Building up to Christmas with Dusty the Demon Hunter - A Blast from the Past Post 5

I posted this last year and it received two votes (one of which was mine) so I'm re-sharing it.

The work is all mine. I published it as an Ebook and the link to the free download is included here.

Dusty came to sit down beside me and she sat there and told me all about this one adventure she had.

I hope you like it.

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This image is mine, all others from Google Free to use image search

Dream Lover - Part 5

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“Yes, but what kind of rope? There’s something special about it, please tell me.”

Hunter sighed and Dusty wanted to listen to him sigh again and again. She shook herself and brought her mind back to the matter in hand.

“It’s a rope made from Unicorn mane and it makes demons forget.”

Dusty saw a look pass across his eyes and stopped in her path. “Oh, so you’re thinking that if you had used that on me back up in the cave, I would have forgotten about my mission and you wouldn’t be taking me to find that Incubus. You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble if you’d have thought of that,” she said, smiling at his obvious neglect in his duties.

“It obviously didn’t work, did it?” he asked, pointedly.

“What? You mean you used that thing on me? How dare you?” Dusty became angry and yet her mind was working overtime. “So you rescued me from the Incubus, wiped his memory and then tried to wipe mine? Did you also try putting a Glamour on me too?”

She saw the look on his face and stopped walking again. “You did! Oh I can’t believe this! So, what do you really look like? Show me or I’ll perform the incantations myself.”

The sulphurous air shimmered as he dropped his Glamour. He still looked the same but he wasn’t as irresistibly attractive as he had been. Instead, the young man before her looked like a young man rather than a demi-god.

“Yeah, that’s better. I should have known,” she muttered and walked past him.

“You can’t blame me for trying, Dusty,” he said to her back. Then he ran a little to catch her up. “You took on that Incubus on your own, without your weapon even, and I thought you were so brave and I figured that if I helped you, you’d just look on me as a kid and wouldn’t want to know me, so I made you think I was cool before you got to know me.”

“Actually, idiot, I thought you were cool for helping me anyway. How old are you then?”

“I’m almost two centuries old, you see, I’m still very young in all of this...”

“You think you’re...” She stopped talking and walking at the same moment. “Just how old do you think I am, Hunter?”

He did not seem to catch the hint in her voice and he went on and answered the question.

“Well, you’re able to fly on the Astral Plane, you can clothe yourself and alter the colour of your clothing to camouflage yourself and the birds came to protect you and I know you’re part demon so I figure you must be easily a millennium...?”

“Really? No, I actually mean it, really?”

He nodded.

“I’m eighteen years old.” She said it in such a cold tone that there could have been ice forming on the words.

“Oh,” was all that Hunter could manage.

“And the birds, that wasn’t my doing. As for the rest, my mother went to great efforts to learn everything she could about my... about the Incubus that spawned me and she studied and taught me for the eleven years that she lived after my birth. Then my grandparents took it upon themselves to continue my studies because they felt that they owed it to my mother to protect me in every way they could. They made me practice my Astral Planing and everything to do with Daemonology. My grandfather is now so knowledgeable about the subject that he gives talks and seminars on the subject and they travel the world giving the talks.”

“Yes, I have heard of your grandparents. I have even been to a few of their seminars, which was another reason for thinking you were so cool. I didn’t realise that you were their granddaughter though. I thought they knew so much because you had been teaching them for their whole lives.”

“Yeah, apology accepted,” Dusty said sarcastically and began walking again.

After a while she could see Impundulu’s tracks for herself so she realised that they were catching up to the Incubus.

“So, where would I get a Unicorn rope then?” She asked.

“I can get you one but it doesn’t work in the human world.”

“That’s ok; I’d only need it for the Astral Plane.”

“Oh, I thought you were thinking of wiping your friend’s bad memories for her.”

“Even if I could, I’m not sure that I should, maybe this episode will teach her a lesson on not playing with Ouija boards in future.”

“Here it is - Impundulu’s lair.”

Hunter pointed at a hole in the side of a large rock. It looked nothing like a lair to Dusty but she didn’t say so and she waited while Hunter summoned the Incubus.

Impundulu emerged from his hole with a bit of a struggle, the hole was very small and his body had to be manipulated in all sorts of unnatural ways in order to get out. Dusty could hear bones snapping and then creaking as they rearranged themselves and she thought it may have been because of the bump on her head, but she felt a little nauseous at the sounds.

Impundulu was petulant and did not seem to recognise Dusty, but he did recognise Hunter.

“What do you want, mercenary?” Impundulu asked.

“Now, Impundulu, please keep a civil tongue in your head or I’ll be forced to make sure it’s no longer in your head.” Hunter sounded a lot more mature than he had as they were walking. He was more self-assured than he had been. This was his comfort zone and no mistake.

“What are your plans for the coming Witching Hour?” Hunter asked.

“I have no plans. You know I have no plans. You took all my plans away and now I can’t remember where I was going, but I do remember that I was enjoying it and you took that away from me!” The last of Impundulu’s speech was yelled, in much the same way as a spoiled child would make their demands upon an indulgent adult. “Go away, mercenary. Leave me alone.” And the Incubus crawled back into its hole, snapping bones and twisting limbs in the same way as before and again it made Dusty feel nauseous.

“There, are you happy now?” Hunter asked.

“Yes, I’m satisfied that Impundulu will not be coming for my friend.” Dusty was extra-careful to not mention Ange’s name within earshot of Impundulu because if the Incubus heard her name, his memory may return and he may remember what he was doing to her before Dusty and Hunter intervened.

Then Dusty smiled a warm and genuine smile at Hunter and said, “I’d like to see you again sometime if you’d like to. I still think you’re cool, even though you did think I was like, a thousand years old.”

Hunter smiled at her first few words and then his smile changed to a grimace because of his acute error but because she was still grinning at him, he smiled again and had the decency to blush a little. “Yeah, I’d like that too. Where are you based?”

“Based? Do you mean where do I live?” she grinned again. “I live in the heart of Sherwood Forest, in the middle of the woods, where there are lots of magical beings still. I’ll expect you when I see you then, please feel free to drop in any time, but make sure you drop in at least a hundred yards from my house because I have it protected and I don’t know if it would harm you. You’ll be ok if you’re not using magic to arrive by but otherwise, I think we’re pretty well protected.”

“Ok, I’ll remember to walk in then.” Hunter held out his hand for Dusty to shake and their friendship was sealed. The warmth of his skin was pleasant and she thought that he wasn’t such an ordinary-looking guy, in fact he was very cute and she knew that she’d be thinking about him a lot more in the near future. She hoped that he didn’t leave it too long before he visited.

Then Dusty crouched down and sprang upwards, soaring up higher and higher until the dark, dirty red of the Demon-side of the Astral Plane gave way to the more peaceful side and she saw fleeting glimpses of Cherubs (horrid, spoiled creatures) and Angels (sometimes nice, sometimes arrogant, always beautiful) and a flash of a Griffon as the sunlight struck his wing tips. Dusty felt extraordinarily lucky to have gotten out of that situation in one piece. Thank goodness for Hunter.