“Anger… Hatred… Slaughter…”
“About what I would expect out of a demon,” Ludger grumbled from the sideline.
“Shush,” Amarantha told the Bulwark as she watched the scene with fascination. “I am trying to see if I can pick up on how they are communicating.”
“A lot of it’s body language,” Syd whispered to the Lares from where she stood nearby. “But there’s also a lot communicated by taste or smell, which I can’t really parse. Sound doesn’t play into their language at all.”
“That makes some sense,” Wilhelm commented as he rubbed his chin with thumb and finger. “Demons do not have ears in their natural state, after all.”
“I said shush!” the flaming cat demanded as her squeaky voice rose in pitch. “I can’t concentrate if you keep distracting me!”
Syd obeyed Amarantha’s command as she focused on the “conversation” happening between Alex and the possession Demon. Not that much information had been revealed since they had begun. The Demon had been less than forthcoming with Alex so far, which was something that Jadis had expected. There really wasn’t much reason for the demonic squid to cooperate with them, after all. Straight answers were never her expectations, though. Jadis hoped that Alex would be able to glean some useful information just from communicating with a creature that likely wasn’t used to being “verbally” deceptive.
The small but hostile Demon had been placed on a table in the middle of the dress shop. Alex stood before it, fully focused and engaged with the creature, while Jay stood just to the side of her, ready to act if necessary. While her Syd self, Wilhelm, Ludger, and Amarantha stood a distance back to give Alex room to work, Lucia and Halvor had stationed themselves close to the table in case the Demon tried to escape.
Well, the Demon had tried to escape, several times in fact. But Alex was faster than the smaller Demon and she had kept it on the table with her superior speed and strength. According to Alex, the Demon hadn’t said much at first. After a few minutes of fruitless attempts it had stopped trying to escape and was instead venting its anger at Alex, while also tossing abuse at the gathered force.
“Your flesh… Is food… For worms…” Alex translated the latest round of hurled insults. “Die… Crumble… Rot… Feed for insects… And fungus…”
“Is that really what this scum is saying?” Halvor asked with one lip curled as he stared at the pale green eye of the Demon.
“That does come across as far more coherent than I would expect,” Lucia commented, her stance wary but less on-edge than Halvor. “I would have thought its vocabulary more limited.”
“Words are difficult…” Alex said as she glanced up at Halvor and Lucia, though Jadis noticed that her middle eye stayed focused on the Demon. “Concepts… Emotions… Intentions… We speak clearly…”
Halvor snorted, but he didn’t say anything further.
“Oh, that twist of three tentacles!” Amarantha exclaimed suddenly. “It keeps doing that! What does that mean?”
“Betrayer…” Alex answered. “She calls me… A Betrayer… Because I will not… Follow Samleos…”
Jadis had heard that more than a few times so far during the course of the interrogation. While a good amount of the angry sentiments being expressed by the Demon were directed towards the group at large, the bulk of the hatred was focused on Alex in particular. It, or she, knew that Alex was the enemy of Samleos, likely due to Samleos pressing his thoughts upon her.
“Perhaps I should begin searching for the cultist hiding in the crowd below?” Lucia asked the room at large as she watched Alex and the Demon continue their exchange. “It does not seem as though much information of relevance will be forthcoming, at least not immediately.”
“That’s a fair point,” Wilhelm told the pale therion. “I will send for you if we gain some information that will aid you in the search.”
With a silent nod, Lucia took her leave as she politely pushed past the guard captain who had stationed himself near the doorway leading to the stairs.
For his part, the guard captain looked equal parts confused and disturbed by the scene, but he had the good sense to keep quiet. Jadis could sympathize with the man. He looked like he had been dragged into a situation that had gone way over his head. She knew the feeling.
“You are certain that the people downstairs unknowingly harbor a cultist still, yes?” Wilhelm asked as the Paladin’s footsteps echoed behind the closed door.
“As certain as I can be,” Syd shrugged expressively. “Someone slipped that cursed pendant back onto my other self. It’s possible they managed to sneak away already, but the guards were pretty careful to keep everyone together.”
