Soul Guardian

Chapter 7: Summer's End

Sometime later when Maharet was done cursing his name literally and figuratively Bael explained the situation with Six.

When she was five years old Marleene Quinzel’s father had taken a turn just a little bit too fast and sent the family station wagon over the edge of Devil’s Slide. When the rescue crew cut her out of the wreckage hours later she had gone from the youngest of three to the sole survivor. With no remaining family Marleene had spent months alone recovering in the hospital followed by two years in the foster care system.

She had bounced from family to family until a certain charismatic cult leader had taken her in. This hadn’t been out of the goodness of his heart. From the beginning Mike had planned to sacrifice her to whatever passing demon would take her. And since no self respecting demon would accept a little girl named Marleene, he had found a more suitable name for his victim, he had started calling her Six.

Of course until Bael arrived, no matter how hard the cult tried, they hadn’t even managed to summon so much as an imp. It had been sheer dumb luck that their spell worked in the first place. Of course, if they hadn’t managed to summon Bael they would still be alive instead of encased in 24 karat gold so perhaps luck wasn’t quite the right word. Misfortune was much more fitting.

“So what’s the plan?” Maharet asked once Bael had finished his tale of woe and gold plated punishment. “We aren’t exactly from around here. Do you know how the adoption system works? Because I don’t.”

Bael shifted uncomfortably. “We may have to reach out to a certain entity for help. I’ve been putting it off but really I don’t see any way around it. We may have to call…” He looked around as if he was afraid to say the word aloud. “... an angel.” He whispered.

“Oh grow up.” Maharet rolled her eyes “The war was eons ago. Most of them are stuck at desk jobs just like us. I actually collaborated with some of them on that purgatory expansion way back when. It went pretty well.”

“Well I still don’t like them.” Bael said, digging his hooves in. “They’re just so smug all the time like they’re somehow better than us. Besides, what kind of creature goes around helping people out of the goodness of their heart? Sounds like classic attention seeking behavior to me.”

“Yeah, what absolute freak of nature would do something like that?" Maharet asked, every word positively dripping with sarcasm.

“Point taken.” Bael said. “I’ll put in a call first thing in the morning. Those lucky bastards keep banker’s hours. In the meantime we should tell Six the good news. She probably won’t be too happy that you’re staying with us but I’m sure she’ll warm up to you… eventually.”

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When Six was done screaming at Bael and trying to send him back to hell (and failing because apparently she hadn’t read Transdimensional Travel 101 either) she locked herself in her room. Soft muffled sobs crept under the door and each one was like a blade stabbing Bael right in his heart.

He wanted to punch a wall. He wanted to scream. He wanted to run back to hell and pretend none of this had ever happened. But instead Bael was stuck in the big cold empty house with a human child that hated him and nobody else to talk to except Maharet. He shivered from the unexpected rejection and the cold of the mortal realm.

Maharet found him trying to start a fire in the hearth and failing miserably. It was a lot easier to get a blaze going back home. In fact, usually the trick was trying to not accidentally set things on fire. He held a lighter to the logs but it ran out of fuel before he even got them to smolder. He threw the useless piece of plastic at the wall as hard as he could and shattered it into a million pieces. But it didn’t make him feel any better.

“Why don’t you let me do it.” Maharet said, sitting down next to him on the flagstones. She grabbed a log out of the fireplace and started tearing off long thin slivers of wood for kindling. She started small at first then worked her way up to finger sized pieces. “Fire is a living creature.” She explained as she laid the logs flat to make a platform then started stacking the kindling on top biggest to smallest until she had a rough pyramid shape. “It needs nurturing and care. You can’t just expect it to get going all on its own.”

He watched, entranced as Maharet leaned in and gently blew onto the kindling. At first it only charred, then slowly the pieces started to blacken and eventually they burst into flame. Soon she had a roaring fire going. “We’ll have to wait a little while before we add any more wood or we’ll smother it.”

Bael looked into the flames, suddenly homesick. “I thought Six would be happy we were going to find her a new family.” He said. “But she hates me.”

“What did you expect would happen?” Maharet asked as she made minute adjustments to keep the fire going. “You came out of nowhere and got rid of her evil foster father. She thought you were some kind of magical friend who she could call when she needed you and send away whenever she was done. Now you’re here to stay and she’s not in control anymore. No wonder she’s frightened. I’m sure that even though she’s just a child, Six knows in her heart that she can’t stay alone here forever and that she will eventually have to find a family to take care of her. But even though they know it has to, no child ever really wants summer to end.”

Even though they made sense her words were far from comforting. “You seem to know an awful lot about this stuff.” Bael observed from his seat by the fire. It occurred to him that although he had worked with her for a very long time he had never really gotten to know Maharet as a demon.

“Well maybe I have hidden depths.” She said, “Or maybe you’re just an idiot. Either way I’m stuck with you until we can get this solved. Enjoy the fire, goat boy.”

“Aren’t you cold?” Bael asked when he realized she was about to leave him alone.

Maharet paused at the doorway. “I’m a fire demon, Bael. I bring my own heat. Sometimes it’s easier that way.”