Chapter 13
THIRTEEN
"W hat happens to the souls that are consumed?" I ask as my heart hammers in my chest.
"Generally speaking, that is the end of them. But there have been cases where the souls were retrieved after the demon was exterminated. But these are very rare cases and only when the soul has been recently consumed. As time passes, the essence of the soul merges with that of the demon and they are forever lost."
"So this entire trial is a hoax. Is that what you're telling me?"
Cer's lips flatten into a thin line.
"Well, isn't that so?" I turn to Thea. "If the soul merged with the demon, then we won't be able to help it cross over. That means we lose."
"No one said this game is easy," Cer says.
"More like impossible," I mumble.
"Which is why you two need to leave. I'll deal with the demon myself."
"What—"
"We should listen to him, Luce," Thea suddenly says as she hops over to me and grabs me by my arm. "He fights them for a living."
"He does what?" I blink.
She nods fervently.
"If anyone knows how to hunt and kill a demon, it's Cer. And once he kills it, the soul will be freed—if it hasn't been ingested, of course."
My mouth curls in disgust as I think about that process of...ingestion. Not the image I wanted in my head.
"And how might one kill a demon?"
Cer gives me a chilling look.
"You don't need to know," he grunts, his features tense as he scans the auditorium.
Oh, well. I can see why Thea has an issue with him. He's not very friendly, is he?
As much as I hate letting someone else do the work for me, in this case, I'll have to make an exception. This isn't just about me anymore—although God knows how dangerous these demons are to a mere human. No, this is about my Nikki and the fact that if I'm in danger, so is he—even more so. As long as he's by my side, my recklessness could cost him his soul.
That is the last thing I would ever want to happen.
"See, now let's go. He'll meet us at the hotel, right, Cer?"
He grunts again, barely paying her any mind.
"He's in hunting mode," Thea whispers. "Come on."
Pulling on my arm, she leads me toward the entrance of the theatre.
A part of me is guilty for abandoning this mission. Somehow, not being directly involved makes it feel unearned. But I can't expose Nikki to it.
The hallway is dark as we head to the main exit. As we reach the door, Thea uses her claw to unlock it. A click resounds through the stillness of the night and she pulls on the knob. The door easily opens, but as we're about to step into the night, we collide with an invisible barrier that thrusts us back.
"Wha—" I mumble, wincing as I hit the ground.
"No, no," Thea whispers, getting up and running toward the door at full speed. Yet it's in vain because she's once more thrown back.
"What is it?"
She wobbles toward me, her features tense.
"We're trapped."
"What do you mean we're trapped?" My eyes widen.
"The demon created a barrier," she mentions as she extends her claw toward the invisible shield put in place by the door. She uses her force to push her hand, but nothing happens. The more strength she exerts, the more the barrier acts against her, the tip of the claw slowly bending inward.
As if burned, she withdraws her hand, softly caressing her bent nail.
"But... Then how... How are we going to leave?" I stammer as pure dread envelops me.
"We can't. At least not until Cer neutralizes the demon. And on that note, we're better off by his side just in case it makes another appearance."
"It didn't hurt me when it had the chance." I frown.
Thea's lips tighten in a sad smile.
"Demons don't go straight for the kill. They like to take their time, terrify their victims so they can feed on that terror. Supposedly, the soul has different, ehm...properties if it's ruled by fear."
"Oh," is all I can say, internalizing that tidbit of information. So these demons not only like to ingest souls but also terrify them before that. Sounds like a proper way to die—or die twice? I'm confused.
"Do you also hunt demons?" I ask Thea on our way back to the auditorium.
"Oh, no." She rolls her eyes. "I'm not cut out for that. Actually..." She pauses, her lips trembling with mirth. "Between you and me, I'm not cut out for much of anything, which of course drives Cer crazy. He's one of the brightest of his generation and I'm, well...still training."
"To hunt demons?"
"No, of course not," she answers emphatically. "I'll likely never be at that level. I'm still training to reach an average level." She shrugs.
