The winter solstice was quickly followed by something the demons didn’t truly celebrate but the librarians met up to watch the humans celebrate: New Year’s Eve. Every year a few humans gathered outside the library a few minutes before midnight to watch the fireworks. While the librarians made it quite clear that no alcohol would be allowed on library premises, the visitors didn’t seem to mind. Everyone brought their own water or lemonades to toast with, only asking the librarians for permission to just be here and maybe use the toilets.

It was still too early for all that though. The library friends had just finished dinner. The only one missing was Sarah, who had already committed to spending this evening with her family.

Evelyn leaned back on the couch and let Mochi take even more space on her lap. “Six years and we have never celebrated a demonic holiday, if there even is something like that.”

“Oh, there are quite a few we could enjoy.” Nirrti reached for another potato crisp. “But our holidays and festivities are quite regional. The raptor kitten migration is celebrated whenever they move into a town for a while. Every few decades, the city of Irkalla celebrates an event known as Shadow’s Reach, in which the darkness from the nearby caves extends into the city for various magical reasons. And who can forget leviathan watching in Dis, happens a few times a century and is always amazing.”

“But none of those are cyclical like the solstice or new year’s, right? It’s all tied to some natural event that happens every so often.”

“Fair point. Any of those things humans celebrate cyclically for some, often arbitrary, reason are either not important, stumble over the lack of large cycles in demonic time frames, or just get celebrated when it feels right. Birthdays for example aren’t seen as important and are difficult to pin down. Do you celebrate the laying of an egg or the hatching? As we also only track time in smaller cycles, we don’t have the large scale of years to track age with. That’s also where something like celebrating the founding of the Pandemonium would stumble. So instead, we celebrate the founding whenever the Pandemonium does something that is worthy of recognition. Same with pretty much every other worthwhile event that would otherwise just get an arbitrary date assigned to it.”

“That makes sense. Should be fun to travel around and experience all those festivals for the first time.”

“I can promise that it will be. Maybe don’t start with the days around Shadow’s Reach, that one is a bit intense, involving some rather fascinating but deadly creatures and sword fighting.”

“Against those creatures?”

Nirrti shook her head. “Oh no, just some historical recreations. Well, more or less historical, there is a legend tied to that event but that is a lengthy story for another day. The creatures are inhabitants of the abyss which connects directly to the caves underneath the Kurian mountains and Irkalla. During those cycles when the darkness from the caves reached above ground, things from the deep abyss come up as well. And, well, there is a reason the deep abyss is barely inhabited and only by some of the toughest demons you will ever find.”

“I visited Apaosha in the abyss, but she lived pretty far up. That entire area was super interesting already and I heard that things get stranger the further down you go.”

“They sure do.”

“That is something I want to see for myself one day.”

“Sounds like a good plan.”

“Speaking of plans…” Evelyn was shuffling around a bit awkwardly now. “After Eisheth turns me later, I want to come out to my dad. I think he deserves the truth about what happened in my life over the past years and why I moved to a place that he doesn’t know the address to. Can I tell him?”

“Are you asking for permission?”

“Sort of…”

“You don’t need permission but if it helps you, I agree with your decision of wanting to tell him. I suggest you take someone with you, someone he knows.”

“Like Kate. Kate?”

Kate turned to Evelyn, she had previously been playing Heroes with Amaterasu. “Yes?”

“I would like you to join me once I have been turned, I want to go visit my dad and come out to him.”

“I thought he knew you’re ace?”

Evelyn stared at Kate in mild befuddlement. “As a demon?”

“Oh, that, right. Sure, I’ll be your backup.”

“Thank you. So, uhm, since I have this new-year-new-me thing happening tonight, there is a human tradition to come up with resolutions for the new year, stuff you want to change about yourself or just do that you haven’t done before. I thought it might be fun to talk about that.”

Kate nodded enthusiastically. “That sounds fun. I’ll start. I want to get my doctorate this… next year.”

“Big plans!”

“I am well on my way there. So, Polly, what do you want to do?”

Apollyon made a thinking noise. “I need to reconnect with the people I have not seen since the armed forces dissolved, and of course with those who I spoke to but kept too much of a distance. Hera, Neith, Astarte, even demons like Focalor. I don’t care if we turn out to be friends in the end, but I want to know that everyone has found a new thing to pursue. Maybe even try to be friends with some of the demons I only had professional connections to. Lilith has become close to me, maybe I can hope that others like her can be too. What about you, Nirrti?”

“I want to finally sign up for those philosophy courses at the university. It’s not as deep as rekindling old bonds, but it’s something I wanted to do for a while now and with Kate soon leaving the care of the Professors entirely, even more than she already has, it might a good idea for another librarian to be at the university to keep an eye on things. Adelina?”

The vampire grinned happily. “I have a book to publish. I finished the last chapter a few days ago and I want to see it made available to the public before I fully turn. And you, Eisheth?”

“The big thing I would have planned to do has already happened. We got Lilith back and things have returned to a happy normal. I suppose there is one thing I should do even if I don’t really want to. After Lilith vanished and the inquisitorium was handed to Athena, Naamah and I kept our gear and positions. Athena had insisted on that, even if we weren’t actively working as inquisitors, she thought it right to leave the option open. Times have changed though and I don’t know if it’s right for me to have this stuff, to still be an inquisitor on paper. I need to talk to Azazel about all that and maybe all of you before that, but I haven’t even made up my own mind yet. It’s something to deal with after the situation with the heavens. Well, that leaves just one more. Ama?”

Amaterasu looked at the ceiling in thought. “You all have actual plans. I… well, I don’t.”

Evelyn chimed in. “It doesn’t have to be realistic. Many humans come up with ideals to chase more than actual plans.”

“I suppose I have something then. Sarah showed me this TV series and I need to show it to Freya and maybe even Rhea. I don’t want to tell you too much, but if things work the way I want them to, this might be an amazing surprise.”

“Intriguing.” Kate grinned. “By the way, did you like this sort of entertainment?”

“It was a fun new thing and an interesting medium for storytelling. I am not sure if it will ever become my favourite, something about books sparks the imagination more, but it is easier on the mind. I am not opposed to watching more.”

“Sounds good. I might have to see about finding some of my old favourites I watched with Lizzy. Speaking of, Evelyn, I would like to hop by my parents’ place to do a little toast with them once you have come out, if that’s okay.”

Evelyn nodded. “I might need a teleport taxi back here a bit later, don’t know how my magic will grow in, but sure.”

“Of course. Just send me a text and I’ll pick you up. For now though, we should head outside. Only a few minutes left until the fireworks begin.”