Hell: Freedom
She made some strange signs with her fingers and slowly the walls of energy surrounding her disappeared. She rose from her kneeling position, winced when her legs painfully reminded her that they were stiff and limped out of the room. She came back with a bucket of soapy water and began washing the floor, carefully, in circles, following the pattern of the diagrams.
Once she was finished, she went to change into travels clothes, making sure she had her demon knight medallion. The clothes were different from those she had worn with Tyrael. The ones she was wearing now were entirely black, having a faint air of uniform, and the leather belt around her waist was doubled with an iron belt composed of a multitude of different pentacles. She hung her blade at her side and slipped her demon blade in her left boot. She took the rather flat purse containing all her money and sighed when tying it to her belt. She threw her saddlebags on her shoulder.
Rashiel was waiting outside, next to Cinnabar and another horse, which was probably a hellish steed also. Cinnabar was already saddled and Delilah frowned. She put the saddlebags on his back and took his great head between her hands. A single glance was enough for her to understand why her fiery stallion was so unusually calm.
"Rashiel, undo that spell. If you want me to trust you, bewitching Cin is a bad beginning."
"I thought you would appreciate if he was ready," he said sheepishly.
"I'm not in such a hurry," she replied wryly.
He came near her and then winced in pain.
"Step back, Delilah. Those infernal pentacles of yours make me suffer too much for me to concentrate."
She obeyed with a slight smile as he was undoing his calming spell on Cinnabar. The stallion glared at him and looked as if he was going to bite the fallen Angel.
"Cin, behave," said Delilah mechanically.
Yawni burst out of nowhere and rolled on his back at Delilah's feet. She noticed Rashiel's surprised and suspicious look but chose not to talk about it.
"It's about time," she said severely. "Where were you? We were going to leave without you."
Yawni craned his neck so that his muzzle was on her foot while his belly was still exposed. Cinnabar snorted.
"I know, Cin, he totally lacks dignity. Stand up, Yawni, we're leaving now."
The rovelsh jumped on his feet and pressed his head against Delilah's hip. She had a tired laugh.
"What on earth are you doing with such a monster, Delilah?" asked Rashiel with indignation.
Cinnabar and Yawni both glared at him.
"At last you two are friends," murmured Delilah.
They immediately ignored each other.
"You don't like rovelshes, Rashiel?"
"There isn't a more evil creature on the face of earth than a rovelsh! Compared to them Cinnabar is a saint! They are deceitful and totally untrustworthy!"
"Sounds just like you," commented Delilah. "Are you coming or do you intend to insult Yawni till the end of the world?"
"You know it's dark?"
"Then it won't change from your cursed realm... Rashiel, maybe you can always take your time but I don't, so could we get started?"
"I'm just behind your, little mistress. Could you tell me how it is that your horse and rovelsh are not affected by your pentacles?"
"Because I designed them so, naturally. I know I'm not very good as an ironsmith but still six months for this would have been outrageously long."
Rashiel remained silent for a moment and then asked quite bluntly:
"Why do you still stand on their side after all they did to you?"
"It's not their blood running in my veins," replied Delilah quietly.
"It's not mine either. Seriously did you never think it was a lost cause?"
"Is it more a lost cause than standing with the Demons?"
"They all hate you. Why do you still try to protect them?" he insisted.
"I was told reward comes in time," she answered with a smirk.
"Who told you that lie?"
"I don't remember," she shrugged as Tyrael's voice was ringing in her head:
"I know life hasn't been nice to you, but don't give up so easily. Reward comes in time, I promise you."
"You're not very good at lying, you know that?" said Rashiel.
"Wrong. I'm quite good at it actually, but you are such an expert that you can detect them more easily."
"So I guess it's Tyrael who told you that. Coming from him he probably believed it, that's the worse."
"I find it sort of refreshing," she said mildly.
"Ah! Maybe he is. Innocent, honest, loyal... He probably never lied to you."
"Actually he did. He's an Archangel, not the god of truth."
"He dared lie to you? Tss... I'm disappointed frankly."
Delilah didn't answer and led Cinnabar toward the mountains. Yawni looked at her as if he was asking if she wanted him to get rid of the troublesome fallen Angel. Rashiel noticed it and frowned.
"Do you want to know what reward you'll get?" he said casually.
"Actually, no, I don't."
