Chapter 7

In a small square in the business district, there was a donut shop called Sandy's. Inside there was a row of three shelf donut display cases, a fancy checkout counter and three dine-in tables. In the very corner there was also a vending machine that seemed to have been broken since day 1.

The vending machine had a secret, a secret that only Angels would know: hitting buttons 5-3-3-5-7 would make the vending machine rotate. Behind it there was a secret hall.

Once a gathering center for Angels during wartime, the hall had now become a bar that would serve the Angels with drinks that were a lot stronger and more exotic than those served in human bars. It also provided a place for Angels to exchange information.

The bar never had an official name, but the Angels would usually refer to it as Feathers.

It had been a long time since the last time Tamsin was here. She made an effort to avoid encounters with her former colleagues, but today she came here for info regarding the Dark Temple.

Sitting in a corner, she tried to empty her mind while sipping a "new, popular mix" that the bartender had recommended.

All she wanted was to be left alone for a moment, before she had to make an effort to get up and mingle. But, a petite, red-haired Angel apparently didn't want her to have her alone time. The woman came over and sat down at her table without being invited.

"Well, well, well, isn't this the finest warrior from Heaven." She said to Tamsin as she grinned. Her teeth sparkled and so did her narrow, green eyes.

Tamsin sighed. "Zuriel…come sit down and join me, please, and don't assume that I don't want to talk to you at all," she scoffed.

"I must say, I did not expect to see you here at all. The last time I saw you was when-"

"-I got kicked out of Heaven, yes thank you so much for reminding me of that glorious moment of mine."

"And what might have brought you here tonight?"

Tamsin gagged a little on her drink. "Thought this place would have gotten slightly better after a few decades but nope." She grimaced at her drink as she spat it back into the glass. "Seriously, whoever thought it was good idea to mix wyvern scale with pomegranate juice should be fucking hanged."

Zuriel chuckled. "Word on the street is that you are working for the Ds now."

"I have many clients, Zu." Tamsin explained with a big eye roll. "Some of them may or may not be Dddddds. Why do you care? I'm no longer on Heaven's payroll."

"Well…just want to confirm that piece of info. Have you slept with any of them?"

"I see the boring life in Silver City has turned you into a gossiping housewife," Tamsin scoffed.

Zuriel shrugged and gave her an innocent look. "Hey, just catching up."

Tamsin rolled her eyes at her again while mouthing a few cuss words.

"I heard that…the Princess of Hell hired you for a job."

Tamsin shook her head and sighed. "So?"

"What kind of job?"

"The kind that's called none of your damn business." Tamsin replied.

"Is she hot?" The other Angel leaned with great curiosity.

"I've seen hotter."

"I heard that she's a sex demon. She must be irresistible, huh?"

Tamsin let out a frustrated sighl. "If you are done gossiping, I'd like a moment alone, please and thank you."

Zuriel chuckled. "Nice seeing you, Tam."

She gave Tamsin an exaggerated wink, before she went back to her own table. There, she joined a group of Angels. The group chatted, giggling and laughing like chickadees. Some of them kept turning to look at Tamsin.

Fucking bitches. Tamsin thought.

She spent the entire night at Feathers. The Angels she had once known kept walking up to her wanting to chat, and she kept brushing them off. She eventually went to talk to a couple of old acquaintances about the Dark Temple, but didn't get anything useful.

Restless and irritated, she left the bar.

Something was bothering her and she had a fairly good idea of what it was. She wanted the job to be over, so maybe she'd have a chance to go back to her old life, or maybe, she'd have a chance for something more…

With her father's permission, Bo visited the library in Hell.

The librarian, a young witch, welcomed her with big smiles. "How may I help you today, Your Highness?"

"I'm looking for books and…everything related to the Dark Temple, or the Ghost Chapel, you know, the temple that appears out of nowhere."

"I see," the librarian led her into the back room. "Everything I have about the Dark Temple is right here."

Bo gaped at the shelf that was filled with tablets, old scrolls and books.

"Would you like to check out the entire shelf?"

"Sure…" Bo nodded hesitantly. She briefly went through a couple of scrolls and let out a smile of embarrassment. "There is just this one tiny little problem."

"And what might that be?"

"What language are these written in?"

