With dinner on the line, we had to move quickly. Any clue could lead to the killer, or killers, and we needed to find it first.

          I needed to find it first.

          My eyes flickered across room after room as we checked for anything out of the ordinary, or at least out of place. They rented this place from a human king and it wasn’t cleaned very well since the humans were planning on coming back at some point.

          A few had secret rooms, but they usually had various “out-lawed” shrines or pamphlets of scantily clad men and women. Nothing that was new or could give us an idea of who would have been in the area.

          I could feel my forehead crease as I frowned at an old tome with mysterious characters on the front. “That just seems overly complicated,” I turned it to show Blackie a page of illustrations, “I mean, can you bend like this?”

          He smacked it out of my hands. I covered my mouth to muffle my chuckles.

          “Knock it off. Don’t you find it odd that there are so many secret rooms with shrines? A cult lurking could have something to do with this.”

          “Yes, but most seem to point to the current regime outlawing humanistic behaviors. Some of those dresses looked your size if you want to head back and “investigate” some more.” I smiled, kindness radiating with acceptance, “I promise to make sure they match your complexion.”

          I did my best to conceal my glee...but his eyes glazed over briefly, sadly rejecting my suggestion. He did make a fair point, however. We were ignoring the humans on our list, a flaw of ours.

          “Don’t give me that look, humans have always been on my list. They’re worse than rats on some parts of hell. At least rats don’t walk around with torches blinding people.” He grumbled as he got shooed out of the room and ushered into the next room. Talk all he’d like; my dinner was still on the line. “Still, even a weak, idiotic demon could sense a human. There just aren’t that many strong human individuals who could pull this off.”

          As I kicked a table to see if it was attached to a lever, something occurred to me.

          “…wait how did the first two demons die again?”

          “Were you paying att-” He froze mid eyeroll. I could see gears start to turn as he processed whatever dawned on him. I picked up a chair, one that wasn’t bolted to the floor, and placed it behind him. I say, some children were so paranoid.

          Babaris’s eyes bounced around, not focusing on anything outside of his head. Soft, intelligible muttering came from his mouth and he was tapping his horn again.

          I didn’t know what was going on in his head, I just remembered the second poor soul died thanks to a strange slide. It’d be rather hard to sneak that in, and how would someone know where it would fit?

          It only took a minute or two before he was done. A dark grin morphed onto his face, twisting it in a way that reminded me of when his face cracked like impurities on molten metal.

          “So, my dear, how was the trip?”

          “The cult, or a member of it, must have been involved in the first two murders. And, since there was a demon dagger on the scene, they are involved with a high-ish ranking demon. All we need to do to crack that one is find the demon who is in contact with the island the most.”

          The evil ghoulish grinned shifted to a comparatively gentler smug smirk as he tilted his head at me with a devilish gleam in his eyes.

          …I decided to attribute the arrhythmia to my old age.

          “…you said this latest dear child was killed by someone else, right?”

          “Yes, one of my rats will let the brats know about the low-class fools, and this one will be mine to catch.”

          “Ours” I poked his ribs.

          “Sure.” He still had a faint smile on his lips, if he were the type, I’m sure he’d be humming by now. Seeing him like this, it seemed to me that he had more hobbies than he mentioned. This time it was him almost running to the next room. My heart softened, finally letting the rest of my earlier anger go.

          We went through several more rooms before we came to small door tucked away behind some stairs. Blackie was leading and tried the door, but it wouldn’t budge.

          He tried it a few times, using more and more strength each time. Finally, it was my turn to roll my eyes. Gently shoving him aside with my hip, I grabbed the handle and pulled.

          The hinges creaked, but barely managed to stay as it swung open. What lay before us was nothing short of horrific.

          Many scenes have played out before me in my long life, but none could compare to this, this pure terror that was on the other side of that door. A door that I opened on my own. Regret flooded over me as I questioned myself.  

          Why didn’t I have my suspicions? Why didn't the instincts that had kept me alive this long warn me? Why did I decide that a door that could hold back ol’ Blackie needed to be opened? Why was it always chess?

          Before us, a man was sitting. Surrounded by young women, who were wearing very little and practically plastered to his body. Across from them, one more similarly dressed young lady was paused, holding a chess piece as she was about to put it down.

          All of our eyes met. The man, a very familiar old monster with black hair and huge curling horns that were even bigger than Blackie’s, very calmly raised an eyebrow from his lounging position. The girls blinked curiously at us.

          “Luci, do you feel a draft- oh, dear.” A second, remarkably familiar old man came into the room from an adjacent room with hair whiter than snow that seemed to glow. “Gold-girl! How have you been? Oh, I see you made a new friend! Do you want to come-”

          WHAM

          My arm moved almost on its own as the door closed with enough force to rattle the island.