Movement No. 21
Yasmeena
Raph stands beside me, his magic blanketing us one by one: Luc and his dog Beelzebub, Gemma and Draven, Reina and Absinthe, and me.
As the magic shifts the world around me, everything goes hazy, colorful lights and muffled noise replacing the familiar carnival. My stomach clenches, everything feeling off-center, until the fog clears the air and we’re met with a large, tall castle.
Proditorum.
We’re at the Queen Mother’s place of residence. I’ve been here once before to accompany Raph, but it was not my favorite trip. We had to stay for three nights because a sickness rendered Raph incapable of teleportation. It felt like the walls were speaking to me, whispering for me to never return.
Coming here again, I fear I should’ve listened.
The castle stands high on a cliff, built of a dark stone that looks almost black against the roaring sea. It’s fitted with tall towers topped by pointed, narrow spires.
The front doors slowly creep open, revealing a short demon dressed in a tuxedo, and a dimly lit interior.
“Welcome, travelers,” he says as we pass through the wooden doors. King Luc is in the very back, and he stops before the demon, who kneels. “My Infernal King.”
Stone pillars reach upward towards a vaulted ceiling. Stained glass windows line the exterior walls, bringing in fragments of red and pink light, glimmering onto the cold marble floors.
Continuing down a large hallway, we come to a decent-sized room. It’s larger than our normal meeting place, with extra chairs equipped to handle the additional guests.
Luc enters the room first, and all of his siblings stand to kneel. “Our Infernal King,” they say in tandem.
We take our seats, one after another, until I’m face-to-face with Gabe. Anything is better than Cavan, but I was secretly hoping I’d get to catch up with Zada.
There’s a short beat of silence before Luc finally speaks up. “Our meeting was not supposed to be for another month, so why have you called us here?”
“I am the one with pressing issues,” Gabe confesses.
“But I am the one who requested all hands on deck,” Zada says, flipping her long, flowy hair. “Hope you don’t mind, brother dear.”
“Not at all,” Luc says and smiles.
It’s always clear from these meetings who is closest to whom.
Luc favors Raph and Zada. Josina and Cavan are attached at the hip.
All the other siblings are frayed, living in their own little bubbles.
Uri is beloved and respected by all, Micha is disliked by all, and Gabe is…
well, Gabe is here. He’s weird as shit, but everyone seems to feel neutral towards him, not noticing his peculiarities, or at least not minding them.
“I am going to list each continent, and you are to update us on the statuses of your economic, social, and infrastructural systems,” Uri begins, running his fingers through his almost-shoulder length black hair. “Limbus.”
Luc gives a small smile. “The magicite coves remain protected by Horace. There are no citizens on Limbus, other than him.”
Uri nods. “Luxuria.”
Zada takes a breath. “Economically, we’re in a slower season, but business is still consistent.
Infrastructure-wise, we’ve built some new things.
My informant has been working with a member of The Devil’s Masquerade to design a new kind of club on Luxuria.
Construction has just started and it’s going stellar. ”
“Club?” Gabe asks, his eyebrows shooting up.
“A dance club,” Phaelyn clarifies. She’s breathtakingly beautiful. Her face is so similar to Draven’s, and yet different. All her own.
“We have dance clubs on Hel.” Gabe’s brows furrow, and the felion on his side kisses his hand.
“These are clubs with professional dancers, not clubs patrons dance in,” Gemma clarifies.
I knew she was working on a project with Draven’s sister. It’s cool to hear more about it. I would love to work on mending the relationships felion have with other communities planet-wide, not just on Haeresis. Maybe I should meet with Zada.
“I want to perform there opening night,” Reina mutters under her breath from beside me.
“Wait, are you guys talking about strippers?” Micha cuts in, ruining the ambiance of the conversation.
“Yes. Though we plan on calling them dancers, as that’s the majority of what they do,” Zada says with a saccharine smile.
