Ace whistled a nondescript tune as he walked through the Halls, having just evaded the two Immortals assigned to watch him while Julius arranged for a Doorway. Ace hadn't left the common room to do anything harmful to the Halls – because what harm could he possibly to do the Halls anyway? – but watching Eljae as she constantly retreated into herself, offering only glimpses of the fiery feraii he had first met, was grating on his nerves. He wasn't going to dismiss the effect Orsen's warped personality could have on a person, especially on someone who had been at Orsen's mercy, but he knew Eljae was stronger than that sociopath; Ace didn't want Eljae giving Orsen the satisfaction by letting the "what if" get the better of her.
Besides, Ace was dwelling on the "what if" enough for the both of them.
Ace shook his head, growing frustrated with himself. How did his life get so damn twisted? What happened to the simplicity he had surrounded himself with, which consisted of hunting bounties, flirting with women, and drinking himself stupid when he had nothing else better to do?
He needed to back to that life. As soon as Julius sends us back to Zed's, I'm forgetting all about this, Ace decided. No more Infernum, no more Alchemists, and no more psychotic Angels.
'There he is,' Julius said in exasperation, and Ace retreated from his thoughts to find that his feet had led him back to the common room where Julius, Eljae and the two irritated Immortals waited for him.
'What?' asked Ace, slipping his hands nonchalantly into his pockets.
Julius looked as if he was about to say something, but then he took in a deep, calming breath and decided against it. Eljae rolled her eyes.
'The Doorway is ready for the both of you,' Julius said. 'Are you ready?'
Eljae looked around the common room as if checking whether there was anything she wanted to take. Or steal. She shrugged and said, 'I'm ready.'
'Me too,' Ace declared. 'Being here again reminded me of why I didn't want to be here in the first place.'
They made their way across the Halls to the four gateway rooms, all of which had a single compass point engraved into the stone above the entrances. Julius went to the room labelled South and led them through, a faint white light illuminating the threshold as they entered. Ace knew using the gateway rooms wasn't as simple as an Immortal peeling open any old Doorway, so he hadn't been surprised that it took Julius the entire afternoon to arrange their departure. Since the Immortal Halls didn't physically exist in any one dimension, the only way to come and go was by the magic that tethered the gateway rooms to the actual dimensions – which was why Ace couldn't understand how Fury had managed to drag him, Eljae and Seth out of the ether and into the Immortal Halls. Then again, the Angels hadn't used the gateway rooms either and, Ace suspected, neither had Seth and Kael when they fled.
It seemed the rules Immortals loved so much were being broken, and easily.
In the centre of the gateway room was a hexagon carved into the stone floor, a symbol punctuating each point of the hexagon. Ace and Eljae moved to stand in the hexagon's centre, then turned back to face Julius.
'You'll be sent straight back to Zed's,' he told them, 'and don't worry, Zed knows to expect you.'
'Did you also tell Zed that connecting a Doorway to his place from the gateway room means that the Doorway will be permanently available?' asked Ace, quirking his brow.
Julius glanced thoughtfully to the side and said, 'He didn't sound to be in a terribly good mood, so I made an executive decision not to. Would you mind—?'
'I'm going to stop you right there,' said Ace, lifting a hand for emphasis. 'There's no way I'm breaking that news so you're on your own, buddy.'
'As selfless as always, Ace,' Julius quipped.
Ace offered a mocking bow.
'Thanks for getting us out of Alcatraz, Julius,' said Eljae. 'Are you sure there won't be any backlash?'
'Alcatraz was severely damaged following San Francisco's earthquake, so no. The Immortals have bigger problems to face at the moment,' he replied. 'Just promise me you'll stay out of trouble, and let me know if you encounter Fury.'
Ace and Eljae exchanged glances.
Julius sighed. 'I don't want to see Taryn hurt any more than Kael does, and if that means withholding information from Rafael and Michael, so be it.'
'There's that rebellious streak,' said Ace, grinning.
Julius waved his hand dismissively and stepped back from the hexagon's edge, right before a sudden wind swept through the gateway room. Eljae let out a dismayed sound as her red hair tangled around her, but she pushed it back from her face and turned toward the Doorway to split apart the air behind them. Ace turned as well, tipping his head briefly in farewell to Julius, and then watched as Zed's lounge unfolded from the other side of the Doorway.
Ace stepped through first, his vision blurring for a moment as if passing through a curtain of water, and spotted Zed standing by the front reception while holding down several piles of paperwork that were threatening to be lifted by the Doorway's swirling energy. Feet landing inside Zed's, Ace turned around to watch Eljae as she crossed through to the in-between space as she left the gateway room.
