Winter Guests

5

Imp for a brief moment contemplated bolting with the family. But he couldn’t will himself to move. Whether because he was frozen from fear or by the cold he could not tell. Then he heard yelling and the beating of hooves. For just a moment panic made his breathing ragged. But as if he was comforting him, Manuel’s soul flickered. And focusing on that light in the dark, Imp calmed down. Settling comfortably back into his borrow. 

“Milord, a ruin.” A man’s voice called, causing panic in the little demon's heart again. “Hello! Anyone in there?” The call was quickly followed by metallic footsteps. “C’mon Gorgin, smell anything?”

“Hreuk, hreuk!” A terrible snorting sound came from near where the man was standing. 

A thud startled Imp, especially as the sound of slapping feet and dragging of a body drew closer. 

“Look, a nest. Think that Shewolf was hiding here this whole time?” The metalic stepper asked Gorgin.

“Hreuk, hreuk, no. Smells like man, and hreuk, dark magic," A moist nausally voice replied clearing it's congestion loudly following a series of loud snorts. ". . . An imp must have been born here. Hreuk, its scent is thick in here.” 

Above the cellar, which really was no more than a shallow hole in the floor, Gorgin began to scratch at the carpet. 

“Must have eaten the souls of whoever else was here. Can’t smell them at all.” Gorgin grunted, scratching harder at the rug. “Goddammit,” he muttered. 

“What do we have here?”

“Hreuk, food cellar.” 

“Oh lovely days, don’t mind if we do.” 

The pair laughed, and after a few clanking steps, Imp listened as the rug was shifted, and the cellar doors were thrown open. A strange light flooded into the cellar. 

‘Don’t use magic, don’t use magic, don’t use magic.’ Imp chanted in his head. The air touching the strange light was suffocating. Whatever magic the man had Imp knew it’d kill him instantly. The little demon struggled not to flinch as he heard something slither and drop into the cellar with him. 

“Well isn’t this beautiful! We won’t be going hungry tonight, what’ve we got Gorgin?”

“Hreuk, hreuk.” Large nostrils blew out hot breath, warming Imp even the tiniest amount. “Meat, boar, elk, bear” the monster grunted, “stews, ah! Got carrots and potatoes in sand down here too!” 

“Ha ha! Wonderful. Hear that! Milord?” There was a brief silence before a scuffling of metal clanking. “Milord, d’you need assistance with your horse?” 

The man’s voice faded away as the clunking and shuffling of the crocks and earthenware Imp and Manuel had prepared were moved from the cellar. 

“Hmm, hreuk, hreuk, hmm what do we have here, hreuk, empty, empty, hmmm?”

The crock hiding Imp and family began to shift. But stopped when screaming pierced through the night. 

“Gorgin, you gnat, get out here!” The man’s voice from before hollered. 

After a brief pause the creature that was Gorgin slithered out of the cellar. And after he did. A pack of clawed beasts scampered across the ruins floor. Gorgin didn’t stand much of a chance against the pack of whatever was up there. 

His snorting screams and battle cries were drowned out by a series of snarling yips and barks. A light shot through the ruins, surely killing whatever was in its path. And suddenly Imp found he wasn’t alone again, but he knew it wasn’t Gorgin he was sharing the cellar with. A ferocious roar ripped through the night, causing the additional cellar dwellers to whimper. Above a battle raged. One far beyond what Imp knew he could survive. 

But that was the least of his concerns, his fellow cellar dwellers also had strong noses. And after a few tentative sniffs, quickly found Imp, tipping the large crock over with their snouts. He hissed as they revealed his burrow. And they were startled only temporarily before lunging at him. Yanking him out of his place by his wing.  

“Get off me!” He screamed and kicked at them, unleashing a barrage of illusions at them. A squealing scream and flash of light stunned, what Imp saw was three mutated wolf pups. Clutching the souls of the family tightly to his chest. He flapped his wings as hard as he could, though one was badly hurt from the wolf pups. Crashing onto the topmost shelf of a cabinet that had managed to survive. Imp was terrified by what had waited above. 

Even more of the home was in ruin. A hole appeared in several of the walls including the temporary one. Through them Imp could see a hideous Shewolf twice as tall as any man. She was growling and facing off with two badly injured men. Who were dressed in armor and tattered white robes both of them brandishing broad swords. 

The pups raced out to their mothers aid, swarming one of the men. 

“Milord!” The other gasped and charged into the fray. Opening himself up to the Shewolf’s claws. While the lord struggled he succeeded in killing two of the pups. But the last was able to rip out his throat. 

Red spread across the disturbed blanket of snow. After releasing a low bark, two more wolf pups emerged from hiding places, with their other surviving sibling they began to happily eat the lord. Tearing and ripping at the cloth and leather straps keeping his flesh protected by armor. The Shewolf after perking her ears and disappearing into the woods brought a fourth pup, injured and bleeding from the woods. Imp in the meantime had been slowly lowering himself down from the cabinet. Carefully watching the pack of pups eat their dinner. 

“And where do you think you’re going?” Growled a fifth mutated pup, who’d come out from hiding in the shed.