Chapter Six: The Songbirds.
 
 
 
 
 
“I don’t understand why I can’t just walk...” Erin mumbled from Magnus’s arms. “Or are you gonna say food doesn’t walk itself back to the pantry?”
 
There came a light chuckle from the demon who was carrying her. “I wasn’t going to say that, but you do make an astute observation,” Magnus replied in an easy going manner. “No, I was going to say that if I let you walk back yourself and one of the others were to happen upon you that...well. I don’t think that sentence needs expounding. That and do you even know they way?”
 
“No, but I mean...Well, walk me back, fine,” she retorted. “But let me do it under my own power. This is...kind of humiliating. On top of a lot of other humiliating junk I already have to deal with.”
 
She had not been looking at his face as she spoke, but rather she watched the giant hallway as they made their way back to the velvet room. Or rather the larder, as she had learned it was called. The scale of them made her acutely aware of just how small she was in this world. And the over the top ornate furnishings continued beyond Magnus’s office. Who they were trying to impress, she was not sure. Or perhaps they were just that wealthy. If Magnus’s word on the price he paid to have a “sample” of her were to believed, these Demons who kept her and her friends were, for a lack of a better term, loaded. Which would begin to explain the ostentatious wardrobe and jewelery. How did economics work in the Netherworld? Did they pay taxes? And they called themselves a club. So was their reservation at the Black Hole where they first met technically a business expense?
 
These were the thoughts that bounced around in her head, so that when Magnus arms pressed her upwards and she heard a suspiciously smug hum from him, she looked up.
 
“Oh,” he purred. Magnus’s face was very close to her and his eyes flashed violet as his tongue slipped out between his smirking lips to lick at her. “Are you referring to this?”
 
“DON’T!” She yelled, falling back to sink further into the crook of his arm and swinging out her leg as though to kick him and his tongue away. He tipped his head back with a highly amused chuckle just as her foot swung, missing him by only a foot or so. Erin was left red faced as she squawked indignantly at him. “You said you wouldn’t do that again!”
 
“Oh no, no, no,” Magnus replied matter-of-factually and held a finger up as he elaborated. “I think you’ll find I did not agree to that demand and informed you of such at the time. You can’t blame me if you only hearing what you want to hear, Erin.” She huffed through her nose, glowering at him all the while, to which he returned with a grin and a wink.
 
“You’re lucky they took my shoes,” she informed him as she righted herself. “If I had my cleats with me...”
 
Magnus made a face of disgust and shook his head. “Ugh, shoes. No thank you. They give me horrible indigestion.”
 
She furrowed her brows, confused. “But you said you’d never eaten a human before...well, before me.”
 
“What? You don’t think Demons wear shoes?” he asked bewildered and then for emphasis, jumped up with a quick motion with his feet and jostling Erin badly as she desperatlt clung to the fabric of his sleeve. There came a rhythmic clacking by the distinct tapping of his hard sole loafers onto the hard floor. “I realize your observational skills are wanting, but I am in fact wearing shoes. Very nice shoes, I might add.”
 
“Okay, fine,” she replied, trying to settle her racing heart. “Now how about the part where you let me walk?”
 
“While I do have much in the way of movement when it comes to my schedule,” Magnus replied. “I do have some business that need to be tended to and indulging your bruised pride would only delay that. I would take a mere two steps and have to wait for you to catch up.”
 
“I could run,” Erin offered. “I am a fast runner, you know. I was on the track team in high school.”
 
“Track team?” he asked, his interest clearly piqued. “What did you track?”
 
“Huh? No, not like that kind of tracking,” Erin laughed for what may have been the first time in several days. “We competed to see who could run the fastest or jump the highest.”
 
“You just ran?” Magnus asked. “Like in a circle?”
 
“No! We…well, the track was a big circle, but we did other stuff….”
 
She was interrupted but Magnus’s laughter and sheepishly, she began to try and think of a response when he shifted his grip on her from cradling her in the crook of his arm to holder her securely about the middle.
 
“Very well,” he said with a breathy chuckle as he bent down to place her feet first on the floor. “Let’s see these incredible speeds of yours.”
 
