Ch. 2: A Secret Organization

Harvey, the traveling salesdemon, has a meeting with the Captain of the Vampire Liberation Front.

“Hurry up, for f**k’s sake. I swear, humans are always so slow…” a raspy voice called out. The human in question, sixteen-year-old witch Cissa, was getting tired of hauling around this demon’s merchandise through Hell’s never-ending forest.

 

“I should have never made a deal with you in the first place.” Cissa mumbled under her breath. The white-eyed, white-haired demon stopped and turned around to face a now slightly terrified human.

 

“If you didn’t want my help, you shouldn’t have summoned me. You know the rules. You summon a demon to help you with some menial task, you serve that demon in Hell for eternity.” the demon chuckled. “Now, hurry up with that merchandise. It’s expensive, and we need everything to stay intact for when we get to the town market.”

 

Cissa groaned. This demon, with their long white hair, vacant eyes, bat-like wings and giant horns, was intimidating, to say the least. But they weren’t a violent demon. Her name (and yes, the demon is a ‘her’) was Harvey, a traveling salesperson from the forest. Harvey and Cissa had been traveling for years together now, selling to folks traveling on the road, poverty-stricken vampire clans, and small towns alike. This time, they were headed for the town outside of Belial, Hell’s capital city. Harvey was determined that they were going to rake in a lot of gold from the Vampire Liberation Front.

 

Harvey wasn’t just a salesperson. Harvey was also a key player in the Vampire Liberation Front’s plans. The Front was the biggest Vampire resistance militia in Hell, and they resided outside of Belial’s walls. Harvey sold them all sorts of contraband they would never be able to obtain legally. Vampires weren’t legally allowed to buy weapons, and Harvey had weapons. Harvey had a lot of weapons. And supplies. And ammunition.

 

Without Harvey’s supplies, the Front would have never been able to survive their first attack on Belial. They’d set out to bomb a political headquarters, but ended up in a shoot-out with the police. Luckily, every member of the Front escaped and returned back to their base without any casualties.

 

Harvey wondered how the Front had enough money for her supplies�"until she found out that Darius, the son of the Devil himself, was the second-in-command. He had access to Satan’s personal treasury, which made Darius a very powerful ally indeed. Harvey couldn’t imagine how Darius ended up with a rag-tag group like that, but she figured stranger things have happened.

 

“Hold up! We’re here.” Harvey motioned for Cissa to stop. They found themselves at the Vampire Liberation Front’s headquarters, a hidden cave in the forest only a ten-minute walk from Belial’s outskirts. Harvey walked up to the cave’s wooden door first, knocking a few times.

 

“Who’s there?” a high-pitched and authoritative voice sounded from the other side.

 

“Who do you think?” Harvey replied with that unmistakable rasp, “I have the newest shipments. Let us in.”

 

“Who’s with you?” the voice inquired.

 

“My human, remember, the one I always bring along?” Harvey grumbled, getting impatient with this process she had to go through every single time she came here. It was always the same questions and the same answers. Yes, it’s Harvey. No, it’s not Satan’s police. Yes, I have the stuff.

 

The door cracked open and Harvey let herself in. Cissa followed, hauling three large wooden boxes inside. The voice they’d been conversing with revealed himself as a blonde boy appearing around fourteen years of age, dressed to the nines in a beige suit and bowtie. This was Edwin, a vampire and immortal child, bitten in the late 1800’s in his sleep. He generally worked with the Captain regarding strategies and cartography.

 

“Thank the Creator you made it, Harvey. Our bomb supply was all lost during our last failure, and we’re clean out of ammunition for our guns. It was a bad scene, and we need all the help we can get right now.” said the Captain himself as he stepped out of the shadows.

The Captain was a tan vampire with pale yellow hair, standing about five-foot-four in combat boots. He wore a long red scarf around his neck and a bomber jacket. His name was Luca, though everyone in the Front referred to him as the Captain, and everyone outside the front only knew him as the Captain.

 

“I’m pleased I can provide. You have gold, yes?” Harvey sized up the small man and licked her lips in anticipation.

 

“From our last raid.” the Captain nodded, motioning Harvey to follow her to their safe. He unlocked it and handed Harvey a heavy bag of gold coins. Harvey laughed triumphantly, weighing it in her clawed hand.

 

“There’s probably going to be more where that came from, considering how much weaponry we keep losing.” a grumpy, dark-skinned demon with glasses and unkempt hair came up behind the Captain, wrapping his arms around the Captain’s waist and kissing his neck. The Captain swatted the demon away playfully, blushing a little, but not smiling.

 

“Later, Darius.” the Captain growled.

 

“Anyways, it was great to see you, Harvey, but we have some… planning to do, and you can’t really… be here for that. Unfortunately.” Darius said, not detaching himself from the very flustered Captain. Harvey cackled, clearly amused at the display. She knew her place, though, and nodded.

 

“I’ll see myself out then. Cissa, come here.” Harvey beckoned her awestruck human with a finger, and Cissa ran to catch up with her demon. “You can ogle at the boys some other time, we ought to get to town.”