Chapter VIII - Part II
Okay, Part I is done, with the part of the main case already out of the way and most of the last events of this day done for. Let's get to some side characters and information, then!
* The Living World - Somewhere in Texas - EarlTheEarglove [Uther] *
Uther Crogner was once more waiting for someone to pick the fucking phone. Late into the night too! If his wife hadn't divorced him nearly twenty years ago she'd be screeching at him to get back to bed.
Fucking crone. Only good thing she gave him were their four kids. At least Uther's children remembered their old man. Though the comparison he made with Cynthia? About having no one but the one they paired with? Well, Uther had been a bit hasty.
Cynthia got her husband, and she was much younger than Uther. She was now expecting, but again, neither she nor her husband had any family left.
Uther? Uther had his ex wife (the crone that didn't give a shit about him and cheated on his ass with everyone she found after their fourth child made her tie those tubes) and his children. Sadly, his mood souring more and more after his retirement sure didn't win him any favors with them.
Not like it was easy to forget Uther. The man was a mountain, but mostly because his back was wide, he was muscular, with a beer gut that had developed after his retirement but still was steel hard and had a lot of muscle packed under the dad bod that he now had. Strong arms, meaty fingers, hairy figure, chunky legs. All of this packaged into a sturdy 5' 11" (roughly 1.8 or so m) package.
His general looks didn't get any better than what some would call 'angry gorilla frame'. His nose had been broken (and stayed in the wrong shape) a long time ago. His mustache and beard would help him pass for Santa Claus, if not for the dark chestnut color that was now going grey at his early sixty odd years of age and the fact that his hair never wanted to grow beyond just 'short'. A collection of old wounds, near misses and other badges of honor from his reporting days accompanied him, much like the many photos, portraits and other mementos in his room. All of this was paired with off brand military clothes he wore almost at all times since his last outing and retirement.
Perhaps because his house had been turned into a goddamn bunker and a prepper's paradise. But Uther would swear high and low that he wasn't paranoid nor did he have PTSD after that last rub with death.
Again: It wasn't easy to forget Uther. But it was also just as hard to forget how harsh a person he was at almost all times. He didn't drink, do drugs or anything like that, but he was gruff, if not angry, by default.
Good person he was, yes, but not easy to the eyes or most people's sensibilities. Polite? Sure, for work and if he wanted to. But his natural personality was being antagonistic and generally an asshole, because that is how he grew up, what he found fun and what he thought grew character.
It surprised him just as much as anyone else that he wasn't fired sooner considering he'd drop every slur and 'no-no' word during work.
And right now? Right now he was muttering 'wet back' every five seconds the phone rang.
Again, asshole. But once more: Uther hated to be made to wait for a call that HAD to go through.
Finally a voice picked up. It sounded hushed, hurried. "Uther? What are you doing calling me-."
"Damn time you picked up, wet back!"
The man on the other side of the line sighed. "Uther. Calling me is not safe. Why-?"
"Did you watch the video I sent you?" Uther interrupted the man. "Stop dodging this. I sent it to you hours ago."
"..." The voice just let out a sigh after what felt like an eternity in silence. "You know I haven't."
"Do you think I am doing this to piss you off then?" Uther grumbled. Fuck, the pipe went out. He'd light it again later.
"Of course not." The voice grumbled. "Uther. I have known you for almost twenty years. You helped me a lot down here. You took a bullet to the right shoulder and another one that almost hit you in the heart! Even then you told me, your own words here, 'I owe you one' after you reported on the Mexican cartels with my help." The voice slammed a fist on something, probably a table. Uther hoped for a table. The power behind that hit would've left that hand broken if it was something sturdier. "So I don't think you are messing with me, no! But come on, Uther! Why send me a video and say 'Your daughter is in here' and nothing else!? Why would I watch it?"
Uther let out a sigh. Perhaps a less confrontational approach would be better?
Nah. Blunt trauma.
"Because your daughter is in there, Manolo."
The man, Manolo, let out some blurb like sounds. It was hard to know what he had tried to say. The shock at Uther trying to convince him or something that, hours ago, the man would've NEVER tried, even if it would've saved his life, had rendered the man on the other side of the line beyond speechless.
"I am not kidding." Uther pushed. "Vagatha is there. And yes, Manolo, yes… She is 'dead', but still alive." Uther didn't usually do things this nicely outside of work, but he would, for Manolo. "Watch the video. It is not that long."
Uther allowed Manolo a few minutes to do so. Had the stream not been cut this would've taken him hours to-. No, no, Manolo would've watched until his daughter left the stream before coming back. The revelation of Heaven and Hell was beyond secondary for the ex policeman.
All that mattered was his daughter. And his wife, but Graciela was nowhere to be seen, so Manolo would focus only on Vagatha.
"How can this be true?" And Manolo sounded as tired, surprised and, dare Uther say, hopeful as he had expected him to. "She is… she is alive?"
"In the afterlife sense of 'alive', but yeah." Uther grumbled out. 'Alive' was going to need a redefinition. "Your daughter is with THE daughter of THE Lucifer, but she is around."
"I couldn't care less if she was serving Satan himself!" Manolo's voice finally had a semblance of emotion beyond cautious or, now, surprised. He finally let his tone rise up to something beyond the rare whispers Uther had heard for years. "My little girl is back! I will-!"
"You will come to Texas and pick me up." Uther pushed so Manolo would stop and think. "You will do nothing alone other than get picked off at last. That bitch is still out there, even after her empire fell. All she has left are various gangs that are the dredges of what she once had… and revenge."
"Esa hija de puta jamás aprendió a dejar ir las cosas." Manolo grumbled in Spanish. Uther knew enough of the language to understand perfectly what Manolo was saying. "I will take some time to prepare then. I have fought long and hard and was about to give up, Uther."
"The fuck you were." Uther grumbled, almost getting up from his seat.
