Loona was a little surprised an actual wild fox befriended a human child such as Cody. Admittedly, it was kind of cool, but a little concerning to her as well. She didn't know if Tod had rabies or not, and didn't want her new friend to get bitten by the fox. Alas, the vulpine was being very friendly like a regular dog would be like, but it was still a wild animal by nature. Loona went up to Cody and asked: "So this is Tod?"
"Yep. I know it looks weird, but, I've known him before mom and dad died. Every week, he likes to come to our house and eat leftover ham or steak from dinner."
The female hellhound looked at Tod again, and the fox gave her a curious look, tilting his head to the right in an adorable manner. "He didn't attack you, did he?"
"No! Never. He loves me, my mommy and daddy, and my brother." Cody said. "i know he's wild, but I wish I could keep him as a pet. But dad said it wouldn't be right, because she might have family out there in the forest."
"Well, you're dad's not wrong. He might be a friendly little bastard, but he's still a wild animal. You'll never know when he can get rabies, and it will not be very pretty, kiddo."
"Don't worry. My mom told me what animals with rabies look like."
"Sounds like your parents are raising you well, Cody." Loona smirked. "What's he doing here anyway?" Cody looked at Tod again, an d was met with another friendly kiss from his tongue, right on his nose affectionately, making him laugh. Even though Loona is not very fond of cute things, she thought this moment was just to precious for her.
While patting the fox' head, Cody guessed: "Maybe he just wanted to see me again. Or wanted to see mom and dad?"
Tod walked up to the house rubble and sniffed at some burnt debris, and turned back to the human child, making a few sad whimpers with his head down. For a fox, he could tell that one of the most terrible things had happened recently. Suddenly, he caught a scent, and began sniffing the rubble piles more serious than before. Cody and Loona were curious and looked to see what was happening. "What's going on with him? Is he on catnip?"
"No. I think he smells something." Cody speculated. Tod was still burying himself in a pile burnt heap, and his tail was wagging as he was trying to dig his nose in it, and he was a little unresponsive, with his tail being completely still. "Maybe he caught a mouse?"
Loona rolled her eyes slightly and muttered: "That I can believe."
"What's that?"
"Nothing, sweetie." Loona lied.
Suddenly with a plop, Tod pulled out what appeared to be a pink stuffed animal. Some kind of pig on four legs in a piggy-bank style stance with floppy ears and black eyes, running up to Colin with this toy in his mouth, dropping it on Cody's feet. The child recognized it and immediately picked it up. "Patrick!" he exclaimed with joy.
"Stuff animal?"
"Uh-huh. He's like a teddy bear, but he's a pig, not a bear."
Tod just sat in front of him, looking happy and was happier to feel him rub his head. "Thank you, Tod." he looked at his piggy and suddenly broke down into tears again. Both Hellhound and red fox went up to Cody to console him with Tod gently nuzzling his face to try to make him better. Looking at him, Cody remarked: "Well, at least you still have your family. Thanks again, Tod."
The red fox nodded to him, possibly telling him: "You're welcome" to him. Everything that survived the fire was present and accounted for, and Loona grabbed the book, and performed the ritual on the ground.
"Ready to go back?"
"Yep. I got everything I need. Let's go."
"Cool. Take me hand, kid." the boy gently grabbed Loona's left hand and they both went back into Hell in Blitzo's house. "Blitz, we're back." said Loona in a sing-song voice.
"How was it, Loony?"
"Stop calling me that, Blitz." Loona growled. "I hate it when you call me that sometimes. And, it was fine. We managed to get Cody's stuff here."
"And some nice burgers." the boy added
Blitz made a chuckle and said: "Good. Good. They don't call it Burger King for nothing. Wanna watch some TV, Cody?"
"Sure. But first, I need to wash Patrick."
"Who's Patrick?"
"My pig." the child showed the demon his stuffed animal, still covered in soot a little bit. "I hope the stains don't stick." He went into the sink and began washing his stuffed animal. Luckily, the stuffed piggy didn't have very bad stains on it, and the soot easily washed off, looking as clean as a whistle. Loona turned on the TV for Cody and Blitz pulled her away a little bit.
"Sorry to pull you away, Loona, but I got some news." said Blitz
"What news?" she then made a gasp of happiness. "Rihana got killed or died?"
"No... I wish, but now. Stolas wants to have an audience with us. He has a special contract and he wants to meet the boy."
"Really? What if he tries any... funny shit with the kid?"
"Oh, don't worry. I'm sure he won't... mostly. Besides, I'll make sure he never does any funny shit with that kid as long as I'm around. Or Octavia is around."
"Good point. That guy is just so creepy as fuck sometimes. What is going on between him and his wife anyway?"
"Probably only got married because of royalty and not out of true love. Don't tell Octavia I said that though. She kinda hates me enough as it is." Blitz said
"No prob. You didn't hear it from me."
"Good! I knew I can always count on you!" he hugged Loona once again, making her growl like a painted dog or wolf about to attack, and her teeth bared. She was certainly not a hugger (when it comes to Blitzo, but if it's Cody, or a handsome male hellhound like Tex, she can make an exception.). The boss demon saw that she could kill him at any given moment, and she opened her mouth. "Sorry! I can't help it. I adopted you after all."
Loona just rolled her eyes and said: "Whatever." she looked at the boy while he was still glued to the TV, then back to her adopted dad. "So, when are we going to that rich palace anyway?"
