Relics

by Wilson, Maer

  “It is quite simple really. To boil it down for you, our presence here is mostly due to a fight over food supply. It always has been.” He gave an apologetic smile. “Earth is not even our biggest or most popular supply. Your race is an acquired taste. However, there are some among both of our races who really like this world and its people.”

  Jane was still struggling. Having had some of her beliefs put into question had to be frustrating for her.

  “Angels are good. They help people. Everyone knows that.” She was adamant about that.

  “Well, that is because winners write the history. Daemon ranks were thinned out considerably in one of the last big wars. Prior to that, we had many epic battles, here and on other feeding worlds.

  That caused raised eyebrows. What was this? Other feeding worlds?

  “Well, that is not important for now. Anyway, since angels won that one, they pretty much made up their own story.”

  “So, the angels were good.”

  “No. Jane, you have to stop thinking of them as you have in the past. They are beings from another dimension, just as we are. They come here to feed on humans, just as we do. The only real difference is that we feed on the negative energies put out by humans – pain, loss, fear, hate. They feed off the positive – happiness, compassion, love, joy.

  “We can create situations that feed us, as can they. Meaning we can make people miserable, although that level would be far too excessive for us. In fact, we need very little negative energy, and your people seem pretty good at creating your own misery. The Light Ones can make people happy, and they often do.”

  “Ha! See? I told you they are good.” Jane was pleased.

  Jones shook his head. “There can be too much of a good thing, Jane. They are just as inclined to feed from a drug addict under the influence as they are to feed off of last week's lottery winner. And they will arrange for those situations, if they feel like it. Believe me when I say it is easier to find the drug addict and make sure they are well supplied and happy than it is to get that lottery winner. The reason for the human emotion is irrelevant. It only matters that it is positive and very strong. Once they find someone they like, they will keep their victim in a heightened emotional state to maintain the levels of energy they need. Humans cannot exist like that indefinitely. They simply burn out. “

  The implications were pretty clear to me, and I don't think angels had quite the appeal they had before. An entity that would keep you happy sounded fine on the surface, but at what cost? Artificially induced happiness? Drugged? Certain scenes from sci-fi movies, with people kept asleep and wired to hideous machines for years, came to mind. I shuddered. I'd rather have my emotions be my own, thank you very much.

  “As I said, neither of our peoples has your values. And an angel’s appetite is much greater than a daemon’s. We need only a small amount of negative energy to supplement us. They need massive amounts of positive. Because there is far more unhappiness on this world, it is not the best choice for either race.”

  I could see his point.

  “How many of you are there?” Thulu asked.

  “A bit over a million, but not on Earth. Here probably about four hundred daemons. Angels number over several million, but here there are less than a hundred at present.”

  Nana cocked her head. “Really? Why is that?”

  Jones crossed one leg over the other. “Because the last time they attempted to open a portal to this world, it was not open for very long. Many of the angels already here were banished back to their own realm. A balance was kept.”

  “So, why should we help you? Maybe we should help the angels. Maybe you're lying about them and they're really good. Or maybe we should get rid of all of you.” Thulu's look was steady. “Sounds to me like we'd be better off with both sides gone.”

  Jones looked at his hands. “I doubt that you would be able to remove all of us. If you mean close both portals –” He shrugged. “We regulate ours already. Closing it would not really make a difference to us. Those of us caught on this side probably want to be here anyway, and those on our home world have many other more popular alternatives. Besides, portals have a way of not staying closed forever.

  “The angels go through resources rather faster than we do. This is one reason they are returning here. Also their favorite world is at war – not conducive to happiness. They have been there a long time, and the effects of their feeding are damaging the native population, who are beginning to turn on each other. Plus, your world is – easy pickings.” He gave a grim smile.

  “We can speculate endlessly on why they are coming here, rather than another world. For now, I suggest that we go to work finding the rest of the relics and a few other pieces I need to close the portal.”

  Jones explained that there were nine pieces total. Four carved panels that detailed the ancient ritual and how the relics were used in the ceremony. He had two of the panels, which dated from the Tang Dynasty, around 720 CE. There were four relics, all of gold: the dagger, a small plate, a cup and a pitcher. He already had the plate, as well. The final piece was an ancient scroll, giving details on how to perform the ceremony and exactly what was to be said.

  “So, you need two panels, three of the relics and the scroll?”

  Jones nodded. “Can you find them?”

  Thulu shrugged. “Is the plate the item from Jane's house?”

  “No, I was able to track that down last year. It was my first piece, and the owner was happy to part with it for a price.” He gave us a grin and shrugged his shoulders. “I did not find anything in Jane's house.”

  “That reminds me,” I said. “Jane wants her locket back.” Jones looked at me blankly, and then at Jane, who nodded.

  “One of your guys helped himself to a locket that was in Jane's nightstand. It was a present for her granddaughter, and she wants it back.”

  Jones frowned, nodded and looked Jane square in the eye. “I will get it back for you. It is the least I can do under the circumstances.”

  She nodded graciously. “Thank you.”

