Page 16 of The Monster of Darkspell Comics
Jasper’s brow rises with interest as his gaze drifts back to her, and a low growl rumbles in my chest that makes the ghoul smirk. “I see. I may have seen someone like that. Goes by David Sweeney, room twelve. I couldn’t say if he actually sleeps there or spends much time there at all as he’s always in and out,” he drones in a long hiss. “But you might get lucky.”
“Did he appear already familiar with the town when he arrived?” I ask, keeping the male’s attention fixed firmly on me.
Ghouls rarely attack and kill the living, but I’m not taking any chances with Fanny. Not when they are potentially quite dangerous. It’s the whole reason the male isn’t allowed to livewithin town limits. The fact that he still managed to get licensed to establish an inn is astounding. I suppose the town council has decided that it’s his guests’ funeral if they decide to stay there. The inn isn’t exactly warm and welcoming in appearance. More like a tomb with a vacancy sign.
Jasper frowns at the question. “Now that you mention it, he checked in late at night and was asking all kinds of questions. I couldn’t help him much since I’m not familiar with the activities that go on around town, but I did mention to him that Hellscape Mall often has flyers pinned for upcoming events and has maps of the key spots to visit in town. Told him he could easily see everything within a day or two as tourists just stumble across our little town as they pass through while sightseeing around the canyon.”
I exchange a look with Fanny. It seems that the human’s presence here wasn’t accidental after all, and it was Jasper who had unwittingly pointed him in the direction he needed to go to find exactly what he was looking for.
“Ms. Kremble said something about reviewing the security tapes. Maybe that can give us a clue,” she whispers.
I groan. No, not her. Anyone but her.
Chapter 13
Pashar
Ibarely hold my annoyance in check as I glower at Anayolia Kremble. The demoness smiles at me smugly from behind her desk, her long painted claws drumming thoughtfully on its surface. Even in her human skinsuit, she is nothing short of the personification of pure evil.
Her smile widens. “Pashar, your visits to my office are so rare. How delightful. And Fanny, such a pleasure to see you again,” she adds, her smile softening into something that looks like genuine warmth.
My brows draw together as I study the demoness. Since when was Anayolia ever... nice? She was known to be ruthless and capable of tearing apart demons with her own claws, and yet here she was smiling almost maternally at Fanny.
“It’s great to see you, too, Ms. Kremble,” my female warmly returns. “I just brought Pashar down here because I took your advice and explained everything to him. We talked to Jasper, and he mentioned directing him to the mall when he arrived at the inn, but he hadn’t thought anything about it at the time other than utilizing the town maps and bulletins posted here.”
“The ghoul, huh?” Anayolia’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “The inn is outside town limits and not directly under our authority. This human must still be holed up in there. That’s going to be tricky. But let me show you what I’ve found.” Turning in her chair, lifts her remote and points it at the tv which promptly crackles to life before a fuzzy image snaps onto screen.“This was two weeks ago, roughly around the time that our lovely Fanny arrived. My guess is that he was riding on the same bus-line that passes through our town about once a month.”
I squint at the screen as a grainy image of the male in question passes through the mall’s entrance. He pauses, his head slowly moving right and then left as shoppers pass by him on either side.
“Whoa,” Fanny murmurs as she peers at the screen. “That’s totally something right out of Terminator. Just look at him. If it weren’t for the fact that he can converse like a normal human being instead of being all robotic, I would be having some serious thoughts here. Definitely has to be part of some sort of special ops or secret service shit, though.”
The view from the mall cameras shift, tracking him as he walks around the mall. It’s clear that Anayolia took the time to combine it all into one recording for our benefit. His movements are brisk but intentional as he methodically works his way around the mall. He stands outside them for a while, staring inside as he watches the traffic and staff within the shops before moving on.
“And then the next day,” she says, as a new date pops up in the corner of the screen.
Once again, he enters, but this time he goes straight to the first store on his right. Each day the film progresses, he moves systematically through the mall, hitting the stores one by one. Sometimes he goes inside and sometimes lurks just outside them, watching. The number of times he returns to Dark Spell Comics makes my spines rise beneath my illusion and my corethi twist angrily.
“You will see as the days pass, he starts entering the stores, but it’s all very obviously planned out. After about a week, he begins to station himself at various points through the mall atdifferent times of the day,” she points out as the film suddenly shows him sitting at the food court at the Flaming Chopstick.
“I didn’t realize that he’d been here so much,” Fanny murmurs, her eyes wide as she studies him. “I’ve seen him quite a few times, but nothing like this.”
Anayolia’s lips tighten angrily. “Quite. He disappears too easily into crowds. Even I failed to notice anything was amiss until you shared your concerns—and thatdoes not happen. And most certainly not in my territory.”
“Any orders fromthe front desk?” I say meaningfully. A small legion of demons being sent in to hunt down and annihilate any trace of threat would be useful.
To my surprise, her lips twitch with amusement. “I didn’t realize we were speaking in code here since clearly our dear Fanny knows exactly what you are, but no. My father entrusts me to handle it. As you are likely aware, Death Canyon City was established to be a central access point for demons carrying out their duties, sending reports, and even serving out their punishments. Complete administrative control has been turned over to me on the demonic end but I’m only one part of the council, so my power is... limited... so to speak, not only by the rules of being a demon dwelling in the human realm but also in terms of my administrative capabilities beyond the scope of the mall. Still, my father has every bit of confidence that we can resolve the matter.”
“So, no troops,” I say drily.
“Not even a small task force,” she replies with a grimace.
“Wait, are we talking demon armies here?” Fanny asks, finally catching up to the gist of the conversation as her eyes jump back and forth between us.
I nod grimly. “It was my hope that the Master would assist in this matter, but it appears that was in vain.”
“No offense, but that probably would have been a bad idea anyway,” she says with a weak smile. “A few demons around probably aren’t going to garner a whole lot of attention, but I don’t think an entire military unit going scorched earth is going to go unnoticed.”
“Exactly what Father said,” Anayolia sighs as her claws resume drumming on the desk. “The main thing is that we need to investigate without alerting and worrying the townspeople... that goes for the humans and monsters living here. And don’t involve Dzik. His insistence on making wieners out of the flesh of the damned, while tasty, is perhaps the most questionable thing I’ve ever had come through these halls; I don’t need further chaos and bitching from him.”
