by N. P. Martin
"I mean with Leona, asshole. You don’t fucking talk to her, you hear me? You don’t even fucking look at her, or I’ll—"
"Go on," Max said. "You’ll what, Creed? What will you do?"
I shook my head in frustration. "Leona has nothing to do with any of this. Just leave her alone."
Max sighed as if I was being overly dramatic. "I was merely speaking with her. If I wanted to hurt your pretty girlfriend, I would just—"
"Stop. I don’t want to hear it. Just keep her out of this, all right? I’ll do whatever you want me to do, but Leona is off limits."
"Off limits?" Max laughed as if I was a silly little boy. "Haven’t you realized yet? Nothing is off limits to me in this world. Nothing."
"Look, I’m just asking you to leave Leona alone. That’s all. It’s the fucking least you can do considering you’re wearing me like a cheap suit."
Max laughed. "A cheap suit. That’s funny. That’s actually how it feels sometimes."
Shaking my head, I started towards the waiting jet. "Let’s just get on the fucking plane," I said aloud.
"Can I ask why we are getting on a plane?"
"What? You know why."
"Yes, I know, but the fact is I can get us to Ireland much quicker."
I stopped. "You can teleport that far?"
"Of course. Like I said, nothing is off limits here."
"You might’ve mentioned this before."
"You never asked."
I sighed. "You really are a cunt."
In barely the blink of an eye, I found myself standing outside a small cottage in the middle of the day, with nothing but green fields surrounding it. Although I hadn’t laid eyes on the tiny cottage for many years, I knew immediately it was Uncle Ray’s Sanctum. If the talismans hanging over the door weren’t enough to give it away, the sight of Ray himself as he opened the front door was. "August?" Ray said, staring at me quizzically. "You weren’t due to arrive for another ten hours at least."
"I know," I said. "Didn’t you hear? I got myself a new way to get around. My own personal demon."
Ray nodded. "Right enough. At least they’re good for something, right?" He chuckled.
"Cheeky bastard, your uncle," Max said.
"Did he hurt your feelings, Max?" I said as I went inside the Sanctum. "I’m sorry."
"Two cheeky bastards in one family. Who would have thought?"
As small and quaint as Ray’s Sanctum was on the outside, on the inside it was like a grand castle fit for any lord or king. It was positively cavernous inside, with stuff everywhere. Every artifact and thing of interest that Ray had ever procured on his extensive travels, ended up inside his Sanctum. Everywhere you looked there were things like old wooden trunks and suits of armor, ancient weapons, and even a sarcophagus, which God knows where he got that from. Ray’s place always reminded me of an antique store that no one bought from, so the stuff inside just kept piling up everywhere. It had gotten worse since my last visit. It was like he was building a whole other structure inside, based upon a crazy blueprint that only he understood.
"Does this man ever throw anything out?" Max asked.
Ignoring Max’s question, I addressed Ray inside his huge living room, which was also full of stuff, though slightly more organized stuff. "It seems like every time we meet these days it’s under dire circumstances. You must be sick of helping me sort out my problems."
Ray smiled as he sat down on a well worn leather armchair, taking his pipe and tobacco pouch from out of his brown waistcoat. "That’s what I’m here for," Ray said as if it was nothing. "Will you be visiting the old family home while you’re here?"
I shook my head as I sat down in the chair opposite him, next to the roaring open fire. "Not this time."
"Or any time is the impression I get."
I gave a tight smile as I stared into the fire. "I have no wish to go back there."
"Well, at least sell the place then." Ray lit up his pipe, filling the room with a sweet smelling smoke.
"I will, eventually. I’ve got more pressing matters to take care of first."
"Like getting rid of the demon that’s possessed you?" He stared hard at me, as if he was trying to see the demon inside. "What’s it like?"
"You mean the demon?" I shook my head. "I don’t even know where to start."
"Oh, come now, Creed," Max said. "I was looking forward to your summation of me."
"He’s an asshole," I told Ray.
"Bastard," Max said.
"Aren’t they all?" Ray said as he offered me the pipe, which I refused. My head was messed up enough without smoking some of Ray’s special blend. "How do you plan on getting rid of it?"
"We worked out a deal."
Ray raised his eyebrows. "A deal?"
"Yeah, I know. My deals with demons don’t usually go that well."
"Just be careful, son."
"I’m trying to be," I said, directing it more at Max than Ray.
Max laughed within me as if the whole situation was a joke to him.
"So you want to go to Babylon?" Ray said. "On behalf of our mutual friend."
"You think I’m wasting my time?"
Ray shrugged as a cloud of smoke drifted around him. "I barely know Angela’s daughter, so I can’t say how she’ll react. Angela does want the girl home, though."
"You think she genuinely misses Jennifer?"
"I do. Thirty years apart has only filled Angela’s heart with yearning. A surprising development, I have to say."
"Maybe she’s more human than she lets on."
"Angela has many sides to her that most don’t see."
"You’re the one that sleeps with her every chance you get. You should know."
Max chuckled. "Really? Well, who’d have thought it?"
"I’m not ashamed to say that no other woman compares," Ray said smiling. "You’d have to have been there to know what I mean."