But before Eljae took the last step into Zed's, the winds created by the Doorway suddenly grew stronger and Ace stumbled back from the force. He frowned as Eljae stopped, one foot in Zed's and the other still poised in-between, her head turning to look back at the gateway room over shoulder. The image of the gateway room began to falter though, wavering like the magic that tethered it wasn't strong enough.
And then it ripped away, leaving nothing but a black void at ELjae's back.
'Eljae,' Ace called sharply. 'Eljae, get out of the—!'
An arm split through the blackness to wrap around Eljae's neck. Her eyes flew wide with shock as she was pulled back, the foot anchoring her to Zed's retreating back across the Doorway's threshold so that she was wholly in-between, and over her shoulder Ace saw a familiar face.
Orsen.
'No!' Ace shouted, lunging forward to reach Eljae – but he was too slow.
Orsen pulled Eljae into the black void and the Doorway sealed shut, letting Ace crash to the ground. The air settled around him, becoming utterly still in the wake of Doorway just as realisation sunk in.
Orsen had Eljae.
'What in the hell just happened?' Zed bellowed, coming away from his desk to grab Ace by the elbow. He hauled him to his feet. 'Did the Immortals—?'
'Just one,' Ace muttered. But what did Orsen want with Eljae? He couldn't drag her back to Demon's Alcatraz because there was nothing left after the earthquake, and Julius was going to ensure the charges against them were dropped in light of Asina's true intentions.
Looking back to the space where the Doorway had been, Ace grasped lamely at the air. How did Orsen intercept the Doorway? He wouldn't have thought it was possible at all if he hadn't seen Fury do it, but Fury was an Infernum. Orsen was nothing.
'Dammit,' Ace bit out. 'How am I supposed to find where Eljae was taken?'
Zed reached out as well, but he did so with purpose. As if he was feeling for something Ace couldn't see.
'Doorways leave scars,' Zed explained, 'and I've heard that someone powerful enough can re-open a Doorway by tearing its scar.'
'An Immortal?'
'If only,' said Zed. 'A demon, but outside Infernums I don't know a demon powerful enough to do such a thing.'
A name suddenly came to Ace's mind and he said, 'I do.'
Zed turned to him, surprised, but then he saw Ace's expression. 'Oh boy, you've got that look again. You're about to do something stupid, aren't you?'
'Stupid is an understatement,' said Ace, heading for the door.
'Where you going, Ace?' Zed called warningly.
Ace threw open the door and said, 'To visit an old friend.'
*****
The ground began to tremble.
Kael dropped his hands to the floor to steady himself as the earth moved beneath him, shaking the foundations of the church and loosening years of dust from the high ceiling of the building. He saw the fissure which marred the altar begin to grow with the earthquake, its mouth widening as if the earth itself was splitting in two, while either end began to stretch, jaggedly slithering toward where Kael knelt. He moved back quickly, but Fury remained where she was, seemingly unaffected by the tremors under her feet.
Dark smoke began billowing out from the crevices of the fissure, but the smoke was thick and moved with a strange precision, as if controlled by its own conscious thought. It drew up like the swell of a wave, then condescend into the shape of a tall man, the smoke changing to solidify into blackened flesh that momentarily encased the man, before separating to reveal the skin and features of the person underneath. His eyes remained black, as if the pupil had dilated to encompass the entire iris, but he was dressed in a casual charcoal suit like any regular businessman in Melbourne, looking both pleased to be where he was an annoyed at being disturbed, though whatever he had been in the middle of wasn't obvious to Kael. Kael didn't really care – he cared that Belial the Infernum was standing before him.
'Oh, how I despise this place,' said Belial, and the deep baritone of his voice was what Kael imagined an earthquake would sound like, had it suddenly been able to speak – and offer a threat to the city it was about to demolish. He turned, as if only then noticing Fury, and said, 'You're looking remarkably human, Fury. Has time degraded you so?'
'I could say the same of you,' Fury replied, crossing her arms.
'I am old and tired,' Belial reminded her, 'and therefore allowed to indulge in a lesser form from time to time. Being so young, what is your excuse?'
'No excuse,' she said, 'I'm merely borrowing this form.'
Belial dropped his gaze down Fury's figure, but it wasn't the lecherous eyes of a lonely man; it was a simple observation, like someone regarding a piece of artwork that was nowhere near as impressive as it had been described. 'I suppose it isn't hideous.'
