Mimi's Demons

Chapter 79: Make'm Dance

 Every hair on Mimi's body went straight up, as though electrified. Black oozed out from around her—from her Papa—stretching out around the table. The room grew dark.

All the demons jumped off their hosts and underneath the table.

Mimi felt her heart quicken and her breath catch. A cold sweat prickled on the back of her neck. But she did her very best to pretend she was unaffected. This was her Papa. Papa wouldn't hurt her. The black wouldn't eat her.

The old Richard, however, stuttered and went gray. A shaking hand went to his chest.

"I apologize," he said, no longer looking at Mimi. "Here I am not listening to my own words. Time is precious and here I am wasting it. Joshua, if you could continue where we left off."

Looking a bit shaken himself, 'Joshua,' who had also had had a spider sleeping in his thinning hair until Duke had gone nuclear, nodded and looked down at the tablet in his hands.

A new chart appeared on the screen.

Slowly, the dark retreated, and the sun returned to the room. It was much longer after that when Mimi's heart slowed and the hairs on her body stood down.

Only then did the demons cautiously reappear, though it was to hunch on the arms or backs of their chairs, not fully in contact with their hosts. But it was enough for Mimi to continue her drawings with renewed purpose, despite her clammy hands.

She had known better than to see Duke's face when he had looked at the old man and radiated power. She didn't need another excuse to go back to hiding under her bed.

At some point, Monty came back in, bringing with him a wave of warmth Mimi hadn't noticed had gone missing from the room.

"Would the Young Miss like a blanket?" he asked, holding up a soft white shawl of sorts folded over his arm. His smile reached his eyes and lacked that plastic quality Mimi had found in the men around the table.

She nodded furiously. "You're so good at this, Monty."

His smile widened. "Oh, I try. Are the papers and pencils sufficient? I also have your Switch."

Mimi could only gape at him in open awe. This was why Duke had yet to replace him. Monty was a god.

After Monty left to fetch the goods, Duke allowed Mimi to move to her own chair because she had gotten fidgety. The men around the table were careful to keep talking, pretending like Mimi wasn't there in fear of attracting attention to themselves. Not that it would save them. By the time Monty returned with her Switch and a bowl of Teddygrahms (a god!!), Mimi had already finished sketching all their demons and slid it over to her Papa.

Duke took his time admiring her drawings, despite the wiggling of the rich men in the room doing their best to not take it too personally that they weren't being listened to anymore. Then he pulled out a clean piece of paper and scribbled down a note. As he did so, he spoke.

"We'll go with the third set. Investments have been down in that area, which means they should be heading up soon."

"That's a rather general assumption—" started one of the men, only to snap his jaw close as Duke slid the note over to Mimi, as though afraid the movement had been Duke readying to throw his teacup at him.

Mimi ignored the conversation as she read her father's note.

'I love your art, but you don't need to tell me about their demons. I make it my business to know those on my own and I made you a promise to never ask you to use your ability to see them. I do thank you for the entertainment though. It was A grade.'

Mimi grinned and bit off the head of a Teddy.

The nearest demon to her shuddered, face hidden against its host's arm.

Maybe she'd come to her Papa's meetings more often, if for nothing else than to get some fresh air.

When the meeting finally ended, Mimi hopped off her chair and went to one of the glass walls. Before the old men had even left, because they all had to hang around talking to each other like little old grannies after church despite having spent all morning doing just that, Mimi put her hands on her hips and gave her best evil overlord cackle.

"Mine," she crooned to the ant-sized people scuttling below. "This is all mine!"

"Is it now?" asked Duke.

"Nah, it just needed to be done. These are evil guy windows, you know?"

Duke chuckled. The men behind him had gone suspiciously quiet. Maybe they'd never heard the great Duke Cosack laugh before.

"That's more true than you know, my kitten."

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I wish the landlord would replace the water heater so I could take a warm bath without having to wait 1-2 hours. No, me, be grateful! There are many areas in the world without heated water at all! GRATITUDE!