“I get we’re demons and all, but are we seriously letting the human inspire the things we make?” Micha’s tone is cocky, and I want to kick him from under the table for insulting Gemma and her species.
“Maybe if you listened to outside perspectives, your casino wouldn’t be so fucking boring,” Zada snaps.
Micha is taking a sip of water. He swallows, still holding the cup toward his lips. “Maybe if you weren’t such a b—”
I use my magic to push the water back into his mouth, effectively drowning him for a moment. He coughs dramatically, glaring around the room in an attempt to find the culprit, but comes up short.
I don’t think anyone here who isn’t from Haeresis knows that I have magic. I wonder if they know about Draven.
“Can we please get back on task?” Uri asks, and Zada nods.
“Socially, we’re doing fine. We’ve had some lupion join us, fleeing mostly from Violenta, but not much else of note.”
Uri’s lips create a flat line. “Very well. Things are progressing on Gula. Some of The Legion popped up, and there was even an assassination attempt on my life. Other than that, not much of note.”
Other than that? As if attempted murder is nothing to these demons.
“Clarify?” Draven asks.
“A member of The Legion applied to be a server at Hel’s Restaurant and poisoned my personal meal. Luckily, I have taken poisons regularly for the last five-hundred-years to build up a tolerance, so it did not manage to take me out,” Uri explains.
“Did you figure out who it was? How do you know they’re Legion?” Reina asks, and Uri looks over at her respectfully.
“We have the culprit in custody.”
Murder might be legal, but murdering one of our seven leaders is not. This half-demon will most likely be punished by death.
Uri clasps his hands together. “Avaricia?”
“Oh, we’re always doing great,” Micha says, one corner of his mouth curving up in a smug smile.
“Still stealing money from your citizens?” Zada asks, clicking her tongue.
“I would never.” Micha feigns ignorance, winking at his sister.
“Ira,” Uri cuts in, not wanting to fuel the fire.
“We lost a substantial portion of our employees at Hel’s Caves, so I’m trying to come up with a solution,” Cavan starts. The sound of his voice feels like poison being poured into my ears. “Thinking of designing safety precautions to ensure more half-demons want to come work for me.”
“Do the felion not deserve those precautions?” I ask before I can reel the words back into my mouth.
I fucking hate this demon. More than anyone.
“Listen, lady. I cut corners when I can. Diving is the only employment option I give the felion, besides freelancing, so it’s not like they have much of a choice,” Cavan answers with a shrug.
It makes my blood boil. I want to drown him in those same diving caves. I want him to suffer like so many have under his watch—under his instruction. If it weren’t illegal, I’d take him out myself, but I can’t risk it. Not when so many felion depend on me.
“That’s literally like… indentured servitude.” Draven scowls.
“Which, correct me if I’m wrong, is not technically illegal,” Cavan retorts.
Uri cracks his knuckles. “Legally, you cannot murder anyone who cannot or may not be able to fend for themselves, including but not limited to people with disabilities, children, and the elderly. You also cannot sexually assault anyone. Tyranny is also illegal, as well as—”
“Is indentured servitude on the list?” Josina asks.
“No.” Uri frowns.
“So we’ll add an amendment,” Raph suggests, a big goofy smile on his face, and my heart skips a beat. “That’s what the government is for, right?”
I adore that ridiculous demon.
“You can add an amendment to your continent’s constitution, but planet-wide legal change would require a majority vote,” Gabe adds.
“I would vote for it,” Zada says, giving me a comforting nod.
Raph and Luc take a simultaneous breath. “As would we.”
“I would also be inclined to make this change,” Uri says.
Josina, Cavan, and Micha all scowl at the rest of us, clearly not appreciative of where this is going. Gabe doesn’t look nervous, but contemplative.
“Alright, doll,” he says to the felion by his side. “What would you have me do?”
She looks up at me, her face barely recognizable from all the cosmetic surgeries, but there’s a familiar air about her. Maybe she was once a friend of my family, or someone who lived in my neighborhood. “I think you should sign. Let the felion be free.”
