A Demon's Core

I hope I did the right thing. We avoided a fight. Which sounds good in theory. But those humans showed an interest in my core. For what reason, I can not guess. But it is hard to think that it would be anything good. Now they know about us. They may come back with greater numbers. Or maybe they will tell others and who knows how they will respond. But what other options did I have? If my imps had fought they might have won. But I can not imagine that such a victory would come without casualties. If they can all move as fast as First then they surely would be quite formidable. But I do not know the humans capabilities. Bow guy and Machete guy did not seem all that impressive, but Shield guy looked like he had experience in combat. The evidence of some of that experience was clearly visible on his shield. It was definitely marked from past battles, but not enough to compromise it’s integrity.

The female though, Jenna, is still my biggest concern. Her ability to sense mana was remarkable. But she carried no weapons that I could see. Is that ability a useful enough utility to warrant the others being willing to escort a non-combatant as they explore potentially dangerous places? But even if someone does not know how to fight, it is foolish to travel to such places completely unarmed. They did not seem like fools. So I suspect she had some tricks up her sleeve. With her sensitivity to mana, my first guess would be magic of some kind. I can picture how the others might fight based on the weapons they wield. But my understanding of magic is far too limited to even begin to speculate what she might do.

But what do I do now? My first thought is to hide my core. It does not seem wise to leave it out in the open like it is now. But where to hide it is the question. I do not think there are many good hiding places in here. Maybe Room 7. That room is locked, so it will be harder for the humans to get into. But a locked door will not stop me when I can walk right through it...But my imps can not. They are the ones who I will need to move my core. I could have them carve another hole through the wall. Through the wall...Maybe I do not even need to go through the door. My mana filaments do not just cover the surface of objects. They spread through the structure of them. So they should be able to go through the wall to the other side. That would prevent leaving a trail in the hallway that mana sensitive people like Jenna could follow right to the door, which would be a clear give away that there is something in there.

But where to break through? Just making a hole in the wall would be too obvious. But if I were to go through one of the cabinets in the kitchenette the hole would be concealed. I ask First to open one of the cabinet doors and I see a slight obstacle to my plan. There is a shelf in the middle of the cabinet that will make moving through it difficult. Well it does not matter. My imps are going to break a hole through the wall anyway so it should not be too much trouble to break down this shelf as well.

I inform First of my plan to break through the wall here and she quickly enlists a couple of others to help her. While they work on that, I try to push my mana filaments past the wall into the space on the other side and it works without issue. As I suspected, the room beyond is also mirrored to this one and my filaments emerge into another cabinet. I spread them throughout the cabinet but avoid the shelf in the middle since it is going to be broken soon anyway. I also spread into the adjacent cabinets and then a little beyond them to claim some of the floor space. I do not want to go too far into Room 7 yet. I just need to use it to hide my core, which I will just put in one of the cabinets for now. I do not know how long it will be until more humans show up. There are other things I need to prepare, so I cannot afford to be wasteful with my mana right now.

Observing my imps work, I am surprised to see them digging at the wall with their claws. They had started by chipping at the wall with knives, but I guess they decided that was not fast enough. They are making faster progress now. Even though the wall does not seem to be made out of especially sturdy material, I still think about how effective those claws must be against flesh. And what of the talons on the feet. What could they do with those, I wonder.

Once the imps break through they are eager to explore the room that was previously inaccessible to them. They squeeze through the hole one after another. But this hole is a little smaller than the one in the bathroom and Fourth can not fit through it currently, which leaves her disappointed. They could just make the hole a little bigger, but then I have a better idea. It should be possible to unlock the door to Room 7 from the inside, even without the key. I mention that to Third, who chose to stay with Fourth, and he quickly squeezes through the hole. Soon the main door to this room opens and Third strides in. Fourth brightens immediately and they both go to explore Room 7 together.

If the doors can be unlocked from the inside, then they should be able to be locked as well. That could add another layer of defense to our position. A locked door may not stop a truly determined enemy, but it will at least slow them down. I will tell my imps to keep the doors locked from now on. That will require at least one imp being here at all times to lock and unlock the door when the others go out. But given the situation now I think I would prefer to have at least half of them remain here at any given time so it should not be a problem.

When I asked First to take my core into Room 7 and hide it in of the cabinets there, none of my imps were happy about it. Apparently they like seeing my core on display. First especially likes to sleep next to it. She can still sleep next to the core. She will just have to move her nest into Room 7 as well. They accept the move eventually when I explain the threat the humans pose. Second is the first to understand and helps convince the others. They also bring in my bones to surround my core with them. By the time they are done my core is now hidden under the bone pile in the cabinet. Even the faint glow that my core emits can barely be seen through all the bones.

My next concern is with my imps combat experience. Obviously I do not expect any of them to have fought humans before. But if they have ever fought the larger demons, some of that experience may be relevant. I know they are not the same, but for the imps it is still about fighting larger and stronger opponents so some tactics might work similarly for both.

I ask my imps if any of them have successfully fought against larger demons before. Seventh recoils at the question. I knew it would be a sensitive topic for her, but this is important. Second’s mood has also darkened.

“I have.” Third says. The others look him surprised.

Can you explain how that went? They all gather around Third and gaze at him expectantly. Everyone is eager to hear this story it seems.

“Three vukra who often chased and harassed pack mates. Tried to attack us sometimes, but we run. They too slow to catch us. Eventually they manage to follow us back to our home. We live in sewer tunnels beneath city. They very confident. Arrogant. They think we are weak and helpless and always run. But there were only three. Many of us though. They in our home. We live in tunnels. We know tunnels well. They do not. Makes easy to ambush. This time, they try to run. But they too slow. We catch them.” He excitedly tells his tale. They all look incredibly impressed and he swells with pride at their admiration.

