The demon glared at the Wizards and Magical Creatures in attendance. "Have you quite finished your 'examination', ladies and gentlemen?" he sneered. "If so, I would like to depart from this..." He cast a baleful look at the surrounding buildings. "...this hovel. It offends my aesthetics."
"Yeah, well, you offend my aesthetics," muttered Wufei crossly. It irritated him that Zephyrus had shown up before R&D had found any decent clues, as if the damn demon knew they wouldn't. "Just go, already!" he snapped more loudly. "You flea-bitten, mange-ridden Were-wannabe." He lifted his snout contemptuously and flicked his talons at the demon. "Shoo!"
Zephyrus snarled. "Pathetic little crested skink!"
Wufei lifted off the ground and floated closer to the fox-demon. Nose to snout with the demon, he poked Zephyrus sharply in the sternum. "Get. Lost."
Behind him, Q snickered faintly. The demon and the Were-Dragon could be immensely entertaining, but really, now was not the time.
"Wufei," he said instead. "I believe Zephyrus will be going. Please save your indignation for the next time."
"In other words," smirked the elegant demon, "Heel, boy!"
Wufei's frills and spines lifted ominously and he hissed, baring his sharp teeth.
"Zephyrus!" snapped Q, tiring of the sparring. "You came to us; we did not go to you."
Zephyrus huffed indignantly and swirled his cloak around his shoulders with a theatrical flourish. He turned and snarled at his 'cousin'. "Come on, you miserable, useless, pathetic excuse for a demon! We're leaving! And when we get back —" he threatened.
Farquahar cringed, but shuffled toward his fox-demon kin, head hanging and paws twisting together fearfully.
Duo had been quiet, as Q had asked, telling himself that this was a demon thing and none of his business, but Zephyrus' autocratic attitude just stomped soundly on every damn button he had. He tossed his soda over his shoulder, already in motion. "Fuck you!" he snarled at Zephyrus. "Fuck you and your whole motherfucking attitude, you pissant son-of-a-bitch!" He strode toward the startled demons. "He is *not* your damn property! You do *not* fucking *own* him and you are not going to bloody-fucking-well treat him like he's nothing but *dirt*!"
The Wizards and Magical Creatures blinked as one.
Farquahar's jaw dropped and his eyes bugged out even further.
Zephyrus began to color alarmingly.
Duo was in his face in a few strides, snarling up at the demon like a rabid wolverine.
"How dare you treat him like that, you jerk! He is *family*! You don't treat family like shit! You may not like him, but that doesn't give you the right to abuse and harass him!"
"He is a blithering idiot!" Zephyrus yelled apoplectically. "He is a damned embarrassment and a lousy pain in the ass to everyone who knows him! He creates nothing but trouble for me and everyone else in my Clan!"
"He's *still* FAMILY!" Duo roared. "And you DO NOT treat *family* like *nothing*! You don't yell at them or blame them for things they can't control, and you don't fucking throw them away like garbage when you're tired of them, you stinking damn *fuckwit*! You are not going to beat up on him just because he's not up to your blasted bloody standards!"
"What the hell do you know about it?! He tried to *kill* you, you idiot Banshee! Why are you defending him?!"
"Because somebody has to! If you don't want him around, then leave him the fuck alone and stay away from him! And *he* didn't try to kill me; the bloody spell *made* him try to kill me! You don't even *care* about that! You don't even give a damn that someone was controlling him!"
"He's *weak*! That makes him useless! He is a pox on the whole Clan!"
Duo stared at the demon, all those old whispers in the back of his head. Strange. Odd. Different. Embarrassing. Worthless. Cast out....
He began to shake. This is a demon! It is... not... the same. Not. The. Same.
Worthless. Embarrassment. Different. ...differentdifferentdifferent...
Arms came up and wrapped around his head even as the wordless howl erupted from his throat. A spherical portion of air around the demon wavered; collapsed. Zephyrus gasped, clutched at his throat, unable to breath. Duo grabbed his neck, lifting the much larger demon right off his feet, and shook him like a rat.
"HE'S FAMILY!"
"Duo!" cried Q, finally breaking the shocked silence. "Duo, let go of him," he commanded softly, approaching the Banshee carefully. "You've made your point. I'm sure Zephyrus is willing to rethink his position. Let him go, Duo; you don't want to kill him..."
