Reincarnated Into A Hell Hound - Chapter 123

I swallow dry at the next question, dreading the answer but knowing that I could not avoid any longer, so I let the words slip out between clenched teeth.

“My brother… do you know where he is? Have you seen him? He-he looks a lot like me, is a hound too of course, black hair, dark skin, a little smaller and cheerful all the time…” Though I bet even my brother would not be able to smile at his current situation.

The demon looks away, as if thinking, and nods while saying: “I have seen a hound there, yeah… and now that you said so he does resembles you a little, yeah…”

“Really?! Where is he?! Is he, is he hurt?!” I say, barely holding myself from shaking the answer out of this demon, only standing and gripping the poor table.

“Oi oi, calm down, calm down! I’ll answer all right? He was doing fine the last time I saw him…” She says, but the tone of voice and the choice of words makes me think there is more to that story…even more when a ‘but�� follows. “But…He is a frenzy one, that one, he wasn’t behaving so he was bound to suffer some consequences.” My first line of is to be proud of him and think: That’s my boy! Never bow down to anyone! But the other part… the other part wished that he would act differently, more careful and less like I taught him to.

“Such as?” I ask, feeling the boiling anger wanting to surface once more and the excruciating thought of him being hurt.

But not now… we still don’t have the right prey at bay, nowhere to slash out… but soon…

“Answer me!” I say when Hel hesitates to answer, sick of this way they are acting, avoiding the question and straight answers as if steeping on eggs, better not waste time with silly empty comforting words and tell me already what I need to know!

I need no one’s pity, I need nothing from them beyond information to save my brother!

I’m done with this sneaking feeling of guilty crawling in my veins…

“Well, his sons, the Demon’s King have him, and… they can be as sick as the father, worsen some may day, and last time I saw Dearil had taken a fancy on your brother and he… has been preparing him.”

“Preparing? For what?” I hold my breath at that dreadful question.

“For a binding contract.”

I growl without noticing, showing teeth, bloodshed eyes narrowing, ears and tail standing. They dare try to enslave my brother?! Those demons…. Death is a too lenient penance for them! I shall crush their bones with my teeth, rip their will to live from their minds, rip and slash until there is nothing left beyond a pile of flesh!

Dearil…you have your name marked to death now!

“You know where he is? Where this Dearil has taken him?!”

“I know somewhere he has a high chance to be in, but…”

“Then what are we waiting for?!” A mix of thrill and anger makes adrenaline rush in my body, prompting me to rush out in this instant.

However, at that point we are interrupted by light footsteps approaching, and by the fragrance and behavior I could guess that it was an elf as the intruder approaches and knocks on the door.

“Please enter.” Leonel says as the door opens and reveals that I was right, an elf stood at the door frame, a tall figure well dressed and manner, greeting us while pulling the edge of his vest with his long fingers adorned with rings.

Beyond the characteristic high cheekbones and blond hair, however, this elf had many tattoos adorning his body, from leaves to thin lines that resemble branches, coating the edge of his face to the back of his hand, proving that he was an elder.

And yet different from the elders I have encountered so far, this one had an… arrogant air around him, raising his nose and walking with the back straight and arms folded behind his back, the hands sometimes directing the clothes around.

“Elder Othorion.” Leonel says, giving him a small bow while the other answers with only a nod.

I try to contain my annoyance from being interrupted, but even though my words were somewhat polite my tone was far from it as I say:

“Sorry elder, but what brings you here? Where are in the middle of something important.” So would you kindly piss off?

“Oh, I’m aware, that’s why I’m here, after all miss. Helraya agreed to share information with us, ‘elves’.” He says, enforcing the last word, as if say that I was the one meddling in other’s people business.

The hell with that.

“Oh yeah? Then you will have to wait your turn, ‘after’ we ask our questions, then Miss Helraya is all yours.”

“That won’t do Mister Hound, Helraya agreed with other urgent affairs that require an immediate response. Further wait will aggravate the matter at hand.”

“Oh really? How bad, because we too have a situation that only gets worse and worse with time and you, mister, is making us take longer in that matter by interfering, so would you kindly wait until we are done?”

