The Cost_An Introduction to Demonology, Part 1

by R. W. Holmes

  “You wanna take that one, Shay?” asked Kiki.

  “She's been forgiven” Shay said lazily.

  “And you, little Shaylee” Aeval doted. “It's so nice to see you back. When will we get to meet your summoner? I hear she's quite interesting, and I'd like to know her before she loses herself to the land.”

  “She's not here” replied Shay.

  “Back among the fields then, hmm?” asked Clancy.

  “No, I mean she's not in fairyland” Shay said with a sigh. “She's undergoing preparations to summon me again.”

  The table went silent, and several concerned looks were exchanged by those sitting at it.

  “She was sucked out of an airlock” Mab said bluntly. “You told us she was hurled into the vacuum of space.”

  “Yes” said Shay. “And she told me about it. How do you think I found out?”

  “From her!” exclaimed Kubera. “When she died, and subsequently arrived!”

  “No, don't be ridiculous” Shay said dismissively. “We threw several R'lyehans out through the docking bay with her ship moments earlier. She's not stupid, okay? The escape plan was leaping out the airlock with Argyle in the fist place!”

  “That's gangster” said Kiki.

  “It's idiotic!” exclaimed Mab.

  “It's pretty gangster” said ErlKonig.

  Aeval groaned and slumped back into her chair. “Let's skip ahead to discussing the R'lyehans interesting change in movement.”

  “Which is?” Shay chimed in unexpectedly. “I actually don't know this, by the way. I've been out of the loop since I arrived.”

  “It's nothing” said Mab. “Literally. They've all stopped what they're doing, as if they've been ordered to.”

  “Or they're waiting for orders” added ErlKonig. “It can be very hard to tell with those abnormal fools. Regardless, I think we should be working to get a sizable Fae presence anywhere there's a R'lyehan presence.”

  “I second that” Clancy said quickly.

  “Thirdsies” joked Kiki. “No seriously though, do that. Those idiots are the reason the Scroll of Revelations was cracked open in the first place.”

  Shay groaned aloud fussily and asked, “Can we not talk about that? Every time it gets brought up Emily cries for two hours about Gael.”

  “Should we discuss Debra and Grim, maybe?” Mab chimed in worriedly. “That duo has gone completely off the grid after their startling level of involvement in 'the apocalypse incident', and there's word that she's somehow gained facts that may or may not have to do with demon summoning.”

  “I heard about that” mused Kiki. “Gael told her everything she needed to know about it, but also told her a thousand times more lies to hide it. Gael struck me as a clever person, does she really think she can pick out the truth from it all?”

  “No” said Mab. “Apparently, she found out where Gael's friends are and is looking for ways to get it from them instead.”

  Kiki and Shay exchanged slightly alarmed, slightly amused glances, before turning back to the rest of the table.

  “It'll be fine” said Shay. “The horsemen have been set free anyway, right? She couldn't possibly cause any more trouble than them.”

  “Thank you for bringing up the horsemen” Aeval murmured bitterly. “Because they're who we'll need to be discussing next. I'd like to get this all sorted now at our emergency summit before we convene at The Luminary Ball in one week's time.”

  Bright, white light filled Artemis's vision. He squinted, waiting for his eyes to adjust, before realizing that he was simply in a white room so bright and well lit that it was permanently blinding. Awkwardly, the Baphomet spawn sat up and looked about himself.

  He was on a cot, surrounded by several other cots, all arranged side by side, end to end, with a footlocker beneath.

  “Where the Hell am I?” he wondered aloud.

  “The Barracks.”

  Artemis looked to his left and spied Sauriel sitting on the cot beside him. The angel was dressed in a simple white toga, with his wings fully on display and his halo gleaming in the air overhead.

  “No one had any idea this would happen” said Sauriel. “But then again, a demon has never died while wielding an angel's sword before.”

  Artemis blinked at Sauriel in bewilderment, his mind refusing to process what was happening around him for fear of the implications. Then, as he attempted to shift uncomfortably, he realized that he had been dressed in the same white toga as Sauriel.

  “Did you do this to me?” he asked in surprise.