"Average for a harpy?"
She blinks twice before she shakes herself.
"Yes, of course." She forces a smile.
"The claw is part of it, no?" I continue to probe—my attempt at gathering at least some information about my new teammates on which my immortal soul depends.
"Yes. Unfortunately, it's the only part." She sighs. "Told you I'm still training. The rest will follow...at some point."
"What are you still doing here?" Cer barks when he sees us.
"We can't get out," Thea explains, describing the barrier surrounding the theatre.
Cer frowns. Pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingers, he lets out a loud sigh as he turns to face us.
"Then we have a problem. Only mid-range demons and higher have that type of ability," he mentions, pacing around. "Sure, it won't be as hard to exterminate it once I draw it out, but with you here... That changes things," he mutters to himself.
"You can do your thing, and Luce and I will stay out of your way. What do you think?" Thea offers with a wide smile. "You can add your own barrier to a room, no?"
He tilts his head to the side, considering her words.
"You know my abilities are constrained," he bites out in a low, rough tone. His eyes meet hers, flashing a thunderous gold.
"A small room?" She bats her lashes at him.
"What room, Thea?"
"The dressing room!" She almost jumps up out of excitement.
I slowly turn to her, my mouth open in shock—or is it outrage? We're in a life-and-death situation with a loose demon that hasn't only consumed the soul we need to liberate, but might also consume ours, and she wants to play with clothes?
"You can't possibly?—"
"Fine," Cer interrupts me. "That is a small enough enclosure. But"—he pauses, looking both of us straight in the eye—"you stay put. You do not leave the room until I tell you it's safe to do so, understood?"
"Yes, sir." Thea cackles, while I mumble a low, "Fine."
Cer pivots, heading backstage, and we follow.
The women's dressing room is not very spacious, but it's filled with colorful gowns that immediately catch Thea's eyes—and if I'm honest with myself, mine too.
"Remember what I told you. Stay here," Cer warns once more before he closes his eyes, white-blue light shimmering in his palms as he directs it to the door and the walls around. "This will keep anything out of here, but the moment you step outside of the barrier, it will automatically dissolve."
Thea and I nod, while Cer seems rather conflicted about leaving us here by ourselves. Eventually, though, he shakes his head and exits the room.
"Oh my, Luce! Look at these gowns! I'm in love!"
"Shouldn't you be... I don't know, more worried about our lives?"
"Nah." She waves my concerns away. "I trust Cer with my life. Always. He's good at what he does, Luce. He would never let a demon harm us."
"If you say so..." I mumble, taking a seat on a chair at the vanity table.
With the barrier in place, I feel more at peace, but that doesn't mean I'm not still worried. Is Nikki here as well? Is he by my side and I don't know it? Or is he trapped outside the barrier, somewhere in the theatre where he could be the next meal for this damned demon?
"Thea," I suddenly speak. "How can you talk to a spirit?"
She's already taken off her clothes, standing completely naked in front of me—unabashedly so. She's holding two dresses in her hands, one blue, one purple, regarding them with her lips pursed.
"It's very hard to say," she adds absentmindedly. "You can bait them, but usually they are the first to make contact. It also depends on the level of awareness they have. An old spirit like Olive would be easier to goad into showing herself to us—if she weren't demon food, of course."
"Not a newer one?"
"Those are the most unpredictable. I pity those teams who got assigned to a fresh soul." She shakes her head.
"Your brother mentioned mid-level demon. What's that?"
Thea turns slightly toward me.
"Demons have hierarchies too. A mid-level demon means that it's sentient and often cunning in how it lures its victims. It could be why people have been seeing Olive's ghost."
"You mean he might have been masquerading as her?"
She nods.
"At this level, however, they are still monsters. The higher up the ladder you go, though, the more humanoid they look. They also don't get their hands dirty like this. They have their army of minions to do their bidding."
