Half the Demon's Soul (Completed Rough Draft)

Chapter 17

Dexter:

I landed on my feet and hold out my arms. Max falls clumsily out of the portal and I caught him as expected. Avoiding eye contact, I let go of him. Max glared up at me. "What the heck, man?"

I didn't answer, instead I started to walk forward. Looking around I get the gist of where we have landed. "There's a town not far from here. We could make it by sunset if we walk."

"Or...?" Max asks, nudging my side.

"Or you could ride me like a horse." I said with a straight face before realizing what I had just said. I looked at Max to that he was trying not to laugh. "No wait, that came out wrong.I mean, like, you know... uh... yeah."

Max puts his hand on my shoulder. "Yeah I know what you mean. Now come on and turn into the little wolfie I know you are." He teased me in a baby voice.

"Just shut up." I mumbled before changing into my 'werewolf' form.

Max puts his hand over his mouth in attempt to hide his smile. "Oh lookie, it's the big bad wolf." He joked, bursting into laughter.

I snarled at him. "Just get on, we're wasting time."

Max slowly comes up to me and climbs on my back. I make sure he won't fall off before I start running towards the closes Inn. It didn't take long before we made it to the front door and I changed back to my human form. My cloths were slightly ripped, but nothing major.

"Okay, Max, now you have to be careful and stay by my side. I'm saying this because there are some demons that prey on one's like you."

"What do you mean by that?" He said with a hint of irritation in his voice.

"Well you have a human stench to you that normally a half breed would have, but yours is because your powers are sealed." I say, getting irritated that I have to keep explaining everything.

Max finally gave in and stopped asking questions. "Okay then, let's go in and find some allies." Max said as he started to walk to the door of the Inn.

I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "Hold on there. You gotta wait for me."

He throws me an evil glare. "Fine." He groans.

I smirk at him, knowing I had won. I grab his hand as I walk past him. Max freaks out yet again. He yanks his hand from my and... I guess frails his hands around. "What the fuck man?"

"Stay close. So I don't lose you. Did you really think that just walking close to me would keep you safe, I need to make sure no one scoops you up."

He glares at me and reluctantly grabs my hand. Max looks away and I can see him blushing slightly. I'm just gonna ignore it, probably the best thing to do at this point. I tighten my grip on his hand and start to walk inside.

As I pushed open the door the strong smell of alcohol hit my nose. "It's one of those Inns..." I grumbled under my breath.

I pulled Max along with me as I quickened my pace to the nearest free table. We get to the table and sit in the wooden chairs, but I still don't let go of Max's hand. Looking over the bar portion of the Inn there weren't that many demons here. With only one female cat bartender, four out of the ten tables having one or two demons, and some loners standing around, it was pretty empty.

Max leaned closer to me. "Hey, what's with that guy that's looking at us?" He whispered to me.

I followed his gaze to see a dessert demon. He had scales that went from a dark Sandy color to chard black at the ends. His yellow burning gaze was fixated on me. "That is Kahanamahad. He's a dessert demon and his alternate form is a snake. Should be a rat if you ask me."

I glance over at Max when I feel him staring at me. He was so confused. I sigh heavily. "That snake is the... let's say leader, of the black market in the demon world. I hate to admit it, but he is the one we need to talk to if we want to find anyone without wasting precious time."

"Okay, I guess I understand. So are we going to go talk to him?" Max asked.

I sigh. "I guess... why delay the inevitable?" I answered, looking back at Max. "Okay then, let's go."

We get up and make our way over to Kahanamahad. The snake stares at our interlocked hands as Max and I sit down in the seats across from him. "I sssee that the oh ssso great, Dexsster, hasss a new play thing. It sssure hasss been awhile." The snake hissed.

I looked at Max to see that he was blushing madly. I stiffened a smile and brought my attention back to the snake. "My personal time is none of your businesses. I came here because I need to find a group of reasonable strength to help me," I drop my voice to a whisper as I change tongues, "get rid of the Lizard King."

The snake pondered this for a moment. "Perhapsss I could find a group sssuited to your requessst. What'sss in it for me?" He answered in the language of the desert.

"Depending on who you bring me, we'll discuss your payment then." I growled.

He held out his scaly clawed hand. "Than it'sss a deal?" I grasped his hand with my free one, turning it to a paw. His scales caught the fur between my pads and scales were left tangled in my fur. "No backing out." I answered, sealing the deal.