Page 90 of Craving Demons

He was my brother — well, half-brother — and I should have respected him, but I found that exceptionally hard. The trouble was, Nari was the daemon of corpses, not death or the underworld… just… corpses. And ever since I’d known him, he’d hated that aspect. He whined and complained and always made a fuss, and part of me couldn’t blame him, but still… it was annoying, and I generally tried to avoid him.

“The bodies are restless,” he said, voice sibilant and lacking strength.

He looked out over the sea of tombstones. He lived in Calvary Cemetery in Queens, the largest graveyard in America. More than three million had been buried here, and Nari had been around since the founding of this place, so most of them were… well preserved since Nari tended to them, making sure they didn’t decompose too much. Because if they did, they wouldn’t be corpses anymore.

“Restless?” I asked, sighing heavily. “But, not like the last time they were… restless, right?” I had to hope.

“Yes, like that. Like last time.”

“Fuck,” I muttered.

This sort ofrestlessnessusually meant the dead got up and went for a walk. And, as you might expect, people generally reacted poorly to that. Like when the corpses had been restless under Nari’s supervision in the late 1700s up in Salem.

That hadn’t turned out well for a lot of people, mostly women. Then it had happened again in the early 1900s in Sleepy Hollow. Someone had written a story about that one, though they’d gotten the details all wrong.

But those had been just a few dozen dead from local graveyards. This time, with all of Calvary Cemetery, I couldn’t imagine what three million walking corpses would do to this modern world.

Nari claimed it was a natural thing and he couldn’t stop it.

“You sure you can’t keep them contained?” I asked. I had a suspicion hecouldstop it, but didn’t want to.

“No, they’ll rise on Samhain. I can’t stop them. That is unless…” He paused with a mischievous smile. “Unless you can elevate my divine status?”

And there it was. This was the reason I suspected Nari was actually in control, because every time it happened, he claimed that if I or others could promote him more, make him a known and respected daemon, then perhaps, with that extra energy, he could stop all of this.

“Nari, you know I can’t do that. It’s not something I have any control over. It’s not like anyone can give you a second aspect and make you a daemon prince. You know that as well as I do. And even if I tried to get your name out there, that wouldn’t do anything for your level of ability with your aspect.” I sighed heavily. “And frankly, Nari, I’m guessing youcancontrol whether the dead rise or not, and if that’s the case… you can’t do this! Having a little fun in Salem or Sleepy Hollow was one thing, but they were smaller towns and back when people didn’t have smartphones. If you do this in today’s world, with millions of corpses and millions of people around… All that’s going to do is put a spotlight on us daemon. We’re trying to keep a low profile. Well most of us anyway. If you do this—”

“I’m telling you,I’mnot making them rise, brother!” Nari hissed. “I’m the one who keeps them down, keeps them still, but if no one will respect what I do, then why should I do it!” Which meant hewasthe one in control.

“Because it’s your duty,” I said. “You think I like that I’m going to end this world? No, but it’s my duty and I will, whenever that time comes.”

“Easy for you to say. That may be several millennia away and until then, people know your name, they respect you.”

“They fear me because I’m a world-ender. That’s not quite the same.”

Nari hissed at me and slunk back to his hut. “Fine! Ignore me if you will, but there’ll be consequences!” The whine was back in his voice. “Consequences!” he repeated with more fervor, but his warning was undercut by a rasping coughing fit.

Swell.

I left the cemetery and hoped to any god who would listen that Nari would be able to do his part and keep the corpses quiet. Because if the dead did rise on Halloween this year, it was going to be one Hel of a shit show.

To be continued…

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