Slayers: Academy Years

Okay, I’m back. Miss me? Here’s the next update, hope you lot like it.

“Where do you wanna go?” Brennon glanced at the girl with a grin, hearing the muffled almost-response from the back seat where, likely, Kevin had put a silencing spell on the other one. Liz only glared at her. “Hmm?”

“You’re the one that kidnapped me. Figured that kind of thing was up to the person in your position.” It wasn’t said as harshly as Bren would have expected, and made her chuckle, but that only seemed to upset the girl further. Shaking her head, Bren veered down one street, then another, taking a roundabout rout that involved tunnels, u-turns, and overpasses to confuse the Slayers as to where they were. The last bit was driving directly through what looked to be a beaten down old warehouse. In the back seat, Mary squealed in terror at the thought of driving into a wall, and she could even see Liz tense in preparation. Of course, they passed directly through the illusion without harm. “Where are you taking us?”

“You told me to choose… so I chose. Don’t worry, I’ll bring you back.” The wink did little to reassure the Slayer, and she could hear her brother groan behind her. The warehouse wasn’t as bad off as it had looked from the outside, and several cars were already parked haphazardly throughout the lower level. Sounds of music and voices could be faintly heard, though it was mostly a dull bass beat even to her sensitive ears. As the car parked, she turned in her seat toward Liz. “You can’t get back out, even with Slayer strength through windows, should you find one, without a demon. You might as well come up with me.”

“No.”

“Stubborn.” Brennon grinned at that, then shrugged. “Fine, have it your way. Sit here all night. If you want to interview me for that research paper of yours, I’ll be upstairs. Kevin…”

The warlock followed her out of the car and toward the sturdy, steel staircase that lead to the upper levels, glaring behind him at the two Slayers they’d dragged along. “Right. Tell the slayer that she needs a demon to get back through the wall. That’s smart. She’ll just grab one, force it to help her get out, and then kill it. Good for business, that.”

“There’s a reason you aren’t the one that I had ward these clubs, Kevin.” Brennon complained with a sigh. “It’s not dark magic, not really. No one looking for a fight or confrontation can get in, nor can they find it. And you need someone of demon blood to get the wall to open. Same the other way around. They won’t even remember which wall we came through if they’ve got violence on their minds… and honestly, two slayers against an entire building of demons?”

“You mean I can’t get out of here?” His voice was incredulous, and drew a few stares from the clientele as they entered the second floor. It looked like some kind of grunge-goth-punk bar. She rolled her eyes at him and pulled him out of the way of the stairs, toward the music.

“Shut up. I’m having a good time, don’t ruin it.”

“You call this a good time?” incredulity again.

It was less than five minutes before the Slayers both arrived at the top of the stairs, Liz pushing the other one along by the scruff of the neck. Even if the remark about the interview did nothing, as Slayers she knew they wouldn’t be able to resist taking a look around. “You ask her.”

Brennon raised her eyebrows at Liz, then looked at Mary for the question she was supposed to be asked, and nearly laughed when it was voiced. “D… does this place h… have a b… bathroom?”

“Third floor, Kevin will show you.” She barely turned to the man, knowing he was fuming at the assigned task. “And he’ll be a perfect gentleman if he wants both out of here, and his Lothkahn orb back.” The warlock’s eye twitched, but he grumbled a “fine” and gestured for the frightened Slayer to follow him. Liz watched warily, then turned to Brennon, her nerves becoming obvious again. “Want a beer?”

“No…” Liz watched as, nevertheless, Bren grabbed two beers from a passing tray and took her arm.

“Lighten up, I’m not going to eat you.” That was said with a less than comforting wink, though she had a feeling that Liz took it as a different meaning than she intended it. The Ofarlig demons occupying the booth that Bren steered them toward saw her, each one’s five eyes went wide, and they quickly stood to make room. “Thanks. Tell Mika that your next round is on the house.”

The sight of the strange demons seemed to startle her guest as Bren sat the girl down, set the bottles before them, and joined her at the booth. Ugly as the things were, with their hanging skin, stringy, but sparse, gray hair, five eyes, and cloven ‘hands’, they were harmless. Even those who had named them knew that to be so, their origins somewhere in Sweden. “But… What are they doing here? Ofarligi rarely congregate with other demons. Their empathic senses are too sensitive for the violence of the other species.”
(AN: Ofarlig is Swedish for harmless, roughly speaking)

“Vehn and his brothers have been coming here for a while.” Brennon shrugged, then pointed over at the Jackalope demons. “They, however, are mostly new. Just came to Crater two years ago.”

Liz looked around, shocked a bit, to see several varieties of demons that had been classified in their files and books as ‘peaceful’, as well as some vampires, and other random creatures she’d never seen before. From there, she remained mostly silent, and Brennon sipped at her bottle of beer, trying to come up with something to say.

“So… you’re a Slayer then…” When Liz looked at her, Bren had to restrain herself from hitting her head. That had to have been the most awkward thing she could have chosen to say. Yeah, establish that you own a few decent dives, then make a fool of yourself. That was really smooth. “Right… Okay, whatever. You might as well just lighten up. I know there’ve gotta be a shitload of questions you’re just dying to ask me.”

