"Renato!"
It was a strange voice, as if spoken from the depths of a throat. Deep. Inhuman. Bestial.
"Renato! Finally you can hear my voice! What changed?"
The voice came from the dark, cold depths. It emerged from flames and ice. Imprisoned in the deepest pit of all. It had the timbre of graves. It echoed in nothingness, in emptiness, and made his head ache and vibrate like a gong.
"Look at this beautiful vision. The burning flames melting flesh and bone, the planet turning into ashes. The toxic smoke destroying lungs. Isn't it beautiful?"
"It is beautiful indeed."
"Wake up!" This voice was different. Feminine. It came from outside. Almost as frightening as the other. But it also had sweetness. Like rattlesnake venom dissolved in chocolate.
The boy opened his eyes, startled. His heart was pounding. The first thing he saw was the pair of red eyes glowing in the dark like gemstones made of fire. He screamed in fright. Tried to break free and run. The strong arm grabbed him, preventing escape.
"Calm down!" said Clara Lilithu.
"It's you?!"
"Yes. It's me."
"You're the most beautiful nightmare I ever had."
"Those are the most beautiful words anyone has ever said to me."
"I saw…"
"What?"
"Destruction."
"What kind?" She frowned. Came closer, leaning her soft body over him.
"The kind that consumes everything."
"I see."
"The flames… they shone like your eyes."
"My eyes shine like the flames of hell…" She thought for a moment. "There's a place we need to visit." She stood up and left the bed.
"Now? In the middle of the night?"
"It's the best time to go."
This time, Clara drove the Camaro calmly. The cold breeze came in through the open windows, ruffling their hair. The light of buildings and lampposts gave the night a beautiful appearance.
"Where are we going?"
"To see an acquaintance."
"You're not a big fan of detailed explanations, are you?"
"Alana. She's a seer. I'm taking you to her so she can take a look."
"Why?" Renato raised an eyebrow.
"Because you're strange, and I want to know why." She shifted gears and turned a corner.
"I'm strange?!" Renato laughed. "You know you're not exactly normal either? In fact, you're weird as hell, you hear me, woman?!"
"That's because you haven't met the other succubi. Actually, I'm the most normal of the group."
"Imagine those girls on PMS, my God! No amount of chocolate would fix that!"
Clara smiled faintly.
"Once, two very cranky succubi almost destroyed a city while exchanging punches."
"About that succubus thing… are you really… uh… damn! I've got so many questions, but I don't even know which one I want to ask!"
"Then, when you think of one, ask, and I'll answer."
Clara drove through nearly the whole city. They passed through neighborhoods Renato had never visited, and streets he didn't even know existed.
After a while, she finally parked in front of a property, and Renato couldn't believe his eyes. A huge, well-lit hall, with large wooden doors. Through the doors, which were open, he could see some people sitting in long pews, others kneeling. There was a pulpit.
The sign above showed what it was: "CHURCH OF THE HOLY AND LIVING WATERS."
"You gotta be kidding me," he said, incredulous. "You, a perverted demon, brought me to church?"
"Why does everyone love putting pejorative adjectives in front of the word 'demon'?" Clara pouted, offended. "That's starting to sound like discrimination!"
"My bad. You, a demon of peculiar tastes, brought me to church? I was sure we were heading to some den of sin and perdition, one of those with half-naked dancers and drugs, you know?"
"You're not even old enough to get into a place like that," Clara laughed. "Relax. The church is just a battery for a spell that consumes a huge amount of energy!"
"A battery? This is getting more and more confusing."
"Yes. People's faith emanates energy, and the spell draws on it to keep working," she said, as they walked toward the entrance.
"So the spell is like a car that needs gas? And the gas is like these people's faith?"
"Something like that."
"And what does this spell do?"
"It's a spell that drives away death. It's tied to Alana. Basically, no matter what happens, Alana cannot die. Death cannot get close to take her because of the spell. Once, I saw that woman take a knife straight to the heart. And she pulled it out of her own chest like it was nothing!"
"Sounds like a pretty useful spell."
"Don't be fooled. Living like that is hell. She can never leave this place or death will come drooling after her. It's a life of eternal confinement. Not worth it."
Clara guided him through the church. The people praying seemed not to notice them at all. They entered a little door behind the pulpit and ended up in a corridor so long it seemed endless. The air felt colder.
They walked calmly. Many doors lined the corridor walls. Clara ignored them all.
"Pretty long hallway, huh?"
"There are more downstairs."
The corridor curved. As soon as they turned, they saw two people, a man and a woman, coming the opposite way. Renato felt uneasy at the way they looked at him, like a dog eyeing a juicy steak. As soon as they disappeared around the curve, Renato drew close to Clara, sweating cold.
"Those two looked really strange. I thought they wanted to jump at my throat."
"They probably did. They were vampires. By the smell, the woman's a newbie and still can't control herself. I'm sure she would've attacked if she weren't with the master who turned her."
Renato looked back, cautiously, and instinctively put his hands on his carotids, trying to protect them.
"Don't worry. Attacks are forbidden here, and her master can control her."
"And when we leave?"
"Better carry some stakes just in case," she laughed.
They went down some steps and reached another corridor. This one had a visible end.
"Holy shit! Holy shit! Fuck! Vampires exist! Holy shit! My God! Vampires exist!"
"Don't freak out, man."
They reached a small metal door. Clara knocked.
"Who is it?" said a voice from the other side.
"Clara Lilithu! And a guest."
"Clara! Please come in!"
