Yasu sat in the amphitheater after breakfast, looking at a young woman with dark hair and brown eyes, who stood on the stage. As advertised, Macie’s dancing the night before had been rather good, something like a tribal dance, with a torch juggling finale, in which she’d had six torches in motion, all at once.

  Yasu hadn’t slept very well, because she’d spent the night wondering what secrets she’d learn in the morning. She knew the squirrel-monster she’d seen had been called a demon, but to her way of thinking, he resembled a Yokai, but that was surely just a matter of her personal cultural lens.

  The woman on the stage raised her voice slightly and the half-moon shape of the amphitheater concentrated it, making her sound as if she was right in Yasu’s face. It was amazing what one could do with the natural tendency of sound to reflect from a hard surface, like stone.

  “I’m Mrs. Bagley and I’ll be your instructor for the morning.

  “First, I’m a member of The Order of Ash and Smoke, which began as a clandestine organization of knights, in England, hundreds of years ago. Even back then, the crown recognized the need of regular folks to get on with their lives, without being bothered by matters of the supernatural, and they ordered a group of their best knights to seek out and destroy monsters of all sorts, particularly demons.

  “The knights soon came to realize how big a task that was and were given permission to recruit others to their cause, regardless of class or station, because the scourge of demon-kind had touched every walk of life. Thus, the knights came to be known as ‘Smoke Knights’ and the more common members were dubbed ‘Ashen Blades’.

  “All of you have volunteered to join us and should you continue in that desire, you will be fighting the creatures we commonly call demons. You may occasionally be called on to battle ghosts, vampires, bogeymen, scissor-men, golems, witches and many others. We used to occasionally deal with fairies, but all portals to the Fey Realm were closed some time around 1945, because the fey became convinced that humanity was too violent to share Earth with, due to the world wars. Currently, there’s only one known fairy on Earth and she’s one of us. You’ll be meeting her later today, because she’ll be in charge of assessing your combat readiness.

  “We’ll start with a matter of definitions and I’ll serve as the subject of this first lesson. I’m a witch and I’m sure all of you, except the young ladies that are here to train with me, have the wrong impression, so we’ll start with questions. Ask me anything you like and I’ll give you honest answers. Go ahead and raise a hand if you have something to ask.”

  Yasu was quick to raise her hand and began with the most obvious starting point, “Since my assumptions are probably all wrong, how would you define a witch?”

  “I’m an ordinary human woman, who just happens to have a genetic predisposition toward being able to shape magic into desired effects. Personally, I consider my magic a gift from God, something that also comes with a great responsibility to protect humanity. It can also be a great burden, because with great power comes the temptation to misuse it, something I’ve seen many witches fall to,” Mrs. Bagley’s voice and expression turned sad, “including some very talented girls that fell into the clutches of demons, because they chose to abuse their power.

  “Just like anyone else, some of us are good and others are bad, but regardless, we tend to be intelligent and try to hide our nature, because people can be very prejudiced toward us, far worse than any other ethnic group, as evidenced by many a past witch-hunt.

  “There’s a fair number of us in the Order, because we’re accepted and valued in it, but even more of us out in the world, living our lives like everyone else, though with a careful dash of magic, like a little spice in a good meal.”

  Another hand was raised by a tall and muscular man, who asked, “Are you a Wiccan?”

  “No!” Mrs. Bagley shook her head, “Wiccans are a religion of people that think they’re witches, but they’re generally not. I’m a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We’re generally called Mormons, but that’s not actually the name of our church.”

  The next question came from a rather young man, who had a mischievous smile on his face, “Do witches dance naked in the moonlight, like in stories?”

  Mrs. Bagley gave the young man an icy glare, then spoke in an even colder tone, “No, not that I’ve ever seen, because that’s just a stereotype that seems popular with impressionable, young men.”

  “What about the stories saying witches are in league with the devil?” The same young man asked, in a more serious tone.

  The witch sighed, “I wish I could say that one’s entirely false, but demons are quite fond of corrupting witches, because a demon-witch can be exceptionally powerful and useful to them. Nonetheless, you bring up an excellent point that dovetails right into our next topic of discussion: demons.

  “The beings we commonly refer to as ‘demons’ aren’t what they appear to be. We only use the term, because it’s a convenient label we’ve used for centuries, on top of the fact they refer to themselves that way.

  “However, they’re actually an ancient off-shoot of the fairies, who became dark and evil creatures, which are more commonly known as Unseelie, while regular fey are Seelie.

  “According to what I’ve been told by a pair of demons, the Unseelie and Seelie were at war for a very long time, back in their original home, which has since been renamed Hell, to match the belief of people on Earth. As their war peaked, a powerful and destructive being, known as The Void, approached their world. The Seelie tried to make peace with it and the Unseelie tried to kill it, but nothing was effective.

  “All of fairy-kind came together for a time, both dark and light, but even working as a team, they were unable to stop the voracious creature.

