Page 13 of Indecent

Chaol tried to quell his disappointment. Of course Daniel wouldn’t ask. Daniel didn’t even know what to ask. Besides, it was probably better to keep his confusing feelings to himself. If Daniel knew how Chaol felt, he could use that against him. “Technically, yes.”

“Why isn’t it just dark all the time? Demons prefer darkness, right?” Daniel asked as they fell into step together.

“To mark the passing of time? Because the sun rises no matter where you are? I assume Heaven also has a night, although I’m certain demons don’t come out during it there.”

“Eh, I’m undecided on all of that, anyway,” Daniel admitted, scuffing his boot on a smooth bit of rock.

“Oh? The holy man doesn’t believe in Heaven? The reaper showed you the light, didn’t she?”

Daniel sighed. “She did, yeah. I mean, I believe it exists. I’m just not sure I’d ever want to actually go there.”

“Why is that?” Chaol said.

He blew out another heavy breath. “It’s hard to believe in, uh, Him when the people who profess to worship Him are the ones doing all the horrible things to me and the people I care about.”

Chaol tilted his head. What exactly was going on up there with the guild? They’d always been fairly cult-like, but he never would have imagined that they would go to such extremes as to drive their own people away. Daniel was clearly a good person. He should have fit right in with all the other do-gooders in the guild. Instead, they were targeting him and others like him. Had they really fallen so far?

It was only a matter of time before they came across another demon. Hell was full of them, after all. Chaol heard them before he saw them, their voices breaking through the otherwise quiet forest. He paused, taking Daniel’s wrist to pull him to a stop as he listened intently. Daniel froze, his slightly wide eyes staring at Chaol, waiting.

They were speaking one of the common Hell languages.

“…lost two good pullers during the breach,” one was saying, his voice deep and guttural.

“Pullers! I lost an arm, you swine!” another said, her voice higher, like a whistling wind.

“What is it?” Daniel breathed. “What are they?”

“They’re talking about a breach,” Chaol said. “Stay here. I want to go and talk to them. Maybe they know something about all the gates being shut.”

“What?” he whispered, looking around wildly. “You can’t just leave me here!”

“You’ll be fine. I won’t be far. If I can hear them, I’ll be able to hear you. Just, y’know, if something attacks you, scream and I’ll come running.”

Daniel looked affronted. “It’s funny you think I’d do anything else.”

Chaol clapped him on the arm, fighting to hide his amusement. “Good man. I’ll be right back.”

“Chaol. Chaol!” he hissed.

Chaol ignored him, but it was for a good cause. They needed to know why the gates were closed. The gates were never closed. Guarded by behemoths, of course, and difficult to pass through, certainly. But the gates had never been simultaneously shut for as long as he’d been alive. Something must have happened, and if there was a threat on the horizon, they needed to know.

He came out of the forest onto a nearby road, cobbled with bone, where a handful of demons sat around a small fire geyser positioned just off the path. The area around it was worn down, with stone and rock seating carved out around it for traveling demons to rest.

One of the demons here now was a rybboc, his wide form seated on a log. Flat brown eyes with horizontal pupils turned toward Chaol as he approached. Rybbocs were gluttonous creatures, known for their greed and hoarding tendencies. They craved everything from currency to food. A cart sat nearby, laden with gear that was covered by a leather sheet. A single beast was harnessed to the front of the cart—an arronid, eight-legged demons with twisted faces that resembled human children. Like the other beasts from the Pit, they were no more than animals. It seemed the rybboc had captured this one to use as a workhorse. There was an empty space on either side of it, spare harnesses tucked into the front of the cart.

The other demon had ink black skin, wings, and large, talon-like feet. Her long black hair spilled in wild waves to the small of her back.

“Kalmach,” she greeted, wings twitching.

“Estrith,” he replied. “Rybboc.”

“Don’t see many of your kind these days, kalmach,” the rybboc said. His bulging body rippled as he turned. “Come for a rest by the fire?”

“Indeed. Nights are cold this far from Pandemonium.” He sat on a flat rock and stretched his legs out, crossing them at the ankle. “What’s this I hear about a breach? Did I miss some excitement?”

The small geyser burped, and a fresh gush of hellfire billowed from the hole in the ground.

The estrith’s horned head turned toward the forest, blood red eyes searching in the direction he’d come from. She could hear even better than him with her large, sharply pointed ears, and he hoped Daniel was staying very still and quiet.