Night. Finally, a chance to rest. I’d spent a whole day walking and a whole day fighting. I was done. I laid down on a sheet of rusted corrugated steel and let out a long sigh, trying not to move too much to prevent my makeshift bedding from making an awful noise.

We’d found a safe spot within the ruins of a building. The whole thing must have been a factory at some point because we sat on a floor made of rusted corrugated iron that had creaked and crinkled as we’d tip-toed our way to the centre of the rubble. Surrounding it was equal parts steel, concrete, and grass that had shot up through the cracks. It seemed counterintuitive to rest in a noise place, but that noise worked both ways: we could hear any incoming digressers as they slithered across the steel, or demons for that matter.

It was getting hard to see by now. We weren’t going to light a fire—no need, since demons didn’t actually feel heat or cold until it got to the point where their corporeal forms would be broken by it—so I was a little chilly and struggling to see around me.

Toll had taken watch atop a fat column that jutted out of the ground. Their eyesight was keen and worked well enough at night. Add that to the fact that demons never slept nor rested and it was a natural choice to have them perched up on high, scanning the distant trees and ruined buildings.

Enzi and I, on the other hand, sat within a parapet formed by fallen steel and piled up concrete. I was able to make out Enzi’s bright red dress. The enepsi was sitting on her shins, uncomfortably close to me. As in, she was close enough that she could reach out and touch me. She drew a circlet from her inventory and placed it on her head, then turned to me and smiled.

“Please, tell me what you think.”

She was still playing games, and I was too tired to play along. I had no choice, though: there were so many ways that an enepsi could hook their claws into you, and if I’d misspoken even once and asked a question, even a rhetorical one, I’d owe Toll another question.

Though Enzi had given me half a vial of Rise and Shine, which had reversed my body’s state to a moment a couple hours earlier, it had done nothing to deal with the fatigue accumulated before and after. I was already on the verge of passing out before that last fight. Now I could barely keep my eyes open.

The oddest thing about Rise and Shine was that it only reversed the body’s state and not the mind. I remembered everything, recalled the pain of each and every slash, clash, and rend, how I was so enraged I simply ignored it. Most importantly, I felt a sliver of trauma. The thought of going back into battle had me thinking of ways to fool my two demon companions to fight on my behalf. I doubted they would, though, since they’d not only left me to fight an autothith alone, but also took all the rewards for themselves.

It pissed me off. I’d taken on the strongest demon, won, and got nothing for it. Nothing except for a favour owed to Enzi. If maybe the demons had decided to give me any of the rabdoses they didn’t want, I’d have been less vexed.

However, Toll had said, “Do you think it wise to give a weapon to someone who would use it without thought?” The balaam had had a point. I’d rushed into a trap and nearly got myself killed. I still disagreed with Toll.

“It looks good on you,” I lied to Enzi. The circlet was a simple ring, plain and dull like unpolished iron. It wouldn’t have looked good on anyone. “Tell me what the description says.”

Enzi considered me for a moment before she shuffled over and leaned in, pressing her face close to mine. Even in the waning light I could make out the bright red of her eternally flushed lips. “Before I tell you, you must promise me to tell me its name.”

With her leaning forward like that, I got a good glimpse of cleavage. I shuttered my eyes to block out the image, which was getting increasingly harder to ignore. “Of course,” I lied.

She leaned back and pouted. “Oh, I thought we were getting so close to each other,” she said as though reading my mind.

And just like that, she’d given away the circlet’s identity. Bitterthorn, Class 3. A circlet, one of only a few circlets in the Culling, which could help to determine the intent of living or bound creature. I wasn’t quite sure how it worked, just that it was kind of vague, not always accurate, and an enormous threat to me. As long as she wore it, I would have had a harder time lying to her.

While wrapped up in my thoughts, I’d been staring at her neckline. Enzi must have noticed and took it as a cue. She lowered herself onto her hands and crept towards me, a playful smile crossing her lips. My heart thumped and I leaned back onto my elbows, trying to escape the enepsi’s predatory gaze. She kept getting closer and closer until she was on top of me, her long loose hair draped around my face like a curtain for two.

“Do you think I’m beautiful?” she whispered.

