5.5

The bed shook with every panting breath Grace and Tony took. Their scent mingled as they lay wrapped in each other. “You could have warned me before you teleported us to my apartment,” Grace managed between breaths. She attempted to sit up, before giving up and flopping down against Tony. He grunted in pain when her head slammed against his chest.

“I didn’t think you would say yes.” Of course, she wouldn’t fucking say yes. That shit hurt. It was the worse pain she had ever felt in her life, and she had given birth and been stabbed. Every cell in her body was in pain. “And teleport?” Tony shook his head. “That sounds so cheesy.”

“What would you call it then?” she asked, finally managing to sit up. She glanced around the room. There was no sign of the hounds, or of Lucifer. There was a piece of paper on her counter, which must be a note from the fallen angel. Must have gone to see Jane, she thought, getting to her feet.

Tony sat up as well. “I don’t know, but not teleport. No one has given it a special name since it was something that we could just do.”

“Well, I’m going to call it what it is. Teleportation.” The pain started to recede, which made moving easier. She went to the counter to read the note Lucifer had left her.

Be careful.

Two words was all she got from him. Two words. She didn’t know why she expected something different. It was so like him just not to explain anything and expect her to figure out everything by herself. And “be careful,” really? Like she didn’t already know that? What did he take her for? A careless idiot? Wait. That didn’t need to be answered. Her track record spoke for itself.

Rolling her eyes, she crumpled up the note and tossed it in the trash. There was someone stalking her, and someone had put a sword through Lucifer’s heart, she knew to be careful. “Why did you teleport us, anyways?” Her mind needed to be taken somewhere else.

Tony was on his feet, arms high in the arm in a nice stretch. “Didn’t want to take the chance of the cop following us. I saw the way he looked at you. He knows who you are.”

She gave him a grateful smile. “Thank you. Even though it hurt like a bitch.” At least someone in this fucked up world had her back. “Now, shouldn’t we be getting ready to go.”

“Right after you find those tennis shoes.”

“There wasn’t a condition before.” And she’ll be damned if there was going to be a condition now. “We’re going out regardless.” Her tone was the same she used with Chase when he was being particularly stubborn about a toy he didn’t need.

“Just find the shoes.” He started to head toward the door. “I’ll be in my room getting dressed and finding something for you to wear.” With that, he left her to her own devices.

Sighing, Grace headed toward her bare closet to see if there were any shoes for her to wear. Low and behold, there was a pair of tennis shoes sitting right next to her extra boots. There were a pair of black flats next to the tennis shoes as well. Huh. Those had not been there before, and that was a fact that she knew. It was creepy how some things just magically turned up in her apartment. As if there was someone listening to everything she said. She had a feeling it was Lucifer, though she doubted he would ever admit to it.

There was a tug in her mind, and she turned her attention to the hounds. May we hunt, Alpha? Mother asked her.

“Of course, you guys don’t have to ask.” She liked knowing they weren’t cooped up in her small apartment, waiting for her to get back. They weren’t dogs, after all. “Just make sure to be careful. You know some shady shit has been going down.” Brother chuckled at that and Grace couldn’t help but roll her eyes. He was like a teenager. Probably was a teenager in hellhound years. And seriously, what the hell was so funny about “shady shit?”

Nothing is funny about it, Father said. Grace could feel his glare even from there. He’s just brain damaged. All that did was make Brother laugh even harder, cementing his father’s belief he had a brain damaged son.

“Just be careful, please?” she asked before moving them to the back of her mind. She trusted that they would take care of each other and would keep themselves out of danger. If not, she wouldn’t have let them go in the first place. She would not lose them. They were a part of her just as much as her arms were. Losing one of them would be like losing Chase.

You already lost him. The thought was so harsh she almost believed she hadn’t thought it. She shook her head violently, as if to physically get rid of the thought. Nope. No more negative thoughts tonight. You’re going to have fun, she told herself in the same tone she just spoke to Tony in. Sometimes, you had to give yourself a mental lashing.

Realizing that she had been staring in her closet for the past ten minutes, Grace grabbed the shoes and then slammed the door. Unlacing the boots was always a chore, but she did so anyways, and took them off, setting them next to the closed closet door. Next came off her socks, and then she put on the flats. They were mildly comfortable. Would be more so if she had socks she could wear with them. She hated to wear any kind of shoes without socks. Oh, the things she did for her friends. Well, friend.

There was a knock at the door before Tony just barged in, never bothering to wait for her to say he could come in. He wore a nice button up light blue shirt, dark slacks, and shoes that might have been a little too formal for the occasion, not that Grace was going to say anything. She was just happy that he didn’t hole himself up in his apartment. “I have a shirt and some leggings for you.” The clothes he handed her were perfectly folded. She was almost hesitant to unfold them. “You have flats?”

“I do, apparently. They just showed up in my closet. Maybe a magical fairy lives in there granting my wishes.”

Tony gave an ungraceful snort. “Fairies aren’t real.”

“Says the demon.”

“Yes, says the demon. Now, get dressed before I change my mind.”

“Alright.” She kicked off the flats she had just put on and started to remove her pants, not caring that there was another pair of eyes in the room. Tony was a gentleman, he would turn around. Sure enough, when she glanced up, his back was to her. She shook her head, smile on her face. He really was a terrible demon.

In a matter of minutes she was finished dressing and ran her fingers through her auburn hair. It had grown over the past two months. It was too long for her taste, but she couldn’t bring herself to cut it. While she had still been alive, she had gladly gotten it cut, but now, it just didn’t seem right. It was the last thing she had of her old life, and she couldn’t get rid of it. If she was going to keep it long, it was time to invest in some hairbands.

“I’m ready,” she said, feeling a little self-conscious. The shirt was a red tank top with a v-neck that went deeper than what she was comfortable with and hugged her hips, just covering the round of her butt. The pants were tighter than she liked as well, but they were leggings and nothing she could do about it.

Tony smiled at her. “You look good.” It made her feel better knowing she didn’t look as awkward as she felt. “Ready?”

“Not really, but let’s go!” She shoved Tony toward the door and they headed out. “Where are we going, anyways?” The only question she had failed to think about much less ask. Tony gave her a you’re-not-going-to-like-this-look. “Oh no. We can’t go there. He hates me!” Hate wasn’t a strong enough word, and she didn’t blame Iblis. She had, after all, threatened to kill his daughter. Grace would loath anyone that threatened Chase.

“I’m hoping there will be enough people there he won’t notice.”

“You know that’s not going to work.” The demon only shrugged. “Why are we going there anyways?”

“It’s the only place people like us can go that’s safe. It’s pretty much a neutral zone. We won’t have to worry about getting attacked there.”

“Ugh. Fine. But you owe me.” Seeing Iblis was the last thing she wanted, but it was going to happen whether she liked it or not seeing as Tony was dead-set on going there. Then again, she would rather not risk going somewhere else and getting attacked, especially since she would lack the hounds, her only defense. She couldn’t until Lucifer started to train her again, something she never thought she would say.

Fighting really wasn’t something she enjoyed doing, but she knew it was necessary in her new life. Otherwise, she was going to die for real this time. There was no third chance when it came to escaping death. And she was determined to stay alive. As long as Chase was still breathing, she would stay alive. She had to make sure he grew up into the great man she knew he would become. It was her job as his mother, the only thing left she could do. When he was old and worn, then, and only then, could she die peacefully.

“Are we going to call a ca-”

“No,” Tony cut her off. “The cab drivers here are terrible. I would rather walk.” Grace tried her best to hide her grin, but failed miserably. “What?! You know they’re terrible. You experienced one last night.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” she teased. “Besides, I thought it was hard to kill demons.”

“Hard, but not impossible. If I’m going to die, it’s not going to be because of a cab driver ramming us into the back of another car, or wall. Besides, you have no money to help pay for a cab.” He had her there. It was the one thing Lucifer had ever failed to give her, stating she didn’t have the need for it. He bought everything for her, and it wasn’t like she could eat. Though, it would be nice to have a tv, something she kept hinting at, which have seemed to go over the fallen angel’s head. Unless he was just ignoring the request. Something entirely possible. Maybe he thought it would kill her already dead braincells.

Grace’s eyes fell down to her shoes. “If I get a blister from this, I’m blaming you.” Flats were never idea to walk far distances in, though there was a chance that she wouldn’t even blister. It was hard to tell what her body would and wouldn’t do.

Tony rolled his eyes. “I will take that blame. Now, let’s get out of here before both of us change our mind.” He had a point there. Grace could already feel an excuse not to go creeping up on her.

“Alright. Lead the way, good sir.” She indicated toward her door. Even though she had been there several times already, Grace still had no idea how to get to Desires. She never really paid attention.

The demon headed out of the door. “One of these days, you’re going to have to learn to get around on your own.” He was right. She was going to have to buckle down and get used to the city. But that day, was not the day. There were other things she needed to worry about.

 

5.3

“Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around. Ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall!” The Magician’s voice rang loud and clear in the alley. As did his snort of laughter. “I love this song!” he told the dog sitting across from him.

Its ears perked, but it didn’t respond. “Of course, you can’t talk. You’re a dog.” The Magician took another drink of beer. Some poor, drunk sap had tripped and lost one of the bottles. Never one to pass up alcohol, the Magical scooped it up.

After the bottle left his lips, he paused. “I wonder if I can magic you to talk?” Again, the mutt just stared at him, with his different colored eyes, one brown, one blue.

The brown and white mutt had been following the Magician for three days. It shared his food, his bed, and drank all the water the man refused. He’d give it booze, but that wouldn’t do the damn thing any good. Even he, the king of drunks and stupid shit, knew that. What he didn’t know was why the mutt had started following him. Wasn’t why the mutt had started following him. Wasn’t like he had fed it or anything Just walked by the thing and it started after him. Wasn’t doing any harm so he let it do so. At least, now, he had some company. Just didn’t make for a great conversationalist.

If he didn’t know better, he would have believed it to be a spy. Wouldn’t be the first time Heaven and Hell tried to follow him around in a disguise. But he would have felt the power radiating off of the creature. They can hide looks, but not power.

Tipping his head back, the Magician finished his beer and tossed it in a nearby trashcan. “No recycling here,” he muttered to himself. “C’mon,” he said aloud to the dog. “Let’s get ya some food and me more drunk.” Tail wagging, the dog rushed to his side.

Now, where to go? There weren’t many places that would feed the mutt. Most kicked him out before he even stepped up to the door. And he wasn’t going to leave the thing outside while he was inside enjoying comforts. He was a selfish man, but he wasn’t an asshole.

Lucifer would help him out. The fallen angel always took the time to feed him and booze him up all the while listening to him rant his nonsense about the times he couldn’t remember. Despite what humans believed, Lucifer was the good one. At least, the years on Earth, living with humans, had made him different. Less detached like his siblings, with the exception of Gabriel, but there was always something wrong with that one. Falling for the Mother of Demons and all. At least, he wasn’t a war monger like Michael.

Just the thought of the archangel sent the Magician’s nerves on edge. That one was bad news. His hat for humans and bloodlust were going to get this world into trouble if it hadn’t already.

There wasn’t much the Magician could do about that. His magic had some power over angels and demons, but he was only allowed to use it to protect himself. He could not stop them from destroying the world if they so chose. In that, he was only an observer. He could only sit back and watch as the world he loved was turned to dust.

Something warm and wet touched his hand. The Magician glanced down and spotted the dog licking him. An attempt to calm him. He relaxed the firsts he had made and patted the dog’s head. “Sorry to make you worry, Mutt.” The dog responded by wagging his brown and white tail. “Got a lot on my mind. Let’s go find you that food.”

It didn’t take long to find himself at the rear of Iblis’ nightclub. He hadn’t even realized that it had been where he was headed until he found himself knocking on the door. He stared at his feet until the door swung open. Ashtat stood in its wake, a beacon of light in this dark world. She smiled at him, kind and caring. He had always liked the girl. Took after her mother.

“Hey, girl.” The Magician couldn’t help  but return her smile. “How’s it going?”

“Fine,” she said, crossing her arms over her small chest. “Be a little better if dad wasn’t still sick.”

The Magician nodded his head sympathetically. Now, he knew what drew him there, other than the offer of food and booze. “I can look at him again. Mutt has to come in, though.” The last time, he had left the dog outside because of the confusion. He hadn’t even thought about it. Good thing it hadn’t been raining or anything. He would have felt terrible then.

Ashtat’s dark eyes lit up at the sight of the dog. “Oh my god!” she exclaimed, practically running toward the dog in her ridiculously high heels. “He’s so cute!” Mutt’s tail was going nuts as Ashtat pet him.

