Midnight

Chapter One

Street lamps illuminated the darkness of night, here and there a few windows shined with a yellow glow and a full moon greeted her like an old friend. From rooftop to rooftop she traversed amidst the humans. Swiftly and unseen the slender, pale and dark haired Cora moved with the wind like a spirit or faerie. Her bright crimson eyes sparked with joy at the exhilarating freedom. Her long dark hair flowed in the air like ribbons. Clad in a rather modest black dress in the style of the Victorian era Cora danced with the wind and the wind and darkness embraced her like lovers.

She had been summoned to the mortal realm. It had been so long since she had seen this world and enjoyed its pleasures. So much had changed. Humanity had invented such marvellous wonders in her absence. Such magnificent miracles that stood as testament of the ingenuity of mortal kind.

"Cora." A smooth and calm male voice said. "What are you doing?"

Cora turned to face the speaker. A man with silver hair and hazel eyes was studying her intently. He was wearing a black suit, black shoes and a red tie and he stood with an air of limitless patience. He reminded Cora of the sages and shamans of the old days of her youth. The man radiated power and confidence. She knew instinctively who this was.

"Apologies master." Cora said. "I have been unable to enjoy the night and the wind and the smell and feel of this world for so long. Am I to be punished?"

"There is no need to call me that." The man said. Cora could detect no emotion in the voice. "I am no more your master than I am master of mother nature or the sun. It would be absurd to call myself a master of beings such as you. I do not serve or ask others to serve. I do not demand submission. I offer you a contract. I am led to believe that your kind respect the sanctity of a covenant. Sadly mine do not."

This was interesting.

"What are the terms?" Cora asked.

"I can offer you an anchor to this world. For however many years I have left. I will bind myself to you. You will give me in exchange your power. I wish to become a warlock. I desire your magic. What I currently have as a mere dabbler in the arcane arts is not enough."

"A good deal." Cora said. "Ok. I accept."

"Excellent." The man said. "My name is Aldrich Abram."

Aldrich extended a hand to Cora.

"Obviously as my summoner you already know mine." Cora said as she shook his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

A faint arcane light enveloped their hands.

"You've been marked." Cora said. "It's not a mark that you can see. It tells other demons that you're mine. It seals the bargain and binds us. I should warn you that I can be pretty possessive. I will allow no one to take what is mine. By the standards of humans I would be deemed immature."

"I appreciate the warning." Aldrich said. "Pay no heed to human sentiment. You are after all not one of us. Remain pure and true to your nature."

"You're an unusual human." Cora said.

"According to my understanding of demons, and that may be meagre, you are an unusual demon." Aldrich said. "I have business to attend to. For which I do not require your aid. As I said you are not my servant so feel free to do as you please."

Cora jumped down from the roof. She walked among the people. There were many of them out and about despite how late it was. The buildings around her were not the drab repetitive designs of the previous time that she had walked among humans but a vibrant variety of colours. Some of the buildings glowed brightly in hues of blue, red, green, purple and pink. As if they were lit up with some kind of sorcery. Bright signs declared a variety of enjoyments available. The people seemed to be in a good mood. Eventually Cora learned the name of this city, she was in New Orleans.

She listened to conversations to learn the terminology that humans of this age used. There was so much to learn. So many new things. But for a demon it wasn't as difficulty as it would be for a human transported here from the past. Cora walked inside a building known as a club. The inside was illuminated with flashing lights that changed colour. There was music playing that was very loud and very different from music that Cora had heard before.

She spent the night exploring the city and having a good time. No one stared at her or even asked about her eyes. No one was running to the nearest church or trying to rile up a mob carrying torches and pitchforks. No one cared. What a wonderful age this was. Eventually the humans returned to their homes to sleep as humans did and Cora wandered around getting further acquainted with New Orleans and this era.

Then the sun rose and Aldrich found her in an alley inspecting graffiti.

"Hey." Cora said. "What is the artistic significance of these?" She asked pointing at the graffiti.