"Uther. My family is dead. I am alone. I am tired." Manolo spoke, but he did not sound as he described. His words were picking up strength the longer this went on. "But now? Now I have a reason to keep trying. I WISH for this to be true. So as soon as I can you'll have me there." The man took a second to let it sink in. It was as Uther had wanted, but this sounded like Manolo was giving him an ultimatum. "Prepare whatever firepower you want to bring along. I don't care about what states and what rules we break. If that whore thinks there is any low I won't stop at to get to this next destination, she is wrong."
Uther chuckled at the thought. "So… explosives?"
"Everything you want. If we have to leave a constant crater in our wake, we will."
Uther's face formed the most messed up smile it could. Somehow this was a far better reaction than he had expected. "Well! This'll make that debt go bye bye at least! Who knows? It may even be fun! For a family reunion."
Manolo's voice turned to steel. "If we are lucky? It will only be a family reunion. If not?" Uther could hear the man ready a pistol. Had he called and saved his life?! Fuck. "Well, I have a bullet with her name on it. And everyone else in her employ I couldn't care any less for."
Well, perhaps it was going to be a bit more fun than Uther thought. Still, he owed this to the man. He just wondered how his daughter would take it.
Lying to Vagatha through the chat hadn't been the nicest thing to do, but Uther had done so in a spur of the moment kind of way. The man needed to see if it was really her, and hey, it worked. Not in the way he hoped, mind you. It wasn't surprising that losing her mother would've made Vagatha have some horrible memories she would never want to revisit, so pushing the name out and in the open wasn't the best idea.
What is done is done however. It confirmed Uther's guess was indeed true and it gave him a chance to help a friend. He just hoped Vagatha wouldn't be pissed off at them when the time came.
Because, let's be real here, Uther knew he'd go to Hell when he died. If he had a friend there beforehand, all the better.
* The Living World - Green Leaves City - DEEZtructor (Tobias) *
Tobias was indeed a big fellow. Not as big as Dominic, but at one meter eighty eight (6' 2"), strong back and a muscular frame that'd be the envy of many bodybuilders at his young age, he was quite the looker. Strong jaw, piercing green, almost emerald colored eyes, aquiline nose, long flowing blonde locks of hair he couldn't keep short even if he wanted and general features that would make him perfect for a poster designed for the ladies. The only problem? If we were making comparisons, Tobias was like Dom in the muscular department, but he had an appearance more aiming towards androgynous, which would make him an intermediate point between Dominic and Lucien. He also had very fair skin that didn't seem to get or lose color no matter what, he didn't get sick easily and he always looked his best somehow.
Big, strong, masculine, but also soft looking if you ignored the surface aspect. You could call him a 'Prince Charming', with some extra muscle added, if you wanted a mental picture.
Was it a surprise that his life was made hell? There were many areas to poke fun at if you knew where to look, and humans were expert at that.
Though, in the Greenglow household, now there was a bigger thing to keep in mind.
"So… are we going to talk about this or…?"
Though the early day had been normal, perfectly so in fact, it had been the after stream effect that had made everything turn upside down. After all, the one thing Tobias never thought to say was indeed true: Her mother was a demon.
Literally.
And now everyone had been sitting in the living room, for two goddamn hours, trying to get their shit together while pretending everything was fine. And Electra, as it had been proven, was really damn good at pretending.
Electra Gleenglow was, for those that thought they knew the woman, a very gentle, soft and well spoken as well as a caring housewife that hardly minded staying home and being happy that way. She was charismatic, generous, always there for almost everyone (she was no saint after all) and the most loving wife you could ever imagine. Saccharine would fit the bill very well when you thought of her life on the surface. Heck, she even had the most stereotypical 'home mom' dress of all time! A collection of them in fact.
Though some would call her a damn bimbo.
Electra wasn't especially tall, well, for a woman in the US she was tall with a good 1.76m to her name (5' 9"), which meant she was slightly taller than the average man. But that alone wasn't what called out to her. No, what dragged attention her way was the beautiful face, perky nose, the beauty mark next left of her bountiful lips, those green eyes Tobias inherited from her, the massive pair of tits of course, an ass that doesn't quit, the wasp like figure (thin waist, big hips) and very long blonde hair that reached said derriere without much effort and the reason as to why Tobias couldn't keep his own hair short even if it killed him. She also looked like she was out suntanning every day, with a complexion that almost looked like nothing you'd expect from a woman that spent most of her time at home.
Tobias' mom was a bombshell, gentle, nice and far too good for Tobias' father, or so people said.
Mostly because Terrance was a brute of a man that, somehow, found himself working a desk job like he was Mister Incredible or some shit.
Terrance was a massive fucking mountain of a man at 2.32m, or 7 feet 7 inches or so in height. He was the antithesis to his wife: Crude, direct, of few words that were not a grunt or a nod, hairy in all damn places, with arms like hams, legs like pillars, a chest that looked like someone carved a boulder into human form and a messy mop of black hair that hid the otherwise dull and soul consuming black eyes (as in literally black in his case) that could make a the void blink back in fear. And he, much like his wife, was sunkissed despite being mostly at home. However, in his case? This was the case since birth, with his skin much darker than it should be, which only fueled a lot of comments about his appearance.
I mean, most people called him a cro magnon already… Never within earshot, but you could see it. Though the comparison was funny when you saw him dressed with a suit and complementary tie.
Terrance had been a motherfucking menace to Green Leaves in his childhood and now, for some fucking reason, he was stuck behind a desk, helping people with their problems. You wouldn't know it unless you DID get to know the man, but he was a massive softie…
That regularly puts people in the hospital.
Look, Terrance liked helping people, but he also liked beating people up. You win some, you lose some, and considering the amount of petty crime in Green Leaves (for a sleepy place anyway), he had a lot of excuses to help someone by putting another in the hospital.
This was the image of the family for those on the outside: Perfect angelic mom, demonic dad, child in the middle trying to fit in.
Now it looked like the roles had reversed and the only one stuck in place was Tobias.
