• Chapter 2
    Purgatory

    “Quit asking! We’ll be there in a minute.” Vanessa sounded annoyed. Ty had been asking her for the past quarter of an hour where they were going. This place was unbelievable. It looked so much like where he had lived back in New York. The only difference was the smell and the fact that the buildings were a lot more sinister. Back in New York, the alleys hadn’t held any corpses or impenetrable blackness. Here they did. Ty glanced around. This was too weird. That was where he had often bought food or met some friends of his. It looked exactly the same.
    “That’s cause this is earth’s sister plane. It’s almost a mirror image except that everything’s a whole lot scarier and stinkier.” Alex said from next to him. She was playing with one of her fangs, looking around.
    “Alex, you can eat when we get there. No doubt Amanda’s gonna be pretty pissed. She always has to deal with what you do.” Vanessa said from over her shoulder. Her wings hadn’t retracted into her back yet but it looked as if she wanted to keep them out. He was about to ask why when she said; “It’s a pain to keep them under my skin. I only do it whenever I go to your world because it’s necessary.” Ty looked confused.
    “Remember that Alex and I can read your mind. It’s part of the deal when you’re born with our abilities.” Vanessa couldn’t help but snort at the look on his face. Alex touched him on the arm. “Don’t let it bother you because it leaves a whole lot of questions that don’t need to be answered.”
    Ty scowled. “Does that mean you’ve looked into my memories? Everything? What did you see?”
    “Leaving a whole lot of questions that don’t need to be answered.” Alex repeated. Surprisingly she blushed. That only increased his unease about what he had seen. What if they had seen when he’d walked in on his mother with her other woman?
    “Yup, we saw that.” Vanessa said. He heard the laughter in her voice. That must mean that she had seen his other memories too. That was too embarrassing to consider. There were far too many uncomfortable memories in his head to count.
    “Just so you know, I not only see your memories, I experience them. If you felt pain, I felt it. I feel all the emotions you felt when you saw these things.” The news surprised him Vanessa’s eyes were downcast, hiding something. “Guess it gives new meaning to the term ‘I know how you feel.” Mariah said. His sister had been looking around in fascination at what was going on around her. Every time something new walked past, she asked what it was. So far they had seen a Werewolf who’d taken a bite at her but backed off when Vanessa raised her wings, Zombies, Harpies, Pixies, Witches (women who had been falsely accused of witchcraft, burned at the stake or drowned and were granted the powers of a witch when they arrived in Purgatory), Shape shifters and some of what Alex called the Faye Folk. Faye was a fairy that was a mix of fairy and pixy. They were more mischievous and evil than fairies.
    “One question. I thought only souls who couldn’t find their way to Heaven or Hell came to Purgatory. What are other creatures like the ones we just saw doing in here? Ty asked, looking around.
    “That’s true. All souls do go through here and some get stuck here but Purgatory provides a safe place for other creatures like me, Alex and the other creatures to live. You see, we aren’t safe on Earth because the Church and orders like that are constantly on our case trying to wipe us out. So this is the safest place to live and once you get used to it, it’s actually a lot like where you come from. Oh, for the love of God, where the hell is that stupid Faye?”
    Vanessa was looking around. Clearly frustrated, she kicked at a hand lying on the floor. “Thankyou!’ someone called out as they caught the hand and reattached it to their wrist. “What’s eating you?” Alex asked, catching up with her. “Where’s Kristy when you need her?” Vanessa growled. “Oh, probably trying to get a bargain for a new pair of wings from Matt.” Alex answered. Vanessa’s scowl grew. “One day I’m going to rip her wings off if she doesn’t get here when I need her.” She vowed.
    “Alex! Vanessa! There you are.” Alex winced at the voice, looking nervous. A grin slipped over Vanessa’s lips as she saw Alex glance behind her. Ty turned to see where the voice came from to find another girl about their age striding towards them. Just like Alex and Vanessa, she had a superior beauty about her. But it wasn’t a gentle or delicate beauty. Hers was powerful, the kind you would find on a statue of Athena. It was strong and dominating.
    “She’s a demon, just so you know and her temper can be pretty bad.” Vanessa warned as the girl reached them. She was even more impressive up close. Her hair hung in dark, molten chocolate waves to her midriff. It contrasted perfectly with her pale skin and striking stormy grey eyes. She was wearing a long pure black dress with a silver gothic cross embossed on the front. She wasn’t smiling.