When Syd shrugged, her ruined dress lifted high, exposing more of her already exposed thighs. Fortunately, Jadis had worn some very comfortable underwear on her bodies that night, but Syd’s long legs were still on full display thanks to her having torn her skirt to wrap the material around Severina’s injury. It really wasn’t an issue for Jadis to be so exposed since she didn’t have a problem with others seeing something as relatively innocent as her legs, but she noticed that Wilhelm was being exceedingly careful to keep her thighs outside of his peripheral vision. He really was blushing like a schoolboy over the smallest hint of sexuality.
Sure, Jadis knew she had a trio of killer bodies, but she didn’t think her beauty was that distracting.
“This isn’t working,” Halvor grunted with impatience. “A brainless slug like this isn’t going to have anything to say worth hearing. We should kill it and be done!”
“Keep your panties on,” Jay frowned at the barbarian. “It’s only been fifteen minutes.”
“Still a waste,” the copper-haired man said as he paced back and forth like a dog on a chain. “Even if it has something to say worth hearing, it’s not going to betray its own for no reason. Tell the damned thing that I’ll crush it to paste unless it voices something worth saying in the next minute!”
“That will… Not work…” Alex carefully shook her head at Halvor. “She would… Prefer Death… To being here…”
“She prefers death?” Jay asked with a raised eyebrow. “She wants to die?”
“Death… Is a Return… To the Father…”
“If all these Demons want is to return to their father, why don’t they all toss themselves into a fire and be done with it?” Ludger asked with his arms folded. “It would save us all a lot of trouble.”
“They want… To please… Samleos…” Alex said as she turned to look at the Bulwark. “They will… Kill… Many… Before dying… If Possible…”
“And why do you not want to please Samleos?” Amarantha abruptly asked.
“Ama,” Wilhelm said quietly in a scolding tone. “That’s not polite.”
“My apologies,” the Lares said, though she didn’t sound terribly sorry. “Just a question I had nibbling my ear. Feel free to ignore me.”
“Samleos desires… Destruction…” Alex answered Amarantha’s question without any sign of being offended. “He is… Wrong… I wish… To please… Jadis…”
“Hm, I’m sure you do,” Amarantha hummed as her two-toned eyes flicked between Alex and Jay.
“Getting back on track,” Jay coughed into her fist. “We’re trying to figure out how to get answers out of the that Demon, not this one.” She placed a hand on Alex’s shoulder for emphasis. “None of you have any other suggestions, do you?”
Wilhelm shook his head in the negative while Ludger shrugged. Amarantha’s expression was contemplative, but she didn’t voice any ideas.
“If death doesn’t scare it, maybe pain will,” Halvor said as he pointed one of his axes at the Demon on the table. “I bet if I start chopping off tentacles, it’ll be of a mind to talk.”
Both Jay and Syd grimaced at the suggestion. The idea of torture didn’t sit well with Jadis, not after her previous experience with threatening the act back in Weigrun. Her temper back then had been at its worst and she’d been raw with pain and emotion, so torturing someone who she blamed for a lot of the trouble she’d gone through had seemed reasonable. In hindsight, not as much. Even if the Demon was a truly evil creature that wouldn’t hesitate to kill everyone she loved if given half the chance, it was still an intelligent, living being. Hacking limbs off until it talked felt… well, it made her feel like she wasn’t the good guy in the situation.
Glancing over at Wilhelm, Jay saw the conflict on the man’s face as well. He didn’t look any more comfortable with the idea of torturing the Demon than she did. But he also wasn’t objecting, either. Maybe he was thinking the same thing that Jadis was. Being the good guy was a somewhat naïve idea, after all. Wilhelm was the Hero. She was here to change the world. Neither job description said that they’d be keeping their hands clean.
“I do not understand why you are hesitating.”
Jay turned to look at Elodie, who had up to that point remained silent during the interrogation. She was looking far more composed than she had fifteen minutes ago, sitting with her hands held demurely together in her lap while she watched the proceedings. When her eyes met Jay’s gaze, she tilted her head upwards and raised a single eyebrow.
“You’ve all killed dozens, if not hundreds, of Demons. Certainly thousands between you all. You’ve hardly balked at your duty before. If torture is what is needed to save lives, then it is justified. After all, other than pain, what else is there to threaten the putrescent monster with?”