Because his mother was a literal demon and it looked like his father had turned from being the usual gruff into a gentle man that was doting on his wife even MORE than before. Because yes: Terrance was the greatest poet, sweetest of men and most chivalrous of knights when it came to his wife. But since Tobias and his father usually interacted away from his mother most of the time, and because Terrance made sure to keep most of his affairs with his wife just as private, this side of him was hardly seen.
It was weird to be in the presence of such displays when it came to Tobias. It was much stranger now.
After all, Electra Gleenglow was now (or better say that she had always been, but now Tobias could see her as) a demonic fish woman that didn't look anything like his mother ever had.
Well, okay, that was a lie. Tobias was no pervert, but he knew his mother was sexy. Now? That hadn't changed. In fact his father seemed to be over the moon with her more now than any other time Tobias had seen them together.
It was slightly sickening to be honest.
On the other hand… his mom's new form.
Height wise? No change. Well, if you ignore the fact that her long hair flowing down her back was now a two tone fin, one that resembled a lionfish, with one color being some kind of cyan and the other being a deep black that did a full one eighty to her previous blonde. Her skin had gone from that sun kissed look to a daphne colored blue skin that wouldn't be out of place in a deep pelagial creature that never, ever, saw the light of day and that would, most likely, give out light in the dark.
Her eyes were still emerald colored, but now they had a faint glow to them. Her smile was there, still motherly when Electra looked at Tobias, but going into loving and lustful when looking at Terrance. Said smile was black (the color of her lips) and full of sharp teeth that, to be honest, should've filled Tobias with fear, yet it just made him feel safe. Her hands didn't have well manicured nails, instead having long, black claws. A pair of black horns marked her forehead and the once normal eyelashes were now similar to her fin like hair in their two tone, with the same straight composition to the side (Instead of the three pronged form of, say, Glitz and Glam).
She was also STILL Tobias' mother, and while meek wasn't a way to describe her once she wanted to do, or just wanted, something… Electra was a master at dodging shit.
But not from her son.
"MOM!"
Electra let out a sigh as she rested her head on her husband. Her body had changed slightly, but it still fit exactly as it once did in her clothes, otherwise she would've flashed her son as she did so.
And again: Tobias knew his mother was sexually attractive. He was NOT interested in seeing her that way.
Though her being a demon probably explained why she never really had any problem with many things other considered to be taboo or weird. That 'bimbo' comment had a basis in fact after all. As a creature from Hell, Electra probably didn't give two shits about normal conventions and morals, and sexuality was one topic Tobias knew for a fact would be different in Hell.
I mean… Succubus and shit.
That little distracting thought lasted only enough for his mother to finally speak. Still laying her head on Terrance's shoulder as the huge man bent over slightly to accommodate his wife.
"What do you want me to say, hon?" She asked, eyes closed. It looked like she was so damn tired. Even with that new body, or the original one if Tobias was to be sincere, her son could see it. "That I have been lying to you all your life?"
"I mean… that is obvious." Though Tobias didn't speak as if he cared, or was angry, about that. "But I am more worried about the 'HOW' here."
"Because this big lug wanted to summon a demon to get powers and kill some people." Electra poked a finger on her husband's chest, making the large man chuckle in a way that sounded more like rocks grinding together. "Instead of that, he got me."
Tobias just stared at his father.
Terrance didn't seem to mind. "Got into the biggest fight back then." Then he shrugged, minutely. Terrance didn't want to disturb his wife's position against him. "Was very angry."
"Oh, and he WAS angry." Electra sniggered. "Ah… I remember how he cursed and yelled, how he huffed, puffed and broke everything in that dingy, abandoned apartment building in the shitiest part of Green Leaves. Abandoned as the whole neighborhood was before its reform, I was worried someone would come checking while I was bound to that summoning circle." Tobias' mother opened her eyes to stare at her son. "Do you know that this big lug is truly an artistic marvel? He could draw or sculpt anything he wanted. Instead of doing something with that, he made a perfect summoning circle that I couldn't have broken even if I hadn't been messed up at the time."
"'S only a hobby." Terrance muttered with a low grumble.
Electra tittered at that. "Honey, if you took advantage of any of your hobbies instead of fighting legal battles for a pittance we'd have the whole neighborhood to our name."
"Prefer to beat big names into the dust." Terrance grumbled again, this time with a smile. "Break the haughty. Is good fun."
Electra let out a sigh. "See? He doesn't deny it. Always a little murder hobo, only with a different suit."
"Grew up. Gota family. Still can squish people. Only difference is now I feel good when I smash someone." Terance let out a nod, then poked at his wife with a meaty finger. "Now tell the story."
The fish demoness snickered before kissing her husband's hand, only to grimace a bit at Tobias' face.
The young man wasn't exactly in a happy mood, and the lovesick display didn't help.
He wasn't going to say shit, though. These were still his parents.
Tobias was a little snot on the internet, not at home.
"Mom." But he did sound exasperated, because he was. "Please."
"Fiiiine." Electra let out a sigh. "You are always like this when I am with your father."
"I love you two very much, visual changes notwithstanding." Tobias let out a long suffering sigh. Until today everything had been so normal… Now the young man thought that perhaps wishing for a fantasy turning to life had been a mistake. "But I don't want you making googly eyes at each other every single moment of my life. Even less now that I think I am owed some explanations. I have lived through your romance all my life and even the most accepting person in Green Leaves thinks you two would give the world cavities."
Both parents looked at each other, chuckled, and accepted this as fact. A sweet demon mother and a monstrous human father, both damn happy to be with each other.
And, as Tobias was about to learn, for a very good reason.
"Fine. I suppose it is high time I told you." Electra finally admitted defeat as she sat up, no more snuggling with her husband. "So… abridged version or long?"
"Mom…"
Electra gave her son a look, but she supposed that she walked into that one. Plus, Tobias knew his mom would deflect crap all day long if you gave her the chance. At least so long as she could keep doing her merry thing.
