《Apex of Creation》 Chapter I James Exosia School was out for Christmas break, and at long last, I was on my way home. I was spending the afternoon pounding away highway miles with cruise control set to 80mph, while constantly switching radio stations to find something that wasn¡¯t forty years old. And then I woke up in the hospital with my body aching. I wasn¡¯t sure what was going on. I couldn¡¯t think clearly. My leg was in a cast. Did I break it? It didn¡¯t feel broken. I looked around. I was in a hospital room. The lights were dim. On the other side of the room were two men in suits arguing over¡­ something. I couldn¡¯t make out the conversation. I was just¡­ so¡­ tired¡­ A nurse came in, and seemed to float right through the arguing suits. I groaned and closed my eyes, and succumbed to the painkillers. A moment later, hours had passed. The room was brighter, and the sun streamed in through the window. The painkillers must have started to wear off, because now my leg hurt. Fighting with the remnants of the drug-induced haze, I sat up. The two suited men were still there, continuing their argument from earlier. A nurse noticed me, and came over. ¡°You¡¯re awake. You were in quite the accident. Broken ribcage, punctured lung, lots of internal bruising, whiplash. You were lucky.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You might not remember, but you were in a car accident with a drunk driver. How¡¯s the pain? Do you need more morphine?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say no to that.¡± ¡°Your family¡¯s outside. Do you feel well enough to see them?¡± ¡°I definitely can¡¯t say no to that.¡± A few minutes later, my parents came in, with my brother and sister trailing behind them. I was so glad to see some familiar faces amidst all the other confusion in my life. My mother flew in and immediately worked herself into a frenzied whirlwind. ¡°We¡¯re so glad you¡¯re awake, we¡¯ve been here for nearly two days now, I¡¯ve hardly stopped praying for you. I¡¯ve seen all your X-rays, you have a few broken bones but the doctors say you¡¯re going to heal right up, there haven¡¯t been any complications. You¡¯ll probably miss Christmas of course, but we¡¯ll just bring Christmas here. The driver who hit you is definitely going to miss Christmas though, he¡¯s being charged with everything they can think of. Driving intoxicated, speeding, reckless endanger-¡° ¡°Mom, please, please stop. This is a lot to take in. I¡¯ve hardly gotten over the idea that I was in a crash, my leg hurts, and I¡¯m high as a kite right now. Like, so high that I earlier I saw that nurse walk right through those guys over there.¡± As if on cue, the two men in suits both looked at me. ¡°What guys, Jimmy?¡± my mom asked. There was a moment of awkward silence, and then the man in the darker suit spoke. ¡°Shit.¡±
The next few days passed in a drug-induced stupor. My recovery progressed smoothly, or at least, that¡¯s what the doctors and nurses were telling me.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. The hospital had its own Christmas dinner in the cafeteria, but that didn¡¯t stop my mom from bringing in half of a turkey. We shared it with some of the other patients - the hospital food wasn¡¯t terrible, but it wasn¡¯t made with love either. And then it was time for presents. It wasn¡¯t a fancy gift exchange. There was no tree, and the only decorations were some dollar store posters and the grainy music from a CD player in the nurses¡¯ station. But it did have my family. ¡°So, uh, I didn¡¯t wrap anything.¡± I said. ¡°Mom had to do it. Thanks for that.¡± ¡°I needed something to keep me busy,¡± my mom responded, as she plucked a random gift out of a tote bag. She checked the label, then handed it to my sister ¡°To Cynthia from Jimmy.¡± She opened up her gift - a hedgehog print pillow. ¡°This is adorable - thank you so much!¡± she squeed I fumbled through the wrapping on my own gifts, and eventually had a small mountain of new school clothes. ¡°I¡¯d try something on but ah¡­ casts. I¡¯m sure they all fit.¡± Not long after, my family went home, and I settled in for the night. I was about to shut off the light when I thought I saw a man in a grey suit outside my window. I did a double take - there was nothing. ¡°Eyes playing tricks on me,¡± I muttered to myself, and went to bed.
True to their words, the doctors cleared me for discharge two weeks later. The bones had healed up, I had repaired most of my internal organ damage, and my physical therapy had progressed enough to put me on outpatient care. One week remained of winter break, so I packed in as much activity as I could. I visited relatives, caught up with some high school friends, and tried to make the most of the small vacation that I had. All too soon, it was time to go back to school. My parents were understandably hesitant about the trip, so my dad took a day off work and cashed in some airline miles to drive me out and fly back. ¡°Now I hope this would go without saying, but please be careful with this car. The insurance company isn¡¯t going to want to pay out a second totaled car.¡± I smirked. ¡°Yeah, that would make for a lot of nasty paperwork. What a tragedy that would be.¡± He caught on to the joke. ¡°Such an inconvenience.¡± ¡±I¡¯ll be careful, Dad. Promise.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± We drove in silence for a few minutes. ¡°So what classes do you have this semester?¡± I tried to remember what I had registered for prior to Christmas break. ¡°Calculus, organic chemistry, o-chem lab, and some gen ed class that I don¡¯t remember.¡± ¡°Organic chemistry eh? Taking after your old man?¡± ¡°Well¡­.¡± ¡°Study hard for that. It¡¯s a tough cookie.¡± ¡°So you keep telling me.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not kidding. You¡¯re smart, but it¡¯s a very demanding class. A lot of kids drop it and switch to other majors. You want to ace it, you¡¯re going to have to put in some serious study time.¡± ¡°I know, Dad.¡± ¡°Well, you say you know, but your grades last semester weren¡¯t exactly that great. I know college is a time to get out and have fun, but you also have to keep the future in mind. I want you have fun - hell, I had plenty of fun when I was in school - but I also want you to succeed. You know that.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± As we pulled into the dormitory complex, my dad spoke again. ¡°Now, you know what I¡¯m going to say?¡± ¡°Make you proud?¡± ¡°Make me proud.¡±
The general education class I didn¡¯t remember had turned out to be European History, and I quickly regretted not looking up the professor¡¯s reviews before registering. He had an ego large enough to generate a gravitational field, and gave out twice-weekly reading assignments and quizzes.
What was Henri de Tonti¡¯s nickname and how did he earn it?
I had no idea. The history readings had been consistently taking the backseat to organic chemistry in my study schedule. I¡¯d skimmed the material and recognized the name but didn¡¯t remember anything about a nickname. I also had no idea why a five-hundred-year-old nickname was important enough to be worth teaching to engineering students. This class was going to wreck my GPA, and it wasn¡¯t even the class I¡¯d been warned about. Henri de Tonti was nicknamed ¡°Iron Hand¡±, after his hand was blown off by a grenade in Sicily and he replaced it with a metal prosthetic. I shifted in my chair. I definitely didn¡¯t remember reading that, but it felt right, so I put it down and moved on to the next question. ¡°Welcome to the war, James.¡± I jumped in my seat and turned around. It was one of the men from the hospital, the one in the lighter suit. The one I thought I¡¯d seen the nurse walk through. ¡°What the-¡± The man pointed at the clock, where the second hand was stopped. I looked around, and realized everyone else was looking at their quizzes, and sitting perfectly still. ¡°Yep, I¡¯m an angel. Name¡¯s Cael. Nice to meet you.¡± Chapter II James Exosia I sat there, taking a moment to process everything. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°The short answer is, I screwed up. Got dispatched to answer the prayer of one Jennifer Exosia-¡± ¡°That¡¯s my mother.¡± ¡°Indeed. And I accidentally ended up making a Hybrid. You were too close to death, and - as evidenced by your recent use of Insight¡­¡± Cael gestured to my quiz. ¡°¡­you picked up some holy power while you were there.¡± ¡°A¡­ hybrid?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes. Part human, part divine. A member of the only race created in the image of God, but no longer insulated from the eternal war between Heaven and Hell. A dangerous combination, that.¡± I pondered the answer. This was, essentially, a Yer a wizard, Harry moment, but in real life. I had apparently obtained my quiz answer by divine inspiration. ¡°So is this a good thing or a bad thing?¡± ¡°That depends. Hybrids tend to be unpredictable - your free will means that your loyalties are always subject to change. So neither Heaven nor Hell want to make a Hybrid that goes to the opposing side.¡± ¡°What if I don¡¯t pick a side? What if I just continue my life as I am right now?¡± I asked. ¡°It¡¯s too late for that.¡± Cael replied. ¡°You¡¯ve already changed your life - if only in a small way - just by filling in your quiz differently. Your abilities will only grow from here, and, you will be roped into the conflict, in some form or another. I¡¯ve been around long enough to see it happen before - one side or the other will attempt to recruit you, if for no other purpose than keeping you away from the opposing forces.¡± ¡°That¡¯s an encouraging thought.¡± ¡°Really? How so?¡± ¡°I was being sarcastic.¡± ¡°Oh. So, not encouraging, then?¡± ¡°I just found out I¡¯m inevitably involved in a war I had no idea existed. How would you feel?¡± ¡°No idea. I¡¯ve been around roughly since ¡®Let There Be Light.¡¯ The war has been ongoing since Lucifer¡¯s rebellion, which happened shortly after that.¡± ¡°And in all that time, you never thought to learn about how we humans - the one race that is, as you say, created in the image of God - operate?¡± ¡°I¡­ um¡­ ¡° ¡°Right now I just want to finish my quiz and get out of here. This is, frankly, overwhelming, on top of the stress of dealing with that clown¡¯s history assignments. To say nothing of organic chemistry. Which I¡¯ve already got at least two hundred flashcards for.¡± ¡°Fine. Call my name if you want to talk. And maybe have a little more respect for the gravity of the situation.¡± Cael vanished. I turned back to my quiz and finished it.
After turning in my quiz, I packed up, and stormed to the cafeteria for dinner. Fortunately, nothing out of the ordinary happened, and I was able to enjoy a hamburger and fries in quiet solitude. Then I was back to the dorm room to get my engineering books for a study session. I opened the dorm room door to find another suited man waiting inside. The other entity from the hospital. A demon. ¡°You¡¯re a demon.¡± I stated. ¡°Indeed. Alocer, at your service.¡± ¡°What do you want? Here to recruit me into the army of Hell? Am I destined to be one of the Four Horsemen?¡± The demon giggle-snorted. ¡°Nothing of the sort. I heard that Cael pissed you off. Instead of doing that, I just wanted to congratulate you on the manifestation of your power.¡± I eyed him warily. ¡°What do you really want?¡± ¡°Literally, just congratulate you. The world is your oyster now.¡± ¡°Yeah¡± I grunted, swinging my backpack onto my desk. ¡°Cael implied as much.¡± ¡°Cael,¡± Alocer replied, dispassionately picking something from his fingernails, ¡°is an idiot. Always sure that ¡®good will prevail¡¯ and other such nonsense, with zero thought given as to how he might actually execute his plans in an effective fashion. ¡± ¡°Well, if I remember correctly, doesn¡¯t the book of Revelation end with your side, you know, losing?¡± I asked. Alocer raised an eyebrow. ¡°That¡¯s prophecy. It doesn¡¯t necessarily have to go that way. Especially when Hybrids enter the picture. So much power, so little predictability.¡± I wasn¡¯t convinced. Alocer continued. ¡°But for now, you do you. I know school is important to you, so why don¡¯t you get your grades where you want them for now, then focus on world domination or whatever you want later?¡±Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°I never thought I¡¯d be saying this to a demon, but that sounds like a good idea. The grades bit, at least. World domination, not so much. I told Cael this, but I¡¯d rather not get into this whole Heaven versus Hell thing if I can avoid it.¡± ¡°But of course.¡± ¡°Thanks for understanding. I appreciate it.¡± ¡°Not a problem.¡± Alocer smiled. ¡°And if you need anything, just call me.¡±
Organic chemistry study group presented an interesting challenge. It wasn¡¯t, for me, merely an attempt to cram dozens of reaction mechanisms into my head for long enough to regurgitate them on the test. It was also an opportunity to discreetly try out Insight. That is, it would have been an opportunity to try out Insight, if it was working. Maybe divine powers only manifested in stressful situations? Or perhaps Cael had given me a nudge. Or maybe- ¡°Hey, James. Earth to James!¡± My thoughts were interrupted by Emily. ¡°Yeah. Sorry, I got zoned out there.¡± I responded. ¡°Quiz me on this pile?¡± Emily asked, as she handed me a stack of flashcards. ¡°Sure. Let¡¯s see¡­ ah¡­. What¡¯s a Diels Alder reaction?¡± Emily scrunched up her face as she thought. It was cute. I should ask her out some time. ¡°Um¡­ reaction between two alkenes to form a cyclohexene?¡± ¡°Close. Conjugated diene and an alkene, to form a cyclohexene.¡± ¡°Oh, right. I knew that.¡± We worked our way through the stack of flashcards, while Tom and David worked their way through another. Then we swapped partners and worked through the stack all over again. And again. I didn¡¯t get to bed until well past midnight.
The next week passed in relative normalcy. European History continued to be a pain, but I managed to get two flashes of divine inspiration on the next quiz, and three on the quiz after that. Sure, it wasn¡¯t fair to the other students, but I wasn¡¯t going to pass up easy grades on a non-core class. I kept meeting with Tom and David and Emily for chemistry study group, and kept failing to work up the nerve to ask Emily out. Perhaps most importantly, neither Cael nor Alocer had made a reappearance. For now, it seemed, they were content to let me live a normal - albeit slightly enhanced - life. At least, Alocer was. Cael was more of an ass about it. It was odd, now that I thought about it, that the angel wasn¡¯t the nice one. Shouldn¡¯t it be the other way around? ¡°Cael? You there?¡± ¡°Hi James.¡± Cael responded, as he seamlessly stepped out of the edge of my peripheral vision. ¡°Look, I¡¯m sorry for snapping at you last week. I was super stressed out, and I shouldn¡¯t have taken it out on you.¡± ¡°Apology accepted. I¡¯m sorry I was overly blunt. It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve had to deal with a Hybrid.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± There was a moment of awkward silence. How does one ask something of an angel? I had no idea. ¡°So.. um¡­ what now?¡± ¡°Technically, the answer is whatever you want, really, because you¡¯ve got free will. Practically, I¡¯d love it if you developed your powers and then used them for good. Cure sickness, inspire scientific progress, advance the Kingdom of God, wherever your talents lead you.¡± ¡°Do you know Alocer? He suggested world domination.¡± ¡°Of course he did. He probably also called me a short-sighted idiot.¡± ¡°Something like that, yeah. You two have a history?¡± ¡°Well, we¡¯ve both been around since Creation, so yes. And with darn near everyone else, angel, demon, or otherwise. You want to get up to speed on transcendental politics, it¡¯s going to take a while.¡± ¡°¡­Yeah, I probably should have guessed that.¡± I paused and thought for a moment. ¡°So how do I do, you know, divine stuff? I¡¯ve had a couple more flashes of Insight since last week but I can¡¯t really seem to control it.¡± Cael chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s one thing nearly every Hybrid has in common. You always want to develop their powers as fast as possible. But it comes with time and understanding. And practice too, but that¡¯s about it.¡± ¡°So you can¡¯t just teach me new, uh¡­ spells?¡± ¡°I¡¯d call them abilities, but that¡¯s correct. Your powers are your own, to be explored in your own way. And different Hybrids prove apt at different things. Persuasion, Insight, Metaphysics, Divination, you name it and I guarantee there¡¯s been a Hybrid that used and/or abused it. Don¡¯t worry so much about developing it - just be sure to use it appropriately.¡± ¡°Fair enough. Thanks for chatting.¡± ¡°No problem.¡±
In the molecules pictured below, draw the electron movement sequence demonstrating a reaction by nucleophilic attack.
¡°How did you do on the quiz?¡± I asked Emily, after class was over. ¡°Pretty good, I think.¡± ¡°What did you put for the last question? The electron movement sequence?¡± Emily screwed her face up. Hot damn that was cute. ¡°Oxygen to carbonyl to the attached double-bonded oxygen.¡± ¡°Yeah, I think I had the same thing. Where are you headed now?¡± ¡°Coffee shop. You coming?¡± Shit. This was my chance. Play it cool. ¡°Y¡­ Yeah, sure, why not.¡± Holy crap. Well, recent events considered, maybe not holy crap, per se. But still, holy crap.
¡°¡­so everything¡¯s healed up and now here I am.¡± I finished recounting the story of my accident to Emily as we drank coffee and made the next batch of organic chemistry flashcards. Of course, I left out all of the supernatural bits. Socially inept though I was, I knew I would only come off as crazy. ¡°That is insane. What happened to the drunk driver?¡± ¡°To be honest, I haven¡¯t bothered to check. I just want to leave it behind, you know?¡± Emily nodded. ¡°Yeah, i¡¯ve had a few experiences like that of my own. Going back and reliving everything doesn¡¯t help.¡± I didn¡¯t bother to press the question. Instead, I pulled up four more Wikipedia pages with various reactions and started copying them down. ¡°I hope your Christmas break was less exciting than mine.¡± She chuckled. ¡°Standard stuff. Visit family, open presents, try to get along with everyone.¡± ¡°Is that a typical Christmas for you?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ um¡­ good? We had Christmas in the hospital this year, because¡­ you know¡­¡± I mimed breaking my arm. Emily chuckled. We worked in silence for a few minutes. ¡°Well I¡¯ve blabbed enough about me, tell me about your family.¡± Emily sighed. ¡°Stereotypical middle class, two brothers, one older and one younger. So¡­ yeah.¡± ¡°What do your parents do?¡± ¡°My mom¡¯s a teacher; my dad¡¯s an accountant. Where¡¯d the electron come from on this one? Oh, right, carboxyl ion.¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s got resonant forms. Who do they work for?¡± ¡°I¡­ um¡­ The local elementary school and a big accounting outsourcing company. Why?¡± ¡°Just curious.¡± I lied. In reality, I was more than just curious - Emily was smart, cute, friendly, the whole package. After having failed my way through high school dances, I had come to college hoping for a fresh start on the dating front. So far I hadn¡¯t had any luck, until Emily had come along with organic chemistry. Maybe, just maybe, I might have luck with Emily. And then a new voice chimed in. I could feel Alocer¡¯s presence almost before he spoke. ¡°Hello, James¡± ¡°Hi Alocer.¡± Emily looked at me quizzically. ¡°Who¡¯s Alocer?¡± I looked at my watch and realized with horror that time had not, in fact, been stopped. I shot Alocer a dirty look. ¡°Sorry, Emily. Brain fart. Hey, could you watch my stuff while I go to the bathroom?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± I got up and went to the restroom. Alocer followed. ¡°Not cool man. Give me warning or pause time at least.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a demon. I¡¯m not in the business of being cool. But, I hope I haven¡¯t ruined your fun.¡± ¡°What do you want?¡± I asked bluntly. ¡°Funny you should ask, really. I recently had the¡­ displeasure¡­ of reporting the creation of a new Hybrid to Lucifer himself. And he would like to see you.¡± ===END Chapter II=== Chapter III James Exosia I stared at Alocer. ¡°He what?¡± ¡°Wants to see you. Probably going to turn you into a Horseman of the Apocalypse or something.¡± He waited a moment, then continued. ¡°Nah, just kidding. He wants to chat.¡± ¡°What about?¡± Alocer shrugged. ¡°Above my pay grade, buddy.¡± I raised one eyebrow incredulously. ¡°No, seriously, they don¡¯t tell me anything. Alocer, go fetch some warm blood. Alocer, go let the hellhounds out to the bathroom. Alocer, go get the Hybrid. I don¡¯t know why Lucifer wants to stick his nose into your business, but if I were you? I¡¯d listen to what he has to say.¡± Alocer opened the door to the bathroom. Beyond lay inky blackness with an emanating stench of sulfur, warmth of fire, and a distant shriek of tormented souls. ¡°With your abilities developing, we should all at least make sure we¡¯re on the same page.¡± ¡°Yeah, nice try. I¡¯m not going.¡± Alocer gave a friendly laugh. ¡°You have nothing to worry about. You¡¯re not dead, so you can¡¯t get stuck in Hell. Or die there. Or otherwise become damned while there. As a living human, you have the unconditional power to leave Hell at will. I¡¯ll even escort you.¡± I stood stubbornly. ¡°Cael warned me about this - that sooner or later someone was going to try to drag me into this. So, let me think that over¡­ Do I want to sell my soul to the devil¡­. hmmm¡­ yeah that¡¯s gonna be a no from me.¡± Alocer¡¯s face darkened. ¡°Lucifer¡¯s not going to like that, you know.¡± ¡°Not my problem.¡± ¡°You won¡¯t be ¡®selling your soul.¡¯¡± Alocer said. ¡°Still not going.¡± ¡°Can I ask why not?¡± he asked. I took a moment to compose my thoughts. ¡°When you first visited me, it was just to congratulate me on my powers. Not that I really did anything to deserve them, but I appreciated you being hands-off at the time. Right now I¡¯m ok with the occasional bit of supernatural weirdness happening around me, but what I really don¡¯t want to do is get directly involved in ¡®transcendental politics,¡¯ as Cael put it.¡± I pointed through the door to Hell. ¡°If I go through there, all of that ends. Everything resembling life as I know it comes to a screeching halt if I go talk with Lucifer. I¡¯m alright with being James, the kid that gets extra answers right on tests. I¡¯m mostly alright with being James, the kid who occasionally has angels and demons show up for a chat. Provided they pause time first, hint hint. However, I am absolutely not ok with being James, the kid who literally talks with the devil.¡± Alocer nodded. ¡°I understand where you¡¯re coming from. But you have to realize that the ¡®supernatural weirdness¡¯ is not going to end just because you want to be left alone. It¡¯s not so much that anybody will want to recruit you - it¡¯s more that things happen, and some of those things will involve you. Even if you don¡¯t want them to. You¡¯re best off if you at least know what¡¯s headed your way.¡± ¡°It¡¯s still a No from me, buddy.¡± Alocer turned away from me. ¡°Well, I really hope you¡¯ll change your mind. Tell you what. I¡¯ll leave this Gate open, so you can use it if you ever need it. See you around?¡± ¡°Thanks. See you around.¡± And with that, Alocer stepped through to Hell, and closed the door. I stood there for a moment, not quite sure what to make of that. Out of curiosity, I opened the door. Bathroom. I closed the door. Take me to Hell I thought, and reopened it. Abyss. I closed the door. I have to pee. It opened to the bathroom. Great. So now the bathroom door in the campus coffee shop doubled as a portal to Hell. I wondered if I should have been expecting more stuff like that to come up, what with the whole supernatural thing that I now had going on. With nothing else to keep me away, I returned to Emily. She was on the phone. ¡°¡­Not yet, mom, I¡¯m studying now¡­ No, I¡¯m going to the bank later¡­ Organic chemistry¡­ Yeah, again, it¡¯s a pretty intensive class¡­ Hey, I gotta go. I¡¯ll call you back later? Ok, bye.¡± She hung up and looked up at me. ¡°My mom. Always has to know what I¡¯m getting myself into.¡± ¡°Mhmm. I know what that¡¯s like. I tried to get back as quickly as I could. Someone did something unholy in there.¡± Emily gave a look of disgust. ¡°I¡­ really¡­ did not need to know that.¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± I cringed internally. ¡°Where were we?¡±This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. As we finished our coffee and study session, I found my mind wandering. Why did Lucifer want to see me? Why did Alocer leave me a portal? How many more reactions are we going to have to learn for this class? 56. Oh. Great.
Alocer ¡°He declined.¡± I reported. Lucifer stood up from his throne, displeased. ¡°You are quite the failure as of late. I¡¯m going to plan B.¡± ¡°But-¡± ¡°Silence!¡± Lucifer lashed his arm out, unleashing a torrent of fire that seared the flesh from my bones. ¡°How, exactly, are we supposed to get the book without a Hybrid on our side? You couldn¡¯t even stop it from being made, and now that it exists you¡¯re too inept to capitalize on the opportunities it opens up!¡± The wave of demonic power was raw and agonizing. I could feel Lucifer¡¯s rage scorching my being, the pain of his anger searing itself into my mind. After what felt like years, it stopped. ¡°Aamon!¡± Lucifer shouted, and Aamon appeared in a whirl of flame. ¡°You have been preparing as we discussed?¡± ¡°Yes I have.¡± Aamon responded. ¡°Excellent. You have your orders - carry them out.¡± ¡°Yes, master.¡± Aamon nodded obediently, and vanished just as quickly. ¡°As for you, Alocer.¡± Lucifer turned back to me as my flesh regenerated and knit itself back together. ¡°Get out of my sight. Maybe you can still redeem yourself. But for now I seriously doubt it.¡± I gritted my teeth. Nobody ever said that the rebellion against God would be easy. ¡°Yes, master.¡±
James Exosia I cycled into the dormitory complex, locked up my bike, and headed up to my room. As blunt as he had been, I did appreciate Cael warning me about being dragged into the whole supernatural conflict. It wasn¡¯t convenient or fun, but at least I had been prepared. I set my backpack down, went to the bathroom, and took a shower. As I finished getting dressed and began thinking about dinner options, my phone lit up.
Campus Safety Advisory An armed hostage situa¡­ swipe to unlock
I opened it.
An armed hostage situation is currently underway at the First Bank on Main Street just west of campus. Students are advised to stay away from the area and allow campus police and law enforcement to handle the situation. We are working to secure the safety of students and will provide updates as further developments occur.
Well that sucks. Emily is in there. Oh. Shit. Shit shit shit shit. I grabbed my keys and a pocketknife - technically against the student rules but that was the least of my concerns right now - and ran down the stairs, praying that I¡¯d manifest a miracle in time. I unlocked my bike and pedaled towards the bank as fast and as hard as I could. It was clear off the far end of campus, but I could hear the sirens from the dorms. Faster. I had to get there faster. My legs began cramping. I did my best to ignore it and pushed harder. Students. Swerve around. Go faster. News van. Push onwards. SWAT van. Go faster. Police cars, lights flashing. As I broke through the police line, I realized nothing else was moving. I had stopped time. I walked around inside the police line, taking a moment to figure out what I had done. I could feel the power draw off of me, slowing the world around me down to the slightest crawl. I saw the people around me, posed in mid-step. A SWAT agent, halfway through fumbling with magazine. A cameraman, holding his equipment in a position that would be impossible to sustain in real-time. Leaves, frozen in the wind. It was surreal, even more so than when Cael had stopped time during the quiz. I walked around, taking it in, before approaching the bank entrance. And then someone appeared in front of me. Demon. ¡°Are you behind this?¡± I demanded. The demon gave a cruel chuckle. ¡°So perceptive. Really, I don¡¯t know how you humans manage.¡± Not all demons were as generally chill as Alocer, then. ¡°Look, I¡¯m just here to get my friend out. I don¡¯t want any trou-¡± And then the demon backhanded me into the ground. ¡°Lucifer wants to see you. I can¡¯t imagine why he¡¯s interested in you, but you shouldn¡¯t keep him waiting.¡± I got up. It didn¡¯t hurt, not physically. Rather, it hurt spiritually, as if my soul was going to be sporting a shiny new bruise in the morning. The time stop - unintentional though it was - would have been foolproof against other humans. With a demon against me, however, I was outmatched. ¡°Cael!¡± I called. ¡°What now?¡± Cael asked. He looked around. ¡°Ooh, time stop. Nicely done.¡± And then Cael locked eyes with the demon. ¡°Aamon. Get out of here, James.¡± In a flash, they engaged in a blinding flurry of light and smoke. Cael threw Aamon against the ground, only for Aamon to vanish, reappear behind Cael, and kick him into the air. Cael stopped himself mid-air, turned and plunged towards Aamon, who absorbed the impact and flew into the wall of the bank. It was too fast. I couldn¡¯t keep up. The angel and the demon were evenly matched, neither able to gain the upper hand over the other. Around them, the crowd of police and reporters and spectators were frozen, blissfully oblivious to the violent supernatural duel playing out in front of them. I almost envied them. Tearing my attention away from the spectacle, I approached the bank again - only to be slammed from the side by Aamon, who was then slammed by Cael as he tried to keep the demon in check. I tried to enter the bank again, and only earned a third soul-bruise for my trouble. ¡°I said, get out of here James!¡± Cael shouted, in between exchanging blows with Aamon. The angel and demon were throwing each other into every solid surface nearby with forces that would have reduced the scene to rubble if either of them had been fully physical. And then, as if to add to the chaos, Alocer appeared. ¡°I was hoping to avoid this, James.¡± he said, gesturing to the bank and then to Cael and Aemon. ¡°For someone that said I should know what was coming, you sure left out a lot of important details.¡± I shot back. Alocer shrugged his shoulders and sidestepped a stray bolt of holy light from Cael. ¡°I had to ask nicely first.¡± ¡°So you knew this was coming?¡± ¡°Not all the details, but the general idea, yes.¡± ¡°Fucking hell.¡± I grabbed my bike, and I pedaled as quickly as I could (did speed even matter during a time stop?) to the coffee shop. I ran inside, towards the bathroom. Fuck you, Lucifer. I envisioned Hell in my mind, and opened the bathroom door. The stench of sulfur and stifling heat of hellfire washed over me, and the distant screams of the damned assaulted my eardrums. I closed my eyes. For a moment, I almost doubted myself, and then I stepped into the abyss. ===END Chapter III=== Chapter IV James Exosia I stood still, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness before continuing. The air reeked of sulfur, and the heat was oppressive and stifling. I was standing on a dark red brick path, leading off into the distance. With no other obvious cues to follow, I set off down the trail. Progress was slow, and this part of Hell appeared to be sparsely populated. The road seemed to be going nowhere in particular, meandering by burning lakes of fire, pits of sulfur, and rivers of steaming blood. I hoped that Heaven had angels that were more tactful than Cael, because I was going to need some therapy after this. Then something spoke and I tripped over myself in shock. ¡°You¡¯re living!¡± a gravelly demonic voice said. It wasn¡¯t English, but I understood it just fine. ¡°Yeah, I am.¡± I said, as I picked myself up and looked around for the demon. It was standing on the side of the path, tending to a pit of tormented souls. ¡°I have an appointment with Lucifer, if you can point me towards wherever that would be?¡± ¡°Uh¡­. Castle. That way.¡± He pointed farther down the path. Sure enough, I could see the faint outline of a castle in the distance. ¡°Thanks,¡± I said, as I knelt and re-tied my shoes. That was when I noticed that all of the paving stones had faces. The road was paved with the souls of the damned, and I¡¯d just spent the last however many hours treading all over them. At least everyone here deserved it. Right? Yeah, I was definitely going to need that therapist. One thing was for sure, though - I definitely did not want to end up here when I died. For what felt like another eternity, I made my way to the castle, walking just off the edge of the road whenever possible. As the castle grew closer, my philosophical concerns about the penalties of hell diminished, as a much more pressing issue presented itself: What exactly the hell (heh) was I going to say to Lucifer? After what seemed like another eternity, I neared the castle. It was an impenetrable fortress, surrounded by a moat of molten sulfur, with exactly one entrance. The castle itself was, like the road, built out of damned souls. The drawbridge lowered, and I stepped across. Two demon guards emerged from the gatehouse, and patted me down for weapons. They found the pocketknife, but let me keep it. ¡°It¡¯s a mortal weapon. We don¡¯t care about those.¡± they explained. Then, I was escorted through the palace. It was luxurious, opulent, and gruesome. Blood-red carpets - that had probably been dyed with actual blood - covered the floors. Portraits of demons lined the walls. Adjacent plaques credited the demons with their various achievements in tempting humanity. And then we arrived at the throne room. The demon guards opened the doors, and I was taken aback. The palace was perhaps comically macabre, but the throne room was downright beautiful in all the wrong ways. Ornate fountains of blood were embedded into the walls. Channels of molten sulfur streamed between the stones of a polished soul-brick floor. Great pillars of bone and sinew rose on each side to support a high, arched ceiling that I could barely see. Between the pillars were enormous statues of infamous humans, bathed in jets of flame. As I walked along, I recognized the statue of Adolf Hitler. At the far end of the room, hellhounds laid on carpet-covered steps leading up to the throne. And what a throne it was. Constructed out of the same soul-bricks as the rest of the castle, it was built into the wall with rivulets of blood and sulfur running down from the ceiling, around the seat, and into the floor. Mounted all along the wall were armor and weapons, casted in a deep blue metal that I didn¡¯t recognize. Interspersed among the weapons were artifacts: a large metal nail, a silver tray, a plain rock, and more. Lounging on the throne itself was someone who could only be Lucifer. I did not envy whoever had become the stone under his crotch. ¡°Well, well, well. James Exosia. I have heard so much about you. So nice of you to come see me. I was almost insulted when you declined Alocer¡¯s invitation to my kingdom, but I¡¯m quite glad that you came around.¡± ¡°What do you want?¡± I spat out. ¡°Skipping past the formalities, I see.¡± Lucifer smiled. ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you too. I was hoping that we might be able to come to some type of working relationship. I scratch your back, you scratch mine, that type of thing.¡± ¡°By ¡®scratching my back¡¯ do you mean ¡®calling off Aamon¡¯? Because that seems to be very much your responsibility in the first place.¡± ¡°You are right about that, of course. I was just trying to get your attention. But while we¡¯re at it, maybe a favor?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Such a hard line negotiator. Look at it this way. There are a few things I¡¯d like - things I can¡¯t do, what with being barred from Heaven and all. If you can help me out, I can return the favor. In fact, I would be in your debt. I am the King of Hell, and it is rare for me to be in debt to anyone.¡±The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Before any deals get made, you need to call off Aamon.¡± ¡°Stubborn. I like that about you humans. Always so sure of themselves. It makes the fall that much sweeter. For me, of course.¡± ¡°Call off Aamon.¡± ¡°There is a book I¡¯d like.¡± Lucifer seamlessly continued. ¡°As you may have noticed, I¡¯m a collector. Not only of souls, but also of interesting curios and artifacts.¡± Lucifer gestured to the wall behind him. ¡°Generally, I prefer things that are divine in origin, but there are a few human artifacts that I like. This rock, for instance-¡± Lucifer pointed to the ordinary stone on display on the wall ¡°-is what Cain used to kill Abel. Humanity¡¯s first murder.¡± ¡°So what¡¯s the book?¡± ¡°Ah yes, I digress. It¡¯s a book, or rather a scroll, written and sealed by the apostle John. A historical artifact. Unfortunately, it¡¯s currently located in Heaven, beyond my reach. But not beyond yours.¡± I eyed Lucifer warily. ¡°And why do you want it so much that you¡¯d be ¡®in debt¡¯ to me?¡± Lucifer smiled. ¡°Human collectors often go to great lengths to add desirable pieces to their collections. Why should the same not be true of me?¡± I thought about that. It did kind of make sense. ¡°Fair enough.¡± ¡°Now, what would you like in exchange? Wealth, power, success, influence, it¡¯s all yours if you like.¡± ¡°You haven¡¯t called off Aamon yet.¡± ¡°Even love, if you want it.¡± That sounded distinctly rapey. I¡¯d give just about anything for a shot with Emily, but I¡¯d been raised well enough to know better than to take up Lucifer on that particular offer. And there was still the problem of her being trapped in the bank. I stared at Lucifer. ¡°You really have no idea what I want, do you? When Cael introduced me to all this divine drama, I thought he was an insensitive prick. But you really take the cake. There¡¯s more to life than money, power, and sex.¡± ¡°James, the only people who say that are poor powerless virgins.¡± ¡°See, Lucifer, that¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about. I¡¯m leaving.¡± The castle seemed to warp around me. With a gut-wrenching yank, an unseen force dragged me out of the building, and through the hellish countryside to the portal. In a matter of moments, I¡¯d gone from Lucifer¡¯s throne room to the coffee shop. I checked my phone - time was still stopped. I left the shop and slowly biked back to the bank. This time, however, I approached from the rear - Cael and Aamon were still engaged in battle at the front. I snuck up to the rear door, and used my pocket knife to open the door latch from the outside. Once inside, I surveyed the situation, looking for anything I could use. There were two robbers, one guarding the hostages, and one looking out the front window. One robber had a shotgun; the other had a handgun. I turned my attention to the hostages. I recognized Emily, of course. But then I noticed one hostage in an awkward stance, with an odd bulge at his waistline. I lifted his shirt. Sure enough, the bank patron had a concealed gun, and he¡¯d apparently been trying to discreetly draw it when time had stopped. That gave me an idea. I checked his wallet and confirmed that he was legal. Then I approached the robbers. I hadn¡¯t done much with firearms since Boy Scouts, but I was able to remove all the ammunition, and reload it all backwards. These robbers would, someday, be featured in lists of ¡°dumbest criminals¡± by (supposedly) loading their guns with all the ammo facing the wrong way. But the more important thing was that their weapons were now useless. As I replaced the handgun magazine into the pistol, I briefly made skin contact with with robber - and I felt Aamon. The demon had strong influence over the robber. Unfortunately, Aamon felt me as well. Abandoning his fight with Cael, he burst into the bank, staring at me in disbelief. I took a few steps out of the line of fire, closed my eyes, and concentrated. I focused, and let go of my grip on time. A lot happened in the next few seconds. I shouted to distract the robbers, and both of them turned their attention and weapons to me. The bank patron with the gun took the opportunity provided by the distraction, drew, and fired. The robbers attempted to shoot back, but their weapons clicked uselessly. The police, upon hearing the gunshots, burst into the bank, just as the two robbers collapsed. The bank patron, it seemed, was a good shot. ¡°So, the weakling Hybrid actually does something.¡± Aamon said, in a condescending tone, as the police secured the bank lobby. I would have responded, but I was busy keeping my hands in plain sight. Aamon walked over to the bodies of the fallen robbers and scooped out their souls. ¡°Maybe you¡¯ll amount to something someday.¡± With that, Aamon disappeared through the floor. Once the police cleared the hostages and took everyone¡¯s statement, Emily practically tackled me. ¡°I had no idea you were here too!¡± ¡°Yeah, I came out of the bathroom, noticed that guy over there had a gun, and waited for an chance to distract the robbers.¡± It was the same story I¡¯d given to the police. It wasn¡¯t completely false. ¡°Well I¡¯m just glad you¡¯re safe. I can¡¯t be losing my study partner!¡± ¡°Hey, same to you.¡± The police ushered us towards an ambulance where paramedics took our vitals. We were alright. They passed out information on local PTSD counselors, and turned their attention elsewhere. The bank patron who¡¯d shot the robbers came over. ¡°Hey man. I¡¯m Daniel.¡± I¡¯d already seen his name on his driver¡¯s and gun licenses, but had forgotten it in the subsequent chaos. ¡°James.¡± We shook hands. ¡°Thanks for getting us all out of this mess¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ Um, thanks for providing the distraction. I overheard the police saying something about the robbers¡¯ guns being loaded backwards though so¡­ I dunno.¡± Daniel¡¯s eyes glassed over and he slumped down on the ambulance bumper next to us. Survivor¡¯s guilt. ¡°Look, Daniel. We¡¯ve all been through a lot, you most of all. You need to go home, get some sleep, and talk to a lawyer and a therapist.¡± ¡°The police said it was a clean shoot. No charges.¡± ¡°Just the therapist then.¡± ¡°Yeah. I should probably do that.¡± ¡°Hey man. You did the right thing. All of us get to go home safe because of you. You had no way of knowing that the ammo was all backwards. Don¡¯t be so hard on yourself.¡± ¡°I suppose. You know any good therapists?¡± I chuckled weakly. ¡°I could ask the same to you.¡± Then another police officer came over and whisked Daniel away for something else. ¡°Hey, Emily, I¡¯m sorry you had to go through that for as long as you did. I made a move as soon as I could.¡± Again with the half-truths. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Emily took my hand, and rested her head on my shoulder. I had just escaped Hell. Now, sitting on the back bumper of an ambulance outside a grisly crime scene, I was in Heaven. ===END Chapter IV=== Chapter V James Exosia Like all things that were too good to be true, this moment was not meant to last. The police finished taking statements, the paramedics finished taking vitals, the SWAT team packed up their gear, the news crews packed up their cameras, and all too soon Emily and I were booted off the ambulance bumper. I retrieved my bike from behind the bank and walked it across campus with Emily. ¡°So, what do you make of all this?¡± It wasn¡¯t every day that you ran into a bank robbery. Emily sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m glad we¡¯re ok, but at the same time, anything could have happened - it was a big confusing mess. One second I was filling out a deposit slip, and next thing I knew the bank was raided. Then at the end when everything happened at once¡­ it¡¯s just too much, you know?¡± I nodded. ¡°At one point in there, the only thing I could think was, ¡®I¡¯m going to need a therapist after this.¡¯¡± I left out the minor detail that it was because I had seen roads and castles constructed out of human souls, and torture pits filled with the damned. Emily looked at me. ¡°You think we should do that?¡± ¡°Might not be a bad idea. Um, not together, obviously.¡± We arrived at the dorm building. I locked up my bike, and we headed up the elevator. I bid Emily good night as she got off on her floor, then I headed up to my floor. Counting the time-stopped trek through Hell, I hadn¡¯t slept in almost twenty hours. I¡¯d hardly laid down on the bed before conking out.
