Chapter 18: The Teatime
An Ars Goetia like Stolas can confirm to all the younger readers out there that it is impossible for the planets to align. It was basic mumbo-jumbo invented by zodiac hooligans and animation show directors seeking juicy deadlines for their fictional characters.
However, he'd tell you that just because the scientific forces of planetary gravity would never align didn't mean that the same applied for the celestial.
Heaven and Hell celestial. Not the obvious outer space stuff.
Every Thursday morning, Stolas Goetia had a routine during which he'd go to his mansion's roof garden and observe the universe from his telescope. Keeping track of stellar body movements was essential. However, on that particular Thursday, he was very confused by what he had seen in his telescope. He wound up spending a quarter of his day in his office, rechecking lunar and solar charts, eclipse predictions, and the Ars Goetia census. His suspicions were confirmed when he received a text group chat on his Hellphone from other Ars Goetia nobility: Knight Forcas Goetia, Presidents Morax and Amy Goetia, and Marquis Orias Goetia. All four had studied the stars like Stolas did and were summoning a gathering following Extermination Day.
Stolas consulted the cuckoo clock in his office. 4pm ticked with hooting sounds and a wooden owl hooted out of the clock like an annoying parrot. "4 o'clock! Teatime in a half hour! Hoot! Hoot! Don't forget the guest!"
"Goodness! I nearly forgot!" Stolas rushed out of his office. Servants were running around crazily, readjusting the potted plants (while keeping his carnivorous ones at a great distance), polished the windows, and gave the mansion a serious dusting. The dining room was all set for tea, but Stolas was surprised by the large speedwell and purple roses bouquet and the vast assortment of sweet treats laid out on the table. The Egyptian beetle lace tablecloth with matching napkins had been pulled out, along with an indigo-colored tea set.
Indigo, Stolas thought. Of course.
As he walked towards Via's room, he could hear the crashing sounds coming from it from the end of the hallway. Fearful that his daughter might have injured himself, Stolas stepped into the room without knocking. The curtains were drawn open, letting Hell's sunlight reveal the mess that Via was causing from rummaging through her closet in a panic.
"Not this, no!" Octavia tossed a pair of shoes out of her closet. More followed. "No, no, Hell no, and insanely no!"
"Via? Is everything all right?" Stolas asked.
Octavia stepped out of the closet, finally having decided which black boots to wear. She wore her usual black shawl on, but underneath it was a dark magenta empire waist dress with a faint, but subtle pattern of zodiac constellations. Her feathery hair had been brushed so many times, they nearly resembled a comet's tail. Stolas blinked in surprise at how much effort Octavia was putting into her appearance for this one teatime. She never bothered to put on a nice princess dress whenever her mother told her to!
"I'm fine, Dad! Where's my jewelry box? Oh, right!" Octavia searched through her belongings' box resting by her bed and pulled out a black jewelry box with a silver asteroid lock.
"Why don't you wear that stainless steel Jupiter match set that you bought from Stylish Occult during the Harvest Moon?" Stolas suggested before smirking. "Might impress your girlfriend."
Stolas could have sworn he heard cracking sounds when his daughter's grip on her jewelry box tightened. Octavia shook her head and picked out the matching jewelry set her father had suggested.
"Via… why are you nervous? I thought you were excited about your friend coming over for tea," Stolas said, helping clasp the Jupiter-pendant necklace over his daughter's neck while she put on the earrings.
"THAT'S why I'm worried!" Via exclaimed. "I never had a friend over! I don't know what to expect!"
Stolas sighed. Yet another thing that damaged Octavia's homelife. With Stella's grip on maintaining Ars Goetia traditions, she always micro-managed the guest list. Non-Goetia were never invited and Octavia had always been surrounded by other wealthy royalties (and what her mother hoped to be potential in-laws). She wouldn't even let Octavia invite anyone from her old finishing school for her birthday parties and had her switch to homeschooling under the pretense that the school was raising 'wannabe nouveau riche Overlords'. Now with the joint custody, Stella could drag Octavia wherever she wanted on the weekends. Apparently, Octavia had befriended Blitz's adoptive daughter Loona, but due to the… current complications, Octavia respected the Hellhound's desire of hanging out anywhere but the Goetia mansion.
So quite frankly, until Indigo Caligo stepped in, Octavia only had one friend. Without friends and her parents now separated, Octavia was getting lonely. Could anyone blame Stolas for encouraging Octavia to invite the sinner over? Besides, it was cute, seeing his daughter trying to hide her fluster around the butterfly.
