.^^ Solomon's Gate Sigil, inactive ^^

— Seth —

"So this is my last session, yeah? Then I'm tatted up, and In?" I asked.

Paulie, my 'initiator', (apparently the fancy term for guy who tats you up,) chuckled. "Yeah, don't worry, last touches tonight. At midnight, there's a little ceremony, then we eat and party! It'll be easy as pie. The hard stuff starts once you're in, that's when the contracts start coming, and I hope you're ready for that." He nodded.

"Hey, I'm ready, Alright? I've been working for you for what, a month? In that month, I've netted you how many new guys?" I asked.

"Mm... close to twenty." He seemed to count them all in his head.

"Right! That's at least one a day, man! Trust me, I can handle this, I just need a chance, Alright?" I asked earnestly.

I tried not to beg, but this was how my life was going to start. This was how I'd leave the Slums, and start a new life, where I didn't have to steal my food every night. The money was good already, enough to buy me some actual clothes and food, for once, and I knew it would get even better once I was actually in, not just an intern living off Tips from Paulie.

He nodded. "Alright, Alright, Don't rag, man, I'm already bringing you in, jeez... here, go get us some burgers while I set up my equipment." He handed me twenty bucks, and shooed me off towards the burger shack across the way.

I nodded and darted across the street, into the building. The clerk saw my ratty clothes, then my dirty face, and sighed. "Look, kid, I can't give you anything today, not without getting in trouble, Alright-" I set the twenty bucks on the counter gently, and she halted. "Oh... okay. What can I get you?"

"Just two burgers... plain." I ducked my head.

She nodded, and took the money, dealing out my change and handing over a small bag. "Alright... you stay safe out there, yeah?" She said softly.

I nodded, and muttered a reply as I left. "Thanks, I guess."

Paulie took the bag, and handed me the second burger and the change, all ten bucks of it. "You keep that, Yeah? Maybe get yourself a new shirt. Yours is getting pretty ratty."

I nodded, stuffing it in my pocket before he could change his mind. "Yeah... thanks."

He shook his head slowly. "Alright... come on, they're using all my stations, we'll have to use my office." He pointed a thumb at the door that led to the basement.

"Okay." I nodded, following him. I continued to act demure, for now. I couldn't afford to say something smart-ass, which I was famous for, and get myself booted out of this Family before I even managed to get in all the way.

As we entered the basement, I gulped at the sight of a massive, massive crowd of people, all wearing hoods and robes, like straight out of the Cult Handbook. They all turned towards us, kneeling, and he led me through them slowly.

When we got to the center, the stage, he whispered in my ear. "Just trust me... it's all for show. We're a theatrical people. We like a little Razzle-Dazzle to all our mundane stuff. Just play along."

I nodded slowly, centering myself. 'Just a Show... Just a big... Culty-thing! No big deal! The pay is good, the respect is good, I can deal with a little weird... or a lot. Fuck, what have I gotten myself into?' I sighed.

He raised a hand, and they all stood, as I was led to a tattooing table, which looked professional enough. I laid down, baring my back for the last pieces of the tattoo, and flinched when my wrists were locked in place with leather straps.

My pants were removed, at this point, which was a bit too far for me, even at my current levels of cooperation. But before I could protest, Paulie spoke a word I didn't know, and suddenly the room was silent.

He began a speech, in that language, and suddenly no one was moving. The people on the stage stepped off, and they too were suddenly vacant, staring at the air above the stage.

"Weeeeeeellllll... fuck." I hummed eloquently.

Paulie laughed, sitting next to me with his tattooing kit in his hands. "That has got to be the best and worst summary I've ever heard, man... just relax, the Sigil is almost done. When it is, you'll be part of us, and the theatrics will be downplayed to mostly when we have our little pissing contests with the other Families."

"Wait, Sigil?-" Suddenly my voice didn't work, and I was just as immobile as the rest of the guys in the crowd.

He began the last details, just a few words that needed to be added to the 'Final Ring'. Final Ring, that should've been my first fucking clue... fuck me, I'm surrounded by fucking satanists, that's just fucking dandy.

As he finished them, a group of people came into the room, armed with odd weapons, but clearly not the same as the robed weirdos in her, so I tried to wave or wink or scream, but they seemed to not be able to hear me. One of them seemed to scream soundlessly, then struck one of the robed people, but they didn't even react, to his confusion.

Suddenly, a tearing sound worked its way through the silence, focused in the air above me, and the tattoos began to glow, then slowly turn so dark that they seemed to bleed shadows.

Then, an itch began, in the center of my back, like nothing I'd ever felt. Like my skin was filled with ants, biting and stinging and crawling, starting in my spine, and spreading throughout my entire body.

Time seemed to bend, and a voice entered my head, whispering secrets, knowledge long thought dead, promises of power beyond comprehension.

I drank in the knowledge, requesting more, looking for anything that would let me be free of the bargain, any loopholes.

And OOOOH BOY did I find some.

