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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.
Antonio felt better, he was going to live, thanks to the Unicorn. But his shirt and pants were still a mess, and he was still lost in the sewer.
"So, Fuzzy, do you have any magic tricks to get us out?"
"No need. We simply follow our backtrail. You have no shoes, so watch your step."
Antonio straightened himself up as best he could. "Our back-trail. Ha! The trail I left-"
"Would pose no difficulty even for an Earth dog. I will give you the benefit of the doubt, and assume your urgency and injuries resulted in the sloppiness of your concealment. After all, even a sprite could follow this trail."
* * * * * *
Antonio had stopped by his hotel room to shower and change, both actions meeting with the keen-nosed dog's approval, and to read some of his forwarded fan mail and sign a few autograph. Mr. Fwuzzums said he was wasting time, a sentiment the demon tracker put down to jealousy.
Antonio drove his rented car down to Binghamton, to a small apartment building. He followed the dog to the door, and as he had been told, pressed the button for #3 (Corvair). A female voice asked who it was.
"Antonio! The World's Greatest Demon Tracker, Foremost Monster Fighter, a man as brave and daring as I am handsome. When I come in, you will see me, and you will swoon. It is that simple. Oh, and there's a talking dog with me, too."
"I'll see you and swoon? Do you really think so? Hi, Mr. F, welcome back. Banny and Lissa are here like you asked. I'll buzz you in."
Inside Antonio knocked on apartment #3. The young woman who opened the door was attractive in a well-dressed upper-class way, only two or three inches shorter than his six foot four, excellent posture. Not a strand of strawberry-blonde hair out of place. But Antonio understood now the reason for her comment.
The poor young lady was blind. She would never know his beauty.
"Dear lady, I am Antonio."
She held out a hand for him and he took it and shook it. Antonio noticed her manicure was perfect. It was a pity he hadn't had the time to get his own nails done.
"Let's come in," she said. "We shouldn't do the introductions out in the hall." Antonio followed her into the apartment.
The apartment was nice, but like the woman herself, too straight and organized to be comfortable. Though it did have a really nice a computer set-up.
A tall blond sloppily-dressed man lounged on the couch and a short oriental woman, almost as sloppy, sat next to him. The blind woman bent down and hugged the dog quickly. They walked over to a chair, she sat, and Mr. Fwuzzums was by her feet. She said, "please sit anywhere."
The dog spoke up. "Ms. Nicoletta Corvair," he gestured to the blind woman, "Ms. Melissa Cheng, Mr. Banner O'Herlihy, may I present... Antonio. Demon tracker. Corvair is my partner, she investigates and searches for gonner activity. Cheng And O'Herlihy are the Worthy Ones. They wear the Rings of Beneficience."
The two people on the couch each held up a hand. Each had a white ring on a finger.
The woman on the couch had sat up, brushed herself off. "Call me Lissa. Nicky said you're having gonner problems?" She smiled. It somehow did not look natural on her.
"I do not know what sort of problems I am having. I am a Demon Tracker. I fight demons-"
"Wow," said Banner. "Demons? Big giant red things with horns? They breathe fire and cast high-level magic spells, and rip your soul from your body and cast it down to hell?"
"Ah, no. They are about seven feet tall, yellow with spots, poisonous claws. They can-"
Banner continued excitedly, "So what level are you? What level Demon Tracker?"
Nicoletta said, "You'll have to ignore Banny. He's... he's... well, he's Banny."
Banny shot back, "Am not! I'm not... uh..."
Nicoletta took her own advice and ignored him. "But he and Lissa can still help you fight the gonner who tried to kill you."
Go to Chapter 26: Alone, Lost, Dying, And Handsome
Go to Chapter 28: Everybody Wants To Rule The World
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".