'Asmodeus certainly doesn't think so,' said Fury.
Kael, realising he had been deemed insignificant, glanced across to Seth only once before returning his gaze to Fury and Belial. He knew Belial was considered fearsome, but it wasn't due to fighting and bloodshed like so many other demons were known for. No, Belial was fearsome because of his persuasive and deceitful nature, of how he could convince even a saint to reject his religion. He supposed Fury hadn't been exaggerating when she suggested that Belial convinced Lucifer to defy Heaven, but that didn't surprise Kael. What surprised him was that Fury and Belial seemed to know each other.
'Asmodeus should be sealed to a quaint little rock somewhere in Egypt, shouldn't he?' Belial asked, his expression caught between irritation and shock.
'Consider him unsealed, then,' said Fury.
Belial took a step forward, but the ring surrounding the altar suddenly flared, light rising like translucent walls. He stepped back again and the light faded, but his expression darkened with contempt. 'You release me from one cage to throw me into another. I dislike games that aren't my own, Fury.'
'You've been gone a long time, Belial, I wouldn't want you stepping out into the wide world without some warning.'
'And what warning would that be?'
Fury's eyes glowed. 'Do not get in my way.'
'Is that a threat, Fury?' said Belial, the black of his eyes spreading to smother the whites. 'Because if you are following orders, then I would have no need to stand in your way. Unless, of course, you're displaying that disobedient streak which saw you in so much trouble in the past.'
'Rest assured, I aim to complete the task I was given,' Fury replied tightly. 'I have one question though, then you'll be free.'
Belial's stony expression didn't change. 'And what question might that be?'
'Lucifer,' said Fury. 'Where is he?'
Kael tensed, but he kept his mouth shut. Despite having discussed the possibility, he hadn't actually believed – or hadn't wanted to believe – that releasing the King of Hell himself was Fury's intention.
Belial gave a slow, lazy shrug. 'What makes you think I know the answer? Ask Asmodeus,' he said, waving a dismissive hand at her.
Kael saw Seth move from the corner of his eye, just the slightest of movements, but Kael held up his hand, catching Seth's attention. They met gazes and Kael shook his head, silently urging Seth to keep silent. They'd deal with Belial soon, but for now this was the only way of gaining information – and Kael wanted to know everything.
'Asmodeus is ill-informed. Where is Lucifer sealed, Belial?'
Belial turned to face her, and if it was even possible his eyes had become darker, like endless black pits, and once again he took a step toward the edge of the circle that confined him. Light flared up like a warning and Belial regarded it with a bored glance just as his suit began to meld with his body.
It merged with his flesh just as Taryn's had when Fury revealed herself, clothing turning into armour that encased the body like a second skin. His hair grew, cascading down the nape of his neck like a lion's mane to form a single plait along his spine but it didn't remain as hair – it hardened into a pointed tip and it moved, curling upward like a scorpion's tale. Kael felt Belial's energy swell with power, so overwhelming Kael felt the need to move back and out of its way, but his pride made him hold his ground.
Belial's demonic form, Kael suspected, wasn't complete, but he looked a lot less human than he had a moment ago.
'From the depths of Hell he lies,' began Belial, his voice rumbling through the church, 'under Heaven's mortal guise; from the depths of Hell he stirs, for when the gates come to still the King shall rise at will.'
Fury glowered. 'I despise riddles.'
'Then I shall speak in a language you know well, Fury,' he said, his mouth edged like a blade.
Belial's hand shot out and hit the invisible barrier that the circle around him had raised and for a moment Kael thought the binding would hold – until the barrier shattered. Fury didn't get the chance to move out of the way as Belial's barbed tail lashed out, wrapping around Fury's neck.
'You wish to kill me?' Fury hissed. 'We are on the same side, you fool.'
'Oh, dear Fury. I can smell your deceit,' Belial told her, his tail tightening around her neck. 'Never lie to the Demon of Lies.'
Kael threw himself forward before he thought twice about it, his black dagger in hand and slicing down through Belial's tail in one clean cut. Belial shouted in dismay as his tail was severed and Fury was dropped back to her feet, several angry red lines circling her throat.
For the first time, Belial acknowledged Kael. Although Belial's eyes were black, a ring of orange flared inside his eyes where his pupils would be, like live fire. He turned to Kael just as his tail regenerated, bone growing from the severed edge with flesh weaving together over the top and then the barbs shooting out, making the tail look as if it had never been injured in the first place.
'Get out of the way, Animas!' Fury demanded.
'Animas?' said Belial, sounding intrigued. 'Ah, that Animas. Your human form isn't by choice, I believe.'
