The Devil in the Black Suit

Naya Catches the Crows

Chapter Six

Naya Catches the Crows

When I wake, I luxuriate in the feeling of the cushy cloud beneath me.  Keeping my eyes closed to ease myself into consciousness, I let the fluff envelop my body.  The sun’s rays beat down on my face, warmth coming in moist, few-second waves.

I had a strange dream as I slept.  Something about demons and devils.  Flying through Hell and being carried in someone’s strong arms.  Everything smells like charcoal smoke, constricting my throat and polluting my lungs.

But as I come to, I realize that it wasn’t a dream.  The fight with Bale, the Demon King, replays in my head like some kind of sick play, Ymae’s muffled screams echoing in haunting overture.  Only now do I start to tremble, eyes still closed, imagining what could have happened if James had not been there to save me.  Things so horrible that I cannot bear to put them into words.

Hoping to rid myself of the nauseating reverie, I snap my eyes open.  But instead of seeing James and Maleka’s room, I am greeted by the face of a four-legged beast, its snout mere inches from my face.  It opens its mouth wide, jowls flapping against two pointy rows of teeth, white and jagged like pickets in a fence.  Its pink mouth is an endless cavern expelling hot, putrid breath onto my face.

For a moment that drags on for eternity, we stare into each other’s eyes, waiting for the other to make a move. Its bronze eyes are wide, pupils dilated.  Something about the creature’s face brings up a memory somewhere, but I can’t place it for fear of being attacked by this thing.

“Naya, get off my angel,” James says, his voice groggy and muffled from under the mountain of blankets on his bed.  “Come here.”

With one last look at me, the creature leaves my side and leaps onto James’s bed, nuzzling its head into the sheets.  So this beast is Naya?  The Naya whose bed I’m sleeping in?  It’s only then that I begin to notice the earthy animal smell coming from the cushion beneath me.

“That is Naya?” I say, trying to conceal my fear.  I’m not sure that it’s working.

At the sound of her name, Naya snaps her head toward me, ears as big as my hands pricking up in alert.  Mouth closed now, her jowls make a shape like the number three.  Her pink nose blends into fur so deep a shade of brown that it looks like she’s just been plucked from the earth.

“Yes, this is Naya,” he grumbles, poking just his head out from under his covers, his blonde hair mussed up from the night.  “What did you expect when I put you in a pet bed?”

“This thing,” I say, gesturing toward Naya with a shaky finger, “is your pet?”

“Technically, she’s Maleka’s pet,” James explains.  “Maleka’s always had a soft spot for Hellhounds.”

“That’s a Hellhound?” I yelp, shooting out of bed so fast that my wings take off and I crash into the ceiling.  Pain sparks up in the back of my skull like a thunderstorm, and I clutch my neck as I land as far away from the Hellhound as possible.

Only in fairy tales -- stories parents read to scare children -- have I heard of Hellhounds.  They are like the dogs of Earth, only much larger and fiercer.  They travel in packs on the outskirts of Hell, stalking through shadows for their prey.

I hear they love the taste of angel flesh.

“Oh, calm down, Angel,” James says, doing a poor job of hiding his amusement.  “She’s harmless.  I can’t believe the same girl who took on the Demon King is scared of a little doggy.”

“She’s not…”  I pause, torn between my fear of the Hellhound and my pride.

“Really, she’s harmless,” James says, giving the beast a kiss on top of her head for emphasis.  “Wouldn’t hurt you for nothing.  Only reason you’d have to worry is if you were a crow.  Naya catches the crows.  You know, for our meals.”