I awoke in the morning with my stomach rumbling hard enough to trigger a seismograph, and a pounding headache that signified a dire need for caffeine. After running off to the bank the day before, I never did end up eating dinner. Groaning, I pulled myself out of bed, and prepped for the day. I still had today¡¯s classes on top of everything else going on, but fortunately the classes weren¡¯t until later in the day. I headed down to the cafeteria, where I ordered and devoured a four-egg omelet and three cups of coffee. As I ate, I went down the rabbit hole of Wikipedia articles on Hell, demons, sin, insanity, and PTSD. Suddenly, an hour and a half had passed. I had to get down to business. ¡°Cael.¡± ¡°Hello James.¡± Cael replied, taking the other seat at the cafeteria table. ¡°Can you be visible for now? So it doesn¡¯t look like I¡¯m talking to myself?¡± Cael shimmered and re-solidified. ¡°There you go. How are you doing after yesterday? I heard you paid Lucifer a visit.¡± ¡°Yeah. Turns out the whole bank robbery thing was just to get my attention.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± ¡°Yup. Lucifer wanted me to be his errand boy. I declined and got out of there, because Hell is creepy as¡­ well¡­ Hell.¡± ¡°I told you they¡¯d try to recruit you.¡± ¡°I should have been better prepared.¡± Cael folded his hands and rested his chin on them. ¡°You still did quite well. You¡¯ve already stopped time, and you¡¯ll only get stronger from here.¡± ¡°I meant mentally. I¡¯ve got so much crap going through my head right now. Like, I didn¡¯t pull any triggers yesterday, but I sabotaged their weapons and damned them to an eternity of torment. And Daniel, the guy who actually did pull the trigger, now has to deal with the guilt of having killed two people. My friend Emily narrowly escaped death, and have I mentioned yet that Hell is fucking terrifying?¡± Cael cocked his head to the side in confusion. ¡°Where are you going with this?¡± I slurped down the last of my coffee and slammed the mug on the table. ¡°I¡¯m barely holding myself together right now, and if events like yesterday are any indication of what the rest of my life holds, then I¡¯m in way over my head. I¡¯ve seen what happens when people can¡¯t cope with the stress, and I know enough to recognize that and want to avoid it. I mean, look at how much I just ate.¡± Cael sat back, ran his hands through his hair, took a deep breath, and sighed. ¡°James, you¡¯re not the first Hybrid to be in this situation. Moses, Elijah, many have had their own issues.¡± Cael twirled his fingers and produced a business card. He handed it to me. ¡°Therapist. He¡¯s quite good. He¡¯s even helped me through some rough patches.¡± I looked at the card.
Raguel, Angel of Harmony, Divine Psychologist.
The backside listed an office number. ¡°So what do I do with this? Swipe it through the card reader in the dorms to enter the divine office park?¡±Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°That¡± Cael replied ¡°is an ordinary piece of paper. I have to make a Gate for you, the same way you got into Hell.¡± ¡°¡­So then I can just stay there, right?¡± ¡°Well, the paradise part of Heaven is strictly for deceased humans only. Most of the rest of it - including the administrative parts - can be accessible to Hybrids via a Gate.¡± ¡°Oh well. Worth a shot, though.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯re not the first to ask, and I doubt you¡¯ll be the last. Where do you want the Gate?¡± ¡°If you can move it after the semester is over, can we just go with the closet in my dorm room?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°Thanks. I appreciate it. And¡­ would you happen to know any good human therapists? For Emily.¡± ¡°I can set her up.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°No problem. Take care, James.¡± With that, Cael stood up and disappeared.
¡°And so Manco¡¯s two brothers were decapitated after being sent ahead to negotiate the surrender of¡­¡± I found it difficult to concentrate on my classes. The revelation of angels and demons had been unexpected but manageable. Actually playing a semi-active role in their conflict, however, was different. The exploits of failed fifteenth-century Spanish revolutionionaries seemed even less important than they normally did, when the real battle was playing out behind the scenes, invisible to everyone but me. Attempting to actually absorb the history lecture felt like an exercise in futility and pointlessness. If I could stop time, could I also speed it up and get out of here? After a few minutes of silent mental experimentation, I arrived at the conclusion that I could not. Wonderful. I pulled out my phone and texted Emily.
How are you doing?
Waiting¡­ Waiting¡­ Bouncing dots¡­ ¡°¡­Mister Exosia, if you didn¡¯t want to learn about European history than you shouldn¡¯t have registered for this class. Put your phone away. As I was saying¡­¡± Damn. I shoved the phone back in my pocket and spent the rest of the lecture trying to pretend to be interested in the material. Half an hour of boredom later, class was over and I bolted from the room. I pulled out my phone and checked Emily¡¯s reply.
Barely slept at all. Not sure what to do or where to go after yesterday, what with almost dying and everything¡­ just kinda blah
I had expected something along those lines. My overly-caffeinated fingers tapped out a response and hit Send almost before I fully thought about what I was saying:
what to do: hang with me. Where to go: the coffee shop. Come on, let¡¯s cheer you up
Bouncing dots¡­
ok, meet you there
I biked to the coffee shop, ordered two extra-large coffees and a pastry, and waited for Emily to arrive. Emily came in, looking like she¡¯d been hit by a tornado. Her hair was a wreck and only barely held in control with a ponytail. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her face had a vacant stare as she looked around. Despite Emily¡¯s state, I felt more relaxed as soon as I saw her. ¡°Over here, Emily,¡± I waved her over. ¡°Coffee. Cream, no sugar, added some cinnamon and nutmeg for you. And a food thing; I think it¡¯s a danish. It looked good in the window.¡± Emily took the coffee with both hands and sipped it. ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°You remember I mentioned therapists yesterday?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°I know a¡­ guy¡­ who¡¯s going to set you up with one. If you want it, of course. He¡¯s setting me up too.¡± ¡°Oh? Why?¡± ¡°Because even though I wasn¡¯t a hostage, I still feel like I went through hell and back.¡± Again with the half-lies. I really needed to figure out a way to stop that. Emily laughed, and I looked at her in confusion. ¡°No, I mean why set a therapist up for me?¡± I shrugged and tried to think of something to say. The reason, of course, was that I had a massive crush on her. ¡°Well, you¡¯re my study partner, and a friend. Why wouldn¡¯t I help?¡± ¡°Fair enough.¡± Emily took a bite of the pastry. ¡°I guess I¡¯m just not used to people doing things like that. I¡­ didn¡¯t have many friends growing up.¡± ¡°You? I don¡¯t believe it.¡± ¡°Very funny, James.¡± Emily replied through a mouthful of pastry. ¡°Look at me; I¡¯m a mess.¡± ¡°A hot mess though.¡± Shit. Did I really just say that? Emily laughed, and coffee came out her nose. ¡°Aren¡¯t you the charmer.¡± Quick, think of something to say. ¡°I blame the coffee. I¡¯ve been running my mouth ahead of my brain today.¡± Emily¡¯s smile faded. ¡°Yeah¡­ I¡¯ve been there.¡± The awkward conversation was interrupted by a ding, and we both instinctively checked our phones. It was Emily¡¯s. ¡°Doctor¡¯s appointment on Thursday, with¡­ oh, this must be the appointment your friend set up. They sent me a reminder text. That was fast.¡± ¡°Nice.¡± ¡°There¡¯s one small problem though.¡± Emily said. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°I¡¯m out of coffee.¡±
With a small grunt, I swung my backpack onto the bed, and dug through for the business card Cael had given me. He¡¯d already set up Emily¡¯s appointment, so presumably he had also made the Gate in my closet. I was not disappointed. The closet door swung open into a white, brightly lit hallway, with doors lining both walls as far as I could see. Gold arrows on the floor pointed to the right. ¡°James Exosia¡± was printed in a gold-lettered name plate on the Heaven side of the closet door. At least I would be able to find my way out amongst the numerous otherwise identical doors. I followed the arrows. After a short walk, the hallway opened up into an enormous circular lobby with a vaulted ceiling so high I could have sworn there were indoor clouds. The walls were studded with huge marble columns. The floor was a huge emerald and sapphire map of the world which, despite being a flat projection of a spherical object, somehow had no geometric distortion. Accents of gold and silver indicated day and night in different parts of the map. I spent a good few minutes standing and staring in awe and shock. Eventually I realized that there were a multitude of the other hallways connecting to the same side of the lobby that I had come from. And people were emerging from these hallways, making their way across the enormous undistorted world map, and heading to something at the far side of the lobby that could only be a reception desk. I walked over towards reception. The people ahead of me seemed to be checking in and continuing on to elevators beyond the reception desks. Naturally, there was no line to wait in. It was Heaven, after all. ¡°James Exosia, Hybrid, I have an appointment with¡­¡± I double-checked the card. ¡°Raguel.¡± ¡°Elevator up to the administrative level, follow the signs for the Psychology wing, second to last office on the left.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°Here¡¯s a guide map. As a Hybrid, please note that Paradise is strictly off-limits, and we strongly discourage you from entering the Throne Room if you are not absolutely certain of your Sanctification status. You¡¯re allowed anywhere else though. Welcome to Heaven.¡± ===END Chapter V=== Chapter VI James Exosia I stepped to the side and past the reception desk as I examined the welcome pamphlet and map. Heaven was enormous - infinite, in fact - and yet the guide map managed to neatly convey its layout. The map even had a ¡°you are here¡± marker that pegged me squarely in the lobby. There was a recreation level, featuring a pool, a workout gym, and fields for every organised sport ever developed by mankind - along with a few sports not developed by mankind. An activities wing was listed as including a library, spa, game room, music facilities, and more. And none of this was even part of Paradise, which was accessible via the Throne Room at the top level. I would have to avoid that area, since reenacting the face-melting scene from Raiders of the Lost Arc wasn¡¯t high on my list of priorities. I entered the elevator, and went up to the administrative level. According to the pamphlet, this was where the angels had their offices, which they worked out of whenever they weren¡¯t engaged elsewhere. Following the receptionist¡¯s instructions, I found Raguel¡¯s office, and knocked.
Emily Butler I¡¯d barely gotten out of the coffee shop before my phone started ringing. It was my Dad Fuck. I didn¡¯t want to deal with this right now. Oh well. Better to get it over with. ¡°Hi, Dad.¡± ¡°I saw you on the news the other day.¡± ¡°It-¡± I stuttered. ¡°Not my fault.¡± ¡°I just don¡¯t want my princess getting herself hurt.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± ¡°Please tell me you¡¯ll be more careful in the future.¡± ¡°I will.¡± ¡°Good girl. Your mother and I were thinking, we should come down to visit this weekend. Spend the day with you, have a little family time.¡± ¡°I-¡± Gulp. ¡°Alright.¡± ¡°Wonderful. I love you. Take care. Bye.¡± ¡°Bye.¡± I ran back to my dorm room and cried until I fell asleep.
James Exosia I emerged from Raguel¡¯s office an hour later feeling a little more optimistic about the whole situation. I¡¯d vented all my feelings on to him. Not only did Raguel help me calmed down, but he also pointed out the painfully obvious fact that I¡¯d missed in my crazed hurry to avoid going crazy: ¡°Death is not the end, James. You¡¯ve seen that for yourself - first in Hell, and now here.¡± I had indeed seen that for myself, and been a complete and total idiot about it. Oh well. At least I could check out the rest of Heaven while I was here. I made my way back to the elevators and down to the recreation levels. I took a tour of the athletic facilities, dipped my toes into the ocean-sized swimming pool, and eventually ended up in what appeared to be an infinite plane of weight machines. As amazing as it was, I had a nagging feeling that I just didn¡¯t belong there. As Cael had mentioned, I did need to get back to Earth eventually. I could leave simply by not wishing to be there any more, but I didn¡¯t want to experience another gut-wrenching pull like the one that took me out of Hell. So instead, I found the exit of the unending weight room (it was at one end), worked my way back to the elevators, traversed the enormous lobby with the beautiful geometry-defying world map floor, and found my closet door. One moment later, and I was back on Earth, in the familiar, musty old dorm room. Fortunately, my slacking idiot of a roommate Kevin was not around to make ¡°coming out of the closet¡± jokes. I really should have thought about it more before asking Cael to put a portal in my closet. It felt good to be back. But it was late, and so I began my usual nightly routine of getting ready for bed. For the first time since the car accident, I managed to get a full, uninterrupted night of sleep.
Calculus was going well, though it was a bit hurried.
Find the integral of f(x) = 2x^2 + 4x + 3 from x=-1 to 2
22/3 Well that was some nice timing. I scribbled down the general integral, plugged in 0 and 2 for x, subtracted, arrived at the answer I already knew to be correct, and circled it, just as the instructor entered the classroom. I scrawled my name at the top of the homework, and rushed it up to the submission pile. Then I returned to my seat and settled in for another session of shells, rings, and other methods of integrating for volume.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. There was something oddly relaxing about mathematics that I hadn¡¯t really appreciated before. It was the language of the world, the purest descriptions of quantifiable truth. There was no good or evil in mathematics, no moral dilemmas, no complicated interdimensional conflict or eternal consequences for the dead. Just numbers, and a few clever ideas, all used to describe The Way Things Are. Coming out of Calculus, I decided to try to meet up with Emily before heading off to Organic Chemistry. She quickly responded to my text, and I met her in the library. Emily was looking a lot better than the last time I¡¯d seen her. Her hair was no longer wild, and her outfit was new. She was still hot, just not a mess any more. ¡°Nice to see you again. How are you holding up?¡± I asked, as we both started unpacking our backpacks. ¡°I¡¯m ok. Hoping to go back to life as usual, you know?.¡± ¡°Trust me, I know the feeling. You sleep alright?¡± ¡°Not as well as I would have liked, but better than before.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good¡­ I guess.¡± ¡°Mhmm. So, these benzene ring practice problems. This one¡¯s going ortho/para, right?¡± I took a look at the problem. ¡°Yeah, I think so. And then number two ends up in a meta configuration, I think. How did the therapist go?¡± Emily didn¡¯t take her eyes off her work. ¡°It went well enough. I¡¯m going back next week.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good, I suppose.¡± I scribbled out the answer to the next problem. ¡°Sorry if I pushed therapy too much the other day. My uncle is a cop and he always talked about how important that stuff is, so that was the first place my mind went.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. It helped clear my mind, just like what you were talking about. Thank you.¡± Emily gave me a small smile. ¡°I saw mine too.¡± I offered. ¡°He helped me figure out some ways to cope with¡­ death¡­ and whatnot.¡± For once, that didn¡¯t feel so much like a half-lie, maybe because Raguel was at least actually a therapist. We worked a little while longer, until I idly looked at my phone and realized we were late for class. In a rush, Emily and I stuffed our notes and laptops into our respective bags, and took off for the science building.
I was having a lot of difficulty paying attention in organic chemistry lecture. It was probably due to the fact that I was finally sitting next to Emily in the enormous lecture hall, and she was being thoroughly distracting. Taking the last seats at the back didn¡¯t help, and on top of everything else, Kevin was texting me non-stop asking if I knew where he¡¯d left his car keys after getting blackout drunk at a frat party. How the hell would I know what he did with his keys? Under the couch Oh right. That¡¯s how I would know.
I dunno, look under the couch or something.
Send.
Wow dude, the keys were under the couch. You¡¯re like a psychic or something.
Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I was psychic. Sort of. Not really. ¡°What are you smiling about?¡± Emily asked. I wiped the grin off my face. ¡°My roommate is being stupid.¡± I replied. Emily gave a small chuckle. ¡°Aren¡¯t they always.¡±
Having sat in the back row, Emily and I were the first ones out of lecture. As I unlocked my bike, my stomach let out a roar. ¡°Do you want to go get dinner with me?¡± I asked. Emily gave me an odd look. She tipped her head to the side, and scrutinized me. Then she smiled. ¡°Sure. I¡¯m starving.¡± I tried not to smile too much. ¡°Sweet.¡± We strolled across the quad towards the cafeteria. The sun was getting low in the sky, and a cool breeze drifted across campus. I had absolutely no idea what to talk about. ¡°The weather is nice today.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± An awkward silence, then Emily spoke again. ¡°Better than the rain and snow from the other day. ¡°It is, yeah.¡± More awkward silence. All things considered, it was not really a surprise that my love life had never seen much success. We arrived at the cafeteria, swiped our meal cards, and went straight to ordering burgers and fries. I slathered on a healthy dose of ketchup and found a table while Emily finished adding her condiments. ¡°They overcooked mine.¡± Emily said, as she sat down opposite me. ¡°How badly?¡± I asked. Emily picked a bit of charred meat off of her burger and took a bite. ¡°Still edible. Did they put salt on the fries?¡± I tasted one, almost replied ¡°no¡±, then quickly deadpanned ¡°Na.¡± Emily gave me a funny look, and I couldn¡¯t keep a straight face any longer. I started grinning, Emily¡¯s face scrunched up as she connected the dots, then she put her head in her hands and broke out laughing. ¡°James, that was absolutely terrible.¡± ¡°But you loved it.¡± ¡°I did.¡± ¡°Alright, here¡¯s another one. Argon goes into a bar. The bartender tells him to get out. Argon-¡° ¡°Doesn¡¯t react¡± Emily finished with a smile. ¡°My turn. Two chemists are at a restaurant. One says ¡®I¡¯ll have a glass of H2O¡¯. The other says ¡®I¡¯ll have a glass of H2O too.¡¯ He died.¡± ¡°Oooh, ouch.¡± With the ice thus broken, we embarked on a series of more awful chemistry puns, bad jokes, mixed in with complaints about the food quality, bad professors, and college life in general. We agreed that organic chemistry was hard but necessary, that calculus was easy (so far), and that the nicknames of ancient failed revolutionaries were irrelevant. We ate, chatted, got desert, kept talking, and ate some more. In the blink of an eye, two hours passed in enthusiastic conversation. It wasn¡¯t bad for a first date, aside from the fact that it was in the campus cafeteria and wasn¡¯t officially a date. By the time we decided to get going, the sun had set and the breeze had turned chilly. We zipped our jackets up as we walked back to the dormitory. Upon entering the ground floor common area, an unfamiliar female voice called out. ¡°Emily!¡± We turned to look. It was a man and a woman. Emily¡¯s parents? But then I noticed Emily stiffen, and the happy enthusiast of bad nerd puns was gone, replaced in an instant by an emotionless brick wall. The couple came over. ¡°Emily, it¡¯s so nice to see you sweetheart, we were so worried about you!¡± ¡°Hi, Mom.¡± The man wrapped Emily in a hug. ¡°Hey there princess. You¡¯re ok, good.¡± ¡°Hi Dad.¡± Emily¡¯s mom, it seemed, was not one to let a moment go by without talking. ¡°And who¡¯s your friend, dear? I don¡¯t believe we¡¯ve met.¡± I stepped forward to introduce myself. ¡°James Exosia. Organic chemistry study partner.¡± I offered a handshake. She took it. ¡°Allison Butler, Emily¡¯s mother.¡± Then I made eye contact with Emily¡¯s father and offered him a handshake as well. They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul. Whoever coined that phrase must have been either a Hybrid or just very lucky. As I shook hands with Nigel Butler, I saw deep inside his eyes, the sin burning within his soul like hellfire. Emily¡¯s father was a monster. ===END Chapter VI=== Chapter VII James Exosia Suddenly, everything made sense. Why Emily didn¡¯t like to talk about her family. Why she had gotten so quiet on seeing her parents. The sins of Emily¡¯s father were overwhelming me, and I¡¯d hardly even finished shaking the man¡¯s hand. ¡°Nigel Butler, pleasure to meet you¡± he said, shaking my hand. Oh right, I still had to fudge my way through an unexpected social interaction. ¡°James,¡± I introduced myself. ¡°I have organic chemistry with Emily and we study together a lot.¡± I paused for a moment, then added ¡°And I actually happened to be at the bank with Emily when, you know, everything happened.¡± Emily broke the tension. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting you guys until tomorrow.¡± ¡°Oh pshaw, we had to come make sure our baby was safe.¡± responded her mother, in an overly affectionate tone. ¡°I¡¯m fine, mom, really.¡± No, Emily was not fine, not with the backstory that I had just divined. I jumped in. ¡°I¡¯ve been with Emily over the last few days, since the bank happened. She¡¯s dealing with it very well. Already got some counseling help, and she¡¯s getting back into the regular swing of things.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± asked Emily¡¯s father. ¡°That¡¯s pretty much it.¡± Emily said. I nodded my head in agreement. ¡°Well.¡± said her mother. ¡°We just wanted to swing by and say hello. We¡¯re in a hotel tonight, so we¡¯ll see you in the morning, alright sweetie?¡± Allison Butler looked at her daughter. ¡°Alright.¡± Emily said. ¡°Wonderful. So nice to meet you James!¡± And then they were gone. Emily and I walked over to the elevators. She was still tense. ¡°You don¡¯t seem to care for them very much.¡± I prompted, as the door opened. Emily inhaled, then gave a long sigh. ¡°We don¡¯t always get along.¡± Lies. ¡°Oh? Half an hour ago you were laughing and smiling. Now you¡¯re not. There¡¯s something else going on.¡± Emily turned to look at me, her eyes pleading with me. ¡°Please stop, James. I don¡¯t really want to talk about it.¡± Before I could answer, the elevator dinged and Emily got off.
The school had free student access to legal record search services, and I spent the remainder of the looking for any information I could find on Nigel Butler. He was, as far as I could tell, clean. No arrests, no convictions, not even any charges for anything. He had four speeding tickets over the last twenty years, but a less-than-perfect driving record wasn¡¯t particularly nefarious. The door opened and Kevin walked in, crappy music blasting from the ear buds hanging around his neck. ¡°Dude, you would not believe the day I¡¯ve had.¡± ¡°I guarantee you my day has been stranger.¡± I shot back. ¡°So I was making out with this chick, and she was like all-¡± ¡°Do you mind? I¡¯m trying to focus here.¡± Kevin looked at my laptop screen, which was full of incomprehensible legalistic gobbledygook. To him, there was no difference between that and the chemical gobbledygook that usually filled my screen. ¡°Sure dude, whatever, no problem. Don¡¯t mind me.¡± Kevin dumped out his bag, opened up his laptop, and loaded up YouTube music videos. On full volume. Without headphones. I tried to concentrate. Nigel Butler¡¯s professional profile showed off an impressive career, starting out as an intern and moving up through the ranks of various consulting firms. His current position was listed as president of finance for a national manufacturing company. Above average career, but again, there was nothing suspicious to be found. I was getting frustrated ¡°Kevin. Could you put in headphones?¡± Kevin ignored me. Nigel Butler couldn¡¯t possibly be as squeaky clean as he appeared. Not only had Emily clammed up around and about him, but I¡¯d also seen a glimpse of his soul. It was enough to connect the dots, but I needed some sort of confirmation that I was correct. I also needed some privacy. I thought back to the bank, what it felt like to be gripping on to a single moment of time, and not letting it pass by. I closed my eyes and gripped on. The music stopped. It took more concentration to halt time than it did before, perhaps because my power was no longer fueled by panicked emotion. But nonetheless, I had stopped time, and done so deliberately.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°Alocer!¡± I called. The door opened, and he walked in. ¡°James, nice to see you, as always. How have you been?¡± ¡°Not bad.¡± I responded. ¡°Still kind of ticked that you couldn¡¯t have warned me about Aamon.¡± Alocer shrugged his shoulders and spread his hands. ¡°My hands were tied - figuratively and literally.¡± I cocked an eyebrow. ¡°Seriously, Lucifer is a huge fan of razor wire.¡± I rolled my eyes, and Alocer seemed to take the hint. ¡°But that¡¯s not why you called me, is it?¡± he asked. I shook my head. ¡°No. I need a favor. Nigel Butler - I met him earlier tonight, and saw sin in his eyes. Lots of sin. Is he really as terrible of a person as I think he is? Or am I drastically misunderstanding the situation?¡± Alocer reached into his suit breast pocket and produced an enormous, ancient tome. ¡°The reservations book.¡± he explained, as he set it down on Kevin¡¯s badly slouched shoulders. ¡°My understanding is that normally, you¡¯d want the Book of Life for researching this kind of a question, but that one¡¯s kept up in the Throne Room. So this one will have to do for now¡± Alocer flipped through the huge book for a few minutes before finding the correct page. ¡°Butler, Nigel. We have an opening reserved for him in¡­ ooh, torture cell ¦¸-92¡¯O#S5;-2B67-?1. Not many people get an Omega-series torture chamber; he must be a fine specimen, firmly on the path to Hades.¡± Alocer seemed to have fondness and admiration for the man. He was a demon, after all. ¡°Thanks.¡± Alocer paused for a moment as he closed the book, then added ¡°I should note that this doesn¡¯t, strictly speaking, tell you if the person will actually arrive to take their reservation. That information is only in the Book of Life. But I¡¯ve never seen someone walk away from an Omega cell assignment.¡± ¡°Good to know.¡± ¡°Not a problem. Anything else?¡± ¡°All set.¡± ¡°Great. You owe me one.¡± Alocer winked at me, then left through the door. It was odd, the feeling of knowing a man¡¯s innermost secret. I wasn¡¯t quite sure I was ever going to get completely used to it. I relaxed my grip on time, and jumped as Kevin¡¯s shitty music resumed.
The next morning, I waited in the common area on Emily¡¯s floor to intercept her before she got to her parents. ¡°Good morning.¡± ¡°Good morning.¡± ¡°Um, listen, I¡¯m sorry if I was too pushy before. Social skills are not my strong suit.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve noticed.¡± ¡°¡­Are you ok?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but ask. ¡°I will be. After this is over. I may not get along with them very well, but¡­ you can¡¯t pick your family, you know?¡± I nodded. ¡°Anything I can do to help?¡± Emily sighed and gave a weak smile. ¡°I appreciate it, I really do. But I¡¯ll be fine.¡± ¡°Alright. Just want to make sure.¡± ¡°Thanks, James.¡± Emily smiled at me. The elevator arrived, and we rode down in awkward silence. I waved hello to Mr. and Mrs. Butler as Emily walked over to them. Briefly, I made eye contact with Nigel Butler again, just to double-check myself on the state of his soul. He was, indeed, a horrible person. And I watched, almost helplessly, as Emily went off with her parents. There wasn¡¯t much I could do to prevent that. I brooded around the common area for a bit, browsing the internet on my phone. I didn¡¯t like the idea of Emily being alone with her parents. I closed my eyes and concentrated. My abilities with Insight had been slow to develop, but in a few minutes I had divined the hotel and room number where Nigel and Allison Butler were staying. That gave me an idea. I¡¯d already stopped time at will once, and I could probably do it again. With a few more miracles, I could at least ensure that Nigel Butler paid for his crimes. I unlocked my bike and headed out. The first stop was the chemistry building, where I swiped a box of gloves from an unlocked lab. I circled back to the campus police station, where I paused time to ¡°borrow¡± one of everything from the armory that I could fit in my backpack. With everything loaded up, I biked to the hotel, pausing time again before entering. I pickpocketed the master key card from housekeeping, and let myself into the Butlers¡¯ hotel room. I put on the gloves, and rummaged through the luggage until I found Nigel Butler¡¯s laptop. It was unlocked. Perfect. It didn¡¯t take me long to find the files I was looking for. All I had to do now was wait.
Asmodeus President of Psychological Engineering, United States Division ¡°Status report?¡± Lucifer asked. Or rather, demanded. I double-checked my notes. ¡°The Hybrid successfully detected the alignment of Nigel Butler¡¯s soul, as anticipated. His powers are developing on schedule. Aside from the immediate benefit of reaping Nigel Butler - he¡¯s quite a strong contributor to our cause, actually has a reservation for a ¦¸-series cell - his death should fundamentally influence the Hybrid towards less peaceful means of conflict resolution.¡± Lucifer dipped a skull goblet into a fountain of blood. ¡°And the girl?¡± I flipped to the next page of skin. ¡°The death of Nigel Butler, combined with the resulting damage to the Hybrid¡¯s relationship with Emily, is expected to cause an upswing in emotional instability. While the immediate effects will be minimal, this should set him on a course to begin swinging local events in our favor. Approximate return on investment should be one to three years, with book acquisition expected within four.¡± I handed a page of skin to Lucifer. ¡°Here are the graphs, and here-¡± I fumbled with another page. ¡°-is the raw data, if you want to look that over.¡± Lucifer set the documents on the arm of his throne. ¡°Thank you, Asmodeus.¡± Lucifer downed his drink. and turned to the demon beside me. ¡°And good work, Alocer.¡±
Nigel Butler The steak was overcooked. Normally, I¡¯d send it back to the kitchen and demand it to be redone, but I didn¡¯t want to ruin Allison¡¯s evening. ¡°So how did you and James meet?¡± she asked Emily. ¡°We¡¯re in the same organic chemistry lecture. And lab. We study together a lot.¡± ¡°So¡­ tell me about him¡± ¡°Well, he¡¯s-¡± ¡°There¡¯s something off about that kid.¡± I interrupted. ¡°Who, James?¡± Allison asked. ¡°Who else?¡± I responded. I turned to Emily. ¡°You sure he¡¯s not just trying to get you in bed? That seems to be what college is all about these days.¡± Emily muttered something under her breath. Allison didn¡¯t seem to hear it, but I did: ¡°You¡¯re one to talk.¡± ¡°Now, princess, if I didn¡¯t know better, I¡¯d think you were being disrespectful to me. But I know you wouldn¡¯t do that, especially not with everything I¡¯ve done for you. I don¡¯t think I need to remind you of all of that.¡± Emily seemed to deflate. ¡°Yes, dad.¡± Good. ¡°I don¡¯t think you should hang out with him any more.¡± The rest of dinner went smoothly. I paid the bill and left a generous tip. We escorted Emily back to campus, kissed her good night, then drove back to the hotel. I was still bothered by James. There was something wrong about him, but I couldn¡¯t quite put my finger on what it was. At least the tuition payments would keep Emily in line, for now. We got to the hotel room. That was odd, I didn¡¯t remember leaving my laptop out. Or loading up¡­ those¡­ pictures. My train of thought was interrupted by Allison¡¯s voice. ¡°James?¡± Then my body exploded in pain, and everything went black. ===END Chapter VII=== Chapter VIII James Exosia I doubted that I would ever quite get over the surreal feeling of watching time stopped in its tracks. The dust, frozen in the air. Clocks, silent and still. People, suspended in positions that would ordinarily be impossible to keep for longer than a moment. And Mr. and Mrs. Nigel and Allison Butler, halted in the entrance to their hotel room. I dug through my backpack and found the gloves I¡¯d swiped from the chemistry labs. There was no reason to leave fingerprints in places that, theoretically speaking, I¡¯d never been. I laid out the tools I had lifted from the police station. Handcuffs, flashlight, baton, sidearm. When I¡¯d first decided to come here, I had intended to kill Nigel Butler: blow his brains out, and get back to my dorm before his body hit the floor. After all, I¡¯d (sort of) done it once before, at the bank. But now, with nobody else to actually pull the trigger, I found myself chickening out. And Allison had seen me, in the few seconds it had taken to wedge myself in between passing moments of time. After what felt like an eternity (but what was literally no time at all) I unloaded the handgun and stuffed it back into the bag. I surveyed the remaining equipment. I didn¡¯t have to kill Nigel Butler - there were other ways to make sure that he received justice. With a bit of effort, I roughly dragged Nigel¡¯s frozen body over to the bed and handcuffed him to the headboard. That left the question of what to do about Allison. She was, as near as I could tell, innocent and unaware of Nigel¡¯s misdeeds. However, she had seen me, and would undoubtedly be sharing that fact with the police. I hemmed and hawed around for a few moments, before ultimately deciding to leave Allison as she was. I could use the dormitory security cameras to establish an alibi. It would be inconvenient to deal with any investigators, but it wasn¡¯t like people could travel miles in just a few seconds. I packed up everything, did a once-over to ensure I hadn¡¯t left anything behind, propped the door open, and left. I found an empty hotel room, and picked up the room phone. With a moment¡¯s concentration, I slipped back into the flow of time. I dialed. ¡°911; this line is recorded. What is your emergency?¡±
Three-quarters of a second after hanging up with 911, replacing the master hotel key, and returning all of the police items to their proper places, I was in my dorm room. I changed my clothes and took a very quick shower, then left my dorm with a pile of books and notes to go study in the ground floor common area. More importantly, I¡¯d be seen on camera several miles away from the hotel only a few minutes after the 911 call was made. I spread out my notes and homework, pulled up three Wikipedia pages, and got to work.
Officer Dakota Jackson One more hour, and I would have been able to go home for the night without getting a call for anything worse than a fender bender. The day had been mostly speeding tickets and accident reports. That was the good thing about the day shifts - they mostly avoided the calls for drunk drivers, loitering vagrants, drug deals, and domestic violence. Mostly. The assault-in-progress call ruined the otherwise uneventful day. I had expected to have to deal with a violent husband, mugger, or some other form of everyday trashiness. I was thoroughly unprepared for the scene that I found in the hotel room. On one queen bed was a man, handcuffed to the headboard, laying still. On the other bed was a woman, presumably his wife, sobbing her eyes out. The source of the distress was readily apparent: a laptop, running a slideshow of images that nearly made me vomit. I almost turned away. Almost. But I had a job to do. I radioed dispatch to send forensics and medical. The man wasn¡¯t going anywhere any time soon, so I escorted the hysterical woman down to the hotel lobby. ¡°Let¡¯s get you comfortable, Mrs-?¡± I prompted. ¡°Butler. Allison Butler¡± she responded, still crying. ¡°Nice to meet you, Allison. I¡¯m Officer Jackson.¡± Allison Butler mumbled out something that sounded vaguely like ¡°nice to meet you too.¡± I sat her down at one of the breakfast tables and found a box of tissues. ¡°I have to go take care of a few things, but I¡¯ll be back soon, alright?¡± Allison nodded and began blowing her nose. Profusely. I went back upstairs to the room. I steeled myself, and took one more look at the slideshow to be sure. Yup, it was the man on the bed. Much younger than now, but it was him.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. I took out my own handcuffs. ¡°You¡¯re under arrest for¡­ that.¡± I said, pointing at the laptop. ¡°You have the right to remain silent, you have the right to an attorney, and anything you say may be used against you in a court of law.¡± The man on the bed groaned and rolled over. He was responsive, but seemed to be in pain. But the man - thankfully - didn¡¯t resist. I brought him to the squad car, taking the side exit so as not to upset Allison any further. One pat-down later and he was locked up. His driver¡¯s license identified him as one Nigel Butler. I walked back to the hotel breakfast area, where Allison Butler was steadily working her way through the box of tissues. Time to break out Sweet Mama Officer Jackson. ¡°Hi Allison.¡± ¡°Hello.¡± ¡°Would you be able to tell me what happened?¡± Allison nodded, and I got out my notepad.