Kael raised his dagger. 'Maybe it wasn't back then,' he said, 'but it is now.'
'Cute,' Belial scoffed.
Seth's sword suddenly launched through the air, but Belial twisted around and deflected it with the barbed end of his tail, sending the sword clattering to the ground. His head tilted as he regarded Seth, and then he sneered in recognition.
'Angel,' Belial growled, 'I have anticipated the day where I get to sever one of you limb from limb.'
'Then I'm pleased to inform you that today isn't that day,' said Seth and when he held out his hand, his sword flung back toward him from where it had landed, slotting into his grip perfectly. The blade glowed with the contact, but Seth kept his wings of gold, tendril-like energy folded tightly against his back.
Belial's tail lashed out and Kael ducked instinctively, feeling the air rush past him as the tail swept above his head. Belial released a surge of energy, the force like a brick wall, and all three of them were thrown backwards. Stained glass windows shattered as the energy spiralled outward, filling the entire church, and Kael crashed into what little remained of the church pews just as Fury hit the ground near him in the aisle. He sat up, grimacing at the pain through his abdomen and was just about to stand when Belial suddenly appeared in front of him, materialising in the air as if he were merely a mirage.
Regarding him like someone regards a strange insect, Belial reached down and grasped Kael by the front of his shirt, his fingers fisting in the material.
'What good is a demon that's had its claws removed, hmm?' he asked, but his expression smoothed over, the irritation – or disgust, Kael couldn't decide – that had been on his face now replaced with mild amusement, like someone finding secret entertainment in someone else's misery. 'Perhaps you should consider removing yourself from this world,' Belial added, his voice lowering, gaining a certain texture that had everything else in the room fading out of focus.
Kael knew what Belial was trying to do, could feel Belial trying to twist his understanding, his thoughts, to make him believe that dying was the right thing to do. It was a part of the reason why Belial was called the Demon of Lies; he wasn't just persuasive, he had the power of persuasion, an ability that allowed him to actually manipulate people's beliefs.
'Think about it,' Belial murmured, the red ring inside his blackened iris flaring, meant to draw someone in like a hypnotist did. 'You should—'
Kael punched Belial in the face.
Belial dropped him and stumbled back in shock, both hands lifting to cover his nose while Kael twisted out of his reach. He straightened and said, 'Sorry, your voice was irritating me.'
'Insolent little Animas,' Belial muttered, dropping his hands from his nose. 'We should have never created you in the first place.'
Kael's brow lifted in surprise at Belial's words, but before he could say anything Seth suddenly came up behind Belial and said, 'He may be rude, but he makes a good distraction.'
And then Seth's sword tore through Belial's middle, the tip of the blade piercing right through to appear out of his stomach. Belial stumbled but his tail lashed out at the same time, making Seth release his sword and jump back out of the way.
Cracks began appearing in Belial's abdomen then, fissuring out from where Seth's sword impaled him and Kael half-expected Belial to shatter, though he knew Infernum didn't die like any normal legion would. Yet Belial didn't die at all; instead, black smoke began to spew forth from the cracks in his body, moving up and around him with the precision of snakes gliding through grass.
'He's transforming,' Fury said, though Kael had already guessed that. He could feel Belial's energy increasing, like he was standing in the middle of an oven as the heat increased. It stifled him, almost made it difficult to breathe as the smoke, thick and unnatural, enveloped Belial completely.
Kael had never seen an Infernum in their true form – and he didn't plan on seeing one now.
But he wasn't strong enough in his own form to take on an Infernum, and he doubted Seth was as powerful as Rafael and Michael to be able to handle an Infernum either. There was Fury, but regardless of the abilities she had so far displayed Kael suspected she wasn't nealy at her full strength while in Taryn's body, and Kael didn't want to risk Taryn's body being injured.
With an idea striking him, Kael turned sharply toward Fury and grabbed her wrist. Her eyes blade red in surprise but before she could do anything – and before Kael could convince himself otherwise – Kael began to draw out her energy to take it for himself. He knew it was a bad idea; Fury was unlike any demon he had known and as he tapped into her power he realised that it felt endless. But in that regard, he hoped it meant that there wasn't a chance of taking anything from Taryn at the same time.
Power pushed through into his hand but it felt like needles piercing his fingertips, his palm, and sinking into his blood. Kael looked down at his arm and saw black veins returning, rising to the surface of his skin and then crawling further up his arm, twining it like vines trying to strangle a tree. But the vines had thorns, and as they moved up toward his shoulder it was as if those thorns penetrated his arm from underneath his skin, making blood well.
