Slight warning for gore and blood.
This one's decently long. I had fun with Amelia here.
"Let's make a deal, Miss Ninomae."
Ina gasps as a new wave of pain flows from the stab wound on her side. The blood soaks the side of her coat, and she's far too weak to do anything about it. Squatting in front of her, as she sits limply against a dumpster, is a blonde-haired girl with cold blue eyes and a fixed, mask-like smile holding a piece of white chalk. The corpse of a dead hellhound lies nearby with a bullet hole in the side of its skull, courtesy of the derringer lying at Ina's side.
"Not one of your summoning deals. No, a true deal. The original kind." The girl whispers, drawing a large circle on the ground around the both of them. She almost looks like some sort of officer sketching out a plan with her plaid hat, coat, and skirt. A detective maybe. "A fair exchange. We each need something right now that the other can provide."
Ina watches hazily as the girl scribbles runs along the side of the circle. With her blurry vision it's hard to tell exactly what she draws.
"You need help with that wound, and I need someone to pose as my summoner so I don't get banished." The girl says, tossing the chalk aside. "It's rather obvious, really. I save your life, and you help me stay on Earth. Sound fair?"
Ina doesn't have much energy to respond, but she does force one word out. "Demon..."
The girl tilts her head, eyes sparkling in cruel amusement. It's hard to believe Ina was chatting news with this woman at a bar less than half an hour ago. "I thought that was obvious. So how about it, Miss Ninomae?" She extends a hand. "Do we have a deal?"
Ina stares at the hand, her vision starting to waver. "I..."
"Come on, no need to talk. Just take my hand. Unless you'd rather bleed out?"
Ina struggles to think of another solution, but even if she wanted help, she would have to navigate her phone. She really has no choice.
With great reluctance, she raises a trembling, bloodied hand, and slots it into Amelia's.
###
Ina's routine starts the same way every day. Get up at six in the morning, brush her teeth, have breakfast, check the news and her email, and then walk to work while trying to figure out which tree her demon is hiding in today.
It's a game of some sort. That's what Amelia says. Ina thinks it's an excuse to torment her. If she finds Amelia before she gets to work, Amelia will follow along without too much fuss. If she reaches work before finding Amelia, well...
Ina glances back and forth, waiting, watching, expecting the hand and the cruel laugh at any second. She slowly creeps towards the entrance to the building, one agonizing step at a time, until she's through the door unhassled.
She breathes a sigh of relief and greets the man at the counter, and waves to a tired Kiara just clocking out from her night shift before walking down the hall to her office.
"Maybe Amelia forgot. Maybe Amelia was busy." That happens sometimes. Ina isn't quite sure what Amelia does on the regular, but she knows she has some sort of life. She opens the door to her office. "Maybe she-"
"Heya Ina."
"Ack-!" Ina fumbles the bag in her hand and nearly drops it. She glares at the blue-eyed devil sitting in her office chair, lazily spinning it in circles while fiddling with one of her pens.
"You really need to look up more." Amelia grins. Ina flushes in indignation, and the demon reclines in her seat, grinning smugly. "So many trees on the way to work you know. What if something dropped on your head? You need to pay attention."
The trees. Of course. Amelia's favourite hiding spot. It's impossible to check all of them. "The only person who's going to drop on my head is you." Ina grumbles, putting her bag next to her desk and turning to the coffee maker.
"Nonsense." Amelia abruptly whispers in her ear. Ina yelps again as hands grab her waist. Damn Amelia and her teleportation! The demon's breath tickles her earlobe. "You need to be prepared for every eventuality, Miss Ninomae."
"That's my concern, not yours." She says firmly, and elbows Amelia to get her to back off.
"Come now, you can't exactly hold up your end of the deal if you're dead." Amelia chuckles. "You devilish little minx, you knew that when we were making our deal all those months ago, didn't you? You tricked me, and now I'm only playing the part I have to."
Ina didn't trick anyone. "I had no say in the wording of the deal. That was all you." Because, you see, Ina was busy bleeding out onto the sidewalk at the time. Also, if anything, Amelia is the devilish one here.
"Ah, but you let it stay like that. You could have argued the wording, but didn't, and now I have to protect you." Amelia sighs dramatically, flopping into the chair again as Ina starts her coffee. "What if some imp gang decides to ambush you? What if someone sets a hellhound on your tail? You need to be prepared! It's like you aren't taking this seriously!"
"I'm taking it more seriously than you. I'm not the one who gets the daylights scared out of me every time I fail." Ina complains.
"As you should if you're not learning what I'm teaching you!" Amelia argues. "Thwarting ambushes is a core skill, Ina!"
It's frustrating how quickly Amelia can flip-flop between formal and menacing to casual and whiny. It's impossible to get a read on her. "Not on my way to work it isn't."
"But it is, after all-" Ina abruptly feels those hands around her waist again. Amelia's voice is low, barely a whisper, and she can hear the grin as she speaks. She can feel Amelia's breath on her neck, and the barest brush of something soft. "-you never know when some hungry demon will decide to find out what you taste like."
Ina whirls around, face bright red, but Amelia is already gone, leaving only a fading laughter behind.
###
Ina never knows when Amelia is or isn't there. Her skill at hiding is unmatched, and that's saying a lot considering Kiara has a demon that can literally turn into shadow. However, she is at the very least consistent in the timing of her mischief. She'll toy with Ina on her commute, and maybe at lunch or after her shift ends, but once Ina gets home again Amelia never bothers her. Ina has no doubt Amelia knows where she lives, and if Amelia can get into the station she can absolutely get into Ina's apartment.
But Amelia doesn't. Ina has had two months of dealing with Amelia, but Amelia has never intruded on her home. Actually, Ina has never seen Amelia get closer than a few blocks. They don't have a proper contract, their deal didn't involve many restrictions, and she can't think of any magical reasons why Amelia wouldn't be able to come close, so it must be a conscious decision.
Naturally, Ina is suspicious. Demons, especially the manipulative kind like Amelia clearly is, rarely offer some sort of politeness without ulterior motives.
It has to be a trick, right?
Or maybe it's not. She can't discount the possibility that this isn't a trick, because Amelia might genuinely be busy. She has a life outside of bothering Ina three times a day… at least Ina assumes she does. After all, Amelia was living on her own before. Probably.
Now that she thinks of it, she actually doesn't know what Amelia did before their run-in in the bar and then the alley where their deal was made. She doesn't know what Amelia does for most of the day. Amelia isn't in… whatever demon realm she's from, like most other demons are.
Maybe she stalks strangers all day, or goes on murder sprees, or-
"Hi!"
"AUGH!" Ina whirls around in shock as Amelia casually pushes her way out of Ina's closet. "Wha- how- why-"
The demon grins smugly. "Words, Ina, words."
"Why are you in my house!?"
"It's an apartment, technically." Amelia says cheerfully, as if Ina doesn't already know that. "Also, I opened your window, hope you don't mind."
Ina glances over her shoulder to confirm that, yes, Amelia did open her window, and then instantly ducks because less than two seconds later something small slices through the air where her head would have been.
"So, like, there's a reason I mentioned the whole 'pay attention to your surroundings' thing." Amelia says cheerfully, as if Ina hadn't just come within two seconds of death. Ina rushes to the window to see who her attacker might be, but there's nothing in sight. "You know, generally you're supposed to move away from the thing that just tried to shoot you."
"Who did that!?"
"Looks like a vrock, judging by the spine. Quite the sniper too." Amelia hums, twirling a thirty-centimeter spine in her hand. It takes Ina a moment to realize that's what was shot at her… and judging by the lack of damage to her wall, Amelia must have snatched it out of the air.
"Why!?"
"Well I might be kind of known in the area." Amelia shrugs. She lifts the spine near her face, studies it then- with a sharp crack- bites down on the spine and breaks off a piece. She chews for a second and scrunches up her face "Poisoned too. Nasty. Anyhow, you haven't exactly been subtle about being my summoner, so that kinda puts a target on your back."
"That would have been nice to know beforehand!" Ina snaps while closing her window. She tries to glare at Amelia, but it's a bit hard when she's chewing on a spine as long as Ina's forearm like it's some sort of candy.