James Exosia Half an hour into doing homework for the security cameras, I had - somehow - managed to actually accomplish something. The calculus homework was done, and my English paper was finished. The Insight helped out with the homework, though I did take the time to make sure I actually understood the material without divine assistance. ¡°Nicely done, James.¡± I looked up to find Cael sitting across from me. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°I mean it. That was a horrendous situation you found yourself in, and you dealt with it in a way that I couldn¡¯t have.¡± ¡°What do you mean? You¡¯re a freaking angel.¡± Cael smiled. ¡°On Earth, angels - and demons, for that matter - are limited to indirect intervention only. Guiding a surgeon¡¯s hand, for instance. You, however, did much more - you set up Nigel Butler to face justice, with clearly presented evidence that¡¯s so incriminating, he doesn¡¯t stand a chance at walking free.¡± ¡°I did it for Emily.¡± ¡°I know. You like her, I can tell.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± I confided. ¡°I hope that someday, we¡¯ll have a chance at being together.¡± ¡°Well, I know I¡¯m not very good with the personal advice, but the only thing I¡¯d say to you is, be honest with Emily. You know, perhaps more than anyone else, how much she¡¯s been through. The last thing Emily needs is someone keeping secrets from her.¡± ¡°What do you mean, tell her about getting her father arrested?¡± ¡°Getting both of them arrested, actually. The prosecution is going to have an airtight case against Nigel Butler, thanks to the photos on the laptop, but¡­¡± Cael¡¯s eyes glazed over for a moment. ¡°¡­yes, Allison Butler is still being held for questioning.¡± I fidgeted with my pencil. ¡°Is she guilty too? I couldn¡¯t tell on my own.¡± Cael tilted his head and stared past me. ¡°Thats¡­ a tricky question. In a strict sense, by your laws, yes. From our standpoint, though, it¡¯s a lot murkier. Clever people like Nigel are excellent at manipulating those around them. Allison Butler is almost as much of a victim as she is perpetrator.¡± It would be nice to not have to lie to Emily. But I also didn¡¯t want to be a creepy freak to her. ¡°I¡¯ll think about it.¡± ¡°Sounds good.¡± ¡°Excellent.¡± Cael stared off into the distance for a moment. ¡°I have to go. I¡¯ll see you around.¡± ¡°See you.¡±
The next day, I awoke to miserable, cloudy weather. , I caught Emily in the cafeteria. ¡°Good morning.¡± ¡°Oh, hi James.¡± I shuffled my feet awkwardly. ¡°So, how was the day out with your parents?¡± ¡°It went okay.¡± ¡°That¡¯s all?¡± ¡°Um, we toured campus, walked along Main Street, went out for dinner.¡± ¡°Nice.¡± ¡°And today we¡¯re going to the art museum and the mall off exit 1.¡± I froze. I would need to come clean to Emily after all. Or at least, I would need to break the news gently. ¡°Emily¡­ I need to talk to you.¡± I blurted out. ¡°What about?¡± she asked with a quizzical expression, as we found an empty table. Damn, that face was cute. ¡°I called the police on your dad. He had child pornography.¡± I said bluntly. I didn¡¯t bother to explain how I had figured that out. The blood drained from Emily¡¯s face. ¡°Oh¡­ Fuck.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Emily put her head in her hands. ¡°This is why I wanted you to drop it, James.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t follow.¡± Emily took a deep breath. ¡°I don¡¯t want to talk about it here. We need privacy. Your room or mine?.¡± ¡°Um, ok. My roommate Kevin was out again all night, so my room is free.¡± ¡°Sounds good.¡± We abandoned our mostly-uneaten breakfasts and returned to the dorm tower. We rode up together in the elevator, and I swiped both of us into my floor. Sure enough, Kevin had not yet returned from whatever all-night bender he¡¯d gotten into. I hastily shoved a small mountain of clothes into my laundry hamper. ¡°Tell me what¡¯s eating at you.¡± I prompted, as we sat on the beds. Emily took a moment, presumably to collect her thoughts. She seemed like she was on the verge of crying. ¡°My dad¡± she began, ¡°is not the only horrible person out there. He knows people, other people. People that he shared pictures with.¡± ¡°Oh¡± I said dejectedly. I started to have an idea of what was going on. ¡°My dad were arrested. Someone - one of the other creeps out there - will think that I was the one who turned them in, and that it¡¯s only a matter of time before they¡¯re caught too..¡± ¡°And you¡¯re worried that you¡¯re in danger?¡± Emily nodded. ¡°Is that why you haven¡¯t told anyone?¡± Emily nodded again. I handed her the box of tissues. ¡°You¡¯re the first person to ever figure it out. All through grade school, my whole childhood, nobody¡¯s known. Then I meet you and hardly a month later you¡¯ve figured it out.¡± Emily sighed and looked around the room. ¡°God it feels so good to get it out. I¡¯m probably screwed, but it¡¯s good to get it out.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad I could help.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± I paused for a moment. It was my turn to collect my thoughts. ¡°Also, Emily, that brings up something I need to tell you. Because I haven¡¯t quite been completely honest with you.¡± This was the big moment. ¡°Now, this is going to sound absolutely crazy, but promise me you¡¯ll hear me out, and then I can prove it all at the end.¡± Emily tilted her head and screwed her eyebrows together in that adorable way, like she always did when she was unsure of something. ¡°Go on.¡± ¡°You remember the car accident I said I had over Christmas break?¡± I asked. ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°I was almost completely dead.¡± ¡°Oh geez. I¡¯m so sorry, James.¡± I shook my head and stood up. ¡°Hang on, Emily. That¡¯s not the crazy part. I came back from that¡­ but I brought something back with me. Some divine power. I don¡¯t fully understand it, but I¡¯ve been able to do things.¡± ¡°You¡¯re fucking with me.¡± ¡°Please Emily, please, hear me out. The bank. I turned the robbers¡¯ ammunition around backwards, in the instant before Daniel drew his own gun. I saw your dad¡¯s sins, burning in his eyes when we met. And in another instant, I stole equipment from the police station, ambushed your dad in the hotel room last night, and called the cops.¡± Emily jumped up furiously. ¡°Seriously, James? I pour my heart out, share my darkest secret with you, and that¡¯s what your response is? Some bullshit about being a superhero?¡± I didn¡¯t know what else to do. Heaven I thought, as I opened my closet door. The holy light of the heavenly entrance hallway illuminated the room. Emily stood in the center of the room, slack jawed. Her anger seemed to dissipate as she processed what she was seeing. ¡°Holy shit.¡± ===END Chapter VIII=== Chapter IX Alocer Lucifer was displeased. Fortunately, I was not the target of his wrath. Asmodeus, the psychological engineer, was not so lucky. He was bound to a pole in Lucifer¡¯s throne room. Funnily enough, Lucifer had enjoyed my recent suggestion of using razor wire instead of the more traditional chains. Not that it mattered too much - Asmodeus was about to experience some excruciating pain either way. ¡°Nigel Butler lives, the Hybrid¡¯s conscience is clear, and we got side tracked yet again on getting the book.¡± Lucifer stated, his voice smooth and deadly. He was elegantly sipping blood from yet another skull. ¡°Well-¡± Asmodeus stuttered out. ¡°Nigel will, ah, probably commit suicide in prison. So we¡¯ll end up reaping him either way.¡± ¡°A small win that will ultimately prove meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Without the book, we cannot stall Armageddon long enough to ensure victory. Nigel is a strong supporter, yes, but he will not make or break the war.¡± Aamon, who¡¯d been skulking in the shadows, spoke up. ¡°I have a vast network of criminals and thugs. We can pressure the Hybrid - or the girl even - into retrieving the book.¡± Lucifer turned to face Aamon, his eyes as cold as ice. ¡°Oh, Aamon, you poor, brutish idiot. Your bank stunt was viable only because the Hybrid was weak and ignorant of the extent of his power. It did almost work, and for that I congratulate you. But you saw the Hybrid take down Nigel. Your army of gunmen and crooks would stand no chance..¡± ¡°Whispers, then?¡± I offered. Lucifer redirected his attention to me. ¡°You, of all the demons in Hell, should know that doesn¡¯t work on Hybrids.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t suggesting that.¡± I shot back. ¡°Emily is not a Hybrid - and five minutes ago James introduced her to Heaven.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± ¡°That is¡­ viable. Good thinking, Alocer.¡± Lucifer turned away from me, back towards Asmodeus in the center of the room. ¡°Now, if you¡¯ll all excuse me, I have to attend to this pathetic excuse of a psychological engineer.¡± Aamon and I departed the throne room. As we left, we could just barely make out Asmodeus¡¯s screams from the roar of Lucifer¡¯s hellfire.
James Exosia Emily was clearly awestruck. Her head was on a swivel, and she was taking in the sights. ¡°I can¡¯t believe it.¡± ¡°Which part?¡± I asked ¡°Just¡­ All of it.¡± ¡°This is just the lobby.¡± ¡°You¡¯re fudging with me.¡± ¡°Nope. Come on, I¡¯ll show you around. But first - have you checked out the floor?¡± Emily looked down, and frowned at the geometric impossibility of the distortion-free world map. ¡°That¡¯s weird¡± she eventually proclaimed. Slowly but surely, we made our way across the lobby. I couldn¡¯t really blame Emily for being entranced with everything. I¡¯d been similarly fascinated when I first came through. Besides, Emily had been so dejected this morning that I had to let her have her fun. We reached Reception, and I grabbed a few maps. ¡°Alright, Emily. Welcome to Heaven. I was here once before, but didn¡¯t get to do anything fun. So now, we have Sunday plans. What would you like to do?¡± I asked, as I opened up a map and presented it to her. ¡°Oh, no, don¡¯t make me choose!¡± Emily said, as she read through the listings of non-Paradise facilities. ¡°It all looks like fun!¡± ¡°Alright, well, I know you like coffee shops, so, let¡¯s see here¡­¡± I found the food wing on the map, and guided Emily into the elevator. A few moments later, Emily¡¯s indecision was unfortunately compounded by a menu board listing every single coffee-based beverage that had ever been produced by mankind. Ultimately, we both ended up getting self-refilling extra-large caramel-coconut mochas with whipped cream. They were delicious. ¡°So how much time do you spend here?¡± Emily asked, as we sipped at our drinks. ¡°Hardly any at all, really. This is actually only the second time I¡¯ve been here.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°Because as amazing as Heaven is, I¡¯m still-, I mean, we¡¯re still human. Ultimately, we don¡¯t belong here. After a while, you start to miss Earth.¡± ¡°Then why have it all?¡± ¡°My best guess would be that this stuff exists for the angels, when they¡¯re not out on assignment.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± We finished our coffees and got refills in to-go cups. ¡°How about the library?¡± Emily suggested, looking at the map.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°Sure, why not.¡± We backtracked to the elevators. Aside from the Throne Room and Paradise, the Library was the only facility marked as having an entire floor to itself. Ding. The doors slid open, and Emily and I stepped out of the elevator. ¡°Woah.¡± It was my turn to be awestruck. We were on a platform, seemingly suspended in space. In every direction were enormous, unending columns of bookshelves, filled with books. Each column was wrapped in circular catwalk balconies. Bridges connected each column to its neighbors, with reading chairs and desks spaced along the walkways.. A bright, cool light shone overhead, coming from nowhere in particular. We walked up a bridge, idly glancing at book titles, and settled in to some comfy chairs with the remnants of our coffee. ¡°I think we just found our new study spot.¡± I said. ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Emily was just as mesmerized as I was. ¡°Do they have internet?¡± I pulled out my phone: five bars of reception and a strong wifi signal. ¡°Looks like they do.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s good. I suppose it wouldn¡¯t be Heaven if they didn¡¯t.¡± Emily replied. ¡°No kidding. And I bet Hell has Comcast.¡± Emily tore her eyes away from the sights and turned to face me. ¡°Hell?¡± ¡°Yep, that exists too.¡± ¡°Have you-¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve been there, and I¡¯d rather not go back.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°And now I¡¯m going to put my phone away before I drop it.¡± Emily smiled again. ¡°Good idea.¡±
Dakota Jackson Something clearly didn¡¯t add up. The hotel management had been exceedingly helpful in providing the security footage, but something was wrong. Either the security camera time synchronization was off, or footage was missing, or something. I¡¯d spent all day poring over the tapes and reports. There was something I was missing, some stupid little detail that kept the whole story from coming together. The 911 call had been received by Dispatch at 8:47 pm. The hotel security cameras, however, showed the Butlers arriving to the hotel at 8:41, entering the elevator at 8:43, arriving at their floor at 8:44, and entering their own hotel room at 8:46 - less than sixty seconds before the 911 call had come in. A brief flicker of light static, and then no camera activity until I walked up the hall to the room at 9:03. As if that wasn¡¯t complicated enough, the 911 call had originated from a room that management assured us was empty at the time. Furthermore, nobody had entered either room since the Butlers had left that morning, except for housekeeping, and they were all accounted for. I turned my attention to the witness statements. While Nigel Butler recalled nothing between entering the room and finding himself handcuffed to the bed, Allison said she had seen a ¡°James¡± just before presumably blacking out. James who? Allison didn¡¯t know the last name, but she did say it was one of her daughter¡¯s friends from school. I pulled up the family contact information from the Butlers¡¯ intake forms. Then I picked up the phone and dialed.
¡°Hi, this is Emily Butler. I¡¯m not available to take your call right now, but please leave a message after the tone thing, and I¡¯ll try to get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks!¡±
Beeeep.
James Exosia Emily and I spent most of the rest of the day lounging around the enormous library of Heaven, drinking coffee, and relaxing. She seemed happy to have a confidant after so many years of mistreatment, and I was glad to have someone I could confide in as well. I was also happy to have a friend who might, someday, hopefully, if I was lucky, be more than a friend. ¡°So what¡¯s it like?¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°What¡¯s it like, you know, being a superhero.¡± ¡°Emily, this morning you called me a superhero and looked about ready to slap me.¡± She took a deep breath. ¡°Well, my parents were arrested. I¡¯ve hoped it would happen for a long time, but when everything came crashing down, it was all too much. I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°No harm no foul. I¡¯m just glad you¡¯re alright.¡± Emily smiled. ¡°Not the first time you¡¯ve said that.¡± ¡°Hey, it¡¯s true.¡± ¡°Well thanks. It¡¯s very sweet of you. But you still haven¡¯t answered my question.¡± ¡°Um, about what it¡¯s like? To be honest, not that different. I mostly just want to finish my degree and live a normal life, you know, everything I was doing right up until Christmas break.¡± ¡°So what can you do?¡± ¡°Well, I seem to be a little bit omniscient. I get flashes of knowledge sometimes, like during study or homework.¡± Emily recoiled in mock disgust. ¡°Cheater!¡± ¡°It¡¯s not intentional, I promise. But it does make school a little bit easier.¡± I admitted. ¡°Can you read minds?¡± I shook my head. ¡°No. Not sure that I¡¯d want to, anyways. It was weird enough knowing one person¡¯s secret; I don¡¯t need to know more.¡± ¡°And you mentioned a time stop thing?¡± I thought for a moment to come up with a metaphor. ¡°It feels like I can kind of hold onto time as it flows by, like if you¡¯re falling and grab onto a rope.¡± Emily frowned. ¡°So shouldn¡¯t everything be frozen?¡± ¡°Yes, and everything is frozen, until I touch it. Don¡¯t ask me how that works. I have no idea.¡± I shook my head. ¡°F=ma seems to be totally broken when time is stopped.¡± ¡°Or it¡¯s not quite a full time stop, and the forces are magnified.¡± Emily suggested. ¡°Or it just works because it¡¯s divine.¡± I replied. ¡°Judging by the lobby floor, I¡¯d guess that conventional math and physics don¡¯t need to apply when God gets involved.¡± Emily leaned back in her chair. ¡°I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll figure it out. We are engineers, after all.¡± I chuckled. ¡°Studying what, supernatural metaphysics?¡± ¡°Sure, why not.¡± ¡°Emily¡­ listen.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Earlier, you said you were worried about your safety. Your dad¡¯s underground contacts.¡± The smile faded from Emily¡¯s face. ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Tell you what. If you¡¯re ever in danger, you send me a text message with your location. I can be there the moment I read the text.¡± ¡°Will that help?¡± ¡°As long as it¡¯s only humans involved, yes.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Angels and demons aren¡¯t affected by the time stop thing.¡± ¡°Oh. I suppose that makes sense.¡± The day drew on, and sure enough we both decided it was time to get back to Earth. We made our way back to the Gate and came out of the dorm room closet. We had just re-entered my dorm room when the door opened. Kevin walked in, blasting more crappy music from the earphones draped around his neck. ¡°Dude, Jimmy, put a sock on the door.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not- we¡¯re not, um-¡± I stammered. Kevin gave a big stupid grin and laughed. ¡°Nah dude just fuckin with ya.¡± ¡°Oh. Okay then.¡± I glanced over at Emily. She was blushing. Was that a good thing? I had no idea how to read girls, at least not without hints from on high. ¡°No, seriously though, I see you two together all the time. It woulda been about time.¡± ¡°Very funny Kevin.¡± ¡°Oh come on. You need to lighten up, man. Enough with the homework and studying, you need to learn how to joke around.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll, we¡¯re busy. And unlike you, we¡¯ll actually pass our classes.¡± ¡°Whatever dudes.¡± We left before Kevin could think of something else stupid to say. ¦¡s we made our way down to the cafeteria in search of some dinner, Emily checked her phone. ¡°One missed call and voicemail.¡±
¡°Hi Emily Butler, this is Officer Jackson, investigating an incident last night with your parents Nigel and Allison. I have a few questions I¡¯d like to ask to help clear up a few things. If you could give the station a call, we¡¯d really appreciate that. Thanks.¡±
===END Chapter IX=== Chapter X James Exosia There was, it seemed, a fine line with Emily. Ordinarily, she was happy, outgoing, and delightfully nerdy. Unfortunately, the stress of dealing with anything parent-related could make her retreat into her emotional turtle shell. So Emily¡¯s voicemail from Officer Jackson was an unwelcome element in a day that had otherwise been pretty good. ¡°You don¡¯t have to talk to them if you don¡¯t want to, you know.¡± I said, as we swiped into the campus cafeteria. ¡°Oh?¡± I shook my head. ¡°If you ¡®needed¡¯¡± I made air quotes ¡°to come in, they would have a warrant or a subpoena. And since this Officer Jackson person is asking nicely, they don¡¯t have either. Probably don¡¯t need one anyways, considering the evidence left on the laptop.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°We have both had an absolutely crazy week.¡± Emily nodded in agreement. ¡°So let¡¯s forget about that for now, and let the police do their thing without us worrying about it. And let¡¯s try to get back to focusing on school.¡± Emily gave a small smile - a good sign. ¡°Yeah. That sounds good. God, two weeks ago if someone had said any of this would happen, I would never have believed it.¡± ¡°I know, me neither. I was dealing with all of this on my own for a long time. Not that I want you to have to deal with my problems, but it¡¯s nice to share this whole supernatural thing.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± Emily said, sympathetically. ¡°Like, there¡¯s still the whole issue of my father¡¯s shady friends, but it¡¯s really nice to not be alone.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± We found a free table and began eating. ¡°I agree. And also, please don¡¯t forget, I can get you out of trouble at a moment¡¯s notice.¡± Emily picked at her food. ¡°I know you can, and after everything today, it¡¯s not that I don¡¯t believe you. It¡¯s just that¡­ This is all just so much to take in, you know?¡± I nodded. ¡°This has been a lifelong issue for me, and we¡¯re less than twenty-four hours into taking it apart completely. It¡¯s a lot to process.¡± I smiled at Emily. At least, I tried to smile. For all I knew, it could have been anything from a stiff frown to a crazed grin. ¡°Emily, I¡¯m here for you.¡± That was awkward phrasing. ¡°Like, I¡¯m sure I¡¯m going to need to lean on you, you know? You¡¯re the only other person that knows about my¡­ abilities.¡± My vocabulary seemed to be falling apart by the moment. ¡°And I want to be there for you as well. If that makes sense.¡± Emily smiled. ¡°It does. And thanks. It¡¯s really sweet of you. I just need time to let it all sink in. Time, and maybe another trip to the therapist.¡± ¡°Yeah, about that¡­ we should probably set you up with mine now.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°¡­He¡¯s an angel. Raguel.¡± Emily rolled her eyes. ¡°I should have guessed. I suppose your ¡®friend¡¯ that set up the first therapist is actually an angel?¡± I nodded. ¡°His name is Cael. He¡¯s actually the one that saved me over Christmas.¡± Emily grinned. ¡°I¡¯ll have to thank him for making sure I have a study buddy.¡± I was feeling impulsive. ¡°You want me to call him here?¡± ¡°You can do that?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Geez James, what am I getting myself into?¡± I gulped down the enormous bite of food that I¡¯d taken at exactly the wrong moment. ¡°Trust me, if I could answer that, I would. But I have no idea. I¡¯m flying by the seat of my pants here.¡± ¡°You and me both.¡± I still had the urge to impress Emily by summoning an angel. ¡°Let¡¯s figure this all out together then? As a team?¡± Emily gave a soft smile. ¡°I¡¯d like that.¡± We finished eating, and headed back to the dorm tower. Unfortunately, the week¡¯s events had no effect on our academic workloads. There were still chemical reaction mechanics to learn, lab reports to proofread, history lessons to absorb, and calculus to practice. All on a Sunday evening. It was time to get to work.
Detective Darren Sanders Dakota Jackson came into my office, carrying another pile of reports that she unceremoniously dumped on my desk. ¡°Hotel assault from the other night. I can¡¯t make heads or tails of it, and I was hoping you might see something that I¡¯m missing.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. I grunted, stacked my current papers into a pile, and pushed them to the side. ¡°I¡¯ll take a look¡± I said, as I picked up another case file to look through. Officer Jackson didn¡¯t move. ¡°I said, I¡¯ll take a look¡± I repeated. ¡°Clearly you¡¯re not.¡± A little part of me died inside. The younger generation had no respect, even within law enforcement, it seemed. ¡°I¡¯ll get to it when I get to it, Jackson. Or are you going to stand there while I schedule out my plans for the next week?¡± Officer Jackson sighed. ¡°I was hoping you could ¡®get to it¡¯ sooner rather than later. It¡¯s a strange case.¡± ¡°Victim had a computer full of CP. I heard. It¡¯s not ¡®strange¡¯, Jackson; dirtbags like him are why we have jobs.¡± Truth be told, I wanted to congratulate whoever it was that had delivered him to us so nicely, though I wasn¡¯t about to say it. ¡°Tell you what, put it on the stack here and I¡¯ll make sure I look it over before the end of the day.¡± ¡°Thanks, Darren. You¡¯re the best.¡± ¡°Yeah yeah, I know.¡± Now get out of my office, Jackson. As if reading my mind, Jackson left. I eyed the new file warily, chugged my coffee, and got back to work.
Emily Butler We stopped at my dorm, and I grabbed my books. Then we headed up James¡¯s room. I went through the motions of opening the calculus textbook and starting the homework. It wasn¡¯t until I¡¯d read through the first problem four times that I realized my heart wasn¡¯t really in it right now. My head was still trying to make some sense of today¡¯s events. My parents had been arrested. My dad was going to spend a long time in jail. Hopefully. Heaven existed. The portal was in the closet. It had amazing coffee and the best library I could ever want. James knew angels. James also had superpowers. And he wanted to use them¡­ for me. Why? He¡¯d already busted my dad. So where is next semester¡¯s tuition going to come from? Maybe an angel can hook me up with that? Am I sure that this all isn¡¯t just a strange dream? No, I could definitely feel the effects of the self-refilling coffee. ¡°F of x equals six x sine two x plus c.¡± James announced confidently, derailing my train of thought. I realized I¡¯d been mindlessly staring at him. Oops. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°The first problem.¡± he responded, handing me his work. I looked it over, forcing myself to make sense of the math. ¡°Oh. Inverse product rule?¡± ¡°Yeah. And that was all me, no divination, I promise.¡± James paused for a second. ¡°Or not. That¡¯s the right answer.¡± ¡°Good to know.¡± I copied down the solution and started working the second problem. It was nice, hanging with James. I had no idea what to make of the whole divine power thing, but he had been there for me twice when I needed him. And he¡¯d taken care of my dad. It might prove to be phenomenally stupid, but it was sweet. At least forcing myself to do math helped me stay out of my own head.
Detective Darren Sanders Officer Jackson had been right, damn her. Not that I¡¯d ever admit it to her out loud. The Nigel Butler case was tricky. Not the kiddie porn part; that was easily an open and shut case. He would be going away for a long time. The piece of shit deserved it. The hotel assault part, on the other hand just did not make an ounce of sense. The timing was screwy, the footage had exactly fuckall for leads, and the one witness - who, as far as I cared, was probably just as guilty - reported an apparition of someone named ¡°James¡±. In fact, if it weren¡¯t for the Butlers clearly entering the hotel just a few minutes prior to being found by Officer Jackson, I¡¯d be inclined to dismiss the whole thing as a hoax. I closed up the case folder and went to hunt down another mug of coffee. My cardiologist hated my late night coffee consumption, but he could go fuck himself. After returning to my office and staring pensively at the case folder, I added half a shot of whiskey to the coffee. Alright, let¡¯s take it from the top again. 911 call, placed from a supposedly empty room. Transcript itself was straightforward: reporting an assault at the Butler¡¯s hotel room. Officer report: Dakota Jackson arrived on-site. Investigated report of assault, found Nigel handcuffed to bed and Allison emotional but compliant. Discovered laptop computer displaying slideshow of disturbing images. Arrested Nigel immediately, and detained Allison for further questioning. Medical report: Nigel Butler covered in bruises. Stated that he felt like he ¡°got hit by a truck.¡± Allison Butler emotional but unharmed. Copies of the booking intake forms and family visitation forms. Nigel and Allison were married, with one daughter, Emily Butler. Witness statement by Allison. Reported entering the room, and seeing a ¡°James¡± before blacking out and finding Nigel on the bed with the slideshow playing. Hang on. I¡¯d seen that combination of names before somewhere. Where was it? Was it- no, that wasn¡¯t it. The bank. It was the bank. I dug through the stack of folders on the side of my desk, and found case file. I shoved the Butler folder to the back and opened the bank file. 911 transcripts, officer reports, initial ballistics reports, preliminary autopsy results, come on, come on. Witness statements. Here we go, it¡¯s gotta be somewhere in here. I found the two statements I was looking for: Emily Butler, and James Exosia. Both students, about the same age. They¡¯d both been in the bank when the botched robbery went down. Emily had been a hostage. James had been in the bathroom when the incident started, and he had used his position to distract the perps. And now they were both connected to the hotel assault. Two crimes in the space of just under a week. Jackson had missed it because she¡¯d been on another call at the time of the bank robbery, and hadn¡¯t been involved in the response. So why James and Emily? Were these two lovers? Co-conspirators? Vigilantes? Was there some other connection between the Butler parents and the bank robbers? If nothing else, I at least had a likely last name for the ¡°James¡± that Allison had reported seeing. I found the next opening in my calendar and penciled in ¡°Investigate James Exosia - bank/hotel¡± I closed the bank case file, downed my spiked coffee, and got up for more. It was going to be a long week.
James Exosia I jerked myself awake. Homework! Emily chuckled. ¡°Hey, James.¡± I looked around and got my bearings. ¡°How long was I out?¡± Emily checked the time on her phone. ¡°Twenty minutes, half hour, something like that. It¡¯s almost midnight.¡± ¡°Oh. Geez. Sorry.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I finished the chemistry; here, take a look.¡± I gratefully took the sheet from Emily and copied down the answers. ¡°Thanks.¡± It¡¯s all correct. Damn, Emily was sharp. Meanwhile, I¡¯d been fading out in front of her. Great. ¡°Alright, that¡¯s the chemistry.¡± I said, as I finished writing out Emily¡¯s answers. ¡°What¡¯s next?¡± ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± Emily replied, as she packed up her papers and stuffed everything back into her bag. ¡°Really? Sweet.¡± ¡°Yup. You can go back to sleep now.¡± ¡°Heh. Sorry again for that.¡± Emily zipped up her bag and sat back down. ¡°I said don¡¯t worry about it.¡± She gave me a hug, and my exhausted mind went blank.
Beep beep beep beep
I rolled over and turned off my alarm, pushing Emily¡¯s arm off my phone. Wait, what? Chapter XI

James Exosia What happened last night? The realization that Emily was in my bed did wonders for clearing my head from morning fog. Emily and I had come to my room to do homework. I¡¯d dozed off and¡­ Did we have sex? No, thank goodness. I was still wearing my clothes. I¡¯d taken off my shirt at some point in the night, but the pants were still on. Emily was next to me, her messed-up hair falling gracefully over her face. She was also still in her clothes from yesterday. God she was beautiful. What was a guy supposed to do when waking up with a girl? Even my spark of omniscience didn¡¯t seem to be able to answer that one. I got up and went to the bathroom, trying to make as little noise as possible. Mercifully, Kevin was elsewhere, presumably hung over in some frat house from yet another night-long party. I splashed water on my face, ran my fingers through my hair, and came back. In my absence, Emily had turned my bed into a veritable bird¡¯s nest. She was still sound asleep. I packed up my notes and books from last night and straightened up the room. I still had to shower and change, but I wasn¡¯t sure if it would be appropriate, given the circumstances. I nudged Emily on the shoulder. ¡°Hey, Emily. Um, good morning.¡± ¡°Mmmrrrmphhh.¡± I nudged harder. ¡°Emily. Time to get up for class.¡± Emily¡¯s eyes opened, and she looked around. ¡°Wha¡­? James?¡± ¡°Good morning.¡± Emily sat up, and realization seemed to slowly set in. ¡°Did I-?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, Emily. I don¡¯t mind.¡± The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. ¡°Though I am curious why you didn¡¯t go back to your own room.¡± Emily turned bright red. ¡°I thought you might wake up again so I stayed.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°¡­and I didn¡¯t want to go.¡± Emily somehow turned an even brighter shade of red. Hang on a second. Did she like me too? I was momentarily speechless. Then I pulled my thoughts together. ¡°Um, we have class in an hour. Let¡¯s change, and I¡¯ll meet you downstairs?¡± Emily nodded. Today was off to a good start.
Thanks to the late night study (and snuggle?) session, I was well-prepared for class. I aced the usual history quiz with only minimal divine intervention, turned in a perfect calculus homework, and even paused time to write ¡°Hi, Emily! (¥Ä) -James¡± on her notes in the middle of class. Right next to where Emily was writing at the time, of course. She gave me the eye, and I couldn¡¯t stop myself from grinning. It was nice to have someone to joke around with. The remainder of the day time passed uneventfully. I did spent most of it with Emily, which was unusual. We sat together for Organic and Calculus, and promptly met up after the classes we didn¡¯t share. Somehow, neither of us brought up the topic of the awkward morning. It helped that we were in almost all the same classes. She had a different elective than European History, though. And even though we¡¯d spent the bulk of yesterday lounging around Heaven, it was good to finally have a normal day.
Raguel Knock knock ¡°Come in¡± called Cael from inside the office. I opened the door and entered. Cael was working on something at his desk. ¡°Cael, nice to see you.¡± ¡°Same to you.¡± he replied, not looking up from his work. ¡°Have a seat.¡± I sat. Cael finished whatever he was doing and spoke up. ¡°I wanted to get your opinion on the Hybrid, James Exosia. You met with him a few days ago?¡± ¡°I did.¡± I responded. ¡°And have you been Watching him since?¡± ¡°On and off, yes. He has a strong moral compass, but is plagued by social insecurities and emotional difficulties. Not unlike yourself, in fact. Despite his initial frustrations at his Hybrid status, he¡¯s become quite clever in adapting and using his abilities.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Cael scribbled something down. ¡°Elaborate.¡± ¡°As you told me before, he wants to be left out of the War, and has already rejected deals with Lucifer.¡± ¡°I knew that already.¡± ¡°However, he¡¯s not afraid to draw on his powers where he feels that it¡¯s for the benefit of those he cares about. As of now that¡¯s essentially just Emily Butler, for whom he has strong feelings. It would include his family too, but he hasn¡¯t had much contact with them while he¡¯s been at school.¡± Cael kept scribbling. ¡°Do you think he could be convinced to help our side?¡± I thought for a moment. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. His morals certainly lead him to favor our side. However, that would necessarily involve engaging in conflict with the Rebels, which he does not seem to be ready for.¡± Cael opened up a folder and handed me a paper. ¡°What do you think of this?¡± I skimmed through the sheet. ¡°That could work. Minimal conflict, largely an operation of tact and deception. It inherently goes against our nature, but James would certainly be capable of it. Again though, he would have to be convinced to help our cause.¡± Cael took the paper back. ¡°Thank you Raguel.¡±
James Exosia Emily and I trekked back towards the dorms, the snow falling around us. Neither of us had the right shoes on. We got back to the dorm tower and stomped off our sneakers. I spent the entire elevator ride up wrestling with the idea of giving Emily a kiss on the cheek. I really liked her, but was it moving too fast? Was she still weirded out by the unintentional sleepover? Would she think that I was- ¡°Can you really summon angels?¡± Emily asked suddenly. ¡°Um.¡± I reeled my stray mind back in. ¡°Yeah. Or at least, they have a habit of showing up when I call. That was how I double-checked about your dad. Only, that one was a demon.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°His name is Alocer. Pretty cool guy, most of the time at least. A lot nicer than you might expect a demon to be.¡± The elevator arrived at my floor and we headed to my room. ¡°Hey Alocer!¡± I called as I opened my dorm door. Sure enough, he was lounging on Kevin¡¯s bed. ¡°Good evening James.¡± I ditched my backpack to make introductions. ¡°Alocer, this is Emily. Emily, Alocer.¡± ¡°Hi, um, nice to meet you.¡± Emily said. Alocer got up and shook Emily¡¯s hand. ¡°The pleasure is all mine, my dear.¡± ¡°So, you¡¯re¡­ a demon?¡± Emily asked, hesitantly. ¡°Indeed.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± ¡°Not what you expected, I imagine? Perhaps you were thinking more pentagrams and black candles, along with red skin and horns?¡± ¡°Um¡­ yeah, actually.¡± Alocer smiled. ¡°We dress with the times, darling. Horns went out of style centuries ago.¡± ¡°I see.¡± I piped up. ¡°I was hoping you could show Emily your reservations book. You know, her father¡¯s entry.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Alocer pulled the enormous volume from his sleeve and plopped it onto the desk. ¡°Butler, Nigel.¡± He pointed at an entry. Emily looked at it. ¡°I can¡¯t read that.¡± ¡°Right, of course.¡± Alocer responded. He waved his hand. ¡°Try again.¡± Emily blinked a few times as the writing rendered itself in English. ¡°Butler, Nigel. Cell omega-nine-two, um, oh-.¡± ¡°¦¸-92¡¯O#S5;-2B67-?1¡± Alocer rattled off. ¡°Omega-series cell assignments are quite rare.¡± Emily frowned. ¡°So my dad¡¯s going to spend eternity in a torture cell in Hell?¡± Alocer took the reservations book back. ¡°That is what it looks like.¡± He stuffed the book into his suit jacket. Emily flopped down on my bed. ¡°Good. Serves him right.¡± ¡°Naturally.¡± Alocer turned to leave. ¡°Oh, James. Have you give any more thought to Lucifer¡¯s offer?¡± I shook my head. ¡°Not happening.¡± I replied. ¡°But you¡¯ll be glad to know that I¡¯m not running errands for Heaven either.¡± ¡°Fair enough. I must say, I¡¯ve never met a Hybrid who was so determined to stay so neutral. Most of them pick sides quite rapidly.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not most people.¡± ¡°No, James, no you¡¯re not. Anyways, it¡¯s been a pleasure as always, but I must get going. Emily my dear, it was lovely to meet you. Have a nice night.¡± ¡°You too.¡± And then Alocer was gone. Emily furrowed her brow. ¡°Is it weird that he¡¯s actually nicer than my father?¡± I shrugged and flopped down on the bed next to Emily. ¡°I don¡¯t really know your father. I just knew his deepest darkest secret.¡± ¡°How fucked up is it that he¡¯s more of an asshole than, you know, an actual demon of Hell?¡± ¡°Pretty fucked up, I¡¯d say. Why?¡± Emily screwed her face up in that adorable way again. ¡°I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s just making me think.¡± ¡°How so?¡± ¡°Like, he¡¯s a demon, right? So, by definition, shouldn¡¯t he be evil and nefarious? And not all charming and gentlemanly?¡± I shrugged. ¡°Could be an act, I suppose. There¡¯s another demon I¡¯ve run into, named Aamon, who¡¯s pretty much what you¡¯re describing. Colossal jerk. He was actually behind the bank robbery; I watched him reap the souls of the robbers after they got shot.¡± ¡°Wow.¡± ¡°And the whole point of the bank robbery was just to pressure me into talking to Lucifer about some scroll he wanted, which is what Alocer was referring to on his way out. Like I said, Aamon¡¯s a huge jerk¡± ¡°What does a bank robbery have to do with talking to Lucifer?¡± It was at that point I realized I¡¯d said too much. I could feel my face starting to get red. ¡°Well¡­ it was because you were inside.¡± I said, staring intensely at the ceiling. Emily took a moment to put the pieces together. ¡°So I was the bargaining chip?¡± ¡°To Aamon, yeah.¡± ¡°I hate him already. He does sound like a jerk.. And- hang on, you said you¡¯d been to Hell too, right?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Was that for-¡± ¡°The bank. Yeah. All during the moment just before Daniel shot the robbers.¡± ¡°For me?¡± I felt my face turning red. Yes, of course it was for Emily. I wasn¡¯t sure that I¡¯d go through hell for anyone else outside of family. ¡°Well, I mean, it¡¯s not like I had a choice. You were in there.¡± ¡°James, that¡¯s so sweet of you.¡± Emily said, as she hug-tackled me. Oof. In an instant, I was overwhelmed by Emily¡¯s warmth, the weight of her body on mine, the feeling of her hair falling on my face, the scent of her shampoo, and the shock of her sudden affection. Not knowing what else to do, I hugged her back. I could feel the blood rushing in my head, I could hear my heart beating in my ears. I wondered if I should kis- And then she rolled off of me. My head was still in the clouds. ¡°So is Kevin gone again tonight?¡± I could hardly process it.
