Strings Chapter 21
21 Hello Deemer
I found Hannah near the stage with Seph, Lumis, and Des. Lumis had given up on the music, relinquishing the stage to Pride and a number of others, only one of whom I recognized, the man sitting behind an elaborate set of drums with a mask over the lower half of his face, shirtless, shorts flapping around his knees. Jeremy had been "the drummer" for as long as I could remember, and in those many, many years I had heard him speak perhaps only three times. I saw his eyes flicker over me momentarily before he nodded, and I waved back shyly.
Further out in the feilds, just beyond the crowd, an enormous bonfire had been lit, surrounded and enclosed in a stone pit, and the sight of it gave me chills. It made me think of Vincent. Des watched me approaching them with a look of mild concern, and it took me a moment to realize he was also looking beyond me, behind me, and I turned my head to find Sho standing near the tree I had walked away from, staring me down.
"Ye GODS, I get no fucking peace," I sighed, stopping at Lumis's side. "It just goes on and on with this bullshit."
"Well you're all drunk and agreeable, anyway. It's been a few days. Why are they only out and about now?" Lumis pondered, flipping Sho off casually as he spoke. "What is it, the crowd? The music? The energy?"
"What are you implying?" Des asked cynically. "What, that it's all a matter of showmanship? Not like their kind revels in the presence of witness. Not like their type get a twisted sort of thrill out of manipulating a person in front of any number of others who can't do a damn thing about it to stop them. Bastards."
"Yeah?" I smirked, eagerly accepting a new bottle from Lumis. Noting the curious expression on Hannah's face, I gestured over my shoulder in the direction of Sho. "Deemer."
Expecting a different response, I was taken aback by her reaction, brilliant blue eyes widening, swiftly bouncing on her toes, waving emphatically to him with both hands.
"HELLO, DEEMER!"
Seph wrapped an arm around her shoulder quickly, spinning her back around to face us instead.
"NO, Hannah. . .No."
"Well, what the hell is he going to do?" She demanded, hands on her hips. "Aint there some sort of contract with those things? I mean, they can try, can't they? Good luck with that, I like my soul."
"It's a lovely colored one, at that," Sho responded shortly, sliding into the group of us from where he had appeared at my back.
"Ignore him," I opted to the others and their varying display of disdain at his presence. "It's like stray animals. If you stop feeding them, eventually you figure they'll go beg someone else for treats."
"Hello. . .Lune," Sho spoke to Lumis with a scarcely noticeable curl to his lips. Lumis mocked the sneer with a small tilt to his head, rolling his eyes away from the deemer in irritation.
"It is the crowd, I see," Des remarked to no one in particular. "Lot of pretty swirls and colorful auras out here, huh?"
"And you have the fresh streak of self-sacrificial vanity. Think you've done some good lately? You haven't," Sho baited him. "Information is useless when it's common knowledge to those privileged enough to be of some importance to the powers above them."
"Said the puppet," I snapped, chiding myself for being offended at the words that were more than obviously meant to annoy me.
"Said the vessel. The broken tool. The burden."
"Said the idiot who can't even successfully manipulate my dreams, being his forte and all."
"Oh? Yes, well you go ahead and take that precious bracelet I gave you off of yourself and we'll see about that."
"Dick."
"Child."
"Seriously?" Lumis interrupted, eyes flitting between us. "Angie, stop humoring him."
"Please," Des sighed, irate. "Honestly."
"Let me see your fire," Sho spoke to me again after a long impassive stare at Lumis.
"Nope," I laughed dryly, taking a drink from the bottle Lumis had given me. "Not til you tell me a bit about Crow," I added, stopping him before he could speak again. The blank expression on his face told me that I had struck a nerve.
"Excuse me?"
"Tell me about Crow."
"What do you want to know? He is merely a puppet just as any of the rest of. . ."
"Cut that bullshit," I shook my head. "Vincent made it very clear that HE is the only mortal that has no right to free will. He is the only mortal who is the exception to the rules. He is the only true deemer to live as a mortal. So why the fuck would he be toting around a mortal demon, much less one with so little control over himself, much less one who seems to despise all of you? Why not another proper deemer, such as yourself?"