"Well, I'll tell you anyway. You need to know what to expect. Obviously, if you don't join us, He will have to kill you but then He will call your soul back in your body and you'll be His forever. The Angels will naturally despise your name and soil anything concerning you - or your mother. That's the only reward you'll get from them. Whereas with us..."
"An Angel will kill me out of pity or disgust, He will call back my soul and the end will be the same. No matter what I die and not matter what I'm His. Dishonour for dishonour, I prefer to fail while fighting for what I believe in. And please don't start again with the 'And we Demons are the only ones to accept you'. Yes you are. Be blessed for that," she added scathingly. "You little saints, the only ones to accept the outcasts! I'm sure the whole word is in awe with you for that."
"But not you, obviously."
"Be serious," she retorted wryly.
Rashiel sighed and didn't add anything.
The path to the demon realm was quite easy. Near Delilah's house, in the Mounts of Moen there was a pass between two mounts and a small cavern leading straight to the underground realm. Cinnabar understood well where they were going and Delilah didn't need to lead him. Both knew the way by heart and she had always liked that specific path in the mountains. Sometimes she wished she had had a normal life and she could have lived in the mountains, among the lovely flowers, away from the hating humans. She sighed; she had had those dreams all her life and she had always known they were nothing but dreams.
"Having regrets?" asked Rashiel.
"Sure. Regrets that dreams don't come true. At least, not for me."
"What kind of dreams?"
"Of being normal. No demon blood, no Guardianship, no demon knighthood. In a word, denying my whole life and these of all my ancestors."
"It's not a little dream."
"I never said it was either. I guess those who have a big life have big dreams," she added sarcastically.
"Pretty much," Rashiel agreed very seriously. "Think of it, Delilah. I wouldn't say your existence is a hazard. Thousands of things happened so that you would be, the exact way you are, a Guardian with demon blood, a demon knight related to those you banish. I don't believe in coincidences."
"Well, if I could find whoever brought this on me, I can guarantee you he would have a very bad moment! He obviously forgot to think before he started it."
"Because of the pain and the loneliness? He doesn't care; a human life is nothing in his greater plans."
"Maybe it's nothing for him but it is for me. Let's see, if I'm unlucky, I may be at a third of my life, knowing that the rest will probably be pretty much the same, if not worse. If I'm lucky though, the nightmare is almost over and I hope that nobody will wake me up after."
"He won't let you go."
"I thought so also," she replied gloomily.
Rashiel understood the conversation was over.
The silence lasted until they reached the pass. There, Delilah stopped Cinnabar and dismounted.
"What happens?" asked Rashiel mildly surprised.
"I'm tired, if you don't mind, and I know it's no use facing Him without some witty answers in store."
She yawned.
"And I'm really too tired to think of one right now," she concluded.
"Sleep, I'll watch over you."
She had a tired laugh.
"No, winged boy. While I sleep, you try to find the Demon who last faced my father. Cin and Yawni will watch over my sleep."
Yawni had like a smirk while looking at Rashiel and the fallen Angel thought twice when seeing the long sharp teeth.
"As you wish," he shrugged.
He disappeared before Delilah could express her surprise. Left alone, she curled up on the ground near of a bed of gentians. Yawni immediately came by her side, his tail around her ankles; Cinnabar, while keeping an eye on her, began grazing around without much appetite.
When Delilah awoke, it was pitch black around her. She narrowed her eyes and quickly her sight adapted itself to the darkness. Rashiel was sitting on a rock nearby, Cinnabar eying him suspiciously, as if daring him to get closer to Delilah.
"Did you sleep well?" he inquired politely.
She grunted. She was rarely in a good mood when waking up, especially when waking up at night.
"Were you successful?" she asked after a few mouthfuls hastily swallowed.
"I'm afraid you won't like the answer," Rashiel began cautiously.
"Don't mother me. If I had thought I wouldn't like it, I wouldn't have asked you and anyway I don't have to like it. So who was the Demon?"
"You asked for it... It was not exactly a Demon... It was Rshkiel, Delilah."
Somehow she had felt the blow come and had braced herself against it.
"How small the world is," she murmured.
"What happened to you, Delilah? What horrible thing happened to you to make you what you are become?"
"I died, dear Rashiel," she said calmly. "And that wasn't such a great experience that I yearn for trying it again and yet I know I will. I'm sure you can see how overjoyed I am at the idea."