She looked down the hall; its long and seemingly endless length stretching out before her. She turned to look back at Magnus who just stared back with an open expression. Curious and expectant. Experimentally, she splayed her toes and felt them grip onto the hard surface. She was not sure if it was tile or stone or porcelain, but she could tell her shoe less feet would have excellent purchase. Almost giddy, she turned and within three steps, she was flying down the corridor. She felt the air trail over her shoulders and neck and brush her short hair back. The rush of wind in her ears was freeing and intoxicating…
 
“Erin!” Magnus’s call shook her from the grip of her momentary glee and she slowed and stopped, turning around to see the Demon standing only twenty or so feet from where she had first started running. He gestured to the very blank wall beside him. “You ran right past it, Pet.”
 
“What?” she asked, slightly winded. “But there’s no door.”
 
“Oh?” he asked in mocking bewilderment. With his pinky, he drew a circle onto the wall beside him and then a single line straight through it and the shape took form as a glowing rune. The wallpaper split and began to peel away in long gangling strips and as they fell to the floor, they evaporated like water droplets on a searing hot skillet until finally there was a door where one had not been before. A distinctive teal door. Finished with his machinations, Magnus turned a single eye to the human girl, the corners of his mouth curled in an indulgent smile. “Come now. In you go, Pet.”
 
She made it two steps back towards him when she stopped, a sudden thought striking her like lightning. She could just turn and run. Run as fast as her feet had ever carried her.
 
“Erin.”
 
He would probably catch her, but she would give him a run for it and the idea tickled her brain in a very pleasant, almost vindictive way. She could take back a small bit of freedom, even if only a moment, have command over herself for a while until they forced her to comply to the role they forced her into.
 
“Erin.”
 
The idea of it had her heart ache with want.
 
“Erin.”
 
She jumped as the shadow fell over her and looking into Magnus’s face, she found the confidant smirk gone and replaced with suspicion and accusations all in one. The dull color of his irises pulsed a bright violet and she instinctively took a step back as he issues a single command, “Enough.”
 
She nodded in hasty agreement and knew she had made a mistake.
 
“I won’t have you making a fool of me, child.” She shook her head and braced herself when his hands descended with alarming speed to pluck her up and the sensation caused her head to swim with virtigo. In a few short strides, he was at the teal door and with his free hand, he reached out to grab the door handle, but paused. He shifted her so he held her aloft and in front of his face and he eyed her. Erin squirmed with unease, worried that she had crossed some line and was genuinely sorry for it.
 
“I’m sorry...” her words were barely above a whisper.
 
“Where would you have even gone?”
 
“Nowhere, I just…I just wanted to run for a little bit.”
 
“There isn’t anywhere for you to run,” he told her. “Except right into someone’s gullet.”
 
“Please, I’m sorry,” she said. “Don’t be angry, I’m sorry.”
 
A frustrated sigh.
 
“I understand that you deeply dislike this,” he said to her, his voice serious and stern, but the steel had softened into something more admonishing. “But this is the safest place for you when you are not with me. Do you understand, Erin?”
 
She nodded.
 
“I need to hear you say the words.”
 
“I-I….understand.”
 
His eyes continued to stare into her for several long moments before he closed them with a sigh. “You’re a terrible liar,” he told her. “But it will do for now.” And he placed her back down on her own feet. She looked to him for explanation, her brow furrowing in confusion as he turned the brass handle and pushed the door open. He regarded her expectantly and gestured to the open doorway. “Well? If being able to walk under your own power is what you wish for, go on. I can allow you this small measure of indulgence. It isn’t much, but for now it is what I can offer.”
 
The tight wad of worry that had twisted up inside her when she thought she had angered him eased and she gratefully took his offer and scurried through the entrance, under her own power, and into the familiar velvet walls of the larder. She heard the clacking of his shoes follow her inside and the sound of the door softly closing.
 
Suddenly, Danny was beside her, gripping her arms and looking into her face with anguish. “Oh my god, Erin! Are you alright? You were gone for so long we started to think maybe they’d...”
 
