Infernal Investigations

Book 2 - Chapter 67 - Introspection X



I rolled to the side as the Mask bit at me, not caring as my knife sliced at her throat. Fangs closed an inch away from my cheek as I moved to the side, landing on the marble and immediately getting underneath the table.

The Mask made the mistake of trying to stand, and paid for it as the wave of water crashed down on her, smashing into her head and forcing her back down. Above me, the wood of the table shuddered, then broke. Wood came down on me, but nowhere near as hard as that wave of water would. I was on my feet in seconds, for all the good it did me.

The others had vanished from the tavern, banished from my subconscious, or possibly fled. The latter, if any of them were smart. The wise choice considering what had landed in the tavern.

Three faces stared down at me, one my own, frozen into a sneer, another a goat's made of glass with smoldering red eyes, and the third a fanged fish made of black, flaky stone. Four arms pushed against the marble floor, stone cracking as it drew itself to a height easily twice my own, tails snaking across the floor as bones pushed their way out of wrists, forming into blades.

Multiple tongues lashed the air as the Queen of Masks eyes swiveled, taking in all of the replica's interior.

"Well," a half-dozen voices sang in a unison that sounded like stone being dragged across broken glass. "A duo/pair/two of you/me/it. Of the things/possibilities/wants I/we/he/she expected/anticipated, this was not one of them."

"Likewise," I muttered, wincing as the insides of my ears felt like thin needles were poking inside. "Please tell me I did not sound like that when I was empowered by the Diabolism."

Blanks stares from four faces met mine. Right, neither of these two had even been aware. Probably.

"So," The Queen of Masks said. "You two have been busy enjoying a drink/conversation/meal without me?"

I traded a look with the Mask, and was glad that she seemed as unnerved at this thing being here as I was. Okay, the Hells was this thing? Some kind of diabolic parasite that had latched onto my soul in the Hells? The Imp hadn't noticed a thing, although that could just mean it considered this thing another way out of the deal forced on it. Overpowering me so easily inside the Circle was strange but not outside the realm of possibility. I had been drained of diabolic power and was mostly mortal when this thing had subsumed me.

Alberta Vesper might be the most trustworthy source I had for figuring out what this was. Assuming I lived long enough to meet with her again.

"No words/greetings/hellos for me?" The Queen of Masks said, glass face shifting suddenly to an exaggerated pout. "I/we/she thought/think/believed we were more polite/cordial than that."

"Introductions do come from the hostess first don't they?" I mused, meeting her gaze levelly. "Fine then. Malvia Harrow, sometimes Katheryn Falaras, formerly Lily Xang. Maybe that again, someday."

That got a snort from the Mask, which I ignored. Of course, it would be derisive of that. In truth, though, what had abandoning that name been but letting them take that from me as well?

Still, I liked Malvia Harrow.

"This is my mask," I said, gesturing towards it. "Apologies, we were just having a disagreement over aspects of my life. Would you mind returning the favor then and letting us know who you are?"

The middle face morphed, away from that ridiculously exaggerated pout and towards a smug expression begging for a punch in the face. Please let that not be an expression that had ever been on my face.

"I am your/our/her future/destination/pathway," It said, then refused to elaborate.

I raised an eyebrow. "Well, while I hate to doubt guests, time magic is generally inaccurate at best when not leveraged over an extremely short window of time. And while that might describe what could occur before I awaken, it hasn't happened yet. Are you a creation of the fey realms perh-"

"I am your future!" It shrieked, making me wince as I felt something leak out of my ears. "If you choose/decide not to believe me/us/we, you will be convinced by other-"

The floor lurched underneath it, turned to liquid as it suddenly sank up its knees, liquified marble tossed about by its struggles, while forming arms of stone grasped for its arms. Most of them shattered as the Queen of Masks writhed and made it to solid ground.

Finally, The Imp shrieked as chunks of stone in the walls shook, moving from side to side as its voice traveled down from the ocean-ceiling above. We can end this.

The Queen of Masks sent a bone-sabre into the wall, hellfire igniting along its length. An outraged yelp from the imp as part of the wall rammed forward, smashing into the glass face.

"So, three beings of questionable sanity between me and waking up," I muttered to myself. "Assuming that my waking is tied to you and not some other mechanism related to the diabolism."

Right, three entities, none of whom seemed particularly eager to talk to me, at least one of which was foreign to my body and souls. Probably two. Likely two. I couldn't even begin to guess what the Queen of Masks was if she had arisen from me. That nonsense about being my future stank of falsehood.

