TITLE: The Demon Down the Hall
AUTHOR: MikeJaffa
SYNOPSIS: Prequel to New Mutants: Dead Souls: Rahne and Illyana meet again.
DISCLAIMER: Marvel owns Magik and Wolfsbane. I am making no money of this fic.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: (1) I haven't read the X-books in years, so I haven't kept up. I've tried to fill in the gaps with Wikipedia and Comixology. But if I have something wrong, please take it easy on me. (2) I have never been to West Virginia either. Apologies to any WV natives who read this. (3) In the original New Mutants series, Rahne made her distrust of Illyana plain. But in Dead Souls #2, Rahne shrugs off any concerns about her. How do you make a 180-degree change like that? This is my take on that. I could be wrong, but I still thought I would throw this out there. Canon will catch up to it soon enough. In any case, Enjoy.
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"Don't be afraid
I've taken my beating
I've shared what I made
I'm strong on the surface
Not all the way through
I've never been perfect
but neither have you
So if you're asking me I want you to know…"
-Linkin Park, "Leave Out All the Rest"
"What a load of bollocks!" The twenty-something young woman with short red hair stood next to the books shelf, staring aghast at the paperback in her hands. She was the only customer in the occult book store in the middle of a small West Virginia town. She spoke with a Scottish accent. "Who the hell wrote this garbage?" she went on. "Good grief—"
"Is there a problem?" A thirty-something woman with dark hair drawn in a pony tail, granny glasses on her nose, came over. "Can I help you miss, uh….?"
"What?" Rahne asked. "Oh, uh, Rahne, Rahne Sinclair."
"That name sounds familiar. Lilith Jones," the woman said, extending her hand, "owner of Lilith's Mystic Emporium. So what's the problem?"
"Oh, I was just thumbing through this book. And—I'm not a witch, understand, but I know that this thing is wrong." Rahne pointed at the page she was reading. "See? That diagram is backwards. And the caption is completely wrong."
Lilith took the book. "You're right! How did you know if you don't practice the craft yourself?"
"Oh, I used to know someone who did."
"What's this person's name? I may recognize it."
"Illyana. Illyana Rasputin."
"The darkchilde!?" Lilith sputtered. "You're *that* Rahne Sinclair? The one who—oh, shit—" Lilith's head rippled and became a goat's head, but still with the granny glasses.
"Bloody hell!" Rhane stumbled back, her body shifting from human to wolf with every step (grateful she'd managed to get clothes made of unstable molecules). In full wolf form she ran full speed for the door. But the next thing she knew, a red-skinned demon with a large gut was in her path. A shock went through her body and everything went black.
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Rahne came to on a couch. She was lying in a small apartment. Lilith, her head once again human, stood over her. A large man who had the same face as the demon stood behind her.
Rahne jerked, but Lilith said in a soothing voice, "It's all right, sweetie, it's all right. We're not going to hurt you. I didn't mean to scare you. I got a little flustered when I realized who you were, and my glamour fell apart. You took a nasty bump on the head when you ran into Satan's ward. I cast a healing spell, but just to be safe, you shouldn't shape sift for about twenty minutes. Keep your skull in the same shape." She helped Rahne sit up.
"Sorry about that," the man said. (Rahne thought he sounded like John Goodman.) "We've had a real problem with some animal spir-"
"Hang on a second," Rahne said. "You said your names were Lilith and Satan?"
"Yes," Lilith said, "but not *that* Lilith and Satan. Not the ones you're thinking of. Those are actually common names among demons, like George and Mary. We're just a couple of low level demons who have decided to settle in this little town."
"And make hell on Earth?" Rahne prompted.
"Why would we do that?" Lilith asked. "We came here to get away from the demonic rat race. Why recreate it? Oh, we diddle some of the local players—and there is a coven here, believe it or not, but we haven't kept touch, and they've been less active since a couple of their members were murdered. But anyway, this is our home now. We don't want to mess it up. Would you?"
"Besides," Satan said, "hurting you would be he stupidest thing we could do."
"Yes," Lilith affirmed, "everyone knows how protective the darkchilde is of her human familiars. Hurting you would be suicidal! I imagine if you're here, she must not be far behind."
"I wouldn't know," Rahne said. "I haven't spoken to her since she's been…back." And in truth, all Rahne knew about Illyana's return was from one barely coherent phone call Sam had made (she and Dani were still not on speaking terms). Since then, nothing. "And I'm not her familiar, either."
Lilith said, "Well, friend, familiar, to the demonic mind, they're kind of the same thing. It's all about not being alone, having an emotional connection."
"Then you're in no danger, Lilith, because Illyana and I never had any connection. We were on the same team; she had a room down the hall from me, and always beat me to the shower. That was it."
"Oh, that's too bad, Rahne. The relationship between a sorceress and her familiar—especially one who kind of sort of is an animal spirit—is really a special and beautiful thing. It's too bad you never experienced that. But if Illyana isn't here, what are you doing here?"
Rahne shrugged. If these two were behind it, this was the sure way to draw them out. "This county has had two mass shootings this month, and your Reverend Greer has been all over the tele talking about how you've had a spike in suicides, domestic violence, meth addiction—two meth labs taken down this week. It didn't seem natural. I thought there might be something maybe super heroic behind it. Would you have any ideas?"
Lilith bristled a little. "It's not us, dear. And Douglas Greer has been trying to run us out of town ever since he took over his church. You can't believe everything he tells you."
"Actually, I haven't spoken to him. I walked into your shop by accident."
Lilith smiled. "Of course. I'm sorry, Rahne. I shouldn't have been so defensive."
Rahne thought it over. They were demons, true, but they had played straight with her so far. Best to play this out. And it wasn't like she hadn't dealt with an (apparently) friendly demoness before. "Apology accepted. Still, Lilith, do you have any ideas?"
Lilith thought it over. "Well, Rahne, there is one thing that might do it…but by the same token, it might not be."
"What is it?"
"It's called the Wings of Needless Sorrow. Last I heard, Doctor Strange had it under lock and key. But it could have got loose after the Empirikul trashed everything."
"The who?" Rahne asked.
"The Empir-" Lilith said, "oh, that's right, you haven't spoken to Magik. Anyway, the Wings of Needless Sorrow is a talisman of an ancient power."
"Real ancient," Satan put in, "before humans and gods ancient. Literally older than dirt."
"And dangerous to demons as well as humans," Lilith went on. "It…nudges people into giving into their despair or depression, or generally being self-destructive. Negative emotions amplified, basically. Now that may not sound like much but think about 100 people locking themselves in a barn and burning it down. Now imagine the emotional energy the community's grief would cause. The Wings feeds on that. For lack of a better term, it's a mystical nuke that refuels itself when it explodes."
"But that's the problem," Satan put in, "because left to its own devices, it goes big. And nothing big has happened."
"Left to its own devices," Rahne said. "Could someone be wielding it? Holding it back?"
"If someone is," Lilith said, "that would have to be a powerful mage. But there's no one like that around here, present company included."
"But you think that's it then, Lilith?"
"I said it could be, Rahne, and you wouldn't want to take on its wielder on your own if it is. But I think it's highly unlikely. There are a hundred other non-magical causes, including just coincidence. I'm sorry I couldn't help more. In any case, do you have a place to stay?"
"I wasn't planning on staying."
"Nonsense! I won't hear of it. We have a spare room upstairs. You can stay for as long as you like, at no charge. It's the least we could do considering how much we've inconvenienced you."