Devil You Know

by Surarrin

My day had started on a down note. First Elaine had been sick, then I found out my mentor wanted to shove me in a straitjacket. It shouldn't have been a surprise when I died. But, nothing could have prepared me for my life being saved by a devil—or becoming one myself. Still, the magical girl was the biggest surprise.

2. Chapter 2

—~—

I woke up with a start. My head jerked and my arms came up swiping at invisible nightmares.

It took me a moment to realize I wasn't under attack. It took me another second to realize that the nightmare had in fact not been a dream.

It was still dark, and the parking lot in front of me was still smouldering in the aftermath of the smack down I had laid on the assassin that had been sent after me. There was a massive section of the ground that was missing from the tanks explosion, what remained of the asphalt had been warped by the excessive heat and extreme forces of the tanks exploding.

Debris was scattered all around and made it look more like a war zone, rather than the parking lot of a petrol station. The residual heat was still excessive. I was sweating and the sun was long gone.

The scent in the air had changed, it had reeked of death and dead things while He Who Walks Behind had been around. Now it just smelt like gasoline and melted tar. A marked improvement if you asked anyone.

My mind began to repeat the events, and recalled what had happened at the end. I couldn't help but grin; I had won.

With the thrill of victory also came the sudden panic of recalling that I had been impaled through the chest.

My hands flew up to my chest and I looked down to find a massive bloodied hole in my shirt. On a second almost distant thought, I realized it would have been more appropriate to just call my entire body bloody.

My mouth went dry and my fingers touched upon the still damp blood that surrounded the hole in my shirt. Beneath it I could see clean unblemished—if you didn't count the blood—skin. I ran my fingers over it in disbelief.

It hadn't been a dream, or a hallucination?

My mind was suddenly filled a concern that had been previously unknown to me.

Had I sold my soul to the devil?

"Sweet, foolish child, what have you done to yourself?"

My head jerked towards the source of the voice in panic that lasted for a brief second before I remembered where I had heard the voice before.

A very tall, slender, unimaginably beautiful woman appeared out of thin air in front of me. Reddish hair curled down past her hips in a riotous cascade, complementing her flawless skin, high cheekbones, and lush, full, blood red lips. Her face was ageless, and her golden eyes had vertical slits instead of pupils, like a cat. She wore a slender, strapless dress of a pale green.

"Godmother," I breathed, my eyes wide in surprise, partially because of her appearance, partially because of the entirely foreign look that had taken place on her features.

For the first time I'd ever seen she looked… sad?

"I know I said I'd stop getting into fights, but this one was unavoidable." I told her with a sheepish look.

Leanansidhe, my fairy godmother raised a single slender eyebrow. "Yes, I can very much see that Harry," she said to me, "But it was not what I was referring to."

I stared at her for a long, long moment and I felt the bottom of my stomach drop out. I had already known it had been real. I had proof enough of my clothes bearing the marks of mortal wounds. But to have Lea look at me like that.

"I didn't know," I said listlessly. "I thought it wasn't real."

Lea gave a soft sigh and gave me a reproachable look that as always made me feel embarrassed, as if I had done something monumentally stupid.

"I would have died!" I defended myself suddenly, getting very self-conscious. "J-Justin he—he tried to—and then he sent him after me and and!" I started to ramble and babble, my tongue moving on its own accord and failing to form words.

"And yet here we are," Lea said softly, her lands lifting up and gesturing around her. "I would say this had been, ah, what do they call it these days?" Her finger came up to her lips and tapped upon them twice as she looked off into the distance. "Yes, a valuable learning experience."

I couldn't help but stare at her, not in appreciation of her beauty, but rather, in final understanding of how inhuman Lea truly was.

"I almost died!"

"You did die, and you might yet again." Her gold eyes gleamed with something I couldn't quite place my finger on.

I stiffened and a panic surged through me.

"Calm yourself," she said to me gently, her expression shifting again. "I have never meant you harm and I never will, Harry." She told me. "Have I not been here for you?"

I shifted slightly and frowned. It was true. As far back as I could remember Lea had been there. She'd been around when I was in middle school. I hadn't known who she was back then. All I knew was that she was a pretty lady who had done nice things for me every now and then. I hadn't really found out who she was until after I had been adopted by Justin.

I breathed in deeply and let out a long, slow breath. I felt the muscles in my body ease ever so slightly.

"Justin tried to…," I trailed off. I hesitated for a moment before I asked in a small voice. "…Why didn't you help me?"

Lea regarded me silently. "While painful for you, I judged it to be prudent for you to experience." Her face briefly tinged with something unpleasant. "However, I did not foresee DuMorne summoning such a thing. If it was in my power to have assisted you I would have," she told me.

I knew she was telling the truth. It was impossible for her to lie. That's why I felt an indignant anger at her having deemed it right for me to have gone through it all. "…Did you know about Justin—about what he intended to do?"

"I did not," Lea said after a moment. "Had I known he intended to enthral you, I would never have allowed you to come under his care."

I nodded slowly.

"I had merely assumed he meant to, ah, how they say… turn you to the darkside?"

"That's almost as bad!"

"It is?"

It was at times like this that it was as clear as day that my Godmother was anything but human. I sighed and gave Lea a tired smile. "I didn't know you were a Star Wars fan?"

Lea's eyes sparkled in an amusement that only she seemed to comprehend.

The amusement died away and Lea's expression faded until there was nothing left. The look on her face was wholly alien and devoid of anything human. It scared me.

"L-lea?"

Those gold, feline eyes regarded me silently, absent of emotion. "I cannot protect you from the Leviathan."

I swallowed. "You were here for that?" I asked, my voice almost meek. I felt as if I was a child who'd been caught stealing candy by his parents.

"I was not present. I can sense it within you. The darkness that she placed has taken root amongst your veins." Lea seemed to descend in front of me and a second later I found her straddling my legs, her hands coming to rest on my shoulders.

"I never knew you felt this way about me, Lea," I said, a faint strained laugh coming from my lips. I found myself leaning back away from her.

The void of emotion on her face suddenly went away and she looked at me. "I cannot save you from her, Harry." Lea said. She sounded concerned, genuinely compassionate. "I can no longer uphold my obligations for where you will go and who you will be with."

"I could end you now," she told me, her voice soft. "It would save you from them."

"I don't want to die," I told her, suddenly alarmed. "I really, really don't want to die!"

Lea's smile remained for a brief moment before it turned into a frown. "…You must run Harry," she told me. "She will be back soon, I cannot stop her from taking you, but you can run."

My heart thudded in my chest rapidly as Lea gracefully stood up once more. "Until she takes you, I will be here for you."

"Can't you do anything?" I asked Lea, my voice pleading as I forced myself onto my feet.

Lea regarded me for a long moment before in an instant she seemed to vanish. Not seemed to—one moment she was there and the next she was not.

I stood there for a few more seconds before I realized.

I could hear sirens, and they were getting closer. As I thought about it I realized they should have been here ages ago. Whatever the creature had done it had apparently been enough that a massive explosion had gone unnoticed. It had obviously stopped working at some point—no doubt because the thing that did it was half past dead.