The butterfly joined me and the Mask, fluttering down onto the table between us.

"I don't suppose you have a thought or a suggestion?" I asked it.

"Yes, you should-" The Mask halted, realizing that I hadn't been talking to her and started at me with narrowed eyes before hissing, "You are consulting an insect for help. Think on that for a second before deciding you're the most rational one here."

A retort was on my lips about how animals in fey realms generally weren't what they seemed when the other two people in the room decided to interrupt.

Tables shattered like matchsticks as the Queen of Masks was tossed across the floor, bleeding profusely. She was back on her feet quickly, hellfire spraying out at one of the marble arms, stone melting, forming into a writhing, bubbling muck on the floor from which something was pushing free.

Up on the tavern wall, the Imp's face broke free of the marble, narrow, sallow as it stared down at us. Lines formed in the marble leaking fire, eyes lacking color regarding the three of us with clear irritation. Three of you. Of course you would be so frustrating to have three of you be here.

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"Oh, be quiet/silent/still, you insignificant little parasite/insect/weakling," the Queen of Masks snapped, turning to face him. "Another failing on your part, letting this thing/worm/insect stay in our head, having so much control/opportunity/trust."

"The other parasite in the room raises a good point," the Mask said, sending a glare my way. "See what you've let your life come to?"

Oh, I was not going to be lectured about these two existing, especially not when the reason for the Imp being in there was the half-brother the Mask was so fond of.

"Clearly, there's a lot of disagreement in this room," I said, drawing all of their attention back to me. "Fighting each other until there's only one survivor is not a good idea, especially given what is waiting outside."

Silence, then all three faces on the Queen of Masks laughed, a ear-rending cackle that tore through the air.

"You think I fear the mortal fools/idiots/meat dwelling/staying near/around you/us? I'll tear/rip/devour them as easily/simply as-"

More arms now, the Imp making it clear that it was not interested in talking, and I dodged to the side as a pair of thrown daggers from the Mask almost nicked me. No interest there either.

I ran towards the bar, hoping that my mind had put Edward's shotgun there. She closed the gap between us quickly, knives ready, mouth open, and snarling as she kicked a chair out of the way.

I intercepted her with my tail, longer limb wrapping around an arm and wrenching her to the side. She went off course, but I paid for it as a knife sliced my tail, trailing pain in a line down it.

I continue onwards, ignoring the pain, running for the bar. The Queen of Masks laughed behind me, and the entire world seemed to groan as the familiar roar of hellfire filled the air.

I ignored it, weaving around a table as the floor underneath me split, not even glancing back. If she spared a blast for me, I was done for anyway. I dodged around a forming arm, marble fingers pushing forth from its surface. It went past me.

The Mask had vanished, disappearing into the smoke that had filled the entire room now. Not so thick I couldn't see the silhouette of the Queen of Masks, moving about, bone sabers and tails fending off a half dozen diabolically made constructs, tearing at the arms forming out of the walls.

I only spared a second to glance, continuing to run. Right now survival depended more on evading them until I figured a way out of this. Talking didn't seem like it would work, not with all of them convinced they could either beat me into submission or force concessions out of me.

Hopefully, they kept each other busy, as I ducked under a table, being consumed as a pair of winged imps pushed out of the wood. Seconds later, Hellfire ate at it, consuming them as they shrieked shrilly. I got out with my eyebrows singed, fins tingling as the table shuddered and began to molt.

Ten steps to the bar. Tarry flames splattered against the ground in front of me, fanged mouths black and burning emerging from it as I leapt just over. Five steps as an imp began emerging from the bar itself, shrill voice screaming a war cry. I readied a claw as I kept pushing.

Three steps when the Mask leapt at me from the corner of my eye out of the smoke. Her coat was torn and ragged, her skin burnt, red, and raw across her face.

I tried to come to a halt, but I couldn't stop my momentum in time as she hit me. One hand intercepted hers, the other grabbed a knife-wielding tail.

Lines of pain on my stomach as her other claw cut bloody furrows into it. They went deep and pulled, tearing out flesh. My tail wrapped around the back of her head, slamming it into the forming wooden imp. Both screamed as it shattered into splinters. Her claw dove deeper into my gut and twisted. I screamed but didn't let go even as tears welled up in my eyes. Twice more I drove her head into the bar, even as claws rip and tore. Finally she was dazed enough that I forced her back, then tried to get over the bar.

Legs shuddering, my body feeling like it was being torn in half I forced my way over the bar. Dazed, the Mask was over three seconds later.

