A Weapon’s Serenade

Sophie, Sarah’s daughter, rested her chin on her fist after the group had gotten to their table and had ordered food and drinks. “I am not convinced.”

“Convinced of what? You also don’t have to do this in English, we can all speak German if that is easier for you.” Melody raised an eyebrow.

“I’ve been playing English games since I was seven, with school lagging behind my skills, I want to flex them somewhere. I am not convinced that you three are the reason for my mum to work at a secret government agency.”

“I mean, you’re technically right. That entire secret agency exists for other reasons, but we are part of those reasons. In the way that we belong to the people that are the reasons.”

“Okay…? So you are spies? Aliens? Undercover robots? Clones?”

“I’m going to spill the beans, anyone have any objections?”

Silence around the table. Sarah opted to answer eventually. “If you clean it all up if it turns into a mess.”

Melody smirked. “No worries, I will try to keep the collateral damage to a minimum. That one’s a demon, we two are humans, we are from Hell and your mum’s job is to deal with all sorts of supernatural things. We are just one flavour, albeit the most important one.”

“So, you are spies.”

“Tourists, we don’t do the spying, there are other demons who are specialized in that.”

“Let’s just pretend I believe you that one of you is a demon. Why come here then?”

“For fun. We are on a vacation right now doing a little tour through Germany.”

“Neat. Now you just need to convince me that you are actually from Hell.”

Melody tilted her head. “What would convince you? Outside of actually taking you to Hell or literally showing the hooves and horns.”

“Demons can do magic, right? I mean, in a reductive way. You can do fancy supernatural things. Show me something a human couldn’t do.”

Kuria had an idea. “I haven’t trained that part of my magical abilities much yet, but I can show you some pictures in your mind. Just some little things.”

“Telepathy is good start. Do it.”

“Are you alright with that, miss Huber-Langenmantel?”

Sarah shrugged. “Just call me Sarah, please. And I am okay with it as long as you can guarantee that no harm will come from this.”

“I promise that there will be no physical harm. I will only show positive images. But I cannot guarantee what your daughter will think of all this.”

“That’s fine with me then. Go ahead.”

“Alright, ready Sophie?”

“Just hit me.” Sophie nodded. Her eyes almost instantly widened. “Holy shit, you’re for real. Now I feel stupid for doubting you. But… uhm… why are you showing me so many cats?”

“Because Hell is full of cats.”

“Now you’re joking.”

“I’m not. All cats go to Hell or they come from there in the first place.”

“That is really cute though. But everything else is insane! That city… it was beautiful, not like I imagined Hell at all.”

Anne gave Sophie a warm smile. “It’s always like that, isn’t it? The more a specific group insists that a place is so horrible that you should never even want to know what it is like, the better it turns out to actually be. This time it’s not just the world either, it’s also the people. The demons have been nothing but kind to me since I met them. All they ever asked in return is… it’s tempting to make a joke about selling my soul but they literally just nudge me to be a good person, to be kind. And I can also do some magic now, so that’s a plus.”

Sophie giggled. “You are so surprisingly normal. So, mum is just doing diplomacy with demons?”

Sarah shook her head. “I wish I did, but that is above my paygrade. I am working on securing and cataloguing artifacts and phenomena. Whenever someone finds something supernatural, we go take a look if it’s real or not and then deal with accordingly. That’s why I was so excited about this, this is the first time we met a real demon here.”

“Oh, I get that. I’m excited now too. Thanks for dragging me out here, mum.”

“Wouldn’t want you to miss out on this chance.”

“Speaking of chance. Do you just ping-pong back and forth between Hell and here or do you have a place you hang out in this world?”

Melody nodded. “We are currently studying at a university in England. The city it’s in has a big demonic-run library.”

“Neat, so you hang around that library and stuff?”

“Yup.”

“Hm. So, mum, what would you say if I wanted to go to university in England?”

Sarah laughed. “Under two conditions. One, you don’t try to force yourself onto the nice demons. Two, you get a better Abitur than me.” The Abitur was the set final school exams before a student could go to a university in Germany.

Sophie narrowed her eyes. “A hard bargain. Deal.”

Her mother nodded proudly. “Then we shall see how this works out in a few years. Why jump on this so hard anyway?”

“What do you mean ‘why’? You taught me that when the risk is low and the prize is high, you go for the gamble. Go here and just get a degree or go to that little city in England and get a degree and a chance at getting to know some demons?”

“Yea… I would take that chance too.”

“And you did today.”

Kuria nodded with a smile. “And we would be happy to keep in contact with all three of you. Including you, Anton. You have been a bit quiet, is everything okay?”

Anton nodded. “I am good, don’t worry about me. It is just that… what miss Engelhardt said about being nudged to be kind. That’s the big difference between demons and humans, isn’t it? We just nudge people to be selfish. Kindness always comes at a cost. I am sitting here, watching you show a girl a world that so much better than ours. I have never seen Hell but all I hear about it, all the reports, all the rumours, make it out to be better than this world. I always asked myself why you are still here. Why do the demons care about us? It’s just kindness, isn’t it? You just care because you are kind.”

“Pretty much, yea. As we speak, there is a demonic airship, we call it a chariot, sitting above the Pacific Ocean, guarding a portal for sirens to travel to Hell and potentially make their home there. The inquisitorium mobilized this brand-new warship just because we met a siren on a whim and decided that we care about them and want to offer them a better life. Jolene is selling grilled sausages for the exact same reason. She wants to know how mortals live and maybe help them live better lives. It might not look like it right now, but the world is on a good path. Many powers are working together to make sure of that.”

“I do believe you, especially the part about it not looking like it right now. I don’t know how informed you are right now about what is happening in the Pacific, but we received a worrying report yesterday. Since the… dismantling of the FBC, intelligence from the US has been scarce but we have received news that they have dispatched what they call a specialist to meet with the chariot. The route this specialist, we don’t know their identity, is currently taking will see them meet with the carrier group around the USS Thomas Whitmore. That group has been given orders to alter course just hours before the specialist was dispatched. While this is breaking protocol, I just thought you might want to know that.”

“And I appreciate you telling us. I will relay that information to executor Focalor, the commander of that chariot, after our dinner. Thank you. To your point about kindness… what you just did is exactly what we nudge towards. You just broke protocol and told us something important, you didn’t have to. You went out of your way to be kind.”

“But that wasn’t much, it’s just what went across my desk.”

“Doesn’t that make it even better? A small thing for you that will have a big impact for us, for the sirens, for this world and Hell. You never know when such a small gesture leads to something big. Even just making the day of one person a little better can lead to great things.”

“That does makes sense. But I have to wonder about those who make the days of people worse.”

“That is where demonic lives and laws clash with human reality. What is an inconvenience for a demon can be deadly for a human. Bigotry, vandalism, general asshat-ery gets stomped out with what would be considered among humans as overwhelming force. Often the punishment is death, which for humans is final but for demons is merely a major annoyance. No matter how harsh the punishment is to the recipient, it is dealt out decisively and consistently. It is kind to those who suffer under the unkind to remove the perpetrators.”

“That is certainly a way to do it. I doubt that is feasible for normal humans though.”

“It’s not? Even without force, social pressure on the unkind and protecting their targets will slowly create a better world. Just speak up when you see unkindness and show kindness of your own.”

Anton nodded slowly. “I get what you’re saying and it is worthy trying. I mean, if we don’t try, how can we expect this world to become better.”

“Jolene would be proud.”

“That is a big compliment.”

Kuria just nodded as she didn’t want to interrupt the waitress who had just arrived with the food.