encyclopedia

[outofclothes]

☨ Precanon

While out hunting with his father when he was still a kid, Stark's father attempted to kill him. Although Stark loved and respected his father, that's not something he's ever managed to forget alongside implied other instances of abuse such as when Stark was a kid, he took a piece of wood and hit the neighbor's Doberman with it. The dog chased Stark down the block and tore up his left half. When he came limping home, he found his father still working on his mom's Impala and asked him why he didn't come help when he saw the dog take after him. His father told him he deserved it. He discovered he could do magic fairly early in life - while still in elementary school - and would use it for small, dumb little tricks that would get a rise out of the other kids. His parents, more or less, just shoved a book of magic at him and that was that.

At some point prior to dating Alice (more on her below), Stark went into a bar and began flirting with a pretty girl. Another man was also interested her and it was during the competition they noticed that they were both using the same charm to pay the bartender with the same few dollars over and over again. Stark became fast friends with Eugène Vidocq.

Around three to four weeks after starting to date Alice, Stark told her about his ability to do magic. She didn't try to exploit his gifts and one day showed up with a box and claimed she could do magic, too. Inside the box was her "severed" finger. After that, Alice just came inside Stark's apartment and never left. She was never a huge fan of Mason or the others in the Circle and tried to get him to ditch them. At some point in their relationship, she confessed to having a lot of money but no access to it until she's thirty. She made Stark promise to live that long with her and not to die before her.

As it turned out, Alice was sent to monitor Stark. From a Sub Rosa family herself, Alice didn't have magic and only money. This was the one way she could prove useful to her family and to the rest of the magical community by keeping a close eye on Stark. However, the closer she got to Stark, the less and less she cared about doing what she was told. Her feelings for Stark were real. She never told Stark the truth, however, of how she found him or why she was there in the first place.

When Stark was nineteen, his magic Circle sent him to Hell. The ringleader, Mason Faim, bribed the other members to help him send Stark to Hell. Stark was the first live human that the Hellions had ever seen Downtown, so he was immediately thrown into the arena where he had to fight an assortment of monsters and other Hellions. However, every time he lost, he grew stronger and harder to kill. The novelty wore off and the threat of his existence grew. Some wanted to get rid of him, but Azazel took him under his employ - with the promise that Alice would be okay so long as he did everything he said - and used him to assassinate the competition for Lucifer's place. And of course, because it was Hell, Stark experienced a number of horrific tortures and abuses along the way beyond just his time in the arena.

When Alice died eleven years later, Stark killed Azazel and escaped to Earth with nothing but the clothes he was wearing when he was dragged down into Hell, a Veritas, a bone knife, and the key to the Room of Thirteen Doors.

☨ Sandman Slim

I WAKE UP on a pile of smoldering garbage and leaves in the old Hollywood Forever cemetary behind the Paramount Studio lot on Melrose, though these last details don't come to me until later.

Eleven years after being sent to Hell, Stark came back to avenge Alice and get his revenge on the circle that sent him Downtown. The only problem is that he literally has nothing and the world's changed in eleven years. After waking up in a pile of burning money, he runs into Brad Pitt (no, not the real one, but a guy who looks a lot like him) who happens to be carrying cocaine on him. Brad Pitt tries to use a stun gun on him, but Stark is faster and quickly incapacitates him, taking the stun gun, a wad of cash, and his jacket. After that, he consults the Veritas as to where to head next. He wanders into the Bamboo House of Dolls where he meets Carlos. Carlos is having a bit of a problem with a group of Aryan Nation followers getting money out of him for protection. Carlos is willing let Stark eat and drink for free for life if he deals with it, but Stark refuses the job. Carlos leaves the offer on the table when Stark decides to head out.

From there, Stark runs into Kasabian, one of the people on his hitlist, heading into Max Overdrive Video. He manages to get himself shot six times (without dying; since being in Hell, Stark only grows stronger from attacks rather than weaker) and decapitates Kas, but leaves him alive. Kasabian screams through most of this. Stark ignores it. He tries to get Kasabian to tell where and what happened to the others, but he's only mildly cooperative. Kasabian does inform him though that Mason had bribed everyone to help send Stark to Hell and he was the one who issued the order for Parker to kill Alice. Stark decides the best place to store Kas and his body is in the closet and hits the sack.

The next morning, Stark meets Allegra. Although she initially distrusts Stark - something about being all scarred to hell and wearing charbroiled jeans doesn't make him equatable to a girl scout in terms of trust - he manages to convince her to run the store while Kas is away on fabricated family business. At noon he takes (and eventually abandons) Kas' car to do a little shopping since most of his clothes got wrecked with the events of the previous day. In particular, he gets himself a overcoat, steel-toed boots, pants, and an armored motocross jacket. From there, he heads off to his old apartment, only to find Vidocq waiting for him. After he proves he is who he says he is, Vidocq informs Stark that Alice had moved out a few months after his disappearance. She also had tried to distance herself from the magical community as well. Though she had a few lovers, none of them were as serious as it had been with Stark. They also discuss Mason, confirming Kasabian's early reports that Mason had also managed to grow even more powerful during Stark's time away after striking up a deal to get Stark dragged down into Hell.

Vidocq also tries to caution Stark about pursuing his plans for revenge, but still offers his support and help. Stark pulls up a few floorboards in the apartment and takes a few guns he had stashed and takes his leave, trying to avoid a conversation about making a life for himself after Alice. From there, he heads to Mason's house. Or what's left of it. The house has completely vanished. With nothing there, he heads back to Max Overdrive to learn the wonders of smartphones from Allegra before heading upstairs and asking Kasabian about the former members of their gang some more. He informs him that both Jayne-Anne and Cherry Moon made off like bandits after agreeing to help Mason though he's vague at best. As for TJ, the youngest member, he ended up committing suicide. Kasabian also reveals, however, that the basement of Mason's house was still there even if the house was gone.

That night, Stark dreams about his first trip into the Room of Thirteen Doors. When he wakes up, he's agitated and immediately asks Kasabian about what happened to Alice's body. Kas tells the truth and says he has no idea, so Stark decides to leave him alone and heads downstairs. He comes somewhat clean with Allegra, telling her that he's an ex-con on a work release program. While she's willing to give him a chance and relax some, she isn't lowering her guard any and that's fine by Stark.

From there, Stark heads to the Bamboo House of Dolls only to find the skinheads that have been harassing Carlos. He makes quick work of three of them until the fourth one comes out with a Devil Daisy. Since this is a civilian with a supernatural weapon (something he gathers from the moron's inability to use it the right way), Stark immediately suspects Mason had something to do with this and calls Vidocq after the altercation. They meet up at Donut Universe to talk about what happened and where to move forward from there. The pair decide that they will get into the basement at Mason's house under the cover of night. Vidocq provides Stark with a contact, Dr. Kinski, to take care of the bullets in his chest. Vidocq also brings some of Stark's old clothes from the apartment, but Stark ultimately abandons them and leaves them under the table.

Stark gives the number to Dr. Kinski a call and speaks to a girl named Candy. He doesn't get anywhere, however, as the doc's currently booked, but Candy promises she'll give him a call when there's an opening. Stark then heads off to check up on Carlos (the skinheads didn't come back) before stopping back at Max Overdrive to ask Kas what's in the basement. Kasabian has no idea, but both he and Stark know there's going to definitely be something. Things go about as expected. Stark takes Vidocq into the basement through the Room and find it in disrepair. They find a secret alcove where Mason was doing powerful spells - covered in runes, sigils, angelic and Hellion scripts. Inside the room, they find a sigil that appears to be a labyrinth with a Zippo lighter on the inside. When Stark lights it, creatures start trying to come at them through the walls. Vidocq sets the room on fire with Spiritus Dei and the two of them escape back onto the street. Stark agrees to meet the guy who provided Vidocq with the stuff and pay him back for it.

