Although the screams and cries of the wounded and dying formed a wall of white noise in the background of his musings, he was barely aware of it. He cared nothing for what was taking place at this compound or at any of the compounds he had destroyed.
He cared nothing for the army that followed him. He led because the other demons and the once-men feared him. They believed him to be the chosen of the Void, the one to whom they must all answer for any failure. He did nothing to discourage this thinking, although in truth he did not know if the Void had chosen him or not. He knew that what he did to the humans on his own time fit nicely with the Void’s larger vision of the world. As long as his efforts continued to succeed, he did not think anyone would dare to challenge him.
Which was not to say that some among those he led would not see him dead in an instant, if they could find a way to make it happen.
One among them, the one he found the most dangerous, appeared now at his elbow, a looming presence that instantly took his mind off everything else.
“Lost in your memories of the dead, Old Man?” the female demon asked softly, bending close so that only he could hear.
Old Man. No one else would have dared to call him that. But she was fearless—or just plain crazy, depending on your point of view. Whichever it was, she was the only one among those he led that he knew he must watch closely.
“Have you found her yet, Delloreen?” he replied without bothering to look at her.
If he had looked, he would have found himself staring at her chest.
Delloreen stood well over seven feet tall, one of the biggest women, demon or human, that he had ever seen. She was broad in the shoulders, narrow in the waist, and strong as an ox. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on Delloreen, not an inch that wasn’t muscle. He had seen her pick up one end of a car to move it out of the way like a toy. He had seen her break a man in half.
No one ever crossed Delloreen, not even the Klee, which wasn’t afraid of anything.
If he had looked up from her chest to her face, he would have found himself staring at features flattened and shaved to almost nothing, eyes the color of lichen, spiky blond hair, and patches of scales that coated her neck and chin. The scales were new in the past few years, small blemishes that had spread and grown thick and coarse. As if she were going through a biological change, maturing into a new species.
She had been with him for almost a dozen years now, his good right hand, the one who made certain his wishes were carried out. She was the only one strong enough to do that, which made her both useful and dangerous. At first, he hadn’t seen her as a real threat. Delloreen didn’t want what he had.
She wasn’t interested in leading. Leading required an assumption of responsibility, and she was too independent for anything as restrictive as that. She didn’t want to have others relying on her; she liked going it alone.
The old man understood. He gave her the freedom she sought, allowed her sufficient time to satisfy her special demon cravings, and required in turn that she watch his back. It was an arrangement that had worked well enough up to now.
Of late, however, she had begun to show signs of growing restless with her situation, and he was beginning to suspect that he would need to make a change.
“Have you,” he repeated when she didn’t answer him right away, “found her yet?” This time he looked directly at her. “Are you listening to me, Delloreen?”
Her broad flat face broke into a wide smile that showed all of her pointed teeth. “I always listen to you, Old Man. No, I haven’t found her yet.
But I will.”
“Do you even know if she is still here?”
“She was at the Coliseum yesterday. She took the children out while we were breaking down the doors and killing the parents.” Her demon smile widened.
“Clever of her.”
He shook his head reprovingly. “Escaped you again, did she?”
“She’ll try the same thing here, sneaking the children past us while we concentrate on the adults.” She paused. “This time it won’t work.”
“That remains to be seen. You’ve had three chances already and nothing to show for it.”
Delloreen’s smile twisted into something unpleasant. “Too bad about the children, isn’t it, Fin-Fin? They would have kept you amused for hours. All those lost opportunities to make a fresh batch of little demons. Such a waste!
It must make you very angry that she took them away.”
He managed a disinterested shrug. “I’ve no need of more children, Delloreen.”
She laughed. “Of course, you haven’t. All you need are your memories of the ones you’ve already played all your hateful little games with.
Isn’t that right?”