A/N: My deepest apologies for the delay on this chapter. Life and school decided to conspire against me and hit with the force of semi trucks. Hopefully the length, which is almost twice the size as the previous, makes up for it. (Also I changed BD to GD, which will now roughly translate to "Guardians of God", and I'll be updating the previous chapters for that shortly)


Only an Olympic-medal-worthy display of coordination and balance allowed Anna to unlock the front door of her apartment. She flicked a braid over her shoulder with an easy toss of her head and hefted a third bulging bag of groceries atop the two already in her arms.

The apartment wasn't large, but it was home. She'd bought herself cheap furniture from IKEA and gotten the rest from her parents' house. This ensured the mismatch of chairs, silverware, and bedding, but filled the space in a cozy and personal way. She imagined it was not unlike a college student living alone for the first time: no strict pattern or style, and personal items like mail, bras, and a laptop were displayed arbitrarily and without functionality. Paintings, framed band posters, and her own photos filled the walls, the tops of tables and desks reserved for little odds and ends picked up during travels. But Anna's favorite feature, one that she achingly missed when underground, was the abundant sunlight. All windows faced south overlooking the river Drammenselva, brightening all areas of her apartment from dawn til dusk.

Anna's shadow skipped across the sunny rectangles on the floor, belting Fall Out Boy lyrics on her trips between kitchen and front door.

"Drop a heart, break a name,

We're always sleeping in, sleeping for the wrong te-ea-eam!

We're going down, down in an earlier round!

And Sugar, we're going down swinging.

I'll be your number one with a bullet,

a loaded God complex, cock it and pull–, aaagh!"

Elsa caught the bag of sugar and apples launched at the Banisher's explosive response to her presence. She cocked her head at Anna who was sprawled on the ground.

"Customarily I'm supposed to ask if you're alright," Elsa began slowly, "but the only thing I can think of is, 'wow, she scares easily considering what she does for a living.'"

"Where the hell did you come from?!" Anna panted, trying to get her breathing under control.

Elsa put a hand on her hip, goods thumping against a jean clad thigh. "Anna, I'm from hell." Her lips twitched with barely contained laughter and a colorful floral print top wasn't helping her look serious in the slightest.

"Oh my God, you know what I meant."

Elsa aimed a pointed look at her, which Anna ignored, before responding. "I was out on the balcony, reading." She briefly revealed a worn, well-thumbed book from behind her back. "Such a lovely day outside, it was begging to be appreciated." Elsa smirked. "Though perhaps I'd say you're appreciating it too much. You're never quite this… excitable, on the job."

Anna groaned, rolling her eyes. Locking the front door, she took the groceries from Elsa's waiting grasp. Along with what she'd rescued, Elsa spied a rather impressive amount of sugary treats being unloaded onto the counter.

"What are you, twelve? There's no way you can or should eat that many Oreos in the few days before you go back."

"What are you, three thousand?" Anna shot back, sliding a bag of Dove dark chocolates into the pile. "Also, have you seen this figure?" She ran her free hand down her abdomen and the curve of her hip, her jean jacket and peach denim pants doing nothing to conceal her fit and muscular body. Elsa's eyes watched with rapt attention. "Like chocolate even stands a chance against this bod."

Anna had embellished her last statement with a fair amount of pride. Elsa on the other hand began to wonder how much of a chance Anna's "bod" stood against a warm, chocolate covered tongue–

"Hey!" Anna scolded. "No dirty thoughts!"

Elsa didn't bat an eyelid. "How did you know?"

"It's the only time you ever shut up."

The demon clucked her tongue. "Got me there."

Anna's laugh was too loud, the silence in it's wake tense like the crowd before a firing squad.

"You said… a few days," Anna echoed quietly. "How many do I have left?"

Elsa shifted uncomfortably, knowing Anna already knew the answer. How could she not? "We went to the Archives four days ago, and that was exactly a week after you came here. So including today that makes… three." Anna's grip on the counter tightened, her face wooden. She turned her back, returning to unbagging groceries. Elsa took the hint and gave her some space.

The living room was rather unremarkable as far living rooms go – cozy with just the right balance of clutter and space. The wall opposite the kitchen was made entirely of interspaced windows, letting in the sunlight Anna loved so much. What was different however, was the wall directly to the right.

Space intended for a mounted television was trumped by immense wooden bookshelves. Ledges overflowed with paperbacks, journals, and objects of oddity. Leather bound volumes so old their covers flaked shared space with The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, and a mix of fantasy and nonfiction from the nineteenth century to the present. Atlases were wedged against waxy scrolls, photography books, art history, and latin texts appeared in random locations, and loose leaf paper filled all other gaps. It was a farrago, its method of organization random to everyone but Anna. Elsa was learning slowly, but for now was content to watch Anna unerringly picked something from the shelves.

