by Sarah Lin
"What are you doing spreading such durable webs?" Damian asked. "If they were a problem for us, I can only imagine what your neighbors think."
"It's just... it's getting difficult to make ends meet these days..." The spider had partially reared up, its front legs rubbing together with its mandibles in a way that should have been creepy, but looked distinctly nervous. "I never thought... gosh, humans, here! I mean we have a few expats and there's the very rare visitor but... why are you even here?"
"Business. Now, if there's nothing else..."
"Actually... could I get you to make a contract? Even a brief one would be great. Or just a little blood? You have no idea how much it would help me, I mean no idea."
Sighing, Damian glanced in either direction, then stepped closer and lowered his voice. "I'll pay a small amount if you can give me reliable information about the local situation at the moment."
"Oh, of course, of course!" The spider scuttled closer and spoke with Damian in a low voice, too quiet for Rick to hear. He advanced closer, not liking the secrets, but didn't want to antagonize Damian unnecessarily. Before too long, their position shifted and then something happened that made Rick freeze.
Damian pulled a small black needle from his jacket and used it to prick his finger. A drop of blood welled up, then he extended his hand and let it drop onto the demonic spider. When it touched, the spider seemed to grow brighter and became slightly less insubstantial.
"Oh, thank you! Really, this is going to be so good for the little ones..."
"Just go and don't mention this." Damian ignored the massive demonic spider and turned to Rick with a look of mild annoyance. He returned the needle to his inner pocket and pulled out one that looked identical. "I guess I'll give you my spare in case you need to make any deals. Don't trust any needles you're given here - not so much that they'd be trying something, but they might be a junkie. Most of their drugs or illnesses won't affect us, but some might if they're based in lucrim more than aura."
Though Rick accepted the needle, this did not exactly make him feel more comfortable. "So you're telling me that all the demons around here want our blood? Are you sure that they won't try to just take more than a drop?"
"Oh, calm down, you're probably fine. We don't quite exist in the same way here, so most couldn't really harm you. Same as the reason demons can't just invade our world."
"So a drop of blood is payment for things here? How much? What about the contract it mentioned?"
"We're not staying, so don't sign any contracts. And one drop should be fine for most anything." Damian smoothed down the collar of his suit jacket and sighed. "I think now you have everything you need to figure the rest out yourself. I'm going to go find out how long it will take them to send someone after us. I'll let you know about all of that, but otherwise you're on your own."
"No, wait." Rick drifted to the side to intercept Damian before he could go. "We need to be precise about what exactly our agreement is."
"I've already helped you a lot and I'll make sure you get out when they come rescue us. That's more than enough."
"No, it's not. I'm fine with working with you, given the circumstances, but I'm not willing to leave it with so little information. We need to get our stories straight, for one."
Damian sighed, but turned to face him fully. "That's right, but we can do that closer to the time. I told you, they'll be too worried about causing another rupture to force anything through right away."
"But I want more information." Rick refused to let himself back down, even as Damian stared at him. "Once we get out, we need to have a conversation about what exactly is going on."
"Oh, that was already going to happen. You clearly don't know how to leave things alone, so I figured I'd have to deal with you directly." It would have been a threat, but Damian spoke with a lazy grin. "This is actually the second time you've helped take attention off me - my movements looked way less suspicious since I could conceivably have been trying to help you. After this is over, I'll give you a few answers, then compensate you for fucking off."
Rick folded his arms. "We'll talk about the details at that time."
"Alright, fine. Have fun until then."
With that, Damian pushed hard off the ground, his aura flaring in a new way. His aura slashed over the city until it was lost in the pale sky. In his absence, the mists seemed to flow more heavily. Rick took a deep breath and realized that he was alone in the demonic city.
Chapter 32: Familiar Hierarchies
For what felt like hours Rick just drifted through demonic Branton, letting his mind catch up to everything that had happened. He felt like being violently thrown into the demon realm should have been a chaotic experience, yet instead he found it deeply isolating. The threats weren't violent attacks, but the slow drain of his energy and the fact that he was missing events that mattered to him back in the normal world.
Trying not to think about that, Rick instead focused on analyzing his environment. Though it seemed strange at first, this part of Branton was really a normal city in the end. A few smaller demons moved along in alleys and gutters, apparently treated like animals. He saw one of the larger demons kick a smaller one out of the way and it just whimpered and limped away, like a stray dog.
Now that he was in the central part of the city, most of the demons he saw were larger and seemed to have some intelligence. There were a fair number of demonic frogs - they were larger than most of the animal-like ones and seemed to carry money. Also a decent number of over-sized demonic ants that he often saw waiting at protrusions that seemed to serve as bus stops, waiting to jump onto large demonic caterpillars that moved around tracks as public transportation. He wasn't sure if the caterpillars were just animals or another type of demon.
Unquestionably on top were the humanoid demons, though they didn't look quite so human as those he'd seen before. Most wore "clothes", though they were actually colored opaque mists that flowed around them. It seemed clear that this was their real appearance, not the suits they wore to human meetings. When he passed near the humanoid ones they looked at him in mild surprise, but went about their business.
