Arthur let the other two start before him.
Richard appeared to take this in stride. He grabbed one of the serving spoons and started to top dish peas onto his plate. Lisa followed suit a moment later with some kind of soup. Beside him, he noticed Augustus sniffing at the air, even Nyssa looked intrigued.
He didn’t blame them.
The smell that wafted from the table was like nothing he’d experience since his arrival. Real food, and even better than what the farmers had served. There was a richness to it all that he grasped without even tasting it.
After almost a full minute of running his eyes over the roasted vegetables and meats, Arthur gave up. If it was poisoned, that was a risk he was willing to take. He had never seen a spread like this, and doubted he would again.
At least not anytime soon.
With a popping sound, Richard uncorked a bottle of wine. Red liquid poured into two glasses. Neither of which found their way to Arthur.
The slight went ignored as he started to pick out meat slices and potatoes. His plate was full, and he started to load up a second one. That got him a raised eyebrow from Lisa.
“Arthur?”
“Yes?” He asked, while pushing it over to Nyssa.
Richard shook his head, and shot Lisa a look who shrugged. “If you want.”
No other words followed suit. The room filled with the clinking of cutlery and people chewing.
Even as she ate, Nyssa continued to glance at the corner. Her expression frustrated, a look that worsened when she turned towards Sandy. Who, in turn, was looking at Nyssa with a degree of smug satisfaction.
Augustus kept shifting his weight. His glances towards the corner far less subtle.
Arthur tried to ignore them as he swallowed another bite as he enjoyed the way the soft meat slid down his throat. This was an important meeting, the last thing he wanted to do was accuse anyone of a trap. That didn’t stop him from making sure he knew where all the knives were.
Once he was done eating enough to slow down, he looked across the table.
“So, Richard. How do you find running a business during the apocalypse?”
“After you mean?” Richard smiled, showing those perfect teeth.
“I suppose.”
“It’s a challenge. As my grandfather would say, challenges make a business thrive. A fact you can see for yourself.”
Arthur nodded at that. “And you Dr. Lisa?”
From the grin she let slip, he was happy he’d used her title. A fact he resolved to remember. It wouldn’t hurt to have at least one of them look at him favorably.
“I’m less business focused,” she said. “I’m more interested in completing the research that was started before it all went wrong.”
Arthur pounced on that. “And what was that?”
“What was what?” She asked, sounding genuinely confused.
“What went wrong? No one I’ve met so far has been able to tell me.”
Her eyes met Richard, and they shared a knowing look, before Richard shrugged.
“Some people mixed things that shouldn’t be and blew a hole in the center of the city. Now we are left to deal with it.”
“Idiots,” Dr. Lisa grumbled. “So much valuable data lost.”
“Quite.” Richard’s statement came out with the tone of a man who’d said the same thing numerous times before.
“What about you, Arthur?” Dr. Lisa asked. “Where did you find such interesting specimens? They truly are wonderful! What did you say their names were?””
He gestured to each as he spoke. “This is Nyssa, and Augustus.”
“From the same family?” Dr. Lisa toyed with her glasses, as she drummed her fingers against the table. “Are they stable?”
“No, and yes,” Arthur admitted.
“We’re not defective,” Nyssa broke in. There was something in her voice he couldn’t place. Not panic, not anger. A strange mix. Her eyes darted to the corner of the room again.
Dr Lisa leaned forward. “Oh? There was only one man who got even close to such a thing. We, my company I mean, tried to poach him. Such a talented man according to the reports. I hope he survived.”
“I’m glad I could make your day.” Arthur said.
She nodded. “You did. Nyssa, why can you speak and not your associate? Or are the grunts and the growls simply for show?”
He watched Nyssa carefully from the corner of his eye. She’d straightened, her tail drooping down and her expression placid. A polite look one would wear when meeting extended family that nobody liked.
“A different program of sorts,” Nyssa answered.
“Fascinating. You really must let us study you. The things we could learn!”
