Chapter 17: Bandai American Horror Story
[scene: A stone tunnel, built into the cliffs. There is lighting built directly into the walls activated by motion sensors.]
Zoi: So, do you come into town much?
Demande: Not if I can help it.
Zoi: A bit of a feud with the locals?
Demande: [looks surprised then give Zoi a smile] Now why would you ask me such a thing?
Zoi: I've heard a rumor that Dr. Metalia and her family are forbidden from coming to Blackmoon Cove. I wondered if maybe there was some bad blood between you.
Demande: Metalia is welcome to come here as much as she wants. It's her children that have to stay away.
Zoi: Why is that?
Demande: I'm not supposed to say anything about that.
Zoi: I can keep a secret. [Gives Demande one of his patented kawaiiI looks]
[Demande raises one eyebrow and smirks]
Demande: I really shouldn't say anything about that, but once you see how amazing the grotto is you won't remember anything about this conversation anyway. Do you like scary stories?
Zoi: Sure.
Demande: Do you know where my people came from? I mean originally?
Zoi: Not really.
Demand: As you are no doubt aware, most people believe there are nine planets in our solar system. There was actually a tenth planet. That was where my people originally came from. It was called Nemesis.
Zoi: So you're saying you're a space alien?
Demande: Something like that. Though my people colonized this city while your ancestors were still living in trees, so I'd say I'm more of a native than you are. Before that, Nemesis was ruled by a lesser god of chaos called the Death Phantom. When the planet broke into pieces, the Death Phantom gathered his most devout worshipers and brought them to this planet, at the invitation of the Chaos Goddess Metalia.
Zoi: The goddess's name was Metalia?
Demande: [nods] My people were told they could depend upon her mercy. Metalia had no mercy. She invited us as guests, but then gave us away as slaves and pets to her
children. Metalia's children were cruel beyond measure. They had been handpicked for their savagery by Metalia herself from the several extinct races of mankind that existed before recorded history, and she imbued them with her dark powers. The daughter's name was Beryl. She was to serve as Metalia's oracle. The sons were Kunzite, Tanzanite, Nephrite, and Jadeite.
[Zoi smiles. Now he knows Demand is just messing with him.]
Demande: They were her generals, and were known in some parts as the Four Horsemen. All five were coldblooded killers. They killed for food, they killed for sport. They killed out of rage, they killed out of boredom. Often they killed just to pass the time.
The children of Metalia are murderous, even to their own kind. Tanzanite was Metalia's favorite, so the others, led by Kunzite, found a way to tear him apart in their jealousy. She made countless attempts to create another son to replace Tanzanite, but each of those newborns were culled by the others before they could reach their full potential.
In time, word of Metalia's reign of terror reached beyond this world, and a White Queen of Order arrived from the heavens to eliminate Metalia and her children. My ancestors saw their chance to win their freedom. We offered this queen whatever assistance she requested, and she took my people under her protection.
She gave us all the moon mark you see on our foreheads. It appears at birth on all pureblooded children of Nemesis and was intended to protect us from Metalia and her children. My people gladly threw off the yokes of our enslavers, and helped their enemies in any way we could.
[Demande sighs dramatically]
Demande: However, my people quickly learned that this White Queen was arrogant. For all her talk of love, mercy, beauty, and goodness, she looked upon my people with repugnance and disdain. She told us to assimilate and adopt the customs of her own people. We could not. We worshiped death, and we were tainted by chaos. She forbade polygamy, adultery, and incest. We required it. Procreation had to be between siblings and cousins in order to keep our bloodlines pure.
Hence, it quickly became clear to everyone there was no room for abominations like us in her perfect Utopia. She treated us worse than outcasts, declaring that the old ways made us outlaws, and therefore barring us from her palaces, refusing our rights to employment and property, and denying us charity in the hopes our bloodlines would die and we'd simply become extinct.
My ancestors soon learned it is easier to live as slaves than as untouchables. They broke their oaths and went back to Metalia. They betrayed the White Queen, allowing her to be defeated and killed. When the White Queen died, the moon on our foreheads turned black and served no purpose except as a mark of our treachery against the White Queen we are to bear for all times.
Legend has it Metalia surprised my people by showing them her favor at last. After all, she is a goddess of chaos, and the conduct of my people was chaotic in the extreme. She adopted my people as her stepchildren and rewarded our double-dealing by reactivating the White Queen's protection spells against her own children, and by giving us this land as our sanctuary.
So, you see, there is a covenant in place. So long as we do not knowingly and willfully attack one of Metalia's children, they can never attack us, and not a one of them can step foot in Blackmoon Cove, not as long as there is even a single full-blooded member of the Black Moon clan still living.
Zoi: I suppose now you're going to tell me the O'Sama family members are also direct descendants of the characters in this story?
Demande: No, they are the same ones.
[Zoi swallows hard]
Demande: [smiles] You have goosebumps.
Zoi: You're a good storyteller.
Demande: Pretty crazy stuff, though isn't it? [gives Zoi a sly wink] See why my father doesn't want me to tell anyone?
Zoi: [gives him a sly smile right back] Don't worry, I won't give you away.
Demande: [chuckles] I think I violated a treaty.
Zoi: [winks] I'll take it to the grave.
Demande: Oh yes you will.
[Zoi's smile vanishes and he shivers with sudden anxiety.]
Demande: So you must think we're a bunch of crazy cult members now? [his words are playful, but his tone is ominous]
Zoi: [swallows to keep the fear from his voice] No, I think you are good at telling scary stories though. See, I still have goosebumps.
Demande: [strokes his arm] Very nice.
[Zoi didn't care for that, but they've finally reached to door to the grotto. There is another retina scanner which flashes across Demande's eyes before the door opens with a clang.]
Demande: Beyond lies Shangri-La. [opens the door just enough to allow Zoi to squeeze in] Prepare to have your mind blown.
[Zoi steps in and his eyes go wide with horror]
Zoi: What the hell is this?
[The grotto is not at all as anyone has described it to him. There is a mineral spring, that much is true, as a murky bubbling pool about ten feet in diameter occupies the center of the chamber. The rest of it is a dank cave, about twenty by twenty, with a single casement window with iron bars blocking it as an exit. Off in one corner is a yoga mat on top of an air mattress, with a roll of condoms and a jug of lube next to it. But that's not even as alarming as the only other piece of furniture in the opposite corner. Namely a kingsize bed surrounded by video equipment.]
[Zoi turns to leave, but Demande closes the door behind them with a clang.]
Demande: "Welcome to my parlor," said the spider to the fly.