Gingerly, Hailey Juniper Penze slides into her bed. Wincing, she glances down at her bruised and battered figure. Her gaze lingers on the fading bruises of her fight with Becca and the thin line of a scar running across her stomach. Then her eyes turn to her leg where a faint shimmer flickers in and out of sight. With a grimace, she mutters, “Might as well get it over with.”

Lifting her leg, she positions it carefully above a towel spread out on the blankets. Then, with a swift motion, her fingers twist and contort into an arcane symbol that flies off her hand and falls onto her leg. For a second, nothing happens. Then Hailey inhales in a sharp expression of pain as the shimmering fades away and reveals a bullet wound from earlier in the night. Controlling her breathing, Hailey places her hand above the injury and begins to cant in a determined voice.

Slowly, agonizingly slowly, the wound begins to knit itself shut. Five minutes pass, Hailey never stopping her chant despite how her hand wavers. Ten minutes go by, Hailey’s fingers starting to clench and unclench as the injury continues to seethe as it heals. A full half-hour later, her hand drops limply to the towel, now covered in sweat, that covers her bed. Slumping back against the pillows, Hailey says in an exhausted voice, “That’s one. Now for the shoulder.”

The ritual slowly repeats itself, but by the time this one ends Hailey is shivering from exhaustion and visibly paler than when she began. Groaning, she rolls off the towel and throws it to the floor. By the time it hits, she is already fast asleep.

As her eyes close, her other eyes open. Weary, Hailey glances around at the unfamiliar room. Slowly her grogginess fades as she recognizes the faint pinpricks of light and swirling eddies of mist. Closing her eyes and lying back against the bed, she allows herself a few precious seconds of rest before rising. As she does, she pulls together a stray wisp of the mist and fashions a robe for herself.

“Child,” comes a soft voice from across the room as Hailey walks forward.

“Bel,” responds Hailey, relief cutting through her bone-tired state.

Observing her carefully, Belinda says in a contrite voice, “His power nullifies magic. I couldn’t help you.”

Leaning against a pillar, Hailey takes a moment before answering. “Yeah,” she says, “I was afraid it was something like that.”

Silence mounts between the pair, each struggling to find the right thing to say. Belinda bridges the gap and speaks first, however, by saying, “I don’t… I’m not mad at you.”

Depressed, Hailey replies, “You don’t have to lie Bel. I’d be mad at me. You have every right to be angry.”

Belinda sighs in a weary voice that mirrors Hailey’s own exhaustion. It is only then that Hailey pauses to look around at the abode of the spirit woman. The normally orderly layout is instead in total disarray. The bookshelves have stray pages and scrolls piled on the desks and strewn across the floor. Belinda’s scrying pool sports a large crack and none of the watery mists that normally coagulate across the surface. Even her regimented walls and architecture gave way to the decay poisoning the rest of the house. Cracks, age marks, and wear all seem the norm now.

Hailey looks back at her mentor in concern. Belinda meets her eyes with a troubled expression. As if just seeing the damage for the first time she glances about. Still, despite noting the damage, she makes no move to repair anything.

“What’s wrong Bel?” asks Hailey uncertainly.

“Nothing, everything,” answers Belinda in a despairing voice.

“Is this about Melinda?”

With a snort, Belinda replies, “My cousin is an uppity brat who despised me for my name. She is dangerous, yes, but far more bluster than bite.”

“So she’s your cousin?” Hailey says, “Why isn’t she trying to help us then?”

“Jealousy,” Belinda glances down at her hands before amending in a softer tone, “Perhaps I am unkind in my assessment of her. I have made a great many mistakes child. Melinda is but one more in a long string of failures.”

“Failures?” Hailey says indignant.

Belinda confirms with a nod, “Failures.”

Irritated, Hailey replies, “No, I refuse to believe that.”

“Why?”

“Because you did what nobody else could do for thousands of years,” Hailey supplies, “you freed your ancestor. Then you saved my life at the mall when you gave me the power to fight Malefic. Since then you’ve helped me stop a whole lot of other villains, not the least of which was Becca.”

“We didn’t stop Becca,” retorts Belinda, “I hardly saved your life, or do you enjoy digging bullets out of your leg? And I couldn’t save my ancestor, Malefic set her ablaze.”