They like each other. That’s good. There was someone to look after the dog when he died. If he died. That idea seemed so far fetch he had to bite back his laughter; no need to startle the girl. Lucifer had promised him a release, though he wouldn’t hold it against the male if he failed. It was God who cursed him with the gift of immortality, after all. Not a lot anyone could do about that.

“Alright,” Ashtat stood. “Both of you can come in.” She gestured for them to follow her inside. “I don’t have any dog food, but I’ll send Franklin to get some. I’ll have him get you something, too.”

“I’m not worried about myself.” Not like he was going to die from starvation like the dog.

He could feel Ashtat roll her eyes. “You may be immortal, but you still need to eat.” He snorted. He didn’t need to do anything but drink. “If you don’t I’ll force it down your throat” It was easy to forget the girl had some bite in her.

“Fine. Just get me whatever. I’m not picky.” He has eaten out of a dumpster before. “Just make sure you give me a bottle of the good stuff.”

A sigh escaped Ashtat as they climbed the stairs to the second floor of the building. “I’d say you’re going to drink yourself to death, but we know that’s not true.” He would have been dead long ago if that was the case.

As they approached Iblis’ office, Mutt started to whine, tail between his legs. “I know, boy,” the Magician patted his head to comfort him, “I smell it, too.” Death and rot. The witch had been stronger than expected.

Worry creased Ashtat’s flawless brow. “Don’t worry, girl,” he clapped her on the shoulder. “I’ll take care of him. You just take care of Mutt.” Mutt might have been a terrible name, but it was the only one that he could think of. And the dog needed a name.

Ashtat nodded and walked off, heading toward the bar. The dog gladly followed, not even giving the Magician a second glance. Guess he trusts me to take care of it.

The Magician didn’t bother knocking. Just opened the door and walked right in, wishing he hadn’t. The smell of rot was much stronger, nearly making him gag. No matter how long you live and how much death you deal with, you never get used to the smell. It permeated every pore and he could feel his body rejecting it. If he didn’t have his shit together, he would have run. Run and joined the mutt and Ashtat downstairs.

“How nice of you to join us, Magician.” Iblis’s voice was weak, cracking at the end.

The Magician’s eyes fell on the djinni. His skin was ashen, eyes sunken in. His skin looked as if it was stretched across his skeleton. “You look like shit,” the Magician said, moving toward the male.

A thin-lipped smile appeared on the man’s face. “I look better than I feel.”

A joke. That was probably a good sign. Probably. The Magician wasn’t an expert on such things.There weren’t many witches in the world and there were less witch-attack survivors. Most died within minutes. The only reason Iblis was alive was because he didn’t get directly attacked. It was through magic, and it was the cause of why he was still poisoned. The Magician hadn’t cleansed the body enough. Good things his body had took him here. Iblis wouldn’t have survived much longer.

The Magician took Iblis’ injured arm in his hands and sighed. “This is going to hurt, a lot. Try not to scream. Don’t want to worry that girl of yours any more than she already is.” Iblis gave a single, firm nod, his strength gone. He closed his eyes signaling the Magician to continue.

Here comes the vile part. The Magician clamped his teeth down next to the witch’s claw marks, drawing blood. Iblis let out a grunt, but that was not the painful part. Calling to his magic, the Magician a drop of the djinni’s blood, making sure his saliva mixed with it. Now, comes the pain. The Magician had never experienced this pain before, but he knew it was like the blood in you body had turned to flame. It wasn’t an experience he wanted. Ever.

Iblis was doing well. After the initial grunt,he hadn’t made a noise. His beating was heavier, and he was sweating profusely, but a single sound hadn’t escaped past his sealed lips. The Magician was impressed. If his fuzzy memory served him right, most had screamed. Screamed or passed out. The djinni had done neither. Very impressive.

When the Magician released Iblis’s arm, the male sighed in relieve. “You still look like shit, but you’ll live,” the Magician claimed as he stood. “I don’t suggest doing much for the night.” His voice was terse. A headache was coming, whether from his use of magic or the hangover, he didn’t know.Either Way, a bottle of booze would fix it.

“Thank you,” Iblis said, panting. His face was still gaunt, but there was some color in his cheeks, making him appear more alive. “Have Ashtat give you what you want. Eat something, please. You may not die from hunger, but you do suffer it still.” The djinni closed his dark eyes. “And get cleaned up. You smell like a dog.”

“That’s because I have a dog.”

Iblis’ eyes shot open and he cocked an eyebrow. “Really? Never took you one for wanting pets.”

The Magician shrugged. “He’s been following me. Didn’t feel like chasing him off.” And it staved off that emptiness he’d been drinking away. It was something to take are of. Something to live for, which he had needed more than he believed. “Ashtat’s taking care of him right now.”

“Oh, dear, Father. She’s going to be bugging me about dogs for a month now. She always wanted one. None of them could stand to be around me. They can see us for what we truly are.”

“You mean the fact that you actually look like a creature from nightmares and not that pretty face you like to put on?” Sometimes the djinni needed to be poked, just like the bear.

Iblis’ eyes flashed red. “Yes, that’s what I meant.” There was some heat in his voice. Another good sign. He was going to make a good recovery. Might even be right as rain by the next day.

‘Well, if this one can stand you, I’ll bring him by. Let your girl fuss over him a bit.”

A smile came and vanished just as quickly. “I appreciate that, Magician.” His eyes closed once again. “Tannin and the Sin Eater found Lucifer.”

“Grace,” He felt the need to correct Iblis. It was hard for him to recall names, he couldn’t remember his own, and felt Iblis should use the one he knew. Everyone deserved to be called by their proper names.

“Grace is a terrible name.”

“It’s still her name, and you should use it, Shaytan.”

“Hmm,” was Iblis’ only response before he changed the subject. “Tannin believes Michael trapped Lucifer. He’s the only one powerful enough to do it.”

“It was him,” a female voice said next to the Magician. Without so much as a raise in heartbeat, he turned to see Lilith next to him.  She was a sight, with her black, curly hair, pale skin, and vivid eyes. If she had one of those big dresses she would look like Scarlett O’Hara. Such a beautiful, deadly woman. “We know he’s trying to frame Grace for a murder his Sin Eater committed.”

The Magician’s chest tightened. A flash of blonde hair fanned out on a pillow, and beautiful laughter ringing out.

He shook off the memory. Now, was not the time for it. “He wants Grace and Lucifer out of the way. He’s going to break the truce. He wants his war.” And the humans dead. That last did not need to be said aloud. Michael has voiced that since before the humans came to be.

“We need to stop him,” Lilith started the obvious. “The key needs to be found before he gets his hands on her.”

“Her?” Iblis cocked his eyebrow. Color was starting to come back to him He was looking healthier by the second.

Lilith’s arms crossed over her chest. “I might have looked into her while she was still in the womb. I had to know.”

Iblis waved it off. “Just knowing her sex doesn’t do us any good. We need to know where she is. And the Body,” he added more as an afterthought. If they had the key, there wasn’t much need to worry about the Body.

Lilith nodded while the Magician shook his head. “The Body was never born.” He didn’t know how he knew that he just did. A perk of being the Observer, random facts just appear in your mind.

“That’s not possible.” Lilith’s eyes fell to Iblis. “Is it?”

“It’s not supposed to be. What happened, Observer?”

How easy it was to slip into that role. “I’m not sure, but something is different this time. Something big and terrible.” That smelled like the end of the world. The humans’ chances of survival just kept getting slimmer. “That’s all the information I can tell you.”

The Demon Queen and djinni nodded in unison. “We’ll take the rest from here, Magician,” Iblis dismissed him.

Good. Now, he could get drunk and attempt to forget what little memories remained from his long, miserable life.

4.8

The air smelled of mold, rust, and rotting meat, a theme surrounding witches it would seem. It tickled the nose and stuck in the back of the throat, making you want to gag. If bile did rise, you swallowed it down knowing that if you did puke, it would just make things worse. Grace was fortunate that there was nothing in her stomach to purge, not that her gag reflex worked. It made her eyes tear up, it made her want to run, but it could not make her vomit. A fact that made her strangely proud.

Her demon companion was faring just as well as she. Even better. His sense of smell was not as keen as hers, though even those with the dullest nose would be having issues in the old warehouse. The smell of decay was not something anyone could just idly walk by as if by a bed of roses. But that was exactly what Tony did, making Grace wonder if demons had a sense of smell at all. It also made her grateful. Having to stop every several moments so her partner could puke was not an ideal situation.

Another thing she was grateful for was he could see in the dark almost as well as she could. Not having someone dependent on her eyes made traversing the maze of broken machinery a breeze. It gave her time to think about the task at hand as well. Where was Lucifer and how was she going to kill the witch? If the smell of rotting meat wasn’t so prominent, she would sniff out the fallen angel. After three months of contact with him, she had memorized his scent. Though wherever he was in the building, the witch would be close by. That she was sure of. It was just a matter of finding him.

That only left killing the witch. It would have been wise to ask Iblis how to kill it, but the thought had not crossed her mind at the time. Lack of foresight was something she was really going to have to work on. Make a conscientious effort to think ahead. A possible New Year Resolution? But possibly something she should work on sooner.

She paused, looking to her companion. “Tony,” she said just above a whisper, “how do you kill a witch?”

Tony didn’t bother stopping nor lower the volume of his voice. “Just like any other animal. They’re still mortal.” That was a relief to hear. “They are, however, much stronger than humans.” Then he added as an afterthought, “And quicker. Much quicker.”

Wonderful. Just wonderful. It was true that Grace was just the same, but that didn’t necessarily mean she was on the same level as the witches. With any luck, her and the hounds would be enough to take care of it. She didn’t want to have to rely on Tony to help her out. It was the whole reason why he had come, but she can’t keep depending on him. There will be a time when he would not be there, and Lucifer might become disappointed with her. He had tried to train her for such things. The thought of disappointing him pained her more than she would have liked.

A noise to the left caught Grace’s attention. It sounded like the padding of bare feet against a floor, only there were too many feet to be human, accompanied by a strong whiff of rot. Must be the witch, she thought, the hounds confirming. Collectively they all growled in anticipation, and Tony shivered.

“I’ll go look for Lucifer,” he said, his voice taut with fear. If Grace listened close enough, she could hear his racing heart. But that was not what she needed to focus on. There was an enemy close by and the demon was not it.

Grinning from ear to ear, she turned to her friend. “Good. This is going to get messy.” Tony liked to use his hell flame, but had a distaste for blood and guts. He would deal with them if he had to, but preferred not to. Grace, on the other hand, didn’t mind getting messy. It went with the game. If she had a problem with getting blood on her, she would have starved long ago.

As the demon headed deeper into the warehouse, hazel eyes peered into the darkness searching for any sign of the witch. Not even a hint of movement. There was just too much in the way. Rusted machinery, large pillars, darkened rooms, plenty of places to hide. And the witch knew them all. This was her territory, her home. Grace was at a serious disadvantage, but hoped having the hounds on her side more than made up for it. Their sight and sense of smell should even it out just a bit.

The further Tony got away from her, the more Grace put herself between him and where she believed the witch was, the direction she had last heard it move. If it was anything like an animal, it would be waiting for the pair to separate so it could prey on the weakest, Tony. The demon had shown fear, though not for the reason the witch believed. No matter. Grace wasn’t going to let her only friend become witch food.

Grace’s attention was drawn to the hounds. They were still as statues, their muscles tight and shaking with anticipation. One word from her, and they would go on a frenzy searching for the witch. A single word from her, and they would tear anything in their way to pieces. A dog was a dog no matter the size or intelligence, it would seem. A smile played on her lips. “Find it,” she commanded, and the hounds took off. Bounded and leaped through the building as if there was nothing in the way, tongue lolling. She couldn’t help but smile like a proud mother. It was like watching Chase run around in a playground, playing with the other children. Though her son never hunted down a creature with the sole purpose of killing it.

With the Sin Eater alone, the witch decided to show itself. It made a beeline for her from behind a wide pillar. A scream bubbled Grace’s throat and she swallowed it down. Never, even in her greatest of nightmares could she have conjured such a creature. Taller than Grace, it stood with eight legs, all moving quickly toward her, knees breaking skin each time they bent causing blood to gush and exposing bone. Its skinny arms stretched toward her, trying to scratch her with its fang-like nails, dripping with venom. Eight black eyes, two big the rest small, focused on nothing but her. Its noiseless mouth hung agape, jaw unhinged and swayed with each step it took. Chunks of dark, greasy hair were missing from her unkempt head.

