A Demon's Core

It took over an hour for her to calm down, after which she fell asleep, still cradled in First’s arms. The others came back during that time. Fifth and Sixth carrying large pots of water, I think the pots came from Fifth’s collection. Fourth has a shiny red metallic canister also filled with water. I do not know where she got that from. I have never seen it before so they probably found it while they out just now. Given that is shiny and made of metal, Second and Fifth will likely both be interested in that later, after the current crisis is settled. Third managed to bring back some kind of animal. I do not recognize it, but it is much larger than a rat. A furred quadruped with well defined black and yellow stripes running along the length of its body.

Surprisingly he brought it back alive and held it tightly in his arms despite its struggling, earning him quite a few scratches for his trouble. I did mention trying to bring creatures back alive, but did not want them to hurt themselves to do it. In the end it is probably better this way. She did not want to eat and only drank a little water before falling asleep. The animal is currently trapped in the bathroom so it will still be nice and fresh when she does decide to eat something.

While she sleeps Second does her best to tend to her injuries. Though all she has to work with is water that probably came from the river to clean the injuries and bandages made from torn strips of unwanted clothing. It is so far from ideal and I am deeply concerned about infection. But then, my other imps have come back with injuries before and none of them have ever become infected. Nor have I seen my imps ever get sick at all. Are they simply immune to such things? I can only hope. It would be terrible to save her from whatever fate had befallen her before only to have to watch her die slowly from infection and disease.

She must have been terribly exhausted because she does not wake at all from Second’s ministrations. When Second is satisfied that she has done all she can for now, I ask her to tend to Third as well. There are scratches all over his arms, torso and face. It looks like he was even bitten several times. He winces a few times as Second ties bandages around the worst of his injuries. But he looks proud of himself for what he has accomplished and has apparently earned the admiration of Fifth and Sixth. And Fourth as well, of course, who insists on helping treat him, giving him a quick peck on the cheek while she cleans some of his scratches.

Watching that interaction, I can see Fifth’s and Sixth’s eyes light up followed by a look of determination. It is not hard to guess what they are thinking. They want an opportunity to prove themselves and impress one of the females so they too can have a mate fawning over them they way Fourth is currently doing for Third. I hope they do not end up doing something too stupid or reckless and getting themselves hurt...or worse.

Second checks on her regularly while she sleeps but First can hardly be convinced to leave her side. I sent the others out again to get her some clothes. Not having clothes in the way did make it easier to treat her injuries but she is still going to need something to wear when she wakes up and I do not think she will be up for making the trip to the clothes store in her current state. They took both backpacks with them and when they returned, not only were both of them full, but they were each also carrying bundles of clothes in their arms as well. Shirts, pants, skirts and dresses. She will have plenty to choose from when she wakes.

They dump them all in a pile in Second’s room, which annoys her. After shooing the others out of the room she starts organizing and folding the clothes. She selects a simple white dress from among them and puts it on the end of the bed for Seventh. It looks loose fitting and easy to put on which is good. Though I would imagine most of these clothes would probably be somewhat “loose fitting” on her at the moment. Most of my imps did look a little underfed when they first arrived, but Seventh looks completely malnourished and emaciated. I do not know what her situation was like before coming here, but she clearly was not doing well.

“Is she going to be okay?” First asked when Second came in to check on her again. She was clearly worried and I was too. Seventh had been asleep for several hours already, almost twice as long as my imps usually sleep for.

“I don’t know, I hope so.” Second responds with a resigned sigh. “I did the best I could, but I don’t know much about healing, so it's hard to gauge the seriousness of her injuries and we have no real medical supplies. If all of her injuries are just on the surface, then I’m sure she will be fine. But if she has anything deeper than that, I don’t know if it will be enough...All we can do is wait until she wakes up.”

“What do you think happened to her?” At that, Second’s eyes narrow and she looks...angry. I do not think I have ever seen her angry before. Annoyed, irritated, frustrated sure, but never angry, not like this. And for a moment even the mana radiating from her feels like it has taken on a hard edge.

“I can make a guess,” then she sighs and seems to relax and her mana returns to normal. “But we won’t really know until we can ask her.”

She ends up sleeping for more than half the day. Much like First, I have barely left the room the whole time she has been asleep. First notices almost immediately when she finally wakes.

“You’re awake! Are you okay? Are you better now?” First is speaking rapidly, not quite sounding like gibberish, but close.

Slow down. Just be calm, you do not want to frighten her. I say to First, then I reach out to Second to let her know that her patient has awoken. Seventh does look a little scared, but she winces in pain as she tries to sit up. First looks concerned.

“Sorry. Where are you hurting?” First asks her, much more reserved this time.

“All.” Seventh responds, her voice cracking slightly. She then looks to the door as it opens, fear plain in her eyes, relaxing only slightly as Second enters the room and closes the door behind her.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” Second asks, trying to sound soothing.

“She says her all hurts.” First replies for her. Second nods.

“That’s not surprising. You had a lot injuries when you arrived. I did my best to treat them. The bleeding did stop. But I think I need to change your bandages.” Seventh slowly looks down at herself, noticing for the first time the blood stained strips of cloth covering her many injuries. “I can’t promise that it won’t hurt, but I will try to be as gentle as I can.” Seventh frowns.

“No more hurt.” She whines.

“I’m sorry. I don’t want to hurt you anymore, but the bandages do need to come off at some point.” Second insisted.

“Don’t worry, we want to help. Make you get better.” First tries to reassure her. She still looks hesitant, but eventually nods. Second starts carefully removing the bandages while First tears another shirt into strips to make more.

