Guardian

[The Diamond God]

Ivan Van Veen

At this point, Van was dying to know who’d ordered Liana for him, not believing for one wit that she was a demon who resided in his newly stolen wrist-watch. Stranger things have happened here. But to ask would be crass; a thing he would never be caught being. This whore is a strange one yet. He pulled his hand off the butt of his pistol and out of his jacket.

“My very own servant. For how long?”

Van did not mind a so called “girl” protecting him so long as she could do her job. This was the twenty-first century; the Slav liked to think of himself as Enlightened, as did everyone else. An equal opportunist merchant of death. He frowned at Liana when she began to mutter under her breath. Van’d gone a little hard of hearing after a bout with the pox as a child and refused to wear a hearing aide; it was a matter of pride, to be seen without such a weakness to him. Usually he could fake along with all that he couldn’t directly hear, supplementing somewhat with lip-reading; Van was having a hard time with Liana though. He chalked it up to him not knowing her well yet, rather than the true cause: he wasn’t all that great at supplementing.

“What was that? Speak up, Liana; I can’t abide those who mutter.”

 

[The Diamond God]

Ivan Van Veen

Van stares at Liana, stepping back from from her reflexively as she moved closer to him. 'Until I die?...'A threat? Just who is this girl? If Van was uncomfortable before, he was down right spooked when Liana floated his gun away then handed it back. Van gingerly accepted the weapon back, and checked the chamber before holstering it again.

"What do you mean, since the last time you've been around?

 

[The Diamond God]

Ivan Van Veen

Van rubbed at his arm, where it was being irritated by some flying pest or another. Damn bugs. They were everywhere in Little Oddessa, Van's resident town. He was feeling remarkably confused as his very stable, if chaotic, life was being roughly shoved out of its comfort zone. She lives in a watch? Where else do these djini's live? Street lamps? He cleared his throat, his New Yorker accent coming out stronger then ever.

"How come I've never heard of this before? Djinis living in mundane items? Is there a limit to your power?"

 

[The Diamond God]

Ivan Van Veen

She has a point. Van's strong point was not in history, much less lore; he preferred to keep his mind in the Here and Now, not in the dusty There and Then. It tended to be distracting, and then when you were distracted, you were killed.

"You have to take in nutrients? Are you still bound by the laws of nature?"

Code for, "what kind of powers do you have?" A vaguely idiotic question, until you take into account that Van was chatting in the streets of the Neutral Zone with a demon that came out of his newly acquired silver wrist-watch like nothing was the matter. In the back of his mind, Van wondered why no one bothered to glance in their direction when Liana stepped from her portal.

 

[The Diamond God]

Ivan Van Veen

Some delicious twinge twisted through Van's gut when he heard Liana's laugh. Not discomfort per say, but not exactly lust, either. This demon of mind is an odd bird. But this was a step in progress as Van saw it; he was already starting to think of Liana as "his." Next I'll be expecting a nice, good ******** from her, followed by a five course dinner. The thought made Van's lips turn up at the corners; a private joke.

"Only two?"

A kind of ripe. I'm sure she's extremely powerful, but only two main powers? Van reached into another pocket and pulled out two smokes, offering one to Liana. He was a great many things these days; a rude gentleman did not fall under his list of things." He leaned close to Liana' tightly controlled ball of fire, and lit up his f** off of it.

"Smoke? If I have anymore questions, I'll let you know."

Van glanced around the small intersection for the umpteenth time that hour. Dmitri is late again. Figures.

 

[The Diamond God]

Ivan Van Veen

He ran his eyes thoughtfully over the cute girl standing before him. A young one? She doesn't look a day over eighteen, yet she's claiming to not have been out in the world for more then thirty years? How queer. He look a long pull on his f** before speaking, his words becoming entwined in the dark smoke.

"And just how old are you, drug?"

Van shrugged. Why worry about something that could possibly kill him twenty, thirty, forty years down the line when there were so many things that could kill him today, that hour, that minute, even. If Van had any sense of extensive and prolonged self-preservation, he would not have been in the line of work he currently was thriving in; Van would've found someway to skip town, to get out of Little Oddessa. Others had managed it, why not him?

"'These binds?' You mean your rules, da? Afraid I'll die too soon, and you'll be entrapt back into the watch before you can so much as taste the s**t they call 'food' around here? Don't be; I'll live for a while yet. I'll be alive long after my friends are all dust in the ground."

The boast was probably a true one; Van's life had been full of suspiciously lucky things, besides the few obvious negative set backs. His hearing, for one; his buisness associates for another. Van flashed a winning smile to Liana, his first since she'd appeared nigh on ten minutes previous.

 

[The Diamond God]

Ivan Van Veen

"Shouldn't you be busy trying to wrestle away this delicious cigarette then? Instead of just puffing along side me, da?"

As if to prove a point, Van took a long pull of his tar filled "candy." The emotional binding to him hit Van as odd. It didn't seem like something that a demon would be forced to be subjected to. He flicked away the glowing ash at the end of his cigarette with a disdainful flicker of the wrist.

"You're forced to care about the person you're bound to?"

 

[The Diamond God]

Ivan Van Veen

"And I thank you for that; I would hate to trade my cigarettes just for little ol' you. Not a fair trade."

Van scratched his cheek lightly and shook his head. Interesting prospect. Must follow up. She looks like she'd be good in the sack, not too slutty, not to dirty. Just right. Privately, Van (as did most men to some degree or another) prided himself on his choices of sampled tarts.

"I'm waiting for someone. You've probably spooked him off."

He made a face. Vitally, I'll kill your a**. He'd never been this late before. Van rubbed his head lightly.

"Never mind. Let's just go. If he wants me, he knows where to find me. Try to stay close to me; women tend to get snatched in these parts of town."

Without another word, Van turned and started back towards the edge of the Neutral, ignoring the signs on the edge of the border, warning them that they were now entering the free-fire zones.