It made him miss Blitz…
Stolas shook his head. As Octavia put on her last jewelry, he gave her a small hug from behind. "Don't worry too much about it, my owlet. Your friend seemed like such a sweetheart…"
"She is!" Octavia quickly said.
"And she seems to like you as you are… Just relax, be yourself, have a good time, and don't do anything I wouldn't do!"
"Make nonstop comments about your interests in that dickhead before things eventually go south?" Octavia's blunt question caused Stolas to lose his smile. Octavia broke the hug to look at her father. "Dad, what's going on? Things were already ugly before, but now…" She hesitated.
"Now what, Via?" Stolas asked calmly.
"Well, you haven't seen Loona's dad since October… You don't post about your full moon shit on Voxtagram… And Loona said you left your grimoire to IMP permanently." Stolas scowled at that last comment. Clearly the secret of the family grimoire being in the custody of imps wasn't something he wanted her to know. Well, then there was the secret within the secret.
"I provided them a replica of my grimoire," Stolas said quietly. "The real one is still in my office. I…"
A sudden chill in the castle alerted them of a presence. The family rushed out of Via's room to the grand staircase leading to the front door. The foyer was coated in icy snowflakes as a walking icicle peacock spun around.
Great, Stolas grumbled mentally. Stella's obnoxious brother. I forgot he likes to crash my Thursday teatime.
"I am HERE!" Marquis Andrealphus, Hell's biggest mathematic know-it-all bourgeois, proclaimed in such a spectacle.
"Uncle Andre…" Octavia chuckled nervously.
"Andrealphus… How nice to see you. If only you were invited…" Stolas put on a sour smile as he went to shake hands with his brother-in-law. The handshake was rapid, since mere physical contact with the ice peacock could lead to frostbite.
"I know!" Andrealphus chuckled. He then went to gush over Octavia, cupping her cheeks in his hands. "Just came to do a surprise! I know my desperate sis wants to play the big girl with the guest lists, but now that she isn't around, we can talk more about how to give my favorite niece an ULTIMATE birthday party!"
"Uh, Uncle…" Octavia pushed her uncle away. "You REALLY should have come another time… WITH WARNING… about that…"
"What Via means, Andre," Stolas said sourly, "is that we are expecting Octavia's new friend over for tea. And your unexpected arrival might be…"
Ding-dong.
"…inconvenient," Stolas sighed.
Andrealphus sniffed the air. "A sinner at the door."
"Oh, she's here!" Octavia ran for the door.
"Good Heavens…" Stolas groaned. There was no way that he could deal with both his peacock of a brother-in-law AND his daughter's friend in his house.
Octavia burst the doors open. Indigo Caligo stood before them, cake box and speedwell bouquet in hand. She had dressed really well for the event: a dark blue surplice blouse with pink lace patterns of butterflies, a black wool cardigan, blue pants with a butterfly-clasped belt, and black flats. Her hair was twisted into a ponytail, causing her loose curls to resemble a waterfall behind her. Speedwells and alliums were cautiously inserted into her ponytails' twists to create two lines resembling butterfly antennae.
"H… Hi! Indigo… Hi…" Octavia stammered before extending her arm. "Welcome!"
"I'm sorry for being a second late. Mister Alastor said I had to be fashionably late…" Indigo stepped inside the foyer. "Thank you for having me over. I felt awkward not thanking in advance for your hospitality… so I brought you a homemade frangipane galette." The butterfly demoness showed Octavia the cake box. "You said you liked rhubarb…"
Octavia curiously pried the box's lid open. The galette's aroma caused all the avian demons to react to the delicious smell. Andrealphus leaned in and whispered to Stolas.
"Looks like your daughter has better tastes than you."
Stolas hissed at him. Andrealphus merely chuckled and straightened his blue furred collar. Stolas decided to ignore him and walked to the girls. "Indigo Caligo, how nice to see you again!" He kindly tipped his hat and bowed. "Welcome to our humble dwelling!"
Indigo Caligo gave a small curtsy. "Hello… Your Highness…"
"Oh, skip the formalities! Call me Stolas!" Stolas chuckled and marveled at the speedwell bouquet. "What a lovely assortment of Veronica!"
"Yes, they're grown in the hotel garden… They're simple… not really a big deal… but, you know, I didn't want to be ungrateful to your hospitality!" The small demoness stammered.
"Simple? They're lovely!" Stolas took the bouquet, gently caressing the speedwells with his fingertips. "Any good gardener is welcome in my eyes. Why, these will look lovely with the silver vase for our dining room!"
