Ancient Wings : Book 1 - Aegis

47 - Interrogation

"Who is he looking for? And what is powerful enough to bring that many demons through the barrier at once?" Khaius asked absently as if he was talking to himself.

"For the first question, I don't know, but to the second one... I could," Cidney admitted warily, looking up at them.

"I think we can rule you out, lad," Aveo said with a smirk.

He gave him a grin back.

"What else do you think could do this?" Qlide asked, his voice raspy.

He sighed and thought about it.

"A very high-level demon," he offered, running through his memory. "Someone who doesn't need spells or too long to recharge. So, no humans."

"But this did start with a human summoning," Khaius pointed out. "So, let's figure out what they summoned."

"We need to figure out those symbols," he stated. "The protection circle failed, but that could have been because they summoned the wrong thing, or they just didn't have enough power to do the summoning and power the circle."

"Or they had the wrong symbols," Kraten offered.

Cidney nodded.

"The symbols will still get us into the ballpark of what came through, even if they were wrong," he explained, his voice tired. "I'll need my journals."

*****

Three hours later...

Cidney was still in his spot on the sofa.

Everyone was spread around the living room with one of his journals. Aveo had one of the armchairs, Kraten had the desk while Khaius was on the other end of the sofa.

Qlide, the wonderful man that he is, is in the kitchen cooking dinner for everyone.

When he was young, his mother made a point to have him write every lesson down.

Unfortunately, that meant lots of journals.

"Your mom took your education seriously," Aveo announced.

The others nodded.

Cidney looked around the room.

It was strange.

He had gone from being alone most of the time to being surrounded by gargoyles who cared about him.

He smiled to himself. He liked it. He liked having Khaius around like this, he also liked the others being around all the time.

He was still smiling when someone pounded on the door.

Did Saree lose her key again?

He got off the couch and went to answer.

Grayson was standing there in the same suit as earlier, only now he looked furious.

"What the hell, Cid?!" he shouted. "I told you I needed answers and you just bailed!"

"You don't like the answers you get," he reminded him as he stood in the doorway.

"Are you going to let me in?" the detective snapped.

"No," he said as he stepped out into the hall and closed the door for at least the illusion of privacy.

They would still be able to hear no matter.

"I need real answers, not some bullshit!" he yelled.

"Stop yelling, Gray," he warned.

If the guy went on much longer, Khaius might decide to do something about it. Or one of the others.