Once, this creature had been human. A woman from the small, withered breasts protruding from its chest. In her search for power she had given up her humanity and became a monster. Grace couldn’t help feel a slight kinship to the creature attempting to kill her. It wasn’t long ago she was in a similar situation, though trying to save her son’s life. She had given up her soul for that goal and became a monster herself. Maybe not to the extent that this woman had, but a monster nonetheless.

But that kinship was not going to stop Grace from killing the witch. This was a she-or-it situation, and she would be damned if she was going to let some spider-bitch kill her. She readied herself for a fight, calming her heart with a deep breath. Her first since Lucifer had started to train her. And it would go terribly. It had to, with how many times Lucifer had kicked her ass. Fighting took practice, and she hadn’t had much of it.

The witch raised its left hand and swiped out at Grace. Grace ducked underneath it, barely dodged it, and moved to the right, away from the venomous claws. She kicked at the left front leg, hoping to knock the witch off balance and gain the advantage. The bone gave so easily she fell into the witch feeling its slimy, hairy flesh against her face. She let out a cry of disgust and pushed off of the witch, putting as much distance as possible between them.

The witch tried to close the distance, but the broken leg was making it difficult for it to keep up. You would have thought having eight legs it could afford to lose one. That was not the case. It was having such a hard time Grace almost felt bad for it. But it gave her an idea of how she was going to take care of it. Immobilize it and then jam something into its heart. It was just finding something to use as a weapon, a task the hounds were glad to take up. Now, all she had to do was focus on breaking the witch’s seven other legs without getting scratched.

Again Grace allowed the witch to get close to her, to swipe at her, and again she dodged. This time she broke the front right leg, knocking the witch completely off balance. It braced itself with its hands, its jaw nearly falling off from the force. Grace kicked out again, in hopes of breaking another leg, but the witch dodge, moving faster than it had previously. It turned to face its attacker, all eight black eyes on Grace. Fresh blood ran from the tears on both cheeks.

“Finally realize that I’m serious?” Grace taunted the monster, not totally sure if it could understand her. “A little late, don’t you think?” She watched it, trying to see where it would attack from, because it would attack her again. It may have once been human, but that intelligence was no longer there.

For several more seconds it stared at Grace before charging at full speed. Again, Grace barely dodge, though this one was closer; she felt the nails scrape against her shirt. This time, it didn’t wait to attack her again. It kept charging and swiping. Each time the Sin Eater dodged, but it was getting closer and closer. The last one caught on her shirt, ripping it.

A little help, she pleaded with the hounds. She really didn’t want to put them in danger, but she needed them. One-on-one with the witch just was not working in her favor. All she could do was dodge and hope one of the hounds came to her rescue in time. There was still a chance that the witch’s venom would not affect her, but it was not one she was willing to take. She had no idea how Iblis had cured himself and he was not going to pass the information along to her.

When Grace’s back hit something hard, she knew she was fucked. “Shitshitshitshitshit.” It was just a pillar so diving to the side was possible, but the witch was fast. The only reason why she had been able to dodge the deadly claws so far was because she could back up. The witch was fast, but her reach left something to be desired and her forward movements were cut short because of the broken front legs. Now, she would have to chance a side dive and hope it went well. If not, Lucifer was going to have to look for a new Sin Eater.

Grace readied herself to take the dive, waiting to see which direction the witch’s attack would come from. It leaned heavily on its right arm and swung the left arm up, aiming for her stomach. She bunched the muscles in her legs, ready to jump to the side, hoping that the thick clear nails wouldn’t scrape the flesh of her legs. But the attack never came. The witch was jerked back violently, and it let out a frustrated gurgle at being denied its prey. Grace chanced a look and saw Sister dragging the beast away, and couldn’t be any more grateful.

With jaws that could bend steel around it, the witch’s leg didn’t stand a chance. It snapped like a toothpick. Before releasing the creature, Sister gave her head a strong violent shake. She jumped back just in time to dodge the witch’s attack. It left an opening for Brother to pull the same maneuver. When Brother jumped out of the way of the witch’s claws, Sister tried to attack again, but the creature had wised up to them already. Grace’s heart stopped when the witch’s nails brushed against the fur just under Sister’s left eye. That was too close for comfort and made her question her estimation of the witch. Maybe there was something intelligent remaining after all.

The duo took turns nipping at the witch, getting it further and further away from their Alpha. Grace took this reprieve to search for a weapon of any kind. There were plenty of things to use, empty bottles, buckets, empty cigarette packs, but nothing deadly enough. She needed something that would take down the witch in several hits, not shank her a few times and hope she dies from blood loss. It needed to be blunt and it needed to be strong.

I found something, Father claimed. Grace paused in her search and crouched down, hands touching the ground. Taking a deep breath and closer her eyes, she concentrated on Father, attempting to block out all other distractions. A shiver of pleasure coursed through her body when her mind brushed against Father’s and entered it. She opened her eyes and saw what he saw. Not even a foot in front of him sat a two-foot long piece of rebar.

A smile crossed her face. It was perfect. Bring it, she commanded, pulling herself out of Father’s mind. It was disorienting, which was why she had gotten into the position she was in. She had less of a chance of falling on her face. Not where she wanted to be during a fight.

Getting to her feet, Grace turned her attention back to the witch. Mother had joined in on distracting it. The three made a great team. They took their turns lunging at the monster, keeping it occupied while the other escaped, only for another to come in as a distraction. And they were relentless, never allowing for a reprieve. It wore them out, but their opponent more so. Its strikes were slowing down, as were its movements, the broken legs finally taking their toll on it.

Soft, thick fur brushed against Grace’s hand, and she held it out. Father dropped the piece of rebar into it. It was a little slimy from his saliva, but nothing she couldn’t wipe off with her shirt. Then, she felt it. That pull. The anticipation of receiving an order she was about to give. It put a teeth baring grin on her face. “Cripple it.”

The hounds made short work of the witch’s legs, breaking the rest in quick succession. With the four working together, the witch had not stood a chance. The most dangerous part of it, its arms, were still in fine working order, but that didn’t stop Grace from moving toward it. She stood just out of its reach, not even bothering to dodge the nails as they came centimeters from her face. It hissed and gurgled at her, as she stood there and watched it. Grace couldn’t help but almost feel sorry for it. It wanted to live, just as she did, and was fighting to do so. Unfortunately for it, Grace wanted to live more and she had help.

Grace allowed the witch one last swing before she hit it in the head with the rebar. Over and over again she hit it. Bones crunched and blood gushed from the wounds. One hit knocked the jaw completely off and it bounced against the ground with a fleshy plop. When the creature stilled Grace stopped her assault, tossing the piece of metal onto the ground. The clang echoed across the empty room.

