Helluva Time 6 (Patreon)

Where: Office of Immediate Murder Professionals, Imp City, Pride Ring, Hell

When: 297 days to next Purge

Who: Loona

Did some research last night, on that “autism” thing whatshername mentioned and it explained a lot. Made sure to change my primary ringtone, don’t want it going off to get him mad. He briefly popped into the office yesterday, just after the group got back from the job on Earth. But for whatever reason he didn’t stick around, if it weren’t for his rather distinct scent I wouldn’t have even known he’d finished with whatever it was he’d had going on.

We got to the office at regular time… Jacques was already here. It was his scent, but he wasn’t waiting outside like he normally did. Odd, and… how’d he get in? He doesn’t have a key and the door wasn’t broken.

“Aw Shit Moxxie, did you forget to lock up last night?” Blitzø asked as he slapped the back of the little shit’s head.

“I’m the one who locked up last night. And I know I didn’t forget,” I said as I entered the office before calling out, “Jacques?”

“He’s back already?” Millie asked, surprised.

“Yes,” answered a voice that was Jacques’s, but… it was different somehow.

The reason why soon became apparent, as Jacques stepped into the waiting area. Whoever he’d played against must have been powerful. He now looked like a flat-faced Hellhound with a massive rack of antlers on his head. Still lanky, but… he was looking, and smelling, a lot hotter than he did yesterday.

“Jacques… who did your Uncle arrange you to play against?” Moxxie asked hesitantly.

“The woman who made the hotel he’s invested in, Charlotte Mange,” he answered.

“Tha’ doesn’t tell us much,” Millie complained.

“Heh,” Blitzø gave a light laugh, even as his right eye began to twitch, “heh heheheh. Ha!”

Blitzø suddenly broke down into manic laughter, falling to his ass and pointing at Jacques with a shaky finger the entire time. I… don’t remember the last time he acted like this.

“Sir?”

“Your Uncle, the Radio Demon, managed to arrange for you to play a game against Lucifer’s daughter?!”

… what?

“Yes. Her bodyguard insisted on playing first, but I got less from her than I did from Paimon so I didn’t think it warranted immediate mention. I also conducted an experiment after I spent some time at my Uncle’s estate to adjust to my new level of power. I am capable of traversing to the Greed Ring, most likely the others as well,” Jacques said, uncaring of the number of shocks he was dealing us.

“You… you went to the Greed Ring?” I asked, setting aside the fact that he stole power from Lucifer’s Daughter for the moment.

“Just through the gateway. I used another Sinner as a control test, and unlike it I did not experience spontaneous combustion. I felt a tingling sensation in any part that was in contact with the barrier, but that was the only effect I noticed.”

He… okay, remember what you read about autism, he probably does realize what a big deal it is, just can’t express it the way everyone else can. Even so, that had never happened. Sinners were stuck in the Pride Ring, they couldn’t survive in any of the other Rings, it had been that way since Creation!

“Wait, if you can go t’the other Rings… how long can you be on Earth?” Millie asked all of a sudden.

“Unknown, I haven’t been on Earth since I died,” Jacques said with a shrug.

Where: Parking lot, Loo Loo Land, Greed Ring, Hell

When: 294 days to next Purge

Who: Octavia

It wasn’t bad enough that Dad was dragging me to this theme park I’d outgrown years ago, he had to bring along the weird imp he was sleeping with? Who then brought two more imps and a weird freaky demon that looked like the hatechild of a hellhound and a wendigo.

“Dad, do we really,” I started, only for the weird imp to interrupt me and go back to talking to Dad.

“You are so cute, when you’re serious,” Dad said while booping the imp on the nose.

“I’m literally going to be sick.”

“Oh crumbs, I knew today was going to be a lot. What do you need? Painkillers? Antacid? Morphine?” the imp with the stupid bowtie asked.

“That was figurative, old man.”

Walking away from the imps, I was soon joined by the hatechild demon, “My name is Jacques.”

“I don’t care.”

“He’s putting more effort in than my father ever did.”

That statement made me blink, before I turned to look at him, “What do you mean?”