"I’ll just take your word for it," I said, pushing back unwanted images of Angela Crow behaving sexually.
"How’s Leona?"
I nodded. "She’s okay. Struggling to cope with my latest mess, I guess."
"She’s a strong woman. She’ll be fine."
"I know she will."
We sat in silence for a few moments while Ray continued to puff on his pipe, his eyes becoming slightly droopy as the herbs had their psychoactive effect on him. "Right, then," he said eventually as he got to his feet. "I can see that time is pressing. Let’s get you to Babylon."
As Ray travels so extensively throughout the multiverse, he has gone to the trouble over the years to create a whole wing in his Sanctum that houses nothing but gateways that lead to other worlds and dimensions. There are hundreds of individual rooms in the wing, each room containing a portal leading to a different place in the multiverse. Sorcerer’s, and other people in the know, often come to Ray’s Sanctum just so they can access one of his portals. It’s easier to do that than to go to the trouble of creating their own. Thanks to all these traveller’s, Ray has amassed quite a few favors in return, making him one of the most connected sorcerer’s anywhere. "Passport, please," he said as he opened the door to one of the rooms.
"Funny," I said, not smiling at all.
Ray chuckled anyway. "You should learn to smile more, son. Everything is better with a smile."
"Yeah, Creed," Max said. "Let’s see you flash those pearly whites."
Fuck you.
I moved past Ray into the small room, which was as basic as it gets. Four stone walls, and a shimmering portal in the middle that resembled an upright pool of glistening, orange-colored water. "This will still take me to your Sanctum in the center of the city, right?" It had been a long while since I’d stepped through the portal.
"Yes," Ray said. "Everything is still the same, although the city itself has gotten somewhat…dystopian."
I frowned. "Dystopian? How?"
"The corporations have taken over, as they are want to do. It’s like this realm, only worse."<
br />
"Whatever. I’m sure I won’t be staying long."
"Be careful anyway. The violence levels have gone up since the corporations started running things."
"You know me," I said. "I’m always careful."
Ray just looked at me. "Of course you are."
I walked up to the portal and looked at my uncle before stepping through. "See you soon, Ray."
10
Secrets And Lies
Ray’s portal took me through to his Babylon Sanctum, located in the very heart of the city. The Sanctum was nestled in the center of a huge tower block, and on the outside it looked like any of the other apartments in the building. Inside of course, was a different story. There were many rooms, most of them containing more of Ray’s stuff that he had piled around everywhere. I swear, if Ray ever decides to keep all of his books in one place, such a library will be the biggest in all the realms. It will also probably contain every key piece of knowledge, magical or otherwise, known to man. As it is, Ray prefers to keep his valuables scattered around in different places, because he thinks it will be safer that way. He’s probably right. The realms are full of those who spend their time stealing other people’s most valuable possessions, and keeping all your shit in one place just made it easier for said people to steal. Hence why the Babylonian Sanctum looked like a storage facility in parts.
I walked through the nondescript living room and out onto the balcony. It was still daylight outside, and I took a few moments to look out over the city, to see if it had changed as much as Ray said it had. On the surface at least, the city looked the same to me, save for a few extra skyscrapers that had been erected since my last visit. The tallest of the skyscrapers was right in the center, and it stood higher even than the fabled Tower of Babel, which had always been the city’s centerpiece. Now the skyscraper stood alongside it like a bully trying to intimidate or push out the smaller kid. The arrival and placement of the huge skyscrapers spoke volumes. The Tower of Babel was occupied by the Babylonian royal family, who had historically ruled over the city since it rematerialized in this new dimension. It now seemed that the corporations were trying to muscle out the old rulers, if they hadn’t done so already. Not that I cared that much. I didn’t live in the place after all, and as soon as I was done, I’d be gone.
"Did I mention Babylon is one of my favorite playgrounds?" Max said, now standing beside me on the balcony as Evil Creed. "Such fun to be had here."
"Fun?" I said. "You mean killing?"
Max smiled. "They are one in the same."
"Of course they are. Fucking psycho demon."
"Says the human with the hypocritical moral code. It’s laughable. At least I am true to my nature. Can you say the same, Creed?"
"If being true to my nature means being an evil, murdering bastard, then I’m happy as I am."
Max shook his head. "You humans will never understand the true meaning of life in the multiverse. You think you have it all worked out, but you don’t."
"And demons have?"
"There is nothing to work out in the first place," he said. "One simply becomes what they are, and acts like they were born to act. It’s not complicated. Only humans make living complicated."
"So we should just live like animals, is that what you’re saying?"
"Better than how you live now, with all those repressed feelings of guilt and shame, and whatever else. It makes me sick."
"You make me sick."
Max smiled at me. "You are always so defiant, Creed. I like that about you. I think you would make an excellent demon."
"No thanks."
"Many of the greatest of our kind started of as human."
"Did you? I dread to think what kind of person you would have been."
"I was never human. The mere thought turns my stomach."
"So you were just excreted from the darkness, is that it?"
"In a way, yes. I was born evil, as you humans might say. I prefer to think of myself as pure, rather than evil."
