To Tame a Demon

Delores had left for lunch so Drake and Scud were alone. Drake had been preoccupied since the previous night. Drake lifted his head in the middle of saying something about the Nightstalkers. It was almost like he was listening to something.“Drake?” Scud asked wondering what had made Drake suddenly lose his train of thought.

“Scud, I want you to shift and walk out to the elevator and go to the lower level. Make sure you appear to be human.” Drake told him.

“What? What's going on Drake?” Scud asked just a bit confused.

“Go!” Drake said grabbing Scud's arm and dragging him out of the chair. “Get your ass downstairs now! Don't make me tell you again.”

Scud hurried to the office door opening it just as the elevator doors opened revealing a man of obvious Middle Eastern descent. Although both Blade and Drake had questioned Scud's intelligence from time to time, Scud quickly realized exactly who it was stepping off the elevator. Scud shifted and stalked to the elevator, anyone looking would have seen Hannibal King.

Hassan took note of the young man that passed him, human. Obviously a familiar and beneath his notice. Hassan was concerned with what, or rather who was behind the office door.

Hassan simply walked in. No need to knock between old friends. “Drake, I've been looking for you for a long time.”

“Hassan, I've been avoiding you for just as long.” Drake said calmly. “Most people would take the hint.”

Hassan smiled. “It's as I thought. You've found another bitch to take Sehkmet's place. The demon is calm and the world is quiet, too quiet. I intend to change that. I'll find the little bloodsucking bitch and then bring you back to the fold.”

“Hassan, you always did have a tendency to brag.” Drake stifled a yawn. “You have never grown beyond wanting to see the world in chaos. You have never learned that destroying the world is to destroy yourself. I will not allow you to destroy this world.

Take a bit of advice from an old friend, forget about raising the demon. It's inclined to let Sehkmet's death pass. Take that gift, it is the last one I will offer you.”

“I'm going to find her Drake. And I'm going to drag the bitch out and stake her myself, this time I am going to watch the bitch burn.” Hassan said. “And I'll take pleasure from her screams. I will make you what you were meant to be again, just like I did with Sehkmet.

Eventually you will forgive me, you've always forgiven me everything Drake. You've even forgiven me for having Sehkmet killed. If you hadn't, you would have killed me when I walked through that door. Sehkmet made you weak, Just like this new woman makes you weak. Enjoy her while you can Drake.” Hassan said as he turned to leave the office.

*****

Once the elevator door closed, Scud collapsed against the wall shifting back to his own form. It had taken all of his concentration to maintain his human appearance and his shifted form. He had wanted nothing more than to run. Hassan was not as tall or muscular as Drake but he just seemed...sinister. Well of course he seemed sinister idiot, he wants to kill you; Scud thought to himself.

Scud swiped his ID Badge and realized that he was actually shaking. If Hassan found out who he was...

When the elevator doors opened on the sub-basement level, Scud didn't think about where he was going, only that he wanted to feel safe. He went to a door that opened on a flight of stairs leading down to a lower level. He had first taken this walk with Danica Talos. He followed the corridor to a door and opened it, the Demon's lair. Scud looked around the room, he'd never falt anything but pain in this place and other than the first time he had entered it he had never really felt fear here. It was ironic Scud thought, that a demon who could rip the world apart made him feel safe.

*****

Drake had told Delores he was taking the rest of the day off. He needed to be with Scud, Hassan would never know how deeply his barbs pierced. He had stirred the demon to anger over Sehkmet's death and stirred it even more with his threats against Scud. At least for the moment, Hassan was looking in the wrong direction. It hadn't occurred to him that maybe it might be a man that demon claimed. But then that was understandable. The product of Hassan's upbringing.

Drake has spent an hour searching for Scud before he found him, in what they had taken to calling the demon's lair. This was surprising to Drake. This room should represent pain and suffering to Scud and yet this is where he chose to come.

“Why here?” Drake asked quietly.

Scud lifted his head and looked at Drake. “Because I feel safe here. No matter what happens here or how much it hurts I know that when it's over, I'll be safe.”

Drake dropped onto the bed beside Scud and reached over to take his hand. “I'll do everything in my power to keep Hassan away from you. He's hunting for a woman, and I'm not going to correct that assumption. But eventually he will think about looking for a man.”

Scud sighed and leaned against Drake “I know you will.”

“But you need to know that you are not helpless.” Drake slipped his arm around scud and laid back on the bed pulling Scud down with him. “I gave you more than I gave him. He can't shift, you can and I gave you a piece of the demon. You are a part of me now. If something happens and I'm not near enough to help you, I wanted you to be able to at least survive until I can get to you.”

Drake lifted Scud settling his lover over his own body, pressed together from chest to hips. “I love you, If I were to lose you I don't think I'll be able to stop myself this time.”

*****

Blade watched as the vampire collapsed into a pile of ash. Scud wasn't kidding when he said that he had increased the intensity of these UV grenades. Blade had actually managed to get a case of sunburn the first time he used one. His skin was still peeling. So while they wouldn't kill a daywalker, they could definitely make one uncomfortable for a while.

He had followed Hassan from the Talos Building to this old brownstone. Along with Hannibal and Abby; he was doing a little housekeeping, clearing out some of Hassan's followers. Hassan had fled as soon as he realized what was happening and left his people to be slaughtered.

“I thought Hassan was supposed to be such a bad ass. Looks like he's just another pussy of a suckhead.” Hannibal said looking at the ash piles scattered around the room.

“Do you see a pile on the carpet with Hassan's name on it?” Blade asked. “Hassan ran out of here in broad daylight, King. You might want to remember that.”

*****

Drake had made a pact with Blade. Hassan sat in a small cafe. Many of his follwores were lost but not all of them, and Hassan had no problem making more of them. But Blade was a complication. Hassan had to find this bitch quick and bring the demon back or face Blade himself. That was not an option.

Drake wasn't going to just parade her around in front of everyone like he had with Sehkmet, he was going to be protective of this one, careful. But time was a factor, the longer it took him to find her, the greater the odds that that Damned half breed would get lucky. Hassan was not a fan of human familiars but desperate times called for desperate measures. A human could come and go at Talos without arousing suspicion but that human would need to have a reason to come and go. A spy could discover the whore's identity quicker than all of Hassan's people combing the streets.

There were hundreds of humans working in that building Hassan would have to find one that access to Drake. He took out a cell phone and dialed a number He waited patiently for it to be answered. “Find out who handles security and cleaning for Talos Industries.”

Hassan flipped the phone closed. Guards and maids have had full access to to the powerful since the beginning of time. Surely there would be a human he could use among them.