📜🎩 T H E ☆ M A G I C I A N - Act 69 (+ pic!)

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Spotify🎵 Mel | Mary | Bastet | Lusje | Lynette 🎵

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T H E  ☆  M A G I C I A N

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Act 69

Mel

They could feel the temperature and humidity change as soon as Mel entered the portal. Then, rain.

“Did you just seriously take me to the goddamn rainforest?” Mel exclaimed angrily.

“I changed my mind. I don’t like you swearing. It’s not funny anymore,” Lusje answered as the demontattoo dripped from Mel’s hand onto the earthy ground, leaving a small white snake there in the mud.

Straightaway, Mel felt how much the demon had been holding them together. Every bone in their body ached, and they had trouble standing.

Despite that, Mel didn’t throttle their antipathy. 

“I don’t fucking care what you like, I want answers!”

The demon made a snarky sound upon the second swear, then slithered away, but while doing so, grew to massive proportions—way bigger than during their ambrosia feeding. Something that Mel hadn’t seen for a good while now. 

It looked uncomfortably menacing. 

“What are you doing?” Mel asked.

“What you demanded. You wanted to talk with me eye-to-eye. You asked me to drop all acts and give you answers. So. Now you’re talking to one of my truer forms, to Lucifer, as you wished. And to be honest, I’m done being your cute little pet. And right now I’m done with games, too.”

Lusje’s lack of slang got painfully clear again.

“Are you trying to intimidate me? To scare me?” Mel asked challengingly. 

The giant snake’s head came close; it made Mel flinch a little.

“Are you not listening, human? I just said: I’m tired of games. And if you continue to take your anger and frustration out on me, I’ll be tired of you, too.”

Mel wheezed, then took a deep breath. As much as they would rather not admit, they were being unfair. The demon was talking rather respectfully. It seemed to take things seriously. That was the least Mel could do in return.

So they took a deep breath.

“Alright. I see you calmed down. And I get that I owe you an explanation. To be honest, I’m surprised it took so long for another demon to find and challenge you. Us, I mean. Typically, individuals with your level of fame have some connection to demons. Or are demons themselves. And I really didn’t want to tell you about this whole ordeal, because I… well, I have my own dark past, and I, too, prefer not to dwell in it.”

Part of Mel felt a hint of empathy for Lusje - but another part, the bigger one, thought that it would serve the demon right. 

They said nothing. Instead, they let the snake talk.

“As I told you, that ass-ugly piece of trash was Ba’al, or Beelzebub, or whatever you want to call him. I hate this guy, always have. Thankfully he didn’t recognize me. He’s the head of the house Gula, Gluttony. Which is … fuck, I hate to explain all of this.”

The monstrous snake slithered around itself nervously, eventually getting into a more comfortable position. Since Mel knew that this was Lusje’s equivalent of sitting down, they, too, sat down in the mud.

“Okay. Listen. The place where I’m from, what you call Hell. Or Naraka, to talk in Hindu. Which religion do you know more about?”

“Neither. But I know more about Christianity and Hinduism than other religions. Which one do you come from?”

“From all, mortal. There’s no true right one, they are all twisted and can only grasp a fragment of what we are, and what our story is. But since we’re in the western world, I often stay within biblical terms.

Hell, Naraka… it has 9 segments, called houses. Well, technically 8. The first is limbo. The Oblivion. Preta Loka. Not a real house. Or like, the exact opposite of a house. You get there when you haven’t decided on a house yet, or when you’re shunned. Like Bastet, for example. The others are Avaritia or Lobha in Hindu: greed; Luxuria or Kama, lust; Invidia or Matsarya, envy; Ira or Krodha, wrath; Acedia or Tamas, sloth; Proditio or Droha, treason, and, well… Superbia or Mada, Pride.”

“So… what you’re meaning to tell me, is, that… that you’re the head of Pride, and that you’re… the actual Lucifer.”

The snake snarled.

“I fucking told you from pretty much the beginning who I was.”

“I thought you were joking. Or that many demons were actually called Lucifer or something of these sorts. Like… a trend name in hell.”

“Bitch, excuse me?”

At least the demon talked a bit more naturally again.

“Sorry. I never knew which stories of yours I could trust.”

“Bitch?” the snake repeated, in a higher voice, “All of them? We’ve been together for so long, you saw my powers, and you—you know what, fuck that. I shouldn’t be surprised with you anymore, you fucking weirdo.”

Mel averted his gaze.

Lusje— Lucifer was right. He had told them everything from the very beginning. 

Mel had just decided they would not be able to grasp it. To hide behind their, admittedly rather disruptive, agnosticism. 

Maybe they had even convinced themself to see the demon as more harmless and unimportant than it actually was. To cope with the fact that he had agreed to a pact with the actual devil—or part of the devil, as Lucifer liked to claim.

“So… okay. You are the actual Lucifer.”

“Correct, you imbecile.”

“Am I correct in assuming that you’re one of the oldest demons…?”

“Yes.”

The snake sounded not as proud about this revelation as it should.

And for the first time in over 10 years, Mel found themself wondering over the demon’s own story.

“That fly demon…  Beelzebub. He said that you were gone. From… Superbia, right?”

“That’s because I am. I ran away.”

Mel stared at the demon, surprised.

The snake sighed. It sounded unusually exhausted.

“I was just tired. Don’t think too much about it. It’s deity politics and stuff you wouldn’t understand if you’re not at least a couple of hundred years old. It’s not relevant now, either. What's important is that the circles of hell usually fight. Both because of the inevitable desire for being the most powerful party, but also for entertainment. Don’t ask, demons do be like that.

Gula is one of Superbia's harshest rivals. But then again, most houses are. And it’s something like… common courtesy to kill or overtake unprotected minions from others houses.”