"Ecstatic," Rashiel replied softly.
"Alright. Sweet interlude over. Time to go see my most persistent suitor."
"And most powerful also."
"Easy when there's only one."
"You could have more than one if you let them come near."
"True, I forgot how attractive my curse was," Delilah yawned.
"It is for some people," began Rashiel.
"Enough! I don't care. I'm above that and, anyway, I've sworn a long time ago that my demon blood would die with me."
They entered the cavern, Cinnabar following Delilah like a dog would have done. She stopped as soon as the stonewalls closed around her and shifted her weight from foot to foot uneasily.
"Go forward so that no Demon will be unaware of my upcoming arrival," she said to Rashiel. "I need to reacquaint myself with these caverns. I haven't come in a long time."
"Too long for all of us, little mistress," said Rashiel respectfully.
She knelt on the ground as Rashiel's steps were fading away. She touched the walls and floor with her fingertips then laid her palm fully on the stone. There was again that joyful song in her, expressing its glee of being back here at last. She had hated that song since she had realised what it truly meant. She clenched her teeth and pushed the hated feeling away. She was feeling something else. She put her two hands on the ground and closed her eyes. She was right: there was something else, something that didn't belong to the caverns.
It pulsed through her hands and she shivered. It was almost hurting. The she recognised it with a sudden clarity. It was shouting 'Angel!' with a strong intensity! An Angel was here, in the demon caverns! She stood up and breathed deeply until she felt nothing but that angelic feeling. Her demon side rebelled, protesting loudly and increasing her pain. She didn't care and followed the call. It was getting stronger and stronger with every step she took. Added to the pain caused by her demon blood, it was almost unbearable. She kept on going no matter what, trying to recognise the touch. It seemed to her that it was somehow familiar. She followed it without knowing where she was going, turning right or left blindly, until she reached a small cavern where the angelic feeling was filling the air so much she almost choked, her hand flinging to her throat.
"Delilah?" said a familiar voice tingled with pain.
She turned blindly in the direction the voice was coming from and it was as if she could suddenly see. Chained to the wall with enchanted fetters, surrounded with demon blades was Raphael, looking exhausted and utterly miserable.
"Raphael!" she choked again, almost intoxicated with the strong feeling of angelic pain.
She ran to him, wiping away the tears invading her burnt eyes. She picked up a demon blade on the ground and began to force the fetters.
"Go away, Dee," he said urgently. "If He finds you here, you'll be His prisoner forever!"
She shook the head without answering. Angelic pain was more unbearable for her than the usual presence of Angels and she didn't dare open the mouth for fear of shouting her own suffering.
"I came of my own will," she finally forced between clenched teeth. "He's powerless against me now."
"Leave me, Dee, this is insane! Your life is more important than mine right now."
"Life for life, Raphael," she replied as the first fetter fell on the ground, drained of its binding spell.
He could see she was feeling acutely his pain and showing it despite herself. He knew it came from her Guardian side. Strangely, though Guardians were supposed to be neutral, the pain of an angelic creature was pure torture for them. In Delilah's case, it only added to the sufferings she usually felt when near an Angel.
The second fetter fell and Delilah knelt on the ground to take care of those on Raphael's ankles.
"How did you get captured?" she asked, trying to pretend she was alright.
"The easiest way. They lured me out making me believe Tyrael needed help. A fallen Angel called me; I think you know him..."
"Rashiel," she growled. "Where is Tyrael?"
"I don't know. Valiel didn't see him since he day he came back with Shela unconscious."
As the third fetter fell, Delilah looked up at Raphael with pure terror written on her face.
"He has to stay in Heaven," she whispered. "He knows his name and has sworn revenge on him! Please, Raphael, find him and bring him back to Heaven!"
"How can He know his name?" frowned Raphael.
"It's my fault. I invoked Rashiel in Tyrael's presence and I thought I was cleverer than him. Rashiel stayed behind and heard me saying Tyrael's name and Shela's. I know he wants to make her fall and with her hatred for me, she's an easy prey for him. Azzy, Gabriel and you must protect Tyrael and Shela!"
"A human protecting Angels... you're the only one who can have such ideas..."
Delilah started when hearing almost her own words in Raphael's mouth; but he couldn't know, so it was only a hazard. She stood up to care about the fetter around Raphael's neck.
