Daughter to Demons

by Jeffrey M. Mahr and Levanah

Chapter Thirteen:
Chill, Dude

Whatever tortures might await in Hell,
the dreary perfection of Heaven would be worse.
― Anonymous

We may not doubt that society in Heaven
consists mainly of undesirable persons.
― Mark Twain, Mark Twain’s Notebooks
(Sunday, March 1, 1903)

The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n.
― John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book i, Line 254. (1667)

Southfield was one of the nicest parts of town. After the fire of 1894, the area had been rebuilt in variations of brick and steel, none more solidly than the First National Bank building. The Pearlmutter family bought the building when the bank went bust in 1932 and converted the building into a jewelry store. Rumors were that Grandpa Pearlmutter was the local robber baron, heavily involved with providing bootleg “hootch” to the local populace, although Saul Pearlmutter had sued the local newspaper into oblivion after they ran a history piece suggesting as much. Regardless, the Pearlmutter family knew the value of security and had routinely updated the bank’s systems with the newest and the best they could find.

“Wow,” Frank said. “This place has really good security….” He was looking up from yet another set of blueprints.

“I believe you, Frank. That’s the fourth time you’ve said it,” Jackie noted irritably. “I wish you’d stop praising the security here and find some gaps.” She was armed with the inventory of stolen gems, but couldn’t find anything in it that leapt out at her, other than that the caret weights all seemed to be on the high side. Nothing under ten carets had been touched, as if the ‘little’ stones were beneath the notice of the thieves, in spite of the fact that every major stone had been mapped and described so thoroughly that such stones were impossible to sell without cutting them into tiny pieces, which made about as much sense as stealing the Statue of Liberty and selling it as copper scrap.

“I will. I will. There’s always a gap. I’m just impressed with what’s here. It’s good enough that I could actually imagine it being perfect, except nothing’s ever perfect. Let’s check the vaults.”

Jackie gestured to one of the cops who led the way into the back of the store. Just beyond the show room was a well-appointed office and built into the wall between the office and the showroom, clear of any exterior walls, was the vault. It was huge, large enough for several people, and contained several interior vaults that made a second, or even third, layer of security.

The wall to the right had row after row of small drawers, each lined with velvet and filled with cut but unmounted jewels of various types and sizes. Above the drawers were rolls of chain made from various precious metals and a wide assortment of clasps, mostly of gold. Also in drawers along the right wall were a vast assortment of coins of various denominations and makes.

Along the left wall were safe deposit boxes left from when it had been a bank safe. Pearlmutter’s rented them out to clients, much as the bank had done in bygone days. The construction was hardened steel and cement in a sandwich with two inches of steel on the exterior and interior walls and eight inches of concrete between. The door was twelve inches thick, but only four inches of that was a hardened steel shell. The remainder was the locking mechanism, which slid six-inch metal bolts in and out of the frame. The whole thing was on a timing mechanism.

She asked one of the cops to bring in one of the owners, and while she was waiting, looked carefully at the contents of the drawers that seemed to be untouched, keeping her hands well away from anywhere the guards might object to.

The cop brought in a slight young man, bearded, and wearing a fur hat that looked like a squat cylinder with no brim, with a black overcoat buttoned right to the top and a black scarf that looked like silk tucked in around his neck, so there was no skin showing except that of his face and hands. He introduced himself as Eli Pearlmutter, but made no move to shake her hand, so Jackie figured that it must not be customary.

“Mister Pearlmutter, could you tell me why the smaller diamonds might have been left behind? It seems odd to me, because I’d think that the smaller ones would be easier to sell.”

“They would be, of course, but if the thief, or the intended recipient of the gems, were a collector, he wouldn’t have been interested in their monetary value, but in their rarity and quality. All the stolen diamonds were either noteworthy stones in their own right, or were contained in packets that also contained a remarkable gem. The few exceptions were a few packets that contained a large diamond, but one with little value because of internal flaws or defects in clarity or color. Those were left behind.”

