Tae feels a warm electric energy pulse low in his abdomen and into his thighs. He yanks hard on the rope tied around Deamon’s wrists causing the smaller man to stumble. “I told you not to do that!”
“I’m sorry, I’m HUNGRY,” Deamon whines. He hates whining.
Tae tosses him an apple, but makes no other indication that he heard him.
“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” Deamon is becoming extremely frustrated at this man's aptitude to thwart his escape attempts. He has to feed his demonic nature. He does not like the things it makes him do when it is not kept fed.
“And I also told you I didn’t care,” Tae says sharply. He glances at the other man and says more gently, “eat the apple, it’ll help.”
“She really had you fooled didn’t she,” Deamon responds vehemently.
Tae stops abruptly causing the other man to stumble again. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means she never learned control.” Deamon shrugs. “I don’t even think she tried! And you! You didn’t even notice the people dropping around you like flies! You never wondered why plague followed you wherever you went? At least when I kill someone it’s intentional!”
There was a flexing in Tae’s arm hinting that the large man was about to hit the demon. It was at that very most opportune moment that a band of slavers stepped out from the trees.
The slavers approached casually slapping their weapons into their hands or against their hips. “What a mightly fine specimen you have there. How much you want for it?”
Tae drops the rope and replies, “not for sale.”
The slaver sucks on his teeth, “Oh, now, come there big fella, everythings for sale.”
Tae has sort of positioned himself between the slavers and Deamon. Deamon might have felt some gratitude if Tae was not holding him against his will. Tae says, “Perhaps I should have said, ‘Already sold?’” And there it was, that nauseating superiority of the man.
The slaver steps to the side to take another look at Deamon and says, “Bet I could beat the ask.”
Tae says “I never break a deal.”
Slaver replies, “We could just break your neck!” and he lunges at Tae, his sword inches from Tae’s gut.
Deamon’s mind tells him to run. Tells him to escape into the forest while he can. But his appetite gets the better of him as another slaver approaches. Deamon easily evades the man, even with his hands bound. The man's embarrassment makes him angry and he decides quickly that a corpse would also fetch a few coins. Deamon seizes the opportunity that the man's anger gives him to lunge into him and plant a kiss right on his lips.
Everything around them grows still as everyone was shocked at Deamon’s action. The bandit drops his sword as he is frozen in complete disbelief. Then he wraps his arms around Deamon and falls further into the kiss. Deamon draws him deeper and deeper into the embrace, draining away his life force, his aura, his mana, his everything.
Just as suddenly as the kiss began, the vagrant fell dead to the ground at Deamon’s feet.
Deamon’s eyes glowed as he looked around. All eyes were set on him. Some aroused, some disgusted. Tae punches the unsuspecting slaver closest to him and the world goes rushing back. Every other member of the slaver party ran swiftly away into the woods, except the one dead at Deamon’s feet and the one Tae just knocked out.
Deamon’s attention turns to Tae.
Tae held the sword he had taken from the slaver straight out, keeping Deamon at a distance. He had been told the demon was dangerous but after their initial encounter, and the subsequent weeks, he had stopped believing it.
Deamon takes an abrupt seat on a fallen tree, his eyes never leaving Tae.
When Tae finds his voice he says, “We keep moving.”
“First you try to starve me. Now you want me to die of exhaustion? Do as you please, I’m staying put.”
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