Author: me alsome

There were many questions in Helena’s mind.  But she could tell Camila was going to avoid a lot of them so she stuck with the easiest one.  “Where did you even get that outfit?”  She motioned to the sleek modern blazer and skirt combination.

“Part of the aid package the refugee center gave me,” Camila said.  “Guess they figured people from the real world would want it for a job interview.”  She was doing her best to mimic a walk as they headed down the streets.  It still looked strange and jerky but if you couldn’t see her legs it might pass as human.

“And where is this job interview?” Helena asked.

“Well it’s not really an interview, but I’m gonna get a job at the Times,” Camila said.  “At least I hope,” the jiang-shi added quietly.

Acedia turned her dull eyes to Camila.  “And how are you going to get a job there without even an interview?”

“Threats and coercion,” Camila said. “Like I already applied normally, but they probably trashed that as soon as they saw my name.  Walked in again in person and they insulted me before shooing me out.  Figured I’d have to cheat then.”

Helena looked out towards the fringe area of the merchant district they were heading towards.  The ‘Times’ was one of the newspapers that were mostly popular… well nowhere.  In the realm across the river they’d been slowly choked out by other information sources, while here in the Immigrant Realm half the people had a hard time reading, much less reading English.  The paper was mostly a luxury item as far as she could tell.  Though it at least had that going for it.  “I approve of your tactics.  But why do you even want to work there if they don’t want you?”

“I mean, it’s that or lifting heavy things, and lots of people can do that,” Camila replied.  “And I don’t want to work for the assholes here.  I want to get stuff published across the river.  Or honestly just get published.  But y’know, the only place I can apply is here.”

“So am I part of your threats, or your coercion?” Helena asked.  She was fine with either honestly.  But it was good to know what was expected of her in advance.

Camila grinned.  “I was gonna have you be the carrot instead of the stick.”

Helena mentally chewed on that.  “I’m not sure I know how to do that.”

“Why am I not surprised,” Acedia muttered.  “And what am I doing?”

“Same thing as Helena,” Camila replied.  “Just be yourself.”  Her grin faded.  “Okay be yourself and don’t fly into a rage when those bastards treat me like worthless eye candy.  Can’t actually kill anyone.”

Helena’s opinion of this job spiraled down like a ship in Charybdis’ whirlpool.  “I make no promises.”  Camila’s grin returned as they continued towards the squat building marked with the Times logo.

Camila walked straight through the doors, then through the lobby like she had every right to be there.  The receptionist gave them a confused glance, but Camila was apparently pretty good at looking like she belonged.  They made it all the way to a noisy open office, where dozens of people were hammering away at typewriters.

It was fairly obvious they didn’t belong here.  Everyone was human.  Not humanish, but completely human.  And while there were two other women in the room they seemed to be mostly carrying drinks around to people.  Which meant everyone in the room looked as Camila continued her march.  The jiang-shi woman didn’t stop though.  She kept walking towards the back.

The people in the room slowly started reacting to their presence, mostly by whispering to each other and backing away.  Helena tried to make out what they were whispering.  A few seconds of that and her fists were clenched in rage.  She’d forgotten again that the rulers of the Immigrant Realm had an obsession with people’s skin color.  Camila probably hadn’t.  Not for a second.

But the woman steadfastly moved past the whispers and popped into the door.  “Good Afternoon Mr Davidson,” she said in the most formal voice Helena had ever heard her use.  “I think I have an answer for you.”

The three men inside the room had very different reactions to that.  The one in the far corner immediately snapped.  His mouth was open but apparently he couldn’t manage an insult.  Probably better for his health.  The one closest to them had slid away, watching the scene with a practiced eye.  And the man behind the desk seemed almost bored.  “Is that so zombie girl?  So please do explain why I should spend money on you instead of an experienced reporter.”  The way he said the word made it clear he meant ‘male’ and Helena had half formed a curse to make someone a chicken by the time he finished.

“Because I did my research and found Title VII of the Civil Rights Act is a law in this world too,” Camila replied.  “Your branch is a drain on the big company across the river already.  Getting slapped with a lawsuit would be bad for you.”

“And why shouldn’t I hire someone who knows their place instead of you?” He said.  “There’s plenty of women who need a job.”

Camila grinned.  “Well that wouldn’t stop my lawsuit, but more importantly it wouldn’t get you the writer you need.  Because I’m college trained and can write pieces the people in the Big Apple like, while the randoms you grab off the street aren’t.  In addition I have sources no one else can get.  Like one of the best magicians in the Immigrant Realms,” Camila nodded towards Helena.

Mr Davidson leaned back.  “Well you’ve at least figured out how to play hardball, Ms Barbosa.”

The man in the corner finally exploded.  “Sir you can’t possibly be thinking of hiring this ni-,” Mr Davidson held up a hand and the man swallowed, “negro woman.  She isn’t even alive!”  The man turned a gaze towards Helena and Acedia.  “And just because she can drag in some more freaks doesn’t mean she’s useful.  Dressing up another slut in a witches hat doesn’t mean-“

That was enough.  Helena finished the curse and wrapped it in a small bullet before flinging it into the man’s chest.  The rest of his sentence disappeared into a squawk and a cloud of feathers.  “I believe that should establish my standing as a magician.”

Everyone except Acedia and the new chicken sat in stunned silence.  “I thought we weren’t supposed to beat people up just because they insulted her,” the demon said to Helena.

“And I followed that to the letter,” Helena replied.  “However I’m not going to sit here and let some fool claim I’m not a witch.”

“Could you turn him back?” Camila said.

Helena sniffed.  “It was only going to last an hour anyway.”  She snapped his fingers and dismissed her curse.  With a final squawk the man returned.  He slumped, stunned by the rapid shifts.

Mr Davidson recovered first.  “Well, that was interesting.  So what are you offering me now?  And what are you asking in return?”

“I want a weekly art column.  Internet.  And access to the leads,” Camila said.  “You get my column, and I can get you in contact with the magical sources you normally miss out on because you’re pigheaded bigots.  Oh and I don’t use my eternal unlife to sue you.”

“Monthly, paper column, and if the parent company doesn’t pick it up in a year you’re done,” he replied.  “Also you have to pretend to respect your co-workers.”

Camila waved her fingers.  “I’ll pretend to respect you.”

“Done.”  He motioned the quiet man forward.  “Donnie, you’re on the serial murder cases.  Press them for all their worth while I handle the paperwork.”

“Cases?” Acedia asked.  Helena looked over at Donnie.  That was an odd way of putting it.  “Who’s being killed other than demons?”

The quiet man finally spoke.  “Someone’s been slaughtering people in the underground.  Big killings.  At least one hundred dead.  The police just got word of it.”  Well that would explain the sudden conclave.  Massacres would draw attention.  “Add in there being more murders then usual with pentagrams nearby and people are gettings antsy.”

Helena grimaced.  “Well then, I’ll be happy to tell you what I know about the person killing demons,” Helena said.  She wouldn’t tell them everything, but what she could tell them was a small price to pay for information about this new problem.

The mosque, Masjid Gibrael, stood across from the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin.  While the Cathedral used its grounds entirely as a house of worship and cemetery, the mosque had a soup house attached.  That was where Helena headed.

There was a good sized line there already.  There were plenty of hungry people in the Immigrant Realm, and unlike the many charity kitchens in the slums the mosque was close to the docks, where the homeless lived, trying to make do with odd jobs.  Helena moved around the line without watching much, but Camila couldn’t help to slow down and look.

“You look like a tourist,” Acedia muttered.  “Are all you outsiders so nosey?”

Camila grinned.  “Can’t a girl keep a sense of wonder?  There’s actual jinn there!”  She blinked and looked over to Helena.  “Though I’m kinda curious how someone who can grant wishes can be hard up for food.”

“Not everyone gets to be the wish granting jinn,” Helena said.  “Some get stuck needing to eat rotten flesh.”

“Ah,” Camila winced before looking down at her own locked arms.  “Have I said how happy I am to be the upgraded jiang-shi?  Because, like, as annoying as this is, not being a rotting corpse is nice.”

Helena smirked.  “I’m sure if you sent a note to the Living Dragon he’d appreciate it.  There’s probably not a lot to read in the magical seclusion wing of a prison.  Giving him something to mull over for his five hundred year sentence would be nice.”

“Maybe later,” Camila replied with a handwave.

Acedia looked between the two of them.  “What’s the point of demons existing when there are people like you two wandering around?”

Camila turned to pat Acedia on the shoulder.  “We need someone to talk to obviously!  It’d be dull otherwise.”  The demon just turned away with a grimace.

They arrived at the door to the soup kitchen’s back entrance and Helena knocked.  After a moment the door opened and a man looked out.  “Peace be upon you.  I’m afraid the entrance is the other door.”  He started when he saw Acedia but recovered quickly.  “However if you cannot enter the holy ground I can speak with the Imam to see what might be done.”

“We’re not here to get food,” Helena said.  “I want to speak to Nezaiel.  Tell him Helena Aeode, the Curse Gunner, wishes to consult with him about the murders in the city.”

The man’s eyes opened wide and he paled.  “Ah… I see.  One minute please.”  The door was hastily shut as he retreated.

“So he actually going to get that angel, or are we just gonna stand here and hope?” Camila asked.

“Humans who forget to deliver messages between magicians and other powerful magical beings don’t live long,” Helena replied.  “At least not long as humans.”

Camila shook her head.  “Don’t pigs have pretty short lives?”

Helena nodded.  “True.  But I know someone who turned a foe into a tortoise.  The tortoise outlived her.  And not just because she got stabbed.”  Helena shrugged.  “It’s too bad he was such an ass.  Otherwise my grandmother might have turned him back.”

“You know a bunch of very violent people,” Camila said with a sidelong look.

“I was born in a very violent realm,” Helena admitted.

Acedia looked between the two of them.  “Ah.  That’s why your souls are so different.  It’s hard to tell under all the blood.  Weird that the undead killer still cares and the witch doesn’t.”

Camila’s eyes hardened.  Helena ground her teeth and glared at the demon.  For someone who claimed to be no good at being evil, Acedia had managed to find just the wrong thing to say.  Camila had to still feel some guilt from the murders she’d been puppeted into committing.  And Helena’s Hellenistic morals and the conflict with more modern realms was a constant sore point.

The door swinging open killed the awkward moment.  A man in black robes with a white belt and head covering was there frowning at them.  Still he bowed.  “The angel Nezaiel wishes to meet with you.  Please follow me.”

Helena turned and walked after the man.  Camila shook her head then followed after, with Acedia bringing up the rear.

The kitchen paused in its work to stare at them as they walked through.  Understandable.  People probably didn’t get to meet the angel often, much less a witch, a jiang-shi, and a demon.  The robed man led them through a door to a small storehouse.  Racks of canned food filled the walls.  It was a strange place to meet an angel.

But an angel was there.  Nezaiel stood next to a stack of dried noodles from across the river.  He was slightly built and androgynous in his white robes, but his presence filled the room further than even his white wings could stretch.  Even without his aura at full power Helena could feel the pressure.  She glanced behind her and saw Acedia was cradling her wings around herself.  Camila of course didn’t notice a thing.  The jiang-shi’s unique command seal had all sorts of benefits.  Helena took heart at this and let her own magical aura push out a bit.

The Imam who’d led them there shivered as he was caught between Helena and Nezaiel’s presence.  The angel turned his light eyes to the man.  “Thank you Yuusef.  I’ll see them out when we’re finished.  Peace be upon you.”

“Upon you be peace,” the Imam said with a bow before quickly stepping outside.

Nezaiel motioned to the crates.  “Peace be upon you as well.  I fear this place is not well furnished, but please, feel free to sit if you desire.”

“I’ll stand,” Acedia muttered.  Apparently her fight response had kicked in again.

“Legs don’t bend easy so I’ll pass too,” Camila said.  “So can I ask why you aren’t all glowy and stuff like the other angel we saw?”

Nezaiel nodded his head.  “I chose to veil myself to not cause fear in your demonic friend.  There is no need for hostility among us, and fear will only lead to mistrust and misunderstanding.”  He folded his hands.  “However I’m curious as to who you’ve seen before.  As far as I know there are only two members of the host currently in this Realm.”

“Someone’s trying to fix that.  By murdering demons.”  Something he should have been informed of, Helena mentally noted.  She shouldn’t play her hand yet though.  “They’ve developed a kabbalistic ritual to create an angel golem.  At least three are dead already and given they’ve tried to murder poor Acedia here twice, more are likely to die in the future.”

“I see.  So that’s why you’ve come to see me.”  Nezaiel nodded in understanding.  No real concern of course.  Angels never seemed to care like a normal human would.  Caring would require those icky ‘evil’ feelings like rage.  “I shall pray for their souls.  However I fear that is the limit of the aid I can offer.  I can’t sense a fake angel.”  He looked over them.  “I could offer you sanctuary within Masjid Gibrael, but I fear it would be painful to you all, unless you were to accept the teachings of the prophet Muhammed, peace be upon him.”

Camila bobbed her arms.  “Sorry.  Technically still Catholic.  Not really much for hiding anyway.”

“I’m not interested in dying to save myself from dying,” Acedia muttered.

“Perhaps one’s soul is more important than life,” Nezaiel said.

Helena sniffed.  “While technically true, any time you have to choose between the two something’s gone horribly wrong.  I want to avoid that.”  Her eyes narrowed.  “And I’m quite sure you can do more than pray.  You have access to the Cathedral and the Mosque.  You know this place like the back of your hand.  If the culprits are working here in any way you can track them down.”  Assuming he wasn’t hiding them for his own purposes.

“I trust all the people here,” Nezaiel said.  “While they are humans with their faults, if I had sensed any of them had committed sins like murder I would have spoken to them already.  As I have in the past to those who fall.”

