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Red Winter

Chapter 6: Confession

Sneak Peek

The light was disorientating. It was like the wards themselves were messing with his perception of reality. Kaleth blinked lazily, one eye closing faster than the other as all the holy light made it hard to focus. The way they got him into the portable tabernacle was humiliating. The glass tube was pressed up against the door of the entryway and the wards were shrunk down like a collapsing net. Kaleth tried to resist, but the wards seared his skin and made him hiss in anger. It corralled him into the tube like a wild animal, and it burned him the entire time.

Bereft promised him he wouldn’t feel pain, but what was a demon’s broken promise to a dead man. Even now the demon was quiet. Kaleth couldn’t tell if his silence was because of the wards, or with the hopelessness of the situation. Kaleth tried to reach out, but he felt sluggish, the tabernacle sapping him of all strength. He was feverish and all too warm, like he had been out in the sun too long, and it was only getting worse.

And even in all this, he couldn’t help but feel a muted sense of calm, a numbness to his fear and anxiety as if the light itself was simply sedating him, peeling away his layers and leaving nothing but a raw, scared child. That’s all he was in the end, a kid, a dumbass who got caught up in a kinling catching ring. Immediately out of his depth the moment he stepped into that damned convent.

Would his siblings be told of his passing? Probably, but he would be a victim, not a perpetrator of the demon’s influence. Surely they would smite him, burn his remains, and his sister would get plastic bag of ashes she would promptly flush down the toilet. Wouldn’t be much different than the rest of his life. Everything he had he either wasted, squandered, or lost. Gifted children rarely end up living up to their potential, but he would be the posterchild of camp could’a should’a would’a.

He could have kept with his low paying jobs. He should have just kept his head down and kept shoving mail in slots or flipping burgers. Instead, he fell behind and was crushed by a world that hated him. A world that never wanted him to exist, and treated his very existence as a plague.

Kaleth felt the cool slice of a tear break over his eyes. He didn’t even know he was capable of crying. He felt the sadness and fear, but his heart beat evenly as though he wasn’t even allowed to be angry or sad. This is the way it was supposed to be. He was a wretched thing, and he didn’t have any excuse. He sucked the souls of his enemies, and of the Mathias family. That security guard probably didn’t need to be sucked into oblivion either. His death and the deaths of Mathias’s family were pointless now. He ended up getting caught. What did their oblivion amount to? Just more wasted potential.

Kaleth blinked another tear from his eyes. It rolled down like a frozen droplet against his hot flesh.

Maybe dying wouldn’t be so bad. It would be what came after that scared him. An eternity of damnation wasn’t something the men of the cloth hyped too well. He wasn’t looking forward to it, but maybe they would just keep him in this tube of suspended glass. His existence wouldn’t be any better or worse. His life was going to be a net zero in this world no matter what, so what’s the difference if they kept him in a feverish purgatory.

He was worthless, and he might as well be in hell.

You’re fare from worthless, but you are pretty close to hell.

Oh, Bereft, you are here, Kaleth thought, his eyes rolling wetly, his vision swimming, his tears bending the holy light that shone through them. Where have you been?

There was a considerable pause. Maybe Bereft went dormant again?

Kaleth, I just want to say I’m sorry.

For what? I’m the stupid one who got you killed. I’m the one who left you to die in that fight and got you all caught up in a world that already wanted me dead. You were destined to be exorcised the moment you kept me from death.

I don’t know why I’m sorry, Bereft also felt hazy, his mind muddled by the holy wards. I guess I just am. I didn’t want this, and I know you didn’t want this either.

It was inevitable, don’t worry about it. Kaleth felt a pang of fear, but not from his soul being touched, but from the anticipation of his execution. Is…is hell as bad as they say it is?

It’s worse, Bereft answered with a bit of surprise in his voice_. Huh…I usually would have sugar coated it, but I couldn’t keep that from ya._

I thought you couldn’t lie to me.

I could have lied if you wanted me to, and you really wanted me to, but I don’t think I could hold anything form you if I tried.

You were quiet before, why so talkative now?

You’ve been shorn of almost all the power you’ve collected from your souls. Bereft answered flatly. Can’t you see how small you are now?

Kaleth took a moment and tried to crane his neck down to see himself. Sure enough, his body was much smaller. Even through his watery eyes he could see that he wasn’t the behemoth he was before. He sure as hell wasn’t as skinny and small as he was before he met Bereft, but he was more like a high school jock than a towering Adonis.

Look at that, Kaleth huffed as he rested his head back. You’re right.

I can’t hide from the wards when you’ve been weekend this much. I’ve been feeling them for the past hour or so, but I think I just sort of snapped. I…I’m sorry Kaleth.

Why with the sorry again? Don’t you hate me?

No…_Bereft sounded so surprised by the sincerity in his own voice. No, I don’t hate you. I think I actually really like you, even if you are a chicken shit coward._

Yeah…I’m not a fighter.