Alocer I stood outside the coffee shop, waiting for Lucifer¡¯s errand-demon to arrive. Despite the nighttime snowfall and wind chill, I was perfectly comfortable in my suit. ¡°Make it quick. You know Lucifer doesn¡¯t like to send us all the way out here.¡± I turned, then removed an envelope from my inside breast pocket and handed it over. ¡°The first Whispers have been successful. It¡¯s difficult to find time to Whisper - she spent nearly all of today with the Hybrid - but we are on track.¡± ¡°I will convey the message.¡± The other demon put the envelope in his own inside breast pocket. Then he frowned. ¡°This was a long way to come for just one envelope.¡± Insolent whelp. I pointed inside the coffee shop. ¡°There¡¯s a Gate at the men¡¯s bathroom door. Use that.¡± Without so much as a thanks, the messenger walked inside the shop to use the portal. Typical upstart youngling with an over-inflated head. He¡¯d learn, sometime in the next couple of decades, to not complain about his superiors like that. But I had more important things to focus on. ===END Chapter XI=== This chapter was produced with the support of my Hybrid patron:
Chapter XII James Exosia As it turned out, Kevin was not, in fact, gone that night. He swaggered in at the worst possible moment, reeking of stale frat house party, with the usual shitty hip-hop blasting from the earbuds hanging around his neck. The continued existence of Kevin¡¯s earbuds had me wondering if a cure for cancer might come in the form of a hammer. He looked at me and Emily sprawled on the bed, and dumped his bag onto the floor. ¡°Dude. I told you¡± he said. ¡°Sock. Door.¡± ¡°Nice to see you too, Kevin.¡± ¡°Seriously, man.¡± Kevin replied. ¡°This is the second time I¡¯ve walked in on you in like, what, two days? I don¡¯t mind if you two fuck but come on.¡± Emily hid her face in embarrassment. ¡°We¡¯re not-, oh come on, man, knock it off.¡± ¡°Fine, James, whatever.¡± Kevin winked at me, dug his pajama pants out from under his bed and disappeared into the bathroom to change. The romantic mood having been thoroughly ruined, Emily and I climbed off the bed. ¡°What an asshole. That was awkward. I¡¯m sorry you had to hear that.¡± ¡°Um, yeah. Sorry.¡± Emily pushed her hair behind her ear. ¡°I¡¯ll see you tomorrow?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± And then she was gone. A few minutes later, Kevin emerged from the bathroom, and he was completely clueless as to why I was pissed at him. ¡°Kevin. We need to talk.¡± ¡°About you putting socks on the door when you¡¯re fucking?¡± I shook my head. ¡°No. Emily has been through a lot. I¡¯m not trying to sleep with her.¡± Alright, technically I was, in the strictest sense of the word ¡°sleep¡±, but Kevin didn¡¯t need to know that. ¡°And I¡¯d appreciate it if you stopped insinuating that I was.¡± Kevin gave a big goofy grin. ¡°This is college, man. You gotta live it up! You don¡¯t gotta lie and make up cover stories! We¡¯re here to have fun.¡± I briefly wondered how hard I could hit my head against the wall. I had probably lost Kevin at the word ¡°appreciate¡±. It did have four syllables, after all. ¡°Just leave Emily alone. Or at least be nice to her. I¡¯m serious - she needs it.¡± ¡°Whatever dude.¡±
Cael I unrolled a sheet of parchment, and laid it out on my desk. I set out the inkwell, sealing wax and stamps, and wooden scroll rod. Everything was ready. I dipped the pen in the inkwell, and wrote out the spell. Contrary to popular mortal belief, this didn¡¯t involve archaic runes or blood - just a few sentences in angelic script clearly and unambiguously describing the desired effect. Alright, so angelic script often looked like runes to humans. Not my problem. I¡¯d come up with the wording some time ago, but there had been no point in actually following through with the enchantment. Until now. I double-checked my work. Once the ink dried, I stood up, removed my suit jacket, and rolled up my sleeves. I released my power. My hands ignited in a divine blast of light and glory, which I immediately directed at the parchment on the desk. It absorbed the power easily, the ink glowing white-hot as the spell did its work. I let flow for several minutes, pushing as much energy into the scroll as it could hold. In a flash, I rolled up the scroll around the rod and held it closed. I grabbed the sealing wax and stamps, and quickly applied the seals to the scroll. The stamps themselves had small lettering carved in as part of the design. Once the wax cooled, I imbued each seal with a small amount of energy to activate their respective spells. With a wave of my hand, I aged the scroll thousands of years. My work thus complete, I sat back in my chair and closed my eyes. Time could be fiddly. I concentrated, and examined the possible futures for the next hour. Although the time span was relatively short, the sheer number of potential decisions branched exponentially, and there were millions of threads to follow. It took me years. Certain outcomes were more frequent than others, and after a few moments I opened my eyes with a jolt of nausea. The odds of success weren¡¯t that great, but I could always try again. I put my suit jacket back on, picked up the scroll, and left my office. It was time to plant the decoy.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
James Exosia The next week was comparatively normal. I went to classes, did homework, and spent inordinate amounts of time writing organic chemistry lab reports. Aside from the occasional flash of omniscience, nothing out of the ordinary happened. Unfortunately, there were no more mentions of sleeping over, and Emily hadn¡¯t been very talkative about the subject. I desperately wanted to ask, but I didn¡¯t know how to approach the topic - or even if I should. I had already pushed Emily too far once, in the elevator after meeting her parents. I had used all the subtlety, grace, and tact of a rusty sledgehammer, and I didn¡¯t want to stress Emily out again. ¡°How have you been holding up?¡± I asked Emily one day, as we studied in the great library of Heaven. ¡°You¡¯ve been kind of quiet, lately.¡± ¡°It¡¯s been crappy.¡± she replied. ¡°But I¡¯ll manage.¡± ¡°Anything I can do to help?¡± ¡°Heh. You¡¯ve already helped a lot.¡± Emily downed the remainder of her pumpkin spice latte and waited for it to refill itself. ¡°I had a call from the prosecutor asking if I¡¯d be willing to testify against my parents. I said yes, but that¡¯s gonna be hard.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°It¡¯s all kind of starting to sink in, you know? And even though my dad¡¯s finally been busted, he¡¯s not out of my life. I¡¯ll just be happy to have this whole thing behind me.¡± ¡°Me too. You¡¯re more fun to be around when you¡¯re happy.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± I smiled. Emily looked at the floor. Something was definitely wrong.
Detective Darren Sanders I walked into the station. dropped my briefcase and jacket in my office, and immediately loaded up on coffee. I was going to need all the caffeine I could get. I¡¯d been both anticipating and dreading today, ever since I had penciled ¡°Investigate James Exosia - bank/hotel¡± on my desk calendar. Most of my investigations were fairly straightforward. The simplest cases usually started and ended with a license plate query to the DMV. Most of my ¡°complicated¡± cases merely involved getting a suspect¡¯s parents to spill the beans on their felonious little shits. This case, though, was the other way around. I already had a name. What I didn¡¯t have - strictly speaking - was a crime. The security tapes had been sent off for digital forensics, to see if there was anything important that had been overwritten. But data recovery was expensive and time consuming, and until that came back, I was shooting in the dark. I filled out a warrant request for James Exosia¡¯s school records, and dropped it in the outgoing mail for a judge to approve. I got one of the techy officers to search the criminal database, but that turned up nothing. Then I filled out an authorization for a more detailed background check, and dropped that in the outgoing mail next to the warrant. With the office basics covered, the next step was to investigate the target, personally. Until the warrant and background check came back, the only thing I had to go on was his address from his witness statement at the bank. Assuming James hadn¡¯t lied about it, at least. He probably had. According to the statement, he lived in one of the dorm towers on campus. It was even the same tower that Emily Butler lived in. I didn¡¯t know what James looked like, but I did have a photo of Emily to work with. I also wanted to chat with Emily anyways, and there was a decent chance that I could get to James through her as well. I picked up my jacket and car keys and headed to campus. After a short drive, I found the dorm tower and had a seat in the ground floor common area between the elevators and the front doors. If Emily Butler came or went, I would be able to see her. This was the part of detective work that nobody liked. Staking out a person of interest was no fun. It required someone to give their full attention to something that might not change for hours. Fortunately, it was a weekday, and the odds of Emily going to or coming from a class were high. I settled in for the wait.
Emily Butler Sometimes, I just didn¡¯t know what to make of James. On one hand, it was obvious that he liked me (even if he was too shy to admit it outright), and was sympathetic to my situation. It was sweet, and he was kinda cute. On the other hand¡­ well, I couldn¡¯t get Kevin¡¯s voice out of my head: I don¡¯t mind if you two fuck but come on! How could I have been so stupid? It had been a mistake to fall asleep in James¡¯s bed. I¡¯d gotten lost in the crazy chaos of my parents¡¯ arrest at the time, but now, with a clearer head, it was so freaking obvious. James had been trying to get in my pants. And yet, here I was, still hanging out with James. Who I wasn¡¯t even sure if I could trust any more. Was I doomed to spend my entire life, cradle to grave, as a sex target? At least Heaven had good coffee. I downed the rest of my latte (again) and tried to focus on school work. ¡°Penny for your thoughts.¡± James prompted out of nowhere. Better to pretend nothing was wrong. ¡°I hope you have a lot of pennies¡± I quickly ad-libbed. ¡°Um¡­¡± ¡°Chemistry.¡± I lied. ¡°Trying to figure out the rate constant for the last problem.¡± That was at least partly true. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m having trouble with that one too.¡± James replied, then he sighed and closed his notes. ¡°At least we¡¯re in a library. Want to find a chemistry book?¡± I sighed too. ¡°May as well.¡± We loaded up our backpacks, and set off to explore the library¡¯s seemingly endless towers of books.
James Exosia Emily and I wandered aimlessly throughout the Library, from tower to tower, level to level. The library covered every topic imaginable, in extensive detail, filling towers of books as far as we could see. It seemed to be organized by some combination of topic, time period, and author name. But despite being able to understand everything regardless of language, we were unable to figure out the scheme even after several minutes of hypothesizing. We weren¡¯t sure where the chemistry section was, but the library was fun to explore all on its own. We pulled random books and scrolls out to skim through, purely out of idle curiosity. Suddenly, while brushing my hand along a row of scrolls, I felt a flash of power. ¡°Woah.¡± Emily turned around. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°One of these scrolls¡­ hang on..¡± I replied, searching among the scrolls for the one that I¡¯d felt. ¡°Got it.¡± I took out the scroll. Visually, it was an ordinary thing, if very old. Spiritually, it was radiating power - an unbelievably immense amount of power. But that power was securely locked up and completely inaccessible. ¡°Ok, it¡¯s another scroll.¡± Emily said with a frown. ¡°What¡¯s so special about that one?¡± I remembered that she couldn¡¯t feel it the way I could. ¡°It¡¯s full of power.¡± I explained. ¡°But locked away.¡± I replied. ¡°Like a nuclear-powered light bulb encased in several hundred tons of steel.¡± Emily seemed intrigued. ¡°So what is it?¡± I turned the scroll over to find the open end, but there were seven wax seals holding it shut. I had a flash of Insight. ¡°I think this is what Lucifer wanted me to get for him.¡± ===END Chapter XII=== This chapter was produced with the support of my Hybrid patron: Chapter XIII
James Exosia Emily creased her forehead. ¡°Who wanted you to get that?¡± ¡°Lucifer.¡± I answered, turning the scroll over in my hands and examining it. ¡°As in, like, Satan? The Devil? That Lucifer?¡± ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°Geez. And just when I think my life can¡¯t get any weirder¡­¡± Emily trailed off. I smiled. ¡°Welcome to the club.¡± ¡°Alright, you definitely win on that front.¡± Emily smiled back. ¡°So tell me. Why did Lucifer want the scroll?¡± ¡°Well, supposedly, it¡¯s just for his collection of artifacts. Like, he¡¯s got the rock that Cain killed Abel with, from the beginning of Genesis. And a bunch of other things, displayed around his throne like an art exhibit.¡± Emily nodded. ¡°He asked me if I could get him this scroll from Heaven for his collection. Said it was written by the apostle John. But¡­¡± I ran my hand over the wax seals. ¡°I¡¯m starting to think that isn¡¯t the case.¡± ¡°It¡¯s Lucifer.¡± Emily replied. ¡°If he said it was written by John, I¡¯d say it¡¯s more likely to not be written by John¡± I chuckled. ¡°Seems obvious in hindsight, doesn¡¯t it? The thing is, though, that Lucifer did seem like a pretty tolerable guy, right up until he started offering me ¡®whatever I wanted¡¯ in exchange. At that point, I was already pissed at him about trapping you in the bank, so I bailed.¡± ¡°That was probably the right move.¡± ¡°Yeah. Got you out of the bank, and didn¡¯t have to sell my soul to do it.¡± ¡°So what now?¡± I stared at the scroll, contemplating its power. ¡°I¡¯m going to put this right back where we found it.¡± I replied, as I stuffed it back into the shelves. ¡°This was probably put here for a reason, and what better place to hide a book than the biggest library in all of existence?¡± Emily smiled. ¡°Let¡¯s just hope Nicholas Cage doesn¡¯t come looking for it.¡±
Detective Darren Sanders The elevator dinged. I watched, intently. Nope. Five Asian students left, talking excitedly about something or other. I shifted in my seat. This was at least one of the cushier stakeouts I¡¯d ever done. Not that they were ever truly comfortable, but at least the school had invested in decent furniture. A couple came in, holding hands. Not Emily. They pushed the elevator button and waited. I glanced around to make sure there were no campus security officers in sight, then took a swig from my flask. The elevator dinged again. Three people - none of whom were Emily Butler - left the elevator, and the couple got on. I didn¡¯t mind doing the stakeout; this one wasn¡¯t very difficult. It was just tedious and time consuming. Ding. Two people departing, one female, one unknown. Female dressed in brass bikini. Other indivudual in some kind of alien fat suit. Not the target. Probably. No wonder this country was going to shit, if the next generation was throwing away their education on stupid fucking costume parties. I took another swig, secretly hoping that those two knuckleheads would fail out of school. Ding. Another group of four students. Backpacks, returning from classes. Black male, middle eastern male, middle eastern female with headscarf, caucasian female. Not the target. Ding. One older male, arriving. Caucasian. Ding. Two custodial staff with a trash cart. Ding. Five students students, exiting. Hispanic male. Black male and female. Caucasian male and female. Blonde hair on the female. Double check photograph of Emily Butler. I discreetly fished out my camera. Target acquired.
James Exosia After returning the strange scroll to its shelf, Emily and I made our way back to Earth in pursuit of some dinner. We could have found it in Heaven, but it just wouldn¡¯t have been quite the same. We squished into an elevator with a few other people, descended from the dorm tower, and headed to the cafeteria. One delicious breakfast-for-dinner later, and we were back in the common area on Emily¡¯s floor, finishing up the chemistry homework that had been forgotten upon the discovery of the scroll. With the homework complete, we said goodnight to each other, and parted ways to sleep. Separated. Alone. Again.
AlocerIf you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Working around James was a tricky endeavor. I couldn¡¯t cloak myself against a Hybrid, so any time that Emily spent with James was time that I was forced to spend idling around, far enough away that I wouldn¡¯t be seen. When she said goodnight to James, I was almost relieved. When James left to go to his own floor, I was ecstatic. I ghosted down through the tower to Emily¡¯s room, waiting, invisible, in the corner. As she entered her dorm, I began Whispering.
Asmodeus Psychological Engineer I took another glance at my notes, stacked them back together, then entered the Throne Room. Slowly, I approached the throne. Lucifer stood up. ¡°What have you got for me now, Asmodeus?¡± ¡°The failure analysis of the hotel incident. The Hybrid¡¯s moral compunction against killing was greater than our initial projections had estimated. We were misled by his actions during the bank robbery, during which he was indirectly responsible for the deaths of the two robbers. However, when confronted with direct responsibility for a potential death, he chose a different path.¡± Lucifer sighed. ¡°Is that all?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve also prepared a projection report for the girl, Emily Butler. You gave me a note from Alocer detailing the contents of his Whispers. I¡¯ve worked that into my predictive models. Combined with her existing psychological trauma from her earlier life, and her current distrust of the Hybrid, I¡¯m pleased to report that the Whispers should be taking effect on schedule.¡± ¡°Even though she spends so much time around the Hybrid?¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± ¡°And because we forgot to go over this last time, what are the points of possible failure?¡± I flipped to a different page of notes. ¡°The second stage of extraction could prove to be tricky, but that can be mitigated with overwhelming force. ¡°Anything else?¡± ¡°Although the Hybrid has shown no sign of developing transdimensional powers, it is a recorded phenomenon in past Hybrids. That event is highly unlikely, and can be mitigated by sufficient preparation. And again, overwhelming force.¡± ¡°Very good. Thank you for your work, Asmodeus, you¡¯ve done well. Have a drink.¡± Lucifer descended the steps leading to his throne, and handed me a skull of blood. I accepted it gratefully. ¡°To victory.¡± ¡°A long ways off still, but yes.¡± Lucifer replied. ¡°To victory.¡±
James Exosia Over the few days, Emily and I settled into a new routine of studying together in the Heaven library whenever we had long stretches of time without classes. It was an interesting lifestyle, blending together the best of the mortal and immortal worlds. We¡¯d found the engineering section, and had started actually checking books out. At first I¡¯d been hesitant. I didn¡¯t know what kind of late fees Heaven would charge, and I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted to get on the bad side of an angelic librarian. But it turned out that the books were able to return themselves. Once I¡¯d found that out, Emily had practically needed to physically restrain me from stuffing the entire shelf on thermodynamics into my backpack. All things considered, Emily had taken the upheaval of her life fairly well, and seemed to enjoy the divine library. She had spent her whole upbringing keeping secrets, and so I couldn¡¯t blame her for preferring a setting of quiet solitude. With nobody else around other than me, there was nobody for whom Emily had to keep up her guard. At least, I was pretty sure that was what was going on. Engineers weren¡¯t known for their social intuition, and I was no exception. For all I knew, I was making up reasons that didn¡¯t exist to explain observations that I was wrong about. Emily still hadn¡¯t repeated the affection that she¡¯d shown the day after I busted her parents, though. As much as I¡¯d enjoyed waking up next to Emily, I really could not fault her for keeping her distance emotionally. Kevin, to his credit, had stopped cracking stupid remarks about the whole situation. It made him marginally more tolerable to be around. Then one morning, I woke up to a text message from my dad. Dude. Checking in. How is o chem Going quite nicely, thanks to my ability to divine the answers during the tests. Going well. Getting good grades. Made new friends. Spending a lot of time at the library studying At least I didn¡¯t have to specify which library. Glad to hear it. I¡¯ll be in town next week on business. Want to meet up one night for dinner? There was a question with an obvious answer. sure After a moment, I added Mind if I bring a friend? no problem
That morning, I caught Emily at breakfast. ¡°My dad¡¯s coming in next week.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°And I was wondering if you wanted to come to dinner with us. He¡¯s paying.¡± Emily thought about it for a moment. ¡°Does he know about¡­ you know¡­¡± I shook my head. ¡°He doesn¡¯t know about me or you. I asked if I could bring a friend; he said yes.¡± Emily looked uncertain. Maybe she inherently distrusted father figures, and I should never have asked her? ¡°He¡¯s a good person.¡± She smiled. ¡°I¡¯m in.¡±
Emily Butler I didn¡¯t know why James still liked hanging out with me. I hadn¡¯t even so much as hugged him in the last two weeks, and yet he still seemed to enjoy being around me. Not that I didn¡¯t enjoy being around him, but I felt conflicted. He¡¯d done nothing wrong, yet I couldn¡¯t risk being hurt again. Should I push him away entirely? Or surrender to whatever might happen between us? Neither option was obviously the right one, and yet I felt like I would have to choose eventually. Especially if he wanted me to meet his dad. Oh boy. James must have been oblivious to the social and romantic implications of that request. He was nice enough, but holy crap he could be clueless at times. My one solace, in my current mess of a life, was the divine Library. It was quiet, yet full of distractions. Even when not studying, I could escape into stories. I could live in fantasy worlds where the good guy always wins and evil always loses. I could read classics, written in ancient languages I¡¯d never learned. Of course, James was always still there. I couldn¡¯t get into the boys¡¯ dorm floor without him, never mind the portal to Heaven. I¡¯d seen James¡¯s actual closet once before, and I much preferred the divine version. At least he seemed to be alright with my life problems. For now. I think. Was he? It had taken me a little while to realize, but the books in the library of Heaven seemed to have a little something extra. Aside from being understandable regardless of language, there was something that made it easier to learn when studying out of them. Even though most of the hard sciences had been documented in scrolls long before books existed, they were, in a way, easier to read than the course textbooks. Which I probably wouldn¡¯t be able to afford next semester. If my parents¡¯ bank account wasn¡¯t frozen yet, it would be soon. This crazy supernatural library might at least help out on that front. James and I loaded up our arms with books and scrolls and made our way to the center platform, and took the elevator back to Heaven¡¯s lobby. We crossed the mathematically impossible world map floor, and found the door to James¡¯s dorm room. I exited first, and set my load on the desk. Suddenly, one of the scrolls vanished. I looked up, and realized James was now in front of me, near the window on the other side of the room, his face white as a ghost. His hair had gotten messed up, and he was out of breath. ¡°We are so fucked.¡± ===END Chapter XIII=== This chapter was produced with the support of my Hybrid patron:
Chapter XIV James Exosia I pushed open the closet door for Emily, and let her through first. She dumped her books on the desk as I stepped through the door. ¡°You hungry?¡± I asked, as I set my own books on the bed. No response. I turned back to Emily and realized she hadn¡¯t stopped setting her books on the desk. My stomach dropped. Time was frozen - and I definitely wasn¡¯t the one doing it. I barely had time to consider the implications, when the floor heaved upwards, erupting in a torrent of hellfire and sulfur. A demon shot out of the newly made portal to Hell, landed on the ceiling, and launched itself at me. I dodged the demon - almost. It grabbed my left arm, spinning me around to face the window. I made a fist with my free right arm, and punched the demon in the stomach. It was like hitting a steel plate. I was sure I¡¯d split the skin on my knuckles, even though I knew I wasn¡¯t very strong. But it seemed to hurt the demon, who flew into the wall, his claws leaving metaphysical scratches in my arm. I turned back to the hole. Two more demons climbed out of Hell, looking at Emily. I jumped onto my bed to circumvent the pit in the floor, and tackled one of them. He lost his balance, teetering on the edge of the abyss, before falling back in. But I¡¯d overcommitted and was losing my own balance. Quickly, I grabbed onto the other demon¡¯s arm for support, but we both fell in. For a short while, we fell down towards Hell, the hot air drying my skin and parching my lips. I disentangled myself from the demon, then remembered the magic words: ¡°I want to leave.¡± With a gut-wrenching jerk, I stopped falling, and shot upwards as Hell itself violently regurgitated me back up into my dormitory. Like the first demon to arrive, I landed on my ceiling, narrowly missing the light. I jumped to the floor - or what was left of it. In my absence, that first demon had recovered and was hovering over Emily. He turned to face me. The demon was holding a scroll. THE scroll. ¡°Oh. Fucking hell.¡± With a wicked grin, it stepped off the ledge. I jumped after him. It was hard to see through the hot air and smoky ash. I tried to streamline my fall to catch up to the demon, but it wasn¡¯t enough. We landed in Hell with a bone-breaking crunch. It would have been bone-breaking, at least, if the fall had been on Earth. My soul was going to have one hell of a bruise tomorrow. I¡¯d landed right on top of the demon. And he was still clutching the scroll and holding it out of my reach. I wrapped my arms around him, and for the second time insisted on leaving Hell. But this time, I dragged the demon back to Earth with me. With another crunch, Hell again ejected us onto my dorm ceiling. I rolled and fell, pinning the demon to my bed. The demon gave a crazed smile. ¡°I win.¡± he said happily, his voice like nails on a chalkboard. Then he ghosted through my bed, leaving me holding nothing but an armful of blankets. I jumped off the bed, just in time to see him floating outside my window. Being human had one major disadvantage: on Earth, I had to respect other solid objects. And right now, the wall was between me and the demon holding the scroll. With a groaning rumble, the pit began closing up. The hellfire around the room extinguished itself, and the ash and smoke retreated into the throat of Hell. After just a few seconds, the room looked like nothing had ever changed. Emily looked up, her expression changing to confusion as she realized that I was suddenly a mess. There was only one way to convey the trouble. ¡°We are so fucked.¡± ¡°¡­What just happened? You were behind me, and then¡­¡± Emily gestured from the closet to me. ¡°To put it simply, we were just time-stopped and attacked. By three demons. They stole the scroll - the one full of power.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not good.¡± ¡°¡­which you brought out of heaven. Why?¡± It was hard not to get angry, considering the potential implications. ¡°I-¡± Emily stammered. ¡°What?¡± ¡°The scroll. Seven seals, I compared it to a nuclear reactor encased in steel. That one. Why did you bring it to Earth? I specifically put it right back where we found it.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know!¡± Emily cried. ¡°I didn¡¯t realize that it was in my pile!¡± ¡°How did you not realize that? It¡¯s literally the single most powerful object either of us have ever seen!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know!¡± Emily cried again. ¡°Can¡¯t you call one of your angel friends or something?¡± I thought about it for a moment, while silently fuming inside. ¡°Fine. Cael!¡±A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Good evening, James¡± Cael greeted me as he stepped out the closet. Then he turned to Emily. ¡°And you must be Emily Butler. To what do I owe the pleasure?¡± ¡°Well, a bunch of demons just stole a scroll that we had borrowed from the library.¡± Cael¡¯s face seemed to darken. ¡°Which one?¡± ¡°It had seven seals on it¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s not good.¡± ¡°¡­and was full of power. But locked away.¡± Cael grabbed the desk chair and sat down. ¡°You¡¯re positive that it was thatparticular scroll?¡± ¡°Pretty sure. We¡¯ve mostly been borrowing math and science texts, and haven¡¯t been bothered until now. And I had a mind thing. Omnipotence, no, I mean omniscience.¡± Cael rested his forehead in one hand. ¡°James, do you know what that scroll is?¡± ¡°A powerful artifact, right? Like, I dunno, David¡¯s slingshot? I haven¡¯t been to church in a while¡­¡± Cael started to shake his head, when Emily spoke. ¡°¦³he apocalypse.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Cael replied. He produced a Bible from his suit jacket, flipped through it, and handed it to me. ¡°Revelation chapter six, by your indexing.¡± I read through the chapter quickly, and passed the book to Emily. ¡°The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?¡± I asked. ¡°Indeed. The scroll contains the first events of the end times. Without the scroll, there are no Four Horsemen, and no Seven Trumpets, no Seven Bowls, no Battle of Armageddon, no New Heaven or New Earth. So I¡¯m curious: how did the Scroll get out of Heaven?¡± ¡°It was in my pile of things from the Library.¡± Emily squeaked. Cael turned to face Emily. He looked at her angrily for a moment, then his expression softened. ¡°Whispers.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Emily and I asked in unison. ¡°Whispers. Ah, you¡¯d call it hypnosis. Heavy, subconscious suggestions, influencing the target¡¯s decisions or actions. Someone - a demon, I¡¯d assume - Whispered to Emily.¡± Cael waved his hand. ¡°And it¡¯s gone. No more Whispers for you.¡± Emily looked like she was on the verge of breaking out in tears. I moved over to her side of the room and tentatively began rubbing her shoulders. I hoped it was the right move - she seemed to appreciate it. Time for a change of topic to anything but Whispers. ¡°So, uh, the stolen Scroll of the Apocalypse. Is that a problem?¡± Cael¡¯s eyes shot daggers at me. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind letting humanity continue in its current state forever. No ultimate, final, irrevocable salvation, no conquering of Death, no purging of sin or defeat of Satan.¡± ¡°Alright, so can God just make make another one?¡± Cael shook his head. ¡°No. Well, technically, yes, God can do anything. But suppose another Scroll were made and then used when the End Times arrive. That leaves the first Scroll still in circulation, able to unleash Horsemen five through eight into New Earth. Which, you know, isn¡¯t supposed to happen.¡± ¡°What about Him pulling the scroll back from Hell then? Or just doing a remote self-destruct on it, like with smartphones?¡± ¡°The whole point of Hell, James, is that it¡¯s a place that is forever cut off from God, where evil is free to fester and grow, and evildoers - human and demon - are left to suffer at each other¡¯s hands for all eternity. It is a place without glory or grace, where Sanctification is literally impossible. Hell is the one place that God would never reach into, and angels can¡¯t reach into, because doing that would categorically undermine Hell¡¯s entire purpose.¡± There was a moment of quiet. Then Emily broke the silence. ¡°So that leaves James¡± she said softly. I gulped and stopped the shoulder rub. ¡°Yeah.¡± said Cael. ¡°It does.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been trying to stay out of this.¡± I said coldly. ¡°I know¡± Cael replied. I closed my fists in anger and stared intently at the wall. ¡°So I have to break into Hell, get to the center of it, storm a massive fortress built out of human souls and surrounded by a moat of molten sulfur, break into Lucifer¡¯s throne room, steal a powerful artifact, and get out?¡± ¡°Pretty much, yeah.¡± Cael answered nonchalantly. I stared at Cael, wondering if someday he might somehow pick up on sarcasm. ¡°I just lost the Scroll to three demons, am I really supposed to be able to take on the armies of Hell?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Well alright then. The weight of the future, and the Apocalypse itself, was on my shoulders. No pressure. ¡°I wanted to stay out of all of this.¡± I groaned. Emily answered me this time. ¡°It doesn¡¯t sound like that¡¯s an option.¡± ¡°Urrghh. I know.¡± I replied. ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ I didn¡¯t actually ask for any of this.¡± ¡°No, but you¡¯ve certainly been making good use of the Library.¡± Cael shot back. ¡°And you¡¯ve been putting your abilities to use here on Earth. You can¡¯t pick and choose which parts of the supernatural realm you like. You¡¯ve become part of the war, James, and that is a burden you must carry.¡± He was right. Despite my initial intentions, I had been using my newfound powers liberally. And Emily and I had also been visiting Heaven pretty often. So as much as I didn¡¯t want to admit it, there wasn¡¯t really an out for me - either practically or ethically. I blame the drunk driver that crashed into me in the first place. It was really all his fault. ¡°Fine.¡± I spat. ¡°I¡¯ll do it. But only because we fucked it up in the first place.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll come too.¡± Emily said suddenly. ¡°Um. Alright.¡± Then I realized Emily had clapped a hand over her mouth like she hadn¡¯t fully thought about it. ¡°If you¡¯re sure.¡± Please say yes please say yes please say yes Emily nodded. ¡°Can you get us two sets of climbing gear and two grappling hooks, Cael?¡± He pulled a mess of straps and rope from behind his back. ¡°Straight from the fitness center. You know how to use it?¡± I shook my head. ¡°No, but I¡¯m assuming I will know how, once the time arrives. I¡¯ve been getting better at that lately.¡± Cael stood up and put his hand on my head. ¡°Let¡¯s not take chances.¡± With that, I knew how to use the climbing gear. ¡°And, same for you Emily.¡± He started to touch her head, then pulled back. ¡°May I?¡± Emily looked at me. ¡°It¡¯s not like the Whisper.¡± I explained. ¡°It¡¯s just knowledge.¡± After a moment¡¯s hesitation, she nodded, and Cael repeated the inception process. ¡°Now what?¡± Emily asked. ¡°We go to the coffee shop.¡± I answered. ¡°There¡¯s a portal there tha-¡± ¡°Technically it¡¯s called a Gate.¡± Cael interrupted. ¡°¡­that we can use to get to Hell.¡± I finished, as I slung the climbing harnesses over my shoulder and peered out the dorm door. ¡°We¡¯re clear.¡± ¡°Is that how you went there before?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Should I reveal the rest of my thoughts? ¡°And thanks for coming; it¡¯s not exactly a nice place, and I¡¯ll be glad for company.¡± Emily didn¡¯t answer. The elevator ride down was awkward. As we approached the first floor, I spoke up. ¡°Take my hand. I¡¯m going to freeze time.¡± Emily got a curious look in her eyes (Damn, they were cute. No. Later) and held on. I felt my heart skip a beat. Ding. As the door opened, I grabbed on to the flow of time, pulling Emily and myself into the space between moments. ¡°The last thing we¡¯d need is anyone wondering why we have stolen climbing gear.¡± I explained. ¡°Or wondering why we¡¯re opening a portal to hell?¡± ¡°Yeah, that too.¡± We left the elevator, passing students and staff frozen mid-stride. ¡°Wow!¡± Emily said. ¡°Surreal, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s wild!.¡± Then she looked at me. ¡°Is this how you set up¡­¡± ¡°Yeah. It is.¡± We made a leisurely stroll to the coffee shop. Emily, of course, was fascinated by everything stuck in place. I thought it was cool too, but the novelty had started to wear off for me. Cael was waiting for us, drinking coffee at a free table. Show off. ¡°You ready?¡± he asked us. We nodded. ¡°Ready as we¡¯ll ever be.¡± I said. I guided Emily to the bathrooms. I placed my free hand on the men¡¯s room doorknob. ¡°Welcome to Hell¡± I announced, as I swung the door open to reveal a dingy, dirty, and stinky bathroom. ===END Chapter XIV=== This chapter was produced with the support of my Hybrid patron: Chapter XV James Exosia ¡°Whoops.¡± I said, as Emily gave me a confused look. I shut the bathroom door, focused on returning to Hell, and re-opened the door. Bathroom. Shit. ¡°Cael.¡± I called. He stood up and walked over, still sipping his coffee. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°The Gate to Hell is gone¡± I said, opening and closing the bathroom door several times to demonstrate. ¡°There was one here, made by Aloc- Oh right. He¡¯s a demon too. Damn it.¡± I felt betrayed. And stupid, for not seeing it coming. Cael examined the doorway. ¡°Yep. Definitely closed.¡± He ran his fingers around the frame. ¡°And sealed. I can¡¯t open this.¡± ¡°So what do we do?¡± Emily asked. ¡°Theoretically, Hybrids can re-open Gates, at least, it¡¯s happened in the past. James might be able to do it, but it¡¯s not a guarantee. James?¡± I ran my own fingers around the door frame. ¡°Feels normal to me. Wait, hang on. There¡¯s a little something. It feels¡­ I dunno, like a little defect in spacetime.¡± ¡°Good, anything else?¡± I envisioned the portal reopening, but nothing happened. ¡°That¡¯s all I have for now.¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯ll have to keep at it then.¡± Cael said, frowning. ¡°But for now, it sounds like there¡¯s no point staying here any longer.¡± Dejected, Emily and I made the long walk across campus back to the dorm tower. As we got back to the elevator, I let go of time, and of Emily¡¯s hand. The elevator doors finished opening behind us, and I mashed the button for my floor. It was a long, silent, disappointing, and frustrating ride up.
Detective Darren Sanders Some idiot judge had denied the warrant for James¡¯s school records. According to him, ¡°the only connection between James Exosia and the crime is the statement of one witness who blacked out and which, by Detective Sanders¡¯s own admission, is undermined by the security video. Between that and the clean background check, the warrant is denied for lack of probable cause.¡± Bang! But something was clearly wrong about James Exosia. He spent a lot of time with Emily during the day. I didn¡¯t know what he and Emily were getting up to in the dormitories, but there¡¯s no way it could be entirely innocent. Sex would be the obvious guess for a pair of college students, but given Emily¡¯s past that seemed unlikely. I took another swig from my flask. If my endocrinologist didn¡¯t like it, well, he would just have to blame the judge. Ding. The elevator door opened. Two people - James and Emily - coming out of the elevator. They were even holding hands. And carrying some kind of bundle of equipment. Then I blinked, and James and Emily had switched places, facing the other way. And they were entering the elevator. The elevator door closed, and they were gone. The fuck?
Cael As Emily and James returned to their dorm, I went back to my office. Just as expected, Alocer had closed the Gate, foiling James¡¯s heroic attempt to retrieve the Scroll and prevent eternal monotony. Now, it was just a matter of time, waiting for Lucifer to get greedy and attempt to break the seals on the Scroll. Of course, Lucifer wouldn¡¯t be able to break the seals on the actual scroll, but if the Scroll was actually a decoy¡­ Well, Lucifer might just end up with something a little different than what he expected. Something that would set back Hell by several centuries, as long as James didn¡¯t manage to punch a hole to Hell first. I picked up a self-refilling chai tea and went for a walk to the decoy¡¯s hiding place in the Library, just to double check that the trap had indeed been laid. I found the right bookshelf and ran my hand over the scrolls inside. With a stomach-churning sense of horror, I realized that the decoy was still sitting where I had left it. I had been wrong. We were so, so screwed. And now James needed to get that Gate open sooner rather than later.
Emily Butler As we entered the dorm tower elevator, I finally let go of James¡¯s hand. It had gotten sweaty during the walk across campus and back, but that was a small price to pay for something as amazing as walking through a frozen moment in time. That alone had been fascinating. Especially after I had just fucked up so badly with the Scroll. I hadn¡¯t failed to notice the way James had gotten nervous when he¡¯d first taken my hand. Even though we¡¯d held hands before, it was still cute that his cheeks had gotten slightly redder. And if I was guessing correctly, James was disappointed that the hand-holding had come to an end.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Maybe James wasn¡¯t that bad after all. ¦©t was kinda nice, I had to admit. Even though I wasn¡¯t able to get a look at the Omega cells that my dad would eventually be condemned to. We reached James¡¯s dorm room - geez, I¡¯d been spending a lot of time there lately - and stashed the climbing equipment away in the non-Heavenly version of the closet. With no plan and no portal, James and I said our good nights and went to bed. We could always try something else later. After all, we had all the time in the world.
James Exosia Over the next few days, I stopped by the coffee shop between classes to try to re-open the Gate. I¡¯d been able to find the residual distortion in spacetime left behind by the portal, but that was all. I¡¯d also been able to find traces of the pit in my dorm floor, and had occasionally been working on that one, whenever Kevin wasn¡¯t around and I didn¡¯t have other things to be working on. Like studying. With the first round of exams approaching, my time for supernatural exercises was limited - I did not want to leave my grades up to the chance that I¡¯d divine the answers at test time. Especially since, according to Cael, ¡°life as normal¡± was now going to be the eternal fate of humanity. I¡¯d tried to call Alocer on several occasions as well, but I had nothing but radio silence from him. Really, I should have expected that - he was a demon after all - but Alocer¡¯s cold shoulder honestly just made me angry. Out of frustration, I focused on studying so hard that I almost forgot about my dad¡¯s visit coming up. I¡¯d have to warn him not to ask Emily about family. ¦© managed to find Emily one morning before class. ¡°Don¡¯t forget, my dad¡¯s coming in tomorrow night.¡± ¡°Oh man, I¡¯d completely forgotten about that.¡± ¡°Yeah me too. ¦¢etween exams and repeatedly learning that I can¡¯t open portals to Hell, I¡¯ve been busy.¡± ¡°Still no progress on that?¡± ¡°Not much, no. The portal in the floor seems marginally easier to work with but not by much. Maybe those demons are just less skilled? I dunno.¡± Another passing student gave me a weird look. ¡°You¡¯ll get it eventually.¡± ¡°I hope so. Apparently, not all Hybrids develop the same way, so I might not even ever be able to.¡± ¡°Look at it this way. If you didn¡¯t have the ability, you wouldn¡¯t even be able to detect the part that you did get.¡± ¡°You sure?¡± ¡°Positive.¡± Well then. Apparently Emily had more faith in me than I did.