When Stark returns to Max Overdrive, he finds the store a mess, Kasabian missing, and Allegra left for dead. With not much of a choice, he calls up Candy again and gets Allegra in to see Doc Kinski. He performs an Enochian ritual to quite literally put her bones back together and then gives Stark a good lecture on not being an idiot. (He doesn't listen very well as you can imagine.) Stark also learns that Candy is a reformed Jade who's given up eating people. He's a little freaked out by it, but she is pretty cute.

When Stark takes Allegra back to her apartment, she starts asking questions since she saw Kasabian's head alive all by itself during the attack. Stark decides rather than to deflect, it's better to explain. He gives Allegra the whole rundown and a few demonstrations. One of the demonstrations is giving her a flame charm on her hand. After hearing the whole thing, Allegra decides she wants in. Stark's resistant at first, but she manages to convince him to take her to Vidocq and learn how to perform alchemy. The next morning, he takes her to Vidocq for just that and leaves them to it. Of course, he starts having thoughts on his own (he also tries to find Mason with a locator spell, but can't), so he drinks away his sorrows before heading off to Vidocq's to go see Mr. Muninn.

He's got a job ready and waiting for them when they arrive and agrees to pay them in Spiritus Dei for Vidocq and cash for Stark. (Allegra wants to come, but she's out-voted quickly.) They're given tuxedos and sent to the gentlemen's club, Avila. While Vidocq is working on the safe, Stark doesn't have much to do so he starts looking at the pictures in the office. That's when he recognizes the owner as Jayne-Anne and promptly decides to ignore Vidocq's warning to just let it go for now. He runs into Brad Pitt (no, not the real one) and that causes a scene. It gets a little heated for a moment, but Vidocq pulls Stark back into the office and they escape to Muninn's again. Vidocq's annoyed for obvious reasons, but they collect their payments and are on their way. Stark also gets the added bonus of some Spiritus Dei to dip his bullets in. Just in case.

The next day, Stark tracks down where Cherry Moon has literally set up shop. He's unable to get past her cronies, however, to speak to her directly and leaves his cell number. On his way out, he's attacked by Parker. Just when he thinks he has him, he disappears. That's when Stark gets his first glimpse at Mason before he also disappears. The Sub Rosa aren't happy about the public display, but Stark could care less. Cherry calls, but Stark can't tell if she's being genuine or Mason's using her to lead him into a trap. After hanging up with him, a skinhead shows up and says his boss knows the guy who gave Stark his knife. Though he's skeptical anyone could possibly know Azazel, he agrees to go and meet Josef, who is a Kissi in disguise. Josef nearly kills him trying to rip the key out of Stark's chest, but is burned in the attempt and instead just throws Stark out. Before Stark's thrown out, however, he manages to pilfer a na'at. Stark ends up passing out in the apartment above Max Overdrive from the injury. The next morning, he gets a text from Cherry Moon telling him where to meet him.

Cherry never shows, but US Marshal Larson Wells shows up to bring him to the angel Aelita. Aelita explains the creation of the Kissi and how they have been aiding Mason. Of course, this is a salespitch to try and convince Stark to join the Golden Vigil. He tells her where she can shove it and she shoves her flaming sword in his chest. (I don't think he got the job.) When Stark come to in Kinski's office, he finds out that Vidocq was he one who told Aelita to talk to him. He was also the one to get Stark out of there before he died, but that detail hardly matters to Stark and he throws both Vidocq and Allegra out of the room while he waits to get well enough to stand again.

After getting back on his feet some more, Stark heads out to Donut Universe only to witness the Kissi murdering the green-haired donut girl. Stark gets his revenge by torching the skinheads' base of operations and warning the Kissi to stay the hell away from his territory, more or less. When he gets back to Max Overdrive, he starts cleaning his weapons to calm down. He's interrupted by a visit from Allegra who tries to talk some sense into him. This, of course, fails miserably and Stark continues to prepare for his last stand. Eventually Kasabian returns with a cruddy fake body and attempts to kill Stark. However, Parker rigged the Devil Daisy he gave to Kasabian to explode when he tried to use it and ended up killing himself. Parker calls trying to find out if the job's done and is unsurprised to find Stark still alive. Stark lets him know that his and Mason's days are numbered.

Stark follows Kasabian into death where Kasabian is waiting to be told where to go. Kas apologizes for trying to kill him and tells Stark as much as he knows about where Mason is hiding. In exchange, Stark tells Kasabian who to talk to in Hell to get a better job. When Stark returns, he dumps Kasabian's body and passes out. At some point in the night, he wakes up to find a golem of Alice as a taunt from Mason cleaning his room. When he wakes up in the morning, the golem is gone. When he leaves the store, he has another run-in with Aelita. This time, however, he's aware of what she's going to do and he's able to take her down with the na'at. He goes to check on Allegra and finds out she hasn't been home in a while. When he goes to Vidocq's, he finds the magic hiding the apartment gone and the door open. Stark finds a body that's been skinned and picked at, but it's not Vidocq. It's actually Kasabian's corpse. Parker calls and extends a personal invitation to Stark to be at Avila at midnight.

After meeting up with Wells for a skinny minute and calling on Candy, Stark heads to Muninn and trades the Veritas with him. After the deal's made, he heads back to Wells and they head to Avila. They manage to rescue Aelita - who was kidnapped by the Kissi after the scuffle with Stark - but he doesn't find Parker, Vidocq, or Allegra. Stark figures out quickly that Parker's gone to an old motel where the Circle used to hang out. Stark introduces Parker's face to the business end of a sawed off and gets Vidocq and Allegra back to Vidocq's apartment. It's then that everything clicks into place and he realizes Mason and the Kissi have been hiding in the thirteenth door all this time. Leaving Vidocq and Allegra before they can talk him out of it, Stark confronts Mason. Mason explains that he had Alice killed to bring Stark back so that they could take over Earth, Hell, and then tear Heaven and God out of the sky. Stark realizes that Mason's gone completely batshit and says no thanks. He tricks Mason into following him into Hell and heads back to Earth.

Stark strikes up a deal with Aelita that he will work for her freelance and for cash which pisses her off, but she doesn't say no. Mostly because Stark forces her to allow his continued existence. He traded the Veritas for a piece of Mithras - the first fire. Should anything happen to Stark, Mithras will be freed in the Room of Thirteen Doors and burn down the universe.

Stark also finally has the bullets Kas put into him removed by Kinski who reveals himself to be the fallen archangel Uriel. Kinski also tells Stark that he's a nephilim - a half-angel - and that the father who raised him was not his biological father. He explains that God had all of the angels and humans that had given birth to these nephilim destroyed as well as the nephilim themselves though the nephilim did a pretty good job of getting themselves killed. Stark's also the last of his kind, but he decidedly wants none of it and leaves.

When Stark arrives at the Bamboo House of Dolls, there's a party going on. On Stark's way out, he runs into Medea Bava who threatens him. Stark proceeds to not care. After she leaves, Wells shows up to give him Alice's ashes. Stark heads out to the ocean and releases her ashes in the water. When he gets back to Max Overdrive, Lucifer pays him a visit. He's a little pissed about Stark bringing Mason Downtown as Hell is on the brink of a civil war and Mason isn't going to help that situation any for Lucifer. He tries to get Stark to trade the key back, but Stark refuses and instead agrees to work with him on a freelance basis. Lucifer agrees to it and leaves Kasabian's head as a means of communication.