I swallowed hard, trying to calm myself. I knew this was coming, I just hadn’t expected the enepsi to press for my affection so soon. “Depends on the lighting.”

“But your eyes say otherwise.”

“I didn’t know demons were good at reading body language.”

There was a faint glow in her eyes. “Oh, but I am. After all, I’ve spent many hours awake at the side of a man, watching him sleep so contently. I’ve seen every face a man can make, and I studied them so that I could learn how not to displease them.” Her voice dropped so that I could barely hear her. “And how to make them very, very happy.”

It was getting harder to think, to resist her allure. I scoured my addled brain for an out but came up blank.

Enzi laid a hand on my chest. I had to resist the urge not to throw her off, or to pull her in closer. “Do you know what humans say about enepsis behind their horns?” she breathed.

I tried to answer, but my mouth had gone dry.

Enzi leaned in so that our lips were almost touching. “They say that we’re sluts.” She exhaled; her breath tickled my lips, its scent tinted with mint and a bite of green tea. “I’ll show you why.”

It was overwhelming. Too, too overwhelming. I knew I had to push her away, yet I didn’t want to rebuff her. I needed her, because even though she was using me, I still trusted her more than Toll, and I trusted my chances with her more than any other demon. After all, enepsis were the only demons that really bonded with humans, even if that relationship was purely transactional.

Transactional. Trade. Choice. That was it! I had my out.

“That’s incorrect,” I said.

Enzi froze and blinked at me. Her breath stopped tickling my lips—demons didn’t need to breathe, after all, and I’d clearly struck a chord so that she had stopped emulating the act of breathing.

I pressed a hand against her shoulder to keep her at bay. “You’re a demon, not a human. When we call someone a slut or an asshole, we do so because of the choices they make. But you never had a choice. You were made this way. So no, you’re not a slut. You’re nothing but demon. You’re basically a hamster stuck on a wheel, made to run because there’s nothing else you can do.”

The enepsi’s expression went completely blank and she tilted her head to the side. There was no lie in my words and she knew it.

Every demon has a sigil, and that sigil acts as a kind of DNA. It defines the demon’s major characteristics such as their type, or canto. Most importantly, though, is that their sigil dictates a single want. It could be anything, from collecting candle wax to wishing to destroy the known universe. This want, this desire, is called a Hound.

A demon has very little choice in the matter: they must chase their Hound because that’s the purpose for their existence. To have no purpose is to be nothing, so therefore a purpose must be pursued. As few demons ever catch their Hounds, a demon’s whole existence is nothing more than a chase. As they chase their Hound they grow stronger, and being stronger makes it easier to chase, therefore they chase harder.

Yet that loop is rather perturbing for a demon. Whenever they contemplate on the fact that they’re chasing power to chase more power, stuck in an endless cycle that they have little hope of escaping, it creates a sort of existential dread within them. Wanting to escape that dread, demons often shy away from the subject of their hound then redouble efforts on the chase. It’s quite ironic, really.

And also what was happening to Enzi right now.

Not giving Enzi a chance to recover, I gently shoved her off me—and by gently, I meant that I had to use my full strength because, despite the fact that she was an enepsi, Enzi was strong. I rolled over, stuffed my jacket under my head to use as a makeshift pillow, and laid with my back to Enzi.

“And unlike a demon,” I muttered, “I need to sleep.”

It was quiet for a time after that. Peacefully quiet. The breeze had picked up again to muffle most of the surrounding noise: the clashing of steel, the shouts and orders demons gave to their allies, the distant pop of gunfire. All of it felt like a dream now. Toll was perfectly still, perched atop their pedestal. With my fatigue and the warmth of a late spring evening as my blanket, I felt sleep calling me. I closed my eyes.

Then there was a rustling of clothes and the creaking of corrugated steel. I grimaced, trying to ignore it. Not that I could. A hand slipped around my chest and I felt two mounds of soft flesh press against my back.

“Are you serious?” I whispered.

Toll answered. “As you said, Algier, she’s nothing but a hamster on a wheel. As am I. Yes, she is serious. All demons are.”

