The Lie Spinners (The Deception Dance) (13 page)

“
Do
you think I need your permission?” Räum asks.

“
No,
but why would you ask me for my permission if you didn’t want
it?” I ask.

Räum
smiles, cocks his head, nods. “Magnificent. Agreed.”

I
hear a soft thud and Nicholas gasps. Finding I’m able to stand,
I do. My head, unfortunately, refuses to turn toward Nicholas.

Räum
spins and I follow the feather train of his dress as it makes soft
sweeping motions over the linoleum.

The
metal door slides open and we pass my asura smiling at me from three
faces by the door. I can’t shift my gaze from Räum’s
exposed back as I hear the door slide closed behind us and I follow
Räum down the corridor to another smaller door.

He
invokes
love?
Love
?
When I studied the Ars Goetia there was no mention of any type of
demon that could invoke
love
.
I might have not memorized the Ars Goetia the way I should have
(focusing more on the demons I considered ‘earth-bound’
and therefore relevant), but I know, with certainty, that I never
read
anything
that correlated a demon with love–not in any piece of
literature or scripture about demons this past year. And, everyone
else who studied the Ars Goetia
knew
.

Which
means: for some reason, Albert decided to specifically delete this
detail from my curriculum. Which makes me wonder: how many details
did Albert delete? And…
why
?
When I think about it, it was at Albert’s suggestion that I
considered the Ars Goetia as superfluous knowledge. Something feels
entirely wrong about that.

A
male asura opens another smaller red door and we enter what looks
like a small diva’s dressing room floating in a sea of gold. He
closes it behind us.

“
This
is my office, sit down,” Räum says.

I
sit down on a bright red patent-leather couch. Office? Yeah, if a
feather boa covered vanity could be called a desk, then sure, office.
The room stretches to gigantic proportions but yet feels completely
cramped; a giant vanity with bright lights over a wall sized mirror
almost consumes the cleared space we enter. This is the room of a
hoarder of demonic proportions. Gold and other metals pile up as if
they were discarded lazily, gems, paintings, statues, pretty much
everything that shines piles messily. What looks like pieces of
buildings, golden spheres, sculpted portals and others, jut up from
among the smaller treasures.

It
even smells like metal, an old musty yet acidic odor.

Räum
sits on the seat in front of the vanity and leans in to wipe off his
lipstick with a tissue in the mirror. He spins to face me, cocking
his head. “There are no cameras here,” he says, “Just
you, and me.” He has a Thai sounding accent when he doesn’t
fake a women’s voice, and not for the first time I wonder how
much a demon takes from the person whose body they steal. Is it just
their looks, or is it more? Their memories? Aspects of their
personality? Or do they just wear them like a suit and imitate what
they think a person would expect from the body.

When
a demon steals their body, where do the magician’s souls go?

Then
what he says sinks in. Just
him
and
me.
Grrreat.
He’s already sprung his trap, which exposed his endgame at
least. Endgame: to invoke me into breaking my deal with Andras.
Making Andras open the gates of Hell. Then the world would pretty
much end. And, Räum would be free to mosey about with his
legions of minions. And, the asura would party the night away, hoping
that no one would poop in their party.

But,
Räum failed.

I
bite my lip and make myself sit up straight. “How can a demon
invoke love?” I ask, “That doesn’t make sense.”

Räum
smiles, crossing his legs. “My dear, why would that not make
sense to you?”

“
You
can’t even say the word,” I say, “How can you have
control over it?”

Räum
brushes at his feather dress. “The idea of it upsets you? You
feel that because I was banished from the word, from experiencing the
emotion, that I should not be able to invoke it in others?”

“
It
doesn’t make sense!” I say, and then I realize I’m
raising my voice… at a greater demon. Quieter I add, “
Love
can’t be a demonic power.”

Räum
smiles, and then says, “You are so angered by this. But you are
right. I cannot produce it, as I believe you are thinking. Though, I
have been summoned many, many times, perhaps mostly, for this
purpose. What I invoke is much closer to
lust
…
an all-consuming lust. But if you produce this between two people
with the right potential, some would say it is guaranteed to grow
into more. But without the right potential sometimes I cannot even
produce lust between them…” Räum shakes his head,
“And even knowing that I have the gift of prophecy people
rarely listen when I tell them that what they desire is
unachievable.” Räum sighs, and shakes his head. “Tell
me, my dear, are you comfortable? Do you need anything to eat?
Drink?”

“
No,
thank you.” I say. I pause, and then decide to just come right
out and ask. “So… what’s your plan B?”

