3. Deals, devils and death

Trying not to worry about the looks I got from bystanders when I triumphantly trotted down the street with the headdress I realized I really had no idea what to do with the despicable object. I didn't want to keep it, that'd be gross and also disrespectful. Should I bury it? The last time I'd been at a funeral was when my granddad died when I was ten. I was not very experienced with the whole death-thing. Though I did – I remembered – know someone who at least sounded like he had an idea of how death-things worked. I figured it was worth a try.

Finding him wasn't difficult, he was at the same corner as yesterday where we had eaten lunch, yelling the same things I guessed he'd always been, intensely waving his arms at the people walking by who accidentally looked like they were listening.

"Hey", I said.

"THE DARKNESS DEVOURS THE UNWORTHY!" the preacher shouted.

"How's it going?"

"THE DEAD SHALL RISE AGAIN, THE SKIES SHALL CRY AND THE SUN SHALL FADE AWAY!"

"You remember me from yesterday?" The man nodded slightly. He was bald and had several miscoloured spots on his pale scalp, some even bigger than his wide open, light brown eyes. It was difficult to tell for sure but he could to be of North African origin. If his first language was Arabic it would explain his accent.

"It seems you are still tied tightly to this timeline, yes?"

"Uh, indeed I am. You wouldn't mind helping me out if I shared another lunch with you?" The man hesitated, a little uncomfortable and suspicious. I guessed he didn't have normal conversations with people very often. Although it was true my intentions were not exactly normal.

"It is only the weak who make deals with the devil!"

"I see. I only thought you might be able to help me with a… burial. " The man frowned, but it was obvious he was curious.

"Nooo… Why would a devil seek out the screaming slave to make him do the work of the wise men?" He frowned. "Why would the devil ever want to release the souls she trapped in the netherworld?" It struggled with the insane man's way of communicating but did my best to interpret his sentences.

"It is not certain these souls are meant for hell", I said and pointed at the headdress," they have to be released from limbo to be judged. No wise men can reach into limbo, but a… screaming slave… one who truly knows death, can. Will you help me?" I held up the headdress for the man to examine it closer. He seemed to go through a very complicated process in his head as he wrinkled his face. After a few seconds he relaxed.

"When is a good time to start this process?"

"How about right after you've had something to eat?"

"Good choice, the meat must be alive and strong for my soul to have something to return to after the trip to limbo."

"Come on then! You must be starving."

After getting a full meal to eat the man softened up enough to tell me his name. Yesterday he had only spoken to me with his usual riddles so it was apparent he was beginning to trust me, even though he still called me "devil" and rarely looked me in the eyes.

"I was born as Seth, and Seth is who I've been since that day."

"Seth? That's a nice name."

"It's a common name for an uncommon person."

"I think you and I are similar that way." I had never been too fond of the name Laura anyways.

"If that is what the devil says." I had bought him a big burger and he was licking the last of the salt from his fries off his fingers when I found it an appropriate time to ask a few logistical questions.

"So, this burial. Where are we going when we're done here?" Seth looked up at me and took a second to think about it.

"I must prepare the remains. I would say I need the time until the sun sets for that." I fought to hold back the impulse to sigh.

"Hang on, didn't you say you would start the funeral right after this meal?"

"A burial is an important matter where many things can go very wrong. A devil should know that." I was not overly pleased with Seth's answers but I decided not to debate with a crazy man. I would be busy tonight with Veronica but the burial could probably wait until tomorrow.

"How about tomorrow morning?"

"I can accept that. Meet me on the north side of Willamette river under Fremont bridge at dawn."

"At dawn?" That would be annoyingly early by this time of year. Seth glared at me.

"We do this my way or not at all."

"Hmpf. Sure." If anthing, it could be an interesting experience.

I left Seth with the headdress after explaining it wasn't worth stealing. He was a little bit insulted by me implying he was a thief but I didn't worry too much about it.

I had survived all the times people had thought that about me. Of course, many of those times people had called me a thief I actually had stolen something from them. A form of kleptomania was a bit of a problem in my family. It wasn't for nothing we were called Falschdiebe, devious thiefs, even though nowadays with cameras in every shop we had been forced to learn at least some impulse control. Being a wesen was sometimes hard, but if I was only human life would be so much more boring. Of course, some wesen had been through enough excitement, or should I say trauma, to make them loathe their true selves. I wondered what Veronica had witnessed.