“Alright,” she started, glancing at the hounds, “let’s catch up with Tony.” She turned and headed deeper into the building, hoping that her friend hadn’t gotten himself into trouble.

~~~~~~

A/N: This is technically late, so sorry about that. It’s been a little busy in the Mohr household. I’ve actually been writing a novel, and just finished the edits last night. Nothing spectacular. Just a 52k word romance novel. It should be coming out later this year though. I’m hoping in a few months. If you are interested in it, I’ll try to keep you updated in comments and author notes such as this.

I’ve also been thinking about a few things as far as Sin Eater goes. I have been thinking since I’m eventually going to turn this story into e-books, severely edited, that I should just get rid of my donation buttons and Patreon page. And if you guys want to support me, you could just buy a book. I’ll still be offering the edited version for free on this site, as well. That is not going to change. I would like to see what you guys think of that. The Patreon page is going away no matter what. I just need one less thing to deal with.

And last things last, I’ll be adding another page to the site. This one will have links to all my works, my Facebook page, and website whenever I get that one running. I just don’t want to clutter the sidebar with a bunch of links. Depending on responses, the “Support the Author” page might go down.

Thank  you for your time and reading this,

Emma Morh

4.7

Rotting flesh. That was what the djinni smelled of. Rotting flesh and too much cologne, an attempt to cover up the other smell. It made Grace want to gag and run out of the room, but she needed to be there. She had a promise to uphold, and this was the only person that could help her find Lucifer. At least, he better be able to help. If not, rotting flesh was going to be the least of his worries.

“Did you find him?” Grace asked, staring Iblis down. He was pale and his breathing heavy. It looked as if he were about to pass out, but that wasn’t her problem. All she wanted to know was where she had to go and who she had to kill. Though, from the looks of it, she was going to have some issues with that. Iblis was a great fighter, she had heard countless stories from Lucifer about him, and whatever he went up against had nearly killed him. She doubted her and the hounds would fair any better.

Iblis gave a weak smile. “Did you doubt me?” No, she never did. If Tony said he could find Lucifer, then she believed it. The demon has never once lied to her. He might not tell her everything or skirt over certain details, but he never lied, as far as she could tell.

Grace stayed silent, waiting for the djinni to continue. When he realized she was not going to say anything, he sighed. “Yes, I found him. I didn’t visually confirm he was there, but my source is never wrong.” Even as sickly as he looked the djinni exuded such confidence that Grace found it hard to doubt him.

Tony, on the other hand, could. “What do you mean, you ‘didn’t visually confirm?’”

“There were… complications.”

“Complications that resulted in you doing a half-assed job?”The demon tapped his finger against the wooden arm of his chair. “How do you know for sure Lucifer is there, and how do we know your source can be trusted?”

Grace was about to tell her friend to chill out, not understanding why he was so upset, but Ashtat interrupted her. The young woman had been so quiet Grace had nearly forgotten she was there. “My magic doesn’t lie,” she hissed. Someone didn’t like to be doubted, very much.

Iblis visibly wince. Obviously, he had wanted to keep that a secret. The cat was out of the bag now, so he went with it. “Ashtat can use blood magic.”

That seemed to impress Tony. “A rare trait.” He turned to her. “I apologize for insulting you.”

Ashtat held her hand up in an “it’s fine” gesture. “You didn’t know. And I still don’t know why you keep it a secret,” she directed at her father.

“Because people would try to use you.”

“Just like you do,” Grace shot at him. Probably not the best thing to say at that moment, but it was out of her mouth before she had even finished thinking it.

Some color came back into Iblis’ face. “I do not use my daughter!” It was not a shout, but there was heat in those words. The erratic beating of his heart filled Grace’s ears.

“Uh-huh. Yeah, whatever. Calm down before you give yourself a heart attack.” Grace didn’t want to be the reason the djinni keeled over. They could argue all they wanted when he was well. Not that she really wanted to come into contact with him again. Their relationship was strained enough that one of them, most likely her, might die if they were in the same room together. “Where is he?” she asked in hopes of changing the subject.

It seemed to work. Iblis’ face turned back to pale and he relaxed heavily in his chair. “In an abandoned warehouse in the southern part of town. I’ll give you an address.” He leaned forward and quickly wrote down the address on a scrap piece of paper.

“It’s always an abandoned warehouse,” Grace muttered under her breath as he wrote down the address. Tony snorted. Then cleared his throat and reached for the proffered piece of paper, taking a quick glance at the address. “So, are you going to tell us what the ‘complications’ were, or are we just going to have to find out ourselves?” Grace didn’t hate surprises, but that one she might.

“It was a witch.”

Grace stared at him blankly for a moment, trying not to laugh. “You mean pointy hat, fly on a broomstick, black cat kind of witch?” Even she knew it was a stupid question, nothing was the same as the stories, but sometimes acting stupid got her the answers she needed. The stares she was receiving from everyone in the room, on the other hand, made her feel as if she should have kept her mouth shut. “Why don’t we pretend that I’m new to the supernatural world and don’t know what you’re talking about.” Snapping at them made her feel better.

“A witch,” Iblis started tiredly, “were humans that made a pact with a demon for magic. Over the years, they start to lose their humanity and turn into beast. Each witch is unique in looks, but they all have one thing in common. Poison.” He held up his bandaged arm. “If not treated in time, it is lethal. I got lucky. Very lucky.” The djinni put a lot of emphases on the last sentence.

That was good to know, but how exactly would the poison effect Grace? Most of her body functions no longer worked properly. If she had no circulatory stream for the poison to get into, would it still kill her? And the hounds, how would it affect them?

Some of our kind have died from a witch’s poison, Mother informed her. Terrible news. Just meant Grace wouldn’t be able to use them in the fight. She was not willing to risk their lives. Ha. As if we would allow you to fight alone, Alpha. All hounds were in agreement. Even Pup, though he would definitely not be joining in the fight. He was currently at home, guarding Jane. Grace didn’t trust that Beth would force James to leave. He would probably be back that night. Beth was terrified of her, but she was probably more afraid of James, who was an immediate threat. Pup was under strict orders to kill the man if he went near Jane. Grace hoped he tried. It would be better for everyone if he was dead.

A smile lit Grace’s face. “Well, thank you for the information. It’s been fun, but I had a fallen angel to save.” The sooner she got it over with, the better. There was a chance she would die that night, but if she didn’t save Lucifer, there was higher probability that she would die.

Iblis returned her smile with a grimace. “Please, never show your face here again.”

“Believe me, if I do, it won’t be by choice.” Grace stood and headed to the door. “Also,” she turned to the djinni, “you might want to get whoever took care of that to look at it again. Your flesh is rotting.”

Iblis’ eyes widened. “How?”

“The nose of a hellhound.” She walked out of the room after that, not bothering to check to see if Tony was following her. He would catch up eventually.

She felt the demon’s presence beside her. “You know, you’ll have to see Iblis again. It’s inevitable.”

“I know, but that doesn’t mean we have to like each other.”

“No, but you could have left on better terms.”

“I did. I let him know his arm’s about to rot off. I think that was pretty better of me.” No one wanted their arm to fall off. The disappointment was radiating off of her demon friend, but there were other things for her to focus on. “Where are we going, exactly?”

“The industrial park. It’s about an hours walk from here. Do you want a ride?”

“In a cab, yes. Not what you’re thinking.” A multi-person jump was not something Grace wanted to experience again. They had made it to the empty dance floor when she stopped. “He hasn’t called me.” It had been so long since he last had, she had almost forgotten he had the ability. “What could stop him from calling me?”

Tony started to head toward the front door, Grace followed closely behind. “Magic. It’s one of the few things angels, and demons, are weak against. It’s the only way he could have been captured.”

“So, the witch caught him?”

“No. If it has a poison strong enough to knock down a djinni, it’s more beast than human. Someone must be using it as a guard dog, so to speak.”

“Can only demons use them?” It would be reasonable to believe a demon would use a witch since they are the ones that created them.

But Tony shook his head. “Anyone dominate enough could get a witch to work with them. They would just have to prove they’re stronger than the witch. Most witches have the same mentality as pack animals, but you hardly ever find more than one. Fortunately for us.”

That was good news indeed. “Who would use the witch?” Grace shook her head. “Never mind.” Lucifer had a lot of enemies. Too many to list. With so many possibilities, they had no idea what they were going to walk into when they got to the abandoned warehouse. At least, they had been warned about the witch. Thank God for small favors.

When they reached the edge of the sidewalk, Tony hailed a cab. Several of the yellow and white vehicles hovered around the nightclub like vultures. One noticed the potential customers and quickly whipped his car around and slammed on his brakes in front of him. With the whorl of the mechanics in the window it rolled down. A jovial man bared his teeth in a smile. “You need ride?” asked in a thick Russian accent.

Tony smiled nervously. Even demons feared bad taxicab drivers. “Yes. We’re going to this address.” He handed the driver the piece of paper.

The man snatched and hardly gave it a glance. “No problem. Jump in. I get you there quick.”

An unsure look came across Tony’s face as he glanced as Grace. She just smiled at him. “Get in, Tony. We got somewhere to be.” Sometimes, the demon needed a little push, which she gave him, toward the car. He gave her a killer glare before getting into the backseat of the vehicle, she followed closely behind him.”

“Seat belts, please,” the driver said to them. Grace was mildly surprised. There weren’t many taxi drivers that asked their passengers to wear seatbelts. And he didn’t move until they were both buckled in. “Thank you,” he said before slamming his foot on the gas.

The last time Grace had rode in a car was the day that she had died, and she had no idea how much it had affected her, until then. Every little turn or stop sent her heart racing. There were several times she believed she was going to die again. She found herself gripping Tony’s arm for dear life. Then again, it could have just been the terrible driving since Tony was just as frightened as she was.

When the vehicle finally stopped, Grace had to peel herself away from Tony. She got out of the car, her knees and hands shaking. Next time, no matter how long it took, she was going to walk. Even jumping with Tony would have been more relaxing than that car ride.

While she calmed herself with slow, deep breaths, Grace took stock of her surroundings. There wasn’t much there. A fence with barbed wire at the top, with the intention of keeping people out, with no such luck; someone had cut a hole in the fence. A field of gravel and dust laid beyond the fence, leading up to a darkened building with broken windows and graffiti.

If this had been her old life Grace would have walked away. There were sirens going off in her brain screaming at the possible dangers that laid in there. Not just the witch, but broken down machinery that was strewn about and rocks and empty spray cans with it. There would be plenty of rust, but tetanus was something she no longer had to worry about.

And humans. There could be people in there, squatting in the hopes of having a roof over their head.

A small tug in her mind told her a hound wanted her attention. There are no humans in that building, sister assured her. Out of all the hounds, she had the best nose. Grace could trust her assessment.

What about anything else? She was trying to get into the habit of not speaking aloud to them, especially in public.

There could be deeper in the building, but the witch’s stench is too strong to tell. Great. They had no idea what they were walking into. Anything could be waiting in there for them. She was just going to have to trust that her, Tony, and the hounds were enough to take care of it.

After paying their fare and watching the cab driver take off, Tony joined Grace. “Ready for this?”

Grace turned and smiled. “Not one fucking bit, but let’s go.” And together they moved toward the building neither of them were sure they would ever come out of.

4.3

Alone in his office, Iblis sat trying to digest what had happened. It had been many years since he was threatened, and the last to do so, he had chopped his head off right then and there. A simple swing of his sword. It was a different time. He had a gun now. It rested on his lap, safety off, and ready to be used. but he hadn’t. Hadn’t for reasons unbeknownst to him.

It had nothing to do with her being Lucifer’s Sin Eater. While it was true the Fallen One frightened him, Lucifer knew that Iblis did not take kindly to threats. There had never been a person who did so that lived. And the Sin Eater should not have been an exception. But she had walked out of his office unharmed. Why? Why would he have done so? Her eyes? They had been begging him to help her. To not make her kiss his daughter. There was no doubt, she would have, but she hadn’t wanted to.

Iblis would have loved to believe that was it. “I’m a coward,” he stated aloud, staring at the gun in his hand. He had been terrified of what would happen if he failed to kill Grace. He would have come out and killed everyone in His path, in the most painful way possible. Because that was what He did. Killed, maimed, and destroyed all He set his sights on. He was the Devil, after all.

Once upon a time, before angels and djinn were created, and long before humans were, God and the Devil were one being. Bored of the nothingness He was born into, he split himself into two. Together the brothers decided to create the universe, life, and death. Life and death spread across the universe, and God and the Devil watched them grow.

Soon, the Devil grew bored. He wanted more than just to watch the worlds grow and die. He wanted them to fight, to have conflict. And so he created hate and war. To combat this God created love and peace. It turned into a game, each trying to outdo the other. The Devil, ever one to lose, destroyed a world. And then another. And another. And another until only one remained.

Earth was still a young world, and life was at a primitive stage. This displeased the Devil and he decided to speed up the process. He was disgusted with the results, and sought to end the world. God did his best to protect it, but few survived. This was the final act that drove God to put an end to his other half. Yet, he could not bring himself to kill the Devil. Instead, he was confined to a cage and put into a deep slumber until the key, catalyst, and body were born.

And they had been born. None of them knowing they will help the Devil end the world. Then again, who would really want to know that?

Three sharp knocks at the door. Iblis didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. “You’re actually going to knock this time?”

“I have to keep you on your toes,” Ashtat retorted. She leaned against the door jam, crossing her arms over her small chest. “You wanted me for something?”