"I was hoping you wouldn't have to know." Amelia says while crunching through the rest of the spine. "Usually I'm pretty good at taking them out beforehand."
"They go after you?"
"Mmm? Yeah. Yeah." Amelia nods absently, swallowing down her 'meal'. "Of course. That too."
"What do you mean 'that too'?"
"I should get after that guy, gotta go." Amelia says with a casual wave, totally ignoring her question. "See you tomorrow. Cute pyjamas by the way."
Amelia vanishes in a flash of red before Ina can shout at her any more, leaving her standing in her bedroom in her pyjamas with no sign that anything even happened.
(It probably says something about her that she's more mortified about being seen in her pyjamas than she is worried about her near-death, but she's a summoner, nearly dying is a daily occurance.)
###
"Upstairs, harrier tactics." Ina orders curtly, gesturing with her derringer to the stairs. "I need a clean shot."
Her imp pack scrambles to obey. Most of the other summoners in their station think she's a bit crazy for having multiple main demons, even if all of them are imps, but Ina would argue the more varied tactics it allows her is worth it.
Besides, she's not much of a fighter herself so the extra bodies are useful. Her derringer doesn't pack much of a punch. She'd use a stronger weapon, but unfortunately she was 'blessed' with dainty wrists that can't handle much recoil without getting sprained.
She creeps up the stairs behind her imp pack, listening to their shrieks and hisses and as they dance around the legion devil she's been sent to take out.
Sucking in a breath and steadying her hand, Ina peers around the corner, carefully lines up her derringer with the legion devil that is swinging frustratedly at her imp pack, and-
One of her imps grabs the muzzle of her derringer and starts rubbing at it, completely throwing off her aim. Ina grits her teeth and tries to swat it away (how did it even get this close? She enforces the two meter rule as much as anyone else) and lines up her shot again, only for the imp to repeat its interruption.
The scuffle, quiet as it is, is enough to catch the devil's attention. He instantly ignores the imps in favor of rushing her. Clearly this one knows the danger of a gun… or the danger of humans in general.
"Imp pack, defend me!" Ina shouts. She rushes a shot that is easily blocked by the devil's shield, and then rushes down the stairs as fast as she can go without tripping. "Aim for his neck!"
She can hear the legion devil crashing down the stairs behind her. She takes a hard left at the bottom of the stairs and bursts out the back door into the backyard. The legion devil is hot on her heels with her imp pack swarming around its head.
While she can't properly outrun the devil, she doesn't have to. A quick weave around some lawn chairs gives her enough space to line up a shot at its leg, too low for the shield to block, and cripple it. Her imp pack suddenly increases their ferocity and viciously sting it to death.
Ina eyes her imps suspiciously. How convenient that they only really started helping when the battle was already won. Maybe it's time to replace them with a new pack that doesn't know as many loopholes. The imps land on the corpse and dance victoriously, but Ina isn't fooled by the token display. They held back, and one managed to use a loophole to interrupt her attempts to shoot.
Being a summoner is naturally dangerous, of course, but what most people don't realize is that the danger of being a summoner comes more from your own demons than it does those you're fighting. The vast majority of summoners are killed by their main demons, and it's not always on the job.
She's so busy watching her imps she almost doesn't notice the second devil until it's leaping over the lawn chair at her, sword poised to stab. Ina just barely rolls out of the way before the sword slams into the ground, cutting through the packed dirt with uncomfortable ease while he imp pack totally ignores the commotion in favor of their victory dance.
"Get-" Ina shouts, only to be cut off by a kick to her stomach. She coughs as she rolls to her feet a second time. She'd try for another shot, but her derringer only has two shots before needing a reload and she's already used both. She can already imagine the scolding she'd get for such a novice mistake. Her gun should always be reloaded at the earliest opportunity until she has confirmed no demons, including her own, are in the area.
But she has more than just a derringer. She slaps the empty gun into a random pocket, dodges a sword swipe while still wheezing, and fumbles her trident-style parrying dagger out of its sheath on her hip.
Yes, it's an archaic weapon. The only reason she has it is because summoner training mandates all summoners learn some form of melee combat and she decided to see how far she could stretch that definition without the government refusing her, but as much as the dagger is a joke she did actually get trained in its use. She figured it was better than learning hand-to-hand with as frail a frame as hers… and that if she ever actually had to use it she was probably dead anyhow so she might as well learn to use something cool.
It's that training that saves her now. She gets her dagger up in time to intercept the next sword swing and deflect it to the side. She can't properly catch the sword in her dagger's teeth thanks to her lack of strength, but that doesn't mean the dagger isn't useful.
"Get him!" Ina snaps at her imps, finally regaining her breath. Her imps instantly leap and scatter into the house, ignoring the legion devil entirely. "Those little… they've been planning this, haven't they? I need to be more careful with my wording."
Her anger has to be pushed to the side for the moment in favor of survival. She slowly backs away, deflecting strikes with her dagger, fully aware of the fence behind her that will inevitably spell her end once she runs out of room to retreat.
"Right, think Ina. You've got a dagger, an unloaded gun, limited space, an angry devil trying to kill you, and disobedient imps inside a house behind him." She frowns, ducking another swipe. "Wait, I can use that."
With a disdainful groan she raises her voice and shouts: "Stop gloating and stab him already!"
Her complaint has the desired effect. The devil instinctively covers their back, expecting her imps to stab them, and Ina takes the opportunity to bolt and hop the fence. Her little deception paid off.
It also gives her a moment to reload her derringer, and with that reload comes salvation. She has just enough distance between her and the devil to spin around, line up a shot, and take out the devil's kneecap followed by a quick shot to the head to execute it.
"No thanks to you little brats." She thinks, glaring at the imps now peeking out of the back door of the house with water bottles and forks in their hands. "'Get him' being interpreted as 'get him something' rather than 'attack', I should have seen that coming. I got careless."
Through gritted teeth, she produces her imps' payment and dismisses them. That's the last time she's going to use them. They've gotten too clever, too dangerous.
A shame there's no such thing as a 'reliable' demon.
###
When she was given this mission, she wasn't expecting it to be complete before she even laid eyes on her target. She also wasn't expecting a familiar face.
"Heya Ina." Amelia says casually, wiggling her fingers hello and smiling with a mouth dripping with blood. Ina never really paid attention to it before, but it's hard to ignore how Amelia's front teeth are all sharply pointed. She has flatter molars at the back, but that hardly makes her less intimidating. If anything it makes her more scary due to the uncomfortable dissonance. "Blood isn't mine. It's his."
She gestures to the demon on the ground, the one Ina has been sent to deal with. It might have been intimidating before with it's armored exoskeleton and the spines sticking out of the back, looking very much like a cross between a giant beetle and a porcupine, but it's significantly less so when it's lying on its back behind a tree with it's throat torn out and the armor around its neck and one of the arms visibly crushed and deformed.
The obvious scrape and puncture marks on the exoskeleton leave little question as to who is responsible, if the blood dripping from the culprit's mouth wasn't obvious enough.
"W-Well." Ina says, surprised at the shakiness of her own voice. It wasn't until she spoke she realized how anxious she felt. Her heart is pounding and her hand is tight on the derringer in her pocket. "I guess you've made my job easier."
"Of course I did. You're my summoner after all." Amelia says as if that's not an obvious lie. She casually leans down, yanks a spine out of the dead demon's back, and then brings it up to her mouth and bites down with a loud cracking noise that makes Ina wince. Amelia then chews contemplatively. "Mmm, pretty dry, and not poisoned. Different from the last one. Shame. Poison had a nice kick to it."
She plucks a few more spines and chews on them like sticks of candy. She uses one of them to swipe some blood off her face, coating the spine in it, then eats the blood-coated spine. Ina has to look away.
"What? No 'thank you'? I'm hurt." Amelia huffs, amusement clear in her tone. "I guess I'll show myself out then. A beautiful woman has rejected me and I shall never recover!"
Despite her nausea, the words catch Ina off-guard. She turns back around to find that Amelia is nowhere to be seen, already having jumped away and leaving Ina with a dead demon.
(She finds three imps, also with their throats torn out, a bit further down the alleyway. Cleanup takes longer than usual.)
###
"Should I be honored? I feel honored." Amelia says, hands behind her head, a shit-eating grin on her face. "Our first mission together! Summoner and demon! A dynamic duo!"