Richard laughed. “Lisa, after the meal.”
“Please. If you thought he had something you could sell, you’d be on him in a heartbeat.” At Arthur’s confused look, she continued. “He works in advertising.”
That caught his attention. “Oh? And who do you sell to?”
“We have a large clientele outside the city.” Richard took a sip of his wine, smiling as he placed the glass back down.
Arthur frowned. “You have contact with people outside the city?”
“We do.”
Lisa laughed. “Though calling them people is generous.”
“Lisa!”
“Come on Richard. If he hasn’t figured it out by now, he’s stupider than anyone thought. Look, we’re basically done. Shall we cut to the chase?”
“This is why I wanted to be paired with Clarissa.”
“You just like looking at her,” Lisa said with a hand on her wine glass, which he noticed was still full.
“Please, may we be professional for once?”
Richard didn’t quite snap out the response, but Arthur felt he was close. The CEO’s eyes moved to the corner, and he placed a hand on the side of his face before he breathed in.
“Are you done eating?”
Arthur nodded, having already cleared his plate. “Yes.”
“In that case.”
This time Richard didn’t call for Sandy, and pulled open his briefcase himself. With one hand he reached in before pulling out a piece of paper, followed by an expensive looking pen.
“Shall we get down to business?”
***
Their proposal was not what he’d been expecting.
As Sandy collected the plates and moved them to another table, Richard once more reached into his briefcase. With what to Arthur appeared to be practiced motions, he pulled out a simple sheet of paper and a pen.
He’d half expected a collection of tiny script. Densely packed legalese that would require him to sell his soul, firstborn, and maybe his hat. However, what he got was instead incredibly simple terms.
Not that they were any more understandable to him.
“You want me to leave?” He asked as he read the words again.
[I, Arthur Clark, hereby agree to leave the city of Ashtown. Upon doing so, I shall forfeit possession of any storage items and store premises. In return, A Iocus Daemonium agree to lend any aid possible in this endeavor. Be that transport, funds, supplies, or other.
Signature: _________ Date: __________ ]
“That’s correct.”
Richard was all smiles as he leaned back in his seat. The man was the picture of casualness as he continued.
“Our groups' leader has decided that you are not membership material. So, we have decided a buy out is the best possible option. You, and forgive me if this sounds rude, don’t have the skill needed to be a CEO in such a challenging time.”
Arthur stared at him as he flashed his perfect grin again, but said nothing. After a moment of silence Richard let out a small cough.
“Do you understand?”
“No.” The word seemed to make up more than its two letters ever should. “If you don’t see me as group worthy, fine.”
He paused, unsure how to phrase the next bit. Arthur wanted to yell at them, complain and call them names. However, he suppressed the urge and did his best to stay casual in an attempt to mimic the business people he’d read about.
“That doesn’t mean we can’t come to some other kind of deal. Trade partners, perhaps? If not that, perhaps an agreement to leave each other alone. It’s not like we trade in the same circles. Why do I need to leave?”
“That’s what we’ve been told,” Richard said with a carefree shrug. “You need to be gone. This was our way of doing that the easy way.”
Dr. Lisa broke in then. “We’ll throw in extras if you give us those two. The amount of study I could get done would be marvelous. Maybe a helicopter? A boat? What can we do for you.”
“Lisa, stop confusing him.”
“Oh, please.” She snapped at Richard. “He’s going to do it. You’ve seen his store, and finances. At the rate he’s going he’ll be bankrupt in, what, two months? Antonne said so. We’re doing him a favor.”
Arthur started to stand as she brought her attention back to him.
“I’m not leaving.”
“It won’t go well if you don’t.” Her voice dropped low.
“As if it’ll go well if I do.” He thought. “The Goddess is hardly going to take me backing out well.”
“Still, I think I’ll take my chances.”
Augustus and Nyasa both let out a strange squeaky hiss. His heart raced as Nyssa dropped her plate. Neither seemed to notice the shattering of the porcelain.