"Mostly Demonic. Some of them are written in human languages like Latin or Arabic…"

"By any chance some of them are in, say, English?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Then, I can't read any of these," Bo admitted.

"Oh that won't be a problem at all," the librarian smiled. "Lord Bilith is an expert. I'm sure he will be thrilled to help you."

"Thrilled to help you? She and I must have very different understanding of the word thrilled." Bilith grunted when he received the task from Bo. "I was gonna review the numbers of this month's soul collecting business but oh well let's just read some boring old crap instead."

"Oh you hate reviewing the numbers," Bo pointed out. "Also I have gourmet chocolates."

The tip of Bilith's tail wiggled slightly as he stared at the box of chocolate that Bo had just placed on the table.

He let out a soft purr when Bo handed him a piece. "Oh it's liquor filled!" His golden eyes shot wide open as he savored the taste of the candy.

"How did you even survive before cocoa trees were discovered?"

"There were other sweets. Fluffy, layered pastry coated in honey, cane sugar cubes, caramel, nougat, saffron cake…." The little panther enumerated. "When it comes to discovering or inventing sweets, humans always have this great passion. I was never bored, but chocolate is just my all time favorite."

Bo watched him swallow the chocolate. Then he inched forward to the box and sat on it.

"Are you really not able to control your appetite?"

"Well I am able to. I don't want to. Why should I? I'm Bilith, great grandson of Beelzebub. Gluttony is my sin, and I happily embrace it."

"Do you like it?" Bo asked.

"I don't just like it. I love it." Bilith tossed another chocolate into her mouth.

"Not the chocolate. I meant, do you like being a Demon?"

Bilith nodded. "What's not to like?"

"I don't know. Do you ever feel that…even though everything is fun down here, you sometimes just…want something different?"

"Like what? Ice cream? Yuk no it's too cold for me. I can tolerate the chocolate flavor, though."

"No I'm not talking about desserts, Bili. I'm talking about...hell I don't know what I'm talking about."

"Is this about your dead human friend again?" Bilith grimaced.

"Why do you hate her so much?"

"I don't hate her, Bo. I don't even know her. I don't like her, nor do I dislike her. She's a human, Bo. They all die in the end. Get over it.

"Well she shouldn't have died because-"

"I know, I know. You should have been there but you weren't. You were too busy banging some hottie you picked up from the bar the night before. Had you not done that, that friend of yours could have lived. Blah blah blah. Things happen. They all leave in the end. I mean, seriously, even if she didn't die, how long would she live? Where would she be in 100 years? 200 years? What are you gonna do then?"

Bo sighed. "I can't control that, but I can make this right this time."

"Alright, fine, I knew I wouldn't be able to knock any sense into that half human brain of yours," Bilith murmured. "Enough of the human talk. Where do I start with all this reading material?"

"Maybe just chronically?"

"Chronically it is…" Bilith murmured as he started with a clay tablet.

Tamsin's night at Feathers was not fruitful. Instead of heading back to her place, she stopped by the church by the railroad first.

"Tamsin, I hope you have brought something useful this time."

"Then you should hope for something else. Try world peace," Tamsin replied. "Did some digging. No one knows much about the Dark Temple."

"We have some info regarding your stalker," the man told her.

"What have you got?"

"Your stalker might be a Demon."

"I thought you said it wasn't one of your goons."

"Not one of ours. It might be one of his loyal pests."

"The King of Hell sent someone to spy on me? Why?"

"Isn't it obvious? You work for his daughter, and he probably wants to make sure that you are doing your job right."

Tamsin rolled her eyes. "Can't catch a fucking break, can I?"

"You need not to worry about being eavesdropped when meeting here. This place is protected by strong spells. Any conversation taking place inside this church can not be seen or heard by anyone but us."

"Suuuure," Tamsin drawled while rolling her eyes. Feeling restless, she decided to end the conversation and head home for the night.

Bo found herself walking in thick fog. There was nothing else but the fog. She couldn't see, hear or even sense anything.

For hours she walked. She thought she'd find a way out, but there was no way out. Anywhere she went, it was just the fog.

Exhausted, she stopped, thinking she'd take a break.

The moment she had sat down, she discovered that there was no ground, or any kind of solid surface, beneath her.

She started to fall. Even her screams were silent.

The next thing she saw was a lit brazier with pale flames.

The Dark Temple! She thought as she struggled to stand on her feet.

