Sub-lets in Hell, chapter 16.

Here we are again. Have a chapter, and please enjoy:

I sipped the tea given to me; these heathens hadn't had coffee ready, but I could forgive them for having other things on their mind.

Their story was a simple one: These people worked the shipyards, from taking off cargo from ships to building new ones. The group here was primarily responsible for building new ships, both troop transports and warships. What use warships were against demons I didn't bother asking; military spending didn't always make sense.

A few days ago, they found a welder dead, his everything torn out and painting the hull red. At first, they thought the perpetrator was human, which was... sadly possible. The army had set guards and moved on, sending for whatever passed for a detective here. I also suspected they had someone from the FSB here, but no one was jumping up and yelling 'me!', so they could have that one.

The guards had ended up dead in the night. Not a single shout or shot fired, and according to my new friend, they had all been within sight of each other.

Then the summoner they had at the docks (Why not an entire team? Who knew?) was killed and spread everywhere. The head of the man was decorating a post in front of the main pier that morning, and everyone had seen it while walking by.

The attacks had all occurred at night, save the first, and when the summoner ended up dead, all hope that it was a mortal serial killer was effectively dashed; these people had an almost hero worship of their summoners, believing them to be more than human.

I could feel that regard from here. It was either that, or the usual connections summoners here might or might not have with the secret police and higher ups. Probably both, really.

It felt too neat, but what I was leaning toward so far was: the demon washed ashore, and the welder was the first to see it, and so was killed. The demon went to ground. That night, the increased security was food and a statement. Then the summoner backup arrived, and they should really have had backup... at least a full squad or another summoner watching their back. They didn't, and so they tracked the demon down themselves and died.

Now it was my turn. I was guessing something stupid but powerful. More powerful than the average imp, at least. A caco? A mino? Something less than a lord, but more than a foot soldier, by their standards.

It might even be a eriynes. That would make it much easier for me.

This entire thing would be easy anyway if I were given full freedom to track the demon down. So far, I wasn't sure I'd be getting that. It wasn't like Russia was well known for freedom, either historically or now.

So far the people here were playing nice - but that could just be the steady presence of Grex. "So what do you think, Grex?"

"I think I'm not doing your job for you," my demon replied easily, his smirk growing.

That was fine. I needed practice to keep my skills sharp after all, and I was a big girl. I could manage things myself, even if I took the lead. Six months was more than enough experience.

Not that I was alone. I turned to Clay. "What do you think?"

"I think it's your show," Clay answered. "I'm here for muscle, but this ain't my field of expertise."

I turned to the officers in front of me, pointedly ignoring the rather smelly glasses of vodka in front of all of them, even now only half full and slowly but surely vanishing as they spoke. These guys were unlikely to be any help, at least in the near term.

"Do you think it's my show?"

"Yes," came the chorus of answers. "We have been instructed to give you every courtesy."

A nice way to put it. "Right. I'll see if I can deliver, then."

I stood up, and everyone scrambled to stay up with me. "I need to take a look around and get the lay of this area. There is no need to follow me, if you have other things you need to do."

When I left, it was with Clay and Grex both watching my back... and everyone else a good twenty steps behind them, but no farther. They were even going so far as to crowd themselves.

They must really be afraid. I guess I didn't blame them.

We were a little more fatalistic back home, for the most part. If the demon came for us, it came for us.

So, if I were a demon, where would I hide from the sunlight? Most demons needed to take cover from the purifying rays, and from its' behavior, this one might too. At the very least, it found daytime unpleasant and was taking cover. That was the only way to explain why it wasn't leaving a trail of bodies wherever it went; most demons didn't fear any form of reprisal, after all.

This one clearly didn't care about discovery; otherwise, it would have been silent aside from the first murder. It wasn't even targeting the shipbuilders in the area, the real important people that an enemy military would target if given the chance.

Now let's see... there were some old looking warehouses to start. "I don't want to take any more of your time. I'll take a look around, see if I can find a few clues, or our culprit."

Captain Rodin nodded, all business. "I shall accompany you, ma'am."