"Hold still," she told him. "The spell is stronger here, but it's nothing I can't undo."
"Will He be able to know who freed me?" worried the Archangel.
"He'll find my touch on the fetters. Be still, Raphael, I told you I don't fear anything from Him."
She worked some magic, touching the dark metal here and there with her fingertips, muttering some words under her breath. Raphael hated to see her practise black magic to free him. Suddenly she jerked back in violent pain, lost her balance and fell on the floor.
"Delilah! What happened? Are you alright?"
"I'm... fine," she managed with a hiss of pain. "He trapped the fetters and I got caught like a beginner!"
She cradled a brief moment her hurt hand - badly burnt and bleeding - then finished to free Raphael. Immediately, he caught her hand between his and he was going to heal it when she violently jerked back.
"Are you insane? Do you want Him to know you're free?"
"You can't stay like that. It will get infected of something."
"Of course I can. The only way for Him not to hear you would be for you to take me to Heaven for healing me. Even if it wasn't forbidden, the nearest temple is Irlenuit's and it's too far."
She fumbled in her saddlebags and gave Raphael some holy water, which he drank with relief, immediately feeling a bit better.
"Find Tyrael, Raphael, and keep him safe for me," she said with a low voice.
"Did you tell him of this entry to the demon realm?"
"I told him there was one near my house but I didn't specify where. Why?"
She suddenly understood and paled.
"No... Don't tell me he decided to take Him down by himself..."
"Most probably, yes. Our Tyrael is a very caring Angel and it seems he really was upset by the death of all his Guardians; that is, all but one, and he'd do anything to protect this last one."
"Including dying stupidly. If you find him on your way back, please take him with you."
"I will. Dee... may you find the same freedom you just gave me... Thank you, Delilah."
She had a weak smile and left, her hand against her stomach, under her leather vest.
She was lost in the maze of the demon realm and was fully aware of it. It didn't bother her that much: it wouldn't have been the first time she would have gotten lost in the caverns. While walking, she tightly wrapped her hurt hand and then put on a black leather glove. Her free had was brushing against the stonewalls, trying to find the secret symbols used to mark the way. Soon enough she found some and managed to get back on more familiar tracks.
After that, it was only a matter of minutes before she came near the main cavern, where He usually was. She stopped a bit earlier, to put on her second glove as to not awake suspicions, took a deep breath and went on. Nobody stopped her; she hadn't even seen a sentry on the way. The caverns were opened to anybody though she strongly suspected powerful magic to protect them.
As usual, His sight struck her with the force of a bolt as soon as she entered the cavern. She remained on the threshold for a brief instant, trying to catch her breath. In the room full of ugly, horny and hoofed Demons, He looked strangely out of place. Apart from Rashiel standing in a corner, his wings wrapped around him, He was the only human looking one. Yet, His beauty had an unearthly glow and His eyes, for those who dared to look into them, had a deep and cutting edge.
He seemed to feel her presence immediately and forgot everything to turn to her. As usual, she felt drawn to Him; with a calm that denoted a long practice, she pushed the attraction away and stepped forward. By now, every gaze was on her and she didn't seem to mind. Actually, she began to slowly smile as if she was enjoying he attention. Thus followed by her warhorse and rovelsh, she calmly made her way to Him. She stopped there and now to talk with a Demon or thank one of those who had answered her call in Vortigern's temple. It was obvious to her that He was growing impatient and that the Demons around her were ill at ease - as they had always been in such encounters - because of the pentacles around her waist.
She finally reached Him, standing close enough for Him to be able to touch her just by extending His arm. He didn't move. He smiled to her and a new light appeared in His deep eyes.
"Delilah..." He murmured. "It has been so long a time..."
She shivered internally. His voice had always been enough to drive away her last thought but when He was saying her name, He could melt her with just that word.
"We both were busy," she replied, finding her voice only with difficulty.
"I have noticed," He said quite wryly. "You shouldn't worry me so much. This Angel could have hurt you!"
"I was safe from him. I had my demon blade with me."
He looked satisfied. A Demon - Delilah recognised him to be Iwequ, Jov'Ne's brother - came in and exclaimed:
"Master! The Angel has escaped!"
Then he noticed Delilah's presence and seemed embarrassed. Delilah noted mentally that He obviously hadn't planned to share the news of His capture with her.
