The demon servants remained silent as they were led back to the west side. Jack was scared to look at his weary companions stumbling around him, not even to see if Dorian was disgusted at their location again. Guilt filled him for hurting them, even though they had hurt him first. He hated Lucifer for making them battle and do harm to each other. They needed to work together, to be a team, but it wouldn’t be a good team if they all feared the leader that had just torn at their souls with his own.
To his surprise, they were led into Paimon’s castle. Jack could think of no reason why the Great King of the west would need to be involved before they were sent to Earth, but he did not question it.
They were taken to a vast office, the walls adorned with old renaissance-style paintings of well-dressed men and women, some surrounded by piles of gold and jewels, others with commoners bowing to them. At the desk sat a small man dressed in bright steel armor that gleamed in the firelight, though none of it gleamed as much as the jeweled crown atop his head. Before the demon could greet the newcomers, a crocodile waddled from around the side of the desk, making them jump back.
“Hello!” said the man behind the desk. “I assume you are Lucifer’s chosen ones? My, you all look like you’ve just been rode hard and hung up wet. Is everything all right?”
“Who are you?” Dorian asked flatly.
The demon stood up, grinning. “My name is Caleos. Welcome! I’m very excited for this. I haven’t had an assignment in, well, probably centuries. I get summoned once in a very great while, but an actual assignment given by the Dark Lord himself…” Caleos closed his eyes and sighed, his grin widening.
Jack had heard the name a couple of times in reference to Paimon, but had never seen him nor knew of his role. But Dorian, clearly in a poor mood after the recent events at Lucifer’s castle, asked the question he had been thinking.
“So, are you a ruler of some sort? I’ve never heard of you, and I know everyone here.”
“Not exactly. I’m technically a knight, but Paimon and I are very close so I became his principal servant right here in his castle.”
“You’re a servant?”
The disdainful tone brought the crocodile closer, the creature lunging and snapping his jaws at Dorian.
“Ignatius, that’s enough,” Caleos said to his pet. Looking at Dorian he said, “You must be the southerner. Ignatius has a particular distaste for those of your region.”
While Dorian glared, the others chuckled.
“Anyway, grab a chair, have a seat. We have much to discuss.”
A stack of metal chairs was at the side of the room, and each of the demons took one, settling in front of the desk. Caleos sat in his leather chair and leaned forward on his desk, fingertips together.
“My job is fairly straightforward on the surface,” Caleos began, “but in these modern times on Earth, which is much different from my more active days centuries ago, it’s a bit more complicated. I’ve sure learned a lot about how things work up there lately. Very fascinating, all this technology.”
“Get on with it,” Dorian said.
“I grant fame to those who wish for it.”
There was silence in the room for a moment. Then Miles spoke. “So you’re gonna make us famous? Instant rockstars?”
Caleos chuckled. “Not exactly. Technically I could do that, but Lucifer has requested I take a slightly more subtle approach. See, making demons famous can be risky. Granted, the world won’t know you’re demons unless you spill the beans, but if that were to happen, if people did find out you were actual demons and you were world famous, well, you can imagine the sorts of problems that might cause. Not to mention the insufferable torture you’d receive as punishment. So, lips zipped gentlemen. Regardless, what I will be doing once you’ve recorded your music album—did Duke Amdusias explain that to you?”
The demons shook their heads.
“Ah, well, I’ll start at the beginning then. When you step through Gaap’s seal, you’ll find yourself in a house that has been refurbished for you. It’s on the northwest side of a place called Chicago, a city the Soul Reacher and his partner are quite familiar with. It’s sort of close to the cambion’s birthplace, but not too close. Lucifer doesn’t want you knocking on doors to find him. Subtle, remember? Besides, we’re not certain he still lives there. But I digress. In that house will be some fascinating technology. Duke Vapula from the south has spent decades refining his handicraft abilities to include technology, thus he has created everything you need. I’ve been assured that you, southerner, will naturally know how to work it all. The greatness of Asmoday, I assume.
“Once you have recorded your album on this technological magic, I will use my abilities to get it into the right hands. Or ears, I should say.” Caleos laughed at his own joke. “This is where humans will get involved and things have a chance of getting a bit sticky. Though the cambion will be tempted by your music, he won’t know where to find you. Therefore you will need to travel as musicians do, performing concerts. This will give the cambion the opportunity to come to you, and you can do whatever it is you need to do. However, it takes human intervention for these performances to occur. Which of you is Zagan’s man?”
Cameron raised his hand.
“Great. You’ll be in charge of smooth-talking human executives that will be approaching you very quickly after I’ve sent your music to them and the rest of the world. And who is Valefor’s?”