It was then that Danny noticed Magnus and his grip on her arms turned fervent as he began to hastily pull her away from the towering demon and closer to the cloister of cushions and humans. Erin did not resist, clear headed enough to understand that Danny was simply panicking. He did not know what kind of a demon Magnus was, only that bad things happened when one was inside the larder with them. In a strange way, she thought it was very sweet of him to try and protect her.
 
Mangus observed the boy’s reaction with a sort of amused befuddlement. “Curious. Tell me, if I had wanted to take her back, what would you have done to stop me?”
 
Danny pushed Erin behind her and it was then she noticed the way his whole body was shaking, but not from fear. Not entirely anyway. He was drained and weak and yet was still trying to keep himself between her and Magnus. Misguided, but sweet.
 
“Probably couldn’t do anything,” Danny admitted behind gritted teeth. “But I know you won’t hurt me, either.”
 
“Oh?” Magnus asked, the sound of his voice like velvet. His eyes pulsed and he let himself slip into the look of a true predator with a hungry gleam and licking lips. “You do, do you?”
 
“Yeah,” Danny almost laughed. He looked delirious with fatigue and fear. “Because I know Archeon would kick your ass for it.”
 
“Ah. So you’re Archeon’s little treat,” Magnus mused aloud. The teasing predator act dropped and he was once more easy going and curious. “That explains it then. Well, have no fear. Erin is free of my malicious clutches for this evening.”
 
“Danny,” she said, grabbing his shoulder. “It’s alright. He didn’t hurt me.”
 
“He ate you,” Danny snarled. “That’s more than enough...”
 
“Erin, my pet, it looks as though I owe you an apology for my earlier remarks,” Magnus said amused. “Perhaps you have the normal amount of feelings for a human after all. Especially in comparison to this one.” He pointed to Danny. “Sit yourself down, child. You’ve barely enough energy to stand let alone defend her from me. And as I have already said: she is free of me for this evening.”
 
Danny’s legs answered for him and he collapsed hard on the floor with a curse. Erin grabbed onto him to try and help him up and back onto his cushion, but Magnus’s shadow fell over them and his hands were suddenly there, scooping the drained boy into his clutches. Danny cursed and kicked weakly at the fingers.
 
“You human never turn off, do you?”
 
“Put me down goddammit!”
 
“I am,” Magnus snapped back. “So stop wiggling so much or I might actually drop you.”
 
He sat Danny down onto a vacant cushion and let the little human huff and glare at him, clearly expecting something more to happen. Erin went to his side to try and explain, but Magnus spoke before she could.
 
“Has Gobbler been here to refilled your food stores?” he asked, looking around the room and spotting the munitions crate abandoned off the far corner.
 
“No,” James said tiredly from his own cushion. “We still have some left over from yesterday.”
 
“But they’re all the weird ones nobody wants to eat.” Michael added.
 
“And we have no water.”
 
“And no where to piss.”
 
Magnus rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Archeon was supposed to have all this handled. I told Rolland he would forget the details, but no...” He sighed. “Fine. I’ll have Gobbler come and drop off your rations. As for water and somewhere to relieve yourselves, I can solve that just fine.”
 
He went to the back of the room and pushed his hands around the fabric, seeming to be searching for something on the other side and he made a sound of triumph and pulled the curtains back to reveal a wide round hole in the wall made of opalescent teal tiles and beyond it, Erin could hear running water.
 
“Will that suffice?” Magnus asked, clearly pleased with himself. But when none of the humans save for Erin expressed anything close to grateful, or even acknowledged him, he frowned pensively. “Hm. I will speak to the others in regards to their feeding habits. It’s been many hours since they fed on you all and you’re still weak as wet sand.”
 
 “Why would you care?” James asked, not even looking at Magnus and just stared blankly up at the ceiling. “What does it matter?”
 
“It does matter, little humans. It matter a great deal,” Magnus told them, his face brooding. “The chief reason being how irate Rolland would be to find our investments being neglected right under his nose.”
 
At the mentioning of Rolland’s name, Erin suddenly remembered Valarie and she searched the room for her. Her cushion had been pushed under the gold metal awning and she lay there with her back to all of them, curled in on herself and unmoving. Erin frowned, her heart breaking for her.
 