Jadis hated to admit it, but Elodie had a point. She knew that under different circumstances, she wouldn’t think twice about killing the green-eyed Demon. She’d do it in a heartbeat, since she knew the fiend had murdered many innocent lives already. There really wasn’t any good reason to hesitate, other than her personal sense of morality. She wasn’t even sure if the gods would care if they tortured a Demon. She doubted D would, and he had guaranteed her a spot in his afterlife anyway.
If there was no religious or societal objection to be made, then why balk now?
“Then there’s no reason to wait,” Halvor said after no one voiced any objections. Raising his axe, he continued, “I count twelve tentacles on this one. That’s twelve chances to talk before ending this farce.”
“One… Moment…”
Alex raised one hand to forestall Halvor’s chop. The man stopped, his axe suspended over the squirming Demon, though he didn’t look happy about the delay. Jadis was curious, too, but she remained silent to let Alex make her own decisions.
“I have… An idea…” she said as she began motioning towards the Demon again.
This time, the interaction between the two Demons was a far more frenetic one. Alex’s movements were more complicated, with twisting and curving patterns as well as a stronger series of scents that came in quick waves, fast enough that Jadis could barely process them. There were even times when her tentacles would reach out and touch the smaller Demon, grabbing and prodding in ways that looked far more domineering than Jadis had previously seen Alex behave. The possession Demon, for her part, grew wilder with its motions by the second, eventually reaching a point where Jadis wasn’t even sure it was fully in control of what its limbs were doing.
“That looks like fear, to me…” Amarantha commented as she watched the display.
“Yes, it does,” Jay quietly agreed.
“She will… Tell us… What she can…” Alex suddenly spoke up as she turned her neon-blue eyes onto Jay.
“What did you say to her?” Jay asked, surprised by the abrupt change of heart.
“I told her… That she would… Be sealed… In a glass cage… Forever…”
“That threat forced her to speak?” Wilhelm exclaimed. “Why?”
“She would never die,” Syd murmured as the realization of what the threat truly meant to a Demon came to her. “They don’t eat. They don’t breathe. It would be forced to watch us, continuing to live and be healthy, for eternity. A fate worse than death, for a Demon dedicated to Samleos.”
Jay gave Alex a look, fully understanding exactly what had inspired her to come up with the threat, considering how the Demon had spent the first few months of her adult life.
Alex gave her a shrug.
“Alright then,” Ludger heaved in a big lungful of air as he seemed to mentally accept the change in circumstances. “What does the little fiend know?”
What followed was a long and drawn-out interview that really only took about half an hour but felt like an eternity due to the translation delays. The Demon’s understanding of the world was limited by its own narrow perspective, so a lot of the information was difficult to parse. Alex’s vastly superior understanding of non-demonic language helped, but she still had gaps in her own comprehension that caused confusion. As difficult as the interrogation was, it was ultimately worth it. By the end, they had a much better understanding of how exactly the Demons had managed to pull off the surprise attack.
A sect of cultists operating inside the empire had been secreting the Demons into the city for over a year. Hundreds of Demons had been transported from the borders and secretly hidden inside a drained reservoir in the city’s underbelly. The green-eyed Demon had lacked the context and understanding to be able to explain the deeper details of how the smuggling had been accomplished, but they were still able to glean a good bit of information. At least thirty-nine cultists were involved, a number the Demon was certain of since it knew a different scent for each one. They were even able to get the race, sex, and approximate age of each cultist since those were identifying features that the Demon understood. No names, though, since personal identification like that wasn’t something that came naturally to Demon kind.
They were also able to determine that the Demons had been smuggled from multiple different borders, not just a single location. The Demon knew that from what other Demons had described from their journeys and their origins. The cultist’s network was widespread and reached the far corners of the empire. While only small shipments of Demons came in at one or two at a time, there were many, many shipments that were spread out over a wide range, or so it seemed from what the Demon was able to explain.
One of the biggest pieces of the puzzle that they were able to learn, though, was why so many Demons had been able to remain inactive inside of a city filled with life. The orders to do so had come directly from the Demon Lord.
“The Demon lord ordered them to stay hidden?” Wilhelm asked Alex as he stood nearby, a pensive expression souring his face. “He had enough sway to keep them in check for that long?”
“Yes…” Alex answered the Hero. “She says… The Demon Lord… Is strong… Is cunning… He knows… To kill many… Requires patience…”
“Great,” Syd ran her fingers through her dirty hair. “Just fucking great. He’s not just a monstrous, murdering prick, but he’s a patient prick.”
