Blanket Dog & The Two Loners

Chapter 5 - A Date With A Demon

I feel like she makes finding these hideouts way to fuckin' hard. I've been looking for over an hour now, and it's starting to piss me off. If I have to spend another hour looking for her sorry ass, I’m gonna be mad. Well, even more so than I already am. It doesn’t take much to make me mad, that much I’ve been told by my allies. I’ve also been told by the king that hotheadedness is a good trait in his eyes, so what's the big deal. I guess that’s why Zero’s so prized to him, it sickens me. I'm doing more work than her, if it wasn’t for me, she’d never even find the stupid dog. Course, I'm so invested in this deal with the King, I’m very close to sacrificing myself. If that mutt does this wrong, she’ll not only kill this dog, but me included.

Sniffing the air and turning my head to the right, I walk over to the cave with red rocks on the outside of it. “You know, your den isn’t very secretive.” I grumble, walking into the darkness and waiting a few seconds before the fire ignites around the edges of the cave, illuminating my body, and a figure near the back of the cave.

“It’s not supposed to be secretive. The Boss gets mad when he can’t find my hideout.” A very deep and slightly hoarse voice came from the being in front of me. 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I brought the kid.” I hissed, making her stand up straight.

Zero stands up sharply, her crimson eyes darting over towards me, pupils sharp and fierce. “About time, what took you so damn long?!” She barked at me, baring her bloody teeth.

I groan and itch behind the girl’s ears. “You try waiting for an optimistic kid to be pissed, okay? It’s harder than it looks- you know what- id dosen’t fuckin’ matter, she’s hear now, my job is done.” I growled, baring my teeth on instinct. Surprisingly, this kid has some pretty sharp chompers. 

“If you hate your job so much, maybe I should make ‘a mistake’ in the procedure.” Zero lowered her head slightly while raising her arms. It was a threatening posture, but no way she’d actually do that.

“You. Wouldn’t.” My eyes widened slightly, but they still held a very angry gaze.

“Wanna bet on it?” Zero’s words seemed to be laced with more and more venom every time she said something. I know very well I’m probably digging my grave right now, but if I’m gonna go out, I wanna have fun making the ‘Big Bad Wolf’ upset.

The flickering fire made this scene almost scary, but as two strong and very threatening demons, this didn’t bother either of us. In fact, I think Zero found this calming. That’s if she can find anything calming.

I wonder if the girl is conscious in her mind, and can see what's going on right now..?

“So? You gonna fight me or what?” 

“Let’s go you little piece of rat s**t!”

“HELL YEAH! COME GET ME YOU MUTT.” I turned and shook my tail before running out of the den so fast, it would put so many superheroes to shame. Zero roared and stomped her way out of the den, and looked up into the Twilight Skies before glaring back down at me. 

We stared at each other for a few seconds, although it felt like minutes, and hours. Then she reached her huge ass paw over me, expecting me not to notice before she slammed it down. Luckily, I had just rolled back in time.

“Distractions, very clever.” I smirk, unsheathing some actually scary looking claws.

“Oh, shut the hell up, puny demon.” Zero shut me down with an uninterested glare. Her face made me snicker. While I was laughing at her, though, she grabbed my neck with one of her giant paws and pushed me against a tree. 

“Listen here, you dirty scag. I can do almost whatever I want, the Boss treats me like his daughter. He doesn’t like you very much. Do you know what that means?” Zero raised her eyebrows sarcastically, her pupils seemed to shrink even more, the slits being thin thin lines now. 

“It means if you kill me, you suck at your job?”

“It means I can do whatever I want without repercussion, but if you attack me, you get killed.” Zero’s comment only made me laugh more. 

“I can’t die! Not again, at least. Just like me, you can’t die either.” I narrowed my eyes after snapping back at her. My ears would have gone further down, but the tree got in the way.

“Oh oh, wow, you’re more stupid than you look.” Zero narrowed her eyes right back at me before dropping me on the ground. She took a few steps backwards before turning around.

“Woah woah, where the f**k are you going?” I rubbed my scuffed up neck, scrambling up off the trunk of the tree. 

“I'm going to tell the boss you failed. I don’t want to deal with your stupidity.” Zero’s back was turned to me, but I could just hear the smirk in her voice. She continued to walk away from me after a few seconds of glory had passed for her.

Not for me, nono, I was panicking. Whelp, time to make the most risky decision of my life! I sprinted over to Zero and jumped onto a tree next to her, pushing myself off to jump onto the back of her neck. Using the surprisingly long claws to dig into her back right before she tried to throw me off, and I leaned forward and planted my jaws on her neck. So much fur, I swear.

Zero howled and dropped to the ground on her fours, before turning her head a full 180 to look at me. I’d been forced to let go of her neck, but my claws were still deep in her back. She looked so calm, in fact, I could almost see a sliver of not anger in her eyes. Zero jumped up and pushed her back against a random tree. She even reached behind her back with her terrifying claws outstretched to rip me off her back. I pushed myself away from her claws as much as I could, but doing that made me lose my grip and drag my claws down her back as I slid off. That looked like it hurt, and she even howled again in pain. This time though, I had no place to hide. She turned and grabbed me by the neck again, but with both paws this time. 

“You’re a little asshole, you know?” Zero hissed, turning and walking to her cave with me in her death grasp.

“Yes, I do, thank you.” I managed to choke out. Ultimately, I have no idea what she’s doing right now. She’s taking me into her now dark cave, and toward the back of the den. 

