by L R Deney
“Ugh… he just never shuts up,” Staci muttered as Fromm went on with his lengthy speech.
“‘Lord Chancellor’ eh?” Aku no Shi mused right beside her. “He seems to have a truly inflated opinion of his self-importance.”
“These types always do,” Staci said, giving a hard look to Mr. DeVos.
“Indeed,” said the demon with an extremely amused smile. “Kadmon would laugh at hearing these promises about chains and justice. Her armies will reign destruction on this city and make him weep.”
Staci rolled her eyes; of course he didn’t grasp her point. “Yeah, well… I’m not going to make it easy for him.”
“Of course you won’t. Anyway, shall we get to business?” He stepped forward and raised his arms, channeling an immense level of power.
“No! Wait! There’re still lots of innocent people out there.”
But the demon didn’t listen to her. The focus the power caused the ground to shake, and the sidewalks and roads to crack. Fromm stopped mid-sentence while citizens looked around in confusion and panic. Eventually the ground began to erupt and scores upon scores upon scores of demonic forms climbed and flew out, the sight of them causing people to scream out in horror, some scattering and running, others choosing to stand and fight.
Friedrich Fromm, with the escort of several heavily armed watchmen retreated toward the capitol. The horde of demons mostly ignored the retreating Chancellor—although a few tried to go after him and found themselves ill equipped—and leapt upon the crowd of citizens and City Watch. Staci growled as people who didn’t have to be slaughtered were torn to shreds in grisly bloodbaths. She shoved him to the side and he only laughed in response.
“Bastard,” she said, clenching her fists. “They didn’t deserve this.”
“Hey, you wanted in the headquarters,” Mr. DeVos mocked. “Now you have prime access to it.”
Staci rounded on him. “Get out of my sight!”
“As you wish, but I will come around again to check up on you. Meanwhile, we thank you for helping us back into the city.” Then with that, he vanished from sight.
“Goddamnit!” Staci raged, looking toward the chaos of the mass slaughter.
“What do we do?” asked Melanie, walking up to her side.
“We really can’t do anything but do what we came here to do.” Without wasting a beat, she led the way to the headquarters.
Reinforcements were pouring out of the building, hurrying to the scene of the demonic slaughter. Careful to avoid detection, appearing to be terrified citizens, the four companions ran behind a statue on the steps of the headquarters. The passing watchmen paid them no mind. Once the deluge of cops passed, they crept in through the doors. The place was practically vacant save for a few of the watch.
“Hey, you can’t be in h—” one of them said, but Staci didn’t allow him to speak, firing dark bolts of energy into each of them.
“So done with everyone’s bullshit right now,” she growled, leading the way through the building.
The vault was supposedly down in the basement, so that’s where they went, dispatching guards on the way. Eventually they came to a chamber door that was locked shut by numerous wards and a hand print. Everyone exchanged looks and frowned at each other. This was certainly going to be a difficult task.
“Theo, Melanie, watch the hallway for any patrols,” Staci ordered. “Aku no Shi and I will be attempting to crack the safe.”
“All right,” Theo said as they took up position in the hall.
“Okay,” Staci said, turning her head back to the vault, “let’s do this.”
They spent that half hour cracking and dispelling the wards, working around the dangerous traps that they would set off. By the time the last rune faded, both women were nearly exhausted. Fortunately no patrols had come their way, likely due to the fighting that was taking place above. It sounded like the demons were still rampaging through the city.
“Whew… that was a complex lock,” muttered Staci.
“That was a lock?” asked an astonished Melanie.
“That was a lock.”
The huge stone door slid toward the side, revealing a dark room. All four of them stepped through and looked around, taking note of the bare, stone walls. It was like the belly of a deep tomb or perhaps a temple to a dark god. The stale air permeated their nostrils. Staci had to wonder when the last time this vault had been opened was.
Finally a ghostly white shape took form at the far end of the chamber. It took the form of a dreadful skull, pieces of flesh still clinging to the bone. Staci frowned to herself when she realized what this might signify.
“Only one may pass,” the skull said. “Once you have, you will have to face three trials. A trial of wisdom, a trial of intelligence, and a trial of strength.”
“Oh of course,” muttered Staci. “They couldn’t keep it simple could they?” Taking in a deep breath, she stepped forward. “I will go.”
The skull nodded and vanished before revealing a door that wasn’t there previously. She looked back to her friends and they all nodded with encouragement. After nodding back, she stepped through the doorway, ready to face this strange trial of wisdom. After passing through the hallway, she finally saw what it was all about.
The chamber was simple enough, like the first, but this time there were two doors and she rolled her eyes when she realized what it was. There were two statues situated before the doors and she resisted the immediate urge to facepalm. Like, this was the most stereotypical test ever and it was so easy to figure out. Cops never had very good ideas, no matter where they were.
The skull appeared again. “Two doors, one leads to your next test, the other to certain doom. Ask the statues one question to determine which is which, but remember one tells—”
“I know, I know. One tells the truth, the other lies.”
The skull seemed to frown and then vanished.
“Fucking lame,” she muttered. “Okay, let’s get this over with. Statue on the right, which door would your compatriot over there say is the safe path?”