The sirens got louder as they got closer.

It was time to get the fuck out of dodge.

I turned and I ran.

As I ran, I realized that something very fundamental had changed about my body. The first major tip off should have been that I was alive, rather than dead after being mortally wounded. Considering I had been half past dead not too long ago I felt great! In fact I doubt I'd ever felt better.

I moved smoothly like a well-oiled machine. As I ran it didn't feel like there was any strain was being put on legs at all.

I began to push a bit harder and my body pushed onwards, my legs moving faster and faster until I was certain I would lose track of my feet and go tumbling. But I never did. I didn't over think it. Instead I just ran, it had served me pretty damn well so far today.

It was another hour or two before I stopped running—not because I was tired, far from it, rather, I had no idea where I was. My body was definitely changed. I was faster—tougher, able to endure more strain. I might have been stronger as well, I really didn't have a chance to find out.

As far as I could tell I had found myself in the middle of suburbia. The lights were on in most of the homes. People were no doubt gathering around the dinner table or in some cases the TV.

As I stood there on the street, the dim lights of the streetlamps cast faint shadows on the sidewalk and the road. I took a moment to take in my situation. It'd all been one big rush of motion since I had gotten home and found out the people I had loved had never loved me at all and had intended from the start to hurt me.

But I had stopped the assassin he had sent after me. It had apparently killed me, but I had done it. My fist clenched at my side. I was beyond fury at this point. All that was left in me was cold, detached emptiness except for two things.

My hatred Justin for taking away everything he had given me.

My heartache for Elaine, who had betrayed me, who I had never meant anything to.

But my godmother had still been there in the end for me, in an odd, late sort of way. She predated that bastard. She'd always been there for me. I took a deep breath and let it out. She hadn't cursed me out when she had happened upon me, as tainted as I had become.

In her own sick and twisted way she had even offered to save me from what I had to look forward to in the future—by killing me, but she meant well I assumed. Like I hadn't managed to outrun Justin's assassin, I knew I couldn't escape the devil that had resurrected me. In the back of my mind I could almost sense her, that strange big-breasted magical girl. It was akin to knowing where the sun was while standing in the middle of a field. It wasn't so much a warmth, or a pressure or a light. It was something I couldn't find a word for.

She wasn't coming for me just yet, that much I did know.

I let out a sound of frustration and my stomach responded with a voracious roar.

I'm sixteen, so sue me.

After a few moments of consideration I decided on a course of action.

I'd already robbed and blown up a convenience store and—

I winced and clutched my head as the obscenely intimate memory of Stan's death played over in my head.

I shook my head and began to look for a house without a car out the front and the lights off. It wasn't hard. A few doors down there was a two story house; lights off and cars gone.

I walked up the driveway quickly, careful to make sure no one was suddenly looking out their window and I opened the front door, with a tiny bit of excessive force. The lock broke, or rather everything but the lock broke. It was safe to say that my strength had been similarly increased. I pushed the door open and the lock fell out of the latch hole to the ground.

I scampered inside and shut the door behind me before flicking on the lights as I went along as I made my way to the kitchen.

"One robbery and I've gone habitual," I muttered to myself in disbelief, shaking my head. I flicked on the last light switch in the hallway. It occurred to me a fraction of an instance before the lights came on, that I could smell food, freshly cooked food.

"…Godmother, what a big appetite you must have." I said, my voice flat as I regarded Lea and the apparent banquet that was sitting on the dining room table of the house I just happened to break into.

Lea sat on the corner of the table, her legs folded delicately upon each other with a glass of something dark red in her hand. She regarded me with a measure of amusement. "Is this the part where I respond with 'All the better to eat you with'?"

"It would have been nice," I admitted honestly as I walked towards the table. My eyes roamed over the food on it. It was still steaming, it had been very, very freshly made. I couldn't help but lick my lips.

"How are you inside this house?" I asked her after a brief moment. "Shouldn't the threshold have stopped you?"

Lea let out a soft tinkling laugh that was akin to bells slightly out of tune. "Should it not have stopped you?"

My heart skipped a beat or two. "Should it have?" I asked her, my voice briefly going a pitch too high.

Lea did not answer. She gestured to the seat next to her that was still tucked under the table. "It does not matter for the moment, come, sit and eat."

That sounded like a really good plan to my stomach. My head however had other ideas. I hadn't quite noticed it at first, but there was something slightly off about Lea.

'Off' perhaps wasn't the right word. She looked and seemed like she always had, but there was something about her that I couldn't put my finger on, but something in the back of my mind was screaming at me.

"Would you do me the honor of eating with me, in exchange?" I asked Lea.

Her feline eyes widened in delight and a pleased smile touched her lips. "I accept," she spoke, her voice tinged with approval. "Food in exchange for your company, delightful."

My Godmother slipped off the edge of the table and made her way around to the opposite side. She stood there, beside the chair, eyes sparkling with mischievous delight as she regarded me with a sort of impatient-patience.

I stared at her for a brief moment.

She raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" I asked flatly.

"Really," she said. "I've taught you better manners than this, Harry."

I sighed and walked around to the other side of the table. "No you haven't," came my witty retort as I grasped the back of the chair and drew it out.

Lea favored me with a courtly nod of the head and lowered herself into the chair with her usual inhuman grace. Myself, I barely had the grace not to look down the neck of her gown as she settled herself in. I noted that she weighed next to nothing as I pushed her chair in, most likely because she only had a passing acquaintance with mundane things like gravity to begin with.

I stepped back around the table and sat myself down across from Lea. I resisted the urge to simply tear the food apart and devour what I could. There were questions burning inside that I needed answers for. The most important question that I had to ask for the moment was the one that kept me from asking them.

I looked up to see Lea regarding me with an intense interest.

I steeled my nerves and took the plunge.

"Godmother, how is it that I can understand…" I hesitated for a brief moment and mulled over what I wanted to ask exactly. "I think I understand your nature a bit better than I once did."

"It is not surprising," Lea said with a pleased look upon her lovely features. "You are no longer entirely mortal," she considered me for a long moment. "Your nature has been corrupted into something similar to my own."

I swallowed. "Could you elaborate on that?"

"I could," Lea said with a teasing look. "But I do not believe it would do you well to know at this point in time, my son."

"You know I dislike it when you call me that," I said, a frown marring my lips.

Lea's eyes glittered and she gestured towards herself. "Am I not your Godmother? Is it not an appropriate, and affectionate moniker for you, Harry?" She brought a finger up and tapped it on her lips thoughtfully. "Or perhaps... after all you can no longer be considered my godson can you?"

I could already tell where she was going with this. "Please don't," I said to her dryly, knowing that I wouldn't be able to stop her either way.

"Don't be that way, dear, sweet devilson of mine."

A twinge of disgust filled my stomach. "If you call me that again I'm going to get angry," I told Lea honestly.

She gave me a look that told me she was pleased with my reaction.