Camila raised an eyebrow.  “Hope you turned them into the police while you were at it.  Forgiveness is nice, but so’s defending victims.”

“It is best if they turn themselves in,” Nezaiel replied.  “And all of them did in the end.  I do not seek the justice of this world, but the next.”

“Where’s the place for me and my sisters in your ‘next world?'” Acedia muttered.  “You claim to offer love, but it’s always on your terms.”  Helena had to hide a smile.  She didn’t think the demon had it in her.  It seemed she had some backbone after all.

Nezaiel bowed to the demon.  “We don’t offer them on terms.  We tell you how to heal yourself.  The path of righteousness is the cure to your affliction.”  He raised his palms heavenward.  “I understand it is harder for you.  To sin is your being.  But I believe with faith you could free yourself.  To join in the chorus instead of falling back into the damned.”

Helena stepped out of the way as Acedia’s wings snapped open.  “Join the chorus?  Join the chorus?!”  Acedia glared at the angel with fire in her eyes.  “Humans created me as their scapegoat.  Someone to blame when they failed.  And here you are, pretending you’re saving me by making me a slave to your own master!”  Helena flinched as the words echoed in her head.  “At least these two idiots are trying to save me for their own purposes.  I’d rather be helped as an experiment or out of pity then arrogance!”

Camila turned to the demon.  “Like, I’m not helping you out of pity.”  But the jiang-shi woman fell silent as Acedia turned her glare towards her.  Helena didn’t even bother to refute Acedia.  The demon woman was good at seeing flaws.

“Humans have many reasons for what they do,” Nezaiel replied.  “Both selfish and generous.  If you wish to escape you must see that.  And you must see that service is not slavery.  You will be part of something greater.  You’ll have a chance to help not yourself, but all creation.”

“I’d rather be myself,” Acedia hissed.  Then the demon deflated.  “Even if I’m utterly useless…”

Nezaiel sighed.  “Your words and your thoughts don’t match.”

“As much as I love watching people created to fight each other argue,” Helena said as she stepped back between the two.  “There’s something else I need you to do for me Nazaiel.  I want to meet with Amaiel.”

That caused the angel to blink.  “Amaiel?  She has no love for witches or demons.  And while she follows the Lord’s commands to leave this world to the laws of man, she does not work to save the people in the same way I do.  I doubt she would consent to that meeting.”

“A chance to threaten a magician?  I’m sure she’d love that,” Helena replied sweetly.  “Honestly I’d fight her myself if I thought she’d agree to a non lethal duel.  She’s the fun one of you two.”

“I don’t think she would enjoy hearing her presence encourages you to commit more sins,” Nezaiel replied.

Helena shrugged.  “That just makes it sweeter.”

The angel shook his head.  “Very well, I will ask.  And I shall tell her all of what we have spoken today.  If nothing else I imagine she’ll want to beat you to finding and exposing this mockery of our form.”

“And you’ll be trying to beat us both to the culprit so he survives,” Helena said.

“Correct,” Nezaiel replied.

Assuming of course he didn’t already know and was trying to quietly get them to confess while the bodies stacked up.  Just because he wouldn’t kill her, didn’t mean he was trustworthy.

“I won’t waste any more time then,” Helena said.  “Thank you for your help.”

“May God’s light shine upon you,” Nezaiel said.  “And may his rod and his staff guide you through the darkness.”

Camila gave a distracted wave.  “Later.  Maybe we can chat when everyone isn’t dying.”  The jiang-shi woman floated over to Acedia.  “You ready?”

The demon’s wings folded to her back.  “Whatever.”  Acedia turned and headed out the door.  This was going to be a bad day it seemed.

They moved through the soup kitchen again.  The staff broke out into whispers, but Helena didn’t pay them any attention.  She was focused on the two women in front of her.  One who she’d wronged, and one who was probably questioning herself.

Outside the heat of summer was making the air smolder.  It was a humid heat, different from her homelands.  But it drove Acedia towards the shade of the nearby park all the same.  Camila and Helena followed after, the jiang-shi with considerably more drive.

As Acedia flopped down Camila moved to face her, without leaving a space for Helena in the mess.  The snub stung more than Helena expected it to.  But she knew why.  She forced her anger and sorrow down and moved to stand near the two.

Camila was the first to break the silence, as expected.  “So, like, I guess I do pity you.  Kinda.  And I know that sucks.  I hate it when people pity me ’cause I’m dead.  But that isn’t why I want to help.  I want to help because I know what it’s like to need a hand.”

“So you’re a busybody?” Acedia muttered.

“Yep!  That’s right,” Camila smiled.  “Was kinda true back when I was alive too.  I swear Pai took the job in the US just to get me out of trouble.”

The demon sighed.  “Wonderful.”

Helena inched forwards and bowed.  “I, on the other hand, should apologize.  I haven’t been serious enough.  I just was letting Camila do as she wished.”

“And now?” Acedia asked.

“I’ll be incompetent of my own will,” Helena admitted.  “I’m terrible at helping people emotionally.”

A ghost of a smile might have flitted across Acedia’s face.  But Camila interrupted with a hard glare.  “So.  Was saving me an experiment too?”

“As I said, I’m terrible at helping people emotionally.  Helping people magically imprisoned is easier.”  Helena hesitated.  “Camila have you ever seen slavery?  Seen someone claim ownership of another human?”

Camila’s eyes stayed narrowed, but the woman shook her head.  “Kinda illegal in Brazil.  And the USA.  Happens still, but I never saw it.”

“Good for them,” Helena replied.  “I have.  I’ve seen how people are treated by those who ‘own’ them.  Who controls them.”  Helena’s eyes flickered to Acedia.  “Like she said, I’ve seen more death than you.  I’m accustomed to it.  The first death I saw was that of a slave who’d talked back to his master.  Many of the deaths I saw after were similar.”

She took a deep breath.  “My grandmother always told me I looked like one of her cousins.  From a weaker branch of the family.  She’s right.  The resemblance is uncanny.  I’ve known what I would look like since I was ten.”  Camila’s foot started to tap against the ground but Helena pressed on.  She wanted to explain to her friend.  “I told you it’s impossible to travel through time, but you can scry on the past if it’s someone related to you.  As part of my training I chose to scry on her.

“I’m sure you’ve heard how Alexander the Great razed the old city of Thebes from me.  I mention it often enough,” Helena said.  Lyudmila had called her out on that before.

“Pretty often,” Camila said.

“My branch of the family escaped.  The rest didn’t.  Most died.  She was sold into slavery.”  Helena forced herself to look Camila in the eye, chaining herself to the present.  She didn’t want to remember the sights and sounds.  “I got to see her life play out.  It was not short.  But it was also not happy.  I came to despise the horrid system, and anything like it.

“That’s why I was so adamant about freeing you, Camila.”  Helena looked down at Acedia.  “And why I apologized to you.  Control over the mind is even worse than simple ownership of the body.”

Camila sighed and all the tension flowed out of the woman.  “Yikes.  I was being a bitch wasn’t I.  Sorry about that.  Should trust my friends more.”  She grinned at Helena.  “Still you did all that because I asked?  Should I be flattered?”

The dark cloud hanging over them seemed to lift with Camila’s spirits.  Helena grinned.  “Also because I wanted to fight an angel.  That’s very important.  I’ll finally have done something even my tutors haven’t.”

“What great friends,” Aceida muttered.  “Willing to go to hell on a whim and for a cheap thrill.”

“Go to hell?”  Helena sniffed.  “On death I will travel to the realm of Hades.  After which he will judge me, and by judge me I mean wave me through because great Hecate is his beloved wife’s best friend.  After which I’ll likely get a job as one of the lampade.”  She looked over at Camila.  “That’s probably where you’re going too by the way, just because of our magical connection.  Unless you really want to stay Catholic.”

Camila blinked.  “Uh, that’s kinda weird.  Wait, do I get in on the special deal?”

“Of course,” Helena replied.  “We look after friends and family there.  At least those of us who follow Hecate.”

The jiang shi chewed on her lip in mock contemplation.  “On the one hand seems like a better deal than burning or hymns.  On the other hand ain’t that kinda encouraging nepotism?  Seems like a bad cosmology.”

Helena shrugged.  “You work with the gods you have, not the ones you want.”  She looked down at Acedia.  “I’ll make you the same offer, but that would involve dying near me.  Also lampades have a very similar job to the one you’re trying to escape so you probably wouldn’t like it.”

“No,” Acedia said.  “But thanks for offering.”  The demon almost seemed to mean it too.

“So now that we’ve had our heart to heart, what’s the next part of the plan?” Camila asked.

“First-” Helena stopped.  Something was trying to contact her.  Not via mirror, but another source.  She looked around.  A flash of light drew her attention to a footlong dragonfly icon.  It was fluttering in the air above waiting.  She immediately knew it was waiting on her. “First someone wants to talk to us.”

“Ah?”  Camila peered at it.  “Who could that be from?”

“I have a guess,” Helena said.  “Gold Rat Hsu.”  They’d worked together recently, for a certain definition of the term.  He likely wanted to discuss some of the fallout from that mess.

Still she didn’t immediately beckon it over.  It was a polite message, but magicians who weren’t at least a little paranoid didn’t live long.  She peered at it closely, letting her eyes truly open to see the magic on it.  The thousands of curses, spells, and blessings in the area made it hard to see, but she knew the person who made this dragonfly and the lines of his magic cut through them all.  When she was certain there was only the spell needed to move the dragonfly and have it respond to her orders present she waved it closer.

The small construct fluttered over and landed on her palm before dropping a note onto her hand.  She let it rise back into the air and fly off before opening the note and reading the short message within.

“So what’s the jackass want?” Camila asked.  “The Triads whining again?”

Helena reread the letter.  “No.  He’s calling a conclave of all titled magicians.”

Acedia sat up.  “Huh?”

“Wait, you actually have those?” Camila hopped over.  “I thought you hadn’t even met most of the other magicians personally.”

“This is the first time a conclave has been called since I’ve moved here.  Probably the first in a long time,” Helena folded the note and put it in her pouch.  “Which means something has gone very wrong.”

Camila hopped forward.  “Something like a murderer making a fake angel to purge all evil or something?”

“I don’t think so?  That’s bad, but not quite worthy of gathering every named magician in the city.”  Helena grimaced.  “Either this is bigger than we thought, or something else is happening.  We need more information.”  But how?  She didn’t even know what she was looking for.

“I might have something,” Camila said.

That was odd.  “How?  No offense but you’ve only been here two months.”

Camila looked a little uneasy.  “You know how I said I might have a job?  Well this is when I find out.  Help me back home so I can change and I’ll show you.”

It took Helena a half hour to reorient herself in the morning. Fortunately Camila was her chipper self and managed to put together a breakfast. Admittedly ‘breakfast’ for the Brazilian woman meant bread and fruit, but Helena wasn’t complaining. Especially since Camila had managed to drag Acedia out of bed to the counter they were using as a table.

The demon woman had recovered from her outburst last night, but she still wasn’t very active. That was only to be expected though. Camila was subtly pushing Acedia to help with minor tasks, but it wasn’t going well.

Helena checked the message box she’d sent her letter too, but it hadn’t been touched yet. Not surprising. Pfaltzgraff Alexis wouldn’t be expecting a letter so soon. “Alright. Let’s start gathering information.”

“What’s the plan?” Camila asked.

Helena grabbed some chalk. “First I talk to someone who actually understands demonology. Then I squeeze Nezaiel for whatever he might know.”

“You think you can just walk up and ask to see him?” Aceida said. “He lives in a mosque. He’s an angel. He’s not going to meet with a literal idolater.”

She carefully began labeling the north corner of the room in the old alphabet of Thebes. “Getting a meeting with him is easy. There’s even an unconsecrated building in the complex just so he can meet with followers of other pantheons.” Helena finished marking the limit of the room and moved to the east corner. “You see Nezaiel’s the worst kind of angel. The one that tries to save everyone.”

“That is really annoying,” Aceida said. Camila chuckled while Helena shook her head. It was impressive how much irony the demon could pack into a single sentence.

“I’m not trying to save people because I think I’m better than them. I try to help for other reasons.” Helena finished demarking the east and turned to the demon. “And I can assure you. I’m not trying to save everyone.”

Acedia blinked then huffed in annoyance and flopped back in her chair. Camila just shook her head. “Like do you practice saying vaguely threatening lines? You had to have practiced that, but I’ve never caught you.”

Helena moved to the south corner. “I practiced as a child. It’s important to keep people worried. If the people aren’t a little afraid of you things get unpleasant. Very quickly. They don’t always bring out torches and pitchforks, but it’s never good. And frequently lethal.”

“Yeah, speaking of things that’ll kill us,” Camila popped out of her chair. “What if this Nezaiel’s snapped and became the murderer?”

“I have a hard time believing that,” Helena said. “I’ve met him before. He seems as committed to nonviolence as he is to his God.” She moved to the west corner. “On the other hand I’d have no trouble at all believing he’d hide and shelter the murderer in an attempt to ‘save’ them. However twisted.”

Camila went to peer at some of Helena’s runes. “So you’re saying he won’t stab us, someone else might.”

“Which is why we’re meeting him in an unconsecrated building,” Helena said. “So we can kill anyone who tries to stab us.”

“That your default plan?” Camila asked.

Helena nodded. “I like simple plans. It’s harder for simple plans to go wrong.” She finished the last set of runes. “But we should start the day talking to people who don’t want us dead.” She pushed the mirror to the northwestern edge of the room and concentrated on it. This was a more difficult spell then the one Lyudmila had used to contact her before, but it was more refined. She only had to focus on the complex sigil her teachers had used to act as a focus.

After a few minutes she felt the connection come together. The mirror seemed to expand then shift, revealing a comfortable reading room. Two padded couches were arranged around a short table, and carefully cultivated glowing plants served as lamps. A few bookshelves sat on the far wall, alongside several landscape paintings. Books were scattered everywhere, something that Helena was certain caused a number of fights among the magicians who lived there.