Ina dutifully tries to ignore 'her' demon like any good summoner is supposed to. She's focused on finding the right street.
"I mean, I know the only reason I'm here is because we have to 'maintain appearances' or whatever. A full month without using your main demon? Kinda sus if you ask me."
Oh God. Amelia knows internet slang. How long has Amelia been around to learn that?!
"You missed it, by the way. We passed the turn two lights ago."
Ina groans, pivots on her heel, and starts walking back the way they came.
"I was starting to think you'd never ask for my help." Amelia says. The demon gives a dramatic sigh and swoons against Ina. Ina shoves her off. "Really, I was hurt! We're supposed to be partners in this!"
"Oh, were we? I was under the impression I was forced into it." Ina grumbles.
"Ah c'mon, I saved your life, didn't I? Besides, you had a choice."
"The other option was death."
"Exactly! See? You do understand!" Amelia says with a bright grin. "Clearly you made the right choice then, considering you're still alive and all that."
Ina rolls her eyes. Some 'choice' that was. All she really got out of it was a smug demon who she is now magically and contractually obligated to help.
Still, hopefully Amelia will be more useful than the imp pack she was relying on before. At least Amelia has a vested interest in keeping her alive to maintain the facade of being 'her' demon.
Ina would prefer something more familiar when dealing with hellhounds, but Amelia will have to do. Imps fare poorly against hellhounds anyhow. Their fur can make it hard for an imp's stingers to actually puncture skin and deliver their venom. She doesn't know what Amelia can do exactly, but she's apparently capable of taking down some fairly powerful demons on her own.
The hellhounds have been bothering the farmers for a while, but it's been deceptively hard to pin them down (which you wouldn't expect from giant flaming dogs) as these hellhounds seem to know some simple hit-and-run tactics and drag their kills into the forest rather than eat on-site.
Hellhounds are already deceptively nasty creatures to deal with. Giving them intelligence is not something any summoner wants to deal with.
"Miracle there hasn't been a forest fire." Amelia comments, peering out at the fields of wheat. "Or, like, a farm fire. Field fire? Is there a technical term for it?"
"I don't know." Ina responds curtly, trying to focus on more important things. Her eyes scan the field and the trees beyond for any signs of a furry shape. Hellhounds are a pain to deal with already because they're so animalistic that they will take residence just about anywhere. Most demons have some sort of standards, but not hellhounds. They're dogs, if dogs were evil and set things on fire.
"So, like how does a professional summoner search for things?" Amelia asks, stretching an arm over her head. She yawns while flashing her teeth and transitions it into a grin that sends a chill down Ina's spine. "Do they send their demon to do it because they can't pay attention to their own surroundings?"
"Maybe they could pay proper attention if their demon didn't try to distract them so much." Ina snarks back.
…
Ina glances to the side, fully expecting Amelia's sarcastic response at any moment, only to see that Amelia isn't there. Ina looks all around, but Amelia is just gone.
"She better not have abandoned me. I wish she'd say something before she teleports." Ina thinks. She nervously palms her derringer, abruptly aware of how exposed she is without Amelia's protection. "I bet she's just doing this to make a point."
A loud yelp breaks the quiet of her walk, followed by the guttural snarl of a hellhound, and then another pained yelp. One of the hellhounds dashes out of a wheat field and across the dirt road with blonde quills sticking out of its back as well as one of its rear legs, hobbling its movement.
Amelia strolls out after it at a leisurely pace and gives Ina a casual wave. Whistling calmly, she tugs on a strand of her hair until it's straight, plucks it out, twirls it around her fingers (when did her hair get stiff like that? Ina can see the rest of Amelia's hair bobbing like usual in the wind), and hurls it in front of her. Another pained yelp from the hellhound soon follows.
"Since when could she do that?" Ina thinks dumbly as Amelia plucks out a few more hairs and throws them like darts, peppering the hellhound as it flees.
"Oh, there's another behind you by the way." Amelia says cheerfully before disappearing into the wheat.
Ina spins around in a panic, but the hellhound is a full ten seconds down the road, having come running at the cries of its companion. It's more than enough time for her to bring out her derringer, but lining up a shot with the hellhound is difficult. It bobs and weaves as it runs until it's almost upon her.
Her aim is true, burying one of the bullets in the hound's face, but hellhounds have thick skulls and derringer shots are not particularly strong.
It's a good thing Amelia is nearby, or maybe she teleported again. She steps in front of Ina and lowers her head. Abruptly, all of her hair sticks up stiffly on end, and when the hellhound barrels into Amelia it yelps and flails, trying to get away. Ina can see no less than three dozen of Amelia's hairs embedded in the hound's mouth and paws as if it had pounced on a porcupine.
"Are you going to keep pulling random abilities out of nowhere?" Ina hisses, taking another shot at the hound. "And we need to kill them, not chase them off."
"Alright, alright, murder it is." Amelia sighs. "Remind me not to let you around Bubba, geeze…"
The space around Amelia bends, and for the first time Ina gets to see her teleport in action. It's as if she takes a single step, but she blinks out of existence where she started and appears in a similar twist of space at her destination.
With a quick flash of her hands, Amelia slashes the hound in the face, side-steps a few wild claw strikes, and manages to jab it in the neck. The hound goes down instantly, and Amelia's hand drips with steaming blood as it pulls out of the hound's neck.
(Ina can see the way Amelia's fingers have elongated into sharp claws, even if they quickly return to their normal shape. Just what is Amelia?)
"Sorry boy." Amelia sighs, and wipes her bloody hand on the hound's corpse. "But playing with humans is dangerous. Stay in Hell."
The next hellhound falls outside of Ina's vision. Amelia does a quick teleport, and the hound is dead by the time Ina gets to it.
"You know, hellhounds can make surprisingly good pets." Amelia says cheerfully, standing over the bloody corpse. "Takes a while to train them out of the whole 'murder equals food' mindset, but I've seen it done before."
Ina glares at her. Amelia shrugs.
"What? It's true."
"You're not going to make me feel guilty about getting rid of them. I know they'll reconstitute themselves back in Hell." Ina says accusingly. "They were killing things."
Amelia blinks, and Ina wonders if she actually caught Amelia by surprise. Usually her witty retorts come instantly. Was guilting her not why Amelia was saying all that? Or maybe it's just another demonic trick. "What? Don't like fun facts Ina?"
Ina glares some more.
"Wow, you must be a blast at trivia night. Where's the fun-loving girl I met at the bar, huh?" Amelia asks, and grins while tilting her head in a slightly unnerving fashion. "No more 'that's so fascinating Miss Watson!' I guess?"
Ina knows her face is going a bit pink. She still remembers that night at the bar just as well as the ambush that followed it. "That was before I knew you were a demon."
"Wow, racist much?"
"Speciest, technically." Ina mumbles, turning away. "A-Anyhow-"
"I think you're just shy~" Amelia says, her voice softly whispering directly in Ina's ear. She must have teleported. Ina freezes on the spot, half expecting to feel hands on her shoulder at any moment. "You don't want to admit you like the scary demon~"
"O-Or maybe you're just full of yourself." She manages to retort.
"Oh? Am I? Was that not a stutter I just heard?" Amelia asks, her breath tickling Ina's ear. Her voice carries a hint of sarcasm. "My my, Ina… don't you know part of being a summoner is resisting seduction? Maybe I need to train you to deal with that too, hmm?"
The best response Ina can muster is raising her middle finger while shaking Amelia off.
###
Ina has a third sense for when she's being watched now. Four months of knowing a demon is constantly looking over your shoulder will do that to a girl.
It helps that Amelia has become somewhat predictable. It's not too strange for Ina to look out the office window when she's doing deskwork and see Amelia lying in a tree. Usually Amelia will give her a cheeky wave and nothing more.
Sometimes she'll teleport into the office if no one else is there and do her usual routine of toying with Ina, but usually not. Amelia is also entirely unbothered by the other summoners in the station noticing her, despite the weird looks she gets from them. If anything, Amelia seems to relish the attention. She gives cheeky waves to any agent that looks at her, though the only summoner she's actually talked to outside of Ina is Kiara.