  “The Seelie Queen hatched a plan to leave their world behind, intending to take every one of their people with them, Seelie and Unseelie alike. They created a pocket dimension that could carry them away, by linking them to new worlds they might colonize. This was the Fey Realm, more or less a life boat for the fairies.

  “However, after uncountable years of putting up with the Unseelie, the Seelie Queen of the time took a page from the Unseelie playbook and betrayed them, leaving them to face The Void alone.

  “That turned out to be a rather shrewd choice, because the duplicitous Unseelie Queen had been planning to betray the Seelie.

  “When The Void approached their world, after the Seelie fled, the Unseelie Queen flew up to meet it and spoke on behalf of her people. According to demonic legend, she spoke exceptionally well, better than those the Seelie Queen had sent to make peace. Where the Seelie had politely requested peace, the Unseelie Queen demanded an opportunity for revenge on the Seelie and in exchange, she offered the services of her people, for any task The Void saw fit to give them. In essence, she sold her people into slavery, to give them a chance at survival, while simultaneously putting her own ego first.

  “Much to everyone’s surprise, The Void was so amused by her offer, he accepted. To her dying day, the Queen was a tributary monarch, taking the title of Pride for herself, while her six greatest advisors became Envy, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth and Wrath.

  “The Unseelie started out dark and evil, but under the leadership of Pride, they fell even further, actively seeking to become the living embodiment of evil, because that’s the only thing that keeps The Void entertained enough to spare them. Thus, they became as close to being actual demons as any creature can.

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  “Even today, the titles of the seven arch-demons that rule over Hell on behalf of The Void still carry great power among demon-kind, both magical and political. The Void stands above them all, treating them much like playthings as they feed whole galaxies of life to it, just to keep it from killing them.

  “So, in short, one could say there is no devil in Hell, but on the other hand, the place the demons call Hell isn’t the place referenced in the Bible.”

  Yasu raised her hand and when called on, she asked, “Then what exactly is a fairy?”

  “An excellent question.” Mrs. Bagley complimented, then explained, “I’ll start with the example of the common bogeyman, to illustrate.

  “Children often believe there’s some creature hiding under their bed or in their closet, because their imaginations run wild in the dark. That belief has power beyond what the common man realizes and if enough people believe the same way, a creature may be born from that belief, out of raw magic. They’re not real, in that their bodies are not composed of ordinary matter, but they can take solid form, if there’s enough belief. I’ve personally seen a bogeyman with my own eyes, which was a being made of mobile darkness, with blood-red eyes.”

  Yasu shuddered, because she remembered the thing. She’d always discarded the notion as a recurring nightmare, but hearing it actually existed made her shiver, as if someone was walking on her grave. Several others reacted the same way.

  “I see some of you are familiar with it, but let me be precise: just because it exists, that doesn’t make it real, though these beings can be very powerful. They sublimate back into raw magic when killed, leaving no corpse. Ghosts are much the same way, but are usually based on belief in a person that once lived, though I should stress the point: ghosts are normally separate creatures from the person they’re based on, because they’re born of belief. That makes it possible to encounter the ghost of a person that never actually lived.” Someone raised their hand, but Mrs. Bagley went on, “And before you ask, yes, I’ve met gods that were created the same way.” The hand went down, “In fact, I met the Greek Fates, just last year.

  “I’ll say it again: they’re not real, but they do exist and the Fates were so dense with magic they’d gathered through belief, I felt like I was talking to a trio of magic, talking nukes, who had power enough to wipe the surface of the Earth clean with a thought, not that they ever would.

  “Getting back to the point, fairies were born the same way, from belief, but there’s a bizarre trick to it, if the demons can be believed: the first fairy, who was the very first Seelie Queen, claimed she came into being through belief in herself, which was so powerful, it crossed time and affected the past. From that point on, she used that same power of belief to shape other fey from magic, creating companions for herself, who went on to have children in a more traditional fashion.

  “All of that original race of fairies, demons included, have the power to shape-shift, simply by changing their self-image. Basically, they alter what they believe themselves to be and the magic of their bodies changes to suit the concept. Some do so very fluidly, while others have less flexible minds.

  “However, at the end of the day, they’re no more real than a ghost. This is both their greatest strength and greatest weakness. The common belief of mankind that demons can get into our heads is the doorway through which demons flow into our world, but because people believe sin summons demons, one has to knowingly do bad things to let them in. Most everyone harbors a demon or two, who whisper away in their subconscious, hoping to someday gain greater control.”

  All of the recruits shuddered, bothered by the implications.

  Their instructor went on, “When a demon’s host fully gives in to their sins, it acts like a contract between the demon and the host, in which the demon gains ownership of the human’s soul and body. The soul goes to Hell in place of the demon, where they become a new demon and are forced to labor on behalf of the one that owns their soul. Formerly human souls are marked by short horns of a color reflecting the nature of their sins, as they relate to one of the eight deadly sins. And yes, there’s one more than you think: Willful Insanity is the eighth arch-demon, though that one is a dangerous wildcard to both sides.