  He looked at each of us in turn. “Well, I am certain you would like to discuss my proposal for a partnership. I promise it would be to your advantage. I would make it very worthwhile. There is also the consideration that you would be preserving your world's way of life. That is, if the altruistic appeals to you.” He tapped on the glass behind him.

  True to his word, Jones returned us to our car. He agreed to email us pictures of the panels he had and the plate. We planned to speak later, but we needed a break.

  Jones asked about our usual fee, but we didn't even want to think about that. There were too many things we needed to think through. Besides, we weren't sure we were going to work with him. We told him we'd let him know after we discussed it.

  As soon as we got to our car, Jane disappeared with a subdued wave.

  Thulu and I dropped off a strangely quiet Nana and went home. We were just too burned out to do much else. Angels, daemons, dead clients, ancient relics, portals to other dimensions. Information overload, and my brain was going five million miles a minute.

  Once we were inside, with shoes off and glasses of wine in hand, we curled up on our cushy sofa in the family room.

  “I believe him, I think,” said Thulu. “I'm not sure about who is good or not. He wasn't painting either side as good, which makes me think he's probably being as honest as he can.”

  I sipped my wine, thinking about Jones's story, staring into space.

  “I didn't get a sense of much of anything from him, so it's hard to tell. But for now, I'm inclined to believe him, too. At least until I have proof to the contrary. But do you buy this save the world crap?”

  “Well, a thousands of years old daemon as a drama queen would be pretty funny. I think there's more to it than his wanting to help humans. He's not exactly the altruistic type himself, is he?”

  “Nope, didn't get a lot of altruism from him. I honestly don't know, Thulu, but I don't think we have
the whole story here. Still, it won't hurt to check some things out, I guess.” I stretched out the kinks in my neck. “So what do you want to do next?”

  As I looked at Thulu, he gave me a familiar, impish grin that left no doubt in my mind what he wanted to do next.

  Chapter 13

  In the kitchen, after a very late dinner – Chinese takeout – we went back to the cases at hand. I hadn't expected Jones to be so cooperative. With his revelations, we hadn't resolved everything for our clients, but we were farther than we would have been.

  I began one of my lists on my tablet. This time just the names of our clients and what they wanted. When I was done, I looked it over before I handed it to Thulu.

  Jones would be able to clear up almost everything on the list. He had Jenna's parents and the panel Seung wanted. He had access to Jane's locket and knew where the original Jones had put Emily's body.

  The other two were not as clear cut. Robin wanted to make things right with his family, which was a bit vague. Blake said he just wanted to hang out awhile.

  It was always a bit harder when the dead didn't know what they wanted or needed in order to move on. We'd discovered that the best thing was to let them do as they pleased and not push for a solution. Eventually, they moved on. Or not, as the mood struck them.

  Of course, that was for the more recently dead. Those who'd been dead longer rarely came to visit, although occasionally one stopped by out of curiosity.

  Then there was Parker, who was more like a member of the family. I was unable to have kids of my own. A rare condition had resulted in my having a hysterectomy the year before. Thulu and I had decided we'd look into adoption when we were ready to extend our clan. We discussed it every so often to make sure we were both on the same page as far as kids were concerned. So far neither of us had been in any hurry to change the size of our family.

  Once in a while, I saw a young woman really connected to a child or baby and I missed not having one of my own. These times were not often, though, and usually didn't last long. I was pretty happy with our life as it was. I worked really hard to convince myself that I didn't care about kids. That wasn’t something I was willing to look at very closely, either. Denial is not always a bad thing, I told myself.

  Parker, however, brought out my maternal instincts. Having been an only child, I enjoyed my older sister role.

  He must have felt me thinking about him because I heard his familiar, “Knock, knock.”

  “Come in.”

  In he came, with Jenna in tow.

  “Hi, La Fi. Hey Thulu.” The scents of cinnamon (Jenna) and popcorn (Parker) slipped into the room.

  Jenna put herself in mid-air, something that was becoming a pattern for her. She curled up on her side and stuck her thumb in her mouth. I frowned. Wasn't she a bit old for that? Was she developing issues? Could ghost kids even develop issues? She saw my look, removed her thumb and smiled that heavenly smile of hers. With a tiny sigh, she cuddled her monkey, carefully keeping her thumb out of her mouth. I'm quite sure the look she gave me was slyly mischievous.

  Parker looked at the remains of our dinner still scattered on the table and got a wistful expression.

  “I always liked Chinese.” He gave us a big grin, his usual good nature returning quickly. From what I’d seen, Parker rarely was upset or down. He just seemed to go with the flow.

  “So what's up? How did the meeting go?” He gestured with his head at Jenna. “Find out anything?”

  Thulu gave me a quick look.

  “We found out some things, yes.” I answered cautiously. I thought of something I'd wanted to ask him. “Hey, Parker, can you see demons and angels?”

  “They'd rather be called “daemons,’” he corrected.

  That answered that. Not even Parker was going to let me get away with my name game. “Daemons” it would have to be. I frowned slightly. Thulu gave a quiet chuckle, guessing what had gone through my mind.

  “There are times a person can know someone too well, you know?” I glared at him. This, of course, just made him laugh.