(Kiara doesn't need another demon taking advantage of her. Poor girl. She's already got her hands full with that legendary demon she summoned from the tome management sent her. Ina doesn't know why Amelia seems to like Kiara, but it can't be anything good. Two months out of the hospital and she's already found trouble again..)
There has yet to be another incident of a spike flying through her window, but Ina still finds herself wary of stepping outside of her apartment. She's slightly reassured by the knowledge that Amelia is probably watching her (she never thought that would be comforting), but she finds herself glancing down alleyways and up in trees for an entirely different reason than trying to spot her demon.
She's spotted a few unusual things thanks to her newfound paranoia, like a stray cat that walks through a specific side-street at exactly seven o'clock every day, or how the bakery is always a few minutes late turning on its lights, or how she sometimes finds bloodstains in the grass around her apartment if she looks hard enough.
Or the massive paw prints in the mud she can find along the sides of the road after rainy days, too big for any animal Ina knows of that lives in the UK. Sometimes she can even find signs of something twice the size of her that rolled in the mud.
She's started to use Amelia more regularly, as for all her constant jokes and pokes and prods Amelia is so much more consistent than her imps ever were, and Amelia never refuses coming along with her (despite constantly claiming that she does have other things to do, which Ina is starting to suspect is a lie).
The idea that maybe she should try and follow Amelia to see what she actually does in her off-time has occured to Ina, but trying to track a teleporting demon that has proven plenty capable of tracking her is a fool's errand. Still, it's unnerving that Amelia knows where she lives and could break in at any moment but she has no idea where Amelia spends her time.
Maybe that's how she finds herself in a familiar bar. Amelia has made her life both more and less stressful in certain ways. She has less to fear on missions, but more outside of them, and living with that constant low-level anxiety is worse than the stress of dangerous missions a few times a day. At least she knows when the missions are coming and can mentally prepare herself.
The Challenger Deep Bar is rather nice all things considered. The floors are kept clean, the clientele is on the calmer side, and while the decorations are obviously fake they're at least not grungy. The bar's theme is a bit odd, with pictures of Cthulhu and other cosmic horrors and sea monsters up on the wall, but Ina appreciates the oddity of it (in no small part because she can actually identify most of the horrors in question; they make for good conversation starters).
She still doesn't know what's up with the little octopus plushie though. It's a small, purple, little thing with closed eyes that's squishy to the touch that sits on the edge of the bar. Maybe calling it a plushie is inaccurate, because it feels more like gelatin when touched.
The proprietor of the bar is a short woman with white hair that is often parted on the side with two red clips. The addition of red eyes makes the obvious suggestion that she has albinism, but Ina has never asked. It's frankly not her business.
Ina doesn't drink- not alcohol at least. While other summoners might like to drown their sorrows, Ina knows getting inhibited like that might be fatal, especially when she has a demon that can drop in on her at any moment.
Speaking of… Amelia knows this bar. They met here four months ago after all. Perhaps she should have taken that into account if she didn't want Amelia to drop in.
"You know you can just call my name, that works too." Amelia taunts, dropping into the seat next to her. She leans against the bar, smirking. "Not that I'm arguing with a second date or anything."
Ina groans. Maybe she should just leave now. Does she have to deal with Amelia when she's trying to relax? This is supposed to be a day off!
"Wow, don't be too enthusiastic, I might start thinking you don't like me." Amelia chuckles. She turns her head and winks at the bartender, who in turn rolls her eyes and turns around to make something. "But seriously, did you actually want something from me, or were you coming here for some other reason?"
Oh. Amelia was being honest. She actually thought Ina was trying to contact her. "Ah, well, no. I just wanted to eat out."
"...so you chose a bar."
"Hey, you do the exact same thing Watson!" The bartender barks.
"Guraaa!" Amelia whines.
"What?" The bartender asks, turning her head back and giving her a sharp look. "Implying my bar isn't dinner-worthy?"
"...no."
Ina blinks rapidly. That's the first time she's ever seen someone one-up Amelia in conversation.
"Didn't think so." The bartender huffs. "I expect you to be polite to my other customers, Watson."
"Alright, alright, geeze." Amelia mutters. She accepts the tall glass of… something… the bartender passes her and takes a sip. She immediately makes a face. "Gura… is this one of your experimentals?"
"Maybe. How is it?"
"Very hot."
"Bad hot or good hot?"
Amelia takes another sip. "...salty."
"Well yeah, considering where the main ingredient came from that's no surprise."
Amelia squints at the drink, then glances up. "Gura, you didn't."
"I'm not going to waste perfectly good ingredients."
"You- hellhound blood is not an ingredient for drinks!" Amelia hisses, and Ina chokes. "What if a human drank this!? I gave you the bodies because you said you'd deal with them!"
"And I did. Blood for drinks, meat for food. Wanna try the steak?"
Now it's Amelia's turn to glare. "Gura, I have Bubba."
"Alright, alright, fine, but you're missing out."
Amelia grumbles and shoves the drink aside. The bartender already has another drink ready to give her.
"Now remember, no bothering the customers."
"I am a customer!"
"You're not a customer 'till you start paying." the bartender scoffs.
Amelia grumbles, but doesn't argue further. The bartender eventually moves off to serve someone else, and only then does Amelia turn back to Ina. "Right, well, uh, you didn't hear that."
Ina sips her drink and doesn't respond. She doesn't know how to respond. The bartender is in on the whole 'Amelia is a demon' thing, and apparently has been for a while? What is she supposed to think about that?
"So, uh…" Amelia fidgets with her new drink. "Is this a place you visit often, or…? I don't usually see you here, so I assume not."
Amelia frequents this place? Just Ina's luck. She chose the exact wrong place to go for her day off. She considers trying to be obtuse, but she just doesn't have the energy for it. "Not really. I don't get much time off. I came on a whim. Too lazy to make my own dinner."
"I feel that." Amelia chuckles, though her expression is more of a sympathetic grimace. "This is pretty much the only place I get proper meals. Most of the time I'm eating raw demon flesh, and while I've got a way higher tolerance for that than most, it still doesn't taste good. Especially not that bug guy. You remember him, right? Disgusting. Should have stuck to claws."
Ina puts down her drink. "Sorry, wait, you eat other demons?"
"...yeah? I thought you knew this? I wasn't subtle about it." Amelia says. "Wait, don't tell me you don't know what I am. I thought humans had a database on this shit."
"We do." Ina says. "And it sucks, because most of the info is being hoarded by individual countries and they refuse to share, so every organization has their own stupid database and all of them are full of holes."
"Apparently not a good one."
Ina ignores the jab. "But no, I don't know what you are."
"Devourer." Amelia says simply. She gives a tired smile. "That in your database?"
"I'd have to check." Ina says honestly. "And I can't do that with my phone, so… tomorrow."
Amelia huffs in amusement. "Well I'll save you some work then. By eating things, I can assimilate their properties. It doesn't become permanent unless I eat a lot of that kind, but still useful."
"Hence shooting spines."
"Exaaactly." Amelia grins. "Fun fact, teleportation isn't innate for devourers. I got that through feeding a long time ago. It's the only permanent ability I've ever gathered aside from, like, darkvision. Because let me tell you: every goddamn demon in hell has darkvision except devourers. It's unfair, really!"
"You poor thing."
"I know." Amelia says. "I mean, do I look like an angel? Huh? I don't live in the bright light wind dimension thank you very much! I need to see in the dark!"
"Isn't there a bunch of fire in hell?"
"Sometimes." Amelia shrugs. "In cities, sure, but just like Earth, Hell has its biomes. Not all of them are flames or hellfire."
"Flames or hellfire?"
"Yeah. Hellfire is its own brand of annoying." Amelia grimaces. "Such a bitch to put out. Can't just toss sand on it like you can normal fire. It's some weird chemical thing."
"All fire is 'some weird chemical thing'." Ina points out.
"Alright smartass, look-" Amelia says accusingly.
"Watson." The bartender interrupts sharply.
Amelia sucks in a breath and glares murderously at the bartender. The bartender doesn't return the look. In fact, she's not even facing them. "I mean a different weird chemical thing."
"I don't suppose you know the specifics?"
"...no."
"Shame."
They drink in silence for a few minutes. Ina orders dinner. Amelia doesn't, but ends up with one in front of her anyway. She gets an extremely rare steak, nearly raw. Ina opts for some takoyaki.
