Ceann

      My new sneakers made squishy, sticky noises in the blood as I delved deeper into the back alley that looked like a backdrop for a horror movie.

      I cursed under my breath. I was accustomed to Gel’s messages arriving in the darkest hours of the night, so it was nothing new when his personal courier informed me that I was needed. What had me bolting out the door, and mistakenly grabbing my new pair of shoes in the process, was the fact that this murder happened to be just one block down from the apartment where my best friend lived. I could still feel the horrid chill running up and down my spine, the same one I’d felt the moment Gel’s courier mentioned Gladmere Avenue. The odds that she’d been wandering the streets at three in the morning were rare, but even so, I couldn’t help but worry.

      So now here I am, splashing through one, two, three, four large puddles of blood, each one further into the dark recesses of the alley than the last. How long was this alley, anyway? I also noticed that each puddle seemed to be lacking a body, meaning that the suspect could possibly be a human-eater, or a hoarder. Maybe he intended to keep the bodies as trophies, as so many demons found a fun prospect.

I walked for almost a full minute (I now assumed that the alley had some sort of demon enchantment cast on it to make it stretch on for so long) before I found the next puddle, and this one had someone kneeling directly in the middle of it. Or rather, something. A demon.

      It was small, with the physical build of an emaciated ten year old child. Its back was to me, and it was bundled up in full winter gear; a brown jacket, pale purple scarf and gloves, and jeans that were darkened with blood. Even so, I knew that its skin was as white as paper, and that beneath its rainbow-colored knit hat was a head full of hair so inky black that it looked blue. I knew this without actually seeing it, because he was my master, and I saw him almost every single day.

      “Hello, Michael,” he said quietly. “I was worried you had not received my message.” Listening to him talk was like trying to make out what someone was saying when it was really windy. It was the strangest feeling; if I didn’t try really hard to understand what he was saying, I wouldn’t.

      “Of course I got it, Gel. Why wouldn’t I?” He still had his back to me, running his hands all over the long, dark shape he sat hunched over. I craned my neck, trying to see the body, but it was too dark to make anything out.

      “Beremud has been acting strange lately. He is such a strange bat. Although I believe that the cold weather here is affecting him as it is me. I was afraid that he might lose track of his destination on his way.”

      “Ah, that explains it. I was wondering why he came scrabbling in from under my door instead of through my window. I guess it doesn’t get this cold… wherever it is you come from?”

      Instead of answering, he turned his head to face me, fixing me with a gaze from his too-big green eyes. They looked even more saucer-like than normal since they were the only part of his face left uncovered; he had his hat pulled down low over where his eyebrows would be if he had any, and his scarf was wrapped up over his mouth. I still remembered the fear that would shoot through me every time he used to look at me with those wide eyes; now, he felt more like a little brother than anything. And even though I was his servant, he treated me like a partner, a friend. Sometimes he even displayed a dry sense of humor. I certainly could have chosen a worse demon to be my mentor, I suppose.

      “There are four bodies missing. Only this one remains,” he said, tapping the corpse in front of him.

      “Yeah,” I said, nodding and praying silently that Kylie was safe in her bed the next block over. The thought of her having been attacked by a demon sent a horrid shiver through me. “I noticed on my way here. I think there’s some kind of enchantment here, too.” Gel turned back to the body and continued poking and prodding it.

      “Yes, there is. Whoever did this was a higher-level demon, not a bottom-feeder like me.” I walked around to his side, and crouched down next to him, careful not to get any blood on my jeans. I noticed that he was actually wearing mittens, not gloves, and under normal circumstances, I would’ve found that amusing; a demon, wearing purple mittens. But I was too worried over Kylie to find the humor in it at the moment; God, I wished I hadn’t forgotten to charge my cell phone before going to bed. Just hearing her voice on the other line would put me at ease.

      “Do you think we’ll be able to catch him, then? If he’s a high-level demon, it might be difficult for a human and a bottom-feeder to take him down.” Gel rocked back on his heels with a sigh, his head cocked slightly to the side as he stared at the body in front of us. I wished I’d thought to grab a flashlight or something before leaving; the suspense was, no pun intended, starting to kill me.