Enzi raised her head. “Oh, Toll, you were doing so well keeping watch in my stead. However, if your attention is split between our surroundings and us, you might be less effective in your task.”

The balaam eyed the enepsi sideways. “It will be equally as hard to keep my attention on our surroundings if you’re causing the human to make noise. Furthermore, it would be easier keeping watch with two pairs of eyes.”

“But when one of those pairs of eyes cannot see in the darkness, it is pointless having two.”

“So I must let you play?”

“It’s not playing. Humans need to be comforted during stressful times. I would be a terrible enepsi if I failed to do as much.”

The feathers on Toll’s head crested. “If you insist on keeping him, then you must let him sleep.”

“Ah, but it seems you’re far more concerned with the human than I am. After all, you did save him twice during the last fight.”

“Children, behave,” I growled.

Toll glared at Enzi for a while longer, then their crest flattened and the balaam’s sight turned to the surroundings. Enzi settled down behind me.

When sleeping next to a woman, I usually felt a sense of warmth and comfort. Skin contact was a wonderful feeling, and something I was certain I’d never experience again. Though I could feel Enzi’s skin against mine and it was no different than any other human’s, that comforting sensation was slightly off. I tried not to dwell on it.

I woke to a hand wrapped over my mouth. My eyes snapped open and I saw only darkness. Whoever had covered my mouth had made a mistake. My first reaction upon being woken so harshly was to pull my knife out from under my jacket.

“Don’t move, we’re being attacked!”

I froze, knife in hand. I recognised the voice as Enzi’s. That wasn’t all that comforting, but what was less comforting was the realisation that we were about to get into another fight and I couldn’t see a damned thing.

Enzi released my mouth and I stood slowly, trying not to shake the corrugated steel bed too much. Clouds hid the moonlight so everything was pitch black. My eyes darted in every direction, looking for signs of movement.

“Here, Algier,” came Toll’s familiar voice. I made out a hand raised against the dark curtain of the sky. The balaam was up high, meaning they were still perched on the column. “They’re coming from the north. Many minutes to get here. They are strong.”

“Tell me the plan,” I demanded.

A golden glint; Toll’s eye glaring at me. “Are you not the one who makes the plans? Have we not followed your orders until now?”

“Alright, then we need a light. If Enzi and I can’t see, we’re useless.”

“I don’t have one,” Enzi said. She rested a hand on my arm. If she were a human, she would have been trembling.

A guttural shout in the distance. “They know we’re coming. Fan out!” No surprise there. They probably had a balaam of their own.

Toll shifted on their perch. “Our next move depends on who and what is attacking. However, they’re hidden by the trees.” Both eyes flashed golden; the demon was staring directly at me. “Now would be a good time to ask a question.”

Gritting my teeth, I swore internally at least a hundred times. “Fine.” I took a deep breath, resigned to my fate. “Who’s attacking us?”

As I stared into the balaam’s eyes, I could have sworn they briefly flashed hot and bright, like twin embers. Simultaneously, I felt something burning in the place where my soul might have been. That was a big question.

Toll broke eye contact, turning back towards our attackers.

“Bunè, three names. Balaam, three names. Bunè, four names. Autothith, four names. Deuce, four names.” Toll’s feathers puffed and their voice trembled. “Bunè, two names.”

That was bad. Really, really bad. Demons with less names were stronger. A two-name demon, like Enzi, was practically a legend. Hell, Enzi was a legend, though for more conspicuous reasons. In Hell, a two-name demon is likely to command legions of lesser demons or, if they are less combat oriented, be relied upon for their particular expertise. A two name bunè would be a general in an army, if not a war hero.

That, of course, wasn’t what had Toll so rattled. Or myself, for that matter. Depending on what items they had, there was still a chance we could take them. No, the problem was the deuce.

Unlike a balaam who has strengths outside of their divination, deuces are useless on their own. Small, weak, probably even more useless than humans at fighting. However, once a deuce pairs with another, they could offer them a great amount of power.

My hand went to my mother’s locket and I took a deep breath. “So, we have a two name bunè paired up with a deuce,” I said, giving life to the worst case scenario.

“That is most likely,” Toll agreed.