“Me,” Miles said.
“You’re in charge of the humans that will travel with you. Though you all could easily manage your own equipment and sound magically, it would be impossible to do that without humans noticing, so things have to be done the human way. You’ll get in their thoughts and they’ll do whatever you say. I suggested using more demon servants as your crew, but Lucifer denied that. A bit ridiculous if you ask me, but he’ll have me flogged if I voiced my true opinion. So it’s up to the four of you to make this work with all you’ve been provided. Everyone has such confidence in you, so I think this should go well. Questions?”
The more details Jack heard about their mission, the more terrified he became. So much was being asked of them, just four demons to take on a monster and likely three more after that. But it wasn’t the monster he was the most afraid of.
“What if we have problems?” Jack asked. “What if something goes wrong? Can we get help somehow?”
Caleos raised an eyebrow and leaned in further on his desk. “I think the correct answer is, ‘don’t mess up and you won’t have problems.’”
“It’s a valid question,” Dorian said. “No amount of planning can prepare anyone for what might actually happen. We don’t normally work with humans so openly. Humans are unpredictable and we’re inexperienced.”
“I think you will find that you have more experience hidden within you than you realize. I do suspect that Lucifer will want regular updates, but I was not made aware of any details. You’ll be meeting with Gaap now, he might know.”
As the guards led the demons out of the room, Caleos called, “Have fun being rockstars!”
* * *
When they arrived at the checkout area outside the hallway to the seal of Gaap, Jack felt a twinge of excitement. He was close to returning to Earth, and couldn’t wait for the fresh air, the openness. He didn’t even care what season it was. But he was torn from his brief reverie by the sight of Gaap and Lucifer waiting for them. Instinctively they all dropped to their knees.
“Get up,” Lucifer said. “You can’t go to Earth on your damn knees.”
They did as told and approached at Gaap’s beckoning. The prince of the east looked as human as could be with shoulder-length bright red hair and large build. In his hand hung four pendants on their silver chains, which he handed to each of them. Jack looked at it; it was the pendant he always wore on Earth. He put it around his neck and held back a smile. It was happening. A taste of freedom was beyond the hallway.
“These pendants will not work exactly as they used to,” Gaap began. “You cannot come back and forth at will. The seals are still closed off except at my command. The Dark Lord wishes to have weekly updates to start, more often as things progress. I will call the Soul Reacher back to provide that.” He looked at Jack. “Your pendant will glow as it normally does in such a situation, so be sure you are in a secluded place when you are called. If there is news or a problem that occurs before your update, you may use the pendant to call me by using the words you normally use. All of you have this ability. This is only in a desperate emergency, and you will not return immediately as I need to open the seal. Lucifer is confident that you are all capable of solving issues together, so do not call unless something terrible is happening.”
The demon servants nodded.
“Oh, Soul Reacher, you’ll need this too.” Gaap held out a black velvet bag, reminding Jack of their real reason for going. “Off you go then.” Gaap motioned to the hallway.
“One more thing,” Lucifer said. “Good luck. It’s all up to you now. If you fail, not only will Earth be destroyed and my power subdued, but you will face severe punishment. But if you succeed, you will be greatly rewarded. Now go.”
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“Yes, my lord,” they said in unison, then turned and walked down the hall.
One by one they passed through the portal and Jack was pleased to find himself in Earth clothes consisting of a black T-shirt and black jeans. His companions were similarly dressed in variations of black clothing.
“Not used to black,” Dorian said, looking down at his black collared shirt with sleeves rolled to his elbows. “But this is quite nice after years half naked.”
The four of them looked at each other, though Jack noticed none of them met his gaze for more than half a second. They put their pendants between thumb and forefinger and said, “Abiego.”
The familiar vacuum feeling brought them to the interior of a house, just as Caleos had said. Against a long wall just before them was a large soundboard covered in switches and knobs and buttons and two wide computer screens, currently off. To the right was a large, soundproofed room with a drum set inside, and on the left was a smaller one with a giant microphone. They all stared at the setup, then Miles broke the silence.
“So, you know how to work all this, Dorian?”
“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”
Cameron was at the window of his drum room, admiring all the microphones strategically placed around it. “Maybe it’ll be like when we first played. Like, it just came to us, you know? It’ll come to you.”
Behind them was a staircase, and Jack looked up it curiously. “There’s more to this place,” he said, then ascended the stairs.
Behind the door at the top was a kitchen and dining table as well as a hallway that led to a living room, bathroom, and two bedrooms. Everything was fully and neatly furnished, though the bedrooms only contained one bed each.
“I know we probably don’t need to sleep,” Dorian said, “but I am not sharing a bed with any of you.”
