I have the imps carry Rock’s body back into Room 5. I know they are going to eat it later but I do not feel right just leaving it out in the hallway with all the human corpses. I would like to relocate Spiky’s body as well but it is not as easy to move as an imp. I am also not sure what to even do with it. The imps might eat it if nothing else, but the other hellhounds might already have a way of dealing with their dead, so I will wait and see.

Calla was devastated when she found out about Spiky. She spent quite a while clinging to his body while crying her eyes out. The question now is do I want to summon another one to replace him. I probably should, but I think I will wait a while. I have plenty of mana thanks to the humans, but I feel like it would rather callous to immediately use it to replace those who died.

I ask the imps to gather the humans in one place and start stripping them of their gear. Much of their armor was intact, though some straps had been cut and some burned. I do not know what the armor is made out of, but it is a tough yet light weight material with a dense padding underneath. On the two who were burned to death, the solid parts are mostly intact, but the padding underneath is burned and melted along with their flesh. Surely a horrible way to die, but I can not bring myself to feel sorry for them given the reason they were here.

The helmets look a little strange. It covers their entire head with an opaque face plate that looks to be made of the same materiel as the rest of it covering most of their faces, but with some boxy looking goggles protruding outwards that seem to be built in as part of the design. It is probably something to allow them see in the dark.

It would be nice if I could get some armor like this for my imps, other than the night vision goggles, they do not need those. Unfortunately none of what the humans brought will fit them. Some of it might fit Igneous, the forearm and shin guards, for example. I mention it to him and he does seem curious. He tries a few on. They are a bit small and do not cover his entire forearm or shins. Even though his torso is roughly the same size as a human’s, his limbs are longer. But even so, he chooses to keep some. Even a little armor is better than no armor.

What should I do with the rest though? William mentioned trade. Maybe they would be interested in some of it. The weapons too. My imps can not use their guns, though maybe Igneous could, perhaps I will keep some in reserve for him to use in an emergency and offer the rest back to William. The humans also all carried knives on their belts, but they can be useful so we will keep those.

One of the humans had a small black rectangular device with a few buttons on the side and an antenna on top. A radio, it looks like, but there is only one between the five of them, so it is clearly not for communicating among themselves. Which means they expect to be in communication with someone else.

Each of the humans appeared to have a logo painted on their right shoulder pad. A cartoonish depiction of a black and white furred creature, a badger perhaps, holding an assault rifle and smoking a cigar. Maybe I will ask William about it. A well organized, well equipped group with a uniform appearance and their own logo might be well known among humans. It is possible that this could help with their investigation.

None of the humans had any provisions on them. No food or water or anything else besides weapons and ammo. It seems unlikely to me that they would have come here all the way from the human city wearing all this gear and nothing else. Even if the armor is not that heavy, I doubt it would be easy to travel that distance while wearing it the whole way. And to not have any food or water at all? Food I could understand to some degree, they could surely make the trip in a day, they are not going to starve in that time. But water is another matter. It would be foolish to make a journey like that, wearing this kind of gear without bringing any water.

And what were they planning to do once they got my core? Were they just going to have one of them carry it back in their hands? No. Walking through the city, both the ruins and the still populated section, holding a glowing pink orb would be far too conspicuous. It is probable that they either have an outpost nearby, as William did, or they came here in a vehicle.

If they drove, then it is possible their vehicle is still nearby, but none of them had any keys on them, so their driver may have stayed behind and is waiting for them to return. I would like to send my imps out to search. But Violet would likely be the best for that. I am sure she is more familiar with the area than any of the others at this point. But I cannot ask her to do this in her current state, especially if there are more humans waiting.

Igneous would be a good choice for a task like this. He could search from the air and even if there are still some humans waiting by the vehicle it would be hard for them to see him in the dark. That is if they even think to look up to the sky in the first place. I hope they did actually drive here. If they have set up an outpost somewhere close, then I might have a much bigger problem.

I have a favor to ask of you. I say to him. He does not respond but is waiting for me to continue.

It is possible these humans came here in a vehicle. If that is the case then it may still be nearby. I want you to see if you can find it. If you see any more humans, report back immediately. Come back if you do not find anything by sunrise.

He nods and heads for the stairwell, going up to the roof. I doubt the humans would be foolish enough to park right out in front of the building, so if it is out there, it might take a while for him to find.

A little while after Igneous leaves the radio comes to life, emitting a voice that sounds sarcastic and bored.

“C’mon guys. What’s takin’ so long? Don’t tell me the baby demons and their pet doggies got the better of ya.” The closest imps are startled by the sound and jump back in surprise. They observe the radio from a safe distance with a combination of curiosity and confusion. Well that confirms that there is someone waiting for them. What are they going to do when they do not get a reply? After about half a minute of silence, the radio speaks again, this time in a much more serious tone.

“Boyle, if you don’t respond I’m gonna follow normal withdrawal pro- OH FUCK! What is that?” The radio remains silent after that.

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Not long after that Igneous returns, blood on all of his claws, hands and feet, and what looks like a bullet wound in his shoulder. The bullet seems to have gone all the way through and punctured his wing as well. That is good at least. Rose should be able to heal it and she will not have to dig the bullet out first.

What happened? I ask him.