“Nice,” Camila said. “How do we get a house like that?”

“One hundred years of good investments,” Helena muttered. “Also start rich.”

The door opened and a woman wearing a red dress and a sewing apron walked in. Her black hair was cut short, but most striking was the small leathery wings that just barely stretched past her shoulders. She adjusted her glasses as she moved to the couch. “Helena, it’s been a while. It’s always nice to see one of my former students. And you seem to be making new friends.” She looked at Camila. “Perhaps literally?”

A flash of irritation washed over Camila’s face, but the jiang-shi quickly hid it. “Nah, she helped me out of a tight spot. And since I can’t head back home I stuck around.” She waved her arm in greeting. “I’m Camila Correia Barbosa.”

“Ryumi Yurikoto,” the woman said with an apologetic bow. “And I suppose I should have guessed. Helena always had an issue with creating undead, even if she had permission beforehand.” Ryumi looked over at Acedia. “And I suppose you would be Acedia? Unless the dark forces of hell got any better at naming.”

“They still suck,” Acedia replied.

“A pleasure to meet you both.” Ryumi sat down. “Well Helena, I’d love to question you for hours as to your recent adventures, but I imagine you called to talk about something important. Though if you want me to help you with interior decorating I’m afraid my suggestion is going to have to start with ‘buy more furniture.'”

Helena shook her head. “I’m well aware this is a lost cause. I’m calling because I have angel problems. Or problems with something that’s spending a lot of effort to pretend to be an angel.”

Ryumi smiled. “Aiming high are we? Well I’ll be happy to help with that. Could you explain-.”

The door behind Ryumi burst open and a short Japanese woman wearing a beat up stereotypical witch outfit skidded into the room. She looked like a teen out for Halloween. “Helena! You weren’t gonna call without talking to your favorite teacher were ya?!”

“Is Hanako going to come as well?” Helena asked sweetly.

“Tch. You’re terrible Helena. Sure lockpicking’s fun, but you love to blow stuff up as much as me.” The woman posed proudly. “And it was my stellar performance that convinced your grandmother to let you go to camp in the Realms of Illusion.”

Acedia nearly fell out of her chair. “You- You are ‘the Ordinary?!”

“Juri the Tutor these days. Gave the Ordinary to Kseniya.” Juri pouted. “I wanted to be called the Camp Counselor, but everyone pointed out people would be calling me ‘Camp Counselor Juri’ when I was dueling them. And then I’d feel bad about beating them up.”

Camila laughed. “Oh so you’re the fun one. Bet you have all sorts of great stories from when Helena was a kid, no?”

Juri nodded. “Yep! Oh, Helena was my best student. She was so angry about being sent to camp. Wandered around everywhere with a sour expression. And then she learned the joy of explosions.”

“And as much as I know you’d both love embarrassing me more, I could use some help blowing a specific someone up.” Helena interjected. She pulled out one of the silver coated feathers. “Whatever I’m hunting has these for wings.”

Juri raised an eyebrow and sat down while Ryumi peered at the feather. “Now that’s interesting. Explain from the beginning please.”

Helena quickly recapped the attack on Acedia and what she’d found at the marketplace. Ryumi folded her hands at the mention of kabbalistic magic, while Juri perked up at the fighting. “And that’s when I contacted you,” Helena finished.

“You’re right. That doesn’t make any sense,” Ryumi mused. “No offense Helena but I can only conclude you misidentified the spell.”

“I was afraid of that,” Helena muttered. “Kabbalism just doesn’t make any sense!”

Ryumi chuckled. “I could say the same about your gods Helena.”

“Helena, you said that the thing just appeared out of nowhere, and then poofed out of existence right?” Juri asked. After Helena nodded in reply, Juri turned to Camila. “And you said you gave the thing a good kick. What did it feel like?”

“Felt like kicking a car. Metal and all,” Camila replied. “Glad I don’t feel pain ya know.”

Juri looked over at Ryumi. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Probably not. Your magic is-” Ryumi paused. “Ah. Of course. I suppose you’ve been around me long enough to know that much.” She looked over at Helena. “What’s the most famous use of Kabbalistic magic?”

“The golem,” Helena replied automatically. She blinked. “Wait you can’t mean-“

Ryumi nodded. “Yes. You aren’t fighting an angel. You’re fighting an angel construct.”

Camila raised her hand. “Isn’t that heresy? Also kinda impossible, what with angels being all pure and perfect and stuff?”

“It’s hard. Creating a demon is objectively easier, and I still haven’t completely succeeded at that,” Ryumi said. “But if you’re a deranged madman attempting to build an angel golem by murdering sinners you can get something close enough.”

“An artificial angel wouldn’t fill me with unreasonable dread,” Acedia muttered with a blush.

Ryumi shook her head. “It would if it was designed to exterminate demons. It’s exactly like an angel in that respect.” She looked at Helena. “Which is how your spell can track it. You searched for an anti-demon weapon. And you found it. But that does not make a real angel.”

Helena hissed in annoyance. “And it doesn’t appear normally because it’s inactive. I bet its creators even have it tethered to their workshop so they can recall it instantly.”

“Well that’s gonna make it hard to track,” Camila said. “That mean we’re going to have to run around the city trying to find the crazy guy building it?”

Acedia shivered. “While they get to strike anywhere in the city.”

“Worse,” Juri said. “The thing ain’t complete. Which means not only do they have free reign to murder demons, the thing’s only gonna get stronger.”

“At some point it’s going to get strong enough to track down though, right?” Helena asked.

Ryumi nodded. “And since you know you’re looking for a kabbalistic golem you can use some of my spells to track it. Though you’ll have to be close to get past that truesilver on the wings.”

“Gives us a chance though,” Camila said.

“Wish I could join ya,” Juri said. “I always wanted to fight an angel. But this sounds like one of those horrible things that ends with a lot of bodies. And I gotta keep order around here.”

“And by that she means cause trouble for everyone,” Ryumi said.

Helena grinned. “I remember well.”

Ryumi stood. “Is there anything else we can help with? I’d love to continue talking, but I imagine you’ve got people to threaten.”

“Probably won’t threaten anyone, but I will insult them,” Helena said. “I’ll call again though. Before Walpurgisnacht I promise.”

“If you can, drop by and we can have a match,” Juri said. “Bring your friends too. ‘Specially her.” Juri pointed to Camila. “I haven’t fought a jiang-shi in ages. And you look like you got a few more tricks than the average ones. A lot more brain cells too.”

Camila laughed. “Can’t fight without a bit of thinking. I wanna hear all of Helena’s embarrassing secrets too, so sure!”

Acedia sighed. “I’ll pass. I’m just doing this to help my sisters.”

“A worthy endeavor,” Ryumi said quietly. “Good luck to you, sin demon Acedia.” She bowed slightly to Helena. “And good luck to you too Helena. Try not to blow up anything important.”

Juri grinned. “Ignore her. Blow up everything.”

“Later,” Helena replied with a smile before cutting the spell.

She was never that lucky.

“You wouldn’t be holding out on me would you now lass?” Kilduff said as he looked over the feather she’d handed him.

“I’m afraid that’s all that I know,” Helena replied as sincerely as she could. “I’m honestly as confused as you are. I’m going to have to get in contact with some of my friends.”

“Excuse me,” Camila said as she carried one of the beds from the apartment into the front door. “We gotta get through.”

Kilduff stepped aside, looking at Acedia flopped on top of the bed. “Right helpful lass isn’t she.”

“I’m working on my grip strength,” Camila said as she moved to drop the bed in the back.

It was pretty impressive Helena had to admit. Jiang-shi were something else. She turned back to the officer. “Again, that’s all I have. Unless you’re lucky enough to have someone with a guinea worm infestation show up at the hospital.”

“Aye and what even would that be?” Kilduff asked.

“They’re parasitic worms that burrow out of the lower leg. Very painful.” Helena smiled. “Given the level of the curse I used, they shouldn’t be able to walk. If it worked that is.”

“Vixe Maria!” Camila hopped in. “Isn’t that a little much?”

Helena folded her arms. “People complained when I used leprosy. This is far less contagious.”

“I’m supposing asking you not to be an evil witch is impossible.” Kilduff finished writing in his notebook. “Well unless there’s something which you’ve forgot to tell me, I guess I’ll be waiting for you to send a message to the precinct about what your various demons tell you.”

“Only a quarter demon,” Helena said.

“Oh that makes it all better lass,” Kilduff muttered. He turned on his heel. “I’ll be heading back. And don’t forget to send us that information. Things are getting bad.”

Helena nodded. “I will.” She knew the police were taking this very seriously. They were already under fire for their previous Captain’s corruption. Letting serial killers run loose would have even the most disinterested cop looking for clues.

“We’ll get this bastard,” Camila said quietly. Kilduff gave a weak wave to the jiang-shi before heading out to the steps to the street.

Camila stretched as much as her rigid body allowed. “I got the dresser and both beds over. The place looks super empty but we should have everything we need here for the night. Should I grab anything else before we go back to bed?”

“The mirror please,” Helena said. “I’ll need it to contact Lyudmila and my teachers.”

“Right. Hope that thunderbolt didn’t shatter it,” Camila muttered as she hopped outside. Helena grimaced. It had been pretty loud.

She walked into the back. As Camila had said the place was fairly barren. It wasn’t just bigger than her apartment, it lacked all the little touches the Samuels family had put it to make the place look homey. She might have to look into some magic to fix things up. But that was later.

Her bed groaned as she sat down on it. She looked over to where Acedia was spinning her finger along the floor. “Sorry we weren’t able to solve this quickly. It seems this angel or whatever it is won’t stick around for a stand up fight.”

Acedia’s face bunched up like she was going to say something, but the demon didn’t respond. Helena looked at the woman and considered what might be going through her mind. “I apologize for not sensing it earlier as well. I’m still trying to figure out how it slipped past me. Fortunately you seem pretty good at dodging.”

“Good at running away,” Acedia muttered. “A waste at everything else.”

“Were you expecting to fight an angel?” Helena asked.

“That’s the point of demons right?!” Acedia threw herself upright, wings snapping open. “Demons fight angels. Demons corrupt the weak. Demons are symbols of fear and ruin!” Acedia slapped herself. “I’m not even a BAD demon. I haven’t rejected my dark past! I just lay around uselessly and fail to kill myself!” She leaned down to look Helena in the eyes. “Isn’t that just pathetic! I can’t even commit suicide! I was trying to hang myself when the angel attacked me and I couldn’t even get my shitty noose on the ceiling fan.” She slumped back to the concrete floor. “I’m a failure.”

Helena watched Acedia as the demon shivered on the cold ground. “I suppose that’s true,” was all she could say.

“What is with you two!”

Camila settled the mirror she was carrying in, none too gently on the ground before bounding over to them. “The hell is that? You suck at this Helena!” She looked at Acedia and sighed. “And didn’t you say this is who you were? What you were created to be? If that’s true then aren’t you exactly what you’re supposed to be?”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Acedia hissed. “I’m supposed to be a failure?”

“Well that’s what you told me before, no?” Camila said. “Like, I don’t know much about depression, but if you were made to be depressed, this is what you were supposed to be. And that means you’re succeeding, kinda.” Camila lowered an arm. “And if it isn’t then you can change it, right?”

Acedia glared at Camila. “That’s stupid.”

Helena shook her head. “It actually makes sense. If you were made to be acedia, you’re succeeding.”

“What, aren’t I supposed to move past this. ‘Think positive and fight on’? Aren’t I supposed to be doing something, anything!” Acedia punched the floor then shook her hand in pain. “Isn’t just laying about like I’m supposed to be the height of failure?!”

“Oi, you just totally changed your argument,” Camila said.

Helena suddenly felt a presence. A light tap at her consciousness. Someone was trying to contact her, but wasn’t putting enough force into the spell to wake her up. Her friend Lyudmila’s face flashed in her eyes and she stood. “It seems I have a caller. But Acedia, something to think about: If you weren’t who you are, you wouldn’t be here helping us protect your sisters right now.”

“So much help,” Acedia muttered as the demon dragged herself onto the bed.

Helena walked to the mirror and looked into it, staring past her reflection. She pictured her friend. The woman’s sharp eyes and jaw that seemed at home frowning. The long dark green hair that showed her fey ancestry. She remembered her friend’s voice and mannerisms.

After a moment the magic connection to her solidified and the mirror shifted to show Lyudmila. Her friend was wearing the heavy working gown and thin circlet that Lyudmila had come to favor. “Helena, I’m glad I was able to reach you. I was afraid we were going to have to just send a letter.” Lyudmila looked around. “Wait, where are you?”

“In my new shop,” Helena replied. “It’s a fixer upper, but it’s better for defending against angel attacks. So what’s new Lyudmila.”

Lyudmila slowly rubbed her forehead. “How? How are you already in a fight again, Helena? It’s been less than a season.”

“Sorry,” Camila raised an arm. “My fault. Well and Acedia here’s.”

Lyudmila peered past Helena. “A sin demon?” Her expression grew grim. “Damn it. Did someone start up an Inquisition in your realm?”

“They might be working at it,” Helena said. “Someone’s been murdering demons in a ritual that seems designed to summon an angel. We got in their way, so we’ve been added to the kill list it seems.”

“I see. Well I can’t blame you for that. Zealots need to get wiped out quickly.” Lyudmila sighed. “What terrible timing though. I’d run over to help you, but something big came up. Kseniya and I will be out of contact for a month.”

Helena’s heart skipped. “What happened?! I can-“

Lyudmila held up a hand. “Worry about yourself. This part of the journey is safe. Just issues with time distortion. It’s related to our geas. We’ve got an item to keep secure.”