His funeral. "Grex, do what you can to protect us all, so long as it doesn't break contract."

I was first, after all.

Grex bowed deeply, hamming it up for the crowd. "As you command, my mistress."

"Thoughts?"

Clay shrugged. "It shouldn't be an issue. Whatever type it is, you're stronger. I'll drag my guy out if you think it'll help."

"It shouldn't matter, honestly. The only issue is keeping you alive, but if we are ambushed you wouldn't have time to summon anyway. You're the more experienced one, so I'll let you decide when you want to call your bodyguard."

"Excuse me, ma'am," Captain Rodin interrupted.

"Yes Captain?"

"Do you need a moment? To rest?"

Had the Captain not gotten that memo? He was eyeing Grex warily.

"No, I don't need any rest. I can keep Grex out as long as I wish; it is part of my contract."

More like a side effect of the real contract, but this man didn't need to know that.

A slight widening of the Captain's eyes was all I got, but it told me enough. Even here, the ability I had was rare. Not that I expected anything less.

"How long do you think this will take you?" Clay asked.

Honestly, it depended on how serious I needed to take it. "However long it takes me to find the thing, I suspect. A day?"

Long enough for my presence to be known... but I needed to finish it up quickly enough so that none of the real dangers out there found me.

Clay shrugged. "Too long. Half a day, tops, or you're washed up."

"Me? What about you?" The first warehouse was now before us. I signed and Clay nodded, taking the lead.

"Simple, This isn't what I'm trained for. I'm trained to kick ass and take names, not bug hunt through the streets." Clay grabbed the rusty door knob and tried it; it turned.

I nodded. "Trained to napalm the streets, right, I got it. Some of us like to have stuff left over to loot after we pass, though."

Clay lunged, throwing the door open and I lunged, slowing time to a crawl and entering with my athame leading. Of course, there was no ambush. It couldn't be that easy.

I let go my grip, letting time flow as it wanted to. The darkened warehouse smelled of damp, of mold, and of stale machine oil. The boxes were piled high, but there were large hallways made between them, for easy navigation.

The boxes were all wooden crates, actually. The kind used for long term movement of goods or storage when one was too poor to use shipping containers for the same. Did Russia have a shortage of shipping containers?

Most of these were stamped as well.

Grex brushed past with a snicker. At least he didn't say anything.

Clay followed; his own athame was out and he was busy peering as far as possible into the heights heaped above us. Prime ambush location for a demon to hide.

Grex was still forging on ahead. "Grex, not too far. Your first priority is us."

Sure, Grex could find the demon. But if Grex was off finding the demon, he wasn't close enough to deal with any attack on us. I also needed to do this myself, or as near as I could. Keep my skills sharp and all that.

Just like that, my demon was back and bowing. "As you command, my Mistress."

"So far so good," Clay said, still eyeing the heights. Heights that I was certain he couldn't even see the top of, in this gloom.

Captain Rodin had found the light switch, which was more of a large lever next to the door. He pulled it down with a snap, and it did... almost nothing at all.

Some lights had turned on, but those were few and far between, and what pools of light were created did very little for anyone dependent on light itself to see. There were plenty of windows, but they were all blocked off, and there were more than a few skylights, but all of those seemed exceptionally dirty.

I wasn't going to clean them. Not unless I was getting paid for doing so. Paid a lot for doing so; those things looked like no one had been up there in a century. Maybe no one had.

There were other ways to skin the cat.

Globes of soft light appeared at my will, spreading out around us. I never had liked that expression; why had I even thought of it?

Never mind, I needed to focus. There was nothing moving here. Nothing large enough to be a demon, anyway. There were plenty of mice, rats, and bugs skittering away from us and going to town inside the walls.

I was curious now. "What's in here?"

"Supplies for the war effort," Captain Rodin answered. "Tools. Uniforms. Boots. Non-perishables such as that."

I wasn't an expert exterminator, but that seemed a bit odd. "Lots of critters in here, for a place that isn't housing any kind of food."