She froze, having landed on the ground, the muzzle of Edward's shotgun only a foot away from her face. Frozen as I wheezed, one hand around my stomach. Strange, despite it being rent and torn hadn't started spilling my guts out despite my abuse of it. Not yet.

"You don't want to do this," she told me bluntly.

I laughed, pain gathering inside me, the realization striking me.

"What even happens if I shoot you?" I asked her. "Does it even do anything?"

The Mask froze, confused as my laughing threatened to overcome me, limbs shaking as each chuckle sent pain radiating out of my stomach.

"Click," I said. "Boom, what? Nothing? Let's leave the threats to the two using diabolism, they're the ones who can probably rip us to shreds."

She looked at me as if a madwoman had started talking. Maybe not inaccurate, as I pointed the shotgun at the ceiling, intending to fire.

Now she lunged, and for the next few seconds, we struggled over the gun. Minus the shotgun and with a few additional bite marks, I slumped again against the bar while she aimed the shotgun.

"You remember when you were born, don't you?" I asked, and she paused before pulling the trigger.

"Stalling," she spat out.

"Always," I said. "But what's a few more seconds before diabolism consumes both of us? Don't tell me you forget the night that I forged you, didn't I?"

Cocking the shotgun, the Mask ignored my question, so I answered for her.

"Bloodily betraying a friend, I looked around and realized that I couldn't survive as I was, so tried to kill what I was and wear a different mask," I said. "Not hide, because that's not what Versalicci taught us. Fit all under a mask, embody it as best you can. Most people can't come back from that so he wanted me like that. And I was so desperate to hide from the things I'd done I let him direct what I would be."

The Mask looked on the verge of shooting me as I finished.

"Do it," I told her. "I always finish fights a wreck, don't I? Let's get a head start on that."

My Mask seemed very put off by my words, but I didn't need her willingness. Despite the pain gnaw at my guts, I surged forward and a moment later a thunderous roar accompanied the blast put directly in my face.

My face was nothing but pain and ruin, and still I reached and grabbed the shotgun.

A second of wrestling between us over it, my blood-slicked hand barely keeping a grip until my tail wrapped around the barrel. My hoof rammed into Harrow's face, nose snapping, and she screamed, releasing the shotgun.

"I don't need to break you," I told the Mask, blood spewing out of my mouth. "You were broken when I made you."

A snarl, and she attempted to grab me, and I moved back. I threw the empty shotgun, forcing her to duck, right in time for my tail to hit the side of her head.

"It's not your fault," I said as she scrambled to her feet, trying to escape into the smoke. A yanked hoof, tail reeling her back towards me. "I was a poor maskmaker. Probably still am. To my own benefit. Good enough to pass for a time, until outside factors came to take hammers to what I made."

I'd reeled her close, entirely on her back and I leaned down. A hoof hammered my already brutalized nose. I heard the crack and felt the pain as bone broke, but even through my tears I managed to grapple with her, forcing all her limbs still and a hand over her mouth that she couldn't quite bite.

"Versalicci wanted a heartless killer, an unquestioning soldier, but even he couldn't completely force the mask on," I told her. "Just enough to make him think it was on, and enough to make me doubt. And that's not your fault any more than it was mine. More mine I think, because it was comforting to keep you on, to pretend I was someone else, but the time to stop that came long before I actually stopped."

She struggled against my grip, but it was weak against my grip. Pain faded away as I kept my grip, breathing raggedly, as I considered what I was doing. Taking off armor that had been worn for years, to varying extents, but completely baring myself hadn't been a thing for...over a decade easily.

But it needed to be done.

"It's fine," I whispered in her ear. "I don't need you anymore. And I'm thankful you existed because I needed to be you, to stay alive, as imperfectly as I wore you. You kept me protected, and any fault for imperfection in that falls on you, not me. But it's time for the mask to come off all the way."

A shudder, all the fight going out of her, and then I wasn't restraining anyone at all. Lying on the ground, my arms, leg, and tail were wrapped around thin air.

I breathed, getting up from where I'd been wrestling something that no longer existed. I…had not been sure that would work. I couldn't even call what I'd done a hunch. Had my mind stumbled upon it? Fey realm magic at work, considering I'd been wrestling with myself, in the truest sense. Only given life for a brief little time.

My wounds were closed now, gone as if they'd never happened. Good, as in that smoke one figure dueled the entire tavern, tables, walls, chairs, everything. I doubted this next part would be as easy.

The butterfly's wings brushed against my cheek, and I lightly touched one of them.

"Well, I suppose it's time to bring an end to this," I told it, then headed into the smoke.


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