“Ah.” Helena nodded slowly. When they were children they’d sworn an oath to never knowingly kill one of the fair folk. And they’d learned far more than was safe about the fey courts and the fair folk as a race while they were at it. Great for getting favors, but favors needed repayment. “I’ll avoid calling up any greater fairies if I can help it. You sure you’re safe?”

“Yes. The people we’re escaping don’t know about this place,” Lyudmila smirked. “And that means they can’t possibly catch up. It’s the after I’m worried about.”

Helena motioned to the building around her. “If you’re still in trouble, come here. I’m part of this mess too.”

Lyudmila nodded. “That’s the plan. You just make sure you’re alive when we get here.” She paused. “Is there anything I can send your way to help?”

“You might be able to help with our mystery.” Helena held up one of the feathers. “Like I said we fought an angel, but they seemed to be trying to summon an angel as well. And the feathers, well they’re covered in truesilver.”

“That is odd.” Lyudmila tapped her chin. “Very odd. It can’t be a real angel then. To alter their body would be an insult to God. Angels are perfect in form after all.” Lyudmila looked at the feather. “Also if its wings were covered in truesilver they’d have to be fantastically rich.”

Helena glared at the feather again. “You’re right. How come all my enemies are rich beyond my wildest dreams? I should complain to Plutus.”

“Beyond that, they have a supplier. Even using vacuum coating that will take a lot of truesilver. I don’t know anyone who has that much silver, aside from the Pfaltzgraff we met. And they aren’t mining anymore,” Lyudmila said.

“I’ll write her too,” Helena said. “Might as well. Anything else?”

“Sorry no. Ryumi-sensei is your best hope,” Lyudmila said.

Helena nodded. “That’s what I thought. Still thank you.” She bowed. “Good luck. And tell Kseniya and Shizuka ‘hello’ for me.”

“Same to you. Keep an eye on her, Camila,” Lyudmila said.

With that the mirror returned to its normal reflection.

“Seems it’s just the three of us,” Camila said. “Well, it wasn’t too hard a fight!”

Helena nodded. “Let’s hope it stays that way.” She grabbed her hat and reached into it, looking for the lines of ‘ownership’ that connected everything she had to her, and her to it. With a few tries she fished out paper, pen, and ink. “I’ll get that letter finished. Then we can sleep.”

Her eyes snapped open.

The room quickly came into focus as Helena awoke.  She was in her bed.  The moon was shining in the living room window.  It was near midnight.  Why was she awake?

She was in danger.

Again.

Rage flowed through her.  And she reached to grab her pouch on the dresser.

Painful blinding light burst into existence outside.  Acedia screamed and fell off her bed as the dazzling figure smashed right through the window.

The figure unfolded wings that blazed like molten metal.  It raised a sword and flames sprang forth.  It was indomitable.  A terrible figure of certain judgment.

It was so fucking dead.

Helena grabbed a small scroll, no bigger than a card.  She’d spent a whole evening crafting the spells that filled it.  The ink had been crafted from the ashes of a tree struck by lightning, and she’d sacrificed several pieces of amber to put it together.  All in all it had cost her about a tenth of her monthly rent to craft.

She flipped the card towards the angel and called out “Zeus’ Rebuke!”  The paper burned away instantly releasing the spell she’d stored within.  A light brighter than the angel’s wings tore through the room.  Then Helena staggered back as the thunderclap followed.

The spots faded from her eyes just in time to see the gleaming figure recover from her attack.  She started summoning another spell but Camila’s dark shadow suddenly appeared between her and the angel.

The flaming sword cut through the air faster than a striking snake, but Camila just fell backwards, balancing on her hands.  Then the woman sprang up with a powerful kick from the ground.  Helena heard a clang through the ringing in her ears as the angelic figure was kicked back out the hole it had burst in.

Helena pressed forwards, her mind focusing on her next spell.  The anger welling inside burst forth, flowing into her left hand.  She fed the curse, mixing it with flame and darkness.  As she reached her shattered wall the spell coalesced into a screaming orb of blue fire and she threw it at the glowing figure with all her might.  “If you must break into my apartment at least use the damned door!”

The flame blast howled through the air.  With a hard crack the angel threw up its wings to block, but the blast still sent the creature reeling, feathers falling to the floor.  Helena sneered in satisfaction.  She doubted angels could contract guinea worms or trichinosis but she could always hope.

There was a rush of wind as Camila hopped through the shattered window.  “You’re complaining because of how they attacked us?”

Helena followed the jiang-shi woman out the three story drop.  “I just had that fixed.  From the time you broke in!”

Camila hit the cobblestones with a solid crack, the road giving way instead of her body.  Helena on the other hand activated her flight to settle gently.  Both of them kept their eyes on the bright light of the angel.  “Right.  Sorry,” Camila said as they split up to encircle the target.  “Was brainwashed at the time ya know.”

The angel stood, looking back and forth between the two of them.  Then it raised its wings and blinding light flashed through the street again.  Helena backpedaled while tracing a rune in the air.  Metal blasted forth like a shotgun, but she didn’t hit anything.  She heard Camila cursing in Portuguese to the side, but the woman didn’t sound hurt either.

Her vision cleared, revealing the street was empty except for her and Camila.  She reached out with her mind feeling the flow of magic and passage through the nearby crossroads, but there wasn’t an angel anywhere nearby.  “Damned!”

“You okay Acedia?” Camila called out.  Smart.  They both looked up to see the demon staring out the window at them.  Acedia gave them something resembling a wave so it seemed the woman was fine.  Camila turned back to scanning the area.  “The thing teleport away?  Because that would suck.”

“I don’t think so?” Helena replied.  She should have been able to sense a teleport.  But then she should be able to sense an angel too.  “Whatever it is, it’s gone now.”

By now windows were opening and people were calling out, asking if their neighbors were okay, and getting responses in return.  Helena winced when she realized this was the second time this had happened in three months.

Despite the people starting to cautiously head outside Camila didn’t let her guard down.  “Could it be hiding?”

  “Maybe, but it’s not likely to attack again.  I’m pretty sure angels have issues with cutting down good Christians, and there’s at least a few here.”  Helena forced herself to focus on the scene right now.  There were about a dozen feathers on the ground, but no other sign of the angel’s presence.  She hadn’t even made the thing bleed.  Too bad.

Helena stepped forward and reached for a feather.  She stopped as her hands touched smooth cold metal.  “What?”  She quickly grabbed the plume and stared at it.  Sure enough the feather had been coated in silver.  “That’s not normal.”

“You mean angels aren’t normally metal?” Camila asked.

“Not angels or archangels,” Helena replied, grabbing the other feathers.  She tapped them once, then twice, watching how they easily absorbed her magic.  “And they definitely don’t usually have truesilver wings.  These have been treated by magic.”

Camila peered over her shoulder, “What’s that mean?”

“It means they’re worth a lot.  They’re powerful conduits for magic.”  Helena sighed.  “And I can’t use them to track their owner at all.  Truesilver blocks scrying.”

“That doesn’t exactly explain why the angel covered his wings in the stuff,” Camila pointed out.

Helena shook her head.  “I have no idea.  This doesn’t make any sense at all.  I think I’m going to have to call in some help.”

“Helena!  Camila!  What in the Lord’s name is going on?”

Ms Samuels walked towards them with a presence that made the angel’s heavenly glow seem subdued.  Helena forced herself to stand her ground as she faced the landlady.  “Well… apparently the killer who was after Acedia followed her home.  I thought I could catch it before it made it to the apartment but…”

Ms Samuels eyes narrowed.  “And so you all decided to have your magical duel inside our apartments?  Our wood apartments?”

Helena flinched at that.  Fortunately Camila hopped forward.  “That’s why I kicked it outside.  Didn’t want it doing any more damage.”

“While I appreciate that, I don’t appreciate people’s homes being some kinda storybook battlefield!”  She folded her arms.  “Look I get you two don’t want trouble to follow you home, but you keep getting in trouble!  And once you’ve done that it’s gonna come right back to our doorstep, sure as the sunrise!”

“I don’t want to kick you out.  You’re good people, for all you ain’t normal folk.  But I can’t have everyone else in danger either.”  The dark skinned woman looked conflicted, but Helena understood.  She’d been lucky to get away with one incident.

Still what could she do?!  There was no way she could promise there wouldn’t be another attack.  Not since the damned thing had gotten away.  And she couldn’t just run out and find another apartment.  ‘Might be attacked by monsters’ wasn’t a good thing to have on your resume as a renter.  It wasn’t like a restaurant or smithy where occasional fires were expected….

Helena’s eyes were drawn back to the abandoned store.  The restaurant that had been open until the man had tried to cheat the Voodoo Queen.  It was insulated from the other apartments and stores….

“I understand,” Helena sighed.  She pulled out the three hundred dollars Acedia had given her before.  “Obviously I can’t promise everything will be fine, but if I’m away from the other renters it should be okay right?”  She motioned to the boarded up windows.

Both Camila and Ms Samuels stared at the stack of bills.  Finally Ms Samuels nodded slowly.  “I’m not sure if I’d call that okay, but I wouldn’t have reason to complain.  But are you sure Helena?  Even with us giving you a discount on your apartment that’s three hundred fifty dollars a month.  I know for a fact you’ve been having trouble making the eighty.”

Camila shifted on her feet.  “I kinda had a plan to get some money myself, but… it’s not gonna be that much.  Especially to start.”

“I can get enough for the first month.”  Helena grimaced.  “After that… we’ll see how well advertising works.”

“Let’s talk with my husband then.  He can get you the keys.  If you still think this is a good idea in the morning, we’ll bring the papers over,” Ms Samuels said.

Helena nodded and they followed the woman back to the apartment’s actual entrance.  Camila leaned over as they walked.  “Where are you gonna get the cash for the first month?  Even if I stop eating we can’t save three hundred fifty fast.  And there’s that window we gotta fix too.”

“Those feathers are worth about eighty each,” Helena whispered back.  “That’ll get us through the start.”

“Shouldn’t we, ya know, give them to the police?” Camila asked.

“One should suffice,” Helena replied with a shrug.

Camila shook her head, but the jiang-shi’s smile was back.  “I ain’t gonna say anything, but I bet Kilduff figures it out.”

“There’s a chance he won’t be the one to show up,” Helena muttered.

Of course, having said all that, they didn’t make it home without incident.

“Helena! Camila!” Shanon, the landlord’s daughter, all but burst off the porch to greet them as they got within sight of the apartment. “Good afternoon!”

Moses wasn’t much further behind his older sister. “Good afternoon! Are you gonna be practicing today?”

Ah that’s right, Helena thought, normally Camila would practice her capoeira at this time. The jiang-shi woman preferred practicing with others but there were only so many groups in the Immigrant Realm.

“Sorry not today,” Camila said. “We’ve got a job so I can’t be using my movement up. Maybe later?”

“I’ll set up a mystic circle so you can practice tomorrow,” Helena said. She held up a hand to cut off Camila’s refusal. “You’ll need to be at your best. And I’ve refined the spell so it doesn’t eat up as much of my magic now.”

Camila narrowed her eyes for a moment, but nodded. “Okay. Be good to stretch every now and then.”

Shannon’s eyes turned to Acedia who was slouching behind Helena as much as possible. “So are you their patron Miss?”

“Yeah,” Acedia muttered.

Moses fiddled with the cross pendant he wore. “Are you a real demon, miss?”

Acedia snorted. “I guess so. I mean I’m not a fake demon.”

“She’s Acedia, a sin demon of suicidal depression,” Helena said.

“Not a good role model,” Camila added cheerfully. “I mean Helena’s a bad role model too, but she’s worse.”

Acedia hissed in annoyance, but didn’t refute anything. Shannon and Moses still seemed to be impressed though. Probably a good thing. It wouldn’t do to have them too casual around demons. At least not until they were older.

Still it didn’t last long. Having a witch and a jiang-shi in the apartment had pushed their sense of ‘normal’ to the limit. “Can you read us a story, Helena?” Shanon asked, holding out a well worn tome.

“Have you finished your chores?” Helena asked. “I don’t want your mother being angry at you because you skipped work.”

“We did the chores, and our homework,” Moses said. “We promise.”

“Alright, I can spare a few minutes,” Helena replied. She walked over to a bench on the side of the road with Shannon and Moses following along.

She turned to help Camila sit, but the jiang-shi woman motioned to Acedia. “Give me a hand?” The demon looked at Camila with narrowed eyes, but finally just sighed and helped Camila bend her knees, before flopping on the bench. Camila glanced over at Helena, but quickly turned to the book. “This a new one?”

Helena opened it. The book did look new. “Fairy Tales From Across the Globe” the title read. “Something your father got?”

“Yeah,” Moses replied. “He said we should learn about the other people in the Immigrant Realm.”

“A good idea,” Helena replied. “But let’s start close to your home. Brer Rabbit and the Briar Patch.” She hadn’t read this tale either.

She did her best to add inflection to her voice, to bring the story to life. She was quite certain from Acedia’s dismissive gaze she failed, but the kids didn’t seem to mind. It helped that the tale of the cunning rabbit was entertaining enough on its own. When she’d finished Camila read them the tale of the bamboo cutter, with the two children helping turn the pages.

When that story was finished Shannon looked over to Helena. “Did you ever meet Princess Kaguya?”

Helena laughed. “No. I’ve never gone to the moon. I’ve met some rabbits from the moon, but never visited. It’s hard to get there and there isn’t much to do. I’d have to bribe Chang’e, Tsukiyomi or Selene as well. Artemis doesn’t do everything her brother tells her, but she’d probably put an arrow in me if she noticed me just out of principle.”

“I’m surprised you’re still alive,” Acedia muttered.

Helena shrugged and changed the subject. “I have seen the jeweled Hourai branch though. It looks like this.” She cupped her hands and called forth light. Her illusions skills were weak but she was just trying to create a facsimile, not a perfect copy. The important part was the color and shape. The dull gold of the branch and the tiny glittering jewels of the flowers.