“Who cares if we don’t need to sleep? I’ll lay in one of those all day if I can,” Miles said, collapsing on one.
Jack went back into the kitchen wanting to explore what he was certain contained items for humans to eat. He didn’t know why he knew that; he’d never been in a human house since he’d become a demon. There was a tall rectangular, metallic machine with doors that he knew was called a refrigerator, though he had no memory of using one. He opened each door, a blast of cold air hitting him, but inside was empty. He then went around the room, opening every drawer and cabinet to find everything empty. No need for food, so none was provided. He sighed softly in disappointment, remembering the strawberry and chocolate.
Turning around, he saw the dining table again, this time noticing four neat stacks of items. The first thing that caught his attention was a small, flat, rectangular piece of plastic with his picture on it. He almost didn’t recognize himself as he’d only occasionally seen his own reflection in windows or a mirror in a public bathroom in which he’d had to steal souls on rare occasions if the situation required it. Next to the picture was his name, an address he assumed was to mark the location of their house, and most interestingly, a birthdate: 01/19/1990. He had no idea what year they were currently in, but wished to find out to learn how old he was supposed to be.
Below that object lay a small, thin blue book with an emblem of the United States of America on the cover. Inside was another picture of himself and the same information as on the little card. The other pages were blank aside from faint background pictures of buildings and eagles.
Next to these were two more items. First a leather object just smaller than his hand, folded three ways and containing pockets, the largest of which had money. Jack had seen plenty of humans steal it as part of their soul-hunting missions, but he had never touched it himself. Rubbing it between his fingers was familiar though, as if he’d done it tons of times, and brought a strange excitement. A feeling of power. Why they would need such a thing for this mission he didn’t know, but if they were to mingle with humans, perhaps it would come in handy.
The item that lay under that was another rectangular plastic object, thick with one of the flat sides like glass. No memories of it came to him and there was no writing to indicate what it could be.
The other three stacks were identical to his with the exception of the little card depicting each of the other band members. “Come check this stuff out,” he called to them.
The other three demons joined Jack and inspected their items with great interest.
“Birthdate November fourth, 1990,” Miles said. “Do you think that’s my human birthdate?”
“Doubtful,” Dorian said. “That would be incredibly stupid considering we’re not supposed to know anything about our human life.” He studied his thoughtfully. “No, I think it’s based on our legion number. Mine says 05/01/1988. My legion number starts with 05-01. The year, who knows.”
“You’re right,” Jack said. “Mine matches my number too.” He walked up to Miles. “You have the same year as me. That’s cool.”
Miles nodded, not looking at him. “Is that what I look like now, this picture? Thicker hair and a five-o-clock shadow?”
“Yep.” Jack noticed how much Miles was trying to avoid his gaze.
“What’s this thing?” Cameron was holding up the mystery black rectangle.
Dorian frowned then picked up his. Instantly his face lit up. “It’s a phone. Look, push this button and it turns on. Then swipe your finger up and you can use it to make calls or texts or the internet or—”
“What in the fuck are you saying?” Miles asked. “And how do you know this?”
Dorian shrugged. “It’s like Cameron said. All you gotta do is try and it just comes to you. I know what everything is on here. Look, this is how you make calls. There’s a contact list that has all of you guys in it…” Dorian droned on about every little feature on the strange device as if he had made it himself. “I think this is how we contact each other if we’re separated. Human technology is actually quite good. Can’t wait to play with all the electronics downstairs.”
“You know, that electric thing you did earlier makes sense now,” Cameron said. “Electronics, technology, it fits right?”
Jack felt everyone’s tentative gaze toward him, and he hoped Dorian would respond in a way to change the subject or talk about himself, but he remained silent. There was a great deal of emotion filling the room, though he couldn’t determine who it was coming from, like the pipelines that had existed before were broken and spilling all around them.
“Listen, guys,” he said softly. “I’m sorry about what happened earlier. I don’t know how I did that. I’ve never been able to do anything like that before, and I hate that I was forced to do it. To hurt you and make you scared of me or hate me or whatever it is you’re feeling because, shit, this room is filled with whatever you’re feeling and it’s intense and I don’t know how or why I feel it, but I do and I’m sorry. I won’t go into your minds again, I swear. You can look at me safely, I promise. Besides, I don’t want to experience what you did to me again. You got some insane powers. And for fuck’s sake tone down the feelings, I’m drowning in it.”
It really did feel like the room was filling with invisible water. He wished demons had an aura so he could identify what it all was. Instead all he could do was try to breathe calmly.