Kael grimaced, but the pain was combated by the power. He felt it charging through him, heard it tempting him to take more, to use it and release himself from the bindings the human soul inside him had placed. He felt the skin across his face split, revealing the onyx-like flesh his body had once been armoured by, and then looked up, meet Fury's eyes, and realised she wasn't resisting. She was so utterly still it made him wonder if he was imagining it.
But something behind Fury caught his attention.
Kael.
His eyes widened and, in his surprise, he almost let go of Fury.
Don't.
It was Taryn. She stood, not quite solid but not quite an illusion either, just behind Fury and looking as she had the last time he saw her. There were no red eyes, no signums painted across her skin or veins straining across her arms and face. She was just Taryn.
Kael realised, then, that Fury was so still because everything had stilled. He looked back over his shoulder, saw Belial still enclosed by smoke though his silhouette was visible now and much larger than what he had been before, and just behind him was Seth, caught frozen in time.
He looked back to Taryn, but she was gone.
Fury suddenly tore her wrist free from his grip and the world snapped back into motion, making Fury and Kael stumble away from each other.
'Kael!' he heard Seth shout.
With some of Fury's power thrumming through him, Kael turned around and threw out his hand, electricity sparking to life but this time, the electricity was wrapped in red. The same red as Fury's eyes. He felt the electricity as if it were a wild thing, barely controllable, but he held onto it and lunged toward Belial.
His hand sunk into the smoke, which immediately latched onto his wrist, pulling him in. Kael felt Seth's sword, or at least the tip of it because it seemed as if Belial's body was swallowing it as it grew, and as the smoke pulled Kael in, obscuring his vision and trying to fill his lungs, Kael grabbed the tip of Seth's sword.
If Fury's power inside him wanted a release, then Kael would give it one.
Energy exploded from inside Belial and Kael was thrown backward, the smoke pushed out like a tidal wave that carried him. He couldn't see anything, but he felt his back crack against the ground, felt the impact ricochet through his body, and for a moment he couldn't move.
Smoke tore around him as if a tornado was ripping through the church, the sound of rushing wind and, just beneath it, the roar of Belial. Kael covered his head, his jaw clenching as he turned onto his stomach and flattened himself to the ground, refusing to let the tornado pick him up.
And then it stopped.
In the sudden silence, Kael turned over onto his back, grimacing, and looked up to the ceiling. Or where the ceiling should have been; the church had been torn open. He lifted his hands to find them cut open from when he had grabbed Seth's sword, but burnt as well from the force of Fury's power when he released it.
From across the church he heard someone moving, rubble shifting, and he remembered Taryn. He sat up quickly, but his eyes saw Seth first as he stood up, a cut across his forehead that had streamed blood down the side of his face. His wings were gone; he had returned to his human appearance completely.
Kael stood up as well, but movement behind him made him turn around. Fury was a few paces away and on the ground, her hand to her head. His first instinct was to go to her, to Taryn, but he stopped himself. Her eyes were flickering, caught between her red and Taryn's familiar blue. As if she were struggling to maintain control.
She looked up at him suddenly and he thought she would say something, but instead she vanished, shimmering out of existence like a mirage.
'What on earth did you do?' asked Seth, stepping over the rubble toward him.
Kael turned to him, shrugging. 'I figured your power and Fury's power would collide with each other in Belial's body.'
'My sword,' he said in understanding, then looked down to where Belial had been standing. There was now just a large black scorch mark and what remained of Seth's sword was a melted scrap of metal.
Kael glanced back to where Fury disappeared, but he remembered only Taryn. Why had he seen her?
'Kael, your arm,' Seth said, coming to his side.
He lifted his arm, finding the veins still blackened by Fury's power though they had faded considerably. He had the urge to smudge them as if they were merely dirt stains on his skin, but he could still feel some of Fury's energy inside him. Whether that was a good thing or not, Kael didn't know.
He wondered if taking some of Fury's energy had weakened her control over Taryn. Had that given Taryn the opportunity to reach him? If he had held on to Fury longer, could Taryn have spoken with him?
A breeze picked up in the church, but it wasn't wind. Kael turned around to see Seth opening a Doorway.
'I thought you couldn't open Doorways in churches,' said Kael.
Seth gave him a look. 'Not much of a church anymore, is it?'
He could hear sirens in the background, so Kael took one last look around the building, which was now piled with rubble and debris, missing a ceiling and most of the walls, and then he followed Seth into the Doorway.