Again, she was no saint, and Tobias knew his mother. She was a sweetheart, but she avoided anything that smelled like trouble like the plague.
"Tell me, honey… have I been a good mom?" Though Tobias didn't know that said trouble was going to start with that question.
In fact Tobias looked more than just confused, answering just with a. "Huh?"
Electra chuckled, but she asked again. "Have I been a good mother to you?"
As Terrance gave his wife a side hug Tobias could do little more than stare at his mother, confusion still present. "Of course." But being confused didn't mean he was going to give anything other than the truth. "You were the best mother ever. Still are. Why the question though? I thought you were going to tell me-."
"Your grandmother is a bitch." Terrance spoke gravely as he held his wife close. It seemed the mere mention of her mother made her shiver in fright. "Tried to make Electra a tool."
"Tried?" Electra tried, and failed, to raise her voice. She just didn't have it in her anymore. "That witch of a woman had sex just so she could spew out another demon to leech off!" Hell, Tobias knew his mother wanted to curse, but she didn't even have it in her after so long it seemed. Tobias had heard her say 'shit' or something of that level perhaps twice in his life. "And you know what? Back then it was okay."
Tobias made a face. "How could that be, mom? There is nothing okay with that."
"Because while not ALL of Hell is a dumpster fire, and not all demons are pieces of refuse, people being horrible down there IS the norm." Electra explained in a way that told Tobias his mother was lecturing him like a child. And let's be honest here, he was asking for it. They were speaking about H.E.L.L after all. "And you know what is the funny part of it? It works. On Earth? It wouldn't. In Hell being a trash person works because we have the numbers, the resources are endless and so is the land. But having EVERYTHING only means you get hungry for more. And my mother? Ethereal Greenglow? She made no secret of her own thirst for power."
Young Tobias made a face. "How clear could she be? I mean, it IS Hell, you said that."
"My younger sisters, your twin aunts, were named 'Glitz and Glam' for Glitz and Glamour, because that is what she expected to earn from them." Electra deadpanned. "I was named 'Electra' because my mother wished for me to be similar to the human starlet with that name and get as much out of me as she possibly could."
"God damn." Tobias's eyes widened. "Grandma sounds…
"Positively awful?" Electra offered.
"A fucking bitch?" Terrance was perhaps a bit more direct.
"Rough." Tobias, however, tried to go the middle route. "Was she not well off or anything like that?"
The question made Electra burst out laughing. After a full minute she managed to calm down and look back at her son. Tobias had a face that just asked 'What the fuck?'.
"Honey. I am a 'Possessor', a demon from the Envy Ring. We do what the name implies, and we do it when we want something from someone." Electra rested her head against her man once more, a slight dreamy look on her, until it turned sour. "And my mother had as much as she could ever want. Possessors live an affluent lifestyle, most of us anyway. Ethereal Greenglow may be a distant spawn of the Greenglow, but our family is old as Hellish dirt, honey. We have a LOT of cash, and even someone 'remote' as your grandmother had nothing to want and nothing to envy. And yet? She did."
"To me, as messed up as it is, my mother was a figure to aspire to." Electra went on as Tobias paid rapt attention to her tale. "She taught me to lie, to act, to dance, to beautify myself… She wanted me to be a doll to play for the cameras while she went around in the shadows, all attention on me, on my sisters, while she got rid of the opposition. To me? That was a masterful act I wanted to emulate. I wanted someday to be the puppet master, the puppeteer, instead of just the puppet. One day I wanted to kill my mother and get all the power for myself. In the meantime? I played the game, I made sure to outshine everyone else and made DOUBLE sure that those that could be a problem weren't heard of ever again."
"Wow." Tobias gulped, his mother's smile had grown into a predatory and very dangerous one with time. "That sounds… scary as fuck, mom."
"It was, and more dangerous than you'd imagine." The murderous glint on Electra died as she became sorrowful, pensive. "I acted too fast, but not too rash to get killed. My mother had expected it, to be honest. She was a dangerous woman, and for a good reason at that. But she also had children not only for her lust of riches, but the lust of power she couldn't have."
The way his mother said the word made Tobias frown. "Power? What power?"
"Magic." Electra flicked her hand, a luminous effect enveloping it as she lifted a distant water bottle so it would come to her. After that was done, and without pomp, she just emptied the bottle in a few gulps. "Mother was locked out of magic at an early age. She, like me, acted too fast. But the ability to do magic is something she coveted and couldn't ever get, not unless she had a little pawn or two. My best guess is she figured that, since I was going to betray her, I could be the power source she wanted."
"So you fought?" Tobias ventured. The grimace his mother sent his way made that guess feel underwhelming on his part.
"Fight? Dear. She destroyed me." Electra laughed, but her laugh was not a happy one. The memory was playing in her mind, Tobias saw his mother's eyes dim as it did. "I killed my mother thrice. But to many well off demons, that is nothing. Sinners, human souls that end in Hell, cannot be killed except with certain means, not for real anyway. Demons like me? We are tougher than humans, but can still die."
Tobias was quick to point out. "But you said you killed your mother three times."
"Because our family is well off, dear, as I said." Electra smiled, a patient, motherly smile, one that taught. "Soulstones are somewhat rare, but rich individuals. If one has a Soulstone, being killed is painful, but you also come back to life quickly; healthy, with impossible resilience granted for a second or two, and ready for another fight. But this is not a game, dear: That 'resilience' is just the power of the soul being freed from the stone, and it is very quick to fade. I knew this, and I knew that if mother had one, she had more, and if she had many, I needed to overwhelm her with pain and all my magic might."
"It didn't surprise me when I failed." Electra sounded somewhat sad, but only somewhat. "Mother had suffered through a lot, and inflicted more suffering in return. Killing her fast, and with overwhelming power, was likely painful, yes, but she didn't have a moment to go through the feelings inflicted. Instead? She kept walking after I used fire to turn her to ash. She didn't stumble when the next Soulstone brought her body back together once I used water to tear her apart. And when I tried lighting? My mother just smiled at me as leftover electricity fried the surface of her skin after being revived." Tobias' mother made a pause, twiddling her thumbs, trying to appear calm, but Tobias saw. His mother was squeezing her own hands so hard they were turning so pale it was almost white. "Then my mother reached me, after I went and burned my magic away… and punched me right in the chest."