Andrealphus cleared his throat, gaining his attention.
"Oh, right." Octavia did the presentations. "Indigo, that's my uncle."
"Andrealphus Goetia!" Andrealphus boastfully raised his arms, the tip of his frosty robes agitating like peacock feathers. "Great Marquis of thirty Hellish armies and master of all things mathematical! Please, no autographs!" He stared at them, expecting an applause. Stolas and Octavia just groaned in exasperation… and Indigo just looked confused.
"Uh… is it ask why your uncle is a peacock?" Indigo quietly asked Octavia. "I thought your mom was a swan."
"Hell's a fucking zoo." Octavia shook her head.
Minutes later
The group made their way to the dining room. The imp butler brought over a silver vase for Stolas to place the speedwells in. Octavia pulled a chair for Indigo to sit on.
"Comfy?" Octavia asked.
"Yes…" Indigo patted the golden chair's purple cushioning. "I feel puny…"
Octavia nodded in understanding and sat down next to her. Andrealphus sat across from them.
"Before proceeding with the festivities, I have an important announcement to make." Stolas clasped his hands. "An eclipse is upon us."
"Oh no, an eclipse!" Andrealphus sarcastically waved his hands. "If I had a soul for all the times I could care less of eclipses!"
"I didn't know that Hell experienced eclipses," Indigo admitted. "But… That pentagram… moon… sun… THING on the sky always confused me."
"The Aerial Pentagram functions as both the sun and moon. In a way, it's an eternal lunar eclipse." Stolas straightened his collar. "But we are going to experience a Celestial Eclipse!"
The others didn't react in the same enthusiasm as his squealing excitement. "Oh, why must I explain everything?"
Stolas waved his hand in a semi-circular form, his claws glowing in purple, starry mist. The tiles of the mosaic dome above his dining room shifted and flipped, changing colors and dimensions. Soon enough, the living universe was moving over their heads. But rather than showing all the planets and galaxies, the dome showed three celestial bodies: a flat circular world of seven rainbow layers, Earth, and a mountainous mass of pastel-colored clouds with a halo-shaped silver sun.
"Behold! Hell, Earth, and Heaven themselves! In a matter of time, the stars and orbits of those dimension will face a formation known as the Celestial Eclipse." Stolas' eyes glowed as the dome's visuals shifted. At the top, Heaven's halo sun (which now looked more like an annular solar eclipse) was above the eternal lunar eclipse of Hell while on the left and right, Earth's sun and moon created a lunar eclipse. The formation created a crucifix outline, but the outline uniting the dimensions in the same line seemed to also show a sketched imagine of a chained entity. "On the day of the Celestial Eclipse, the bonds separating Hell, Earth, and Heaven will be broken."
"An eclipse that powerful?" Octavia asked. "That's not good."
"I'm very confused," Indigo said.
"You know how they say that Heaven and Hell are in Earth's sky and underground respectively? Well, they're not wrong, but the catch is that Heaven and Hell are in their own dimensions within the proclaimed environments. When sinners die, they don't just fall underground. They land in Hell, a dimension found within Earth, but it's still a dimension of its."
"Not like those Hollow Earth theories," Indigo guessed.
Octavia nodded. "Same thing for Heaven. But the bonds ensure that demons, humans, and angels live separately from one another. Unless you own authorized portal transportation, the only way you can travel between dimensions would be if a human died, either descending as a sinner or ascending as an angel."
"Or angels falling following a fall-out!" Andrealphus added in.
The room suddenly darkened. Stolas' red eyes were the only things glowing ominously. "Yes… But take warning. A Celestial Eclipse occurred only once, millenniums ago, during the final years of the Great Flood! Depending on the ancient prophecies collected by the ancient Ars Goetia, this eclipse might bring forth THE MOST CATASTROPHIC EVENT HELL MIGHT EVER WITNESS BEFORE ITS COMPLETE ANNIHILATION!" Thunder boomed indoors. Everything seemed to be bloody as Stolas briefly turned into a monstrous bird-bear beast of shadows and red highlights. Then everything went back to its original, purple coloring and Stolas went into his default mode. He held up the tea kettle. "Indigo, what tea flavor would you like best? Everything's homemade, but I do take pride in my Vengeful Roselle mixture! Blood-tipped hibiscus, freshly squeezed cranberry, and a TEENY TINY pinch of lime zest."
"May I try the hibiscus, please?" Indigo asked. The demonic prince kindly poured her some tea.
