10

jacob

Dizzy popped into the hotel suite, as suddenly as she had un-popped after the fight with the strange girl. Jacob and Rebecca had been staring daggers at each from across the room, but the arrival of the flamboyant redhead grabbed both their attention. All three spoke at once, a jumble of words with no real understanding. Dizzy’s voice was the shrillest and she kept talking after the other two gave up. “So, you see, it’s really, really bad, but not like when a chameleon steps in front a rainbow-colored laser bad, more like when a porcupine has dandruff and sneezes level bad. I messed up, just a teeny weeny smidge, kind of my fault, and I’m sure you can fix it….”

Reverend grabbed the reins of Jacob’s body and silenced her with a raised palm. “Stop, child, slow down and try again.”

“From the beginning or can I start in the middle, because the big-inning was a ways back and I’m really not that much of a baseball fan.”

“The relevant middle if thou wilt.”

Rebecca jumped in. “What is she doing here? And where on Earth did she come from?”

Dizzy turned to her and stuck her pink tongue out. “Not Earth, silly. Chaos demons come from Hell and the Abyss and all points beyond. Pay attention and try to keep up. And I’m trying to tell you that Lily has been person-napped. It’s kind of like kidnapped, except she’s really not a kid, so I’m pretty sure it’s person-napped, but I guess it could be….”

Reverend tried to interrupt, but David was faster to the mark, shoving Reverend out of the mental cockpit to get to the controls. “Who? Who took her?”

‘Umm, David, maybe you should calm down and let me and Revvy-poo talk about this, because you’ve got a temper and I really don’t want to be turned into a toad or flayed alive… well, okay flayed alive might be all right because it would be a new experience, but I would definitely want my skin back when you were done.”

David’s response was firm and sharp. “Who, Dizzy?”

“Um, there was this girl, scrawny little thing, black hair, scarlet bang. Except her hair worked like tentacles, cause I’m pretty sure she had demon’s blood in her and we fought, like boom, pow, claws, daggers, fire…it was awesome. Except I lost and she was about half an eyelash from killing me, so I teleported out of there. And when I went back later to look for Lily, she was gone.” As Dizzy spoke, a fiery haze of an image appeared beside her, illustrating the girl she fought, as best as she could remember her.

“A demon blood, here? At the peak of my greatness? I’ll crush her.”

“Look, David about that, you’re not exactly peaking. More like downhill slope. Eris is getting bored and when she gets bored she starts looking for a new Hand. Maybe we could leave, go do something totally nuts and unpredictable. That’ll impress her and get you back to peak, maybe even better than peak. We could go to the moon or–”

“I’m getting her back, Dizzy.”

“But Jakey-Reverend-David, we don’t really need–”

David stood and slammed his fist down on the table. Magic flowed off him in waves and the pulse shattered not just the table, but every window and glass in the suite. “I am getting her back.”