"These are just an expression of adolescent rebellion born from immaturity rather than anything meaningful."

"Ok boomer." Cora said.

"I see you have been learning modern terminology and cultural references."

"Totally." Cora said. "I like learned so much."

"I see." Aldrich said. "You will likely then appreciate this."

He then handed Cora a smartphone.

"Sweet." Cora said. "Thanks like a lot."

"Could you tone it down please?" Aldrich asked.

"Sorry." Cora said. "I was just experimenting. It's fun."

"Apology accepted." Aldrich said. "I have a meeting to attend and I would appreciate your company."

"Will it be an interesting meeting?" Cora asked.

"I can guarantee that." Aldrich said. "And very informative."

Aldrich led her to a bar called The Greasy Rat. They walked in and sat down on stools in front of the counter. There were few other people around. They kept to themselves and were quietly drinking. Some gave Cora and Aldrich assessing glances before losing interest in them. The woman behind the counter appeared to be in her thirties, had strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes and was wearing a tight black top that generously displayed her assets.

The bartender looked at Cora and then at Aldrich.

"Who's she?" The bartender asked.

"It is not what you think Mary." Aldrich said. "She is a distant cousin thinking of moving here so I offered to give her a tour of our city. Be nice to Cora, she is not used to city life. Her parents are Amish."

"Nice try." Mary said. "Did you think that I wouldn't recognise a demon? With the amount of witches, wizards and other not exactly ordinary people or not people at all that I've served... Why would you summon a demon? What could possibly make you that desperate?"

"It was worth trying." Aldrich said. "I wanted to withhold that for now."

"That's always been your problem." Mary said. "You expect people to help you but withhold vital information from them."

"With good reasons." Aldrich said.

"You're paranoid." Mary said.

A red haired inhumanly beautiful woman wearing a black dress and black high heels with violet eyes entered the bar and sat next to Cora. She looked young but her age was impossible to estimate. She had the ageless beauty that every succubus and incubus had.

"So what are we talking about?" The Succubus asked.

The succubus smiled at Cora in a way that made her blush.

"You cannot have her Lexie." Aldrich said. "I will not let you corrupt her."

"She's a demon." Lexie said. She was actually pouting. "How am I gonna corrupt a demon?"

"Stop pouting." Mary said. "It's not a good luck on someone as old as you are."

"Why is everyone so judgemental?" Lexie asked.

Cora felt a strange urge to hug her.

A boy who looked like a twelve year old wearing a blue hoodie, black jeans and white sneakers walked in. Everyone turned to look at him and when they met his gaze, his obsidian black eyes that were like windows into the abyss, most looked away.

"Who made little Lexie mad?" The boy asked. "Did someone take her lollipop?"

"I don't wanna hear that from you pipsqueak." Lexie said.

"You're such a tsundere." The boy said. "How are you going to attract a mate with your attitude?"

"Shut up Cassius." Lexie said.

"Behave children." Mary said. "Don't make me kick you out."

"I'd like to see you try." Lexie said.

"Children?" Cassius asked. "I'm the oldest one here."

Cassius looked at Cora. "Hey." He said. "It's nice to meet you."

"Hey." Cora said. "I'm Cora. I wasn't expecting to see one of you here..."

"Even in this group of misfits he's a weirdo." Lexie said.

"I don't think that's what she meant." Cassius said.

"I haven't seen an angel of death for a long time." Cora said.

"Now that we are all here." Aldrich said. "It is time to discuss the reason that we are here."

"Yes." Cassius said. "Good idea. I called this meeting because I have a problem that I need local help with. I sought the assistance of Aldrich Abram because I have reasons to respect him. He chose the rest of you. To get to the point, there have been sightings of a phantom figure, that each witness has given a different description of, across the city. On its own I would ignore such reports but there have also been cases of unexplained deaths, four so far, were no cause of death could be determined. There have also been two incidents of the recently deceased returning from the other side. Someone or something is interfering with the designs of fate and involving themselves in my work."