Sirin was very grateful for the demon's offer. He knew as well as anyone else that the souls left after the battle were only a small fraction of what had been killed, and that this demon only wanted to persuade him with the most attractive offer possible. But that wasn't the point now. A demon weaker than yourself was either food or manpower. That this demon wanted Sirin to help him meant that Sirin would not become food.
The demon lifted Jan and Mirana up with magic so that they would have no choice but to go with them.
The demon had stopped speaking, but Sirin didn't need a command to follow him. Every step he made now could be the wrong one and if it was, there would be nothing left of him. The coyote also had no choice but to follow them.
After a few hours of walking they came to a demon encampment. It was a lot more organized than Sirin had thought. There were only young demons in the area of hell where he lived and they were aggressive and chaotic. The older ones had long since left for the deeper parts of hell where they could find rare materials and better food, so they couldn't bring order either.
The encampment looked a bit like the human village, but instead of the beautifully decorated houses and burning lights behind the windows, these were like detached caves of congealed magma that the demons had either spat out or made by melting stone.
The demons here didn't fight each other, though it was clear they'd like to. There were also animals of this world. Their souls had been ripped out and they were but a shadow of their old selves, their consciousness trapped in flesh without the part that made them complete.
In a way they were just inverted ghosts. While most ghosts still had their consciousness and soul, they did not have a body. Doomed to wander in search of something else that would complete them.
Most of these animals were used as food or for transportation. The ones that would survive a little longer had been mutated by the demon blood imbued with dark magic.
"You'd fit right in!" Sirin said to Spot with a laugh.
The coyote did not respond and just continued to follow obediently after its master.
Sirin rolled his eyes. How irritating it was that the animal was still not at ease.
Suddenly a demon came towards them. This one was clearly weaker than the one who had brought them here, his skin was red and besides the horns, elegant wings, and tail he looked very much like a human. In fact, this demon would be seen as extremely handsome in the eyes of humans.
"Dunkelblau, what the fuck did you bring?" Said the demon.
The blue demon apparently called Dunkelblau raised his eyebrow. "Were you just thinking out loud or are you really that stupid, Belias?"
Before the red demon could answer Dunkelblau spoke further. "I have found a promising young along with the human it uses as an anchor and a cambion."
Belias moved closer to inspect Sirin. "The hatchling looks weird! Are you sure this is a demon?"
Sirin was not pleased with this and lashed out with his claws. The demon recoiled only now with a scratch across his face.
Dunkelblau laughed. "Why are you doupting that? He is clearly not human, smells like hell and was able to spread his consciousness even at this age. He will probably be able to use magic or comepletely take over a creature within a week. On top of that, he also has guts!"
The demon leaned forward so that his face was only inches from Belias's. "But seriously, I've found him. He stays with me! If you get too close to him, I'll put your eyes in your stomach so you can watch me split your skull open."
Belias spat on the floor at Dunkelblau's feet. "Yeah right. By the way, I understand the human, but why did you take that cambion with you?"
Dunkelblau shrugged. "I thought it would be fun to see who she belonged to."
Mirana, who was quite calm around Sirin, couldn't help but be terrified now. What if her father was really here? Would he keep her as a slave? Burn out her human blood? Or make her fight other demons to show how strong his bloodline was? She'd been in the lab all her life, she could barely fight!
"Oh?" the demon responded. "It would indeed be nice to see which one of us is so irresponsible to let a pregnant human escape."
Sirin didn't like the way these demons talked about Mirana. He had freed her, kept her alive, and she had taught him things and told him stories. She was actually his property now, just as Spot was.
Only these demons were both adults, there wasn't much he could do. But he wouldn't let them get off easily if they did try to steal his property.