Infernal Investigations

Gregory’s breath hitched as the three-faced devil grinned at him, six eyes staring right into his own. Manic grins, frozen in such barely restrained hate and malice. He tried to breathe, but it stuck in his chest and refused to come free.

The devil rotated towards him at a leisurely pace, a single saber trailing in the snow. The already melting snow hissed as the tip of the blade carved through it, melting instantly at the blade’s touch.

The devil paid no heed to Alice as it took a step towards Gregory. It left her suspended in the air, choking from the ever-tightening tail around her neck.

A mistake. Alice’s hand came up, aiming the revolver at the side of the left-most head.

Before Alice could pull the trigger the devil swung around, tail whipping Alice into the side of the alley. She hit the snow in a broken heap, screaming as a hand went to her ankle, bent the wrong way. The revolver was in the snow beside her. The devil loomed overhead, sabers raised high to slam down on her.

The breath frozen in Gregory’s chest came free, and he could move again. No time to think; his hand moved. He conjured divine energy into his hand and aimed it at the devil. Divine light rushed through the open air, dazzling white energy that lanced through the back of the central head.

Flesh sizzled, charred black. It punched through, vanished. Gregory could see the open sky through the hole. The devil had gone still, frozen in place. Frozen too well, as Gregory took another breath, and the corpse didn’t fall.

It shattered. Shards of it flew everywhere. His arms came up just in time to shield his eyes. He still felt fresh pain bloom as glass tore at his exposed skin.

“Run,” Alice croaked hoarsely, scrambling through the snow for her gun. “You have to-”

Something wrapped around his ankle. Hard and ridged scales scraped skin as it snaked up his leg. It pulled, anchoring in his skin as it yanked him off his feet.

The devil laughed as it dragged him through the snow. The bolt lodged in his arm bent, barbs ripping at the inside of his flesh as he screamed. He blinked tears of pain out of his eye, tried to aim his hand.

A saber sliced, and a second later, his vision grew fuzzy as he bit back a scream. Three fingers fell down into the snow.

“Ineffective/poor/paltry,” the devil taunted as it hauled Gregory back. “You have a bit of trouble fighting and go raw power/might/destruction? Not even efficient destruction. You are a horrible cleric.”

Gregory bit down harder. The bolt in his shoulder dragged, barbs slicing. The cold of the snow was the only thing numbing the new agony in his fingers. His vision kept fading, but he could still see his bleeding stumps.

The tail whipped, claws grasping him and flipping him over in the snow, the devil leering overhead. It leaned down, central masked face breathing hot steam from its frozen mouth over his face. A hand grasped his jaw roughly, holding his head in place.

“You made me use/cast/summon diabolism,” the devil said. “I’m going to make you really hurt/scream/suffer for that.”

The devil’s forearm burst into gore, the roar of Alice’s revolver echoing across the alleyway. Another hand reached down, tried to snatch Gregory’s collar. He pushed himself backward away as the hand burst, severed fingers flying.

Gregory tried to conjure divine magic, only for the tail to lash out, whipping his injured bicep. His vision went grey and fuzzy again.

The revolver fired once more, a bone saber going limp as Alice drew her own blade with her other hand. The devil shattered into glass again, bursting into shards. Gregory’s vision still swam, but he could see the swarm of glass shards forming behind Alice.

He yelled a warning, and she spun in the snow, her saber blocking the devil’s own. Metal chips flew as the devil leaned down, pressing its weight against the locked blades.

She wouldn’t last long, and another lance would likely just result in more shattered glass. What could work? And why was it upset that it had to use Diabolism?

Gregory’s hand went to a thin knife he had for self-defense as he got to his feet, his mind racing. Diabolism in the city, of course. Her Majesty’s practitioners usually noted any significant use of it, and now more than any other time in the recent past. If the devil hadn’t prepared this area to hide traces like most underground diabolists, or the killer had?

It needed to finish them off quickly if it wanted to escape.

It might. Alice had backed away, saber trying to deflect numerous blows from the devil. Gregory tried to get to his feet, slipped. The wound with the bolt shaft screamed. His hand grasped the wall, bleeding stumps weeping as they pressed against splintery wood.

Alice was backing closer to him now, desperately trying to block another strike. Black flames poured from her hands, eliciting a hysterical laugh from the devil as it snapped, flames dissipating inches from her face.

“I taught/showed/gave you that,” it spat out in a sing-song tone, saber striking again. “Do you think it would be effective when I ascended/descended/became?”

His vision swam, teeth clenched as he stumbled back to his feet. Too late, as the devil’s saber collided directly with Alice’s , the metal blade snapping under the force, while the bone one kept going, slicing into Alice’s arm.

