Page 47 of My Monster's Keeper
Diablos glares at the Grim and then looks at Becky. “What have you been teaching them?”
“Me?”
“You know the most about this world.” Diablos growls. “I did not agree to a prison. Prisons require work, I’ll need to feed and hire people, and do,” he hisses with displeasure, looking absolutely disgusted, “paperwork.”
“You’re the boss. We are simply your guns for hire,” she explains, quoting a human who had been arguing with another on the street last week.
Hartley sniggers. “It works,” he says to me. He turns back to Diablos and smiles. “I did tell you the problem couldn’t be solved by killing everyone.”
“Why not?” Diablos growls.
“Don’t pout, baby,” Hartley says in a baby voice. “Let’s just get a prison set up and chuck these idiots in there. You do have the giant cavern system.”
“That’s our special place,” Diablos whines.
Whines. Like a toddler. Who’d have thought a demon of hell would whine? Disgraceful.
“Everywhere is our special place.”
“Fine. But I’m hiring those giants as guards.”
“Good idea, baby.”
Diablos looks at Sine, reaches out, and snaps a pair of metal cuffs on her, ignoring her scream when he twists her snapped arm.
“All right, let’s dump her off.” Diablos looks around the place and inhales. “Puppy, get rid of the evidence.”
“But, hold on, those people had families!” Becky protests.
“We can’t risk having eyes drawn to us right now,” Hartley explains. “There’s too much at stake.”
Becky stubbornly opens her mouth, but then snaps it shut and nods. “Fine.”
“Excellent. Uh,” Diablos looks back at Hartley, “Good job?” Hartley nods and Diablos beams. “Good job!” he booms.
The two disappear in a flash of red smoke.
“Fascinating,” Becky murmurs.
“What is?”
“Diablos and Hartley,” Becky says absently.
“Puppy, can you consume all the evidence?” Stix asks.
Puppy shakes his head. “I’ll send it back home, it will kill some, and others will feed.”
Stix inclines his head. “Good idea. Let’s do it.”
“What shall we do?” Wilder asks.
“Stay here and wait,” Puppy says with so much command that my eyebrows rise. “Four eyes are better than two.”
I blink at the Grim and his almost sensible use of human phrases.
I can’t argue with it, though. I turn to Becky and smile at her. She moves closer to me, standing until we’re almost touching. I think, yes, I like it.
Chapter 14