Räum
cocks his head to the other side and smiles. “Why do you assume
that plan A is over?” he asks, blinking. “As I’ve
said, I have the gift of prophecy. I exerted quite a bit of effort to
have you in this exact place, with me. Do you not think that this
could all be my exact plan?”

I
narrow my eyes, thinking. “I’m pretty sure, no,” I
say. “You already said that you hoped for a different outcome,
which means that your gift of prophecy can’t be exact or
perfect. This, us here, is some part of a plan B.”

“
Perhaps,”
Räum says. “Let me tell you something: what I find
intriguing, what I am, let us call it: enjoying, is that now that we
are alone, here, you have relaxed. Your breathing evened, posture
opened, eyes brim with interest. You show signs of being ‘in
your element.’ Where before, even under my thrall, you were
uncomfortable in the presence of the human, Nicholas Tapper. Is it
possible that you are more at home with me? Are you more comfortable
with demons than… humans?”

I
don’t respond. I know I should say, ‘no!’. But
words don’t come.

Räum
re-crosses his legs, and lets the silence stretch on. “I must
admit,” he gestures with his hand, “I was very curious to
meet you, a human who is like us…”

“
I
am nothing like you,” I say, grinding the words out.

“
Are
you not?” Räum says. “I think you are. Some might
even say that you are more similar to us demons than you are to the
humans. You might walk in a human body, as I do also,” He
gestures to his own puppet-human body, “You might need to feed,
and feel, and make waste like them, as I do not, but your soul did
not come from where their souls did. Your soul came from Hell.”

My
voice comes out a whisper, “Not originally,” I say.

“
True.
But then again, neither did I,
originally
.
Did you never wonder why we cannot lie?” He smiles before
continuing with, “We were once angels.”

“
Yeah,
they
did
tell me that. But I didn’t choose Hell, I didn’t deserve
it. I’m not evil. I’m not like you.”

“
In
the dark of night, when the chatter and monotony of the humans around
you quiet and you are truly,
desperately
alone, has the possibility never whispered across your mind? Have you
never asked yourself…? Have you never closed your eyes and
delved within, looked inside, and seen the blackness there? The void?
The deep, deep darkness? You can laugh, joke, make light…
pretend to be one of
them
…
but somewhere inside, you are certain there is something very wrong
with you.”

“
How
could you possibly know that?” I ask, swallowing.

“
Immaterial.”
He throws up a hand. “I know. You might believe that I am here
to use you for my ends; that I cannot help you. But, I ask you to
doubt that this is the case—”

“
Yeah,
I’m sure you’d help me… to accomplish
your
goals
.
You’re just screwing with my head.”

“
Screwing
with your head? Me? Tut, tut, tut. Do you not know? You have
surrounded yourself with people who purposefully keep you in
ignorance. I could give you
truth
.”
He smiles, folding his hands in his lap. “Why don’t you
ask the question that you are working so hard to not even consider?
Ask the question that has haunted the hidden places of your mind. Ask
the question that you know you should
never
ask. The question that you know will change everything.” He
spreads his manicured hands, “A question that I am able to
answer… and I will ask for very little in return.”

Why
didn’t the Hell fire burn me?

Why
didn’t the Hell fire burn me?

Why
didn’t the Hell fire burn me?

“
There
are a lot of questions I could ask,” I say; I clear my throat.
“Like for instance, what did you do with Stephen Tapper? That’s
actually the question that I really need answered. I’m not sure
what ‘calling in a life debt’ means, but I’m pretty
sure that if I don’t find out where Stephen is and can’t
pull him out of there, I’m in deep… trouble. So yeah,
there’s the question I need answered: where’s Stephen?”

Räum
stares at me for so long I could count his long fake black eyelashes.
Slowly he states, “Stephen Tapper entertained me, not many do;
I let him leave before Nicholas Tapper even came looking for him.”

I
say, “Stephen and Albert taught me a bit
about
demons
,
but that doesn’t make me
like
you. I’m like them, the Tappers, fighting against you…
for the heaven side.”

Räum
smiles cocking his head in a quick motion, “You think that the
Tappers are fighting for the ‘heaven side,’ do you?”

“
Yeah
…?”
Pretty
obvious.

“
Your
captors have kept quite a quantity of information from you.”

“
I’m
sure
my
protectors
have…”
I say, my rising irritation making me snappy, “But your
response doesn’t even counter the fact that they’re
working for the
heaven
side
.
God. Angels. You know-harp playing beings-we’re on their team.”

Räum
shakes his head, “My dear, you are working for
the
human
side. Heaven has its own plans. How do you not know this? I would
assume that they would at least teach you
the
Bible
?”