The memory was clearly painful, Tobias could see that, and not just because of the PAIN, though Tobias was sure that was in no small part what was making this hard. There was something there that Tobias saw…
Longing.
Not the pain. Not even the familiarity that was one's blood. Tobias couldn't quite place it.
"She aimed at the nearest window. Threw me to the courtyard of our little mansion." Electra's story made Tobias forget those thoughts quickly enough. "And she aimed perfectly too. Envy is a water ring, an ocean world in effect. Most cities and dwellings are underwater. The really rich live on islands, like we did. And my mother made sure we were far away from the ocean. So why did she aim perfectly? Because she made me crash next to the front yard's fountain."
Tobias made a face. "That to me sounds like a cliche way of pushing someone to see their reflection… I may have played far too many games and watched as many movies."
"But you aren't wrong with that supposition. My mother did have a flair for the dramatic, and cruel, for those that didn't dance to her tune." Electra chuckled, even if she shivered at what was to come. "And me? A single punch of a woman that didn't look physically stronger than I am, but was in truth a monster, and I was reeling, almost puking blood as she shattered my insides. Not enough to kill me, or most demons, but it was painful enough to stagger me." Electra took a deep breath. "She walked behind me, ripped the back of my clothes… and tore away my wings, along part of my back."
Both Tobias and his father sucked in a breath. Tobias' reason was obvious to himself, but he soon realized that his father had likely seen the outcome of that event. Even if Terrance had summoned Tobias' mother after she somehow healed (for even now there was no mark on her body that signaled that wound), back then it had probably been clear.
"It was nasty." Terrance confirmed. "I could see part of her ribcage from behind."
Tobias' eyes widened. "And you survived that?!"
Electra shrugged. "Demons can survive a lot of damage. Heal from most of it too. But certain things DON'T heal, like our horns." She poked at one of hers. "Tails, if they get ripped clean off, and wings are the same." Electra let out a sigh. "My mother knew. She didn't kill me because she knew I loved to fly, to dance… Without my wings I am permanently out of balance, even now. I have gotten much better, but back then? I would stumble on air. I was always hanging on your father's arm for years until I got my footing back. At first it was out of necessity, but with time…" She turned to face Terrance with a dopey smile on her face. "Your father grew on me."
Terrance smiled back at his wife while Tobias groaned internally. Yeah, he could see it alright. At least his father hadn't made a crude remark or joke, and he WOULD, mind you, only this situation was serious enough to not do it.
"But back to the story." Electra, thankfully, let Tobias live through the sickening display by ending it. "I was, of course, kicked out after that. Battered, broken and bleeding, I was pushed out of our home and cut from any of my jobs and contracts. I suffered a week with nothing and more pain than you can imagine. That makes someone change their tune so fast you wouldn't believe." Oh, Tobias could believe her. The idea of such a mess made him shudder in fear. "I tried to find help in 'friends' and 'acquaintances' that I had. As you can guess, having lost what wealth and power I had meant I had also lost these people."
Tobias was about to say something, but his father beat him to it. "It is Hell, son." Terrance said, but in a warning tone. "Doesn't mean everyone is a dick, like your mom said. She thought she had some REAL friends."
"But I also was in the showbiz, and was technically rich. It is much harder to find real friends there. And in Hell? Even more so." Though this didn't mean Electra didn't look hurt about it. "Suffice to say I found myself fleeing the Ring altogether to avoid being eaten."
Tobias ventured a single word question. "Metaphorically?"
"Literally. I was blood in the water." Electra deadpanned, much to Tobias' disgust. "That is, however, how I learned something very important. It is also how I ended up here."
"What did you learn then?" Tobias was curious about that. If such a mess landed his mother on Earth, what did she find out?
"Summoning is one way to be brought to Earth. And as I told you, your dad managed to bring me here." Electra placed a hand on Terrance's own, the huge man engulfing the petite woman's own with a reassuring squeeze. "But there are rules as to how, and why, someone can be summoned. It is similar to how a demon can get to Earth, legally."
Tobias couldn't help but arch an eyebrow at that. "Legally?"
"From what I know there was no rule in place for that way back in the day." Electra shrugged. "Now to get to Earth without Hell's legal teams or police services, you have to have a 'pass'. Generally an Asmodean Crystal is the most common means; an otherwise worthless common gem in Hell that is given power, and a permit, from Asmodeus himself, the Sin of Lust."
"... Wow." There was a shocker. Hell had rules like that. Was that why Earth wasn't overrun with demons? "I thought Hell was Chaos and shit."
"It is, that is part of the allure." Electra had again that desire in her eyes, but it died quickly enough. "But it still needs some regulation. In any case, there are rules implemented by the people, demons or otherwise, living there. Then there are absolute laws."
Tobias took a chance to ask. "You mean rules that are made by Hell itself?"
"Yes, like deals with souls. Be it Deals, Pacts or Contracts, which are all binding and have different ways of being enacted and enforced." At this Tobias' mother waved a hand. "But that is not a topic to talk about, not right now. What is pertinent to our story is summoning, and to summon a demon, on the demon's side, you need a few things."
"Materials and a summoning circle, plus chanting and all that shit, right?" Tobias ventured as he felt himself inching closer. He wasn't interested in the topic itself, but considering this was part of his OWN tale in a way…
Terrance chuckled. "Your mother said 'on the demon's side', son."
Electra grinned as Tobias blushed a bit in embarrassment at his hastiness. "Don't worry honey, you aren't wrong. While it is generally not needed to sacrifice something, or someone, for a lesser demon such as I-."
"You are not less, mom." Tobias found himself speaking up, only to blush further as he heard himself talk.