    Alex grinned at Vanessa, who raised an eyebrow. “This won’t end well.” She muttered.
    The girl walked right up to Alex. “Where the Hell have you been? I just received a message that I have to clean up one of your messes again! That’s the fifth one this week!” The girl was shouting. Alex winced at the level of her voice. “Take it easy, will ya. It’s not my problem that you offered to be my retainer. That makes whatever I do your problem. All I did was kick a door down, Amanda.”
    Amanda’s fists clenched. “Yeah, but every time you kick a door down, it means an hour of paperwork and explaining to the higher ups that I let you screw up again.” Her frown vanished and Amanda sighed. “Why is it that I can never stay mad at you for more than a few minutes?” she asked. Alex smiled and hugged her. “Sorry but you know that I can’t help it.” She answered.
    Amanda nodded. Vanessa stepped forward. “Amanda, have you been able to keep the demons under control?” Amanda nodded, struggling to get away from Alex. “Yeah, they’ve been getting a little rowdy but once I told them that they could get out at Witching Hour, they calmed down a little. You know they aren’t gonna always be able to be this calm.” Vanessa nodded, looking thoughtful.
    “Alex! There you are. I was wondering when you’d be back.” Alex’s face lit up at the voice and she whirled around to see who it was.
    “Wolfie!” she shouted happily as someone touched down next to her. “Don’t even think about it.” Wolfie said but before he could push her away, Alex had thrown her arms around his neck and was hugging him tightly. “I said don’t even think about it!” Wolfie shouted, trying to yank her off his neck but there was no way Alex was about to let go so he just stopped trying and hugged her back.
    Ty glanced at Vanessa, who was smothering a laugh. “That’s Wolfrum, Alex’s boyfriend. It’s almost the same kind of relationship she has with Amanda: a love-hate relationship. Both he and Amanda hate what she gets them into but they love her all the same.” Vanessa explained, playing with one of the braids in her hair.
    And who’s Amanda?” Mariah asked. Vanessa looked down at her. “I think that’s the first time you’ve said anything since you kicked the soccer ball in my head. Amanda is the leader o Purgatory’s demon army. She’s pretty much what you would consider a Queen or Princess around here.” Mariah looked around. “Why would this place need a demon army? I mean, aren’t you stuck between places where no-one can get you?” Vanessa scratched her head. “Well, its true I said this place is a lot safer that your world but that doesn’t mean its fool-proof. Many times god and his Angels, led by Michael, the Warrior Angel have tried to get in here and take over this place.
    You see, if they can take over Purgatory, then it means that every soul that can’t find its way to heaven, every Supernatural creature, innocent soul falsely accused and anything the church deems unholy will be immediately sent to Hell even if they’ve done nothing wrong. Truth is, God couldn’t give a damn for a soul who had maybe a little bad luck in their lives or who was falsely accused.
    They may have done nothing at all but they need to have a clean sweep record to be able to get into Heaven. If they take over here, these souls will lose all connections to who they were, how they got here and they’ll be turned into mindless drones in Hell. And Satan can’t do anything about it because he was charged with the job of putting sinners in their place. They instantly lose their minds when they reach Hell and become useless. The Demon Army is trained to fight and prevent this from happening. That’s why we need an army.”
    Mariah looked as if she had heard something that confused her. “That’s almost too much to understand.” She muttered, tugging at one of the strands of her thick black hair and frowning.
    “Why do you always have to strangle me when you say hello?” Wolfrum was shouting but Alex was grinning. “Because if I don’t strangle you, I know that I haven’t told you I love you.” She answered. “You’re the only person I know who has to hurt someone just to show that they love them.” Wolfrum complained, yanking her off his neck and rubbing his hands along the skin.
    “Vanessa, when do you want to open the portal? We have to let them out or you know that they’ll start to run amok.” Amanda said to Vanessa. “I know. I’ll open it when Kristy shows up. That stupid Faye was supposed to meet me when I got back.” Vanessa complained.
    “Vanessa! You got a message!” Ty blocked his ears against the shrill voice. It hurt his ears, and judging by the look on everyone else’s faces, they felt the same. Vanessa’s hand shot out and caught something hovering near her ear. “Hey, watch it! I just got these wings and I don’t want you destroying them with your beefy hands the second you show up!” The voice was becoming really annoying. “Let go or I’m going to use that powder on you again.” The voice shrilled.
