Rede shrank back at the sight. The demon did indeed have four arms; he also seemed to have a second torso extending from the buttocks of his front legs to a rear set of legs. Rede blinked as he realized that the demon was not only completely naked, but that it was rather frighteningly endowed — twice! Rede wrenched his eyes away from that sight to note that the demon had green, insectlike wings on his back that were moving gently back and forth.
As the demon entered the room, Rede puzzled over the fact that its hands were empty. There were no papers, no pipe, no plume, nothing in the demon’s hands. He glanced out the door to see if the papers were on the floor. There was nothing there; perhaps they were on the other side of the door.
Rede’s eyes came back to the demon as it made its way over to him, flashing a very creepy grin. Rede was not sure what the demon was going to do. Probably disembowel him, or perhaps take him back to the Storm Lord army. He wasn’t sure which he’d prefer at the moment: short-term, agonizing pain followed by death, or a long miserable life as a monstrous predator.
The demon stuck out his lower right hand. “Nice to meet you, Rede. My name is Tisdale, but my friends call me Tizzy. You may call me Tizzy!”
Rede stared at him, blinking. He tentatively reached out to shake the demon’s hand, being careful not to cut himself on its razor-sharp claws. The demon’s grasp was surprisingly dry and quite warm. Concentrating on the handshake, Rede at first didn’t notice the demon’s other upper hand reaching for his neck until the demon’s forearm brushed against his cheek. Rede lurched, trying to pull away as a nasty metallic screeching sound assaulted his ears.
Suddenly Rede was falling over, down to the floor. The demon’s hands were free and clear of him; one of them held the metal collar that he had been wearing, which was now pinched open.
Tizzy dropped the collar and chain on the bench and turned toward the door. “Come along now. Those guards will eventually come back and I’m so munchy, I might have to eat them.” The demon gestured at Rede to follow him.
Rede scrambled to his feet, his legs stiff and aching, and followed the demon out of the cell. He glanced behind the door, but saw no papers or pen. The demon gestured for Rede to come up alongside him as he marched them towards the exit.
As Rede came forward, he noted that the demon was lighting his pipe with a small flame which shot from the thumb on the hand not holding the pipe. He was not sure where the pipe had come from; it had not been there in the cell.
The demon’s lower left hand suddenly appeared in front of him with a small tube of rolled-up paper. Each end of the paper tube was twisted shut, presumably to keep something inside the tube.
“Smoke?” the demon asked after taking a big puff on his pipe.
“Uh, no thanks?” Rede said tentatively, not wanting to insult his demon rescuer.
Tizzy shrugged. “Are you sure? It’s a great stress reliever, and according to my records, you’ve been under a lot of stress recently.”
“I’m good, thank you,” Rede said shaking his head.
“Too bad! Your loss.” Tizzy shrugged. “But that’s okay, we have plenty of time yet for you to relax and have a good smoke once we get you settled in.”
“Uhm, so where are we going?” Rede asked.
“Well, first we are going to the Isle of Doom here on Nysegard,” Tizzy said. He turned to smile at Rede, wiggling his eyebrows. “And then I’ll take you on a tour of the Abyss!”
Rede stopped in tracks. The demon was not taking him to the Storm Lords? Instead he was dragging him to the Abyss? He was literally going from the frying pan into the fire!
Tizzy reached out to pull Rede forward. “Come, come, it’s not that bad. Plenty of mortals visiting these days! Vaselle is even making these nifty personal air conditioners. I think you two will get along. Given how nervous you seem, I’m betting you and my accursed master, Gastropé, will get along as well.”
Tizzy paused for a moment. “But if I were you, I’d be a wee bit circumspect around Jenn. She’s got these crazy ideas about good and evil, and I suspect she’ll think that all dhampyrs are evil.” He started moving again, pulling Rede along. “So come along, don’t worry! You’ll love being Doomed!”