"Oh sush!" Electra couldn't help it, she laughed at that. Even now her son was so damn precious. "I AM a lesser demon, honey. A Possessor may be more magically inclined than most, but we are still far from real nobility in Hell."
"Though they have an easy time getting to Earth." Terrance pointed out quickly, making sure the topic didn't derail again.
"True. And much like Succubi, the ones to be given Asmodean Crystals more often than other species, we have our own means to get to the living world for our own purposes." Electra made a humm, debating whether to tell or not. Ultimately Tobias knew it was not important, for now at least, so his mother went back to the story. "Anyway, for a demon to be summoned by mortals, the demon must fulfill one of three possible prerequisites." Electra lifted three fingers as she made it to this part.
"They must be known in the living world in some way, making it possible for a human to seek for that demon in particular. Generally this means someone famous both in Hell and here for whatever reason." She lowered the first finger. Tobias just nodded in the small silence that ensued, that checked, clearly. Humans had the Lemegeton, for example. There were important demons there known to most of humanity and, most likely, the same was in Hell.
"They can fill a proper form with a guild in Hell that makes their soul one of the many that may be summoned with certain intent; someone in search for vengeance may summon an Imp or other demon from Wrath, those in desire of wealth may bring someone from Greed, anyone wanted sex will likely bring a Succubus or other demon from Lust… That kind of thing." Second finger gone, this time with Tobias just letting out a 'huh'. But hey, bureaucracy fits perfectly in Hell.
"And finally, those like me." As Electra lowered the last finger, she relaxed her free hand and rested her whole body against her husband. "Those that wish to escape Hell. It doesn't mean we hate it, or that we don't want to go back, but that our souls wish for something else. And since we aren't sanctioned, or prepared, our desire to leave, and the chaotic nature of Hell, makes it so that, sometimes, we break through a proper summoning and instead find ourselves on Earth instead of the real target of a summoning."
Tobias blinked and gasped in realization. "Wait! Is that what really happened?"
Terrance rubbed his own free hand against his face in embarrassment. "Was trying to kill someone, son." He spoke gravely, shame clear. "Not finding a wife."
"And yet a wife you got." Electra poked her tongue out at her husband who almost managed to catch it, but the smaller and nimbler woman just let out a 'nyeh' and looked away.
"Oh my fucking god." Tobias tried his best not to cringe at the display. Still, it was cute in a way. But let's get back to it. "And how did it, you know, end up like this?"
"I was angry. Very much so." Terrance admitted once he stopped playing with his wife. "But she was hurt. I was a hothead, and a problem, but not a monster… despite how my anger almost made me one."
"I was afraid and almost used magic to blast him away." Electra admitted, much more ashamed of what she almost did than Terrance was of his own faults. "But I had been barely holding for what felt like years, yet had only been days. I passed out perhaps half an hour after being summoned, with your father still raging. I thought I would never wake up, but your father cared for me for another whole week as best as he could, helping my body regenerate naturally now that someone was helping." The demoness blushed profusely at that, and now Tobias noticed her blush was a deep black, not red. Did demons have dark blood? Possibly. "He won't tell me what I made him suffer through still."
"And you won't ever know." Terrance bent down to give his wife a kiss on the forehead, making the woman try and swat him away playfully with her hand (and making Tobias gag in the process). "I did what I had to. Made me calm down too."
"Sure you did." Electra smirked, clearly enamored with her man. "Though when I woke up this big lug was still a bit miffed. He ended up asking questions and, lucky for me, I wasn't being the little twerp I could have been at the time, so I answered. We got to talking normally after an hour or two of him cooling off, and for some reason your father didn't deem it necessary to send me back or do something worse to me after he had what he wanted."
Terrance frowned at the thought. "Some would. I wouldn't. I was fine with beating people up. Got into a very dark mood when I summoned you. I didn't want to hurt you."
"Grateful I am." Electra smirked at him, though Tobias wondered HOW in all of creation his father would ever hurt his mother. The two would sooner die than harm the other. "Anyways, that was the beginning. And over time? It grew from a mistake into this beautiful relationship we have. One where we make you gag every time we display love for each other."
Terrance smirked as his son shuddered at the thought.
Tobias did get a moment of clarity and a question, though. "But wait. Aren't summonings temporary?"
Electra clicked her tongue at that. "Yes. Even the most powerful demon will feel the pull of Hell sooner or later, even those with a means to get to the living world. It is rare that a demon can stay on Earth for, say, more than a year straight without coming back. And if someone were to stay here for that long?" Electra snickered at the thought. "Well, let's just say they would get something more than just a few words after the fact. A stay that long on Earth would invite trouble from Heaven, after all."
For some reason, though Tobias had an inkling after today's stream, that idea forced a massive shiver down his spine. What would've happened if Heaven knew of him? Or his mother's existence?
Considering they were purging Hell yearly, he surmised nothing good would come from an angel visiting him.
"Souls like mine? Those that want to escape?" Electra, mercifully, brought Tobias' mind away from that. "We sever that connection to Hell. Much like an angel would sever their connection to Heaven."
At first Tobias nodded, grateful in a way. Whatever his mother had done with her desire to escape had meant he was born in the end. That, and that his mother was safe.
Then the bit about the angels and Heaven dawned on him.
"What the fuck?"
Electra's toothy smirk only widened. "Do you love your godmother, honey?"
"Aunt Ophelia?" Well, she wasn't his 'aunt' for real, 'just' his godmother. But Tobias had grown up with her always close, her and her husband, Roberto, as well as Tobias' 'cousin', Maribelle. And now his mother was hinting at Ophelia being an angel!? "You cannot be serious?"
"She is an Ophanim, honey." And while Electra let it out all nonchalant like, it was clear there was a small trepidation in her voice. "Scared the living daylights out of me when she literally fell from Heaven one night."
"Ophelia didn't fall, love." Terrance pointed out.