    “Shut up Kristy. I told you to stay in human size because your tiny vocal chords give us all a headache. What’s the message?’ Vanessa opened her hands and a tiny Faye flew out from between her fingers. “MY WINGS!” Kristy shouted. They were crumpled. “Oh shut up.” Vanessa said, waving her fingers. The wings righted themselves. They were really pretty. Hundreds of red and green feathers protruded from the Faye’s back, sticking out and branching together to make wings. The Faye scowled and began to grow. Soon she was their size and looking rather put out by Vanessa.
    “You were supposed to meet me the second I got back.” Vanessa snapped at the Faye. “Gimme a break. I couldn’t help but get these new wings. Don’t they look great? Matt even gave me a bargain discount if I promised him that you’d let him have one of the feathers fro your wings.” The Faye slapped her hand over her mouth.
    “Shouldn’t have said that. Hurry up and give me the message.” Vanessa said, plucking one of the feathers out of the Faye’s wings. “OW! Okay, okay. Satan says meet him at the top of the Mephistopheles building. Says he’s got some information from a fallen angel you might like to hear. Now give me the feather back.” Vanessa handed it to her and flew off. Ty shielded his eyes from the dust she kicked up. Alex and Wolfram were looking at the Faye.
    “You know she’s gonna be really pissed off now, right?” Alex said. “Kristy, if you want to avoid a disaster, try to be punctual next time. We all know she’s not nice to be around when she loses control.” That came from Amanda.
    “I know but I couldn’t resist. These went so well with my eyes and skin that I couldn’t help it. And all Matt wanted was a feather from one of her wings. It’s not like he wanted to go out with her.” Kristy complained. She caught sight of Ty. “Who’s this?’ She asked, looking him up and down.”
    “Catch of the week.” Alex muttered. “He’s the one that Vanessa and I went to get. Death almost had him though.” Kristy looked shocked. “You guys have got to be more careful. If Death nearly reached him, then we’d have major problems.” She looked like she was enjoying herself. Ty looked at Mariah, then at Alex and Amanda, who simply rolled their eyes and shook their heads.
    Something beeped at Amanda’s hips. She lifted her wrist. Ty saw a tattoo of the same design that was on her dress resting there. The gothic cross was blinking slightly. Amanda scrutinized it carefully. “Demonic energy rising. Vanessa must be opening the portal. I’m off.” She said, rising into the air and flying off at an incredible speed. Alex looked around. “We have to move. These streets are gonna go crazy any second now.” She grabbed Ty around the waist while Wolfram did the same with Mariah. The next thing they knew, Ty and Mariah were sitting on a roof, safe from the streets. Which had started to form waves, undulating like a belly dancer.
    “What the…?” Mariah whispered.
    “That’s the sign that the portals open. It disrupts the natural balance of energy that surrounds Purgatory. We have a mix of malevolent and benevolent energy that acts as a shield to human and Angel eyes. When the portal opens, that energy flow is disrupted and more malevolent energy from the gap between our worlds flows in. The tunnel you went through when you came here, that’s where all the malevolent energy resides. That’s what those souls are. Rip open the space between our world and that, and they all start flowing in here. Causes a whole lot of clean up problems the next day though.” Was Wolfram’s answer.
    Ty looked around. Buildings were swaying, graceful ballerina’s on an unstable stage. There was a certain grace to they way everything happened. Visible energy rippled around them, streaks of red, blue, all the colours of the spectrum with a little gold and sliver mixed into it. It was beautiful. Each wave moved through him and left him feeling warm and energized.
    Above them, the dark sky seemed to contract, as if it were in pain. Each star wavered, throwing different colours and lights down on them. The moon itself looked like it was pulling in on itself, trying to hide away from the malevolent souls that were flowing into its world. A terrible sound ripped through Ty’s amazement. The world around him was screaming. Screaming in protest and pain at the gaping wound where the demons were escaping. But it resonated with a sense of loss too. The world was grieving at the thought that its inhabitants were leaving it. The way a mother would scream if her child died in front of her.
    Ty crammed his hands over his ears. The sound tore at his heart. He knew the sound all too well. It was the sound Mariah had made when their father had died after the accident. She’d felt the same sense of loss, of something being cruelly torn from you.