The process is slow and there is a few pained whimpers from Seventh, but things go smoothly overall. Together, First and Second wipe away the dried blood with damp cloths. Some of the wounds had started bleeding again when the bandages were peeled away, but only a little. Those were re-bandaged, but the ones that were no longer bleeding were left alone.

“There, all done.” Second announces, smiling. Seventh has tears in her eyes, but is relieved that it is finally over. “Would you like some water and perhaps something to eat?” Seventh nods. Second pours her a glass of water from the red metal canister then admires its shiny exterior for a moment. “Can you go butcher that thing in the bathroom and bring some here. Cut it into bite sized pieces please and try not to make too much of a mess.” She instructs First. What counts as 'bite sized pieces' for imps is still pretty large, considering I have seen First eat rats whole with no trouble. “And throw out that water as well,” indicating to the pot with now dirtied water.

First does as she is told and I follow her, curious to see how much of a fight this animal can put up. She places the pot by the bathroom door then fetches her bone spear and a knife. She opens the door quickly and rushes in, moving so fast she is almost a blur. The creature barely has time to react before it is impaled. I am a little shocked. I did not realize she could move so fast. Are all of my imps as fast as her or is she special? I actually expected more from the creature, considering Third’s condition after he brought it in. Though I suppose that is probably from trying to hold on to it while bringing it back alive instead of just killing it.

After pouring the water from the pot down the sink, luckily the pipes are not blocked, even if there is no running water, she holds the animal over the pot by its tail and slits its throat, trying to drain some of the blood I guess. It works a little bit, but as the blood flow slows she seems to have an idea and places the carcass on the floor and races out of the room. There is still a little bit of blood leaking from the creature, but most of it seems to be in the pot. She comes back with a cup and pours the blood from the pot into it, it is not quite enough to fill the cup. Then comes the knife. She starts hacking at it. She does not seem to be very good at this and the knife is not very sharp either, which is not helping. Eventually she manages to take the legs off and put them in the pot along with several other strips and chunks of flesh.

When she walks out of the bathroom with the pot and cup of blood, the others look to her eagerly.

“The rest is in there. You can share.” She gestures to the bathroom and they do not hesitate to rush in and descend upon the carcass. They do not even bother with the knife, electing to just tear it apart with their claws instead. It is not a pleasant sight to behold, so I go back to Second’s room. First has trouble with the door while holding both the cup and the pot until Second opens it for her. “I have the good bits. Others share the rest.” Second looks her up and down, noting the blood smeared on her hands and clothes.

“You’re going to need to bathe after this. The others too probably. And clean your clothes as well.” First's expression sours at that. “I know laundry isn’t fun, but it still needs to be done. You can worry about that after eating, just try not to get blood on anything in here please.” The three of them share the meat in the pot, though Seventh does not eat very much. She does accept the cup of blood though and seems appreciative for it. Seventh starts asking questions while they eat.

“Where this?” She asks, gesturing around the room.

“This is hotel.” First responds cheerfully.

“Ho-tell.” She repeats slowly. Sounding out the unfamiliar word. “How get here?”

“Our master has brought you here.” Second says, though Seventh flinches at the word master.

“Serve vukra?” She asks nervously. Vukra...this is not a term I am familiar with.

“No! Master is not vukra!” First insists vehemently. Second puts a hand on her shoulder to calm her.

“Our master is not vukra. Nor is she mean like vukra. In fact, she has been very kind to us.” Second assures. Second called me “she”. Does she see me as female? I guess I have not really thought much about that. Obviously I know the difference between males and females. But I do not think such concepts apply to me. I do not think it really matters though. She can refer to me how she wishes. I am curious about what this “vukra” is though, so I ask Second.

Can you tell my what “vukra” is? I have not heard this word before.

“It is a crude, derogatory term imps use to describe larger demons. Particularly those who treat us poorly. I don’t know where the word comes from and I don’t think it has any specific meaning beyond just a way to convey our disdain for them.” She explains.

“Who talk to?” Seventh eyes her suspiciously.

“Sorry. I was speaking to our master. She can speak to us telepathically and asked what vukra means.”

“Read mind?” Seventh asks, trying to cover her head with her arms, wincing in pain from the movement. I do not think that would be an effective strategy to protect her from someone who really could read her mind.

“I don’t think she can read our minds, but she can usually hear us when we speak.” Second tries to reassure her. “You should introduce yourself properly too, Master.” She reprimands me. She is not wrong. I brought her here and have been watching her the entire time she has been here, but have yet to speak to her at all.

Right, sorry. I am the, uh, master of this domain. Though I do not really like the term “master”. It was me who brought you here. But you looked pretty frightened when you first arrived, so I kept quiet because I did not want to add to that. I said to Seventh, though I made sure the other two could hear me as well, while Seventh is still looking around the room suspiciously, as though looking for the source of the voice in her head.

“No read mind?” She asks again, which makes First giggle.

No, I promise I can not read your mind.

“I am sorry mas-...If you do not wish to be called master, is there something else we should call you?” Second interjects.

...That is a good question. What should they call me? That is something else I have not thought about.

I do not currently have a name. I will take some time to think of one and I will let you know. Until then, you can call me whatever you wish, I suppose.

Seventh had some more questions after that, mostly answered by First and Second...mostly Second. After that Second sent First and the others to bathe and clean their clothes in the river. They did make a mess of themselves much as she had predicted. But they did manage to completely consume the animal, even the bones, with not a scrap left behind. She also asked them to bring back more water.

With the others gone, only Second and Seventh remaining. I felt it was finally time to ask.

Would you mind telling us what happened to you?