But you are, Bereft corrected. You lasted longer than most would against a demon slayer. I wanted to run, remember? If anything I’m the coward.

Then, maybe we are a good fit for each other. Kaleth blinked more tears away. Maybe we’re both just chicken shit cowards.

Maybe, Bereft relaxed into his fever, unable to fight it any longer.

Who was that Slieden guy? Kaleth brought up. You seemed scared of him.

He’s one of Languor’s bodies. Bereft said it like it was fact before chuckling. Oh yeah, you don’t know how slothlings work, let alone Belphegor’s nepo child.

Belphegor? The demon of sloth?

The demon King of sloth, yes. Bereft corrected. Slieden is simply one of many bodies that Languor has made of himself. The lazy beast pushes all his work out to his other bodies so he can sit back and lounge for all of them.

Wait, is Languor the king of sloth?

No, Languor is the prince of sloth, the son of Belphegor. Much like I’m the son of Mammon.

Wait…are you a demon prince? Kaleth found it hard to focus on that train of thought.

Y…yeah, Bereft sounded like he wanted to hold that piece of information back, but thought better of it. Why should he hide it? He was about to die anyway.

Does that mean that Slieden is going to save us?

He’s probably here on my father’s behalf, Bereft sank deeper into his numbness to hide from the fear. He was probably sent to keep tabs on me, not keep me alive. If anything, my father might see this as a legitimate way to finally get rid of me.

_ Were you running from your father? Is that why you came here?_

_ I already told you I wasn’t running. I was chasing the gauntlet._

_ Gauntlet? What gauntlet?_

_ It doesn’t matter,_ Bereft dismissed. You weren’t going to complete it anyway. No one ever has. My father always makes sure no one ever does. That’s why I came here. I thought he wouldn’t look for me in such a heaven blighted shithole. I thought maybe, if I did it, I could finally…and then I’d be able to save…but now…

Kaleth wanted to clarify the thoughts running frantically through Bereft, but he felt a deep sense of fear and anguish push up from the demon to the surface of the oppressive light.

Kaleth, I don’t want to die, Bereft’s voice cracked.

Kaleth was frozen, he didn’t know what to say. This entire time he felt as though Bereft was comforting him, but with all his armor stripped away, both of them raw and burning under the lamp of those holy wards, it was like the scared child inside both of them was laid bare to the other.

I don’t want to die either, Kaleth sniffed, the tears welling up and breaking over his cheeks faster.

Y-You won’t die here, Bereft was shaking, his essence shivering through them. You’ll live for a bit longer before they put you on trial.

Kaleth felt a sudden wash of guilt. He was going to have a few more moments of life. Maybe a day or two more than Bereft, and the demon was still trying to comfort him. But what could he provide that would honestly help him? What could he do as a mortal, for a demon prince no less?

The answer came in a warm sensation of fear coming from his palm. Even though Kaleth was laying with his hands crossed over his chest, he could feel his soul’s hand being gripped. Kaleth’s breath paused for a just a moment, as though it were hitching before more tears broke over his muzzle. Kaleth curled his fingers, his soul’s doing the same to weakly grip that clutching hand.

I’m not running this time. Kaleth let the words bubble up from his holy drunk brain.

You can’t run you dumbass, Bereft shuddered, his body twitching.

Even if I could, I don’t think I would. Kaleth gave a mirthless chuckle, his lips barely parting in his tube.

Like hell, Bereft chuckled. You’d run for the hills you little piss ant.

Their moment was cut short as the door to their room opened. They had no idea how big their room was, or if it even had a door per say, but the sound of metal hinges squeaking echoed off the walls.

Here it comes, Bereft sniffed.

Kaleth just used what little strength he had to grip his hand tighter, his soul holding onto Bereft as he shivered in the burning presence of that holy light.

I got you…

***

“Are you sure you don’t need any help with exorcisms and soul rent victims?” Margaret spoke softly to the mouse nurse.

“Sister, I know you want to help,” the mouse was filling out a few forms on a clipboard. “But as far as everyone in this hospital is concerned, there was no demon. The monster was exorcised in the streets and that’s that. We’ll be holding everyone in the safe zone for a few hours, then let them go once we get the all clear. There’s nothing else to do besides go back to your ward and rest.”

“I know, but I’m trained in assisting exorcisms,” Margaret pressed. It was true, though it had been a while since she had her license renewed. Was she even still ready for that kind of thing? She never did take on the advanced rights for the job, opting to simply assist other EC officers. That way she wouldn’t have to get soul ripped for her training. “I’m sure I’d be more help to Lorain if I were to actually use the skills the lord gave me—”

“Listen here missy,” the nurse took on a half serious tone. “You need to remember you’re as much a patient here as anyone else. You haven’t been fully cleared just yet. You still have another full week of physical therapy before we can fully assess if you’re good to go. Not to mention the holy shards in your chest.”