Since they all seemed to have their own lives and he was invisible to many, Rick found himself essentially ignored. Could he really just stay here doing nothing for however long it took them to be rescued? That would be boring, but it would also be a grueling endurance marathon.
His biking had accustomed him to maintaining aura for long periods of time and allegedly he wouldn't get sleepy here. Yet generated aura here drained into the air instead of being drawn back into his body. Instead of recycling his power, he was slowly bleeding away lucrim. Fortunately he had arrived at full power, since he hadn't known what he'd face, but now that money was circling the drain.
"Hey there, cutie." The voice beside him made him jump and he turned to find a succubus floating in the air beside him. She wore only a few wisps of smoke - the mist clothes fully covered other demons, but not her. "Word has it that you got trapped on our side. They'll probably be a while rescuing you, hmm?"
He tried not to look at her and kept walking, but she floated along beside him, so he felt he had to answer. "There were multiple powerful people there when I went through. I'm sure they'll be here soon."
"Hmm, maybe so, but these things can take time. I know this place can be uncomfortable for humans, but it doesn't have to be that way, understand?" She tried to wrap herself around his arm, but her body felt more like a misty breeze than flesh. "If you'll sign a little contract, or even just give a bit of blood, I could make your stay very comfortable."
"I have a girlfriend." Rick pulled away and felt stupid. He was trapped in the demon realm and being propositioned for his soul or his blood, and that was his excuse?
It was true, though. What would Emily do when she found out - or would she even know? Unless the CSLA made an announcement, they might cover it up. Emily might be offended if he apparently ignored her texts for too long... no, she'd probably
call and Melissa would tell her. God, Melissa would be waiting for him at home...
"Wow, you obviously have a lot of tension..." The succubus floated in closer, not touching him. "Are you sure your girlfriend would mind? Why would she even need to find out?"
"Not interested."
"Oh, come on. Fine, turn me down, but at least let me make some deal. I could give you a safe place to stay and, I don't know, a massage. I'm told I'm really good at that, and I won't make it weird."
Though Rick tried to pull away from her, pushing himself into the air didn't work when the succubus floated as easily as he did. Deciding that he didn't have a choice, Rick turned back to her. "Why are you so insistent about this? You're a succubus, can't you go tempt someone else?"
"You just saw how big of a pain it is to pass between realms... you think we just pop over into your world whenever we want? I mean, I wish I was rich enough for that, but fat chance."
"Is human blood really that valuable?"
She stared at him for a bit, then dropped the seductive look and pouted. "It's valuable, but it's more that we're really desperate here in Branton. Our population is growing too fast and it's hard to get by. I'm lucky that I grew up a few decades ago, but things have gotten even worse since then. All kinds of nonsense about our movement rights, and something's wrong with lucrim flow, and the big firms just keep getting more powerful."
Despite himself, Rick glanced over at her with new eyes. "Huh, that's not so different from our world. What exactly is going on?"
"Haven't the faintest idea. You think they tell me about big important stuff? But I'm trying to answer your questions, isn't that worth a bit of blood? Just a teensy bit?"
"Are times that rough? Can't demons, uh, get jobs?"
"Oh, boo, you sound like my mother." The succubus rolled her eyes. "Obviously the best thing is if you can get a connection to a demonic bond, but they have like a million candidates and so they're basically just looking for reasons to ignore you. It's like... entry level positions require you to have made three bonds or tempted five humans or whatever... how are you supposed to have that much experience for entry-level positions?
"Huh." Rick had really not expected his time in the demon world to turn in that direction, but apparently some things were universal. Or... since he was in a different realm, was he even in the same universe?
In any case, the succubus eventually drifted away irritably when she figured out that she wasn't going to get anything from him. Rick kept wandering, trying to figure out what the shops on the sides of the streets were. Unlike the human world, there didn't seem to be any writing anywhere. Did the demons just know what things were by sight?
Though Damian had suggested that he could find a hotel, Rick wasn't anywhere near tired. And despite the conversations so far, he actually felt less oriented than before. If he had been thrown into a hellscape where he had to fight for his life, he knew how to handle that. This was like being thrown into a foreign city with no way home.
Rick wasn't sure how long he wandered through the city, but he had a bad feeling that it was over an entire day given how much area he covered. Damian had said it would take them a while to get through without causing another rupture, but how long was that? He'd assumed hours at first, but could he have actually meant days?
For almost a day Rick was miserable, as he realized that he must be missing Melissa's CLAT. She might feel abandoned, or even if she knew what had happened to him, she would be sick with worry. He didn't think that she would skip the exam over this, or at least he hoped not. But the inability to know angered him and he wanted to rage, but there was no way to vent his anger.
Several demons tried to offer him food or other services in exchange for blood, but he refused them. They were actually trying to comfort him, he thought, but he wasn't in the mood to be comforted. One offered him a path back to the human realm and Rick almost jumped at it, yet his bullshit radar made him hesitate. No, that offer was too good to be true.
