Lucifer sat on his throne, rubbing his chin as he listened to Jack tell everything he’d learned about the night of Buriel’s summoning, including the surprise powers the angel apparently had. Jack hoped it would help solidify Lucifer’s agreement to not harm Joey, that it would be too dangerous. But the Dark Lord’s expression was difficult to read. It was impossible to tell if it would be safe to ask about the memories.
“Fascinating information,” Lucifer said at last. “An angel that chased away three powerful demons all on her own. Well, with divine intervention it seems. Dangerous times are ahead, Soul Reacher.”
Not sure what was meant, Jack stayed silent.
“And how is the angel around you? Is she still cautious?”
“She’s fine with me, my lord. Quite comfortable, actually.” Jack refrained from mentioning the pink aura and its meaning.
“Very good. Make sure it stays that way. It seems that for now any divine intervention she might have access to has not detected what you are. And the boy has successfully kept his mouth shut as well.”
“Yes. He understands the consequences of her knowing.”
“Excellent. Now the four of you just need to keep your powers to yourself. How is the new music coming along?”
“Quite well, my lord. I apologize that we haven’t been moving as quickly as before.”
“No matter. Caleos tells me we shouldn’t rush to get it out there anyway. Says you need to tour more. That’s what bands do, apparently. So you should get 1301 to work on that. I trust he will handle things as well as before.”
“He will.”
“That could help find Buriel as well, perhaps. Speaking of, do you have any leads, anything to make me not regret allowing your plan to replace mine?”
“Yes. Dor—I mean 0192 has found some potential humans. Missing persons that match the descriptions we’ve heard about the three that were possessed. We think if we can find which ones are the actual humans, it could help us track them down.”
“Fine. Get on that then.”
Now was his only chance. “My lord, I do have a request about that.”
Lucifer scowled. “If you dare try to change the plan again…”
“No, no change in plans. But may I ask a question?”
“Go on.”
“The humans that I found when I worked with Gasyaxe, were their memories analyzed?”
“Yes.”
“Is it possible for me to see them? If they’re kept, that is.”
The scowl deepened. “And why in Hell would I allow you that privilege?”
“If the memories show the faces of the killers, it would help us determine which of the humans we found were the actual ones. Much faster than if we tried to track them all.”
Lucifer stared at Jack for a long while. Jack tried to take it as a positive, that the Dark Lord was strongly considering the request. Then he stood and approached, and Jack worried he was within seconds from having lava blood once again.
“I will accompany you,” Lucifer said finally. “No servants have ever been allowed in Purson’s library, not even his own servants, for obvious reasons. But it would be foolish of me to have kept the death memories of those humans you found and not use them for our purpose. Come.”
Jack stood and was led by guards alongside his leader as they made their way to the north end of Hell through a special portal that led directly into King Purson’s castle. It didn’t look much like a castle at all but rather a massive library both endlessly wide and long with neatly lined up shelves. The first set of shelves to his left had the sigil of Duke Aim, the shelves containing dark yet clear, melon-sized spheres. Jack realized they were the stolen memories of every external servant under the duke’s domain. Everything that had been a part of their human lives, every moment they had ever lived, was captured, stolen, and kept in a dusty sphere for eternity. Since the shelves began with Aim, Jack assumed the sections were alphabetical by ruler. Perhaps the memories of those under Andromalius weren’t too far away. His memories.
“Don’t you even think about it, servant.”
The voice was not that of Lucifer. It was a gruff growl, and Jack turned to see a strong man glaring at him with the face of a lion, fur and teeth included. He wore a giant viper on his shoulders like a shawl, and rode toward his visitors on a black bear. “If you weren’t here with the Dark Lord,” Purson continued, “I’d have Brutus chew you up for a snack.”
The bear growled and began to drool. Jack assumed he was the Brutus in question and stopped looking at the shelves.
“My Lord,” Purson said to Lucifer, “to what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?”
“This servant here is the Soul Reacher currently assigned to Earth. I wish for him to see the memories of Buriel’s victims.”
Purson blinked a few times, then looked from Lucifer to Jack and back. “Pardon me for questioning, my lord, but why are you allowing a servant to view confidential information?”
“Do not question me, Purson. It was a decision I did not make lightly. Now, let’s do this quickly.”
Purson bowed as best he could while on his mount, then turned and led his visitors toward an unmarked shelf to their right. “Do you want him to see them all?”
“Whichever ones will give the clearest picture of the human bodies used to commit the murders.”
