Monsters and Maidens

Rick sat in the chair, looking over to Helga and trying to figure out the whether he should be complaining about the odd feeling that had saturated the room since the start of the… inquiry. The feeling wasn’t comfortable, it was a similar sensation to when his limbs fell asleep, a tingling that spread and worsened the more it moved. Except it was happening on every follicle of his body, as if, somehow, the very hairs had been the ones to lose blood-flow. A million tiny car batteries plugged into each tiny hair and giving tiny little jolts that tickled more than hurt, but were not appreciated all the same.

“Is that all?” He wondered, drinking from a cup of water after having recounted the events since showing up in this world.

“Almost, all you would need to do is answer a handful of statements.” The maiden nodded. Her blue eyes kept moving from his down to his lips, and sometimes further down still. The seriousness of her expression never faltered, though. He couldn’t read what she was thinking. Maybe trying to read his expressions and body-language? “Have you ever, directly or indirectly, either through action or inaction, caused the death of a human?”

Rick hesitated, an image crossed his mind, and grimaced. His hands clenched as a cold dread ran down his back. “Yes.”

Helga’s brows furrowed. “How many?”

“One.” The teacher breathed in, feeling a sudden tightness in his chest. “Charlie.”

“The student.” She nodded solemnly, leaning forward ever so slightly. “You did your best under the given circumstances, sir.”

“Next question? Please?” He asked dryly, feeling the tightness inside his chest not quite going away.

“Have you ever stolen or destroyed anything that would have been considered of high economical or emotional value?”

“No to economic, yes to emotional.” Came the response.

“What kind of item?”

“Can I skip the question?” He frowned slightly, turning away.

Helga grimaced a little. “I’m… sorry sir, I can’t.”

Closing his eyes, he sighed. “It was a… loop of copper.” His lips pursed slightly, but he didn’t feel anything off. His mind flashed to the little black box that had been left on his night stand.

In a world he’d been told he would never see again.

Yet she was looking at him. There was a hint of concern on her brows. “What was the emotional value?”

“It was symbolic, of a relationship.” He squirmed a little in his seat. “Next question?” He pressed harder to move on. The subject still felt sore, certainly not one he wanted to bring up.

Helga nodded. “Have you ever engaged in the destruction, or vandalism, of property that did not belong to you?”

Rick’s shoulders relaxed, a slight smile coming to his lips. “Worst I can think of is the time I took my mother’s car for a ride and crashed it against a fence post. Way back when I was barely a young teen.”

A little nod. The angel relaxed a bit as well. “Have you ever engaged in sexual intercourse with an unwilling human?”

Human. The word left a bitter edge to the sound coming from the lips of someone who was not considered human.

Rick shook his head emphatically. “No, never.”

The proclamation caused her lips to tweak upwards a little, a shadow of a smile. “Last question, sir, have you ever been in a relationship with a human female? And if so, do you have children?”

“Yes, I have been in relationships. No kids.”

“Plural.” Helga blinked.

“Excuse me?”

“Erm…” She shook her head. “Sorry, I was just a little surprised. You said relationshipS, plural. As in having been with multiple human women.”

“Not at the same time, but yes, that is correct.”

“Huh.”

There was something in the way she was looking at him that had a new edge. Her eyes moved up and down his body and Rick quite suddenly felt as if he’d just been stripped naked. Squirming in his seat, he coughed loudly, the sound making her jolt a little. Her cheeks reddened slightly.

“Sorry, that was… unprofessional of me.” Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a little glass cube no larger than Rick’s thumb. It had been glowing a pale white. The color shifted to dark blue, and then it became opaque. “There, this will be attached to your documentation. Now the only thing missing for full citizenship would be the psychic evaluation.”

Standing up from the wooden stool, she moved her right hand into her left shoulder, a salute.

“Sure, thanks for the help.” He replied.

“It’s the least I could do after your bravery, sir. Besides, the Major would have had my head had his little girl died during her first rescue operation.”

Off in the distance, there was the sound of a pin dropping, louder than the pouring rain from outside.

“Excuse me?”

“I might not have been meant to say that.” Helga let out a weak chuckle, quickly looking her shoulder towards the closed door. “Would you mind keeping that a secret?”

He had several questions, but left it at that, nodding. “That psychic evaluation…?”

“I will make sure it starts promptly, sir.” She nodded rapidly, taking a step back and towards the door. “Have a good day.”

Her wings slightly fluttered behind her as she hurried out of the room.

With her departure, the soft, glowing white light that hung on the ceiling flickered and vanished.

Quite suddenly, Rick found himself in the dark, blinking at the dim orange light that illuminated the corridor and feeling like he wanted to deflate like a popped balloon. This had been exhausting. Whatever the ‘truth detection spell’ was, it had kept him tense the whole way through.

Rick’s eyes turned towards the only window in the room. Outside was the middle of the day, but everything was cast in a dull grey light due to the ongoing thunderstorm. There was just barely enough illumination for Rick to make out the furniture as he stood, trying to get his thoughts in order.

The rain had not stopped, the streets were wet, reflecting the pale light back up, the houses had a calmness about them. Very few windows revealed activity inside. If there was, it was in the darkness of the house interiors. The town felt… empty.

He could see most all chimneys had smoke. He could catch the flicker of movement from people rushing back or forth from a home, but everything was so still. The image of Monica flickered to his mind and his lips pursed. There were a lot of emotions attached to that he wasn’t even sure he wanted to process right now.

“You look handsome when you’re troubled.” The voice was soft. It came with a hand carefully touching his shoulder. Dia’s violet eyes caught the light and pooled them inside. “Are you alright, sir? Helga left in a hurry.”

“The angel brought up some uncomfortable memories.”

“Valkyrie.” The nurse spoke the words and immediately flustered. “Angels have a halo and their wings glow.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope.” Dia giggled. “They’re a different genus entirely. An angel can’t shift into a Valkyrie. Not that I haven’t seen some try.” Her hand rubbed against his shoulder softly. “It’s going to be ok, sir. I’m sure the Baron will see reason.”

“Yeah…” Sighing, he closed his eyes, not wanting to voice his doubts out loud.

He startled when he felt something soft press against his lips. Dia was blushing slightly, holding a finger up to her lips. A little wink and a smile. “You know…” she whispered, her voice hushed, a hand reaching out to caress his arm. “We could continue where we left things off last time. Help take your mind off of things…”

Her eyes darted towards the closed door. When had she done that? Rick felt a slight stir of surprise at not having noticed her when she came inside.

Rick felt his heart a beat as her touch lingered on his wrist. She was warm. Opening his mouth to speak, he felt the world spin.

“What the-!?”

His balance was knocked right from under him, his body slumped backwards. The world spun thrice more.

“I-.”

Dia’s eyes widened in fear and surprise. She reached out with glowing hands, holding him as his body was eased onto the bed. The world spun two more times and things were becoming blurry at the edges. Rick’s eyelids felt so heavy…

“This is…? Irene!” Dia called out, looking over her shoulder, staring around.

Rick was fighting with his eyelids. It was so hard to keep them up. His whole body was becoming so impossibly heavy. The sheets were so comfortable, so warm. Dia’s voice was ringing as she moved, but even that was moving away, Rick could only barely register that he’d been laid on the bed, that he had to fight against the drowsiness…

His eyes couldn’t hold out any longer, they slowly.

The world plunged itself out of existence.

Yet Rick’s consciousness had not gone with it.

“Now,” a voice spoke out from the surrounding darkness. “Let’s start the psychic evaluation.”