Afterward...
Stark withdraws from most of his friends after he finally put Mason down. He went on a few regular jobs for the Vigil and for Lucifer, but he stopped going to Doc Kinski and Candy when he got hurt. During one such visit, a Naga purse snatcher took a bite out of his arm and poisoned him. He also rarely saw Vidocq and Allegra. Occasionally, he did his jobs with Vidocq and if he needed the medical attention, he went to Allegra before he went to Doc Kinski. Stark spent most of the time being drunk and maudlin because there wasn't much else to do outside of the occasional hit for the Vigil or Lucifer.

Just prior to the start of Kill the Dead, Stark took out a group of Druids that were attempting to raise In-vidia, transdimensional chaos dieties, and sorta saved the day. Again. Whoo...

☨ Kill the Dead

IMAGINE SHOVING a cattle prod up a rhino's ass, shouting "April fool!" and hoping the rhino thinks it's funny. That's about how much fun it is hunting a vampire.

Six months after the events in Sandman Slim, Stark is still working for the Vigil as essentially a professional hitman. Currently, he is hunting down a vampire named Eleanor Vance. It's a particularly messy hunt as she leads him through the streets to an abandoned theater where she and her friends are squatting. She tries to scorch Stark multiple times with her homemade flamethrower. Stark ends up getting jumped by her friends and as a result, uses his blood to give a hex a little oomph. He essentially creates a swirling vortex of broken glass and his blood. Of course, angel blood straight-up murders vampires, so Eleanor's friends get dead pretty quick. Eleanor asks Stark he tell her Mutti she's sorry and he takes pity on her; putting her out of her charred misery. Stark loots the bodies before getting a new shirt, some water, and bouncing when the cops show up.

Stark then heads over to the Vigil to collect his check. As expected, Wells doesn't want to give extra to Stark for finding a pod instead of a single vampire, but he's able to negotiate something out of it. Wells also has another job for Stark. He wants Stark to have a look at a Sub Rosa murder scene because of his expertise in all things Hell. Stark heads over to the Bamboo House of Dolls to have a drink and unwind. Some groupies turn up, but he gets them to piss off. Afterward, a woman named Evelyn comes over to ask Stark for help in finding her son Aki. He turns her away and instead sends her to Titus, a Fiddler. Stark and Carlos also have an awkward conversation about Hell sweet Hell, but Stark doesn't want to really talk about it. Stark heads back to the apartment above Max Overdrive and asks Kasabian--who now has a more mobile body courtesy of Mr. Muninn--about what Mason has been up to in Hell and to look at the Daimonion Codex for the belt buckle he found on Eleanor's body. Stark takes a a shower, noting that for a month his scars have started healing, before taking a nap and having a recurring dream of Alice he's had since he let her ashes go. In the dream, Alice is telling him that he's better than Mason and should get away from the Circle. Stark, as per usual, doesn't listen.

When Stark gets up from his nap, he heads over to Allegra and Vidocq's apartment to let Allegra patch him up. Vidocq is out and returns with mazarine ice. He can't give Stark some of the scars he's already lost back, but he's hoping to concoct something that will halt the healing. Stark gets ready to go see Lucifer, but makes a pitstop at the doc's clinic. He finds Kinski and Candy packing up and Candy appears to be avoiding him despite looking for him for a while. Neither one of them will say what's up, but they have to go and that they'll come back. Candy tells Stark she misses him and gives him a peck on the lips and leaves with Kinski.

Stark leaves the parking lot of the clinic for Chateau Marmont to meet with Lucifer. There's a little bit of a difficulty getting the room number, but Stark uses a small Hellion hex to get the desk clerk to open up a little more. Lucifer's room exists behind a grandfather clock on the top floor in some nebulous space of time. It turns out that Lucifer wants Stark as a bodyguard while he's taking care of business on Earth. It turns out that Lucifer is having a biopic made of himself, telling his side of the story. He's using a director named Simon Ritchie to get it done. Stark agrees to the job and has a meal with Lucifer before heading off to see what Wells wants him to have a look at. When he gets there, he finds Enoch Springheel has been chewed to pieces by demons. It turns out that Enoch had a fetish for being literally eaten and it would seem his death was either an accident or a suicide. Stark heads on back home to Max Overdrive, but on the way he notices someone gaunt shambling after him before disappearing.

The next day, Stark visits Allegra and Vidocq, downing their nasty concoction to try and stop his scars from healing. After that, he's off to the party with Lucifer. While in the lobby of the Chateau, Lucifer gets a little mobbed by some Satanists who give him fingernails and toenails in a nice box. Lucifer, in all his unimpressed glory, passes them off to Stark. They arrive at the party and start rubbing elbows with the cream of the crop of the Sub Rosa. Stark is introduced to the Geistwalds. Lucifer points out that Stark knew Eleanor--the vampire from earlier--but Stark quickly denies that he knows anything about her. He's then introduced to Brigitte Bardo, a porn star from Europe looking to make it in Hollywood. They chat and Stark ends up tossing the e-cigarette Allegra gave him. Lucifer needs to go, however, when he is informed that Amanda & the other Lucifer groupies are causing problems at the Chateau. However, that was just an attempt to get Lucifer to leave the party for a kidnapping. Stark and Lucifer end up having to run, but between Stark shooting a few of them and Lucifer making them implode with his duel flaming swords, they were fine. When they get back to Lucifer's room, they hypothesize who was behind the kidnap attempt and why. Stark also discovers that what he thought he saw earlier was true -- Lucifer is still bleeding from the wound he received when God kicked him out.

When Stark wakes up the next morning, he realizes that he's become too reliant on weapons and practices shielding himself by letting Kasabian hurl things at him. Eventually their conversation ends up on Sub Rosa families and Stark learns some interesting family histories. Before long, however, Mason comes up. It takes some threatening to toss Kasabian out on the street, but Kasabian comes clean that Mason is not just building an army by convincing all of Lucifer's generals to join him, but he's also trying to find a way to create another key to the Room of Thirteen Doors. The news doesn't sit well with Stark, but he's trying not to kill everything and so makes an effort to not take it out on Kasabian for a change. Stark pays a visit to Allegra and Vidocq next. Although at first things are fine when Stark finds out they completed the elixir to stop his scars from healing, it gets sour when Allegra brings up the possibility that Lucifer is his father and that he's only manipulating Stark to mold him more into his image. Stark, of course, shrugs this off and leaves, but it is something he's worried about every now and again.

Stark heads over to Bamboo House of Dolls and runs into Brigitte again. Their conversation is cut short, however, when the missing Sub Rosa, Spencer Church, turns up as a zombie and brings along two friends. Brigitte surprises Stark by revealing that she only moonlights as a porn star, but her real job is killing zombies and she teaches him how to properly kill them by removing their spine. Brigitte calls contacts to clean up the mess behind the bar and while the two are cleaning up in the bathroom, they end up having sex. That night, Stark dreams of Alice, feeling guilty over sleeping with Brigitte, but she informs him of what an idiot he is and tells him she doesn't mind. Brigitte appears in the dream and they warn him fairly cryptically that something bad is coming, but don't tell him anything further than that.