Once again it was clear that I struck a nerve.
"Crow was a gift to him. You're right. He's not some puppet. He's his favorite toy. Anything else you wish to know, you can ask one of them. I'm not going to waste my time talking to you about the tragedy of the unwilling soul," Sho almost spat out the last words, and they fell heavily in the lapse of music in the valley.
Lifting my arm, palm up, I expected it to come from the center of my hand as it normally did, instead finding that at the tips of each of my fingers a small wisp of fire flickered like claws of flame. Sho's eyes narrowed, watching my aura instead of my hand.
"I see," he mumbled, looking away. I caught a glimpse of Manian speaking with Kanba, and the discreet flick of his hand towards the group of us as he pointedly looked elsewhere. Following his gaze out, I saw Akira approaching from his forest, a flank of miniscule fairies at his sides and two sprites that could be mistaken for human were it not for their vividly colored hair and the markings running down the arms of the one on his left side. Akira's eyes met mine, trailing over me carefully, before he arced an eyebrow and I shrugged in response. He leaned his head, once more raising an eyebrow, and I smiled to him reassuringly, giving him a wink. Satisfied with this, his eyes left me as he joined Kanba and Manian at the corner of the stage.
A thick pressure at my side broke my concentration, watching Kanba's small gathering speaking together somberly, turning quickly and finding Vincent facing Sho, standing between him and Lumis.
"Go somewhere," Vincent ordered him dully, and Sho was gone without a reply. Catching my eyes on him, he looked down on me emotionlessly, taking a step closer. "Come with me."
"You're out of your damn mind," I laughed. "I'd rather not."
"You can follow me, or I can force you along. Which would you prefer?"
"No, sorry," I snarled, taking a step back from him.
"What is it now?" Des asked, eyeing me strangely. So they couldn't see him. . .I had the strangest feeling that I was going to have my face snatched up again.
"It's Vincent," Lumis answered for me, stepping through the master of puppets to stand at my side. "She's not going anywhere with you."
"Hello, Lune," Vincent addressed him with a small nod of his head, returning his gaze to me. "She is. I would like to watch her deal with an extraordinary series of events."
"Pardon?" I snorted. "I'm not here for your entertainment. I would. . ."
Cut short by a series of small explosions in the sky, I looked up in time to see showers of color raining down from a few prematurely lit fireworks. It wasn't quite dark yet. . .
"Is it a celebration? Are we having festivities?" Vincent mused, and I watched a shimmer flow over him, causing Des, Hannah, and Seph to look to him abruptly.
"Oh, fuck," Seph stepped back, taking Hannah by the arm.
"HELLO OTHER DEEMER!" Hannah exclaimed, and Vincent slowly turned to face her. A small silence passed before he tilted his head to her and the corners of his mouth rose, the thinnest and most terrifying smile I had ever the misfortune to witness passing over his face for a split second before it was gone.
"Lovely. Purity to a point of no fault. Hello to you, Hannah," he greeted her, extending his hand.
"Hannah, don't touch him," Des warned, but, paying him no mind, Hannah reached out and allowed Vincent to take her hand, gently raising it with another nod of his head.
"No worries, Deskae. She is virtually unfathomable to me. There is no basis in her to strive in tainting, there is no edge to grasp to peel away her layers, there is no misconception in her to take advantage of and even begin to sway. This woman is of no use to me, and were she even willing, I would not have one single clue of what to do with her once I had her. She is pristine," Vincent murmured smoothly, keeping Hannah's eyes as he spoke, assuring Des of her safety from him.
"Charming for a master of destruction, aren't you?" Manian's voice perked from behind Seph as he approached.
"It is a surprisingly helpful trait for one in my line of business," Vincent said calmly, releasing Hannah's hand. "I put it to a far better use than you do, I believe."
"Yeah, no doubt," Manian drawled, sneering at him, revealing one of his eyeteeth pointedly.
"Well. Back to the matter at hand. . ."
"Care for a drink?" I cut Vincent's words short, offering him the bottle. His eyes lingered on it a moment before raising to meet mine.