“We can’t run because they can just ask the balaam where we are. Furthermore, once they catch us, the autothith will force us to attack them, so an ambush goes out the window.”

“It is grim,” Toll said.

“It is.” I could hear the crunching of dead leaves and twigs, faint but drawing closer. My hand clasped around my mother’s locket and I took a deep breath. “We have no choice but to fight them head on. What rabdoses do they have? Specifically, the most dangerous ones.”

Toll’s eyes flashed again. “Turbulence Rises. Gorgonite. Mallus. The rest are either simple in nature or not as dangerous in combat.”

“Oh, Gorgonite,” I said bitterly. “That’s fucking fantastic. If the bastards so much as point that thing at us we’ll be frozen to the spot. Have you heard the term, ‘sitting ducks?’”

Enzi’s hand brushed across my arm. “I have. Before the demon invasion, humans used to engage in the pointless act of duck hunting, and—”

“I have a plan,” I interrupted. Both demons waited silently. “We have to get the deuce first so we can weaken them to something manageable. It’s almost guaranteed to be hanging back, so we need someone to sneak around.”

“Then I will—” Toll began.

“No, it has to be me.” Both of the balaam’s golden eyes locked onto me, demanding I explain. “Look, demons can’t avoid the autothith’s aura, but a human can. Once you two start fighting, you’re stuck in it. I, on the other hand, can ignore it for a little while. Perks of being a human.”

“But you can barely see!” Enzi cried.

“It’s still more likely to work than having Toll flank around and the two of us try to fight the pack blind. We’d be dead before Toll even got behind them.”

Enzi’s fingers dug into my arm. “Algier, are you trying to run away?”

Toll answered. “He may be, yet he speaks true. Remember that they have a balaam, and the answers they give concerning humans are very imprecise. It is likely that they are not even aware that Algier is here.”

All correct, except for the part about running away. I hadn’t even considered the option, thanks in part to the favour I owed Enzi, but mostly due to how dead I’d be in the middle of the night. With digressers everywhere and demons on the hunt for points, I wouldn’t last five minutes.

“It can work, so long as I avoid Gorgonite.” I met Toll’s golden eyes with equal ferocity. “I just need one thing: a good weapon.”

The balaam tilted their head but didn’t respond.

“I only have a shitty knife, and I don’t even know which one it is since the description is so vague. Either way, it’s not good for a fight. I need a better weapon.”

“He makes a wonderful point,” Enzi added. She pressed in close to me and stared up at Toll. “He only barely survived his last fight. A better rabdos would give him a higher chance of survival.”

“And with any luck,” I added, “one of those swords you two collected may turn out to be Herald. It makes light. I’m assuming you haven’t identified it since it’s pretty hard to distinguish.”

Toll’s crest puffed up, then settled back down again. They glanced off in the distance. We could all hear them clearly now, the crunching of leaves drawing closer, closer.

Then the balaam’s feathers puffed up so that their whole neck and head flared out like a mane. They hopped down from their perch and stared me directly in the eye. Up close, drawn to their full height, puffing out their feathers, and fixing me with that cold acute gaze, the balaam was terrifying. However, I refused to look away. I would not be intimidated, not when I was so close to finally getting a decent weapon.

Seconds ticked by. The march of our enemies drew closer. We both stared at each other, playing a game of Russian roulette, except if nobody was shot we’d both be eliminated.

But finally, Toll deflated. They stuck their hand out to the side. A sword’s handle appeared in the air.

Then the sky lit up and there was a throat-grabbing roar. All three of us whipped around to the source of the sound. A plume of fire and smoke rose into the sky from the direction of our attackers. Flames engulfed the trees. Orders were bellowed. A moment later, another jet of fire roared out, the sudden shift from pitch dark to bright flame blinding me. I could feel the radiant heat lick my skin, like whoever was burning our enemies alive was telling me, you’re next.

Toll collected themselves and stuffed the half-drawn sword back into their inventory. Without a word they sped off towards the forest in a blur, Briary gripped in both hands.

Enzi and I gaped at each other. Knowing we’d be eliminated with just the two of us, we did the only sensible thing and followed after the balaam, like hamsters running on a wheel.