“Heh. Investments.” Danny was saying lethargically. “Oh no! Better not let the food get too sad, fellas. Might makes them taste bad.”
 
James answered Danny’s morbid statement with a dark laugh. “Don’t want the meat to spoil.”
 
Erin remained quiet as she watched the exchange and she was very surprised to see concern on Magnus’s face. She wondered if it he felt concern for them as pure ‘investments’ or as people.
 
“I have work that I need to see to, but I’ll send for Gobbler,” he said, tuning his gaze to her. “Erin.”
 
“Uh, oh. Yeah?”
 
“Take care of them,” he said turning towards the door. “I’ll see what improvements I can make.”
 
“Magnus,” she called just as he would have slipped through the door. He paused to look at her. “Thank you.”
 
He smiled and inclined his head to her. “Until then.”
 
The last she saw of him was a pulse of his eyes, a teasing warning that he would be back. And probably very hungry.
 
……………………………..
 
It was less then five minutes later that Gobbler arrived, looking displeased as he waddled into the room and was mumbling to himself.
 
“Gobbler knows Gobbler’s works,” he grumbled. “Knows all ups and overs fer it. Gobbler ain’t be fergettin no meats needin’ feedin’. Too soon fer meat feedin’ anyhow. Meats just be sleep. Meats complain too much.”
 
The shorter demon hunkered down, opening his horrible mouth wide and another munitions box hurled out from somewhere deep inside the toad. It landed and rolled and stopped a few feet from Erin. Thick veins of mucus and drool pooling on the floor under it and she backed away from his in revulsion.
 
“Thanks, Gobbler,” Danny said in mock appreciation and gave a lazy salute. “You’re a gentlemen and a scholar.”
 
Gobbler paused when he would have turned and left. He stared at Danny, the folds of his face moving oddly and they pulled back into a...smile? It was a hideous and terrifying diplay of teeth, but he looked very much as though he were trying to smile.
 
“Meat say good ‘bout Gobbler,” he said in awe. “Gobbler bein’ happy meat say good about Gobbler. Master say to Gobbler that Gobbler take care of meat. So Gobbler take cares ‘a meat.”
 
“Oh...yeah. Cool. So, I don’t suppose you have anything else in there?” Danny asked idly, pointing to Gobbler’s rotund belly that made up most of his bulk.
 
“What meat be wishin’?”
 
Danny laughed sardonically. “ Oooh, so many thing. But...uh, how about a guitar?”
 
Erin could tell Danny was just messing around wth Gobbler, but the odd expression on the little demons face gave her pause.
 
“Gee-tar?”
 
“Yeah, an instrument. It’s got strings and looks likes this,” Danny ran his fingers into the air in a vague shape of a guitar body.
 
“Meat wants a diddly-winkle?”
 
Danny suppressed a grin and nodded. “Sure, dude. I’d love one.”
 
Gobbler put his hands to his belly and began to poke and prod and his flesh as though searching through the contents of his guts to find a “diddly-winkle”. Then, he hunkered down just as before, opening his great maw and something that was decidedly not a munitions box flew from his throat. It sailed over their heads and Erin bristled as she saw it coming at her. She ran to it as it fell and reached out to catch it just before it smashed upon the floor.
 
It was a guitar.
 
She looked to Danny who sat there staring, wide eyed in disbelief. Erin winced when she felt the warm globules of Gobbler mucus slime up her hands and she shuddered. Oh this was a thousand times worse than Magnus’s drool. The guitar was intact and no worse for wear other than being completely drenched in the toad demon’s mouth excretions.
 
“Erin, let me see it!” Danny said, waving her over excitedly. She handed it over and grinned when the eager light in Danny’s eyes faded for a brief moment as his hands met the sticky drool. “Ugh.” He shirked off his hoodie and began to wipe away the wet from the instrument. Once he seemed happy with it, he sat it in his lap and his fingers went to the string, strumming. It made a clear and clean sound and Danny looked as though he were about to cry.
 
“Meat likes diddly-wickles?” Gobbler asked.
 
“Gobbler,” Danny said, looking to the toad, his eyes sparkling with pure joy. “You’re the best and anyone who says different is an idiot.”
 