“As if the thief had no concern with their real worth, then, or with ease of sale, but chose purely on the basis of rarity and collectability?” ‘Or as if they knew exactly the sort of thing they were looking for,’ she thought to herself, ‘but had no idea which one of that sort of thing it was.’

He considered the question for a moment before he answered, “Yes, exactly like that.”

“Thank you, I think that’s all,” she said.

During all this, Frank studied the maintenance record posted on the inside of the door. The last service call had been less than a year ago and that hadn’t been because of any problems with the safe. Instead, it had been required by the insurance carrier.

While Frank was examining the construction of the building and the safe, Jackie was looking for signs of magic. There were etched runes on the safe that looked familiar, but she couldn’t quite place them, other than as Ogham, the tree alphabet of the Druids rather than the stone carvings of the Norse. Where the ancient Norse had used an alphabet meant to be chiseled into stone or planks of wood, the Celtic Druids had cut their lanky ‘tree’ alphabet symbols onto staves with knives. Checking with ætheric vision, she confirmed that there were additional runes and symbols written in something invisible to the human eye, which might explain why only the etched runes were mentioned in the police report. She made a copy to show to her mentor, Dr. Long. Examining the remainder of the building produced nothing of a supernatural nature.

Five hours later, the tired and discouraged pair grabbed a bite at a fast food restaurant and headed over to Sarah and Hank’s home.

“Jackie! Frank! Come on in. How have you been?” Sarah Athram asked as she escorted her nephew into the house.

“Hi, Sarah,” Jackie giggled as she gave the woman a huge hug and kiss. Sarah might be fifty years old chronologically, but tonight she looked like she was twenty-three and Jackie’s twin, evidently a recent manifestation of her growing power as a Risen Phœnix.

“I see you’ve learned another skill. You look beautiful,” Jackie cooed, “even if I do say so myself.”

“You like? I learned it at my group.”

“I like it a lot,” she enthused. “We can go shopping and pretend to be the Rosso Twins. We’ll have to practice giving out autographs with gracious impartiality. Do you want to be Camilla or Rebecca? Maybe we can get discounts on designer labels!” Her eyes grew big with shopping lust, not that she’d really try to trick anyone, but she did like new clothes and her small stipend as a doctoral candidate didn’t go very far.

Frank’s eyes goggled. He wasn’t used to twin Jackies.

Sarah laughed and pinched the bewildered man on the cheek before turning back to her friend. “You don’t mind? You know how uncomfortable it can get when two women are wearing the same dress at a party, let alone the same body.”

“Sarah, remember that I didn’t really grow up as a woman,” Jackie laughed too. “I’m a shapeshifting succubus, or cupid, I’m not sure there’s any real difference. I’ve never had a real body to call my own, because my appearance shifts quite naturally depending on who’s looking at me, unless I pay careful attention and concentrate. I only have a familiar ‘look’ because I’m with Frank so much, and this is how he likes me. My own definition of a really classy chassis is extremely flexible, so I have no proprietary interest in how I look at any given moment.” She shifted through a series of bodies and outfits in the space of a few seconds. “It might be awkward for people stuck in one dress and one body for an entire evening to look like one half of a sister act, but for me it’s a delightful novelty, and one that I can change as quick as I can blink.”

“I hadn’t thought of that, although I guess I should have figured it out when the same skill appeared for me. I know you want to talk business first, though, so Hank’s in the living room with Sal. I’ll be in as soon as I’ve finished the tea.” Sarah waved them on.

Hank stood and extended a hand as they entered, but before they could shake, a ball of flame shot out of the fireplace, striking Jackie in the chest and knocking her backward into Frank.

“Ow!” Frank quickly stuck his finger in his mouth and began sucking on it.

“Sal, Sal, turn it down,” a laughing Jackie pleaded. “You’re going to hurt someone.”

“Yeah, like me,” Frank grumped.

“Zzz-ree.” The Salamander dropped to the floor and turned into a large wolfhound. His front paws immediately left the ground and landed on Jackie’s shoulders, pushing her back into Frank a second time as he began to lick her face furiously. Jackie ruffled his head and had just convinced him to get down when Sarah returned with the tea.