“I’ve never met either of you, and I’ve always had difficulties in understanding people. But even I can see that he’s doing this for you. Because he wants to make you happy. I rarely saw my father more than once a week growing up. He would stare at me then turn around and leave. I cannot remember a single time he did anything like this.”

I blinked, before looking away. The way he talked, I tried to imagine it, and swallowed nervously. Dad was already fighting with Mum all the time, but the thought of Dad only looking at me once a week before leaving…

I couldn’t help the shiver that went down my spine at that. I felt bad for Jacques, but, “What about your mum?”

He shrugged, “Disappeared when I was seven. Not long after I was diagnosed with autism.”

“Siblings?”

“Only child.”

So home for him was an empty house with a distant father. I couldn’t imagine it, I didn’t want to imagine it. The thought shook me so much I almost missed what he said next, “Why here though?”

“Oh, um… when I was a kid my parents brought me here and it was a time when we were together as a family. The rest of the time he was either working or Mum was at her galas or fancy get-togethers. I didn’t care about the park, it was about being a family.”

Who: Stolas

Much as it hurt, I’d have to make sure to do something nice for Blitzy’s employee. I felt like a fool, thinking I could just bring Octavia here and that would magically make everything between us better. I need to find some way of figuring out how to make this better. Jacques seemed to have a good head on his shoulders, maybe I could pick his brain for some advice.

I just needed a place where I’d be able to talk to him without anyone listening in… maybe there, “Jacques, I believe you said your name was? May I speak with you for a moment?”

“Look Birddick,” Blitzy started, before I gave him a look. Normally I’d be much more interested in his dirty talk, but fixing my relationship with Via took precedence over playing with Blitzy.

Regardless, the boy followed me as I led him into the haunted house. Once, when Stella and I were much younger and were trying to make our arranged marriage work, we’d had some fun in here, so I knew it would be nigh impossible for us to be overheard.

“I’ve just met your daughter, I’m not a secret boyfriend,” the boy said as I turned to face him.

His statement made me blink before realizing what he was talking about. Chuckling, I decided to assuage his worries first, “I’m aware of that, though if Via were interested I would not be opposed. No, I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation with her, and was hoping you’d be able to give me some advice.

“I love Via, I would tear down all of Creation to keep her safe. I want her to be happy, but I don’t know what I can do to help with that. My relationship with Stella is a joke, a sham of a marriage that neither of us really wanted but our families pushed on us. Yet despite that, I wouldn’t trade it for the Thrones of Heaven and Hell, because it gave me Octavia.

“You’ve managed to find out more about what she was feeling than I have in… a long time. What can you tell me? How can I fix things between us?”

The boy blinked, “You heard me say that my father was absent and neglectful. Why do you think I have any knowledge about being a parent?”

“At this point, I’ll take any advice I can get. I don’t want Via to cut me out of her life. I’m afraid if I can’t patch things up, that’s what will happen.”

“Have you sat down and spoken with her?”

I opened my beak, only to pause. When was the last time Via and I had genuinely talked? I… couldn’t remember. Well, that certainly settled what I’d be doing next.

“Jacques, thank you.”

Who: Octavia

When a black tendril came out of the haunted house Dad had led Jacques into, I was surprised, especially by the fact that the weird imp seemed unnerved. It was hardly the weirdest thing here, even when it sprouted a mouth and seemed to be sharing a conversation. Between Jacques and Dad.

My eyes widened as I listened to Dad. I knew he cared and that things between him and Mum weren’t great, but I hadn’t realized… I didn’t know…

The tendril faded shortly before Dad and Jacques walked out. Dad strode up to me and hesitantly said, “Octavia? I think we should sit down and talk.”

I swallowed a lump that had formed in my throat, “Yeah, yeah Dad.”

We walked out of the park, before sitting in the backseat of the van. For minutes, we sat there, neither one of us sure where to start. Finally, Dad managed to speak, “I’m sorry, Via. For everything. I… your mother and I… we… I’m sorry, I don’t have the words.”

“Are… are you going to leave with him? That imp? To someplace where I can’t find you?”

