The Howling

Chapter Fifteen

        Emil fiddled with a loose thread on his jeans. He wished he still had his jacket with him. The cave had become colder than normal, sending unpleasant chills raking through his body and setting his teeth on edge.  

        Demons were standing guard. There were four of them, each one wearing a suit, all with the same face. He had thought it odd, the men wearing suits, until Neil had explained it for him. 

        "Demons can shift their form to whatever they want. Not normally in the Howling, but generally they can." 

        "The Howling?" 

        "Where we are. Sorry, I keep forgetting that you're a human and don't know all this basic stuff." 

        Emil allowed the insult to slide. "Where is the Howling, exactly?" 

        Neil shrugged and then froze. Matilda was resting her head in Neil's lap and the motion had caused her to stir. Only once she settled down again, and Neil felt certain she was asleep, did he explain. "I don't know. It's dangerous so only the Magistrates, the Court Magicians, and their Guards know where the Howling is. Well, I would imagine some of the more prominent families know. It isn't exactly a strict secret but you have to be in the know to know, you know?" 

        Emil had pressed him after that, begging the boy to tell him all about the Magistrates, the Court Magicians, their Guards, and whatever else he knew about demons. Between the two of them, they figured that the demon in dark blue was a water demon, the one in red was fire, the one in brown was earth, and the one in white was air. They all looked the same besides the color of their suits, as if they had been quadruplets or something. 

        "Why would they choose to look like that, you think?" 

        Neil sighed. "I don't know. Maybe Eisen likes his minions to look nice or something. What does it matter?" 

        Emil supposed it didn't matter too much but still, he wanted to know everything there was about the world that had opened its mouth and swallowed him whole. The more he knew, the better chance he had of escaping. Or of helping his sister. 

        He was just beginning to doze off when he heard the voices. Neil had already fallen asleep, resting his head on Emil's shoulder. He was tempted to wake the child up, thinking Neil might interpret any words or phrases Emil didn't know, but thought better of it. It would be better to let the child sleep while he could. 

        "They've been gone for nearly an hour." 

        Emil's breath caught in his throat. Just the voice sent chills creeping down his spine. His heart hammered in his chest. Eisen was speaking. The magician who had brought him here. The one who had started all of this. 

        "My lord, perhaps the Howling has confused them?" 

        "Don't be absurd," Eisen snapped. "I gave them adequate spells to navigate this accursed prison. They should be here by now. Perhaps I underestimated the detective." 

        Emil craned his neck, moving slowly so not to wake up Neil. He could see Eisen standing beside the demon in red, a frown clouding his face.  

        "I doubt it," the demon smirked. "The detective didn't seem dangerous at all. More likely your men just got lost." 

        Eisen shot a dark look at the demon. "My men do not get lost. Nor do they disobey an order once it has been given. I told them to dispose of the detective and the girl quickly and return promptly. The fact that they aren't here now means that they have disobeyed at least one of those orders."