There seemed to be a lot of spheres on the shelf. Jack wondered if they were all from victims, and if they were, there were more than he remembered catching.
“There are two that are particularly clear,” Purson said. “I must admit that I still watch them on occasion. Though I don’t approve of Buriel’s escape, I do find his methods of killing to be entertaining. Forgive me if I’m overstepping my boundaries with that, my lord.”
“Not at all. Buriel has always amused me greatly. But he is the one who has overstepped his boundaries, and that is what I have a problem with.”
Purson chose a sphere and led them back to the middle of the library where the firelight was best. He placed it over a pedestal where it floated before dissipating and morphing into a scene.
Stolen story; please report.
It was a view of three men looking down at the source of the memory. A very clear view. Jack studied the faces as closely as possible, knowing he wouldn’t be able to bring this or any pictures of the faces back to Earth with him. The man in the center with long dark hair seemed to have an air about him, doing the talking though there was no sound to match. The eyes seemed dark despite the distance, and his face was indeed young, looking no different from a normal young man he might see at one of his concerts—certainly not obvious as being possessed by a powerful demon. Jack took note of the straight nose, the long face, the high cheek bones. The possessed human motioned to the demon on the right of the scene, spoke something to him, and the hand of that one became a giant gleaming hatchet.
This human body had similar features with a long face, but less sunken cheeks and slightly lighter hair. The hatchet came down and the scene went dark. Jack thought it was over already, disappointed he hadn’t gotten a closer look at the third one. But the scene came back long enough to show the hatchet come down on the other side. It went dark again before coming back once more.
“A lot of the memories are like this,” Purson said. “Arms cut off, sometimes the legs. But it gets better.”
The third possessed human had light hair, his face rounder, nose smaller, and a hand that turned into a flamethrower. The human being tortured turned his head and thus the view to get a closer look, just in time to see the flames enter where the arm had once been. The scene disappeared and this time it was over.
It was just like the first victim he’d encountered had described. It was just like Annabelle had described. And he was confident he would remember the faces of such evil.
But Purson wanted to show another, more for his own enjoyment than to help Jack. In this one, the one in the middle that he assumed to be Buriel commanded the one with a butcher knife for a hand to cut into the victim’s chest. Buriel then reached in and pulled out the heart, holding it perfectly in view. It seemed like the human’s eyes were attempting to close as the scene darkened, but Buriel’s free hand floated above and the scene became clearer than before. A fist of flame replaced the heart which the mind control forced the human to lift their head to watch. Jack cringed, unable to look anymore.
Lucifer and Purson chuckled at Jack’s revulsion. “Was that a good enough look for you?” Lucifer asked.
Jack nodded.
“It’s obvious Buriel is in the middle. I believe Merosiel is on the right as he typically utilizes sharp objects, and Drusiel does fire. Nice team there.” Lucifer scowled. “Fucking bastards. Well, Soul Reacher, if that’s good enough for you, go get to work.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Jack still shivered from disgust when he returned to the house, appearing in the studio where the others waited.
“You were gone for a while,” Miles said. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Believe it or not, Lucifer let me see some of the memories. Sick shit. Awful. But I got a great look at them.” He nodded to Dorian, who was sitting in his producer’s chair with his bass in his lap. “Show me those pictures again.”
Dorian put his bass down and seemed to be hiding an impressed expression. “Was it hard to convince him? To let you see them, I mean.”
“He hesitated, but then caved, though he came with me. Apparently no servant has ever been in Purson’s library.” He described the massive building to them, all three intrigued. “It’s so strange to think that I was in the same room as my memories. Our memories.”
All were forlorn as they looked at Jack, but Dorian pulled himself together and opened up the internet browser where he had multiple tabs open. He showed Jack the first one, a dark-haired man that looked nothing like the ones he’d seen. One by one Jack looked at the pictures until finally a blond stood out.
“There! That’s Drusiel.”
“Are you sure?”
“A hundred percent.”
All of them looked closely at their target, the fire specialist. He looked more innocent in the picture, no sly smile or smirk, no desire to brutally slay anyone.
“Christopher Warren,” Dorian announced. “Reported missing from Port Washington, Wisconsin on January 11, 2010. Twenty-three years old.”
“Do we know when Buriel was summoned?” Miles asked. “I can’t even keep track of what day it is now. I’m not used to it anymore.”
“We don’t know the exact date, but based on Joey’s age, it could be around that time.”