"Pure?" I couldn’t help but smile. "You can be a pretentious cunt at times."
Max’s eyes flashed red for a second. "And you can be an insolent swine at times."
"Then I guess we’re both assholes."
"Your self-loathing is palpable."
"So is your dickishness."
Max frowned as if he didn’t know what that meant. "Whatever."
"Yeah, whatever. Are you going to be tagging along inside me for this whole mission, or will you be jumping ship for a while?"
"I haven’t decided yet."
Not that I wanted anyone else to die at the hands of Max, but I couldn’t help wanting rid of him while I made contact with Jennifer. "Just don’t get in my way."
"Saying something like that only makes me want to get in your way, you know."
"What if I said please?"
"It wouldn’t matter. At all."
"Fuck you, then."
"Fuck you, too."
"Dick."
"Twat."
I almost smiled, but didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. "I’m going to do what I came here to do," I said walking away. "You do what you want."
Unfortunately, despite making it plain I didn’t want him around while I went to meet Jennifer, Max tagged along anyway. He made his presence keenly felt as I first teleported across the city, and then walked the few hundred yards to where Jennifer lived. Or at least, where she did live last time I saw her, which would have been a few years ago. She may have moved since then for all I knew.
"You could have called this girl before coming here," Max said.
"And tell her what? That I was coming to bring her back to her mother? She would have shut me down straight away, and then when I came here she probably wouldn’t want to speak to me. Face to face is better. Anyway, you’re in my head all the time, you should know this."
"Contrary to what you might think, I don’t spend all my time sifting through the sad remnants of your mind, Creed. That would just be tedious and supremely bloody boring."
"So what do you look at in there?" I asked, genuinely curious about the answer.
"Just the stuff that matters," Max said as I opened the glass door to the apartment building, which was made out of sandstone blocks, and was shaped like a pyramid. "Like your memories of me slaughtering your family."
I stopped dead in the foyer, my boots squeaking on the mosaic floor. "You had to bring that up, didn’t you?" I said aloud as my face set in anger. A second later, images of the very incident he was talking about flashed across my mind like blood splashing over a wall.
"You forget I’m here to torment you, Creed. Did you think I was here to be your partner in this little buddy movie you call your life?" He chuckled like that was funny.
"Fine," I said as I did my best to keep my voice level. "Just do me a favor, and leave the tormenting until after I’ve convinced Jennifer to come back with us—with me. Don’t forget I’ll end up in prison again if I fail here, which means so will you. I’m sure neither of us wants that."
"This doesn’t give you power over me, you know. I’m happy to watch you squirm as I torment you in that cell again. But—" He paused, for effect no doubt, to cover up the fact that he knew I was right. "—I don’t get out that often, and I would rather not spend all my time breaking your mind in a prison cell, which I would do…eventually."
"How many souls have escaped from your domain in the Underworld?" I asked him.
The question seemed to jar him. "What?"
"How many lucky souls have managed to free themselves from your chains in the Underworld?"
"I see what you’re doing."
"Just answer the question."
"Four souls, all of them your family members," he said, unable to keep the anger from his voice.
"Just the four in…how old is your domain? Very fucking old, I’d say. And in all that time, no one has ever escaped, until—"
"Your wretched family came along!"
"I know,
right?" I said nodding. "That must really bug you, not knowing how they did it. I mean, you said the place was impossible to escape from, right?"
A sudden stabbing pain in my chest caused me to stiffen up. "Stop it," Max growled, his voice no longer human.
"I’m just saying," I said wincing with pain. "You want to make sure…no one escapes again…right?" The pain stopped as suddenly as it began, and I breathed out sharply.
"You’ve made me angry now, Creed." His voice sounded human again, but it was still deeper than normal. "I feel like killing something to vent my frustrations. Maybe I’ll use your body to do it."
"Wait," I said. "I wasn’t trying to piss you off. Okay, maybe a little. But I was just trying to make you see that we both have a stake in things going smoothly. I mean, could you really go without finding out how my family escaped from your domain?"
"What’s to stop me from going to them now and getting those answers myself?" Max said. "You know which realm they are in, which means I do to."
I shook my head. "Even if you found them, they would never tell you anything."
"I wouldn’t be so sure of that. You have no idea how persuasive I can be. Just ask your mother."
"What the hell does that mean? That you tortured her?"
"Tortured? In the beginning, yes. Of course."
I shook my head. "In the beginning? So then what, you tried to wine and dine her?"
"That’s actually not too far from the truth. In some small way, I found Brenda to be fascinating. For a human, I mean."
"Wait a minute. Brenda?"
"Much time passed during her incarceration. Many conversations took place. She spoke of you a lot."
It felt like my head was spinning. "You’re fucking with my head again."
"Yes and no," Max said. "Yes, I am always fucking with your head, Creed. But also no, on this occasion I am not really. I speak the truth. I probably know your mother better than you do." He laughed, finding this funny.
"Jesus Christ," I said, my stomach tying itself in knots at the thought of him being in any way intimate with my mother. Whatever she did, she must have did it so she could play him. Maybe that’s how she eventually escaped.