"Thou'rt positively filthy! Thou stinketh of the foulest magicks. Hast thou been bathing with demons' offal in place of water?"

  "Nice to see you too, Trashwater. I need nicer friends."

  "Against mine advice, thou hast trafficked with demons, again, and allowed their filth into thy body, again. Thou'rt veritably begging for damnation."

  "Well, strictly speaking, I had things going on. Come on, I'll explain it to you on the way."

  Trashwater had appeared at Sam's office window, as usual. The little rat's beady black eyes stared at her from beyond the glass. She opened the window against the cold for him to crawl in. He had come to summon her to the Spirit of the City's audience once again. According to the rat, the Spirit had thoughts and concerns about her recent adventure as well as her current case. Sam cursed her luck. She had sincerely hoped this was going to be a simple missing person, or a mistake, and the two missing Diviners were on vacation somewhere sunny.

  This time, Sam allowed the rat to take her through the sewer to the city dump. She wanted to learn the secret ways the rats used to get from place to place so quickly. Trashwater explained that some shortcuts would be too small for her. She still managed to save quite a bit of time despite having to walk through wet shit to get there.

  They arrived at the dump warm, despite the frigid winter air outside. The sewers stayed warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It's how the little rats managed to survive through the seasons. Whenever it got too cold, they went further underground. Some buildings would leak enough hot water for the rats to have little unnatural hot springs. Trashwater had explained all this to her on the way. Sam found herself enjoying learning about rat culture and rat customs.

  They made their way to the center of the dump, where, once again, the Spirit of the City formed her body from nearby refuse.

  "Samantha, welcome," said the Spirit of the City. "I see you have a new blessing from demonic sorcery. I see, too, you have something filthy in your pocket."

  "Oh, you can tell I brought those?" asked Sam. "Well, that's right, I stole these from Seraphina Van Thorne. They are incredibly dangerous, and she has some way of restoring them when I take them from her. If I exorcise the demons that are within these earrings, she'll just put them back. So I thought I'd steal them, and was wondering if you could store them in these piles of trash here, such that they couldn't cause problems all throughout the city."

  Sam held up the little wrinkled leather pouch she had gotten in exchange for her left pinky finger some time ago. Within the pouch were the Devil's Eyes - two red ruby earrings that contained demons. She'd asked Emil to take a look at them, but he refused, saying that last time they made him feel sick even through the protections he had on his mind.

  He had explained that having demons fully contained in an inanimate object took both a binding and a contract of incredible skill. The Van Thorne family were known to be ancient sorcerers. They used to be more numerous, with branch families and secondary heirs sprawling all over the city. Seraphina's grandmother didn't care for children and only had Seraphina's mother out of obligation. Seraphina’s mother died before having more children. Seraphina had none. Sam hoped the entire family would die with her.

  The City raised her hand, made of bits of wire, copper pipe, and dirty cloth. With a wave, the earrings in their pouch floated from Sam's hand into the Spirit's.

  "Thank you for trusting me with these," the Spirit said. "I’ll keep them safe."

  "No problem. Just keep track of them for me, and if I ever need to convince anybody I’m the most special girl in the universe, I'll come back for them. Until then, touching those things makes my stomach turn."

  "It's good to know you hesitate to take too much power, Samantha. It's why I trust you. I wanted to speak with you about the missing Diviners."

  "Well, way I see it, those things wouldn't make my stomach turn if what they gave you didn't come with a heavy price," said Sam.

  "They do. Seraphina Van Thorne had to offer more to have the demons return once you exorcised them. They should have been unable to. But she offered them an even greater price. Instead of just one sacrifice of life, she would offer them a new sacrifice every year the earrings remained in her possession. That means you have a short period of time in which the demons will still be a problem."

  "Well, let's hope I don't have to seduce the entire city in the meantime."

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  The Spirit laughed. It was a tinkling, bright sound, like bells or a sound from childhood, barely remembered. Sam felt comforted in the Spirit's presence. It reminded her of when she was a child and would go for long walks away from the orphanage. She felt watched over, despite being alone. She felt safe in the alleys and the streets. No one ever bothered her or tried to rob her. Safety was rare in her city, for most, but for Sam it was on every street and in every shadow.

  "You said you knew something about the missing diviners. Let's hear it."

  "Well, that's the problem. I don't know anything about them. I don't know where they've gone. I don't know if someone has taken them. I only know that I can't see anything. When I look for them there’s nothing. It could be coincidence. They could have used their summoned magic to hide from me. Such things are possible.

  "I am every part of the city. I am in every creaking rafter, in every pane of glass, in every crumbled bit of concrete. I can see and hear everything within my borders. The only things that can hide from me are magics performed by powerful invocations. High-ranking demons in the hierarchy can hide from me, and sometimes do.

  "I fear your friend may be right. I fear your current skills are inadequate to take on this case. I like Emil. His faith in you is not misplaced. However, in this, he may have overestimated.

  "There is a man. He was once a city soldier. His job was to protect the citizens, investigate crimes, and find the guilty, bringing them to the Empire's justice. Some two years ago, he retired. But he was very skilled at his job. He could teach you. He could show you how to be the type of investigator you need to be if you wish to continue down this career path."

