In retrospect, it should have been something I had taken a wild guess at. That the Higher demon playing me with a fool being the father of the Higher demon I was enamored with seemed… beyond cliche. I had let my guard down; it seemed.

“Oh,” I replied. The others in the room had sunk into the background by choice, not wanting to get involved in whatever family drama might start bursting through the walls to melt away our current normal.

“I didn’t want to mention it, as I thought it would make things rather awkward.” She tilted her head and gave me a glum smile.

I nodded slowly. “I’m not sure ‘awkward’ is really the word for it, but I am filled with questions.”

“If I were to say that the connection is only coincidental to whatever plans he has for you, does that calm your overactive mind?”

In some ways, it did. It made the conversation with Frank where he told me he didn’t care who Pearl… dated… all the more awkward in retrospect. The fact that he might not be testing me to see if I was worthy of his daughter’s hand was… nice? Was she saying that, though?

“Good enough for me to believe,” I eventually concluded. I had far too few brain cells to be worrying about such things. There was a world to save, after all. “Certainly not going to worry about his motives and why we have a kill list to complete for him.”

“A kill list?” David asked, already too far out of it to grasp at anything that was going on.

“Just a little errand list to earn the favor of a Higher demon.” I waved him off, as though it was nothing.

He nodded slowly. “Not to doubt the intentions of those present, but is there a possibility you’re being manipulated and being used by the demons?”

I smiled. Quite the brazen accusation given the present company, but perhaps he had taken to heart Rodney’s assurance that this was a safe a place as any. I shook my head. “No, I know when I’m being manipulated.”

“Plus,” Pearl added, “Eric is hard work. I wouldn’t stick around if I didn’t really love him.”

The L-word set him back, and he relented to accepting that perhaps I was a lot to handle. More effort than just squishing me beneath a large hoofed leg.

“I’ll go get food started.” Pearl removed her legs from my lap as she turned around, before leaning in for a quick kiss. “Play nice while I’m gone.”

I smiled and watched her leave. She wasn’t just making a show in front of company… she just seemed more comfortable with what we were today. Still needed to ask her what she meant by ‘life-partner’, but maybe that was something else obvious that I was being too dense to fully grasp.

Rather than stay in my own head and worry about things that weren’t too important right now, we continued with the meeting. It went by as a blur. David didn’t have much information for us, which didn’t seem like a great deal in the grand scheme of things, yet we still told him all that we knew. Allies who were on the same page were worth their weight in gold. Or blood.

We ate, we talked some more, and to my surprise - David seemed to calm and actually socialize with us. Perhaps a little early to assume Eric Redd had corrupted another individual into his group of oddities, but I could see the claws had found purchase.

“You know,” I began, waving my fork about. “We have a spare room… if whatever digs the Church has you staying at is somehow less cool than here.”

“I would have gone with… quieter,” Rodney said and grimaced.

[Or perhaps less demonic.]

David pulled a face. “Rain check? I think I’ve gone past the fear barrier now, through dissociation, but I don’t think living here is good for my long-term sanity.”

I shrugged. “Your loss.” A couple of thoughts clicked together in my head. “Although… David has some divine power, right, Rods? Could he see through your device?”

“Not that simple.” He shook his head before pulling a face. “I do have… with Passage’s help, we came up with something. It seemed silly at the time… but…”

[Do not hold us in suspense, the Rodney. Tell us.]

The Blank sighed and sunk into the couch. “Layman’s terms, it’s basically a projector. I could put up what my device sees on the back wall of the basement, and-”

“And you can grab some popcorn and watch me win the fighting tournament,” I said, as a grin spread across my face. Always nice when the dominoes fell down into their intended place. “Please tell me it’s on today and we haven’t missed it?”

Wight made the motion of checking a watch on his wrist where there was none, and then he shrugged.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Pearl rolled her eyes. “You have about an hour. I’ll go get the furniture set up.”

Rodney looked shocked. “Oh, I thought you’d try to dissuade us.”

The demon stood and shot him a sharp-toothed grin. “No. I’d love to watch Eric fuck up some demons and test his mettle against some of the toughest in the Lowers.” She turned and left the room, giving me a quick undressing with her eyes along the way.

“Wait,” David said, “I’m confused. What’s happening?”

“Movie night,” I replied. “And you have front row seats.”

[I am certain it is not often one of the Church gets to see what Hell is truly like.]

He pulled a face. “No… no it’s not.”

----------------------------------------

I limbered up and stretched out, not wanting to make a bad show of things now that I had an audience. We had cleared space so that Rodney’s usual chair could face the blank wall, and Pearl had added chairs for herself and David beside him. She had even made popcorn.

She threw a couple into her mouth and shuffled down in her chair to get comfortable, her feet going up on a crate as a footstool. “Better not disappoint, cowboy. I bet a lot on you.”

I frowned as I adjusted my hat. “How? I’m not even there yet?”

