Warning: Broken Wills

Grabby struggled against the wet coils locking his arms behind his back. Injured wings attempted to flare open only to get smacked. He flopped like a struggling fish.

“Let me go! I did nothing wrong! aaawwrr!”

Darius separated the imp’s fingers with swipes of his claws. The black claw on the imp’s index finger shone glossier than the others. Darius pinched it between the sharp points of his claws. It turned counter-clockwise.

“Murderer! That artifact is keeping me alive!” Grabby screamed, “If you remove it from my finger, I’ll die! Haven’t you already murdered enough innocents!”

“Take it,” gurgled from the restraining coils of water.

Darius stopped, “I can’t risk it. He doesn’t deserve to die. There are artifacts that work that way after they’ve attuned with a master.”

“He deserves death,” gurgled the water.

Darius screwed the claw back tight against Grabby’s finger.

The imp breathed an audible sigh of relief.

“No, we’re not doing that,” Darius said, “You realize that he might be the only way you can hope to ever make things right?”

Grabby made a sound, but then cut it short. The lights flickered. Anxious gribbles peered from behind rusty steel beams high in the rafters.

A steady groan rumbled through his flaming muzzle. Darius retrieved a roll of duct tape from his black leather satchel. It balanced on a single claw, rotated like a thick plate, tossed in the air, and then grabbed. It opened with a resounding Zrrrrrrrrrrrrrp!

Small coils of water held Grabby’s finger in place while Darius sealed the sticky portion to purple skin. Tape rolled until it sealed the claw in a thick glove. It crisscrossed over the palm and then around the wrist. Sharp claw sliced another long strand of duct tape. Water retreated while Darius forced the imp’s wrists behind his back and wrapped them until they were firmly pushed together. Stubby fingers pushed together as Darius wrapped them in tape mittens.

Zrrrrrrrrrrrrp!

Legs were next. Darius made sure to tape the ankles firmly together. Then he wrapped tape around the body so that Grabby’s wings couldn’t move. He stood up to take a look at his handywork. Tape rolled around Darius’s finger as Grabby squirmed on the dirty floor.

Helicopters buzzed outside.

“You won’t get away with this! My clients are very powerful dragons!”

The mop retracted its tendrils.

“I don’t think he’ll be going anywhere anytime soon,” Darius squatted next to the imp. A claw came dangerously close to Grabby’s eye, “If I let you free somewhere, how can I trust that you aren’t going to make trouble for me?”

“Ha, it’s all falling apart for you, isn’t it? Maybe you should have thought about that before you went and committed violence!”

Fist pounded the floor.

Grabby flinched against dust being flung at his eye.

“It wasn’t supposed to happen like that. It was a test run of a low security bank. It was supposed to be an easy job!”

“Okay, okay big guy, calm down. Take a deep breath. Maybe we can negotiate. I just want to go back to my library and run my business without crimes being traced back to it.”

Darius grimaced as he clutched his stomach with one hand while holding the mop in the other, “What about your crimes?”

“What crimes! I’m a law-abiding citizen!”

A boot arched back for a kick, came forward, and stopped inches in front of Grabby’s clenched eyelids.

“This mop Grabby, this mop was a sentient being with a life and a family. It doesn’t belong in this world. And from what I’ve seen, you had not a second thought about turning her into an object you could sell to some messed up rich dragons. Am I wrong Grabby!?”

Grabby’s chest heaved, “I didn’t break the law. It’s a service only I can provide. Do you even know what happens to imps when they become homeless? Do you know who winds up a delicacy on your menu!? I’m doing what I must to survive! I was even kind about it; I made sure to cure the items I found before listing them.”

“Don’t even give me that line of garbage!”

The mop quivered, “Cured?”

“What do you mean by cured?”

“It’s not a big secret. Imps cure a transferred object by sealing it with another object imbued with magical dampening properties. With enough time, the consciousness fades out of existence and leave the object with most of its powers intact. It’s the only ethical thing to do, otherwise, you end up with dangerous items with a mind of their own, like that mop.”

“You essentially break their wills,” Darius growled.

The mop quivered again, a brilliant haze of bright blue lined its threads, “Lilly?”

Darius tilted his head slightly and whispered, “You never told me about that one. I’m a bit disappointed in you,” he raised his voice at the imp, “Zenobia says you made a deal with her friend. You were supposed to take only her, but something went wrong.”

“The spellbook? Eghhhh, don’t remind me,” the imp rolled on his back and stared at the ceiling, then it squinted slightly with its eyelids curling upwards at the edges, “So what? Maybe I did make a deal with her. She was sick and tired of being upstaged by her rival. I’m pretty sure only one of you was supposed to disappear, but I suppose poor Lilly had some last-minute regrets.”

The mop glowed a brilliant blue as Darius struggled to maintain his grip on the handle.

The sounds of helicopters continued. One flew high overhead.

“Calm down Zenobia, he’s playing with your emotions. If you let him manipulate you like that you’re going to end up cured.”

Slowly, with a demonstration of effort that bulged the blood vessels under his scales, Darius managed to wait out her outburst. He growled at Grabby, “You really are a disgusting imp. There’s no hope for you. Perhaps I should do it. Give me one reason not to.”

“Gahhh! You would strike down a defenseless prisoner!”

The helicopter lowered. The vibrations from the rotors rumbled the metal warehouse. Darius put the fat of his palm against his forehead, “We gotta get out of here.”

A baritone voice amplified by loud speakers burst through the seams of the building, “This is the Eastern Capital Police. We have the building surrounded. Come out of the front gate with your hands up and behind your back within five minutes or we’re coming in.”

He pulled the cap out of his leather satchel and pulled it firmly over his mane. The satchel clicked shut, then his left hand wrapped the handle.

“They don’t know who I am, only where I am. Imp, I’m making my exit. If you know what’s good for you, you never saw my face. Otherwise, I won’t be able to hold back a very angry woman that wants you dead.”

Darius waved the mop in a circled. Waves of liquid came out in a rippling effect in front of him.

“W-what are you doing!” Grabby screamed.

“Escaping. No worries, nobody is going to die.”

“That’s suicide, give yourself up!”

An arc of water crashed against the corrugated sheet garage door. Darius walked toward the hole. Rust-stained water splashed against officers and their vehicles. The broken arc of door clattered against the cement. A blockade of patrol cars and swat vans silently greeted him. They cut holes all across the barbed wire fence.

“Suspect spotted at the southern face!”

Darius raised the mop. Ocean burst upwards in a fountain behind the police formation. He swung left. The geyser burst into rushing waves. Police vehicles groaned as water lifted them. They tumbled with the water until they jammed in a pile. No shots were fired. Arms of water rose from the wave. They lifted officers out of harm’s way. Precise water jets surgically destroyed the internal mechanisms of their firearms.

Several sniper sights were aimed at the suspect’s head. But they followed the orders to hold their fire.

A bubble formed around Darius as crashing waves swept over him.