"An Angel, Baal?" she asked, feigning innocence. "What on earth would an Angel do here?"
Baal glared at both Iwequ and her.
"Did you bring me back the fetters?" He asked sharply.
"The fetters are gone also, Master."
Delilah smiled internally. Sweet Raphael who refused to leave a proof against her behind him! Naturally she was sure Baal already knew she had freed Raphael, but He hadn't any proof.
"Am I to understand you had an Angel in captivity here?"
He took her hand and squeezed it - hard. She winced: He had taken the hurt hand.
"I know it hurts your tender feelings for Angels, my love, but we're at war," He said and the gleam in His eyes told her He had known which hand to take.
"We're not yet in war," she rectified coolly before shrugging. "Anyway, I don't care as long as I don't get the blame for his capture..."
"But you are guilty, my love," He said, sounding surprised. "You are guilty of so many things that Furtifer doesn't even know anymore which one to punish."
"Prove it," she said. "Name me three things I'm guilty of. Prove your words."
"You're guilty of Rshkiel's fall, Delilah. He fell because one of your ancestors, you know. You're guilty of your father's death and, naturally, of Lilith's. Do you need more to be convinced? You're responsible for Ell˙s falling in love with Baaladamon, for Damon revolting against his father, for his descendants fighting their kin, your kin, Delilah!"
"Words, words! Where is the proof?" shouted Delilah.
"You are here, my love. You are a proof. But I'll give you another one: I'm looking for Rshkiel. I'm sure little stupid Rashiel told you since when I'm looking for him, didn't you, Rashiel?"
The fallen Angel growled and briefly, Delilah had a glimpse of a very different Rashiel, ambitious, cruel and without scruples. Obviously, he hadn't liked to be called stupid.
"It was a good way to lure her," he said.
Baal didn't even listen to his explanation.
"So I'm looking for Rshkiel since his fall. Why? Because he was to be your blood brother. I've been waiting a very long time for you. And if you continue on the way you have chosen, not only will you have made Rshkiel fall - your own blood brother! - but also you will make Tyrael fall."
Delilah was shaken to the core. She knew, she simply knew He was right. The weight on her shoulders took at last a name and a shape: guilt.
"Change your way, Delilah. Come to me and save your world. Continue and it will crumble. Only love can save you now and I'm the only one to love you," He said, enticing.
"How can you be so sure?" she asked, having the impression of struggling in vain.
"Nobody loves you as I do. Nobody ever can nor ever will."
"What do you know?" she replied, desperately trying to refuse His words. "What do you know of angelic love? Maybe we should ask someone who knows better."
"Who? Rashiel? He will tell you the same as I do."
"No, not Rashiel. He who was best loved of all..." she said, deliberately slowly.
Baal paled, staring at her in disbelief, then grinned.
"He's not here," he said with obvious relief.
"Then I'll call him," she answered, suddenly feeling very confident.
He was going to protest but she cut Him short and exclaimed:
"Lucifer, Lucifer, I call thee, Lucifer, come to me!"
Baal grimaced as a newcomer appeared suddenly among them.
"Greetings, Delilah," he said with a weary voice. "What do you need me for?"
His way of ignoring Baal so totally was so insulting that the demon prince, without giving time to Delilah to answer his greetings, raged immediately:
"How dared you give her a way to call you directly? She is mine and nobody but me will decide whom she can call!"
Lucifer turned his dark eyes to Him.
"You tire me, Baal," he said with the same weary voice. "I do not care for what you decide or not. Actually, I do not care for anything you may do as long as you leave me alone. As for Delilah, she's not yours. She belongs to herself only and I gave her a way to call me directly because she's the only one I care to hear about, if you really need to know."
"I'm going to rule over all realms and she shall be my queen! You will not defy me with impunity!"
"And naturally, you are such a threat that the angelic armies are already on a war footing, armed to the teeth? Baal, you are so pitiful that they let a mere human stand against you, a mere human to stop you! No offence meant, Delilah."
"None taken," she replied easily.
"They fear my name till Heaven!" challenged Baal.
"Ah! Do they think He's a threat, Delilah? And what about me?"
"I'm afraid they've all forgotten you," she shrugged.
"Why didn't you remind them of my very existence?" he asked with curiosity.
"I forgot."