“Why does that matter?” Ludger asked as he furrowed his perfect brow in confusion. “So what if he’s patient? That just means he’s slow to act.”
“No, my love, it does not mean that,” Elodie corrected her beefcake of a fiancé. “It means that the Demon Lord is the type to plan things out well ahead of time and has the patience to wait to see his plans come to fruition.”
“This plan… Was rushed… In the end…” Alex added.
“Why was it rushed?” Jay asked, though she felt she already knew the reason.
“Because of you… And me…”
Of course. The Demon lord had been waiting for more than a year to gather a secret force under the city. It had to have taken an immense amount of planning and care to make it all happen without anyone in the city discovering the danger. Jadis had no doubt that the culmination of that long running and expensive plan had nothing to do with attacking a fancy restaurant.
They had been after Jadis and Alex. Jadis because she was trying to bring an end to the cycle, and Alex because she had betrayed Samleos. That was Jadis’ guess, at any rate. Maybe the Demon Lord had learned that persons of interest to Samleos were going to be in the city and had told the cultists and Demons to attack at the best opportunity. Maybe the Demons had more than just their own intuitive connection to Samleos directing their actions. The other gods had oracles. Why not Samleos?
“So they planned on attacking with a larger force later,” Wilhelm mused out loud as he stared unseeing up at the ceiling. “Likely when as few of the city’s defenders were around as possible.”
“They attacked the temple district,” Halvor growled as he tugged at his beard with one hand. “And the academy. And the bridge leading to the palace.”
“They also attacked here and the city barracks,” Amarantha added. “Many targets, even for as large a force as they managed to muster.”
“They had some success,” Wilhelm shook his head as he crossed his arms. “The military was forced to respond to multiple locations, primarily the palace bridge and the temple district. That meant the other attacks had more time to progress before city defenders could be brought to bear against them.”
“Imagine if they had a few more months to gather forces,” Jay murmured as she mulled over the possibilities. “Or even another year. Hundreds, if not thousands more Demons. It could have been overwhelming.”
“Even with what they had here today, they could have done a lot more damage if you all hadn’t arrived in time to fight them,” Syd added.
It really wasn’t the most complicated plan, but it had been masterfully executed. Even with the attack going off prematurely, the cultists and Demons still managed to target an event where they were able to kill off who knew how many members of the nobility. They hadn’t succeeded in their attempt at killing Jadis or Alex, but the overall plan hadn’t been a failure, either. Jadis figured the city would be counting its dead for days.
“And there’s nothing else the Demon can tell us about the cultists?” Amarantha asked after a pregnant pause. “No further information on their whereabouts or how we can identify them?”
Alex shook her head firmly before answering.
“Nothing… More…”
So, that avenue was a disappointment. The Demon couldn’t tell them who the cultists were individually. But still, the interrogation had given them some good information to act on. They could at least start their search now that they had a better understanding of just how big of a problem they were dealing with when it came to the network of cultists. Jadis doubted even Kestil, as devious a man as the prince was, had any inkling to just how large of a threat the cult of Samleos had become.
“Any… More questions?” Alex asked the room at large.
“Nothing more I can think of,” Jay said as the others murmured similar sentiments.
“Good…”
With that pronouncement, Alex suddenly whipped one of her large tentacles down at the smaller Demon on the table. A blue flame of burning magic cracked like lightning as the possession Demon was splattered to pieces across the wooden surface.
“What the fuck, Alex!?” Jay and Syd both exclaimed.
“Our bargain… Was complete…” the demonic paladin said as she faced Jay fully. “She wished… For death…”
“Good riddance,” Halvor spat at the smeared remains.
“We might have had follow-up questions later, Alex,” Jay chided the Demon.
“It was… A bargain…” Alex argued back. “I Promised…”
“Okay, well, next time,” Jay sighed as she pulled Alex closer for a hug, “Give me some warning, okay?”
“Okay…”
While Jay and Alex hugged, the Hero’s party started talking as they moved towards the stairs. Wilhelm and Ludger were already talking to the guard captain, giving him orders on who to send information to so they could start the search for anyone involved in the transportation of the Demons immediately. Halvor was talking about heading into the reservoir to search for leads, with or without the army’s help. Even Elodie was adding to the mix of voices as she told Ludger about some merchant connections her family had that might offer some insight into the underbelly of smuggling that could have been involved in the transportation of Demons.
