Tender Mercies

His other arms reached for her, but stopped when it felt the point of Alesha's blade touching his chest. The demon growled angrily at her, and began to mutter a spell. Before it could finish, Alesha released his hand and backhanded the demon across the face. He stumbled backwards from the incredible force of the blow, tripping on a chair and falling to his back.

Alesha was atop him, her sword once more poised at the demons heart. "Listen to me you dog, and listen like you've never listened before!" Alesha spat out, her eyes burned with a cold rage that silenced any protests Talifernon could make even more so then her voice did. "You're on the brink of extinction. No entrapment, no counseling, no returning to Viconia or the abyss. I shred your existence in less then 60 seconds if you don't bind yourself to me, body, soul, and mind."

Alesha waited a moment while Talifernon struggled to find a way out of his predicament. Seeing no response forthcoming, Alesha continued. "Don't think, do! I have the power and know the rites, I have your true name, Talifernon! Obey me and survive, deny me and be forever destroyed."

Talifernon growled a moment longer before nodding. "I, Talifernon, am bound by Alesha in all ways of soul and in flesh, for as long as she shall see fit." Eyeing her with hatred powerful enough to consume a lesser mortal in fire, the demon reached up to his chest where the sword remained poised and drew one razor sharp fingernail across his flesh. Blood welled up in the cut, which he then scooped onto his finger and offered to Alesha.

"Well done, Talifernon, I would have been most disappointed had I been forced to destroy you," Alesha said, leaning over so that she could suck the blood off of his finger. Instantly both felt the bond form, magical chains of slavery forcing Talifernon to obey Alesha's every whim, desire, and command, unspoken or not.

"What's going on down here?" Brian said, coming to the foot of the stairs. He had been awoken by the struggling and the shouting and had come running downstairs naked, but what he now beheld had him out of his league and terrified.

"Brian, meet Talifernon," Alesha said, rising off of the demon and reclaiming the scabbard for her sword.

"This is the demon you said was imprisoned in your sword?" He asked, eyeing the demon fearfully.

"One and the same," She responded, stepping next to him and turning to watch the prone demon. "Rise, Talifernon, and welcome to your new existence of servitude."

"How'd he get out of your sword?" Brian asked, his fear abating somewhat due to his sisters attitude.

"I let him out of it and tricked him. I needed him to do me a service, and he was unable to do so before," Alesha smiled coldly at Talifernon once he had gotten back to his feet. Blood still flowed freely from his side and his chest, and about his wrist and one side of his snout were scorch marks. "It won't do to have you bleeding one everything," Alesha said to herself. In seconds, his wounds closed up and healed, though a pink scar remained on his otherwise furry red chest.

Brian's eyes widened. As jaded as he had become following his sister around and learning her craft, he could still be surprised.

"I have a problem, Brian," Alesha said, walking to the couch she sprawled down on it, leaving her body in a very immodest position. Fortunately for her, she neither noticed nor cared. "You see, our Lord, Bavorish, for all intents and purposes, does not exist."

Brian's mouth opened as he struggled to find some words to express. Alesha had taught him of Bavorish - she had taught all of them about him - and all who had truly believed had grown in power and strength. Now to be told that he did not exist was as bad as someone saying that gravity was not the thing that held him to the surface of the planet.

"How?" He asked finally. "Worshipping him we've gained so much! Power, wealth, influence... he has to exist!" Brian nearly pleaded the last to her.

"He exists on another world, Brian," Alesha said, more then a little confused about all of it herself. She'd never really considered herself a member of a cult or religion, but now she saw that was exactly what she had been forming. "His powers are great there, but here different Gods exist, though they are sleeping and turn a blind eye to mortals. Here we make our own power and become our own Gods."

Brian sat in a chair across the room from her, forgetting about the fearsome demon in his shock. He even forgot about his sister's nudity, which still caused a rise in his loins no matter how many times they sated the incestuous lust. "But if there is no Bavorish, then how will we keep our people following you?"