He was only three feet away when the devil buried a saber in her flesh. The devil’s second saber went to her throat, and Gregory halted, breath held painfully inside his chest.

“Really,” the devil whispered in her ear, wrenching the saber, twisting it inside Alice’s guts. “Some pleasant/easy/fake words were all it took to make her willing to let you close? Proof I took all the good/smart/worthwhile parts with me, if she thinks going crawling back to you is a good move.”

It yanked the blade out, Alice screaming as they tore free of her. She landed in the snow, twitching, unable to get up.

“Really, how long/short/soon would it have been before you drunkenly admitted to being a thief/parasite/leech off of her this time?” The devil snarled.

A second later, the flat of its saber smacked painfully into Gregory’s outstretched hand as he charged, and divine energy dissipated.

“Seriously/really/come on,” the devil said, all three heads rolling their eyes. “A bit of magic/blessing/divine in the hand with the injured shoulder - “

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Gregory stabbed with his other hand, divine energy wreathing the blade of his knife as it-

Deflected away, the devil’s tail wrapping around his wrist and yanking down.

“-which means I know you’re keeping your dominant one back for the actual blow,” she hissed teasingly in Gregory’s face.

He poured divine energy into his hand caught in her tail. The section wrapped around his wrist charred, burning, and she grunted in pain. Then the tail tightened, and something snapped, and everything dissipated as he screamed.

A tongue snaked out, lined with teeth, licking his cheek. He recoiled, feeling the sharp edges slice into his skin, burning from something besides saliva.

Divine energy, the last he called upon into the last weapon he had. He forced himself as far forward as he could, then he bit down on its tongue.

It tasted disgusting, like an eel dipped in oil as his teeth bit into the devil’s wriggling tongue. Flesh parted, blood spurting, searing hot, but he kept his mouth shut. Inside the devil’s flesh seared as well, divine energy burning it.

Gregory flew backward, a feeling of weightlessness overcome by sudden, sharp pain as he heard a delayed snap. Two seconds of agony in flight, only to be interrupted by fresh pain as he hit the wall.

The devil spat, the burned and scarred tongue flying out of her mouth. Charred skin mixed with flailing pink flesh hit the snow. It writhed, tendrils of flesh pushing out before it scuttled off into one of the alley’s many exits.

A new one pushed out from devil’s mouth. “Did you just channel divine energy through your teeth?”

Gregory grasped for the knife in the snow with his hand, only for a hoof to slam down on top of it. Claws grabbed his other arm, cutting into skin.

“You disgust/anger/horrify me worse than her,” The Queen of Masks said, hands pulling back on Gregory’s arm, and he screamed as it burned near his shoulder, something inside going pop. “Chasing past mistakes is one thing, but going with one who threw abuse/hatred/venom her way? I’m doing the stupid/idiot/moron a favor by taking you apart.”

Something wrenched, then snapped, and he screamed.

“I will enjoy-”

The devil shrieked, letting go of him. Gasping, Gregory reflexively crawled away, trying to make space. The devil sputtered, cursed as the jagged end of a broken saber pushed out of its chest. Behind it, Alice panted, clinging to the handle to keep herself up. She’d run out of blade to shove inside, and out of energy to resist.

The devil spun around, dropping all but one saber, multiple hands grabbing her head, and running it into the hardwood wall of the alley. Then again. And again. And again until something shattered and screams stopped.

Gregory lay in the snow, barely able to keep his head upright, unable to move, unable to help, unable to do anything. He tried to conjure magic into what fingers he had left. Brief warmth through twisted and broken fingers. Every time it fizzled out, leaving him helpless. Useless.

“You think one of you would have the good/proper/decent sense to at least pretend/act/play at being dead!” the devil exclaimed, slamming Alice’s face into the wall one last time.

Something snapped. Alice sputtered, blood pouring out of her throat as the devil let go of her, stalking over to Gregory.

“You first/now,” it hissed. “No one cuts/wounds/fucks with my tail.”

It stopped only feet away, bone saber pulled back to deliver the killing blow.

Gregory’s fingers pulled at the snow, trying to find the knife, a bit of wood, anything, anything as the saber came down.

His eyes closed at the last second, but there was no pain, besides the burning agony already spread throughout his body. No sudden end to the sensation. He cracked his eyelids open.

The devil stared at a patch of snow five feet from him, all three faces confused as it looked at a bone saber buried helplessly in the snow. Six eyes narrow, then its tail lashes at an empty space.

“Rude,” the devil hissed, eyes narrowed. “They couldn’t even scare up/send/summon a cleric or an angel to take me on? Instead, it’s some puffed-up furball who can’t even slip/escape a leash? What is Her Majesty’s Corgi/poodle/kitten next?”