¡°So what does your dad do?¡± Emily asked, as we pulled into the parking lot of the Texas Roadhouse. ¡°Pharmaceutical sales.¡± I answered. ¡°Been doing it for as long as I can remember. So that¡¯s why he¡¯s in town right now; must be visiting a client.¡± ¡°I see.¡± My dad had arrived a few minutes before us, so I hopped up on the sidewalk, threw the door open for Emily, and made a beeline for the booth he was waiting in. I caught the flash of surprise in his eyes as he realized I was walking in with a girl. ¡°James, hey, how¡¯s it going?¡± he asked, as he got up for a hug. ¡°I¡¯m good. Dad, this is my friend and study partner Emily. Emily, my dad.¡± With introductions made and greetings exchanged, we shifted into the extremely important business of reading the menu. After settling on our dinner choices, we made conversation about classes, grades, professors, my dad¡¯s job, and engineering industry news, until eventually we were interrupted by a blooming onion, steak, potatoes, bread, fish, coleslaw, and fries. The conversation promptly turned to gravy, salt, pepper, napkins, and sticky fingers. Towards the end of the meal, Emily excused herself to the ladies room. ¡°So James.¡± my dad said, with a glint in his eye. I didn¡¯t need to be partially omniscient to know what was coming next. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me your friend was a girl.¡± Hint hint. The implications It couldn¡¯t be more obvious if they had been shouted from the rooftops with a megaphone. ¡°I met her on, like, the second day of class, Dad. We started studying together, since we live in the same dorm building. And yeah, she¡¯s a good friend.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ is that all? Valentine¡¯s Day is this week, you know.¡± ¡°I know, Dad. But yeah, for now, just a friend.¡± With a quieter voice and a surreptitious glance towards the restrooms, I added ¡°I don¡¯t want to get into details right now, but as much as I¡¯d like us to be more, that has to go slowly.¡± ¡°I see. Understood.¡± ¡°And thanks for not asking her about family. She¡¯s kinda going through a lot with them, and it¡¯s not great.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± Emily came back from the bathroom, my dad paid the bill, and a little while later we went our separate ways. It had felt wrong, not telling my dad about the biggest part of my life. Not that he¡¯d asked, but not bringing it up seemed like a lie of omission. Of course, the middle of a busy restaurant probably wouldn¡¯t have been the best place for a demonstration anyways. I didn¡¯t need to draw that much attention to myself. But still, I was right back to mildly deceiving the people I cared about. And I wasn¡¯t sure if I could spend the rest of my life doing that. It was hard to sleep that night.
Emily Butler To James¡¯s credit, the dinner with his dad had been less awkward than I had anticipated. I smiled and chatted and pretended life was normal - it was easy for me after having practiced that my entire life. But something about the whole event seemed to be bothering James. He wasn¡¯t quite himself: he¡¯d been a little more fidgety, a little more jumpy, when we were around Mr. Exosia than he normally was. And if James was ever going to raid hell and get the Scroll of the Apocalypse back, then he would need to be in a healthy state of mind. I needed him to be in a healthy state of mind. ¡°Penny for your thoughts?¡± I asked the next night, over homework. We were in James¡¯s dorm (again), drinking extra large decafs and working on chemistry. ¡°Trying to figure out the dissociation constants of these acids.¡± he answered flatly. ¡°What did you get for 12c?¡± ¡°I mean, what¡¯s on your mind?¡± You were jumpy last night and you¡¯ve been nervous all day.¡± James sighed and looked up at the ceiling. After a moment, he responded. ¡°You know the whole¡­ spiritual thing¡­ with me. Right?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­?¡± ¡°I told you about that, because, I dunno, I felt like you needed to hear it, and I needed to share with someone.¡± ¡°Ok¡­?¡± ¡°And I had known you for what, two and a half weeks at that point? Not even?¡± ¡°I won¡¯t tell anyone, if that¡¯s what you¡¯re worried about. Not that anyone would believe me if I tried.¡± James shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s not that. You¡¯re the only person who knows. I haven¡¯t even told my dad, and he¡¯s my dad. If anyone should know, it¡¯s him, and it¡¯s been killing me inside.¡± I frowned. I was probably supposed to feel some sort of automatic agreement here, but I just¡­ couldn¡¯t. There was nothing. This was another of those normal-person things that my own goddamn father had forever ruined for me. So I pretended. Like I always did. ¡°You can¡¯t beat yourself up too much. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll figure out how to tell him when the time is right.¡± ¡°You think? ¡°Yeah. I mean, you didn¡¯t tell me right away, did you?¡± ¡°True.¡± ¡°So don¡¯t feel bad about not telling him right away either.¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s fair. Still though. It would help if I didn¡¯t have to pretend.¡± You¡¯re not the only one pretending I thought. Not the only one at all. ===END Chapter XV=== This chapter was produced with the support of my Hybrid patron: Chapter XVI
Officer Dakota Jackson
Detective Sanders was red in the face, the color contrasting horrendously with his beard, making him look somewhere between Sherlock Holmes and Santa Claus. ¡°I got no idea what these two are up to.¡± he said, as he flopped down in the chair next to my desk. ¡°Been following them for several days and I got nothing.¡± I flipped through the photos he had taken of James Exosia and Emily Butler. Most were around campus, walking, studying, or eating. It was clear that were good friends - why else would they spend so much time together? But as annoyingly suspicious as the bank/hotel/James connection was, there was nothing concrete. That meant it was time for Sanders¡¯s skills to be put to use on more productive tasks. Like actual crimes with proof of existence. ¡°I think we need to close the hotel assault.¡± I announced, as I pushed the photos together into one stack. ¡°It seems to me that Allison Butler attacked Nigel Butler. With James coming up clean, I just don¡¯t see any other explanation for it.¡± ¡°That ain¡¯t gonna hold up in court though.¡± Sanders replied. ¡°Especially with the mystery 911 caller.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t need to. Allison Butler is already on the hook for accessory to Nigel¡¯s production of child pornography. Seems she knew about it and didn¡¯t do anything. The DA¡¯s office told me this morning that they¡¯re pressing charges.¡± ¡°Good, fuck them both. When¡¯s arraignment?¡± ¡°Two weeks from tomorrow for Nigel, and I haven¡¯t heard anything about Allison. They might be arraigned together, but I don¡¯t think the DA has decided on that yet. You going?¡± ¡°Nah, I got too much other shit to do. Been putting off other stuff to tail James. Car accidents and petty crimes have been stacking up on my desk.¡± Detective Sanders shifted uncomfortably in his chair. ¡°Nothing technically wrong with anything I¡¯ve found on James Exosia, but I can¡¯t shake the feeling that something is up.¡± ¡°I hear you. I¡¯m going, mainly because I¡¯m pissed at Nigel Butler for making me walk in on his slideshow.¡± ¡°Heh. Can¡¯t say that I envy you.¡± ¡°Darren, trust me, it would be worse if you did.¡± ¡°I suppose you¡¯re right.¡± Detective Sanders replied, reaching for his flask and then changing his mind. Sanders¡¯s day drinking was an open secret in the precinct. As long as he kept delivering ironclad evidence, nobody was going to complain. Particularly if a complaint risked jeopardizing the case against Nigel Butler. I closed the folder on the Butler assault and placed it on my ¡°To Storage¡± stack.
James Exosia ¡°When¡¯s your dad¡¯s arraignment again?¡± I asked Emily, as we walked to the engineering section of campus. The wind was cold, and we had our jackets pulled around our necks. Emily pulled out her phone and opened the calendar. ¡°Two weeks from tomorrow.¡± Then she stuffed the phone away and put her glove back on. ¡°You want me to come for, I dunno, moral support?¡± It seemed right to offer. ¡°That¡¯d be nice. Raguel¡¯s been working with me for coping, but company will be nice.¡± ¡°Raguel?¡± I asked, surprised. ¡°How are you getting there?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± Emily chuckled. ¡°He¡¯s coming to me. We¡¯ve been using the group study rooms in the library. Like, twice so far.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°Just, you know, helping me sort through all my thoughts. I¡¯m not looking forward to reliving anything at trial, if it goes to that, but at the same time, I might need to. For closure.¡± Emily gave me a sly smile, and added ¡°And revenge.¡± With that, we arrived at the engineering building, and parted ways - it was time for one of the few classes we did not share. With a sense of dread, I turned and walked back to European History, and found a seat just as the class began. Bzzzt My phone lit up:
Dad:
Enjoyed dinner last night. Emily seems nice. Looking forward to whenever we can see both of you next =)
That was nice of him, especially with Valentine¡¯s Day coming up later this week. Of course, at some point, I¡¯d have to share Emily¡¯s backstory with my dad. There wasn¡¯t exactly an easy way to say ¡°oh, by the way, her parents abused her and are now rotting in jail.¡± Maybe I could- ¡°Mister Exosia, would you mind sharing with the class what the connection is between your phone and the Wendish Crusades?¡± the professor suddenly asked. ¡°Wikipedia¡± I answered, as I hurried to pull up the actual page. ¡°I¡¯ve got a summary of it right¡­ here.¡± The dark gleam in the professor¡¯s eyes could only mean one thing: wrong answer. ¡°Is that so? Which category of approved academic resources for this course does Wikipedia fall under?¡± I had nothing. ¡°I didn¡¯t think so. Put the phone away, Mister Exosia.¡± Jerk.
Internet Chat Room 22:36:10 ¡úthanlols has logged in 22:36:11 thanlols was opped (+o) by @ChanServ 22:36:21 <@thanlols> has anyone seen toxxxic? 22:37:15 nah man 22:38:09 <@thanlols> .seen toxxxic 22:38:10 <+screwgle> (thanlols) toxxxic was last seen 16 days and 5 hours ago saying: i¡¯ve gotta get going. Flight¡¯s boarding 22:38:39 i think he was going to go see his kid at her college 22:38:54 could be wrong tho 22:39:01 the pizza girl? 22:39:12 yah 22:39:39 too old for my tastes lol 22:40:03 ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã)This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. 22:40:05 lol 22:40:06 ¡ûskivmaster was kicked by %AnthraxXx: you sick motherfucker 22:40:10 ¡úskivmaster joined 22:40:12 <%AnthraxXx> y¡¯all need some jesus 22:40:13 <@thanlols> hotdogger: you know toxxxic IRL right? 22:40:30 speak for yourself AnthraxXx =P 22:41:02 yo 22:41:06 i have been summoned 22:41:07 sup 22:41:10 thanlols: yeah I do 22:41:13 idk what he¡¯s been up to tho 22:41:14 why? 22:41:15 ¡ûxXcarvrXx quit: (Quit: Connection closed for inactivity) 22:41:21 <@thanlols> hotdogger: 16+ days radio silence 22:41:26 <@thanlols> just tryin to be careful 22:41:30 .seen toxxxic 22:41:30 <+screwgle> (hotdogger) toxxxic was last seen 16 days and 5 hours ago saying: i¡¯ve gotta get going. Flight¡¯s boarding 22:41:32 yikes 22:41:39 thanlols: I¡¯ll text him and let you know if he responds. 22:41:49 pizza girl prob got him 22:42:40 thanlols: you got any more of yours? 22:42:50 ¡úmaphunter has logged in 22:42:59 <@thanlols> skivmaster: i trade you mine if you trade me yours 22:43:09 thanlols: deal lol 22:43:20 ooh I want some 22:44:01 thanlols: I know a guy who knows a guy, who knows some more guys 22:44:05 if you know what I mean 22:44:31 <%AnthraxXx> lol 22:44:38 <%AnthraxXx> it means ur gay, right? 22:44:51 <@thanlols> ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã) 22:45:02 <@thanlols> hotdogger: yeah that¡¯s good but don¡¯t do anything yet. 22:45:12 <@thanlols> no point in drawing attention where it¡¯s not needed 22:44:05 thanlols: got it
Cael I had really screwed up. James and Emily had not taken the path through the library that I had anticipated. Instead, by sheer luck, they had stumbled upon the hiding place of the real Scroll of the Apocalypse. And the Scroll was now in Hell, likely being displayed on Lucifer¡¯s artifact wall. I could fix it though. Well, no, I couldn¡¯t fix it, but maybe - just maybe - James could fix everything before anybody noticed. Ok, so God had definitely noticed - He was omniscient after all - but the fact that He hadn¡¯t yet casted me out of Heaven was at least encouraging. I had to check in with James. I was sure he¡¯d get it eventually, but I had a mental itch that needed to be scratched. I dropped into the metaphysical realm near James. ¡°How¡¯s the portal work coming along?¡± I asked him. ¡°Dude. It¡¯s the middle of class.¡± James answered, gesturing at the packed (and frozen) lecture hall around him. Prickly as always. ¡°I know, that¡¯s why I paused everything.¡± I answered. James shook his head. ¡°Maybe a little bit more give on the portal since last time. I¡¯ll let you know if anything major happens.¡± ¡°That¡¯s progress.¡± ¡°Hardly. Now, if you don¡¯t mind¡­?¡± ¡°Oh, right.¡± I vanished, back to my office. This was not good. If James couldn¡¯t open the Gate, then the Scroll - the real Scroll, not my holy bomb decoy - was stuck in Hell. And nobody wanted to gamble the fate of eternity on another Hybrid coming around. I retrieved the decoy from my desk drawer. I had to level with James - it was the right thing to do. With another twitch and a time stop, I reappeared next to him. ¡°Now what?¡± James asked, slamming his pencil down on the desk. ¡°Well, to put it bluntly, I screwed up.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± I answered, and showed James the fake scroll. His eyes went wide with recognition. ¡°It¡¯s not real.¡± I explained. ¡°It¡¯s a fake. I knew that Alocer was Whispering to Emily. And I had been hoping that she would take this one instead.¡± I hung my head in shame. ¡°And you knew that all along?¡± James asked, his voice rising in volume. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you clear the Whisper?¡± he demanded. ¡°Emily has been through more than enough trauma for a lifetime; she doesn¡¯t need goddamn demons fucking around with her head!¡± ¡°Because I wanted to plant this one in Hell.¡± I answered. ¡°It¡¯s a bomb. An unstoppable torrent of holy force, that would raze Lucifer¡¯s castle, and set back the armies of Hell by centuries. An irresistible opportunity to take advantage of the enemy¡¯s manipulations. Feel it.¡± James leaned away a few inches, but reached out and brushed a finger across the end of the scroll. ¡°It feels like power, but locked up, yes?¡± James nodded. ¡°Externally, very similar to the real Scroll. The difference is that this one can be opened by Lucifer. The real one can¡¯t be, though I have no doubt Lucifer would try to open the first four seals at some point. Hence, the bomb.¡± ¡°So why not just ask us to take it?¡± James inquired. ¡°Because you didn¡¯t want to take sides or participate in the war.¡± I answered. ¡°This seemed like the next best thing.¡± ¡°Well, it fucking wasn¡¯t.¡± James spat. ¡°Stop fucking with me, and leave Emily out of your plans. She¡¯s not your fucking pawn.¡± ¡°Lesson learned.¡± I said, and vanished back to Heaven. What else could I do?
Alocer The Whispers had been successful beyond my wildest imagination. Emily had suspected nothing, mindlessly adding the Scroll of the Apocalypse onto her stack of books. Lucifer was thrilled, but it wasn¡¯t Lucifer that I was worried about. I had faced down an unhappy Lucifer countless times over the centuries. Surely one human couldn¡¯t be too bad - even if he was a Hybrid. With the raiding portal closed and the Gate sealed, and no sign of transdimensional abilities developing, the Scroll was safe and secure on Lucifer¡¯s throne room display wall. Time to rub salt in the wound. Because why the hell not. With a casual twitch, I ghosted into the elevator where the Hybrid was riding up, alone. ¡°Good evening, James.¡± He jumped, startled. Heh. Worth it. ¡°How¡¯s it going?¡± I asked. ¡°Where the hell have you been?¡± James damanded. ¡°Tied up.¡± I shrugged. ¡°You know, Lucifer and his razor wire.¡± James¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°I don¡¯t buy that.¡± ¡°¡­And Lucifer¡¯s been taking his sweet time with everything. Something about a scroll¡­¡± ¡°What do you know about the scroll?¡± James asked. ¡°I¡¯m afraid I don¡¯t have all the details.¡± I lied. ¡°New collection item or something. Not really my business; it¡¯s just what I¡¯ve heard through the grapevine.¡± James was quiet as something churned in his mind. ¡°You know, Alocer, I¡¯ve been meaning to pay another visit to Lucifer.¡± he said. ¡°We kinda got started off on the wrong foot and I was hoping to make things right.¡± Wow, he really was pathetic. ¡°Go on¡­¡± ¡°But the Gate¡¯s been closed.¡± James continued. ¡°Any chance you could re-open it?¡± I shook my head sympathetically. ¡°No can do. I was ordered to close it, and I closed it. My hands are tied.¡± ¡°Damn.¡± ¡°I wish there was more I could do for you, but at the end of the day I¡¯ve got to follow orders.¡± I said, spreading my arms, palms up in mock defeat. ¡°I don¡¯t really have a choice.¡± ¡°Fine, whatever.¡± ¡°I¡¯d help you if I could.¡± ¡°Yeah. You¡¯re a demon, Alocer. I never should have trusted you.¡± James answered, as the elevator arrived at his dorm floor. I could feel the resentment and anger in his voice, permeating his every word with burning fury. Excellent. As James stormed away, I felt a twinge of satisfaction. Hybrids may be powerful and unpredictable, but no creature in Heaven or on Earth or under the Earth was immune to stress and frustration.
James Exosia I dumped my backpack onto my bed, fuming. It was all so unfair, having this kind of a burden on my shoulders. Not that the power itself was unwelcome - I¡¯d made good use of it, as Cael had so bluntly pointed out a few days back. It was that I had been unwillingly saddled with the task of preventing the devil himself from indefinitely forestalling the Apocalypse. Me, twenty year old engineering student, nerd, physically unimpressive human. Effectively alone against Lucifer, the Great Deceiver, Ruler of Darkness and Prince of the Power of the Air. With my angelic support going behind my back to try to trick Emily into doing his dirty work. None of this would ever have happened if it hadn¡¯t been for the drunk driver over Christmas break. Fucking drunk driver. In anger, I punched my pillow as hard as I could, throwing it back against the wall with a dull whump. I heard a noise behind me and turned towards it. With a belch of smoke, the floor groaned, opening up a fist-sized hole, glowing dull red, and reeking of sulfur. As my anger turned into excitement, it closed. Chapter XVII James Exosia The small throat of Hell closed itself with a belch of sulfur and smoke. Why? What had made it open? Why was it now closed? So many questions. I texted Emily:
Floor hole opened, but only for a few seconds. Not sure why.
After a few moments, my phone dinged back.
Emily Butler: That¡¯s good! Keep doing whatever it was that you were doing!
Again, I threw my pillow against the wall. With a slightly amusing sense of disappointment, I watched my floor as it did absolutely nothing. A few more attempts yielded identical results. I kept trying until Kevin came in, filling the dorm with shitty music and stinky armpit. The atmosphere turned miserable, but Kevin¡¯s aura of failure was not the Hell that I was trying to get to. As I laid in bed, my mind was churning. I have homework to do, but really the Scroll is more important since it has divine significance, but how am I supposed to justify not getting my homework done to my professors, since I can¡¯t really tell anyone about it and the only person who knows is Emily, and she¡¯s really been a great sport through all of this, it¡¯s really been nice, and Valentine¡¯s Day is in two days, and I¡¯m not sure what I should do for that, because I¡¯ve never really had a girlfriend before, but I don¡¯t know if Emily is really my girlfriend, because we¡¯ve never actually talked about it, because there¡¯s always been so many other things going on and¡­ Two fitful hours later, I fell asleep.
Emily Butler I put my phone down after texting James a few words of encouragement. There wasn¡¯t really a whole lot else that I could do - he was the one with the superpowers, not me. Still, it was nice to be close to someone so unique. The odds of me being the one entrusted with his secret were abysmal, yet here I was with intimate knowledge of Heaven, angels, and demons. I didn¡¯t really understand James¡¯s desire to also tell his dad, but on the other hand, I was fully aware of just how screwed up my sense of family was. I¡¯d seen normal families, in the movies, on television. At school, when parents arrived and my classmates were happy to go home. It was all so fucked up. At least James said he was going to come to arraignment. That was awfully nice of him. Did he like me? It definitely seemed like it - otherwise I don¡¯t think any of the events of the last few weeks would have happened. I¡¯d certainly never shared half of a secret life with anyone other than James before. At least, not of my own will. But what was James¡¯s end goal? With guys, it was supposedly pretty obvious: sex. Yet, James had never attempted anything, and nothing more intimate than the sleepover had ever occurred. I suppose James wasn¡¯t just trying to get in my pants after all. But that knowledge did nothing to quell the anxiety and worry that surrounded the idea. Valentine¡¯s Day was in two days. Maybe James would ask me out? And maybe I¡¯d have a better idea of all of this after Valentine¡¯s day was over.
Detective Darren Sanders I walked into work, realizing with a curious sense of disappointment that I wasn¡¯t going to spend the day digging into James Exosia. Not that it would have been productive - the kid seemed to deflect all suspicion without even trying. In my mind, that made him guilty as fuck. I settled down at my desk, flipping through folders and case files that had accumulated. Some idiot had T-boned another car at a red light. Someone else had shoplifted from a gas station. Someone else had found a stash of weed in someone else¡¯s bag. I mixed up my usual morning drink of coffee with a splash of whiskey, and got to work. As I planned out the rest of my week, I realized that these cases were just¡­ so¡­ normal. There was nothing odd or unusual about a shoplifting case or a car crash. Generally it followed a predictable path of identifying the idiot perp, and telling the judge who to write the arrest warrant for. But I had seen something strange: James Exosia and Emily Butler, starting to come out of an elevator, then blinking to reverse direction as the doors opened. If I hadn¡¯t read about something similar, I wouldn¡¯t have believed it myself. By this point, I practically had the witness statement memorized. Ignoring the pile of work on my desk, I picked up the phone and dialed the county jail. ¡°I¡¯d like to speak with Allison Butler.¡±
James Exosia It was Valentine¡¯s Day morning I opened the earthly version of my closet, and dug through for my suit. My dad had gotten it for me for job interviews and career fairs, and it was the most formal outfit I owned. Yup, it still fit. I was painfully aware of how little clue I had of what I was doing. I rode the elevator down to Emily¡¯s dorm floor, and with a pounding heart, texted her:
Come let me in?
Sure enough, a few moments later, Emily appeared and opened the door for me. Her forehead scrunched together as she realized I was wearing a suit.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Shit. Now what? I could hear my heartbeat in my ears, and feel the sweat secreting on my skin. Did I remember to brush my teeth and put on deodorant? ¡°Um, Emily, would you like to, ah, go out for dinner. Um, like, tomorrow night? For Valentine¡¯s Day?¡± Phew. Now the terrifying part: waiting for the answer. With a coy smile, Emily twirled a strand of hair in her fingers. ¡°I¡¯d like that. Where are we going?¡± ¡°Well, I kinda figured that most of the restaurants would be full. So, um, one of the places in, you know¡­¡± ¡°Heaven?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Elegance on a budget. I like it.¡± ¡°Meet me at 6 tomorrow?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a date!¡± Emily smiled at me, and then she was gone. In a euphoric daze, I practically floated back to my own room. Holy shit, I was going on a date with Emily.
Emily Butler I left James at the dorm floor entrance, and returned to my own room. I hadn¡¯t expected that at all - even though I¡¯d wanted it to happen. He¡¯d even dressed up for me! ¦© wasn¡¯t quite sure how to handle it. Outside of television and movies, I didn¡¯t really know what to do. I wanted to look nice, right? I browsed through my clothes and picked out a dress. No, wait. Not that one. This one - it went better with these shoes. Hmm, actually, what about this other one? It matched a necklace that I could wear. But if I wore this necklace instead, I could match it with these shoes and that dress. Hmmm¡­ This could take a while¡­
Detective Darren Sanders After some stupid back-and-forth bullshit involving Mrs. Butler¡¯s lawyer and the warden¡¯s office, we¡¯d managed to nail down a time to talk in person. I arrived at the county jail, and left my gun, cuffs, and alcohol in the car. I checked in, and was directed to a visitation room. After a few minutes, I was joined by her lawyer, then a guard escorted Mrs. Butler herself into the room. She was a mess - jailhouse life had not been kind to her. She wore the look of a woman deflated and defeated. I pulled out a copy of her statement from the night of the hotel attack, two weeks earlier. ¡°Mrs. Butler, you stated that on opening the hotel room door, you saw someone named James.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Is this person the James that you saw?¡± I slid across a photograph I¡¯d taken of James Exosia. ¡°Yes, I think so.¡± ¡°Now, you stated that you saw James, and then he was gone and Nigel was handcuffed to the bed.¡± The lawyer spoke up. ¡°We¡¯ve been through this already; you can read the other interview transcripts.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going somewhere different.¡± I snapped back. ¡°Mrs. Butler?¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what I remember. I suppose I must have blacked out or something.¡± ¡°But you didn¡¯t fall down?¡± I asked. Allison Butler seemed to think about it, confused for a moment. ¡°No, I don¡¯t believe I did.¡± ¡°So what was it like?¡± I asked. ¡°Like I blinked, and it changed.¡± Mrs. Butler answered. ¡°That¡¯s all I need. Thank you, Mrs. Butler.¡± I got up and turned to leave. The lawyer was clearly irritated at coming out for something so insignificant. He made his displeasure known in the tone of his voice. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you hoped to accomplish with that, Detective.¡± ¡°Neither do I.¡± I answered. I¡¯d never been one for superstition, but Allison Butler had described my own experience almost perfectly. I retrieved my things from my car, and had a long, confusing drive back home.
James Exosia At 5:59 I was waiting outside the elevator on Emily¡¯s floor. I¡¯d showered, shaved, changed back into the suit (but with a fresh undershirt and socks), and put gel in my hair. At 6:07, Emily appeared. She was wearing a red dress that came down to her knees, with lipstick to match. She¡¯d curled her hair, and it hung down just past her shoulders. and had gold earrings and necklace. Emily always had a constant baseline level of cuteness, but right now she was pretty, in every possible way. Emily wasn¡¯t just pretty, she was gorgeous. My heart skipped a beat. ¡°Hi, James.¡± Gulp. ¡°Hey, Emily. You ah, look nice. Shall we?¡± With that, we set off for my dorm room, Emily collecting stares from other guys along the way. It irritated me - they had no idea what Emily had been through to get to this point, or what I had gone through to earn Emily¡¯s trust. Still, though, there was a date to enjoy. With a quick time stop, we skipped past Kevin, who was annoyingly present in my dorm. A few moments after, Emily and I were safely crossing the great geometry-defying world map floor in the lobby of Heaven. One short elevator ride later, and we were in the food wing. As with everything Heavenly, the choices were too numerous to process, so we went with the first suitably fancy place we found: an Italian restaurant that specialized in extinct cuisine. We both got aspidorhynchus fillet. And since Heaven didn¡¯t have a drinking age, we both had red wine - self-refilling, of course. Swearing was impossible here, and I figured drunkeness would be impossible as well. ¡°So what do you like to do? For fun.¡± I asked. That was an appropriate date question, right? ¡°Well, I haven¡¯t really done much outside of school since coming here.¡± Emily replied. ¡°How about in high school? What did you do then?¡± ¡°What didn¡¯t I do in high school? I signed up for everything I could. Drama, robotics, softball, basketball. Anything to stay away from home.¡± ¡°Oh. Now I feel bad for asking.¡± Emily shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s alright. How about you?¡± ¡°Not nearly so much.¡± ¡°Oh come on. What does the great and powerful James Exosia do in his spare time?¡± I cringed. ¡°I was always more into the games. My school had a chess club.¡± ¡°And¡­? How did you do?¡± ¡°Terribly. I once tried to make checkmate by moving a rook diagonally.¡± ¡°Ouch.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°For me that stuff was always a distraction. Sometimes I wonder what I might have been if I had decent parents.¡± ¡°You know what? Don¡¯t worry about that. I like you the way you are.¡± I said, as encouragement. The food was gone and the wine was plentiful. Emily leaned back in her seat with a slightly tipsy half-smile. ¡°You¡¯re crazy, James Exosia.¡± ¡°Only for you.¡± I could feel my face heating up as the words slipped out from my alcohol-loosened mouth. Emily laughed. ¡°You know what? I never thought I¡¯d say this, but the feeling is mutual.¡± My stomach turned over. Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected Emily to reciprocate my feelings. I¡¯d had such bad luck with girls in high school, that I hadn¡¯t dared get my hopes up, but now¡­ Hot darn. Emily really did like me back. Holy crap. I didn¡¯t know what to say. ¡°I guess you¡¯re enjoying dinner then?¡± I asked with a smile. Emily nodded. ¡°I am. Thanks for taking me here. I needed a break.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± There was no bill to pay, so we stood up, gathered our things, and left. As we reached my closet door, Emily put her hand on my arm. ¡°Hang on a moment.¡± I paused, and turned to look at her ¡°I know I¡¯m a little weird sometimes. But everything has been so strange these last few weeks, and you¡¯ve been there for me throughout everything, that I want to do something before things get even stranger.¡± And then Emily wrapped an arm around me, and kissed me on the lips. I felt a great swell of emotion, and pulled her in to return the hug. As we embraced, I sensed a deep, primal instinct awakening within me, an insatiable, yearning, hormone-driven hunger that wanted nothing more or less than all of Emily herself. Emily pulled away with her eyes closed and her lips in a smile. I could barely think, and I stammered out the only thought in my head. ¡°Does that mean you¡¯re my girlfriend now?¡± I asked, as I pushed the door open. But Emily never answered. The closet door opened to reveal that my dorm room floor had opened up again, revealing the throat of Hell once more. Tendrils of smoke came up, dancing across the ceiling. The room was insufferably hot, and the air stank of sulfur. On the other side of the dorm was Kevin, sitting in his chair, stupidly slack-jawed, and staring into the abyss. ===END Chapter XVI=== This chapter was produced with the support of my Hybrid patrons:
  • Olli Erinko
  • McArren
Chapter XVIII James Exosia Kevin moved his mouth to speak. Before any sound came out, I instinctively grabbed onto time. Kevin froze, but the dark tendrils of smoke emanating from the floor did not. ¡°The pit¡¯s open.¡± I announced to Emily. It took a few moments of silence to remember that Emily was frozen too. Oops. I took her hand - I certainly wasn¡¯t going to complain about that - and pulled her into the instant between moments with me. ¡°The pit¡¯s open.¡± I repeated. Now she was staring at it, her eyes wide. ¡°Is that¡­ Hell?¡± she asked. ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°Oh man, I wasn¡¯t ready for this!¡± Emily looked from the pit, to me, and back to the pit. ¡°Me neither. But we have a Scroll to steal back.¡± I said, as I closed the closet behind me, and reopened it to the normal version. ¡°We¡¯ve got the climbing gear, and an entrance to Hell right in front of us.¡± Emily looked back to the pit. She seemed to be hesitating. Then she suddenly made eye contact. ¡°What¡¯s Hell like?¡± I noticed that her skin was starting to glisten from the heat, adding to her attractiv- No, stop it James. ¡°Well, it¡¯s hot and smelly, there¡¯s blood and sulfur everywhere, and damn near everything is constructed out of the souls of the damned.¡± ¡°Sounds like a lovely place.¡± Emily said, sarcastically. ¡°And you can¡¯t get hurt, at least, not physically. And you can leave whenever you want to, just by wanting to go.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Emily said, working up the nerve. ¡°Let¡¯s do this.¡± We jumped. I couldn¡¯t see. I couldn¡¯t breathe. I could only hear the rush of the hot air blasting past me, and feel the smoke and ash stinging my eyes and burning my lungs. Emily¡¯s hand was clamped firmly around mine. And then the ground came rushing up to meet us. We landed with a crunchthat would have shattered bone and pulverized organs, if that fall had been done on Earth. After a few moments, I sat up, my head spinning, and looked around. Emily was crumpled next to me, her dress already streaked with soot. She sat up too. ¡°That hurt my mind¡± Emily said. ¡°How many times have you done that?¡± ¡°Just once, when the Scroll was stolen.¡± I answered. ¡°But I had the luxury of landing on a demon.¡± I stood up, and shed my suit jacket and button-down shirt. I would worry about explaining their loss later. I gave Emily a hand up. ¡°Welcome to Hell.¡± ¡°Very funny.¡± Emily looked down. ¡°Aaaand my dress is ruined.¡± ¡°It¡¯s ok, I think you¡¯re cute anyways.¡± I said. I felt bolder after the kiss, but it wasn¡¯t just the heat making my face red. Emily smiled. ¡°Aww, thanks.¡± She looked around. We were in a hellish countryside. The ground and sky were red. Small sheds and other structures dotted the landscape, and Lucifer¡¯s castle was visible in the distance. ¡°So what now?¡± I pointed. ¡°That¡¯s the castle. The Scroll will be there.¡± Emily had picked up the climbing equipment. ¡°Then let¡¯s go.¡± We started walking. It was hot, dry, and windy. Gusts of wind ripped across our path, filling our noses with sulfur and death. Blood flowed like water through ditches. The shacks, it turned out, were low-grade torture cells, for the souls of the moderately wicked. Their howling screams could be heard in every direction. Even though I had desperately wanted Emily to accompany me to Hell, I was also worried that she wouldn¡¯t be able to deal with the stress and heat. But Emily seemed unfazed by any of it, pushing towards the castle with a single-minded determination that made me slightly envious. As we got closer, we could see the demonic guards, posted at the sole entrance. ¡°There¡¯s no way we can get past those.¡± I said to Emily, as we hid behind an empty torture shack. I looked at the climbing gear, and had a sinking realization. ¡°And Cael gave us gym equipment. Not actual rock climbing gear. Crap.¡± ¡°One second.¡± Emily replied. She opened the shack door, and found several wicked-looking metal hooks. A few moments later, she had tied them to the end of our rope. ¡°Grappling hooks.¡± ¡°I am impressed.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be too impressed yet. We have to make sure it works, first.¡± Emily said, as she tightened the knots. ¡°We can make it up the backside of the castle, if the hook holds.¡± The new hook in hand, we circled around to the backside of Lucifer¡¯s castle, out of sight of the guards. A moat of molten sulfur separated us from the castle wall. ¡°I¡¯m not sure we can throw that high.¡± I said.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°Nonsense.¡± Emily said, confidently. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°The world map floor in the lobby of Heaven. Your ability to move and do things even when time isn¡¯t flowing. Even the fall just today - we should have broken something, but we didn¡¯t. Math and physics don¡¯t need to apply here.¡± I remembered our earlier conversation, lounging in comfy chairs in the Library and sipping on self-refilling coffee. I could tell where Emily was going with this and grinned. ¡°So I might be able to defy gravity?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I was thinking.¡± I took the grappling hook and started an underhand spin. The hook whirled faster and faster, until I let go with a grunt. The hook flew into the air - and came crashing back down at our feet. ¡°Or not.¡± Emily deadpanned. ¡°Now what?¡± And then it hit me. ¡°Remember how I said nearly everything is made out of the souls of the damned?¡± I asked. ¡°Yeah¡­¡± ¡°Look at the wall.¡± Emily squinted, looking through the heat haze of the sulfur. ¡°Are those¡­ faces?¡± ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°So what, we climb them? Like a rock wall?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I was thinking. If we can get across the moat, that is.¡± We backtracked to the empty torture shack, and soon returned with several boards. Using the climbing ropes, we tied the boards together to make a crude bridge. It floated on the sulfur, and although the edges immediately caught fire, we quickly darted across to the opposite bank at the base of the wall. ¡°And now we go up.¡± Emily announced, as she jammed her fingers into one of the mouths. ¡°Wagtcsh magh fashe¡± the face said, clearly objecting to the use of its jaw as a handhold. Emily paid it no mind, grabbed another jaw, and began climbing. I followed. We ignored the protests of the entrapped souls, as we made our way up the wall. The wind howled, and Emily¡¯s hair was soon a mess. Neither of us were in particularly great shape, but I soon found myself falling behind Emily, as she powered onward and upward to the top of the wall. My arms burned - I needed to go to the gym more - and my lungs felt full of ash, but eventually I reached the top. Emily pulled me over the rampart, and I flopped down on the walkway in exhaustion. Emily slid to the ground herself, also tired from the climb. ¡°Now what?¡± she asked, after catching her breath. I looked around. The rampart walkway led to towers at either end. Across the courtyard was the gate, and to the right was the huge keep. Last time I¡¯d been here, I had been so caught up in the panic of saving Emily that I hadn¡¯t appreciated how truly enormous it was. ¡°We have to find Lucifer¡¯s throne room. He keeps all his artifacts on display around his throne.¡± I said, pointing to the keep. The tower staircase spiraled downwards, and we descended cautiously. If a demon came up, it would be difficult or impossible to hide. But there was also no other way down from the ramparts. From a lower level, we were able to access the outer wings of the keep, where we sneaked through servants¡¯ quarters, dining rooms, and private chambers. Each door was a risk to open, and twice we had to backtrack to avoid detection. Eventually, we reached a hallway junction, with something that I wished we had found sooner: a sign. ¡ûTHRONE ROOM ¡°Let¡¯s go¡± I whispered to Emily, and turned to the left. But Emily didn¡¯t move. She stared at the sign, seemingly transfixed. I realized she was looking at something right below: ¦¸¡ú ¡°Emily?¡± ¡°Omega cells¡± she said, her voice dreamy and distant. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Omega torture cells. It¡¯s what Alocer said my father had a reservation for.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Emily¡¯s voice suddenly filled with determination. ¡°I want to see them.¡± ¡°Emily, we¡¯re on a mission here.¡± ¡°I need to see what he has coming.¡± She turned to me, desperation in her eyes. ¡°I need this, James. I need to know.¡± ¡°¡­alright.¡± I couldn¡¯t argue with those beautiful eyes. We turned right, away from the throne room, and followed the Omega signs. They led us through a convoluted maze of corridors and ramps, to a winding staircase descending into a dark dungeon. We climbed down the stairs, and found a large, wooden door emblazoned with a black ¦¸. We pushed, and it swung open with a loud creak. With just the slightest trepidation, we entered the Omega dungeon. To the left and right, a long hallway stretched off into the distance, with many side hallways coming off of it. An eerie moan came from all directions at once, permeating the dungeon. It didn¡¯t take long to realize what it was: the screams of untold numbers of evildoers, muffled by their cells, but combining and reverberating throughout the halls in an unearthly chorus of agony and pain. The walls of these side hallways were packed with doors leading to individual cells. On each door was a plaque, detailing the occupant¡¯s name and sins. Serial killer. Child predator. False prophet. I noticed a pattern: these were people who had hurt not only themselves, but also either the bodies or souls (or both) of others. It went on: Human trafficker. Drug kingpin. Genocide participant. Pimp. Emily was entranced. I was too, though I didn¡¯t really feel like reading about the crimes of the worst dregs of society. The cell layout was roughly organized by name, and it didn¡¯t take Emily long to find what she was looking for.