The succubus opened the door, and they entered. The place was a messy little cubicle, with books scattered across the floor, papers spread over a desk, a few metal bar stools, a single bed in the corner with messy sheets. A small old fridge, rusty at the edges, sat beside the bed. On the floor was a carpet with a huge wine stain. The only tidy thing was a wall niche full of books.
"Sit down," said the seer, pointing to two bar stools, while she sat in an office chair by the desk.
"Thank you for receiving us, Alana," said Clara.
"You're welcome," the seer replied, getting up and going to the fridge. She took out a bottle with a golden liquid, grabbed two glasses, and filled them. Handed one to Clara.
"Domaine Leflaive!" said the succubus, savoring the aroma of the white wine. "Wonderful!"
"Only the best for old friends! Boy, there's grape juice too, if you want."
"No, thank you. I'm not thirsty."
The seer shrugged.
"You know, Clarinha, that bizarre demon, Satanakia, was here the other day."
Renato noticed Clara clenching her fist in anger, her muscles tightening, though her face still showed a cordial smile. She sipped her drink.
"And what did he want?"
"To know if I knew your whereabouts, of course."
"Of course." Clara forced a smile. "And what did you tell him?"
"What else could I say? That as far as I knew, you were dead. He didn't seem very convinced, but he left."
"Men, right?! Always so restless!"
"True! But enough small talk. So this is the boy you spoke of?" she said, sitting back at her desk. For the first time, she looked directly at Renato, which made him feel a strange itching behind his eyes.
"He is."
"Interesting." Alana leaned closer. She looked at him, then around him, as if searching for something, then frowned, seeming confused. "Empty? Give me your wrist, please."
Renato obeyed. She held it and closed her eyes.
"Hmm… still a pulse."
"But that's normal, isn't it?"
"Shhhh… silence, boy. I'm trying to see something."
"There's only… darkness," said the seer after a few minutes. "Wait… there's something down there. It's deep, but I can reach it! I just need to take a look! Calm! Just a peek! You're not so empty after all, boy." Sometimes she seemed to speak to Renato, sometimes to something else.
"I see golden chains and a cell with diamond bars! There's something… there! Something trapped! Something that doesn't belong to creation! It sucks in matter around it like a black hole! Wai… arrgh! Grr! No! Just… let… a loo… Grrr!" The seer began to choke and cough. Her voice trembled, her words cut short. She gasped for air but couldn't breathe.
The seer released Renato's wrist and looked at him, terrified.
"Ari… Ari…"
The air wouldn't go in or out. She was suffocating. Suddenly, she opened a desk drawer, pulled out a revolver, aimed it at Renato's face, and pulled the trigger. He would have been hit point-blank if Clara hadn't pulled him aside with lightning speed.
The seer fired again, trying to hit him. The boy rolled aside and threw himself to the floor, trying to protect himself. Clara smacked Alana's hand, knocking the weapon away.
"Have you lost your mind?!" shouted the succubus.
The seer tried to speak again, but no words came. She stared at Renato. She was desperate. She wanted to kill him more than anything! He had to die!
She was turning purple, unable to breathe. She leapt over the desk and sank her teeth into her own wrist, until bright red blood gushed out with each heartbeat. Using the flowing blood, she began to write on the wall. She only had time to write the letters "ARIN" before collapsing dead on the carpet. As she fell, her hand drew a line across the letter she was finishing: the N.
The wine stain was covered by blood.
Clara was more stunned than she had been in a long time. She looked upward and saw, near the ceiling, a kind of whitish shadow. Clara leapt. She turned into mist midair, and from the mist emerged her arm, which plunged into the whitish shadow and pulled out another arm.
When she landed, she was holding, by the arm, a man dressed in dark clothes with metal ornaments.
"Reaper," she said.
"Clara Lilithu. The succubus full of problems, who always brings trouble to others. What do you want?"
"I want you to answer a question."
"And why would I?"
"Because I caught you and I'm keeping you trapped. Want to visit hell, reaper?"
"Contemplating hell is part of my profession, aberrant demon."
"But have you ever been there? Have you felt the sulfur breeze in your eyes and the heat of eternal flames on your skin?"
The reaper smiled.
"What's your question, succubus? Wait… I know. You want to know if beings of your kind can die, don't you? Don't worry. Death comes for everyone. I come for everyone."
"I already know succubi can die, emissary. My question is another."
"Then ask, and stop wasting my time, unnatural thing."
"How did you take Alana? She was protected from you."
"It was a powerful spell, I admit. But it seems to have weakened, and we managed to get through."
"We?"
"I didn't come alone. Apparently, there was much work to do here."
"So more people died… Just one more question: Alana couldn't breathe and died of asphyxiation. Was that your doing?"
"No. As you know, reapers' work is only to show the way to those who have departed. The cause of death was another. A cause I don't know, by the way."
Clara released the emissary of death's arm, and he vanished into a white shadow.
Clara looked at the writing on the wall.
"Arin? What message were you trying to give me, Alana?"
"What the hell just happened here?" Renato finally said. "That friend of yours just tried to kill me! What the fuck! There's blood everywhere! What the hell happened?"
"She wasn't my friend. Just an acquaintance." Clara sighed. "I'm trying to understand it too, Renato, but it seems there are no more answers here. Let's go."
"Just leave? Shouldn't we call the police or something? There's a corpse right there, in case you didn't notice!"
"Let the vampires make use of it. Our time here is done."
When they went back up to the church, they saw that all the faithful were dead; some with coagulated blood in their mouths; others mutilated, missing legs and arms; and some with their eyes burst. It was the scene of a massacre.
"Just as I suspected. Looks like someone unplugged the battery," said Clara Lilithu.