“Whoa,” Moses and Shannon both crowded around looking at the glittering branch. “It really does look like it’s made of jewels!”

Camila stared over it as well. “It’s kinda ugly though. Like the tree’s dead. And not the good kind of dead like me.”

“Avaritia would like it but I agree with you,” Acedia said.

Helena let the illusion shift, the jeweled flowers being replaced by leaves like carved emeralds. “This is what it looks like in the summer. The flowering form is more useful for magic. But I think this version is prettier.”

“Now you’re talking!” Camila nodded. “That actually compares to the forests back home.”

“Ah Helena, Camila. Good afternoon.” Helena looked up to see their landlord Mr Samuels walking up. The tall solidly built man still had sawdust on him, and was carrying a cup. He must have finished repairing something for one of the other residents. “And good afternoon to you as well Miss,” he said to Acedia. He looked at his kids. “You haven’t been bothering them too much have you kids?”

“No sir,” the kids chorused. “They were just reading to us.” Helena grinned and nodded to show they were telling the truth.

Mr Samuels smiled in return. “Thank you all.” His expression turned a little more serious. “Having any luck getting work, Helena?”

“Actually yes,” Helena replied. “I’m going to help Acedia here with a problem before it gets out of hand.”

“I hope it isn’t dangerous,” the man said.

Camila laughed weakly. “Might be a little.”

“Just a madman willing to kill a demon in the middle of the street,” Acedia muttered.

The two kids blanched at that, and Mr Samuels frowned. “I suppose that’s something that’s gotta get done, but Helena you seem to only find these dangerous jobs. That’s no way to make a living.”

“I know,” Helena muttered. “I know. It’s just I can’t really seem to get any jobs selling potions or small spells.”

“You could try advertising,” Camila snapped. Helena winced. Apparently Camila wasn’t happy about her lack of success there.

Mr Samuels nodded. “She has a good point. You also could use a store. No offense but a third floor apartment round here doesn’t get much business.” He gestured to a boarded up window. “That lot’s still open if you’re interested. Everyone thinks it’s cursed since the old owner ran afoul of Madam Robicroix. I bet that wouldn’t be a problem for you though.”

Helena looked over at the shop. It was a good idea. But she’d had so many problems paying rent, the thought of adding more debts to her monthly budget made her queasy. Then again with the money she’d just gotten… “I’ll think about it. Ask me again after this job’s over.”

“Fair enough.” Mr Samuels turned to his kids. “Shannon, Moses, say thanks to the ladies. I wanna show you two how to fix a sink.”

The two kids both grimaced, but they stood. “Thanks for reading with us,” Moses said.

“Next time we’ll read to you,” Shannon added before waving.

“Goodbye. Have fun,” Helena said as the duo followed their father off.

Camila hopped to her feet. “Guess we should head up too. We’ve got some plotting to do.”

Helena nodded and stood. “If nothing else I should put up some scrying spells to make sure no one sneaks up on us.”

They both waited as Acedia slowly forced herself up. The woman stretched her wings slowly before giving Helena a questioning look. “Why aren’t you training those two? They have talent.”

“Eh?” Camila looked between the two. “Wait, the kids can use magic?”

“Not yet.” Helena said quietly. “And until they do, I’m not going to teach them. Unlike me they can choose a life without magic. And they’ve seen enough to make the decision for themselves.” She turned towards the entrance to the apartment building. “Besides I only guessed they might have a talent because their father does. Not all of us can sense magic potential.”

Acedia sighed. “Oh good. Another power that has no use.”

“Hey, it’s not no use,” Camila said. “I bet you could-“

“Corrupt the innocent?” Acedia said. “Sow discord among those with the talent for magic? No thanks. It’s not fun.”

Camila gave the demon a stern look. “I was gonna say teach kids cool magic tricks. Or help magical kids with abusive parents.” Acedia just shook her head and followed them up the stairway. The creaking wood mixing with the sounds of traffic outside.

Helena unlocked the door then immediately headed to her kitchen. She grabbed a clove of garlic then broke it apart, throwing pieces to the four corners of the apartment. Hecate, grant me understanding, she prayed. And Hecate answered. Her mind opened up and she now knew there were no angels or demons at the crossroads around the apartment. “There. We should be safe for now.”

“Not that any self respecting angel would bother hunting me down,” Acedia muttered. The demon woman seemed drawn to the bed, and as soon as she reached it she collapsed into it.

Camila gave Acedia a look, but sighed and moved to the table. It seemed the demon had strained Camila’s patience for the day. Helena pulled out a chair and helped Camila sit before grabbing two mugs. “Coffee please,” Camila said.

Helena nodded and grabbed one of the packs Camila had bought soon after she moved in. Fortunately Camila was willing to accept the ‘instant’ coffee from the Big Apple. Unlike the flower and fruit, the highly processed ground powder wasn’t dangerous for her. Apparently the immortality ritual she’d done long ago didn’t consider it ‘real’ coffee. She still put the cup in front of Camila to stir, while she brewed her own tea.

“Hey, did you have any younger siblings?” Camila asked as Helena sat down.

“Hm?” Helena wondered why Camila had asked. “No. Some older cousins, but I’m an only child. I suppose Kseniya might be something like a younger sister to me, but I met her later.” She sipped the tea. “My mother followed my father on his journeys. So I don’t remember them much. I was raised by my Grandmother, and my school.” She hesitated before asking Camila, “And you?”

Camila took the question in stride. “My little sister didn’t make it. Mae just barely survived the birth. So no more kids for my family. Guess they kinda doted on me. Only reason I can think of why Pai let me learn capoeira.” The dark skinned woman stared into her coffee. There was still a lot of pain there.

“I was sure you’d have siblings,” Acedia muttered from the bed. “You act like Gula.”

Helena turned to look at the demon. Acedia hadn’t risen from the bed, but she was appraising them. “What was she like?” Helena asked.

“She was the best of us,” Acedia sighed. “She was always eating something of course. It was her nature. But she wanted to share. She used her nature to make people better. It was totally wrong for a demon… but it was the only thing that kept us alive in hell.”

Acedia’s wings twitched as she continued. “I think she changed some of us. Ira stopped threatening us. Invidia started helping by showing off. She’s still ruled by envy after all. Superbia is still going around trying to increase our stature in the demon world. But the rest of us… we’re just useless.” The demon drooped. “Me most of all.”

“Well, like, you’re helping them now with this angel problem,” Camila said.

“Yeah, by spending Invidia’s money,” Acedia muttered.

Helena finished her tea and set the cup aside. “Well if you manage to stand up and walk over here you can help more.”

Acedia peered at her but slowly pushed herself upright as Helena pulled out a map. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I’m going to perform a divination to find every angel in the city.” Helena grabbed a map she’d purchased a long time ago in the government district. “Angels can’t hide their nature. In fact even a true magician like myself can’t hide an angel’s aura without dipping into very obvious magic. I should be able to find every place an angel has been in the last week.”

“And how can I help?” Acedia asked.

Helena grimaced. “As I’ve said before I’m terrible with demons and angels. Your cosmology doesn’t make any sense. No offense. So I’ll need a drop of your blood to find anything angelic or demonic.”

Acedia’s wings twitched, the demon woman stood up. “I’m not a fallen angel, so I’m not actually related to the heavenly host.”

“It’s close enough from my perspective,” Helena said as she pulled out a pendulum and a marker. She handed the marker to Camila. “I’ll need your help too. I’ll be focusing on each aura I sense. You’ll need to mark the area. Don’t worry about being precise. The spell isn’t that accurate.”

“Good because my handwriting teacher’d fail me back to elementary school if she saw my writing now,” Camila said. “What about the underground? Isn’t that where most terrible people hide out?”

Helena nodded grimly. The underground was where most of the more monstrous mythical creatures lived, and since it was further from the police, most of the criminals as well. “This one will tell me if there are any angels in the underground. If there are, we’ll do a secondary divination. For now I want to rule out the obvious.”

“Well then hurry up and steal my blood,” Acedia said, holding her hand out.

It was a little strange having someone just hand over some blood, but Helena didn’t argue. She carefully pricked the demon’s finger with a practiced hand. Acedia didn’t even flinch until after she was done. “Thank you.” She turned her attention to the map and the pendulum.

Blood calls to blood. Like calls to like. She fed magic into the pendulum, letting the budding spell taste the blood on the needle and send it back to her. She felt lethargy and depression seep into her mind. A dreary annoyance that couldn’t be avoided. What was the point of this? There had to be a better way.

Helena forced herself to act anyway. Years of meddling with emotional spells had trained her for moments like this. But it wasn’t easy. She had to ‘wash’ her mental hands with another spell, bubbling the ruinous thoughts in runes of protection and health. So that was raw acedia? No wonder the demon had such difficulty functioning. She snuffed the emotion and moved past it, towards the essence of being a demon.

To her mind it appeared as a miasma as thick as molasses. The evils of the world condensed into humanoid form. All that wanted to corrupt and destroy. Not a pleasant core, but one Helena was familiar with. She was a master of curses and miasma.

Now the hard part. What was the opposite of miasma? What opposed sickness? In her home realm sickness was caused by imbalance. Balance didn’t have a form. It was a state. How could you find a state?

Perhaps that was the wrong way to look at it. If demons brought miasma to the world, then angels acted in reverse. They weren’t the state of balance, they were the elixirs and curatives that claimed to bring balance. Helena didn’t believe in the effectiveness of those cure alls. Most were cheap quackery. But she didn’t believe in the divine right of angels either, so that worked just fine.

Blood calls to blood. Like calls to like. Now that she understood what she was working with, she summoned her power fully into the pendulum and let it start swinging. The weight twisted and spun, pulled by both gravity and the magic. Helena felt it through the line, slowly decreasing the weight’s gravity as it was drawn to the magic. Finally the weight was circling in a small area. “There.” She waited for Camila to mark the point. The simple circle on the map cut its metaphysical connection to the circle and the pendulum started swinging again.

Five more times she repeated the process, Camila dutifully marking the points on the map each time. There was no more trace of angelic power, but the pendulum felt restless. Then she realized what it could be. “That’s right, I thought it might be a fallen angel as well.” She strengthened the ‘remedy’ to Acedia’s unholy power, letting the cure shift into a poison.

The pendulum finished its slow journey to the first spot. “Mark these ones differently please,” Helena said.

“Aren’t we gonna be checking them all anyway?” Camila said as she marked it with an X.

“We know this one or ones are different from the others,” Helena replied. “It’s best to keep that clear.”

Four Xes joined the Os on the map before the pendulum finally fell still, without anything more to discover. Helena carefully put it away before turning to the map. “Time to find out where the angels have tread recently.”

“Fallen or not,” Camila said with a harsh grin.

Camila pointed to the circle around the Immigrant Realm’s biggest mosque. “That’s Nezaiel. We can ignore that one. Though I might question him anyway.”

“Why isn’t he a suspect?” Camila asked.

“He’s chosen the path of nonviolence,” Helena said. “As a guide to humanity or something. In any case if he hasn’t fallen, he’s not our suspect.” Helena pointed at the marketplace. “This on the other hand is where the third murder occurred, so we know we can find our suspect.” Helena tapped the circle near Japantown. “Is that your apartment Acedia?”

“I think so. It’s somewhere there,” Acedia replied.

“Good.” Helena looked over the other circles and frowned. “This one here is Amaiel. I can’t count her out, but it seems unlikely.” She tapped the two other circles that sat in the area that most demons prefered to live. “These two seem more like other murder victims then the home of an angel. Unless they’re hiding near one of the murder sites we’re missing a spot.”

Camila did her shrug. “It’s possible. I mean murderers do dumb stuff like that all the time on crime shows. Either that or they’re hiding near another angel to confuse people like us.”

“Unlikely but I can’t rule it out,” Helena said. “Let’s look at the fallen angel.”

“Didn’t we already figure out it’s not them?” Camila asked.

Helena looked up at her friend. “Why do you say that?”

Camila tapped the marketplace. “We already know the murderer looks like an angel to you. Not a fallen angel. Whoever those Xes are, it’s not our killer.”

“You’re right,” Helena swore. “I’m as foolish as a satyr in his cups.”

“It’s still strange,” Acedia muttered. “What’s a fallen angel doing here? And why are they showing off?”

Helena considered the question. “All the appearances are in slums too. And nothing underground where a fallen angel would normally live.” She tapped on the map. “We should look at that if our other investigations don’t bear fruit.”

“Figure a fallen angel might be interested in helping us find the killer,” Camila said.

Acedia huffed. “Sure, if it doesn’t want to murder us.”

“I’ll have you soothe it with your incredible talents of diplomacy,” Helena replied as she carefully folded the map. “For now we have somewhere to start. Tomorrow morning we’ll be visiting the mosque.”

The post office always felt weird to Helena.  It was built like a temple, but they left it pale white, like bleached bones.  Not a speck of paint to liven it.  The people of the more modern Big Apple seemed to love that hellish architecture and used it for all their important buildings.  It was such a bad omen.

The inside was far more lively.  Not just with people bringing in letters, but with creatures from across the realms exchanging money.  The silver dollars of the Immigrant Realm were hard to fake, but not well liked outside its borders, while the paper money of the Big Apple was worthless everywhere else.  And so the Post Office was not only the communication hub between the two connected realms, but also the Immigrant Realm’s biggest bank.  At least for people who were too poor to have a real bank account.

Acedia was back to sulking.  But Camila hadn’t had to push the woman to follow them, so that was good.  Helena reached into her pouch and pulled out the paper and envelope she’d grabbed at home.  She offered them to Acedia as they crossed the crowded floor to an open counter space.  “Will you need more to warn the rest of your sisters?”