"It is shelter," Captain Rodin answered. "There are violent storms here, and four walls and a roof overhead mean just as much to vermin as to humans when the wind and rain come inland."

Something felt wrong about that, but I wasn't going to call the man on it. Instead, I picked my way along the given paths, looking for anything out of place.

I found nothing, of course. It was never that easy. "Grex, lift me up."

The crates would hold my weight, and it was time to take the road less traveled.

"As you command," my demon returned, playing the dutiful servant in front of the new blood. His wings came out with flair, and he grabbed me under my arms. With a powerful thrust I felt, we shot up, almost to the ceiling.

I had expected a princess carry, just to embarrass me, but this would work.

I had expected dust up here, but there was precious little. Some areas had more than others, as you'd expect. I pointed. "Set me down there."

Grex was gentle, placing me down and folding himself onto one knee, head down.

The crates were creaking under us, but they were holding. However, they would hold better if I moved a bit farther, giving the cheap wood under us a little more surface area to hold us up with.

I decided I'd ignore the behavior. "Come on."

I could see more than enough; there was nothing large moving atop these boxes save us, and skipping along them just to make sure allowed me to see the rafters - where nothing was lurking.

I traced the spell I needed to detect the unseen, one of my many advantages over the normal run of the mill summoner. Taking another look revealed just as much nothing as before.

A few more spells to augment my senses, just in case... and still nothing, even taking another pass.

"Grex, what do you think?"

"Just the normal vermin here, my Mistress," was his reply, spoken in just the right tone to convey that my demon thought all of us were vermin. He was being a little feisty today. Maybe I should ask.

"Who pissed in your cheerios this morning?"

Grex gave me a wide eyed look of obviously feigned surprise. "Why, whatever do you mean? I am acting as anyone would."

Was he just running cover here for the new guy? Trying to act like a demon normally would or something? I mean he'd always been a little like this, but this was over the top for him. More a reminder of how he used to be, before we'd been deployed and crap had hit the fan.

Hm, that reminded me. "Grex, how are the others doing? Are they getting bored, by any chance?"

That Grex knew who I meant when I said 'the others' was something I never doubted.

"Some are, of course. You should know which, with some thought. I was about to suggest you might go and give a rousing speech and inspire them. In another week, perhaps."

"I think a slight sojourn might help more than any words. Maybe a task to do, or even a mission."

Grex grinned, showing me all his many teeth. "Did you finally get tired of playing in the dust with the rats?"

I decided to play it straight and take the needling question seriously. "No, but it occurs to me that I can only be one place at a time, and you can also only be one place at a time. Short of playing with time, we can't cheat that. But we don't have to just use us."

The contracts I had made were still valid, after all.

On the one hand, it was smart to leverage all the power one had. On the other hand, it felt like a massive copout to just summon the crew in and have them take care of it. and on the other other hand, it was less effort than actually stopping time and searching until we found the needle in this haystack.

We only had a day. Maybe less than that.

One more place. We'd do things the old-fashioned way one more place. Where was the most likely spot for a demon to hide while waiting to kill more?

I knew, of course. It was pretty obvious, even if it was wrong.

Demons didn't need to breathe. They enjoyed it, from all the things I've seen... but they didn't need to. They also could be a little straightforward in their attempts to deceive. A little obvious.

I left the warehouse, leading the small troupe, Grex doing his best to intimidate the new guy, our new Russian friend.

"So where to now? The next one?"

"Nah. Follow me." I couldn't say directly since even here and now, the demon might be able to hear us somehow. I mean, I'd do it if it were me.

Grex's grin grew wider.

The docks were now in full swing, with large numbers of clearly very tense people loading, unloading, or building ships. I wasn't an expert, but they seemed to be doing well at it. The air of tension aside.

What appeared to be the oldest and most unused dry dock was at the far end, of course. Almost on the inside edge of the docks themselves. There was a bridge over that way, leading from the city off into the distance.

I could almost smell the rot coming from it, and only two people even came close to the area as we walked that way. None closer than five hundred feet, which is where I started looking for little extras. After all, if it were me, I'd set up a small tripwire or two just to give me warning. If I could, that is.

