The Secret Life of Em De Mone
A short story that begins Em's adventures in Vegas.
Hope you enjoy this segment. Would love to hear your comments about this post. Links to all previous posts are below. Happy Reading 📖 ~Aspen
Green Eyes got
closer and grimaced. Its hot breath filled the air. It took a step closer.
Whhffft. A dart hit his leg and he howled. “Aaaargh,”
Whhffft. Another dart. Whhffft. And another.
“Hold it right there! Those are halting darts. Won’t last long for a
creature such as yourself,” Granny yelled. “But it should give you pause.
There’s still time to stop this.”
“And those are just the beginning, pal, I’ve got more where that came
from,” Rose stepped up with her dart shooting baton. “Don’t test us.”
Not to be deterred, the monster whined and wailed, inching its way
forward, lugging its now very heavy and very numb trunk-like legs. A foot away
from Granny and Rose it stopped. The glow of the eyes faded, and the monster
stood taller and straightened his tie, “Rose? Rose Learner…is that you?”
The old woman squinted and pushed her glasses up, taking a hesitant step
forward, “Tom, Tom Wellman? What in the name of the thinning veil are you doing
out here?”
“They killed my son, Rose…and they took something from my family. I can’t
let that go. They’re gonna pay,” The demon morphed into an angry old man, only
a tad less menacing, and spat.
Em felt his anger in the hot spittle that landed on her face, but the
only muscles that moved were those in her eyes. Back and forth between the
monster man and the old women.
“Slow down, there Tom, what on earth are you talking about?” Rose held up
a hand and eased her way toward him. “If memory serves Danny committed suicide Here.
During the construction of the casino. Wasn’t that about 10-years ago? An
anniversary, like that coming up…well that kind of pain…”
His eyes glowed bright again and the air around them tightened. Em pushed
the tickle down her throat.
“Suicide…my ass!” He spat, “NO! Not at all, but that sure is the story
they fed everyone, isn’t? Hell, even my wife and I were convinced, at first. It
must have been the shock. We took their condolences and the stories about his
gambling debt and drug use, and we cried with them. We thought we’d lost our
son, that we’d failed him. We were fools, Rose. They put on the faces of concerned
employers and friends, but it was all a lie.” He rambled, “And this is more
than just Danny’s death and running his good name through the mud. I mean, I
know us demons can make mistakes, and as a family we could’ve accepted if Danny
had found his way into trouble, but he didn’t. He was victim. They killed my
son and stole from my family. Worse even, they profit from the theft, even to
this day. I am here to stop it, once and for all, and bring about justice. For
my son and my family.”
Granny stepped up with a kind smile and a gentle hand. She wobbled a
little, but she was old. “Okay, Tom. Walk me through this. My husband worked
this case, we’re always alerted when a demon dies in the Valley, and we make
sure there’s no foul play. Danny’s death was cleared of any demon involvement.
Are you saying that’s not the case?”
“No, no, no,” Tom said and shook his hand at her, “Don’t misunderstand.
My son was killed by a human. Everyone on his shift was paid handsomely to lie,
and those that wouldn’t met a similar fate as Danny. You know, he’s not the
only construction worker buried in the foundation of this place. The workers
know that. They were too scared to tell the truth. According to the official
record it was just a workplace suicide. And it was all wrapped up in a nice
neat little bow. Can’t you see? It was all a set-up, all of it so they could
steal something valuable that belonged to my family, my heritage, my history.
It’s ours.”
“Well now, Tom, that sounds crazy, you’re saying this is a human on demon
death? I haven’t heard of one of those around these parts since the native
Americans. They were the only group of humans close enough to nature to be able
to take our kind down, and you’re saying one of Danny’s co-workers did this?”
Rose said, but she tossed a glance at Granny who only shrugged, “Seems like we
need a whole lot more information….”
A sardonic laugh shook the space, “I’m here. RIGHT NOW, telling you the
tell the truth…and I’m met with skepticism and threats…”
Em felt his pain stab right in her soul.
“Okay, fair enough, Tom,” Granny said, stepping up slowly, “So tell me, what
is it they took from your son? From your family? Maybe I can get it back for
you.”
“You can’t get it and give it back to my family, but you can help me find
it and destroy it,” said Tom.
“Okay, that’s a start. Now, tell me what was taken from you, and we’ll go
from there,” Granny glanced at her watch. Midnight ticked closer. “But we both
know carving out the eyeballs of innocent humans isn’t the solution, no matter
what happened before. So let’s see what we can do to help the poor folks here.
Make sure their fate isn’t…”
“You don’t understand…” he was pleading now, “My Danny… had the gift of
sight, like his mother…they took it from him, scooped his eye right out before
they murdered him.”
I'm going to catch up with the rest, I loved this part!
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by! So glad you enjoyed it!
DeleteI was wondering why someone would choose eye scooping, now I just need to know why he wants to destroy what has been taken rather than just taking the sight back
ReplyDeleteYes but he's dead, so things are a bit more complicated. 😉 Thank you for stopping by!
DeleteGreat chapter! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for stopping by!
DeleteLoving these fine lines "Em felt his anger in the hot spittle that landed on her face, but the only muscles that moved were those in her eyes. Back and forth between the monster man and the old women."
ReplyDeleteI am thrown straight into the scene and so enjoy the slow build-up to the slightly gross ending!
Thank you! ☺️
ReplyDelete