Acedia shook her head.  “Invidia can warn Avarita and Luxuria, and Ira’s serving a forty year sentence for murder.”  She took the paper and grabbed one of the pens chained to the desk before staring at the paper.

As they waited Camila shifted over to Helena and asked sotto voice, “Ya think she’ll manage to muster up the effort to write that herself?”

“If she can’t, we can help,” Helena replied.  “I bet you’re honestly curious if she can overcome her limitations as well.”

“Yeah kinda,” Camila replied.  “For a lot of reasons.”  The jiang-shi woman shook her arms.

Helena paused then reached into her pouch to grab hold of her bell.  She called upon the artifact, using its silence to shield their words from anyone listening in.  “That’s a little different.  You have a limitation in exchange for power.  She is acedia.  What you’re trying to do is dangerous for her.”

Camila frowned.  “Like, what do you mean?  Dangerous how?”

“Sin demons are metaphysical beings.  They’re formed by concepts.” Helena nodded towards Acedia as the demon slowly started her first sentence in the letter.  “If the demon ceases to represent that sin, that concept, they either must find a new concept to represent, or they die.  If you succeed, she’ll have to find a purpose to live.”

The jiang-shi smile faded.  “But that’s… that’s bullshit!”  Helena was very glad no one could hear them as Camila snapped into anger.  “You’re telling me she has to not only get over her depression but she has to magically find some other soul consuming obsession?  Or she dies?  Why didn’t you warn me earlier?!”

“Because I’ve seen lots of people who’ve succeeded,” Helena replied simply.  She looked Camila right in the eye.  “Every magician you’ve met has wanted something so badly they ripped apart reality to seize it.  At great risk to themselves and everyone around them.”

“Acedia here has less to work with admittedly.  We magicians are naturally arrogant, and our actions require arrogance.  But I think she has a chance to succeed, with your help,” Helena said.  “Besides, she wants to die otherwise.  I think she’d appreciate the chance.”

Camila’s anger lessened but she still wasn’t smiling.  “And you think I can do this?  Would you have tried this if you’d met her?”

“No I’m bad with people,” Helena admitted.  “I probably wouldn’t have considered it.”

Her friend opened her mouth to retort, but Acedia turned around then.  Helena quickly dispelled the sound barrier so the demon wouldn’t notice.  “You’re done?”

“Yeah I guess,” Acedia said, holding up a short note.  “Here.  You have a stamp too?”

“No.  I usually send my letters via magic,” Helena said.  “We’re going to have to wait in line.”

Camila grinned.  “What?  You don’t have a spell to make stamps.”

“That’s forgery, and someone would probably get mad,” Helena replied.  “It’s not worth learning the spell.  If I’m ever that desperate I’ll just steal some.”

“Eh?  Like magic some out of a cash register?” Camila asked.

Helena shrugged.  “That could work, but it’s better to just break in when no one is about and just pocket them.”

Both of the other women were staring at her now.  She grinned.  “I learned lockpicking from one of my tutors.  It’s fun.  I don’t get to do it enough.”

“Who were your tutors?  You talk about them all the time but you never say who they are,” Camila said.

“Ah.  Well they’re quite famous in the magical world, but here nobody knows them,” Helena said.  “I trained under my Grandmother, the Grand Witch of Thebes.  My tutors were Demon Stitcher Ryumi, Hanako the Witch of the Stolen Tomes, Lily of the Rainbow Fan, and Juri the Tutor.  Though she went by Juri the Ordinary at the time.”

“You trained under the Ordinary?!” Acedia’s outburst caused several of the other people in line to turn towards them.  Acedia winced and shook her head.  “I guess I underestimated you.”

Camila raised an eyebrow.  “Okay I wanna hear this story.  ‘The ordinary’?  Was that like a joke that got out of hand?”

Helena grinned.  “Yes.  Juri’s one of the few true magicians not born to a magical family.  Just a natural talent that loves magic.  So when people tried to give her a title she told them to stop because ‘I’m just ordinary.’  And so that became her title.  At least until she gave it to Kseniya.”

“You left out the part where she destroyed an entire realm,” Acedia said.

“She said it was a fairly small realm.  Only the size of a city,” Helena replied.  “And she only destroyed the demon god.  The realm was still there, just damaged a bit.  Okay, a lot.”  Helena sighed.  “I never did master the spell she used though.  I’m mediocre at earth magic.”

Camila tapped her foot on the marble floor.  “Ya know, if you can do things like blow up entire cities I gotta ask why you didn’t show off any of that stuff when we fought the evil mage that murdered me and made me undead?  That would have helped.”

“Like I said, I never learned the spell.  And in this realm I could only have blown up the block,” Helena replied.  “The maximum power of a spell is based on the power of a human without magic.  Here humans are fairly weak.  As for why I didn’t just blow up the building… I hope that’s obvious.  The inspector would have been unhappy if I started obliterating chunks of the city.  And another mage would probably still survive that.”

“Tch.  What fun is that?”  Camila bobbed her arms in a shrug.  “Though I suppose that’s kinda fair.  If I can’t bend my arms you shouldn’t get to blow up buildings whenever you want.”

Helena blinked.  “How does that make any sense?”  She shook her head.  No one wanted her to have any fun it seemed.

As they continued moving up the line Acedia kept fiddling with the letter.  Flipping it over and over before giving Helena a side eyed glance.  Helena wasn’t quite sure what was eating at the demon woman.  It seemed out of character for her, though they hadn’t known each other long.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the next teller calling them up.  Helena started fishing out the pennies needed for a stamp, but Acedia just slouched her way to the window.  The demon put down the letter.  “Use account 82716-12.”

“Like, you have an account?” Camila asked.

The man behind the counter tapped away at one of the blocky computers from across the river and nodded.  “Yes.  Though you haven’t accessed it other than the automatic payment for three months Miss Acedia.  Are you sure you don’t want to open a savings account?”

And with that bit of information the rest of the puzzle became clear to Helena.  “Your sister Invidia’s been sending you more than just rent money hasn’t she.”

“I guess.”

“Wait, so you didn’t need to send her a letter asking for money?” Camila sighed.  “How much do you even have?”

Acedia rolled her eyes.  “I don’t know.  Like it even matters.  You tell them.”

“Your account is currently two thousand three hundred seven dollars,” the teller said.  “Are you sure you don’t want the savings account?  

Camila grimaced as the outsider woman tried to calculate how much that was.  Helena just glared at the demon.  That could pay her rent for the next three years.  “I hope your sister appreciates my envy.”

“She does but I don’t.”  Acedia heaved another great sigh.  “Give me three hundred.”

“Yes, ma’am.  Please sign here.”  The teller pushed a slip of paper to the demon before opening a drawer with the promissory bills that the Immigrant realm used for large payments.

Acedia scrawled her name on the paper then took the bills from the teller.  The demon turned around and shoved them in Helena’s face.  “Here.”

“Uh, are you asking me to find you an apartment?” Helena said.

“I’m asking you to kill that angel.  Or its summoner.  Whatever.  Make it dead.  Keep it away from my sisters.”  Acedia looked away.  “Might as well use their money for that, instead of wasting it on a worthless demon like me.”

Helena took the bills and stepped away from the bank counter.  “You aren’t a worthless demon.”  She felt her blood rising like it had before.  “Anyone who gives me a good reason to kill an angel can’t be worthless.”

“Your friend Lyudmila was totally right about the bloodthirsty thing,” Camila said.

“You want to skip this fight?” Helena asked.

Camila shrugged and smirked.  “Nah.  Just making small talk.  Let’s head back to our place and plot.”

The police were there in force already. Not surprising given how close the station was. One of them moved to stop Helena as she stepped past the crowd surrounding the area. “Sorry ma’am this is a crime scene. I’ll need you to-“

“Curse Gunner Helena Aoede,” she said simply. “I solved the Liang case. Bring Inspector Kilduff to speak to me.”

“The witch?!” The officer blinked then waved over one of his fellows. “Max, tell the Inspector that witch we hired for the Liang case is here.” He turned back to her. “Sorry ma’am I can’t let you in until the Inspector confirms.”

“I understand,” Helena said.

Camila shook her head. “How did you know he’d be here? There’s got to be dozens of crimes all over the city.”

Helena folded her arms as the Inspector walked out of the crowd of police. “Dozens of crimes, yes. Serial murders by someone that looks a lot like an angel? I’m pretty sure this is the only one.” She raised her voice to call out to the tall Irish cop walking towards that. “Isn’t that right Inspector?”

“So you’ve guessed it.” He said as he walked up to them. The stench of tobacco was thick around him. Apparently his plan to cut back had been interrupted as well.

“Thanks for telling us yesterday,” Camila growled. “Woulda been nice to know there was a serial killer about.”

Kilduff grimaced. “This victim’s the third. We didn’t know it was a serial killer until now. Two dead demons with dark rituals scrawled around them is bad but might still be coincidence. I figured someone pretending to be an angel wouldn’t be mixed up in that either. Seems I was wrong.”

“I’d like to look over the scene,” Helena said.

“I’ve already hired a priest,” Kilduff replied. “Father Peter can look over the devilry. And he’s a lot cheaper.”

Helena sniffed. “And I’m a lot better.” She gestured to Acedia who was moping behind her. “Since I’m involved, let’s make a deal. You give me access, and I’ll tell you everything I know for free.”

Kilduff rubbed his chin. She could tell he didn’t like the idea, but it was an offer that didn’t come around every day. “Fine. But no magic without asking. And try not to fight with the holy father.”

“Deal.” She let him lead her to the shattered stalls.

“So everyone saw the glowing light that Acedia did?” Camila asked.

Kilduff motioned some officers to step aside. “Sixty witnesses. All say the light was blinding. The lot ran, and I can’t say I blame them.”

Helena stepped into the gap and gasped. She’d expected the dried blood and the scattered pieces of the destroyed stall. She hadn’t expected the complex magical ritual seared into the ground. It was three times the height of a man, and at least half that wide. “Was that at the other two murder sites?”

“Aye lass.” Kilduff shook his head. “That’s the other reason I thought the attempted murder might not be related.”

“Inspector, why are these heathens here?” The voice seemed more shocked than angry.

Helena turned to see a man in the black suit and white collar of a modern priest approaching them. He was short, around the same height as Acedia, and he was gripping his bible tightly.

“The demon here was attacked by the murderer last night and survived somehow,” Kilduff said. “The witch offered her help for free.”

The priest looked them over, and Helena could almost see the misconceptions forming in his mind. Unfortunately the word ‘witch’ had connotations in certain religions. He edged closer to Kilduff and whispered “I can understand her interest, but did you need to let the lesbian drag her demonic lovers with her?”

Of course the whisper cut through the air well enough everyone could hear it. Camila’s jaw dropped while Acedia just rolled her eyes. “I’m from Thebes, not Lesbos,” Helena stated simply.

The priest stumbled back in shock while Kilduff pretended he wasn’t seeing anything. “Guess I didn’t miss anything not showing up to confession these last few years,” Camila said dryly. Helena dismissed the man and turned towards the runes. Perhaps she could learn something from the spell.

She grimaced as she looked over the writing burned into the ground. The script was easy to recognize at least. Every European magician knew it to some degree. “Hebrew letters, filling the tree of life. It’s kabbalistic.” She bent down and sniffed the streets, but her only reward was the stench of the cobblestones. “No flame. The runes must have been seared in after. A ritual tied to sacrifice?” She looked over the complex spell trying to learn more about it.

“It looks like a summoning ritual. For an angel,” Acedia said.

Helena turned back to the demon. “You’ve seen one before?” Angel summoning was rare. They didn’t like being summoned, and they were strong enough to make most magicians regret it.

Acedia stared at the runes, a shiver passing through her. “I just… know.”

“I think even angels might be put off if someone tried to summon them through sacrifice,” Kilduff said.

“Not a very good thing to do,” Camila agreed.

The priest held his bible closer. “Slaughter of the unrighteous is allowed by the Lord, but practicing magic is forbidden. A true believer who wished the help of the divine should pray for it. Not conduct blood rituals.” He shook his head. “Though it’s likely this is someone with no connection to the Christian congregation. The Hebrew makes that very unlikely.”

“There’s a bigger question here,” Helena pointed out. “The murderer has an angelic aura, a holy sword, and apparently is strong enough to slaughter lesser demons with a single blow. Why would they need to summon an angel?”

“A good question, lass,” Kilduff said.

“Can angels possess people?” Camila asked. “Like, I know demons can. Maybe the killer’s tapping into angel powers or something.”

“It’s not impossible,” Helena said. “Though that would imply an angel was willingly helping the killer.” She considered it. “I think it’s more likely someone who has sacred artifacts.”

“A newly fallen angel would keep their abilities as well,” Father Peter admitted reluctantly. Helena nodded. She didn’t really understand how angels ‘rose’ or ‘fell.’ But it added another possibility.

Helena looked over the ritual. Now that she knew it was summoning via sacrifice she could piece some of it together. “Whoever it is, they’re a modern caster. Definitely not a trained magician. They’re using modern Hebrew instead of ancient.” Not a fallen angel then, unless they were working through someone to remove suspicion. She traced the lines, desperately trying to remember what her tutors had taught her about kabbalism. “It’s sloppy magic. Too much redundancy, not enough limits. Even if it’s not a summoning ritual the spell is all over the place. It has to be a dabbler or novice.” She looked at the center of the ritual where the blood soaked the ground around the lines.

A sense of wrongness hit her when she looked at the letters there. These letters seemed different. Magic was strongly tied to intent. And the limited magic remaining hated those words. But the blood was too thick here to see them all. “Inspector, can I cast a spell to read the runes here?”

Kilduff grimaced but nodded. “Aye. Best get this miserable information into the light.”

Helena took a deep breath and fished out a wand from her pocket. This was a new spell, but it shouldn’t be too dangerous. Language was a magic all of its own. The magic of communication. She had to call upon that. Draw it out.