"Coffee, was it?"

"Yes, thank you, Veronica."

I had spent some time window-shopping before I went back to the café where Veronica worked. She had just ended her shift and had a light-grey jacket on and a very stealable bag over her shoulder that almost made me regret I hadn't done any shoplifting on the way to cure the itching in my fingers. She gave me a warm paper cup to go and asked where we could talk.

"Well, I have a hotel room but I suspect that would be a little too intimate for us."

Veronica cracked a smile.

"Yes. Hey, there's a park not too far from here."

It was a bit of a walk before we got there. Veronica brought her bike.

"So what do you do for a living?"

"Well, I… I was employed in the mining industry back in Sweden. I say I'm from Stockholm because I grew up there but the mines were far north. I quit right before I moved. I prefer working in less dark, enclosed and cold environments but you should have seen my paycheck. I saved enough to move here and start doing the things I like to do. I write, for example. I'm on my third book now. The first one even got published and sold pretty good, a horrible love story. The latest two are classic science fiction with spaceships and ice planets and such."

It felt good talking about myself even though it also made me feel a little vulnerable. I shook off the sensation, Veronica was just small talking and not trying to get to know me better so that I easier could be manipulated.

"Ice planets? I thought you got tired of snow if you live in Sweden."

"There's not that much snow. At least not in Stockholm. In Kiruna where the mine was there was more but that was just a source of inspiration for me."

"Hm."

"And you? Have you always been making cappuccinos in that place?"

"Pretty much. Although at one point I wanted to become a bartender like my boyfriend.

"You have a boyfriend who's a bartender?" Unfortunately I must have lit up for a second at the thought of having a bartender as a contact, those people know everything, because right after I said that I saw Veronica turn to the ground with a very sad expression and I immediately regretted being so pushy.

"Had. Quinn was shot last year by the Verrat."

"I'm so sorry", I said, instinctively, before what she actually had said hit me.

"Wait, Verrat? He wasn't in the resistance, was he?"

"Does it matter for you?"

"It matters for me if you are in the resistance! Hey, if your… former boyfriend was found out, you could get found out too and killed and here I am, trying to speak all discreetly to you, they would go after me too for sure only because it looks a bit suspicious!"

"Hey." Veronica said and stopped me. We had reached the park. "Quinn was part the resistance. I'm not. Do you seriously think that if I were, I would be talking to someone like you? Like you wouldn't sell me out for whatever shiny piece of junk the Verrat happen to have lying around as soon as you found out?"

"That is a little racist."

"You're a little stupid."

"You're a little coward for not taking out revenge for Quinn."

"You're very insensitive about this."

"You're very blind."

"You're… what?"

I showed Veronica the mobile phone I had slipped out from her bag while she was busy confronting me. I smiled. She rolled her eyes.

"Oh my God. You're the worst person I've met today."

I gave her phone back and we sat down in on the grass in the shadow of a big maple tree. The park was not very big but there wasn't many people in our area so we found it safe to talk freely there. I believed her when she said she wasn't in the resistance. She didn't have that specific spark in her, I could see it in her eyes. Not that I was against the resistance any more than I was against the Verrat, both sides had a habit of killing very talanted and useful people only justified by things that had happened in the past and it was safest to stay out of their way.

Veronica placed her bag just a bit out of my reach. Most likely intentionally.

"Now. What's the deal? What do you need me for?"

I took a sip of my coffee (it was a lot better than the awful stuff from McDonalds) and wondered where I should begin to make her interested. I decided to go for the dramatic approach and slowly put my coffee mug down.

"Yesterday", I started, "I saw something bad. I saw a junkie Reinigen stand up for herself against a Skalenzahne who was her dealer."

"You saw someone die?" Veronica asked, concerned. I found it rather funny that she thought a situation like that had to end in blood but probably I wouldn't think any differently than her, and that shouldn't be funny at all.

"No! No, she's still alive. I think. They parted and I asked the Reinigen if she was allright. You know, anyone in her situation you think would say 'I'm just fine, don't worry about, get out of my face, I screwed up and need to hide'. Right?"

"Seems logical, yes."