The furniture arranged U-like in front of the bookshelves was tame in comparison. Like most of the house, none of it matched and yet everything belonged. Elsa considered her options before curling up on the sofa. On her back with her head propped on the armrest and book on her knee, she could see Anna working over the raised bar seating that separated the the two rooms.

Anna was brooding with a capital 'B', head down and silent. Elsa chewed her bottom lip, eyes falling to the table top beside her. A folded document lay within reach, the watermark of Gladium Dei's emblem of a fiery sword and whip pale in the light.

The demon held a mix of gratitude and distaste for the paper. When Anna first came home it was light as a feather, tossed into the air with pure delight. Elsa had been immediately hauled out of the apartment by a whooping Anna ready for a night of fun and freedom. The parchment had fluttered to the ground, Elsa only reading it the following morning on her way to make breakfast for a slumbering redhead.

Banisher Anna,

By the time this gets to your desk, I will be on a jet to Italy. We still expect your report on the Stockholm Class B, but we will have to reschedule our conference. The Council and several leading Officers have been summoned to the Vatican, myself of course included. We are also aware that your two week leave begins tomorrow. As such, assuming our stay at the Vatican is not long, we will reconvene and discuss your findings the day of your return.

From the desk of Commanding Officer Snow, Senior Exiler and Council Member

What had once been the sign of windfall now weighed heavy as a lodestone. Anna's every waking moment revolved around it, like a comet caught in a black hole. The likelihood that the Class B could be tracked, much less caught, waned with each passing day.

Only the rare outing lifted Anna's spirits, though much to Elsa's dismay they were all work related. Their trip to the Archives started well, but after hours of fruitless digging Anna became sullen as a storm cloud. That night, while Anna slept in the bedroom, Elsa took the couch, rocketing her mind back to the dawning days of their relationship. Sleep eluded her, indecisiveness grinding against her bones like boulders. She couldn't figure out what Anna needed: distance or companionship. Elsa lay awake, thoughts revolving like a tumbler...

"I can hear your cogs spinning from here Elsa."

The demon blinked, catching Anna's eyes from across the room. They were clearer than before, a hint of humor forming a half grin. "That's either a really thought provoking book or you were fantasizing something NC-17 with the straightest face I've ever seen."

Elsa shook her head. "Neither. But it's in the past, not to worry."

"Alright," Anna shrugged. "I'm making sandwiches for lunch, do you want one?"

"Please."

"What are you reading by the way?" Anna asked, reaching above her for plates. "It's not one of mine."

Elsa flipped the book over. "Just something I picked up at the library. It's 'An Account of God's Fallen: A History of Demons, Their Nature, and Their Binding.' A good read if a bit anthropocentric."

A string of curses rang from the kitchen as Anna fumbled her plate. Elsa shut her mouth with an audible click, usual reprimand dying on her tongue.

Anna's glare was molten.

"Which library Elsa?"

"T-The one we visited together." Anna didn't waver. If Elsa were a dog her ears would be drooping. "The ah… The Archives."

Anna closed her eyes, mouth a sharp line. Guilt dripped like acid into Elsa's stomach, her appetite gone. She'd known at the time taking the book was a bad idea, but curiosity had outweighed her common sense. Elsa briefly entertained the idea of fleeing to Hell, but knew that would be a petty abuse of power. Instead she sat up, knowing she needed to pay the piper sooner rather than later. Anna shoved her fingers into her bangs. "I cannot believe… How did you even–! You know what, no, the less I know the better." She laughed weakly. "And of course it's anthropocentric, a human wrote it."

Elsa blinked. "You're not… angry?"

"Of course I am," Anna replied, bristling. Then she relaxed. "But I can either imagine the consequences of this and curl up into a ball or I can find out if it's of any use to me." She went back to making lunch – meat, cheese, lettuce, and a cutting board appearing on the countertop. "Does it have anything on tracking?"

"Yes. book two, chapter five. The first book is all history."

"What about Auras?"

"Chapter three."

"And Summoning?"

"I haven't read that far but yes, chapter seventeen."

"Hm… I think I can work with that." Anna tapped her knife to her chin, making Elsa cringe. "What made you pick that book?"