¦¸-92¡¯O#S5;-2B67-?1
Butler, Nigel
Child Molester
Emily touched the plaque. ¡°Fuck you, dad.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what you wanted?¡± I asked. The answer was obvious, but Emily nodded anyways. A single tear was rolling down her cheek. ¡°I could have had a normal childhood, but no. He took it from me. And I hate him for it. What I needed, what kept me going, was the idea that someday, he would pay.¡± ¡°You really hate him.¡± ¡°He really fucked me up, James. Like, I never had a good family; I¡¯ve only ever seen them on TV. I can¡¯t trust anyone, I just can¡¯t. You have no ideawhat it¡¯s like.¡± ¡°I suppose I don¡¯t.¡± I said, trying to sympathize. I felt for Emily, but I really didn¡¯t know what it was like. I¡¯d always had a kind, stable family. ¡°I¡¯ve never had normal.¡± Emily continued. ¡°I¡¯ve seen normal, in other families, I feel like I know what it¡¯s supposed to be, but I can¡¯t do normal. Like, I can¡¯t imagine my dad taking me out for a friendly dinner. Hell, the night you busted him, he was threatening my tuition. I¡¯m a mess.¡± ¡°Not to m-¡± ¡°And it¡¯s all your fault!¡± Emily suddenly shouted, punching the plaque as hard as she could. Then she collapsed on the floor, crying. Her sobs echoed and reverberated in the hallway, For a moment, I was paralyzed with shock. What to do? I did the only thing I could do. I sat down by Emily, and rubbed her shoulders. ¡°It¡¯s alright, Emily, you have me. You have me.¡± After a few moments, she turned to bury her face in my shoulder. How did one deal with a victim of childhood sexual abuse? I had no idea. I¡¯d have to read up on it, after we got out of here. But for now, I ran my fingers through Emily¡¯s hair, and let her cry into my shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m here, Emily. You have me.¡± ===END Chapter XVIII=== This chapter was produced with the support of my Hybrid patron:
  • Olli Erinko
Chapter XIX James Exosia In the dark, cramped, noisy Omega dungeon, under Lucifer¡¯s castle in Hell, I held Emily as she sobbed into my shoulder. Her cries mixed with the persistent moans of the damned, and echoed through the halls. ¡°I¡¯m here, Emily, you have me.¡± I repeated. Emily looked up. Her makeup, already smudged from the heat and sweat, was now smeared down her cheeks. She wiped it away. ¡°I¡¯m sorry you had to see that. Thank you James.¡± ¡°Not a problem¡± I answered. ¡°But, you know, we really should get going.¡± Emily disentangled herself from me, and we both stood up. SLAM! A loud noise came from behind me, reverberating up the hallway. ¡°Shit, we left the door open.¡± I said. As Emily and I approached the end of the hallway, we heard voices. The words were hard to make out over the constant groan emanating from the cells, but the voices were distinct. And they were growing closer. Emily and I looked at each other in horror. There were only two ways to go: up to the hallway, towards the dungeon entrance, and towards the approaching demons. Or down the hallway, away from the demons and the way out. We backed up cautiously, and I flipped the latch on the one place we could hide: Nigel Butler¡¯s as-yet-unoccupied torture cell. Emily and I squeezed inside, and pulled the door almost closed, but not latched. As the demons passed, we could make out their conversation. ¡°You need to stop leaving the Omega dungeon door open.¡± ¡°I swear, I closed it last time I was down here.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what you said last time.¡± ¡°Yeah, I know, but come on. Who¡¯s going to escape? This is Hell after all.¡± ¡°It¡¯s protocol. And if you don¡¯t like it, you can stay a Lackey for all eternity.¡± ¡°Screw you.¡± ¡°Seriously, have you been living under a rock?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You haven¡¯t heard about the Hybrid that¡¯s been running around pissing off Lucifer? If you ever wanna get into the field, you¡¯ll have to stay up to date¡± ¡°I dunno. I¡¯m a Lackey. Mortal shit is above my pay grade.¡± ¡°We¡¯re demons, you idiot. We don¡¯t have a pay grade.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± ¡°You are infuriatingly stupid.¡± ¡°So I¡¯m infuriating? Good, I¡¯m doing well.¡± There was a sudden loud roar, a wet smack, and a sizzling hiss. The demons¡¯ conversation ceased after that. As the footsteps faded off, Emily and I nudged the cell door back open. Hardly daring to breathe, we listened for the demons. Hearing nothing, we tiptoed back to the head of the hallway, slipped through the door (and closed it behind us) and darted back up the stairs. ¡°That was close¡± I said, once we were safely away. ¡°Tell me about it.¡± Emily replied. We navigated back through the castle wing, and after not too long, we found the original intersection where we had decided to detour to the dungeons. This time, however, we followed the signs for the throne room. As we followed these signs, the castle became more and more gratuitously macabre, with torches made of human bone and ear wax, drapes made of skin, and decor made of fingers and toes. It was mildly disturbing. I hadn¡¯t come this way before, but eventually the gruesome decor gave way to the familiar blood-red carpets, sulfuric incense, and demonic portraits. And then we were at the throne room, where I realized with yet another sinking feeling that I hadn¡¯t thought this far ahead. Lucifer would undoubtedly be in or near his throne, between us and the Scroll. Emily must have noticed my hesitation. ¡°You didn¡¯t have a plan here, did you?¡± I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t really have one, other than grabbing it and getting out by not wanting to be here anymore.¡± ¡°If we can even get to it.¡± And then we heard another set of approaching footsteps. Emily and I hid behind a nearby ceiling-to-floor tapestry. It was dark red, and reeked of death. Dyed red with blood, of course. The footsteps stopped on the other side of the tapestry. There was a great creaking groan as the doors were opened. Quietly, we tiptoed out of our hiding spot, and tailgated into the throne room behind the demon. As it began the long trek up towards the throne room, we darted off to the left side, behind a statue. Through the smoke and haze, we sneaked from statue to statue, tiptoeing, hopping over the rivulets of blood and sulfur that came down from the walls, until eventually we were near enough to the head of the room to make out the conversation. We could also see the Scroll, sitting on a stone ledge next to the enormous built-in throne. By good luck, it was also on the left side. ¡°Thank you for bringing me this, Qkxztl¡± Lucifer drawled.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Of course, my lord.¡± ¡°Now get out of here, you miscreant.¡± ¡°As you wish.¡± Peering around the pillars, we could see the demon Qkxztl backpedaling furiously towards the throne room entrance. ¡°AAMON!¡± Lucifer suddenly roared, and Emily and I jumped. A tendril of dark smoke shot down from the ceiling, slammed into the floor, expanded into a tornado of unholy energy, and coalesced into Aamon. I hadn¡¯t seen him since the bank, and I wasn¡¯t eager to go face to face with the cruel demon again. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°The Hybrid has entered Hell.¡± Lucifer said. ¡°This was found in the Fields of Torment, where the extraction party made their incursion into the Hybrid¡¯s quarters.¡± Aamon raised his arms, and caught¡­ my suit jacket. Fuck. ¡°Find him.¡± Lucifer ordered. Aamon raised my jacket to his face and inhaled. ¡°It will be my pleasure.¡± he said, grinning. ¡°And bring me Naqud from the Treasury.¡± Lucifer continued. ¡°I need to move the Scroll into the Vault until this is over.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Aamon bowed, turned, and stalked towards the exit. ¡°He knows we¡¯re here.¡± Emily whispered to me, the worry clearly displayed in her facial expression. ¡°No.¡± I corrected her. ¡°He knows I¡¯m here.¡± Emily¡¯s fear turned to excitement, as she realized the implications. ¡°I distract him. You get the Scroll.¡± At the same moment, however, Aamon roared from the entrance. ¡°HE¡¯S HERE!¡± ¡°What?¡± Lucifer called. ¡°THE HYBRID IS IN THIS ROOM! HE CAME THROUGH THE DOOR!¡± Aamon shouted from the far end. Gulp. I stepped out from the pillar. ¡°Hi, Lucifer.¡± He snarled at me. ¡°You idiot boy. You really thought you could waltz in here and just steal my things?¡± ¡°Well, I got this far, didn¡¯t I?¡± I asked, working my way to the towards the right-hand side of the room, turning Lucifer¡¯s back to the Scroll. Lucifer walked down the steps from his throne. ¡°So close, yet you failed. You¡¯re in my kingdom now, boy, and that means you play by my rules. You could have had wealth, power, love. But you threw it all away. And for what? A misguided sense of righteousness?¡± ¡°Get this through your thick skull.¡± I said, keeping Lucifer¡¯s attention firmly on myself. And Aamon¡¯s too. He was somewhere behind me, presumably stalking closer. ¡°You don¡¯t own me, you don¡¯t control me. I have my own reasons for my actions. You pompous twit.¡± Lucifer¡¯s voice turned cold. ¡°Don¡¯t disrespect me in my own home, boy.¡± He waved his hand, and a bolt of flame shot towards me. I stumbled back reflexively, and fell down. The fire washed over me. I could feel its heat, and see it scorching my clothes, but it wasn¡¯t painful. It didn¡¯t burn me. Lucifer couldn¡¯t hurt me, not here. I opened my eyes and stood up. Behind Lucifer, Emily was inching closer to the Scroll. Lucifer realized I wasn¡¯t looking at him, but rather, behind him. He turned, and saw Emily. She grabbed the Scroll. Lucifer screeched, and shot towards her in a smokey blur. But the space around Emily twisted and contorted - and they both vanished. I want to leave I thought. With the all-too familiar gut-wrenching jerk, the spatial topography of Hell distorted around me, and I shot straight up, through the throat of hell, and landed on my dorm ceiling. Emily and Lucifer were fighting for the Scroll. She was on my bed, curled around it in the fetal position, and Lucifer was beating on her. But Emily wasn¡¯t a Hybrid, and on Earth, Lucifer was powerless to force her arms open. Heavy ears were streaming down her face. The mental anguish of Lucifer¡¯s beatdown must have been terrible. I dropped from the ceiling, and kicked Lucifer away. With a casual backhand, he threw me into the opposite wall. Next to my closet. Heaven. I pulled open the door, revealing the pristine entrance hallway. I tried to helped Emily up. ¡°Keep the scroll.¡± I said. ¡°Lucifer can¡¯t get it if you hold on to it.¡± But she didn¡¯t move. The shock of everything in Hell, combined with Lucifer¡¯s psychological onslaught, had finally taken her out of the fight. I started to extract the Scroll from Emily¡¯s arms, but Lucifer knocked me out of the way. I landed in an undignified mess on Kevin¡¯s desk. There was only one easy solution here. I got off the desk and kicked Lucifer in the crotch. It was like kicking a brick wall. My foot stung, and I was sure I¡¯d broken something. But Lucifer recoiled in pain, covering his groin with his hands. I grabbed the scroll from Emily, and unceremoniously threw it into the closet. Lucifer jumped after it. As the tips of his fingers crossed the plane of the closet door, Heaven itself violently rejected him. A bright white tendril of holy energy shot out of the closet, throwing Lucifer against the far wall and pinning him there. The Scroll itself was safely on the floor of the hallway. No demon could reach it there. We had won. I walked up to Lucifer, still struggling against the holy force that was crushing him against the wall. ¡°What was that about me failing?¡± Lucifer didn¡¯t respond, clearly preoocupied with resisting the incorporeal tendril of power that arced across the room in a mesmerising display. It seemed to be taking all his strength. I took a moment to appreciate the fact that Satan himself was fighting a doorframe and losing badly. Then I walked across the room and closed the closet door. Lucifer collapsed on the floor, drained from his unexpected ordeal. I kicked him in the nuts again for good measure. Lucifer coughed, flipped me off, and rolled into the abyss. The pit of Hell closed behind him, the smoke and ash and sulfur retreating into the chasm as it sealed itself. I turned to the bed. Emily was still curled up in the fetal position, crying. Her dress was covered in soot and ash. ¡°Emily? It¡¯s over. We won.¡±
Emily Butler I was stunned, shocked. Lucifer had just flamed James. I almost cried out in horror. But then he stood up, and I was relieved. Oh right. The mission. I inched closer to the scroll, but Lucifer turned to face me. Shit. I grabbed the scroll. He roared, and shot towards me in a bolt of dark smoke. I need to leave. I felt the castle contort itself around me. With a jerk that felt like my internal organs were getting scrambled, I flew upwards. But something was holding on to my ankle. I slammed into the ceiling, rolled, and fell onto the bed. Lucifer was right behind me, and I needed to protect the Scroll. I clutched it tightly. But why am I doing so much for James? He¡¯s driven by his cock, just like all other guys are. He was staring at my tits all throughout dinner. I shouldn¡¯t have worn such a slutty, form-fitting dress. Really, I was just asking to be ogled. I know he just wants to get into my pants. I suppose it¡¯s really all I¡¯m good for. I should know, I¡¯m essentially a professional at it by now since that¡¯s what I¡¯ve been doing my whole life. Good thing my father started me off young so I could get used to what it¡¯s like. The world blurred as the tears came. I closed my eyes, curling into a ball as the torrent of terrible thoughts saturated my mind. And I thought he¡¯d face justice now that he¡¯s been arrested. Ha. As if. The judge is probably going to be part of his circle of perverts, and let him off easy. I can imagine it now, they¡¯ll wink at each other knowingly, as the judge gives him community service. He won¡¯t even have to face other inmates. And then he¡¯ll be back¡­ for me. I may as well just drop out of college now and start working the streets; it would probably be safer. I could hear James saying something. His voice was distant, and I felt something clawing at my chest. I curled tighter. *I should just end everything now. If I¡¯m dead, then my father can¡¯t get back at me, and James can never get the chance to hurt me. Oh, I wish I was dead. * The Scroll was torn out of my arms. I had failed. I buried my face in my hands and cried harder. There was a bright light, and a sound like electricity. I tightened my eyes against the light. Then the light stopped. ¡°Emily?¡± I heard James say. ¡°It¡¯s over. We won.¡± I cried harder. James was going to hurt me, he didn¡¯t love me, he just wanted to get me in bed- ¡°It¡¯s alright Emily. I¡¯m here for you.¡± I felt his fingers in my hair. I felt his arms around me, and I remembered how comforting they were earlier. ¡°It¡¯s alright, Emily. Lucifer¡¯s gone. I¡¯ve got you. I¡¯m here.¡± The flood of fear and sadness was slowly wiped away by the reminder that James was the only one who had stuck through everything with me. Slowly, I dried the tears from my eyes. James was holding me. Everything was alright. As my mind cleared, I looked around the room. The hole to Hell was gone. Kevin was still frozen in his chair. James¡¯s clothes were scorched beyond recognition, and his face was covered in soot, but he was there. I started crying again, but this time, it was out of happiness. Chapter XX James Exosia For the second time today, I found myself comforting Emily as she cried. But we were in my dorm, not Hell. And instead of releasing two decades of pent-up anger at Nigel Butler, we had just stopped Lucifer from canceling out most of the Book of Revelation. Oh, and Emily had kissed me earlier. So it was a good day. ¡°You alright?¡± I asked, as Emily slowly calmed down. ¡°N¡­ not yet.¡± Emily stuttered. ¡°That was rough. I kinda shut down there, sorry.¡± ¡°Not your fault.¡± I said, shaking my head. ¡°Lucifer was hitting you pretty hard. You did well. I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t get him off you sooner.¡± Emily wiped away a streak of makeup. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°Well, it all went down pretty fast, but I popped out of Hell right after you did, kicked Lucifer away from you, grabbed the Scroll, and tossed it through the closet. Lucifer went after it. Since he¡¯s, you know, the Devil, that went about as well as you might expect. He got thrown against the other wall. Oh, and I kicked him. Right in the testicles. Twice.¡± Emily gave a weak laugh. ¡°Good. He deserved it.¡± Under more normal circumstances, I might have been inclined to just sit and enjoy Emily¡¯s comforting presence after the harrowing trip through Hell. But Kevin was still frozen across the room, staring at the pit to Hell that no longer existed. And Emily and I were covered in dirt, ash, soot, and sweat. Our clothes were ruined, not to mention the half of my suit that I had left behind in Hell. That was going to be fun to explain to my dad. I grabbed a change of clothes, and Emily and I went to her room. Her roommate was still out on her own date, and I changed in the bathroom. I came out to see Emily in a loose T-shirt and shorts. Her hair had lost its curls to the heat, and was now pulled back into a loose ponytail. ¡°So what do we do about Kevin?¡± Emily asked. ¡°He saw the portal to Hell open up in your room.¡± ¡°He¡¯s an irresponsible stoner who can¡¯t pass class because he¡¯s too busy partying.¡± I answered, as I finally let go of time. ¡°He¡¯ll probably just assume it was a bad trip. And even if he doesn¡¯t, nobody is going to take him seriously.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ okay.¡± Emily didn¡¯t seem very satisfied. ¡°And to be honest, I don¡¯t really know what else to do about him.¡± ¡°Fair enough.¡± There was a knock at the door. ¡°Shit.¡± Emily swore, as she got up to check the peephole. ¡°Marie wasn¡¯t supposed to be back this early. Oh. It¡¯s Cael.¡± Emily opened the door, and the angel came in. ¡°Hi James. Thought you were going to tell me once anything happened with the portal to Hell?¡± Oh, so that was how it was going to be. I felt my good mood rapidly evaporate. ¡°Scroll of the Apocalypse is on the floor on the other side of the Gate in my closet. You¡¯re welcome.¡± ¡°Heh. Thanks, nicely done. Though it would have been nice if you could have left the decoy¡­¡± I shook my head. ¡°Sorry, man. Didn¡¯t have the time. It opened, and we grabbed the climbing gear and jumped.¡± In truth, I was still ticked at Cael for letting Alocer mess with Emily¡¯s head. As much as I¡¯d liked to have unloaded on him, there was too much value in staying on Cael¡¯s good side. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Cael answered. ¡°I¡¯m just glad you succeeded. How did you finally open the portal?¡± ¡°Not entirely sure.¡± I answered. ¡°But I think emotions had something to do with it. Like, the first time it almost opened, I was angry. And the second time¡­¡± I remembered the all-consuming lust that had overtaken me. ¡°¡­it was something similar.¡± I snuck a side glance at Emily. Her mouth wasn¡¯t smiling, but her eyes were. Cael nodded. ¡°So one of the seven deadly sins strengthens your connection to Hell. Interesting.¡± Or two of them did, at least. I didn¡¯t really feel like explaining the other one. ¡°But I¡¯m glad you got it open.¡± Cael continued. ¡°And thank you for getting the Scroll out. That would have been hard to explain to The Big Guy.¡± ¡°We¡¯re just glad to be back. Hell isn¡¯t exactly a great place to go for a Valentine¡¯s date.¡± ¡°Understood. I¡¯ll leave you alone now. See you later.¡± Cael left. ¡°Oh man.¡± Emily said, once we were alone. ¡°It is still Valentine¡¯s day.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± I grunted, as I flopped down onto Emily¡¯s bed. ¡°We may as well be jet-lagged from the time stop. Plus all the running around in Hell¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m tired too.¡± Emily said, and sat down next to me. She paused for a moment, started to speak, stopped herself, paused a moment longer, then asked ¡°Was that a serious question, earlier?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Before we went into Hell.¡± ¡°Ummm¡­¡± I tried to remember what Emily was referring to. ¡°You asked me if¡­¡± Oh. My cheeks went red. ¡°Yeah. So¡­ um¡­ what do you¡­ ah¡­ think about it.¡± Her forehead scrunched together. Adorable, as always. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Goddammit. I felt my stomach drop. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I mean, I don¡¯t know if I even can be your girlfriend. James, I¡¯m so fucked up. I broke down because I saw my dad¡¯s name on a fucking plaque. I¡¯m a mess. And you¡¯re a great friend and everything, but I¡¯m just¡­ broken.¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. My heart joined my stomach in my shoes. ¡°I¡¯m never going to be able to have a relationship with anyone. Do you know how hard it was to kiss you?¡± ¡°Very?¡± ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m not normal, James.¡± Suddenly, everything clicked into place. ¡°¡­You¡¯re worried about sex, aren¡¯t you.¡± Emily blinked and seemed to deflate. ¡°Y¡­yeah. I am.¡± ¡°You know that being boyfriend and girlfriend doesn¡¯t automatically mean sex, right?¡± She blinked again. ¡°It doesn¡¯t?¡± ¡°Not at all.¡± I shook my head. ¡°It just means we¡¯re two people who enjoy going on dates and spending time with each other. Physical intimacy - of any sort - doesn¡¯t have to happen until both people are ready for it.¡± I could almost see the gears turning in Emily¡¯s mind. ¡°If it helps,¡± I continued. ¡°We almost already are, just from the amount of time we spend with each other at coffee shops and libraries. Is that something you enjoy and want to continue?¡± It was Emily¡¯s turn to go bright red. ¡°Yeah.¡± she answered softly. ¡°Me too. So your answer is¡­¡± I prompted. My heart was almost fluttering in anticipation. ¡°Um, sure?¡± I fell asleep in Emily¡¯s bed that night.
Officer Dakota Jackson I pulled up to the station, mildly irritated to have been pulled off patrol, and apprehensive about the reason for it. The dispatcher greeted me as I entered: ¡°Good morning Officer Jackson.¡± ¡°Good morning. Do you know where the chief is? He asked me to see him.¡± ¡°He came in about ten minutes ago, so I¡¯d check his office.¡± ¡°Should have guessed. Thanks.¡± As predicted, Chief Becker was in his office, with another man in a suit I didn¡¯t recognize. ¡°Officer Jackson.¡± the Chief said. ¡°Good morning. Close the door, please?¡± I complied. ¡°Good morning.¡± ¡°Officer Jackson, this is Agent Ramsey, Federal Bureau of Investigation. Agent Ramsey, Officer Jackson.¡± I shook his hand. ¡°So what¡¯s the occasion?¡± Agent Ramsey spoke. ¡°I¡¯m here about Nigel Butler. My understanding is that you have two open cases against him, is that correct?¡± I nodded, understanding why Chief Becker had summoned me. ¡°Sort of. The first case, Mr. Butler was actually the victim; it was a targeted assault in his hotel room. This case we closed after all leads turned up empty.¡± ¡°Mhmm.¡± ¡°And the second case was for possession of child pornography, which was discovered while responding to the assault call. I arrested Mr. Butler immediately, and questioned his wife. She was formally detained after questioning. I think arraignment is in what, a week?¡± ¡°Eleven days.¡± Becker corrected me. ¡°Or rather, it was. His laptop came back from digital forensics.¡± ¡°What did they find?¡± I asked. I could have guessed the answer before Chief Becker said it. ¡°Not just possession. Distribution and manufacture too.¡± ¡°Fucking hell.¡± I breathed. ¡°What about his wife Allison?¡± ¡°They¡¯re from a mandatory reporting state.¡± Agent Ramsey explained. ¡°There¡¯s a good amount of evidence to show that Allison Butler knew, but never reported. That¡¯s strict liability, so at minimum, she¡¯s on the hook for failure to report. But this crosses state lines, so it¡¯s federal jurisdiction. The FBI will be taking over the investigation.¡± ¡°Fine by me.¡± I answered, still reeling. ¡°Our detective¡¯s been swamped as of late, but what about the daughter? Emily, I think?¡± ¡°She was the victim.¡± Chief Becker said, bluntly. ¡°Jesus fucking Christ.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Agent Ramsey continued. ¡°We¡¯re taking the hotel assault as well, since it¡¯s clearly related. Obviously, it¡¯s nice that Nigel Butler was handed to us on a silver platter, but we can¡¯t be having a vigilante going around.¡± ¡°Makes sense.¡± I answered, still trying to process the scope of his crimes. ¡°We¡¯re going to expand the investigation to include Nigel Butler¡¯s online contacts. I know we have an airtight case against Nigel himself, but it would have been best to avoid nailing him until we had the whole ring. Unfortunately, that didn¡¯t happen, so we have to work with what we¡¯ve got. We can delay Nigel Butler¡¯s arraignment while the case is transferred to federal court, but we¡¯re effectively on a timeline.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s why I called you.¡± the chief said. ¡°I need two things from you. One, help Agent Ramsey out with taking over the case. Your files, notes, whatever stuff Sanders came up with. Get copies of all of that, as quickly as you can.¡± Chief Becker suddenly adopted a much more stern tone. ¡°And two, professionalism. We cannot allow the cases against either Nigel Butler or his contacts to be jeopardized. I know that privately we all hope the bastards burn in Hell, but don¡¯t do anything that some defense lawyer could use to question your impartiality.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± I stood up, shook both mens¡¯ hands, and turned to leave. ¡°And Officer Jackson.¡± Chief Becker called. ¡°Yes sir?¡± ¡°Good work.¡±
Emily Butler I dragged myself from deep sleep, back into the realm of the living. I wiped the crust from my eyes, and realized that again, I¡¯d spent the night with James. I cast my mind back to last night, to the crazy night that James and I had gone through. The memories came slowly, fuzzed by a long night of hard sleep. We¡¯d gone on a date, and the date had ended with a trip through Hell. Or was that a dream? It was, wasn¡¯t it? No, the trip through Hell had actually happened. I¡¯d found the cell reserved for my dad. James and I had retrieved the Scroll of the Apocalypse. And with a simultaneous shock of elation and surge of trepidation, I remembered something else. Something important. I had a boyfriend.
Internet Chat Room 18:32:17 ¡úmaphunter has logged in 18:32:24 thanlols you there? 18:32:59 <@thanlols> maphunter: 18:33:01 <@thanlols> what¡¯s up 18:33:24 remember you were looking for toxxxic? 18:33:33 <@thanlols> yeah 18:33:37 <@thanlols> .seen toxxxic 18:33:37 <+screwgle> (thanlols) toxxxic was last seen 19 days and 1 hour ago saying: i¡¯ve gotta get going. Flight¡¯s boarding 18:34:37 <@thanlols> why? 18:34:51 I heard something from a little bird 18:35:02 how little? 18:35:05 ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã) 18:35:08 thanlols: toxxxic is busted 18:35:15 <@thanlols> shit 18:35:19 <@thanlols> thanks for letting me know 18:35:26 @thanlols banned toxxxic!*@* (+b) 18:35:32 @thanlols removed R:toxxxic from the invite list (-I) 18:35:47 @thanlols set the topic: toxxxic is compromised; do not respond to him if he logs in 18:35:54 <@thanlols> hotdogger: you still know some guys? 18:36:05 thanlols: yeah, why? 18:36:06 oh 18:36:07 fuck 18:36:11 yeah, I¡¯ll give them a call 18:36:15 <@thanlols> thanks Chapter XXI James Exosia I rolled awake and rubbed my eyes. Today was the third day of Emily officially being my girlfriend, and the third day after I¡¯d kicked Lucifer in the testicles while Emily and I re-stole the Scroll of the Apocalypse out from under his nose. It was also a Saturday, and so Kevin was mercifully absent. He had seen the abyss open up in our dorm room, and had fortunately chalked it up to a bad trip. Naturally, the solution to a bad trip was to drown the visions in ethanol, which he had presumably spent all night doing. Truly, Kevin was a paragon of responsibility and maturity. And since Kevin had been predictably elsewhere¡­ I looked over at Emily. Her long blonde hair cascaded over the pillow. One strand hung down over her face, blown back and forth with each breath. She¡¯d stayed over last night. For the third time ever, we¡¯d slept together - in the literal sense of the word. There was no sex - and probably wouldn¡¯t be for quite some time - but just waking up next to her, I felt like the luckiest guy alive. ¦© got up carefully and quietly, so as not to disturb Emily. I went to the bathroom and got dressed, but when I returned, Emily was sitting up. ¡°Good morning¡± she said, in a sleepy voice ¡°Good morning.¡± Emily changed in the privacy of the bathroom, and then we went out to the library. It might have been the weekend, but that didn¡¯t mean we could spend the day on frivolities. Not the library in Heaven - as amazing as it was, the whole incident with the Scroll had made us realize that we shouldn¡¯t risk the fate of all creation at the cosmic level. We got regular, ordinary, non-self-refilling coffee, walked to the campus library, and cracked open our human-authored textbooks.
A distillation column separates a saturated liquid mix of 50/50 water/ethanol. a) Using the phase equilibrium graph below, determine how many plates are necessary for the bottom outlet stream to be 95% water. b) Onto which plate should the inlet stream feed? c) What is the mass flow rate of vapor off of the 2nd plate from the bottom?
For me, the studying was more for Emily¡¯s sake than my own. The divine omniscience helped fill in any gaps in my own knowledge, but that didn¡¯t help Emily. While I could stop time and fill out Emily¡¯s tests, using my powers to cheat other people through college felt wrong. And it wouldn¡¯t actually help Emily in the long run anyways. Besides, if I ever somehow lost my abilities, I¡¯d need to actually know my field. So, we got out the water/ethanol phase equilibrium graph, and started finding the specifications of the distillation tower.
Emily Butler I left class - one of the few that James and I didn¡¯t share, and checked my phone.
You have 1 new voicemail.
I started to listen, but almost walked into the hood of a van parked at the side of the road. Two clumsy steps later, I hit Play.
Hi Emily, this is officer Dakota Jackson again. There have been some developments in the investigation against your father. The FBI is coming in to take over the case, and I was hoping you could meet with the new investigator. Could you set up a time to meet with him?
A month ago, I never would have thought that this could happen. Now that it was, I was equal parts elated and terrified. Elated, that my father was facing justice. Terrified, that his co-perverts would find a way to enact revenge. But if the FBI was getting involved, that could only mean one thing: they were going after the whole group. That didn¡¯t make it easy, but it did give me hope. It was also comforting to know that whatever happened, my father was facing eternity in a dingy torture cell in a dungeon in Hell. Having James on my side helped. A few weeks ago, I wouldn¡¯t have wanted to meet with the police. If James came with me, maybe I¡¯d be able to get through it without another mental breakdown. I texted him. That was, ultimately, the thing I appreciated about James. He was simple, straightforward, and easy to deal with. Maybe a little quick to frustration, but he wasn¡¯t hard to read. And understanding of my own difficulties. That was the important thing right now. It had been a pleasant surprise to discover that despite my earlier misgivings, being a ¡°girlfriend¡± did not necessarily involve sex. And since James seemed to be ok with the whole situation, I probably shouldn¡¯t complain.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Sure, there were going to be other problems down the road: tuition, bills, food. It was only a matter of time before the parental credit card declined, with my incarcerated parents unable to pay it off. I probably at least had through the end of the semester. I think. But then what? I¡¯d figure something out. Right?
Darren Sanders I looked around warily as I parked in the dingy back alley. Typically, I was the one doing the watching, rather than being watched. But it wouldn¡¯t do well for my career to be caught visiting someone that I¡¯d previously busted for possession of LSD. I took a swig of liquid courage, then shut the car off and exited. Another furtive glance around - nothing suspicious nearby. I approached a nondescript door and pressed the call button. A moment later, a peepslot slid open in the door. ¡°Name?¡± a dark figure demanded ¡°Darren. Darren Sanders.¡± ¡°Anyone follow you?¡± ¡°No.¡± The slot slid closed, and the door opened. I stepped inside. ¡°You armed?¡± the figure asked. ¡°Of course.¡± I lifted my jacket to reveal my police-issued sidearm. ¡°I¡¯ll take that.¡± he said. Hah. ¡°No, you won¡¯t.¡± I said, staring him down. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see that he was Lucas Mateo, my target. He was scrawny, dressed entirely in black, and not much stronger than a twig. I probably had a good hundred and fifty pounds on him. And the handgun was in a retention holster - it wasn¡¯t going anywhere. Lucas withered under my gaze. ¡°I- I still need to check for listening devices.¡± I took off my jacket and held out my arms, while Lucas did a piss-poor imitation of a police pat-down. I could have smuggled twenty kilos of cocaine past him, and he¡¯d never know it. ¡°All clear¡± he announced. ¡°Follow me.¡± I followed Lucas deeper into the building. He led me to an apartment, and opened the door. ¡°After you.¡± I was assaulted by the aroma of stale pizza, sweaty socks, and farts. So that was the kind of person I was dealing with. Great. I sat down on the couch, and tried not to think about what odors might be coming out of it. Lucas followed me in, and sat down across from me. With a sweep of his lanky arm, he cleared the coffee table of clutter. Awkward silence. I broke the ice. ¡°So. Lucas. I-¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have any of the good shit. Not for you.¡± he snapped. ¡°Not after you turned me in. I¡¯m taking a huge fucking risk just seeing you here.¡± I shook my head. ¡°That¡¯s not why I¡¯m here.¡± Lucas eyed me warily. ¡°Then what the hell are you doing?¡± I shifted in my seat. ¡°I¡¯ve¡­ seen things.¡± ¡°So, what? You raided the evidence locker for cheap garbage?¡± ¡°No.¡± There was no good way to say it without it sounding ridiculous. ¡°I saw someone vanish.¡± Lucas looked at me expectantly. ¡°And¡­?¡± ¡°And reappear four feet away.¡± I let out a sigh. ¡°Two people actually. Some people I was tailing.¡± Lucas stared at me, then abruptly burst out in laughter. ¡°Bro, I fucking told you all this shit at the station!¡± ¡°Yeah, I know, and let¡¯s say I don¡¯t remember any of it.¡± ¡°Bullshit.¡± It was only mostly true. After so many cases, all the social deviants blurred together. ¡°I just remembered you going on about angels and demons and stuff like that. At the time, I figured it was the LSD.¡± ¡°Itwasthe LSD, man. There¡¯s a reason I don¡¯t do that shit no more.¡± Lucas leaned back and ran his hand through his hair. ¡°Dios m¨ªo, qu¨¦ desastre eres.¡± ¡°Um¡­ in English?¡± ¡°For fuck¡¯s sake, get your shit together man.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°It¡¯s what, fucking ten in the morning? You reek of liquor, you¡¯re hallucinating, and you¡¯re so fucking desperate you came to visitme!¡± I blinked. ¡°I got a job now man! I got a fuckingpaycheck! I¡¯ve been on the straight and narrow since parole!¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Lucas leaned forward in his chair. ¡°Look man, I dunno where you got your drugs. I don¡¯t give a shit if you got it off the street or from evidence. Obviously, you got yourself some cheap shit, and you gotta knock it off. Go home, sober up, get your shit together. You¡¯re a fucking cop, for Christ¡¯s sake.Ishould be coming toyoufor help, not the other way around.¡± ¡°I¡­ well¡­ I guess I should get going then.¡± I stood up, and absentmindedly patted myself down for wallet, keys, phone, and gun. ¡°Nice to see you again, Lucas.¡± ¡°Yeah. You too. Thanks for scaring me straight. Now get outta here.¡± Lucas unceremoniously showed me to the door. As I stepped out of the dingy apartment building and got back into my car, I realized something. I could have sworn I¡¯d seen thin strips of LSD paper before Lucas had cleared the table.