"She didn't do that. She asked me to 'get rid of' this dealer. As in 'make sure he never comes back'. Now I wondered, why would she want that? I had heard from the dealer himself when they were arguing that he sold something that only he had access to. If he vanished she would no longer be able to buy whatever-it-is from him. She wouldn't ask me to take away her only source of that."

"Unless she was upset and didn't think that far because she's an addict?"

"Oh but that's the thing with addicts. What would she possibly think of right then if not drugs? What did she think of? What could be more important for someone so deep down the mire than making sure she will be able to continue her addiction?"

"What about her pride?"

"I told you she was a Reinigen."

"Oh, right."

"I want to find this dealer and find out more about him. I don't think selling drugs is the only thing that tattooed chrome dome is doing wrong."

Veronica suddenly flinched. She seemed concerned.

"Wait. Is this guy like really big?"

"Both in height and width. Why so?"

"Does his tattoos depict some kind of a jungle with flowers and stuff? Is he latino?"

"Why does it sound like you know this guy?"

Veronica bit her lip and sighed.

"Because I did once. I'm no saint. And before you think I'm telling you this because I trust you I should say it's only because I hate lying about myself. Before I went wieder I did a lot of things I am not very proud of. I won't say I didn't enjoy it because no matter what the anti-bullying organizations say, it is empowering to opress others and power is difficult to let go of. I worked for Gabriel, that's his name by the way, for nearly two years. I was a barista by day and arm-breaker by night. I met him a few times personally but thankfully I got most of my orders from his jackals."

"Arm-breaker?"

"Literally. I got very good at that. I got good at venoms and poisons too."

"Gabriel, was it? He is in darker stuff than I thought then. Is this all about drugs?"

Veronica shook her head.

"He only sells for pocket money. I've never wanted to know what it was all about, I wanted the kick and the cash, that's it."

I found it very difficult to see Veronica as a ruthless crook. She looked like the typical cute barista with her fluffy hair and simple make-up. Maybe she was hiding it all in her true form. I wondered what she actually was and if she would flip out and eat me if she woged as if she had forgotten she had been talking to her picknick snack the entire time.

"I see. Well, I only wanted you as my muscles if I screwed up trying to frame Gabriel for some crime because you implied you were something rather dangerous but now I guess you are becoming useful in more than one way."

"So what, you want to tear down the whole syndicate or whatever I should call it for the sake of one Reinigen? And you expect me to help you?"

"Maybe we could save a few people's arms from getting broken when we're at it."

"There's a reason the police aren't already dealing with this you know."

"I think you should see this as a way to redeem yourself from past crimes, don't be such a sissy."

Veronica stared me down.

"Don't talk to me that way."

"Give me a reason, you little chicken."

"Would you shut up?"

"You're probably just afraid of getting shot like Quinn."

Finally Veronica gave up her calm facade and woged. She grew little grey-brown scales all over the showing skin in a flowing pattern, even replacing her hair. Her pupils narrowed and her teeth grew to sharp spikes as she snarled at me, showing off a long, forked tongue.

"I can break more precious things than arms too", she hissed. She was a Lausenschlange. One who worked in the catering industry. That was perfect. Every person had secrets that could be used to manipulate them. From my knowledge about the Lausenschlangen's reputation of being unsanitary and Veronicas unwillingness to tell me what she was I concluded that Veronica was hiding herself from someone at her place of work.

"I can see why you would want to hide that, especially in your current profession."

Veronica changed back as I took another sip of my coffee. Her inner conflict was great to watch. I really hoped she wouldn't decide to just kill me.

"If you tell anyone..."

"Who should I not tell? Your boss? It's your boss, isn't it?"

"Oh come on, I don't want to lose my job for this."

"Then help me out."

"What if I strangle you and hide you in the bushes?" I desperately tried to keep my cool.

"Oh come on. It'll be fun. I know you'll like it."

Veronica let out a sound of frustration.

"FINE. Fine. I'll do it."

Yes.

"Good choice. Hey, what you are might even come in handy. Look at it this way, Lausenschlangen are the ones who kill, not the ones who get killed. You'll be just fine."

The defeated Veronica looked down at the ground and pulled at the grass.

"That's what Quinn said when he joined the resistance. It did not help him."