NOVEMBER 2020

back in black
She took out her electric handgun and set the charge to non-lethal. She cocked the
barrel, charging the weapon. She grabbed a few smoke grenades from her bag and
attached them to her belt, in case they had to escape. She flipped the switch on her
sunglasses, activating the X-RAY mode. She took a look through the wall in front of her.
About 12 cultists, unarmed, but they had weapons in the room. They could take them
out if they were quick and subtle.

“Hey, Seriphina, what do you think about this bowtie? Is it too much? I’m looking
for something that says, “superspy” but approachable.”

Unfortunately, he was anything but quick and subtle.

“Just put the black tie, Chuck.”

“But you have a black tie.”

“And?”

“Well, it’s going to be awkward if we go in there with the same outfit, we’ll look like
we’re a, you know… a couple.”

Seriphina sighed. She tried to ignore Chuck by cautiously walking towards the room
where the cultists where summoning Asmodeus. It was a worldwide phenomenon; S.T.A.R.
noticed a high number of cults were being held to summon ancient demons following
the events of Godfall. At first, they thought that the revelation of the Gods’ existence
convinced Satanists around the world to finally bring on Earth their hellish Kings and
Princes, but S.T.A.R. noticed a trend between all these rituals over the world. All of them
were trying to summon the same seven demons, each associated with one of the seven
deadly sins. These demons wore many names, but this one, Asmodeus, they believed,
would be Luxuria, the demon of Pride. Chuck and her had busted a number of these
cults over the past few months, which meant that, by then, they were experts.

Close to the door, Seriphina stopped and looked behind her. Chuck was following,
wearing the black tie. She seemed confused.

“Why are you wearing the black tie?”

He never wore the black tie.

“Well, Seriphina, see—I never understood why you kept bugging me about the
black tie, but now I get it. You want us to look like a couple. I knew it!”

Seriphina took a deep breath and put her two hands on Chuck’s shoulders.

“A kiss? Right here, right now? I like your style, Seriphina, very romantic.”

Seriphina pulled Chuck toward her and threw him into the cultists’ summoning circle. With
the force of an angel, she propelled Chuck right in the middle of the room. He hated
when she did that. He stood up and looked at the confused cultists who just abruptly
stopped their summoning chants. He tried to find something to say: lucky for him, that
was his forte.

“Hi! Is this the demon summoning, or is that next door?”

Or so he thought.

“It’s here? Great! My cousin Andy told me about the event! I’m sorry I missed the
barbecue—there’s usually a barbecue at these things, right?”

The circle was closing in on him. The cultists were wearing black robes and red masks,
and they didn’t look convinced. Despite this, Chuck wasn’t tense: he knew what he had
to do—keep talking.

“Hey, guys, slow down a bit, won’t you? I notice you all have the same black robes,
I’m sorry, I guess Andy forgot to put me in the e-mail chain!”

Chuck panicked.

“The dingo’s got my baby!”

Cling, cling, cling…

Chuck heard something falling on the ground, like a tin can falling on the floor. The cultists
looked around to see where the sound came from. Chuck grinned; he recognized that
sound.

Saved by the bell.

BANG!

Smoke quickly filled the room, making it impossible to see anything. He heard punches
and kicks, which was an indication that Seriphina was on the job. He thought of joining
in the fun, but he couldn’t risk getting bruises, so he thought Seriphina was a strong
independent woman, and that he always thought of himself as feminist. He could let her
handle it.

It took a few minutes before the smoke cleared out, which showed Chuck a pool of
unconscious cultists in which stood in the middle an annoyed Seriphina, adjusting her suit.

“Good job Seriphina! What a good thing I was here, or they’d never have been
distracted!”

“Exactly.”

She was about to walk away to call the S.T.A.R. dispatch team to take care of the mess,
but Chuck grabbed her by waist. Twirling her and catching her in his arms.

“How about we celebrate, love? With a kiss!”

He was punched in the face.

He fell, holding his nose. Seriphina called the dispatch team as Chuck was getting up. He
wiped his bleeding noise and whined:

“I’m getting mixed signals, here, Seriphina!”

“Well check again cause there’s no reception here. There are no signals.”

“But why? I don’t get it, we had something special, Seriphina, why do you keep
denying it? You’re the one who brought me here, remember? What do you want
from me?”

“It’s not what you think happened, Chuck. Just forget it.”

“We have to work together better, Seriphina, did you know that out of hundreds
of candidates I’m one of the only three who were able to do the mission? You
need me, Seriphina! I’m as essential to this demon cult case as you are!”

“No, you’re not.”

Chuck shook his head in confusion. Seriphina wasn’t supposed to tell him, but she was
getting the feeling that his whole thing was a mistake. Maybe it was time to put an end
to it.

“I told them to say that.”