  “Never going to know you too well, my Fi.” He reached over and ruffled the top of my head. I pulled away in mock irritation.

  Parker interrupted us. “Are you guys going to get all personal and mushy and stuff? Or do you want to know about daemons and angels?”

  We both laughed at the look of disgust on his face, even though I was pretty sure Thulu missed most of what Parker had said.

  “No, Park, we aren't. By all means, enlighten us,” I said firmly.

  Thulu waggled his eyebrows at me and mouthed, “Rematch.” I rolled my eyes. I turned my back on Thulu and looked at Parker. “Please go on, sweetie.”

  After a suspicious look at both of us, Parker went on. It wasn't the first time that particular scene had been played out with the three of us. He made sure he was facing Thulu so he could read his lips.

  “There aren't all that many that I've seen. Mostly they don't much pay attention to us ghosts. There are more daemons than angels. In fact, I've only seen maybe three or four angels.” He hesitated and the silence grew.

  “Parker?”

  “You might not believe me, or you might think I'm a bad person.”

  “Nope, Park, not happening.” I shook my head and looked him straight in his not quite solid brown eyes. “Please tell us whatever you know.”

  He took a deep breath. I always find that ironic in those who do not breathe.

  “I don't like them.”

  I nodded. “The daemons?”

  “Nah, they're all right, for the most part. I don't like the angels.” He hung his head, seeming to find something interesting in the kitchen tile. Guilt was in his whole manner.

  Thulu and I exchanged looks. Not what we had expected.

  “Parker?” Thulu waited until Parker looked at him. “Why don't you like them?”

  “Because they are creepy!” he exclaimed, a bit defensively, but also with an almost defiant look. His dislike of them was quite strong, very different for easy-going Parker. He seemed concerned we would think the worst of him, but at the same time wanted us to know how he felt.

  I couldn't remember the last time Parker had been so negative about something. “They don't like us dead much at all. That's okay, though. We don't like them back. They act like they're better than everyone else, just 'cause they're pretty.” A look of horror appeared on his face as something occurred to him. “You aren't going to work for any of them, are you?”

  “Would that be bad?” I asked.

  “Yes!” He was almost bouncing in mid-air, and his scent changed from popcorn to gasoline.

  “It's okay, Parker. Will you please tell us what's going on?”

  “Yeah, sorry guys.” His scent went to peanut butter, one of his more common ones, as he settled down. Only one of the ones I saw was nice. He smiled at me and even talked to me a bit. The others though – La Fi, Thulu, I'm not kidding. These dudes are seriously not the good guys.” He moved closer and lowered his voice, as if he thought the angels were listening in. “They hang around people like –” He stopped again, thinking. “Okay, you know how it feels when something smells really, really good?”

  We nodded.

  “It kind of looks like that. Like they are smelling something they really like – only more than that. Like they are inhaling the person. It's just weird looking.”

  “Daemons don't do that?” Thulu asked.

  “Yeah, they kind of do, but they are not as obvious about it. Whenever I've seen a daemon following someone, it was more like they were taking little sips and not for long. They aren't as gross as those angel things.” He made a disgusted face.

  “But daemons are kind of cool. And they look at us sometimes. I've even talked to a few of them. One of them sat on the pier with me one day, and we talked about gaming for hours. He wanted to know what was so cool about it and why some humans spent so much time playing. How it worked – and he really listened to me, too.”

&nbs
p; “When was this?”

  “Not long after I died.” Parker smiled. “He was pretty awesome. Well, once I realized he wasn't there to take me to Hell anyway.” He gave us a grin. “He was in his daemon form and not possessing a human at the time. They do that – possess humans. He was all dark and had wings and bright blue eyes. It was pretty cool.”

  “Don't angels have wings?” I wondered.

  “Yeah, they do. Look, guys, don't get me wrong. They are really pretty. Stunning the first time you see them. They are bright, and their skin glows. They sometimes have this sparkly aura around them and huge wings the color of their hair.” His eyes clouded as he remembered.

  “The first one I saw was a few weeks after I met the daemon. His hair and wings were all silver. Even his skin was a bit silver. The feathers on his wings looked soft. He was so beautiful, I wondered if he was there to take me to Heaven.” Parker seemed a bit embarrassed. We nodded again and smiled.

  “I'm sure I would have thought the same thing,” Thulu said.

  “Well, I didn't even think about it. I just went up to him and asked if he was there to take me away. He just glared at me, really mean, too. He said, 'Be gone, dead thing.' He made a pushing motion with his hand, and I ended up clear across the city.” Parker shook his head in disgust.

  “One of the old timer ghosts said to stay away from angels. He said they were bad news and only a few would be nice, but it was best to not bother looking for the nice ones. I thought that was good advice. Now, I leave the area if I see them first.”

  “What about the nice one?”

  “Oh, him. I was in Chinatown looking around at stuff one day. I turned a corner and went right through him before I saw him. He felt weird, too. I turned around to apologize before he did something awful, but he just smiled and nodded.”

  This angel had been very friendly, according to Parker. His hair and wings had been gold, with a golden aura blazing from his skin. He told Parker he was looking for an antique shop that specialized in Oriental items.