  "Well, I appreciate the offer and the vote of confidence, and I'll look him up if I get stumped. I do tend to work alone. I've not failed to solve a case so far. I feel compelled to defend myself by saying."

  "Of course, Samantha. Forgive me. I only wanted to help. Your pride is well-placed. You have solved problems that would have killed others - or simply led to their failure. I didn't mean to upset you. My intention is to remind you that you have allies now and can call on more if you need to. You don't have to work alone. Especially if it gets too dangerous.

  "The Rosy Cross was within my borders. I had hoped you would at least take Trashwater with you. The young rat could have gone in and investigated the entire building without being seen or heard. No magical protection could have blinded him. And you would have known every single detail of what was inside that building and not been ambushed as you were."

  "Okay, well, by the same token, y’all probably could have given me explicit instructions rather than vague visions when you showed me the dangers that were approaching."

  "You saw what I saw, Samantha. I only learned of their activities as you did. I cannot see the future or the past. And I cannot see everywhere all at once, only where I look.

  "You showed me a vague vision of Seraphina Van Thorne meeting with assassins. I remember it. You also showed me visions of the future."

  "I showed you the dreams I've had. Some are prophecy, yes, but again, I know no more than you do. There was a great tragedy some few hundred years ago. It sealed me away and stole my power. I have only just returned and am not back to my full strength. I will give you everything I can."

  "What was the tragedy?"

  "Long ago, humanity contracted with more than just the demons. There were angels and spirits, other great powers, there were gods and goddesses. But something shut it all away, closed the connections to everything but the demons. When that happened, I was put to sleep. My power was completely drained. I could not act, I could not speak. I have only just recently returned, and I do not know why."

  "Well, you let me know if you have any more nightmares."

  "I'll tell you everything I can as soon as I learn it. But please remember you have allies. We will help you. Speaking of which," the Spirit of the City said. She held out her hand and summoned another gold coin. "Your payment for dealing with the Serpent Assassins who corrupted the Rosicrucians."

  Sam took the coin. She wasn't expecting to get paid for that. It was personal to her. They had attacked her, after all, and been contracted to kill her.

  "You're wondering why I'm paying you for that," said the Spirit of the City. "It's because they could have become a much, much more pernicious problem than they did. You've weeded my garden, as it were, and I am grateful to you. In addition, you should be compensated for handing over those awful earrings. They could be far more problematic if they fell into the wrong hands, or rather, they fell into worse hands than they already were."

  "Can you read my mind?" asked Sam.

  "No, you just looked confused."

  Sam made her way to the first of the missing diviners Emil had given her to track down. Both lived in posh neighborhoods. The first lived in an apartment building, tall as the eye could see. It was a gray stone building with stone gargoyles carved where rain gutters would have been for people with less money. The windows were ornate wood, polished to shine despite the weather. They'd been maintained meticulously. The building had a grand entrance with wide windows. Beside a revolving door stood a doorman. The collar of his tailed jacket was pulled up against the cold. He stared ahead, not looking Sam in the eye as she approached.

  The doorman held up his hand as Sam tried to enter.

  "Can I help you, Miss?" he asked.

  Now he regarded her. His expression was neutral. Almost bored. He looked at Sam like she was a minor problem to be dealt with. Sort of like how you would look at a full dustbin or broken glass on the floor.

  "Ah, yeah," Sam stammered. "I'm here to see my friend in apartment 14B."

  "Of course. Step inside, and I'll call up."

  "Well, he's not really expecting me. It's meant to be a sort of surprise. I wanted to come and take him out to lunch."

  "Of course, step inside, and I'll call up. The surprise can be the call."

  Sam let out a short breath and followed the man inside, knowing she was about to waste the next few minutes. The occupant of 14B wouldn't be answering the phone. If they did she wouldn't need to go up.

  Maybe she did need to learn a thing or two about being a proper investigator if, despite all her might and magic, she could be defeated by a doorman.

  Check out this story from JE Payne! I think Jarek and Sam would get along.

  The Trinity Divide - A LITRPG Mystery Thriller

  ??THE TRINITY DIVIDE

  Jarek Donati was an enforcer for the family until he was set up to die while on a job. He relives his own death over and over in his own personal hell loop for over a century, until the very weapon he used on the monster of a man who was meant to kill him sets him free.

  Now he finds himself in 1920 St. Cloud, Minnesota, during the start of Prohibition. He's got an angel and devil on his shoulder and finds himself hunted for what he is: a Nephilim with perfect balance between grace and damnation. The Trinity Blade transformed him into something both Heaven and Hell want dead.

  ? WHAT TO EXPECT: ?

  ? LitRPG with stat progression and ability unlocks

  ? Weak to Strong (starts Level 1, learns through survival)

  ? Fast-paced noir mystery with frequent combat

  ? MC + bound companions (angel and demon literally on his shoulders)

  ? Hard magic - wards cost blood, abilities drain health

  ? 1920s Prohibition setting meets theological horror

  ? Both Heaven and Hell are antagonists

  ? No harem, slow-burn romance

  Every Tuesday and Thursday. Starting on February 3rd.