The Daemon Wars: May’s Training Day
In celebration of the new mass market release of Another One Bites the Dust, due to come out August 1, I’ve brought you another installment story. This one, as promised, features Granny May (before she ever dreamed of grandkids, or even motherhood) and the demon G’onasc. Hope you enjoy it!
[Here's a reminder of what happened the last time we visited May & Joe]
Part One
May should’ve known she wasn’t going to be happy with being dumped when Joe assured her for the third time that, “They’ll never look for you here.” But a girl who has just been nearly murdered in her sleep by two demons, hand-picked for the job by the Great Taker himself, can’t be a picky Vickie. At least that’s what she told herself when Joe deposited her in front of a three-story red brick building whose first-floor windowglass advertised the Twinkle Toes Dance Studio…Where We Turn Your Two Left Feet Into Tapping Fools!
May looked up into Joe’s burnished silver eyes, trying hard to make her lips stop quivering as she said, “You’re deserting me? Here? In the middle of the morning?”
“We’ve been leaving false trails for hours. We’re tired. You’re probably hungry. It’s time to regroup. But I can’t take you home.” He waved his hand at her baby doll pajamas. “And you can’t run around the city anymore looking like that. My hand’s getting sore from punching out the mashers. So I’m just going to go across the street and get you some clothes. See?” He pointed a blunt finger nearly as big as her wrist at a garment shop called Claire’s Boutique whose window-display mannequin wore a trendy blue V-neck blouse with a poodle skirt whose waist and pockets were trimmed with small blue pom-poms. “What size are you anyway?” he asked.
She glared at him, suddenly angry that a creature with skin the color of strawberries and hair as fine and pail as milkweed should suddenly have so much control over her life. She stamped her foot. And then nearly cried because she’d forgotten she wasn’t wearing any shoes. “That’s so rude!” she told him. “Why can’t I just try on my own clothes!”
He adjusted the pork pie hat he’d stolen from a sleeping bum, making sure it still covered his horns. “Because I don’t want you out on the street now that we’re going to ground.” He looked her up and down. “I’m going to guess about a thirty-four, twenty-six, thirty-seven. You’re lucky you have brown hair. According to my old boy–according to Nethery I can’t go wrong no matter what color I get for you.”
She shook her finger under his long, rather bulbous nose. “Don’t you dare guess my size! Especially . . . you know where! Just get that outfit that’s on the mannequin and I’ll be fine. As for my hair, it’s honey-colored you clod! And my eyes are like forget-me-nots!”
“How do you know?”
“Lew Marshal told me! And he–”
“Isn’t that the boy whose heart you broke?”
May suddenly felt like a bike tire that’s picked up a nail. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Sure you did. Why else would you end the relationship?”
“It’s none of your business! Now do you want me off the street or not?”
“Yep.”
“Then I’m going!”
“Good!”
May threw open the door and slammed it dramatically behind her. Which, maybe, wasn’t such a terrific idea. Because she’d interrupted the class currently practicing in front of a bank of long mirrors that had been set, side by side, all the way down a narrow, wood-floored room. The women, a group of five with a single instructor standing in front of them, turned to look at her. And frankly, she just stared back. Because they were wearing big, wavy skirts in shiny silks. And shirts that were little more than brassieres covered their chests. She loved their jewelry, which shone like Spanish treasure in the fluorescent light. But the best part had happened just before the door slam, when she’d spied them making the most fascinating gyrations with their mid-sections. Suddenly she hoped Joe would decide the mannequin’s clothes couldn’t fit her. Because May realized she’d just crashed a belly dancing class. And she couldn’t wait to see what the teacher demonstrated next.
Tune in Monday for Part Two of The Daemon Wars: May’s Training Day




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