Chapter 39: Eros’ Escape Leads to More Losses

“Tillie!” I pounded on the siren’s door. “Is Otie with you?” Her door creaked open. There was no one there. “Tillie?”

“Let me go first,” Demie said, stepping in front of me before we entered Tillie’s apartment. “Tillie?” She strode forward carefully.

We found the siren lying on her couch, her face locked in a familiar rictus of pleasure. Eros had kissed her as he escaped, sucking her soul from her body. Now deceased, her innate ability to appear as someone’s greatest regretful love was gone, and I saw her as she really was, a brown-haired, somewhat plain woman. Demie confirmed to me that it was her, despite the change in appearance.

“Fuck!” I cried out in despair. While the siren had almost killed me when she had been starving, she and I had since become friends, and she and Otie, the changeling formerly known as Other Tom, with my form and recent memories, had become even more. “Otie!”

We checked the rest of the apartment, but it was empty. Discouraged, we headed back to our apartment to call the coroner, or 911 ... did you call 911 when someone was obviously dead? Guess I was about to find out.

The large, well-muscled woman pushed open the door to the small library. Two tall bookshelves had been pushed over, and she drew the sword from the scabbard on her back as she carefully approached the hairy mass she could see beneath them. The blade glittered, almost sparking, as it cleared its housing. Holding the weapon before her, its persistent, otherworldly glow washed over the bookshelves. She saw the headless body of a large beast under them ... a bear? she wondered. No, she amended as she moved to a better angle, a massive dog ... hellhound? She thrust her blade into its chest. Instantly, the hound’s dead flesh writhed and became a gray and formless blob. The demon that had lived in that primal matter was gone, she realized, and there was too much there for her to transport.

She looked at the books scattered about the library and on the remaining shelves. So much wood and paper ... those would do, she decided.

A few minutes later, she exited the 200-year-old bed & breakfast and looked back at the smoke as it curled out the windows. The owner had been dead when she arrived, and everyone else had already fled. She figured the authorities were on their way, but she sat on the seat of her Kawasaki, pulled a small necklace with a red crystal out from around her neck, and held the gem before her eyes, concentrating. It glowed briefly, and then seemed to lean in one direction, as if pulled by a magnet.

She waited until she was sure that the library, at least, was unrecoverable. Hearing the sirens approach, she started her motorcycle up and rode in the direction that the amulet had indicated.

Someone had broken the rules of The Deal, and they were going to pay.

Frustrated, I hit the Internet. Maybe it was the recent Dooby Gang adventure still affecting me, but I felt that I had to get out ahead of this. Aaron Bilson was the last person that we knew had possession of the demon summoning book, and we never found it after he died. Whoever used it next, Eudora’s current master, had to have found Bilson’s hiding spot. I searched up Bilson’s address and got a hit: a suspicious fire there about three weeks ago. That would have been Eudora’s summoning, I figured, but it had taken out the entire building! A bunch of people had died.

There were no details of who had lived in Bilson’s old apartment after him, of course, privacy laws and all. Still, that was a place to start.

Kate came into my bedroom, naked as usual. Despite my dour mood, my cock perked up a little at seeing her voluptuous naked body. It had been long enough since baby Amy was born ... was she ready for her first vaginal sex?

“Tom, can you come into the living room, please?” she asked.

I went and sat down on the couch next to Demie, who shrugged at my questioning look.

Kate stood in front of us, holding the baby. “Demie is concerned that her abilities are going to fail on her if we go after Eros. She says she lost her strength a little earlier?”

I looked over at Demie and blushed. I had taken her roughly, something that wasn’t normally possible. I nodded.

Kate looked at me. “And you, you were feeling strong? I love you, Tom, but you’re not exactly Dwayne Johnson.”

I blushed again, but for a different reason. “Hey, I’m ... um...” No, she was right, I realized. I’ve said it before: I’m a lover, not a fighter. “Do you know what’s going on, Kate?”

“I think so. Remember when you told me about the fun you had with that lady in the sauna? She was horny, acting like she could smell Demie’s scent on you, but you were certain that wasn’t possible.”

I thought back. What was that woman’s name? Ah, Vicky! “Yeah, that was weird. It’s related?”

Kate looked back and forth between us. “I’d been keeping a close eye on the both of you, and your unique energies, before you found me in your closet. I think due to the fact that Demie’s summoning was botched and she didn’t immediately kill you...” she took a breath, “ ... you two are sharing Tom’s soul. It’s causing some ... spillover. When Eros made Demie kiss you, so she fully absorbed your soul, and then my protective spell kept you from dying until she put it back, I think that made the connection physical, so we have the recent incidents of scent and strength. Prior to that ... do you remember being able to read people’s fantasies from their minds, or hypnotizing someone?”

I thought back. There had been a moment, after Dianna Shepherd had burst into my apartment, kicking my ass for knocking her up, where I had convinced her to stop, but thinking back, in that moment I had felt strange, like I had somehow imposed my will upon the policewoman. I should have come out of that encounter minus my balls. “Yeah.”

Demie sat forward. “Wait wait wait ... you’re saying that Tom stole my strength? And my scent one time, and before that, my hypnotic gaze?”

“Yes ... Tom, do you remember how you were feeling at those times?”

“Well, with Dianna, I was scared because she was so angry, not to mention kicking the shit out of me. With Demie, I was angry.” I looked over at the demon, and then back to Kate. “With Vicky ... hmm ... I was relaxed, feeling good.”

Kate nodded, looking at me strangely. “So your emotional state seems to factor in ... ohh...” She stumbled a little, and I jumped up to grab Amy from her.

“Are you all right?” I asked her.

She took my shoulder to steady herself, and then straightened and pulled her hand back. “Yes ... that’s the last of the love potion being deactivated. I’ve been working on the antidote since we last fought Eros, and after what happened to Tillie, I took it.”

I stared at her. “What ... Kate...?”

She held out her hands and I handed Amy back. The ex-witch looked at me closely, examining my face. “It’s dangerous here for Amy, Tom ... I had to know if I was staying for true love or not, and...” she blinked, “ ... it’s not. I can see that now.”

I sat down hard on the couch, gutted. I had told Kate before that the love she felt for me wasn’t real, but she had always argued against that.