Iblis turned to her, taking her in. Her makeup was impeccable, as always. Electric pink lipstick, a gold dusting on her cheeks, and silver on her eyelids. Her wrinkleless black shirt clung to her body, and her black slacks loose with a crease down the middle of each leg. She was just as gorgeous as her mother, and just as prickly. “You always know when I need something. Your mother was the same.”

Ashtat rolled her dark eyes. “You know exactly why.” Magic fluctuates with emotions. Those that use it, can feel those fluctuations within a certain proximity. Ashtat hadn’t been far from her father and could feel his mood easily. The fear, the anger, and the need to see her.

He offered a grim smile. “That was the only thing your mother regretted, giving you that gift.” “Your mother” was all he could bring himself to say. Never her name. That was a festering wound that would never heal. She had not been the first human he loved, but she had been the last he wanted to. The only person, human and not, that had made him only want her. And she was taken from him. If he had not sworn to her he wouldn’t, he would have found the demons that had murdered her and done ten-fold to them.

“It wasn’t like she had a choice. If she didn’t want to pass it down, she shouldn’t have had a kid.” There was no bitterness in Ashtat’s voice, just fact. The magic flowing through her veins was not a curse to her as it had been to her mother. She had accepted her fate, not being able to do anything about it. “What do you need me to do?”

“Use magic,” he said, holding back a bitter laugh. Her mother asked (not made him swear) that he wouldn’t allow Ashtat to use her magic. It was the one thing he could not do for her. Ashtat enjoyed using her magic and he could not bring himself to stop her from doing something that she liked. It wasn’t like she used it constantly. Just whenever need arose.

Ashtat pushed herself away from the door jam and made a “lead the way” gesture. Her face gave none of her emotions away, but for a moment he felt glee from her magic. It had been a while since the last she needed to use it, and was anxious to get back to it. Iblis saw no need in delaying her.

Several minutes and three flights of stairs later, the pair made it to the subbasement. It was a single concrete room that was empty save for a single wooden table dead center- Iblis had taken extra care to ensure it was perfectly centered- emitting a dim light. The only other decoration in the room were thick lines carved into the concrete when it was poured 200 years ago. There were eight in total, starting in the four corners and the walls, and meeting in the center of the room. They were used in certain spells and rituals, but were not needed for this one. Just the table and the map that was carved deeply into the top of the table.

“Wouldn’t this be better if we grabbed a map of the city?” Ashtat asked. The map on the table was one of the world, making it difficult to pinpoint an exact address.

“It would be, but I don’t have one,” Iblis admitted. Not his proudest moment, but he had never believed it would be necessary. This wasn’t something they needed to do every day.

“Who doesn’t have a map of the city?”

Iblis sighed, looking up at his daughter. “Let’s focus on the task at hand.” That was not the first time they had that argument, and it would not be the last. It was Ashtat’s way of poking fun at him for not getting with the times. He just didn’t like some modern technology. Mostly cell phones. They reacted badly to his magic.

Ashtat stood straight, reaching behind her to pull out her pocket knife from her belt. With a flick of her small wrist it opened, its silver blade reflecting in the dim light. Without hesitation, she slashes the palm of her hand. The blade was sharp, and it cut into the flesh with the ease of cutting into a butter. For a second, the wound stood clean before blood rushed out of it. Ashtat muttered under her breath, trying to say the spell as quick as possible.

A thick drop of blood formed on the edge of her palm, before detaching itself and taking the plummet to the table. Mere inches from the table, the drop paused and quivered. Ashtat retrieved her hand, cradling it to her chest. Iblis moved to her side, offering her a handkerchief from his pocket. She held out her injured hand and he wrapped it tightly. The white cloth was soon stained red, but that went unnoticed. All attention was on the shaking red droplet.

As the drop shook, it started to change form. It elongated and thinned, the end forming a point similar to that of a compass. The shaking stopped, and the needle hung in the air in a complete stillness. Then, it shot high into the air, nearly touching the ceiling, only to come back down with just as much speed. It stuck into the wood with a thwack, having hardened on its way down.

Ashtat moved toward the table, still cradling her hand against her chest. “Ready to see what we’re getting ourselves into?”

Iblis joined his daughter, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Only if you’re up to it.” It would take another spell, and she was already pale. Magic took a lot of energy, and losing energy before the spell was complete could be deadly. The last thing he wanted was to lose his daughter. Be it body or mind.

Without hesitation, Ashtat placed her uninjured hand on the hardened blood. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Iblis closed his own eyes as she recited the spell. There was a blinding light and then darkness. When the pair opened their eyes they were no longer in the basement, but an empty field. Long stalks of grass in loose gravel surrounded them, and a broken chainlink fence with three rows of rusted barbed-wire on top. There was an abandoned building several feet in front of them with broken windows and graffiti covering its gray brick. A blood red aura surrounded it. Danger laid within.

“Do you want to go in?” asked Astat, half-joking, half-terrified he would say yes.

Iblis’ hand still sat on his daughter’s slender shoulder. “We have to make sure he’s in there.”

Ashtat sucked air between her teeth, something she did when angered. “My magic doesn’t lie and it doesn’t fail.” Said in a near hiss. Ashtat was very proud of her magic, and the unintentional insult spurred her into moving toward the building. Iblis followed after her, shaking his head.

When they reached the building, Astat flung open the doors, they groaning in protest, and glared into the darkness. The air was stale with the scent of rust and something that made her nose scrunch. It smelled terrible, but not enough to drive them away. It did, however, make them hesitant of going into the building.

They went in all the same, Iblis in the lead. His eyes were keener in the dark than Ashtat’s human ones, though not by much. Enough to see the outlines of objects lying in the floor that could do some damage if tripped over, even if they were not there physically. Their bodies were still in the basement of Desires, Ashtat holding onto the solid blood him gripping her shoulder, it was their spirit that was wandering around the abandoned building. The backlash of the spell was any damage done to the spirit was done to the physical body as well. Even the tiniest of scratches. Being careful was the utmost of importance. Especially Astat. If she couldn’t break the spell, they would be trapped. And if she died, they both died. All the more reason to keep her behind him.

Deeper and deeper they went into the building, until Iblis could no longer see in front of him. On top of that, the smell, a mix of rotting meat and fresh blood, was getting stronger. It was nearly to the point it made him want to gag. Any longer, and he would not be able to keep the contents of his stomach where they were. There was a nagging sensation going with the smell. It was familiar, yet somehow not familiar. He had smelled the scent before, that he was sure of, but it had been so long he could not recall when. The worst part of it was he knew it should be something he remembered easily. No matter what kind of being you  were, time eroded the brain.

“Why did we stop?” Ashtat asked, nearly shouting in his ear.

“Something’s wrong,” he said quieter, hoping she would get the hint. She didn’t.

“Of course, there’s something wrong!” Her voice echoed all around them. “There’s no way in hell Lucifer would be in a place like this willingly!”

That hadn’t been what he meant, but Ashtat was right. Lucifer did weird things, but hiding in an abandoned building was not one of them. This was a trap. It may not have been set for them, but they had walked into it nonetheless. Iblis turned to his daughter. “Ash, break the spell.”

“What?! Why? We haven’t even found Lucifer.”

“Just break the goddamn spell!” He hadn’t meant to shout, but fear drove his volume up. Something moved in the dark. A pattering of feet. Too many feet. He had no trouble recalling where that scent had come from. “Break the spell, Ashtat. Do it now.” His voice was lower now, but the terror unmistakable.

Ashtat swallowed and started to recite the incantation, her mouth dry and tongue heavy. There was more movement from the dark and she closed her eyes, reciting the words faster. Iblis shifted more in front of her, taking a fighting stance. His heart pounded in his chest, but he kept his breathing steady, not wanting to alarm his daughter. She needed to focus on the spell. Any mispronounced word would cause the spell to backfire, and neither of them wanted that.

Nearly finished with the spell, Ashtat wrapped her arms around Iblis’ torso and buried her face in his back. For a second, Iblis shifted his eyes to his daughter, and the creature attacked. It rushed forward, its many legs thumping against the ground, a hiss from the back of its throat. All the djinni could do was curse himself and step backwards, hoping Ashtat moved with him. She did, almost tripping. The monster took advantage and swiped a claw out at Iblis. The djinni had barely enough time to raise his arm and protect his face from the attack.

Just as another claw struck out the spell broke, leaving both Iblis and Ashtat panting. Then the pain struck Iblis, bringing him down to his knees. “Oh God,” Ashtat cried, bending down with him. “We need to get you upstairs.”

Iblis shook his head, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. “I need you to find the Magician.” He didn’t want to rely on the madman, but he was the only person he knew that could take care of such a wound.

“What if he doesn’t come?” Her voice was a perfect blend of worry and fear.

“Tell him a witch attacked me. He’ll come.”

Ashtat’s eyes narrowed in confusion, but nodded and headed out all the same. Iblis watched her retreating back. Once she was gone, he got to his feet and moved to the wall closest to the door. It had taken him all of his remaining energy to do so and he flopped to the floor rather hard, jostling his injured arm. The witch’s poison was already doing what it did best, killing him. “I hope they make it back in time,” he whispered before giving into the blackness of unconsciousness.

4.2

“Do you know how foolish this is?”

Grace shot Tony a patient smile as she perused the aisles of the toy store. Of course, she knew it was a stupid idea. She just wasn’t going to admit it. “It’s not like I’m the one who’s going to be giving him the present.”

“Then wh-” Tony’s jaw clenched, realizing what his friend wanted from him. “Oh no. You’re not dragging me into this idiocy.”

“Come on, Tony,” Grace pleaded. “I won’t ever ask you for anything again.” That was a lie, and the glance Tony gave her said as much. “Okay. Fine. I won’t ask you to do something as stupid again.” Another look. “Goddamnit! Fine! Just do this for me. It’s the last present I’m ever going to give my son, and I obviously can’t do it myself. Please?”

“Jesus Christ, Grace.” He ran an aggravated hand through his chestnut colored hair.“You’re going to be the death of me.”  Not exactly what she wanted to hear, but she was glad nonetheless.

“Thank you.” She practically bounced down the aisle. “I’ll make it up to you.” She would try to make it up to him, just like all the other favors he had done for her. So far, it had been nothing but an empty promise. Not without her trying. There just wasn’t a task that could make up for all he had done for her. And it didn’t help that every time she did try to do something, it just ended in disaster. Disasters that Tony didn’t witness, thankfully.

The stalker was watching. Grace could feel the eyes on her, watching her every move. The hounds were busy searching for the person, but it was useless without knowing what the person looked like. All they could do was sniff out for a supernatural being, all agreeing that it could not be a human. It moved too quick and was too well hidden.

A toy caught Grace’s attention. It was a stuffed bear. Small, about the size of a cantaloupe with silk soft brown fur. Black beads for eyes and a sewed on smile. If sat down, it would stand on all fours. Minus the fur, it was the most realistic stuffed bear toy she had yet to see. The perfect gift for Chase.

Grace froze, staring blankly at the bear. A sad smile appeared on her face, but was quickly replaced with fake joy. “You know what, you’re right Tony. This is a stupid idea.” She set the bear down and started to head out of the store. It had been hard, but she knew she had to do it.

How could I have been so stupid? I’m such a moron, she berated herself as she stomped down the street. I just put my son as risk. The agreement from the hounds stung worse than her own verbal abuse. But it had been the dumbest thing she had done in a while. Buying something for her son when there was someone following her. If they were an enemy of Lucifer’s and had already found her, they were smart enough to put two-and-two together. She didn’t know their motive, but Grace was sure it wasn’t benevolent.

When Tony caught up with her, out of breath from jogging, he grabbed her arm forcing her to stop and turn to him. “What the hell was that about?” Grace yanked her arm away from him, muttering “it’s nothing.” Turning, she started to walk away from him. “Is it about the one who has been following you?”

Mouth agape, Grace turned back to him. “How?”

“Do I really need to explain how old I am, again?” Shaking his head, he started to walk. It was Grace’s turn to play catch up. “I’ve known as soon as it started,” he told her preemptively. “They were making it pretty obvious.”

Grace tightened her jaw. The demon had more than likely known that she was being followed before she had figured it out, and hadn’t told her a damn thing. Just let her go about her business as if nothing was wrong. “Didn’t think I should know?” His shrug ticked her off even more. “Seriously? They could have fucking killed me! Why the hell wouldn’t you let me know?!”

“If I believed they were going to harm you, I would have dealt with it. They’re just observing, and I didn’t see a reason to alarm you.” She couldn’t be mad at that. It was exactly what she was doing with him. Keeping him in the dark until she figured out what the stalker wanted. To be mad would be hypocritical, and that was something she tried to avoid.

Still, she was mad at him and had to show it. “I don’t need you to protect me.” She regretted it as soon as it left her mouth. It made her sound like a pouting five year old. Enough that Tony laughed at her. She wanted to tell him to shut up, but it would only make him laugh even more. Best to keep her mouth shut.

Tony glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “Grace, you’re a strong woman, but a weak sin eater and fighter. Even lesser demons would get the better of you.”

If Grace rolled her eyes any harder, they would have gotten stuck. “I know. I know. If I didn’t have my hounds, I would be dead.” Lucifer had beat that into her head, she didn’t need someone else telling her the same thing. The only time that was not true was when she had attacked Baphomet. But that hadn’t been her, and they do not speak about it. To her, that night had never happened.

“Have you informed Lucifer?”

“No. I haven’t even seen him in a week.” That was the longest he had been gone since he started to train her, and a sick feeling was building up in the pit of her stomach. Lucifer had said he had a lot of enemies. What if one of them had finally caught up with him? How did that affect her? He was in possession of her soul. If he died, if he could die, would she die as well? She had asked him that once, and he told her it was not something he could answer for obvious reasons.