“Surely, ma’am, my compatriot would say the door behind me is safe,” replied the statue in an eerie, muffled voice.
“Got it, left one it is.”
She was still shaking her head as she got into the next chamber. There was another simple, bare room here with stone walls and flooring as before. Across from her was a statue of a sphinx beside a door, and she was immediately tempted to scream and pull out her hair. It was like whoever had designed the place had no original ideas. Possibly a hack.
Before the skull could show up, she asked, “Let me guess. Riddles?”
“Correct,” said the sphinx. “Three in fact.”
“All right, shoot.”
“What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three in the evening?”
“Start with the easy one eh? A human.”
The sphinx’s eyes glowed. “Correct.”
“Next one please.”
“Very well. My daughter has as many sisters as she has brothers. Each of her brothers has twice as many sisters as brothers. How many sons and daughters do I have?”
“What? No non-binary kids?”
The sphinx’s eyes glowed with unamused intensity.
“Right, right, right…” she said, chuckling softly. “Okay, so… twice as many, but just as many….” She counted on her fingers for a few moments. “Ah… right, three sons and four daughters.”
The sphinx’s eyes glowed again. “Correct.”
“Easy enough….”
“Now for my final riddle. What runs but never walks, has a mouth but cannot talk, has a head but doesn’t think, and has a bed but refuses to sleep?”
Staci was actually impressed with this one, this one gave her pause. She thought about it over in her mind, thankful it wasn’t “what do I have in my pocket?” and leaned back against a wall. It was actually a hard one, but she was confident that she could figure
it out. She felt the answer would actually be pretty simple….
“The clock is ticking,” the sphinx said impatiently.
“Yeah, okay,” replied Staci, a bit annoyed.” She thought about it a moment longer before it finally dawned on her. “A… river?”
The sphinx’s eyes glowed once more. “Correct.”
“Thanks, Gollum,” she said as the door opened for her and she stepped through.
The next chamber was a circular one rather than the square chambers that came before. It appeared to have no exit, which was a bit concerning. How would she reach the vault in which the statuette was in if there was no other door here? She thought that seemed a bit fishy when the skull manifested again.
“You have proven your wisdom and your intelligence,” said the skull. “Now comes your hardest task, proving your strength.”
“Ohhh? What is it, lifting a box?” Staci asked, smiling mischievously.
The skull seemed to sigh. “Facing your greatest fear….” After those words, it faded away.
“Ohhh shiiiit, I’m not ready to see her again. Anyone but Kad—”
“Hello,” a familiar baritone said from behind her. There was something different about it, it wasn’t Kadmon’s.
She spun around suddenly and saw the figure standing behind her, a mocking smile on his black painted lips. He was the same exact height as her, had similar features, pale skin, and messy black hair that was some kind of emo hairstyle. He wore a long black gown, one that she recognized from her own closet. Her blood ran cold at the sight.
“Ohhh no, no, no, no,” she gasped, taking several steps back.
“What’s the matter, Staci, expecting Kadmon instead?” the man asked mockingly. “What do you think she’d say if she saw this?”
“Noooo! You’re not alive anymore! I put you to rest!”
“Like our master? You killed him too, remember?”
“No, fuck. You did. I’m not that person anymore.” She kept taking steps back as her dark doppelganger advanced on her.
“Ohhh, but you are, you proved it when you hooked up with her. When you killed for her. You’re still doing her bidding too.”
“Fuck you, and fuck whoever came up with this trial!”
Her male clone’s face contorted in rage at the words and immediately charged her, slamming her against the wall repeatedly. Staci coughed and groaned from the blow, feebly trying to get him off of her. She pushed and kicked, but her double was lost in his rage, slamming her against the wall again and again. It was relentless, did she really have so much pent up rage back then?
“Say my name, say my name!” chanted the former self, eyes blazing in fury. “Say my name, you bitch!”
“Never!” she cried, swinging her fist at him uselessly.
He caught her fist and swung her around, sending her flying against the opposite wall. She grunted and sobbed, this trial beginning to wear away at her both physically and mentally. How was she supposed to proceed? Was she supposed to fight herself or…? Gesticulating her fingers rapidly, she sent out a few dark blasts of energy into her doppelganger’s chest as he approached her again. But that rage inside those eyes only seemed to grow, adding strength.
“Do you remember the anger and frustration we felt?” he said. “Remember the pain and suffering at looking at ourselves in the mirror every damn day? Wondering what was wrong with you? Were you some kind of pervert? The sheer rage that led us to murder our own master when he refused to share his secrets? Do you remember it, Staci? Do you?”
“I do, but I’ve grown since then,” Staci replied, stumbling back to her feet, using the wall as her help.
“Say my name!” he said again, with a charge and a punch. “Say it.”
Staci stumbled back, eyes wide with terror and mental anguish, tears running down her cheeks. “…Never.”
“Say it!” Another punch.
She fell to the ground again. “No….”
“Fucking say it!” A kick followed.
“Ugh… okay, hnn… S-s-s-sebastian….”
“Now, was that so hard?” he asked as he towered over her. “Now you will die, as you should have all those years ago.”