She slowly sketched the alphabet of ancient Thebes, the language created by their first king. As she did she infused it with her will. Speak to me. Show me your form.

Raw magic poured into her loose spell and overflowed. The letters in the air began to glow black and red, and the runes on the ground responded with a hatefully pure white shimmer. Slowly the glow cut through the crimson stain of the blood.

The letters finally burst through, gleaming on the dark cobblestones. Acedia started shivering violently, cowering behind Camila. Camila planted herself in front of the demon, but the jiang-shi woman was obviously at a loss for what to do. “What’d you find?” she asked.

Helena looked at the letters, the translation spell she kept on at all times slowly twisting the shining letters so she could read them. “It’s a list of the seven deadly sins.” She sighed. “With acedia replacing sloth. Three have been marked out.”

“So someone’s out for our new friend’s blood,” Camila said.

“A christian heretic,” Helena said. “Who’s apparently summoning an angel.”

Father Peter crossed himself. “I should go tell Nezaiel, Ryan. Do you need me for anything else?”

“It should be fine, Father,” Kilduff said. He pulled out a cigarette. “I’m not going to be getting much sleep it seems.” His eyes focused on Helena. “I know I can’t get you to mind your own business girl. But you’d best tell the department what you learn.”

“If you want a report you’ll have to pay me,” Helena replied. “But I swear I’ll tell you if I find any evidence.”

Kilduff lit the cigarette. “Best I can hope for I suppose.” He turned to Camila. “Good luck keeping these two on the straight and narrow, lass.”

“That’s impossible,” Camila replied happily. “Best I can do is keep the damage down!”

The policeman went back to his men, shaking his head all the way.

As he left, Camila put a hand on Acedia’s shoulders. “You doing okay?”

The demon had stopped shivering, but she still looked rattled. “It doesn’t matter,” she managed to mutter.

Helena banished the spell making the runes glow. “Let’s get to the post office. We can chat there.”

“This is kinda important, no?” Camila said. Still the jiang-shi took Acedia’s hand and started following Helena out of the crime scene. “Someone’s trying to murder Acedia here. Along with a lot of other demons.”

“I don’t care if I die,” Acedia said.

Camila made it past the police line before whirling on her. “You seemed pretty scared for someone who doesn’t care about dying!”

Acedia sank away from the woman. “That’s instinctual. I can’t help it.”

“Demons have fought angels before,” Helena said quietly. “It’s natural for you to be afraid, but you could resist it.”

“Why are you bothering me!” Acedia flung Camila’s hand away. The demon’s wings unfurled, and flames crackled around her eyes. “Are you trying to save me? Using me as the prop in your stupid redemption fantasies?! I’m a demon! I am Acedia! You can’t save me from myself!” The woman raked her hands down her face, leaving bloody furrows that healed a second later. “THIS IS WHAT I AM!” She sank to her knees. “You can’t save someone from themselves.”

Camila looked down at the demon. “I was an undead puppet. An assassin for some jackass who needed a research subject. The only reason I’m still my own person is because someone saved me.

“If you like who you are you can leave whenever you want. Hell you can stay and ignore me. But I kinda feel suicidal depression isn’t what you want to be. And if not then I want to help you.”

Acedia’s wings fell limp. The twisted mad majesty disappeared. “I hate you,” she whispered.

“That’s fine,” Camila replied. “You still want to go to the post office?”

“I want to lie here and die,” the demon replied in a hoarse voice.

Helena stepped forward. She kept her voice low and even. “That summoner isn’t just after you. They’re likely after anyone who fits the sins. But I’m guessing they prefer demons. It’s easy for zealots to write off those of us who are ‘innately evil’ in their minds.”

“So?” Acedia spat.

Camila’s eyes widened as she figured it out. “You’re saying Acedia’s sisters are targets too?”

“If they’re anywhere nearby, yes. Whoever is doing this isn’t afraid of being caught. Murdering someone in the middle of the marketplace isn’t subtle.” Helena folded her arms. “Sin demons will be prime targets.”

Acedia heaved a great sigh before standing. “Fine. I’ll warn my sisters. I’m sure they’ll figure it out from the papers before my letter gets there, but whatever.”

Helena looked at Camila. “They’re not the only targets of course. As I said, it’s easy for zealots to decide some people don’t deserve to live. Witches and undead top that list.”

“You think they’d come after us?” Camila blinked. “Like, that seems kinda stupid. No, really stupid. Even if Acedia can’t fight.”

“Two sins in one place? And a target who got away?” Helena shook her head. “It’s possible.”

Acedia turned her eyes to Helena. “You think you’re worthy of being a sin?”

Helena gave a thin smile. “Of course. Every true magician has one sin. The sin that gives us power.

“Pride.”

Waking Camila in the morning had been easy. Getting Acedia out of bed on the other hand had required a fair amount of effort and the vicious pull of gravity. Once they’d deposited her on the floor it had taken a bit more work to get her to the table. Fortunately Helena knew exactly how long three servings of porridge took to cook and had set a timed flame so she didn’t need to worry about burning anything.

Their guest didn’t seem to appreciate her skills. “This is it?”

“I want to pay rent next month,” Helena said. “And the month after. Besides you two don’t even need to eat.”

“Neither do you,” Acedia said, glaring down at her bowl.

Helena poured herself half a glass of wine before adding a portion of water. “Just because I can’t starve to death doesn’t mean it’s fun.”

“Wait, if you can’t die of thirst, why do you drink that horrid mix of box wine and water?” Camila asked.

Helena sighed. Barbarians everywhere. “Because uncut wine leads to madness.”

“I’m pretty sure it doesn’t,” Camila said. “What with ya know, everyone else being sane.”

“Maybe I’m the only sane person,” Helena retorted.

Camila giggled. “Nah.”

“No,” Acedia agreed.

Helena glared at both of them before turning to her meal. One day she’d be proven right about this. And then she’d gloat. Oh how she would gloat.

Camila wolfed down her meal quickly, while Acedia picked at it. But the demon did eat some. “How is it you’re poor?” the demon asked as Camila put down her bowl. “You’re at least an immortal magician. Most other magicians would sell their soul for your power.”

“Power doesn’t pay the bills,” Helena muttered.

“Also you’re too proud to take small jobs,” Camila said. Helena grimaced at the edge in the woman’s voice. “No one’s going to hunt you down for the big stuff if they don’t know who you are.”

“I’m not good at advertising either,” Helena deflected. “This city is huge even for someone like me. Word of mouth was good enough back home.” She looked over the demon. “Anyway, we should probably focus on more immediate matters. Like where we’re going to find clothes for someone with wings.”

Camila turned as well. “Oh, yeah. A nightgown isn’t going to cut it. Where do you usually get clothes?”

“I don’t,” Acedia muttered, hiding behind her bowl. “Most of it was stuff my sisters bought. No one complains.”

“Because you never go out,” Helena said.

Camila sighed. “Kay. Guess we’ll have to improvise.” She cocked her head to the side. “Pretty sure my wardrobe won’t work. I like having backs on my shirts.”

The jiang-shi slowly looked over at Helena. Helena froze. “What? My peplos have backs too, you know.”

“Yeah, but they’re usually slit down to your hip so her wings should fit just fine,” Camila said cheerily.

“Fine,” Helena replied. “But if she gets mad and stabs you with one of the pins, it’ll be your own fault.”

Camila shrugged. “I’m dead so it doesn’t matter.”

Helena finished her own meal and gathered the bowls. “Get the yellow one then. It’s a bit big on me so it should at least resemble something decent on her.” Demons apparently didn’t need to eat to get full figures. The power of evil or some such nonsense.

She turned her attention to the dishes, quickly washing each of them before tapping them with a drying charm. There was probably a way to get the dishes to clean themselves, but it was harder than doing it herself with a bunch of smaller spells. A lot of magic was like that.

When she’d finished she found Acedia had managed to get into the dress fairly easily. It was a little short on her but her wings fit through the open sides of the peplos. The color was a terrible match for her pale complexion and bright red hair, but that was to be expected. She’d never liked that dress honestly, which is why Helena was willing to sacrifice it.

“That’ll do for now,” she said out loud. She walked over and adjusted the pins to better let the demon’s wings free. “There.” She Looked up at the demon. “I don’t suppose you’d return the favor and help me dress Camila?”

Acedia sat on the bed. Camila just smiled and shrugged before levitating off the ground to give Helena some room to work with. About what Helena had figured. She turned her attention to her friend.

A few seconds later she’d changed Camila into a buttoned up vest and pair of shorts. After helping the woman pocket her watch Helena grabbed a black peplos for herself and tossed on her witches hat. “Alright. So where does Invidia live?”

“Across the bridge, in the Big Apple,” Acedia said.

“So we’ll need to use the post office in the market ward,” Helena said.

Camila frowned. “Because otherwise the bastards will forget to deliver it?” She took the disdain the residents of the Big Apple had towards the Immigrant Realm slightly personally.

“It’ll get there, sometime around winter solstice,” Helena replied. “If I threaten the postmaster directly though we’ll get much better service.”

Camila blinked, probably uncertain how serious Helena was about threatening the postman. “Alright then. Well let’s go. The market’s gonna be a mess this time anyway so no reason to wait for it to get worse.”

The trio got out without much trouble, Acedia following like a teenager being dragged out with their family. Fortunately everyone in the area was too busy being shocked by having a demon in their midst to comment.

To call this part of town the ghetto was something of a misnomer. All of the Immigrant Realm barring the Merchant District and the Government District was a ghetto. This neighborhood was comparatively nice. However in the local slang this was the Black ghetto. It was formed from the stories about the majority Black owned areas in the ‘real’ world’s New York around a century ago. Helena had bought a place here before she knew all those details, simply because the rent was cheap and she couldn’t really stay in the ancient world districts. As such most of the people walking around on the street were normal people in 1900s fashion going about their lives. A witch, a jiang-shi, and a demon were very out of place here.

Helena appreciated that. It meant people didn’t bother her. The panhandlers fell silent, the pickpockets looked for another mark, and the street preachers yelled at everyone else about the wages of sin. She got more respect here than she did at home. Less money, but more respect. It was worth it.

However no amount of respect would stop one of the horse drawn carts or motorized trucks from making their deliveries. As they reached the main streets a series of milk carts returning from their deliveries forced them to wait. Helena grimaced as one of the horses left a present on the streets for wandering pedestrians. One of the reasons she’d switched from sandals to boots after she’d moved to the city.

“Hey.”

Helena blinked and turned back to Acedia who was staring at her with an odd expression. “You pestered me for my life story last night, but you never told me why you were here. You’re a magician from the Hellenic Realms. Why the Immigrant Realm? And why are you hiding here?”

A fair question given how much they’d pulled out of the girl. “I turned Apollo’s favorite hero into a slug.”

“What?!” Both women were staring at her now. She’d apparently left that detail out of her talks with Camila.

Helena shrugged then started to cross the street, avoiding the horse droppings along the way. “He seemed to think I was at his beck and call just because Apollo promised me to him. I taught the over muscled fool that ‘No’ means ‘grab my arm again and you’ll spend the rest of your short life as vermin.'”

Acedia followed shaking her head. “If I cared about dying I’d be running right now.”

“Sounds good to me!” Camila said. “Though I bet that got you in a lot of trouble. I don’t remember the Greek Gods being nice. In fact they seemed kinda vengeful. Didn’t Apollo chase some woman until she had to turn into a tree?”

“Yes.” Helena acknowledged. “Fortunately I’ve got friends in the pantheon as well. Still I decided it was safer to live here. They have laws against gods murdering people.”

Camila shook her head as she hopped along. “I dunno if it’s because I’m dead now, or because I have a hard time accepting gods as real, but I’m mostly just surprised they didn’t have Cupid shoot you with an arrow.”

“They did. I’m immune,” Helena said. “Eros and I don’t get along either, but he didn’t take it personally.”

She started to slow her pace as she walked into the market district. The fringes here were mostly human, but an elegant crane woman was using her white feathered wings to display her silks. Meanwhile a bit further down hooded dwarves offered wrought gold trinkets to gawking tourists in modern fashion from across the bridge.

This was the area that best signified the Immigrant Realm. The odd twisted space where all the various realms met to trade. Here Helena and her friends barely stood out at all. She might be an immortal witch, but a casual observer would be far more interested in the fiery djinni selling lamps that would burn for a century. Her main worry was that Acedia didn’t get lost in the press of people. It was easy to get seperated and she was certain the demon wouldn’t call for help.

“Something’s up,” Camila said, interrupting her thoughts.

Helena paused and looked around. Camila was right. Now that they were further into the markets the shoppers were more somber, and were whispering rumors in groups. A centaur and two satyrs were chattering over something other than the price of apples, and three regal merchants from the City of Gold had lowered themselves to questioning a leopard man in their native tongue. One woman in a brown robe was openly weeping on a similarly robed man’s shoulder. Everywhere people were nervous.

“New plan,” she said as she grabbed Acedia’s hand. The demon hissed in annoyance as she led them a few blocks down a different street, pushing through the crowd with a little bit of enhanced strength.

Finally she saw the stall she was looking for. A camel sitting with hieroglyphics on a pack next to it. She waved to the woman at the stall. “Inhapi.”

“Ah Helena. We weren’t expecting you for a while. Did something happen to the dates you-” Inhapi paused as she saw Acedia. “Oh! I see.”

Camila glided up. “See what? We were just going to the post office. But everyone’s acting weird.”

“You did not know?” Inhapi frowned. “My apologies. I’m afraid to be the bearer of ill news.”

“What happened?” Helena asked.

Inhapi made a gesture to ward off curses. Helena ignored the prick of pain. “Ythencial, the demon who had a stall to buy people’s souls was murdered, right here in the market! They say the killer struck under the morning sun, its face shielded by blinding light!”

