“Get serious, lady,” Kenzo demanded. “Did you eat our rations?”
“This ain’t funny, you little witch!” the fourth devil hunter added angrily.
As the men closed in on her, Power backed away. “You’ve got it all wrong! He’s the liar! He’s lying through his teeth!” She pointed at Denji. “He’s the devil hiding in this house, and he’s trying to pin everything on poor innocent me!”
“Is that so?” Kenzo asked.
The two civilian devil hunters turned on Denji. “You say he’s the devil?” said the fourth hunter.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” said Denji. “Are you kidding me? I passed your dumbass test, Power! You said I was the real deal!”
“I didn’t say anything like that!”
“Why, you …” Denji gritted his teeth. “Look, you guys heard her. Remember? Huh?”
The other hunters continued to scrutinize him. “When I suggested we all work together, you were the first to push back,” Kenzo said.
“Yeah, he was, wasn’t he?” said the fourth hunter. “And look where splitting up got us!”
“Hey, no! Don’t jerk me around! You know I’m not the devil!”
“Yes, he is! He’s the devil!” Power shrieked. “The great Detective Power is never mistaken!” She grabbed at him.
“Dammit, Power! If you screw me over again, you’re gonna wish you never—”
Kenzo whipped out his katana and leveled it at Denji. “If you so much as twitch, I’ll kill you where you stand.”
Denji raised his fists. “Dude, I’d like to see you try.”
“I’m warning you! Don’t move or we’ll have to assume you’re the devil,” Kenzo repeated.
Denji didn’t have an answer to that. He kept his fists up, but all he gave Kenzo was a glare.
Slowly, Kenzo lowered his blade. He reminded himself to stay cool. The worst thing to do in this situation was panic. “Okay. Good. Now, you seem pretty suspicious, but it’s not like we have watertight evidence. If you’re not the devil, go ahead and prove it.”
“Yeah? And how am I supposed to do that?”
“Sorry, but the best bet is to tie you up,” Kenzo sighed. “If there are any more attacks while you’re bound hand and foot, we’ll know you didn’t do it.”
“That’s the stupidest crap I ever— Okay, whatever. What if nothing happens?”
“All the better for us. If we can contact the outside, we can get Public Safety to take a closer look at this whole thing.” As if to assuage Denji, Kenzo added, “Then, if you’re really innocent, I’m sure they’ll figure it out.”
“This plan sucks,” Denji whined. “We don’t know if help is even coming. I don’t wanna sit trussed up like a turkey until who knows when.”
“Fine,” said the fourth devil hunter. “One night, then. We’ll let you go in the morning. How’s that?”
“It doesn’t matter because I’m not the damn devil!” Denji stopped short of letting a fist fly. A thought had just occurred to him, and he didn’t like it. “Y’know … Ms. Makima told us to try to get along.” He grabbed his fist with the other hand and forced it down. “Dammit, fine. One night.”
“Good,” Kenzo said. “Then it’s settled.”
He and the other hunter bound Denji’s hands and feet with rope from the staff rooms and tied him to a post. A film of sweat clung to their skin as they remained tense for the rest of the day. Almost before they knew it, the sun was swallowed by the western hills. They were about to spend their third night in a house with a devil.
“We ought to get some shut-eye,” said Kenzo. “I say two of us keep guard while the other sleeps. Who wants to take the first rest?”
Power threw up her hand immediately. “Me! I’m so sleepy!”
“All right. We’ve got about six hours until sunrise. We’ll sleep in shifts of two hours.”
“Will do!”
A shout rose from the post. “I’m not gonna forget this, Power!”
“Oooh, the nasty devil is glaring at me! I’m so scared!” Power traipsed out of the rec room, avoiding Denji’s gaze. Denji and the other two hunters were left behind in the cavernous room.
“Another day, and the old man’s still AWOL,” said the fourth hunter, contemplating the dull shimmer of his blade. “I’m starting to think we’ll be stuck in this place for the rest of our lives.” His cheeks were hollow and there were bags under his eyes. It looked like he was reaching the end of his rope.