    Finally the screaming stopped. The world was deathly quiet around them. It sounded wrong after all the racket. He looked at Mariah to see her staring at the sky, silent tears rolling down her cheeks. She was oblivious to them.
    “Mariah, you’re crying.” He whispered.
    “I am?” she said in surprise. Her fingers went to her cheeks and felt the wetness from her tears. She looked surprised by it. Ty knew why. She hadn’t cried since their fathers funeral.
    “Come on. Let’s get inside.” Alex said, kicking the door next to her open. “ALEX!” Alex grinned at Amanda’s voice and walked inside. Wolfram followed, indicating for them to follow. It was dark inside. Mariah’s small hand rested in his. Slowly, they descended the stairs.
    “Can’t you switch a light on?” Wolfram asked. “Oh, I like the dark. But since you’re being a wuss, I’ll switch one on.” Came Alex’s reply. “I’m not being a wuss!” Wolfram snapped. “Wuss. You don’t like the dark. You’re a wuss.” Alex teased. A light went on and Ty rounded the corner just in time to avoid an awkward situation.
    His cheeks burning, he sent a sidelong glance at Alex, who grinned at him and touched her lips. They had been on Wolframs a few seconds ago. “Shall we?” This time, Alex opened the door, ensuring that her foot went nowhere near it. It was clear she didn’t want Amanda on her case again.
    Ty walked inside, looked around, and stopped dead. This was an exact replica of his apartment back in New York. Nothing about it was different except for the lack of photos and personal items like medals or soccer balls. Everything else was exactly the same, including the porn magazines under the sofa. Mariah picked up the soccer ball. “I think this is the same one that I kicked Vanessa with.” She said. “It is.” Alex replied, closing the door and locking it.
    “Huh?” Mariah frowned in confusion.
    “Okay, it’s not exactly the same but when you moved the ball in your world, for some reason, it moved of its own accord here. I’m not gonna go into details cause I can’t explain it.” Alex answered.
    Wolfram was prowling around, inspecting every nook and cranny of the apartment, checking to see if there was anything that shouldn’t be there. After five minutes, he straightened and nodded at Alex, who sat down on the sofa where Vanessa had sat back in the real world. She indicated for them to sit. Mariah immediately squatted on the floor, crossing her legs under her school skirt. Ty leaned against the wall, automatically folding his arms. “You can knock off the tough guy act. I know you have a reputation as a bad a** street fighter but it doesn’t need to show up when all I’m going to do is answer any questions that you might have.” Alex said. That grin was back on her face. It wasn’t a mocking one but more of a friendly, warm and encouraging way to say “Loosen up. Life’s not all bad.” It made him feel calm, and the best part was that it didn’t make him feel stupid.
    “Okay, fire away. Any questions you have, I’ll try to answer.” Alex said, leaning her head on Wolfram’s shoulder as he sat down next to her. His arm slid around her waist and pulled her against him. There really was a strong sense of love and commitment between the two of them.
    Ty took a breath. “Question one, who wants me out of the picture so badly that they have to make the Grim Reaper look like my ex-girlfriend just so I don’t want to hurt them?” Ty asked. Alex looked as if she’d been expecting that question. “I’m not sure if my theory is solid yet but both Vanessa and I have a major feeling that it’s the Almighty himself. Jesus, or God or whatever his name is wants you out of the picture.” Alex said with a grimace.
    “Why?” Ty whispered.
    “Because you have the same gifts that Satan does. You can see spirits and they are attracted to you. That’s only because an Oni visited you. Knowing Satan, sooner or later he’ll introduce you to Misaki. She wasn’t as tough as you. You haven’t tried to kill yourself yet.”
    “That makes me feel a lot better.”
    “It should. It means you’re tough and not as susceptible to whatever they may do to you or make you think.”
    “But that doesn’t answer my other question. Why would whoever wants me dead hire the Grim Reaper instead of some contract killer or something? I mean, can’t God or Jesus or whatever the Hell his name is make himself look like a human and walk among us?”
    Alex contemplated that question for a second before Wolfram answered. “You must be really dense not to figure that out.” He didn’t sound impressed at Ty’s brain capacity, which was a little insulting. He did often get the highest marks on tests in class even though he was just a street thug.
    Mariah looked up from the floor. She had been tracing a pattern in the wood. “They wanted someone who would do a clean job with no mess. Contract killers are messy and they cost money. If they hired the Grim Reaper instead, he does a clean job of it and makes it look like you were run down by a car or something. He doesn’t cost money so he’s cheap and effective.” She sounded surprised that she had said all this.