For a while he worried that Damian had lied and simply left him in the demon realm. Yet after conversing with some suit-clad demons, he learned that there had been no travel recently, even along the corporate demonic channels. That was all the information he could get without spending some of his blood, so he decided that was enough. They were apparently stuck here.
Annoyed by all of the offers from higher demons, Rick found himself pushed out of the central city. In the wilderness there were far more of the animal-like demons, and though they usually couldn't see him due to his aura, he couldn't suppress a fear of him collapsing due to exhaustion and all of them swarming over his body.
That left him wandering along the edges. Rick eventually spent some time perched on high rocks near the open pit portion of the city, watching the work. They appeared to be mining the blue glowing rocks. He wasn't sure what the rocks were - not lucrim - but they obviously had some value.
Mining them was one of the few jobs with lots of positions available, but it was brutal work. Only the lower ranked demons seemed to take it, wriggling through small crevices. They worked long hours and sometimes just crawled out to collapse exhausted by the sides of the pits. Though few looked even vaguely human, he still knew overworked employees when he saw them.
Once part of the mine collapsed and it seemed that some of the demons died. Some came to mourn them and Rick found himself awkwardly floating nearby as an unwitting observer. These demons were weak enough that they couldn't notice him through his aura, but strong enough to speak... and apparently to feel a sense of loss. A succubus who was conservatively dressed for once noticed him and shot an angry glance his way. Well, it probably wasn't appropriate for him to simply watch their funeral.
Nothing changed and there were no consequences. It seemed that familiar story was told in the demon realm just like the human realm. Rick started to view the highest level demons in the spire just like the elite humans. Maybe the problem wasn't actually demons, but their organizations that tried to seduce humans into demonic bonds. All the demons seemed to want them, but given their poverty, he couldn't blame them for jumping at the chance and not thinking too much about how humans might be harmed. It was just business, after all.
Eventually one day he found himself sitting on the edge of the pits, watching the workers while he struggled to maintain his aura. It was definitely getting more difficult, an aura workout like he'd never felt before. He was considering letting it drop for a while in a central part of the city, to see if taking a break there would be safe and let him recuperate.
Below, he spotted two demons who seemed to be fighting. They both looked like melted frogs, their mouths running to the side and opening in a strange way that released mucus every time they spoke. Hideous, but in his time there he'd grown used to it.
No, they weren't fighting. One of the demons was larger than the other and clearly supporting the smaller one. It took most of the burden of the rocks they carried, yet the smaller one was still struggling more. Frequently it needed to be propped up or encouraged onward. Rick floated closer out of curiosity.
"Just a little further," the larger demon said. "We almost have our quota for the day."
"I can't..." The smaller one shuddered and coughed up mucus of a different color. "It's too much... they don't pay us enough... I get weaker each day..."
"Don't worry, things will get better. If we keep it up, we might get promoted, remember? Then we could move into a better place, maybe even move out of here. We could visit the human realm, you know? Can you imagine it, matter flowing everywhere? We could eat like kings..."
The larger demon kept up the encouraging talk, occasionally patting the smaller one on the back with a flipper-like hand. It seemed to work for a while, but the smaller demon just wasn't large enough to carry such heavy loads.
Rick stared at them, wondering just what they were to one another. Siblings? Lovers? Some demonic relationship he couldn't understand? Despite the fact that they were demons, and disgusting bl
obs at that, he found himself ignoring all those details. It hurt to see the larger one force itself to keep up the encouragement when it was obviously struggling too.
Then abruptly the smaller demon fell, its rocks falling and tumbling back down the slope. It collapsed and coughed up a larger amount of that unusual fluid. Rick actually reached out to try to stop the rocks, but they passed through his hand - they tugged a bit on his body, but he couldn't connect with them.
"No, no, don't fall..." The larger demon slithered around the smaller one, dismay evident in its voice. "Please, get up. Just a little further, okay? I'll carry everything, just... get up..."
That was the moment when it was finally too much. His hands trembling, Rick reached into his pocket and pulled out the black needle he'd been ignoring since the first day in the demon realm. He pricked his finger and was surprised at how easily it penetrated his skin - a single sharp pain, then blood was welling up in the injury. Taking a deep breath, Rick held his finger over the smaller demon and let a drop fall.
The energy of his blood immediately pulsed through and the demon opened one distorted eye again. That eye actually turned and saw him, for the first time. Rick wasn't sure if his control had faltered or if he had just forced their attention, but now both demons turned to stare at him in shock.
Rick sighed. If he was going to be trapped here for so long...
Chapter 33: Moments with Melissa
Melissa let out a moan of pure satisfaction as the glorious hands kept working over her back. Those fingers were freaking magic. All of the stress from... all of her stress just melted away. Plus she'd had a kink in her lower back ever since the CLAT and the massage finally took care of it.
The first time Lisa had given her a massage it had actually been a bit awkward, since Melissa wasn't comfortable around very many people. With one obvious exception she tried not to think about, there wasn't a lot of positive physical affection in their family. She couldn't deny how much it helped, though, and she'd come to enjoy it as well. When Melissa relaxed, Lisa seemed to relax as well and did a better job, or maybe she just knew her better.