The worry was plain on her face. “I’m sure he’s fine. Angels are hardy creatures.” He grabbed her shoulder giving it a little shake. “I’m sure he’ll be popping up sometime soon.”

Tony was trying to make her feel better. Grace appreciated it, but he was wrong. “No. Something, my gut maybe, is telling me that he’s in trouble. Big trouble. And I won’t be able to help him.”

With a hand on her wrist, Tony stopped Grace. “If you’re that concerned about it, we can go see the djinni.” Iblis was the king of information. He had a way of gathering intelligence that would give the NSA a hard-on. There was just one problem with it all. He wanted payment of some sort, and Grace had nothing to give him. Something she pointed out to her demon friend. “We can work something out with him.”

Grace snorted. “Owe Iblis? You know being in his pocket is not where you want to be.” She shook her head. “There has to be some other way.”

“There is. We ourselves could ask around. By doing so, we may arouse suspicion and curiosity. If others believed that Lucifer was in a position that left him weak, they would take advantage of that. One of those ways would be harming you.”

“And you think seeing Iblis is really going to change that?” They were going to be in danger no matter what they did.

“Djinn are very discreet. They don’t like to call attention to themselves.”

Grace guffawed, and continued to laugh until there were tears in her eyes and her stomach ached. “Discreet? Is that why he owns a nightclub and dresses like a male prostitute? To be discreet?” She shook her head while wiping away her tears. “Ahh, that felt good. Thank you for that.”

Tony gave her an are-you-serious look, then shook his head as if to wipe away the expression. “Grace, he’s our only option.”

“Yeah, I know. Let me talk it over with the hounds first.” Tony gestured to an alley a few feet in front of them. Grace moved to it, leaving the demon behind. Even her hounds terrified him, no matter how much she assured him they would not attack. There is a reason why they are called irrational fears. “What do you guys think?” she asked when the five surrounded her.

I don’t like it, Father started, but we have no choice. The djinni will be able to locate Master faster than we could. Grace’s jaw clenched at the word “Master.” She hated that word.

But we will owe the djinni much, came from Mother. He will not do this out of kindness.

“Yeah, that’s the problem. We don’t have anything to give him.” She was dead, her soul already belonged to Lucifer, and there was no way in hell she was going to give him anything of the hounds. And owing a supernatural being a favor was dangerous. Djinn especially so.

Lucifer could always repay the debt. Grace turned to Sister. That had been an option that she had not thought of.

“He’s not going to like it, but Iblis would be less likely to screw him over.” As far as she knew, the two were on decent terms. She would not say good. Lucifer wasn’t on good terms with anyone. Must be hard being one of the most hated people in the world. Then again, none of the races liked each other.

I don’t think Lucifer would like that though. I mean, he might get mad at us. I would rather him not be mad. Brother had a point. There was no telling what an angry fallen angel could do. But it wasn’t like they could sit around and do nothing. Facing his wrath was worth the risk if he came out of it alive. She couldn’t take the chance of his death causing her own and wouldn’t. The hounds felt the same.

“So, we’re going to Iblis.”

Twenty minutes later Grace found herself sitting across from the djinni in his dim office, regretting her decision. At least she had Tony with her for moral support. And to do all of the talking. Negotiating wasn’t a skill she had ever thought to pick up. Never needed to until then. Maybe that was something she should look into.

Iblis’ dark eyes fell onto Grace. “The last time I helped you and your master, I ended up having to replace my carpet and a wall. Why should I help you again?”

His point was valid, but it didn’t piss her off any less. She would have been glad to leap over the table and beat the djinni into submission, but knew that would not do any good. Not only would he kick her ass, but then he wouldn’t be willing to help her either. Having Tony fight for her was not an option either, given his pacifism. So, she had to sit there, seething.

Tony went to speak for her, but Iblis cut him off. “I’m not interested in what you have to say, demon. I want to hear from her.” There was a knowing smile on the djinni’s face that made Grace’s jaw clench. She really wanted punching him in the face to be an option.

“Out of the kindness of your heart.” She couldn’t think of an actual answer and resorted to sarcasm. Not a smart move, but it did give her time to think. Even more so with Iblis laughing. An idea struck her, and she wanted to see how it turned out. “That’s right,” she started, sitting straighter in her chair, “there’s not really a lot of kindness in your heart. I can smell that.” She smirked at the djinni’s interest. “As a Sin Eater, I can smell sins. The darker the sin the sweeter the smell, and you smell really good.”

“I fail to see your point.”

“My point is, you’re not good. If you were human, I would say you’re a terrible human being. But there is some good in you, and it’s your weakness.” Iblis’ face went blank. “I think you know where I’m going with this.”

“Threatening my daughter is not going to get me to help you.”

“I’m not threatening your daughter, I’m threatening you. Think of Ashtat as collateral damage. Do what I want, and she doesn’t have to die.” Iblis blanched. Grace smiled with dead eyes, the smell of his fear making her mouth water. “What? Think I was going to say ‘hurt?’ Oh no. Desperate times call for desperate measures, Iblis. If you don’t help me, I will kill her.” The djinni went paler, if possible. “Don’t worry, I’ll make it quick so you’re the only one that suffers.”

The djinni gave a defeated chuckle. “This makes me question how great of a parent you were.”

“I don’t know if I was a great parent or not, but I sold my soul to keep my son alive. What are you willing to do to keep your daughter alive?” Her heart was thumping so hard in her chest she was afraid someone would hear it. He had to say yes. Had to. If he called her bluff, she didn’t know what she would do. You’ll have to do it, she told herself. You’ll have to kill her. Please, don’t make me kill her.

Iblis’ face was a mask as he thought through his option. It was taking too long for Grace, and had to fight the urge to shift in her seat or to look down. Even if she was screaming on the inside, her face needed to remain blank her breathing calm. A lot harder than she had believed it would be.

“All right, I’ll help you.”

Grace nearly sighed in relief, and opted for a smile instead. “Good. I’ll stop by tomorrow to see how things are going.” She stood to leave. Tony did so as well, amazement clear on his face.

“It’s going to take longer than a day to find out where he is.”

“I know. This is the only way that I can contact you and vice versa. I’ll be here every night to check in. Don’t worry, I won’t rush you.” She didn’t need him thinking there was a deadline and rushing to find Lucifer. Rushed people tend to make mistakes, costly ones. A life, or two, might very well hang in the balance. Mistakes could not be afforded.

“I would advise not coming alone. I might kill you.”

Grace shrugged her shoulders. “You can try,” she said and then left.

Despite the heat outside, Grace was shaking. her heart pounded against her chest and her breathing erratic. Never would she had believed threatening someone would give her such a rush. She wanted to run, cackling with joy. She wanted to skip and leap down the street. But mostly, she wanted to hunt. Tearing her teeth through flesh and bone would elate her further. The hounds were game, though hunting for sport was not in their nature.

All that was ripped away from her when Tony yanked her arm, forcing her to face him. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” His breathing was just as heavy as Grace’s was, though for a different reason. “Are you trying to make more enemies?”

Grace pulled her arm from him. “No.” So much defense in that one word.

“Your actions speak otherwise.” Tony ran aggravated fingers through his dark hair. Do you even know who you threatened?”

“A djinni?” What did it matter? She got what she wanted out of the deal. They were one step closer to finding Lucifer. Tony growled, and Grace’s eyes narrowed. She was starting to get just as frustrated with him as he was with her. “Why don’t you just fucking tell me then?” she spat. This little exchanged needed to end soon. Otherwise, Tony was going to get hit.

“Iblis is not just a djinni. He’s the leader of them. The most powerful djinni in the world, and you just threatened to kill his daughter.”

That got a reaction out of the Sin Eater, but not the one that he had hoped for. “So? The last time I checked, he couldn’t use magic unless someone wished for it.”

Tony balked, not expecting Grace to know that. “That’s true.” He had more to say, but Grace cut him off.

“Then what do I have to worry about?” She paused for a moment, waiting for an answer. When it didn’t come, she began again. “Is he going to send someone to kill me? Because if he did, Lucifer would have his head and we all know it.” She may hate the fallen angel, but Grace knew he would protect her. He didn’t make her into a Sin Eater for her to end up dead.

“And how exactly will he protect you if he is in trouble?” A valid point, and one Grace didn’t have an answer to. All she could respond with was an eyeroll and “whatever” muttered under her breath. The triumph was visible on Tony’s face, which pissed off Grace more. She stomped off. Tony ran down the street after her. “Grace,” Tony started, reaching for her.

She slapped his hand away and turned to him. Her eyes were slits and her jaw clenched so tight it was painful. “What Tony?” she hissed. “What do you want?!” If it hadn’t been for her clenched jaw, she would have been shouting. Not that there were many around to hear her.

“I want you to be cautious. You’re-”

“Weak.” The heat in the word could rival the flames of Hell.

“That’s not-”

“Don’t give me that bullshit. It’s exactly what you were going to say. It’s what you keep reminding me of. ‘You’re a strong woman, but a weak Sin Eater’ or you like to say.” She walked off, afraid of what else bitterness would make her say. Being weak was not something she was accustomed to, and being reminded of it on a near daily basis didn’t make things any better.

Tony called after her several times, but she kept walking. There was nothing more she had to say. Nothing more she wanted to hear. Just wanted to get to her apartment and be alone (to pout). Though she was never truly alone. The hounds were always there, at the back of her mind. They were a comfort. Unlike Tony at the moment. He was still calling to her, feet pounding against the pavement. Any moment and he would catch up to her, not that she was making it difficult.

I could get rid of him, Alpha, Brother said, baring his teeth in a grin. Wouldn’t even have to hurt him. If Tony spotted one of the hounds, he would take off running without thought. It was tempting, but Grace declined, disappointing the young hound. As funny as it might have been, Tony was still a friend. She couldn’t bring herself to purposely scare him, no matter how angry he had made her. Party pooper. Grace gave a light chuckle and shook her head. Brother always wanted to play some kind of trick. He enjoyed scaring people.

Grace sighed and stopped, allowing Tony to catch up. “Look,” she started turning to him, “I’m only going to say this once. I’m weak. I know that, and I hate it, but there’s nothing I can do about it. I can only hope I get stronger and rely on Lucifer to protect me until then.” The words left a bad taste in her mouth, but they were true.

“But I’m not going to let that weakness stand in my way. I”m going to live this life, and I’m going to live it my way. I will do anything to protect myself, and if that includes threatening the ruler to the djinn I’ll do it. I’ll threaten and kill anyone I have to to stay alive.”

“What about your son?”

Grace stepped closer to Tony. “If anyone threatens my son, I’ll tear their heart out.” Her voice was low, her tone dangerous. She left having nothing else to say.

“I mean what would he think,” Tony muttered to himself. Grace’s keen ears picked it up all the same. I’m dead to him, why would he care? A thought she couldn’t bear to say aloud.

“We should go home. It’s getting late.” The night was still early, Grace no longer had the drive to stay out. She also had the feeling she was going to need the rest. Tomorrow was going to be a big day.

3.7

There was something heavy on Grace’s back. It was putting a lot of pressure on the back of her neck, making it hard to breathe. Her left arm was being held down by it has well, her hand warm, wet, and sticky. The scent of blood reached her nostrils.

Her head was pounding. She wanted to to touch it, make sure it wasn’t injured, but when she moved the pressure on her neck and arm increase. The inability to move caused her to panic. She tried to move more, but it only resulted in the pressure increasing once again. It just made her panic all the more and fight whatever it was on top of her, resulting in the same outcome. A vicious circle that she repeated several times before she finally gave up.

People were shouting. What they were saying, Grace had no idea. Her ears were ringing. It had to do something with her head. She must have hit it. That had to be why she didn’t remember what happened. All she could recall was the demon coming toward her and Tony. Then everything went blank. Maybe she hit her head? She had read somewhere, or watched something, that said when people received head injuries, they could forget what had led to the injury. That was the only thing she could think of. Though it was hard to think, when it felt like someone was repeatedly bashing your head with a hammer.

All she could do was move her eyes. It hurt to do so, but she had to see what was going on. Her view was limited, but she could tell something terrible had happened. There was dark blood staining the red carpet. The wall across from her was cracked, with more blood smeared on it. A disembodied hand was floating in her face, bouncing up and down slightly. The hand, a man’s hand, was still attached to its arm, and body, but the rest was out of Grace’s vision.

The voices were starting to come to her, the ringing in her ears subsiding. A woman was shouting something. It wasn’t Ashtat. The voice was quieter, gentler, and there was a Southern accent. Though it was gentle and sweet, something about it made the hair on the back of Grace’s neck stand on end. That woman was not someone she wanted to trifle with, and from the sounds of it, Grace had already gotten on her bad side. She couldn’t hear exactly what the woman said, but caught words like “kill,” “bitch,” and “Lucifer.” All words, she was pretty sure were directed toward her.

A voice came from above her, and Grace recognized it instantly. Lucifer. And he was the one pinning her to the ground. That realization snapped her out of her groggy state. The headache was still there, but she no longer felt confused. Just pissed. Not only was he touching her, he was forcing her on the ground. “Get the fuck off of me,” she growled, trying to crane her neck to glare at him.

He stared at her for a moment, head tilted to the side. Then, he released her without a word. Grace scrambled to her feet, at the same time trying get away from him and avoid the blood. The last was a bit tricky since it was everywhere, including on her. It was the reason her hand was wet and sticky. And the smell. It was overwhelming. More so that it was all demon blood. The scent tickled her nose in a way that made her hate herself. She liked it, and wanted a taste of it. It took a lot to keep her hand away from her mouth and suck on her fingers. Instead, she tried to focus on her surroundings.

Tony was the her left, breathing heavily, holding onto his side. There was blood on him as well, but she couldn’t tell if it was his. And she didn’t think he wanted her near him. The way he was looking at her. A mixture of fear and loathing. So she turned from him only to spot the demon that had charged her. Baphomet had been his name. He was alive, but barely. The small movements of his chest and the sound of a slow heartbeat the only signs of him being alive. There was a woman holding him, the one that had spoken, Grace guessed. She glared at her with a hatred in her bright green eyes Grace had never seen before. She turned away, not being able to stand it. Her eyes landed on Iblis and Ashtat, both of whom were unharmed, but had fear in their eyes.