He sends back images of flying around in an expanding circle pattern, looking for anything out of the ordinary. From these images it seems like his night vision is not that great, but it is good enough to make out shapes on the ground at least. He took a sudden left turn and found a boxy looking vehicle with an enclosed trailer behind it. He landed on the hood and peered through the windshield. The interior light was on so he could clearly see the human in the driver’s seat holding another radio.

The human dropped the radio and pulled out a pistol to fire at Igneous, but the bullets did not penetrate the glass between them. Bullet proof glass? Possibly an armored vehicle then. Did the driver forget that when he fired? He does not seem particularly bright.

Igneous climbed onto the roof while the human tried to start the vehicle. He reached down and opened the door then tried to grab the human. That is when the caught the bullet in the shoulder. He turned around and reached in with his feet instead. Before the human could even realize what was happening, Igneous had one foot closed around the gun and the other grabbing the man’s arms. He heaved the man out of the car and pounced on him. Talons on his feet biting deep into the mans flesh and tearing at him with clawed hands. Once the man stopped moving, he returned here.

I did ask you to report back immediately if you saw any humans, not try to engage them yourself. But in this case I will say you did well. I think he was planning to leave before you showed up. How did you find him? You took a pretty sudden turn there and headed straight for him even before the vehicle was within view.

His response is sound this time instead of images. Muffled sounds that are vaguely like what I heard over the radio. He must have good hearing if he was able to hear that so clearly from such a distance. I guess his large ears are not just for show.

I will get Rose to take a look at your shoulder. Any other injuries? He shakes his head.

She is still in the bedroom with Violet. When I appear in the room, I see Violet and River asleep on their bed. Rose is sitting beside them on the bed gently stroking Violet’s hair. Fuzzy is laying on the floor beside the bed.

How is she?

“She needs rest, but I think she’s going to be okay.”

What about you?

“I’m...also going to be okay.”

Please do not hesitate to ask if you need anything from me.

“I won’t. Thank you.” She actually smiles a little, which is nice to see.

Good. Right now, I need something from you. Can you please heal Igneous? She stops patting Violet's hair and looks up, suddenly tense.

“What happened?”

There was another human waiting nearby, so I sent Igneous to find it. It is not a serious injury though, nothing to be too worried about.

Exiting her room, she finds Igneous waiting for her just outside the door. He leans down so she can get a better look at his shoulder. There is still blood oozing from the wound, though not enough to be life threatening, so clearly no major arteries were severed. She reaches up and places a hand on his arm. She closes her eyes in concentration and the bleeding stops as it begins to heal. She stops when she is confident that his blood is going to stay inside his body where it belongs, but urges him to take it easy for a while.

Once everything has settled down, the imps whose sleep was interrupted return to their slumber and some of the others also decide that now is a good time to go to sleep as well. Calla clings tightly to Noctis as she sleeps. Noctis is still awake, but is content lay there to comfort the child.

I ask Noctis what they intend to do with Spiky’s body. I get a lot of complicated feelings in return. She is upset by his death, but is also proud of him for what he accomplished. I feel something else from her, more than feelings, it is more like an idea, a concept of heat, fire and ash. They intend to burn the body. That was a more clear and direct form of communication than I have received from Noctis before. She might be changing similar to how the imps are getting smarter over time. The other hellhounds probably are too. I wonder if they will eventually learn to communicate as she does.

But will cremation really work for a hellhound? I saw Spiky move through the fire that incinerated the human. He was completely unfazed by it, so I assumed they were fireproof. I suppose if their fire is magical then perhaps their fire resistance is also the result of magic. Maybe it is no longer active after they die. Or it could simply be a matter of increasing the intensity of the flames until they are hot enough to overcome that resistance. Whatever the case is, I think it would be better if they do not do it inside.

If that is how you intend to deal with it, I would ask that you please do so outside. I am sure the imps and maybe Igneous would be willing to help you move the body.

When all the imps are awake a few hours later, I ask for their help to move Spiky. Violet is among them, she seems to have calmed down, but still looks a bit sullen. But so does everyone I suppose. That is to be expected under the circumstances. When I ask Igneous, he takes a while to respond. He might have actually been sleeping this time. I apologize for waking him as he emerges from his rock form. With all of them working together it is not a difficult task, though it is still a long way down to the ground floor.

I realize that this will be kind of like a funeral for Spiky and lament that I can not be there for it. But even with their control over fire, I do not think it would be safe to do this inside. I could have Igneous relay the scene to me later, but it will not be the same as actually being there.

When they eventually return I am taken aback to see the imps all carrying bones, with Violet carrying what is clearly Spiky’s skull. They add all the bones to the bone pile around my chair. I am not sure how I feel about this. I like my bone pile, but it is made up of random bones that my imps collected from outside. It feels different to have bones of my own creatures added to it. I ask Noctis if she is okay with this, but she does not see a problem with it. Well if it is something they want then I will not stop them.

Once all the bones are collected, the imps gather around the body of Rock. I knew this was coming, but it still feels strange to see them eating one of their own so I turn my attention to other things.

I might as well use some of this mana to start creating memorials for Rock and Spiky. I could collect Rock’s weapon and something from his rock collection like I did for the others, but obviously that would not work for Spiky, though I do have his bones now so it is not like I have nothing from him. But I have a different idea of what I would like to do for them. I will create small statues of them out of mana crystals with plaques bearing their names. I have gotten a lot better at making complex shapes. It will take time to get the size and design right, but it is not something that needs to be completed in a hurry.