“Oh Frank, you’re injured,” Sarah observed. “Here, let me see that.”

Putting the tea down on the coffee table and taking Frank’s hand, Sarah examined it. A blister was already forming. Positioning his hand so the blister was toward her, Sarah placed it against her chest. There was a brief, dull glow, mostly hidden by Sarah’s hands, and she released his hand. The blister was gone. Without another word, she sat on the couch and began the final preparations for tea.

Sitting herself, Jackie was unsurprised when Sal’s head ended up on her lap. Absently rubbing behind his ears, she asked, “How are you doing, Sal. Are Hank and Sarah treating you well?”

“Ye-zzz. Alll-vvvazzz a vvv-arm vvv-irrrre here.” His tail wagged happily.

“Good. You know you can come live with us as soon as we get a house. We’ll have a big warm fireplace for you then, we promise.” Jackie looked to Frank for support and he nodded his agreement. The Salamander had almost burnt down their apartment before anyone had realized that the fireplace there was a near-fake, suitable only for a gas log, really, with no real chimney to let out the heat, just an insulated vent pipe. Frank had been angry when he finally got around to checking, but no real harm had been done.

“Sure, Sal,” Frank added, although not quite as eagerly as Jackie, “I’ll design it just for you, pal. I promise.”

“Zzz-ank-zzz. Lo-vvv vvv-ooo.” The tail wagged harder.

“Okay, youngsters,” Hank Ahtram interrupted gruffly. “I believe we were going to talk about work first, then do the family thing.”

“Don’t worry, Hank dear,” Sarah spoke quietly, still concentrating on the tea. “You’ll be able to visit and I’m sure Sal will come by and warm our fireplace once in a while.”

Hank blushed and Frank and Jackie smiled knowingly. Finally, feeling that Hank had been sufficiently embarrassed, Jackie spoke up. “You’re right about there being a supernatural angle to the jewelry store robbery, Uncle Hank, but it’s still pretty early in the investigation.”

“So? Tell me what you’ve got. Remember, I need to keep the Chief happy so he can keep Pearlmutter happy.”

“Okay, but I repeat, it’s very early.”

Hank just waited impassively.

“First, there are a series of runes on the safe, both visible and those visible only on higher planes of reality….”

“What do you mean, ‘runes’?” Hank asked. You mean those scratches on the metal? There were more? No one at the Department thought that they were terribly significant, but there was some speculation that they may have been some sort of anchor system for whatever device was used to open the locking mechanisms, since the same shapes repeated themselves on different locks. You say there there were some that we couldn’t see? We scanned the entire surface with several wavelengths of ultraviolet light, mostly to see if there were any latent fingerprints available, but there weren’t.”

“ ‘Blacklight’ wouldn’t reveal these markings, Hank. They exist only on a separate plane of reality. That’s why I suspect that magic is involved somehow,” Jackie explained.

Hank started to object but Sarah calmly motioned for her husband to listen and her twin for the day continued. “I checked the runes, but there was no residual magic that I could see. That’s unusual. Most runes have a trace of magic inherent in the runes themselves. Just in case, I made a copy of the runes to give to Doctor Long. Maybe he’ll be able to help.” She thought about this for while before continuing, despite Hank’s visibly growing impatience.

“Except for the mezuzahs on each door post,” Jackie finally said, “which are very powerful from long use, there was really nothing else of a magical nature in the entire building except some very old traces. Maybe one or two of Pearlmutter’s customers were paranormal beings?”

“Can you tell who they were?” Hank asked. “Handelson is already checking the employee and customer lists, but he’s not likely to go back more than a year or so. Most paranormals apparently live a lot longer, but of course he can’t check for that because we don’t officially know anything about magic. It’s always possible one of them was unsatisfied with the service, I suppose, but this secrecy is driving me crazy.”

“The traces were faint, and I don‘t know them from personal knowledge, but I would if I saw them, of course.” Jackie paused as understanding struck her like a ton of bricks.

“Of course, the convention. That’s what she meant. She really was giving me good advice.”