"General interest," the demon replied over the steady thock of blade on plastic. "It's not often I get the chance to read about what the GD, or the world, thinks of us. And yet," She considered her words carefully, "it's amazing how little knowledge you've collected on us, even after thousands of years. Your history abounds with stories of fae and daedra, thinking them little wonders of God placed on Earth to tease and test humanity. Here I find nothing but means to destroy, capture, and exploit. After it was written the Christian Bible gained so much force that people began to overlook it's inaccuracy. It's followers cried heretic on those who continued to tell true accounts of us Fallen. I think humans forget that we were once God's people too." Elsa steepled her hands, tapping her forefingers against her lips. "But there was one man in recent memory who treated me as an equal."

"Define recent." The demon had a bad habit of starting with 'just the other day' when recalling events from several hundred years ago.

"Oh you know him, he's quite famous." Elsa hid a smile as Anna joined her with two plates of food. "His name was Yisus."

"Ee-sho?" Anna repeated, attempting to rap her tongue around the foreign word. "Sounds Aramaic. Was he Jewish?"

"Given your skill with language, I'm surprised you don't know, but I believe in english he is 'Jesus Christ'."

Anna's head whipped up so fast Elsa feared it would twist clean off. "You met Jesus?"

"I did," Elsa hummed. "Quite a pleasant man, very intelligent. But of course, that kind of story doesn't make it into the Bible. Despite knowing what I was he was not afraid. He was like that, possessing an uncanny ability to tell where demon resided. We spoke of philosophy, ethics, politics, and of course, God and His redemptive plan. He was insatiably curious about my life and I in turn was quite fascinated by his. Anyone that could work Satan up into such a tissy was a man I wanted to know."

Anna hadn't moved. The hallway clock ticking was the only sound for several minutes before the Banisher recovered the use of her jaw. "O-Okay, I have to know…" Elsa tilted her head, giving her full attention. Anna licked her lips. "Is he the Son of God?"

Elsa's eyes sparkled, her mouth somewhere between a smirk and a genuine smile.

"Christianity has waited over two thousand years to know the answer to that question." She paused, long enough for Anna to start fidgeting. She hiked up her knee and opened her book, eyes already sliding across the page. "I think it can wait a little longer."


The sound of a chair being scraped back jarred both apartment occupants, but only Elsa reacted. She looked over the top of her book, a small pout of disappointment on her face as she set the book aside. She'd have to start the chapter over to get the right atmosphere for that scene. Anna got up from the dining table, gait rivaling the severely intoxicated as she moved, zombie-like, to the kitchen, a coffee mug gripped in her hand. Her reemergence came with steam from her newly filled cup, and based on her grimace and blitzed chugs, Elsa suspected Anna had yet again forgone sugar and cream.

Anna returned to her previous spot, eyes dropping dully to the multitude of papers and books strewn across the table. Elsa watched warily. Anna blinked slowly before placing her coffee stoically to the side and burying her face in her arms. A great sigh passed through her body, a sound of defeat so foreign from the normally upbeat woman that it had Elsa immediately on her feet.

"Anna?" Elsa stepped quietly up to the table. "Anna what's wrong?" The Banisher merely groaned. Elsa huffed irritably, the one lock of hair that refused to lie flat across her head like the rest bobbing in response. Like a four year old's art project, Anna's hand written notes and charts from the past week were strewn about, crumpled and tossed in a mystifying collage of scribbles, circles, and arrows, all crisscrossing only to end at violent red X's.

Elsa lay a sympathetic hand on Anna's head. "Still no luck huh?" Not expecting an answer, Elsa hummed and began gathering the hairs that had come out of of Anna's ponytail from time or exasperated tugging. "I know you don't have much time left, but you can't keep going like this. You've hardly eaten, you haven't slept. You can't keep this up any longer." Elsa combed back the last few pieces then ran her hands down the length of Anna's shoulders to her elbows. Her warm breath slid across Anna's neck as Elsa planted a lingering kiss on freckled skin. When Anna still did not move, Elsa nestled into her from behind, worry bleeding into her voice. "Please Anna, please take a break. An hour, that's all I ask."

A silence stretched so long Elsa feared Anna had fallen asleep before the Banisher picked up her head, scowling.

"Make it thirty minutes. And not," she leveled a finger at the demon behind her, "a second more." Elsa beamed, thrilled with her victory despite the amendment.

Before Anna could change her mind, Elsa dragged her by the hand towards the bedroom. She silenced a spluttering Anna with a loaded glance over her shoulder. "Oh Anna, I know that I'm irresistible, but I didn't think you were in that kind of mood. Trust me, what you really need is a shower. I may have seen Jesus heal a blind man but nothing matches the glorious power of a hot shower. Indoor plumbing, that's the real miracle." Elsa rummaged around the room, stuffing a towel into Anna's hands and giving her purposeful pushes towards the attached bathroom. She squeezed Anna's shoulders, indicating she stay put, then turned on the water and gathered the best soaps and lotions.