“I took the liberty of signing you up. Possessed Hunter. They wouldn’t give me full odds because they saw it as suspicious… but they also didn’t think a human could last past the first round, even possessed.”

How foolish of them. I grinned and looked over at my patron. “What do you think, Wight?”

[Anything less than being number one is unacceptable.]

Rodney warmed up his device, a blue glow illuminating his face. “Why? Couldn’t take the embarrassment?”

[No, because we would be dead.]

“Yeah,” I clicked my fingers. “Fair warning, David. You might also have first-class tickets to the Eric Redd snuff film.”

“Films don’t have first-class tickets,” he said, an impassive look on his face. Frozen in fear, perhaps?

Pearl shoveled more popcorn into her mouth. “I’ll be watching you, hun. You’re not going to let me down, are you?”

I took a second to reply, mostly because that was the first time she had called me hun. “Nah, I’ll win. I can use my gun and my powers, right?”

She shrugged. “Pretty sure.”

Even with my new power to dodge attacks, I didn’t fancy my chances of getting into a protracted melee fight with anything but the weakest demons. Although, in saying that, I was pretty sure I could use my skills through my hands - if I didn’t mind losing them along the way.

Light flooded the basement as the portal spooled up and Rodney gave me the go ahead. Wight would leave his shotgun here since he’d have to be possessing me for the tournament. I stopped to give David one last nod before heading off. “Hope you’re ready.”

“I’m not sure the Last Lantern is meant to engage in frivolous bloodsport… but it will be educational to see what you are capable of.”

Pearl clicked her fingers, speaking with a mouthful of popcorn. “Do the wing thing at the end.”

I tipped my hat, certain that I would put on a good enough show. Still in the house and she’d gone through half the bucket - she must be looking forward to this even more than I was.

With little left to do, we stepped through into Hell. Wight possessed me as soon as we arrived, and I narrowed my eyes at our surroundings. An overtly large building in the middle of nowhere, the expansive plains of amber rocks lit by the perpetual glare of the Lowers. Same as always, just a little different.

The colosseum, or whatever it was, was round in shape. Walls slightly decayed by the constant dry heat down here, and dotted by slim, yet tall, empty windows. Easily a hundred, maybe one-twenty feet tall.

“Redd checking in,” I said, because Rodney hadn’t prompted the usual checks.

//Audio clear. Visual fine… just waiting for the projection… ah, there it is.

I turned and waved up to the air.

//We’re a little to the left.

Some energy left my expression, and I maneuvered to the left.

//Sorry, my left.

“You’re literally on a different plane.” I rolled my eyes and started off towards the structure.

[Do not forget to act possessed, Eric.]

“I am possessed. Any way I act is like a man possessed.” I strolled down onto a rough path that led up to a tall doorway.

Demons were filtering in and it looked as though there was some manner of ticket booth or other loose excuse for authority near the entrance. I received a few odd looks from the gathered riff raff, but I had presence now. They could sense it - human or not, I wasn’t something to trifle with.

It was almost enough to be a little overconfident in my ability. I’m sure it wasn’t something I’d live to regret.

“What does David think of the show so far?” I murmured.

//Somewhere between… awe and abject horror.

Sounded about right. Seeing Pearl and Wight had been a brief start course to the main course that he could probably see now. The amber rock aglow from the illuminating walls of the Lowers, the odd and grotesque demons wandering around, and yours truly possessed by his own patron walking amongst them.

I stepped up to the small desk and pushed a demon out of the way. The… clerk, or ticket vendor, looked like a humanoid vulture, with a sharp-beaked face and long neck.

“I’m here as a participant,” I said. Seemed best to get straight down to the point.

“Almost late.” His head moved around to observe me. “Obvious which one you are, possessed-man. You’re in pit Eight to start.”

There were plenty of heads and eyes swiveled in my direction—not just because of being a Hunter—as murmurs swept through about the human who was going to compete.

“Probably should have asked about the rules,” I murmured to myself as I moved through the parting crowd, the shadow of the building interior finally washing over me as I entered.

//Pearl knows… hold.

Perhaps we needed a better signal for waiting for information, rather than stay in place… as I did neither. The inside of the fighting area was massive, the upper rows filled with gawking audience waiting for the show to begin, whereas the floor level had demons of all kinds shuffling around to get to whatever they intended to go. Barriers around pits I couldn't see.

//First round is a group fight, then the winners do another group fight. Winner of that fight can go against the top three champions in order.

Easy enough. I wondered how many pits there were if mine was number Eight. The demons had the foresight to signpost things, and it didn’t take too long for me to get my bearings.

Pushing through the crowds, the wrist-mounted danger sensor burned at my arm, and I turned my head to watch a tall figure walk past. A Higher demon, if I were to guess. Light green with swirls of red patterning on his exposed arms. Muscular and dressed like he meant business. Thankfully, going a different way to me.

//Pearl dropped the popcorn and is swearing a lot.

So much for professional comms.

I sighed and continued onward… for about two steps, before I felt the presence of the green demon now beside me.