    “Impressive.” Wolfram said with an amused but impressed smile. “Though it’s not exactly true that the Grim Reaper doesn’t need payment. He’d never do a job like this if he didn’t get a major reward for it. Can you guess what that major price might be to hire his services?” That came from Alex.
    Mariah’s eyes widened. “Souls.” She whispered. “Exactly. And a massive number of them. You see, the Grim Reaper takes his job seriously and before he even thinks about straying from that, he needs to be offered a pretty big reward if someone wants him to get rid of someone. My guess is that the Big Guy must have offered him at least one thousand souls to get you out of the picture because you’re a threat to him. If anything, it was maybe even a whole lot more than that.” Alex’s answer was surprising and scary at the same time.
    “How could he offer the Grim Reaper one thousand souls? Doesn’t that go against everything the Christian religion stands for?” It scared Ty to think that the faith his father had set on God was all being wasted. His father had been a devout Christian but he had never forced the religion on Ty and Mariah. He had let them take their own path and let them decide what they wished to believe. And it turned out that both of them had become Atheists.
    Wolfram toyed with a curl of his hair. It glinted brightly in the light. Ty found the colour amazing. It was a bright gold, the colour of an Angel’s hair. It looked strange on a demon but with the way Wolfram looked with his perfect features, it wasn’t that surprising to see it on him. It went nicely with his emerald eyes. “God can manipulate the universe, a bit like a puppet master with strings controlling everything that happens. If he wanted to give Death a certain number of souls as a payment for something, all he would have to do was pull his strings the right way to ensure that enough people would get too badly hurt to survive. They’d get killed and Death would have part of his payment. That’s how he does it. Grim, isn’t it?”
    Ty sagged down next to his sister. “Does that mean that guy that Death was talking about could have been part of the payment that was used for my life?” Alex nodded. “It’s possible.” She said.
    The room fell silent. The thought was chilling. No matter how he looked at it, he was the cause eof who knew how many deaths. That thought scared him for some reason. His street fights had gotten a person killed. He’d been fighting them and had them moving backwards. Too late he realized that they were edging way too close to the road. By the time he had seen it and was about to call out for his opponent to be careful, a car had hit the person, knocking him twenty feet through the air. Other cars had run him over. Ty hadn’t been blamed for the death but he should have been. It was his fault his opponent had died. He should have warned him but the adrenaline and pleasure he got from fighting had blinded him and the opponent had died instead of going to hospital with only minor injuries.
    Soft warmth touched his hand. He looked down. Mariah’s small hand was resting in his large one. Ty marvelled at the difference of their hands. Hers were small and gentle though they could easily break someone’s nose. His were large and tough from years of fighting. He remembered the first time he and his father had been called to Mariah’s school because she had hurt someone. They’d taken one look at the guy. She hadn’t hurt him, she had pummelled him unconscious. That was the last guy in that school who had called her a freak. People in the neighbourhood still called her that but they ended up pretty bad when they did. Not many people had the balls to pick a fight with him or his sister. He wondered if he would have to be able to keep his own in a fight in this world. It might be difficult.
    “You bet it’s going to be. One rule in this place is that if you can’t survive, either get someone who will help you out or learn to fight to survive. You’re going to have to learn how to hold your own in a fight against demons and whatever else is in this world. Don’t worry about training though. Vanessa and I will teach you. I’ll have to ask Amanda and Charlotte if they’ll help.” Alex said, startling him. She’s read his mind again.
    Wolfram glanced at the clock. He reached behind the sofa and pulled out what looked like earmuffs but with large silver bells and wood screws on the part that covered the ears. He threw one to Ty, one to Mariah, handed one to Alex and slipped his own pair on. It looked ridiculous.
    “What are these for?” Mariah asked, putting hers on.
    “Preventing spirits from invading and trying to take control of you when the Witching Hour strikes.” Wolfram explained.
    Ty slipped his on, feeling stupid.
    He could still hear but it sounded like he was underwater.
    A long, resonating ‘DONG’ sounded all around him. It vibrated all the way through to his bones until even his teeth were chattering. The single sound resonated violently around them until their bodies appeared blurred by the vibrations of the bell. It slowly died away but eleven others just like it followed. Ty felt considerably shaky, like even his blood cells were vibrating from the bell. It wasn’t a pleasant or even a comfortable sensation. It felt… uncomfortable.