"You forgot! A Guardian forgetting something, that's odd. Why don't I believe you?"
She shrugged again, offering no answer. Baal was silent now, maybe thinking He would learn more by listening.
"But I'm forgetting myself," Lucifer continued. "You called me, Delilah. May I know why?"
"Baal and I were having a different. He pretends He loves me better than anybody else. I say that since He doesn't know angelic love, He's lying. You now both, Lucifer, so I call upon you as the judge for the final decision."
"Anybody can love you better than this pitiful fool. Now, I know His passion reaches till Heaven, but yet I affirm that angelic love is purer and stronger. When they don't fight or whatever they usually do."
"You don't belong here anymore you know that, Lucifer?
"I don't belong anywhere anymore, Delilah."
"There are some prophecies saying that someday all fallen Angels will find back their righteous places in Heaven and this includes you."
"Ah, Delilah, sometimes miracles happen but I've lost faith in them. Who would plead my cause? You? They hate you and fear you more than they hate and fear me!"
"Not everybody has forgotten you and some are respected up there, like Raphael..."
"Ah..." murmured Lucifer suddenly sad. "Does he still remember?"
"He still remembers and still grieves."
"Why didn't you let him forget like the others?"
"Because it was beyond my power, Lucifer," she said gently.
"I had hoped that at least time would have softened his grief."
"What can time do when one loses his dearer-than-brother?"
"The way you would grieve if you lost Rshkiel... or Azrael?" he asked brutally.
"But time would be merciful to me, for my pain wouldn't be everlasting since my life isn't," she replied calmly, the hurt of betrayal in her eyes.
"Azrael!" exclaimed Baal outraged. "I thought your favourite Angel was Tyrael!"
Lucifer looked at Delilah and she had the impression he was seeing through her.
"Tyrael... I didn't see his name in you at first. You hid it well, Guardian, the same way you hid Azrael's from Baal. Indeed, you care for him more than you should. Was it the reason of your question about angelic love?"
"So I was wrong..." she said slowly. "You still fully belong here and my compassion was a mistake I'll pay dearly for."
Lucifer shrugged.
"I didn't tell you to try my redemption. You chose so of your own free will. It's what's important, Delilah: he - or she - who's free shall decide of his - or her - fate."
He disappeared on those words and Delilah remained frozen. It had nothing to do with what she had said previously.
Freedom. She had given his back to Raphael only moments ago. Did she also give his back to Lucifer? Or did he mean for her, that she could choose her fate if she was free? Choosing her fate! She knew what she would chose: death! It called for her since her birth and she would choose its dark embrace rather than an eternity with Baal.
Then she thought of Tyrael and realised bitterly that now life had something she could hold on to. If she lived, maybe she would see him again, maybe with better odds. Crushed, she thought she couldn't choose. She wasn't free: she was trapped. She had been free before, but as soon as she had met Tyrael for real, outside the glimpses of him she had had from her mother's invocations, at that very moment, she had lost her freedom.
As soon as the thought occurred to her, she knew she was lying to herself. She had never been free. Life had never released its grip on her, it always had something to hold her back. She had never given up. She wondered if it had been the same for all those before her who carried her curse; was it the reason why they had passed on the demon blood no matter what? She felt a bit better and then Baal's words rang again in her head:
"You're responsible for Ell˙s falling in love with Baaladamon, for Damon revolting against his father, for his descendants fighting their kin, your kin!"
She winced. Now her curse was even stronger than before. But still she had never given up. She had human fate on her shoulders and she wanted to rehabilitate her mother's name. And now Tyrael. She was imprisoning herself a bit more with each breath she was taking.
She wondered if her father had felt the same. For once, she thought of him with real curiosity instead of anger. She didn't even know his name. She only knew him by the portrait in her house, next to Lilith's, and by the end of Baaladamon and Ell˙s' story. Did he feel trapped also, compelled to live though he so much wanted to die? Maybe knowing that he would be a father had been the last chain he couldn't accept, his shame of having surrendered to his demon blood. Did Rshkiel free him when he killed him - if it was really Rshkiel who did so?
Freedom was the key. Without knowing how she could be so sure, she knew she could trust Lucifer on that. She had to set herself free and make her own choices. She took a deep breath and looked at Baal. As usual, He was looking at her and she wondered how long He had waited for her to come back to reality.