      “I think so. There is no evidence here to suggest that this particular demon is any smarter than the average human-hunter. With the combined force of our minds, we should be able to do something about him.”

      “If you say so.” He looked at me then, with his too-wide eyes, and I held his gaze, trying to look as innocent as possible.

      “Something worries you. What is it?” I sighed heavily; there was no fooling him. He might be a bottom-feeder in terms of power, but he was the most intelligent and perceptive demon I’ve ever met.

         “I’m just worried about Kylie. She lives just one block down from here and all…”

         “Ah, I see. Well you cannot go and see her right now. I need you here to help me. I am sorry.” I let out another sigh; should’ve known. “You could always use your cellular phone to communicate with her.”

         “I forgot to charge it last night.”

         “Ah,” he said, and then turned back to the body. I shook my head and allowed myself a small smile; if the body in front of him was Kylie, or if any of the puddles of blood had her scent, he would’ve said so. I could finally stop worrying about her, and start working.

         I crouched beside him, careful not to get any blood on my jeans. “Alright, so what exactly are we dealing with here?”

         “Have a look.” He blinked, and his eyes lit up like neon lights, bathing the alley in green.

         “Alright then, let’s see here…” I said, leaning in for a better look. “Female human, somewhere between- fifteen and nineteen years old, I’d say. Cause of death would be…” I delicately rolled her onto her back, searching with my eyes for all of three seconds before I found what I was looking for. “Cause of death would be the fact that she seems to be missing her heart.” I turned to Gel and cursed as I practically blinded myself looking into his lit-up eyes. He blinked again, turning them off.

         “You should have known better than to look me in the eyes. Anyway, yes, all of your observations were correct.”

         “You expected any less?” I asked, trying to blink the glare out of my eyes. Now I really couldn’t see anything.

         “What you did not get the chance to see before blinding yourself was that her missing heart is the only wound on her body. No cuts or bruises, no broken bones. No signs of a struggle at all. Also, I am sure you missed it on your way here, since it was too dark for you to see, but the other puddles of blood still had bits and pieces of human mixed in. So what does that mean?”

         Great, now he was testing me. I sighed, rubbing my temples as I felt a headache approaching. I always get headaches when I don’t get enough sleep. “Okay, let me think, let me think, let me think… alright, I wanna say that the others were eaten, not taken, since there were still pieces of them lying around.” Gel nodded but said nothing, which meant there was more to it. “Okay, so… so all the victims except for one were eaten. The one that wasn’t only had her heart torn out…” I struggled for a moment before it hit me. “Which means that this might be some sort of personal grudge. Maybe she crossed the demon, or betrayed him somehow, maybe broke his heart or something. So he took hers.”

         “Then what about the ones that had been eaten?”

         “Random bystanders? Or maybe she had friends with her.” Gel nodded again, standing. I took that as meaning I was right and stood as well, stretching out my legs.

         “That seems to be the case. So what do we do now?”

         “How about you tell me this time? I can already feel a wicked headache coming on…” Gel simply stared at me, so I sighed for the umpteenth time that night and said wearily, “Well, I really want to check on Kylie. Just in case. And after that, I suppose we should start by figuring out who this girl is, where she lived, stuff like that. Then we go from there.” Gel shook his head, and then started for the entrance of the alley.

         “Incorrect. First, we dispel the enchantment that has been cast here. We do not want any innocent humans wandering into here and getting hurt.” I caught up to him and walked alongside him, frowning.

         “Well, I didn’t get hurt. All the enchantment seems to be doing is making the alley seem longer than normal.”

         “Exactly. Well, not quite. It makes it endless, actually, with no way out. If not for me, you would have been stuck wandering here, lost, until you died of starvation. Or dehydration. Or exhaustion. Or all three.”

         “Oh. Well… thanks for that, then. So once you’re done with that, we’re going to Kylie’s.”

         “You are welcome. And yes, I suppose we have time for a brief visit. I do so adore that human, in any case.” If it were anyone other than Gel saying it, I would’ve assumed they were being sarcastic.

         “Alright, to Kylie’s, then. After that, we figure out who that girl is, and what she did to who to make them steal her heart.”