After a rough night's sleep, Stark asks Kasabian about the zombies he ran into and gets a small lesson on the different types. Stark visits Lucifer on the set of his biopic in time for a false alarm to go off when a curious Lurker employee gets too close to the set. Simon hauls Lucifer -- with Stark following -- into a panic room. Stark brings up the idea of letting him clean up the zombies for pay from Lucifer, but Lucifer only tells him that he will consider it and sends Stark on his way to investigate the Ashes. Lucifer recommends he brings Brigitte along. Stark visits the Vigil to put the same offer to Wells, but Stark's freelance work for the Vigil comes to an end shortly before Wells admits they were the ones who made the attack against Lucifer. Stark decides he's not on Lucifer's or the Vigil's side, but his own.

Brigitte picks Stark up and the two question Cabal Ash about what he knows. Cabal enlightens them about the existence of Savants, particularly the Savant in L.A. named Johnny Thunders. Brigitte drops Stark back off at Max Overdrive, giving him a weapon designed for removing zombie spines and signing Kasabian's DVDs. Stark loses his temper with Kasabian when he brings up Alice. Stark doesn't know if it means he's any further or less along in letting her go, but doesn't have long to dwell on it when Kasabian informs him that Lucifer has been ordering Kasabian to look through sections of the Codex that Kasabian didn't even know existed. Kasabian also tells Stark that Lucifer knows what the belt buckle Stark drew for him is and freaked out and advises Stark get it before anyone else can.

Stark goes back to the theater where he killed Eleanor to find it filled to bursting with zombies, all of whom are looking in the center of the room. After carefully making his way to the center, he finds all of them staring at the belt buckle on the floor. Stark takes the belt buckle and has to force his way out of the crowd as they slowly come out of the trance. A Lacuna stops Stark momentarily, but he's able to step through a shadow before the zombies can close in on him. Stark picks up Brigitte to revisit the Springheel crime scene. After masking their presence to any potential alarms the Vigil may have set up, Stark confirms that a demon was present. Brigitte also confirms that Drifters were around as well, noting that it's not uncommon for people to use demons to cover up the presence of Drifters. Stark and Brigitte accidentally free a large group of zombies that were being contained in and under the Springheel house, resulting in Brigitte being bitten. Stark brings her to Allegra and Vidocq who can only place her in the Winter Garden, essentially a magically induced coma that will stop her transformation. It's then that Stark realizes he's been bitten as well.

Although he assures Allegra, Vidocq, and later Kasabian that he's fine, Stark can feel his human half slowly dying. Kasabian locks himself inside the closet where he's put up protective wards and Stark assures him that he'll call with the all-clear or have Vidocq and Allegra get him if something happens to Stark. Kinski calls Stark and explains that he had to leave town with Candy because of attempts on his life. He also warns Stark to leave town when Stark drops the bombshell that he's been bitten. Kinski starts to become adamant about returning to L.A., but Stark hangs up with him before it can become a debate.

Stark finally gets through to Johnny Thunders' handlers and manages to set up an appointment to see him. Allegra convinces Stark to bring her along to check out Johnny Thunders for himself. At first, Tracy is reluctant to let Stark in, but once he proves who he is, Allegra and Stark meet Fiona and then finally Johnny Thunders. Stark asks Johnny some questions while Allegra takes Johnny's picture with an animascope, a device that detects life essence. As it turns out, Johnny is the real deal. After a snack break for Johnny, Stark asks him more questions about Drifters. Johnny explains that all the people who die in L.A. end up in the Jackal's Backbone, but that he doesn't remember much about it since he woke up. To Tracy and especially Fiona's chagrin, Stark manages to convince Johnny to show him the Jackal's Backbone later that night.

On the way back, Stark and Allegra are attacked by two Lacunas, only to find out that the Vigil sent them. Stark tries to report to Lucifer about this turn of events, but can only leave a message on his voicemail. Stark picks Johnny up and makes his way to the Jackal's Backbone. On the way, he gets a call from Doc Kinski, who has returned to town with Candy. Both Kinski and Candy make some rather unsuccessful attempts convincing Stark to come back and letting help him. With more of Stark dying by the second, Stark doesn't think he needs help and hangs up with them once he and Johnny reach their destination. Johnny explains that the power spot feeds on the souls of the dead and that the souls are finite. While down there, Stark discovers Mr. Muninn has a back entrance from his place into the backbone and chases him with Johnny. As it turns out, Muninn looks after the dead in the Backbone.

During their conversation, Mr. Muninn reveals Cabal Ash recently paid off an outstanding debt. He also informs Stark that Rainier Geistwald is dead, but he somehow returned and paid off a recent debt to Muninn. Johnny also tells Stark the cure for a zombie bite and provides Stark with some of his blood in order to save Brigitte. Johnny ultimately decides to stay behind with Muninn while Stark decides to move forward in figuring out who is pulling the strings behind everything. Stark heads over to Cabal's place only to find that someone got to him first and he's in multiple pieces spread around the room. Stark also gets a call from Kasabian informing him that the belt buckle he's been carrying around is called the Druj Ammun, or the Sleepless Aegis. Kasabian explains that it was a seal put on Heaven to keep Lucifer and his crew out. Any fallen that get near it become puppets. However, the Kissi stole it and dropped it on Earth just to see what would happen.

The pieces fall into place for Stark and he realizes that someone is trying to eliminate the head families of the local Sub Rosa. Stark is on his way to the Chateau when he comes across the fake Rainier. Using his angel vision, Stark is able to see through the glamour and discovers he's Aki, the son Titus had been searching for. After some intense interrogation, Stark finds out that Koralin Geistwald knows Aki isn't her son and is up to something sinister. When Stark pulls into the parking lot of the Chateau, he finds Aelita and the Golden Vigil waiting for him. Unfortunately for the Vigil, the last of Stark finally fades away. As they open fire, Stark summons his gladius for the first time and slaughters the lot of them with the exception of Julie and Wells. Julie reveals that she's a spy from the Sub Rosa while Aelita declares Stark's ability to summon his gladius as divine proof that God has abandoned them all.

Stark heads up to Lucifer's suite only to find he isn't there. Stark leaves Aki tied up in the room to find Lucifer in Ritchie's panic room. As it turns out, Ritchie had planned to turn Lucifer over for Aelita to kill in exchange for his soul. Stark shows up instead and Ritchie ends up accidentally killing himself. Lucifer explains that despite his interest in and nudging with Stark, he isn't Stark's father; Uriel is. Lucifer explains that Hell is connected to him and that as his wounds get worse, Hell falls apart further and further. Unable to stay and rule, Lucifer is interested in going home, but he can't simply abandon them. He needs a successor. With no heir of his own, he's placing his bets on Stark over Mason.

Stark makes a quick trip to Allegra and Vidocq's to share with them the cure and to get ready for facing the Geistwalds. Koralin comes to Lucifer's suite and reveals that she and the rest of her family, with the exception of Eleanor, don't have souls and thus are yet another kind of Drifter. She strikes a deal with Stark that she will exchange Kasabian and Candy for the return of Rainier/Aki and the Druj. They make the exchange, but Stark has a trick up his sleeve. While at Allegra and Vidocq's, he laced the na'at with the cure and quickly strikes Koralin in the heart, bringing her back to life. Stark leaves with Candy and Kasabian both as the Geistwalds are left to their untimely demises at the hands of the Drifters they sought to control.

In the end, Stark destroys the Druj and all the Drifters turn to ash, returning peace to L.A. once more. There's also some good news and some bad news. The goods news is that Allegra was able to save Brigitte and Stark is also saved from losing his humanity completely when Candy forces the cure on him. The bad news, however, is that Doc Kinski was killed in cold blood by Aelita which is how Koralin managed to get her hands on Kasabian and Candy in the first place.