She was in the crypt again. In front of her was the half opened casket.

The Book of the Dead! Bo reminded herself as she ran to the casket and tried to remember all the things inscribed on and inside the casket.

The more she had read, the more she wanted to understand. The paintings, the vignettes, the texts…the entire world started to spin around her.

She was awakened again by the pungent smell of sulfur. The dark sky was burning, and the land was engulfed by flames.

"You'll never have it!" Someone bit those words out.

Through the roaring flames, she saw a figure. A woman. She was on the ground, weak and injured. She had her left arm reached out, like she was casting a spell. In her right arm she clutched something dearly to her chest.

Someone else said something to her with a low voice. Bo couldn't hear a single word, but she sensed the tone. It was arrogant and venomous.

The land shook, and the sky fell. Bo wanted to see how that woman was doing, but she couldn't see a thing through the sea of flames.

Suddenly, a ray of light burst out. Through the light born three things: a black raven, a scarlet salamander, and a pale horse.

The raven beated its wings and soared towards the furthest corner of the sky, the only corner that had not yet been devoured by the fire. Something flickered around its right foot, before it disappeared with the bird.

The salamander, with the size of a pencil, shot into the dark river like a dart, and swam away. It was carrying something in its mouth, something shiny with two pointy tips. Before Bo could see what it was, the salamander was gone.

The horse jumped over the fire and raced forward. It was carrying someone on its back. The blazing flame chased after it. Just when Bo thought the horse was about to get trapped, it leaped into the darkness and disappeared.

The world crumbled around her. The heat was strangling her. She had nowhere to run.

"...Bo, Bo…" she heard someone's voice, but who was it?

"Bo!" That voice got louder. She felt something hitting her face, something small, furry and soft.

Bo! Wake up! Bilith's telepathic voice suddenly invaded her brain.

With a loud gasp, Bo's eyes shot open.

The first thing she noticed was the ring she was wearing. It had risen into the air and it was turning on its own like a wheel while clattering against the chain.

"Wow…" Bo murmured as she put her fingers around it. The moment she touched it, it fell into her hand and stopped moving. "What…happened?"

"You fell asleep, and then you…opened your eyes, but they were all dark," Bilith described. "I tried to wake you up but you wouldn't. Then, that stupid ring of yours started to buzz like a bee."

"My eyes went dark…?" Bo murmured absentmindedly. "I…I think I had a dream that I…I was in that crypt again."

"The crypt in the Dark Temple?"

"Yeah, I saw the casket, and I tried to remember the-" Bo stopped herself abruptly before "the Book of the Dead" came out from her mouth.

The Book of the Dead? Bilith eyed her. Then he rolled his eyes. Please, Bo, probably everyone in Hell knows that he's looking for it by now.

Okay. Yeah, I tried to remember the content of it, but then I was sent to a…place that was burning.

Bo described everything that she had seen to him telepathically, and her little feline friend took heed. He didn't ask a single question, nor did he put his paws on another piece of chocolate. When Bo had finished, he said, "while you were asleep, I found something."

"Do tell."

Not here. Take me to that hideout you've told me about. That shack you and your human friend shared.

"This is the place you call home? Pigs have lived in better places than this!" Bilith commented after he entered the crack shack - an abandoned building in the now deserted industrial area that Bo and her friend had shared, where every piece of furniture inside seemed to have been hauled from a junkyard.

Then, the vending machine in the corner of the kitchen caught his eye. He jumped, and landed on the couch, then on the kitchen counter, then in front of the vending machine. "Kitkat bar!" He exclaimed. "I need a dollar, Bo!"

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Bo grunted as she opened the front door of the vending machine and handed him a Kitkat bar. He sat there and continued his stare. She sighed in defeat and handed him another. "Alright, let's talk about this great finding of yours."

She sat down on the couch and patted the cushion beside her. "Come."

Bilith came to lay beside her. He inhaled one Kitkat bar and licked his paws, before he said, "I was reading the things you checked out from the library. Then, I went to the library myself and checked out more stuff. I found something that's very interesting."

He devoured his second Kitkat bar, and continued, "the Dark Temple actually exists."

"Yeah of course it does. I went inside, remember?"

"No, I'm not talking about the ghost structure that lured you in. I'm talking about an actual temple that was called the Dark Temple."