A beeping sound echoed and Andrealphus took out his Hellphone.
"Are you serious, Andre? Are you just going to crash into our teatime just for a phone call?" Stolas scowled while Octavia showed Indigo the plate of mini berry tarts.
"Aw, come on! It's my live update of HOUNDS!" Andrealphus squealed, checking his phone. "Ooh! Overlord scandal on the Lust Sector!"
Quickly won over, Stolas snapped his fingers. The dome flipped the universe away and popped open. A wide screen TV lowered itself and immediately turned on. "Who doesn't love a good police brutality show?" Stolas chuckled.
"Uh… right…" Indigo chuckled awkwardly.
Rock music played as the bold, gold logo of HOUNDS appeared, complete with a howling hound in the H.
Tonight… on HOUNDS!
The live footage featured what was obvious the Pride Ring's Lust Sector: red light districts with anything from strip clubs to Moulin Rouge ripoff clubs, dark sea blue clouds in the red sky, and visible posters of Verosika Mayday and Angel Dust coating all the sidewalks. Hellhounds in red-colored ballistic uniforms bearing the royal sigil (which Indigo recognized from the hotel wallpapers) were on a mad chase after some rapid red limousine.
We got 3 Os exceeding the acceptable exceeded speed limit on Libido Lane! Caution, they're Class 5 on the O-list! Violation of Section 5.5.666.
The television showed dozens of Hellhounds pouncing on the limousine before causing it to flip over. Their claws ripped the doors open and forced out three demons.
"Goodness," Andrealphus said mockingly. "The Three Vs."
Indigo sat in her seat stiffly. Octavia glanced at her in concern. On the TV, Valentino was beating up some Hellhounds before finally being pinned down on the ground.
YOU FUCKERS! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO THE HELL I AM? Valentino screamed.
You violated Section 5.5.666! Keep your hands down if you don't want us to rip your dick on probation! A Hellhound screamed.
"What's a Section 5.5.666 again?" Octavia asked.
"An Overlord Policy in the Overlord Protocols that Lucifer provides to any demon ascending to an Overlord Status." Stolas sipped his tea.
"Valentino tried to snare one of Asmodeus' indentured servants into his Porn Studios staff?" Andrealphus took a bite out of a scone. "Oh dear… Valentino is doomed… until he does something with those atrocious zebra stripes!"
The narration resumed.
Will the moth escape the wrath of the fiery fury of Lust? Why the fuck is the TV so manipulative?
"Look, I'm a fan of Lucifer's police brutality best-shower like any sadist, but you're wasting your time!" Vox shouted as Hellhounds handcuffed him. "We're just helping Valentino scout for new talents for the studios! We didn't know that succubus worked for Asmodeus!"
"Don't listen to that fucker, Nova! The succubus told us that she told them, and they told her that they didn't believe her!"
As Vox groaned in defeat, Velvet was having a bite-off with some Hellhounds. One bit her on the leg and three others restrained her by pulling her pigtails while a fourth Hellhound cuffed her up.
"I WILL RUIN YOUR SOCIAL LIFE!" Velvet screamed hysterically. "I WILL RATE YOUR FUCKING SECOND-RATED P.B KINDERGARTEN SHOW, YOUR MOTHERS WILL BE ASHAMED THEY KEPT YOUR LITTER ALIVE!"
A fifth Hellhound pulled out a plastic bag behind Velvet's skirt and suspiciously sniffed it. "This doll demon has Gorgon Crack. They're violating Section 5.5.666 AND she's consuming a SDSO drugs!"
Watch more of this episode tonight and find out what happens to three Overlords when they don't respect their places AND consume drugs excluded from the permitted drugs! Tonight at 8, on HOUNDS! And now, a sneak peak of tomorrow's newest episode of IT'S DAHM GOOD! Chef Jeffrey will share us his secret for lamb demon sweetbread…
Once Stolas snapped his fingers, the TV going upward. Once the dome tiles shifted, they now had changing visuals of the different skies in the Pride Ring. "Well, I've indulged you long enough, Andre…" Stolas shook his head and sipped his tea. "So, how is Charlotte doing at the hotel, Indigo?"
Indigo blinked, struggling to digest what she had just seen. Besides finally getting a clear picture of the Three Vs that put most demons she knew on edge, she was still shaken by the sight of police brutality encouragement. Obviously, this was Hell, but still…
"Miss Charlie's doing well." Indigo cleared her throat. "With the garden completed, she…"
Andrealphus' chill-waving laughter caused her to stop talking. While Octavia and Stolas ruffled their feathers from the cold, Indigo didn't flinch.