(The bar has a varied and rather strange menu, hellhound blood notwithstanding.)
"Oh, by the way." Amelia says after a few undisturbed minutes of eating. "You might want to be careful when you leave. This place is usually being watched because it's known that I frequent here. Most demons usually aren't stupid enough to attack right outside, but, you know…"
The night of their first meeting flashes through her mind. Her lips curl. "Yes, I do."
"Mmm." Amelia hums, shoving a piece of steak into her mouth and looking away. "For the record… they don't usually go after people I only interact with once. I had no reason to expect they'd go after you, so I'm sorry about all that. I followed once I noticed the commotion."
"Or maybe you created an opportunity upon realizing I was a summoner." Ina thinks. It's wholly possible Amelia is telling the truth, but it's equally possible Amelia is lying through her teeth. You can't trust a demon's words after all.
"Or maybe I just wanted an excuse to hang around a cute lady." Amelia says, smirking once more. "Who knows?"
See? Point proven.
A snort causes both of them to glance down the bar. The bartender returns their look, an amused expression on her face. "Still playing the 'mysterious seducer' card, eh Ame? I've told you before that you need to switch your tactics."
"...shut up Gura."
The rest of their interactions for the night are of little note, beyond that Amelia still makes for a good dinner companion even when Ina knows she's a demon from the start.
###
Her head hurts, her throat feels like she gargled nails, and her limbs aren't responding. Her vision, once she forces her heavy eyelids open, is a swirl of dark colors punctuated by the occasional, harsh, bright light. At the very least whatever she's lying on is soft and warm, if a bit shaky.
She can hear voices too. Whispers, the soft 'woof' of a dog, and the distant sound of sirens.
"Alright Bubba, take her home."
"Wuf."
"No, you need to go ahead, okay?"
A whine.
"We need a distraction, Bubba. I'll be fine. I can teleport, remember?"
Another whine, quieter this time.
"I know boy. Now be good. Go."
The shaking of her resting place increases. Rather than making her feel ill, it lulls Ina back to sleep.
###
Ina wakes up to something wet poking her in the face, and something heavy on her stomach. Her head still hurts, and her throat is still sore, but at the very least she can somewhat move her limbs again.
And the thing poking her face is as good a reason as any to start moving again. Ina squints her eyes open to see… a nose. A big, black, dog nose. A nose attached to a mouth with breath that smells like charcoal and a big furry face of black and red.
It's a hellhound. A massive hellhound is poking her in the face and pawing at her stomach.
Ina yelps and the hound flinches back, giving her space to scooch away. She doesn't have much space to work with as it turns out, as her back very quickly hits a chain-link fence.
Yelling wasn't a smart idea. It only makes her headache worse. She spends a moment grimacing with pain until the feeling passes, and only then can she look up and properly assess her situation.
One: Hellhound. It's currently pacing about a meter away from her. It's massive for its species, being at least two meters long and a meter tall. It's a huge ball of red and black fur, albeit with a far cleaner coat than one would expect from a ravenous wild murder dog.
The hound raises a paw at her and swipes the air. It woofs at her. One of its ears flops to the side while the other perks up.
Two: She's in some sort of backyard. It's rather overgrown at first glance with tall grass everywhere, but with a bit of study Ina can see signs of habitation. There's a lean-to not too far away built against a large tree that's clearly been cleaned recently. It even has a raised floor to keep an occupant out of the water if it rains. Most of the yard's grass has clearly been trampled, and there's a relatively new rainwater barrel system hooked up to the roof gutters, complete with filtration and purification, that has a large straw sticking out the side of it.
Three: The building the backyard is attached to is run-down, but like the yard it shows signs of habitation. The back door is clearly new, even if the rest of the building is a mess of peeling paint and damaged shingles. One of the windows is boarded up, and Ina can see some sealant on the walls and foundation to try and keep pests out.
Four: It's still night time, though the sirens have either stopped or she's been taken far enough away that she can't hear them anymore.
A quick scan of the fence shows a gate, specifically one that doesn't have a lock so a giant hellhound can easily push it open without causing too much damage, and a quick scan of herself reveals she has casual clothes on. She must have been off work when she… got kidnapped? Is that what happened? She's not sure. Either way, she doesn't have her derringer nor her dagger on her, or even her phone. She wasn't sleeping apparently, but she clearly wasn't expecting a fight… or maybe she already dropped her things somewhere.
The hellhound barks at her. It's a loud, low sound, but otherwise sounds remarkably like a normal bark. It steps towards her, then back, then toward again. Once more, it barks.
"Back." Ina hisses at it. She grabs the fence and forces herself to her feet, not at all appreciating the accompanying light-headedness. She waves her free hand at it in a shooing motion.
The hellhound paws the air at her in return.
What is she supposed to do here? She's cornered by a hellhound in some random backyard, she feels awful, and it's the middle of the night.
The sound of footsteps catches her attention, as well as that of the hellhound. Ina freezes, but the hound takes a few steps to the side and crouches down, hiding in the tall grass thanks to the nighttime making everything look dark. It lets out a low, rumbling growl.
"Wachat?" A high-pitch voice asks. "Olek nat tokko?"
Infernal. Sometimes Ina forgets demons actually have their own language. It's so rare to hear them use it.
The hound's ears turn, listening. It growls again.
"Doh wachat! Des nat tokko!" The voice says in a sharp tone. Ina knows it's somewhere beyond the fence, but how far is hard to tell with her aching head. "Yateh nak kok!"
She can feel more than see the hound tense. Its gaze locks on the gate.
"Waaachat!" The voice calls. Ina can more definitely hear it approaching the fence. She can't see beyond it because a thick hedge blocks everything but the gate, so she doesn't quite know. "Doh Wach-"
The hound lunges. The gate snaps open as it crashes through and barrels into the figure that had just become visible on the other side. The figure screams as the hound bites down on its arm and starts shaking vigorously, throwing the figure all around like a toy. The hound then throws the figure loose and pounces on it.
An audible snarl and metal crunch follows, and then silence. The hound drags the body back through the gate, drops it in front of Ina, and then sits, staring at her while the fur around its mouth drips red.
"Wuf."
Ina stares at the hound, which stares back. It's tail is wagging. It nudges the body towards her with its nose. "I… I don't want the body."
The hound tilts its head.
"I don't need the body!" Ina says a bit louder. She starts edging along the fence towards the gate. "You can have it."
It tilts its head to the other side.
She keeps inching along the fence until she gets to the gate. As soon as she lays her hand on the gate, the hound stands up. It barks, tail no longer wagging.
"I'm gonna go, okay?"
The hound watches her intently. As soon as she pushes the gate, it bounds forward. Ina yelps as the hellhound grabs her shirt in its mouth and tugs her back inside the yard.
"Okay, okay, I guess I'm not leaving." She mumbles. The hound doesn't seem intent on attacking her, thankfully. As soon as she's back inside the yard it releases her. "Why do I have to stay here?"
"Wuf."
Ina has never really understood hellhound intelligence. It's taught during a summoner's education that you can't make a contract with non-sapient beings, and there are hellish animals (or even plants) that can be summoned but not contracted, however hellhounds are not one of them. They're apparently sapient enough to make contracts with, but otherwise act like dogs.
(Kiara once likened it to making a contract with an elephant or an ape. Intelligent? Yes. Sapient? Probably. Capable of human-level interaction? Not so much. It's a helpful comparison, especially when 'Sapient' isn't a technical term but so many old tomes use it as one.)
"Okay, look." She says, addressing the hound. Maybe it can understand her to some extent. "I don't know what's going on or why you're keeping me here, but can we at least be inside the house? We're less likely to be noticed that way."
The hound's ears perk up at the word 'house'. Its tail starts wagging. It bounds over to the door and scratches at it with a giant paw.
Ina sighs, and moves to the door. She tries to turn the knob… but the door is locked. She barely has time to groan before the hound turns over one of the stones near the door, revealing a key. The hound pants happily as she picks it up, and, hesitantly, reaches out and pats it on the head.
She can barely believe such an action doesn't end with her arm getting bitten off. Ina inserts the key into the lock and opens the door. The hound shoulders past her and squeezes through the door, tail wagging furiously and smacking Ina in the face as it passes by.