No one needed to tell Grace who had done that. The way they were looking at her was enough. Somehow, someway, she had put Baphomet at the brink of death and possibly had hurt Tony. She had been enough of a problem that Lucifer had to come and pin her down to stop her. The worst part of it all was she couldn’t remember any of it. It was just a black spot in her memory. As if she had been asleep. That frightened her more than the act itself. What other terrible stuff could she have done and had no memory of it.

Lucifer moved to her, nearly touching her. “We must go,” he said. Grace just nodded, not having anything to say. She wanted to get out there. As far from the scene as possible, and just forget about it. Out of sight, out of mind. The sight made her glad that she didn’t have dreams anymore. The nightmares of this would have haunted her forever.

The woman released a bark of laughter. “Do you really think I would allow you to leave after your sin eater killed my son.”

That caught Grace’s attention. The woman was about to say more, but she cut her off. “He’s not dead.” The woman just gazed at her blankly. As if she wasn’t fully comprehending what Grace was saying. “He’s even still breathing.” Her voice was sharp. It pissed her off that the woman was trying to blame her for something she didn’t do. She might have nearly killed him, but she wasn’t going to let the bitch say she killed him. And she just stood there, staring at her, which pissed Grace off even more. “Are you fucking stupid?!”

The woman’s hand lashed out, and Grace closed her eyes, waiting for the sting. It never came. When she opened her eyes, Lucifer was holding the woman’s arm. The stare he was giving her would have wilted anyone’s will, but the woman just glared back. Neither of them said anything, just stared each other down. When Lucifer did release the woman, he did so with a violent shove. Then, he turned to Grace. “We are leaving, now.” Grace didn’t argue when he grabbed her upper arm and yanked her to him. He wrapped his arms tightly around her, and turned to Tony. “I suggest you leave as well.” His attention turned back to her. “This will not be pleasant.”

Something snarky was about to come out of her mouth, but was cut off by pain. It felt as if her body was being ripped apart in a million pieces at the same time something was putting her back together. She was hot and cold, and her headache grew even more intense. As suddenly as it all started, it stopped. Lucifer released her, and she fell to the floor panting. Unpleasant had been an understatement. She hoped never to experience that, ever again.

The dirty floor she was staring at told Grace they were back in her apartment. She had never been happy to be in such a shitty place. On hands and knees, she crawled to her bed. Though, she thought maybe she should head to the bathroom. She was starting to feel a little nauseated. Then again, she didn’t have anything in her stomach so did it matter? Whatever. If she puked, she would just clean it up. She made it to the bed and rested her head and arms on the mattress. Lying fully down might have been a bad idea at the moment.

Lucifer crossed the room and shut the door. The hounds must have opened it to get out. How they did that, she had no idea, but it was the only way they could get out. They were highly intelligent, but didn’t have the equipment to open windows. It was hard to believe that they opened the door, lacking opposable thumbs. They could though. She had never took the time to look at their paws. She just assumed they were like regular dogs.

I take offense to that, said Brother. There was teasing in his tone, and Grace needed it. It put a smile on her face and she felt her heart warm. She sent him a thank you.

There was movement out of the corner of her eye, and then Lucifer was squatting in front of her. He took her chin in his hand, his pure black pools boring into her hazel ones. She tried to turn from him, but his grip tightened on her chin. “What happened?” he asked. His voice was calm, quiet, but demanded an answer. An answer she could not give them.

“I don’t know,” she replied, shaking her head. Tears were starting to build, her vision blurred. “The last thing I remember is that guy coming toward me and Tony, and then nothing.” She could handle killing Anthony Thomas and Andrew Wood, she couldn’t handle nearly killing a demon. The difference was she had been aware of what she was doing to the two men, had even enjoyed it. With Baphomet, everything was blank. Nothing was there. As if she had been asleep when it had all happened. And that was frightening, knowing that her body could do such a thing on its own.

Lucifer held her gaze for a few moments longer, and then released her. His eyes drifted to the right, staring at nothing, his face unreadable. Grace would have loved to know what he was thinking. He wouldn’t tell her, of course. He never told her anything. Just like he wasn’t going to tell her what was wrong with her. Even she knew what had happened was not natural. All of their faces told her that.

When he turned back to her, he looked defeated. His eyes were tired and showed their many, many years. His face drooped into a frown. It looked as if he were carrying the weight of the world on top of it all. And for the first time, Grace felt sorry for the angel. Sorry that she had caused him so much grief. She would never tell him that, never show it, but she couldn’t stop herself from feeling it.

“What’s wrong with me?” she asked, voice cracking.

He shook his head. “I have no idea.” That wasn’t very reassuring, but at least he told her something. “Where are your hounds?”

“On the roof,” Grace replied without any thought. She could feel their anxiousness of returning to her, but they still waited until the two were done speaking. It had not been necessary, they knew exactly what was being said, but the gesture was appreciated. Still, Grace couldn’t help but think how strange it was to have animals that were that intelligent. Just not what a once human would be used to. “I don’t think I got that job.” It was her attempt at lightening the mood. It seemed to work. Lucifer gave the briefest of smiles. Grace almost didn’t believe her eyes.

“The job wasn’t the goal. I wished to have you trained by Iblis. But that is, as humans say ‘out the window.’” He was being surprisingly talkative, and Grace just kept silent, not wanting to ruin the moment. “I will have to train you myself.”

There really was no point in that, but Grace kept it to herself. Lucifer would train her whether she wanted it or not, and she most definitely did not. She didn’t see a point in it. Everything that she was possibly going to fight was much stronger that her, and more than likely had a few centuries on her in practice. Well, there are the humans she might have to go after. She had gotten lucky with Andrew Wood and Anthony Thomas. Neither of them had known how to fight. She may be stronger than the average human, but that meant nothing if they had a weapon and were proceeding to kick her ass. Learning to fight might be a good thing. “When do we start?”

“Tomorrow.” His hand briefly touched her face and then dropped away. “Rest for now.” Then, he was gone.

The vanishing act always annoyed Grace to no end, but that night, she could care less. All she wanted was to get some rest. The previous day she had not rested too well, afraid to wake up in that cage once again. This night, she would sleep good, possibly. As long as she didn’t think about what had happened at Desires. Not to worry about that. She didn’t want to think about it ever again.

The hunger clawed its way back into her mind with a vengeance. It didn’t seem to enjoy being forgotten. The pain that shot up her body made her double over. She was going to need to feed and it needed to be soon. The hounds agreed.

Getting to her feet, Grace headed toward the closet. She grabbed a shirt and a hoodie and tossed them on the edge of the bed, the hangers still swinging from the violent yank. She took off the shirt Tony had made for her, and set it on the bed carefully, making sure it was completely flat. Her heart sank. There were three little blood drops on the shirt all clustered together. Tony was not going to be happy with her. That was, if he didn’t already know. He had been glaring at her when she had came to. Maybe that was why he had been angry. She doubted it, but it was a nice thought. An apology was in order the next she saw him. Whenever that was.

It was not now. That was clear. If she went to see him as hungry as she was, she would probably attack him. Besides, it might be best to stay clear of him for a while. Maybe let the tension settle before she tried to approach him. She hoped it wouldn’t be too long. She liked speaking with him, and she wanted to know how to remove the stains. That was something she would usually look up on the internet, but that was something she lacked at the moment.

The hunger struck again, punishing her for not moving fast enough. Quickly, Grace got her shirt and hoodie on, and headed out of the door. It was time to feed.

3.6

The Strip is the place where past and present is molded into one. There was an array of bars and nightclubs on either side of the cobblestone street. Bright neon signs announcing establishment names on buildings centuries old. The old black street lights, that once held lanterns, lit the way for the young crowd as they walked to the particular bar of their fancy.

Grace stared at the crowd in mild amusement. Mostly the women. Most were wearing ridiculously high heels, trying to cross the uneven cobblestone street. They wobbled back and forth, side to side, holding onto their friends, who wobbled just as much as them, for support. It was almost like a dance. A terrible one, but it was pretty entertaining. There were a few moments where Grace hoped one would fall, just so she could see how the women would react. Though, there were several guys hovering like vultures. They were waiting for the ladies to fall, so they could sweep them off of their feet, literally and figuratively. Might have been a good way to get a date.

“You look like a creep,” Tony told her, walking deeper into the Strip. Coming from a demon, that said a lot. Well, maybe it did. Tony was the first demon she had met, so far, she couldn’t really judge too much. And to be honest, she did come off as a bit of a creep.

Picking up her pace, Grace caught up with the demon. “How much further is this place?” It had felt like they’ve been walking all night. Her feet were actually starting to ache. Not that she blamed them. She was wearing combat style boots, which weren’t really designed for normal street walking. And they were brand new as well.

“Not much,” was all she got from the demon. Thankfully, he was true to his word. Just several feet and they had reached their destination.

Desires was a two-story building made of a dark gray stone that appeared black in the night. All the windows were blacked out making it appear all the darker and lifeless. The only reason why you would know it was in business was the line in front of the stairs leading to the dark red front door. There was a bouncer at the front of the line, allowing people to go on his terms. When he saw Grace and Tony, he rolled his eyes. “I guess you guys want to go in?”

A tight smile formed on Grace’s face. She sized the man up. With her newfound strength, she could take the man. He was big, muscular, and tall, the stereotypical bouncer type. Even had the smooth bald head. It would destroy the man to be beaten by her. He was arrogant, she could tell by the way he held himself, tall and full height, and gladly looking down on her and Tony. More so Tony, than her. The only good thing she could say about the man was he didn’t smell too appetizing. He may have been an asshole, but he wasn’t bad.

“I’m here to see Iblis.” That was who Lucifer told her to ask for, and that was who she was going to speak to. As long as she could get inside, that was. It didn’t seem this guy was going to let her in.

That fact was punctuated when he laughed at her. “There is no way he’s going to want to see you. No offense, but see this girl,” he indicated to an attractive woman in the front of the line, “he wouldn’t want to see her, and she’s a lot hotter than you are.” He started to crack up again. Grace wanted to rip his heart out. Bad guy or no. He was starting to piss her off.

“Lucifer sent me.” That ended his laughter, abruptly. “Oh, so you know who that is.” She stepped closer to him, a wicked smile forming on her face. It didn’t show, but she was relieved Lucifer’s name had some weight with the man. “So, you know that when I say ‘I’ll rip you limb from limb if I don’t get my way’ that I mean it. That’s good. Leaves out a lot of that threat/promise awkwardness.” It really wasn’t necessary for her to threaten him, with how scared he had looked when she mentioned the fallen angel’s name. But he had been an asshole to her and she wanted him to pay for that. Petty, but who wasn’t every now and then?

The man straightened, a professional, polite smile forming on his face. “Please, step inside, ma’am. Our hostess, Ashtat, will take you to Mr. Iblis. Have a nice night.”

Grace’s smile changed to a much friendlier one. “Thank you… what’s your name?”

“Franklin, ma’am.” It was paining him to call her ma’am, and Grace revelled in it. Sometimes you gotta take pleasures in the small things in life.

“Thank you, Franklin. I’ll see you around.” She headed toward the stairs.

Tony followed her up. “You know there’s a chance you’ll be working with him, right?” That had not crossed her mind. All she knew was he had insulted her and she was going to get him back. Now, she might be stuck working with him for a while. Then again, he wouldn’t really fuck with her after what had just happened. A blessing in disguise, maybe? Hopefully.

“Would you stay with me?” she asked, ignoring Tony’s question. He gave her a look that said he would rather eat glass. “I don’t know my way home.” Unfortunately, she was telling the truth. The entire time they had been walking, she had been focused on Tony. She had wanted to make sure she didn’t lose him in the crowd. And then, it focused on not eating Tony. It took a great deal of concentration not to do so.

He rolled his sunset colored eyes. “Fine, but I don’t want to be in that room with you.” He seemed uncomfortable at the thought of being near the djinn. Grace was curious, but she didn’t push it. Just grateful that he had even said yes. He really must have been the nicest demon in the world. Maybe he was really young? No. It couldn’t be that, it didn’t feel right. He was old. Just timid and weak, power wise.

“How did you become a demon?” Grace asked suddenly, still standing in front of the door, blocking people from entering and exiting. It was a good thing her and the demon were close enough no one could overhear their conversation. That would have made for some awkward stares.

“I was born one. We should go in. People are starting to become anxious.” Grace opened the door, chewing on the thought. She hadn’t known demons could be born. She had always believed that they were created in hell from the evil spirits that entered there. Never crossed her mind some could be born. Though it had never crossed her mind that demons existed in the first place or that hell was an actual place.

When Grace opened the inner door to the nightclub, the noise hit her like a train. It bashed against her ears hard enough it felt like her eardrums had burst. Instinctively, her hands went up to her ears to muffle the noise, to no avail. It was just too loud. The flashing lights did nothing to help either. Just hurt her eyes and gave her a headache.

A woman appeared in front of Grace. She was tall, with slender shoulders, and a killer hourglass figure. Beautiful dark skin that was so black is appeared blue accompanied by dark eyes. Hair cut almost to the skull and a smile that said she had a secret. Her long nails were painted bright red, matching her lipstick. The woman was gorgeous enough she could have been a model. “Are you Grace?” Her voice was sweet, like candy. Almost too sweet.

