This is not the first fan fiction I write, but it is my first in the BH universe. Plus: it is a crazy attempt in writing in English as I am a native German speaker. I apologize for the mistakes that will occur. And I have decided not to try and put the beautiful dialects right down into detail. That would take me a lifetime without the help of a wonderful native speaker. I know that it is one part of the brain, so to say, but whenever I started to walk in that direction, the result hurt my eyes and ears. And the last thing I want is causing pain to the readers. :o)

What I am politely asking for is, that everyone might lift a finger when I mix too much of BE and AE. I read and watch a lot of stuff in original and have created myself a really messed up own "dialect".

It's somehow gonna be AU, because I started writing it before season 5 was finished, but I could not keep my mind away from going in that direction anyhow.

At least I want to point out that I don't own any of the original cast or settings. I just like to take a little journey and whoever wants to join me is welcome to travel along.

Have Fun

Ainin Grey

P.S.: The character Nate was inspired by the looks of Ciarán McMenamin.

P.P.S.: This is a Hal centred fiction. I am a woman and let's be honest: whenever we see something beautifully disarranged we just want to fix it. Don't we? :o)

Framed in Blood

When darkness finds me

Opening the void inside

You come to hear

Thousands of screams

When darkness binds me

Rids me of all decency

You come to see

Life's everlasting agony

When darkness rules me

The evils walks free

You come to meet me

In the crimson sea

Ready to fight

Ready to ignite

Ready to die

You - my light

My image of love

Completing me in my night

Prologue

Hal stared at the empty street below him. A new morning was getting ready to slip out from under the night's cloak; the visible proof that the world still turned. In this small gap between night and day he allowed himself to think about the times almost 12 months ago. He'd looked through a different window in a different room, frightened to lift the curtain. But he'd sorted it out. Hadn't he? Hal turned his head and looked at the female dead body on the floor. Yeah, definitely... not.

Snow had said to him once that free will was just an illusion. They all were bound to the blood in the moment of their eternal procreation. They could struggle to change the road but the exit was just another entrance. Maybe it had been the only time he ever spoke the plain truth.

Falling in and out of insanity. Killing with fervour. Swimming in blood. Seconds later – emotional meltdown. Crying like a baby. For the past year he'd experienced blood lust and remorse on a monthly routine. No side of him losing and none winning. But still less balanced than ever before. Shit happens when you breathe the devil in.

»Get outta here, fluffy, or I forget my good manners.« He turned around and looked at the ghost.

»Did you honestly think I couldn't find you still? Took some time but, tada!« Alex underlined it with a move of her hands. »Damn, I can't rent-a-ghost Tom. He always has to take the slow path.«

»The better for the both of you«, Hal replied dryly. »Or maybe you should try and explode with him. And now, bugger off!« He took a few steps to her as Alex didn't vanish or move. »You might find me even now but I can stop you at once.« He lifted a finger and nudged her cheek. »Dead or not I can still make you scream.«

Alex defiantly stuck out her chin. »I've wasted my SKIP PERDITION card on you, buddy. And don't tell me…« She gestured vaguely. »This is it? This is it what you want? Half crazed – half sane.«

Hal snorted. »Wasted time, Alexandra. Honestly, I don't care about what you have to say.«

She grabbed his face with both hands and looked him deeply in the eye. »I have no doubt that you could break what's left of me. Funny though, I would not stop you doing so. But as I am still in one tells me you want to hear me out. You're not totally of the rack.«

»Maybe I am just enjoying a little game of trick or treat.«

Alex shook her head. »THIS is not who you truly are.«

»And who am I?« Hal whispered. He captured her arms and forced her hands off his face, stepping away, and breaking contact. »That I lost myself is not nearly getting close to the truth. I can't go back anymore. There is no merry go 'round. Never again.«

Alex smiled weakly. »I wouldn't try for that for a second. Look, you never meant anything else than to protect us. You might have lied and cheated but still you wanted the good for us and the world. The roads you have taken didn't lay out that well, ok. But stop running. We can figure it out. Maybe even try it again. Tom and I will…«

Hal laughed harshly and cut her off. »Really? Forgiving is one thing, fluffy. Forgetting is another. Memories unfortunately have the habit to stick like glue deep down to the back of your head. I cannot just say that I'm sorry. I cannot make it all good. Not in a million years, Alex. And I don't want to, either.« He made a dismissive gesture with his hand.