(Ina can instantly hear something fall, and cringes internally. Hopefully this isn't the house of someone important… and hopefully that wasn't expensive.)
The interior of the house is slightly less run-down than the outside. There's been very little mind paid to aesthetics, but aside from what the hound is knocking down it's at least tidy if you can look past the old, peeling wallpaper.
Ina can tell the hound has stopped moving because she stops hearing loud thumps and creaks. A quick peek shows her that it has settled itself in a living room, which only barely has enough space between the couch and the wall for it to lie down.
What Ina is more interested in, however, is the phone. She wastes no time dialing the station, praying for someone helpful to pick up.
All she gets is a dial tone, and it occurs to her that this house probably doesn't have an active landline or internet.
With that avenue proven useless, Ina opts to look out the front window (assuming there is a front window) to figure out where she actually is. She does find that window (it's shockingly clean) and peers through it to see an old dirt road and a few other worn-down houses in various states of disrepair.
It takes her a moment to place the street, considering she can't see the name. This looks like the territory around the old farm town that predated Fakenham, the one that got systematically wiped out by a legion-devil army a few centuries ago and has attempted to be rebuilt no less than a dozen times but always ends with everyone moving out. It's less than an hour away from Fakenham actually, it's just that there's never a reason to go here.
With that solved, Ina moves on to trying to figure out who this house belongs to. That solution comes quickly once she finds the bedroom, and a notebook proudly displaying the name "Amelia H Watson".
This is Amelia's house. Of course 'her' demon would have something to do with it. That also means Amelia has a giant hellhound living in her backyard.
"No wonder she didn't want to drink hellhound blood or try the steak." Ina thinks. "That might also explain why the hound didn't kill me on-sight. Maybe it has orders not to."
Ina eyes Amelia's bed. It might be simple, with tattered old sheets, but at least it's clean, and Ina's head still aches pretty badly. Logic tells her it's a terrible idea to go to sleep with a hellhound in the house… but logic also tells her that it should have tried to murder her twenty times over.
Maybe escape would be a better idea, but her head is still killing her, and a bed is too inviting to pass up. She collapses into it before she inevitably collapses somewhere else and falls fitfully back into sleep.
###
Ina wakes up to the sound of whining.
She didn't know hellhounds could whine. It's not quite as high-pitch as you'd expect from a normal dog, and it reverberates through the house like a gong, albeit less forceful.
Second to the hellhound's whining is her stomach growling. Her headache is still there, but manageable, and her limbs don't ache nearly as much. If she hadn't felt horrible before she fell asleep she might have thought she was simply dehydrated.
The hound whines again, and Ina reluctantly pulls herself out of the bed. This isn't how she wanted to start her day. She has work today. She didn't sign up for hellhound-minding.
But that's how this day starts. She tiredly walks down the stairs, each step creating a chorus of creaks and groans from the old wood, until she reaches the living room where the hellhound is still curled up in.
It turns out the hound isn't even awake. Its eyes are closed, and it has its muzzle buried in its tail. The whining comes alongside sporadic muscle twitches that move paws or ears. A dream.
Ina is tempted, in a moment of stupid, irrational empathy, to wake the hound and release it from its dream, but realizes that, more importantly, this is a prime chance to escape.
With some reluctance she finds the front door and slowly, carefully, pushes it open. The hound doesn't react, and Ina slips out outside. She doesn't close the door behind her for risk of it waking the hound.
And then, Ina takes off running. She has a vague idea where Fakenham is in relation to this old ghost town, and it's a few hours on foot. If she's lucky, she'll get home by noon and she can get something to eat and contact the station, and then maybe get herself checked by a doctor. She doesn't know what caused her headache or muscle pains yet.
There's not much to say about the trip. It takes a long time, it's boring, and it makes her legs ache more than they were already.
It's a bit concerning to get back to the street her apartment is on and see the whole road fenced off by police.
"Um, hello, what happened here?" Ina says, walking right up to one of the officers. Looking past him, she can see scorch marks on the road as well as several gouges. Something big went down. "My apartment is on this street."
"Demon attack, Miss." The officer says. "The area isn't considered safe. Cover is looking into it."
Ina pulls out her badge. "I am part of Cover. I was attacked by demons last night, and like I said, I live on this street. Mind telling me what you know? I'm out of the loop."
The officer checks her badge, and his eyes go wide. "You're Miss Ninomae?"
"...yes? I wasn't aware I was known." Ina blinks.
"You were reported missing yesterday after the attack. A colleague checked your apartment after identifying that building as the main target of the attack, and you weren't there. You also did not respond to calls, and your room showed signs of a struggle." The man informs her. "If you don't mind, Miss Ninomae, I need to ask you some questions."
Ina heaves a sigh. So much for food. "Alright, but can we do it over food? I haven't eaten."
###
She learns many things over the next few hours.
Last night, around five thirty, a disguised demon waited in the parking lot around the side of her apartment. A delivery driver, specifically of the pizza she had ordered, pulled into the lot half an hour later. That driver was ambushed after stepping out of his vehicle, her pizza was laced with a paralytic poison, and the driver's memory was altered to have him forget that anything was tampered with or that he was attacked.
(The disguised demon was one that specialized in hypnosis. The poison must have been obtained elsewhere, perhaps from other demons.)
The pizza was delivered to her, she consumed it, and at some point in the next hour she fell unconscious in her room.
What happened after that is less certain, mostly because there aren't security cameras in each apartment room (for obvious reasons) and they can't infer too much without information to work with, but another disguised demon (perhaps the some one, perhaps a different one) made its way up to her room and attempted to pick the lock.
They succeeded. This is known because the lock on her room was indeed open, though there was also a very dead demon on the floor in front of her door that had its throat torn out.
(Amelia, Ina suspects. Torn throats may as well be her signature style.)
Less than ten minutes later, a fight breaks out in front of the apartment. A fireball is thrown, and all humans in the area run for cover. Eye witnesses claim seeing a quadrapyre- a class two, four-armed demon with pyromancy and (usually) an assortment of large weapons, attempting to kill a spine-throwing, blonde-haired demon who was carrying a body over her shoulder.
The battle was further complicated when reinforcements showed up. No less than a dozen lesser demons joined the quadrapyre on the attack, and a giant hellhound showed up to assist the blonde demon a few minutes later. The fight only ended when the blonde and the hellhound fled the scene. The hound quickly vanished, but the blonde was seen being chased around the town for hours. What ultimately happened to most of the involved demons is unknown. A few were killed by Cover agents, but most vanished.
The blonde demon, the quadrapyre, and the hellhound were not among those killed. Ina stays at the station for the next few days for her safety.
Ameia does not make an appearance. Ina doesn't want to admit it, but she's worried. It's not like her demon to not ambush her every chance she gets. She's been consistent for months at this point, so of course Ina is suspicious of any changes.
"Maybe she abandoned me because she thought I was dead. Our deal was pretty open-ended."
Things get a bit more complicated when the station's alarm goes off during the middle of the night, three days after her kidnapping. Ina awakens with a start, scrambles out of her bed (she's been sleeping in the medical room), and grabs her derringer from the side-table. (She was allowed to recover her things from her apartment.)
Rushing to the reception room where two other agents are gathered, prepping their weapons, she comes up short when she sees the demon that triggered the alarm.
"You've got to be kidding me." Ina groans internally. She pockets her derringer and marches towards the door, rubbing an eye tiredly. "Stand down, we might not have to fight it. Let me handle it."
"Ina…"
"I know, Kiara, but this is the same one that kept me in the backyard. If it wanted me dead it would have done so already." Ina explains. She shoulders open the front door and steps outside, and is nearly knocked over by a big nose poking her in the stomach. "Yes, hello, why did you follow me?"
The hound barks. Even in the darkness, she can see its tail wagging. It pushes its nose across her face and she groans.
"What?"
As if understanding her it (surprisingly gently) grabs her shirt in its teeth and tugs her while making a whining noise.
"I'm not going back with you to the house." She says firmly.
The hound whines again. Ina is aware of the other agents watching through the window of the front door.