“Sure. Great environment for an honest interview.” Liz glowered at her, though Bren could see the hint of a smile trying to tug at the corner of her mouth.

“I’d say so. Aside from my brother, you’re the only one here that doesn’t seem to want to hold to the club policy of harm-non-others, what with you glaring death at me every minute.”

“I just don’t get it!” It wasn’t loud, but it startled the half-demon, and she blinked rapidly in response, smiling. That was certainly more like it. “I mean… why aren’t you trying to kill me… or torture me… or whatever it is you do to us?”

“Us? Kill you? Way not into that.” Bren sneered and drank more of her beer. Typical Slayer. If she didn’t know that Liz seemed different, at least by a little, she’d be offended.

“Sure. That’s probably what you told to the last bunch of Slayers you killed…” the grumble brought Bren’s attention back, and she raised her eyebrow, clueless. “Slayer squad Gamma six years ago attempted to invade the inner reaches of your business base while squads Jenner and Epsilon provided backup and distraction. Gamma was supposed to have reached you, but none were left alive…”

“Gamma? Jenner? Epsilon?” Bren’s eyebrows scrunched together and her tail flickered up to tap at her shoulder absently. “You mean that squad that had the Slayer Harriet Bradshawe in it? Fuck but if that wasn’t a disaster. I had to stake eighteen vampires because of that invasion.” Liz’s eyes went wide. “Do you have any idea the strength and loyalty of the demons, the number of them, that I usually employ in a building like that? Sure, they made one hell of a dent in my resources, but by the time I came down to see what all of the fuss was about, those other two squads had retreated and all but one of the poor girls were dead. One of my idiot vampire security guards had actually dared to feed on her and force blood down her throat. I swear I’ve never employed a vampire in a primary building since. She was begging me to kill her…”

“It’s worse than death for a Slayer to be turned…” Liz whispered, staring down at her still untouched beer. She knew already that the two backup squads had retreated too quickly, and that even though Gamma had claimed they were making good progress through the building, communication had shut off not long before the retreat. “And the three Slayer team that went after you in Sacramento and disappeared?”

“Car crash just outside of our territories. Some of my underlings went to investigate, saw the van, stood in front of the van to stop it, and they went out of control. I still have the Junga demon on the payroll as a bouncer at another one of these clubs further uptown.” Bren said with raised eyebrows, smiling softly. “As with any accident or attention-getting incident near the premises, the remains were disposed of.”

“The Slayer team that went after you in retaliation after the Gamma disaster?” When Brennon looked clueless, Liz had to clarify more. “You’d already left the city and were in… um… Alaska or something?”

“Further into Canada, but yeah. Those were Slayers?” At Liz’s incredulous look, Bren shook her head. “It was reported that something was following us, but a blizzard took them out. I thought they were just hunters, because we’d gone up there to retrieve something from a small family of demon hunters. I wouldn’t really expect something as hardy as a Slayer to be taken down by a blizzard, even one that bad.”

Liz looked at her, hard, then down at the beer. She couldn’t help but believe Bren, despite the fact that this was a known Demon Boss… demon boss as in evil, lying creature that she was supposed to hunt. “You’re… not what I expected.”

“A lot of people aren’t. Sure, I’ve got my bad side, who doesn’t… but I’m not evil, much as Daddy wants me to be.” Bren shrugged. “At most, I’m a bitch, but as those big-ass, amusing balls on your Academy grounds can vouch for, I have a soul, and a heart.”

They were silent for a moment again as Liz stared into her still full beer, and Bren tried to figure something out to break the tension again. She was surprised when Liz provided that. “So… what’s up with the crazy vamp chick?”

“Ugh!” Brennon fell back against her part of the booth seat, covering her eyes with an arm dramatically and pushing the beer away with her tail. “Don’t remind me. Regina! Eh, fuckin’ headcase. Did you hear how difficult it was to even get her to talk?”

Liz actually laughed, softly. “Ballet? And we thought it was a code.”

“Insane vampire assassin chick that’s into ballet. Why did Kevin think I’d like that? I hate vampires.” The sigh and complaint was too heartfelt for Liz to not believe her again, and she offered another small chuckle. “At least I have you to thank for interrupting that… disaster of a date. What the hell was with that, anyway?”

“Oh. Um… Brian. He was… we broke up recently.” Liz’s cheeks burned brightly and Bren’s eyebrows rose.

“Uh, that sucks. I’m sorry.” The slayer looked surprised at her saying that, and she shrugged.

“It’s okay. I did it… though I guess I could have been, erm, nicer about it.” Liz’s blush deepened. “I kinda… broke up with his machine… cause he was away on a mission.”

“Why’d you break up with him?” Brennon smiled softly, sipping again at the beer as her tail dropped down below the table again. Liz hadn’t even seemed to react to it, as if the person she was talking to having a tail was completely normal.