"In about... thirty minutes. But hey, we'll make sure that Stolas doesn't do any shit with Cody. Besides, maybe Octavia might like him."
"I'll tell him." the hellhound went over to Cody and sat next to him. "Hey, listen kiddo," she said to him, "We're going to see Stolas and his family. He has an important mission for us. Would you like to meet him? Because he wants to meet you."
The boy looked a little nervous, and said: "he won't eat me, will he?"
"No, no, no. Of course not. He's friendly... in a weird way. But like I said, he's very rich and rich people do weird stuff. You'll be absolutely fine, Cody. Trust me. You can trust me, right?" the human boy was thinking in his train of thought and he nodded a yes, considering the fact that she saved him from the fire. Loona smiled and she said: "Good. We'll leave in about thirty minutes"
"OK, Loona."
Cody watched a little more TV, and he put his teddy pig on the coffee table before he got in the van with Loona and Blitz, where Moxxie and Millie were sitting in the back. "Hi Cody. You feeling OK?" asked Moxxie."
The boy smiled and said: "Yeah, i'm OK, Moxxie."
"Good. Why don't you sit in between me and my wife?"
"Here's i'll scoot over." said Millie, doing just that. "Here you go, sweetie-pie. Nice and warm for ya."
"Thank you."
Blitz turned on the radio, blaring heavy metal music in the car, much to the annoyance of Moxxie. The poor imp can't catch a break from abuse sometimes. Still, he was a valued member of the team, even though Blitzo can treat him in a shitty way at times. Cody didn't really mind the music, because he listened to this kind of stuff with his dad before the fire. "Isn't this too loud for you?" asked Loona
"No. It's ok. I love heavy metal!"
"Your parents raised you well, Cody." Loona smiled. It was a short drive to the fancy palace that the Goetia prince lived in, and the human boy was impressed at how lively it looked to him, not to mention tall. By the looks of it, this Stolas was certainly, filthy stinking rich. While he was amazed, he was still a little nervous about seeing this rich figure in Hell. He remembered the cross that his parents gave him in case of demon attacks. He followed behind Loona and the other demons to many corridors, which amazed him. many paintings of Stolas and his family were inscribed on the walls in every corridor, and there were some fancy vases and large plants that looked similar to the plants in Little Shop of Horrors.
There was some indistinct yelling in a large room, and it was coming from what appeared to be a parlor. "Come on, Stolas, do you love me or do you not?" said a female British voice
"Of course I do, Stella!" replied a male British voice.
"Tell me the truth."
Blitz and the others entered the room and there revealed to be three Owl demons. Two were adults while the third was a teenager with a beanie, and listening to some gloomy, black metal music on her mp3. "Oh! Blitzy, just the imp of the hour."
"Oh great, another affair is coming on." said the female owl sarcastically.
"No no no! It is not like that, darling."
"Sure it isn't, Stolas."
"Look, they help us a good deal." said the male. "We are one of their best clients after all."
"Fair dinkum." the female rolled her eyes.
The third demon looked and went up to the hellhound. "Hello Loona."
"Hey Via." they both gave each other a fist bump, and they seem to be good friends by the looks of it. "What's up?"
"Trying to survive another crossfire between my folks." Octavia rolled her eyes. She noticed Cody and looked at him, looking a little nervous. "Oh. Hello. Where did you come from?" she bent down on her knees to make better eye contact with him. "You must be the adorable human that we've heard about.
Looking more nervous than ever, Cody said: "Oh please don't eat me." in a whimpered voice. "Especially how owls would eat mice or rats on those nature shows. It looks painful."
Octavia looked confused at what the little boy said. "Eat you? No no no, what gave you such a preposterous idea such as that, little one?"
"Well... this is Hell and... anything can happen." Moxxie said
"That's... a very fair point. Well-made." said Stolas.
"Yes, but we are not that kind of demons." Stella added. "We are far more civilized than any demons that live down here, especially the lower-class imps."
"Still, we have heard about you, boy. No need to be afraid."
"Please come here." said Octavia, holding out her hand to the boy. Cody looked up at Loona, and she nodded a yes, telling him that he can trust her. Cody did just that and took Octavia's hand, walking over to to where one of the large plants were, and he sat down next to Stolas.
"So tell me your name, child."
"Cody." said he
"Well, Cody. What brings you here to hell? What did you commit?"
"I didn't kill anyone." Cody said a little defensively. "I would never do that."
"His parents... didn't survive when his house caught on fire." Blitz explained, sitting in the couch on the opposite where Stolas and his wife were sitting at.
"What?" Stella said. She, her husband, and daughter gave the boy a very sympathetic look and Octavia gently hugged him. "We're... we're sorry to hear that."
"Very sorry, Cody." said Stolas.
"It wasn't my fault. I didn't mean it to happen." Cody explained, shedding a tear from the right side of his face.
"Of course not." said Octavia, gently hugging him on the side. "No one means these things just happen. It was absolutely not your fault."
"No one said it was, my boy." said the patriarch. "Can we get you anything?"
"I don't need anything, your highness. But thanks."
"Please, call me Stolas."
"Well it is fitting he calls us that." said his wife.
"Stella!" Stolas scolded. "Need I remind you of what this child has been through Besides, we don't really have any power over humans."
"True. Point well-taken."