I hear a squeaking of what sounds like a metal door being opened, when suddenly I’m thrown violently backwards. Cold stone floor makes contact with my back, and that’s when the door closed. Instantly I rushed forward, clawing at solid stone. 

Moving away from the door, I back up into a corner and sit down. Hugging my knees, I curl the girl’s skimpy tail around me as I push my muzzle into my knees. It’s cold.

If only I had a blanket.

I felt this body shutting down almost. The eyes shut and wouldn’t open again. I assume she was reclaiming her body for now, and getting some sleep. I guess I’ve got her in enough trouble, my job was done successfully. Although I don’t think I’ll be possessing any more bodies after this mission.

Groaning as I open my eyes, my head falls back and hits something hard and cold, making me jump up. I yip while turning around. It’s pitch black, but I feel the wall behind me with my paw, and it feels like stone. Where am I? I look down at my paws, or I think I do, it’s that dark. I heard some rustling, and I backed up into a corner. Something big slammed against the door, I think, and slid down it. After a good minute of sitting there, somebody spoke in a muffled voice. 

“Im sorry it had to be this way, kid. It’s not my choice, I don’t enjoy killing kids as much as I do adults.” I shivered, looking down at what I could assume was my feet. 

“W-who are you..?” I muttered, my ears flattening against my head. 

“None of your business. Just know you won't survive another day under my watch.” I hugged my arms around myself, shaking at this guy’s words. Who is he? Why is he doing this?

I pricked my ears up and slid over to where I thought the door was. Near where the voice came from. “You know… If it’s not your choice, why are you obeying whoever is making you do it.?” 

“None of your business, pup.” Whelp that was a shut down.

“Well… Is there any way to convince you to not kill me in cold blood?”

“Nope.”

“Ah, lovely.”

For a while, nothing happened. We both sat there, and sat there, and just waited. It wasn’t as awkward as it was when he literally stated he wanted to kill me, but it was still uncomfortable. For some reason, I could just sense that he really didn’t want to do this. He has a heart, and I can almost hear it thumping. That or that’s my own heart, but either way. I know this person can be good. They just need a little taste of life.

“When I was 4, my mother took me out one day, without my father’s permission.” 

“I don’t wanna hear about your life story, kid.”

“He was so mad when he found out. But he didn’t yell at her, instead he showered her with kisses and tickles, and gently reminded her how dangerous today’s world could be. I was so confused at the time, I didn’t realize why they were being so protective of me and going outside. Course, looks like it didn’t matter, look where I am now.”

I must have sparked something in the person behind the door, because when they spoke again, it wasn’t as rough or annoyed as it felt like it was before.

“Where are your parents now, kid?” I sniffed and wiped my nose quietly. 

“They’re dead.” I wiped a tear without knowing, and hugged my knees softly.

“... Continue.”

“When I was 5, I found a snail on the inside of our den. It was so cute, but my dad said I couldn’t trust it. When I had asked why, he laughed at me and picked it up. I remember him saying something like ‘Snails are slow, so they’ll always want rides!’ I had laughed, but I felt like that really wasn’t the reason. It was probably because of his past, not that I know that.” I sighed, and smiled softly.

“I recall when I was 7, I snuck out of the den in the middle of the night. I had heard a weird sound, and got scared and curious. So my brave self wandered out into the night, and looked for it. Turns out my father had heard me, because I wasn’t out for long before he took me back inside so fast, he looked scared. When I asked why, all I got was a sigh and a lecture on how the night is scary.” I continued with small stories like this. I even told him how my parents died. It seemed like the figure had stiffened up after that story.

“Well… Kid, look, I’m going to tell you something. I feel like you’ve got a strong soul and good heart, so you’re trustworthy. The King, the big bad guy I work for, isn’t actually a King. His name is King, and that’s just what he forces his ‘subjects’ and workers to call him. He’s a total d**k, only cares about wealth and strength. He values his ‘workers’ with strength beyond the imagination. Sadly, I happen to be one of the people fooled by him. I might be a demon, but we can have morals. He blinded me with want of power and strength, but it was all a lie. I realized he lied to me too late, I had devoted my life to him. He knew I wouldn’t back out. He’d kill me a second time, and I don’t want to die again.” I swear, listening to this, it sounded like he was having a breakdown. So I stood up, and did the only logical thing I could do.

I opened the door, and I hugged him. Well, actually it was a she. Guess the deep voice confused me. The girl jumped slightly, before sighing. Then her ears jumped up, and she turned her head to look at me. 

“How did you open the door?”

“What do you mean? I just opened it.”

“It was locked.” Oh.

I shrugged and let go of her. She stood up and backed up a few feet, looking down at me. 

“The name’s Zero. I'm a wolf demon, obviously.”

“Hello! I'm Blanket Dog.” Now she looked confused.

“Blanket… Dog..? But you don’t even have a blanket.” What… I have it on… Oh, wait, that thing that possessed me took it off!

I began to panic, pacing back and forth a few times. “No, no, no, no! The thing that possessed me threw my blanket away! I have to get that blanket back, it was the last gift my parents gave me!” A sudden flash of determination shown in Zero’s eyes. 

“Come with me kid, I’ll find it with you.” I smiled brightly, wiping away a few tears from my misty eyes. I muttered thank you, and ran after her as she sprinted out of the creepy ass dungeon. Zero was so much taller than me. She’s like 10 feet tall, and I’m about 3. Dust was in between us…

Dust… I miss you, Dust. It’s a shame I left, I'm sure he wouldn’t have actually attacked me, right? Maybe I shouldn’t have left him, he looked like a mess. I just hope he’s okay, and not in trouble.