chapter 19: Dogs.

Sirin and the others had been walking all day. The light was quite irritating for Sirin, but that meant that it was the same for other demons.

With a sigh, he dropped onto the soft grass. Now that the sun finally went down it became too dangerous for human and the cambion to continue.

They had caught a few birds earlier that day. Only Jan was very skeptical about it. He said it was possible that the animals had eaten from the corpse of a demon, which would make the flesh poisonous to anything that didn't share that blood.

Sirin thought that the human was just acting up. He could smell that these animals were unaffected by the demons, and after a long talk with Jan he finally convinced him not to worry about it.

When the first stars appeared in the sky and only a few sparks were left of the small fire, Sirin thought he could afford to close his eyes for a while. This area was still quite remote from the other bunkers, there were almost no creatures and so most demons would have nothing to do here. In a strange way, this place was a bit like the dead forest, but without the mist.

Suddenly he heard something next to him, the snap of a branch. But before he could get up, Mirana spoke. "Don't move. They are watching us."

Sirin glanced at the edge of the forest. Three pairs of flaming eyes looked at him from the darkness.

Against Mirana's warning, Sirin slowly stood up. One of the creatures in the woods crawled back as the demon stood up.

The other two were not so easily deterred. One of the gigantic dogs jumped at Sirin, it was missing parts of its fur and in places the bones seemed to burst through the skin. The dog was blind in one eye while the other burned like coal.

While Sirin knocked the first dog out of the sky, the other found an opportunity to attack as well. The dog managed to bite his shoulder and didn't let go that easily.

It was clear that despite the monstrous appearance of the dogs, they were indeed of this world. They had hardly any experience in fighting demons, that was pretty clear from their approach.

With the dog hanging from his shoulder, Sirin could easily tear out its throat with his other hand. If he had been human he could not have done this, but he was a demon. Now that he was a bit bigger, so were his claws, and the dog's thin skin was easy to rip open.

The second dog jumped back after seeing its companion drop dead. Only this did not last long, after a few seconds it tried to attack again.

This time Sirin was not taken by supprise. He turned into a shade demon and dived into the shadows.

The dog who thought that it could tackle him tripped over its paws as it landed.

Now that it was distracted, Sirin crawled out of the shadows and broke the beast's back.

The dog didn't die right away, but it couldn't move any longer. So Sirin left it to look for the third who had run back into the woods.

It didn't take long before he found the dog. The tracks were easy to follow and the eyes were clearly visible in the dark.

This one was a lot smaller than the other two and looked a lot healthier compared to them too. But still the bones protruded more than in an ordinary dog, and the animal bore the faint scent of demons.

"Oh little one. So you had eaten the corpse of a demon and now thought you were capable of killing one?"

His first thoughts were that he should kill the dog. But then it occurred to him that this might be a good present for Amanda. He had seen how people kept pets, and it wouldn't be bad if she had company when he wasn't in hell.

He grabbed the dog by the neck and looked at him closely. The animal was just a little smaller and a little more scared than the other two, but this was only because it was a little younger. The dog would survive hell.

"Okay, so how do I make sure you don't run away when I let you go? It would be hard for me to hold you the rest of the time I'm here."

He knew that some demons in hell had claimed a human. But Sirin wasn't sure if it was due to blood or a deal.

Not knowing how to make a deal with a dog, he decided to try the blood. If it didn't work, he could always take another animal with him.

He bit his hand and let his black blood drip into the dog's mouth. When the dog began to squeak, he placed it back on the ground.

The animal began to tremble and a few spots in its fur turned white, even though the eyes remained red.

Sirin didn't know if he should feel it if this animal was now in his possession, for he didn't notice anything. But at least the animal didn't run away when it calmed down a bit.

"You see? It's not that bad. Come with me, if you stay by my side I will eventually take you to your new home."

The dog hesitated. It didn't know the exact wording of the demon but it was as if the meaning of the words had been said to its soul itself so it understood what it meant. Afraid that the demon would kill him, the dog followed him. He had seen what the demon had done to the other dogs end he knew what the demon was going to do afther that, so he would follow him to the end of the world to escape that fate.