It was shortly after that I arrived home. I put up the few groceries I bought and placed the gun by bed with the ammo in a desk drawer. The phone was on speaker phone with Alice as we continued our conversation. It was her turn to ask a question.
“S-so why did you buy a gun? You n-never told me.”
I didn’t realize that I hadn’t. It was a stream of consciousness decision after I woke up. The answer though was simple enough.
“Because after last night, I realized I need to be able to defend myself in case Vikky or Roxane come after me.”
I also wanted to include Sofia and Doctor Marusic in that roster of people not allowed in a twenty meter radius. That part didn’t need to be said though.
“That’s probably a g-good idea.”
Alice still stuttered but didn’t hesitate when speaking like before. We were making progress. Time to ask my question.
“Yeah. Now my question. How exactly do your contracts work? I understand that you all have some sort of magical powers because of them. The details though I don’t understand.”
I needed to understand exactly why Sofia, Alice, and others behaved the way they did. These contracts seem to be one of the leading causes and if the names are accurate show a relation to the demons they work with. To fight or escape one’s enemy they start by knowing them. Alice luckily was not hesitant to explain.
“It w-works like a job. We do assignments for the b-boss. In exchange, we gain strength, p-powers, p-payments, and immunity from the law.”
I was walking around as she spoke. I was absent-mindedly putting groceries away and organizing my kitchen. The last part caught my attention and I stopped to look at my phone.
“Immunity? How did that work?”
She took a moment before speaking.
“I’m not even fully a-aware. I-It’s not like she controls the g-government or a-anything. It’s kind of… s-she makes things stop in p-people’s minds. They c-can’t put things together.”
I nod trying to understand what she was saying.
“So your boss can create some sort of infohazard that prevents people from associating the crimes with the people who are in the contract?”
There’s a pause before she speaks.
“Y-yeah… that’s a g-good way to put it.”
Infohazard can be defined as information which displays anomalous properties upon being learned of. It was originally created in the SCP franchise, but the definition is good enough to be used in this scenario. Obviously though, there is one flaw with this fact.
“How could I find Sofia then?”
“I… d-don’t know. I-I saw your video when it r-released. I sent it to S-Sofia and she said it was a-accurate. The c-contract should prevent that.”
This time I didn’t have a guess or a reasonable explanation for this case. I was too deep in uncharted territory. I didn’t know about demonic contracts. It was impossible for me to research them. The same with infohazard material that wasn’t pure fiction. I felt stumped on where to proceed. Alice spoke first though.
“You c-could also find Victoria’s crime. I-I can’t even do that.”
I was shocked and looked towards the phone wide-eyed. I asked for clarification.
“You’re not immune from its effects?”
“N-not like you. We c-can’t find t-tracks to follow. We know they d-did the crimes. B-but can’t follow them.
I found myself realizing an important conclusion at that moment. A puzzle piece that I had not held until this very moment.
“I’m the only way you can win this war. I’m the only person who could track them or attack preemptively.”
Alice didn’t speak. It was pure silence as this sunk in the air to the both of us. I looked down at the ground and tried to think about why this could happen. What event in my life made me immune to the contract’s infohazards? I had no answer. Alice broke the silence.
“I-I think this is why the b-boss wanted us to f-find you.”
I simply nodded. Even if Alice was only on speaker phone, I knew she could see from a camera somewhere.
“Thanks for telling me, Alice.”
This information was important. I understood exactly what I was needed for. How else I could use this information though, needed to be determined. All I could was thank my source of information. It was the bare minimum I could do. She didn’t respond immediately but spoke quietly at an almost imperceptible volume.
“You’re welcome… Alan.”
I smiled and chuckled at her demure response. It was honestly kind of adorable. It was like nothing compared to her true form when it appeared and took me through that television. She stuttered speaking up now.
“W-why are you l-laughing!?”
I shook my head and tried to stifle my laughter.
“It’s nothing. Just thought the way you said that was cute.”
She didn’t respond to that and I feared she might have hung up on me for saying that. I walked over to see she had not.
“Sorry for taking all the questions. You can ask one now.”
She took a moment before asking hers.
“W-well… What made you interested in true crime?”
We spoke back and forth for a few more hours. Alice was shy and vague about her life. As time went on though, she began to slowly open up. I didn’t want to ruin this progress and kept the conversation lighthearted and trivial. I really enjoyed that conversation.