Electra just looked annoyed for a second, before she smirked back at her husband. "Let me tease her, okay? I can do it in the open whenever they come over, now that Tobias knows."
Tobias decided to cut in. "How is aunt Ophelia an angel?"
"Because she is?" Electra tilted her head. "Angels very rarely get angry, or just disillusioned with Heaven, but sometimes it happens. Admittedly I don't know much about that topic, Ophelia doesn't like talking about it. She hates it, I think, but I never pressed to know more." Tobias' mother shrugged, her body language saying quite simply 'Not my business'. One of the many things about Electra being well liked was this: She was no gossip. People could tell her things and she wouldn't go babbling unless allowed to. "Though I CAN tell you that there should be a lot more demons like me here for an Ophanim to appear. More often than not you get Cherubs or the like. Most likely you'd met the Ishim; the closest thing an angel can be to a human, or a human to an angel, even after a soul ascends and becomes a 'Winner'."
Ishim? Tobias rummaged through his mind… Weren't those basically the angels that looked so close to humans that they could pass, minus the wings? Or were they just messengers?
Fuck, who knew what was real and what was not when it came to holy books, scriptures and all that crap? He opted to ignore it.
"Green Leaves has around a hundred odd demons living here." Electra went on, apparently not noticing her son's confusion. "That would qualify for a Cherub, maybe two. But an Ophanim? A defecting angel of that power would usually find a place in a MUCH larger city with a lot more demons to distract from her presence. Considering demons reproduce like rabbits and angels are more like 'one baby every thousand years' kind of thing… Well, I suppose you understand."
Huh, that made some sense. Even the most common angel was probably much rarer than most demons, except the really powerful ones. And from what Tobias remembered, Ophanim are supposed to be strong. How strong? He didn't know, man! Yesterday all of this was fantasy!
Yesterday he was just hum-! Wait.
"Am I human?" Tobias found himself asking out loud, making both his parents focus on him more than ever before. "I mean. I am a Cambion, right? Was that the word?"
Terrance grimaced. "No, and yes."
Electra seemed nervous. "There are… a few Cambions out there, but not many." She admitted with what Tobias could see was fear. "Earthen Angels, or 'The Grounded', if Ophelia isn't yanking my chain with the name, hide from Heaven in places with demons living on Earth to mask themselves for a reason. And we, as a whole, don disguises and limit our magic use to NOT get found by Heaven for the same reason: We'd get killed."
"Heaven hardly cares for us." Terrance pointed out, his voice like gravel being crushed as he clearly grew angry. "But they hate being out of control more."
Electra nodded quickly. "So Cambions are a big 'no-no' in Heaven. And while I doubt this is known by Heaven as a whole, since most of them don't know what the Exterminations are…"
His mother's words made Tobias think back to the stream. So Electra was all but confirming that Heaven's population likely didn't know shit until not too long ago. Was that why Ophelia had left Heaven? Or were there other unsavory details hidden behind the pearly gates?
His mother kept talking. "Nephilim would be even WORSE." And what she said made Tobias shudder. That would mean his 'cousin' would've been killed the moment she was noticed, right? "But people like me, or in my position, found a way to curb that: A simple ritual that would seal all the magic away from our children and make them just inherit the human side… mostly."
No magic… No magic! Wait! "Is that why I couldn't 'see' you before?" Tobias asked as he recalled the thing Emily had done. "It is why I saw the world as if it was… 'normal'? Like all other humans? Because now it looks like a cartoon world."
Electra nodded, confirming what Emily had said during the abruptly cut short revelation. "Yes. Cambions can easily look like a mix of demon and human, but are able to look fully human, or as their demon side, with certain means or abilities. On Earth? The human side is stronger, and much easier to appear as such. If you were a normal Cambion and went to Hell? Your demon side would show up and it is likely you'd appear like a demon." She made a humming noise, clearly this was something she learned, but didn't have experience with, Tobias knew because his mother was trying damn hard to offer her son all she could. "I honestly don't know just how much is true or not. Pureborn Cambions are rare… more often than not the local followers of Heaven get to them, and their parents, before they are even born."
Shit. That was all Tobias could think of as a descriptor, though it made sense. Cambions, Nephilim and Nephalem were supposed to be a headache for Heaven, sometimes Hell (probably). Having any number of those running around the place was probably far too many problems in a single little vessel to be worthwhile for Heaven to ignore.
"Then…" But that still didn't tell him enough. "How is that I am human? Or cousin Maribelle for that matter."
"Again, magic." Electra snapped her fingers to conjure a short lived lightning bolt that crackled in her hand. "Though I messed up there." And it quickly went away, more out of shame than anything.
Tobias arched an eyebrow before he looked at himself for a second. Then he eyed his parents quizzically. "I am pretty sure I am normal, mom."
"Your condition, son." Terrance looked annoyed, as if he shouldn't have needed to point it out.
Thus, it dawned on Tobias. "Oh…"
"This magic is a ritual one, honey." Electra began to explain, still clearly ashamed at her failure. And why did she fail? Tobias was quickly told. "It is meant to be used early in conception. It HAS a chance of killing the egg, much less of killing a baby once it is more than just a clump of cells, but if you wait that long there are other possible… complications." And Electra looked incredibly pained at this. She obviously hated the idea of having made Tobias suffer through what he had to go through with his condition. A perfect physical form is not useful if all it brings you is woe. "I chose to wait until much later than most. We are lucky you ended up with a positive outcome, but even then… I should have done more, and done so early. But I was afraid. I didn't want to lose you…" The hurt intensified as she explained something Tobias hadn't expected. "Worse yet; waiting for so long, until the third trimester, forced a feedback on my body: My womb was scarred after birth because the magic 'stuck' you in place."
C-Section. Tobias hadn't been that big at birth, but he remembered that he was told there had been complications. That was the reason for his mother not being able to give him siblings.
This sucked. But it also told him, without a shadow of a doubt, that his mother had, and would, sacrifice everything for him.