Nothing so far, but they could just be placed farther in. With my current senses, there was no reason to worry about missing it.

Grex was still smiling. "I love the way your mind works, my Mistress."

I hadn't given him any leave to talk out of turn. "Grex, shut up unless I ask for your opinion or a response."

The smile vanished, but my demon followed the order.

"Careful," I said to the crowd behind me. "Look for fresh blood or symbols you don't recognize. Any sort of line trail leading to either should be avoided. Point them out if you see them first."

I'd kept my voice low for a reason; even if magic listening was being used, you could trick most of the spells into offering the illusion of distance by making it sound as if you were far from the anchor used.

If the demon was good enough to hone in on us as we moved and do so upon our arrival, we were never going to sneak up on them.

I was still leading, so I slowed our pace... and pitched my voice even softer. "Grex, you may speak freely. But please keep it to subjects that are pertinent to our situation."

Having my best weapon against a demon blocked from shouting warnings or advice was just stupid, despite appearances.

Grex nodded. He was behind me, so I couldn't see it, but it was easy to imagine from the rustle of cloth and feather to my rear.

This close, we couldn't afford to talk. I held a finger to my lips, then used my body to block the hand signs for Clay.

Clay nodded; I waited as he set his circle.

His chant was a little slow - he was out of practice. He hadn't called his demon in months, so far as I knew, so it made sense. Still, it was something to needle him over.

Clay's demon took form without any of the literal flare that Grex employed; simply smoke rising up from the middle of the circle written in the special ink most of us used, before finally solidifying into the familiar mino whose name I did not remember, or even care to remember.

The demon saw my finger upraised for silence, and opened it's mouth to say something rude no doubt, when Clay moved in front of him and mimicked me. That was enough.

Grex leaned in close, showing of, signing to me with slightly older versions of the same stuff we used today to ask me what I thought I was doing.

I signed that we were going to flush the demon out, and if it ran from us, Clay was to take it with his demon. Classic hammer and anvil.

Grex signed back that he was insulted that I thought that just any demon could get away from him, which was fine.

I took a cautious look. The water in that dock was dark, murky, and very dirty. Just trying to get down there was a hazard, and my eyes couldn't pierce the murk all the way to the bottom. It was the perfect place for someone to whom any bodily function was at best a suggestion to be ignored to hide. Most demons might not even find it unpleasant.

The remains of a ship hull in it, long since gone to rust and seed but still barely keeping its knife-like shape, also lay below, giving more shadow and cover to anything down there.

Somewhere under all that muck, mud, and faded garbage, was a demon. I'd bet my life on it.

Grex was ready. I was ready. I motioned him to take the far side of whatever hulk that was down there, and I'd take the near side. That way, we'd cover more ground and he would still be close enough to respond if I were in danger.

I didn't really feel in danger. Like Grex said himself, I was certain that I was beyond any normal demon - but arrogance like that was how you got killed, and minimizing the risk was just prudent.

I should be slowing or stopping time... but I didn't want to.  I just didn't want to resort to my trump card just yet; it put a lot of pressure on me, and I might need it later.

Time to worry about that later. "Go."

I jumped, and Grex jumped too, unfurling his wings to glide down.

I just said the word of power I needed and floated down. Grex matched me and was out of sight behind the remains of ship in the blink of an eye.

I focused on down and where I'd land.

Even so, I still got dunked and sunk a few inches into muck before I caught myself. I knew the stuff was deep, but wow. The rusty surface of the ship was close enough; I sketched the required runes upon it with my finger, the cut I gathered at touching the sharp edge coming in to my advantage.

I could hear Grex sloshing around on the other side as my spell activated; the winds now blew at my direction, and I drove them to throw everything else out of my way, first one direction, back towards me. Speed was key.

There; what was that? It looked like a back, complete with a bony spine. Was that a body? A victim not reported?

No, it was a cacodemon. One who was standing up and giving me a hiss that was supposed to be intimidating.

"Grex!"