“What you do after catch them.” Fifth asks.

“We eat them. They bother us no more.” Third replies with a wicked grin. The others cheer a little. “Elders say was not the first time foolish vukra try to chase us in our home. But was first time I big enough to join hunt.” Relying on superior numbers, better knowledge of the terrain, ambush tactics and greater speed. An impressive strategy. Some of which will be useful here.

I have no way of knowing how many humans will come so numerical superiority will never be a guarantee. But the more imps I can summon, the more likely it will be. The limited amount of area I currently have available and the rather simplistic design of the building limits the advantage I can gain from just knowing it better for now. But ambush tactics are certainly something we can make use of. They are already discussing places to hide to carry out ambushes here. It is good to know that speed is a common trait among imps. It will surely serve them well.

I think I also need a method to detect incoming guests sooner. It does not leave me much time to react if I do not know they are here until they are literally standing at my door. But I can not just claim the entire hallway. That would be a waste of mana...and opportunity. I gain mana when a human leaves my domain and it seems to take a toll on them as well. I can use that to my advantage. Instead of claiming the entire hallway, I will just run little strips of my mana filaments across the hallway at regular intervals. That way, simply walking down the hallway will result in them entering and exiting my territory multiple times. By the time they reach my door, I will have gained a lot of mana from them and they should be at least a little worn down. Potential enemies will become weaker and I can feed the mana gained into my imps to boost their energy. That should give them a further advantage.

What more can I do? What additional obstacles can I provide? Barricades. There is no reason why walking down the hallway needs to be easy. There is plenty of broken and unused furniture on this floor that my imps can use to build obstacles, even if all it amounts to is trip hazards. Combined with the exhaustion they will hopefully gain from entering and leaving my domain repeatedly, it should prove quite frustrating for them.

The only other thing I can think of for now is to have a lookout posted in the stairwell. Hopefully Second can organize appropriate shifts for that. Though it should only be necessary during daylight hours. It seems unlikely to me that humans would risk coming here at night. Unlike my imps, they do not see well in the dark.

With a plan in mind I expand down the hallway towards the stairs. I try to stick as close to the wall as possible. Only giving myself the minimum amount of space necessary to walk along. When I reach the door to the stairs I spread a strip of mana filament across the doorway. I lay another strip between the stairs and the door to Room 1 and another between Rooms 1 and 3 and the last between Rooms 3 and 5. While I do all that, the imps are building barricades. I can not see most of it, but they did take the tables and some chairs from Rooms 3 and 5. They probably did the same for the other rooms as well. Fourth is not helping with the manual labor at everyone’s insistence. She is not happy about it though. She clearly wants to help too. I am glad she is not being unreasonable about it.

The imps have also gotten more serious about arming themselves since the humans came. There are enough knives to go around so that everyone who wants one can have at least one. Sixth apparently found something outside to sharpen his hatchet with. It actually looks reasonably sharp now. Third was able to do the same with several of his bones, creating stabbing implements of varying sizes. Second uses a hammer now as her primary weapon, though she still carries a knife with her. Seventh still only uses a knife, but Fifth wields two. Even First willingly sacrificed two brooms, much to everyone’s amazement, to make more wooden spears.

They are taking safety much more seriously now that they know there are threats out there that will come find them. I actually feel a little sad for them. They thought they were safe here. But now they might have to fight for their survival again. It is time to start summoning more imps. If numerical superiority is something they rely on to win, then I am going to need more than seven.

When I have the mana I perform the summoning. The new imp is given the customary shirt and hug, but now he is also presented with weapons to choose from. A knife or a wooden spear. He takes the spear. He is soon off for his first expedition to the clothes store. Only Sixth goes with him.

When it is time for the next summoning something strange happens. It takes more mana than usual. It is not a problem though as I have been keeping some mana in reserve for emergencies. What appears is a female imp crouched down clutching a much smaller imp tightly to her. Obviously that is why it took more mana. I did not know I could summon two at once. I assume they are a mother and her child. I am glad I could bring both of them. It would have been terrible to have separated them like that. But what about the father? Was he left behind alone, wondering where his family has gone? I fear I have done something terrible.

First almost explodes on the spot. She does not even wait for them to be given clothes before scooping them both into a hug. Resulting in a startled screech from the child. I have not seen her this happy since they all found out Fourth was pregnant. Second pulls her away from them and scolds her quite harshly. First apologizes sheepishly for her inappropriate behavior.

They give the mother a shirt, but I don’t think they have anything small enough for the child. She is barely half the size of her mother. Seventh gives the girl one of her shirts since she has the most to spare after everything that was brought for her when she was injured.

The shirt looks as over sized on her as the big shirt does on her mother which elicits a giggle from her. The mother is also given the choice of a knife or a spear. She chooses the knife. The child also wanted a knife and pouted when she did not get one.

Second volunteers to take them to the clothes store. Maybe I should get my imps to just bring back all of the appropriately sized clothes so they will not have to keep making these trips every time a new one arrives. First is torn between wanting to go with them and wanting to stay behind to take care of Fourth, who she is still doting on despite Third’s continued insistence that it is not necessary. She ultimately decides to stay.

Everyone's mood has been lifted thanks to that event. That is until Fifth, whose turn it is to be on lookout in the stairwell, knocks on the door to be let in. He stumbles in when the door is opened for him.

“More humans are here.” He reports. It is time for our second confrontation with humans then. Barely eight days after the first.