  “No, that's just what we wear around here” replied Sauriel. “It's fine, you'll get used to it.”

  “Used to it!?” hissed Artemis. “The moment your friends know I'm here, they're-,”

  “No no, you're fine” Sauriel said reassuringly. “Really. The entire barracks is here if you tried anything, and after what you did, no one really feels good about the idea of turning on you. And when every angel feels uncomfortable about doing something, it typically mean it shouldn't be done.”

  “Sauriel, I'm supposed to be in Hell” said Artemis. “It's where I belong.”

  “Yes, yes, I understand” replied Sauriel. “But the three horsemen are in Hell, and...”

  “Three?” Artemis queried. “Wait, what happened?”

  “Gael died and took Death with him” said Sauriel. “So the apocalypse is paused indefinitely, and the three remaining horsemen are in Hell licking their wounds and thinking about what went wrong...”

  Artemis grimaced as Sauriel trailed off. “Maybe it's best I'm not there right this second” he acquiesced.

  “Exactly!” exclaimed Sauriel. “Now come with me. There are a lot of angels here who want to meet the guy who crossed blades with War.”

  'Where am I?'

  The sound of rushing water and a heavy thumping filled the air.

  'Everything is so dark... Are my eyes open, or closed? I can't tell.'

  The thumping intensified.

  “Oh shit” Gael said aloud. “That's my heartbeat! And my blood!”

  The sudden arrival of Gael's voice drowned out the rhythmic pumping and unending current as his ears adjusted to another sound, but left its owner with far more questions than he'd had a moment ago.

  “Why the Hell do I still have blood?” Gael asked aloud. “I don't exist anymore.” He held up a hand to his face next, and found himself to be perfectly visible. “How can I see myself if there's no light? Where am I?”

  Silence returned as Gael paused to think, and with that total quiet returned the maddening sounds of his own body going about its business.

  “I'm somewhere” Gael thought aloud curiously. “But I'm nowhere. Nowhere is a place, then. A place where people go.”

  Gael attempted to turn around, and despite having nothing to grab onto, or any bearing to prove he was actually turning, he knew he was doing so quite easily.

  “This place will literally break my mind if I'm not careful” he thought aloud shakily. “It's probably best if I don't keep my thoughts to myself, either. The blood in your veins is really loud when it's the only sound in the world...”

  Gael spun around again, frantically searching for things to think out loud about.

  “Zinerva?” he called. “Zinerva, are you out there?”

  Gael waited a moment, but found only the sound of his own heart after a few moments of silence.

  “Well, this is eternity now...” he murmured aloud pessimistically. “At least I still am. That's an improvement over the otherwise, right? Maybe not. I don't know yet.”

  The emptiness of the nothing around Gael made him shudder, and he went looking for ideas again.

  “Zinerva! Recognize my offering to you! See myself as it is, and you who are equal, meet me at the crossroads!” Gael called out next.

  Nothing happened.

  “Well of course nothing is going to happen” Gael said with a sigh. “I'm in nothing. Even if that worked, I wouldn't know until-,”

  “Hi!
” exclaimed Zinerva.

  At that moment, Gael released a very loud, very high pitched scream he would never admit to making.

  “Yes, nice to see you too” said Zinerva. “Why are you in super dead place?”

  “We're not calling it that” Gael snapped back emphatically. “Also, I killed Death. With his own murder powers.”

  Zinerva smiled. “Nice.”

  “With any luck, that ended the apocalypse too” Gael added hopefully. “Kind of hard to know being here and all, though...”

  Zinerva nodded back and spun around, enjoying the unique sensation of a lack of a breeze. “How come you got to keep your clothes, and I didn't?”

  “I have no idea” Gael replied as he tried to avoid looking at Zinerva's nude body.

  “Alright, so we're both in... not super dead land” Zinerva started.

  “Let's just call it Oblivion” said Gael. “That kind of sums up the existential nonexistence we're experience right now.”

  “Right” continued Zinerva. “What do we do now?”

  Gael spun around, before coming to a stop at Zinerva once more.

  “I guess we try to get out” he said with a shrug.

  To Be Concluded...