Dad leaned over and pulled me into a hug, gently whispering as I started to cry into his chest, “No, I’d never do that to you. Never. It would take Lucifer himself to make me leave you, Via.”

He hugged me until I ran out of tears, before leaning back and wiping the remaining tears from my eyes, “So, since you’re too old for Loo Loo Land, where would you like to go instead? I did set aside the day to spend with you, and I’m not stopping just because my original plans fell through.”

I hummed in consideration, before smiling and asked, “Can we go to Stylish Occult? They sell weird taxidermy there.”

“If that’s where you want to go, that’s where we’ll go. I’ll tell Blitzø he and his people can go home.”

Stepping out of the van, Dad walked over to the weird imp and Jacques. The other two imps were nowhere to be seen, but as I looked at Jacques, I thought for a moment, before walking over to them.

“… won’t be needed for the rest of the day. You’ll still be paid in full, of course,” Dad said.

“Eh, I’ll probably stick around here then, I’ve got some unfinished business to take care of,” the imp said while rubbing his hands and growling.

“Is it about that sexbot that was purchased to be a clown?” Jacques asked.

“WHERE DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THAT?!”

Stepping up to Jacques, I pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down my phone number before giving it to him, “Call me tomorrow afternoon?”

“Okay.”

He was weird, but something about him made me curious. I wanted to know more about him, and spend time with him. Not now, Dad and I were making up for lost time, but tomorrow if he called I’d ask him if he wanted to go on a date.

I’d never dated anyone with autism, I didn’t even know demons could get it. I’d only heard about it in humans, Sinners with it tended to be some of the first ones wiped out during a Purge. For a moment I considered the thought that Jacques might be a Sinner. But he was here in the Greed Ring, so he couldn’t be.

Where: Octavia’s Room, Stolas’s Estate, Lust Ring, Hell

When: 293 days to next Purge

Who: Octavia

The music I was listening to cut out as my phone rang. A look at the screen showed a number I wasn’t familiar with, the area code placing it in the Pride Ring. Still, I answered, “Hello?”

“Hello, this is Jacques.”

“Oh, I was wondering if you were actually going to call.”

“I said I would, so why wouldn’t I?”

“Don’t worry about it. Anyway, would you like to meet somewhere?”

“As in a date?”

“Yes?”

“I would like that. I am most familiar with the Pride Ring, but should be able to meet you just about anywhere. My uncle has a large number of cars, he will most likely be agreeable to letting me borrow one.”

“There’s a cafe in the Lust Ring, Black Heart Cafe, I’ll send you the address.”

“Alright. I’m busy at the moment, but in an hour I will head to my uncle’s to ask about borrowing a car. I will let you know when I am on my way.”

“Great, I’ll see you there!”

When: 3 hours later

I waved my hand as Jacques walked in, catching his attention. He made his way over and sat down across from me before picking up the menu. I let him make his order, a Black As Sin coffee, before speaking, “Thanks for coming.”

“I enjoy your company, and it is my first time in the Lust Ring,” he said, his face still blank, but it didn’t bother me.

“How many Rings have you been to?”

“Three: Pride, Greed, and now Lust. I understand that I’m an extreme rarity in being able to traverse the rings.”

I blinked, before my brow narrowed in confusion, “What do you mean? Traveling the Rings isn’t that big a deal.”

“I am a Sinner, I was born, raised, and died in New Orleans. I arrived in the Pride Ring and discovered that I have a power with dice games. It was only later that I learned I could steal fragments of power from other demons in these games. I have taken enough power from Hellborne demons that I seem to be more similar to them than other Sinners.”

I stared at him, wide eyed. That… I’d heard of Sinners with parasitic powers, but none that allowed them to become more like a Hell Native than a Sinner. It wasn’t something that had happened before.

“What sort of things do you like to do?” he asked, snapping me from my shock.

“Oh, um… mostly I listen to music, but I also like taxidermy.”

“I enjoy taxidermy as well, what sort of music do you prefer?”

There was a certain energy to him that had been absent earlier, and a smile spread across my face. He was weird, but I could definitely see this going places.