Alesha smiled fondly. "Brian, you are perhaps the one and only person who loves me truly, and for that I thank you." Brian blushed at the praise, a rare thing from the powerful and cruel woman his sister had become. "We don't tell them of this," she said. "We go on as before, but we must filter out all mention of Bavorish. It does not matter what name we use to pretend worship, for the power comes from within. Let us turn it into another Satanic cult over time, something that you can continue to run and grow more powerful from after I am gone."

Brian frowned, as much as the thought of running the show and having all that power and influence meant to him, he hated to think of his sister leaving, as she insisted it must be. Alesha turned back to her pet demon then.

"Talifernon, find out if Kelnozz is here."

"Then what, Mistress?" The demon growled, clearly filled with hatred but forced to endure it.

Alesha paused, uncertain of what to do. She was filled with conflicting emotions, and some of them showed on her face because of it. "What's the matter, Alesha?" Brian asked.

Realizing what had happened, Alesha instantly composed herself. Ignoring her brother, she addressed the demon, "Tell me if he is here, if he is, I will deal with him."

Talifernon nodded and turned to the patio again. He stalked towards it, and reaching out to vent some rage, tried to smash the doors out of his way. Alesha beat him to it by using her powers to open the door in front of him. Growling deep in his throat in frustration, the demon stomped through the doors to the back deck and leapt into the air, using his powers to fly high into the sky.

"Come Brian, we have busy days ahead of us," Alesha smiled at him and climbed off the couch. Her hand caressed Brian's cock on her way back up the stairs. Brian turned to follow her then stopped. He shook his head at the strange things he had seen and smiled mysteriously. The patio door slid shut behind him on his way up the stairs to join Alesha.

*****

Unseen in the darkness, the shadow slipped through the waters almost noiselessly. Behind it, the ship continued on towards its destination as though nothing was amiss. Three figures huddled on the inflatable black raft, the nearly silent but powerful motor moving them through the relative calm of the Atlantic ocean.

"The captain said that we should be able to reach land by morning," Pamela said, steering the small raft as Robin had taught her. Kelnozz and Garrick looked about, studying the horizon for some sign of land. Ahead of them lay mist along the shore. Still a few hours away, if it did not lift, their landing would prove difficult in the fog.

Weeks had passed, since their arrival in Ireland. Studying under Pamela, both Garrick and Kelnozz had learned English fairly well, though not until speaking with the sailors or the ship did they learn that they had strong accents. They had learned as best they could from them further, trying to rid themselves of their accents, but the passage had been short, taking less then a week on the modern vessel.

Both jaded by their travels and experiences, both men had been shocked and amazed time and again since coming to Earth. Pamela's plans to smuggle them aboard an airplane had failed, but she had taken them to see one regardless. Both had tried to attack it, which caused more then a little confusion and some hefty explanations as to why Garrick had suddenly acquired a large sledgehammer and was trying to hit a small Cessna trying to land. Even worse was how he had managed to hit it, doing considerable damage to the underside of the fuselage and nearly causing the pilot to crash it. It had taken a considerable amount of money to smooth things over with the airport owners and the pilot.

Next she had decided on smuggling them to the United States on a ship. That had been much easier to accomplish, and fencing the gems and jewels both men carried with them, Robin had been able to secure travel and equipment for them. An old hand at ocean-faring, Garrick had reveled in life aboard the ship. That is, until he realized there was nothing he could do. There were no sheets, no lines, not even any belaying pins. The speed with which the large tanker plied the waters left them both incapable of speech for long moments.

Now, cast away from the H.M.S. Phoenix by her captain (a friend of Robin's... or anyone else with the right amount of money), they had inflated the raft and headed towards the shore. Pamela had tried to secure passage towards Florida, but she needed to meet with another friend of hers that lived in America that would make their journey easier.

As Dawn approached, so did they approach the fog. Instead of lifting, it grew worse, and likewise the seas calmed from the three or four foot swells to a mirror surface. Garrick scowled then, finding it unnatural that they should still be moving with no wind, in spite of what he had learned of engines.

Cars had given them quite a start as well. A horseless carriage, they had finally come to the conclusion that it was powered by magic. Kelnozz knew there was science behind it, but Garrick was less concerned with the inner workings then he, and was content to view them with distrust.

