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Sorry about the absence. I hope to be back by September 15 October 6, with a full explanation. Or, at least, a decent excuse.
The two teenage girls, little more than children really, had spotted the side passage while waiting for the last train out. There were unknown miles of subway tunnels beneath Boston's street, or so the stories and songs said. And these two girls had found one abandoned by the T (MBTA, or Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority), by the city, by the people, and, some would say, by God.
But not by monsters.
Demons.
Demons are vaguely humanoid creatures, usually about seven feet tall. Their skin is bilious yellow with black spots. They have obscenely long arms and long claws which drip a sickly green fluid. Their eyes are tiny and their mouth much too large, with far too many teeth. Carnivore teeth.
The two girls hugged each other other as four of those monsters surrounded them.
"No!" shouted a man running down the tunnel. He was waving something.
A sword.
The man came in close. "I am Antonio, The World's Greatest Demon Tracker! Flee now, demons, for I am as skilled as I am handsome!"
And he was. Handsome, at least. Six foot four, light brown skin, long black hair in a headband, white shirt open to the waist, tight black pants and boots.
He stood for a moment, posing dramatically.
Of course, demons have no appreciation of a good pose. They attacked him.
Antonio pulled back slightly, to keep from being surrounded. Demons have no sense of group tactics, and Antonio wanted them to get in each other's way. He kicked a demon in its groin. Demons have gender, but their genitalia is internal, so the kick did no real damage. The females also do not have breasts, and there is no way to know a demon's sex in its base form.
Antonio swung his sword, hit a demon in its neck. And took off its head. Both head and body dissolved into two seperate puddles of foul-smelling goop.
The two girls cheered. "Antonio! Antonio! Antonio! Antonio!"
Antonio joined in, chanting "Me, me, me,! Me, me, me! Me, me, me! Me, me, me!"
He ran to a tunnel wall, ran up it, silently praying that he not slip and look stupid. A kick to a demon head, a sword-strike cutting another demon's head in half, and a near-perfect landing, told Antonio his prayer had been answered. The second demon dissolved, but the demon tracker managed to avoid getting slime on his boots.
Two left. But the thing about demons... The fewer there were the more dangerous each one was.
Then it happened!
Antonio had tried to keep each demon in front, but after his wall-stunt a demon got behind him. It slashed!
Its razor-claws slashed through the back of his beautiful silk shirt. Even if the shirt could be mended, the poison stains will never come out.
It was ruined.
Antonio was angry beyond words. But some small part of him remembered he had an audience. And if his shirt must go, at least let it not go in vain. He ripped it off, and flexed.
The ooh's and aah's of the girls told him he had done the right thing. He considered tossing the remnants to them as a souvenir, but it was dripping poison, and besides, he only had one shirt with him, and didn't want to start a fight between them.
Speaking of fight, Antonio tossed the shirt into a demon's face to distract it. Then, all in one move, he took its head and the demon next to it. A tear came to Antonio's eye. There was no video camera. That beautiful stroke would be gone forever.
But the battle was over. Antonio faced the girls, in his best victory pose. He had to admit, the no-shirt thing made him look that much better.
"I will lead you girls to safety, but you must promise me one thing."
"Anything! Name it!"
"When you speak of this, you will spell my name correctly. Aye en tee oh en eye oh."
Go to Chapter 11: ...There's Fire
Go to Chapter 13: Lucky 13
Bring your friends into the Gonspiracy! Tell them about
Banny
And
Lissa
and get their eternal gratitude, and a chance to win $10,000 and a Sony DVD Player, because using your friends for your own personal enrichment, and having them owe you for it, is the gonner way!
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Dave Lerner Stories (note that to use the mailto you'll need to edit it in your 'send to' window. I apologize, but I've already lost one address to spam, and if I get inundated again, I won't have time to read your letters.) - All Rights Reserved. Note that this includes images of the Tricryptogon, and the name "Tricryptogon".