“I don't think that is–”

The Hound matches my anger, chuffing and growling. It steps forward and cuts off the little man's objection, making him retreat another step.

“I won't ask again.”

Gnat deflates and moves toward his desk, opening a drawer. He pulls out a metal circle with intersecting lines throughout its center. Writing is etched into the outside ring, but I can’t tell what language with the short scan I give it. He sets it down on the desk and takes a step away from it.

“This is what I use to contact him, you can–”

“No, you can. This is partly your mess too, and I don't trust you,” I say.

Gnat nods at my comment. “Smart. Cautious, just like your father,” he says, and steps forward again. He then pulls out a pin and pricks his finger. Speaking softly in demonspeak, he squeezes his finger letting a drop fall on each of the five line intersections within the circle. The etched writing glows, and a set of large brightly shining gold rings shimmers into existence above the circle. The inside of it darkens. I try to take a closer look until a lightning strike in the distance flashes across the blackness, illuminating the interior of a building. I can't see anything. I'm not sure if it's my eyes or part of the process.

“Report.” A voice calls from within, startling me slightly. The voice is gruff, deep, and authoritative. It's not like it was the last time I heard him. He was weak and dying then. While it is the same voice, I can now hear how weak he must have been. Gnat doesn't put himself within view of the portal. His voice squeaks when he tries to speak, but he clears his throat and continues.

“My Lord Alastor, I have run into some . . . some complications.”

“I grow tired of your sniveling stall tactics, Insect. What do you have to report?”

He finally comes into view, and it’s like I've never seen a demon before. I understand now why those who’ve met the both of us say that I look like him. I do, but only when my inner demon comes out. If I am imposing in that form, he is downright tyrannical in his. The version I saw before was an echo. It’s fear-inducing to even look at him when he's healthy. I steel my nerves and step in front of the communication portal.

“I am his complication,” I say, staring forward from under a creased brow. It's my best effort at being menacing without burning, though the transformation probably wouldn't matter to him. This may have been the better route, however, because when he sees me, his eyes open briefly in surprise. His eyes are what catch my attention first and resemble hellfire–yellow around the pupil that darkens to red and spreads outward, spilling just past where the iris should end. There are no whites in them. It all fades to an empty black after the red, but colors around the iris seem to undulate, giving it the effect of flames in motion. The next thing I notice is that the large portal doesn't hold his entire image. His head and shoulders are huge, and the tips of the horns that line the top of his head are cut off by the edges of the portal.

“Mikael,” he says lightly, then his dark scowl returns. “Gnat, this is highly irregular. What have you done?”

“Apologies, My Lord. Mikael was quite adamant about speaking to you. He insisted upon it.”

“We will speak on this later,” he says, and Gnat bows low. “Mikael, what do you need?”

“I have some questions and your, uh, servant? This guy was doing a lot of stammering and masking the truth.”

“Yes, he does that. I ordered him to answer your questions about his interference when he and I last spoke. Barring my essence contacting you before, I am required to have no direct contact with you.”

“Why?” I ask.

“It is complicated,” he says with a sigh. “I know that that is an unsatisfactory response, but it is what I can give. Suffice it to say that it would be viewed as an unfair advantage.”

“In what terms?”

“I can speak on that later. Let us first address your original line of questioning.”

Damn. I didn't even realize what just happened until he pointed it out. He could've turned the conversation in any direction he wanted just then. This guy is a regular wordsmith. It's good that he wants to answer my questions and doesn't want me to get sidetracked. But I also have to wonder if that's not exactly what he wants it to look like. There are layers upon layers here. I feel like I'm dealing with a djinn. I have to choose my questions–and how I word them–very carefully. This isn't one of the lower level demons I have worked with before. He may be my 'father,' but he's also a Lord of the Pit. Other demons that I've dealt with in my life, good or bad, have all said that the ruling Lords’ regular currency is intrigue and deceit–and he could just be playing me.

“Right. What hand did you play in what happened last year?”

