Gaius didn't have a lot of time. He gave his cheeks a few slaps during his quick jog upstairs. This cleared his head enough to take a deep breath and knock on the door leading to Victor and Alessia's room.

  It was late, and the gap under the door wasn't bleeding any light. This visit would have been an awkward one even without its underlying reason.

  After some grumbling, Victor appeared in the door frame with his axe in hand and one eye closed. Seeing Gaius in front of him, he yawned and put the axe down.

  "Victor, buddy, I know this is unusual, but I need to have a quick chat with your better half." Saying this, Gaius was doing his best to breathe his alcohol fumes away from the northerner. "And ideally it should happen sooner rather than later."

  Victor remained where he was. "I don't know, we had a long day in the tunnels."

  Gaius knew he needed to keep things smooth and quiet here. He was considering his options when a slender arm moved Victor out of the way, putting Gaius face to face with Alessia.

  The young woman lacked her usual shadowy makeup, but the air-thin robe she had on was still solid black. Gaius expected nothing less.

  Towering behind his wife, Victor looked worried. He was the one to fasten the belt on her robe, something Alessia hadn't bothered to do herself.

  Lost in a mix of intense thinking and liquor fog, Gaius missed that show. He was focused entirely on the task at hand when he said, "I need you to grab your kit and follow me."

  "Why in the world do you need an herbalist at such an ungodly hour?" Victor asked with a fair deal of annoyance in his voice.

  "Right. An herbalist," Gaius said. "Well, I can't really get into it right now. But you know me. I always make it worth your while."

  Victor's next words were preempted by Alessia's hand landing on his chest.

  "I'm curious now," she said. This was enough to get Victor to back off.

  Before long, Alessia was back with a small leather bag hanging off her shoulder.

  She had to insist that Victor gave her and Gaius some space before joining the inebriated thief inside another room upstairs.

  "You don't really need an herbalist, do you?" she asked once they were alone.

  "Correct," Gaius said. "I'm more interested in your witch-of-the-woods side right now."

  "I'm listening," Alessia purred, with fires of excitement flickering inside her eyes.

  "You know how they say that demons are a girl's best friend?" Gaius asked.

  "Who exactly says that?"

  "It doesn't matter. Right now, I do. And I wouldn't mind if one of those friends visited the good town of Siembra tonight."

  Alessia dove inside her bag, simultaneously moving towards Gaius. Upon reaching him, she sprinkled some powder in his face.

  She hummed. "Strange. That should have excised any madness clouding your mind. But I see no improvement."

  "I'm serious," Gaius insisted after wiping the powder from the corners of his eyes. "A lot is hanging right now on a demon attacking this town. A big and dumb one preferably. Going by Victor's story of how the two of you met, it shouldn't be outside your skillset."

  Alessia moved even closer to Gaius, placing her hands on the sides of his face. She peered straight into his eyes, freezing in this position for longer than anyone would consider comfortable. Had Victor seen this, Gaius felt there would be a high probability of the big guy going after him. Yet, at the same time, he also knew that for a witch like Alessia all this teasing, and ambiguity, all these little tests were as integral as his own juggling of disguises and identities were for him.

  "That's an unusual ask for a merchant, Guy," Alessia said, her lips almost touching his own.

  Feeling that the spell was somehow broken by those spoken words, Gaius moved away. "Let's discuss the why later," he said.

  Alessia looked satisfied by what she'd seen inside Gaius' eyes. "I'll hold you to it," she said. "But even if we forget for a moment that summoning a being from hell in a town like this, a town packed with righteous and treasure-starved adventurers, will lead to that being's untimely and gruesome demise. And we also ignore that doing so will ruin my relations with at least one powerful denizen of the underworld. We'll still be left with an issue of time. I don't just pull demons out of my ass, despite what certain folk tales may have led you to believe. A summoning ritual requires a lot of careful planning and preparation. And time is something I assume you don't have."

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  "I may not know much about the dark arts," Gaius said. "But I do know that most of the effort there goes to opening and maintaining a pathway to the underworld."

  With that, he slammed his fist into a chest of drawers by the wall, revealing a hellish landscape and his colleague, Bes, in the process of what looked like bathing in a pool of lava.

  "This was here all along?" Alessia asked, with her jaw somewhere close to the floor.

  Spotting the intrusion, the imp submerged himself in lava, so that only his head was sticking above. "Hey, I'm resting here," he whined. "Sheesh, can't even get a few quality hours away from you people. What do you want?"

  "Did you really think he was spending his nights sleeping in a basket under the stairs?" Gaius asked Alessia, ignoring the imp's indignation.

  "Well, aren't you full of surprises today? A hell portal right next door, and I never even caught a hint of it. It's masked very well." Alessia was only half-listening to whatever Gaius was saying.