“That I cannot do, is a matter of life and death.”

“What a coincidence, ours too. And guess who came here first?”

Seems like I manage to annoy this elder. Good.

“You don’t comprehend Hound, so let me clarify the importance of this task for you.” Were did the Mister Hound go now elder? So impolite of you… “We need her to take away the control the Demon King has upon some of my kind. Some of ours has been put into a comatose state by his control. We need to test if her powers are true and if she can cure them, otherwise no deal will be made.”

“Hey, I’m very capable alright, and I’m pretty confident in my skills.” Says Helraya on the side, eager to please.

“Shut up.” “Silence.” Me and the elder say at the same time, making Hel, who was enthusiastic to sell herself out for a high price lower back down unto her chair.

“Even so, they are not in imminent danger are they? Your elves can wait, but my brother can’t! He has been captive by the demons for far too long, going through who knows what kind of treatment, and you want me to wait it out because you have to save sleeping elves who are under this city’s protection? Is that it?! Do you really think your case is worse than mine?!”

“However Hound ‘we’, elves, are the ones who made a deal with the demon.” I sneer at that, losing the bit of patience I still had, and consecutively going farther and farther away from a polite behavior, or rather, from a human behavior at all.

“And my brother is one of the few in this world that I would kill for without thinking twice, so don’t get in my way elf.” I grow the name of his kind at the end, staring him in the eyes without blinking.

“A-are you threatening me?!” He asks, stupefied, starting to get red from anger.

“Oh, and here I thought elves were supposed to be smart…”

“You dare!”

“Alright, alright, you two, settle down, I’ll answer both, just, just calm down ok? How about this elf, I’ll answer a bit about what you want for you, but then you will have to wait until I’m done with the hound, how about that? Is a good deal right? Right?!”

“How can you prioritize him?! We are the ones giving you shelter!”

“Well, is actually very simple… can you stop him from chewing our bones for lunch right now? Can ‘you’ protect me from him uhm?” She asks, a knowing look at her face, already aware of his answer.

“T-that’s is-.” I growl loudly, making him jump, and cutting his complains short. Seems like this demon is not that stupid after all, understood very quickly the situation she is in, and that no elf will get in my way; or rather, nothing will keep me from having the information I need from her.

She claps her hand. “So that’s settled! Ask away elf! Come on, hurry up, hurry up, there is a lot to talk about is it not?”

“I- Well.” He gives a dry cough, trying to gain some face back, with his nose always risen up a little bit too much. “Very well then. We have known that your Demon King has been taking control of some people’s minds, mostly noteworthy humans, so of course we studied his methods and effects, however what we are still unable to discern is how, or rather, why the effect is different in elves. Why our kind simply is unable to cope with his control and enter comatose?”

Well, I won’t deny, even if I’m angry at him, part of me was curious too as to why such thing happened, since Aeglos is suffering for such conditions too, and also to know more about Cain’s power, of course.

Any weakness I could spot of his is very welcomed.

“Is actually because of your elven magic. Is… incompatible with ours, humans and demons absorbed the external energy and keep it inside them; some like cultivators can even store it in large amounts with cores and all that, but elves…they have a magic of their own, is not like they have an individual source, but as if they act like a beehive, all in one, all your magic comes from the earth, and I’m sure you know far more about that then I, but it seems that, since your kind receives external constant aid from the magic that binds you all, it kind of… blocks his mind control, but not completely, as if the two forces are battling for control inside the host, none giving up, none winning…”

“So have you seen this phenomenon before? Can you cure it? Have you done it before? How can we prevent this? Would you demonstrate for us? And how about-”

“Oi oi, wait there elf, now is my turn, remember?” I interrupt, already aware that this elf would take the opportunity to get carried away. “Now sit tight and wait your turn only after I’m done.” I say, not letting all this talk take me away from my main focus, my brother’s safety, even though I was curious to know more.

So I ask one more time.

“Helraya, no more vague answers, no more cutting through the edges, tell me how to save my brother now!”