With Kinski gone, Allegra steps up to take his place as the local hoodoo doctor with Candy's assistance. Brigitte pays Stark a visit, informing him that with Aelita on a warpath, the Golden Vigil has since been disbanded. She also suggests it's best if they don't stay together. He agrees and the two part ways amicably. Stark also runs into Marshal Julie who is now starting her own investigations agency, offering to give Stark a cut of the action once in a while. With little else to do, Stark agrees. That's when Mason sends his message. His key isn't perfect and he's only able to possess people on Earth rather than return himself, but it's enough to taunt Stark. While smoking a cigarette to calm his nerves, the Dark Eternal turns up and hands Stark a large sum of money out of gratitude.

Knowing that a storm is coming and one way or another, Stark is going to have to deal with Mason, he goes to the Room and sits in the Kissi realm. No one is there, but he's confident they might still be out there. He just needs to be a little patient.

☨ Aloha From Hell

☨ Devil Said Bang

☨ Kill City Blues

☨ The Getaway God

☨ Book 7

☨ People

AELITA.

A woman in a crisply tailored power suit leans her head inside. [...] Aelita isn't what I imagined an angel would look like. She's about as ethereal as a zip gun. She walks like she's about to call in an air strike or buy Europe. Donald Trump in drag with her enemies' balls in a candy dish on her desk, right next to the stapler.

Aelita originally attempts to recruit Stark to the Golden Vigil. But mostly, she just likes trying to diss Lucifer, shriek "Abomination!" in reference to Stark, and some severe megalomania later when she decides God's doing a shit job of running things and so she should do it. (Lucifer is still garbage though.)

She lets Stark work freelance for her. And by lets, I mean, she either does it or Stark destroys the universe.

ALICE.

And something worse. It makes me weak inside to think about it. It's a woman's face. Her name is Alice. She's the only bright thing I ever loved, the only person I ever met worth giving a damn about.

Alice was, more or less, Stark's One. He fell for her hard and fast before his trip to Hell and it was only upon her murder that he found it in him to bust out and get revenge. As time goes on, he dreams about her more and more though he can't tell if it's her reaching out from beyond or if it's just his subconscious telling him what he already knows and just can't put together on his own. Dream!Alice doesn't know either.

After Stark disappeared, she moved out of their apartment and in with a girlfriend. Although she had a few lovers over the years, none were as serious as it had been with Stark. She also made a concerted effort to distance herself from everything related to magic. Alice never really cared for anybody in Stark's Circle and the night he was dragged to Hell, she tried to get him to stay. Alice was murdered a month before her thirtieth birthday by Parker.

ALLEGRA.

She looks to be not much older than I was when I was carried off to Oz. Maybe old enough to drink. Maybe not. She doesn't wear much makeup. Black around her eyes. Gloss on her lips. She's thin, with darkish café au lait skin. She'd look like Foxy Brown's little sister, except her head is shaved smooth. Her coat and skirt are thrift store hand-me-downs, but her boots look expensive. An art school girl with priorities.

Allegra used to date a drug dealer named Michael prior to the start of the series. She is initially very suspicious of Stark due to his appearance and how vague he was about his connection to Kasabian. After being left for dead by Parker, she learns the truth of who Stark really is and what he's doing back in LA. She wants to help and so Stark allows her to learn alchemy from Vidocq. She's generally not allowed to participate in the more dangerous tasks though due to her inexperience.

She and Vidocq both end up getting kidnapped by Parker, but Stark saves both of them before anything terrible can happen. For the next six months, she practices healing on Stark. She recognizes she's not as good as Kinski, but she's not too damn bad for a beginner.

AMANDA.

A woman in an expensive Jackie Kennedy black dress and pillbox hat leads the pack. Her face is young and her skin is perfect, but when she takes off a glvoe, her hands are like buzzard claws. Old as King Tut and dry as a Death Valley rattlesnake's eye.

The head of the Lucifer groupies on Earth. She showers him with ridiculous amount of praise and refers to Lucifer as "Master." She hands Lucifer a pyx at the Chateau Marmont.

BRIGITTE BARDO.

The woman is brunette and her dark pupils, within the bright whites of her eyes, look like bullet holes in the snow. She has the perfect bird-bone cheeks you see on French girls, but her non-plastic-surgery nose and full lips look more Italian or Greek.

Brigitte was on Simon Ritchie's arm at Lucifer's welcoming party. She's a porn star in Europe and looking to start a Hollywood movie career by staring as Eve in Light Bringer. Oh, she also hunts zombies. Naturally, she hits it off well with Stark.

CANDY.

A tiny shaggy-haired brunette in tattered black jeans and Chuck Taylors stands there. [...] From the way she talked on the phone, I was expecting big blond Judy Holliday type, not Joan Jett's little sister.

Candy works as both a secretary and assistant to Doc Kinski. She's also a Jade, but has since given up eating people. She helps Stark take down the party in Avila and falls off the wagon for a little while, but she manages to recover. She tries to find Stark even though he seems pretty intent on avoiding her (and everyone else). She leaves with Doc Kinski without saying why or where they're going, just that they have to leave.

CARLOS.

He has close-cropped black hair and a graying goatee. He looks big under his Hawaiian shirt. An ex-football player. Maybe a boxer.

The second person Stark ran into after Brad Pitt. Bartender and owner of Bamboo House of Dolls. After Stark took care of the Aryan Nation who were coming around wanting money for protection, Stark is free to drink and eat all he wants. He's a civilian, but definitely on Stark's list of decent people.

CHERRY MOON.

Crack open a pedophile's piñata and Cherry Moon is the candy that falls out. She's a Lollipop Doll, one of a gang of girls who take their manga and anime a little too seriously. They all want to grow up to be Sailor Moon and Cherry had the magical skill to do it. Last time I saw her, she was in High Gothic Lolita drag, radiating rough sex and looking all of twelve years old.

Cherry Moon was one member of the Circle that helped Mason toss Stark into Hell. She uses her hoodoo to look young and kawaii (no really) forever and runs a shop selling animu and magna to the populous. Mason ends up having her killed when Stark starts sniffing around her shop looking for her.

DOC KINSKI.

Kinski is as impressive as his office isn't. He's tall. A little taller than me. Like me, he'd been a lanky boy but the years have added a few pounds to his middle and etched lines like a desert riverbed around his eyes. But he's still handsome. You can tell that when he was young he'd been the kind of good-looking that made girls forget about their boyfriends for the night and made guys want to punch him in the face on principle.

Doc Kinski is a "humble healer" who's recommend to Stark by Vidocq. He specializes in healing non-civilians with some rarely-known techniques. More importantly than any of that, he's the angel Uriel and Stark's biological father. He's the one who reveals to Stark that he's a nephilim, but he does not reveal that he is his biological father.

Kinski leaves without much of an explanation with Candy after Mason is put down.

EUGÈNE VIDOCQ.

He's a little taller than I remember and a little heavier, but he still has the same salt-and-pepper beard and close-cropped hair, the same impressive Roman nose and dark eyes that, at different times, might belong to your favorite uncle on Christmas morning or to the pissed-off ex-thug who's about to shove a power drill through your forehead.

Vidocq and Stark met one another before Stark began dating Alice after realizing that they were both Sub Rosa. Vidocq is the very same Vidocq from history though in this canon, he's an alchemist who accidentally made himself immortal. He's spent his time since then trying to find a way to reverse it. He's often much calmer and more rational than Stark and makes many attempts in talking him down. He's also one of the few people who puts up with the most of Stark's bullshit.