Duo shuddered, blinked and realised what he was doing. He let go of Zephyrus with a whimper, and stumbled back from the now-gasping demon.
"Oh... shit..." he breathed.
Trowa suddenly lunged at the Banshee, throwing himself in the most powerful, most desperate leap his Were-Puma muscles could manage. He still missed. He sprawled hard on the spot where Duo had been a split second after the Banshee vanished.
Q blinked at the now-vacant-of-Banshee spot. "Well, crap..." he muttered under his breath. He turned to the half-strangled demon. "Heero will be arriving momentarily, Zephyrus; I think it would be best if you were not here. He will not be... pleased."
Zephyrus sucked air, all dignity gone, and his anger with it. "What the fuck was that?!" he croaked.
Q raised one eyebrow. "Duo is not without power of his own; I thought you knew that. Heero is coming."
Zephyrus blinked and began to straighten his clothing, gathering his shredded poise as well. "I... I believe we'll be leaving now..." He hooked a finger at Farquahar, scowling.
The ugly, schlumpy demon hesitated, took a step, and stopped. "No," he whispered. "I don't want to..."
"What?!"
"I don't want to go with you; you're going to hurt me," he mumbled. He shot Q a pleading look. "I wanna stay here..."
Q smirked microscopically. "Heero's coming..."
Zephyrus snarled; it would have been more impressive if he'd had any appreciable voice left. The Elves snickered behind their hands. "Fine! I wash my hands of that-that moron! And good luck to you!" he rasped. And he vanished in a 'poof!' of sulfur.
Q turned immediately to the Elves. "Find Duo! Heero really is on his way!"
"Yessir!" They both vanished, as Q gestured to the other Wizards to also begin tracking. He crouched beside Trowa.
"Trowa, are you all right?" The Were-Puma still sprawled gracelessly on the ground.
He raised his head mournfully. "I'm sorry; I just suddenly knew he was going to port... I tried to catch him..."
Q petted his tawny head comfortingly. "That's all right; it's probably better he did. I'm afraid Zephyrus pushed some very bad buttons."
Wufei drifted over, still blinking in surprise. "How did you know?" he hissed as Q moved away to speak with Farquahar.
Trowa shook his head. "No idea. Just all at once I knew... and I thought if I could get hold of him, maybe I could keep him here. Didn't work, though..." he sighed.
Wufei patted his shoulder tentatively. "Well, it was a good effort... I think I just made it worse, dammit."
Heero dropped like a stone from the sky, landing in front of Q.
"Where is he?!" he bellowed.
Farquahar tried to hide behind the Wizard.
"He got upset, and ported," Q said easily. "Trowa tried to catch him, but it was too quick. I already have people looking for him; calm down, Heero. You'll have a stroke." He patted Farquahar's head absently.
The Wyvern stared at him for a long moment, then visibly pulled himself together. "Dammit," he muttered, and morphed. "What happened?" he asked, glaring at Farquahar.
"It wasn't Farquahar; it was Zephyrus," Q explained. "They had a bit of a debate over the merits of 'family'."
Heero blinked. "Crap," he growled succinctly. "I am going to cut off that stinking fox's head and feed it to him and then make a scarf of his tail." He eyed Zephyrus' lesser cousin balefully. How in hell did such a loser manage to become one of Duo's circle of protectees in only these few days? Or was it just that Farquahar was *such* a loser... The Banshee was highly protective of the people he loved or identified with; another part of his charm and a continuing source of exasperation to the less-forgiving Wyvern. He didn't *want* his Chosen identifying with something like *this*, dammit. "Crap," he said again.
Q's phone rang; he opened it and said, "Yes?" He listened for a moment; frowned. "Well, that is vexing," he said finally. "Keep trying; call if you have any success."
Heero glared at him. Trowa and Wufei joined them, Trowa rubbing his head against Heero's leg in apology. The Wyvern stroked his head and ruffled his ears. "Thanks for trying," he said softly.
Q let out a sigh. "The porters haven't found him; he didn't leave a track this time."
Heero growled. Trowa and Wufei edged away. Farquahar crept after them.
"He always leaves a trail!"
"Not this time," Q shrugged. "Maybe it's an anomaly or maybe it's another step up in his abilities. They've put out the word to all the other port stations; if anyone sees him they'll either bring him home or call."
"Great. Just fucking *great*!"
On to Chapter one hundred-four
Back to Chapter one hundred two