The Infernal Aether (First Draft)

Chapter 10 - An Unusual Alibi

For a moment we stared at N'yotsu, unsure exactly what to think of what we had witnessed. My brain screamed at me that there was no way that I could have just witnessed such a thing, and yet the sight before me said otherwise.

The fight and subsequent...whatever it was...had clearly drained N'yotsu almost to completion. Maxwell examined him and assured us that he was alive, if very weak; this was confirmed shortly afterwards when N'yotsu himself groaned and tried to lever himself upright. I took a step backwards, almost expecting the ground to liquefy once more under his hand. Thankfully the floor remained reassuringly solid.

"What just happened?" asked Kate.

"I have no idea," I said. "But it was effective. If a bit...brutal." Not to mention impossible, I thought. I stood over the solitary claw which reached out of the solid concrete and nudged it with the toe of my shoe, flinching away in anticipation of it making a grab for me. It stayed deathly still; whatever life there had been in the demon had clearly been suffocated or crushed out of it by the concrete. I shuddered at the thought of suffering such a demise.

"I like it," said Kate, squatting down to examine the claw. "It looks artistic."

"Yes, quite," I said. "Although it does leave me with one rather large problem. While the police were always going to find it hard to believe that a demon was behind all the attacks, they are going to be even less likely to believe that this is what remains of the fiend."

N'yotsu's eyes snapped open. "I have an idea," he said, holding his arms out. "Help me up." I hesitated at the thought of being in contact with him after what he had just done. Maxwell and Kate had no such qualms and, not wanting to appear squeamish or prudish, I joined in the effort. The three of us levered him to his feet and half-carried, half-dragged him out of the building and into the street.

We retraced our steps back to where we had first encountered Kate. I caught a glimpse of Jason the pimp, now lying in a doorway in a bruised and bloody state, a couple of girls fussing round him. He was clearly still a little dazed after his beating, but when he noticed us his face contorted with the mental struggle between between wanting to confront us and the desire to run away.

"Why is he still here?" I asked.

"Point of principle," said Kate, clearly nervous but to her credit staying with us. "Problem will come when his mates turn up. Then we'll be in trouble."

"Indeed," I said, glancing at N'yotsu. The only one of us capable of standing up to any thugs who may appear was clearly in no fit state to do so.

A pair of policemen strolled along the street in our direction, clearly having been alerted by the various disturbances but in no hurry to get caught up in them.

"You should wait here," said N'yotsu to me. I offered no objections and stepped into the shadows, letting Kate and Maxwell take his weight. They walked over to the policemen and started to talk to them.

I strained to hear what was being said but was distracted by a hand on my shoulder. It was effectively a huge slab of meat, with knuckles as warped and battered as a gnarled tree trunk. I turned to see that it was connected to an arm which was both hairier and more tattooed than anything I had seen before.

"You with them?" asked the owner of the arm and hand. He was as huge as he was wide, with a bald head and a long dark beard. His eyes betrayed nothing more than a brutal menace overlaid with the slightest flicker of intelligence.

The pain of his grip on my shoulder made my eyes water. Were I little less scared or tired, I may have been able to talk my way round the brute. As it was, the cumulative traumas of the day contrived to allow me to only utter: "I..."