“You do understand that by doing this, a lot of felion and lupion will choose to flee to your continents?” Josina says, her pink-flesh turning a hot red.
“We understand and are already making plans to deal with it,” Raph says, his voice calm and polite.
“It’s like, the whole point of our job as leaders,” Zada sassily cuts in.
“Then it is settled. Luc, have your secretary codify it into intercontinental law,” Uri says, his tone final.
I cannot believe this was even a question.
I don’t know why, perhaps it’s my experiences with Luc and Raph and Zada, but I can’t comprehend how individuals like Cavan and Josina could be so evil.
They don’t even target any one group, but instead work to torture everyone in different ways.
They spend their time constantly creating legislation against the felion and lupion, while then making other decisions that hurt the half-demons.
It drives wedges in different communities, creating poverty and famine and chaos.
I know there are some leaders that will always be wicked, and I know that I should just be grateful I live on Haeresis now, but I can’t help but feel for those still stuck on Ira. It haunts me.
Maybe I’m wrong or delusional, but I think leaders should not be those born into wealthy or royal bloodlines, but instead individuals elected and willing to do the hard work to improve everyone’s lives.
Not just those of their species or class. Everyone.
Uri looks over at Raph. “Haeresis.”
“Economically, Hel’s Carnival is doing quite well, thanks to Draven and Gemma.
” He pauses to look over at the couple. “Socially, we’re having some difficulties between two of our less populous species.
Haeresis remains mostly half-demons, demons, and hybrids, but there has been a large uptick in felion and lupion.
We’ve been dealing with a bit of conflict, but Yasmeena, her fiancé Tempest, and the entirety of The Devil’s Masquerade have been working tirelessly to improve the situation. ”
“Have you any results?” Uri asks.
“We have a performance coming up at The Sinner’s Circus between them both. This is our first test run to see how things are improving between the warring groups.”
Micha scrunches his face. “So like… do they hate each other because one group is cats and the other dogs? Like, is that what this is?”
My eyes and the felion across from me go wide, and it is actually Reina and Absinthe who speak next.
“How incredibly ignorant of you. Lupion are part wolf, not dog,” Reina says.
“And they’re all demon hybrids,” Absinthe echoes. “It’s completely different.”
“Okay, semantics, but my point stands. Why do they hate each other?” Micha asks.
I sigh. “We don’t all hate each other. We’re simply fighting for territory. The hunting grounds on Haeresis were never divided with this many felion or lupion in mind. We’re simply working on an agreement between the two species.”
I wonder if Micha really is this obtuse, or if he does this to get under people’s skin. My guess is a bit of both, and it’s sure working, though I refuse to let it show on my face.
“Got it. But everything’s good with The Legion?” he asks.
Draven nods. “For the most part, they’ve been dormant, yes.”
Uri proceeds to ask about Violenta, and I zone out as Josina talks about fight rings and gladiator battles and how the new law will affect her.
“Ooh!” Micha slams his hands on the table. “I’ve got it! Those charged with tyranny against me I’ll have sent to Ira or Violenta as punishment.”
“That could work.” Josina smiles at Micha, her pink skin pale against the deep red of his.
“Can you discuss your deplorable scheming another time? We have work to do,” Uri says, forever the logical one. “Fraus is last.”
Gabe talks to us about his new wing prototype, even offering to to perform a surgery on Draven, which Luc quickly shuts down.
A server comes into the room with an ornate silver serving tray, topped with a large cover. He places it onto the center of the table, and everyone stares at it, wondering what it could be.
“I thought we were having dinner later?” Raph asks, and the server nods.
“We are. This is an early dessert,” the half-demon server answers, and everyone starts muttering to one another, confused about what's happening. “I had it especially crafted for you, my king.”
“I did not request an early dessert, but please, proceed,” Luc says.
The server lifts the cover, revealing a severed head.