Upbeat Hyena 14 (Patreon)

Upbeat Hyena
Chapter 14

-VB-

1999

Bagaram.

It used to be a name associated with evil eyes looking for victims between alleys and an alter to please a god of demons. In the earlier days of the demon cults, it was the name of a demon knight who roamed the streets at night, belligerent to all those who he deemed as “inferior.” De

These days, Bagaram was the name of the minor sect running a bank(?) and a hero(?!) team.

To be fair, the hero team in question did not exist on any roster of legally recognized or acknowledged hero teams operating in the contiguous USA. Most of the demonic sects ignored the issues of legality. It didn’t help that the start of the demonic sects had been extremely violent and very villainous.

Some sects, those among the small groups, had been no better than the Slaughterhouse Nine before the Reformation instigated by Bagaram changed them all. Those that had refused to change had … let’s just say that some of the more powerful demons descended to personally take care of the problem.

Jamie digressed.

Bagaram ran a hero team who helped keep out shitstains like S9-wannabes and the more traditional ones. To fund this team, he also ran a bank through intermediaries that served the public. Unironically, the name of the bank of Seattle Cereberus Bank, named after a demonic dog - because what else was a dog with multiple heads strong enough to kill armed and

armored ancient warriors?

It was a small bank, but it was also the only bank operated by any of the demonic cults and ritually bound by the Prince himself to provide good service.

Bagaram, for his part in the ritual, received power directly from the Prince that elevated him from knightly rank to that of a baron rank.

But why did all of this matter to him, Jamie Horsesmith?

Well, that’s because he was an accountant for the Seattle Cerberus Bank, and this position gave him a wonderful position to engage in talks not just with fellow sect followers but also demons who should, by all rights innate and bestowed by the Prince, be his superior yet he dealt with them as equals.

Because, you see, money was on the line.

Hurting the good people was bad. The Prince didn’t like that. He even scolded a few who sacrificed good-doers regardless of the Prince’s wishes (FYI, they no longer lived on Earth Bet and rumors have it that they still live… as eternal hunting targets for reborn demons in the Umbral Plane).

What did hurting good people have to do with money?

Because all of the demonic sects were, by their nature, a bit villainous, and the heads of the demonic sects were usually demons eager to please the Prince by sacrificing bad people.

Money? It was just a means to find those bad people, whether they be rapist cops, corrupt politicians, embezzling accountants (which Jamie was not), neglectful fathers, abusive mothers, puppy kickers, drug dealers, and serial killers. Money was used as bounty for sect followers and outsiders alike to bring those bad people, preferably alive, to the demons, who would sacrifice them to the Prince.

It was why most of the sects had businesses that they established and then siphoned profit from for hunting purposes.

And the only bank that didn’t question such movements of money?

The Seattle Cerberus Bank.

As the president and majority shareholder of the bank, Baron Bagaram managed a tight ship. He always paid his employees on time, never cheated his clients and agents, gave wages equal to the productivity and loyalty in not-quite-equal parts, and enjoyed respect he deserved.

Why would a demon give fair wage?

That’s simple.

Wage theft was a crime of stealing, and demonic souls were equally worthy of sacrifice as human souls.

Why am he telling them this?

“I do have my loyalty to the Bagaram Sect,” Jamie spoke up while tied to a chair within PRT Seattle’s interrogation chamber. “This is already an open secret, so I am not exactly betraying anyone.” Then he grinned while looking up at the director herself. “Besides, you can prosecute me and have me fined, or even jailed, for sure, The Bagaram Sect and its allies won’t like that you are meddling in their ‘cape’ affairs.”

“None of your demons are capes!” the director spat and snarled, and Jamie agreed.

“I know, but it doesn’t matter, does it? The Prince protects, madam director. The March of Ten Thousand is an act already promised to you, and it’s not like you arrested me for doing anything, merely that you suspected me of ‘illegal’ activities. This is already a violation of the agreement.”

He delighted in seeing the director’s veins pop up.

“You need to watch your blood pressure, director. You don’t look so good.”

The Agreement, as it were, came to be under the current PRT Seattle director and the Protectorate Seattle leader. As long as no aggressive violent acts were taken in public enough to destabilize the trust the public held for the government, PRT Seattle would ignore the activities of the Demon Sects, or cults as they named the sects.

Of course, Jamie supposed that the mass murder of the latest villainous parahuman gang to settle in the city was good enough of a reason to find a sect member and question them. The public did not like finding out that a hundred men and women got beheaded, capes and regular people alike.

“Also, I’m not a member of the sect that did that.”

The director paused and stared at him.

“Or rather, that wasn’t a sect at all. It was a lone demon.”

“Who?”

A lone demon was not a part of the Agreement, only the human sects and demonic sects were. Non-sect member demons weren’t.

“I think you know him as ‘Avenger.’”

The director looked at him with surprised wide eyes before she closed them as an epiphany struck her.

Avenger was … well, he was a Count-ranked demon who took the form of a lean Middle Eastern young man covered from head to toe in tattoos. He’s already run into Protectorate heroes before, just not in Seattle.

“Why is he here?”

Unlike most of the other demons, Avenger took off on his own almost immediately after attaining Baronhood. What did he do?

He traveled and killed anyone who got in his way.

Even the Prince himself wanted Avenger dead, if only for being so disruptive to his grand plans, or so Jamie heard before from Lord Bagaram.

“You know how demons are made by the Prince. You were there as a guest on the Day of Feasts.”

She gritted her teeth.

Jamie felt bad for her. She’d been tricked into partaking in human flesh by the Karaka Sect at what was supposed to be a charity event (organized by said sect strictly for their own members). Jamie also heard that she had been there to witness the ascension of a human into demonhood. If he remembered correctly, then the demon in question should be Knight Calypso, who split from the Karaka Sect and took her followers to the ocean (many rumors abound speak of an underwater town that Calypso built with her followers).

“That demon begged the Prince to be the avatar of human hate. Lord Bagaram always called him little edgelord, but then again, the edgelord is now stronger than most of the demons, eh?”

“That doesn’t tell me why he is back in Seattle.”

Jamie tilted his head and looked at her condescendingly. Like how stupider can she be?

“Avenger is the avatar of human hate. Whether the demonic sects like it or not, we haven’t been as complete as we like in scouring the city of the filth of humanity. There always is filth that lurks in cities. Always more, sorry. Avenger is drawn to greater concentrations of where human hatred pools.”

He knew that the director wanted to tell him that hate was not something people could see. She wouldn’t be the first or the last.

But then again, this was the Age of Parahumans, was it not? And wasn’t Seattle one of the seven “parahuman” centers of the United States of America?

“I’m sure that Lord Bagaram told you. He does keep in contact with you lot.”

“He did tell us about how Avenger’s mind works, yes,” the director grumbled.

“... So, you got all of the information you need. Mind letting me out?”