“Exactly,” Margaret insisted. “I don’t need to drink holy water to keep my blood pure when it’s already infected with holy magic. Why not let me use this burden as a gift? I’d be more than happy to assist in healings and—”

“Sister, that’s enough,” the nurse waived her off as she finished her chart and put it at the nurse’s terminal. “I’m not going to, in good conscience, put a patient in a room with someone that’s…like that.” She tactfully brushed over the word possessed. “In all seriousness, you need to lay down and get some rest. You’re probably winded and ready for your afternoon treatment by now.”

“I’m perfectly fine,” Margaret stood straight, even her tail pointing up.

“You’re trying too hard to stand still,” the mouse pointed to her tail with her pen. “I’d bet my soul that if you relaxed even a little you’d start shaking like a leaf in the wind. Now I won’t hear anymore of it.”

“I…of course,” Margaret’s shoulder’s slumped as she folded her hands. “Is everyone okay? I saw Lorain go by and she didn’t appear to be doing too well.”

“I can’t discuss other patient’s condition, or if they even are a patient here,” the mouse started.

“She’s doing fine,” someone spoke up and put a light hand on Margaret’s shoulder. The cat blinked and saw a white the owners white fur. An arctic fox stepped forward and gave her a warm smile, her robes the same navy blue as the snow leopard’s. “Sister Yule, Lorain’s partner in the DSC.”

“Oh, Sister,” Margaret bowed her head, even though she was taller than the arctic fox and was still able to see the bottom of her chin.

“No need for formalities,” Yule gave a half chuckle. “You were quite a big help in apprehending the culprits of this whole thing. I appreciate your assistance in all this greatly. Without you, we may have lost even more souls in the time it would have taken to figure this all out. The diocese thanks you.”

“I’m just glad I could help,” Margaret blushed, but then shook her head. “Sorry, I’m just a little flustered.”

“It’s been a long day,” Yule’s eyes were sunken with exhaustion. “I think you should take the rest of the day the lord has given us for a well-deserved rest. Not much Lorain can do right now while she’s being treated, and I’ve—” the talkie on her hip chirped. “Well, no wrest for the wicked as the saying goes.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Margaret offered.

“Well…” the arctic fox gave Margaret a once over. “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, would you stay here and maybe wait for Lorain to wake up?”

“Lorain is unconscious?” Margaret was surprised. Even just having the brief conversation they did this morning gave her the impression the woman was an impenetrable fortress. A sweet and caring soul, but indomitable.

“She’s stable and recovering. Nothing the healing ward can’t fix,” Yule eased her conserns. “But with everything going on, I need to rein in the EC forces and pull the city back together. Lorain can very well handle herself, but she can always relax better with another Sister in the room.”

“Really?” Margaret had never felt uncomfortable around the fellow men of the cloth, but that’s the thing about ranking up. You get to deal with more and more ambitious kind. She had heard stories of Fathers taking advantage of the Sisters below them in more ways than one. “I guess I could, but I have my own ward.”

“That can be fixed easily enough, can’t it?” Yule turned to the mouse nurse. “Would it be okay if Sister Margaret were transferred to the same room as Lorain?”

“Of course,” the nurse perked up, her tail twitching nervously in her eagerness to please. “I can have her transferred.”

Margaret felt a strange sense of relief and also longing. If she were to become a DSC officer, would she have that kind of authority too? Not that she ever would, but it was nice to see a woman of the cloth have some sort of say. Now that she thought about it, she never really had much say before either. Even at the beginning of all this, Mathias and Ore instructed her to stand by and out of the way.

Hopefully she can make up for her inaction now.

“That’s good,” Yule smiled, her ledger heavy under her one arm as she made her way to the exit, turning to keep facing Margaret as she did so. “It’ll be nice to see a friendly face once she wakes. Thank you so much Sister.”

“Of course,” Margaret nodded. “Thank you as well.” She directed to the nurse.

“I guess it is a good idea to ensure Lorain is as comfortable as can be,” the mouse chirped as she pulled new forms. “I can have someone else look over the kids in your ward if you’re ready. Did you leave anything behind?”

“No, I got everything here,” she said with a gentle grip of her beads.

With that she was escorted back to Lorain’s room. It was past a couple EC guards and into a secure ward. Down one hall was a series of metal doors, but they went down the opposite hall lined with the typical doors of the other wards. It was a simple room with four beds, and the sound of beeping and whirring medical equipment came from the bed in the corner. Margaret blinked, thinking a child was in the bed, but it was indeed Lorain. She looked so much smaller without her uniform. Her hair had been pulled from it’s braid, her face haloed with her silvery locks. Her eyes were closed, her muzzle covered with an oxygen mask. An IV drip was providing her much needed medication to cleanse her blood of the heavy metals.

“Oh goodness, is she alright?” Margaret held back her gasp.

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