"No regrets there." Electra forced herself to smile, though Tobias knew there was a lot of hurt behind those otherwise happy eyes. "You were safe, I had you, your father had you. We are here." She took a deep breath, a shaky one. But Terrance was there to comfort his wife. "Most of the people we know, Ophelia included, did the ritual much earlier. In some cases they did it more than once, after all they had more children. Not even once did it fail. Though, as you may have guessed, Ophelia's daughter was always able to see things as they are, and only Ophelia can use enough magic to fully disguise herself in front of her daughter because every demon in the city helps mask her signature. Maribelle has always seen me for what I am, same with many others." Though at this point she hummed. "Well, except with Freddy's daughter."
Tobias pursed his lips. Freddy? Oh! "Fredderica?"
"Yes." Electra nodded. "Fredderica Bound. She is a Succubus."
"Shit, no way." Fredderica Bound, Tobias remembered, was HIS FUCKING PRINCIPAL! "That bitch is a Succubus? That frigid sack of disdain and anger?! I thought the only thing she did for pleasure was calling us to her office so she'd chew us up and spit us out feeling like shit or so much shame we'd want to curl up and waste away."
Electra sniggered, trying to hide her smirk behind her free hand as Terrance looked away to try and mask his own humor. "Well, yes, she is. And she only ACTS like she is a frigid piece of work." Tobias' mother grinned. "But she is also much weaker magically than other demons here on Earth, even the local Imps. A condition of some kind." And clearly Electra didn't know, or she would've told her. In fact it looked like it worried Electra quite a bit. "We use a particular form of disguise so only demons, or people we target, will see us. Considering you have demon blood, contained through magic or not, it works the same for you now that you can 'see magic'. But Freddy? That is ALL her magic can do. She is extremely limited, to the point that anything else would perhaps hurt, or even kill her."
Tobias didn't know why that was important, until she remembered Fredderica had a daughter: Fillia Bound.
A child that likely was born without the ritual being used.
"You probably guessed it, but Fredderica couldn't do the ritual. It would've killed them both." As his mother explained, Tobias groaned. Of course he had to be right. "Her daughter, Fillia, is a Cambion, that is true, but luckily has very little magic, like her mother. Fillia is perfectly able to blend in, however, but has very little magic otherwise, so she remains human at all times. If there was more magic around? I doubt she could contain herself and she may change to and fro at random. But for now? She is safe and human, mostly. That alone is why Heaven isn't around, searching for us." Shame quickly marked Tobias' mother, showing him that she was about to say something that'd blow his mind. "And that we knew of THIS is why we didn't kill Freddy when we learned of this."
Tobias was taken aback. "What the fuck, mom!?"
"Fredderica's act promised danger, son." Terrance warned Tobias, making him shrink back after he almost got up from his seat in anger. "If Heaven found out, if Fillia exuded enough magic to be noticed, the whole demon population would've been killed, partners and children included. It would've been done, then hidden from the public somehow."
"..." Tobias looked at his father's grim expression. He was not joking, nor being dramatic. "Fuck…"
"Unlike in Hell, or perhaps even Heaven, our communities are very tight knit. Betrayal and the like is not recommended, or tolerated, because it can doom us all. So if something as unsavory as this must be done, then it will be. In Hell this may be a regular Monday, but no one here wants to kill another for such a reason. Still, we will if necessary." Electra pointed out in a hushing voice. It was as if she was afraid of divulging this. "It is like this all over the world, my dear. There are many communities like ours. Millions of demons have made Earth their home, and a few thousand angels, perhaps a couple ten thousand or so, do the same. Angel or demon, we both want to live OUR lives." She fidgeted in place. "We do what we must to survive… and now it seems our cover has been blown."
Ah, yes. Time for this particular part, right? They hadn't talked about anything at all until now, so here comes the shit.
Terrance pierced his son with a glare. "You said you could 'see' after that streamer you follow was done today." He took his hand away from his wife, both Electra and him focused on Tobias. "Do tell us why. We have stalled long enough for YOUR explanations."
One very short and to the point explanation later, with one side conversation flowing from Tobias, had his parents huddling together.
The news hadn't been badly received, but this promised a problem or two at the very least.
"There is a portal to Hell now." Electra sighed in what sounded like tired resignation. "Heaven is watching Earth like a hawk, and our sleepy city is right in the center of it all."
"It will be okay, love. Everything will be fine." Terrance held his wife close, and Tobias could see how afraid his mother was.
"Mom, it is 'ALL' of Heaven." Tobias was quick to point out, though the flinch his mother offered him told Tobias he may not have helped as he hoped. "That means all the human souls too. Every single angel that wasn't involved with that mass murdering bullshit. Everyone is going to be watching, or will know, sooner or later. They can't do shit without making it look worse than it already is."
Electra just buried her face on Terrance's muscular chest. "I just wanted to have a happy, relaxed life." She didn't let out a sob, but it sounded damn close. "I wanted to have a big, beautiful family that was safe."
"And we will have just that." Terrance hugged his wife closer, with Tobias looking miserable after all this.
As a son that loved his mother very dearly, Tobias hadn't wanted to upset his mother, ever, and now it felt like he could barely do any worse if he went out there and killed half the people in the city. Hell, this probably wasn't an exaggeration!
… maybe.
"Son." Though his father was far from done. "You are in that Order forum, thing, right? The one that streamer owns."
Tobias gulped. Were his father's eyes always like that? They looked like they had turned full black for a second. Probably his imagination. Just in case, Tobias didn't answer, or corrected his father about the Order serve; he just nodded.
"I want in, tomorrow. Me and your mother." And just like that Terrance looked like he was back to normal. "We will talk with that young man. And we will be with you, in your room, watching, when the next stream airs."
Had he just killed someone? Tobias felt like it. Well, it probably depends on how the meeting goes.
Nothing else of importance occurred that night, but for some reason Tobias felt as if this was just the beginning of a huge mess.
Surprising no one, he didn't sleep that night.