Grace nodded, not being able to verbally respond. It felt as if her ears were about to bleed at any moment, and speaking might be that causes them to do so. The best thing to do was keep quiet, and let everyone else make the noise.

The woman, who had to be Ashtat, grabbed Grace’s arm in a strong grip. Still smiling, she said, “Good, this way.” She started to drag Grace into the crowd. “The demon comes too,” she shouted above the noise. Grace couldn’t see Tony, but she could only guess that he was following behind, though reluctantly.

Before they reached the edge of the dance floor, Ashtat made a right turn. She headed straight for a thick black door. There was a sign above the door that read “Employees Only.” The woman opened the door, practically shoving Grace inside. Tony was shoved in shortly after her. “Up the stairs,” Ashtat commanded, her voice no longer sweet. Grace was just grateful the noise was muffler. The area must have been soundproofed.

Removing her hands from her ears, Grace headed up the stairs, taking her sweet time. She wasn’t really looking forward to meeting the djinn. But a job was a job. Just felt a little sorry for Tony. He didn’t asked to be dragged along with her, but it seemed he was there for the whole ride. For his sake, she hoped nothing terrible happened. That would just be the icing on top of the cake of his shitty day. And it would have been her fault. She should have just let him leave and figured out how to get back home herself. The hounds probably knew how. Or, at the very least, they could have sniffed it out. That made her feel ten times worse already, and nothing had happened yet.

When the group reached the top of the stairs, Ashtat ordered them to make a left. Grace complied. They were in a hallways, carpeted with soft red carpet, matching the front door of the building. There were several rooms on either side of them, but none seemed to be used for anything other than storage; it sounded as if one were possibly a break room, though no one was currently in it. At least, there was no weird sex rooms. That would have been awkward.

Ashtat quickened her pace to move ahead of Grace. She led them straight to the door at the end of the hall and opened it without bothering to knock. “Ash,” a voice called from what Grace guessed was the office, “I’m in the middle of a meeting. What the hell are you doing?” The voice was male, deep, and had a slight accent that Grace could not place. It was Iblis. She didn’t know how she knew, but she knew.

“Grace is here,” was Ashtat’s response, seemingly uncaring of the goings-on of the office. “There’s a demon with her.”

“And you couldn’t have kept them downstairs like I asked you to?” There was a tight smile on that man’s face. Grace knew because her tone sounded similar when she had one. This exchange was starting to get entertaining.

“Nope. I have shit to do. They’re your guests, you deal with them.” Well then, that was one way to speak to your boss. Not that Grace minded. Just happy she wasn’t on the receiving end of that ice. She did feel a little sorry for the djinn. That was who Grace figured she was speaking to. If he owned the place, not many other people would be sitting in the office. Unless it was a manager, then she felt really sorry for that guy.

A scent drifted down the hallway that teased Grace’s hunger. There was a demon in the room with Iblis. A demon more powerful than the one the hound had hunted down. So much more powerful. A demon of this caliber would stave off the hunger for a week, maybe even longer. Oh and how good he would taste. Her mouth was already salivating. After eating this one, she wouldn’t be able to move.

Licking her lips, Grace took a step forward, and then stopped herself. No. She could not feed. Not at that moment. Maybe later, when there wasn’t a job hanging in the balance. If she just went into that office and ate the heart of the demon, she was pretty sure Iblis wouldn’t hire her. And it would cause some kind of trouble. A trouble she wasn’t able to deal with. Her hounds weren’t with her, though on the way, and she just wasn’t a fighter. She had never fought in her life. Been tempted to punch people, but have never done so. She did punch James once or twice, but that was just in the arm and she had been playing around. Nothing serious. If she did get into a series fight, she would lose. She would lose hardcore. Probably die. Again. But this time, a little more permanent than the last time. Not exactly what she wanted at that moment. It wasn’t the most enjoyable of lives, eating hearts and all, but it was her life and she was going to live it to the fullest.

So, she was going to stand there, ignore her hunger, and wait for her turn no matter what happened.

“Ash, please,” pleaded Iblis. “This is really important.”

Ash blinked and then pointed at her face. “You see this.” She paused a moment, waiting for Iblis’ silent response. “Take a good hard look at it, okay?” Another pause. “This is a face that doesn’t give a fuck.”

If Iblis was about to respond, it was cut off by Grace’s burst of laughter. It was just too much for her to handle. She had never heard someone say something like that to anyone, much less their boss. Even Tony coughed to hide his snickers. Grace boldly and gladly laughed aloud to her heart’s content.

This time, she didn’t stop herself from walking forward. She felt she owed Iblis an apology. It wasn’t really the greatest time to be laughing at insubordination, but she couldn’t help it. Not to mention, it was nice. That had been the first time she actually laughed since she died. Because of that, it lasted longer than it should have.

Grace poked her head into the door. “Sorry,” she said to no one in particular. Then her eyes fell on Iblis. Her words almost faltered. The djinn was very attractive. He had short, black hair, dark olive skin, and dark eyes to match. High cheekbones, full lips, and was wearing a dark green shirt that opened enough to show off his body; he leaned back in his chair from behind his desk, gladly showing it off. Eye candy, were the words that came to mind while gazing at him. “I can just wait out here until you’re finished,” she finished quickly. As attractive as the man was, the scent of the demon was even more tantalizing. She needed to get out of the doorway fast.

Movement from the corner of her eye caught Grace’s attention. In the chair on the other side of Iblis’ desk was the demon. He was attractive, but not beautiful like Iblis. His hair was dark, his skin pale, and he wore a nice form-fitting suit, that probably cost more than her entire apartment building. His eyes were a mixture of silver and gray that reminded Grace of the moon. He had a cocky smile on his face that she already wanted to wipe off. She could already tell she was not going to like him, especially with that stare he was giving her. It was as if he were trying to find a potential use for her. Too bad for him she was already being used by something else.

His attention returned to the djinn. “It is fine, Iblis. We can speak at another time.” He stood, straightening his suit. “It would not do well to let the young lady wait.” He had a Southern accent that Grace would have normally thought was nice on the ears, but made her hair stand on end.

“Thank you, Baphomet. I am sorry about all of this.”

“No matter. I’ll take my leave.” He started to head toward the door.

Grace backed up, bumping into Tony. She didn’t really want Bathmat, or whatever his name was, to touch her. As the demon made it to the doorway, she made sure to keep her eyes on him. Mistrust of him would be an understatement. His eyes landed on Tony and there was shock. “Tannin?” he muttered almost under his breath.

Grace turned to the demon behind her. “Tannin?” she asked, but she was ignored. He was staring wide eyed at the demon in front of them. Her attention turned back to Badmeth, and just in time. His face had darkened to a hatred she had never witnessed before.

Then, he charged toward them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you all for reading!

I’m going to keep it short down here. I just wanted to let everyone know that I wrote a short story that’s on sale on Amazon. It’s called Dealing With Death, and it’s about a woman that can see Death and her dealings with him. If any of you are interested in reading it, you can buy it here for a whopping $0.99. It’s my first time actually fully completing something. I’m really excited about it and just wanted to share it with everyone!

Thanks again!

2.4

“Is that her?” a voice asked, a hint of an ancient accent peeking through, from atop of Grace’s apartment building. Two sets of eyes watched her as she walked down the street, her hounds not far behind.

The question came from a man with dark copper skin and golden brown eyes. His hair was black as the midnight sky and cut short, the top styled up and angled to the side. The shirt he wore was dark purple and halfway unbuttoned showing of most of his muscular body, his black pants so tight they barely left anything to the imagination. His cheekbones were high and his lips full. The man was very beautiful to look at, and that was the way he wanted it. Being a djinni had its perks.

Lucifer, crouching at the ledge of the roof, nodded giving the djinni a sideways glance. He never quite understood why the djinni chose such an attractive deguise. Something more plain would get him less noticed. Then again, he owned a nightclub and humans expect more attractive people in such a business. Or it could be his preference for gorgeous human women. You only need looks if you’re going to sleep with them once.

The djinni scoffed. “I expected a better choice from you, Lucifer. She’s not hard to look at, but there’s nothing spectacular about her. And that laugh. Like a mix between a witch’s cackle and the bark of a dog. It made me want to puncture my own eardrums.”

“Beauty is not what matters in a Sin Eater.”

“No, it’s the soul,” the djinni sneered. “The one that whispers to you. If only the one that whispered to you looked better.”

As quick as a cat, Lucifer reached out and snatched the djinni’s throat in his hand, squeezing tightly. He forced the djinni down so he could stare him in the eyes without moving from her perch. “Need I remind you, Iblis, of what your true form is?” As beautiful as Iblis disguise was, his true form was ugly. Skin scaled and hard as rock. Eyes the color of hellfire with elliptical pupils. Split tongue and all teeth long, thin, and sharp. The nails on his fingers long and hard, his knees bent the opposite way a human’s would, and his feet were hooved. “It’s no wonder they mistake you for the Devil. All you’re missing is the horns, Shaytan.” There was almost laughter in Lucifer’s tone.

Iblis managed to release himself from Lucifer’s grasp. “You know that hurts,” he said with a grimace on his face. “And it takes a long time to get back into my human form.” The first to change were his knees, which made a loud pop. Iblis groaned, but not in pain. “You ruined my pants.”

“Wear looser pants,” suggested Lucifer. He never understood why the djinni would wear such constricting clothing.

“They’re not in style.”

“Why does a djinni care what’s in style?”

“Unlike angels and demons,” his tongue turned into one of a human, “djinn cannot make humans blind to us. We are forced to blend in.” Iblis skin was slowly turning back to the dark copper tone he enjoyed so much. Changing his eyes would be the most draining, and so he left them as they were. No one could see him up there anyways. No point in wasting effort and magic if he did not have to. “What do you want me to do with her?”

Lucifer lost sight of Grace when she turned a corner. Her heart rate slowed once she was out of sight, she having felt eyes on her. “I want you to train her,” Lucifer said after several seconds of silence. “And give her a job.”

“You’re her master, why don’t you train her?”

“I will inevitably go easy on her.”

Iblis gave the angel an incredulous look as he snorted. “I have never know Lucifer, the Fallen to go easy on anyone.”

“An archangel’s sin eater is different.” It was not something easy for Lucifer to explain. He had the ability, but it made him uncomfortable detailing information on his weakness. Within Grace, was a piece of Lucifer’s soul. A small piece that kept her heart beating, and allowed him to feel (emotionally) what she was feeling. If broken or destroyed, he would suffer for it. It was the same with all sin eaters and their archangel counterparts. Though his was different because he was Fallen.

It allowed him to gift Grace with the hellhounds for more protection- hellhounds were attracted to the Fallen and Lucifer had managed to attach himself to the family. He hadn’t anticipated that she, like the hounds, would not be able to stand the daylight. It put Grace at a huge disadvantage. She could be hunted while she slept and there wasn’t anything she could do about it. He couldn’t linger to watch over her. His power would eventually draw them to her. That was going to be something he would have to figure out, sooner rather than later.

Iblis shrugged. “Whatever. I’ll train her. I’ll give her a job. Don’t expect me to go easy on her either. She’ll do as I say or I will toss her out. I’m not going to give her special treatment just because she’s your sin eater.” He pulled out a phone that had somehow fit into his back pocket. “I have to go. Send her my way tomorrow. I’ll see what I can do with her.”

“Until tomorrow.” With that Lucifer disappeared.

Iblis’ red eyes widened as he glanced around him. “That sonofabitch left me up here.” Lucifer had dragged him all the way to the top of the apartment, and left him there with no way to get back to his nightclub. He could call his daughter and ask for a ride, but he knew she would tell him to fuck off. She was always mad at him for one reason or another. Mostly due to all the women he slept with.

But it was always worth a shot. What did he have to lose? He grabbed his phone from his pocket once again and dialed Ash’s (short for Ashtat) number and hit the call number. She picked up on the first ring. “What do you want?”

Ah. Even when it was cold as ice, Ash’s voice was always music on his ears. “I need a ride.”

“You should have thought of that before you left me here to take out the trash.”

“Ash, that woman wasn’t trash.” Iblis really disliked when Ash referred to the women he slept with as trash. Sure, maybe some of them had less than desirable personalities, but they weren’t trash. No one was trash.

“Yeah, well, you didn’t see the bitch going through your drawers looking for shit to steal. She almost took off with mom’s necklace.” There was less ice in Ash’s voice and a hint of sadness. That necklace was the only thing that Ash had left of her mother and her life before Iblis adopted her.

He retracted his previous statement. Trash might have been an appropriate word for the woman. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re always sorry, but you keep bringing them into our home. So, your punishment this time is to walk all the way home and really think about what you did this time.” Ash had take on an overly cheerful tone that Iblis never liked. It was just too fake for him.

“Ash,” Iblis started but was cut off when she hung up on him. He signed and replaced his phone in his back pocket. “Looks like I’m kicking rocks.” More than anything, he wished he could will himself places like angels could do. Djinn are very powerful beings, but changing their own form is the extent of the magic they can use for themselves.

Defeated, Iblis headed down to the door that lead into the apartment building. It was locked. He sighed, resting his forehead against the door. So far, this night has not turned out to be so great. He got dragged out of bed by Lucifer to see his unappealing Sin Eater, forced into his true form, his daughter was pissed at him, and then left on top of an apartment building with no way to get down. There was a fire escape, but they weren’t really his thing, especially when they’re so rusted they’re about to come apart.

There was no other choice. Iblis was going to have to brave it. No one was going to come to the roof anytime soon, and he needed to get to work. “Please, Father,” he said taking a step onto the fire escape, “don’t let me die because of some rusted piece of shit.” His full weight was on the metal grate. There was a flood of relief, and then the metal shifted and groaned loudly. Instinctively his hands grabbed the railing.

The longest ten seconds he had felt in a while passed and he headed down the fire escape, moving as fast as he could. “You just think you’re so fucking funny.”