Gobbler’s yellow eyes opened a little wider in clear bliss. Erin supposed he had never received such a compliment before.
 
“Gobbler happy meats is happy,” he answered. “Gobbler come more to see meats is happy.”
 
“Oh, yeah. Meats is happy,” Danny said replied, his fingers incrementally making their way down the neck of the guitar as he listened and adjusted with each pluck of a note. “Meats is definitely happy.”
 
“Hey, Gobbler,” James called out, sitting up. “You wouldn’t happen to have like, I dunno. A portal back to the human world in there do you?”
 
Gobbler looked at James oddly and then grinned again in his odd and kind of terrifying way. “Ah. Meats got funny libbers. Meats is funny.”
 
“It was worth a shot...” James sighed as he eased himself to sit on the edge of the cushioned.
 
Gobbler left with a little more pep in his waddle and with a promise to come and see if they needed anything else later. Erin and James opened the munitions box using Danny’s hoodie to clean it up and they had expected for it to be filled with sandwiches again, but this time they were filled with boxes covered in delicate and beautiful paper like origami. Erin pulled a box out and unwrapped it. More asian characters she could not read stared up at her. Inside the plastic, she could see white rice, slices of some sort of vibrant neon yellow vegetable, and what looked like a small roasted fish.
 
“Oh shit,” James said, looking at the foods inside. “These are like those...those japanese lunch box things.”
 
“Bento?” Michael asked, sitting up abruptly from his bed like a daisy popping up from the weakened grasp of winter. His eyes were wide and hopeful. “Really?”
 
James looked over his shoulder at him. “How do you know what bento’s are, meat head?”
 
“My grandmother is half Japanese, fuck-wit,” he said, slowly making his way over to the food stuff. “She use to pack me a bento everyday for school till I was in 7th grade.”
 
“So can you tell us what theses are and which ones are gross?”
 
“They’re all fine! Most of it’s rice and meat or fish or...oh, wait. Not that one. That one’s nasty.”
 
James obediently slipped it into the reject pile. “What is it?”
 
“Stinky fermemnted soy beans.”
 
“Yeah, that’s a hard pass for me.”
 
“Save it,” Erin suggested, grabbing a bento and walking off to where Valarie was laying down. “Maybe Gobbler would like it.”
 
Valarie had yet to move or speak since Erin had returned and when she approached her, she could see that she was awake. Her eyes were listless and red. She looked utterly broken and she could hardly blame her. “Valarie? I have some food if you’re hungry.”
 
She didn’t acknowledge Erin at all and after several moments of silence, Erin placed the box near here Valarie could easily grab it. “It’s just here if you’re hungry.”
 
As they began sorting the boxes with Michael doing his best to tell them what everything was, Danny was happily plucking away at his new toy. He wasn’t playing much of anything close to a song, but contented himself with doodling about and warming up his fingers. Erin grabbed one of the bentos and walked over to him.
 
“Here,” she said. “It’s fried chicken.”
 
Danny blinked at her and then looked down. “Oh! Yeah, food. Cool.”
 
She sat next to him with her own box, rice with egg and some sort of seaweed salad that tasted mostly of sesame oil. They didn’t have any utensils so they ate with their hands.
 
“So,” Danny asked, mouth full of chicken. “Why were you gone so long? Did that guy like...keep you in his stomach longer than normal?”
 
“No actually,” she replied. “He barely drained me at all. I was in his office mostly.”
 
Danny stopped mid-chew to look at her. “Huh?”
 
“He said he wanted to find some kind of center to it. That he could drain me enough for him to be happy without leaving me sick for days after.”
 
“That doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “Doesn’t that mean he’ll just come back sooner to gobble you up?”
 
“I...I don’t know. He said he ate before he came to get me. So he could try it and see if it made any difference. I don’t feel very tired at all.”
 
“Luck you,” Danny replied, taking another bite. He grinned suddenly, and said, “Hey, I’ll trade you for Archeon.”
 
“No freaking way,” Erin said. “That guy is your problem.”
 
