Unhappy Medium: Between the Devil and the Deep, Dark Sea

Suppa Nuetral

Niko was approached by two men before he could go.

They looked to be brother, pale skin, dark hair, grey eyes. Their clothes were plain, though one seemed to put more effort into his outfit.

One asked, "Excuse me, are you Professor Faustus?"

Niko was busy polishing his Baphomet statuette and there was artwork of demons behind him.

"Yes, that's me."

The other chuckled. "I guess subtlety is overrated." His brother gave him a stern look. "Dame has sent us to do a little interview at our place-"

"This feels like the opening of a bad porno."

The younger brother erupted into laughter. The older one groaned.

"Can you please hold your tongue and come with us?"

"What if I don't want to?"

"You don't have a choice, Professor."

Niko was escorted in a flashy muscle car to the motel they were staying in. Niko weighed his options and decided to use his glamour on the brothers.

"Let me out of this car."

It didn't work on the younger brother, but the older one was charmed.

"Of course, we should be less paranoid. Don't you agree, Ryan?"

"No I fucking don't! Just go to the motel!"

"Fine, fine, I will."

Niko put up a fight but got tranquilized.

Mallomor searched the streets of town in search of Niko, and went to the motel. He heard Niko crying in room 74.

He pressed his ear against the door.

"That's it! That's all I know!"

The other voices, he didn't recognize.

"Are you sure? Or will we have to get the iron chain again?"

"We might have to, you're a troublesome faery. Did you really think you could get away with charming me?"

Niko gave no response other than a whimper.

"At least we got a confession. Does your demon boyfriend have a name?"

"M...mallomor..."

Mallomor stepped away to consider his options. He could rush in, yes, but it's better to lie low. He wasn't a very powerful demon, and it seemed like those guys weren't pushovers.

Niko used his glamour to convince the brothers to patch him up, and they were nice enough to call a friend who was good at treating burns.

The friend gave both the brothers a stern talking to. She looked to either be Arabic or Italian or maybe Latin American.

"You're still torturing suspects?! I swear, one of these days, I'll turn you into the police!"

The older one played it cool, even though he feared her wrath.

"Don't worry, we will make steps to improve our work in the future."

"You'd better!" Niko yelled at them from the motel bed.

Mallomor spied on the pair of brothers as they argued outside the motel.

"Did we really need to do that to him, Micheal?" The older one said.

"He used his glamour on us! That's even more suspicious, isn't it?"

"I still think we went too far with the iron chain."

"And maybe we did. But now we've got a lot of information on a rogue demon called Mallomor."

Mallomor took several steps back, father into the shadows.

The older one corrected Micheal. "Shedim, you mean. He's more on the level of Faery than demon."

"The minute this Mallomor makes himself a threat-" Mallomor flinched at the mention of his name. "We're taking him out."

The older one found these terms agreeable.

Niko's conversation with the friendly medic was a bit awkward.

"Aren't you the guy that was stabbed for playing accordion music?"

"Yep, that's me.

I can't believe that people still remember that, three years later."

"How can I forget that? I thought that sort of craziness happened in Florida-"

"It happens everywhere, Florida is just more transparent."

The woman had no idea what to say to that, and tended to Niko's burns in silence, Niko occasionally grunting in pain.

Niko was let go, but the brothers made him promise not to cause "any trouble".

"I have a job and boyfriend to look after, so no."