Helena’s heart sank as she turned to Acedia. “It looks like your attacker found someone else.”

Acedia shook her head slowly. “I really shouldn’t have bothered running.”

“Too bad I couldn’t get anyone to take the bet,” Helena mused as they walked home. She really could have used the money.

The rest of the night had been comparatively uneventful. Camila had broken a lecherous kappa’s arm, and Aoi had stared down an oni, but nothing really matched finding a demon half dead.

“You’re still idiots,” Acedia muttered. “You aren’t going to get anything out of this.”

“I’m doing it because I’m polite,” Camila said. “And Helena’s going to get smug satisfaction out of it.” Helena nodded in agreement.

“An undead good Samaritan and a witch.” Acedia closed her eyes again. “I’m a failure as a demon. So why does God still hate me?”

Camila led them down the dark street to their apartment. “I’m not the best Catholic but I figure God hating you would involve you sleeping facedown in a gutter instead of a bed.” Acedia’s wings shuddered, but she didn’t respond.

They finally reached the small door that led to their apartments. Helena reached for her lockpicks, then remembered they needed to talk to the Samuels and pulled out her key. Today was not a day to practice her lockpicking skills, no matter how rusty. She slipped into the entryway then lightly knocked on the first apartment’s door as Camila shut the entrance and locked it.

A few moments later Mrs Samuels opened the door. “Helena? My husband’s gone to bed already. What’s so important to be knocking on the door so late?”

“I’ve picked up another stray. Or rather Camila has.” Camila gave a stiff armed wave while Acedia looked sullen. “Her apartment has a large hole in it, so we’re helping out until she can find a new one.”

The dark skinned woman inspected Acedia with a frown. “Is she actually a demon?”

“Yes. If you humans are going to make me it’d be nice to be recognized,” Acedia said.

“Her power is to be contrary and unhappy,” Helena noted.

“I see.” Ms Samuels sniffed. “Well, I won’t have anyone say I wouldn’t sell shoes to the devil. But Helena, next time you bring some poor lady home, try to pick someone who won’t scare the neighbors. It’s been a duchess, a zombie, and a demon in less than half a year.”

Helena blinked. She had been getting some odd visitors recently. Was that a good sign or a bad sign for a witch? Maybe it depended on the realm. Her wallet was doing better at least. In that she wasn’t completely broke.

Camila filled in for her. “We’ll try.”

“See you do. And keep an eye out traveling round at night,” the woman’s frown deepened. “Ms Williams disappeared recently. No one’s found any trace of her either. My husband tired himself out searching with the others.”

“The lady who runs the soup kitchen?” Helena grimaced. She hadn’t met with the woman often, but they’d gotten along well. “I may take a look myself. Though my divination is spotty at best.”

Ms Samuels nodded. “Any help would be appreciated. Terrible times when someone like that is taken from the community. Anyway I’d best get back to finishing the cleaning so I can sleep myself.”

“Good night,” Camila said.

“Good night. And good luck with that apartment hunt for your friend.” The landlady closed the door quietly.

The trio levitated up the creaky stairs, doing their best to not disturb the other residents.

Helena’s apartment was tiny, and Camila arriving as a roommate had only made it more cramped. The second bed had filled up the small space not filled by the kitchen, tables, and the bookshelves. But it was a place to live, something she’d worked very hard to keep.

Camila put Acedia down next to her own bed. Meanwhile Helena walked over to the pot she kept magically warm to pour some tea. “You want a nightgown that isn’t covered in blood?” Camila asked.

Acedia grimaced but nodded. “Yes.” That was interesting. It seemed the woman was capable of accepting some charity. Maybe she’d decided it was more effort to complain than to just give in.

Helena set the tea to steeping then walked over to the lone dresser. “We’ll probably have to use one of your nightdresses, Camila, because mine won’t work with her wings. Not that you use yours anyway.”

“More trouble than they’re worth,” Camila agreed. “It’s bad enough you have to help me dress every morning. Besides It’s not like I can really get cold.”

Helena shook her head as she grabbed one of the larger and lighter gowns they’d picked up when Camila had first moved in. The reality was the jiang-shi hated ‘inconveniencing’ Helena no matter how much Helena insisted it wasn’t a problem. Still, that was a fight she couldn’t win even with magic. After checking to make sure the low back would fit the demon’s wings she offered the dress to Acedia. “Here you go.”

The demon stared at the nightgown for a moment. Then she managed to toss off her ruined clothes and put on Camila’s. Helena grabbed the rags that Acedia had before and used a mint leaf to place a spell of freshness around it. She didn’t need flies or whatever other bugs would be attracted to the mess.

When she’d finished Acedia had managed to get her wings through the back, and had fallen onto the bed. “So where are you going to sleep?”

Camila waggled her hands in the semblance of a shrug. “Eh, I can sleep standing. It’s more shutting down for me. The bed’s mostly there on principle.” The jiang-shi woman hopped to the chair. “So, how’d you get here? I mean I don’t know demons but I kinda figured most of you were made in Hell. And you don’t seem to like to travel.”

“I moved here with Gula. She loved the Big Apple.” Acedia’s eyes grew distant. “She was the nicest of us. Always helping worthless demons like me….” The demon’s wings shivered. “That’s probably why she was killed. Who wants a sin demon who helps others?”

“When did that happen?” Helena asked quietly.

“Twenty years ago. Some shitty chef she’d beaten in a cooking contest poisoned her with holy water.” A ghost of a smile flickered over her lips. “Ira caught him though. She made him pay.” The demon’s eyes unfocused a bit, probably thinking over the horrific fate that awaited a fool willing to draw the vengeance of a demon named ‘wrath’.

Helena picked up her tea and took a sip. There was a lot of pain in the demon’s voice. Perhaps her suicidal tendencies weren’t just due to her nature as a demon. Or maybe fatigue was making the woman lightheaded. She wished she was better with people. Still curiosity demanded she seek whatever information she could. “So how were you formed?”

Acedia slowly pulled herself to sit on the bed. “Long ago there was a monastery said to be the most virtuous in the land. The monks there served the people every day and worshiped God every night. But the devil saw their weakness, and created eight demons, each infused with one of the eight deadly sins.”

Camila opened her mouth to interject, but Helena held up a hand to stop her. This was the demon’s creation story. Stopping her now might actually hurt Acedia. Creatures formed from myth reflected the telling.

“One by one we each drove the monks to death and ruin. Luxuria seduced and murdered the scribe in his sleep. Gula got the vintner to drink himself to death. Avaritia got the paymaster to steal the treasury and flee into the night, to die at the hands of bandits. Vanagloria and Invidia worked together to get the choral masters to boast and argue over their skills, until Ira drove their acolyte into a furor that led to them all killing each other. Superbia tricked the friar into challenging us directly, and we killed him slowly for his misplaced pride. And finally I, Acedia, whispered into the ears of the initiates, driving them to suicide.”

“But there was one initiate, the youngest, who turned fully to God. He fasted at the altar, calling upon the angels and saints for protection. Each of the sins tried to tempt him, to break him, but he stayed resolute in his faith. And so after a month of torment, the power of the Lord reclaimed the monastery, and the demons were banished back to Hell.” Acedia stretched her wings, and they seemed to fill the room. “The initiate became the new head of the monastery and he taught the new monks well. But they were always on guard against sin. Because they knew the demons could return at any time, and only God could protect them.”

The words of the story swirled and danced around Acedia, anchoring her in the world. For a moment she looked strong, regal. A demon to be feared, if not because of her might, but because she could control the darkness within humanity.

Then the lingering power of the story collapsed and Acedia flopped back onto the bed. “It’s all bullshit of course. There weren’t exactly eight full fledged monks to kill off. It was more like thirty and Luxuria killed like half of them. Vanagloria didn’t do a thing, she just stole credit for Ira’s work. Gula did make the vintner more of a drunk, but he died because Avaritia’s mark slit his throat on the way out. I didn’t talk anyone into suicide, the place was terrible enough that the poor bastards did it all themselves. And the last surviving novice was Invidia’s mark. We let him be because he stabbed the monk who had actually resisted our powers.”

Camila coughed. “Okaaay then. So you went back to hell after that?”

“Yeah. The place sucks though. And the monastery burned down killing everyone who knew the tale thirty years after, so we lost most of our power. The sins got shifted around, and all us old demons didn’t have a purpose. So when the realms opened up we all left.” Acedia shifted on the bed. “Not that I really had a purpose anyway.”

“Was gonna ask about that. Since I was pretty sure there were only seven deadly sins.” Camila shifted her head back and forth as she tried to put together her question. “So like, how can something that fundamental change?”

Acedia flopped over to stare at her. “You… you really are an outsider aren’t you?!”

“Yes,” Helena said. She turned to Camila. “It’s because you’re assuming the past is the same for everyone.”

Camila looked between the two. “Okay, don’t tell me cause and effect isn’t real. Because I’d have to call bullshit on that.”

“Cause and effect are real. Most of the time,” Helena said. “But time isn’t linear.”

She held up her hands, fingers spread. “I hear from Lyudmila that the outside world believes in alternate timelines. Universes where the past changed and reality developed differently.”

“Yeah,” Camila said. “I’ve seen a few books about that. It’s usually really complicated.”

“Complicated is one word,” Helena muttered. She bent her wrist so her fingers were below her palm. “I’m not sure about alternate presents or futures, but there are alternate pasts. Different timelines that converge to form the present.”

Camila pulled a chair next to her. “Okay, help me sit down, because this sounds like a long talk.”

“Do either of you want tea?” Helena asked as she moved to help Camila.

“Nah, I’m good,” Camila replied. Acedia muttered something dismissive from the bed.

Helena pressed against Camila’s knees, letting magic seep into the woman’s stiff joint. The rigid muscles reluctantly bent, allowing Camila to slowly sit down in the chair. Fortunately the woman had more control over her torso so she could control the rest of her descent. “Thanks,” Camila said.

“Don’t mention it.” She returned to her own chair and sipped the tea, the light fragrance of the brew cutting through her fatigue. “So alternate pasts…

“The most obvious example is Acedia and myself. Both of us can’t come from the same past. I’m the great great granddaughter of Hecate, one of the titans formed from the union of earth and ocean. Acedia is a demon created by Lucifer, fallen angel of the Christian God, creator of heaven and earth.” Helena looked through the steam at Camila. “You see the paradox?”

“Yeah.” Camila nodded. “Kinda obvious. But I figured one of you was wrong. Probably both! No offense.”

Acedia sniffed. “Well everyone’s story has some falsehoods.”

“Gods and demons are notorious liars,” Helena agreed. “But the reality is both of us are telling the truth. My creation story and her creation story, both happened. And while our worlds interconnect we both have alternate pasts that define us.”

Camila looked at both of them. “Okaaay, so everyone’s telling the truth? That makes reality kinda messy.”

“Reality is messy,” Helena agreed. “Though remember gods and demons are liars about the details. It’s just there’s usually some truth hidden away.”

“Maybe it’s because I was raised Catholic but I have a hard time with someone being omnipotent and not actually creating everything,” Camila said.

Helena frowned. “Well that’s one of the lies. I don’t believe in omnipotence.”

“As a demon I’m supposed to approve of your heresy, I think,” Acedia said.

“Stop helping,” Helena muttered. “In any case outsiders like you tend to reject the idea, because a lot of you do believe in an omnipotent creator. Lyudmila thinks that’s how ‘reality’ came to enforce a static history. Monotheism won, wiped out magic and sent all our alternate pasts running off to the mystical realms.” Helena shrugged. “Given the number of realms that were formed before that though I’m not sure I believe her.”

Camila grinned. “So how’s that work for time travel? Why not go back into the past and find out?”

“Every mage who’s tried to travel to an event outside their lifetime has either disappeared or exploded into messy pieces,” Helena replied. “Some people keep trying to develop a safe time travel spell. The rest of us magicians stay out of the blast radius. I study safe magics, like death curses.”

“I still don’t get it but I guess I can fake it,” Camila said. The woman yawned. “I’m too tired for more lectures anyway.”

“Alright. Do you want a blanket?” Helena asked as she stood.

Camila shook her head. “Nah. It’s warm enough. Besides, I don’t really sleep like a human anymore.” The woman’s grin seemed to waver. “It’s all black and then I wait to wake up.”

Helena hesitated. Camila was one of the most resilient people she’d met. But that was a facade, locked behind the magic spell that kept her soul in her body. Helena hadn’t noticed, but the fear of just not waking up again had to be lingering somewhere behind that mask.

It might be best to talk it out with her friend. But Camila would be annoyed about looking weak. And Helena didn’t have the words to help. So she just lightly hugged the woman. “I’ll wake you in the morning.”

“Thanks.” Camila’s eyes brightened, then closed.

“Wish I could do that,” Acedia muttered as Helena started changing into her own nightgown.

Helena set the pins of her peplos to the side and pulled the nightgown over her head before turning back to the demon. “I thought jealousy was someone else’s job.”

Acedia’s dull eyes turned on her. “You’re not as funny as you think you are.”

“Probably not,” Helena admitted. “I’m sorry.”

The demon turned her eyes back up to the ceiling. “I hate you.”

“I know. You can’t help but hate humans,” Helena said. She reached out and snuffed the lamp they’d been using for light.

“Why then?” Acedia asked. “Why not leave me? Pity?”

Helena hesitated. It was a good question. Demons were not, as some claimed, all evil. But most were. And even if Acedia wasn’t a horrible person, she couldn’t help but be wrapped up in her own self loathing. What had convinced her to just go along with Camila?

She carefully walked to her bed. “Probably some pity. Definitely some curiosity. But mostly because Camila asked. And because I want to know why she did.”

There was a rustle of sheets as Acedia turned in her bed, but the demon didn’t reply. After a few moments Helena closed her eyes and sought sleep on her own.