“Other than being yours and your sister’s progenitor, I was not involved. What she did was of her own volition. Her plans and designs weakened me to the point where I nearly lost my own position. It could have cost me my life. If you think I would have planned for that, you would be wrong. Her goals came dangerously close to derailing all of my own plans. I never would have contacted you the way I did had she not forced my hand.”

“So, you wouldn't have contacted me ever? It was just that you needed my help?”

“As I said before, I cannot speak on that at this moment. Please, continue with your other questions.”

I feel like I'm onto something with the trajectory of my questions, but he refuses to answer them.

“When it comes to Anna, what did you order Gnat to do?” I ask, nodding my head toward the servant. Gnat stands firm, but his eyes are only on the floor, not meeting mine.

“I assume that is the human that your sister gave my property to? If so, I only ordered him to retrieve my prize. He was not to interfere with you and your sister. He reported back to me with it and told me he had to make sure that there was no trace of us in your world. He stated that he had to perform a suppression of sorts on the human and left it at that.”

“Nothing else? You're not lying?”

“At this point, what would I stand to gain from lying to you, Mikael?” he asks.

He seems sincere. “So your guy here continued 'treatments' on his own accord? He nearly killed my friend in order to keep you happy.”

His expression darkens, and I can feel a new fear seep into Gnat's aura.

“If he did that, you may do with him as you wish. I did not order him to continue the manipulations of the girl's mind and would not have. Believe it or not, I have better things to do than provoke you or harm those close to you. I consider this question answered. If you have other questions regarding something else, ask them.”

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I am still glaring at Gnat and his posture hasn't changed. Taking a deep breath, I turn back to Alastor. “I do have another question,” I start. “It is regarding this Hound.” I wave my hand toward it.

“Yes?”

“Did you send it after me?”

“After? No. I sent it to you.”

“Why did it attack me?”

“What?” Alastor asks and glares. The Hound's ears pin down and it shrinks in on itself.

“It attacked me, attacked a friend of mine. Well, not a friend he's more–”

“I did not send it to attack you. I sent it to aid you. You sent it away. Perhaps the time it spent alone made it grow hostile toward you.”

“I never sent it aw–Wait… Is this the same one that came for me when I tried to summon you?”

“Yes,” he says, like it should have been obvious. Maybe he's right, but wow, it's been here this whole time. It spent over a decade just waiting for me. I thought it was a new threat, but it's been here so long. I turn to it and squint.

“What have you been doing since I 'sent you away'?” I ask.

(Beast slept. Waited)

I close my eyes and shake my head slowly. “But why did you come now? Why did you wake up?”

(Master slept. Beast waited. Master woke. Beast came.)

It’s a little hard to understand what it means this time. But I feel like the general gist is that it slept until my demon awoke. I went into Vic’s program after I tried to summon Alastor. There were reports of the 'really big dog' soon after. She helped me sort of bind my demon, and that's when the reports stopped. Then the powers remained dormant until last year when my demon got the equivalent of a jump start by coming in contact with Alastor's relic. Christine had mailed it to Anna and when I grabbed it, my demon woke up.

Damn. Double damn.

Apparently that one touch set off this whole thing.

My attention goes back to Alastor. “It attacked me, claiming I was weak and that it wanted to put me out of my misery,” I say.

Alastor chuckles. “Then the beast made a mistake. What is your will, son?” His expression changes from mirth to inquiring.

“My will?”

“Yes, what would you like me to do?” he asks.

I hadn't thought that far. I was nervous for this confrontation and I think I just wanted him to take the Hound back.

“I don't know? Take it back?”

“Well, you seem to have cowed it properly. Either you can keep it and bond with it, or you can send it back and I will dispose of it here.”

The Hound whines and shies away from the portal.

Jesus, that's harsh. It was given ambiguous instructions and followed them how it saw fit. It may have strayed from Alastor’s original intentions, but it is, for all intents and purposes, an animal. A strong, magical animal, but an animal nonetheless. I wanted it to go home, not be 'disposed of.'

“Those are the only options?”

