The Hunter

Negotiations

Finn and Gloria stepped back into the house, Gloria was slowly starting to get used to every door potentially leading back to the house, and the Hellhound shrank to follow. Inside, Gloria told him to sit and stay, but he only tilted his head and looked at her oddly.

"What were the actual terms, do you remember?" Finn asked.

"I think she told him to help me."

"Not obey?" Finn frowned. "Anything else?"

"Kill the bad demon, ignore you?" Gloria squinted her eyes closed and tried to remember the exact wording. "No, kill who I said. There was more, but I can't remember."

"It's been a day." Finn said nodding. She reached out and played with the Hellhounds ears. When he didn't react she pulled a pillow off the couch and balanced it on his back. She got three pillows and one of the seat cushions on his back before they fell off. Gloria laughed and the Hellhound just looked more confused. "Looks like there was an order to ignore too. Follow me."

Finn led the way to the room with the book and the other demon locked inside of it. She opened the door and indicated that Gloria should send the dog in. "You may defend yourself, but you may not kill the Hellhound." Finn informed the demon, and then she turned to Gloria.

"Tell the pup to kill that demon." As she walked away Gloria watched as the demon flung himself to a standing position, panic and outrage rippling across his features. She couldn't find a reason not to have a demon kill a demon, so she gave the order and closed the door on the sounds that ensued.

"What will happen if he kills the book demon?" Gloria asked as Finn stood by the entrance door.

"I doubt he's old enough to actual do it, and the book demon can't now so it shouldn't be a problem. I know you've spoken to them, but for reasons I need you to be silent again, can you do that?" Finn asked and Gloria nodded.

Finn opened the door and stepped through into the room where Crimson and Clover seemed to hold court. Crimson stood with her back to the room, a window to a cascading crimson lava fall filling her field of view. Clover, turning to smile at whoever came in, was flung across the room and pinned to the wall. Gloria couldn't see the spell, but she knew without understanding how, that this was the first serious use of magic she had seen from Finn since she'd met her. She glanced at Crimson who didn't even turn around.

"Break this down for me Clove." Finn said as she stalked towards the pinned demon. "What exactly was the point of bringing up something like that demon just to have it slaughtered?" Finn turned to eye Crimson. "And what role did poor Crimson have in this one?"

Crimson turned to face them and Gloria startled, bringing her hand to her mouth to keep in the terrified scream. Whatever trick or magic the demons used to hide their true forms Crimson restored, but not before revealing needle thin fangs and eyes the colour of her name and without pupil or white.

"I didn't know a damn thing until she summoned the dog, and I didn't put it all together until Gloria came to get it. I'm tired of her scheming. It always costs more than it's worth. I acknowledge that due to our arrangement I may be punished alongside Clover, but I want it acknowledged that I was not a conscious part of this." She crossed her arms and turned her attention back to the lava fall, rage twisting her human face into a near-demonic shape.

"Alright. Back to you then Clover."

"Fuck you Finn." Clover spat and Finn sighed, she made motions with one finger as though tracing something in the air. After a moment Gloria noticed faintly glowing writing appear on Clovers skin and in the air around her. Finn seemed to be reading it, although Gloria couldn't make heads or tails of it. After a moment Finn made a satisfied 'ah' sound and produced a dagger from the air. She touched the tip of the dagger to Clovers elbow and spoke a word. It was too quiet for Gloria to hear, but it had an immediate effect on Clover.

At once her defiance changed to terror and begging. From Clover's arm Finn pried out a slender tendril with several spikes at its tip. She dragged it out, writhing and fighting against her and her magic, until she had nearly two feet of the thing.

"No! Finn please, my kids! Don't do this! Crim! Help please!" Crimson turned her back on Clover and kept her mouth pressed shut. 

"Last chance to answer me Clove." Finn folded the base of the tendril around the blade and Clove broke into a helpless, sobbing answer.

"We heard there was a new Chronicler. We heard you were injured and near death. We thought if-" Crimson growled from her corner of the room and Clover winced. "I thought if we could use her to find your weakness it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. That we could gain ground if the Council's lap dog wasn't always on our ass." Clover swallowed hard. "I thought there might be a chance that we gain control of you instead of them."

"You called in a Hellhound on a very slim possibility?" Finn asked quietly. Clover dropped her head in acknowledgment. "You risked a lot of lives with no gain from them for that same possibility?" Clover nodded again and Finn glanced at Gloria.

"That's going to cost you. For the Hellhound you and all your lackey's will forget Gloria's voice. For the lives you risked I take this as a trophy." Finn tapped the tendril with the knife and Clover winced.

"Is this negotiable?" Clover asked quietly, and Finn tilted her head to the side. "It has to be, because she still has a contract with us. She still has the Hell hound." Clover smiled wickedly.

"Your pup is in my house. In the same room as the book, as I recall." Finn narrowed her eyes. "With the demon." Clover's eyes grew round. "I did tell him not to kill the dog, but I didn't say anything about not hurting it."

"You don't keep trophy's." Clover muttered.

"Wrong answer." Finn sliced through the tendril and Clover fell screaming into a self-immolating pile of ash. Finn faced Crimson.

Crimson glanced at the tendril in Finn's hand before she met the Hunter's eyes. "You have my word that I won't work with her again. I'm sorry for everything we've put you through over the years. I and all of our subordinates will be heading home now, my contract with the Lucifer was bound to her and hers. We will forget her voice as soon as you exit our building. I would ask that you release the Hellhound, it will find it's own way home."

Finn nodded, and turned her back on the demon. She gently nudged Gloria into the house, and shut the door behind them both, the tendril still in her hand.