Dorian showed Jack the others he had found, but none of them matched what he’d seen. “Are you sure these are the only ones?” Jack asked. “No one else?”
“No one else reported missing at least. But we have one lead now. We need to follow it, and maybe we’ll find the other two.”
The four demons sat in silence for a moment. Even though they had a lead, it seemed that none of them felt confident it would lead them anywhere.
“So…” Cameron finally broke the silence. “It’s cool and all that we found this dude, but what do we do about it now?”
“We need to find out why a guy from Wisconsin was down here in Illinois,” Dorian said, scratching his head. “And find out who he associated with. That way we might be able to find out who Buriel and Merosiel possessed.”
“And how do you suggest we do that?” Miles asked.
“We go there.”
“And how? We don’t have a car. And even if Cameron made one, none of us know how to drive it or how to get there. When we traveled around it was on a tour bus driven by someone else.”
Jack sat up. “That’s it. Lucifer told me we need to tour more before we release a new album. Maybe we can play a show up there, a one-off show so it gives us time to investigate.”
Cameron jumped up and clapped his hands once before motioning for Dorian to move. “I got this, guys. One concert, coming right up.”
* * *
It only took two days for Cameron to have an impromptu two-day tiny metal festival of local bands set up in Milwaukee, half an hour south of Chris Warren’s hometown. They would be one of the opening bands on the last day, giving them plenty of time to explore and investigate. It would take place that upcoming weekend.
Though they hadn’t planned on telling Joey about it, the boy apparently read it from Cameron’s mind as he walked past the kitchen table while on his phone. “You’re gonna play another show? Can I come? It’s close enough by.”
The demons shared a look before Dorian spoke. “Sorry, kid. It’s best you not come. Besides, I doubt your aunt would allow it.”
Joey nodded, disappointed, then looked up at Dorian. “Will you teach me some science today?”
Dorian hesitated, but agreed to discuss biology. “It’s my favorite subject of all,” he said. “Especially when it comes to the theory of evolution.”
“But evolution isn’t real,” Joey said. “We and Annie are proof of that.”
Dorian smiled, and Jack sat back in his chair, ready for what was about to be an entertaining lesson.
“Well,” Dorian began, still smiling, “while it’s true that God created the universe, the typical human view of ‘intelligent design’ is far from correct. Consider this: why would God have to use a rib from Adam in order to create Eve? If he could make one human, he could make another, yes? And as a demon with extensive knowledge of the history of the underworld, I can assure you that Satan, or Lucifer as he prefers to be called, was not a serpent tempting Eve with an apple. Lucifer is a fallen angel that came along much later. Though temptation is indeed his preferred method of bringing human souls to Hell. Regardless, there is much to argue regarding the beginning of mankind.”
As Dorian rambled on about the creation of the universe, Jack lost interest and instead watched Joey. Though he appeared to be listening, there was something about the way he was looking at Dorian with such intensity. The tutor didn’t seem to be bothered by anything Joey might be doing, either because he didn’t feel anything or because he was so engrossed in his own lesson. Joey’s aura did not change from its usual mix of white and yellow, giving Jack no indication of what was happening.
Dorian changed the subject slightly from creation to later stories. “I’m sure you know the story of Noah and the flood.”
“Of course.”
“Do you believe it to be true?”
“Well, yes. Or at least I did since I’ve been told everything in the Bible was fact. But I’m guessing you’re about to say it’s not true.”
“Indeed. It is far from true. But I am not one to claim something is false without logical and scientific explanations. That’s how I’ve been so successful in my work.”
“Teaching science stuff,” Joey said.
Dorian shrugged. “In part I suppose. Anyway, think about how many animals there are in the world. Millions, billions, yes? Imagine the size Noah’s ark would have to be to carry all those. Imagine the largest cruise ship in existence. Even that would not be able to hold two of each animal. Also, if the flood eradicated everyone not on the ark, that would mean the rest of humanity after that descended from Noah and his family, not Adam and Eve. Questionable at least, wouldn’t you agree?”
Joey looked fascinated and Dorian seemed to be reveling in it. As the lesson continued, Jack noticed Joey’s curiosity changing, now mixed with a hint of determination. It lasted for ages, intensifying, and Jack assumed Joey was no longer listening. He was reading. When Dorian’s voice faded and stopped, Jack saw a glazed look on his face. Then Dorian pulled back suddenly, crying out in pain and breathing heavily.
The boy’s face was one of shock. “I found a memory. I’m sure of it!”