He looked over to the corner they were focused on, and saw the haze. It was shifting now, growing. The longer he looked, the angrier he got. Frustration filled him as he looked at it, though he couldn’t place the source.
Richard spoke, an edge to his voice that wasn’t there before.
“We wanted to do this the easy way, Arthur. Why not sign the form? This doesn’t need to escalate. He doesn’t want you dead, only gone.”
“I want to leave. Deals off. Goodbye.”
The words forced themselves from his throat in the most normal tone he could muster. All he wanted to do was scream at the man, to turn and let out a furious tirade. However, he couldn’t draw his gaze away from what was occurring in the corner.
Before his eyes, the haze was starting to transform. From the blur, a more defined humanoid shape was forming. Tall, and far too thin to be normal, its hand bore three long fingers that ended with claws.
Behind him, he heard Augustus letting out a guttural sound of rage. He strained his ears to try and hear if Nyssa was moving, instead he realized something else.
The music had stopped.
Before he could turn to see where the disturbing musical demon was, the monster in the corner finished appearing. Now he could see the paper white skin that wrapped around the form. It lacked anything that would gender it, a fact he appreciated.
In slow, jerky, movements the previously hidden demon turned towards him. That was when he noticed it didn’t have a face.
“We tried to make this easy, Arthur,” Richard said in a growl as he rose from his seat. “You brought this on yourself.”
***
Augustus was the first to move.
With a squeak, his chief of security charged in and swung his piece of rebar. It connected with the side of the lanky demon. However, instead of doing damage, the creature bent around it. As though its torso was on a hinge.
It hissed, though it had no mouth to do so, and raked a set of three clawed fingers across Augustus who cried out in pain.
Arthur stared, rage reaching a boiling point at the display. That spilled over when the creature took a step back and turned invisible. He whirled around, searching for it on the off chance it teleported.
As he searched, he noticed Richard, Dr. Lisa and Sandy leaving through a back door. The demon who previously stood on the stage was with them. It’s mouths opening and closing as though saying goodbye.
“You should have the specimens come with us!” Dr. Lisa called. “Now we’ll need to find another way.”
“Go to hell!” Nyssa screamed, before taking a step towards a table.
In one swift motion she grabbed a chair by a leg, and then tossed it towards them. A scream emanated from the boombox demon and the chair turned to splinters before his eyes.
At the scene, the cultists fled. Nyssa hurled another chair, but it met the same fate as the demon waddled out of the room. Augustus let out another cry, causing Arthur to whirl. Another set of claw marks run along his side.
“Dammit!” Arthur yelled as he moved towards the table.
They needed to see the thing, and he had an idea. Not that he was sure it would work. With his free hand he grabbed the tablecloth and pulled. Plates and cutlery rattled to the floor, but he ignored them.
Arthur’s attention was focused on the room, attempting to see any sign of the invisible attacker. Something crunched, and he saw a plate shift. That was good enough for him. His rage fueling him, he tossed the tablecloth.
The sheet in front of him trashed and twisted. Parts of it starting to rip as the demon clawed at it.
“Kill it!” He roared, and Augustus moved.
Rebar in hand, he charged and stabbed the creature through the head. There was a sound like a balloon popping, and a purple-green gas started to pour out of the hole he’d created. Arthur coughed as he breathed some of it in.
It stung his lungs, and made the rage worse.
All around him, the world started to grow wavy. Before his eyes gas shifted and swirled creating a cloud around, hiding Nyssa and Augustus from sight. With a cough he turned around, noticing that he had a large pocket of space.
Then he heard a voice, one that he was sure he’d never hear again.
“Hello Arthur,” Derrick said, now standing close by. He looked exactly as he’d done the last time he’d seen him, if not a bit more transparent, though his grin was far more smug.
“Looks like you couldn’t manage a store without me babysitting you after all.”167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmYk9BO9WBU
