Shadowcast

Daddy Issues: Part 5

"What do you mean?" Liza asked Wren as he clutched his head.

The world turned red. Tortured screams and crackles of flame echoed out in every direction. A spinning disk of blood red fire opened up on the ground, and from it emerged an eight foot tall demon with wicked horns atop his chiseled, square-jawed face.

Before his feet had even touched the ground, the entire company of soldiers opened fire on the demon lord, filling him with high-caliber bullet holes. Commander Chien shot him twice between the eyes without blinking. Genesis and Vozalt uncorked bottles of holy water and wound back like pitchers before Wren stepped in front of them.

"Wait!" he shouted, "I can explain!"

"Oh," said Vozalt in a surprisingly calm tone, "Okay, I understand."

"This is my father. He chose the worst possible time to visit!"

"Of course," Vozalt said, "Genny, bring him back. I'll give our friends the tour." The soldiers fell into a marching order, but a look from Chien made them ease out into more of a tour group formation.

Genesis corked her bottle of holy water and took out two glass syringes filled with a mysterious green liquid.

"Hi," she said to the three students, "I'm Genny. Galinstan. Genesis Galinstan. Lieutenant Galinstan. Not anymore, I guess. Just Genny is fine."

"Hi," said Wendy.

"Hey," said Liza.

"Sorry about that," said Wren.

"You called Iren 'Professor,'" Genesis said, "You're from Sigilspear, then?"

"Yeah," said Liza, "We brought Professor Vozalt her visor-mask-thing."

"Do you know my little sister, Mako?" Genesis asked as she plunged the syringes into the demon's chest and injected the green liquid of mysterious origin.

"We love Mako! She made my outfit." Liza twirled around, showing off her clothes.

"And my staff," said Wendy, producing a flower on the tip of her staff.

"And this... duck," Wren changed his bronze duck into a stone duck. He couldn't seem to take his eyes off the corpse of his father. That went for everybody else in the port as well.

"I'm so glad to hear that she's making friends!" She pressed a jewel into a fist-sized bullet hole in the center of his torso. Immediately a thick, meaty arm swung up to hit her. She swiftly intercepted it with a holy blade that extended from her wrist. His skin sizzled and blistered against the blessed adamantine.

"You dare strike the mighty Kulshedra!" roared the demon. Fire spewed from his horns. Only Liza's quick thinking, throwing herself and Wendy to the ground, saved them from a roasting. Wendy looked up at her. Their eyes locked for a moment. Then she frantically swatted Liza away.

Wren fiercely shook Kulshedra's arm. "Dad! Now's not the time!"

The jets of flame subsided as Kulshedra saw his son. He looked over at Genesis, her other armblade pointed at his throat, and grumpily waved her off.

"I need to catch up with the others," Genesis said politely, her eyes darting around as if physically tracking a million invisible responsibilities, "Try not to make any large or sudden movements. It might reopen the wounds." She packed up her things and started off toward the air canal. "You... uh... students. Say hi to Mako for me!"

"Will do!" said Wren. After Genesis was out of earshot, he turned to his father. "What were you thinking?! Was now really the best time for a visit?"

"I knew I had to see my boy," said Kulshedra, standing up to his full height, "I did not know that you would be with Iren hells-damned Vozalt! Why not bring your mother, too? We'll have a feast with all the people we don't-"

"Dad!" Wren shouted. His worried glance drew Liza and Wendy's eyes around the port. Many were staring. A few sailors of Wren's race threw hoods over their horns. "You're too obvious like this. Let me show you something I've been working on."

Wren opened his palms, and orange lightning arced from his fingers to Kulshedra, steadily encircling the demon's form. With lots of painful pops and cracks, he shrunk, his skin turned to a more lavender hue, and his physique became less like a demon and more like a middle-aged half-demon. He looked like he could be... Wren's... father. Once the transformation was finished, Wren dropped his arms and wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead.

"This is..." Kulshedra ran a hand down his chest, along his arms, up his bearded jawline to the gazelle-like horns nestled in his mop of black hair. "Incredible. You learned this?" His once bone-shaking voice settled nicely into a deep, buttery-smooth bass in a suitably human form.

"I did. I'm glad it worked."

"That's my boy!" Kulshedra picked up his son and gave him a rib-cracking bear hug. "What else have you learned? Anything explosive? Anything... I've helped with?"

"So much," Wren said, wriggling out of his father's arms, "Let's talk about it somewhere else. You know, where your blood isn't all over the place. Just north of here is a place that has great fried chicken."

Kulshedra scratched his new chin. "I enjoy chicken. I enjoy frying weak mortal beings."

"You'll love it. Let's go." Wren tried to drag his father away, but even after his transformation he still had the strength of a demon.

Kulshedra looked over at Liza and Wendy. "Are these yours?"

"They're my friends. This is Liza Hawken."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. ..."

"Kulshedra."

"Is Kulshedra your last name, or your first?"

"There is no other Kulshedra in the Nine Hells or the Abyss. I need only one name. Anything more would sully it."

Wren nodded. Liza could see the pain and embarrassment behind his eyes. "Good. And this is Wendy Volk."

Wendy whimpered. Liza felt a tingle spread through her hand. She looked down and saw that Wendy's hands were clamped around her arm. Her claws scraped against her skin.

"This one is afraid," Kulshedra said, pointing to Wendy. Liza winced as one claw pierced her skin. He sucked in a deep breath and bellowed: "CALM!" Wendy let out a yip of fear and scurried behind Liza. Kulshedra threw up his eyebrows. "This one has a strong will. She resisted my command. I approve of your underlings."

Wren looked like he was close to ripping his horns out of his head. "Great! Now let's eat!" Wren grabbed Kulshedra's hand -still massive, even in a non-demon form- and dragged him toward a northward set of stairs. The splatterings of the demon lord's black ichor steadily sizzled away on the ground.

Liza didn't want to leave Wren alone with a literal demon lord, parent or no.

"I'm really craving some fried chicken right now," she said.

"Liza!" Wren hissed.

"Wendy and I'll give you some space," she insisted, "I want to try some of this Besnior fried chicken I've been hearing so much about."

Wren glared at Liza, his angelic eyes full of offense and discomfort. "Thattaway," he said, heading off for the stairs again.

Liza put her hand on Wendy's shoulder, who was shaking like a leaf on a flimsy branch. "He seems nice. Well, for a demon."

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Author's Note:

Well, that's a little awkward. I'm sure there's absolutely zero angst between Wren and his demon daddy.