"Look, you can just go back home, okay, I'm safe here." Ina assures it. "You and Amelia kept me safe, so-"
The hound barks at the mention of Amelia. It taps its paws on the ground impatiently and does a quick circle. It howls when Ina doesn't react.
"Ameli-"
Another howl. The hound bounds away a few meters, turns to look at her, then runs back. It does this a few times, in a very obvious 'follow me' action.
"I can't. It's not safe for me to follow you."
The hound paces impatiently. It howls a third time.
"...you're not going to leave me alone until I follow, are you?"
"Wuf."
Ina heaves a sigh. "Fine, fine, just let me grab some body armor. You better not be taking me back to the house."
The other agents are not onboard with her plan, except for Kiara. Kiara understands. She's the only one who doesn't complain, and offers Ina a solemn nod.
Here's hoping this isn't Ina's first Phoenix Incident. She thinks highly of Kiara, but she has no wish to emulate her.
With some light kevlar, her derringer, extra ammo, and her parrying dagger, Ina steps out of the station and (reluctantly) follows the hound.
This is a bad idea, she knows it's a bad idea, but she's doing it anyway. Why? Well…
(Guilt. It's guilt. She really doesn't want to admit it's guilt, but it is. For as annoying as Amelia has been, Ina isn't stupid, she knows from hearing that story that Amelia rescued her when it would have been easy to let her die. She owes it to Amelia to listen to her hound if there's a chance Amelia herself is in trouble, especially given she hasn't shown up for a few days at this point.)
Let's just say Kiara would be proud, and that makes Ina worried.
(Kiara offers to come along when Ina tells her what's happening, and Ina instantly refuses. As much as backup might be nice, she's not getting other people killed for her own stupid decision.)
With great reluctance, and now possessing some modicum of protection, Ina follows the hellhound.
Normally, a hellhound running down city streets would grab a lot of attention. It's one of the few benefits of this happening late at night. The few people that are around give her a wide berth or outright flee, which is probably just as well.
The hound leads her away from the main streets and to the back alleys. Its energy is replaced with obvious caution. The hound's ears perk up, it starts moving more slowly, and it keeps itself low and to the shadows. Ina follows suit.
Ina doesn't see what sets the hound off, but it pounces without warning and snaps its jaws around something, shakes it, then tosses it to the side. Ina catches a glance of a dead imp as it is discarded.
Right. So they're in a dangerous location. She needs to be on guard.
"You never know when a hungry demon might take a bite out of you." She thinks wryly, glancing up at rooftops and fingering her gun. She spies a pair of imps ducking out of vision a moment later. "...are they even trying, or is Amelia just so good at hiding that I'm used to not being able to spot anything?"
That question doesn't get answered anytime soon. The hound's path is weaving and inconsistent, constantly taking turns and stopping to sniff the air. Ina knows it's tracking something, but she can't imagine what.
(That's a lie. She can imagine. She's imagining a blonde-haired demon with a shit-eating grin.)
She spies more demons watching them as they move on. Imps, a legion devil, and even a few spined devils pretending to be bats. Ina knows they're being surrounded, and she's starting to regret not allowing Kiara to come along. She might need backup for this.
Eventually, the hound leads her to its target. It stops outside the back door of a… run-down club? A club that's not open, apparently. It's a rickety thing that looks to be made of old wood with a roof that hasn't seen maintenance in years. The concrete making up the surrounding paths are cracked and broken with obvious potholes and small pools of water. The walls are littered with graffiti and sigils, and the windows are boarded up. It looks closed, but that doesn't mean much when it comes to where demons might be hiding.
The hound stares at the door, ears pointed forward, and lets out a low growl.
"...you want to break in, don't you?"
"Wuf."
"Well, I'm already committed to this I guess." Ina sighs deeply. She draws her derringer. "I didn't bring a lockpick, so-"
The hound instantly throws itself at the door, smashing it right off its hinges with brute strength.
"-that works too." Ina finishes lamely. She doesn't follow in immediately, instead turning around and raising her gun. Her instincts are accurate because she quickly finds a few imps to shoot down. She didn't forget they were being watched.
The sound of howling and screaming exits the club, and Ina ducks inside. No more time to wait.
Inside of the club is chaos. Within seconds, Ina spots no less than five legion devils, eight imps, and a (small) hellhound fighting against 'her' hound. Ina mentally curses. Did the hound just want to fight something? Is that it? Why are they here?
"It brought the summoner!" One of the devils shouts. It points to one of the imps. "Get the pyre!"
Ina attempts to snipe down the imp before it can dart out a gap in one of the windows, but her derringer is no sniper despite her solid aim. The imp easily darts out of the building.
"Think, Ina. Hellhounds aren't stupid. Why did it bring you here?" Ina asks herself, fending off an imp attack. Her hound snarls and bites down on an unfortunate legion devil, crushing straight through its metal armor. Ina winces at the bloody sight. "I thought it had to do with Amelia."
A quick scan has Ina spot the stairway behind the bar. The sight barely reaches her eyes before she's vaulting the bar, snapping a shot into a nearby legion devil to blind him, and then taking the stairs two at a time.
There's a door at the bottom of the stairs. Ina kicks it open without a second thought, then spins around and takes a shot at the devil that tried to follow her down. This time she gets a headshot, and it crumples to the stairs.
"You know, when I heard all the shouting, I thought it was another barfight." A familiar voice says, surprisingly cheerful. "Fun fact! Legion Devils can get drunk on human alcohol. Most demons can't. Even a strong brew is usually too weak to actually do anything, but the immune systems of Legion Devils mistakes alcohol for adrenaline and doesn't try to purge it, so they're an exception."
Ina stares blankly at Amelia's smiling face. She looks terrible, what with the bloody nose, wild hair, torn clothes, and the rune-engraved chains wrapped around her.
"Hi!"
Ina blinks slowly, and decides to ignore everything Amelia just said. "...is that your dog up there? It dragged me here."
"Oh, Bubba's here?" Amelia perks up. "He's a good boy, but we should probably leave before he burns down the building. He tends to spit fire when he fights for too long."
Bubba? That's Bubba? Ina figured it was a dog, but she thought it was, like, a normal dog. "I didn't bring anything to break rune restraints, I didn't know where I was being led…"
"Oh, that's easy." Amelia chuckles. She points to the keyhole on her wrist. "It's just a tumbler lock. Honestly, I've been trying to get my hands on a hairpin or something I can use to pick it for days now. If you can get me a pair of long, thin, objects, I can probably get myself out. I'd make spines, but, you know, magic-suppressing runes and all."
"Right." Ina desperately checks her pockets. "You're very calm about this."
"Eh, not the first time it's happened." Amelia shrugs. "Besides, they're not Devourers. Worst they can do is banish me."
"They could kill you."
"Well, they could 'kill' me." Amelia says, making air quotes with her fingers. "But I'd reconstitute in Hell, and then they'd have a dangerous enemy that knows how to permanently kill in return!"
"...you know how to soul-mangle?" Ina asks in shock. She knows about soul-mangling of course, every summoner does, it's the only way to permanently kill demons because a demon's physical form can be remade, but it's a well-known fact that soul-mangling is incredibly difficult and resource-intensive to pull off. It's also a highly-guarded secret that most summoners don't have access to.
"Less 'know how' and more 'natural ability." Amelia shrugs. "Just a devourer thing. You know, ability absorption, soul-killing… like how hellhounds can breath fire. It's just kinda something we can do."
Every new thing she learns about Amelia scares her more and more. First Amelia is an all-assimilating super demon that eats people to gain new powers, and now she's a soul-mangling superpowered people eater. "I don't suppose you have any leftover spines…?"
"I wish. Also, behind you."
Ina swings around while drawing her dagger. Amelia's warning came just in time for her to block a sword swing (she thought she'd killed this one already, how did he survive a shot to the eye and the head?), and she follows up with a slice to the throat to finally take this stupid legion devil out.
"Nice dagger work. Can I borrow it?"
Ina has a feeling her dagger is about to get broken. "...you owe me a replacement."
"Eh, No worries." Amelia accepts the parrying dagger, twirls it so one of the prongs faces the keyhole of her cuffs, and sticks it in. She then leans down, bares her teeth, and slides one of her fangs into the hole as well. "Juf a segund."