“Like hell we are,” said Kenzo, trying to sound hopeful. “Even if something happened to that guy, somebody’s bound to notice when a bunch of devil hunters go missing at once. They’ll come for us.”
“Don’t you guys ever shut up?” Denji growled. “I’m trying to get some sleep here.”
“You can sleep like that?”
“I can sleep anywhere! And it’s getting late. If I don’t rest up now, tomorrow’s gonna suck hard.”
Kenzo stroked his chin thoughtfully. “I think I see. No matter the situation, it’s crucial to rest when you can. So that’s how Public Safety does it … Wait, is he asleep already?”
Only the sound of Denji’s snores answered him.
Several hours passed. At midnight in the mountains, the inn was as silent as if sound itself had died.
“What’s that lady doing? I said two-hour rests. She oughta be back by now to take her shift.” Kenzo looked at the rec room clock, getting angrier and angrier. He turned to Denji. A trail of drool dangled from his mouth. “He’s out cold too. Guess you have to have nerves of steel to work in Public Safety.”
“We don’t know if he is Public Safety,” the man with the knife said in a low voice.
“Yeah. Fair enough.”
“I’ll keep an eye on this guy, Kenzo. You go wake the other one.”
“I’ll be right back.” Kenzo had been growing worried about the fourth hunter’s paranoid muttering, but the cool-headed, reasonable suggestion reassured him. Maybe the guy still had his wits about him. Kenzo headed for the guest wing.
As soon as the door closed, the man with the knife crept toward the sleeping Denji. “Finally alone.”
Kenzo had misjudged the situation. The man’s detachment came not from calmness, but from a terror beyond panic. His dark eyes were unfocused and his fingers trembled.
“You’re the devil, aren’t you?” he whispered. “You can’t fool me. I’m not gonna get a moment’s sleep with you alive. I’m not as patient as Kenzo.”
The rec room was soundproofed. No one would hear the screams. And if worse came to worst, he could blame it on the devil.
As the man gazed down at the sleeping Denji and raised his knife, he said, “Do me a favor. Die for me. Pretty please?”
“Hrrgh?” Power heaved herself up in bed. She thought she’d heard Denji cry out, but it must have been a dream. “I’m so hungry,” she muttered. Her stomach gave a little rumble of agreement. She hadn’t had anything but water since eating everything in the pantry. “Denji … Blood …”
She leapt for the other bed and landed on nothing but a soft, springy mattress. There was no sign of her partner under the covers. She grunted in confusion.
A fierce pounding came at the door. “Wake up, you! It’s time to take your shift!”
The noise cleared the fuzz from Power’s head. “Oh, right.” She’d fingered Denji as the devil and left him tied up in the rec room. Of course.
“Are you in there? Answer me!”
“I hear you! Sheesh! Why must you be so noisy?” Power grabbed the top hat waiting by her pillow and put it on. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she opened the door.
Kenzo was standing in the faint glow of an emergency light. He let out a sigh of relief. “You’re alive! When you didn’t answer, I thought maybe you’d been taken too.”
“Where’s Denji?”
“Sleeping like a baby in the rec room, at least for now.” As they fell into step beside each other, Kenzo gave Power a wary look. “Hey … do you really think he’s the devil? It’s just that the longer I watch him, the less sure I am.”
“Denji is not the culprit,” said Power.
“He’s not?” Kenzo said, incredulous. “Then why did you tell us he was?”
“I did no such thing.”
“What? I mean … what?” Kenzo looked wildly at Power for some sign that she was joking, but her face remained impassive. In reality, she had already lost interest in the conversation. It was about time to rescue Denji, she thought. He could show his gratitude by giving her a drink of blood.
“Now wait right here!” Kenzo implored. “If he’s not the devil, what have I done?”
“Tied up an innocent man and abandoned him,” Power said haughtily. “You ought to be ashamed! You dupe! You fool! You cretin!”
“No … no …”
Still arguing, the two walked into the rec room—and stopped, speechless.
There was no one inside.
“But … they were here a minute ago!” Kenzo’s voice rose in panic. He rushed to the spot where Denji had been tied up. Both Denji and the other hunter were gone.