The Drawbacks of Humanity

After a few calls on his ancient cell phone, a team of men appeared at the gates of Spine Tap Publishing to clear the area of demons. While the company had a license to summon for research reasons, the keeping of demons as well as the ingestion of demon blood remained highly illegal. During the fuss of twenty armored men standing around in a circle in an attempt at banishing the gluttony demon, Tibias, Keera and Royal slipped back into the building. As it had yet to be scrubbed clean, the building could still very well contain some dangerous traps and a few lesser demons and undoubtedly some imps.
Once inside the dreary building once again, Keera and Royal turned to face Tibias with twin looks of incredulity etched upon their faces.
"What is wrong with you?" Keera whispered harshly to the man, who was leaning cockily against the inner brick wall. When no answer was forth coming she continued, "You could have been killed Tibias,"
"Please Keera, I've been doing this for much longer than you have. Indecently, I knew what I was doing," He flashed a smile at her, one that caused her worry, because she could only see plain arrogance in it. He turned to Royal, "You were too slow, I only incapacitated him, I had no need to worry about Cathburn, you know as well as I that he is only human,"
"I'm sorry, but did you just call her Keera?" Royal's eyes were wide as he looked at Tibias. His pale skin seemed to glow in the dim light of the hallway. Actually, it was glowing, albeit faintly, and as Royal watched, it stopped glowing entirely.
"So what if I did?" Tibias said weakly before he crumpled to the ground before either of the two could catch him.
Keera shook his shoulders gently, praying that he was not hurt badly. Tibias looked up at her with a tired expression across his face before he accepted Royal's hand and was pulled to his feet. He pushed Royal and Keera's steadying hands away and attempted to take a few steps on his own before stumbling into the wall.
Keera rushed up to him and wrapped on of his arms around her neck and supported the exhausted man.
"Tibias, what happened?" She asked quietly into his mess of hair, helping him walk down the hallway, Royal slightly behind could not hear her.
"I was a little more than human for a few moments," He smiled again, his usual self-depreciating one, "I accidentally licked my lips after you got a smattering of demon blood on me," he chuckled weakly.
They continued onward in silence, even Royal was quiet until they were once again outside Cathburn's office. Royal opened the door, Keera and Tibias followed. Keera sat Tibias down behind Cathburn's desk, where his weary but experienced hands fluttered through the ordain papers that littered it. He wrinkled his nose at the unorganized mess before dragging his hand along the underside of the dark cherry wood drawer. His fingers caught on a tiny catch and he pressed his nail into it, hearing a faint click.
Tibias looked at Keera and winked, causing her breath to catch in her throat thinking he was once again under the influence of demon blood. Her worries were quickly squashed when Tibias brought his hand up to reveal a once hidden box with an old tome, far older than the book that was currently sitting upon Kole's desk.
"I think we may have found the book we were looking for," he said, "Mr. Holligan, if you could please contact Kole, I would very much appreciate it," Tibias gingerly placed the tome on the messy desk, as Royal stepped out of the room to use his brand of overly dramatic magic, since Kole was not fond of carrying a cellular phone about with him. Once the door was closed Keera quickly stepped over to the desk and bent over it to look Tibias directly in the eyes.
"I can't believe you of all people would be so dumb!" she scolded quietly, searching his blank expression for any hint of apology or sorrow. Her eyes lingered on his blind one for a moment too long and she turned her face away quickly.
She always tried to avoid looking for too long. It reminded her that the humans she once and still was sworn to protect could be so utterly and completely horrid. Tibias was not born blind, and the angry scars that circled his left eye were no accident.
"It's addictive," she said quietly, Tibias was still silent, "I'm sure you know that Tibias," when he still did not answer, she turned to face him again, this time there was apology written plainly across his face.
"I did not think you cared so much Ms. Trean," he said emotionlessly, a trick he had picked up after so many years spent next to Kole's side. He knew if he let any emotion break through he would loose all control he had, and that was something that was very dangerous right at that second.
Keera did not have the time to respond with more than a look of confusion before the lean figure of Kole stepped out from behind the door.
"Hello Keera, Tibias," he nodded to the man who was clearly ready to pass out before striding over to touch his shoulder. He turned back to Keera, "I trust you can make it back to the office on your own? Bring Royal with you, fly if you must," he said before he and Tibias slipped into a shadow and transported back to the office.


Kole turned the switch on the small self heating tea pot while Tibias quite literally the floor. Kole allowed the man to simply lay there for a few minutes while keeping his aura of cold away from both Tibias and the tea. He did not usually care, and even now he did not. Kole knew that if Tibias were to succumb to the effects of demon blood, he would not only have to find a new partner, but he would most likely have to kill the only man who could keep him in a tentative favor with the council.
Kole disappeared for a few moments before returning with a cane. A small amount of demon blood ingested by a man could do horrors on his body. Demon blood enters the blood stream and as long as it courses through the veins of a still living body, the body becomes vastly stronger. In order to keep the body working, it needs the blood. The reason it was so addictive was because even a small drop has the same affect as a large amount, it is simply the matter of how long it lasts. The human body was not meant to harbor such evil in it, and like all hearts, it can become corrupted and wish to take the easier route and the one which is "more fun".
Tibias would need the cane because the small amount of demon blood running its course through his veins made him feel like he was dying. His body no longer wanted to keep up the work on it's own, the can would be helpful for a little while.
Kole pulled Tibias up to his feet where he swayed unsteadily.
"Go make yourself some tea, Tibias," Kole said dryly, handing him the cane, "Get yourself presentable. You are upsetting the underlings."
"Yes, of course," Tibias said, walking slowly to the tea pot.
"You know Tibs, we still need a human on our team,"
"But you will never experience the drawbacks of humanity Kole," he said pouring a cup of tea.