Mimi's Demons

Chapter 83: A Crack in the Man

The kid didn't respond. That suited Duke just fine.

He stood and kept walking. He trusted Omen Four to get the kid to his feet and pushed along. The annoying brat had to sniffle and whimper the entire way to the east basement, which irritated Duke to no end. Mimi had more reasons to cry when he'd brought her in, but she'd been smart. She'd snarled and kicked, then went still the moment she sensed danger. She made no demands, she'd known better. And her little pinky held more charm than this entire beaner's body.

And the kid even had the gall to make his cooperation dependent over how attractive he thought his daughter was.

Breaking his wrist was a mercy. Mimi would have to be satisfied with that.

The east basement was as clammy and uncomfortable as ever. The boy whimpered frightened questions like where they were going and what was going to happen to him, but they all stopped when he came in view of Honrye squatting at the end of the hallway in all his gargoyle glory.

"D-Diablo!" he squeaked.

Duke smiled. Poor baby. "Not quite. A little lower on the foodchain."

Honrye was too busy eyeing the kid to give Duke a proper scowl for that comment.

"It was you," the kid said. "You—you—you did that to my father. You're the demon." Those pachinko balls turned to Duke. "You're not going to—you can't—don't leave me down here, I didn't mean—I won't be stupid, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"Finished your homework?" Duke asked Honrye, ignoring the kid behind him growing more and more hysterical.

Honrye harrumphed something close to a 'yes' and glared at the kid.

"We really can't send this back?"

"He's gonna be what you make of him, so the real question is," Duke shoved the flailing child towards Honrye. "Will you fail?"

This was the demon's first test after all; a test for the job Doctor Cricket had left behind.

Duke had been struck with the idea where he often got ideas: in the middle of the night when he would much rather be asleep. Honrye, being a demon, had shown an extraordinary ability to read the intentions of humans as well as what made them tick. With a bit of psychology education with a minor in interrogation, Honrye could prove even more useful in extracting information or molding people (read brainwashing) than even the Doc had been, who'd been the top of his field. Throw in that the kid had no sexual desire and Duke had a winner.

His first project also came to Duke as an easy given, for while he trusted many of his men with his own life, there were scant few he trusted with Mimi, and none but himself with the ability to train up a minion out of a spoiled prince of a cartel. Duke didn't have the time or desire to stuff himself in the basement training one kid.

In came Honrye, whose loyalty to Mimi knew no match. He'd betray, even kill Duke in a heartbeat if it would be for Mimi's good, and that's what Duke wanted when it came to breaking a kid who'd be trusted near Mimi's side.

The terrified kid wailed like a baby when Honrye stood. The wail turned to a scream as his wings spread out and his horns became more apparent in the buzzing hallway light. He started screaming all sorts of things about Jesus and demon banishing before it devolved to Spanish nonsense.

"Sorry, bub, you haven't believed in God a day in your life," Duke managed to hear Honrye mutter through the shrieky child—which, by the way, he'd had enough of.

Duke kicked the kid in the gut. Hard.

"What did I say about being stupid?" he drawled. "Tell me, is busting everyone's eardrums going to make your situation better?"

Little Garcia whimpered and curled about his middle, visibly struggling to catch his breath.

Honrye hadn't so much as flinched at the child abuse. Duke wondered if Omen would dote on him as much if he saw him like this.

Duke glanced back at Omen Four, who looked as stoic faced as the demon, and wondered if Omen already had.

"I'll check back in three days," said Duke.

"I'll be expecting a reward then," said the demon.

Duke sniffed. "If there's progress. Seems you need to reread the contract."

"It's called confidence. Send down some new clothes while you're at it. He's pissed himself and it's rank."

Duke did not appreciate being spoken to like a servant. But he'd gotten use to this casual hate/respect relationship with the demon. As he did with those who proved irreplaceably useful to him, be allowed a bit more disrespect than the average peon. It was still strange to him, though, that a demon of all things had earned that privilege.

Little Garcia's (Duke had already forgotten his name) pleas followed Duke and Omen Four up the stairs. The pleas grew to scratchy keens of dismay when Omen Four finally closed the door behind him.

"Sir," said the man, his gaze to the ground and turban low. "Should I send down a doctor for his wrist?"

"In a few days," said Duke. He may frown on selling drugs to kids and outlawed trafficking them for sexual gigs, but that didn't mean he was kind. Garcia had overlooked that. "It's unavoidable. I have to undo all the damage his father's done spoiling hiding him from reality. And this is for Mimi."

Omen Four bobbed his head. "Of course. The Little Miss."

Usually Duke would leave it at that and go back to ignoring the existence of his assigned body guard. But something made him hesitate. Perhaps it was the imaginary Mimi standing on his shoulder, fists on her hips, or perhaps it was the softened gaze of his people when they looked on her. Or perhaps, further yet, it was the nights he spent curled around a nightmare tortured Mimi, realizing what his mother had chosen to miss.

"The boy has been born into our world and left unprepared by his father," said Duke, startling the Sikh. "It will be harsh, but it will be in his best interest. If I just threw him out onto the street, either his father or other unsavory kinds would find him, and both would allow him to destroy himself."

"I wasn't questioning your methods, sir," said Omen Four, tone ever respectful.

"But you were uneasy, and that's not bad. You watch over my daughter. It's not good for your mental health to protect one child then let another be harmed."

The bodyguard still looked baffled, but wisely decided not to say anything on it. Duke was grateful for this. He didn't know what was going on with him either. Since when had he cared about the well-being of anyone besides his close inner circle?

Already knowing this would be following him to bed tonight to feed his insomnia, Duke continued down to the kitchen where he knew his kitten would be waiting for him with food and a report. 

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Sorry for the update being a few hours late. It's PMS week. And my husband had a meltdown over some lazy loan officer for our house mortgage. He was recicitated...resusacated...resiscated...G%^ D%^$#$!!! Screw spelling, I'm playing Poke'mon.