“And that’s what Beelzebub had tried doing.”

“Yes.”

“And we couldn’t just decline? Or vanish?”

“Hell, no. That’s dishonorable as fuck and would put a big, fat target marking onto us. The word of a power-drunken nameless that doesn’t play by the rules would spread into every house, and hunting us down would quickly turn into a hobbyhorse for many.

Besides… It isn’t a big deal for us. If you’d really been a nameless demon, you wouldn’t truly be gone if he had killed you. But since you aren’t… things were tougher.”

“Please explain.”

Lucifer hesitated.

“I already know he almost ripped me apart. I think I can take it,” Mel noted.

“No. No, I’m not sure you can. Just… trust me on this.”

Trusting the demon wasn’t high in Mel’s regard right now, but the thought of another, rather cruel and disgusting demon doing things to Mel’s body that were worse than ripping them apart scared them.

So they didn’t push any further. For now, at least.

“But… now they will leave us alone?”

“I’m not sure. But yes, most likely. I gave him a good fight, unusually good for a nameless, which made him respect us. But I’m afraid that talk will go around anyway, and more red eyes will follow your progress in the entertainment business. It’s uncourtly to step into the human limelight this prominently for demons. Though, to be fair, it’s not unusual for my house. With it being pride and hubris and all that. 

“Why couldn’t I just say that I made a pact with you?”

Again, the snake didn’t answer right away. Then, it said, “It’s embarrassing.”

“It’s okay, you can tell me.”

“No. That’s the answer. It’s embarrassing. And also puts you in more danger than being a nameless, probably.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Having a pact is… it’s considered incredibly weak. Most of us have god complexes. I mean, it kinda comes with being a god, so fair game. But they think they’re so much better than humans, who are just barely more interesting than insects.”

“Not you, of course,” Mel answered sarcastically and with audible antagonism in their voice.

Lucifer ignored it. “Which is stupidly contradictory, of course. We’re born from humans, after all. But in any case… Making a pact makes you vulnerable. Having minions doesn’t come with a cost. If they die, they die, and that’s it. However, a pactholder shares a portion of their life force with the demon. If they die, part of the demon dies, too. It’s one of the things that can actually seriously hurt us in the long run.”

Mel stared at the snake, who suddenly looked weak and lost, even despite its impressive size, lying there in the mud and rain.

“But-- why---” Mel began.

“That’s the question, isn’t it?” Lucifer answered, and it sounded as if he would ask this more to himself than to Mel.

Mel waited for further explanations, but nothing followed.

“In any case. It’s better for you if demons see you as a nameless.”

“You keep saying that,” Mel agreed to Lucifer’s change of topic by commenting, “but I still don’t get what that means.”

“Remember how I told you about lesser and greater demons? Nameless are something in between. There aren’t actually too many greater demons, just a couple of hundreds. They once were nameless who, well, made a name for themselves. By doing grand things in or outside hell. There are millions of nameless. Though scattered through hell, and not all of them have the desire to ascend.

Most of them are in limbo, but some thousands join houses. Which isn’t easy, by the way. Because once you want to enter one, you have to prove yourself to be a worthy minion of the house’s monarch. If you do, your Monarch will take care of you, but also punish you, if you do things that don’t represent them well.”

“Okay…” Mel said while trying to take in all the information and figuring out where to go from there. “So… in the demon world, I now am recognized as a demon.”

“Correct.”

“Of house Superbia.”

The demon seemed to wince a little.

“It’s strange, hearing you say that so casually. It doesn’t fit in your mouth, nor in our dynamic. But yes.”

Mel didn’t understand what Lucifer meant, but they decided not to say the house name anymore.

“With Rofocale as your second in command.”

Lucifer looked at Mel again. “You kept all that info in your head?”

“Tell me who they are.”

“Not important.”

Mel got up from the muddy ground, not caring about their ruined and wet clothes. “I beg to differ. They must be pretty important to be one of the 8, or 9 Monarchs' left hands.”

The giant snake sighed again, defeated. “Not that you care right now, but I really hate talking with you about this. I started a new life. I really don’t want to—”

“Fine,” Mel said, and they really meant it, “just tell me if they are dangerous. A potential problem.”

Lucifer was about to reply, but then stopped to think. Then, after some moments of consideration, they answered, “Probably not. I’m… not sure, though.”

“How can you not be sure?”

“I haven’t seen them for a while. Maybe some hundred years.”

Now Mel was the one who let out a defeated sigh. They still were incredibly exhausted physically, but mentally things were getting too hard, too.

“I’m 85% sure they won’t be a problem. 90% even.” Lucifer added.

“I… I can’t do this anymore.”

The demon lifted its head again and came closer. “Melchior…”

“No. Really. This is too much. All of it. And to think… I almost dragged Mary into all of this…”

A white club pushed against Mel’s chest. When Mel looked down they saw it was the end of Lucifer’s tail.

“Hey. Stop. Don’t act as if ya have forgotten all she had said to you before. About her bein’ her own person, makin’ her own decisions, takin’ her own risks and all of that.”

Mel didn’t push the tail away. But they didn’t look for comfort in it, either.

“You know… I also thought I could handle the risks when you offered me the deal.”

The demon fell silent again. Longer this time. At one point, Mel thought it would retreat its touch, ruefully, but then it stayed put on their chest. Eventually, Lucifer said, “So, would you’ve preferred to never have a choice in the first place? If I would’ve just decided for you that you don’t want me?”

They were clenching their teeth so tightly that Mel's jawbone was clearly visible. The question was painful. Uncomfortable. Unwanted. 

But important. 

And they knew the answer.

“No.”

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