'My soul is not yours to take, creature! My soul is my own! Your sacrifice requires an exact number of souls, right? Well that guy is already dead!!!' I pointed at the dead man with my mind.

The creature stood me up, snapping and crushing the tattooing chair like it was made of sand, then simply breathed.

All around, the Robed people started to turn to dust, and I saw the people at the back drag a few out. I laughed internally, and froze time again.

'See?!? You're Three Short! That means you didn't keep your end of the Bargain, and you can't Control me!!! I remember everything you showed me, and you are bound by the Laws of Sacrifice, aren't you!?!' I grinned mentally.

Time returned to normal, and the creature spoke, without opening my mouth. "The number of souls... is insufficient? How can this be? I was promised 2000 Chained Souls!!!"

'You're incredibly stupid, if you haven't been paying attention to what I've been saying.'

'I do not concern myself with the words of lesser creatures!'

'Awwwww, someone is upset! And stupid, because he's responding to me by saying he doesn't have to respond to me!' I snickered.

"My deepest apologies... the Hunters have interrupted the ritual. I will deal with them, and bring you-" Paulie looked more subservient than I'd ever thought to see him, and I immediately thought of all the ways I'd kill him when this was over.

"You fool! You think the Ritual is satisfied with excuses?!? The ritual will exact a price, for every soul not taken during the ritual!!! Quickly, we must return to-"

'Ah-Ah-Aaah! You're mine, now, bitch!' I grinned, and pushed for the Sigil on my skin, pulling it into me, and changing it. He held so much knowledge it hurt my mind to delve into it, but I found the 'Key of Solomon', and 'Solomon's Gate', apparently the things that could seal this shit away, and give me back my body.

I used the Ink from the Sigil, which turned out to be Virgin's Blood, (ew), and drew the Gate on my skin, ignoring all else. He thrashed around, trying to break free, even eating something, in an attempt to overpower the Seal, but I had him by the balls with the knowledge he'd given me, and he knew it.

I saw Paulie through the Haze of whatever was happening around me, and let the Hate fuel whatever I was doing. He summoned something, and the Silence in the room returned, stronger this time.

I reached for him, screaming in rage, and it broke again, as the giant beast turned to ash, and flowed into my mouth. I hacked, trying to force it out, but nothing worked, and I just managed normal puke.

"You see? You Hunters quiver before the Food of our Great Masters! You-" I reached again, with my mind, and looked at them Rip.

'Take this faithful one as your Prize, not me.' I growled, the infernal voice echoing with mine, in a different language.

As I said this, tentacles reached through, and grabbed him, rending him into a bloody mess, and pulled him back through, as the rip closed.

I sat down heavily, breathing deeply, and cracked my back. 'That sucked... hey, bitch, you still there?'

'I am still unfamiliar with your worthless language... but I believe that to be incorrect. I am not a Canine, nor am I... Female... however, your mortal body cannot contain me as it is.' It said, and I groaned in pain as the Sigil boiled under my skin, and was replaced with scars, from the Beast's many battles. It was telling me it's story, for some reason.

'If I am to be in this form, I wish it to be... comfortable... it will be, soon.' It rumbled, as the body seemed to fill with Diamond-hard muscle, that was immediately limp.

"Are you in control of your own mind, Boy?" A distant, feminine voice asked.

I felt the creature try to speak, and covered my ears at the screeching and clawing sound, a thousand times worse than his mental voice, and instead managed only to puke up a disgusting black oil from somewhere deep inside my guts.

The being made something akin to a Sigh, and spoke again, mentally. "My body is weak... I have not the souls I need to control the body I reside in... I have been bound, like a paltry Lesser Daemon... the Runes it used to bind me are irrevocable, unquestionable... the original binding spells of Solomon himself. I curse myself for being a scholar of Solomon, for sharing that knowledge with it before I was fully in control... the answer to your question is simple, Mongrel. I am Spoken of in your legends as Briar, the Greater Daemon of the Plane of Roses, and while I find myself no longer worthy of the Title, it is still mine, until my eventual, and unquestioned, unity with the Abyss."

'My name is Seth. And stop speaking for me.'

"You talk too much. A yes or no would be appreciated, next time." She said dryly.

I laughed, as the creature snarled at her, and spat more of the black stuff out of my throat. "And here I thought I was just joining the Mafia..." I muttered, trying to stand up, and only succeeding in face-planting off the stage. "... Ow." I sighed.

"You know Not the concept of Pain." It growled at me.

"Fuck you, you don't know how to count your sacrifices before you finalize a deal that's very specific about the number of sacrifices." I called him out.

"... while you are a mere, useless sack of meat, I find your comment undeniably true, and digress." It responded, slinking away into my mind.

I grinned, and then tried to stand, but my body was literally newborn, lacking any sort of muscle strength, or even bowel control. I thanked my Lucky stars that I hadn't eaten that burger yet, and I was running on empty anyway.