Alex blinked up at him, blinking the tears away. »Death is not a solution, Hal. If you die the devil walks free again. But you can't be… like this. You have to be stopped.« She swallowed hard. »I love you. Take my hand and come with me. We can sort it out.«

»Hardly.« Hal wiped the tears away with his thumb and licked them. »Leave me, Alex. Forget you ever knew me.«

She shook her head. Then she grabbed his shirt, pulled him close and kissed him. »I'm sorry«, she whispered. »I'm sorry of what has to fall into place.« In the next second she was gone leaving him standing alone in a house who's inhabitants he'd just killed.

Hal couldn't remember what had so magically drawn him here. Him or the other him neatly tucked into the back of his mind? Alex was right. For how long could he fight this? For how long? He needed to be stopped.

Never! There it was, yelling in his head. Never. you are mine now.

Really? Fuck you!

Then he heard it. Another heartbeat. How could he have missed it?

Get her! The devil whispered. Take her with us. make her ours! she'll be the key. the key to everything one day! not yet but one day.

Slowly Hal started to walk not fighting the smile that appeared on his face.

She walked trough blood. She breathed blood. She saw and felt blood. Everywhere. On the walls. At the floor. Even on her clothes because she had fallen into the crimson puddle at the end of the stairway where her older brother lay. He looked asleep but she knew he was not. She stumbled on. Barefoot. In her nightgown. She didn't feel the soft breeze that came in through the open kitchen door. She moved on towards the study. A shape draped in the door-frame; the body twisted in a strange angle, the eyes open staring into the nowhere; a gaping wound at the throat. Blood. More blood. Daddy. She walked on. She trembled when she saw another body on the floor. The woman's clothes were torn and exposed her flesh and the bite marks at her breasts. Blood. Mommy.

In the next second someone grabbed her and closed her mouth with his hand. She was pulled away from the living room. She lost her balance because her feet couldn't keep up with the long strides of her kidnapper. He finally dragged her along the floor into the kitchen. There he let go of her. Instinctively she crawled backwards until she was stopped by the door of the kitchen sink. Anxiously she lifted her head and gasped. In front of her was an angel. She knew it right away even though he was clad in black and she'd never seen one before. He didn't speak to her; he only looked at her, examining the features of the 7 year old that crouched before him. Then he turned around and left the room so fast she could just catch the pattern of a movement.

Noise. Furniture being thrown. Hissing. Then the screams came. She covered her ears and closed her eyes. It didn't take long and the angel was in front of her again. Silence. He knelt down and stretched out his hand. She hesitated but finally reached out to him. His touch was cool as he guided her along the hall. He lifted her up and she wrapped her arms around his neck. She held onto him. She couldn't let go. She didn't want to when they left the house.

Shadows merged out of the darkness around and turned into figures. The angel said something to them in a language she didn't understand. The figures disappeared and became shadows again. He carried her to a waiting car. Softly he loosened her arms around his neck and pushed her into the backseat. She trembled again, parted from his nearness now. He got into the driver's seat and turned the ignition. They left the entrance of the house she had lived in. He drove along the street. Carefully she turned around and looked through the rear window.

Fire leaped high accompanied by the thunder of the explosion. Anxiously she slid back into the softness of the seat and dared to look into the rearview mirror. The angel answered her stare with his own. He smiled. She smiled back and closed her eyes. Seconds later she fell asleep.

She didn't see the heavy coffin been dragged out of the house and carried away by the shadowy figures. She didn't know what lay ahead. But the road had already been chosen; just being a matter of time. Funny, the angels didn't know that either.

Tom stood in the shower cabin his forehead pressed against the tiles. Tears streamed down his face mingling with the water. Inhale – exhale. Pain was human. He should be thankful for it. When the last bit of foam was rinsed away he switched off the water and exited the cabin. He wrapped the towel around him and walked into the bedroom not minding to leave droplets on the carpet.

Tom went to the window. Sunrise, the kiss of the sun was beginning to warm up the sleepy ground. The awakening of a new day. He pressed his hand against the window pane, feeling coldness and transitoriness. But thankfully the world still turned and changed and the people with it.

He sighed and swiftly put on his clothes. When he looked into the mirror above the chest of drawers he caught a reflection. »You found 'im?« he silently asked.

»It's done«, Alex silently replied and sat down on the bed.

»What are they gonna do to 'im?« he almost croaked the question.

»Keep him save.«

»Why don't they just 'eal 'im?«

»They already have what the want. The devil is trapped.«

Tom sat down beside her. »We should not have let them. Hal's our friend.« He nodded underlining the statement.

Alex took hold of his hand. »I can still find him, Tom. At least he won't be trapped alone.«

Tom rested his head on her shoulder. »Fuck the devil and fuck 'em angels.«

Alex smiled. »Yeah.« She bit her lip. »But he had to be stopped. They had to be stopped.«