Alcingeria Volume Three

Chapter Three: Packo of the Grand Chasm

Chapter Three Packo of the Grand Chasm:

Monday June 4th 1724

Minerva and I kept going, having passed two hours searching the Grand Chasm for anyone named Packo, but came up empty. We didn't want to ask anyone else because we didn't want to draw attention to ourselves.

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Hm?"

"Packo said that one of his men sold his soul to you in exchange for finding true love. Was that true?"

"Well yeah, who else do you know that people could sell their souls to?"

"It's just that, I didn't know you could do that."

"You sound mad," she paused. "Are you mad at me?"

"Well," I said, exasperated, "I just think that's something you should have told me before!"

"What do you think I do when you're sleeping?" She asked. "You must notice that I'm not near you through the bond sometimes."

"Sometimes, but I just never thought, you know-"

"You never asked, so I guess I just didn't tell you."

I sighed, dragged her into a quiet alley-like spot between two large rocks and grabbed her shoulders, pulling her down so I could look her in the eyes.

"Minerva, I know we agreed on the whole privacy thing, but this is the sort of thing you should be telling me," I said crossly. "I-"

"Why do you need to know?" She demanded.

I was going to give her a lecture on how she shouldn't be doing that, but she spoke up before I could, her golden eyes becoming blast furnaces of rage.

"I'm a demon, Redmond. Souls are kind of a big deal."

There were a few moments where we stood off, furiously gazing at each other, both of us refusing to budge. Even when she was angry, she was still strikingly beautiful. I had grown incredibly fond of her over the last few decades, but that wasn't to say we didn't but heads constantly. Evidently.

Nonetheless, she had her hooks in me. It took me a while to admit that to myself, too long, and all the while I was kicking myself for feeling that way towards a demon. If I ever told Don about it, he'd laugh at me for waiting this long, but time seemed to pass differently for Minerva and I. I didn't age, and I had no idea how long demons lived, but I knew it was a very, very long time. Neither of us were concerned with the same things that other humans were. Don and Tabatha had already had a few children, and I occasionally asked myself if humans and demons could breed.

I had my reasons for not telling her besides my inner struggle with being in love with a demon. I honestly had no idea how she would react. I didn't even know if love was an emotion demons were capable of feeling. They definitely felt lust, though. Minerva loved to indulge in physical pleasures. Before we made our privacy rules, I had stumbled across a memory of her possessing a man and, well, going at it with a woman. I also knew from experience that she feels everything her subject feels during possession. There were a few memories of that kind, some more heterosexual than others. She told me, after she found out I'd been prying, that demons were immune to human diseases, which I was relieved to find out. When she saw I was still a little weirded out, she shrugged.

"Don't worry Redmond, I've done much, much worse."

Just then, something was thrown over my head and I was grabbed from behind. I couldn't see and was grabbed from all sides. Something struck me near the right kidney and pain flashed everywhere. I was struck again under the ribs and the air was knocked out of me. I was dragged a short distance then thrown onto the floor where the thing was ripped off of my head. I could see so I looked around, finding myself in a spot that didn't even loosely resemble where I'd been only seconds before. In front of me I saw a small, short lizardman sitting on a comfortable looking chair carved out of stone. He wore a bowler hat coupled with a bowtie, a recent fad in Alcingeria fashion, and the whole ensemble was complimented by a lizard-made waistcoat.