. Where before, someone would translate a little to include Storm in the conversation or speak mostly English, it began to be where English was hardly spoken at all. Storm would sit quietly, looking back and forth at the speakers, picking out what he could in his limited Vietnamese. Lam had even commented that Yin’s white boyfriend looked out of place at this table. To which, Yin had replied that they were merely ‘friends’ and that Yin would never enter a serious relationship with an ugly old white man. Even Storm laughed at that but his heart was obviously not in it. Within a week, they would all get up to go to the smoke hut, a designated smoking spot for employees, leaving Storm to himself in the break room, having his lunch alone. Many who had assumed that Storm and Yin were lovers could not understand the giant’s meekness at allowing the little Asian peacock spiriting away his girl right from under his nose.

“My job is over, Ice Bitch,” Storm said quietly, knowing she would hear. “I’ve kept my end of the bargain and for well over a year I‘ve protected her.”

“If you stop, the Kuei may return,” the demoness insisted.

“Since her hormones went snapping after another woman’s husband,” the wizard remarked irritably, “you know I have no hold on her romantic notions. Your dreams were false from the beginning. You intended to lure me into a battle you never thought I could win to satisfy what end?”

“I told you I may not intervene, and I haven’t.,” Khu Lim lied. “What you thought or dreamed is your own affair. You don’t even know me. Who are you to say such things?”
“

I am Storm, Ice Bitch,” the wizard said, fishing though his pocket and finding a familiar folded post-it note. He opened it and read two words: KHU LIM. “And this would be your name on this paper here? Oh, don’t answer, I already know. I know the full value of having such a thing in my possession. The nice thing about being only half demon, is that I’m not inclined to underestimate my opponents. You need not tell me your name. I don’t really care. But you must tell me the why of this or I will plague your every step.”

Khu Lim had no fear. She was incapable of it. What she had was respect and no doubt the wizard would make good on his promise. At this point, the truth might serve her just as well, if the wizard sympathized.

“Yin comes from an Asian witch clan. But she is untaught in the ways of magick. Her grandfather was a wizard of some little renown and got himself into a blood debt with the Kuei. To save his own miserable hide, he promised the Kuei his baby granddaughter of the Year of the Snake. The Kuei accepted. The child was not allowed to develop as a witch for fear that she might spoil the Kuei’s amusement with her. I found Yin at my temple, praying for her family’s well being, oblivious to the fact that they had betrayed her. I admit I meddled but it was the right thing to do. She was a woman of a strong spirit and a pure heart. In my place, you would have done the same, cousin.”

“I might at that,” Storm admitted. “But our sweet Polly Pureheart is about to knowingly have an assignation with another woman’s husband. Coupled with a complete rejection of my own friendship, I’d say she doesn’t have the chance