Soul Guardian

Chapter 24: Power

At the furniture store Bael and Six tried to ease their way into a conversation. There was a vague uneasiness in the air. Six broke the silence first.

“Would you ever hurt me?” Six asked as she loaded sheets and comforters into their cart. ”I mean, I’m a human and you’re a demon. There’s really no reason for you to care about me. Why would you risk everything to stay and help me?”

Bael fluffed a down pillow several times before speaking. “Well, you did give me ice cream.”

“You can get ice cream for yourself. That’s not really an answer.” Six inspected the tag on a mattress. “Why would one of the most powerful demons in hell offer to help a little girl? And don’t bother denying it, Lou sold you out.”

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The Baron of hell froze. Very few entities understood exactly how strong he had become and he had fought to keep it that way. One of the most important lessons that he had learned about power was to never let anyone know exactly how much he had. Enemies tended to either underestimate him and be crushed or overestimate him and back down. “Well I suppose you deserve a real honest answer. But I can say that you won’t find it terribly satisfying.”

Six narrowed her eyes. “Try me.”

“I don’t have very many friends.” Bael admitted. “I have co-workers, fellow warriors, even a few ex-lovers but no friends. You were the closest thing I had to a friend and you’re the only being in the universe that would ever invite me up to watch movies or try and teach me how to cook. When you asked for my help, how could I refuse?”

“You were lonely?” Six asked, realizing that she and the demon might have more in common than she had originally thought.

“The last time I spent time with real friends was just before we charged on the gates of heaven. We shared flasks of stolen Elysian ale and boasted about how each of us was going to be the first one to cross the threshold. It was me and a thousand of my brothers, all identical, all formed from the same mold. We were made, you see. Not born.” Bael explained. “Lucifer took a portion of her essence and gave it to each of us to give us life and make herself an army. We were what she called shock troops. We were supposed to charge on the gates of heaven and cut them down, making way for the rest of her forces to follow. Of course, things didn’t turn out as planned.”

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He walked over to the children's section and sat down heavily on a brightly colored three legged stool. It creaked under his weight. For a moment they were the same height, seeing eye to eye. The ancient demon and the young girl.

“I'll be honest with you child. After seeing almost a thousand of my brothers killed on the battlefield and knowing that it was all for nothing, knowing that we were doomed from the start, it changed me. I started collecting power, somehow thinking that it would make up for my past powerlessness. And I found that I was good at it. I crawled my way up from nameless demon to a Baron of hell. But it didn't make me happy.”

He took her hand in his. It was surprisingly soft and hairy like a plush doll. She imagined it was what a gorilla’s might have felt like. These were hands that could crush diamonds, weave metal and magic to their will, but still they were soft to her touch.

“For all my power and influence I would rather sit and watch television with you and eat ice cream than rule over hell. But as much as I care for you I understand that I am not a fit parent for a human child. We can only teach others what we already know, and I do not know how to be a human. Do you understand?” Bael asked. “Think before you answer.” He implored.

Six resisted her first impulse to speak and instead sat there with her foster father. She considered his words. Of course it made sense, a stupid terrible sense. Bael truly cared for her and in his mind abandoning her to human parents was what he thought was best. But he couldn’t understand that human parents were just as flawed, just as overwhelmed as he was.

They sat there in silence. Six wanted to tell him something but she couldn’t find the words, couldn’t think of what she needed to say to make him see that she didn’t want human parents and a normal human life, that he was doing just fine even though he was a demon.

Finally, of all the things she could have said, one word came to her. She wanted to be eloquent, she wanted to be clever, but all she could come up with was one word.

“Try.” She said, “I know you don’t think you’re good enough but I need you to try.”