Little Demons (Demon Road fic)

6

The air was hot and dry, waves of heat rolled around Char as she waited for the Whispering Demon. A figure appeared in the circle. Thin and robed, its face was hidden by the hood it wore. A spear with a blade of deepest, darkest black was clutched in his hand.

"Demoriel," Char said. The demon raised his thin hands and pushed his hood down. Demoriel's face, his real face, would appear to have been sliced off long ago. He now wore one stretched too tightly across the glistening muscles beneath, pinned on by rusted nails.

"You're one of mine," he spoke in the gentlest of whispers but it felt like he was talking straight into her ear. "I don't remember making you." He mused, his eyes beneath the skin-mask scrutinising her. Char stood straight, pushing her shoulders back defiantly.

"I don't remember you making me either," Char said. Demoriel tilted his head.

"There was another like you," he said. "A man." Char nodded.

"Milo," she said. "We were created together. I didn't look like this." Demoriel paced thoughtfully in his circle then shook his head.

"I don't remember you. How did you come to be?" he asked, a spark of curiosity in his eye.

"I don't know," Char said. "I've been like this, a human-like manifestation of demonic energy, since Milo died." She watched Demoriel with a wary eye.

"And before then?" he asked. Char hesitated.

"I was just pure demonic energy," She said. Demoriel's eyes widened.

"You were the car?" he asked. Char nodded keeping her face impassive. She had to play her cards exactly right. "How interesting. How is it that you're here and not with the rest of the demonic energy? How do you have a physical form, a mind of your own? How did you break away?" he sighed. "So many questions." Char ignored him.

"I want to make a deal," She told him. Demoriel hadn't been expecting that, she could see it in his eyes. "I want Milo back." Demoriel stopped pacing.

"I can't do that. There's already a deal involving your friend," he said. Char strolled round the circle.

"That deal is null, he died," Char said, her tone accusative. Demoriel smiled beneath his skin-mask.

"You are a smart one, so, what do you propose?" he asked. Char dipped her chin.

"You bring Milo back, demon powers and all and you get me," Char offered. Demoriel pondered the idea.

"I can't bring souls back from the dead. Only the Blood-dimmed King can do that," he said. "But if I could, it sounds like fair trade, perhaps because you are so lifelike despite your lack of a soul." Char inhaled sharply. This was not going how she had planned. "What was it like in the car?" he asked. The question caught her off guard.

"Dark, cold, heavy, loud," Char frowned. "So loud. All those voices screaming..." she shuddered involuntarily. Demoriel smiled.

"Say I could in fact bring a soul back from the dead and I brought your friend Milo back, demon powers and all, he would need his demon car, wouldn't he? If I were to offer you the chance to find the car with him but when you find the car, instead of coming to me you return to the car, would you take it?" He asked, his voice sending shivers up Char's spine. She stopped walking and raised her eyes to Demoriel's.

"I would," She said. Demoriel's smile didn't waver.

"Giving up your freedom for your friend's life is no easy task," He mused.

"I would do anything to save him," Char said.

"I am beginning to see how you came to be," he reflected. "Your devotion to your... friend is admirable."