I reached to the table and picked up a slice of what looked to be turkey and bit down on it. As I chewed I considered what I wanted to ask Lea. I could ask her anything at all and she wasn't obligated to give me a direct answer, and she was a skilled tactician at distracting me with pointless things as usual.

I swallowed and poured myself a glass of water from the pitcher that stood on the table.

"Alright," I said after I took a drink from the glass. "I have a million questions. But the most important one is…" I fell silent.

What was the most important thing for me to ask her? Was I really a Devil? It was a pointless question, I knew the answer already. I could ask her about 'The Leviathan' or Levi-tan as she called herself. I could ask about what she meant about not being able to uphold her obligations for 'where' and 'who' I would be with. The who was easy, the where, however was causing me a very much deserved amount of concern.

But, despite my death and rebirth as a minion of hell, there was something overriding all the more important thoughts in my mind.

Revenge.

It felt so utterly human that I couldn't help but embrace it. "I want to kill him Lea," I said, my voice cracking as I found myself unable to contain the sheer rage that began to build up inside. "I want to hurt him and make him regret what he did to me."

Lea remained silent and watched me.

"Can I do it?" I asked her. "Can I kill him?"

"You have the capacity within you to crush him as you would an ant," Lea told me. "Whether or not you will be able to as you are is akin to a different beast. Even amongst the White Council, DuMorne is considered to be skilled."

"The White whatnow?"

Lea blinked once.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me!" I exclaimed. "Why didn't he ever tell me?" I demanded to know before angrily stabbing a fork into a slice of carrot. "Who are they?"

"The White Council are the ruling body of wizards. They oversee the affairs of mortal practitioners." Lea began to explain to me. "To be considered a member one must have a certain level of magical strength and aptitude. Membership is mandatory for those who they believe qualify for it. Though all mortal magic users are forced to answer to them. They have existed since the times of the roman empire."

"Why didn't he tell me about them?"

Lea opened her mouth to no doubt say something obvious and make me feel inadequately stupid. "Don't bother, I get it," I said bitterly. "He kept me in the dark so I wouldn't have anyone to run to."

I chewed on the carrot for a few seconds and swallowed. "Can I tell them about Justin?"

"You could," Lea answered and tilted her head. "If they learned of his treachery and use of dark magics they would come and they would unmake him."

"Then can we—"

"However," Lea continued, cutting me off. "He is a respected member of their cabal and it would take more time than you have for them to determine his guilt, and that is of course if he consents to their investigations."

I gritted my teeth. "So that's a dead end then?"

"If it is a swift vengeance that you seek, you will not find it with the White Council," Lea told me and began to lean forwards. It did nice things to her cleavage which I had been pointedly ignoring, much like the points that were starting to form under that pale dress of hers.

"If you wish it, Harry, you could destroy the treacherous viper," Lea told me, her voice lowering and somehow causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up—amongst other things. "As I have spoken, so it is. You have within you the power to destroy the man who took your life from you." Her tongue briefly appeared and moistened her lips.

"His actions have consequences which cannot be allowed to go unanswered." She hissed.

A shiver went through my body as Lea's tone devolved, going from what one could call sensual, almost inviting to something akin to the seething anger I had felt minutes prior.

It called to me in a sense. A sudden realization that I couldn't place the beginning's of. I understood why Lea's words came out as they did.

Lea—or rather the Leanansidhe was my Godmother. She was of the Sidhe, creatures who did deals and made bargains to gain power. She was terrifyingly strong, the depths of her power I couldn't begin to even understand.

She got her power from bargaining, and she, like all Sidhe kept their word. It was something unthinkable—something they were incapable of doing; to break ones word, or the deals one made was akin to the greatest taboo.

I knew that my mother—my real mother, Margaret Dresden had done some sort of deal with Lea, the Sidhe had told me as much herself. It was why she was my godmother.

Justin's actions had done worse than lead to my death. I could no longer be considered to be purely human—if at all. While in the end it had been my choice, she couldn't lay the blame to me. Mainly because the subject of her obligation was me.

Justin, however had no such protection from Lea's displeasure

Lea took a deep breath and sat up straight and the terrifying disposition she held fell away. "You have more than enough power to lay waste to Justin DuMorne," she told me. "What you lack is resolve."

I opened my mouth to protest, but I fell silent.

She wasn't wrong. I wasn't certain if I would be able to confront Justin. He had been everything to me. He'd saved me from the orphanage after my father died. He'd given me a home and given me purpose in life. More than that he had given me my training in magic.

He was the master and I was the apprentice. I had no delusions about how thoroughly I was outclassed ability wise. I'd seen him do things I still couldn't understand. The thought against going up against him in a magical fight made a spike of fear go through me.

I'd only ever cast one spell in my entire life with the intent to harm. It had been mere hours ago against the assassin that he had sent to kill me.

That's right. He had sent that creature to kill me, and he had succeeded.

Once again, Stan's dying moments played through my head in vivid technicolour.

"What do I have to do?" I asked as I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the fresh memory of Stan's soul as it had been annihilated.

"We shall make bargain, you and I," Lea told me, her voice firm.

I looked up and saw her staring at me intently.

"You will deliver Justin DuMorne unto me for judgment, and I will give you what you need to take your vengeance from him."

My breath hitched in my throat. "What do you mean, deliver him to you?"

"I would have you unmake DuMorne inside his own house," she told me. "I would have you render him unto me, and I would have you exact vengeance upon him." Lea's eyes once again took on a maddened sheen. "It will be the last that he will know."

I swallowed. "You're pretty scary right now Lea," I told her honestly and gave her a nervous smile.

And just like that it was gone and she was somewhat passable as normal again.

She regarded me with a raised eyebrow. "Your time grows short, child. I will never again offer a chance such as this."

I licked my lips and looked away from Lea to the massive spread of food that still sat between us. She was willing to help me get back at Justin. All I had to do was beat him without killing him and hand him over to her. I wasn't quite sure I could manage that, considering the only battle spell that I knew didn't quite have a name and was dangerous to even think about.

Hindsight was twenty twenty in this case, I suppose. There was something that told me handing Justin over to Lea was in many ways worse than outright killing him. My lips drew back in an almost snarl. "Fine. Deal." I said and watched as Lea's eyes briefly closed and she drew in a shuddering breath of pleasure.

"Very well," Lea said, her eyes opening to show that her feline pupils had dilated. She regarded me with those inhuman eyes of hers. She seemed to flow out of her seat and around the table, before appearing beside me. Her soft, warm hands gently cupped my cheeks and tilted my face up towards her. The smell of something sweet and flowery and desirable filled my next breath.

My heart began to beat rapidly as Lea began to lean down, her blood red lips inches away from my own. Her reddish hair cascaded down like a curtain and blocked out everything else. I didn't dare say anything. It was beyond inappropriate, my sensibilities told me as much, but Lea had been my first crush, my first wet dream. No one I'd ever met had ever measured up to her.

My eyes flickered down to her lips and I couldn't help but lick mine.

"Eat up, Harry. You will need your strength. Go to the house of DuMorne and exact your vengeance. I will wait for your call." Lea's voice came out softly before she dipped her head and her lips came onto mine.