Hands on her hips, Elsa nodded to herself and turned back to Anna. "Well, you're all set! I'll leave you to it."

Gleefully turning a blind eye to Anna's baffled expression, Elsa practically skipped out of the bathroom before closing the door behind her. After Anna worked through her confusion, Elsa heard the the tell tale rustling of clothes being removed. She found herself unable to resist.

"You know, if you really are in the mood, I could help you in there. The other great thing about showers is that you're already warm and wet. Though I Can't guarantee you'll finish in less than thirty minutes–"

Anna's discarded jeans collided with her face. As the bathroom door slammed shut once more, Elsa removed the article that had so decisively ended her teasing, a private smile on her lips. That had been a better reaction than she'd been expecting, and she was glad to see some of Anna's natural hot-headedness return.

Her ears perked at Anna's muffled grumbling and a few moments into the tirade Elsa was holding back fits of laughter. She escaped to the living room, Anna's "...crazy lesbian demon... always trying to get in my pants," prying an undignified chortle from her halfway down the hall.

In true regiment-raised style, Anna's "relaxing shower" was finished in ten minutes. Elsa rolled her eyes and patiently waited for Anna to join her. Anna rounded the corner, pulling a forest green tank over her head, light pink sleeping shorts hugging her waist. The demon's satisfaction that Anna was wearing pajamas Elsa had picked for her was short lived. Anna took one look at Elsa lounging in her reading chair and sat down across with from her, stolen Archive book in her hands.

"It hasn't been half an hour yet."

Anna turned a page. "And yet I get the feeling you're out of things for me to do." The remark stung but Elsa refused to be irked.

"I could… make you some hot chocolate. You bought that fancy Swiss mix a few months back that we haven't tried yet."

"No thanks."

"A card game? Something simple since I'm sure your brain is fried."

Anna scowled. "I'm fine Elsa. The shower was plenty."

"Well how about–"

"I said I'm fine, Elsa."

Elsa closed her mouth, hand curling into a fist. Anna heard a grunt and in the blink of an eye Elsa was crouched before of her.

"Anna," Elsa said, "I know you only have one day left and I know you've been trying for an impossible amount of time to find something. I do not want you to go back to the Council with nothing. I do not want you to fail this test. Do you understand?" Elsa tipped the book away with a finger.

Anna was tired. The stress and pressure of her assignment and successive sleepless nights had sapped the color from her eyes, the normal bright beryl was dull as though a layer of fine dust had settled. Her face and posture radiated fatigue. Elsa didn't need her Sight to know Anna's weariness was soul deep. "Have you considered all your options?"

"I've been everywhere and there's nothing," Anna growled. "Going back to the scene of the Summoning won't solve anything. The Aura will be long gone. And besides I don't have time." Anna attempted to gain control over the book but Elsa remained firm.

"Have you thought about asking me where this demon is?"

Anna's eyes narrow. "I can't do that, it's cheating." Elsa gave her a look of complete incredulity. "What would I even tell the Council?" Anna's tone turned high and mocking. "'Well my girlfriend told me where to find this guy so get a team ready and let's go! How does my girlfriend know? Well she's a demon of course so we can totally trust her.'"

This time the barb struck deep and stayed. "You're using all the resources you have available to you. They're just a bit… different."

"You don't understand!" Anna snapped, tearing the book away. "This isn't going to be a slap on the wrist kind of deal! If they don't fire me it'll take years to get back to where I am now. And if they do–" Her voice cracked. "I have to keep going, I have to keep moving up. I've wasted so much time…"

Anna clenched her teeth, eyes stinging with unshed tears. Elsa stood and seated herself on the couch. Close but not too close.

"You're right, I don't understand." Anna practically crackled with fury. Elsa summoned an aura of calm as Anna's outburst revealed she was more troubled than anticipated. "But please don't blame that on me. You hardly tell me anything more than skin deep about work… or why it means so much to you." Anna twitched. Elsa swallowed the desire to comfort her. Her throat burned. "I'm not saying you have to tell me everything now, but it's been painful to watch from the sidelines. I've never seen you this focused, but I've also never seen you this afraid." When the Banisher stiffened and stared at the floor boards, Elsa broke. "Please, let me help you."

Anna bit her lip hard enough to bruise, but slowly she nodded. Elsa retrieved Anna's research, fanning out the papers on the coffee table. "What do you need so that the Council will be satisfied?"