“What are you talking about?” Dorian asked. He was looking at Jack steadily now. “You can feel emotions in the room? Without looking at us?”
“Yes. It’s like it’s pouring out of you like pipes that burst. They burst when Lucifer made me attack all of you at once. There were pipes or connections or something that came when we played together, our music, but then it broke and now it’s everywhere.” Jack looked at the door to the basement. “That’s it! That’s how to fix it. We play. Come.”
They all went downstairs and immediately went to their instruments. Jack strummed a chord, and even though he turned the knob on the guitar around both ways, the sound didn’t come out like it had in Hell. Dorian placed his hand on the soundboard and his face lit up again. Instantly he began turning things on and instructing everyone to plug in with cords and put on headphones. Jack could now hear everyone’s instruments through the interesting object that went over his ears, and after some manipulation of the soundboard by the bassist, the group was able to play together.
It was strange at first, experiencing the music in a different way, and Jack sang despite not being able to hear himself. But all that mattered was that the connections quickly re-established as the song progressed, even through the wall of Cameron’s soundproof room. The discomfort and fear and distrust that had surrounded him was gone, and he was now filled with excitement, musical passion, and maybe even friendship. Jack knew all he needed to do was keep things as they were and all their powers together would make this crazy mission work.
With no need to eat or sleep, and with their renewed drive to make music, the band members began their recording process. They let Dorian take full control, and one by one the band members recorded their parts on the computer. Though each of them got annoyed at the bossiness from their new recording engineer, occasionally arguing with his demand to play a part repeatedly because it wasn’t “perfect,” they obliged. There was a reason this genius of a demon had been chosen, and it wasn’t just for his surprise electric attack. As irritated as Jack got for having to play his solos what felt like a hundred times each, he convinced himself it was worth it. Dorian knew exactly what he was doing.
Their studio was in the basement of the house, the window wells spilling light before fading to darkness over and over. Jack lost count of how many cycles of day went by; he was too focused on the music to care. They never stopped working, never left the studio, never tired of playing. It was both a disappointment and a relief when they finished. The first step of their quest was nearly complete.
Dorian sent the others away, insisting on having peace while he mixed and mastered the music, whatever that meant. Jack and the others went upstairs, Cameron deciding to try out the TV in the living room. Again, Jack had no idea why he knew what the object was called and what it did. As he wandered through the kitchen, pondering going outside for fresh air, he noticed a door in the corner that did not lead outside. Instead it was another staircase, and he ascended it, Miles right behind.
At the top was another door that opened to what looked like a mini apartment. There was a tiny kitchen and dining table for two, and two bedrooms attached.
“I guess we do each get our own room after all,” Miles said.
Jack sensed there was something else on his friend’s mind, that it was the real reason he followed. “You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah. Yeah, it’s good to be back, you know? Even if it’s because we have to steal the soul of some demon monster.”
Jack nodded, hoping for more, afraid to prod. Miles was standing in the tiny kitchen, head down and hands in his pockets.
“Can I ask you something?” Miles’s voice was near a whisper.
“Of course.”
“When you…you know…got in my head that day and I had to fight back, did you see something?”
Jack hesitated. “Yeah. Did you?”
Miles nodded. “I saw a face in my head. I didn’t get a good look but I felt like it was you and I was scared. Then it felt like I was pushing something back out at you, an explosion. But the face…I don’t think it looked like you. It was really weird.”
“I saw the same thing.”
“You did? Was it you we saw? Or did you see me?”
Jack remembered that brief thought of how it didn’t look like Miles but he felt it was. “I don’t know. And I don’t want to try again to find out.”
“Me neither. Let’s not tell the others about that. Keep it between us. I’m gonna go try out one of these beds.” With a nod Miles went into one of the bedrooms and collapsed on the bed with a sigh.
Jack went into the other room, the sunset peeking through the closed curtains. He looked out at a small alleyway between their house and the next, which had faded and cracked brick walls and windows covered with newspaper. He was curious whether their own house looked as decrepit on the outside but would explore it when the sun was up again.
Laying down on the bed, Jack sighed. He couldn’t remember ever experiencing such a glorious thing, only the stone cell with the occasional flat pillow less than half the size of the pillows on this bed. It surprised him that they were allowed such a luxury. Wouldn’t Lucifer be worried that they’d go rogue after experiencing what was going to be a rockstar lifestyle? No. They couldn’t go rogue with their pendants on, and they could not be removed in any way. It didn’t matter. He’d enjoy it for as long as he could.
Even though sleep was not necessary and he wasn’t tired, Jack rolled over and closed his eyes. If anything, lying in bed at night made him feel more human. That’s what humans do. I used to do this. I wish I could remember.