“Convention?” Hank asked. “What convention and how’s it going to help solve this crime?”

“Lilith told me to go to the convention. I thought she was being her usual pain in the…well, you know where, but she wasn’t. If I go to the convention, I’ll get to meet most of the local paranormal population and a good portion of the world-wide paranormal population, all in one location and at one time. It’s the best chance I’m likely to ever get to match those magical traces to the people who left them. Then, maybe we can see if there is a dissatisfied customer involved.”

“Okay. That sounds reasonable,” Hank concurred. “When’s this convention? I hope it’s soon.”

“Well, that’s the rub.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t know when or where the convention will be.”

“Oh great!” Hank groaned.

“I think I might be able to help, dear.”

“Huh? How can you help, Sarah?”

“My support group. You know I’ve been trying to get Jackie to join me at one of the group’s sessions and it’s meeting later this evening.” Turning to Jackie she asked, “Would you be able to come tonight?”

“Dear,” Hank interrupted. “I know you like Jackie and want to do more with her, but we agreed to business before pleasure.”

“Yes, dear, and this is actually both. Jackie needs to find out when and where this convention is and the best place to start looking is where a bunch of paranormal folks are hanging out, talking about how to fit in.”

Hank laughed. “I sit corrected, my dear. You are, as usual, absolutely right.” Turning to Frank, he continued. “How about the building? Have you figured out how it could be broken into by non-magical means?”

“Uncle Hank, slow down,” Frank laughed.

“You’re wasting your time, Frank,” Sarah observed, smiling lovingly at her husband. “I’ve been trying to get him to slow down for years.”

“I examined the building and I have some ideas, but I want to put together a diorama and play with it a bit before saying anything. In fact, if you don’t mind, I’d like to use your workshop to build it, since you have power tools.”

To Jackie’s perception, he spoke the words ‘power tools’ as if they represented holy objects, a fetish she’d never shared, she thought, even when she was a man, although her memories of that were very hazy, overlaid with memories of having been Jackie forever. Idly, she wondered whether her angel Sam had been right about her, which meant that her mother had acted as an angel of mercy, which made her brain hurt to think about. She shook herself to clear her head.

“Of course. Ladies, would you excuse us?” He was already standing and beckoning for Frank to follow.

“Let them go, dear. They’re not going to be fun to be around until they get this done.”

“Uh, true…wait! Uncle Hank, what about the aroma? Were you able to find out what it was?”

“Oh, yeah. I don’t know if it will help, but it was chicory. Does that mean anything to you? They use it in coffee in parts of the South, but that’s all I know.”

“Maybe. There’s an old English superstition that says chicory has the ability to make its possessor invisible, and to open locks.”

“Well, that would help with the video cameras I guess.” Hank was dubious. It was clear that he was uncomfortable with the thought of magic and magical creatures, despite living with a Phœnix, having a pet Salamander living in his fireplace, and having a succubus/cupid as a future daughter-in-law.

“Absolutely, Uncle Hank,” Frank interjected, “but would it also help with the infrared motion detector or bypass the alarms?”

“Good point.” Hank jumped on the idea. “How about that, Jackie? Could it?”

“How would I know? I’m just learning this stuff.”

“I can answer that, dear. Well, I can give you part of the answer.”

“Sarah? What do you know about this?”

“I know that the answer would depend on whether it was a human magic user or a paranormal creature. If it was a human magic user, the stronger the spell, the more effective it would be regardless of the device, but the stronger it would smell and the longer the smell would linger. It would also seem more acrid than fresh chicory. If it were a paranormal being, it would depend on whether shapeshifting is one of the being’s abilities. If it wasn’t, it wouldn’t make any difference, but if it was, it would definitely enhance it.”

Everyone stared in amazement, especially Jackie. It had been less than a year ago that Sarah had become a Phœnix and she had yet to discover what a Phœnix did besides live long and get reborn in a fire.

“Your group?” Jackie finally asked.

“The group. I told you it could be of great help, but of course you young people always know better.”

Copyright © 1998, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2009 by Jeffrey M. Mahr

Copyright © 2011 by Levanah