  “At that point, the human body dies and the demon takes over, eating the corpse from the inside, using it as a template to shape their own body, for a disguise.” This produced another group shudder of revulsion, “With rare exception, all demons are serial killers, with a love for the taste of human flesh and blood.

  “However, I’ve met two demons that willingly rejected their natural cravings for human flesh. One is an imp, which is a juvenile demon, who fell in love with a human before he ever ate one. The other is a turncoat that chose to eat his own kind, rather than humans, and he willingly joined us.

  “I’ve only met one demon, so far, that’s had a taste of human and chosen to change, though she sometimes still struggles with the craving. The rest seem to be remorseless monsters. It should be noted that in order to mature, a demon must consume either a human or one of their own kind. Some measure of blood is enough and it doesn’t actually require murder.”

  Yasu raised her hand, asking, “Are there any exceptions? Are any of these creatures of belief more real than the others?”

  “Yes, actually.” Mrs. Bagley nodded, “Half-demons are extremely rare, but they do exist, and one of them is a member of the Order, who you met at the side of the road: the girl in the camouflage dress and top hat, Artemis Watson. She has a true physical form, but is also half imaginary and actually gets visibly thinner if she uses too much magic.

  “The captured human souls that become demons are another exception. Unlike ghosts, there’s something real there, though there isn’t much actual substance left to them, because they lost their bodies, but they get hungry for regular food, can benefit from transfusions and hypothetically even transplants. They can even have children with humans, surprisingly enough. When they bleed, their blood stays behind, rather than turning into a black mist the way demon blood does, yet they can still shape-shift.

  “A good friend of mine was rescued from Hell in the 1940’s and her husband managed to gain ownership of her soul, giving it back to her. As a result, she turned into what we called a half-fairy for many years. However, the day she was murdered by a demon, we came to realize she’s a full-blown fairy, after all, because she rose again as a vengeful, weaponized fey spirit, which is more commonly referred to as a sprite. From that day on, she’s had access to all the usual fairy powers. If she’d understood her nature earlier and truly believed in herself, she would have had them all along.

  “Vampires also require an asterisk in our records. The oldest of them are physical beings, just like we are, but according to the cooperative ones that we’ve been keeping track of for the past two centuries, they began just like any other monster from legend. Due to their unique eating habits, their solidified magic bodies were slowly replaced with regular matter.”

  One of the women in the crowd asked, “Wouldn’t that work for demons?”

  Mrs. Bagley shrugged, “Hypothetically, if they ate enough people, but that would only work in Hell, because here on Earth, they exist as projections of their true selves, making them even less real than usual. It gives them the advantage of being nearly impossible to kill, because they return to Hell, rather than actually dying. Fortunately, that normally prevents them from spawning young on Earth and the only way they can be permanently killed here is by being eaten by another demon or a half-demon.

  “There was once a pair of imps that successfully spawned young on Earth, which made them far more physical in nature, but as far as we can tell, the last of them were wiped out in 1989. That was only made possible through the magic of an untrained witch that had no idea what she was doing.

  “The two half-demons we’re aware of were both born from human women that voluntarily became demons, on Earth, by making a bargain with an arch-demon, for greater power. They were granted demonic powers in a human body, giving rise to children that have the powers of both a witch and a demon.

  “Both sides of the war between humanity and demon-kind consider birthing a half-demon a forbidden act and both sides used to hunt them. However, our half-demon friend is our strongest fighter and she’s the primary reason we changed our mind. Unfortunately, the demons have also changed their tune: they require a half-demon for their long-term plans to conquer Earth and our friend is always caught up in their biggest plots.”

  With the big questions out of the way, Mrs. Bagley turned the discussion into a more open question and answer session, in which the smaller questions of the recruits were answered, mostly relating to specifics of circumstances each of them had encountered, as part of being recruited. Yasu asked a few questions about Ulmoch and for a time, that incident was discussed, since it had been so unique.

  Toward the end of the discussion, Artemis arrived and pulled her kitten from her hat, who introduced himself, “You can call me Masher and I’m an imp, a juvenile demon.” He waved a paw at the girl, who’d changed into a black dress, gloves and matching top hat, “This is Artemis Watson and she’s a half-demon.”

  The recruits asked him a fair number of questions about life as a demon and Yasu learned a lot about their life-cycle, including the fact demons usually got their base shape from their first host, normally an animal. They got to earth by being summoned by their demon masters, giving them useful animal instincts and abilities, but it was also possible to summon them into objects and gremlins were tech-savvy imps that inhabited machines. Imps only took humanoid form once they ate human blood and the adults tended to mix the two forms when they showed their faces, much like Ulmoch had revealed his true face as a squirrel.