"Oh, you can't be serious!" The cold peacock marquis laughed. "YOU, a patron at the princess' naïve Z-rated project? Or an unpaid staff member?"
Then Indigo remembered his special skills as a marquis. A big grin appeared on her face. "You're right," she shrugged and took a cucumber sandwich. "The place is very asymmetrical. No perfect angles, no triangulation…"
Andrealphus' cheeks suddenly got a shade of green, clashing with his pale skin. He calmly got up and excused himself to go to the bathroom. Ten minutes later, barfing sounds were echoing in the mansion. Stolas and Octavia sighed in relief and pursued with their teatime.
"So, the garden's done?" Octavia asked.
Indigo nodded. "We're aiming on doing an opening garden party on the 21st. Queenie and Rosie helped us narrow down some ideas for potential guests." She tapped her fingers nervously against her teacup. "I… wasn't exactly sure if, you know… would be interested in joining us?"
"Oh, but my dear, Octavia and I would be thrilled!" Stolas' eyes beamed. "Though mind you, we don't believe in redemption, but I am ALWAYS up for a good garden party!"
"When was the last time you even went to a garden party, Dad?" Octavia asked skeptically.
"June, actually. It was that Wednesday when I had that meeting with Orias about the Hellish Eclipse, remember?" Stolas filled himself a cup of tea with a chamomile tea bag. Imp servants cleared away the empty platters.
"How exactly is a Hellish Eclipse separate from the Celestial Eclipse you brough up earlier?" Indigo asked.
"Very simple." Stolas used his fingers to create a crucifix. "Hell's eternal lunar eclipse and Heaven's eternal halo sun are opposites of one another if you use Earth as the center point. Never moving." He then stopped doing the crucifix sign and put his right index on top of his left one, tilting the upper finger to a small angle. "But if Heaven and Hell's celestial bodies never move, those of Earth will constantly change…"
Butterflies suddenly escaped out of the guest's hair. "Oh, I get it now! Hellish and Heavenly Eclipses only occur depending on Earth's moon's position from the sun! If the Celestial Eclipse occurs with Earth's lunar eclipse having 90 degrees of difference between Heaven's halo sun and Hell's eternal lunar eclipse, based on what you just showed with your fingers, that means that Hellish and Heavenly Eclipses occur based on the full and new moons!" Indigo paused. "That would almost seem too impossible, but I'm literally in Hell, so, WOW!"
Stolas smiled fondly at his daughter. "A really talented friend you got yourself, Octavia…"
Octavia blushed in embarrassment. As the servants cleared everything, the group started strolling the mansion, with Andrealphus following in after his… bathroom fiasco.
"So, what usually happens during such eclipses?" Indigo asked.
"It varies. Heavenly and Hellish eclipses bring certain outcomes to angels and demons respectively." Stolas opened the door to the courtyard.
"I'll never forget the Hellish Eclipse of 1790," Andrealphus sighed. "So many sinners cascading to Hell following the French Revolution…"
"Well, we did get the prophecy that the eclipse would multiply the overpopulation. That was one bloody extermination," Stolas acknowledged.
"I hated the Heavenly Eclipse of last year. Climate change…" Andrealphus gagged. "Who cares if the atmosphere gets cleaner from people giving more of a fuck about a pandemic?"
Indigo glanced at Octavia with a questioning glance. Octavia gave her a shrug that basically screamed 'That's my life.'
"So, your ancestors anticipated all those eclipses and stocked up the prophecies for the due dates?" Indigo asked Stolas.
"Naturally… Well, not quite." Stolas tended to a thorny bush of roses. "The prophecies were foretold by divine prophets and sealed in a manuscript for the first Goetia before Lucifer's family overpowered the pagan cultures. However, since the book can't be opened without the presence of the prophets or their families, the descendants guard the manuscript on Earth, continuously changing locations so that interested parties besides us may not find. This coming February, some fellow Goetia nobles and I will go to Earth to acquire the manuscript from the current descendant."
"When was the last time you had to read the book?" Andrealphus asked.
"May 2019. Don't worry. Tiresias' descendants still hold the manuscript in her basement in Salem."
Indigo grimaced. "Huh, you sure it's still there?" She asked as Stolas finally stopped focusing on his flowers. "I don't want to jump into conclusions onto something I'm not familiar with, but humans aren't the best at keeping their stuff…"
The imp butler came running in, literally carrying an old-fashioned telephone on a silver platter. Stolas excused himself to answer it.