“So we didn’t catch Becca, but we kept her from rampaging through the city,” counters Hailey, “And you did save my life. Malefic almost burned me too. The only reason she didn’t was because of the first spell you taught me, the anti-flame shield. A few bullets don’t mean anything next to that.”

Hailey walks over to Belinda and grabs her by the hand, forcing her to meet her gaze as she adds, “And yes, your ancestor, Belinda the Brave, is gone. But you can’t blame yourself for that. She wasn’t healthy, mentally, not after what Thorm Athow did to her and how long she was trapped in the dagger.”

Belinda shakes her head, “If I were smarter, better, if I had acted differently then she would be alive.”

Taken aback by her mentor’s tone, Hailey rocks backwards on her heels. Surprise colors her tone as she says, “You blame yourself? That doesn’t make sense. You’re not God Bel, you can’t be perfect.” Then she glances around and adds, “This isn’t like you. Something other than guilt is going on here.”

At her words, a low chuckle reverberates throughout the realm. Confused by the noise, Hailey looks to Belinda. Without meeting her eyes, Belinda flinches away and pulls her hand out of Hailey’s grasp. Numbly, Belinda whispers, “Please, leave her alone.”

A raspy voice responds from beyond the stars, “Ahhhhhh but of course I shall! After all, she is reserved.”

“Reserved?” asks an alarmed Hailey.

The sound of laughter echoes once more, bouncing off the crumbling walls of Belinda’s home. “Will you tell her?” the voice asks in an amused tone. Then it darkens and takes on a more menacing quality as it continues with, “Or shall I?”

Hailey crosses her arms and says, “Tell me what?”

Turning to Belinda, she raises an eyebrow. Belinda has no answer, instead choosing to sit down. Then she waves her hand, consolidating another chair out of the mist for Hailey. Then she gestures for her to listen to the words spiraling out of the mists.

At her motion, the swirling consolidates into the figure of a bloated toadlike figure with bulging and misshapen muscles that seem poised to burst out from under the reptilian skin. The swirling mist continues to settle until it reveals the figure that is vaguely human with webbed hands, horns, and the face of a giant bullfrog. Croaking, it says in a powerful voice, “I am Deceit, little girl.”

“Deceit?”

“Among other things,” replies the figure with a smile that forces the musculature of the frog’s mouth to extend in unnatural ways. “But the name that matters to you is Deceit. I am one of the infernal cohort, a member of the congress of Hell, a senator in fact.”

“A senator?” asks a confused Hailey.

“Indeed,” croaks the toad with a laugh, “duly elected and reelected every six hundred years.”

“But,” protests a confused Hailey, “you’re a demon?”

“Oh yes,” hisses the figure. “I am certainly a demon.”

Uncertain, Hailey glances to Belinda for support. Finding none, she asks, “Why are you here? Are you the Malleus Malleficarum? Did I do this?”

The bottom half of the toady figure transforms back into mist as he leaps up to meet Eldritch eye to eye. With just a few inches separating them, he shakes his head and whispers, “No. I am not your fate.” Then a tendril of smoke uncurls from the figure and slowly forms a loop around Belinda’s head. The circle then drops to her neck and pulls tight against her skin before vanishing in a puff as the demons says, “I am hers.”

For a bare instant the world of the Starry Realm freezes. The lights transform into pallid diamonds lacking luster. The mist coagulates into a cloying haze. The infinite space shrinks until the realm is claustrophobic. Then, in the frozen moment, the demon speaks.

“You can sense the truth, Hailey Juniper Penze. You know that I do not lie.”

“Your name is Deceit, obviously you’re lying,” retorts Hailey angrily.

Chuckling dryly the demon recoils, its entire body shaking and moving with the mist. “In this I’ve no need for lies. Besides, the base of any good lie is the truth, as you well know. Or do Theo and Missy know your secret identity, Eldritch Maiden?”

Turning to Belinda, Hailey asks in a quiet voice, “Is he telling the truth?”

Mutely, Belinda nods. Staggered by the weight of the revelation, Hailey falls into the chair Belinda conjured for her. She simply gazes around, taking in the damage to the Starry Realm once more in light of the revelation.

Then she turns to Belinda and asks, “How?”