    “What the hell was that?” Mariah muttered, holding her head with both hands to stop her teeth from chattering.
    Alex sat forward. “Witching hour.”

    * * *

    Satan sat up next to her, softly running his fingertips over her bare shoulder. Vanessa turned to face him, the blanket making the smallest of sound with her movements. Her hand reached up, touching his cheek. Satan couldn’t help but cover it with his own hand. Her skin was warm and soft, the way a woman should feel. Try getting someone like her in Hell and you would get some cheap hooker who had skin with the texture of Granite. Just the thought of it made his skin crawl. He looked at Vanessa again, his Angel, his lover, his secret Sin. Something he loved and couldn’t get enough of. The only Fallen Angel he had ever kept around. The others all obeyed him blindly because they loved him so much. As much as he had hated to do what he did, he had sent all of them to their deaths in an attempt to try to rid the world of God.
    The problem there was that once an Angel fell from Heaven, they lost their ability to communicate properly with the elements. If the Angels had been able to do that, the chaos would have been so much greater and all shrines, churches and places that worshipped God would have been destroyed and it would have been easier to save the world from God’s tyrannous rule.
    But he couldn’t do that with Vanessa. She had been his constant companion since she was born into Heaven. By human standards he was at least eight hundred and fifty seven years older than her. In Angel standards, she would be about eight years younger than him. Sadly, they had fallen in love with each other, something that was considered a sin since all Angels shouldn’t feel a love for any one thing. They had to selflessly love all things around them, not selfishly love one thing. It was all right if an Angel fell in love and lived with a human. That was considered all right because it meant they were watching over and protecting humans who were weak and needed protection. It was also all right because an Angel outlived a human and as soon as that happened, the Angel would come back to Heaven and resume their duties there.
    God hadn’t been able to see that an Angel should be allowed to love another Angel or another immortal. It had infuriated him so much that he had immediately cast Satan to Hell in a fit of rage. The Christian belief stated that Satan was cast from Heaven because he tried to lead a revolt against God. That wasn’t entirely true. When he had been banished, his last words to Vanessa had been, “Please don’t let me go down there alone.” The request had been selfish but he didn’t want to lose her. She’d taken the request seriously but had gone about it in a completely different way to how he had imagined she would.
    God had given her a second chance because he believed she was like all other teenagers. They were hot headed and just like humans, were sometimes blinded. What God hadn’t counted on however, was that she knew how he ran things and didn’t like it. She had seen how his Angels had treated innocent demons and other spirits when they simply crossed the paths of the Angels. More than one innocent creature had met their end at the powers and blade of an Angel. It was a sick and depraved way of ruling. And so she’d started to take action against him.
    She’d pulled at the strings of the Angel Hierarchy and actually led a full-blown revolt against him. Each Angel she showed the truth to had fought against God but it hadn’t been enough. God had stripped their powers the second he realized that they had gone against him. That still left them pretty powerful though. But it had taken away their divinity and left them weak.
    Many Angels had died in that fight. The ones that hadn’t had been cast down to Hell to join him in disgrace. Vanessa had suffered the most. She hadn’t been banished instantly. Instead God had made her watch as he slaughtered thousands of humans, demons and anything else she had tried to protect. Each one’s blood had been spilled on her skin, forever marking her in scars that went too deep to fully heal. Even now, she still blamed herself for their deaths. He had caught her crying and scratching her skin a few times in her sleep. As far as she was concerned, each ones blood was on her hands.
    Thankfully after that, God had thrown her out and into his waiting arms. That was the only thing he had ever bothered to thank God for. And he still thanked him even now but in a different way. The Big Guy had made a big mistake when he had thrown her out of Heaven. Vanessa had unique abilities and that made her a powerful ally and a formidable opponent. That was an ace up his sleeve if he needed it.
    Vanessa sat up, stretching and yawning. “You had a message for me.” She said, a smile on her face.
    “So I did. You kind of distracted me from telling you though.” He replied, tenderly kissing her lips. The second she had closed the portal between Purgatory and the human world, she had torn open a portion of the fabric of the veil that separated Earth from Hell and had silenced him before she could deliver the message. Then again, that was how she always greeted him. She never was very good at trying to keep her desire and passion under wraps.
