Two Monsters and a Human

3

We all started to panickly look for the now alive vampire. Poppy took to the roads in her van, I took the forest next to Lauren's house, and Lauren started to look around her block.

It took hours before I got a call from Poppy.

"I found him!"

I sighed in relief and exhaustion. "Great. Where?"

I heard silence on the other end for a while. "Well, that's complicated. You both probably need to see this." She said she'd find us and pick us up.

When we were all in the car, she took us just little ways from Lauren's. In the middle of the road of was a large crowd. In in the middle of that, was the 'dead' guy.

Slamming the doors shut, we ran to the gathering. The guy was yelling about witches and demons. I was mentally yelling for him to shut up.

Poppy's eyes were worried but her face said she was mad. Beyond mad. Pissed. "Poppy. You ok?"

Her head swerved to me. "Okay? Do I look okay? This-this-punda is spouting blasphemy. I'm not that bad! And witches do not ride broomsticks anymore! We ride-mmppf!"

Lauren quickly covered her mouth. "Shut it Poppy! Do want to give you and Essie away?"

Poppy shook her head and Lauren took her hand away. I stretched up to get a better look. "We need to get him away from this crowd. And then...ya know."

The two nodded and we split. Weaving through, I could smell them. I quicky stuck my head up, quickly looking over the crowd when I spotted them. Demons. My brothers. Sighing and cursing what ever God is there, I ran to find the other two before they saw me.

It wasn't hard to find Poppy in her bright pastels, and Lauren was just a few feet from her. "Guys we have to go. Someone else wants him just as bad as we do."

"Who?" They asked in unison. Poppy stood on her toes to look and then came back down, her face annoyed. "Oh come on! How did they find him so quickly? They are usually so much slower."

Lauren still looked confused. "What are you two talking about?"

Poppy and I answered at the same time. "Demons."

She nodded in understanding. We slowly started to make our way back to the van. We were only two feet away when I heard an annoyingly familiar voice.
"Ester Tzor! Turn around and get back here."

My feet quit moving as I stared at the sky. Thanks alot. Turning I put on my best smile. "Hello Norman."

His face was as ugly as I remembered. "Essie Tzor. It has been so long. We've GOT to stop meeting like this you know."

I let out a strained chuckle. "Well you did kidnapped me Fuckboat."

His grin fell. "That is Lord Fuckboat to-nevermind. What are you doing here with a witch and human?" His eyes held disgust as they ran over my friends.

Poppy moved next to me. "Who's this Essie? A lesser cac-ceann?" Her voice was thick with sweetness, which just added to the insult. Lauren snorted behind me. Norman glared at her and Poppy. "I am Lord Norman Love. A higher known demon then your friend here. She is my underling, or used to be anyway." The demons around him laughed. "Now what are you three doing here?"

I shrugged. "Just trying to get our dead body back. No big deal."

Love's eyes widened in surprise as he pointed at the guy in the middle of the crowd. "Him? You killed him?"

"Well Poppy did."

His shoulders moved as he let out a scoff. "Didn't do a very good job, did ya? Not the best of witches huh?"

Poppy ran her tongue over her teeth. "Better than some second-class demon."

One of his lackeys started towards us, but was stopped by his Lordship. "Now now children. Let's all play nicely, yeah? No need to hurt anyone else."

I held Poppy back from cursing the demon in front of us. "So why are you here Norman?"

He shrugged. "This and that. Stuff for the Big Man. You know how it is."

"So why do you need him?"

His lips curled to a smirk. "Why tell you? You're no longer on the need to know basis are ya? So just run along home with your pets."

Lauren stepped to my other side. "We're not her pets! Why don't you go home?"

Love and his manservants laughed. "My my my, what a fiesty creature. Quite fascinating. But I'm afraid we don't have time to play today."

Throwing out his hand, Lauren was launched back into the car, crushing the hood and knocking her out. He then snapped his fingers, and Poppy was gone in a puff of smoke. His eyes then trained to me. "And what about you? Should I get rid of you too?"

My mouth formed a snarl as my pupils constricted. "So help me Norman I will boil your teeth and make pottery from your bones! Bring Poppy back and leave us alone!"

Norman's eyes wide for a moment before settling back down. "Now now now, all I did was get rid of the pests. You should be thanking me. They reeked of despair and patheticness."

I let out a low growl. "Bring her back. Now."

He let out an unbelieving laugh. "Come on Essie! You're still that terrifying demon I knew so long ago. Come back with us. I'm sure he'll lift the ban if you just apologize. You can go back to who you were instead of hanging around them. We can go back to who we used to be."

"You still don't believe me, do you? About what happened that night?"

"Of course not! Everyone knows that would never happen. It's just an old superstition to scare new demons into behaving correctly, you know that."

I let out a snort. "He really has you wrapped around his fat finger. I am not now or ever going back with you. Now bring her back!"

He sighed and snapped his fingers, bringing Poppy back. By that time, I heard Lauren awake with a groan and stand besides me once more. "Fine. But know my offer will stand. Farewell, dear Ester."

With one more snap, he and his doormats all disappeared. Poppy gave out a sharp sigh. "Well, that was professional."

Lauren put her hand on my shoulder. "You alright Essie? You're eyes are still contracted."

I hesitated as I nodded. "Yeah. Give me a minute. They'll go back to normal in a minute."

We looked past the crowd to see Norman already grabbed our guy. Mad and disappointed, we got back in the van.

The ride was silent except for the radio playing silently and Lauren snoring in the back seat. The sun was just barely coming over the horizon, birds waking up and singing. Poppy and I carried Lauren back into her house when we got there. Gently setting her on the couch, we made our way back to the vehicle. I could tell Poppy was exhausted. She may be a witch, but she wasn't immune to sleep.

"Hey, let me drive. You can sleep at my house."

She silently nodded and pulled over so we could switch seats. Once she didn't need to worry about watching the road, she passed out, drool already falling out of her pastel pink lips. I didn't notice what a pretty color it was against her dark skin.

Norman's words were bouncing in my head. Go back to being a mindless minion? The benefits were nice, sure, but having some dumb corporate drudge telling me what do did not sound pleasing.

Plus, what would happen to Poppy and Lauren?