"Do they also possess people?" I ask, thinking of those horror exorcist movies I would watch with Nikki.
"The low-level ones. They have no corporeal form, so to speak, so the only way they can consume a soul is from within," she explains.
"So how do exorcisms work then? Because there are a lot of stories about that... Also, how do Christianity and God and the Bible fit into all of this? How do any religions fit into this?"
Her lips curl up.
"It's the intention that matters. Your Christian priests are no different from Buddhist priests or any other priests—they all pray for the good of the soul. The legend goes that eons ago, the Primordial gods created mortals in their image as an experiment—or, if I'm honest, as toys. But after mortals were created, the gods saw that mortal souls, created from the purest source of energy, were actually immortal . And soon, these souls developed their own free will, thinking themselves omnipotent. Not wanting their toys to turn against them, the gods combined their forces and wove into each soul nine threads of fate—controlled by the Gods of Fate. This way, they regained control over that mortality, and the Gods of Fate were able to sever the threads whenever they wished. Naturally, the soul would survive to be reincarnated at a later date, but without memories or knowledge of the past, thus making it impossible for them to ever rebel."
Thea pauses, taking a big gulp of air.
"Cultures evolved, religions were created, gods appeared and perished. Yet when mortals invoke a higher power, it doesn't matter under which name they do it—the gods listen. So when you have your exorcisms, regardless of what tradition they are carried out in, they channel the same purifying energy."
I gawk at her in shock. Did she just tell me an abbreviated history of the human race? And all of it while naked? Her kind certainly doesn't have the same sensibilities as us mere mortals.
"Of course, by mortals I don't mean only humans," she adds, almost as if reading my mind. "Mortal is any species that is not eternal—that is not godly. Whether humanoid, non-humanoid, or shapeshifting, they are all considered mortals because their bodies age and decay. Some might have increased life spans, and others lower. But they all die in the end."
"So you mean prayer works? What about holy water? Is that effective against demons?"
"Lower-level demons, yes. Those prayers are purified by our priestesses, as is the water you call holy. It's a temporary weapon against demons, but the higher the level a demon is, the more you're just going to piss him off."
"I don't get it. Then what happens to higher-level demons?"
"You have people like my brother, who dedicate their lives to eradicating them. It's why he's much more comfortable with your world than I am because he's sometimes sent on missions to kill rogue demons."
"I see," I murmur. But I don't see it. At least not at this moment. It's too much for me to digest and wrap my head around.
And just like that, once more, everything I thought I knew about the world is moot. Damn! But now it makes sense why those other species were competing in The Wishing Game. Although they look different, they share the same circumstances with us humans—wow, it's so weird to refer to myself as human now.
"Does the cross have the same effect then?"
Thea nods.
"It's a holy symbol, imbued with power by the priestesses."
Okay, so various religious paraphernalia work against some demons. Good to know.
Done with the lesson for today, Thea proceeds to ignore me as she looks pensively at the two dresses she picked, turning them around and assessing them in great detail. Before I know it, she throws the purple dress toward me.
"You try that on. I'll try this."
"They're not ours, Thea," I muster a feeble protest. The material is luxurious in my hands and the color happens to be my favorite. I know I shouldn't, but...
"No one will have to know." She winks at me, already halfway dressed. She quickly shrugs the sleeves on and buttons her top before adding the belt.
Gliding to the mirror, she twirls around, her features rapt as she watches the material float in the air.
"Come on, Luce." She turns, pouting at me.
Relenting, I stand up, sliding the straps of my dress down my body. Thea's watching me curiously, her eyes taking in the marks on my body.
For a moment, I'm frozen in place as I realize this is the first time someone other than Nikki sees my naked body and my marks. She comes closer to me, and just as I'm waiting for her to comment on my scars, she surprises me by pointing at my bra.
"What's this?" Her eyes are full of curiosity as she pokes a finger into the material. Her gaze dips lower to my underwear, and she blinks repeatedly, as if in shock. "And this?"