He introduces Stark to both Doc Kinski and Mr. Muninn. He also agrees to assist Stark in getting his revenge - despite his better judgment - and also to teach Allegra alchemy. Vidocq occasionally helps Stark with jobs after Mason is trapped in Hell. He also takes up the task in trying to find a way to stop Stark's scars from healing.

THE GEISTWALDS.

"...[S]o the party is being thrown in the home of one of the truly outstanding Sub Rosa families, Jan and Koralin Geistwald. Lovely people. They came here all the way from the northernmost part of Germany when this river roared along the surface. [...] They were ambitious and they had the guts to do something about it. Europe was lousy with ancient Sub Rosa families who'd consolidated power centuries before. If you want to advance, the only way to do it was create your own dynasty and the only way to do that was to go very far away and start from nothing."

Jan and Koralin Geistwald are mother and father to Rainer and Eleanor (Vance). Eleanor had run away from home and became a vampire. She's the one Stark put down. Stark first meets Rainer in Bamboo House of Dolls when he starts trying to antagonize Stark. He later meets Jan and Koralin when they are hosting the welcoming party for Lucifer. They are not nice people. At all.

The family was originally in the business of scrying and fortune-telling.

GREEN-HAIRED DONUT GIRL.

The girl working the counter is a green-haired pixie who looks somewhere between twelve and thirty-five. She's wearing sequined antennae that bob up and down when she talks. The grown-up part of my brain imagines that she tears the stupid things off and tosses them in the backseat of her car the moment she's finished her shift. The nineteen-year-old in me wonders if she sometimes wears the antennae when she screws her boyfriend, and what it's like to look up and see her and those sequined balls bobbing up and down over you.

A girl that worked at Donut Universe. She was caught in the crossfire when Mason and the Kissi were starting to make their move. Stark kills the Kissi that killed her in revenge since she was just an innocent civilian.

JAYNE-ANNE.

If Donald Trump and the Wicked Witch of the West had a kid, it would be Jayne-Anne. She looks like a librarian with some money and good taste in clothes, but underneath the Versace, she's Godzilla with tits. She isn't as powerful a magician as Mason, but next to him she's the most focused and ruthless and, in her way, scarier than bad dog Parker.

Jayne-Anne was another member of the old Circle. Her reward for staying loyal to Mason is Avila, a gentleman's club, where she gets to rub elbows with some of the most wealthy and powerful individuals. Mason has her killed after Stark's brief run-in with her.

JOHNNY THUNDERS.

Johnny Thunders is hunched over a metal folding table wearing a magnifying visor on his smooth white head. He's studying something microscopic in his left hand while his right hovers above it with a delicate paintbrush. He's wearing black sweatpants and nothing else. He looks like an albino mantis about to strike. Johnny's beyond skinny. He's Auschwitz thin. You can count each of his ribs. Practically strike a match on them. But he doesn't look sick or weak, more like he's a separate breed of minimalist humans designed to take up as little physical space in the world as possible.

JOSEF.

Behind a gray metal desk, a blond man is writing with a fountain pen on a yellow legal pad. High forehead. Sky-blue eyes. Cheekbones like the prow of an icebreaker. A perfect Aryan wet dream. Hell, even I want to have this guy's babies.

A Kissi leading some skinheads on Earth. He nearly kills Stark when he tries to rip the key to the Room out of Stark's chest. He's tossed out into the void with the rest of the Kissi after Stark shuts Mason down.

KASABIAN.

He lost some hair while I was away, but he's made up for it by getting fat. [...] His chin and gut are defiant in the face of gravity, making him look more like Frosty the Snowman than Orson Welles.

Kasabian is the first on Stark's hitlist of victims. When leaving the Bamboo House of Dolls, Stark is wondering why the Veritas sent him that way when he sees Kasabian letting himself into Max Overdrive Video. He promptly decapitates Kasabian after scaring the hell out of him, but he doesn't kill him. He keeps Kas in the closet and uses him to get information about where the others in the Circle are. Eventually Parker and Mason grab him and fix him up with a "new" body. They send him to kill Stark, but he ends up killing himself and not taking Stark out with him. When Stark sees him in the afterlife, he apologizes and tells him where Mason is as best he can. In exchange, Stark tells Kasabian to seek out a specific Hellion for a cushy job.

Lucifer ends up bringing Kasabian's head back up to Earth to act as his middleman. He feeds Lucifer information and passes along Lucifer's messages to Stark. For a while, he has a centipede-like body so he can be a little more mobile. He most just watches porn and devil movies.

LARSON WELLS, US MARSHAL.

The middle one pulls up in front of me and a tall man in a dark blue suit and tie and white shirt steps out, flashing a badge. It's one of the two men in suits who rode the elevator at the Bradbury Building with Vidocq, Allegra, and me.

Marshal Wells and Stark, unsurprisingly, are not best friends. Wells doesn't like anything to do with the Sub Rosa even though they use magic in the Golden Vigil provided by some of the aforementioned magical community. Stark's also pretty sure he's got a big, ole crush on Aelita despite the fact she's completely batshit. He's incredibly reluctant to work with Stark as he has zero respect for him.

LUCIFER/SAMAEL.

The Prince of Darkness is dressed in a tailored charcoal-gray suit that looks like it cost more than this building.

Lucifer created and has been the ruler over Hell since God kicked him out. He hates it when people are late because that indicates they aren't thinking or working as hard as they possibly can. He also likes to have people surrender something personal about themselves when they trade away their soul to him as something symbolic. When Lucifer speaks, everyone shuts the hell up. He goes by the alias Mr. Macheath as a jab to Stark because The Threepenny Opera was something Stark watched when he was drunk and missing Alice since it was one of her favorites.

He comes to Stark after Mason gets trapped in Hell to talk about how this is a problem. Stark tells him he doesn't really care, but he agrees to work freelance for Lucifer on Earth. Six months later, Lucifer wants Stark as a bodyguard while he's on Earth to make a biopic, giving the director (Simon Ritchie) a little extra time before he takes his soul.

MR. MUNINN.

A shadow moves out of the shadows. It's a man. H's small, round, and black. Not the way Allegra is black, but black like a raven or an abyss. He's wearing an expensive-looking silk robe and holding a brass telescope.

Mr. Munnin is a collector of sorts. He has magically concealed shop where he has a wide variety of rare and hard-to-find artifacts as well as creatures such as a Fury. He sends Stark out on jobs in exchange for money and sometimes supplies. The first job he has Stark run is with Vidocq and getting a few things out of Avila, a gentleman's club run by Jayne-Anne. He's also 1/5th of God. So, there's that.

MEDEA BAVA.

She's dressed like Stevie Nicks in her how-fast-can-I-burn-out-my-nose-with-coke period. WHen she gets closer, she becomes really interesting. She has the whitest skin I've ever seen. And there's something strange about her face: it moves whether she talks or not. Her face is like the phases of the moon going from a gorgeous bride-to-be to an old woman with a face like shattered granite.

An Inquisitor that has no love for Stark. She sent him feathers and wolf's teeth as a warning to stop being such a problem for the Sub Rosa. To everyone's great surprise, Stark tells her to shove her threats up her ass.

MASON.

Mason had been the leader of our magic circle, which made me Mr. Green Jeans to his Captain Kangaroo. He was a talented magician and never passed up a chance to remind you of it. He came from money. At least he acted like he did. The truth is, none of us really knew much about his life outside the Circle.

Mason and Stark never really managed to get along very well. Mason was somewhat of the ringleader of their Circle, but because Stark was far more adept at magic than Mason, there was obvious rivalry between the two of them. Mason is the one who bribed the others to help him send Stark to Hell. He has very little consideration for the lives of others and is more than happy to kill to get what he wants. Hence, he had Parker take out Alice to draw Stark out of Hell and he had the rest of the Circle eliminated every time Stark managed to track one of them down. He even set Kasabian up to blow himself up. Stark confronts Mason and the Kissi, sending the Kissi into the void again and Mason down to Hell to be torn apart.