It's clear Amelia has done this before. She hums while twisting her cuffs, anchoring with her fang, and fiddling around with the dagger until a distinct 'click' is heard and the cuffs come off. She hands the dagger back.
"See? No problem." Amelia says, flashing a toothy grin. It would be a lot more impressive if she didn't look like a mess, and if she didn't immediately stumble as soon as she tries to walk. "Oookay, maybe a little lightheaded, but otherwise no problem."
That sounds like a problem to Ina, but they have bigger concerns. "Come on. We have to move. I left Bubba up there against, like, ten guys."
"Eh, Bubba can handle that." Amelia says. She staggers towards the stairs and (after a moment of indecision) Ina helps her up.
The bar room is all but destroyed when they get up. Bubba is still wrestling with one of two remaining legion devils. Three imps also remain, but the other hellhound is dead.
"Yeah! Fuck 'em up Bubba!" Amelia cheers. Despite being in the middle of a fight, Bubba's tail starts wagging. "Go for the throat!"
"We gotta go. Quadrapyre is coming." Ina whispers, already making for the door. In a louder voice she calls. "Finish them and follow us Bubba!"
"Oh, that bitch." Amelia huffs. "Thinks he's all great because he's got four arms and a sword. Not so smug after I bit off one of his fingers, that's for sure."
Lovely. "Focus."
"Well excuse me, I haven't eaten or drank anything in three days! I'm a bit out of it!"
"Can't you teleport us out of here or something?" Ina hisses.
"Personal teleportation, not group, sorry."
Ina groans. "Then just… jump to safety or something. Me and Bubba will escape."
"Aww, you caaare." Amelia teases.
"Just go."
"Fiiine." She sighs. "Bubba!"
"Wuf!" Bubba barks from inside the bar.
"Grab Ina and get to safety. I'm jumping."
"Woof!"
"Kiss for luck?" Amelia jokes.
Ina scowls.
"Fine. See ya."
With that, Amelia disappears, and Ina starts running. She's not fighting a quadrapyre if she doesn't have to, and if Amelia says Bubba can handle himself she's not going to stick around.
Amelia is proven right not a minute later when Bubba, a bit more bloody but otherwise fine, comes bounding down the street. Ina can offer no protest as the hound grabs her shirt in its maw and carries her along at a dead spring.
Despite being shaken about, Ina does catch a glimpse of the quadrapyre in the background, and she's quietly glad for Bubba's extra speed.
###
"Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?" Amelia says, cheerfully ruffling Bubba's fur as she sits on the cobblestones outside the front entrance. She still looks like a mess, as does Bubba, not helped by Bubba getting the blood on his muzzle all over Amelia. Amelia doesn't seem to care. Not even when Bubba knocks her over in his excitement. "You are! You did so well!"
"Woof!" Bubba's tail wags wildly, and he jumps side-to-side in excitement and headbutts Amelia, and then licks her face.
Ina sits nearby on one of the outside benches, staring tiredly at the two. None of the other agents except Kiara have dared to step out with two demons, one of which is uncontracted, playing on the station's front door. Only Ina's word and Kiara's disapproving stare have stopped the other agents from trying to eliminate Bubba.
"Oh, by the way." Amelia says. "Did Bubba do his job? Did he take you to my house when you got drugged?"
"Poisoned, actually." Ina sighs. "And yes, he did. He was very insistent about it. I had to sneak out when he was sleeping because he wouldn't let me leave."
"Aww, good boy." Amelia praises Bubba. "Who's a good little kidnapper? You are! Yes you are!"
"That's probably not something you should praise."
"Eh, disagree. It's a useful trait to have in a dog."
"...should I be worried?"
"Depends on how much eeevil you expect me to use Bubba for." Amelia says cheerfully. Her eyes twinkle. "Maybe I'll kidnap me a cute lady again, huh?"
"I'm fairly sure you could do that yourself."
Amelia raises an eyebrow. "...is that a request?"
She'd almost forgotten how much of a flirt Amelia is. "No."
"You sure?"
"Yes."
"Okaaay, just let me know if you change your mind." Amelia says with a lopsided grin. "After all, I don't think you can pretend you don't like me at this point. You did just go on a rescue mission for me and all."
"That's because we have a contract." Ina insists. It sounds weak, even to her ears. She's arguing more out of habit than anything.
"A deal." Amelia corrects cheerfully. "How faithful of you."
"Well, it's not like I can go back on it." Ina shoots back.
"Sure you could."
"...what?"
"I mean, it's just words."
"It's magical."
"Nope." Amelia says with a grin. "Remember what I said all that time ago?"
"Yes." Ina says with a huff. "You said 'Not one of your summoning deals. No, a true deal. The… original… kind.'" Ina finishes the quote slowly, realizing what she just said. "You… oh my god, I'm a moron."
"Nah. I did put on a show with the chalk circle and all." Amelia shrugs. She's still smirking smugly.
"You- we don't even have a magical contract at all!?" Ina shouts. She puts her head in her hands. "So, you- I've-"
"-been doing all this because we're honest people who keep our words? Pretty much." Amelia says cheerfully. "I'm surprised you never figured it out! I thought you summoners would have some sort of deal detector."
"You played me!"
"Well yeah, after saving your life." Amelia huffs. "Come on, I had to make sure you didn't turn on me, I needed some kinda leverage, even if it was total bullshit."
"That- that-" Ina stutters. It makes total sense for Amelia to do that. She would have turned on Amelia out of sheer suspicion back then. "Okay, fair, but-"
Amelia gasps comedically, causing Bubba to jump back. "Make a record! Ina admitted I was right about something!"
And just like that, Ina's embarrassment turns to indignation. "Listen here you-"
Amelia teleports forward, leaning right in front of her face. "Oh? Please. Go on. I love it when you get passionate."
"You- I-" She stammers. Why does Amelia always jump between personalities like this!? "Stop that!"
"Stop what?" Amelia asks. She raises a hand and brushes some of Ina's hair aside. Despite her messy hair and bloody face, somehow she manages to look composed at this moment. "Please, tell me, I'd love to hear it."
Why is this the demon she's stuck with? Why couldn't she have been saved by one who hated her? At least then she'd know how to deal with them! "Amelia…"
"Hmmm?" The demon prompts, leaning closer.
"Please take a shower, and have a mint. You smell awful."
Amelia blinks once, twice, then steps back and laughs. "Alright, fine, anything for my summoner."
Ina hates how those words make her heart skip a beat. "I can't have my demon stinking reeking of blood."
She feels embarrassed just uttering the words 'my demon'. It feels like it has an extra layer of meaning now.
"And clean Bubba too. His mouth is all bloody."
Amelia makes an exaggerated expression of hurt and staggers back. "Now that's just unreasonable! Why must you hurt me so, Ina!?"
Ina is aware that the other agents are watching her through the door. She knows her face is red, but she can't stop herself from keeping up the banter. "I'm not sharing a house with a girl and a dog that stink like a corpse, Ame."
Amelia's grin, for once, isn't smug. The sheer delight is strange to see, and Ina has to look away to avoid her face getting any more red.
Maybe there's still a quadrapyre on the loose, and maybe her apartment is under lockdown, and maybe she has no idea what she's going to do moving forward, but at the very least she has a frustratingly cheeky demon and an over-excited, giant, fire-breathing dog to spend her time with.
…
Okay, when she puts it like that maybe it doesn't sound like as much of a good thing, but how else is she supposed to describe Amelia and Bubba? They saved her life and all, but they're still weird. Friendly, but weird.
"Hey, Ina, if we're both taking a bath, you should join us." Amelia calls cheekily.
"No!" Ina yelps, well aware of the squeak in her voice. "In your dreams!"
Weird, suggestive demons with frustratingly attractive smiles, but friendly nonetheless.
Endings are hard. I was winging pretty much this whole chapter. I had an idea for what I was doing with Amelia, but almost nothing for Ina, so I just improvised. I think it turned out okay. Could be revised more, but… I don't have that sort of patience. This is what you get.
And that ends this little collection, at least for now. As with almost everything I make, there's a chance I'll write more in the future to include CouncilRys, but don't hold your breath. Thank you for your support on this project and all my others! The only reason I can spend so much time and effort on these fics as-is is because I know people enjoy them and aren't afraid to say so.
Until next time!