“But the simulations—”

“There weren’t any simulations, Chuck. I told them to get you because I was
worried about you. I saw you and noticed how sad your life has been since you
left Roselake. I was afraid you’d—you’d hurt yourself! Anteros told me—”

“You still see Anteros?”

“We talk. I asked him how you were doing, and he said you were depressed.”

“I’m never depressed! I don’t even know what that word means! Anteros is a phony, you
shouldn’t see him anymore.”

“Anteros is a nice guy, and he’s your brother. You ruined his life countless times and he
still loves you. He’s one of the few who still does.”

Chuck and Anteros had a complicated relationship. Anteros was also living on Earth, in
Mississippi’s biggest city, Oceanfield. He traded his name for a mortal name, Chad
Sahara, to honor his family bonds with his brother. He was living with his wife, Ariane,
Chuck’s former manager, and he would visit his brother on a weekly basis. Chad didn’t
know hate, he was the embodiment of love and tolerance, hence why he still loved his
brother despite him almost causing the end of the world, nearly murdering his wife and
successfully murdering his daughter.

Chuck hated his brother. Chad was carefree and successful; since he arrived on Earth,
he earned a very big following as a love guru. He was a published author who had
numerous roles on TV and movies, but on top of everything, he didn’t care much about
fame, so he’d end up refusing roles Chuck would audition for. Chad had everything, and
he was such an amazing human being, which made Chuck feel little, unimportant and
talentless. He hated feeling that way.

“But if you’re worried about me, it means you must still care about me, doesn’t it?”

“I’m an idiot, Chuck, you’ve hurt me so much in the past and I still look after you.
That’s why I’m worried, because I’m stupid. Whenever I see you, I see Eros, the
monster who killed his daughter, the jealous, possessive man he was. I see the
monster, but I still care about you.”

“But I was never like that to you!”

“Maybe not, and maybe the two of you are two different people—”

“We are!”

“—but when I see you, I remember the arrow. Your arrow. The damage it caused
me.”

“But the curse has been lifted, right?”

“You do realize it took a full year of severe therapy and magic rituals in order to lift
the curse, no? I was madly in love with a monster, and then with another. I was
thrown between men like a used toy, I was used, I lived a powerful love that
tortured me every day, and I still feel it. I’m terrified of love now, because it takes
me back to that awful sting. I can’t love anymore, because of you. You might not
be the one who stung me, Chuck, but when I learned what Eros did—what you
did, it reminded me of your anger. Under all that foolishness, you had a rage that
would seep through every once in a while, it would scare me, but I would decide
to ignore it every time, to forget about it, because I thought it was worth it. Maybe
you changed, Chuck, and I want to believe you, but a part of me is scared to be
with you anymore. Maybe it’ll change one day, but for now I’m asking you to
respect that.”

Chuck looked down. In a strange way, he almost looked mature. Seriphina noticed it,
but all she did was pat his shoulder. At that moment they had a connection. Chuck felt
guilty for the man Eros was and he felt guilty for all the pain Eros inflicted on the people
he loved. He hated the man he used to be, but he was dead now, he felt it. He was
going to show her he was a different man again, and maybe, one day, she’ll see it too.

The pair waited for a while until the team arrived to clean up the scene. S.T.A.R. agents
raided the room and dragged the unconscious cultists into their van while others picked
up the ritual instruments that littered the room. Seriphina didn’t really know what all that
junk was, this was going to be the trouble of another team back in the S.T.A.R. labs. She
could guess some of these instruments’ functions, like that fancy dagger one of the
agents was picking up. It was probably for the end of the ritual, where one of them would
sacrifice themselves by slitting their throat. Yeah, just like that agent was doing, in a quick
motion, slitting his own throat open, spilling his blood all over the ritual circle.

Wait.

Seriphina instinctively reached for her gun and blasted the agent, but it was too late. This
was bad, this meant the ritual was completed. As to confirm her theory, the floor shook
and tore a rift, illuminating the room with a bright red light and an intolerable heat. The
rest of the S.T.A.R. cleanup team took cover as the demon surged from below, with
screams of a thousand sinners filling the room. Seriphina tackled Chuck out of the room.

“What happened?”

Chuck seemed unperturbed, as if he missed the last 60 seconds. He looked to have been
combing his pompadour, which was always high on his priority list.

“One of them infiltrated S.T.A.R. They just completed the ritual.”

“One of who? The cultists? What does it mean?”

“Get ready.”

They took cover behind a wall. Seriphina charged her weapons but she felt like electric
discharges wouldn’t be enough to kill a demon. So far, they always stopped the rituals,
sometimes even weeks before the gatherings, so she never fought any demon. She did
fight Gods before, so she didn’t feel like it was anything she couldn’t handle. She was
hardly equipped for a threat this big, but she could figure something out. At least, she
knew her partner was also…

Totally, absolutely unequipped.

“What the hell are you doing, Chuck? Where’re your weapons??”
“No weapons? Don’t you see that killer smile?”