They were soft, softer than Elaine's by far, soft and warm and moist. I suddenly found myself kissing back as a sudden daring and courage filled me. My hand moved on its own and found it's way to Lea's hip as I worked my lips against hers.

I was filled with a profound sense of disappointment as Lea drew her lips away from mine and I found her golden eyes gazing down at me, her beautiful hair still concealing the world around us. "Naughty boy," she purred, an amused, satisfied smile on her lips as she leaned up and kissed me upon the forehead ever so gently.

And then she was gone once more.

My heart hammered away in my chest. I could still feel the warmth and softness of her lips on my own. I licked them and let out a sigh before beginning to pile my plate with food.

The Leanansidhe was an Oedipus complex just waiting to happen. She was the closest thing I had to a mother and she was encouraging me to kill the closest thing I had to a father these days.

As I began to dig into the food I'd piled on my plate, I took a moment to actually look at the house I had broken into. I hadn't been able to tell initially because of how dark it had been, but it was surprisingly empty of contents. The smell of food had cloaked the smell of fresh paint as well.

It explained a bit, on why and how Lea was able to get inside without being invited. I didn't want to consider her words and on how I was able to be inside as well. It could have just been she was trying to stir me up, but I felt no different than I had before. I didn't have a sudden urge to set fire to the world and to steal peoples souls.

I was filled with a healthy amount of hatred and anger, but that was more than understandable considering my position.

Despite everything I felt confident in myself. I felt assured that I could take Justin down. I had no idea what Lea had done, but my victory was as certain as the sun rising. It was inevitable.

What wasn't certain, was the how. The only spell I had ever used for the express purposes of injuring someone wasn't quite the tool that was required for the job. A house, while less prone to sudden explosions was very much more flammable than your average gas station.

In addition, I don't think there would be anything left of him if I used that and I doubt Lea would be happy with the ashes and remains. As I ate and toyed with the food on my plate I gave deep consideration to what I intended to go against Justin with.

I knew I had the element of surprise on my side. There was very little doubt in my mind that Justin never expected me to show up on his doorstep again. In fact, as far as he was probably concerned I was dead. I didn't know the deep details of thaumaturgy and tracking people, but I was pretty damn certain that anything he had that could have possibly tracked me would no longer work.

I was, in essence no longer the same person. I had died and was reborn as something not quite human. My understanding and outlook was radically different. I was an entirely new person. A new person with an obscene amount of rage borne from it all, but a new person none the less.

In my mind I pictured the sheer majesty and force that I had brought upon the demented monster that Justin had sent against me. I could feel the warmth of it against my skin even now. If I could capture a small, tiny portion of that power it would be more than enough to defeat my once mentor.

However, I couldn't feel the same spark of energy that had filled me when I had used it. I remembered my thoughts clearly, every moment of it. Something was missing from the equation. I ran over everything and in the end it came up with a missing piece of the puzzle. If I did everything as I had done before my experience told me that I would come up with a geyser of heat and fire. It would not even touch a scope of what I had done.

I took another drink of water.

Perhaps I was going about it all wrong. As I played it over in my mind all I could see was us facing off in the ruins of our home. Fire burning away at the remains of the house. But perhaps, despite my sudden urge to make it a reality, I didn't need to be so overt?

The journey didn't matter as long as he paid for what he had done.

As I ate, drank and considered the food on the table slowly got colder and colder until it was room temperature. Which was very unfortunate, because the house apparently wasn't well insulated. I stood up and wrapped my arms tight around me as I left the house. I deeply regretted not having picked my shirt up when I had ran from the gas station.

I left the house, stepping over the lock that had fallen out of the front door frame and began to make my way back the way I had come, only to notice something that was distinctly out of place. At some point a car had rolled up and parked in the driveway.

It wasn't just any car.

It was a 1956 Chevrolet Corvette. My mouth went dry and I couldn't help but walk up to it. The street lamps above illuminated the beautiful beast of a car. It's cream and red had been replaced with a slick custom silver job and the steel trim had been polished to an immaculate chrome perfection. The top of the car was down and the silvery insides were bare to the world.

More importantly, it had a large red ribbon on the front.

"No way." I couldn't help but whisper as I got closer. I reached out and ran a hand over the hood, my touch so lightly I wasn't sure if it was real. I walked around the car and took it in, until I came upon the front of it and caught sight of the license plate.

H311HND

"Oh Lea, you beautiful woman." I breathed out as a sudden rush of glee filled me. I swept around to the drivers side and slipped in. The keys were in the ignition.

I turned them.

The engine growled as if turning the key had awoken a beast many times larger, suddenly I wasn't certain it was just eight cylinders of American muscle under the hood.

The stereo without warning kicked on as the rumbling engine steadied out into a low thrum.

The rift of guitars filled my ears, followed by the steady beat of drums.

Livin' easy. Lovin' Free. Season ticket on a one way ride.

A wide smile that I couldn't hold back found itself on my lips. "You beautiful, beautiful bitch…" I whispered as my hands clutched the steering wheel.

I couldn't help but throw my head back and laugh as I shifted the car into reverse and drove back onto the road. I spun the car around and began to drive.

My friends are gonna be there too. I'm on the highway to hell.

Adrenaline filled my veins as I pushed in the clutch and shifted up the gears. Music filled my ears as the wind roared by. I was beyond such a paltry sentiment as 'speed limits' at this point.

Eventually I found myself nearing the still smoking remains of the gas station that I had summarily exploded. There were blue and red lights flashing at the scene, half the road was corded off. I slowed down and began to drive at something akin to the speed limit as I passed by before dropping it further.

I looked out the window and took in the scene. Emergency vehicles were littered around the area and people were crawling over the rubble and wreckage. There were dozens upon dozens of people in bright yellow. Out of the corner of my eye I saw someone in the background in gray, observing the scene. I caught their attention briefly and looked back to the road quickly and accelerating.

I may have driven off a bit faster than I had intended.

By the time I had arrived at the beginning of my former homes street the music had ended. The night was quiet and was only filled by the steady thrum of the engine as I dropped the gears down.

I pulled up along the curb a couple houses away and shut the engine off. Without the engine to fill the night the insects began to make themselves known.

I found myself sitting there, my hands resting on the wheel. The leather under it felt nice and supple. It had been a real pleasure to drive. The suspension was nice and solid and the engine was a creature of such ferocity I thought I was going to lose control when I had floored it at one point. That had made it all the more fun if I was being perfectly honest.

If I was being even more honest, I'd have acknowledged that the reason I had parked a few houses away, which coincidentally was the same reason I had yet to get out of the car. My blood screamed for Justin to pay for what he had done. The tiny voice in my head that sounded suspiciously like my godmother wholeheartedly agreed.

But—it sounded stupid and childish—my heart still ached. I didn't want to hurt Justin, the man who had been my entire world. I didn't want to hurt Elaine, who would—despite everything we'd been through together, and done together—help that man take me down.

I let out a long breath to clear my head.