“I wasn’t really… feeling it, I guess. I mean, he would be all over me, and I’d feel… bored? I dunno. I guess I just wanted more. I kinda feel that, when you’re in love, or even just into the person you’re with, it should be almost immediate. You should just… feel it. If it’s not there, it’s not there. Even with so many Slayers, we don’t have long lives… I can’t afford to wait around for years just to see if I develop feelings for him.” She sighed, and shrugged. “Besides, he was an ass.”

“I didn’t see much of him, but he didn’t seem very… um… pleasant.” Bren did her best to be tactful, making Liz laugh and smile again in reaction. “But I know what you mean. The reason I disappeared for so long…”

Bren cut off, making Liz look up at her curiously. “The reason you disappeared?”

“Is something I’d rather not be in a Slayer’s school report. No offense.” The half-demon near growled, turning and sipping at the beer some more, then snagging Liz’s when her own proved empty.

“If… um… you’d rather me not write it… then I won’t. I mean, it’s not like I can really tell them where I’m getting my information.”

Brennon looked at her, surprised. “Um… the reason I disappeared after that last job up north was… well… my girlfriend dumped me. She said that I was attracting too many demon-hunters and Slayers… that, even if it didn’t seem like I was all that terrible, I had to be doing something extra to be attracting so much attention. Then she told me she’d been cheating on me with some little hedge-witch.” Bren sneered and shook her head. “So I left to get my head together. I mean, I wasn’t gonna prove her right by going out and torturing the bitch… much as I wanted to. And I sure as fuck wasn’t going to stick around to have the Slayers harassing me again.”

“I’m… I’m sorry.” Liz settled her hand on Bren’s shoulder, eyes genuinely sorry.

“Yeah, but that was like, five and a half, six years ago.” Bren shook her head and leaned back, turning toward Liz. “Forget about that for now. Have you seen anything from that independent films festival on Koven St.? The sixth film in the lineup is actually pretty good… a modern adaptation and revision of Carmen.”

~

Mary looked up from her shot at the pool table, nervous and aggravated that she had to stand around and play the game with the warlock. She just wanted to go home and sleep. She certainly didn’t want to be here. Kevin scrunched up his face and tried for the shot, missing yet again. Well, perhaps it wasn’t too terrible. Rolling her eyes, she suggested that he try again, she thought she saw someone bump him. Glancing over at where Liz and that Brennon demon-person were sitting. Both were smiling and gesturing as they talked, though what they could be talking about she had no clue. Talon was leaning forward slightly, more leaning into Liz than anything else, and Mary could almost see the half-demon’s tail gently sliding along Liz’s leg.

“Um… correct me if I’m wrong… but it sorta looks like your sister… is hitting on…”

“Hitting on the Slayer chick, yeah. You’re not wrong.” He grunted, nearly popping the cue ball off the table this time. “You think she made me help kidnap you two just to take you out for a night of beer and demon socialization?”

“Um… she knows that Liz is, well, straight… right? She’s not gonna go all wacko and kill her when Liz says no, right?” Mary’s eyes went wide and she gripped his arm softly, instead of taking her aim. “Cause, really, I don’t want her to die. You could convince Talon to let her live, right?”

Kevin raised his eyebrows at her, smiling sinisterly down at the hands on his arm. Mary flinched away, surprised at her own actions. “Honey-child, I’m more likely to kill the kid than she is. And her not being interested… I wouldn’t be so sure.” He glanced over at the interaction, doing his best not to sneer as he saw the other Slayer acting nothing less than interested. Mary frowned and shook her head. “Would you care to make a wager on that?”

“What would I wager against you?” Mary, regaining a Slayer’s confidence, looked quite as if she didn’t believe they could possibly have anything that could make a friendly bet between two people.

“Well, there’s always money… which we have in enough abundance…” He temporized, watching as she took her shot. “But I have a feeling that if I do win, I’m going to be seeing a lot more of her, and probably more of you… So if I win, you can merely make a blood oath to keep your mouth shut about this.” Mary’s eyes narrowed. “And I suppose, if you win…”

“You’ll tell me what she’s planning.” Mary supplied. Kevin looked confused. “She has to be planning something. Demon bosses are always planning something.”

“She’s really not. I mean, think about it. It’s a struggle to maintain control over the area she’s already inherited, and impossible for most others. What she has going right now, what we both have going right now, makes us plenty of money, keeps mutiny down, and minimizes encounters with Slayers and Hunters because few of ours step out of line other than their natural behavior.” He shrugged and shot, missing horribly yet again. “Why end the world? It’s fine the way it is. We mostly like it the way it is. Release hell? What for? Just to have the world destroyed anyway, and become the bitch of some true demon? All of that apocalypse planning bull that the others do… that’s mostly because they’re either stupid, or already the bitch of some other demon that wants hell to come to earth… or they’ve been there and enjoyed it, fucktards.” He shook his head again, sneering. “We don’t let any of those on with us. How ‘bout I tip you off to a vampire cult that’s been trying to invade our territory?” She looked at him skeptically, but offered a hand to shake. “And by the way… stop being such an annoying priss.”

“Yeah, if you stop being such an aggravating jerk.” She pouted back.

TBC