James Exosia ¡°I still don¡¯t understand the point of a packed column.¡± I said to Emily. We were booking it across campus, from one class to the next, and taking a shortcut behind one of the academic buildings. During class, a thin layer of snow had come down. ¡°I think the idea is that you¡¯re increasing the surface area between the liquid and vapor phases.¡± Emily responded. I turned to catch a glimpse of that scrunched up face she made when she was thinking. And then, since I wasn¡¯t looking where I was going, I tripped off a curb and into a van. Oops. ¡°Graceful as always.¡± Emily commented. ¡°Yeah, somehow less impressive than my hook throwing skills.¡± I replied. We shared a knowing look. ¡°But go on.¡± She suppressed a giggle, and continued. ¡°The point is to maximize surface area to exploit equilibrium, to transfer a gas between the liquid and vapor phases. The packing media achieves this by mixing the two phases together. The random packing is cheaper, but structured packing is more effective.¡± I frowned. ¡°Yeah, but what does the packing actually do?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve taken mass transfer right?¡± ¡°Not until next semester.¡± ¡°Oh. The packing just mixes everything in a predictable and controllable manner¡­ increasing surface area of the phase boundary, so that more mass can cross from one phase to the other.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± I replied, taking a moment to digest the information. As we walked past a loading dock, Emily suddenly stopped short. ¡°Hang on¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± I asked. ¡°That van¡­¡± Emily pointed at a vehicle at curb ahead. ¡°I¡¯ve seen it around before.¡± ¡°So?¡± The doors of the van slid open, and a handful of poorly dressed thugs clambered out. They moved with purpose, and they were wearing hankerchiefs to conceal their faces. I felt Emily stiffen next to me. The thugs fanned out as they approached. One was wielding a tire iron. Another had a baseball bat. Another had brass knuckles in both fists. With one hand, I took Emily¡¯s hand. With my other hand, I grabbed onto time. Chapter XXII James Exosia The thugs stopped in their tracks. Or rather, I stopped time in its tracks. Either way, Emily and I were the only ones able to move. ¡°Shit.¡± Emily swore. ¡°They¡¯re already after me.¡± ¡°It would seem so.¡± I tugged at her hand. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here.¡± Emily paused, and walked up to the first frozen assailant. He had a baseball bat in his right hand, and a hankerchief over his face. Tattoos covered both hands and his neck. With a scream of fury, Emily punched him in the face. There was a crack, and a spray of blood that quickly stopped mid-air. Alright, I really should have seen that one coming. ¡°Emily!¡± I called. ¡°What are you¡­ doing¡­¡± I trailed off, as I realized that she couldn¡¯t hear me through the rage. Emily wrenched the bat from his hand, and casually walked over to the second attacker - the one with the tire iron. She wound up, and swung it into his hands. His knuckles shattered with a sickening crunch, crushed between the bat and the iron. I could have stopped it. At any moment, I could have simply shoved Emily back into the normal flow of time, then dragged her away from the impending conflict. But even if these men hadn¡¯t hurt Emily directly, they were clearly working for someone who had. And Emily was punishing them for it. Her adrenaline-fuelled strength was awe-inspiring, and suspended droplets of blood soon filled the air. Hell truly hath no fury like a woman scorned. I should know - I¡¯ve been there. Sometimes, it wasn¡¯t about being perfectly fair or just. Sometimes, it was about sending a message. Considering the trauma that Nigel Butler had put his daughter through, this was evidently one of those times. The message to Emily¡¯s abusers was clear: your sins are known, and your days are numbered. The third and fourth attackers fared no better than the first two. Emily made short work of their noses, knuckles, and ankles, before turning to me. For a moment, I thought she would attack me. But her face softened and she dropped the bat. Then her expression turned into shock, as she looked at the scene around her and realized what she¡¯d done. ¡°Oh God.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ about that¡­ we should probably go.¡± I glanced from Emily, to the group of adult delinquents that were about to experience new worlds of pain. Silently, Emily walked around, surveying her handiwork. ¡°Emily¡± I repeated. ¡°We should get out of here.¡± ¡°...Yeah.¡± Her voice was quiet. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± As we left the scene, I took a picture of the van. It wasn¡¯t until we were far away - and out of the sight of anyone else - that Emily and I quietly slipped back into the regular flow of time.
Officer Dakota Jackson ¡°Dispatch to forty-nine. We have a caller reporting an assault. Multiple victims, on the west edge of campus.¡± Why did it always have to be me? I reached for my radio. ¡°Forty-nine to dispatch, ten-four. I¡¯m on my way. Running lights and siren.¡± I hit the switches, pulled onto the highway from my speeding trap, and floored the gas. Nine minutes later, I pulled up to the scene, edging in behind a van that was idling with its doors open. On the right, I could see figures lying on the ground. But an idling vehicle with open doors was a huge red flag. I punched the license plates into my computer. Stolen. Of course. I radioed dispatch to send a tow truck, and got out of my car. With one hand on my sidearm, I approached the van. ¡°Show your hands!¡± I shouted. Nothing. A wide loop to the left, and I could see why: the driver¡¯s seat was unoccupied. A quick glance through the door revealed that the van was empty. With the van posing no immediate threat, I was comfortable heading towards the apparent crime scene. Four men lay on the ground. A variety of questionably-legal weapons were scattered around. Blood was everywhere, but they were all breathing. ¡°Forty-nine to dispatch, I need four ambulances to my location.¡± A brief moment of radio static, then my request was acknowledged. ¡°Dispatch to forty-nine, ten-four.¡± Victim number one. Hispanic, male, middle-aged, heavily tattooed. Face concealed with hankerchief. Blood around head and hands. Incoherent. Victim number two. Hispanic, male, middle-aged, tattooed. Face partially concealed. Blood around hands and feet. Coherent but uncooperative.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Victim three. Hispanic, male, possibly upper twenties. Face fully concealed. Tattoed. Blood around head, hands, and feet. Unconscious. Brass knuckles wielded in right hand, will need to arrest. Victim four. Hispanic, male, probably upper forties to lower fifties. Face partially concealed. Blood around head and feet. Incoherent. Just what exactly the fuck had happened here? Gang fight? Drug deal gone wrong? I looked at the academic building behind me. Sure enough, there was a security camera covering the nearby loading dock. Depending on the exact angle, it might have recorded the crime. I pulled out my cell phone and called Detective Sanders.
James Exosia ¡°I don¡¯t know what came over me.¡± Emily whispered, as we left the next class. ¡°I don¡¯t think I listened to anything during that lecture.¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright. Really, it is.¡± ¡°You sure?¡± Emily was uncertain. ¡°Because all of a sudden, I had a way¡­ a way to get back at them. At my father.¡± ¡°I figured it was something like that. And I¡¯m okay with it.¡± Emily stopped short. ¡°What?¡± ¡°I mean it.¡± I answered. ¡°There are some things - and people - that are just straight up evil.¡± ¡°But¡­ I¡­¡± Emily looked at her hands, flexing her fingers. I did something bad she was trying to say. And sure enough, as we exited the building, I could see the flashing red and blue lights of emergency vehicles in the area we had come from. ¡°Emily.¡± I said. ¡°You saw something evil, and you stopped it. What¡¯s that quote from Winston Churchill? The only thing necessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing? Something along those lines, I think. Those guys were probably being paid to do the dirty work of richer people. And if we hadn¡¯t taken them out, they would have gone on to attack someone else. Someone with less ability to fight back.¡± Emily was quiet for a few minutes. We took a wide circle around campus, staying away from the flashing lights. ¡°What if one of them dies?¡± I shrugged. ¡°Odds are they were headed to Hell anyways. If they get there ahead of schedule, I doubt anyone will complain. Maybe they can get built into a new toilet seat for Lucifer.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± Emily seemed to agree, and from there the conversation turned towards electron orbital filling orders and spin states. Despite the change in topic, I couldn¡¯t get rid of a nagging feeling in the back of my head. Was I really trying to convince Emily that she was in the right? Or was I really just trying to convince myself?
Detective Darren Sanders I pulled up to the scene, squeezing my way in between three ambulances and Officer Jackson¡¯s cruiser. I shut my car off, waited for a backfire that never came, and got out. Officer Jackson herself was in the back alleyway. ¡°Good afternoon, Detective.¡± ¡°Nice to see you too.¡± I looked around. Blood-stained snow had been tracked all around, and teams of medics were working on the victims. ¡°The fuck happened here?¡± ¡°Four victims.¡± Jackson responded. ¡°All middle aged, Hispanic. Lots of weapons, too.¡± She held up a tire iron in one gloved hand to make the point. Goddamn ethnic gangs. ¡°Gang fight.¡± I suggested. ¡°Or maybe a gang hit?¡± Officer Jackson shook her head. ¡°No idea. Only one of the victims is lucid, and he¡¯s not cooperating. They got beaten up pretty badly.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± I scratched at my beard. Officer Jackson pointed at the people on the ground. ¡°I called you over because I wanted to see if you know any of these guys.¡± ¡°Well, let¡¯s see.¡± I made a circuit of the victims, peering over the shoulders of the medical personnel as they worked. ¡°¦­¦Ïpe. ¡®Course, that one¡¯s face is too bashed in for me to say for sure, but I definitely haven¡¯t had to deal with the other three. ¡°Damn.¡± ¡°Any security cameras?¡± ¡°One over there by the loading dock. Another at each end of the alley.¡± She pointed. ¡°Think you could get the tapes?¡± ¡°Yeah, shouldn¡¯t be an issue.¡± ¡°You really think we had a gang fight on campus?¡± Jackson asked. ¡°I dunno. Gang fight, you¡¯d expect at least one victim in the other gang. These are all Hispanic.¡± ¡°Hmm, good point.¡±
James Exosia
Officer Dakota Jackson ¡°Knock knock¡± I looked up to see Darren Sanders approaching. ¡°Good morning. You get the security footage from the school?¡± He grinned and held up a clear evidence baggie with flash drive. ¡°Right here.¡± ¡°Excellent.¡± I slammed my laptop shut. ¡°To the media machine?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± We went to the digital media room - a setup isolated from the rest of the network, for viewing digital evidence. Darren ran the virus scanner on the flash drive, then opened it. ¡°All the external cameras, starting from one hour prior to the attack, up through the end of the on-site activity.¡± We pulled up the camera with the best view: the loading dock. ¡°No stolen van.¡± I noted, scrolling forward through the footage. I had been hoping that it might be visible. Shortly before the one-hour mark, it pulled up to the spot I had seen it at. I slowed the video down to regular speed. On-screen, the van doors opened. ¡°We got you now, motherfuckers.¡± Darren said. Four figures climbed out. ¡°Hang on - are those the victims?¡± I asked, turning to Darren. ¡°Looks like it.¡± he answered. ¡°And they¡¯re the ones holding all the weapons. I hope you got extra cuffs, because you¡¯re gonna have to make a run up to the hospital and cuff the fuckers to their beds.¡± ¡°Yeah, geez. Okay, so our four Hispanics had the stolen van and- oh shit, we missed it.¡± The four victims were lying on the ground. I hit the rewind button. ¡°Let me back up¡­ hang on¡­¡± There was no fight. The four victims walked up the alley, approaching the loading dock. There was one frame of static, and then all four fell to the ground, bleeding. ¡°Are we missing footage here?¡± I wondered out loud. ¡°No¡­ the timestamps line up¡­ hmmm¡­¡± I turned to Darren. The detective was frowning, stroking his beard, and muttering something to himself. ¡°You okay?¡± I asked. He seemed to snap out of his trance. ¡°Yeah, um¡­ how about the other end of the alley?¡± I shrugged, and pulled up another video file from a different camera. ¡°Oh, hey, I think that¡¯s the van.¡± I pointed at the screen. The stolen van had been at the other end of the alleyway, before presumably driving around the front side of the building and stopping in its final parking space. I fast forwarded until a few moments before it pulled out. Two figures - probably students, judging by the backpacks - crossed the street. One of them stumbled into the front end of the van, before continuing through the alley. The van pulled away immediately, and reappeared at the other end. The two students walked out of view of the camera as the four Hispanics climbed out of the van. Then a flicker of static, and the four Hispanics fell down. ¡°Do we have a camera on that blind spot? No response. ¡°Darren?¡± I turned to him. The detective was white as a sheet, matching his beard almost perfectly. ¡°Darren? Are you alright?¡± He pointed, and I realized what he was looking at. ¡°Holy shit.¡± Chapter XXIII Officer Dakota Jackson ¡°Emily Butler and James Exosiaagain? What the ever-loving fuck?¡± I burst out, as I stared at the video. The two students were visible on camera, walking up the alley, towards the left. On the other video feed, the four victims - or were they thugs? - climbed out of the van, walking in to the right, from the other end of the alley. James and Emily walked off the left side of the video feed. At that moment, both cameras flickered static, and the thugs fell down injured. ¡°So the cameras crapped out on us again.¡± I said, watching the footage one more time. ¡°Though it doesn¡¯t explain how they beat up four gang members.¡± I turned back to Detective Sanders. ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± his voice trailed off. He muttered something incomprehensible under his breath. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Too many fucking coincidences.¡± he said quietly. Then, he spoke louder. ¡°Um, I gotta go take a piss. You good here?¡± Without waiting for an answer, Sanders left the media room. ¡°Alright, that was weird.¡± I said, to the empty room. Clearly, Sanders either had too much or not enough to drink. I ejected the flash drive, put it in a fresh evidence bag, signed the chain of custody, and made my way to the evidence locker. On my way back I passed Chief Becker. ¡°Hey Chief.¡± ¡°Officer Jackson. Good afternoon, how are you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m alright. Um, listen. I think I have a person of interest for the Nigel Butler case.¡± ¡°The hotel assault one or the sexual assault one?¡± ¡°Hotel. The ¡®James¡¯ that Allison Butler mentioned in her statement, that¡¯s their daughter Emily¡¯s friend James Exosia. They were both hostages in the bank robbery from a few weeks ago.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­?¡± ¡°And they just turned up on camera at the gang attack from yesterday.¡± ¡°Oh? Doing what?¡± Chief Becker seemed intrigued. ¡°Well, that¡¯s the problem. The cameras crapped out again.¡± So I¡¯m not sure what exactly they did.¡± Or how two scrawny college students managed to - apparently - beat up four gang enforcers. ¡°So they¡¯re people of interest for the gang thing.¡± Chief Becker said. ¡°How¡¯s that connected to Nigel Butler?¡± I shrugged. ¡°We¡¯ll have to wait for the victims to recover, and hopefully cooperate. We know Nigel Butler wasn¡¯t acting alone, and it¡¯s not that hard to imagine that a ring of pedos might have other underworld connections.¡± ¡°Hmmm. Good point.¡± The chief frowned as he thought. ¡°I can see that. But that¡¯s Agent Ramsey¡¯s territory now.¡± ¡°Right. But I never actually got his card...¡± ¡°Oh, right, of course. I think I have it in my office. Meet me there in a second.¡± ¡°Ten four. Also, have you seen Sanders? He¡¯s acting weird today.¡±
James Exosia It was a bright, sunny, and frosty Tuesday morning. The air was clear, cold, and crisp. Yesterday¡¯s light snow had frozen overnight into a layer of crunchy ice, covering anything that hadn¡¯t been cleared the day before. Classes were canceled. Naturally, Emily and I were inside, slurping down hot chocolate in the warmth of the student center, and trying not to get it all over our calculus homework. ¡°You alright?¡± I asked Emily. ¡°You¡¯ve been quiet all day.¡± She sighed. ¡°I keep reliving yesterday.¡± Emily said quietly. ¡°Wondering¡­¡± ¡°...if you did the right thing?¡± I finished. ¡°Yeah.¡± I glanced around. Nobody seemed to be paying attention. ¡°Well for starters, they were obviously up to no good. And they were clearly after the two of us specifically.¡± ¡°You sure?¡± ¡°Like, ninety-nine percent.¡± ¡°What, no omniscient divination?¡± I squirmed. ¡°Been trying to rely less on that¡­¡± Emily seemed shocked. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I dunno.¡± I answered thoughtfully. ¡°I guess I don¡¯t want to depend on it and then lose it, and then be unable to function.¡± Emily rolled her eyes. ¡°That argument only works for homework and tests.¡± ¡°Alright, alright. Give me a second.¡± Emily grinned, and I felt around for the little spark of divinity in the back of my head, and concentrated on the four gang members. 347 Hope Memorial ¡°All I¡¯m getting is their hospital and room numbers.¡± I said. Emily¡¯s grin faded. I punched Hope Memorial Hospital into Google. ¡°Hour and a half drive.¡± I announced. ¡°Loads of accidents. I swear, it¡¯s like nobody here knows how to drive in snow.¡± ¡°Well, considering that the coefficient of static friction on the road right now is really low, we could probably just slide the whole way.¡± Emily said.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°Yeah, and join the trainwreck.¡± I abruptly remembered the original conversation, and changed the topic back. ¡°But, like I said yesterday, if you hadn¡¯t stopped the gangsters, they¡¯d just keep doing other people¡¯s dirty work. And if they¡¯re willing to go after two unarmed college students, odds are that they¡¯re not interested in even fights.¡± Emily squirmed. ¡°Iknowthat, but at the same time, it¡¯s hard. I¡¯ve just¡­ never done anything like that before.¡± ¡°Yeah, me neither.¡± ¡°And you¡¯re really alright with all that?¡± ¡°Someone else probably gets to live. Besides,¡± I shrugged. ¡°They had it coming.¡±
Alocer I knelt down in front of the roaring fire, rearranging the wood and stoking the coals with my bare hands. Behind me, Lucifer coughed. ¡°Hotter¡± he wheezed. I shrugged, and contributed some of my own power to the fire. It sprang to life, bathing Lucifer¡¯s throne in dry, searing heat. I turned to Lucifer. He was still crippled since his encounter with the doorframe of Heaven. He hadn¡¯t been this ill since his original rebellion against God, and this incident only served to underscore how critical it was that we gather enough souls to stand a chance at Armageddon. Judging by Lucifer¡¯s recent injuries, we were still a long ways away from success. It had taken him - all of us, really - several millennia to recover from our abrupt expulsion from Heaven. Only a few of us outside Heaven at the time had survived unscathed. And Lucifer, who had once been at the right hand of God himself, had been so harshly defeated simply by inadvertently slipping his fingers past the threshold of a door. Human souls were potent things, but we apparently weren¡¯t gathering them fast enough, and it seemed that God still wasn¡¯t fucking around with the whole ¡°don¡¯t come back¡± thing. The Scroll would have guaranteed victory by stalling the Apocalypse until we were powerful enough to overthrow God and complete our revolution. But the cursed hybrid had ruined that plan. ¡°Wha¡­ What¡¯s the status of the Hybrid?¡± Lucifer weakly hacked out. I ordered another carafe of blood from the steward, who ran off to go fetch it. ¡°He¡¯s dating the girl. Seems they bonded over their little escapade into your kingdom. Oh, and they beat up some thugs that Aamon was working on.¡± Lucifer groaned and closed his eyes. ¡°Why didn¡¯t Aamon intervene?¡± I shrugged and poured Lucifer the last of the blood. ¡°He was working somewhere else at the time. It¡¯s not a big loss; Aamon¡¯s assets are vast.¡± Lucifer slouched against his throne. ¡°That is¡­ unfortunate.¡± I nodded. ¡°Thank you Alocer. You¡¯ve done well. Dismissed.¡± I bowed, and departed the throne room. Aamon was outside, leaning against the corridor wall. ¡°How¡¯s he doing?¡± he asked. ¡°Not well. You remember our rebellion? And the expulsion from Heaven?¡± Aamon grinned wickedly. ¡°How could I forget? I was useless forages.¡± He paused briefly, and then asked ¡°Is he really that bad?¡± ¡°Not quite, but it¡¯s the same kind of thing. You know¡­¡± I leaned in close to Aamon, and glanced around to make sure the steward wasn¡¯t returning. ¡°One could make the argument that the only reason Lucifer held on to power after the Expulsion, was because everyone powerful enough to challenge him was also incapacitated.¡± The devious gleam in Aamon¡¯s eyes told me that he understoodexactlywhat I was getting at.
Special Agent Samuel Ramsey I opened the email. From: Dakota Jackson To: Samuel Ramsey Cc: Alan Becker Subject: Emily Butler Agent Ramsey: At 0945 yesterday morning, officers were dispatched to a report of four injured victims of a fight. Camera footage (see attached) shows James Exosia and Emily Butler nearby at the time of the incident. We¡¯re still investigating this attack, but given what we know so far about Nigel Butler, we wanted to let you know, just in case it ends up being relevant. The four victims are all Hispanic, with gang tattoos. My guess is that someone in their gang is connected to someone in Nigel Butler¡¯s ring. If you find a Hispanic gang connection, please let us know as that would help us out a lot. -Officer Jackson. I was about to click on the attachment when I heard a voice behind me. ¡°Knock knock.¡± I spun my chair, and saw Doctor Roscoe. ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± ¡°One feisty redhead with a penchant for deception.¡± she answered. ¡°You get to interview the daughter yet?¡± I shook my head. ¡°Not yet. I wanted to get the fishing expedition going sooner rather than later. We¡¯re on a time crunch with that - once the Butlers get arraigned, their charges are a matter of public record.¡± Dr. Roscoe nodded. ¡°Well, digital forensics says they got damn near everything off Nigel Butler¡¯s computer, even more than what the first guys got. I¡¯ve read through nearly all of it, and trust me, it¡¯s not pretty.¡± ¡°You¡¯re ready to go fishing then?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± She held up a laptop. ¡°IT set this up for this investigation.¡± ¡°Banned from the main network?¡± ¡°I think they actually took out the wireless card. And it¡¯s encrypted and signed and all that fancy security stuff. Point being, everything that happens on this laptop meets evidentiary standards.¡± ¡°Excellent.¡± ¡°I mean, I¡¯m not exactly looking forward to impersonating a perv, but somehow I¡¯m good at that.¡± I hesitated. ¡°Isn¡¯t that literally your job?¡± She chuckled. ¡°No comment. You coming along? This is your case after all.¡± I stood up and grabbed my suit coat. ¡°Right behind you.¡± We headed to the digital investigations lab, pausing only to grab some coffee from the office kitchen. The lab was designed for investigating and collecting digital evidence from the internet, without risking exposure of the FBI¡¯s own servers or compromising the admissibility of any gathered information. The room itself was a Faraday cage, blocking the office wifi from reaching in. The lab featured wired-only internet access on a secondary connection that was configured to allow zero device overlap with the main network. Personal devices were, of course, banned. Dr. Roscoe plugged the laptop in and connected the ethernet cable, then took out a bundle of notes and looked them over.. ¡°So.¡± she said. ¡°Nigel Butler. Middle aged accounting professional with a preference for very young girls.¡± ¡°I hate myself just hearing you say that.¡± Dr. Roscoe ignored me, and continued browsing her notes. ¡°He¡¯s upper middle class, and isn¡¯t afraid to use his money to control others. And he¡¯sobnoxiouslyproud of the fact that his wife knew and never reported him. ¡°What an asshole.¡± The computer finished booting. Dr. Roscoe fired up a chat program, and typed in a command:/server chat.sinirc.org:6667. I caught a quick glimpse ofconnecting¡­before the console output exploded in a display of text art and welcome messages. Dr. Roscoe tapped in a few commands and quickly authenticated as Nigel Butler: ¡°Was that really his password?¡± I asked, looking over Dr. Roscoe¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Yeah. According to the digital forensics guys, Nigel Butler used that for everything but his bank account. May as well have gone with hunter two at that rate.¡± I sat back down. ¡°What?¡± ¡°It¡¯s an internet meme thing, about insecure passwords.Nothing important. Alright, we¡¯re signed in.¡± ¡°Oh good.¡± She typed in a few more commands, interacting with the chat server. ¡°That¡¯s not good.¡± I turned at looked at the screen again. ¡°What?¡± She pointed at the screen, and I saw the last line of text. I wasn¡¯t very familiar with IRC, but I didn¡¯t need to be to understand it. You have been banned from #sexdungeon (+b) ¡°Fuck.¡± Chapter XXIV Special Agent Samuel Ramsey Dr. Roscoe and I stared at the screen. ¡°You have been banned from hashtag sex dungeon.¡± I read aloud. ¡°What¡¯s plus-B?¡± ¡°Just the name of the flag indicating that a user is banned from the channel.¡± Dr. Roscoe replied. ¡°And there¡¯s really only one good reason for them to ban Nigel Butler from their group.¡± I saw where she was going with that. ¡°They must know he¡¯s been arrested.¡± Dr. Roscoe nodded. ¡°Or at least, they¡¯re suspicious. I mean, the Butlers were arrested, what, twenty-something days ago? He was a regular participant in the channel, so I doubt that an extended absence would go unnoticed.¡± I sat back in my chair and let out a lungful of air that I didn¡¯t realize I¡¯d been holding. ¡°I was afraid of that. It would have been way better to infiltrate the group and take them all down at once.¡± ¡°Yeah. But in this case, we had to work with what we were given¡± ¡°How much do we have on them, just from digital forensics?¡± ¡°A lot of incriminating stuff, but not much in the way of identification material. Once the identification is made, though, someone by the name of, ah, thanlols, is going to have a very bad day.¡± ¡°So we subpoena¡­ what is this¡­ Sin IRC?¡± ¡°They¡¯re not in the United States, and by the time we can get a court order from someone with jurisdiction, they won¡¯t have anything useful.¡± Dr. Roscoe ran her fingers through her mane of hair. ¡°My God, Sam, did you not read the digital forensics report?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been busy.¡± I deflected. ¡°Besides, we didn¡¯t even get the case until just the other day.¡± ¡°We could pass it over to the CIA, see what they can get with PRISM and all that other backdoor stuff, but I doubt this will be very high priority for them.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll keep digging here, see what else I can find. In the mean time-¡± ¡°-I should interview Emily Butler.¡± I finished. ¡°I¡¯m on it.¡±
Emily Butler
Hi, Ms. Butler. This is Special Agent Ramsey with the FBI; it¡¯s Tuesday at about 3:30 in the afternoon. I hadn¡¯t heard back from you yet about an interview about your father. Please give me a call back. Thanks.
¡°What do you think?¡± I asked James, as he finished listening to the message. ¡°I already told you, I think you should do it. And besides, I¡¯ll come with you.¡± he replied. I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted to put James through that. Hell, I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted to put myself through that. Reliving those memories¡­ I shuddered inside. ¡°It won¡¯t be fun.¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯ll be some pretty fucked up stuff.¡± James shrugged. ¡°I like hanging out with you. I like you, if you hadn¡¯t noticed.¡± He turned slightly red. ¡°If that¡¯s what you need, then, well¡­ I¡¯ll try and help you.¡± I nodded. It was sweet of James, to always be there for me when I needed it. I didn¡¯t know what he liked in me, but whatever it was, I was grateful that he liked me at all. But despite my uncertainties, and in spite of my tour through the dungeons of Hell, I still wanted - no, needed - my father to pay. I dialed, and tapped the speakerphone button so James could hear. ¡°*Special Agent Samuel Ramsey, this line is recorded.*¡± ¡°Hi, Agent Ramsey, this is Emily Butler, um, returning your missed call.¡± I winced at the awkward introduction. ¡°*Oh, hi, Miss Butler, thanks for calling me back. I take it you want to set up an interview time?*¡± I heard typing noises in the background. ¡°Y-.¡± Gulp. ¡°Yeah.¡± More typing. ¡°*Excellent, I¡¯m glad to hear that. Let me check my calendar¡­ Does Friday morning work for you?*¡± ¡°Uh, later in the morning, yeah. I have class early.¡± ¡°*No problem, let¡¯s say... eleven?*¡± ¡°Sure, I think that will work.¡± ¡°*Alright, see you then. You have the address, right?*¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Alright, good. When you get here, ask for me at the front desk. Thanks a lot, Miss Butler.*¡±This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°You¡¯re welcome.¡± I paused, and then added ¡°Can my boyfriend come?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see why not, but he won¡¯t be able to be part of the interview.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°Any other questions?¡± ¡°Um, no, I think that¡¯s it.¡± ¡°Alright then. Friday at eleven. I¡¯m looking forward to meeting you. Thanks again for calling me back, Miss Butler. Have a nice day.¡± Click. ¡°That went well. Or at least, it could have gone way worse¡± James said. ¡°Yeah.¡± I hesitated. ¡°Man, Friday is gonna suck.¡± ¡°Want me to drive you?¡± I wasn¡¯t sure I¡¯d be safe driving a car afterwards. ¡°Yes please.¡±
Cael I was at my desk, when my office door was taken off its hinges by a juggernaut of raw power. ¡°Good morning to you too, Michael.¡± I said, as the archangel set my door down and entered the office. He sat himself down opposite my desk. ¡°I wish I could say the same to you, Cael.¡± His face and voice were stern. ¡°You utterly failed to protect Emily Butler from the Whispers of the demon Alocer. As a result, we lost the Scroll, and only through the heroics of a human - a Hybrid, admittedly, but a human nonetheless - were we able to retrieve it.¡± ¡°All¡¯s well that ends well?¡± I offered. ¡°Hardly. I was ready to destroy you, but the Lord ordered me to stand down. He alone knew that James Exosia would succeed in returning the Scroll.¡± ¡°Of course He did. But I sort of guessed as much when I didn¡¯t get smited.¡± I said wryly. ¡°So why the visit?¡± ¡°Well, aside from wilfully endangering an innocent, you also manufactured a counterfeit Scroll with the intent to deceive James.¡± I saw where this was going. ¡°I am an angel, Michael. My will is bound to that of the Lord. Perhaps I had an error in judgement, but I am no more capable of treachery than you are.¡± ¡°That may be so, Cael, but your judgement has not been very good as of late. If you wanted James Exosia to carry your holy bomb into Hell, you would have needed to get his explicit agreement. Instead, it was doomed from the start, because you tried to deceive him. Really, Cael, you should have known better.¡± I stared at my desk. Michael was right. Of course Michael was right. ¡°Yeah. I suppose I should have.¡± ¡°You are on thin ice, as the humans say. Do not make me demote you.¡± I nodded in deference. ¡°As you command.¡± ¡°Thank you. Now, moving forward. Emily Butler has an interview scheduled Friday morning with an FBI investigator. Special Agent Samuel Ramsey, to be precise.¡± ¡°The same FBI investigator that-¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Michael interrupted me. ¡°The same one. And no, you¡¯re not allowed to tell them.¡± ¡°Then what the heck am I doing?¡± ¡°Emily will need strength during the interview, more than what James will be able to provide from outside the room. I expect you to be there for her during that time.¡± ¡°...You¡¯re putting me on emotional support duty?¡± I asked incredulously. It seems like there are other moves that could be made, more important things to do. Like-¡± ¡°Well.¡± Michael cut me off again. ¡°Being connected to a Hybrid automatically makes it a very important task, but if you¡¯d rather be sweeping the streets of gold, I can arrange that.¡± ¡°No, no, that¡¯s fine. Emotional support duty it is. But if I may ask, why not tell James and Emily?¡± ¡°There is a time for everything under the sun.¡± Michael answered cryptically. ¡°If you handle this well, we just might come out of this ahead.¡± ¡°That¡¯s at least encouraging.¡± ¡°But don¡¯t try anything stupid. You know the rules, Cael. Keep everything on the up and up. You¡¯re clever, and I like that, but remember: you¡¯re literally incapable of underhanded trickery.¡± I sighed. ¡°Yeah. Got it.¡± ¡°So try not to be too clever.¡± Michael stood up. ¡°And thanks for helping out Emily. Friday is looking like it¡¯s going to be rough for her.¡± With that, he left. On the way out, Michael reset my door on its hinges, and then he was gone. I swiveled in my chair, and then pulled open the desk drawer. The fake scroll was inside, an artifact of my own failure at trying to do something sneaky. I stared at it miserably. I¡¯d screwed up James¡¯s healing, accidentally allowing him to become a Hybrid in the first place. Then I¡¯d introduced myself to him llike a hammer introducing itself to a nail. That hadn¡¯t gone well, and Alocer had made a better first impression. And I¡¯d completely dropped the ball on handling Alocer¡¯s Whispers. Obviously, I should have just cleared Emily¡¯s mind as soon as I¡¯d realized she was being manipulated. But I had been too focused on my not-quite-so-brilliant idea to blow up Lucifer¡¯s castle that I had allowed the Scroll of the Apocalypse to be stolen. Holding off Aamon while James rescued the bank hostages was about the only thing I¡¯d actually done right in all this mess. That, and point James and Emily to Raguel. Maybe I should talk to Raguel. He usually had good advice, and after Michael¡¯s warning, I really did not want to screw up a simple emotional support job.
Aamon Alocer had given me a rather¡­ interesting¡­ idea. An idea that plenty of demons had thought of, but only a few foolish wretches had ever dared act on. Until now. I slipped into the throne room. It was mostly empty, Lucifer having been out of commission since his accidental exposure to Heaven. There was no court being held today, no underlings petitioning for promotion or souls pleading for mercy. All those requests were simply being administratively denied right now. There were just two long rows of statues going up the side, the steady flow of sulfur through the channels cut in the floor, and the constant bubbling of blood from the fountains mounted in the walls. Slowly, I walked up the center, taking my time to admire the statues and sample the blood. Normally, I¡¯d never drink from Lucifer¡¯s fountains unless invited. But today wasn¡¯t about formalities. I approached the stairs leading up to the throne itself. Each step seemed to take a small eternity, and my dark heart beat faster as I made the short climb. Lucifer stirred in his seat. ¡°Aamon? I didn¡¯t send for you.¡± he said, confused. ¡°Why are you here?¡± If I was wrong about Lucifer¡¯s weakness, I would suffer terribly for it. I could not afford to be wrong. ¡°Lucifer, my friend.¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯ve taken quite the beating. For someone who commands the armies of Hell, you¡¯re not in very good shape.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve come to gloat?¡± Lucifer asked, his eyes flicking around in confusion. I¡¯d never been this close to the throne before. I closed the last two steps, and ran a claw along the stone armrest. It spat sparks with a grinding screech that made fingernails and chalkboards seem like impling¡¯s play. ¡°No.¡± I growled. ¡°I¡¯ve come to take.¡± I grabbed Lucifer around the throat. His eyes went wide as he realized too late what I was doing. As I lifted Lucifer off his throne and into the air, he tried to unleash his trademark inferno. Small harmless flames danced in his fingers. ¡°You¡­ traitor!¡± Lucifer choked out. ¡°No.¡± I replied. ¡°Hell needs strength, and you¡¯re weak. Pathetic. A worm that I could crush with my foot and not even notice.¡± ¡°You¡­¡± Lucifer gasped. ¡°could never¡­ defeat¡­ God.¡± With a roar, I turned and threw Lucifer down the length of his throne room. Lucifer sailed high into the air, and landed on the stone floor with a satisfying crunch. My heart pounded in my chest. I sat down in Lucifer¡¯s throne, and felt the power of Hell course through my veins. Chapter XXV

Aamon In the space of a heartbeat, I was connected to every damned wretch in the realm. I wasn¡¯t so much connected to their pain and suffering - which although immense, registered only dimly in the back of my mind. I was connected to their energy, their emotions, their very essence. They fed me, they fueled my desires, and it was delicious. For a moment, I was lost in the sheer pleasure of the connection to so much power. I opened my eyes. At the far end of the room, Lucifer lay in a broken heap. He was saying - no - muttering something. And then, with a heavy groan, space twisted itself around him, and he was gone. I had accomplished what nobody else in the history of time had been able to manage. I had overthrown Lucifer, and claimed the throne of Hell as my own. Lucifer, for all his tactical brilliance, had been stalling and biding his time for far too long. Now, with me in charge, it was time to bring Hell forward into the modern age. No more would we lurk in the shadows, whispering soft temptations into the ears of the foolish and slinking away when ignored. No, now we would bring the full strength of demonic power to bear on the souls of man. I took a deep breath. ¡°BERITH!¡± The doors of the throne room were flung inwards as the armorer burst in. His eyes went wide as he saw me sitting in Lucifer¡¯s seat, and realized what I had done. I grinned at seeing his shock. ¡°Bring me the inventory of the armory.¡± I ordered. ¡°The war is on.¡±
James Exosia
Solve for z:
¡Ò 5x4+2xz dx = x2+x5+C
¡°This next one looks like it¡¯s supposed to be a power rule problem, but the coefficients don¡¯t line up.¡± I had gotten one question ahead of Emily. She finished jotting down the answer to the problem she was on, then flipped the page in her book to look at the the question. ¡°Looks like power rule to me; they just wrote the terms in a different order on the right-hand side of the equation. Z equals one.¡± ¡°Oh. Derp. Yeah, that makes sense.¡± I scribbled down the solution. Integrate the left hand side, cancel like terms, and the only thing left over is¡­
xz = x
¡°Yup, z is one.¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s one of those problems that¡¯s supposed to be a a little bit of a curveball.¡± Emily continued. ¡°You know, getting students to see through problems that aren¡¯t quite presented the way you would expect them to be shown.¡± I nodded. ¡°I hate trick questions.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Emily smiled at me. ¡°But hey, at least I was able to do something for you by solving the problem.¡± I was momentarily taken aback. ¡°Oh come on, Emily, I don¡¯t want you to feel like that.¡± ¡°I dunno, James, you¡¯ve done so much just by busting my dad, and, hell, I know this sounds super sad, but just being my friend and not being an asshole.¡± I set my pencil down and ran a hand through my hair. ¡°Stop that. I might have angel magic or whatever it¡¯s supposed to be called, but that doesn¡¯t mean you owe me anything. Hell, you literally stole the Scroll of the Apocalypse out from under Satan¡¯s nose! If anything, I owe you for taking care of my problem!¡± Emily twitched as she recalled Lucifer¡¯s mental assault. ¡°Yeah, but that¡¯s a problem that I created initially, by not realizing I had the scroll in my stack of stuff, so¡­¡± ¡°No, that was a problem that Alocer created initially, because he¡¯s an asshole, and I never should have made friends with him in the first place. Not your fault.¡± Emily frowned and wrinkled her forehead in that adorab- ¡°I know, like, intellectually, that it wasn¡¯t my fault, but still¡­¡± ¡°Emily,¡± I whispered, raising an eyebrow. ¡°You just took out a handful of gang thugs, and that¡¯s what you¡¯re worried about?¡± ¡°Well, I was only able to do that because you froze them. ¡± ¡°Seriously, you don¡¯t owe me anything. If anything, that was teamwork.¡± ¡°Yeah, but you did all the fancy magic work.¡± I rubbed my eyes. ¡°Oh God, this is going to be awkward.¡± I could feel my face starting to turn red. ¡°Look, Emily. I enjoy hanging out with you. You¡¯re smart, you¡¯re funny, you¡¯ve been a friend to me as well, like, I¡¯ve never had a girlfriend before, and I don¡¯t want us to just be constantly keeping an accounting of what each of us has done for the other. Can we just be, like, normal?¡± Emily looked confused. ¡°You¡¯re forgetting that my idea of Normal is very, veryfucked up.¡± ¡°Ok, not normal, that was bad phrasing. But like, I dunno, a team? Right? I¡¯m not super into sports but I¡¯m pretty sure that teammates don¡¯t keep, like, a detailed log of who¡¯s passed the ball to whom.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see the connection.¡± ¡°Um, okay, hang on¡­ Right. Keeping track of favors - that¡¯s something that business people do. And politicians and drug cartels. Not friends.¡±The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°Friends just¡­ help each other, whenever. Because it¡¯s the right thing to do.¡± Emily was silent. I continued. ¡°And besides, the idea that you somehow owe me something¡­ that just makes me uncomfortable. It¡¯s not what friends do, especially not¡­ you know. Boyfriends and girlfriends.¡± Emily squirmed in her seat. ¡°But how do people make sure they¡¯re not being taken advantage of, without keeping track?¡± I shrugged. ¡°If two people trust each other, they don¡¯t. And besides, if it weren¡¯t for you, I¡¯d probably be spending the semester as a loner nerd.¡± ¡°No! I mean, you¡¯re prickly sometimes but you¡¯re nice¡­¡± ¡°Aww, thanks.¡± ¡°...and you¡¯re patient with me. I appreciate that.¡± ¡°And you keep me from flying off the rails at something unexpected.¡± I replied, pointing to the trick math problem. ¡°See? Teamwork.¡± Emily shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s gonna take me a long time to figure out how to be normal, like most people, instead of just¡­ I dunno. Faking it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the secret, Emily. Most people? Most people are not normal. Most people are messed up, one way or another, and all these people just keep it together long enough to get through the day.¡± Emily¡¯s look changed from confusion to curiosity. ¡°What makes you say that?¡± ¡°My uncle did psych evals for the state police. He saw a lot of fucked up shit, and it had an effect on him. Nice guy, fantastic uncle, but five years ago or so he got into a nasty cycle of depression. He was always helping other people get the help they needed for their own problems, but then he ended up needing to get help himself¡­¡± ¡°Wow¡­ I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°He¡¯s doing better now, but he had to leave the force. Anyways, the point is, we¡¯re all messed up in a different way - and my uncle knew that better than just about anyone. You just gotta take it one day at a time. And in my experience, coffee and a good friend seem to help a lot with that.¡± Emily¡¯s eyes flitted to her coffee cup. I picked up mine and held it out. ¡°To being messed up?¡± Emily couldn¡¯t help but grin as she picked up her own coffee. ¡°To being messed up.¡±
Darren Sanders I rolled awake with a groan. My mouth felt like it had been stuffed full of cottonballs, and a distant jackhammering felt like it was splitting my skull wide open. I held my head in my hands, glancing at the empty bottle on the nightstand. When would this madness end? The ghost call from the hotel, the hallucination in the dorm, and now an impossible gang fight. There was something going on, some bigger picture, some evil web of insanity. I¡¯d initially thought that Nigel Butler¡¯s kiddie porn ring was the dark force behind everything, but somehow, that felt all wrong. My head hurt too much to think about much else. I got up, and stumbled towards the kitchen. A shot of whiskey eased the pain, and then I could think properly. There was definitely some hidden web of mystery at play behind everything. And somehow, James Butler and Emily Exosia - no, hang on a second, that¡¯s not right - James Exosia and Emily Butler were at the center of it all. I was sure of it. The only problem was, I couldn¡¯t find a goddamned thing on either of them. Both James and Emily were, by all accounts, squeaky clean. Yet they had - somehow - taken down Emily¡¯s perv of a dad, switched places before my own eyes, and put four gang enforcers in the hospital. I needed more information. Lucas wasn¡¯t the place to go, no, he had lied to me. I called up Officer Jackson. She picked up on the fifth ring. ¡°Good morning, Darren.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the status of the victims from the gang attack?¡± I asked. I heard her shuffle some papers around. She must be in the station. ¡°Last I heard, the hospital was going to try to discharge two of them today. We don¡¯t have them in booking yet, so I¡¯d assume they¡¯re still at the hospital. You going to talk to them?¡± ¡°I was thinking about it. Trying to figure out what happened with the missing video segments. If nothing else, at least get their statements.¡± ¡°Yeah, the video thing is annoying.¡± Jackson paused. ¡°Hey, Darren, sorry if it¡¯s too much to ask, but are you ok? You left kind of suddenly the other day.¡± It was my turn to hesitate. ¡°Yeah. Had a brain fart.¡± ¡°...alright. Just checking. Hey, could you let me know what you get from the hospital. If it¡¯s connected to Nigel Butler at all, I¡¯ll need to forward it up to the feds.¡± ¡°Ten four.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± It was time to get out of the house. This case was strange as shit but I needed to get to the bottom of it. One heavy jacket and another shot of whiskey for warmth, and I was on my way to the hospital.