Anna sniffed, crossing her arms and bringing her knees to her chest. "A location. A trail. Anything that would lead us to the demon or determine if it's even still in this Plane." Elsa began sorting, looking through the pages with fresh eyes and a new perspective.

"Well you're right about one thing, the Aura will be gone by now. And if the demon was smart, it would have dissipated shortly after it's Summoning."

"Well that's no help–." The demon held up a finger, cutting Anna off.

"But," she continued, "demons can be traced in more than one way." Moving a last few pages, Elsa plucked a report from slew and waved it triumphantly. "As you know, we demons have to convince a human to Summon us if we don't want to Rift travel. Some of us are polite and ask nicely. Some of us are not and coerce humans into preparing the ritual." Elsa flipped through the packet, skimming. She smiled. "Bingo."

Anna sat up. "What is it?" She'd read that file a hundred times: an interview with the Summoner. All but the most rookie of Banishers disregard these because they end in one of two ways: the Summoner did everything willingly and without regret or can't remember anything and is completely useless. The second meant they were forced, possibly possessed, and that only indicated to the Banisher that they were dealing with a high class, malevolent creature.

Elsa put a finger on a small photograph paperclipped in the upper left corner of the file. A short haired, aging white male stared listlessly out. "Judging by the short answers during the interview, this poor man didn't know what he was doing. I wager that these reports are not exact recordings of what took place though. They're summaries, and any irrelevant information is taken out." Anna stared at her. "What? It makes sense," Elsa shrugged. "You have to write everything by hand, of course abbreviations or synopses would be used."

"So you're saying… something is missing."

Elsa nodded. "I'm sure you already know this, but the higher a demon's class, the more likely possession took place. That way they can make sure everything goes the way they want and don't have to waste time convincing the Summoner to do their bidding. In the hands of a Higher Being, humans minds are… basically putty. Their tiny conscious is pushed to the side, and in the vastness of a demon's mind, a human must find something to keep sane. In rare cases the human is strong enough to maintain control of their own mind but…" Elsa taps her temple with a wry smile. "A demon's mind is not a safe place for humans.

"Imagine being suddenly dropped in the middle of an ocean. As you sink beneath the waves you feel the currents flowing in torrents all around you, faster and faster until your mind begins to think the world consists of spinning endlessly in the dark. There is no up or down, no left or right. Just a whirling vortex of water and you are trapped in the middle. You close your eyes but you still see everything, it streams right through your eyelids. You can't breathe, you can't remember where you are, who you are, or how you got here. Now imagine –all that water, all that crushing weight and darkness– is the mind of a creature thinking things you can't even imagine. The mind crashing into yours is so alien and overwhelming that you are literally going insane from the things you don't understand. You are drowning so completely that your brain shuts down, hemorrhages, asphyxiates. If you don't find something to ground you before this happens, you're dead."

Anna swallowed.

"Not to scare you of course," the demon said, flashing a smile.

"Of course." All the same, Anna sat a little further back in her chair. "So how does a human ground itself in," she waved her hands about in circular motions, "all that?"

Elsa chuckled. "You already know. Think about it for a moment."

Anna chewed her lip. "The things that seem like complete gibberish in the reports are often numbers, colors, feeling hot or cold, random fits of rhyming, and Biblical passages. Sometimes we get names but it's rare that they lead anywhere."

"Have you ever wondered where those come from?"

"Casually, but I've never devoted time to–" Anna straightened. "Oh. Oh that's it isn't it?"

"Ding ding! We have a winner." Elsa's eyes brightened. "That's exactly correct Anna. That 'nonsense' is what the human chose to ground them. It may be the one thing among billions of others that made any kind of sense so they latch on and don't let go." Elsa waved the file again. "There isn't anything like that in here, but if we assume this man was possessed while Summoning then there might have been something he said that the writer thought babble and took out." She turned back to the cover, then frowned and flipped it over. "Who creates these?"

"Praestes oversee the interview and ask questions, but Commentariis, Recorders, are the ones who actually write the reports. They are submitted to a Council Member for approval."

"The GD's gone bureaucratic in its old age." Elsa tossed the file into Anna's lap. "I think you should call up whoever wrote that and see what they know. Oh and if they ask," Anna looked up. Elsa's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Your demon girlfriend didn't say a word."


I wanted to take a moment to thank you, dear readers, for the many loving reviews you've left. I spent the last few weeks re-reading them, both for motivation and because they make me really happy. I love hearing your thoughts. You all are a big part of what make writing fun and I'm so glad you're enjoying the story. You all rock and thank you for reading!