    “I guess that’s true.” She smirked as she ran her hand through her hair, playing with the braids. A dark look came over her face as she thought about what he had told her the last time she’d been here. Misaki, one of the only people who hadn’t lost their minds when she entered Hell, had been whispering in her sleep about God recruiting something. Most of it had been unintelligible and hard to make out. The words had been muffled and sounded like the mutterings of a five year old when they were pissed off wit their parents. Maybe this had something to do with what Misaki had mumbled about. No doubt it had been in her sleep as she barely spoke to anyone.
    Satan stood up and pulled his clothes back on. Vanessa did the same, retrieving items from all over the place. “Have you seen my other sock?” she asked. It was nowhere to be found. Satan glanced around before pointing at the ceiling. Against the pure black of the paint, her sock dangled from one of the many hollows in the roof. Vanessa grinned, flew up and pulled it on.
    “What’s the message?” she asked, landing gracefully next to him.
    “Misaki spoke to me today. She wanted to talk with you so I wouldn’t mess up what she had to say.”
    “That urgent?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Okay, lead the way.”
    Vanessa followed him down the stairs to the six hundred and fiftieth floor of the Mephistopheles building. That was where Misaki stayed. When she’d jumped from the building, she had landed right at the top of the building, unable to speak from pure terror and surprise at still being alive. Or as alive as you could be when you jumped from that height.
    Satan opened the door. Misaki was sitting on the floor, staring at her reflection in the floor length mirror opposite her. Vanessa knew why. When she had been alive, she had been an attractive sixteen year old with bright red hair and blue eyes. Due to the spirits constantly invading her mind, her hair had turned white prematurely, her eyes had become a dull red and her skin had become white and parched, like the desert sands of Earth. She had aged sixty years in a few months, something she didn’t want to see happening to Ty or anyone else ever again.
    Misaki looked up, her large eyes widening as she saw Vanessa. She stood up, wobbling slightly as she did so. “Nice to see you again, Misaki.” Vanessa murmured, gently hugging the girl. Misaki took comfort in the kindness of others. It was something she had lacked as a child seeing as she grew up in an orphanage.
    “Satan told me you had a message for me.” She said, holding the frail girl at arms length.
    Misaki nodded, took a deep breath and entered a trance like state. This was how she always spoke to them as her voice often failed to come out on its own.
    “The one who is just like me. Is his name Ty?” she murmured.
    “Yes. What about him?’ Vanessa asked.
    “I thought that was his name. He’s stronger than I was. He’ll be able to do what I wasn’t able to do. But God doesn’t want him. He thinks he is a bad person. He’s worried that he will be able to let the spirits roam and do what they want.”
    Vanessa laughed. “Why am I not surprised?” she said with a smile.
    “He nearly died tonight. Death was paid a high price for taking him out of the picture.” That one caught Vanessa’s attention.
    “God is scared of Ty. He knows he is a threat.”
    Vanessa took hold of Misaki’s shoulders. “How much did he pay Death to get rid of Ty/?” Her words sounded harsh but she wanted to know. I was important that she know how much Ty was worth to God. That would make a victory so much sweeter.
    Misaki seemed to waver but slipped back into the trance. Her red eyes rolled in their sockets. If she hadn’t seen this before, it would have freaked her out.
    “God paid Death two thousand souls to kill Ty.”
    “Son of a b***h!” Vanessa exclaimed. That was a horrible price. How many families had lost loved ones as God wanted to save his a**? How many were mourning at this very moment about someone whose death had been unnecessary? It was sick, it was depraved, it was totally unnecessary. How could someone who was supposed to be so great be so desperate to hold onto a position they were doing such a bad job at? It was politics that played with people’s lives. Pretty much the same as human politics, only more deadly and depraved.
    “Satan, how many Angels are here?” Vanessa said hoarsely.
    “Currently ten.”
    “Get them ready. The Earth needs more protection.”
    “Of course.” Satan answered.
    Vanessa walked to the window and spread her wings. “How many souls will it take God? How long until you see how sick you are?” She flew off, vanishing into a rip between the worlds.
    “God’s a b*****d. As the saying goes, life’s a b***h and then God kicks your a**.” Satan said with a grimace. “Get some sleep Misaki. We may need you again.” With that he vanished. Misaki slipped out of the trance.
    The moon was rising. A red moon. Blood had been spilled. Souls had been squandered. The world was crying. God was in trouble.