"Like an actual building that does not appear and disappear randomly."

"Mhm," the little panther nodded. "I found some whispers on a couple of Hittite tablets."

"What kind of whispers?"

"They were talking about some ancient myth about an underworld structure, or being. It was denoted by a symbol, an asterisk inside a winged circle."

"Okay, and?"

"Then, I found a painting on a very tattered papyrus that sort of explained what that symbol represented."

He put his left front paw on Bo's forehead. "Here, have a look."

A faded painting flashed in Bo's mind. It was the front of a small temple, two trapezoid walls, one on each side of the entrance. The entrance was constructed with two pillars, whose tops were carved into lotuses. Right above the entrance, there was a pair of opened wings. In the center of the wings, there was a face with closed eyes. The two trapezoid walls had painted figures and inscriptions.

"This…looks exactly like what I have seen!" Bo exclaimed. "I mean, the one I saw was more abandoned, rundown, but they are the same structure for sure!"

"According to the papyrus, this temple was visited by an ancient Egyptian priest. Supposedly, during an astral projection ritual, he, or his soul, whichever, traveled to the underworld. He met the underworld Gods and the souls of the deceased. On his journey, he came across this temple which he described as dark and primordial."

"Okay?"

"He claimed that in this temple resided the Great Deep."

"The Great Deep? What the hell is that?"

"The papyrus text literally said the Great Deep, and that was it. I did a lot more digging and found a rubbing from some coffin texts so ancient that-well anyway, in there the Great Deep was mentioned as well. Also mentioned was another name for it."

"What is it?"

"I think the closest and most appropriate translation would be: the Abyss."

Bo frowned at the name. Then, her eyes shot wide open. "The abyss is thy name…" she muttered, reciting the content that Tamsin had translated to her.

"What did you just say?" Bilith narrowed his eyes on her.

"The Abyss is thy name," Bo repeated. "It was a…a sentence from the Book of the Dead."

"How would you know that it was from the Book of the Dead?"

"I..ummm…someone read it to me and I just remembered."

The little panther frowned at her a little, but quickly shook his head. "Oh, okay, alright, interesting…this Abyss thing aside, my point is that everything I've found that had mentioned the Dark Temple was from more than 2000 years ago."

"Wait, I thought the first sightings of the Dark Temple only started during the war?"

"Yes, the sightings, meaning the ghost one. The real one has existed for thousands of years apparently."

"They have to be the same thing, right? I mean, they do look the same," Bo said. "Does that papyrus say where it is?"

"Yeah, did you not listen? It was in the underworld."

"Like…Hell?" Bo frowned hard. "You think the actual Dark Temple is in Hell?"

Bilith sighed. "The underworld doesn't necessarily mean Hell. The underworld is a concept that…is as old as time itself. It's where all souls would go after the mortals die, but Hell is just a place where they get tortured and punished."

"I don't quite follow…are you saying that…Hell is just a part of the underworld?"

"Exactly. The City of Damned, the four rivers, and some dungeons and wasteland, that's Hell. But, there are massive, massive dark places beyond those areas. Dark places that no Demons have ever set foot in."

"Why not? Are those places dangerous or something?"

"No, I mean, I wouldn't know. To go to those places, you would need a soul. Demons don't have souls, so…."

"Gotcha," Bo nodded. She pondered a while in silence, before she concluded, "it would totally make sense that the real Dark Temple would be in one of those dark corners. We should definitely investigate."

"Hold on, Bo," Bilith put his paw on her hand. "All this is from a faded papyrus painting and a few lines of texts from a broken tablet. We don't know why its ghost form is suddenly haunting places. We don't know if it possesses the same level of dark energy as its ghost form. We don't even know what this…this Abyss thing is."

"We'll just have to be very careful."

"No, Bo. We are not going to look for it until I find out more about it. Promise me you won't go by yourself."

"Okay, okay, I won't, but you promise me that you'll tell me everything you know once you know more?"

"Deal," the little panther put his front right paw in her hand and patted her palm once.

A/N: The references of the Great Deep and the Abyss are actually from the Book of the Dead, though in this fic they will probably be things that are very different from the originals. The symbol of an asterisk inside a circle was a symbol that presented Duat (the realm of the dead in ancient Egyptian mythology). I borrowed it and added a pair of wings because...well, it will be explained later.