Inside of Pamela's car they had discovered music. Or more appropriately, recorded music. More magic, as far as Garrick and Kelnozz were concerned, but a very useful sort. Pamela had laughed when Kelnozz had commented that she must be a very wealthy woman, to possess such powerful magical items for every day use. When asked why, she had explained to them that the gems and jewels they had given her were worth more money then she had ever seen in her life, and the price of their journey was worth at least 10 years of her wages.

Things had gone smoothly for them, all things considered. Though many times both men felt as though something was watching them, neither could pinpoint it. It was no surprise that fate reared its head and caused them to finally break through the fog and reach a landfall upon the shores of New Jersey. Few houses dotted the shoreline, and even those that did were distant and almost invisible in the sparse fog.

They pulled the raft onto the beach and emptied the plastic sealed packs. Donning clothing, they deflated the raft and buried it in the sand. They hurried inland and found a road running along the beech, which they walked along. The pace Kelnozz and Garrick set with their long legs left Pamela panting, in spite of her daily exercise routine.

On the road they soon discovered a sign explaining that they were entering Forked River, New Jersey. Never dull, the roadside habitation quickly grew. Businesses and other buildings dotted the roadside, with traffic slowly beginning to pick up. Still untrusting of the vehicles, Kelnozz and Nordan kept a good bit of distance between themselves and the vehicles that passed by them with increasing regularity.

Soon they found a McDonalds, and had breakfast there. Garrick took an instant liking to fast food, whereas Kelnozz found it less pleasant, but he endured it as best he could. Four breakfast combo meals later, Garrick was ready to leave with a grin on his face. Pamela could not help but laugh at his childlike manner at times. Her laughter died when she saw the women behind the counter openly admiring Garrick and Kelnozz, and it was only when she reminded herself that she was not in love with them herself did the jealousy pangs subside.

Back outside, Pamela led them to a pay phone, where she dialed in the number she had been given by her State-side friend. After several rings he answered, his voice groggy with sleep. Pamela cursed, it was only 6:30 in the morning still.

"Sorry to wake ya Eric," she said, "but top o' the mornin to ya."

Coming awake quicker, the man on the other end responded, "Pammy? Is it really you? Are you here?"

"Yeah, 'tis me!" Pamela said, smiling happily. "Me and the boys made it an' we're in a wee little town by the name of Forked River, near a McDonald's."

In the background, Pamela could here the sound of paper rustling, most likely a road map. "Okay, I got it... I'm about an hour from there I think. Go have breakfast and wait for me there."

Pamela frowned, they had already been in there, but he was right, they needed to wait close by. Shrugging she said, "Okay, we'll see ya then, bye!"

Another device the two had not grown accustomed to was the telephone. She smiled to see them eyeing it with caution as she hung it up and turned to them. "Care for a wee bit more to eat?" She asked, nodding back towards McDonald's.

Kelnozz scowled but Garrick smiled. "Aye, a fine way to break our fast!" He said, clapping Kelnozz on the back and heading towards the restaurant.

So excited was he at the prospect of another meal there, he stepped into the road and was greeted by the sound of rubber screeching on pavement as a car braked to a stop directly where he would have been standing had Kelnozz not jumped into him and knocked him out of the way. Garrick rose to his feet instantly, hammer in hand, and swung once before he got control of his reactions. To late, the crushed hood of the car, a radiator hissing steam and an engine coughing to a stop was the monstrous cars response to his assault.

Pamela looked on in horror, as did the man driving the car to work. Kelnozz chuckled and slowly got off of the ground. Garrick realized what he had done and had the grace to look somewhat embarrassed. "Oops," he said, sticking his hands and the hammer behind his back.

The man opened the door of his car and got out slowly. He looked at the damage down to his hood and noticed the growing puddle of liquids - oil, transmission fluid, and coolant - gathering under his car. "What the hell did you do to my car?!"

The man, a few inches shy of six feet tall and clearly middle aged by his receding hairline and growing waistline, turned to look at Garrick and was taken back by how big he was. "Um, I mean... what just happened? Are you okay?"

"Aye, I am well," Garrick grinned sheepishly and turned to walk away from the man. Kelnozz raised an eyebrow at him and nodded behind him. Garrick sighed and turned back to face the man. "Um, sorry about your carriage."