The demon made it three scrabbling steps, not towards me, but up and away, before my demon caught him. It wasn't even a fight. Even the fireball the demon was conjuring was snuffed as a very muddy Grex caught both arms and wrenched them down, into the water.

Then with dual cracks, Grex broke both those arms and wrenched them behind the now shrieking thing.

Without his arms in the way, I only had to dodge a kick that would have disemboweled me if it had landed, and stab out with my athame. Easy peasy, job done.

I floated back and erased my blood from the side of the ship; no sense giving anyone else either a handle or knowledge they may not have. I floated up, into a few concerned looking faces.

Grex landed behind me... then promptly shook himself like a dog; coming completely clean while spraying the muck everywhere and on everyone else.

I ignored it; I was used to the antics by now, and I hadn't exactly been clean already. I even knew a spell to help that, and it was already inscribed in my uniform.

It was in Clay's too, part of the standard set of runes used in all our uniforms and robes. We both activated them at the same time.

"So - You didn't see another, on the off chance, right Grex?"

"I did not," Grex answered. "I suspect there was only the one. If there had been two or more, there would have been far more dead."

I agreed. If there had been two, they would have competed over who got the most kills, or the best kills, or something similar. They couldn't help themselves. The only reason I asked was that cacodemons liked fire, and none of the bodies I'd heard of had been burned, let alone burned alive. Very unusual.

I turned to Captain Rodin. "How about you? Do you think there might be another?"

The good Captain was wiping muck off his uniform as best he could, with a calm that I could envy. "No. I think that was the only one. Can I ask that you stay until our replacement summoner arrives? Just in case some other enemy tries to take advantage."

"I can do that, so long as they arrive today." It wouldn't do to stay too long.

"He should arrive in the next four hours," Captain Rodin replied. "However, the roads from his location are often blocked for some reason or another. I would appreciate as long as you can give me. I am sure you are busy."

I was. "I'll give you as long as I can, but I do need to be on my way by dusk."

That was cutting the four hour timeline close.

Captain Rodin saluted. "With your leave, I shall speak to the men. Let them know the danger has passed."

"Sure, go ahead." I wasn't his boss, but even so I outranked him, and I guess he realized it now.

Clay let his demon go, back into the smoke from which it came. His forehead was sweaty. "You need to work on that. You barely had him out."

"Yeah, I know. It's just... I've done my tour."

He was right. He shouldn't even be out here. "Even so, you should keep your fighting trim. Even stateside work can be really dangerous."

"Yeah, I know. It's just... it doesn't sit well with me."

It never did; it didn't sit well with me either. It never had, and I was certain all of us summoners were the same.

Summoning could be like a muscle; use it or lose it. The human mind quickly grew disused to the strain of violating the rules this universe was ran by. There was a good chance that in the near future, if Clay needed his demon, his mind might break under the strain, or he might even fumble the ritual. Either result would not end well for all involved.

The people around us had needed to be informed; not a single one of them had noticed the life or death battle in their backyard. We were alone for the moment.

"Grex, I'm double checking here. The odds are basically nil that there is another demon lurking around here, right?"

"I'd say less than nil," my demon responded. "What troubles you, my Mistress?"

Wasn't it obvious? "It was too easy."

My demon stared at me. Clay was stopped in the middle of the street, and was staring at me. "What?"

"I think your views on what might be easy or difficult might be ever so slightly skewed, my Mistress. If Clay were to take on the foe we just banished alone in the manner in which we had, the odds that he would have died are high - and he is, as much as it pains me to say, a better than average example for his kind."

"Aww thanks Grex, I never knew you cared," Clay couldn't resist a little needle or two.

"Quiet, meat-bag," came the response, with my demon not looking over or missing a beat.

Right, so I was alone in my thinking. Good to know, I guess. Maybe they were right?

The mood once we got back into range of the rest of humanity here was noticeably lighter, and Captain Rodin was rushing to rejoin us.

Oh shit. With nothing left to do, that meant I'd have to sit in that shed they called and officer's mess and drink more terrible tea!

I couldn't wait.