“A shame that we could not learn anything to narrow down who the cultist might be downstairs,” Amarantha’s voice came from somewhere around Jay’s feet. “But not to worry. Lucia is the tenacious sort. She will sniff them out.”
Jay looked down to see the small fiery cat sitting on the floor. She was poking at one of Alex’s black tentacles with her paw, like she was curious about the texture.
“Hopefully she can,” Jay said. “If he or she hasn’t already managed to slip away in all the chaos.”
“A distinct possibility,” Amarantha agreed. “If they are a master of illusions, as it seems likely they are, then they could have escaped using some form of invisibility or deception.”
Leaping up from the ground to land on a clean spot near one corner of the table, the Lares looked up at Jay and Alex with an earnest expression on her feline face.
“Do you remember anyone? Anyone at all who could be a stronger suspect than just the crowd at large? Your memory may be the only evidence that we have to go on, if Lucia cannot identify anyone.”
Jay shook her head slowly as she went over the events of the evening. Her memory was a little muddled from the frantic activity and her own growing exhaustion, but nothing immediately came to mind.
“There were a lot of injured people around my other self. I was helping move people where and when I could, so any of them could have slipped the bracelet back onto my wrist when I wasn’t looking. Especially if they were using illusions to hide their movements.”
“Was there anyone you interacted with more than once?” Amarantha pressed. “If the cultist was trying to get the item back onto you, they might have had to try more than once before getting the right opportunity.”
“That doesn’t narrow it down too much either,” Jay shrugged. “With how chaotic it all was, I was talking to just about everyone multiple times while we tried to keep everyone safe. I was helping everyone from Lords to guards to servants; anyone who was injured. And there were plenty of people who were helping me, too. I just can’t think of anyone who stood out more than anyone else.”
“Fair enough,” the Mystic sighed. “I suppose that was a little too much to ask. In any case, it looks like the others are leaving us behind. We should get downstairs and see what more needs to be done.”
Jay nodded along with the Lares’ words as she moved towards the stairs where her Syd self was already waiting. There was still a lot to do, even if her more active role was over for the time being. Sure, she wasn’t going to be running out and fighting any more Demons for the moment, but she wanted to make sure that all of her friends and family were safe. She couldn’t rest until she knew that was the case, even with all the injuries that she had piled up over the course of the evening.
“I hope we can get Sabina to some better healing soon,” Syd commented tiredly as she shuffled down the stairs. “Eir’s doing the best she can, but we need someone who can purge whatever poison is in her system out of her. And out of me, for that matter.”
“I’m sure Jocelyn will be able to handle that issue once she arrives,” Amarantha said as she balanced on the stair banister. “It’s a good thing you are so sturdy. I do not think many people could handle being as injured as you are, even with three bodies.”
“Thanks,” Jay let out a weary half-laugh. “I’m glad for a lot of things tonight. My own big health pool is one of them. Alex’s health is another.”
“She was in the jaws of another greater Demon,” Syd explained when she saw the question on Amarantha’s face. “And that was after she spent I don’t know how many minutes defending a woman on the stairs from dozens of Demons attacking her. She really had me worried that she wasn’t going to be able to survive all that damage.”
“But Alex is tougher than she looks,” Jay smiled as she walked down the stairs with the Demon held close against her side. “And she already looks tough. Right Alex?”
“Man…”
“Hm?” Jay gave Alex a confused look. “What was that?”
“Man…”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jay clarified her confusion as she slowed her pace on the stairs. “Why are you saying that word?”
“I defended… A man… On the stairs…” Alex slowly explained. “I thought… He was you… But that was… An illusion…”
“Right,” Jay said as she frowned down at her demonic lover. “It was an illusion making it seem like that woman was me. But it was actually an elf woman, a servant, you were protecting.”
“No…” Alex said with perfect confidence as she looked Jay in the eye. “That was… Not an elf… Or a woman… That was… A human… Man… I tasted… Him… When I… Touched him…”
There was a short, tense silence as Jay and Syd both stopped walking down the stairs. It was broken by an exclamation that echoed in the stairwell and could also be heard a couple floors down inside of the bakery where Dys sat staring with her eyes wide.
“Motherfucker!”
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