Page 17 of The Monster of Darkspell Comics
“Whoa. Hot dogs of the damned. Wicked,” breathes my female and my lips twitch fondly.
Anayolia chuckles reluctantly. “I shouldn’t be surprised that you are unbothered. You are a peculiar human. Regardless, I’m sure you can understand why I wish to spare myself. Thankfully, those who are here for punishment don’t have to report to me outside of regular supervision. I want to keep it that way.” She directs a disgusted look at me. “Frankly, if I had my way, you would be just as much in the dark given that you are also a boil on my ass.”
“I guess we are all lucky that way,” I reply flatly and then grunt when Fanny’s elbow lands in my gut.
“If that is it, then what do we do now, Ms. Kremble?” Fanny asks.
Anayolia lifts her hands in a helpless shrug. “Keep gathering intel. I will hand this tape over to the council, but I will continue having the tapes reviewed nightly now we know who we are looking for. Beyond that, there isn’t much we can do without permission from the mayor. And he’s such a stickler for the laws specifically outlined in the town charter.”
Fanny’s brows beetle. “And who is the mayor?”
Anayolia sighs and leans back in her chair. “That would be a particularly unpleasant ogre by the name of Dukalth. Everything that goes on in town is ultimately his call, though he respects my particular fiefdom here.”
I snort humorlessly to myself. It is hard to believe that a demoness of her ilk is calling an ogre unpleasant, but I wisely keep the observation to myself.
Fanny’s face falls with disappointment. “So, what you are saying is that all we can do is wait until he gives the go-ahead.”
“In a nutshell,” she agrees with a heavy sigh. “Hopefully, he takes this matter seriously enough to assign several of his staff to look into it. In the meantime...” she trails off and looks at me expectantly.
I groan aloud. I’m honestly good with waiting. So long as everyone understands that I will viciously defend what’s mine, I can happily wait until hell experiences a unexpected cooling period. Investigating the activities of a human is not how I want to spend my vacation.
Fanny pats my arm sympathetically. “Come on, Nancy Drew, I will give you a hand.”
I give her a disgusted look, but I can’t be too angry with my Fanny, especially not when her hand is resting on my arm and she’s looking at me that way. What a sad sack of slop she’s turned me into, but I can’t help a private little purr of pleasure. My vacation may be ruined, but she is perhaps the most unexpected reward from it.
Chapter 14
Fanny
I’ve decided that having a demon around is kind of awesome once you get used to all the grumpy growling and fussing. Not only because he genuinely makes me feel safe and appreciated, even if that appreciation comes in a fairly surly package, but because he takes my concerns seriously and wholly supports digging up whatever we can on Creepo—even if he would rather handle things more permanently in an expedited manner. Still, he has the unwavering patience of a predator, and I find myself relying on it even when I find my own patience begins to waver and fracture. I just wish that I knew what Creepo is up to.
There hasn’t been any noticeable new movement beyond the usual, and we haven’t yet come across any new information. I mean, there has been some mention of missing humans, which has hit Kimmy hard, but it doesn’t seem to be related. Apparently, missing humans aren’t anything new in Death Canyon City. Color me surprised.
Even reviewing the security tapes with Ms. Kremble only confirmed what we already knew. At least it’s on record, and it has been passed on to the town council. Everything else might have come to a temporary standstill in our investigation, but I’m not giving up. Not when it’s becoming abundantly clear that he has no intention of moving on like the typical tourist. He lingers as the days bleed into each other, like an unnerving shadow watching and observing everything we do. Unfortunately, as heis not breaking any town laws, there is little that the mayor can do.
In the meantime, it’s business as usual around here. I tend to the shop for the most part while Pashar works. Most hours there is little for me to do other than watch the people milling among the shops and the gradual arrival of Halloween to the mall. Trick-or-treatinginsidea mall. What a clever idea! I just need to find a way to convince Pashar that it can be fun. Though he’s agreed to cooperate, he’s still a little annoyed that he must participate in something he considers ridiculous. I know that his human appearance is just an illusion, but there still must be some joy that a demon can find in the admittedly silly customs of the season. Maybe I need to suggest a few good costumes and get him into the spirit of things, but what?
I tap my chin as I contemplate the matter. The most obvious answer is for him to go as himself, but there are two problems with that. One, his real appearance can be terrifying for someone not prepared for it. Even after spending day-in and day-out with him and never once being offered any kind of harm, I’ve only recently stopped jumping when he drops the illusion. It’s not that I find him distasteful to look at. Quite the opposite, actually. There is a dark, predatory sexiness to him that makes my heart flutter. I always enjoyed being scared a little too much, which goes hand in hand with my love of horror movies. The trickle of remaining fear that I’ve had around him has resulted in flipping a switch that I didn’t even know I have—of which he thankfully hasn’t caught on to yet, so I’m spared from dying from embarrassment. Two, there is no way any sort of human-made costume can come close to looking like him.
I tap a finger on my bottom lip as the administrator walks by with her arms laden with two large boxes that appear to be filled with little goody bags, a black witch’s hat flopping on her head. Despite her burden, she tries to shift it anyway so thatshe can give me a cheerful wave. Smiling, I return the gesture. Despite her dour attitude with some of the shopkeepers, and being gnarly demoness of exceptional power, Ms. Kremble is super nice. And it looks like she needs a hand. The store is dead at the moment anyway, so why not?
“Hey, Pashar, are you going to flip if I go on break?” I shout over to the male brooding over his drawings at the counter.
His eyes lift from his work, and it strikes me anew how yellow they are even beneath his human illusion. They make his illusion possess very bright golden brown that toes the line of being natural. His brow furrows slightly, and he grunts, flicking his fingers at me.
“Take your lunch break,” he growls, his gaze returning to his work.
“Sweet. Want anything?” I already know his order; it’s the same thing he always gets. “I’ll be heading to The Good Char.”
It’s strange how learning exactly what that demon’s special ingredients are hasn’t dissuaded me from eating there. I don’t know what that says about me. If it makes me a monster, I guess I just fit in better with Hellscape Mall this way. In the days I’ve been working here, I’ve slowly seen the normal world peel away as I become increasingly more aware of the monsters living peacefully among humanity.
“Yeah. Don’t forget to tip the brats,” he says, a satisfied smile curling his lips.
I shake my head and pinch my lips together to contain my own smile. I’m so not encouraging him with this. “Still on that? I figured the feud was over when Dzik picked up the fleas from you. I’m still trying to figure out where you pulled those out from, by the way.”
His smile widens, showing teeth with a definite sharpness to them, his yellow eyes gleaming brightly enough that I can seemore of their true color bleeding through. He looks evil as all get-out but, strangely, he’s just my kind of evil.
“Secrets of the trade,” is all he says, and he makes another shooing motion at me. “As for Dzik, he would get bored if I didn’t torment him. Now get out of here before I change my mind.”