Belinda’s answer carries the weight of her guilt as she answers, “The contract.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was furious,” whispers Belinda, “she’d just died. Right in front of me and I couldn’t do anything. Then you appeared, and you wanted my help, you needed it. But I couldn’t trust you and I didn’t know you. So I did something unforgivable.”

“Not quite unforgivable,” chimes in the demon, “but certainly irreversible.”

Shooting him a hateful look, Hailey says to Belinda, “Well what was it? It can’t be that bad, and no matter what it is we can work through it together.”

Faintly, Belinda says, “I used it. I cast the geas.”

“Oh,” replies Hailey in a simple tone. “But you wouldn’t teach it to me?” her voice carries a hint of resentment that quickly vanishes as she continues, “That isn’t so bad. It’s just a spell, we ca-”

“I used it on you!” cries out Belinda. “Child, I tied our fates together in the worst way. You and I cannot leave one another until Malefic is dead. I cannot help another and you cannot be rid of me, not until she is dead by your hand.”

Hailey struggles to find words. Silence mounts between the two women as the demon drinks in the sight. Hailey’s expression is one of incredulity. She can barely process the reality and depth of Belinda’s betrayal. Belinda, in contrast, has almost no expression. Her features are instead a resigned mask, any emotions carefully locked down underneath the veneer of her self-control.

Deliberately, carefully picking her words, Hailey asks, “What exactly did you do Belinda?”

Belinda flinches almost imperceptibly before replying. “I tied our lives together. You cannot leave me until Malefic is dead and it is your doing. I cannot leave you until the same is true. I am also bound not to teach anything other than the basics to anyone but you. So long as Malefic lives so too does the geas.”

Hailey explodes, screaming, “I got shot tonight Belinda! Not once, but twice! And this is why?”

Tears appear in Belinda’s eyes as she says, stricken, “I know I was wro-”

“Yes!” exclaims Hailey, “You are wrong! You are completely and utterly wrong if you think this is something to face on your own. You are completely stupid to think that I would hate you for this Bel. What on earth were you thinking?”

Confused, Belinda begins to form a reply. Hailey, however, has not finished her rant. “Oh don’t even think of saying anything!” she shouts, making a cutting motion with her hand. “I am so mad at you right now Bel I can hardly speak! You let me fight Vicious, Vicious, of all people all because you feel bad about one bad spell? I literally just went through this same crap with Bella, so I’m going to tell you exactly what you told her, stop being such a fool.” Hailey falls silent, her chest heaving from the exertion of telling off her mentor.

Sensing the changing currents, the demon curls around her shoulders and tries to speak, saying, “But she forced you! She’s the source of all your troubles, all your pain. If she’d had but a little faith in you none of this would have happened, she did thi-”

“Shut up,” Hailey says, waving her hands through the misty demon and forcing him to dissipate into the Starry Realm. “I remember the mall. I remember watching Amanda die in front of me. I remember Malefic promising to burn me slowly for her own sick amusement. I remember your ancestor dying to save me. I remember the exact second I knew, I knew, I was going to die.”

Struggling to find the words, a complicated expression appears on Hailey’s face. Frustrated, she raises her hand and points at Belinda. “I could see it in her eyes,” she forces out. “She promised to burn me from the inside out, and dammit Bel I could see in her expression that she meant it!” Tears appear at the corners of Hailey’s eyes as she grapples with her words. “I… I would be dead if it wasn’t for you. So just stop acting like I wasn’t at the mall too! Stop pretending you bear all the weight of those decisions. I knew exactly how hurt you were because I felt the same. So you made a bad choice in the heat of the moment? Well guess what, I get it! I’d have made the same one!”

Hailey turns and kicks her chair halfheartedly, saying, “I’m not perfect Bel. Earlier tonight, when Dr. Doubt had his gun on me, I wanted to take it back. I wanted to promise to kill Malefic all over again on the off chance that you’d come back and save me. If you’d made me the offer, I probably would have taken it.” Turning to face Belinda she adds, “I came so close to breaking. But the truth is Bel that I’d rather die than lie like that to you. I respect you too much and one mistake doesn’t change that. We’re in this together, you and me, and I will not let you fight this thing alone.”

A bold declaration of support from Hailey! But words alone will not stop a demon, a discovery Belinda has painfully made already. Certainly, dear reader, the pair’s resolve will be tested next week in… “The First Devil!”