I couldn't think like that. Justin, the man who had taught me magic and Elaine, my first everything weren't there any longer. I pushed Elaine out of my head entirely. DuMorne was my enemy here. He was the one who had sent He Who Walks Behind after me, he was the reason I had died and become whatever it was I was.

As long as Elaine didn't appear before me I was certain I could do this.

But if she did.

If she came before me and helped Justin.

I wasn't certain if I'd be able to fight back. Could I hurt her? We'd hurt each other before. Play fights gone awry and badly considered words. But we'd never meant each other harm.

Again, I pushed the thoughts from my mind. DuMorne was who I had to focus on. He had decades of experience at using magic on me. He knew every trick I could possibly have up my sleeve.

That was why Harry Dresden, Apprentice Wizard, no longer existed. He had died at that gas station. He had been killed by this man disguised as a monster. His dying wish had been to live, and he hadn't quite gotten it. So the next best thing was revenge.

My grip on the steering wheel tightened and the leather squeaked under the force of my twisting hands.

I didn't bother pulling the keys from the ignition.

Either I'd be back to drive away, or I wouldn't.

I stepped out of the car and closed the door with a satisfying thud.

As I breathed the air coalesced into a cloud of steam.

I was as ready as I would ever be.

I walked with purpose along the road up to my former home. It took a while. The grounds were large, almost exceptionally so for the area. Large enough to hide a prepubescent wizards attempts at learning magic. I doubted anyone had even noticed that the window had been blown out.

As I walked up along the drive way I realized how impossibly intimidating the silhouette of the house was. It had long been a comforting sight for me, but for the first time it was anything but.

The window that Justin had blown out had been covered with a blue tarp. The lawn was still covered with bits and pieces of glass and shattered wooden frame. There were no lights on downstairs. There was a light on in Justin's study and Elaine's room.

I took a deep breath and continued walking forwards until I was less than a dozen yards.

There had been a dozen ways that I had considered starting this fight. A million possible ways that I could have let him know I had returned. In the end I couldn't help but be a bit cheesy.

I drew up my force of will and poured it into my right hand. I compacted the emotions that I was feeling down into a tiny bundle of compressed chaotic energy. As I dug deep inside, I realized for the first time, that the depths that I could reach had gotten… deeper. I had once likened gathering my magic to dipping a cup into a bucket. This time it felt a lot more like dropping a bucket down a well and hauling up the contents.

My emotions bubbled away and threatened to rip the spell from my hand prematurely, but I buckled down on them and fed my anger, my hate, my rage, my sorrows and fears into my hand.

My hand trembled, my fingers strained to keep closed.

The forces being held within them demanded to be released.

"Knock, Knock!" I shouted out and drew my fist back before throwing it towards what was once my house.

"Forzare!"

A lot of the new spell I had created had been theoretical. It was basically a super amped version of my baseball spell. Except, turned up to eleven. So it shouldn't have surprised me with what happened.

The force tore free from my hand as my fingers flung open and I had to steady myself to keep from being blown backwards. A massive invisible wave crashed into the the house.

The front of the house imploded as if it had been hit by a truck, a large house-sized truck that was also invisible. The sound was deafening and almost on par with the explosion that had rocked the gas station.

"Come out and face me!" I shouted angrily as my chest heaved from the expenditure of energy. My hand dropped down to my side and my fist clenched. "Face me you coward!"

For a brief moment there was no movement. I could see into the front of the house, and there was nothing there to be seen. Justin's bedroom which was on the front side of the house had been totally exposed, except for the mass of bricks and plaster that had covered every inch of the floor and furniture.

There was however, no sign of Justin.

My breaths continued to come heavily as my eyes flickered across the front of the house, even as loose bricks continued to fall and land on the front of the lawn and pieces of wood, barely connected by the barest threads hung from the house's frame, swinging back and forth.

"You should have stayed dead, boy."

I stiffened and my eyes focused in on the front door that had been blown off of its hinges and flung halfway down the house. It shifted, moved, and was pushed to the side.

My lips peeled back in a half snarl as Justin pulled himself up off the floor. He'd apparently been behind the door when the spell had hit. His pajamas were ruffled and covered with debris, his hair was frazzled and his eyes were murderous.

The smart thing to do would have been to hit him with another blast right then and there and knock him senseless. Never let it be said that I was a smart kid.

"Shut up!" I screamed at him angrily, "You fucking bastard! You lied to me! You betrayed me! You and Elaine you both betrayed me!"

Justin stared at me for a long moment, his eyes still furious. "This is your last chance," he told me, his voice as cold as ice as he began to walk through the rubble in the doorway. "I will give you one more chance to come back to Elaine and I."

"You…you monster…" I whispered, my voice quivering with anger. "You think you can take my entire life away from me—you think you can kill me and I'd settle for anything less than equal retribution?"

A flicker of surprise briefly appeared on Justin's features.

"Forzare!" I shouted and threw my hand out towards him again. Unlike the first time I'd cast the spell, this was not nearly as massive or overpowering but it was vastly quicker.

This time Justin was prepared. He brought his hand up in clawing motion.

My invisible blast of force slammed into something equally invisible with the force of a sledge hammer. The shield Justin had pulled up in front of him flared with incandescent silver light before the grass and debris around him blew away as the energy dissipated and spread out in front of the shield.

"You cannot win against me. I taught you everything you know." Justin's voice boomed. He lifted his hand and twisted his fingers in a complex motion that I couldn't keep track of, but knew the outcome of.

I lunged to the side, barely avoiding being peppered with the shot-gun like blast of force that erupted from Justin's hand. He'd once demonstrated it to me when he had been teaching me how to master my own use of raw force.

The ground where I had stood exploded into a shower of grass and dirt.

"Even if you've managed to strengthen your spells, you're never going to be a match for me!"

Another blast of force hit the spot I had been moments before I had rolled to my feet, and again moved out of the way.

What Lea said came to my mind. He was nothing but an ant to me. I could crush him under foot if I had the desire. I watched as Justin's fingers twisted in their elaborate motions and I released a quick and sloppy blast of magical energy at his face.

He may have expected it, but he couldn't shield it or dodge out of the way. I sacrificed power for speed and it slugged him in the face and sent him tumbling backwards. It hit him with the same amount of force as a bean bag would. A bean bag being shot out of a cannon. The spell in his hand fell apart and I heard him give a grunt of pain.

"Boy!" he snarled and pulled himself up.

I never gave him the chance. A stronger, more solid blast of energy caught him in the chest and sent him rolling again until he hit the front steps of the house.

I stared at him grimly and began to walk forwards, power building up in my hands again. This… monster was nothing like the man that had been raising me for the past few years. I refused to believe they were the same person.

I suddenly halted and brought my hands up, watching him warily. He'd never been this slow before. If I hadn't known better I'd have said he was distracted. But it could have all been a ploy to get me to lower my guard so he could sucker punch me.

Justin stood up and calmly dusted himself off, before regarding me with a measuring look. "You've certainly managed to progress with your force spells," he told me with a sound of approval. "If I had known threatening to kill you would be this effective I would have done it long ago."