  "I don't know, the smell of brimstone permeating the air all the time was a dead giveaway for me," Gaius said. "We can use it, right?"

  "I just assumed it was this one stinking up the place," Alessia nodded towards the imp.

  "And good evening to you as well, missy." The imp blew a lava bubble.

  Gaius groaned. This was taking too long.

  "Cut it out, you two. This is a delicate situation. What's the biggest, meanest thing you can call through this portal? It doesn't need to do anything specific. Just appear, look angry, and act all hellish."

  Alessia hesitated. "I'm not really a demonologist, you know that? Imps and other minor fiends cap my summoning skills. I could maybe call a succubus or two if I had juicy-enough gossip to share. But that's about it."

  Gaius grabbed his head and started pacing. He could feel his retirement slipping away.

  Suddenly, he stopped and pointed at the imp. "You must know plenty of pit lords, Bes. Think hard, is there anyone you could help us rouse? Preferably someone you wouldn't mind getting cut to ribbons by the locals."

  "Yeah, no. I've no clue what you're going on about here, chief. And even if I did, why should I do you any favors?"

  "Because we're such good pals," Gaius said. "And because if you don't, then I'm done."

  Alessia snorted, while the imp asked, "And this is my problem, how?"

  "If they cart me away from here, they'll shut this place down. This will land you in hot water with the old man. And I don't know the specifics of your contract, but I'm guessing it has some clause about you keeping the trade flowing. If Vasily learns you had an opportunity to save the shop and didn't, you'll be in hot water, my friend, and not the kind you find so agreeable."

  "Ugh, I hate it when humans try to talk contracts like they know the first thing about them," the imp grumbled. Despite his words, he climbed out of the pool and shook off the boiling liquid. "But you may have a point, I'll give you that. And I may know exactly the demon you need. About three stories high, flaming wings, a big sword, nasty disposition."

  "That's exactly what I'm talking about," Gaius said. "So, you give her the necessary details." He looked at Alessia. "You, do the summoning. I'll go do my thing, and we'll all square everything up later. Deal?"

  Moments later, when Alessia was already on the floor, setting up the necessary arcane symbols under the imp's guidance, Gaius was heading back downstairs. He had no clue how he would explain his prolonged absence to Isabella.

  Then, in a moment of cosmic mockery, he saw her slumped down over the table. She was completely out of it. Even snoring a little. His original plan must have worked better than he realized.

  Looking over Isabella, Gaius considered leaving her there and setting out for the temple. But his new plan was already in motion. And with a demon on the loose outside, there was a good chance she'd wake up anyway.

  "Oh, I must have dozed off," Isabella said after Gaius roused her and she had a chance to assess her surroundings. "You were away for quite a bit."

  "Something came up," Gaius said. He planted himself opposite from Isabella and continued. "I'm not sure if you know this, but I share this store with an imp. Orders from above, you see."

  Isabella nodded. "Yes, I've heard about that. I've been wondering why I haven't seen him."

  "I didn't want to cause any unnecessary tension between you two. You know, demons and knights don't exactly mix."

  "You underestimate me, Guy."

  "Never. I'm just being realistic about the imp."

  "And what made you bring him up now?"

  "That commotion before? That was him. Believe it or not, but he's invested in this store doing well and still standing by the time morning comes."

  Isabella said nothing, just hummed affirmatively.

  "According to his demonic sources, Siembra will be invaded tonight. Something big and nasty is coming and if even he is rattled, it must be something bad."

  "And you trust that demon?" Isabella was rubbing her eyes and scouring the table for anything devoid of alcohol content.

  "No. But like I've said, he needs this store to survive as much as I do. Maybe more. If he says there's going to be an invasion, I believe him."

  "I have to go, then," Isabella said.

  "You probably should," Gaius agreed. "I'll see you out."

  Breathing in Siembra's night air that faintly smelled of ale and copper did both of them good. The drunken haze made way for the precursors to a hangover, but in return provided both Gaius and Isabella with extra clarity.

  "I don't see anything out of the ordinary," Isabella said upon looking up and down the empty street.

  This was her own cue to be mocked by the cosmos. Just as she closed her mouth, a pillar of flame rose to the sky in the distance. It was accompanied by the creaking sound of a building folding in on itself.

  The next instant, Isabella's sword was in her hand. An electrifying aura surrounded her.

  She turned to Gaius, trying to find the correct words for the occasion.

  He got ahead of that by saying, "I would go with you, I really would. But I have a store to protect here."

  This cheered the knight up.

  "I'm sure you would love to battle a demon tonight, merchant."

  "Show 'em who's boss," Gaius said, saluting Isabella as she ran off towards the raging flames.

  Story Facts - Chapter 15