The last scheduled appointment of the day left a little over an hour ago and things at the compound were quiet. Demons on the third floor lazily monitored the camera feed between rounds of a card game. There was little reason for concern after the perimeter had been augmented with demonic sigil magic. Everyone thought that Zeus was being a bit overzealous with security--paranoid even (though none spoke the word aloud). Since that first incident with McCloud’s message getting through, security was tight as a drum. Zeus had made sure of that.
Besides, anything that wasn’t welcome or expected would set off the summoning spell for the Gatekeeper.
One young power demon, fresh on the job, sat attentively in a computer chair on the first floor’s mezzanine. He was working on a routine maintenance check on these computers when something on the feed for the front gate caught his attention.
“Did you see that?” He turned toward the shadow demon at his right, who shook her head in reply before fixing her attention on the screen again.
There was the smallest of movements--a tiny creature approaching the gate. “Is that a rat?” The power demon squinted, then blinked in surprise as the image shifted to a shadowy creature. The other demon held down a key on her keyboard and spoke into a microphone.
“Confirm shadow entity at front gate, camera 2.” Her tone was relaxed. Anything shadowy was probably one of theirs and nothing to worry about. Besides, as soon as it was close enough the Gatekeeper would be there.
A voice came through the computer speaker. No one could determine who this creature was or agree on what the creature looked like. They went back and forth for a moment arguing about it until the gate opened and the Gatekeeper still had not appeared.
“Is that one of ours?” Now worry edged into the shadow demon’s voice. Zeus would not be pleased.
On the third floor, everyone currently on duty crowded around the camera feed watching as the rat--no, dog--or was it a deer?--thing made its way to the top of the hillock. Uncertain whispers began to pick up.
“Someone needs to tell him.”
“I’m not fuckin' doing it.”
“We can’t just sit here and argue about it we have to--”
“So why don’t you tell him if you’re so worried--”
“Like you’re not?!”
Of course, the chatter caught Chtahzus’aak’s ear before anyone had the chance to make an official report, and he appeared in the mezzanine on the first floor, stepping through the shadows to look over the shoulder of the power demon (who jumped as soon as he was aware of this). The feed had been switched to one of the inward-facing cameras to track the creature approaching the entrance.
Zeus crossed his arms over his chest, watching and waiting. He knew this was not one of his. The failure at the perimeter was a moderate annoyance, those sigils had been laid in haste and never truly tested. This creature would not breach the front entrance, but he was curious to watch it try.
The doors dissolved as if Chtahzus’aak himself had approached them.
“WHAT?” He could feel everyone watching the feed fly into a panic. They had all just witnessed the impossible, and every inch of his own body tensed. Zeus sent a silent summon to Brael, if he had not already caught on to the disturbance, and practically flew out of the mezzanine in a quiet rage. By the time the creature had approached the front desk, Zeus was down the short staircase and halfway to the desk himself.
The witch?
He almost stopped in his tracks, utter disbelief painting his features. There was a torrent in his mind. On the one hand, this was precisely the person he wanted to speak with, especially after Brael’s recent abduction. On the other hand, she had completely bypassed every security measure he had in place.
“Sabrina.” Chtahzus’aak approached the witch at a slower pace, wrestling his demeanor into submission. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” They would go into the conference room to speak, unless she was here to fight.