Alarms were going off in my head. Something was terribly wrong and I couldn't see what it was.

"Forzare!" I shouted and threw my hand out again, letting loose yet another blast of invisible force that drained a bit more out of me than the previous spells had, leaving me a bit winded.

Justin's hand came up and his silvery shield once again blocked the strike.

"Very, very impressive, Harry," Justin said to me, using my name for the first time in days. "You've quite the talent for forceful manipulation of magic, don't you?"

He kept walking closer.

"Forzare!"

Again, the spell was blocked.

I began to step backwards, not willing to let Justin get within range.

I was so focused on Justin that I didn't notice the shimmer to the left of me until it was too late. Elaine appeared a few feet away, staring at me. I brought my hands up to defend myself, but that was what Justin had intended on from the very beginning.

Justin's sucker punch hit me straight on. The force akin to a truck rammed into my chest and literally lifted me up off my feet, before curving downwards and slamming me into the ground. I let out a grunt of pain. I'd been hit harder by gas station shelves! I tried to push myself up off the ground, but found that the force was unrelenting. It was like a heavy blanket that refused to lift.

I couldn't help but stare at Elaine as she stood, mere feet from me. Her eyes watched mine, cold and detached. "E-Elaine," I gasped out. "H-help!"

She just stared at me. I could see something flicker in her eye briefly, before it was gone again.

"Elaine, bind him while I hold him down."

Elaine's hands came up and with slow precision began to weave through the air. She began to mutter something in some variant on Old Egyptian, adding a roll of her wrist and a ripple of her fingers. I felt her spell lock around me like a full-body straitjacket, paralyzing me from chin to toes, wrapping me in silent, unseen force. It pressed against my jacket, flattening it, and made it hard to take a deep breath.

Elaine's hands dropped to her side and out of the corner of my eye I saw Justin walking closer, his hand held out over me. The combination of the two forceful spells made it impossible to breath. I could see stars in front of my eyes.

It took me a few seconds to realize that I was actually seeing stars and I found myself losing focus on the two standing over me. They seemed to blur out of my vision and above the millions of shining dots in the sky became all the brighter, and all the larger.

A sense of calmness fell over me. Whether it was from the spells squeezing the air out of my lungs and a sudden lack of oxygen to my brain, or something else, I wasn't quite sure. Suddenly the pressure coating my body lessened significantly and my lungs greedily drank in the air, before stopping prematurely as the cocoon of air that had been locked in place around me stopped them from expanding.

The world swam into focus again and I found myself being pulled along the lawn on my back. I couldn't move my head, but I could see—and feel—Justin's hand on my ankle, literally pulling me along causing my jacket to bunch up. My back was itching something fierce from the grass, glass and whatever else had been blown onto the lawn.

I resisted the urge to panic and freak out. Elaine, knowingly or not had used a binding that I had long since worked out how to break. Despite the situation and my helplessness I suddenly found myself staring at Elaine out of the corner of my eye.

This… wasn't my girlfriend at all. The Elaine I remember… Elaine was always full of passion. It was the nature of who she was. I could see her cursing me out and trying to set fire to my clothes while I wore them, I could see her breaking a girls nose for getting too cozy for me. But I could not imagine in my wildest dreams that she would simply stand there and just stare at me.

But, she had to know, she just had to know that the binding she had used was one we'd already worked out how to beat. It was impressive against your average person, or animal, yes. But against a wizard it wasn't infallible.

Did I mean so little to her that she'd forget something like that? There had to be something else going on. Something she couldn't tell me. That had to be it.

"Elaine, tell Harry how you really feel about him." Justin said as he dragged me up over the concrete and shattered steps of the porch.

It hurt.

But it didn't hurt as much as what Elaine said next.

"I love Harry."

My heart attempted to strangle itself.

"And this is for his own good, isn't it? If he can't be trusted he can't live with us anymore, can he?"

"For his own good," Elaine agreed, her voice all but a whisper. "Please stay with me Harry. I love you."

"Stop," I began to sob, unable to help it. "Please stop."

"I love you, Harry," Elaine repeated. "Stay with me."

"I hate you, Justin, I hate you so much," I whispered, my throat choked up and my eyes blurring.

"It's alright, Harry," Justin's said as he dropped my leg and I found myself in the middle of the lounge room once more. The straitjacket from the afternoon still sat on the table, as pristine white as ever. "You won't feel that way for very long. It truly pains me to see you in this condition," he lamented. "I hadn't wanted it to come to this, but you've always been a handful, haven't you?"

I wasn't a lonely orphan. I wasn't. I was a wizard! I was… I was…

The fire and pep that had filled me died away and my resolve faded.

"I love you, Harry."

"Stop."

"I love you."

"…"

"I love you."

"You can stop that now," Justin's voice came from a few feet out of my vision.

Elaine fell silent.

The only sounds in the house were Justin's footsteps.

As I laid there, bound and immobile I could do nothing but stare at the roof.

The stars had been so beautiful. They were so far away, but I felt like if I had just reached out I could have touched them. My skin began to prickle as a sudden warmth began to fill me at the memory of them.

"Go fetch the canvas satchel from my room, Elaine."

The feeling of emptiness began to ebb as the warmth continues to trickle along my body and drew the cold away. With the absence of absent emotions came a renewal of anger and indignation.

Justin knew how to push my buttons. He and Elaine knew just what to say to sap the strength from my limbs. But that was old Harry. Old Harry who had died fighting. I wasn't going to go down without at least twice the fight he had.

The more I fought and used my force spell, the more I had come to understand it. I understood how it worked, I understood how it could be shaped and changed, and how it was a simple carrier of energy. I could easily fuel it with fire instead. I could do anything I wanted.

So I did.

I began to feed the warmth inside into a bundle of energy in my chest. It began to burn hotter and hotter and hotter until it felt like my chest was going to explode. I took a deep breath and held it for a long second before whispering and pushing out the energy laced within my words.

"Stella. Stella Forzare."

The world was bathed in golden light as energy washed out of my body and crashed against the hardened air that kept my limbs locked in their rigid position. The hardened air around me buckled and with a surge of strength I threw out my limbs, blowing clean through the binds in a super nova of fiery energy that crashed against the walls and roof. There was a brief sound of surprise and pain a mere moment before the entire room spontaneously caught on fire.

"Round two." I gasped out as I pulled myself to my feet.

Only to find Justin on the ground, withering in pain as his skin bubbled and crackled as the fat beneath it burned.

I stared for a long moment, uncomprehending of my mentors state, or the fact the house was on fire.

My lack of comprehension lasted only a few more moments before the heat from the room began to become uncomfortable. Everything was on fire. The walls, the couch, the door frame, the ceiling. They had been hit with such an intense wave of heat that they had spontaneously combusted.

The tarp that had covered the lounge room window bad been incinerated by the blast as well.

The fire quickly dwindled on certain things, such as the walls as it found itself with a lack of quick burning fuel to sustain itself. The couch however was not so fortunate and continued to crackle as the fibers burned away.

All the while Justin stayed on the floor in his agonized state.