Danny nodded with a sigh of resignation. “Yeah. So why’s he doing it? Your demon dude. Why not just do what they’re all doing, drain you till their full, and leave you alone for a while? Why worry about how badly you feel?”
 
“He wanted to talk.”
 
“...talk?”
 
“Yeah,” she replied. “He wants to know more about us. He’s curious.”
 
“So he’s a weirdo?” Erin snorted, covering her mouth and trying not to spit rice all over herself.
 
“Hey music man,” Michael called from his seat. “You gonna play us something or what?”
 
Danny stuffed the last piece of chicken into his mouth and chewed as he started playing some random bit of songs. Some she recognized, but mostly not, but it felt wonderful to hear the sound of the string. Once he has finished his food, Danny looked around to his audience and grinned. “Alright, do we have any requests?”
 
“Wonderwall,” James called.
 
“My Heart Will Go On!” Michael added.
 
“Okay, those are terrible ideas,” Danny replied and started into a rhythmic plucking in a very familiar way that then fell into a series of easy chords just as he opened his mouth and began to sing.
 
“Every time when I look in the mirror
All these lines on my face getting clearer
The past is gone
It went by, like dusk to dawn
Isn't that the way
Everybody's got the dues in life to pay”
 
Danny closed his eyes as his hands began to strum harder at the strings, his knee jerking in time to the rhythm. He appeared as though he was gone from the world and the only thing to exist for him was the weight of the guitar in his hands and feel of the strings as his fingers slide down the frets.
 
“I know nobody knows
Where it comes and where it goes
I know it's everybody sin
You got to lose to know how to win
 
Half my life
Is books, written pages
Lived and learned from fools and
From sages
You know its true
Oh!
All these feelings come back to you...”
 
As the chorus came in, James started to sing along and Michael quickly joined in. Erin mouthed the words, but the sound of all their voices practically screaming the lyrics made her smile wide enough to make her face ache until she didn’t care anymore and started belting along with them.
 
“Sing with me, sing for the years
Sing for the laughter, sing for the tears
Sing with me, just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away...”
 
There was a cathartic release as the song continued, each of them not caring how off key or pitchy they were and as the song fell into the last verse of repeated “dream on, dream on, dream on” their volume grew to a fever pitch that Danny matched with each hard thrum of the chords.
 
“Dream on
Dream on
Dream on
Dream until your dreams come true!”
 
Erin started laughing as the echoes of the last note hung in the hair and she could hear Michael and James and Danny all doing the same.
 
“Woo!” Michael hooted. “Damn that was good.”
 
Erin opened her mouth to agree and then stopped. Valarie was sitting up and eating slowly and with not a lot of enthusiasm, but she was eating. Danny noticed as well and suddenly was on his feet walking over to her. As he eased down to sit on the edge of the cushion, he looked at Valarie.
 
“Hey,” he said gently. “How you feeling?” She didn’t answer him and just put another small bit of food into her mouth, chewing methodically. Danny looked crestfallen by her lack of acknowledgment. He glanced at her and then put his hands to the guitar again. “Got any requests? If I know it, I’ll play it. No matter how bad the song. Whatever you want.”
 
Valarie paused and carefully placed the bit of food back onto her plate. Her mouth moved, but it was too quiet for Erin to hear, but Danny was smiling and nodding.
 
“Alright. G major okay?”
 
She nodded, never averting her eyes from her lap. The sounds of the guitar filled the room again, but instead of the energetic thrumming of a rock ballad, the notes he played were slower. Sadder. He looked at Valarie as he opened his mouth and sang to her.
 
“Tell me somethin', girl
Are you happy in this modern world?
Or do you need more?
Is there somethin' else you're searchin' for?
I'm falling
In all the good times I find myself longin' for change
And in the bad times I fear myself...”
 
Danny looked at Valarie expectantly and when she made no move or sound to pick up the next verse, he sighed. But as he took a breath to start it himself, Valarie began to sing in a small voice. Unsure and unused.
 
“Tell me something boy
Aren't you tired tryin' to fill that void?
Or do you need more?
Ain't it hard keeping it so hardcore?
 
I'm falling
In all the good times I find myself longin' for change
And in the bad times I fear myself...”
 