"No." I opened my mouth to speak again but he continued swftly. "But. . .IF you come with me, I will not only have a drink with you, I will make you what I can promise you will most assuredly be, beyond all shadow of a doubt, the best drink you have ever had in your life, and do note, I don't make promises often. Promises are for optimists."
"Angie, don't make deals with. . ." Manian began, stopping as Crow appeared, sauntering to Vincent's side, reaching past him and taking the bottle of liquor from me, opening it, and downing half of it.
"Hell," Vincent sighed, the blue around his eyes dancing wildly.
Taking a breath, casting a long look on Manian, Crow smirked, raising the bottle for the second time and draining it. Handing it back to me, shaking his hand twice as though flicking off water droplets, he affixed his eyes on Manian once more.
"For one," he started loudly, and I saw Vincent struggle to hide another horrifying smile. "You are the sadddest excuse for a vampire I have ever seen in my life. You think you can't handle this shit because you're fucking Scorso? You're full of yourself. Go turn a goddamn demon and look insanity in the eyes."
"Second," he continued, casting eyes on Lumis. "You make my stomach turn. An incomprehensible fool with no regard for consequence and the well being of others. It's people like you that give him incentive. You remember that next time you get a grand plan in mind for satisfying your own selfish ideals, yeah?"
"Third," he snarled, flashing his fangs in unhinged rage for a fleeting moment. "You think you know," he spoke to Des lowly, threateningly. "You don't know shit."
"Lastly. . .You," he rounded on me. "Your one hope is drinking yourself sober before you piss him off just right and he sends one of us in to deal with you. God help you, you had better fucking pray to your self-serving Judges it isn't me, because I will fuck your little world up and bring you to the last hinges of your feeble fucking will before I even get serious about it." Taking a small breath, face falling even, he narrowed his eyes on me. "Side note. He doesn't make promises. Most deemers spend their downtime plotting and acting fucking stupid. He makes drinks. Go figure. Whatever. I fucking hate this place."
"Thank you, Crow," Vincent cleared his throat. "Are you done?"
"No. . ." Crow paused, eyes trailing to Akira.
"You are," Vincent assured him. Crow faced him, expression a mixture between anxiety and exhillaration. Anger and amusement. "One finishes with lastly, do they not?" Vincent added with sincerity in his voice.
"Question," I started, watching Crow carefully.
"The best drink you'll ever have in your life and one question, any question you wish to ask," Vincent assured me, the blue in his eyes calming and resting from the wild movements there only moments before.
"Grab her by her fucking throat and make her go with you," Crow growled. I noticed that everyone else around us seemed very tense at the demon's wild aura, including Kanba and Akira where they stood nearby, watching us.
"FINE!" I relented, shaking my head. "Whatever. Where are we going?"
"ANGIE!" Lumis and Akira had both admonished me simultaneously.
"Lovely," Vincent sighed. "This will be interesting, to say the absolute least. I would tell you that you may invite your watchmen to come along, but they would not be able to resist the urge to jump in, and that would just be. . .Terrible."
"Well, I'm going," Lumis demanded, and Vincent hesitated visibly, pondering this a moment before meeting his eyes.
"No," he refused, and I felt Lumis's presence change threateningly.
"Fuck that, I AM going."
"No," Vincent shook his head, face still entirely void of emotion.
"You can't. . ."
"Keep you from following us? I can. I will."
"Let him go," Crow simpered. "It would give her inspiration."
"Crow, you will remain here. If Sho is to make himself apparent once more. . ."
"Make sure he doesn't touch the Lune," Crow finished for him, contempt in his voice.
"WHAT THE FUCK?" Lumis roared, furious, and before I could attempt to speak Vincent's hand touched my arm and the familiar pressure of phasing enveloped me. Mind reeling from the sudden force, eyes clenched shut, I felt the air leave my lungs and my stomach flip as the sensation passed and everything became silent.
I opened my eyes, and saw nothing. There was no light, no ground, no sky. There was nothing.
"Where are we?" I managed, feeling ill, turning around where I stood in seemingly midair. I heard the spark of flame, and Vincent lit a cigarette, handing it to me.
"We are nowhere. Here is your canvas."
Cupping my chin and raising my face to his, he exhaled a small breath of smoke from the first hit of the cigarette he had taken.
"Now paint it."