"Lea," I said numbly. "Godmother."

The moment I had called her name Lea appeared on the other side of the window and waited there silently for something.

It took me a few seconds to realize what.

"Please come in, Godmother," I said to her.

Lea's lips curled into a pleased smile and she took a step forwards into the house. A cold breeze poured into the room as she did, along with a mist that crept up the walls and crawled over the furniture, extinguishing the fires between her and I.

"I am quite impressed," Lea spoke, her voice soft and lilting.

"You were watching?" I asked her and swayed on the spot, barely able to keep standing. The adrenaline began to drain out of my body and I felt almost as tired as I had been when I had taken out Justin's assassin.

"Of course." She smiled at me with a sort of girlish delight I'd never seen on her features. "For a brief moment you had me worried, sweet child. But you do not disappoint, do you?"

I stared at Lea for a long moment, wondering if she had any idea what I was feeling at that moment. Because for the life of me I couldn't find it in myself to feel anything but cold numbness. I gave her a tired smile. "I've been known to get it right once or twice."

Lea stopped beside me and her eyes seemed to lose all warmth in them as they turned down to Justin. She stared down at him for a long moment and I could almost feel her evaluating him.

Lea made a sound of contempt and turned to me smiling. "You are victorious," she told me, her voice calm and collected. "As such, the bargain must be completed and payment must be made."

I nodded slowly. "He's all yours, Godmother, do what you want with him."

Lea's golden eyes gleamed and the fires in the house that remained cast a depth in them that I would rather have not seen. Her pupils seemed to get wider and her cheeks became ever so flushed.

"Yes," she breathed out. "What I want." Her tongue peeked out and moistened her lips. "Would you assist me, Harry?"

"With what?" I asked.

A silvery blade that drank in light appeared in her hand. It was fairly plain and unremarkable except for the dark red stains that covered it's blade.

"I would have you exact your vengeance to the fullest extent," Lea said to me, her breaths coming quicker as she spoke, her cheeks flushing deeper. "Offer him to me," she told me.

I stared down at the blade in her hand for the longest time.

She was asking me to kill him.

She was asking me to kill him when he couldn't fight back.

I would have happily killed Justin in our fight. But did I have it in me to do so in cold blood?

I felt so tired and empty. I just wanted the day to be over. Justin's burned and charred laid there on the ground, twitching every few seconds. At this point leaving Justin alive may not have been any more merciful than killing him. In fact it would be quite the opposite.

When I'd broken free from Elaine's spell, Justin had been caught in the backlash and it had ruined him. The sheer agony he must have been in, even at that very moment must have been immense. He'd always had a strong will and could take pain with the best of them. Yet he wasn't making a sound. He gave no signs he even knew I was there.

In the end I decided to be merciful, for both him and myself.

I took the knife from Lea's hand and grasped it tightly in my own. It weighed a lot more than I thought it would.

"Do not cut yourself with the blade," Lea told me. "Bring him here, and slice his throat." She pulled a matching silvery bowl that wasn't quite normal. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end; it was also stained scarlet.

This was getting to be some pretty macabre shit. Never mind the fact that Justin had been cooked inside his own skin, we were going to bleed him out as well?

I felt detached as I did it, like I was watching someone else in my own body.

"Do it slowly," my Godmother told me, her eyes gleaming with arousal as she held the bowl beneath Justin's throat.

I did it slowly. The edge of the blade touched upon Justin's throat and I moved the knife.

It took a lot longer than I had expected, but Lea never spilled a drop.

We were silent as it happened.

When she stood up and stepped away, I let go of Justin and his body fell to the floor with a dull thump. I stared down at my late mentor, unable to comprehend what I had done. I just felt numb to it all.

"Sweet child," Lea's voice murmured from somewhere near me and I felt something soft and utterly feminine press against my upper back before I was embraced in a soft, warm hug. Lea's hands found mine and took the scarlet blade from them, before they pressed against my chest and began to roam.

I couldn't help but let out a gasp as I felt Lea's lips press against my neck, and a burning sensation rippled outwards that seemed to inflame my nerves and spark something akin to pleasure.

"L-lea?" I stammered, coming to my senses as I felt Lea's hands begin to roam further than I had ever expected.

A faint chuckle came from Lea's lips as they rested against my neck. "It is almost time," she said to me softly. "You did wonderfully."

"Almost time?" I asked, my voice soft and confused. "What do you mean?"

"She comes," Lea told me softly, her tone almost what I would call affectionate. Her hand came up and gently touched my cheek, her fingertips trailing over it.

It took me a moment to realize what she meant. The strange sixth sense I had gotten since I had become a devil was suddenly becoming a lot stronger. Whatever it was sensing was getting closer by the second.

In front of me a vaguely familiar magical circle suddenly flared to life on the ground and began to rotate. There was a flash of light and in an instant an almost familiar figure appeared before Lea and I.

"Harry!" An irritated, if lovely voice shouted out my name petulantly. "Why did you leave!"

Serafall Leviathan, the devil that had either saved me from death, or had brought me back to life, stood in front of me. She looked every bit as lovely and cute as she had when she first appeared before me. Unfortunately she was still in her costume and looked every bit as silly and childish as I remembered, so any sense of tact I had was not likely to survive the next words that came out of my mouth.

The devil-girl's light blue eyes widened dramatically as she took in the state the house was in, and the dead body on the ground. She gave a sound of shock and spun to face me. "Harry! You set the place on fire again!" she exclaimed, pointing at me.

"…I have no response to that." I admitted. "It was my fault."

The devil blinked twice and suddenly realized that there was someone else present, and that someone else was currently wrapped around me rather intimately.

Serafall's brow furrowed and she stared over my shoulder at my Godmother for a long moment. "I know you," she said, the traces of levity in her voice suddenly gone.

The sudden change over her caused a wariness to overtake me. It struck me like lightning the next moment when I realized that it hadn't been her voice that had set off alarms in my head. It was a subtle building up of power in the air that did it.

"It's a pleasure to meet you again, Leviathan." Lea's voice was as cool and polite as I had ever heard her.

The twin-tailed girl's eyes widened and a sudden realization hit her, before her eyes narrowed significantly. "…You're Mab's handmaiden," she said much to my confusion.

I blinked and turned my head, looking at Lea and mouthing the name in confusion.

"I come in peace," Lea said smoothly, her hands dropping from my chest and face as she stepped around me. "I am merely saying good bye to my godson." Her hand trailed along the back of my shoulders before dropping off.

Serafall blinked rapidly in confusion and the sudden buildup of power vanished. "G-godson?" She stammered, her eyes wide as she looked between Lea and I rapidly. "You're a fairy godmother?" she asked in disbelief, looking at Lea as if she had grown another head.

Lea all the while continued to smile. "It is so, I owe you my thanks for saving this sweet child from death," Lea said cordially. "They are fortunately tempered by the means of which you saved him."

"Hmph." The devil girl folded her arms across her impressively sized chest and gave Lea a look of annoyance.

"I do not dispute your claim to him," Lea continued to say. "All I ask is that you allow us to say our goodbyes in peace without interference."