Her voice grew stronger as she sung and Valarie stared of into space as though singing to someone far away. She took a deep breath and with a voice of a trained soprano sang out the next verses, heavy with emotion and power.
 
 
“I'm off the deep end, watch as I dive in
I'll never meet the ground
Crash through the surface, where they can't hurt us
We're far from the shallow now...”
 
 
Erin’s jaw dropped and Danny was grinning madly. Valarie had an amazing voice and in the back of her mind she remembered Danny say something about her possibly being a vocal major, but he hadn’t been sure. She left no one in doubt as she and Danny’s mismatched voices found a kind of harmony as they finished the last portions of the song in duet.
 
“We’re far from the shallows now...” Valarie’s voice drifted away and the room was silent until Danny made a noise of delight.
 
“OOOOOOh!” he laid the guitar down and put his hand on her shoulder. “Valarie, you are so freaking GOOD!”
 
She gave him a small smile, her pale face a little flusher as she blushed. “Thank you.”
 
“Why are you slumming it out in our freaking school? Why aren’t you at Juliard or something?”
 
“I’m still doing my prerequisite work before I go to an audition,” she said and then paused. All the joy in her face drained away and she sank back into herself. “Or rather...I was.”
 
Danny’s face fell and he nodded in grim understanding.
 
“I wanted to be an opera singer,” she said. “Ever since my parents took me to see Carmen when I was little. I wanted to be able to sing like that.”
 
“Carmen?” Danny asked. “Isn’t that about a prostitute or something?”
 
“Something like that.”
 
“Well,” he said. “For what it’s worth, I think you would have nailed that audition.”
 
She turned to him and gave him a grateful, if not forced, smile. “Thank you.”
 
The rest of the day Danny fiddled on the guitar and spent hours trying to keep it in tune. “I mean, for being in Gobbler’s guts for as long as it must have, it still plays great!”
 
They were able to coax Valarie out of her hole and eat with them and they spent their dinner trying the bizarre and unfamiliar foods inside the bento boxes. James even tried the fermented soybeans, but regretted it immediately as he began to spit it out and gagging on the lingering taste, which Michael found to be highly hilarious.
 
Erin took a moment to explore the tiled hole in the wall that Magnus had shown them. It took them a while for her to find it again as she pushed and pulled against the fabric, but once the blue tiled room opened to her, she slipped inside. It was colder than the velvet room with teal tiles covering every surface. There was a fountain at it’s center, a round pool with a small obelisk at it’s center made of white marble. Water poured from slits at the top that flowed down the sides of the obelisk and filled the pool beneath. She went to it and drank deeply. The water tasted fresher than the tap water at home and she had not realized just how parched she was. She cupped some water in her hands and splashed it against her face, relishing in the cool sensation of water droplets on her face and clinging to her hair.
 
At least three days, she mused. Perhaps even four. They must have been there at least three days. And she was aware of how the clothes on her back itched. She’d been wearing the same pair of jean shorts and t-shirt the entire time and after two trips to a demon’s belly, she was suddenly desperate for a wash. Further into the room she saw another water feature of a long cascading wall of water that flowed from the ceiling and into another pool, this one much deeper. She stuck her foot inside and shivered. It was ice cold. But she was desperate. So she quickly stripped and jumped into the pool.
 
Every muscle tensed and she gasped as the frigid waters sucked the heat from her. She began to furiously scrub at herself and her hair, trying to clean herself as fast as possible. When she could not stand the cold water anymore, she hobbled out and with some difficulty, put her clothes back on. She stayed there, shivering, for a while and letting her mind go numb along with her extremities.
 
When Magnus has come to eat her, she had been so terrified. And though the knowledge that he would come again to once more feed upon her did stills scare her...he no longer did. Not in the same way. He had wanted to talk to her. Ask her things. He was curious and for a man eating demon, he was awfully kind. Much kinder than any of his fellows were. She felt bad for Valarie who had to give herself over to the worse of them. Rolland. He had tortured her before eating her, dragging it out, and demeaning her once he had her in his belly. And Valarie was so sweet and nice. She had feared for Danny in the same way, but seeing his eyes light up as he played his guitar, she had less fear for him now.
 
