The High Order

22. The master and Cerberus

22. The master and Cerberus

1. Dan was on the clock once again. This time, he was on an interdimensional investigation. He had been assigned by Lucifer to solve the disappearances of several high ranking demons in Hell. he had since travelled to Purgatoria to see if the Dusk had been kidnapping demons for fun. Dan headed to Death's castle on the other side of the island because no one knew what went on in Purgatoria more than Death did. As he flew over the isle, Dan held a list of the missing. There were four in total, one corrupt politician, a dirty police chief, a drug trafficker and a former head chef in Satan's pantry. 

They were all reported as missing by their associates over the last couple of days as if they had vanished into thin air, and the only beings who regularly travelled between the four realms were the Purgatorians, making everyone on the island a potential suspect in the case. What could they want with people like this?, drugs?, recipes?. It all seemed very suspicious to Dan, but when someone had a motive, they would do anything in their power to achieve what they wanted. Back in the human world, Dan had dealt with several hostage situations, but at this rate, the missing could have been anywhere.

2. While Dan was out on another of his hairbrained investigations, Lucifer was left outside of Satan's citadel with a twenty-foot tall slobbering mutt. Easily dwarfing Lucifer, the hellhound, by the name of Cerberus, was a three-headed Dalmatian cross horrific demonic hell beast. With three large heads, red eyes, wagging tail and chain collar, the goliath had to regularly be walked once a day by Satan's personal assistant. However today, the assistant had taken a personal breather, meaning Satan had no other choice of who to leave Cerberus with than Lucifer. Around Satan and Lucifer, the dog was a gentle giant, playfully wagging and leaping around, causing only minor cracks in the surrounding pavement. Playing with Cerberus was the easy part. The hard part was walking him.

"okay, good boy. Daddy wants me to take you out for walkies today. Yes, he does. Yes, he does" Lucifer smothered all over Cerberus, who he had known since childhood, and yet no matter how many times Lucifer attempted to train the mutt, he just would not listen. Cerberus scratched himself briefly just as Lucifer was about to chain on the leash to his collar, but before he could, Cerberus dashed off down the street, causing traffic to stop and people to tumble out of the way of new oncoming traffic in the form of a giant fluffy dog.

"goddammit" Lucifer gave chase through the city after the dog, apologizing to the astonished and annoyed crowds as he went.

3. Meanwhile, Dan's investigation was turning into a bust. Several Purgatorians had now disappeared as well, leading Dan to question Death directly at his castle. The accused stated:

"I have no idea where they've gone. They seem like average folk, not of the Dusk or Dawn. Our recent search parties across the island and into the human world all came up to be false"

Dan went to Hell to question Satan about the missing demons and Purgatorians, but the latter only said:

"if they had been missing, I would have known about it. They seemingly passed under my radar. No one has yet come to claim the rewards for their returns yet either"

Dan did not find any further assistance when he beseeched an audience with God in Heaven

"trust me, Elodie usually takes care of such matters, they will see to it" God assured Dan there was nothing to worry about as if he were not enough of a trained professional to track missing persons through six years of prior service in the human world and present services in Hell. Elodie arrived at the conversation soon after and reaffirmed God's case that there were no such hostages to be found in Heaven. As Dan returned home to Lucifer's palace, he felt the air of failure and the pressure of a cold case looming over his conscious. At the palace, Satan gave Dan a personal telephone call stating the missing demons had reappeared in Hell as if out of nowhere.