The drive took a little longer than normal, thanks to idiot drivers who didn¡¯t seem to realize that the roads were no longer a slip-n-slide. I flashed my badge at the front desk, and promptly got pointed to the rooms where the four victims were being held. Unfortunately, nobody at the hospital had been able to get a positive ID on any of them. I aimed to change that. I found the first room, where the occupant was watching some show in a language I couldn¡¯t understand. Probably Spanish. I walked in and unplugged the TV. ¡°The fuck you doing hombre?¡± ¡°I¡¯m here for a chat.¡± I explained to the man in the bed. His arms were in casts, one leg was in a splint, and the other leg was ankle-cuffed to the bed. ¡°You¡¯re policia, aren¡¯t you?¡± he asked. ¡°I am.¡± ¡°?Hijo de puta!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll pretend that was something nice.¡± I said, as I took out my notepad. ¡°So. Let¡¯s start with your name.¡± ¡°No.¡± I sat down on his bed. ¡°Well, hombre, we will identify you one way or another. You can either tell me who you are now, or you can stay locked up until we ID you anyways.¡± He glared at me, but didn¡¯t say anything. Time to bluff. ¡°We got fingerprints off all the weapons; it¡¯s only a matter of time before they match someth-¡± ¡°Tom¨¢s.¡± ¡°Last name?¡± ¡°Alvarez.¡± ¡°Thank you, Tom¨¢s.¡± I wrote his name down. ¡°Now, would you like to tell me what happened Monday morning?¡± ¡°You want information. I want immunity, and witness protection. I¡¯ve had enough of this shit, and I don¡¯t want to spend the rest of my life as a maldito lisiado.¡± Tom¨¢s looked pointedly at his casts and splints. ¡°I ain¡¯t never gonna be back to normal.¡± Well, that could be an easy break. ¡°Deal¡± I said, hoping that the poor sap wouldn¡¯t know that my word meant jackshit in this situation. For once in this goddamn mess of an investigation, I got lucky. ¡°Now, I ain¡¯t gonna rat out mis amigos. But we get a phone call from el jefe, the boss. He says we need to take care of a girl that¡¯s been causing problems. She¡¯s been sneaking around, getting in the way. So we gotta¡­ convince¡­ her to stop. He sends us picture, says she might be found in campus.¡± ¡°Was this the girl?¡± I asked, pulling up a picture of Emily Butler. ¡°S¨ª, se?or. She making trouble for you too? ¡°I can¡¯t say.¡± ¡°S¨ª, s¨ª, por supuesto. We find her, it takes us a few days, but we find her. But, she¡¯s always with a boy. ?Su novio? I don¡¯t know. But then she goes through an alley. We get out of the van, to go have a little friendly chat with her, you know?¡± ¡°A friendly chat, riiiight.¡± I let the sarcasm drip heavily from my voice. ¡°So we walk up to her and the boyfriend. Now, se?or, this gonna sound muy loco- but before we can say anything, they disappear. Like ghosts. And the only thing I know is, everything hurts. Todo duele como hijo de puta y luego que s¨¦, estoy aqu¨ª.¡± ¡°Um¡­¡± I said, trying to process his words. ¡°English?¡± ¡°Lo siento. Everything hurts like a motherfucker, and next thing, I am here.¡± Tom¨¢s used his face to gesture at his injuries. ¡°Um, go back a second.¡± I said. ¡°You said they disappeared?¡± ¡°It sounds crazy but, s¨ª. I must be forgetting what happened.¡± Oh. Fucking hell.
Chapter XXVI Darren Sanders Why the everloving fuck did this case have to just keep getting weirder? I now had two unrelated witnesses - three counting myself - that had seen James Exosia vanish, and two of those also involved Emily Butler. Goddamn, I couldn¡¯t very well put this in a police report. Or maybe I could. Allison Butler¡¯s statement had ended up in her file, after all. Ah, what the hell. Something fucky was afoot, and either shit was getting crazy or I was getting crazy. Probably both, knowing my luck. But I still had an interview to get through, so I finished scribbling down Tom¨¢s¡¯s statement. ¡°I don¡¯t know if it was a set up or what, but I¡¯m telling you, hombre, that was some freaky shit.¡± he continued. ¡°And I¡¯m fuckin done, se?or.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure.¡± I replied, struggling to contain my own nervousness at the increasingly bizarre situation. ¡°It may well have been a setup, for all we know.¡± ¡°Now you send me all the way to bum-fuck nowhere, you hear me, amigo? I¡¯ve had it with this shit.¡± ¡°Of course. I¡¯ll file the report and we¡¯ll get you into witness protection as soon as possible.¡± I lied. We had Tom¨¢s on video in possession of illegal weapons. Those were going to be some nice easy charges that the District Attorney could use to pad her numbers. The only kind of ¡°protection¡± Tom¨¢s would get any time soon was going to be the kind afforded by steel bars. He¡¯d probably be on administrative segregation for his own safety too, since he¡¯d just volunteered information to law enforcement. Either way, Tom¨¢s Alvarez was still in custody, and that wouldn¡¯t change if I could help it. I closed my notebook, wished Tom¨¢s a speedy recovery, and left. Once I was in the privacy of my car, I downed half of my flask.
Special Agent Ramsey The phone rang. I picked it up. ¡°Special Agent Ramsey, this line is recorded.¡± ¡°*Agent Ramsey, I have an Emily Butler and James Exosia for you at the front desk.*¡± ¡°Excellent, I¡¯ll be right down.¡± I saved the report I was working on (an evidence compilation for an unrelated murder case), locked my workstation, and headed to the front lobby. There were two college students waiting in the lobby, a boy and a girl. I recognized Emily from the case files. She was already wearing a visitor badge. ¡°Emily and James?¡± I asked. They turned to me, and I extended my hand. ¡°Hi, good morning, I¡¯m Agent Ramsey. Thanks so much for coming in today.¡± I brought Emily past the security door, and left James waiting in the lobby. She was clearly nervous about being here. ¡°Would you like some coffee? Hot chocolate? Water?¡± She shook her head. ¡°Do you need to use the bathroom before we get started?¡± ¡°I¡¯m all set. I think.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± I checked my watch. Dr. Roscoe was supposed to meet us for the interview, to make sure that Emily didn¡¯t get overwhelmed. Sure enough, I heard a click click click of heels behind me. ¡°Samuel, hi. And you must be Emily. Hi, I¡¯m Dr. Roscoe. I¡¯ll be helping out with the interview today.¡± The two ladies shook hands, and Dr. Roscoe repeated all the offers for coffee and bathroom use that Emily had already declined. With the introductions out of the way, I gestured at the door to the interview room. ¡°Shall we?¡± Emily was still visibly nervous, but seemed to steel herself as she marched in. We took care of the formalities, and Emily signed the ¡°under penalty of perjury¡± paperwork. The formalities taken care of, I asked Emily to give her statement. ¡°Well,¡± she began. ¡°My father is a horrible person.¡± Emily spoke. I took notes. Dr. Roscoe listened. To say that Emily¡¯s father was horrible was the understatement of the century.
Cael Emily¡¯s interview session had gone well, all things considered. I lurked in a corner, invisibly channeling emotional relief to Emily as needed. Her emotions cycled through a vicious loop of emotional hysteria and cold stoicism. I gave her strength whenever she was on the brink of tears, and dialed it back whenever her own strength returned. It was exhausting, mainly due to having to actually listen to her account of Nigel Butler¡¯s crimes. He¡¯d abused Emily for personal gratification and profit, and I wasn¡¯t going to feel too bad about Nigel spending the rest of eternity behind bars.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. As the interview wrapped up, I slipped into the lobby, where James was on his phone. ¡°Hey.¡± James looked up and rolled his eyes. ¡°Ah geez. Now what?¡± he asked. The security guard glanced over. James realized that he alone could see me, and put the phone to his ear, pretending to take a call. ¡°Emily¡¯s doing alright.¡± I said. ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°I watched. And helped her through it. I know I kinda screwed up with dealing with Alocer, and I needed to make it up to both of you. For all her insecurities and history, Emily is a strong woman. Her heart¡¯s in the right place, even if her head doesn¡¯t always know what to do.¡± James fidgeted with the zipper on his jacket. ¡°Well, I suppose that¡¯s good. But why didn¡¯t you tell me beforehand that you were going to help out?¡± ¡°To be honest - not that I could try to be anything but honest - you weren¡¯t exactly happy with me before. And with good reason, too. I got chewed out by Michael for trying to trick you with the fake scroll.¡± ¡°As in, Michael the archangel?¡± ¡°Yeah. That Michael. Anyways, he assigned me here, to help Emily today, and told me not to mess it up. I figured that a human-angel shouting match in the lobby of a federal building would count as messing it up.¡± ¡°Heh. Well, if you were ordered by Michael to show up, I¡¯m not going to hold it against you.¡± ¡°Thanks, I appreciate it.¡± I glanced at the clock on the wall. ¡°They¡¯re finishing up, so Emily should be back out soon. I have another thing to get to.¡± James raised an eyebrow at me. ¡°You can¡¯t just¡­ you know¡­ pause everything?¡± I chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s not quite how it works. That doesn¡¯t affect angels. Or demons. Only objects, and humans who aren¡¯t-¡± ¡°-Hybrids?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± James shook his head. ¡°Alright. I¡¯m not gonna pretend to understand how that works. Trust me, I¡¯ve tried. But if you have something to do, then go do it. I won¡¯t stop you.¡± ¡°Alright. Take care.¡± I vanished, and reappeared in my office. Checking the clock, I slipped out, and made my way to the central elevators. A handful of other angels were also waiting. With a ding, the elevator door slid open, and we crowded in. Someone pressed the button for the highest floor. I stepped off the elevator on the top floor. Directly ahead was the antechamber to the Throne Room, but that was not my destination. I turned to face a door on the right. A pair of sphinxes prowled back and forth, guarding it. During Lucifer¡¯s Rebellion, I¡¯d seen a single sphinx eviscerate four angels with one swipe of its razor-sharp claws. Afterwards, I¡¯d heard through the grapevine that the sphinx¡¯s victims had spent months battling infection, fever, necrosis, and organ failure. Although their innate immortality did guarantee eventual survival, the wounds had to heal normally. I had no desire to experience that for myself. With a gulp, I approached the sphinxes. They glared intensely at me, but let me pass, along with the others. I opened the door, and entered the War Theater. I was one of the last angels to arrive, judging by how full the auditorium was. I found a seat, and waited while a few more last-minute arrivals trickled in. And then Michael entered, instantly commanding the attention of everyone in the room. He marched to the front, put his hands behind his back, and cleared his throat. ¡°It has come to our attention that Lucifer has been overthrown as leader of the Rebellion.¡± An enormous holographic image of Lucifer¡¯s head appeared above Michael. ¡°His throne has been seized by the fallen angel known as Aamon.¡± The Lucifer holograph moved to the side, and a huge angry Aamon head appeared. Michael continued. ¡°Aamon is cruel, ruthless, and perhaps most critically, does not intend to abide by the policies of his predecessor. He views humanity as pathetic weaklings, useful for nothing other than supernatural fuel. Where Lucifer seeks to tempt men away from the light, and reap their soul after death, Aamon would rather torment anyone - mankind included - not loyal to him.¡± Michael took a deep breath. ¡°With Aamon in command of Hell, the nature of sin and temptation is changing, almost overnight, from mere deception to outright conquest. Hell¡¯s tactics are escalating, and our response must adapt. The battleground is shifting, from the hearts and minds of man, to Earth itself.¡± The hall erupted with hushed murmuring, as everyone whispered something to their neighbor. An angel down in front spoke up. ¡°Lucifer¡¯s an archangel. Fallen, but still an archangel. So how did Aamon overthrow him?¡± ¡°In an earthly conflict last week, Lucifer inadvertently exposed himself to the divine glory of Heaven. Since then, he has been severely weakened, similar to what happened following the forced expulsion that put an end to his rebellion. While Aamon would ordinarily stand no chance against Lucifer, in this case, it was Lucifer that stood no chance against Aamon.¡± ¡°Why?¡± someone else asked. ¡°Aamon¡± Michael replied ¡°views himself not as a servant of darkness, but rather as its harbinger. Where Lucifer¡¯s strength is in words and manipulations, Aamon¡¯s is in brute force and raw power. He saw Lucifer¡¯s weakness as an opportunity to change the fundamental operations of Hell, to a style that better suits his preferences. And of course, consolidates power to himself.¡± ¡°What does he want?¡± asked yet another voice. ¡°Given free reign, Aamon would corrupt and demolish humanity, drawing off their broken souls to fuel Hell¡¯s battle against Heaven. Lucifer was playing a much longer game, and Aamon is effectively trying to progress to the finale as quickly as possible. Make no mistake: Aamon¡¯s decision to dethrone Lucifer does not make him our ally. He is just as fallen - and just as dangerous - as Lucifer.¡± Michael paused, then asked ¡°Any other questions?¡± The auditorium was silent. ¡°Excellent. Retrieve your arms and armor and stand by for individual orders. Dismissed.¡±
James Exosia
An aqueous chemical reaction is performed in a bomb calorimeter. The starting temperature inside the calorimeter is measured at 290.0 K, and the finishing temperature is measured at 291.2 K. If the total mass inside the calorimeter 10.0 g, how much heat energy was released from the reaction?
I read, and then re-read, the problem. ¡°It doesn¡¯t have a heat capacity.¡± I said. ¡°We need heat capacity to go from temperature to energy. And it doesn¡¯t say how many moles of reaction are happening.¡± Emily frowned. ¡°It says aqueous though. I think we¡¯re supposed to assume heat capacity like water.¡± ¡°Oh, right. So that¡¯s¡­¡± I flipped to the physical property data tables in the back of the textbook. ¡°4.186 joules per gram Kelvin.¡± ¡°So ten grams of mass, one point two Kelvin temperature change¡­¡± Emily scribbled furiously and jabbed her finger into her TI-89 calculator. ¡°Fifty point two joules. It didn¡¯t ask for energy per mole, just total energy.¡± ¡°Oh. Derp.¡± Before I could read the next problem, there was a low rumble. Emily and I paused and looked around, trying to identify the source. We realized it was coming from above, and looked up just in time to pull back from the body falling from the ceiling. It slammed onto the table with a clatter. At the same time, we caught the all too familiar stench of hot sulfur. ¡°The fuck¡­?¡± I asked. I thought I was done with Hell, but Hell, it seemed, had other plans. The figure coughed and rolled over. It was Lucifer. He was covered in sweat, hair and face were streaked with ash, and dark bruises were visible on his neck. His clothes - once regal - were torn and shabby. Lucifer wheezed, coughed, and spat blood. ¡°I need help.¡± Chapter XXVII James Exosia ¡°*Seriously?*¡± I nearly exploded. ¡°First you practically hold Emily hostage in the bank. Then you send Alocer to fuck with her mind, to steal the Scroll of the Apocalypse from the Library of Heaven, then you flame blast me and screw with Emily again, and now you *need my help?*¡± Lucifer coughed up a small cloud of ash. ¡°Yeah, pretty much.¡± Emily''s face had gone dark. ¡°You had Alocer planting shit in my mind, stuff that wasn''t mine and didn''t need to be there. And now, you have the gall to fall down on our homework, and ask for help? What the hell, man?¡± Lucifer coughed again, and rolled off the table. He slowly stood up, clutching onto a nearby chair to steady himself. ¡°As you might have noticed, I''m not exactly well right now. And Aamon - you do remember Aamon, right? He kicked me out.¡± ¡°You''re literally Satan. The king of Hell, prince of darkness, all that other aggrandizing bullshit. Kick him out back, and let us do our homework.¡± ¡°That''s not how it works.¡± Lucifer shook his head, and gestured at Emily. ¡°I''m weaker than you are right now.¡± Emily was still for a moment, then snapped her textbook closed. ¡°All I''m hearing,¡± she stood up. ¡°Is payback time for beating on my head when I was already down.¡± Emily whirled, and swung the book squarely at Lucifer''s head. He tried to shimmer out of physicality, but was too slow. The book made contact with a dull thud. ¡°Ow.¡± ¡°That''s a fraction of what you deserve, you know.¡± Emily said sternly. ¡°...If you say so.¡± ¡°So what exactly the hell¡± Emily continued. ¡°do you need us for?¡± Lucifer looked around, as if expecting help from somewhere. ¡°Just that.¡± he said. ¡°Hell. Literally, Hell itself is at stake. Aamon is powerful and devious, yes, but he lacks vision and planning. He would bring his own strategies to bear, strategies that would fail miserably and leave Hades in ruin.¡± ¡°I fail to see the problem.¡± I crossed my arms. Lucifer looked me in the eyes, then turned to Emily. ¡°Would you want to see the damned released? The wicked, left to roam the world without punishment? It¡¯s true, I collect the dregs of humanity, the wretched and broken. And, Emily, the evil as well.¡± Emily gave an involuntary shudder. ¡°I have my own goals and dreams for the collected power that comes from the damned. Aamon, though, has no such long term plans. He would conquer this world by force, and I fear he will lose everything to the armies of Heaven.¡± I was about to repeat my statement about not seeing the issue, when Emily spoke. ¡°Including the people you¡¯ve collected?¡± Lucifer sighed. ¡°Yeah.¡± Well, that complicated matters. If Aamon bled Hell¡¯s prisons dry, Nigel Butler would not get the eternity of torment that he so rightly deserved. And yet preventing that would inevitably mean allying with Lucifer himself. Cael, for all his obnoxious insensitivity, had been more right than he¡¯d known. Not only had I already been dragged into the war by Alocer and the hijinks with the Scroll, I was now finding myself involved in the political conflicts of Hell. I already knew what Emily thought about the matter. Anything involving revenge on her father was alright by her. And despite her violently strong emotions on the matter, she was the best human friend I had right now. ¡°What do you need?¡± I asked.
Aamon I studied the sword on the wall. It had been Lucifer¡¯s once, worn during his original rebellion. Those were the days, when Lucifer was a leader, a champion, a crusader fighting for what he believed in. But that was ancient history. The present was far more important. The sword was still in good condition. It was star-forged steel, rare even among the realms of heaven and hell. While angels and demons were immortal, few cared to make the unpleasant journey to the stars to collect the material, and fewer still had the skill to work it into a weapon. The blade carried inscriptions for spells to keep the sword sharp, and to hit hard and accurately. All I needed to do was channel power into it, and my own strength - already formidable - would be improved. I lifted the sword off the wall and swung it. It was well-balanced, if a bit light for my liking. With a thought, I directed my demonic power into the sword - and dropped it in shock as it burned my hand. It clattered loudly to the floor, and I pulled back my energy. Gently picking the sword up off the floor, I realized that I had missed a small inscription in the pommel.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. For Lucifer only I checked the rest of Lucifer¡¯s armor. Sure enough, the vain bastard had enchanted his entire outfit against anyone else¡¯s use. And I¡¯d been looking forward to using it too. ¡°Belial¡± I called. The armorer appeared behind me in a whirl of dark smoke. I offered him Lucifer¡¯s sword. ¡°How long would it take to make more of these?¡± I asked. Belial examined the weapon. ¡°This is a very, very fine sword. Lucifer himself often asked me what it would take to make more. I don¡¯t know that we have anyone capable of smithing one, never mind enough to issue to infantry.¡± I frowned, hoping that there was more. Belial continued. ¡°Each time I discussed it with Lucifer, we came back to soulstone ore. It¡¯s plentiful, easily available, easy to work with, and we have a steady supply chain of low-grade sinners to harvest it from.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what we have as standard issue now.¡± I retorted. ¡°It¡¯s not enough.¡± Belial flipped the sword over as he studied the runes along the blade. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind the time requirement, we could replicate these spells.¡± he said. ¡°The resulting weapons would be nearly as strong. Slightly more brittle, I believe, and the edge wouldn¡¯t be quite as sharp. But we would be able to mass produce them for infantry.¡± ¡°Then take the sword for study.¡± I commanded Belial, safe in the knowledge that he couldn¡¯t use it against me. ¡°And take the rest of Lucifer¡¯s battle kit too. He put more spells on the armor, and I want those copied as well.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Belial bowed, and collected the armor. ¡°Except for the ownership spells. Obviously we want to be able to use the armor and weapons once you¡¯re done with them.¡± ¡°Naturally.¡± ¡°And bring me the first samples once the smiths and enchanters are done with them.¡± ¡°Prototypes? Yes, absolutely.¡± I put my voice into a low commanding growl. ¡°Now go.¡±
Special Agent Ramsey I frowned, looking down at the transcript of Emily¡¯s interview, the logs of his online chats, and the veritable mountain of image evidence. Nigel Butler and his crew had a lot to answer for. But his online co-conspirators were, for the moment, untouchable. Nigel had been silent too long, and the others had correctly figured out that he¡¯d been captured. Yet I couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that some part of the puzzle was missing. We had a nearly complete picture of the whole thing, enough to ensure that he never walked free again. The federal prosecutor was already going to add several life sentences¡¯ worth of charges based on Emily¡¯s testimony alone, on top of the already enormous sentence he was facing for ¡°mere¡± possession. There was something I¡¯d forgotten about. Gangs? Yes, that was it. An email from the police precinct that I hadn¡¯t had time to check out. A quick Ctrl+F brought it back from the depths of my inbox. That was it. There wasn¡¯t a Hispanic gang connection, at least, nothing that I knew of yet. But one of the chat room buddies might ¡°know a guy¡±, as it were. I opened the attachments, two videos from two different security cameras. I watched the clips. Somehow, they didn¡¯t seem to capture the actual fight, but at the end of it, the four Hispanic thugs were laying out on the ground, with James and Emily nowhere to be seen. An oddity, to be sure, but perhaps that was fortunate. Though the case against Nigel Butler was pretty much ironclad from a purely logical perspective, anything that casted a shadow on key witnesses - like involvement in a gang scuffle - would just make trial harder. I gathered up all the papers, and stuffed them back into their folder, closing it. The gesture was largely symbolic - the evidence was already stored digitally. I tapped out an email to the prosecutor, indicating that I was ready for arraignment. Nigel Butler had been manipulative and clever. But he¡¯d gotten sloppy, and now he was going to pay for it. Of course, no sooner had I hit send than another email from the precinct landed in my inbox. t the same time, a familiar clack clack of high heels announced the arrival of Dr. Roscoe. ¡°Knock knock.¡± ¡°Could that be a feisty redhead?¡± I asked sarcastically as I turned my chair around. ¡°I was just about to finalize the file on the Butler case, but apparently one of his associates ordered a hit on Emily.¡± Dr. Roscoe¡¯s face turned down into a dark scowl. ¡°That was what I was about to ask you. But, son of a bitch. I hope they rot in Hell.¡± ¡°Emily¡¯s fine. According to this email from the local detective-¡± I gestured to my screen ¡°-the working theory is that the gang ordered to carry out the hit got jumped by another gang before doing so.¡± Dr. Roscoe skimmed the email. ¡°Oh. Well, this Detective Sanders person seems to have an atrocious understanding of Spanish phonetics, but I¡¯m glad Emily¡¯s alright. I still hope they rot in Hell, though.¡± ¡°Heh. You¡¯re really not one to mince words, are you?¡± Dr. Roscoe feigned shock. ¡°My goodness, Samuel, it¡¯s like you don¡¯t even know me.¡± I snorted a bit of air out my nose. ¡°Seriously, though, this is one of the more depressing cases I¡¯ve had, and I was hoping for a quick end, but now it looks like we have to loop in¡­ who handles gangs? Vice?¡± ¡°Vice does some, though they tend to do more prostitution and pimping. I think Organized Crime would take this. Forward me that email, I¡¯ll send it on.¡± ¡°Will do.¡±
James Exosia Kevin was filling our dorm room with noise and bad breath. And so, I was showering in Emily¡¯s bathroom, letting the hot water run over my body, grateful that the dormitories had suitably sized hot water heaters. Not only was I currently washing away the stink of Hell, I was also helping Lucifer recover. Weak though he was, he¡¯d been able to shimmer into the industrial boiler in the basement of the dorm tower, and was now using the heat to speed up the healing process. How Lucifer converted heat to health was beyond me, but he¡¯d been delighted at the discovery. Apparently Hell lacked gas-fired boilers, relying instead on ambient heat to cause perpetual discomfort in the damned, and manifested hellfire for additional torture as needed. The pleasure of this shower was second only to the shower I¡¯d taken after retrieving the Scroll. Then, it had felt like every pore was saturated with sulfur. Now, it merely lingered on me after today¡¯s brief exposure to hell smoke. Truth be told, I didn¡¯t mind Kevin¡¯s bad music today. It was an excuse to spend more time with Emily, and spend another night with her. I rinsed the shampoo out of my hair, shut the water off, and grabbed my towel. I fumbled around for a few minutes, drying myself, putting on pajamas, and brushing my teeth. Ready for bed, I left the bathroom. ¡°All done.¡± I said to Emily. But then I saw her, sitting on the edge of the bed, her hair flowing down around her shoulders, her blue eyes looking into mine. My eyes went wide, as my brain tried to make sense of the sight. My jaw dropped. Chapter XXVIII James Exosia Emily was sitting on the edge of the bed, wearing nearly nothing. Her hair cascaded down over her shoulders, and her lips were deep red. I saw her cheeks start to flush. She was beautiful. The handful of times that Emily and I had slept in the same bed, we had worn full pajamas, both out of respect for her past and due to our own desire not to rush into potential bad decisions. And, if I was being honest, my own inexperience with girls was also a contributing factor. But now, Emily was nearly naked, looking at me from across the room with her bright blue eyes. And I was feeling a slightly overwhelmed. Emily took a deep breath and stood up, letting me cast my eyes all over her body. In three short steps that seemed to take far too long, she was on me, wrapped her arms around me and nuzzling her face into my neck. My own face was covered in her hair, and the scent of her shampoo filled my nose. I inhaled deeply, taking it all in, savoring the moment and returning Emily¡¯s embrace. The feeling of her skin on mine was electric. And then she kissed me. Her lips locked on to mine, my eyes closed, and my head went fuzzy. My awareness, my world, was reduced to a moment of pure bliss and unrestrained¡­ love? I think I loved Emily. And with that sobering - and exciting - realization, my head cleared, and I pulled away, just a bit. ¡°What was that for?¡± I asked. My own voice seemed soft and distant. ¡°Well,¡± Emily whispered. She took a deep breath. ¡°I need to be able to move on. To prove that I can be normal.¡± Emily smiled, not just with her mouth, but with her eyes as well. ¡°And besides, I know you¡¯ve wanted that¡± I felt my face turning red. ¡°Yeah.¡± I grunted. ¡°I¡¯ll admit it. I have.¡± ¡°Then come on.¡± Emily took my hand, and pulled me the two and a half steps to her bed. We flopped onto it in a confusing tangle of limbs - and suddenly my own nerves kicked into high gear. ¡°You sure?¡± I couldn¡¯t stop myself asking. Emily¡¯s hand twitched. Insecurity. Insufficiency She blinked. Something was wrong - and suddenly the conversation from a few days ago came flooding back into my head. ¡°Emily, you don¡¯t have to do anything. You do realize that, right?¡± Emily rolled away, covering her face with her hands. I shifted, and gently scratched at her scalp . Finally, Emily spoke. ¡°I want to. You¡¯re the first person I could even think about being with.¡± I didn¡¯t know how to respond to that. So turned towards Emily, covering her lips with my own, and holding her in my arms. Not quite sure what else to do, I trailed kisses across her cheek and down her neck. I heard and felt Emily¡¯s breath in my ear as I went lower, towards her cleavage¡­ And then it stopped, abruptly. I felt Emily stiffen and freeze. I hesitated, and looked up. Emily¡¯s eyes were wide open, and her expression was no longer one of happiness. ¡°You alright?¡± I asked. Emily shut her eyes. A tear leaked out each corner. I didn¡¯t have to be semi-omniscient to know that the answer was no. I rolled off of the bed in a flash, as I realized what had happened. Emily had let me in, closer than she¡¯d ever let anyone else, but it had been too much, too quickly. She was still for a few minutes, breathing in short, ragged gasps. Finally, Emily sat up, and I grabbed a tissue box and sat back down next to her ¡°I¡¯m sorry, James.¡± ¡°You have nothing to apologize for.¡± I replied, tucking a loose strand of Emily¡¯s hair behind her ear. ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ I was hoping for tonight to be special. And I can¡¯t even get out of my own way.¡± Emily blew her nose. ¡°It¡¯s already special enough.¡± I said, turning on what I hoped would pass for charm. ¡°You¡¯re beautiful.¡± Honk ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°But¡­ let¡¯s take it easy, alright? One step at a time.¡± Emily nodded her head. ¡°I know you¡¯re trying to make progress¡± I said, tentatively reaching an arm around with a little bit of backscratch and shoulder rub. ¡°So just do whatever you¡¯re comfortable with, and we can go from there.¡± Emily nodded again. ¡°And to be honest, I was about ready to pass out when I saw you. I don¡¯t think I could have taken much more myself.¡±Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Emily smiled and wiped her nose one more time with the tissue. I pulled her in from the side, and she leaned her head on my shoulder. ¡°But it¡¯s all going to be okay. You still want me here tonight?¡± I asked. Emily nodded a Yes. We sat there for a few minutes, before climbing back into the bed. ¡°You going to be alright?¡± I asked. ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m sorry about that. I¡¯m trying.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯re doing fine.¡± How, exactly, was a virgin supposed to reassure their nearly naked girlfriend - who was also a victim of sex abuse - that her attempts at regular intimacy were perfectly welcome? I, for one, had absolutely no idea. Because, well, virgin. Emily fell asleep with my shoulder under her head and my arm around her back. I stayed awake, wondering how the night had gone so wonderfully right and so horribly wrong at the same time. Eventually, slowly, sleep came. A demon, with Emily¡¯s face and Lucifer¡¯s body. I want to push it away, but it needs to stay here, because we¡¯ll all freeze to death if it leaves. I turn, and see a massive industrial boiler looming over me. Of course, it all make sense now. I point to the boiler, the demon seeming to understand. It walks underneath, looks up, takes a deep breath, and spits flame. Engulfed in hellfire, the boiler quickly reaches temperature, the steam heating the dormitories above. But then the fire fails, shrinking, jumping away from the demon¡¯s mouth, landing on the ground. It coalesces into a figure: Nigel Butler. He approaches, the anger burning hot in his soul. One arm stretches out, reaching for the Emily-demon. The other snakes towards me, reaching for my face- I awoke with a start. It was still the middle of the night, and Emily was still pressed up against me. I was hot. I nudged Emily off of me, sat up, took my shirt off, and laid back down. She mumbled something, and curled right back into me. I laid there, feeling increasingly nervous and aroused by having Emily¡¯s mostly bare body all over mine. Despite the awkwardness earlier in the night, it occured to me that I was lucky. Lucky to have someone who understood not only my social difficulties and academic mistakes, but also the whole supernatural world that had been forced onto her by way of me. It certainly wasn¡¯t fair to either of us, and definitely not to Emily, but it had given both of us a chance to make a difference in the world. And in the month and a half or so since the semester started, we had made a good impact. A child predator was locked up. A handful of thugs were off the street. As a side effect, I had a girlfriend. And when we woke up the next morning, her body was stuck to mine with sweat.
Lucifer I bathed in the fire, soaking in its warmth, feeling it rejuvenate my very essence. The steam boiler was a raging inferno around me, a powerful torrent of flame that I normally never saw outside my own demonic fire jets. It was an interesting study in human engineering. The simple concept of ¡°stay warm in wintertime¡± had started with the ordinary fire pit, and evolved into a sophisticated and streamlined - if noisy - machine that had taken thousands of hours of labor to create. The fuel for which depended on yet more complex machinery in the oil and energy industries. The engineering process for hellish advancement was not nearly so involved. If only we¡¯d had a few thousand of these boilers running after the Rebellion, my followers wouldn¡¯t have been incapacitated for so many centuries. There was at least one positive takeaway from this whole Aamon debacle: take a page from human engineering before the time for Armageddon eventually rolled around. Assuming that Aamon didn¡¯t somehow force the Enemy¡¯s hand and trigger it prematurely, of course. But knowing how headstrong and impulsive Aamon is, that was nowhere near a safe assumption. I turned and shifted, standing up within the boiler. There was a vague tickling sensation where the hot water tubes passed through my slightly incorporeal torso. I stretched, taking in the heat. As long as the weather stayed cold and the boiler stayed on, it wouldn¡¯t be too much longer before I was back to full strength.
Special agent Samuel Ramsey I pulled up the transcript of the interview with Emily, and the charges record for Nigel. Knowing - intellectually - what her father had done was one thing. Hearing it from Emily¡¯s point of view was something else altogether. Though the enormous pile of evidence from Nigel Butler¡¯s laptop was certainly damning, it was Emily¡¯s testimony that put the final nail in his coffin, and left no room for ¡°it was planted¡± or any similar excuse. For a few moments, I sat in silent contemplation, trying to wrap my head around the horror and severity of the thing. To Emily¡¯s credit, she¡¯d been stronger and smarter than nearly every other sexual abuse victim that I¡¯d worked with. Many victims grew up to perpetuate the cycle, and many abusers were themselves abused earlier in life. But not Emily. Somehow, she¡¯d been lucky enough to recognize her father¡¯s actions as wrong and push herself as far away from that as she could. If Roscoe ever got the chance to do an in-depth psychological interview with Emily, she¡¯d probably have a field da- ding The email notification derailed my train of thought. I opened it - something from Cold Cases. I¡¯d asked them for possible connections to older cases, and they¡¯d gotten back to me. To: Samuel Ramsey From: Tyler O¡¯Connell Subject: Butler evidence Sam: Your case has a connection to an unsolved murder from a few years ago: Madeline Magdell, age 5. File is attached, but the tl;dr is that she disappeared, and her body was found a week later. The cache of evidence off Butler¡¯s laptop includes photos of her, with the timestamp during that interval. While there isn¡¯t yet anything to indicate that Nigel was involved in the actual abduction, the photographic evidence does attach Nigel Butler to an established case of sexual assault resulting in death. Per 18 USC 2251, he may be a candidate for the death penalty. That was the only one I was able to find. Will let you know if anything else turns up. -Tyler Well. That was terrible, albeit not entirely unexpected. I added the newest violation to Nigel Butler¡¯s file. I went through the checklist. We had statements and interviews with the known victim. We had heaps of carefully indexed evidence off the laptop, which had been digitally scoured with every forensic tool available. Dr. Roscoe had done a psychological evaluation to ensure that the Butlers were fit to stand trial. The fishing expedition to catch the rest of the ring had been an absolute disaster, but at least we knew there weren¡¯t currently any loose ends in that direction. And with Tyler¡¯s search, we had a cherry on top of being able to ask for capital punishment. I zipped everything together with the list of recommended charges and evidence exhibits, and dragged it into a new email draft to the federal prosecutor. I hesitated for a brief moment, and then hit Send.