"Why worry over a silly book, little sinner?" Andrealphus questioned.
"Little sinner me grew up with a bookstore owner for a father," Indigo responded sarcastically. "With so many people with their noses on digital magazines and fanfics, at least 49 percent of all the books he sold were hand-me-down. No longer needed schoolbooks, fiction stories you haven't read since middle school, and hardcovers passed down by your parents, you accidentally gave it away to make room for the latest best-selling series."
A shockwave of heat rippled out of Stolas. All of the palace flowers burst into flames, the potted carnivorous plants hissed in fury, and the trees and shrubs strangled any bird or hellish vermin that happened to be nearby. Stolas crushed the phone in his fist and the imp butler ran away in fear. Andrealphus jumped into the fountain to keep himself cool. Octavia quickly grabbed Indigo, held her close, and jumped in the air. The princess kept them afloat but blushed a lot from the proximity. Once Stolas ceased the fire show, Andrealphus snapped his fingers. The burned-up garden found itself coated in snow.
"Dad? What happened?" Octavia brought Indigo on the ground.
"Indigo Caligo, out of all the mortal souls of this month, you're THE sanest…" Stolas said in a sour, angry tone. "Orias just called me. The last of the descendants no longer has the book."
"Excuse me…" Andrealphus' robes dripped as he walked out of the fountain. "Are you telling me that the mortal FUCKING LOST THE BOOK that happens to hold the prophecies collected for our ancestors? ON THE SAME DAY YOU ANNOUNCE THAT WE'RE EXPECTING AN UNUSUAL ECLIPSE?"
"Of course I am! And now, I got to leave as soon as the extermination is over to find out where it is!"
Indigo stared at Octavia. The princess gestured to follow her, sneaking past the bickering adults.
"Where do you think that big fancy book of prophecies landed?" Indigo asked Octavia as they went up the steps.
"Somewhere the Ars Goetia will probably find and kill the mortal who now possesses it," Octavia said. "Demon nobility easily kills off those that outlived their usefulness."
Meanwhile, on Earth
The fog was rising above the woods surrounding the town.
A hooded human quickly hid a package in an abandoned rabbit hole hidden under shrubs by an old pine tree. A smaller human, well-concealed from the cold, approached him.
"Did you get it?" She asked.
"The bitches from D.H.O.R.K.S made it harder to acquire," the hooded man said. "One of my associates hid among their agents to sneak the goods while they were repossessing the belongings of some lady in Salem. Connected to some 'demon' they were assaulted by, or some shit… Government conspiracy theorists are so weird."
"Weirder since they all carry Edo-period weapons… and call themselves dorks."
The hooded man just shrugged. He extended his hand, expecting to be paid. The smaller human reached under her coat.
She ducked just as the hooded human felt the bullet go behind his head. He fell to the ground, dead. Numerous humans in black suits emerged from their forest hiding spots. One of them went to the area where the dead man had hidden the package. After unwrapping the package, he presented it to the smaller human.
"A book on demonic prophecies? Are you fucking serious?" The small human exclaimed.
"Must have been important, boss," the older agent said. "These cultists felt the need of stealing it from some Satanist before the officials barged in."
The smaller human kicked him the groins, putting him in a groveling pain. She searched through her coat, pulled out a phone, and played a hijacked video.
A video showing a demon possessing human corpses to enter the human realm and using his bare hands to summon a portal back to Hell. "I said it clearly, Pablo! I need whatever manuscripts these dorks have out there that allowed these demons to come to Earth! We need a portal to Hell! But most importantly, I want those tiny red demons stuffed on my wall!"
"Understood… Don Ruggiero…" Pablo groaned.
The wind blew the hood off the young mafia don, revealing none other than a teenage girl. A girl who suffered worse than she had before the sudden death of someone she admired. As they walked back to the vehicles, the lights revealed the blonde dye over her black locks. She held the book close to her and sat on the passenger seat while Pablo took the wheel.
"Whoever that book was intended for will surely come after it," Pablo pointed out.
"And they'll fall in our clutches. The Ruggiero Family's dominance over the East Coast will rise once we locate our founders in Hell. I'm sure they'll be more than willing to share their resources to expand the family turf… and I'll avenge Ines Coeurdor by slaying those demons who killed her," Anais Ruggiero nodded solemnly before casually adding. "I wonder what our founders look like in the afterlife. Henry Ruggiero and his kids, Dante, Maria, and Anthony sound like they used to be badasses in the 40s!"