“So,” the demon asked. “Let’s start with names. Mine’s – ” he hesitated before continuing, “ah, that won’t translate well. Hm.” He tapped his chin.

Greg, still disassociating with all his might, simply looked around the room while the demon thought.

Eleven bodies, strewn across the floor. Candles flickering in the corners of the room.

Oh fuck. What about the bodies? Greg’s thoughts were in turmoil, his stomach doing flips. His only saving grace was the fact that the hooded robes hid their faces. Greg wasn’t sure he’d be able to take it if he had to stare into their lifeless eyes. They’re gone. Jerry, Lucy, Steve… they’re all dead.

“-ello? You alright there?”

Greg’s eyes snapped over to the demon. Shaking his head clear, he asked, “Sorry, what were you saying?”

The demon seemed not to mind. “My name. You can call me Tazzinath.” Crossing his arms, Tazzinath waited for Greg to introduce himself.

“Greg,” he muttered.

“Nice to meet you, Greg. You can call me Taz for short.” Looking around, Taz grimaced. “I wish it could have happened under better circumstances, but we can’t all get what we want.”

“I thought you were supposed to grant wishes?” Greg said. “That’s what Jerry – the guy in charge of the group, said. It’s the whole reason they summoned you.”

Taz sighed. “Humans. We can't all be demon kings, with the power to reshape the world to our whims. Us lesser demons can only invoke minor powers such as flame or illusion.” Shaking his head, he continued, “No, I can’t grant wishes. I can’t revive the dead. Their souls are already on their way to the Veil Beyond. But I can-”

“Wait,” Greg interrupted, “What was that?”

“What, the Veil Bey-”

“No, not that. Well, yes, that. But not what it is. I get that it’s some kind of afterlife. What I want to know is, how the hell did you capitalize your speech?”

The demon shrugged. “It’s a thing. You’ll figure it out eventually. Anyways, I was talking about what to do next. I may not have taken second-year Human Societies, but I did get a passing grade for the intro course. And that means even I know being found with dead bodies gets authorities involved. That said, I have a few solutions.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Greg nodded, holding back his question for later. “Go ahead.”

“First, we get as far away as possible, and hope you don’t get implicated in whatever they decide happened here. I don’t recommend this plan, for obvious reasons.

“Second, we- What are you doing?”

Greg looked up from his phone, where he had open a search page. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Are you looking up how to get rid of a body?”

“…no.”

“Oh hell.”

“I said don’t worry about it.”

Taz rolled his eyes. “As I was saying. The second option is I can vaporize the bodies; turn them to ash. Just the bodies.”

Greg shook his head. “I think that’d be even more suspicious. A pile of cultist robes filled with ash?”

“Right,” Taz nodded, “which is why I suggest burning it all down.”

Greg blinked. “What?”

There was a dangerous glint in Taz’s eyes. “You heard me. Just burn the entire building down. Hide the evidence. It’s the perfect plan!”

There were at least a few flaws Greg could immediately point out. But before he could open his mouth, Taz had already turned around, his clawed hand outstretched, palm facing down. He grumbled something, and from his hand poured forth a viscous flame, not unlike the napalm he had seen in historical footage of World War II.

“Shit! What the hell, man!? What happened to talking it out first?” Greg yelped.

With a cheeky grin, which revealed a set of pointed teeth that somewhat reminded Greg of a shark, Taz was already making his way towards the door. He moved with a strange, lithe grace. “Too bad this isn’t a democracy.”

Greg snorted, following behind. “Well, we should at least grab anything we can before we head out.” Huh. Could this be considered looting? Or is it just plain ol’ stealing? “Speaking of, how much time do we have?” he asked.

Taz shrugged, opening the door, and shooting a quick glance over his shoulder towards the smokeless pyre. “It’s a contained burn, at first, then after a few minutes, the ichor will burst, coating the room in real, spreading flames. So yeah, I’d give it about five minutes, ten if you’re feeling lucky.”

Greg nodded, trying hard not to think about the friends he just lost and-

Focus. Keep walking.

“By the way,” Greg asked, as they stepped into the living room, having just exited the hallway connected to the storage room where they ritual had been held, “What are you going to do about,” he glanced up and down at Taz’s figure, “that? Not exactly low-key.”

Taz snorted. “Please, I’ve seen pictures of humans strutting around in stranger. Reminds me of the, what were they called? Ah, right. ‘Anime conventions.’ Halloween used to be the best time to visit this plane, but those events are just so much more interesting than flitting between domiciles begging for confections. Though, the pervasive stench that suffuses those conventions is the kind of punishment you’d find only in the lower levels of purgatory,” the crimson demon shuddered.

“Never mind that though. I’ve got a thing that can take care of appearances.” With that, he pulled out, seemingly from thin air, a tacky-looking bracelet of beads and charms. It looked like something you’d find while standing in line at a dollar store check-out. Greg groaned.