"I'm not going anywhere," Serafall said flatly, practically stomping her feet. "I'm gonna be right here the entire time! You can say whatever you want to my slave with me right here."

I felt the urge to protest and bring issue to what she said, but was beaten to the punch by my Godmother.

Lea's eyes flashed with something ugly and unpleasant, but her smile remained fixed. "Of course, thank you for your understanding," Lea's tone was smooth and diplomatic, but I could tell that she wanted to say something else.

The insight surprised me. Maybe I was understanding my godmother a bit better than before?

Lea turned to me and graced me with a smile. "Time runs short."

"I have a gift for you," Lea told me. "It is yours to do with as you see fit, as long as you do one thing for your godmother."

"What is it?" I asked slowly, almost warily.

"It is something of your mother's," Lea told me with a smile. "Knowledge and understanding."

"I want it." I said instantly. "Whatever it is I want it."

Lea, ignoring my sudden outburst continued on. "It may come at a price."

"You mean other than the one you want for it?" I asked a bit more waspishly than I had intended.

"Your mother lost her ability to sleep soundly. The price may be worse for you, or easier to endure."

My hand reached up and absently grasped something under my jacket that I kept hidden from view. The only thing I had to remember my mother by was the old pentacle that had once been hers.

"I'm a minion of hell," I told Lea flatly. "What could be worse than that?"

The devil who did it made a sound of protest. 'Hey!'

Lea let out a soft chuckle and reached down, grasping my hand and bringing it up. She clasped hers over my palm and I felt something heavy weight down between them. "When you understand what it is, use it to come to me, and I will consider the debt fulfilled."

My Godmother's hand drew away to reveal a ruby. I blinked in confusion and stared down at it for a long moment, before rolling it around in my hand. "..It's a jewel?"

I glanced back down at the gem that sat on my palm and frowned as I realized it was cut in the shape of a pentagon. "I wonder," I murmured and reached up, unzipping my jacket and pulling out my necklace.

"Allow me." Before I could do it myself, Lea took the ruby from my palm with one hand and grasped my necklace with the other. I felt the jewel slot into place and Lea released the bejewelled pentagram. It felt a lot heavier than it had before as it rested against my chest. Lea's fingertips briefly trailed down over it, and then onto my bare chest and I suddenly found my mouth to be a bit too dry

Lea simply smiled at me and inclined her head. "Be safe, Godson. You have a future far brighter than what waits in the Underworld for you.

"Thank you for your consideration, Leviathan." Lea said as she turned to face the vastly shorter Devil.

"Hmph…I don't need thanks from the likes of you," Serafall said shortly. "Get out of here."

"A pleasure as always."

When I looked up Lea was gone, leaving just the blue eyed devil and I.

"You should probably throw that away," Serafall Leviathan told me. "Who knows what that witch has done to it?"

"It was my mother's," I snapped at her.

"Oh, well keep it then!" she said brightly with a grin and practically bounced over to me, causing other things about her to bounce distractingly.

When I had first seen her she had seemed short and I had been sitting down at the time, but just how much had eluded me until she was standing right there with me. It boggled my mind that she had breasts the size that she did considering her frame.

The devil's eyes slipped down and a look of distaste marred her features. "I won't ask, but what happened here?"

"You just asked," I said flatly.

"Oh, well tell me then?" she asked brightly, smiling at me happily.

"…When you saved me. He was the one who sent the creature to kill me."

She tilted her head curiously. "What creature?"

"Never mind." I let out a sigh and hesitated for a moment, before realizing… Elaine had never shown back up.

I turned around and ran through the still smoking remains of the lounge room and ran upstairs.

"Heeey! Come back!"

I barged into Justin's room, only to find it of anyone and utterly covered with brick and mortar from my earlier knocking.

I ran into Elaine's room next and found it... Scattered with clothes. Her bag was missing as was a lot of things like he diary, her shoes and other things someone running away from home might need.

My heart dropped in my chest. She had run. I felt the bottom of my stomach drop out and my heart fall right through it. With Justin dead she must have hightailed it out of there. Maybe she had been watching the entire time, or maybe she had fled at the first sign shit had gone wrong.

I couldn't help but angrily kick the door. "God dammit!" I kicked it again and again for good measure.

"Fuck!" I snarled and winced as my foot began to throb in pain.

It took me a couple more seconds before I managed to calm down. I let out a long breath and made my way back to my room. I grabbed a spare bag and began to stuff it full of my belongings that I intended to keep. A few shirts, pants, a book or two. By the time I was finished I realized that I hadn't touched a thing that Justin had bought me. My bag felt decidedly empty.

"…" I stared at my room for a long while before turning and walking out without a sound.

As I reached the staircase a sudden voice caught my attention. "Heelllooo?" it called out from Justin's bedroom.

I stiffened and felt a sudden panic. Had there been someone else in the house?

"Justin? The house is on fire!" It shouted.

I blinked slowly and made my way to the room. I'd heard that voice before. A dozen times over the years, late at night when I had supposed to have been asleep. I had always wondered what it was. Justin didn't have a phone in his room, it would never have worked. Unless there was a magical teleportation spell that he had never taught us—I wouldn't put it past him—no one had ever left the house at night either.

I pushed the door open and stepped in. I looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary, nothing that moved at all.

"Hello?" I called out with a frown. "…Whoever's there, Justin is dead."

Nothing, no response.

I was about to turn and leave when without warning the eyes of the ornate skull that sat on Justin's mantelpiece suddenly glowed orange. "Justin's dead? Really?" the voice came surprised. "Huh, I don't know why I expected anything else," it said honestly. "You there! Boy! Pick me up, the house is on fire!"

"No shit, who do you think did it?"

I walked over and despite my better judgment picked the skull up. The sparks of flames in its eyes briefly shifted hue before returning to normal. "What are you supposed to be?" I asked dubiously.

"I am a spirit of air and knowledge," the skull boasted and I could practically hear it grin. "Or if you prefer, a working encyclopedia of magic with its own brain."

I blinked rapidly. "…Cool." I murmured and glanced around before stuffing the skull into my bag.

"Mhmph-Hey! Whats with the socks?" it protested. "If I had a nose I'd be throwing up right now!"

I rolled my eyes and let out a snort. "Stay quiet until I tell you otherwise." I said to it.

To my surprise it did fall silent.

I made my way downstairs and found the devil crouched over Justin's corpse, poking him with a stick.

The moment she noticed me she stood up quickly and threw the stick away, turning to smile at me brightly as if she hadn't been poking the corpse of my late mentor. "Hi!" she said quickly. "You ready to go Harrrrry?" she drew out my name and skipped towards me before stopping right in front of me and beaming up at me.

"I'd rather run away and never see you again," I told her honestly.

She actually pouted. "Don't be like that! You sound like my younger sister Sona."

"She sounds reasonable," I said dryly.

"Oh you're going to love her! You're going to go to school together and it's going to be the best time ever!"

I felt the bottom of my stomach drop out. "…School? You've got to be kidding me."

—~—