“I have no use for a beast that misinterprets my will. Or a servant for that matter,” he says, his gaze panning around me to try to get a glimpse of the cowering little man. “But Gnat actually did save my power with your help. I will leave him to your punishment. Then he is to return to me.”

Gnat flinches. I recognize Alastor’s wording. My demon said the same thing to the Hound. 'I have no use for blah blah blah.' The parallels between Alastor and my demon bother me.

“I'll take it,” I say resignedly and briefly regard the beast. “But if it doesn't do what I say, I'll have no choice but to send it back to you.” The Hound lowers its head at my chastising tone. A grim smile spreads across Alastor’s previously placid face. Seeing it makes me feel like I've done something horribly, horribly wrong. He looks… proud.

“Understanding the strength of an ally and molding it with fear. Exactly what I would do in this scenario,” he says.

Well, that's not at all what I want to hear.

“Fine,” I say. “Last question, but it will have a few caveats. First, will you or those you control be interfering in my life any further?”

Alastor’s smile fades. He squints and pauses before answering. “I have already tried to 'interfere' as little as possible.”

“Lord,” Gnat begins. “We also–”

“Does your loose tongue require extraction?!” Alastor roars. The boom of his voice causes some of the knick-knack’s on the shelves to bounce and fall off. Gnat prostrates himself on the ground near me.

“What is this about?” I ask.

Alastor growls, but calms himself. “My servant has recalled something that slipped my mind.”

Slipped his mind? Sure. “Oh?”

“Yes. In order to prepare you for what would be happening soon, I had an enchantment put upon you.”

“I'm sorry?” I say lightly. I can feel my lip curl into a snarl. “You did what?”

“I understand your reaction, but it was for your own good. Had you not seen the spirits, you would not have been so susceptible to using my gift to you.”

“The spirits? That was you?!”

“Yes,” Alastor says calmly.

I grind my teeth together for a moment until I have my emotions under control. “And what ‘gift’ do you mean?”

“Your demonic essence, of course.”

This guy really thinks he did me a favor. Wow.

“So the spirits won’t come back?”

“I cannot say. If you do begin to see them again, it will not be because of me. The enchantment served its purpose and will not be renewed.”

“Gotta tell ya, Al. This is not looking like a real good father/son talk.”

“Alastor is my name,” he says, baring his teeth.

“Sure. So what is it that you were 'preparing' me for?”

“I cannot speak on that at this moment,” we both say, though mine is in a mocking tone. He seems annoyed, but I'm pissed.

“Yeah, yeah. Anything else you'd like to confess?”

“Nothing at this time,” he says.

“So you haven't done anything else within the past year?”

“No, and that will not change. However, if my world bleeds problems into yours, I will not intervene. Our worlds have seen conflict for more than a millenia, it is nothing new.”

“Fair enough, I guess,” I say, shaking my head. Might as well move on with what he can tell me. “First caveat, do you know of any weakness to exploit with Rhal?”

He scowls. “Rhal? Why do you ask?”

“Because he's back and he's planning something.”

“Rhal has returned? Has he made a move yet?”

“Not quite yet. There have just been some small threats and damage to some of my property. It seems like he's trying to make me squirm.” In front of Alastor, I pretend I’m not already squirming.

“That is his usual tactic. To unnerve then attack.”

“Is there any way you could intervene on this one?”

“I am sorry, son, but I am already spread thin as it is with what is going on here. My resources are limited.”

Well, can't blame me for trying. I didn't expect that this problem would be taken care of for me, but I had hoped that I could get some help. I do have a support circle now, and a small advantage now with the Hound by my side. Perhaps I can catch him unawares.

“Okay. Lastly, will any more of your children be coming after me?”

“I cannot . . .” he sighs. “Fine. Mikael, most of your other siblings know, but the information has been kept from you. So this will not be an unfair advantage, it will be catching you up.”

Since my demon was unbound last year, I have felt like everyone around me understood what was going on better than I did. This definitely does pique my interest. I'll have to milk this for what I can. Questioning Gnat was a bust, but I suppose now I'll finally get some useful answers.