The devil struck the snow again, snarling in rage. A mocking laugh traveled on the wind.

“Someone is running out of time,” a voice taunted in a sing-song tone. Barnes?

The devil whirled around, blades striking everywhere around it. Even if Gregory could have moved, could have even made a sound or a whimper with lungs that felt like someone had filled them with glass, he wouldn’t have dared.

Eventually, the devil gave up, panting, every masked face a scowl.

Snow melted in a pattern underneath the devil’s feet as it looked around, still seemingly unable to spot them. Black fire burned, travelling up and across the devil’s form as it growled, beginning to sink into the ground.

Gregory didn’t move, didn’t blink, but bit his tongue to not make any noise from the pain in case it gave the creature a hint. Alice must be doing the same. Either that, or she’d passed out from the pain. His vision was dimming. Please let it be Barnes.

The three heads scanned the alley one last time. “Wherever you two are/run/hide, I will find/hunt/seek you. And then I will end/butcher/eat both of you.”

It finished disappearing into the ground, and the moment it was out of sight, Gregory let his vision fade away.

***

Consciousness returned in a sudden jolt, Gregory gasping as his eyes snapped open.

Pain, not as bad as before, but everywhere, and his hands moved in cold snow, only a few good fingers clawing in a desperate attempt to-

“Stop it!” Barnes yelled, pushing him back against the wall.

Gregory stilled. He was sitting down in the alleyway, only a few feet from where a still-breathing Alice was set up. In front of him, Barnes, in that ridiculous pink suit, was relaxing her grip just a little.

“Don’t try to move,” she told him intently.

He couldn’t, is what he realized after a few seconds. Not well, anyway. That scrambling through the snow had been his fingers moving a bare inch back and forth. He couldn’t move his jaw. His legs refused to respond at all. His eyes could move at least.

Barnes sighed, looking back at the circle where the Infernal had disappeared. She moved behind Gregory, scooting him forward before getting her hands under his armpits. Gregory gritted his teeth as she pulled him down the wall, pain coursing through him as she dragged him .

“Just what this mess needs,” Barnes said as she finished dragging Gregory, setting him next to a still Alice. He could only see the Infernal out of the corner of his eye, and what he saw was not good. “Damnit, can that girl not make things more complicated just by existing?”

Gregory tried to say something in response, only for breathing in to send fresh agony through him. He was regaining more control of his body. But it was coming with more pain coming back as well.

“Don’t force it,” Barnes warned him. “Healing work doesn’t come easiest to me, and I’ve already done more than I can comfortably do these last couple of days. The devil’s gone. I’ve done my best to heal both of you, but there’s…gaps. I’m not sure how well I can fix them. Others might.”

Barnes shoved objects into his hand: long, round, and warm. Cigars? She forced his hand to close tightly around them.

A sharp sound filled the air, barely audible to Gregory, a whistle like a dog’s.

Barnes hissed, a hand going to one of her ears. “I’m getting called, and protecting you two is not in my job description. They won’t approve if they find out.”

Will we die if you leave us? Is what Gregory tried to say, only for more blood to dribble out instead as his jaw refused to work.

“Careful,” Barnes cautioned. “I’ve got you numb. That’s just whatever blood has bled internally before I sealed the wounds coming out. Don’t move too fast, that’ll tear open what I’ve done. I notified someone else to come because Alice isn’t going to move on her own, and you can’t carry her.”

More questions, more demands, but even though the bleeding stopped, his mouth couldn’t form anything intelligible.

“There are others coming. Friends should reach you before foes. Sorry, but—”

Barnes whimpered, the skin around her neck flaring in the pattern of a collar. She gasped, the pattern remaining, a burn that she felt uncomfortably.

“Damn that one,” she snapped, eyes staring through a wall as if seeing something beyond it. “So much worse than the brothers-”

The collar flared again.

“Fine, no more secrets,” Barnes snapped, before facing Gregory, expression softening a tad. “Again, sorry, but duty calls.”

And just like that, she was gone, simply vanished, and not a sign of anyone moving about invisibly as well.

Well, mostly. Something was stalking a path through the snow towards them, scurrying closer. Hidden, it was nearly within punching distance.

His knife lashed out at it as it leapt.

The remnant of the devil’s tongue shrieked as he pinned it to the ground, screaming through a maw formed along its tip. Gregory grunted, his entire body in agony again, the feeling of something tearing in one of his arms. Tiny needle-like teeth tried to bite him as grotesque tendrils flailed about. Gregory leaned on it harder, forcing it still even as his own vision began to fade once again.

Gregory could hear noises. The crunch of boots in the snow. He leaned on the struggling tongue tighter, keeping it away from the still unconscious Alice, even as he struggled to keep his own eyes open.

And then they closed.