Garrick reached into the pocket on the back of the jeans Pamela had bought him and pulled out the wallet. Opening it up, he took several of the bills in it and handed them to the man, "That should fix it," He said, closing the wallet and putting it back in his pocket.

The man opened his mouth in outrage, he looked at the handful of money Garrick had handed him and was about to lose his temper in spite of the likelihood that Garrick could easily pound him into the ground. Counting up the bills he saw caused him to stop. Garrick had handed him nearly thirty $1,000 bills. His jetta was old and in need of replacing anyhow, and nowhere near worth $30,000, even when new! He nodded and smiled at Garrick and the others.

"Yeah, I guess we don't need to worry about police or insurance or anything, just slow things down and cause a hassle... I'll uh, I'll just consider it closed... I'm glad you're okay... sir!" The man said, glancing back at his car and smiling.

Garrick nodded and turned away, heading across the road again (but not before checking this time). Pamela and Kelnozz joined him, with Kelnozz still chuckling. Garrick willed his hammer away and it disappeared again. Pamela shook her head and said, "You didn't have to give him so much money! That was worth more then the car was worth!"

Garrick shrugged, "What is money, I have more where that came from, it is just pieces of parchment here."

"This keeps him from calling the city watch as well," Kelnozz pointed out as they returned to the fast food restaurant.

Pamela nodded her head thoughtfully, they had a point there. And it was not like they were running short on money, even taking a serious loss on their worth, the gems that Robin had fenced for them had brought in several hundred thousand dollars. She hoped that he would be able to sell them for at least as much as he had fronted them for the jewels, though it would take him time so that nothing seemed too mysterious or the precious gemstone market was not flooded.

Roughly an hour later a red four door blazer pulled into the parking lot. Kelnozz was a bit jittery from all the coffee Pamela kept getting for him, while Garrick was pleasantly stuffed on greasy hashbrowns and egg Mcmuffins. A man walked into the restaurant wearing a pair of shorts and a blue polo shirt.

He was six feet tall with just less then an inch of brown hair cropped into a flattop. Well built himself, his arms and shorts showed a fine definition of muscle and his shirt bulged in the proper places to indicate he took care of himself. In comparison to Garrick or even Kelnozz he looked like a lazy slob though, Pamela decided. She chided herself for such thoughts then and waved at him to gain his attention.

"Eric?" She asked as he got closer.

He smiled at her and nodded. "Hello Pammy, welcome to America."

She blushed, remembering how before she had met Garrick and Kelnozz she had though Eric was the ultimate specimen of masculinity. Then again, she had seen pictures of him, but mostly it was her imagination of how perfect he must be, since several thousand miles had separated them.

"You will help us reach Florida?" Kelnozz said, tapping his fingers against the table anxiously.

Eric sat down with them in the booth and looked at them both. "You must be Kelnozz," He said to him. "And you must be Garrick. Interesting names, I can't say as that I've heard of them before... though I must confess, there's something naggingly familiar about you two."

Pamela could see the skepticism on his face. "Eric, I didn't make up a story to see you, these men are really from another... place."

Eric looked at her and smiled. "I believe you, I'm just not ready to jump into my truck with 2 strangers and drive to Florida. Especially when one of them looks like he could pick my truck up and carry it to Florida if he wanted to!"

Garrick's face took on a darker and more menacing expression, but Kelnozz intervened, "Aye, from what we've seen of this world, I'd not believe our tale either. What can we tell you to make you accept us?"

Eric leaned back and sighed. "Good question. Why don't you tell me your story and we'll take it from there."

So it was that they spent the next several hours recanting their story. When they finally finished, they had thoroughly annoyed the crew working at McDonald's, for while they occasionally would purchase a drink, they were taking up a table with no clear intent to leave anytime soon.

"Where in Florida is it you wish to go?" Eric asked after the tale had been told to him.

"Alesha said she was from a town called St. Petersburg," Kelnozz replied.

"I know the place," Eric said. "I've been there several years ago. Had a few buddies that lived down there."

Pausing thoughtfully, Eric finally said, "Okay, I've heard your story and I can't find fault with any of it, but it's quite a lot to believe. Okay, it's impossible to believe. What proof can you show me?"