"I refuse your love," she said, her voice a bit hoarse. "I refuse your chains to bind me to you."
He didn't even get angry.
"You'll change your mind in time, my beloved Delilah," he said quietly.
"I'd rather die!" she spat at Him.
"Then you'll die, my love, and I shall raise you from the dead for you to be by my side for the rest of times."
Thinking of it, it was a very scary future in store. Delilah shivered. Naturally, Baal was still observing her.
"I mean it, Delilah," He said. "I truly love you but if I must break you to have you, so will I do."
"Such a loving bridegroom I did find for myself!" she said ironically. "He cares so much for my integrity..."
"More than you do, dear heart," He said, taking - once again - her hurt hand. "I am not the one to compromise it by freeing captive Angels or flirting with Angels or betraying my betrothed with others!"
Delilah snatched her hand away without caring for the pain.
"For your information, demon prince," she said indignantly, "I am not flirting with anybody, Angel or not, nor am I betraying anybody! As for freeing the Angel, what was I to do? Let he who brought me back to life rot in your cells? Answer me, Baal! Would you repay him of the life of your betrothed with eternal torture?"
"So you don't deny having freed him."
"Of course not. What would be the point, since you already know I'm responsible for everything?"
He looked at her with surprise and then chuckled.
"Well said, Delilah."
He reached to caress her cheek but she turned the head away.
"Don't play with me, Baal," she said angrily. "I have more than enough of your little games and cheating is not going to help you."
"Games, my love? Where do you see games?"
"You're the bad one and I'm supposedly the good one. The only case the bad one 'cares' for the good one is for misleading her and I refuse to be misled."
He laughed and drew her in His arms. She fought the sudden urge of closing her eyes and forgetting everything in His dark embrace.
"We are in a story where the good one is not as good as she should be," He whispered with a sultry voice.
She was still in His arms and wondered what it was that made each of His words ring so true to her. He kept one arm around her shoulder as He led her into another room.
"Do you want something to eat?" He offered.
"I'm not hungry," she replied as her stomach growled loudly at the mere mention of food.
Baal didn't comment on it.
"Then I'll leave you to rest for it seems that tiredness somehow affects your good mood. Sleep well, my dearest love."
He brushed his fingertips across her brow and then against her lips in this particular way He had to wish her goodnight or goodbye and then was gone. Delilah sat on the bed provided for her and thought.
Cinnabar and Yawni, as usual, had followed her in the room so she reached for her saddlebags on Cinnabar's back. She took out from them the thick leather book that was next to her demon book. She opened it on her knees and paged through it quickly until she found the chapter related to demon blades. She read it carefully and growled in frustration when she realised it didn't contain the information she wanted. She thought again and browsed through the spells.
How much time passed, she couldn't have said but when she looked up again she had found the counter-spell to set her demon blade back to its full capacity. She absent-mindedly put the book back in her saddlebag and looked around her. She was alone and no Demon was guarding her door. Silently she sneaked out and quickly found herself in the dark galleries leading to Baal - or outside, depending where one was coming from.
She quickened her pace though she could hardly see where she was putting her feet and cursed softly under her breath each time a pebble rolled under her boot. She cursed louder when a rock made her fall. As to answer her worried glance backward, Rashiel appeared in front of her.
"What are you doing?" he asked casually.
"A lot of noise so you will know that I'm awake without me having to tell you so," she replied crossly.
"I'm supposed to make sure you don't disappear. He really hates not finding you here in the morning."
"No hope for you to tell Him you didn't see me?" she asked hopefully, rubbing her ankle.
"I can't help you to escape, you know."
"I'm not asking you to help me escape but to pretend you didn't see me."
Rashiel hesitated.
"I thought you cared for me. Do you really want me to be His?"
He winced and looked toward the main cavern.
"I'm going to regret this..." he muttered. "Go away, I'm not watching. Go, quickly, because frankly, I can't bear anymore to see you always go away..."
"You need to figure out which side you stand on, Rashiel," she murmured as she passed next to him, limping, brushing her fingers lightly against his cheek, her heart going to the fallen Angel even though he had tricked Raphael.
"On my own, Delilah," he said for himself and his eyes glittered even darker.
As son as she was out of the caverns, Delilah painfully mounted on Cinnabar's back and headed east, down the Mounts of Moen.
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