Mason doesn't just go down though. He starts making plans and hangs out with generals that are unhappy with Lucifer, trying to plan a takeover.

MUSTANG SALLY.

PARKER.

Park was a thug with a boxer's build and just enough magical ability to make him really dangerous. Mason saw the possibilities in someone like that and made the guy into his pet pit bull. Mason never got blood on his hands because Parker was only too happy to do it for him.

Parker is the one who killed Alice on Mason's orders. Actually, most of what he does is on Mason's orders. It's a wonder the guy can breathe without Mason telling him to do so. Anyway, he ends up having a big showdown with Stark on Rodeo Drive and kidnaps Vidocq and Allegra eventually. Stark blows his brains out and puts an end to that. Mason really wasn't that upset to hear the news.

SIMON RITCHIE.

A tall, heavyset guy pushes through the crowd. He's big, but not fat. Like maybe he was a cop or a boxer in some former life. He sticks out one hand to shake and the other goes to Lucifer's shoulder.

The director trying to buy himself a little extra time by making the biopic Light Bringer for Lucifer. He's obsessed with Brigitte.

TJ.

Poor dumb kid. TJ was even younger than me. He would have been sixteen or seventeen back then. Kasabian is right about one thing; some people aren't built to see the dark side of magic or deal with the vicious parts of life. TJ never belonged in our little wolf pack. In a way, I was glad he was gone. I hadn't been looking forward to hunting him down.

TJ was the youngest member of Stark's old Circle. After Mason and the others sent Stark to hell, he ended up committing suicide.

☨ Lurkers

"Lurker" is what the Sub Rosa call any secretive magical, mystical, or monstrous freak that isn't them. A naiad is a Lurker. So are zombies and werewolves. Undercover cops are secretive and sometimes monsters, but they aren't Lurkers. They're just pricks.

ANGRA OM YA.
The old gods.

DEMONS.

"They're elementals. Not like you pixies or Lurkers. Demons are primitives. Like insects. They're pretty much programmed to do a single thing. Killing. Inciting Lust. Planting lies."

Demons are pretty much at the bottom of the foodchain and aren't all that smart. They're fragments of the Angra Om Ya; hence why they aren't all that smart. They're just a small piece.

HELLIONS.

Angels that fell after Lucifer's rebellion, Lucifer included. None of them are able to leave Hell except for Lucifer. Notable Hellions:

Azazel. Kept Stark as his personal hitman to eliminate other Hellions. He promised nothing would happen to Alice so long as Stark did what was asked of him. When Alice was murdered, Stark murdered Azazel and escaped. He was Lucifer's second favorite general. His palace was pretty big and grand like a cathedral.

Beelzebub. Lucifer's favorite general and Stark's first hit. Azazel had him frame another Hellion, Belial, for the murder. His castle was made from mud and shit covered with human bones.

Mephistopheles. Lucifer's third favorite general. One night he and a few of his lackeys took Stark out of his bed and into the arena for a private showing against a black void. Lucifer showed up to put an end to it. His palace is made of fire.

Murmur. A big-mouth Hellion with a very loud voice. Reverse his name in a sigil and create a deafening silence.

HIGH PLAINS DRIFTERS.

Yeah, they smell like an abandoned slaughterhouse when you pull their spines out.

High Plains Drifters are zombies. They generally hunger for raw flesh although only the smart ones are a little choosier about their meat. The only way to kill a Drifter is to destroy its nervous system (i.e. remove its spine.) It's said that zombies were created when the angels fell during Lucifer's rebellion. One of the angels that crashed into the Earth was sick and when humans tried to help it, the angel attacked them turning them into zombies. Not all zombies are created equal, however. Zeds and zots are the lowest tier. They are not all that bright and are visibly rotting/smell horrendous. They are essentially golems. Lacunas, however, have some brain function. They can walk and talk and you might not be able to pick them out from a crowd although they do still smell. Finally, there are Savants or Saperes. These zombies are absolutely undetectable aside from the fact they enjoy eating flesh. They are the most highly functioning and least smelly of the bunch. Most zombies hang out underground, but every now and again they wander out or a necromancer summons them. The only way to become a zombie is receiving a scratch or a bite from one. The only way to reverse the effect is to inject the victim with a Savant's blood.

High Plains Drifters were all destroyed when Stark destroyed the Sleepless Aegis, effectively stopping the zombie apocalypse. Notable High Plains Drifters:

Spencer Church. A missing Sub Rosa that turns up in the Bamboo House of Dolls. Brigitte puts him down after he had turned to teach Stark how to kill zombies.

Titus Eshu.

Johnny Thunders. See above.

JADES.

People say that Jades are like vampires, but really they're more like human tarantulas. When you get bit, you don't swoon in Bela Lugosi ecstasy, you're paralyzed while something in the Jade's saliva dissolves you from the inside. Then they drink you, leaving you as hollow as a chocolate Easter bunny.

Jade's somewhat similar to vampires. They do have a naturally seductive quality to them. They're also able to soothe humans with their words and touch before they bite. Noteable Jades:

Candy. See above.

ENERJIK KISSI.

Like Josef, they glow from the inside, a pale blue white, like a slug crawling across the bottom of the ocean. They remind me of angels, if angels were candles that you left in a locked car in Texas in August. Their faces are fish-belly white and soft. Half-formed. The fact that the creatures are almost beautiful makes them even harder to look at. [...] They remind me of insects. They might pounce your next move, or they might wait for a million years, until they think the moment is right. It's all the same to them. They're patience and hunger with a side of fury.

Pronounced kee-shee. God's other great mistake aside from humanity according to Aelita. Kissi were created like everything else through the Lord's Divine Light™, but they fell into the void. Kissi were created from chaos and so feed upon it. War broke out between the Kissi and the angels of Heaven, but neither side could win. So, a truce was drawn up that the Kissi would be allowed to stay and create their chaos on Earth, but within certain limits. The Golden Vigil was thus established as a means of monitoring Kissi activity to be sure they were not violating the terms of the truce.

They are the ones who dragged Stark down to Hell for Mason and are also the ones supply Mason with the power he's attained in the meanwhile. Notable Kissi:

Josef. See above.

NEBIRO.

"Sounds like they gave him an assload of nebiros."

A parasite that lives off the energy of its host. If the hose can survive the drain, nebiros secrete magical energy. Hellions munch on these like a snack.

VAMPIRES.

Galina told me that most vampires work hard to keep a low profile. They dress, act, and often get jobs like regular people. Most vampires only feed once a month, at the new moon. [...] There are other vampires, too. The kind they make movies about. [...] They hunt every night just for the sheer meat-market thrill of it.

These vampires are your standard vampires. Older vampires tend to be more controlled while younger vampires are impulsive and often behave more like what you'd expect out of pop culture's modern representation of vampires. The longest a vampire can go without blood is a month before they begin to desiccate. Notable vampires:

Galina. Azazel's vampire drinking buddy. Often told really detailed stories about hunting humans just to upset Stark before he'd get in the arena. She had a bit of a gambling problem.
Eleanor Vance. A young vampire Stark hunted down for the Vigil.

☨ Misc

AQUA REGIA.

Mostly I drank a Hellion homebrew called Aqua Regia, a kind of high-octane red wine mixed with a dash of angel's blood and herbs that made cocaine seem like Pop Rocks. Aqua Regia tasted like cayenne pepper and gasoline, but it was there and I could hold it down.