The woman appeared next to me, and pulled me to my feet, getting her shoulder under mine. Something cold touched my shoulder, but then she started walking.

"The mafia, you say?" She asked.

I laughed softly. "Yeah... heh. Seems kind of funny, now. Wanted to be a part of something... now look at me; I accidentally joined a cult, and now I've got a demon in my brain."

'I am no Lesser Creature, not a Demon... I am Briar, a Greater Entity... what you would call a 'Dark God'.' The creature responded, and I ignored him.

I spat one last time, off to the side, and sighed in relief when I saw it was clear spit. "Well, at least the black stuff is out of my throat... so! Demons, huh? Weird, but alright, I've seen weirder-... well, no, nevermind. Anyways! How'd you guys get into this business?" I asked, as she handed me to a massive Native American man, who sheathed a pair of Ice Picks to help me walk.

The guy basically carrying me shrugged. "I got possessed in a Morgue."

I leaned away, to get a look at his face, and see if he was fucking with me. "Wait... what?"

"Yeah, most of the people you see here? We were dead, then demons tried to steal our bodies, but we were returned to our bodies, and now we're basically immortal." He grinned easily, and started walking.

I shook my head slowly, coming to terms with the crazy I'd just walked into. "Why not? Hey, does anybody got any spare pants? I mean, I'm cool going freebird, it's actually pretty freeing, but I might scandalize some poor old lady." I grinned, hoping to defuse the situation a bit more.

One of the guys around pulled some cargo pants out of a satchel, and tossed them to me. I caught them with a speed of reflex that I'd never had before, and laughed it off. "That's all I've got, sorry." He grinned.

"Hey, baggy is better than nothin', right? Anyway, how does this go down, now? You guys do a thing, exorcise my brain, poof the big ugly is gonzo?" I asked, and stepped into them carefully.

'I am not so easy to remove... I am not a limb that can be hacked off... I am bound to your Soul, now. We are One.'

The woman, walking beside us now, as we exited the tattoo parlor, shook her head. "Yeah... no. No one Exorcises a Lich. You're stuck, for now. We'll do some research, see what can be done, but for now, you just stick with us. You could be useful."

'Useful, she says...'

'She means to use you, and more importantly, through you, ME... DESTROY HER, MEATSACK!!! FEAST ON HER ASHES!!!'

'Seriously, shut up... Jesus, so fucking weird.' I shook my head.

She waved her hand, and I flinched as a hole in space appeared, a literal portal, right in the middle of the sidewalk, but people just walked straight by us. "I'll see you back home, boys!" She waved at two of the others, who were walking down the street, then pulled us through.

—

Still humming jingles in my head, I walked over to the giant man, and grinned. "Come on, let's get you some actual clothes, yeah? What's your name, anyway?" He asked, leading me inside the militaristic building, which was only one story, at first glance.

"My name is Seth, how about you?" I answered, still getting my bearings.

"Gale. Nice to meet you, Seth. Let's get you some clothes and food." He nodded.

As we walked, I filled the silence. "So, you want me to fight for you guys? Against what?" I asked casually. He glanced at me, clearly surprised, and I laughed it off. "You guys were like, twenty feet from me, and neither of you know how to talk quietly."

He grinned. "Yeah, I guess... we're fighting the things you saw in that Rift, basically. The lesser ones, who can come to our plane without help, those aren't very dangerous, like the ones in the tattoo parlor... we mostly leave those alone, if they don't bother anyone. Like I said, they take Corpses as Hosts, bodies without souls." I explained.

'Veeeermin... weak servants at the most...' the creature hissed mentally, and the guy gave no indication he had heard.

"But the bigger ones?" I asked, shushing the creature.

"The bigger ones, like the Silencer you killed in there, they need someone to pull them through. A soul to latch onto, so that they don't get pulled back to their realm." He frowned at a lock, then moved away, to another room, apparently looking for one.

I nodded, instantly making a connection. "Like marrying a citizen, so you don't get deported. Cool."

He laughed, his large chest visibly vibrating with the timbre. "Yeah, something like that! Good analogy. I might steal that, actually." He warned me, and opened a door finally, leading me into a room that was covered, wall to ceiling, in Native American art and other stuff I didn't understand, from several different eras.

He opened the one of the drawers of his dresser, and pulled out some shorts, boxers, and a belt, tossing them to me. "These should do for now."

"Cool." I nodded, and dressed quickly.

He hummed, staring at me critically for a moment. "How old are you?" He asked, apparently unable to figure it out.

"Hmm? 17. I turn eighteen... well, it would have been sometime around noon, today, but I guess I'm immortal, now, huh?" I grinned.

He chuckled. "Something like that. More long-lasting than immortal."

I shrugged. "Hey, I'll take what I can get. Anyway, you mentioned food? I'm starving!"

"If you would feed, that would go away..."

"Did I say you could talk?" I snapped. The presence grumbled, before slithering into the back of my mind. "Damn right! Anyway, food?" I grinned at the taller man.