Did she really have to die? She understood that she had felt a lot of pain back then, a lot of anger, but she was past that. Staci had grown, worked hard at becoming a better person than what she was previously. There was no point on dwelling what she was in the past; she couldn’t let it hurt her anymore. She had to put it behind her, forget and forgive hers—.
That was it!
Just when Sebastian was raising his fists to deliver the killing blow, she looked up at him. “I forgive you.”
The evil counterpart of herself stopped and stumbled. “No!”
“I forgive you,” she repeated, feeling it sincere in her heart. The past was past.
“No, no, no, noooo….” Sebastian wailed the last word as his form was disbursed by an unfelt wind. Then, he was gone.
“Holy shit, that was… well, I have a bone to pick with the designer of this vault.”
“Congratulations, Staci Drenvauder,” the skull said as it reappeared. “You have passed all three trials. Now your reward comes due to you. The object of your search.”
A pedestal suddenly appeared in the center of the circular chamber. Atop that pedestal was the small statue of the woman she had been looking for, the artifact that could detect nearby anchors to sanctums. While the skull watched, she climbed back to her feet and walked over to claim it. The skull nodded with an approving look and vanished.
Shivering, Staci walked back to the entrance, refusing to look back. Once she passed through the doorway, she found herself outside the vault again, her friends waiting for her. That was a little unexpected, but whatever magic had been at work in there, she wasn’t going to question it. She had faced her trials and beat them.
“You have it!” exclaimed Melanie as she rushed forward to hug her girlfriend. “Wait… what’s wrong?”
“Yes, you look a little worse for wear,” agreed Aku no Shi.
“I’m fine, just faced some unexpected complications in there,” Staci said, hugging Melanie back. “Now let’s get out of here before any pigs return.”
Everyone had to agree with that sentiment and they hurried out of the City Watch Headquarters. The chaos of the fighting outside afforded them enough cover to slip out of Azramoas unnoticed. In time, they would be safe back on Earth, out of the prying eyes of the dystopic city they just left behind.
Someday I will have to deal with that, Staci thought to herself.
Chapter 29
They stood before Club Sepulcher, standing in the line waiting to get in. As usual, there would be a higher cover fee to get in on a night such as this, there was supposed to be a big name DJ playing. However, there was no question now that they were in the right place, as the statuette was vibrating softly inside Staci’s purse. That very thought disgusted her right there and then; the far right infested everything that it could touch.
Staci wore a black and purple neo-Victorian dress with a medium length skirt and a keyhole to show off her cleavage. Melanie went with something a bit more modest in a black lacy top and a pleated, black skirt with fishnets. Theo simply wore a black t-shirt and pants. Aku no Shi went with a blood red kimono with black trimming.
“It’s vibrating,” Staci informed the others. “We’re definitely close.”
“Well fuck, I dunno if I want to give them my money then,” Melanie said in frustration.
“Honestly, I share the sentiment. We’re entering a den of vipers.”
As they drew closer to the bouncer, the man immediately narrowed his eyes at the sight of them. He held up his hand to the next patron he was going to card and collect payment from and approached the quartet. His furious eyes swept over them, ignoring their confusion. He claimed a walkie-talkie from his belt and turned it on.
“Yeah, they’re here, the troublemakers from the other night,” he said. Then he looked down at
them with a scowl. “The boss wants to see you over the trouble you caused.”
“The trouble we caused?” Melanie asked in bafflement, clicking at her tongue ring.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.” He narrowed his eyes as two men approached from inside, looking like rejects from Hot Topic.
Staci suddenly realized what he meant. “Oh, now sir, we weren’t trying to cause tr—”
“Save it for the boss.”
The two men, looking like they weren’t going to take “no” for an answer, led the four into the nightclub. For once, Staci noticed, that while it was deafening, the club actually had a decent beat going. Another thing she noted, the statuette was starting to go nuts the further in they went. That was making her a little nervous.
They were eventually brought to a corner booth where a pale man with dark, combed hair, wearing a suit similar to Mr. DeVos’, had his arm around a pale, raven-haired woman. Their makeup was unmistakably Gothic in style like most of the other people in the club, but the man seemed to have an air of authority about him. He looked up at them as his two men brought them over to his booth, a small frown forming on his lips.
“Ughh… you again, haven’t you caused enough trouble here?” he said, teeth grinding against each other. “Like, we just opened up after repairs and you feel the need to show up again. Well, whatever you’re plotting here, you can fucking forget it. I think a nice ban from my club is more than enough.”
Staci held up her hand. “Now hear us out. What happened here was not our fault.”
“My security footage suggests otherwise. Shortly after you showed up, the two werewolves and the cowboy come in? Helloooo! How stupid do you think I am, bitch? You had everything to do with that incident. Hell, you even met with a guy who I suspect to be a demon that actually fought the goddamned werewolves!”
“Wait… you remember the werewolves?”
“Of course I remember the fucking werewolves,” the man said, raising his voice before flashing a pair of very sharp, elongated fangs. He was a vampire. “Yeah, the Azramoas types showed up trying to erase my memory, but me and my guys showed them the door. I already had had my fill of cops that night.”