Stark's preferred alcoholic beverage after his stint in Hell.

BAMBOO HOUSE OF DOLLS.

The Bamboo House of Dolls is cool and dim inside, and I can take off Brad Pitts's sunglasses without wanting to faint. There are old Iggy and Circle Jerks posters on the black-painted walls, but behind the bar it's all palm fronds, plastic hula girls, and coconut bowls for the peanuts.

If you don't know where Stark is, this is the best place to look. After Stark helped Carlos get rid of his Aryan Nation problem, he has free drinks and free food for life. And that's a pretty sweet payment, trust me. Try one of Carlos' tamales and argue that it isn't. The only way this bar could be more perfect is if Stark was actually allowed to smoke inside. It becomes somewhat of a hotspot for the Sub Rosa to hang out after Stark sends Mason's sorry ass to Hell.

BONE KNIFE.

I feel just above my right ankle and a genuine wave of happiness hits me. The black blade is still there, strapped to my leg with strips of basilisk leather.

A black blade Stark smuggles out of Hell with him. Unless he wills it, anyone he attacks with it will live through it - even decapitation like in the case of Kasabian. It can also be used to pick locks and start cars. Its use will not disturb the aether, leaving the user undetected.

CHATEAU MARMONT.

The Chateau Marmont is a giant white castle on a green hill and it looms over Sunset like it fell out of a passing UFO. It fits in with the surrounding city with all the subtlety of a rat on a birthday cake. Make that French rat. The place is a château, after all.

The hotel where Lucifer stays when he's on Earth. Lucifer's room exists in time, not in space. To get to it, you have to go to the top floor. On the east wall is a grandfather clock. Open it up, hold the pendulum and count to three and then step inside. The room is extravagant "so stuffed with golden statutes, marbles, and antiques, that Caligula would think it's tacky."

DAIMONION CODEX.

The Daimonion Codex is Lucifer's private notebook, reference book, strategy, spell and wisdom book, and anything-else-you-can-think-of book. [...] Satan's Big Little Book of Badass. A kind of Bizarro World Boy Scout manual. High-grade Gnostic porn.

The second most important document in the universe after the Scroll of Creation. It's a book, but it's more of a mental and mystical database than an actual book. Kasabian has the ability to look in it whenever he wants.

DEVIL DAISY.

He holds up his right hand. There's something with a glowing end. Gnarled like a short tree branch. It extends from his hand and wraps around his forearm to his elbow.

Stark doesn't know what the actual name of this plant-turned-weapon actually is called, so Devil Daisy is his name for it. It can be used to fire blue-white fireballs at opponents. Stark came across it in the arena the first time and his first time seeing it on Earth is when the skinheads who were hitting Carlos up for protection money.

DOWNTOWN.

The devil steals cable. Who knew?

AKA Hell. Lucifer cultivated and created Hell to bring as much comfort as he possibly could to the angels that joined him in his cause and fell as a consequence. Surprisingly (or unsuprisingly), Hell has developed its own culture since its creation. For example, they run on a barter economy and it's generally frowned upon to actually buy anything. They also have fighting matches with various creatures and weaker Hellions that fucked up that they usually bet on as well as rig.

DRYTT.

"You miss being called a shit bug?"

A bug that lives in the desert outside Pandemonium. They're like sand fleas and only live for two days. They lay their eggs in their own shit. It's what Hellions call all mortals since humans kinda do the same thing.

GOLDEN VIGIL.

They could stay and, since humans were naturally chaotic creatures, the Kissi could satisfy their appetites for chaos and destruction within certain specific limits. The Golden Vigil was created to monitor this truce.

As stated above, the Golden Vigil was created to monitor Kissi activity. A branch of US Homeland Security is involved with the Golden Vigil and also have some interaction with the Sub Rosa and Lurkers. Notable members:

Aelita. See above.
Larson Wells. See above.
Marshal Julie.

MALEDICTIONS.

I tap a Malediction out of the box, fire it up, and puff. It tastes like a tire fire in a candy factory next door to a strip club. The best cigarettes in the universe.

Hell's brand of cigarettes and Stark's absolute favorites.

MAX OVERDRIVE VIDEO.

Max Overdrive Video occupies both floors of an old Hollywood town house, the kind of weekend getaway kept by the gentry back in the forties and fifties, when this area was the most glamorous place in the known universe.

Kasabian had stolen this video store to make ends meet. He was never really involved in the day-to-day running of the store, leaving that more to Allegra. He has a small apartment in the upstairs where he makes bootleg copies of movies to rent out. After he was decapitated, he was relegated to living in the closet and it became Stark's homebase. The place doesn't make that much money and it's not all that extravagant, but eh, it's home.

NA'AT.

When you stretch a regulation na'at to its full length, it's ten feet of very sharp Hellion steel teeth, spikes, and spines. Some are spring-loaded and ready to go whenever you pick up the na'at. Others only open up when you trigger them from the grip.

A Hellion weapon that's more traditionally used as a spear. However if you pull a trigger, it can be used like a metal whip. It's also collapsible for easy transportation. It slices! It dices! It kills!

ROOM OF THIRTEEN DOORS.

When Stark made his escape from Hell, he stole the key that leads to the Room of Thirteen Doors after murdering Azazel. He cut open his chest, placed the key inside, and it's stayed there ever since. Each door serves a different purpose but it allows for quick travel. The key is made of bone and living flesh. Each door appears to be made from different elements - some more abstract than others.

Door of Fire. Leads to chaotic and dangerous places. Used: to kill Beelzebub.
Door of Wind. Mostly calm, but changeable locations.
Door of Dreams. Leads to dreams. Duh.
Door of the Dead. Used to: enter Mason's basement.
Door of Memory. Used to: escape Mason's basement after it catches fire.
Door of Restless Ardor. Used to: get into the building where Cabal Ash has set up his house.

SUB ROSA.

Sub Rosas are the secret people who look just like you, but are different. They bank where you bank. They stand behind you in line at the coffee shop. They panhandle you for the money that you suddenly and inexplicably have to drop into their grimy hands. Some of us talk to the dead. Some see the future, trade souls like baseball cards, or bribe angels for a peek at God's to-do-list. Mostly, Sub Rosas are the people regular people aren't supposed to know about. It's not that we don't like you; it's that you have a habit of burning us at the stake when you notice us.

Fiddlers. Read objects by touching them and talk about the owner. Titus Eshu was a fiddler.

Geistwalds. See above.

Springheels. Supposedly the first Sub Rosa family in L.A. They eventually lost their wealth and status. The last member of the family, Enoch Springheel, was killed by eaters, a specific kind of demon that just loves to eat since he got off on that. The Springheels were respected charm makers before their fall.

Ashes. Family relations are a little blurry here. On the outside, they use chaos magic to control the elementals for luck/bad luck. But they also did plenty off the books including revenge, banishments, and soul trading.

Inquisition. They're the ones that see to it the rules are followed. They are the ones responsible for sending Alice to Stark in the first place.

TARTARUS.

VERITAS.

The Veritas is about twin inches wide, silver and heavy. [...] One side of the coin is stamped with the image of the morning star--Lucifer--and on the other side is a round, many-petaled flower sort of like a chrysanthemum. It's an aspohdel...

The Veritas are coins that someone can refer to for advice. Just give a flip of the coin and it will tell you the best course of action. It will never lie - which given the translation from Latin, this is no surprise - and it will always have something incredibly rude to say while it's at it. Only downside is that you need to be able to read Hellion to use it.