But Valarie…
 
…………………………………...
 
 
He lazily swirled his goblet, letting the last few sips spin around inside as he stared at his fellow Demon across the table, eyeing him with thinly veiled annoyance. “You want us to what?”
 
Magnus returned Rolland’s cool stare. “We should not be draining the humans to the degree that we have.”
 
Rolland scowled.
 
“We’ve already had this discussion,” Rolland informed him, his annoyance slipping into anger. “After the first feeding. And we have adjusted accordingly.”
 
“It’s not enough,” Magnus replied and Rolland balled his fist up. “They’re still far too ill and for too long after.”
 
“So tell me, Magnus,” Rolland said. “Why do I care how my food feels well after I have eaten it?”
 
The members of the Commorisco club were all seated in their places at the meeting table. The decanter of wine had made its rounds and was near empty next to Egan who was draining the last drops from his goblet and eyeing the remainder. Beside him Lyrna was nursing her own cup, eyes distant and unfocused.
 
“That’s not the point I am trying to make,” Magnus replied, waving Rolland’s words off like a buzzing gnat. “We already knew these creatures were fragile. However, I am starting to sense something about our plans that may go awry. If we are not mindful of their delicate spirits, they may die. Far earlier than we could replace them.”
 
Rolland saw the looks on the others’ faces and saw concern. He growled, angry at their weakness, and drank heavily form his goblet till it was empty.
 
“What nonsense are you spouting?” Rolland demanded of Magnus. “Of course I mean to break their spirits. That is what I do. They will submit as it is their place. If I demand this from my subordinates, why would I not demand it of my food?”
 
Rolland did not know if it was Magnus’s insistence that irked him more or if it was simply his face. Magnus was intelligent and ruthless in his other dealings, so why show such unnecessary compassion to these small, insignificant creatures. Their worth was their taste and as far as Rolland was concerned, it stopped there.
 
“If you play too roughly with your toys, Rolland,” Magnus said to him in a firm warning. “You are going to break them. Your little human, Valarie. She’s cracking already after only having to endure two feedings from you. She doesn’t sleep. She’s not eating. Kept up for a little while longer and you’ll no long have a human at all to keep your belly company.”
 
Rolland glowered at his friend. “Do not presume to tell me how to arrange and manage my human, Magnus. I don’t care that you coddle and spoil your own as you do, but I hold no such desires for mine.”
 
“It’s poor investment, Rolland. You must take into consideration these mechanisms that we did not foresee when we set this plan into motion. If we do not adapt, all that work and waiting will be lost and this little experiment of ours will be in ruined. And Archeon,” he said, turning his attention to the taller Demon sitting near the window. “You’re little Danny is showing cracks as well.”
 
Archeon just grinned, unconcerned and smug. “Then you haven’t been paying attention, Magnus. That tasty little ball of spite’s too stubborn to break. Which is why I like him. That and he wiggles going down.”
 
“I don’t want to hurt my little Michael,” Lyra pouted, seeming genuinely distressed at the idea. “He’s just so adorable and delicious. I did drain him maybe a little too much. I’m sure I could have done with less. I’ll try you suggestion, Magnus.”
 
“Magnus may have a point, Rolland,” Egan said, surprising both Rolland and Magnus as Egan and Magnus rarely agreed on anything. “They’ve got a spirit to ‘em. But they’re still only human. They’re gonna break under the pressure if we’re not careful. We can’t be going on treatin’ ‘em like reusable ghouls.”
 
“I’m not suggesting anything drastic,” Magnus told them all. “For the next few times you feed, see how little you can take and if it wasn’t enough, substitute a ghoul or two until you know where the line is drawn.”
 
Rolland stood up, angry now. “The humans are here so we do not have to survive off such vermin. After all that time and money, you tell me you want us to go back to eating floor scum? There is a larder filled with humans just beyond that wall. A literal treasure trove of culinary delight. Do what you wish with your humans, my friends. But you’re all fools.”
 
As Rolland swept though the door, Archeon called after him. “Where are you going?”
 
“All of a sudden,” he said, eyes narrow and glowing. “I’m feeling awfully peckish.”